Weekend In Review

On Friday I had lessons with Javier after he got home from school. We studied geography and history for an hour. Then it was time for Raquel to have her lesson, but she didn’t want to. And since Consuelo was already home she protested (knowing that I wouldn’t let her get away with not having her lesson). Consuelo relented. When Jorge said he didn’t want his lesson either she asked Javier if he wanted another lesson. He yelled YES! And headed back up stairs. I was a bit shocked, I’m not going to lie. I knew he had shifted his homework mentality over the last several weeks, but this was extreme. We ended up working on irregular verbs for another hour, then playing on the computer for another 30 or 40 minutes. It went really well.

When lessons were done with Javier, I changed my clothes and got ready to meet with Jenny in Puerto del Sol at 10p. Consuelo gave me a ride to the train station and I was in Sol in no time. Jenny and I hadn’t really made any firm plans. We just knew we were meeting at 10p and others may or may not be joining us. Chris and Ish showed up before Jenny. Chris is an American I had met with earlier in the week and done some sightseeing with. He had randomly met Jenny in Rome the previous weekend and the two had hit it off. Ish is Chris’ friend from home and the two are a pair of fun guys. We chatted until Jenny arrived. Then we headed of to find tapas and Flamenco dancing. The tapas were easy to find and tasty. The Flamenco was less easy to find and ended up costing too much to see. So we went to a karaoke bar. We all danced and sang along for a couple hours, but at 1:30a I sent Consuelo a text to let her know that if she was in the area I would like a ride whenever they were heading home. It turns out they were leaving right then, so I had to high tale it out of there to the meeting spot. I quickly said my good byes, got directions from the door man, and headed to the meeting spot. Carlos and Consuelo showed up in no time and before I knew it I was home. I chatted with Flynn until he got off work then went to sleep at 3am.

Saturday morning came too soon. I woke up at 9:30a because I had made plans to have brunch with a couple girls from the Hash and their friends. I got ready for the day, had a quick crepe, and then got a ride from Carlos to the train station. I got to the meeting place right on time. I found Alicia without any problem. We chatted for a while then decided that Julie (the one who had organized the get together and whose friends were having the brunch) must have had a bit too much fun the night before and was not going to show. Alicia and I went and had a small breakfast. It was nice to talk with her. We hadn’t really hung out away from the hash before, but it was good. After breakfast we parted ways. It was cold and rainy outside and I had not brought a jacket (don’t ask my why) so I was walking briskly in my fleece pullover to try to keep warm. I wandered the streets for a little while. I enjoyed watching all the people bustling about with their umbrellas. Finally I decided I should probably head home. So I took the metro to the train station and was waiting for my train when I got the call from Julie.

Julie called and apologized profusely. She said that a series of unfortunate events led to her showing up at the meeting spot shortly after Alicia and I had already left. She asked where I was and if I wasn’t too mad did I still want to meet up. Of course I wasn’t mad, so we made plans to meet. I got back on the Metro and met Julie. We walked and chatted about our evenings as we made our way to lunch. We had kebab. I love kebab. I am going to have to find a kebab place in Seattle when I get back. After lunch we walked around a bit more, but the rain and cold didn’t make window shopping much fun so we headed to the La Latina neighborhood (via metro) to check it out. Unfortunately the rain their was even worse. We stopped at a little bar for a quick drink. We decided an indoor activity was in order so we headed to the mall in the Principe Pio area, again via metro. I hadn’t been to a mall in months so all the window shopping was fun. I’ve gotten bitten by a shopping bug lately and I’m starting to detest all my clothes. I’m trying to fight the urge to spend so that I can continue to save the vast majority of all my earnings. We’ll see how long I can hold out for.

While Julie and I walked around I got a text from Jenny. She was needing to get out of the house and wondering what I was up to. I told her that Julie and I were at P.P. and planning to see a movie if she wanted to come. She said she didn’t want to see the movie that would like to meet up later. Julie and I had some time to kill until the movie so we took the metro (where we ran in to Jenny on her way to return a shirt) to her neighborhood for a spot of coffee. We got back to the mall about ten minutes before the movie was supposed to start. We had not anticipated a huge crowd of people also waiting to buy their tickets. I decided I would go hang out with Jenny and Julie decided she would go home and relax. I found Jenny doing some shopping and we wandered around the shops together.

Eventually we had had enough of the mall and decided to see if the rain had stopped long enough for us to go to the Egyptian temple that was nearby. I had been meaning to see this temple for quite sometime. The rain had slowed so off we went. The temple was pretty unimpressive, I must say. Apparently it is best seen at sunset or at night when it is all lit up. From there Jenny and I walked to Chueca and found a tea house. We dried off and talked for a long time. Both of us are the same age and sort of in the same boat as far as our futures go. We are both thinking a lot about our next steps… grad school, work, relocating plague both of our thoughts. We have a lot to talk about.

After we had chatted for a long time, then we parted ways. I went to Larry’s Bar for a drink. It was a little after 10p by this time. Melf and Carl were there, both Hashers. We chatted and more hashers came in. It was a nice relaxed evening. Eventually it came time for me to think about heading home to bed. Sunday I was going to have to be back at Larry’s at noon for the Hash. Sophia suggested that I stay the night at Melf’s and then she would drive me home to get my running gear in the morning since it was near the Hash site. Melf had no problem with that so I stayed at Larry’s a while longer.

The next morning the clouds looked like they were going to down pour any minute. Luckily the rain stayed away long enough for us to complete our run. The circle at the end proved to be pretty entertaining as usual. The biggest highlight for me was my naming. I won’t go into the details of the ceremony but let’s just say beer+flour+hair=glue. I was named “Bin Linna” (Though I’m not sure how to spell it) in honor of the fact that I detained and kicked out of London… you know because I’m a terrorist or something like that.

Next we went to a great little Turkish restaurant nearby. It was tasty. I was quite stuffed and ready for a nap when I was finished. I took the train to Tres Cantos and then caught a bus home. Oh I forgot to mention that I sprained my ankle while I was running. I was able to finish the run by walking most of the way, but I was pretty sore and swollen by the time I got home. I took a shower and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

It was a long busy weekend. I had a good time. I know I have slacked on the updates lately. There hasn't been very much going on. I may go back and fill some things in later, but I doubt it. I need to keep moving forward.