I figured you guys would want to know what I did in Cordoba on days I'm not traveling.
11am(at the earliest, this is Spain)
Wake up, stretch and go for a run through the old & winding streets.
Alright we all know this is a lie, but I did it once, so it counts. I met this great old man who couldn't understand my name was Kim,
"Hola Guapa! Como se llama"
"Kim"
"Que? Me llamo Fernando...Como se llama?"
"Senor me llamo Kim"
"No, no, no...se llama Jaqeline? Maria? Laura?"
"Kim, me llama Kimberly"
Convo then turns to him talking about his dog that is crazy for birds and he leaves but not before telling me I was very beautiful, thanks slightly creepy old man :)
1pm-
Shower, I almost found out the hard way that I can't use my hairdrier here, because of the higher voltage in the outlets here my hairdrier shoots sparks at me, almost had a Michael Jackson moment. Then its time to eat lunch. Probably also have to buzz up Eu, Rob's rommate, for some reason he has a key to the apartment but not for the bulding. I usually make something easy like a oil and vinegar salad, gouda, salcichon, crackers etc. I usually don't have to fight for space in the tiny kitchen both of Rob's roommates, Eu and Kurro, eat precooked meals their moms cook, freeze and label for them. I can't speak much Spanish, but I still manage to make fun of them for being momma's boys. They go to their pueblo every weekend to get more frozen homecooked meals and have their laundry done. I've been told almost all Spainsh boys are like this and some mom's even go to their son's apartments to clean every week, Dios Mio!
3pm-
Do dishes by hand, I am yet to see a dishwasher here. This brings me to the next task of the day, laundry. There is a tiny washing machine that doesn't always like to get all the soap out of our clothes but its better than nothing. Also, driers are a rarity in southern Spain, so I have to get creative on finding places to hang clothes to dry once the shower, balcony and ironing board are filled. Then it is time for the best part of the day, SIESTA! Yes at this point I have been awake for less than six hours, but if everyone else is taking a nap then so am I!
5pm-9pm
Rob goes to work at the Language Institute. This is when I attempt to blog, upload pictures and email people. I also have conversations with the roomies, they alway wind up being interesting because of the HUGE language barrier. They were shocked that we normally eat lunch at 12 and dinner at 6pm. And Kurro tried explaining to me about his "novia" that wasn't really his "novia" if you catch my drift, great convo. I get to teach them English words and phrases, like what a food coma is or how it is more common to greet people with a hug then a kiss on each cheeck. Then I end up making dinner (or wait for Rob to get home and have him cook dinner,) Kabobs, Biscuits and Gravy, sausage, hasbrowns, pasta and homemade sauce or other random stuff. We don't have an oven so the biscuits were interesting to make. Some nights we go out for tapas and cervezas at this tapas bar called Moriles, believe it or not 10pm is the normal let's grab dinner hour here.
After dinner we usually watch terrible Spanish TV with either Rob's or his friend's Spanish rommies. There is a show called "Homiguerros" that has a few hosts and these large ant muppets. They have Spanish celebrities on and make them do ridiculous things after interviewing them like smoking a cigarette with their foot, or singing a made up rap song to an Eminem track.
Then we plan out our weekend travels, watch some tv in english online and pass out around 3am usually. Some days I throw in shopping at the little boutiques here. We usually go to the supermarket, Mercadona, everyday too. They have most normal things a Jewel has, just less variety, the backround music also has little variety, they play "its raining men" and the mercadona theme song which will be forever engrained in my mind. Best things to buy a mercadona, a fresh loaf of french bread for 70 cents, Spanish coke is amazing here, and the cured ham. Spanish McDonalds are also one of the best things I've encountered. You can buy beer there, and get an icecream sugar cone with a kitkat in the top!
my life in Cordoba...muy bien
Monday, April 19, 2010
Happy St Patrick's Day!
I met a lot of the language teachers working around Cordoba that night, one of them being Sophie(girl in the hat above)...it was love at first sight, lol. She is a language teacher from Paris that speaks French(duh), Spanish and English very well. The language barrier was definetly there but it is still easy to just tell when you are going to get along with someone no matter what language you are speaking. That's it for now....more to come soon...maybe lol
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Llegada a Espana
Hey everybody!
So this is my first blog, and my first trip to Europe. I apologize for how unoganized this blog will be but I'm basically just going to write as I remember things, it isnt going to be close to in order, so here it goes!
I left for Spain on Monday and after about 20 hours of travel from my house to Cordoba, Spain I made it without any problems(unless you count sitting next to the PDA couple on the flight from Chicago to Philly a problem, which I do lol) My flight from Philly to Madrid was awesome though. No one sat next to me so I slept almost the entire way there, which contributes to my lack of jet lag because I woke up at 8 am Spanish time, right before my flight landed. But the best part of my flight was when I woke up in the middle of the night and looked out the window over at the stars. The entire sky was filled with stars, I could even see mars clear as day up there. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.
Then after I landed in Madrid and went through customs(which was a huge joke) I began my journey down to Cordoba which consisted of riding three different metro lines and one high speed train. On the metro I had an American look at me and ask if I was ok. Apparently I looked like death warmed over, haha. He even offered me his sandwich and wished me luck on the rest of my journey. And one thing I found out while waiting at the train station is that anyone at anytime can and will buy a beer. This older woman all dressed up was drinking at 11am like it was no big deal...I had to stuggle to not laugh when I saw her. The high speed train ride was gorgeous! I got to see the gorgeous Spanish countryside at like 270 km/hr. There were dozens of olive groves and even a few old castle towers and a big castle up on a hill, which I'm told is from Morish times, whenever that is.
When I got to Cordoba I was greeted by Rob with a Mimosa. Which I was hesitant to drink because in America it is completely illegal to drink in public which almost found that out the hard way more than one night in Champaign. So walking down the street with a mimosa after a 20+ hour commute hit the spot and may have hit me harder than usual after only eating amazing plane food for the entire trip.
Rob's apartment is soo nice. I'll post pictures of it soon, just for you Dee ;) His roomates are really nice too, I can't remember their names right now but I know one is 19 and the other is 21 and they are very patient with my espanol.
I got here and showered immediately, there is something about traveling that adds a layer of slime and stank to your entire body and I was glad to get rid of it quickly. I then passed out for a few hours and woke up in time to go out to a tapas bar with Rob and two friends he works with, Corey and Tyler. As picky as I am I tried everything we ordered. Mom you would be so proud and are probably wishing I would have been this willing as a child to try exotic foods like hot dogs and mac & cheese. So at the tapas bar we had bull's tail, which tastes just like pot roast in this really good sauce. And then we had this creamy saucy dish that you basically can dip anything into, or if you ar Rob you eat it with a spoon. It is basically mayonnaise, garlic and cheese I think, I'd really prefer to not know what I'm eating and need to stop asking or I might get grossed out and not eat it. We also got these deep fried nuggets that had a cheesy meaty mixture, sooo good.
Today Rob showed me around the city for a little bit and we went out for more tapas and beer, which is totally normal for ever Spanish person to be doing at 2 in the afternoon. The city has pretty narrow streets compared to a normal American city, again Dee I will post pictures soon! The people park however they want to, which would drive my Dad crazy! There was a car parked half on the sidewalk, for no good reason just because its Spain and thats the way things work.
The outskirts of the city are surrounded by mountains and it really reminds me of the landscape in Colorado Springs...shout out to my Funez Family...very breathtaking. And within the town just about every building with a balcony has plants and flowers growing on and or over them, which I'm told is nothing compared to the festivals in May which are huge competitions to see who has the best flower garden/decorations in the city. The people here aren't even close to used to cold weather. For example, today it was like 75 and sunny, absolutely gorgeous right? I was out in capris, sandals and a short sleaved shirt and looking around you would have sworn it was 40 and cloudy. Most people had on boots, pants, long-sleeved shirts, coats and bufandas(scarfs) So again I stuck out like a sore thumb, and not because of my blonde hair or enormous backpacking bag I rolled into town with.
I went to the grocery store to try to buy food that might be a bit easier on my stomach. It reminded me of a small town grocery store, filled with the essentials and a few other random things. Random things like eggs not refrigerated and Smacks cereal, which I haven't seen in a while. So for 4.50 euros I got a pack of activia, a bag of muffins(random I know) a huge baguette and a bottle of red...very delicious and not dry at all may I add. Yes I know wine was a good choice as something that will be easy on my stomach but you know when in Rome....
I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out pero I'll add it on my next post as I think of it.
Hasta Luego!
So this is my first blog, and my first trip to Europe. I apologize for how unoganized this blog will be but I'm basically just going to write as I remember things, it isnt going to be close to in order, so here it goes!
I left for Spain on Monday and after about 20 hours of travel from my house to Cordoba, Spain I made it without any problems(unless you count sitting next to the PDA couple on the flight from Chicago to Philly a problem, which I do lol) My flight from Philly to Madrid was awesome though. No one sat next to me so I slept almost the entire way there, which contributes to my lack of jet lag because I woke up at 8 am Spanish time, right before my flight landed. But the best part of my flight was when I woke up in the middle of the night and looked out the window over at the stars. The entire sky was filled with stars, I could even see mars clear as day up there. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.
Then after I landed in Madrid and went through customs(which was a huge joke) I began my journey down to Cordoba which consisted of riding three different metro lines and one high speed train. On the metro I had an American look at me and ask if I was ok. Apparently I looked like death warmed over, haha. He even offered me his sandwich and wished me luck on the rest of my journey. And one thing I found out while waiting at the train station is that anyone at anytime can and will buy a beer. This older woman all dressed up was drinking at 11am like it was no big deal...I had to stuggle to not laugh when I saw her. The high speed train ride was gorgeous! I got to see the gorgeous Spanish countryside at like 270 km/hr. There were dozens of olive groves and even a few old castle towers and a big castle up on a hill, which I'm told is from Morish times, whenever that is.
When I got to Cordoba I was greeted by Rob with a Mimosa. Which I was hesitant to drink because in America it is completely illegal to drink in public which almost found that out the hard way more than one night in Champaign. So walking down the street with a mimosa after a 20+ hour commute hit the spot and may have hit me harder than usual after only eating amazing plane food for the entire trip.
Rob's apartment is soo nice. I'll post pictures of it soon, just for you Dee ;) His roomates are really nice too, I can't remember their names right now but I know one is 19 and the other is 21 and they are very patient with my espanol.
I got here and showered immediately, there is something about traveling that adds a layer of slime and stank to your entire body and I was glad to get rid of it quickly. I then passed out for a few hours and woke up in time to go out to a tapas bar with Rob and two friends he works with, Corey and Tyler. As picky as I am I tried everything we ordered. Mom you would be so proud and are probably wishing I would have been this willing as a child to try exotic foods like hot dogs and mac & cheese. So at the tapas bar we had bull's tail, which tastes just like pot roast in this really good sauce. And then we had this creamy saucy dish that you basically can dip anything into, or if you ar Rob you eat it with a spoon. It is basically mayonnaise, garlic and cheese I think, I'd really prefer to not know what I'm eating and need to stop asking or I might get grossed out and not eat it. We also got these deep fried nuggets that had a cheesy meaty mixture, sooo good.
Today Rob showed me around the city for a little bit and we went out for more tapas and beer, which is totally normal for ever Spanish person to be doing at 2 in the afternoon. The city has pretty narrow streets compared to a normal American city, again Dee I will post pictures soon! The people park however they want to, which would drive my Dad crazy! There was a car parked half on the sidewalk, for no good reason just because its Spain and thats the way things work.
The outskirts of the city are surrounded by mountains and it really reminds me of the landscape in Colorado Springs...shout out to my Funez Family...very breathtaking. And within the town just about every building with a balcony has plants and flowers growing on and or over them, which I'm told is nothing compared to the festivals in May which are huge competitions to see who has the best flower garden/decorations in the city. The people here aren't even close to used to cold weather. For example, today it was like 75 and sunny, absolutely gorgeous right? I was out in capris, sandals and a short sleaved shirt and looking around you would have sworn it was 40 and cloudy. Most people had on boots, pants, long-sleeved shirts, coats and bufandas(scarfs) So again I stuck out like a sore thumb, and not because of my blonde hair or enormous backpacking bag I rolled into town with.
I went to the grocery store to try to buy food that might be a bit easier on my stomach. It reminded me of a small town grocery store, filled with the essentials and a few other random things. Random things like eggs not refrigerated and Smacks cereal, which I haven't seen in a while. So for 4.50 euros I got a pack of activia, a bag of muffins(random I know) a huge baguette and a bottle of red...very delicious and not dry at all may I add. Yes I know wine was a good choice as something that will be easy on my stomach but you know when in Rome....
I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out pero I'll add it on my next post as I think of it.
Hasta Luego!
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