October 14th, 2008

The drama continues as I am now in Madrid while Marc is in Thessaloniki, Greece. Monday was a US federal holiday -- ironically enough, it was Columbus Day -- Spain keeps screwing us over! So, we were only able to get help from the US embassy this morning. The thieves in Spain must have had a great few days, as we were one of a large group of people with stolen passports.

With a passport, Marc was able to travel, but as I cannot get a Singapore passport aboard (unless I wait a month), I had to stay in Madrid. I just got the travel documents this afternoon from the US embassy that says that I am indeed an US permanent resident and can re-enter the country. I am now in hostal about 10 mins from the airport. We are working on trying to get me a ticket – everything is really expensive, but we do not have much of a choice. I can probably stay on in Madrid for a few more days if I wanted to explore the city more, but I’m no longer in the mental state for this, especially since I’m all alone now and I do not speak the language. I just want to go home – at least there will be people I know, I can communicate, and I’ll feel safer (Marc thinks as an Asian woman I am particularly targeted in Spain for some unknown reason – anyone can provide some illumination on whatever stereotypes the Spanish have of Asians/ women?)

On Monday, we were able to get a document of identification (now my only form of ID!) from the Singapore consulate in Madrid (in a suburb ~ 20 km away – really quite interesting how the Singapore govt farms out consulates with local organizations/ companies around the world…. This one was an eco- & urban- design foundation). However, that was really all we were able to accomplish with the US embassy being closed. So, decided to try to pick ourselves up by having a really lovely lunch at Restaurant Susana (btw Puerte de Sol and the Prado—we highly recommend it as the fixed price lunches of the day are 9 euros, have 3 courses, and are high quality) in a rather Spanish fashion (got seated at 3:30pm!).

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the Parque de Retiro and the Sofia Reina. This lightened our spirits a little, especially the rose garden in the park. The art at the Reina was also quite impressive. Of course, Picasso’s Guernica was the main highlight with the 3 rooms filled with the studies Picasso did before piecing all this ideas and themes together. It seemed somewhat inappropriate to Marc & I that it is being exhibited in Madrid however, given that it was about the Civil War and the attack on Guernica in the Basque country. The Guggenheim in Bilbao would be a far more appropriate setting for this – and obviously the Basque government thinks so too, and there have been ongoing debates about this apparently. Dali’s earlier works and later progression into surrealism was also somewhat intriguing to us. Many of these artists certainly had some sexual issues and/or concepts about women. We were tired after a long and somewhat stressful day, but made a detour to get some famous chocolate con churrios as our dinner (still recovering from a late & heavy lunch). We had gone to the Chocolataira San Gimes earlier in the AM but it was closed (even though the sign read: “Open everyday, all day”), but this time, success!

So, we have tried to make the best of our 3 days together in Madrid, but overall, Marc & I are pretty sad that this trip turned out this way. We didn’t get a much needed vacation, will be separated for a week, and ended up wasting lots of time & money in the process. It is easy to try to find someone to blame for all of this (myself for being careless, the thieves, Singapore govt’s passport policy, Christopher Columbus, etc.), but really who would have thought that this would happen? C’est la vive, I guess. Now, we just have to take care of getting me a ticket to return to the US.

~ Shuwen