Pesadilla en la Cocina

Who has watched the cooking show 'Kitchen Nightmares?' I haven't. But apparently there is a Spanish equivalent called 'Pesadilla en la cocina', which I experienced last night in Marbella.

So Ana, a friend of mine from the rugby team, used to work in film production, and still has friends in the business. Thus, when they needed people to fill up the restaurant in Marbella she was called by a friend and she, Carlos (the other player from La Linea) and I went to kick start my television career, practicing my food evaluation vocabulary in Spanish. We drove the hour to Marbella, parked and got to the restaurant just in time. We signed the image rights wavers, heard the speech about participating and saying whatever we thought about the food. Then...we waited outside in the chilly night air for an hour and half...our first taste of the experience to come. We were the last group to go into the restaurant, as they were letting people in one group at a time to make it look natural. When we finally went in it was very exciting, there were cameras all over the restaurant and sound people and microphones...
We sat down, got some wine and appetizers (free food yeah!) and ordered our starters. They came about 15 minutes later. Then we waited another 20 minutes for our entrees, and I was pretty excited because I was going to try my first paella. As we waited it was becoming clear that the restaurant was emptying, the earlier groups having finished already. But the waitress assured us that it wasn't a problem, they'd stay with us. The food finally arrived and I had taken two steaming bites of the paella when we were told by the production team that we needed to leave. (Ana didn't know anyone on the actual crew, she knew a guy that worked for the company that does the show). So we had to stand up and leave our delicious food on the table. The saddest thing. Ana gave them a piece of her mind on our way out. I was too confused about what was happening to react properly. I was actually 'shooed' out by the head of production, who according to Ana's friend is a real asshole and causes a lot of problems.
So in the end of it all, we were not interviewed, the only way I will be caught on screen is on my trip to the bathroom or my back as they interviewed the table behind me. We drove for two hours and waited an hour and a half outside for a glass of wine, two shared starters and two bites of paella. Shiiiiiiiit.
We ended the night at Burger King getting a cone of soft serve. The United States comes through!
In other news, this weekend I went to Malaga with my rugby team here and although I didn't play (normal running is fine (I ran 8 miles today!) the sprinting and contact of rugby is still a slightly dubious idea) I had a great time. The feeling of family on a rugby team seems to translate to all cultures.

A Parade For Me!

I am checking in from a cozy bed in a lovely 10 bed hostel room in Malaga, Costa del Sol, Spain. Back to 17 degree temperatures and palm trees-vacation is over. Hahahahaha my life is great. But actually, when I got off the train in Malaga, the air smelled like olive oil and the streets were full of people and families walking at a leisurely pace and I could understand what they were saying to each other, and I was so happy. I had quite the spring in my step as I made my way towards my hostel. There were marching bands playing and parades passing by, candy being tossed like rice after a wedding...it was like my life was a musical, homecoming celebration!
The parade part and all that is actually real. Tomorrow is Los Tres Reyes, the three kings, which is just as important as Christmas here in Spain. This is what all of the hullabahloo was about, also the reason there were so many strollers and children everywhere. Very fun and colorful, balloon men and women walking around with bundles, bundles the size of a small car mind you, of helium filled cartoon characters for sale. Men on corners sugar roasting almonds. Candy tables. Waffle and donut stands. Party time! Difficult to navigate with a roller suitcase, though. I took a picture that is horribly blurry, but you get the idea.

I was winding through the back streets towards the hostel when I ran into Paloma and her parents, I couldn't believe it. First let me explain who Paloma is. On my bus to Malaga two weeks ago I sat next to her, she told me all sorts of things to do in Cadiz province, pretty places to see and good routes to do in the car. She is from around Malaga so she also gave me tips around Malaga and Nerja, where my parents and I want to go in May when they come visit (yay!). She is a nurse on a short contract in La Linea, and doesn't know if her contract will be renewed. Upon arrival to Malaga, she gave me instructions on how to get to my hostel, but when we got off she introduced me to her parents and brother who then gave me a ride to the hostel.
So this is why I cannot believe that I ran into Paloma, literally right around the block from where my hostel was. I had just gone out to get dinner after I checked in and dropped my stuff off, and there amongst the thousands of people doing last minute shopping and parade watching, we ran into each other. We chatted, said goodbye and then passed each other again 10 minutes later. 'El mundo es un pañuelo', it is a small world. They personify my experience with strangers here in Andalucia-very open and very friendly.

But my last days in Sweden/Denmark! Vera and I took a train from Lund to Helsingborg, then a ferry to Helsinger (DK). For the 20 minute ferry ride they had split their duty free sales: alcohol sales in Swedish waters, tobacco in Danish waters.

We then caught the train to Copenhagen. I had some delicious danish hotdog/sausage with really good mustard, we saw a lot of really pretty buildings, a little port area that looked like Amsterdam, and lots of post christmas sales.

(Do you think painting my nails will stop me from biting them? I don't)

(This is my cool braid beard look I invented)

Eventually we hit Mickellers (spelled more or less correctly) a really good microbrewery place. Vera got a very floral beer, I got a smoky chili porter. Both were very good, I missed microbrews. We follwed that with really good italian food and some more wandering around Copenhagen (at this point no longer sober, just very jolly and having some good nostalgia moments about our time we spent together in Peru).
Last thing I want to mention is the plane ride home. First very cool sights flying out of Copenhagen-wind mills in the water between Denmark and Sweden and the bridge that connects the two. I didn't realize this before but it goes underwater! So it looks like the bridge just disappears 3/4 of the way through. So cool!

All in all a very fun trip!

Sweden part 2

Now to go on about some of my adventures here in Sweden. Today we went to Bjarred, a town on the coast directly west of Lund, where they have white sand beach, a long dock, a lot of swans, a beautiful sunset and views to Malmo and the twisting torso and Copenhagen. We then ran and caught the bus to go to Malmo to get lunch/dinner and for me to buy some sriracha sauce. Wahoo! Now there are two important points in that last sentence. The first is obvious, I now can cook delicious spicy food with sriracha sauce, which I searched for quite a bit in Spain and did not find, Spaniards not being known for their appreciation of spicy foods. The second important point is my use of the word 'run'. I haven't written since my tragic accident on the 11th of December. I have found my achilles heel, it seems. My right pinky toe was the victim of someone's cleat in a maul at rugby practice. 2 minutes before practice ended. The worst of luck.

There was no discoloration and little swelling, so I figured in a few days I'd walk it off, lalala tough guy routine. Here I am 3+ weeks later and I am finally starting to notice some improvement. When I get back to Spain I am finally going to go see a doctor about it, but for now all I have is theories...torn ligament? A sprain? A fracture? So the great news is that I ran to the bus stop, albeit putting most of the strain on the ball of my foot and my big toe, but it doesn't feel any worse! And we ran for about 4 blocks. Hopefully this means that I will be able to start running again soon, or I might go crazy.
This is bringing up doubts about rugby though...should I keep playing and risk other injuries that would stop me from doing the marathon? Or hope for the best and do both? I don't know.

This evening we went and saw the Hobbit, which was great, although whenever the elves or the white giant spoke their subtitles were in Swedish. Also interesting is that there is assigned seating at the movie theater.

We spent New Years in Goteborg, a three hour train ride up the West coast of Sweden. Beautiful views of rocky beaches and islands and farm lands and flat flat flat. There were really cool clouds too, and one formation that looked like a dog head with it's tongue hanging out, ears back and a big smile on its face. I decided it was Red, young again and traveling with me in Sweden. Reunited again.

Goteborg is cute, the second biggest city in Sweden, with street cars and lots of old brick buildings, lots of fireworks (Red likes them now, they don't stress him out anymore). We shopped, I got some new shoes and a Swedish sweater so I fit in. Sweaters are big here. Also notable, SO MANY TALL PEOPLE HERE. I feel short all the time. It rained the whole time we were there so we watched a lot of x-factor and cooked delicious things.

Another interesting tidbit about Sweden is all of its alcohol sales are done through the government, including beer and wine. So any alcohol you want to buy is at specific stores with limited hours, closed around holidays, which as you can imagine is very frustrating to those of us who didn't plan ahead for holidays. As a result, we didn't drink too much for NYs and woke up fresh as daisies to catch the train South again.

I've eaten delicious Persian food, with lots of dried mint and a delicious type of pepper. Walked around Lund and seen their University and their churches. Gone on walks and seen Vera's old school and house and visited her old work places. She used to be a bartender bar manager and going out with her in Malmo was like going out with a celebrity, eeevvvveeererryyone knew her, and we got discounts and free entrances and free coat checks...deals. It was great. She was written up in a magazine as one of the top 6 bartenders in Sweden...I'm close to fame. We walked the streets of Malmo and saw the turning torso, a twisted building with very cool architecture.

It is now far too late, so I am going to sleep. Good night!

Sweden part 1

Happy New Year! I have been remiss in my blogging habits, what can I say, new year new start. I have much news to report, checking in from Lund, Sweden in the lovely apartment of my friend Vera and her roommate Felicia. I have been here for 10 days so far, and have four left before I head back to Spain.
I was looking for two weeks of winter and I sure as hell got them! I am ready for the blue skies and warm temperatures of southern Spain. Southern Sweden is very flat and windy, not to mention being very far north, making it very dark and cold. It is pitch black at 4 o’clock and temperatures have been hovering right around 0 degrees Celsius, with snow only one of my days here, but with enough rain to make me feel like I am in the PNW that had all of its mountains ironed out.

A Swedish Christmas! First important thing to know in one’s quest to experience a Swedish Christmas is that it is not celebrated on the 25th like it is in the US of A, but on the 24th. The 25th is the day when all of the young people go out drinking because they need a break from all the family time. So, first aspect is the food: lots of meat and pickled vegetables and herring. We had meatballs (which Vera and I made from scratch…ta da!), mini sausages and a ham roasted with mustard. Next is fish: lox with dill and lemon and pickled herring in three different sauces. A salad. Pickled baby onions. Pickles. Cherry tomatoes. Dry flatbread that made me think of matzo. Julmust, a coke-like drink with spices added to it. So. Much. Food.

Vera had her brother and her father over to have Christmas lunch/dinner with us, we ate right after the other Swedish Christmas staple…Donald Duck.
Apparently at some point it became the thing to do here to watch the Christmas Donald Duck episode, interspersed with ‘postcards’ from famous Disney movies with their best scene showed, ie. The Lady and the Tramp spaghetti scene. It was interesting. And in Swedish.
Which brings me to my next point, which is that unlike Spain, where eeeeeeeeverything is done over in Spanish, Swedish television is rarely dubbed, it just has Swedish subtitles. The reality seems to be that it isn’t really necessary to dub it because everyone speaks English. I literally have not encountered a single person here who doesn’t speak fluent English, it is absolutely amazing. I am continuously impressed by their linguistic abilities. It is interesting because it seems to have become such a part of the language that people often substitute words or phrases of English in the middle of their Swedish without thinking. It actually reminds me a lot of the way Spanish and English are mixed in Gibraltar ‘okay nos vemos tomorrow para tomarnos un coffee, venga un besito, bye!’ Crazy.

Doing Stuff that is Fun

It is Thursday night, which means my work week is over. I am pretty tired, but oh so content. I really feel like I am hitting my stride here in my making a home away from home happiness project. I mentioned before (I think) that I felt like I had been here long enough for the newness of my life here to wear off, but it still didn't have a comfortable meaningful layer to it.
Well, I have been a busy bee over here in La Linea. I joined the rugby team, which was an excellent decision, socially and recreationally. I've been to three practices so far, and I am still getting to know the rest of the team, but they are a pretty jolly group. The vocabulary was a bit of a hurdle, because the words I had looked up were the South American terms for the positions. Oops.

A mini rugby vocabulary lesson:

-placar: tackle
-ensayo: try
-forwards: delanteros/gordas (in an affectionate way)
-backs: tres cuartos
-depressiones: push-ups
-mele-scrum
-Ruck-ruck (pronouned 'rak')
-I'm just realizing right now I mixed up the order of English/Spanish on all of those...what does that tell you about my thinking patterns right now?

A teacher at Hilaire's institute, Raquel, invited me to play padel with her on Wednesdays, which fills the hole in my heart forming from separation from racket sports. Padel is wonderful, the child of tennis and raquetball and pickleball. Look it up, it is as fun as it looks.

This weekend I am going to watch the men's game in Algeciras with the ladies team...just the group of people I was looking for and didn't have two weeks ago. Talk about things taking a turn for the better! I am just so happy and grateful to be in a position linguistically and self confidence wise that allows me to pick and choose activities that I love to do in a second language. Really just pleased as a peach. And tiiiirreeddd, between school, private lessons, padel, rugby, running, weight training for injury prevention, social time with other teachers and other auxiliares...leaves Jack tired.

In other news, I went to a town called Castellar last weekend with my friend Rocio and her friends from Huelva that came to visit her. It is about 20 minutes outside of La Linea, and it is an old castle on the top of a hill that people still live inside. Very cool.

After we went to a 'venta', a countryside restaurant with local food. We had some wild boar and venison...nom.

Dead Ends and New Challenges

This weekend I had big half baked plans. Friday night we went out to The Cuban, a restaurant in Gibraltar that has very good food, fun decor, overpriced weak drinks and is location on a dock over the water. I went with a group of 13, the 8 auxiliares in La Linea plus Erin from Los Barrios, plus 4 American girls who were placed in/around Malaga that Elle and Millie met in their pre-program thing in Sevilla. We were a very jolly group. On our way back we staggered out a bit because half of the group stopped at the gas station before the border/airstrip to pick up cigarettes/gum/alcohol depending on the person. A fifth of vodka there is 3.75, whaaaaattttt, but they don't sell after 9pm, we found out, leaving some in our party SOL. I got the gum I came in for and we headed back. Once we passed security we found the rest of the group... and my crying roommate. She had jumped up on one of the plastic road barriers expecting it to be weighted, but it was empty, so it shot out from under her and she landed back on her wrist and fractured it. That took the wind out of our sails pretty quickly. Two people went with her to the sala de emergencias and the rest of us went to Molly Bloom's, the Irish bar in town.

I lasted a few more hours before I headed home. By that time Hilaire was home and in a cast up past her elbow. Talk about an awful end to her evening.

Saturday was my half baked plan with a teacher from my school to go to Castellar, a medieval castle the people live in. Principally hippies, as I have heard. But that teacher, Noelia, went back to her home city of Cadiz (Capital) to see her family, so that was a no go. I am discovering, after 24 years of trial and error, that in order for something to happen, one must plan and communicate. There is a free nugget of wisdom from me to you. We might go some time later this week...pending on my ability to plan ahead. In the end of it all, I slept instead and then went on a run. Now I have talked about my first dead end, the trip to Castellar, so it is high time to mention one of my new challenges.

Last year on Westerns rugby team we had a French exchange student, Maeva, who I did a half marathon with in January. She is back in France this year and asked me about a month ago if I were interested in doing a marathon with her and I immediately said 'no!'. Too much running, I thought. Nahh. But I kept thinking about it. I have plenty of free time here, and if I want to do a marathon at some point in my life, why not do it europe? So then I started considering it, and I had I started thinking 'I don't know if I can do it..'. And that annoyed me. There is no reason I shouldn't be able to do it! So to prove it to myself, I got back to Maeva. I'm in. April 28th (barring any sort of injury, knock wood) I will be running the Rock and Roll marathon in Madrid. Say whaaaaaat. I have been working up my miles slowly, I am up to 8.75 now. Only 17.5 miles to go...

My plan for Sunday, today, was to go to Malaga for the day to watch the women's rugby team from the University of Malaga play the University of Granada at noon, followed directly by the men's team. I was really excited, a day of rugby spectating, a new city, maybe a few beers, recipe for a delightful day right? Unfortunately I couldn't find a buddy. I generally don't like to not do things because no one else will do it with me, but traveling for 3 hours to watch a sports game in a foreign country is one of those things. And there was an 80% chance of rain today. I pulled the plug on the event, which was disappointing. They have another home game in a month, so I think I will go for a weekend trip.

But speaking of rugby, I am going to go this week to play with the newly formed women's club team in Algeciras. I emailed the Malaga team who emailed me the phone number of a player in San Roque who I called who told me she'd pass my info on to a guy in La Linea who plays in Algeciras who could give me a ride, and who texted me this morning. What a string of communication. In another language! I am a champion! And also pretty excited; I miss team sports and people who work out and are competitive. This past year has been the first since I was a toddler that I wasn't on any kind of sports team. Plus I will meet more Spanish people in their 20's. Woohoo! That is new challenge number two. That is a lot of new people to meet in Spanish, and also nerve racking is the language itself...how do you say tackle in Spanish? or spandex? Or ruck? Scrum? not to mention all of the positions on the field... They say do something everyday that scares you right? Okayyyyy

So today I decided to hike up Gibraltar for something to do, so after puttering about the house for a few hours drinking coffee and having a lazy sunday, I get ready and head out the door. Within 2 minutes of getting out the door it starts to drizzle, which two minutes later has turned into heavy rain. I stood under the eave of the building by the border and studied the clouds and things did not look promising. After 10 minutes I gave up and headed home, taking a few pictures of the center of La Linea as I went. I got home and a half hour later it stopped raining...it looked like it would rain again in a moment, but here I am an hour later and it still hasn't rained. The weather is teasing me. Ha. Ha. Very amused.

The good news is that it inspired me to write in my blog again. I will let you know how things develop this week! And Happy early Thanksgiving!

The photos below are from today in the rain; the first from the border where I waited in vain for the rain to stop, the others from the pedestrian bridge over Avenida del Ejercito. You can see the park across the street from my apartment, and the picture with the car going around the roundabout is my street, I live just behind the buildings on the left!

The central plaza, 'Plaza de la Constitucion'

Things that are different in Spain

I am reading a book my dad sent me, "A Home called Your Own" by Steve Hanna, and he has so many little observations about Spain that remind me of my experience with my host family in Argentina and my first time out of the country. This reminds me in turn of all of the small things I haven't thought to write about but which would be interesting to read about from a computer desk in North American. So here is a list of "Things that are different in Spain", big and small.

1. There is no central heating here. Not in any house I have been in. In Andalucia or Madrid. Most places don't seem to use heat except at night, during the winter, keeping the doors closed to each room.

2. Water heating is done by bombona, a propane tank. It remains off unless you need to take a shower, in which case you hold down the spark thing and twist the knob and slowly transition it to the 'on' position, a technique that takes practice.

3. Spanish apartments seem to all be built around the same pattern of a door that opens into a hall that has rooms off of it. So in our apartment there is one long hall, the kitchen is a room with a door, the living room is a room with a door, etc.

4. Apartments almost always come furnished, with everything from tables and sofas to towels and cups and cleaning supplies. There is generally one of two decor styles: a) Decorated 25 years ago by grandma and has never been updated. b) Decorated recently, and as cheaply as possible, with kitschy stuff from the US equivalent of dollar store decorations.

5. Everyone dries their clothes on the clothes line.

6. No carpets anywhere. Tile floors fo dayz.

7. If you go out in the rain without an umbrella, the whole world is concerned with your health. If you get wet, you will get sick. Without at doubt.

8. 50% of people say you can drink the tap water here, the other 50 say no. I drink tap water 50% of the time. Seems logical to me!

9. Teachers scrub it up. T shirts and shorts and sneakers, etc.

10. Teachers change classrooms, not the students.

11. Many classrooms just have blackboards, and as the teachers change rooms, they don't decorate them. So most classroom walls are blank.

12. It thunders here so much that even though there was an enormous thunder and lightning storm going on outside a class full of bored 13 year olds, not a single one looked outside when there were huge claps of thunder. I, on the other hand, was extremely distracted.

13. Breakfast is a 11:30am, lunch is at 3-5pm, and dinner is from 9-12. No joke. I've had dinner here at 1am. Followed by coffee.

14. There are two types of coffee here. Cafe con leche, or cafe solo. Coffee with milk or espresso. Period.

15. The classic breakfast here (again, eaten a bit before noon) is cafe with a tostada, which is a 6 inch piece of white baguette toasted with tomato paste and olive oil.

16. If you order drinks you get olives, at most places. I have learned to like olives.

17. Gyms close during siesta and over the weekend. Annoying.

18. People call and hang up before you pick up to confirm something, to avoid being charged for the call.

19. Roasted chestnuts are on about every 5th street corner.

20. You always kiss people on both cheeks when you greet them.

21. Teachers take and pass a test when they finish school. According to how they did on that test, they are put on a list of available teachers, with the best grades at the top. You get placed in your region when your turn comes up, so teachers have little control over the cities they live in.

22. There are a lot of strikes here.

23. That is all I can think of for now, next update: a day in the life. I bet you're on the edge of your seat!! I don't blame you!