Los Reyes Magos

It's almost "Reyes Magos" Day!!!
(Day of the Three Magi)

According to most forms of Christianity, the Magi were the first religious figures to worship Christ, and for this reason the story of the Magi is particularly respected and popular among many Christians. The visit of the Magi is commemorated by Catholics and other Christian churches on the observance of Epiphany, January 6.

If you remember the old testament, each magi came with a gift for the baby Jesus, as follows:

Baltazar: myrrh as a symbol of death (in the middle)
Melchor: frankincense, symbol of priestship (far left)
Gaspar: gold, symbol of kingship on earth (lower right)

Here in Spain, kids tend to receive gifts from the Reyes Magos (not from Santa Claus)!!! They write letters to the magi in hopes that they bring them gifts for having been good boys and girls. It's just like Christmas. January 6th is a national holiday and in the morning the kids open up their gifts that appear magically in the morning.

There is a large parade that is on the eve before, where the three wise men traverse the largest avenue of Madrid on their camels. The parade is just as large as our "Macy's Parade" or Thanksgiving parade. With true Spanish style, it all starts later than what an American would expect. The parade isn't at 12noon but rather at 6pm and these little kids are waiting out in the freezing cold until the Reyes Magos pass by to wave at them!

Each local neighborhood also has a parade, usually a few days before, where the 3 Magi arrive on a float and parade down the streets, throwing candies to the crowds. Here's a picture of our neighborhood's parade. Not nearly as exciting, but it's right in front of our house and we don't have to freeze our butts off to catch a few caramelitos...Yes...We were competing with the five year olds for candy...So what??!!

Don't translate literally...

This basically means "I'm sick and tired of soccer" or "I don't care about soccer" but if you translate it word for word, it really gives you a much nastier, visual image.

Boooo!!!

Mom went home today!!!

Here's us at the airport before she goes through the daunting security line. Fortunately this terminal is pretty small, so she only had a few people in front of her in line. I know she made it to Germany alright and probably in the next few hours she will be home.

It was kinda odd going home to the guest room to see it was empty! No more empty and half empty water glasses, unpacked suitcases or random shopping bags. Boo.

Christmas Lights in the City

Xmas lights above Calle Alcalá, heading towards Puerta Alcala

Momma, meet Paella. Paella, meet hungry Momma!

Mom's first paella valenciana!!!! It is great to have mom here for graduation and the holidays - her first time to see my life here in Madrid.

Of course, she loved the food and it seems like she thinks there are way too many statues for just one city!!! Oh yeah, and she hates that the bathroom light switch is always outside the bathroom (in the hallway or before you enter the bathroom door)...

DONE DONE DONE

Look at the new MBA snob.

Yes...you can hate me. I don't care.

As long as I'm done with business cases, I'm happy!

Momma Arrives!!!

She doesn't even look jetlagged!!! Impressive!

A GOOD Market

Comercial Villergas is a small market by Manuel's work that has really really good fruit, veggies, cold cuts (high-quality sausages, spanish ham, etc), and cheese. We were so surprised by the quality of the fruit and veggies that we have started to purchase more and more from them. They even do house delivery for free!!!

Happy Constitution Day

You can't please everyone. Here's a picture of an organized and peaceful protest in Puerta del Sol. The signs are anti-Franco and anti-Constitution - I still don't get it all. Basically it's people who are not in favor of Spain being one Spain, if I'm even right about that. It's too confusing and too sensitive of a topic to ask Spaniards because their civil war was in the 1930's.

Look at the sign; it says "you won't shut us up, neither fascists nor the king!" And inside the "NO" you can see the king's crown. The best part was the political hip hop on the stage with the big Republican flag (before the civil war, that is)

Long Weekend

This is a 3-day weekend, thanks to the Spanish Constitution. Even this clinic is on vacation!!!! The sign says to call the main hospital in case of emergency over the weekend. Gotta love Spain's respect for relaxing on your day off!

By the way, all the updates or changes on this sign are made with gauze strips!

Telefónica HQ

I had the pleasure to go to Telefónica's headquarters here in Madrid. I knew the offices were big, but WOW. I am so amazed!!!

The entire campus (at least 6 buildings) is about 3.5 years old, with modern architecture. It's practically a city in itself and has very similar social benefits like you can find in Silicon Valley corporations - on campus dry cleaning, pharmacy, doctors, etc. The campus is in the outskirts of Madrid, so they want to create aconvenient atmosphere for the employees.

Anyway, I am so amazed, not only about the buildings but also the people that I met. Incredible!

Thanksgiving in Madrid - Gobble Gobble!

This was our first Thanksgiving dinner in Madrid. We invited about 20 people to our house, all from different walks of life. Good thing we have a bigger flat!

We got a 6.5 kilo turkey (a little over 14 lbs) that took a little over 4 hours to cook. I started cooking everything around 2pm:
- candied yams
- stuffing
- turkey with cranberry glaze
- veggies
- pumpkin corn bread muffins

Plus, I made everything from scratch and gluten-free so Manuel could eat it all. Nothing like challenging yourself. My first turkey, my first time doing every single damn Thanksgiving recipe (and in Celsius, not Fahrenheit), and 20 people waiting to find out about my culture's tradition. No sweat...

Fortunately the turkey turned out tender and juicy, all the other dishes were yummy, and everyone seemed to have a really good time. There was one point in the night that our electricity went out on us...I guess I can't use the oven, the stove, and the microwave all at the same time. Oops!

Overall, Thanksgiving was a success and I'm excited to keep on with the tradition the next years to come!

Thanksgiving in Madrid - Pick up the Turkey!!

I finally found a "muy guapo"turkey at the market down the street!! I thought it would be much more difficult than it actually ended up being, but thankfully there are enough Americans here in Madrid for me to find a nice turkey. The only difficulty I had was finding one that was a reasonable cost (6.5 kilos and it cost almost 30 euros), and at any market you have to request the turkey one day in advance.

Since I don't have a car and it would be a bit difficult to carry this heavy turkey home in a plastic bac, my friend offered to help me pick it up with his motorcycle.

This is the first time I've ever taken a bird home on a bike, with no helmet (the bird, not me)!

El autobús

I love this sticker that is on the bus. It has taken me almost a year to realize that this sticker is on every bus, and it's absolutely the best. A great visual of "Beware of pickpockets!"

The other day I saw on the news a piece about pickpockets in Spain and it was amazing to see normal looking people sifting through others' purses (on the bus or in the metro) without that person having even a clue. When you come to Madrid, watch your stuff!

Election Day

Yesterday I was so excited about the elections and how it would turn out. I went out with friends to Hard Rock Cafe for some American BBQ ribs and then went to a "Democrats Abroad" Party that was at the Círculo de Bellas Artes. What a perfect night - hang out with a bunch of other Americans and watch the elections from 1am to dawn. Interestingly enough, I would estimate that about 40% of the people at the party were not American. We crammed into the entrance until the bodyguards would let us into the venue, where the press was already inside to get the right snapshots and videos. Big, flat TV screens were on each floor and on the main floor there was also a live band. By about 3am, I decided to go home and sleep and wake myself up in a few hours to check out the progress. At 3am here, still less than 1% of the votes had been in. So at 7am I woke up, crawled to my laptop and found out that Obama had already given his acceptance speech. Amazing!!! I spent the next 15 minutes looking at statistics and videos on CNN.com and then went back to bed.

It's a little bit odd to be outside of my country for such a historic event. I am not sure it has even completely "hit me" that we now have, for the first time, a black president and what that means for American culture. It's just incredible and, well, about time. I am excited to see what new changes will be in store for U.S.of A.