Careful what you wish for...

About a month ago, halfway through my second academic year here, I found myself wishing I had made a more romantic choice of living arrangements. The place I had was nice enough. Strategically placed in between work and the places I go for fun. Seemingly nice roommates. Una terraza de puta madre. Yet still when I walked down the street, pretty much all I saw were block after block of boring mid-twentieth century apartment buildings largely filled with disgruntled old rich people. The president of my building's association, for example, was a man who had proudly worked the way to the tops of Franco's air force, and hated our appartment (the only one filled with twenty-something subletters) with a passion. After he abruptly forced us to cancel my birthday party last year, I can't say I was a big fan either. So from time to time I found myself daydreaming about living in Malasaña, La Latina, or Lavapies, one of those neighborhoods filled with young, poor but hopeful people.

Well, I got my wish.... but the road that's taken me to Malasaña has been a little bumpier than I would have liked. After dwelling on the negative for more than a week I'm trying to focus on the good things. Suffice it to say one of the old roomies hiked up the rest of our shares of the rent, a move that hurt me more emotionally than it would have hurt my finances. At any rate I decided to leave, and by great luck in my friend Syreeta's appartment there was a room available that was very fitting for my bohemian fantasies. Maybe too fitting. It's small, about big enough for a dress and a twin bed, which is fine. The killer is there's no window, but it's only for three months, and I will be able to save for the next phase of my life. The current game plan is to leave Madrid in June and backpack around until fall if possible, maybe with some camp-counseling or wwoofing worked in there.

And the location is perfect in all the most impractical ways. The morning commute will be slightly longer but the neighborhood features several of my favorite things: the best pizza in town, the best vegetarian restaurant in town,  a store with second-hand books in English, and just that dirty but vibrant charm I love. (Check the neighborhood newspaper which features not one but two articles about graffiti. )

Postmas

Christmas drags on and on here, and if Christmas day itself went pretty well the remaining 11 were kind of lonely. Luckily, my parents arrived on the night of January 5th the same night as the Three Kings, the traditional Spanish gift givers (though Santa is definitely sneaking in on their turf). It was great to see them, but the ensuing seven day whirlwind of tourism was exhausting especially since I was waking up on my parents' midwestern empty-nester schedule and going to bed on my roommate's crazy young madrileño schedule. I saw a lot of stuff I had wanted to see, ate at lots of great restaurants, and above all got to hang out with my folks.

It's good to get back to routine though. I'm starting to feel more connected to Alberto and Greg the new roomies. Last night they bent over backwards to help me finally get wireless on my computer, even after I got really impatient and almost yelled at them and went in my room and closed but at least didn't slam my door. But then it worked and we jumped and yelled and hugged and it was our first real sober bonding experience. I think Alberto and I are doomed to be perpetually slightly confused by the way one another do things, but luckily we both are willing to laugh at it. He will never understand the thrifty homemaker side of me, and I will never understand how he doesn't like vegetables! Ever! At all! Greg is just an incredibly chill, no worries kind of guy but not in an irresponsible kind of way.


It's already time to start thinking about next year too. How did that happen? I'm seriously considering another year here. I really like the work at school and in my private lessons, but it is starting to feel more and more like a real job. Then again the sooner I come back the sooner I have to get a real real job. The other top contender is Teaching Fellows in St. Paul, but I just realized that application is due in a week! yikes! No transcripts or recommendations yet though, so it's doable. Grad school is on the back burner because I missed the deadlines. This experience was partly intended to help me decide if I want to teach or keep studying linguistics, but really I'm still clueless, not that the two things are really mutually exclusive.

Felizes festas em Lisboa!

I feel like from now on a longer and longer amount of time will pass between blog entries. Maybe I can stem the tide with a New Year's Resolution.

So I was on the point of taking the apartment with the mamaphobe, but I decided to visit two more apartments, and one of them stuck. So since the beginning of December I've been living with an andaluz, Alberto, and a French guy, Greg. Both are really cool. Alberto does computer animation and Greg is doing a professional exchange at a TV station.

Then a couple of weeks ago I went to Granada, with another auxiliar, Molly for a three day weekend. For some reason it didn't occur to us, three day weekend, everyone will be traveling... hmmm... let's make a hostel reservation. so we wandered around aimlessly looking for a place to stay when finally as a last resort we ended up staying with Molly's ex-boyfriend and his family. They are from Brazil, and amazingly welcoming. It wasn't exactly what I expected but I got some awesome Brazilian food out of the deal. I also saw my cousin Jenna who is an auxiliar down there.

Now I'm in Lisbon. Being an absolute tourist. Today I saw o Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, the most beautiful monastery I've ever seen. Okay as far as I know it's only the second monastery I've ever seen after El Escorial, but it was amazing. I arrived alone but have ended doing a lot with another guy from my hostel. Just as I'm missing home most, the travel gods decided to send me a little bit of Chicago in an unexpected way, this guy Lucio, another Brazilian, who is returning home in a roundabout way from a year working in Chicago. And much as when I got back from Chile I wouldn't talk about anything else, he was really excited to talk Chicago. Unfortunately, as soon as I got here the cold I've been holding back for the past couple days hit me, so I've been going at a pretty slow pace, but that's all right. Lisbon is absolutely beautiful. This hostel, Goodnight Backpacker's Hostel, is maybe the friendliest I've ever been in. So even if I don't see everything it's a good change of pace.