Valentine's Day in the Castles of Spain

Queridos,

My Valentine’s Day started off well with a very nice package from home, (thanks!) and continued to get better.

Although this wasn’t my favorite trip, it was still enjoyable. We went on the tour of Castles within my province; this included stopping in three different cities, all in one day!

To start off, we went to the small pueblo of Tordesillas. This is the castle where Juana la Loca lived. Unfortunately for you, this is the only view you’ll get of the castle…photos were a big no-no inside of the historic castle.




We also went to the museum where the Treaty of Tordesillas. With some free time I explored the city, the Plaza Mayor & some interesting looking trees.

We then boarded the bus and went to the Castle of Portillo, in you guessed it, the city of Portillo. Here I went down 100 some odd steps to see the bottom of the well… as I stepped closer to the bottom, the amount of water dripping on me increased & the steps were slipperier. Let’s just say I felt like taking a shower after.

Then I climbed to the top of the castle to see this view of Portillo.

Here are some other snap shots of the castle.

Hungry we stopped for lunch..Jaime played artist and Nick took a nap.

We then went to an authentic Roman house…it looked like we were going into a concentration camp, but fortunately, it was just the way it was built. After visiting the ruins of the house, we enjoyed a presentation of “a Roman household.”



After we returned, I went out with some friends & had a great night in the city :)

Besos!

The Sisterhood of the Contraltos.

Queridos,

As I’ve alluded to in other posts, I joined the University choir here. It’s been a great experience & I think I’m approaching my third week of attendance! With time, I’ve met more and more people in the choir and I really enjoy the conversations and laughter that they bring to my life every Wednesday and Friday evening.

Well Sunday I had an amazing experience! The altos had a fiesta, it’s something that they do once a year (other than Christmas & other choir gathering), and they invited me. Me!

I had to bring a dish, which was an adventure in and of itself because I don’t know what to bring to a dinner in another country?! So after much debate, I ended up bringing a chorizo (chorizo originated from Spain and is like a ring of sausage back home, but it’s pork).

As if deciding on what to bring wasn’t challenging enough, I was faced with another challenge. After paying for my groceries, the food and beverages remained at the end of the register. Confused, I asked the cashier if there were bags and she said there were none! So here I am with more than a handful of food, only a jacket, and Spanish people with eyes like, “are you going to clear your stuff off?” I stuffed what I could into my jacket and carried the rest by hand; fortunately, the grocery store is just down the street and no one tried to rob my purchases!

For the fiesta, we also did a gift exchange & played the “open a gift or rob one” game! 10 euro limit was all I had to go off, again, another country, what do you buy?! This is what I bought; cappuccino packages, Lindt chocolates, a mug, and gourmet nuts & candy. The girl who received it is a sweetheart and at least acted like she loved it.

Here’s what I received (a Fondue set):


I ate so much food! It was delicious – really – delicious! Here are some of the pictures of what we ate & ate & ate … (I’m not going to explain what everything is cause that would take too long, but I’ll try to remember when I return).

Desserts




After the feast, we played a thinking card game. Learning how to play a game that even the Spanish women didn’t understand at first was rather challenging…it’s okay, I only made a fool of myself every half hour or so :) Then we sang Karaoke (appropriate,right?) with a Karaoke game for Play Station…a little rare, but fun none the less.

The fiesta lasted the entire afternoon & was a great way to spend a Sunday. Great food…great company…great memories.

Besos!

Weekend in Valladolid

Queriods,

Time is - = == -- -- ___Flying!

I just finished my first week of tests in a Spanish University. Of course I've had harder tests back in the States, but something about taking all courses in Spanish puts an interesting twist on things :)

There's been a lot of protests here lately, umemployment rates are increasing and workers do not feel their work hours and conditions fairly represent their wages. Here's a picture from a protest that took up the whole street and didn't permit any cars to go through.

I joined a choir group here...it's the first time I've actually had time to commit to such a pastime for, well, years! The first night I went with one other friend, who has since decided it's not really for her, which makes me the only one from my group that's going. It's really been enjoyable, we practice 4 hours a week, combined with the 30 minutes it takes me to get there, it's a good 6 hour a week commitment. Practicing with them is a great way for me to practice Spanish, both with the choir members, but also when the director does oral exercises that requires me to repeat things orally as well. Slowly, but surely, it's getting easier...

I spent my first Saturday in Valladolid! Unfortunately, it was rather rainy but that didn't stop me from exploring the city. For starters I went to the "La Mercadilla" or Market. To put it simply, if you're looking at a map, I went (accidently) as far to the left as possible and needed to be as far to the right as possible. It didn't dampen things though, because it was great to explore other parts of the city. When I finally found the market, I was greeted with sales pitches yelled into my ear. They sell anything from shoes to jeans to shirts to jewelry to socks to purses to things that look stolen. I didn't buy anything because a) I was too intimidated by the yelling and b) all the people crammed onto one sidewalk between two sides of vendors got to me.

Saturday night entailed the usual going out to the bars and staying out until 6 in the morning :)
Sunday I got up early and set off for the "Sunday Market" thinking it would be different from Saturday's, but it really was a lot of the same vendors. The rain was stronger than Saturday too, so I don't think it was a real impression of a 'normal' Sunday. This market takes place in the parking lot of the Soccer stadium and is surrounded by some pretty greenery...a half hour walk took me 3 hours because of all the detours.

Sunday's are a great day here; everything's pretty much closed and is observed as a day of rest...exactly what I need at the end of the week.

Hope all is well!
Besos

León (lion) was more like a cordero (lamb).

Hola!

Saturday I visited León, Espana. León is located in the northern part of my province (a two-hour bus ride) and is sized around a little more than 100,000 people. It appeared to be more modern than Valladolid, and people were very, very welcoming! Our intent was just to roam the city & enjoy anything that looked interesting…we had the entire day!

Our first moments were spent strolling, peacefully along the Bernesga River. Finally able to breath fresh air was a contrast from the city! We stopped for a cup of café & made "plans" for the day.

We wondered towards the Plaza Mayor (city center) but were distracted by the beautiful Catedral de León. Beautiful! The ceilings & structure were a sight but the stain glass windows were the most impressive part of this church. (This was only one of few churches we visited throughout the day).

After the church, we passed by plenty of interesting buildings- like this one that looks like a castle, but, as we later found out, is a bank. Oops.

León has a grand procession of religious people (although their garb is almost identical with that of the KKK) during Semana Santa, or Holy Week. These seashells mark the path of the religious people during that time.

We also stopped for a quick “pick-me-up”…walking around the city really started to wear on us by late afternoon. I ordered a glass of orange juice- made from this machine! She just poured a dozen oranges in there and presto! 100% orange juice MMmmmm.

We then found the Musec which is a Modern Art Museum. We finally found it after a 40 minute trek only to find it closed until 5. Once we returned, we were informed it was closed due to changing exhibits. Haha. So we got creative ourselves outside of this very, very colorful building and made friends with a random traveler from Japan :)

It wasn't our lucky day, either, for viewing the Plaza Mayor. Once we finally found it (on the opposite side of town), we were greeted by an interesting culmination of smells from the prior market... so we got to view the remnants - awesome. Haha.

To end our night we went out for our first, true, Tapa experience. With the purchase of a beer, you’re entitled to any type of Tapa. Here’s a picture of the first round. So good! And only 2 Euro for all that :)

We boarded the bus, after a nice night-stroll down the river and headed back home. León was a very pleasant city, with nice people, great food, and enjoyable sights to see. It’s possible that I'll return at the end of Spring in order to visit the caves and other outdoorsy things León has to offer!

Besos!

Hola Queridos!

School's been even more awesome as of late. The program has organized various extra-curricular activities for us; so I’ve enjoyed attending all the events. For example, one night they showed a Spanish movie. They also have “intercambios” which is basically for students of English or Spanish; spend four minutes talking in English & then four minutes talking in Spanish…then switch. So in one night I get to talk to 5 or 6 different people!

The Spanish people who attend are of all different ages and levels; some are studying English to teach it, others need to maintain minimal English skills for their work, and others just plain like it. It’s a great opportunity, as you can imagine, to network & meet other people…which is exactly what I’m doing!

After the hour is up, they provide juice and snacks, and a time to swap email/phone numbers. Luck kind of struck me again because I asked a guy about sports facilities and he not only was able to answer my question (which was like a Eureka moment for me), he took me to the place..the place I had only been looking for the last two weeks! Sweet :) I've been so fortunate to meet nice people here.

Also - the weather has been much nicer here - 50 degrees some days...so I've been able to get out and explore El Campo Grande which is a park that's convieniently right next to my apartment. I was running through, gawking at the beautiful scenery, detailed pathways, greenery, fountains, and then...out of no where... a peacock! Can you believe it?! I love it here!

Besos!