My Spanish Life.

The title has nothing to do with this post.

Just putting that out there.

Ah, Spain. Ah, Madrid. Ah, Europe. Waves of homesickness seem to have settled now, and Madrid has felt quite refreshing of late. Well, as refreshing as one of the most polluted cities in the world can feel. I’ve journeyed around a little of recent; I’m getting into the swing of the new job – even though the hours are still horrible. And for the most  part embracing poverty with love and smiles.

Sunshine has hit Madrid, on and off, again. Last Saturday was spent sitting in the sunshine on the balcony of one of my favourite restaurants in Madrid. La Casa de Granada. Situated on the sixth floor above Plaza Tirso de Molina and only accessible by the ring of a doorbell, this restaurant holds views of the one building I want to enter but haven’t yet. The CNT headquarters in Madrid. In anticipation of the election the following day, the CNT were proudly campaigning for abstention. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately depending on your view, the abstention vote doesn’t hold the sway it once did and the PSOE (Socialists) successfully won again. Meanwhile, we maintained fort in our balcony corner until well into the evening.

Turning to the election – for all those who felt like abusing me for refusing to vote in the last Australian election – I’d like to point out that here in Spain, voting is as it should be – non-compulsory – and when told that Australia’s democracy is compulsory, and that citizens are fined for voting, they roll on the floor laughing and then politely explain that obligatory voting isn’t democracy… but anyway, I digress.

I journeyed up to Avila the weekend before last, after a horrendously big night… somehow, I survived the day and wandered the picturesque walls of this ancient city. It is one of the few cities remaining with complete walls, but unfortunately that’s about it. Oh, but it does have the finger of Santa Teresa, the patron saint of the area. I’m slowly discovering that monasteries look much of a muchness. Square halls opening onto square gardens opening onto square rooms onto square halls onto churches.  And I’m just about ready to head to another region…

Semana Santa (more commonly known as Easter) is coming up soon, and the plan is to roadtrip with a couple of people up to Pais Vasco (Basque Country) for some lovely greenery, amazing food, and oceans. God, how I miss the ocean. It’s amazing the things you miss. I hate not having a garden, an oven, an ocean, greenness in general. Even though when I did have these things, I rarely used them.

Last Sunday was el dia de futbal australien… I headed up to Alcorcon (about 20min out of Central Madrid) for FOOTY!!!! Now I’m hurting… alot… but it was fantastic. There were only 13 people there for it, which makes it hard to have a real game, but of those 13 only 4 were Aussie, 1 was British and the rest were Spanish. And they weren’t too bad at the World’s Greatest Game either. Bouncing the ball was pretty dismal, but kicking, tackling, handballing, they had down pat. And they’re damn fast. Unfortunately, the rest of us aren’t particularly fit at the moment and, by that I mean me, and I quickly dropped dead after about half an hour. But I’m definitely heading out there again.

As for everything else, I’m trying to find teaching jobs in the UK for Summer (the pay is significantly better) and just survive week-to-week with the general stress of class travel class travel class travel class travel lifestyle that I’ve got going for me.