fall

I was worried that I had missed the niceness of the botanical garden (Real Jardin Botanical) here since it is already getting cooler, so this morning I went.  What a good choice.  The garden is beautiful and formal in style, lots of little beds outlined by low-growing plants, fountains in the center of sections, etc. but also has a kind of overgrown feeling to it.  This was enhanced by the fact the first thing I came to was this bed of falling down dahlias.  I went first thing this morning, at about 10 when they opened.  The light was just starting to get strong some places and there was hardly anyone there.  I took way to many pictures but I’ve gone through and put some of my favorite on this page.  I’m so excited about this place that I intend to go back this week and for a little while until it gets really cold/dead, so I’ll probably add more pictures.  

There is also a really nice vegetable garden section full of cute cabbages and peas and these amazing gourds. AND and exhibit on medieval engineering in Spain that was full of really nice wooden models of water wheels (that moved) and stone arches and wooden boats.  Then I sat down in the sun and drew some plants.

The whole place is highly recommendable, and there are cats that live there.

matchy matchy

Color-coordination is the norm here, but this seems a little far.

Today at school

We learned about restraints.This is what happens when you have class for a minimum of four hours in a row in the same classroom five days a week.

(Also, strangely enough, last night I watch Atame! - you know, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! – Almodovar.  Good movie – young Antonio Banderas is a blast in these older Almodovars – I watched Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios last week.  The colors in these two are so great.)

on the way in

today I noticed that on the almost last stretch of my commute to school I have this sweet mountain view.  I was quite tired and cold this morning so it was nice timing.  Also notice the bus barely resisting the urge to drive down the middle of the road.

and then I saw this

which made me think of this

but when this never showed upI gave up and went home.

Tour guides and their pretentious hats.

technology

takes the romance out of life – I mean look:…so now instead of lighting a candle when you say a prayer, you put yer money where yer mouth is (but NO BILLS).  just because we can…

(plus, it’s a little odd that it accepts different coins – does that mean your prayer lasts longer if you happen to only have a 2 euro coin instead of 50 centimos?)

rain rain rain

 So today was pretty miserable. Nasty, rainy, cold.  When I left this morning it was just blustery (blustery is a word other people use right? I mean, I said it in class and got ridiculed – kids these days) Then it just got cold and nasty. Umbrellas. Umbrella vendors. Then I talked to Shelby and we went to the Krishna’s (the Hare Krishna’s) for lunch.  No, I did not do any chanting, but I ate a ton of delicious, including a baked apple that tasted pretty much exactly like fall.  Imagine how nice it was to go in from the cold nasty and take off your shoes and sit on a little orange cushion on the floor and eat a vegetarian feast.    

Then I went wandering since I had the afternoon off.  I decided that I might as well start checking out all the sights that I ride past in my commute to school.  First on the list was the Catedral de Nuestra Senora de La Almudena 

(for no particular reason besides proximity when I thought of this).  This is the cathedral right next door to the Palacio Nacional.  So the story on the Cathedral, as far as I can tell, is that it was started in the late 1800s and worked on for a while.  Then, when the Civil War happened, everything stopped for a bit.  It wasn’t until 1953ish that anyone started working on it again and it took until 1993 for it to be finished and dedicated by the pope.  It really took be by surprise however, because form the outside it looks quite average – predictable style, made to match the national palace next door, you know.  So I expected that it would be the norm inside as well.  But, instead it’s quite modern in style.  The

 stained glass has several different (mostly ugly) styles.  Here a few pictures, this Jesus is so kind of Russian avante-garde, which actually seems like an interesting style choice for a church.  Then the rest of it looks like Austin Powers somehow exploded all over some Islamic latticework.  The paintings around the altar are nice, but there are a lot of clashing styles going on.  I did like this 

window, mostly because of the way her hands are in the next section over.

Outside I found this:I mean, it’s clear they think they are show the world how cool and hip and fun and wacky they are, but c’mon, adults on small scooters with four wheels each is just confusing.  But, the view was nice. Plus you can see my sweet ride in there at the bottom!

it’s back!

my wallet is back.  thanks to a 90-year old man and his daughter, I’ve got it back and everything was still in it. What are the chances?

biscuitssss

So, the good news is, I finally feel better.  Still full of nasty, but no headache and no tiredness.  It’s a great day.  So I made biscuits, and then put together this beautiful breakfast!I mean, those biscuits are a little 

flat- I rolled them too thin, but the next set – man! And coffee finally sounded good to me again.  Here’s me on the balcony too. It’s one of the nicest things about this new house.  We are lucky because instead of there being other building right in front like on any normal street, there is a plaza/park instead.  Also, it is an exercise park for the elderly which makes for good entertainment as well, especially when they play bocce.  Mostly, though I’m happy to feel better and be able to have a normal week!

this past week

Since it’s been a while, a quick recap.

Last weekend I spent a lot of time at Hell in South, the bike fest put on by the fixed gear kids here.  It was a lot of fun – I rode in two alley cats on that crazy bike that I have. Also rode in a velodrome for the first time.  That shit is pretty crazy, but fun.  And, considering that the velodrome we went to is 400m a lap it’s very tiring.  Then, there was a metal show that was pretty good – lots of hair and head banging and other theatrics – generally the expected.  But! one the way home I got poured on.  Sunday there was some more bike stuff, some hill races which I did not participate in and then homework and general week preparation.  Nowhere is open in Madrid on Sunday (almost nowhere that is).  This means two things. (1) Places that are open tend to be owned by people who are not from Spain and there is a lot of the “Yes, they’re open, but they shoudln’t be” attitude about it. (I’m not sure why it really would matter so much but…) And (2) I can’t do my normal grocery-shop-on-Sunday-afternoon thing.  But, slowly, slowly I’m learning.

Then I spent all week doing this. Some sort of nasty put out for the whole week.  I only missed one day to school/work, but only today have a really felt better.  I did everything – drank lakes of water, slept during all of my free time, went to the pharmacy where the woman rather perfunctorily gave me some giant white allergy pills.  They helped with the drainage and headaches, but turned me into a total zombie. (I was looking for a picture of a good zombie or sleepwalker to put here, and a ran into these zombie walks that they have places! People really go all out, here’s someone flickr about it – but I guess if you really love zombies there only one way to really prove it?)

So the worst fall out from being ill has been that yesterday morning I was trying to go out and buy a few groceries and somehow managed to loose my wallet within two blocks of my house. Yeah, I have no idea.  I mean I understand that these things happen, but seriously, within 2 blocks has to be some kind of record.  So I made these little signs (soundtrack: Pinhead Gunpowder!) and put them up just in case one of the large population of elderly folks that live around here or some other kind person happened to have gotten it.  All the cards are cancelled, blah blah, but it was quite distressing – the only thing I have now to prove who I am at all is my passport, which I really don’t like to carry around – obviously sometimes I loose things.

Sigh.

The good news is that I made some great bread yesterday and then Shelby and I made awesome pizza. My roommate, Xavi, like it so much he kept saying ‘Sweet Jesus baby’ in an effort describe his feelings (for some reason that order feels correct to him instead of Sweet Baby Jesus, I blame the Irish guy, my other roommate, Bryan for all of this).  So that was great – terrific pizza, decent 2 euro wine, a little delicious chocolate bar for dessert – what more could you want?

Then we stepped out for a bit to this short film fest at La Boca del Lobo, which was actually kind of a bust. Thing is we saw 4 or five of the three hundred or so shorts that will be projected over ten days.  But it was hot and there were no chairs so we left.