Try to Catch Me Ridin Dirty

Wednesday we had our last lunch with Mary Mary Quite Contrary. :( We returned to Burrito, a wannabe Mexican restaurant that fails terribly by putting ham on everything as is the Spanish way. However, with our charming Dominican Republican waiter, Jose, the food was not exactly our motive. Goncalo came over and hung out for a bit. Thursday was a lovely day of planning Spring Break. I've been spending a considerable amount of time figuring out train travel time between cities in Europe that, no, I'm not going to visit, but, yes, the question may be on Jeopardy one day. I also waste my time away reading profiles on CouchSurfing and weeding out the weirdos has become more of a hobby than a chore. Marta has joined me in this weird obsession. I also had a mini-interview-meet-and-greet-something-or-other-thing with the Volunteer Office to start the intern process. Hopefully, I will be teaching English to impoverished children outside of Alcala. Myrien, the interviewer, could not have been kinder, too. Another kind encounter I had was with a 12ish year old girl on the Plaza de Cervantes. It was Peace/Stop Domestic Violence Day and this girl walked all the way across the Plaza to give me a a ribbon bracelet to wear saying, "RECHAZA LA VIOLENCIA, ACEPTA LA IGUALDAD." (Reject the Violence, Accept the Equality) It made my day and her effort and amicability is admirable. That night, Evan and a Korean girl from my class, Young, and I made our usual trek for free sangria at Gabana Bar. Goncalo met us there for a hot minute. When I got home Alberto and Marta were still up so we talked about stereotypes the Spanish have for a little bit and then went to bed.

Friday, I believe one of the coolest moments of my life happened. After class, Laurel, Jonatan, and I went out for a beer/coffee. We chatted about broken bones, hospital visits, and the Swedish lifestyle. Then he offered to drive us home. We gratefully accepted his offer and after saying a quick 'hi' to Horacio, my favorite waiter ever, and asking him about handball in Romania, we jumped into a sleek hypbrid Lexus RX400 with TV screens on the backs of the seats for Laurel to enjoy and a navigation/music system in Swedish for me to enjoy. It's actually Soraya's, but she doesn't drive so it's basically Jonatan's. We drove home in a celebrity's car through the old roads of Alcala rocking out to old Swedish music and then a bit of Eminem. I really don't understand my luck sometimes. Jonatan hung out with us for awhile - he had never seen dorms before, because Sweden "doesn't do that." Before he left we decided to have a potluck soon.

At night we made our way to Chueca, the gay/club-especially-gay-clubs area of Madrid. Laurel and I found a delicious bocadelleria (sandwich) place. My friend, Scott, who I went on ASB with, was in Madrid from Barcelona for the weekend and we met up with him before Sarah, Laurel, and I took a bus back home. We stopped in to Can Can for a couple minutes where a Brazilian boy graciously showed us how to do the can-can. A bit odd, but I believe he had good intentions.

Today was more Spring Break planning and Jenna, Laurel, and I got some sort of coffee beverage from a swanky tea and cafe place we hadn't tried yet. We met some Americans there. One of them knew of a good church, which was good news bears. The whole experience was top notch.