On Wednesday it was Rachels 21st birthday , so we decided to go out. We found this place called “Pele Mele” who’s slogan was “Different Restaurant”. It’s website described it as having three themes: submarine, titanic and a jail. It said the waiters were drag queens and that there were phones at each table for customers to call one another. When we got there, there was an old lady sitting at the bar. The “three different themes” were pretty much all slumped in to one which made it look more like a Friendlys or Applebees. The waiters were flamboyant, but not drag queens. Since it was a Wednesday night and we were eating dinner early (930pm!) we were the ONLY ones in the entire restaurant. They would turn off the house lights, put on techno lights and blast the music. It was one of the most bizarre hilarious meals I’ve ever had. They served us horrible but strong sangria, a pitcher of margheritas (which was %85 tequila) and free double shots of tequila. Since it was a Wednesday night and we had school the next day, we all groaned to one another and said “this sucks” before throwing back the free shot in honor of Rachel’s 21st.

Yesterday, I woke up with a fever, but decided to go to school anyway so that I’d be able to attend the Flamenco show with the school that evening. I made it through the first class but then had to go home around 11:15 to go to bed. When I got back to my building, I rode the elevator up with the doorman, who kept asking me questions about a lone turquoise sock. Most of the conversations I have I don’t understand in the moment, but then almost COMPLETELY understand 10 minutes later, when I’ve had time to translate and analyze the context.

That night I attended the flamenco show and dinner, despite my feeling sick. It was solidly “okay”, but I didn’t enjoy the food as much as I do Loli’s cooking. The man who coordinated the “cultural activity” was a very hip-looking gay man named “Julio”. He was fabulous and hilarious. It was exciting to be able to understand Spanish enough to get some of his jokes, etc. He told us that they are considering holding flamenco classes at Tandem!

A new girl moved in to Loli’s house a couple days ago. Her name is Jaime and she’s from Indiana. She has never left the country before-or even her state! “But it’s not like I haven’t traveled before” she assured us, “I’ve been all around Indiana”. She speaks with a thick Midwestern accent and is very masculine. She’s a little intense in her openness, telling us all about her sexual relations with her girlfriend, her parents alcoholism (including her dads recent alcohol related death) and her upbringing in the projects around prostitutes and gang members. She’s very nice though, and seems to be relatively well-adjusted… She’ll only be living with us for a month and then her program moves her in to an apartment in Madrid.

On Saturday night, none of us were feeling well, so we decided to go bowling! We took the metro way out to this sketchy area, and found a huge "bolera". It turned out to be a "hopping" place. Yours truly won the game with 2 strikes and 3 spares!! Que allegre!

On Sunday I went back to the Rastro fleamarket and bought a leather bracelet. It looks better then it sounds..