Guardian Spain Features

Not that my pictures aren't good enough or anything, but the Guardian newspaper are doing a week long feature on Spain and sent a photographer to Madrid, the results of which you can see here. There's also an article on Brits integrating in Spain, although it mainly focuses on the South and expats in the capital don't really get a mention (even though there's loads here too, mainly teaching bloody English). I'm amazed there's so many though, 2% of the population! Also made me think about how I'm going to vote in the upcoming AV referendum in the UK.

They're also doing a 'Twitrip' around Madrid on Thursday which should be interesting, although they describe Madrid as "the jewel in Spain's crown" in the preamble, which I'm not sure that many Spaniards, or even Madrileños for that matter, would agree with. Partly because people love their hometowns or 'villages' so much, and partly because Madrid is largely (and correctly) viewed as being polluted, clogged with traffic and having (comparatively) bad weather. Don't get me wrong, I still love the place, but it's definately a very touristy thing to say! What do they think this is, Paris?

Spaniards Say The Darndest Things

Far be it from me to ridicule other people's attempts at learning and speaking another language... But that's basically what I'm gonna do for the next couple of paragraphs, so if you don't like it, look away now.

I have said in the past that I'm getting a bit bored of teaching English, and part of that is definately hearing the same mistakes repeated over and over again by different or the same people. You have to be very patient sometimes. Missing the 's' when using the third person, mispronouncing 'work' and 'walk', 'v's and 'b's, and, worst of all, would ("gould"). These are the bread and butter of the English teacher in Spain, and by god do you get tired of them. The worst thing is when you start doing it yourself. I've said 'do a mistake' a couple of times over the last couple of weeks - its catching!

Sometimes, you do get some good laughs out of it though at least. The number of times someone has sat opposite me and told me with a look of intense concentration on their face that they are "shitting in this chair"... There was also someone who didn't believe in goats (ghosts), someone pondering how long it would take to get to New York by sheep, as well as many unintentionally hilarious uses of the phrasal verbs 'to make out', 'to get off', 'to come out' and 'to turn on'. Their attempts at swearing aren't much better. I once asked a young student how the weather was and he enthusiastically responded "It's fucking!". Better get a brolly then.

Still, at least I'm not teaching as many hours anymore, for the same, if not more, money. In the end, I only got one private class from my ads, but that was more because of my schedule being full than lack of interest, and I actually passed on a few classes to friends. The agency company has given me more hours, so I've now got 28 a week, which at €20 an hour, is plenty. Mind you, I've still got a bit of a way to go before I actually break even on coming here, but I will definately have by the time I go back for summer in June. (I have a budget for the first time in my life).

I had a fun weekend, including going for a good Senegalese meal (I think, it was my first) in Lavapies and going back to Pantera near Plaza de Espana, which is one of the better clubs I've been to here, playing crunchy electro from about 2007 (pretty cutting edge for Spain) and of course going on til about 7am. I've not been too impressed by Madrid's clubs so far actually, but that said I still haven't been to the biggest, Kapital, which is supposed to be pretty impressive, or Sala Heineken about which I hear good things too, although I'm sure they're both quite pricey. (I said I had a budget, I didn't say I was going to stick to it).

I also became an admin for this facebook group called 'I know this great little place in Madrid...' this weekend too, which is well worth having a peep at if you live over here.

Fallas

The plan to go to Valencia for the Fallas fire festival had been talked about for a while but came together rapidly at the last minute. We booked a rental car from Avis on Thursday night (€80 for 3 days), showed up at their office on Gran Via on Friday afternoon really hoping they weren't going to insist on seeing our driver's paper license that he didn't have, but next thing we knew we were pulling out onto Madrid's main thoroughfare and past a couple of it's major landmarks in the warm evening sun. For a city of 6 million, Madrid is incredibly easy to get out of by car and we were soon coasting down the Motorway heading towards Valencia and the rising apogee moon in a rough two car convoy including 4 Brits, an Irishwoman, a Mongolian, a Romanian, an American and an Italian.

Arriving in Valencia after dark on the night before Fallas, I didn't really know what to expect. You hear a lot about the tomato throwing in Bunyol and the bull running Pamplona, but I'd not read or heard much about Fallas, despite it being held in Spain's third biggest city. What to expect, however, soon became apparent from the booming of what sounded like heavy gunfire coming from the city centre and the 3 year-old boy playing with firecrackers on his fathers lap... It's not an event overly concerned with health and safety! After meeting up with 3 Spanish brothers who our Mongolian had met in Mongolia that were amazingly lending us an apartment for the weekend, we all headed into the busy city centre amid bangs and flashes and saw a couple of the beautifully detailed and sculpted fallas (the huge creations in every neighbourhood that were to be burned the next night), tried some bunuelos (deep fried pumpkin pastry things) and saw a some live bands on a stage in the middle of a street in the centre. It's like a giant street party that takes over the whole city! And this wasn't even the night itself...

We woke up late the next day, despite the incessant explosions outside, with moderate-to-fair hangovers. Looking out the window, a cloud of smoke hung in the tangy air and walking down the street in the sunshine, surrounded by palm trees with explosives going off in all directions, it felt like we'd gone on holiday to Libya. We went off and found a crowd of people gathered for one of the 2pm firework shows which culminated in one of the most deafening series of bangs I've ever heard. Afterwards the firework technician guys come out and are treated like celebrities, getting photos taken with the women all got up in traditional Valencian falleras dress and even kissing babies! Instant heroes.

Last paella in town!

Anyway, this was followed by what turned into an epic quest for paella around the centre of Valencia during which we got to see some of the beautiful old town and some more children setting off fireworks. The town is so packed with people for Fallas that not only do all the hotels and hostels sell out months in advance but you can't even find any restaurants that still have any food at 3 in the afternoon! We were seriously lucky to have a place to stay though, there's no way you'll find somewhere last minute, although apparently a lot of people just sleep on the beach. The most creative solution we saw that night though was a load of people who had got into one of the card access bits of a bank and set up camp!

After finally finding what seemed like the last paella in town and seeing some more huge and intricate fallas, that come in all different shapes and sizes from joyous to bizarre, sexy to childish and satirical to downright dirty but all somehow manage to conform to a similar style, we headed for the town hall square to catch the fire parade featuring devils spraying sparks all over the street. This, however, is only the precursor to the main event which is la crema, the lighting of the fallas themselves at around midnight. We spent a while waiting for the big 'Jessica Rabbit' type one to go up, rather than pack into the town hall square for the main one but then decided to run around and look for the first ones to go. We soon came across the 'Bombers', as they (fittingly) call the Bomberos in Valencia, preparing for the burning of a 3 story high American themed one featuring a giant donut. Before the burning, someone hangs firecrackers over the falla and then pours a bit of petrol on for good measure. I was amazed by how quickly the thing went up! All that work and whooph! The heat is intense as well and the crowd shied back from where the Bombers had moved us. I was holding the camera in front of my face to sheild it! Meanwhile, the Bombers were concentrating their efforts, and their hoses, on a nearby building that was coming close to getting engulfed in flames... and then it was all over! They don't last very long, so we ran off to find another.

I have to admit, I was actually in a shop buying beer when the Jessica Rabbit one went up so I missed the best part but the heat from it was incredibly intense even at the back so god knows what it was like at the front. A big gasp went up when an overhanging part fell off too, in what surely can't have been a controlled manner! Once that had died down, it was on to the next one, and we ended up perched on the side of a stage in a more open square to witness a very unexpected spectacle. When the Bombers arrived, a mustachioed chap was presented to the crowdn and paraded around the square, and it became apparent that he was a local fireman, from that neighbourhood, who was retiring next week. Soon the whole crowd was chanting his name: 'Ximo! Ximo!' and he was on stage with the local fallera (an older lady who was soaking up all the adulation too), being presented with various tokens of appreciation and being tearfully interviewed in front of a TV camera. It was a lovely little local celebration to witness, and makes you remember that the fallas are still prepared on a neighbourhood basis, even though we were chatting to a group of Mexican tourists while we watched it all.

Eventually, the falla went up like the rest, in shower of sparks from fireworks strung around the square, and burned down to a smouldering heap, at which point the more boisterous sections of the crowd started teasing the firemen, chanting “Bomberos! Maricons!” (roughly “Firemen! Bunch of fairies!”) and the Bombers started spraying the them with their hoses in retaliation. It was all in done in good humour though and everyone seemed to be having a great time! Whenever one section of the crowd was drowned out by hoses, another section would take up the chant, very funny to watch. You'd never see something like that happen in England, at least not without punches being thrown!

 

Anyway, a great night, and a chance to get a bit of (cold) beach in the next day too. I can't recommend Fallas enough, if you get the chance to go. You'll never see anything like it. It's like bonfire night on steroids, and without health and safety supervision. Also, renting a car was definitely a good option, at €80 for the car and about €70 for the petrol, it's fine split between 4 or more. The main problem was finding somewhere to park! I think some more weekend trips will have to follow, where next?

Home James, and don't spare the horsepower (but do stay under the 110kmph speed limit)

Homelessness, Pot Holes and Speed Limits

No, not me. I was just thinking this week about the apparently high levels of homelessness in Madrid, compared to the UK. It's really quite shocking. You not only see people with sleeping bags under bridges, on metro vents, in bank cash points and on benches in the mornings, but even more permanent little tent set-ups in some places. Just up the hill from my flat, below a park, there's a little community of homeless guys and a woman who hangs out washing there. It's also very visible, there's a guy who camps out right outside one of the main cinemas on Gran Via, where they hold a lot of premiers and so on, like Spain's Leicester Square or Broadway. I'm surprised given the socialist government here that more hasn't been done. They put floating duck-houses on the Manzanares with people camping under bridges only metres away.

Speaking of homes, I think we have decided to stay in this apartment. Friends moving have made me realise that it really is very cheap, and now that I have a bike and understand the bus system a little better it seems much more connected as it is still very central. In my mind I define central Madrid as anything inside the circular bus route, which goes right outside our front door. I also have big plans for our roof terrace in spring and summer! That said, it would be nice to live somewhere with a little more going on but you can't have everything.

I don't want to bang on about bikes too much, but I've just started cycling on the roads here and have been surprised at how many pot holes there are: its as bad as Manchester! (Anyone who's cycled there over the past couple of years will appreciate that!). I suppose it does get very cold here in the winter, but there's not nearly as much water about and they have a huge municipal workforce that you always see out fixing, cleaning, sweeping and generally doing things. Apart from filling in pot holes apparently.

I worked my last day at the language school yesterday, and although its going to mean working much less, I was a little sad to leave. I think I mentioned before that being a self-employed teacher can be quite a lonely experience and I realised the other day that what I really miss is working with people. Teaching them is one thing but you're not part of a co-operative effort like in other jobs. I suppose the language school came closer to this, even though it was spent doing one-to-one classes, you had a set number of students to get through, as a group of teachers (and then could go out for a drink after). I got a large number of replies for my advert for private classes on tusclasesparticulares (about 15), but the difficulty seems to be in converting the interest into actual classes. Now that I'm actually free, I'm going to put another advert up with my availability so I can confirm them straight away.

I'm off to Valencia (that's "Ba-len-thia" to you) this weekend in a rented car for the 'fallas' fiesta where they burn things and set off fireworks and so on. I don't know that much about it to be honest so I think I'll wait to write about it til after I'm back. One thing is for sure though, it'll take a little longer to get there than it would have a month ago. In response to rising oil prices, partly caused by the uprising in Libya, the government lowered the motorway speed limit from 120km/h to 110 and cut the cost of train fares too. Sounds like a good plan to me, although obviously not everyone agrees (see pic). The government here is really quite deeply unpopular and Zapatero looks certain to lose the next election, which is a shame, cause they still seem able to come up with decent and pretty dynamic policies like that one.

Anyway, to round off this rambling post, here's some pictures of the Plaza de Oriente outside the Palacio Real, which I had a proper wander round for the first time the other day. They do know how to do a good statue in Madrid! Check out the fella with the head by his feet. It's a definate tourist location to go have a look at if you're visiting, and the plaza is nice and 'Spanish'. I bet those cafe's are bloody expensive though so if you're on a budget, nip down one of the streets towards Opera and there's a well placed 100 Montaditos right there (of course) for a €2 beer and mini-sandwich.

 

Word of the day: Perejil - Parsley (it just is, ok?)

River and Forest by Bike

Just when I thought I was getting to know Madrid quite well, maybe that the shine had come off it a little, I went for a little explore in the warm evening air on my bike in my new free time now that I quit my evening job and discovered a whole new aspect of the city, right on my doorstep.

Little chapel thing

I cycled down to the river, past the little chapel thing not far from my apartment and north along the lovely recently landscaped pathways with trees on either side, what look like amazing kids adventure playgrounds, and the Palace and Cathedral glowing in the sun overlooking them from the top of the hill to the east. There's a lot of work going on further south where they're building a park around the river too. Actually, I say river but it's not really a proper river, the Manazares, not like the Thames or the Seine, it's just a trickle really but they block it up with wears to make it look bigger. I cycled further up the river, with the forest a couple of streets away on my left, under the cable car line that goes out to Casa de Campo over people's houses (see below), past quiet little fishing spots and over little footbridges, all overlooked by the ubiquitous four- or five-story apartment blocks. Suddenly everything started looking quite familiar and I realised that I had got to the place the bus I take to work in the suburbs leaves the city proper. I'm still continually surprised by how small the city centre is and how close together everything is! That'll make a nice 10 minute cycle, rather than a sweaty 20 mins on the metro when the weather's nicer.

I turned back and went back down opposite Principe Pio and turned off into Casa de Campo, the big forest in the west of the city. (I wrote about Casa de Campo before, but that was the actual metro stop). I cycled up through the trees on a potholed road and stumbled across the lake which I'd heard about but never been to, with a huge jet of water shooting into the air. My flatmate had said he had been there on the metro (Lago) but that there wasn't much to see apart from a load of prostitutes hanging around in the trees, but went I went there it was really nice. Beautiful scene with people canoeing on the lake and restaurants around the edge. It's like being in the country apart from you can see the city landmarks in the background. No prostitutes to be seen though, I think he might have got his words mixed up - "No Lee, those are parrots mate!"

 

I continued going uphill, getting quite out of puff (it's been a while since I rode a bike, ok?) past rabbits casually lolloping about in the scrub-like foliage and finally reached a plateau as the sun was hazily setting. Looking back over the city in the dusk was maybe one of my highlights of living here so far. It was a lovely moment of tranquility that I think I needed after dashing around the busy city on packed buses and metro's for months. In fact, I can't believe it's taken me so long to find this place. It'll be fantastic in summer too, and only about a 10 minute cycle from my flat. I was so busy looking back at the city that it took me a while to notice the dark haze of the mountains to the north, which on a clearer day there'd be a great view of too. Speeding back down the hill through pockets of warmer and cooler air towards the city justified the €90 I spent on the bike all by itself.

*****

I'd love to leave you with that image, but I feel I should write something about the poor American lad that went missing last week just around the corner from my house. Missing posters were posted all over the city and trails played on the metro TV channel after Austin Taylor Bice, an American student, dissappeared on a night out after being turned away from a club next to the Manzanares for being drunk. Sadly, authorities found his body nearby on Tuesday after draining a section of the river, and it appears he fell in. My heart goes out to his family and friends who showed how much he was cared for with their efforts to locate him.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Going to The Dentist in Madrid (And More)

Are you considering moving to Madrid, but worried that you might develop an unexpected dental problem and won't know what to do? Fear not dear reader, I have been there.

I went for a free consultation at the clinic of one 'Dr. Milo' at Prosperidad (he calls himself this in emails too, which disconcertingly made me think of Dr. Nick in The Simpsons), after calling a few English speaking clinics to enquire about prices, and he told me that I needed a reverse root canal on my front tooth (whatever that's called), to sort out a problem caused by some very shoddy work courtesy of Sheffield Dental Training Hospital after I'd knocked my teeth out falling off a bike when I was 17. I had especially sought out an English speaking dentist after a fairly scary experience in France last year, but I began to wish I hadn't once he'd started explaining what he was going to do to me. It was the verbs he used! Peel. Scrape. Gouge. Stitch. Tell me you didn't just wince. And all this for a mere €400! Masochistic bargain!

Dr. Milo prepares to do unspeakable things to my face

Anyway, he was actually very good and explained everything he would be doing and what to expect etc and so yesterday I went back and had it done. I played a bit of a move by asking if I could take a picture "for my blog", "I better do a good job then!" said Dr. Milo. Yep! It wasn't actually all that painful, for a procedure that involves removing bone tissue from your skull (!), more just excruciatingly uncomfortable. I was amazed they even use anastetic gel to numb you before injecting you. You don't get that on the NHS. There was some fairly weird sensations going on though and I got quite a bruised nose but Dr. Milo explained what was going on which was, on the whole, comforting. He even offered to show me in a mirror at one point. It's quite difficult to say 'Don't you fucking dare' when your lips are clamped open but I think I got my point across. I just tried to keep my mind on other things so as not to think about what was actually going on literally under my nose.

Apparently, it all went very well, although I wouldn't have known, my face was that numb, and he stitched it up and sent me on my way with a presciption for anti-inflamatories and an appointment for a repeat visit on Monday. There are times when I love the Madrid metro, but travelling across town at rush-hour slowly regaining the feeling in your swollen face after dental surgery is not one of them.

Today, its not really painful at all although still a little swollen, and I'm not allowed to drink or do anything strenuous for fear of ripping the stitches which is annoying as it's some kind of loosely defined carnival in Spain this weekend, which seems to be a national excuse for drunken revelry in fancy dress, which is my favourite kind of revelry. Ah well. Anyway, Dr. Milo gets my provisional seal of approval for Anglophone dentistry in Madrid. He was friendly, professional and made a very unpleasant experience as pleasant as possible.

Word of the day: Puntos - Stitches

Going Private

After telling you all about them in the previous post, I'm going to quit one of my jobs today. After thinking about it a bit I realised what I probably should have a while ago: that €7 an hour is not worth losing my evenings for. I've already met people through that job and I'm not going to lose touch with them if I quit and after being reassured about the availability of private classes I'm going to pursue that option instead. It sounds more interesting as well, I don't like working for companies, particularly ones, frankly, as unprofessional as that language school is (not paying people on time, having enough teachers, having workable speaking rooms). It's provided me with a bit of steady income when I needed it but I much prefer being self-employed, so I'm going to put an ad up today on a couple of sites offering my services for private classes and see what response I get. tusclassesparticulares.com and loquo seem good places to start from what I've heard.

I finally tracked down the power lead for my camera, so I've updated a couple of previous posts with pictures. I had a nice wander on Saturday (on which I didn't take the camera) that took in peacocks in the Royal Gardens (round the corner from my house) and the park just north of Plaza de Espana with a great view over Casa de Campo and an ancient Egyptian temple that was donated by Egypt after Spain helped them restore some temples (or something like that...). It looks pretty strange, sat there in the middle of Spain, but its worth a look. You can go inside too but it was closed.

The Palace, Cathedral and Basilica de San Francisco (my house is just down the hill from the latter)

I also had a crack at vegan tortilla to add to my Spanish vegan repetoire at the weekend. It's made with chickpea flour and has a very different texture to the egg version but is still tasty and actually considerably easier to cook, although we still don't have a pan with a handle so I was still flipping it with a tea towel and immense difficulty.

We've been having other difficulties in our apartment with the electricity. We can't have more than one appliance with an element on at once or the fuse goes, and sometimes just the washing machine on its own is enough. This caused a fair amount of chaos at the weekend when my flatmate had 3 girls staying, all of whom had brought a hairdryer! I've been told that this is the same in all apartments in Madrid, to stop energy surges or something but I think ours must be espeically bad. Either way, there is some serious re-wiring now going on in the building which has led to this piece of installation art appearing outside our front door. I quite like it!

Word of the day: Particulares - Private Classes