españa

if you read this, you deserve a postcard. so send me your address in some way or another.

correction: no postcards for anyone. sometimes individuals ruin things for the group. it's never been fair nor will it ever be fair.

posted by me @ 4:20 AM 4 comments

my family is home, but we are still drinking the coffee i made last week. :) spain has microwaves, so it's okay. vale. micro-olas. vale.

posted by me @ 4:19 AM 0 comments

four girls, two guys. five midwesterners, one texan. the six of us. we bought blue reversible bucket hats for eleven euros and fifty-four euro-cents. with the hats came free bus tickets from madrid to valladolid. hat, hat, hat, hat, hat, and hat. bobbing through the station. as if being estado unidenses doesn't draw us enough attention. grinning. giggling. belly laughing. let's take pictures to document the feeling. we are "bad ass." ha ha ha ha ha and ha. :)

posted by me @ 4:15 AM 1 comments

"it's just one branch of the tree."

posted by me @ 4:14 AM 1 comments

toledo is: small
interesting
with cathedral
confusing (streetwise)
deserted
gnat-infested
where el greco once lived
pretty
what you might imagine europe to be
full of things to do
on a hill
talented with mazapan (marzipan)

posted by me @ 4:11 AM 0 comments

our family is on vacation. i made coffee. i washed dishes. i did laundry. i am am spanish housewife with no husband.

posted by me @ 5:16 AM 2 comments

"maybe they sell abstinence here!"

"absinthe?"

posted by me @ 5:15 AM 1 comments

it's annoying to have to delete spammed comments on a blog.

...

last week, thursday night, meredith and i went to la oficina with a weekend's worth of luggage right after dinner. we enjoyed the company of our good friends whom we love and adore (a lot, really). then we marched off to the bus station to catch our midnight-thirty bus to madrid. arrived in madrid around three or four a.m. took a taxi to the train station after promptly getting kicked out of the bus station. sat outside of the train station on the ground and wrote in our journals/read until pedro approached us. "speak english?" "yes..." and that is how we ended up having a four-hour conversation with a portuguese boy that goes to school in canada that hates the french that visited his ex-girlfriend in poland and has a crush on her friend whom he spent less than a week with who hasn't been home in four years who doesn't understand why people go out so early in n. america who doesn't understand why girls can't sleep over without sex having to be an issue who hasn't heard of churros con chocolate nor many spanish cities who says "and i was all:" in place of "and i was like:" who enjoys orange drink and rides moving stairs rather than escalators and won his position with AISEC by telling students to "vote for pedro." at eight or so, after our churros con chocolate we just had to get some, we board our train and sleep most of the way to granada. hostel, wander the city, shop, go back to hostel for siesta...end up sleeping until five a.m. ... oops, guess we'll sleep until morning. croissant and café in the morning, la alhambra very beautiful impressive thought-provoking, boring cathedral, lounging at a café, moroccan dinner (excellent!), sitting on a wall with a river below, the alhambra above, and street musicians across the [mainly english-speaking] pedestrian infested cobblestone street. sleep, breakfast buffet for 5 euros with becca and crystal (more croissants!), la casa-museo de federico garcia lorca, an author/artist from granada, wandering, tetería (arabic and open windowed, couches and stools, lanterns, individual polished loose tea). train to madrid, arrives one hour late, taxis won't pick us up, get to bus station seven minutes late, have to spend the night in madrid, miss class, come back to valladolid later. la oficina still loves us. yesterday beach and la oficina and café feeling and 25 watts at our apartment seeing as how our parents left for méxico and we have the place to ourselves. ¿que suerte, no? tonight we'll watch a movie and eat telepizza. and no, i'm still not homesick.

posted by me @ 4:03 AM 0 comments

croissant and chocolate-coffee breakfast.
bits of rain on my lips post-breakfast.

posted by me @ 12:37 AM 2 comments

let's go to : salamanca - done
santander - done
pinafiel *make preparations
granada (check)
segovia (check)
toledo *make preparations

posted by me @ 9:21 AM 4 comments

the crumbs of my sidewalk are gone now.

no more leftovers. remnants. remains. nothing remains.

posted by me @ 4:01 AM 1 comments

i found a bracelet on the ground in santander. my host mom thinks i broke her hair straightener. i was walking to school this afternoon and was very focused on whatever point of ground lay six feet ahead of me. i was so focused that i did not realize that my sidewalk was about to turn to pulverized rubble. tiles with holes punched through, loose tiles, skewed tiles and crumbs. i had only been able to think on how the heat ought to get off my back. i was telling anyone who wasn't there to not touch my back even if it was intended to be some affectionate gesture. it's just too hot.

posted by me @ 8:44 AM 2 comments

"it's a hundred generations removed from anything original, but the truth is aren't we all?"

we go to la oficina almost every night now. for wine and cafés and cervezas and to drink each other up. shundreka, niki, jacque, meredit, gabriel, james-jaime. and i'm the seventh. it's nice because we're out someplace with friends, but it's not as forced like at home because we know we'll be there the next night and the next night and it's not like we have to make the MOST out of our time drinking this one coffee and seeing these few friends because we have to work the next day or because someone's going out of town or because they need to see other friends or because they don't want to see you all the time. it's just very relaxed and there. free-flowed.

i took a new way to class today, and i didn't look at my map once. well, i pulled it out at one point because the minute hand was nearing the mark that marks classtime, but i didn't open it up or look at it. i just considered it for a moment. i saw a big beautiful church and a huge archway which i didn't realize that i had seen before, it was just a new angle. all the while listening to the shins and damien rice and death cab for cutie. i love the mornings when there is shade on both sides of the street and people are placid like reflecting pools and i can take my time because i don't have to run away from the sun and it's heat. i'm about to walk home. you can see me hugging the shade like i own it. around this corner, cross that street, look left, look right. "i have to go home; you are home."

posted by me @ 4:50 AM 3 comments

we autobused to santander, a coastal city to the north with muchas playas. we played en las playas and tomaron el sol. we played catch with the seaweed and made a pool in the sand; we named it 'el tange' (the thong). we collected miniature shells and ate helado. we had paella and café bombon and xuxo. we went to the zoo and communed with the sea lions. we took photos and drank in the views. we experienced drama and everything.

posted by me @ 12:35 AM 1 comments

it's raining. rain! fat rain. dark clouds with thunder. thank you; i like this.

"It rained the whole way, it rained steady and true the whole day, and I couldn't have been happier."

posted by me @ 9:07 AM 1 comments

it's interesting how long beauty holds your attention. and then it's gone. and then there's what was there before, but you see it with more clarity.

i really like walking past tour buses and not having to get on. and clearly not being a part of the tour. and walking past the tour group. i'm not one of them anymore.

posted by me @ 11:35 PM 3 comments

to do:
transportation to granada
churros con chocolate
wine tasting at piñafiel
museo de esculpturas
paella
better my spanish
take more pictures
-family photos!
-fotos de tara y airon
postcards

posted by me @ 4:01 AM 0 comments

i want to climb things. scaffolding, trees, buildings, fences. i want to go up. maybe because we can never see very much space at once. la plaza mayor can be a bit of a shock if you're not expecting it. narrow calles, business, cars, people, shops, crosswalks, churches-OPEN SPACE! it's nice. oh, one other thing that's refreshing... the occasional loose stone in the sidewalk after esgueva ends or the one on the second floor in our apartment building. it's proof that a city can survive with imperfections. it will be okay.

posted by me @ 3:56 AM 2 comments

in salamanca on saturday i took pictures in la plaza de reina. it wasn't all that glamorous, but it did have a clothing shop for older women called 'reina moda.' i love ice cream here. i have learned that turrón is almond and avellana is hazelnut. mmm. and the cones are really good too. people make out everywhere. i think it´s because homes/apartments are so tiny that young lovers who live with their parents have no place to go...so they just find a bench somewhere and do the pre-kissing gazes. so yesterday i saw bob dylan in concert. it was pretty random; mer and i bought the tickets the day before at like 7:00pm. last night niki and i tried churros con chocolate, but the churros we're stale so we have decided that we cannot truly say we had churros con chocolate en españa yet...

how does it feel?
how does it feel?
to be on your own
with no direction home
like a complete unknown
like a rolling stone?

pretty good, actually.

posted by me @ 3:05 AM 0 comments

i´m going to miss my host family.

travel plans are finally taking shape.

the sand was hot today. as was the sun.

i´m going to call g-ma before she leaves for russia!

posted by me @ 10:12 AM 1 comments

time for reiteration (which is not being redundant because that´s not possible because you can never step into the same river twice (i said that yesterday and my amigas looked at me like i was crazy and then one told me that i´m too phil-o-so-fick-le...then we had to take a moment to realize that the word is really philosophical))... i really like breakfast. i get ready and then grab my stuff and enter the little kitchen. the cat is waiting for me. airon, but we always call him she because he´s so fluffy). he looks up at me and positions himself in front of his food. waits for it, waits for it. as soon as i start preparing my coffee&cocoa au lait with galletas (¡con fibra!), airon digs in. he must not like dining alone! maybe it gives him indigestion, i don´t know. meredith and i are going to santander next weekend! ¡qué bueno!

posted by me @ 4:02 AM 2 comments

i just spent several hours on our beach. which is good because it meant i wasn't in shops spending money. we had a group of about 14 girls and one boy on the beach today. talk about a turn out, no? it was quite nice and relaxing.

i love having comida with our family. apparently our teacher/professor doesn't know what a bellybutton is because he told us that it was bandalera when it's really ombligo. wtf, mate? i want to visit rob and andri in london next weekend, but i don't know if rob's there yet. i want to meet tyler in barcelona in a few weekends, but i don't know if it's practical. hopefully i go somewhere, that's all. seeing those people in those places would just be bonuses/boni.

okay, ciao

posted by me @ 10:00 AM 0 comments

oh, and you can make anonymous comments now so dust yourself off and try again if you were rejected in the past.

posted by me @ 4:05 AM 0 comments

helloooo. holaaaa. this morning i jumped out of bed and enjoyed some cornflakes with room temp. milk out of a coffee mug...then i added coffee to the extra milk and some cocoa powder. this i consumed with galletas con fibra and some other cookies. i flew out the door and scurried down six flights of narrow and dark stone stairs. soon after this i was out on the street and accompanied to class with phoenix, the beatles, bright eyes, and chris koza. i follow a busy street and pass through a small plaza where people allow their dogs to relieve themselves before they head off to work. at this time of day, there are lots of workers working to clean the streets (which i appreciate mucho). i continue to walk along this street until the sidewalk becomes the outdoor seating for a string of cafes. after the last café (oh, cafés are like bars here), the library (el biblioteca, ha) (es como en la crosse!), i walk down the narrow street with art shop that has pretty paintings and mysterious sculptures. then i meet up with a larger but not-so-large street until it seems to end but doesn't. i follow the road that ends. past the bread shops which produce the scents for which i am grateful. past the two mail-carrying mopeds. to the left through a tiny plaza and then through the gates to school. ahh. okay, yeah bye.

posted by me @ 3:52 AM 4 comments

yeah, hi. yesterday...yesterday, yesterday, yesterday...i...showered! finally. and it was ever so wonderful. then i had lunch with my entire family (mamá, papá, tío, tía, compañera, y mis primas (the girls that my aunt and uncle are hosting)). then lots and lots of siesta. after that i walked down to la plaza circular where i checked out a few shops and bought some shoes for only five euros. i´m going to try to exchange them today because they are a little bit too big. if that´s not possible, maybe i have a friend with feet a little bit bigger than mine and they would like to buy them from me? quizás. we´re going to the beach today, hooray. on thursday we´re going to visit the house of cervantes sometime at night. i like it here. every so often i have to step back and say "whoa, i´m in spain. crazy, no?" oh, the cat is a chico, and his name is airón. the dog is a chica, and her name is tara (after the cotton plantation of "gone with the wind").

posted by me @ 4:22 AM 0 comments

estoy safe. and tired. no showers yet. our ducha está rota. we´re supposed to use the shower in our aunt and uncle's apartment, but we ran out of time. hmm, don´t know what to report. i just took an exam to see about my nivel de español. then we´ll figure out which classes i should be in. oh, my family has a little dog that almost doesn´t seem real and a cat with a very condensed face. it sat on my chest as i was about to fall asleep anoche. i packed perfectly. so far so good.

posted by me @ 12:26 AM 0 comments