The land of waffles, windmills and good beer

I just recently returned from my latest adventures.  It seems in Spain we have a holiday every other week, which is great for my travel plans.  This past week I had whole week off but the rest of Spain wasn't so lucky.  Since most Spanish holidays have fixed dates, like Halloween, they tend to fall on strange days.  Last week Tuesday, Thursday and Friday were holidays but on Monday and Wednesday the rest of Spain still had to work and go to school.  Fortunately I don't work at my school on Mondays and Wednesdays, so I cancelled my private classes and had the entire week off, two weeks before Xmas break I might add.  To take advantage of this extended vacation I traveled up to northern Europe with Jessica, Kevin (my friends who from San Jose who are doing the same program but in Bilbao), their roommate Piper and Jessica's friend Maria who met up with us in the middle of her solo trip across Asia and Europe.  Jessica being the organized person that she is basically planned the trip for us by booking apartments, hostels and bus trips.  All I had to do was show up!

The first place we visited was Brussels in Belgium.  I arrived Saturday, a day after the rest of the group.  Upon leaving the airport, I immediately noticed that Brussels was different.  I was not in Spain anymore.  The first noticeable difference was the architecture.  Brussels had hundreds of old elegant buildings that were very different from the Arabic style architecture in Spain.  Brussels felt very much like old Europe.  Another difference was the people.  Brussels seemed to be a very international city with people living there from all over the globe.  In Brussels, we rented a single room apartment with a loft for all three of us.  It was a nice apartment close to the center of the city.  The only problem was there were only two beds for the five of us.  Fortunately we were able to make it work.  After I settled into the apartment we decided to see what Belgium night life had to offer.  We found a cool bar/club where we stayed and danced for a while, then continued to bar hop until the wee hours of the morning.  It was definitely a blast but it made getting up early the next morning to explore the city a tad difficult.  Saturday morning when I finally got going.  I met up with the rest of the gang at a Christmas market in the center of Brussels.  The Christmas market was lined with shops that were selling all sorts of good foods and drink.  Up until this point had not felt like Christmas but being in Brussels with the cold weather, the Christmas markets and the decorations it started to feel like Christmas.

The next day we traveled to a small town called Brugge that was an hour outside of Brussels.  The town seemed to be something out of a fairytale.  Old brick houses lined the streets and plazas, while canals crisscrossed the town.  Throughout the town, there were a four old towers that made the town feel like a castle.  We spent the whole day exploring the town and eating good food.  My favorite part of the day was stopping at a bar to have some beer.  This was not just any bar.  The bar had a beer list that was a book that was more than an inch thick, basically a Bible of beer.  We each ordered two beers at this bar and shared them amongst ourselves.  I ordered two Christmas ales from Belgium breweries.  The beer there was no question the best I beer I've ever had.

On Tuesday, we left our apartment and were on the bus to Amsterdam, or as I was calling it Hamster-man.  Maria left us to continue on with the last leg of her Euroasian trip.  I must admit that before going to Europe, Amsterdam wasn't high on my list of places I wanted to visit.  I basically expected Amsterdam to be like Las Vegas.  As I soon learned, this was not the case at all.  Like Brussels, Amsterdam was a beautiful city.  Beautiful old houses stood on the edges of canals that went throughout the city.  The city seemed to have a lot culture and a forward-thinking attitude.  It reminded me somewhat of San Francisco.  There appeared to be lots of young people living there, who navigated the whole city on a bikes.  I've never seen so many in my life.  All the bikes made it very difficult to cross the street.

We spent most of our time just walking through the city and seeing the different monuments, buildings and various markets that were in the city.  One day we went to the Anne Frank house, where she and her family hid from the Nazis.  I had not realized before that the house was in Amsterdam.  It was a little bit sad and depressing to think about that part of history but it was very interesting to be in the actual house where they successfully hid from their eventual captors for so many years.  On a lighter note, we visited a brewery in Amsterdam that was in a windmill.  The beer there was not quite as good as the beer we had in Belgium but none the less it was tasty.  We also did go through the Red Light district a few times.  I never got used to seeing the girls behind the windows.  It always was a little strange to me.  For our last night in Amsterdam we went to a bar that was near our hostel.  The bar was supposed to be like an American blues bar.  It had a live band that was playing the old blues and rock and roll classics.  As you might have imagined, I really enjoyed it!  Well that is about it after another successful trip in Europe.  I have two weeks of work and then will be heading to Germany for Christmas and London for New Years!

Happy Holidays!!!

Aren't you glad you're not a turkey...

Although I have spent Thanksgiving away from home a number of times, I had never spent Thanksgiving outside of the United States.  I must it admit it was strange and also a bit depressing to be in a country where the holiday is not celebrated at all.  On Thanksgiving Day, I went to my school in Motilla del Palancar like pretty much any other day.  The major difference was I talked about Thanksgiving with my students.  In a couple of classes I taught my students how to make hand turkeys and talked with them about the things they were thankful for.  The highlight was probably teaching them the "Happy Thanksgiving Song," which was an Open Sing classic at Washington Open Elementary School.  In one of the classes, we talked extensively about what it meant to be thankful for something and why it was important to let the people around you know that you appreciate them.  This was quite rewarding to know that these students went home knowing that Thanksgiving means more than eating lots of turkey.

I did not want to miss out on the Thanksgiving meal, so I decided to prepare one myself.  For me, this was quite an undertaking because my culinary skills are quite limited.  I wasn't able to find a turkey so I had to substitute it for a chicken.  With the help of my Mom's recipes and the help of one of my roommates Salva, who actually knows what he's doing in the kitchen, I was able to produce a Thanksgiving feast.  Not only was I able to make the food but it was actually believe it or not...good!  I prepared the feast for my roommates and some of my friends here in Cuenca.  A lot of them had never celebrated Thanksgiving (I'm the only American of the group), so it was very cool to share such a unique American tradition with them.

This is quite belated but Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!! I am very thankful that I know everyone of you and that you are somehow part of my life!

And since it is December already...Happy Holidays as well!

Surprise Party!

Well I realize that has been quite a few weeks since my last entree, so let me get you caught up to speed with what is happening here in Spain.  Since the last post, I made a short jaunt down to southern Spain for a weekend with Brian and Martina.  One of Brian's college friends is working as an English Language and Cultural Assistant in Almeria.  Almeria is a small sized city (large compared to Cuenca) on the southern coast of the Mediterranean.  Brian's friend Katrina was celebrating her birthday and Brian wanted to go make a surprise visit.  Martina and I being the adventurous people that we are decided to accompany Brian in his surprise visit to Almeria.  While planning the trip, we realized that taking either the train or the bus to the South would be both long and expensive.  We figured out that it would be faster and just a little more expensive if we rented a car and divided the price between the three of us.  Renting a car turned out to be a good choice but the only major drawback was Martina got stuck with all the driving, since Brian does not drive and I can't drive stick shift.  So Martina was our chauffeur for the weekend.

Upon arriving in Almeria, we immediately noticed that it was quite a bit warmer than Cuenca.  People were out walking around and wearing shirt sleeve shirts at midnight.  It had been about a month since I had worn a shirtsleeve shirt outside of my apartment.  The warmer weather was welcomed by all three of us and we enjoyed it all through the weekend.  Another difference that I noted while in Almeria was the variation in architecture from Cuenca.  In Almeria, there seemed to be a lot more Arabic-style architecture than there is in Cuenca.  I believe this can be attributed to Moorish rule in Spain and its concentration in the South.  In fact, there is a massive Moorish fortress that is in Almeria.  The last major difference in Almeria was the accent.  The Spaniards in Almeria were a lot more difficult to understand and spoke a lot less clear than our Manchego friends.  It reminded me somewhat of the Chilean accent.

Saturday afternoon Brian, Martina and I headed to a replica Old West Town outside of Almeria.  You might think it is strange that there is an Old West (as in American West) in Spain, but in fact many famous Western movies were filmed near Almeria.  As we drove to the replica town, I began to realize why they chose Almeria.  The landscape of Almeria was spectacular.  It was a very dry landscape with huge jagged mountains that protruded from the ground.  It reminded my of Arizona and a bit of Southern California.  The town itself was a little bit cheesy and felt a little bit like a tourist trap but we still enjoyed the afternoon there.  We grabbed a drink at the saloon and watched a short Cowboy reenactment with bad acting but cute cowboys (according to Martina).  That evening was the birthday celebration for Katrina.  There were tons of Language Assistants in Almeria.  At Katrina's party I met Assistants from England, Australlia and Germany.  It was great to get to share experience with these people.  I had a blast at the party with the new people I met.  Afterwards, we went to some dance clubs and bars and ended up staying out to 8 am the next morning like true Spaniards!

Sunday was a day of rest and recuperation for the Assistants from Cuenca.  In the afternoon, we met up with some of our new friends from the night before and had a late lunch.  After eating, we were able to explore the city a little bit.  The next day we got up early and got on the road for Cuenca and the cold weather.