Búha de La Noche

Sorry for the delay, however, sleep conquered blogging last night after an adventure! Yesterday began as normal with classes. In cluture we talked about the Spanish Cinema. It was very entertaining (bud um pshhh). Apparently, until about the 60’s Spanish films actually almost poked fun at the typical “Spaniard” and made them very dark, and hairy, with thick accents. Also, before the death of the dictator Franco, in 1975, they were very censored in many areas such as sexually and politically. After his death, however, the country itself became much more open, especially it’s beaches. Apparently, during that time, Spanish women would go to the beach in dresses (rarely swimming). The movies, therefore, make a joke of the phenomenon that was the “Suecas” or the blonde, Swedish women walking around in their bikinis on the beach and the Spanish men, for some odd reason, being distracted from their wives. Our teacher said there are several funny movies about the “Suecas.” Another fun fact is that many big actors, such as Brad Pitt, and Robert De Niro have their own Spanish equivalents! When either of them are in a movie, the same Spanish man always dubs their voice for the Spanish film. How neat is that! Apparently, however, the man who played Homer Simpson’s voice for years died recently and that was a shocker to hear a new voice for such a beloved character. Vale. After class I took another run through Retiro park, discovering even more new places. I swear, every time I run it gets bigger! Then I headed back for a shower, siesta, and some homework. I worked a lot yesterday during the day, knowing we would most likely be busy at night. Then, around 8:45 the long awaited event was here. Dinner with Madre. When she got home from work that afternoon she had freshly colored her hair and bough new shoes. She got all spiffed up and so did the four of us (Erin, Me, Nikki, and Rina). While waiting for the Metro, she told us not to get too close, as a crazy person may come and push us in. Thanks Madre ☺. When we arrived at the Metro stop, Principe Pio, she enjoyed showing us all of the history of the town, even having us pass the restaurant to see the beautiful view of the river.

As we were coming back, in the middle of the road was a beautiful view of the Palacio Real in the distance. I tried to walk and take a picture, but she told me to stop and take a good one, even though the traffic was about to go. We all almost got run over, but we ran out of the street laughing. La Casa Mingo was a fabulous restaurant! We had Pollo Asado (baked chicken) and La Sidra (Cider, but there is 4.3 % alcohol). They bring out whole chickens, so we had four for our table, and a bottle of Sidra. We talked in Spanish all night, about movies, and school, and of course, boys. We were asking each other if anyone had “novios” and no one did, and then someone asked her. She said no because it’s better to be single. However, then she said no one wants her. I know she was married, or in a relationship of some kind with Carmen’s father but we don’t know any more then that. We started to look around for “hombres” for her. However, we ended up with us all saying “who needs boys!” We all paid for her dinner, and she was so sweet and gave each of us little pink make-up brushes. After arriving back home, we prepared for our next adventure. Before we left Madre told us she hoped we came back with great “novios.” We once again reminded her we don’t need boys! (I love her) Carmen had given Nikki this tickets for the opening of a bar called “El Jardin” in the Casa America. We are not quite sure what the Casa America is, however it is in a very key part of Madrid and a very large, beautiful building. We dressed up a bit more and when we got there, there were bouncers at the door, a small carpet rolled out, and a lady asking us basically who we were connected with. She read the name on our ticket and said “Of course, come in.” It was beautiful! There were two outdoor, round bars, with pretty lights and tent/umbrella like things above them. We were most definitely the only Americans, and probably the youngest people there. We don’t know how exactly you were invited to be there, but either way… we were “legit.” We hung around for a while, however, everyone was pretty much talking within their own little social circle. Not wanting to waste the night, we decided to go to Sol and look for somewhere to dance (our original idea of what would be happening at the opening). I was a bit uncertain if I wanted to go, however, my roommate assured me, when I was tired, we could go. Thus, I became un búha de la noche. (night owl). As we made our way over, I was extremely frustrated. We have exams on Friday and all I wanted to do was dance, and go home. Yes, I was being very selfish. As we were walking to the first place we tried, we got stopped by a very attractive man from Argentina trying to get us to take papers for some bars with offers or what not. He asked why I was so “enfadada” and if I was always like that. I told him I just wanted to dance. He then led us to a bar and told them to watch out for the “rubia enfadada” and teased me about it. The only reason I include this minor detail that I'm sure most of you do not care about, is that I’m pretty sure that was the first random guy… ever… to ask me for my phone number. Alas, I told him "maybe another day" and did not give it and proceeded to look for the dance floor. The first two places were a flop. However, finally Erin and I separated from Nikki and her friend and found an amazing little place. They were playing Spanish music, dancing as one would hope they would in Spain, and I’m pretty sure we were the only Americans there. We danced for about forty-five minutes, and unfortunately it was 3:00 and I was exhausted and we needed to go home. Thankfully we did figure out the bus system and arrived back safely at our apartment, free of charge. It took some convincing, but I’m definitely glad I went out. A great part for me, personally, was that I was in fully Allison Crandall form of looking ridiculous on the dance floor, and not a drop to drink. It was a great night!