Third Time's the Charm

I finally did it! I finally partied Madrileño style. Saturday I went to Kapital, probably one of the most popular nightclubs in Madrid. It's huge! It's got seven floors. The first is the biggest. On this floor they play house music and they have beautiful men and women dancing on stage. The second floor has karaoke and it is like the pub area. The third floor was one of my favorites. It has hip hop music (which here I think they call funky). The fourth floor plays something I can't remember. The fifth, another good floor, has pop music (mostly Spanish ones). The sixth is a movie theater where people make out. They were playing Lord of the Rings Part II on Saturday. And lastly, the seventh floor was a lounge. It had pretty furniture and pretty lights.

This place was crazy and very expensive. It cost me a whole 20 Euros for admission and one drink, another 2 Euros for coat check ,and 11 Euros for every extra drink. I was shocked! But it was worth it. It was a ton of fun.

I went to Kapital with Andrew, my roommate and his friend. After some pre-drinking (a necessity in Madrid since drinks at the clubs are muy caro!), we left for the bar at about 1:30 AM. We danced all night and the real Madrileños made sure Andrew and I checked out every floor. None of us really drank much because it was too expensive. Surprisingly, I didn't start feeling tired until about 6:30 AM. By that time, I decided that I might as well finish off the night. So we stayed until 7, when they finally kicked us out. By the time we got our coats, a cab and got home, it was already 7:30.

Although the night was awesome, I have to say I was a piece of shit all Sunday. I slept for about 5 hours, got out of bed around 2, watched TV for a few hours, took a nap at 6, watched some Ten Things I Hate About You in Spanish (in honor of Heath), did some half ass lesson planning for about 10 minutes, and then fell asleep at 10:30. And I didn't even get drunk!!!

I'm not quite sure if I can do this every weekend, but I will definitely do it as much as I can.

Check out the pics:

Kapital

Love Me Sexy

This also made my day. I saw it as I was looking for the Spicy commercial. Why is Will Farrell so freaking funny??!!! I can't wait to see this movie. I hope they show it here in English...although by the time it comes out here, I can watch it on DVD when I go home for vacation.

Spiiicccyyyyyyy!!

I know I'm weird, but I totally love this commercial and I just had to blog about it. Natania reminded me of it today and it totally made my day. This just puts a smile on my face on a really shitty day. My favorite part is when the dad tries to get through the bedroom door and he can't!!!

Crochety Old Man

I should've known that I was going to have a bad day today after I had my first bad bus experience this morning. Every morning, I go to Plaza de Castilla to take the bus to El Molar, the tiny town in the mountains where I work. In Plaza de Castilla is a bus terminal where you can take all sorts of buses that will take you to many surrounding towns outside of Madrid. It's packed all throughout the day with people traveling to far places for work or for pleasure.

For most buses, people politely line up and wait their turn to get on the bus. For some reason the people on my bus never ever line up. They all just crowd and push their way to the door. And it's only with this specific bus that leaves at this time because I've taken this bus at other times and people line up! So of course, I do what everyone else does and I slowly push my way closer to the door.

As usual, I do the same today. Just when I was about to get on the bus, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see this crotchety old man yelling at me. He was probably in his 80s. He was speaking very fast so I couldn't understand him, and I also had my headphones on. But I could definitely tell that he was angry. I just heard him say "un momento", and I could decipher from his gestures that he should get on first because he's old and no one is letting him get through the crowd. So of course, I let him get on before me. The lady between him and me just looked at me and shook her head, also annoyed at this crotchety old man. As he was getting on, he was still semi yelling and bitching and I suddenly hear him say, "coño". Now coño means vagina. Everyone here says that randomly without necessarily saying it to a specific person. They usually say it just how we would say, Oh shit.

But in this context, it was like he was saying it to me, and that pissed me off! I wanted to say: Señor, first of all, I didn't freaking see you! How am I supposed to know an old man is trying to get on a bus when he's behind me! Second, there are 30 other people trying to get on the bus. Why only yell at me? And third, don't you ever ever call me a coño! I don't care if you are older than me, but you have no right to call me that!

Of course, I couldn't say it because I only know three of those words in Spanish. And even if I knew Spanish, I still wouldn't say it because really, I'm not that tough.

So once again, I vent to myself. Joder!

AAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!

Today, I cried for the first time in Madrid. Oh wait, no I've cried before, but this was the first time I cried ABOUT Madrid. It was like all my frustration just came out...in tears because sadly that's the easiest way for me.

The past few weeks, I've been going back and forth with this teaching thing. I wasn't quite sure if I like it. I didn't like the fact that I had to do work at home, and honestly, I'm just too lazy to do lesson planning sometimes. In class, I was struggling with making all my students happy. Half of them have never had any previous English lessons, and the other half have had English lessons. I didn't quite know how to teach both levels without boring or demotivating (the worst thing a teacher can do!) anyone.

But then after doing it for about a week and a half straight, I started to get used to it. I was getting to know and understand my student's needs. I was slowly establishing a structure in my class, finding the right balance in teaching a wide range of beginner level students. I was even able to overcome a huge challenge this week. On Monday I got two new students: one higher level; the other very, very beginner with low motivation. The higher beginner fit right in. The low beginner was crying on Tuesday. She felt very lost and confused. It didn't help that everyone was ganging up on her because they thought she was going to delay the rest of the class if I had to reteach everything she had missed the first two weeks.

Yesterday, after doing some regulatin' in the class (I had to do the "We're all adults, so let's all be nice" speech) and seeing a I'm-ok-now-I-understand smile on the new student's face, I was happy and content for the very first time since I started teaching. But of course, it was too good to be true.

Today as I was having my daily cafe con leche and tostada with my students, they mentioned how they will have to find another course in March when they finish with this course. That comment got me all confused. When I was offered and I accepted this job, I was told that I would be teaching at this training center until June. I told my students that and they confirmed that the course is over for them at the end of February. Then we all thought maybe I would get another set of students.

After break, we went back to the training center and I asked Maria, my coordinator at the center who speaks very little English, about the dates. She also confirmed it. A student asked her in Spanish if I was going to get a new set of students and she said no. I may not have understood every word that she said, but I didn't need anyone to translate it for me. She said, "Tita didn't tell you?". Tita owns/runs the academy I technically work for. Language academies here find teachers and provides them to clients. I was pissed!

For the rest of the class, I was just annoyed and not my bubbly self. My students were trying to make me feel better (they've all gotten used to my perkiness and could tell I was angry from the way I was teaching), but it just wasn't helping. I called Tita during the next break. She says she didn't know about it either and she will talk to them. But for some reason, I feel like someone is lying to me. When I talked to both Maria and Tita, I feel like they both knew about it and just didn't tell me. I'm just not getting any good vibes from anyone.

So, I got on my bus back to Madrid and cried about it. It was like all my frustrations just came out and I couldn't stop. I'm frustrated because I don't have any friends. I'm frustrated because I'm retarded and can't learn the language quickly enough. I'm frustrated because just when I think things are good, something terrible happens.

I knew going into this that it won't be perfect. I knew that it might take a while for me to really feel good and happy. I knew that there would be good days and bad days. But today was just a bad day. So bad I really just want to get trashed this weekend. But who do I get drunk with? And with what money (now that I am possibly going to be unemployed - again - sooner than I thought)?

Joder!

RIP: Heath Ledger

I just heard the saddest news since I've arrived here: Heath Ledger is dead. I know most people might think this is silly but I am seriously sad about this. I heart Heath Ledger! I fell in love with him the first time I saw him in Ten Things I Hate About You. If you haven't seen that movie, go rent it!! It's a classic! I also feel like I know him because I've had close encounters with him: I was shopping in the same store as him in New York City, and I will be in the next Batman movie with him (I will be one of the many girls screaming and running away from Heath).

Estoy muy triste! Another great talent gone to waste :(

Moral of the story: Lay off the crack...it ain't breakfast food!

Cute Men, Great Shoes

I was recently taking a walk around Madrid and of course, started thinking about random things. One of the things I thought about was Madrileño men and women. Ladies, you might want to keep reading.

I find the men very attractive. I especially like the way they style their hair. Some have it very long and put it up in a sexy ponytail. Usually long hair kinda grosses me out but I have to say many Spanish men really pull it off. Then there are the short-haired, clean cut ones that look a bit too predictable but they're cute nonetheless. The other hair style (which is probably my favorite) is the not so short, not too long curly hair. Many Spanish guys have loose curly hair and they look really hot when they just let it grow out a bit. Even better is when they have light eyes and dark hair...muy gwapo! Of course like any other country they have some pretty unattractive guys too. But generally, I have to say that there is a lot of good eye candy in this town.

As for the women, I realized I don't really have an opinion. I'm sure the women are gorgeous, but honestly, I've been too busy looking at their shoes. Most women here have great footwear, and I can't stop looking at them. I've been on a mission to find the perfect boots! I see women with cute boots everywhere and I just want to know where to get them!

In conclusion, I have come to realize that in Madrid, I've become very good (and less discreet) at checking out gorgeous men, and obsessed with checking out women's shoes.