Everyone keeps asking me this, as if I’m painting a much prettier picture of my life in Madrid than is reality. Well, to be honest…. Yes. It is as wonderful as it seems! But to show you that nothing is perfect, here’s my current list of flaws with the city and/or my experience thus far:
1) There is so much gosh darn graffiti. Apparently the youth is very rebellious here [and certainly fired up about politics and such]. A lot of the graffiti that I’ve found is anti-government related. There is also some kind of pretty graffiti and murals (but much less of this).
2) Many mornings look like a parade passed through town. Or there was a frat party. Or a tailgate. Or whatever other excuses you can come up with that somehow make it acceptable to litter. And I don’t mean a candy wrapper or beer bottle here and there. I mean a lot of trash. If the graffiti didn’t make me sad enough, the trash really gets to me. I often feel like the people here have no respect for or pride in their home. But then again, I have no way of knowing that it’s the madrileños constantly making the mess and not just the visitors. Visitor or not, it’s frustrating and disappointing to see such a beautiful city soiled with crap.
3) Speaking of crap…. City dogs are accustomed to “doing their business” just about anywhere. Madrid has tons of parks and green spaces, but when you’ve gotta go... Most of the time people are good about bringing a bag to clean up, but just a warning - watch your step. (some city trash cans have plastic bags available in the sides for dog walkers – fun fact),
4) Shameless, non-discrete males. Whistling and blatant once-overs are something none of us will get used to. Use your manners, boys.
5) Ham - one of the foods that I am desperately trying to learn to like. So far, this has proved unsuccessful.
That’s all I can complain about just yet, but I’ll keep you posted if it becomes any less magical.
