El Puente

Puente = long weekend = all of the Spaniards get super excited and travel around the country. But since every weekend is a long weekend for me, I hung around Madrid. With absolutely no plans and an excessive head start on my lesson plans for the next week, I had no idea what I was going to do with my weekend. Luckily, I didn't need plans because once it got rolling, one thing lead to another and I entertained myself quite well.

Friday morning I went to the Columbus Day parade with my French roommate and her boyfriend. It was quite scaled down because of the crisis but it was pretty interesting to see all of the different branches of the military all dressed up.

The branch that hangs out in the mountains, with their skis and all!

During lunch later that day (after a wonderful nap), I found out that all of the museums were free for the day. So I met up with Napala and Eugene (a Russian who was visiting her... long story, but the result is us dragging him along for 2 days) and we went to El Prado (classic art) and La Reina Sofia (modern art). Everyone I've talked to is baffled that I went to both in one day since they are ginormous. I then have to explain that we were in each for less than two hours because we went at the end of the day.

After the museums, we met up with Dan and Juanaco to see a basketball game between Real Madrid and Panathinaikos Athens.

Yes, we were in the nose bleed section. But it was only 8€...

Saturday morning I met up with Carol and Clara for breakfast at VIPS. It was wonderful to see them both and I got to check out the Spanish attempt at an American breakfast. I decided to go big and order the desayuno americano: eggs, home fries, and two pancakes. The eggs and home fries were good, but lets just say I'm better off making my own pancakes from scratch.

Then Napala, Eugene, Dan, Juan (different from Juanaco), and I went hiking in Manzanares el Real, located about 35 minutes outside of the city. Great fun!

A wonderful day away from the city

 Eugene, taking a picture of the mountain goat...

 

The whole gang

 

  

Coming back down. You might've guessed that we didn't follow the paths. We just went straight up the mountain.

 Checking out the exterior of the castle in the city.

The rest of the weekend consisted of watching Juan make the tortilla española (he's a pro... I still haven't attempted it myself), going grocery shopping (by the way, a very nice madrileño opened the metro door for me when my arms were loaded down with my purchases), running in Retiro with Napala, and eating gelato (pear and lemon: DELICOUS). I couldn't have planned a better puente if I had actually made plans.

Now, before I leave, I must make a comment on using subtleties in another language. They do not work. Apparently yesterday my roommate and her boyfriend were talking about how someone was using her olive oil while I was standing in the kitchen right next to them. And by right next to them I mean we were probably touching because there's hardly room for two people in our kitchen, let alone three. They were trying to figure out who it was and assumed that since I didn't say anything, it wasn't me. False. It was me. The olive oil is kept among all the spices, which we do share. However, the olive oil is apparently only kept there because it doesn't fit in the cupboard. So for the past two weeks I've been stealing from my roommate without knowing it. Lo siento...

I know its stupid to feel bad about it (the liter of oil probably costs 2€), but I do. Its embarrassing that if I'm not tuned in, I completely miss what someone is saying. I nod and smile when I don't know what people are saying because I'm too embarrassed to keep asking for them to repeat themselves. There's a constant struggle of wanting to seem competent and being humble enough to ask the questions required to actually become competent. 

My experiences at home are teaching me the grace that I need to show to the teachers at my school. They studied English just like I studied Spanish and they often misunderstand my plans or my questions. I am learning that is most helpful to be direct with them and explain my perspective thoroughly when situations get confusing. Down with subtleties! There's no reason to be overly polite when there's a language barrier. As John Mayer says in a song that I highly dislike but can't help thinking of right now:

Take out of your wasted honor  

Every little past frustration  

Take all your so called problems  

Better put them in quotations  

Say what you need to say  

(This phrase is then repeated an excessive number of times. You get the point.)

I hope that I can stick to this. I honestly believe languages are meant to teach humility and grace. In a part of life so critical to understanding one another, we must be patient with one another. We owe it to the people around us to say what we are thinking instead of letting our untold thoughts dictate our relationships. Yes, this is going beyond stealing olive oil. But it's some food for thought. Or better yet, discussion.

Much love,

Amber