¿Conejo?

Sunday, February 07, 2010

I would call this past weekend my first true weekend that I have spent here in Toledo. Thursday the Polígono people went out to Enebros. We had a larger group this time, and we dominated the empty bar (apparently the Spanish people don’t go out if it’s been raining…or even sprinkling within the past 24 hours…). It was fun to just catch up and chat (interesting converstations…) and then of course to play Nin-Jeti thanks to David.

Friday was a bit more intense… A bunch of us (myself included) had to go to the Prado Museum (ok, we got to go, not had to) for our Master Painters of Spain class. It was interesting to see all of the Greco and Velazquez paintings while getting a guided art tour of them. My favorite is now the last and most famous Velazquez painting of the princess and of Velazquez himself looking out at you. The story and confusion/wonder about the painting’s meaning really intrigues me, and I think I could stare at it for hours trying to figure out what I believe he meant by painting it that way. My other favorites are definitely all Greco paintings. I find his style so amazingly intricate it never ceases to overwhelm me. Where do you start when you first look at a Greco painting?!

After the Prado I went back home where I took a quick siesta, made myself a quick dinner consisting of 2 slices of buttered bread (there was no turkey for my sandwich) and some cornflakes in chocolate milk. Just like the US :) I then met up with Kyle and our intercambio partners, Arantxa (not sure how to spell her name, it sounds like Aran-cha) and Gonzalo. We chilled in a park talking, with them ripping on our Spanish pronounciation for a large portion of the time. They had to leave at midnight (they are only like 16-17 years old) and so then Kyle and I went and met up with a bunch of the Polígono friends at O’Briens bar. A bunch of us split a pitcher of sangria while we just hung around for an hour or so chatting and dancing a little to the oh-so-American music. We also met a guy who spoke English and who happened to be with the traveling circus which was in town. He also turned out to be a bit of a creeper, so those who were smart ignored him, bahaha. We then visited Explorer’s (a discoteca) which was empty so we went instead to Camelot, one of our favorite discotecas as of now. We stayed at Camelot for a while dancing a bit and having a good time (el Azul!). Once Camelot started emptying at around 3am we decided to go over to Explorer’s again and see if it was any better. It was. That place was packed, both floors. Unfortunately the music was not the best and we had to catch the bus at 3:30 (we thought..) so we didn’t stay too long. The bus ended up coming around 3:50 instead of 3:30, so Liz, Matt, Felipe, and I got back to Polígono at around 4:10ish. Felipe had been talking about this “Churreria” he went to with his host brother, so we decided to give it a try. After touring almost all of the industrial park of Polígono we finally found it. Fresh churros and chocolate have never tasted so good.

Saturday I had planned on going to the mercadillo in Polígono with Amy and Liz, but it turns out I had other plans… I had agreed the night before to go to Eroski (think Spanish Walmart) with my host mom and dad because I was going to look for contact solution there while they picked up a few things, or so I thought. Well, Matu (mom) woke me up at 10:30, a good 4.5 hours of sleep there… and we left at about 11am for Eroski. They didn’t have my contact solution and it turned out to be one of the most painful shopping experiences of my life. I really am learning just how much patience the Spanish people have. My host mom took her time. With everything. I enjoyed seeing all of the different products they sell here, but after seeing them all for the 3rd time it got a little old, lol. After about 2 hours there we left, me with the skinned conejo (bunny rabbit…) in hand. Needless to say, I didn’t make it to the mercadillo. After we got home I took a siesta, ate dinner, and met up with friends at Zocodover Plaza (in old Toledo) for the botellon. With a box of sangria and some cups in hand we headed to the park outside the walls of old Toledo for the botellon. Botellon happens every Thursday and Saturday night in the same spot. It’s basically a high school reunion for Spaniards. About 200-300 people were there, drinking and chatting with friends. There really isn’t much to do besides socialize and freeze if it’s cold out, which it was. Once we couldn’t feel our feet anymore (from the cold! Jeeze!) we walked to a new discoteca. I never really figured out the name of it, but I know it said “rock music” on the outside, but on the inside they definitely played only crappy techno. It was a cool place, actually. 2 stories, with the top floor being like an overlook of the dancefloor below. We stayed for maybe an hour before heading to catch the bus.
-The bus had some interesting characters on it. Some extremely drunk and probably on drugs Spaniards kept trying to harass two of our guy friends. Luckily some of the Spaniards were not so messed up, so they helped keep things calm. Still, it didn’t leave the greatest impression on me about how “accepting” Spaniards are of outsiders. I don’t think I have ever witnessed anything like that on a bus in Minneapolis, and that is saying something.

Sunday Liz, Matt, Felipe and I climbed “Pride Rock” which overlooks all of Toledo. My lunch before the climb consisted of a tuna/boiled egg/seafood-tasting mayonnaise salad (which I luckily didn’t have to finish because my mom just made me try it, she must have known it’s not a hit with people from the US) and conejo. As I was eating my bunny rabbit my host dad pointed at it and exclaimed “Bugs Bunny!!” That really did not help it go down any easier. I think it only went down because I was actually hungry and for the most part it tasted like chicken. Although watching my mom eat the bunny’s brain after I finished almost compromised my previous accomplishment of getting it down in the first place.

Mmm dinner was a huge hotdog and scrambled eggs. Thank goodness I told Matu I like scrambled eggs early on. :)

This week is Carnaval, well more specifically, I think it is this weekend. I’m not quite sure what that is going to entail, but I am excited to find out!! And I promise, the Madrid and Malaga posts are coming…sorry!