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!

Practicing writing the accent on Froilán

I've been so busy traveling I have forgotten to tell you all about it!

I've made a pretty wonderful group of friends here in Santiago. Sometimes our group can get quite large as there are quite a few other Auxiliares living in Santiago as well. The best part about working here for this program is all of our school seem to understand we are all here to learn about the culture and travel, so almost all of us have Monday or Friday off (or both!!!). Having a long weekend makes it very easy for us to organize quick trips around Galicia and longer weekends call for longer trips to other parts of Spain or Europe!


There are four main Provences in Galica: A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense and Pontevedra. Santiago de Compostela is the capital of Galicia and located in the province of A Coruña. Spain may look small on the map but I could easily spend all my time here only exploring Galicia.

One said weekend, the crew decided to venture to Lugo (the capital of the province with this same name) for a Festival called San Froilán. San Froilán was the Patron Saint of the city. The festivities started back in 1754 when a decree was passed allowing an annual country market to open in October and provoked traders of goods and food to come from all over the Iberian Pennisula to participate. Today's festival still encourage merchants and tourists to come by and enjoy music, theatre performances, and native meals (pulpo á feira  or boiled octopus).

Our group headed straight for lunch in the Praza Maior where we were promptly overcharged by our waiter who "just works here" because we were a group of young people from America and England. Once that ordeal was over with we visited with a few other auxilares that are living and working in Lugo and naturally took a group siesta in their living room (picture 4 people on the floor resting their heads on a hugh stuffed tiger, two on the couch, and two more in individual chairs all giggling like a middle school sleepover). Armed with our trusty visitors guide and my good friend Alina as our guide, we hit up all the major historical sites in town and took a breath taking walk around the ancient Roman City Wall.

Rhys and the Combination Platter

I'm pretty sure this is Hedwig

Taking a moment to enjoy the view

Walking along the Roman City Wall

The Catedral in Lugo

Emily, Alina and Emily

We ended the day/night with more friends of other auxilares from Ourense. If you want to see hospitality at it's finest, these folks have it. Our humongous group was welcomed with open arms, music, coffee, dancing and great conversation in a house just a little outside of the town. Like the typical Spainsh night we headed out for an awesome DJ concert around 1:20 a.m.outside in the LITERALLY freezing cold.  Went back to grab jackets and headed to the old town for a little more entertainment and caught the bus back to Santiago at 6:00 in the morning.

We all love to still talk about The Weekend in Lugo.

Moving to a new country is hard!!

I can hardly believe I have been living in Spain for a complete month already!! I have an official ID number, a flat to live in, a bank account, and of course a favorite pub to go to!!

Getting here was no easy feat! I packed two large suitcases and jam-packed my hiking pack and trekked across Madrid, through the Metro, on the train!! When you have that many bags and don't speak very much Spanish people tend to look at you like you have three eyes and purple hair. I think on of the biggest reasons it seemed difficult to me is this.... THE ELEVATORS HERE ARE VERY SMALL. Super small, three people max or one person with two large suitcases and a full hiking pack on their back (me).

Once I got to Santiago de Compostea, the capital city of Galicia, the northeastern region of Spain I had quite a few long, taxing days. My hostel was an experience all in its self. I'm pretty sure it was some kind of dorm room, illegally used as a hotel/hostel for rent. Notice the sleeping bag in the picture!!

Again, the language barrier. Finding a flat to live in and not being sure how to convey that over the phone was completely frustrating. I went to the school and took down phone numbers, posted mine, sent e-mails, looked on 15 different websites for "Piso a compartir," (a flat to share). I found one that was perfect and before I got back to my hostel it was already taken by someone else. I also felt the pressure of needing a place to put my bags before I went to Lisbon, Portugal to run a half marathon. I would absolutely NOT be taking all of that stuff with me.

One thing to notice and remember about here is that the people are very friendly. Spanish and English speakers alike. It also seems we all meet up in the police station. The second day I was looking for a flat, a girl who already had a place offered to watch my bags for the weekend so I didn't have to take them with me. I met another girl who has become our point person for the frequent outings of our large group of Auxulares/friends. I met another girl who is also from Florida and now works here as a translator and she helped me with...translating!! Ha!

I have also met quite a few people through my flatmate or working at the school that have just been amazing.

It was a pain to get here but it's been worth it all the while. There is a saying here for the pilgrams that walk the Camino de Santiago de Compostela "Sin dolor no hay gloria!" That traslates to No Pain! No Gain! but it is so true.