Friday again. . .

Another lazy Friday. Nothing to do but sit around the apartment- that's not an exaggeration this time; I put all my clothes in the wash and didn't think about what I would wear the rest of the day, so it looks like PJs.

The school week went well, I suppose. In Ceramics, we glazed the pieces we'd made last week, and I'm pretty excited to see how a couple of the things I glazed turned out. Prado class was brutal, because of all the standing and walking around, and also because our teacher doesn't seem to know what time we are actually supposed to get out of there. But we are seeing a lot of cool things in that extra time.

I guess my Creative Writing teacher really liked the stuff I wrote for our writing exercises last week. I just feel much less inhibited when I write in Spanish. Now he has high expectations though, so I have to keep working in there. I need to get started on my mini-novela actually.
My Spanish music class was tough this week because the instructor thought it would be a good idea for us to have a jam session, and I had previously told him that my only prior music experience was on the piano (trumpet was not an option). How the heck do you jam on the piano?! That took me so far outside my comfort zone, and I have no idea why I thought it would be a good idea to take that class. We'll see what happens.

Yesterday I headed over to the U.S. Embassy to try and mail the completed absentee ballot request form that I had been given when Johnny Mo came to visit. After walking 20 minutes down Calle Serrano, being searched and having my bag confiscated, and waiting 30 minutes for my number to be called, I was told that my form was no longer being used.

At this point, I had already stayed longer than I needed to. I had rehearsal at 1:30 back at IES, and it was already about 1:10. When the woman behind the glass saw my face, she said, "Oh no, I can get you another form! Don't worry!" and then she took way too long getting me that form. "Now just finish that, and step back up here when you're done, and we can mail it for you."

"Can I just mail it myself?" I asked.
"But- but we can mail it for you!" she exclaimed, like why would I consider any other alternative when that was clearly the best option that had ever been created.

"I really have to go," I told her, and she gave me this glare that said, "Whatever," and shrugged her shoulders.

So I ran back out, grabbed my bag from the guards (I know that sounds like I just stold it and made a break for it, but I gave them my ticket and they returned it to me with no problems), and dashed to the street. It was 1:18. There was no way I was going to make it back on time taking the Metro- the walk from the station to IES is ten minutes by itself. So I did what any street-wise, big city living gal would do: I hailed a cab.

There's one thing I do love about cabbies and bus drivers in this town: for the most part, they seem to be on your side. The bus drivers especially- some mornings we will get on the bus and traffic will be brutal, and you think you're going to be late, but whenever the way is clear, the drivers will just floor it. Like I didn't know buses could hit the speeds that these guys achieve.

It was the same with this cabbie- I'm pretty sure he got me there in about 10 minutes. I ran to the theater and slipped through the open door. . . only to see that the only other people there were our instructor and one other student.

Eventually another girl showed up, but we had to just cancel rehearsal because two of the five of us were gone. I can't believe I took a cab across town for that, but I feel like our teacher's spirit would really have been crushed if only one of us had arrived on time.
What else is new. . . oh, I think I witnessed the self-destruction of a string quintet at Sol the other night. One of the violinists was out of tune or something and they just stopped right in the middle of the song, and he argued with the other violinist (I think) and then put his instrument away, and then they all kept arguing. The next night, they were only a string quartet.

I also saw an elderly couple dancing a tango played by this group. They're very interesting; they play at varying hours, and they play all kinds of music, from tango to swing to 'When the Saints Go Marching In.' The other day I even heard them skat. Not something I expected to hear in Madrid. I think it's really cool that the guy who plays primarily clarinet for them is probably about my age, and sometimes he switches it up and trades instruments with the saxophonist. Makes me wish I'd stuck with band in middle school.

What else. . . oh, I saw for the first time in this town someone who looks like they could actually be a competitive swimmer. It was a girl wearing a Roxy shirt (as I so frequently do). She had the broadest shoulders I've seen thus far in Madrid (before that, mine were the broadest).

That's not very exciting, but that's really about it. Plans for this weekend: watch the ALCS and listen to the Mules game! Plus IES trip to Salamanca!