Somos hombres o somos rantoncitos?

"Are we men, or are we mice?" It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? (Almost better in English. I'm a fan of the alliteration.) This is my new favorite Spanish expression, and I'm somewhat obsessed with it. Here's the origen: Saturday night, I had dinner with my UC3M Buddy, Daniel, and the some of the rest of the people from our buddy group. We went to a restaurant called Cañas y Tapas. Some of Daniel's friends came with him and dispersed themselves throughout the group so that all of us had someone to talk to who was from Spain. I wound up seating at the end of the table, next to one of Daniel's friends, and across from some Italian girls that understood Spanish, but spoke pretty much only Italian. It was an interesting setup that turned out quite well. In my search for authentic Spanish food, my Spanish-native neighbor, Javier, suggested we split a 3-course meal. Started with an ensalada del país, a salad with tuna, eggs, and of course, Spanish olives (of which I am sadly not a fan. Some Spaniard I would be.). Dressed with olive oil and a little salt. According to Spanish culture, you eat everything on the plate. Which proved a little hard for me because I didn't like the eggs or tomatoes. 

Course 2: Gambas y Gulas. Gambas are basically just shrimp. Gulas, on the other hand... Well, no one could really tell me what they were. It's some type of seafood, I know. They didn't really taste like anything, so I was fine with eating them. Also in the wok that it was served in was a fried egg, all served over french fries. Honestly it was pretty good.

(Notes: Gulas and Angulas are essentially the same thing. Except Angulas are a WHOLE lot more expensive. So I'll be sticking with gulas. Also, the dish I had looked a whole lot tastier than this picture I googled. And much less...wormy.)

Course 3: Some sort of pork. Javier and I by this point were getting really full. I said something about how he should eat more of it than me. He replied by saying "Somos hombres, o somos ratoncitos?" A challenge? Yes, it was. And I wasn't about to back
down. All the food came out really quickly, so by this point the pork was cold, but still delicious. It was served with some grilled green bell pepper and MORE french fries. We finished it all (except the french fries, but those don't really count. And all for 13 Euros apiece! What a steal! (And just for the record -- Somos hombres!)

The other night most of the international students went to a karaoke bar in Madrid. Instead of singing (I signed up, but had to leave before my song came on. haha), I wound up getting a lesson in UK history from a British friend. The UK contains Great Britain, in addition to Wales and Northern Ireland. I guess technically I knew that, but put on the spot, in my mind there was no difference between the two. (I have since been corrected. My British friend, Katy, tells me that the UK is made up of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Great Britain contains Wales. I hesitate to explain anything else. I suggest Google if you really want to know.)

Wednesday, I went to an Irish pub called Dubliner's to watch the Real Madrid/Barcelona soccer game. What an intense experience! The bar was packed, and everyone was super into the game. Even though I really had no idea what was going on the whole time, I got just as into it as everyone else. Spain's two best teams facing off? Can it get any better? By the way, the picture only shows about a quarter of the bar...and it was much darker in there than it seems.

My landlord, Fulgencio, filled me in on this one--because he does it himself. Man purses are perfectly acceptable here! BUT!!! There's a stipulation. It can't be too small, or else that's gay. Personally, I didn't realize there was any difference between straight Europeans and gay Europeans, but apparently the man purse is the deciding factor.

Don't judge me for this one. I finally learned where the phrase "Air out your dirty laundry" comes from. Why? Because my apartment has no dryer (the washer is in the kitchen. And it's not for dishes.), so you have to use the clotheslines out the window. It's actually kind of neat to see everyone hanging their clothes and things, but it's not nice thinking that everyone can see what you've been wearing (Even though it is technically clean).

Now about my university. My apartment still doesn't have Internet, so I've been having to use the computers at the university (which is conveniently less than 5 minutes away). Problem 1: The keyboard. Everything is moved around to accommodate the accents and things in the Spanish language. Even the symbols above the numbers (e.g. !, @, #) are different! Every time I use punctuation, I have to search for the right key. Also, most of the computers still use Windows XP. Seriously?! The web browser is so old, it doesn't even support Blogger! (Making it that much harder for me to post.) But I've resolved to stay at it! So expect to hear from me fairly soon!