My friend Dave came in on Friday from Talavera for my birthday weekend which was a lot of fun. It had been the first time he’d been back to Madrid since he studied here some months back. So Friday, we walked around downtown and hit up a bar that was in the basement of a hostel he had stayed in awhile back. At first the idea didn’t seem that fantastic, but it turned out to be a crazy, fun night. Plus, I loved watching how excited he got seeing everything again. It’s those emotions I miss the most; it’s so hard to explain but I love watching people when they have these moments of “Damn, I can’t believe I’m actually here! I can’t believe that I followed through with it!” Madrid and well Spain in general lost its zeal some months ago. Not that I don’t love it; but now it’s just… home, not that distant magical place it once was.
Anyways, Saturday was crazy hectic. It was the night of my “party” so I had a lot of cleaning and prep to do. Plus, I was in the middle of apartment searching because the girl, who I was renting the apartment from, was returning to Spain that weekend. On top of it, the girl was not happy that I was having people over to the apartment for my birthday… so it caused a lot of unnecessary drama that I didn’t need. But whatever. I spent the afternoon running errands and making my final piso decision. Late-afternoon, Dave and I stopped in at this going away party/ rummage sale for one of the ALA teacher that was moving back to the States. It was simple and a good way to socialize with some of the teachers outside of work. We couldn’t stay long because we were meeting Dani and Xandra for my birthday dinner. I hadn’t seen either of them in a long time, so I was really excited about it. I was told to pick the restaurant so I found this cute little Mexican place a few blocks away.
However, Dani and Xandra failed to tell me that neither of them likes Mexican food. Well, that dinner ended up being a big disappointment haha. But it was a nice gesture from them to let me get what I wanted while they suffered through it in silence.
With little time to spare, we returned to my apartment to get set for my birthday get-together. I didn’t have as big of a turnout as I had expected. People that I was sure would come, didn’t. And people that I didn’t think would come, did. In the end though, I couldn’t have asked for a better crowd.
Dani and Xandra left a little early to catch the last metro to their part of town. Nikki, a new teacher at ALA, came and I soon realized that she and I were going to become really close friends… which we did in the weeks that followed. My friend Emilio came and also Tisha and Devin, other teachers from ALA made an appearance. Dave stayed that night too and we all had an AMAZING time. We sat around and talked and joked about anything and everything. Then when all the booze was almost finished, he hit up Malasana (local street with lots of great bars). I don’t remember much about the bars but from what I’m told, I had a great time. When things closed down, he headed back to my place for a few more drinks before we passed out for the night.
Overall, it was the least pizazzed birthday I’ve had in a while but there’s nothing really special about turning 23, I guess. The people definitely made the birthday and I couldn’t have been happier! Thanks everyone :)
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