Tuesday, June 29, 2010

So today I woke up, made my powerpoint presentation for my topic I was going to present to the class (it hit me when I was showering that it’d be better to make one so that I wouldn’t have to memorize as many words), and then as I was leaving, my dad came out and announced that there is a full “Huelga” with absolutely no trains running at all. So they offered to drive me, but then I was worried about how I’d get home! And people kept calling and saying they weren’t going to go. But it was fun going out to breakfast with my family like I did on the first day. Turns out they go everyday, which is why there is no breakfast food in the house. Except they just got coffee and I got some circular pastry that had some weird flavored coconut-looking thing inside but it was good!

When they dropped me off, no one was there. Finally some students showed up and we had class just like normal. My presentation went well. I really like Marisa now.

Then, everyone that had come to school lived pretty close and could walk home, but Ben lived far away to the East and had taken buses to get to school and I live so far to the West that we decided walking to Sol and then finding our ways home later was a much better idea. So we walked with Mass back to Sol, which was really interesting because it really wasn’t as far as I thought it was going to be! And it was so much fun seeing more of the neighborhoods and shops. We ended up searching for lunch places with Mass, looking at a Menu del dia, a paella place, and finally deciding on some Italian pizza. We split Quattro Formaggio and a Jamon pizza. YUM! And of course Mass told us more interesting facts about everything on the streets we passed. Then, on our way back to Sol Mass showed us the main store that makes the Violet candies. They had some sugared petals (at least that’s what they looked like, but they were really expensive so I didn’t try those) and some of the hard candies. They were really interesting. Not as good as the Violeta helado, but still good!

Mass left to get some things done on his dissertation, so Ben and I walked around Monterra, which has the cheapest souvenirs, Cortes Ingels, Fnac, and El Casa del Libro to pick up gifts for everyone back home! And then we went to the amazing sweet shop again and bought Ponche de Turron to eat on our cake bench in Sol. This cake was seriously the best cake I’ve ever had!

Then we met up with Mass again to watch the futbol game of Spain versus Portugal. We found a cute bar/ tapas place in Las Huertas and watched the game with some locals. It was so much fun, especially when Spain scored and won! And we had delicious tapas and sangria.

Since the strike is still on, Mass walked me back to my place and we got to see all of Gran Via and the house of the Duchess of Alba, who is richer and has more titles than the king, which means technically he has to bow to her. I guess I should clarify that I actually was just able to see the gate that extended for a block. But it was still cool! And then Mass pointed out where this one feminist woman poet lived and wrote. It was so interesting! And I loved finally knowing exactly how my neighborhood is related to downtown! It was on my list of things to do…I just wish I had done it sooner because I had been missing so much by being underground in the Metro.

Strike still tomorrow. Hopefully not Thursday!