Tortilla and Grafitti

So far so...

I made my second attempt at cooking tortilla, or Spanish omlete, this week after a bit of a disaster last time. I decided to loosely follow 2 recipes off the internet (the top two when you search 'tortilla recipe') which are slightly different but I opted to put a bit of chopped red pepper in with my potatoes and onion. You always seem to need less potato than you think, which was my main downfall last time (result: potato and scrambled egg). Without going into too much detail, you fry the onions and taters, whisk some eggs, add them together and then pour the mixture into a frying pan, and let it cook before flipping it over, which is where things get interesting. I find it inconceivable that this dish was invented before the advent of non-stick pans. I was doing fairly well with our battered old definately non non-stick pan, shaking it as the mixture solidifies so it didn't stick (good tip), when the handle promptly came off.

...oh.

The instructions on the recipes are invariably a bit vague on the flipping bit, but your supposed to do it by putting a plate on the pan and quickly turning it over. This is no simple feat when your pan doesn't have a handle but I just about managed it using a tea towel only to find the bloody thing stuck to the bottom in the middle. Luckily, it was still unset enough to sort of mould together in the end to make something resembling the traditional cake-like shape, and after a couple more flips I was getting the hang of it. Everything fell apart a bit upon serving but by that point I was just glad to get it on the plate! Everyone agreed it tasted great though, especially with a bit of chili sauce.

Win!

What does it mean?

Also this week, we went to do another challenge: one close to my heart - find the most 'ducks and ghosts' (around Plaza de España). I've been wanting to know what these are all about since I first spotted them when I got here. All over Madrid, you'll spot these big stickers of a duck with a big bill and a ghost shaped like a 't'. I still don't know what its about (neither the internet nor Spanish friends have been any use) but between the two teams we managed to find at least 15 in an hour, including two massive ones right on the front of the Edifico de España.

I also took the opportunity to take some pics of some other street art in and around Malasaña. Street art and grafitti is a big deal in Madrid, and you'll see it everywhere you go, from quickly sprayed tags to huge detailed pieces (see right). You can find some of the best pieces on shop shutters because apparently shutters used to get covered in tags until at some point shops started paying the best grafitti artists to take time doing proper work on them, instead of a quick tag and run, which no-one else sprays over. It's become very mainstream and you'll see them on everything from off-licenses (bottles) to dentists (workmen removing teeth), often with the artists name and number at the bottom. I read recently that they're cracking down on this in Barcelona and fining the shop keepers, which is a shame because they aren't just crap tags, a lot of them are really good pieces of art and brighten up the streets enormously.

I also managed to get a picture of a typical Madrid dog this week as well, I spotted this guy tied up in the entrance to a supermarket and he's a classic: small, well dressed and probably about to shit everywhere. Some of the dog-fashion on display on the street is really quite hilarious, everything from coats, to sweaters, anoraks and neckercheifs, all on tiny little dogs being walked by otherwise normal-looking people. Very strange.

The Parrot Invasion and Other Bird Mysteries

After breakfast on the roof terrace under more perfect blue skies, we took a trip out to Casa de Campo yesterday, in what Madrileños seem to refer to as 'the forest' to the west of the city. It's one of Madrid's many strange features that make it different to other European capitals (can you imagine the entire of west London being given over to a massive forest? Didn't think so). The metro goes out to the southern edge of it so you emerge with it stretching out in front of you with the Sierra in the background. It's a very Spanish looking landscape, quite dry and sparse with relatively small trees. We set off for a walk through said trees in the bitter cold and in under a minute had spotted some little green parrots. I'd glimpsed some before in amongst some pigeons but thought they might be quite rare, but not here! After walking a little further we came across literally hundreds of them squawking noisily from the trees, ground and air. They're a brilliant green in the sunshine, with blue/grey wings that flash when they fly. My picture doesn't do them, or the number of them, justice unfortunately as they're very hard to photograph and fly off easily. I thought they might be native, but I've just looked it up on the internet and found this article from 2002 that says that they're Argentinian and people bought them as pets, set them free because they were too noisy and now they're flourishing. From what we saw in the small section of the forest we explored they certainly look like they have been dramatically increasing in numbers, but you still rarely see them in the city centre.

This isn't the only bird mystery I've been wondering about. What are the huge flocks of birds that fly in formation over west Madrid towards the Sierra every evening and where are they going? Why do wood pigeons skim the trees at dusk, gathering at the Palacio Real in a massive flock? If anyone can tell me I'd greatly appreciate it! Anyway, Casa de Campo's nice for an escape from the bustling city, and I'm sure will be great for a day out picnicking when its a bit warmer.

After a sucessful wander last Saturday, this week we decided to do it again but to make it more interesting by picking a random metro stop out of a hat along with a 'mission' to complete and splitting into competing teams. We met in Sol and Chueca was picked out with the task of getting a photo with the strangest looking person so off we went. I must admit, my team got a bit sidetracked by coffee and sheltering from the cold, but we did explore a new bit of town between Chueca and Alonso Martinez. My flatmates, however, excelled themselves with a series of photo's including one with the pointy-bearded barman in El Tigre to claim victory (drinks were on me), despite Luke being on crutches due to a knee operation. (Sidenote, many Metro stops have lifts, but those that don't aren't easy to negotiate on crutches with small flights of stairs all over the shop). Unfortunately we decided it was too cold and late to do the next mission (find the best thing for free around Gregorio Marañon) but are going to have round 2 next week.

Lastly, I'm on the job hunt again as my language school job isn't giving me any hours due to lack of students, so more info on that coming soon...

A Boring Tax Bit and an International Spy Denial

I managed to get into a spot of bother over my social security last week. Having been told that the job I have on contract was paying it, I'd assumed that this meant that I didn't have to pay it my self as an autonomo, but apparently it doesn't really work like that so I wound up with a €80 fine. I'm still not sure quite how it works to be honest, despite getting on better at the social security office this time armed with a bit more Spanish. My only guide is my friendly English speaking bank 'cashier' (for want of a better word) at La Caixa (which isn't even really a bank... it's complicated). Now I've got to worry about my British tax return which I've got to file online by 31st Jan, because I was self-employed in England. My tax return for this year will be a nightmare: having been both employed and self-employed in both the UK and Spain this year!

Anyway, so far, so dull, I've also been following with complete fascination and amazement the story of the undercover police that have been living in the environmental movement in the UK for years (you can read a bit about it here if you've missed out). It's of course utterly bizarre that they'd waste that amount of time and effort on interfering with a peaceful protest movement, especially as it seems as if this guy has actually helped facilitate several actions, acting as a driver, as well as being an informant, as well as providing funding. Having just been through the court process for this kind of thing, I find it particularly wierd that he used police money to pay court fines for activists! What a huge waste of time! It occured to me, however, that I'm someone who, having been (very sporadically) involved in the environmental movement, has just suddenly upped sticks and left the country... I'm hoping that friends in Manchester aren't now suspecting me! I'd like to reassure them that I'm just a whimsical individual with an inclination to move around rather than being a police spy on the run!

A techy side note, I've put a thing on the side with all the tags from posts, so that you should be able to click on 'jobs' for example and get all my posts that say something about getting a job etc. I thought it'd be useful seeing as people keep asking me about various aspects of moving to Spain, but please still send me a message if you do want to know anything else and I'll be happy to tell you all I know!

A Day Out (Bullfighting, Prostitutes, Priests and Tiny Sandwiches)

There has been a much-needed run of perfectly clear days in Madrid, with brilliant blue skies and temperatures pushing 17 degrees in the afternoons (according to the bus stops, which aren't very reliable for any type of information in my experience). So when me and my flatmate found ourselves with nothing to do yesterday, we decided to go for a day out in Madrid. But what to do? Boating in Retiro? A bit cold maybe. The cable car into the forest west of the city? My flatmate's not good with heights so that was out. Well, if you search 'day out in Madrid' you mainly get ideas for trips out of the city to Toledo or Segovia and so on, and when I finally found some pages about things to do in Madrid, they mainly recommend walking around, eating and drinking, along with this intriguing but unexplained entry on www.madrid-guide-spain.com:

"Madrid Adventure! Experience the wilder side of the city! Do and see some of the more controvertial (sic) aspects of Madrid. Perhaps one that you will not be taking the kids along on!" Hmm?

We wanted to go somewhere we'd not been before anyway so we thought we'd set off for the bull ring at Ventas, the second biggest in the world don'tcha know, and have a wonder round that area in the east and see what there was to see. After a bizarre encounter with a Brasilian woman at a petrol station which ended with her claiming to be a doctor and grabbing my flatmates crotch (!) we got the Metro. On the way there we saw this brilliant advert (left) which reads 'The man in your life out of your life? Sell it!'

We emerged from the Metro into warm sunshine at the Plaza del Toros, with the surprisingly Arabian style bull ring partly obscured by a circus that someone had decided to plonk in front of it. There's a veritable crowd of statues to be found around the Plaza del Toros of various bullfighters and bulls. It does make you realise quite how much of a tradition it is, matadors are held in some awe here. The idea of bullfighting doesn't exactly fill me with glee but I've been won round a bit to the idea that it's a cultural art form and I feel better about it after finding out that they actually eat the bull afterwards. I think I will go and see one, it feels like something you should see while you're here (and apparently it's only €3 a ticket). The statues didn't quite have the same effect on my flatmate, who commented "Look how gay his shoes are!"

We had a wonder back towards the centre and found nothing of interest (lot of banks), although we did find out that El Corte Ingles (Spanish M&S) has a section of books in English. We ended up in Plaza Colon, with a strange stone monument, the biggest flag I've ever seen and a statue of Cristobal Colon, or Christopher Columbus to you and me (http://spanish.about.com/od/spanishlanguageculture/a/columbus.htm). If you say Christopher Columbus to a Spanish person, they have absolutely no idea who you're on about.

The famous Tio Pepe sign in Sol

With the sun setting and no other ideas, we decided to get a drink outside on the roundabout round the Puerta de Alcala near Retiro park. This is essentially the thing to do on a day out in Madrid, sit on the street and soak it up. I can't wait til spring when its a bit warmer. When I arrived in October the terraces were packed and the atmosphere was great. We decided to stay out and with money still being a bit tight, we settled on the idea of going on a 100 Montaditos crawl (a chain of bars where a beer and tiny sandwich is €2, see previous posts). There were six we could think of in the centre: Gran Via, Calle Mayor, Alonso Martinez, La Latina, Atocha and Puerta de Toledo, and we wanted to do them all so off we set to the one in between Gran Via and Sol which is on a street we know as prostitute street because, despite being a major shopping street right in the centre of town with a police station on it, it's heavily frequented by ladies of the night, early evening and afternoon. You'll see them hanging around outside McDonald's from about 4pm, agressively chewing gum and waving at the police cars that as far as I can tell, turn a blind eye.

Anyway, a beer and a tiny sandwich and we set off for the Alonso Martinez branch via a quick stop at El Tigre in Chueca with its massive plates of tapas, ticked that one off and then on to the Calle Mayor branch. I'd been wanting to go around here with my camera for ages because opposite the 100 Montaditos, down a little side street is the extrodinary 'pope shop' as I like to call it, that sells everything you could possibly want or need as a priest. I really want to know how much the robes cost, they'd make the best fancy dress costume ever! Theres another one just round the corner as well that has near life-size figure of Jesus on the cross with some very severely grazed knees, perfect for the living room. I wonder why they keep the windows un-shuttered and lights on all night? Just in case any bishops happen to be wondering past? Getting a bit tired of tiny sandwiches now, we headed off to the Atocha branch to meet some friends who persuaded us give up our Montadito quest and go with them to a bar on Calle Pez in Malasana before heading to a bar/club in Chueca before nipping home on the last Metro at 1.30am for an early(ish) night.

Make like Cruzcampo man and hit the streets

All in all I'd call that a very sucessful day(/night) out. Conclusion? I think Madrid is a city you've got to make the most of for yourself. There's no Eiffel Tower or Big Ben to see on a day out, the best thing is just to pick an area, wonder the streets and see what there is to see, regularly stopping off for food and drink on the way. You'll see some sights, find random little places, see some wierd stuff, probably meet some dubious characters on the way and have a great time!

Felizes Tres Reyes

...Or Happy Three Kings to you. Today is (another) national holiday here in Spain for Three Kings, which many people, particularly Catholics, take much more seriously than Christmas itself. This is when children recieve their presents, instead of christmas day, delivered by the three wise men that bothered Jesus when he was born (or, 12 days after as it is here - the Bible doesn't actually mention them being there on the night), one from the Orient, one from Europe and one from Africa, who magically fly around the world by camel... sound familiar? All this must be a bit confusing for kids. Are they competing with Santa or what?

Umbrellas out in Plaza de Ciebeles

Anyway, there's a huge parade through every town in Spain on Reyes Eve as I'm gonna call it, and the one in Madrid is pretty huge and broadcast live on TV so we went down and joined the crowds in Plaza de Ciebeles to check it out. It started off with some light drizzle and an odd musical interlude telling the story of the Kings featuring a man playing an upended piano suspended above the stage with projections on it, before the parade started coming down the Paseo Castellano. Its very much a kids event, with loads of toddlers hoisted on there parents shoulders and even up step ladders waiting to catch the sweets thrown from the floats, but it was pretty full of adults too who were clearly loving it (and also trying to catch sweets).

 

Balthazar, all the way from Africa, apparently

It's quite a surreal procession really, giant birds, the smurfs, the Royal Guards on horseback, a pirate ship, mildly terrifying giant fish, flag waving cheerleaders, a gigantic samaurai who looked like he was muttering silently to himself and much more, followed at the end by the Three Kings themselves. Now, one of the Kings, Balthazar, from Africa, is usually black. However, this is Spain, not a country known for its political correctness (see also the national basketball team narrowing their eyes for a photo at the Beijing olympics). Did they have a black person filling this role? Of course not, they had someone blacked up. Oh dear.

Fireworks, as seen from Gran Via

This aside, the event was great fun. It's nice to have a big communal celebration like that at this time of year, and this one brings out the wide eyed kid in everyone. You've got to be pretty sharp to catch any sweets though, or up-end an umbrella as many people did. Some pretty impressive fireworks afterwards too.

Seeing as today was a national holiday, it was high time for a drink afterward, and we headed over to Malasana for a couple at a little cafe whos name I always forget that plays bossa nova non stop. Then to circus themed Malabar on Plaza Dos de Mayo with its very friendly staff before venturing into Chueca to a bar that serves huge plates of tapas (see below) with a decent sized beer for 4 Euros a pop while huge animal heads stare at you from the wall, and then on to a Olivers, an ordinary looking bar with an unexpected cellar club with neon lights stretching from end to end (also see below) and a very hit and miss music policy. All that, and I didn't see one person breaking the smoking ban. In fact, people looked quite happy standing outside.

Needless to say, I'm quite hungover. But hey, what are public holidays for eh?

The Smoking Ban

I was going to tack this onto the end of the last post but it deserves one of its own to do it justice really.

On the 1st of January Spain's smoking ban came into effect, banning smoking in all bars, restaurants and, as far as I'm aware, clubs. (Apart from really big restaurants which are allowed to have a smoking area or something - not quite as blanket as England's one). This is a huge thing. If you used to think it was bad when people could smoke in pubs in England, that was nothing compared to some bars and clubs I've been to here. I actually couldn't stay in one, despite still being a smoker at the time. On average, I'd estimate that if you walked into a bar in Madrid before Christmas, about half the clientele would be holding a lit cigarette at some point over a 15 minute period.

Now that I've quit (I still haven't had one since November, pat on the back for me), I think this is great. Infinitely less temptation on a night out as well as non-reaking clothes and all those reasons that I hated non-smokers for giving when they brought it in in England. Unlike the British smoking ban though, they've oddly chosen to bring it in in the middle of winter when its freezing cold outside, rather than summer when everyones out on the street anyway.

I've only been to 1 bar since I got back and my smoker friend reluctantly went out for one, but by 11.30 there were a couple of people unconcernedly lighting up at the bar in front of the staff. Eventually the manager/owner grumpily chased them outside, but I think this is going to be a familiar battle over the next few weeks, if not months. I shall keep you updated.

Back in Spain, Back on Blog

I'm back in Madrid having had a nice 10-day break in the UK over Christmas and a break from writing anything here for a while. By the time I left just before Christmas, I was feeling pretty worn out. It felt the similar to how I remember feeling at the end of my first term at University  - its been great but now its cold, dark, no one understands you and you want to go home! (Although now its a language barrier thing rather than late-teen angst with the understanding). Having to deal with the court situation and juggling debts didn't particularly help either and I also ended up staying and working for 3 days after all my friends had left which really made it drag.

Anyway, having had a break at home, I now feel quite refreshed and have a renewed optimistic outlook about living here. I remembered on the way back the excitement I felt when I was first moving here, only now I have a job, some friends, an apartment, speak a bit of the the language and so on.

The language is actually starting to click into place a little now. I'm using Rosetta Stone as well as getting some Spanish classes through a job (although I've only had one so far). I'd done a bit of Rosetta Stone at home but its much more effective if you're immersed in the language every day. So for example, as soon as I learnt the word for clean (lympia), I noticed a sign in a shop for 'productos lympieza' (cleaning products) which just makes it stick. Also, you can't help picking up words day to day - you're not going to forget the word for anchovies once you've accidentally bought a can of olives stuffed with them, trust me. In fact by now, I can understand most signs in shops and on the street and get the gist of most conversations. Speaking is more difficult, I have to put a sentence together in my head before I can say it but practice is the best thing, and practice is made easier once your a little drunk, I've found...

Looking back over my time here so far, that doesn't seem bad for two and a half months spent speaking English all day! It feels like I only need a little more and then I can start speaking to people more and it will snowball a bit from there. I didn't study any Spanish while I was back in England, but it feels like my brain has been digesting what I learnt over the last couple of months which feels more solid now.

Now that I've got a bit of money coming in (the back-dated pay checks are finally kicking in), my next objective is buying a bike and, eventually, moving apartments I think. Racing bikes (bicicletas carretera) seem to be a bit less common and more expensive here (cheapest I could find on eBay was €100) but I need to do some more research and check out the Rastro I suppose.

Oh yeah, I had an awful trip back actually though. Having not flown from England in about 3 years I'd forgotten some of the aspects of international travel there. WARNING: if you move to Spain, don't get too used to how things work. They may be very relaxed about timekeeping, service, aeroplane boarding times and things like that here, but that does not mean they will be in England when you get back! Lesson learned.