So since this blog speaks about cultural differences I want to point out the face that there are 1 zillion elderly people in Madrid. This is not particularly bothersome to me, as I love old people. You know, the older, the wiser. However, it was a shock to me to see so many older people living in a large city, especially coming from new york, where those over 40 are scorned...and everyone over 40 has work done.
The main annoying thing about the old people, well I guess there are two. The first one is that they walk slow and stuff and I am sorry but I am still in nyc mode and like, slam by everyone so its annoying. But I totally feel bad for thinking this, I swear I am not a bad person.
The second annoying thing is that older people feel the need to talk to you constantly, especially in public transport. Now, some comments are nice, or fine. Oh, I see you are reading an english book, are you american? This is an example of an okay comment. Although I am used to the ´put my headphones on no one speak to me´nyc attitude (or maybe american attitude in general) I don´t mind when they say nice things.
Now the bothersome comments begin when older people...well...regañarme. I am not even sure how that translates in english haha but basically when they correct me or nag me or yell at me for something. For example, for the past for weeks I have had an obscene cough, I sound like a smoking homeless man, I know. So atleast 3 elderly people have stopped me on the bus to ask me about my cough, tell me what medicines to take, and to go to the doctor, to wear a scarf etc. (have been to the doctor 3 times thus far and have a pharmacy bigger than texas in my apartment). My favorite comment was when I was ambushed by two old men and told I look romanian, why am i not romanian, that I totally must be romanian???? Other comments include, you have paint on your shirt, and your nail polish is chipping, that I should carry a bigger purse with more supportive straps because it looks to heavy and I am slouching.
I am all for believing that the older, the wiser, but really now, I have a mother already, I don´t need any more people telling me whats wrong with me.
That being said, I still smile affectionally when I see two, four feet tall 90 year old women with hooked arms, walking down the street in their best skirt suits, gossiping about this and that...it warms my heart. And I have to hand it to them, my parents, at age 60, are in bed by 9 pm, and I see old people all over the place, bars, restaurants, walking around, at all hours of the night. I hope when I am 76 years old I am drinking wine with my girlfriends at 1130 pm on a wednesday!!!!
Comments welcome!
jueves, 3 de diciembre de 2009
miércoles, 2 de diciembre de 2009
Important People in my Life
Even though there are currently no people, well maybe 1 person, reading this, I feel the need to protect the identities of the people I am about to discuss. Okay who am I kidding its fun to just type one letter names, like the do in Gossip Girl so I am just going to call these people by their first initials for the reasons stated above. Now, these people are in no particular order of favorites or whatever, but I am going to start with J.
J is my boyfriend. He is spanish, as I previously stated, as spanish as it gets. I was first attracted to his scruffy good looks and easy going personality, and of course spanish is a romance language. He is positive and happy all the time almost too much, which helps to combat my obsessive compulsive organized control freak personality. He, being a typical spanish guy, is late for absolutely everything and does not understand the concept that I live 7000 miles away from everyone and everything I know and love. But he is a total sweetheart and is a geniune, honest and good person, which I think is tough to find. Now for the clincher...at 32, J lives not with his parents, thank god, as many spanish young men do, but next door to them. At first this bothered me, but now, i kind of like it. Weird. Anyway J makes me happy in so many ways, and even though I am always yelling him for something or other, I adore him and he is a wonderful person and boyfriend.
N is my roommate. Fabulous in every way, N feels like my mommy who takes care of me, she cooks for me, buys me medicine when I am sick, etc. Its nice to have such a good friend while abroad. It really helps to feel at home when I am, in reality so far from home. N is a great roommate too, clean, generous, respectful, and has a great wardrobe for me to borrow, which is always a plus. N is one of those people who can´t actually understand how fantastic and beautiful she really is, because she´s not conceited in the least, which I love. N is creative and detalled and I love the fact that she makes her own stationary, its amazing and she needs to start her own business.
MG is my other roommate. Spanish and one of the funnest people ever, I adore living with her as well. She makes me laugh and is just so damn cute! The 3 of us really click together and its great to have MG bc she creates a cool dynamic, matched with us two americans. I feel really lucky to have found a native spainard that I really click with. She speaks 3 languages! Spanish, English and German. Cool.
H is one of the coolest chicks I know. I don´t really know how to explain her except shes just so freaking cool. It´s like you look at her gorgeous blond hair and you think she would be a huge biatch and then she opens her mouth and says something totally rad and you immed fall in love. She has this bossy sense of ghettoness that makes me feel as we were both minorities in a previous life. H just gets me.
C is my friend who recently got married. Its been an adjustment with C and I in spain, bc C and I always had a great time together and I don´t get to see C as much as I would like, bc she is busy with her husband, but its okay, bc I will always love C and we´ll be friends. Even though we´ve changed alot, C and I are americans living in Spain and that will always give us common ground. C is the best bc she understands the college side of me, since we both attend the same university. I am happy for C in that she found a man she loves and I hope that right now, shes off on her honeymoon having the best time ever!
PEOPLE I MISS
Aside from my family, MJ is one of the people I miss this most. MJ knows me better than anyone in the world, parents included. Whenever I have a problem, I email MJ immediately. I know not only will she answer asap with the most thought out and clear answer, she will also write me an extremely long email. No one writes long emails anymore! Only MJ. MJ and I haven´t lived within a plane ride away from each other for about...8 years or so, now. I feel closer to her than ever. She is just one of those people I know I will ALWAYS stay friends with. Her sense of humor is completely absurd and fabulous. I pretty much feel like shes the sister I have never had. I know that absolutely nothing in this world could stop us from being friends forever. This knowledge takes all the fear I have in the world and puts me at ease, bc I know that no matter what happens to me, I will always have MJ. I would do anything for her and I know she would do anything for me.
MP
I have only known MP for a couple years I always think of her as my guardian angel. I was one year to my nyc lifestyle, feeling lost, had had a falling out with several friends, and in search of the perfect apt. I saw only ONE APARTMENT, (worlds easiest apartment search and basically unheard of in nyc to have an apt search this easy) and immediately fell in love. MP was looking for a roommate and I moved in. It was seriously fate. MP helped me to find in myself whatever it was I had lost, and gave me so much perspective on things, on life, on what a true friend is, and so much more. I really consider her my angel, I think it was fate that we lived together for one year in new york. We still speak constantly, and MP gets this weird, sarcastic, bitchy sense of humor I´ve seem to have developed over the years. I am not religious in any sense, but I swear if there is a God, he sent me MP.
BK
How does one even describe the fabulousness that emits from my darling gay bff, BK. He is literally the reason I live in Spain, and the reason I live in NYC. We met on a plane and fate brought us together again, actually in Spain, and he found me a job in NYC. BK has definately helped shape the person I have become. He always reminds me that I need to be the fabulous lori that I am, because never for one second does he escape from being amazing and bossy(note: bossy in a kelis way, not a biatch way) BK. BK makes crazy efforts to travel and visit me too, which is awesome. I am looking forward to an amazing NY eve 2010 with my love, BK.
NOTE ON FATE:
after re-reading this, I realize fate has played an important part of finding a lot of these people that I have in my life and I am extremely lucky and blessed to have found all these awesome peeps. Like I said I am not religious but I do think all things happen for a reason.
NOW I am sure all these people will be mentioned in future blogs so I figured I would give back grounds.
Next blog entry...Portugal!!!
J is my boyfriend. He is spanish, as I previously stated, as spanish as it gets. I was first attracted to his scruffy good looks and easy going personality, and of course spanish is a romance language. He is positive and happy all the time almost too much, which helps to combat my obsessive compulsive organized control freak personality. He, being a typical spanish guy, is late for absolutely everything and does not understand the concept that I live 7000 miles away from everyone and everything I know and love. But he is a total sweetheart and is a geniune, honest and good person, which I think is tough to find. Now for the clincher...at 32, J lives not with his parents, thank god, as many spanish young men do, but next door to them. At first this bothered me, but now, i kind of like it. Weird. Anyway J makes me happy in so many ways, and even though I am always yelling him for something or other, I adore him and he is a wonderful person and boyfriend.
N is my roommate. Fabulous in every way, N feels like my mommy who takes care of me, she cooks for me, buys me medicine when I am sick, etc. Its nice to have such a good friend while abroad. It really helps to feel at home when I am, in reality so far from home. N is a great roommate too, clean, generous, respectful, and has a great wardrobe for me to borrow, which is always a plus. N is one of those people who can´t actually understand how fantastic and beautiful she really is, because she´s not conceited in the least, which I love. N is creative and detalled and I love the fact that she makes her own stationary, its amazing and she needs to start her own business.
MG is my other roommate. Spanish and one of the funnest people ever, I adore living with her as well. She makes me laugh and is just so damn cute! The 3 of us really click together and its great to have MG bc she creates a cool dynamic, matched with us two americans. I feel really lucky to have found a native spainard that I really click with. She speaks 3 languages! Spanish, English and German. Cool.
H is one of the coolest chicks I know. I don´t really know how to explain her except shes just so freaking cool. It´s like you look at her gorgeous blond hair and you think she would be a huge biatch and then she opens her mouth and says something totally rad and you immed fall in love. She has this bossy sense of ghettoness that makes me feel as we were both minorities in a previous life. H just gets me.
C is my friend who recently got married. Its been an adjustment with C and I in spain, bc C and I always had a great time together and I don´t get to see C as much as I would like, bc she is busy with her husband, but its okay, bc I will always love C and we´ll be friends. Even though we´ve changed alot, C and I are americans living in Spain and that will always give us common ground. C is the best bc she understands the college side of me, since we both attend the same university. I am happy for C in that she found a man she loves and I hope that right now, shes off on her honeymoon having the best time ever!
PEOPLE I MISS
Aside from my family, MJ is one of the people I miss this most. MJ knows me better than anyone in the world, parents included. Whenever I have a problem, I email MJ immediately. I know not only will she answer asap with the most thought out and clear answer, she will also write me an extremely long email. No one writes long emails anymore! Only MJ. MJ and I haven´t lived within a plane ride away from each other for about...8 years or so, now. I feel closer to her than ever. She is just one of those people I know I will ALWAYS stay friends with. Her sense of humor is completely absurd and fabulous. I pretty much feel like shes the sister I have never had. I know that absolutely nothing in this world could stop us from being friends forever. This knowledge takes all the fear I have in the world and puts me at ease, bc I know that no matter what happens to me, I will always have MJ. I would do anything for her and I know she would do anything for me.
MP
I have only known MP for a couple years I always think of her as my guardian angel. I was one year to my nyc lifestyle, feeling lost, had had a falling out with several friends, and in search of the perfect apt. I saw only ONE APARTMENT, (worlds easiest apartment search and basically unheard of in nyc to have an apt search this easy) and immediately fell in love. MP was looking for a roommate and I moved in. It was seriously fate. MP helped me to find in myself whatever it was I had lost, and gave me so much perspective on things, on life, on what a true friend is, and so much more. I really consider her my angel, I think it was fate that we lived together for one year in new york. We still speak constantly, and MP gets this weird, sarcastic, bitchy sense of humor I´ve seem to have developed over the years. I am not religious in any sense, but I swear if there is a God, he sent me MP.
BK
How does one even describe the fabulousness that emits from my darling gay bff, BK. He is literally the reason I live in Spain, and the reason I live in NYC. We met on a plane and fate brought us together again, actually in Spain, and he found me a job in NYC. BK has definately helped shape the person I have become. He always reminds me that I need to be the fabulous lori that I am, because never for one second does he escape from being amazing and bossy(note: bossy in a kelis way, not a biatch way) BK. BK makes crazy efforts to travel and visit me too, which is awesome. I am looking forward to an amazing NY eve 2010 with my love, BK.
NOTE ON FATE:
after re-reading this, I realize fate has played an important part of finding a lot of these people that I have in my life and I am extremely lucky and blessed to have found all these awesome peeps. Like I said I am not religious but I do think all things happen for a reason.
NOW I am sure all these people will be mentioned in future blogs so I figured I would give back grounds.
Next blog entry...Portugal!!!
lunes, 30 de noviembre de 2009
Weddings in Spain
I have been living in Spain for approximately 1 year and 4 months...not including my semester abroad in college. So far I have had the opportunity to attend 2 spanish weddings. The first one I went to was a friend of my boyfriends, and it was this past July (My boyfriend is spanish, born and raised in Madrid). The second was one of my best american friends, who studied here with me and is marrying a spanish man, this past thanksgiving weekend.
Wedding No. 1
The first wedding was in a small rural village outside of a small city called Avila. The wedding was unusual by spanish standards apparently, not that I would have known. It was basically in the middle of nowhere, with a grouping of rural houses where bride, groom, and all the guests stayed for the weekend. The wedding was in small stone church in the ´downtown´part of the extremely small village. The ceremony was obviously all in spanish, and for what its worth said basically all the same stuff they say at an english wedding ceremony. All of the other woman dress in obscenely ugly, outlandish taffeta dresses in bright colors with feathers and other hideous decor. It´s not unusual to see woman wearing longer dresses as well. I would say people get more dressed up here than in the USA for a wedding. Anyway after the ceremony you have a large meal, whether it be in the evening or in the day. In this case, it was a 1 pm wedding so there was a 3 pm lunch. The meal is extremely long, drawn out, and has several courses. Usually it starts with some kind of appetizer and then a salad. Then usually a type of fish, followed by a sorbet to cleanse the palette. Then there is a meat dish, usually beef or lamb, followed by a cake, then a coffee, than a licor drink. Then the reception usually has some kind of open bar. During the dinner there is wine served, usually white to start and red to follow. After this particular wedding, there was a large bbq reception back at the rural houses. It reminded me of typical USA weddings, everyone drunk, everyone dancing, etc.
Main differences from a Spain wedding to a USA wedding:
1. There are usually no bridesmaids in a spanish wedding,
2. There were parts of the reception where they play flamenco music and all like 100 people, being spanish, just somehow know how to flamenco dance (is it in the blood, or something??? bc I have no freakin idea)...
WEDDING No. 2
This wedding was obviously better in my opinion but that was probably bc it was more traditional and it was also one of my best friends that was getting married. I had taken on the task of doing the makeup for the bride, her two sisters, and her mother. I arrived around 11 to start the makeup to prepare everyone for the 5 pm ceremony. I have to say, my friend looked absolutely stunning in her dress. I was a little on the emotional side, as she is pretty much my first really close friend to get married. Her and her sisters all looked stunning and although Spain usually doesn´t have bridesmaid, my friend had elected to put her sisters in 2 matching purple dresses which were actually super cute. Her mom looked extremely elegant in a long black number.
The ceremony was in a huge cathedral, a beautiful church, so big all voices echoed. The ceremony was short and sweet, and bilingual in both English and Spanish which was cool. The pictures of the couple after the ceremony were really great, I managed to snag some great ones. The cocktail hour started at 8 and the dinner at 9. I busied myself mingling throughout the cocktail hour and signed the guestbook. I really liked this particular wedding bc I felt that I was actually able to hang out and speak with the bride, which normally doesn´t happen too much. It seemed like she got to talk to her new hubby, family and friends and didn´t need to spend too much time schmoozing with those she didn´t know which was really cool. The dinner started at 9 and included fish and a delicious beef dish. I was sooo full by the end. The reception included a mix of both spanish and english music. I ended up leaving around 3 due to an oncoming cold, sinus infection type deal but I was so so happy for my friend. The girls all recieved gifts of almonds with some kind of sugary thing on top and the guys got cigars, which is normal for a spanish wedding. I have to say even after living in spain I was shocked to see people chain smoking throughout the whole dinner, but thats typical here. In any case, the wedding was a great merge of the two cultures. Instead of a best man and maid of honor giving a speech, normally the bride and groom do (difference no. 3 to USA weddings). My friend said my name during her speech, along with two other good friends, andrea and ashley, and she got a bit choked up. I almost lost it but managed to keep my cool. They also had a slide show, which was fun, and I am proud to say I made it into a bunch of the pictures, yay! Anyway the two are off on their 3 week hawaii adventure, I am jealous of course, but have a 4 day trip to portugal planned for next weekend to look forward to, which definately write about the that. However, next entry will be on the spanish boyfriend and the differences between spanish men and american men. signing off!
Wedding No. 1
The first wedding was in a small rural village outside of a small city called Avila. The wedding was unusual by spanish standards apparently, not that I would have known. It was basically in the middle of nowhere, with a grouping of rural houses where bride, groom, and all the guests stayed for the weekend. The wedding was in small stone church in the ´downtown´part of the extremely small village. The ceremony was obviously all in spanish, and for what its worth said basically all the same stuff they say at an english wedding ceremony. All of the other woman dress in obscenely ugly, outlandish taffeta dresses in bright colors with feathers and other hideous decor. It´s not unusual to see woman wearing longer dresses as well. I would say people get more dressed up here than in the USA for a wedding. Anyway after the ceremony you have a large meal, whether it be in the evening or in the day. In this case, it was a 1 pm wedding so there was a 3 pm lunch. The meal is extremely long, drawn out, and has several courses. Usually it starts with some kind of appetizer and then a salad. Then usually a type of fish, followed by a sorbet to cleanse the palette. Then there is a meat dish, usually beef or lamb, followed by a cake, then a coffee, than a licor drink. Then the reception usually has some kind of open bar. During the dinner there is wine served, usually white to start and red to follow. After this particular wedding, there was a large bbq reception back at the rural houses. It reminded me of typical USA weddings, everyone drunk, everyone dancing, etc.
Main differences from a Spain wedding to a USA wedding:
1. There are usually no bridesmaids in a spanish wedding,
2. There were parts of the reception where they play flamenco music and all like 100 people, being spanish, just somehow know how to flamenco dance (is it in the blood, or something??? bc I have no freakin idea)...
WEDDING No. 2
This wedding was obviously better in my opinion but that was probably bc it was more traditional and it was also one of my best friends that was getting married. I had taken on the task of doing the makeup for the bride, her two sisters, and her mother. I arrived around 11 to start the makeup to prepare everyone for the 5 pm ceremony. I have to say, my friend looked absolutely stunning in her dress. I was a little on the emotional side, as she is pretty much my first really close friend to get married. Her and her sisters all looked stunning and although Spain usually doesn´t have bridesmaid, my friend had elected to put her sisters in 2 matching purple dresses which were actually super cute. Her mom looked extremely elegant in a long black number.
The ceremony was in a huge cathedral, a beautiful church, so big all voices echoed. The ceremony was short and sweet, and bilingual in both English and Spanish which was cool. The pictures of the couple after the ceremony were really great, I managed to snag some great ones. The cocktail hour started at 8 and the dinner at 9. I busied myself mingling throughout the cocktail hour and signed the guestbook. I really liked this particular wedding bc I felt that I was actually able to hang out and speak with the bride, which normally doesn´t happen too much. It seemed like she got to talk to her new hubby, family and friends and didn´t need to spend too much time schmoozing with those she didn´t know which was really cool. The dinner started at 9 and included fish and a delicious beef dish. I was sooo full by the end. The reception included a mix of both spanish and english music. I ended up leaving around 3 due to an oncoming cold, sinus infection type deal but I was so so happy for my friend. The girls all recieved gifts of almonds with some kind of sugary thing on top and the guys got cigars, which is normal for a spanish wedding. I have to say even after living in spain I was shocked to see people chain smoking throughout the whole dinner, but thats typical here. In any case, the wedding was a great merge of the two cultures. Instead of a best man and maid of honor giving a speech, normally the bride and groom do (difference no. 3 to USA weddings). My friend said my name during her speech, along with two other good friends, andrea and ashley, and she got a bit choked up. I almost lost it but managed to keep my cool. They also had a slide show, which was fun, and I am proud to say I made it into a bunch of the pictures, yay! Anyway the two are off on their 3 week hawaii adventure, I am jealous of course, but have a 4 day trip to portugal planned for next weekend to look forward to, which definately write about the that. However, next entry will be on the spanish boyfriend and the differences between spanish men and american men. signing off!
I guess I´d better start from the beginning
VIVA MADRID!!!! Just thought I´d start off with a bang...wow so here I am starting my own blog. I never thought I would sell out to technology like this but here I am with my texty little phone, pink ipod, facebook membership and now, finally, my very own blog.
First off starting my blog in Spain, all in Spanish trying to set this up was rather odd but whatever I think I did it correctly. I suppose I should start from the beginning.
Name: Lori
Age: 26 (a young 26, I might add...or a fresh 26 perhaps)
Point of this blog: To tell about my life here in Madrid, Spain, as an american, to add laughter and joy to random peoples lives, (who am I kidding...my 3 friends are the only people who will actually read this, I am sure...maybe not even). I also don´t keep a journal and apparently is appalling to all of those ´deep´people that here I am traveling and living abroad and I don´t even have a travel journal!!! I mean how I am going to share my experiences with my children someday, ahhh! So here I am blogging away.
How I arrived: Well I began my journey as Lori 26 years ago in Chicago. I think some parts of my body are actually permanently frozen after enduring 18 chicago winters. That being said I escaped to sunny Tucson Arizona for college (college-worth the thousands my darling parents paid? still unsure, perhaps will have to debate that via blog sometime soon). After college, which include a brief and drunken study abroad stint in Spain, I ambitiously moved to New York, in search of being fabulous business woman Lori. Shortly found out that being fabulous business woman Lori actually means being an assistant for several years and working 70 hours a week...dreams were quickly crushed and savings rapidly decreased, then decided to try my luck abroad. I mean those who can speak more than one language have a wordly culture advantage, no?
So here I am, Lori in Madrid, school teacher by day, blogger by night. That´s the big historical beginning of my life. Now I am wondering what about my life might others find interesting? Will get back to you all soon with that answer, hopefully.
First off starting my blog in Spain, all in Spanish trying to set this up was rather odd but whatever I think I did it correctly. I suppose I should start from the beginning.
Name: Lori
Age: 26 (a young 26, I might add...or a fresh 26 perhaps)
Point of this blog: To tell about my life here in Madrid, Spain, as an american, to add laughter and joy to random peoples lives, (who am I kidding...my 3 friends are the only people who will actually read this, I am sure...maybe not even). I also don´t keep a journal and apparently is appalling to all of those ´deep´people that here I am traveling and living abroad and I don´t even have a travel journal!!! I mean how I am going to share my experiences with my children someday, ahhh! So here I am blogging away.
How I arrived: Well I began my journey as Lori 26 years ago in Chicago. I think some parts of my body are actually permanently frozen after enduring 18 chicago winters. That being said I escaped to sunny Tucson Arizona for college (college-worth the thousands my darling parents paid? still unsure, perhaps will have to debate that via blog sometime soon). After college, which include a brief and drunken study abroad stint in Spain, I ambitiously moved to New York, in search of being fabulous business woman Lori. Shortly found out that being fabulous business woman Lori actually means being an assistant for several years and working 70 hours a week...dreams were quickly crushed and savings rapidly decreased, then decided to try my luck abroad. I mean those who can speak more than one language have a wordly culture advantage, no?
So here I am, Lori in Madrid, school teacher by day, blogger by night. That´s the big historical beginning of my life. Now I am wondering what about my life might others find interesting? Will get back to you all soon with that answer, hopefully.
Suscribirse a:
Entradas (Atom)
.jpg)