Hamhocks and Interviews
Motherfucker, I have had a bitch of a day. This stomach parasite is making me sooo weak and I have never felt anything like the morning emptying session. It was like I lost 30 pounds and I´m NOT kidding. Then running around and trying to find aparments and be charming and interested and all in Spanish. Not great timing here. I figured that I should hit it kind of hard today, though, since it´s my last day in Madrid. Tomorrow I kick off the five-day trip to Jerry´s home base of Ciudad Real. Looking really forward to some down time to relax and work on things.
I had three apartment interviews today. The first one was the most awesome location, only a couple of blocks from my hostel. A cute room, and two seemingly nice female roommates. I couldn´t really tell if I made a good impression or not, but I´m not holding my breath. That would be soooo great if it works out. A little out of the price range I set, but the location alone would be worth it. Extra special added bonus - air conditioning. Very necessary, since it´s on the 5th floor. I´m gonna leave it up to the Gods... The other two places I saw (well, one that I saw and, oh, you´ll see) weren´t too great. The first was another place for students. Very nice 23-year-old guy from Barcelona who is the only roommate at the moment, but the place is very basic and pretty far out of the central zone. It´s by a huge park called Casa de Campo. There also appears to be an amusement park. I guess it would be nice to have the option of a quick roller coaster ride for breakfast...
The third one took me FOREVER to get to from the metro at the second one. Once I got off the metro, I had to weave through many levels of stairs and half-closed passageways due to major construction that´s underway on one of the main legs of the metro there. I was told to then ask for the restaurant Museo de Jamon (literally Museum of Ham - pictured below).
Anyway, I got directions from someone at a restaurant who said I had to cross the bridge and look to the left to see the restaurant. The bridge was pretty long and was more like a freeway. It was also under construction, and there was no visible sidewalk or pedestrian thoroughfare. I now understood why the crotchety old lady on the phone kept saying that I had to catch the 86, 85 or 79 bus lines once I arrived. I saw a woman who was starting to trek over the bridge on foot, though, so I decided to go for it. How hard could it be? After about 100 feet, when the next wave of traffic came, I realized that this was not a good idea. There was barely enough room for the two lanes of traffic, and the cars were only able to give us about 2 feet of clearance (not including the mirrors, for which I had to duck to the left). Then, I saw a row of huge buses coming at me. For the first time in a while, I feared for my life. I was too far across the bridge to really go back, but still had a long way to go. I decided to catch up to the lady and just hope for the best. Every new wave of traffic brought clouds of dust that just added to the debris already being blown around by the wind that had picked up. All of it was sticking nicely to the new layer of sweat that had formed all over my body from the fear of death. I didn´t want to wipe it off because my hands were sticky from holding onto the diseased handles on the metro trains, ICK!!!
When I finally got to the other side, I did a little dance of sacrifice to the Gods for allowing me to make it alive. I can´t believe that I actually considered continuing on to the apartment, but after a moment of consideration, I decided that cheap rent was not worth that hassle. The woman had a knowing sound of resignation in her voice when I called and said, "I´m sorry for your trouble, but this is way too far out for me."
Just a little side note on my lunch incident earlier today. I ate an amazing spaghetti bolognese at this outdoor restaurant near my hostel. While I was waiting for my food, I saw this woman standing next to a car nearby with a light blue plastic bag with something sticking out of it. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the protrusions were hooves! This made me very curious, so I pulled out my camera, and waited to get a better look at what was in the bag, but she hid behind the car. Then she went into this grocery store where her friend was already hanging out. They made some strange motions and then both rushed back to the car and drove off, hooves in tow.
Now, I´m going to need to do an entire entry (or several) on the food culture here, but one of the things that first struck me was how real the food was in the restaurants and shops. The huge ham hocks aren´t just hanging in touristy places like the Museo de Jamon, but pretty much everywhere that you will be eating them. OK, not everywhere, but many places. It leaves me wondering if the woman just had a one-off beast that she needed to unload, so she thought she´d pop into town and try to sell it at the neighborhood market. I´m pretty sure the legs had brown hair on them, though. Isn´t that a deer? Ugh, I knew I should have paid more attention when Dad showed me his last prized buck.
Although I was unable to get a photo of the mystery hooves, I've included a pic taken in a friend's kitchen, to give you an idea of the alleged protrusion. Museo de Jamon (also pictured) is a veritable fiesta of hooves, day in, day out.
Hoof in the Home Setting
Hoof - Detail
Museo de Jamon - Literally "Museum of Ham"
Motherfucker, I have had a bitch of a day. This stomach parasite is making me sooo weak and I have never felt anything like the morning emptying session. It was like I lost 30 pounds and I´m NOT kidding. Then running around and trying to find aparments and be charming and interested and all in Spanish. Not great timing here. I figured that I should hit it kind of hard today, though, since it´s my last day in Madrid. Tomorrow I kick off the five-day trip to Jerry´s home base of Ciudad Real. Looking really forward to some down time to relax and work on things.
I had three apartment interviews today. The first one was the most awesome location, only a couple of blocks from my hostel. A cute room, and two seemingly nice female roommates. I couldn´t really tell if I made a good impression or not, but I´m not holding my breath. That would be soooo great if it works out. A little out of the price range I set, but the location alone would be worth it. Extra special added bonus - air conditioning. Very necessary, since it´s on the 5th floor. I´m gonna leave it up to the Gods... The other two places I saw (well, one that I saw and, oh, you´ll see) weren´t too great. The first was another place for students. Very nice 23-year-old guy from Barcelona who is the only roommate at the moment, but the place is very basic and pretty far out of the central zone. It´s by a huge park called Casa de Campo. There also appears to be an amusement park. I guess it would be nice to have the option of a quick roller coaster ride for breakfast...
The third one took me FOREVER to get to from the metro at the second one. Once I got off the metro, I had to weave through many levels of stairs and half-closed passageways due to major construction that´s underway on one of the main legs of the metro there. I was told to then ask for the restaurant Museo de Jamon (literally Museum of Ham - pictured below).
Anyway, I got directions from someone at a restaurant who said I had to cross the bridge and look to the left to see the restaurant. The bridge was pretty long and was more like a freeway. It was also under construction, and there was no visible sidewalk or pedestrian thoroughfare. I now understood why the crotchety old lady on the phone kept saying that I had to catch the 86, 85 or 79 bus lines once I arrived. I saw a woman who was starting to trek over the bridge on foot, though, so I decided to go for it. How hard could it be? After about 100 feet, when the next wave of traffic came, I realized that this was not a good idea. There was barely enough room for the two lanes of traffic, and the cars were only able to give us about 2 feet of clearance (not including the mirrors, for which I had to duck to the left). Then, I saw a row of huge buses coming at me. For the first time in a while, I feared for my life. I was too far across the bridge to really go back, but still had a long way to go. I decided to catch up to the lady and just hope for the best. Every new wave of traffic brought clouds of dust that just added to the debris already being blown around by the wind that had picked up. All of it was sticking nicely to the new layer of sweat that had formed all over my body from the fear of death. I didn´t want to wipe it off because my hands were sticky from holding onto the diseased handles on the metro trains, ICK!!!
When I finally got to the other side, I did a little dance of sacrifice to the Gods for allowing me to make it alive. I can´t believe that I actually considered continuing on to the apartment, but after a moment of consideration, I decided that cheap rent was not worth that hassle. The woman had a knowing sound of resignation in her voice when I called and said, "I´m sorry for your trouble, but this is way too far out for me."
Just a little side note on my lunch incident earlier today. I ate an amazing spaghetti bolognese at this outdoor restaurant near my hostel. While I was waiting for my food, I saw this woman standing next to a car nearby with a light blue plastic bag with something sticking out of it. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the protrusions were hooves! This made me very curious, so I pulled out my camera, and waited to get a better look at what was in the bag, but she hid behind the car. Then she went into this grocery store where her friend was already hanging out. They made some strange motions and then both rushed back to the car and drove off, hooves in tow.
Now, I´m going to need to do an entire entry (or several) on the food culture here, but one of the things that first struck me was how real the food was in the restaurants and shops. The huge ham hocks aren´t just hanging in touristy places like the Museo de Jamon, but pretty much everywhere that you will be eating them. OK, not everywhere, but many places. It leaves me wondering if the woman just had a one-off beast that she needed to unload, so she thought she´d pop into town and try to sell it at the neighborhood market. I´m pretty sure the legs had brown hair on them, though. Isn´t that a deer? Ugh, I knew I should have paid more attention when Dad showed me his last prized buck.
Although I was unable to get a photo of the mystery hooves, I've included a pic taken in a friend's kitchen, to give you an idea of the alleged protrusion. Museo de Jamon (also pictured) is a veritable fiesta of hooves, day in, day out.
posted by Chromest*r at 8:16 PM
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