La Noche en Blanco

Last night, all the madrileños came out to play. Called La Noche en Blanco, Madrid closes all the main streets to cars, opens up all museums for free until 3am, has music in the street, and sponsors an all around city-wide party! I have never seen anything like this before. Picture the streets on a football Saturday in Ann Arbor, and multiply that throughout the entire city of Madrid. Not only young people were out and about until the wee hours of the morning; I saw young kids and even old men and women exploring all the activities! I met up with Michelle, and two girls from my program: Deidre and Caitlin. I realized when I got back to my apartment at 6am that I hadn't entered a building since 9:30pm when I left my apartment. The weather wasn't too chilly, and there was so much to see! It's hard to tell in these pictures how many people there were, but it was an amazing sight. We heard rap music in the plaza de españa, reggae near gran vía, saw a comedy troop in plaza mayor, and all got blanco balloons. Around 4am, we ended the night in Sanjines, the best chocolate and churros place in all Madrid! See below.

to view more of my photos, visit http://web.me.com/debbie.sherman/Site/Photos.html

Rosh Hashanah

Hello everyone! For those that don't know, this weekend (starting Friday night) is a Jewish holiday called Rosh Hashanah where we celebrate the new (Jewish) year. So, I started emailing some rabbis and various people to find out about synagogues in Madrid way before I arrived here. I found that there is one main synagogue in Madrid called la comunidad judía or Beth Yaakov, and the other that I received info about is called Bet El. Both emails back were pretty vague, but I gathered that la comunidad judía is sephardic and Bet El is masorti, or conservative. Together with Michelle and Deena I decided to try Beth Yaakov on Friday night. First, Deena went shopping for groceries and arranged a cute picnic to have with some of her Duke friends and me in Parque del Retiro, but of course, it was pouring in the hours before the service. I asked Rosario very nicely if I could have a few amigos over, and she surprisingly said yes. We ended up having a great little picnic in my kitchen which included round challah and apples and honey! (Michelle and I splurged for the honey...it was 4 euros for a tiny jar!! Maybe there aren't any native Spanish bees?)

On the metro to the shul, we kept our eyes out for people dressed in fancy clothes who we could maybe say shanah tovah (happy new year) to. No cigar. We finally made it a few minutes after the service call time to see a lot of police and a decent amount of people around the building in nice clothes. This made me excited and happy. (what did not, however, was when I relayed the message to rosario from deena that there are had been many police surrounding the building since the middle of the day and she did not seem to understand why. in spanish, she said, why? we have free speech in our country. no need for police. i tried to tell her it's dangerous when there is a large group of jewish people together, and she did not understand. oh well.) We walked in, made it safely through the security check (without having to pay! phew!) and looked around for where the service could be, as I knew it had already started. I asked a woman standing in the hall, "dónde están los servicios?" and to my dismay, she replied, "mujeres por arriba," or "women upstairs." Damn. I came all this way for an orthodox separated service? Well, we went upstairs as we were told to find a good amount of women and children sitting basically on the roof of the building. The problem was, they weren't just sitting. They were all gabbing with each other and talking so loudly, without paying any attention to the kids running around and screaming! I looked down and saw that the service was well underway, with many men swaying below to the sound of the rabbis voice. Sadly, the noise upstairs continued throughout the entire service and not only could I not see the service but I couldn't hear it either. Oh yeah, I did not see one woman holding a siddur or even trying to pray. I felt like an outcast.

Michelle was able to make a connection through email with the vice president of the synagogue because he went to Georgetown University, as does she. He must have told a member of the congregation, Daniel, that there were two students coming and he invited us to his parents house for dinner. He found us in the lobby after services and was muy amable, very friendly! We walked to his car and he drove Michelle and I to his parents' house--a little bit north of the city in a nice residential area. I knew the tides turned when Daniel's mother from Haifa told me not to call her señora, but to use the informal tú form! This is very uncommon with older women, and I immediately felt at home. Both of Daniel's parents were very nice, and they had invited this Jewish Turkish family for dinner also. This was very interesting to see; there are hardly any Jews in Spain (5,000 in Madrid, a city of 5 million), but even less in Turkey. Nonetheless, both families uphold their traditions and continue to practice Judaism fearlessly. The meal had both Spanish and Jewish qualities to it: we said the regular blessings over washing our hands and the bread, but we also said additional prayers over things like an olive, a radish, and other little foods I didn't recognize before we started the meal. The meal had a few different courses, which is very Spanish-like. Oh yes, speaking of Spanish-like: we didn't start the meal until nearly 11:15pm! The family spoke very bluntly with each other, and it was great to be able to communicate easily in Spanish with everyone. Above is a picture of the people at dinner. Daniel drove me and Michelle home around 2:30am when we finished the meal.

A few hours later, I woke up to go to Bet El, the synagogue that I thought would be conservative. In the information mailed to me I read that they begin services at 9:30am in a hotel (I don't think they have their own synagogue), so I arrived at 9:45am to see an empty room of people besides for a man in a suit playing Jewish tunes on a piano. A few things wrong with this picture? I don't have anything wrong with a piano on shabbat (I went to violin class on Saturday afternoon for 15 years, and the service in Argentina on shabbat that I loved had a piano) but I was told this was a conservative service. I sat down and waited it out. A few people trickled in, and eventually a man on a microphone started to pray. By the torah service there were about 30 people there, but I didn't really enjoy the service. The man leading didn't really know what he was doing. I am really not trying to be picky, but the two services combined made me a little sad about the (lack of?) Jewish life in Madrid. I feel bad for the Jewish people here, and I hope they are able to survive. I learned a lot this weekend and it was for sure a good experience (right dad?) At least I had an awesome dinner :)

Monday and Tuesday

First, I sat down to write this post and was so excited to be comfy and listen to Pandora. I went to pandora.com like normal, and a window popped up that said Pandora doesn't work outside of the US!! Sooooo sad. (To anyone who doesn't know, pandora is a website that plays music.) I guess I'll have to settle for some itunes. Well, I went to the grocery store today because I was craving chocolate. I also bought some yogurt for breakfast/dinner and for when Rosario decides not to cook. I discovered that madrileños love ham so much, they have Pringles de jamón! Their shopping carts are also funny. Above is an ejemplo.

Some updates from yesterday: had my four hour class, and in our break in the middle I had an excellent chocolate croissant. The lady even warmed it up in the microonda. After class, there was a meeting for students who wish to take class at la complutense, the large Spanish university here. It's optional, and most of IES is taking advantage of this as only 1/4 of students even came to the meeting. The staff really scared us...they said half of students fail, and we shouldn't take more than one class. They give grades in words here instead of letters or percentages. Matrícula de Honor: A+, Sobresaliente: A, Notable: B, Aprobado: C, Suspenso: F. Oy. Classes for IES start on Monday, and those for Complutense don't start until Oct 1, so I have to decide what I want to take at Complutense soon because it should fit into my IES schedule. I'm looking into a Spanish lit class, but also found a Hebrew class on the Complutense website. That would be fun, and I could also meet some Jews! I definitely want to try a class there, but it will be scary and I don't even know if Michigan will accept credit from there.

After class, I came home to such a surprise. Rosario made schnitzel for lunch!! Who knew, people besides for Bela (my Israeli cousin who makes the best schnitzel) know about this yum food! I taught Rosario to say schnitzel instead of pollo asado, or whatever she called it. After the excellent lunch I went on a tour in the Reína Sofía museum, which happens to be pretty close to my apartment. It is a modern art museum with a lot of Picasso and Dalí artwork. After studying García Lorca last semester and his obsession with Dalí, it was very cool to finally see Dalí's work. Maybe I'll take Papa Bill there. After that, I walked to parque de retiro for some fresh air. It was a beautiful day--finally not too hot, and the park was happenin. I explored a part that I haven't yet, and guess what I found? A huge lake where people were rowboating and canoeing!! I sat there and read for awhile, and then ran into a few friends who went on a run. After, I met Deena Cowans and we went on a nice walk and to dinner where I had excellent lasaña. Some friends from IES are going to Barcelona this weekend, but I can't go because it's Rosh Hashanah. I hope the shul I go to is cool and doesn't have a mehitza. Here's a picture I took in Segovia:

El Rastro

I set my alarm this morning to wake up at 11:30, just in time to make it to El Rastro. To quote from my Lonely Planet guidebook, "to call El Rastro the largest flea market in Europe is to tell only half its story." The name El Rastro, or "the stain," comes from the fact that it used to be Madrid's main meat market, and a trail of blood would be left behind. Luckily, there are no animals for sale; only millions of purses, dresses, jewelry, paintings, and chochkees galore. As my friend Kevin Credo called it, El Rastro is a "clusterfuck in the streets." It's a little cooler today than the past few days (about 78 degrees today) which made inching down Ribera de los Curtidores slightly more bearable. My friend Alyssa and I live close to each other, so we met up and discovered we're only a ten minute walk from El Rastro! We couldn't believe how many people come to this market, and apparently do so every Sunday. She and I each found a 3 euro scarf and a 3 euro AWESOME ring! Pictures to come.

After exploring the market, we found some IES people and wandered a block or two away to find an awesome bar. It was filled with madrileños watching some soccer game, and Alyssa ordered a cerveza muy grande. I had a delish tostada con queso de goat. Their burgers were only 1,90! Excellent find. After, I went home because I knew Rosario would have lunch for me. What did I find? Spaghetti with calamari, and two large sardines staring at me. I went for the spaghetti first (eating around the calamari) and decided I would be virtuous and try the sardines. They weren't bad. Tasted sort of like tuna. My dad would be so proud.

Addition to this post @ 12:43 AM: Rosario and I just had a long convo because she needed help with her English. She is taking an English class, I think, and had to transliterate and realllly has some trouble. After I helped her for awhile she asked what Spanish class I'm in at IES and I said we weren't placed yet, and she told me I should be in a bilingual class! Made my night :)

the olden days

Rosario taught me how to turn on the gas today. Apparently, there is no hot water in the apartment unless we turn it on. In the kitchen, there is a hot water heater that you have to manually light with a match. I hope I don't burn the apartment building down the next time I want to take a shower!


shabbat shalom :)

segovia

hola!

So...in my last post I mentioned the 45 minute commute to school. This morning, Rosario opens my door in her long yellow nightgown at 8:42 and says, "dios mio! no vas al viaje?" (oh my god, you're not going on the trip?) The buses left school at 9 sharp. I jumped out of bed, said oh shit (in my head), put on the first pants and tank I saw and sprinted out the door. I took a taxi (9,50 euros to school...so thaaats why people don't ride them every day) and made it JUST in time. Phew.

The trip was amazing. The bus ride was only an hour long out of Madrid and the scenery was completely rural and so different from the city. Below you will find the castle after which Disney models his castles, and some beautiful old churches. Oh yeah, Fernando and Isabela totes lived in that castle! Also, the town itself was lovely. After touring, IES took all of its students to a fancy restaurant where I had the best meal I've had thus far! I'm full for the first time which is a nice feeling right before my siesta. Yum.

the beginning

Hi everyone!

The first few days here (have I really only been here for four days?) have been very busy and exciting! I'll start from the beginning of my journey and try to remember the important details. Traveling here on Sunday/Monday wasn't too bad. Funny detail number one: Half an hour into my first flight I spilled my entire glass of water on my lap and the left leg of the girl sitting next to me. I wasn't surprised at all because I'm such a klutz, but her jumping four feet into the air showed she felt differently. Woops. Luckily, the barf bag was near to serve as a napkin. Second thing I found amusing: The jumpy girl could have been the tallest woman I have ever seen in my life. When we first settled into our seats, she stretched her arms up and not only did they reach way past my head and the turny air blower things, they continued to reach to the overhead compartment above us (while still sitting down!) and push the compartment closed. Her arm span had to be at least eight feet long. Third: the flight attendant walked by to offer us drinks, and after he passed our row, a man in the row in front of ours (two behind where the flight attendant was at this point) shouts: "I WANT ORANGE JUICE!!" in an extremely strong German accent. The flight attendant smiles politely while he backtracks two rows to bring the angry man his juice. After handing it to him and walking back to his spot, the entire plane hears "NO ICE!!!!!!" (strong German accent, again.) I don't know how those flight attendants do it. So I arrived in Frankfurt which happened to be the biggest most confusing airport I've ever been in. To get to my connecting flight (whose gate was not listed on the screens) I had to stand in line for customs, take a tram, a bus, and walk maybe five miles through the airport. Oy. The flight to Madrid was uneventful and María José Cacho Polo was there to greet me! Thanks, María. She showed me where the taxis were and reminded me of the address of the hotel where our program was meeting. By this time it was Monday morning around 11am.

los reyes de españa al lado del palacio real

Monday: About 85 degrees and sunny in Madrid. Ride to the hotel was great. My taxi driver and I had a great convo the whole way to the hotel en español! He kept telling me how much he loves the Chopin Nocturne after he noticed my violin. Shlepped my stuff to my room at el Hotel Husa Princesa and got to know my awesome roommate Lauren, who goes to Indiana. We had lunch in the hotel with all of the students who are on IES--about 70. Most are really nice. Lunch consisted of many courses: some sort of tater tot with cheese inside, big plate of vegetables with the biggest shrooms I've ever seen, a laaaarrrrgeee piece of pork, and flan, of course. 3 out of the 4 were yum. I then walked around with some new friends, out to eat, and to a bar next to the hotel for some tequila shots before calling it a night. Oh wait, I could NOT sleep at all. I should have asked Papa Bill for some melatonin--he's a professional with this jet-lag thing.

el palacio real

Tuesday: Day 3ish on no sleep. Ate "breakfast" in the hotel (ham, ham, and ham were served--I had coffee and a piece of toast) and sat in a classroom with IES to hear about how to behave in a homestay. Then, Rosario Guerrero Panizo came to pick me up! What a nice lady. About 55 years old, I would guess, and very friendly and talkative. She doesn't have a husband or children, and has hosted a student every semester for many years. Her apartment was a 20 minute cab ride away from the hotel (why did I have to pay for the cab?) and it is small but nice inside. I have my own room with a desk and armoir-ish thing, which works out well. After I unpacked a little, she said "el almuerzo está listo!" and invited me to the kitchen. Excellent pizza and salad she made. Nice work Rosario! We had a nice convo (she speaks no english) over lunch. I think I will learn a lot of Spanish from her. After a bit, we left the apartment for IES. I had to remind myself to remember the way because I would have to do it on my own the next time! We walked up calle de embajadores about 10 minutes before we reached the metro station. Wow, how fancy the metro is here! Especially compared to that in Buenos Aires and the El in Chicago, it feels like a 5-star subway. Línea 3, el amarillo, took about 20 minutes to reach the end of the line where the university area is. From there, she showed me the 15 minute walk to campus from the metro stop. About a 45 minute commute was sort of annoying, but didn't seem so bad...at IES we took a Spanish placement test. It was not hard. After the exam, I went to buy a sim card for my little motorola phone that some porteño (argentine) unlocked for me. The phone system here is very confusing, but I figured out that you just buy minutes with Euros as you go. I then met up with some friends at a bar in the university area, where we had excellent sangría and nachos. After, we went to eat dinner at a Mexican restaurant with other students from our program. By the end of dinner it was around midnight, and the other students wanted to go out to a discoteca. I took the metro home all by myself! and said hey to Rosario before passing out.


Wednesday: Woke up at 7:45 to get to school by 9am. I impressed myself by not getting lost the whole way to school! In our groups assigned by how well we did on the exam the day before we split into classes for our first "curso intensivo de lengua y cultura española." Eva is a great teacher and so easy to understand, even though she has hairy armpits. Our assignment: in pairs, go to your assigned neighborhood and test out a few bars. Remember how much the cañas (beers) cost. I came home after class to a really good salad with chicken on top, thanks to Rosario. After a short siesta I met Nate, my partner from class, at the metro stop Alonso Martinez. Our beers cost 2,20 euros (2 euros and 20 centavos) which is pretty cheap. We then took the metro back to where some of our friends were having tapas and ordered some also. Yum! Around 1, we went out in an area called Sol. It was a fun night!

la plaza mayor

Thursday: Had a hard time waking up for class today. Good thing this class the first week doesn't count as a real one. Went home afterwards at 1 to take a much-needed siesta. It was excellent. At 4:30, I met 15 students in a historical area called Ópera to go on a professionally guided tour through the historical area. Some photos are posted here. It was an awesome area, and I hope to go back to explore some more! Afterwards, I went with Lauren (my roommate from the hotel, in the photo on the right) to el parque de Retiro which happens to be really close to both of our homestays! It is beautiful, and I'm looking forward to going on runs and definitely reading in there. Tomorrow we go to Segovia, a small town with a lot of historical significance an hour north of here. Can't wait!me, alyssa, lauren

of numbers

Two hundred sixty five is one hundred days less than the days in one year, seventy more than the number of countries in the world, and thirty five seconds short of five minutes. There are two hundred sixty five miles between Highland Park, IL and Ann Arbor, MI. It may seem like a large number when thinking in miles, but a rather small number in seconds or minutes. I leave in three days to begin my journey, flying to Madrid, Spain on Sunday. I will study in Madrid through mid-December and plan to travel in Europe until I move to Tel Aviv, Israel at the end of January. The title of my blog represents the number of days I will be traveling and learning in Europe and Asia. I will employ this blog as a journal of my experiences and a means for friends to see my photos. And so begin my two hundred sixty five days!