Back in Madrid

First night back in Madrid! I arrived at 8:30 this morning and slept through the entire day. I thought I was going to sleep for just 20 minutes, but jetlag tricked me! Anyway, we decided to go to "La Latina" neighborhood to check out the "Verbena de la Paloma", which is a street festival that celebrates the patron saint of Madrid, Saint Paloma. Apparently this festival is rather similar to all of the little town festivals. People get dressed up in traditional Spanish dress from the specific area that they live (Madrid, Valencia, etc) and parade in the streets. The streets are blocked off for the festival, and are decorated with lights and paper runners. Booths with food and games are placed on each side of the street.

CAMPEONESSSSSSS

ESPAÑA winssssss!!!!

Amazing! My best memories of the night:

Running down to Plaza Colón and Cibeles where thousands and thousands of people are chanting any national song they can think of. Everyone is family. Everyone is happy. Red and yellow all over the place...flags, shirts, torero outfits, cheap beer, and people dancing in the fountains.

Here's a picture of a guy dressed up as a torero, and his torito was the water bottle on the street. His friend would kick the water bottle towards him and OLE - the water-bottle-toro passes by him. OLE!!! Only in Spain.

Spain vs. Russia (semifinals)

Sí PODEMOSSSSSS!!!!!

Spain reaches the semi-final, playing against Russia. We had a group of 20 or more at a bar to watch the game and it was fantastic!!!!!! We were a mix of different nationalities, all supporting España, with red and yellow shirts, painted faces, and the flag on our shoulders. And Spain didn't let us down!!! They beat Russia 3-0.

TOMAAAAAA!!!!!!!

Spain Plays Again Tonight

I'm already nervous. I found any red clothing that I can wear during the day to give good luck to the Spanish team. I even have my red hat with a torito on it. My cousins are in town too, so they will get to go to their first Eurocup game in a bar - I hope I can paint their faces...

One thing I have learned about Spanish sports culture, or at least what a few Spaniards have explained to me. They naturally default to not believing that they will win and criticize every detail. But the minute they win, wow - they are extremely proud! And you see this "I told ya so" attitude all of a sudden appear. It's really funny. I saw Manuel transform from a calm person watching a football game to a "TOMA, TOMA, ESTO SÍ ES ESPAÑA!" yelling Eurocup fanatic.

QUE VIVA ESPANA

Spain vs. Italy
1-0

0-0 tied until the penalty kicks and then sudden death.

This is a historic night for Spain, who hadn't beaten Italy in a major competition since the 1920 Olympics and had, bizarrely, lost three previous penalty shootouts on the particular date of June 22 - at the 1986 World Cup, Euro 96 and the World Cup in 2002.

Lo, Lo, Lo,
Lo, Lo, Lo, Lo, Lohhhhhh

QUE VIIIIIIVAAAA ESPAÑA!!!!

Holland vs. Russia

While walking randomly around Fuencarral area, we popped into a bar called "Patatus" to watch the Holland / Russia game. The bar wasn't overly crowded - since Spain wasn't playing - but it was the perfect place to watch the game. It was a great game: Russia ended up winning right near the end, which I'm sure made quite a few people in Holland weep.

The bar's most popular item on the menu is a platter of french fries or "patatas", as you may be able to guess from its name. Check out how big this plate was!!!!

Inditex Tour

I signed up for a tour to go visit Inditex, the largest fashion/apparel distributor in the north of Spain. In fact, Inditex has well over 8 brands that are internationally known, and most people would recognize the brand "Zara". I know, they spelled my name wrong...I'll tell the CEO next time I see him.

Inditex's HQ is in a little town in Galicia (Arteixo, Spain) that from what I can tell is mainly used for industrial reasons. It's about 20 minutes away from La Coruña, the capital of Galicia that is also an important port for Spain. Anyway, the Inditex Tour that we had was guided by the Director of Communications and consisted of the following areas specific to the Zara brand: Design, Pattern, Cutting, Finishing, Packaging, Logistics.

Design / Pattern: The bus takes us to the first building where all of the designers and country managers sit. The buildings are open and modern, with tall white walls and open floor plan so that managers can easily talk to each other to transfer information as quickly as possible.

Cutting: The bus now takes us across the street to another large building where the fabric that has been chosen is now cut into the pattern's different pieces. These two ladies sit allll day at a computer playing a Tetris-like application to put all of the pieces of fabric so as to maximize the usage of the fabric. Poor girls!

Finishing: Zara does not handle any of the sewing themselves; it's all outsourced to a company close to town that sews all patterns within 48 hours and sends it back to Zara's facilities. Then the Finishing team (think of dry cleaners) give the clothing the final shaping before it goes on the hangers. Some of this is somewhat automized with large machines whereas in other cases, the inside lining of jackets and such must be "finished" by hand. What is "finished by hand?". It's ironing. As simple as that.

Logistics: Now that the clothes are curvy and such, and on hangers - it's time to distribute them to the right stores and prepare to send off in trucks/planes to anywhere in the world. The building is as big as 7 soccer fields...insane! The employees use bikes here just to get around. There are various mechanisms to ensure the clothing (each style, size, color) go to the appropriate store (over 1,600). It's absolutely amazing to see the amount of clothing that is flying on hangers through this building and how well it is managed to ensure quick delivery time to each store.

All in all, the tour was absolutely amazing and we were all impressed with the information shared and how Zara functions so centrally from Spain. And the best part was we got a free tshirt.

Strike, we're all out!

I'm just starting to understand the power or European unions. Apparently all truck drivers went on strike, which means any products that are transpoted by those truck drivers are not reaching the shelves of many stores. Think of products like - ummm FOOOD!!!! I just went to the supermarket and you see half of the shelves are empty. Fortunately the wine shelves were still stocked...

And the week begins...

With my homework for Monday classes adding up to 130 pages including financial exhibits. What a way to start the week! I'm doing my best to speed-read/speed-analyze so I can be awake in class tomorrow.

After class our workgroup will be studying together until 8pm because we need to practice a mock exam that takes 4 hours. Then after 8pm I can start on my individual homework.

I love school. I love school. When is the next weekend? Focus. Focus. I love school. I do, I do, I do!

Bullfight

When in Madrid...

Had to go to a bullfight. But you have to do it right - for the complete experience.
1. Go to the plaza early in the morning to buy tickets
2. Check out the Museum and the guys getting ready to choose the bulls
3. Eat Bull's Tail for lunch - it's delicious in fact.
4. Go to the bullfight!

I haven't decided exactly how I feel about the bullfight. Thanks to my excellent Spanish guide, I could understand how Spaniards appreciate the bullfight as an art. Thanks to my California hippy upbringing, I felt more for the bull than the torero.

In fact, at one point I thought the bull's name was "Jorge". But Manuel burst out in laughter because what I heard was the torero trying to get the bull's attention by yelling "HO HEY". It reminded me of our joke about "Jose, can you see?" By the way, for you hippies that are worried, the real name of the bull was "Carasucia", which means "dirty face".

I didn't realize that in each bullfight, there's not just one bull that they fight/kill (depending on if you think like a Spaniard or Californian). There are three matadores or toreros and each one of them gets to fight 2 bulls. That means in one bullfight event, you will see 6 bulls in total. Interestingly enough, the spectators are most interested in whether or not the bullfighter is able to accurately determine how the bull will react to each type of "pase" that he does, how he manipulates the situation to get the bull as close as possible to his body, etc. There is a president that sits in a special balcony and he evaluates the bullfight. If it seems that the bull is not appropriate for whatever reason, he has the right to tell the matador to let the bull go back to the stalls. Keep in mind that the bull was chosen pre-event because of certain characteristics. So if this bull is not "bravo" enough, it was a bad choice and the president has governance over deciding.

There are rare times where the bull is like Bruce Willis in "Die Hard". In those cases, the bull is saved and never goes to a bullfight the rest of his life. He is considered a super-bravo bull and I guess it goes down in bullfight history. The people do wish for the bullfight to be artistic or the appropriate performance. For example, a bullfight that lasts a long time does not necessarily mean that the bull is super bravo. It may mean that the torero is prolonging the fight, and therefore the bull's suffering, for unnecessary reasons. In these cases, the spectators boo the torero because it is unjust.

When a bull dies in the event, the spectators show their respect by standing up as they take away the bull. The applause given by the spectators explains how much they value the bull and the torero. The first applause is for the bravery of the bull, the second applause is for the torero. If you don't hear much applause in any one of those, then you can guage how much the people believed either party performed.

Will I go back? mmmm. Not sure. But I did like that Bull's Tail plate.

Nuns of Cloister

Ok. I had to look up the word "cloister" in English just to write this blog. Anyway, I have a short story on our quick visit to Lerma on the way home. Lerma is a town north of Madrid that has a huge palace and monastery that define the old part of the town and the nuns of cloister have a bakery there. Let me describe the experience.

We enter the side of the monastery and there is a menu with words I have never seen. I'm in line and everyone is buying their cookies/bizcochos/pastries at the wall where there is a round-a-bout shelving system. I get to the wall and you can't see the lady on the other side, but she has a sweet, and young voice. As I don't know what I'm buying, we ask her to explain what each item is, on the 2nd shelf. Mind you, I still don't know what "cloister" means in Spanish. We tell her we are interested in buying "mostachones" and she tells us the price. I'm confused, but Manu saves the day and puts the money down on the first shelf and tells her that we have put it down because otherwise she has no idea. She turns the shelf around, picks up the money, then turns the shelf again to give us our change.

I noticed that this was a weird system and it would be a lot easier if we could just see the lady because facial expressions can help you a lot. I mentioned to Manu once we got outside that "wouldn't it be better if they had a little window so you could more quickly finish the transaction? I wanted to tell her that but I decided not to."

Manuel looks at me, a bit horrified, and repeats to me - "but Sara, they are in cloister!"
Sara - "Yes you said that but what does that mean?"
Manuel - "That they have dedicated their life to the monastery and never leave / see others."

Good thing I didn't open my mouth.


Some more info: Cloistered nuns observe "papal enclosure" ^[9]rules and their monasteries typically have walls and grilles separating the nuns from the outside world. The nuns rarely leave (except for medical necessity, or occasionally for purposes related to their contemplative life) though they may have visitors in specially built parlors that allow them to meet with outsiders. They are usually self-sufficient, earning money by selling jams or candies or baked goods by mail order, or by making liturgical items (vestments, candles, bread for Holy Communion).

Easter Processions

Easter processions here are rather interesting. We managed to go to the ones in Bilbao, Burgos, and Madrid. Of course, these are really long processions so we just hang out long enough to see the virgin or Jesus and then we go get dinner.

The first thing that shocked me was the religious brotherhoods wear robes and caps that make them look like KKK to me. It really scared me at first and I had to make sure I could translate that image into a positive one. The picture above is a good example. In any case, here are some quick, interesting tidbits about Easter processions:

1. Usually one brotherhood is responsible for the procession on a given night (this goes on for the whole week). The other brotherhoods are in the procession too but they aren't holding the relics.

2. Depending on where you live and what the tradition is, the brotherhoods might be carrying the relic on their shoulders (imagine 12 guys underneath and on the sides). In Bilbao for example, the really heavy statue with San Juan had wheels below it and the brotherhood still carried it but did not have the entire weight to carry. However, the virgin was carried directly on the shoulders for hours.

3. Apparently in some pueblos, the brotherhoods aren't in charge of the procession and rather people PAY money to carry the virgin on their shoulders. I was told that in this case, the town has an auction and people pay thousands of Euros to have this pleasure.

4. In Madrid we even saw a guy who had his feet chained and was barefoot. Ok, now for me this is sacriligious considering it's still cold outside!!! Manuel explained to me that in this case, most likely this person was a prisoner (not for a serious crime) and they have let him free in Easter week / forgiveness and all that jazz. So he has to walk the procession barefoot and chained.

Guggenheim, Guggenheim

Next on the trip was Bilbao - the most important industrial city in Spain. When we arrived, it was freezing cold there, much colder than in San Sebastian. So we had to be strategic with our day planning to make sure that we used public transport to the fullest (tram, bus, metro).

Most of our visit was focused on the Guggenheim museum, and believe it or not, we were probably in the museum for about 6 hours total. If I remember correctly, there are 3 main floors in the museum, with more than 8 exhibition rooms on each floor. Outside of the museum there is a large flower sculpture of a Yorkshire Terrier, another metal sculpture of tulips, and others that we didn't walk to because it was too damn cold. The 2 main expositions were "300 years of Art in America" and "Surrealism". The permanent exposition is a bit difficult to describe without a picture -- it's humongous pieces of metal that are formed into spirals and other forms and you walk inside of them. Imagine that there are 12 foot high walls of metal all around you and you walk through the path to find that it's just a wavy path or it's a spiral and all of a sudden you are in the middle of it. Pretty cool.

San Sebastian

This city is absolutely breathtaking. As a Californian, the only reason I could have for not wanting to live here is that it rains a lot and the breeze from the Atlantic can be quite cold. I can learn to deal with it though! I can, I can!

The people in the North of Spain are very proud to be a part of their community, and there is a longstanding disagreement of their inclusion as a province of Spain. Without getting too much into the details, basically some of them feel strongly that they should be completely independent of Spain as its own country. It is unfortunate because in this area (widely speaking) there is a group, called ETA, that supports this cause with terrorist acts. For many Spaniards this is a difficult topic to discuss and as you can imagine, political views range across a wide spectrum. Now that I have scared you, onto the cool stuff.

My top 5 for San Sebastian:
1. The balconies were so beautiful. The horizon of the city is varied with beautiful coppolas, french-style balconies, and large intricately carved wooden doors.
2. The food. Oh man, the food. If I could just replicate some of the plates we were served, I would be that much happier.
3. The bay. Walking by the bay is really nice. I have to say in many ways it made me miss San Francisco.
4. Chillida open air museum. I like to call this the "rocks and metal in the ocean". What is best about it is the symbolism that these "rocks and metal" are windcombs, literally combing the wind that comes through. But my favorite part was the windholes that you can stand on. Once a wave hits, hold on tight because it's a strong wind!
5. Casco Viejo. Most cities in Spain have a "casco viejo", which is the old part of town. San Sebastian's casco viejo has tiny cobblestone streets with millions of tapas bars. It's just nice to walk around, pick and choose which bars to enter and of course, people watch!

Semana Santa Vacation - North of Spain Roadtrip

What's on the agenda?

1. No books, no talk of business plans, no studying. No work for Manu.
2. Rent a cheap car with PepeCar and drive up to the North of Spain.
3. Eat lots.
4. Check out San Sebastian, Bilbao, and Burgos -- and anything else on the way that is of interest.

If you check out the map, all of the little blue spots in the North of Spain are where we drove to, and many of the smaller towns in those areas we also visited. The landscape varies quite a bit and is beautiful. Since it tends to rain a lot in the northern part of Spain, the land is very green and lush. We of course caught a bit of the rain and a lot of the COLD fronts, but it was still a great trip. Of all of the cities that we went to, San Sebastian was our favorite. The city is absolutely gorgeous with a beautiful bay, detailled balconies, and scrumscious food. It's a good thing we don't have a scale at home because I'm sure we would be depressed by how much weight we have gained. The food was THAT good.

We are now back and it seems surreal to have to return to work / school. Well, it's not surreal. It just plain sucks. But life goes on and we'll get more vacation soon enough. I hope!