Sunday, October 14, 2012
Plaza de Cibeles
Yesterday I was out wandering around Madrid with a language exchange partner. We were near Plaza de Cibeles when I remembered that I had heard you can go inside the Palacio de Comunicaciones and get some pretty neat views from above. Turns out there are also various floors of different exhibitions, so we spent some time checking those out. Gotta love it when you can discover new things about a city with someone who has lived in it their whole life :).
Saturday, September 08, 2012
No Hot Water = Difference in Perspective
Last Saturday the water heater broke in our apartment. If you've ever experienced something like that, you know quite well how not fun it is. The technician came and fixed it on Tuesday, but I was ready for a hot shower prior to that :).
As such, I decided to turn lemons into lemonade and tracked down an inexpensive hostel with a private bathroom. It also had the bonus of a terraza facing northwest. So, I enjoyed watching the sun set over the city and thought I'd share a little bit of the view with you.
As such, I decided to turn lemons into lemonade and tracked down an inexpensive hostel with a private bathroom. It also had the bonus of a terraza facing northwest. So, I enjoyed watching the sun set over the city and thought I'd share a little bit of the view with you.
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| Some teenagers have taken over the rooftop of an abandoned building near Plaza de España, so they were watching the sun set also. |
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| Those are actually clouds, I didn't notice until later that it kind of looks like smoke coming from that building. |
Sunday, September 02, 2012
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Cuisine
As someone who loves to cook and try new foods, I find Spain to be incredibly captivating. A couple of weeks ago, I ran into these postcards which list some classic Spanish foods. So, I bought them as a little bit of a personal challenge since I haven't tried all of them yet :).
There's quite a list here, so I'm going to decline the opportunity to explain them all at this time. If there are a few that you're really interested in, mention them in the comments and I'll explain them in a future blog post. Ok? Neat.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Back in Madrid, Part II
After arriving in Madrid at midnight-ish last Thursday (the plane left Frankfurt late), waiting for my luggage to appear on the belt of the baggage claim, a 45 minute-ish ride on the Metro, I got back to the apartment at 1:30-ish AM. I immediately threw the windows open (no a/c), watered the plants, and checked my email. I mean, what else would I be doing at 1:30, closer to 2:00, in the morning? :)
One of our neighbors had been taking care of the plants while we were gone, and I found an email from him in my inbox. He was warning me about the "ola de calooooooor" (heat wave) coming last weekend (which we're still experiencing), and wondering when I would be back in town. I told him that I was back and that I could take care of the plants again.
It's interesting to think that, around the world, one of the first conversation items you get is the weather. I follow a Spanish blog (caminandopormadrid.blogspot.com) occasionally and one of the entries from earlier in the summer mentioned that there's a saying about the weather in Madrid: "Madrid, nueve meses de invierno y tres de infierno." Nine months of winter and three of hell. Hahaha! It cracks me up - winter isn't that bad here - c'mon I'm from Nebraska! But I'll agree that it's pretty warm in the summer :).
Anyways, back to discussions about the weather - with Europeans, temperature discussions are in degrees Celsius. It's initially pretty funny to hear someone complaining about how hot it is at 40°. I'm still trying to learn this, so here's a handy chart for all of us.
Well, it's about dinner time, so I'll leave you with a few pictures from Germany. Until later!
One of our neighbors had been taking care of the plants while we were gone, and I found an email from him in my inbox. He was warning me about the "ola de calooooooor" (heat wave) coming last weekend (which we're still experiencing), and wondering when I would be back in town. I told him that I was back and that I could take care of the plants again.
It's interesting to think that, around the world, one of the first conversation items you get is the weather. I follow a Spanish blog (caminandopormadrid.blogspot.com) occasionally and one of the entries from earlier in the summer mentioned that there's a saying about the weather in Madrid: "Madrid, nueve meses de invierno y tres de infierno." Nine months of winter and three of hell. Hahaha! It cracks me up - winter isn't that bad here - c'mon I'm from Nebraska! But I'll agree that it's pretty warm in the summer :).
Anyways, back to discussions about the weather - with Europeans, temperature discussions are in degrees Celsius. It's initially pretty funny to hear someone complaining about how hot it is at 40°. I'm still trying to learn this, so here's a handy chart for all of us.
- 0° C = 32° F (that one's pretty easy, right? I think I learned it in kindergarten.)
- 10° C = 50° F
- 20° C = 68° F
- 30° C = 86° F
- 40° C = 104° F (May not need to go much higher... Well, one more.)
- 176.666666666666667° C = 350° F (typical temperature to bake something, figured it would be interesting to share!)
Well, it's about dinner time, so I'll leave you with a few pictures from Germany. Until later!
Sunday, August 05, 2012
Back in Madrid!
After two neat months of home assignment back in the states, I have returned to Madrid!
Technically I've been here almost a week (and just missed some excitement outside our apartment by only a few hours - so bummed!) but it's taken until the last couple of days for my system to start clearing up from jetlag. And, it's kind of difficult to feel like you're fully present when your brain isn't at 100%. I imagine the adjustment period has been fairly entertaining for anyone I've been around. If nothing else, some of it has entertained me quite a bit!
- I've been wanting to refer to everything in dollars instead of euros. And when Erin and I were digging through some apartment finances, I finally just deferred all of the difficult calculations (such as addition) to her because I was off pretty dramatically. She would probably be gracious and let me blame the calculator on my iPad :).
- I don't know how many people I've literally run into on the street (there's a few more people here than in Nebraska, even though it's August). Then I've automatically said "excuse me" in English instead of Spanish.
- Try speaking Spanish on jetlag brain sometime! I've mixed up masculine and feminine (Qué loca la semana pasada --> Qué loco la semana pasado), used past tenses incorrectly, and more than once have chosen the wrong word completely. In class the other day, Jenee and I started to discuss the rail strike but I was using "huerta" (vegetable garden) rather than "huelga" (strike). These things happen sometimes without jetlag, just not quite as frequently :). At least they make for good stories!
I am glad to be back in Madrid though and it's been nice to have the whole team together for a little while. We had beautiful weather on Wednesday evening when we went to Retiro Park for an updated team picture, and it was pretty great to stroll through the park and spend some time together. Many of you have seen these photos on Facebook (Team Madrid page), but here they are for those of you who haven't yet :).
We'll head to Germany on Tuesday for a week(ish) at Avant's All Europe conference, after which Erin and the Harmons will travel to the US on home assignment while Blake, Nick, and I return to Madrid and take hold of the reins for a few weeks. It'll be strange to have the team split like that, but we all have plenty to do so no worries :).
Technically I've been here almost a week (and just missed some excitement outside our apartment by only a few hours - so bummed!) but it's taken until the last couple of days for my system to start clearing up from jetlag. And, it's kind of difficult to feel like you're fully present when your brain isn't at 100%. I imagine the adjustment period has been fairly entertaining for anyone I've been around. If nothing else, some of it has entertained me quite a bit!
- I've been wanting to refer to everything in dollars instead of euros. And when Erin and I were digging through some apartment finances, I finally just deferred all of the difficult calculations (such as addition) to her because I was off pretty dramatically. She would probably be gracious and let me blame the calculator on my iPad :).
- I don't know how many people I've literally run into on the street (there's a few more people here than in Nebraska, even though it's August). Then I've automatically said "excuse me" in English instead of Spanish.
- Try speaking Spanish on jetlag brain sometime! I've mixed up masculine and feminine (Qué loca la semana pasada --> Qué loco la semana pasado), used past tenses incorrectly, and more than once have chosen the wrong word completely. In class the other day, Jenee and I started to discuss the rail strike but I was using "huerta" (vegetable garden) rather than "huelga" (strike). These things happen sometimes without jetlag, just not quite as frequently :). At least they make for good stories!
I am glad to be back in Madrid though and it's been nice to have the whole team together for a little while. We had beautiful weather on Wednesday evening when we went to Retiro Park for an updated team picture, and it was pretty great to stroll through the park and spend some time together. Many of you have seen these photos on Facebook (Team Madrid page), but here they are for those of you who haven't yet :).
