Madrid Metro Strike!

For the last week or so they have been announcing that there would be a "huelga" or strike by metro workers on the 28, 29 and 30 of June. The workers are protesting (like nearly all of Europe) cutbacks in their benefits imposted by the government as a result of the EU telling Spain it must cut it´s spending due to its rising debt. Yesterday, Monday, there was a slowdown. Instead of trains running every 3 minutes, they were 6 - 10 minutes, quite crowded and the transfers were a little crazy. However, everyone got where they needed to go.

Now I can assure you that I announced yesterday that there was probably going to be a full strike with no trains running today and how is it that at least one third of the students did NOT know that there would be no trains running today??? It was in the papers, on the news, I announced it.... go figure.

So, I walked 1 hour an 15 minutes to school this morning. I live on the far side of Retiro Park and I frequently walk home in the evening. Depending on where we are and what time it is, I enjoy the down time to reflect on the happenings of the day and collect my thoughts for the next day´s plans. There is no rush and the evenings are long and warm. I can´t say the walk to school was not enjoyable. The morning was beautiful and I was actually walking faster than most of the traffic! I have never seen such traffic jams in Madrid! The M30 (one of the major highway routes - I cross over it to get home) was at an absolute standstill! What buses there were, were crowded window to door. The bus stops were overflowing with people waiting to get a bus. I actually gave directions to someone who was walking to work through Retiro park - I guess they never walked to work before! haha

Tonight is the big game between Spain and Portugal. Lots of the boys want to go to the Stadium as they have before to watch on the big screens. However, I am worried about them not being able to get home - or at least not until very late. They think they will get a taxi - but don´t realize that with metro not runinng, every taxi will be taken...they are not happy with my telling them to watch the game at home.

Yesterday our excursion was a tour of the Museo de la Reina Sofia. It is a modern art museum - it contains a few Goyas, but predominantly is 19th and 20th century art. The big Spanish names are Miró, Dalí and Picasso. And the grandest of the works is Picasso´s "Guernica" - a masterpiece depicting the bombing of the Basque village of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War in 1937. Afterwards I took the guys to the Atocha train station to see the rain forest and the turtle pool that have been created in the interior of the old station. It is where we will meet when we travel south and I wanted them to know the meeting place. And it is very cool.

Today we are off to the Royal Palace. We have a tour of a few (about 50) of the 2800 in the Palace. One of the highlights is the Armoury with its extensive collection of armour dating from the time of El Cid (10th Century).

Weekend musings.....

Prior to this all of our excursions out of the city have been to the north - but this weekend, we ventured south into Castilla -La Mancha and visited the midieval city of Toledo (NOT Ohio) that was the capital of Spain up until the time that Felipe II moved it to Madrid in the 16th Century. Toledo is naturally fortressed by the Rio Tajo (Tagus) on three sides so it only needed to be defended on one and today you can still see the murallas or the refurbished fortress walls and gates. Because of the intense heat of La Mancha and also because the city has very limited space, the streets are incredibly narrow - wide enough for only one small car to pass through or sometimes only wide enough for pedestrian or equine traffic! This also serves to keep the sun off the streets and keep them (and the houses that line them) cool during the hot summers.

Our itinerary included the Cathedral which is the second largest Gothic cathedral in Spain and the third largest in the world, the ruins and museum of the sinagogue, the Iglesia de Santo Tome that houses the premier work of El Greco "The Burial of the Count of Orgaz" and finally the Iglesia de San Idlefonso - the only Jesuit church in Toledo. In between the boys had time for lunch and some shopping in Toledo´s many shops.

In the Cathedral which took some 200 years to complete, we also got a respite from the intense sun. There were a ton of tourists in Toledo - mostly and Americans and Japanese! I think we are on the same schedule as all the tour groups! The students saw the amazing transparente, a floor to ceiling alabaster sculpture the likes of which they will see nowhere else in the world. It is my favourite of the cathedrals in Spain even though Sevilla is the largest, I think Toleldo is the most beautiful. Also, because Toledo was the capital of Spain, the Archbishop of Toledo (sometimes a Cardinal) is one of the most important leaders of the Church in Spain. We saw the tomb of Cardinal Cisneros, confessor to Isabel la Católica and also saw many of his vestments from the 15th and 16th centuries that are preserved in the museum of the Cathedral.

Perhaps it is because they are unfamiliar with the history, or maybe because they just don´t think about the length of time that is 400, 500 or 600 years, but the boys just don´t seem to be too impressed with what they are seeing. I am always in awe of these items and works of art that are so ancient. Even if I don´t particularly like them, they are so valuable just for their age alone! They kind of zip through the museums giving things a quick glance - and seem more interested in getting back to the park to play futbol - ah well. I think it is usually afterward that they realize all the things they have seen.

Sunday was our only "low" day. We went to the Retiro in the morning so that they boys could finish up their shopping there. We are half way through the trip and they said that the time is just flying! Most of the boys spent the afternoon in the Retiro park playing futbol. On Sundays Retiro is full of mimes, singers, puppet shows, vendors of art, jewelry, snacks and lots of Mickey and Minnie mice giving balloons to kids and posing for photos. With it´s roller hockey, shade trees and cafes, it is a great place to spend a relaxing afternoon!

This week promises to be a busy one - we have lots of activities planned!

Second Week

I´m having trouble posting photos - IH has installed IE7 on all it´s computers and for some reason the photos are taking forever to load. I´ll try to get some more up soon, but for now..... the World Cup continues to capture everyone´s attention. USA matches take a back seat to the excitement generated by a Spain win. Students have congregated in a variety of places to watch the matches.

Monday after classes was the long awaited visit to the Estadio Santiagio Bernabeu - the home of Real Madrid. The tour is extensive - it begins with a trip to the "vomitorio" seats high atop the stadium where the guys get a great view and realize that in this stadium that seats 80,000 fans, there are no bad seats. We then move on the the history of the club - it is not only a futbol team, but an entire sports conglomerate including a table tennis, basketball and chess team, with a long and illustrious history. The trophy room is truly spectacular showing videos of some of their greatest highlights. Unlike so many of the Spanish museums, photos are allowed everywhere and the boys took a ton! Then we walk down around the stadium and they had a chance to sit in the seats of the teams - similar to the dugout in baseball. They are the most comfortable seats ever! We got a great group pic there. The tour ends in the Real Madrid store - the largest in Madrid. They sell everything you could ever imagine with the logo of Real Madrid on it. Animal crates, toilet seats, ridiculous things! But the boys had great fun doing all their shopping there!

On Tuesday we were very fortunate to have our guide Pablo with us again at the Museo del Prado. The boys got an extensive tour of the museum which contains Spanish art from romanic times up until the 19th Century. They saw the work of the great masters, El Greco, Velázquez and Goya along with many other familiar names such as Ribera, Rafael, Bosch and Murillo.

Wednesday was a very long day that began with the Cathedral of the Almudena, the modern Cathedral in Madrid where we had a tour of the cupula and were able to get a bird´s eye view of the city of Madrid from the top of the dome. I had never been there before and it was spectacular! From there the boys got to walk around the Cathedral which is totally different from any other Cathedral they will see in Spain or in fact, in any other parat of Europe. It is unique in its modernity. Then we visited the Church of San Francisco el Grande one of the most visible landmarks in the Madrid skyline because of its massive dome, but another place where I had never been. It has been closed for some years for rennovations. We got a tour of the entire chruch with its many chapels, one containing a magnificent Goya painting. We returned to the school for lunch and then headed off to the zoo. The Madrid zoo is huge and in addition to having a wide variety of animals from all over the world ( I always laugh at seeing the "American Wood Duck" - the ones that swim in the puddles in our driveways - in the zoo) there are great shows such as the sea lion show, the raptors and the dolphin show. I was a little disappointed to note that by the time the dolphin show started, all the students but two who were with me had left the zoo. We walked around for about three and a half hours and only saw about 2/3 of the exhibits. But I got some terriffic photos!

On Thursday we went to the Museum of Romanticismo - a wonderful 19th Century residence that has been converted into a musuem with a seemingly endless collection of items that graced the homes of Spanish citizens from about 1830 - 1920. What we would call the Victorian period. The furnishings were lavish, the artwork graceful and elegant; the tablesettings were simply beautiful. Unfortunately I think the elegance was somewhat lost on the students - they were more anxious to get to the park to play futbol than to oohh and aahh over needlework and furnishings. Go figure!

Today is Friday and Spain plays Chile tonight! In the interim we will watch a film in Spanish, but will be finished in plenty of time for everyone to get to his "game watching site". Spain and Chile haven´t met in a World Cup match since the 1950´s so this promises to be very exciting.

Tomorrow we head off to Toledo for a full day of exploring. Sunday? Who knows - I´m working on that!

Segovia Sunday

On Sunday we headed out to Segovia a midieval town about 100km from Madrid. Like the Escorial, it is to the north of Madrid, beyond the Guardarama Mountains. We met at the bus station, and caught a bus which got us to Segovia at about quarter to 12. The three main sights in Segovia are the 1900 year old roman aqueduct, the Cathedral and the Alcazar.

The roman aqueduct was built during the time of the Roman Emporer Flavius. It brought water 18km from the Guardarama mountains to the Alcazar de la city. It contains 188 arches and at it´s highest point in the main plaza in Segovia it reaches over 100 meters in height. It is a dry stone structure meaning that there is no type of cement used in its construction. Although it still functions, it was closed for use in the mid 1980´s due to the fact that it is open to the air and animals.

The Alcazar is a "fortress residence" which makes it different from a "palacio" or a "castillo". The word is moorish and the building is one of the most specatcular in Spain. It was used by Isabel la Catolica to receive Christopher Columbus when he came in search of money to fund his venture to the new world. Segovia is also the city in which Isabel la Catolica was crowned Queen of Castilla and Leon. Although the buidling suffered a fire in the 19th century and was partially reconstructed, it houses an amazing array of items from the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, including the thrones of the Catholic Kings, armour and armadura of the period and excellent examples of the mudejar style of interior design. The students were also able to climb up to the tower (I didn´t do it this time - I´ve done it SO many times!) but I enjoyed waving to them as they leaned over the ramparts!

I showed them the Church of St. Michael where Isabel la Catolica received her crown and they had the opportunity to go inside a church that has changed little in more than 500 years. I sometimes think the magnitude of the length of time is lost on the students. I am in awe of all these historic sites, but they seem to take it all in stride.

The last building we visited was the Cathedral. It is a baroque structure, but with elements of the gothic style. It is typical of Spanish cathedrals in that the choir is in the center of the church, which means that the main altar cannot be seen from the main doors. Built in the shape of a cross, the various chapels were all open so the boys got to go in and see the various works of art and decoration up close. We also got to see the cloister and the treasure rooms. It was a warm afternoon and the coolness of the interior of the cathedral was a nice respite.

Out in the Plaza Mayor, there was a festival going on! Music, street performers and mimes were everywhere. There were a ton of tourists (did somebody say there was a recession somewhere???) from all over the world. I think all the American students came to Spain this summer. And with them came the Japonese! By the time we walked back to the bus at 5:30 the boys were ready to nap all the way back to Madrid. Ready for week 2!

First day of summer.

In about an hour, it will be summer in Madrid - and not a moment too soon! In about two weeks, I´ll probably be complaining about the heat! We had a wonderful weekend, chilly in the mornings but glorious in the afternoons. Saturday we had our first excursion out of Madrid to San Lorenzo de el Escorial - a town at the foot of the Sierra Guardarama about 70 km north of Madrid. The village is a popular site for summer homes for Madrileños who wish to escape the heat of the city (as are all the towns at the foot of the Guardarama). It was chosen my Felipe II as the site of his summer palace. Being a very learned and religious man, the Escorial contains a Basilica, a monastery (originally of Franciscan but now Augistinian monks), a school, a museum, an extensive library, an extensive collection of art and the pantheon for all the Kings and Queens of Spain since Felipe II in the 15th Century. Our guide was Pablo, an educator at an Ignatian College here in Madrid. His knowledge of the Escorial was amazing! Our tour was nearly 3 hours, and the boys were great although they are not used to standing and walking for so many hours. There are docents in every part of the Escorial which is part of the Patrimonio Nacional - or the Heritage Sites of the country and so there is no sitting or leaning on the walls or furniture. There are tons of steps, up and down as we traversed the various levels of the Palace-monastery. I think he told us there were more than 1800 kilometers of corridors in the building. If you asked the boys, they would probably tell you that they walked all of them!


The boys got their first introduction to Spanish art. Felipe II was a great lover of the arts and when he was buidling his palace, he commissioned many pieces. El Greco, the great 16th Century Spanish master (who came from the greek island of Crete) originally came to Spain to paint for Felipe II. Unfortunately, Felipe II didn´t like his style (!!!!!) and he never became court painter. There is however, an extensive collection of his work at the Escorial. They will see much more of it tomorrow when we visit the Prado.

Due to the fact that too many people have ignored repeated requests over the course of many years to take photos only without flash (as the contstant flash damages paint, pigment and art) photos are now forbidden in most historical sites and certainly in museums. I know that a few surreptitious photos were taken but in general, the boys won´t have any interior shots of the Escorial. But they got lots of exterior shots as we strolled through the elaborate gardens and through the town of the Escorial.

They were able to see how the building was constructed in the 16th Century - with winches, pulleys, ropes, stone cutting tools - as of course it was all done by hand. They were also able to see the huge grantite blocks and how they change colour with the light, time of year and time of day. The granite used in the Escorial is the same granite mined from the Guardarama that the romans used for the aqueduct that we saw on Sunday in Segovia (but I´m getting ahead of myself!)

There was lots of sleeping on the bus during the return trip to Madrid, but the boys seemed to recover in time to change and get back to the discoteca for an evening of music and dancing. They were accompanied by one of the young men who teaches at International House so I was able to escape to have dinner with a friend - but by all accounts, a good time was had by all! It was amazing to me how standing and walking was so exhausting, but dancing was NO problem!!!! Go figure!

One week complete...

I´ve been taking an advanced language class these past few days so my time to blog has been severely curtailed! The weather has improved dramatically the past couple of days. We are up to about 24 degrees and sunny! Whew! I didn´t bring clothes for cold! They are now saying that when the heat does actually come to Madrid (usually in July) that it will be record heat! Wonderful! Right now it is beautiful - sunny and pleasant!

On Wednesday, we changed our plans to visit the Sorolla gallery because of the Spain vs. Switzerland World Cup game. We all met at the school to watch Spain get upset...anything less than a win over Switzerland is an upset! Apparently Spain was just a little bit overconfident...There will be more opportunities to wear the red and yellow jerseys and wave the bandera de España - at least we hope so! But they must win their next two games to stay in it.

On Tuesday afternoon we went for a tour of the botanical gardens. Originally a garden of more than 100 hectares, it contains 5000 species of trees and many more species of plants inculding more than 100 different bonsai trees donated to the garden by a former president of Spain. It was a gorgeous afternoon and a relaxing way for the kids to spend a couple of hours. We strolled and chatted, looked at ponds, fish, plants and animals.

So far everyone seems happy with his classes. There have been some changes made - movement up and down levels - but I hear lots of conversation and use of Spanish and-or "Spanglish" - all good! Today we had a choice of watching the USA game or having an "intercambio" - a language exchange with the students at another International House location who are learning English during the summer. I opted for the intercambio and the guys are looking forwards to sharing their language skills with the Spanish students. On Thursday afternoon we went rowing in the small rowboats in the lake at the Parque de Retiro. It is one of the favourite activities for the boys - a beautiful setting in front of the majestic statue of King Alfonso XIII on a gorgeous afternoon. I was minding the backbacks so I didn´t get any good photos, but I imagine they will be appearing on Facebook soon. I did get a nice group shot, though.
The boys are starting to look a bit tired. I keep telling them to go to bed early - somehow I don´t think they are listening. We have a big weekend planned. Tomorrow we go to El Escorial and then the discoteca (finally!!!!)! On Sunday I am looking at Segovia for the day which will be a full day out of the city of Madrid. I won´t have much internet access during the weekend, so look for more here on Monday!

El programa de Español

I was very happy to see that everyone found his way to school with no problems on Monday morning - and they all arrived on time, even better! They each had a short quiz to fill out and then a brief linguistic encounter with a teacher to evaluate their levels. Leveling is very fluid here as some students who can speak better don´t do so well on the written part or vice versa. The first day is always a ¨getting to know the students¨ day and there is a great deal of movement in the levels. Some of the boys felt they were misplaced, and changes have been made. As I have told them, this is definitely NOT an American classroom where they can sit silently and blend into the crowd. The classes are small, they are all about conversation, speaking and understanding and if they want to move forward quickly, they must engage and converse. So far, it seems that they are all doing great - lots of Spanish going on and tons of willingness to talk. The students who have friends or acquaintances here have all gotten in touch with them and are planning excursions.

On Monday we had our first afternoon outing (after a rather spectacular thunderstorm which I have never seen in Madrid!). We walked ¨Madrid de los Austrias¨ which is a walking tour of the oldest part of the city during the reign of the Austrian kings. The streets are very narrow, barely wide enough for the smallest of cars; we saw the remains of the original ¨murallas¨ or the outer fortress walls of the medieval city, visited the Iglesia de San Miguel and ended up in the Plaza Mayor. We also strolled past the Catderal de la Almudena, the Cathedral of Madrid and the Palacio Real. We have plans another day to have a tour of the inside of both.
We are working on our schedule for the coming weeks. The boys are getting used to walking around the city and taking in the (sometimes unusual!) sights of European city life! While my photos are pretty tame, they have taken some very funny ones. I think you can find theirs on facebook!

First days in Madrid.....

We had a great flight! Arrived ontime at 7 am local time Saturday morning to rain ... it never rains in Madrid! Apparently this year it has been raining lots and everywhere! Who knew? Anyway, it was showery, but fine. The bus met us at the airport and had a planned route to deliver the boys to their homes. I met with each family and got to see where each pair of them is settled. They had time to unpack, shower, eat and rest and then we met at 4 pm near the school to take a little tour of and learn how to use the metro. I took them to the Puerta del Sol, the Plaza Mayor and then we had chocolate and churros. We passed a discoteca and some of them had designs on going dancing (!!?!?!?!?!) which I quickly squelched! We found out that all the World Cup games are televised on regular tv so every house can get them whether they have satellite/cable or not. As the boys were very tired, I sent them all home to watch the game with plans to meet at 9am on Sunday morning. ¨By this time they had all learned how to navigate the subway and were beginning to figure out the money. We stopped at the tourist office where I obtained a city map for each of them - so they could see where they were, where they needed to go and how to get there! Now if I can just get them to remember to bring the maps with them, we´ll be all set!

In Madrid, 9 am on Sunday morning is an ungodly hour... some people are just getting home from a night of revelry. However, it dawned sunny and glorious; we met at the Plaza Mayor where we took some great photos, some students got a cafe con leche (my personal favourite!) and a pastry. We then headed down towards the barrio La Latina¨ to go to the Rastro - the renowned Sunday morning outdoor market. There you can buy everything from antiques to lingerie. I got them there, showed them around and gave them some time to explore and look. It is a place that covers 4 or 5 long streets and the connecting streets so it is impossible to stay together in a big group. Some will stop to look at one thing and others want to look at something else, so as long as they are in small groups they are fine. I then headed off to Barajas to meet the second plane!

Matt´s plane landed about half an hour late which was great since I arrived a little late. On Sundays the metro runs on a ¨weekend schedule¨and the trains are a little farther apart. However, he was out quickly and we took the metro back into Madrid so I got him used to using the system right away. His roommates were at home when we arrived, so he had some time to rest, and acclimate before we all met again at 3 in the afternoon to get the phone situation organized.

During their free time, some of the boys walked to Retiro park and played frisbee. Thy each have a city map and seem to be finding their way around without any problems.

I had already checked with the phone store to see what would be the best way to go and what they had available - they were able to buy phones from ¨Happy Móvil¨for €45 - the phone cost €20 with €25 in minutes on it. Addiditonally, since we all got the same program, we can call each other for free. This was a particularly good feature since the majority of calls will be within the group. I bought the same program and so the students can call me and I can call them without charge. Each one can call the US and anyone in the States can call them. There is no charge to receive calls. I shall send you all my number by email.

After we got the phones organized - that took the best part of 2 hours! - I took the group walking to the Opera House, the Cathedral and the Royal Palace. About 7 pm, I sent them home to have dinner and watch the game - the World Cup games are televised at 8:30 in the evening here - and head to bed early as they needed to arrive at school at 9 am the first day. If how tired I am is any indication, I´m doing a great job of keeping them occupied during the day so they go home tired and able to sleep at night.

Everyone arrived ontime and ready to go this morning. They have had their evaluations and are already in their classes. They have funny stories to tell about linguistic mixups, trying to use their language and figuring out how to maneuver around the city. They are doing great! While the Madrileños seem to think it is chilly here, I think it is fantasstic! Sunny and mild by Madrid summer standards...but at any time I know it can get HOT! So we shall enjoy the pleasant temperatures while we have them.

Our first afternoon cultural activity today will be a walking tour of the old part of the city. While I´ve already taken them to many parts in the center, today they will get a little of the history of what they are looking at. By tomorrow, we´ll have an itinerary for the week and will know where we are headed on the weekend. I forgot to bring my cable to upload photos today so check back again soon for pictures. ­¡Hasta luego!

4 days and counting....

Ok, here we are! Four days from our departure date and I just KNEW things were going along too smoothly! However, we'll get past this dentist thing tomorrow and things will go smoothly once more! The power of positive thinking! Tomorrow I shall have a meeting with all the boys traveling to go over the "game plan" and to answer any questions they may have. I'll also cover some safety, etiquette and behavioural matters so we are all on the same page. Having done this a few times now, I know that the more we understand each other, the better off we all are! This is just an opening post to initiate the blog and let you all see where it is. Please feel free to comment or ask questions. If any of the boys want to post to this blog or start their own, I can link to them. They just need to let me know! More soon...