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.

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!

?

I’m not sure either.

back to school

As of today I have completed a week of classes.  Things are going okay.  The main concern among the nursing students is that the teacher is new (in Spain) and doesn’t seem to know what’s going on really.  She clearly knows her shit in terms of nursing, but as far as teaching goes it seems a little more questionable.  Also, she’s using the notes from the previous teacher (and the powerpoints and, apparently, the tests).  It is also a little confusing to have the same teacher in the same classroom for 3 classes, two of which have labs.  And, said classroom is where ALL of my classes are.  I have high hopes that she’ll get it figured out. Yesterday I got my bike back (Morgan was gracious enough to bring it to me).  That always makes things nicer, but I do spend a lot of time going in what amounts to be circles since I’m still not very oriented.

One of the things that makes Madrid nice is the narrow, curving streets. This also makes it pretty confusing to get around.  The bike helps a lot with this and if you can see in the picture there aren’t usually curbs on narrow streets, so riding the wrong way is not totally insane.  If you check out a map, you can really tell.  I was really surprised by how Madrid looked when I got here.  I think that mostly speaks to a lack of really considering what it might look like.  It’s nice too because it means that the buildings are small – maybe 15 apartments.  Madrid seems to be a pretty human scale for being a city of 5.5 million.  In general things don’t go too far voer 6 floors (except for the 4 towers of Mordor – the link has cool time-lapses of the construction, but seriously, that shit looks so out of place) You really only feel the press of the people if you ride the metro at the wrong time or try and drive during the day.

hello?

So, I’ve been thinking over how to keep some kind of communication on going while I’m here.  The aversion that I feel towards doing this is pretty strong, but it also seems sort of sensible.  I can jabber here and write what’s happening and how I feel and whatever and not only will it be made available to the world, but I’ll also have a record.  Seems alright.  Plus, they let me put up photos and that alone is a good deal.

Then. To begin.

Right now I’m in Morgan, Oriana, Marisol and Alekos’ house in El Molar.  Which would be a small town a little north of Madrid.  The house is super nice and a good refuge from the city.  Plus there are cats.

Tomorrow we descend again into the city.  I’m currently house hunting, which is a job.  There’s some time crunch because real orientation is Tuesday and classes on Wednesday.  Hopefully there will be some luck.

But, right now I feel a little sleepy after the long Sunday of doing very little.