The walking tour that turned into a hike.

After getting lost yesterday and doing nada last night, I decided to see some of Madrid today. And what better way to do so than with a walking tour? A bus tour, I know. But I took part in the walking tour, partly because it was walking, mostly because it was free, and learned a whole bunch of Madrid and Spanish history. All I remember are the 6 kings that kept marrying cousins therefore resulting in an extremely inbred king Carlos the seconds who was oddly unable to produce children..... And I remember the date 1561. I think it's the year Madrid became Capital of Spain. I'm going to pretend it is. During the tour, I introduced myself to a guy who looked about my age and we chatted the ought the tour. After the tour, we just continued kind of walking together until neither of us really knew what was going on. I think we may have accidently kidnapped each other and not realized it. We grabbed some food from a grocery store and sat down in a park a mile away and people watched. And then we continued walking and walking ad walkin and enjoying the madridian sun yes I just made up the word madridian. The Spanish sun? Hm. We enjoyed the great ball of fire rolling through this side of the sky. Space. Whatever. It was hot, like 19 degrees and I think I got burned! Awesome, more freckles. I went out for dinner and wrote postcards and my waitress was kinda rude and seemed curt but at one point she asked where I was from and I told her Canada, and she was suddenly so happy and spoke awesome English. Seriously, this is the second time people have done this and I think it's because they think I'm American. What's this story behind the Americans anyway? Most of them are really nice individuals. Oh well, as a waitress I understand the battle of stereotyping our customers. Also, thanks to an amazing friend of mine, my blogs are somewhat back up. All the posts I cared about are flying high again and I'm so incredibly ecstatic about it.
I'm going to go enjoy some tapas and agua since I can't get enough of one and haven't had enough of the other.
Good night world, all my love
-Sarah
Ps, the guy in the picture is some random from the tour. He doesn't know I have this picture of him either but he had the most interesting facial hair. It was like he had an accent just because he had the goatee thingamajig.
And the location is the royal palace.

because i suck at computers....

every post since september 2011 is deleted thanks to my inability to double check what im deleting. im sorry to anyone who was trying to follow my journey and im incredibly upset. they werent awesome posts but it was still my writing and memories that i dont have anywhere else. and this keyboard wont let me capitolize letters which only makes me want to cry more. i´ll continue posting but im afraid it might not make a whole lot of sense. i just really want my moms hug and computer intellect right now....

These Last Few Days

i apologize ahead of time for the lack of capitals in these sentences. i cant figure out how to make it happen... anyway, these last few days. first i met some awesome girls at my last hostel and one night we went out for dinner and ended up drinking and being the only dancers in a club. the german girl was really fun and relatable, and the two finnish chicks taught me bad words and sang lots. they were pretty cool. yesterday i survived another bus trip and figured out my way from the madrid airport to the hostel without anything getting stolen or pushed. this hostel is interesting. once i figured out that i needed to buzz the door so i could get it, i wandered up and down the stairs for a while before awkwardly knocking on an unmarked door with loud music coming from the other side. i figured if i cant find my hostel at least i can party with some spanish uni kids, right? thankfully it was the hostel. my room is a 12 bed girls dorm and its nice and clean and spacious. unfortunately there is one washroom, three stalls, and a sink in what looks like it used to be an old closet. the showers are closer to the kitchen and there are three of them without much privacy within the room, so this morning i enjoyed the hot water and then awkardly got partially dressed in the shower before stepping out into the main area. that was a horrifying decription. its not quite as bad as i accidently made it sound. 

i was told that there was a market held only on sundays at this spanish plaza de something and so at 12 i set out to find it. yeah, madrid is way bigger than i had pictured in my mind. or at least my hostel isn´t as central as i thought. so after getting really lost and seeeing a starbucks, i bought coffee and breakfast and politely nodded and said ´gracias´ when the barista explained a long special offer to me. and then i walked and walked and walked and bought a cute country style sundress for only 5 euros and walked and walked and found a park. i think it was called parc de madrid but it probably wasnt. i sat and enjoy the sun and wrote a little bit. mostly i was listening in on the conversation of three guys behind me just because they were speaking english and i felt a little bit less terrified of being lost in such a huge city. but then some one started talking to me in english and that was awesome. unfortunately i kept noticing someone in front of me turning around every once in a while as if he was watching someone and waiting for them to do something. and it was always in my direction. after the guy i was talking to left, i decided to wander back and try to find a metro. so i stood up. and the creepy turn around dude stood up too. so i casually stretched, turned around, admired the statue, and sat down again. and he sat down again and looke dto the front again. so i did that awkward backwards walk out of the park so i could make sure he didnt turn around. i honestly have no clue if he was looking at me or not but it added some potential discomfort to my day and so i think im good for the rest of the day now. at a loss for what else to do, i think im going to go sleep. because i seem to love sleep. and i need to figure out where to go next. im thinking sevilla but who knows. im really hating the bus lately and kinda just want to walk to the next town and see what happens. ill be sure to let yall know what my plan is. ha, my plan... right. okay anyway, if i write from denmark, you know i ran out of food and went to bum off my friends parents. 

that could be fun too actually. 

good afternoon world, 

all my love, 

sarah 

and im really sorry again about the lack of capital letters. its driving me nuts too.

Writings by a Fountain

Last night I went for a walk and wanted to write. Since I'm still in this towns nd today I haven't yet left my hostel (waiting for laundry to dry) here is a little of what happens in my head. 

Estoy casa enfermo. Sitting in a Spanish plaza I listen to my music, headphones in my ears, looking at the starless night sky. I enjoy the sound of nothing but the glacier-like waterfall that reminds me of the river back home. Except where the water back home is fresh and twists and winds through the valley, past farms and under bridges, this waterfall is in the middle of the town and the water just continues to be turned on or off depending on the time of day. Many tourists walk by and take photos of it; I'm not sure if they are all tourists, my friends and I take pictures with tourist attractions back home all the time. I get the feeling that there is something happening in this town. First, there was some festival yesterday and now at the chapel behind this waterfall there are a lot of black shiny cars and people in suits and police and guards. I wonder if there is a president or some sort of importance in town. A police van is driving through the courtyard. Two in fact. This is very odd indeed. 

This is one of those nights where I wish I had a pack of cigarettes and a table in the corner of the world. I would sit and watch the going ons around me and eventually somebody would come ask me what I'm looking at and id tell them "everything." 

I want to ask someone what's happening. "¿Qué pasa? Y puede hablas dispació, por favor." And could you speak slowly please. But I know id still only understand a word or two and id have to piece together things with my own imagination. You know, sometimes I wish I didn't have to imagine. That life was just so brilliant and adventurous that I was to busy enjoying it to imagine something better. Something better could not be imagined.

I have been going to bed early since I've been here, 8 or 9. That's when the Spanish people eat dinner though and now at 7:30 there are far more people out and about than I expected. People walking out of churches and restaurants, children running and looking for their parents, tourists taking pictures of themselves in typical tourist poses - peace sign; falling; with food. This new language swirls around me and I grasp to understand even a word; but, one word streams into the second without a hint of a breath and I lose any understanding of the conversation I was hearing. 

~~~~~~~

And that's where typing my thoughts ended as my fingers became frozen. Now I'm going to continue waiting for laundry to dry. It's about as much fun as watching pain dry. :/ Madrid soon. Can't wait! 

It was just the names.

I accidentally booked myself in this town for 6 nights when I have already seen the town in its entirety in the last two days. Zaragoza is charming and beautiful but for a lone traveler who needs to meet people, it's as boring as a plain biscuit. The churches and cathedrals are cool and today I found a castle that I checked out. It used to be for Christian, Muslim, and roman use and then as military barracks. Now as a museum. I thought I could go into all the little rooms and up the stairs and scurry around but it was all blocked off and I had to be content with imagining what was behind the big iron gates in certain parts. However, I hope to go to Toledo in the next couple of weeks and I hear it has a couple castles. We shall see. If all else fails I will simply go to Ireland or Scotland sooner and find their castles. 

This town is not without its own entertainment though yesterday I took a walk and as I stepped into the same plaza that had been so empty just a few hours earlier was now swarming with people. And every church had a form of mass happening and there were weird scary puppets and cotton candy and chocolate and bread. I asked the tourist lady what was happening and she kindly told me all about it and have me some flyers. They were in Spanish. So I still have no idea what happened but it was cool. There was music all around and different bands playing. I heard a Spanish version of "hokey pokey" sung by am Spanish version of The Wiggles. Something about a band of adults purposely performing kids songs just seems so creepy. Personally, if either of my parents were to do that I think I'd assume they had committed a crime and were doing community service. Oh to be 5 and naive and happy to sing along to any song. 

I have no clue what I will do for the next three days. Maybe ill take their train to a weird old town on the outskirts. My hostel is so cold (or maybe I'm getting sick) and so while I'm here I just try to sleep. Which is also fun. Anyway, sorry for the monotonous post. I promise next time I will try to make life sound more exciting. Madrid on the second :) 

Buenas tardes world. All my love, 

Sarah. 

Let the Confusion Begin Again

There are few things more awkward than goodbyes; however, foreign goodbyes in a foreign country with foreign people gets to be one of those things. As I was bidding farewell to my new Barcelona friends, I was the awkward recipient of hugs, handshakes, two-cheek air kisses, three-cheek air kisses, and two-cheek physical kisses with a hug. For a girl who thinks hugging is weird, this blew all my limits. But I have to admit it was nice to feel like I will be missed by people who were only strangers to me a week ago. 

At 1, I took the bus headed toward Zaragoza. Or, as the receptionist has now confused me, "tharagotha" with the accent. You know that incredible feeling of excitement you get when you board a bus about to leave town? You've got an awesome song and the best playlist you've ever made ready to go and as the engines start up you hit play and nostalgically stare out the window to watch the memories roll by. Well, that's all fine and dandy when leaving a small town like my home, but when leaving a city it's a whole different world. First, the bus engines start up and you hit the play button on your iPod thinking "yes! This is it!" And then you sit there for another fifteen minutes. Next, the bus finally starts to backup and so you restart the playlist and begin that melancholy glance out the window--- into a bus station filled with other busses and people who are staring at you wondering if you're okay. After that the bus gets on the highway and its just trucking along and as soon as you pass the big apartment building you replay the begging of the playlist. Finally, finally it's working out like you had imagined. And 30 minutes later you pas a big "leaving Barcelona" sign and realize that the movies must skip a huge time frame between the awesome song and nostalgic window glances. 

But movies can't really grasp the awkwardness of a first night in a new hostel. Here I am in an amazingly cool hostel in Zaragoza and after 20 minutes of arrival I've managed to say hello. That's it. If this trip teaches me anything I hope it's to be more outgoing. I always seem to leave he introductions up to others, scared of saying the wrong thing or being talked about in a foreign language. But I guess we have to over come silly fears. So I'm off to greet my fellow hostellers and find food. Ill probably try to find food first though.... 

Good evening world. All my love, 

Sarah. 

P.S. everyone I've met assumes I'm French because of my last name. Now I'm pondering if my parents lied about my British ancestry. Hmmm

This is my Siesta.

It is the middle of the afternoon here when the shops close up for a couple of hours and the locals sleep and the tourists whine about nothing being open. Around noon I found the Arc De Triumf and sat and wrote for a while, basking in the warm sunshine. With not a cloud in the sky I wanted to take the moment to tan (freckle) and wondered why people kept staring at me as they walked by. They weren't just casually looking either. It was straight up staring. I thought it could be my red hair or maybe they were just looking at the lamppost/ statue/ bench I was on; but, my red hair isn't that odd (shh..) and there were lots of other lamp post thingamajigs. I finally clued in. It's January. Everyone was bundled up in long sleeves and hoodies and there were even some people on fur winter coats WITH THE HOOD UP!!!! I wanted to ask "are you allergic to the sun?!?!" But alas, I don't know how to say that in Spanish nor the local language, Catalan. Eventually I wandered around the beautiful Parc de Ciutidell and made my way to the beach. Those places are not that close so I took a long walk in the sun until I saw the Mediterranean Sea. It was stunning. Did you know I've never been to the beach on a perfectly sunny day? Not an ocean beach at least. Today is simply blue skies meeting the sea. I again wondered where all the surfers were and why no one was tanning. Again, it's January.... 

However, there were about five people wearing less clothes than I. (Mom, stop freaking out. I'm in a tank top and jeans- modest as ever.) They were guys playing some awkward form of volleyball/futball. Using a volleyball and net they kicked or chest bumped the ball over the net. It was interesting to watch but judging from the shouts and sighing I heard, they weren't very good. Also, they weren't in beach clothes. At least, not beach clothes I was used to seeing on men. All were clad in underwear that must be a European fashion because it was neither the boxer shorts nor the tighty whiteys Canadian and Americans often wear. Unfortunately , it was an odd mix of both therefore resulting in an unflattering, saggy, male version of granny panties. 

All in all it was an educational day and now I am lying in my bunk trying to stop the soreness that has come from all my walking in this city. 

Good day world. All my love 

Sarah.