Madrid happenings: Adventures "at home"

In my last post, I mentioned that Madrid continues to impress me with the amount of things there are to do. Here's a glimpse of how I've been spending my time in Madrid recently...

Rock 'n' Roll 10K

A number of Fulbrighters signed up for Madrid's Rock 'n' Roll races in the end of April. One did the full marathon, one did the half marathon, and the rest of us did the 10K.

Many people were impressed with our enthusiasm for running, but to be honest, we focused more on the social aspects than the training aspects. We planned a pasta party dinner, ordered coordinating Fulbright tank tops (which we then had to wear with long sleeve shirts to keep from freezing), and enjoyed a lunch together afterwards at Casa Mingo.

There were over 26,000 people running in the race, which made it really cool to be a part of. It brought me back to my memories of my first race in Sevilla in 2010, la Carrera Nocturna del Guadalquivir. On the other hand, the early morning time (9 AM), meant there were very few spectators. But we passed a few bands along the way and I ran with one of the other Fulbrighters for the first 20 minutes so things stayed interesting. Overall, I'd say it was a success!

 

A few of us repping our numbers and Fulbright tanks on race morning

Real Madrid game

For those of you who have been following my blog for a while, you may remember how Napala and I cooked Thanksgiving dinner for all Dan's Spanish Camp Kawanhee friends. That was our first real interaction with the Kawanhee boys, but the positive experiences have continued since then. Before Christmas, we were treated to dinner at one of the guy's dad's retaurants. And last week, one of the guys lent us his family's center field season passes. Not too shabby.

However, we had more people than we had season passes. Thus, for the first half, Dan and I sat in the 25€ nose-bleed seats.

With my zoom lens, those seats got me pictures like this:

 

¡Goooooooooooooooooooool!

Then we moved down and I got shots like this:

Oh hey, Ronaldo

 A fan in front of us

The "intimidating" security guards preparing to keep fans from rushing the field

 Sierra, Jordan, Napala, Dan, and I

San Isidro

As many of you have probably noticed, I've been catching up on blog posts, facebook picture uploads, and e-mails in the past few days. That's because today I did not have classes. I know, I know... you're probably thinking: another day off? Well it was the patron saint of Madrid's day, so of course, the city had to shut down. (To clarify, this holiday was only for the city of Madrid. We celebrated the Comunidad of Madrid during the May puente.)

Although today is the official holiday, San Isidro is drawn out for a 10 day festival where they have prestigious bull fights (which I did not attend), eat typical sweets, and dress up in the traditional costumes of Madrid. So to celebrate, Napala, Dan, and I used our day off to head over to the Pradera (in El Parque de San Isidro), where you can find the shrine of the saint and every important aspect of the festivities.

First of all, the typical sweets. Everyone eats rosquillas, which are aniseed flavored donut/cookie treats. The non-iced ones are called "tontas" (stupid ones) and the iced ones are called "listas" (smart ones). The smart ones looked more exciting so we tried a variety of them...

Cherry, lemon, and chocolate rosquillas

For lunch, we considered going here...

So glad we have Oscar Mayer to be proud of

Or here...

Using the crisis to their marketing advantage...

But instead we ate here...

  For just 4€ we enjoyed some pollo asado, patatas, and pimiento... quite the deal!

After lunch, my opportunity arrived to photograph the madrileños dressed up in the typical costumes...

A few chulapas posing for the camera. ¡Patatas!

 The chulapos were pretty good back up singers

Last but not least, no fair-type festivity is complete without games! But of course, the Spanish put their own twist on the prize...

 Who wouldn't want to win a leg of jamón?

After writing so many blog posts about my travels around Europe, I've found I've neglected Madrid a bit. Hopefully this gave you a glimpse of what I'm doing during my time "at home"!

Much love,
Amber