A weekend of art and culture

One of my students was so generous and gave me tickets to two different shows this weekend. The first show I saw was Cirque Eloize. It's similar to Cirque du Soleil, but a little different. The people in it were absolutely amazing. There were people juggling 21 different pins with each other while balancing on someone's shoulders, girls doing 3 flips in the air and landing straight up on a board the size of my hand, and people who could contort, balance, and do anything else they wanted. It was incredible.
Tonight, I saw a flamenco show. I have seen flamenco before, but this was a really good flamenco set. The mood they create has a very serious and dramatic feel, and the emotion can be felt in every tap of the heel, cry of the singer, and flick of the wrist. Flamenco draws on the Moorish past of Spain, so the singers sound very middle eastern. What sounds like a call to mosque changes into a fast paced, heart-pumping, feet-stomping spectacle. These people dance so fast that they look like little wind up toys that just hum across stage. Their legs turn to what looks like Jell-O. Or, do you remember the bendy pencil trick, where if you move it fast enough it looks like it's made of rubber? This is exactly how the bottom halves of these dancers look. An amazing weekend to say the least.
Next weekend will be great though, too. Shannon and I are finally going to Cadiz for Carnaval, and I will get to see some of the south. Spring is finally here, I can feel it!

Toledo, in homage to my high school Spanish teachers

This is what I went to see. "Vista y Plano del Toledo" by El Greco. Of course I saw some of his other works, but this is the one that my Spanish teachers had me study for weeks. It's located in the Casa del Greco in Toldeo (pronounced toe- LAY- thdo). Niki and I went down there for the day on Saturday. It was cold and rainy, but it was nice to get out of the city and see something new.
As always, I saw the castle, cathedral, museum, and old city walls. Pretty standard fare in most Spanish cities (the Spaniards would kill me for saying that, but what!? It's true!). But I was able to appreciate Toledo for what it is because of the little education I had on it. It wasn't the most spectacular thing I've ever seen, but it makes me excited to see other things that I've learned about in the past. Also, being a teacher, it encourages me to keep teaching, because one day my students will appreciate it. It may be far in the future, but they will remember me droning on about the Pythagorean Theorem or why we say 'people are' and not 'people is'. They'll remember and be glad, and that's what keeps me going.

Up the duff, as my English friends would say

I thought it was weird when my friends started getting married. But now it has gotten really weird. My friends are getting pregnant. My friends Donna Marie and Crista both sent me pregnancy photos on Wednesday within an hour of each other. Strange huh? It's not as strange with Donna Marie because I met her later on, but I met Crista when I first went to university. We were still babies ourselves. Crista was like a big sis to me, even though she was a bit kooky, eg: Rocket on the sun, dorm sink, and Rosa Parks. And now she's a mom.
They both look great and I'm really excited for them both. Here are a couple of pics so you can see for yourself. Crista is on the left and Donna Marie is on the right.

Reunion in Mad Town

I had a really great weekend. Craig, Sara, and Kev came to Madrid. We all took the CELTA together in Barcelona. Shannon and I visited Kev in Valencia in October, but we hadn't seen Craig and Sara since August. They got here Thursday night and it was nothing but jokes and good times. "Look at that one, he's gorgeous!" "When is Kev getting here?" "I only eat fish and vegetables." "300 Euros." "And look, there's one touching my hair right now." Hmmm, guess you had to be there. This is a picture of Craig with the 18 paellas they brought us. Don't worry, there's only 16 more on the way. Needless to say we weren't too hungry after that.
We had a big weekend out, which was nice. I haven't been out like that in a while. Sightseeing in the day and after a big night we were in bed at the reasonable hour of 7:00 AM. Today was a perfect day: Shopping at El Rastro, Vasco Pintxos in La Latina, a walk through Retiro... It was sad to say goodbye again, though. Mad Town is more fun with a big crew, especially with the Brits. Maybe we should consider the DELTA...

RIP my friend

A member of Team Madrid bites the dust. Remember this guy? My first mullet cut. Jeff got a job in Kazakhstan, so he's shipping out tomorrow. It's too bad, but we're all really excited for him. It'll be weird next weekend when I try to call him up and realize that that's not his phone number anymore. It's a strange existence when you are traveling. People come and go so quickly. This is the third person I've known pretty well that has left fairly suddenly.

Renee was here this weekend. She's Shannon's best friend from when they were in grade 7. We had a good time going out. Good jokes all the time. My favorite was when she destroyed the enterprise of some poor Chino on a Box. Sandwiches everywhere and Renee running away. Perfect. We had a great time, and of course, there are pictures on Flickr.

No other news at the moment. I do have some exciting travel plans coming up. Saturday I am finally going to Toledo. The home of El Greco for those of you who studied Spanish art at any point. It's supposed to be what you imagine when you picture Spain. But, nothing else too exciting now. Anyway, it's my bedtime. I have to be up at 6:30. Arrrgh.