Jason's Visit

I am so happy that my hubby was able to visit me, it had been 2 1/2 months since we'd seen each other.


I had classes and exams so I couldn't miss classes when he first arrived, but I think he managed pretty well exploring on his own. I think he saw and went to more things than I have in Salamanca haha. We went to a Brazilian with a group from Cursos one evening and enjoyed the food so much that we are definitely going to have to take Maria and Beatrice up on their offer to visit them in Brazil. :) The next night we went to an Asutrian restaurant (Asturias is in the north of spain along the Mar Cantabrica) and tried the sidra a hard apple cider which was o.k. but really awesome the thing they put it in to serve it.


sorry you gotta turn your head to view the video. :) haha Jason absolutely loved the food and the cafe con leche. I'd warned him about the horrible service here and ofcourse he had no troubles and had great waiters the entire time. haha

We decided to take a trip to Sevilla and Granada.... I'm tired now, the rest will have to wait until next time. poco a poco... haha

Oh My!

So I've been putting off the blogging because I hadn't written in a while and so I didn't want to do it because I had so much to catch up on... makes a lot of sense right? haha because now it's been even longer and have a ton more to write... so I'm just going to start with the current and maybe back track if I feel like it.

...and

So it has been a while and I was putting it off because I wanted to write in Spanish but didn't have any desire to do so, a lot has happened so I'll just have to catch you up in English and then the next one will be in Spanish... maybe? :)

So I went to Valencia the weekend of the 19th of March and had an Amazing time! Here are some pictures!

:( I made a video but it's not loading....



There were soo many people in Valencia, I'm glad I'm not short or I wouldn't have gotten any good pictures or video of the parade hehe. In the video you can see how many people there were, it was soo crowded at one point I could lean back and not fall because we were soo squished. I didn't mind because it was cold, but after the fire started burning it was very very hot that everyone was pushing everyone back. What an experience!

Maria, Stine, Cara and I all went and shared a room in Silla, it was bout a 20 minute train ride to Valencia. We though we were getting a room with 2 twin beds and a double but when we arrived we had an entire apartment, with two rooms and a kitchen! Though the kitchen didn't have any dishes or pots and pans... I shared a room with Stine, and Maria took the one room and Cara slept on the bed in the living room. Stine is from Norway and I thought she was crazy the first night... She came in and turned off the lights and asked if she could take everything off. I thought oh my Norwegians are pretty open and like to sleep nude then she said she didn't want to be claustrophobic. I said it was fine but she wasn't allowed to cuddle me. I was happy for the dark. The next morning I noticed she was still wearing her clothes and I was confused... later it came up and what she meant was could she untuck the sheets? hahaha She said she thought I was weird because after she said that I told her she couldn't cuddle me. lol

The day after all the Fallas we spent walking around Valencia. We went to the beach (but it was cold) I did walk barefoot in the sand, which felt wonderful after all the walking, and dipped my toe in.

We also visited the big science center, we tried to see an Imax but you have to buy those tickets a few days in advance (at least during Fallas weekend :) ) So we only used the bathroom there... haha it was quite a nice bathroom. Haha we also got free entrance into an art exhibit looking for a bathroom, we went in a side door and didn't realize we were supposed to pay until we noticed the ticket booth. We didn't stay long, we were there only to find a potty. lol

Overall we had a really good time! I think if I write anymore it will have to be in a part 2. I'm done for now. ;)

En Español

Esta tarde estaba durmiendo cuando oí un ruido. Era el timbre, una mujer antigua estaba en la puerta, y yo estaba en casa solo. Llamé para Maruja pero ella se había ido para comprar servilletas. Por suerte Maruja subía las escalaras poco despues de abré la puerta. Pues, estoy despierta ahora...

Ayer, Maria, Stine, Cara y yo compramos boletos para nuestra viaje a Valencia este Jueves. Estoy entusiasmada por a ver los Fallas. http://www.fallasfromvalencia.com/ . Nos vamos despues de clases jueves.


He estado enferma, no me gusta estar enferma. :( Todo este fin de semana pasado, quedé en casa descansando y durmiendo. Domingo compré antibióticos, en la farmacía de la esquina, con la ayuda de Cristina. Los son muy baratos, solo un poco mas de dos euros.


Vale, tengo un dolor de cabeza, y no quiero escribir mas en español.

I don't think anything else interesting happened. There were only two students (including me) in my first two classes on Friday, everyone else went down south on an excursion.

Well, that's it for now. If you know Spanish, feel free to correct my mistakes! I am here to learn. ;)

Escribiré mas cuando regreso de las Fallas. ;)

Hmmm 3 days.

Well, let's see it's been 3 days since my last post, where to begin.

Today has been a kind of hard day, a lot of mixed feelings. Conflicted, sad, happy... and anything else you can think of. I've felt kinda icky today and yesterday, physically. I'm not sick, I'm not pregnant... haha everyone asks that when I say I don't feel too hot so I had to throw that in there. I have my womanly gift, (I'm sure you want to know that) but I'm sure that's what's amplifying emotional states. I've met a lot of really Awesome people! There is good and bad to both groups I've met. All the Spanish natives I've met are extremely nice and personable but they are guys, and well, I can't just go hang out with a bunch of guys all the time. I'm sure Jason wouldn't like that too much. I've met some great girls too, and I LOVE hanging out with them, but we speak English because it's the common language we all know, which is nice, but may have a negative effect on my learning. Also, all the English blogging and facebook etc. probably isn't helping either. I want to learn but the things keeping me from full submersion are also the things that are keeping me not so lonely. I miss my wonderful husband very very very much! He is soo amazing and supportive and great and I'm soo very blessed to have him in my life. Being so in love with him doesn't help the being away part though. haha It does bring me a smile when I think of him, but it almost makes me cry at the same time since I miss him and would love to hug him. My dream is for him to visit but I know that it's not possible. It's only been a week! I don't remember his sea trips being this difficult. Also another positive is I got the scholarship from Royal Arcanum $750 for school. Jason seems to think it might be per semester but we wont know until he sends in some paper work I guess.

Let's see, classes are going well. I seem to think my conversation teacher picks on me a little more, but I guess I should be happy she is helping direct me to speaking correctly. Culture class is stressing me out a bit. I don't know anything about Spain's geography and I have to memorize this map and all the communities and provinces and what each are famous for in production and what festivals happen where and the list goes on. This is only a one month course! I need to study my lil booty off is what I need to do. Grammar is going really well, I'm glad I stayed there it's where I need to be. I just wish I didn't have to walk so far from class to class, haha it's quite funny because that's one of the reasons I didn't want to go to USC. lol Classes far apart and only 10 minutes to get there.

Francia... found out she is not from France, she is from Spain. haha So, I guess I will go on calling her Francia because she does teach French but... oh well. haha It's been nice having her in the house, she can help me with understanding things since she also knows English but does it in a way that doesn't use English.... I love Assunta as well, she knows a lot of Spanish and we have a ton of fun together. I'm a little jealous that she can speak Spanish better than me, she can have actual conversations with people while we eat. Kiki asked me how long it was going to be before I spoke Spanish faster... Nice Kiki, my biggest nightmare is that I come home and haven't learned anything more than I knew before I left. Well, I will know the map of Spain anyway lol.

I washed my laundry today, there are no dryers here so all of my clothes are on the line outside the window... including my underwear. :/ It's definitely interesting getting used to different aspects of the way of life. I don't think my stomach will ever get used to having to wait so long before it's next meal. I might have to go shopping for snacks!

Stine (pronounced Steena), Maria and I went to the Chocolatería and ordered Churros and Hot Chocolate (which is really like a fondue dip not like the drink). Really good, but greasy churros don't go to well dipped in hot chocolate I don't think... Too much at once for me! Haha maybe that's why I haven't felt well. lol

Well, that's all for now. I probably will only update this once a week, from now on. I have to think in Spanish! Or maybe I'll write it in Spanish and you can push the google translate button. :)

New Post ( so creative I know )

Tres Chicas Guapas

Plaza Mayor at Night

Last night I went out to eat with Cara (from Germany) and Maria (from Japan) we ate Italian. ;) We all had pizza, Cara's pizza had pineapple and bananas on it. Que interesante! For dessert I had periforoles... ? I don't remember their name. They were like little cream filled doughnuts with chocolate syrup and whip cream. Mmmm!

This morning my travel converter broke! I think it was my hairdryer... it was supposed to be able to work here says the voltage label but hmmm. Cristina... uh Francia ;) let me borrow hers so I'm good for now. We (Assunta, Cristina and I) are going to go shopping this evening. Assunta needs boots and I need a curling iron. I might buy some shoes... just what I need, something else to put in my suitcase! lol Francia took us out for tea this afternoon but it's not doing the trick I still need a siesta.... oh we are supposed to leave to go shopping in 6 minutes. :/ I'm tired!

I went jogging this morning! It felt soo good. I love jogging through the city and having all the cool things to look at. :) Everyday I see something else really cool.

Hmmm maybe I can catch a 5 minute nap. I don't think Francia is awake yet. :)

Classes

Today was my first day in my new conversation class.... we didn't speak at all? We read a letter and then filled out a family tree and started writing our own letter similar to it. I have no idea if this is a better class or not because I haven't heard anyone talk other than the teacher yet. The girl that read the letter was able to pronounce the words much better than the students in my other class so it's probably better but hello I'm in conversation class to talk! lol

My culture class is deffinately much harder, I'm wishing I stayed in my other class only because I want to be a little lazy. In this new class I'm going to learn soo much more, but I'm also going to be tested on soo much more! This is why I'd rather be in the other class hehe but I'm sure it's better for me to be in this one.

It's nice eating lunch with Spaniards, Edu helped me with my homework :) I'm sure it was really easy for him. haha I want to go to the Festival de Fallas in Vallencia, and I met a man from Vallencia today, small world. I asked him if I should go to the parade or the day they burn all the floats, and he told me the art was in the fire... so he helped me decide when to go. :) Now I just need some people to go with me. http://www.valencia-cityguide.com/tourist-information/leisure/festivals/the-fallas.html Here is a link describing the festival. :)

Yesterday I finally bought a Spanish phone, now I can call people to hang out and not just sit at home all day. :) It was soo hard for me to make the decision on which one to get, if you know me you know how hard it is for me to decide on a lot of things haha. I think I made the right decision and because I added an extra 10euros (wish I new how to make the euro sign) I get 50% off on all my minutes! ;) I was able to call Jason last night for the first time since arriving here. It was so nice to talk to him. We've been talking on the e-mail but it's good to hear his voice.

Today was rainy and Cristina my host mother let me borrow her umbrella. It was soo windy when I was walking to lunch that the umbrella broke and flew into the median in the street leaving me with the J shaped wooden handle. I ran to pick it up, luckily the traffic was stopped at a light. :( It's garbage now. Cristina was very nice about it. Haha

Tonight I think I may go to dinner with some of the other students. We'll see... It's hard to go out to dinner when I get dinner for free in a restaurant. :) haha And I always like dinner more than lunch. :)

Tis all for now in the Adventures de Jenny!

Tuesday!

So today I thought all day it was Tuesday. lol I forgot Monday I didn't have class but took the placement test. haha

Today I went to my classes, I think I need to change them. Most of the Japanese students in my class (*My class is all Japanese students except me and one boy from Australia in the first class, and one girl from Holland in my third class) don't understand most of what the teachers are saying and aren't able to speak much Spanish. They are all in their 1st or 2nd year, I must have done really bad on my test! So tomorrow I'm going to go and see if I can change classes. Two of my professors agreed that I should change since the classes were pretty easy for me, I will ask the other tomorrow what she thinks about changing out of her class. All my classmates are very nice and I love them, but sometimes I get bored, and impatient when they are taking forever to answer easy questions. Most of the time I just answer the questions so we can move on. I'm sure I sound like a miss know it all.

Found out this evening that the restaurant I eat in, is owned by the lady I live with. :) Lol I don't feel too bad about taking the bananas from the restaurant since she buys us all the fruit we want to have in the house. haha Tonight we asked her to buy bananas. ;) It makes sense now, why we have to walk 20 minutes away to go eat.

I also looked for the best deal for phones to use while I'm here. It seems more expensive to use the phone Kiki gave me but Cristina, I will call her Francia since she's from France, Francia assured me she thought buying a card was cheaper. So she will go with me tomorrow to look for the best ofreta. :)

That's all for today! Wednesday. lol

My Room!

Catsup!

So I've written about my travels... now a little about what's happened since then.

Saturday: Cristina woke me up so the other Cristina could help me fix my computer since it wasn't connecting to the internet. *Cristina is my landlord and there is also another Cristina living here who is from France and teaches English and French... but she's not allowed to speak to me in English haha Cristina (the landlord) said if she does she has to clean the house. Anyway she wasn't able to do it and had to run to the bus station. Oh it was soo horrible for me all I wanted to do was check facebook haha. I went and explored after a breakfast of toast, muffin and roll. I found where the Cursos Internacionales were... and then returned and we went to the restaurant Dominus to eat. I eat in the restaurant twice a day. Cristina has many residents around the city and has some deal with the restaurant so we eat there. I met some of the other residents, one in particular named Quique, pronounced Kiki ? I think haha! It's short for Enrique but I just think it's hilarious he calls him self kiki, maybe I'm saying it wrong haha. He's been very nice. Then we returned and I think I went for another walk... things are blurring between days. Anyway it was really really windy so we didn't go back to the restaurant for dinner. Cristina cooked for us. Paula came from the restaurant and fixed my computer for me. Yay Paula!

Sunday: I went for a jog in the morning and got lost... I found my way back in time.... I don't think anything else interesting happened Sunday. I went around taking pictures to satisfy the hungry friends and family back home that wanted to see Salamanca hehe.

Monday: I woke up and fixed the same breakfast for myself. I think it will be the same everyday... and headed off to take my placement exam. I got there early but early wasn't early enough and had to ask directions for where they took all the students for the exam. I made it on time! I took the exam but only got less than 3/4 of the way finished. :( The oral exam was a joke I don't know how they place anyone by it they only asked where we were from and if we'd taken Spanish before. At 5pm we found out our classes. I met a guy named Lionel earlier in the test and he told me some info. about where to get a sim card for my phone. I went later and my phone wont work because it's locked :( anyway at 5pm after I found out my classes, I met a few of the other students and we all went for coffee and walked around. It was nice hanging out with some people it had been a lonely weekend. Cara is from Germany and speaks wonderful English, well they all do, all the students from other countries seem to be learning Spanish as their 3rd or 4th language... oh how we are lacking in the U.S. Maria is from Japan and speaks English with a British accent I love it! Stine pronounces Steena is from Norway. Diego is from Hong Kong but is fillipino with a Spanish passport and speaks English with kind of a British accent.. I'm not sure. Tom is from Canada/Taiwan and is 26. I'm so happy there is someone else close to my age. Fynn is from Germany and has a German accent hehe, and is super super tall. Haha I think most Germans are tall haha (Stephanie!) Oh and Henni is from Germany as well I think, I only met her at the end. I enjoyed my time with them. :) When I went to dinner I met our new house mate, her name is Assunta and she is from Italy. She is 26 and working on her Doctorate, I'm glad there is someone else close to my age. Also, Cristina is 27, the one that teaches, not my landlord. Hmm I will have to think of a way to distinguish the two. The three of us walked home and I enjoyed their company on the walk, since I'd been walking the 20 minute trek to the restaurant all by myself. Salamanca is very safe but it's nice to have someone to talk to.

Tuesday: I had my first day of classes. I am the only American in the first two, haha everyone else is Japanese! lol The third class there is one boy from Georgetown named Josh who is really nice, and I had met him the day before through Lionel who is also from Georgetown but originally from Valencia for all you Californians reading this. ;) After class one of the girls Natsumi came to talk to me, she had studied in Colorado. I was supposed to call her to get together this evening but I didn't get a phone yet because Kiki at lunch told me he would give me one. Anyway I spent the afternoon completely bored because the internet didn't work... I took 2 naps haha. Assunta and I went to dinner tonight and had a blast. I love her! Haha we wanted to take bananas with us to have for breakfast the next day but you aren't allowed to take the fruit from the restaurant. We arranged this elaborate plan to sneak some bananas into my purse. haha We are so silly we giggled soo much. There is a boy there named Mickey and he is soo funny. I think he has a crush on Assunta. I made him come over because he is kind of bigger to stand in front of me while I put the banana in my bag. lol. I told him I was going to tell him un secreto. Haha he is soo funny. He was laughing so hard about something and he was coughing soo hard. Some other things happened he made noises like a bird and said something funny to the cook... then when he left everyone clapped. ? I don't know why haha but he is sure funny. Oh I also sang to him Hey Mickey you're so fine! lol He's fun! There are a lot of boys haha. I've met some of the girls, Bella and Alba today, and Miriam? I think who seems very very shy. A couple other girls the other day but I haven't seen them again. It's so much fun! I didn't think I'd like eating in the restaurant and grumbles a little to myself about how far it was, but I love eating with all the kids... I say kids because they are like the same age as my students were when I worked in the schools hehe. But I guess I would call them friends... I'm not getting after them to do their homework. lol.

Well, that's all for now. I think I've caught up for the most part. I will try and post pictures tomorrow.

Traveling to Spain

This may be a long one!

I had no problems at the airport in Charlotte but my plane was delayed 2 hours in New Jersey because of the snow storm. They cancelled all other flights but not the international ones (I guess they cost too much). After we boarded we drove to the plane car wash (as I like to call it) where they de-iced the plane so we could fly. Finally we were off! Thankfully I slept most of the 7 hour flight to Madrid. I think the wine sampler I had at the restaurant helped with this. When I arrived in Madrid it was a really long walk through a glass type bridge thingy then through customs. I got my 2 suitcases and carry on and thankfully a man helped me put them on a rolly cart ('un carrito'). I went to information and found out where to buy my train ticket. Went and bought it and got a cab. I got ripped off on the way to the train station, the guy at the info. desk told me it would cost no more that 30 euros but the guy charged me 35! What was I to do? Then I had to lug those stupid suitcases through the cobblestone street to the train station. I got another carrito and another nice man helped me load em up. Finally my train arrived and I went to meet it. The lady told me I was to go the first car but I thought she meant the first one at the opposite end.... soo after going all the way to the end of the train taking my suitcases off and putting them on the train I realized I was in the wrong car. :( I got off connected my luggage together and ran to the end I started at. There the man checking tickets tried to tell me I was only allowed 20kg of luggage. I told him I didn't understand kg only libres (pounds) and he told me he only understood kg. So eventually he said I had too many bags... I asked him what was I to do, I have to get on the train, I already bought my ticket... Finally he let me on. I still had to find a place to put all those stupid bags! I wanted to cry! I'm sure being completely exhausted and hungry didn't help the emotional state of things. I ate my bocadillo ( a sandwich ) and took a nap. When I woke up I talked to the boy across from me from France, a little in English a lot in Spanish and I felt better. He was very nice and helped me unload my bags. I took another cab to the place I'm staying. This time I didn't get ripped off. :) At last I had arrived! The place is beautiful and the landlord Cristina is very nice. She cooked a tortilla de patatas which is an egg and potato omelet which is really good, then I took a shower and got ready for bed. Tried to use the Internet but it didn't work. Cristina let me use her computer to e-mail Jason and then I went to bed.