europe
Sunday, August 06, 2006
"barcelona - it was the first time we met"
"barcelona - how can i forget.....”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!
“... and if God willing we will meet again someday"
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
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!
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!
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!!!
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!!!!
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…
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*
Sunday, July 16, 2006
what kind of music is this?!?
so why is it that all the music is in english, all the french people know it, and i’m feeling outta the loop?
oh yeah… i don’t do europop =/
Thursday, July 13, 2006
running with the bulls
so i ran with the bulls…
on wednesday, july 12, the police wouldn’t let me and rose into the street to run with the bulls, but we found some nice guys (javi, alex, and tilo) who let us sit with them on the barricade. i started taking video about a minute after the fireworks went off - and you can see the people jumping up and down, looking for the bulls, and then they start to run! as soon as the first group of bulls pass by, rose jumped through the barricade and started running, and the guard turned around as soon as the second group of bulls passed, and then i jumped in too! so then the video goes shaky… after i stopped filming i walked into the bullring and then the people started running around me, they said more bulls were on their way! 3 or 4 more bulls ran thru but i was already safely on the side =)
here i am, walking my way into the bull ring, taking pictures of the people running past me…
once we got to the bull ring the i jumped over the edge immediately! you can see what happens to the other people who stay inside the ring....
you can see tilo’s wounded arm, and you can’t really see javi’s wound under his left eye, but those are results of being in the bull ring! i actually think javi’s wounds are from jumping the fence when the bull came nearby, which is also how the american got paralyzed on the first day of the bull run, not cuz he was gored, but because he jumped over the wall to get away from the bull and he landed on his neck! anyways, i’m glad everyone was safe today and yesterday… these are only surface wounds....
i definitely have more pictures but it’s way past time for bed… i have to get up in a couple of hours to catch the 3 hour train to france! bastille day, here i come!
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Sunday, July 09, 2006
barcelooona... EMELEC!!!!
update: so i had arroz con menestra (but not lentils), ensalada de cebolla y tomate y jalapeno (but no ceviche), patacones, y pescado frito! i actually ordered the fried fish, AND i ate it, too! it was exactly how i imagined it would be, when i was craving it, sitting on the beach.
these two girls came in and sat at my table and ate with me, they had encebollado and they shared it with me… it’s sorta like sinigang, just a sour fish soup with tomatoes and onions
mmmm.... yum!
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hahahha.... there’s like, only two people who read my blog who’ll understand where this title comes from! te quiero, mi yunta!
ok, so… walking home the last night, i was looking for a place to buy water, and all the tiendas from the metro stop to my apartment were already closed. so i walked past my apartment and turned right on the corner to find anything else, and i found a small restaurant with the ecuadorian flag draped over the window!
i scurried across the street and stopped in the doorway… the menu displayed in the window only had pictures of paella, tapas, y tortilla espanola, tipical spanish food. undaunted, i asked of no one in particular, “porque hay la bandera del ecuador aqui? quien es del ecuador?”
me dijieron que the bar was indeed from ecuador, and i then asked, “pues, tiene arroz con menestra? y ceviche?” and the guy responded, “we even have encebollado!”
ok, pues, it was too bad i had just eaten a whole ton, but i promised that i would come back tomorrow to partake of my favorite dish… about 5 stores down the street from me, on the other side of the street - you can almost see it from my balcony.
how cool is that?
oh, also, instead of “chevere”, they say “maja”. ej: “la chica es bien maja” = that girl is so cool!
or how about, “el viene de una familia maja!” = he comes from a good family! hahaha… brandy, i know you remember that one!
i’m gonna go get me some grub now!
Friday, July 07, 2006
a day of museum-ing
so yesterday was quite the day for me… i decided to hit up some museums and so i looked for some info online and found out about the chocolate musuem, and then i also found out that the museum nacional de catalunya was having their special summer night - when they opened the entire musuem from 7pm to midnight for free! free sounded good to me, so i planned on going to those two… i ended up seeing the picasso museum since it was rightnext to the chocolate one, and i ended up walking thru the parc de ciutadella (much like central park) on the way to the ‘arc de triomf’ which was where i needed to catch the metro. i saw some old men playing games in the park and i talked with them and learned how - they were playing patancas, which is really like bocci ball, just smaller balls and 8 balls per team.
anyways, i have a whole heckuvalotta pictures, but i’ll add them to this post later. i think that’s my new MO… put up the post first, attach pictures when they’re ready… that way it won’t take me five million years to post things =)
in the chocolate museum - a model of gaudi’s the sagrada familia
the waterfall in the parc de la ciutadella
the greenhouse in the parc
playing petancas in the park
cyclers headed towards the arc de triomf
the fountains outside the museum nacional. the fountains were dancing to music! it was so cool! you can see a small clip of the video i took… i’m still fairly far away so you can barely hear the song “barcelona” play over the speakers, and i can’t really capture the grandeur of it, but you get the idea…
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
some sights in barcelona
these are just 3 pics from our first night in barcelona…
be prepared… just sayin, i warned you ahead of time!
a good flamenco show…
a surprise…
and a bigger surprise!!
notice that he has sandals on…
don’t say i didn’t warn you!!!
Kick'n it in England and Spain - by Marlene
guest post by marlene:
England and Spain are great countries, don’t get me wrong. However, now that it’s 1 AM and I am winding down my trip, I can’t help but express my thoughts about some particulars regarding my stay. umm… here’s the thoughts to ponder:
Why is it…
I grew up speaking English. I mean not a lick of Spanish or anything else. I even have a degree in English! I taught English for 7 years. I dream in English. I read in English. I watch TV in English (Except for a few Spanish channel car commercials which I find amuzing). Then why on earth can’t I understand the English PEOPLE!!! I swear it’s a conspiracy. I think the British government told all the people to speak really fast and to pretend not to understand us just so they could get back at us for leaving the country. Somewhere there’s a big guy named Hans whose laughing at us. Geeze, all I wanted was ice tea already. Speak English you English people!
Okay, people don’t smell as bad as I remembered the last time I was here. I think they have (for the most part) discovered deodorant. Although I appreciate the Englanders discovering deodorant around the year 2001, I wish they could pass the discovery along to the other foreigners that visit the place. Try being squished against the gates of Buckingham Palace for 45 minutes just trying to catch a glimpse of the “Changing of the Guard”, (a beautiful ceremony held in the front of the palace in which the palace marching band plays amusing songs like “Star Wars"). I mean, geeze being squished by a group of camera happy, energetic, and fun-lovin smelly people is not the best way to spend the afternoon on the fifth day of the historic London heat wave (a whopping 86 degrees!). DEODORANT people. When all is said and done, Kimi and I are the cleanest people in all of Europe since we take two showers a day AND use deodorant. Clean enough to make even the queen proud…
The Buckingham Palace fiasco was almost worth it because a young girl was in the military band (THE ONLY GIRL IN UNIFORM AT THE PALACE!!!) and she was trying to represent us female types by being in the male dominated military band, but cheeze and rice, it was a whopping 86 degrees out there and she passed out. The men took her instrument, squeezed close together to drag her along between her shoulders. You would have thought they were going to be sent to the chopping block if they moved out of formation to help out the poor girl. Now, she’s the shame of all the gutsy military women in Europe. Okay, she made us women look weak, but hey, at least it was exciting to watch them all sweat out (hopefully with deodorant) the ceremony with one member passed out. - It was almost as good as the buck naked dude walking around the street at 2 AM on the regular city street in Barcelona. Don’t worry, everyone, along with our dear friend Kimi took pictures. At least the man was tan…
And the last thing…
Why don’t these European countries believe in clothes dryers? You mean to tell me that every person can walk around the country with a razor phone, but no one can have their clothes dry within 30 minutes. Sadly, my clothes are hanging out the window in Barcelona as I type. I already told Kimi that she is commissioned to retrieve all clothing from the sidewalk 6 floors below, should a breeze happen to knock them off the window. Aye dios mio. What to do with wet drippy clothing here in Europe…
Sunday, July 02, 2006
what i miss about the united states
when i was in ecuador brandy and i would talk about different aspects of “living in the US” that we didn’t realize were amenities until we went without in our ghetto guayaquil. things like “running water” reigned the top of the list =) hahahah…
being in the UK has definitely been much nicer than the stuff we put up with in ecuador, but there are still a few things i am putting on my list of “things to appreciate about living in the states”
they are:
1. street signs! yeah… no corner street signs here. instead, they just post it on the building on the corner of the street… well… on most of the buildings on the corners… well… you just have to look for it. i suppose no one really minds that there aren’t consistent street signs because it doesn’t matter - the streets change names every few blocks! i was on this one street that had at the least 4 different names in less than a mile. yeesh! so… i’m grateful for the street signs
2. stores stay open past 6pm. ooooh - this one was hard to get used to… the stores close at 6pm, and the restaurants stop serving food at 8pm, and the bars close at 11pm. back home, add 3 hours to that - 9pm for the stores, 11pm for food, and 2am for bars. in spain, i’ll be looking forward to hours even later than that! the good restaurants don’t even open until 10pm or later!
3. deodorant. HA! this one… yikes… especially when you’re in the “tube” (subway) during rush hour and the train is not air-conditioned, so it starts getting musty, and you can smell everyone around you… marlene and i have been taking 2 showers every day, once in the morning to get ready to go out and then another one after a day of touristing so that we can wash the city grime off us - and so she’s dubbed us the two cleanest people in london! =) hahah!
i know that there are other stuff that i’ve been thankful for but at the moment, i can’t think of them, so this list will have to do.
what things have you encountered in your travels that made you appreciate ‘home’ more? i’d love to hear about it!
Thursday, June 29, 2006
i'm in london now
and having eaten and drunk… drinked? i dunno… at any rate we had dinner and drinks on the thames river and that was cool… overlooking the tower bridge and the tower of london and a cool naval museum housed on a boat. i have pictures but i’ll have to post ‘em later.
anyways, as i was saying, having eaten and drunked =), i am now ready for bed at 1:19 am.
toodles!
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update: why’d i wake up at 6am? i dunno, but here i am, awake, so i thought i’d post pics. (btw, all of these are links to larger images)
the “old wellington inn and restaurant” building is the oldest one on record in manchester, dating back to 1552. it was cute… small on the inside, but a nice large outdoor dining area. we stopped by for a few minutes on our walking tour of manchester, right before we took off for london
the tower of london is this old historical place which houses the crown jewels and was where ann boleyn was killed or something or other… it’s on our list of things to see, after which i’ll be able to talk a little bit more intelligently about it, but it was also our meeting point to find the keys to the ‘flat’ where we’re staying, just down the road… yup, we’re staying on tower road!
tower bridge… apparently this is the bridge that the US thought they were buying when they bought london bridge (y’know, the one at lake havasu!) hahahah… what suckers we are…
eating on the thames with tower bridge and the guerkin building behind us. i’m with marlene and HJ (pauline’s flatmate, aka our tour guide)
obligatory night time pic of the bridge
marlene sitting on the wall of the thames…
me on the wall of the thames