IT'S WEDNESDAY, I MUST BE IN...MADRID

Well, hola again Spain! So nice of Madrid to host the absentee voting training for all the European missions. I look forward to learning a lot, seeing some of the city, and rehashing my favorite self-written election joke from when I used to volunteer for all the student council electoral committees because I was too much of a nerd to actually get voted for anything:

(ahem)

Someone casually asks during the electoral committee meeting: "What makes a ballot spoiled?"

Without missing a beat, I answer: "Upbringing"

(ba-DAH-ksssshhh!!)

Thank you, thank you. I'm here all semana.


EL SEMINAR

(Everybody! Soccer-chant style!)

Ohhh Ayyyyyyyyyyy ............ OA ... OA ... Ohhh Ayyyyyy, OA .... OA ....... V!

The OAV seminar covered a lot of important matters, but I'll spare you the boring, substantive details. I will say the meeting went smoother and was far more interesting than the mandatory legal training I went through last month. It helped that most everyone present in Madrid already knew everyone else from their home office days but hadn't seen each other in years, so there very much was a family reunion vibe to the place. Indeed, it was a happy gathering. . .

...among former home office department bosses...

...their low-level subordinates/FSO IIIs/Vice-Consuls/Third Secs...





...among batchmates (and their birth certificates)...





...and between Sith and padawan.

Quick aside: Our first night in Madrid happened to be when Real crashed out of the Champions League. Above, the Philippine Vice-Consul in Barcelona immediately makes his sentiments known right outside Real's home pitch...

...and then the next morning, we find this scene right outside our hotel. We liked to think Real's players were being made to model for food.

LA TOUR

Si, the LLDD-Hyphen-L was part of the Madrid trip. What, did you honestly think I'd keep her away from Zara's homecourt? Yo no soy loco. Besides, she was very much my secret weapon at social gatherings, charming everyone we'd meet while I was zoning out thinking of tapas. Upon the LLDD-Hyphen-L meeting Madrid's ConGen, for instance, the latter graciously (and excitedly!) started googling, highlighting Madrid's street map in bright yellow, and briefing the LLDD-Hyphen-L on Madrid's shopping districts.

Or, as the LLDD-Hyphen-L called it, the "Kill Zone"

And with the peace of mind that there was in fact a Mango outlet along the way, the LLDD-Hyphen-L agreed to join me after the seminar on a hop-on/hop-off bus tour around the city. And, boy, was it bonita!

What struck me in particular during the tour was the sheer beauty and brilliance of each and every one of the city's building facades. Not just of one or two old structures, mind you, but todos!

Pregunta: Mardrid y Barcelona, cuál puede causar un "stiff neck" más? Discuta.



LOS FOOD

From the churros to the boquerones, everything was as deliciouso as expected. Our quibble: man, do they start eating late in Spain! Lunch only moseys on by around 2.00, and restaurants don't even open for dinner until past 8.30! That...that's just not correcto.

Plus with our language problems, we regularly got bypassed at food counters. As you can see from her face above, not letting the LLDD-Hyphen-L get her food immediately is like getting between a madre bear and her osezno

LA VIDA NOCHE

But it's all bueno, because with late dinnertimes comes late-starting pub hopping! The LLDD-Hyphen-L and I hadn't been up these hours since our wedding! (we're usually in bed after American Idol). Together with the other Third Secs and some new-found friends, we had one great night fiesta!

Although at the stroke of midnight, everyone turns emo.

Still...muchas gracias por todo, Madrid! You were too kind us. Spoiled ballot, even.

Seminar...play us out!

OHHHHHHH AYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY............OA...OA...Ohhhhhh Ayyyyyy, OA....OA.......

V!

CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE TONIGHT?

For those keeping track, the LLDD-Hyphen-L and I's First Wedding Anniversary just came up. Ah, glorious wedded bliss. To paraphrase the squeaky voice from that De Beers commercial* shown in the Philippines sometime during the early-nineties, "Doesn't seem like one year". This is very true, in part because the LLDD-Hyphen-L and I spent some months apart right after the wedding, in part because we pretty much feel like we're still on our honeymoon (in London!), and in part because - seriously - we only now got around to paying for and getting our wedding album.

(*no, not this one)

Our love-in-pictures was good, but the photographers needed cash.

So where do a beautiful fairy princess and...ahem...her prince charming stay a year after they're married? Why, at a royal palace of course! OK, it was actually just a day-tour bus stop at Windsor Castle, but still.

And since photographs are strictly forbidden inside Windsor, you can't NOT prove that we were actually overnight guests of the Queen! Can't you!

Windsor was all well and good, of course, but an anniversary still needs some extra-oopmh. It needs something powerful, a strong image and symbol of the best parts of marriage. It needs . . . large rock columns that make a man feel insecure and inadequate!

The LLDD-Hyphen-L seemed a little too pleased at this "attraction"

Kidding aside, Stonehenge was not at all the disappointing tourist trap that some have made it out to be (at least, if it's not the only place you're visiting on a day-tour). The vast surrounding countryside, the eerie winds, and the sheer size of the stones combined for a cool, mysterious feel to the place. Staring at it all, you can't help but join in the debate over who built Stonehenge, how, and why? Was it constructed as a burial ground or to serve as a calendar? A temple for ancient rituals and ceremonies perhaps? Did, as legend had it, Merlin magically teleport it to England (to avoid having to pay VAT maybe)? Or - as I am personally inclined to believe - was the whole thing put in place by giant aliens?

Because there is a surprising amount of visual evidence of this

But I really do think there's some mojo going on at Stonehenge, because right after our visit, our day-tour took a turn for the worse when a massive traffic jam suddenly appeared on the highway and brought our bus to a crawl. The result: we were told we could only stay thirty minutes at our final stop, Oxford. Thus, our tour guide (the dude in the shades below) literally just plopped our group down on a street corner, walked us around the block and - what a coincidence! - finished off the tour next to a gift shop. We were then given five minutes to get back to the bus. Awesome.

No Christchurch!?! No Harry-Potter dining hall?!? By the power of Merlin, I swear you shall be avenged, LLDD-Hyphen-L!!! Animo Cambridge!!!!

But love still conquers all, of course, so no lame tour of Oxford could ruin our anniversary. Besides, the LLDD-Hyphen-L and I still had time that weekend to take advantage of London's great theatre scene and watch the most romantic of Shakespeare's plays...The Lion King.

Hakuneth Matathou!

No, it doesn't feel like it's been a year at all. If anything, it feels like the LLDD-Hyphen-L and I have been together since the time of Stonehenge, with our love growing each day that passed since then.

But then the LLDD-Hyphen-L sees Edward/Cedric right behind the Embassy, and it all gets shot right back to square one.