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.

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

Farewell 2009

It snowed about two weeks ago in Logroño. Enough to make snowmen and snowballs. I made a snowball as a present for Beza and put it in the freezer, where it still is. Maybe in July we'll take it out and throw it, by which time it'll probably be ice and hurt a damn lot.

Beza and I went to Barcelona on the long weekend at the beginning of December. It was nice to get away from Logroño just for a few days but I'd forgotten what it's like to be in a huge city with a big crush of people. And Sydney never feels so crowded because the streets are much wider and it's more spread out.

Tomorrow is the last day of 2009 and I'm feeling ambivalent about my year. Was it a good year? Did I become wiser and did I learn anything new or was I too busy having fun? Or did I not have as much fun as I should have had?

Here are five highlights:

1. Beza. There many wonderful people in the world but it's not often that we get to know one well or the extent of their wonderfulness.

2. Travelling with my parents. During the month-and-bit we travelled together, I was reminded of how great my parents are and how much I love them. It's easy to forget when you're far away from someone how important they are to you.

3. Camino de Santiago. It was like being a turtle, where you carry your house on your back. And the only thing you have to worry about is the blister on your toe.

4. My nephews. I got to spend time with them in Sydney and they're hilarious little people. And I have a new one that I'm excited to meet.

5. Our flat. There are only two places in the world where I feel comfortable peeing with the door semi-open- my house in Sydney and my flat in Logroño. And we have Methuselah.

I suppose having five highlights is good. Some people only have three and call it a good year.

Some bummers include:

Total neglect of my writing. I haven't even written as many blogposts as I'd like.

Death of our two goldfish. Surprisingly traumatic.

Not being able to attend the wedding of my first close friend to get married. It made me sad that I couldn't be as involved in the lives of people who matter to me because we're in different parts of the world.

One lesson I learned:

When in doubt, make tasty food.