I went to bed around 12 and obsessively woke up to check what time it was. I forgot to bring any sort of alarm device and my clock was the computer. I probably spent about half of the hours in bed trying to fall back asleep, waking up a good 20 times or so. At 5 I finally gave up, and got ready to catch the metro at 6 to the airport.
Walking around town at 6 AM was an experience in itself due to the large number of people still out and about. The first train of the morning was much fuller than I thought it would be, but I with one glance around I figured out why. Many heads were drooping onto shoulders, people were yawning, and all were catching the train home after a long night of festivity.
At the airport I met up with Josh, Michaela, and Jessica who were taking the same early flight to Jerez de la Frontera. After a short flight we arrived fresh and ready for some adventure, well at least Josh and I did. Michaela and Jessica were not very into exploring. Josh and I convinced them to come with us into town with us since we had a good few hours to kill. The tourism lady gave us some instructions and off we went, hauling all of our crap into town. At the bus station in town, where we were told we could leave our things a guard with the most ridiculously hard to understand accent told us that a new ordinance made it so that we can’t leave bags there, effectively killing our adventuresome escapade since trekking around town with rollers the size of small cows wasn’t going to be easy. We found two more programees at the bus station who returned with us to the airport where we found even more programees!
That evening we arrived in Cadiz and we were whisked away by our different families. Since my ‘mom’ was feeling poorly my ‘dad’ picked me up. Celso, a retired captain in the navy who was once the top assistant to the governor of all of the Cadiz province, is a fantastic man who loves to laugh and joke. Having served in the navy he has traveled to many places and was even stationed in the United States for a while. Carmen is also great. She works as a flamenco teacher in and around town. Her cooking is fantastic and she feeds me way too much frequently. Her most endearing quality is how much she enjoys talking. Oh man do I get an earful about everything. It is occasionally excessive but never annoying. They are both intelligent, have intelligent kids, and entertain my developing Spanish as well as wandering mind.
After some lunch a nap, some dinner, and a walk I slept soundly for the first time in a few days quite comfortably and certainly content with my situation here in Cadiz.
viernes, 31 de agosto de 2007
jueves, 30 de agosto de 2007
08-30-07 Unexpected Encounter
So today is a day I want to beat myself up about. While walking down the streets of Madrid a girl made a comment about my search as I passed by, “Oh, Tusker!” I turned and realized it was someone I had gone to school with in Kenya! In my speechlessness I found out she was going to university at an International College in Madrid studying communications. I told her my deal, and that was that. I didn’t ask if she wanted to go get a drink, or meet up for dinner, nothing! I felt like I missed a fantastic opportunity of catching up with someone who I’m sure had no idea what my name was either (likely due to my socially awkward last 2 years in Kenya). Oh well, life goes on and perhaps I'll see her again. As for the rest of the day, I walked aimlessly around the Puerta del Sol district, buying a Baguette, a crappy apple, and a Snickers for lunch which I ate on the Paseo del Prado which was gorgeous. A mid-day nap and some reading/Interneting did little to shake the encounter from my mind. I walked around for the rest of the day doing little aside from getting un bocadillo de jamon, a glass of wine, and a tapa. Bed time was an early 10:30 in light of needing to head out at 5 for the airport.
08-29-07 Madrid Pub Crawl
My first night in Spain was a little painful. After wandering around the center of Madrid for about an hour, I finally broke down and paid 50 euro for a room to sleep for 8 hours and recharge for the next day. It was nothing special and I was quite frustrated. The next day I went straight to an internet café and collected the addresses for some much more affordable hostels. The one I chose (and I’m glad I did since the owners are fantastically sweet) cost just 17 euro and is a dorm style room. Now the best part - which I found out the day after – is there is free wireless Internet! Woooo!
After getting all set up I went off to get some food and run some errands. I went to the drug store for a normally prescription antibiotic…got it with no hassle. I was impressed. As for food, I ate a couple of mini sandwiches and drank fresh orange juice, mmm. My next step was to do a little sight seeing. I took a stroll around the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) and saw all sorts of great architecture. By now it was about 4, which meant (at least for me) siesta! And, with a couple of hours of recharging I was ready for some more activity.
In light of anything better to do, I took a stroll around the city, consequently finding a free wireless hotspot. Interesting how fast Spain is growing into their new selves. Their induction into the European union has brought about rapid progression on multiple fronts. Madrid is an incredibly clean city, mostly due to the multitude of public workers. I guess it is expected from a socialist democracy. I’ve yet to see the downside to their system of governance, though I can only image it would not garner the “economic efficiency” of a complete market economy. With prices for services skyrocketing in the United States, it is nice to see a place where a baseline of services is provided to all. It is particularly useful since it eliminates the inefficiency of Medicare and other governmental welfare programs which must weed out the needy from the opportunists. Spain has an interesting system for these services, allowing doctors to work privately with a portion of their time if they wish, as long as they spend the specified amount working publicly. This alleviates much of the gripping I hear from the Canadians (who have a similar medical system), since if you really need a procedure done and are willing to pay you may do so.
Anyways, to the fun part of the story!
After a little playing on the Internet I returned to my hostel to find that the 3 others I was sharing the room with had returned. All three were Italian, two women who were traveling together, and a man traveling alone. After some chatting in a mix of English and Spanish I got to know my roommates and ended up going with the Italian on a pub crawl he had caught wind of. Francesco was a lively fellow and very typically Italian, aside from being very down to earth (I attribute that to the traveling he had done). On the crawl I ended up meeting 4 nice girls, two German and two Brazilian. I was glad Francesco and I had paired up since everyone else was traveling with at least one other. Throughout the night we hit up 3 clubs and 2 discotecas. All had music louder than is healthy and people in all corners. Before long the German girls started to make fun of everyone’s dancing, but I’m proud (not sure if I should be) to say my only comment is that I danced like an American. Sorry to say I can’t help that as of yet. On the contrary one of the Brazilians, Tatiana, said that I danced like a Brazilian man and from then on I was no longer the American, but El Brazileno. After much dancing Francesco went off with a questionable girl, obviously to have some questionable fun, and I walked home the Brazilians who had to wake up in just a few hours. I’m now back at my dormitory style hostel where the Italian women are asleep and I’m starting my string of memoirs at 5 AM.
After getting all set up I went off to get some food and run some errands. I went to the drug store for a normally prescription antibiotic…got it with no hassle. I was impressed. As for food, I ate a couple of mini sandwiches and drank fresh orange juice, mmm. My next step was to do a little sight seeing. I took a stroll around the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) and saw all sorts of great architecture. By now it was about 4, which meant (at least for me) siesta! And, with a couple of hours of recharging I was ready for some more activity.
In light of anything better to do, I took a stroll around the city, consequently finding a free wireless hotspot. Interesting how fast Spain is growing into their new selves. Their induction into the European union has brought about rapid progression on multiple fronts. Madrid is an incredibly clean city, mostly due to the multitude of public workers. I guess it is expected from a socialist democracy. I’ve yet to see the downside to their system of governance, though I can only image it would not garner the “economic efficiency” of a complete market economy. With prices for services skyrocketing in the United States, it is nice to see a place where a baseline of services is provided to all. It is particularly useful since it eliminates the inefficiency of Medicare and other governmental welfare programs which must weed out the needy from the opportunists. Spain has an interesting system for these services, allowing doctors to work privately with a portion of their time if they wish, as long as they spend the specified amount working publicly. This alleviates much of the gripping I hear from the Canadians (who have a similar medical system), since if you really need a procedure done and are willing to pay you may do so.
Anyways, to the fun part of the story!
After a little playing on the Internet I returned to my hostel to find that the 3 others I was sharing the room with had returned. All three were Italian, two women who were traveling together, and a man traveling alone. After some chatting in a mix of English and Spanish I got to know my roommates and ended up going with the Italian on a pub crawl he had caught wind of. Francesco was a lively fellow and very typically Italian, aside from being very down to earth (I attribute that to the traveling he had done). On the crawl I ended up meeting 4 nice girls, two German and two Brazilian. I was glad Francesco and I had paired up since everyone else was traveling with at least one other. Throughout the night we hit up 3 clubs and 2 discotecas. All had music louder than is healthy and people in all corners. Before long the German girls started to make fun of everyone’s dancing, but I’m proud (not sure if I should be) to say my only comment is that I danced like an American. Sorry to say I can’t help that as of yet. On the contrary one of the Brazilians, Tatiana, said that I danced like a Brazilian man and from then on I was no longer the American, but El Brazileno. After much dancing Francesco went off with a questionable girl, obviously to have some questionable fun, and I walked home the Brazilians who had to wake up in just a few hours. I’m now back at my dormitory style hostel where the Italian women are asleep and I’m starting my string of memoirs at 5 AM.
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