Good times in Gijon! Praise God!

Gijon. Xixon. Hhh-eee-Hhh-ohhhn. Anyway you spell it or say it, it was definitely worth the visit! Link for photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036313&id=1079670010&l=e46671ff30
My favorite things this weekend:

1. The views out the bus window in the regions of Leon and Asturias. Yellow aspens, high mountains, tunnels to hold your breath in (family tradition), terraced plots of land, and general greenness everywhere, definitely different from dry, mostly flat Cáceres. Breathtaking and glorious, even though it was cloudy if not overcast most of the time.

2. Seeing my friend Andrew. There´s something to be said for companionship of old friends, especially when you both live in a foreign country. I think we both really appreciated just hanging out with someone who knows us. We had fun biking around Gijon, even when it was pouring outside! We also caught a half-hour mass

3. Sights in Gijon: El Elogio de Horizonte, in Cimadevilla (highest neighborhood in Gijon, with a park that´s got a great view of the beach, cove and the ocean to the north of Spain), AND San Lorenzo Beach. We visited Oviedo for a few hours too, but Gijon was cooler.
El Elogio is a structure that amplifies the sound of the waves crashing against the cliffs far below, so that when you stand in the center, you hear it more than at any other place. Some study in a acoustic science, and so cool. Peaceful, too.
We walked along the beach barefoot, even though the water´s freezing and it was an overcast day. Old people in swimcaps were swimming, and young people in wetsuits were surfing! Men played full-out soccer on the water´s edge. It´s cool to say I touched Spain´s northern coast!


4. And the people I met, both on the bus rides and those at the night parties Andrew and I attended. I had some fear about traveling on my own so far, and I believe God knew that, so he gave me three wonderful seatmates on the trips there and back. One Spanish girl who was just super friendly, an Italian Erasmus girl from Salamance who was going to Oviedo to visit a friend, and on the way back, an older man named Augustin who recommended authors from Leon to me and told me about the kinds of trees in the northern regions, just so kind and interesting to talk to. I understood all these people quite well, too, so I felt proud about my Spanish. I spoke a lot of Spanish this weekend, and I appreciate that.
Met Erasmus kids from all over Europe at one apartment party. Later, in the Plaza Mayor, I met Andrew´s friend Inéz and her Colombian friend. We four talked a long time, and I don´t think I´ve ever spoken such fluid Spanish as with the Colombian guy! He and I got to talking about deep subjects yet I had no problem. What a good feeling that is! Praise God!

Random notes:
--Sidra, hard apple cider sold in green wine-like bottles, is the popular drink in Asturias, and unheard of in Extremadura. It´s poured in a particular way. (You´ll have to see a picture.) I didn´t really care for it, but it was fun to try to "echar la sidra."
--Apparently Spain has a love of Woody Allen, and Oviedo has a statue of him. Inéz told me she loves his work, and I just can´t agree. It´s not funny to me at all, but I have heard that Europeans, for some reason, tend to get his humor more than Americans!
--The division one soccer team of Gijon, named Sporting, played Real Madrid, on Saturday night, so when Andrew and I tried to go out for supper, all the cafe-bars were filled with Gijoneses watching the game on the bar TVs. Fútbol is already a big deal here, but even more when Real Madrid plays your home team at home! (Final score was an agonizing 0-0.)
-Time change on Sunday, which I didn´t know about until that morning! It was "fall back" so Andrew and I had extra time while waiting downtown, so we ate breakfast at a cafe-bar and then went to a short Catholic church service. I didn´t understand much, but the Holy Spirit still used the time to speak love to my heart. :-)

To end this entry, strange as it may sound, I feel I should dedicate this entry to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He has been so faithful to take care of me, anticipating my needs and speaking to my heart. This weekend was like an unexpected retreat, away from my "home" of Cáceres, which is funny, because when I returned at suppertime on Sunday night, I felt like I´d been home this weekend. That´s probably due to seeing a friend from my home state and because I had some great time with Jesus. Church on Sunday wouldn´t have been possible if not for the hour time change, and it was wonderful. So, thanks.

"For your Father knows what you need before you ask him."
(Matthew 6:8) Amén.

I remain, your faithful observant foreign correspondent,
Ellen.

Coming Soon...

Hello!
Just posting a note to say that I'm back, safe, sound and refreshed from a great weekend in Gijon, Asturias, in the north of Spain. I visited a U.S. friend there and even though it was an 8 hour bus ride, it was so worth it! God used this time to show me many things, and I am so very thankful to Him. An entry and link to photos are coming soon!

If you feel like learning something new, look up the "Elogio de Horizonte," a structure in Gijon. It's sweet.

~*LN*

Portugal photos

As promised, here is the link to my album of photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2035338&id=1079670010&l=62d59079a8

A short note while I´m posting an entry: Tutoring kids and helping in adult English classes at the language school has been alright so far. I get stressed out trying to dream up activities that the kids can do, both interesting and educational, but usually things turn out fine. I have about eight hours of English classes a week, but I haven´t done a full week yet, since Monday was a national holiday. The first time, I just talk about myself VERY SLOWLY in English, show where I live on a map, and the professor helps field questions. It´s been pretty fun, and I don´t mind repeating myself... I just fear for when I will actually have to plan lessons for each level, and I´m not sure how much my Spanish is improving when I speak English almost the whole time... But I don´t feel negative overall. Any new experience is a useful one, and the students are pretty fun.

That´s all for now!
Ellen

Wish you were there in "Ishbua," Portugal!

Bom dia! (Good day! in Portugese.)
As promised, this entry is all about my trip to Portugal this weekend. What a good trip it was! I´m really glad that I went, and I´m so thankful that everything went smoothly, especially travel, and thrilled that the weather was absolutely pristine.

So since it was a four day weekend, Friday through Monday, (Monday being The Day of Hispanidad and therefore a national holiday in Spain) I felt like this weekend lasted forever. I went out in Cáceres on Thursday until very late with a few Erasmus girls and enjoyed that very much. On Friday afternoon, I and seven other students (one more girl decided to come at the last minute, so we had seven girls and one guy) boarded our bus and took the two-part journey to Lisboa-- by the way, I insist on calling the city by its Spanish name even when I refer to it in English. Added up, the trip takes over 4 hours, not counting the hour time change, but they were comfortable buses and I can always use that time to write in my journal. Upon arriving in Lisboa, we saw on our directions that we needed to take the metro to get within walking distance of our hostel. Too bad the ticket kiosks were in Portugese... Actually, we figured it out without a problem, and caught the incredibly clean and up-to-date metro, then switched to another line, and finally stepped off a mere three blocks from our hostel. Found it no problem: Was that easy, or what? I didn´t even have to use my Portugese phrase book that I´d brought along (though I would later).

We checked in and settled into our rooms (I had an all-girls room with three of the other ISU gals). The decoration of the Yes! Hostel is "mod," with pictures and themes of Lisboa, and the whole place was very clean. That night we ate the food our host mothers had packed for us then a few of us ventured out to walk around the urban area just a bit.

On Saturday we ate a continental breakfast there and tried to decide what to do. Eight people is a lot but we´re not so good at splitting up evenly or changing things up, so a girl named Hannah and I spent most of the day and really the whole weekend doing things together. We had read a recommendation to visit the area of Belem, so we opted to check that out. After first walking through an outdoor craft market and both buying necklaces, we tackled the complex bus system. Belem, in my opinion, is not a reasonable walk from our hostel, especially when you will walk ALL weekend, so we were glad when we finally got on a bus that took us there, albeit some time later and a couple extra euros poorer.

I, Travel Guide Ellen, highly recommend this area for anyone who visits Lisboa! We walked along the shore of the Tajos river, seeing the Torre de Belem, a gray castle-like defending tower from the 1500´s that looks like a chess piece, and going up to the top of the Monumento de los Descubrimientos (Monument of Discoveries). The latter was built in 1960 in honor of all the people who contributed to the Era of Discovery and I think it´s super neat! The Monastery of the Jerónimos is also in this area and we went into the sanctuary (for any history buffs who might know who Vasco de Gama is, his tomb is there) since this part was free and we were pressed for time. Apparently I should have gone on Sunday, though, because another main section (el claustro) is free to visit then, and I do regret that I didn´t get to see that. Now, these three things are probably the most popular sites in Lisboa for tourists, but I didn´t mind--they really are neat.

Something I learned: that Portugese don´t have siesta and their schedule is more European than Spanish. Returned to our hostel for a very late lunch, meeting up with our whole group again. It was a hot, sunny day and I was tired from all our walking, even with our bus rides both ways. So I chilled out while the rest of the group went to visit a castle on a hill--I wanted to go, but I simply didn´t have the energy. That night, we opted to pay 8 Euros for dinner cooked at the hostel, featuring stew of Portugese seafood as well as salad, excellent bread, and drinks (the hostel has a mini bar in the commons area, too). It was delicious but served almost an hour late. Oh well--not like we had anything we had to do! Afterward, a few of us went out to check out Bairro Alto, another recommended area, known for its active nightlife. There were tons of people around, and we stepped in a couple bars, but I wasn´t very impressed. Apparently there aren´t open container laws, either, so the party just spills out into the streets, and when I saw the same streets the next morning, it was a MESS of litter. Lame. I did attempt to use a few words of Portugese, though. Or when in doubt, just Spanish with "sh" sounds instead of S´s... For example, in Portugese it sounds like "Doosh cervehash. Obrigada." (Spanish: "Dos cervezas. Gracias." English: "Two beers. Thank you.") So, Lisbon/Lisboa is pronounced "Ishbua" in the local language and accent.

Oh, Bairro Alto literally means High Neighborhood, and you do have to walk considerably uphill to get there. Lisboa in general is compared to San Francisco, CA for its hilly streets, and the tram is a popular mode of transportation for tourists and older folk. This is something I didn´t do, but that´s okay. I did try the recommended "pasteis de nata" (sounds like Pashtaysh d´nata) or custard cream pastries, which are delicious, but I think I was the only one out of our whole group who tried them. They missed out!

Sunday, Hannah and I again paired up, since now the rest of the students wanted to see Belem. We rode up and down in the Santa Justa elevador, a tall skinny building that looks related to the Eiffel Tower (an apprentice of Eiffel did design it!), which you can take to get to Bairro Alto without climbing the hills. Then we planned to take the ferry across the river and see what we called "the Jesus statue," or Cristo Rei. Buying tickets for the ferry proved to be very difficult, however, as we were unsure just where and how to buy them in Portugese. Finally someone showed us on a map, and the ticket window guy spoke a little English, and suddenly the ferry was there and we were boarding it. Again, now that I am a travel expert, I recommend this experience. The ticket costs a mere 81 euro cents one way, if you return your paper ticket for the 50 cent refund, and the ride is a pleasant 15 minute view of the Lisboa skyline. Now that we were bus experts, we found one to take us to Cristo Rei (Christ the King), and enjoyed snapping photos and wandering around the huge statue. If you´ve ever seen a picture of the Jesus statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, you get an idea, because Lisboa´s statue was inspired by it. 2009 is the 50th anniversary of its completion, too.

Bought food at a nearby supermarket to make our own late lunch at the hostel. You don´t realize how much walking you´ve done until you get back and sit down! That evening, four of us went out for coffee at an outdoor cafe on a high hill that overlooks part of the city and the river: So beautiful! So peaceful. Back at the hostel, I met a really interesting kid from Isreal named Barak and we talked for awhile. He´s in Lisboa to volunteer for three weeks before returning to Isreal to start his mandatory 3 year service in the army. Absolutely fascinating. He was the only hosteller I really talked to the whole weekend though. Feeling a little ill, I turned in early. We checked out the next morning, rode the metro back to the bus station and then returned to Cáceres, with a very boring, 3.5 hour layover in Badajoz. Now I have a sore throat, but I hope it clears up soon--I don´t want to get sick again!

So, yeah, I wish you could have been there in Lisboa. Good times. Just a little strange to travel with people I don´t really know that well, and a bummer that now I´m sort of sick. For corresponding pictures, I'll post an entry soon with the link to a Facebook album, once I make one!

Well, my one class of the day is done, now I only have two more days of classes this week! But that does include tutoring kids and student teaching at the language school.
¡Hasta luego!
Ellen

P.S. While in Portugal, I heard that President Obama won Nobel Peace Prize. Strange, because I don´t keep up on US news, and personally I think it´s too early in his term to even get nominated for such an honor. Okay, that´s all with political commentary.

Some observations.

Hello again,
I realize it's only been a few days since my last blog when I normally post entries once a week, but I was thinking that I usually end up talking about what I've done and less about my observations about things around me and even my classes. So this is a different kind of blog about those latter things. Next blog: I'll be writing about my time in Lisboa, Portugal! Seven ISU students bought bus tickets yesterday, so we leave Friday afternoon, get back Monday night (Spain's national holiday is Monday, so no school!). I'm stoked!
Anyway, back to my notes...

--Commercials and TV: Spaniards watch a LOT of TV, my host family included. It's on during lunch and supper in the kitchen, definitely during siesta, and most of the evening. This is not something I have enjoyed because I tire quickly of TV but I'm learning not to let it bother me. I have mostly watched game shows, a young adult soap-drama show, a little world news and celebrity inteviews so far. I got to thinking about what the most common commercial are here, compared to the US, in terms of category (i.e. cars, a clothing store, etc.). Here is my unofficial list of the Most Common Commercial Categories: Cars. Cell Phone companies. Perfume. Household products. American beauty products, dubbed. Local cheese. More perfume. Noteably absent are movie trailers.

--Food: I mentioned that my host mother is a very good and generous cook. I think my favorite dish so far at home has been Isabel's tortilla española (potato omelette with garlic). Our suppers often feature a main (heaping!) course of a cooked green vegetable, with cold meat and cheese on the side. (For example, I ate a bowl of cooked spinach garnished with garlic and a little potato the other day, and knew my biological mother would be surprised but very proud of me!) Strangest thing I have had yet definitely has to be what I tried as a tapa one time in a Cáceres restaurant: Orejas. Yes, ears. As in, pig's ears. Chopped up and marinated in brown garlic sauce on a slice of bread. Um... never again. The cartilage-chewy fattiness just isn't for me!

--Clothing. One of the Iowa State directors said that Spain is a couple years ahead of the US in terms of fashion, which makes me both excited and scared. (Mullets will never be cool!!) Jeans are actually a different cut for once: low waist, baggy crotch, slightly billowed through the legs, and closing tight at the ankles. Strange, but not quite as bad as it sounds. Can't find a picture to show you, or else I would. Punk glam is definitely the season style, as are the colors a grayish-plum purple, navy blue, dark turquoise and gray. Yes, I already have a turquoise sweater and a purple shirt :-)

--And, my classes! I do attend school, after all. I have three classes at the university, all in the same room, which can get kind of dull at times, all taught by Spanish professors, only with other ISU students. One class is actually split into two hours: one is Spanish History (by far my most boring class, mostly because of the professor) and the other is Spanish Art. We study one painter a week, and write a paper about it for the next week. So far we've studied El Greco, Diego Velázquez and Franciso de Goya--so we're going straight for the big-timers. Our official excurions relate to this class, and our professor may go with us on those trips. I will also be more educated for when I go to the Prado in Madrid sometime this semester!
My other two classes are Spain Today and Spanish Literature. Spain Today has been pretty useful in learning about odds and ends of Spanish culture, from famous religious festivals to current Spanish cinema. All this said, I have NO books. None. How odd. I get handouts in class, but that's it.

-- I have my first classes today at the Official School of Languages (EOI, in Spanish) where I will give a presentation about where I am from in English and then answer questions from the students, who are all at least college age. A typical class is two hours long, but I only go for one hour for any one. Starting next week, I will student teach that one hour for nine different classes, of various levels, with various teachers. The week after that, I will have nine different classes. In all, I will work with 18 different groups of students, in 3 different skill levels (no English to advanced), plus a distance course and a "monograph" course! Whew! But really this means I'll only have 5 different hours to prepare for in a two-week window, and I'll see some of the same teachers. I'll tell ya how it goes... The school is a 10-minute brisk walk from my house, so that's not bad. I am allowed in the English department's teacher's lounge/office, which is really odd after so many years of seeing school offices but never being a teacher.

I'll leave it there for now. Apparently I'm incapable of being succinct. :-)
'Ta luego! *Ellen*

Little Blessings

"Prepare to be amazed," says the tagline of this blog. I think I have been forgetting just how God can amaze me. This weekend was not very eventful in terms of travel or big new experiences, but more like lots of little new things, and little blessings that made all the difference.

Sarah, one of the girls in the Iowa State group, celebrated her 21st birthday last Friday, so we went out on Thursday in early celebration, as well as Friday. Thursday we found a neat bar called Divina Comedia (can you guess what that means?) and took it easy there until the "discotecas" (bars with dancing) opened up at 3 a.m. We met a few guys on their way to one place, so they led us there and because they have connections, let us cut in line to get in past the bouncer (discotecas can be as picky as they want, and the belief is that they first judge you by your shoes). So that was the first one I´d been to in Cáceres, and our group enjoyed being silly while we danced to American pop-dance tunes. One expectation or stereotype I used to have about Spaniards was that they like to dance a lot, like Latin Americans. Turns out that´s not so true--they may dance, but not very well, and nothing specific like merengue or anyhting. I still don´t know anything about Spanish popular music; it´s certainly not a big genre.

On Friday I worked on my homework, and struck out to go to the fitness center pool. I paid for just the pool (1.5o€ with a student card) and eventually figured out how to work the lockers and that a swim cap is mandatory--oops! A lifeguard kindly lent me one, but I might have to have my own cap next time. I hadn´t swam (swum?) in a pool for a long time, so it felt good, very relaxing. After that I went to the central shopping center, called Eroski for the big Walmart-type store attached to the mall, though it refers to all the little shops too. Spanish shopping is all about boutiques. I bought a sweet purse and some nice, useful clothing items, so I was pretty happy about that. That night our Iowa State group went out again, purposely dressed up in honor of Sarah´s birthday. (This is the picture our host mother took of Autumn and me before we left the apartment.) We checked out a bar that´s very popular with Spaniards our age, judging by the line that´s always outside it... got inside to see that it´s tiny! I left before most, sick of smoke and tired from the late night before. Walking home at 2 a.m. isn´t bad though, because the nighttime temperature is still very pleasant and the streets are well lit.

Saturday late afternoon (this means after siesta and when stores open up again, so anytime after 5:30) I agreed to meet up with a Spaniard I had met at the discoteca to go to a cafe-bar and practice Spanish. It´s nice to hear Spanish in those informal situations and not just in the classroom, because one learns such different things! I think I´ll stick to meeting up in groups from now on, however.

Other highlights from the weekend:
-- I am a fan of taking time just to wander around town. I have stumbled upon several things this way and it improves my knowledge of Cáceres´ layout. For example, I had found a music store, with instruments and sheet music, a few days earlier, so on Saturday I decided to see if it was open. I went in and found a book of music I wanted to buy, but since the guy working was busy, I shyly sat down at one of the upright Yamaha pianos and began to play.
Praise God, I love playing piano.
Yeah, that made me very happy. Eventually the register was open, so I walked up and bought my music. I told the guy in Spanish that I don´t live with a piano, so it was nice to play that day. He responded that he´s glad to hear someone play who can, and that I am welcome to come in anytime to do so, especially now that I have new music to practice. "If they aren´t played, the pianos go out of tune," he explained, and I told him I am happy to help fix that problem! Ha! So that made my weekend. See what I mean? Little blessings.

-- I went walking on Sunday morning to find the other park in town, El Rodeo. It was a beautiful day, and I had brought my journal, Bible and iPod to have a devotion time when I got there. There´s even a man-made lake and waterfall, and it was so refreshing to see so much greenery, since this region is pretty dry in general. I was there for at least two hours, nothing else I had to do, before I left around noon. Now, I was dressed up because I was hoping I might find a church to attend that day, and I had an address for an evangelical one, but no idea when services might be. So I walked to the street I had a name for, quite close to the park, and saw the sign for the church in a nondescript building. I passed by, unsure if it was open, when I saw a woman enter, so I followed. Lo and behold, the service was going on! So I sat in the back and followed along quite well, aided by my English Bible. Afterwards, someone introduced himself, then the pastor, who speaks some English. Turns out that was their only service of the day (Catholic churches have many, many masses each Sunday), and they were surprised to hear I had come alone, not having been told by anyone about their little church. Sweet. I will definitely go back. Didn´t see any people my age their, mostly parents with kids and some older folks, but I don´t mind. Thank you, God!

As long as I´m on the subject of Things I´m Thankful For, I´ll mention the use of Skype to communicate with friends and family. The thanks go to my roommate and her laptop, and I skyped several times this weekend. I try to be pretty independent and focus on making connections here, but I do appreciate catching up with people who know me and whom I know!

Next weekend is a four day weekend because it´s a national holiday on Monday, celebrating Pilar, the patron saint of Spain. For me that means it´s definitely going to be travel time! I just have to decide where and with whom I´m going...soon!

Until I blog again, Ellen

P.S. If anyone reading this wants to send a response or note about something they´d like me to blog about while I´m here, please do! My email is lnprov@iastate.edu