Southern (Spain) Style Christmas (Acho!)

No matter how many Christmas lights, carols and red carpets were laid around the city, it still didn't keep me from feeling blue during Christmas.

Knowing that I'll only be living in this flat for a short period of time and everything I buy here, I'll have to take with me in the same two suitcases I brought, make it very difficult to decorate my flat the way I'd like. Considering I love to decorate for EVERY holiday to really get a feeling of each holiday spirit, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas were all feeling the same in my home. Just normal days. Nothing special.

This all changed when one day I received a notice that I had a package from the USA delivered to my apartment. This was strange because all of my family knew to send any packages to my school. From who and what was this mystery package? Well after a weekend, festival and one Correos imbecile later I realized the package at some point was delivered to the office at my building.. that no one is ever in!! Inside this package were a bunch of American goodies such as hot cocoa, instant oatmeal, hamburger helper, TWIZZLERS and best of all a little Christmas tree. Thanks to my two great friends Chelsea and Michelle for the Christmas spirit. I then started cutting and pasting together hand-made decorations that the kids in my classes taught me how to make.

Christmas gifts from Chelsea and Michelle

Despite all of this, Christmas was still found to be missing here. A friend of mine told me that here in the north it is normal for the people to have big celebrations for holidays but these celebrations are almost always closed to only family members. So every time someone asked me what I was going to do for Christmas and my response was “I guess I'll be alone” the conversation stopped there.

The tower in Valencia

Right about this time, my friend Candace from The States (who is also in this program but in the south) and I decided to spend Christmas together. I bought my plane ticket and a few days later started the journey to visit her. Starting by (step 1) leaving my place at 6:30 a.m to catch the bus to the airport. My flight left right on time (step 2) and I arrived in Valencia late morning. I had about 4.5 hours to kill in Valencia so I took advantage of that time and used my guidebook to hit up some incredible world heritage sites and of course Starbucks! The 3.5 hour bus ride from Valencia to Murcia capital (step 3) wasn't too bad except for when I thought I was about to be left at one of the stops because there was a line for the bathroom and then someone took my seat on the bus. Thankfully (rolling me eyes) I had 1.5 hours to wait at the Murcia bus station for the next bus (step 4) to Aguilas. Por fin, I arrived in Aguilas and was warmly greeted by Candace and two of her good friends, Thomas and Javi.

At the top of the tower is this beautiful bell

 

And so began my great Christmas excursion! Candace and I had about 4 days together and we rode bikes, hiked along the coast, watched Spanish TV, studied spanish and talked about our future plans. With her friends Javi and Nacho, we went cruising through the mountains and along the coast to some of the greatest views. We had dinners and coffee with her group of friends that lasted hours!

Nacho loves his car

Javi, Nacho, Candace and me

I'll tell you this is something I have really come to enjoy about the Spanish culture, that people come together and stay for awhile, really listening and talking and spending time to get to know one another. Making time for friends and family is very important here. Hours can pass by without anyone checking their phone or watch.

Javi wanted to make paella for me as soon as I arrived

As Nochebuena/Christmas Eve arrived, we realized everyone has a grand meal with their family on this night so naturally Candace and I had “taco night.” I'm not sure if the following is a southern custom or an Augilas custom, after the dinner its customary to grab a bottle of champagne and head to the main square to spend time with your friends. I'm assuming because of the cold and the grand opening of a new club, we all went there instead.

Aguilas coast

Christmas with Candace was spot on, we slept in, went for a sunset cruise on the bikes and then did our best at making a full Christmas dinner. We made green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, and fried chicken! For dessert I whipped up some chocolate covered peanut butter balls!! Super tasty!! With the addition of some great red wine and semi-sweet champagne and the company of her friend Javi, the night was a complete success.

It wasn't until we settled down to start the skype marathon with our families that I couldn’t hold myself together anymore. Seeing all of my family together without me was very difficult. I knew it was my choice not to be home during this time but knowing all of the laughter and tears and Christmas surprises were still happening without me was rough. I wanted to stay here and explore more of Spain and this was the perfect opportunity to do so, however in that moment, it was very hard to tell that to myself.

Christmas dinner

Christmas dessert of course!

Yes, we study and drink wine at the same time

 

Two girls having fun

The time with Candace quickly ran out after Christmas. What an amazing and memorable experience I had with her and with all of her friends. 

Our hike along the coast

Playa de Carolina

The icing on the cake was on the day we both we leaving Aguilas for more travel. We arrived in Lorca to change buses and trains to different destinations, and Candace's friend Thomas showed up at 8:30am! He had bags of all kinds of baked goodies for the two of us to enjoy during our travels. Thomas apologized for not being able to spend more time with me. Little did he realize, he gave me two of the best presents I could have asked for on that trip: telling me I'm picking up a Gallego accent and simply his presence at such an “early” hour in another city!

Yes, it was a Merry Christmas.

Laying out on the beach with earphones and sweats! Love it!

Spain and I love visitors! Thanks Mom.

Starbucks White Cranberry Mocha

Finally someone I know from the states seized this  opportunity to jump in a plane and fly across the big pond of the Atlantic Ocean. I'm so proud of my mom for doing so. I know that with all the years I have, it was a little frightening not knowing what to expect with arriving to a new country far from everything I've ever known or seen. My family is not a big traveling family and we stopped our yearly road trips when I was about 10 or so. I can only imagine the excitement and nervousness my mom was experiencing, having never left the USA. I can't discount our summer cruise a couple years to Mexico, but a guided tour of the Mayan ruins doesn't really seem to measure up to maneuvering all this without a guide.

It was nice to return to Madrid and pick up a Starbucks or two along with greeting my mom. Right after I moved here, the mother of one of my best friends passed away suddenly. When I saw my mom a rush of gratitude and thankfulness rushed over me. The fact that she was so willing to come and visit me and the fact that I could still throw my arms around her and tell her how much I loved her. I hate that it takes a death of a close loved one to make us realize that we should seize every moment to live out our lives and be thankful for the things we have instead of taking for granted future moments that are not promised to us.

Madrid City Tour w/the Spain flag!

I had a busy, busy itinerary planned for us. Everyday was planned to the T: Madrid City Bus tour, Rasta Market on Sunday morning, Half-day tour to Toledo, train rides and day trips from Santiago. The event planner in me was completely satisfied. Then I ran across the poster for Jason Mraz in Madrid!!! I snapped a picture of the posted and sent it to my mom as she boarded the plane in PHL. We decided Jason's concert was the most important thing for us to accomplish in Madrid!!

Great little tapas place in Madrid

The Madrid City Bus Tour was perfect with its "Hop-on, hop-off" routes. When the rain started to pour we just coasted around the city listening to the history of the buildings and interesting facts and as the rain subsided we would walk around and see a few attractions.

I was starting to panic though because I couldn't buy the tickets for the concert online anymore considering the concert was that night. We trekked from one side of town to the other trying to find a ticketmaster office that apparently closed 4 years ago?!?!?!?!?! We finally decided to go ask the venue if they knew where we could buy tickets and luckily we did, as it was a music festival it was first come, first serve for floor space and seats, we bought our tickets, popped into El Corte Ingles to buy a soda and some snacks and then waited in long line to get it. The folks around us got very excited that the Saxifonista, Jason Sosa walked past us. As he walked back the girls around me asked for a picture and as I snapped it for them, Jason realized I was American! How great was it for me to talk to another person from the states besides my mom for just a few minutes? AMAZING! Oh yeah and he's a ridiculous saxophone player! The concert was all incredible and great time for my mom and I to be together. I also so the oldie-but-goodie group: Los Secretos and one of my newest favorite artists: Georgina.

Jason Mraz's concert was A-Mazing!

Toledo, a small city right outside of Madrid was absolutley amazing and the tour guide was so knowledgeable. It would have been nice to sit and have a coffee or enjoy the scenery but the tour was definitly focused for travelers who are trying to see lots of places in a short time!

Arriving to Santiago was easy, nice and easy train ride and on the first day, of course it was a rainy day, we walked around and saw the highlights of the Old Town.

The highlight of my trip was our day trip to A Coruna. We went with my flatmate and I was shocked at all the spanish I was able to speak. Considering I arrived here with very little knowledge of how to speak Spanish, I could communicate with my flatmate and the people around us and then UNDERSTAND them as well! A Coruna was beautiful. We walked along both sides of the peninsula, visited the Tower of Hercules (the oldest Roman lighthouse that is still in use today), talked of life and futures and experienced Spanish tapas! It was a great day/night!

As the week quickly came to an end we had been from Madrid and Toledo then all around Santiago and Brion (where I work) and had a great Thanksgiving meal with my friends and of course a shopping day at As Cancelas!! Friday evening my mom and I shared a pulpo and some wine and really talked about life and love and everything in between. It was a sad moment as I was left standing on the platform at the train station in Santiago waving adios to my mom as the over-night train whisked her away to Madrid for the return trip home.

Holidays abroad! Jo jo jo

WOWie!! What an incredible time this has been!! I have been falling behind a bit in my writing so here is my Winter holiday round-up:

Firstly:Thanksgiving! I taught my school a little about Thanksgiving in American and showed them a cute video about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Do you remember the commercial from a couple years ago where the two balloon characters are fighting over the Coca-cola and then lose it, then Charlie Brown ends up catching it in the end? Well everyone know Charlie Brown and the kids thought it was great to see exactly how ENORMOUS the balloons actually are!! To finish off our Turkey Day we drew old-fashioned hand turkeys and wrote things we were thankful for in the feathers. It fit in perfectly with our animal unit!!!

It is really interesting to look at our customs through the eyes of foreign children and then try to explain why these normal traditions for us are so special.
 

Secondly: My mom came to Spain for Thanksgiving!! It was pretty wonderful to have someone here from the States to finally see what my life is like here. It was great to show off this part of the world to say some of our ordinary everyday life “necessities” are the exactly the same but n the other hand a lot of the customs here are different.

My group of Auxilares got together and had the most make shift Turkey day we could muster up. It was perfect. A bunch of us missing home, thinking about all the things we were thankful for and realizing we were all going to miss out on Black Friday.We had all the fixins for a great Thanksgiving day feast (minus a turkey and plus a few roasted chickens) and we ate it on Spanish time, the dinner started around 9:30 p.m. or so! The best of both worlds. Did I mention my mom was here?? All in all it was perfect.

Thirdly: Christmas.  I've been learning all about the different customs of Christmas all around the world just because the customs here are intriguing to me. It finally makes sense to me why stores in American skip right from Halloween to Christmas, because Thanksgiving isn't celebrated outside of the US and the distributors are busy sending out Christmas specialties all over the world right after Halloween.... "I can see clearly now, the rain is gone.." Some stores here literally rolled out the red carpet and lanterns for Christmas shoppers here in Santiago. It was also interesting to hear the kids in my school debate over who was more real: Papa Noel or The Three Kings.

Like every place I've ever lived, the holiday lights were hung around the city and the tree decorated in the city square. Everyday I walked around my charming new town felt like Christmas. People rushing around with packages in hand and all the Christmas gift baskets ready waiting to fill a home with treats from all around Spain! The language is different but the love is the same.

Of course it's a party for chestnuts!

Before I moved to Spain, I had a feeling I was going to have to live with a roommate and that did not excite me. Now that I'm here and it is happening, I am so happy for it!

Mario (my flatmate/roommate/ccompañero de piso) is from the Galician region. Mario has lived here in Santiago for a few years off and on. He has shown me some great places in town to visit, he constantly helps me with my Spanish and he's introduced me to some of his incredible friends.

One weekend while Mario was at his parent's house he sent me a message on Facebook to ask if I wanted to go on an excursion the following day to the mountains with some of his friends. "Claro que si!" was the only proper response and quickly as I could I hopped on a train to meet up with him. Turns out I was being invited to a weekend long trip into the deep central area of Galicia, Courel, covered in small villages and endless amazing views of nature.

I was intriduced to Cata. Cuqui, Iago and Javi at the meeting point in Vigo and we headed off to breakfast in Ourense. During breakfast I was asked if Mario had told me to bring, extra socks, my sleeping bag, my bathing suit and towel, and clothes for a couple days. None of which I was told to bring. I was a little embarrassed because I have all of those things, I just didn't know to bring them with me. No worries! Cuqui had a sleeping bag for me, Cata let me borrow a bathing suit and at somepoint there was an extra towel when I needed it. I made my clothes last as long as possible!! From Ourense we headed to a small town and the cottage would stay in for the weekend and then start our hike. Everything about this was amazing!!

When we arrived at the starting sign of the 15km hike we wanted to cover that day we were greeted by a friendly local German Shepard. He literally lead us to the starting point down the road and spent the entire day with us. Some other dog friends joined and left along the way as well but this one German Shepard was with us the whole  15km!!!

Start of our hike

It was so great to make new friends who are so intrigued by nature and love spending time getting a little dirty. We walked in the rain, in the sun, across an old swinging bridge, up steep inclines and back down. The most memorable part of the day to me was when we stopped for lunch to eat the boccadillos we brought with us right next to the Rio Lor. Iago had prepared a thermos of green tea, Javi packed a bottle of wine for us to share and Mario insisted in trying to get me to say "bad" words in Spanish!!

Cata crossing the swinging bridge

Along the trek, we found and consumed fresh berries and wild figs. Mario and his friends are also really great at identifying all kinds of mushrooms! If I understood more Galego I could have learn a lot. Instead I was solely in awe of their knowledge.

Trying a fresh picked fig

Lunch and the dogs

Iago, mountain man

We ended the day in the beautiful kitchen of the cottage, in front of the roaring fireplace, reading each other's ancient Galego tarot future. 

The next day, Iago, Javi and Cata woke up early to pick some more figs and fresh apples and bought some sweet muffins for breakfast. After a little coffee and cleaning we headed back in to the moutnains for a Magosto or sometimes called a Fiesta de Castañas.

Traditionally a Magosto is the celebration of thanksgiving for the chestnut harvest. Before potatoes were introduced to Spain from the discovery of the New World, Chestnuts were used as the most important staple. It was served fresh, as dried fruit, ground into flour, boiled and mashed, etc. Families come together to celebrate, eat fresh roasted chestnuts, drink local wine and now other great local dishes have been added into the mix such as chorizo and pulpo.

Lunch at the Magosto in Do Courel

After such an amazing experience in the mountains we headed back to the city of Ourense to take an evening dip in the hot springs!! I was taught the proper way to experience the hot springs to treat all your ailments. First, submerse yourself in the HOT pool and sit for as long as you can, next go immediately to the FREEZING COLD pool and sit very still. It's best to stay in the cold water as long as you can because it helps to close all the pores in your skin and regulate your blood presure after the hot water. Then spend some time in the WARM pool and when you are ready, REPEAT. 

Aquas Thermos in Ourense

I continue to be amazed by the people and things I am experiencing here. It was so nice to meet Mario's friends and spend time learning more about the region around me through their eyes.

Mario, Cata, Iago, me, Javi and Cuqui

A tale of two cities... in Portugal

Well well, I am becoming a huge fan of traveling alone, but I would also like to put out there, a guide (mixed with a few friends) can make all the difference.

Rewind to one day in the States: I was checking my e-mail and received notice about a new Rock-n-Roll race in Portugal.
I knew at that time:
1. I was going to be living in Santiago
2. I knew Santiago was very close to Portugal (I later realized Santiago is not very close to Lisbon, nonetheless, I was able to go to another country right away!)
3.I loved my first half-marathon with Rock-n-Roll and I was excited to run again with them and enjoy the music they had available along the course!
4. If you were one of the first people to sign up the race was DIRT CHEAP!
*For all these reasons I signed up!

Oriente Estacion para todos trasportacion

Start for the race

The race weekend was upon me and I was advised taking a straight shot on the bus to Lisbon was easier than changing trains, possibly cheaper too. I'm sure the bus was easier, but it was a looooooooooooonnnnnnnnngg 10.5 hour bus ride that only takes 6.5 hours by car. It felt even longer once the bus driver (married, older man from Portugal) decided he fancied me and wanted to have coffee with me at every stop we made (I did not have coffee with him at every stop). Upon arriving in Portugal the first taxi driver wouldn't take me to my hotel because he didn't want my bag in the car. The taxi driver failed to tell me he could get a ticket for having luggage inside the car and it needed to go in the trunk. The hotel staff was fine, not overwhelmingly pleasant but they were able to assist me with my room (reserved ahead of time). After a long, tiring day and accidentally wiping out all my minutes on my cell phone, I went to sleep!


Saturday, the day before the race, was spent at the Sports Expo and trying to find a proper running belt. I spent most of the day in the mall and walking along the Lisbon coastline and finishing the day in the historic old town for dinner. Typical pre-race dinner: Pasta and no alcohol. The typical pre-race dinner is not a typical Portuguese meal!! All the while, I knew I had to check out of the hotel the following morning, before the race, meaning no post race shower.

Ready, set, GO!!

The race came and went: I met some nice people from Chicago on the metro who shared their suncreen with me. I ran the second half with a wonderful woman from Portland and we encouraged eachother to keep running in the heat. The racemakers ran out of GU at the GU Station, they ran out of bananas at the banana station and I was surprised they still offered us Powerade. Pui (from Portland) and I thought this race would be a great way to see Portugal, afterall 21 km is pretty far along the coast of Lisbon. As it turns out the race was behind warehouses and a little too far from the water. All the bands started packing up as we approached the finish line. If it hadn't been for the ice cream at the finish line, the race might have been a complete disappointment. 

The End

The saving grace of the day was the woman I met at the hotel a few days earlier, celebrating her 60th birthday by running the half marathon! We waved on the racecourse and somehow bumped into each other after the race. In all of our excitement from finishing, she (and her bestie!) graciously offered to me the ability to freshen up in their hotel room before catching the bus back to Santiago. (I know God had a hand in that one!)

As my first experience in Portugal, the race weekend was not an extremely favorable one for the Portuguese. However a few weeks later I was able to join in a trip to Porto, Portugal with some of the other girls in my program, being lead by Germán Cacheda De Paz, who is launching a tour company based in Santiago de Compostela.

Main bridge to Portugal

Germán knows and loves Porto and made all the difference for our group of girls! We stopped and walked across the bridge on the border from Spain to Portugal. Germán found a great little place for us to eat the typical Portuguese chicken and then continued along our trek to Porto. Upon arrival to Oporto and our "typical Portuguese hotel" we were warned "Not to make a big party tonight because tomorrow will be a long day!" Thank you Germán!!

The first night was very chill at a great little spot, Plano B. The upstairs reminded me of a trendy hipster bar I might find in Nashville and then downstairs were two rooms for hosting different kinds of music (for example rock in one and house in the other). Germán also showed us the main square where you can find many young friends sharing in a little bottelon and a great little place that sold Estrella Galicia for 1 euro!

Germán, Hannah, Emily, Emily, Hannah, Amanda, Olivier (yes that's Emily x2 and Hannah x2)

Shopping in the Oporto market

Hannah and Olivier

Saturday was filled with visiting the elaboratly decorated train station, perusing the outside market and buying fresh fruit, sampling the traditional meal of Bacalhau (salted codfish) with patas, walking along the enchanting river side and the double-decker bridge, exploring the steep cobblestone streets in search of the perfect bodega (wine cellar), enjoying a tour of  the Croft bodega and sampling some of their port wine and a then ending the afternoon with a little Spanish-style siesta.

Ponte D. Luís I (D. Luís I Bridge) designed by the same architect as the Eiffel Tower

Croft bodega

The main attraction of the day being the "Francesinha" In Portuguese it means little french girl. It's said this is an invention of a returned emigrant from France and it is a few slices of bread a few different kinds of meat, an egg on top and covered in the *secret sauce*! Does that sound big? It was!! Between our group of six people we shared shared three sandwiches and it was plenty!

Francesinha

Saturday night, Germán continued to show us around to great nooks-n-crannys that most tourists never find out about, including my favorite spot of the night, Contagiarte!! It's a normal house on a normal street but inside is wonderful surprise. This night club is a three story house with a huge patio out back to accommodate all kinds of music and dancing in all the rooms on every floor. The night we were there was samba night! I loved watching the couples really dance and I was finally asked to dance by a couple of regulars and it felt great to get my samba on again! Sadly, once back on the main strip of bars and clubs my friend Hannah had her jacket stolen! Don't worry about your purse or your cell phone but jackets are apparently a hot commodity.

The trip ended with a leisurely stop at the beach of Porto. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! 

The beach of Oporto!!

Emily, Amanda, Emily

Emily playing in the water!

 








































Thanks to Germán and my chicas! I am now very pleased with Portugal and would love to go back and explore more. 
 

German's chicas!