Eurovisión!

T, A, J and M partying (very quietly so we don´t wake the baby) in Madrid. // T, A, J y yo hicimos una fiesta en Madrid.

Around here, the month of May means Eurovision. This year, a friend of mine offered to be my professor of all things Eurovision. For two months he sent me a link to a song every few days, and I had to listen to it and send him my comments. On top of that, I used the Eurovision app to make my Top Ten list. That way, when it was time to watch the semifinals I already knew my favorites and could enjoy everything a bit more.

A reminder for US readers: for the past 70 years, there has been a European pop song competition (that also includes non-european countries like Armenia, Israel and Australia). Every country chooses one song and it is performed in one of two semi-finals. Six countries always get to be part of the final: the Big Five of Spain, France, the UK, Germany, and Italy, as well as last year's winner. Twenty more make it through the semi-finals to compete. The winner is chosen by a mix of popular vote and judges in each country. There is a great deal of unofficial politics and history that goes into the voting, but we'll save that for another day.

This year I watched the final at my friends´T's and A's house, along with J. During the competition I also spoke with friends and family in the US, which made it feel like I was part of one big international party.

My friends B, R, and S, who live in Ohio. // 

Mis amigos B y S, que viven en Ohio.

My parents, in a completely different part of Ohio. // 

Mis padres estuvieron en una región distinta de Ohio.

El mes de mayo marca el inicio de la temporada de Eurovisión. Este año, un amigo se ofreció para ser mi profesor, es decir, enseñarme todo sobre el fenómeno de Eurovisión. Durante dos meses, me envió un enlace de una canción candidata, y él me insistía en que tenía la qué escuchar y comentar. Además, usó la app de Eurovisión para preparar mi lista de los diez mejores. Este año, cuando vi las semifinales, ya conocía a mis favoritos y pude disfrutar más.

Recuerdo para mis lectores de EE. UU.: desde hace casi 70 años, se lleva a cabo un concurso de canciones pop de los países europeos (y también algunos países no europeos, como Armenia, Israel y Australia). Cada país selecciona una canción y los cantantes que se interpretan en una de las dos semifinales. Seis países siempre deben ser parte de la ronda final: los Big Five de España, Francia, Reino Unido, Alemania e Italia, y el ganador del año pasado. Veinte más clasifican desde las semifinales. El ganador de la final se elige en parte por votación popular y en parte por jurados oficiales de cada país.

Este año vi el final en la casa de mis dos amigos T y A, y con J. Durante la actuación, también hablé con amigos y familia en EE. UU. y gracias a toda esta situación sentí que formaba parte de la fiesta.

Sleeping // Durmiendo

The trip was a lot of fun, but there were a few challenges. The weather was frequently cold and rainy, and I had a bad cold. The two of these together meant that the worst day was the Wednesday of the trip, when we had to cover 64km (40 miles) on our bikes, while it rained continuously and I coughed and thought longingly of my bed. I had an electric bike, and on this day I used the motor a lot. When my friends stopped to climb a mountain and view ruins at the top of it, we first found a park shelter without walls where I could sleep on a wooden table during their hike. The next day, I slept in a field while they climbed a different mountain. My father has the ability to sleep in any situation or location, and now I have learned that I have the same ability, as long as I´m sick enough.

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El viaje fue muy divertido, pero tuvimos dos impedimentos. Había mucha lluvia y estaba resfriada, a veces ambas cosas al mismo tiempo. El día más duro fue el miércoles, cuando necesitamos recorrer en bici 64 km (40 millas), estuve enferma y llovió durante todo el día. Tuve una bicicleta eléctrica, y usé el motor mucho este día. Cuando mis amigos se detuvieron para escalar una montaña, buscamos un refugio sin paredes en un parque, donde esperé y dormí durante su senderismo. Al día siguiente, dormí en un campo durante otra ruta. Mi padre tiene la facilidad de dormir en cualquier lugar, y ahora sé que puedo hacer lo mismo en caso de que esté suficiente enferma.

French cuisine// La cocina de Francia

French cuisine is famous, and it did not disappoint. However, I was only able to try a limited slice of what is available, because (1) we only visited a single region, (2) the dishes limited use of out-of-season vegetables (which I approve of but in early spring means a pretty limited palette), and I'm a vegetarian. And of course, the third reason is definitely the one that matters the most. I only learned a single phrase in French, “sans viande ni poisson” (without meat or fish). In the small restaurants, there were not any vegetarian options on the menu, but with this magic phrase, I received delicious, but unvarying food, i.e. a salad with cheese or a salad with eggs, and (on one memorable occasion) a salad with egg AND cheese. I will admit that all these salads were marvelous, but sometimes I enjoy eating hot food.

In contrast, I could eat every dessert and pastry I found. My friends let me choose three or four desserts every day, and we shared them so that we could taste as many as possible. I am sure if I ate French pastry and tarts everyday, I'd eventually get tired of it, but that wasn't possible in only eight days. I learned a lot through the tasting, and hope I can recreate some of these at home on my own.

I mean, they do make great salads. // Hacen grandes ensaladas.

Without a doubt, the best meal of the trip for me, was at an Italian restaurant. // Sin duda, la mejor comida del viaje, en un restaurante italiano.

La cocina de Francia es famosa, y no me decepcionó. Sin embargo, no pude probar mucha variedad, debido a (1) que visité sólo una región, (2) en los platos se utilizaron alimentos temporales porque es primavera temprana y (3) además, soy vegetariana. Claro que sí, la tercera razón fue la más impactante. Aprendí solo una frase en francés “sans viande ni poisson” (sin carne ni pescado). En casi todos los restaurantes, no hay opciones vegetarianas en la carta, pero con esta frase recibí comida de buena calidad, casi siempre una ensalada con queso o con huevos, y una vez una ensalada con ambas cosas: queso y huevos. Todas las ensaladas estuvieron ricas, pero a veces me habría gustado comer algo caliente.

Por otro lado, pude comer todos los postres y pasteles que encontré. Mis amigos me permitieron elegir tres o cuatro pasteles cada día, y los compartimos para poder probar tantos como fuera posible. Estoy seguro de que sí comiera pasteles franceses todos los días, me cansaría, pero no tuve la oportunidad durante sólo ocho días. Aprendí mucho y me entraron ganas de replicar unos pasteles por mí misma.

Back to France, this time with more bikes

Our first morning. Spoiler alert: I will be wearing that rain gear most of the trip.

A week after I returned from Toulouse, I headed to France for the second time in my life, this time to join some DC physics friends on a biking adventure. My friend R and I talked up our Czechia-Germany trip so much last year that our friends N and S decided to join us this year. 

I researched locations based on our criteria: in the Schengen zone, minimal hills, good food, and a low chance of Putin invading. We chose a week- long trip ending in Lyon. Once we added on a few rest and travel days, it's about ten days together.

It was delightful to travel with four people. It's fun to change to conversation partners, plus we all had different interests: S was always busy identifying local birdsong, R was looking at the crops we passed, N needed to take a picture of every chateau, and I was obsessed with planning our next meal (or snack). And it has been quite low friction because we are all really good friends. 

The best part of the train from Paris was the kitten traveling behind me.

The picturesque villages were nonstop.

(No Spanish for the entries from this trip.) // No hay entradas en español para esta viaje, porque no tengo tiempo para deberes.)

Toulouse

The week before Easter, aka Holy Week, is an important time in Spain. There are processions with statues from the churches and a bunch of other traditions, and a lot of people take vacation. Teachers and students have the week off, and Thursday and Friday are national holidays. Since I don´t work, holidays aren´t quite so important to me, but they are often a good time to hang out with friends.

My friend J and I decided to visit Toulouse, France, for Holy Week. It was my first time in France and, as I expected, I loved the food (whever I could find vegetarian options, that is). I also enjoyed the surroundings, which featured lots of flowers, rivers, and general greenery. There´s more rain in France than in Spain, so the nature I saw reminded me more of the US or Germany views I know best. The big tourist thing we managed was a guided tour of Airbus, an aeronautics consortium including France, Spain, the UK, and Germany and a Boeing competitor. Photos were prohibited so that we couldn´t steal all their company secrets - you´ll have to use your imagination to picture the gigantic airplanes built there, which you can purchase for a mere €350,000,000.

We took advantage of the chance to buy food you can´t easily find in Spain, like fennel, yellow tomatoes, and rhubarb. I´m standing in the poetically named Victor Hugo Market. // Aprovechando la ocasión, compramos comida que es difícil de encontrar en España, como hinojo, tomates amarillos y ruibarbo.

And it´s no surprise that the cheese, bread, and desserts were incredible. The strawberries in the photo, a variety called Gariguette, are local to the region and need to be eaten the same day the same day they are purchased. // Claro que sí, estaba impresionada con el queso, el pan y los postres. Las fresas que ves aquí son típicas de la región y necesitas comerlas el mismo día que las compras.

For Easter, we escaped the city center by taking a bus as far out as we could, then walked along the Garona River and had a picnic with prepared foods we had purchased at the market. I really enjoyed seeing all that water, something that is rare in Madrid. // Durante el día de Pascua, fuimos en autobús fuera de la ciudad, dimos un paseo cerca del río Garona e hicimos un picnic con comidas preparadas típicas de Francia. Es raro ver tanta agua como esa en Madrid.

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La Semana Santa es una época importante en España. Aparte de las procesiones y otras costumbres asociadas con la Pascua o el Viernes Santo, muchas personas tienen vacaciones. Los maestros y alumnos tienen una semana libre, y el jueves y el viernes son días festivos nacionales. Como no trabajo, no me importan demasiado los días festivos, pero es una buena oportunidad para pasar tiempo con amigos.

Mi amigo J y yo decidimos ir a Toulouse, en Francia, para la Semana Santa. Fue mi primera vez en Francia, y como esperaba, me encantó toda la comida. También me gustó muchísimo el ambiente, incluyendo las flores y los ríos, porque hay más lluvia en Francia y me recuerda más por sus similitudes a los países que conozco, como EE. UU. y Alemania. Una actividad interesante fue una visita guiada de Airbus, el consorcio de aeronáutica de España, Francia, Reino Unido y Alemania, que compite con Boeing. No pudimos hacer fotos por razones de seguridad empresarial, así que necesitarás usar tu imaginación para ver los enormes aviones que están construyendo allí, y por solo 350 000 000 € puedes comprar uno.

Making new friends // Conocer nueva gente

Although I live in Madrid, it's important to me to maintain my connections with my family, and luckily it's important to them too. I am really grateful that my parents can visit me so frequently. In fact, in April they were able to spend a whole week with me. Because my parents like to meet new people, I organized a bunch of get-togethers with my friends. My parents are the type of people that make friends with their seatmate on the airplane, who then ends up coming to visit them in Ohio. So I was pretty sure that this type of entertainment would be right up their alley. Although I normally talk Spanish with my friends, or a mix of Spanish and English at the language exchanges, most of my friends can speak English exclusively in situations like this.

They found it difficult to adjust to the jet lag, and often slept until 12 or 1 pm everyday. Luckily, I had mostly planned things for the afternoons. We drank a lot of coffee (and my father, who doesn't drink coffee, drank a lot of Coca-Cola) and enjoyed ourselves immensely. It was a really delightful visit that unfortunately ended less than ideally, when my mother returned to the US and discovered that she had COVID. Luckily, I can report that she is now completely recovered.

My friend R telling the story of the clock of the Madrid Parliament building. He carefully wrote all the notes for his presentation, including drawings and paintings from past centuries. // 

Mi amigo de intercambio R. explicó la historia del reloj del edificio del Ayuntamiento de Madrid. Preparó la historia con cuidado e incluso incluyó dibujos y pinturas de los siglos pasados, cuando se construyó.

We visited the Metro Antique Train Msuseum, where my father examined all the machinery and tools with great care. //  

Visitamos el Museo del Metro de Trenes Antiguos, donde mi padre examinó detenidamente todas las partes de las máquinas y las herramientas con mucho interés.

My friend J telling my father stories about his life. In return, my father showed a zillion photos of me. //  Mi amigo J le contó relatos de su vida a mi padre. En cambio, mi padre mostró muchas fotos mías.

My Hungarian friend O and my father discussed the differences in European and US retirees. She was surprised at how busy American retirees seem to be, rather than acting "retiring." //  Mi amiga O., de Hungría, y mi padre hablaron sobre las diferencias en la jubilación en Europa y en Estados Unidos. A ella le sorprendió contrastar que los jubilados como mi padre estuvieran tan ocupados.

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Aunque vivo en Madrid, me importa mantener conexiones con mi familia, y a ellos, afortunadamente, les importa lo mismo. Por eso estoy agradecida de que mis padres puedan visitarme frecuentemente. De hecho, volvieron la semana pasada para pasar unos días conmigo. Como a mis padres siempre les gusta conocer gente nueva, organicé algunas reuniones con mis amigos. Sorprendentemente, mis padres son personas que conocen nuevos amigos en los asientos más cercanos al suyo en el avión, y después ellos los visitan en su casa en Ohio. Generalmente, hablo español con mis amigos, o una mezcla de inglés y español en mis intercambios, pero, por suerte, casi todos hablan inglés.

Tuvieron dificultades para adaptarse a la nueva zona horaria y durmieron hasta las doce o la una de la mañana. Afortunadamente, casi todas las citas empezaron por las tardes. Tomamos mucho café juntos (y mi padre, que no bebe café, tomó mucha Coca-Cola) – disfrutamos mucho. Fue una visita divertida, pero tristemente terminó mal, cuando mi madre regresó a EE. UU. y/porque descubrí que ella/y tenía COVID.

Everything´s a-okay now

An interruption to our regular programming of travel and food... For everyone who asked, I´m fine. The power went out in Madrid (and across the entire Iberian penninsula, it turned out) a bit after noon local time. I was on my bicycle and only noticed that all the traffic lights weren´t working, which resulted in every road being clogged with cars. I had occasional internet (via data) for the next hour, and the last news I saw was the the power was out everywhere, and it could take up to a week to restore it. Then, no phone calls, no elecricity, and no news. I was lucky that I was at home, eating cold food, while others were walking hours home from the closed-down Metro or stuck on trains that couldn´t move and didn´t have working toilets. At midnight I heard cheering from the nearby park, which alerted me that power was restored. 12 hours without power seems like a piece of cake when you are imagining no food, power, or news for the next week.

Now added to my to-do list: procure emergency cash, a radio that works on batteries, and shelf stable food beyond cookies.