United Statesian

The sun sets over the Solar House Decathlon Dear Citizens of the World! Yeah!!!! Virginia Tech has just won the 2010 Solar Decathlon which was held in Madrid this year! The Hokies are great in United Statesian Football, yet they still Rock in Solar house design! Here are a few pics from the competition that took place down by the river. A few pics are more artisitic than others. The winning "Hokie" house at sunset Sunset over the river. Just in case there was any doubt as to the origins of Tech's House Green solar panels A profile shot of Tech's LumenHaus City sunet in solar panels... Reflection in the river alongside the competition...fitting image of Madrid's river's "green water" next to the "green homes." Tech on top! The United Statesian

Dear Citizens of the world! It's Spring...time for Spanish country weddings! I have been to a few weddings but this one took the cake for length and for... rowdyness. Any celebration in Spain involves food. The wedding was three days of eating, but with a ceremony and white dress somewhere in the middle. The white dress The festivities started with a long dinner, dancing and drinking until the wee hours on Friday. Saturday morning's ceremony was "traditional" but the tossing of rice and rose pedals became a pumelling that had everyone diving for cover. After a snack of rosquilas (the local version of donuts, but with more grease), we headed off to lunch. In between the various courses, the bride and groom were "forced" by their rowdy friends to do all manner of rituals. The groom being paraded around the reception wearing only a diaper.. . After lunch came dancing, drinking, a siesta and then more eating that evening. The grooms friends cutting his t...

Mountains above the sea... a good mix. Dear citizens of the world, How things can change in just one week. One Saturday we was hiking over an ice-wind swept mountain , and the next we were on the Mediteranian coast, at 700m, a balmy 30 degrees Celsius and a cool sea breeze coming from the beach below. Natural frame in the Desierto de las Palmas, Marina D'or This weekend, will be another wedding in the pueblo ... Hasta pronto! The United Statesian

Dear Citizens of the world! The winter has ended in Madrid. The sun is shining! My last post from my hike on Saturday might be the final dregs of winter. But you never know. Spanish people have a saying: "H asta el cuarenta de mayo no te quites el sayo ." Which in United Statesian means: "Don't store your winter clothes until the 40th of may (June 10th)." Because winter can always come back and surprise you, even in June. The other good news I have to share with you is rocking sound of Fractal. My coworker Ryk, a musician from the Canary Islands, is preparing to put out his first album. I went to the FNAC on Sunday for a cool concert. A good way to start Spring. Check it out if you want to know what Spanish rock sounds like. Some of the songs are in English. Hasta pronto, The United Statesian

Aguila Peak, Madrid in Spring? Dear Citizens of the World, Cold, rain, snow, and ice...I am tired of it! It is mid-May and winter will not go away! If you go to the mountians you know that you have to be ready for anything, but five centimeters of ice on the trees is too much, even at 2000m. The forecast of next week looks much better... I hope! If you squint you can see the four towers, 70km away in Madrid . Solitary hiker at the peak This is what wind and ice do to trees at 2000m . A second of pure joy while the sun was shining in the valley. Only to hide away moments later. Even in the sun it did not get above 15º C. The song for today "Cabrón" , is dedicated to winter - brought to you by the Red Hot's... The United Statesian

Classic vs Modern "McCulture diet " Dear Citizens of the world, In my last post on the fallas of Valencia I talked about the prettier and noisier side of the Fallas Festival. This post is about the satyr and parody that most of the Fallas sculptures do so well. Many are like seeing a 3-D newspaper caricature. Obama was one of the more popular topics. One big difference would be that there is no censorship and there is a lot more nudity and crude racial stereotypes that you would not see in a United Statesian version. Super Obama! ... watch that hand... Critique on the USA, but with a large Coca-cola advert behind it... Caricature on recycling... the first one on the left is recycling silicon ;-) Caricature of a Spanish politician.. . O ne of my favourite...gotta love his smile What's he looking for?... Ahhh... the key ;- ) One of the cruder ones...Usain Bolt? Local traditional clothes -- mothers and their dolls... Hope to see you again soon! The United Statesian

Dear citizens of the world! Fire seems to play a central role in many festivals in Spain -- noise is a given. The Fallas (pronounced FAIyas) of Valencia is a Spring celebration in late March where more than 400 pieces of art (Fallas) are created in the plazas and streets. On the last night, all are burned at midnight; all except the best one which gets a pardon and goes off to a museum. This was my first year going to the festival. We had all afternoon to walk around and look at some of the main "fallas" before watching one burn at midnight. A detail of Charlie... One of the top Fallas statues... hard to believe it is paper... While all this is going on, there is an incredible amount of noise. There are thousands of people -- mostly young children -- setting off loud firecrackers. A terrorist attack could happen just down the street and nobody would notice. I jumped out of my skin more than once. A small kid being "indoctrinated" into the world of BOOM ! The mermaid...

The afternoon sun through a snowy pine-forrest Dear Citizens of the World! The winter is comming to an end! Yippeeeeeee! Recently we (six fearless mountaineers from the AtuBola Group) were able to go for a hike in the mountains of Madrid. We started in Miraflores de la Sierra and went 500 meters up to Morcuera mountain pass ( gps route in wikiloc ). It was a cold day, but we had lots of sun. The Sierra is beautiful with snow and we had lots of fun trying to hike up and down some of the sections with snow that came up to our thighs. I leave you with a few pics and comments from our trip: Fall's last breath caught in the ice ... Still cold, but... Spring starts to rear it's head amongst the vestiges of last year. A mountain goat moving slowly through the snow near the mountain pass... Shadows of dead weeds... Tones of bare trees and snow... The ice-cicles mix with the roots... Pillows of snow covering the bolders... You are welcome to the villages public slaughtering...and feast!...