Last night, while out enjoying tapas in La Latina with a few other Fulbrighters, I had a moment of revelation: This is my life. I don’t know how to explain it otherwise. We had crammed into the back of the tapas bar, were passing around olives and tostas with brie, fruit, bacalao, sharing cerveza and sangria, and just having great conversation.
In talking to each other, we’ve all confessed to a certain anxiety in being Fulbrighters in Madrid: we were worried we’d be coming into a group of stuffy academics, but that’s not what we’ve found. Overall, we’re a group of focused, passionate people, who’ve found a program that will allow us to do what we love to do for a year while living in a fascinating city. It astounds me everyday that I’m in Madrid, and that they’re paying me to just BE here and speak English and do whatever else I find to involve myself in. And others of us are here studying the Spanish diet by devouring delicious dishes, Flamenco by dancing our hearts out, Mars by constructing robots that will actually visit the planet.
This past Friday marked both two full weeks since my arrival in Madrid and one week since Janel and I had moved into our piso. I’ve crammed a lot into the past week - a picnic in Retiro, trips to the Prado and the Reina Sofia, shopping expeditions at IKEA (a bit overwhelming with its Spanish/Finnish labels and metric measurements) and the small markets around the city. While out at tapas, Janel asked us all (with the acknowledgment, that “this is a hippy-dippy question, but I went to a liberal arts school,” as did most of us): What have you learned so far in Spain?
Answers varied from my commenting that I had just learned that morning that it’s illegal to hang your laundry on the front balcony of your apartment to some deeper answers. Patience. Trust. I don’t know what I’ll be doing tomorrow or a year from now, and in some ways I feel like I’m using this year to keep from having to answer those questions. I’m feeling good about it though; I’ve got time.
A list of things to look forward to:
-Walking the pilgrimage route along the Camino de Santiago with Leah, probably next month over the Fiesta Nacional de España, when I have an extra long weekend
-Getting involved with Amigos del Burro, an organization that rescues mistreated donkeys and invites groups of city kids out to its facilities to experience a bit of country life
-The possibility of a Vespa. I visited a dealer this weekend; next step is to find out from the American Embassy what I would need as a foreigner to own one / drive in Spain.
-My clarinet’s arrival and the potential for some improvving with fellow Fulbrighters who play guitar and violin
This is gorgeous. I'm really glad we have each other to bounce thankfulness off of; it seems to keep multiplying!!
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