Madrid me mata...

We took a quick road trip down to Madrid this weekend to hang out with Diego's college friends who are all soooooo nice-drank lots of cañas, ate a make-shift holiday meal (we had reservations at a Chinese place...hahah...but decided just a few raciones would be a better plan), danced like crazy all night long, heard the dish on Diego Luna from a friend who just interviewed him, ate fried squid sandwiches under one of the arches of the Plaza Mayor, shopped for a flamenco santa in the Plaza Mayor Christmas market but only found frech mistletoe and crazy nativity scene pieces too...some costing 165 euros!...and finally drove home past glowing castles and midieval walls on the Castillian plains. 27 hours of classic Madrid. Quite a nice weekend, I must admit. ;)

How do I look?

I'm thinking about cutting my hair...short like it was in high school and college. But, before taking the plunge I decided to look for a way to try out the look and found http://www.hairmixer.com/ a seriously amazing and ridiculous way to spend an hour or two trying out your face with loads and loads of celebrity hairstyles (or vice versa). It didn't really help with my decision, but man was it fun...and a little scary.

Puente!

I've been celebrating Dia de la constitucion this long weekend- shopping on Sunday-a rarity in Galicia until December, watching Sé lo que hiciste again, getting into the Christmas mood making cookies, having a few family and friend filled meals, getting a few ideas from blogs that I was behind on after a week without internet, and dreaming of snow covered trees and warm glowing windows. Unfortunatly the cookies burned, the stores closed on Monday and Tuesday, and I really need to turn off Sé lo que hiciste and get some work done for the new week. But, before here is a little peak into what I'm going to do with my recently returned wedding vases...I can't wait to have the bulbs blooms in the middle of the winter!

There's nothing like coloring turkeys

It's been a while since I've blogged...time for a late November update. November was a long month without a single puente-long weekend. I was busy teaching up a storm and translating as well for my class. It was the first year ever that I've worked on Thanksgiving-and my body felt the need for the turkey and shopping break. So, my classes celebrated a little turkey day break too. In my beginners class where we were learning about food, we made Spanish style thanksgiving dinners-mainly serving octopus. The six year olds colored turkeys and left class with the idea that Thanksgiving is a holiday about turkeys flying off buildings-I tried to tell the the real story, but between the many random stories they told each other about birds while they were coloring the majority walked out with a new tradition in mind. And finally my intermediate classes- who were conveniently learning about numbers:percentages, fractions, and large numbers- had a fantastic lesson about Black Friday with the excellent idea of making an advertisement about the incredible sales. It was a hit. Finally we finished watching a Thanksgiving episode of Friends. I think I turned my first day working on Thanksgiving into quite a fun day and my students all love Thanksgiving now. I wasn't expecting more than a turkey sandwich after work-which I can't complain about, just ask my sister, the cold cut turkey here is wonderful- but much to my surprise Diego had prepared a turkey feast with what he could find here. There was a turkey leg to share, his very own gravy recipe,mashed potatoes, and the closest thing he could find to cranberry sauce- grosella marmelade. It was delicious, and best of all it was such an unexpected surprise! What a lucky girl I am. :)

Cine

Santiago becomes mecca for all independant/international movie lovers in Galicia every November for the film festival, Cineuropa. We've been wanting to go for weeks, but with our new late work schedules we can never make it to any of the movies we want to see that are playing at 6, 8, or 10. This weekend we finally had the chance to make it out. We were between getting tickets to see Yann Tiersenn in concert or going to the movies...we ended up at the movie, getting last minute ticktets in the nosebleed section of the old theater in Santiago. hehe...Diego was double checking that I wanted to go, telling me we were going to be really high up...I didn't realize we would babsically be above the chandelier on benches leaning over the rails to see the movie! In any case we saw Looking for Eric directed by Ken Loach. It was an enjoyable film about a man overcoming difficult circumstances with the help of Eric Cantona retired a French soccer player. Definately worth seeing. And going to cineuropa was so nice. I wish we could take advantage of more of the fantastic films they are showing-and see some of the local Galician diretors' debuts. We always have next weekend too. Cineuropa lasts until December 2-if you're interested check out the website.

Modern Beer

On a rare weekend that Diego wasn't working we had a leisurly lunch at a new restaurant next to the contemporary art museum CGAC and the Museo do Pobo Galego and while ordering our drinks we decided on a new beer. It arrived in a fancy bottle-without a price tag but with a little tag describing how it was developed by Ferran Adria of elBulli- the most famous,expensive, gourmet restaurant in the world basically-located where else, but in Spain. We decided not to worry about the price and enjoy. And we did. It was lovely. Soft, delicate, fruity, wheaty. Perfect. When we got the bill it was much less expensive then we had expected. Look for it: Estrella Damm Inedit. You'll love it. Avantgarde beer. And...check out the video about how to serve it-it's seriously the champagne of beers.