Well...first off, it´s just wrong waking up at 6am. What is wrong with people that do it every day? I can almost (and I said almost) understand people that wake up with the sun, but what do you do during the winter when there is less sun? Right now, in the morning, it´s dark. It´s cold. It´s eerily quiet. And there are lots and lots of ugly people out and about at that time of morning here. Seriously. You should see the buses! I have been teaching 8am classes 2 days a week for a while. Luckily, I have no work on Friday and don´t start until the afternoons on Monday and Wednesday, otherwise I don´t know how I would cope. But still...it ain´t right.

Working in the morning has also taught me about another Spanish idiosyncracy (I seriously doubt that is spelled correctly). I have to go to one metro station named Plaza de Castilla and catch a bus around 7.15am. It´s huge metro station (3 connections) and has a ridiculous number of bus lines routed through there. Basically, a commuter haven. Spain is laid back. Time is not too important. Usually, people are quite content to linger over meals, coffee, anything. But, for some reason when you put these people at a fucking bus stop or on a metro platform, it´s like Dick Cheney at a buffet line (anarchy). People pushing and shoving, cutting the line, food falling out of their mouths (ok, that´s only Cheney). I still haven´t hardened enough to elbow the old ladies, but one day soon, it´s coming. Mostly though, I don´t care enough to rush and push to get on a damn bus, just to go to work.

There is something inherently cool about a country that allows dogs everywhere. There is no leash law here. The side-effect, as I have mentioned before, there is lots of dog shit around because there is no pooper scooper law either. But I am shocked at the number of dogs running around the heart of the city, free...hundreds of feet ahead of their owners. I have yet to see one get hit by a crazy driver (of which Madrid doesn´t lack) or bite some unsuspecting child (personally this is what I am pulling for...and I can just imagine a scene similar to Anchorman when Jack Black punts the dog off the bridge ---- "The man punted Baxter!!!!!!!!!!"). I don´t really know how it works, but apparently it does. I still can´t tell which streets are one-way (people park in every direction and the signs aren´t obvious), but the dogs can. People take their dogs everywhere. For example, shopping. Dogs just walk into the stores with the owners, no leash necessary. It´s fucking amazing. Others leave their dogs outside. I met this girl the other day who brings her dog everywhere. We were in a cafe talking (dog on the floor next to us) and she was telling me that when she goes to clubs at night, she brings him and leaves him outside, from like 2am until 5am...no leash. Swear to god. She tells the bouncer to make sure no one steals him and checks on him every once and a while, but that´s it. Sometimes she comes out to check on him and the bouncer is playing fetch with the dog on the street...

All part of the lifestyle!