Victory and Defeat

Waking up, turning on my computer and seeing OBAMA! in giant blue letters on the New York Times homepage was one of the greatest sights I have seen in a long time. I am so proud of the United States and am no longer as inclined to tell people here that I am Canadian. It seems as long as I voted for Obama, its ok for me to be an American. Plus, it wasn't a pansy win like Bush 2.0. It was a hardcore, eat my dust McCain, victory. Also, New Mexico went Dem, so I can renew my hometown pride. I was feeling very victorious, so I took a shower and went out to explore my new digs.

This is where the defeat part comes in. If any of you were around for my Belgium ATM disaster circa 2006, you recall that I do not get along with foreign ATMs very well. This trip is no exception. Here I am, all prepared with multiple debit cards to withdraw cash, the lesson I learned after traveling to Belgium a few years ago with only one source of funds. Well, thats all well and good, unless all the ATMs in Spain now require a specific type of chip in your debit card that none of mine have. Lovely.

Thank goodness for skype. I used it to call my bank, which was altogether unhelpful. Their most helpful line was, "Well, it should work. Maybe it just doesn't in Spain." Seriously. So, I resorted to calling the almighty VISA. They gave me the name of a bank in central madrid which should accept my card. Lovely. So all I have to do tomorrow is somehow use my broken spanish to communicate to the bank nearby that I need to exchange the rest of my america dollars to euros, buy a bus pass and navigate my way through a strange town where I don't speak the language. SWEEEET. wish me luck.

Oh and day 2 of mystery food was equally delicious as yesterday. I need to at least learn enough spanish so I can find out what i'm eating and recreate it when I'm home. There was definitely rice involved. The rest, ??? If I come back looking like I was stung by 1000 bees, will you all still love me?