Je adore Paris (or something like that)

Unfortunatly my camera was stolen my last day in Paris...instead of letting this ruin my trip we (Valerie and Hugh) lit a candle at Montmarte and ate tons of ice cream. I took it as a sign that my relationship with Paris was far from over, that the city needed me to come back to at least, at the bare minimum, retake some of those beautiful pictures. My mom, being so "my mom" consoled me by quoting The Little Prince: "On ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux." (It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye). I guess having to abandon most of your belongings in Guatemala really teaches a person to value the nontangeable.

I arrived in Paris only to realize that my cell phone gets no service and when I said I dont speak french..I really truely do not speak any french. After 4 failed attempts to use a French payphone I decide to just show up at Vals place and hope for the best. Fortunately, I am greeted by a bright pink post-it from Valerie that informs me she ran to the post office but BRB. Curling up on the curb in front of her place and with my box of Ritz crackers I get two "Bon Appetits" from passing strangers, I love Paris!!

Let's just say that Val found me screaming from her neighbors window, "VALERIE ANN!!" after I friended the first person to walk into the building who luckily lived across the hall from her. The neighbors apartment was AMAZING. It was so arty with the chalk board above the desk, beautiful colors, old brown leather couches, and the fridge in the living room. We drank some beer, while she smoked out of the window and discussed the various significant frases that I should learn in french.

During my first night in Paris I fell in love with the deserts, coffee, fromage and just food in general. Apparently the French make everything from scratch. EVERYTHING! To me its like making your own shoes, why make it when you can buy it already made...but delicious. this picture is of Andrea's foodgasm after eating the most amazing chocolatness ever. GLORIOUS.

Internal Monologue at the Airport (Madrid - Paris)

I had been dying for a notebook since getting to Madrid. There is something about writing everything down the moment it happens that makes the experiences seem more real. I only regret not bringing my journal that I brought to Brazil, with the torn cover carelessly held together with tape and the pages stained with coffee. But I did finally buy a 1€ notebook from my favorite "Chino" which should do the trick.

On my way to Paris..PARIS!! I have been talking about wanting to go for a while and I am so glad I finally got my sh** together. This being all part of my "proactive" personality, a quality that at times may make some people want to pull their hair out but I love it when it forces me to take on a few adventures. Such as my commitment to study Portugese in Brazil, wanting to work in Spanish all summer, spending new years in London with Stephie and jumping off a bloody 50ft cliff in Jamaica. GOING TO GEORGETOWN LAW! Now that is huge, I spent the entire 4 years of college committed on getting into Georgetown law and here I am done with the first year.

Also, I am a big fan of airports. They always represent the beggining or the end of something. Whether its flying in to see your family or spending a weekend in Paris, they are all things you are waiting in anticipation for. Besides, once you arrive at the airport all you have to do is wait. Grab some coffee, food, or in my case a box of Ritz crackers, some strawberry lifesavers and a pack of trident gum. Note: Will start eating better when I arrive in Paris..or get back to Madrid.

I am so excited for Paris. It represents me actually doing something unlike my habit of vegging out in Madird (buying my plane ticket 3 days in advance-spontenaiety can be sexy), going to the first country where I do not speak the language at all, but most importantly, Paris is where my mom spent a good chunk of her life. 6 years of sneaking into philosophy classes since she was too young to enroll in the University, of going to the Luvre, meeting and drinking coffee with some communist friends. I cant wait to see the things she has been telling me about since I was a child, to breathe the same air as her...okay so maybe things have changed since the 1970s.

One word- pumped

Spanish Truckers Block Border with France

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/world/europe/10fuel.html

Since monday slow moving truckers blocked the major highways surrounding Madrid and the major roads that lead into France and Portugual. There are actually protests going on on both sides of the border. I even got an email from the US embassy saying that because of the strike in Spain the high levels of traffic congestion means that the embassy is unable to deliver passports and visa applications within the guaranteed 7-10 day time period.

“We are the ones who move the merchandise that this country needs to function,” Julio Villascusa, a truckers’ representative, told the Cadena Ser radio station on the eve of the strike. “If we don’t have the money to keep buying fuel to offer this public service, well, then, this country comes to a halt.”

And they are right, the supermarket shelves are currently bare. Madrid currently has no produce, meat, bread..anything. It's funny because people aren't really talking about it as much as you think they would. Can you imagine if all of DC was being surrounded by angry truck drivers and the supermarkets were completly empty? Y2K all over again...

Spain is stuck in the 90s

I am convinced that Madrid is stuck in the 90s. Let´s have a look at the evidence:

• Mullets-I have seen more mullets in the fashionable streets of Madrid than at the Indy 500, or well, at a tailgate, better yet at a tractor pull.



• Roller Blades- People rollerblade everywhere, to work, supermarkets, for fun. I remember rollerblades, I used them after I mastered the inline skates that you strapped on over your shoes. I can´t remember the last time I saw a person rollerblading down the streets of DC post 1995.



• Converse Shoes: or "chucks". Yeah okay, so maybe they are kind of back in style in the states but not to the high extreme as here in Madrid, where the fashionistas and "pijos" sport their chucks and pink polos [matching of course]. I learned to tie my shoes on my pair of high tops.
  


• And the sunglasses, the overuse of denim, keds, the nose ring (and not a stud but the actually ring) and the neon-MY GOD. If I see the back-pack purses or Adidas windpants..I´m out.

My british co-worker, Rob, was explaining that Europe is just so advanced in the fashion world that they have repeated the cycle and are back in to the 90s fashion. I would have been the coolest 5th grader ever, with my hightops, purple leggings and gel bracelets. Ha..rollerblades.

Andalucía

One of my coworkers is planning a weekend trip to Granada. I am extremly excited because I was hoping to do some traveling in Spain but the thought of going alone never really appealed to me. We are looking for tickets to see the Alhambra, one of the most visited places in all of Spain. It is a palace and fortress created by the Moors. She was explaining that it is on a hill and just above it you can see the snow covered mountain tops and right below are all the amazing and beautiful beaches of Andalucía. Sun + historic and beautiful palace + drinking with co-workers = awesome.

Parque del Bueno Retiro (Park of the Pleasant Retreat)

I have been avoiding going to Parque del Bueno Retiro for some time now. It is one of the most beautiful parks in Madrid, often compared to Central Park and is located only 4 blocks from my office. I just always had envisioned my first stroll to be on a warm summer day, not this rain, me in a elegant summer skirt, not my black pants, and sitting by the lake reading For Whom the Bell Tolls, and not The Economist. But today was the day, how could I refuse my British co-worker offering to serve as my tour guide?

The park is even better than I could of imagined. Honestly. There is a huge lake, where you often seen people on little boats, reading, napping, or hanging with friends. There are two palaces, Palacio de Cristal, which is the edge of another lake and is this amazing glass building built by Ricardo Velázquez Bosco after the Crystal Palace in London, and the Palacio de Velázquez, both are now used for temporary exhibitions. There are also various gardens throughout the park, some that looked like hill sides I would have only ever imagined in a Dr. Seuss story and another had "cloud trees." My favorite was the rose garden b/c of the delicate aroma and the manipulation of how the rose bushes were being grown over fences and along the walk ways. There is also a statute commemorating the fallen angel aka The Devil, possibly the only statue dedicated to the devil in Europe.

I thought that sitting by the water would turn out to be my ideal place, but I kept saying "no wait, there! That is where I will do my reading!" And the park was so quiet that I almost forgot I was in the center of such a cosmopolitan city.

Besides the park, the company was quite fun. Our conversation included making fun of America and England, I said I was going to try to teach him how to speak-ghetto which prompt him to say "like what, I am going to bust a cap in your ass" in the most proper english I had ever heard. And apparently magpies, which I thought were really pretty, even exotic looking birds, are basically pigeons and bad luck...whatev.

I want to hug my office

Came back from lunch to find a printed out document called "Las Tapas En Madrid" which had a list of restaurants in the area and a break down of the common food served here. It was signed Pedro. One of the younger [my age??] people working here. Gotta love it.