Cryinair

In 22 years I managed to avoid flying Ryanair until last week. Booking a flight with them from Oporto to Madrid was pretty unresistable since it was $12 one way, but the emotional damage I went through upon checking my bag was quite costly.

Here is what happened:

Your checked bag can only weigh 15kilos.

Mine weighed 22kilos.

You have to pay 20euro for every kilo over your bag is.

140euro down the drain..

OR take out 7 kilos of clothing.

After 20minutes of rearranging and dressing myself and my three friends in my clothes I finally made it down to 15.8kilos and didn't have to pay anything extra. PFEW. I did however suffer serious emotional damage because I had to walk through the airport looking like a giant stuffed penguin on stilts: one tank top, three sweaters, one rain jacket, one coat, tights, jeans, heels. Travel light if you're flying with Ryanair otherwise you will definitely be cryin-in-the-air.

Airport attire

People watching in the airport is pretty fun. In the US it's always funny, yet disturbing to see how many juicy velour sweatsuits you can spot while waiting for your flight to take off. Naturally you want to be comfortable if you're going to be sitting on a place for 4+hours, but come on people, there are plenty of better alternatives.

Europe I would say has the opposite problem. At the airport everyone is DECKED OUT. I'm talking, heels, fur, leather, red lipstick, the whole nine yards. When we landed in Lisbon around noon I spotted a woman who looked like she was about to walk down the red carpet, not to baggage claim. She was wearing designer skinny jeans and Christian Louboutins. While she was definitely overdressed, it's quite obvious the Europeans know how to look good no matter what their destination is.

Ironically I ended up wearing a similar outfit on the way home because I had to wear at least half of the clothes I brought on the trip, including my heaviest, highest heels so that my bag wasn't overweight. All I can say is that it's a better look than the juicy velour sweatsuit.

Porto List

Solar oinho de vento

Casa do livro bar

Duoro wines: Porca de murca

Brasa dos leoes

Poets Hostel

Day trip to Guimaraes

Rua dos Caldeireiros

Ponte Dom Luis I bridge

Rio Douro

Praca da liberdade

LISBON LIST

Origami sushi restaurant

Yes! Hostel

Rossio Square

Rua Augusta

Walk through Alfama neighborhood

Santa Luzia viewpoint

"Sumaria" smoothie shop

Castelo de Sao Jorge

Day trip to Sintra

Day trip to Cascais

Lux

BBC

OP Art

Inspirational Quote #7

"The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination" - Don Williams Jr.

El día de Andalucía

Today we started celebrating "el día de Andalucía" in school. The children learned a typical Andaluz dance and we ate typical Andaluz food. I would say every other day someone brings in a typical Spanish food for everyone to try- usual a pastry. It's such a cute tradition, but at this rate I'm definitely going to engordar. Thankfully it is not beach weather yet and I will have some time to get in shape. Today someone made these amazing mini donuts. The exact name is escaping me right now...The ingredients were: eggs, yogurt, butter, oranges, and a pinch of salt. One of the teachers made them right in the teacher's lounge and they only took a few minutes to cook.

Visitors

As part of the bilingual initiative, CEIP Blas Infante has partnerships with primary schools in Cornwall, England. As part of this, the schools have set up a pen-pal system to practice English and Spanish. This week we have had the pleasure of hosting two teachers from two different schools in Cornwall. They have been observing and helping out in the English classes while trying to practice a little Spanish.

It has been really interesting speaking with them about the education system in England and how it differs from Spain. I have found that many of their observations and questions were similar to mine upon arriving at the school in October. Aspects such as the physical formation of the desks and chairs in the classroom (in rows as opposed to clusters,) the pace of the class, the integration of all levels of children into one classroom doing the same activities have all been topics for discussion. The British teachers brought with them prepared questions from their students in Cornwall. The students wanted to know things such as:

1. What time do you eat lunch?

2. What is your favorite food

3. Do you have a cafeteria?

4. What time is school over?

5. Do you have a playground?

On Tuesday I went out with the teachers and visitors to a typical Spanish lunch, with vino tinto, cerveza, calamares fritas, and paella. It was a lot of fun to hang out outside of school and compare and contrast our home countries and upbringings as well as our opinions on education.

Semana Blanca

Next week we have off from work due to Semana Blanca. Semana Blanca is celebrated in Andalucia to compensate for the vacation days that other provinces have throughout the year due to their feria, but since feria week is celebrated during the summer, in Málaga for example, we get a week off in February! Interesting policy, but no complaints here. This week is always at the end of February and sometimes coincides with February 28"El Día de Andalucía."

Friday at 1am my friends and I are taking the overnight bus to Madrid.

Friday at 10am we fly out of Madrid to Lisbon.

We will stay in Lisbon until Monday and then take a train to Porto.

Wednesday we will fly back to Madrid and I will remain there until Sunday to celebrate Rachaels birthday.

I'm so excited!

New room!

One of my italian roomies moved out this week which was pretty sad, but on the up side I moved into his bigger and nicer room!I have a lot more space and a nice big window.

Inspirational Quote #6

"If you wait to do everything until you're sure it's right, you'll probably never do much of anything" - Will Borden

When it rains, it pours

My biggest regret in life right now is deciding not to bring my rain boots to Spain. Madre mia, it seems like it has rained every day here for the past month for at least part of the day. Last Monday I wore my brown leather boots and by the time I arrived at school in the morning they were completely soaked, as well as my socks and feet. It was quite the spectacle and all the teachers were trying to help me dry them and find me new shoes.

I awoke this morning to doors slamming in my apartment from the violent wind outside. I put on my tights with flat shoes (the only shoes I have here that dont retain water), coat and prepared my umbrella for some action. There was so much wind outside within 3 minutes my umbrella, which was a birthday present from Emily in August, and is very well travelled most recently to Cadiz for Carnaval, was unaccostomed to this turbulent wind and flipped inside out. So before my day started I was sin paraguas. Joder. "La costa del sol"? I beg to differ.

Carnaval- Cadiz

Carnaval is pretty much my new favorite holiday. It's like halloween in the United States but better because there is a giant bottelon that attracts people from all over. The costumes were amazing. My friends and I went as a clan of cupids in honor of Valentine's Day. We bought wings, halos and fabric to make toga like outfits. We made bows and arrows out of cardboard and then painted them- super creative! Naturally by the end of the night all the props had broken or disappeared. We noticed there was a very prevalent cross dressing theme. There were dozens of men dresses as nuns, or pregnant nuns, or beer maidens, and many women dressed as men. We asked a few people what was with the trend and they said its because its the one day of the year it is acceptable...It was hilarious. Basically we spent the whole night running around the bottelon taking pictures with people we thought had good costumes. Here are some of the memories:

I also learned important things for the future:

1. Do not drink don simon in public. Don simon is the cheapest wine you can buy (around 50cents a box) and is used as cooking wine. We buy it because it is cheap and we are on a budget, but apparently homeless people have the same thinking... people gave us weird demoralizing looks all night so I will not be drinking that again, in public that is.

2. Dress as something warm and fuzzy. It was freezing out and the people dressed as cows, birds and bears looked by far the most comfortable.

3. Do not eat the week leading up to Carnaval. There is so much good street food and you are bound to try all of it, or at least I did.

Where were you?

It is very interesting to speak with Spaniards about 9/11. This past week alone I had three different conversation about the specific day. Two were with Spanish girl friends and one was with a woman I tutor. One of my Spanish friends prefaced the conversation with, "I have been meaning to ask you , but was not sure how..." in a very serious and concerned tone., "where were you?" She then listened extremely intently, concerned, and "motherly" as I told the story of where exactly I was when I found out two planes had crashed into the twin towers. I explained to her that my mom walked from basically 1st street uptown to 85th street to pick me up from school and we then walked home through central park mesmerized by the thick smoke that filled the sky coming from downtown. She and the other Spaniards asked exactly what I was doing when the planes struck, if I could see and smell the smoke from where I lived and if I knew anyone who died. Each person then went into a detailed explanation of exactly what they were doing when they found out about the twin towers- where they were, how they felt, what it meant. It was so interesting listening to their perspectives and how deeply they were affected by it even though it wasn't in their own city. The woman I tutor remembered every detail of her day on 9/11. It was 3:30pm and she was watching tv when suddenly the program switched to the news in English and all she could see were images of the towers. She was unsure of what to make of it, but assumed it was an ETA terrorist attack. She continued to watch the news in English understanding little to nothing, but remaining transfixed by the images reappearing on the television screen.

Sometimes I forget that it was not just New Yorkers and Americans who were attacked and effected that day. I sensed a deep feeling of understanding, sympathy and concern in all of my conversations about 9/11. After my conversations I felt a special bond and new understanding between myself and my Spanish friends. They were also deeply affected by the attack, fear and sadness surrounding 9/11 and later in 2004 on their own turf, Madrid.

Gym

One of the things I miss most about home is going to classes at New York Sports Club. I love the body conditioning and abdominal classes that they offer. It is fun to exercise with a big group and such a good work out. Since I've been in Spain my exercising has been mostly running outdoors and using the "30 Day Shred" DVD by Jillian Michaels. My friends started going to a gym here so I decided to try out some classes to see if I liked it enough to join. It's only 6euro for a day pass or 45euro/month or 110euro/3 months. I took my first spinning class this week and loooved it. The music is so motivating and you sweat like no other. If I'm feeling adventurous I might even sign up for the salsa classes there. Until then I will stick to "Body Pump" "Ciclo" and "Abdominals." Bikini season is right around the corner, time to get in shape!

Inspirational Quote #5

"Those who know nothing of foreign langauges know nothing of their own" - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Camino de Santiago

For all my fellow Catholics who have not been to confession in a while, but are really starting to feel like it's time to come to term with their sins, I think I have found an alternative. A work colleague informed me that he might do something called the "Camino de Santiago" for Semana Santa in March. The "Camino de Santiago" is an old pilgrimage that ends in the north of Spain. There are many different routes that can be taken to the final destination, over the span of different time periods. Some people choose to walk for over 30 days on this pilgrimage while others elect to bike for a week. While the walk for many people is a spiritual or religious journey, it does not have to be. Old, young, rich, poor, religious and atheist people alike decide to go on this excursion. I am not sure if I will have time to become a pilgrim, but it is definitely a more appealing option than a conversation starting with, "forgive me father for I have sinned, it has been 8 years since my last confession..." in Spanish.

Farmacias

There are several aspects of Spanish life that I find extremely inefficient and inconvenient, but the helpful and copious amounts of farmacias make up for it. Instead of rushing to your nearest Duane Reade or CVS to scan the aisles for ten minutes in search of that special form of Benadryl, Advil or Tylenol, you locate the big green cross nearest to you and inquire with a farmacist at the counter. You describe your symptoms if you are not positive what to get, "Tengo frio y me duele la cabeza, pero no el estomago..." or exactly what you need, "ibuprofeno." The farmacist says, "vale," "venga" or "momentito" and disappears into the racks of meds. Then seconds later he/she reappears with your medicine. I find this method of buying over the counter medication so much easier than in the US. When I stumble into Duane Read in New York sick as a dog, clearly needing assistance finding the right kind of mucinex or tylenol for my flu like symptoms, I finally find and ask an employee and they point in a vague direction and continue pricing or rearranging boxes. I then stand in front of the racks of meds for what seems like hours, practically delirious because everything looks the same and I most likely have a fever. Here I feel like I am at a doctors office and being recommended the correct medication for my illness. Just make sure you go before 2pm or after 5pm, as expected the farmacias are not opened during siesta.

Carnaval- Málaga

In some parts of Spain, the week leading up to lent is called "Carnaval." It is a time for wild partying and cities such as Cadiz, the Canary Islands and Sitges are home to the biggest festivals and celebrations. Málaga has a celebration agenda of its own. This past weekend there were parades during the day and at night. Many people were dressed up in crazy costumes- children as lady bugs, men as soldiers and women as what seemed like Amish people? They marched along calle Nueva during the day and at night calle Larios and calle Granada were completely packed. To read more about the origins of Carnaval click here.

Happy 23rd Sandra!

FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS. Today is Sandra's 23rd birthday woohoo! Last night we celebrated with a bunch of friends at Clay and Emily's new flat.

Brunch on the mind

It's been one week but I can't stop thinking about the delicious brunch that Rachael's friends in Madrid made for us!

Above: Me and Rachael at brunch
Above: frittata
Above: homemade potatoes
Above: homemade cinnamon buns for dessert!! so yummy!

Inspirational Quote #4

"The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people halfway" - Henry Boye

School of Rock?

Last week when I was teaching the 5th level about Martin Luther King Jr., I gave them a vocabulary worksheet that they first put in alphabetical order and then looked up the terms in the dictionary. One of the words was "Alabama" and the students could not stop saying it. They loved the sound, I think in part because they know the name "Obama" and it sounded like that. So I asked them if they had ever heard of the song and movie "Sweet Home Alabama." No one had heard of it and since the internet in the classroom was not working I put on my "thinking cap" and used my blackberry to play the song on youtube. They loved it! I told them they had to think of a name for our band and that we could sing the song the next class. They still have not come up with a name for our band, but I printed out the lyrics and we all sang along to the live version on youtube today. Maybe our name should be: School of rock? or Colegio de rock?

More Madrid

Here are some new cool spots I visited in Madrid this past weekend:

O'live: Restaurant and lounge in Serrano

Moulin Rose: Bar and lounge near Tribunal. Ambiance and live band was really great.

Lamucca: Restaurant and bar near Tribunal. Atmosphere and food was amazing!

Sushiwakka: Sushi restaurant

Below: at Moulin Rose

El río

The rain we got this past month actually did a little something nice for Málaga. It partially filled the dry river that I walk past every day. The two groups of people who are not so happy about this: the homeless and dog owners. Word of the street is that the former can no longer sleep down there and the latter can no longer take the canines out for a nice stroll. I'm sure it will dry up again in no time. Today was 60 and sunny!

Above: A view of the "river" facing the sea.

Below: A view of the "river" facing the mountains

Hola febrero!!

I can't believe it's already February!! Where has the time gone? It's going to be quite a busy month for me... Aside from the daily tasks of: private English lessons, studying Spanish, working out, studying French, and reading I have so many fun weekend trips coming up! Here's the lineup:

February 12th-14th: Cadiz for Carnaval

February 19th-24th: Lisbon and Porto for Semana Santa (week off from work)

February 24th-27th: Madrid for Rachael's birthday!