Rick Steves

This is why I love Rick Steves. He gets buzzed in small european towns and talks to cats.

Roommate interaction

Indian roommate: I'm heating up some daal, do you want some?

Me: That's not daal.

Indian roommate: What do you mean? Yes, it is.

Me: That is absolutely not daal. It is pumpkin soup.

Indian roommate: What?

Me: Have you tasted it? Taste it.

Indian roommate: Oh! It is! This is good. Wait...

Me: I don't think you're actually Indian.

"Indian" roommate: How did you know it wasn't daal?

Me: Because I made pumpkin soup and put leftovers in the freezer a few weeks ago.

"Indian" roommate: Oh, well, do you want some pumpkin soup?! It's good!!

Stateside

Safely arrived at home! Muchas gracias to Elece and bryce for the airport chauffeur!

adios espana!

Leaving Madrid tomorrow :( Throwing out the clothes I came with to make room for my new ones :)

Veterans day

Because of the veterans and their day, Tatyana has tomorrow off to hang out with me. We have a big day planned: desayuno, royal palace, menu del dia, siesta, parque, modern art museum ( 2nd visit - me amo Picasso) siesta, tapas, discoteca, airport. Btw, I thought I was tired of jamon until I tried jamon iberica ( high end pig.) Mas jamon ahora! Semper paratus coast guard veterans!

Sometimes traveling sucks...

...and then God sends you a Thai food restaurant.

According to people who use hostelworld.com, our hostel is the best hostel in Madrid. All hostels in Madrid must be terrible, because this one is not that great. We endured two sleepless nights before asking the front desk to swap out our mattresses. (My apologies to whoever got them.) It is rather cold in Madrid. The common area of the hostel isn't exactly heated, and your chances of getting a hot shower are about 50-50. I spent the better part of yesterday with a splitting headache, pounding imitrex, and fantasizing about blowing all of my priority club points at the Intercontinental.

We had planned a fun evening of churros, modern art museum, and tapas. We managed to drag ourselves out for churros around 5pm. But, it was a holiday in Madrid...so everyone was out getting churros with their screaming, misbehaving children. We headed to the museum, only to find it closed due to the holiday. It started raining.

We were headed back to the metro station when we walked past what appeared to be a thai restaurant. "There are thai people eating in there," I said, with a hint of hope in my voice. "Lets do it," Tatyana said.

And just like that, our first non-tapas meal in a month turned things around. Thank you delicious train station Thai restaurant. Our new mattresses are still less than mediocre, but they at least allowed us to sleep. Things are looking up. Today I went to an art museum and found a non-iceburg lettuce salad for lunch (no small feat). Tonight, the modern art museum is open. We're going to a different churros place. I'm actually looking forward to eating jamon.

Plus, nobody I know got killed in South Central L.A. Today was a good day. :)

Age isn't just a number

Today, I considered the possibility that I might be getting old. Dislike.