Viernes - 12.18

My Thursday Night:

I am not sure what I ate for dinner last night. It was spaghetti noodles with sauteed garlic and olive oil, and it was delicious. The part I'm not sure about was interesting. They looked like grey and white noodles, but I kind of think they were some type of fish, like a calamari or squid or something? It had a different texture than the noodles too, which in addition to the color is what made me wonder. But I ate it anyway because it tasted good. Pilar didn't eat with me, she took a phone call in the living room, so I didn't ask.

Immediately after dinner I headed out. I was fifteen minutes late, but Brendan was the only other one that showed up. It actually turned out better that way, I think. He's the only one in my group of American friends that really tries to speak Spanish with the rest of us, and since we were going to a local club to meet Karina, I wanted it to be a Spanish night. Plus there were only two of us, so it made it much easier to plan when to leave, where to go, etc. We got to the place alright around 10:45 I think, and Karina was waiting for us at the door, which was really nice. I was excited to see her again. The place was pretty cool too, the first floor was like a ritzy bar, maybe more of a restaurant? The downstairs was where the stage was set up, in addition to a bar and some couches. There was incense burning somewhere, and it smelled good. We were able to talk with Karina for about ten to fifteen minutes before the show actually started, and it was nice because I was able to get my point across, while still saying things incorrectly. Brendan was also able to talk with her (since his Spanish is better than mine), which helped give me more time to think of how to say things.

(Karina and I!)

The show was pretty awesome. We were introduced to William, Karina's friend that's in the band and told her about last night. I did the whole air kisses thing for the first time in a while and I have to say, it's still pretty awkward for me. He was the flute player and one of the drum players. The music, Karina said, was a mixture between Colombian and African. I thought it was really cool, I actually really liked it. The instruments were different than what I'm used to (obviously) and they sang in SPANISH! Finally I got to hear a real Spanish band! They only sang part of one song in English, and the only phrase I caught was "We are the children of the rising sound". That's only because it was slow and in English. When their main singer was singing some songs, it reminded me very much of Madagascar. I think it's the lemurs that sing, but they sing really fast with the same rhythm as the singer last night. Plus it was a different language, so it sounded that much cooler. Brendan took some photos, and below is one of the band (Sonora Mandinga).

I have to say, I liked this club and the atmosphere WAY better than I liked going to Joy. This was much more my style, low key and original, as opposed to everything being flashy and loud with American songs and wall to wall people. This club, Tempo Club, it was called, was way smaller, but there were only about fifteen people on the dance floor. Plus, only like three were men, which was such a relief! It was more like a party with friends than a club with strangers, even though I didn't know anyone there other than Karina and Brendan. Plus the music is way easier to dance to than American music. It's got a much better beat that I actually semi-danced to. I'm sure I was still the awkward turtle out there, but at least I had fun. I also noticed that locals are much more trusting of other locals, or at least the institutions here. Karina had her bag against the wall where we were dancing, and when she got a phone call, she left the room to hear better, without thinking about her bag. No one messed with it either, which I thought was really cool. Her friend was the one that called, and he came to the club to join us.

His name is Alejandro (no idea if I spelled that right) and he and Karina studied abroad in Brasil together. So he also knows Spanish and Portuguese. Plus it turns out he's an intercambio with a student from another foreign exchange group like USAC with a student from California, so he knows English as well. I feel like such a slacker compared to these people! But I was actually able to understand everything he said, which surprised me. When I said I was from Michigan, he asked about Detroit and asked if it was a pretty city. (He likes the Pistons.) I laughed and said not so much. He also invited Brendan to go rock climbing on an artificial wall, so I think I might try and tag along since Karina might go and I love rock climbing. Plus Alejandro is going through Karina, who's going through me, who's telling Brendan, so I'll know the details anyway haha.

Overall, it was an absolutely amazing experience for me, I want to go to more places like that and less places like Joy. I don't think Brendan liked it quite as much though, not his style. We left around 12:30. We ended up going to an alimentacion store (like a gas station without the gas) for Alejandro and Karina to buy some sangria, and I'll admit, I broke down a bit and bought myself a Fanta. It's the first soda I've had here in Spain. Everywhere I go, I get water (which is actually more expensive in some places). Then we went and sat in the grass at Plaza de España, near the metro stop, and talked for a while. It was all in Spanish, and this is another point when I was really glad no one other than Brendan showed up, because it would have been too hard to try and carry on a conversation. There were only a few times when I needed to ask Brendan or Karina to translate something for me. I feel like I'm actually starting to improve with my language skills! Finally, it's only been three weeks. I also felt better when Karina or Alejandro asked how to say something in English.

There were two girls on a bench about fifteen feet away from us who were obviously drinking, and they were singing American songs, like "Call me Maybe", and "Teenage Dream". Alejandro asked if I knew the songs, and I said "of course". It was really interesting to hear them sing the songs with their accents though. I kinda liked it. It was fun. I then asked Karina and Alejandro if a lot of people in Spain know English, or they just know words in English. For example, there are SO many t-shirts here in English. There was one overweight older woman wearing a too-tight black shirt with the sequined words, "I will be a future star" when we were eating churros a few days ago. It made me wonder if she actually knew what it said or just liked the way it looked. There was also a pretty young kid in the metro with a shirt that said something along the lines of "Sugar Daddy", and I wondered if he knew what it meant as well. Anyway, they said most of the younger generation knows English pretty well, but not to the extent of being fluent. So that answered my question.

I wanted to leave at about 1:15 so we could catch the metro to head back, since it closes at 1:30, but I couldn't get away in time. We could get into the metro, but there were no more trains. We tried to find the night buses, but we never found the station. We ended up in an area Brendan knew, so he said he could walk home. I finally just took a taxi. I don't like the taxi's here. I always get ripped off. When I get into the cab, the meter is never at zero, so I have to pay for time I wasn't even in the car. Plus the one I was in last night added money so quickly! I felt my heart slowly sink and I died a little inside as I handed over the money. I actually didn't have him take me to my apartment, I had him drop me off several blocks away, because I wasn't willing to pay more, and I knew where I was. So I paid him and got out as fast as I could. I got back just fine, no incident. I then quickly fell asleep.