Plants!

One of the things I was kind of hoping for when we moved to Spain was that we would have a balcony in our apartment where I could score a little space to plant some herbs.

Little did I know that we would have four balconies, one for each of us!  Yesssss!!!

Nikki was the first one of us to plant something in her balcony, which inspired me to start searching out plants of my own.

Here's what I've got so far!

basil, some type of pretty flower, oregano, and thyme

This is what my balcony currently looks like.  I know, pretty sad.  It'll be a process, but I'm excited for when it's filled with happy, tasty plants!

So, I'll probably put these guys in pots later today.  Sounds like a nice Sunday project doesn't it?

Carnival Video

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I only had videos of the Carnival parade.  So, I decided to try my hand at some [extremely] amateur video editing.  Enjoy!

Ten Lanes of No Traffic

One of the things we're doing to learn more about Madrid and the people here is exploring the various barrios (neighborhoods) at different times of the day during different days of the week.  So, as part of this, last Saturday evening I was wandering around Chueca, which is the barrio east of where we live in Malasaña.

As I came to the eastern side of Chueca, I noticed there were quite a few police around.  So, obviously I have to check this kind of stuff out :).  Therefore, I walked south to the Plaza de Cibeles and found the street shut down!  Which rocks, because I could take neat pictures without the risk of getting hit by cars or buses or scooters.

Palacio de Comunicaciones

Fuente de Cibeles

Standing in the middle of the street - not getting run over!
Kids, don't do this at home :)

Puerta de Alcalá

Here's what traffic usually looks like in this area.

Streets are clear for the Carnival parade!

People lined up to watch the parade.  

It got too dark for me to take parade pictures, but I did get a few videos so I'll see if I can figure out how to get those posted.  Until then, I leave you with a picture of the fountain at night.  Madrid certainly knows how to turn on the charm sometimes.

Impressive in the daytime, possibly even more so at night.

Descansar

Sometimes you just get really tired of studying.  My focus has been off recently, which has been tough on my motivation, you get the idea.  Might be running into some culture shock.  So today I put the books away - mostly - I still might study some - and headed out into the city.

I was walking around our neighborhood a little when I noticed the police diverting traffic.  I think to myself, I wonder why the police are diverting traffic?  Turns out there was a pretty good sized animal rights rally happening in Plaza de España.

After watching the rally for awhile, I tried some Chinese food at a restaurant Ashley found earlier this week.  It was pretty amazing and will now become one of my favorite places in Madrid.

Then I needed to floss (I did! Seriously!), so I went back to the apartment and took care of that before setting out again.

For whatever reason, I like wandering down random streets.  This time I found myself at the palace.

I remembered at this point that there is supposed to be a pretty neat garden area behind the palace.  So, I decide to see about that.  Turns out there is a huge park behind the palace, and I could only find one little tiny gate that you can get in.  I had been walking around the fence for awhile before I found the gate, and I forgot to take a picture of it because I was so excited that it even existed :).

Here's what I found when I walked through the gate though.  It was worth the hike for sure.  I did actually end up finding a spot in the sun, sitting down, and flipping through the flash cards a little.

So, I'd call that a good day.  Sometimes I guess you just have to go out and appreciate the city a little :).

So. Very. True.

This was just around the corner from our apartment (piso).
I share their sentiments.  Too bad it's not in Spanish though...

Labels

As you know.  We're studying Spanish.  A tremendously huge part of studying another language is that of memorizing vocabulary. 

Somehow, I conveniently forgot how much I vehemently dislike memorizing things.

Sorry, I do.  Just being honest with you :).

So, I now get to figure this out - no avoiding it!  Here's what I'm trying.

Flash cards and writing vocab down roughly a hundred zillion times.

And labeling pretty much everything in the apartment.  For the record, I asked my flatmates if it was ok with them before I started obsessively labeling things :).

platos, tazas, y cuencos

pared (wall).  and a super neat hot pad from a dear friend :)

 

las cortinas

 There you go - and it's working - not fast enough (there's my astounding patience talking) - but it's coming along :).  Thanks for your prayers!

"So, when I was on the Metro the other day..."

Between IKEA, tutoring sessions, and more - I have been on the Metro a lot this week.  I am actually a little bit scared to even calculate how many hours I've spent underground.  It's definitely not my favorite thing to be doing in Madrid, but I'm learning how to make the most of my time.

- Listen to Spanish lessons on my iPod.
- Memorize vocabulary words.
- Try and figure out how to read the newspaper.
- Observe people - this can be so hilarious sometimes :)
- Pray
- Contemplate the deeper things of life :)

I realized that I was on the Metro probably too much when all of the stories I was telling my flatmates started with, "So, when I was on the Metro the other day..."

Muchas gracias to Nikki for the Metro pictures!  And anyone else that took them :).

Here comes the train.

Escaping from the Metro!