europe

Sunday, August 06, 2006

"barcelona - it was the first time we met"

"barcelona - how can i forget.....”
“... and if God willing we will meet again someday"
so… tomorrow morning begins my days, yes, days, of traveling home.  i’m sad to leave this place, and i’m definitely not looking forward to the 3-day trip, but oh how nice it will be to be home!  but omg, the trip home will be horrendous!!! i leave my house at 6am (9pm on sunday PST) and i go from barcelona to reus in bus, then in reus i catch a flight to liverpool, which was the only feasible flight i could take.  i’ll get there around noon on monday, and then have to take the train to manchester at some point in the day so that i can be near the airport.  i have to be at manchester airport on tuesday morning at 8am, and from there i’m supposed to fly home.  except the lady at delta sold me a ticket that has me waiting at JFKfor a 7-hour layover!  yeah… i didn’t notice till after i bought the ticket, since i was so wowed by the low price (i paid $1000 less than i expected to...).  anyways, i arrive at LAX 11:57pm PST.  from there, my parents pick me up, and i go to their house in LA.  and then on wednesday i’m gonna hang out with my parents, give them their pasalubong (souvenir gifts), see my aunts, give them their pasalubong, then have dinner with susan and kat, and give them their pasalubong!  then i can get my car and drive home… i will finally arrive there on wednesday night, probably -after- 9pm, soooo… yeah… that’s 3 full days on the road. ack!

anyways, i got sidetracked complaining about my long (but incredibly inexpensive - how chinese am i?!!?!) trip home.

what i actually set out to write about was not my trip home, but the fact that it means i have to leave barcelona.  i wandered around town today, swam for (what hopefully will -not- be) the last time in the mediterranean sea, went up to a look out point, took tons of pictures, and had dinner on alberto’s balcony.  maria had prepared a dinner for me and surprised me by bringing me to her brother’s house, where it was all prepared nicely.  it was so nice of them - they’re such good people and they’ve been so nice to me. i wish i got more time to hang out with her… on the way home i realized how much i knew the city because i pulled her towards the end of the metro station, saying that if we waited there, we’d get on the back of the train, and that would leave us closer to the exit that we wanted to take.  she marvelled at how much i knew the city and told me that i definitely know more parts of the city than some of the locals who live there.  yeah, i think it’s been my city ever since i started calling it “home”

well, while i was up there on top of parc guell, overlooking the city as the sun was setting off in the distance, the refrain from queen’s ‘barcelona’ was going off in my head. 

Barcelona - Such a beautiful horizon
Barcelona - Like a jewel in the sun
Por ti seré gaviota de tu bella mar
Barcelona - Suenan las campanas
Barcelona - Abre tus puertas al mundo
If God is willing
-If God is willing
If God is willing
Friends until the end
Viva - Barcelona
Posted by kgrp on 08/06 at 03:46 PM
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Wednesday, August 02, 2006

my big europe update

i just sent out a big mail to family and friends to update them on everything i’ve done while i’ve been here in spain, and it took me forever trying to make sure i didn’t miss anyone… and then after i sent it i realized there were 5 more people i had to send it to… and now, well, i guess i just figure, i’m sorry if i forgot you, but you have the chance to read it here.  or - you could email me and make sure i have your address, that way i can get in touch with you sometime!

anyways, i saved a copy of my email in html format, so you can see it here.

or you can click on the picture of me and maria at the beach to read about all i’ve been up to this summer!

Posted by kgrp on 08/02 at 05:25 PM
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Monday, July 31, 2006

i almost got stuck here!

so i was looking online for flights back to manchester, where my i have a seat on delta’s flight back home on august 8.  you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to find a direct flight from barcelona to manchester!  i had a few options -

  • fly from barcelona to an airport near manchester, arrive around midnight, and hope that the early morning train to manchester didn’t get canceled or delayed.  cost - $170, stress - high
  • fly from barcelona to manchester via london, this would mean an 8 hour layover in london.  cost - $300, desirability - low

and while i was wondering how i was gonna get back home, then i saw this on the news!
TONS OF PEOPLE STRANDED AT BARCELONA AIRPORT DUE TO STRIKE!! it was crazy on tv… you could see how crowded and dirty and messy it was and how many people were sleeping all over the airport!

oh my gosh, that scared me so much!  what if i didn’t make it back to manchester in time!!!

wow… i almost got stuck here… but thankfully i found a flight outta a nearby airport - and it was way cheaper, too! 

yay!  i’ll be home home in 8 days!

Posted by kgrp on 07/31 at 07:13 PM
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home sweet home...

here i am, back in barcelona… and it was surprising to me how comforting it was for me when the bus entered the city… the familiar sites welcoming me back to barcelona…

it made me remember the first time i felt like guayaquil was home… i had been living there for 3 weeks or so, and i was still disappointed at being stuck in such a filthy city, instead of being in the tropical paradise that i imagined the boarding school was, 4 hours away, near the jungle.  the people were nice enough, though, and i got involved as much as possible with the church, and i sometimes attended the pathfinder sessions.  there was this trip called “supermision”, which was basically when all the youth went to another city and did typical old-school adventist stuff, like giving clothes to the needy, proselytizing, and having huge meetings where various groups performed a variety of songs, skits, etc.  i went on this trip with them, and OH MY GOSH i found out what real camping was like!

anyone of you who’s gone camping in the states… well… that seems like luxury to me compared to how i felt when we were camping in ecuador!  since there were so dang many of us, they herded us around in those military trucks with tarps over them, and we had to have our own plates and cups and they would give you one scoopful of whatever food they had prepared (which i wasn’t yet accustomed to yet, and it was really really hard for me to eat it, no matter how starving i was!).  add to that the sketchy bath situation… i don’t remember what it was, but i remember being oh-so-thankful for the bus that took me home to guayaquil. 

sitting in the speeding bus which was passing cars and zooming through city intersections at 60mph late that night (the bus driver probably just wanted to go home too!), i vividly remember garrett and i laughing about our situation and how absolutely ghetto it was… and how happy we both were to finally be back in -our town-, guayaquil.  and we both agreed:

OH GUAYAQUIL!!  so dirty, so filthy, but how happy we are to be home!!!

Posted by kgrp on 07/31 at 04:15 PM
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Monday, July 24, 2006

just winging it

and finally, i feel like the rest of the tourists here!

because i actually rented an apartment and i “live” here and speak spanish almost fluently, i haven´t really felt like all the backpackers i´ve met who are hopping from city to city…

that is, until this week.

i got so comfortable in barcelona all i was doing was hanging out in my house, and i figured, since i have two weeks left, i might as well go to another part of the country and see it.  so i asked my roommate and her friend, outta the big cities (madrid, valencia, sevilla, granada), what should i do?  it was unanimous - the best place for me to visit was granada.  even better, the friends i made in pamplona live in granada, so i don´t even have to worry about the cost of the hotel!

well… when i got to the train station, i found out i could only buy a ticket as far as valencia.  so i did.  i figured, hey, i can get a ticket from valencia to granada, right?  nope… nothing… all sold out!  they guy at the window was like, you have to wait for a month, they´re all sold out!

i was like, DUDE!!! i´m not going to wait in valencia for a month!

so then he sold me a trip to madrid, and then i leave from madrid to granada. 

so apparently, i get to hit ALL the cities on my list.  well… almost…

even though my train leaves at 7 this morning, i didn´t bother getting a hotel.  i figured, all the other times, i´ve been fine staying up all night, so i just sat my butt in the plaza till the restaurants closed at 2am, and then sat on the steps with a crowd of people that were playing guitar and singing.  yup, that was my night!

now i´m on my way to madrid, to see what´s there… i can´t wait till i get ´home´ to granada… i can finally shower!  yay!!!!

Posted by kgrp on 07/24 at 07:29 PM
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Thursday, July 20, 2006

what is there to eat here?

what’s really sad is that i live here in spain, i’ve visited france, and yet, i’m craving english food!

i must be really backwards…

in spain, other than the ubiquitous tortilla espanola, which is really just a potato egg omelette, and the paella, which is just pan fried rice, and now is full of seafood to entice tourists who want “coastal food”, i can’t think of any food that’s very spanish… and since i haven’t had the guts to order myself rice fried with lobster, mussels, shrimp, and the like, i’ve pretty much been eating potato-egg-omelette.  the sad thing is that if it’s not breakfast time they cut this up and put it between bread so you can have a sandwich - but with no sauce, no tomatoes, no onions, no nothing!  it’s just a dry piece of omelette in a dry piece of bread =/ i’ve gotta start carrying around packets of ketchup with me…

sadly enough, when i went to france, the food there wasn’t amazing either - i had picnic with this family and they had 3 dishes

  • canned green beans, onto which they cut boiled egg, and poured a good vinaigrette over it
  • “salad" which was tomatoes, onions, peas, and rice
  • salchicha, which they ate with bread

oh wait, and then you can’t forget the cheese course!  yeah… they had a block of cheese and just cut it up into big chunks and everyone grabbed a chunk and started eating… i thought that woulda been fun with crackers or with bread.

i have to admit that i enjoyed the meal i had while i was in france, just that it wasn’t a culinary masterpiece… but then again, neither am i gonna go trying some escargot, so it’s just as well i had something that i enjoyed!

but then england!  ENGLAND!!  land of bangers and mash!  fish and chips! (sans the mushy peas... ewww!!) hearty meals like shepherd’s pie which is basically meatloaf topped with mashed potatoes, and you bake it so the potatoes can get a bit crispy, and then you smother it in gravy before eating…

mmmmmm....

is it wrong to crave english food while in france?  maybe i AM a stupid american tourist…

Posted by kgrp on 07/20 at 11:51 AM
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Monday, July 17, 2006

stupid american tourist?

ok, i know that i’m the stupid american tourist, who has shown up to france without knowing the language (i’m so sorry mr hing, i can’t remember a thing!) and i’m here at the bus/train station, expecting to find some type of tourist information…

but it’s not like i expected you to give me a guided tour in english! 

all i asked was “palais?” and then “mapa?” and i know you understood that all i wanted you to do was point it out to me…

and you told me there weren’t any!  and then you shut the door in my face!

AND THERE ARE FOUR ‘PALAIS’es ON THE MAP!!!

nice… that’s -great- customer service… and at the help desk too!

*sigh*

Posted by kgrp on 07/17 at 09:35 AM
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