I just finished the last of my Christmas shopping this afternoon, in the midst of Plaza Mayor madness filled. During the holidays, apparently, Plaza Mayor is home to vendors who sell extremely elegant and expensive pieces for the Belen (the Nativity Scene, which is all the rage here) and also, well, wigs. Huge Miss J-esque afros, purple metallic ( Read more... )

A random moment at school that I just have to share ( Read more... )

There's a phenomonon about living in a foreign country that I've always noticed and never been able to pinpoint before until now. It's a sense of being so far removed from so many things at once: your family, your friends, your language, your cultural reference points, that you recognize and are grateful for certain things you might take for ( Read more... )

Things I miss about home ( Read more... )

Uggg, yesterday class was como un sueno malo....I arrived a few minutes late (FYI- I have an hour and a half commute to school every day, and quite frequently the bus takes longer due to traffic) and raced up to my second year class 2A to find nobody there except the kids and one of the administrators. "Isabel no esta....tenia que ir al doctor con ( Read more... )

I ( Read more... )

It is staggering to me that I've been here for less than a month, it feels like I should've gone through four abonos (monthly metro passes) right now. While the first week or so was an absolutely whirlwind and I spent most of the time waiting for it to calm down, now I feel almost completely settled in and comfortable. I especially love my job, and ( Read more... )

After being in Madrid for about a week now, I think it's time that I provided some kind of documentation to prove that I'm actually here and let everyone know what's been going on so far. I surprised myself by being a little bit homesick at first, though the adjustment period was much easier than I thought it would be, after all. The jet lag was ( Read more... )

I've been thinking a lot lately about the next step and what that might be for everybody around me. Maybe this is coming from the fact that I'm leaving in less than a month (where did the summer go?) from now, and just now realizing that piece of reality. But it feels like this year will change a lot, at least for me. I think that certain things ( Read more... )

Back in the cube again, and it's a lot less exciting than being back in the saddle again. The weekend was fabulous: I managed to get everything important finished on Thursday, and had the rest of the time in NY to play with everybody. This included: applying for the visa, getting a plane ticket and getting a new travel journal, among other things. ( Read more... )