Long Overdue Update

Okay, so I haven’t updated in a while.  I’ve been hanging out over here, spent some weekends traveling (Ireland, Madrid, and Cardiff, Wales), but I’m back, and I owe you guys.  I got a good score on my LSAT, which is nice, and I got a chance to do some really interesting research (thanks to Kate); so, I actually have been a little productive lately, and school’s been going well too.  I have a rotating schedule now because there are two classes that are so out of control that the teachers have decided they don’t deserve for me to come.  It’s a bit nuts how rowdy the kids are and how little some classes respect authority, but it’s good to know the teachers have my back and view having me there as a privilege.  Also, I had the chance to translate (Spanish to English) a two-hour presentation about a Shelter Home for African immigrant boys (6 of which attend Binissalem).  It was so moving.  This one kid, Birama, who goes to Binissalem, gave this presentation about how he took a boat with his father from Senegal to the Canaries.  It was an open boat with 200 other people and when they arrived, someone had called Red Cross and the Spanish government and reported them.  They were detained for three days before being taken in to a shelter in Tenerife, and half a year ago he was transferred over to the Mallorca branch of the shelter.  It’s sort of crazy because they’re teaching the kids mallorquin (not spanish) while talking about transitioning the kids into being able to work and be independent after the age of 18, but if they only know catalan, then that will only really help them find a job in the Balearics or in Catalunya… sort of bizarre if you ask me, but I’m sure the kids are picking up some spanish, and it’s no doubt they’re doing a great thing at the Shelter here.  Not going to lie, I teared up a couple of times.  Anyways, the talk was for an event called Comenius that our school hosted last week.  We had Polish, Swiss, French and German students and teachers come to the school.  It was pretty great, and I did some presentations and helped out a bit with that, which was nice, cool doing the translating bit….

Anyways, I know you guys want to know what I’ve been doing on travels, but also about the day-to-day.  So, I had a really great (normal-ish) day today and I thought I’d share.  I woke up around 6 to catch the 7:09 train in to school.  I actually like that train because I know the regulars.  There’s the motley crew of Russian(?) and latino immigrant men who work in Santa Maria, two stops before me.  One of the gym teachers at my school whom I’ve never spoken to.  A homeless-looking man missing his two-front teeth.  I mean, I’ve never talked to any of these people and I don’t know their names, but we all have a seating arrangement and sort of nod cordially at each other before trying to take naps in our respective spots.  It’s actually sort of comforting, and we were all chuckling at this foreign lady who went on a feminist tirade to a complete stranger and was using really funny slang words.  It was very heated for that early in the morning, but entertaining. 

Then at school,  I had class at 8 with one of my 2nd of ESO classes (8th graders, sort of) with one of my favourite teachers, Juli (we get along really well and she likes me because I give her recipes if I’m doing a presentation on a holiday).  Anyways, one of the kids attempted to dreadlock his own hair the night before, with hilarious results, and it was especially funny because he’s the “cool” kid in the class and he was all embarrassed.  Anyways, I gave them a presentation on Canada.  Then, I had a class with my 4th of ESO (Advanced class of Sophomores), and we went over kitchen vocabulary and the difference between certain items’ names in British English vs. American English.  Then, the next period, I had class with a rambunctious group of 1st of ESO (7th graders), and the first ten minutes was dedicated (as usual) to taming them.  Big Pedro said Roman hit him on the leg.  Joan Toni and Jeroni were shouting at the top of their lungs.  Little Pedro was brake-dancing (I think).  Chaos!  Anyways, once we settled down, I teached them new vocabulary about nature; so, I explained some animals’ names to them, and told them that “mole” means “topo” in spanish and that in English, we call “Senor Topo” from Los Simpson, “Hans Moleman,” and “La Rana Gustavo” is actually “Kermit the Frog.” The kids flipped out.  It was great.  Then, I got to go home early because my fourth class of the day had an exam.  So, I walked back to the train station through the gorgeous village square (the side streets always smell like an interesting mixture of manure and fermented grapes).  I felt so good because I helped an adorable, ANCIENT mallorquin man find his stop and buy a ticket on the train.  I don’t know why he was alone, the poor guy!! 

It was about 75 degrees F out today so when I got home to Palma, I took a bus to my favourite beach and sat there tanning and reading for a few hours, as well as going into the water for the first time of the season.  Pretty cold but pretty awesome!  Also, I’ve been planning the Mallorca leg of Mom and Dad’s trip, and it is going to be absolutely DIVINE. Yesterday, I found the address of an affordable GOAN restaurant in Paris… so it’s guaranteed Dad will have a good time in the City of Light!

In other news, I found out yesterday that I get to go to the Aquarium with my school in a couple of weeks.  I’m psyched because they don’t even really need me, but one of my teachers said I could come if I wanted to.  The entrance fee is 15 or 20 euros so I’m glad I’m getting to go for free!

Later tonight, I’m going to Ladies’ Night at this local American bar with my friends.  They give out free wine and cava (champagne) to girls from 7 to 10:30 and its half-price off all other drinks (a half-p of guinness for 1,50… donezo).  So, that’s exciting.  I guess this is not a normal post because today hasn’t been a normal day, but rather quite exceptional.  Tomorrow, I’m going with my friend and one of her roommates to a Monastery in the mountains.  Her roommate’s mom is an English teacher at an elementary school here and we’re going with one of the classes on an overnight fieldtrip.  It should be fun, or at least interesting, and they’re going to feed us, which is basically why I’m going (other than the adventure)! 

Next post will be about Ireland, Madrid and Wales.  I swear.  Hopefully, it will be before I go on my Easter extravaganza tour to Paris, Normandy, Cologne, Amsterdam and Brussels… talk about falling behind!

Oh my gah we’re back again… and with a Travel Tip of the Day

Before you head to whatever the destination, check out the free podcasts available in the iTunes store of your iTunes for audio guides.  I just found a whole series of Rick Steves’ Guide to Paris and added them to my iPod.  He does an audio tour of the Louvre, the D’Orsay, as well as lessons on French cuisine and dining etiquette, and the one I just listened to was about the history of the Eiffel Tower… so interesting!  I also downloaded a podcast called “Coffee Break French,” it’s a series of 40-minute introductory french lessons.  Great for the commute to work.  Bonjour, Technology!

Craic Heads

I'm in Madrid right now, hanging out with my friend from Germany who I studied with here, and I'm fairly certain last night was the first night I had 8 hours of sleep since before Ireland. I'm so sorry this has gotten out of hand; so, before I write the Ireland post that you all deserve, I will write a string of words and phrases that describe the last few weeks:

sleeping in airports/airport zambones/ running through airports/ cava gone missing/ sun in ireland/ rain in spain/ guinness/ broken purse/ smithwicks/ pog mo thoin/ guinness/ kilmainham gaol jail/awe/ shock/ daniel day lewis' house/ braveheart/ beauty/ broken wine bottle/ oyster microbrew with an old friend/ staying in a georgian house/ hartigans bar/ meeting up with friends/ brown bread/ guinness/ almost falling into the atlantic/ live music/ the burren/ wow/ cliffs of moher/ being a daredevil/ claddagh/ woolen mill/ mussel broth/ guinness/ taafes/ live music/ rag week/ yankees/ airport floors/ poopy homeless man/ straight to school/ exhaustion/ madrid

If only this lake was actually filled with guinness... that's the only way it could have been more beautiful... The Guinness family owns this property, and the Beatles stayed here. It's where Paul McCartney wrote "Yesterday," which was originally called "Scrambled Eggs"... they imported the sand for the head of the beer from a Guinness family property in Southern France

That's all I can do for now, but I will update soon

No blog posts until LSAT

I repeat, no blog posts until the LSAT on February 12, 2011. Thank you for your patience.

Christmas is Coming!

Christmas season is in full-swing here, just as Jasper the Squirrel once said, “day after day, Christmas is on it’s way.”  As you can tell from my having quoted a fictional squirrel, the anticipation is driving me a bit mad.   The holiday is quite beautiful here, but I am beyond excited to come home.  Now, I’m sorry for the delay of this post and the emotional stress it must be causing all of you not knowing what I’ve been up to over here, sleepless nights spent thinking of the Spanish Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum I gave English lessons to, long conversations spent analyzing whether or not I was joking about staying in Bunyola forever, and anyways, I may be SEEING some of you before you read this post, but… here goes nothing. 

The holiday season is very exciting in these parts.  There are tons of markets on the Ramblas and in the two main plazas, Plaza D’Espana and Plaza Mayor.  Everyone is out walking  the decorated streets, and there are vendors selling chestnuts and sweet potatoes that are roasting on open fires!  Also, there are stands selling crepes, churros, candied nuts and other sweets lining the central plaza.   

The Christmas season here is obviously quite popular, but Christmas Eve and Christmas Day have only become really popular for gift-giving in the last 15 years multiple sources have told me.  One of my friends said that Christmas Day has become more of a celebration for adults to share gifts, and that all the kids are more into the Three Wise Men than they are into Santa Claus.  Three Kings Day (Jan. 6) is when the youngin’s here hit the jackpot gift-wise.  It’s great because, the supermarkets and markets are all selling the traditional Christmas turron (nougat), which are basically big chocolate bars, and other little sweets.  There are a lot of cured ham legs being tossed around because nothing says “Spanish Holiday” like a meaty hog leg, and also supermarkets are selling cans of peeled and pitted grapes for the New Year’s Eve celebration.  Here in Spain, traditionally at midnight on New Year’s Eve, everyone eats a grape for every chime of the clock when it strikes midnight.    

What have I been up to other than walking through a winter wonderland?

It’s been cold here, and I had a solid infection that had me unable to swallow for a couple days, but the antibiotics have since brought me back!

Hmm… I got fired/quit from the job with the devil children.  It’s a long story, but it involves, the 5 year-old peeing outside while we played soccer, two other kids getting dropped off to learn from me, and then the mom refusing to pay me for teaching the extra kids.  Instead of paying me, she ended up saying that they didn’t have the money right now, and that I was a bad teacher and that there was no point in my coming back because I did not talk enough to her kids.  Anywho, that was a fun little experience, and unfortunately I won’t be getting pictures of the little plumpsters.

What else?  Oh, I am further immersing myself into Spanish culture.  I made my very first tortilla espanola, and it was delicious.  Also, I bought a ticket with some friends for El Gordo, the Spanish Christmas lottery, and I’m doing Amigo Invisible, or Secret Santa with 15 or so Spanish friends from the neighbourhood. 

Today, I had an amazing day.  Two of my friends and I drove down to Banyalbufar, which is this amazing coastal village up to the Northeast with terraced gardens.  We went to this amazing bodega, where we did this free wine-tasting.  It had the most exquisite artisanal white wine, with accents of oak, vanilla, hazelnut, and fruits.  It was so great.  Apparently, the Mallorcans like their wine strong though, because the wines are all  14.5+% alcohol.  The tour guide gave the tour in catalan, because I was there with a bunch of castellers (the human castle builders) and their families.  I understood most of it, but was able to ask people for clarification in Spanish if I had problems understanding.  It was cool because they had an olive press at the bodega as well, and all the olives and fruit that go into the oil and wine production were all grown on the terraced gardens there on the property.  This bodega was actually a mansion.  The owner bought it in ruins in 1986 and after putting about 120,000 euros into renovating it, it is a spectacular place, sitting 8 terraces directly above the coast.  I was in awe.  After the wine tasting and tour of the property, we did a small excursion, or hike, up through the village to this mountain ravine that led to a pool of natural spring water.  There, we sat down and ate bocatas (sandwiches) and the tour-guide, Guillem, who is a casteller, brought some of the wine from the bodega.  And one of the women had brought home-made sobrassada and foie gras with traditional white bread from Mallorca.  It was so delicious, a lovely little picnic to cap off a lovely little afternoon.

Unfortunately, my camera is somewhat broken so I don’t have any pictures!!  I hope that update has sufficed, and if anything comes up, I will be sure to blog about it!  See you guys soon!

Bunyola Forever!

Sorry- there’s no internet in Bunyola so the last few weeks have been quite rough!

You’re all a bunch of wise-guys, aren’t you?  A family of comedians.  But really, I appreciate the spamming of my last post.  I told you guys in my comeback post to keep me honest, and really, this behaviour doesn’t surprise me as much as it probably should.  I can picture Blurt now giggling like a schoolgirl at a slumber party.

So, what have I been up to? Where in the world is Breezo San Diego?

Quite a bit has happened in the past couple of weeks.  Firstly, I’m now giving English lessons to a 3 year-old and a 5 year-old who live in a cute country house on the outskirts of Binissalem.  Last Wednesday was my first lesson, but it’s really just babysitting them and speaking to them in English, which is quite simple enough for me!

The whole time was pure comedy, but more like one of those comedies you watch half-laughing and half-cringing, like Meet the Parents.  When I first get there, I just want to say these kids are the largest (fattest) Spanish children I’ve ever seen.  We get to the house, and the first thing the mom does is holds the younger kid down and fills a syringe with fruit smoothie that she squirts in his mouth.  After he swallows, he screams gleefully, “it makes me poop, it makes me poop.  Pooping is difficult” in catalan.  Oy, that should have tipped me off that I was in for a ride.  Also, did I mention the family dog is a less rabid-looking doppelganger of the street dog I have beef with… don’t even get me started!

So, the evening started out okay and we started to put a jigsaw puzzle together.  Until suddenly, the younger kid went nuts and started pulling the puzzle apart and spanking his brother.  And then, before I knew it, he had taken off his pants and underwear and was running through the house like the little piggy that went “wee wee wee” all the way home.  Then all of the sudden, the older one starts tackling him and riding him like a horse, until the younger one shots he needs to poop and runs to the bathroom.  I was mortified, livid, and could not for the life of me figure out how to get this kid to put his pants back on.  When the mom came out of her room, she was totally unfazed and put his pants on without underwear.  I was freaked out.  No wonder the girl who used to do this job mysteriously backed out!  Any who, they pay me; so, it’s all good, assuming the dog and/or younger child don’t try to eat me alive. 

Hmm what else have I been up to?  Last week, school was filled with Thanksgiving presentations, which went really well, I do say.  I compared Thanksgiving with the Harvest festival here in Binissalem.  It got the kids talking, and the teachers ate it up like candy… or rather, turkey! 

Then, I missed Thanksgiving on Thursday because I went to Malaga with my roommate to see a concert.  It was a great trip, filled with foreigner faux pas and delicious cuisine.  When we arrived, we went to his house, and met his family and, wait for it… two cats!  Luckily I had been warned in advanced and was prepared, and I actually didn’t even react much because I was pretty diligent about over-medicating… yep.  And, shockingly enough, I loved the cats, Negri and Pinti.  Quite the feat, seeing as I have major trust issues when it comes to cats.

ANYways, there were a few foreigner moments where I looked like an idiot, which ended up being funny enough.  I was sort of in a semi-state of shock the first night because I hadn’t realized how strong their andaluz accents would be.  Typically, I understand everything my roommate says, or at least if he repeats himself once.  The whole family spoke with such strong accents though.  They literally drop half of every word there.  Some of my Spanish friends were saying that they don’t understand the accent either, which makes me feel better.  Everyone in Spain makes fun of the people in Andalucia because they eat their words, and in linguistics we learned about how they aspirate their /s/ sound so that it sounds like a breathy /h/ (ex. ‘mah o menoh’ instead of ‘mas o menos’).  One bar we drove by in Malaga was called “Bacompa,” and my roommate was laughing because it was the “andaluz” word for “Bar Compas”… all these andaluz jokes are funny, until you’re totally lost trying to understand this language that is supposed to sound familiar!  Luckily, it got better by the second day.

It’s a shame they talk so funny because, it’s a great culture down South.   When you think of Spanish culture, or at least the popular commercial image of Spain, I assure you, you are thinking of Andalucia.  It’s the home of flamenco, bullfighting, orange and lemon trees, Picasso and Antonio Banderas!  At the concert, when the crowd was clapping for an encore, it was a flamenco-style clap… Bienvenidos a Malaga!  It really is an enchanting place the Costa del Sol.  However, the whole time we were there, it was raining!!!!  Blasts. 

The first night, we walked around the gorgeous city center, with the shopping and bars around Calle Larios, the Teatro Romano, the Alcazaba castle all lit up at night, and the Cathedral, which is called the ‘one-armed lady’ because it is missing two towers, apparently because during the American Revolution, the British Colonies borrowed the money from Spain that was intended for these towers… or so the legend says.  Then, we tried their traditional fast food, which is a ‘papa’ or baked potato.  We went to Don Papon’s and I ordered the Don Papon con todo.  It was incredible.  It was a giant twice-baked potato fully loaded with green olives, mayo, cheeses, and various other things. I found it to be interesting because it is the only regional food here in Spain that I’ve noticed is not based around a traditionally Spanish crop, but rather an American crop.  But, it makes sense because the Conquistadors’ ships that went to America left from the Costa del Sol; so, my theory is that the papa has a historical colonial past, and that it was popular there because it was a trendy import from the New World that stuck… because it’s delicious.  That’s my theory, and I’m sticking to it!  It was a great trip, and the mom even sent me home with a tupperware of homegrown membrillo (quince).  Mmm mm good.  I left saying I would never be hungry again, but the next night, we were having our Thanksgiving feast in Palma.  I contributed the mashed potatoes, and made dad proud.  It was a joyous feast.  We managed to cook a 6kilo (15lb) turkey in a gas oven with no temperature markings and no thermometer… it took about 5 hours, but it was delicious and nobody got sick! 

		Happy Thanksgiving! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Yesterday was a fun day too because it was “El Clasico,” which is when Real Madrid plays Barca.  The game started at 9, but the bar was super-packed by 8:15, and it was a really fun environment.  Barca won 5-0, and it was a pretty awful game, but it was pretty entertaining, and the Barca fans were not as obnoxious as they could have been.  After a while, the chirping subsided, and everyone was just enjoying the party and chanting, and having a good time.  The Madrid fans were pretty quiet, but then everyone started getting rowdy and shouting this cheer that goes “Alcohol!  Alcohol!  Alcohol! Alcohol! Alcohol!  Hemos venido emborracharnos, el resultado nos da igual!” (Alcohol!… now that we’ve gotten drunk, the score doesn’t matter to us) to the tune of “O, My Darling Clementine.”  It was a pretty good time, and it was the talk of the town at school today.  I had a teacher change a test from today to next week because the kids weren’t going to study on the night of the Clasico.  Okay, I’m going to go to bed now, but I hope that recap was fun and warrants as many responses as the last post!

HIKE AROUND BUNYOLA