Going out and meeting new people
Friday morning I went out to do some errands. The street we live on is kind of gritty with all sorts of activity in the mornings, lots of trucks dropping off goods for the market. Below picture is an example of the problem of trucks on a narrow street. In order to avoid getting hit in the face with the rear view mirror I had to step into the doorway of a house; there was simply no room for me to get passed. The driver asked what I took the picture for, and when I told him I thought it was crazy he laughed. Sitting at the dining table I have heard many a side-view mirror get ripped clean off the car from passing trucks.
After squeezing past the truck I went back to the coffee place, Cafés Arrivederci (Calle de Augusto Figueroa, 18), to have them grind the beans I bought yesterday. I spoke in Spanish and was proud of myself explaining to the guy working there that I had purchased a French press and coffee the day before, but the coffee hadn't been ground so please grind this bag of coffee for a French press. We talked about the correct grind for a French press and he was very friendly. I was feeling very pleased about advanced Spanish until he asked as I was leaving if I wanted to buy the French press.
I strolled around the neighborhood a bit and got a little turned around, but rather than retrace my steps I just made a bigger circle and ended up on Calle San Gregorio, which is a great street just two blocks long, close to the house. It is tranquil with beautiful buildings and a little park with a restaurant, no delivery trucks driving on the sidewalks. Beautiful. I filed this street in my memory bank as a possible target for our next apartment.. I picked up some eggs at my chicken guys at Mercado San Anton and came home.
The living room needed rearranging. The TV was next to the dining table and not the couch, so I moved TV to other side of the room, but couldn't move the internet modem; wireless is really poor in the bedrooms and Andreas somehow managed to blow through 7GB of data in a week. I didn't even know that was possible. Of course it was the wireless's fault, and not his.
After school Markus came home with a friend from school, Pedro, and they bounced around for a few minutes before going out to hit the town. This is what growing up in Brooklyn taught the kids, the confidence to go out on the town without adults. Thankfully Madrid has fewer traps for young black kids than Brooklyn. I have given this a lot of thought, with so few black people here. The only black people I see regularly are the African guys selling knock off purses on the Gran Via, just like they do in New York, on a sheet with string at each corner so with one yank they can hide everything before the cops catch them. There are just so few black people here that I don't think people have many preconceived ideas of the kids, which is good. The kids feel very comfortable here and are very happy.
In the evening, I met Ana, Murat and Ana's friend Clair at Cerveceria Santa Barbara (Plaza de Sta. Barbara, 8), an old school beer hall with a mixture of the old (the staff wear white jackets) and the new (terrible flourescent lighting). Murat introduced me to a Clara, which I guess is like a shandy, beer & soda; it was cold and refrescante. Clair is cool, she's lived here a long time, originally from Britain.
From there the four of us went to Makkila (Calle Fernando VI, 2) for another drink and chit chat. Another nice place to return to. So many nice casual places in Madrid. Really this is a great city.
From there we walked to Mad is Mad (Calle Pelayo, 48) a tiny space where Ana's friend Manuel and his partner have a small gallery. The place was packed with people all chit-chatting away. All of it of course in Spanish. It is so tough to follow a foreign language in a place where so many people are talking. Manuel is a really nice guy and he saved me with conversation in English. The street is very small and the crowd spilled out. Lots of fun. I will be back.
Then we walked to Frida for a light dinner (Calle San Gregorio, 8), which I had walked past earlier in the day! Glass of wine, some small plates to share like anchovies and ratatouile. It got a little chilly, but nothing like chilly in New York. Weather has been really perfect here, not a drop of rain, warm during the day and cool in the evenings. I gave my jacket to Ana, and Murat was literally trembling with cold while I sat in there in short-sleeves. In the little playground in the park homeless people laid out their cardboard and prepared for sleep. There is quite a bit of homelessness here, but it is a big city with a temperate climate, not unsurprising.
Saturday morning I walked to a bakery I had seen on San Gregorio, Panederia Chueca (Calle San Gregorio, 1). Boys don't really like seeds in their bread but there wasn't a lot of options. It was a fine little establishment but I'm sure in one of the capitals of Europe I can find a bakery with a bigger selection.
Later that morning I went to El Corte Ingles with Markus to get new pants for him since he had ripped his school pants and they wouldn't be ready at the tailors until Tuesday. Surely he will need more than one pair of pants anyway. I brought my malfunctioning salad spinner and swapped it without any problem. Markus got some pants that didn't need to be hemmed, thankfully, and I bought one of those Chromecast gizmos so that I could watch some TV in English. The TV here is dreadful, at least the TV that we get. We have at least 100 channels and at least 25 of them are psychics. This is what I see on most stations:
Early afternoon I took the subway to Plaza Castilla and Ana and Murat picked me up. We drove to a friend's house for afternoon lunch. Beautiful home, great food. Everyone speaking Spanish but were friendly enough to have one-on-one's with me in English now and then. Food was really delcious, a lovely afternoon in a garden. I spoke to a guy named Guilherme who wondered how I would learn Spanish if i wasn't spending much time with Spaniards. That is true. If I worked in an office with others I would pick up Spanish a lot faster, but if I worked in an office I wouldn't have been able to move to Madrid. I need to take Spanish classes somewhere.
Got home and boys were hungry of course. Thought sushi would hit the spot but at 11.45pm on Saturday night the place around the corner was packed with people and no room for those without reservations. We found a pizza place, Pizza Artesanas (Calle de Barbieri, 10), picked up slices, and brought them home for the boys to eat.
Sunday morning we all slept in. Waking up every day at 06.30am is taking its toll. Markus's soccer coach had recommended that players come watch the official team play a home game, so I rented a car from Respiro. I got it an hour early so we could go to Ikea, right near the field. As soon as Markus saw that blue wall he wanted me to take pictures of him. I have two boys: one can't stand being photographed and the other is constantly seeking to be photographed. The ratio of pictures on this blog is going to be heavily skewed towards Markus because of this.
I bought small things, like plates and oven mitts, and I studied bigger things. Markus needs a desk, and I need a desk, and both of us need desk chairs, and I need a lot more dresser space for sweaters and such, and there is no place to hang coats in the entryway even though there is a wall screaming out for coat hooks, and the kitchen island has a space for bar stools, but no bar stools. When I got home I emailed links of things that I would want for the apartment to the rental company. We'll see what happens with that. I am spending a lot of money on this place and I'm here for 10 months, maybe more. The apartment is still too much like a hotel suite and not enough like a home.
Ikea, of course, was exhausing, so we blew off the soccer game and came home. Markus and I went to the market to get fixings for pasta. I bought a new type of sausage, hoping it was better than the last. I really took the Italian sausage at Paisano's for granted; Paisano's oh how I miss thee. I haven't found the right sausage yet, and as soon as I started cooking this stuff I knew it wasn't right either. Gotta hunt some more. I did find broccoli at the supermarket so we had pasta & broccoli for dinner. Markus konked out early while Andreas and I watched Kimmy Schmidt on NetFlix in the evening. I called my great friend Yael and we chatted til 3am.
Monday morning I was craving carbs and I headed out in search of a new bakery. I found it! Panod (Calle de Prim, 1) is just a short walk from theh ouse and the place is perfect! Beautiful variety of breads and pastries, which apparently they make onsite because you can see the guys baking in the back (see below). There is a little cafe there where you can sit and have a coffee and something to eat. I just picked up some bread today but I will be back to sit and enjoy myself.
On the way home I stopped at the supermarket where I only really needed milk. I decided today was the day I was going to try the self-check out line since I had only one item. Thankfully when I got to the screen there was an English option, but it was a curse instead of a blessing. I am trying to be discreet about my American-ness and the machine is practically yelling at me SWIPE YOUR FIRST ITEM NOW! SELECT FORM OF PAYMENT!. Egad. Does it assume all English speakers are mildly deaf and unable to read? The whole store could hear it. And I don't know why but everything in paying for an item is a little bit less efficient here. In NYC I can put my card in the slot anytime during the check out process, but here I have to wait to be prompted, even when paying with a cashier. So when the machine yelled at me to select form of payment I just entered my credit card, and then it froze. But I have to push "credit card" before entering my credit card. I have to learn to not be in such a constant hurry all the time. I need to learn to be the guy at the cashier who takes his wallet out only when the cashier tells me how much everything costs, suddenly remembering that, geez, I will have to actually pay for all these items. I always loved being behind people like this in NYC.
Went home to do some work, and then went to El Corte Ingles for a printer and graphing calculator, which Markus needs for school. He said if he didn't get a graphing calculator he would fail Algebra. I love how dramatic and how blatantly manipulative kids are. I need the printer because on Monday I have an appointment to be "empadrado", or whatever, something like formalizing my presence in Spain, and I need to fill out and print some forms. I hemmed and hawed about a printer but I ended up buying something small. If it sucks I will sure to vent about it, taking satisfaction that my powerful blog post will bring down the HP corporation because the instructions are too complicated.
I took the train to Plaza Castilla and met Markus to go to soccer practice. This was going to be the last trip with him; from now on he would be on his own. It was relatively easy although it did take some time. He should have no problem on Wednesday, and this will free up a lot of hours in my day. I was thinking that Markus only has 2 days of soccer practice a week, and he really needs more activity, but the days when he has soccer are really long. He leaves the house every day at 07.15am and on soccer days he doesn't get home until 09.30pm. I asked and he says he plays some sort of soccer informally at school, so at least he is running around a bit.
Got home late with Markus. I just boiled some potatoes and warmed up leftover chicken, throwing in some halved cherry tomatoes at an attempt to give the kids vegetables. The future will be easier with Markus going to practice by himself..
The rental company did reply to my request for furniture. They sent a list of things that the owners were willing to pay for, and it seemed to be the cheapest dresser, the cheapest bar stools, the cheapest coat rack, the cheapest desk, and the cheapest chairs. This was annoying. I am paying a small fortune for this apartment, a price that elicits laughter from people who know Madrid, but it is a beautiful place. I'm not going to have a crap dresser in my swanky bedroom. I'll probably buy my own stuff and take it with my when I leave. I love the apartment and I love the location, but maybe there is something better for us out there.
Tuesday morning I received an email from my dear friend Jessica. Jessica was a tenant of mine in Brooklyn and now we are great friends. Hers is an interesting story. She is Korean and somehow, I don't remember how, she met a Spanish guy from Barcelona living in Tokyo. So she moved to Tokyo, married Piru, and recently had a baby! I just love this story. The boys and I visited them a few years ago and we had the best time. Tokyo left a huge impression on Andreas, he just loved it. We went to the Ramen Museum in Yokohama and and ate at wondeful restaurants. Jessica took such good care of us there.
Anyway, Jessica and family are in Barcelona with Piru's parents and since we are so close it would have been great to see them. But already our lives are chaotic. The weekdays are exhausting, and Markus has soccer games on the weekends. Saturday Andreas has some sort of dance that he is being a bit cagey about. If the three of us were to jump on a train Sunday morning and come back Sunday evening it would cost a small fortune. That's the trouble with kids in school. The only time you can travel is when everyone else can travel, and the costs are so high. I was hoping to have a long weekend in Oslo to visit family, but even with low-cost carriers we can only do this on the weekends or on holiday breaks and the cost is just too high. So maybe I'll pop up for a few days to Oslo mid-week soon. Ana is helping me find someone who can stay with the boys when I travel.
Tuesday after working in the morning I wanted to find a place that offers menu del dia. I remember this in Barcelona. I found Bar Joan at the Santa Catarina market. For €10 or something I got a multi-course meal with a bottle of wine plopped in front of me. I wanted to find something like that here and I had read about this online, but I needed to go out hunting. One place near me had a board out front promoting braised oxtail menu del dia for €16, but I am not quite Spanish enough to have braised oxtail for lunch; I would need a serious nap after that. Instead, I found Tuk Tuk (Calle del Barquillo, 26), which I had read about. It was about 01.00pm, and there was only one other guy in the place. I ordered the Malaysian curry dish. Meh. I've said this a million times but we are so spoiled in NYC. This place wouldn't survive 10 minutes there. I need to go out and find an Asian market so I can make my own. I could do much better than this.
On the way home I stopped by the market to get some more eggs from my chicken guys. We go through a lot of eggs. Growing boys. I asked about ordering a turkey for Thanksgiving, and he didn't seemed phased at all. I just need to figure out how big of a bird I need (in kg) and I'll be back to order.
Boys came home from school and Markus seemed to be wearing a new school gym shirt, one that looked a little tight. He was excited because he knew he looked good. This boy is going to have girls and boys falling all over him when he gets older. What a ham.
The boys, as usual, were starving. The amount of food consumed at this age is impressive. I made a vat of pasta with leftover pasta sauce and the boys practically inhaled the whole thing. Andreas went to tennis by himself, and he texted us from the subway when he got back so we met him to have a bite to eat. We went to Kritikos (Calle San Gregorio, 11) for some Greek food. When we got there it had some sort of weird sliding glass door which I couldn't open and everyone there seemed to gawk as I fumbled; I'm getting very used to looking like a fool. Although animated all evening Markus started to fall apart and was too tired to eat; I have to figure out a better meal schedule. Andreas had some sort of gyro meet with French fries (are both F's capitalized?), and I had the spanikopita. It was ok. Too many great Greek restaurants in New York.
Wednesday morning I made Makrus and Andreas breakfast and they were out of the house by 07.15am. I promptly went back to bed. I have been really busy with work. My little airline in Togo, ASKY, is taking delivery of a new aircraft in November and we will be starting new flights to Monrovia (Liberia), Freetown (Sierra Leone), and Banjul (the Gambia). Lots of work to prepare for this, but flights should be good and they will connect Ethiopian's Newark flight to both Accra and Monrovia via Lomé. Yes, this is all shop talk but it has been a lot of work, a lot of very satisfying work..
In the afternoon went out to do some errands. Stopped by Friendly Rentals to get a copy of the contract, which I will need for my empadromento meeting on Monday. Just across the street is Socoratt where I had a pile of paella and a glass of wine for lunch. From there I walked to Nodriza to pick up Farro and Flaxseed Oil, although no one sells Farro in Spain apparently and she got me Spelt instead; I'm going to figure out how to make Farro Salad with spelt instead of farro. From there I went to El Corte Ingles for what seems like my daily visit. They have a post office on the 7th floor and I had to send a check to be deposited in NYC, which I found ridiculous. I bank with HSBC which markets itself as a global bank and I had to send a paper check in the mail to have it deposited? What is this, 1997?. I went to the 4th floor for kitchen goods and I am practically on a first-named basis with the staff there. I bought drinking glasses (which are is serious short supply at the apartment; either they are being broken or stolen). I also picked up some weird butcher block for my knives, which of course I brought from NYC..
My last stop was at Inhispania (Calle Marqués de Valdeiglesias, 3) to sign up for Spanish classes next week. I will be taking Spanish every day next week for 3 hours a day. My days will be busy, and I have to figure out how to get to the pool still, but the boys can get to and from activities on their own and I need to learn Spanish. I'm still looking for a tutor who can work with the boys in a private setting.
When I got home Andreas was there already. He had taken the 3pm bus from school which drops him off at Moncloa and he got home on the subway with minimal instruction. The school guidance counselor had recommended we go to a University Fair so we headed off to the Intercontinental Hotel. There were about 40 schools represented and Andreas and I chatted with a few of them. He really wants to go to school in California; he really likes it there. We had a nice talk with someone from UC Santa Cruz, and talked to someone from Hult International School, a place I had never heard of. I pushed him to the Penn table and I would at least like him to apply to my alma mater. We'll see.
I think it is important that he sees where he might be spending 4 years of his life, but the guidance counselor said that most kids in Spain just take online tours. The boys have a week off for Easter, and the week before both Monday and Friday are holidays, so I'm thinking about going to the US with Andreas to tour colleges during this period, first week in California and second week on the East. The fair piqued his interest which is great. He's interested in business and biology.
On way home Andreas had a quick bite at Delinas (Calle Miguel Ángel, 24) which was ok but not great. Jumped on subway to Chueca from there and then we visited our local gym, which has a big pool (25m) and a small gym. The pool was filled to the brim with swimmers, but it was peak period. The cost is only €47/month, €38/month for Andreas and Markus each. I need to carve out time to get to that pool.
Andreas and I came home and watched some Kimmy Schmidt on NetFlix. When Markus came home from soccer I met him downstairs and we went to Granjero for a sandwich for him. He sat at the dining table doing math homework until he couldn't keep his eyes open a second later and went to bed...