Mt. Naranco pics

It seems I was a bit mistaken about the "German brother" of mine (Andreas)... Yes he has visited Oviedo before, but he has not stayed here before and in fact, will be here for about two weeks staying in the other bedroom here. His girlfriend is staying in another place in town apparently, but they both seem nice. Andres' Spanish is, well, not so good, but he speaks English (and German of course) so he keeps switching to English to ask me what the Spanish word is for something, haha. His girlfriend Angelica was here for a bit too, but she has her own place in town because she is working here as a German to Spanish translator.

Merche made some apple-muffins of sorts that she had learned about when she studied in Ireland, so I couldn't resist the opportunity to teach the locals here some fine American sayings, such as... "muffin top." They were highly amused. Thanks, Meredith. That was all you.

So since I have not updated in awhile, I wanted to share a few pictures that I took from our walk around Mt. Naranco... Becky and Jonnie had asked me if I wanted to go out on a "walk" so I said sure, but it turned out to be an all-day trek halfway up a mountain... only halfway for now, haha.

First of all, here is a nice little picture of the Spanish flag and the Asturias regional flag... nobody seems to know what the flag on the left is, perhaps something local.





This is sort of gives you an idea of the path we were dealing with. About 20 years ago the governor built this really nice little pedestrian trail with little exercises along the way that you can do. A lot of people were out walking for some exercise or with their dogs.


In the photo you can see Pedro and Merce on the left, Merche with the backpack on the right, and in the distance in yellow is Jonnie and Becky next to him... and of course some random old guys with their dogs.




More views of Oviedo from Mt. Naranco... These are the only actual houses or "chalets" I have seen while here, most people live in flats or "pisos" more or less in high rises.



This is part of a small aqueduct which had a small inscription on it dated 1778! (on the left is Merche of course).





Some horses hanging out on the mountain



I have a ton of pictures of course, but I don't want to kill my connection with the uploads so I will leave it at that for now.

A note to Margie: I got your package today, and THANK YOU!!! Mint chocolate goodies are really not very popular here so it is tough to come by. Luckily Jay sent me some York Peppermint Pattis to tide me over, hehe. I don't have your email address because all my addresses were on my thumb drive which I lost a couple weeks ago so I just thought I'd post it in here and you would read it soon enough :-)

As a random side note, my mp3 player died and I am really bummed about that... I really miss having music to wake me up in the morning and to get me up that monstrous hill during that 20min walk to school or so. Sigh.

A heated political debate...

So the other day, I was having a discussion about politics with Merce as the Spanish presidential elections are coming up this Sunday, and plus the Spaniards are also very interested in the upcoming U.S elections. The two main political parties here are the PP and the PSOE... most people here seem to equate Zapatero of the PSOE to our Obama, except Zapatero is a few kilometers to the left of Obama I think. Actually, their "right wing conservatives" are about like our standard liberals in the U.S. Zapatero is younger, more popular among the young people, etc... similar campaigning strategy to Obama really.

Merce said "People need to vote with their heads, not with their hearts." In the midst of our discussion Pedro interrupted and said "No no no ladies, you have it all completely wrong. You are VERY uninformed." Merce and I paused for a second, wondering if this discussion was about to get ugly, and then Pedro continued: "...you have to vote with your hand, you know, when you pull the little lever down in the booth, otherwise you'll end up with a really big headache. Sometimes they have those touch screens nowadays too but you still have to use your hands for that I think."


As a continuation of this story, this morning Pedro was telling me about how Guinness the cat managed to open a fairly heavy door this morning somehow to let Guillermina (the other cat) through... Pedro said to me "Guiness is very intelligent, he uses his head for everything.... even to open doors." I wanted to make a comment about Guinness being a bit hard headed, but that saying doesn't really translate into Spanish. Instead I decided to ask, "Does Guinness use his head to vote too?" "Of course he does, paws don't work very well for voting... they just don't have the cats in mind when they design those machines."

It really is all relative...

Just a quick update since I didn't post yesterday...

My "Law and Cinema" class looks like it is going to be pretty interesting, but unfortunately the movie we had to watch yesterday wasn't all that great (well, the movie was okay, it's just that I'm not into really old German films that are poorly dubbed over in Spanish) and I wasn't feeling well so I had to strain to keep my eyes open.

After the movie we took a quote, "short break" by which they meant a 45 minute break, and returned to have a discussion... where got into a bit of a debate with the professor in front of 200 or so other students on the definition of "Legitimacy." Thank you Dr. Nelson! I couldn't help but think back to those hilarious exams where he would give us just one word and expect a "brief paragraph" which enevitably turned into a mini-novel about that word and how it related to the class and readings... I am almost positive I did one of those on "legitimacy."

I am continuously learning these terms in Spanish, and sometimes I just take a wild stab at it and hope that my Spanishified English term works, and most of the time it does. You know, "legitimacy" just isn't one of those words they went over in high school Spanish.

I am also very quickly learning the value of relativity and perspective... They say it gets really cold and rainy here during February and March, but I suppose I am just used to Blacksburg, because honestly, I haven't noticed the cold and rainy here yet. Sure there have been a few drizzles, most of which didn't even warrant me opening an umbrella, and a few slight fresh breezes at night, but certainly not anything like I was expecting to encounter. One guide I had read said to be sure to pack waterproof gear and thermal underwear if traveling during this time... I've only had to bust out the hoodie once or twice, and even then it wasn't really all that necessary. Maybe I'm just more cold blooded, maybe it is global warming, who knows... but I'm still wondering when the cold weather is coming.

Another lesson in perspective: school work. In my Networked Services class, my professor told me that I could do a project comparing the system in the U.S vs. Spain on whatever topic (I am going with Internet privacy and legislature)... So about 2 weeks ago, I asked about how long of a paper she was expecting, and she said "Oh... like 2-3 pages." Okay, no sweat, so I ask, "when is this due?" thinking you know, that it would be due at the end of the week or some time soon. "In May," she responds. Just to clarify, I asked, "so this is a sort of a final project type of assignment?" "Yes, you will turn it in in May at the end of the course."

So okay, I thought perhaps I had just misheard her, since I was still getting used to the accent and all... maybe she said 12-13. No matter, I figured I would just ask again later when it got closer to "game time." However in class a day or two ago, a group of 4 people working on a project together asked how long the paper needed to be, and she responded "Oh... like 4-6 pages, maybe less if you feel like you have covered the material well enough." I don't think I misheard her when she said 2-3 pages afterall. Even so, the Spaniards were groaning about the excessive amount of work. Sheesh.

Well I need some breakfast and some coffee to clear my head... still fighting this cold of sorts. My "German brother" is coming into town today (a former study abroad student that used to live here apparently and is dropping in for a visit) so that should be interesting. I am looking into traveling to Madrid during the Semana Santa vacations because I'd really like to see some of the art galleries while I am here like the Prado and such.

Farewell!

Another day...

--- Maria's mother asked me to take down the pictures, so if you would like to see them just ask and I can send them to you but she'd rather not have them posted on the internet ---

Today I slept in a bit since I didn't have class until 12:30pm, which was nice. I felt pretty sick last night so I opted not to eat dinner so I was pretty hungry when I woke up. After my coffee and cereal we all went next door to check out the new mall that they built under the Congress Palace/hotel next door. It is so gorgeous, but unfortunately I didn't think to bring my camera. Oh darn, I will just have to go shopping one day right? Actually there is a supermarket built into the mall too, haha. Talk about convenience.

After wandering around the Buena Vista mall a bit we headed to a cafe to grab something to drink in hopes of meeting Becky there but she was busy with a client, so I had to leave before she arrived to get to class. I walked to class, which started at 12:30 supposedly, got there around 12:20, and the professor didn't arrive until 12:55. Such is Spanish life.

I walked home, buzzing from the DayQuil I took earlier, and realized I had forgotten my keys. D'oh. Luckily someone happen to leave the front door open to the complex, so I just had to go up the elevator to ring the doorbell to my flat, so no problems there. I decided to introduce Maria to Elephant, and she definitely took a shine to him.

Next week is Semana Santa so I get the week off, but I'm not sure what I'm going to be doing. I had thought about maybe taking a train to Seville or Madrid to check out some art museums but I think the family has some plans to take me to some sites around here too. We'll see how it goes. I am still fighting this cold or whatever it is that I have, so I don't really feel like planning all of that out right now. I might just adopt the Spanish mentality and just figure it out an hour after I decide to leave, haha.

Elephant getting into the Asturian spirit

For those of you who don't know, Oviedo is in the region, or rather "autonomous community" of Asturias. Much like our states in the good ol' U.S of A, each region has their own flag, anthem, and also own colors. Asturias happens to be blue and yellow, and honestly, I can't help but think of Sweden every time I see an Asturias flag.

In any case, I saw this the window of a shady Chinese trinket shop for pretty cheap, so Elephant commanded me to buy it for him:

For the uneducated, this is a mini version of a typical European soccer fan scarf. I've seen a lot of the college kids around here hang them up in the rear window of their cars, much like us American college kids seem to all have some sort of sticker indicating which college they go to across their rear windows. People here seem to have more allegiance to their regions rather than their universities or cities.

Also, I saw this my first week here posted on the side of my "facultad," it is hard to miss because it is probably 20ft tall, but I thought it was a bit creepy myself. It is supposed to be an ad for the Red Cross to encourage students to donate blood. Here it is:

So, loosely translated: Tthe top says "Year 3050" and underneath the creepy robots says "They will not be able to donate blood." Then below that with the normal looking people it says "Today you all can" and in smaller letters: "Donate blood, you will feel good. (university campaign of blood donation)"

Personally, I thought it was a bit scary, especially given its enormous size and the rather forbidding Terminator-esque robots that apparently are going to take over the world and need to suck our blood now so they can feed off of it later. Something like that.

Anyway there isn't much else to say, but I have been feeling a bit under the weather lately and sleeping a lot. I actually slept through dinner last night and apparently missed a dinner-party of sorts going on in the house. Oops. Even with all the sleep though, I still felt exhausted today and took a couple naps after school and I'm about to take another one. Dayquil helped me get through class today, although yesterday the expresso machine came to my rescue... half a euro for a shot that really saved me.

Friday I have my first Law and Cinema class since I missed the first one, classes were canceled last friday, and so now we come to week number 3... oh yeah, and there is no class all next week for Semana Santa (easter break). Sheesh.

Things I Have Learned In Spain Vol. II

Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to the second edition of Things I Have Learned In Spain:
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- Game shows in Spain are all almost all cloned from American or British shows, such as Weakest Link, Survivor, Wheel of Fortune, etc., with a few key differences:

o First of all, there is always a team of very scantily clad dancers in the background for no apparent reason.

o Secondly, all females must have cleavage and excellent tans with plenty of make up on their faces.

o Also, the set must be at least 10x more colorful than its American/British counterpart.

o Oh, and for the reality show clones, there is almost always a porn star involved.

- Once more I must comment on the weather: Apparently the area of Oviedo, which supports palm trees and cacti by the way, is the “cold region” of Spain.

- The letter “D” is incapable of surviving in between two vowels in a word. Therefore, words like “pescado,” “robado,” and “quitado” turn into “pescao,” “robao,” and “quitao.” Those poor neglected Ds.

- Everyone who is anyone in Spain knows that Pierce Brosnan and Harrison Fords are the biggest hotties on earth, or as Maria would say, “Ay Titis!!!”

- Bagpipes are NOT just a Scottish thing and anyone who tells you otherwise is a filthy liar.

- It is very uncool to smile for photos. The more angry and/or bored you look, the better.

- In the bathroom, having a seat on the toilet is optional. Bides however, are essential.

- My rectangular green and purple glasses are a very conservative, demure, and entirely ordinary.

- A sprinkle of rain is grounds for not showing up for class “due to inclement weather.”

- Umbrella etiquette: When passing someone on the sidewalk, which is always very narrow, the taller person (usually the male, but in my case usually me) is to lift their umbrella up while the shorter pedestrian ducks down as to not bump umbrellas. This is due to the fact that most females cannot successfully walk on dampened ground with heels and must remain on the sidewalk at all times.

A bit of Spanish TV...

To watch a cute commercial that comes on quite frequently here, Click Here

For those of you who don't speak Spanish, at the end of the commercial the narrator says: "Polo: It will change your life."

I have had the song stuck in my head for days.

Karaoke!

So we headed out to a karaoke bar, mind you it is about 3 in the morning at this point and the streets are just starting to fill up with people. Everyone insisted that I request something so I flipped through the song book and found something that I recognized, Suavemente by Elvis Crespo. Lucky for me however, they lost my request so my song never came up by the time we left, haha. Next time perhaps, next time. A couple photos:

This is uh... the guy who was wearing orange before but had since changed shirts for some reason. I wish I could remember his name. On the right belting out a tune is Fito.


This is a better view of what it actually looked like inside, and there is Carlos and Juanin serenading us all.

Around 5am we left and made our way around the casco antiguo and to the "zona copa" basically where all the bars and clubs are, and we crammed ourselves into a bar which was full of people. Honestly I didn't really understand the appeal of the mosh-pit atmosphere for socializing... we finally started to go our separate ways and go home around 6am or so I think, and the streets were still full of people.

Since I wasn't entirely sure where I was, Fito and guy-whose-name-I-can't-remember walked me to San Francisco Park which was a landmark I knew and along the way nameless-guy and Fito had managed to strike up a conversation with a group of girls who were heading in that general direction. They said they were headed towards Plaza America which I definitely know by now, so I followed them there and was able to make my way back home.

I have to admit, given my abysmal sense of direction, I'm pretty proud of myself at how well I have managed to navigate my way around the city thus far. I could probably get lost in a Wal-Mart, seriously. The phrase "couldn't find her way out of a paper bag" comes to mind.

In any case, I actually did remember the way home without problems and managed to catch Jay online for a chat before he and Cammarata went to watch a movie they rented.

Meanwhile, Merce, Pedro, Merche, Becky, Jonnie, and Susana actually had dinner reservations at a seafood place at 11:30pm... yes, that is when the dinner STARTED. Apparently they didn't get back much earlier than I did, according to Merche.

My first taste of Spanish night life: Queimado

Okay, so Fito had told me that the party last night was to start at 11pm, so naturally I take a shower and get ready fairly quickly because I had woken up a little late from my nap... by 11:10 I was good to go, and still no sign from Fito.... then it dawned on me: The party started at 11 Spain-time, which probably meant more like 12ish. Sure enough, at about midnight I get a text from Fito telling me to meet him where he had dropped me off the last time we hung out and that he would walk me to Juanin's apartment so I wouldn't get lost. It was very close by actually, it probably took us about 5 min to get there.

I knew this was going to be a small gathering, and I only knew Fito and Juanin but the others were really nice as well. They had already had a few drinks (apparently bacardi lemon with iced tea and rum & cokes are really popular among the youth here) but when I arrived they decided to break out the ingredients for something completely different: Queimado.

Quemado is actually a mostly non-alcoholic concoction from Galicia consisting of apples, orange peels, lemons, coffee beans, and sugar. Oh, and one mustn't forget the key ingredient: Fire. There was some type of alcohol in it but I don't know exactly what but it doesn't really matter because apparently most of it gets burned off in the making.

In old Galician folklore apparently Queimado helped ward off evil spirits and brought good health and good luck to those who drank it, that is, assuming you recited the ancient scripture in a booming voice before partaking. Juanin tried to get me to read it with him off of a website, but it was written in Gallego which is similar to Spanish, so I got the jist of what was going on, but the pronunciation is entirely different.

After mixing the ingredients together Fito lit a little bit of it in the ladle on fire and started to stir it around a bit. Here is a pretty good view of it:


As the fire catches on, one must catch some of it in the ladle, hold it up above the bowl, and let it pour down so that it can "breathe." The result of course is a cascade of fire which makes for a spectacular effect.

In this picture you can't really see the fire, but we had to use the flash in order to see anyone. That is me stirring the queimado of course, and in the orange shirt is.... a nice Spaniard whose name I do not recall, in the back with the striped shirt is Juanin, in the plaid is Carlos, and then there is Eva and Raquel. Eva said that her roommate actually just got back from studying abroad at Virginia Tech oddly enough.


Here is a better view of what was going on; you can see the liquid pouring out with the flames and everything a bit better with the flash off.

After enjoying a bit of quemado, which had a very interesting taste to say the least (it actually reminded me a bit of Chai but with a citrus kick), the guys started to put on their coats and I asked Juanin "Hey where are you going?" He clasped his hands together and says "Well Sandy, we are going to do something that Chinese guys like to do." Jokingly I responded, "What, karaoke?" "Yes, actually." Oh boy. I had never been to a karaoke bar before....

First, some more pictures of Muros...

This is the church where Merce and Pedro got married, about 40 years ago!

This is a beautiful view from the second floor of the Muros house of the landscape


This is another view of the ocean, I couldn't resist posting another photo. I probably have 30 more, but it was just so breathtaking I wanted to make sure that I got some good ones.

There were some kids playing soccer on the beach there and also this guy with a really nice kite who was also on a skateboard of sorts and was trying to get the kite to drag him along the beach. It is getting a bit chilly in Muros this time of year, but there were still a few surfers out there bearing the cold water.

Muros was a really cute little town with very colorful houses that look like they have been there forever and yet it was obvious that some people had gone to great lengths to keep them in good shape.