Estoy aqui!!

I'm here! Hard to believe, but I'm actually in Spain! It's about 2:30 a.m. and G and I just got back from a short walk around the neighborhood. We went into a little bar (maybe 20' x 30' with maybe 25 customers and 4 staff--G said it's very typical) and checked out a salsa dance club (literally wall-to-wall people; I can't figure out how they were actually moving on the dance floor). Yes, along with the beer and Lemon Fanta (no, not in separate glasses--mixed together), we received a plate of olives and several garlic sardines at no additional charge. Much nicer than pretzels in an American bar. It felt odd to throw the napkins on the floor, but apparently one of the ways you're supposed to be able to judge if a place is good is by how much stuff is on the floor.

The trip over was long, but no real problems. Thanks, JoAnn, for the tip on putting the the neck roll on backwards (open end to the back of your neck) for sleeping on the plane--it works a lot better that way, keeps your chin from dropping every time you doze off and waking you up.

Had my first little adventure when I arrived as G was not at the airport as planned. It seems he sent me an email taking up my suggestion to meet him at work and giving me directions how to get there. However, I didn't get the email in time, so there I was at the airport, waiting and waiting. Had to start actually using my Spanish to ask for assistance from police officers, information desk, etc. Managed to get him on the phone and get the address before we got cut off. Found the Metro, but wasn't sure which direction to go, so I asked a young couple standing nearby. Turns out they had just arrived from Mexico for their first trip to Spain. Mariana immediately took me under her wing, intermittently practicing her English on me. Since I was going the same way, they escorted me to the correct place to get on and even to my stop. She searched through her stash of maps and asked bystanders how to get to the address I was looking for from the Metro, then walked me to the exit and insisted on giving me her map and a parting piece of advice, "Be careful Don't trust anybody!" "Like you?" I asked. She laughed warmly, "Nobody else!" Up on the street I had to ask for directions again and another woman walked a couple of blocks to show me where the building was. I don't know if this is the norm, but I sure appreciated all the kindness and help.

Tip: If you're on an escalator in Madrid and you're just going to ride it, squish yourself over to the right side so others can run past on the left side. G told me to move over cuz I was taking up the middle and, boy, did I ever get a dirty look and some muttered comment I think I'm glad I didn't understand from the woman I had been blocking. Even though the trains arrive every 5 minutes or so, many people do the OJ-Simpson-running-through-the-airport thing to make them.

As we entered G's apartment building, his roommate's boyfriend was also walking in. G introduced me and the man grabbed my upper arms and got WAY into my personal space! It took a moment before I realized he was greeting me by kissing both cheeks. (It's not actually kissing; it's pressing the cheeks together while making kissing noises in the air, although I have occasionally seen others, men/women and men/men, actually kiss each other's cheeks.) Ricardo and G's roommates thought my reaction was pretty funny, but after meeting half a dozen people now, I think I've got it down.

The apartment is small, with teeny bedrooms, but cute and his roommates are charming and really hospitable. Thankfully, they speak English well, but much of the conversation is in Spanish--yikes!

G and I have been talking and talking. It's wonderful--this is going to be a marvelous trip!