Navedad para extranjeros

thanksgiving done right... in Spain
I don't quite know what it was that made me buy a one-way ticket to Italy for December the 30th, but this is a done deal. Definitely no turning back now. My Italian roommate told me to give him a call when I was there, and to stop by his house for dinner and drinks. I will be flying into Milan because it was cheaper there. I have no plans from there on. My friends Mary and Collin from Oviedo sparked the idea, and I jumped on the train as fast as a middle schooler starts wearing Jncos, or perhaps Lee Pipes. That is, if you were cool like my sister (not cool).

My friend Sonia in Madrid will be celebrating a birthday and since I fly out of the capital, I plan to arrive early to do it up real big in Spain before dippin' out to pasta town. I plan to travel for about 2 weeks, and will go where the wind takes me. If I happen to step out of Italy for a bit, so be it.

I had a second Thanksgiving. Some friends around the block began to whet my appetite by using our oven to make a pumpkin pie, and then invited me to their Thanksgiving party. This party beat the piss out of the party at my apartment, and was seriously legit. There was an entire turkey, dressing, deviled eggs, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes and last, but not least, green beans. The crowd was mixed, but was heavily outweighed by middle-aged Spanish teachers, which was awesome. They were all funny and quirky, drinkers and smokers, and interesting to talk to. At around 12 am the neighbors began banging on every surface they could find to get us to shut up, but we were relentless. The majority of apartments here have paper-thin walls and the majority of the people renting this majority are old people, so they enjoy banging on walls like crazy people between the hours of 12 and 6 am if you happen to be enjoying yourself at a reasonably loud volume. Ridic.

Thanksgiving round 2 rocked.

era una fiesta entre indios y conquistadores

white people from different countries
biscuit haters
I have now experienced my first Thanksgiving outside of the United States. My roommate planned a dinner via internetz and our house was the chosen location. I will change my text throughout this lecture and if you don't like it too bad, I want to see what they all look like... Ok. So the dinner itself wasn't anything close to what I am used to. There was no massive turkey. There was no massive ham. There were no biscuits, and there was no gravy. Stuffing? Nope. Webdings!!!!, <---(Ok no more Webdings) Apparently spiders are exclamation points.we b d i n g s ! ! ! ! So I missed the tasty home cooking that I am accustomed to, but nonetheless the party was great. I got honey baked ham cut into fat slices and crammed the ham into tasty croissants. My roommate made mashed potatoes. My other roommate bought cookies and then left. Some Spanish girls brought tortilla, and some kind of sweet doughballs. The rest of the dinner was comprised mainly of desserts as follows: Apple crumble and apple pie, mars bars or something like that which was really tasty, and of course you cant leave out the 3 plates of cheeses and meats that were amazing. Once again my house was a breeding ground for confusion between languages as Germans, Italians, Spanish, English and Americans alike carried on through the night and fueling themselves with wine and cheese.

Trebuchet! I am now launching words with what I think is a French word for a catapult, but as a text. I tought my classes about Thanksgiving, and they really didn't know anything about it. Something that really got my goat was the fact that the British have taught the Spanish that biscuits are cookies, and this is just wrong. I then showed them delicious looking biscuits with chicken and jelly and whatever else one likes to put on an "American biscuit". I definitely missed my home, friends, and family this week. I wish I could have been back home with everyone to get huge and fall asleep while watching football. But alas I found a way to have a good time here. Tonight I am going to a second T-day party, and this is being thrown by a bunch of girls so it is going to be proper. I am excited. They will have pumpkin pie, turkey, deviled eggs.

Ohhh it will be glorious.

casi cuarto siglo

After starting a 3-round bout with a Spanish strain virus that went for the throat, I received a few days off from school, and took it upon myself to make massive batches of vegetable soup. I definitely wallowed in the doldrums for a few days, but more or less was a boss and wrecked the virus with the help of my "smooth, few bacteria killing antibiotics". Accompanied by my industrial-size bottle of Advil, borrowed movies and thermometers, and the beloved interwebz, I kicked the wannabe flu virus in a few days with time to spare preparing for guests.

My friend Carly from Appalachian State currently lives in Bilbao working under the exact program that I do. She brought two of her friends along for a weekend trip here to my beloved Logrono, and I was just in shape to keep up with the party girls from out of town. I made sure the pad was clean, and made more of the delicious soup; formed from chicken broth, potatoes, onions, mushrooms and carrots. It was just ready and steaming hot when I picked the girls up from the bus station. We settled in to converse about the Basque country, our program and origins. Tammy is from L.A., Ashley is from Wisconsin, and of course Carly from the wonderful state of North Carolina.

I took them out to Calle Laurel for pinchos and drinks, which turned into a late night at the bars. Ashley began talking to a random Frenchman who seemed like any other partier in Logrono, but was actually a smooth-talking public relations guide at a vineyard. I was in no shape to tell any difference and wasn't talking to him, but sure enough he came and picked us up the next morning at 10:30am for a free tour at the vineyard (Bodega). That was a bit painful, but the tour at Palacios Bodegas was absolutely legit, with a wine tasting and extensive history. The girls bought me a bottle of the Reserva 2003, and then we scaled a steep path to the beautiful pueblo of La Guardia. This town was a precious village on top of a mountain and kept within large stone walls. From a terrace on the edge of La Guardia there was a view of La Rioja that was amazing, and clouds of jittery birds were morphing in and out of ever-changing cloud like shapes in front of the wonderful scenery.

The tour and cold weather were tiring, and we had a long night ahead of us so, extensive naps took place before the fiesta. Around 9pm we kicked things off with chorizo, jamon serano, cheese, pizzas, bread and wine. People came and the wine count doubled. More people showed up and 6 countries were represented. I had happy birthday song to me in each of these country's mother tongues. It was amazing and I could not have asked for anything else. My house was full many interesting people and each corner hosted a different language. Marta made me a really cool painting, I got alcohol, food, and most importantly, the company of my friends.

Time to wind back down.

seguro

<------possibly some of the ones who got me sick

I went to the doctor yesterday.

Building number 21.

As I walk down the street, I pass 19, and find 23. I trace back again to 19, and proceed again to 23. No 21. But in 21's hypothetical presence is a cavernous opening of a building with no lights or signs, and electric wires hanging out everywhere. In their stead are painters smoking cigarettes and talking to each other while not looking at what they were painting. I ask them if this could possibly be building 21, and surely enough they made it seem as though I should have known that.

This is not usually a good way to walk into a doctors' office, or building at that. So I am sick, just woke up, and am feeling confused enough as it is. Then I get the pleasure of a doctor who looks like a used car salesman and talks like one too. I couldn't hear very well and asked him to repeat himself many times after he quickly mumbled things at me. These things consisted of the antibiotics he was prescribing me that apparently were light and smooth and didn't kill very much bacteria as I gathered. I told him I normally didn't take antibiotics and he said something like well I'll just throw your medical card away. I don't know if thats what he said, or if it was a joke, but I just wanted him to be quiet because I was obviously not terribly ill. I told him I'd take them and call him if I got worse. Now I am on amoxicilina and advil. It makes me feel kind of silly. At least I can enjoy that if not go out on the town.

It seems that If I DO get sick, its these little 3 day virus/bacterial things and nothing serious.

At least I don't have Gripe A.

llama la cruz roja. necesito un transfusion

I have watched countless programs on all sorts of random crap in my day. Discovery channel was definitely my visual home away from home, and especially when I wasn't feeling well. Why not get educated without trying and being outside of school at that. It's always so easy to stay glued to some Brittish narrators voice, who delicately tip-toes over the words written for him on some highly edited scientists' lab reports.

The only downside to this is that I am sick now, and constantly have slideshows of computer animated viruses attacking polygonal representations of the inside of someone's throat. Chunks of skin and tissues destroyed by the T's T cells are giving way as I dive further and further towards being another Gripe A victim, (gripe a is swine flu here in spain). I stayed in bed today for 6 hours in all of my clothes and awoke to a headache easily comparable to some form of traumatic blow to my cranium by a large animal, or blunt object. When I cough it feels like each of my bronchioles are self destructing bulbs of glass. When I move I feel like someone is combing my body with a hot knife, and the best part yet is that it is Sunday and everyone is closed. Bollocks.

I hope this lasts me my typical 3 days maximum because I need to make that money. Maybe someone will help take care of me...

in cars

I drove a car in Spain two days ago. For some reason, after I called shotgun and then played a joke calling driver when a fellow teacher said they'd give me a ride home, the teacher asked me if I wanted to drive. I was thrilled and took the wheel of some random overseas Nissan model and... big ball breaker here... drove 40 kmh, which is quite slow. It was like being in driver's ed. She kept telling me the speed limit and appeared to desire her own set of breaks and gas and steering wheel on her side. But it was all gravy. I enjoyed it.

I also enjoyed a nice art exhibition with one installation the other night. An ornate display of delicately hung ceramic fragments formed a sphere with a white light bulb in the center. The effect of the inner light projected shadows of the hundreds of ceramic shrapnel all over the walls. With the possibility of walking through the sphere, it made serendipitous wind chyme noises that were accompanied by ambient background music. Above is a picture of this.

Now my Italian roomate Matia is making me dinner. Ciao.

bua

After this weekend I was definitely hit a bit hard by the quick change in weather, solid day of rain, going out every night, and overall not taking great care of myself. I went home a bit early from school one day this week as I did not feel well. This definitely annihilated my sleep cycle as I managed to sleep all afternoon, and clearly then not sleeping at all at night.

Editing this, i managed to kick that cold, and buck it up. Everyone around me seems to be plagued with some sort of awful pulmonary infection. I dislike coughing up phlegm, as well as sitting inside for a week without anything to do, and whether or not it was the super vitamin C alka seltzer tablet thing that my roommate gave me or not, I feel better.

I saw some amazing life jazz last night in a bar off off of C. Sagasta with Marta, and called it an early night. Today I will definitely be enjoying the payoff I got for this month's work and get something to warm my room, or body. But not until I make it rain with this cash money I be totin'.

o bitter victory!

Wow.

Where to begin? (this is a long one, i've not written for some time)

This weekend I took my first trip out of Logrono and headed towards Asturias to see my friends Collin and Mary. I loaded my new camping pack with my costume, a pillow, socks and underwear. Oh and absolutely zero other necessary clothes that I should have brought. Typical. The ride was 6 hours from Logrono to Oviedo, and I had the luck of sitting next to a young Italian girl who had the misfortune of beginning HER trip in Barcelona. This means she had a 12 hour bus ride, and was more than happy to sit next to a peppy young lad who wanted to speak in Spanish to her. This made the trip much more interesting and fun, for sure.

The bus's first stop was in Burgos, about 2 hours from Logrono, and it had an indoor station packed with buses and hosted a phalanx of spanish men with clipboards who would yell at the bus drivers about where to park. Outside of this station, I saw little of Burgos, but it had a beautiful cathedral, and after looking at the map, I believed there to be a castle somewhere in the city. It also had a nice river lined trees boasting beautiful autumn leaves which reminded me of lying in the back of my dad's truck driving past Reynolda Gardens, and seeing all of the wonderful colors pass above me.

But this was only a few minutes time, for we had a long trip ahead.

I wish that the ride has been during the day, but I left at about 3:30pm, and by the time we had gotten into Asturias, it was dark. I found Asturias to be absolutely beautiful, and rainy. The television in the bus had a map of Spain showing our route, and would cycle through enhanced views of the highway we were taking and our current speed, etc. This drove me and especially the Italian girl (Diana) insane after hours of seeing our slow progress. More or less, we had a good time.

I got the best greeting of all time once in Oviedo. Collin walked to meet with me at the bus stop, and we walked back to his apartment, where his roomate (Sarah) from Boston, had prepared seasoned chicken, mashed potatoes, spinach, bread and drinks. I was in heaven. We all embraced, and I got the tour of their cozy apartment before dining. After letting our stomachs settle a bit, Mary and Collin took me to a bar called Mater Asturias, which was ridiculous. You walk in, and buy a little credit card (I bought one for 5euros which was 13 drinks), and the bar is full of these huge green snakes that guard a little glass holder inside of a 3 sided plastic box. You swipe your card in a machine next to the snake, after placing the glass you are given onto the tilted glass holder, and cidera (alcoholic cider) sprays out of this snakes mouth directly into your glass. The plastic box is there as a splash guard. Genious. The stuff is kind of bitter, and doesnt seem too strong, but try drinking 13 cups of it. wow. Each time you swipe the card, it tells you how much you have left too. INgenious.

After Mater Asturias I was shepherded to plaza del sol. This is essentially where all of the young kids in Oviedo go to drink and hang out and be loud and throw everything on the ground. You can get a "tocha" here, which is like a 24(deuce cuatro) of mahou beer, for 2euros. This one bar is the only place in the city where you can get them, and they look cool for some reason? After this noisy arena we went to some place called freaky, or loki, i don't remember, but at one of the places they had these neat drinks called torres, which you and a partner drink out of a straw. I began dancing sometime around then. With my eyes closed as usual. Collin and I walked forever back to his house arms around shoulders talking loudly in Englsh. It was a wonderful first night.

To kick off our Saturday morning, Mary, Collin, Sarah, and me went to Gijon: a small coastal city with a nice beach, harbour, and good seafood. We dined on croquetas, calimari, and ensalada mixta on the harbour. The bus ride there was about 20 minutes, and we happened to catch each bus RIGHT as it was getting there. It was a bit chilly on the water, and our stay was short, but it was nice to see the ocean again. The funniest thing that happened was when a kid from the table next to us abruptly left his table, walked next to Mary, and proceeded to cough directly into her face, and then get bitched out my his mom as she promptly apologized to us saying "such shame, such shame!"

Ah, Halloween. How wonderful you were. I hate/love to boast, but my costume was a friggin hit, and I had a blast in it. I dressed as an old Spanish man. This requires one to put talcum powder in your hair, wear an old cabby hat, sport a cane, a button up shirt, with a sweater tied over the top of it, and to top things off, stuffing a pillow in your shirt. I had a wicked fat belly that hung over my waist, and I looked absolutely absurd. I almost fail to mention that I had a newspaper tucked in my back pocket, and a bota (Spanish wine sack) full to the brim with a bottle of Riojan wine. It was perfect. We went to a girl named Kelly's apartment and had dinner, drinks, and a good assortment of costumes. We galavanted out into the night, and I managed to stain everything I was wearing with red wine, DJ in a bar we went in, smoke all of the cigarettes in the world, and pretty much party as hard as I could with a bunch of people I had just met. It was brilliant.

As if 2 towns and hardcore partying wasn't enough, me and the group went to Leon the following day for a bit of an lighter time. Jackson met us there, and he met all of my new friends before we headed out on the town. Leon is known for its tapas, and essentially if you order anything to drink, which is cheap, you get free food with it. We tried coquetas, pizza, salchicha, homemade potato chips, and many more while having small portioned glasses of wine. Our residence was a huge building full of students and travelers alike that costed barely nothing, but offered a stuffy room full of people that smelled like my old sweaty lacrosse pads. We woke up early to see some of the city, and after seeing the cathedral and some statues, we parted ways. It had been a wonderful time and I was sad to leave my friends, but the 4 hour ride back home had to happen. So Jack and I boarded out bus, and made it back to Ltown, where we have taken the past couple of days easy, and are preparing for another weekend of stories.

I will miss Oviedo