rain rain go away

I've never been much of a city person by any means but the one thing I am really enjoying about city life in Bilbao is the amount of time I get to spend outside walking here and there and everywhere. Oh wait, just kidding its been raining for the past two weeks which is really beginning to put a damper on things. The rain hasn't been much of an issue until Friday, when I started teaching English at a school nearby. And when I say nearby I mean a bus ride and a walk away. So about not being used to the city....it was my first time taking the bus...I got off on the wrong stop...It started raining...I forgot my umbrella. So this is where the rain became an issue. Oh and I got lost walking to the school. Oops. Luckily I left with more than ample time to allow for such inconvenciences and I made it to La Salle (pronounced la sigh-yay), with ten minutes to spare. 

My first class was a rowdy group of 13-14 year olds with a very false notion of America...Do you watch wrestling? Do you eat at McDonalds? Do you have a gun in your house? where only a few of the ridiculous stereotypes I had to dispell. Aside from that, the students were great. They were excited about everything and were receptive to everything I had to say and do. The only bad part was I had no idea what to say and do. I was just kind of thrown into the classroom with no direction from the teacher or my professor and was simply told to "talk about the United States" uhhhhh....seems easy...its not. The whole organization of the program is practically nonexistent and if it weren't for the kids and the great opportunity for them to have a native speaker in the classroom to help them learn, I'd quit. Perhaps I just need to prepare more for my next sections. I found it incredible that they take four languages at the school: Spanish, Basque, English and either French or German. And they are very proficient in all of them. My linguistics professor told my class to do our children a favor in the future: speak to them in both English and Spanish when they are young so that they learn both naturally. Sounds good!

While I was at school everyone else from ISA went to El Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao which I was kind of upset I missed, but Renner brought me back a cool colored pencil so that made it better. The museum is free on Wednesdays so I'm sure I'll make my way over there. 

Last Friday we went to Gernika, the city that inspired Picasso's famous piece, El Guernica...if you don't know what that is, look it up! We walked around the small city and went to two museums, The Peace Museum and a museum about Basque culture. There was a quiz for the day that asked questions about the museums and things around the city, probably a tool to keep us interested because it was rather boring, but Renner and I worked together and we won! Two tickets to the Cuban ballet in February, we make a good team :) Afterwards we all went to the Biodiversity Center about ten minutes out of the city. The building was an old tower but they converted it into a mueseum to keep tourists coming. 

Here are some pictures from the last week or so!

Plaza in San Sebastian

La Tamborrada

Stained Glass ceiling in Gernika

The tree of Gernika, a symbol of Basque culture
...very anti-climactic

Biodiversity center

View from the top of the tower

hi i'm still here, don't worry!

Let me start by apologizing for abandonning my blog for a week. I'm safe and sound no worries! I was waiting for my first week of classes to be over to write so I would have something to write about instead of just rambling. So classes! I'm taking four: Advanced Spanish Conversation, Hispanic Linguistics, Spanish Culture Politics and Economics, and Spanish Cinema and Literature. Tons of Spanish! Which is great! I like all my classes and they seem pretty easy too. My first assignment for my cinema and literature class is to read a play that I read last semester...starting things off easy!

I'm also doing an internship-like thing where I go observe English classes here at a Spanish high school and I get to teach English too! I start next week so hopefully that goes well. I met all of the teachers at the school and the whole program seems rather unorganized but its a learning experience, right? We'll see how it goes...

This week I have just been adjusting to having a schedule again in my life which feels nice after winter break and traveling around for the last week-ish. All of my classes are in the afternoon though so I need to find something to do during the mornings. Hopefully I'll start running here soon because I am going to be a complete chunker when I come home if I don't and I really don't want to buy two seats on the flight back!

Yesterday a few of us spontaneously decided to go to San Sebastian, a costal city about an hour away by bus, for the most important day of the year in the city, La Tamborrada de San Sebastian! Which is essentially a huge festival with tons of drums and people dress up like chefs and soldiers, I really don't understand why but it was a lot of fun. Except for all of the rain...so much rain. Annoying rain too because it is light and misty and lasts forever and the wind makes it ten times worse but it was worth it to go. Everyone in the group left around five in the morning but Renner and I stayed and attempted to explore the city this morning...we didn't realize that today is a holiday there and absolutely everything except cafes and bars and Chinese-owned stores were closed. So to stay dry and warm we drank lots of tea and coffee and sandwiches and pastries to kill time until our 5:00 bus. We even stopped in the "Juegeria" a tiny casino-like arcade where we played the Bingo pinball machine for about an hour. Good new is we won 5 euros! And then spent it to play more games...like mother like daughter! Just kidding...

Well the forecast is predicting rain and high 50s in Bilbao for the next forever so I might need to invest in a larger umbrella and/or rain coat. Off to Gernika tomorrow for the day to learn some World War II history!

Agur! (fancy new Basque word for goodbye)

Fotos!

First meal: chorizo (Spanish sausage)

Calamares

El palacio de cristal, El retiro

Walking to El retiro

Monument in El retiro, huge beautiful lake behind this

Toledo

Guggenheim Museum

The view from my bedroom window

First night out

Beach in Getxo

El primer fin de semana

My first weekend in Spain has been a success! Friday night a few of us went out to some bars and experienced a bit of the nightlife in Bilbao. Don't worry family, its not too crazy here! Saturday afternoon I learned how to take the metro and met Renner's host family up in Getxo, a small city north of Bilbao. It's right on the coast so we walked over to the beach and hung out there for a while. Its nice to be in the city but be able to easily escape to nature. His host family is really sweet and they talk so much which is great for us and practicing the language. Its really draining listening to so much Spanish and interpretting everything and then having to think so hard to express myself, definitely good practice though. Thank god they made us coffee, conversation is exhausting! And they fed us a little snack, of course. Its amazing how no one is here is fat, it seems that Spaniards do everything wrong for their health yet they're in such good shape! They eat small breakfasts, huge late lunches and then take a nap and then they eat dinner at like 10 and then go out and drink until 5 in the morning! Its a crazy lifestyle but I'm getting used to it. The wolf pack, as we call ourselves, went out again last night but it was sooo cold, my poor roomate is sick from walking around outside. Also, note to self: don't wear heels out in Bilbao because you walk EVERYWHERE. Today is just a lazy Sunday and since Jenn, my roomate, is sick I don't want to go into my bedroom (I'll be sleeping in the spare tonight) so I've been hanging out with Rosa and talking about traveling and family and such. I had my first paella today! So so so good! She made it with shrimp and mussels and there was probably some other stuff in there, who knows! I never know what I'm eating but its all so yummy! Class starts tomorrow at 9 am, adios!

Just some thoughts

Thanks Mom for sending me everything that I left at home!...Debit card, insurance card...ya know, everything important to me that I've managed to lose or forget in the last few days. Oops! Its cloudy in Bilbao today but its nice at this hour because the sun is usually blinding and its a lot easier to see the mountains now, so so pretty! We toured the University this morning and discussed important class-related issues. More to come on class stuff if its wanted? Last night I spent a lot of time with Rosa, mi madre, she showed me a bunch of pictures of Bilbao and the surrounding cities and a lot of neat scenic places that hopefully I can visit soon! Not much going on today, just a lazy day until we all go out to our first discoteca tonight! We just finished eating lunch, the food this woman makes is incredible. So much seafood, bacalao for dinner tonight! I swear she's trying to fatten me up for her stew but the foods so yummy I don't even mind. There's only one thing to do in Spain on a full lunch-time belly, siesta time! Hasta luego!

Missy

The first few days

First off, I apologize for not doing this sooner I really have not had much down time in the past few days and when I have, I've spent it catching up on lost sleep. Thus far, my time in Spain has been nothing short of an adventure. The craziness began even before I got to Spain! It all started when I lost my passport. Yup, that happened. And I realized it when Renner and I were about to board our connecting flight from DC to Madrid. Thank God for him for talking to the woman at the gate and having her shuttle my passport over. I left it in the pocket in the seat in front of me on the last plane...oops! He is my savior.

Madrid is a wonderful city. After ISA (International Studies Abroad) collected all 18 of us from the airport we headed to the hotel and were pretty much just let loose in Madrid. So we explored. We walked around the city and tasted our first tapas. Que delicioso! We clearly stood out as Americans because most Spaniards don't eat lunch until 2...it was 12:30 and a group of about 10 of us busted into a little bar. I think we're all better adjusted to this dining schedule now. After enjoying our first authentic Spanish meal, we walked around the city and ended up in the famous Parque del Retiro which is probably Spain's equivalent of Central Park. Muy bonito. That night we took a bus tour of the city and saw the most important buildings and sites. After that and a quick meeting to get our cell phones everyone was exhausted from traveling for hours and hours and that night I slept like a baby.

The next morning we had a delicious European breakfast in the hotel with mucha fruta and pastries. And espresso. Spanish people apparently don't drink coffee, their coffee is straight up espresso. Needless to say, Renner loves it. We then took a tour of Madrid and visisted El Palacio Real (The Royal Palace) and El Museo del Prado (Spain's most renowned musesum). It was so strange seeing these places and paintings that I have learned about in Spanish classes in real life. We had free time for lunch and I ate my first tortilla española, a Spanish potatoe omelette and enjoyed a Rioja (Spanish red wine). The wine is excellent here. Note to family- I will bring some home. After an exhausting walking tour we all hung out in the hotel for a bit and then went out to a hookah bar where they had really good green tea. In the morning we hit the road for Toledo, the first capital of Spain.

Toledo is an ancient city. It sits high on a hill for defense purposes. We took a walking tour of the old part of the city and visited a beautiful church and a synagogue. A few of us ate at a small restaurant where your meal was free with your beer? It seems it should be the other way around but I think the Spanish are doing things just right! I didn't sleep much this night because I was so excited to head to Bilbao early the next morning!

It took us six hours to drive from Toledo to Bilbao in a nice big bus. The landscape between Madrid and El Pais Vasco (The Basque Country) is so drastic! Madrid is flat and yellowish brown while northern Spain is mountainous and a very lush green. The mountains we drove though are beautiful. We arrived at Plaza Moyua (the main plaza in Bilbao) and my roommate Jenn and I were greeted by a short blonde Spanish woman named Rosa, my madre! The house, or apartment, is really nice and well sit, we get a lot of sunlight. We live on the 10th floor and have an excellent view of the city and the famous Guggenheim museum. Her daughter, Jasone, joined us for a wonderful seafood dinner, muy deliciosa! Jenn and I went to bed early after the exhausting day and prepared for our morning tour of our new home city!

Bilbao is such a lovely place. I'm not much of a city person but it is so modern and clean here. Luckily the city is considered a hole, it sits in a valley surrounded by mountains where one can easily escape to the outdoors. We walked around the city for a few hours and learned a bit about the history. I love it here and its beginning to feel like home, no offense Moorestown! I want to write more and I've probably left out tons and tons of stuff but its getting late here and I have to be up early to take a tour of the University of Desuto. Pictures are coming once I better understand this space blog don't worry! Or just look at them on Facebook...Adios a todos!