Back to "normal"
Trip Start
Aug 27, 2009
1
33
45
Trip End
Dec 21, 2009
Madrid, Madrid, Spain and Canary Islands
Sunday, November 15, 2009
The majority of Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday were split mainly between catching up on work that I missed, and trying to convince my panicked host mom that it's normal to have less of an appetite after surgery on your digestive system. She was fairly convinced that this was something that needed immediate medical attention, however. When I only got through half of her massive pile of potatoes and beef, she told me that this was "very dangerous" and that I was going to wither away to nothing. It took a fair amount of discussion for her to understand that it's hard to eat after being operated on.
Something I found while lost
Thursday I had a follow up appointment back at the hospital, where they confirmed that I did have appendicitis (I'm glad they did this a week after doing surgery for it). The doctor basically said that my recovery was going well. The only minor problem was a mild allergic reaction to the latex in the badages, but that was resolved with a new brand.
Thursday night, I went over to the apartment of one of the girls in the program (Callie from Texas), where we had a dinner with other people from school. One would think that 5 college aged kids with plenty of Spanish wine would end up being a little crazy...but I think I actually had one of the most interesting conversations of my life. One of the girls who was there is in school to become a preacher (pastor? I don't know the lingo?) with the Presbyterian church, and all of us started a pretty intense conversation about the nature of religion and the inter workings of perspective in regards to that. I think what made it most interesting was the range of religious beliefs in the group: One girl is Jewish, one is Catholic, one is an ex-catholic now nondenominational, and one is "spiritual", with interests in religions from Buddhism to Taoism to Christianity. The mix of everything together made quite the conversation.
Plaza Espana
Afterwards we went out to the bars for a little...less-intellectual entertainment. While there, we met a group of traditional Spanish musicians (all male, age range 20-35). They were performing in Valladolid, but were from Sevilla originally. It made the night very interesting, because they decided that they were going to serande us with something every 10 minutes. Even walking around town, a few would randomly show up behind us and start playing the guitar and singing. It was a very stereotypical Spanish atmosphere.
Early Saturday morning (7am), I took a train to Madrid for a day trip. I had decided that if I was going to be in Spain for a semester, it would be a good choice to at least spend some time in the capital city. The train ran on traditional Spanish time, with a scheduled departure time of 7:01am and an actual departure time of 7:29. I'm still trying to figure out if this happens because the business doesn't worry too much about being punctual, or if they know that the general population is always late and adjust their schedules according to that. On the train I sat across the aisle from a girl that literally spent 2 hours putting on her makeup. Then when she finished with that, she started helping her friend with her makeup. It was facinating to watch...I've never seen anyone in my life with such a fear of their own skin.
I got in to Madrid at about 10, and headed to the Metro station to get started touring. The Madrid metro is one of the nicest (and the 3rd largest) in the world. It is incredibly clean, spacious, and in general fairly safe. I took the metro from the station to main city area, by Plaza de Espana. After picking up starbucks, I immediately proceeded to get lost
Plaza Espana
. I don't know why, but I kind of just started walking down a street hoping that I'd eventually run into something to guide me in the right direction. Fifteen minutes later, that hadn't happened so I found a bus stop where I stopped and tried to reorient myself. After studying the map for a while and reading my tour book...two old women walked up to me and asked (in Spanish) where I was from. This caught me off guard a little, as that's not really a normal question. I told them I was from the US, and they told me that they were trying to decide if I looked German or Russian. This made the situation even more awkward. I decided to just ask them if they knew how to get to Templo Derod, which they did. After giving me directions...they parted telling me that I was "muy bonita y exotica" (very pretty and exotic looking). I wasn't entirely sure how to take that either....I can't say I've ever been called "exotic" before, and I wasn't really expecting it while wearing a purple hoodie and jeans). In any case, I did finally find where I needed to go.The Templo de Derod (Derod Temple) is an Egyptian temple that was recently shipped brick by brick to Madrid as a "gift" for Spains help with flooding in the lower valley. I put "gift" in quatations because this is Spain's side of the story. We learned in art that Spain is the owner of a good deal of northern African art that North Africa really wants back. It makes me wonder if the temple was more of a demand than a gift. In any case, the building was really cool. The exterior is surrounded by a reflecting pool, and the building backs up to an overlook of the city of Madrid. I did a tour of the inside, which was really interesting (and a nice change from Gothic churches). The weather was really nice all day (mid 60s), so I ate my bag lunch outside of the temple in the park...with a great view of the city
Plaza Espana
.After lunch, I went to the market in the Plaza de Espana, where they had all kinds of stuff for pretty cheap. I probably could have spent at least 50 euros there on all the cool stuff they had, but didn't because apparently I'm broke. I did find a few Christmas presents though :). After that, I took the metro over to the other side of town, where the majority of the touristy stuff is. My timing was perfect...I arrived in the area just as a giant peace parade was getting started. It was undoubtedly, one of the coolest, most breathtaking things I've seen while over here. It was a massive parade, featuring people of all ages and all ethnicity. There was traditional dancing, music, mobs of people waving flags, banners, and people giving out free hugs. It was amazing because people who were watching would randomly be handed these orange peace flags and then they would join in the parade themselves. The atmosphere of the whole thing was just incredible...and really impossible to explain.
After watching the parade, I went to the famous Museo del Prado (Prado Art Museum). It's the home of some of the most famous art in the world, including the works of Goya, El Grecco, Velazquez (including "Las Meninas") and more. The museum was cool...just being able to see the originals of some of the most famous work in the world is pretty impressive
El Templo Debod
. The place is also very well organized and easy to get through, which is sometimes a little unique for Spain. My travel book said that the Prado is best done as a day trip, which I would assume to be true if you really had a passion for art. There are so many rooms and pieces in it that you can't really get to all of it in just a few hours. However, I'd say my passion for art is somewhat....average. I enjoyed a lot of it, and really liked the museum, but two hours in there was enough. One can only look at so many paintings of Jesus on the cross, or Jesus and the Magis, or Jesus etc etc before it gets a little repetitive. That seems to be the one thing about Spanish art...it is majorly dominated by conservative religious themes.After the Prado, I decided I needed a little relaxation and time to just sit and relax. I went across the street and got a water and some ice cream at a Burger Kind, and brought it back over to the botanical gardens of Madrid. Inside is a massive collection of plants from Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa. I sat on a bench in the middle and had my snack. During that time, I found two kittens that lived in the garden. I spent the next half hour randomly just following them around..missing my kitties back home :(.
I ended the day with a visit to another little market near the Prado
Old woman with camera take one
. I didn't get anything there but it was tempting. They had a number of "struggling artists" there, selling their pieces...all of which were extremely unique. The styles produced by the amatuer artists was very...modern. After a little browsing, I headed back via the metro to the train station. Had a very smooth and uneventful ride back. I finished off the weekend that night by going out to get tapas with friends, since there is an international tapa tasting thing going on right now. We ran into the traditional musicians again...but ran away because we were tired of being serenaded.Only 17 days left of school (+2 days of tests). :( Where does time go???
