Weekend. It was finally here. The four day weeks here are
pretty snazzy. Really makes it seem like the week flies by. Friday, John and I
slept in big time. We were still having a problem with the jet lag, so we were
falling asleep pretty late most nights. I’m pretty sure that first week I
struggled to fall asleep before 4am. So Friday was definitely a relief to sleep
in past noon, although I don’t know if that really helped the jet lag… Anyway
we woke up with the intention to go pay basketball with SLU Madrid. The school
has intramural basketball on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays and since we both
have class during the times of Tuesday and Thursday, we really wanted to go
Friday.
So we strolled over to SLU probably around 1:30 and got there
around 2pm. We got there and there were a few guys hanging out so we chatted
for a bit and then headed over to the gym.
The gym was a little way away so that meant Erik got to go on his first
metro ride woohooo!!!!! After a small struggle of figuring out how to work the
ticket machine, I was able to make it in. Everyone who went abroad before
always raved about the metro system being fantastic and now I know why. It
really is quite great. Very clean. Very organized. Very timely. Big fan of the
Metro. Feel like a seasoned pro now haha. Anyway, we went a whopping one stop
over and got off to head to the gym.
It was a pretty sweet deal. Had a whole gym to ourselves to
play basketball. What more could you want?!? For those that don’t know, my
ankle has been giving me issues ever since Easter time. I’ve been in and out of
a walking boot, I have gone to physical therapy, had X-rays, had an MRI, and I
have seen my podiatrist so may times. I have gone from thinking I was okay, to
thinking I have a torn tendon, to who knows what. Before I left though, the
doctor said that I had tendonitis in my ankle and that nothing was torn.
Basically meaning, your ankle is going to hurt and swell up if you work it to
hard. Great… So he gave me a brace and basically said good luck.
But I was in Madrid. I had my brace. I wanted to play
basketball. And that I did. Three great hours worth. We started with three on
three and then the guy who coordinates intramurals, Cesar, who is the man just
so you know, had some friends that we got to play full court 5 on 5. It was a
blast. Had so much fun. Was so exhausted and tired though. That was the most
physical activity I had done since mid Spring basically. Ridiculous. Felt good
to be running around again.
One sweaty metro ride and one amazing shower later, we were
back at our place resting happy in our beds.
Soon after the ladies called saying to come meet them for
dinner. So we got ready and headed out
towards sol to go meet them.
WOW. Sol was freaking hopping. So many freaking people and
things going on. Mickey Mouse was even there. We met up with them and started
walking.
My dreams came true and I got to see the “el oso y el Madroño”
or the bear and the strawberry tree. It is the symbol of Madrid! SO many bear
connections. LETS GO!!
Of course I had to get a picture.
We weaved are way through the streets of sol. I was super
turned around, so thank goodness for friends with phones that know directions.
Now here begins the infamous tail of this restaurant. Sarah
and Theresa had spent the day in sol walking around and had spotted a
restaurant with very cheap sangria so we attempted to find this restaurant
again. And oh boy did we…
This place was called Taberna Pompeyana. I don’t think my
blog post will do it justice. I think the best way I can describe it was a
Greek, satanic, sex dungeon, death filled. torture chamber. There was graphic
pictures of people participating in sexual activities. There was torture
devices hanging in on the ceiling. The further into the back of the restaurant
you looked, the darker and darker it got until you couldn’t see. Felt like a
black hole. And sitting next to us was a lovely progression of pictures of a
man growing older losing his hair through the years while also losing the
function of his male genitalia… yup that happened.
And we stayed throughout the whole dinner haha. I think the
whole place freaked everybody out and people were ready to get out of there. I
found certain humor to the whole situation. The fact Theresa and Sarah
completely missed all the weirdness and eeriness of the place the first time
around and were solely focused on the sangria price I find hysterical. And plus
when was I ever going to be in such a weird restaurant ever again. I was
probably laughing the whole dinner.
Sangria was SUPER good. This was my first actual sangria so
that was exciting. It was my first time eating out in Madrid so I was a little
hesitant to order anything too exotic in fear of an upset stomach so I played
safe and got a barbacoa pizza with jalapenos on it. SUPER YUMMY.
Another funny order was when Theresa was trying to order a
salad with tomatos on it… or so she thought. The waiter came back with a plate
of 3-4 tomatoes cut into wedges… hahaha no lettuce. Just tomato.
Solid finish to a solid day.
Saturday brought more awesomeness. John and I had signed up
for one of the day trips that SLU offers early on in the year. The trip was to
a Monasterio de Piedra and also involved some hiking around water falls. It sounded
awesome. I was excited. We woke up early and made our way to SLU to go meet the
bus. We had a long two and a half hour bus ride which was spent sleeping by
some. I spent most of my time staring out the window at the landscape of Spain,
still not truly believing I was really here.
We finally arrived at this really cool place. The last part
of the drive was pretty sweet. We kind of wound are way up this mountain and
looked out at giant lakes and small towns. Really unique looking landscape.
John and I were excited to go hiking and check this place
out. We were eager to just get going and head out on our own. What we didn’t
realize was that our guide was going to give a guided tour of the Monastery
first and wouldn’t give us our tickets to the rest of the park until he was
finished. This made some people restless and impatient, but I was just happy to
be there. I though the monastery was pretty sweet. The people there basically
had this whole underground wine production going on that was really cool to
hear about and just the scale of the whole building was crazy to take in.
But yeah, I definitely think the nature aspect of the hike
was the highlight of the trip for me. WATERFALLS. So many beautiful waterfalls.
Probably the largest I have ever seen with my own eyes. We even got to take our
shoes off and go play around in one. Not sure if we were supposed to do that…
but we did anyway J
The whole hike was just beautiful. Lush greens and rushing
water. Felt like heaven. I just kept saying wow to myself over and over again.
Another cool part was this giant cave where the opening was the water fall and
when you walked through it opened up into this deep cave. That was so cool. Got
to play in some caves. No fear just walked right in. One with nature. And then
the finish of the hike we walked around this large body of water and rock. Very
pretty as well. Quite the experience. I was wiped tho. As soon as I got home I
hit the bed and was out.
Next up Sunday.
I headed out for church with Sarah and Theresa. We checked
out this Spanish church and the whole mass was in Spanish… I was sort of lost,
but definitely felt God’s presence which is the whole point of going to church.
Taking time out of your day to just be solely with God. We then grabbed our
Bible and headed to the park so that we could read the readings in English. We
also grabbed some pastries from a local baker. Yummy Croissant. Then we decided
to go check out this market. I was able to find a cool Madrid shirt and I think
Sarah found some cool shades. We then walked over to the park that Sarah and
Theresa had found the day before to check out this amazing view of Madrid and
temple that given to Spain by the Egyptians as a gift. I then spent the rest of
the day taking it easy working on some homework until it was time for the BEARS
GAME.
First game of the season baby. I was so excited. The first
drive looked amazing. Cutler was on fire. But then the defense also allowed a
touchdown right away so I was quickly brought back down to reality. The rest of
the game was rough with lots of stupid mistakes and the sad part was the bears
found a way to lose to the bills at home. Completely inexcusable. HUGE let
down. Sad Bear. But that was it.
First weekend in the books.
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