Al fondo y arriba

This past Sunday I decided to throw a traditional 'Lawton style' brunch. After realizing that it would not be healthy for me to go through two boxes of Bisquick myself over the rest of my time here, I decided the best solution was to share. (how very non-only child of me). However, a few things are different about brunches in Spain and in my household. For starters when I invited some of my Spanish friends they didn't understand the concept that brunch starts at 1130ish or 12 at the latest. When you go to a place here that offers 'brunch' usually that means 130 or 2, and the place doesn't even open until then! The other thing that is a little strange here is pancakes, not popular at all. Knowing all this, and the fact that I was going to cook, I somehow managed to convince a group to join me.

With the exception of my roommate Liz everyone else was work related. Lisa, Juanma, Raul with his girlfriend Gloria, and Steve brought his wife Susannah. All together there were eight of us cramming into my tiny little apartment. The menu included an excellent fruit salad (Keith would be jealous), eggs, bacon (I didn't cook it), and my fantastic pancakes. I also stopped by the local bakery and picked up this amazing fresh bread to serve with the eggs. Something that was different about my brunch (that I recommend highly) was the mimosas. I would say that mimosas definitely made the brunch a lot more exciting, especially since the Spaniards had never had them. All of the food turned out excellent and everyone was quite pleased with the spread. I have to be honest, I was wicked nervous earlier in the week because I do not have a lot of cooking space. However, after finding a griddle (una plancha) I was able to calm down and enjoy the brunch a lot more.

After brunch we headed to two of the restaurants/bars on my street for some cañas. The first place was more of a food atmosphere so we left after only one. The other place is actually attached to my building and is always crowded. I've been meaning to go in for some time now but I never do it. No matter what time of day I walk by there is always people packed in tightly and having a great time. The place is also super loud and energetic. Finally, after five months, I went inside and as expected had an amazing time.

After beer we picked up some rum and vodka to continue the fiesta up in my apartment. Steve and Susannah had brought some great appetizers so along with that and snacks we hung out listening to music. The party ended somewhere around 9 when everyone finally realized that it was a Sunday and we all had work the next day. We lead great lives.

In the end, I must say that I am very proud of myself and ecstatic that everything turned out well! Maybe I can actually do this adult thing...

Negative: Fontaneros (plumbers) destroying my apartment.

Positive: I´m leaving tonight for Cadiz to celebrate Carnaval!!!!

Mi piso

So I finally took pictures of my little apartment. It is really nice; came furnished and with the internet. Still working on getting the wireless code but no serious problems.


The kitchen is probably the smallest anyone has ever seen. It is a squeeze to have two people in there so dinner time becomes a little bit of a waiting game. You can't see the refrigerator but its narrow and in the corner. Next to it is the washing machine. We haven't attempted to use it yet, I think because we're all a little scared. There is a clothes line going from my room to another for drying purposes. Oddly enough (seeing as it rained most of my first weekend here) Madrid is in a pretty serious drought right now so running into problems with the weather and hanging clean clothes won't matter. There are shelves and cupboards above the washer and sink where we keep the plates and glasses. More shelves under the window where we keep utensils and pots and pans. There is a oven and microwave on the other wall (and coffee maker that sometimes finds its way into the living room). Since there is only one outlet on that side of the wall we have to take turns plugging the appliances in. It is perfect for what we need, as long as we don't start having big meals here.


The bathroom is tiny as well; we can't have everyone's shampoos and conditioners in the shower at the same time because we would not fit. I had to get used to taking short showers again rather quickly. The first time I was in Madrid it was out of respect because of the water issue. Most Madrileños take short showers because they are technically in a crisis. Now I do it for that reason, but also because our water heater dictates everything. It gets really hot fast and then dies quickly, just something I'm going to have to adjust to here.


The living room has a tv, small chair, couch, dining table, and a little balcony. The bookshelf came stocked with some English books so I've taken the liberty of reading a few. The internet router is also there and since we don't have the wireless key code we all have to work from the couch. We watch the news sometimes to catch what's going on in the city. We haven't been lucky enough to get one of the free 20 Minutos Madrid so the news is our first source of what the city has planned. Last night (technically this morning) at four we tried watching the debate because they had it live but dubbed in Castellano (sidenote: Madrid speaks Castellano, Catalonia speaks Catalán, Galica speaks Gallego, and the Basque region speaks Basque).

Finally, my room (the other two are exactly the same) comes with a bed, dresser, closest, desk and a few sets of shelves. As of now my clothes fit nicely away, however, after nine months I'm not sure what is going to happen. I haven't had much use for my desk except when I work at my computer. I like it though because I can't possibly get it messy, it is so small that if I leave anything out I trip over it.

Negative: Hearing my deaf neighbor snore through my wall.

Positive: Finding an open air Mercado three blocks away.