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Tuesday, November 09, 2004 Today, it turns out, is a holiday here in Madrid (la fiesta de la Virgin de la Almudena, one of Madrid's two patron saints). I had no clue. Went to bed at an entirely too decent hour, intending to get up at another entirely too decent hour and drag my little bod to the gym. Woke up around 3 a.m., hearing plenty of happy noise from out in the street, the sounds of people up late partying. Not the usual kind of soundtrack for a Monday night, unless no one's going to work on Tuesday. That was the first clue. Crawled out from under the covers several hours later, stumbled out in search of a paper and cup of espresso. Found few people about, newspaper kiosks closed, most coffee joints locked up and dark. Finally discovered one place open, did the caffeine thing. Found a paper, confirmed the holiday suspicions. Revised the day's schedule from there. And it turned out to be the kind of day that brings people out into the streets -- relaxed, mild, sunlight in abundance. Lots of families about, public transport packed, sidewalks crowded with pedestrians, streets filled with traffic. Within an hour after getting the day underway, two separate individuals I ran into commented to me in extremely earnest fashion that my Spanish seems to have taken a quantum leap forward. And I realized I'd been blabbering away with them in amazingly relaxed fashion, feeling little hesitation, few limitations, conversation flowing easily -- far more easily than I'd expected after 4-1/2 months away. Bitchen. I'm back, and it feels just fine. [this entry in progress] Madrid, te quiero. rws 8:13 AM [+]
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