All Hail!

The other night I experienced a weather phenomenon. Apparently it rarely rains in Madrid, and there were rivers flowing down my street. But... it was HAILING. Oh yeah, there I am standing around in an intercambio and there, right outside the window, are balls of hail. I have seen hail before, but most of the people I was with were ****ing their pants. I'm sorry, but I cannot seem to think of another term to describe their reactions! Some of the old people around here have apparently never seen weather like this. Proof be that it is now two days later and our neighbors are still talking about this hail and rain storm. I think I should mix it up and give them something else to talk about. Maybe I'll paint the building with pink polka dots or something.

So I really enjoy my Leche, milk , dairy goodness or whatever you may call it. The poor milk quality here really did not excite me. So I was thrilled when I was wandering around the grocery store and I saw refrigerated, pasteurized milk! Celebration! Needless to say, I drank a lot of milk those first few days. Then I realized, hey I'm poor, I should not drink all of it in one day. So I moderate for the past two days and open it up this morning to find nice little chunks floating around in my milk. Yummy right!  I guess that moderation thing was NOT a good idea. 

Another interesting tidbit. Our ENTIRE street lost power last night. How does that happen? I was grateful that it happened late in the evening/ early morning and I was already on my way to bed. But it still was a sight to see! Everyone was gathered on their porches and was out on the streets complaining about the lack of power. Let me tell you, it was DARK. And unlike the time I short circuited the power back in ole Salamanca, the power came on and none of our delicious groceries (including our chunky milk) was lost. 

I have been warned MANY times about this whole pick-pocketing thing. I keep my thumb firmly over my zipper, I don't pause when people come up to me, and I act like I know where I'm going. But this all requires having your guard up ALL the time, which I am glad that I have been doing, because it saved a friend from being robbed. So picture this: I am sitting on the metro in the seat right next to the door. My friend is holding on to the bar right by the door, chilling because I took a seat (HELLO MY FEET HURT! haha). Anyways, these two people come on, a young man and woman. I am staring off into space, most likely thinking of when I will have croquetas again, when I notice that the woman is now leaning in front of my friend and asking her for directions. The man is also right in front of her. I am surprised, because my friend has no idea where she is going. She has had trouble finding our apartment sometimes! In her defense, she is getting better. Anyways, I digress. So I look to my left and at my eye level I see this woman slowly jerking open her purse (which she has on her, but is dangling in front). I hit my friend hard on the side and she realizes what's up and the lady stops. The man, however, has no clue until the lady points at me. Whoops, I guess she blew my cover! Yeah right, you can't rob my friends! 

Moral of the story, don't give directions!