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| Photo taken by Jon-erik approximately 3 hours before we left for the aeropuerto. If only cats were more travel happy countries more comfotable with their moving around with us. |
I didn't like saying good bye to friends and family. Washingtonians are no good at the custom of saying, "good bye." Jon-Erik and I have experienced this together, not so much with each other, but often with our friends. We find ourselves dragging out our parting words, spending thirty minutes at the door putting our jackets on and scuffling into our shoes. Sometimes, we begin entirely new conversations, offering up our best comments yet. See ya later! Hasta luego. Yo ya me voy, en serio. Voy a Espana. Y ahora, estoy en Espana.
Saying good bye to loved ones is painful, and more intense before zooming over the Oceano Atlantico to live in a foreign country. Dificil. I felt overwhelmed going through airport security in Seattle. I made it through no problem, but I felt insecure so I went up to a guard and asked if I could really go on toward my gate. Maybe I half hoped he'd say, "No, you can't. You have to stay here, with those three over there staring you down! Something's just not right about leaving them." I wanted my mom, dad and Jon-Erik to accompany me..buy tickets and head to Spain. We'd have a ball.
Without them, I made it all the way up into the sky. We flew Northeast from Seattle. I watched sunset over the Puget Sound before the plane turned away. Then, I gazed down over the cracks and crevaces of the North Cascades. We flew over Canada...more mountains...and then I lost track space and time in darkness. Too bad..I would have been able to see Greenland and Iceland! I felt really hungry during the flight and they didn't feed us as soon as I hoped. We ate dinner around 8:30 pm PAC time, about two hours into it. After eating pasta with marinara sauce (no meat, standard for everyone in economy class at least on that flight), I snoozed uncomfortably for a couple of hours and awoke feeling desparate for fresh air. "Am I going to die from inhaling so much stale air?" I wondered. I experienced a terrible scratchy throat and dehydration through the night. I was at the mercy of German flight attendants serving me ladel sized quantities of distilled water. As I awoke, an attendant past me by with a bottle of water. I called for her to come back and felt lucky when she did. Saved! I fell asleep again, slightly more comfortable. When I opened my eyes next, maybe two hours had past, I looked out the window to see we had encroached upon light of a new day, thousands of miles from Seattle. We time traveled. This time, I awoke to a tray of breakfast/lunch. I lifted my window blind to peer upon the Atlantic Ocean and soon we flew over Ireland, green, hilly, beautiful.
We made it to Frankfurt 9 hours and 40 minutes after leaving Seattle. I spent less than two hours in the airport. I helped myself to complimentary capuccinos at the gate while I waited to board. When we arrived to Madrid, at 6:30 pm, my home stay mother and her two teenage daughters awaited me with a sign reading clear as day, "LIZA."And when I said, "Soy yo," of course, they returned, "Bienvenida LISA." :) They brought me to their home in Getafe, a suburb of Madrid, and I am spending just one more night here. Tomorrow, I will move my things to the heart of Madrid and stay in a hostel..which is what my gut told me to do in the first place. Gotta get better at listening to the guy.
MADRID ES ENOMRE. The streets are caotic. They go in every which way. It's a maze. I realized as I was heading back here, to Getafe, on a train that takes me almost directly from this house to the heart of Madrid, that I would much prefer to be in Madrid, figuring out how to navigate its metro system, finding a good yoga spot and browsing pisos to move into. I can do all of this probably more cheaply than I can here, plus have more autonomy. Rather than spending the entire day trapsing around Madrid trying to find a place to live and neglecting all other aspects of my well-being, wearing my backpack stuffed with all I need for a day out on the town, sweating like a pig, feeling exhausted and lost and far from where I can re-center myself, I can keep most of my belongings secure and come and go freely as I please at less cost. So, tomorrow I head for a hostel. I'm hoping to go for a run with the time I save not commuting!
Mistake of the day: Asking for "crema" instead of "leche" with my coffee. Crema means lotion, not cream. Ooops. (mistakes like these make me feel embarassed to admit that I majored in Spanish to Spaniards who ask what I studied, so I'm talking up my Fairhaven experience and briefly mentioning thant I studied Spanish. I'm not sure if this is really better, as they don't really conceive of an interdisciplinary studies concentration here anyway.)
Highlights of today: MEETING UP WITH MARGARET, my old neighbor/friend from Bellingham, EN SOL (heart of Madrid) and spending the day with her. We walked through el Parque del Retiro. (mini highly: We saw a Magpie!) She and another au pair friend of hers helped me find my way to look at a prospective place to live, come October 1st. Later, after many hours walking and growing apetitos, we found a wonderful place, FRESCO. A great restaurant for people who love to eat fresh fruits and veggies..serving a wide array of fresh salads and chilled soups. I loved the gazpacho especially. In addition, they offer flat bread, pizza, meaty options and hot potatoes, rice and beans. They'll prepare your choice of meat or fish on the spot if you ask. Then, there are all the toppings--including really oily pesto and other equally oily mixtures I felt too overwhelmed by to consider very critically (and too ready to eat what I already had to care to add). FRESCO is buffet style and includes your choice of water, wine or beer at the same price (or, if you ask like I did, a glass of water and a glass of wine). This ham-free, moderately but not excessively greasy food took me by surprise on my first full day in the city. Afterward, I navigated through a maddening wash of people, shoulder to shoulder, filling downtown Madrid, back to the train station at Sol, to return to Getafe. This, after watching the same streets hollow out between 3 and 5.
More on the city later. I've hardly experienced a thing, despite writing so much. I know nothing more than I did before arriving about what I'm actually doing here, as an auxiliar de conversacion. Yes, I am overwhelmed with todas las cosas que necesito arreglar. Todo saldra con su tiempo. Bueno, espero.
All and all, I'm glad to be here. I have to keep my wits about me, to keep from getting lost and/or losing something I won't live easily without (So, this excludes the 3 OMS water bottle I left on the plane that landed me in Frankfurt.)
after midnight here, and I, unlike most people my age in this city, am going to sleep! MADRILENOS PARTY ALL NIGHT. It's not the slightest bit exaggerated. They eat dinner at 10 or 11 and stay up having a good time til 6 or 7 the next morning.
CIAO!
PICTURES from last two days: Last Puget Sund Sunset for a while; Flying over North Cascades; Frankfurt, Germany; Sol, centro de Madrid
this was such a lovely post!
ReplyDelete- Josephine
You're now staying in a hostel? Good luck with orientation!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds exciting, Liza, and makes me think back warmly on my first days in Taiwan. I still get embarrassed by my Chinese here on occasion, and I performed and wrote my Master's thesis in the language!
ReplyDeleteI'm really looking forward to hearing more about your life and work in Madrid. Take care, love you!