Dia del Deporte III - by Theo

Well, our third Dia del Deporte was a great success. I was slightly apprehensive about the turn-out to begin with - Kate, Rosie and I arrived at 12pm to find my student Irene already there. Bearing a delicious homemade yoghurt cake, she had been decidedly un-Spanish and turned up at the time advertised. For about an hour I was worried that it was going to look like we had no friends, but then a steady stream of North Americans, Africans and Europeans swelled our numbers to 20 as we gathered around an ever-growing mountain of food.


The guests included Rosie's boyfriend Ollie and his mate Jack (whose parents, Helen and Steve happened to be visiting Stefan and Bianca, but that's by the by - we know it was really the kids who arranged it all.) The toddlers were on fine form, randomly wandering about the place and never seeming to mind which of our friend's mobiles they stole or whose water bottle they were drooling over. Actually it was great, as Rosie seemed to be delighted by all the people and more than happy to sit on somebody else's lap while Kate chatted and I called Ibrahima for the umpteenth time to try and give him directions.

We had a great spread. Jero had brought some homemade tortillas, Sophie and Jon a delicious pasta salad, Elena a carrot cake, Javier a huge empanada (a kind of fish pie), Bianca some Pimms and almost every other person brought cherries! The little ones ate happily and even got stuck into the booze....

After a brief break for digestion, the sports began. With there being so many of us, we had to have three heats for the egg & spoon race (during which, one egg became grass fertiliser) before the qualifiers lined up for the final.


Ibrahima, the youngster that he is, took the checkered flag in style, before he and his brother Aboubacar treated us to a rendition of the Senegalese national anthem at the medal presentation ceremony.

Following that, we had the three heats for the third-legged race, which fitted around the baby nap-time buggy relay (Kate and I took the gold) and the arrival of some of my colleagues bearing takeaway burgers. The third heat was composed solely of English teachers and nearly resulted in injury due to some questionable tactics.Luckily we had a physio on hand (Fermin) and everyone was fit to line up for the three-legged final.

As you can see it was a close run thing, but yet again the Senegalese contingent prevailed, this time older brother Aboubacar taking gold along with his partner Jon.

Time was getting on, so we gradually cleared up and said our goodbyes, making many promises to try to meet up again over the 18 days we have left in Spain, before winding our way back home with even more mixed feelings about leaving. For it's days like today that make Madrid a wonderful place to live.

Dia del Deporte 2010

Our second annual Sports Day and picnic was today and while it didn't quite attract the crowds of last year's event, it was superb fun!

Another scorching day, with the temperature hovering around 34, found us lolling under shady trees in the beautiful Retiro. Rosie seemed very happy lying on her back checking out her surroundings, occasionally entertained by her father making strange faces at her.
Cesar turned up with a cool box, tunes, and the paper - perfect. Aboubacar and Ibrahima followed not long after with a football and snacks, with Jon and Ana joining us just as we were tucking into the salads and snacks - they'd brought bocadillos and disgusting sweets!
Ibrahima has a real soft spot for Rosie - his hermanita - and it appears she has one for him; she was totally comfortable being held by him and watching the scene.
I ran away with the first heat of the egg and spoon race - a steady hand and a steady pace saw me move through the field as the others went awry. In the second heat Cesar just pipped Ana to the line. However, for the second year running Aboubacar was our champion, winning a high-octane final in style.

Tennis and football followed, before everyone was whipped into playing a sort of Rounders/quick Cricket hybrid that was a lot of fun. Ibrahima top scored, but Ana turned out to have a demon throwing arm and took several smart catches.

We finally headed home at 5.30ish, just missing the rain as it came down - another tradition from last year's event!