Birthdays and Basketball, Week 5: Monday and Tuesday

Monday:

Lunch: Garbanzo beans with potatoes, salad, watermelon

I got nine hours of sleep last night so I skipped my siesta and worked on homework and typing my blog, then we went to school and worked a little more in the lab.

My classmates, some of the party guests

After classes this morning, Blanca (one of our classmates) told us she was having a birthday party tonight for Nathaniel (her son, who she brought to Spain with her) in one of the classrooms at the school. Today was his fifth birthday. She said normally he has parties at home with his friends and we're his friends here. We all said yes and were really excited to go. The party was also partly for José, another one of our classmates, whose birthday was also today. The party was really nice. They had balloons, noisemakers, two cakes, and ice cream. There were eleven of us students there, and a couple teachers made appearances as well. Nathaniel opened presents also. Since the party was on such short notice, we just got Nathaniel candy from the grocery store next door, but he did get some cool toys, and he really seemed to have fun.

Supper: “Candied?” apples, roasted chicken, soup

We watched Olympic highlights, swimming, and some news. Hopefully Bailey and I will get up early and run tomorrow.

Tuesday:

Birthday boys

We got up at 6:00 this morning and went for a run. It was a lot easier than all my other runs, I think because it was so cool outside and I hadn't just eaten a huge supper. 2.25 miles

Lunch: Beef stew with potatoes and carrots

Today we went to the computer lab from 5-8. I have two papers (history and literature) due on Friday so this week we'll be mostly at school.

Supper: Hard boiled eggs, pickles, potatoes, watermelon

We shot hoops at the beach for a half hour tonight.

Salamanca and Iscar: Week 4: Saturday and Sunday

Saturday:

New cathedral of Salamanca

For our school trip to Salamanca, our bus left at 8:00 A.M. from the bus station, which is a half hour walk away from our place, so I got up at 6 A.M. The bus ride was about an hour and a half. Salamanca is in western Spain, near Portugal. Ruth, my conversation class teacher, was our guide this time.

We saw the Plaza Mayor, lots and lots and lots of souvenir shops, two cathedrals, the university, and a medieval bridge. Normally Spanish cities only have one cathedral, but Salamanca has two. We went in the “new” cathedral, but considering it was built between 1513 and 1733, it feels wrong to call it new. During restorations on the cathedral in the 90s, an astronaut and a devil with an ice cream cone were added to the facade of the building to represent the 20th century (I have pictures). The inside of the cathedral was huge and gorgeous.  The university of Salamanca is the oldest university in Spain. In the facade of the main building, there is a small skull with a frog on its head. Supposedly, if you can find it on the building you will have good luck. Also, because of this strange image on an ancient building, the frog is the symbol of Salamanca. All of the souvenir shops had different kinds of frogs that said Salamanca on them.

The astronaut and the devil on the cathedral

After we finished our tour, we were given free time. All of us ate our packed lunches in Plaza Mayor. I think some of the Spaniards were amused at the large group of Americans (and French) kids sitting on the ground eating sandwiches. Next we all kind of split up and went souvenir shopping.

On our way back to Valladolid I was actually awake and saw that most of the land between Salamanca and Valladolid is fields of sunflowers. They were very pretty and I didn't realize sunflowers were such a big crop here.

We took a nap and then went out for tapas with Alberto, his friend Lucía (practicing her English), Jon, Zou, Clemens, Alex, and Emily. I didn't try anything new (just had croquetas, which are still delicious) but it was fun going out with the group.

 Sunday:

Inside the new cathedral

Today Jon, Bailey, and I went to a little town called Iscar because Mercedes said they would have a running of the bulls and “mucha fiesta.” Unfortunately, the only return bus to Valladolid was at 5:00 P.M., but we still went anyway thinking there might be something going on before that. We were very wrong. As seems to be the case in most small towns, siesta is ghost town time. All the places were closed and no one was around. We did hike up to the castle above town and walked around the walls. We also looked at the plaza de toros and played in a park. Apart from that, we spent the next couple hours walking around and looking for a bathroom (which we did eventually find, but it's really difficult when every place is closed). We took the bus back to Valladolid, which was wild and nauseating; Spain has some crazy drivers.

The skull (left one, looking down) with the frog

Mercedes and Reyes had gone out but left us supper. We had large salads and what we thought we some kind of dessert potato until we realized they were pears (except Monday she told us they were apples, oops). They might have been what you'd call “candied” but I'm not really sure; they were good though. Bailey and I watched the Olympics while eating supper. Spain beat China at basketball and we also watched some gymnastics. We were very tired and went to bed at 9:00.

To see a lot more pictures of Salamanca, and some of Iscar, maybe not immediately but a couple hours after this post, go to: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3658125574575.2134912.1317690207&type=1&l=ab1113a4a3

Rain! and Olympics: Week 4, Thursday and Friday

Thursday:

Cathedral of Valladolid

I had a literature test this morning. It was fine, pretty similar to the last one. We're in school every day from 8-2. I haven't had this kind of a school schedule since high school, and yet it doesn't seem too difficult. I definitely feel like I'm learning a lot in a short amount of time though.

Lunch: Pasta with tomato sauce, ham and cheese fillet things, ice cream sandwiches :)

We met Jon, Zou, and Alex at the cathedral at five and went inside and took pictures. It was impressive but kind of dark. After the cathedral we went in a couple stores and then it began to storm, with pouring rain! We tried to stay on the streets that had the overhangs over the sidewalks and went in those stores, then waited for the rain to die down. Then Alex, Bailey, and I went back to school to study for our history test tomorrow.

Rain!

The last pen I had left (the fifth one) just ran out of ink. I may have to buy more; I don't like using pencils.

Supper: More pasta with tomato sauce, hot dog things, fries, and mini ice cream sandwiches.

After supper, Bailey and I studied more together then I studied a lot on my own.

Friday:

This morning in conversation we played “Tabú” (Taboo). It was a little difficult because sometimes we'd have to go through several cards before we found a word we recognized, but it was fun. Our history test went fine, although we all complained afterward that we didn't know (or care) how many times King Felipe III was married (it turned out once, which was rare because their wives died so much back then).

Lunch: Poached egg on rice with tomato sauce, ice cream sandwiches

We went to the computer lab from 5-8 to work on homework.

Supper: Tortilla de patatas, yogurt

More rain!

 The opening ceremony of the Olympics started at 10 P.M. I always love watching those. It was especially entertaining watching them with Mercedes and Reyes (her daughter). When Rowan Atkinson appeared we all said “Mr. Bean!” at the same time :) Also, when Reyes wasn't in the room, the scene started with James Bond going to the palace to get the queen, and we heard Mercedes go in the kitchen and say to Reyes, “Está James Bond y la reina!” (It's James Bond and the queen). Bailey and I both giggled at that. We talked with Mercedes a couple days ago about how much she likes James Bond. We went to bed before all the countries had finished walking in. We're going to Salamanca tomorrow!