Senderismo en Gipuzkoa

On Friday, David and I took a 4-hour hike on the mountainside. Recurring thought for the day:  I can't believe we're hiking without a coat in December! After a few days of postponing due to rain, Friday was an amazing day. I wore 2 long-sleeve shirts and a vest, and mostly had my sleeves rolled up because it was warm enough walking in the sun.

The first hill (Mt Ulia) admittedly left me out of breath. But from then on, it was less steep and relatively smooth. The trail wraps around the mountains, with almost constant views of the ocean. We stopped for lunch on a cliff with almost 180º of sea views. We walked all the way from Donostia to Pasaia. In reality, it's not that far, especially noted as we rode the bus back and it took about 15 minutes. It only makes me hungry for more hiking though! Some photos:

First of many great views (Playa Zurriola)

Someone left a Belén on the trail

Probably standing on a Roman aqueduct (too scared to cross it)

The other side of the port, Pasaia.

Nochebuena Donostiarra

Christmas Eve in San Sebastián was not unlike Christmas in America. Instead of anxiously awaiting Santa Claus, however, most kids were anticipating the arrival of Olentzero, a jolly Basque coal man, or Papá Noel, the Spanish equivalent of Santa. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling well enough to go see Olenztero and Mari Domingi parade around Parte Vieja. Surely it was a magical time, with a line full of children making their last-minute requests to them.

Dinner started on Spanish time around 9:30, obviously. It was a nice-sized gathering of my Spanish padres, their 3 grown children, a family friend, and me (la hija americana). Fancily enough, everyone had 3 glasses for drinks: champagne, wine, and a cocktail. Dinner consisted of a variety of plates to share, such as salmon, ham, oysters, foie, and prawn. It was my first experience with oysters (shocking since I've lived in coastal San Sebastián and Galicia), and I must say I enjoyed the taste of the salty sea. For dessert we had ice cream drizzled in hardened chocolate, almost like Klondike bars. While we were eating the king came on TV to give his discourse of the year, which  I imagine was treated like a joke in most households. Then political discussions commenced, an evidently international holiday tradition. With everyone talking at once, I didn't understand half of it, and that's perfectly fine with me.

After the sobremesa it was time to open presents. Hooraaaaay! I only brought everyone a coaster from my hometown, or a pair of earrings, but they seemed grateful regardless of the size. They even got me presents! Well, I already knew they planned to give me the CD of my hermano's band since he ruined the surprise. That was lucky, because I was planning to buy it anyways--and they sold out! But my madre also made her daughter and me some rosy-smelling lotions, and she knitted all of her kids a neck-warmer/buff/whatever you call it. So now that we all match, I definitely feel that I belong!

After exchanging gifts, the fun really started. One of my favorite hobbies: rocking out to Spanish music. But this time with my padre and DJ-hermano. The 3 of us sang "Agradecido" by Rosendo, and listened to some Spanish punk. Luis is a punk! Who knew?! Then the adults grooved to some classic Spanish rock/disco songs. Sharing good music is like sharing blood--instant connection. And with people I already considered my second family! (I knew they had to have good taste haha) Although I didn't spend Christmas with my own family, I got lucky and definitely had a noche buena. 

Santo Tomás en Donostia

Man, is it good to be back in Donostia-San Sebastián. It's just as wonderful as I remembered it. While I'm happy with my life in Lugo, it doesn't even come close to the glory of San Sebastián. And my awesome familia donostiarra, which welcomed me back with open arms (and tomorrow--lentejas, my favorite!)

I arrived early yesterday morning, just in time for the festival of Santo Tomás.  It's one of the two big holidays here (that and Tamborrada in January). The tradition comes from when the farmers came to the city annually to pay their rent, and took advantage to sell their wares in town. Now the day consists of lots of people dressed in traditional Basque outfits, booths that sell traditional Basque food like taloak (corn tortillas made by a group of women in front of  your very eyes), txistorrak (a spicy sausage), and sidra (the fermented apple drink). Also there is an enormous pig-- as long as a person, and two or three times as wide-- which is auctioned off. The sad part is it's on display. Does it realize all of these visitors mean it's imminent death? Who knows.

Ourense & Ribeira Sacra

Last Saturday a group of Auxiliares went to Ourense to celebrate my roommate's birthday. We went to as termas (hot spring bath) Burgas in the middle of the city. I (luckily?) forgot my towel so didn't bathe. It was odd because it was quite public, just a small changing room, and then passersby could observe you in the pool. There was a fountain by it with naturally scalding hot water. After the hot bath, we spent the day wandering around the city and stopping in a handful of cafes and shoe stores.

Las chicas en el Puente Romano

This weekend Lauren and I returned to Ourense with another group of friends--mostly Lucenses and a pair of Germans. Because we went with people who knew what they were doing, we went to a very nice termas called Outariz. You had to pay 5 euros to get in, meaning it was more upscale and private. We arrived after  9 o'clock. Bathing outside under the moon at the riverside. Dreamy. There are about 15 different baths to enter. Theoretically between two hot baths, you go in a cool bath so as not to die. We skipped some of these cool baths because it was bloody cold outside (close to midnight in the middle of December-- it's to be expected) as we scurried from bath to bath. The contrast between air temp and water temp was often extreme, and produced vapors which made it seem all the more relaxing. The experience left me ready for bed, except it was midnight and we still hadn't eaten dinner. By the time we picked up pizzas and had gone to our home for the night (aka our friend's grandparents' country home), I  figured we would go to bed and save our energies for today's 12 km hike. But no. Almost everyone thought it'd be a great idea to stay up til 3 playing cards. It was pretty cool, because I haven't played with a Spanish deck yet, and I like cards...but I was way too zoned out to take directions in Spanish. No pasa nada.

This morning everyone woke up a bit groggy. We had a very Spanish breakfast of coffee/Cola Cao and toast/cookies, and were only 1 hour behind our 10 AM starting goal. First we went to Ourense to see the city for a bit. Although it's bigger than Lugo, it's not really chock-full of tourist destinations. Afterwards we went towards Ribeira Sacra, a region now famous for it's wine. It's incredible to see the hills completely  full of rows and rows of grape vines (although at this time of year they were just dry vines). One company doesn't own an entire hillside, rather families own a few rows which are passed down through generations. Apparently everyone knows which are theirs, but there can be territory disagreements too.
We took in some great views at three different miradoiros or viewpoints. Al final, we didn't do our big hike like we'd planned, but it was probably better that way. We did get some exercise walking around the miradoiros. It was such great weather, especially for the middle of December. We had sandwiches outside and didn't even need a winter coat.

Grupo majo al último mirador

Auxiliar Tales

I realize I'm far from being Spain's greatest auxiliar, but sometimes I feel accomplished when the students both laugh and learn. Éxito! In some of the classes I feel like I can make an ass out of myself, and it's ok because they'll laugh with me. Other classes are a bit more 'intimidating' shall we say, and I'm more conscious of acting like an idiot.

This week with 1º Eso, I spent 20 minutes making animal noises in English. (Spanish roosters say qui-qui-ri-qui, dogs say guau-guau, and the rest of the animals are bilingual Spanish-English). Or in 3º Eso I finally clarified the difference between fun and funny. To do this I said "Playing football is fun, riding a bike is fun," and made a thumbs up sign. "A movie is funny, a joke is funny, a person is funny" ha-ha-ha-ha. "Riding a bike is not funny," as I pretended to ride a bike while fake laughing. That's just maniacal. Somebody thought this was funny, so hopefully they'll remember this important lesson.

Another important lesson for Spanish speakers is the difference between short i (as in shit) and long e (as in sheet). In Spanish, i is always pronounced as our "ee,' and they only have 5 vowel sounds in total. So it can be difficult for them to pronounce it, let alone hear a difference. To quote the video An Italian Man Went to Malta, "you betta not sheet on the bed, you son of a beach!"

And here are some interesting results from this week's oral exams (with 16-year-olds, mind you):

-Do you think teaching is a difficult job?
-Carlos Hernández

-What are your hobbies?
-I ride a bike and kill birds.

-What are your hobbies?
-Chewing sunflower seeds.

Sunday, Sunday

In Spain, Sunday really is a day of rest. The shops are closed and there's not many obligations. So after reading the paper (and understanding a word game in Galician, score!), I went with Lauren on a walk along the Río Miño, and over both the Roman and modern bridges. Although it's the first of December, the water was calm.