Paris

Now that I'm home for summer, I guess it's time to write about my springtime trips and adventures, which took up many a-weekend in April and May. I shall begin with the first of my weekend adventure: Paris with my cousin!

From a sign in the teacher's lounge, I thought the last weekend of May was a long weekend at school. It wasn't. But since my school is so great, they let me make up the day later on. I took advantage of my cousin living in Paris to pay her a visit...and see the city for the first time. After living in Europe a few years, it was finally time to see the City of Lights. Of course there is a ton to see there, so for the weekend I gave up my characteristic afternoon siesta time, and started drinking coffee. Since so much happened I'm just going to bullet point the highlights.

• Notre Dame: Usually I'm of the belief that once you've seen one cathedral, you've seen them all. But Notre Dame was actually very interesting inside. The outside, iconic. 
• The Eiffel Tower: The Parisian landmark is actually way bigger than I imagined. I knew there was an elevator (thankfully!), but thought the tower was just big enough for one large elevator to go up the middle. In reality, there are four different elevators which climb up the legs. We went up just before sunset, so we were privileged with two views: twilight and late night. From up top it you realize just how enormous Paris really is. Seeing dolled-up couples getting off at the restaurant made me wonder how many marriage proposals they see there in a day.
• The Louvre: So much to see, so little time! I'm honestly not a huge fan of art museums, but of course this was a must-see. There are some great pieces there. My cousin was smart to get a museum membership so she could peruse the art on a daily basis. My favorite section was probably the ancient statues. The Mona Lisa that everyone fusses about was not worth it to me. Plenty of other nice paintings from the same time, with less people. 
• Versailles: As a fan of old-timey royals and wealth, this was another must-see. It's just a short trainride away from Paris. My only complaint is with the way it's set-up. You have to go through 3 different check-points to actually get into the palace. Which means waiting. Outside! Aside from that though, it was lovely. The gardens were swell--too bad it started hailing while we were out for a royal walk. 
• Montmartre neighborhood: Nice place for a stroll. There are still a lot of artists there who want to paint your portrait or sell Parisian landscapes. 



Cousins in red outside Le Moulin Rouge

• Dining: Definitely took advantage of the wide selection of restaurants and food not available in little old Lugo. Most importantly, I ate a Nutella and banana crêpe everyday. Yummo! Aside from that we also savored French cuisine from Bretagne and Southern France. 

Here Comes the Summer

For us language assistants in Spain, the last day of May marks our last day of school. Meanwhile, our poor students and full-time co-workers are stuck toiling in hot classrooms until late June. Pobriños! But while most of my fellow language assitants enthusiastically celebrated the sense of freedom that summer brings, for me it was a bittersweet day. It was the last of my days at the insti máis molón de toda Galicia, where I've spent the past 3 years making friends with coworkers, going on Galician fieldtrips, participating in English bookclub, and every once in a while, actually teaching English to my delightful teenage students. As much as I truly loved going to work and interacting with all the special people in that school, I decided to try something new for the next year. Still Galicia (home!), but somewhere new. And boy did they give me a sendoff to remember.

I imagined there would be some sort of farewell activity, and the ¨surprise¨ was ruined, but I still wasn't sure what to expect Tuesday morning when we went to school in time for morning recess. Nothing was afoot as I greeted people in the teachers' lounge: ¨Kerry! It's your last day! You're leaving us!¨ And as I organized myself for the upcoming TREASURE HUNTS, the teachers disappeared and I was suddenly alone. What a mystery! Haha. Enter Yolanda, my co-teacher and good friend. ¨Let's go for a walk¨ she said with a coy smile. In the auditorium, were seated all of my students (+/-90) along with other teachers, and the director at the front ready to give a little speech. He said 10 years from now, if someone asks where I was May 31, 2016 I'll remember. And I'm sure I will. The lights went off for a presentation to the tune of ¨American Pie.¨ It started with ¨From Ohio to Galicia¨ and went on to include a slew of photos of me with students and teachers: eating, dressed up for Carnival, on fieldtrips, dancing. Basically the school highlights of this blog. And at the end it said ¨Stay gold, Kerry, stay gold,¨ a phrase which I had recently discussed with the director (whose book club is reading The Outsiders). Try not to cry!

Then they presented me with some gifts to remind me of my time there, although frankly, the presentation was memory enough. But they got me a ceramic palloza (traditional, circular thatch-roofed housing in the Ancares) and a t-shirt of the school saying ¨I was there 2013-16.¨ So cool! Especially since as many students have already noted, (band) t-shirts are one of my hallmarks.  After this little ceremony, I was asked to say a few words. I started by asking if they understood me if I spoke in English, which was answered with a rotund yes. Which describes quite well my job and joy: three years after hearing me babble on in English, they understand (not saying I'm the only one to thank, but it did feel like a nice payoff)! I told them thanks and blablabla and finished with a Galician, ¨vou vós botar de menos¨ meaning I will miss them. Nothing but the truth. It was met with cheers, as in most classes I refused to speak Galician or Spanish.

Afterwards, I had four gym classes. I planned two different treasure hunts around school for them as a special surprise, and actually had a little treasure chest of cheap Americana trinkets waiting for them. By now I was already overwhelmed, but on top of that in all of my classes we had pop and snacks! In most classes it was because my two co-teachers thought of celebrating, but in my favorite, oldest class it was the students' idea. Aw! And besides, one of the gym teachers gave me a mug of the town. And the other teacher gave toasts in both classes that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. ;) Why on Earth did I choose to leave!?

Even at lunchtime, the specialness continued! I had class with my oldest students right before, and some who eat in the school cafeteria asked if I could eat with them. About half of the students eat in the cafeteria because their houses are too far away to go home. Teachers never eat there, so I was honored when the lunch ladies allowed it! They must've thought it was an odd request haha. Lunch was spent chatting with my students, and they even started chanting my name and banging on the table. Yikes! At the post-lunch recess we had our last meeting of English bookclub. The girls brought in cupcakes and even wrote me a letter detailing their past three years with me and apologizing if sometimes their class got out of hand. Oh, that's right, in my biggest and most ¨problematic¨ class, the class orator gave a speech also apologizing and saying that in fact they loved me. Aw! Then they proceeded to give a group hug with me in the center and toss me in the air. So by the end of the day, I was swimming in emotions, but certainly feeling the love! I feel bad for my future school...the bar has been set high.

Feira do Viño de Chantada

I am going to have to find more Galician traditions if I plan to stick around, because in March I checked another thing off my list of Galician things to do: a wine festival! Surely they have such traditions in other parts of Spain, but since Galicia is known for it's gastronomy and wine regions, this is an essential Galician activity.

Chantada is a big village in Lugo, smack dab in middle of the Ribeira Sacra, a wine region cultivated since Roman times. Buses from Lugo are scarce (public transportation is my biggest solvable complaint about Lugo/Galicia), so my friend and I were set to spend over 8 hours there; arriving before noon and leaving at 7. At first this was daunting, because if we got bored of the town there was no way home early. I brought cards just in case, but in the end that wasn't necessary. For March it was a surprisingly sunny and warm day. Qué suerte! Obviously since we got there in the morning it was too early for wine so we stopped in a café. Afterward, it still felt too early so we strolled the little market stands selling food, clothes, accessories, and typical Galician products. It was bigger than we had imagined, I thought it was just going to be the wine stands and little else. But of course I had to know that the market salespeople would bring their wares to such an occasion!

At the ¨appropriate¨ time for wine (when is that, exactly?) we started by purchasing a wineglass complete with neck strap. At first we looked pretty geeky, but later realized how handy they were! Then with a standing lunch, we started sampling. You could get a glass of red (Mencía) or white (Ribeiro) for 2-3€. About 10 wineries had their stands under the main tent. They weren't normal stands, but giant, hollowed-out barrels. Nice touch! Over the course of the afternoon I have no idea how many wines we sampled. We started with some reds, but then I remembered I don't even really like red, and Galician whites are so delicious. The community band entertained with movie soundtracks and my new friend and I bonded over our first wine fest experience, among other things. We didn't feel the need to befriend other festivalgoers, although everyone was friendly and merry. There was even a free wine judging, where you sampled 20 different brands and voted on them. This started later in the afternoon, and neither of us actually finished. Too many reds. But never too much wine.

Bestie Time (Uviéu)

The last Friday of February, I was talking with my best friend, who I hadn't seen in the flesh since December. That was last year! She perhaps jokingly suggested we meet up that same weekend in the middle: Asturias. I took her up on that offer, a spur-of-the-moment trip to Oviedo/Uviéu. The back story is we had been there a year and a half ago, except since it was rainy and things were closed, we didn't see much. We didn't even see the cathedral! Or go to the sidra street! Since then, I've been to Oviedo a few times with my friend as a tourguide, so this time I felt prepared to give my own tour. But for those who have had me as a tourguide, they know it's not really my calling. Whether it's oversimplifying the translation to English, or just forgetting the importance of certain buildings, tours just aren't my forte. But I tried.

Saturday morning we arrived on separate buses to Oviedo. By this time I had a good idea of how to get us to the real center. We caught up while having breakfast at a confitería were the señoras of Oviedo go, apparently. We are the future señoras of Spain! Then we headed to the center area with the old and new markets and city hall. I recognized the area from a visit with my parents last year, but could only remember two measly facts about the place. Funnily enough, we ran into my only friend from Oviedo who was able to tell Lauren some fun facts (and remind me of them, of course). Then Lauren and I strolled some more, enjoying the lovely architecture. Lunch included fabada (Asturian bean stew).

Hola, cachopo!

Feeling content with the fact that we had already seen more in a few hours than on our last visit, we went to our snazzy hotel to have a nap. It was raining, anyways. The receptionist thought I was Galician. Toma acento! Afterwards, it was getting dark, so we decided to visit the Asturian Museum before it closed. Nice, but we rushed through it. And then: sidra time. Luckily we went to have dinner before 10, so there was a table for two without reservations. Score! We knew we wanted cachopo, a big piece of meat, topped with cheese and then breaded. By big I mean for two people. I'm seeing a theme here with Asturian cooking--solitary dining is not an option. After dinner, we rolled ourselves out to another sidrería. Lots of sidra and lots of girl talk. The best part was getting to have a night out with Lauren and talk about every little thing, just like when we lived in the same city. After ingesting about 50 apples worth of sidra each, we were ready for a night on the town. And then rocked out til 5AM. Ah, España.

Lovely Avilés street

Sunday we set off on a little trip to Avilés at a surprisingly decent hour. That city is precious, I would definitely live there for a bit. It seems very calm since it's even smaller than Lugo. But the architecture in the center is charming. Maybe I would get bored, but who knows. Anyways, thanks to our handy-dandy personalized Avilés map we saw all the top sites. Trying to make up for all the money we had spent the night before, we had lunch at Burger King haha. Back in Oviedo we played the waiting game. We were exhausted, but had to wait for Lauren's ride back to Santander. So we sat for two hours in a bar like a couple of loons: drinking fresh-squeezed orange juice and practically falling asleep at 5pm. But bestie time was so worth it.

Rockin out at A Candeloria

Carnaval wasn't the only February fun around here. It was actually a jam-packed month, a welcome change from the cold and nearly eventless month of January. A Candeloria brought rockers from all over Galicia and Spain to our dear Lugo for a weekend of good music and Galician traditions. And since my regular concert companion Diego wasn't available the whole weekend, I was forced to import an Asturian rock festival buddy (haha).

Here I'm mocking Diego for wearing
a button-down, when I myself don't look
kinda preppy in a sweater.

Friday's lineup wasn't of much interest to me, although surely the bands were good for people with less picky tastes. They opened with Habelas Hainas, a traditional folk band made of all women. That got me into the dancing mood! Then there were two bands that are kind of hip-hop or techno. They were pretty good, but again not exactly my style. Then a loud hardcore band. Loud as in, we left the concert hall and I could still hear them through my earplugs. By 3 I was feeling pretty tired, so we left. Wish I would've stuck around for NAO, who seem like a good Galician rock band. But hey, at least we got to bed at a decent hour so we could take advantage of Saturday. 

Saturday there was a ¨vermouth session,¨ the Spanish custom of a concert before lunchtime. I was interested in going, if it didn't require walking all the way down to the pavillion and then back. Instead, we took advantage of the wonderfully warm weather and had lunch on a terrace. In February! This is not a drill! We also then checked out Lugo's 2 Roman museums, since last time my concert buddy was around we didn't see many tourist sites. We started heading down to the pavillion area around 7. Earlier in the afternoon there was a tavern song competetion, and I think we caught the last part of it. Terrific ambiance: people squished into bars with bands (tambourine and bagpipe) singing traditional Galician tunes. Delightful! And when the lights went out, everyone cheered. The party doesn't stop! 

The accordionist of Os Diplomáticos

At 9 began the concert my friend had been waiting 10 years for (según dijo): Os Diplomáticos de Monte Alto. Hard to describe their style...very Galician, lively, punk, funny. And they have an accordion player! Since my friend is a huge fan, we were in the front row. And despite the fact that he isn't Galician, he knew all of the lyrics which he sang while jumping for joy and basically having a meltdown. (Understandable--I would have reacted the same way if it were my favorite band) I was able to sing along with one song too...¨Gaiteiro.¨ Another guy next to us was also a huge fan, so they bonded, holding each other while jumping and serenading one another. It was a sight to be seen! The singer also got us all chanting: Trae tatuado toda a ronda da Muralla. Lugo! Lévote dentro! Lugo pride! It's safe to say Os Diplomáticos gave the most exciting concert of the night. 

Next came the hardcore punk band SA, which is too much for me. And that's when the power for the stage went out. Uh oh. So we were waiting around for quite a while. I would have been open to leaving if I weren't waiting for El Último Ke Zierre to play. I'm not their biggest fan, but they played a few songs I could sing along to. They're a good Spanish punk band. Coincidentally, I was standing right next to one of my students from the first year. It was cool that he knew who I was haha. Afterwards, I was ready to go home. I mean, it was 3, we had been there since 9, and I was exhausted. I didn't even have my siesta! By obligation we stuck around for a few songs of Zenzar. It was pretty good, and I'm sure I would've been into it if only I had the energy. All in all, A Candeloria brought a rockin' time to Lugo, which hopefully is equally fun next year!

Galician Carnival: Peliqueiro and Pantalla Sighting!

Now that it's Good Friday, I think I can properly write about the funnest part of winter: Carnaval/Entroido...40 days after the fact.

On Friday I went out with the girls. This year there was no group costume, unfortunately. I went as Pipi Calzaslargas (re: Pippi Longstockings) and was quite pleased with my outfit. I reused last year's red wig and only needed to buy the long stockings. Budget- and eco-friendly! It was not at all a wild night. I guess we're getting too old for that. Or just too tired. It's ok, I needed to save my energy for more Carnaval fun.

A few days later, with my other friends we went to the towns of Ourense where Carnaval is a big deal: Xinzo de Limia, Laza, and Verín. I accepted my fate once more of not actually getting to see the traditionally-clad revelers, since the schedule didn't include it. Foiled again! But, wait, we actually DID get to see them. Both the peliqueiros of Laza and the pantallas of Xinzo de Limia. OMG! (I swear, my birthday celebrations get continually better).

We started off in Verín, a bit before noon. But it was pretty empty so we headed to Laza. It's a little village that comes to life during Carnaval. They maintain old traditions (whose origins must be intriguing) such as mudslinging, ant throwing, and whacking with bushes, in addition to their local Entroido character: os peliqueiros. We arrived to the small, deserted plaza only to find the remnants of the previous mudfight: mud all over the ground, along with some scattered rags used to sling said mud. There were really only 3 bars in town, which wisely had covered their floors with sawdust. We went into one for some sandwiches and beers to wait for the next festivities. The place was packed, with a lively atmosphere. There was even a bagpiper and singer and a few people danced, squished into the square meter of open space. We also noticed other foreigners there, having a gay old time. Not much of a hidden secret now, is it? But good for you, Galician towns!

After an hour or two, it got less congested as people went outside, so we went down to the plaza to check it out. Around us were plenty of people, but few people were wearing costumes. Most were, however, wearing jumpsuits in preparation for the ants. Some people were even smart enough to duct tape their pants to their legs to avoid getting ants in their pants haha. As we were all waiting around for the action to start, we heard the dongdong of an approaching bell. The peliqueiros!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! People quickly made a path for them, since they run back and forth swinging a stick. Look out! Seriously, if you get in their way they will hit you. Hard. From my side of the path I was able to dodge them every round. Not actually running off was about as dangerous as I get. They did hit my friend though and her mouth bled a bit! That was enough excitement for us, and we left before the ants made an appearance. They were taking forever, anyways. But traditionally they aggravate the ants by putting vinegar on them and then they throw them into the crowd. Then, others walk around with parts of bushes and whack people with them. Although I wish we had gotten to see it, I'm also grateful I didn't have to suffer haha. Also, on the way back to the car, there was a peliqueiro on his own so I got a picture! Aw, yeah! The creepiest part of them I think is their painted on smiles. So they are mercilessly beating someone with a smile on their faces. Maniacal.

At our final stop, Xinzo de Limia, the sun was already setting. There were plenty of people around, this time everyone was dressed up, so we fit in. The pantallas have a totally different vibe. They carry around inflated pig bladders and dance through the street, jingling (smaller bells than the peliqueiros). They don't hit you with the bladders, but smack them together to make a BOOM sound. Also, there were a few little kids dressed as pantallas--adorable! So we enjoyed the fun ambiance and then headed home. But don't think we went to bed. No, no, no! After all it was Entroido!! We had dinner and headed out for a night on the town. After seeing so many costumes in Ourense, Lugo's Carnival was a bit disappointing. I mean, a lot of people were dressed up, but perhaps just as many went without a costume. Lame! We made our own fun though.

This year I also went to Lugo's parade of costumes for the first time. See, even after 3 years there are still Carnival traditions to discover! The costumes were super impressive. I liked that a few of the individual costumes were made from recycled things. And they were all so elaborate. I'm glad we never signed up for the contest without seeing the competition because, madre mía, all of the costumes were so well-done! One group of at least 20 people went as the Lion King. Disney should hire them to go on tour because it was AMAZING! They had all the animals and the costumes were just like in the play. I can't imagine how 2017 will outdo this year's Carnival.