christmas bus

There is a christmas bus in Madrid and you can see all the lights and decorations. We sat on the second floor, with no roof, so it was quite chilly. here you can see a video....

long weekend in cullera

we spent a long weekend at the beach again in Cullera. This time we went to Valencia for a day to the science museum.

Valencia is also a very nice city. we had a stroll through the center of town.

Avila

We went to Avila one day. My friend from mexico, Dulce, came with us. She stayed with us for one week... Avila was nice, but it was cold... better to visit in the summer.

at raph and roxy's place

Here is a picture of raph hard at work and his cat which has many names.... peluche, punch face, stinky...

birthday fiesta

two of juan´s friends had their b-days. here is a video of what they like to do for fun.

wedding 911

Last saturday Juan's friends got married. What you wear to the wedding is a big deal in spain. As you can see, I decided to go with a suit, as did many of the galls there. After all the hype about the clothes, it wasn't what I was expecting to see. The guests were all dressed nice, but normal, maybe a couple of people were really fancy. Well, the reason was because it was a "day wedding" and not an "evening wedding". So if you ever go to a wedding in spain here are some tips:

• day wedding: if you wear a dress make it a shorter one, not a long one.
• evening wedding: long dress, you can also put your hair up if you want.
• make sure you accesorize the handbag, shoes, makeup, and jewellery.
• if you have multiple weddings do not wear the same outfits.
• people don't give presents here, only money, usually around 100 to 150 euros per person is what is "expected".
• the friends of the bride cut off the garter belt and cut it into little pieces. then they sell the pieces to all the girls.
• the friends of the groom cut off his underwear (no joke) and cut it into pieces, which are also sold to all the guys.
• the guys usually receive a cigar at the wedding. the girls receive gifts as well, but i think that varies from wedding to wedding. I got some lip glosss and soap, and also some cigarettes and a girlie cigar. They also made a cd for everyone with a picture of them as kids on the front.

roman city part 2...Toledo

Another roman city we visited was Toledo. Toledo is also very nice to see. The cathedral, castle, narrow streets, etc. In the first picture of the bridge and the castle in the background, the castle was converted into a hostle.... just in case anyone wants a place to stay in toledo.

Rastro

Every sunday there is a huge market in madrid... the Rastro. They have everything from clothes, shoes, houshold items, antiques, to jewellery. you can find just about everything here. just be prepared for a lot of people.

soccer match

the national sport of spain is soccer. me and juan got free tickets to go see Real Madrid. They won of course.

Madrid

finally some pictures of madrid....

Segovia Roman city

Last month we went to Segovia, a roman city. We ate the typical food that you must eat when you go there: cochinillo or cordero (baby pork or lamb). It was good, but I was a little disappointed when all I had on my plate was the meat. oh well, that's spain for you...

Does the castle look familiar? Cinderella's castle was copied from this one.

encierros y corridas

The bull running and bull fighting is a big part of the party. The running is exciting to see. The bulls run to the plaza de toros where the runners can play with the bull a little more if the running wasn't dangerous enough for them. Sometimes there are people who jump and do flips over the bull. Ambulances are standing by incase someone gets hurt, but they didn't have to use them this year. Many people like the bull fighting here so I decided that I should see it one time. Here they had 6 bulls after the other in one bullfighting session. I left after the first bull. If the torero does a really good job, he gets one ear of the bull. If he does a really, really good job he gets 2 ears. If the performance is excellent, he gets 2 ears and the tail.

coger aguas

There is a custom here, called "coger aguas," which is to put the spanish flag on top of a new house when the roof is finished. This is the building Juan and his cousins are making. There will be 6 apartments when it is finished. After a couple of weeks the flag comes back down.



Question: How do you keep the dogs from peeing on your fence?

Answer: With bottles of water.... does it actually work???

procesion

On Sunday, on the day of the party there is a procesion. A statue of Christ is carried from the church to the chapel and back again. Most of the people get dressed up really nice for this event, some people even wear the traditional dress from El Alamo. After the parade, the tradition is for the babies to take a picture with their parents and the statue. See the picture of Juan's cousin's baby. After this is all finished they have an auction to see who will carry the statue for the next year and there is also a flag and staff to carry. I guess this is pretty important for people here because the auctions went up to 1800 euros!! I couldn't believe it.

!Estamos en Fiestas!

The town party of El Alamo started on the 31st of August and will finish on the 5th. The party is complete with bands, bull running, bull fights, procesions, speeches, drinking, and eating. This year the mayor cut the fiestas short by 2 days, which does not make him very popular by all means. The fiestas wouldn't be complete without the "peñas" this is a group of friends who give themselves a name and they usually have some kind of an outfit. They do things together throughout the year, but the party is one of the most important events for them. Juan has a peña, "esto pa'ti" (check out their site--in my links). To start off the party there is a pregon, which is basically a speech. Everyone gathers in the town square and someone gives the speech from the balcony of the city hall. Usually it is a famous person who does this or someone from a peña (Juan did it before), but this year it was the mayor. Since the party was shortened, Juan's peña protested by giving the speech (the pregon) themselves from a different place, see the picture with the city hall painted on the sheet and check out the coffins they made. So there were two speeches going on at the same time and of course it was very loud and some people didn't like that. Nevertheless the party continued....

casas tipicas

This is Juan's parents' house in the town of El Alamo (20min from Madrid). Everyone here has a wall around the house so you can't see at all what is inside. Swimming pools are also very common, (thank god). Juan's pool is empty this year, but we use his aunt's pool who lives right next door. The huge brick house is his aunt's house. It is also common to see tiles on the ground outside instead of grass. Juan's garden has a palm and fig tree as you can see, and there are olive trees at his aunt's house. All the doors also have a curtain like thing hanging in front of them. Javi (juan's bro) has a canary, his name is Pirri.