¡Ay, que cultura!

My apologies for already being a bad blogger! The internet confessions just might not be for me after all, but I’ll keep trying….

The past week has been busy with lots of cultural activities and social events. Thursday, September 20 I went to a free flamenco show at a Metro station – not sure if it was waiting for two hours in line before hand, but the company was good and the concert was very feel good (I’ve attached pictures/videos here – finally)! The next day, my friend Pablo (who is also my roommate Teresa’s boyfriend) came into town and the four of us flatmates had a few friends over for dinner. Very international and eclectic, as people who come through this house tend to be, but all in all a very enjoyable evening – I learned how to make tortilla de patata once again and eating out on the terraza, speaking in Spanish with everyone, was really very fun. Saturday night brought about La noche en blanco, a big cultural evening that takes place in all major European cities (Paris’s is this coming Saturday night, for example). All of the cultural venues, art galleries, music venues, parks, banks, theaters, etc. stay open until 7 AM with literally hundreds of works of art and street performances and plays and expositions going on at once. On a normal Saturday night, you can see throngs of people out on the streets in Madrid, but this was absolutely insane. After a few failed attempts at trying to see shows due to timing and rain delays, I decided to give up and meet some friends I know from my time spent here before to have dinner. We ended up walking all over the city until the wee hours of the morning, which was more fun than trying to rush from one place to another trying to see everything. I am thoroughly convinced now that art + masses ≠ a cultural experience; nonetheless, it was a successful night spent with friends. The picture on the left is just one example of how crowded the venues were!

This past weekend brought on more of the same - spending time with friends, shopping in Sol, preparing for the fiestas and celebrating my roommate’s 26 birthday (see picture here of a tarp we all painted for her during the party), hearing authentic flamenco singers at a place near my piso. I find my time divided between my roommates and my Spanish friends and the Fulbrighters, who are an amazing group of people. The only downside to spending time with them, though, is that we speak in English. After a full day of doing so, the guilt of not practicing Spanish for a few hours sets in! Of course, that being the most difficult thing in my life right now, I won’t complain.

Other than that, I have seen a fair number of movies this week – the Spanish “Color azul casi negro,” the Iranian film “Las tortugas también vuelan” (seen dubbed in Spanish, of course), and “Sliding Doors.” Tonight I’m headed to the Filmoteca, a great indie cinema to see the Ingmar Bergman film “The Passion” – not sure it will be the most uplifting way to start off the week, but never having seen one of his films, I think it will be interesting.

This week has definitely brought about a feeling of being settled in, having a routine, being very comfortable with my roommates, and having more confidence in my teaching skills. It’s all a matter of trial and error. For example, my very first lesson teaching first year students about Liverpool, England using a DVD failed miserably. With the second group, though, I was able to correct my mistakes and it was a success! My schedule has changed at the school two weeks into work (you gotta love the complete lack of organization in the schools here!) and now I only work Mondays – Wednesdays. I have a couple of extra tutoring jobs also, tutoring nephews and nieces of the professors at my school. The next order of business is trying to find some open French classes to enroll in and find a place for salsa lessons. It’s strange to have so much free time, but I’m pretty sure it won’t take long at all to get used to!

For now, I am going to get back to The Time Traveler’s Wife, which is currently occupying a lot of my attention. Hope you all are well. Please do write when you get some time!