The Law that closes stores on SUNDAYS?!

As you all know, I recently moved to Spain. I am extremely excited for this adventure but there are going to be quite a few things to get used to. To follow the theme “how does this country get anything done” from my previous post, I have to talk about how NOTHING is open on Sundays, ALL year, not just in Vacation Month!

So I’m sitting here eating the most disgusting cereal (Special K with dried raspberries),

(no wonder Dia had it on sale -70% never a good sign)

instead of my favorite cereal of all time (Muesli dried apple cinnamon),

YUMMY!!

because yesterday my lovely roommate invited me to the store with her, which is a good thing, because I would have starved today. All grocery stores and malls are prohibited by Spanish Law to open on Sundays- UNLESS of course you live in a touristy area (downtown Madrid, any coast near the beach and all those great vacation but shitty areas to live places). 

No wonder everyone here is a size 000 - you aren't allowed to buy food!

I swear, everything is always closed in this place- or maybe I’m just going out at the wrong times. So of course, me being the complete nerd I am, or perhaps just a bored foreigner, I looked up that law. And sure enough- it exists! Except of course during Christmas time and other holidays when they want all your money.

You now have an extra day to spend all your money!

So here we are, another boring Sunday. Thank god there is a Real Madrid game tonight, so that at 7pm I can wonder around and find a bar to sit in a watch it. 

Until next time,

Besos!!

Raely Marie

Vacation Month

So I’m in Spain, super awesome right- WRONG. In one week it will be, but until then I came at the wrong time. Apparently on top of taking a siesta everyday, everyone in Spain goes on vacation the ENTIRE month of august. Who does that? These people. I love Spanish and I love Spain, but damn I’m bored. Everyone I know has vacated the city; all but one vacated the country. It’s like that wife swap show on TV except European’s swap Countries.

Watch out airports! Here they come!

We can’t even get our stores in the U.S. to shut down for a few hours each night, let alone an entire MONTH. The world would be in chaos. The weirdoes that go to Wal-Mart at 2am to buy baking supplies for cupcakes (Kate and I) would be completely screwed. 

3am: I... I just woke up and needed a few things from the grocery.

How does this country get anything done? Honestly, I wanted to print off some more photos for my collage wall (because yes, even though I hate to admit it I miss all you ridiculous people back home already) and to buy sticky tack from any store and what did I find. NOTHING. You guessed it. All the stores were closed because it’s Saturday in August, they have signs saying we will reopen September first. This is what I get for living in a tranquil Spanish neighborhood and not the touristy area.

As you can see these are hand written signs on the doors as if people randomly decided to all pitch in and go on a vacation together last minute, even though this is a yearly occurrence. So what am I doing on a Saturday night in Madrid? I spent the entire day watching Jenna Marbles videos, doing Pilates, and trying not to take a second siesta. I never thought I would say this but - I’m bored. I want this weird summer vacation to end so my friends can come back and entertain me, because let’s face it- I’m not funny and the "chino" stores don't actually "have it all."

But they do have these strange cat things...