As I write this I'm sitting in a train station in a basque country town called Hendeye only famous for being right on the border of France and Spain. (Well, that, and it's also the place Franco and Hitler once met and Hitler decided Franco was not worth his time, and thusly Spain never really got involved in WWII... but mostly, it's not very famous).
Already I'm hearing more French about me than Spanish, a language I know hardly nothing about (I can barely count to ten in it). I'm used to being able to ask for whatever I need now. But France? I won't be able to do so. I'm about to go to Bayonne, the capital of French basque country where I will stay with a couch surfer named Audrey and her husband whom I've only communicated to in Spanish so far. We are going to meet in front of a cathedral that I'm not exactly sure how to get to... I'm going to follow the spires. I had to text her to say my train will be arriving an hour later so I must meet her an hour later. She responded saying (in Spanish) that only her husband will be there, will have her phone, and that he only speaks French (I speak NO French!) I have seen a picture of audrey. She's blond and petite. I've never seen a picture of her husband, but I know he's Muslim and named Muhammad... This whole situation seems almost ridiculous. I'm going to go meet strangers in a strange city in a strange location where i don't speak the language and don't know where anything is. Yes, this sounds like a great idea (and it sort of is in an adventurous sense). But I know my best option is to stop worrying and to wait and see how it plays out! And then switch to plan B if necessary. I know by now there is always a hostel, and always someone somewhere who speaks English and can direct me to said hostel. So I shall be fine. But I'm certainly, though amusedly, nervous. In addition I still have little idea where I shall be going and staying the night of the 7th and 8th though it shall be somewhere in France. Toulhouse or Montpellier perhaps?? This is nuts.
Traveling is such an exercise in being ok with the unknown and trusting that all will be ok. I like it this way; it keeps things very interesting, but I need to often calm down the part of me that's less ok with the unknown and wants to freak out, and tell myself it will be ok. Cus with the right attitude, and a little street smarts, it will always be ok. But that's why I'm doing this! To learn to feel confident in every situation.
Also, I arrived at the station here with no one around but about two dozen people standing in line for the "toilettes" I found this a bit odd. Perhaps there are no restrooms on the train?
I'm nervous
Monday, March 14, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
European Musings: PDA's - the people like to love here
ahhh the public displays of affection of Europe, well, I'm assuming Europe. I know it's at least of Spain (and France). The number of affectionate couples going at it throughout the streets of Madrid is strikingly different than the "social norms" of the US. America is so "behind closed doors" about affection. To make out on a street corner or a subway car is hardly done, and something that opens the couple up to the stodgy judgments of those who are passing them. But in Spain, these couples are shameless of their affections. I can't even count of the number of cuddling snogging couples I've watched out of the corner of my eye as I ride the metro, or as I walk down the street. And I've long since stopped being surprised at the shamelessness of couples in the park passionately groping each other under a tree or next to a fountain in the parks here. As I write this I'm watching an adorable couple make out before me, before she must say goodbye and get on a train and leave him. I've asked Spanish friends about it, and they don't even notice - for them it's just how things are, a fact of life; they are kind of confused by how it's NOT normal to me. And personally I like this difference of European norms. My romantic side sees these kissing couples as an example of art and life entwining - of people not just trying to mirror real life to create art, but real life people creating art by having real expression. Plus, all these couples sharing their affection... i think it's just cute.
PICTURES
I know I have posted NO pictures. Yes, I have them. I am taking many during these travels. And Yes I want to share them, but sharing them on this website is annoying to download. So, if anyone has any suggestions of where I can post and share travel photos place by place I go.. let me know!
so photos will be coming
I'll have to update this post later with more information of where these pictures are.
so photos will be coming
I'll have to update this post later with more information of where these pictures are.
SAN SEBASTIAN
Getting on the train in Madrid to San Sebastian was a bit of an ordeal. I, as usual, left the house ten minutes later than I was supposed to, and then almost got on the wrong direction of metro in Madrid towards Chamartin station. Luckily I caught myself in time, but I missed the first metro I could have taken and had to wait for the next one... making my already tight time schedule to make the train even tighter. But I made it! I was the last person on the train, and the doors literally closed after I had entered, but I did make it!
Five hours later, leaving the train at San Sebastian was a much more leisurely process. As I walked next to the river by the train station, towards the ocean I've been missing so much, admiring the architecture so different from Madrid's.... I wasn't really sure how to process the change I'd just made in my life. What the @#$ was I doing and where was I? As I checked into my hostel (feeling awkward as I made small talk with Gordon the hostel worker as he quickly circled sites and bars of interest on the map of San Sebastian knowing i'd retain little of the information) I felt even more unsure of how to process this change I'd just made from sedentary to traveler. I was going to have to meet new people, put myself out there constantly, adjust to knew places all the time... it seemed so daunting and tiring! I just wanted to run away! So I did – I ran to the ocean, sat on the sea wall, ate an orange, and took some time: getting my bearings, taking some breaths. I felt better. I went to an awesome little cafe and got a veggie burger (something quite difficult to find in Madrid). I felt even better. I wandered around the pedestrian, europeanesque streets of the city, went to the supermarket and saw that the prices of food in San Sebastian were cheaper than Madrid, and didn't only feel better, but felt excited. I was someplace different! I was seeing things different, I was meeting people different, I'd be experiencing all the small things different again. I feel really glad that I made the change that I made.
The next day and a half was a whirlwind of people, food, and sites, including visiting a big statue of Jesus towering over the town from a hill top, and enjoying the random festivities occurring all over the city since this weekend was Carnival. I'm deeply in need of a long night of sleep, but it was a good time for sure.
Some of the people I met in San Sebastion that I want to mention. Firstly, my new Canadian friend Eaman who was in the same hostel as me. I got to know him at first because he had cooked too much pasta and offered to share it with me (free food while traveling is always awesome). We ended up spending the next day together walking around the city, visiting Jesus, and eating pinxtos at the delicious pinxto/tapas bars in the city. Eamon was about a week a away from finishing a 2.5 month mostly solo travel through Egypt, Morroco, (unexpectedly Germany cus he had to evacuate first Egypt, then Morroco for the political upheavals going on in those countries currently) Spain, and Portugal. I'm not exactly sure what Eaman does back in Toronto, but it has something to do with relationships/social relationships/social work. These are something very important and central in his life. We talked a lot about life relationships, and how important they are. Eamon is particularly close to his sister and his mom, but does a good job keeping in contact with many of the people he finds important in his life. I find this admirable, since it's something I'm always saying goodbye to people/wishing I could keep in better contact with people (although it does take two sometimes, and I will not assume all of the guilt of any of the relationships I've neglected.) He also believes that one can have an infinite number of important relationships with people, which not everyone thinks. Some people chose to only focus on the relationships they have and won't open themselves up to meeting new people/developing new relationships. I believe that I stay open, and that one can have an infinite number of important relationships too, but I also think that some of my views of this, what it means to keep in touch, what it means to be an important relationship could use some molding... thus the traveling =)
Another interesting person I met in San Sebastian was this girl named Alexis (also Canadian) She's 25, and currently working at EU hostel in San Sebastian (a hostel which said they'd be interested in hiring me on for the summer too, and the hostel gives a lot of opportunities for their employees to make money while working, so there's a good chance i'll be doing that for this summer. Alexis is an artistic and transitory girl. She studied carpentry for a time, is about to do a blacksmith apprenticeship in Barcelona, and then will probably return to San Sebastian for the summer. We spent the night talking to each other about a crazy number of things. She's basically spent the last 5 years traveling. She'd occasionally go home, but was living for 3 months here, 5 months there, etc. Like me she can't seem to stay in the same place because she can't seem to find a place that fits. But then what does that mean? She's thinking now maybe she needs to let the place and the people come to her, and stay put for a while. Whereas me... I spent the last six months staying in the same place and now want to roam more. Well, maybe I'll be seeing her again, and staying put again for a time in San Sebastian this summer. It's a lovely city – beautiful, interesting culture, amazing food, and a lot of great natural beauty around it. Vamos a ver.
On that road again...ITINERARY
After six months in Madrid, I'm on the road again... I don't want to live in Madrid anymore. I feel like i'm missing out on the rest of Europe and the places in it. I don't know a lot about this trip I'm about to take - I don't know how long i'll be traveling for, where exactly i'm going, what exactly I'll be doing, who I'll be meeting, or what exactly I'm looking for/ trying to accomplish from this adventure, but that's what makes it an adventure right? And as a friend of mine pointed out (from the mouth of the chetshire cat in Alice in Wonderland) "when you don't know where you're going... any path will take you there."
Of course the week before i actually left Madrid I felt a little crazy. I'd wake up in my comfortable bed, in my comfortable flat, in my room with all of my belongings around me so easy to find and use. And I'd go to work and earn a comfortable income, hanging out with lovely people and meeting more daily.... why and how could I leave all this for the unknown and discomforts of living out of a suitcase?
But I've left, and now I do know something - I know that I'm Excited with a capital E. I'm more excited than I've been in months of what's to come, I'm nervous too of course, but that's to be expected with so much stuff unknown, and one thing more than I know is that this is without a doubt what I want to be doing right now in my life, therefore what choice do I have but to see where this all leads and roll with the punches as they come? And I'm grateful that I'm able to do this at all! How many people get to pursue what they want?
my itinerary so far (subject to change):
March 2 - leave Madrid for San Sebastian
March 2-13 travel around Basque country and France... Lyon, Bayonne, San Sebastian...??? where else?
March14-25 work on a french farm in Provance
March 26-28 Barcelona
March 29 – April 2 Help out at a place close to Barcelona
April 3-May2 work on a villa in Lanjaron, close to Granada. South of Spain!
May – visit madrid, spend time with my visiting family
then????
I'm definitely on that road again...
Of course the week before i actually left Madrid I felt a little crazy. I'd wake up in my comfortable bed, in my comfortable flat, in my room with all of my belongings around me so easy to find and use. And I'd go to work and earn a comfortable income, hanging out with lovely people and meeting more daily.... why and how could I leave all this for the unknown and discomforts of living out of a suitcase?
But I've left, and now I do know something - I know that I'm Excited with a capital E. I'm more excited than I've been in months of what's to come, I'm nervous too of course, but that's to be expected with so much stuff unknown, and one thing more than I know is that this is without a doubt what I want to be doing right now in my life, therefore what choice do I have but to see where this all leads and roll with the punches as they come? And I'm grateful that I'm able to do this at all! How many people get to pursue what they want?
my itinerary so far (subject to change):
March 2 - leave Madrid for San Sebastian
March 2-13 travel around Basque country and France... Lyon, Bayonne, San Sebastian...??? where else?
March14-25 work on a french farm in Provance
March 26-28 Barcelona
March 29 – April 2 Help out at a place close to Barcelona
April 3-May2 work on a villa in Lanjaron, close to Granada. South of Spain!
May – visit madrid, spend time with my visiting family
then????
I'm definitely on that road again...
email from January
Hey all! It's been shamefully two months since my last writing.(or for some of you this is the first time you are getting my writings) This one is really long to make up for it.... Sorry, I've been wanting to write, but have been caught up in the whirlwind of thoughts and email communications and nerves that I've been experiencing because I've been deciding to leave Madrid.
See, around the end of November, and middle of December I began to feel very stuck, unsatisfied and unhealthy with my life here - i didn't like the way my jobs, my apartment, the city, my schedule was making me feel: stuck, very lonely, and like a bad person for resenting what I had, but not being able to help it. And, there was this tiny voice inside of me that kept saying - "this place isn't right for you! You don't want to be here!" Which was a bit nerve-wracking since I had spent the last 4 months making Madrid into my home, and I don't know anything else. Where else could I go? How else could I support myself except by teaching English?
With these thoughts swirling around my head, I left for Alicante for Christmas, and then Belgium for new years.
Alicante was fun. It's a small city located on the south west coast of Spain. I spent Christmas weekend there with my roommate and her family. Her parents and brother only speak English, so that made for a fun challenge. I swear, just in these three days of lots of Spanish, my Spanish and my confidence with the language improved a lot. The last day I was there, Lara had already left so it was just me and her spanish speaking parents. After lunch, they explained to me for an hour about the different agriculture products in Spain and the regions - and I understood everything! Definitely a learning benchmark =) Other highlights from my Spanish Christmas: homemaid authentic paella cooked by Lara's mom; getting to wake up and go for runs on the beach (how I missed the water!!!); a traditional marisco (seafood) christmas dinner of steamed crabs, lobster, and shrimp; speaking to Lara in English at the Christmas dinner about people present at the dinner table because no one else could understand us (I'd always wondered what it was like to be the two people who were speaking the language no one else understood. Now I've done it! And yes, those people are probably talking about you); Lara's mom teaching me how to cook a Spanish Omlette (Spain loves their potatoes and oil); learning (again in spanish) how to open walnets using two fingers from one hand, and the fist of the other. All in all, it was a lovely relaxing, food, culture, and Spanish filled weekend =)
I got back to my apartment in Madrid from Alicante at 2:30am(plane delay)... then went back to the airport at 2pm the next day with my friend Christine to fly to Belgium for the week.
Belgium was also a fantastic experience. We did couch surfers, meaning instead of staying and paying for hostels, we arranged ahead of time to stay at the homes of strangers-soon to be friends. I know this may sound sketchy, but it really isn't so bad. The couchsurfing website is really well run. You have a profile that has all the information you would basically put on your facebook page, you can verify your location and identity, couchsurfing keeps track of all communication sent on the website, and hosts/surfers can put review of each other online after they have stayed/hosted there. It's hard not to at least see if you can trust someone who's picture you can see, favorite quotes you can read, location is verified, and has 25 reviews of satisfied couch surfers who have stayed with him/her before. We stayed with 4 different hosts in Belgium All of them were lovely, and made our stay in Belgium better. I would couch surf again in a second.
Our first hosts were a couple living in Ghent. The guy was Belgian (from Ghent) and the girl was from Indonesia. They had met through couch surfing when the guy was traveling around Asia for a year. They were sooo nice! They picked us up from the train station, gave us a map of brugges to explore, took us out for delicious Belgian beers and fries (we took them out to dinner the next night). We had our own room with separate beds. It was the best first couchsurfing experience we could have asked for. We stayed there three evenings in general.
During the day, Christie and I explored Brugges and Brussels. Brugges has to be one of the most picturesque European little cities in Europe. It's very beautiful. It has lots of canals, and architecture that reminded me of San Francisco townhouses - except older and made out of stone. I've never seen SO MANY chocolate shops in one town in my life - there was literally one every three shops. Mmmm delicious. We went on a brewery tour, which was cool, but a bit difficult to understand, and FREEZING, but came with a complimentary beer afterwards (yum). We ate mussels and french fries for lunch - it came in a bucket and is the traditional food of Belgium (double yum), We walked around the Brugges christmas market with cups of steaming Gludeken in hand (mulled wine - love at first sip. Especially for Christy), and we went to the best little pub I have ever been too. It was soo adorable and cozy, and had about 300 belgian beers to choose from. All were between 2.50-4.50 euros (well priced I think) and would come with a plate of good cubes cheese when you ordered them. The place was so full, that we ended up having to share a table for four - not that we minded. We sat with a couple from Argentina who were studying abroad in Padua Italy. I love Europe and it's multi-culturalness =)
Brussels, which we explored the next day, was also lovely. We only stayed around the center of the city. Apparently the rest of it isn't too much to look at. But the architecture!!! So beautiful. Brussels had a HUGE christmas market that was blocks full of small wooden stands selling their wares, and foods, and such. Many booths full of huge cheese blocks, other booths full of sausages of sizes and colors, others with really good jams, others with incense - there was a lot! And you never knew if they were going to speak dutch or french at you. Normally they started with French, and ended up speaking English (again - I LOVE Europe and it's multi-culturalness). We didn't buy much at the market, but it was so much fun to look at everything (cups of hot wine in hand of course... have i mentioned i also love Europe's lax alcohol attitude?)
After the market, we wandered a bit and ended up at the famous mankenpis (sp wrong) statue - a statue/fountain of a little belgian boy peeing into the fountain's pool. It's only about 2.5 feet high, surrounded by tourists, and very funny. Just across from that was the pub we wanted to go too - called the puppetry pub of all things! It was covered in marionettes (sort of creepily so), and statue replicas of the makenpis dressed up in different costumes from around the world and eras. So funny. Again this pub had hundreds of beers to chose from. All strong, all delicious. mmmm. After beers, we split some famous fries to share, and went back to our hosts.
The next day we explored Ghent - which is very beautiful again, and it definitely the city I would choose to live in if I lived in Belgium. It was pretty similar to Brugges, but bigger. We walked around for hours. And then laid by the canal for about thirty minutes, tired, but enjoying the ambiance. Some tourists took pictures of us. We had our big winter coats on, laying on the side of the canal. Not something you see much i guess. Later that day, we took the train to Leuven - a less known city in Belgium and met our second host: a 23 year old Spanish dude from Segovia studying Education in Leuven named Jose. Jose was very nice, very hospitibal, but sort of shy. Most of the time we spent in Leuven, he stayed in doors, and we just wandered the city by ourselves. There isn't too much to say about Leuven. It's a pleasant city, smaller than Ghent, not as picturesque as the others we'd been to, but still very pleasant to wander. I'd try to engage him in conversation (english and spanish, and it would end after a couple of sentences.) We spent New Years with him though. It was very international. We went out for Italian food (weirdly enough - i had a lot of italian food in belgium. I haven't had it once in my months in Spain, but had it 4 times in Belgium). The dinner company was from China, India, El Salvador, Spain, Belgium, and America. This is also who we brought in the new year with two, standing in a crowded Belgian Square. Afterwards, we danced the night away at a Belgian gay discotech (why not?!). It was definitely my most international New Years by far. Though i sort of missed the Hawaiian house parties of yesteryears.
Christy went home, and I alone went to my next host - a couple again. This time in Mechelen. The girl was from East Germany (the wall had come down when she was one. She was currently studying to be an interpreter. Very interesting profession) and the guy was from Belgium(his family had owned a bakery outside of Brussels for most of his life growing up, he has three brothers.. interesting stories! But.. I'm going to keep this writing to my story because it's already long enough). This couple was So nice! The first night I showed up to them making me dinner- spegetti with sauce cooked by Fred's mom - really good! Then they drove me to Brussels that evening so I could see the atomium (which is an atom sculpture like the size of the eiffel tower! I had no idea how tall it would be!) And then we went to a not much to look at, but totally local pub - Fred's favorite where he knows everyone by name. Naturally I loved it. The next morning we had a huge breakfast spread of bread and different types of jams (they have a honey jam and a jam that tastes like gingerbread in Belgium). i also made them Egg-in-the-hole's, which they had never had before and really liked. It was really cold those days, so I didn't really leave their apartment much - just caught up on emails, watched their adorable cats, slept, watched movies, ate. It was a nice change after spending the last five days wandering outside all day. One movie we watched was called Good morning Lenin - about a boy and his mom and their relationship during the fall of the Berlin wall. We watched it in German with English subtitles - What great company to watch that sort of movie. They kept commenting about what was accurate, what wasn't, etc.
My last night in Belgium I spent in Antwerp at the apartment of this Italian guy named Luca in his company and his roommates. Oh they were so funny - had me laughing the whole time. Luca was very italian. He loves old Italian movies, would say romantic Italian things like, "let's go together and watch the stars," and he cooked me Italian food (more italian but by an Italian!) He was nice enough to walk around and show me the city even though he's seen it all before and showed hundreds of surfers he's hosted the city before. Antwerp is very picturesque, but again, kind of similar to the others. There is this one street that totally looks like castles. And apparently it has quite the art scene. I'm still trying to figure out if Luca (who is from Naples) is involved in the Mob or not. He and his roommate kept joking about it, and I have a sneaking suspicion they might be a bit based on truth. Anyway, very funny time, very memorable and nice once again.
couchsurfing, I think, is awesome.
I went back to Madrid the next day, and had about 5 days off before I had to start classes again. What my travels had taught me, in addition to being fun, was that yes - I want a change. I want to travel more. I don't want to be stuck in Madrid. Not to mention my largest most lucrative job is ending at the end of February, so I'd need to find more work, and I tried, but no one is really hiring. So, I wasn't really sure what I was going to do, but I was certain I needed change, and I started researching my options - wwoofing (working on Organic farms,) which led me to another site called HelpXchange which has thousands of posts of people looking for help on farms, hostels, au pairing, house maintenance, animal caretaking - everything in exchange for room and board. So that's what i've decided to do! I'm going to travel around Spain first working at different places for a few weeks to a few months at a time, earning money where I can, but not spending much because my room and board will be taken care of =) I have about 2000 euros to do this on, and I'll figure it out as I go along. My first place i'm staying sounds lovely - here is the link.www.lacasadelviento.com I am going the beginning of March, and staying until probably sometime in April. Then I'll figure out what to do next. I really want to live with an all spanish speaking family for a couple of months, so I'm looking and contacting hosts for that sort of opportunity as welll. i'm also looking into options to help out at and stay free at a hostel over the summer, probably in Greece or Italy.
I've been much happier since I've made this decision to leave Madrid. I'm so excited to meet new people, learn some gardening skills, be outdoors again, see other parts of Spain and Europe! 6i know I'm doing the right thing. Madrid is a lovely place, and maybe I'll come back and teach again in the fall. I have no idea right now. But if I do, I'm going to get an apartment closer to the center, and find jobs that are more block hours and conversational. That would make a big difference I think in comparison to the place I'm living and places I'm working now. Well... we shall see what the future will bring. Wish me luck! Cus I'm nervous, excited, and needing it.
love you and talk to you soon!
love you
Becca
See, around the end of November, and middle of December I began to feel very stuck, unsatisfied and unhealthy with my life here - i didn't like the way my jobs, my apartment, the city, my schedule was making me feel: stuck, very lonely, and like a bad person for resenting what I had, but not being able to help it. And, there was this tiny voice inside of me that kept saying - "this place isn't right for you! You don't want to be here!" Which was a bit nerve-wracking since I had spent the last 4 months making Madrid into my home, and I don't know anything else. Where else could I go? How else could I support myself except by teaching English?
With these thoughts swirling around my head, I left for Alicante for Christmas, and then Belgium for new years.
Alicante was fun. It's a small city located on the south west coast of Spain. I spent Christmas weekend there with my roommate and her family. Her parents and brother only speak English, so that made for a fun challenge. I swear, just in these three days of lots of Spanish, my Spanish and my confidence with the language improved a lot. The last day I was there, Lara had already left so it was just me and her spanish speaking parents. After lunch, they explained to me for an hour about the different agriculture products in Spain and the regions - and I understood everything! Definitely a learning benchmark =) Other highlights from my Spanish Christmas: homemaid authentic paella cooked by Lara's mom; getting to wake up and go for runs on the beach (how I missed the water!!!); a traditional marisco (seafood) christmas dinner of steamed crabs, lobster, and shrimp; speaking to Lara in English at the Christmas dinner about people present at the dinner table because no one else could understand us (I'd always wondered what it was like to be the two people who were speaking the language no one else understood. Now I've done it! And yes, those people are probably talking about you); Lara's mom teaching me how to cook a Spanish Omlette (Spain loves their potatoes and oil); learning (again in spanish) how to open walnets using two fingers from one hand, and the fist of the other. All in all, it was a lovely relaxing, food, culture, and Spanish filled weekend =)
I got back to my apartment in Madrid from Alicante at 2:30am(plane delay)... then went back to the airport at 2pm the next day with my friend Christine to fly to Belgium for the week.
Belgium was also a fantastic experience. We did couch surfers, meaning instead of staying and paying for hostels, we arranged ahead of time to stay at the homes of strangers-soon to be friends. I know this may sound sketchy, but it really isn't so bad. The couchsurfing website is really well run. You have a profile that has all the information you would basically put on your facebook page, you can verify your location and identity, couchsurfing keeps track of all communication sent on the website, and hosts/surfers can put review of each other online after they have stayed/hosted there. It's hard not to at least see if you can trust someone who's picture you can see, favorite quotes you can read, location is verified, and has 25 reviews of satisfied couch surfers who have stayed with him/her before. We stayed with 4 different hosts in Belgium All of them were lovely, and made our stay in Belgium better. I would couch surf again in a second.
Our first hosts were a couple living in Ghent. The guy was Belgian (from Ghent) and the girl was from Indonesia. They had met through couch surfing when the guy was traveling around Asia for a year. They were sooo nice! They picked us up from the train station, gave us a map of brugges to explore, took us out for delicious Belgian beers and fries (we took them out to dinner the next night). We had our own room with separate beds. It was the best first couchsurfing experience we could have asked for. We stayed there three evenings in general.
During the day, Christie and I explored Brugges and Brussels. Brugges has to be one of the most picturesque European little cities in Europe. It's very beautiful. It has lots of canals, and architecture that reminded me of San Francisco townhouses - except older and made out of stone. I've never seen SO MANY chocolate shops in one town in my life - there was literally one every three shops. Mmmm delicious. We went on a brewery tour, which was cool, but a bit difficult to understand, and FREEZING, but came with a complimentary beer afterwards (yum). We ate mussels and french fries for lunch - it came in a bucket and is the traditional food of Belgium (double yum), We walked around the Brugges christmas market with cups of steaming Gludeken in hand (mulled wine - love at first sip. Especially for Christy), and we went to the best little pub I have ever been too. It was soo adorable and cozy, and had about 300 belgian beers to choose from. All were between 2.50-4.50 euros (well priced I think) and would come with a plate of good cubes cheese when you ordered them. The place was so full, that we ended up having to share a table for four - not that we minded. We sat with a couple from Argentina who were studying abroad in Padua Italy. I love Europe and it's multi-culturalness =)
Brussels, which we explored the next day, was also lovely. We only stayed around the center of the city. Apparently the rest of it isn't too much to look at. But the architecture!!! So beautiful. Brussels had a HUGE christmas market that was blocks full of small wooden stands selling their wares, and foods, and such. Many booths full of huge cheese blocks, other booths full of sausages of sizes and colors, others with really good jams, others with incense - there was a lot! And you never knew if they were going to speak dutch or french at you. Normally they started with French, and ended up speaking English (again - I LOVE Europe and it's multi-culturalness). We didn't buy much at the market, but it was so much fun to look at everything (cups of hot wine in hand of course... have i mentioned i also love Europe's lax alcohol attitude?)
After the market, we wandered a bit and ended up at the famous mankenpis (sp wrong) statue - a statue/fountain of a little belgian boy peeing into the fountain's pool. It's only about 2.5 feet high, surrounded by tourists, and very funny. Just across from that was the pub we wanted to go too - called the puppetry pub of all things! It was covered in marionettes (sort of creepily so), and statue replicas of the makenpis dressed up in different costumes from around the world and eras. So funny. Again this pub had hundreds of beers to chose from. All strong, all delicious. mmmm. After beers, we split some famous fries to share, and went back to our hosts.
The next day we explored Ghent - which is very beautiful again, and it definitely the city I would choose to live in if I lived in Belgium. It was pretty similar to Brugges, but bigger. We walked around for hours. And then laid by the canal for about thirty minutes, tired, but enjoying the ambiance. Some tourists took pictures of us. We had our big winter coats on, laying on the side of the canal. Not something you see much i guess. Later that day, we took the train to Leuven - a less known city in Belgium and met our second host: a 23 year old Spanish dude from Segovia studying Education in Leuven named Jose. Jose was very nice, very hospitibal, but sort of shy. Most of the time we spent in Leuven, he stayed in doors, and we just wandered the city by ourselves. There isn't too much to say about Leuven. It's a pleasant city, smaller than Ghent, not as picturesque as the others we'd been to, but still very pleasant to wander. I'd try to engage him in conversation (english and spanish, and it would end after a couple of sentences.) We spent New Years with him though. It was very international. We went out for Italian food (weirdly enough - i had a lot of italian food in belgium. I haven't had it once in my months in Spain, but had it 4 times in Belgium). The dinner company was from China, India, El Salvador, Spain, Belgium, and America. This is also who we brought in the new year with two, standing in a crowded Belgian Square. Afterwards, we danced the night away at a Belgian gay discotech (why not?!). It was definitely my most international New Years by far. Though i sort of missed the Hawaiian house parties of yesteryears.
Christy went home, and I alone went to my next host - a couple again. This time in Mechelen. The girl was from East Germany (the wall had come down when she was one. She was currently studying to be an interpreter. Very interesting profession) and the guy was from Belgium(his family had owned a bakery outside of Brussels for most of his life growing up, he has three brothers.. interesting stories! But.. I'm going to keep this writing to my story because it's already long enough). This couple was So nice! The first night I showed up to them making me dinner- spegetti with sauce cooked by Fred's mom - really good! Then they drove me to Brussels that evening so I could see the atomium (which is an atom sculpture like the size of the eiffel tower! I had no idea how tall it would be!) And then we went to a not much to look at, but totally local pub - Fred's favorite where he knows everyone by name. Naturally I loved it. The next morning we had a huge breakfast spread of bread and different types of jams (they have a honey jam and a jam that tastes like gingerbread in Belgium). i also made them Egg-in-the-hole's, which they had never had before and really liked. It was really cold those days, so I didn't really leave their apartment much - just caught up on emails, watched their adorable cats, slept, watched movies, ate. It was a nice change after spending the last five days wandering outside all day. One movie we watched was called Good morning Lenin - about a boy and his mom and their relationship during the fall of the Berlin wall. We watched it in German with English subtitles - What great company to watch that sort of movie. They kept commenting about what was accurate, what wasn't, etc.
My last night in Belgium I spent in Antwerp at the apartment of this Italian guy named Luca in his company and his roommates. Oh they were so funny - had me laughing the whole time. Luca was very italian. He loves old Italian movies, would say romantic Italian things like, "let's go together and watch the stars," and he cooked me Italian food (more italian but by an Italian!) He was nice enough to walk around and show me the city even though he's seen it all before and showed hundreds of surfers he's hosted the city before. Antwerp is very picturesque, but again, kind of similar to the others. There is this one street that totally looks like castles. And apparently it has quite the art scene. I'm still trying to figure out if Luca (who is from Naples) is involved in the Mob or not. He and his roommate kept joking about it, and I have a sneaking suspicion they might be a bit based on truth. Anyway, very funny time, very memorable and nice once again.
couchsurfing, I think, is awesome.
I went back to Madrid the next day, and had about 5 days off before I had to start classes again. What my travels had taught me, in addition to being fun, was that yes - I want a change. I want to travel more. I don't want to be stuck in Madrid. Not to mention my largest most lucrative job is ending at the end of February, so I'd need to find more work, and I tried, but no one is really hiring. So, I wasn't really sure what I was going to do, but I was certain I needed change, and I started researching my options - wwoofing (working on Organic farms,) which led me to another site called HelpXchange which has thousands of posts of people looking for help on farms, hostels, au pairing, house maintenance, animal caretaking - everything in exchange for room and board. So that's what i've decided to do! I'm going to travel around Spain first working at different places for a few weeks to a few months at a time, earning money where I can, but not spending much because my room and board will be taken care of =) I have about 2000 euros to do this on, and I'll figure it out as I go along. My first place i'm staying sounds lovely - here is the link.www.lacasadelviento.com I am going the beginning of March, and staying until probably sometime in April. Then I'll figure out what to do next. I really want to live with an all spanish speaking family for a couple of months, so I'm looking and contacting hosts for that sort of opportunity as welll. i'm also looking into options to help out at and stay free at a hostel over the summer, probably in Greece or Italy.
I've been much happier since I've made this decision to leave Madrid. I'm so excited to meet new people, learn some gardening skills, be outdoors again, see other parts of Spain and Europe! 6i know I'm doing the right thing. Madrid is a lovely place, and maybe I'll come back and teach again in the fall. I have no idea right now. But if I do, I'm going to get an apartment closer to the center, and find jobs that are more block hours and conversational. That would make a big difference I think in comparison to the place I'm living and places I'm working now. Well... we shall see what the future will bring. Wish me luck! Cus I'm nervous, excited, and needing it.
love you and talk to you soon!
love you
Becca
Saturday, January 15, 2011
emails from November
EMAIL NOVEMBER 3 LONG LOST UPDATE
Hey friends! Sorry it's been such a long time since an update. It's been busy times here in Espana. Let's see, things that have happened:
- a dear cousin from Chicago got to come visit
- I got my iPod touch stolen, or maybe it fell out of my pocket.. not sure. Luckily obtained another one cheaper than I would have thought possible because of my dear cousin's generosity.
- I went with my Spanish roommate Rene to her family's village just outside of Madrid for a day. Her Pueblo is tiny - maybe 4 streets and a church? It was having a small festival so people were parading around in theatrical costumes, and other people lazying around in the sun drinking beer and wine. I ate lunch at a long table surrounded by her family ( only she speaks English) and the table was covered with varieties of Spanish simple foods - lots of olive varieties, and fish( full sardines w tails still attached) and ham, and salads w fresh tomatoes and olive oils. It was quite fun.
- I went to a bullfight... Not as gory bad as I thought it would be. A bit fascinating really. Yes, they kill the bull - they killed 6 of them during the course of the night. But from what I've been told they treat the bulls SO well before hand, and every part of the bull gets used afterwards... it's kind of like a cultural, ritual - man vs beast. I don't think I'll go out of my way to see another one, but I wouldn't say no either. And the madators costumes are very sparkily.
- we had a Halloween party at our apartment. It was very successful and fun. I was a spider. See facebook for pics
- ive discovered an even better Spanish podcast which I listen to a lot since I spend a lot and a lot of time on trains/buses (today I've been in transit for 5 hours at least... Which is abnormally bad - usually its 2ish a day. My worst is 3.5 on Thursday)
- I promised then unpromised myself to 3 jobs
I guess the biggest thing is I was given two more jobs and now I FINALLY have a schedule I like! I teach 4&5 year olds 3hrs a week. I teach theater in English to 4 yr olds and 8 yr olds about 2.5 hrs a week. I have a private class for two 10 yr olds for an hour and a half. And I teach 3 2.5 hr long classes to three different adult groups. I started these last two just this week. After all this I'm happy to say I'm definitely making enough money! Although since I won't get paid again till the end of November... It's still a bit tight. What's great about my schedule is that almost all of it is really well paying, i have all my mornings off, and on Friday I only have one class! What's bad about it is that 3 times a week i don't get home until after 9, and I have to do a lot of traveling. Mostly though I'm quite happy with it. And i'm looking forward to it becoming more routine.
I'm still getting a hang on teaching, but I'm getting better at not letting the stress get to me, and getting better at planning lessons more during transit so my free time is my own. Overall I'm really really happy to have a set schedule. It's stressful going to new locations to teach a new group of people whose personalities and level of English you don't know until you get there! The last four weeks, my schedule has changed every week, and it's definitely been a lot to tackle.
What I just did tonight (I'm writing this email on the train) was teach my first advanced class of English. I have six students who I am preparing to take an advanced exam in English so they will be qualified as bilingual teachers. They are very nice, they are all older than me, they all think im more experienced at teaching english than i am, and I'm certain all of them have been teaching longer than I have. As you can imagine, teaching them is a bit daunting. There is somethings that are gained from experience. I can only teach them as beat as I can with the limited experience I have... I'm learning on the go and hoping they don't notice my mistakes or inexperience. The first class went well, but I'm not really sure how to get them test ready... All that said the class really did go well, and I'm confident, maybe even excited for the opportunity/challenge. I told my mom what I'm doing, and her comment was after this Spain experience I'm going to be able to handle pretty much anything. This teaching stuff is hard, and scary, but I agree that I'm definitely learning new skills that I want badly - no pain no gain! I know I have a lot of improvements to make, but I'm satisfied with my teaching. It's fun teaching these classes to these adult groups. They are really nice people, and It's a good balance with all the kids I also teach. Also, In just the two adult classes I've taught, I've gotten to lead really interesting opinion discussions with these thoroughly Spanish thinking people. I think I'm going to learn a lot about the culture. For example, one class's homework for the week is to write a letter to someone who just moved to Spain explaining Spanish food and their culture surrounding food. The assignment came from a very interesting discussion on food and culture we had, which they were all very opinionated about, and the opinions were so different from American ones. I'm excited to read the letters.
For fun I'm going to tell you the vocabulary questions I got asked tonight...
What does "wound up" mean, and how does wound relate to wind, and how does it change when talking in the past versus the present? Um... I said I'd have to get back to them.
What's the difference between tourist and traveller?
What does "grazing rights" mean? And the words deranged? Unrestrained?
Seriously, teaching English while simultaneously trying to learn a new language is blowing my mind. I've always been in English speaking environments. I've never thought about how much goes into a language, I've just used English without thinking. Now everything I comprehend about English without thinking I now have to think about. I don't think I'll ever see language the same again.=]
That's... About it. The last few weeks have been a lot of work. But now that I have a schedule I'm hoping to figure out how it works and where I can more fun on the side. With the exception of weekends, and a drink out here and there, it's been work home work since my cousin left.
Spanish is still a challenge. I can understand more! I can talk in some past tenses, I dabble with future ones, and basic sentences are definitely definitely easier. Still I have a long long wAy to go. I'm hoping that in a month or so I'll wake up one morning and it will just make sense. I've been told that's what often happens after about three months. Talking in Spanish is hard. But I keep trying... Maybe not as often as I should. I'm especially concentrating on grammer and listening right now.
This weekend, I have plans to have a chill night with a friend Friday night, and I'm going out with Lara to a Birthday gathering Saturday night. For this, I will be the only English speaker, though a few people will know it enough to talk to me, but I hope to just follow what I can in the convo, and practice my Spanish - I love these kinds of situations where it's only me and Spanish people. Other than that, i'm hoping to go hike or something in Casa de Campo on Sunday (it's a huge wooded park and I haven't been yet)... or do something fun. I have Tuesday off as well (there are a lot of bank holidays here - free days in November)
That's about it! more to come of course
love you and miss you all
Becca
ps. Went to the appointment to see if I have a visa -- I don't. But the person who was helping me had never seen a case like mine before, gave me another number to call.... and the saga continues =)
EMAIL NOVEMBER 30 2010 THANKSGIVING FROM SPAIN
Hey everyone! Happy Thanksgiving from Spain
Last week I had no idea what I was going to do for Turkey day, and had resigned myself to not being able to eat any of the usual things. In the end, I was invited to join not only one but two meals of delicious home cooking! It was quite a lovely food filled weekend. oof. I'm still full.
Friday night I went to the apartment of a married couple from Texas who are also teaching English here. I met the woman the first week of October, but hadn't seen her since. But another friend of mine told her I didn't have anywhere to go, and she sent me a message inviting me to her celebration.. They had planned ahead during their last trip to the states (sometime during the summer) and had brought back the usual thanksgiving things that are very difficult to find here, such as cranberry sauce, ingredients for green been casserole, and stuffing mixes. (I've heard a small jar of cranberry sauce is around 3 or 4 euros. eeks). I wasn't sure how many people or what kind of food to expect. it ended up just being Caitlyn, her husband, and another who was visiting from Ireland. Oh yes, and their dog. It was lovely and quiet and deliciously homey.
My second Thanksgiving was an international potluck on Saturday night with about 10 people. I knew the girl who was the instigator of the evening, but no one else. Ten people came. We all brought different things (and a bottle of wine) - most of it traditional, such as mashed potatoes, Squash, and stuffing, some of it untraditional, such as pasta salad, and some Spanish - the Spanish people brought things such as Empenada pie and Spanish Tortilla (the Tortilla was homemade! I hadn't had homemade tortilla yet. What is it? It's potatoes and eggs cooked in this round casserole type thing. You either eat it alone or on bread). The host of this party was a woman from Australia who's family moved to Spain about 18 years ago. Her mother (who wasn't there, but is of the helpful sort) made us a beautiful turkey, and a beautiful apple tart. Overall, the nationalities in attendance were, Spanish, Australian, American, and English. And the foods being eaten were, Turkey, pasta salad, spanish omlette, Empenada, roasted squash, roasted carrots, mashed potatoes, bread and brie, and stuffing. As for the stuffing, we had 4 different types of it. Brooke, my friend who had invited me, didn't think anyone was bringing stuffing and consequently told too many of us to bring it. haha. but it was good. One of them was made by me (which I didn't think turned out very well, so I was glad there were some alternatives). We also had a huge pot of spiced mulled wine. yum. It was such a nice night, nice people, and one of my most memorable thanksgivings for sure.
Other than that, not too much has changed here since my last update. I'm still working the same jobs, living in the same room, and spending the same amount of time on public transportation - and trying to find a balance between work and play that keeps me happy.
Not last weekend, but the weekend before I had nothing to do and no one to do it with, which was a bit sad. Consequently, I over did it the next week and found myself engaged in fun almost the entire time.
Tuesday night - cooked a salmon dinner for my friend
Thursday night- went to a delicious dinner party at a friend's.
Friday - went out ridiculously late with some EBC friends
Saturday- went to an awesome Tapas bar and then a birthday party
Sunday - had back t oback intercambio language practices
Tues - another intercambio tapa bar hopping
Wed - went on a food adventure in the morning/caught up with some other EBC friends at night
Fri- thanksgiving number one
Saturday - thanksgiving number two
I could be busy today (Sunday) as well. I've been invited to an intercambio at a bar, to see the Renoir exhibit at the Prado, or I could be wandering around the La Latina district with my roommate and her friends right now - an area famous on Sunday for it's crowded numerous Tapas bars.
But I'm thinking I need some downtime and lesson planning time before the school week starts again. Speaking of giving thanks - i'm so thankful and grateful for all the people and opportunities I've had so far here in Spain. I feel very lucky. Sometimes I still feel very impatient - more often then I'd like actually - but mostly just very grateful.
My classes are going pretty well. Teaching is still something I'm figuring out, but with the exception of my 4 year old theater class, I have all my classes under control and am feeling pretty good about them. The theater class.... sigh.... it's out of control and I'm at a loss of what to do about it. I want to quite and find another few hours of teaching somewhere that won't be so stressful or challenging. I have enough challenges and things to use up my time here in Spain, and I just don't see the need for this stressful class to be a challenge when I could pretty easily find a few hours teaching someplace easier and closer to me. (it takes about an hour and twenty to get to the theater class.) So i told my boss that I'm having a hard time, and I want to quit, and he should find a replacement. But he really doesn't want me too. He offered me a bonus if I commit to staying for the rest of the school year. (the bonus works out to basically an extra 50 euros a month) And he's going to come to the class on Thursday himself to help me regain control of the kids. So I don't know what to do still. But I'll definitely be teaching the class till winter holidays at least. And maybe it will get better?
Next weekend I have a 5 day weekend!!!! Very excited about this. I want to/will be getting myself out of Madrid for the first time in almost three months. I want to go someplace more quiet and nature, but not too far away. Still not sure where yet, but I'm excited.
And i'm still not sure of my plans for the Christmas Holidays, but I will have a few weeks off then too. I want to go/will be going to the Netherlands and Belgium - Amsterdam, Brussels, Bruges, Antwerp, maybe some small towns as well. It's supposed to be all Christmas markety and pretty pretty pretty. I love the idea of walking around these hundred of years old Christmas markets drinking hot cider and mulled wine, listening to carolers. I want to go! i should have two friends from the EBC course going to come as well. I'm excited to travel a bit again!
A lot of stuff to look forward too. (and a lot of stuff to plan as well. hehe).
The language barrier is still a barrier. And not even just in my not speaking/understanding Spanish well yet. I never realized just how different it would be to talk to people from a different culture and language then mine. Even if they speak English and understand English very well (like my roommates) - the difference in upbringing, and allusions to cultural/language stuff is very much apparent. Still people are people everywhere, and that's very much apparent as well. And I'm not complaining. It's just sometimes a bit alienating. Spanish people on the whole are very helpful and nice. I appreciate having both Spanish friends, English friends, and American friends as I do. And I'm amazed by how I feel the most comfortable with the American ones despite how I've never really identified myself that much as an American before. It makes for interesting observations.
Well, I should go lesson plan for the week. (and eat thanksgiving leftovers. mmmmmmmmmm)
Love you and miss you!!! And hope to hear from you all soon - I still LOVE getting mail and updates from my friends back home. (It helps a lot in the moments when all the foreign stuff here gets a bit daunting.)
Becca
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