A Festival (during which I apparently become a music critic)

Last Sunday, I went to a little heavily Heineken sponsored music festival at the Matadero Madrid venue in Legazpi. I had no idea what the Matadero was until I just looked it up now, a nice group of quite ornate, low warehouse type buildings with a large courtyard between them. Turns out it used to be a slaughterhouse. Only in Spain.

Anyway, the weather's been scorching here and Sunday afternoon was no exception. It must've been getting up to 35C, and so when we walked into one of the indoor stages just in time to catch Lykki Li playing Dance Dance Dance, the heat was intense and the atmosphere sweaty in the extreme. Looking across the crowd, it looked like each person was accompanied by a large moth because of all the flapping fans, programmes and in some cases just desperate hands. Lykki Li and her band didn't seem fazed and were pretty tight, and the two percussionists work well with her occasionally beating on a cymbal herself as well. To me, her black cape get up and wrapping-herself-in-a-black-curtain schtick seemed a bit put on and try-hard though.

Having purchased an €8 'mini' of beer (actually a litre – beware ordering a mini spirit and mixer!) from the roaming beer man, we left gasping for air after she'd finished. What we'd really paid the €15 ticket price to see though, was Janelle Monae. They'd put her on in the sunset slot on this fantastic evening and it was a great setting to see any band (although this all seems a bit dark now I know what the place used to be!) but I did doubt that Janelle Monae had the tunes to carry off a festival slot, her album being pretty experimental and uneven. When one of her nattily besuited band members took to the stage and declared “The following is a motion picture presented to you by Janelle Monae” however, it was clear this was going to be more of a performance. This was only confirmed when more and more band members arrived on stage, completed by three cloaked figures, hoods up, for an atmospheric introduction before Monae sprang from one and launched into 10 minutes of energetic brilliance. I counted 15 band members, including horn and string sections, backing singers and dancers, all immaculately turned out in smart black and white and giving it their all. Each song seemed to work its way to a frenzied crescendo before neatly seguing into another. After what I think was a slight technical problem forced her to sing a more downbeat tune only with guitar accompaniment, she won other the unsure Spanish crowd with a pitch-perfect cover of the Jackson Five's I Want You Back. Even her odder numbers like Mushrooms and Roses were really brought to life and sounded very fresh, in that case with her painting a canvas live while singing. I began to think that the singles Tightrope and Cold War might feel a little lightweight in comparison to the rest of her material that really comes to life on-stage but they too built into greatness, Tightrope ending with a shower of black and white confetti and Monae crying, James Brown style, “One more time for the Tightrope!” Bang! “One more time for the Tightrope!” Bang bang! When they returned for an exstatic encore, both crowd and stage erupted to a bounce-tastic version of Come Alive (War Of The Roses) until she was piggy-backed off stage by another ebullient band member to rapturous applause. One of the best, tightest and simplistically creative live acts I've ever seen. If you have the chance this summer, see her!

Unfortunately, the other band I wanted to see, Caribou, were never going to live up to that, and although I can see the logic behind it given their latest dancy album, Swim, they did make quite odd and rather melancholy headliners, and sitting in and inward facing circle, at times it felt a bit like more of an experimental jam session than tight headline set. Leave that overdrive pedal alone will you? It's a cool venue though, the Matadero, and lovely on a hot, clear Spanish evening with the sun going down. Not so much the indoor stages however, especially now that I know what they were previously used for!

On Saturday, me and Kate had gone for a walk in Casa de Campo which has changed dramatically since spring when it was all greenery and soft grass. It's now dry and golden, but still a beautiful escape from the bustling city, right there on our doorstep. Walking through the golden grass in the afternoon sun was really fantastic, although beware the seeds and burrs which stick in clothes and blankets like hooks.

Why walking and not cycling though? Well, I've already sold my bike! Having bought it for €90, I optimistically put it up on segundomano.es for €140 on Tuesday, having fitted new tyres, pedals and replaced the back brake cable. A few emails and calls later it was being cycled down the street by a man named Alvaro by Friday evening. I think in total that means I spent about €50 to have pretty decent a bike for about 5 months. Not bad!

I don't think I quite emphasized enough in the last post (not quite the last word as it turns out) how much travelling around Madrid is involved in being a freelance English teacher (which is really what I am, getting some classes through the agency and some myself). This gives you the opportunity firstly to be late several times a day, and secondly to obtain thighs as hard as a leg of jamon from all the metro staircases and escalators you run up trying to avoid the former. This picture of my knackered shoes (new when I arrived) should illustrate this adequately.

Lastly, while I'm rambling, if any fans of the TV show Lost are reading, I can reveal where the sound effect guys found the ominous ticking sound made my the 'smoke monster'. It is in fact the noise made by the receipt printers in Madrid taxi cabs, which has been known to make me get a little jumpy when walking past a taxi rank.

Word of the Day: Matadero - Slaughterhouse

Safe Cycling In Madrid

So, after a fairly manic weekend running round trying to see all there was to see at the protests, writing about it and trying to lead my normal life around it, it's been back to the same old English teaching routine this week. It does feel like a bit of a daily grind really, especially shipping around the city all day, but I've relaxed a bit more now that I've only got a few weeks left, and at the moment my students are just as likely to be a few minutes late as I am. The protests in Sol are ongoing, until at least Sunday, and today it's been reported that they have launched a clean-up operation after complaints from local businesses. Attention has shifted away a bit in the wake of the election results (and some calls renewed calls for Zapatero's resignation), and the camp isn't quite as vibrant as it was before, but there still seems to be a high level of energy, and the square just south of Sol was crammed full of people sitting and having small meetings when I passed on the bus on Tuesday. Anyway, time for something completely different, here's my guide to cycling safely in Madrid.

A lot of people I know would only use one word for this: "don't", but in my experience people say this about every city and they usually turn out to be non-cyclists. Cycling around a city is a brilliant way to get around and can be a real pleasure. In Madrid, there's no actual monetary incentive to cycle. Even if half your journey's are by bike, you'll still want an abono metro, it's that good value (€47 for unlimited metro and bus travel in Zone A). However, cycling can make getting around the city much quicker, rather than waiting for bus connections or walking to metro stops. All this considered though, Madrid is very different to, say, Manchester, and there are some things that you should consider when cycling on the road here.

Firstly and most importantly, as when cycling on the road anywhere, it's important to be a bit bold and a bit stroppy. Don't hug the pavement. Studies have shown that the further out in the road you are (within reason obviously), the more room cars give you when passing. Also, if you don't want a car to pass you, get in the middle of your lane. As a general rule, motorists don't intentionally mow down cyclists, in Madrid or anywhere else, so as long as you've signalled you're coming out and checked behind you, this can be the safest place to be, especially when approaching a junction or turn.

Now, Spanish driving is notorious for being a bit haphazard and careless, and having witnessed it first-hand and up close, I can confirm this is true to a certain extent. You see parking cars giving others a little nudge a lot more often than you would in the UK, and no-one looks remotely fazed by this. Really though, it isn't recklessness so much as a different driving culture. There are a lot more zebra crossings in Spain, and the traffic lights change with less warning, and so because of all this sudden stopping and starting, cars will speed up to traffic lights before swooping to a halt, which is more than a little disconcerting as a pedestrian! I still always have to wait for the car to stop before I dare stepping out at a zebra crossing too. There's also a flashing yellow on the traffic lights, which comes on with the green man, apparently meaning 'go, so long as you don't run anyone over'. It's a good idea to make sure your brakes are pretty sharp just in case you need to follow suit and make a quick stop. My back brake snapped the other week and I felt very unsafe only using the front one and got it fixed quick-sharp, despite riding a bike with only a front brake in Manchester for the best part of a year.

The main hazard for a cyclist however, is Spanish drivers' use of the slow lane. Most main roads have two lanes, and cars parked down the side, however the main purpose of the slow lane is generally accepted to be to provide a place to stop, turn on the hazzards and drop someone off/nip in to a shop/have a chat with a passing friend/go for a cervesa. Cars very suddenly deciding to stop right in front of you can get pretty iritating, particularly with taxi drivers (who tend to always be the least concerned about cyclists safety anywhere in the world). The police are actually also some of the worst offenders at this too. This also means you have to be on constant watch for every cyclists nightmare: a suddenly opened drivers-side door, particularly when passing stopped cars.

Another thing is that there just aren't as many cyclists as in most British cities. There are a lot of scooters though, so drivers do still look for you, but not as closely and have different expectations of your behavior, speed etc, which is something to be aware of. Also, beware old grates, particularly in Old Madrid (double particularly in Malasana). Many of the slits are easily big enough to get a racing bike wheel stuck in and I've nearly come a cropper a couple of times this way. The climate is also a lot hotter and drier than the UK and something I didn't expect is that this leads to more dust, detrius and bugs in the air and therefore in your eyes. I've been considering buying goggles. It can be pretty hairy when you're coming up to a big junction you suddenly find yourself having to do it an eye down. Lastly, big junctions: some of the roundabouts and the like are pretty complicated in Madrid and if you don't feel confident, it's far better to just get round it on the pavement. Chances are you'll get around it just as quick too!

A little ironically, before writing this I actually had a nightmare cycling home this afternoon. Two punctures on a 15 minute cycle, very unusual, and I botched the first repair as well. I think I might try and sell my bike soon actually, seeing as I've only got about a month left and if it keeps on getting hotter, which I'm told it will, it'll be untenable to cycle to work in a shirt and trousers. Honestly though, sometimes nothing beats cycling around a city, and it's a great way to get to know a place and see some sights. Madrid is on a gentle slope, not too hilly and has a small city centre which makes it ideal for this too, I only wish I'd bought sooner after I arrived.

Word of the Day: bicicleta carretera - racing bike

Catch-Up

A fierce thunderstorm over Madrid tonight, with black clouds puctuated by purple-pink lightning illuminating the sky as I came out of Atocha station just after sun-down. So I have a lot of catching up to do as usual. I've been on holiday this week but nevertheless been busy with trips and friends and tricycles, as you will hear in a moment. Today though, I've been to El Escorial out to the west. It's where the Royal family used to have their second residence and also where Franco is buried, although his grave has been closed due to hero-worshipping nazis causing trouble. It's only a €6.40 return ticket from Atocha but a fairly long ride through lovely scenery (once you're out of the city) up to the foot of the western mountains. Again, props to Madrid's awesome public transport. Nice to see some mountains up close, El Escorial is high enough to give a good view out over the plateau, which provides a nice back-drop to the big and impressive old Monastery (must've housed a fair few monks) and pretty old town with a nice square for drinks and tapas. With all these trips out Madrid's surrounding towns, I'm beginning to see why a lot of guide books on the city feature large 'excursions' sections. All the old historical bits are actually in the towns surrounding Madrid which is a relatively new city really. When living there, it's also great to get away from the sheer bustle of the place occasionally too. It's not that big for it's six million strong population and it can feel crowded.

Anyway, because this post is a bit overdue, I have a few things to talk about. First up...

Toledo
Me and Kate went to Toledo for 24 hours at the weekend. It's a quick trip from Madrid - half an hour on the high speed Avant from Atocha station and only about €10 each way. I'd booked a hostal (hotel meets hostel) right in the old town for €25 per head too.

I'd been hearing about Toledo for a long time from students and also because it used to be the capital of Spain before Felipe II moved the royal court to Madrid in 1561. It's a beautiful old city on the high bank of a crook in the river that flows around it, and the surrounding scenery is beautiful and very Spanish. To be honest, we decided very early on not to run round seeing things too much so I can't really give you a full guide but we wandered around the narrow streets and tiny alleyways and saw the alcazar (fortress) and cathedral and had a walk down by the river which had some nice scenery (and some large cicadas that Kate was not a fan of...). Later on, looking for a vegan meal we stumbled across possibly the only vegetarian restuarant in old Toledo (they are not common in Spain), Madre Tierre, near the cathedral, which was good, not too expensive and busy with a nice atmosphere.

It's a really beautiful place, both the city's ancient architecture and it's surrounding countryside, and not too expensive to take a short trip from Madrid. I'm really enjoying these trips out to places and I think Segovia is definately next on the list, with it's roman viaduct and proximity to the mountains, but I definately want to go back to Toledo before I leave. Which brings me to...

Where next?
Lately I've been thinking a lot about what my next move is going to be. I'd been leaning more and more towards moving to London (note to self: must think of better blog titles) in September, but now the Easter holidays have arrived I feel like my time in Spain is running out, and to be honest I'm really really enjoying it here. Not only that but now I've started to really earn decent money for reasonable hours and pay off some debt as a result. Also, a move to London could well be more permanent for me and god, am I ready for that? I certainly do miss a lot of people in the UK though but I will be seeing them over the summer too. Barcelona is an idea currently being talked about by my friends here and that could be great. I think I'm going to start looking for a non-English teaching job in Barcelona and see if that is a possibility, although I'm not too hopeful really. Anyway, I've changed my mind about this about three times this week already so I suppose we'll have to see but it's certainly something weighing heavily on my mind. But now for something completely different...

The Tricycle
Second hand shops do not exist in Madrid, and neither do dumps. People just put their unwanted stuff out on the street for the obliging bin men to take away. Now, I don't like to see a good thing go to waste, and I'm also willing to wrestle large objects through the street and up into my apartment in the dead of night. So currently adorning my apartment, collected over the last few months, all for free, are three armchairs, a full length mirror, a clothes drying rack and an adult tricycle.

This adult tricycle. Now, in my opinion, this is probably the best thing ever, although not everyone seems to agree. I found it round the corner from my house, awaiting the bin men and just couldn't leave it to that fate. It was in great nick, no punctures or anything and with a bit of tinkering I took it down to the river for a spin, with a friend perched on the back chariot-racer style. I'm thinking a detachable cool box to go on the back and it's the ultimate picnic mobile! I think I will need to find it a parking space before my flatmates come back though. Oh and I nearly forgot...

The Prado
I finally went to the famous Prado museum yesterday, housing big collections of Spanish artists among other things. It's free on Tuesdays from 6-8pm and although there's a long queue, it files in pretty quickly. I can't pretend to really know anything about art, especially old portraits which tend to leave me rather non-plussed, but I do enjoy galleries like that where you sometimes really feel a connection to the cultural history of a particular place or humanity in general. I liked some of the Velazquez stuff, but what really impressed me was the eerie room containing Goya's black period paintings, which really suck you in. It's then amazing to see the contrast between this and his earlier stuff afterwards, which makes you reflect on a person as a totality over time.

Phew! I feel like I've not given these things the individual attention they deserve, but things feel like they're going at breakneck speed at the moment. Lots happening, lots to do, not much time to write about it! Still, it can only be a good thing that that's still how I feel after going on six months of living here.

Ps. As I've been writing this, Real Madrid beat Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final, (the second of 4 episodes of 'El Classico' in 18 days), winning Real's first trophy for three years, and there is now a considerable amount of honking shouting, trumpeting and general celebrating going on outside on the street considering this neighbourhood is firm Atleti territory! Could get interesting...

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.

Bikes, Dentists and Immigration

Of course, after the post about the metro a couple of weeks ago, I have been, or very nearly been, late several times... although I am definately to blame and not the metro.

I've been looking for a second hand racing bike (bicicleta carretera), which you can easily pick up for £50-£60 in the UK on ebay. After searching ebay.es and various other sites and looking for second hand shops, things weren't looking so easy here. The few that there were were very expensive (or in Bilbao). I was beginning to think that I'd have to get a cheap one from Decathlon or something. Bikes are pretty expensive over here and in the shops I went to there was nothing for under €250 at the very lowest. A man in the shop also told me that it was very difficult to get second hand bikes in Madrid, let alone second hand racing bikes. I couldn't really believe this, as I've seen lots of people (although not nearly as many as in the UK) cycling around on knackered old bikes. They must be coming from somewhere! Finally though, someone pointed me in the direction of segundomano.es (secondhand.es) where there are absolutely loads, although still slightly pricier than expected. In the end I picked up a 90's Peugeot racer (without pedals) for €90.

€90 - pedals not included

I also had a friend over from England last weekend which was a lot of fun, one night going out to Pacha in Tribunal (fun, young crowd, but very expensive drinks) and playing a 'what's behind this door?' kind of game round bars in Malasana the next, during which we found a great little 70s funk/blaxploitation themed bar tucked away on Calle Vincente San Ferrer (I think). My friend is of Chinese ethnicity and he was quite shocked at the difference in social background of the immigrant population here. I say immigrant, because that is one big difference, most people of other ethnic backgrounds in Spain are first generation immigrants (Spain's immigrant population went from 2.28% in 2000 to 12.2% in 2009), and unlike Britain and other countries, most didn't come for, or haven't found, training or job opportunities. They make up a large part of the 20% unemployment rate at the moment, with 67%) unemployed. As my friend noted he was the only Chinese person on the street not trying to (illegally) sell us cans of beer. Similarly, I think I'm yet to see a non-white person in a suit in Madrid. This is quite shocking, but you've got to remember that Spain's modern history is quite different from the rest of western Europe, and that it only came out of a facist dictatorship in 1976, a fact that leaves a major underlying cultural mark on the country today, in many different ways. If Angela Merkel and David Cameron think that multiculturalism has failed in Germany and the UK, it doesn't even feel like it's arrived as a concept yet in Spain.

Annoyingly, I've developed a problem with a tooth and am currently looking for an English speaking dentist (I've had to go to a French dentist before and it is not a nice feeling when you can't understand what's going on/what they're about to do to your mouth). There are some about but I think they may be pricier (you pay for the full cost of dental care here, social security or no) than non-anglophone ones. I've found this website quite handy for finding them though. This problem actually stems from a bike accident when I was 17. Let's hope cycling on the right hand side isn't too hard to get used to...

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.