Día de los Reyes Magos

Every January 6th Spaniards celebrate a holiday dedicated to the Magi, or three kings, that brought presents to the baby Jesus! The parable says that King Herod, a crazy baby killer, asked the three kings to find Jesus and tell him where he was at, so that he too could pay homage to the little one. Luckily the three kings had a dream, realized that Herod just wanted to shank the baby, and decided to ignore King Herod's wishes. Although I'm not sure about the actuality of the three kings, I was more than down to eat "roscon" y and drink chocolate caliente in celebration of this "event". Dia de los Reyes Magos seems to be valued equally if not more than Christmas, here in Spain. I don't mind that. Seems better to focus on three baby-saving kings than on a judgmental, cookie scarfing Santa Claus.

I tried two different types of roscon, one with "nata" (cream) and one without. But of course, being the "gordi" that I am, I liked the Roscon with whipped cream in the middle. Santi, his mom, and I all failed to find the porcelain "sopresa" in our first pieces of Roscon. Although I did find it in my second piece...apparently you don't get any good luck from that. Oh, and can't forget, our roscon was accompanied by thick, rich, and creamy valor chocolate! Hot chocolate in Spain is so different from America's. It incredibly thick and filling... yet whenever I have it, I seem to be the only one who can't finish the whole thing. Spaniards drink it like milk. Such bosses.



After breakfast and a few cat naps, Santi's mom and her friend prepared a feast for lunch! We had chicken adobo, fried rice, langostinos (shrimp), salad, some anchovy fish dish (that I wasn't adventurous enough to try), and my favorite wine in the world, Lambrusco Dell'Emilia Tinto (basically just bubbly red wine < 2e at your mom&pop supermarket in Madrid). I feel so lucky I get to have real homecooked meals at Santi's. I may not miss Spanish food when I come home, but I'll definitely miss Josefa's filipino food!


That night I went to Reina Bruja with the gang (minus my roomies who were still recovering from the night before), and had a really good time. Reina Bruja never fails to have great music and good company. I feel like a regular these days.

Inception

If you've seen the recent movie, Inception, and you remember how when the characters did strange things in their dreams their projections would begin to stare at them. Well, that's kinda what it's like here in Madrid. When spaniards hear you talking in english or when you're walking down the street with your girlfriends (and you look nice) some people may begin to stare. And it feels like the staring as a domino effect. Like when one person points in the sky, everyone has to look... well, if one man begins to stare, his entire possy will start to stare. Sometimes the staring is out of curiosity and sometimes the staring only precedes the catcalling.

My friends and I have managed to just make jokes out of those situations so it hasn't become too big of a deal. The cultural differences are really interesting to examine though. Here in the dorms, the spaniards are extremely loud and sometimes even obnoxious. I thought Americans were supposed to be the noisy and annoying ones.

For the most part, however, the spaniards I have come into contact with have been jovial and patient people. I've already gone to look at a few pisos (a piso is a flat) for rent and the landlords were SO nice and spoke slowly so we could understand them. The first piso I looked at was in Palacio (a certain barrio/ neighborhood). It was right smack in the middle of so many pubs, restaurants, etc. but the room I would have had only had a window to the interior of the building and there was no living room. And for some reason, my room wouldn't have gotten internet...strange. BUT AHHH, the second piso I went to look at was BEAUTIFUL. It is located in Sol (pretty much in the center of Spain), right next to the Plaza Mayor and the Ópera metro station on Calle Arenal. GREAT AREA... but Danielle and I would have had to share a room. And for the price we'd be paying, we can probably find a place with our own habitación.

Oh the food here in the dorms is HORRIBLE. They put HAM in EVERYTHING. I can't even pretend to be hungry when I enter the dining hall. Its like my stomach is begging me not to eat.

But the nightlife is AMAZING. On wednesday, Erin (my roomie), Danielle, Scott and Chris went to Joy and Palace (two clubs in Sol). It was funny how on the first night all of us SBers found each other and went out together. I realized that night that I LOVE CLUBS. The girls got in for free everywhere and we all got free sangria at Palace. We danced and drank and had a grand time. I even made friends with some of the people working there :) It was a great way to start off our time here in Spain.

Last night the entire program went to Kapital, a 7 story high nightclub in Madrid. I LOVED THE LATIN FLOOR. The men actually dance here! They were swinging Danielle and I around like we were pro salsa dancers! I didn't even attempt to wear heels either of these nights I went out. My feet hurt enough from all the walking I've been doing during the day. I'm definitely in the market for a pair of grandma shoes (super comfy) that I can pull off as fashionable shoes for all the walking I do when I'm exploring the city.

School starts on Monday and I don't know how I feel about that. While I do want to brush up on my spanish, I also don't want to have class everyday! :( But I just have to remember its only for a month... and then hopefully I'll only have class twice a week :).

Sorry this entry was so random and jumbled. I haven't had time to keep this updated with everything going on... but I'm going to get on top of it! Thanks for reading :)

PS- I bought my first bottle of wine the other day! Probably going to drink it tonight before dinner with some chicas...maybe it will make the food taste better.