While You were Out…

Back in Madrid

Welcome back!

Madrid’s
international population dipped a bit during December as everyone flew here or
there to do this or that. We truly hope
your livers and your bank accounts survived the season. Ours did – more or less. Come on, what’s a bit of sclerosis and debt,
it’s the f%&king holidays! Anyway, the
elves at MAP were busy the whole while happily writing away. Here is a quick update.

Spanish current events were as colorful as usual. Critical questions were posed: Should Spanish Mom’s get naked to support
their children’s education? (article and blog). Can kids learn about the Spanish Civil War via video games? Can one artist turn Lavapiés into a gigantic murder mystery
game? Is someone plotting a character assassination on Santa
himself? And, no, we don’t make this
stuff up.

On the entertainment front, we covered the spectrum. From alterna-bands to gospel to the Chemical Brothers to mime to chill out bars to bumpin’ clubs to flamenco, we looked after you.

And since we knew it was a big travel season, we chimed in
with two features: one on Marakesh and one on Barcelona
- both affordable opportunities from Madrid. Start thinking spring break now.

And movies are a big part of the season as well. We covered a bit of everything with Persepolis, Michael Clayton, Elizabeth, and the Golden Compass.

On the more serious side we covered World AIDS Day and a
photo exhibit on landmines. And in terms of professional development, we did articles on the TESL industry, teacher profiles and very important – summer jobs!

The Spanish Christmas phenomenon is a very complex affair as
well and we did our best to help you make it from your company dinner to Reyes
in one piece. You can get caught up on
the “shittiest Christmas market in the world”, hear government ploys luring us
into… eating more rabbit. We also
helped you out with creative gift alternatives and, of course, planning your
New Year. On the actual night of New Year’s Eve, of course, we covered the San Silvestre race with 20,000 people charging through the streets of Madrid.

Keep reading in January, we have plenty more to keep you entertained and informed.

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