I Heart Valencia!

This week is Carnavales (like Mardis Gras, but about four days long) in Bilbao, so all of the Insitutos get the week off. Since we had some time off, Jess and I decided to check out Valencia for four days. The trip was pretty last minute and we didn't have many plans or expectations, but it turned out to be a really great trip!

Probably one of the reasons why it went so well was because we had people to show us around. Jana (one of Jessica's friends from Andalucia) is currently living in Valencia, and was a great tour guide. Our first night there, she invited us over to bake cupcakes, which was a lovely treat considering we don't have an oven in Blibao. Nicole, another friend from Andalucia, also joined us for most of the trip and supplied the lemon cupcake recipe.

Our second day was absolutely gorgeous! We started the day off at Starbucks (the first one I've been to in Spain!) and sat in the little indoor/oudoor patio, planning the rest of our trip. The rest of day was spent in the old part of town. We went to the mercado central and explored tons of kiosks of fruit, vegetables, bread, oils, seafood, and meats. Across the street is La Lonja, which used to be a silk trading center built in the beginning of the 16th century. The architecture is absolutely stunning, with a towering ceiling, spiral columns, and stained glass.

So, Valencia doesn't celebrate Carnavales, but we arrived there right at the beginning of Las Fallas, which is Valencia's big celebration, where neighborhoods build big wooden puppets, that are eventually burned (save one). We didn't see the burning, but we did witness the mascleta, which occurs at 2:00 every day of Las Fallas. Essentially everyone crowds the Plaza de Auntamiento to watch/hear them set off fireworks. We saw it from quite far away, and it felt like the buildings around us were going to come crashing to the ground. Very exciting though!

The highlight of Day 3 was the Paella. Paella is one of the more well-known Spanish dishes (along with tortilla de patata and sangria), and it originated in Valencia. It's also something that we rarely see in the Basque Country because it's "Spanish" (aka "not Basque"). Anyway, Paella is essentially a rice dish cooked and served in a big pan with saffron and meat and/or seafood. We got a recommendation from Jana's roommate about where to get good paella, and skipped the mascleta in order to get a table in the sun.

Jessica tries her first beer!

Later that day, we hit up the Portland Ale House to test our trivia skills and get a little taste of home (and beer!). Well, the trivia part didn't go so well. I, personally, have always been terrible with random knowledge, but I was with a group of intense trivia-fiends (ehem, Jessica). According to their standards, we did pretty poorly. I mean, I was happy that I guessed one correctly!  The most disappointing part was that we didn't even get our score read! Although, maybe that was a blessing in disguise... We're not trying to disgrace the good ol' Five-Oh-Three (Yes, that was our team name). But even though we sucked at trivia, the bar had a great vibe. The staff is super-friendly, there's a good mix of Spanish and English, and I finally got to drink some good beer! I tried the Panty-Dropper, which was really delicious! We even returned the next night (when it was a little calmer), and I said hi to the owner, Mike, who used to coach the girls basketball team at Glencoe when I played for Beaverton. It was really cool to see him, and he treated us all to a round, which was so nice! Jessica even drank her VERY FIRST BEER, and even enjoyed it a little! Be sure to give her a high-five when you see her.

Weirdest fish/shark in the world.

Our last day in Valencia was spent in the Oceanografic section of the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias. It was really awesome. First of all, the architecture is stunning. It's a group of Space-Age-Looking buildings. I couldn't get pictures of all the buildings, but you should Google Image it, and check them out. Secondly, the exhibits are really cool. They have a bunch of different sea-life exhibits, and underwater tunnels that are home to some of the coolest/weirdest creatures (see photo). We had no problem spending all day there. If you ever get to Valencia, I highly recommend it.

Well, that was Valencia! I was really impressed and hopefully I'll get to go back some day. Now, I'm off to celebrate "Pancake Tuesday" with some Irish kids!

That brick stole my folder! Mistranslations in heroic moments.

As my time here is winding down, I'm trying to take advantage of my opportunity to live abroad. A while back, I realized just how little Spanish I speak here, seeing as I live with Americans and teach all my classes in English (in fact, some of my students still believe that I can't say more than "hola" and "adios" in Spanish). Therefore, I've started to take a few steps to aprovechar of my surroundings and I've been speaking and reading Spanish a lot more. I've been making an effort to chat with my teachers, and I've even set up intercambios with a few of them, where we speak half the time in English and half the time in Spanish. And even though I stumble through much of the conversations, I've been a lot more confident with my speaking skills. I've also been reading the newspaper on the metro on the way to work, and I've been reading "Como agua para chocolate" ("Like Water for Chocolate"), which is a book that I started to read two summers ago, but never finished. The author is Mexican, so the Spanish is a little different than it is here, but it's Spanish none-the-less, and one of the most famous novels in the world. Anyway, I've made some big strides in the last few weeks, but I've still got quite a ways to go, as you will see in my attempt to stop a thief...

This Saturday I was in San Sebastian with my good friend Maggie and her friend Kate (who are both doing the same program in the south of Spain). We were soaking up the sun on some benches by the beach when I turned around and noticed some sketchy little guy lingering behind us. We made eye contact and he winked at me and flashed me a smile. Just as he turned to walk away, I noticed he was holding a rather feminine black wallet. I asked my friends if they had their wallets and Maggie discovered hers was missing. I took off running down the boardwalk after this guy and Maggie followed behind me. As I was sprinting after him, my mind was absolutely vacant of Spanish words. Half my energy was focused on catching this guy, and half was racking my mind for any word in Spanish that might be appropriate in this situation. Behind me, Maggie was yelling "Para! Para! Mi carpeta! Mi carpeta!" Eventually I settled on "ladrillo!", which I thought might be the word for "thief". So luckily this guy was not in the best shape because I was gaining on him pretty quickly. He must have realized he had no chance against me (he was also pretty small), so he tossed the wallet on a bench, and we got it back! I couldn't believe it! We were on an adrenaline high for like the next hour. Maggie swears the song "Bad Boys" was playing in her head as we were running. It was like a scene from a movie. ...And when I say "movie", I mean a "poorly-dubbed film".
     What Maggie should've said: Mi cartera! (My wallet!)
     What she actually said: Mi carpeta! (My folder!)
     What I should've said: Ladrón! (Thief!)
     What I actually said: Ladrillo! (Brick!)
Well, you can't win 'em all... But we got a great story out of it! And I don't think we'll ever forget those words again. In the end, some nice man called the police, and we came across an undercover cop dealing with the little ladrón. He asked us if we got everything back (which we did), and as we turned to walk away the little thief winked at us again! Looking back on it, we should've asked for a picture with him. It would've made a great souvenir... ;-)

Well, I'd write more, but nothing I have to say is nearly as exciting as the story I just told. So, sorry for the hiatus, but hopefully I'll have some more fun stories to tell in the near future!

Back to Bilbao, Back to Blogging...

Hi all,

So I've been on a bit of a hiatus. I went home for the holidays, and well... let's be honest, I figured that most of you that follow this blog probably saw me at some point, so I wan't as inclined to update it. So, I apologize to those of you that were distressed about my absence from cyber-world, but I'm back now...

It was great to be back for the holidays. I loved being able to catch up with people that I hadn't seen in a while. A special thanks to the Dublin Pub for gathering a ton of Beaverton kids together that I hadn't talked to in ages. As Rose and I were discussing on our lovely walk home from the bar one night, everyone seemed older, and a lot more mature (in a good way). It was so interesting to hear about what my old friends were up to. Since most of my class just graduated college, everyone had gone a different direction with their life and it was really cool to hear about it. And, I don't know if just me (and Rose) that felt this way, but it also seemed like all the drama and awkwardness that usually accompanies these sorts of events had gone away, and people seemed at ease talking to everyone else. It was surprisingly refreshing.

Aside from seeing lots of high school (and college) friends, I had a great time hanging out with the family, sleeping in a big, comfortable bed, having a closet full of clothes to wear, cooking in a beautiful kitchen, driving around, and generally being able to communicate and have things function properly. Having said that, I'm sure you'll be able to see why it was a bit challenging coming back...

Ok, so it hasn't been that terrible, but there was one day last week when I felt completely and utterly defeated. Can you take a wild guess at which day that was? If you're a Duck fan, you should know the answer to this... Tuesday the 11th (Hope you remembered to account for the time difference). So it all started  at about 4:00am when I woke up to watch the Ducks play in the National Championship (My plan had been to wait until after school to watch it, but I couldn't sleep knowing that the game was going on). Anyway, I missed the whole first quarter and started watching when the Ducks had the lead. So mostly what I saw was the Ducks continually getting shut down on offense except for that glimmer of hope at the end... which was quickly crushed when Auburn scored a field goal to win it. Big bummer. So, that was how my day started. It continued like this...

• I checked my email before leaving for school and got a response back from a Lewis and Clark advisor about their MAT (Masters in Teaching) program. She told me that they no longer had an ESOL/Bilingual option, and that to do the Math concentration, I would need a Bachelor's in Math. Unfortunately, I don't have anywhere close to a Bachelor's, so going to L&C for grad school is probably out of the question (at least for the time being).
• On my way to school, the screen on my phone completely froze. I tried everything to get it to work, but it was completely stuck and unusable.
• Then, to top it off, the water heater in our house broke, which meant that we had no heat and no hot water (aka no showers).

Anyway, things have looked up since that day... I got over the loss, my phone randomly started working the next day, and I started showering at the gym (It was actually pretty good motivation to go work out). Luckily, the weather has been uncommonly warm that past week, so the heat wasn't too much of a concern. Although, it was still annoying not to have hot water for showers and dishes. (We finally got it fixed today).

The first week back at school was fine. I gave my kids some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups to try, and most of them liked it (although there were at least 1 or 2 kids in every class that were repulsed by them... Peanut butter is quite a foreign concept over here). Anyway, I'm not sure if I brought back enough for all of my students (I teach the older kids this week), so I might have to give them out as prizes if I run low. But there was no way I could justify lugging any more than 5 lbs worth of candy in my suitcase...

This weekend went really well. First of all, it was sunny and warm the entire time, which was a huge mood-booster. My friend Jessica (or as we call her, J-Chan) threw a party for all of us that had birthdays over the break, and it was a really fun time. People brought lots of wine and desserts and we got to catch up with everyone that we hadn't seen since before the break. After (quite) a few bottles of wine, and the addition of some huge speakers, we ended up having a big dance party in her living room. We even did the Macarena. Now there's something I haven't done for a while.

We spent the next day enjoying the sunshine. A few of us got coffee at a park next to the Guggenheim, and then walked along the river to the Casco Viejo, where we met up with some more people and got some delicious pizza. What an absolutely lovely day.

Oh, and before I sign off, I should tell you the BEST part about being back. Starting on January 1st, they outlawed smoking indoors!! Which means that when I go out to a bar or cafe, my clothes don't smell like smoke like they usually do. It was rather controversial, but I am completely supportive of it, and very happy that it's being enforced. So here's to a smoke-free new year!

Cheers,

Ally

Salamanca Salamanca

First of all, I apoligize for not updating this sooner... My laptop won't charge anymore (even after getting a replacement power cord), therefore I've been borrowing Jessica's computer, but it's still not the same. Hopefully I'll be able to get it fixed in the states over Christmas, and then I can add more pics and be more consistant in my updates... I'm starting to think I should've gotten that insurance now... Anyway, let's move on.

We had no school Monday through Wednesday this week, so for the puente, three of my friends and I headed to Salamanca. I really didn't know anything about Salamanca before going, except that Jessica had studied abroad there and it's always really cold. The immediate reaction that every one my teachers had when I told them I was going there was "Que frío!" So naturally, I packed all the sweaters, gloves, scarves, socks and jackets that I owned and braced myself to live in Antarctica for 4 days. Luckily, it wasn't ridiculously freezing as we had anticipated, although I was happy to have bought a warm scarf before I left.

Getting on the bus to Salamanca was a stressful process. My friend Bryce had bought our bus tickets online, but none of us had printers, so we were hoping we could get our tickets at the station. Unfortunately, since a ton of people travel during the puente, the bus station was one big... mess [trying to keep this PG]. The lady at the ALSA window essentially refused to help us, so we had to weave our way through the crowds of people, and ask the bus drivers if they were going to Salamanca and if we were on their list of passengers. We got pointed in lots of different directions, but finally found a crowd of people waiting to board a smaller tour bus that was (apparently) going to Salamanca. We showed our passports and explained the situation to the driver, and he was like "OK, whatever" and let us board without even checking ot see if we were supposed to be on the bus. Clearly, we had boarded a "substitute bus"... the driver had to ask for directions to get to the bus station when we got to Salamanca.

We stayed in Pension Estefania which is right in the center of town. Our room was in the same appartment as the owners, so we heard the doorbell every time it rang, and it always smelled like meat in the hall. We also had to pass the a window looking into their living/dining room on the way to the bathroom... A little awkward, but overall, the place was clean and warm.

Salamanca is a beautiful city. It is home of the oldest university of Spain, University of Salamanca, which is spread out throughout the city in diferent facultades. It's really clean, and it has beautiful churches with intricate facades (although they do have a playful side- the Catedral de Salamanca has an astronaut carved into it). Salamanca was all decked out for Christmas. One night when it got dark, we headed to the Plaza Mayor, where they had lit up a tree light display and were playing Christmas music. Everyone was out with their friends and families and we watched the little kids try to dance in their stylish puffy coats and boots. (Seriously, even the little babies are fashionable here.) I also tried some chestnuts roasting on an open fire- not exceptionally delicious, but it did put me in the holiday spirit.

During the daytime, we explored the city, shops, and food. I tried turrón duro, and choclate con churros for the first time. We had some photo sessions on the Puente Romano (Roman Bridge), and searched all day for Jessica's batido cafe that she used to go too. Eventually, we discovered it was right next to our pension (we went there twice for milkshakes). Overall, the weekend was a nice break from the usual, and it was a great first trip to "real Spain" for me.

There is a reason why Thanksgiving is a day, but Christmas is a season.

Turkeys turkeys turkeys. I see most of my kids only once every two weeks, so I've been talking about Thanksgiving since last Tuesday. And let me tell you... I'm a bit Turkey-ed out. I've been starting my classes with a game of hangman, where the word is "Thanskgiving" and for a while, it surprised me that: a) it takes them forever to guess the word, and b) my kids respond "¿Qué es eso?" (or if I'm lucky, they say "What is this?"). I thought, "I've done a Thanksgiving lesson 15 times and you really had no clue this was coming?? Did you not talk to anyone?? However, upon further reflection I discovered the reasons for these absurdities. First of all, the letters G and V are hard for them to pronounce so they volunteer just about every other letter in the alphabet before saying these. And secondly, in contrast to my middle/high school experience, the students here stay in the same room while the the teachers move around. So they're in class with the same people all day every day, and there's none of the "Hey, what are we doing is English today?" discussions between classes. So I guess that explains why they were all so blind-sided. Anyway, there is usually one person that knows it's the day where we eat pavo. And to be completely honest... that's basically the jist of it. And I'm teaching 20 classes about it. OK, enough about Thanksgiving... on to bigger and better holidays!

So, as many of you know, I'm coming home for Christmas!! I'm going to officially have the longest birthday of my life. It will last about 33 hours because I'll be crossing time-zones that day. I'm not sure if that sucks or if it's awesome, but I'm so very excited to see my family and friends for the holidays. I just couldn't imagine spending it away from them. I can't wait to drink hot cocoa, watch holiday movies, eat/make Christmas bread, and see Portland lit up for the holiday season! Every once in a while, I get a rush of that holiday spirit. They have started hanging up lights around Bilbao for the holidays, and one of the teachers brought polvorones for everyone, which are traditional holiday treats that sort-of crumble when you bite into them. I tried the almond, chocolate, and lemon ones and they were all pretty good. Another holiday treat is Turrón, which seems kind-of fudge-like to me... It comes in all sorts of flavors, and sometimes nuts or wafers. I'm not explaining it right, but it's delicious.

Anyway, I'm trying to decide what I'm going to do for my lesson plans in December... I've had lots of random ideas like designing/describing an ugly Christmas sweater, doing a white elephant gift exchange, watching "The Grinch" or that old-school Rudolph movie... There are endless possibilities- and I'm open to suggestions.

Also... this is a shameless plug: I'll be done with this program in June (aka unemployed), so if you hear of any jobs that might be opening up (or know someone who I could talk to), please let me know! I'm leaning towards education of some sort, but it will be a year or so until I can start grad school. Clearly I will have experience speaking Spanish and teaching English as a second/foreign language but I'm also interested in math and sports, and I took lots of business classes in college. If you don't have my email, it's allysoncscott@gmail.com. OK, done. Just wanted to throw that out there.

Have a Happy Turkeyday!

Just checking in...

Had a really low-key weekend since many of my friends were out of town. Jess and I pretty much just hung out, baked some delicious crepes, and went to the gym. We did manage to go out one night with those of us still in town. And we also watched Harry Potter 2. Trying to prep ourselves for Friday, you know. Unfortunately, none of the theaters in Bilbao are playing it in English, so we'll have to bare it dubbed in Spanish. Not ideal, but still exciting.

This week I'm teaching the second-years and the bachillerato students (basically high school juniors/seniors- that plan on going to college). My classes today went really well. The second years are so precious. We played 20 questions with famous people, and then I had them do an activity where they got to draw. It seemed like they were having a good time and they were all really well-behaved. With the older kids, we talked about Thanksgiving... I described the holiday, and showed them a slideshow of typical dishes (It wasn't until today that I realized just how many Thanksgiving "staples" there are. We really do eat a lot on that holiday!). I also found some videos on how to brine a turkey, and how to make pumpkin pie. Unfortunately, I can't get any Food Network shows in Spain, which is a bummer because I would love to show them some of those videos- Giada, Bobby, and Ina are very important in my life...

Anyway, for how much my students talk about food, they don't have a lot of experience cooking it... I asked them if anybody cooks at home, and they all said no, for the most part. I'm curious if it's the same with older generations, but I fear for these kids futures a bit... It makes me really appreciate that Mom let us help in the kitchen. Or, let me rephrase that - in the spirit of the holiday - I am thankful for having learned how to cook throughout my childhood. That's a shout out to you, Mom. And Grammy. And Dad (I'm thinking about making dutch babies this weekend). Anyway, I asked my students what they do know how to cook and I got three answers: pasta, eggs, and tortilla española. I took this as a great opportunity to a) get them talking, b) teach some handy cooking verbs, and c) learn how to make a tortilla española. Perfect!

For those of you who are unfamiliar, a Spanish tortilla is like a thick potato omelet. So, absolutely nothing like a Mexican tortilla. They serve it in wedges at pretty much every bar/cafe. It´s kind-of bland and ugly, but it's probably the most recognized Spanish dish. Therefore, I would probably shoot myself if I didn´t learn how to make one of these before I left. So here´s how it´s done (according to my students):

• Peel and dice the potatoes.
• Fry them in a frying pan.
• Beat eggs in bowl (I think it takes about 6-8 eggs, but I forgot to ask).
• Add the potatoes to the eggs and mix them.
• Pour the mixture back into to pan and fry it.
• Flip it in the air like a pancake (if your talented enough). Or, as a safer alternative, use the age-old "flip the tortilla onto a plate and slide it back into the pan" trick.
• After it's cooked, remove from the pan and serve.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy. It ended up being a really fun lesson! We all had a good time and learned something new. And don't worry- I didn't let them leave without learning some basic table manners and saying something they're thankful for. I still have yet to attempt a tortilla on my own, but it did inspire me to order one at the little cafe by our piso this evening.

Tomorrow's my long day. Hopefully the next few classes will be as good a the ones today.

¡Agur!

Finally, a beautiful day!

It is so gorgeous outside! Since this is my day off, I slept in until 8:30 this morning and woke up to sun streaming through the windows in my piso. After slowly eating breakfast and sipping my coffee, I decided to take a walk. I walked through the Parque de Doña Casilda and then strolled along the river past the Guggenheim and finally back through the city to my piso. The thermometer outside read 18 degrees, so I was perfectly comfortable walking around in a light sweatshirt. This is after many days of cold, rainy, windy weather, so I'm especially appreciative of the change. I should've brought a camera...

There not much to report on, except I finally joined the gym across the street (I'm still kind of sore...) and I taught my younger kids the Hokey Pokey. 

Oh! Portland got a shout-out in the newpaper this week! Not for any particular reason, just to shed some light on the city. The title is "La nueva meca de la bohemia blanca" (The new mecca of the white bohemian). Here are some quotes I thought were interesting (translated to English for you):

• "I'll trade you two dozen eggs for some goat cheese." 
• "[Portland] has become one of the new bohemian meccas of North America. Not only for people that pursue a lifestyle that's part rural-part urban, but also for thousands of young artists that search for inspiration in it's streets."
• "Portland is also the best city in the country for pet owners."
• "Portland has the profile of being one the the most attractive, little-known destinations in North America."

They also mention how some landmarks in Portland inspired the names of some characters in Los Simpson (like Ned Flanders and Montgomery Burns). If you didn't know already, The Simpsons is huge in Spain. In fact, they actually have a Simpsons mural on the outside of my school. 

Well, enough time on the internet, I've got to go take advantage of the weather before it gets dark. 

Cheers.