Chillin' in Madrid

What a gift to just be able to chill. Friday afternoon after splitting a lunch of fresh watermelon, rotisserie chicken and french fries from my new favorite bar down the street, Dr. Bea took off for Granada her friend Ani (from Finland)leaving me by lonesome. What to do? Decided to check out the website Free in Madrid which held a list of fabulous films and events including a special day out with some Donkeys. I kid you not, the Association for the Preservation of Burros was hosting a special event called Domingo Con Los Burros where you could have the opportunity to meet some real live donkeys and celebrate how wonderful they've been for humanity. Unfortunately that was last Sunday, but I did find a poetry reading at the Centro Hispano Morraqui in celebration of Ramadan. Between Google maps and mapquest, I figured out how to get there, then I set off on my first solo adventure.

Turns out the metro is just a few blocks away. It was surprisingly easy to figure it all out. I arrived in Lavapies with a few minutes to spare, then walked a few blocks in the wrong directions, but figured it out in the end. Unfortunately, I was actually quite early...a whole day early in fact, which figures because since starting this trip, unless it's go to the airport day, what day and time it is have been pretty irrelevant. Can you imagine that? Not obsessively marking every moment? Not even really needing to know anything more than what it is you feel like doing...eating because you're hungry and not because it's lunch time. It's a pleasure.

While I never did get to the poetry reading, I did find an Art Center next door that offers yoga and pilates and all sorts of other cool things that I might be back for. Also I discovered a great neighborhood filled with fabulous people watching. Lavapies is much less touristy than the zones I've been frequenting, and in it's way, more culturally diverse as well. As I ambled back towards the metro, I stumbled across an Indian Restaurant advertising mojitos and caipirinhas for 5 euros...how could I resist? Turns out the waiters are mostly from Nepal and they do indeed make perfect Cuban mojitos. I sat outside and had a lovely dinner, then made my way over to La Plaza de Espana which was all lit up and filled with young couples making out. From there I walked a little further and found El Templo de Debod, this temple that was originally built many moons ago in Southern Egypt near the Nile. It's a temple meant to honor Isis and Amun. Randomly in 1960, UNESCO decided that with the building of the Great Dam of Aswan, that the temple might be in danger so Egypt decided to donate it to Spain as a gift for helping them save several other temples...so it's been living in Madrid since 1968 and is widely known as the best place to catch the sunset. I missed the sunset, but it's beautiful at night as well, a lit up and set on a reflecting pool. Afterwards I thought about stopping at a pub for a night cap, but in the end I just went home and chilled.

The next day I was supposed to meet up with Bea's cousin to meet his band and catch a rock show, but I just didn't feel up to it, so I stayed in and watched TV (definitely helping my Spanish comprehension). Then Sunday, since all the museums are free, I visited La Reina Sofia Museum where Pablo Picasso's Guernica is displayed. Then I found a place to grab a tuna sandwhich...it wasn't as good (or as cheap) as the little bar around the corner from Bea's, but the sangria was outstanding.

Now that I have time to chill I am thinking about how busy I always am. At home it's always go go go. I have to get to work, then go to taekwondo, meet up with some friends, attend so an so's political thing or poetry reading, hang painting for my next show and somehow squeeze in an hour a half to work on my writing. Is that really how I want my life to be? Sometimes it's wonderful. Sometimes it's exhausting. I guess now is the time for me to really figure it out.

What I've figured out so far, is that though I enjoyed teaching and even more to the truth, I love working with kids, I'm bored of doing it everyday. I can't explain how elated I am not to have to be spending September in staff meetings or revising my curriculum for the millionth time. And while I can (and sometimes do) write all day and love it, I have this residual mental block that tells me I can't do this for a living. But why not? People do it all the time right? I pass by millions of bookstores filled with millions of books written by people who make it happen. Can't that be me? I'm tired of hedging my bets.