Fiestas, visitantes, y una media maratón

It’s been another action-filled last two weeks! Lo siento for the tardiness of this post; there’s a lot to catch everyone up on:

MÁS Y MÁS (¡y MÁS!) VIAJES

Running in the Media Maratón Rincón de la Victoria

Málaga & Rincón de la Victoria 1/2 Marathon– Follow the link for photos! The main purpose of this trip was the half marathon, but since Kristin decided to accompany me we made a full weekend out of the excursion. Highlights of the trip: discovering Primark (a very cheap Irish clothing store chain!), visiting the Museo Picasso Málaga and seeing its exhibition on the Grotesque, and, of course, the half marathon! I’d definitely consider the race as one of the more difficult athletic ventures I’ve undertaken, but I really enjoyed the experience. I also placed 2nd in my age group with an overall time of 2:01:52. I’ll surely want to run another 1/2 marathon in the future! I’ve really enjoyed participating in races in Spain: it’s so much cheaper to register and there’s always lots of free regalitos (little gifts). I’ll miss these benefits when I run races back home!

VIDEO from the race (fast-forward to 10:48 to see yours truly!): 

¿Hay huelga? No hay problema

Kristin’s photo from the 14-N manifestación

At least there’s not a problem for us extranjeros! On Wednesday classes and university activities were cancelled for the nationwide huelga. For any of you non-Spanish speakers out there, huelga means strike, although the Spanish version is not what you might typically think. At least when I think ‘strike’, the first thoughts that pop into my mind are sit-ins, workers with picket signs marching in circles, and huge inconveniences. The huelgas in Spain aren’t so completely different in that, yes, people do take to the streets (in thousands!) and there are certainly some inconveniences for those non-strikers who just want to buy a café or go to a favorite store only to discover that it’s closed. But although there can definitely be strikes here against employers, as anywhere, the huelgas in Spain are usually more centered on discontent with the government. The thousands that took to the streets in Sevilla and other large cities on Wednesday were united in that they wanted to send the government a message of their dissatisfaction, but the aims of different coalitions were different: