El primer finde

I spent my first weekend in Madrid, and although I have yet to go out clubbin' until 6 AM, I did manage to enjoy myself. First off, on Saturday afternoon I had plans to go to a jazz concert with my roomie, Joyce, but then she had to go to the airport or something so she sent me off on the Metro with her friend Gus (pronounced goose) whom I had met about 5 minutes beforehand. Fortunately, she has good taste in friends, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Gus on our long trip out to El Capricho, the park where the concert was. This park is frickin' gorgeous and only opens to the public a few times a year. To the left is the delightful Casa de la Vieja in the park. Gus and I met up with a large group of friends at the concert who, as it happens, are all friends from church. I tried to hide my lack of faith while listening to why The Neverending Story teaches religious morals and when meeting a Texan evangelist who was in Spain as a missionary. On the whole, though, a really friendly group of people from a wide variety of Spanish-speaking countries.

After the concert, I headed back into the city center to eat rabbit/chicken/veggie paella with Diana and wander around the touristy areas on foot. Among other more cultural things, we snuck into the Ritz, recharged my phone card in the "telephony" department of El Corte Inglés, and enjoyed the hilarity that is El Restaurante Nebraska. This one's for you, Matt:Last night we crashed a dinner party full of expat business students where we drank lots of cheap delicious Spanish wine and discussed the fact that every corner store in Madrid is apparently called a chino regardless of whether or not the owners are actually Chinese.

With all the walking yesterday, today I needed to take it easy. I went to El Rastro, again with Diana, to check out the gigantic and crowded flea market. It's stalls are full of everything from Bob Marley posters, to tourist trinkets, to old keys and porno mags. My one purchase was an extension cord. Very exotic.
We also stopped for una merienda where I had café con leche and churros and Diana drank something resembling Pepto Bismol.
Later in the day, we went to see Origen (aka Inception) and ran into Alexia and her boyfriend, Jesus. (Hi Alexia!) Now I'm home and trying to get organized for the week to come. Also, since classes don't start for another week, I want to take a trip for a couple days. Where should I go? ¡Hasta luego!