In the USAC program, once you sign up for travelling abroad, it also entitles you to the two trips arranged by USAC in the semester, for no extra charge. The first trip was a day trip (left in the morning, returned late afternoon) to some place nearby with a Basque farmhouse. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend since USAC arranged it on a certain day, then told us they needed to change the day and during this confusion my friends and I booked our Barcelona trip. Of course, right afterwards, we find that the trip was scheduled on the same weekend.
But this time, the trip was overnight, and it was to Burgos and Atapuerca, which is southwest of San Sebastian in Castilla y Leon.
I don't have much time to go into detail now (I know, I know, I also haven't updated on my Spring Break either...but I will get to it eventually), but we did get this email today from the USAC office.
But before I show you the email, let me tell you a couple things as background info. We had to each pay a 20 euro deposit before the trip in case of hotel damages. We also made this trip with students in the Bilbao USAC program, some of which I already knew from the Madrid tour before the semester began.
When we got on the bus to head home on Saturday, Patricia said, "Guys, I have to say, the hotel was extremely upset this morning, telling us that there were many noise complaints and some damage to the rooms. However, we believe this is the Bilbao students' who did the damage, and therefore we will look into it further to get the specifics and pinpoint which rooms are to blame. Therefore, you will not be able to get your deposits back until we sort this out. But I will send you an email this week once we know more."
We got the email, and it is as follows:
______________________
Enviado el: lunes, 27 de abril de 2009 14:08
Para: us
Asunto: excursion deposit/brown shoes
Dear Students,
I am very happy to tell you that we will be able to return the deposit to all the students on the San Sebastian program. We have just heard from the hotel and have been able to determine exactly where the problems originated. Thank you very much for all of your cooperation. We certainly wanted everyone to have fun and were convinced that this is entirely possible without disturbing the other guests at the hotel. I am satisfied and grateful for the way things turned out, at least as far as our group is concerned.
Muchas gracias a todos. Espero que lo hayáis pasado muy bien. Podéis pasar por la oficina con el recibo para recoger el depósito.
Saludos, Patricia
P.D.
Alguien ha dejado un par de zapatos(¿zapatillas?)marrones en el autobus. Los tenemos en la oficina.
_______________
The first Spanish part says "Thanks to everyone. I hope you had a good time. You can stop by the office with the reciept to get your deposit back."
And that little PS part says "Someone left a pair of brown shoes/sandals on the bus. We have them in the office."
So in conclusion of the trip, we partied, but not hard enough to have to pay, and someone lost a pair of shoes.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
I don't get you, Spain.
A brief commentary...
Two things that are currently on my mind...
1. "batido" here is the word for milkshake. Yet batido does not always signify something with ice cream. Or milk. Or any dairy, for that matter. I think it basically is anything that's blended in a blender. Therefore, smoothies are also batidos. I find this greatly disappointing.
2. In Spain, Tuesday the 13th is the big scary day. Not friday the 13th. Tuesday. Tell me, Spain, what is so scary about a run-of-the-mill mid-week day? Lame.
That is all, for now.
More on my vacation later.
Two things that are currently on my mind...
1. "batido" here is the word for milkshake. Yet batido does not always signify something with ice cream. Or milk. Or any dairy, for that matter. I think it basically is anything that's blended in a blender. Therefore, smoothies are also batidos. I find this greatly disappointing.
2. In Spain, Tuesday the 13th is the big scary day. Not friday the 13th. Tuesday. Tell me, Spain, what is so scary about a run-of-the-mill mid-week day? Lame.
That is all, for now.
More on my vacation later.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Nightmare?
again, portuguese keyboard. deal.
Let me lay down a play by play of my portugal/southern spain trip so far.
It was NOT going well for QUITE A WHILE.
We began in SS, where we hopped on a bus at 12.40pm to bilbao. We arrived in bilbao at about 2pm. Our next bus from Bilbao to Madrid was at 3, so we chilled in Bilbao for a bit. OH, but did I mention that on the way to Bilbao that May realized she hadnºt bought her ticket to portugal yet? Well, we had to deal with that in Bilbao. There was no room on our bus, but luckily for us there was another bus leaving at the exact same time. But, for some odd reason, the ticket lady moved Cassi to Mayºs bus, I guess b-c she was helping her out at the window and assumed they wanted to be together?
Anyways. We got on the bus from Bilbao to Madrid and said ciao to May and Cassi. I went to sit down but there was a lady in my seat and she asked if I could move to hers in the back. I obliged. I fell asleep on this bus, then about an hour into the journey, I woke up and realized the driver pulled over and there were national guards all up in the cargo with some kind of sniffing dog. Drug-sniffing? Bomb-sniffing? I donºt know. All I know is that there was a female guard staring at my window the whole time, holding a machine gun at her waist.
Also, Spain has a law where bus drivers cannot drive for more than 4 hours straight, which means they stop after less than that, which means they stopped about every 3.25 hours. We took our first stop around 7.30 and had to hang out there for about a half hour until the bus left. Apparently when the dogs sniffed the cargo, Cassie woke up May and asked her if she had any drugs in her bag and she was so sleepy and confused when Cassi woke her that she responded by talking about the Advil and Mydol she packed.
Then when we got on the bus, i coaxed the woman next to natalie to move to my seat b-c it was a window seat and it had more legroom, and she happily traded. I now was seated by natalie and alex and jordan were in front of us. They played Ocean~´s 13 on the ride, but i had no headphones and therefore stared at the silent screen until the movie was over. Around that time we were in Madrid.
We got to the Madrid bus station and got off and that was the end of that end of our journey. We got in aroun 9pm and our next bus was at 10pm from the same station, which would then take us to Porto, Portugal. We hung out, got some dried fruits and nuts at some place at the station, everyone but me took a sleeping pill, then we grabbed our stuff and got on the bus.
It was pretty dead since we knew we would make some stops along the way to pick up more people. But, to our surprise, we were only 10 minutes on the bus when we stopped at a different station and they were telling us in spanish to get off the bus and that they werenºt leaving until 11pm. We were so confused that we just took our ´´carry on´´ luggage (the stuff not in the under-bus cargo), and walked to the main station. The driver was like ´´you can leave your stuff behind if you want!´´ but we were so confused as to what was going on, and angry that we were being kicked off and forced to wait. We wandered around a bit, and Cassi was frustrated because the sleeping pill had already kicked in for about an hour by now, and she was groggy and angry. The rest of the group left the station to get burger king across the street. Cassi and I opted to stay, and I grabbed a turkey and grilled onion sammy from the station. We went back to the bus right around 10.50 and saw the rest of our group there. Natalie, french fries hanging out of her mouth, was told that she couldnºt eat on the bus. Therefore, she stood outside and scarfed everything down while Cassi and I got on and returned to our seats. May somehow got on with her BK bag of food, and Cassi told her that Natalie got yelled at. We were feeling the wrath of the driver, so we suggested May eat it off the bus. She went to get up and leave, and they wouldnºt let her off the bus, so she was like ´´okay, then deal with the fact that I am totally eating this right here.´´
Finally we all got on the bus, a few more passengers than there were when we arrived at this station, but it was still only 30% full. THEN, out of nowhere, the bus driver was telling us we needed to get off and that we were on the wrong bus. But really that wasnºt the case. THEY overbooked the bus and just decided to kick off some random people in the front...and guess who they were? ´´Ýou need to get off, ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR´´ the lady shouted as she counted off me, cassi, natalie and may. She frustratingly was like ´´do you have luggage?´´ uh, YEAH, we DO. Why are YOU so mad? We were the ones kicked off our bus 10 minutes in, told to wait 50 minutes, then told to get on a completely different bus and separate from our friends on a journey to a foreign country!!! We got our luggage, put it on the cargo part of the other bus, said farewell to Alex, Jordan and MaryKate, then went onto the other bus.
All four of us were as pissed as one could be. We are in a freaking train station in Madrid, being yelled at in Spanish to get on a bus that we didnºt buy tickets for, being told that weºd get to the same place as our friends. We get on the bus and HELLO we are in Portuguese town. We are the whitest people on the bus, everyone else looks like they are south american and of course, everyone is staring. Every woman had some kind of cotton scarf wrapped around her hair and the men were all wearing denim farm wear and work boots. There were some empty seats, which some younger guys were conspicuously spreading out on so we wouldnºt sit there. I sit by a stranger, then Cassi gets offered two seats together because a married couple told their son to move. So we sit together and by this point Cassi is unsuccessfully trying to hold in her tears of frustration and hopelessness of the situation. Meanwhile, creepy seat-hogger guys are just staring at us. And they are in the other row of seats, about 4 rows in front of us. So yes, itºs EXTREMELY obvious that they are staring. They keep staring at Cassi, while she tries to hide her face as best she can by staring out the window. Natalie and May are at the front of the bus looking at seats before they sit, then when I was looking down, I looked back up and couldnºt see them so I thought of the possibility that they somehow got back on the other bus. I honestly had no idea where they were. Meanwhile, still, the guy is staring. We give up and ignore him and I fall asleep, clutching my purse, scared for the creepy guys and I put my ´´carry on´´ between my feet on the floor. Also, when the bus was boarding, a woman came on with a baby. Cassi and I were seated about 3 rows from the very back, and as she walked by us, I think a couple people groaned or commented that they didnºt want to sit near a baby. She told them, in Spanish, not to worry because her baby wonºt cry.
I woke up about an hour into the trip because I felt movement by my feet. Thinking someone was trying to steal my bag, I quickly woke up and looked down. The busº interior lights were off because it was a night trip, and I thought I saw a sweater on the ground. As my eyes became a bit more adjusted I realized there was a man laying down on the aisle floor trying to sleep. The movement I had felt was his elbow brushing against my shoe. I looked down the aisle to see if anyone else was amazed by this...only to find about 3 more men sleeping on the aisle floor. Also, that baby was crying. And crying. And crying...I somehow managed to fall asleep to the sound of a baby crying and a man snoring by my feet.
At the first rest stop, I got off and went to the bathroom and got on the bus via the front door and finally confirmed, after 3 hours of paranoia, that May and Natalie are in fact on this bus, and they are sleeping in two separate seats towards the front. I also looked around the rest stop for the other bus, but it was nowhere in sight. Finally, after the bus driver started up the engines to head out, the other bus pulled into the stop and I saw Mary-Kate get off.
Our bus rode off once again, and in the next few hours I tried a variety of sleeping positions: leaning my head against the seat in front of me, scooting my butt low on the seat to have my knees lean on the seat in front of me, and try leaning back. The latter was the most unsuccessful, because what kind of crazy person would think to sleep by reclining the chair and resting their head where the headrest is?!
Once we entered Portugal, a national guard guy got on the bus to check our passports. He went through the bus reading them, and he took some people~s passports away, telling them he~d return them in a minute. To one Portuguese lady, he said that her passport was bad and she needed to fix it. Nevertheless, he gave it back and let her continue on her journey. That~s cool...
I also faintly remember there being a part where Cassi told me to lean my head on her shoulder. When I woke up my head was on her shoulder and her head was on my head, and she told me that she had earlier found me leaning diagonally forward in her direction, and she knew that wasnºt comfortable so she re-adjusted my head position.
Finally we arrived in Porto. But whatºs this? Oh, not an actual bus station! Instead we were dropped off in the middle of some business district. Also, our bus arrived early! We were actually unsure of that last part, since our watches were still on Spain time and the bus clock was somewhat off. I am still pretty sure we were at our ´´destination´´ at about 5:30am. So here we were, Natalie, May, Cassi and me, shivering in the darkness of some public park place of some sort, with a taxi stand nearby. However, due to my observation at the rest stop (that their bus arrived as we left), I knew they were at least a half hour behind us. We had to call them to give them the hostel address and number, so we tried doing that for a while, since Cassiºs hands were so cold and she was so nervous that she literally couldnºt aim her fingers on the keys on the phone.
After we got in touch with a zonked-out Mary-Kate, we got in a taxi. Oh, but of course he doesnºt speak English or Spanish. Only French. Thatºs not even one of their top 3 languages spoken here. We took the cab to their hostel and the guy reluctantly opened the doors, let them lock their luggage in the luggage room, then kicked them out, saying checkin was at 3pm.
We called my hostel and found my check in was at 1pm, but I still had all my luggage. We wandered only a block until we found an open cafe. By now it was about 6.30am or so. We hung out there for about an hour and a half, then we found out the rest of our group was nearby. We met up with them and found out that their bus WAS a half hour behind, plus they were dropped off way further away than we were: we paid a 7 euro fare, and they paid a 12 euro fare.
We then loitered in that cafe until about 9am, then we decided to move on. It was about 50 degrees outside and drizzling! Of course, the weather said itºd be above seventy the whole time on our trip, so we were wearing our warmest clothes, which consisted of jeans, short sleeves and a hoodie.
I needed to find my hostel and we knew it was nearby so I used my friendsº hostelºs internet service and they donºt have flash, so google maps was basically useless. I had to use HTML mode which showed the map at about the size of half a playing card.
We knew it was somewhere northwest, and decided to get in that direction by walking along the river. We stumbled upon a street market with about a bajillion people selling stuff. I ended up getting a gift here for Eric.
We finally found my hostel, dropped off my stuff, then ate food next door. Alex and Mary Kate were feeling ultra queasy and throwing up every once in a while due to either the sleeping pills, the Burger King, or a combo of both.
We then went to this church that has a museum and catacombs which was cool. After we went to a place for lunch. We wandered some more until it was time for us all to check in and we parted ways to go to our hostels.
By this time it was about 2.45 pm. The ongoing joke was that we never wanted to look at a watch because time was passing so SLOWLY. We were already in the city for about 10 hours, for Godºs sakes!
We met up again at 8pm, where I found out that the other group took a solid 4 and a half hour nap while I had meanwhile just been hanging out at my hostel.
We went to an internet place to buy tickets to the Alhambra in Granada (um, episode 3 from star wars was filmed there...it also looks like Aladdinºs palace!). We wandered some more, ate at a restaurant along the river, then went home at 10.45 to just sleep.
So let me give you a run through of how much sleep I´ve gotten. Wednesday night i got 7 hours or so. No biggie. then Thurs night, b-c i was packing and then had to wake up early for the teaching thing, i went to bed around 3...and woke up at 6.20. so thatºs about 3 hours.
Then, on the bus i got 1 hour increments of sleep, and only about 5 of them, none of which were quality. Finally I got about 9 hours of sleep Friday night.
Let me lay down a play by play of my portugal/southern spain trip so far.
It was NOT going well for QUITE A WHILE.
We began in SS, where we hopped on a bus at 12.40pm to bilbao. We arrived in bilbao at about 2pm. Our next bus from Bilbao to Madrid was at 3, so we chilled in Bilbao for a bit. OH, but did I mention that on the way to Bilbao that May realized she hadnºt bought her ticket to portugal yet? Well, we had to deal with that in Bilbao. There was no room on our bus, but luckily for us there was another bus leaving at the exact same time. But, for some odd reason, the ticket lady moved Cassi to Mayºs bus, I guess b-c she was helping her out at the window and assumed they wanted to be together?
Anyways. We got on the bus from Bilbao to Madrid and said ciao to May and Cassi. I went to sit down but there was a lady in my seat and she asked if I could move to hers in the back. I obliged. I fell asleep on this bus, then about an hour into the journey, I woke up and realized the driver pulled over and there were national guards all up in the cargo with some kind of sniffing dog. Drug-sniffing? Bomb-sniffing? I donºt know. All I know is that there was a female guard staring at my window the whole time, holding a machine gun at her waist.
Also, Spain has a law where bus drivers cannot drive for more than 4 hours straight, which means they stop after less than that, which means they stopped about every 3.25 hours. We took our first stop around 7.30 and had to hang out there for about a half hour until the bus left. Apparently when the dogs sniffed the cargo, Cassie woke up May and asked her if she had any drugs in her bag and she was so sleepy and confused when Cassi woke her that she responded by talking about the Advil and Mydol she packed.
Then when we got on the bus, i coaxed the woman next to natalie to move to my seat b-c it was a window seat and it had more legroom, and she happily traded. I now was seated by natalie and alex and jordan were in front of us. They played Ocean~´s 13 on the ride, but i had no headphones and therefore stared at the silent screen until the movie was over. Around that time we were in Madrid.
We got to the Madrid bus station and got off and that was the end of that end of our journey. We got in aroun 9pm and our next bus was at 10pm from the same station, which would then take us to Porto, Portugal. We hung out, got some dried fruits and nuts at some place at the station, everyone but me took a sleeping pill, then we grabbed our stuff and got on the bus.
It was pretty dead since we knew we would make some stops along the way to pick up more people. But, to our surprise, we were only 10 minutes on the bus when we stopped at a different station and they were telling us in spanish to get off the bus and that they werenºt leaving until 11pm. We were so confused that we just took our ´´carry on´´ luggage (the stuff not in the under-bus cargo), and walked to the main station. The driver was like ´´you can leave your stuff behind if you want!´´ but we were so confused as to what was going on, and angry that we were being kicked off and forced to wait. We wandered around a bit, and Cassi was frustrated because the sleeping pill had already kicked in for about an hour by now, and she was groggy and angry. The rest of the group left the station to get burger king across the street. Cassi and I opted to stay, and I grabbed a turkey and grilled onion sammy from the station. We went back to the bus right around 10.50 and saw the rest of our group there. Natalie, french fries hanging out of her mouth, was told that she couldnºt eat on the bus. Therefore, she stood outside and scarfed everything down while Cassi and I got on and returned to our seats. May somehow got on with her BK bag of food, and Cassi told her that Natalie got yelled at. We were feeling the wrath of the driver, so we suggested May eat it off the bus. She went to get up and leave, and they wouldnºt let her off the bus, so she was like ´´okay, then deal with the fact that I am totally eating this right here.´´
Finally we all got on the bus, a few more passengers than there were when we arrived at this station, but it was still only 30% full. THEN, out of nowhere, the bus driver was telling us we needed to get off and that we were on the wrong bus. But really that wasnºt the case. THEY overbooked the bus and just decided to kick off some random people in the front...and guess who they were? ´´Ýou need to get off, ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR´´ the lady shouted as she counted off me, cassi, natalie and may. She frustratingly was like ´´do you have luggage?´´ uh, YEAH, we DO. Why are YOU so mad? We were the ones kicked off our bus 10 minutes in, told to wait 50 minutes, then told to get on a completely different bus and separate from our friends on a journey to a foreign country!!! We got our luggage, put it on the cargo part of the other bus, said farewell to Alex, Jordan and MaryKate, then went onto the other bus.
All four of us were as pissed as one could be. We are in a freaking train station in Madrid, being yelled at in Spanish to get on a bus that we didnºt buy tickets for, being told that weºd get to the same place as our friends. We get on the bus and HELLO we are in Portuguese town. We are the whitest people on the bus, everyone else looks like they are south american and of course, everyone is staring. Every woman had some kind of cotton scarf wrapped around her hair and the men were all wearing denim farm wear and work boots. There were some empty seats, which some younger guys were conspicuously spreading out on so we wouldnºt sit there. I sit by a stranger, then Cassi gets offered two seats together because a married couple told their son to move. So we sit together and by this point Cassi is unsuccessfully trying to hold in her tears of frustration and hopelessness of the situation. Meanwhile, creepy seat-hogger guys are just staring at us. And they are in the other row of seats, about 4 rows in front of us. So yes, itºs EXTREMELY obvious that they are staring. They keep staring at Cassi, while she tries to hide her face as best she can by staring out the window. Natalie and May are at the front of the bus looking at seats before they sit, then when I was looking down, I looked back up and couldnºt see them so I thought of the possibility that they somehow got back on the other bus. I honestly had no idea where they were. Meanwhile, still, the guy is staring. We give up and ignore him and I fall asleep, clutching my purse, scared for the creepy guys and I put my ´´carry on´´ between my feet on the floor. Also, when the bus was boarding, a woman came on with a baby. Cassi and I were seated about 3 rows from the very back, and as she walked by us, I think a couple people groaned or commented that they didnºt want to sit near a baby. She told them, in Spanish, not to worry because her baby wonºt cry.
I woke up about an hour into the trip because I felt movement by my feet. Thinking someone was trying to steal my bag, I quickly woke up and looked down. The busº interior lights were off because it was a night trip, and I thought I saw a sweater on the ground. As my eyes became a bit more adjusted I realized there was a man laying down on the aisle floor trying to sleep. The movement I had felt was his elbow brushing against my shoe. I looked down the aisle to see if anyone else was amazed by this...only to find about 3 more men sleeping on the aisle floor. Also, that baby was crying. And crying. And crying...I somehow managed to fall asleep to the sound of a baby crying and a man snoring by my feet.
At the first rest stop, I got off and went to the bathroom and got on the bus via the front door and finally confirmed, after 3 hours of paranoia, that May and Natalie are in fact on this bus, and they are sleeping in two separate seats towards the front. I also looked around the rest stop for the other bus, but it was nowhere in sight. Finally, after the bus driver started up the engines to head out, the other bus pulled into the stop and I saw Mary-Kate get off.
Our bus rode off once again, and in the next few hours I tried a variety of sleeping positions: leaning my head against the seat in front of me, scooting my butt low on the seat to have my knees lean on the seat in front of me, and try leaning back. The latter was the most unsuccessful, because what kind of crazy person would think to sleep by reclining the chair and resting their head where the headrest is?!
Once we entered Portugal, a national guard guy got on the bus to check our passports. He went through the bus reading them, and he took some people~s passports away, telling them he~d return them in a minute. To one Portuguese lady, he said that her passport was bad and she needed to fix it. Nevertheless, he gave it back and let her continue on her journey. That~s cool...
I also faintly remember there being a part where Cassi told me to lean my head on her shoulder. When I woke up my head was on her shoulder and her head was on my head, and she told me that she had earlier found me leaning diagonally forward in her direction, and she knew that wasnºt comfortable so she re-adjusted my head position.
Finally we arrived in Porto. But whatºs this? Oh, not an actual bus station! Instead we were dropped off in the middle of some business district. Also, our bus arrived early! We were actually unsure of that last part, since our watches were still on Spain time and the bus clock was somewhat off. I am still pretty sure we were at our ´´destination´´ at about 5:30am. So here we were, Natalie, May, Cassi and me, shivering in the darkness of some public park place of some sort, with a taxi stand nearby. However, due to my observation at the rest stop (that their bus arrived as we left), I knew they were at least a half hour behind us. We had to call them to give them the hostel address and number, so we tried doing that for a while, since Cassiºs hands were so cold and she was so nervous that she literally couldnºt aim her fingers on the keys on the phone.
After we got in touch with a zonked-out Mary-Kate, we got in a taxi. Oh, but of course he doesnºt speak English or Spanish. Only French. Thatºs not even one of their top 3 languages spoken here. We took the cab to their hostel and the guy reluctantly opened the doors, let them lock their luggage in the luggage room, then kicked them out, saying checkin was at 3pm.
We called my hostel and found my check in was at 1pm, but I still had all my luggage. We wandered only a block until we found an open cafe. By now it was about 6.30am or so. We hung out there for about an hour and a half, then we found out the rest of our group was nearby. We met up with them and found out that their bus WAS a half hour behind, plus they were dropped off way further away than we were: we paid a 7 euro fare, and they paid a 12 euro fare.
We then loitered in that cafe until about 9am, then we decided to move on. It was about 50 degrees outside and drizzling! Of course, the weather said itºd be above seventy the whole time on our trip, so we were wearing our warmest clothes, which consisted of jeans, short sleeves and a hoodie.
I needed to find my hostel and we knew it was nearby so I used my friendsº hostelºs internet service and they donºt have flash, so google maps was basically useless. I had to use HTML mode which showed the map at about the size of half a playing card.
We knew it was somewhere northwest, and decided to get in that direction by walking along the river. We stumbled upon a street market with about a bajillion people selling stuff. I ended up getting a gift here for Eric.
We finally found my hostel, dropped off my stuff, then ate food next door. Alex and Mary Kate were feeling ultra queasy and throwing up every once in a while due to either the sleeping pills, the Burger King, or a combo of both.
We then went to this church that has a museum and catacombs which was cool. After we went to a place for lunch. We wandered some more until it was time for us all to check in and we parted ways to go to our hostels.
By this time it was about 2.45 pm. The ongoing joke was that we never wanted to look at a watch because time was passing so SLOWLY. We were already in the city for about 10 hours, for Godºs sakes!
We met up again at 8pm, where I found out that the other group took a solid 4 and a half hour nap while I had meanwhile just been hanging out at my hostel.
We went to an internet place to buy tickets to the Alhambra in Granada (um, episode 3 from star wars was filmed there...it also looks like Aladdinºs palace!). We wandered some more, ate at a restaurant along the river, then went home at 10.45 to just sleep.
So let me give you a run through of how much sleep I´ve gotten. Wednesday night i got 7 hours or so. No biggie. then Thurs night, b-c i was packing and then had to wake up early for the teaching thing, i went to bed around 3...and woke up at 6.20. so thatºs about 3 hours.
Then, on the bus i got 1 hour increments of sleep, and only about 5 of them, none of which were quality. Finally I got about 9 hours of sleep Friday night.
Toki Alai
Donºt to mind the odd characters...I am having issues with this portuguese keyboard....so bear with me.
also, SS is code for San Sebastian from now on.
So for a volunteer project for USAC, I went with three other students, Michelle, Diamond and Jason to a high school in SS´s neighboring Irun, where we taught English. It was fun to prepare a lesson on literally whatever we wanted. We were split into twos to do the teaching, and I was paired with Jason. We decided to teach a class about music, in English.
This was all planned for Friday morning (since i donºt have class on fridays). Jason was upset because the previous week when he did this activity, the other three usac students were 45 minutes late to meet him at the SS train station and they were therefore 15 or 20 minutes late to the teaching thing, which was just embarrassing. To fix this, he wanted to meet up at the SS station at 6.45am to get on the 7 or 7.15 train, which takes about 30 mins, then take a taxi to the school, as planned, since the taxi takes about 10 mins. That way weºd have plenty of time to settle in and get organized, as well as have a cushion in case there were issues.
Well, i wake up at 6.20 and eat and such and strap on my rollerblades to go to the station. I get there at about 6.50 and only diamond is there...michelle is 4 mins away via bus, and jason is supposedly going to be there 15 minutes from then.
When we all arrived, we hopped on the train and went to irun. Mind you, it is pitch black this early in the morning. We got to Irun just as cafes were opening and grabbed a croissant as we walked in a general direction where we thouht the taxi stand was located. We wandered until we found one, then of course there werenºt taxis there. We called the number on the sign, then waited, then some man was like ´need a taxi, come this way!´´ then we walked a block or two then saw our taxi pass us so we ran back to catch up with it. We hopped in and got to the school just in time.
We then split up and were led to the classrooms. The first class was pretty rowdy, but once they settled in, we began.
We began with an activity where Jason and I write 4 items about us on the board, then the class has to ask questions about them to figure out what they were.
For example, I wrote: Eric, August, Kate Nash, and Anna Levon.
The class then would ask ´´ís anna levon the name of your mother´´ or ´´ís kate nash your best friend´´ until they got it right.
Then, they had homework before we arrived to come up with a list of questions to ask us. It was fun to answer them, and many were repetitive. Some questions included, ´´what do you think of basque food´´ or ´´how long are you in spain´´ and of course, being from the USA, ´´have you met any famous people?´´ of course, when I said i met John Goodman at the LAX airport, they had no idea who that was. Nor did they know Shia LeBouf until I was like, ´´hmm, Transformers?´´Then they all nodded in acknowlegement, then oohed and ahhed.
We then moved onto our activity. We first had them list as many typed of music they could think of, like Rock, pop, flamenco, reggae, rap, country, etc.
Then we had them think of specific artists. Then, they each had to come up with a sentence to describe the sound of one of the artists they listed. We gave them a bunch of examples on the worksheet, and by far my favorite was ´´I donºt like Pinkºs music because it sounds like crying babies!´´
Then, the best part was when we gave them a list of adjectives to describe music, then we played a few songs on Jasonºs iPod. Radiohead, for example, was not well recieved by the first class who thought it was loud, repetive and annoying. The second class, however, thought it was catchy and cool.
Then we moved on to the next class, where we did the same thing and got some different responses. We called on one kid who was shy and asked him a question (of course, in english) and he stared and was like ´´mmm...no entiendo.´´ The kids in the room laughed and were like ´´Heºs...how do you say...short?´´ Then Jason was like ´´óhh, you mean SLOW.´´ It was funny.
Then we had a 20 min break, as well as the students. We all met up again, with Michelle and Diamond and had some coffee. We then went to the last classroom where we were told the kids had a very low level of english and that some would have to be spoken to in Spanish. One girl stood out as seeming very knowledgable about English, outshining most of the students. I only stayed for a short period in this class because I had to leave early to catch my 12.40 train to Bilbao from SS.
I left and got in a taxi that the teacher called for me. She also handed me a gift as a thank you, which i wasnºt expecting. It included cookies, sausage, cheese, and 2 cans of paté. I took the cab and realized that i only had 8.50 euros left, and i knew the train costed 1.50. I took the taxi as far as about 6 euros got me, then hopped out. The driver insisted the station was a bit further but i avoided explaining the sitch and told him iºd be fine right there. I walked a few more blocks and got to the station at about 11.05. I got on the train, strapped on my rollerblades and went home, where I got my luggage and headed off to the SS bus station...
also, SS is code for San Sebastian from now on.
So for a volunteer project for USAC, I went with three other students, Michelle, Diamond and Jason to a high school in SS´s neighboring Irun, where we taught English. It was fun to prepare a lesson on literally whatever we wanted. We were split into twos to do the teaching, and I was paired with Jason. We decided to teach a class about music, in English.
This was all planned for Friday morning (since i donºt have class on fridays). Jason was upset because the previous week when he did this activity, the other three usac students were 45 minutes late to meet him at the SS train station and they were therefore 15 or 20 minutes late to the teaching thing, which was just embarrassing. To fix this, he wanted to meet up at the SS station at 6.45am to get on the 7 or 7.15 train, which takes about 30 mins, then take a taxi to the school, as planned, since the taxi takes about 10 mins. That way weºd have plenty of time to settle in and get organized, as well as have a cushion in case there were issues.
Well, i wake up at 6.20 and eat and such and strap on my rollerblades to go to the station. I get there at about 6.50 and only diamond is there...michelle is 4 mins away via bus, and jason is supposedly going to be there 15 minutes from then.
When we all arrived, we hopped on the train and went to irun. Mind you, it is pitch black this early in the morning. We got to Irun just as cafes were opening and grabbed a croissant as we walked in a general direction where we thouht the taxi stand was located. We wandered until we found one, then of course there werenºt taxis there. We called the number on the sign, then waited, then some man was like ´need a taxi, come this way!´´ then we walked a block or two then saw our taxi pass us so we ran back to catch up with it. We hopped in and got to the school just in time.
We then split up and were led to the classrooms. The first class was pretty rowdy, but once they settled in, we began.
We began with an activity where Jason and I write 4 items about us on the board, then the class has to ask questions about them to figure out what they were.
For example, I wrote: Eric, August, Kate Nash, and Anna Levon.
The class then would ask ´´ís anna levon the name of your mother´´ or ´´ís kate nash your best friend´´ until they got it right.
Then, they had homework before we arrived to come up with a list of questions to ask us. It was fun to answer them, and many were repetitive. Some questions included, ´´what do you think of basque food´´ or ´´how long are you in spain´´ and of course, being from the USA, ´´have you met any famous people?´´ of course, when I said i met John Goodman at the LAX airport, they had no idea who that was. Nor did they know Shia LeBouf until I was like, ´´hmm, Transformers?´´Then they all nodded in acknowlegement, then oohed and ahhed.
We then moved onto our activity. We first had them list as many typed of music they could think of, like Rock, pop, flamenco, reggae, rap, country, etc.
Then we had them think of specific artists. Then, they each had to come up with a sentence to describe the sound of one of the artists they listed. We gave them a bunch of examples on the worksheet, and by far my favorite was ´´I donºt like Pinkºs music because it sounds like crying babies!´´
Then, the best part was when we gave them a list of adjectives to describe music, then we played a few songs on Jasonºs iPod. Radiohead, for example, was not well recieved by the first class who thought it was loud, repetive and annoying. The second class, however, thought it was catchy and cool.
Then we moved on to the next class, where we did the same thing and got some different responses. We called on one kid who was shy and asked him a question (of course, in english) and he stared and was like ´´mmm...no entiendo.´´ The kids in the room laughed and were like ´´Heºs...how do you say...short?´´ Then Jason was like ´´óhh, you mean SLOW.´´ It was funny.
Then we had a 20 min break, as well as the students. We all met up again, with Michelle and Diamond and had some coffee. We then went to the last classroom where we were told the kids had a very low level of english and that some would have to be spoken to in Spanish. One girl stood out as seeming very knowledgable about English, outshining most of the students. I only stayed for a short period in this class because I had to leave early to catch my 12.40 train to Bilbao from SS.
I left and got in a taxi that the teacher called for me. She also handed me a gift as a thank you, which i wasnºt expecting. It included cookies, sausage, cheese, and 2 cans of paté. I took the cab and realized that i only had 8.50 euros left, and i knew the train costed 1.50. I took the taxi as far as about 6 euros got me, then hopped out. The driver insisted the station was a bit further but i avoided explaining the sitch and told him iºd be fine right there. I walked a few more blocks and got to the station at about 11.05. I got on the train, strapped on my rollerblades and went home, where I got my luggage and headed off to the SS bus station...
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Quick!
Tomorrow I am getting on a bus to Bilbao where I am getting on a bus to Portugal!
I am going with Cassi, Alex Ireland, Mary-Kate, Natalie and May to Porto, Lisboa and Lagos in Portugal, then Sevilla and Granada in southern Spain.
I have 2 weeks of spring break here, so I will be gone for basically the whole 17 days.
I will update you all on more details when I get back!
I am going with Cassi, Alex Ireland, Mary-Kate, Natalie and May to Porto, Lisboa and Lagos in Portugal, then Sevilla and Granada in southern Spain.
I have 2 weeks of spring break here, so I will be gone for basically the whole 17 days.
I will update you all on more details when I get back!
Tortilla de Patatas
Okay, so I will be honest and say that I am not putting full effort in this b/c it is 1:48 AM and I have to wake up early tomorrow. You'll have to deal.
Okay, so last week was my last cooking class. We had normal class on Tuesday, which is when the class normally is held, but then we met again Thursday to take our final.
First, we showed up and instead of meeting in the kitchen as usual, we met upstairs in the second dining room, where we were given the test. We previously received a copy of the test so we could study, but the copy we had received had way more questions on it than the actual test.
This fake test we got also had tons of errors. All of the questions were in Spanish, and one question asked something along the lines of "What ingredient is indispensable in ajorriero" or something like that. Ajorriero, or so I think it's called, is made with ajo, or garlic, as well as about 2 pounds of cod. There are other things too. The answer options were: garlic, cod, onions, and cream. Obviously, if something is made with 2 pounds of cod and that is the main part of the dish, other than the garlic of course, wouldn't you think that was also indispensable? Anywho, I asked Patricia before the test and she said that it was in fact an error, since obviously you couldn't make a dish without the garlic or the bacalao. She told me not to worry since it wasn't on the test, though.
We got the test. The question was the first question on this test.
I called over Patricia and told her, and she laughed and said I could put A and B since they were both technically right.
We finished the test fairly quickly. One kid in our class (Alec) didn't answer the entire back side of the exam and instead wrote: "Touching squid in the kitchen last week was MY 'A'"
They graded the tests and informed us that we the class was pass/fail and we had to get a 15/25 to pass. Two people failed. The aforementioned kid was one of them. As well as another girl. All of which was announced to the class. Then, the chef guy continued to read every single person's name and grade they got on the test. I got a 21, so of course I passed. I thought it was completely rude, though, that he read out loud everyone's grades. The girl who failed (Annette), for example, is only in Track 2 Spanish, which is like the equivalent of the Spanish level I had in high school about 5 years ago. Therefore, a class completely taught in Spanish about Basque culture would be quite hard for her to follow. Then telling the entire class she failed is just over the top. She didn't even understand him when he said she failed. Because it was in Spanish. But still, her face turned completely red when she found out and I felt angry for everyone that didn't want their grade announced, however good or bad it was.
Anyways, we moved on downstairs, where we had put our Tortillas de patatas. We had to do this in groups of three or so, where we got together and made tortilla de patatas, which is basically a type of egg omelet with potatoes. We had to just do it for a grade, and then, for fun, they had a competition to see whose was best. We were told ahead of time if we didn't follow the basic recipe (eggs, olive oil, onions, and potatoes) then we wouldn't qualify for the competition, but we'd still get a grade on it. The one I made with Cassi and Alex Ireland contained the traditional stuff as well as green peppers and chorizo. We made an extra one for ourselves to eat before class and it was DELICIOUS. So we got to taste everyone elses and some were good, some bad. One group, with a student (Alex Plotkin) who is ambitious to be a chef, put caviar and other stuff on top.
After we tasted those, we sat down for our formal dinner of some veggie stew, duck(?) and salad. In our end of the table, someone found the bladder of the duck on the platter and we all decided to be "daring" and each eat a chunk of it. It was dry and mushy.
We finished the dinner with some kind of flaming dessert that they finished off before us, where they lit some liquid on fire and poured it on top. It was very...foamy. There was fruit as well as some ice cream, but the ice cream was similar in color and texture to the foam, so it was hard to pick that out (b/c the flavor was of course different, the ice cream being WAY better). Ryan commented that the foam part was like jacuzzi foam. The flavor and texture was dead on, which was quite gross.
After coffee, our chef-teacher dude as well as another cook from the kitchen and some dude we'd never seen before came out in the dining room wearing some funny beret-like hats and gowns. They then called our names in threes and each gave us a certificate of accomplishment. Then they announced the winners of the tortilla competition. Apparently the rules of the "traditional" tortilla didn't apply since a lot of people changed the recipe to their liking. He announced third, which was Alex Plotkin's group, then second, then first. Cassi, Alex Ireland and I won first place! Cassi was so excited, you'd think she won $500. We went up and they gave us these blue aprons to wear and we posed for pictures. Then they told us it's traditional in something like this that the winners sing a Bertso, or a freestyle Basque poem. Of course we couldn't do that since we can't speak basque, nor freesyle poetry, so instead we sang the only song we knew in Basque, the Basque numbers song. The chef and them knew the lyrics too, since for them it's like some children's song like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." We sang, everyone sang along, they clapped, and we got to keep the aprons.
That's right, people, a BASQUE GASTRONOMIC SOCIETY said that our tortilla WAS THE BEST.
And if you wanted to know what song it was, I happened to make this great video for you to enjoy.
And here's the link to our Cooking class's photo album...where they have not yet posted pics of our "graduation," but still you can enjoy.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35262595@N02/sets/72157613605054986/
Okay, so last week was my last cooking class. We had normal class on Tuesday, which is when the class normally is held, but then we met again Thursday to take our final.
First, we showed up and instead of meeting in the kitchen as usual, we met upstairs in the second dining room, where we were given the test. We previously received a copy of the test so we could study, but the copy we had received had way more questions on it than the actual test.
This fake test we got also had tons of errors. All of the questions were in Spanish, and one question asked something along the lines of "What ingredient is indispensable in ajorriero" or something like that. Ajorriero, or so I think it's called, is made with ajo, or garlic, as well as about 2 pounds of cod. There are other things too. The answer options were: garlic, cod, onions, and cream. Obviously, if something is made with 2 pounds of cod and that is the main part of the dish, other than the garlic of course, wouldn't you think that was also indispensable? Anywho, I asked Patricia before the test and she said that it was in fact an error, since obviously you couldn't make a dish without the garlic or the bacalao. She told me not to worry since it wasn't on the test, though.
We got the test. The question was the first question on this test.
I called over Patricia and told her, and she laughed and said I could put A and B since they were both technically right.
We finished the test fairly quickly. One kid in our class (Alec) didn't answer the entire back side of the exam and instead wrote: "Touching squid in the kitchen last week was MY 'A'"
They graded the tests and informed us that we the class was pass/fail and we had to get a 15/25 to pass. Two people failed. The aforementioned kid was one of them. As well as another girl. All of which was announced to the class. Then, the chef guy continued to read every single person's name and grade they got on the test. I got a 21, so of course I passed. I thought it was completely rude, though, that he read out loud everyone's grades. The girl who failed (Annette), for example, is only in Track 2 Spanish, which is like the equivalent of the Spanish level I had in high school about 5 years ago. Therefore, a class completely taught in Spanish about Basque culture would be quite hard for her to follow. Then telling the entire class she failed is just over the top. She didn't even understand him when he said she failed. Because it was in Spanish. But still, her face turned completely red when she found out and I felt angry for everyone that didn't want their grade announced, however good or bad it was.
Anyways, we moved on downstairs, where we had put our Tortillas de patatas. We had to do this in groups of three or so, where we got together and made tortilla de patatas, which is basically a type of egg omelet with potatoes. We had to just do it for a grade, and then, for fun, they had a competition to see whose was best. We were told ahead of time if we didn't follow the basic recipe (eggs, olive oil, onions, and potatoes) then we wouldn't qualify for the competition, but we'd still get a grade on it. The one I made with Cassi and Alex Ireland contained the traditional stuff as well as green peppers and chorizo. We made an extra one for ourselves to eat before class and it was DELICIOUS. So we got to taste everyone elses and some were good, some bad. One group, with a student (Alex Plotkin) who is ambitious to be a chef, put caviar and other stuff on top.
After we tasted those, we sat down for our formal dinner of some veggie stew, duck(?) and salad. In our end of the table, someone found the bladder of the duck on the platter and we all decided to be "daring" and each eat a chunk of it. It was dry and mushy.
We finished the dinner with some kind of flaming dessert that they finished off before us, where they lit some liquid on fire and poured it on top. It was very...foamy. There was fruit as well as some ice cream, but the ice cream was similar in color and texture to the foam, so it was hard to pick that out (b/c the flavor was of course different, the ice cream being WAY better). Ryan commented that the foam part was like jacuzzi foam. The flavor and texture was dead on, which was quite gross.
After coffee, our chef-teacher dude as well as another cook from the kitchen and some dude we'd never seen before came out in the dining room wearing some funny beret-like hats and gowns. They then called our names in threes and each gave us a certificate of accomplishment. Then they announced the winners of the tortilla competition. Apparently the rules of the "traditional" tortilla didn't apply since a lot of people changed the recipe to their liking. He announced third, which was Alex Plotkin's group, then second, then first. Cassi, Alex Ireland and I won first place! Cassi was so excited, you'd think she won $500. We went up and they gave us these blue aprons to wear and we posed for pictures. Then they told us it's traditional in something like this that the winners sing a Bertso, or a freestyle Basque poem. Of course we couldn't do that since we can't speak basque, nor freesyle poetry, so instead we sang the only song we knew in Basque, the Basque numbers song. The chef and them knew the lyrics too, since for them it's like some children's song like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." We sang, everyone sang along, they clapped, and we got to keep the aprons.
That's right, people, a BASQUE GASTRONOMIC SOCIETY said that our tortilla WAS THE BEST.
And if you wanted to know what song it was, I happened to make this great video for you to enjoy.
And here's the link to our Cooking class's photo album...where they have not yet posted pics of our "graduation," but still you can enjoy.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35262595@N02/sets/72157613605054986/
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Unexpected Voyage
POOF!
My friends and family in the US of A, did you feel that?
What, you ask?
The time change!
For a brief two weeks we were a mere 6 hours apart.
But alas, time has changed here last night in the European Union and we are back to seven hours apart again.
Well, I have the unfortunate news of my grandmother's passing. For the past couple months she has been in an assisted living place where she has been suffering from cancer. When I would talk to my parents on video chat over these past two months, they would inform me with great news: she had a great day today and was laughing and chatting! Or with bad news: we don't know how long she can hold on.
It was this tug of war for what seemed like forever, but right before St. Patrick's day my parents informed me that she was more and more sick and they had mutually decided to let her pass. Two days before St. Patrick's, I talked to my dad on video chat and planned my trip to come home. We bought tickets from San Sebastian to Madrid and Madrid to Chicago, then the reverse for the way home. Fortunately I had a 5 day weekend that weekend because here in San Sebastian it's basically Father's Day on Thursday, so we had no school then or on Friday. That week before I left was hard, because it was difficult to contact my family since they were often out of the house visiting Nana. When I got on my plane to the US that Thursday (two days after St. Pattys) morning, I honestly was uninformed whether or not she was alive or not.
When I arrived home to big hugs from my parents at O'Hare, they sadly told me that Nana had passed that morning, about a few hours into my flight. It was sad, but it was so unreal because I have not seen my grandmother since before I left for my trip, to show her and my grandpa the video camera I had gotten using the Christmas giftcards they gave me. And at that stage, she was completely fine. All of this information about her being sick was all told to me, and I hadn't contacted her via video chat or anything. When my parents told me, my dad told me it was good that she was gone before I arrived, because he wouldn't have wanted me to remember her as the bed-ridden hospitalized Nana that she was, but instead as the happy, healthy Nana I saw back in January. I agree. It was just...strange to be told that someone you haven't seen in two months was now gone, forever.
Basically when I arrived home the whole weekend we were busy going to Grandpa's to visit him with my mom's side of the family, and making plans for the funeral service and visitation. It was very busy indeed, and of course just a very sad time in general. The first time I broke down when I was home when I finally saw my Grandpa, who you could just tell was stressed from making phone calls non stop about the saddest event in his life, the passing of his wife of 62 years. We decided to compile some pictures for a board to put at the visitation and funeral, as well as the lunch at Hackney's afterward. That was fun to look at all the family pictures from way back. I wish I had some pictures here of Nana back in the day, when she looked like a gorgeous 40's pinup! I do have some great family pictures of me and my cousins, though:
I especially like my brother's Dick Tracy shirt in the first one.
We also decided to write a eulogy amongst the grandchildren (me and my brother, my cousins Nicki and Pat, and Olivia). We all gathered in a room at my Grandpa's apartment, discussing our favorite memories of her and us. As my cousin Nicki put it so well: "Do you guys realize how proud she was? She was such a proud woman. Any time we met her friends, they always knew of us. We were her pride and joy. She loved us SO much."
When Pat read the eulogy he wrote, compiling all of our memories, it was wonderful. My favorite parts he touched on were:
"Nana always referred to Eric and me as her little terrors...but of course, Nicki, Olivia and Melissa were her little angels."
"She and Grandpa had nicknames for us all, like Melissa: Miss Madam, and Eric: Beeler."
"We grandkids always remembered arguing over who had the most pictures on her and Grandpa's mantle, which constantly changed until Nicki's wedding photos blew us all out of the water."
Again, I was mostly fine at the funeral, and when I broke down, my brother jokingly commented in a serious tone: "hey, get a hold of yourself, this is a funeral!", always turning the situation into a comforting one.
We went to Hackney's for lunch afterward, where we saw Dorothy, my grandparents' friend and piano player from Hackney's. While talking with the elderly woman, I teared up as she solemnly noted that it has to be so hard for Grandpa, who has lost his "buddy" of 62 years, his friend he was with for nearly every moment of his life. At that point, I realized I was crying not just for my Nana, but for my Grandpa, since I was almost more sad for him that he doesn't have anyone he can talk to like that anymore.
But, it was still nice to be home for it all, to get and give big hugs to the ones I love, and to console everyone in such a sad time. Getting together with my cousins is always a fun time, especially listening to my brother and cousin Pat joke around, which always has me laughing. It's what my grandmother would have wanted: to see her family enjoying one anothers' company and having a good time.
The travel home was interesting itself, since I had a chance to get some things that they don't sell or are rare here in Spain, like Ranch Dressing, BBQ sauce, Peanut Butter, cookie mix, Cosmo magazine (in english) and A1 Steak Sauce. Most of those things were for my friends, for which they reimbursed me when I got back to Spain.
And for disease control, the customs have to ask you about whether or not you were on a farm, or are bringing fresh food into the country. In addition to the form you fill out upon entering the USA, you also are randomly questioned before you exit the baggage claim, where it is asked in such a way where the guy just seems to be either very hungry or weird:
(To man in front of me) Security guy: Do you have a sandwich? No? Ok, thank you.
(To me) Security Guy: Were you on a farm? No? Ok, thank you.
And even though I was in O'Hare, I found myself saying "Perdon" in Spanish when I would bump into people. That wore off once I was back in the suburbs.
When I got back to San Sebastian, I literally hopped on a bus back to my host family's house, got my backpack together, ate breakfast, and got on a bus to go to class. I told my teachers about the situation, and I knew I'd miss my first class. My second class, Basque Language, I was late to by about 30 minutes (it's a 70 min class) and people looked at me all laughing-like, thinking I got there that late b/c I slept in or something. I was definitely NOT in the mood for those people at that time. It was also annoying to be asked "how was your weekend?" by people I hadn't told my weekend plans to. Of course, they were just trying to be nice, but still, it was like "Hmm, alright, considering I went to my grandma's funeral, and you?"
But in all, I am glad I went back home for the event, since I didn't want to have to deal with it by myself here, where no one can emotionally relate to the situation. But at the same time, I feel like I "cheated" in a way by going home during my big semester away. It really didn't feel like I'd been gone for very long, and I know once I go back the same thing will happen. But at least then it will be for the end of the semester and I will have camp to look forward to.
I miss you Nana.
My friends and family in the US of A, did you feel that?
What, you ask?
The time change!
For a brief two weeks we were a mere 6 hours apart.
But alas, time has changed here last night in the European Union and we are back to seven hours apart again.
Well, I have the unfortunate news of my grandmother's passing. For the past couple months she has been in an assisted living place where she has been suffering from cancer. When I would talk to my parents on video chat over these past two months, they would inform me with great news: she had a great day today and was laughing and chatting! Or with bad news: we don't know how long she can hold on.
It was this tug of war for what seemed like forever, but right before St. Patrick's day my parents informed me that she was more and more sick and they had mutually decided to let her pass. Two days before St. Patrick's, I talked to my dad on video chat and planned my trip to come home. We bought tickets from San Sebastian to Madrid and Madrid to Chicago, then the reverse for the way home. Fortunately I had a 5 day weekend that weekend because here in San Sebastian it's basically Father's Day on Thursday, so we had no school then or on Friday. That week before I left was hard, because it was difficult to contact my family since they were often out of the house visiting Nana. When I got on my plane to the US that Thursday (two days after St. Pattys) morning, I honestly was uninformed whether or not she was alive or not.
When I arrived home to big hugs from my parents at O'Hare, they sadly told me that Nana had passed that morning, about a few hours into my flight. It was sad, but it was so unreal because I have not seen my grandmother since before I left for my trip, to show her and my grandpa the video camera I had gotten using the Christmas giftcards they gave me. And at that stage, she was completely fine. All of this information about her being sick was all told to me, and I hadn't contacted her via video chat or anything. When my parents told me, my dad told me it was good that she was gone before I arrived, because he wouldn't have wanted me to remember her as the bed-ridden hospitalized Nana that she was, but instead as the happy, healthy Nana I saw back in January. I agree. It was just...strange to be told that someone you haven't seen in two months was now gone, forever.
Basically when I arrived home the whole weekend we were busy going to Grandpa's to visit him with my mom's side of the family, and making plans for the funeral service and visitation. It was very busy indeed, and of course just a very sad time in general. The first time I broke down when I was home when I finally saw my Grandpa, who you could just tell was stressed from making phone calls non stop about the saddest event in his life, the passing of his wife of 62 years. We decided to compile some pictures for a board to put at the visitation and funeral, as well as the lunch at Hackney's afterward. That was fun to look at all the family pictures from way back. I wish I had some pictures here of Nana back in the day, when she looked like a gorgeous 40's pinup! I do have some great family pictures of me and my cousins, though:
I especially like my brother's Dick Tracy shirt in the first one.
We also decided to write a eulogy amongst the grandchildren (me and my brother, my cousins Nicki and Pat, and Olivia). We all gathered in a room at my Grandpa's apartment, discussing our favorite memories of her and us. As my cousin Nicki put it so well: "Do you guys realize how proud she was? She was such a proud woman. Any time we met her friends, they always knew of us. We were her pride and joy. She loved us SO much."
When Pat read the eulogy he wrote, compiling all of our memories, it was wonderful. My favorite parts he touched on were:
"Nana always referred to Eric and me as her little terrors...but of course, Nicki, Olivia and Melissa were her little angels."
"She and Grandpa had nicknames for us all, like Melissa: Miss Madam, and Eric: Beeler."
"We grandkids always remembered arguing over who had the most pictures on her and Grandpa's mantle, which constantly changed until Nicki's wedding photos blew us all out of the water."
Again, I was mostly fine at the funeral, and when I broke down, my brother jokingly commented in a serious tone: "hey, get a hold of yourself, this is a funeral!", always turning the situation into a comforting one.
We went to Hackney's for lunch afterward, where we saw Dorothy, my grandparents' friend and piano player from Hackney's. While talking with the elderly woman, I teared up as she solemnly noted that it has to be so hard for Grandpa, who has lost his "buddy" of 62 years, his friend he was with for nearly every moment of his life. At that point, I realized I was crying not just for my Nana, but for my Grandpa, since I was almost more sad for him that he doesn't have anyone he can talk to like that anymore.
But, it was still nice to be home for it all, to get and give big hugs to the ones I love, and to console everyone in such a sad time. Getting together with my cousins is always a fun time, especially listening to my brother and cousin Pat joke around, which always has me laughing. It's what my grandmother would have wanted: to see her family enjoying one anothers' company and having a good time.
The travel home was interesting itself, since I had a chance to get some things that they don't sell or are rare here in Spain, like Ranch Dressing, BBQ sauce, Peanut Butter, cookie mix, Cosmo magazine (in english) and A1 Steak Sauce. Most of those things were for my friends, for which they reimbursed me when I got back to Spain.
And for disease control, the customs have to ask you about whether or not you were on a farm, or are bringing fresh food into the country. In addition to the form you fill out upon entering the USA, you also are randomly questioned before you exit the baggage claim, where it is asked in such a way where the guy just seems to be either very hungry or weird:
(To man in front of me) Security guy: Do you have a sandwich? No? Ok, thank you.
(To me) Security Guy: Were you on a farm? No? Ok, thank you.
And even though I was in O'Hare, I found myself saying "Perdon" in Spanish when I would bump into people. That wore off once I was back in the suburbs.
When I got back to San Sebastian, I literally hopped on a bus back to my host family's house, got my backpack together, ate breakfast, and got on a bus to go to class. I told my teachers about the situation, and I knew I'd miss my first class. My second class, Basque Language, I was late to by about 30 minutes (it's a 70 min class) and people looked at me all laughing-like, thinking I got there that late b/c I slept in or something. I was definitely NOT in the mood for those people at that time. It was also annoying to be asked "how was your weekend?" by people I hadn't told my weekend plans to. Of course, they were just trying to be nice, but still, it was like "Hmm, alright, considering I went to my grandma's funeral, and you?"
But in all, I am glad I went back home for the event, since I didn't want to have to deal with it by myself here, where no one can emotionally relate to the situation. But at the same time, I feel like I "cheated" in a way by going home during my big semester away. It really didn't feel like I'd been gone for very long, and I know once I go back the same thing will happen. But at least then it will be for the end of the semester and I will have camp to look forward to.
I miss you Nana.
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