November Recap!

Hi! Sorry I haven't posted in a while to all 3 readers of this blog. I know this blog is silly but I like to read back at all my posts and see how much (or how little) I have done! This weird time in my life is always fleeting and its important to me to see the progress. Anyway, that weird speech is done. Hello and goodbye November!

Since we went to Paris for the long weekend, we wanted to spend the rest of the month staying put in Madrid. During the week, my schedule rarely deviates from wake up, teach, eat, teach, eat, sleep. So I tend to put a lot of effort in the weekends to make them really fun! This of course, is just a highlight reel of my life here. Not pictured is my visits to the doctor, my hours in bed and my dirty apartment. I have been fighting a cough and flu for weeks. One weekend I had shivers and a fever and spent the majority of the weekend sitting in bed trying to recover. Another day I went to the Foreigners office in Madrid where I realized all my paperwork is still in process even though I submitted it in June. Spain, I love you too much but sometimes you are so annoying.

We started off the month with a field trip to an ice skating rink. For whatever reason, the field trip of choice for 5-6 year olds was ice skating?! It ended up being pretty fun and also crazy because I was just so worried one of the kids was going to slice his head open. But really the worst thing was that some kid just kept eating the ice.

A fun fact about my pal Jane Oliver Winthrop is that she is the Madrid Metro system's biggest fan. This year is special because its the 100 year anniversary of the Metro and Madrid has been pulling out all the stops to celebrate this momentous occasion. We spent an exciting half hour visiting the Chamberi Metro museum which is just an old metro stop they don't use anymore but they refurbished it to look like the original. Jane was really excited and it was cool to see the old tiles and designs. The weirdest part is that the metrocars still goes through this station, its just a ghost station so you pass it all the time.

After the excitement of the Metro, we went to Calle Pozano, which is a popular street for food and bars. We took a chance and snagged a table at Sala de Despiece. OMG...it was AMAZING. I got oysters and then we split pulpo and this amazing steak. Jane and I were already a few glasses of wine deep but took a quick breather to eat some of this amazing food. This place is really popular in Madrid and we understood why. So good!! When people visit I'm taking them here.

We finished our very bougie day at Salmon Guru, a fancy cocktail bar. The bar reminds me so much of New York (without the insane NYC prices). The drink menu is practically a book!

After hours of drinking and eating... we always find ourselves Jamon.

Jane and I spent one day checking out the Tabacalera. It used to be an old tabacco factory that after years of misuse and squatting has become a hub for the local art scene. The windy hallways are all covered in murals and street art. The Tabacalera also hosts events, has parties and is just an all around chill spot for the population of the Lavapies neighborhood.

Fall days in Retiro

All you can eat sushi on Mondays....is a must.

I've cut out a lot of beer out of my diet but sometimes, especially after salty sushi you just need a shitty spanish beer.

We hosted a Friendsgiving! Friendsgiving is one of my favorite holidays and I was super excited about having one this year. Jane's apartment is giant and awesome, so we hosted it at her place. I made stuffing, mac and cheese, vegetables, b- sprouts and salad. Then Jane and I roasted an entire chicken! It was a total hit. Everyone came in hungry and left stuffed. We had a really good time and finished the night feeling super grateful for everyone coming.

We did "appz" at Taco Bell before a movie

Waiting for the train....

The lights around Madrid are LIT.

Jane and I had another night to ourselves where we tried "Viva Madrid" a recently renovated bar that specializes in cocktails. I got a dark and stormy while Jane tried the "porn star." Our drinks were delicious and the space is really cool and fun.

We also finally got to try Bar Cock. Bar Cock is famous for its former clientele aka Hemingway. The bar is old school but huge with waiters in fancy uniforms and fancy drinks. It was a fun spot and a bit of a time traveling experience. Also I got a delicious Moscow Mule.

Since we were feeling inspired from our artsy endeavors, we signed up for a really interesting street art tour of Madrid! Our guide showed us different murals and artists, as well as local urban garden. It was a really cool tour because it made us look at the places we always walk by with a different set of eyes. A lot of the art reflects the changes hitting the local neighborhoods and how Lavapies, and Embajadores are really in flux. The tours are run by CoolTourSpain and would recommend!