whenirisheyesrwatchn-irishgalnmadrid

Wine and sunshine happen to be two of my favourite things so what better way to combine my twin passions than by hopping on a wine bus from Madrid to visit a vineyard in the Burgos region and enjoy a tour of a Spanish town enjoying a candlelit festival to boot? Winebus tours run throughout the winter and summer seasons. I learned some wine tasting tips from our guide at the vineyard(such as always taste the wine before the cheese) and why some bottles are corked with twist off caps or corks (only bottles where the wine was stored in oak barrels have corks). I was lucky that our tour took place during a candlelit festival in the small town of La Pedraza which is only lit by candlelight in darkness so a stroll through the cobbled streets dotted with tealights after sipping some wine on the grass beside the entrance gate to the town was enchanting.

This tour is not for the wine connoisseurs who want to visit several vineyards in one day but if its more a tour of a Spanish town with a tipple of wine tasting thrown in that you are after then hopping on board the wine bus for an afternoon may be just what you are looking for to escape the city, experience the real taste of Spanish lifestyle while sipping on local wines in the company of other like minded souls out to explore, enjoy, taste and savour. Tourists remarked on how they felt the tour was good value compared to other wine tasting tours they had looked up. So if you want a day trip packed with wine and sandwiches for a picnic, a quick tour and tasting around a vineyard and a pleasant stroll and sharing a glass or several in a typical Spanish town with friends you went with or made along the daytrip then the wine bus may be just the right combination of wine and sunshine you have been searching for….. For those of you interested in hopping on board you can contact Ignacio by email:igsegma3@gmail.com

The social scene
A recent article in The Irish Times compared a night out in different cities including Madrid and Dublin and having lived in both I feel I can give a pretty accurate analysis of the social scene in each of the two capitals.

In general a night out in both capitals involves bars, possibly clubs and food somewhere along the way. In Madrid there are later going out and coming home times (a lot of people take the metro home at 6am ). While beer and wine can be dirt cheap in Spain (like two euro for a glass of wine) beers are smaller than at home so a small beer called a ‘cana’ does not measure up in the taste stakes to the traditional pint. Spirits are more or less the same price (although measures can be more generous, you have been warned before you wake up the next day with a hangover or a 'resaca’).Gin and tonic served in goblet size glasses is the fashionable drinking choice of the minute. Cava is also popular (like a cheap version of champagne).

Cigarettes are much cheaper in Spain than in Ireland (as a non smoker I haven’t a clue of the prices but I know they are much cheaper in Spain) For a small country, Ireland holds the honour of being the first country in the world in 2004 to bring in a ban on smoking in all workplaces . In 2006 a law was introduced in Spain banning smoking in the work place but letting owners of bars and cafes decide whether or not to impose it (many didn’t implement it) but from 2011 the law has been strictly enforced. So at least for us non smokers in Dublin and Madrid the social scene is a smog free zone.

Attitudes differ between what is deemed socially acceptable surrounding smoking and drinking. People have a very casual attitude towards smoking and teachers often smoke outside their schools in full view of the students or puff happily while they wait to cross pedestrian crossings (I think teachers try to hide their smoking from students in Ireland which maybe says something about how smoking is viewed by the general population). Undeniably however, they don’t have as much vomit on the streets and drunken brawls which begs the question is the eating later culture and generally going out later times responsible for less drunken behaviour (the binge drinking culture of Ireland and England was illustrated when Liverpool fans mobbed the city during a football match visit in November meaning squares such as Plaza Mayor closed down to avoid the drunken debauchery)?

I think there is more of a going out culture in Spain during the week but it is in moderation for 'una cana’ whereas maybe just saving going out to once a week encourages binge drinking.
I think in Ireland if someone went for a drink on a random Tuesday night and it wasn’t for a major sporting event people would think 'but why?’ but here it is very normal, Spain may be in a deep crisis but people still manage to have a good time. What Dublin does have over Madrid though is live music which does give a very different feel to a bar scene and probably accounts for the 'craic’ of fun that Irish culture is famous for (I have yet to meet a Spaniard who hasn’t had a good time on nights out in Ireland).

Club entries can be about 20 euros (sorry lads but the ladies can often get in free before a certain hour) so after bars and clubs late night snacks have the same Burger King and McDonald’s options but there are times when my cravings for vinegar soaked brown paper bagged chips make me pang to be in a greasy take away in Ireland with a grimy looking floor and waiting to be served while the staff nip out the back for a fag. So although there are no snack-boxes here chocolate and churros is often a popular end of partying snack in Madrid. Getting home options in Madrid can be taxis, walking (depending on how central you live)or using buses or the metro. In Dublin the bus the
Nitelink feels a bit rough compared to the metro here which means the taxi industry continues to thrive in Dublin.

There is an explosion of Starbucks on every corner (All Starbucks sippers will be acquainted with the ritual of the staff writing you name on your coffee cup. I have shortened my name to 'Dee’ as it just becomes too laboured when I say my name and they look at me as if I’m an alien, I got a ping of pleasure the last time I had a Starbucks in Dublin airport and said my full name). You can get a coffee for around 150 from any old man style bar but sometimes the cult of Starbucks does lure you in!

A lot of socialising in Spain revolves around food. An Italian woman in my Spanish classes remarked than in Italy people often ask each other around to their homes for dinner but that here in Spain everything is about eating out and this is very true , go for some food and you will invariably be seated around a group celebrating someone birthday singing 'cumpleanos feliz’ and the custom of 'sobremesa’ (which means to linger over food) is how dining out is approached in Spain.

Going to the cinema is about the same price as in Ireland although cheaper on a Wednesday. Good theatre is something Ireland does well (now if I could just move the Gate theatre to Madrid all would be well) and is something I miss while leaving here. Of course the climate in Madrid does make social activities like picnics and walks in the park much more accessible than in Ireland and living in the capital also has its advantages of having museums and exhibitions constantly on show (to be fair Dublin has some amazing free museums such as Collins Barracks and the National Art Gallery so both cities can satisfy the cultural cravings).

So, which city has a better social scene? I will play it safe and say that it is the company that makes for a good social scene and not the city and both cities have their place in entertaining. For cheap wine and tapas Madrid is great but for Irish banter and live music Dublin definitely wins some points.The Spanish expression 'dar una vuelto,’ means to take a ramble and see where we end up and if you do this in Dublin or in Madrid you are sure to find plenty of quirkness and craic.
Be it Madrid or Dublin, it’s fun to explore different social scenes, now does anyone fancy a cana?

Everyone knows that Madrid is home to some of the most famous art galleries in the world including the Prado and the Reina Sofia. I had been to see Picasso’s famous Guernica years ago in the Reina Sofia when I first visited Madrid but it took me to live in Madrid for a year and a half before I finally went to visit the gigantic Prado. I found a group on the website meetup.com which is a brilliant site to find group activities that you are interested in. Somehow the group ‘arte and canas’ ( art and canas- a cana is a small beer) seemed to appeal to me! The group size is a maximum of eight people in a group with a guide. I was really glad that I signed up as the Prado is enormous and seen as the tour was in Spanish it was a nice size group for me to listen to the tour ( I couldn’t understand everything but luckily the classical nature of the art in the Prado with Greek and Roman Gods such as Zeus and Hercules meant that having a vague idea of their role in mythology/history meant I could understand the gist of the tour).

A week later still on the ‘I should explore more art galleries and exhibitions here’ vibe, I went to see an exhibition of the painter El Greco in Toledo. The religious nature of the exhibition (all paintings of Jesus and the apostles) had me humming songs about the apostles that I hadn’t thought of since I was in primary school (‘’there was Peter and Andrew, James and John…. Anyone remember that one?). The exhibition served as a reminder of the traditional catholic routes of Spain. Luckily, after leaving the exhibition (which sort of made me feel like I had been at a very long mass) the pretty cobbled stone streets and cheery Christmas lights of Toledo offered respite from religious reverence. Toledo at one time was the capital of Spain and is a popular place to buy ‘espadas’ or swords. It is a nice place for a daytrip from Madrid (less than an hour away by bus or train) and it was particularly charming at Christmas (I may have enjoyed the hot chocolate and Christmas lights more than the exhibition, just don’t tell El Greco  )

Concert goers in Madrid who go to see big international acts usually find themselves going to the Palacio de Deportes which as well as a venue hosting concerts is also a basketball arena. The venue is massive. I seen Artic Monkeys there last year and was sitting and it felt a bit impersonal like watching a DVD of the band because of the size of the stadium. This year I saw ‘One Republic’ there and it was standing room only which generated a much more connected atmosphere. I also saw Ed Sheran perform there a couple of weeks later and he did a decent job of entertaining the crowd which can be no easy feat in his striped back format (no other performers on stage) in a massive arena.

There are some open mic nights in some bars throughout the city but in general the live performance in bars is thin on the ground. Live local performances are something that Ireland
does really well, that visitors remark upon and something we should be very proud of and strive to maintain. The local Irish music scene of one man and his guitar belting out’ wagon wheel’ (for any non Irish this is a softish sounding country song which everyone in Ireland knows) in every local pub you frequent is actually something to be treasured about Irish culture.

Bono spoke recently on the Graham Norton show about the importance of the song in the pub in Ireland ensuring the bar stayed open and the punters stayed drinking. The pub performance culture in Ireland continues to entertain and enliven the masses throughout the Emerald Isle. So the benefit of living in Madrid as the capital is that you can get to see the big international acts play but for the real ‘craic agus ceol’ (music and fun) Ireland knows best what sweet tune to sing to.

Year two in Madrid saw me determined to delve in deeper to one of my favourite pastimes which is writing (strange that seen as I’m writing a blog  ) I found two writers groups who informed me about open mic nights that are held every six weeks in Madrid. So, in the whole spirit of ‘feel the fear and do it anyways’ (or after drinking too much red wine at a writer’s group meeting and declaring that I would read at the open mic night) I decided to try my hand at reading a poem that I wrote. The evening of the open mic night dawned and between dashing from work to Spanish lessons I suddenly realised that I hadn’t actually ever read the poem out loud. So, the glamour of my life entailed printing off the poem in an internet café, dashing from Spanish lessons to the venue and reading it aloud to myself in the toilet in a café before reading it at the open mic. Panic flashed through my mind as I approached the venue. Frantic fear filled my mind. Questions such as ‘Will I bore people?’, Will I read it how I had intended?, ‘Why am I doing this?’ flooded my brain. Its a bit like learning a language you have to get up there and do it, speak it ,feel it, put it out there. Flawed? Yes, but it is in the imperfections that we learn. A hiking buddy of mine remarked that “people think you have to be confident to get up and do things but the truth is confidence comes from getting up and doing them.“ and the open mic experience makes me agree with this sentiment. I did manage to read it after a shaky and nervy start. I’m aiming to read at the open mic night in January only maybe this time I will make less haste and more preparation!

Year two in Spain saw me determined to kick my Spanish level up a notch (which is the only way it could go considering I arrived in year one with about ten Spanish words in my vocabulary set). I had heard that the Escuela de Idiomas, the official school of languages offered accredited language courses at very reasonable rates but to gain this bargain rate you have to plague the school for information. The plaguing started in July and August which I sent several emails asking about language courses starting in September/October. Eventually near the end of September I received an email saying I could attend the school on an allocated date to complete a level test for a language course.

On online forums for expats in Madrid I had read conflicting reviews of E.O.I. with some people saying the classes offered a reasonable rate to learn a language and others saying that the level test was a scam to make money and that only a limited amount of places were actually available. I went along to the level test therefore wondering if I would actually get a place. The level test in itself presented a challenge. You have to do a grammar test with 100 (yes a hundred) questions, do an oral test and a writing task (I was in zombie mode after the level test). The next day I checked online to see my level placement ‘intermediate one’, it was so nice to be something other than a complete beginner) I had to go to the bank to pay for the level test then return to the school to queue up the next day with a copy of your passport, nie (this is a document you have to have if you are living/working in Spain) and the slip proving you had paid for the level test.

Once I reached the top of the queue a non-smiling moustache man took my documents. I told him I wanted to do the classes in the evening but he shook his head and pointed to red boxes on his computer screen
“ Esta llena,” or ‘it is full’ he said. I’m not sure what came over me but I decided moustache man was going to let me into the class so making my eyes as full and sad as I could I started babbling about how I really wanted to learn Spanish and somewhere between the sad eyes the begging ‘por favors’ or pleases I threw in a bribe ‘’te compro una cerveza’’(I will buy you a beer). Moustache man said something that I didn’t understand so I just nodded fervently and he clicked on the red box to add one more number to it. I was in! The class had already started when I left the document checking office and it was only later I thought ‘’holy crap, I just tried to bribe an official’’.

The downside to the cheap lessons is that class sizes are large. Over half the class are Asian hailing from Hong Kong, China and Korea which means I may end up speaking Spanish with a Chinese accent! The rest of my classmates hail from England, America, Eastern Europe and there is a diplomat from Nigeria, an au pair from Germany and a teacher from Finland and I am the token Irish girl in the class flying the flag for Irish wit and Guinness whenever I get a chance! There
is something very lovely about learning a language in an international environment because not only do you get to learn a language but also about the culture and customs of your classmates. I learned for example, that you can’t cry in Korea in December, apparently there is even a song about it!

After having classes for two hours a day everyday between Monday to Thursday and including two Fridays every month from October to December, I hope I am improving, I have to get 60 per cent in a four part exam to pass (listening, speaking, reading and writing). Having the exam about a week after I return to Spain after Christmas is terrifying me (maybe I will say, well, what’s the craic? Instead of Hola, que tal). Im trying to keep some Spanish in my ears in Ireland over the festive season with some dvds and podcasts to keep me up to speed. So, I may have blagged my way into the class but passing the exam may require a bit more brain power than using my Irish charm. The school offers language classes in several different languages including in Irish. For now I will stick to building up more than a couple of words or ‘cupla focal ’( as we say in Irish) of Spanish but I guess it is nice to know I can study my own native language and many others if I choose to stay in Madrid.

For anyone living in Madrid a trip to a chinos (which is slang for a local shop usually run by Chinese people hence the name )will become a regular part of your time here. The chinos is the place for your basic essentials such as bread and milk and all sorts of riff raff from air fresheners to key-rings.There is normally some bored child sitting on a stool amongst the cans of tuna, shampoos and crisp boxes while the shop server normally seems to be watching some Chinese programmes on tv, There are some chino shops just for food and others for just household products which sort of resemble the 2 euro shops in Ireland but stock everything from electric plug sockets to Christmas trees and pillows and cutlery

If Irish people and Spanish people were as shrewd and opportunist as the Chinese we would having booming economies right now. Spanish people give out that the Chinese don’t learn Spanish but the shrewd business instincts of the Chinos always know how to ask ‘algo mas’ or if you want anything else and so of course I want and buy the Doritos when I only had intended to buy milk. It’s a bit like when you shop in Pennies and come out with an array of things you hadn’t intended getting (On an aside note more than half of the students in my Spanish class are Chinese and they said that in maths classes in China students study four maths books per year so it is no wonder they are the ones with a booming economy). When I go for a run on a hot day a chino man offers to sell me water on the street and when it is lashing rain the offer becomes an umbrella. You have to admire their pragmatic approach to business. Be it late night munchies, cleaning products, booze or a lighter that you need ,the chinos is your one stop shop for all the cravings and conveniences you need to fulfill.

The Chinese population certainly have a strong presence in Spain and with an ageing population here many Spanish people are delighted to see Chinese children raising the youth population and from immigrants in general) and like in Ireland where many couples adopt babies from China this has also occurred in Spain ensuring that the Chinese ethnicity has a strong presence and a strong future here. I have heard Spanish people remark that they have never seen a funeral of a Chinese person here with one remark being 'they never die, the chinos, they use the same id papers.’ illuminating that perhaps some Chinese stay here for a few years and then return and perhaps their family members and friends replace them instead. The Chinese community therefore is very much alive in Spain. Now, if I can just resist those damn Doritos every time the chino man asks 'algo mas’ then all will be well but the shrewd chino man outwits me every time.

Upon returning to Madrid in September for the start of my second year living here it is interesting to think about and see different viewpoints of the city. The literal viewing point came in the form of visiting the Circulo de Bella Artes and taking the lift to the 7th floor to see roof top views of Madrid. It felt like a bit like being in a Carlberg ad for ’ if Madrid did the best view in the world….. ( the song from the Ikea ad ‘you will always find me in the kitchen at parties’ played on loop in my head from viewing the swanky bar which is all steel corners, fake grass and modern design). I felt a bit out of place in a GAA jersey (after just coming from watching the All Ireland Final in the James Joyce bar). The building itself is worthwhile to check out as it houses interesting art and photography exhibitions (www.circulodebellaartes.com ).

There is a bit of a sense of ambiguity for expats on the whole regarding tourist spots or things to see or do and check out (only when you have the visitors do you start to think’ oh I really should have seen x, y and z). The reality is you don’t eat tapas everyday and sit in the sun as the mundane realities of life continue including paying bills and doing washing but sometimes it is nice to do the touristy things too to remind yourself of why it is good to live in the city!

News reports announce that a street in Madrid has been named after Margaret Thatcher, and the question of Scottish independence receives plenty of column inches and airtime due to its parallels with the Catalans wanting independence from Spain. My personal viewpoint is that naming a street in Madrid after a British political leader is a sickening attempt to cash in on British tourists so you could say that 'Calle Margaret Thatcher ’ (calle is the Spanish word for 'street’) ain’t exactly up my street!

Living abroad gives you fresh insight into yourself and your own country and about the country you choose to live in. We are all guilty of stereotyping how we expect a country to be, be it from taking tango lessons in Argentina (where I assumed it was an integral part of Argentinian culture only to meet Argentinians outside of Argentina afterwards who say it is not all that common/popular and is just a tourism marketing strategy), to people assuming that all Irish people have red hair. Living in a place however, dispels myths or as Seamus Heaney more eloquently put it 'Still, living displaces false sentiments’. By actually living in Spain the viewpoints I have learned are that not all Spanish people support bullfighting (it is banned in Catalonia but is not supported by all other Spanish people) nor is it a national custom to take a daily siesta. The viewpoints I reflected upon when returning to kick start my second year in Madrid gave me a positive outlook for the year ahead.

Things I rejoiced about and that struck me as I returned to Madrid is how safe it feels at night, how going home at 330 feels early, how knowing where your going makes you realise how much you love the city, how from building up a network of friends you now have a social calender of house-warmings and birthdays not to mention Gaelic Irish match viewing sessions that you must attend , how good the fruit and vegetables taste (I guess food being exposed to sunshine and not arriving battered and bruised and a few days old by the time it is exported accounts for this), how lovely it is to have some clue language wise and culturally (although I still asked for a fireman instead of a lightbulb) , how much there still is to discover now that the initial year of settling in has passed.

So, year two brings with it different view points both in the literal and metaphorical sense. Sometimes the view can be hazy but when we wait through the fog we can see a clear viewpoint . Undoubtedly year two will bring with it sunshine and showers. The experiences of different viewpoints to learn from, build on and look from are an important component of the fabric of living abroad.

Spending the summer working in Dublin allowed me to observe some cultural differences between Ireland and Spain and ironically I felt like I was more immersed in Spanish than when I was in Spain! While subletting a place in Dublin for the summer I ended up living with two Spanish teachers (one moved out when the other moved in and one is based in Madrid , hurray!)I went for a run in the phoenix park and a tour bus passed me saying Irlanda en Espanol which is a tour company that gives tours of Ireland in Spanish ( I was also stopped by Spanish tourists who asked using gestures where were “the animals with the horns” otherwise known as the lovely deers).

Two incidents showed me that I have managed to learn some level of Spanish. While doing a tefl course in Galway I was asked to explain to a Spanish girl that she had to change classes the following day. She had been placed in the wrong level of class and was saying that she was stupid. I could completely relate to her feeling stupid and it was nice to be able to reassure her that she was not at all stupid and that she would be put in the correct class the next day.

The second incident was when the Spanish teacher wanted to go to Galway for the weekend and it happened to be during the horse racing festival week. I was able to tell her where to go to get the Citylink coach and advise her to dress up for the races and book accommodation quickly due to the volumes of people who visit Galway during the races. It felt nice for once to be the person helping others and not constantly asking for help when you cant understand something.

I think living abroad where you have to learn a language definitely gives you more empathy for people who come to Ireland to learn English. You understand how helpless and vulnerable someone can feel when they are lost in a maze of confusion and dearly latch on to any phrases they know to try to muster their way through coping in a foreign place. In an effort not to forget everything that I had picked up in Spanish, I went to the Latin institute in Dublin twice a week for lessons.
It seemed everywhere I went in Dublin was full of Spanish people on the streets, on the buses and in the museums. I checked out an intercambio (a language exchange ) in the city centre but mind you walking down the streets and listening in itself was a kind of a lesson!

Just as living abroad shows the ugly parts as well as the beauty of living in a city, returning to your own country reveals similar aspects of your own country. A disturbing feature of city life in Dublin is the amount of homeless people on the streets. Fights, junkies and shoplifting seem more prevalent than in the past and the homeless seemed more aggressive towards passer bys.

Being at home in Ireland made me realise that I missed things that strangely, I didn’t realise I had actually missed. The banter with the bus drivers who talk to you as if you are a family relation, people striking up random conversations with you as bus-stops as your gaa jersey prompts discussion “are you going to the match?” Garlic cheese chips-oh dear lord no amount of tapas can match garlic cheese chips. When I land in Dublin you shall find me in a chipper ( and my friends armed with chewing gum). Sarcasm and slagging that only Irish people understand which is all meant as good fun or “good craic” and is not actually a litany of insults , although it may seem like that to outsiders. Living in Spain and then returning to live and work in Dublin and spend the summer in Ireland definitely gave me some interesting perspective about my time in both countries

Living abroad also makes you want to be a tourist in your own country.Been blessed with summer sunshine showed how lovely Ireland is when we do get decent weather from the open spaces in the Phoenix Park to the wild beauty of the west of Ireland and to the cosmopolitan vibe that Dublin now possesses from tapas restaurants (a very good one is ‘The porter house’ to Moroccan (try 'Dados’ for delicious nosh). It seemed as if every Spanish person I met that has been to Ireland has visited the cliffs of Moher and so during the summer I went to see them to see what all the fuss was about. Sure, they are beautiful if you can weave your way through the mass volumes of tourists to connect with nature. Personally, as someone from the west of Ireland I am proud to come from an area called Erris that this year in the 'Irish Times’ newspaper was selected as 'the best place to go wild in Ireland’ so I am posting a picture of cliffs near where I grew up, not as famous perhaps as the cliffs of Moher but equally beautiful and perhaps all the more so for having the space to connect with nature without hoards of tourists at your elbow.

Teaching English in a summer school saw me surrounded by herds of Spanish teenagers and enabled me to gain their insight into Irish and Spanish culture whereby they moaned about how early Irish meal times are in comparison to in Spain. When I asked one student who had been to the Macklemore concert if he observed any cultural differences between Ireland and Madrid (apart from the fact that yes, concerts do take place in the rain)he replied that 'yes’, he had noticed something very peculiar. He said when it started to rain “all of this brown stuff” started running down the legs and faces of the Irish girls. The brown stuff is of course the Irish fake tan but it was funny to see how peculiar and unattractive it can look to naturally tanned foreigners who will never need to use it or worry about it running in the rain!

Spanish people are serious carnivores and my Spanish summer house mate even travels with ham from Spain when she leaves Espana. During the summer she unveiled the ham.The presentation of ham to go with wine was done ceremoniously and ham is a serious passion of Spaniards. There is a ham museum in Madrid and several shops dedicated to the love of ham or 'jamon’. When I told a work colleague that I had a friend from Ireland over who doesn’t drink he quipped 'that’s not right, a Irish person who doesn’t drink is like a Spaniard who doesn’t eat ham’. After having some vegetarian friends over to visit me in Madrid I can confirm that meat eaters have a paradise in Spain when in one case the only thing my vegetarian friend could order was a cheese plate!

So, from fake tan to Spanish ham, the cultural observations I gathered from the summer in Dublin of both Irish and Spanish cultures served to entertain and enlighten me. So thank you to Irlanda and Espana for opening my eyes to the uniqueness and beauty of each of our cultures.

My last week of my first year in Madrid coincided with the abdication of King Juan Carlos ( who became King two days after Franco’s death) and the accession of his son Felipe VI. The royal family in Spain make Prince Harry’s antics ( frolicking with strippers in Las Vegas, dressing in a Nazi uniform and in general just looking a bit gamey ) look tame! Juan Carlos’s abdication became a national talking point in Spain and led people to talk about his colourful past. When Juan Carlos was eighteen he was involved in a shooting incident that occurred between him and his then fourteen year old brother Alfonso with a pistol that was reputedly given to their father by Franco. As the boys were the only two in the room at the time, some ambiguity surrounds how Alfonso ended up dead but shooting incidents and accidents continued to make headlines during Juan Carlos’s time as King.

Every family has a black sheep (interestingly they have the same expression in Spanish, Oveja negra) and the bad boy of the royal family is Juan Carlos’s grandson Felipe Juan Froilan. Felipe has failed several school exams and brought negative headlines to the Royal Family when in 2012 at 13 years old he shot himself in the foot which proved embarrassing for the royals considering by law minors under 14 years are not supposed to handle a firearm.

Despite the shooting accidents blotting a stain on the reputation of the royal family, Juan Carlos maintained a love of hunting which saw him fall out of favour with the Spanish public. During his reign Juan Carlos became unpopular when in 2012 he went on a lavish hunting trip in Botswana. At the height of the economic crisis in Spain, people were enraged about the financial costs of the trip and public condemnation broke out when it emerged that the King may have been involved in the shooting of elephants. The king was the honorary president of the Spanish branch of the conservation group WWF and he stepped down from his post following the furore and had to publicly apologise for his actions. The King was accompanied on the trip by his rumoured to be mistress the Danish aristocrat Corrinna Zu Sayn Wittgenstein and the trip became a talking point when Juan Carlos injured his hip and had to be flown back to Madrid for emergency treatment.

Problems with the inlaws are common in many families and Juan Carlos certainly experienced this with his son in law Inaki Urdangarin. Urdangarin married to Princess Christina since 1997, is enmeshed in scandal about embezzling funds to the value of 6 million euros. Urdangarin a former handball Olympian, has tarnished the reputation of the royal family leading the public to speculate how much his wife Princess Christina and the rest of the royal family knew about his financial faux pas. So was it the corruption, the ailing health or a desire to see the royal family popular again in Spain that lead Juan Carlos to abdicate to his son Felipe? This question was the talking point when the abducation was announced. Some people got nostalgic remembering fondly how they liked how he has been king since they have been born and he was praised for helping to bring democracy to Spain in the aftermath of Franco’s death.

The news of the abdication sparked protests calling for a Republic but undoubtedly the new King Felipe and his wife Queen Letizia are proving popular with the Spanish public. Felipe like his father Juan Carlos, competed in the Olympics represented the Spanish sailing team and he sailed into success in the romantic stakes too in his choice of a wife.The glamorous Letizia Ortiz a divorced newsreader and an accomplished journalist, sent ripples of shock around Spain when her engagement to Felipe was announced in November 2003 (clearly the Spanish press is not as invasive as the British press as nobody in Spain knew they were even dating until the engagement was announced ) The couple are renowned for having a grounded view of life (well as grounded as people can be for the royal family lifestyle) with Felipe telling Hello magazine ’ a king should not lose his perception of what it is like to be somebody normal’. Whether people or pro or anti monarchy the youthfulness of King Felipe (46) and Queen Letizia (42) certainly brings a fresh energy to the throne and adorable snaps with the King and Queen with their two daughters Princess Sophia and Princess Leonor are lapped up the Spanish public.

A shout out to goes to our esteemed Irish writer John Banville who recently won the Prince of Asturias award for literature. I watched a television report inter-fused with interviews with Banville , clips of crowds of well-wishers on the streets of Oviedo gathering to see the royals and also crowds of protesters warded off by police before the news coverage turned back to the most pressing matter of the awards ceremony-discussing Letiza’s choice of dress! Just like English girls follow the style of Kate Middelton the Spanish girls looks at the style of Letizia for inspiration and news reports on royal engagements often heavily focus on what designer dress she is wearing. Maybe there is a wannabe princess in us all…..

From monarchies to slaughter houses turned into hip cultural hubs ,Madrid continues to fascinate me. At the end of my first year in Madrid I checked out the Matadero which used to be a slaughterhouse but now is a cultural centre housing bars and exhibitions (it can be found at the metro stop Legazpi on the yellow line). Getting to the end of my first year in Madrid provides time for reflection as you mourn the friends that leave and are grateful for those who stay. I remember asking someone on a hiking trip who lived six years in Madrid what was the worst thing about living in Madrid and she said that people leave and it feels like you are starting all over again making friends and connections. Reflecting on my time here gives me a deep sense of gratitude for my roots at home and for the new friendships forged during my time here.

At the end of year one I feel grateful to have experienced the year and my decision to return for a second year to Madrid feels like the right path for me. Des Bishop the comedian does a sketch about the Irish pre electric shower days when everyone had to turn on an immersion to heat the water and the mortal sin was leaving the immersion on and running up the bill. (we may now be in the era of power showers but it is funny now to see Irish people’s obsession with water consumption returning with the recent introduction of water charges). I don’t feel like I have immersed myself fully in Spanish culture yet so maybe year two will see the immersion being turned on and left on but it is fun to have started and now continue with my journey of living in Madrid.

I went to Granada for a long weekend in June. The first thing that struck me was how the accent is so different to the accent in Madrid so for example, taxi drivers and bar staff pronounce ‘Gracias’ without the ’s’. The Alhambra-a palace that is a fusion of Islamic architecture and Christian design (it was built by Muslim rulers and later taken over by the Spanish who do not have the name conquistadores for nothing) dominates the landscape and is so popular that you must book tickets in advance online to ensure you get to see it (http://www.alhambradegranada.org/en/info/ticketsale.asp ).

Granada embodies the stereotypical postcard images of what Spain represents as tourists throng to flamenco shows, long haired lotharios strum Spanish guitars along the streets and diners delight in free tapas with every drink bought. It was fun to check out out a flamenco show, visit the Alhambra and eat glorious tapas for a few days . Granada it has a very different feel from Madrid as it is smaller and more laid back making it lovely for a few days but I do prefer the more international/city vibe of Madrid as a city to live in.

As it turned out, my trip to Granada meant I didn’t have to diet for a while as when I returned to Madrid I suffered from a bout of food poisoning (it didn’t help that I had been on dental antibiotics so any resistance my immune system would normally have was slammed into submission).

Nothing makes you realise how small your living space is until you urgently have to use the bathroom and you stumble around in a panic between your bedroom and the bathroom floor exhausted torn between wanting to lie down and your involuntary spasms informing you that actually yes, there is more crap to throw up!

Being sick revealed Spanish customs about how to get better with my house mate informing me that I could only eat cooked ham and boiled rice (no flat 7 up the Irish remedy for every ailment on the curing menu in Spain). After a few days of forcing down dehydration salts (the holy grail of ailments for anyone who ever has food poisoning) I was on the mend. Getting sick is never pleasant but the cost of medicine is much cheaper here than in Ireland (a box of ibuprofen for example costs about 2 euros) and is only sold at chemists (it is actually quite convenient in Ireland when you can grab panadol alongside your groceries on your supermarket shop).

It is suffice to say that I paid dearly( in the physical sense as opposed to financial) for my gorging in Granada. So 'gracia’ Granada, perhaps if I can drop the ’s’ for sickness as well as from 'Gracias’ the next time I visit (it is near the Sierra Nevada mountains making it an ideal base for hiking and ski trips) I can indulge in your delights again!

Having visitors over to the new city where you live brings with it a chance to reflect on what living abroad is really like. It also (if you happen to have very generous visitors which I was lucky to have) gives you a chance to hoard things you missed from home be it tayto crisps, Lyons/Barry’s teabags Cadburys chocolate and my personal request the Saturday supplements from newspapers. (I read the ‘Irish Times’ every Saturday on my kindle and I download the e-edition of the Saturday Independent onto my laptop but it is not the same as having the supplements in your hand to leaf through and the kindle/online editions often have sections missing so that for example, when I read recipes in the 'Irish Times’, I have no idea of the list/quantity of ingredients…. Yes, I am a tad obsessed with newspapers and read Spanish papers daily here but I miss the familiarity of the Irish ones).

I found myself initially apologising for shoddy accommodation (well shoddy by Irish standards) with my scully sized kitchen and condensation clad walls. In general apartments are more plainly decorated here and sometimes less is more when realise a lot of the material you deemed as necessary at home somehow doesn’t quite work with the sparsely decorated apartment vibe.

Sometimes other people’s observations are interesting to consider because sometimes the realities of living in a place means the visitor’s eye can bring fresh insight into areas that you hadn’t really thought about in the midst of actually carrying out your day to day activities. Just some of the observations include:

• 'There are lots of old people’

An economist in 2007, predicted that half of Spain’s population will be older than 55 by 2050, giving Spain the highest median age of any nation in the world so yes, there are indeed lots of old/older people.

• 'Spanish sounds very aggressive’ they are very loud!

There is no denying that the Spanish are loud and proud (get on a train/bus at rush hour to hear the crescendo of a Spanish chorus) and whether you know any Spanish or not you will know when Spanish people are about due to the decimal levels!

• 'There are lots of police on the streets ,it feels safer than Dublin’

This is really true , for a capital city that is the third largest in Europe, it is a lovely thing to live in the city and fell safe at all hours of the night or day. Of course you need to keep an eye on your belongings to beat the pesky pick pocketers but it is a very safe city making it a lovely place to visit and to live in. I often run down by the river and past the Athletico Madrid stadium and aside from the presence of the fans wearing the red and white jerseys, the sheer volume of police guarding the entrances to the stadium alone would tell me a match was on!

• 'I thought it would be hot but it’s colder than at home’

As Aha famously sang ’ ’ the sun always shines on t.v’ and when I went to Australia no matter how logic was telling me that is was their winter, years of watching 'Home and Away ’ convinced me it would be hot. Most visitors frame of reference when coming to Madrid is a holiday image of 'sunny Spain’ but winters are cold here

• 'Spanish men are quite small aren’t they?’

This indeed can be true of Latino men, well the long and short of it is (sorry, I couldn’t resist) that Ireland reports the average height of men to be five foot ten while Spain reports it to be five foot eight (it should be said however, that the figures I found are on wikipedia and it says that the Spanish figures were 'measured’ and the Irish figures 'self reported’ so make of that what you will!).

• 'Eating/going out times are different ’.

  I always feel sorry for Spanish students in Ireland during the summer when they realise how different mealtimes are and how the time the teenage disco is over in Ireland is the normal time Spanards start to head out at. Meals are to be lingered over here in Spain. Lunch can be any time from 1-3 and dinner normally around 9ish. Bars and clubs stay open til 6 in the morning when many revelers take the metro home after a night on the town so yes, eating and going out times are different, no snack boxes and last orders round these parts!

Having many lovely visitors come to Madrid has reminded me how lucky I am to live here and still have my roots on Irish soil. I think having visitors cements the reality that you are living abroad, reaffirms what you want out of the experience and highlights what you have already learned. Mind you, a lot more people seem to visit me in Madrid than they did in Ireland, missing the Shine or just wanting a bit of sun? Hmmm…. we shall let that one lie (so long as the tayto crisps are in the suitcase :)

A daytrip to El Escorial which is a town which lies about an hour outside of Madrid offers a lovely escape from the city. El Escorial , with its cobbled streets has a fairytale feel which means that motorcycles zipping up the steep hills seem out of place with the storybook like setting. Pretty salmon pink and buttercup yellow coloured buildings line wide hilly streets perfect for a leisurely amble through stone walls adorned with Victorian style street lights that must give it a romantic glow at night-time.

The beauty of El Escorial stems from its mountain backdrop to the impressive site of San Lorenzo del Escorial which functioned as a monastery and a royal palace. It was designed by the Spanish architect Juan Bautista de Toledo in 1559 under the reign of Philip the second who wanted the site to represent the dominance of Catholic power during the time of the counter-reformation. Whether you are religious or not, the site is certainly worth seeing.

The coolness of the mountains ( normally a few degrees below the temperatures in the city) make the town a perfect place for hiking and offers ,a respite from dead heat and traffic when temperatures soar in the city during summer months. IF you want to just take a day trip and enjoy a ‘menu del dia’ (menu of the day) in scenic surroundings then El Escorial could be the perfect place to drop down a gear or two for a couple of hours. Speaking of gears, the learner driver would certainly learn their hill starts here as cars chug slowly through the cobbled hilly streets.

The restaurant 'El Olivo’ , with its pretty courtyard adorned with flowerpots and a tree (possibly an olive one as the name suggests) offers a good menu del dia where you can dine and listen to the radio playing classic hits such as Aerosmith’s'you shook me all night long’ interspersed with Rhianna and several female crooning Spanish ballads for around 12 euros for three courses and a glass of wine.

The smalltown nature of El Escorial is evident in people waving and calling greetings to waiters on the street as they pass by and words lilting from open car windows onto the streets. There are many day-trips within easy reach of Madrid (see previous posts on Avila and Segovia) but there is something about El Escorial that lures me in. A yoga and art studio advertises classes and enhances the serenity that El Escorial embodies.It feels like the kind of place you could imagine yourself writing a novel….well, I may not get a novel out of it but at least it gave me a blog post!  

Everyone knows that football is at the ‘corazon’ or heart of a lot of Madrilenos lives. The kids in schools hang the scarf of Real Madrid and/ or Athletico Madrid on a noticeboard in their classrooms after a victory such is the devotion to supporting their football that it is displayed in homes, classrooms and throughout bars and restaurants all over the city. Trust me, even if you don’t follow football you will know when a match is on. Restaurant and bar boards normally advertising a menu del dia (menu of the day) will display in chalk the times of the games. The vibration of shouts and cheers from bars and apartments will alert you to the happenings of the Spanish institution that is supporting football. Good luck trying to get a bar tender’s attention or have a conversation with someone such is the decimal strength of the vibrating chorus of cheers and chants. Mind you, I have never seen Spanish people as quiet as when they got knocked out of the world cup in June by Chile (it was like there was a death with the muted tones and disorientated looks upon their faces).

The city was pumping with energy and pride on the 24^th May when Real Madrid played Athletico Madrid in the Champions League final. In the run up to the final pictures of both the Real Madrid and the Athletico Madrid jerseys adorned some of the main buildings throughout Madrid such as around Puerta del Sol (Gate of the sun) and the Palacio de Cominicaciones( the Communications Palace). Monday morning banter following the Champions League final centred on how stupid and vain Reynaldo is as he whipped off his top at the end of the game showing that his muscles are as big as his ego. With Athletico winning La Liga and Real Madrid winning the Champions League it really was a football fest here. In the midst of the economic crisis football can provide an excuse to have a party and forget about troubles and who can argue with that?  

Many visitors to Madrid do the stadium tour of Real Madrid’s home ground the Santiago Bernabeu but if your stay here coincides with a game it is an interesting experience to check out a match either in the Bernabeu stadium or the Vincente Calderon stadium which is Athletico’s home ground. I managed to check out a game in Bernabea when I went to see Real Madrid play Valencia. My focus on the game however, was distracted when I heard a popping and crunching chorus and I turned around to discover what the fans ate. Not for Madrilenos the American hot dog or Japanese sushi, no the cracking and popping sounds were a stadium full of fans peeling and eating sunflower seeds! This site amused me and when I spoke about it afterwards I was informed that sunflower seeds (called 'pipas’ in Spanish) are a very common snack in Spain. A work colleague told me they were even part of the dating scene in bygone years where a man and a woman would go for a walk, eat sunflower seeds and eventually the man would take the woman’s hand to confirm their courtship. So, watching football maybe a seedy affair here in Spain but the surrounding traditions around it certainly provide plenty of food for thought!

I visited the rose garden ‘La Rosaleda’ in Madrid on the 1^st May. The nice thing about living in a city is you actually get to experience the changing of the seasons from the sharp cold in winter with snowcapped mountains nearby to the blues skies but chill in the air spring days to the soaring temperatures of the summer and the warm days of Autumn.. I briefly visited the rose gardens in winter when nothing was in bloom and they had an eerie graveyard plot feel but on the 1^st may the aroma of the sweet perfume from the array of colourful roses in fushia, oranges, reds and yellows was a sensual treat. Nearby the tourists queued to board Teleferico which is a cable car that goes from Park Oueste to Casa de Campo and offers an alternative way to see the city ( I have yet to hop on it but it shall be done). The only down side to good weather is a high pollen count leads to itchy eyes!A text from a friend at home in Ireland telling me it was lashing down seemed to ease my irritation with the itchiness as did the eye-drops from the chemist!

The 1^st May was a holiday, 'El Puente ’ which literally means 'the bridge’ and means a day off like a bank holiday. 'El Puente is actually a lovely time to be in the city. The Madrilenos flock to the beaches in Valencia and to other destinations for the long weekend meaning pda counts are down (see post on 'intial impressions’ for pda analysis) and the perfect weather combined with the stillness of no traffic, means you can listen to the birds chirping and appreciate the beauty of the city. The city had a half asleep feel echoing how I felt. Some shops were open and some shut. The normal Thursday grind was replaced by a lazy Sunday feel which ensured that the words 'El Puente’ were received with a smile by everyone living in Madrid.  

Strikes and protest demonstrations can be an interesting thing to consider as they can show how people feel about issues and provide insight into what living in Spain entails. Strikes such as by waste collection workers over wage cuts directly impacted the city as the presence of uncollected rubbish all over the place certainly demonstrated the important work the bin collectors do in keeping the city clean. Other strikes in sectors ranging from education to transport show how disgruntled people are about the pay cuts and other setbacks occupying their world of work due to the economic crisis.

People ask me ‘is the economy really as bad as in Ireland? Here are a few statistics to show the extent of the crisis in Spain and show that in actual fact, it is worse than in Ireland. According to an O.E.C.D (the organisation for economic co-operation and development)study from April 2014 (published in the 'Irish Independent’), Spain has the highest rate of unemployment out of 34 countries surveyed with Ireland taking fifth place. Spain’s rate of unemployment ranked at 25.6 % with Ireland’s rate at 11.9 % The unemployment amongst the youth population (classed as those under 25) saw Ireland stand at 29 % and Spain at a worrying 42%.

As unemployment rises so too does resentment. Echoes of when Irish people started to protest about foreign nationals working in Ireland ('they are taking Irish jobs, they should just go back to their own country’ was a sentiment I often heard in Ireland after the property bubble burst) can be heard by expats living in Spain. I can personally say that I haven’t experienced this but I do know people who have been ill treated or ignored by work colleagues who resent them for occupying what they perceive to be jobs for Spaniards. 

There are parallels between the economic crises of Ireland and Spain with both countries experiencing a property boom and now just as in Ireland , dotted throughout Spain can be found ghost towns and even a ghost airport (1.1 billion was spent on the Cuidad Real Central airport that in 2012 closed after only three years in operation) Is there anything as joyless as mass built housing and infrastructures without a soul who inhabits them? Thinking about ghost towns reminds me of a classic scene from Fr Ted when the only song played at the parish dance was 'Ghost town’ by 'The Specials’.

Protests or demonstrations are held over all manner of things in Madrid. From anti abortion pro life campaigns, to cries about abolishing the royal family, you name it and there is a protest march about it.A carnival of colour, flags and noise greets you on the streets such as around Sol where the demonstrators receive curious glances from tourists who wonder what is going on with the street processions resembling pageants or parades more so than political protests.

I was stopped once by the police. I was blissfully unaware of any social unrest with my ipod blaring Avici into my ears and my only concern was to get to the metro to hop on a train to Retiro Park. A tap on my shoulder alerted me to a male and a female officer who proceeded to ask me questions about where I had just come from. My fluster at having to be stopped and wondering what to say in broken Spanish probably making me look guilty of fleeing a crime scene. I explained my confusion to my Spanish friend as we meandered around Retiro park and she explained to me that there had been a protest that day and a few people arrested. Luckily the pretty and lively surroundings of Retiro on a Sunday quickly made me forget my brush with the law!

Retiro park has a garden of remembrance in honour of those killed in the 2004 bombings that took place at Atocha railway station. 192 people were killed and a tree has been planted for each victim in the 'Bosque del Recuerdo’ (forest of remembrance).  Retiro park is the perfect place for a picnic with friends or to grab an ice cream or coffee and watch the world glide by as a mixture of runners, rollerbladers and leisurely strollers thread through the fortune tellers, musicians and dodgy handbag and souvenir sellers to enjoy the ambiance of the park. A fake lake where you can rent boats if you fancy a paddle provides a nice scenic point. From protests to parks, Madrid is never boring and provides plenty of things to do, see and discuss. Its beauty is striking as well as its often dramatic and heartfelt people.