Milano, Italia (Milan, Italy)

I have to go now! I will write a little about these things later.

X-Mas Time in Logrono

That's right. They celebrate Christmas in Logrono, Spain, too. We're not missing out completely. They actually just lit up lights all around the city early in December; so, we've been enjoying a little bit of extra shine in the nighttime lately. Abby and I went to the 'ceremony' of turning on the lights of the city in the Plaza del Mercado (Market Square) very near our apartment. There were a lot of little kids there having fun watching a marionette show, listening to music, and standing in incredible lines for free snacks. It was still entertaining for Abby and I, and we ran around snapping pictures at all the crazy Spaniards and the lights that eventually turned on without too much fanfare. Eventually all the lights around the city turned on, and so it does seem quite festive around here.

So, anyway, hopefully that video above works. If so, I will have to try to take many more short videos to share with you. Wow... it is taking a long time to load though, so I will have to see how long it takes in the end.

There is plenty of shopping in Logrono (and several large shopping centers), but we've been told that January is the best time to shop in the city. I suppose everything goes on sale after the holiday season is over. We're going to wait, and I might buy some new tennis shoes and some cool lookin European blue jeans.

They generally have two days in Spain when everyone gives and receives presents. These two days are Christmas and Epiphany. Spain celebrates Epiphany a little more than we do, and they have several fun traditions they practice. I will copy and paste some info from the the internet that explains it:

In Spain, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico and some other Latin American countries Epiphany day is called El Día de los Reyes (The Day of the Kings), i.e., the day when a group of Kings or Magi, as related in the second chapter of the gospel of Matthew, arrived to worship and bring three gifts to the baby Jesus after following a star in the heavens. This day is sometimes known as the Día de los Tres Reyes Magos (The day of the Three Royal Magi).

Spanish tradition, on the day of January 6th, three of the Kings: Melchor, Gaspar, and Balthazar, representing Europe, Arabia, and Africa, arrived on horse, camel and elephant, bringing respectively gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus. (In Logrono, the three kings arrive in a helicopter and land in the middle of the soccer stadium to a crowd of screaming children and their families. Wild, huh?)

In Spain, Argentina, and Uruguay, children (and many adults) polish and leave their shoes ready for the Kings' presents before they go to bed on the 5th of January. Sweet wine, nibbles, fruit and milk are left for the Kings and their camels.

So, I've been told that very traditionally, Epiphany was the only day that children receives gifts in Spain. The kings were a little like Santa Claus in that they give rocks or coal or whatever if the kids are bad and nice gifts if they behave themselves. Since Western culture is everywhere in the media and otherwise though, Christmas is now another time to give and receive gifts. I'm sure they don't mind much.

I am adding several other photos of X-Mas in Logrono to My Pictures site. You can find it in the regular place along the left side of this webpage. Click the link to go to My Pictures and then select the album.

To all friends and family who are reading this: Abby and I wish you all a very happy holiday season. Safe driving if you are doing so along icy roads, and take advantage of all those Christmas sweets and candies. We're missing out on some of our favorites, but we're making some new ones here in Spain. They have a large assortment of seasonal candies and chocolates, and we make sure we try something new every time we go to the grocery store. Rest assured, we are not starving over here.

Let everyone know that I will miss them this holiday season, and I wish them the best. Feliz navidad y ano nuevo tambien! (Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year too!)

New Haircut!

It's been a while (just about three months) since I had my last haircut... and I was beginning to look pretty shaggy. Abby and I found a place on our walk to work that advertised cheap men's haircuts. We went there one day and it was closed; but, luckily, we went to the place next door. The haircut was slightly more expensive but Pedro the barber did a very nice job. I didn't tell him, but I think that Pedro has become 'my' barber here in Spain. Abby took pictures of my haircut experience... which I will hopefully share with you sometime later.

We started decorating our apartment for winter! We cut out snowflakes and put them on our purple wall (it looks very nice, if I do say so myself). We also have up some cheap strands of garland and a 6-inch Christmas tree. I don't think we'll have presents under the tree this year... but that's okay.

So, anyways: Abby and I took several excursions out of Logrono this past weekend and we also went to a concert. We packed our weekend full because we hadn't really gone anywhere since our San Sebastian trip at the beginning of the month! It had been too long, so we needed to be busy again.

First, on Saturday, we went to the nearby city of Vitoria-Gasteiz in the northern autonomous community of Basque Country (Pais Vasco). It was an absolutely lovely little Spanish city, with cathedrals, museums, narrow cobblestone streets, and ancient walls, buildings, and other architecture. I took a lot of pictures, and I wrote captions on them so that you can know what you are looking at. Look at my pictures site and select my 'Vitoria' album.

Pais Vasco (Basque Country) is a autonomous community in Spain where the people have a very distinct culture. The Basque language is called Euskadi, and it sounds more like Russian than Spanish. Maybe I've explained this in a previous blog... I don't remember, but the Basque culture is very very ancient and distinct from every other European culture (or language). Because of this, they are very proud of their heritage, and some of them consider themselves and their autonomous community separate from Spain. They do share a lot of things with Spain, however, in that the Spanish language is widespread there (along with Euskadi). Basque Country reaches up to the sea, so they have nice beach towns there, and it also borders La Rioja (our autonomous community) in the south, so the terrain is similar to that of La Rioja, with rolling hills, small mountains, small pueblos (towns) all over the countryside, and wide valleys lush with vineyards and other crops.

Vitoria is about the size of Logrono, which is quite large, actually; and, so we didn't have time to see everything in our seven hour tour of the city. We visited several museums, ate lunch, shopped a little, and walked around in the cold rain all afternoon. Yes, we had the good fortune of taking our excursion during a rainy day. We got quite wet, but we were able to find things to do to keep out of the rain and cold.

Anyways, I write more about what we saw on my pictures link, so check it out.

We returned that evening to go to a benefit rock concert in Logrono. Last Saturday (it was the 1st of December) was actually the international day for AIDS prevention, or SIDA as it is abbreviated here in Spain. We went to see two bands that were performing: one, called China Latina, was a local band from Logrono, and the other was a band from Guadalajara (a city near Madrid) called the Despistaos. China Latina was good... a mix of rock, funk, and reggae (they played a cover of a Bob Marley song). We were very tired for the Despistaos' set, and their music was much louder and less melodic, so we left for home early. We figured we had already donated to charity, so we didn't feel bad about not staying for the entire concert.

The next day we got up and got ready to go to a small town in La Rioja called San Millan de la Cogolla. The special thing about San Millan is that there are two legendary monasteries there where ancient texts had been discovered and it is believed that it is the birthplace of the Spanish language (Castellano). Interestly enough, they believe that the Basque language (Euskadi) had its beginnings there also. So, it was the tenth-year anniversary of the monasteries becoming some kind of special program of the government... and the government paid to have buses bring citizens from Logrono to the monasteries for free. This trip also included a free tour of both monasteries.

We were excited to go, we had our cameras ready, our breakfast still digesting in our stomaches, and we got in line at the bus stop mid-morning to wait for the buses. It was a very cold morning, and to make matters worse, the government only sent one bus... one bus, which could only take about 70 of the 150 people waiting in line, could not take us either, because we were numbers 80 and 81. But I haven't mentioned yet that there was a bus scheduled to come later on that afternoon. So this next time we went an hour-and-a-half early and found ourselves first in line... a line that was much warmer, and much friendlier--since we met several of the other people in line with us and talked to them throughout our trip.

We made it on the bus, and it took us to both monasteries. One, the older one, was originally built out of a cave on top of a big hill in the forest. It was really a beautiful area, with snowy mountains within site, and the valley down below--where, later, they built a second, much larger monastery and, today, the village of San Millan de la Cogolla is located. San Millan is actually the name of Saint Emiliano, who lived in the ancient monastery on top of the hill. His tomb is in the ancient monastery today... that monastery is called Suso. The lower monastery within the village is called Yuso. Yuso is much larger... with a church, a sacricy, living quarters where nine monks are still staying today, and (believe it or not) they built a high-class hotel that is attached. Some people on our trip didn't like the fact that the hotel was attached... but, what can you do?

Pictures are going to describe the monasteries better than I am able to, since the Spanish tours were a little too fast to pick up everything. Look at my pictures site again and select San Millan de la Cogolla to check out my photos.

I have to go now... we have things to do things to do always things to do. But we're happy staying busy. I shall update again soon, as I we are leaving for Milan, Italy, this Friday and we won't be back until next Wednesday (at 2:00 am in the morning!).

More pictures coming soon. And Christmas activities start soon here in Logrono! Maybe we'll even get some snow... though it's doubtful. Everyone stay cool this holiday season... we'll be thinking of you.

November Times

So, November is almost gone and I haven't written much about it lately. We've been busy here in Logrono (as I'm sure you've all been back in the States), and we're even busier planning trips for this year and next year even. We officially have a place to stay in Sevilla (Seville as far as many English translations are concerned) in the southern Andalucia region of Spain during what's known as Semana Santa (Holy Week--the week before and including Easter). !!! It could potentially be the coolest thing we do on this entire trip: and we've got five nights booked in a hostel for Good Friday through the day after Easter. They have amazing processions through the streets, giant marionettes, music, decorations, festivities, parades, food, parties, yadda yadda yah hoo. And that is all going down in March of 2008... Click here to check out more about Holy Week in Sevilla. And click here for more on Sevilla itself.

Before then we have our Italy trip to Milan. We are currently trying to book a reservation to go see Da Vinci's The Last Supper in one of the museums. I had no idea that you needed a reservation to go see a painting in a museum... oh well; hopefully we'll get in. If not, I think we'll find plenty of things to do. I want to do some shopping in some of their famous markets. I need some sweet new European jeans.

Anyways, classes are going well. I should explain some more about them, but I'm going to leave that to another blog in the near future. I will tell you that I am submitting an article to the school magazine this month, and (though it's in Spanish--I need help with the many mistakes that still remain... eek!) maybe you can see it online or something later when the thing is printed and finished in January I think. I wrote a little about m opinions on learning language; I compared the Spanish students' learning English to my own endeavors learning Spanish. I tried to make it as inspiring as I could, though I don't know how it will transfer through the language barrier. Oh well; it is what it is.

I think that my students are getting the general message that I mean well here (although some of my efforts aren't really that successful in class). Classroom management is a science, especially in Spain.

Abby and I are doing well. We've just purchased a poinsettia for our apartment, ate some mushroom soup tonight, and shared a bottle of 'sidra' (hard cider). We're listening to Christmas music on my computer, surfing the internet simultaneously, and chattin about the upcoming work week. Pretty happy and relaxed here.

My mom always laughs when I tell her that we're busy and sometimes a little overwhelmed with things over here... but it's true. We're very occupied worrying about ourselves, our classes, our friends, our own trips, and the trips we're going to share with family and friends. I can tell as I'm writing this that I'm not going to gain any sympathy... Anyway, greetings to everyone from Spain! Happy Holidays to one and all. I hope that you all find time to relax! We're still workin on it here.

New Travel Plans

Hello all. It's been a while, so I thought I'd write an update about what kinds of things we've been up to lately. First of all, we have a long weekend coming up in December (specifically the 6th through the 10th--five days). So, late last week, we booked a flight to go to Milan, Italy <-- Click on the link to check it out. It's one of the largest cities in Italy. It's got great cathedrals, churches, monuments, museums, restaurants, and shopping. It's also home to Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece The Last Supper. We are excited. We're going to stay there from Dec. 7th through the 10th--which means we get to take off one day of school. The students will miss us a lot, I'm sure; and we'll be thinking of them while we're chillin in chilly Italy for the weekend. A friend from our program is coming with us also--Kara from California. She's already expressed dismay at how cold it's been in Logrono these past weeks; but, we try to assure her that it will only get colder in the coming months of winter here in Spain, it will undoubtedly be cold in Italy as well, and both are nothing compared to the cold in Minnesota and North Dakota. I don't know if we comfort her much, but it's entertaining.

We have also been preparing for Abby's family to come visit us for Christmas. Her mom, dad, brother Rob, brother Tony and his wife April are all coming to Spain from December 20th through the 31st. We're going to meet them in Madrid (where they fly into), and we've already got a place booked there for the first three days of the trip. We've rented an apartment with a couple bedrooms, bathrooms, pull-out couches, and a kitchen. It sounds and looks very very nice to me--as it is fully furnished and decorated in Spanish-Madrileno style. We are going to explore our little city our Logrono in the northern wine region of La Rioja after that... and we're going to try to make some day-trips to different cities around the area also. I'm personally excited that we'll have the opportunity to host her family here at our apartment for Christmas.

Yes, the streets of Logrono are already decorated with hanging lights. They haven't been turned on as of yet, but we think that after December 1st the city will be shining. I'm not quite sure how we'll decorate our apartment yet. We found that X-mas lights are very expensive here (probably since very few people actually own 'house' homes to hang them up on). Maybe we'll find some fake snow to dust the whole place with. It's likely to be a snowless Christmas here, since they usually only have snow a couple times a year here, and usually only in January or February. Oh well. At least it's sunny and cold.

We've been experiencing record days for dryness here so far this month. It hasn't really rained much at all since we've been here... an unfortunate trend that has kept up these past several years, I guess. But, rain is in the forecast for next week, so that should keep the meteorologists, farmers, and others alike happy, I hope.

Last night (Saturday) Abby and I went to a concert at the Forum / Congress Palace in town. We saw Bela Fleck (a world reknowned banjo player from New York) and Chick Corea (famous jazz pianist--also from the U.S.) perform. They played duet, and they were outstanding, as was the magnificient new Forum building. There were probably about 300 - 500 people there, I'm not really sure, but among them I suppose that about half or less actually 'got' the jokes that Fleck and Corea told in English (they were pretty cheesy anyways). But boooy could they play. My favorite I think was when Bela Fleck went into a bluegrass tune and Chick Corea dueled him with some twangy piano bits of his own. Very cool.

Let's see. I started a couple private lessons with some students from my schools these last couple weeks. I'm tutoring one boy who is twelve years old and I have another lesson with two nine-year-old boys the same day in another part of town. The twelve-year-old is very interested in trying to speak English, and though he has a very limited vocabulary, he'll try to speak English for the entire hour we have together. The nine-year-olds know less English, and they are happy to speak Spanish the entire time. They are interested enough to listen to me in English and a mix of Spanish, but it's clear that I'll have to have more things planned for them to do during our sessions. I need to get more private lessons set up. They are a great way to earn a little extra spending cash. Abby already has four lessons. If I find just a few more a week I should be in good shape. I've put some notices up at my school, and hopefully I'll get some more calls soon; otherwise I'll just keep lookin. We have to be careful not to pack our schedules too full though... we still want to keep time open to do some other fun things while we're here.

For shame, I haven't been taking a lot of pictures lately. I guess we've been busy doing some of these other things. I will be sure to load some good shots of Logrono getting ready for Christmas sometime soon.

Until later. And have a fantastic Thanksgiving everyone!

My Birthday Weekend

Hi everyone. Yes, I celebrated my birthday last weekend. I turned 24 on Saturday. We went out to a friend's party and had supper and a few drinks. It was a good time, and it was also quite an international party: a few Spaniards, a few Americans, a few Brits, a Scot, a French girl, and our Italian friend. We almost invariably talk about the differences between our cultures and the places we know and have visited. It's always educational, of course.






This is a picture of the cake Abby and her parents got me for my birthday (thank you, by the way, Steve and Linda; it's delicious). It's a chocolate fudge ice-cream cake. We are crazy about the pastries, the desserts, and the candy that they have here. We are glad that we have to do so much walking around our city (and climbing up stairs of our apartment). And Christmas is coming soon! So all of the markets have candy on sale; and they have so much traditional Christmas candy and pastry that we are, of course, obligated to try. How else will you all at home know what it tastes like? And if you come to visit, how else will you know what is good if we don't test it first? Don't worry... we're on it. I've already told the pan lady (this is what we call the baker lady on our street--pan, pronounced 'pohn' or 'pawn', means bread) that we want to try everything in her store. I guess she figures we're good business, because every now and again either she or her husband will throw in a creamy sugary treat for us. Our again, we are forced to oblige.



This is a picture of Abby and I eating lentil bean soup at our living room table. As you can see, since we've got the internet the conversation at mealtime has considerably decreased to leave use more time to write e-mails. We're much happier now to be connected in our own home.



This is a photo of some of the amigos of our group. They are all in the same program as us, and they assist in different schools in Logrono and the surrounding area. Left to right, we are: Stuart (the Brit with the red hair), Tim (the tall New Mexican guy behind him), Abby, me (on a particular night--probably at least six weeks ago--when I decided to bring a can of beer with me out on the streets: no not illegal, there are many bars in our city and Spain where the thing to do is order food and drinks and have them outside), Katarina (we call her Kadda: our blonde German friend; yes, she teaches German, but she also was an exchange student for a while in North Carolina and she speaks flawless English with us), Luisa (our Italian friend with the red glasses; she teaches Italian to students and occasionally to us when we're out and about; her Spanish is also very good since Italian is very similar, and she likes to practice her English with us), nevermind the random Spanish dude in the background, and last on the right is Marcos (from Florida, though of Peruvian decent. Marcos is the self-proclaimed Grandfather of the group because he's the oldest; I recently learned he's working on his Master's program to someday become a professor of English at university). There we are! There are several more of us not in the photo, and also several others who we aren't very close to in our nearby cities.


This is another photo of us out at Halloween.

And this is a photo of a meal Abby and I had sometime around Halloween. As you can see, we decorated our place a little with ornamental gourds. We are eating pasta here, with toast, Rioja wine, and some melon we picked up at the grocery store which was wonderful and very much like honeydew. We like to cook. Tonight we're actually going to attempt homemade pizza! We only have to buy a pizza pan and the makings... so we'll see. It's one of our favorite things to do, so I hope that our homemade pizza here turns out as well as it usually does when we make it back home.
Back to the birthday for a second: Abby gave me tickets to a jazz concert that is coming to town next Saturday! It's a jazz duet: a banjo player named Bela Fleck (who I know and am a big fan of) and a piano player named Chick Corea. The concert will be at the RiojaForum (the big concert hall in town). I am very excited and grateful to have such a cool hip girlfriend like Abby. I'll tell you all about how it goes later.
That's all for now. Everyone stay cool. We're anxiously anticipating Thanksgiving here, as we'll likely be doing many lessons about it in school. Hasta pronto (until soon).

San Sebastian, Halloween, School Stuff, *pant pant... so busy

So I have been very busy doing a variety of things. Some of these things include relaxing, watching television, cooking suppers, going out with friends, and not writing too much.

I just started a famous Spanish children's book today called Manolito Gafotas. Manolito is a little boy (the main character) and gafotas refers to his glasses--it's also his nickname. I just started the book, but already I can tell that the reading is a little above my level of Spanish--which is perfect. I need to look up a lot of words in the dictionary to understand all the sentences. But that's what you have to do when you're learning a foreign language.

I went to a class tonight to learn to play a sport called Paddle. Paddle is like tennis (it's played with tennis balls and it follows many of the same rules and scoring) but the raquets are more like wooden padels with holes built into them to act like the strings (and help with wind resistance and whatnot). There are four walls that are used, and so it is a little bit of a mix of both tennis and racquetball (no ceilings, and you only play doubles). I won't get too specific right now, but practice was very fun. My Spanish friend Juan invited me to play, as the courts are located in his residence area. I learned about the rules and the technique of the sport and practiced drills with the instructor, and then played some games with Juan and a few other people who were there for the lessons. Juan and I did very well. I'm very excited about going back next week.

I posted my pictures from San Sebastian on My Pictures page. Again, you can find the link on the left side of my blog-page. I describe a little bit our adventure there and what the pictures are. I need to describe more though, because it was a crazy weekend. I was sicker than a dog, and the weather was not very helpful for my cold. I'll write more about it soon.

What else: my school wants me to write an article for their bi-annual magazine. I have just started to write it now, and you will all be informed about how it goes. I wrote a brief description of myself for the school webpage also. Here is the link for you to see: http://www.iesbatalladeclavijo.com/departamentos/dein.swf. You should be able to find a scroll bar to the right of my picture so you can move down and see what I wrote. If you look around the website and get lost or simply want to return, you can find my section in "Departamentos" (departments) and then "Ingles" (English) and then "Auxiliar de conversacion" (Assistant conversation specialist, aka super qualified expert, aka The Man) you'll find me.

The Halloween play that my sixth graders put on for their school was very very cute. They were all dressed as zombies, zombie killers, mad sisters, mad servants, and one Queen of the Dead. All the students from the school dressed up also and came to see this Halloween play in English (the teachers help to translate a little bit for them!). They gave away candy and sang a Halloween song. It was actually hilarious: some of the very young children were soooo scared! A few boys started crying, and a few other children wouldn't go in! The teachers and I just laughed! (we're very cruel).

Cute, huh? They're just like sixth graders in the U.S., with some cultural differences of course. They still like to pretend they're zombies and cut each other up and they like professional wrestling and soccer and television and music and cell phones and friends. And they're very loud and obnoxious at times and very quiet and shy other times. Ahh to be young again.

I need to go to sleep. I'll write again soon. It will likely be another busy weekend... even though we're staying in Logrono this time. It's my birthday on Saturday. I'll be 24 years young. Yes, I still consider myself a young man... and hopefully when I get back from Spain I will be a young man with a lot of good experiences under my belt and a lot of knowledge to pull out of those! That didn't come out right... I'm tired... going to bed. Buenas noches amigos!

Some Pics from the New Internet

Here are a few pictures from the last tour we took of a bodega in Logrono. It was called Bodegas Franco-Espanoles. When it began more than 100 years ago it was a mix of France and Spain (the owners anyway...) I'm in a hurry, so look at I explain at the bottom. Bye!

So we are ready to take the bus to San Sebastian for the weekend, and we just received our wireless internet router. We now have wireless internet in our apartment! We are very excited, and Abby and I are both busily typing away with fifteen minutes left before we have to go. We had better get going.

Hallowe´en

Would you believe that this is how they spell Halloween in England?: Hallowe´en (the English they teach to the students here is for the large part all British English... quite different). Who knew? I guess they are just splitting up the word into what it used to be: All Hallow´s Eve. I´ve actually studied a little bit about the origen of Halloween with the help of my profesors so that I can teach our students.

All Hallow´s Eve was once a Pagan festival of the dead celebrated by Celtic tribes in the ancient British Isles. They believed that this was the night when spirits and other supernatural beings came around, looking for trouble. Soooo, their bright idea was to wear scary costumes to ward them off while their druids or other people lit bonfires and performed other such fanfare to do the same. There are a bunch of other legends, but basically after many years the Church officially created All Saints Day out of All Hallow´s Day, recognizing the memory and worship of various saints, along with marking a day of remembrance for deceased family and friends also. Halloween, therefore, came from the Celts, who eventually left their homes and (along with their traditions) came to America. Kind of crazy.

So they don´t celebrate Halloween so much in Spain. Not much at all, actually. I was talking to my students about it, and I agree: it would be much more difficult to celebrate it here in the same way that we do back in the U.S. First of all, they all live in apartments here. Trick-or-treating would consist of ringing someone´s bell from the ground level and talking to them over the intercom, while they (wondering what the heck is going on) are up on the second, third, and fourth levels are asking: what? candy?

My profesors insisted that Halloween was gaining in popularity in Spain... though it´s still nothing at all in comparison to what we do in the U.S. I think that people are just more aware of it now than ever before. It´s celebrated widely in England... though I´m not sure of similarities between us and them.

Anyways... Abby and I are hosting a little Halloween party tomorrow night with our fellow auxiliares (assistant teachers). We´re getting everyone over to have pizza and pop. A real American style get-together. Actually, pizza is very very popular here also, especially amongst the youth. Their pizza is much like our pizza at home (I think we even have a Pizza Hut here in Logroño...).

The principal of my primary school gave me some free tickets to a local basketball game late last week; and so Abby and I went, had some concession food, watched, and had a pretty good time. The team is semi-professional, and not too bad as far as their division goes (I think they´re fifth of like 15 or so). They lost to a pretty good team. It´s fun and different to watch them play zone defense all the time. Logroño´s team has three African American players on it! A couple of them are very good. Abby and I laughed and cheered the whole game (especially when the announcer or the fans would talk about Stevie Johnson--the star from America). Not as good as Kevin Garnett, but we might go and watch them again sometime.

We are planning on going to San Sebastian this coming weekend. We already booked a bus trip (we think about two hours straight north in Basque Country--a different Spanish province located on the northern coast) and a hotel right in the middle of the city. San Sebastian is a big resort town, and it has two gigantic beaches along with a lot of ancient cathedrals and interesting monuments. I visited there the last time I went to Spain in 2004. It was summer when I was there last, and so I think this time will be a very different experience. The weather will likely be about 60 (I hope) and so it´s safe to say that I will not be swimming, nor will I be taking any sun while lying sprawled out and relaxed on the beautiful sandy beaches. Siiiigh, que pena (translation: bummer...).

But nothing to worry about. We´re going to see the sights and report back. San Sebastian, like I said, is in Basque Country, a unique place in Spain where they have their own separate culture. They speak a different language and everything. I hope to learn a little bit more about how they´re different.

Well, if you´ve read this far without the help of pictures, I salute you. Still waitin for the internet at our apartment, so it´s tougher for me to upload pictures whenever I want to. Things will be getter, I promise. Stay cool for me.

Ben

I dunno if this link will work... but try it out. There some great photos of the city of San Sebastian. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Sebasti%C3%A1n

Photo Update

Hey everyone. Just to let you know, I updated the photo section of my blog with a bunch of shots I took when I was in Zaragoza. Here is the site again: http://picasaweb.google.com/b2kohler. You can also see it at the left margin of my page if you scroll down. It's called My Pictures. I hope to put up some more soon of my adventures here in Logrono. Well, I must go. I am going to try to make tortilla espanola (Spanish omelette) for Abby and I tonight. I hope I don't burn down our beautiful kitchen--that I cannot afford. See ya!

Quick Blog Before Class

So I thought I´d describe a little bit my school and my day here for you. My hands are very cold, so I might not be able to type as fast as I would like... the weather has been typical fall I think: which means about 50s and 60s during the day and 30s and 40s during the night. I´m always cold in the morning.

So I´m at my secondary school, Batalla de Clavijo, this morning, sitting in the computer lab typing before class. We have five computers in here that the teaching staff share, so I don´t go on much when there are many people (I don´t like to type emails while they are typing work). Anyways, my first class of the day is with two accelerated ninth graders named Germán and Olmo. They have been taken out of their regular class once a week to come spend the hour with me, reading stories, chatting it up... I really like this, especially to start the day, before they are very good, and because I can basically do whatever I want to do with this hour. I´ve taken advice from their teacher, my boss, in how to proceed with them so as not to go too far ahead in their workbook. We´re reading a little novela right now in English and talking about it and answering questions. They´re good kids, and I like talking to them.

Until now I´m just getting over introducing myself to a bunch of the classes. They will be switching me about just a little bit. I will be with the two ninth graders every week though. Next, I generally am sent to what they call the Bachierato classes (eleventh and twelfth grades). They are 16-18 years old, generally, although they seem much older I think, and they know more English, but most times they are less willing to speak. I am glad that there are teachers with me in the classrooms at times because they threaten them with homework if they don´t listen to me.

I have another regular class at the secondary school called the Escuela de Idiomas (School of Language). This is an accelerated high school level class that follows a different course of language classes for their high school years than the other students. They are the same age and everything, they just have extra classes in language. So I have them for class twice a week! And I am basically just doing my own thing in front of the class the whole time. The profesor helps me pick out lesson plans and I do them with the students. Because this is a specialized curriculum, there are only six students per class (great!). In the other classes of students their age (Bachierato level) they have about thirty per class. So it is much easier to work in a large group, and easier to manage the small groups as well.

I better go get ready now. We have a separate break and ready room for the English department here at Batalla. There are seven teachers in the department counting me. I´ve met them all, and met most of their classes. They are very nice people, and yes, of course, they all have different teaching styles. Some of them like to yell at students, some speak more English, some speak less, some make the students speak, and some think writing is more important. I am more of an observer when I come to their classes for the most part. I am glad I have several classes to kind of do my own thing with... I guess that is how you really learn. Soon I hope that I can simply implement my own lesson plans on them...

Tell me how this sounds: An entire unit devoted to baseball-- America´s pasttime. ? That´d be pretty great I think. I could start right now with the World Series, and work in the beauty of small market teams like the Twins. Ahh yes. Let me know if you have other ideas for things I should put in the brains of these impressionable young Spaniards.

Goodbye for now! More coming later!

Zaragoza - Fiesta del Pilar

Hello all. Sorry I have not written lately. We are in the process of getting a new internet connection at our apartment, and it is coming soon. I've been so busy with classes and other things that I haven't taken the time to write much. I'll let you know what has been up though.

Abby and I went to the nearby city of Zaragoza for their town's big festival known as Fiesta del Pilar (Pilar being the virgin saint of the city). Zaragoza is a little bigger than Logrono, and their festival was a little bigger than Logrono's also. Zaragoza is about two and a half hours away by bus, through rolling hills, vineyards, and pueblos (looks a little like Arizona / Nevada desert land actually). It is the captial of the province of Aragon... and so they have a slightly different Spanish accent there than in La Rioja, also, they have different customs and regional products they are very proud of--much like all of the autonomous communities of Spain.

The big day for fiesta was also the same as a national festival day for Spain (we had school off, and everywhere in the country was closed). It was Spain's equivalent of Columbus Day, though I'm not really sure why they celebrate it when they do. I would love to have time to research a little more about many of these topics, but the truth is that when I have access to the internet I am always writing people and doing other necessary things. So, if you're at all interested, you'll have to log onto Wikipedia.org free online encyclopedia and tell me about it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaragoza%2C_Spain Ooo... there is a nice picture on this website also--check it out.

Anyway, everywhere in Zaragoza was booked on Friday and Saturday for fiesta (celebration wasn't near as huge in Logrono). Abby and I wanted to see Zaragoza though, and so we booked a night in a nice hotel on Sunday night (the last night of fiesta) because our day off of work is actually Monday. So Friday we hung out around the apartment for the most part, watched the festivities in Zaragoza on the television (they had a huge military march and parade) and then we went out to eat at a restaurant in Logrono that was having a sale on their Crianza red wine. The meal was especially delicious now that I think of it.

Sunday we took off for Zaragoza and we were sitting in our hotel room on the tenth floor looking over the city by early afternoon. The rating on the hotel was decent (as was the price), but we found out that it was much underrated. We were quite impressed with everything, except the shower didn't run the best, and the jacuzzi jets in the tub didn't function. Honestly though, it was the best place we stayed in so far... called Zenit Don Yo. I think Zenit is a pretty big hotel chain, since they are located all over Spain... I dunno about Europe.

We picked up a couple maps of the city, dropped our day-bags in the hotel room, and stepped out into the city. One of the main roads right outside our place was empty and blocked off. We walked a mile or so down it past street venders of all kinds. This street was usually very busy with traffic (being about six lanes wide and in the middle of town and all) and we thought that it was probably the street that we had watched the military march on earlier that Friday.

Zaragoza, like Logrono, has an old part of town with the majority of the cathedrals, churches, and large plazas. We made our way to Plaza de Nuestra Senora Pilar and found the center of the fiesta. There were so many people. Imagine a giant European city plaza with a huge cathedral (six great spires spiking the sky behind), large hundred-year-old churches on either side, cafes running up and down the entire length filled with Spanish festival goers enjoying coffees, beers, wine, and snacks of all kinds, a massive bandstand ready and tuning for the evening's musical performances, a great pillar of a flower monument for the Virgin Pilar at least twenty feet high packed with different varieties of flowers coming from the entire city and all the commercial enterprises responding also with their personal flower concoctions, a dancing, chanting, circling group of traditional dancers lighting up the scene with drums and horns and special feathered costumes and outfits--eventually making their way over to the monument for Pilar to conclude their musical tribute, and finally there were two bright-eyed Americans taking in the spectacle, cameras clicking and flashing, legs rambling behind our active brains, spinning from an explosion of sensual excitment. Maybe that will do more justice to the scene than my pictures will.

We hung around the excitment and thought about the evening's schedule of activities over a cafe con leche (coffee with steamed milk) at one of the outdoor cafes. Then we went walking again and scoped out some of the city, the Ebro River (the same river that runs through Logrono!), the back-streets and the front-streets, soaking it all in the best we could. Eventually we went back to the main plaza and went into a restaurant we discovered gave us a three-course meal for only six and a half Euro (app. $9?); a meal that had seafood paella as an option for the first course! We couldn't believe it.

The food is to die for here. We're glad the cities of Spain force you to do so much walking, because otherwise we'd really be gaining weight. Spanish cities are different than many European cities in that they are all scrunched together very closely, everyone living in apartments on top of each other. The city buses run most everywhere, but if you want to go somewhere you'll usually have to walk a good deal. Abby and I walked everywhere in Zaragoza, with the exception of taking the bus to and from the bus station, which was new, and located on the outskirts of the city. For the Sunday night, the last night of the week long festival, and the first night of Abby and my first-year anniversary, we ate a few snacks along the plaza, listened to some Spanish pop-rock at the bandstand, and skipped over a few blocks to the river front where we took what night pictures we could from the various bridges and watched the fireworks that kicked off the end of the fiesta. They were pretty good. We drank a colimocho (red wine mixed with lemon and orange Fanta--pretty dang good and refreshing when you're thirsty, and if you're thinking of making one, do not, do not use good wine, since it will be mixed anyways) and we talked to an a few older Spanish couples from Catalonia (northeast Spain, Barcelona region) who were very friendly. They told us about how good it was to be young, and we liked that very much.

Such a long day under our belts and all, we went back to the hotel after the fireworks were over, ready and prepared to head out exploring again in the early morning. The beds at the hotel were exquisite (especially when compared with the shabby set we have at our apartment in Logrono), so I think we slept very well, even if it was a little less than usual.

We checked out of the hotel and walked a couple miles over to a famous old castle called the Aljaferia. The castle has a profound Muslim influence, and the artwork, ceilings, and walls are testiments to it. It was very beautiful, and I'm glad we went. We saw the outside of the bullfighting ring also... which was huge, and packed with spectators and aficionados alike just the day before. We saw the bullfight on the TV the day earlier while we were sitting having supper in the restaurant. I will likely be attending some bullfights while I am here, since I have never seen one and they are such a big part of contemporary and well as ancient Spanish culture.

We mosied about the city for our last remaining hours, snapping photos, grabbing a bite to eat at McDonalds quick, and jumping on a bus to take us back to the station and the two and a half hour ride back to Logrono, where we both had classes early the next day. We got back in plenty of time though to crash on our sofa, watch some Spanish gameshows, and catch-up on some of our lesson plans for class.

I need to be getting along now. We might go to the theater tonight (Abby and I just got student discount cards the other day from the bank, so we'll get cheaper rates at the movies, the theater, and busrides out of town). The act starts at 10:00, and it is a Belgium mime called Zic-Zac, or something like that.

I took about 500 pictures in Zaragoza... so this is just a small small taste. I don't even know if these are the best of the bunch. I will post a bunch of them on my picture site soon (soon being sometime within the next week or so, hopefully). Thanks for reading everyone! I'd love to hear comments from you, as I hope to writing more regularly when we get set-up with the internet in our apartment soon.

Much regards from Spain! Hasta luego!

VinoBus

Abby and I took a tour this Sunday of several bodegas in La Rioja. We heard about a VinoBus (Wine Bus) at the office of tourism and bought our tickets online, along with our friend Kadda (Katarina) from Germany. We had a café con leche (coffee with steamed milk) at a little restaurant and boarded our bus at 10:30 in the morning. We immediately became acquainted with a Spaniard named Juan who knew Kadda through mutual friends. It’s really funny how people become connected with each other on this side of the world.

So it was the four of us on the VinoBus on the way to our first destination, and the name is a dewsy: Abadía Cisterciense de Santa María de San Salvador de Cañas… in the city of Cañas. Basically the place we visited was a fantastic old church with some vineyards. It used to be a convent… or something? It was a great place. Very pretty. I didn’t listen very well during the tour. I was, though, taking a bunch of pictures, which I will share on the internet very soon.

Abby and I have the internet at our apartment right now. We found a deal at a place called Orange for a USB-router that we’ve successfully connected to both Abby’s Mac and my PC. The problem with the router plan is that it has a monthly-limit for loading information on the internet. We don’t exactly know what this means (if it’s talking about traffic of information, downloads, uploads, everything, nothing?), but we have 3 Gigabytes to use per month, and then we start paying extra. Sooo, we are thinking of changing internet plans again to the first option we looked at (which, subsequently, is looking much better): a telephone landline that would allow us to use a wireless router for WiFi internet (a system that would allow us both to log onto our own computers at the same time without any limitations on loading information). We shall see.

Back to the bodegas. Next we got back in the VinoBus and went to another small country town called Badarán. We visited a bodega owned by a guy named David Moreno, who returned from Barcelona to his hometown to start up his own vineyard. He is doing quite well now. His establish is amazing. They explained the process of the wine to us (I’ve heard it on every wine tour I’ve been on—though it’s still very interesting), showed us the huge tanks where the wine ferments, walked us through the cellars where the wine sits in oak barrels made in America and somewhere else (America though!), and fed us chorizo sausage, bread, and various types of their wines. We tried a Crianza from 2004, I think the year was. They gave us quite a bit, and then just left the bottles out there for us all. It’s a good thing I have control. It was really good, and Juan decided to buy some for his family. He and I sampled some of the wine he ended up getting: Tinto Reserva 2001 (Tinto means red wine; Reserva signifies how long the wine has been aged: in this case, over five years).

I didn’t buy any wine today. I was very content with drinking for free. Abby and I actually bought some box wine the other day from the little fruit shop on our street. It cost us one Euro (about $1.41 or something—gooo exchange rate!) and didn’t taste too bad. Obviously it was nothing like what we drank at the bodegas today; but, there’s always that special feeling you get when you know you get a good deal that kind of overwhelms all the other doubts. Anyways, the guy at the second bodega we visited urged us to look the bottles for the official seal of La Rioja so that we know it isn’t imitation La Rioja wine… (not only did our box-wine have no official La Rioja seal, it was also sealed in a cheap carton and labeled ‘Wine from Spain’… so, while that may be, it is doubtful that it actually came from La Rioja, our topnotch wine producing region of Spain).

The second bodega was back on the outskirts of Logroño. It was called Bodegas Ontañón. They were big on the mythological elements of the wine there. They showed us art about the Greek and Roman gods of wine: Dionysus and Baco. I thought it was interesting that as well as being the gods of drinking and debauchery, they were also the youngest of all the gods (who would have thought?). We listened to their schpeal, saw their art, and then went down to try to wines. They gave us a couple different kinds: the first was a Reserva and the second was a sweet tasting white wine. Very nice. Juan bought some more of their wine too. He said he had a large family.

I was slightly disappointed that the tour didn’t consist of a visit to the actual grape plants. We saw them out of the windows of the VinoBus, and Abby and I could actually see the fat blue-purple grapes below the leaves on the vines. I wanted to check out what the product looked like before it became the wine we know in the bottles. Right now is harvest season. They will be stopping the VinoBus tours very early in November, and we’re not sure that we will go on another; not this year at least. It was a fantastic experience though that led us to meet another really cool Spanish friend. Thank God for wine!

Other notes: You want to try Spanish wine? Go to a liquor store / wine store that you know has a good selection, and then check out their international supply. Stores usually have the Spanish wines grouped together. You should be able to check on the bottle to see if the wine is from La Rioja or not. The marks of the wines I tried today are called 'David Moreno' and 'Ontañón'. They were both excellent. Give anything from La Rioja a try I would say though. It was my favorite wine even before I was selected by my program to go to La Rioja; and the price is usually reasonable too: anywhere from $6 to $20 (and obviously more).

Gotta go. Hasta luego!

English Classes

I started coming to my English classes this week, and so far I am just introducing myself and telling them a little about my home. The most interesting part of my introductions has been the question and answer sessions I have with the students. Everyone asks me if I have a girlfriend; some even were very interested to hear if I had a Spanish girlfriend. A couple classes asked me what I thought about Bush. They all wanted to know what I thought about Spain. They were very pleased to hear that I like their wine. I talked to them about tennis and basketball and life in the United States and the Midwest.

I will be teaching at two different schools this year. One is called I.E.S. (Instituto de Educación Secondaria... Institute of Secondary Education) Batalla de Clavijo. The secondary institutes in Spain are like the middle schools and high schools of the U.S. There are students from the ages of 12 to 18, and they have a variety of different levels of English. I was very surprised to learn that there are many students here from other countries as well; for example, in one of my classes there were several students from Ecuador (Central America). I met some other students who were from Argentina and Pakistan. Like in the U.S., there are some students who are interested in learning about English and about the U.S. and there are others who don´t really care too much to apply themselves. It is very much like language classes that I took when I was their age.

I really like the professors I will be teaching with at the secondary school. There are about six professors in the English language department of the school. Lola, my friend who helped me to find an apartment, is the head of the department. They all speak English (of course) and I have been speaking a mix of Spanish and English with them. They are all incredibly nice and good people, and they have a variety of different teaching styles (of which I will have to get used to in order to assist with their classes).

I have introduced myself to twelve different classes in the past two days here at the secondary school. I have seen all the levels of English, and clearly there are some who are much more advanced than others; but, it´s okay. The English department is going to try to fix a schedule of classes for me to go by this semester. It may be that I will be attending some classes every week and others only once every two weeks or once every month, depending on their capacity to benefit from my presence there. We will have to see what happens.

My program requires that I work a grand total of only twelve hours a week at my Spanish schools, and since I have two, they will have to split the time. The secondary school is going to take eight of the hours, which leaves four hours a week for me to go to the primary school.

My second school is called C.P. (Colegio Primario... Primary School) Juan Yague (pronounced Hwwan Yah-Way)... they are teaching me... The primary schools here in Spain are for students of ages six through twelve. There are also schools in Spain for children of ages three through six to attend; they are called Infantiles (Infant ... schools?... something). Anyway, I have only briefly been to my primary school, and I introduced myself to a class of third graders who I will not be teaching this semester. I have been told by the head of the English department there that I will be assistant teaching in two classes from 9 in the morning until 11 on Thursday and two more classes from 9 until 11 on Friday. I will have one fourth grade class, one fifth grade class, and two sixth grade classes. I am excited to meet my new students, especially since I know I will be with them for the next four, maybe eight, months (I do not know if my classes will switch after the first semester).

Abby is also attending two schools, a secondary school and a primary school, and she has already met her classes at her primary school (she´s been visiting her secondary school today, and I haven´t spoken to her yet). She told me that at her primary school the third through sixth graders sing songs in English and perform many different oral exercises and activities. I was very much impressed that she could already remember their daily sing-alongs (I think they were stuck in her head, because before the end of the evening they were also stuck in mine...). I cannot wait.

In some respects the classroom environment here is very different from in the U.S.; for example, the students here do not call their teachers ´Sir´or ´Mister´or ´M´am´or ´Miss/Missus´, nor in many cases do they call them teacher or professor; here, an educator is simply called by their first name. The relationship is more casual, and because of this, maybe, the entire class seems to be more casual. I will have to see how the year progresses. Obviously they have their homework here, their quizzes, their exams, and with their final exams this year is a new oral requirement for language students; that is to say that for the students who are in programs of foreign or secondary languages (I think they would have to be eleventh or twelfth graders) there are new ´speaking´portions of their final exams. Imagine their terror and their extreme gratitude and relief to learn of these new requirements and then to learn that I, ambassador of the English language, have come to help them. Oh yes!

Sometimes I feel very important here, and indeed, I think I am, and other times I feel and look more like a student than one of the staff! Other teachers have already declared that they thought I was a student, and that I will be youngest among them in the teachers´ lounge. At least I have been used to this already from my last job as tutor at the Community and Tech College in Moorhead. There I needed to wear a nametag at all times so that students, teachers, and staff alike could tell that I was indeed there to work.

Here I am just Benjamin. Or Benjamín. Or Ben... I think students here have heard a variety of things from me. As long as they know who I am it´s okay; and that I´m from the United States; North Dakota... or Minnesota... or wherever.

A Week and a Half Feels Like a Month

It's Saturday today, and we've been in Spain since the previous weeks' Tuesday. We have done so much, we have been so busy that I cannot believe we haven't been here longer. Orientation was helpful in that it put us in contact with other people from the program. I met new friends from England, Italy, Germany, Ireland, California, New Mexico, Boston, and, of course, Spain.

There are about twelve assistants in the program teaching in Logrono. One Italian girl, one German girl, Abby and myself, and about eight other young people from the U.S., needless to say, I think we will be able to help each other out if we have any problems.

I don't have my photos uploaded yet that I took from orientation and from Madrid, but I did update my photos site with shots of our new apartment. We are actually meeting with the mother of the owner today (because the owner lives in England) to sign the contract for the next nine months. Yikes! She is also going to help us to buy everything that the apartment is lacking: iron, some pots pans dishes, bedding, pillows, and other small necessities. We will have to make a down payment, of course, for the first month as well as pay for the week we've already stayed there (they gave us a good deal). We're still looking into getting internet in the apartment. We figure we'll use it enough to make it worth the $30 - 40 a month. Other than that our utilities bills are limited to gas and electricity, which we're hoping will run about $50 - 100 at the most. We'll see how cold the Logrono winters are.

Again, our piso (apt) has two bedrooms, a large corner couch in the living room, a decent sized television with a DVD player, windows and balconies on both the street side and the inside patio side, a storage closet, large bedroom closets, a nice kitchen, a nice bathroom, hardwood floors, cool overhead lights, etc.

Look at the pictures on my Photos Link: http://http://picasaweb.google.com/b2kohler. This link is always on the bottom of my information list on the left of the webpage.

I need to go now. I start my classes on Monday. I've been told the first week is just another orientation and introduction. I'll let you know soon. Hasta pronto! (Until soon!)

Thanks to everyone who has written me! It's very reassuring to know you're out there!

Orientation

I am currently sitting in Madrid at a locutoria (internet lounge). I am here for orientation for my program. I don´t have much time to write now, I only have a few cents´ time remaining (you have to pay according to how much time you use the internet). It´s not that I´m running out of money, it´s just that I don´t have much in my pocket right now. Anyways, we only registered tonight and had supper. I took pictures which I will post soon, as well as pictures of the city, which is very large and beautiful. There are parks here the size of small towns and tall buildings hundreds of years old. It is a very surreal place, and very busy. As is our hotel. It is swarming with people from Ireland, England, United States, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, etc etc. I am rooming with a couple guys from Northern Ireland. We are meeting a lot of really cool people, and hopefully they will be connections for us during our time here in Spain.

I must go now, but I will complete this blog later. Bye for now.

Okay. I am trying to put a video on my blog for you to see. This is a couple minutes of a ¨vaquilla¨. A vaquilla is not a bull fight. A vaquilla is basically a smaller tamer version of the running with the bulls and the bull fights. The bulls you see are smaller, and you can also notice that their horns have been altered so that they cannot gore anyone. The participants are young males (whoever wants to participate, I guess) and they actually try to put rings around the horns of the bull. Basically though, they are just running around with the bulls. The bulls aren´t harmed at all during this video, so don´t worry, it´s not like a regular bull fight.

The vaquilla took place earlier this year in my town (Logroño) during the city´s big festival (Fiesta de San Mateo).

Hopefully, the video will work, I haven´t tried this before... you might have to click on it to start it.

Apartment Hunting

Sorry I haven´t written in the few days that I have been here. It´s been very crazy trying to find an apartment during the biggest fiesta of the year here in Logroño. It´s called La Fiesta de San Mateo (Saint Matthew), who happens to be the Patron Saint of the city. La Fiesta goes from about the 18th of September through the 23rd, so, needless to say, it has been nonstop crowds, music, events, and an effort through it all to find a place to stay for the next nine months. Unfortunately, the government program has not been much help at all for us. We are virtually on our own to find our way, language barrier or not. We are getting better though, if you´re wondering.

Thank heavens the people of Spain are so very nice and helpful. They will actually go out of their ways to help you find something. I´ve already come into contact with people who have helped us with directions, telephones, buses, apartments, language, etc. Before I left I was in contact with a teacher from one of the schools I will assistant teach at. Her name is Lola, and she helped us find an apartment (a piso, as they call it) with two bedrooms, a spatious living room, and a good-sized kitchen to boot. We accepted an invitation to stay there until the end of September to see if we like it. The first night we discovered that almost the entire street we would live on is filled with discotecas (dance clubs / bars). So, while the Spanierds partied late into the night during the climax of their national fiesta, we slept anxiously on the fourth floor above, terrified that this noise could be enough to drive us away. Abby and I are as of yet still undecided, though we are looking for options that will allow us to remain or to move into another more comfortable setting.

We´ve met several friends already in our program, and our three-day orientation in Madrid is coming up next week. I have no idea what we will do there. They are putting us up in a nice hotel in the middle of town, and we´re getting together with many of assistant teachers from the same program from all over the U.S. and Europe. I assume that they will divide us into groups depending on what provinces and cities we teach in. This would be beneficial to make contacts and form support groups. I also assume, since one of my two schools has yet to contact me, that they will be telling us where in the schools we have to go.

We have witnessed many things at the Fiesta, including amazing fireworks, customary food of all kinds, mucho vino (wine), a mini-running-of-the-bulls (not quite the same as Pamplona, but, having never seen it before, I was impressed), parades, music, Spain, Spain, Spain... It´s everything Spain times two. Or three. There are so many people in our city that it will not look the same after they are all gone. We are hoping beyond hoping that after they do leave it quiets down a little around our apartment.

Until we decide where we are staying, there will be no internet connection at our apartment. I am currently using the internet at a local call center for one Euro an hour. If only everything in Spain was that cheap. Pero bueno, we are surviving.

Weather is good. Cloudy at times; it rained lightly today; temperatures from about 70 to 85 F during the days and 50 to 60 at night. It is fall here. We will be on the same schedule as the United States with the seasons. I´ve heard that it snows about a handful of times here during winter, much to the delight of citizens and photographers. There are beautiful old buildings here. Cathedrals, churches, and the like. The old part of town is called Casco Antiguo, which basically means ´old part of town´. I didn´t mention that our apartment is situated right smack dab in the middle of this area. Cathedrals out our back balconies, churches out our front door, and a centuries-old building that has been nearly completely refurbished. Aye yi yi. What will we do?...

I will add photos to my photo site very soon, and maybe some videos too. Until the next time, hasta luego (until later).

Leaving Tomorrow

I'm staying in a motel tonight in Bloomington, MN, and we're heading out for a full day's worth of traveling tomorrow. I fly out of Minneapolis at 12:00 PM and arrive in Atlanta at about 3:45. I'll leave Atlanta at 6:00 and arrive in Madrid, Spain, about nine hours later at 9:00 AM Spain time. From there we will catch a 3:00 PM northbound bus from Madrid to Logrono, which should take another three hours or so. We'll be staying the first couple nights at a hostel in Logrono called La Pension Rey Pastor. It's going to be a full two days worth of traveling, so I'm going to need my sleep; and I'm definitely going to need my sleep on the plane.

I have packed everything I will need for the next eight months in a 26" suitcase, a big blue duffel bag, and two black backpacks. I put my hanging clothes, sweaters, tennis racquet, and other supplies in my suitcase. I also packed a teamaker and tea-jar, a brand new frisbee, and an unlocked international cellphone. My duffel bag is carrying the rest of my clothes and shoes along with extra toiletries and other niceties. I also have several electrical adapters, an electrical converter, and a satellite alarm clock. I put some space-saver bags that my grandparents gave me to good use with my clothing. They're like giant ziploc bags that pressure lock my clothing together for easy storage and removal. My bags look so organized with them too. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa B! I hope to use them again on my way back.

My two black backpacks will be my carry-ons. They contain my lap-top, my camera, some books, a deck of cards, and an inflatable neck pillow for the flight. I also have copies and original of all my pertinent information about the reservations and the application I still need to fill out for a Spanish identification card.

So, I better get to bed. Big day tomorrow. I am planning on making a post my first night in Spain to say how the flight went. Wish us luck!

One Week Away

Una semana. That's Spanish for 'a week'. And that's all the time I have left to prepare myself for the longest trip from home I will have taken. Today is Sunday, and I am relaxing from a busy weekend. I picked up my Student Visa at the Spanish Consulate in Chicago on Friday. Abby and I and our friends Kristin and Sarah (who are also with the program and coming to Spain with us, though they will be in Madrid) spent the entire day riding the L over and under the crowded streets of Chicago, chatting about our impending journeys to Spain, eating the local cuisine (too much local cuisine), comforting each other, and making each other nervous at the same time. We have a lot to do.

My mom hosted a going away party for Abby and I at our home in Fargo yesterday. We drove in from Minneapolis and met with friends and relatives for the better part of the afternoon and evening. Thanks very much to everyone who came; it was great to see you all, and the well wishes were very much appreciated. I also want to say a special thanks to my mom, who put everything together, as usual. She's a very good hostess; I should probably convince her to have more parties.

And so I sit with my computer in my lap on this Sunday afternoon, watching television (the US Open Tennis Final, Federer vs. Djokovic), feeling tired, and happy, and relaxed. I'm going to start to pack my bags tonight. Abby's brother supplied me with the great idea to write and photograph a list of everything I'm bringing with me. Maybe it will be interesting for you all to read what exactly someone packs when they know they will be gone for nearly a year. I still need to pick up a few more things, so I'll probably make my way to Target sometime this evening.

I've scheduled myself to work Monday through Wednesday of this week. This means that I will have to make good use of my time. I need to figure out exactly how I will pack my bags (two suitcases, two carry-ons) and plan out the first couple weeks after our departure. Abby and I are working hard to coordiante our efforts, and I think that we make a good team. I think we both know that we'll be tested many times on this adventure, but we're both confident, exuberant, and resilient. We have big plans and bigger dreams. And we can't wait to get started.

Thanks for reading! I hope to have some informative stuff for you soon. I guess I'm just releasing a little bit of my emotions at this point. There will be much more of that to come, I imagine. So I'll get back to writing again soon! Bye for now.

Ben

Countdown to September 17

We have officially bought our tickets to Spain. We are leaving at noon on the 17th of September. We'll go to Atlanta, and then on to a nine hour flight to Madrid. Sounds like fun to me. I'm thinking of taking sleeping pills.

I am trying to take care of everything I need, from computer stuff, to clothing, to phones, to ids, and lots of other things. We're thinking of bringing tennis racquets and definitely bringing a frisbee. We're making sure that we're web camera equipped so we can have video conversations (for free) over the internet with family and friends. And every now and then I remember that when I get over there I am actually gonna have to work. Teaching kids English! I should probably brush up on it myself, actually.

Okay. Less than a month to go. Goodbye goodbye!

Entry Número Uno

Welcome to my Blog. I have been accepted for a grant to go to Spain to help teach English conversation to students. The Spanish Embassy assigned me to two different schools in Logroño. Logroño is located in the autonomous community of La Rioja, which is a small province in northern Spain. I will be about 30 minutes southwest of Pamplona, 3 hours north of Madrid, 3 hours west of Barcelona, and a couple hours southwest of France.

La Rioja is a major wine region, not only of Spain, but all of Europe. Look for its wine in stores, it's one of my favorites; it's a Spanish wine labeled La Rioja. The region has a temperate climate, mountains, valleys, and rivers. Logroño has snow in the winter! But temperatures only range on average from lows of about 30 F and highs of about 80 F. Somehow we'll survive.

I say 'we'll' because I am going to Logroño with my girlfriend Abby! Abby Larson, from Grafton, North Dakota, and I will look for a one bedroom apartment together. We look forward to speaking Spanish language, teaching Spanish children, cooking Spanish food, and dancing Spanish dances. ¡Bailamos!

We leave the country on around the 15th of September. Our term of employment will last the entire school year; which means October to June. Our grand plans are to travel around Spain as well as Europe. And we will definitely have to see about our funds! I hope to dedicate time to my Blog as well as to keeping in contact with my friends and relations in the Good Old USA. You know there's only one USA, right? But come visit us... seriously.

I am still in the process of obtaining my student visa. I will be ordering plane tickets soon, and preparing for the biggest trip of my life. I've written enough for a first blog entry. I hope you're not sick of me already. I will try to keep my writing fresh, educational, and entertaining. It's a tall order, but I feel responsible to do this. Please keep in touch. Please write me. You can post on my Blog, e-mail, and maybe even call me on my new international cell phone soon. And I will do my best to return the favor.

Saludos de Fargo