Lots of travel, before school gets into high gear
Well no one is likely to be feeling overindulged with all my posts. Things have been really busy and I am way behind in my blogging. Just a few highlights from the past weeks.
The week of 16OCT I found myself driving out to Alcobendas to Markus's soccer practice, over and over. Three times in one week. Once to pick up paper work, once to drop off paper work, and once for his medical exam for the team. Between taking Spanish class in the afternoon and spending most evenings schlepping out to Alcobendas it was rush rush rush. But the papework has to be submitted before Markus is allowed to play league games, which we hope will happen soon.
Spanish was good, but the class was very big, 9 students. It takes a lot of time but I am enjoying going to classes and speaking Spanish and learning.
Saturday night I was invited to celebrate Murat's birthday at his and Ana's apartment. Ana wanted me to bring a cake so I went to a bakery in my neighborhood to order a large chocolate cake. It is really challenging to do these things in another language. When I picked up the cake I was just glad it wasn't purple. The cake was huge. I got to talking with one of the women there who was Dominicana and asked her about barbershops for Andreas and Markus, because I had heard there were Dominican barbers somewhere. She dragged me out on the street and took me to a barber on the same street and talked to him if he could cut black hair, which of course he said he could do, but I doubted. He was white, the other staff were white, and clientele were white. Finding a black barber remained on my bucket list.
Back to the huge cake. It was too big for even a box, so she put strips of thick paper around the cake in a various arcs and then taped paper to cover everything. It was quite declicate. Now I had a huge cake purchased at a bakery on a pedestrian street and I had to get a car. I literally balanced the cake on a parked motorcycle and called Uber. I arrived unwinded, with the cake unscathed.
The party was a lot of fun. Thankfully there were enough people who spoke English. I'm starting to be able to have a pretty good conversation in English, but it is impossible in a loud setting. I'm far away from achieving the cocktail party phenomenon, a real things for those that don't know it. There were a bunch of Ana's friends and a bunch of Murat's friends, and a good time was had by all. Again, I'm amazed all the guys are in such good shape here. Are Spanish men unusually trim or are American guys unusually heavy? To see a room full of 40- to 50-year old guys in great shape who aren't gay? My gay-dar is not working at all in Madrid, although in Chueca it doesn't need to.
Markus isn't able to play in games, as I said, so the coaches set him up in a friendly, but I was traveling late Sunday so we couldn't do an afternoon friendly with his age group. Instead he played with a U16 group, kids who are 2-3 years older than him, a bit farther away than Alcobendas. Markus played in the 2nd half and their team won, playing against a visiting team from Ireland or somewhere in the UK; I really wasn't understanding what was going on except for the fact that Markus was in 7th heaven. The guys he played with were great and I think Markus really enjoyed playing with older, stronger kids. Markus is a strong boy and I think he relished playing with other strong boys. Some of these kids had to have been shaving daily, and had tattoos, and big muscled bodies, but they were silly boys all the same. I think Markus is going to continue to thrive in soccer as he gets older.
Sunday I flew to Addis Ababa to work with Ethiopian Airlines for the week. I have been working with Ethiopian for maybe 12 years and they have grown and grown and grown. It is really impressive what they have accomplished and I am lucky to have been part of this growth. They weren't that big when I started working with them but they have been open to new ideas and now they are huge for Africa. They have 4 daily flights nonstop to China! The people at Ethiopian are friendly to a fault and work hard. Below are some people I have worked with for years and years, great people. The last day I was in Ethiopia, the first Boeing 787-9 was delivered for Ethiopian and there was a big to-do at the airport. The captain of the aircraft, 2nd from left below, brought the plane in from Seattle, and there was pomp and circumstance, including the standard water cannons as the aircraft taxied to its stand. Lots of fun, a representation of how strong Ethiopian is and how much it has grown.
I got back from Ethiopia on the 28th and Markus and I went out to dinner and a old school Spanish place on the block, Restaurante El Bierzo. We arrived at 8.50pm and the place hadn't even opened for dinner yet! We still haven't gotten into the rhythm of Spanish dining. It was good and simple and very old school, with older waiters, some really old, in white jackets shuffling around taking orders. We'll be back.
By Sunday Markus's hair was starting to look like a rat's nest, as my grandmother would say, so we headed out to find a black barber, come hell or high water. We took the train to Lavapiés and set out to find a barber. After asking around we found Andy, a Nigerian guy who runs a salon with a woman who I assume to be his wife. There are only two chairs, one for women and one for men. One wall is completely covered with hair extensions, and the other walls are all covered with posters of different hair styles, all hung askew, all with typos ("Afeica Baber Hair"). There were babies in prams and customers waiting for a cut and loud music and it was a great place. Plus, Andy speaks English so the boys could communicate what they wanted. The cuts were great and a bargain at only €5. I brought Andreas the very next day. Andreas is not a fan of being a guinea pig but is always happy to send Markus to whatever scheme I have cooked up.
I also had the opportunity to talk to a real estate agent. I love our place, but it is expensive for a 3 bedroom because it is marketed to short-term vacationers. Now that I have spent some time here I have a better idea what I am looking for. I would love to stay in Chueca because I love its vibrancy, but I'm sure we can find a 4-bedroom at a lower price, then we have a permanent room for guests! I would also kill for a terrace. I really miss outdoor space. Somehow in the 29 years I lived in Brooklyn I only lived in one place without outdoor space, and I was only there for 9 months. Pretty remarkable. I'm not in a hurry to find a new place. the goal is to find the right place at the right time, not the least worst option right now.
Thursday I was back on the road, heading to San Francisco to hang out with my dad a few days. I wasn't going to see him until Christmas otherwise so I wanted to take a quick trip to see him before school got really serious; I'm pretty confident less homework gets handed in when I'm out of town. The trip from Madrid to San Francisco was endless, I think 17 hours door-to-door, but it was worth it to hang out with dad. He is doing great. One day one of the ladies who takes care of him took us out to dinner at a Thai place in Orinda, Siam Orchid. Wasn't that great of her? We are so blessed to have such amazing women looking after dad. What would we do without Jhubie and Amy? We also had a nice dinner with my brother Jeff and his wife Liz at a German place in Alameda, Speisekammer. That was also great, but more for the company. I was spoiled with German food in Fort Greene, but spending time with Jeff and Liz is always great.
I got back to Madrid on Wednesday 08NOV and I think I spent Thurday and Friday in bed. I had been traveling so much I was really wiped out. Saturday and Sunday we didn't do much either and by Sunday I was getting antsy, thinking I squandered away days when I should have done something. I mean I haven't done anything touristy yet. I haven't even been to the Prado! And I had hoped to take quick trips to Norway to visit family and haven't done that either. I won't let another weekend disappear like this, especially when Markus isn't playing any soccer games. Markus and I did go out to dinner (Andreas didn't want to join us), so we tried a new place, El 26, just around the corner. Our meal was great although a tad expensive. The salmorejo was delicious, but it is getting a little cold for that. I'm sure it is gauche to order salmorejo this late in the year.
Monday came around and it was time to get back into a routine. I went to swim in the morning after the boys left. The weather turned quite cold, maybe mid-40s in the morning, and the pool is a lot emptier in the winter which is great. I started a new round of Spanish classes, now in the morning 10.00am-01.05pm, again everyone is much younger than me. When everyone was introducing themselves one student said she was 19 and another 18. Good lord. 18? But everyone is nice and we are having a good time.
With the new schedule I am able to try the "menu del dia" which a lot of restaurants have for lunch to drum up business. I went back to El 26 and had a large bowl of minestrone soup, chicken skewers and rice, and a yogurt and berry dessert. Including the drink the bill was just €11.40. Wow.
The big news of the week was that Murat set up a trial lesson at a new tennis place. Andreas hasn't really been thrilled with the tennis training he was getting at Fuencarral, so we wanted to try someplace new and Murat plays at Club Tenis de Chamartin. The trial was set up on Wednesday for 08.00pm-09.30pm. So after having swum in the morning, and gone to class late morning, and done some work in the afternoon, I got a Respiro car and drove him to the club. They were expecting us and they couldn't have been nicer. Alberto, just roll that R to imagine how suave and gorgeous he was, introduced himself and soon Andreas was swept off to play tennis. I jumped back in the car and drove to Alcobendas, not far away, to pick up Markus, where soccer ends at precissly 08.00pm. To kill time before Andreas's tennis ended Markus and I drove to a massive Carrefour supermarket to buy things; living in the center of Madrid is great but the supermarkets and understocked and overpriced. So we got a few things, including cream cheese which I had to track down for a killer Thanksgiving dessert (recipe to follow). We drove back to Chamartin to pick up Andreas and before I even talked to him I could see he was beaming with happiness. He loved everything about the new club and they were happy to take him under their wing. There were 5 other kids, and they had three courts which was great. The other boys were as big as redwoods. How do boys get so tall?
By the time we got home it was 10.00pm and we hadn't even had dinner yet. So I dropped everything the minute I got in the house and whipped up some Pho Ga. By the time we were done eating and cleaning up it was 11.00pm and I had been running around so frantically for hours that I couldn't sleep. But this is what Mondays and Wednesdays will be like from now on, near pandemonium from start to finish.
Thanksgiving is just around the corner and my dear friend Karen and her son are coming to visit for Thanksgiving! Our first guests!