Life in the Sierra

Well I have realized after the past year that I am not a very good blogger.  My plan to write an entry every couple weeks has failed miserably.  The last time I wrote was just after I arrived in Siles.  At that point, I knew very little about the town and all I could give were my first impressions.  It's amazing to think that I've already been here for more than a month and a half.  Time has really passed quickly since I've been here.  It really does seem like I just arrived but I guess that is a good sign.  After spending a month and a half in Siles, I've found that there are some real advantages and disadvantages but before I get into the pros and cons let me give you a little more information about Siles, the in which I'm now living.  As I wrote previously, Siles is a small town that is located in the mountain range, Sierra de Segura which is in the Jaén province.  The town was surrounded by forests and it was originally an important site for the lumber industry.  Wood from the surrounding forests was used to build the ships that would sail from Spain to the Spanish colonies.  I found this to be an interesting connection to my home State of California.  With the decline of the lumber industry Siles has shrank significantly in size.  One look outside the window of my apartment will tell you the industry that is important to Siles today, olives.  Olive tree orchards stretch as far as the eye can see.  There have to be millions of Olive trees in the mountain ranges surrounding Siles.  In Spain like in Italy olives are extremely important because olive oil is used to cook almost everything here.  People around here like to boast that the best olive oil in the world come from Jaén.  They also claim that most of the "Italian" olive oil that is shipped to the US and other countries is grown and produced in Spain.  They say that the olive oil is then bought by Italian companies and marketed as Italian olive oil.  As a result of being where the alleged best olives in the world come from, I have eaten more olives after a month and a half in Siles than I have in the prior 25 years.

                                        View from my apartment of mountains and olive trees

So let's start with the advantages of living in a small town in Spain in the middle of the mountains.  The first advantage is the commute.  Last year, I had to travel in between Cuenca and Motilla del Palancar every day I had to work which ended up being 2 hours of commuting.  In Siles, I can get to my school in ten minutes on foot.  My commute time has majorly decreased.  Another advantage of Siles in living being in the middle of a National Forest.  Siles is not only surrounded by olive trees but also surrounded by pines trees and nature.  There are hundreds of trails to go hiking on and many beautiful small towns in the area that are nestled up in the mountains.  This past Saturday, I participated in a popular activity here in the Sierra, collecting wild mushrooms.  During the fall in Siles it seems that almost everybody heads out to the forest to look for wild mushrooms.  They grow in abundance here and many mushrooms are edible, although I would never go without a local because there are mushrooms here that are poisonous.  Saturday afternoon I came home with a half bucket full of mushrooms and later cooked them all.  I'm still standing so I must have picked the right ones!  My experience with the people from Siles, Sileños, has been quite similar to my experience in Cuenca.  People here have been so warm and welcoming to me just as they were in Siles.  Even if I meet someone for the first time, they usually offer to help with any problems or issues that might come up.  Similarly to Cuenca, people seem not only willing but excited about sharing their hometown and customs with a foreigner.  I think this has become my favorite part of Spain.  They've done a good job of spoiling me.

Although living in my new town has been a mostly positive experience there are some drawbacks.  One of these is being removed from all my wonderful friends that I made in both Cuenca and Motilla del Palancar.  Last year was an exceptional year for me and I established some great relationships with friends and colleagues at the school.  At times it has been hard being away from this support system that I had last year, but I'm already starting to make one of my own in Siles and I already have some great relationships with some of the people here.  Another disadvantage of Siles is the town is out in the middle of nowhere.  Although the area is beautiful, it is not very well connected with the rest of Spain.  If you don't have a car it's a little difficult to travel.  There is no train station and bus service to and from the town is rather limited.  I have been catching a lot of rides with my colleagues at the school since many of them travel on the weekend.  I've been able to find rides to many places in the area, which has made my life a lot easier.  I've even been able to catch rides to Motilla del Palancar.

Most weekends I've been traveling around the area.  One long weekend some of my friends from Cuenca came to visit me here in Siles.  We spent the weekend exploring the area, which included going to the town of Ubeda, which is a town about the size of Cuenca filled with old Renaissance style buildings.  Other weekends I made trips to Jaen, Cuenca and Zaragoza.

This Thursday is Thanksgiving!  As I discuss with my students the tradition of Thanksgiving and how the whole premise of the holiday is to give thanks, I realize this is something that I don't do enough on my own.  I'm truly lucky to have such wonderful friends and family in many parts all over the globe.   I have been able to have incredible experiences in many places whether it has been California, Ohio, Chile, Spain or somewhere else.  It has been the people that I have met and shared these experiences with that have made these experiences truly amazing.  So thank you to everyone!  I'm truly blessed that you have been a part of my adventures and look forward to the many adventures to come!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!
 

The Man (formerly) in La Mancha

Well it's hard to believe it but I'm back at it again.  After being back in California for almost three months then making a wedding trip out to Washington DC and a short jaunt to New York City, I'm back in Spain.  In some ways it feels like I never left Spain.  Upon arriving in Spain, I traveled directly to my old home Cuenca.  In Cuenca, I was able to pick up right where I left off with my friends.  It was very easy to get comfortable being in Spain again.  Coinciding with my arrival in Spain was the Catholic celebration of San Mateo or Saint Matthew.  San Mateo happens to be the Patron Saint of Cuenca.  If you have read any of my previous entrees then you might expect a such a celebration might entail...a big fiesta!  San Mateo is a four day celebration where pretty much the whole city of Cuenca and many outsiders head up the hill to the historic old town to celebrate.  The Plaza Mayor, the main plaza in old town, was completely packed with people by night fall (see picture below).  At about midnight each night some musical group would start playing a set and the music wouldn't stop until about four in the morning.  Another important aspect was the vaquilla.  This is a tradition that is somewhat similar to the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona.  One part of Old Town including the Plaza Mayor was fenced off.  For a couple hours at a time, a cow would pass through this area.  It was not quite as intense the Running of the Bulls because there was only one cow and it had to ropes tied to its horns which were held by two big men.  The men did not have complete control over the cow but they definitely could slow it down.  The first time I went up to Old Town, I almost got myself in trouble when I unknowingly walked into the area where the cow was.  I soon figured things out when a large pack of people started running down the towards me yelling "Viene la vaca."  I did not wait around to see the animal and got out of there quick! 

Although I'm going to be doing the same program this year that I did last year, there are many things that are different this year.  After having a one of the best times of my life living in Cuenca last year, I decided that it would be a good idea to return since I had an option to spend a second year in the Auxiliares de Conversación program.  This plan was upended soon by the massive cuts that have been made to education this year in Spain, especially in Castilla La Mancha.  The government of the Autonomous Community decided to discard the Auxiliares program as a way to cut costs.  Luckily, not all regions had decided to completely toss-out the program and Andulucía quickly accepted me to their program.  Instead of Cuenca, I'm now living and working in Siles, Jaén.  Siles is a very small town of about 2500 inhabitants located in the beautiful Sierra de Segura mountain range and right next to the Cazorla National Park.  I was initially disappointed with not getting the opportunity to return to Cuenca this year.  It was hard knowing that I would not again be living with all the friends I had made in Cuenca.  These friends, along with my work colleagues had become my big Spanish family and took great care of me.  I am slowly warming up to the idea of living in Siles.  I have been in the town for only two days but I'm already starting to like the town.  It is extremely picturesque and completely surrounded by mountains and nature.  I have only met a few Sileños but they've all been kind and welcoming. I'm coming to realize that my placement in Siles is just another way for me to get the most out of this unique opportunity that has been given to me.  It be will just the newest chapter in this grand adventure that I have been living.  I'll continue to keep you all informed along the way!  I send you happiness and good thoughts to wherever you might be reading this from!

Buenas noches

                                           The San Mateo celebration in Cuenca, Spain

Super Week...Semana Santa

Well I survived Semana Santa in Spain.  For a while I wasn't sure if I would but fortunately I did.  It probably was one of the busiest weeks of my life and up there with one of the best.  In Spain, Semana Santa or Holy Week (the week leading up to Easter). Here it is a big deal.  Every town and city in Spain has some sort of celebration during Semana Santa.  The celebrations usually last the entire week.  Many of these celebrations hold historical significance because they have been going on for hundreds of years.
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My Semana Santa began on Friday when I finished with class.  After I finished, I went straight to Madrid with my work friends Sara and Rosa.  The next day my cousin Michael was due to arrive in Madrid.  Michael had astutely worked out his vacation time so he could come visit in Spain and explore Europe with me for a week.  Early Saturday morning, I went to the airport to pick up Michael hence beginning our European adventure.  It was great to see Michael in Europe.  He was the first family member to come visit me out here in Spain.  After leaving the airport, went straight into tourist mode.  The nice thing about Madrid is that the majority of the sights are located close together  in the historic city center.  The first thing we went to go see was the Plaza Mayor, which is a beautiful walled-in plaza in the center of Madrid.  We also took in many of the popular sites in Madrid later that afternoon and went to the Prado, which is a famous Spanish art museum in Madrid.  That weekend in Madrid, my Irish friend from Cuenca Brian, was also hosting some of his friends from England.  We were able to meet up with each other and Saturday night we were able to experience some of the nightlife in Madrid.  The next day we went to watch to see a soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Getafe, two of the lesser-known soccer teams of Madrid.  The game was the one of the most exciting matches I've been to.  Although the crowd wasn't crazy, it was very into the game which kept things exciting.  We saw luckily saw lots of goals, three to be exact, including one from Falcao, the Colombian star from Athletic.  We spent rest of the afternoon enjoying the warm weather and exploring parts of the city we had yet to see.

 Michael and I at the Athletic soccer match

 
Monday, Michael and I went back to the airport to hop on our plane to Paris, France.  I was excited so see Paris because I had heard so much about the city and I had not yet had the chance to go to France.  The only thing I was a little nervous about was the language.  I have no ability to communicate in French whatsoever and I was told that Parisians were not the friendliest of people when you could not speak their language.  Once we got into Paris, we went directly to our hotel to check-in.  The hotel turned out to be a little seedy and not the cleanest in the world but it was cheap.  We were rarely in our rooms the whole time in Paris anyway.  After checking in, we were off exploring again.  One thing we learned quickly was Paris a lot more spread out than Madrid.  After Michael and I looked at a map, we calculated that we could walk from our hotel to the Louvre in about twenty minutes.  Our calculation was a little off, because trip actually took an hour and a half.  Our first night in Paris, Michael and I bought some food at a supermarket and carried it with us to the Eiffel Tower.  Even though I have seen millions of photos of the Eiffel Tower, nothing compares to seeing it lit up at night in person.  It was a spectacular sight!

The next day we woke up and got right back to exploring Paris.  We went to go see Notre Dame, which was impressive.  We also ate lunch in and explored the Latin Quarter.  Then we head back to the Eiffel Tower to climb to the top.  Michael and I decided to skip the wait for the elevator and take the stairs.  We got a little bit of a work out but it was not as bad as I had expected it to be.  Once we made it to the top, the view made the climb well worth it.  We were lucky and had a pretty clear day so we could see the entire city!  From the tower, you could see why Paris is such a big tourist destination.  It seemed as if every building and street in the city was beautiful and well-kept.  Later that evening, we met up with my friend Cristina, who I had met in Salamanca for a drink.  She is Spanish and working as a Spanish Language Assistant in Paris.  It was great to see her and hear about Paris from someone who is actually living there.

I've grown a bit...

Wednesday was our last day in Paris.  We spent the entire morning exploring the massive and famous Louvre Museum.  I was amazed by the size of the museum.  There were countless countless corridors that seemed to go for miles.  The building that the museum is situated in was once a royal palace.  As you might imagine, the building is beautiful with intricate designs and paintings on the ceilings and walls.  Although you need a whole week to see the Louvre in its entirety, Michael and I were able to see the majority of the well-known paintings and sculptures in the museum.  We saw the Mona Lisa, of course, but it was a lot smaller than I had expected.  It was also a bit difficult to see because it was behind a layer of glass and there was a huge crowd of people in front of the painting.  After the Louvre we went to neighborhood of Monmartre and to the Basilque du Sacre Coeur, which is the famous white church that sits on the top of the hill.  Probably the most impressive thing about the church was its view of the city.  The surrounding area, although quite touristy , was an artsy neighborhood that was fun to explore.  Michael and I ordered some delicious crepes to eat since we hadn't done that yet.  After our short excursion to Monmartre, we headed back to the airport and back to Spain.

Although Paris was beautiful and I loved the city, it was nice to be back in Spain where things were familiar again and I could speak the language.  After seeing the grand cities of Madrid and Paris, it was time to show Michael the grand city of Cuenca.  Like I said early, most towns in Spain have big Semana Santa traditions.  The celebrations in Cuenca are particularly famous.  Everyday, long and painstakingly slow processions pass through the streets of Cuenca.  Each procession represents a part of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ.  Through these processions, the Crucifixion and Resurrection are reenacted.  The first afternoon Michael, my friends from Cuenca and I went to go see one of the processions.  At first it was a little shocking to see the processions for Michael and I because the participants are dressed in tunics and hoods that are basically identical to what was worn by the KKK.  The only differences is they wear a variety of colors.  In the processions, there are hundreds of participants dressed in this fashion and are accompanied by marching bands.  Probably the most peculiar thing about about these processions is some participants carry huge statues that represent Jesus and other parts of the story.  These statues weigh hundreds pounds so it takes many people to carry them and many times the processions last up 6 hours!  That night we all went to see the procession called Las Turbas, which is the most famous procession in Cuenca.  It starts at 4 am on Friday morning.  We arrived a half hour early to wait for the procession to pass, but unfortunately it never came.  The procession was canceled because of rain and even a bit of snow!

Procession in Cuenca

Saturday morning, I went with Michael to the airport in Madrid and sent him on his way back to the US of A.  It was great having him out here to visit and although he was exhausted and sore from walking so much (I was too), I think he enjoyed his visit!

My Semana Santa was not quite finished yet.  After leaving the airport, I hopped on a train to take me to Tobarra where my roommates Salva and Jesus are from.  In their town, they have a very different tradition during Semana Santa.  On the Wednesday of Semana Santa, the entire town puts on a tunic and straps on the a drum.  They then play the drums nonstop until Sunday at midnight.  Once I arrived in Tobarra, I ate and then it was time to drum.  I put on my own tunic, strapped on my drum and headed to the street with my roommates and my friends.  For me, Saturday and Sunday were basically two days of one big drumming party.  I slept little and drummed a lot.  There were also processions in Tobarro and on Sunday we watched the procession, which is the most important one.  Then on Sunday at about 11:30 PM, the whole town gathered in the main square using all the energy they had left to bang out a few more cadences.  Then when the clock struck twelve, the town became instantly silent.  It was a very cool thing to experience and although I was exhausted, I'm glad that I was able to experience it.  I met a lot of interesting people and even made some new friends.  Finally on Monday, we were in the car heading back to Cuenca and ready for some sleep!  Well it was an action-packed Semana Santa but probably one of the most exciting weeks I've ever had.

Salva, Jesus and I

(I don't wanna work, I just want to bang on my drum all day)

March in La Mancha

Well it has been a very busy month of March here in Castilla-La Mancha.  This is one of the reasons that I haven't written a blog entry in over a month or maybe it's just a excuse for slacking.  Either way, I have had an action packed month here in Spain.

Let's start with work:  Well things at IES Jorge Manrique (the school that I have been working at) have been going well.  I feel very lucky to be working where I am.  I have become good friends with many of the faculty and staff at the school and I feel that I'm appreciated by the teachers that I am working with.  The kids are good too.  Some days they can be a little unruly but hey they're normal Middle School/High School aged kids.  They seem to enjoy having me in class with them.  My experience has been so good that I've applied to return to the exact place next year.

March was a month for traveling around Cuenca and Spain.  The first weekend in March Brian, Martina, I and our Italian friends Gianni and Stefano rented a car together and road-tripped to a small city called Salamanca.  Salamanca is a college town if not the college town in Spain.  One of Spain's most prestigious and oldest universities is located in Salamanca.  It is obvious that life in the town revolves around the university, which was literally in the center of everything.  The town was packed with college students from all over the world.  After arriving, Salamanca quickly became one of my favorite places in Spain.  Beautiful ancient buildings could be found around every street corner.  While in Salamanca, we stayed with Martina's friend Ana.  She graciously took all five us in and had somehow found a place for all of us to sleep plus two more on Saturday night.   The whole day Saturday we explored the city, which as you might be able to tell I really enjoyed.  That night Ana and her friends gave us an introduction into the nightlife of Salamanca.  As you would expect in a college town, there were plenty of bars to choose from and there were even more students packing all the bars full.  It almost was intimidating after being in small-town Cuenca for so long!  Sadly, Sunday we had to head back to Cuenca.  I hope to one day be back in Salamanca!

The following weekend I received some very special visitors.  My friends Jessica and Kevin came down to visit me from Bilbao and oh yeah my good friend Amy made the short trip out from Pullman, WA to visit all three of us.  It was great to have some of my best friends from San Jose in Cuenca.  One of the worst thing about being here in Spain is that I am so far away from my friends and family back in the US.  So the rest of you need to get out here and visit me!  It was so wonderful spending time with Kevin, Jess and Amy!  Although my Spanish has improved a lot this year, you just can't joke around and communicate the same way you are able to in your mother tongue.  It was nice to be speaking English for a little bit again!  For the weekend I got to play tour guide for my friends, although I must admit I wasn't a very good one.  I have not really visited many of the museums in Cuenca, so my tours commonly consisted of "And this is such and such museum.  They say it's pretty nice, but I've never been."  The part of tour where I believe that I excelled was showing all three of them the best bars in town.  I have considerable experience in that area.  The weekend was full of laughs and I believe Kevin, Jessica and Amy had a great time.

After the visit from my buddies from San Jose, I had another unique Spanish experience.  As I might have mentioned before, two of my roommates are from a small town in Albacete named Tobarra.  In Tobarra, they have a tradition of playing drums during Holly Week (the week before Easter).  This tradition is not exclusive to Tobarra, many other small towns in Spain have similar traditions during Holy Week.  To celebrate these percussive traditions, all the towns who like to bang their drums go to a drumming festival called the Exaltacion.  Each year the location of the festival is held in a different town.  This year the festival was held in a town called Alcora, which is north of Valencia.  It is quite safe to say that before that weekend I have never drummed as much as I did in my life; it is quite possible that I never spent as many consecutive hours on my feet too.  I went to the festival with my roommate and drum enthusiast, Salva.  We arrived in Alcora on Friday late in the afternoon.  After eating a late lunch/early dinner, we put on our tunics, strapped on our drums and headed to the streets.  The festival was a very unique experience.  Each town had their own "costume."  I wore a purple tunic with a white scarf that is typical Holy Week garb in Tobarra.  My favorite outfit was one from a town from the South, which appeared to be a Roman military outfit.  It was something akin to the uniforms of the USC Marching Band.  In addition to the variety of outfits, each town had their own style of drum and their own cadences.  The atmosphere was wonderful because people were happy to teach you the cadences from their town and sometimes they would even let you play their drum.  Saturday, we spent nearly 20 hours drumming.  We strapped on our drums around noon on Saturday and we did not finally return to our house until 9 am on Sunday morning.  It was insane and I'm not sure how I was able to survive the weekend.  In the end, Salva and I went back to Cuenca with our heads hurting, ears ringing and our hands burning but it was well worth it.

The last weekend of March was spent back in Cuenca.  Since in Spain you can never relax too much on Saturday, I organized a party for all the people working as a Language Assistant in the Province of Cuenca and my friends who are living in Cuenca.  Each person who came was supposed bring a typical dish from their country.  At the party, we had people from Ireland, Germany, France, Spain and Italy.  I was the lone representative from the United States.  There was plenty of excellent food.  We had Crepes, Spanish tortilla, Pasta salad, Sangria, deviled eggs and a delicious Irish pizza.  I made one of my Mom's brownie recipes and guacamole.  I also bought some Budweiser that I found at the supermarket.  Since here Budweiser is an import beer, it's way more expensive than it should be.  After stuffing ourselves with the food and drink, we went out to some of the bars here in Cuenca.  It was a great night and I think everybody at the party enjoyed themselves.

Now I have a couple days of rest before I hit the road again.  Next week is Holy Week (the week before Easter) and it also  happens to be our Spring Break.  My cousin Michael is flying from DC Madrid on Saturday and then we will be seeing Madrid, Paris and Cuenca in just six days.  It should be as action packed as was the month of March!

Happy Easter to everyone and I hope to hear from all of you in the near future!

Live from Castilla La Mancha it's...

Usually when people come to Spain they go to the typical tourist destinations: Madrid, Sevilla, Valencia and Barcelona.  Well up to this point I have spent little time in Madrid and have not been to Valencia, Barcelona nor Sevilla. While in Spain, I have been taking the road a little less traveled.  Instead of spending weekends in Valencia and Barcelona, I have been visiting towns like Tobarra and Torralba.

A couple weeks ago I went to Tobarra, the hometown of a couple of my roommates.  My roommates, Salva and Jesus (who goes by Pirri), are from Tobarra which is about four hours South of Cuenca.  Tobarra is a small town of about 7,000 inhabitants and it is known for its Easter Week celebrations.  In these celebrations, tobarreños can be found in the streets playing the drums all day and all night.  Being in Tobarra was quite an experience.  Since it is a small town, word got around quickly that Pirri and Salva were living with an American.  The whole weekend I felt like somewhat like a celebrity.  Some of Salva and Pirris' friends would come up to me and say "You must be Tyler!"  I must admit I did like the attention, especially when it was from the tobarreñas (the girls).  My first night in Tobarra, I went out with to eat dinner and then out to the bars with Salva's friends.  The next day there was a good-bye party for one of Salva's friends, who was heading to Poland to spend a semester abroad.  Almost all of Salva's good friends were there as well as many of Pirri's friends.  I really enjoyed getting to know all of them.  They made me feel like an honorary tobarreño.

And if I thought the Tobarra was small, well Torralba made Tobarra seems like Madrid.  Whereas Tobarra is a pueblo of 7,000 inhabitants, Torralba is a town with only 170.  Now you are probably wonder why I would to decide to visit Torralba, when I could've gone to Barcelona or even to the beach in Valencia.  Well, the mountains that surround Torralba are filled with ancient man-made caves.  These caves have been used for hundreds and maybe even thousands of years to make wine.  It so happens that Martina's roommate Yayo, who is also a friend of mine is from Torralba.  She has been telling us all year that we have to come to Torralba one day in February when the caves are open to the public.  We took her advice and we went to Torralba to see these famous caves.  The day started at 10 where we were served a hearty breakfast of bread and chorizo (sausage).  After breakfast we climbed the hill to go visit the caves.  Currently, there are 28 caves in Torralba where wine is made.  We only made it to about five of these but everybody there made sure our wine cups remained full.  The whole day was awesome!  At every cave we were given wine to try and the owner of the cave usually would talk to us about their wine.  Yayo's father owns a cave and he gave us the complete tour of the cave and explained the wine-making process to us.  The wine-making process that they use in the caves is completely natural no chemicals or electricity is used.  While touring the caves we got to meet what felt like the whole town of Torralba and even others who were visiting like us. It was an experience that I don't think you could find anywhere outside of Castilla-La Mancha!

London Town

I had decided to spend my second half of the Christmas vacation in London.  Sam, my roommate of four years at Wooster, had moved out to London so I thought it would be fun to see him and other Wooster people that are now living in London.  Since it was my first time in England, I was really looking forward to exploring the city.  It was also nice to being in an English-speaking country since it had been a little while I was in one.  I had to get used to the accent and some of the different words and phrase, but I had a good time learning the differences.

I arrived in London late on the night of the 30th.  That night I met up with Sam and his friends.  The next day Sam and I met up with our friend Meghana, who is also now living and studying in London.  The last time we had hung-out together was almost two years ago in Wooster, Ohio.  Now we were having coffee together on the other side of the world.  It was great seeing both of them!  One thing that I enjoyed in London was the variety of food you could find there.  Although Cuenca has some really good restaurants, pretty it’s hard to restaurants that serve food other than Spanish food.

That evening I brought in the New Year with Meghana and her friends.  Sam was not able to join us because he had to bartend that evening.  Originally we had planned to head down to the center of London, near Big Ben and the Parliament building to watch the fireworks.  Due to the bad weather, we decided to stay at Meghana’s place and celebrate the New Year there.  At midnight, we went up to the roof of the apartment buildings and watch the fireworks from there.  It ended up being cool because we could see the fireworks over Big Ben as well as other fireworks throughout the city.

Over the next few days, I played tourist in London.  Sam had to work during the days, so I went out on my own and explored the city.  I was able to see a lot of the city over those few days.  I saw all the famous landmarks like Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and The Tower Bridge (which I thought was called the London Bridge but that’s another one).  I also went into the British Museum, which had various artifacts from all over the world.  One day Sam and I even went to see Emirates Stadium of the Arsenal football club.  I really came to like London.  One of the things that stood me to me was the diversity.  It reminded me a lot of California and San Francisco.  The only thing that I was not a fan of was the weather.  It rained pretty much everyday I was there.  It was a good thing that Meghana had let me borrow her umbrella!  London is a huge city, so although I saw a good part of the city, I would really like to return to see more.

During the evenings, I usually met up with Sam.  A couple nights, Sam’s brother cooked dinner for us.  He made two delicious meals which was a great way to recharge after walking through the city all day.  Another night we met up with another friend from Wooster.  Lisa, who graduated a year ahead of me at Wooster, was also living and working in London.  We met up with her and her cousin and went to a blues bar in the center of the city.  The band was great and they played some American and English blues and rock and roll classics.  On the last night we met up with another Sam from Wooster, who was also living in London.  We went to bar where they served Belgium beer.  We had a great time catching-up and talking about the good ol’ Wooster days.  Afterwards we headed to a bar that was hundreds of years old.  It was apparently a favorite bar of some famous English writers.

After being in England for a week, I was on my way back to Spain.  I had liked England and Germany a lot but I was happy to go back to my European home.  I was tired after two weeks of travelling, so I was ready to get some rest.

Christmas in Deustchland

 

For this Christmas I did something that I haven’t done in many years, celebrate Christmas away from San Jose, CA.  I think the last time that I was outside of San Jose for Christmas was a Christmas that I spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana well over 10 years ago.  Leading up to Christmas time, I was a little sad knowing that I wouldn’t be able to see all my friends and family in California.  Luckily, I was still able to see some family while in Europe.  My cousin Emily lives in Ulm, Germany (not too far from Munich).  Not only would I be able to see Emily and her family but Eric, my brother, was also in Germany for the holidays visiting his girlfriend Franzi.

My Christmas holiday really started the 23^rd of December.  That was technically the last day of class at my school but most students generally don’t come to class that day because most students receive their grades that day and then go home.  Since we had somewhat of a free day, we decided to organize a soccer tournament between the teachers and students of the bilingual program.  We had one team of professors, one team of first-years and two teams of second-year students.  I went into the games thinking that playing a bunch of 12 and 13 year old students would be a breeze but what do you know little Spanish kids are quite talented soccer players.  Maybe there’s a reason why they a currently world champions.  In the end, the teachers prevailed.  We had some stiff competition but being twice height and weight of our opponents did play into our favor. 

That evening, I boarded my plane and I was off to Germany.  In Germany, I was to stay with Emily, her husband Andi and her two children Louis and Madeleine.  I arrived late on Friday night and once home Andi welcomed me to Germany with some good German beer.  The next day was the Christmas Eve day.  Louis and Madeleine were extremely excited and energetic because in Germany they open presents on Christmas Eve.  That evening both Louis and Madeleine were very content with the presents that Santa had brought them.  Santa somehow found me in Europe too and brought me a Kindle, which is a very cool gift and will make travelling a lot easier!  On Christmas day we headed down the road to the house of Andi and Emily’s Canadian friends.  They had prepared a huge delicious meal for us that included goose.  There was also plenty good drink to go with the food.  I was able to try some good beer and drink some gluvine, which is warm spiced wine.  It’s a traditional German beverage for the holidays and it is the perfect thing to warm you up.  The night before, I had made a batch of eggnog for the party.  I borrowed my mother’s receipt but was unaware that the recipe yielded five liters of eggnog.  It is safe to say that I made enough eggnog to last Emily, Andi and their friends well into the New Year.

On Monday, I had been invited to have a second Christmas meal with Eric, Franzi and her family in Munich.  In Germany they really extend the Christmas holiday by celebrating over three days.  Franzi’s father owns a restaurant in Munich so we all ate there.  On the menu again was goose, which was fine with me because I found it to be very good.  After another huge but scrumptious meal, Eric and I took the train into the center of Munich to explore.  Eric had already been to Munich and was somewhat familiar with the city.  We walked through the old town and climbed the tower of one of the oldest churches in the city.  We lucked out because we had a clear day, which is apparently rare for Munich this time of year, and were able to see the Alps from the tower.  After walking through old town Munich, Eric and I walked to one of the famous beer gardens in the English Gardens.  We also found our way to the stadium of the Munich soccer teams.  Later that evening we returned to Franzi’s father’s restaurant and talked with some of Franzi’s friends over a few drinks.

The next day, Eric, Franzi and I travelled back to Ulm so Eric could see Emily, Andi and the kids.  We walked through Ulm together and enjoyed some untypical warm winter weather.  Keeping with the theme of the week, we had another huge and delicious meal in a restaurant in Ulm.  That evening we said goodbye to Eric and Franzi, as they had to head back to Munich because they were due to travel to Stockholm the next day.  Wednesday we met up again with the Canadians and drove to Stuttgart.  In Stuttgart there is a Porsche museum.  The museum is packed with cars dating back from the 1920’s all the way up to present day.  I found it interesting to see how much Porsches have changed over the years.  Later that day, we went to go see the movie Puss in Boots, which was actually very entertaining.  On Thursday, we drove out to the country to visit Andi’s parents.  We had, as you might have guessed, another big and tasty meal.  Communicating with them was fun because we spoke a strange mix of Spanish, English and German to understand each other. 

Now I’m sitting in the Munich airport getting ready to fly to London for another week.  I’m exhausted but happy that I came out to Germany.  There is still a lot I would like to see in this country and even in Munich, so maybe I’ll come back soon!

Happy New Year to my friends and family back in the US and around the world!  I hope this New Year brings joy and happiness to everyone!