I've got a migraine today. This makes me grouchy. I've been sleeping poorly. It stays light until about 10:30pm and that makes it hard to go to sleep. Also because I'm going to be teaching again, I've been emailing a lot with folks from school. This is cool because I love them, but it's bad because it's like 9 and 10 my time when I should be off the computer and starting to shut down lights and trick myself into thinking it's dark so we can get up at 6:50 and get the Kid to school on time. So I've slept shittily and have a migraine.
The laundry situation as you probably know continues to be a royal fucking pain in my ass. It has been made worse by a tenderero: a metal thing that hangs over your balcony and allows you to dry your clothing as seen in exhibit A. I have two of these. Each came with eight bars to hang things on. One of mine is now down to 5 bars. This would be ok if it were winter and we were still drying inside and no one was sweating ever. But it's not and we are.
Another small issue I have had to face is that recently Ricardo made french toast. It was very good french toast. We enjoyed it with the last of our maple syrup and some excellent fresh water melon. Sadly though, Ricardo left the burner on under the pan for an hour and a half and the pan was no more. Also, this is the pan I cook almost everything in. So, no more pan.
Recently I'd been at the Bazar Super Vecino (the Bazaar Super Neighbor) and looked at frying pans. They had some but not the size I wanted. The Bazar Super Vecino (referred to simply as the Chinos by everyone locally) is one of many places in Madrid which is staffed and supplied by China and who runs on computer software, I kid you not, called "Great Wall." The people there speak almost no Spanish and are difficult to understand. The stuff is cheap and does not last but they have a lot of it.
Today, with a migraine, sweats, and generally crappy mood, I decided to go to Pablo's to get a new frying pan and a new tenderero. Pablo's is a classic Spanish store which sells a little hardware, a little house ware, some cleaning supplies, etc. I'd bought my last tenderero there. So I went to the section where they were, but they didn't have the kind I needed. I asked Pablo for one. Sure, we have them he said. And then he said the words that I always dread when I go there:
"Tony?"
Tony is Pablo's helper guy. I suspect they are related because I can't imagine hiring Tony unless someone in the family made me. Tony is so incredibly dumb, that I pray there is a diagnosed learning deficit in there somewhere. Because if not, I weep for his children (and yes he has some).
Tony showed me the ones I had seen. No, I patiently explained (I have worked with special ed), I want the kind for the balcony. You can put this on the balcony, he told me. I grit my teeth. I want to put it on the rail to hang over the balcony.
He handed me one that hung on a bath tub.
This is for a bathtub Tony.
Oh, he said. What about this one?
That's for a radiator.
I went back to Pablo and described the one I wanted. White and blue. Hangs on the railing. He knew it. He told Tony. Tony brought the radiator one back. Pablo encouraged me to come back later as he thought there might be some in back.
I went to pay for the frying pan. It was €19.95. I handed Pablo a €50.
Do you have anything smaller?
Sure, I said. I have a €10.
"Tony?"
Fuck.
Tony came up and Pablo asked if he had any money. Tony handed him a €5. Do you have any more, Pablo asked? Tony handed him about €75. I took my change and left.
I thought, I am out, I'd better head to Super Vecino and see if they have a tenderero since I didn't have one yet. So I walked over there with my frying pan in my bag.
This place is difficult. In most of the Chinese run stores in Madrid, presenting merchandise in a pleasing manner or even a neat manner, or even in a manner where you might be safe is not a main priority. The aisles are narrow, crammed with kutchvai and some simply dead end unexpectedly. Amid the morass of plastic tat, cheap makeup, hardware, clothing, and more you will find people who are working there. As I came in, I found two.
I asked the guy, who was stacking sickly smelling candles: "¿Tienen ustedes tendereros?" (do you have drying racks for clothing)
Here is what he heard: "¿Tienen usted dinero?" (do you have any money"
The color drained from his face and he swallowed in a frightened way. "Dinero?" he repeated terrified of me. He literally thought I was there to hold the place up. He clutched the candle in his fist and looked at the woman next to him who clearly was the "Spanish" speaker between the two.
"No," I said, "not 'dinero,' 'tenderero,' 'tenderero,' like for your clothes!"
He was not buying it, but the woman looked at me in my jeans and white t-shirt and pink scarf, a fat, 40-year-old house wife rolling her eyes at him and she bought it. He must have been her husband because she rolled her eyes at him too.
"Al fondo!" she barked which roughly means "at the end."
I dutifully proceeded to the end and found 3 tendereros none of which would work. Dare I ask again? I dared.
This time: "Al fondo, izquierda" (at the end on the left) where I found hangers and a sort of men's valet thing. I left, completely defeated.
But I had to wonder. Did he think I was going to hold him up with a frying pan? Really?
