Today was - by far - the best day I've had since arriving in Spain!!! ^_^
My alarm woke me up around 8:20 and I threw jeans, a coat and a scarf on, grabbed my Secret Santa present, and shuffled out the door. I almost made it to the bus stop when a heard a little girl calling my name behind me. Sure enough, it was one of my biggest fans - a girl from one of my 3rd grade classes. :) I asked her if she could help me and take the present to the teacher on the bus. She repeated my request and said she could do that for me for sure! The whole time her dad stood there, BEAMING at his little girl speaking perfectly fluent English with the American English teacher. ;) Cute.
I was delighted to go straight back home and back to bed for an extra two hours before it was time to get up and shower in preparation for our trip into Madrid. See, we all took the day off to go pick up our Temporary Spanish Citizenship cards in town. :) Abby patiently waited around for me while I got ready and we were in the train before noon (which, may I say, is an extraordinary feat for the two of us). On our walk we both commented how we weren't really in very good moods and felt exhausted and utterly unexcited about our three day weekend ahead of us. We promised each other we'd help one another work on our dispositions as the day went on.
And what a great job we did!
On the train into Madrid we told each other stories about our cars (something we both miss - and something we both have in common, because we're both stick shift driving girls!). As silly as it may be, being able to talk about Moxie to someone who understood the amazingness of driving a standard and how much it sucks to go a long time without doing so really gave me my first happy boost of the day. :)
By the time we arrived at the bank in Madrid to pay for our IDs, we were both feeling a bit more cheery. I went to grab my wallet out of my purse and my new rubber bouncy ball with a map of the world on it (I bought it for educational purposes when I remembered how awful I was at geography!) bounced right out of my purse and across the bank floor! Abby looked over at me, utterly unsurprised that something like that would spring out of my bag and I just mumbled, "Don't worry - I got this. Just gotta chase my bouncy ball over here... ooop, got it!" I looked up with her, a triumphant smile on my face and she said, "Only you would have a bouncy ball bounce out of your purse... and it not seem like anything out of the ordinary." We both started giggling instantly. :) I just love how well she knows me and how much she completely accepts me for all the strange things that make me so unique and "me." ^_^ I feel like it's been a little while since I had somebody so close to me so truly accepting of who I am.
We continued on and picked up our super official Spanish IDs (so exciting!!!) and, after graciously declining an invitation for lunch from a girl in her class (thanks for being on the same page as me there, Abbies) , we journeyed over to Gran Via. We made a beeline for the yummy pizza place and after a slice and a can of Fanta, were off on our shopping adventure! We stopped at Starbucks for a super festive Apple Crumble Latte (and Abby taught me how to add nutmeg and cinnamon to make any Starbucks drink taste even a million times more delicious - why hadn't I ever thought of that?!), and started at our favorite leather store. :)
Together we made it up Gran Via, down Fuencarral and back, stopping at every single store that caught our attention and on a mission for a festive gold dress for me and a bunch of other things for her. We shopped, talked, giggled and little by little realized our plan was working - not an ounce of depression from the past few days remained by midafternoon!! ^_^
A notification from Marianna that my Christmas package had arrived and an email from my Grandma later and I was even more blissed out than I imagined possible!!
We took a break half-way through our shopping adventure to go to 100 Montaditos and have a 1 euro jarra of beer and some mini sandwiches. Man those beers are big and wonderful. You only have to have one to feel 'em... and you could tell as we talked more and faster and about weirder things that they were kicking in. :) Awesome!! The beer gave us a second wind and we were back to shopping. Abby took some pictures of the Christmas lights and we went all around Sol to Plaza Mayor to see the Christmas Market. We circled back around to Sol and after looking in two other Bershkas for a sweater I'd seen early on in the shopping day, I decided I wanted to try to book it back to the first store to see if they still had it (there was only one left). I (amazingly) hadn't purchased one thing all day (besides food) and decided this was the one thing I really wanted. Abby went to get a burrito while I RAN up Calle Montero and I made it just in time.
Best. Purchase. Ever. The sweater I bought is a large, knit, cozy, baggy sweater of happiness. Winter wardrobe complete! ^_^
On our way home, I looked at Facebook for the first time and started reading all about the Connecticut tragedy. :( We read all about it on the ride home.
When we finally arrived my Christmas box was waiting in the living room and I ran to get a scissors to open it. Inside were a bunch of individually wrapped presents, plus all of the American goodies I asked my mom for!!! ^_^ YAY!! Having a mini Christmas with our tiny pink/purple tree and Abby taking pics of me opening everything was adorable! <3
Afterwards I skyped my mom well into the night and went to sleep happy as could be! ^_^
XOXO
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