Snow

So, last night I feel marked the official beginning of what everyone calls “el tiempo fresco” in Burgos. El tiempo fresco can literally be translated to “cool weather” in English, and that is how burgaleses describe the weather here. In fact, I went to give a private class today around 7pm, after a day in which the temperature hovered around 32 degrees Fahrenheit ALL DAY, and the first thing the father said to me when he opened the door was, “Hace fresco, no?” (It’s cool outside, isn’t it?) This is just how these people think. It is not cold here, it is merely chilly. Oh okay, no worries.

For all of you people who like cold weather and are enamored by the snow, I’ll give you this: it’s pretty. I recognize that. And when my roommate ran into my room last night to tell me to look out the window and see how it was snowing, the gently falling snowflakes and the way it slowly covered the tops of the cars below was enchanting. However, this morning at 9am when I got to leave my house to walk to school made the whole thing seem just a bit less fairy tale-like. There’s nothing like a bit of sleet to wake you up in the morning, right?

So basically all of today was spent wandering around town in the SNOW, wishing that I was at home. For the record, I looked up the temperature in Palo Alto today – a full 30 degrees warmer (in Fahrenheit) and raining. Why do people live in places like Burgos? Why do they so willingly subject themselves to this cold?? Okay, so that’s a bit overdramatic and I know I’m a huge Californian pansy, but still. This is going to take some getting used to.

I learned a really great joke the other day about Burgos and how people view the cold here. Let’s see if it’s at all funny when I translate it all into English:

People from Burgos say: Hace fresco hoy. (=It’s cool today.)
People in Spain say: Hace un frio que te jodas. (=It’s f*ing cold.)
People say in English: It’s freezing.

People from Burgos say: Hoy hace menos frio que ayer. (=Today is not as cold as yesterday.)
People in Spain say: Hace un frio que te jodas.
People say in English: It’s freezing.

And so on. I think the nuances might be a bit lost in translation, but you get the idea. No one ever really admits to how cold it is here, while everyone else recognizes that people in Burgos are just fooling themselves. Perhaps to try to forget the fact that THEY’RE FREEZING. Just a thought.

Anyway. It’s been snowing all day today, and I can only imagine that it will continue. The weather forecast just shows more and more cold days ahead, so if I wasn’t counting down the days until I go home before, I certainly am now.

Keep warm.

 

Salamanca

Okay, so I guess if I get myself to post once a week, that’s fairly legitimate, no? This past weekend I took the 2 and 1/2 hour train adventure to Salamanca, I think one of the prettiest cities I’ve been to in Spain. Salamanca has the oldest university in Spain (I believe), which is also one of the oldest universities in all of Europe, but more than that, it’s well known for its loads of studying-abroad-foreigners and its university party atmosphere, so it’s always a good time.

I met Jennis and Lucy on the train on Thursday night. They had gotten on in Logrono, and the train coincidentally went through Burgos on its way to Salamanca. We arrived late on Thursday evening, getting to our hostel (which was incredible! If you need hostel recommendations in Salamanca EVER, let me know!) around midnight and then going out for a quick drink. Remember what I just said about Salamanca being a crazy university town? Yeah, well, we probably found THE oldest bar in the city. Let’s just say we brought down the average age considerably by being there. But it was cute, with Velasquez’s Las Meninas painted all over the wall and good music, so we were happy.

Friday we got up and played the tourist for most of the daytime hours. Some of Lucy’s friends living in Cadiz this year, as well as Chris, Annalise and the crew from Madrid, were all in Salamanca for the weekend, so we had a good group of people to go out with the whole weekend. We went shopping on Friday morning, and then found a really good menu del dia for lunch before wandering into the cathedral and through the university buildings in the afternoon. The cathedral is really pretty, fairly similar to cathedrals throughout Spain, but the university buildings are just gorgeous! They are made of this light sandstone-looking stone which just makes them glow in the afternoon sunlight. Which they did alllll weekend because it was just sunny and gorgeous (and not too cold!!) the entire time. We really lucked out on the weather, for sure!

Catedral de Salamanca

Plaza Mayor

Friday evening found us enjoying the nightlife that Salamanca had to offer, going from bar to bar and just generally soaking up the atmosphere. There really were a lot of people out, partially due I’m sure to the relative warm weather and also because university students are always up for a party, no matter what.

Saturday started our fairly foggy, but by mid-afternoon, the day was gorgeous and even quite warm in the sun. Lucy, her two friends from Cadiz and I went out to lunch together in an old convent/school/I’m not entirely sure what it was but it was pretty, and we had a great, and very typical, Spanish lunch. Not only was it a menu, which meant that it was a lot of food, but we lingered over lunch for a good couple of hours, enjoying our bottle of wine and chatting about everything that came to mind. Little side note: I love this so much about being here, that we’re constantly meeting new people and having fun experiences with them in a very random way. I feel like back at home I just don’t have the opportunity to meet so many new people, or perhaps I don’t make the effort to meet so many new people because I already have an established group of friends, but here, even the most random and convoluted connection between people makes them your new best friend to go travelling to visit. And that’s definitely how I felt about Jane and Rosie – super fun and easy to be with, which made for a great weekend, and an especially fun lunch.

It turns out that you can climb to the roof of the cathedral, something that really got Lucy excited, so we all climbed up to the roof. What a gorgeous idea! Not only was the light perfect, being late afternoon with long shadows being cast everywhere, but it was sunny and gave some spectacular views of the city. We were able to walk along the edge of the roof as well as along a balcony inside the cathedral with great views of the entire inner cathedral.

Gorgeous Light on the Cathedral Roof

Me and Jennis on the Roof

Saturday night, Jennis, Lucy and I went out to Calle Van Dyck, recommended to me by one of my teachers in Burgos for its great tapas. We had some really juicy pinchos morunos, a kebab of pork with yummy seasoning, and other various pork and potato products as we went tapeando. Then it was back to the center to the Plaza Mayor to meet up with our friends for another night of dancing and exploring Salamanca. We got back fairly late, and I was up early to catch a 10:30am train back to Burgos to end the weekend. It’s lovely in Burgos today, though, sunny and windy but not cold, something I am coming to increasingly appreciate these days! So, a lovely weekend all around, and now I have Madrid and a Real Madrid soccer game to look forward this coming weekend with friends from Logrono and The Boy!

Woohoo! Life is pretty good.

 

Thoughts al azar

Basically I am posting this evening just to post, because I feel like I have been totally incommunicado for two whole weeks. And either my life is more boring this year than last year and I no longer have interesting stories to tell, or I feel like I’m doing many things all over again so that I don’t have to tell you about them as frequently. I’m not sure which one it is, but either way it makes me feel like a slacker blogger. I clearly need to learn how to make the more-frequent-less-wordy posts a reality. Therefore, what you guys get is just my general thoughts on life at the moment. Ready?

Let’s talk about work. I love it. It’s a totally different experience from last year, because whereas last year I was working in English classrooms (teaching the actual English language to students), this year I’m teaching other subjects just IN English in the bilingual program at my instituto. As one of the bilingual teachers pointed out last week, “It must be boring and hard to work in English classrooms, because you have nothing to talk about in English!” I hadn’t thought about that before, but it’s a good point. Sometimes I struggled last year (and continue to struggle in my private classes) because I couldn’t come up with an activity that would really energize the students to talk. I’m sure this partially due to the fact that they’re teenagers and have their own agendas, but it’s also because of what this teacher told me, that there are just so many fun ways to use the present continuous tense. So while I sometimes feel less used in the classrooms this year and am there largely to read, correct pronunciation and answer vocabulary questions, the students mostly seem much more motivated and talk more. That could just be these kids, too. Who knows?

The students themselves are largely encantadores (charming), and they continue to say hilarious things and drive us all slightly crazy. We were in a class of primeros last week (they’re roughly 7th graders), and they were just all over the place, talking and asking the most ridiculous questions, until finally the teacher turned to me half laughing, half desperate, and said, “Yo me quiero morir!” (“I want to die”). I enjoyed that very much, and it’s pretty much how things go sometimes. There are the good days and then the crazy ones.

Life in Burgos is pretty sweet, as well, aside from the increasingly cold weather. Today, for example, we had the most gorgeous fall day: mid-50s, overcast with threatening rain clouds (but no rain), and beautiful fall colors on all the trees. It was the perfect day for a walk along the river, enjoying the fact that we could be outside without getting frostbite. I have made it a goal of mine to go out and walk more, since there are beautiful neighborhoods right near me and it’s a good way to pass a lazy weekend afternoon, but we’ll see how that holds up as the weather really DOES get colder.

I had a friend, Abby, visiting from Logrono this weekend, and as we strolled along the river and chatted, we came to the realization that despite the fact that we’re living in a foreign country, both of us feel completely at home here. Sure, the customs are a bit different, speaking in Spanish sometimes feels a bit like “lost in translation,” and we’re thousands of miles away from family and friends, but we get it here. The afternoon coffee date with a friend has become habitual, and despite my inability to walk slowly, I’ve even been persuaded to pasear in the afternoons with the rest of the city on occasion. I love that many people want to have conversations with me about America just because they notice that my accent is different and that I have friends from all over the place. There’s so much I’m experiencing here that I couldn’t experience at home, and that makes this all so cool.

Those are my thoughts from the past week. Have a great week.

 

Fall, a Photo Montage

So, I know I already wrote today, but then I took a walk on the most gorgeous day ever and thought I’d post some of the fall scenes that are only a 5-10 minute walk from my house. I get to LIVE here – how cool is that??

Arches on the Paseo de la Isla

Paseo de la Isla

Plaza on the Paseo

Espanoles Paseando

This last one is my personal favorite, just because I love the old people paseando as they so frequently do here in Spain.

Can you see why I’m in love with fall? Now if we could only figure out how to keep the cold winter weather off for a few more weeks…!

 

If yesterday was Saturday, it must have been Bilbao!

Somewhere in the middle of a cozy siesta moment last week, I decided that since I didn’t have plans for a longer weekend trip this weekend, a day trip to someplace nearby would be a great idea. And, I thought, I’ll choose a place that is relatively close to both Logrono and Burgos so that I could invite Jennis and Lucy and make a lovely weekend of it. So, i suggested Bilbao and we were on our way. Now, Bilbao is also conveniently close to San Sebastian, so I suggested to The Boy that he come, too. (P.S. I promise I didn’t choose Bilbao for this reason, it just happened to be a nice added side benefit! Haha)

Jennis, Lucy and I all arrived around 10:30 in the morning and started walking through the center of town, following Gran Via to the Casco Viejo (= old town) of Bilbao for a coffee. And despite the fact that we were all pretty darn cold when we arrived, the day was sunny and shortly became glorious. We were all dressed for the winter that it’s become here, and we were all shedding layers by about noon. But we ended up in a cafe near to a pretty church in a plaza (haha, I feel like that phrase could pretty much describe Anywhere, Spain) where a wedding was about to happen, so we gawked like tourists and admired the novia (= bride).

Side note: weddings here seem SO much fancier than they are at home! Like, obviously the bride and groom are dressed up and gorgeous, but everyone else is practically in ball gowns and perfectly coiffed. Intense.

From there we wandered some more, finding a new plaza and climbing this huge long set of stairs that ended in a cute park where some guys were playing pick-up soccer. Oh, not to mention that it had a fabulous view of the city! At this point, The Boy called, having driven and parked someplace in the city, so we found another plaza to have coffee in and wait.

I’d like to say that while I wasn’t nearly as nervous about seeing him this time as I was the first time, I WAS kind of nervous about him meeting my friends and how the two worlds would come together. But if there are any people here that I’d want him to meet, it’d be Lucy and Jennis. And of course, I had absolutely no reason to worry, as usual. There was mutual liking of the other by everyone involved, and we passed the rest of the

Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao

day nicely wandering around the Casco Viejo, tapeando in the Plaza Nueva for lunch and then heading over to the Guggenheim Museum to admire its strange beauty. We ended up in a park by the Guggenheim for a mid-afternoon drink before going to the bus station to go our separate ways.

Oh, and did I mention that the day was kinda perfect?

 

Things I Love

Given that I’ve just been ridiculously happy and in love with life these past few weeks, I am going to write about the things I love, in no particular order:

1. Fall. It has smelled like fall for a few weeks now, and it never fails to make me smile. The smell is really hard to describe, but it’s some combination of crisp air, fireplaces burning, and fallen leaves. It just instantly transports me back to childhood and that sweet, expectant time before Halloween and Thanksgiving. I am fully capable of walking around town in the evenings, smiling like a crazy and breathing deeply. It just makes me so, so happy.

2. Crunching leaves. I learned how to say this in Spanish last weekend (hacer crujir las hojas = to make the leaves crunch), and now I think my life is complete. I spent all this past weekend running into the piles of leaves that are more frequently appearing along the sidewalks, looking for the especially crunchy leaves to squish under my feet. Yes, I am 5 years old. I’ve accepted this.

3. Friends coming to visit. I had a lovely visit this past weekend from Lucy and Abby, two friends from Logrono, and we just generally wandered around being tourists in town. It makes me feel so much more connected to life here when I have friends come visit.

4. My teacher, Bea. She is one of the teachers I work with in the bilingual program at school, and she teaches art. She’s young (late-20s), friendly, helpful and just a lot of fun to be with. When she heard that my friends were going to be in town this weekend, she immediately offered to take us all to see the three monasteries around Burgos in her car, and we spent all afternoon/evening on Saturday with her, her boyfriend, and their friend. She is WONDERFUL, and I love her. She is always inviting me to things, suggesting fun things for me to do around town, and just generally being a friend, and I appreciate that so much being a stranger here.

5. My roommates, Manuel and Cristian. They are ADORABLE. They are 18 year old university students, and I am in love with them. They remind me of my brothers in many ways, being away from home for the first time in their lives, and figuring out how to be their own people. It’s like living freshman year all over again, but without any of the stupid stressful drama that goes along with it: the partying until all hours, the not going to class, the stupid stuff that occurs when you drink too much alcohol. You know, basically exactly how MY freshman year went. Haha.

6. Speaking in Spanish. This may seem like a stupid bullet point, but it’s really not. And even if it were, it’s my blog to be stupid in. I am everyday amazed at the fact that I can totally communicate with people in Spanish and actually get my point across. This is not to say that I don’t make mistakes (I totally do!) or don’t have moments/days when I suck at speaking and nothing comes out quite right (omg, this totally happens!), but by and large I can communicate with people in a meaningful way. As in, I can have conversations as opposed to just answering questions with simple “si” or “no” answers. I think of this every time I am chattering away in Spanish with someone. This makes me very happy.

7. New friends. I met a new girl on Thursday night whose name is Elin, and she’s from Sweden. We met through the Couch Surfing group that’s here in Burgos, and we went out for drinks on Thursday night, and then met up again while we were out on Saturday night. She is SUPER nice, and we’re actually going to go to see a movie together tomorrow night. But aside from having more people that I know here, which is cool, I love that I am able to make new friends and be comfortable with new people so easily now. It wasn’t so long ago that I felt really awkward and uncomfortable in new situations, and I’m pretty sure I’m never going to take this ability to make new friends for granted ever. It’s just a really great, fun skill to have.

8. Boys who say cute things. Can I bring up the fact that I’ve met a boy? I met him a few weeks ago in Logrono, and he’s from San Sebastian, about 3 hours to the north of Burgos, on the coast, close to the border with France. His name is Imanol, which is apparently a very Basque name (he’s Basque), and he’s just about the nicest person I know. So, we’ve been talking on the phone quite a bit since we’ve met, and I actually went to visit him last week in San Sebastian for a day, which was lovely. But the part that makes me really happy is that he just sends me cute little messages all the time, saying nothing but just establishing contact, telling me I’m guapa (which means pretty) and just generally making me feel pretty. Those little things can really never been underestimated.

I think that might exhaust my list of things that I love. I just thought I’d share.

 

My Weekend of Travelling

So, I know I officially suck at keeping more or less up to date on this blog thing. I kind of feel like there’s more pressure to write more often with a blog, just because it’s less intrusive on people’s lives or something. So I can and should write more often because it’s not sending itself into people’s inboxes all the time and annoying them with its consistency. Does that even make sense? But whatever. I have an excuse for not writing – my internet has been down for about a week in the apartment, so it’s made my electronic communication much more sparing than usual. And actually that in and of itself is another fun story about how Spain works, but I don’t even want to get into it. It’s boring and it frustrates me. Haha.

Instead, I’ll talk about my fun weekend of trips this past weekend! It was a long weekend for everyone in Castilla y Leon (we had Monday off), the province that I work in, which meant that I had an extra long weekend, always having Fridays off. So I took advantage of it to do some serious travelling.

Friday and Saturday I went with a few friends that I’d met in Logroño last year to Zaragoza. These friends, by the way, are Ben, Abby and Marcos, and undoubtedly you’ve heard of them before. If you haven’t, then I know for sure you haven’t read anything I’ve written in the last 12 months! Haha. The bus from Burgos goes through Logroño, so I left here early on Friday morning (8:30am), picked the others up in Logroño on the way, and arrived in Zaragoza around midday. October 12th was the Día de Hispanidad and also the celebration of the Virgen de Pilar. La Pilar is the patron saint of Zaragoza, so its celebrations are reknowned for being bigger than in other parts of the country. Hence why we went there.

Me and Abby by the Cathedral de Pilar

We basically spent the afternoon on Friday and most of the day on Saturday wandering around Zaragoza, admiring its main plaza and gorgeous cathedral (I’ll try to post pictures when I can!), as well as enjoying the nightlife that the festival brought with it. However, the main day of the festival was actually the 12th, which was Sunday, and so we missed a lot of the big celebrations. The most important thing that they do there on the 12th is create a pyramid of flowers in the Plaza de Pilar. They spent all day on Saturday setting up the framework for it, and then Sunday many people brought flowers for the Virgen de Pilar, creating a really impressive looking structure. So, unfortunately, we missed seeing that, but that’s okay. The people were all still in a very festive mood and we enjoyed going out and being part of the nightlife.

Cathedral from across the river

Sunday found me back in Burgos for the day, relaxing after two days away. And the Monday morning I got up really early to spend the day in San Sebastian. San Sebastian is a coastal city in the Pais Vasco, about 3 hours away by bus, and it is absolutely stunning. I think some day I’ll have to go there and spend a significant amount of time. As in, live there or something. Spend my summer there. Whatever. I went there to visit a friend that I’d met a few weeks before in Logroño, and he and I spent the whole day just wandering around the city and eating. Nice, huh? It was a beautiful day, which for the Pais Vasco in this time of year is pretty unusual as it tends to rain there a lot. But we had some really yummy pintxos (the Basque word for tapas), for which the region is famous, and sat on the beach, enjoying the sun and watching the surfers. Interesting fact: they hold world-famous surfing competitions in San Sebastian. I had no idea. But it was a really lovely day, very relaxing and good practice for my Spanish!

Needless to say, I arrived home on Monday night absolutely muerta de cansancio (dead tired), but happy. Not such a bad way to spend the weekend!

 

Futbol, Madrid y Amigos Nuevos

So, just as the emails slowly became less and less frequent and consistent, so, too, are my posts on the blog slowing down already, as well! However, I would argue that that isn’t my fault – I was gone for most of last week! But that’s alright…I’ll fill y’all in on what’s happened in the past week now.

Last Sunday – a week ago – my new friend John (from Liverpool) and I went to a CF Burgos football match, which the burgaleses won, 2-0. The stadium itself is pretty unimpressive and small, and it only was about 1/4 of the way filled, but everyone there was clearly very devoted to the team and it was a good afternoon out for everyone, seeing as Sundays are always pretty slow in Spain. And to top it all off, it was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm, so we basked in the sun while chatting and cheering the team to victory. They even had an anthem for the team, which John is now convinced he must learn.

Monday was a normal day at school, but Tuesday through Thursday were the annual Orientation Days in Madrid for our program. I wasn’t required to go this year, since I’d heard it all before last year, but I figured that a) I didn’t really have anything else to do and b) I’d like to meet other people who were going to be in Burgos this coming year, so I went. The orientation was pretty uneventful and boring, as I’d expected, but being in Madrid is always a good time. I spent one afternoon having coffee with my friend Raquel (who worked with our program in La Rioja last year and has moved to Madrid this year), which was lovely, and then another night out with my friends Chris and Annalise, friends from my study abroad time in Granada who are now living in Madrid full time. I’ve met a number of their friends over the course of the past year, and so it was just fun to see them all again.

We also went out one night with a collection of people from Burgos and La Rioja this coming year, and I’m starting to develop some really good friendships with people from all over the place now. Luckily, Logrono and Burgos are really close to each other, so I think there can be a good amount of back and forth between the two places over the course of the year!

On Thursday, I had planned to go back to Burgos after the orientation ended midday, but John and I were convinced to head to Logrono instead to spend a few days there. So off we went on Thursday afternoon to Logrono, where we played the tourist (for John’s sake) and went out and enjoyed the tapas and familar bars of the city. We ended up in our favorite, La Musa, for almost all of Friday night, and that was just a great time. Lots of good friends and awesome music!

On Saturday morning, I actually went and visited with one of my tutees from last year for an hour and a half. He – Diego – is just the cutest 9 year old kid EVER, and his little brother Carlos, who’s three, is adorable, as well. And they were just so stoked to see me, which is always a confidence boost! Haha. But we sat and chatted for awhile that morning, and Carlos drew me a picture of him and me and signed our names to it, which was sweet. Something to put on my wall in Burgos!!

John and I also dragged Jennis back with us to Burgos for the day/night, and she fell in love with the city. It’s really gorgeous, I do have to say that, although COLD. Here’s a link to some pictures of the city:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2386688&l=a86a0&id=2501475 (The first seven photos are Burgos, and then the rest are from San Mateo)

We didn’t end up doing anything too exciting in Burgos for the night – actually, just delivery pizza and a movie! – but we had a good time nonetheless. And people are supposedly visiting me in a couple of weekends, so we have plenty of time to enjoy the nightlife that Burgos has to offer in the future!

I suppose that’s it for the past week or so. We are talking about heading to Zaragoza this weekend for the Dia de Pilar, the patron saint of the city and a national holiday in Spain (well, actually, the holiday is technically the Dia de Hispanidad on October 12th, but it also happens to be Dia de Pilar), and then possibly a quick trip up to San Sebastian to enjoy some coastal living! I’ll be sure to keep you all posted on what happens!

Besos a todos!

 

Bureaucracy

Now that I’m more or less settled into my apartment, job and life here, I feel like the time has come to comment on Spanish bureaucracy, if only because we’ve had some random, arbitrary-seeming encounters with bureaucrats in the past few weeks.

Our visa to come to Spain is a student visa that’s only valid for three months, so upon our arrival here, we needed to fill in the appropriate paperwork to get a more permanent student/foreigner card (called the NIE). Okay, I’m on board with that. I remember doing it last year when we arrived and just how much time it took to get all the paperwork sorted out, so I really wasn’t all that excited about doing it again this year, but that obviously doesn’t really matter. What I also distinctly remember about last year was how LONG everything took, because all bureaucratic offices in Spain are open from 9am-2pm, exactly the time that I was working everyday. So each week on my day off, I’d go do one more piece of the required paperwork: pay something at the bank, go to city hall to verify that I reside in Logrono, return to city hall to pick up my paper, etc. So finally after about a month I had everything in order and could turn in my papers, only to be told to come back in a month to get my card. Okay fine.

One of those pieces of paperwork was called the empadronamiento, which is essentially a piece of paper that says that you legally reside in a city. This time around, we arrived at the Comisaria de Policia and were told that yes, the empadronamiento is a very important part of the paperwork and is necessary. Well, wait a sec – a friend of ours had gone a few days before and was told nothing about the empadronamiento. And in fact, she had turned in her paperwork the day before without anyone questioning her on that particular piece of paperwork. But when I very specifically asked about needing it, I was told that it was absolutely necessary, despite the fact that I recounted that my friend hadn’t needed it. No, it’s obligatorio. Seriously?

So okay, in order to get empadronada, I needed a photocopy of my landlady’s ID card and a bill for the apartment, along with my passport and a form correctly filled in a signed by both of us. So I spent a good couple of days running around, meeting with my landlady to jump through the appropriate hoops. Excellent. Always my favorite way to spend my days, running around like a crazy. But I got the piece of paper that verified that I did indeed live here, and I was all set to turn in my papers again.

Meanwhile, my friend Chris goes back to the Comisaria and tries to turn in his paperwork without the empadronamiento, and his conversation goes something like this:

Policia: Where’s your empadronamiento? It’s obligatory!

Him: I don’t have it, here’s the thing…

Policia: Well…okay.

That’s it? He starts explaining his situation and all of a sudden it’s no longer required? And THEN, yesterday Becky goes to the Policia to see if she, too, can turn in things without the empadronamiento and she’s told no, out of the question. So basically, no one knows what the eff is going on in this office. It really just seems like some people can’t be bothered to require all the paperwork while others are sticklers for these things. It just seems so insane to me, though – how can something be required and then not necessary? Oh wait, but only for some people. If you’re nice enough. Or come on “free for all Friday”. Or something.

So that’s fun bureaucracy adventure #1. #2 comes at the banks. We went through a huge confusion because we wanted to get a bus card, one that you can recharge and use on all the city buses to pay less to ride them. Well, many places didn’t want to give them to us because we didn’t have NIE numbers, but Chris and I found one bank that took our passport number as identification. Becky went to the EXACT same bank and was told no, she needed a NIE to get a bus card. Strange. So I went with her yesterday and explained how I had gotten my card using my passport number, and they were all of a sudden able to do it! I don’t understand! Who makes the rules in this country?! Apparently everyone at once.

Anyway, I just thought I’d share those lovely adventures with y’all back at home for a new perspective on living abroad. : )

xxx

 

Logrono y las fiestas de San Mateo

Hola to all!

Having successfully spent a week here without returning home on the next available flight, I feel a lot more settled and confident that I can do this! Haha. I know it sounds dramatic, but this first week has been really rough. I forgot how hard it is to move someplace new and not know anyone, and then to have to settle yourself in and make a place for yourself on your own. It’s just darn tough! But things have gotten better with every day that passes. Here’s a brief update on what’s happened this past week:

1. I’ve spent all week at school, including actually going into one class on Thursday morning. I THINK I have a finalized schedule now, which would put me in the bilingual classes of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd years in various subjects. I went into a History/Geography class of 1st years on Thursday and they’re all just so TINY! I guess they’re only 12, but I just can’t believe how small 12 year olds look! I’m sure I was never that small! But they all seemed eager to talk and excited that I’d be there for the year, so I’m hoping to get to know them better soon. This coming week should be our first normal week, so settling into a routine will be nice.

2. I joined a gym, and that has just made me feel so much better! Never underestimate the power of endorphins! I went a couple of times last week and it’s gorgeous – tons of new-looking machines, both cardio and weights, and I think it’ll be good for me, giving me something else to do with my time.

3. I had coffee with Chris, one of the Americans at my school, on Thursday, and he told me about this girl Megan who he also knew that was in Burgos kind of on her own. So I called her up and we met up and went out with Becky and Rachel on Thursday night, and she’s just super nice! And she seems glad to know more Americans in the area, so we’re slowly growing our group of auxiliares with every passing day! So that makes me happy.

4. I caught the bus Friday afternoon back to Logrono for the annual festival of San Mateo/the vendimia (grape harvest). We went out last night and there were just a TON of people in every bar. But TODAY was the official start of the festivities. Oh my goodness, the insanity! We went with about a zillion other people to the main plaza del Ayuntamiento (city hall) today to start off the celebration, and there were tons of groups of people with bottles of wine and gaseosa (a slightly sweet seltzer water), bags of flour and cartons of eggs. They basically then took those things and flung them around the crowd, dousing everyone within reach. Once the welcome ceremonies were over, everyone moved en masse to the old town part of the city and the bars were hopping!! Everywhere was FULL of people, with loud dance music pumping inside and people overflowing out onto the streets, enjoying their beverages. It’s basically just a huge excuse to get totally drunk all day long, as far as I can tell. It was fun to be in for a few hours, but we ended up leaving around 3pm to take a break and make some lunch. But we’re off again tonight to brave the crowds and see what kind of festivities are happening around town.

5. I have officially met some of the new people who are going to be in Logrono this year, and that’s been really fun! Some people had emailed me over the summer, knowing that I’d been there last year, and asked me questions about what to expect, etc. This one girl in particular, Jennis, had been emailing with lots of questions and then actually called a few times this past week with various things she was confused about. So we ended up meeting up yesterday afternoon, and she is just the nicest, most fun person ever! It’s such a shame that we’re not physically going to be in the same place! But since we met yesterday evening, we have just gotten along so well, talking about everything and wandering around, exploring the city together. Her combined with my friends from last year that I met up with yesterday and today, have made me feel so much more comfortable about being back in Spain. Even though we aren’t in the same city, we’re close enough that we’ll be able to visit a fair amount, I hope!

6. I met up with one of my teachers from last year, Inma, for a coffee yesterday evening, too, so it was good to catch up with her, find out how things are at my old instituto, and again, just feel connected to Spain. She and her husband also showed me around the kiosks and stands set up for the festival so I could get more of an insiders’ view of the whole thing.

So, those are the highlights of this past few days, I suppose. I’ll try to figure out how to make pictures happen on this page shortly so you can have an idea of just how many people were out today for this festival – which goes until Sept 27th, by the way, so it’s a long, all-week affair! – and the kind of crazy things they wore and had thrown on them. It’s just really nothing like I’ve ever seen at home before!

Hopefully this coming week will bring many more interesting and new stories to share with everyone!

xxx