Day 46: World Domination GPS Implantation Scars

I took my tests today, had my usual chocolate croissant with pineapple juice, relaxed outside near the fountain on campus watching the golden koi fish swim around while listening to Telepopmusique's "Breathe." On Ernesto's exam I took the liberty to answer a few questions in multi-colored drawings and by giving my snotty but educated remarks in place of a run-of-the-mill regurgitated response. After reading the man's complains on Facebook about the tediousness of grading exams, I thought I'd give him a chuckle if nothing else. After classes I came home and bonded with the fam for a good three hours. We sat on the couch watching TV and giggling and chatting and eating. It was great. Totally fabulous. ^_^

So... just to throw a complete non-sequitor into things, I decided not to dwell on my happy little Thursday, but instead to embark on a serious research project that I've been meaning to undertake for sometime. And so, without further adieu, I present to you one of the most random things you've read in awhile:

The Case of Mysterious Upper Arm Scars on Non-Americans - Proof of world domination GPS implantation or proof of vaccination?


For those of you who have traveled outside of the USA / know many people who are not from the USA, have you ever noticed that an alarming number of people have a funny scar on their upper arm that looks as if they were bitten by a baby vampire decades ago and the bit fizzled and remained on them Fight Club style to this day? Me, being overly fascinated by the strange scars on people I adore (God, I'm weird), have been pondering the reason for the existence of these scars on non-Americans for at least a year.

At first, when I'd only seen Brazilian's, I believed that perhaps he'd been probed by an alien race and just didn't remember the UFO or any of it... and I wondered if the scar gave him special, supernatural alien powers. I tried to test for these, but though Brazilian can be very different from the norm, none of his behaviors approached "alien" level. And so I dismissed it all as an unsolved mystery; perhaps it was a chip that the Brazilian government put in its particularly tall citizens and that was that.


But then! I met L and realized she, too, had such a mark. Now I was beyond curious. She insisted it was some type of vaccine and that I just wasn't as prepared for world disease as she was, but I was wary of her explanation. I quickly forgot about it and it wasn't until today that I remembered that the Mystery of the Bite Mark Scar still had yet to be solved!

So I began to research. And research. For hours.

At first I believed the culprit to be the smallpox vaccine, commonly known for causing scarring. Unlike "normal" vaccines, the smallpox vaccine is given with a two-pronged needle that pokes your skin 15-20 times extremely quickly to introduce the living virus. This explains the circular form of the scar/that it looks like two sets of teeth made it. The area then bubbles into a sore, fills with pus and then falls up and scabs before permanently scabbing. The only problem with this theory was that smallpox was erradicated in the early 1970's and the vaccines stopped being given out by the early 1980's...



Back to square one. Let's see... could it have been a polio vaccine? These seemed doubtful, as many sites explained that people believed the polio vaccine was what caused their scar, but it was really the smallpox vaccine. Also, other sites described the scar as looking like a cigarette burn, and not a baby vampire bite mark... so this was out, too. So that left...


THE BCG Vaccine!!!


Yep, that's right. Tuberculosis. The scaring is what means that the vaccine has properly taken to the immune system (at least, this is what I read on some sites). While such a vaccine was never made mandatory (nor, for that matter, even encouraged) in the USA, Brazil and Romania were some of the countries particularly serious about administering the BCG vaccine to children. To this day, both countries still support the vaccine, but are possibly beginning to waiver a bit on their stance, despite the vaccine being called one of the "safest" vaccines to receive.



Aha! Finally. An answer to the mystery.


XOXO
Jet-set Cupcake

Dia 45: Harry Potter & Reina Sofia

I'm writing this blog entry about a week after it happened (but shhh... don't tell anybody!)...

Between classes my Business Spanish class took a field trip to a little bakery with amazing croissants filled with nata (whipped cream, but so much creamier) and drizzled in chocolate. YUM. (We tried to go back there today, 21/7, but it was no where to be seen!! Not even the facade of the bakery was anywhere... it's like we were in Harry Potter and it just VANISHED - POOF!) o_O

Later on was the field trip to Reina Sofia with Ernesto. I got to see Guernica and a lot of Dali art. Exciting? That might be an overstatement... I just felt a little out of it, I suppose. On the train ride into Madrid, Gretchen and I were trying to figure out the meaning of our poem (we were given a poem to interpret and then had to find a piece of art in the museum we felt best represented the sentiments of the poem). Our poem?

EL ALBA DENOMINADORA

    A embestidas suaves y rosas, la madrugada te iba poniendo nombres:

Sueño equivocado, Ángel sin salida, Mentira de lluvia en bosque.

    Al lindero de mi alma, que recuerda los ríos,

indecisa, dudó, inmóvil:

¿Vertida estrella, Confusa luz en llanto, Cristal sin voces?

    No.

Error de nieve en agua, tu nombre.

Translation? We had NO idea what it meant. We sat next to Ernesto on the train and being the snotty butt I am told him that although I wasn't sure at first what it was about, I was certain that I'd discovered its true meaning: that it was a poem about the horcrux from the last book in the Harry Potter series. I spoke very seriously and Ernesto took a moment to process this information and then began, "Efectivamente... como se puede ver, hay siete lineas, como los siete libros... vamos a ver:" He then went on to decipher each line and compare it to its corresponding Harry Potter book! It was pretty ingenious and the best part was how we both spoke of it in such a serious, pensive and erudite manner.

A few girls were listening in on our conversation and reflection (all in Spanish, of course), and after he was done, one girl exclaimed, "Oh. My. God. I had NO idea the Harry Potter saga was based on this one poem!!! How cool! Actually, I didn't even know JK Rowling knew Spanish!! Damn!"

Ernesto stared at me. I stared at Ernesto. We gave each other sly smiles and nodded our heads before Ernesto informed the girl that "por supuesto no - solo era una tonteria; una broma." >_< HAHAHA.

In the museum, as part of our project, Gretchen and I picked the strangest piece we could find to represent this strange, strange poem. It was a mentronome that actually went back and forth, with the eye on it seeming to open and close as it ticked back and forth. It was in a random hallway and perfectly out of view of the other groups who just chose normal paintings ( ...and, one who chose the exit sign... o_O Points for an ATTEMPT at thinking outside of the box... but not quite...) During our presentation people walked by exclaiming, "Oh, look! A tour!" and proceeded to listen to my analysis of the object. Que verguenza. >_<

Additionally wonderfully, while giving our presentation, the eye almost knocked me over and hit me in the head - Ernesto deemed this moment to be titled something along the lines of, "When art Strikes Back." LOL.

At some point towards the end of the tour I lost the group so opted to make a run for it. Hee hee. I met up with L to hop the bus back home with her and pick up a few necessitites she'd purchased for me as I hadn't had time to go on a search for them all week long. Yay for strawberry toothpaste and spray on deodorant that is surprisingly wonderful, but makes your armpits look like they're snowing for the first five minutes after you spray it on. LOL. How sweet of her to get them for me on her break, though!! :) <3 Thanks, L!!

XOXO
Jet-set Cupcake

Day 44: Word on the street is: "It's okay to be human."

I was having an awful day.

Yeah, I got a yummy magdalena filled with oozing chocolate and a tropical juice box for the bus ride to school. Yeah, it was really cute that the guy that works at the cafe on campus has memorized my breakfast order after just a few days (nepolitana chocolate con zumo de pina) and calls me guapa. Yeah, my after-class talk with Ernesto was wry and stimulating as usual. Yeah, lunch with mi familia was cute and I got a bonus chocolate frosted pastry with my infusion while watching Entre Fantasmas.

But somewhere in all of that, I just felt... defeated.

Iulia, the director of the Master's program, had a meeting with me to go over possible ways I could find to be able to study here this fall and not have to defer for a year. It was sweet of her to try so hard, but she just didn't understand my position and the laws and it made me feel even worse than if no meeting had taken place at all. Just as I had come to terms that all hope was gone, I got an email from my dad and the Chicago Consulate saying I might have time to obtain my official student visa if I were to get really lucky and gambled a few hundred dollars in the process. I emailed them back to get more info, not sure whether to feel cautiously optimistic or to expect another seeming dead end.

Emotional ping-pong, I swear. Some days I can live with the uncertainty of it all without a problem and other days it makes my insides feel like they're wads of play-dough being torn apart and manipulated and put through colorful, torturous plastic molds and childish contraptions.

As if this weren't already bothering me more than I can explain in a simple play-dough analogy, hours later I was greeted with a harangue. A 20 minute harangue. A 20 minute harangue that made me feel like I was 14 again. To have the effrontery to vituperate somebody I clearly adore is a deal-breaker in my book. It happened to me waaaaay too many times when I was younger and toyed with my self-trust to the point of crisis. Do NOT eff with my feelings towards people I hold in high esteem. Do NOT eff with my ability to trust myself and my judgment. Do NOT bash somebody I care about and then giggle about it proudly -- as if it were innocent fun to proclaim that my relationships with others are silly little nothings that I am just too naive to comprehend their complete vacuousness. And -- whatever you do -- do NOT think yourself superior and so wonderfully honest as compared to all other beings because you "tell it like it is" when this entails you acting insensitive, indecorous and overtly-jealous. This is not the harsh "truth" - this is just unattractive and makes others realize your insecurities and become extremely turned off by your self-importance.

Once I like somebody, there's not too much you can do to really and truly piss me off, but ding ding ding, doing any and all of the things aforementioned will pretty much win you an indefinite period of being outright ignored. No - this is not the mature way to handle it. But I always must ask, why must I act like the mature one when the other person's immature actions were what caused the mess? I don't see it as my personal onus to inform another human being that their default manner of acting is completely unappreciated and immature; that until they realize this, I find their presence toxic to my general attempt at happiness and inner peace and they can go pollute others.

Sure, it's an overreaction -- but that's only because this is one of those reoccurring things that pushes my buttons in the exact manner that guarantees an explosion every time. I've had to deal with this behavior so much from people so close to me that at some point I just have to proclaim that I can't take it any more. I just do NOT understand where people get the chutzpah to believe it a perfectly hunky-dory thing to bash somebody's Important Person for twenty minutes straight, all the while giggling and being as insulting as humanly possible and then skip away as if it were the most harmless and sweetest activity in the world.

Alternate me in a different dimension sees this and raises you twenty extra minutes of insults and personal attacks on your relationships and your Important Person(s) and proclaims that she will not stop the bash fest until you run home crying. TAKE THAT.

So yep - to say I was upset would be an understatement. And so I went to Madrid to Kiko to purchase nail polish. 'Cause what does a panda do when she's really really upset and has no Victoria Secret nearby to go sulky underroo shopping? She paints her toes. Periwinkle. ;)

Then, after some "I'menragedrightnowwatchout" mis-communication, I found myself on the bus back towards home with L. I have to admit - I try not to see people I like when I'm that upset. I prefer people to think of me as a big bubble of positive energy. I thought about telling her I wasn't up for hanging out, but a part of me felt like I needed to suck it up and deal with myself. And so I did, well... sort of. I'm pretty sure the first fifteen minutes with her were a big complaint fest. Mmm... attractive, I know. I have many friends whom I complain WITH, but not to whom I complain because I'm in a state of emotional surrender and need a little life-preserver thrown out to sea to keep me from being swirled into a dangerous vortex of my own negativity/thoughts. This was one of those moments.

It's always a nervewracking thing to demand such a thing from somebody for the first time. Some people have no clue what their supposed to do. Many throw out a simple, "It'll be okay." It'll-Be-Okays are like the water-wings of life-preservers. They're cute and all, but pretty useless when it comes to facing a serious storm. Some try to give you advice as if they were in your exact position and have omniscient power over the outcomes of life. This is always sweet, because they're trying, but in the end it comes across as a bit arrogant and just makes me feel misunderstood. This is the ugly orange life-vest with straps that are too loose and moth-chewed to be a real effective member of  the life-preserver family.

So what's the right thing to say? The right life-preserving object to throw over board?

"Well... I hear what you're saying. Everything happens for a reason, though, right? But still... it's okay to act human sometimes 'cause... well... you are human. Be upset or angry or mad - I won't think any less of you for it. Sometimes you just gotta be human and there's absolutely no shame in that."

O_O

Might as well have thrown an entire luxury life-boat over board complete with cocktails and cupcakes!

THANK YOU for stating what may or may not have been the obvious when I really needed to hear it. <3

I so often judge myself for being anything less than sanguine, but L was right - the purpose of life isn't to be perfect all the time -- it's to experience. And sometimes in experiencing, you're less than chipper... and there's no reason to feel guilty for that or bad or like you've failed. Sometimes you just need a few hours or days off from it all. And that's okay.

What a difficult concept for me to grasp. I keep wondering if spiritual masters ever take a day to be like, "Eff this. I'm gonna put on my sweats, eat lots of sweets and watch reruns of Full House." ??? I doubt it... but I feel like being human is a very important aspect to existence, even when it means just giving up for a little bit, handing the reigns over to the universe and being okay with being upset.

And so, (ironically? or is this what happens when you embrace your feelings - good or bad?) with such a perfectly understanding response, I went from upset and livid and hopeless feeling to fuzzy and squishy and content in a matter of minutes. Hee hee. <3

I've been busy going all over the city and working on my visa and thinking about my future and this and that, blah blah blah, that taking a night off to just be was exactly what I've been missing and didn't even know it. Going after your dreams is great, and taking advantage of the opportunities around you, also... but one should never underestimate the invigorating power of crashing on a couch with yummy food, TV, homework done in colored markers and one of your favorite people. *bliss*

XOXO
Jet-set Cupcake

Day 43: If only I were a surrealist

Today in Ernesto's class we learned more about Surrealism. Oh, how I wish I could write a surrealist blog right now. It'd simplify everything so much for me. I have too much going on in my mind and yet don't at the same time. I want this but at the same time I want that and then, I just want to not want and to float. A tiny part of me wants to freak out and worry but the other part of me is so hushed and calm that she just smiles at that little part of me from a peaceful park bench and her eyes sparkle, knowingly.

Sometimes when I'm really happy I sit and focus really hard on a specific moment in the past where past me was really upset or hurting or sad or scared or fearful of the unknown and I focus all of my energy on that little girl and tell her, "It's okay! Look!" and I show her a tiny bit of what her life is about to look like, even though it feels impossible where she is.

Conor used to do this for me. I think he taught me how to do it. I still have a conversation saved from when I was 16 and a half with him... it's just a fragment and doesn't sound like much, but I can remember being locked in my closet crying so hard with the only light around me my little computer screen and Conor's words being the only thing that could make me stop trembling:

Conor: Okay honey, calm down, it's gonna be okay.
Me: :-\
Conor: Trust me. I know it's hard, believe me I know...

Just like a surrealist painting being observed, I'm sure there are very limited audiences who would read the next sentence and truly, truly believe it, but surrealists never worried about their personal truth being grasped, and nor do I to an extent. Sometimes I can hear "future" me when I'm very still and quiet and just for a split second she shows me where I'm going. Sometimes it's just a feeling, sometimes it's just a giggle, sometimes it's a scene... but the knowledge that I am thriving and happy is always there.

And then all of a sudden my family got back from their trip and they both were so happy to see me and kissed me on both cheeks and brought me a present and made me a really yummy lunch and both giggled at me and wanted to hear about what was new. <3 And then I was talking to a few of my favorite people all afternoon online and remembered how loved I am. And then I was walking to the plaza with L and she was just going on about her day without me even asking and it was so cute. It's the best when you can see somebody without even saying 'Hello' and just break into being around them as if its the most natural state of being. This - this is something that does not get enough poetry nor music nor art created in its honor. <3

I just stumbled upon all of the sweet things Stephen wrote to/about me. It made me smile. A lot. Because not only can I remember exactly how it made me feel when I was 16, but shined like stained glass onto how I feel in this moment.

This afternoon I felt like I was handed a Year to do with as I pleased - with the disclaimer that the one thing I wanted to do more than anything would be the one thing I couldn't do with it. I cried for a split second before I realized that was hardly the correct reaction. This is all going somewhere and even though everything something like this happens I immediately worry I will lose the most important things to me, just the opposite always happens.

XOXO
Jet-set Cupcake

Day 42: Only by getting lost can you find your way

I did it! I woke up early enough on a Sunday to get my butt to Madrid for El Rastro! Success!! ^_^ I took the Puerta del Toledo (below) metro stop and started wandering aimlessly and following groups of people who looked like they wanted a bargin and eventually stumbled into a a giant, packed set of streets with bajillions of stalls.

I had high hopes for the market and gotta say that it wasn't all that I'd expected it to be. In my mind, a "foreign market" should have cheap hand-crafted goodness and cheap delicious food prepared on site or grown just a little ways away. This market had neither of those things. It had clothes and souvenirs and jewelery... but nothing that you couldn't just go to a store in the more touristy sections of Madrid and buy yourself for one or two euros more. What the heck, guys? I DID however purchase the cutest souvie for Woody and Jessi -  hell yes. ^_^

After the market stopped (or maybe it kept going but I lost the correct street to turn onto next and just gave up... it wasn't like Belo Horizonte's market in Brazil where it's just one really long street of a million little organized stalls... this was a hodgepodge of streets and stalls and people and heat), I found myself in a quaint little plaza with a bunch of little cafes and stopped for a strawberry daquiri and a class of ice water. :) Cute! The plaza reminded me a lot of the mall in the Gaslamp District of San Diego, California where I tipsily (LOL... slightly epic) ate a Cinnabon for my birthday with J... and it made me wonder if they'd fashioned it after quaint European plazas? Most likely, I suppose!

After my rest stop, I decied rather than heading back to Plaza Mayor, I might as well head in the opposite direction, into the unknown. I passed a yellow bug, found a sketchy park, a huge bridge and finally ended up at "el Paseo del Rey."  I had no idea what this was, but I figured it must signify I was nearing the Royal Palace, and for this I was grateful, 'cause it'd been practically 45 minutes since I'd had any idea where I was (well, okay I had an IDEA... but I KNEW I wasn't near any metro stop that'd get me back to el centro any time fast). While continuing down el Paseo del Rey I encountered a big iron fence with a beautiful arched gate and wandered inside. Lo and behold, I'd stumbled into what I then and there named the "Royal Forest."

It was the garden BEHIND the Royal Garden and was absolutely breathtaking. It looked like a miniature version of Versailles' gardens (to be honest, I'd totally forgotten I'd even visited Versailles until I saw these gardens and thought to myself, "Gee... this makes me think of France... I wonder why that is... oh, wait...") mixed with enchanted forests thought up by Neil Gaiman! Honestly, when a zephyr would stir the trees, little white flower blossoms would rain gently down and fill the air with their dulcet scent and leave my hair sprinkled with their petals.

I wandered the grounds, wondering what all the trees must have seen in their lifetimes there! The park was created in the 12th century by the Moors... and then became the King's later on. Imagine the royalty and the grand costumes and the history these little green beings have witnessed! I don't know why history books aren't written from the viewpoint of trees in royal gardens... they would certainly have a lot of interesting things to divulge.

I was slightly startled when I saw a group of peacocks approach me... I'd been in a daze following various paths and weaving in an out of woods, mini forests, bright sunny areas and stumbling upon quiet little benches near tinkling mini-waterfalls and birdbaths and fountains with soothing water... and so when a few peacocks crossed my path I had no idea what to do with myself! I'd never seen a peacock outside of a cage before! And these were pretty sociable peacocks; weren't phased in the slightest when I sat down right next to them to take their picture. As if I hadn't been pretending like a was a princess from a few hundred years back or a very proper young lady from a Jane Austin novel or an enchanted faery or nymph from a Gaiman book before seeing the majestic peacocks! Now I really felt in character!

I chose a little spot with four benches surrounding a bird bath fountain in the midst of the raining blossoms and sat for hours reading "Stardust," all the while glancing up every few pages, awed by my surroundings and feeling like I was actually in the book I was reading (the book is a fantasy tale about a journey through an enchanted forest... every once and I while I'd peer over the pages, looking for a unicorn... hee hee hee... but I'm so serious, I really did).

It was late afternoon when I got up from the bench, and, after taking a new Woody-style pictures around my new Secret Garden, realized I'd been bitten by enough mosquitos and it was time to head towards sustinence (I hadn't eaten at all yet!).

A few hours and some food later I was in Alcala with L, safely returned from her trip, and wandering towards the palacio del obispo. We had an ice cream cone and compared weekends in the serene spot near the palace and the old wall that used to keep the town safe hundreds of years ago. Once again, I felt like I was in "Stardust," in the town of Wall, wanting to journey past the wall and see what was on the otherside!

And so we did.

Cold water, crunchy pringles and a sunset that produced fluffy pink penguin clouds was the perfect conclusion to the enchanting day that was surprisingly quite exhausting.

 It's a funny thing when the one person who used to seem like a spontaneous, lucky figment of your imagination suddenly becomes the only thing that seems real and serene in your immediate existance. All the people from my group have been jetsetting every weekend to various parts of Spain and various countries, and all the while I've been here, humbly doing exactly what I'd never imagined I could be doing and smiling secretively to myself about how I Wrote this all out before I was ever Here. <3



XOXO

Jet-set Cupcake

Day 41: Autonomousness!

This is going to shock you all, but as I set out for my solo journey to Madrid this morning, it occured to me that I haven't spent an entire day SOLO since before I moved from Wisconsin. o_O How is that possible?! I used to spend practically every day alone... but since getting ready for my move and arriving here... well... there's simply not time to be solo! And, better yet, why be solo when you can be out having adventures with other(s)?! (lol) But alas, the time finally came when everybody was traveling doing their own thing and I found myself with an entire 24 hour period without anything to do and without anybody to do it with... and so I packed a book and jumped on the train to Madrid.

Mission #1? Find Taco Bell. As you recall, it's "Eat like an American Week" and it was Taco Bell's turn next! After feeling lost for a few blocks, the big purple bell finally entered my sight and I belined for what I hoped would be a deliciously gross meal of tacos! Um... not so much. The Nacho Surpreme was pretty good (the nasty cheese is much better here than in America, but they really skimp you on the sour cream), but they put LETTUCE on my taco surpreme. Hello? I said NO lechuga. Under ANY circumstances... >_< I don't know what it is about Taco Bell lettuce, but even the smell of it makes me feel like I'm going to gag. So... I had to throw away a perfectly good (and really overprised) taco. Grr.

Mission #2? Get defuzzed. Or, rather, get the balls to find a defuzzery, set up an appointment and go through with the appointment - all in Spanish. Normally, I'm down to speak Spanish and risk the possibility that either I won't be understood or I won't understand the other... but when it comes to matters of how my face will look for the next month of my life... well... it's a little daunting. One has to put special faith in the foreign-language abilities to chance such a thing! I got off at Bilbao, 'cause I'd seen a cute defuzzery there... but it was Saturday and they were closed.

Mission #3? Explore a new neighborhood. After Bilbao being I bust, I journeyed through part of Malasana, a nearby place bario. It was ADORABLE! Picture 1950's diners, Parisian cafes, cupcakes, flower shops, colorful graffiti, chic 'n tiny bars, grungy streets with random puddles of who-knows-what and vintage/rockability/tattoo parlors all mixed into one neighborhood and tada! you have Malasana! ^_^

*squeal* Lots of places were closed, again because it was the weekend, but you could still get the proper vibe. It made L bringing me cupcakes one of the first days we hung out all the cuter, because she bought them at, "Happy Day," a Vintage-American pastry shop in Malasana.

Mission #2 (again): A few more blocks and I was almost to Calle de Fuencarrol - but wait! Could it be?! A grungy-chic salon with a Pin-Up Girl theme that advertised cheap defuzzing services AND was open on Saturdays?! I summoned all the balls I had and rang the little doorbell. A sweet gay boy buzzed me in and in no time I'd set up an appointment for my "cejas y labio" (I had to confirm these were the correct words) at 6pm sharp. WIN! Must admit, I still have no idea how to say "defuzz" in Spanish, but the sweet little gay boy only had to look at my face to guess why I was there. Hahaha.

Mission #4: Obtain a new belly button ring. While in my first week I purchased a cute, dangly, black sparrow belly button ring... it'd become... cumbersome (for lack of a better, more truthful word) and I needed a basic one to replace it. All of this is code for: It was time to visit my bestest Argentinian friend, Luciano! ^_^ I <3 Luciano! I was peaking through the window of the Tattoo/Piercing shop when he spotted me and excused himself from his customers to come give me two kisses on the cheek and ask how I was! CUUUUTE!! We chatted for awhile before I told him I was there on official business, as well. Luciano let me pick out the color of the jewelery and then slipped it to me when nobody was looking. CONNECTIONS. ;) Haha. I got his number (finally!) and he invited me out to a club on Wednesday. Midterms are Thursday, so it looks like I have some early studying to do!!

Mission #5: It was hot. I did not have a very clever girl around who magically pulled out a huge water bottle from her purse. And so, I needed ice cream. Copious amounts of ice cream. And then, as if a mirage, I see a huge BEN AND JERRY'S sign out of NOWHERE! Sol?! You never told me you had a Ben & Jerry's!! Wtf?! Awesome-possum style, yo! Cookie sundae? Yummmmmmmmm...

Mission #6: Connect the dots. I still had a half hour before my appointment and decided to wander around Sol to see if I could figure out how various barios connected in reality. Okay - that sentence perhaps made no sense to you... but here's the thing. I have my metro map and I can tell you the surrounding one or two metro stops/mini barios next to each of the main stops I frequent... but I could not tell you in which direction to walk from Tribunal to get to, say, Atocha. I decided this needed to be fixed. As it turns out, Atocha is NOT that far from Sol (which is close to Opera, Plaza Mayor, Palacio Real, Templo de Debod... which is past Plaza de Espana), which is not far at all from Callao, which is really close to Gran Via, which is a stop away from Chueca, which is a hop away from Malasana/Tribunal which is near Bilbao, which is close to San Bernardo where L works. DAMN! Suddenly this map is all starting to make sense in my mind. I feel like a bamf at this point when it comes to getting around Madrid. That's right. I'm pretty pro. ;)

This statue had a traffic cone as a hat. HAHA.

It reminded me of the day after the Packer's won the Super Bowl and Lincoln on Bascom Hill had a cheesehead hat on. ^_^ Win.

 Mission #2 (for the third time): Annnnnd it was time to return for my epic defuzzing-in-a-foreign-country appointment. The girl who defuzzed me was very nice and more or less patient with the fact that she talked way too damned fast for me to understand considering I was focusing solely on the imminent pain of being defuzzed and not on the colloquial Spanish coming from her mouth. The wax they use in Spain? Nothing like American wax. It's much hotter, they spread it on with what feels like just their fingers and then just as you think they're gonna spread it one last time they peel it off real fast without you hardly noticing anything happened! America - WHERE ARE YOU ON THIS INVENTION?! There was hardly any discomfort and my skin didn't get even a wee bit red and puffy afterwards... plus it was faster! She, like all aesthetitians, complimented my nice, dark, full eyebrows (and eyelashes - that's a new one!) and "formed them and cleaned them up" very nicely. I've been craving Spanish Girl Eyebrow Perfection and she did a pretty darn good job at it! Yay! No disasters ocured on my face nor with my Spanish! Success!

Defuzzed! Yay!

Mission #7: Wander around for two hours and take pictures. At this point, I was pooped. Exhausted. And so I wandered around a snapped pictures of what typical Madrid looks like. I realized that the city seems so normal to me now, but that to anybody back home it would look quite quaint and different from what they're used to. So... a few ordinary pictures of the city are in order:

 The symbol of Madrid is a Bear trying to climb up a tree. This statue is in Puerta del Sol. :) I don't know why this is the symbol. The first person to look it up and let me know will get a special little souvenir from Madrid, because it's siesta time and I'm feeling to lazy to look it up myself!

The picture on the right is between the Opera and the Royal Palace. ^_^ Pretty!

 Mad City... wait WHAT? How come this is the FIRST time I realized that Madison and Madrid both start with "Mad"  >_< I'm so SLOW sometimes... Brother! The picture to the right is from the San Miguel Market. Seeing random hanging pig's legs is the norm here in Spain. It disturbed me at first, too... but you get used to the sight. For the first few weeks my family had one sitting next to the 'fridge - like nbd. You cut meat off of them as you need it - jamon iberico? I think that's it. It's nasty. The end. They also have stores called, "Ham Museums" where they sell you pig legs and fancy wooden stands to proudly display your chunk of meat to guests. Sometimes other cutlures are so strange... 

After such a long day I made it back to Alcala and came home to a shindig at home with Jorge's friends. Cute! They invited me to hang out on the patio with them and we all chatted for hours. It was actually pretty adorable as they were asking me questions about Denver and English, etc. And I tried to participate as best I could, despite being totally worn out. :) Hee hee.

And so, it's finally time for bed. Who knew going solo for a day would be SO much more tiring than hanging out with somebody else for a part of it?? Damn. I gotta rest up 'cause I want to go to El Rastro in the morning!!

XOXO

Jet-set Cupcake

Day 40: (Part II)

Maybe nobody told you, but welcome to "American Fast Food Week!" So far we've had KFC and Domino's... next up? 1 euro BBQ chicken sandwiches and hamburgers from McD's! ^_^

I've decided that randomly taking a bus or metro, ending up in a random park and impromptu picnics are the best way to spend free nights in a city. It makes the whole day feel like it was so long ago... because suddenly you're just peacefully sitting in the grass, enjoying life without a care in the world.

Of course, who accompanies you on your impromptu picnics and public tranportation trips to unknown destinations is what really makes the activity so lovely. ^_^ Enough said!

XOXO
Jet-set Cupcake