Campeones, Campeones, oé oé oé...

When I returned from my trip to Ireland last Wednesday, I was so tired that I was in bed by 8pm that night, and I missed a very important game for Real Madrid. They were playing Athletic Bilbao, and winning that game would clinch their spot at the top and earn them the La Liga title for this season. I just couldn't stay awake! So, Thursday morning I awoke to newspaper headlines and numerous tweets about Real Madrid's 3-0 victory and immediately felt sad that I'd missed yet another storming of the city streets by excited fans. Like in many sports-centric towns, this happens after every major victory. Since I was still in the states when Spain won the World Cup in 2010, I was very sad to have missed out on scenes like this one:

I'm told a similar scene happened last Wednesday night, though on a much smaller scale, and I missed it! Bummer! But all was not lost. Like the world cup, there are always two celebrations -- one always happens at the moment with a sudden eruption of euphoric fans pouring into the streets, and the other is usually the following day, once the team has returned home and the city can organize a proper celebration. What luck! So, Thursday afternoon I met up with a friend nearby and we made our way into Plaza de Cibeles to fight the crowds and hope to get a glimpse of our favorite blancos.

It was fun, but my goodness there were so many people. I don't think I'll do that again... until Spain wins the World Cup again in 2014.

Concert Mania

Okay, okay. I know. I haven't written anything in ages. But honestly, I haven't done that much lately! I've been trying to plan a few trips and book flights here and there (upcoming: London & Dublin) and therefore have been almost too broke to do anything outside my normal routine. It has been getting pretty warm here in the afternoons, so outdoor cañas are slowly working their way back into my life.  Ahhh, la primavera ha llegado a la ciudad. That's a line from my favorite Spanish band, Delafé y las flores azules, who I got to see live on Friday night! They played at Joy Eslava, a legendary Madrid nightclub that I honestly would never even dream of going to on a night out, so not only did I get to see a great show, but I got to check out a place I may have never seen otherwise. Friday was their last show ever (supposedly) since the band actually split up a few months ago... we arrived a little late so we were stuck on the high balcony, but I still danced and sang like crazy and bounced my way home after the show.

And two weeks before that, I saw Megafaun, one of my favorite bands from NC. I saw them a few times during Hopscotch 2010 and their music just makes me so nostalgic. I had a blast and talked North Carolina with my friend Laura and one of the guys from the group after the show.

And the week before that... I saw Future Islands! They were in a really cool venue called Boite Live and put on a fantastic show as usual. I bought a sweet t-shirt with the tour dates on the back... Madrid was #1.

In just over two weeks I'll be heading to London for my spring break and mom's gonna come too!! I can't wait!

Day tripping: Chinchón

Well, it's been almost a month since I came back to Madrid after being home for two great weeks at Christmas. Since my return, I've been lying pretty low, just going to work, spending time with my friends on the weekends, and of course trying to plan my next trip to wherever. In this downtime, I get to enjoy what Madrid has to offer! On Saturday, my friend Meg and I decided to take a day trip to a nearby town called Chinchón.

There isn't too much to see and do there, but it did have a cool circular Plaza Mayor. We stopped into the tourist information office and saw a funny bat-shaped flyer for a restaurant called the Mesón Quiñones that boasted free entry to some bat caves, with available desgustación de vinos (wine tasting). We'd expected to find pretty cheap lunch menus in this small pueblo, but restaurants were about on par with Madrid prices in the Plaza Mayor, so we opted for a cheap lunch just a bit outside the very center, grabbed an ice cream, and headed out in search of the bat caves.

A quick glance at a map of Chinchón showed that we weren't far from the restaurant claiming to have bat caves. We walked up a few hills and around a few corners to discover that not only does this restaurant actually have some caves under it, but it is also the only restaurant we saw in Chinchón above the Plaza Mayor, save for two oddly-decorated "Irish" bars. We weren't really sure how to go about finding the caves, so we just walked in, and sure enough just across from the bar there were some stairs down into poorly-lit, slightly creepy caves. There was a small group of people heading out as we came in who told us to stop by the bar to have some wine and a snack. Our 1€ wines came with a small pincho and we got to keep our little glasses!

The odd sixteen year-old waiter working behind the bar wanted to speak to us in English, making a lot of mistakes, but he told us to feel free to take a walk around and eventually was nice enough to take a picture of us in the caves (hence why the photo is so dark). Once we finished our wines, we went back out into the town to walk around for a bit longer before having a seat in the Plaza Mayor to watch the little kids go around on donkeys and in little carriages. All of this, of course, was accompanied by some cañas while the unseasonably warm January sun baked just above our heads.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

...Christmas!!! Finally! It's Christmas time in Madrid and I could not be happier. Christmas is and has always been my favorite time of the year, because it really is The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. And this year, I am even more excited than I usually am, because this year I'm going home! Living away from my family in Chicago is something I've done since I was five years old, so for me, December comes, school lets out, and I go to Chicago for the holidays. It's normal, it's my tradition, and I love it. But last year, I didn't go home. Mom came to visit me, and we had a great time, but we both decided that it just wasn't the same... so away I go!

To begin the holiday season, at work we celebrate Día del Maestro, and in our school we celebrate in style. Our lunch began just after school ended last Monday and we all got to eat lots of delicious Spanish foods while we talked and discussed our patron saint of teachers. Like last year, we are again playing Amigo Invisible, or Secret Santa. In this lunch we drew names, and the game starts tomorrow! This is one of the things I will miss the  most about this school. There's such a buen rollo there. We all get along and enjoy staying at school until five or six in the afternoon just to hang out and have a good time.

On Sunday, a few of my friends came to my house for an early Christmas party. We also played Secret Santa - my friend Emma got me a few key pieces that every good hostess should have: a cute tray, napkins, tea, and a cute cupcake-shaped sugar dish. Everybody brought something to eat (I made mulled wine and spinach cups), we exchanged gifts, and watched Christmas movies all night. I think being of the Friends generation, I always imagined this was what "growing up" would be like.

Now there are only fifteen days between me and heading home for Christmas. How am I handling the wait? Well, on Thursday I'll head to Amsterdam for a long weekend (thank you, Spanish holidays) and then I'll come back to a week of work, a weekend of shopping for presents, and a trip or two on the Navibus, I'm sure. To help you guys aguantar until Christmas, check out my video from last year's lights and fireworks:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVzCliL1Pwk&w=560&h=315]

...and some photos from this year's Christmas decorations:

[slideshow]

Felices Fiestas!

Thanksgiving 2011

A few weeks ago, my work friends eagerly asked me when Thanksgiving would fall this year, due largely in part to the success of last year's celebration. So once again, the fourth Thursday in November came, and we got together again to enjoy a large, delicious, all-American meal.

This year we held the dinner at my friend Lidia's house in Alcalá de Henares, a small town outside Madrid and just next door to the town where we all work. When the turkey was cooking away in the oven we took some time to enjoy a pre-dinner snack and drinks. Lidia is from a small pueblo outside Granada, and ever the granadina, she opened her fridge and offered us three different types of Cerveza Alhambra, to be opened with an Alhambra-marked bottle opener, and to be served in Mezquita glasses. María referred to this as "Lidiasgiving." Lucky for me, Alhambra is my favorite of the widely-available Spanish beers, second only to Moritz, a beer from Barcelona and only available in Catalán-influenced areas. Bummer.

Anyway. A few Alhambras and potato chips later, dinner was ready. Again, I was in charge of the kitchen, and for dinner we ended up with a 3kg (6.6lb) turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and vegetables for eight people. There were, of course, lots of leftovers. The turkey this year came out much better than last year, and I think it was because of the difference in size. The giant turkey last year was overwhelming and I overcooked it a bit...not so this year. Also, I managed to make gravy that wasn't a slimy mess! Hurrah!

My most impressive feat, however, was making a pumpkin pie. I went to Taste of America, an import shop in Madrid, and bought a pie tin, evaporated milk, and a can of packed pumpkin. Wednesday night, I very carefully followed the recipe and came out with this beauty:

Not bad for my first attempt! Everyone seemed to really like it. Unfortunately, even making my own pie couldn't convince me that pumpkin was worth eating, and I still hate it. Oh well. As we began dinner, my friend Mirella asked if I was going to say anything before we ate, so I raised my glass and proposed a toast. I told them, "even though I'm sad to be so far from home and away from family on Thanksgiving, estoy en casa y estoy con familia."