Late Nights and Pig Fights

So I've been here for just a little over a week....and I'm already falling behind on posting on here. That doesn't really bode well for the rest of the year....but I'll do my best.

So where to begin?

It's really amazing and it's a phenomenon that seems to be pretty standard with my time in Spain, but time itself has such a weird effect here. On one hand it feels like I've hardly been here a day. And on the other it feels like I've been here forever. So pardon me if everything I talk about today seems a bit scattered....a lot has happened in a very short period of time.

Let's go back to last weekend, shall we? (meaning: my first weekend here over a week ago) I had posted a couple of random stories over the weekend but then failed to mention absolutely anything at all about the weekend itself. So let's try that.

Well, to start off with, I got into Madrid pretty early in the morning. Around 8ish, I believe, which is WAY too early for me. So the Saturday that I got here, I didn't have much on the agenda but to sleep, wake up, eat, take a nap, wake up and eat again, and go to bed for the night. Yet my friends had other plans for me.

As I was blissfully napping away, my friends Marcus and Lupe felt the need to come and wake me up. Which wasn't too horrible I suppose. As it happened, that first Saturday was a huge annual festival in Madrid called "La Noche En Blanco" or "White Night" in English. Basically it's a huge arts and cultural festival with tons and tons of free concerts, free food, free everything. And literally the entire city is out in the streets for the big fiesta. So naturally, we got a big group of people and went out all night long. It's basically impossible to live in Madrid and not stay out until the sunrise, whether you want to or not.

Here is a picture from Noche En Blanco that was taken on Gran Vía, which is one of the biggest and most important streets in Madrid. Imagine Fifth Avenue in New York. And as you can see, it's full of people and lit up everywhere. Quite the spectacle.

And now onto the week itself.

I actually became a bit spoiled at work last week. Our bosses told us that we wouldn't actually enter the classrooms until the second week so that we would have time to "plan" and "reacquaint ourselves with everything." Which basically translated into us sitting in the teacher's lounge all week checking facebook and looking at random websites. But I can't complain, I guess, because it was better than just getting thrown into the classroom without any sort of mental preparation.

And, in my school's typical style, they changed my schedule soon after I posted about it. Not a lot of changes, but they took out all my art classes and gave me third grade science instead. Still, though, no complaints here. It's so much easier to plan this year and actually get to know my kids. I only saw many of my classes last year once a week, so I never could remember all of their names.

And before you think I'm a terrible person for that, you have to remember that I had over 1,000 kids to memorize last year. Try walking into a Wal-Mart and memorizing the names of every person in the store. Then go to about 10 more stores and memorize all of those peoples' names as well. And then we'll talk.

Anywho, this year I have fewer classes, fewer kids to remember, and more time to spend with all of them. So it's pretty great.

I wish I could say more went on during the week, but it was pretty tame. I did a lot of laundry and went grocery shopping. And those are pretty much the highlights of the week.

So now let's move on to this past weekend. (meaning: two days ago)

Once again I ended up spending a lot of time with Marcus and Lupe. Those two are pretty important people in my cast of characters this year and I don't know what I would do without them. Marcus also teaches at my school and has become one of my really great friends. Lupe was in my program last year and is temporarily living in the third bedroom of my apartment. Also one of my really great friends.

So anyway, in addition to those two and my roommate Javi....

(who can be seen here, for those who are interested in who I am living with)

....we also had some of Javi's friends visiting from Salamanca, which is a city a couple of hours away from Madrid. So it was sure to be a busy weekend.

So on Friday night, Marcus and I went and hung out with his roommates and some of their friends for awhile and then moved on to my roommate and his friends for awhile. And before we knew it, it was about 5 in the morning. Which, in Madrid terms, is relatively early for a Friday night. However, my body is still on Oklahoma terms, which meant that I should have been in bed about 5 hours before then. At the latest. So we called it a night and made our way home.

And then came Saturday. After such a long night the day before, I was determined to take it easy. You know, have a nice dinner, maybe stay home and watch a movie. But the fact that I am kind of a pushover is my downfall. I am way too easily convinced to do things, as evidenced by Saturday night.

So at first, Lupe decided to cook dinner for me and another of her friends. Which is fantastic because Lupe is Mexican and cooks the most AMAZING authentic Mexican food that you could possibly imagine. Seriously. And afterwards we decided to go have a mojito at a nice, calm bar and then call it an early night. Which I almost did.

We got home around 1 in the morning and I was already feeling exhausted and knew it was time to get to bed. So, off to bed I went. I chose to stay awake for a bit and check through my email and such before I went to sleep. So in comes Javi around 2 in the morning and he is on his way to meet up with the friends from Salamanca. And even though I was exhausted, I agreed to go with him. Like I said, I'm a pushover.

So we go meet up with the friends and head to a discoteca, which at 3 or 4 or the morning is just starting to really get going. And we stay. And we dance. And we hang out. And before I know it, we're leaving to go home and it's daylight. And it's 8. In. The. Morning.

Holy crap.

So all I can think about is getting to bed and sleeping until Monday. And we're walking along Gran Vía (the big main street) and along comes this....

I wish I could say that I was joking. But no. A man (with more facial piercings and dreadlocks than any human being should probably have) was walking a pig. Through the streets of Madrid. As if it were a little dog.

What kind of city have I moved to?

So anyway, Rubén, one of the friends from Salamanca, decides that he wants to pet/hold the pig. And the piercing/dreadlocks guy is cool with it. So Rubén proceeds to pick this disgusting little mini-pig up despite it squealing like it's heading for the bacon fryer. And all I could think was, "Oh, these poor, poor city people."

But that's not the worst part. Oh no. The worst part is when this random lady (potentially an even BIGGER hippie than the pig owner, if at all possible) proceeds up to our group and the dreadlocks guy and screams at us about how pigs don't belong in the city and that we're evil for supporting it.

Now, normal people would set the pig down, back away slowly until hippie lady becomes distracted by some other person committing a crime against the animal kingdom, and then make a break for it. But no. Apparently Spaniards don't work that way.

So all of the Spaniards I was with (5 of them in total) proceed to have a very heated debate with this woman about the treatment of the pig. Such a heated debate that people walking along the street stopped to stare and take in the spectacle of it all. And the debate drags on. And on. And on.

FOR AN HOUR AND A HALF.

Once again, I wish that I was joking. I really do. It was past 9 in the morning at this point. I had been awake for nearly 3o hours straight. At that point I could have cared less if someone was walking a baby human down the street on a leash, much less a pig. And yet somehow I just couldn't pull myself away. It was like a black hole. I was in and there was no escaping it.

So finally, after the crazy Spaniards finished what was quite possibly the most pointless debate in the history of debates, we went to the metro and I made my way home. And finally, after several late nights in a row and one massively annoying fight over a pig in the city, I went to sleep and hardly saw Sunday.

Now, today I entered the classroom and had my first full day of teaching, but I think that update will be best saved for later since this story ended up being so long. I think re-hashing the pig story has fried my brain just a bit and I can't even imagine typing more.

So that'll do for now.