picnics, polpo and the huelgas

Where to begin!

In my last post I promised myself (and anyone reading) that I would do a better job of taking advantage of my remaining time here. Based on the fact that I had to organize an outline of all the fun things I did in the last two weeks, I'd say I'm doing pretty well!
A couple of weekends ago I decided to organize a little outing in the city inspired by a cool article a friend sent me (thanks Jenna!). The article suggested some really awesome things to see in the city which remained undiscovered by tourists (for now). The best of the bunch was Plaza de la Paja.
The Plaza is a few blocks from Opera but tucked up in a neighborhood. It sits on a big hill and at the bottom there is a very small gated garden. The garden remains from the Spanish court. All around the Plaza sat cool restaurants, bars, and cafes. The most popular cafe, Delic, was too crowded to get a seat. We got a coffee at an equally cool spot and then browsed. Another find was a cute little shop that was like a mini Whole Foods, but Spanish and reasonably priced.

The next day Blair, Eimear and I decided to enjoy the warm sunshine and have a picnic in Retiro. We each brought some grub and I brought a giant blanket and really that's all you need! I am so thankful it's sunny and nice out finally. I think we earned an early spring after the winter we endured.

Mid-week we decided to try a new Galician restaurant our friend Cristina has raved about. Galicia is a region in northwest Spain and it's famous for its killer seafood among other things. There were six of us at dinner which allowed us to get a whole bunch of things and try them all. We got the usual croquetas, some really yummy steak, salty green peppers, calamaris, and... pulpo!! I have been wanting to try pulpo for a while since so many Spaniards have told me I must. Any guesses? Octopus! I have to say that while it's not my favorite seafood dish, I did really enjoy it! Tentacles and all :)

Last Saturday was my last volleyball game with the Spanish team I've been playing with. As for the game, we got absolutely destroyed. It was ugly stuff. But I think that's because we were all distracted and looking forward to the team dinner afterword. To celebrate the season we went to a local Italian restaurant. It was fun to hang out with my teammates outside of the gym. I also sampled THE best sangria I've had in Spain. And let's just say I've had a few glasses of sangria in my time here. The secret ingredient was a hint of cinnamon. Yum!

Last weekend we had another puente. Spanish quiz! Do you remember puente? If you said bridge or four day weekend, you are correct. I stayed in Madrid for the puente for a number of reasons. But on Thursday I was able to take a day trip to Segovia. After a short bus ride we landed in this very cute town. It's most famous for it's aquaduct which was built in 50 b.c.! We walked around a bit and I even got to see the home of my favorite Spanish author and the namesake of the school where I work, Antonio Machado. I also splurged and got cochinillo for lunch, which is suckling pig and something Segovia is famous for. I may have ragged on pig products in the past, but let me tell you, this was some good pork.
The next day my friend and teammate from USF, Linzy, came to visit from Paris where she currently lives. We had a really fun weekend together. We went out Friday and Saturday night and had dinner at a cute place in La Latina on Saturday. It's famous for fries and eggs. I didn't really get it. I asked the waiter, so what is it? He looked at me like I was stupid and replied, "it's fries...with eggs on top." Ok then. We decided to see what all the fuss was about. Gotta say this one wasn't my favorite. Kind of a weird "I really need to go grocery shopping what can I possibly throw together" sort of a dish. But I'm glad we tried it nonetheless.

On Sunday we went to the Rastro, somewhere I've been meaning to check out. The Rastro is a giant street fair of sorts that extends many blocks in the La Latina neighborhood. Vendors sell everything from jewelry to tapestries to my personal favorite, rubber by the kilo. It was really fun and I even picked up an item or two.

Finally, I'd like to tell you about some exciting happenings here in Madrid. On Monday we read in the paper as well as heard announced on the metro that there was going to be a "huelga" of metro workers on the 24th and 26th. A huelga is a strike, btw. The huelga would make all metro trains run at 50%. This annoyed me for two reasons. One is I already have a pretty dreadful commute at 100%. Second, the 26th I was to go to the United States and getting to the airport via metro seemed impossible. So the 24th I got up early, walked to a farther metro to avoid a transfer, and got there early preparing myself for the worst. And then, I walk up to my platform and what's this? There are less commuters than usual, the train pulls up immediately, and I get a seat which never happens. Could this be? The strike scared off a lot of passengers and in the end the metro union decided to postpone it for the 30th. Nice! So no need to worry about that any more.There was also a huelga of all public teachers today. It was a big one. We had a lot of teachers from school stay home and go to the protest. I, however, don't qualify to participate in the huelga since I'm not technically a teacher but an auxiliar.

Ok, well I'm off to bed because in the morning I am heading to the good old USA! I am so excited. It will be an adventure to be sure.

Besos!

Aprovechar!

Hello! Hope everyone’s having a nice week. Just to taunt me it's been really sunny and beautiful and the next day rainy and freezing cold. Spring's coming! No wait... Spring's coming! Nooo..... Everyone keeps telling me it’s been an unusually horrible winter this year. Just for me! The last couple of weeks were both very nice and very eye opening.

Aprovechar is one of my favourite Spanish verbs (and one that is often used here). It means “to take advantage”. It is also used to mean bon appetite. It’s custom here that when anyone enters the dining room they say “que aproveche” (take advantage, used more or less to mean "enjoy your meal") to EVERYONE. And you respond, “gracias”. When you all start eating at different times this can get kind of tiring. It’s like a constant call and answer song during your lunch.

But beyond meal time, aprovechar makes its way into my life in many other ways. When I’ve talked to Spaniards about the places I’ve been and the many more I’d like to go they always respond, “Well yes of course. You have to aprovechar your time here in Europe.” When I tell them how I’d like to improve my Spanish more they respond in the same way. “Aprovecha!!!”

Last weekend it was sunny and dare I say it, borderline warm. My roommate, Liz, and I decided it was a must to aprovechar the good weather so we went for a walk and a Diet Coke in Retiro. I loooove Retiro. When I was really sick in November and didn’t leave my apartment for a week, I started to go a little crazy, and on the last day I said, I don’t care how sick I am. I’m going for a walk in Retiro. It was better than medicine. Anyhow, it was an absolutely beautiful day. There were lots of families having picnics in the grass, and students doing homework and couples having coffee dates. It made me pretty excited for Spring and Summer.

I recently passed the half way point in my time here in Spain. It was really shocking. The first few months went by soooo slowly. They were rough. But since Thanksgiving, I've enjoyed Madrid more and more and time has flown by. I have exactly four months left now. It’s weird to think about that.

I’ve decided that I really must make more effort to fully aprovechar my time here. I speak way too much English and I’m starting to get angry with myself. I live with two Americans so I speak English at home. My two closest friends here, Blair and Eimear, are American so I speak English with them. I teach English from morning to night. So to say the least it’s a little frustrating. It’s not like I never speak Spanish. I do a lot and I have definitely improved a huge amount. But I see lots of opportunities for me to aprovechar further. I’m reading the paper on the metro to work. I’m making an effort to speak Spanish at school with the teachers who don’t speak English. I’m speaking lots of Spanish with my volleyball team. I’m going to try to spend more time with the few Spanish friends I have here. And I’m going to get back in the habit of doing intercambios (that’s where you meet with a Spaniard for an hour or two and spend half the time speaking in Spanish and half the time in English). I improved so much in the first five months, so I can get even better in the last four!

Last Thursday we got terrible news that a fifth grader in our school died. It was a very tragic accident in which the cover of a soccer bench (like a dugout but above ground) collapsed on him. He was 9 years old. I teach fifth grade but not his class. Anyway, we got the news and then I immediately had class with my fifth graders. It was one of the more horrible hours of my life. There are 50 fifth graders in total and they’ve gone to school together since the age of 3. So needless to say they were all very close. By ten years old you understand these things, so to see them so upset obviously made me very upset.
In talking with other teachers about it, the universal response (other than being incredibly sad) was that life is short and we have to aprovechar. And I do agree.

The incident definitely made me re-evaluate my priorities, how I behave, how I treat myself and others. I realize how lucky I am to have this life of mine, so I don’t want to waste it. I’m trying to improve in a lot of areas.

Anyway, on Sunday, Atletico Madrid beat Barcelona in a shocking upset. Atletico was the club that our fifth grader played for (but in a younger age group obviously). So they had a minute of silence at the beginning of the game which was really nice. I read in the paper on Friday a quote from the captain of the team saying they were going to try to win for Diego (the boy). But from everything I had read and heard on TV, there was no chance Atleti would win. But they did :) The paper said it was a “milagro” (miracle).

After the game I went to church. It’s cuaresma (lent) which fits right in with the new self-improvement kick. I’ve gone to church pretty often here and let me tell you, there aren’t too many of us attendees. Spain is more or less a universally Catholic, and universally non-practicing country. An interesting combo. But this Sunday there was a much larger turnout. I’m guessing it’s a lent thing. The differences between Mass here and in the States are pretty striking. Obviously the language is different. But for one thing, mass here generally runs 30 minutes, maybe 40. They start right on time (the only thing to start on time here) and there’s no big entrance precession. The priest just walks up to the podium from the side of the church and gets the party started. Although mass starts on time, that doesn’t mean anyone gets there on time. A lot of people roll in around 15 minutes late. Mind you, that’s about half way through. They don’t quietly slip in the back though. They march all the way up to the front, high heels clicking and all. There are no songs, no music, no announcements. But what they lack in ceremony, they make up for in sermon. I don’t know how it’s possible in such a short service, but the homily is much longer here. It’s good listening practice anyway. When it comes time for communion, there’s no pew by pew line business. Lines aren’t really popular here. It’s just a free for all. If you’re in the last pew but you hustle to the front, good for you. Anyway, it’s efficient. And I can truly say mass is the ONLY place I’ve seen in Spain where efficiency exists.

Well that’s all for now. My volleyball team beat the undefeated first place team in our league last Saturday. It was really fun! We have two more matches and then I’m free. I’ve really liked it, but it will be nice to have a little more time to do other things.

Also, completely unrelated. Have you seen Slumdog Millionaire?! I saw it last night and it is incredible. I laughed, I cried, I got my 8 euros worth. I highly recommend it. The soundtrack is great, too.

If you're wondering what the deal is with the cow pictures, there is an art exhibit of sorts going on with hundred of these cow statues placed all over the city! They are all painted or decorated in different ways by Spanish artists. It's pretty fun to see a new one everyday!

I may be making a trip to the good old USA soon to visit law schools. Pretty exciting!

Today I'm going to do some city exploring, so I’m off to aprovechar!