The New Year

Since I FINALLY finished writing about my holidays, I can catch up on the month of January en plan summary.

Since coming back from break, I’ve really been bonding with Navalmoral. Since traveling so much for Christmas, I haven’t wanted to even look at a bus or a train, so I’ve been spending most all of my weekends here.

Before school went back into session, we had Los Reyes Magos, or the Three Kings Day. Basically, kids here don’t believe in Santa Claus (for the most part), but rather that the three kings bring gifts to them during the night of December 5th. They get into it. In one lesson, a little boy asked me who my favorite was, after showing me letters that the wise men had written to him. I replied, “Balthazar?”, only because that was the only one who’s name I could recall. Apparently he’s the African one. After some investigation, he’s still my favorite. So the afternoon of the 6th, I went and saw the parade here in town with a friend, and spent the rest of the weekend going out to eat, dance, and enjoy the company before going back to work.

My birthday was the next weekend. My first birthday abroad. I made the funfetti cake I had bought at the American store in Madrid with Josemi’s oven.

We also went out to dinner at my favorite restaurant, Los Claveles. Luckily, my friends either know I’m a broke teacher, or that I’m American through and through…because they didn’t make me pay for everyone’s dinner as is the tradition here on someone’s birthday. That’s right, the birthday girl/boy treats. Hate it.

School has been going well too. I yelled at a class for the first time last week. They were 4th ESO (10th graders). Usually I get along really well with this class. We joke, talk about things that aren’t just school-related, and they participate a lot. However, I think because of this, they’ve started to see me more as a friend, as opposed to a teacher. In class the other day, I was trying to explain the activity we were going to do and they would not stop talking. Then one boy starting drawing all over a desk in highlighter and when I told him to clean it up, he used another girl’s pencil case to erase it. The girl blew up and started yelling at him. That’s when I stepped in. Putting on my best angry/serious voice, I told them how they needed to respect me as their teacher and listen to my instructions. I felt very powerful. Later, I pulled highlighter boy into the hallway. I had confiscated his cell phone the class before, so I told him he now had 2 strikes. After 3, he would be out and sent to the real teacher to be dealt with. He understood me.

This past weekend, I went into Madrid on Friday with Mamen (who just happened to be driving there that afternoon) to teach a class at a “Gifted” program on Saturday that two of my tutorees attend. I just talked in English and asked the kids questions. It was a decent time. Later, the family took me out to a really nice lunch…which I appreciated. The rest of the weekend was spent seeing parts of Madrid I had yet to see (who knew there was a long park that comes close to rivaling Valencia’s Río?), seeing old men playing the strangest game ever, then I came back home on Sunday.

Like I said, since coming back from break, I feel like I’ve cemented my friendships here and Navalmoral finally feels like home. As of right now, I’m renewing here for the next year, but don’t know if I will accept or decline the position when it comes in. Deciding what to do with my future right now is a source of great stress…thoughts?

Las Navidades Part III: Valencia and goodbye

Finally, almost a month after the trip, I’m going to finish writing about my Christmas break. Here it goes…Part III: Valencia…

After a horrid bus ride from Granada, we were so happy when we reached the Valencia bus station and a siesta at my former Madre’s house (from study abroad) was in sight. I had told my Madre (Vicen) what time we would be there and she said no problem, and that she would be waiting. Well, when we got to her apartment, guess who wasn’t home? After many calls and discussions, basically she had forgotten about us and was out of town. Luckily her neighbor has an extra key to her apartment, so she let us in. We immediately crashed for a few hours. When we woke up, Vicen had returned and after hugs, apologies, lunch (oh spaghetti and tuna, how I’ve missed you…), and general catching up, Allison and I left to wander the city.

Being back in Valencia was surreal. When I left there a year and a half ago, I had convinced myself that I would probably never return to that magical city that had captured my heart…buuuut I was wrong. Everything was just like I remembered. I was pretty impressed with myself for remembering how to get everywhere, even in the confusing barrio of Carmen. We passed through Ayutamiento, el Mercado Central, Plaza de la Reina, went inside the Cathedral, Plaza de la Virgen, and even stopped in to see my old friends at the Fallas workshop I worked in the semester I was there (Marisa and Paco…and they even remembered me!). After walking for a bit, it was time for a snack. We got some ice cream for one of my two favorite heladerías in Valencia, and then took a walk through the Río. Still one of my favorite parts of the city, this huge park is gorgeous, ending at La Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias. Calatrava’s amazing work in this “City of Arts and Sciences” never ceases to amaze me. While we were exploring, I got a call from my friend and once Spanish intercambio, Javi. Javi wanted to meet up with us for a drink. He came to where we were and, after a bit of confusion of where to find him, we had our reunion. It was awesome to see him again! He was one of my great friends there and we picked up right where we had left off and went to meet another friend, Carlos, and Carlos’ brother for a soda. With Carlos, it was again like nothing had changed. We hung out there for a while, catching up, and then parted ways with the plan to hang out later that night.

Allison and I had made reservations at a paella place called Yuso for the evening. We headed back over to Carmen and wined and dined in style. We had calamares to start off with, as well as a bottle of something suspiciously similar to Cava, and then came the best part…the paella. Paella Valenciana is the one food in the world that I could eat everyday of my life and never tire of. Ugh, I want some more right now. Qué rico!

If paella is the one food I could eat everyday, mojitos from the bar, Laboratorio, are the drinks I could drink everyday. We went to Lab after dinner and drank a few of these delicious drinks. Being back in Lab brought back so many memories of intercambio nights there, Liz’s 21st birthday adventure, and general fun times during study abroad. Later, we went to another bar and had some tequila shots, but instead of lime+salt, we had them with orange+cinnamon…so much better. Javi called me while we were there and said we would meet up at a disco called Bolsería in a bit. We met Javi and Carlos there and hung out for a while. As we were going to go to Carlos’ car so he could drive us home, I spotted a familiar face. I wasn’t sure, so I hesitantly called out, “Héctor??” Héctor, Paúl, and Álvaro were walking right by us with a group of their friends! Javi’s group was one of my two groups of Spanish friends…Héctor’s was the other. We all hugged and dos besos-ed and had a great time running into each other that way. We promised to hang out in the next few days. On the way home, Allison and I got some late night pizza, then went to bed. I was ecstatic to be back in Vicen’s house and in Valencia.

In the morning, we made the long walk to the beach and embraced the fact that it was December 31st and we could have been sunbathing right then, had we brought the right clothes. The weather was perfect. After eating calamares and introducing Allison to Agua de Valencia, we went back to Vicen’s to get ready for New Year’s Eve.

We had no reservations anywhere for the night, but figured we would be okay. We were wrong. Walking all over in heels, all of the restaurants were either full or had ridiculous fix priced menus. Finally we were able to get a table in the (go figure) American restaurant, Foster’s Hollywood. After a nice dinner, we stepped right outside the restaurant into Ayutamiento to await 2012. We had our own little botellón and when midnight came, we ate our 12 uvas (grapes) for good luck. Unfortunately they had seeds in them and eating one every second was harder than I thought it would be…but I got it done.

Though we had grand plans of heading out to discos (Mya!), Allison and I never made it to any. They were all very expensive and crowded. So we finished our botellón, hit up the old favorite, St. Patricks, and then returned home. Though simple, it was one of the best New Year’s Eves I’ve ever had. Usually they are pretty disappointing because of the build up and expectation of fun…but this one was lovely.

Sunday was a super lazy day. Vicen was hungover and spent the day on the couch, so we followed suit. We slept, woke up to eat, slept some more, and then in the evening, went to the circus. Gran Circo Wonderland…my circus friends. The story regarding this circus is way to long to talk about here, but in one sentence…Some of us saw this circus the first week of study abroad and the circus members became some of the strangest friend/acquaintances I’ve ever had. Allison and I got there and right away, I saw the ring-leader (pun intended) of the group. I looked at him and said, “Do you remember me?” and he immediately responded, “American girl!!!” (his favorite catch phrase to say to us Americans when he saw us). I had a few more super awkward reunions with the circus members, then we went to our seat. Minus a terrifying finale (seriously thought I would see a circus member die), the circus was just as cheesy, funny, uncomfortable, and entertaining as I remembered. However, ending the show with a literal “death-defying” act, Allison and I needed some drinks afterwards to calm our nerves. So where else did we go, but to Lab to get more mojitos.

The next day was the “get-everything-done-we-haven’t-yet-because-we-leave-tomorrow” day. We got a caña de chocolate from the bakery Cuenca by my school (still as incredible as I remember), saw the school, climbed the cathedral’s Miguelete (so many stairs), drank some horchata from Santa Catalina (had to drink líqudo because they didn’t have the mixta…Allison didn’t like it), walked to l’oceanográfic, spent a few hours in the aquarium with the sharks, seals, and dolphins, ate ice cream from Glasol (absolute favorite), then went back to Vicen’s to refresh ourselves after an exhausting afternoon.

Later that night, I had my real reunion with Paúl and Héctor. Like Javi and Carlos, seeing them was wonderful, like I had never left. We hung out with them and some of their French friends at an apartment for a bit. Allison was amazed at the number of languages being spoken at once (English, French, Spanish), and I realized what I often take for granted living in Europe.

The next morning we took the bus to Madrid, checked into our hostel (Las Musas…don’t really recommend it), then ate a lot of tapas in La Latina. We then wandered around a bit, not wanting to go to a disco, but still wanting to make our night in Madrid fun. We drank the black vodka and Fanta limón I had given Allison for Christmas, then stopped into some Irish bars (including O’Connell St as usual). We crashed that night, so exhausted from traveling.

Wednesday was Allison’s last full day in Spain. Since we had already done the main tourist stuff the first time around in Madrid, we were happy just relaxing and taking our time doing things. After a morning of our Asian roommates taking about two hours to get ready, very noisily, we finally woke up around noon. Since it was Wednesday, we ate some 1 Euro 100 Monteditos, then walked over to Retiro. It was a beautiful day, so we decided to go out on the boats again. Later we got some more food (bocadillo de calamares…so good), hit up Lidl to get food presents for Allison’s family, walked around Lavapies, ate Allison’s final ración de huevos rotos, and then went back to the hostel.

In the morning, we taxied to Atocha so Allison could catch the shuttle to the airport. After our goodbyes, I took the train back home to Navalmoral.

Having Allison with me for the holidays was incredible. Since I couldn’t go home, I was so happy to be with family. We made some amazing memories and I’m glad I got to be a part of Allison’s true introduction to Europe and Spain. I also got to see new places and reunite with some old ones. Between seeing Erik and Diego in Rome, then Javi, Carlos, Paúl, and Héctor in Valencia, I’ve realized that my last post of my Valencia blog was right. It’s never “adios,” but rather “hasta luego!”

Las Navidades Part II: Navalmoral, Toledo, Granada

Ugh, the task of writing up my whole Christmas break is proving to be too much. I want to write about my birthday and my return to school, but I feel like I can’t until I document my trip. So, I’m going to try and give the abbreviated version. Bear with me, please.

So Allison and I arrived to Navalmoral and I was so happy and proud to show off my little town to her. We settled in my apartment and rested up a bit before going to dinner that night. For dinner, we went to get a few drinks first (Quetapa…so good), then hit up my favorite restaurant (Los Claveles) for food. The food, as usual, was superb, and to top it off, a band of old men came in and played music for about an hour right next to our table. It was like a private concert. They were drinking, chatting with us, and an (even older) old man joined the band from his dinner table with a bird flute he just so happened to have with him and played along. The Christmas spirit was alive. After dinner, dessert, and a few shots of crema de arujo, we went out to bars.

The next morning, after an always delicious breakfast at my favorite café, La Casita de Chocolate, I gave Allison a guided tour of the humble, yet wonderful Navalmoral de la Mata. I really enjoyed getting to show off a little of what I know. After that, we picked up some baguettes, 4 bottles of wine, and cheese at Mercadona (to Allison’s delight, all for only 9 Euros) and headed home to start preparing our Christmas Eve. I did most of the cooking with Allison’s moral support. That night, we feasted on chicken, gravy, mashed potatoes, Stove Top stuffing, Ocean Spray cranberries, salad, fresh bread, and a lot of wine. After we were very full, we opened presents, ate a Reese’s No Bake dessert, skyped with family back home, and went out to a few bars.

Sunday was a lazy day. We watched Christmas movies, ate leftovers from the night before for lunch, skyped more family, and just enjoyed our Christmas Day. We grabbed a drink that evening with a few of my friends, then called it a night and packed our bags for our early departure to Toledo the next morning.

We woke up early Monday morning and caught a bus to Talavera and from there to Toledo. The hostel we were staying in ended up being more of a nice hotel, complete with TV in the private room we were in. We unloaded our stuff, and then began exploring the city. Toledo is really beautiful. Small, but beautiful and full of history. Before Madrid, Toledo was the capital of Spain. We walked around a bunch, stopping into an Army museum, a Jesuit Church (where we climbed to the top and got a great view of Toledo), ate a delicious lunch, shopped a bit, then returned back to the hostel/hotel to rest up before venturing back out for dinner.

Since Toledo is really small, we were able to see everything we wanted/needed to in one afternoon, so in the morning, we took a bus to Madrid, then got on another to Granada. The bus ride to Granada, though 5 hours long, was surprisingly pleasant. Though in Spanish, they played two movies, “Miss Potter” (awful, awful) and “It’s Complicated” (delightful), which passed the time nicely.

Once in Granada, Allison and I had a terrible time of finding our hostel. Both of us had severely over-packed and with our huge rolling suitcases, we rolled all through the streets of Granada before finally finding our home for the next few nights.

After dropping our stuff off, we headed out to a lookout point that was recommended to us to see Alhambra. A grand palace, left over from the Moorish invasion of Spain, Alhambra is incredible. We got to see it all lit up at night from the lookout point and pictures couldn’t do it justice. After soaking up the view, we ventured out to find these so-called “incredible tapas” that everyone relates with Granada.

Oh, man. Those people were not kidding. Allison and I never ordered food in Granada. Not once. We simply ordered glasses of wine or beer and were given HUGE plates of tapas…for free. The whole world should be that way. Drunk and well fed. So we went from place to place, eating, drinking, chatting with people, and just having a great time. Later, we went to a 6 Euro flamenco show and I was pleasantly surprised. We entered the small bar called Le Chien Andalou (I kept having visions of ants crawling out of the bartenders’ hands) and grabbed a table while the rest of the audience filed in. The flamenco was great. I’ve seen it two other times, once in Valencia (awful, awful, awful) and once in Sevilla (so good!) and can say it was right up there with Sevilla’s…and this one was so much cheaper. We went to bed that night knowing that an early morning was awaiting us.

We hadn’t bought our tickets online for Alhambra until about 5 days before our trip there. That was dumb of us. When we went to buy them, they were sold out. A trip to Granada is not complete without a trip to Alhambra, so we were determined to do whatever it took to get tickets. A few people told us that if we woke up early and got in line at Alhambra, they always have some tickets reserved for the day of. So we got ourselves out of bed and stood in line for about an hour and a half in the freezing cold outside the palace…but we got tickets!

We spent the next few hours exploring Alhambra. I can’t even explain how cool it was. We saw palaces, gardens, Arab baths, and so much more. It was so beautiful and waiting in the cold was so worth it.

We were pretty tired after our early morning, but also pretty hungry. We decided on going to get one or two tapas, then hitting up the hostel for a much-needed siesta. The best laid schemes of mice and men, right? Well, we ended up getting about six or seven drinks/tapas and were quite “happy” after that. We set off to find the cathedral and passed through a hoard of rosemary pushing, palm reading gypsies. Having experienced them when I visited Sevilla, I knew to be firm with my “NO” when after telling me the rosemary and palm reading was a gift, they asked for money. But poor Allison had also been accosted and once I escaped mine, I had to go save her. Once safe, we walked around a bit, Allison went into a chapel as I went shopping, then we met up to go back, finally, for our siesta.

We slept for five hours. Five. Hours. Five hours later we woke up, put on our ganas glasses, and went out for round two. We were still massively full from our day eating, so we tread lightly for dinner. We ended up hanging out at an Irish pub that night and hitting up a disco (that was pretty much empty of people) at the end of the night. Again, we slept well.

We had to check out of the hostel in the morning, as we were taking the overnight bus to Valencia. So we packed our things and stored our luggage before we got some café for breakfast. When researching things to do in Granada, I found out about a place that had turned real Arab Baths into a spa. For only 30 Euros you got to swim in seven pools of different temperatures and got a 15-minute massage. Allison and I decided it was worth it. So that morning, we went to our appointment. Honestly, the Arab Baths may have been my favorite part of the entire trip. It was so relaxing and peaceful. We got to drink hot mint tea (delicious) and the massage was one of the best of my life. Allison and I, along with one couple, were the only people in the place and we all did a good job of staying out of each other’s way. After the baths, Allison and I were in a daze and so we went to get, what else, but a glass of wine.

We had (this time) two or three drinks/tapas, and then couldn’t figure out what else to do to pass the next hours until going to the bus station. Again, while researching things before the trip, I had written down the name of a restaurant. I couldn’t remember why I wrote it down though. But Allison and I decided to have an adventure and try to find it. Over an hour later, we found it very far away from the center. It ended up being super cheap, you could choose your tapa, and the food was a big portion. But, we were feeling about 453 pounds heavier from the two days of eating/drinking, so I don’t think we enjoyed the place to its full potential. Afterwards, we made our way back to the center, hung out at the Irish pub again, picked up our luggage from the hostel, and headed to the bus station. Around midnight we got on the bus to Valencia, which ended up being the longest (7 hours), most uncomfortable (heat turned up to 100 degrees) bus ride of my life.

Las Navidades Part I: Madrid

The thought of writing about my two weeks traveling around Spain with my cousin, Allison, during Christmas break is daunting. I want to write a good entry, with details and funny stories…but there is just so much to tell that I’m going to have to write this in multiple sittings.

So a few months ago, Allison booked her plane tickets to come to Spain over Christmas. We spent the next months planning our trip around Spain (we originally wanted to do Germany…but we didn’t want the hassle of dealing with planes). After being so excited for so long about her arrival here, on Wednesday the 21st of December, her plane landed in Madrid. I had taken the bus in early that morning (school let me out of work two days early) and met up with her at the train station, where the airport shuttle had dropped her off. It was amazing to see family again. I know I’ve only been gone three months, but it’s felt a lot longer. After our “hellos,” we rolled her suitcase to my friend Juan’s house, where we would be crashing for the next two nights.

The next day we woke up and hit up the Prado Museum. Since we’re both technically “students,” we got in for free and spent the next few hours wandering through rooms and rooms of Velazquez, Goya, el Bosco, and many other artists. I had been to the Prado once, five years ago, but after my Spanish art history class in Valencia (though I must say I’ve forgotten a lot), the museum meant a lot more to me. After the Prado and introducing Allison to the joys of the Spanish “menú” for lunch (drink, 2 courses, bread, and dessert for one cheap price), we went into the big park of Madrid, Retiro. A few weeks before, I had been in Retiro and fed some ducks at one of the ponds there. It had been such a lovely time, sitting on the steps of the pond and throwing food to them, that I wanted Allison to experience it. We bought some popcorn and made our way over. Unfortunately, this time, there were a ton of little birds around who were very hungry. Every time we would throw a piece of popcorn to the ducks, the birds would either snatch it from the air before it even hit the water, or all of them would fly straight at the source of the food…us. It was terrifying. So we quickly left the ducks/birds and explored the park some more until Juan came and met up with us. The three of us rented a canoe boat and spent the next 45 minutes rowing around a lake. It was such a fun time and there was even a saxophonist close-by the lake playing Christmas songs. I said to Juan, “If I lived here, I would be here all the time. And this music is so nice!” He said, “I hate it.” Allison and I said he was a Scrooge and kept enjoying the musician’s jazz rendition of “Jingle Bells.” When he finished the song, we were eager to hear the next Christmas tune. He started to play…”Jingle Bells”…again. For the rest of the time we were in Retiro (over an hour), this man only played “Jingle Bells.” By the end, like Juan, Allison and I hated him too.

After the park, we walked through the city and saw the Christmas lights, got some food at Monteditos, went back to Juan’s to rest and watch some “Big Bang Theory” (a recent discovery for me, but now one of my favorites), got a beer at an Irish bar, then went to sleep.

Before I went to Madrid, I had bought Allison and I bus tickets back to Navalmoral (so they wouldn’t be sold out the day of). Since our bus was going to leave at 2.30, we had time to kill in the morning on Friday. I thought I would show Allison the convent in Madrid where nuns bake cookies and other sweets and sell them to you via a lazy-susan (you never see their faces). Samantha Brown had shown me this place years ago and after a failed attempt years ago with Nina and Brynn (the oven in the convent was broken that week), I finally bought some cookies from them last September and thought it was really cool. So in the morning, Allison, Juan, and I went to the convent. When we got there, I had a flashback to when I was with Brynn and Nina…there was a sign that said “We will have no more sweets until Jan 6.” Ahh! Mission Failed. We cried a little, then sucked it up and did the next best thing…went and ate churros con chocolate.

We still had a few hours left before we had to be at the bus station and didn’t really know what to do. Juan suggested that we could go see Real Madrid’s football stadium, Bernabeu. I asked him if it was far away and he said, “Maybe 30 minutes, more or less.” So we set off for the stadium, with a promised detour to the American store near there. Over an hour later of walking, we got to the store. Though a bit tired, it was all worth it when I was able to buy Stovetop stuffing and Ocean Spray canned cranberries for our Christmas dinner, candy canes, and Dr. Pepper (!). When all of that might cost in the States, $10, I spent close to the equivalent of $20…but it was money well spent. After that, we walked a bit more to see the stadium, snapped some pictures, then hopped on the metro to get back to Juan’s to grab our bags and get to the bus station. By the time we got to the station, we had 2 minutes to spare before the bus left…we had cut it close. We said bye to Juan and were on our way to Navalmoral, my home sweet home...