Finde de Cine

I have been working too much lately. I found this gig doing 10 (!) hours of conversation classes on occasional Saturdays, which seemed nicer than being overloaded all week long with private lessons, but in the end I don't know. Working 10 hours on Saturday, as I have the past two weekends, pretty much eats up the weekend. And on top of it I was preparing my school's Halloween pageant. But, por fin, I have a whole weekend to myself.

And what a weekend it will be! I'm making up for lost time here. Last night I went to the grand premiere party of a short film Jodienda Warrick, a sort of James Bond parody where drag-queen-spies are competing to either kill or save Madonna, that would have been more funny if I could have understood more of the actors highly stylized accent. You can see other people's pictures of the party if you follow the link.

Me and roomie Alberto waited in line next to nationally famous actor Paco León. Neither me or Al were brave/shameless enough to talk to him, but he was cool. One of his friends was like "Ojalá que no me hagan tacto rectal" that is "I hope they don't give me a prostate exam." To which Paco responded, "Pero qué dices, hombre" or "What are you talking about, man."

It was kind of a symbolic moment for me. Last year the breaking point when I decided to move to the centro, was when I missed the LesGaiCine festival because I lived so far outside the center. This year through Al's connections I not only made it to see part of this festival I made it into the after-party. Symbolism aside though, in the end it makes me realize, even if you make it into the party I'm still the one who has to reach out and connect. I ended up with Al and three of his friends. The four of them had each paired off, and were shouting in each other's ears for ten minutes that seemed like an hour, while I sat there like a bump on a log. It was fine, the night was an over-all success, but it was just a reminder that in the end how many friendships I form here in Madrid, is a function of how much I put myself out there more than anything else.

So this afternoon I am going to put myself out there, and try out for a Voces de Ida y Vuelta, a sort of world music choir with members form all over the world. The idea is that everyone teaches each other songs from their country building up a repertoire of traditional music from all over the world. Sounds awesome and I sorely miss singing with people, I'm not sure if I can make the cut though. Either way it will be low key, apparently my audition is taking place over a couple of beers after their rehearsal, so no worries.

Then tomorrow night I hope to go to the Filmoteca, a sort of government subsidized arthouse cinema to see Tudo isto é fado. I don't know much about it, but it was recommended by a friend and I assume has something to do with fado, that gut-wrenching style of Lisboeta folk music that makes the blues sound like Zippity-doo-dah.

Supposedly I'm also going for a hike in the mountains outside Madrid, and one supposes doing my laundry and grocery shopping. All this will be much more fun but potentially just as much work as ten hours of conversation classes.