Have you seen the movie Taken?

At 6:20 this morning my family drove me to the airport for my 9 am flight out of LAX and we played an amusing game I will call “Have you seen the movie Taken?” It was a collection of questions and statements that tackled some important topics about the best way to travel (or survive) in Europe. This is a little snapshot of the conversation:

“Don´t share a taxi with a stranger...have you seen the movie Taken?”
“Don´t let strangers in your house...have you seen the movie Taken?”
“Don´t be kidnapped...”
...and so forth…

Did I feel like my family may have thought I had the IQ of an index card? Maybe. But we were laughing the entire way to the airport!! One of my Habitat family members, Joey would have also appreciated the conversation, he was a fan of the movie and its relevance to my move and told me so. As Habitat ED Jennifer Simmons would say, if sense were so common why don´t more people have it? We would have all regretted not running through the gamut of scenarios if one day I called home from jail and started with "So I shared a taxi with a stranger..."

Flights were easy, I sat next to a woman from Venezuela named Marizmo, she said she didn´t speak English and I told her that I was practicing mi espanol so we ended up chatting the entire flight. When we´d exhausted my Spanish conversational vocabulary she opened a magazine and pointed to pictures then said the word in Spanish. What a sweetie. New words added to my vocabulary: piernas (legs), reloj (watch), anillo (ring), senos (boobs), fresas (strawberries), detergente, asparagus and broccoli.

When I landed in Madrid, the TV on the plane said local time was 8:55 am, I looked at my new LAX airport $10 watch that I have very little confidence in, and turned the dial back to 9 am while saying to the lady next to me "we're just going to take another lap this day."

True to the BBC weather forecast (posted on the blog home page), it was raining. Thank you mom for having the insight to pack a mini umbrella!! I got to my friend Michael LaMothe´s apartment and the building door was open so I parked it in the lobby. The on-site manager Pilar told me I couldn´t stay there, I explained (in Spanish!) that I was visiting a friend and that he was in class but would be back in two hours. I did not convince her to let me stay, but she offered to store my two huge suitcases in her apartment that was behind the lobby reception desk if I roamed the streets for those two and a half hours. ...so...I have seen the movie Taken...performed like a true MBA, cost-benefit analysis quickly: lose all possessions vs walk around in the rain with my luggage.

I pulled out essentials, forfeited the bags and hit the streets. I expected the woman to start selling all of my clothes on the street when I turned the corner.

I bought a blow dryer and straightener immediately because my 48 hour window of nice hair preLAX was shot when I wore a blindfold to nap on the plane, sweat while lugging 100 pounds of suitcases and had to walk in the rain before I could get my umbrella out. I also bought Pilar a bottle of wine to thank her in the event that she was truly kind and genuine in her offer to relieve me of my luggage, and if she wasn’t, plan b: I was going to drink the bottle.

Michael met me outside his apartment and we retrieved my bags, Pilar gave me a hug and accepted my bottle of wine. Thank you Pilar. Michael and I walked him to class and I headed to the student center. We lunched and I’ve officially had my first paella!!!

From Spain

My paella...deliciosa!

From Spain

Mike’s salad...no comparison. In his defense he did order paella but they didn’t have enough for everyone so he let me have it…what a gentleman! He’d like me to point out his meal was complimented with a beer whereas mine was not.

Mike is in the end of his term and final projects and tests are right around the corner; we’ve been in a break room at school working since I got here, surrounded by IE students. No complaints whatsoever, except my general appearance.

(Mostly) uninterrupted awake time…29 hours.