Paris- Oh La La

Rafa and I had a wonderful trip to Paris over the holidays. The city was fantastically lit for Christmas and the cold weather was perfect for snuggling. My favorite activity was to buy a nice bottle of French wine and walk the the city while talking to Rafa. Tres magnific! And finally, I want to wish everyone a happy new year!

Christmas in Spain

Ah... the lights are up, the marzapan in baking, the chestnuts are roasting and the nativity scenes are full of people taking a shit. Yes, it is true. Almost every nativity scene has a character taking a dump. Why, I don't know. I've included a link to a wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caganer. Also, one of the the greatest Christmas traditions of the Catalan (the area around Barcelona) people is to have their children beat an over-sized of St. Nick-like log with sticks until-- you guessed it-- it craps. Turns out that Spanish is rife with potty vocabulary. There is a specific and socially acceptable verb to describe the process of getting ready to take a dump. It's sort of like us alluding to our morning coffee but much more blunt. Why? Well one has to live here to understand....

SEASONS GREETINGS!!!
POOP WELL IN THE NEW YEAR!!!

A General Update

I know I have been a bit lazy and have not written in Don Quixote for a while. For this I am sorry. Well, I am still alive here in Spain and everything is going swimmingly. I've made a lot of new Spanish friends and can, usually, converse with them well in Español. Jorge and Robin are doing good as well. I've been keeping busy with my school and private classes.

As of late, I've really been missing American food. Spanish supermarkets just don't have a variety of foods, regardless of size. You can forget about finding anything international. All that changed as I have discovered an American food store right here in Madrid. It was refreshing to buy pickle relish and Bisquick. I took Rafa with me and he was appalled with the concept of Pam. Regardless of Spanish ideas of food, I'm happy that I can have a little piece of home.

Well, that's all for now folks!! Keep posted..

Holy Toledo!

Rafa and I spent the weekend in Toledo, a jewel of city a little south of Madrid. Situated on a hill with steep cliffs, the city has retained it's medieval charm. We had a tough time walking because the city itself is very hilly, but the views were worth it. But enough words- I've included a slide show with pictures.

As for other news, all is well. My Spanish is still slowly improving. In fact, I spent 95% of this weekend "in Spanish" and I didn't have a monstrous headache. My classes are going good and I'm enjoying the students.

The weekend so far...

Weekends are always a good time and this one is no exception. Dinner with Rafa was great on Thursday night. We went to a Gallician place and ate fried pork ears (yeah, I don't recommend). After that, Rafa took me to a really neat Tiki bar where we drank a "Mona Loa."

Last night, I went to an Irish pub with all my academy friends. Jorge came along as well. No, my life here isn't an endless party. The weekdays are pretty quiet-- that whole work thing.

Temple of Debod

My friend Lyndsey and I visited the Temple of Debod in downtown Madrid. It was a gift from Egypt as Spain helped save artifacts when the Aswan High Damn was built. For more info see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Debod

As for other news, all my classes are going well. I'm really enjoying teaching over. No Child Left Behind can kiss my ass! I also have a date tonight with a really great guy. We've been seeing each other for a few weeks now. I'm taking him to a Gallician restaurant.

House Party!

We had our house warming party last night and it was a huge success. We had lots of food and drink and lots of people to go along with it. Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures. At one point, there were 50 people in our house. I wish all my American friends were there as well.