la cucaracha

i am not by nature one who is afraid of bugs. in fact, generally i set them free to the outside. there are a few exceptions, cockroaches being one particularly as of late. yuck! it's summer and it seems like they are everywhere. granted i'm rearranging some stuff, but i did actually just put out stuff to get rid of them. and the past few nights they've been terrorizing me.

the cockroach a few months back that FLEW out of the toilet paper thing when i went to get some tp was funny. it was just so weird. then the occasional one in the kitchen or bathroom isn't that big of a deal. i don't mind cohabitating to some degree. i would just prefer to not see them. but last night was the last straw. i went from my room to the kitchen and had three jet out a various places, one in the hall, one out of the poison trap thing, and then one from by the trash. i trapped one under the clear trashcan and then felt like that was inhumane, so i smashed him. then there is the one that ran over my barefoot the other day. there is something wrong with these bugs. they are neither rational nor good sensed.

this morning when i woke up, it occurred to me that i was afraid to turn on the light in the kitchen, expecting something to scurry away. and the same in the bathroom. then i thought, dawn, you're not actually afraid of cockroaches, they just gross you out. yuck!!! please mr. cucaracha would you leave and take your friends with you. i'm sure it's much cooler and darker a few floors down, or even better go to a park or something. i think you and i would be much happier parting ways. thank you.

summer summertime in the city

Summer has arrived. It was 38ºC, or 100ºF today. I would say that makes it now fully summer. So here is a list of what makes me think of summer, or that summer is just around the corner... Oh and I'll check those that have happened already...

_ Café con hielo, Iced coffee
x Iced Latté
x Washing my feet at night, bc it feels good but also bc they're dirty (and in the bidet, in my opinion it's what it was made for!)
x It's hot enough that I have to wear shorts to run (and don't get as many strange looks)
x I get the fan out
_ Lightening bugs (i'll have to wait 'til i'm back in stl for that one)
x Ice cream!
x Terrazas, or outdoor seating
x LOTS of people outside at night and late
_ Putting a fan or two in my purse
x Sandals
x Dresses & skirts without tights
x Seeing American tourists in shorts (and this year it looks like it might be "in" to wear shorts, although they are definitely "hip" shorts, not just your run of the mill shorts)
x Closing the windows in the day because it's TOOO hot to let the air in
x Loving the cool night breeze
x Noticing all the green!!! (even here)
x Making all kinds of iced drinks
_ Smoothies
_ Frozen Juice Popsicles
_ the pool
_ the beach
_ swimming
_ Galicia
_ Realizing it would make a ton more sense to wake up early to go running in a bit cooler weather
x Dying running in the heat
x Enjoying air conditioning on occasion
x Cold showers
_ barbecues! grilling!
x fresh veggies & fruits
x strawberries
x ice
x blue skies (although we almost always have blue skies in madrid)
x cottony clouds
_ outdoor films
x picnics
x parks
x late night walks

Summer is here!!! This weekend has been great. Friday I had a birthday party and while I was more concerned about the food, which was quite tasty (actually fairly incredible), and just wanted people to come, I also got some fun presents. Saturday I got up late, since people left my apartment around 3am, went running with Maria (my marathon friend), we jumped in her apartment complex's pool (which had just opened) and felt great after running in 38ºC weather (100ºF), and had a nice summery lunch of gazpacho, salad and fresh fruit. When I returned home, my roommate Chery and I finished off the lemon sorbet we'd made for my bday party, which I have to say was incredible. Last night I went to my best friend Ruth's house for part 2 of my bday party, with her daughter and some friends. They made a "cake" out of fruit - watermelon, kiwi, and strawberries. And we just had a fun time talking, laughing, dancing, and just hanging out til the wee hours of the morning. I am so blessed! And I feel very loved. One of my favorite parts of last night was when Elia (her daughter) came over to me and threw homemade confetti all over the place. :-) And there was a thunderstorm last night, which is also fun. It only lasted a couple hours and was before we went to sleep, but fun. I am now trying to get some work done, but completely exhausted.

Yes, yes, I do really need to go to bed, particularly since I need to be awake and functional in about five hours. Anyway, I was hoping someone might be up in the US and write me back about the web domain predicament, but to no avail, so since I'm awake but tired I've been looking at friends' pages and such when it occurred to me something that I've been noticing here recently and thinking I should maybe blog about it.

So, obviously each culture has different social norms, some which vary little and some which vary a lot. Also, mind you, it is spring/summer and the pollen count is high and I can attest to the fact that my nose has been more stuffy than normal.

Generally in American culture staring isn't a socially acceptable thing, well here in most cases it is perfectly fine, particularly if there is something to stare about, then everyone will (and more so if you live in the south, really, I'm not making this up). In fact I can remember on many occasions when I lived in Sevilla, mainly when I first got there and didn't fit in as well, the ENTIRE bus, kid-you-not, turned around to stare at us for basically the entire bus ride. In Madrid, it's much more subtle. Generally people don't stare for too long, but much longer than would be socially acceptable in the US. In fact, I now find myself doing the same thing. But I digress.

Another custom that we as Americans are not quite used to is nose-picking. I can't say that it's encouraged here nor something you would do somewhere nice, but over the past few days the number of blatant nose-pickers that I've seen is astronomical. There just isn't the same stigma attached to it. Yes, allergy season is high, but still. So, in that vane, as I looked for pictures I found that wikihow has a page on "how to pick your nose inconspicuously". It's cracking me up. But there you go.

humid or dry, i'm not quite sure?

My roommate melissa and i went for a run a bit earlier and we noticed the strange phenomenon that has occurred as of late - it feels a bit humid, but somehow the air seems to take all the moisture out of our bodies, so we are in a perpetual state of dehydration (or so it feels). We are both from the midwest where it is most definitely EXTREMELY humid (at least in Missouri). Madrid is not at all like that. And, yes, it is definitely dry. But as the summer has arrived it feels some days a bit humid and may even rain (a bit), but on these humid days honestly it feels like all the moisture is taken from my body to make the air humid. I don't understand, but it seems a little strange.

summer!!!

it is feeling more and more like summer here every day. cafe con hielo (iced coffee) is becoming more and more a norm, which is VERY much something of summer. generally it's an espresso poured ice, but it can also be more like a cafe freddo (which is actually greek), which is espresso and milk poured over ice, or in my case cafe con soja over ice. :-) yum!!! and with my new skirts thanks to this past weekend and some time of sewing, mending, adjusting of old clothes or clothes left here by others, I am ready for the heat :-)