Apartment Hunting

In general, looking for an apartment is quite challenging in Madrid. Why?
- The price is great but the quality and location sucks.
- The price and quality is great, but the location is horrible
- The price is as expected per the quality and location but the landlords are odd.

Depending on the landlord, the negotiation process can be quite extensive as well. Here is an example from our most recent search:

We found an apartment that is about 40 years old, on the 6th floor (more natural sunlight and less neighbors in front of you), has a terrace, is about 1000 sq ft. The price is extremely good, as long as there are some upgrades in the kitchen. The landlords are the owners and used to live in the house for 20+ years. Most of the rental market in Madrid includes furnished apartments, and these landlords had every intention of completely furnishing the house. We already have our own furniture, so we had to negotiate this with them. Here are the discussions we have had with regards to renting the apartment, in chronological order:

July 13: First time seeing the flat (doorman lets us in).

July 18: Meet the landlords at the house for the 1st time. (2 HRS)
1. Explain that we would be interested if they at least got a new stove. Kitchen was a bit scary.
2. Lots of chit chat so that they feel comfortable with us as potential tenants.

July 22: Filed paperwork with the prop management agency - We're approved!

July 24: 2nd meeting at the apartment with the landlords at the flat. (1HR) Agreed that:
1. they would work on the kitchen (which they decided to remodel!!!!)
2. they would only purchase 2 armoires, 1 twin size bed (they wanted to buy more)
3. we would call them on Aug 16th to see the progress. Target move-in date = Oct 1st.

Aug 17: We call them and they are still on vacation outside of Madrid. The furniture is in the apartment, but the kitchen floor was just finished and the rest of it is still in progress. We agree:
1. we will call them on Sept 1st when they are back in Madrid.
2. we each gave our word to the October 1st date.

Sep 1: We call them, no answer. 3 days of back and forth.
Sep 3: Their "For Rent" signs are taken down. Thank God!

Sep 9: 3rd meeting at the apartment. (1.5 HRS)
1. Kitchen - only the floors are finished. Design plan looks good.
2. Furniture is in place and looks good. They even got a diningroom table w/chairs
3. There was water damage in the main bedroom. They claim there was some work being done on the roof and that it was going to be taken care of. We hope so.

Sep 15: Time to call the landlords to find out if the kitchen has been remodeled so we can sign the contract. They do not want to sign until the kitchen has been finished, because otherwise they have not fulfilled on their side.

And we are 2 weeks away from October 1st...the original target!

El Rastro

I finally went to "El Rastro" today, which is a big outdoor fleamarket every Sunday in Madrid. There are thousands of booths with people selling hippie-like or Moroccan clothing, jewelry, lampshades, etc. Of course you can find a bunch of touristic items too, and in general much of the items there are of lower quality but you can get some good deals on pashmina scarfs and purses. You have to be very careful in this area as you are squished among the crowd to look at the different sales booths -- professional thiefs are looking for the right opportunity. Since I don't have any money, I'm pretty safe!

"Sara Bush"

I'm convinced that one of the best ways to get to know a city and its people is by checking out the hospitals. Unfortunately I've been to quite a few here in Madrid. I think my body is confused as to why I'm in a big city with real weather (4 seasons!). In any case, there is a bright side of these visits. I get to know different neighborhoods of Madrid as I walk all over the place to find these clinics and I now understand the private healthcare system in Spain.

But the best thing is you get insight into the culture as well. I notice that couples are together, young and old, supporting one another for doctors appointments. I have seen entire families waiting with their grandmother/mother/sister in urgent care, knowing that they could be there for hours. I'm sure many of them took the day off work to be there with their loved ones. And I noticed this for patients who didn't necessarily seem to have a life-threatening issue when they were in urgent care - they probably were in pain enough to not wait for an appointment a week later. In any case, the sense of "family" is strong and endearing.

Now that I have you in tears, let me share with you a completely surreal experience I had today. I went to urgent care today (because there aren't openings for an appointment for another week) because my wrist has been bothering me. Anyway, here is what happened:

1. They call me via intercom: "sara yunay ledifora to room 4, sara june ledenega to room 4"
2. I enter the room and see 2 doctors eagerly awaiting me to find out where I'm from (due to the weird name)
3. I explain that I'm American. More smiles and the other doctor now leaves, so it's just me and "my" doctor.
4. "Sara Bush!" he says with a stupid smile like he just made the most brilliant joke in the whole world.
5. I give him my xrays of the wrist and explain everything and he just wants to talk about Bush and anything American. He tells me he spoke rather good English at some time, which I totally believe considering how much he BUTCHERED my name.

Sara Bush. If I only could use my left hand/wrist, I would have put it to good use.

QUE VIVAN los RAIDERS

One of the games that Manuel bought (for his nephew - ahem) while in California was the "Mighty Helmet Racers". We figured we should break it open and "test" it to make sure it works before gifting it to his nephew. Manuel was the Eagles and I represented the Raiders. I guess I got a little into it, but it paid off! The Raiders KICKED the Eagles' tails...

Madrid Sunset

Isn't Madrid beautiful?

This photo was taking at the top of Hotel Oscar. It has a beautiful rooftop terrace with a pool, bar, tables, and lounge areas - all in a very modern design. This particular picture is looking down at the plaza in front of the hotel, in the "Chueca" district...which would be similar to our Castro district.

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.