Decadence

My Spanish classes started on Monday and immediately life became more complicated, so excuse the absence. For one thing, I am doing less touristing, both because classes take up half the day and because afterwards pretty much all I can do is eat lunch and come back to the apartment and try to cool off. The days have been very pleasant, really, but it doesn't take much to get me hot and tired. I realized, with the ideal of saving my energy, I should take more taxis, even if the distance is only 6 or 7 blocks.

I readily walked that during the first few days, but on Sunday night I started to get a bug. I was worried when it got worse by Tuesday, but then the next day I had improved and by today I was much better. That's a relief.

I've also accomplished a few more things I needed to settle in: develop workarounds for the missing internet, find a package service where I could receive packages, and so on. Still looking for wastebackets, which seem unfindable, and for some used furniture. The apartment is "fully furnished" in that it has everything you need, but it also badly needs some small tables, someplace to put things besides the floor. A bookshelf that is 20 or 24 inches wide would be a fantastic addition.

In the meantime I'm noticing the differences bewteen the beaux arts architecture in the neighborhood and the many examples of fascist architecture down near -- where else -- the Bank of Spain. The building pictured above is a great example -- neo-Roman columns, eagles and the like. The building now is actually the Circulo de Bellas Artes, a center for art, performing arts, and cinema. Among other exhibitions, they are having a festival for Pier Paulo Pasolini, whose films are the epitome of decadent art. Don't know what it used to be.

Later today, when the sun is a little lower, and probably after I take a nap, I'll take some wet laundry to the laundromat a block away, and if I manage to actually get to the neighborhood where the used furniture shops are, that'll be a real win.