Pictures from the last few months

Our metro stop, "Tribunal"

One of them on fire

This is one of the Las Fias. They make these little scenes that depict something from politics to everyday life. Then they stick them in all the squares of the city for one week. At the end of the week they light them all on fire. The word "crazy" comes to mind.

This is me with one of my students, Maria. She was our tour guide in Valencia.

Jamon, its a sight to behold

More pictures with friends

Kristyn and I touring Valencia

Kristyn and I touring Las Fias before they light them all on fire later in the night. Some of the statues take one year to build.

These are our friends in valencia. Here, we are sharing a meal and going to watch Las Fias later in the night.

This is the Roman wall in Avila, just outside of Madrid. Kristyn and I walked around it for the day. It was pretty amazing.

Another little video from our travels

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuJw81_En1E

Pictures of Granada

Kristyn taking pictures in the Palace of King Charle V

Taking in the sights while on top of Alcazaba (Fort)

Me in the Alambra's "Courtyard of the Lions"

This is the statue depicting Columbus and Queen Isabel talking over Columbus's Voyage to the "new world"

The Hostal where we stayed

Granada and back

Kristyn and I went to Granada this weekend. It’s in Southern Spain and was the last great strong hold of the Muslim world during their 200 year war with the Christians, we are talking early 1400’s at this point. As the Moors were driven out it is rumored that the Moorish King looked back and wept. His mother said something to the effect, “you cry like a girl for what you could not protect like a man” …Ouch!!! Talking about calling you out. Needless to say I was intrigued with what we would find in a place with such rich history and such candid people.

What we found in Granada were many amazing views of the mountains, great plazas with all kinds of people, and spectacular buildings that took your breath away with their creativity and attention to detail. I can now understand why the king wept and why his mother was so upset that they lost such an amazing little valley!

As Kristyn and I were riding home on the bus (5.5 hours each way) we were talking about what we liked the most, we both agreed that our favorite thing was the “pub crawl” that we did on the last night. In this neck of the woods with every drink you purchase you get a free “tapa” what is equivalent to a starter in the states. It was great, we walked around from bar to bar grabbing a little “Cana” (small beer) and eating all the tapa’s brought out to us. It was so much fun listening to people sing, others tell stories and everyone having a great time. It was really a time to remember.

Some of the other things we took-in included: getting tea at a Moroccan tea house, spending 6 hours at the Alhambra, and watching the sun set from the spectacular view of St. Nicholas church.

Why are skinny jeans really called skinny???

Shopping in Spain

Let me first start off by saying 1. I have no fashion sense (and I own it). 2. The idea that some Jeans are called skinny kind of weird’s me out. And 3. Because I only have 3 pairs of pants and 3 T-shirts here in Spain I have already disqualified myself from writing this blog, but I will continue any way.

Kristyn has very delicately communicated to me over the last few months that it may be time to update my wardrobe, but I didn’t know how bad it was until I realized that she was hesitating to walk beside me when we left the house. To her credit I was wearing “what I thought was a very creative ensemble” of random mismatched clothes. But as I look back, it might have been over the top.

Because of these ever increasing “creative expressions” we decided to go out and try to update/replace some of my clothes. I quickly learned that my typical way of shopping would not be useful. For me, I consider it a successful shopping trip if I can spend less then 15 minutes in any one store, this includes waiting in line and paying for the garment.

So, after I made the switch in my mind I proceeded to let Kristyn help me pick out some jeans. We both decided that this was the most pressing need. As we began to look around and grab different jeans to try on I soon headed off to the changing room to see what treasures we had found. As I tried on the first pair I realized that this was going to be harder then it looked. For one, Europeans love very tight clothes and finding a pair of jeans that were not labeled skinny proved to be challenging.

I should say that it was around this time that I began to realize what “skinny jeans” actually were and why they were called skinny! I will spare you the details and simply say that it wasn’t a fun experience trying to get in and out of these torture devices.

The hardest part was then finding a pair of jeans that would pass both of our criteria. For Kristyn they needed to look like they were European jeans purchased in Spain. For me they needed to fit! After what seemed like an eternity (45 min.) we finally left the store with jeans in hand. Though we did end up paying an extra 10 euros because of a labeling mistake. All in all it was a very educational experience and one that will remain ingrained on my mind for years to come.

Kristyn's Birthday

This last week was Kristyn's birthday so we decided to celebrate. The day started with Kristyn's world famous French Toast. Really, it is that good!

After that we went on a gondola ride over the city of Madrid and landed at Casa de Campo. While there we went for a hike and then sat down under some trees for a picnic lunch.

After lunch we ran to a art museum just down the street from our apartment and took in art from the "Romantic Era" After this we headed to a new coffee shop that we have been wanting to try for sometime, while there we both enjoyed a coffee con leche (coffee with milk) and spent some time taking in the atmosphere.

We finished the night be stopping at a pizzaria down the street from our apt. and getting a barbacoa pizza and renting a movie. All in all and it was a very good day.

Kristyn's Birthday pictures

A video of us on you tube

click on this link to see the fireworks show at the end of the three kings parade January 5, 2010 in Madrid, Spain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OefJsb1Q5eE

Thoughts on January/The New Year

Every year when January arrives there are inevitably a few more things that somehow seem to sneak into the picture, no matter how hard I try and keep them away. Like the rude awakening of that first day back to work, somehow you are never quite ready after the break to start back up and begin a new year. There seems to be something daunting about it, knowing that you have 365 more days to get through before the next 2 weeks of bliss.

For us, this feeling wasn’t quite so bad as it could have been as teaching is going well and we are only working part time. But there always seems to be something else that we would rather be doing with out time, and work, always seems to be keeping us from these things.

Another thing that always seems to catch me off guard is the cold weather. Coming to Madrid I thought things like dessert climate, sun 200 days of the year, etc. But for some reason this January in Madrid has been a rough one, even by the locals standards. We haven’t gotten as much snow as I have been use to in the past, but the cold rain is almost just as bad, if not worse. Today is the first day in a long time that the sun has finally taken back control of the sky in what seems to be a constant battle between the clouds and sunshine. We can only hope that today marks a turning point in this little war that is being waged in the heavens.

The last area that always seems to sink into my subconscious, even when I purposefully try and keep it out, are plans of the future. For me (a planner) it is so hard to keep out the thoughts of what comes next or what we should be doing to get ourselves ready for the next transition. Instead, I would love to just sit back and enjoy where I am right now, instead of planning or strategizing for things to come. To be able to live in the moment, to breath and enjoy what you have around you. It can be very hard to do, but I guess it is something to strive for. A New Years resolution of sorts, but then again that is another thing (just like the cold) that I don’t really like about January.

Different trips we are trying to get ready for:

1. Avila

2. El Escorial

3. Valencia (that is for your Jonny)

** If any of you have any thoughts on things to see in these places, where to stay, or what order we should try and do these trips free to let us know.

Christmas in Southern Spain

Here are some of the gardens off of the Alcazar in Seville. Orange trees everywhere!

This is me in the Alcazar of Seville. The detail was amazing!

The sunset in Marbella

Kristyn and I enjoying the sunrise on the beach!

This is us together in Ronda enjoying the stunning views!

The Bollig family picture in Retiro Park

The Ronda cliffs