New traditions

Christmas is not a new holiday for me, but I´ve had some opportunities to celebrate in new ways this year. While Christmas trees are common here (although often plastic or just a cone shaped figure of lights), it is equally or more important to have a nativity scene. These are found in homes as well as public spaces. I went to see a very large one organized by the city of the Madrid. Unfortunately, I do not have a photo to show the scale - you wait line for 10-30 minutes, then slowly inch through a space the size of a small auditorium. It contained about ten different scenes from Jesus´ birth, plus an entire village - a mill with a functioning waterwheel, a carpet seller, farmers, etc. The only strange part was that they ran the line so that time went in reverse - we started with the holy family fleeing to Egypt and ended with Mary hearing from an angel that she would give birth. But maybe Spaniards know the story so well that it doesn´t matter.

Most kids just get a small present on Christmas Eve, though, because the real action is on Three Kings Day. You´ll note that that mean that the holidays stretch for more than two weeks. The night before Three Kings Day, on January 5th, cities and neighborhoods hold parades in which the kings enter the city. I went downtown to the biggest parade. It was packed with people, maybe 10-15 people deep, everywhere. The parents bring stepstools for the small children to stand on and peer over the crowd. Each king arrives on his own float with the appropriate animal (either a camel, an elephant, or a horse) and everyone on all the floats throws massive amounts of candy, which people scoop up. I managed to catch a few to give to my friends´ kids. If you go to the neighborhood parades, the spectacle is smaller but I´ve heard that the candy haul is much bigger.

If you leave turrón and hay for the kings and their animals and have been good, the kings bring you presents during the night. Then you can spend the holiday with your family playing with your new toys and eating. The kings didn´t bring me anything, but I still celebrated with the traditional Roscón de Reyes, a sweet bread-like cake that is filled with cream. 

I can´t wait to see what Easter is like here.

Winter holidays

The rest of my holiday was spent in Ohio, with my parents and brother´s family. We mainly stayed at home, which was convenient in their very big house. We aren´t able to get all seven of us together every year, so this was a nice treat. I especially appreciated my brother´s family coming from the West Coast, saving me hours of extra travel.

Christmas breakfast with overnight cinnamon rolls and lots of fresh berries.

Teenagers found ways to get some space from the adults.

There may have been a bet regarding this stick, which was then carried through the woods for a mile. Sticks can be surprisingly heavy.

I usually plan holiday meals. This year I didn´t feel like spending all day in the kitchen, so we went to the historic indoor market in downtown Cleveland and bought tons of handmade pierogis. In the US, pierogis are usually found in the freezer section, stuffed with potato and maybe cheese. Cleveland had lots of Polish immigrants, and now you can buy awesome flavors like black bean & jalapeno, or barbeque chicken, although my favorite turned out to be sauerkraut.

Video games were played. It turns out that my father is pretty good at dodging bad guys, but VR headsets make me instantly nauseous, so I´ll be maintaining my spectator status in the future.

A break

Two and a half weeks ago, I finished my final exam for Spanish class, packed my bags and headed to the US for a break. And it has been a glorious break. I would describe coming back to an English language environment as slipping into a warm bath. I continue to revel in how easy life is when you can communicate clearly. And I turned off all the Spanish, deleting podcasts I should be listening to and ignoring all my flashcard reminders. That will all be waiting for me when I return.

In addition to taking a break from learning, I immersed myself in my friends' lives. I know that I will eventually make deep friendships in Madrid, but it is truly delightful to just bask in time together with friends I've known for years. DC has a high concentration of such people, so I headed there first. (Sorry to any DC people I couldn't missed - my time was so short!)

My best friend M and I met in Philadelphia, halfway between our respective locations, for s day trip. I am maybe 2" taller than her, and minimal height distances make for excellent hugging opportunities. Our big adventure was hearing a free organ concert at a downtown department store. Apparently this was the thing shoppers enjoyed a century ago.

Culture shock hit in a few ways, although mostly good ones. With this photo I am marveling at the size and selection of the grocery stores. I also forgot how great it is that Americans talk to strangers. Less good is the way we try to eat our meals as fast as humanly possible.

My friends N and S were kind enough to store my bicycle in their basement, which let me get in lots of riding. It turns out I still love bicycle riding, and hopefully I can finally get a bike sorted in Spain next month.

And of course it's not quality time with friends if you don't do construction projects. 

My friend E made me a cheese souffle! There is no better demonstration of friendship, in my opinion.

My friendship cup runneth over. 

What I do when I´m not studying

Things are ticking along nicely here. I have found a good balance between study and social activities. It's probably not surprising that school is turning out to be useful for meeting friends.

Inviting friends to your home for meals is somewhat rare here - that is usually reserved for family. I suspect this is similar to the situation in NYC, when people tend to meet in bars or restaurants because no one has an apartment big enough to host people. However, I love cooking food for people so I've just decided to play the "This is something we do in the US" card and I've had two small dinner parties.

 
I've been busy studying for my final exam in Spanish, which is tomorrow. Actually, there are three exams: the final for the class, a makeup exam offered in January, and a certification exam. I am hoping to avoid needing the makeup exam, but I plan to take the certification exam because it's good practice. At this point, I am pretty confident that I can do will enough to be admitted to the next class, but we will see if the gods of the subjunctive case smile upon me. In any case, I will not have to think about Spanish for the next few weeks, because I'm going to visit friends and family in the US. It's going to be amazing to just walk around and understand everything that people say!

My new friends T and A at the house of the Joaquin Sorolla, a famous Spanish impressionist painter. T and A are fun and interesting people, and, on top of that, A is really good at remembering to take pictures for my blog, so I hope to hang out with them more.

I cooked to for two days to make this Indian feast: roti, raita, urad dal (lentils), malai kofta (a cheese and potato dumpling in tomato gravy), cabbage fritters, and lassi (a mango lassi drink). That meant a feast for three people, plus delicious leftovers for days. Totally worth it.

This is a tiny baroque church where I heard a concert of English choral music. The acoustics were amazing, and the crowd of senior citizens plus me loved every minute of it. I couldn´t decide whether to focus on the music or everything that was happening on the walls.

Madrid puts of LOTS of lights for Christmas. It´s beautiful, but apparently all six million Madrilenños were out looking at them on Saturday. Overfull buses passed the stop rather than picking people up, so getting there and home was a challenge. Next time I´ll go view them on a random Tuesday instead.

Achievement unlocked

Are there phrase transitions in language learning? It seems like children can practice the various parts of skills needed for something and the suddenly put them together in a rudimentary way. I think that happened to me, at least when it comes to understanding spoken Spanish. In the past few weeks, I have had multiple conversations with strangers on the street, and I almost always knew what was going on. In the past I understood maybe half of the conversation, and could not do much more than nod and interject a "Sí" or "Claro." But now I am giving people directions and having conversations with little old ladies at the bus stop. I can make eavesdropping in the Metro my new hobby - after all it's language practice!

Speaking is more of a slow, steady effort. I did quite well on my midterm exam, so I'm planning to continue studying the same way. Language practice with friends three times a week, Disney movies on the weekend, and flashcards as often as I can bear them. 

In other news, Madrid is delightful in the fall. I have discovered what might be my favorite park nearby, Juan Carlos I Park. It has everything: lakes, gardens, olive groves, and for now, gigantic animal sculptures that will be lit up for Christmas.

Festivals

´Tis the season of festivals here in Spain, apparently. I think they are a great way to learn about culture and history, so I´ve been participating when I can. And since they all seem to involve standing in crowds, my new-found height is put to good use. 

Almudena Day

Yesterday was a Madrid holiday, in honor of one of the two patrons saints, Our Lady of Almudena. She disappeared or reappeared at miraculous times (I´m not quite sure of the details). With some friends from class, I attended part of the outdoor mass held in front of the palace, and then I got to see my very first pageant. Living in a very Catholic country, I am sure these will soon bore me, but it was fun to stand in the large crowd and watch the statue, carried on an ornate platform by a team of churchgoers, slowly glide by. We trailed the procession for a while, the peeled off to head to the main plaza. Almudena is also turns out to be patron saint of bakers, and there is a sweet bread filled with cream associated with holiday. The city was handing out free servings, which we eventually secured, but only after some semi-heated arguments with little old ladies about whether we were cutting in line. (Which we were most definitely NOT doing. But Spain is turning out to be a country that takes standing in line very seriously.)

Halloween

Since everyone has been asking, I´ll just say that Halloween is barely a thing here, and is very much seen as an American import. I saw a handful of kids wearing costumes, but mainly it´s the equivalent of Cinco de Mayo in the US - an excuse for adults to go to the bar and drink, with or without costumes.

A royalty sighting

October 31st was important for a different reason - it was the 18th birthday of Princess Leonor, who will inherit the Spanish throne after her father dies. Democracy is quite new here, and one of the ways they protect it is the tradition that the heir publicly swears loyalty to the constitution in front of the Parliament on their 18th birthday. I happened to be downtown that day and got to see her procession from the palace to Parliament - she is in the antique car, accompanied by the royal guard. I was just tickled pink by the whole thing, both because the presence of a royal family is so foreign to me, and because I live in the capital and can just stumble upon things like this. 

All Soul´s Day

November 1st is All Soul´s Day, a national holiday. I don´t have any family graves to visit or tidy, and the only other activity seemed to be attending mass. It turns out that my interest in experiencing local traditions doesn´t include attending outdoor masses held in cemeteries if it is cold and rainy, so I basically skipped this holiday.

Luz Madrid

A few weeks ago, they invited a lot of artists to create light and music installations for local landmarks. A video would capture this much better, since the lights were timed to change to the music. It was cold and rainy that day too, which seems to be a theme in November.

Who am I?

Someone I have been, and continue to be - a person who likes to drink coffee on the terrace

I've been thinking about identity a lot during my move to Spain. Identity is a construct that was studied a lot in my field. Although I'm no expert, it is I can roughly describe it as the type of person you see yourself as. You construct this picture from how other people treat you, what arenas you are successful in, whether people in that group treat you as one of them, etc. Some of my identities are a white person, cisgender female, a physicist, a good cook, a cyclist, a person good with money, even a Trekkie.
I knew that moving to a new country would mess with some of those identities. For example, I think of myself as an intelligent person who is mostly good at navigating the practical components of life. When I arrived, I could barely speak, so no one else could see those smarts, and I had so many experiences, such as not understanding the bus system or not knowing how to get internet installed, that I felt like someone who didn't know how to adult. I also expected that my American identity would become far more salient, although that turns out to be not quite right - I'm not an American here, I'm simply a foreigner, in a group with many other people who can't communicate well and don't know how the system works. Plus, it turns out that many people think I'm French, even if they haven't heard my first name.

But other identity changes were completely unexpected. For example, I see myself as a navigator, since I'm always the person in the group with the map telling everyone where to go next. But here, I seem to have lost my sense of direction. I don't know if it's the multitude of non-parallel streets, or if it's because most street signs are either high up on building sides or non-existent, but I get lost about a hundred times more frequently than in other countries I have lived in. Similarly, I have always been a short, petite person. I didn't even think of this as something that could change, except if I gained weight. But suddenly, in Spain, I am almost of average height for a woman. I can see the tops of many people's heads! And because the Spanish are also very thin, I feel of average weight or maybe a little over. There's nothing wrong with being tall or short or skinny or fat, it's just that I hadn't realized how culturally constructed it would be.

All of these changes are less disorienting as the months roll by. I already feel better about my ability to navigate things like the bureaucracy or the Metro system, and someday I will feel as confident about the subjunctive case as I do about quantum mechanics.