¿Que tal Madrid?

Horrible, unorganized update because I'm lame:

Not much has changed since my last update, hence the lack of updates. Regardless, life is zipping right along. However, updates:

Teaching English

Teaching English is an obvious and perfect solution to the job problem. The pay is excellent and I meet all the requirements (with slight fudging of certain details). It's my Holy Grail. Susana is my only English student at the moment. She is a real estate lawyer who works between Madrid and Huelva. During the week when she is in Madrid, I join her during her lunch break for conversation classes. I love my time with her, she always brings good stories back from Huelva (Southern Spain) - there have been many times I've been brought to tears (good ones) by the outrageous aspects of some of her stories. She is sweet and fun, and I'd probably do the classes even if I wasn't getting paid, though the pay is a certain perk. Unfortunately, she is in Huelva quite often, so I am searching everyday for new classes. Nothing has come my way yet, but hope is not lost.

Exploring Madrid

I've been spending a lot of time walking around lately and I've covered a lot of ground! I've found a sense of orientation and navigating my way through the city has become simple. I spend most of my time within the center of the city, sharing time between the various districts. Most of my time is spent in Chueca, the district I live within. Much time is also spent in Malasaña, which draws huge crowds at night to their seemingly endless number of bars, clubs, and popular plazas. Plaza Dos de Mayo is a very popular hangout spot, packed practically ever night and filled with flea markets during the weekend. Kids play futbol and old, drunk men hit on your girlfriend - it's quite exciting. I rarely leave the center of the city, there's not much to do or see out there, but the metro makes moving around really simple.

1€ Wednesdays

On Wednesdays, I visit a bar in Malasaña called '100 Montaditos.' On wednesdays, everything on the menu is 1€ - bottles or pints of beer, wine or wine with sparkling water, salads, or any of their 100 sandwiches. As you can imagine, it's a popular place. It usually takes a few minutes to weave through the crowd of people drinking to the crowd of people who are waiting to order, but there's no way to resist a cheap, delicious drunken stupor. My favorite sandwich has shrimp, salmon, and cream cheese. oh yum. So, wednesday becomes a bit of a weekly holiday. You wake up and think "Oh shit one euro wednesday! fuck yes!" It's a perfect way to break the week in half and get through to the weekend (kind of like CAM).

Chueca

Gay. So gay. Gay like you don't even know. It's wonderful in a lot of ways. It's also a little uncomfortable at times (much to amusement of my lady friends[and gay friends]). Chueca has an incredible energy. The weekend crowds clutter into the relatively small district for shopping and some of the best restaurants in the area. Chueca Plaza, though relatively small, is packed at night with people loitering, drinking, smoking and walking in and out of the surrounding bars. Also a lot of gay people. I'd like to spend more time in this plaza, but last time I went there I couldn't get 20 minutes into a conversation without some man sitting next to me and trying to talk to me (not easy). Don't get me wrong, I love Chueca and I'm getting used to the invitations from creepy old men - but sometimes it's a bit much. Like that one time it was a bit much - that time I'm not going to write about on the internet that you'll have to ask me about someday.

Museums

I've visited a few museums in town. I went to a contemporary museum called Caixa Forum which is owned and operated by a bank. I saw a lot of recent work from all around the world, including a number of fascinating video pieces. There was a large exhibit of modern Chinese art as well as a small exhibition demoing a Spanish artists techniques which he uses to create crazy stalagmite paint/sculpture craziness (I'm serious, that's the best I can explain it). I also recently visited the Prado to see the Francis Bacon exhibit. I've never been a huge fan of Francis Bacon, but it was incredible to see some of his works up close. There was a staggering number of his most famous paintings, which was quite exciting. I tripped out on some of his triptychs for a while. Like woah. Bacon has nothing on my most recent museum experience in which Mr. Chee and I went to the Reina Sofia to see their permanent collection. We weaved through contemporary art movements and spent most of our time searching for the Picasso and Dali. We saw some incredible Picasso... but I was most excited for the Dali. And oh man... I had no idea that 'The Grand Masturbator" was in this museum until I spied it from across the room and B-lined. Oh goddddddddd. So good. I also got to see some really great Miro and Man Ray. hollaaaaaaa.

Lolina's Vintage Cafe

Coffee and internet at Lolina's is a staple routine in my daily diet. The day feels empty without it. The closest thing to coffee + vintage decor + 50's music = hot.

Drinkin
We have settled on our favorite cheap wine. After much deliberation and at least 20 varieties of wine under 3€ we have determined the winner:

LA MANCHA. Yes, it just so happens that my very first bottle of wine in Spain ended up being my favorite cheap bottle. She rings in at 1€ - not shabby at all. And the taste is actually good, which is more than I can say for most of the bottles we've consumed, some of which were frankly, undrinkable.

The Dia (BEST FUCKING GROCERY STORE EVER) now carries vodka and gin for under 4 euros per 750mL. So, um, yeah....

Sophia
I try to spend a little time everyday with my love. She is doing well. The wood glue I used to reattach her bridge is holding up well, which I wasn't expecting. She's beginning to hold her tune, which is nice. And hey I'm getting a little better, hooray! I cut up a bunch of packs of American Spirit and mod podged them to her sides. I'm planning on covering the back in cigarette warning labels, and maybe the front in Metro tickets.

And a picture: