Madrid, Spain is a city where its history builds upon and energizes contemporary life, from my temporary rental acting as my home base to the terrazzas to the museums and markets, the fluidity and ease of old mingling with new is a breath of fresh air. After my first few weeks here, adjusting to new rhythms and acclimatizing to different timetables and routines, I feel welcome in this world where the old and new have embraced and enliven each other’s days. Every conversation beginning with an “Hola, qué tal ?” and ending with a “Buen Día!”. After having returned home from the Mercado de Motores today, this feeling has only been renewed and continues to develop my perspective and understanding of what it means to live and learn here, in Madrid.
Whenever I’m walking through my neighbourhood of Malasaña, I constantly notice new details about its history and the unique, creative arts community that many residents call their home, which also includes the plazas and several new restaurants. One of which, Burekisimo, turned a conversation sparked from interest about a then-unknown dish, into a bite-sized history about the dish itself! Initially beginning in my limited Spanish, the owner was ever-friendly and enthusiastic to continue the conversation in English for his practice (and to benefit my comprehension) and so, an enlightening history was told. Burek, crafted and disseminated across the Ottoman Empire, surviving and thriving as a delectable street food, to becoming an artisanal, house specialty of a recently opened, independent restaurant: the first-of-its-kind in Madrid. He then proceeded to ask me about myself and my time in Madrid, I told him about how I was participating in the TAB program, would be spending my free time exploring the city and started by getting to know my own neighbourhood. Which is when he told me about some of the places that locals love and know about, but few tourists visit, chief among them: Mercado de Motores. Open only one weekend a month, he gave a glowing recommendation and hoped I would consider visiting during my stay. Thanking him for the conversation and the delicious veal and cheese-spinach bureks, I went home, ate them for dinner, and googled how I could get the free, entrance tickets for Saturday.
After familiarizing myself with the metro route, I headed over in the late-morning and stepping inside the main hall was extraordinary. Mercado de Motores isn’t like a typical weekend market in a scenic, cobble-stone paved, tree-dotted plaza. The market utilizes the grounds of the Museo del Ferrocarril de Madrid, to host vendors and visitors amongst an array of trains from Renfe’s earliest locomotives to the Talgo II, an early high-speed train locomotive; many and more being originals, restored and placed inside the main hall on the once-used railway tracks, that could be traversed at crossing intervals. Likewise, elevated platforms offered views inside replica 19th-century dining, sleeping, kitchen, and seating compartments of train cars; while railway equipment, scale models of the trains, and various other railroad history displays were placed throughout. Amidst the old, the new claims ground in the forms of various vendors’ stalls. Where vintage clothing, craft spirits, antiques, terrariums, lego-building challenges, 3D-printed collectibles, kimonos, jewellery, artist’s prints, curated goods, and more were on offer. Period jazz music wafted through the air, just as the umbrella-covered terrazza had food trucks and miscellaneous vintage collection stands outside, featuring a live music artist whose eclectic EDM beats were mixed with their trumpet solo.
Taking time in strolling through the many stalls, stands, and displays, I couldn’t have been more grateful for a Madrileño’s insights! Some time sampling spicy salsa bravas, salchichon, candied hibiscus flowers, or trying on a pair of earrings and locally-tailored trousers, the immersion in this world of colours and flavours was invigorating. After nearly two hours, with several great finds in tow, I made my way back home and wrote this post.
So far, Spain has demonstrated to me that community and culture go hand-in-hand because of how strong the social bonds are in this city. Where even I, a Canadian who has only a slight grasp of basic Spanish (A1 Level, truly), can make the acquaintance of a Spaniard whose own enthusiasm over my interest in their food and history as a business, leads to discoveries that have made an immeasurable impression upon me and my experience here in Madrid. It’s that openness and welcoming of others, even when they don’t speak your language very well, that continues to positively present the values I hope to bring into my own classroom one day: kindness, respect, gratitude, and pride. To be kind to oneself and others, especially those who are strangers, since you never know…they may become a friend. To always have respect for each other, as we are all persons deserving of respect and equal recognition of our unique identities, in the place and time we meet one another. To have gratitude for all that is shared and learned, whether it’s over the course of a conversation or a lesson, appreciating and demonstrating your appreciation for such sharing and learning is important. And, finally, to have pride in your efforts, even when the attempt isn’t perfect or seamless. I continue to strive for progress over perfection in my teaching and learning journeys, so coming to understand these values within this diverse cultural context has been an absolute eye-opener for me.
Though myself and the Madrid TAB cohort have only just attended our first week at our school, SEK El Castillo, where we have begun to familiarize ourselves with the schedules, classroom culture, pedagogical practices, and norms of the Spanish and International Baccalaureat (IB) curricula, I am already recognizing Spanish cultural and social customs that I have experienced within my neighbourhood and beyond. In linking these customs to how they influence the teaching and learning taking place at SEK El Castillo, is something I look forward to with great anticipation. For in this established IB school, preparing to celebrate its 50th anniversary next year, well-embodies how the old and the new meet, welcome, embrace, and continually build upon their history together. While also growing and evolving alongside one another.