El Rastro/Lavapiés

So about a month ago, when the weather was still gorgeous, I went on a Sunday afternoon adventure with a couple of friends to El Rastro and Lavapiés.

El Rastro is an enormous bazaar (I posted one of my pictures to the left) where vendors offer everything from fans and scarves to leather goods and shoes. It had your typical, chaotic hubbub of any outdoor market, but was definitely peppered with a couple of crazies to keep things interesting (ie: the Romani (gypsy) lady who set up some kind of music box/cart smack dab in the middle of the street and my favorite-the group of Hari Krishna fanatics who danced down the street and tried to convert little, Spanish children). While I spent the good part of our time there conflicted over the irony of a vegetarian buying leather products, I finally caved and unleashed my inner-Indian-bargain-demon when my eyes caught sight of a beautiful, leather duffel-bag. As I was being conservative with the powers of persuasion, I ended up paying 24 Euro for a 36 Euro bag (I'm sure my Nani wouldn't have settled for anything that wasn't under the 20 Euro mark...) but I left more than satisfied with my purchases.

We hopped back on the metro and grabbed lunch at the first falafel joint (with probably the blandest hummus I've ever had) we saw in Lavapiés. Now before we got here, the Coordinator of our program told us it was a predominately North African neighborhood and notorious for being very dangerous. However, the only things I saw were Indian restaurants, Indian grocery stores, Indian video shops and Indian people. EVERYWHERE. (I mean there was graffiti in devnagari on almost every wall) Whatever pangs of homesickness I had creeping up were instantly diminished and it's definitely reassuring to know that there's an entire barrio that can take care of any cravings I'll inevitably get for hindustani khana.


Current Musik: "Ain't Nothin Like You (Hoochie Coo)" The Black Keys ft Mos Def & Jim Jones

Segovia

Sooo all the way back a month ago, our program made a bit of an excursion to Segovia. It was my first formal introduction to Spanish architecture and besides the fact that I was half-asleep for the first part of the day, I enjoyed it.

Highlights were definitely the aqueduct, the random lady who painted herself in silver and was a dancing statue and the GORGEOUS gothic cathedral. And I think everyone can agree that the climb up the 200 some steep and winding steps in a tower was completely unnecessary.

It was actually really interesting how the architecture was affected under Muslim rule. It reminded me a lot of India, where you'll see a pillar that has visibly different layers according to Hindu/Muslim influence (in this case Muslim/Catholic).

Still trying to figure out how to sneak in some of my pictures on here, but feel free to check out my Flickr account at http://www.flickr.com/photos/swatibhargava/


Current Musik: "Work It Out" Beyonce vs. Dave Matthews/Jurassic 5 (you might have to YouTube this one...)

Teaching//Learning in Spanish.

Alrightt. So, I've technically only had two days of the same class and I still feel like it's a touch too early to pass judgement. But besides occasionally slipping into a frighteningly, loud tone of voice my proff seems legit.

My classes for the next semester include a political and economic analysis of modern spain, spain's international policy in a contemporary context, feminist theory and critique (a more philosophical/theoretical angle than what i'm used to) and women in spanish literature (which will HOPEFULLY count towards my GWS minor).

So I'm taking it a bit easy this semester and will be spending some of this extra time teaching my little spanish bbs English.

Which brings us to a brief side note: Despite spending a summer teaching English in Sri Lanka, having two Spanish families here and possibly teaching again in this upcoming summer I still have qualms about spreading around this garbage. And for a couple of reasons.

1. It comes from England.
2. It undermines the value/importance of children learning their mother-tongue (not like I'm bitter or anything...)
3. Cultural imperialism

But I digress...

Yesterday, I had my first 2 classes with 4 of the CUTEST kids in Spain (well if not Spain then definitely Madrid).
I met with a family with 2 sons first (Aged 12 and 10). Being completely unprepared as I was, after doing their homework with them I had them read a bit from Fareed Zakaria's The Post American World just to hear their pronunciation. Bahh. Hearing 10 year olds read about the rise of the East was practically music to my ears. My next family (girls aged 11 and 7 - who were also surprisingly gingers) also succeeded in melting my heart to mush. And I have to say I was IMPRESSED with the 11 year old's English skills.

Overall, I had a lot of fun and realized that I'm going to have make legit lesson plans if I want a 7 year old girl to stay in her chair for more than 10 minutes (although I can't hate cuz I'm sure I was ten times worse at her age).

I'll meet with each family for 2 hours a week and at 15 Euro/hour, no complaints from me.


Current musik: "1977" Ana Tijoux.

Maoz

So as promised, I wanted to write a bit about possibly the tastiest discovery I've (and when I say I, I mean Austin) made in Madrid: Maoz.

So what is Maoz?

It's a little falafel restaurant (although I'm hesitant to use this word cuz it implies a sort of sit-down bougieness that just doesn't exist there). Right off of the Plaza at Sol. [c/ Mayor 4] Yes, I know. It doesn't get any more touristy than Sol BUT if that's what it takes to find a legit vegetarian joint in this city then so be it. So for 3.50 Euro (or 4.50ish if you wanna splurge and get some guacamole that is ON POINT) you get a pita pocket with fresh falafel, a plethora of options for toppings (couscous, chickpeas, carrots, cauliflower, green chili sauce, tomato and onion, baba-ganoush, lettuce, mixed olives - really the list goes on and on) tahini/yogurt sauce and FREE REFILLS! No jokes, lies or deception. Buffet libre.

Now I just want to know why isn't there a Maoz on every college campus?? [Or rather every street corner...]

But. If you happen to stroll through Madrid sometime this next year and I'm nowhere to be found. Chances are I'm at Maoz with the MT gorging ourselves with cheap, fresh VEGETARIAN deliciousness.


And if I've tempted your tastebuds, peep their website atttttttt: http://www.maozusa.com/


Current musik: Alicia Keys "Samsonite Man" - long time no listen...

Spain, spain, spain.

So this has been a long time coming (about a month now), but better late than never eh?

Well, it's been 34 some days since I've been here and despite opening a bank account, registering for classes, getting an apartment (and the whole apartment hunt mind you) and "scoping out the city" I STILL don't feel "settled" in.

As a brief recap. I landed on Aug 30th. Had a fair share of awkward cultural faux pas/language issues, but spent 2 weeks in a Spanish dorm and began an intensive culture/language course. Quick note about Spanish university students, they have the maturity of an average 13 year old American boy. My 'curso intensivo' consisted of an hour of history/politics, hour of art history and 2 hours of grammar/composition. From 9AM-130PM. Yes, 9AM.

Within those couple of weeks we were responsible for getting all of our logistical details underway (and can I just shout out a quick thanks to God for our program's Director/Student Coordinators). After seeing about 20 apartments I finally found one in Arguelles. Besides the fact that it's a 7 bedroom and my landlord lied to me and stuck me with 5 Americans I am grateful for having a place in a good, safe neighborhood.

Other than a one day trip to Segovia with our program, I haven't done too much traveling, but Spain is all about these random 3-4 day weekends so hopefully with this upcoming weekend the Minority Team will venture out of Madrid.

Nothing too dramatic other than the hot plates off of my straightener melting off (deja vu of Sri Lanka all over again...)

A couple of disappointing restaurants/bars, but definitely a couple of keepers as well:

El Tigre (tapas bar near Chueca - the gay neigborhood). Hella foreigners though.
La Finca de Susana. (a hop skip away from the Sol stop) AMAZING prices for a pretty swank place.

There will be an entire post dedicated to Maoz.

Definitely not a service oriented country (but... not big on tipping either so it evens out right?)

Buuuuut I'm off to my first official day of classes.

So, more later!


Current musik: Corinne Bailey Rae's "Feels Like the First Time" and "The Blackest Lily" off of The Sea.