ZACATUM!

I had the most amazing weekend! I took a 5 hour bus ride up to Madrid with my friends Laurne and Caroline to spend a weekend with Caroline's Spanish friends. She did an exchange program in high school and has stayed in touch with her host family ever since. So we stayed in the apartment of her host sister, Sarai, in Parque Lisboa, on the outskirts of Madrid. Sarai and her roomates, Mario and Fernando are the coolest people. It was so fun to chill with them. I think I learned more Spanish in the last three days and than in my whole time in Granada. We watched a movie called Princesa that we had learned about in our grammar class earlier in the week. The movie is about prostitutes in Madrid. It's really interesting and kind of sad, but very well done. I would definitely recommend it. But the highlight of the weekend was a concert that we went to last night. There were 5 bands that played. Two of them were groups of about 20 to 30 people all playing percussion instruments. They stood in a circle in the middle of the club and just jammed out. There was a "conductor" in the middle of the circle who had a whistle and his own snare drum and he kept giving the group hand signals when to change beats. Often we would do a rhythm and everyone would respond, or he would single out certain section of the ensemble. It was really incredible. the rhythms were so complex and it was so loud that you could feel the music rather than hear it. And everyone in this venue, which was about the size of Toad's Place, was super hippy. I've never seen more "rastas" (dreadlocks) and lip piercings in my life. These drum ensembles were called Zacatum and Samba da Rua. Look them up. But my favorite band by far was called Sombrero de Abuelo. They are a fusion band: part reggae, part flamenco, part rock. they were incredible. Ashley, you would have totally appreciated it.

There were many other misadventures that we had with our Spanish friends. We went to the park in the afternoon and just chilled out. Mario played the guitar while someone else banged on the "cajon" a drum that you sit on used for flamenco. and we would sing and pass a soccer ball. (I was absolutely dying to throw a frisbee but of course I didn't have one with me.) ummm what else did we do? We cooked dinner. I almost forgot how much I miss cooking. and even cleaning up! I washed so many dishes while I was there. It made me rather nostalgic thinking of 9 Courtney...

Speaking of which, i just got a call from my friend that i met here at the clm who plays ultimate for occidental college in CA. I'm gonna go throw for the first time in weeks. so excited. peace out!