Santillana del Mar and Santander: really old caves and really cold water

Buenas tardes!! 

Felicitaciones--congratulations--to Luis Leon Sanchez, Basque countryman and winner of today's Tour de France stage winner!  Viva Sanchez! 

ANYWAY, today was another perfect day here in Spain!  We had another field trip today!  (They kinda front-loaded our field trips--I'm here for another two weeks and we only have three left, and I'm staring at two of them outside of my window.)

Today we headed to the Altamira Caves, Medieval town Santillana del Mar, and beach town Santander. We got to leave a bit later today--at around 9:45, as opposed to 4:50 on Wednesday--and it was really a really pretty drive along the coast.  It's even prettier when you get your own row on the bus to yourself, as I did.  You know me and my ADD legs; it's better for me and everyone in my cohort!

We got to Altamira, and here's the thing about the caves...you're not actually allowed in them.  There is a museum, and then there is the "neocave."  The museum was kinda cool--you know I'm so much of a geology nerd--and the neocave was ok.  BUT, as they say, it is what it is, and I'm glad to have been able to go--I probably would have regretted it if I hadn't gone, being this close.  By the way, random fact for you: did you know that life was longer in the prehistoric eras than it was during the Roman Empire and the Low Middle Ages?  Mind-blowing! (stupid Romans...)

After that, we went into Santillana del Mar, a little Medieval town.  It reminded me a lot of Toledo, Spain, but it was still really neat.  We went to lunch at this really nice restaurant, and I had VEGETABLES.  Again, probably sounds like torture to some, but it was a plate of grilled vegetables, and it was fabulous.  At the dorm dining hall, we eat a lot of animals--our two resident vegetarians have nights in which their meals are yogurt and bread--so it was soooo nice to get some fresh veggies!  

After tooling around in the Inquisition Capital of Spain (probably not really, but it felt like it, and the folks in Santillana certainly own it), we headed to Santander, this LOVELY little beach town along the Bay of Biscay.  We went walking around for a bit, and found the loveliest views.  We also got free posters, but that's just a bonus. ;)  Being the Atlantic, it was REALLY COLD WATER.  Certainly not the Gulf's warm waters to which I'm accustomed!  Fortunately, no one brought swimsuits to go swimming anyway!

All the same, great day, ready to start up another great week!  Hard to believe I've been here for two weeks, halfway through! Good night to all!

You're not actually allowed to take photos anywhere inside the museum or cave, so this will have to suffice. :(

Welcome to Santillana del Mar!  You know my affinity for taking pictures with ugly things  and then mocking them.  ;) 

Santander!! Pictures don't do this place justice, either.

How lovely will this be hanging in my classroom??
(by the way, it does NOT say "bathrooms of hello," it says, figuratively, "bathed by waves." Not really an excellent translation in English, but it definitely works in Spanish.)

Bilbao by bike!

Greetings from UDeusto!

Don't I just live the exciting life?? ;)  Today we were in Bilbao only, but it was the kind of say we'd been waiting to have.  It didn't rain--3 days straight, some sort of record!--and we got to really explore the town.  By bike.

Now I'm sure that sounds like some sort of punishment for some, but for those of us that went, it was AMAZING.  Bilbao is a river town, and there has been this huge urban development in the last 20 years.  Part of this development has been BIKE TRAILS.  Take note, other river towns!! We were originally planning to do this bike tour at this community center place, but we called, and they said we had to provide our own bikes, but in order to rent the local bikes--from Bilbao Bicis--we had to be from Bilbao.  Well, we never actually made it to that tour (just as well), but we went to rent bikes at this other place that I originally found for Dad when we thought he was going to go riding.  When in Bilbao, rent your bikes from Alquimoto!!

So Alma, Brian, CoCo (her real name is Socorro, which means "help" in Spanish), Laura, and I hit the urban bike trails!  Alma is a cyclist in her spare time, and I like to ride myself, so she and I took the lead.  Brian, being 6-foot-something and more macho than he'd ever admit, fell in behind me, but somewhere around the hour mark we lost CoCo and Laura (as in they decided to sit it out in this really pretty park and we'd meet them back at the bike place).  In all fairness, Bilbao is NOT a flat town, and Alma and I may or may not have been going kinda fast...oops.  Brian's words:  "it was like trying to keep up with a couple of bullets!"

After two and a half hours, exhausting all the close trails as well as our muscles (great workout!!), we returned our bikes and headed back for lunch.  Spaghetti--like they knew we were going riding or something!

This afternoon, we did some "group homework."  Before all my fellow teachers report me to PCTA, let me explain:  our teaching resources teacher, Francisco, gave us a movie to watch.  Now we're actually pretty close as a group--there are only 20 of us, and we live in the same hallway in a dorm--so we all got snackies (meaning:  cheese, chorizo, wine, and dessert) and settled in to watch the movie.  It's called Los Girasoles Ciegos ("the Blind Sunflowers") and it deals with the "moles" that existed during Franco's dictatorship.  NO, Mom, you can't use this movie in your classroom!  It was a really good movie, but depressing as all get-out, and I don't want to think about the type of permission forms the parents would have to sign.  But if you like somewhat controversial movies, this was excellent.  (And they do have subtitles in English--we ended up having to put them on because the speech track was so low.)

Now we actually have another field trip tomorrow, and I still have more homework to do (it was only assigned yesterday!), so I'm signing off for the night!  Buenas noches! :)

Of course Zorilla got to come along for the ride! 

You probably recognize them by now, but L-R:  CoCo, Alma, me, Laura, and Brian

Me in front of the Guggenheim Museum, along the Ria Nervion 

Getxo/Portugalete, Santurtxi, and Bilbao: the Hanging Bridge, the Sardinera, and "Tapeando"

Happy Saturday!  

Yesterday was a GREAT day!  Class was good, the weather was beautiful, and I got to do some new things...

After class--at around 4:30--we went to Getxo/Portugalete, which is the site of the oldest still-operating hanging bridge in the world (yes, older and better-functioning than the one in Germany.)  There is an option to ride across the river in a little car thingy, but 6 of us braved the winds and walked across.  It was actually pretty safe--felt a lot better than the Eiffel Tower!

We met up with the others in the group at the bottom of the bridge (yes, the "wussies" that didn't feel like crossing up top--about 7 others), and we walked to Santurtxi, a traditionally Basque town, for their "Sardinera."  You're probably thinking that the word Sardinera looks an awful lot like a word you already recognize...like sardine?  Ding ding ding!  We have a winner!  The Sardinera was in fact a gigantic sardine grilling.  When the wind blew, depending on where you were, it smelled like either barbeque (great smell) or sardines (terrible smell).  Unfortunately, coming home, I realized that everything--clothes, hair, purse, jacket--smelled like sardines.  And yes, I DID try a sardine!  Not as terrible as you'd think!  I mean, they're small fish, CLEARLY freshly caught by the folks in this port city, and they charred the bejeezus out of them.  AND with your sardines (they give you several on a plate, but we split them among our group) they give you free wine and bread.  I mean, why not?! ;)

And because you're probably wondering, this Sardinera is in honor of Nuestra Senora del Carmen, or Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (I think that's the English translation...?)  Her feast day is July 16th; she's not as popular here as she is in Chile (She's Chile's patroness), but she's still a big deal among the maritime communities.

Because the streets of Santurtxi were filled with people (and smoke, and the smell of sardines), we decided to head back to Bilbao to get some real food--preferably that didn't include heads, tails, and/or skin.  Go figure--picky americans (and when I say "americans," I mean it in the purest sense of the word:  USA/Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Colombia).  That being said, after a good bit of squabbling and wandering around, we ended up at this place that served the most amazing croquetas.  Croquetas are these little balls of bechamel with bits of (in this case) ham and cheese and are then deep-fried.  Healthy?  Well, no.  Delicious?  Oh, absolutely. ;)  Paired with a Tinto de Verano (red wine, lemonade, and a bit of seltzer water), it was a delight.  But following with Tapas tradition, we didn't stop there.  We "hopped" to the next tapas bar, where I had some spinach thing that was also really really good (and of course another tinto de verano....oops).  We then hopped to a third bar, but Yami and Marimili ordered a coke for me.  Good thing, too!  To close out our night, we went to the place that was rumored to have the best chocolate con churros in town, and, while I don't know if they were the best, they were certainly pretty good!  Metro back to the college, take some photos of the spectacular night scene along the river, roll in a little after 11pm. Like I said, a pretty good day. :)

The Vizcaia (you might see it as Biscay) hanging bridge

L-R:  Brian, Coco, Alma, Laura, me, and Eduardo

This photo doesn't do the view any sort of justice.  It was AMAZING. 

Yep.  Sardines.  Middle of the street.

And I ATE one!

And ending out our night, Alma and Marimili with Zorilla. :)

Bilbao: FIELD TRIP!!

Hello, hello!

Given that I got ten hours of sleep last night, it's been a pretty good day (I'm going to try for 8 hours tonight, but the local hard-core rock concert is blaring through my closed window...all of a sudden I'm glad I didn't buy a ticket, considering that I'm getting a free concert here...)

We went to a local school today, and spent some time talking to the teacher and hearing about their bilingual immersion program. When I say bilingual, I mean Spanish and Basque, though they do start teaching English at 4yrs for a couple hours a week.  It was very cool, and when I went to the bathroom, I found an escapee! They also have a day-care program, and this little girl--couldn't have been more than 3 or 4--popped her head around the corner as I walked in.  Big brown eyes and little brown ringlets--the cutest little thing!  (Her skirt was up around her neck and her undies were around her knees, but I'm pretty sure that those days are obligatory for every little girl.)

After hanging out at the school, we went back to the Deusto for our grammar teacher (Bego--short for Begoña) to pass us off to our culture teacher (Ana).  Ana took us out to Plaza Nueva for a pintxos sampling (pintxos is the Basque name for tapas), which included samplings of local wines as well.  The pintxos were so good!  I ended up eating a lot of goat cheese and ham, but, like I said, SO. GOOD. ;)  After lunch, we were conversing over our "samplings" of wine, and the conversation invariably led to profanity.  Yami, our resident Colombian, helped us with the Colombian perspective, but then Ana--yes, our TEACHER Ana--piped in.  If something is really awesome, like our lunch, it's "de puta madre."  If it's terrible, it's a "coñazo."  And since I know my mother is reading this, I'll stop there.  As Ana said, "if my grandmother hear me saying these things, she'd turn in her grave!"

After a rather delicious and entertaining lunch, I made to walk back to the college--by the way, the short way is about a mile--but of course I didn't go straight to the college.  Oh, no.  Given that the whole of Spain's retail stores are on their summer sales FOR A MONTH, I finally decided to hit the shops.  After about 5 hours and a few euros later, I did eventually make it back to the dorms.

*SHOPPER ALERT* You can skip this paragraph if you don't care about what I found*
I ended up finding some really good deals!  Things that, even conversion factored in, were still great deals.  I started at Women's Secret...I think you can guess what that's trying to emulate.  I found a pair of running shorts with nice pockets for 5 euros--yessss!  I wandered around for a bit--a lot of shops were closed due to siesta--and ended up at el Corte Ingles.  I am not hard-core enough to be able to shop at el Corte Ingles.  It's like the Macy's in New York City or Harrod's in London:  7 floors packed with STUFF.  I made it through half of the first floor and then left.  I hit the grocery store for some peanut butter (I was craving it, and I like that it's imported from the United States!), hit a few other little shops along the main drag (of which there are many), and then went to the mall near the dorms.  There, I found a couple other cute Spanish-y things, including a t-shirt with cartoon character Mafalda on it and a sweater that essentially has Spanish graffitti all over it (I plan on using this as a teaching tool--just watch me...)

Welp, shopping, dinner, chatting with the ladies, and here I am.  Another great day in beautiful Bilbao!  Thanks for stopping by! :)

Zorilla in the kiddies' playhouse!

At the lunch table.  Nobody except Krista noticed, but she's used to me. ;) 

A photo of half of our group.  Starting from me (upper left corner and going clockwise):  Joe, Krista, Marc (hiding), Brian, Melissa (also hiding), Lynne (OSU GRAD!), Valerie, Lisa, Michelle, and Yami.

Pamplona and San Sebastián: Proof that some people are too stupid to exist

Greetings, all!

Well, yesterday my group and I went to Pamplona for the running of the bulls.  Why we got up at 4am to watch the shallow end of the gene pool run with 1200-pound horned beasts I still don't know...oh, wait, yes I do:  it was COOL.  Not that I EVER want to do it again (you're on your own if you want to go), but I am glad that I went, if for nothing more than the atmosphere.

We actually weren't along the street, we were in the bull ring (called an "encierro") wathcing it on a big-screen TV, and then watched them live as they ran into the ring.  These really are the lowest of our race to mess around with these creatures, but wait, it gets worse:  after they take the full-sized bulls out, they bring in the mini bulls, whose horns aren't sharp enough to gore you and who only weigh 700-800 pounds.  These idiots taunt the vaquillas (as they're called in Spanish), and in return the vaquillas do a pretty good job of rendering these fools sterile.  In addition, the folks in the stands shout some pretty colorful phrases at the folks in the ring too.  (Hey, Ma, I learned some new words at school today! :D)  PLEASE don't interpret this as a judgement of the Spanish, I know the Americans do a lot of stupid things too; I AM, however, judging the fools who think it's a good idea to tangle with these beasts after having stayed up drinking all night.  (Very similar to the way I judge the fools who jump into Mirror Lake in November...oh, wait, I did that too...oops...)

After that, we joined the hoopla.  Well, not quite, but we weren't leaving town until noon, so five of us--Adrienne, Brian, Krista, Marc, and I--went around exploring, but not until AFTER some cafe con leche/churros con chocolate.  Our explorations took us to some pretty cool corners of Pamplona, as well as to a bar selling Kalimotxo (kah-lee-mo-cho), which is "bad red wine mixed with good coca-cola."  So you know what they say...when in Rome!  The drink itself wasn't terrible, but consuming it at 10:30 in the morning left a lot to be desired.  Bleargh.

After that, the bus took us to the lovely San Sebastian for Round Two (yep, I've already been there, but it was TOTALLY worth going back!)  Marc's girlfriend was actually in San Sebastian, so he left us, but Adrienne, Brian, Krista, and I wandered around.  Found some cool new places and things, including a simply amazing gelateria.  (For those keeping track, so far I've had churros--little fried donut sticks--hot chocolate, kalimotxo, and now gelato.  It'll be a comfort to know that I DID have real food in there somewhere:  potato soup and part of a turkey leg, courtesy of the folks at UDeusto.)

We got back to the dorms at around 7:15, which was unfortunately a socially unacceptable time to go to bed.  That being said, I shot off a few emails and went down to dinner (not so much to eat, but more to get a yogurt to store in the communal fridge for breakfast.)  After that, it was around 9-ish, and you BET I went to bed!

...yes, I slept for almost 10 hours, but I woke up feeling like a real person today, and I didn't even need a siesta!  (What I did during siesta today, well, that's a different post in itself...)

I should mention that my camera and Zorilla were locked on the bus during Pamplona, so here is San Sebastian instead...

Brian, Adrienne, and Krista.  Adrienne offered to hold Zorilla despite her dedication to the Yankees because she recognizes that he is very talented.  ;)

Hey, another church!  It was hiding!!

Bilbao: Back to school!

OK, when it rains, it pours!

So as y'all know I'm here on scholarship, which means I have to do some learning at some point.  That's totally cool with me, because I have really cool teachers (including this one guy who reminds me of SOME actor that I can't put my finger...might have to put it out to you to help me figure it out) and these are things I want to learn.

Today was Day 2.  Day 1 involved a whole lot of getting-to-know-you stuff, which was fun.  There are 20 of us, and it seems that there are a lot of different backgrounds.  There's another Ohio State grad, a 72-year-old historian from Texas (whose wife, apparently, is the "daughter of Franco", as he told us in class), a lady from Puerto Rico, a teacher from Haiti who teaches prisoners in Philly, just to give a taste of some of them.  Last night, we also got a taste of Bilbao's Old Town on a walking tour.

On the subject of walking, I'm not at all a runner, but this town could at the very least make me a jogger.  I went out on Sunday and kept getting myself "lost" in new parts of the city, and I went out again today, despite the gloomy weather, and discovered still new stuff.  (If I promised you a post card, it will go int the mail tomorrow or Wednesday--I found the POST OFFICE today!)  And of course, as per my usual, I found the sketch part of town!  Cross this city off my list! ;)  Also, there are lots of hills, and tons of stairs.  Walk walk walk, stairs, stairs, stairs, sweat, sweat, sweat.  That whole sweating thing is more important here because ALL of their water is seemingly mineralized--including sodium.  Ooooh, joy.

Now I take the stairs everywhere, but my personal favorite challenge is the 167-staircase on the Calatrava bridge.  Walking it, it took about 2.5 minutes.  I didn't do it today because it was too slick from the rain (but have no fear, that's what tomorrow is for!)

Washed my laundry by hand, my bathroom looks like Victoria's Secret exploded.  Cotton may be the fabric of our lives, but the other stuff dries a lot faster!

Well, off to dinner, and then off to Pamplona tomorrow! Ondo ibili!  (Basque for "take care!")

...and San Sebastian, Gernika, and Bilbao part II

Alrighty, picking up where we left off...


San Sebastian and Gernika (no, I didn't spell that wrong)--Friday
Because the drive back to Bilbao would have been pretty dry without stopping somewhere, we made TWO side trips--to the seaside town of San Sebastian and the village of World-War-II-and-Picasso fame, Gernika. (Guernica, as it is spelled in Spanish.  Gernika is the Basque spelling for the name, and because it is in Basque Country, that is what I will call it.)

San Sebastian was a lovely and fun little town on the Atlantic coast, and we had lunch at this little restaurant. In case you were wondering how fresh our lunch was, as we were leaving the restaurant, the guys from the restaurant's fishing boats came in and started to clean the fish for the next meals.  No frozen pieces here! ;)

Gernika was truly a learning experience.  Of course, the history teacher mother of mine was tickled pink to be there, but it became so much more real for all of us when we found a guy who was so nationalist that he preferred to speak English as opposed to Spanish because Basque Country is not Spain.  (The Wikipedia articles on Basque Country are so dry, and it would take too long to explain here, but imagine if the Navajo Nation wanted to be its own country, separate from the US)  It was a really neat place, with really nice people, and the town square, on a Friday night, was PACKED with families and kids playing.  That'll teach Franco to try and wipe them off the map!

After that, a leisurely drive back to Bilbao, ready for a day of exploration...

Bilbao, part II


Bilbao is a city that in many ways is like many cities that I have previously visited.  The riverside area reminded me of Columbus.  The little shops and the sidewalks reminded me of Chile.  I even saw one of those black shirts with the neon splatter paint that said "Pais Vasco" that reminded me of Clearwater Beach.   But when I look at it holistically, it is unlike any city I've ever before experienced.  It is AMAZING.

Mom, Kathy, and I left Dad and Bill to their own devices, while the three of us set out to go shopping.  Except we never actually made it shopping...we kept stumbling upon different and awesome pockets of the city.  For instance, we found a park with 4 rose gardens!  Who knew?!  Then we went to this lovely little pizza place for lunch (it had chicken...another lovely little surprise in the land of ham and fish), and then we got the boys and went to the Guggenheim.  The building itself, done by Frank Gehry, is the most spectacular part, though the inside is worth seeing as well.  Then a pitcher of sangria, a 45-minute mass (these Spaniards really don't mess around), and then home to pack up...because the next day involved moving me into la Universidad Deusto!

For your viewing enjoyment...
 First Toledo...

Playing with swords...

Zorilla was really into Toledo...

in Lourdes...I didn't try to bring him to the baths with me, I didn't want to push my luck!

Bilbao (and Toledo and Lourdes)

THE PRODIGAL BLOGGER RETURNS!! :D

Sorry for the delay...between no direct access in Toledo, no computer in Lourdes, and all social networking blocked where we were in Bilbao, there wasn't much ability to blog! (and then I got lazy yesterday...oopsies...)

But have no fear, Zorilla and I have still been busy!

A bit of backtracking...

Toledo--Monday and Tuesday
After Madrid, we hit Toledo.  It was a really neat place, all old cobblestones and winding alleys.  Mom, being the Toledo girl herself, was pretty thrilled about it, but I must say it was entertaining for the Toledo, Spain folks to meet someone from Toledo de Ohio...because there is a street called Calle Toledo de Ohio!  Imagine their surprise to find out that Toledo de Ohio was an actual place--Huzzah!  The antiquity was quite cool, but it was hot as baseballs there.  Siesta was definitely a welcomed part of the day on Tuesday.  From there, we headed to Bilbao, via Madrid...

Bilbao, part 1--Wednesday
Let me tell you, my dad is the man.  Anyone who is willing to drive around in a 6-speed (but only 1.8-liter engine) van in a country he doesn't know with a language he doesn't speak on highways that confuse the locals is my hero (fortunately he already held that spot, but THAT confirmed it.)  We stayed in a little apartment, and it was cozy.  But no worries!  We still liked each other after all was said and done! ;)  So we settled in, went tapas bar hopping, found the BM Supermercado (insert your jokes here...personally, I think we found some pretty good sh*t there) and then we went to Lourdes, France.

Lourdes--Thursday and Friday morning
For those of you who know me, you know my obsession with Lourdes doesn't come from an all-consuming love of Catholicism...rather, from the 9 years of Catholic schooling that will remains the reason that I know how to diagram sentences and why I still refuse to wear anything plaid.  HOWEVER, Lourdes was totally worth the side trip.  The town itself was really super-kitchy, with neon lights everywhere and stores selling religious artifacts at every turn.  The grotto and the basilica, on the other hand, were incredible--very serene, and truly a place of faith.  Leave religion out of this conversation, it was a place where anyone can find peace.  The candlelight procession, in all the different languages, renewed my faith in faith--so much diversity, all there with the same intention.

The next day, Mom, Kathy, and I went to the baths.  It was 54-degree water, and of course, I'm thinking, I'm an Ohio State student, I did Mirror Lake twice, I can do this!  Yeah. Right. After waiting in line--did I mention there were about 15 men in line and it took them about as long to exhaust that line?--we went back to the holding area where they make you take off your clothes and they give you a wrap instead.  That didn't make me real happy, but there you have it.  Then they take you back to the baths.  Where they take the wrap they gave you, put a wet sheet on you, and walk you into the water.  I was too busy to do anything but do what the little ladies told me to do, but after I got out, I felt pretty good!  But this isn't the place to describe that--if you want more, let me know!

Spain: one big party, all day, all night

¡Hola, hola! ¡VIVA ESPAÑA!   We made it to Spain, all in one piece.  I think we’ll be able to leave it that way, but that depends on whether or not we decide to join the super-happy Spaniards in their revelries. J  (For those of you who are unfamiliar with what is happening in the sporting world, Spain just won the Euro Cup 2012, becoming the first country in the world to win three major titles in a row.) 

Well, let me back up…the game didn’t even start until 8:45 here. 

We got in this morning at about 6:30, which was FORTY MINUTES EARLY.  I have NEVER been on a flight that arrived that early—and apparently neither had the airport, because they didn’t have a gate for us.  We ended up getting off on the tarmac.  Took us about another 15-20 minutes to get the luggage and be on our way to the hostal (where the poor proprietor allowed us to leave our luggage at 7:30, a good 3 and a half hours before check-in).  We went to this little café for, well, café, and then we went to church—this really cute little church down the street from Hostal Armesto. 

After church, we went back to that little café for actual food this time, where we had a breakfast that would certainly make me fat (well, fatter) if I ate it every day (but in retrospect, that’s pretty much how I feel about all the food I ate today…).  I think my mom has a new admirer in the proprietor; he even let her pose with the hindquarter of ham that he slices fresh for all the plates he makes.  

We still had about an hour and a half until check-in, and given that we were already beat, we got on one of those hop-on, hop-off double-decker buses.  Let me tell you, that is the best way to see the city when you’re feeling lazy as sin.  And you also get fabulous pictures. J (Check Facebook for those in the near future)

Of course, we participated in the age-honored tradition of siesta—for about 2 hours, thank you, jet lag—and then hit the streets of Madrid to do the whole site-seeing/touristy thing.  I must say, I’m not sure what I was expecting from Madrid, but I have been pleasantly surprised at every turn.  It’s clean, with lots of trees and controlled pedestrian paterns, and everyone has been super-nice!  We went to the Plaza Mayor and went to this little tapas place.  We blew the whole tapas tradition in that we didn’t go tapas bar hopping, but my word, we certainly ate well!  (And the sangria?  DIVINO.  That fruit at the bottom was the best part—and it helped us fight off scurvy.)  During dinner, the game started, and it was really cool to hear the town explode when Spain got their goals.  After dinner, we went for churros and chocolate (I told you!  Fatty fat fat!) and we decided that it would be best to make it home BEFORE the end of the game. 

That being said, I’m feeling a bit foolhardy…and we can hear the crowds at Neptune’s Fountain right down the street… ;)  Until next time…hopefully! 

Leavin' on a jet plane!

Well, who knew next time would be so soon.  Hmm.

At any rate, we are on our way to Madrid!  We made it through Tampa, are currently sitting in the Charlotte Airport (it's supposed to reach 102° today in Charlotte...ewwww), and will be boarding for Madrid here in a little under an hour.

I should clarify some things here.  When I say "we," I'm not referring to Zorilla and me (though he is a handy travel companion, if for no other reason to freak out the people near me), I am referring to my parents, and two other family friends, Kathy and Bill Ayo.  They will be here for the next week with me before my program begins, when we tour Madrid, Toledo, Lourdes (France), and Pamplona.  More on the itinerary later. ;)

In other news, I have come to the conclusion that if in fact, by some freak chance, I should reproduce, my children don't stand a chance:  there will be NO escape from my camera.  We haven't even gotten on the flight to Madrid, and I've already taken 8 pictures of Zorilla.  Maybe my dear friend Darci was onto something when she said that I have more photos of her in her four years of college than her mother has of the rest of her childhood.  Alas...

Anyway...enjoy the photos, and Spanish lesson #2!

Airport stuff:

Aeropuerto--airport
Aduana--Customs
Maleta--suitcase
Equipaje--luggage (reclamo de equipaje:  baggage claim)
Pasajero--passenger

Meet SK and Zorilla and your first Spanish lesson

¡Hola!  Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Well, I am Sara--the "Sarabarracuda" in the title--and I am on my way to SPAIN!!


Yep, I'm a Spanish teacher, but if you're here because you know me you already knew that.  I am going to Spain on a scholarship from SCOLT (the Southern Conference on Language Teaching) and the Spanish Embassy.  I'll be based in Bilbao, which is in the northern part of the country.  Sunny Spain, sure, but keep in mind it's roughly on the same parallel as Wisconsin...so it might get a bit chilly.  The "Sarabarracuda" comes from a nickname that my parents have for me.  Apparently I was a vicious child...and apparently some things don't change...but all the same, I still think it's a step up from the "Monster Baby from Hell" moniker that they originally gave me.

Now onto this Zorilla character.  I'm not talking about the super-stinky African weasel; I'm talking about the Rays utility infielder, #18, Ben Zobrist.  Unfortunately, the actual Mr. Zobrist has a job to do this summer--like take the Rays to the play-offs (ohpleaseohplease), but I am taking his likeness, a bobblehead doll that I received from a student, with me to Spain in lieu of a Flat Stanley.  That means he will be joining me on my excursions around Spain.  You know a girl should never travel alone!

That being said, this blog will be full of photos and my 2 cents that you may or may not have asked for.  Of course, I am the epitome of innocent, so if something seems dirty or unseemly, it's all on you and YOUR dirty mind.  OK, it might be me, just a little bit, but I'm going to try to keep it clean. ;)

Until next time!

Spanish lesson for the day:  Ways to say good-bye

Adiós
Hasta luego (see you later)
Hasta mañana (see you tomorrow)
Hasta pronto (see you soon)
Chao/chau (yep, the Spanish use it too)