Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Salamanca and Avila

We've been horribly hectic in August- running training, respective hen's/buck's nights, putting things in boxes and roping our kind friends into helping us with the move, paperwork, sending things to Australia and planning the Camino de Santiago... Even though we're on holidays (well, technically unemployed) we haven't had much time to enjoy the freedom.

So we decided to go to Salamanca for a few days. I originally wanted to swing by Leon as well for the free tapas, but we finally decided to go to Avila, an hour and a half by bus from Salamanca. (Photo: view from our hostel room in Salamanca)

People have been telling me since I arrived two years ago that Salamanca was a must-visit place, and I always thought it would be nice to go, but was never too fussed about it until Beza casually mentioned that it's famous for roast piglet.

We bought train tickets on Monday and on the Thursday headed off into piglet country. Aside from the food, Salamanca really is a very attractive city. It has a huge plaza, the oldest university in Spain, which we visited, and a great cathedral amongst other things.

We arrived pretty late in the afternoon, so skipped the sightseeing and headed straight for the 'free' tapas. Basically for between 1.80 and 2.20, you get a beer and a tapa, pretty expensive for the beer alone, but a great price if it includes food. Some of the places give you huge servings- with three beers and tapas, it's hard to fit more in. By Sunday, I was pretty sick of beer; I don't want to know how many litres I'd drunk in three days. (Photo: free massive tortilla rellena)

I suppose we could've ordered proper food, but the prices seemed ridiculously inflated for the raciones, which may have been to compensate for the fact that they give out free food with every beer.

On Friday we woke early and did the touristy things- climb up the tower of the cathedral, look for the frog on the facade of the university building (supposed to be lucky if you find it), cross the Roman bridge and cross back again. For lunch, I'd looked up the best places in Salamanca to have cochinillo (roast piglet) and we rang one up and booked a table. (Photo: gargoyle in the university courtyard)

The piglet was delicious. I almost felt sorry for it, that such a small, pink little animal was ending up all crispy and succulent on my plate. Apparently in Segovia, they chop up the roasted piglet with a plate to show you how tender the flesh is. In some restaurants, they let you decide which part of the piglet you want to eat. I'm glad ours didn't offer us a choice because I would've had trouble deciding.

On Saturday, we headed to Avila, famous for many things. One is its 2.5 km wall that surrounds the village. Another is its saints- Santa Teresa de Jesus, San Juan de la Cruz amongst others. There is also an unproportionate number of churches, basilicas, cathedrals, convents and hermitages for the population of the place. (Photo: wall of Avila)

Here, they also offer the same beer and tapa deal as in Salamanca, but quite a bit cheaper if you head outside of the city walls. The cheapest was 1.40 euros, and we ordered 'patatas inglesas' (English potatoes) which turned out to be chips from a packet.

Avila is also famous for a sweet, yemas de Santa Teresa, which is basically egg yolk mixed with sugar water and rolled in corn starch. There's also a chuleton de Avlia (huge steak, not sure why they claim it's from the region, maybe they produce many cows) which I decided I wanted to try. We shared a 500 gram steak between us and the next morning I could still feel it digesting. I like meat but in small quantities or far between and with the piglet and the cow, I feel like I could leave meatlessly well for the next month or so. (Photos: free tapas of prawns and mussels; chuleton de Avila)

Sunday morning, we visited the convent of Santa Teresa and peered at a lovely relic of her finger, nail still intact and ring attached. We decided to forgo the cathedral because you had to pay 4 euros to enter, and not to climb the walls because the temperature was creeping up to 35 degrees. Had to catch a midday bus to Madrid to catch a connection to Logrono but despite the 6 hours on the buses, I enjoyed our weekend immensely. It's really helped me to disconnect from our half-empty but amazingly messy flat.

Today we had running training and I'm not sure if it was due to all the beer and food we ate, or the 36 degree heat but I really struggled to keep pace.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

5 days, 2 people, 20 euros (Part 2)

Mum and dad, just to reassure you that I haven't starved these last five days, here's a list of some things we ate. (Photo: Our most expensive meal- 8 ham and asparagus rolls, 2,10 euros)

Breakfast: peach and banana smoothie, small coffee
Lunch: pasta with eggplant sauce, tortilla, homemade wontons, mushroom omelette
Dinner: creamy spinach on toast with anchovies, vegetable stirfry, tuna salad
Snacks: melba toast, biscuits (79 cents for a pack of 124 biscuits, this saved us), homemade potato chips

OK, I was hungry sometimes. Very hungry. Sometimes I would keep looking at my watch and count down the minutes until the next meal. But mostly it was bearable. And I'm a person who eats a lot.

I've had to do without my dairy-alternative products (except soy milk) because they're so much more expensive. I don't know how gluten-intolerant people would get by. Or diabetics.

The most cost-efficient meals were the vegetable stirfries (1.12 euros for 1 kg of frozen veggies, 3 servings) although you get hungry very quickly after, and the tortilla (1 euro for a 6 egg tortilla) which is big enough that you have leftovers for later.

The can of anchovies was probably the least cost-efficient- 60 cents for 9 tiny anchovies that are more a garnish than anything else. If we were to repeat this, I'd add more potato dishes or pulses (Beza flatly refused to eat pulses this time round), and somehow make the salads more filling.

5 days, 2 people, 20 euros (Part 1)

A few of my friends signed up to do the Live Below The Line challenge and after hearing about their experiences, plus about a couple who lived a month on $1 a day in the USA, Beza and I decided to try for 5 days. Each person has a food budget of $2 (2 euros in our case) for the day. This has to include everything you put in your mouth- drinks, ingredients, oil, spices, salt, chewing gum.

Admittedly, we cheated a bit because if you take the exchange rate into account, the $2 AUD a day allowance should only be 1.35 euros. We did this because a) we wanted to see how it would be to live on so little a day and b) now that I'm not working, my bank account is going steadily towards zero.

I've learnt a few things:

If you planned in too little food for the day, you'll get hungry and hunger makes people cranky. Also, no matter how big a salad is, it gets digested within an hour.

We spend a lot of money out just on beers, the odd pincho and snacks without thinking. Spanish culture is so dependent on bars and meeting up with people in cafes and bars- on the 2 minute walk between the gym and our flat there are at least five different bars. Our social life was non-existent that week because you can't afford to spend the day's allowance on one beer.

We didn't budget beer into our food planning and this was a BIG mistake. (OK, this may sound flippant but there were times when I would have gladly exchanged something on the menu for a small can of cheap supermarket beer, 23 cents)

Still, I'm thinking about making this a permanent part of my meal planning. It really makes you think- we have so much but give it so little thought. We consume so unconsciously. One pincho and small wine or beer in Calle Laurel costs 2 euros- there goes your food budget for the day.

Hen's night

My friends took me out for my hen's night party on Saturday. It was awesome fun and probably the last time I'll be able to go out with them (minus boyfriends etc.) before heading back to Australia.

I'd told them no costumes or disguises or anything, so I was expecting just a dinner and then hitting the bars afterwards. However, they turned up wearing Spain t-shirts and short shorts and dressed me up in a t-shirt as well. I thought, OK, this isn't too bad. Then the stuff kept coming. First... a red garter. A referee whistle. A beach ball with Spanish images (ie. bulls and flags) plastered all over it. A pink massaging octopus named Paul. A money can with the Spanish flag. And last of all, a hideous Chinese headpiece with garish flowers and red tassles (totally random).

Apparently what I had to do was go around asking people for money for our 'national football team' and if they gave me some, I had to give them a massage with the pink octopus.

We had dinner in a fabulous place, where I ordered quail drumsticks covered in mushroom sauce (so cute! They have such tiny little legs!) and I had some baby squid that the other girls couldn't finish. NB. It's always good to dine out with girls because they leave stuff on their plates. With guys there usually aren't leftovers. Then we went to the bars. In one place we met a group of guys who were also celebrating a buck's night and we talked to them a while.

A few of the girls left just after 5 am, but the rest of us ended the night at 6 am, and arranged to meet up for a quick drink the next day. I brought along my money can and we opened it and counted the money inside. 17.35 euros! Just from randomly shaking the can in people's faces and telling them we were collecting for the Spanish football team.

Unfortunately I don't have any photos and my friend who took photos is away on holidays. But when she comes back I'll post a couple up.

Monday, July 19, 2010

A rant about weddings

It's time to rant about something that's been pissing me off for quite a while. I read this article in the SMH, about how feminism has taken a step back when it comes to modern weddings. As someone who's getting married in the next eight or nine months (no specific date yet), it's a topic that's quite relevant and one that's been on my mind for some time.

The article is written by a woman whose daughter is getting married and wants everything perfectly traditional, from the virginal white dress to being given away by the father. The author herself can't understand it- if women have spent decades fighting for equality, why throw it all away on this day?

While I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a step backwards in feminism, I will say I consider most of it unnecessary packaging. And it's all very clever marketing by the bridal industry.

Tossing out phrases like 'your dream wedding come true' and 'a perfect wedding for a perfect bride', they lure you into thinking that a $300 dress will make you look like a hag while a $3000 dress will make you into a princess. And oh no, what if you don't hire a photographer that charges through the nose to capture that perfect photo of the perfect couple at that perfect moment so you have proof that it ever happened? And why do you even want to look like a princess anyway?

If you tell a restaurant/caterer that you're planning a wedding reception, expect to pay extra per guest for mentioning the 'W' word. Apparently anything that comes with that word attached has the right to have the price jacked up.

Even churches are cashing in on this desire to have a traditional wedding. After making enquiries, I was shocked to discover you pay upwards of a thousand bucks for the privilege of getting married 'in God's house' with an organ, minister and bell ringer at your service (double the price on Sundays, but that's understandable). Yes, I understand the church has to pay liability insurance, you need to pay people for their time, you need to help pay for the upkeep of the church etc. etc. but a thousand dollars? And that's just the cheapest.

But of course, there's no money to be made in telling people not to buy the most expensive dress available. Or that they don't need a 2-hour photo shoot plus photos of all the preparations, the reception, a video, an album...

I'm not going to comment on what happens in the ceremony because I genuinely believe that's personal choice. If you want to be given away by your father, that's great. If you want to have eight bridesmaids and eight groomsmen, good luck finding dresses and suits everyone's happy with.

Here's my view of weddings: If you're a religious person, regardless of religion, your wedding is a formal/legally recognised declaration and celebration of your union and commitment before your God, family and friends. You're also stating to everyone that your God is a vital part of your life and will continue to be a vital part of your marriage. If you're not a religious person, omit the parts about God.

It is not imperative to get married in a church, to have flower girls and photographers, to have a white cake covered in sugary flowers, to go hysterical because you couldn't get the perfect shade of ribbon to match your groom's tie. And it's not imperative to spend $50,000 on your 'dream day'.

Far be it for me to say I don't like weddings. They're aesthetically pleasing and I appreciate the effort and planning that go into them. They're also usually quite fun- you get to hang out with people and eat. But a wedding is only one day, a celebration of something that will hopefully last (pleasantly) the rest of your life.

I was looking up reception venues, potential churches and wedding dresses online and getting really depressed. Why was everything so... maudlin? I have never dreamed about my wedding day, with clear blue skies, me in a flowing white dress and a floating veil, couldn't tell you where/when/how I would like to get married. The more I browsed, the more I knew what I didn't want. I'm not saying it's wrong to get married in a church with a beautiful dress and lovely blooming flowers, but it's just not me. And some people love organising things and are good at it, and can whip up their wedding with not too much fuss, just the way they've always dreamed of.

Just don't expect me to buy into the consumerism of my 'big day'. No bridesmaids, photographers or expensive dress for me thanks. And please stop telling me that my 'big day' isn't a big day if I don't spend x amount.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

World champions!

The Spanish team, receiving the Cup

My Spanish boy, decked in red and yellow

Tearing down the flag to drag into the street

Celebrating at the Fuente de Murrieta (a fountain where people from Logroño traditionally go to celebrate when there's a massive soccer win)

Drinking in the street

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Summer activities

Since I have so much free time on my hands now, I'm trying to get my act together and send a package to Australia via seamail, so it arrives more or less when we do. Unfortunately, I hate packing so my days are spent procrastinating.

Here are some things I've done to date:

La Hoguera, las fiestas de San Juan: To celebrate the summer solstice, some friends and I went and burned things near the Plaza de Toros. You have to bring an old item of clothing, a list of ten things you want for the coming year and a list of ten things you want to disappear in the coming year and then you throw them into the massive bonfire. It's a tradition that harks from witch-burning days (in the past they used to burn witches instead of clothes and pieces of paper).

Monasterio de Santa María de Toloño: Last Saturday, a few friends, Beza and I climbed to the top of a small mountain to see the ruins of a monastery built in the 9th Century. My arse was sore the next day from the uphill climb but it was worth it. We had morning tea at the top but it was pretty chilly so we soon came down. There's a well the monks dug that used to serve as a fridge. In Winter it would fill up with snow and they'd bury food in the snow to keep it from going off. Because it's so high up, the snow wouldn't melt until well after Spring.

Muñeca: A friend of ours went to another city to work for a few days and left his dog with us. We had lots of fun together, the dog and I. We went for three walks a day, we went to have morning tea with Beza and we sunbaked and had many a siesta together on the sofa in our patio. When she went home I felt very empty and alone.

Jewellery and yoga classes: I signed up for three-week courses in jewellery making and yoga. I'm into my second week and I'm quite enjoying it. Yesterday in the jewellery class, we made brooches using Chinese knots. Since I'd already learnt Chinese knotting, it was pretty easy for me but the teacher ran around from one student to another screaming 'Undo that knot! No, you knot with the left string, not the right! What have you done? It's so basic- you knot from the left to the right, and now, the right to the left, and now a half knot!' I thought she was going to weep with frustration.

(I told my dad I was doing jewellery classes and he laughed and asked 'Why do you want to be a jury?')

Nephew's birthday party: Beza's nephew turned four and to celebrate, his parents threw together a gathering. I had more fun than expected- it wasn't like a birthday party in Australia, with organised games, a cake and the parents watching their kids with eagle eyes and complimenting each others' brats while secretly thinking 'my child has better developed motor skills than yours.' Basically, there was a table with food, where the adults congregated and the kids were thrown in a pile together and left to their own devices. That's the kind of kiddy party I like.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

End of school, start of holidays

My last day of paid work was on the 3rd June and on the 7th June we flew out to London.

It was rainy but luckily with foresight, we packed raincoats. I did all the stuff I wanted to do in the three days we were there- eat a muffin, drink a takeaway soy coffee, visit Camden Markets, see a show (we saw Wicked) and hang out with Vanessa and my cousin. Three days is not a lot to do everything in London but I think we managed our time very efficiently.

On the Friday, we got up at 4 am to catch a plane from London to Santiago. Our kindly friends offered to come pick us up in Santiago but by the time they arrived I was almost snoring in the bar.

On Saturday, we had the wedding, the first of our friends in Spain to get married. It was a traditional church wedding, and I don't know why, but I never understand Catholic priests when they speak. I don't know if it's because they're speaking Latin, if it's a prerequisite for priests to mumble or the acoustics in a church just aren't conducive to understanding. Anyway, so I sat there for more than an hour smiling and pretending I agreed. A woman gave a very moving speech and some people even cried, so maybe my smiling wasn't quite appropriate.

After the ceremony, we went to a place outside the village for the reception. We had the best pulpo gallego (see photo) I've ever tasted in my life. Who knew those slimy pale octopuses could taste so good? There was an open bar and the party lasted till around 3 am. On the Sunday, we headed back to Logrono, hung over and incredibly exhausted.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Oh, the things that amuse me

1. Anthropomorphising food
2. Watching children cry (not because I like to see them in pain but because they seem so devastated)
3. Sending my 4 year old students to the 'Corner of Boredom' (el rincón del aburrimiento) when they misbehave
4. Mullets
5. Owners that look like their dogs

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

45 hours with youngsters

Last Thursday and Friday I went on an excursion with the 5th and 6th graders at my school. We headed off to Barcelona at 4 am in the morning and most of them were chatting away, oblivious to the unholiness of the hour. Stopped at 7 am for breakfast on the road and afterwards they put on a movie, which none of them slept through. I, however, plugged in my earphones and went to sleep (they were showing Meet The Spartans).

We visited the Maritime Museum and went on a ride on Las Golondrinas, a kind of ferry that takes you around the port. I also fell asleep on the ferry but conveniently had my sunglasses to hide the fact. Then after lunch, we had a visit of Pueblo Español, which I would have fallen asleep during if we hadn't had to walk around all the time.

On the bus to Salou, where the hotel was, I also fell asleep. The kids didn't sleep though. They're insane energy machines. (At the hotel, which was full of fat tourists and pensioners, they put on an ABBA spectacle/dance at night, so we were forced to listen to ABBA for 2 hours before being able to fall asleep. The kids asked me the next day if we'd gone downstairs to dance after we'd sent them all to bed. I said 'Me? HA! I went to bed earlier than you.')

The next day we went to Port Aventura, a theme park about two hours from Barcelona. It's been about ten years since the last time I went to a theme park and I went on ALL the rides. It was awesome. On some of them, you get absolutely soaked. I don't remember rides like that from my childhood. Other rides were the same- the rollercoaster that goes at 140 km per hour, the one that lifts you up 100 metres then drops you (I remember learning about how that ride uses magnetic force in physics).

We arrived back in Logrono at 1 am on Saturday morning and even though I was exhausted, I'd gotten so used to the sound of children, it took me a while to get to sleep with the silence.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Where is Summer?

When we came back from Taiwan, the weather was awesome- the sun shone on our patio area from 11 am to 7 pm, we had 24, 25 degree days and I slept many a siesta on our sofa out there in the sun.

About a week and a half ago, it started to rain and the temperature plummeted back down, where it's stayed ever since, and where weather forecasts predict it will stay until at least next week. On our coldest day here, we had 4 degree weather, which is WINTER temperature.

A month out from Summer, I'm wondering if I'll ever see the sun again. It's a very depressing thought. I'm ready to burn all my Winter clothes. I never want to see them again.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Highlights of Taiwan

One of the best things about my trip to Taiwan was that I was able to spend time with my family and Monica, one of my closest friends. I hadn't realised, but spending so much time away from my family, from my old friends in a place that was foreign to me until a few years ago was having a really alienating effect. It's hard to explain the feeling because it's not homesickness, and it's not like I'm not integrating into society here, but sometimes I feel like I'm moving at half a beat behind every else. There are things that everyone takes for granted that I have to get used to, whether I like it or not. (Photo: lunch with the family in Tainan)

By mid-March, just before leaving for Taiwan, I felt exhausted by so many children (some of them truly monsters), so much cold weather and grey skies that I was really beginning to hate being here.

In Taiwan I got to see three of my aunties and Álvaro got to meet them as well. I also got to see my grandpa, who prepared fabulous breakfasts for us, and spend time with my cousin Leanne.

We climbed three mountains in total (one of them swarming with monkeys), visited Little Liuchiu Island, karaoke-d, went up the 101 Tower in Taipei and ate an embarrassing amount of fantastic food. (Photo: my aunt being inspected for fleas on Monkey Mountain)

But the best part was being able to spend two weeks with my parents uninterrupted by work and other committments. This has been one of my all-time favourite trips, and it wasn't too sad saying goodbye to my parents this time because I already have at the back of my mind that we're going back to Australia in October. (Photo: our penultimate onigiri at Taipei Airport)

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Jade Mountain, Taiwan

I'm back from my two week Easter holiday to Taiwan and back to work. The return trip felt like it would never end- we caught the plane from Taipei to Beijing at 1 pm on Saturday (Taiwan time), spent 7.5 hours wandering Beijing airport, (which by the way feels like a ghost airport. It's huge but only has about one departing flight an hour), caught the plane at midnight, arrived in Madrid at 6.30 am Sunday (Spain time), rushed to the bus station and caught a bus to Logrono at 8 am.

The only good thing about being back was that the sun was shining so we bought 2 litres of beer and sat on the sofa in our patio.

One of the best parts of the trip was climbing Jade Mountain, the highest mountain in Taiwan, with my parents and Alvaro. We went with a group from my dad's university. The first day we climbed about 1000 metres in height, to 3400 metres. It wasn't so bad at first, but Alvaro and I were carrying backpacks of around 12 kg and the higher up you get, the more you notice the lack of oxygen and every kilo gets exponentially heavier. (Photo: the main peak of Jade Mountain, hidden in the clouds)

The next morning, we woke up at 1.30 am to have breakfast and climb to the 4000 metre peak in time to see the sunrise. Unfortunately, it was cloudy so we didn't see the sun, but it was still amazing. At some parts, the track was one person wide, with a dizzying drop that you couldn't see the bottom of because of the clouds and fog. At the beginning of March, a guy slipped and fell. He died.

Towards the summit, my gloves were soaking wet, it was freezing, my head torch was running low and there were no longer any trees, just rocks and scree. It was a practically vertical climb, hauling myself up from rock to rock.

I can't say the view was amazing because there was no view, no vegetation, just clouds, but the feeling of being so removed from the rest of the world is really indescribable.

One of my dad's students almost got hypothermia on the summit. She was crouched on the ground, freezing and said she didn't want to go down, just wanted to sleep. Another student didn't climb up because he had altitude sickness- his heart was pounding about 120 beats a minute and he said he felt nauseous.

On the climb down, I nearly slipped a few times and I had nightmares of Alvaro falling down the abyss and me having to tell his mother in Spain that I'd killed her youngest child.

When we got the the place where we spent the night, we had 'lunch', at 9 am, then headed back down the mountain. I can honestly say it was the earliest I'd ever eaten lunch.

Monday, March 01, 2010

Sidreria

Once a year, Beza's cousins from San Sebastian have a cousin gathering. They arrange to go to a sidreria (cider brewery) for dinner. It usually happens around February because cider brewery restaurant season is from the end of January to the end of March.

The breweries dedicate themselves to making cider all year round and only open the kitchen to the public for two months while the cider is fermenting. You get all-you-can-drink cider straight from the barrel and there are usually at least three or four barrels, with up to thousands of litres capacity. Apparently the menu is always the same- tortilla de bacalao (cod omelette), bacalao (cod), chuleton (fat, juicy steak) and dessert of cheese, walnuts, almond biscuits and flutely biscuity things.

I had an awesome time and ate heaps. We were a group of ten in the end because some cousins couldn't make it. Some of his cousins don't eat too much so I got to stuff myself.

I've been making lots of things recently to relieve my stress because I swear some of the kids in my classes are terrorists in training. I made a dog iTouch cover for Beza, a cat phone cover for Ana, two cheesecakes (one for us, though it made me sick from all the dairy and one for Beza's family for Saturday lunch), a tofu cheesecake (which I ate most of because it apparently doesn't taste so nice compared to a philly cheese cheesecake), a sheep finger puppet, bread rolls and random food that looked interesting.

This week I intend to attempt a pavlova and macaroons, the pretty, colourful ones. And if I have time, foccacia bread, lemon fingers, potato pizza and any other food I plan to make for my birthday.

I got my first ever Valentine's Day rose! I didn't actually get it on Valentine's Day, but I liked it so much more because it was a surprise and Beza didn't pay a ridiculously inflated price. Plus I'm an anti-Valentine's Day shrew. In my Valentine's Day presentation for my classes, I always tell the kids the true story behind Valentine's Day, about the priest who got stoned and beheaded. I also like to add some gory graphics just to be positive the kids get the message.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Carnavales 2010

This year for Carnival, Beza and I dressed up as John Lennon and Yoko Ono. The best thing was I didn't have to buy anything for the costume. Luther went dressed as a white sheep.

It was pretty fun but at about 1.30 am, I took off my sunnies because I couldn't see very well and developed an allergic reaction to all the wigs I was surrounded by. There was John Lennon's wig, Ned Flanders wigs, Nadal wigs... My eyes started swelling and itching like mad and after about half an hour I decided I couldn't stand it any more and had to go home.

Before Carnival, we had a Chinese New Year dinner. I was under the impression that we were supposed to eat long noodles at Chinese New Year, but apparently they're traditionally eaten at birthdays. I even did a powerpoint presentation for my classes telling the kids that at Chinese New Year Chinese people always eat noodles and fish. My mum corrected me just after dinner, when we'd just finished eating, when she rang to wish me happy Chinese New Year.

We also ate fish and uncut spinach but I think I cheated because I bought pre-washed, packaged spinach that already had some of the stems cut off.

Had a nice Sunday- told Beza that according to Chinese tradition, you can't cook or clean on Chinese New Year, so we left a sinkful of dirty plates and ordered takeaway.