Pintxos=Pinchos=Tapas

Sarah and I taking over Bilbao. Took the elevator up to here.

Chris and I at the beach in San Sebastian.

Me on top of the hill we climbed in San Sebastian

Andrew (lovely tour guide) and I at the Guggenheim ("The Gugg") in Bilbao

The puppy in Bilbao!

Chris and Sarah and turtle island (Santa Clara) in San Sebastian

I got to teach some Halloween lessons in my classes last week and I had a lot of fun. We learned some idiomatic phrases and had fun with some Halloween cartoons. The kids could not understand "you mean you carry around a PILLOWSACK and fill it with candy at people's houses?" You don't realize how strange your traditions are until someone from the outside points it out. The two little kids that I tutor played some Halloween games with me. I taught them words like "Jack O Lanters, vampire, mummy, bat, etc. Then they came and knocked on my door and they had to say "Trick or Treat" and tell me about their costume before I would give them a treat. I adore them. I am so lucky to spend time with them so frequently. I'd be missing little ones like crazy if it weren't for them. I've definitely realized by being here that Elementary Ed is my favorite place to be. And I also don't want to teach ESL. Did you know that in the past you can say "used to" before an action or state of being, but you can only use "would" before an action. For example: He would/used to stand outside and wait every day. BUT. He used to be a happier person. I never would have thought that was a rule, it either "sounds right" or it doesn't.


So this last weekend I took my fifth trip in a row. Five weekends, and now I'm taking a break. Traveling can be more exhausting than working, go figure. Six of us took a train out to San Sebastian (Donostia) on the northern coast of Spain on the Bay of Biscay. It was a beautiful beach town. We went up the two big hills on either side of the beach to get two different views. It really felt like fall and Halloween taking the hike up the hill through all the trees.

The second day we went to Bilbao to visit a friend of mine and to see the city. The puppy at the Guggenheim was beautiful, though the outside of the building was the most impressive part of it. We spent about 30 minutes inside. The rest of the day was spent seeing the river, the bridges, the old part of town, took an elevator up the hill to get a stellar view, etc. It was a fabulous little city that has really cleaned up and is looking quite impressive. People go just for the Guggenheim, and have no idea that there's anything else to Bilbao.

I nearly forgot it was Halloween because of how little they acknowledge it here. This week I really miss upstate new york and fall, pumpkins, cider, the impressive changing landscape, trick or treaters, hot chocolate...Fall is definitely the season I'll miss most at home.

We had our Fall Behind one our this weekend which was super convenient as we were out and about in San Sebastian. We had Pintxos (pronounced pinchos) which are commonly known in Spain as tapas, which are appetizers. They were beautiful but sadly most were seafood.

Towards the end of the trip I was running low on cash and thought I'd see if I could get by without going to the ATM. I came home with about 1,30 euros in my wallet. Impressive, I must say. With 20 euro I saw all the sights in Bilbao, ate three meals, and even squeezed in some gelato. Also, I walked the whole of San Sebastian and didn't see a SINGLE grocery store. We finally had to ask and found one on the underground floor of a mall. I need to find a native and ask how they shop. I'm really very curious.

Also they speak Basque in the two cities we visited, which was pretty interesting. I listened in on some conversations, but it's such an ancient language and has no connection to any other language...therefore I was clueless. Ah well. One language at a time...

I feel lost without another trip planned! I suppose I'll start looking things up to see my friend Nate (maybe in southern France). And then my Christmas plans to see Jaime, my favorite Spanish friend, Megan who's coming from the states, and my lovely Mike and Amy. Hurry to Spain, my loves! I miss you.

El Mundo es un Pañuelo

About 2 weeks ago we got an invite from a few of the Spanish teachers in our school to go see ‘Las Médulas’ which are mountains that had been blown out in order to sift for gold. We couldn’t say no to that…They picked us up super early and we headed out for a day of broken Spanish, broken English and beautiful views. We showed up in front of the town hall waiting for the tour guide and some other friends of our teachers. The next thing I know, my friend Ian, who I had studied with a year and a half ago in Oviedo, walked up. Turns out he was joining our 12 person crew. Small world.

We got to hear lots of (too much) history from our tour guide and climbed high to see the canals that were hand dug. We had a truly Spanish lunch…one that included 4 courses and lasted over 3 hours. Then we headed out to see a Castle up in El Bierzo. It had been partially reconstructed but it was pretty gorgeous. The view from the mountain it was on was unreal. Our crew was quite an interesting one. I’m trying to recall but we had 3 people who spoke no English, 2 who were pretty darn fluent in both languages, 1 student who speaks high school level English, 1 who speaks pretty good English but very awkwardly, one girl who speaks basic Spanish, and 3 of us who have a pretty good grasp of Spanish but are still working at it. Anyways. Imagine. Translating, re-explaining, Spanglish…overall a wonderful time. I loved every minute of mixing our cultures and languages in the most tongue-tied way ever.

Well due to good old Spanish timing, we got to the bus station well after the last bus had left for the evening. The other girls I was with decided to pay the extra money to take a late night train. I, however, decided to go with the flow and stay with my friend Ian. We got to go out for drinks and tapas with our teachers and then split off to meet the language assistants working in his city (Ponferrada). I think I’m shaking off some of my compulsive control issues. Take my advice. Things happen, let it go, and spend an extra night in Ponferrada.

This past weekend Sarah and I headed back to Oviedo to stay in her host mom’s house while she was out of time. Sick set-up. They were having the awards given out by the Princípe de Asturies. So we got to stand with the huge crowds and wait to see some of the Spain Soccer Team, and the Prince, Princess, and Queen. Pretty cool if you ask me. And obviously you care somewhat about my opinion as you’ve spent the time to read my blog. So yes, agree….it’s pretty cool to see the royal family in the flesh.

So while in Oviedo, I got to see old friends, meet some of the Canisius College kids studying there this semester, go to some old places, and even pour some sidra! I did a terrible job of it but I did get SOME sidra in the cup.

I got home from our lovely little trip and had some Spanish telenovela-style drama waiting for me. Our Spanish roomate’s boyfriend left us a note taped to the door about how he had “cleaned the whole kitchen and went to cook in it later and it was a mess. My girlfriend it not your maid, leaving crumbs everywhere is ridiculous” plus some other choice words which I won’t translate into English. First of all, as you can tell from my blog, I am never in my apartment. Secondly, I am quite a clean human being. Thirdly, my roommate’s boyfriend (who lives with us 4 nights a week, smokes, showers, uses our internet, stays here while she works etc) doesn’t pay rent. He doesn’t live here…and he had the nerve to say something to us about the way we live in our apartment.

Later on I approached my roommate to say “If you have any problem, you know you can always come talk to us we are happy to work something out, we had no idea you had any issue, but you don’t need your boyfriend to tell us.” But then he cut in and started to yell at me and tell me he is “29” and this would never happen in his house and I’m uneducated and rude. I didn’t yell until he said “do you even understand Spanish?” HOMBRE. We were SPEAKING in Spanish! That’s when I really went crazy and yelled and perhaps pulled out a few not so kosher words myself. But he was in my house, yelling at me and judging me.

Since then, I’ve called the landlord to retell the whole account and we are getting together to chat with my landlord, my American roommate and friend Sam, my Spanish roommate, and her mom. Because even though WE are the second language learners, she needs her momma’s support. Haha…oh the crazy life we live. It will be pretty cool to be able to say that I had a yelling fight with a Spanish man and even managed to get through a meeting about rearranging the household rules etc.
Keep posted! We shall see what happens…

Las Leonesas Vagabundas

A super busy long weekend. Five cities in 4 days, no big deal. Oviedo, Covadonga, Cangas de Onís, Gijón, and Salamanca. So we left Friday for Oviedo and I was beyond excited, it felt like I was finally getting back to my home base in Spain. I was jumping out of my seat by the time I saw familiar buildings. Sam, Sarah and I went straight to my host mom Merce’s apartment: the one I lived in when I was in Oviedo. She was waiting at the door with a huge hug for me, her “vida”. It was so weird to be back in her apartment, nothing had changed at all, except in the hallway on table was a framed picture of me and her. Loving. She insisted we go grocery shopping with her (Alimerka of course) and that she make us some lunch. After lunch, she would have had us stay all day but it was a miracle that it wasn’t raining and we were trying to get out a little before it started. Sam and Sarah say it’s obvious where I learned my Spanish…haha with the 76-year-old Spanish woman vocab, speed, and inflections. Great.

We headed to our hotel and entered in a fiasco. The woman at the desk informed us that even though it says on the website you can have an extra bed for a 3 person room, it is not actually allowed. We couldn’t cancel our reservation either because you have to do that 24 hours before. SO. She asked us for two of us who would be staying there to give her our passports. Sam and I gave her ours, just thinking we would drag Sarah up later when we came back and no one would know the difference. Wrong. We went back around 10pm just to change our clothes etc and the woman wouldn’t even let Sarah come up to the room with us. Profiling! Literally. She had to wait in the “lobby” which consisted of two chairs and a round table. At that point we figured there was no way we would be able to all stay in the room and it was too late to book a hostel etc. Therefore I made the most awkward call ever to my momma Merce and was like “I know I told you weeks ago I didn’t need to but can I please stay with you tonight, they won’t let us all stay in our room?” She was furious that we didn’t know this sooner but said “Well of course, I have no other choice, what are you going to do, sleep in the street?” I felt like a little kid who had to call their parents after they had messed up. Oh well, we went downstairs to tell the woman at the desk that Sarah and Sam would be the ones staying and I wouldn’t. Note: convo has been translated into English for your benefit.
Concierge: “You can’t change that. You’re the one that checked in earlier today and you can’t change your mind now.”
Me: “I don’t know what difference it makes to you, if Sarah had given you her passport earlier instead of me then you wouldn’t have cared, neither of us has stayed here yet…I don’t see the difference.”
Concierge: “She would have had to check in earlier in the day, I can’t change it now”
Me: “What do you mean you can’t change it? Did you just write it on a piece of paper back there or did you put it online somewhere you can’t fix it?”
Concierge: “It’s already in the computer”
Me: “This is ridiculous. I’m not leaving until this gets rearranged.”
Concierge: “What gets rearranged?” (smirking…)
Me: “The room! I want to switch who is staying here.”
Concierge: “I don’t think you understand”
Me: “Yes, I do understand.”
Concerge: “No you don’t.”
Me: Do you have a boss?”
Concierge: “No”
Me: “There is no one else I can talk to? You can’t call anyone? You’re the only one here…”
Concierge: “Yes I’m the only one”

That’s when we just left. And called her rude things in English right in front of her. At this point, I didn’t want to confuse Merce further so I was going to stay there for sure. But, Sarah wasn’t allowed to stay at the hotel. She had to call her friend David and ask to stay there. So it turned out that Friday night, the three of us paid for a hotel but I stayed at Merce’s, Sarah stayed at David’s and Sam stayed at the hotel. Just wait til I get online to leave reviews for the place. Multiple reviews.

Yea. That’s when we decided we needed to go out for sidra. And this is where my night got good. We went to La Pumarada, which was my favorite place on Calle Gascona. I saw my favorite waiter and asked if he remembered me. Before I knew it he was bringing me a 43 with coca cola (my favorite) and said “You’re the one who hates sidra.” I was in love with Oviedo all over again. It’s one of those places that once it’s been your home it’s always your home. Even just walking through the University campus I saw some kids from Canisius College. Weird.

Oviedo was as loving as ever. It felt so weird to not have Jaime, Greg, Megan, Liz, Eric, Lauren, Sarah, Becca, and the rest of the 2009 UniOvi crew there with me! You guys are a huge reason why Oviedo was so fabulous. Let’s all go back.

We took two day trips on Saturday. One to this Roman Bridge in Cangas de Onis and the other to Covadonga which was unreal. The fog was thick and sort of low in the sky so it hung on the mountains and on the church towers. There was a wedding going on as well. It felt like we were tucked away in the most hidden and gorgeous spot in the world. Like we had been wandering through the Picos de Europa and had stumbled upon this unbelievable little alcove.

Gijon- my love. The coastal town I visited nearly every other Friday last time I lived in Spain. We had to go back, and share it with Sam. The views from the hills were awesome as always and the rain held off- impressively. However, the most eventful part of this trip was the bus station beforehand. Sarah, Sam and I had all gone into the bathroom right before the bus was going to leave. I came out and saw Sarah who was already heading towards the bus. I walked back to see if Sam was still in the bathroom and didn’t see her so I ran to the bus. The driver had to reopen the door for me to let me on and we pulled away. I was walking down the aisle and saw Sarah sitting alone. “Uhhh where’s Sam?” That’s when my phone rang with Sam’s little voice on the other end “Can you come back in the bathroom, I’m literally trapped in the stall?” Uhhh…. “Sam, I hate to tell you but we’re already on the bus…climb under? Yell for help?” Not only did we leave her in the Oviedo bus station, we left her trapped in the bathroom stall. I haven’t laughed that hard in a looooong time.

Monday was off to Salamanca which has a super well preserved city center with huge cathedrals, churches, and university buildings. We found the frog hidden in the carvings on the university wall. We hunted for an hour for a place with ice cream. We got to climb the church tower and have an awesome view. We found some “caves” that were more like empty old towers that took us up to a little private view where we obviously interrupted a little Spanish couple’s love sess. So we took our time and hung around just long enough to be really obnoxious before heading out.

We almost lost Sam a number of times. To be honest, I’m not sure how she made it back from the trip alive. We’ve decided (as per her own request) to let her live inside a little chocolate bombón, where she will be much safer.
Bored yet? <3 Hasta luego…

Maestra

They finally let me teach! Well actually the history teacher asked if I had any ideas for this geography lesson. So I, being an elementary ed teacher, went home and prepared note cards with words on them for the kids to get into pairs. Then I made a presentation for a Smart Board activity, and then I made some note outlines for the little ones. So we took a little field trip to the "Technology Room" with the SmartBoard as all the other rooms only have chalkboards. They were sooo excited. It went super well and I just took over...my teacher should have never asked for my opinion. Afterwards she said "Well...thank you! I didn't realize I had another teacher working with me". The first years were fun. We learned the difference between "beach" and the alternative pronunciation.

I called Merce (my spanish Mom from Oviedo) to tell her I'll be in town this weekend. She said she won't leave her house except to take out the garbage, otherwise she will be there "getting ready and waiting" for me. Soo ready to get out to Oviedo. This short week was surprisingly exhausting.

Empezamos

So last weekend we headed down to orientation for all of the language assistants who are in Spain. I thought I'd meet a fair amount of genuine/friendly people, but I was mistaken. It really is surprising how pompus people become after traveling or living in other countries and feeling "worldly" and "superior". So I did my best to avoid direct eye contact which might be mistaken as interest in someone's life, experience, accomplishments. I faired well!

I did get to see the Royal Palace, Cathedral, Crystal Palace and Retiro Park and got to eat some gelato, which I had to attempt to pronounce and order in Italian although we were in Madrid. All in all a decent trip.

This week we "started teaching", and by that I mean we went in Monday, they gave us our schedules and said "you know, tomorrow is a holiday so let's scrap today too and see you Wednesday". Spain's got it all right, we must be overworking our American teachers. But today my teacher did open the book to the next lesson and said "How do you want to do this tomorrow, and make these 15 new landform vocab words exciting and easy to learn?" Hm, as luck would have it all I've done for four years is make up lessons as I go and my creativity seems to be at its peak. Off to the SmartBoard room tomorrow for some interactive Geography tomorrow.

Last night we went for a little tapas crawl around the city for a friend's birthday. We were a group of nearly 20, though only 2 were actually from Spain. The rest were quite a mixed crowd: americans, mexicans, a canadian, a british girl, one from n. ireland, and lithuanians. Using whatever language we could to have some kind of meaningful conversation... mixing a little Spanglish here and there much to the dismay of one of our fellow tapa-goers. A smile and a laugh go a long way. Tis how I get myself both into and out of of most situations. What do you mean 'pajarita' means 'bow tie' and not 'straw'? Ah, can't be right all the time, cue laughing at yourself.

This coming weekend I'm heading to Oviedo to see my Spanish host family who I haven't seen in a year and a half and wasn't sure I'd ever see again. Stoked. It might very well be my favorite city in the world, so I'm thrilled to be going back. Hoping it doesn't rain the entire time (though Asturias rains rarely diappoint). Also hoping that my Spanish hasn't gotten so much worse that my Spanish family thinks I'm totally ridiculous. Maybe at least this time I won't cry for not knowing the word for extension cord. Surely they'll ask me something I don't know. I suppose that's why I'm here, eh? Cheers. Ask away, I've mastered the phrase "No tengo ni idea".

La Ciudad

This big fountain is where we usually end up meeting because it's right in the center of the city-near the cathedral, all the shops and cafes etc. The weather's been great and I can walk the whole city which is so nice. I went to shadow some classes today at the highschool and they were a lot of fun. The students are so much crazier than the ones I've had in the states. They have zero discipline and they are kind of rude. But they are Spanish so I automatically love them. I was in a couple of English classes today where they did translations and had to think of multiple ways to say the same thing both in English and in Spanish. I learned a lot! And was suprised that I thought of Spanish phrases that they didn't. :)

I went out to coffee today with a few of the teachers which was really loving. They have a 30 minute break and we went to the cafe across the street where there were literally 15 teachers from the school getting little cups of coffee, ha! One woman asked the person next to me what my name was and where I was from. Excuse me: me llamo Leigh, y no soy sorda, soy americana y hablo español. Ah, oh well. Some days I feel like I could say anything and do anything in Spanish and other days I think I'm a total failure and feel like I can't string a single sentence together correctly.

The picture of the mountain is from a little farther north in Spain, heading into the Picos de Europa. Sam, Julie, Alberto and I went for a drive up into the little towns and mountains. We wandered around the valleys etc and had a picnic. It was gorgeous, what a view. Though the mountains were impossible to climb due to a)barbed wire b)creeks at the base c)super steep d)no paths. SO we didn't get too far.

Next week we are going to Madrid for our orientation for all of the Americans/Canadians teaching here in Spain. All 500 or so of us in one hotel should definitely be interesting. The week after that we have a long weekend and we are already planning what cities to go to. Going to head north while the weather is still nice there, because it will start to get cold way too soon!

Off to find veggies-because they definitely only had like 2 kinds at the grocery store. I'm in need of a veggie stand!

El piso!

So...I'm finally in Leon. It's been a crazy few days, I feel like I've been here months already. I was super thrown into Spanish again, having to go to the bank, police station, town hall, foreigneres office, cell phone store, grocery store, meet a landlord, etc. Let's just say I've learned some new vocab this week. Gas tank for a stove...botella de butano. Didn't know I'd need that one. Empadronarse...register to be a resident...yes. It's going great.

I have an apartment, which makes me feel a lot more settled. The best part is it is superrr Spanish looking-pretty old style, which I adore. I can't wait to hang my laundry on the line.

These are the gaudy bathroom, my bedroom (which is pretty big!) and the kitchen.

I already got asked to babysit for a friend of one of the teachers I met. He wants someone to "play with his 5 and 9 year old and talk to them and teach them". Sign me up! Also, I am already pretty well-known around the city as "la americana" because I've been to all of the above-listed places like every single day all week.

So I am living with a girl who is teaching with me, Samantha, and two Spanish girls. The one spaniard is already moved in but I've been there two days and have yet to see her! She is MIA. The other moves in on the 20th so that should be interesting for sure. We are already all set up so it will be weird to feel like other strangers are joining. But I'm addicted to Spanish so I can't help but be thrilled. We also have a concierge at our apartment who has proven to be super helpful when we are clueless. I think I need a permanent concierge.

That's all for now! Hasta pronto.