Holi Walk

This morning, I got up early and met Karin and Stephanie to go to the Holi Run, which is equivalent to the Color Run in the United States. We met up with the group that goes on the runs and does the circuit training. There were about 30 or so total just from that group, which is great! Once we got to the metro stop closest to where the race was located, we actually had to walk a 2k to where it was. This was the first Holi Run in Madrid, so I feel like they could have organized it a little better, for example, a shuttle to the race location, but it was still really fun. So what this race is is a 5k and it is inspired by the Holi Festival, which is a Hindu religious festival which celebrates the beginning of Spring. Spring is nowhere in sight, but I feel like the Holi Run today still exhibited the same excitement, joy, and fun that the actual Holi Festival would! Karin, Stephanie, and I "ran" with two other girls that we met through the Free Fitness Madrid group. Luckily, the other two girls had cameras or we would have no pictures.

Anyway, why I say "run" is because it was more of a walk. Practically nobody ran, except for us! And even by the end of it, we resorted to walking. Another reason I say "run," is because you would expect it to be somewhat of a healthy zone, but it was in no way, a healthy zone. At the end or in the middle of a road race, normally you get bananas, water, protein bars, power gels, etc. What did we get at the end of the Holi Run? The option of a Coke or Fanta (they had water, too, but still!). Also, there were people walking and smoking on the course, which wasn't pleasant at all, but whatever. The fun came in the throwing of colored dust.

After the Holi Run, we took the trek back to the metro and then we all decided that we wanted to continue on the unhealthy path and we got pizza for lunch. I know that we looked nuts walking into Domino's to get pizza with all of the color splashed on our clothes and faces. We ordered the pizza and hung out outside of the place waiting to pick it up. Once it was ready, we took it to a nearby bench to eat it. Even without the colors, we would've gotten stares because there were five girls chowing down on pizza on a bench, but with the colors, it added more stares and more smiles/laughs. I'm glad we could liven up the streets of Madrid a little bit today. Side note: Every time I go to write "Madrid," I usually think to write "Lima" first because that's where I studied abroad previously. Also, on a daily basis, I call "euros," "soles," which is the currency in Peru. Whoops..still got Peru on the brain.

After the pizza, I went home, washed all of the color off and did a load of laundry. Surprisingly, all of the color washed out of my clothes and shoes. I chilled at home for awhile, wrote part of this blog, and waited for the word to see when Karin, Stephanie, and I were leaving for Tapapiés. We also met Lenny there, who is a friend of Karin's from Germany. Tapapiés is a tapas tour that is going on all week in the district of Lavapiés. If you don't know what a tapa is, it is a very small portion of food, similiar to an appetizer. Tapas are very popular in Spain and normally come with a drink. For this tour, each restaurant that is participating in the tour (62 total) chooses one tapa to serve at their restaurant/bar. One tapa costs one euro and if you choose to get the cerveza (beer), it's two euros. So, it's a pretty good deal and it's nice to try a variety of different foods. Most all are special to a certain area or they are fusions of food from different cultures. Below are the five tapas that I tried and I have included, the name, origin, the ingredients, and my rating (good, okay, bad) in the caption. :)

Wok de arroz, pollo y verduras a la salsa teriyaki
Spain-Phillipines
Rice, carrot, red and green pepper, teriyaki
Good!

Atascaburras
La Mancha (a province in Spain)
Cod, walnuts, almonds, blueberries, milk, garlic, olive oil
Okay

Lumpia shanghái de verduras
Asia
Vegetable broth, carrot, potato, cabbage,
green beans, sweet potato, and peas
Good

Burrito secreto
Mexico-Spain
Flour tortilla, Iberian secret, asparagus, onion,
red and green pepper, garlic, and pork
Good

Fatay (Empanada árabe)
Arab countries-Argentina
Flour tortilla, veal, lamb, tomato, onion, lemon, and mint
Good (would've been better with ketchup..haha)

After all of these tapas, we decided we wanted the delicious ice cream that we got last Sunday. It was past ten and we thought there was no way that the place would be open, but surprisingly, it was! And the ice cream was delicious and the experience there, well, was interesting. The guy behind the counter was very friendly and asked us immediately if we spoke English, we said yes and he said he wanted to practice speaking it. So we spoke with him for a little bit and found out that he teaches math and some University of Illinois students from the engineering school are coming to Spain soon and he will be teaching them a math class while they are here. He also sang us a song from a German opera and Lenny, who is German, said he didn't understand everything he was saying. As the time went by the experience got even more surreal. We found out he was from Italy, but he's been in Spain for ten years, he showed us how to make the best cappuccino in Spain, and he offered Karin and I free ice cream for English lessons! And then... we found out that he didn't even work there! I was baffled and was laughing pretty hard! The actual owner of the shop walked in soon after and we found out that she had to leave briefly because she had to give medicine to her sick bird. Was she serious? Haha. So here we were, being given ice cream by an Italian, living in Spain, who likes singing German opera, who will be teaching math to Illinois students soon, who doesn't even work in the ice cream shop, who was doing his friend (the owner of the shop) a favor, because she had to leave to give medicine to her sick bird. What a story! Long story short though, the ice cream was delicious. :)

After we left there, I was already getting tired, but I went on to the next place, where we met up with Issac (a friend of Karin's who we met last week) and some of his friends. After that place though, I called it a night. I took the metro home and I was so glad to lay down in my bed. I had a great night's sleep and now, I am having a lazy Sunday. Probably won't be too much of a blog tonight, but stay tuned, just in case.