So. Darlene had been asking me all along what was it I wanted to do for my birthday, and I had been saying just to go out to 100 Monteditos since it fell on a Wednesday for a little bit, nothing big. I didn't even care if people were there or not. She decided that wasn't enough and that she was taking me out to dinner on Tuesday (the day that Obama began his presidency) the night before my birthday and also the night I have to teach English to my student Marvin. I really wanted to watch the inauguration so I cancelled my class and had it moved to Thursday instead. I went to Dar's house, she had found a nice Italian restaurant that she wanted to take me to and kept bugging me to see how much longer I'd be.
Earlier that day my roommate had sent me a text saying, "Hey its Anaola, what times is leah's party"... me thinking she's just silly decided she just forgot for the 10 billionth time that I had said Wednesday at 8pm at the 100 Monteditos in Tribunal. Then continued getting ready. I was suspicious obviously and thought that when I got the girls house they'd suprise me with them and the people that live there, which I was totally down for because I was tired. But no, Dar met me downstairs and we had a delicious, heavenly italian dinner! Sooooo good... with Tiramisu too! Then Dar had said she wanted to take me to this cool bar she'd gone on a date with one of her boys, that was really similar to this bar that we went to waaaaaaay back when we first got to Madrid. So we headed to the center and to the bar. When we were getting close to the bar I saw my friend Dylan and his friend Tomek skating in the plaza right next to it so I hollared at them to see what they were up to and if they wanted to join us at the bar. haha... They said sure and that they'd meet us inside. Then we got to the door and Anaola, my roommate and a few friends were smoking outside, I though it was really crazy how she ended up on her date in the same barrio as the bar we were going too! Then I turned and saw two of my friends, Pam and Marianna standing there too and thought, "well wait. Wtf?" and then I punched Dar in the arm. We went inside and a whoooooooooole bunch of my friends were there! Almost all of them! And they shouted suprise and said it had been planned for a couple weeks. And then when I thought about it it made sense that everyone in class on Tuesday had been asking if it was my birthday and I was confused and thought Facebook had messed up my birthday date on the upcoming birthdays tab. Haha!
That bar was really nice and really expensive, so me and Dar shared one drink while everyone else finished up theirs, then we went to the good ol' pubs just down the way. O'Connells. My favorite. And being girls we got a free round of shots just for going in on a weekday and somehow I ended up taking several of them instead. We drank and were merry and a lot of pictures came out of it and even a video too. Haha... Very fun! I spent the night at the girls place and took a long walk home through all the stores because my financial aid money had just gone through and I decided to find myself something cute. I ended up replacing a cardigan I had lost earlier that month with 2 more and a coffee from Starbucks.
The day of my birthday I met up with people at 100 Monteditos at around 8. Ana, my other really good friend here didn't make it out Tuesday night for the big party, but she made me a pillow and a card for Wednesday. Only a few people showed up Wednesday, mostly the people that weren't able to make it out Tuesday and their friends. Some of the WIP kids came out too which I thought was random and fun! Haha... Ana somehow talked me in to going out after 100 Monteditos closed and we found a cool swanky bar nearby and I spent the night at her house and skipped my 8:30am class, but we made it to our 10am class! Haha... the teacher got concerned for me when I got up to go to the bathroom bc, 1) I never leave the classroom during class and 2) I probably didn't looks too good at that time because of the hangover and lack of sleep. It was interesting having to explain to my La Mujer teacher why I had missed class Thursday, and my friend Janel too, because we'd gone out Wednesday for my b-day. He just laughed and congratulated me. Haha
That Friday Tai, british friend, gave me several calls about going out that night. He'd wanted me to call Ana, but she wasn't answering and wasn't online so I couldn't tell her, but apparently he was able to get ahold of her. We met up with him and a couple of his friends, Manuel and Paul, at Banco de España and went to a bar called AK Bar for the night where Tai bought us bottle service so we could chill in VIP for the night. Izzy met up with us a little while after we got there because she had had work to do.
The rest of the month is just kind of a blur. We had a welcome back event I guess for Ahab when he came home from Costa Rica and thats about it. Mostly school. Not too exciting.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Uhh... I have a lot to fill in on
Whoa I suck at this whole blogging thing. So here's a January recap for those interested.
The family I live with went on a vacation for the first week and a half or so of January, so it was just me and the grandparents during that time. haha... Quite interesting being alone with them. Anyways, a friend of my old roommate, her name's Tamiko, came to visit early in the month for about 3 days. Me and Darlene went to pick her up in her hotel her first night here, then we took her to El Tigre and the brothers fell in love because she is gorgeous. I really think Phillipe almost ran in to the wall as he walked the first time he saw her. Haha! Then we met up with my brit friend Tai and Isabel and we all went to a cool pub, then a little bar/discoteca for the rest of the night until about 6 am I believe. The next day we went and kicked it in Retiro for a bit and did a little more exploring, but we were all so tired we ended up crashing at my place watching a movie. Next day we had starbucks and saw a couple more landmarks, then I took her to the train station so she could continue her travels.
The very next day was the eve of Los Reyes Magos, therefore it was pretty much their Christmas eve AND the night before my friend Emma's birthday. Knowing that nothing would be open on Jan 6th we went out to a bar right next door to the girls house for a drink at midnight. Darlene invited me out that night for drinks so we hit up the nice little bar called, Dos con cincuenta, everything is 2,50€ until a certain time, then they go up to like 3€ or something. She met quite a few boys that night, but we met 2. Angel was 23 and a boxer and did not like that we used the term "tía" because he said its a word that the lower classes use. I can't remember his friends name because he kept telling us that he was from Polaca and thats all I could remember, eventhough he's not from there. Some strange spanish joke me and Dar just didn't understand. Well, when Dos con cincuenta got lame the boys took us to this other bar/discoteca down the street that ended up being really cool... but somewhere between the two bars I lost my cardigan. But still had my jacket and scarf, so I was chillin. They walked us back to Dar's and we passed out and woke up to Emma, Ellie, Sara, and Emma's friend from home just having arrived again.
We went out a few more times that week once people started making their way back in to Madrid to celebrate Emma's b-day, since we really didn't get to celebrate it much. One night we got a few WIP, Wisconsin program, people to go out to El Tigre with the normal crowd, but I am poor and don't like having a huge crowd in busy El Tigre anyways, so Dar joined me at my friend Isabel's house party. It was straight United Nations status. There were people there from every corner of the world and I swear we had about 10 different languages being spoken the whole night. It was fun! I spent the night and helped Izzy clean up the next day because I was pretty sure her hangover and the fact that the boys were still sleeping, wouldn't have been useful in cleaning.
Then school started again and we all had to get back on track with the school life. And then in a couple days my birthday had arrived. I think I'm gonna make this a new blog though. So your eyes don't hurt from reading so much.
The family I live with went on a vacation for the first week and a half or so of January, so it was just me and the grandparents during that time. haha... Quite interesting being alone with them. Anyways, a friend of my old roommate, her name's Tamiko, came to visit early in the month for about 3 days. Me and Darlene went to pick her up in her hotel her first night here, then we took her to El Tigre and the brothers fell in love because she is gorgeous. I really think Phillipe almost ran in to the wall as he walked the first time he saw her. Haha! Then we met up with my brit friend Tai and Isabel and we all went to a cool pub, then a little bar/discoteca for the rest of the night until about 6 am I believe. The next day we went and kicked it in Retiro for a bit and did a little more exploring, but we were all so tired we ended up crashing at my place watching a movie. Next day we had starbucks and saw a couple more landmarks, then I took her to the train station so she could continue her travels.
The very next day was the eve of Los Reyes Magos, therefore it was pretty much their Christmas eve AND the night before my friend Emma's birthday. Knowing that nothing would be open on Jan 6th we went out to a bar right next door to the girls house for a drink at midnight. Darlene invited me out that night for drinks so we hit up the nice little bar called, Dos con cincuenta, everything is 2,50€ until a certain time, then they go up to like 3€ or something. She met quite a few boys that night, but we met 2. Angel was 23 and a boxer and did not like that we used the term "tía" because he said its a word that the lower classes use. I can't remember his friends name because he kept telling us that he was from Polaca and thats all I could remember, eventhough he's not from there. Some strange spanish joke me and Dar just didn't understand. Well, when Dos con cincuenta got lame the boys took us to this other bar/discoteca down the street that ended up being really cool... but somewhere between the two bars I lost my cardigan. But still had my jacket and scarf, so I was chillin. They walked us back to Dar's and we passed out and woke up to Emma, Ellie, Sara, and Emma's friend from home just having arrived again.
We went out a few more times that week once people started making their way back in to Madrid to celebrate Emma's b-day, since we really didn't get to celebrate it much. One night we got a few WIP, Wisconsin program, people to go out to El Tigre with the normal crowd, but I am poor and don't like having a huge crowd in busy El Tigre anyways, so Dar joined me at my friend Isabel's house party. It was straight United Nations status. There were people there from every corner of the world and I swear we had about 10 different languages being spoken the whole night. It was fun! I spent the night and helped Izzy clean up the next day because I was pretty sure her hangover and the fact that the boys were still sleeping, wouldn't have been useful in cleaning.
Then school started again and we all had to get back on track with the school life. And then in a couple days my birthday had arrived. I think I'm gonna make this a new blog though. So your eyes don't hurt from reading so much.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Felicidades!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!
So the holidays have just recently ended. I hope everyone had a wonderful time! I now I enjoyed myself very much. Here is a hopefully brief day-to-day recap of my holiday season.
December 24th, Christmas Eve to us Americans, but the day of Papa Noel to Spaniards. I layed in bed for most of the day just because I had nothing else important to do and didn't want to spend money. AnaOla and Aurora came in my room and we exchanged presents. They gave me a butt bag kinda thing that rests on the side of your hip and some rainbow colored box earrings and a FerreRoche coconut candy. Haha! Where as my lovely mother sent the family a whole bunch of Gilroy Garlic stuff that the girls got a kick out of! The family does have a couple of the things up for decoration, but I don't know if they've used any of the recipes or the seasons.
AnaOla just recently got her carnet and has really been wanting to go for a small trip. So we decide to drive to Escorial for the afternoon and make it back on time for dinner. She calls her friend Arturo to see if he's down, and I call Darlene. Both are down so we make our way to Moncloa to pick them up & wait for them. Haha!
Eventually we're all there and we head off! I had shotty because Ana, the mom, told me to watch over her since I already know how to drive. Somehow my sense of direction outside of Madrid was better than both the madrileños in the car. Escorial is a very hilly town and there is very little parking. Haha... Because of this, and it being her first time driving AnaOla has some trouble parking the car, which continues to turn off whenever she tries to accelerate it. Haha! She gave the car behind us a pretty strong love tap. And eventually a lady walking her dog offers to park the car for her. Me and Dar are in the back seat at this point and AnaOla and Arturo are outside guiding the lady. But other cars keep trying to pass us when its clearly impossible to do so and the car keeps turning off (Its a manual by the way). So the lady takes me and Dar around the block to give it another shot. Haha! I think this is all pretty funny, but very frustrating for a first time driver and think its best if we just keep going to look for more parking or just to leave.
We end up parking where only taxis are allowed to park, but we weren't going to be there for long and it would all be fine. Escorial had these huge paper maché characters and scenes all dealing with Los Reyes Magos and Navidad. It was pretty cool. We had a round cervecitas and bocadillos de tortilla before we left again. This time I sat in the back seat the whole ride...
We'd been driving for quite some time when we realize there is a sign that says something along the lines of "You are now entering Segovia" haha! Definately NOT where we wanted to be going! So we exit the freeway and turn around and have to pay a toll and ask the toll guy how to get back to Madrid. Thanks to his directions we start making our way home. Its getting late and it was almost dinner time. So as we head towards Madrid we notice snow banks along the side of the road. Haha! It was so sweet! So we move the hood down so we can look at the stars... And I can still see the Little and Big Dippers!!!
Eventually we make it home after getting some directions from Arturo's mom. Darlene came back to our house with us because she and I were going to be going to either our friend Jackie's or Pamela's places to spend Christmas Eve together. When we got there the family invited us to dinner, which was more of a foced invitation so we joined them. It was really cool. It was a plain simple spanish dinner with jámon serrano and shrimp and some kind of fish with dessert of course. And they sang a lot too. I was suprised to see the grandma singing and banging on the table in tune with everyone else too! Haha!
After dinner I packed up my backpack and me and Dar headed to Pam's place. We walked because the nocturnal bus would take too long to get to where we were and Pam's barrio wasn't too far. We ended up getting there some time around 1. Pam, Jessica, Ehika, and Eddie were all already there and watching a movie. I ended up going to bed some time around 7 am. Don't even ask what we did for that long because we didn't start any other movies nor were we drinking... I guess it was just filled with talking?
I was the first one awake the next morning. Go figure right? And accidently woke up Pam and Jessica when I went in the room to get my backpack so I could read my book. Darlene left about an hour after I woke up and Pam and Jessica got to cooking Christmas breakfast about a half hour after she left... I just sat and watched and was the "runner." Haha! We eventually woke Ehika up when everything was ready. We had eggs, hashbrown patty like things, something resembling sausage, homemade eggnog (that didn't tast like eggnog, it was mostly just cinnamon in milk), and mamosas. Haha! And with a little bit of bbq sauce everything was delicious! I cleaned all the dishes after and we started watching Mean Girls, but I felt like showering and lounging in my own house so I got dressed and walked home.
After skyping my family twice and feeling like I was on Big Brother I got ready and went and met up with the rest of our program after their Christmas dinner. I was still pretty full from breakfast, so I didn't need to eat any more. A few of us went out to the bars and had kebabs late night, then the four girls taxied over to our friend Raychel's house and crashed for the night.
I should really add that Darlene and I knew the Christmas plans for both the brothers that work/own El Tigre and their 4th bartender. Haha! A couple days later 2 of Emma's friends came in to town and Darlene and I offered to show them around if they wanted. Me and Dar pre-drank and ate at her house, then met Eddie in Tribunal. Emma's friends met up with us, and wanted to go to El Tigre, so we gladly went! Haha... Dar and Emma's friends ended up leaving with some Italian boys they met in the bar and I stayed with Eddie and some Irish guy he had met at the bar. We stayed until closing then made our way to a pub near Sol. Jackie and her sister were there so I got to hang out with them before they left and on the way home I fell 3 times due to the "ice" that was on the floor. Haha! I have a huge bruise and my khaki chords are pretty black-ish brown on one side. But I got home safely and had fun recuperating the next day.
Me and Dar went on a bit of a shopping spree on the 30th so I could have something to wear for New Year's Eve. After I bought everything I felt so guilty I got home and pulled an outfit together out of my closet and returned almost everything the next morning. Haha... I felt like one of those people I hate that come in my store right at opening to return stuff they shouldn't have ever bought. So sorry.
I hung out with Pam and Jessica for a while because I had to pick up my coat from Pam's place. Then went over to Darlene's to get a plethora of other things I have left at her house over the past few days and to borrow a pair of earrings.
Dinner with the family started at about 10 with jámon serrano and shrimp again. No fish this time. But we did have something that I think was lemon sherbert with champagne. It was really good. After dinner I helped put the dishes in the dishwasher and the family danced. haha... I just sat and watched because I'm not to comfortable dancing to the music they were playing because I don't really know how. At midnight we all ate our 12 grapes with the dongs of the clock and toasted with champagne afterwords. Then Aurora, AnaOla, and I finished getting ready and left to head to the bar.
We stopped at a botellón in our barrio where all of AnaOla's friends were meeting up to leave together. There were probably about 20 or 25 of us squeezing in to the metro at around 1:25. By the time we got there Darlene, Jose, Eddie, and Jose's friend were already there. And the rest of the night was a blast! Pam and Jessica ended up meeting up with us at the bar. The bar closed at 7 or 8 I think? By that time pretty much all of my friends had already left. All the madrileños were headed to Sol to eat churros con chocolate, but Aurora and AnaOla had a flight at 10 to the Carribean so we headed home. In broad daylight. It was nuts. I texted everyone Happy New Year and talked with my parents at 9 am then took a 5 hour nap before meeting up with my frien Ana for an all day party. Haha!
There were 3 of these parties going on on the 1st and we went to one waaaaaaay outside of Madrid. We had to take a bus to get there. It was really fun though. We went with 3 British boys we met through Ana's new Canadian friend, Isabel. They're a cool group of people. The party ended at midnight and we all made it back to Madrid safely. Me and Ana walked to her house, ate grilled cheese sandwiches and passed out for the night.
And that has been my holiday season so far. I hope it hasn't bored you too much! Feliz Año!
So the holidays have just recently ended. I hope everyone had a wonderful time! I now I enjoyed myself very much. Here is a hopefully brief day-to-day recap of my holiday season.
December 24th, Christmas Eve to us Americans, but the day of Papa Noel to Spaniards. I layed in bed for most of the day just because I had nothing else important to do and didn't want to spend money. AnaOla and Aurora came in my room and we exchanged presents. They gave me a butt bag kinda thing that rests on the side of your hip and some rainbow colored box earrings and a FerreRoche coconut candy. Haha! Where as my lovely mother sent the family a whole bunch of Gilroy Garlic stuff that the girls got a kick out of! The family does have a couple of the things up for decoration, but I don't know if they've used any of the recipes or the seasons.
AnaOla just recently got her carnet and has really been wanting to go for a small trip. So we decide to drive to Escorial for the afternoon and make it back on time for dinner. She calls her friend Arturo to see if he's down, and I call Darlene. Both are down so we make our way to Moncloa to pick them up & wait for them. Haha!
Eventually we're all there and we head off! I had shotty because Ana, the mom, told me to watch over her since I already know how to drive. Somehow my sense of direction outside of Madrid was better than both the madrileños in the car. Escorial is a very hilly town and there is very little parking. Haha... Because of this, and it being her first time driving AnaOla has some trouble parking the car, which continues to turn off whenever she tries to accelerate it. Haha! She gave the car behind us a pretty strong love tap. And eventually a lady walking her dog offers to park the car for her. Me and Dar are in the back seat at this point and AnaOla and Arturo are outside guiding the lady. But other cars keep trying to pass us when its clearly impossible to do so and the car keeps turning off (Its a manual by the way). So the lady takes me and Dar around the block to give it another shot. Haha! I think this is all pretty funny, but very frustrating for a first time driver and think its best if we just keep going to look for more parking or just to leave.
We end up parking where only taxis are allowed to park, but we weren't going to be there for long and it would all be fine. Escorial had these huge paper maché characters and scenes all dealing with Los Reyes Magos and Navidad. It was pretty cool. We had a round cervecitas and bocadillos de tortilla before we left again. This time I sat in the back seat the whole ride...
We'd been driving for quite some time when we realize there is a sign that says something along the lines of "You are now entering Segovia" haha! Definately NOT where we wanted to be going! So we exit the freeway and turn around and have to pay a toll and ask the toll guy how to get back to Madrid. Thanks to his directions we start making our way home. Its getting late and it was almost dinner time. So as we head towards Madrid we notice snow banks along the side of the road. Haha! It was so sweet! So we move the hood down so we can look at the stars... And I can still see the Little and Big Dippers!!!
Eventually we make it home after getting some directions from Arturo's mom. Darlene came back to our house with us because she and I were going to be going to either our friend Jackie's or Pamela's places to spend Christmas Eve together. When we got there the family invited us to dinner, which was more of a foced invitation so we joined them. It was really cool. It was a plain simple spanish dinner with jámon serrano and shrimp and some kind of fish with dessert of course. And they sang a lot too. I was suprised to see the grandma singing and banging on the table in tune with everyone else too! Haha!
After dinner I packed up my backpack and me and Dar headed to Pam's place. We walked because the nocturnal bus would take too long to get to where we were and Pam's barrio wasn't too far. We ended up getting there some time around 1. Pam, Jessica, Ehika, and Eddie were all already there and watching a movie. I ended up going to bed some time around 7 am. Don't even ask what we did for that long because we didn't start any other movies nor were we drinking... I guess it was just filled with talking?
I was the first one awake the next morning. Go figure right? And accidently woke up Pam and Jessica when I went in the room to get my backpack so I could read my book. Darlene left about an hour after I woke up and Pam and Jessica got to cooking Christmas breakfast about a half hour after she left... I just sat and watched and was the "runner." Haha! We eventually woke Ehika up when everything was ready. We had eggs, hashbrown patty like things, something resembling sausage, homemade eggnog (that didn't tast like eggnog, it was mostly just cinnamon in milk), and mamosas. Haha! And with a little bit of bbq sauce everything was delicious! I cleaned all the dishes after and we started watching Mean Girls, but I felt like showering and lounging in my own house so I got dressed and walked home.
After skyping my family twice and feeling like I was on Big Brother I got ready and went and met up with the rest of our program after their Christmas dinner. I was still pretty full from breakfast, so I didn't need to eat any more. A few of us went out to the bars and had kebabs late night, then the four girls taxied over to our friend Raychel's house and crashed for the night.
I should really add that Darlene and I knew the Christmas plans for both the brothers that work/own El Tigre and their 4th bartender. Haha! A couple days later 2 of Emma's friends came in to town and Darlene and I offered to show them around if they wanted. Me and Dar pre-drank and ate at her house, then met Eddie in Tribunal. Emma's friends met up with us, and wanted to go to El Tigre, so we gladly went! Haha... Dar and Emma's friends ended up leaving with some Italian boys they met in the bar and I stayed with Eddie and some Irish guy he had met at the bar. We stayed until closing then made our way to a pub near Sol. Jackie and her sister were there so I got to hang out with them before they left and on the way home I fell 3 times due to the "ice" that was on the floor. Haha! I have a huge bruise and my khaki chords are pretty black-ish brown on one side. But I got home safely and had fun recuperating the next day.
Me and Dar went on a bit of a shopping spree on the 30th so I could have something to wear for New Year's Eve. After I bought everything I felt so guilty I got home and pulled an outfit together out of my closet and returned almost everything the next morning. Haha... I felt like one of those people I hate that come in my store right at opening to return stuff they shouldn't have ever bought. So sorry.
I hung out with Pam and Jessica for a while because I had to pick up my coat from Pam's place. Then went over to Darlene's to get a plethora of other things I have left at her house over the past few days and to borrow a pair of earrings.
Dinner with the family started at about 10 with jámon serrano and shrimp again. No fish this time. But we did have something that I think was lemon sherbert with champagne. It was really good. After dinner I helped put the dishes in the dishwasher and the family danced. haha... I just sat and watched because I'm not to comfortable dancing to the music they were playing because I don't really know how. At midnight we all ate our 12 grapes with the dongs of the clock and toasted with champagne afterwords. Then Aurora, AnaOla, and I finished getting ready and left to head to the bar.
We stopped at a botellón in our barrio where all of AnaOla's friends were meeting up to leave together. There were probably about 20 or 25 of us squeezing in to the metro at around 1:25. By the time we got there Darlene, Jose, Eddie, and Jose's friend were already there. And the rest of the night was a blast! Pam and Jessica ended up meeting up with us at the bar. The bar closed at 7 or 8 I think? By that time pretty much all of my friends had already left. All the madrileños were headed to Sol to eat churros con chocolate, but Aurora and AnaOla had a flight at 10 to the Carribean so we headed home. In broad daylight. It was nuts. I texted everyone Happy New Year and talked with my parents at 9 am then took a 5 hour nap before meeting up with my frien Ana for an all day party. Haha!
There were 3 of these parties going on on the 1st and we went to one waaaaaaay outside of Madrid. We had to take a bus to get there. It was really fun though. We went with 3 British boys we met through Ana's new Canadian friend, Isabel. They're a cool group of people. The party ended at midnight and we all made it back to Madrid safely. Me and Ana walked to her house, ate grilled cheese sandwiches and passed out for the night.
And that has been my holiday season so far. I hope it hasn't bored you too much! Feliz Año!
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