Boats and Clothes

Let it be known that this is the first Halloween I have not dressed up for. I am still emotionally recovering. 

Although Halloween is wholly unpopular here, my host sister decided that she wanted to decorate the house this year. Cristina went out a bought a bunch of fake spider webs, chains of spiders, ghosts, and witches, as well as candles, and a cardboard skeleton. On Thursday, Cristinita and I dug through their old costumes, and she decided she wanted to be a vampire princess, so I painted her nails black, and straightened her hair. The majority of people don´t dress up here, and the ones who do usually make their own costumes, or just wear parts of them. Also, people mainly dress up as scary things, like devils, witches, zombies, etc., as opposed to in the US where it is a free-for-all, whatever you want to be, fest. 

As usual, none of my plans ever stay on track.

This weekend, Mariah and I decided to actually accomplish all of the things we have been saying we would since we arrived here. Every weekend, we plan too much, and everything falls to pieces. This weekend, we would drop everything, we would under-plan! Finally, things would go our way.

The first thing we both needed to do was buy clothing. We were only allowed to bring one 44lb suitcase with us, and it has been getting colder recently. On Friday, we did some shopping, then got KFC to go, and ate it in our favorite spot, the floor in the center of plaza Mayor. On a Friday night, there are hundreds of people there, and always something interesting to watch. This time, we saw some street performers dressed in shiny tinsel and antlers, a flamenco dancer, and a french couple get into a huge fight. In the center of Sol (one of the busiest parts of Madrid) we also saw a mariachi band...and AFS thought they could get away with telling us we´re not in Mexico!

On Saturday, we had planned to continue our shopping...that is, until the Caja Madrid ATM ate Mariah´s card, and I realized I had no money in my account. Mariah and I spent over an hour pressing buttoms trying to get her debit card out of the stupid ATM, and we eventually got tired of being glared at by people in line, and lisetening to entirely useless advice by a bunch of people who seem to have enough technical skills to be confused operating a calculator.

We ended up having an amazing day being broke! There is a beautiful park in Madrid called El Parque Del Retiro. It is similar to Central Park in NY, but in my opinion pretter. Mariah and I had talked about going there before, and this seemed like a good time. All the trees in the park were beautiful fall colors, and for a California girl, that is extremely exciting (palm trees don´t change colors). We walked around the park, and eventually found a lake with tons of people rowing boats! We rented one for an hour, and took turns rowing and sunbathing.

Who said you need a costume to be woodland Fairies?

Lago en Parque Del Retiro

Fun Fact: Instead of having rats on the train tracks, Madrid has kittens. Lots, and lots, of kittens...Especially in the station of Principe Pio. I must admit, they are much cuter than rats.

I bunch of my friends from school decided that they wanted to come into the city for Halloween. I met them in Callou, which is the Madrid equivalent of Times Square. My close friends came, as well as some who I don´t know as well. The ones who don't know me were all shocked that I came into the city by myself and didn't end up in Portugal. All I could do was smile, and remind them that I'm not 2 and the metro system is color coded. I was really glad I had a chance to hang out with them outside of school, and be with just Spanish people. As much as Mariah adn I love hanging out, we realize it is not the best way to integrate into the culture. We talked, and walked around the city attempting to find a not-packed resturaunt. Alejandro and Ana went into several trying to get a table. At one point, after another lady told us that they were too full, Alejandro blurted out "We are 16 people!" Her response was "OH! What time is good for you?"
Money conquers all.

Also, my friend Juanpa is mad tht I haven´t mentioned him in the blog yet, while I have introdyced you all to Ana, Alaejandro, and some of the others. Let it be known, Juanpa, my friend, and partner in Tecnologia is the guy in the purple jacket and yellow shirt. He is kinda cool.

As a side note, I did get my nose pierced on the left side. It was the smallest one they had.

Also, for future reference, I usually have the most news and time to update my blog on Sundays or Mondays.

Love,

Chloe