Nagranganas

Mike, you must have known you couldn't get away without this making it into my blog. Two weeks after trying to teach him the word for "orange" (naranja) to try and order him some orange juice, it was still coming out "nagrangana". I think this is about the moment when Sarah posted on his wall "Without all of us girls, he'd be up a creek of nagranganas" and Amy, obviously, couldn't control herself.  
 
 

So! We finally got back to Leon and I felt back at home though it was weird to have these two in my city. Here we are with Gaudi. After stalking his architecture throughout Barcelona, these two kids finally got to be introduced. Here they are, probably arguing about which one is going to ask for an autograph.

I have taken this same picture with all of my Oviedo friends when we visited. Just a little stairway with the Leon crest up above it. We tried really hard not to get random walkers in our shot but it just didn't happen. 

At the big man statue waiting for Sarah to bring us delicious ingredients for making taco salad (obviously very Spanish...not). Which is why we have to hunt down tortilla chips, salsa, black beans, and sour cream. It took us until about a month ago but we've finally found all four of those things. Now I want cheddar cheese, pretzles, brownies, and peanut butter (that doesn't cost half my stipend).

Here is my lovely boyfriend wearing a solid black T-shirt. Please all send him compliments so that he will continue to wear it. I, most obviously, bought it for him. He was very sweet and pretended to like it but I hope he has not sewn any sports logos onto it since he has been home. Though. The chances are high. Except that I'm unsure of his sewing skills. Also I find this entertaining as I was giving what must have been a GREAT hug while he is surely looking up sports info or reading the news on his Ipod. Can't win :). 

This was our last night in Leon, after two nights of tapas and going to class and tutoring with me. They got to see just how unorganized my school life is, but how it all balances out with the fact that we have great (and free!) tapas. Can't have it all. We went to Alimerka (my Spanish Wegmans) and each is armed with a sleeve of my favorite cookies which taste like smores and are highly addictive.

And here, finally, at my Plaza de la Inmaculada right by my house. I'm unsure about the pose but it does hilight some of their Alimerka purchases. Mike was thrilled to be able to bring home his favorite chocolate milk because it doesn't need to be refrigerated until opened. Gross, but true to Spanish style.

So since they've left I've gotten back to my little Spanish lifestyle, which now seems a bit boring in comparison. I rather miss having two little buddies following me around saying "What next, Leigh? Can we take a nap, Leigh? I want some Alimerka cookies, Leigh. What should I wear, Leigh?" Amy and Mike were two super lovely guests to have and I'm so thankful they were able to make it all the way out to explore a little of Europe with me. Madrid, Paris, Barcelona, Oviedo, Leon. I surely won't ever forget it and, bad news for Mike, none of us will forget the "nagranganas". Miss you both, already.

Volver

When I left Oviedo in May 2009, I wasn't even sure I'd ever get back. Then, less than 2 years later, I've been to Oviedo 5 times in the past 4 months and even brought two of my favorites from home. Here's Amy and me in front of my old apartment. I said, "Take a quick picture before Merce (my host mom) sees us, or I'll get yelled at for not calling her, and she'll never let us leave!" Fact. She yells because she loves me. And apparently she loves me a LOT.

We met up with our friend David, and as we were heading up to his apartment, I turned to Mike and Amy and said "David speaks Spanish so when you meet him say "Encantado/a...or don't say anything at all, just smile." My directions were quick and blunt, and apparently didn't go across to well. I noticed later when Mike had been nearly silent for over a half hour, "You told me to speak Spanish, or not speak at all!" Fair play. I am sometimes unaware of the way I say things. I prioritize situations in my mind and leave out feelings and people who deserve that extra minute of clarification or comfort. Learning (painfully) slowly.

We went out to have Paella with David. We also ordered croquetas and huevos rotos. We attempted to be very Spanish, and the food was great, as was the awkward table conversation between people of all different levels of Spanish and English.

We had to visit La Gorda. This statue itself isn't very exciting, but I can't even list all the fabulous people I've met here to go off and have adventures. Quedamos en la Gorda? Siempre.

Yes, I realize how unflattering this picture is of me, but I have to post it. Because. It captures (so very well) Mike and me. He is sweet, patient, genuine. And I. Am a pain in the ass. For no good reason, except just to be one. He saw this and said "Leigh, all you had to do was look at the camera, it would have been such a nice picture!" He makes it sound so simple.

Hablo con Gatitos

I was so happy to be back in Barcelona...and back in a place where they speak Spanish. Being surrounded by a foreign language is exciting, but when you don't understand any of it, it becomes truly isolating. I'll stick to Spain.

Somehow, I managed to find my cousin, Jake, who was spending the holidays in Spain with his girlfriend, Angela. We haven't seen each other in years since he's been living in Delaware, but we coincided one single day in  Barcelona and met up. Jake navigated with his huge tourist map and got us to everywhere we wanted to go that night. We even had a lovely Brisith man take this photo for us, after which he said "You all look great, truly!" The next day we all went on a mission to find Bagels and found the spot which had become a Pasta place. Disappointed, and in need of some kind of food, we split up. Bagels in the states

sometime?

We went to the old section of town (El casco antiguo) and needed a girls shot on the steps. Ignore the tourist shop now built into the beautiful old building.

We went up to Park Guell which is some of Gaudi's most beautiful work, if you ask me. When walking up to the park it gets so steep that they built escalators into the sidewalks. I was quite thankful for them, though Mike insisted on taking the stairs. He hauled past some kind of sports team sitting on the ground all sweaty, passing around potato chips. Here we found some mosaics on the ceiling and I made the mistake of telling everyone how last time I was there, everyone had their cameras on the floor and were leaning in over them. So. That's when this happened. Aside from the double chins, this makes for a cool picture.

Here's some more of the park and up at the very top you can see the world's longest bench. It's all covered in mosaics. We had previously asked Mike to pose in front of this same spot and THIS leg-out action was his pose of choice. So, naturally, we had to copy.

We went up an elevator to take the cable car across the water to get this awesome view of the city. While in line we argued about what the little car was actually called. In Spanish it's a 'teleférico'. I had myself convinced for a good ten minutes that there was an English word 'teleferic'. I then settled on cable car but to disputes from my friends. We settled it by looking up the translation of 'teleférico' which is, indeed, cable car. I came through after a momentary lapse of being able to think in English.

At the other side of the cable car ride, we got off and walked around on the big mountain. We made it quick as we watched the line and strategicaly planned our sprint back down to the car to beat the crowds. For some reason, Mike wanted a picture with me. I must make him look good, or something :).

Yes, I talk to cats. And kittens. And they were living under the stairs at the beach and I insisted on spending ten minutes playing with them. Actually, I didn't insist, I just did it and ignored the reactions of my friends. Amy thinks that they didn't speak English, but really that wasn't an issue. There is no such thing as a language border between cute cats and me.  

For all my true friends out there, you know exactly why I took this picture. I walked by this store 15 times before I saw it. And then it was blatantly clear. Hilary Duff. On the shop sign on the street where our apartment was. Coincidence? Please.

Rooftop of a Gaudi building (Casa Mila, La Pedrera). We are quite obviously licking the soft serve vanilla icecream. All it needed were some rainbow sprinkles.

Finally! The real reason I flew all the way to Barcelona: to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 in English. Okay, so it's not the only reason I went but it ranked pretty high up there. I felt like I was back in the United States (for the very first time since I've been here) for a solid 2 1/2 hours. Dear Ron Weasley, I wish you were not fictional, but I will settle for your slightly less exciting counterpart Rupert Grint. I can be in England in a heartbeat. Also, I hear you've purchased an ice cream truck, and if that doesn't make you wildly attractive, I don't know what does.

Barcelona was very good to us. Except this one boy working at Subway...Mike made more order for him so I started in Spanish and the guy immediately started laughing under his breath. I ignored for a minute til I said "What? You'd rather speak English? Why are you laughing at me?" To which he just shook his head and continued in Spanish. But he kept laughing and I wasn't going to let him get away with it. "You obviously understand me, no? Then what's the problem?" He answered: "Laughing is a good thing, it means you're enjoying your job more." When we got up to pay I said something like "That's it, I'm ready." And he said to the cashier "A discount for her", to which I quipped "Why? Because you owe me for laughing?" giving attitude=discounts. If only that rule worked in the states...

Parlez-vous anglais?

We finally met up with Sarah, and headed to Paris on New Years Eve. Due to all the strikes that have been going on this fall, they made the subways free that day, saving us 10 euro to get from the airport into the city- off to a good start. We headed out that night and were unable to find any champagne under 60 euro a bottle (less good), so we decided to just get over to the Champs Elysses to see the lights and the fireworks. We arrived shortly before midnight and then a few minutes later heard some cheers and saw a few people kissing. We checked our watches..."Is it midnight?" A few moments later, some more of the same shouts etc "Or is it midnight now? How do they know?" We waited for more of a sign but that was truly it. Paris was highly disappointing in its delivery- no fireworks, no stage, no countdown clock. The youtube images we had googled were very misleading!

Anyways, we tried to head back via the subway after we had walked around for a bit. But, due to New Years Eve and the free subway, it was packed, and there was definitely no room for four of us. There were literally people standing on chairs and with faces squished against windows. We finally decided to switch directions and then transfer trains at a less crowded stop. As soon as we got to the other side of the tracks, a pleasant voice came over the speakers "You have missed the last train, there will be no more trains running tonight". Think we could get a taxi? Oh no. So we enjoyed a 1 1/2 hour walk home along the Seine River. I found it rather entertaining and enjoyed the walk, even pointing out some monuments along the way, but I'm not sure I can say the rest of my crew felt as happy about the 3 am walk as I did. 

 

 
We decided we had earned something after all that walking, so we decided not to set our alarms...and woke up at about 1pm, missing the free walking tour we had planned to go on. "No problem guys, we can have our own walking tour." I tried to tell them. Amy was quick to respond "Didn't we just have our own free, forced walking tour last night at 3 am?"
 
One of our first stops was in front of Notre Dame and I did my best to recall the tour I'd had nearly 2 years before. "I will not remember the important information, but I will remember the interesting facts" I promised. True to my word: "Notre Dame was built a long time ago but the reason the city decided to put so much money into preserving it was because of the story written about the Hunchback of Notre Dame because it raised a lot of attention for the church."
 

At the top of Notre Dame- also free this day because the bell tower was closed. At least we didn't pay for all of our Paris misfortunes...The Eiffel Tower is the mini thing in the background.

I navigated us around a bit of the city hitting some monuments and remembering some very random facts. "This bridge was built by some king and he invited all his friends over for a party. He then got them very drunk and had his sculptor draw sketches of them to use for the heads carved all over the bridge. Don't ask me when or who."

At a statue of a man riding a horse: "The way the horse is standing means something about how the man died. Standing still, walking, or trotting. One means he died peacefully, one means he died nobly in battle, and one means something else. Maybe he killed himself? Don't quote me on the last one...or any of it for that matter."

That night we headed to the Eiffel Tower which was open after being shut down for weeks due to strikes, weather, and bomb threats. But here we are! We got to see it all lit up and sparkling and it was beautiful.

Here is one place I didn't get to on my first visit- the Basilica Sacre Coeur. It was tucked away in a very adorable part of the city that felt quite homey. We walked around the area a bit, and climbed the two hundred y pico stairs to the basilica. It honestly looks cooler from the top of Notre Dame because from there it looks like an Aladdin castle. Also, the best part was some Frenchman singing American karaoke songs. We might have listened in on a minimum of 3 of them. He had the entire crowd singing along, including us. "Imagine all the people living for today..." John Lennon. Winner.

Here we were at one of the King's parks. I couldn't remember any information on this one, but there was a stellar view with the ferris wheel in the background and it merited a picture. France was good to us, I ate at least a crepe a day...the man at the shop started to recognize me. I also ate some of these magic-chocolate- caramel-rice krispie-marshmallow balls that somehow seemed to keep reproducing on cue...gosh I could use one now...Either Amy had a stash in her bag that lasted me through Barcelona as well or they really were magic. I'm going with the second one.

My friends had to put up with a few bumps in our Paris trip, but it was beautiful. Mike said more than once "I can't believe in Paris". After all the traveling I've done, I don't really feel that way anymore, especially since I'd been in Paris, but this time I felt similarly. I couldn't believe how lucky I was to be with some of my very favorite people so far from home. Seeing people out of place is a strange feeling, like even just a year ago who would have though the four of us would be there under the Eiffel Tower, or climbing Notre Dame...all together?



El Reencuentro

I took a 2:30 am bus to Madrid, and rushed to find the gate exit where Mike and Amy would be getting off their plane. Turns out there was no need to rush as I had to wait 1 1/2 hours for their delayed plane etc. I got to see lots of little couples and families reuniting and for as sweet as it was, it made me really anxious for my two. After all of that waiting and watching for them, they somehow spotted me before I saw them. And as they had previously bet each other, I cried. I think I should get the winnings.

We went to the ATM, and as soon as Mike got his money out, I "tore it away from him" so he says. Really, it was to go in my money belt and it was for his own good, but the poor guy had never seen a euro and I deprived him of his sacred moment with the money. Luckily, he got very cozy with euros throughout the trip, and even cozier with spending them.

So. Although Mike and Amy were super tired and ready for bed as soon as they arrived, I intended to help them stay ahead of the jet lag. This included homeopathic tablets (which are magic) and no sleep, just walking around the entire city. My plan wasn't very foolproof...and this is what it earned me. Two very un-photogenic, half-asleep friends. Although Mike is smiling, his eyes are actually closed and he may or may not be sleeping. While walking through a park and the botanical gardens, they turned to desperate bargaining with me for sleep. Finally I agreed to give them an hour so we could head out and see the city at night.

After a few days apart, I met up again with Meg and Julie. Just finding friend crawling all over Spain. The usual. To take full advantage of our limited time together, I even considered sitting in their hostel room while they each took turns showering. Sounds strange, but it's actually weirder than you think. They had a bathroom in their room, which consisted of three walls blocking in a corner and those walls didn't reach all the way to the ceiling, nor did they have their own makeshift ceiling. So literally, I could have tossed Meg some soap into the shower while sitting on the bed. It made for very easy conversation. Julie even said while in the shower, "Wow, I really feel like you guys are in here!"

We went out and saw the Plaza Mayor all lit up at night with the Christmas lights (UFOs). There were some interesting crowds and lots of Dora the Explorer impersonators. There was even one very overweight Spiderman holding children and taking photos. Don't they know Spiderman is skinny? He can jump and do flips and swing between buildings. Perhaps that got lost in the translation...

I'm posting this simply because I love the picture. I was unreal kinds of happy to have Mike in Spain with me. It's always strange to see people in places you never could have pictured them. I was holding on tight, hoping he wouldn't leave. I even offered him homemade dinners and to take over my private tutoring sessions to make money (this was done semi selfishly)...but apparently my deal wasn't tempting enough. Still left!

I remember Amy being near sleep coma before we found children running around these little mazes made of hedges. She and I had to join. She went straight for the tree and insisted I come over, making for one of our very best pictures together. We should have had a hedge maze at our apartment in Buffalo last year, if only we had known.

Mike and I at the Royal Palace in Madrid (Palacio Real). I ran them back and forth saying "Yes, this is the door, no this is definitely it, oh wait! The one all the way across the plaza- I'm sure this time." We did manage to see everything we wanted to! However, I didn't make any tips as a tour guide for this visit.

Amy and I in Retiro Park in front of one of the little ponds. It's one of my very favorite spots in Madrid. Truly, Madrid has never treated me terribly, but it's never felt comfortable. I am learning bit by bit to like it more but it will never be like my little northern cities. I can say though, that it was my best trip there yet, and I think the city itself had nothing to do with that...

Ponte las Botas y Echa un Pigazu

So this was my first year being away from my lovely Rochester home for Christmas. I was prepared for it though, and it turned out better than I could have hoped for. I feel very lucky to have spent it in Oviedo with some wonderful people. I went to go visit my host mom "Merce" and thought I could drop in for an hour or so. But, really, I knew what would happen. On the phone she said to me "Don't eat, do you hear me? Don't eat-you're eating with us!" And I showed up and surprised the rest of her family who I haven't seen since I left Oviedo in May 2009. Here's my whole lovely Spanish family, with Merce, my diva, in the middle.

My one Aunt kissed me so hard I thought I'd have a bruise. I then complimented her ring and she took it off and put it in my hand "It's yours- and don't say no, I won't take it back". My one uncle took my phone number and insisted that we meet up when he comes to Leon. Another invited me to his cottage with his family for a week in the summer. And my once good-looking host cousin who I had a crush on gained ten pounds and got a girlfriend. All was right with the world.

Here is Merce, her four sons, and american daughter in her front hallway. At least three of her boys were happy to see me...the fourth told me that "Americans have no culture". He later tried to tell me how pretty I was, but I kindly reminded him "Yes, but I'm American so....".

The very first face I saw when I got to Oviedo was Meg, (on the left) waiting for me at the bus station. The last time we were there together, we were crying about leaving Spain and going back to the U.S. So, true to fashion, we cried again. It was unbelievable to see her. My first face from home, and one of the ones I'd been missing like crazy. Back to our old stomping grounds, it was a perfect set-up for Christmas 2010. We finally found our amiga ovitense, Julia, who had studied in Buffalo last year. She kept saying "it's sooo strange to see you two here". But the thing is, we felt right at home.

This. Is a face I've been aching to see since May 23, 2009. He came with me to the bus station that day instead of my host family. He's the one I've kept in best touch with, and the person in Oviedo who made me feel most loved, most appreciated, and most at home. Jaime. He started out as my conversation partner a couple years ago and became an incredible friend, the kind that you couldn't find if you were looking for them. We are just a perfect match, and I ran up the stairs in the plaza by La Gorda to hug him. Hasta la proxima, mi amor!

                                  

I was super excited to introduce my visiting Buffalonians (Meg and Julie) to another Oviedo friend- David. He was a wonderful guide and host as always. We went out for sidra, and knowing how much I hate it, kept telling the waiter to bring me more. Finally I had to tell the waiter:

Me:  "Listen, I'm the boss, and I say no more".  

Waiter: "Oooh you're his boss?" (pointing at David)

Me: "No, I'm everyone's boss."

I think that's about the time he ignored me and opened yet another bottle of the olive-tasting sidra.

Before heading home that night, we managed to squeeze in a late-night Kebab. And we just had to have a photo in the classy joint as well. We ate well, enjoyed some Spanish friends and family, got to see all of our old sights and show them all to Julie for the first time. I wouldn't have changed a thing about it.