Finally Settling In

Photo of my flat from the outside. It's daytime... so it's kinda bloated.

Finally~ I found a flat! Two months of being a nomad & living off a single suitcase is over! It was Jan 31st when I handed over the keys to my 2-bedroom apartment in Singapore - and since then, I've lived a month in an interesting building in Dhoby Ghaut, 10 days in a nice apartment along the East Coast, nearly 2 weeks in a boutique hotel along Joo Chiat, and another 10 days in a hotel here in Madrid.

But I guess more than the sense of stability & peace of mind I got from finally settling in, it's more the stability of the Internet connection that makes me happier (seriously, living in a hotel wasn't bad at all). In the last 10 days, I would need to reconnect to the 'Net every 3 minutes. Not so cool when you're trying to have a conversation on Skype, while the hours away on YouTube or even search for something on Google Maps. Totally not cool~

But anyway, that's history. And I'm now happy to be living here in my new flat! Yay!

The famous Plaza Mayor~ and its fare share of crowds

Yesterday I met up with a friend from Grade (Primary) School. We were never classmates... but we knew each other through the Grade School COMELEC. The COMELEC was a special group composed of 8 students who were, well, recommended by teachers and trusted to count the votes of the entire student body. Our task back then was to stay overnight in school and manually count every vote made.

He moved to Madrid October last year and is currently taking his masters in sports management. In his stint here, he has managed to come up close to the likes of Fernando Alonzo and Zinidine Zidane (with Zidane, he met him at the toilet..). Quite funny actually!

We met for a quick beer and headed off to see some of the sites in Madrid (Interestingly, since I came here I haven't even started doing the touristy things). We took the metro to Gran Via, then walked over to Puerto del Sol, Plaza Mayor then finally to Mercado de San Miguel. Along the way he would share some tips and stories of his life in this Spanish city.

For a moment I thought it was a real person!

In the Philippines, we also have paella - mainly because we were a Spanish colony for 333 years. And since I was in Madrid, I was curious to know how the real paella tasted like! And so, for the past 3 days, I sampled some paella dishes from the small cafes and restaurant chains I saw on the street. My verdict - not as amazing! But to put perspective into the matter, those two places I went to probably wasn't known for their paella. It barely had anything in it. It was salty. It didn't have that OOMPH. Well, that was until I went to Mercado San Miguel with my friend.

Mercado de San Miguel: I should come back here with an empty stomach!

Mercado de San Miguel had a whole lotta stalls. And, well, they sold paella by the bowl / plate. So, I tried a small bowl's worth. Magnificent! I had flavor all the way, and it wasn't AS salty. Not bad! But then, well, unlike our Philippine paellas, this paella I tried didn't have much ingredients. But that said, I was pretty happy to finally sample something good! I'll likely do my research to find the reputed "Best Paella" in all of Madrid. I'll likely make a blog post dedicated solely for that.

Anyway, time to unload my stuff from my suitcase and start doing some shopping (yes, my cabinet can take the load!!).