viernes el 27 de enero
This morning (not early or anything, just before lunchtime) Mercedes walked Rachel and I over to the Palacio Real. It’s a lovely walk, but it was chilly (it’s been in the thirties (Ferenheit) in Madrid, although it doesn’t rain often, so we frequently has sun with the cold, so I don’t mind, but sometimes it can be pretty windy and that makes it feel much colder). The city of Madrid is actually not that old. It didn’t become the capital until 1561, and even then it looked nothing like the city does today. In the ninth century, the site of the Palacio Real was occupied by a Ottoman fortress, as Madrid was then part of their territory. In 1035 Madrid became part of Castile (but not the capital), and the fortress was occasionally occupied by Castilian royalty. In the 1500s, a new castle (in the Ottoman style, called an alcázar instead of a castillo) was built on the same site and was in use until Philip V, the first Burbon king of Spain, came into power. The story goes that he showed up in Madrid and refused to live in the alcázar because it was too ugly. Then on December 24, 1734, the old castle mysteriously burned to the ground with all the people and valuables (including paintings that were on the walls) removed beforehand, and Philip V ordered construction for the current Palacio Real (finished construction in 1755).
The modern Palacio Real is the official residence of King Juan Carlos, but he doesn’t live there. Much of the palace is open to the public for touring (for 10 euro, 5 for students): the main rooms preserved in the fantastic ornate baroque style and with paintings by arists like Velázquez, Goya, and Caravaggio; the armory full of armor, swords, maces, guns, horse armor (almost all of which are extremely ornate because they were used for show, some of my favorite were the jousting armor); and the royal pharmacy (thousands of porcelain jars and glass vials full of dried ingredients and carefully labeled and organized on shelves in several rooms, and the old pharmaceutical lab, which looks like a cross between a chemistry lab and a blacksmith’s workshop). The rest is used for ceremonies. It’s technically the largest palace in Europe by floor area, but I’m not sure if that includes the massive central plaza or not.
But on the way from our house to the Palacio Real, we walked down an awesome pedestrian street (which leads to Sol) full of great shopping and cafes, and one of the best places in Madrid to get chocolate con churros called Valor. Rachel and I went back here in the evening to warm up after going store to store looking for cute shoes (we both found a pair, and they were both made in Spain so we joked that this should count as a cultural activity that Stanford would subsidize). It is definitely the best chocolate con churros I have had in all of Madrid. If you ever go to Madrid, you must go here (they have a website so you can find the location, but it’s close to the Callao metro stop).
sábado el 28 de enero
This afternoon I went to the Parque del Retiro, kind of like the “Central Park” of Madrid. It’s huge! It was chilly when I was there, so it should be really nice in March when it starts getting a little warmer, but it was still beautiful and packed with people. There are many fountains and statures throughout the park, and a lake where you can rent boats to paddle around. A very regal serried of columns and statues sits at the edge of the lake, and a whole bunch of stray cats live in the nooks in this structure. I tried to get one to let me pet it, but it realized I didn’t have any food and was not having it. Cafes sit at regular intervals throughout the park with plenty of chairs and tables outside to grab a coffee and sit and chat and enjoy the park. There are also a few buildings in the park, some quite beautiful. Some of these are home to special exhibitions of the Reina Sofia Museum, and el Casón del Buen Retiro has a collection of Sorolla paintings. One of my favorite places is the Palacio de Cristal, modeled after the Crystal Palace in London. It is a glass pavilion with its own artificial pond, which is full of ducks and geese. We were there around sunset, and when the orange-pink light illuminates the glass roof, it’s striking. I tried to take a picture, but it didn’t even come close.
domingo el 29 de enero
Today we went back to El Rastro, the flea market that takes over several streets in el barrio de Embajadores every Sunday from 9am-3pm. Last time I was here, I found a pair of earrings that were really pretty and unusual, but I wasn’t sure about it so I didn’t get them. Today, the particular jewelry stall was still there, as were the earrings, and I still liked them so they came home with me.
After roaming El Rastro, we walked into the nearby barrio Lavapiés, which is the immigrants (mainly Chinese, Arabic and Indian) district. We walked around for a while looking for non-Spanish restaurants that smelled good and noting places that looked like they would be fun to come back another time. We ended up eating in an Indian restaurant, and it was very satisfying to have food flavored with so many spices. In Spain, spicy food doesn’t really exist (the spiciest Spanish food is probably chorizo). Also, most Spanish food relies much more on the flavor and quality of the individual ingredients than added flavor from spices, so my roommate and I (both from California and accustomed to eating all different kinds of food all the time) were craving something with a little more kick. The Indian restaurant was good, and while nothing was actually spicy, all the dished had lots of spices and very not-Spanish flavor. I also found a place that serves kind-of Mexican food, including quesadillas de jamón, which cracks me up because it’s so Spanish to put jamón in everything, and you would never find a ham quesadilla (carnitas yes, but that’s very different than jamón) in California or Mexico.
lunes el 30 de enero
We’re learning a new dance in flamenco called the Sevillanas (because the dance comes from Sevilla). It’s fun to do, but the rhythm of the music that goes with the Servillanas is very different than my classmates and I are used to, so it’s taking a lot of “palmas” (clapping) on the part of our teacher to keep us on beat.
I had a snack with Lindsay after flamenco at a Spanish chain called Vips. They have a random selection of dishes, and one of them was Mexican chilaquiles. It had three “spicy” icons next to the name, so we ordered one to share. It was actually spicy! In the US there would probably have been about half a “spicy” icon next to the name, but since I don’t need really spicy stuff, I was very happy.
martes el 31 de enero
Today I had a hands-on lesson on the benefits of being “enchufado” (well-connected) in Spain. First of all, this is generally true: in Spain getting jobs, getting into places, getting deals, or generally getting what you want has a lot to do with who you know and who you are. Not saying you can’t do any of those things if you don’t know someone, but it’s a lot easier if you do. Also, they don’t really tip in Spain, so there’s not much of an incentive for good service, so the way you get better service is by getting to know someone (like a bartender at a favorite bar, or the pharmacist at the local pharmacy). But back to the story. Mariu, my host mom’s niece who lives with us, is finishing her training to be a doctor (not sure if it’s more like the last year of medical school or an intern year or a residency in the US…but she works in the hospital every day). I’ve had a nagging cough for a long time, and I tried going to the pharmacy here and getting over the counter things, but Mariu said I should let her check me out to be sure it wasn’t something that needed more serious medication. Today, I went to the hospital where she works, called her and she came and picked me up, and then walked me to the reception desk from the “behind the scenes” way, where the receptionist entered all my information and printed out my forms to be treated in the hospital right then even though she had a line of people waiting. We went to a few other places in the hospital, I had my check-up and she concluded nothing was out of the ordinary and no tests were necessary, but gave me some antibiotics in case they would help me get better faster since what I had been doing for the last three weeks hadn’t done the trick (although admittedly I haven’t been “taking it easy”…but how can I? I’m living in Madrid for three months!).
miércoles el 1 de febrero
The weather is pretty crazy in Europe right now. The beach in Barcelona is covered in snow. It’s snowing in Rome and San Sebastián, two places friends are going this weekend. My roommate is taking a bus to San Sebastián (8 or 5 hours depending if you take the express or not), and I’m a little worried they’ll get stuck in the snow since Spain isn’t as used to plowing the roads. Luckily, it rarely snows in Madrid (or rains for that matter, although tonight it did) and it’s not quite cold enough for it to snow.
For the next week, there is a wonderful event happening in Madrid called the Gastrofestival. This involves conferences on food and cooking, well-known chefs coming to Madrid, and most importantly for me, very good (and pricey) restaurants all over the city are offering special menus at prices much lower than usual. So, tonight Lindsay and I went out to dinner at Casa Patas. They serve traditional Spanish food and are well-known for their flamenco shows. Unfortunately we didn’t see a flamenco show tonight, but I definitely will go to one while in Madrid. For our first course, I had a raw salmon salad with capers and Lindsay had ratatouille (both of which were delicious) and for second course I had cod in a yummy sauce and Lindsay had oxtail, which was fall-off-the-bone tender, and for dessert I had rice pudding and Lindsay had a special type of ice cream that looked kind of like crème brule because it was topped with a thin layer of toasted caramel. Casa Patas is pretty close to Kapital, the seven-floor and most well-known discoteca in Madrid, which is close to Calle Huertas, which is a street full of fun bars, so after dinner we met up with some friends and went bar hopping.
jueves el 2 de febrero
I’m feeling much healthier…I think I’m finally kicking this sickness for real, which is great because on Thursdays there is no cover charge for Kapital, and I haven’t been yet (which is close to unacceptable since I’ve been here for four weeks). I’m headed to the Reina Sofia Museum right after I post this (also close to unacceptable that I haven’t been yet), and I’m really excited to see Picasso’s Guernica.
A few things about living in a Spanish house:
1. You never are barefoot. Or in just socks. Good thing I remembered to bring my slippers! But slippers are sold for pretty cheap in stores all over Madrid (especially tienda de chinos, that’s not a racist thing to say in Spain, and it is what everyone calls the stores that have everything for cheap that are run by Chinese immigrants), so it wasn’t a big deal for the people who didn’t bring them.
2. Voz alta. Sometimes it seems like your host mom is yelling at you. She’s not, that’s just what Spanish people do when they want to get a point across (much more than in the US). Also, conversation in general in Spain is not as polite in the US. I don’t mean content-wise, I mean that in Spain turn-taking in conversation isn’t as big of a thing, so when you want to talk you sometimes have to interrupt. There is a nighttime talk show on the radio called “Hablar por hablar” that is very Spanish in this sense. There are also things called tertulias (a social gathering, in person or on the radio where the purpose is to talk about a certain topic, like literature or politics) which have been around for a long time in Spain and still happen on the radio today, but listening to them is a little crazy because it seems quite hectic compared to talk shows in the US—lots of people speaking in voz alta, interrupting, and following the flow of conversation without much organization.
3. You always greet people when you come in and leave. This is also good manners in the US, but I think it’s more important to do in Spain, and not just in houses. Whenever you enter a room (store, classroom, etc.) you should say some kind of greeting (buenas, short for buenos días, is common, as is “hola, buenos días” even though that seems a little repetitive), and when you leave “adios” or “chao”. Also, when you pass by someone you know on the street and just want to say hello but not stop to talk to them, you say “adios” instead of a greeting.
4. Only turn on lights if you need them. Like, actually need them. The light of day is usually sufficient for most activities, and you would never leave a light on when you leave a room. Electricity is quite expensive in Spain. So is calling on the cell phone, which is why the smartphone app “WhatsApp” is extremely popular. So much so that if I meet a Spanish person my age, they’re equally likely to ask if I have WhatsApp as for my phone number. Merche, my hermana española, even uses the “verb” (not an actual verb) “whatsappear” when talking with her friends, as in “¿luego quieres whatsappear?”
5. Water and heating are also expensive, so I turn off the shower when I wash my body and then turn it back on to rinse. However, during the time I turn off the shower, the new water stops being heated, so I have about 30 seconds to rinse off in still hot water unless I want to wait for it to heat up again, which defeats the purpose of turning the water off in the first place.
6. You use little toilet paper. You don’t use it to blow your nose, fix your makeup, wrap yourself like a mummy, etc.
7. Not sure if I’ve made this clear or not, but you eat a small breakfast (coffee/tea and a piece of toast with nutella/a few small, thin lightly cinnamon flavored cookies which I love/a small sweetbread called a magdelena (like a Spanish Madeline cookie?) whenever you get up, which for me Monday-Thursday is around 8:15 since I leave for class a little before 8:45 and Friday-Sunday sometime after that. Lunch (almuerzo or comida, the biggest meal of the day) is around 2:30 or 3, and dinner (cena, lighter than la comida) around 9:30-10 (in the winter, in the summer when it’s warm it could be later).
8. Every time you leave the house, your mamá española insists that you wear a scarf (and sometimes a hat and gloves) to keep you from catching cold.
9. Your mamá española will try to feed you until you explode, and you have to be insistent if you don’t want anything else. “No, gracias” usually will be more likely to cause more offering of food, but a firm “¡Todo fue buenísima pero estoy muy llena!” is good.
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