November 2007 Archives

Just returned from 3 nights near Geneva, Switzerland over the Thanksgiving holiday with a few American family members, some Brits, and one Spaniard.

3 of us (the one Spaniard, a Brit, and I) flew easyJet from Madrid to Geneva Switzerland last Thursday morning from Madrid Barajas Airport and had a nice, smooth, 25% full flight. The price was the same as my previous easyJet flight to Geneva - 64 Euros! CHEAP!

At the Geneva Airport we passed through customs in minutes and received our checked luggage within 2 more minutes. How fast! Someone was waiting for us on the other side and we immediately took our money from the ATM.

After arriving home and saying our hellos we sat down to a light lunch in anticipation to a HUGE Thanksgiving dinner. Unfortunately it was raining nearly all Thursday and Friday but was merely cloudy on Saturday. Finally, of course, on Sunday morning - our last day there - the sun came out a bit and we could FINALLY see the Swiss Alps and other beautiful Swiss mountains rather clearly.

The Thursday, 7pm Thanksgiving dinner was a site to behold and a spectacularly set table with. In total we were 7 persons and just fit around the table. The turkey, perfectly cooks and MOIST, had to be ordered several days before because, apparently, in Switzerland you can't simply walk into the supermarket and select one. My visiting cousin has a background in professional cooking and her know-how made the meal even better than it already was.

No turkey-basting took place. Instead, the turkey itself was covered in bacon strips and the entire pan was topped with an aluminum foil umbrella. The turkey came out moist and tasty!


Along with the delicious turkey we had a mountain of mashed potatoes, green beans, sweet potatoes covered in marshmallows, a huge pan of hand-made stuffing, cranberry sauce "imported" from the USA, and for dessert we had 2 home-made pumpkin pies and zucchini cake.

WOW! What a meal! And everything was VERY "American" with the exception of the French red wine. We all enjoyed it, including our lone Spaniard and collection of Brits and slept very well that night.


The rest of the visit consisted of visits to the nearby Chateau for wine tasting from the grapes grown in the adjacent vineyard, walks in the country between the sugar beet fields, trips to the huge grocery stores, visits to Swiss Rolex Watch stores to dream, a visit to a downtown Geneva Swiss chocolate shop called LADERACH: Chocolatier Suisse  where they make the chocolate there (I bought three boxes of chocolates for gifts), and a walk around old downtown Geneva.

We stopped in a village outside of Geneva which was so beautifully picturesque (I don't recall the name of the town now) where we took some photos and walked up to the choppy water of Lake Geneva.



The easyJet flight home was MUCH fuller - probably 80% - but we still managed to have our aisle and window seats towards the back of the plane where there was more space. The flight our of Geneva and over Switzerland was just beautiful. The clouds parted from time to time to reveal BEAUTIFUL snow covered mountains. We had much more turbulence on this flight and were asked to remain seated much of the 1 hour 45 minute flight.

We arrived to Madrid Barajas, got our checked bag quickly, and two of us took the metro home without problem. The other took a taxi.

In all it was a nice, easyJet trip with family and friends, good food and wine, picturesque Swiss villages, expensive Swiss mansions gawking, some brisk walks in the country, and lots of playing dominoes to pass the extra time. It's so great easyJet provides inexpensive flights to so many interesting destinations.

About 7 weeks have passed here in Madrid with nothing but clear, sunny skies. This is great when out and about. I particularly love cool temperatures and those blue blue skies.

The oddity is that it USUALLY rains during this time of year. In fact, "the experts" are worried again about the possibility of a long-term drought as we had here JUST last year! The reservoirs were at 20-something-percent then and, well, if we don't start getting some serious rain we'll be returning to that. Reservoirs here now are at about 63%.


Sunday night I did two loads of laundry and got up early Monday to hang out the clothes. Cloudy. Grrrr!!! I take the clothes upstairs to the roof to hang and, of course, there's the neighbor's clothes hanging there, dry for (no doubt) 3 or 4 days. So the 3 "good" wires are taken. Fine. It's cloudy anyway.

20 minutes later I'm just finishing hanging the last clothes. And then it hits me - LITERALLY! SLEET (frozen rain) begins falling from the sky. First lightly - AND THEN SERIOUSLY. Wonderful. I debate for a moment if I should take all the laundry down, including two sets of sheets, before leaving for the gym. Hmmm... "Nah.. It'll probably blow over soon."

So I pack my mini-umbrella into my gym bag - just in case - and I'm off to the gym. The sleet continues to fall but lightly. Good. It seems I made the right decision. (uh-huh. Just wait)

So there I am at the gym having a good workout. I'm about halfway through and notice people standing at the windows which stretch the entire length of the second floor gym. "What's going on?" I wonder - but I don't wonder long because I look out the windows on my other side of the gym to see the rain falling in sheets, just falling and falling and falling. Everyone's happy, amazed, and no-doubt some of them are WISHING they'd brought their umbrellas. "I brought mine," I remembered.

By the time I was finishing up my workout, 20 minutes on the treadmill next to the windows, I watch one person after next running from the gym for their cars with their jackets over their heads, gym bags over their heads, or just running. I see all this and remember the damp laundry I just hung on the wires 3 hours before which is no doubt, by now, MUCH MORE than damp. Hmph!

The workout's over, I'm dressed, and leave the gym pulling out my mini-umbrella to shield me from the (now) light rain.

I like this umbrella because it's one of those mini-umbrellas, black, light, takes up no space, and it does its job. The thing I DON'T like about it is that on every alternating "web" it sports the word "BENIDORM".

The BENIDORM umbrella was bought in, you guessed it, BENIDORM when visiting there last March. I was only there a very short time but there was rain in the forecast so I stepped into one of "Los Chinos" stores near the hotel and bought one just-in-case. They had a number to choose from but I thought since I was there I'd buy the Benidorm-named one as a kind of souvenir. Fine.

But now, everytime I pull out this umbrella here in Madrid I feel kind of strange, almost embarrassed. Me, obviously a NON-Spaniard and with the face I have, I'm CERTAIN all the Spaniards look at me carrying this umbrella as, SURELY, a rich Englishman who's certainly vacationing every year in Benidorm or, who knows, OWNS a second house there along the beach. But if all that was true, WHY would I be living here IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD?

Of course my worries are unfounded as I haven't polled anyone on the street. But IF I had stopped 10 Spaniards on the street while I'm carrying my Benidorm and ask them, "What do you think when you see me carrying this umbrella in Madrid?" the answer would've been, "Well, I imagine you're English and got your umbrella in Benidorm." A LOGICAL answer, of course, but would they have thought anything had I not asked them in the first place?? Probably not. My manias.

These are the kinds of things foreigners-in-a-foreign-land think when walking the streets. They think people are staring at them, talking about them, or even avoiding them. I think this is probably not the case most of the time but we, the foreigners, THINK this is the case because we feel like sharks swimming in a fishbowl full of goldfish - so obviously out of place.

The rain stops on my walk home so I happily put away my umbrella. When I get there I go up to the rooftop and take down the lighter clothes like the underwear, socks, and wash and dust rags. They're all more damp now than before. I leave the sheets, pants, and T-shirts. All the smaller items I have strewn about the house and now, 24 hours later, they're dry.

But I write you on Tuesday morning and it's been raining all night long. I should go upstairs to check that the now-water-heavy sheets aren't dragging on the rooftop floor. I should also bring down the T-Shirts and hang them around but the water will likely drip everywhere. What a pain in the A$$. I try to remember it's not USUALLY like this - but I'm STILL HAPPY it's raining.

ALSO READ the "2007 Madrid Drought Recovery" entry from August 2007 - and see how things have changed since then.

November 20, 1975: The day the dictator of Spain, General Francisco Franco, died. This day is an important day in the history of Spain.

I'm sort-of watching the weekly 1-hour TVE1 Spanish television drama series "Cuéntame Cómo Pasó", a popular series which takes place during Spain's transition from dictatorship to democracy in the mid 1970s. It's loved in Spain by mainly older generations - or at least by people older than 45 years old, those which remember how it was before and how Spain became shortly after Franco's death. Most people enjoy the nostalgia of the show. But these weeks, approaching the 32nd anniversary of the dictator's passing, the show is focusing on his failing health and eventual passing into...another life. (bet it's hot down there!)

Believe it or not - okay, you believe it because this is the internet and almost anything goes here - there's a website dedicated to Generalisimo Franco's memory @ http://www.generalisimofranco.com/ . I hesitate even mentioning such a website but the fact is that its internet presence is astounding but, as said before, not surprising. Here on the internet you'll even find entire communities centered around the most absorbent diapers - not a bad comparison is you ask me.

This coming weekend there'll be a march from Madrid's city center by General Franco's followers, supporters, and (probably) skin heads to the Valle de los Caídos - the self-designed tomb by and for Franco. The march will go all night and likely arrive at the tomb by sunrise, all the while marching in military step - the way Franco would have wanted it. Soon, as I understand it, the tomb will be converted from a testament to Franco and the fascist regime to a monument to ALL of Spain's victims during the Spanish Civil War and the long, hard, destructive aftermath.

Every year it's the same on this day. You get a mix of fascists, skinheads, and the rival communists, anti-fascists, and love-thy-neighbor groups butting heads, surely reaching a boiling point resulting in riot police, molotov cocktails, fights, and on-metro stabbings among rival gangs.

A word to the wise, if you were thinking of going to downtown Madrid during the demonstrations this coming weekend - DON'T. You'll be glad you didn't.

....is what esteemed King Juan Carlos of Spain said to Hugo Chavez, President and dictator wannabe of Venezuela.

The phrase is now a sound-bite, a catch-phrase tossed around in Spain in as much as Bart Simpson saying, "Eat my shorts!" in the United States. And while catch-phrases have a limited shelf-life they always stay in our minds, pulled out of the catch-phrase-drawer whenever pertinent.

King Juan Carlos got his start in Spain as appointed by another dictator - a Spanish one - General Francisco Franco. Franco thought his "image of Spain" would carry on through the new King Juan Carlos - and maybe the new king even believed it himself at the beginning. But the fact is that after Franco died, the King turned Spain around 180º and took his country from a poor, fascist-ruled Spain to a constitutional monarchy, and then to a democracy. For this, the vast majority of Spaniards love him for his help - even if many don't love him for his position.

The "¿Por qué no tel callas?" remark came from a visibly angered King of Spain to Venezuela's Hugo Chávez last week on the last day of the Ibero-American Summit in Santiago, Chile, a.k.a the "XVII Cumbre Iberoamericana - Chile 2007".

Attendees included heads of State from Spain, Portugal, and the former American colonies of Spain including Venezuela, Bolivia, and and all the rest.

I listened to and watched 3 minutes of video of the summit and the exchanges which took place. Watch the video below - it includes English subtitles.



In short, all heads of state had their allotted time to make statements at the summit. Hugo Chavez spoke for 26 minutes, outlasting his 5 minute time allotment. How does this happen? Chile's president, Michelle Bachelet, was conducting the forum - and not doing a very good job as you'll see in the above video. She barely interjected once or twice requesting everyone to respect each persons time to talk.

Next, Spain's socialist party President José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero had his alloted time -  but he hardly touched his prepared speech because Hugo Chávez continuously interrupted him, asking questions and making statements like former Spanish President José María Aznar is a fascist and that "fascists are not human. A snake is more human."

Throughout the interruptions Zapatero attempted to continue with his speech and reply to comments made by Chavez but without success, repeatedly demanding respect from Chavez for his time to speak.

And then it happened....  El Rey Juan Carlos, the King of Spain leans in and says those 5 words which are plastered everywhere across the media including print and internet, "¿Por qué no te callas?" as a grandfather might say to a disruptive child at the family dinner table.

First, let me state for the record that I am not a Hugo Chavez supporter nor do I agree with the direction he hopes to take his country.

I've watched the video above several times and I find fault with three persons:

1. Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela
   
2. King Juan Carlos, King of Spain
   
3. Michelle Bachelet, President of Chile

1) Hugo Chavez is loud, outspoken, not skilled in the ways of diplomacy, and a bit of a sensationalist. He was speaking out of turn, making accusations and insulting the previous conservative Spanish President José María Aznar, calling him a fascist.

2) King Juan Carlos loses his cool, lowers himself to the level of Hugo Chavez, breaks diplomatic norms and disrespectfully tells another head of state to shut up - something one should never ever do no matter the circumstances, no matter the head of state, no matter what.

3) Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, supposedly in charge of the summit, allowed Chavez to continue with his interruptions, rarely saying a word, lost control of the summit, and did nothing to keep people to their allotted times.

The man on the street and many talk show hosts are applauding the King of Spain for his reaction but I cannot support this. These are diplomats. Diplomacy is necessary. A cool head is necessary. RESPECT is paramount in these summits and within politics.

Shortly after the king's "expression", Spanish President José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero took over and gave a short, eloquent, and forceful speech - without hardly raising his voice - DEMANDING RESPECT from and for all heads of state at the summit and demanding panel control by Chilean President Michelle Bachelet. Watch the video and listen to the applause for Zapatero at the end.

What impressed me most was Zapatero DEFENDING the former prime minister of Spain, pointing out to Chávez that Aznar was chosen by the Spanish people. And while, he said, he doesn't agree with many of the former prime minister's principles, he stilled deserved respect as a former head of State. Would the likely future conservative party President of Spain, Mariano Rajoy, do the same in defending Zapatero if Rajoy was in the same position with Hugo Chavez? I'm not so sure.

Hugo Chávez fouled. But then the king followed up with a foul of his own - albeit defending Zapatero's time to talk and, in a way, also defending his own country of Spain. This discourse was going nowhere fast and possibly to get worse until Zapatero stepped in and took control, seeing no control was offered by the Chilean president.

As I said earlier in the blog entry, The King is being applauded by the-man-on-the-street as well as many talk show hosts. But many others are not so happy with the King's out-of-control interjection. Two wrongs do not make a right - ESPECIALLY in politics.

Read the great editorial article, "Spanish Smack-Down" on Investors Business Daily website about the now famous event.

Today at the gym I was absolutely furious after finishing my workout.

I'd just returned to the locker room to use the restroom. While washing my hands there was a man who'd entered one of the stalls behind me. I heard him blow his nose and a toilet flushed shortly thereafter. What? He FLUSHED a tissue down the toilet? But wait. It gets worse. After the flush the man left the stall, took 3 steps away, then returned to the same stall and I heard him blow his nose again - and then ANOTHER FLUSH!

HOW MANY LITERS OF WATERS DID HE WASTE FOR TWO NOSE BLOWS?? I don't have any idea but likely at least 4 Liters of water per flush. That's EIGHT liters of wasted water for two nose blows. AND THERE WAS A TRASH CAN RIGHT OUTSIDE THE STALL!!

I was angry after the first flush. But after the second one I just wanted to shout at him and ask him how he could be so wasteful. I took a second and couldn't formulate the sentence in my mind in Spanish. I couldn't think of the word for FLUSH and I don't know the word for BLOW NOSE in Spanish so I was lost.

One of the many TV public service commercials they broadcast is on this very topic. In the scene you have two teens or young 20-something girls in the restroom. One blows her nose and goes to flush the tissue down the toilet. The other girl, obviously the conscientious one, stops the friend and suggests she throw it in the trash can instead. What an idea!

Other times at the gym I'll be using the restroom and I find guys shaving over the sink with the water spigot wide open to its maximum, never turning it off the entire time they're shaving. And if you even DARE to suggest someone to turn off the running water they become angry, defensive, and tell you to mind your own business. Isn't the environment EVERYONE'S business? Don't I have a moral right to make such a suggestion?

It's people like those I mention above whom are destroying our planet the fastest. They're obviously selfish, mindless people. You can't really fault the lack of available education and promotion that takes place because you can't avoid it these days. Here, every time there's a TV commercial break at least one of the ads is related to the environment. This to me is incredible. You'd never get this kind of percentage on USA television. That'd be depriving corporations of millions of dollars - many of the same corporations which are polluting our water, air, and land.

SAVING WATER seems to be SO EASY to do. So why don't more people care?

Links of interest: Canal de Isabel II, El Reto de Agua, Guía para el ahorro de agua, An Inconvenient Truth,

Last Friday, El Día de la Almudena, we had 1:30pm reservations for Madrid's Taberna La Bola to eat Cocido Madrileño - their signature dish. The 'long-form-term' of this dish is "Cocido a la Madrileña", if interested.

Background: El Día de la Almudena is Madrid's female patron saint day and is a city-wide holiday. Banks, schools, and most businesses are closed on this day which begins at roughly 10am with a mass in Madrid's Plaza Mayor. That lasts until about noon and then begins the procession, carrying the patron from the Plaza Mayor, down Calle Arenal, through Plaza Santa Isabel II, and to the Almudena Cathedral. Leading the saint are a number of groups in religious and or period dress and often representing different churches and church groups.

We arrived by taxi as close to the city center as we could - right next to La Catedral de la Almudena - because all the streets were closed. We paid, got out, and walked briskly to OPERA where we were meeting more people. Our timing was great because we arrived there JUST as the procession was passing through this plaza, formerly known as the Plaza de Isabel II but many people simple call it Plaza de Opera.

We arrived at 1pm exactly, stepped up to about 4th in line behind the crowds, and took a number of photos while waiting to leave to be ontime for our reservation at nearby La Bola. What an entertaining yet solemn procession it was.



It was reaching 1:30pm and turned to leave when an 80-year old man fell off the curb behind us, cracking his head, and starting to bleed profusely - as head wounds often do. We helped him to his feet, put a number of handkerchiefs to his wound, and helped him to the bench at the bus stop. I was impressed that about 6 other witnesses joined in to help too. While applying pressure and loosening his tie someone called the police and an officer arrived in about 1 minute. He checked out the man and called for the medical team - which also amazingly arrived in about 4 minutes and attended to the well-dressed gentleman who was starting to feel a little less dizzy, although the medical guys put him on his back on the bench. Since he was now in good hands, we left somewhat stunned by the experience to get to the restaurant just a little late.


Arriving at Taberna La Bola we gave our name, they checked their reservations list, and took us to THE BACK ROOM of the restaurant. Disappointed, I was. This was my SECOND visit to La Bola and the first time we dined in the very nice, rustic, old dining room. But this time it was THE BACK ROOM for us. It too was nice enough but not nearly as rustic and spacious as the main dining room. Hmph. Fine.

We order that which you HAVE to order here - el Cocido Madrileño - the dish for which La Bola is famous. Along with that we ordered a bottle red wine, a Rioja.



First came the fine noodles in a dish. Then they pour the cocido broth over top of that. We eat the noodle soup, dipping our bread into it (NOT something you would usually do at a nice restaurant - which this is), and chatting away.

After finishing the soup and the waiters removed our dishes, came the garbanzo beans (a.k.a. Chick Peas), chorizo, potato, pork, chicken, and a healthy slice of pork fat - which I never eat and made no exception this time around. There's something really disgusting to me about sinking your teeth into pure, translucent, 100% fat which makes my skin crawl. They offered the standard cabbage but I passed on that. Not a cabbage fan.

The cocido madrileño is good here. But as everyone usually says, the cocido madrileño made at home is equally as good - and about 5% the price. But like LHARDY in Madrid, whose also famous for their cocido madrileño and at which I've eaten just once, you pay more for the place and the service and not so much for the food. But the food is good. It's fine. It's basic and enjoyable. It's just that Cocido madrileño is really cheap to make at home. Garbanzo beans are cheap. Pork is pretty cheap. Chorizo is cheap. Potatoes are dirt cheap. And chicken is cheap. These are the ingredients for cocido madrileño.

The price per person for the cocido was about 18 Euros. All totaled, with the bread, wine, 2 bottles of water, and dessert, the price was 112.90€ for four persons. Oh, and by the way, an important detail - THEY DON'T ACCEPT CREDIT CARDS. This is odd for such a mid-range restaurant. You really have to make reservations for this popular place too. Possibly we got the table we did in the back room because I made the reservations only the day before - in the evening.

After lunch we were all full and in search of coffee to liven us up a bit so we walked to Plaza de Oriente and Los Jardines de Oriente (the gardens between the Opera House and the Royal Palace) and chose a table on the terraza of the Café de Oriente. It was a bit cool but they'd put a number of those tall, propane heater pole in the middle of each 4-table cluster so we were warm enough. There, we had our coffee and those who smoked smoked with the view of the gardens, Madrid's Palacio Real, and the Opera House. How nice. There, we chatted for another hour or so and enjoyed ourselves - but probably not as much as the large group of English girls sitting at the table next to ours, drinking, eating sandwiches and pizzas, and giggling loudly. It was apparent to me they were in Madrid for a "Hen Party" - which is a kind of bachelorette party getaway. I only assume this from their numbers - and the fact that one of the English women sported a purple sequined hat with small-yet-numerous purple phallic symbols hanging from its brim. Nothing but class.

After the much-needed eye-opening cup of coffee we went to a movie at one of the many Version Original cinemas near the Plaza de España. We went to see the Viggo Mortensen movie Eastern Promises - complete with Spanish subtitles. A good enough movie.



After the movie we walked back past the Palacio Real and stopped to marvel at the spectacular sunset. Hundreds of people must have been doing the same. Many were taking photos.

We walked on after awhile to the Almudena Cathedral. Being just after sunset, the cathedral was nicely illuminated with thousands of people waiting in long lines to enter La Catedral de la Almudena - today being her Saint's Day.






Today was my very first Fiesta de la Almudena in Madrid and I felt fortunate to witness part of it. Earlier in the day I watched much of the Mass on TeleMadrid which took place in the Plaza Mayor. That is to say, I had the Mass on TV behind my head while working on the computer but I enjoyed watching and listening to the interviews and street scenes before and after the mass.

It was a pleasant play with people I care about; good food, good conversation, a religious procession, a good movie, good scenery, a bloody injury, and bloody bachelorettes. What more could you ask for on a holiday?

Housework in Spain, to me, is NOT one of my favorite pastimes. Gone are the days, at least for the time being, of dishwashers and clothes dryers for me. Here, where I live, I do all the dishes by hand and air-dry all the washed clothes. The ecologist in me is satisfied with this saving of energy. No doubt large-kitchen-owning Americans and Brits are reading this and asking "Why don't you just buy a clothes dryer and dishwasher?" Good question. But where in the world would I put them? There's absolutely no space in my small kitchen.

I wash the clothes in a clothes washer but take them up to the rooftop terrace where 8 metal cables stretch the length of the roof for air/sun drying. I actually love the part about air drying clothes, using no more energy than is required to tote the loads up one flight of stairs and then bring them down again, always being aware of weather conditions. It hasn't happened often but sometimes rainstorms can sneak up on a person, rendering your nearly dry clothes totally soaked once again. So what do you do then? If you're quick, you can save some drying time by taking them down and putting them back up once the weather clears. OR, as most people do, just leave them in the rain to re-dry. This last option takes longer, of course, because the clothes are now totally wet - unlike "somewhat damp" as when they come out of the spin cycle after washing.

I actually like taking clothes upstairs to the rooftop terrace. From there I have a nice, wide view of the neighborhood, can see La Iglesia de San Francisco El Grande (San Francisco Church - the big one - beautifully illuminated at night) and "El Pirulí" (Torrespaña - the radio and TV communications tower) but nothing else of interest except both the sunrises and sunsets.

Oftentimes, the "best" cables are much desired, the ones with the most direct sun, and competition for such cables can be fierce. Sometimes I wake up early and hang up the clothes at 7am or I'll hang them out the night before in order to get the best location. What I hate is when neighbors leave their clothes hanging up there for days - and sometimes weeks!! That's frustration, particularly when they're occupying those "best cables"!

Note: I don't know anyone in Spain who owns a clothes dryer but I think I've seen one or two for sale in the appliance stores. These are considered oddities by Spaniards.

Washing dishes, on the other hand, is a pain in the rear. There I am, standing for 45 minutes washing dishes in a relatively small sink, then stacking them all on a relatively small, stainless steal drying counter located immediately next to the sink. I'm sure I get no sympathy from anyone who grew up washing and drying dishes but I'm not used to it.

Note: Dishwashers are commonly sold in appliance stores in Spain and are often found in modern kitchens - WITH SPACE.

As for dusting, cleaning floors and bathrooms, well, that's another thing altogether. Ugh.

I've just finished watching the FC Barcelona versus the Glasgow Rangers football/soccer game. It ended in a 2-0 win for Barça. To be clear, I'm not a soccer/football fan - much preferring American Football with pads, field goals, and hard, brain-jarring hits. Afterall, MadridMan was the was a tailback/running back since the 8th grade and was the starting tailback/running back for the Shelby Whippets in Shelby, Ohio USA his senior season and much preferred to GIVE hits than to TAKE hits.

I generally find Football - the kind with a soccer ball - rather boring but am compelled to watch the big games just to consider myself "in the know". So much back and forth, change of possession, low-scoring games don't keep my attention very well. When a Real Madrid versus FC Barcelona game comes around, however, I TUNE IN without exception. Even a Real Madrid versus Atlético de Madrid game is never passed up.

I did know about the game beforehand since I've recently listed the FC Barcelona schedule on the BarcelonaMan.com website. And the games could be listened to live via any number of radio stations found on the Barcelona Multimedia Page - in Spanish and Catalán, of course, but WATCHING the game live on TV is the best form of entertainment. I also noticed a HUGE SURGE in visits to the Barcelona WebCams page from people in the UK seeking Camp Nou live webcams. Maybe they couldn't get the game live either.

My particular interest in watching such football games on TV is to test - or enhance - my Spanish language skills. It's a great way to learn about sports terms, language, and to generally know what so many others around you are talking about "around the water cooler" or in the bars.

It never ceases to make me laugh when one player, from whatever team, falls down in absolute agony, holding his leg after some collision - UNTIL the yellow or red card comes out by the referee. Once that happen, the injured player who's been rolling around on the ground in pain inevitably pops up and runs around without any limp or sign of injury. What a joke and example of good acting.

I was watching TVE earlier, just before the game, and they showed the piles of garbage created by the visiting Scottish Football Team in Barcelona and the riot police trying to control the crowd - TRYING to control the crowd. Seems a lot of Glasgow Ranger fans came go to Barcelona WITHOUT football game tickets and decided to party and cause trouble instead of enjoy the game on some bar's TV. Hooligans? Maybe. Football + Beer = Riot Police. Lots of Scottish fans were passed out on benches or starting fights with Barça fans on Las Ramblas and just generally out of control.

You never hear about riots or fist fights after or during an NFL or College Football game. Are we more civilized or just take the competition more for granted? Not sure. In any case, I'm sure there'll be lots of burning cars and sofas in the alleys in Columbus, Ohio USA before, during, and after the Ohio State - Michigan game on November 17th as we/the OSU Buckeyes fight to keep their Number 1 ranking in American University Football in their quest for the National Championship Game. Can't wait for that. I'm all giddy with anticipation. Give me American Football anyday over soccer.

8 November 2007 Update:
I just read in today's El País English Version (which is printed one day late) the following article "snippet" about the visiting teams' fans:

Hooligans from Glasgow wreak havoc on Barcelona Plaza
In anticipation of their team's Champions League encounter last night against Barcelona, thousands of fans of Scotland's Glasgow Rangers descended on the Catalan capital, leaving a wake of debris strewn about the city's central Plaza Cataluña.

Over 15,000 Rangers fans arrived in Barcelona to cheer on their team, but only 6,200 of them had tickets for the game.

The fans camped in the Plaza, drinking, relieving themselves in the streets, and prompting several adjacent bars to close to avoid incidents. Near game time, 200 fans tried to enter into Camp Nou stadium, requiring the intervention of the authorities.

Sometimes I'm "enlisted" to buy the lunchtime bread at the local panadería and I do it more than willingly. There's almost nothing better than walking into that bread bakery, waiting in line, and ordering a barra de bandeja and they give it to you with a smile, charge you 60 or 65 centimos, and it's still hot from the oven. There's something so basic about the whole process, the whole custom. It smells SO good in this moment that I can't help but raise it to my nose while I transport it in its paper bread bag to the lunch table. I'm usually the one who's "in charge" of cutting the bread but when I do so, since the bread is still hot and moist, it crushes under the weight of the cutting knife. What a wonderful smell it emits.

Here in my neighborhood, if I happen to awake at 4am for whatever reason, from a bad dream or a need to go to the bathroom, I often smell the baking bread at the bakery on my same block. No matter if it's summer or winter I must open the window of the kitchen or balcony and take several deep breaths of that wonderful smell. It's better than perfume, better than springtime flowers, and better than the smell of that special someone's hair after a shower. Fresh baked bread is the best perfume there is.

Last Tuesday I attended my first "Intercambio de Idiomas" - "Language Exchange" - at O'Neill's, an Irish bar on Calle Principe, 12 (metro SOL). Read some discussion on the topic and find links to YouTube videos in THIS THREAD on our ALL SPAIN Message Board.

The Intercambio is held every Tuesday night starting at 10pm. I went with an English buddy. We first met at "Kilometro 0" in Puerta del Sol and then went to a nearby "Las Bravas" bar for some patatas bravas and a couple glasses of white wine to warm-up the wonderfully cool evening.

We arrived at O'Neill's Bar at about 9:45pm and were lucky to get an available 4-person table just in front of the bar. O'Neill's Bar is HUGE, deep, and seemingly very authentic in Irish-Bar-Style with lots of wood, decoration, and few people at 9:45pm.

By 10pm the bar was filling and people were greeting one another, presumably people who habitually attend the Tuesday night get-togethers. To be clear, I don't believe this is a part of the "MEET UP" network which exists across the globe but rather something independently managed by one person here in Madrid. This one person is named David Poza and he organizes the gatherings all my himself. Wow. What a hobby! No fee is required. Just show up and talk! Irish beer goes for nearly 5 Euros per glass - a little pricey but certainly tasty.

The general idea of the gathering is to practice the language which is not your own - assuming you're interested in learning! Probably the most common "exchange" is the Spaniard wanting to practice his/her English with an English, American, or Australian who wishes to practice he/her Spanish.

Our table was varied. We had one person from the United States (me!), one from Russia, one from England, one from Germany, and one from China. I spent most of my time speaking with the cute, young Chinese woman at our table. We were BOTH practicing our Spanish as it was the common language between us. She spoke some English too.

Who attends these Intercambios de Idiomas? From looking around, it was my assessment that some people may not be working for a living. Who else can go out at 10pm and stay until midnight if they have a job to go to on Wednesday morning? Others might be students. Others might trade sleep for enjoyment with the opportunity to meet new people in a setting created for just this. Here you can feel more comfortable walking up to strangers and starting a conversation - assuming you speak their language. In a regular bar, upon saying hello to a stranger, you're more likely to get a "look and turn away" and so you find yourself chatting with their back. At the intercambio, everyone's there to talk and to meet so it's much easier.

By about 11:00pm the place was absolutely full and people were socializing like crazy. I couldn't tell if there was much language exchange going on among them or if they simply joined up with like-language groups but they were certainly enjoying themselves and that's what counts.

I left at about 11:15pm because I was getting really hot and hoped to make my 11:30pm bus, the last bus home. So I said my goodbyes, shook hands to the guys and gave two-cheek kisses to the girls and stepped out of the bar into the crisp, cool autumn air. Mmmm... I walked 15 minutes to OPERA in my shirt sleeves, coat draped over my shoulder bag, and enjoyed the nighttime walk - albeit a brisk walk - through Madrid's Old Downtown. I couldn't help but notice that everyone else was totally bundled up as if it was winter!

Great idea, David! I look forward to attending my next Intercambio!