As you already know, my main activity here in Madrid is my job as a Jeune Garçon au Pair. My tasks, although time-consuming and work-intensive, are limited (if such a word is appropriate) to the afternoon and evening, or la tarde, as it is known here. My free time, during the week at least, comprises the period between waking up and half past twelve. I then go and collect the three girls from school. Their afternoon at school is not really long enough for me to do anything, so I stay at home during that time. Afterwards I have got my hands full with them from the half past four pick-up until the parents return around half past eight in the evening. By that time I am usually much too tired and hungry to think about doing anything else, and in any case have story-telling duties at half past nine, just before bedtime.
This leaves me in a difficult situation as regards meeting other people, as I am free precisely at the times everyone else isn’t. The simple fact is that I know of no-one else who is in the same situation as me. So, feeling rather alone, yet keen to make the most of all this free time, I had to find other suitable pastimes for my Madrid mornings. Having just arrived here, I was also keen to start exploring Madrid straightaway and duly set off, on foot, to discover the streets, districts and parks of Madrid. More than two months on, I still haven’t finished exploring Madrid. Walking the city (always the best way to get to know a place), I have grown to know it better than some madrileños! As I have mentioned, Madrid is an ideal size for walking and, thanks to my fairly central location, I can reach the other side of town in under an hour. The clement weather conditions also render my average paseo somewhat more agreeable than it might be back in my usual northern climes.
Finding that, as in life, it is always nicer having somewhere to walk to, I set out to find myself some morning activities. With a bit of research, I soon came up with an extensive list of museums, exhibitions and galleries that set my metaphorical mouth watering with intellectual anticipation. I am not even joking. Starved of the daily stimulation I had been force-fed with for twelve years, I really needed to find something interesting and stimulating: namely, Madrid’s museums, of which you will no doubt be able to read more on this blog in the coming weeks. I am still discovering their riches every day, and there are still many I have not visited yet. It is truly a great experience for me, to be free of constraints and to be able to look for my own intellectual stimulation in whatever takes my fancy on that morning. I am thoroughly enjoying it and, although I am looking forward to university next year, shall miss those hours of complete freedom every morning.
So now, after learning of some of my au pair duties, you know where my mornings go. I walk and visit places. I feel I am getting to know Madrid extremely well, which was always something I had always planned on doing. Aside from the freedom, another novel experience for me is being alone for my explorations. It is very different from being simply different, as one has more time with one’s own thoughts. This is also something I’m enjoying, and I look forward to sharing some of them with you!
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El Prado
