Silent night...

The family Reeve’s Christmases are always a bit odd for outsiders. We dress up in smokings, talk nonsense during the dinner and play strange games, such the famous ‘Where are you now, Moriati?’ (where two people are blindfolded and hit each other with rolled-up newspaper) and the more subtle ‘La-di-da’ (aunts, uncles, etc. sit on the floor passing matchboxes to each other as fast as they can while chanting ‘La-di-da’)

But I guess all families have there own little traditions and embarrassing family members. I am not indicating that I have any embarrassing family members!! The woman below, however, is my dear aunt and godmother Caroline trying to slide a chocolate form her forehead into her mouth. This is Reeve entertainment at its best!

This year however we managed to get through the festive days without too many awkward moments…My mum did a fantastic job to manage everything once again to perfection. For Christmas dinner we have turkey, ham, parsnips, stuffing, sausages, bacon and the always delicious Brussels sprouts.


Christmas day itself was spend preparing the house for our 14 guests, having Christmas lunch (champagne, salmon and …. Galician home-made chorizo: how posh!!) and of course opening presents! This year Papa Noel presented me ‘Chronicles’ a book by Bob Dylan, a photo album and some very nice socks (as you can see below!)

Pre-christmas days

I left Madrid on Wednesday the 20th of December and was rather lucky to catch my flight. Although Carmen and I took two hours (a lot!) to get to the airport we were surprised by an underground defect. With us about 300 travellers were stranded just two metro stops away from the airport which resulted in a Taxi-frenzy!

The Spanish are not well-known for their queuing, especially when they want to get to the airport in time! After 45 minutes waiting for a cab we eventually shared a taxi with two dodgy people and as we approached the airport I wasn’t sure if we would get the plane. With two minutes to go before the check-in closed we arrived at the airport, ran to the check-in and only just made it. Actually, the only reason why we made was through Carmen’s clear thinking.

On my arrival in London my brother Pieter (Pedro) was waiting as he is studying his Masters there. The following two days was spent doing final Christmas shopping with Piet. Although this was stressing it was nice to wonder around London again.


On Friday we went to High Easter and were joined by Pieter’s girlfriend Ernestine who joined in the fun. Also my sister’s husband-to-be Alex made it, so it was off to the Indian restaurant for a great curry-meal and a great way to start Christmas.

Deciembre

Amigos,

It has been a long time since I updated my blog. I apologize. The last weeks before Christmas went very fast with lots to do.

First things first, during El Puente (see previous post) Carmen and I visited the surroundings of Madrid by making trips to Toledo and El Escorial.

Toledo is a must-see but unfortunately I feel there are too many giris (tourists) wondering around. There are more souvenir shops than panerias (bakeries). Anyway, it is a good place to stock up Christmas presents and this is what we eventually did. The visit was made in company with Herman (pictured next to me in front of the famous Toledo cathedral) and his family who were visiting Madrid during the Puente. Other pictures include me with the Cruzcampo (beer) man and me inside the synagoge of Toledo.

The day we went to El Escorial was the two-year anniversary of me and Carmen. Some of you reading may remember the day we first met on the boat from Stockholm to Talinn, in the Aluminium bar on deck 7 – also known as the ‘fun deck’. The warm memories of that night were nowhere to be found in El Escorial – our chosen place of celebration. It was literarily freezing and – to make things worse – we had to wait one hour in a queue to get in!! But this didn’t spoil the festivities of the day as we could use our anniversary presents (a hat, scarf and thermos can) to the full extent!

El puente: Segovia!

Spain has something truly magnificent: el Puente. Puente translates to bridge and this is exactly what it means: a bridge between two days. This year the Puente lasted for three days as we celebrated two free days – separated by the Puente. This was followed by a weekend. In other words, we had five days off between the 6th and 10th of December.

Carmen and I had decided that we would visit Madrid’s neighbouring towns during these days in stead of making more exotic trips to for example Seville. Furthermore, we wanted to visit places with bridges as it would be a crime not to pay homage to these magnificent things that also bring free days down here in Spain.



Segovia was our first stop and I was expecting little. The weatherman (Paco) had told us that the Puente would be the first cold days of the year, but I wasn’t prepared for the big Freeze that was thrown at us! However, Segovia was great and certainly didn’t disappoint in the bridge department. Segovia houses the oldest standing and working aqueduct (ok, not exactly a bridge!) built in the 1st century during Roman occupation. It is a truly outstanding feat of civil engineering! As you can see it is also very good for jumping!

Further, Segovia has a nice Cathedral, an ancient city wall and a castle to go with it. We visited the complete town within three hours so we had some time to spare when Carlos – our Erasmus friend – came to meet us in the afternoon. We decided to go to one of the Royal palaces scattered around. La Granja is well worth a visit after opening hours as it boasts over some great garden landscapes. The gardens were covered with snow which reminded us all a bit of Sweden.

Glory Supporter

It's Friday! Those of you who read this blog regularly know what this means: it is China day! So it was off to the Chinese restaurant once again! By now the man knows us and I know the word for toilet in Chinese (thao che, or something similar..this is Chinese with a Spanish accent!)

Anyway, you might have noticed that I didn't place any pictures on the blog this week, and you might have been rather disappointed with this lack of artistic expression . I apologize. But it all has to do with my new passion in life: Atletico Madrid.

My good Erasmus friend Eduardo made himself very popular by offering me a free ticket for the match against Real Sociedad last Saturday. I had been waiting for this for four weeks. No, I had been waiting for this moment all my life. Estadio Vicente Calderon is literally a coins throw away (this is what you do to the opposition’s goalkeeper) from our flat the 'Pyramid' and the attraction towards this great football club is immense.

I have to admit to one thing though.

In my life I have been a passionate supporter of the following football clubs: Feyenoord (my best friend at school supported the club and so did I), Werder Bremen (beginning of the 90's a Kiwi played for this club and I was in my retro NZ period), Ajax (I thought Portuguese football player Dani was very attractive), Arsenal (I was a big fan of Dennis Bergkamp and Ian Wright - I even have a football shirt to prove this), Manchester United (my dad 'supports' the club because his colleague 'supports' the club, and so did I), ADO Den Haag (they were doing well in the first division so I supported them), Barcelona (needs no explanation), PSV (they were doing well in the league so I supported them), Celta de Vigo (this is the Galician club of Carmen's sister boyfriend - and good man - Alberto, I went to a match and passionately supported them) and most recently Tottenham Hotspurs (Martin Jol is coach)

But now I have finally found my new footballing love: El Atletí. After seeing the match I couldn’t think of anything else but Atletí. Fernando Torres is my new spiritual leader and the songs sung in the stadium have enlightened me forever. This is my club for life.

So big was my admiration that I decided to celebrate my new path in life with a few drinks accompanied by my fellow Atletí follower Eduardo. We were joined by some Real Madrid infidels but this didn’t change my mood. This night I had been reborn!

So what does this have to do with my camera? Happily we went through the night, taking the occasional picture and as we were heading to the end of the morning we entered the club Vendetta (rapidly replacing ‘the Trinity’ as my local pub/club!) where we kept on taking photographs until one girl dropped my Canon Ixus 65 on the dance floor! (I could have known this was going to happen!)

Luckily my camera was insured against this (how I really don’t know but I don’t have to pay any peseta’s) and I will get it back within a couple of weeks. So, until then you will have to do without pictures. Vamos Atletí!

Los Cenizas (The Ashes)

In Madrid I am living a life without cricket at the moment. Surprisingly enough 'Los Cenizas' (The Ashes) are very popular down here in Spain and going by the English achievements in Australia this is just as well!! I was desperately looking for a radio which receives Test Match Special but (luckily for Carmen as cricketmatches in Australia start at 01.00 in the morning European time!) none were to be found :-( Now watching highlights through the Internet is the only thing saving me from insanity...

Anyway, another week has past and fridays are always special days here at the office: its China day (el dia Chino). Every friday we make a small walk to the local Chinese restaurant and take the €5.85 menu (three dishes, a drink and a coffee!!). For starters I always go for the 'rollo primavera' (one of my favorite Spanish literal translations...closely followed by 'hora feliz'). The rest of the menu I leave open for change

I am now off to start my weekend, lets hope England improves down under! Hooray!!

Ire visit

This weekend we had an important visitor to The Pyramid: Irene, the sister of Carmen. She was in Madrid to do her opposition (exams in Spain to become a civil servant) exams. Up until now she has done better than expected and has reached level three. This is a serious achievement in your first year!

After her exams on friday and saterday morning it was holiday time for Irene and I benefitted with her. Visits mean city walks and other cool tourist stuff. During our walks through Madrid (which included: The Rastro market, Retiro Park and all the important 'barrio's' (neighborhoods)) I am proving to be quite the photographer of city life! Here are a couple of examples and I will be posting more! Keep your eyes open..

On Sunday evening we went to the very cool 'Viva Madrid' described by the Times as 'one of the best bars in the world'. This is certainly true as it is well decorated with ceramics. It is like having a drink in a museum. We recommend it highly!

Photos of Freds visit

This weekend us gatos (cats...Madrid slang for a real Madridlian) experienced the visit of Fred. The Erasmus crowd will recognize our French friend from the photos (below, girl on the far right!!). Normally Fred is doing an internship in Barcelona but after this weekend she discovered that Madrid is the real thing.




At the end of the night we witnessed something truely terrible. As 'Can I keep my hat on' screamed through the packed bar the locals started to take the lyrics literaly!! The man in the back (pun not intended!!) was outdone by his dancing partner, unseen on this picture. Even if she was visible she would not be published on this site. I do not have have a license for this.

Operation IKEA

There was a considerable amount of excitement in the office today. Not only was it Friday but the interns at Just Landed received a special task. We had to put together three IKEA desks in half an hour. The desks – by the way – were called ‘Jerker’ proving that the Swedes do not always get it right. I was made chief constructer of this operation on the basis that my father is an engineer and that I played with Lego up until the age of 13 years (that is 1 year more than advised by the Lego Company).

I used my newly obtained power to show Just Landed what I was capable of. Tammo, my German mate, was also relieved with this task. He remarked that it was the first time that he actually had to use his brain during his internship! All tongue in cheek of course although it was rather amusing seeing him sweat over a couple of screws!!

Mi hermano

My brother Pieter is a very funny man..he is a big clown!He writes: (Mi hermano Pedro es un hombre muy divertido...el es un payaso grande! El escribe:)

Hey Thoom, you know your writing style is like this: 'The small one likes me I think. Communications are slow, but after sharing coffee with my new Indian friends I feel increasingly like a native. Still no signs of reinforcements'

Of course my brother is referring to one of the great movies of all time 'Dances With Wolves' (Bailas con lobos) where Kevin Costner (Ltn. John Dunbar) often narrates sections from his diary describing his life on the prairie. During his lonely time at an outpost somewhere in the Wild West he slowly but surely integrates with the local Indian population. My brother – to my greatest of pleasure – often relives moments from this great movie by pretending he is Ltn. John Dunbar.

As a social scientist I love all social and cultural interactions. Here in Madrid I have noticed a few things. Chinese people try to sell everything to you especially at night. Anything from beers to umbrella’s to snacks to funny strange rocks that make noise when you through them up in the air. And the amazing thing: you end up buying them! Then there are the African immigrants who also want to sell everything in the street. This gang however concentrates on the selling of illegal DVD’s and CD’s. They have an inventive system. All the CD’s are laid out on a sheet. The sheet is connected to four ropes connected to each corner. When a policeman comes to close a process of communication starts which end with the seller pulling the ropes and running away. And the amazing thing: you end up buying the CD’s!

Various photos

Breakfast in Galicia
Sunset in Galicia Party in Galicia
Siesta in Madrid
Balconies in Madrid
Me with sun and tiles
Most important building in Madrid: Estadio Calderon de Atletico Madrid

Fin de Semana (Weekend)

This weekend was very nice. After finishing work on Friday (the boss had given us each a beer to enjoy the last hour of the week) I returned to the Pyramid (our house…named after our metro station) to find a happy Carmen. She had a nice day as she has started voluntary work at a NGO and this had gone well. The plan for the night was going out with Carmen’s Master classmates. We met in a nice neighborhood for going out ‘Malasaña’ (to be pronounced as ‘My Lasagna’). All communications were in Spanish. After staying at a rather cheap place we went to the rather cooler bar/club called Via Latica (Milky Way). It was totally packed and we enjoyed it there up to closing hours. After the Via we went to our last destination, some hard rock place close to the main street in Madrid. Not my cup of teas but I had a nice talk with the doorman who now knows my name.

Going out with Carmen's classmates

On Saturday we met up with Edu, Carlos and Lourdes (and her boyfriend Fernando). They came to the Pyramid and Herman was also present with his girlfriend (May..she was visiting from Malaga) so in the end we were with 8. It was very nice to see Lourdes again. We hadn’t seen her for two years or so and really fantastic to meet up. We promised to get together more often. At 01.00 we left for a club close by. The Vendetta was also packed to the bone but enjoyed anyway. Edu and I spent most of the night pretending to be English exchange students (with a heavy David Beckham accent) with some success. Fernando, Carmen, Me, Edu, Carlos and Lourdes

The Pharon de Pyramides, El Presidente de Erasmus, El Rey Carlos Trecero

My new daily rhythm

My starting point 'Piramides'

My Spanish classes have started in earnest now. Every morning between 10.30-12.30 I have two hours of intensive classes. The classes are OK although we are with a lot of students which means we don’t have a lot of actual speaking time. I have the feeling that I am a bit the granddad (abuelo) of the class. My classmates are (bar a few) all aupairs working in Madrid for posh Spanish family. Although their stories of these problem children are amusing I am already a bit bored of the exchanging of cooking tips and various techniques to lock a child in the kitchen cupboard. This Friday (the 10th) I had an exam and the teacher complimented me on my use of vocabulary!! How great, this week we move up a level.

After my classes I go to work at 13.00 until about 19.30. My work still consists of translating, writing and updating a Wiki database on embassies and consulates. This week I finished Canada and I will now translate Belgium. I think I will soon get some new projects and work to do. My workmates are nice and I mainly enjoy my lunches with a German (Tammo) and a Ecuadorian (Sebastian). They are also interns and on Wednesday we went to Tammo’s place for some drinks. Our Dutch boss also joined us and we stayed until 06.00. I was broken, took the first metro home and fell asleep in the metro. When I woke up I noticed that I had taken the wrong direction and was about 16 stops away from home! Mierda. Luckily I didn’t have to work the next day as we had a free day in Madrid (we have already had three in as much weeks!!) for no apparent reason.

My finish 'Diego de Leon'

Trip to Galicia - Cantas Vacas Tes

After scanning the Internet over and over again we found flights to Carmen’s native Galicia for only Eur.20! We booked them and a week later we were on the plane northbound. The flight was in the early morning and when we left home we were only one missed bus away from missing our plane! Luckily all our connections fitted and we made it just on time. The flight itself was only about 50 minutes and we touched down in Santiago de Compestella on Friday morning (the 3rd). It was freezing and coming from sunny and warm Madrid this was rather a shock. When leaving Madrid it had been raining again and the forecasts were not good for the weekend. Galicia can be cold and wet but at least there were no clouds.

On arriving in Santiago we took the bus south to Pontevedra. Although I was fighting with my sleepy eyes we could see all the damage that has been done to Galicia by a combination of pyromaniacs and heavy rain. Black trees washed away from the mountain lining the streets. It is sad to see such a beautiful area affected by the stupidity of man. Pontevedra looked more or less the same as my previous visits. Pontevedra is a nice medium sized town and is the home town of Carmen’s family. We met with Carmen’s dad (Manuel) on the central square, close to where he works and later with Carmen’s mum (Obdulia) who was having coffee with her workmates (she is a high school teacher of natural science and physics). There was a an ‘end of the week’ feeling for everybody. When the parents finished their works we had lunch and prepared for ‘the big move’.

Carmen’s family has a great beach house which is used nearly every weekend in the summer and increasingly in the winter. Luckily the weather had turned and we had great sunshine. On the way to La Lanzada we stopped in the village (a pueblo) of Meis. This is where Manuel’s family originates from. It is a typical village and gives you a good idea of how life would have been in Galicia a century ago. We dropped in for tea and had nice (Spanish) talks with Carmen’s grandmother (Carmen) and her aunt (Carmen…the female line of Carmen’s family at least doesn’t spring any surprises!!) I had brought some Dutch cookies as present and they were well received. After leaving Meis we arrived in the beach house were we relaxed for the evening.

On Saturday we woke up, had a nice breakfast on the terrace overlooking the beach, see and sunshine. We went to the port village of Sanxenxo and when we returned Alberto, the boyfriend of Irene (Carmen’s sister) had arrived for lunch and we had some delicious fish (to be followed by meat, potatoes and lentils…we were well taken care of, as always). Saturday night was the big night. There was a birthday party of two of Carmen’s friends in a penthouse flat on the centre square of Pontevedra, it was simply amazing. The party was going well with nice music, nice people (I knew quite a lot of them as I had met the friends on my previous vistis..the nice thing was that I could now really communicate and get to know them) and great food/drinks. Then, all of a sudden, someone decided to show their wedding video on a big screen and sadly the party tied the knot just like the couple on the TV screen. But we had a great time anyway. I impressed with my knowledge of the Galician language. I can now ask the question ‘Cantas vaca tes?’ which means as much as ‘How many cows do you have?’.

The following day we had some more relaxing to do, we went to the beach, had some drinks watching Celta de Vigo play Real Madrid (Celta won 2-1!!) in a trendy bar. After the match we sadly had to say goodbye to the family and head home to Madrid by bus. It was a night bus and took about 7 hours. On our return I had to go straight to Spanish class and work. But it was all worth it..what a great trip!

Now we are talking!

The weather has turned!!

This weekend was sublime! For the first time I got some sunshine and we are talking real sunshine! Temperatures rose up to 30 degrees and it was just like summer. It is nearly November and I can only guess how this city will be in July!

We decided to do some sightseeing so we went to the Royal Palace, the Opera building, Plaza Mayor etc. All the regulars. The collection of photos were taken during these days. The palace is really something else. It is right up there with the great palaces of the world. We secretly (and illegally) joined a Spanish tour (with paying, listening Italians..the woman got rather frustrated with them and happily included Carmen and me in the tour)

On Sunday we went to the market and there were more people than in China, it was crazy. The Amsterdam Albert Cuyp looks like a joke compared to this gigantic market full of legal, illegal, cheap, fake, expensive stalls. It is typical to go shopping (Carmen bought shoes...of course!) and then go for tostas ( long to seriously consider ordering. toasted bread with topping, the best: gambas with ailoli). Unluckily the queue for the tostas was too long to even seriously consider placing an order.

The weekend also saw the arrival of our flatmate, Herman. Good man. We are having dinners together, watching movies etc. He works for MicroSoft and knows a loooot about computers, actually..I think he is one. It is good that we get along. Together with a Belgium friend of his we watched the Argentinean movie 'Nuevas Reinas'. Although totally in Spanish and no subtitles I enjoyed it a lot and you should all watch it..

Bullfighting is like...cricket

Last week Carmen and I had won tickets to the Bullfighting in the majestic Plaza del Toros de Ventas. It was going to be the last bullfight of the year. We were all ready, not knowing what to expect. There was a slight drizzle when we arrived at the very impressive bullfighting arena. It seemed a bit quiet as only two Chinese tourist were trying to enter. We decided to go to the information desk where they told us that the bullfight had been....rained off!! Yes, the macho torreros turned out to be too vain to get wet! The pitch would turn into mud and the consequences would just be too much. Therefore the Bullfighting umpires had called time on the days play rather like they would have done at a cricket match. Next chance to see a bullfight? In the spring, when the weather is safe again..

A Hard Days Work

It has been just over a week now in Spain and it seems like a month. My work at Just Landed started on Monday and my first day was a bit of a disaster. I discovered that I had lost practically all my Dutch writing skills as this last year I have been doing all my writing in English. The first assignment on the job was translating a section of the website from English to Dutch. This proved more difficult than initially thought. Because of my English Master my Dutch has ‘anglicized’ and this made my translation tasks quite difficult. However I mildly recovered over the next couple of days. I got some other tasks and I feel I am learning a lot working with computers.

Through my work my days all seem a bit of the same. I get up at about 9.00, stumble to the shower and leave the flat around 9.30 with some Magdalenas (Delicious Spanish cakes ideal for fast breakfast) in my right hand. I take the 9.35 metro (see photos) at Piramides which is very close to my house and arrive at Diego de Leon exactly 18 minutes. Luckily I don’t have to change from my Green line (number 5) all the more because the Madrid metro is rather similar to an oven at the moment (I can’t even comprehend how it will be when summer closes in!). From the other end of the tunnel its just a short walk to the office.

After muttering ‘Buenas Dias’ to the ever present doorman (portero) I arrive at my desk around 10.00. This is also the time that the others arrive. We are with about 7 people in the office. Work finishes at 19.30 for me and we have a generous break for lunch around 14.30. There are some nice bars down in the street where it seems to be common to drink coffee (often with something extra in it – though not for me!!) and have a small sandwich (bocadillo).

I arrive home at 20.15 and at this time Carmen hasn’t returned from her uni yet. This means that I often crash on the couch and open a Mahou beer (Heineken on special days!) only to watch Blossom reruns on television (oddly enough they show this 90s TV show on prime time hours) with Spanish subtitles. After Carmen arrives we have dinner and then again watch more quality Spanish television with great shows such as Supermodelo (Spanish version of America’s Next Supermodel) or the doctor’s soap Hospital Central. All very good for my Spanish!

And that’s about my day! It doesn’t get more exiting than that! No, to be honest…it does. Life in a new city makes even these repetitive days exiting. The walking through the streets, the Spanish language in the subway and not to forget the exotic soap operas!

Picture contest

Those of you who visited Carmen and me in Amsterdam will remember our collection of especially handy crafted pictures. You will recall the beauty of simplicity that was portrayed. We had drawn (with typex on blue paper): a house, a boat, a pig, the sun, a fish, a tulip, a leaf and three snowy mountains.

For our new room in Madrid 8 more masterpieces were commissioned and it is now up to you to decide which one is the winner. Both of us made four so the contest is as follows:

Please vote for your favorite picture and also mention who you think made the winning picture. If you are really inspired you may try to guess all 8 pictures.

The closing date for entries will be the 15th of November 2006 at 00.00. The picture that receives the most votes will be the winner and there will be a lottery amongst those entries who voted for the winning picture. He or she will receive a souvenir from Madrid. Entries can be sent to me by email or posted on this site.

Good luck

Trip to the tropics

When you are in a foreign country even the boring daily stuff seem exiting. A trip to the supermarket becomes a trip to the tropics. He we see Carmen sporting our travel bag at the supermarket. It seems our neighbours plan their trip to the local super like they plan their holidays! Very much like waiting at the luggage reclaim if you ask me!

Mas Hechos Menos Palabras

Saturday was a day of firsts for me. Not only did I have my first (small) hangover it was also my first participation in a manifestation, or demonstration in my life. I know that this is a disappointing fact as a student of social science but I guess I never came round to it. The demonstration had been organized to raise awareness for poverty (in Spain and throughout the world). I felt rather uncomfortable taking pictures of this show of solidarity towards the poor with my new Canon Ixus 65 camera but I guess by publishing them on this website I am also contributing. Because it is a very important cause!! Did you know that of the 13 million Ecuadorians in the world 2 million have had to emigrate because of poverty? That the Nigerian government has stolen 624 Bln Euros during the last 20 years? That 80% of the people own 13% of the capital? Thats a tad unfair I say! So join the bandwagon and do something about it!

My personal bandwagon ended in the pub I´m afraid as our group decided that wine and beer would help our new cause, although I am not sure about the logic. It must be my juvenile comprehension of the Spanish language.

Night out

Thursday was mostly spent observing the rain and friday I went to Getafe, a suburb in Madrid where Carmens uni is located. She had class and I used the time to do important internet stuff. After class I met Carmens classmates (of Political Science) and it took some time before the subject became something non-political. However, things became more interesting in the bar close to the uni. Many of Carmens classmates came to have a drink and it was nice meeting them and very good for my Spanish. I even managed to work on my Galician as one of Carmens classmates is from Galicia. After the bar we went back home to drop some stuff and then proceeded to town. First a very nice bar (called Economico) where again many of Carmens classmates managed to be present. New to me is that with every drink you get a small tapas, often some obscure sausage or cheese, but nonetheless, very nice. The photo is of Carmens classmates in front of Economico.

After Economico we went to another place which was also nice, but crowded. I noticed that my spanish was improving by the hour. Or was it maybe the cerveza (local brew: Mahao) speaking? Either way Carmen and I decided to head home at about 3.30 as the group was entering yet another place. 3.30 is early in Spanish terms and when we met up the next day most of them had their final churros with chocolate (Spanish tradition after going out as Pieter my brother can confirm - its some sort of waffle with chocolate sauce and basically works as concrete in the stomach) at around 7.00.

That Sweet Erasmus Feeling

Barely a day in Madrid and we have already had a small Erasmus reunion with our Spanish Madridilians, Eduardo and Carlos. It was very nice to see them again. I met Edu on the day I arrived in the local pub and Carlos joined Edu and us for an Erasmus dinner on wednesday. Edu is in charge of all the international students and he had organized an Asturias (region in the north of Spain) dinner for Spanish and international students. As I am not the latter I fitted myself in the first group..the Spanish. The dinner reminded me, Carmen and Carlos very much of our dinners in Stockholm (for those of you who remember it was similar to the crayfish party except no hej lang gooooooaaarrr). Below you see Edu poring a drink Asturias style and me trying to imitate..spot the difference!

During the dinner - where I did my best to disguise my foreignness (I think I fooled a Polish student who thought I was a painter from Toledo) - Carmen and I won tickets to the bullfighting on Sunday. Now this is against my principles but I have decided to go anyway (this is what 80% of the Spanish say also, so I follow) so Sunday promises to be special although more rain has been forecast. I have been assured by the locals that it has never rained like this before..but then again, this comes from the same people who eat pigs ears as delicacy!

The photos below are of Carmen and me with firstly Carlos (still single girls..write me an email for his details!) and Eduardo ¨El Jefe¨.