Christmastime is here...

I know you must all be wondering, "what does Christmas look like in Spain?" Well, the lights are not as spectacular as Rockefeller, but there are decorations galore! I decided to dedicate this post to the Christmas ambience in Madrid.

It's beginning to get cold. Though we are on the same latitudinal line as New York, we are not experiencing the same degree of coldness (thank you Mediterranean Sea!) It's in the 40s and 50s here; it probably won't snow until Jan. or Feb. People are bundled in their coats and boots. It's not surprising to see many women in real furs (la de da!) but these are for the older generation.

On your way from our apartment to the metro, there are Christmas lights adorning the streets. Here's a picture of the lights near our piso.



We headed downtown to Gran Via to see more lights. Gran Via is a major street filled with theaters for local performances; it's the 42nd Street of Madrid. In any case, they have several different street lights along with interesting blue chandeliers that decorated the area.





Every street seems to have their own unique Christmas lights. Here are a few we noticed while downtown.





Unfortunately, this isn't a city where you can easily get hot drinks to go. I miss my Manhattan days where I could grab a cup of coffee and leisurely sip it while walking in the New York cold. In fact, it's difficult to find many places where you can get food items "to go." In this time of the year, many street markets pop up in the squares selling goods and churros. Churros and chocolate are a popular treat here, especially in the winter. It's fried dough dipped in chocolate. We stopped by a churro stand and noticed that an ice-skating rink had been set up in the square!



A and I decided that it was safest for the other skaters if we didn't participate, but it was a lovely evening exploring the Spanish decorations!

Sushi and Segovia

There was a puente today, so we had an extended weekend! It was quite lovely; some relaxation balanced with some quality-time with friends. On Friday, there was a Ttmadrid sushi party. A and I have had a hankering for sushi for quite a while and although there are sushi restaurants in Madrid, they are expensive. I miss my sushi place on St. Marks in NYC which had sushi for half-price after 4pm. We decided the party would be an excellent opportunity to see our old teachers and eat our weight in sushi.

There was a catch--we had to make the sushi. The teachers set up tables and ingredients for us to use and instructed us as we made our Japanese delicacies. It was like being in the TEFL school all over again, except there was a food incentive. Here's a picture of A making a sushi roll with our British friends.



After several rounds of people took turns making rolls, we had enough sushi. Some had tuna, salmon and even eel. We left the party filled with content in our consumption of our Japanese cuisine!

Today, a few friends came with us to Segovia, a city about an hour outside of Madrid. During a class, I asked my students to tell me about countries I should go to or must go to (trying to have them practice modal verbs). One of my students said, "You MUST go to Segovia." I had never heard of Segovia and had no idea what was so popular about it. One of my American friends who has been to Spain several times explained to me that they make a great roast pig. The pig is so tender that they cut the pig with a plate! We tried to find this in Segovia, but we were unsuccessful.

Here's a link to a youtube video of the suckling pig being cut with a plate.

Though we didn't actually get to view this event, we did get to try sucking pig at a restaurant.



The meat was quite tender; it melted in your mouth. It was a lovely lunch with good food, wine and friends. We proceeded to view other points of interest in Segovia. One major attraction was the ancient Roman aqueduct that was built around the 2nd century AD.



It was surreal to see this ancient aqueduct amidst the bustling city.



We proceeded to Alcazar Castle, which was a residence for many kings of Castile. I felt it looked like a fairy-tale princess castle.



This castle dates back to the 11th century! It was originally an Arab fort, but over time became a castle to Christian royalty in the province.





Here is the throne room, of course.







Those are the highlights from our trip to Segovia! Now we must get some rest and finish this half-week of work. Poor us;).