madrid put up its christmas lights so i guess the holidays are here.

i had to make merry christmas posters at school. i almost said no, but then thought better of it and bit my tongue (would you ask a christian to make a satan poster?).
this illustrates the nature of my job: I get paid more than a $1500 a month to make construction paper posters and yell at kids to sit down properly in english. i don't think any of them are actually learning anything because the administration is a bureaucratic mess of joe heller proportions (surprise surprise). i'd try to change it, but i'm basically an intern with no power and i'll be gone in six months. while in terms of actual work it is the easiest job i've ever had (and the highest paying!), in terms of job satisfaction/lack thereof, it's probably on par with my stint making sandwiches at subway when i was seventeen.

*sigh*

at least the kids are cute (2nd grade! ouf!) and i have lots of free time. speaking of which. i finished the first draft of the novel, around 50,000 words (on the slim side, i know). copies are available upon request, but you'd better actually read it and give me feedback. i'm now in the endless revision process. maybe by the time i'm unemployed i'll have it done. it'll give me some false premise for hope before it gets rejected a million times and i burn the manuscript and cut off my ear and mail it to my agent in a fit of rage. then i'll die penniless and unloved in an alley. shit, i need to find an agent. i'm really not looking forward to that part.

i had a psychedelic experience the other week when a friend of mine came over gave me some infusion. she said "it doesn't have caffeine or teateine in it," but neglected to mention that it'd make you feel reeaaaaal funny. i thought i'd been shroomed at first. luckily, it only lasted a few hours and on the whole was very enjoyable although it pretty much made me incapable of rational speech.

i've been riding my bike all the time, eating loads, and working out, all to no noticeable effect. i probably still weigh 120 pounds like i have since i was fifteen. i got lazy my first few weeks in madrid and grew out a goatee and ended up keeping it. sometimes when i lean down to talk to a student s/he will grab it and give a good yank.

i'm trying to go veg (again). i only buy/cook fish and tofu and am too broke to eat out. sometimes i slip 'cause there's this greasy spoon around the corner that has the best cheeseburgers i have ever tasted in my life and they're only 3 euros. the place is called Los Gauchos, which means the argentinian cowboys.

for christmas i'm going to gay perry* (get it? get it?) to visit my dear sis and see the folks, then olivia and i are off to rome to revel in the new year wih the pope. she and i had a blast in dublin. i have a great picture of us on the beach. it looks like the end of the earth. i'll post them when i get to a scanner.

oh yeah, for the record, i would like to state that EVERYONE HERE HAS A MULLET! yes. a mullet. men and women. mullet-hawks, poodle cuts, bangs plus mullet combos, even DREAD MULLETS!!! sometimes i crack up on the street. it's too much.

well, i'm off to the bicycle co-op. gotta be a good collectivist.

i miss you all and everyone take care.


love and rockets,
rafe


*paris