3 weeks in OK, 5 months ago

I was planning on skipping over Oklahoma in my blogging, but I got to typing and just couldn't.

What I left off of the end of the last post is that on my way to the Bilbao airport to catch my flight to Oklahoma, I broke my ankle! I was going down the stairs in Bryan's apartment building, and I was in too much of a hurry and carrying too many things to worry about hitting the light switch. Big mistake. I fell, and more worried about the wine bottles in my suitcase breaking, I didn't think fast enough to fall in a more graceful position. My ankle was smashed into the corner of one of the steps. I had left my keys upstairs where everyone was sleeping, and I had a flight to catch, so I figured I'd just duke out the pain.

Worst. Travel. Experience. Ever.

Twenty-four long hours of travel on three different planes. Twice, I had to get off the plane, wait for and recheck my baggage, and then wait several hours for the next segment of my flight. All with a throbbing leg on which I hobbled as little as possible. When I got to Dallas, I called Mom to give her an update and make sure there'd be someone to pick me up in OKC. When I arrived in OKC, Monica, Meredith, Mom, and Malory (too many M's!) were waiting for me. Seeing my pain, they found me a wheel chair and we had several giggles as they took turns wheeling me through the airport.

pushed by my niece, Malory

It was great to be home, but it sucked to be in pain. I thought I'd wait a few days to see if it was only a bad sprain, but when it didn't seem to be improving, we went to the doctor for an x-ray. There was a hairline fracture on the cuboid bone, and they assigned me to wear a walking boot-cast for 4 weeks. The boot, though bulky, kept me from moving the ankle, so it was actually a lot easier to walk with it, but it was still a little difficult to get around.

I was able to spend quality time with my whole family. The younguns were bigger and knew more words. Malory was just as sassy as ever. I bought a new and less grabbable camera, so I was able to document some. Mark was also in town, so it was cool to see him again and hear about life as a 14-year-old.

Me with all my nieces and nephews: (L2R) Mark, Ashlyn, Weston, Malory, and Presley

I got to see a lot of Mom and Meredith. At some point, Cambria, Kendra, and Lacey from OBU, drove to Moore to visit me, and it was great to catch up. I also saw several friends from church who I'd missed. Mere got to show me off to her work buddies, and we went to the Mont with Becca. I'm sure there's much more, but after all, this was five months ago.

The highlight of the trip was spending the 4th of July with my family in Springfield, MO, where Val and Jamie live. We went out for creps, saw the "Guggenheim of Springfield" AKA the Bass Pro Shop, chased chickens, tracked down a watering hole, lit up fireworks, and many other shenanigans. On the night of the 4th, we went to watch the fireworks, and we made complete fools out of ourselves, on purpose, which is the best way to make a fool out of oneself, by oo-ing and aw-ing at each firework, among several other utterances.

Malory in the top middle, then L2R Monica, Meredith, and Valerie

The four of us agree that there's no one who makes us laugh more than each other.

Soon after the 4th, it was time to head back to Spain. This time, I had a walking boot-cast to help me out. I didn't have to recheck my baggage a single time, and I slept the entire trip from Chicago to Frankfurt, waking just in time for breakfast, thanks to two little presents from the best grandma ever.

Best. Travel. Experience. Ever.

My friend Alberto picked me up at the airport, and I ended up spending the night with him since I couldn't get into Bryan's house. More about adventures with Alberto in the next post.

Mediterranean Tour with Connor

Sorry, no pictures in this one, just long, boring text. You'll find out why toward the end.

This will be the first of a few posts trying to get up to date. All summer I was moving around a lot and didn't have a permanant place to live. It all started on a whim the last day of April. I had to decide whether I would stay where I was living or leave it to chance, trusting that I’d find a place in due time. I decided to risk it. May was my last month in that apartment. Connor came to visit the last week of May and stayed with Bryan. By the end of the month, I was, too.
 
June 1 will go down as one of the most stressful days of my life. We hadn’t communicated well enough, I guess, and we ended up leaving Bryan’s later that we expected, but it wasn’t a big deal because we still had plenty of extra time …or so we thought. We missed the first bus to Santander, but it would be no problem to take the second bus. That bus was stuck in traffic and arrived thirty minutes late. We arrived at the airport 20 minutes before our flight was scheduled to leave. This might not have been a problem, but we had to check Connor’s giant back, and Ryanair makes a simple process ten times as complicated. We reached the front of the line and after calling the luggage-packers the woman told us, “Sorry, you’ve missed your flight.” NOOOO! After all that planning, I had no idea what I’d do next. Thankfully, one of us decided that we should go to the gate anyway. We ran through the terminal and the kind flight attendants at the gate were able to check Connor’s back for us, and we made our flight!

I was so relieved when I sat down in the plane that I struck up a friendly conversation with the Italian woman next to me. She had a fear of flying and shared her Bach Flower Remedy with me. I found out from google later what it was exactly, basically a placebo mixed with brandy.

We arrived that afternoon to Pisa, conveniently walked from the airport to our hostel, and checked in. It was probably one of the nicest hostels I’ve ever been to. Along with a ton of other services, it included a full kitchen so that you could make your own meals.

Afterward, we went to the touristy part of Pisa, the “mall” as they call it. We didn’t go up the tower (too expensive and too long of a line), but we did go into the cathedral and the baptistery. The baptistery offered a really pretty view of the cathedral and while inside, a man who appeared to be an ordinary guard started belting out a tune to demonstrate the acoustic qualities of the building. I was impressed. His one voice turned into what sounded like an entire men’s choir. I had to look around to make sure no one else was singing.

The next morning we took the train to La Spezia, a nearby city with less tourists. There I had my first focaccia, and I took advantage of the wealth of cappuccinos. We walked to the ocean and back, taking in the Italian atmosphere, before hopping back on the train to get to the first city of the cinqua terre (“the five lands”).

Despite all of the tourism, Riomaggiore was really pretty. From there we took the “walk of love” to the the second land, Manarola. This city I remember most for its incredible view of the brightly colored buildings at the edge of a steep cliff overlooking the ocean. Though they have similar views, this city’s was easily the best and most memorable. I don’t remember anything interesting being in the third city, Corniglia. The fourth, Vernazza, is known for its shopping opportunities (shopportunities? J), but I will always remember it for the licorice gelato that I tried. Yum. In the final city, Monterosso al Mare, we bought some more foccacia as a late lunch, and then we chilled on the beach. I hadn’t brought any trunks, so I bought some, and then Connor and I took a dip.

As the sun was setting we realized we still had a lot of time left in the day, so we took the train another city over, to Sestre Levante. I very possibly enjoyed this down-to-earth Italian city more than the overly-toured cinqua terre. We walked along the beach and port there for a while and then found a place to have dinner. As the sun was setting over the ocean, I had a romantic pizza dinner in Italy with my two buds. On our way back to the train station we stopped for gelato. I got the “frutti di bosco” flavor, and it was the best I’d ever had.

The next day we decided on a whim to go to Lucca in the morning. Connor thought it was really boring, but I really liked the feeling of the city. The main part of it was surrounded by a medieval wall. Nearly everyone there had a bike, and it seemed to be a city with a character all its own. I was glad we went, if for no other reason, to let Bryan see a place he’d never been before.

After Lucca, we trained it to Viareggio, a coastal town near Pisa. We walked to the beach, then looked for something to eat to bring with us. After walking in the sand forever, we realized that we were never going to reach a public beach. So we plopped down at one of the private areas and payed a little bit to use their facilities. We chilled there on the beach for a while and swam before getting rained on.

Train back to Pisa, then we took another train to Rome. I don’t exactly remember how it all went down, but we accidently ended up on the first class train and didn’t have to pay for it. It was really nice. All three of us were able to lie down 180º in a private coach.

We arrived late in the evening to Rome, but fortunately my and Connor’s hostel was nearby. Unfortunately, it was overpriced, overcrowded, and had very few services. Connor and I found an overpriced kebab for dinner.

We squeezed nearly all the sights into Saturday: P. della Republica, P. Venezia, the Roman forum, the Colosseum,  P. Popolo, P. Spagna, Fontagna di Trevi, Castello San Angelo, Basilica S. Pedro. We had lunch at Sugu, my favorite restaurant from my last visit. I had fresh pasta, but I didn’t like it nearly as much as the gnocci. That night we made another pasta dinner in the hostel with Bryan before he had to leave, followed by a game of Fluxx.

The next morning, Connor and I went inside the Colosseum. One of the best decisions we made was buying the ROMA Pass, which allowed us to not only take all the public transportation without paying but also skip the line when entering the Coliseum. Afterward, we went the catacombs of San Callisto. The catacombs never disappoint.

That afternoon we met with our first Couchsurfing host of the trip. His name was Andrew, and he was a post-graduate student from Colorado. He’d been living in Italy a while, so he knew Italian very well and was familiar with the local haunts of Rome. After getting settled into to his amazing apartment, we went out for bruschetta, pizza, and beer at a restaurant east of Termini, followed by gelato, of course. This time I chose the cinnamon, another excellent choice.

On Monday, Connor and I packed some lunches and headed to the Vatican museum. We spent several hours exploring all the galleries. Finally, in the courtyard area of the museum, we sat at a table and gobbled up the sandwiches we’d prepared. Then I let Connor take the reins. He wanted to get some souvenirs, so we tracked down the Disney store and the Hard Rock Café. For dinner that night, Andrew took as to a restaurant famous for its artichokes. Yum. We also got various pastas that were simple yet satisfying. Then we went to yet another gelato place. At this one, I finally found my favorite flavor that I hadn’t been able to find since I left Buenos Aires. I forget the Italian word, but in Spanish it’s called sambayon.

The next morning we successfully made it to the airport and out of Rome to the Spanish city of Valencia. From my first jaunt through the city, I loved it and could see myself living there. We walked around the central part of the city for a while, and then I let Connor experience the Spanish “menu del día”. He ordered some sort of pork dish that begins with an “o” and he wouldn’t stop talking about how much he enjoyed it. Our Couchsurfing host wouldn’t be able to meet us until later, so we decided to go to the famous aquarium. When we arrived, we only had an hour to see the whole place and it started pouring down, so it was a faced-paced trip through the exhibits, and when we went outside, we nearly became fish ourselves. It was, however, an incredible museum, the best I’ve been to. There were several parts that  you could walk through or crawl into, and you’d be completely surrounded by water and fish.

After that we finally met Pablo. It was his first time to host a Couchsurfer, and he was really enthusiastic. There was an interesting dynamic because Pablo didn’t speak English, and Connor didn’t speak Spanish, so I had to, or got to, go back and forth, and play translator from time-to-time. I enjoyed having the power to tone down anything embarrassing or inappropriate that Connor said. After talking a while, Pablo took us to a really fancy restaurant on the beach, where we had an authentic Valencian paella, complete with rabbit meat. As starters, we also had some little clams that were pretty good.

The next day, Connor and I wondered around the City of Arts and Sciences to look at the other buildings, and then we went to the beach, where we got rained out for the third time on Connor’s trip. We went back to the city and explored the Lonja and the Central Market. Later, we met up with Pablo and a few of his friends. He wanted to show us off to his coworkers and prove that we were normal, since many people are skeptical of the kind of people who travel via Couchsurfing. All of us went to the neighborhood called “horchata”, where the famous drink originated, and we drank the drink, made of chufas, translated into English as “tiger nuts.” Between these and fartons, a sweet bread stick that you dip in the horchata, Connor and I had many a giggle. For dinner, Connor and I made Pablo some quesadillas and guacamole. Pablo seemed to be especially impressed with how easy it was to make guacamole, and he planned to make it again in the future.

On Thursday morning, too soon, Connor and I left Valencia by bus, arriving in Madrid five hours later. We crammed a lot into our first day here as well. We saw the Puerta del Sol, Plaza Nueva, el Palacio Real, and more as I played tour guide to Connor and some girls we met in the metro. I think they were Russian. As we were looking for a place to have lunch, we ran into a professional tour guide, and we spent the rest of the afternoon following her. At first she showed all the same stuff I had just showed, but with more detail, of course. She showed us La Latina, the suicide bridge, the cathedral, the palacio, puerta del sol, and the tour finally ended in the barrio called Letras, which was filled with all sorts of names that I recognized from my Spanish literature classes. Then Connor and I went to the Prado museum, where I got to see all the Goyas that I missed last time. After the museum, we strolled through Retiro Park, ending at the Puerta de Alcalá, so that I could look at the bullet holes.

Finally, we went back to the bus station to get our luggage, and from the bus station we went to our last Couchsurfer’s house. On the way, the unthinkable happened. As I boarded our final metro train, a man started shouting at me. Before I knew what had happened, the metro doors were closing, and I no longer had my camera. This was the camera I’d bought after my last one was stolen in the Buenos Aires metro. Ugh. Duped twice. I was really angry and disappointed in the world the rest of the day, but I tried to remain pleasant. After all, it could have been worse.

Emilio and his girlfriend Paloma were really cool. Our first night there, Emilio was already making us spaghetti.

The next morning, I filed a report at the police station, more as a formality than anything else. Then Connor and I went on a mini food tour. We had napolitanas, bocadillos de calamaris, and chocolate con churros. We also went to the Plaza de España, and the Templo de Debod, where Connor and I relaxed on a park bench and played Word Scramble on his iPhone. Out of ideas, we went back to Emilio’s apartment and had a siesta before dinner. Emilio and Paloma, took us to Lavapies for tapas en lavapies. First we had a giant Galician sandwich and Galician wine, followed by patatas bravas and real sangria. We joined the two to a concert that one of their friends was in. It’s interesting to note that English is the language of rock, so even Spaniard rockers still use English lyrics, even if their audience has no idea what they’re saying.

The next day, a Saturday, I accompanied Connor to the airport and then I took a bus back to Bilbao. I stayed at Bryan’s for a few more days before coming to Oklahoma. I spent the remainder of June and the beginning of July with my family before returning to Spain for more adventures.

May Weekend Excursions

May, may, may. After two weeks of vacation, most of May felt like nonstop work, and I looked forward to every weekend. The first of three excursions was with Adrian, Ainara, and Alberto. In the morning we visited the magnificent caves of Pozalagua. These caves are famous for their unique stalactites and crystal formations. It's one of only two locations in the world that has stalactites that grow every which way, resembling roots. There are several theories as to how these form, but they've practically stumped geologists. Since I wasn't allowed to take photos, you should definitely click on the link above to check out the awesomeness. When we emerged from the caves, we gazed on some nearby stunning views.

Spelunking buddies

Then, we had lunch in a beautiful location next to a small hermitage with rolling hills all around us. I brought PB&J, and we all shared some of our food. I hadn't slept much the night before, so I was especially thankful for Adrian's Pepsi with extra caffeine. After lunch we journeyed to the cave of Covalanas. Unlike the previous cave, this one is known for its prehistoric cave paintings.

There's so much more I could say about this long Saturday of exploration, but I'll keep it short. Afterward, we strolled for a while along the beach of Laredo before having a pizza dinner at Alberto's brother's crazy cool flat. Adrian said it well when he said that it felt like several days in one.

Another Saturday, I met a group of Couchsurfing friends at a metro stop, and we went to the beach of Gorliz, where there's a picnicking spot. I brought my famous chocolate chip cookies. (Thanks to Mom for bringing me chocolate chips and brown sugar!) We played some Frisbee --until people started using it as a plate-- and some other game similar to croquet but where you through the balls. Master chef Iban took the picnic as an opportunity to perfect his 12-egg Spanish omelet. For your enjoyment, I've recorded the crucial moment:

CS buds: Adrian, Mikel, Ute, Alexandra, Itxaso, and Pilar

After lunch some of us decided to take our first dip of the year ...in the ocean!!! The water was frigid as all get out, but riding the waves was still really fun. I can't wait to go back when it's warmer. I managed to leave in time to arrive casually late to Kata's last pintxo poteo, basically going out on the town for some fancy snacks. One highlight of the night was hilariously linking elbows and owning the sidewalks for change, making the bilbaínos move for us. The next day, Kata, Bryan, Esmeralda, and I wandered around Vitoria, capital city of País Vasco.

Kata & Esme in one of Vitoria's most important plazas.

For lunch we split a few raciones. One of my favorites is chipirones: fried baby squid. I must admit, before popping the little sucker in my mouth, I feel a twinge of sympathy for its mother.

Thanks to Kata for her hand modeling.

And the last weekend of May was when Connor came to visit. The two of us joined Alberto and Adrian to the famed "source of the Nervión." The Nervión is the river that runs through Bilbao, and its source was this incredible area of very high, steep cliffs.

Pose inspired by Bryan

 Around the same area there was some amazing wildlife: an enormous, brightly colored snail and thousands of tadpoles congregating in a single water hole. I appreciated the fact that Alberto didn't know the Spanish word for "tadpole" because he was raised using the Basque word: "sapaburu" which means "toad head."

We chose a nearby area to have the lunch we'd brought with us, and then we went to the town of Alberto's childhood. From the town, we walked onto a large field toward a hermitage. On the way, a herd of skeptical cows stared us down. From the hermitage, we slowly hiked up a nearby mountain ridge. It was exhausting, but rewarding when we finally made it to the top.

Not sure if this one follows the "Rule of 9" but Connor and I like it.

These peaks are called the Peaks of the Three Kings. We managed to make it back to the car before the fog came in and made us lose our way.

Alberto thinking he can pull off my sweet cap and Adrian

May was also a month of goodbyes. Namely, Kata returned to North Carolina and won't be coming back for a second year of teaching, along with Jessica N., Ally, Pinky, Claire, and several other fellow auxiliares who were like substitute family for those long 9 months. I also made May my last month in my apartment, so when I return in July I'll be looking for a new place. Finally, I finished teaching at IES Unamuno. My high-school kids were mostly really sweet. The best of them gave me a merendola, complete with an array of chips, tortilla de patata, and bizcotxo. One class, encouraged by their teacher, even sang "Oklahoma!" to me, singing "OklaThomas" instead. The worst of them refused to participate in a game, so after some unsuccessful goading, I decided I didn't have to put up with their crap, and I just left. I'm looking forward to teaching adults come October.

"Tre' gallega' y un va'co"

Over a month ago, I went to Andalucía, and I'm finally updating you on my adventures.

Saturday before Semana Santa (Holy Week), I flew from Santander to Málaga, and arrived in the middle of the night. This was a disaster as Málaga has no public transportation at this time. Outside the airport, I stood in front of the taxis and approached an old couple who agreed to split one with me. However, when I got to my hostel, there was no one there to check me in, even though I'd previously told them when I'd arrive. So that I wouldn't have to sleep on a bench in the bus station, I found a cheap(ish) hotel and stayed there for the night before meeting the girls the next morning. The girls I traveled with the rest of the week were Andrea, who studied Spanish with me at OBU; Kelsey, her roommate; and Sarit, who went to college with Kelsey. All three of them are English assistants like me, but they are teaching in Galicia.

Granada

Granada has easily become my favorite Andalusian city. The girls were really chill, and our hostel was comfortable enough, albeit a little out-of-the-way. We spent our first day simply strolling around the various neighborhoods. Granada is known for the Alhambra, a historic Moorish fortress. We'd tried to reserve tickets to get inside, but they were sold out over a month in advance. However, they're required to sell a few hundred at the door each morning. The guidebooks suggested arriving at 7:30am. Foreseeing that it wouldn't be that easy, I left the girls to sleep in, and got in line at 6:20. There were already around 70 people in front of me. Within a quarter of an hour or so, the line doubled, and by 8:00, there were thousands, but only the first 300 of us got tickets. The girls met me in line later, and were extremely thankful.

We spent the whole afternoon in the Alhambra. I must say that although the Palace was spectacular, my favorite part was the Generalife gardens. Later that evening, we saw a flamenco show in the gypsy barrio Sacramonte along with dozens of middle-aged Russians. I'd always expected flamenco to be smooth and flowy, but it was completely different: fast-paced, intense, and loud.

Throughout the week, I saw a mogollón of processions. The processions include the capuchinos (the ones who resemble KKK members; they go by several other names as well), pasos (floats of Mary or Jesus carried on the shoulders of several men), and sometimes penitents (carrying crosses) and/or veiled women. Over the course of the week the Jesus pasos play out the various scenes of Passion week. The processions are a big deal in Andalucía. In each city, there were several processions happening day and night. and we were bound to run into them if we wanted to or not. The capuchinos wear different colors, depending on the cofradía (religious brotherhood) they belong to.

Another thing I must mention about Granada is the amazing tapas. Throughout our stay we took advantage of this free food that comes with a drink. In Bilbao, we probably would have paid five times as much for all we ate.

Córdoba
Though we only spent a day here, I enjoyed Córdoba as well. When we arrived, the Mezquita was closed, so we explored the rest of the city, including a synagogue and Plaza de los Capuchinos.

A highlight of Andalucía was discovering new foods and drinks that they don't have up north. Below I show fino (a kind of sherry), olives that I actually liked because they didn't taste so olivey, and salmorejo (a cold, tomato-based soup, served thicker than gazpacho).

The next morning we saw the famous mosque-turned-cathedral, la Mezquita. Inside was an incredible blend of Christian and Muslim language, architecture, religion, and art.

Sevilla
I have less to say about Sevilla because comparatively, we didn't see much of the city. We spent our first day there reminiscing with some people that Sarit and Kelsey knew from their university.

We watched another procession, and then we met up with our Couchsurfing host, who lived a good twenty minutes outside of the city by car. He was a great guy who showed us good times, despite the rain that ruined our plans for seeing the rest of Sevilla. We did, however, see the really cool Plaza de España, which artistically recognizes each of the provinces of Spain.

Ronda
From Sevilla, we headed back to Málaga so the girls could catch their flight, but I still had another day to kill. I got ripped off by the same hostel as before and checked into another hotel. I spent most of the evening exploring the city of Málaga by night. I walked to the beach and then tried to track down some processions before having a drink with a girl from Couchsurfing. Needless to say, Málaga doesn't even deserve its own bold paragraph heading in this post.

The next morning, the day of my flight, I could either take a bus to and from the white hill town of Ronda or stay in miserable Málaga. I chose the former, and it was one of the best decisions of my life. The city was beautiful and had amazing views. And, this being my first time to do a solo excursion, I felt uncontainable and free to follow every whim. Whimsically, I found a trail that led to the bottom of the gargantuan gorge, and followed it deep below the gradually growing flurry of touristic traffic above. I only spent three hours in Ronda, but I don't regret a minute of it.

And there we have it. I spent the rest of the day traveling back to Bilbao and enjoyed a peaceful second week of vacations.

March Momness

Before I start out on a new adventure in Andalucía, I'll quickly catch you up-to-date. I hope you don't mind the brevity.

Madrid
Mom arrived in Madrid and I met her there. Though I'd been living in Spain over five months, this was my first time to explore the city as well. In three days we managed to see all the main tourist attractions and eat all the main touristy foods.

Attractions we visited: Plaza mayor, Puerto del sol, Palacio real, museos Prado y Reina Sofía, el Parque Retiro, and several others I'm sure.

El oso y el madroño, symbol of Madrid

Retiro Park

Mom with a Joán Miró statue in the Reina Sofía museum

Spanish treats: napolitanas (chocolate-filled pastries), churros con chocolate, squid sandwiches, turron ice cream, sangria, and paella. However, my favorite meal was of course the Indian food on Calle Lavapies.

Toledo
One of the most famous medieval cities of Spain, especially known for its blending of Islam, Jewish, and Christian culture. Highlights were looking at the city itself and its incredibly ornate cathedral.

Since we came during the week of Carnaval, we stumbled upon an annual festivity that I'd never heard of: the burial, or wake, of the sardine. After a parade through the city, they blow the fish up with fireworks. This festival marks the end of the carnality of Carnaval before Lent begins. How a sardine came to represent the flesh? Who knows...

 

 San Sebastián - Donostia
We took a day trip out to the capital of Guipuzkoa, called San Sebastián (in Spanish) or Donostia (in Basque). This city is known for its gastronomic culture and incredible beach. Mom and I had our fill of pintxos and were taunted by the beautiful beach that was still too cold to enjoy.

Bilbao - Bilbo
Back in my hometown I was able to show Mom the awesome place I've been living. It was like a grown-up version of Open House. The pictures below show some of our adventures. I took Mom up the funicular to Artxanda where we enjoyed a view, cider, and apple pie. Mom also had at least one tortilla española, and several more pintxos, including my favorite mushroom pintxo found on the classy street of Somera. I introduced Mom to kalimotxo as well, one of the region's most popular beverages.

Another day we went to Portugalete and walked along the ports to the world's first hanging bridge. From there we made our way to Sopelana's beaches, which was much further from the metro stop than I'd anticipated. I'm still apologizing to Mom for that trek.

Finally, Mom got to experience Bilbao's #1 attraction, the Guggenheim museum. Luckily the audio guides were free that day, and they were pleasantly informative of the artwork.

Near Bermeo

A weekend or two after Mom left, Kata, Bryan, and I accompanied Roberto, Bryan's flatmate, to his country home for a cookout. On the way, we played some tennis (or just bounced tennis balls off walls with rackets), traversed a marsh, and glanced at the Painted Forest of OMA (which glanced back).

 

San Juan de Gaztelugatxe

Our most recent excursion was to a beautiful old hermitage. You can read more about our misadventures on Kata's blog. Fortunately, my experience wasn't quite as miserable as hers.

Classes are going well. Private lessons are keeping me busy and giving me valuable teaching experience, while lessons at the school are teaching me how to improvise and entertain a hostile audience. The last four lessons I've done have been more interactive and fun for everyone, and I'll have to think of four more to match their fun level. They've included Mad Libs; team Scattergories played by throwing around a hamburger dog toy; Telephone using nursery rhymes and a little bit of racing; and Big Booty, a rhythm game which I modified and renamed Chunky Monkey, to teach animal sounds.

Ocean, Mountains, and Free Health Care

What do they all have in common? They're not in Oklahoma.

I can't believe I haven't blogged since the Italy trip. It's been nearly two months, but I'll try to sum up my adventures and comment on some new things that have taken place.

Mostly, Bilbao has been rainy, but on those amazing weekends that was not, I took advantage of those precious hours. One weekend, Kata, Bryan, and I took a train the coastal cities of Bermeo and Mundaka. It was a relaxing day of sunshine and photography.

Café con leche in Bermeo

The Mundakan coast

A highlight of this trip was the rabas, fried squid, that we ate. Sorry, no photo.

A weekend or two later, I went with a group of Couchsurfers to Sopelana beach, just to the north of Bilbao. From there, we walked the day away along the coast to Getxo. As usual for a Couchsurfing event, I met a lot of new people from several places.

Sopelana

The whole group near the Getxo coast

And after another week or two, I hiked with three other guys from Couchsurfing, Mikel, Ricardo, and Simone, from a town called Otxandio, up the legendary mountain Anboto, and back down again to the city of Durango. This mountain is central in Basque folklore as the home of the goddess Mari. It was a pretty scary climb. At one point there were only a few meters of land to cross on with sharp drops on either side. One mindless step could have been fatal. I found out only afterward that several people have died from falling from Anboto, and no one who has fallen has ever survived. I'm glad I didn't hear that before I did it.

Gazing at the view from the peak of Mt. Anboto

The next weekend (or so) I came down with a sudden illness. I went to sleep on Friday night because of it and awoke Saturday morning with a fever and convinced that it was Thursday. So, I called my supervisor and told him I wouldn't be coming to work. Hearing my crazy talk, he said he would accompany me to the health clinic. Now I don't know all the ins-and-outs of the health care debate in the States, but here at least I've never had better service at the doctor. I didn't have to wait nearly as long as I have in the past at a doctor's office. I told them my symptoms, and they took x-rays, and a blood test, pumped something in my blood to temporarily lower my temperature, gave me the prescription, and I was on my way! And all I had to pay for were the inexpensive prescriptions: a fever reducer and an antibiotic.

Other changes since January:

Before Christmas, I had too much free time during the week and was starting to get bored. All that has changed. First, I've started working out in a nearby gym with Bryan, which gives me a little something extra to do most days. Having someone to go with who knows what he's doing makes it infinitely less dreadful, and I've been enjoying it more than I expected.

I also lost some clients from last fall, and I started looking for more. To date, I now have a total of 6 private students, mostly adults at an intermediate level of English, which gives me 8 hours of work every week, along with 1 other client who I'll see every week or two, due to his schedule as a nurse. The others are two girls from church, the man who lives above me (a music teacher), a young female scientist, and a mature retired secretary. Needless to say, I like these students much more than the ones at my school. However, even work at the school is going better, as I learn what things keep the students engaged and adapt to the various levels of ability and interest.

I've also met a ton of new people within and outside of Couchsurfing. When I came home from Italy, there was a strange Japanese girl in my apartment. Turns out she started living there while I was gone, and one of the other girls moved out. Her name is Yuki, and she's very outgoing and knows and has introduced me to a lot of the other international students here. I also met a Romanian through Facebook, who I invited to weekly language exchange at the Irish bar here. Another weekly language exchange group through Couchsurfing has also cropped up, and I've been taking advantage of that, too.

So, I'm enjoying Spain more than ever, and I'm looking forward to Mom's visit to Spain next week while I'm off work. Cross your fingers that we get good weather.

Romesienaflorencepisabolognaveniceveronamilan

Yep, that's where I went, and it happened so fast that they really are starting to blur together in my mind. Luckily I have pictures to remind me what happened where. But there are several things that my camera could not capture, either because no photos were allowed to be taken, it would have been inappropriate to take a photo, or it happened within my inner dialogue.

Bilbao

On the morning before leaving Bilbao, there was a fair going on called Santo Tomás. I couldn't pass up visiting a fair bearing my own name, so I went, and it was very Basque, including all the goods I saw on market day in Gernika. Talos, sidra, and txakoli were all also being sold. I bought a talo de lomo, but was very disappointed in it.

Basque men making talos

After the fair, we flew to Rome. Travel was a little difficult because a few days before we left, the arch of my left foot started hurting really bad when I was walking. My one heavy bag didn't help. So, I took every opportunity to sit, hoping that it would heal on its own. It did gradually stop hurting, but not until after a week into the trip. Many thanks to my patient friends and Tylenol.

Rome

I was in charge of finding accommodations for this trip, and I learned many lessons. Our first priority was price, so I found the cheapest places to stay in each city. I was optimistic about taking advantage of CouchSurfing and meeting native Italians while staying in their homes. Finding hosts willing to host four people was very difficult, but I found them in Rome and Florence. Unfortunately in Rome, the metro line that led to our host's apartment was down for maintenance, so arriving there from the city center meant nearly an hour's journey involving two metro lines, a bus, and a little bit of walking. Yes, it was near the beach, but it was cold,  cloudy, rainy the whole time. Our host, Fabrizio, was nice, but quiet. He seemed like he had had so many guests, that we were just other passing faces. If we tried to start a conversation, he wouldn't let it get very far. On the upside, we had a key to his apt. and could come and go as we pleased. A big downside was that his apt. was pretty small, and we all crammed onto his hideaway bed, doable the first night with three people, but nearly impossible the next night with four people. Fabrizio lived as if he did not have guests. He really didn't even have dishes for us to use. There were only enough for him, and though they were in the cupboard, they were not clean. And one night, we came back from a day of tourism to find him nonchalantly sitting at the table in his tighty-whities and a t-shirt. Fabrizio is also a Buddhist and meditates in a small closet of a room for an hour every morning. One house rule is that we could not kill any living thing while we were in his house. While Fabrizio wasn't home on Christmas Eve, I was on my computer when an annoying fruit fly started buzzing around my head. I clapped it in my hands, and after a millisecond of triumphant satisfaction, I gasped and looked up at Bryan in horrified guilt. Then we broke into laughter. Primarily because of transportation limitations on Christmas, we cut our stay short with him and spent our last night in Rome in a hostel.

I didn't know what all there was to see in Rome, but I had just finished reading the portion of The Count of Monte Cristo that is set in Rome, so I was excited about visiting the famous places that the book mentioned. Of course, it mentioned the Colosseum. I walked past it every day, and I'd planned on going inside, but on Christmas Eve it closed early I couldn't. Piazza del Popolo was another important part of the story, and an impressive plaza. I could imagine all the scenes I had read taking place there. Piazza di Spagna (the Spanish steps) and Castel San Angelo are also briefly mentioned, and I visited those on Christmas day. Lastly, I didn't want to leave Rome without seeing the catacombs. There are in fact several catacombs in Rome, but only a few are open to the public. Alexander Dumas helped me narrow down my choices to the catacombs of San Sebastian, where the Viscount Morcerf was held captive by Luigi Vampa. We reached these by taking a bus down the Appian Way, which is apparently the road the Apostle Paul took to enter Rome (Acts 28:15). We took an informative tour of the 'combs. I learned many things about the Christians in Rome under Diocletian. It was basically a grid of tunnels in which dead Christians were buried in the walls because their families wanted to preserve their bodies but avoid religious persecution. I don't remember the numbers --they were high and in the metric system-- but there are miles and miles of these tunnels, and the ones we visited had several layers.

I must also mention other Roman tourist sites that I visited, such as the Pantheon, the Trevi fountain (Yes, I did throw a coin in), and the circus maximus. As my foot was in possibly the most pain of the trip, I visited St. Peter's Basilica and its respective plaza. The Basilica itself is the largest church in the world. I almost wished that I were Catholic so that I could appreciate it more as something nearly divine. I also went under the church and saw the graves of deceased popes including the traditional burial site of Saint Peter. Later, I went to the Vatican Museum, which was incredible. Rooms after rooms of statues, paintings, tapestries, and gardens. I enjoyed many interesting statues that made me wonder what the sculptor was thinking.

There was so much art that by the end of it I was all art-ed out. In the courtyard of the pine cone, Sergio and I helped a group of policemen take their picture. As a reward, they gave us both Santa hats. My hat became the only way that my friends could pick me out in a crowd, so even if I took it off, they'd ask me to put it back on, which I didn't mind of course. One of the things I couldn't take a picture of was the famous Sistine Chapel, but the light was so dim in the chapel that I wouldn't have been able to get a decent one if I tried. The intricacy was incredible but I couldn't fully appreciate it without knowledge of the structure and characters, time to look for them all, and binoculars.

Rome gave me my first impression of Italy as whole. I had my first Italian pizza, cappuccino, and gelato there. On Christmas day, I had the best pasta dish of the trip in a restaurant called Sugo near Piazza Navona. The dish is called gnocchi, which is potato-stuffed pasta. The thing that made it extraordinary was the sauce. The restaurant had great food, good service, and was decently priced; everything a tourist could ask for. If I find myself in Rome again, I will make a point to return.

bad English = great restaurant!

Christmas evening, Bryan and I stopped by a small cafe/bar. He had set his things down at a counter on the wall for a few seconds as we ordered. When he looked back, his brand new iPhone 4 was gone! There was a couple who was in the bar shortly while we were there, and somehow they had taken it undetected. We raced back to our hostel, where we were able to track the thieves on Bryan's computer. Bryan tried to go after them, but they turned the phone off and we could no longer track it. We were planning on using the phone as our GPS in the rest of our travels, and the robbery put a damper on Christmas. Meanwhile, I got to know our hostel roommate better. He was from the United States and had been living in Rome for three months, looking for a woman who he said was his soul mate but brainwashed into captivity by the Church. Brad was a hippie like I've never met before, and also very Catholic, yet he also harbored several conspiracy theories against the Church. The next morning, we rented our car and drove up the boot to our next city.

Siena

Unfortunately, we made it to Siena as the sun was going down, and we were expected in Florence by our next CSing host, so we could only spend a few hours there. It was much colder than Rome had been, but we saw some of the main sights that surround the main plaza of the city. I will always associate Siena with the best pizza that I've had in my life: Italian sausage and mushroom, from just a normal pizza store, but it was freshly made and incredible.

Florence

In Florence, our CS host, Leonardo, was the complete opposite of Fabrizio. First, if Leonardo wasn't in his apartment, we couldn't be either. That meant getting up earlier so he could get to work on time. Fabrizio also wanted us to have dinner together every night to participate in a cultural meal exchange. Our first night, he served us a two course meal of noodles followed by a lamb stew. Leo seemed to say everything with a smile, and he said a lot, even though he made a lot of mistakes. Our second night Bryan and I made chili, and Leo was shocked that we would prepare a one course meal. The third night, some Chinese girls who arrived later made Chinese dumplings and Saraí and Sergio made burritos. Each morning with Leo, he served us a slice of a giant muffin called panetonne and tea. We learned through conversation that his wife had died recently and since then, he had been coping by hosting CSers nonstop. Our first morning with Leo, he gave us a tour of Fiesole, a part of Florence. He showed us an Etruscan wall, a view, a church, and a typical Tuscan garden, though I hardly remember any of his commentary. Our sleeping arrangements were much more comfortable at Leo's, and he was incredibly helpful. He even let us borrow an old GPS, which we used until Bryan replaced his iPhone.

After the tour, we had more independence. We were able to park in Piazza Michelangelo and from there walk to all the most important places of Florence, including the Ponte Vecchio, the most important plazas, and the duomo (cathedral). The next day I visited the Uffizi Museum. The line was at least a kilometer long, so I paid a few extra euros to set an appointment to enter. Inside there were works by Caravaggio, Michelangelo, Da Vinci, and many many other famous artists.

Pisa

We knew beforehand that we didn't want to spend a whole day at Pisa, so we drove there, stopped a few hours to see the tower and its surrounding areas, and then went to Bologna. After seeing so many cathedrals in these cities, I noticed how each would have a bell tower and a baptistery, sometimes as separate buildings from the main cathedral. So I thought it was interesting the the famous leaning tower is simply the bell tower, an adjunct, to the cathedral of Pisa. The cathedral and baptistery are just as intricate as the leaning tower, yet don't share in its renown. I was shocked by the amount of tourists who happened to be there on the same day that we chose to come, and of course they all posed the way one does when you go to the tower.

Bologna

In Bologna I had arranged lodging at a hostel that we agreed felt like it used to be a school or a prison. We all had our own bed there which seemed to be quite a luxury. Unfortunately, what with the tilt of the earth during winter, by the time we went to the center of Bologna, it was already getting dark. However, I got a good feel for the city. I was dazzled by its portici (plural for portico). Bryan told us that he'd heard that you could walk from one end of the city to the other without getting wet because of all these covered walkways. I don't know why Bilbao didn't think of that. I might bet money that it rains more in Bilbao than in Bologna. We began with Europe's oldest university, and then we walked to the two towers, very slender and tall. They leaned quite a bit, and the shorter of the two had been shortened so that it didn't collapse. We also walked through the main plaza of Bologna. Later that night, we drove to the top of a hill where there was an eerie castle. We drove several kilometers, and yet there was a portico along the road the whole way there!

Venice

Our Venice lodging was in a lowest-stars-possible hotel in Mestre. When we made it to the island I was immediately assaulted with souvenirs and salesmen who tried to force the Venice experience on me. Instead of  naturally experiencing what the city is all about, these vendors gave it away like an annoying person blurts out the twist in a psychological thriller at the beginning of the movie. I continued to be shocked by the quantity of tourists. It seemed to me that Venice was not the powerful city it once was, but instead a massive tourism machine in which each tourist group tries to pretend that the others are not there.

That said, the environment and beauty of the city is incredible, and I tried to imagine that I was there a century or two ago. All the merchandise in the stores were displayed very nicely, including some bizarre-looking treats. We saw the most important and famous bridges of Venice and the area surrounding Saint Mark's square. My favorite part of Venice was the Peggy Guggenheim Museum. It is not overwhelmingly big like the Louvre, but it contained a small collection of the kind of modern art that I enjoy most, including Dali, Kandinsky, Bacon, and Rothko to name a few. Outside the museum was a mind-trip mirror-glass thing that I loved.

The New Year's celebration was a bit of a let-down. It was very cold, and the entertainment was not entertaining. I had more fun talking to the Australian couple to my left and playing with a South American girl whose family was to my right. After the countdown the fireworks began, but I didn't get to see any of them due to the flood of people. Another highlight of Venice was a bar that I discovered that served hot wine. The first time we went there weren't very many people, and the lady working there let us sit without paying even though we just got one drink. There was also a charming little bird who lived in a pot that hung from the ceiling and entertained us by flying from table to table and looking at us skeptically.

Verona

On new year's day we arrived in Verona at the place we thought we'd stay. It turned out that the manager of that place had overbooked his rooms. So, he sent us to a friend's bed and breakfast that was nicer than where we would have stayed, but we didn't have to pay a higher price. After all our traveling, this B&B felt like luxury. We had a great pizza dinner that night at a pizza place within walking distance. During the day, we saw the city's main plazas and churches, along with the alleged home of Juliet Capulet, the worlds 3rd largest ancient arena, and the medieval Castelvecchio (old castle) with its interesting bridge. We also drove up a hill to watch the sun set over the city from the sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.

After our first day there we decided to linger the next day, which allowed Bryan and I to visit an archaeological museum which was an ancient Roman theater and contained many interesting ruins and incredible views of the city.

Milan

Milan's low-budget hotel was decent, but cold at night. Everything in Milan is much more spread out than in any of the other cities we visited. Hence, we took advantage of the subway system. Milan is most famous for its duomo and fashion. We explored the main plaza where the duomo is, and went in the enormous Galeria Vittorio Emanuele II, with expensive things bearing names I've never cared about.

We wanted to see Da Vinci's Last Supper, but in the end we decided it wasn't worth the effort and money required to do so. The church next to the famous painting, though, displayed three corpses in glass coffins that was very creepy. The central corpse was the body of St. Ambrose, patron saint of Milan. The next day, we saw the Castello Sforzesco, along with the two main Milanese parks, and a famous arch. Later, Sergio, Bryan, and I took a tour of the stadium of A. C. Milan, famous Italian soccer team. Soccer isn't exactly something I follow, but the visit was worth it to see the interesting architecture of the stadium and the enthusiasm on the faces of Bryan and Sergio. And the next time I meet an A. C. Milan fan, I'll get to make him/her jealous!

That night we went to the Navigli canal district of Milan to get a taste of authentic Milan. This area was a pleasant escape from the world of tourism, and we found an amazing bar with a cheap but good all-you-can eat buffet. On our last day Bryan and I met a Russian girl named Elena on our way the monumental cemetery. After exploring the cemetery, we went inside and on top of the duomo. The inside reminded me of Moria, from LOTR. There were 247 steps up a narrow tower to the top of the duomo, but the incredible view and sunset was worth it.

Then, we went into the famous Scala theater and museum in which pictures were not allowed. It was interesting to see a theater with so much history, and the auditorium was beautiful. I could imagine all the families of the Milanese aristocracy entering their expensive boxes only to gossip about the other families throughout the program. That night we returned to our now favorite bar in Milan for dinner, and spent the rest of the night chatting with Elena.

Bilbao

Now I have just completed my first week back in Bilbao, and it is incredible how familiar and homey everything feels after spending two weeks in a constantly changing and unfamiliar environment. Also, after not understanding Italian for two weeks, I feel extra confident in my Spanish comprehension. I'm very optimistic about the semester as well. I have older students, and I plan to be more communicative with the professors I'm working with.