brating I mean that I'm doing laundry and catching up on all things I was supposed to do this weekend. This weekend has been what is known as a 'puente' (which means bridge in Spanish) because there was a holiday on Saturday and one on Monday, they are 'bridged' together by Sunday. Usually, these holidays fall during the week so everyone in Spain gets some serious time off from work. However, all the puentes this year fall on the weekend more or less. I think this one was the only one that will work for me because it gives me Monday off, whereas the others only give me Friday which I already have off. Either case, I've been done work since Friday (when my adult students didn't show up). Bad news about the weekend though is that it rained pretty hard most of the time. On Friday I went out with Lisa to find a new coat and her a dress for our Christmas party this week, both of us were hugely successful. That was actually the last day of sunshine for the weekend. We got coffee and then walked around Gran Via because all the stores were in Holiday discount mode. On Saturday night I went out with Caitlin and her friend Amy in the Ruben Dario area of Madrid. Before I continue I must explain the term 'pijo': a rich or snooty person. I knew going in that this neighborhood was very pijo because my neighborhood tends to be pijo and the two are very close. However, nothing could prepare me for the sight I witnessed all night. It was a scene straight out of NEWPORT! I couldn't believe it, down to a T everything was the same as the mansion kids, pearls, salmon colored everything and so on. What's funny to think is that the rich people in Spain dress exactly like the rich people in Rhode Island, freaky. Anyways, we started at this little hole in the wall bar called "Michael Angel Bar" that looked like someone's house. Since it was the puente it started slow but soon filled up with a ridiculous crowd, mostly pijos. After we moved to "El Confidencial" which was a little bigger and had an interesting mix of music. The three of us spent a lot of time discussing Spanish ways and how the words "excuse me/perdona" are really just for show, not for actual use. After a few drinks here we moved to "Fortuny" which I thought w
as fantastic. You enter through these rustic doors into this beautiful courtyard (I can't wait to go back when the weather is nicer and warmer) and then up the stairs into the place. There are high ceilings and a spiral staircase leading upstairs. It could have just been the large red Christmas tree or the fact that it wasn't jammed packed like the other two places or the fact that a guy gave me a free drink ticket, but I would say it was my favorite. When we went to the bar I was in awe of this group of six very tall men. The thing about Spain, which clearly doesn't affect me at all, is that the men are short. On average I would say most men are around 5'9'' which by guy standards is petite. These men all towered somewhere around 6'5'' and upon talking to them discovered they were from around Barcelona. When you've spent that last two and a half months seeing only guys under six foot, these men were very impressive. After about an hour or so and taking a picture in front of the tree we decided to head to another bar. This bar however was charging a thirty euro cover which would be waved for us girls but not the guys we were with, not worth it. Somewhere around 6 in the morning we all headed home to recover. One fun night, and one large bill later, I was in my bed fast asleep.I should probably back track and talk about Thanksgiving here in Spain. On Thanksgiving Day I had a field trip with the Segundos to an adventure park out in some little pueblo. We left at t
he start of school and took this awesome double decker bus about an hours drive from Rivas. I only see two of the three 2nd grade classes for phys.ed. so I was not looking forward to having little control over them. Once at the little campsite the monitors took the kids to the different stations and the other teachers and I went into town for coffee. It just so happened that the weather was sunny but the temperature teetered around 5 degrees! It took me all weekend to recover from the cold. The kids did a scavenger hunt, zipline, human foosball, a rope course and my personal favorite archery. Why my favorite you may ask? Well, obviously because the kids were given actual bows and arrows. Not some fake tipped arrow, but the real, pointy kind. Spain loves to give 7 year olds things that could potentially maim them. Oh, and the zipline was cool because the way the kids stopped was by a monitor pulling another rope tight. If he didn't do this they would crash into the unpadded tree that was a foot or two away. Fantastic! I digress.I left Rivas on the later side because I just wanted time to relax, this of course made me late for my adult class which was still going on as planned. After class I went to the American University sponsored Thanksgiving dinner, same thing I did when I was abroad. The food was the same mush but it was better than nothing. To be honest the company was bad because the students are egotistical little brats and have no respect for the hard work that went into getting a restaurant to cook them a traditional Thanksgiving dinner in Spain. My table was full of my friends that had had this experience with me before so that was good. I came home and skyped my family who had already packed everything away and were ready to leave, but it was still nice to see new faces
. On a sidenote: We always play this card game called "May I?" on the holidays at home. There are two things that are pretty consistent, my Uncle Roland will win the last round and screw over a lot of people and my dad will come closer and closer to reaching four digits. Well aparently this holiday my cousin won and I've heard about it 5 times now. No lie, every time I've talked to my parents I hear "Did we tell you who won cards?" Apparently, change is not accepted in the Lawton house!My second Thanksgiving dinner was much more interesting. On Saturday there was a dinner at our friends' house that was more my style. We all brought a dish, mine was the mashed potatoes (read: Aunt Gloria, you're jealous!), and enjoyed a great meal. There were five Americans, five Spaniards, two from England, and one from Scotland, quite the group. For many it was their first Thanksgiving so it was nice to see how much they enjoyed a little part of our culture. The dinner was great because everyone made a little piece of home and we continued the tradition of eating until we were stuffed. The conversation was a mix of Spanish and English, which provided a great opportunity to practice.
As great as all this was, nothing beats being home for Wednesday night trivia at Brickhouse, dinner and cards with the family on Thursday, movies at night, and any type of last minute shenanigans on Friday and Saturday. Fact.
The kids are still great. Still hysterical. And still lacking in discipline.
Oh and I was corrected on my English pronunciation by a six year old. In case you needed to know it's pronounced "Booofalo".
Negative: Discovering my bed can not fit the other way in my room after moving everything around becasue I was convinced it could.
Positive: The lights that are now up over my street.
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