Happy Birthday to meeeeeeeeeeeee!
According to some spaniards, this is the birthday of the two swans, seeing as the number 2 looks like a swan. Anyway.....
I don´t feel that old..... and i can´t believe that i came here to Spain when I was 20........ I have grown in so many ways thats its impossible to share them with you here, which is what i had intended to share now. but i sit here infront of the computer and the page is still empty, its something very surreal, to realise that i´ve grown so much yet not be able to say how.
Has been the coldest days of the year recently, hitting the minuses. No snow in Getxo which i´m disappointed about, but i can see it on the foothills around me.
well, time to cut the cake now...!!
love from your favourite girl overseas
Janine
High Cuisine
The other week I had a 38,5º fever which was horrible, and then the flu after effects, and thankfully now i´m just left with a bad cough. That was how i spent my last week of the holidays - sick!
The 6th of January was the day that the 3 Kings (3 Wise men) give their gifts to the Spanish children, its like Sinterklaas in Holland on the 6th of December, and this is when we interchanged presents here in our flat and it was really special. I got some gorgeous heart shaped silver earings with a triskel on it (the celtic symbol of asturias) from susi.
Just had the 1st week back at work, and it was pretty good, though by Friday i was pretty tired. Saturday came around and it was a big piss-up with my saturday morning teachers during the night! We went to a very very expensive restaurant and had the chef cooking right infront of us! very nice japanese/chinese food, and for the first time in a while i went out with english speakers!!!
Our new flatmate arrived today, she is from Bolivia (so speaks spanish) and has been studying in Arkansas. She seems really cool so we´ll have a good time the 4 of us in our apartment.
Sigh, Monday tomorrow!
Kisses to all
The 6th of January was the day that the 3 Kings (3 Wise men) give their gifts to the Spanish children, its like Sinterklaas in Holland on the 6th of December, and this is when we interchanged presents here in our flat and it was really special. I got some gorgeous heart shaped silver earings with a triskel on it (the celtic symbol of asturias) from susi.
Just had the 1st week back at work, and it was pretty good, though by Friday i was pretty tired. Saturday came around and it was a big piss-up with my saturday morning teachers during the night! We went to a very very expensive restaurant and had the chef cooking right infront of us! very nice japanese/chinese food, and for the first time in a while i went out with english speakers!!!
Our new flatmate arrived today, she is from Bolivia (so speaks spanish) and has been studying in Arkansas. She seems really cool so we´ll have a good time the 4 of us in our apartment.
Sigh, Monday tomorrow!
Kisses to all
Welcome To 2007
Passing by in the New Year, the Old Port of Algorta, with roaring waves and a beautiful sunset.A few days before New Years I went to a concert in Madrid of a group called Fito & Fitipaldis. Great music, though the 4 hour drive down, then 5 hours back up at 3am in the morning was a killer! And we went knowing that the concert was sold out (15,000+ people) without tickets. We bought some off people for thier face value (tho had people offering us double), and went inside. The 4 of us that went (Mari & Mari José & José (yeah, the real names)) all had different seating arrangements on the tickets, but José who worked there managed to get us onto the floor (you needed floor tickets (which we didn´t have) to get there). Very cool concert (but you can´t beat Coldplay.....).
Spent New Years in the bars but before that, at 00:00, the fireworks went off. And wow, that was loud. I´m not talking about spectacular fireworks like you´d see in London or Sydney or Hamilton even, but i´m talking about homemade fireworks designed for one purpose only - NOISE. <<-- (my phone camera video!) It was like a war zone!! And it went on for 25 minutes, then sporadically through the night until 8am which was when I went to bed. A good night!
So now i´m enjoying the last week of my holidays, I start again with my students on monday. Not looking forward to it really.............
Until then, I hope you have all recovered from your hangovers :-)
Xmas In Xedré
My christmas was spent here.... in paradise. Click on the photo to see more.......The photos speak for me, it was great to meet everyones family, and to see a small village (45 houses) with such a tight knit community.
I enjoyed.....
>> drinking cider champagne
<< telling jokes until 3am with 3 generations of people
>> taking long walks
<< breathing pure air
>> eating lots of chocolate and sweeties and biscuits
<< eating FRESH pig, cow, and trout
>> making people happy
Felices fiestas
Me
El mejor de los viajes es el próximo
A new day has begun, and today I sent out all my Christmas greetings, so if you didn´t recieve them, email me, or maybe this will be enough for you.My 2 weeks holidays have begun, classes are over. Writing 96 reports in Spanish was a drag, but its all over - of the 76 exams I dished out, 55 passed, so it wasn´t too bad. On the last day yesterday we all sang christmas carols which was sore on the ears, but really fun.
I have a new laptop, partly thanks to the generosity of someone in particular (thankyou). I love my laptop. Its really pretty. Next on my list is a camera like my brothers, a Cannon 400D that takes photos like this, this and this. Nice work.
I am going to spend christmas in a small village in Asturias called Xedré (Gedrez in Spanish), where I have been told its snowing!!! My first white christmas!!! I´m really really excited. We´re leaving tonight and the christmas eve dinner is going to be a blast.
Merry Christmas!
Feliz Navidad!
Zorionak!
Be safe
Janine ::::: Nina ::::: Kiwi Guapa
Medievil Market Magic
Well its been a great long weekend, going out quite a bit, but also relaxing a whole lot all the same. This time last year I went to Santo Domingo de la Calzada with Markel Beth and Cameronbut we missed the medieval market, though this time with Mari Yani and Sonia (a friend, Susi´s flatmate, Susi´s sister), it was more planned, and it was fantastic.... a delight for each sense...*
Sight: the medievil village in medievil attire, completely decked out
Sounds: the clomping of hooves from the horses performing
Taste: cinnamon liquor
Touch: the squish of the jostling crowd and the silkyness of animal pelts
Smell: the aroma of herbs and spices
*
I hope you are enjoying my new and improved blogsite
Lots of love
ME
Local Travelling
Well as you can see from my new photos, I haven´t exactly been travelling much, only locally around Getxo and Bilbao. The photo you see here is a joint photo that I did with my mobile, the port/beach area where I live, 15 minutes from my house. If you click on the photo you´ll get a new set of photos.
My kids have thier exams on Monday and Tuesday, all 85 of them. And then I have to mark them and do thier reports. Not to mention my extra classes on Saturdays (which are much less stressfull because as you can see, we play a lot of games). Then Christmas here at home with Susi and Yani, and 2 weeks paid holidays! Yihoo.
The weather is deteriorating, heaps and heaps of wind. I thought my bike was going to be blown off the balcony!! This weekend its a long weekend, so I´m enjoying lazing around, saving up energy for the nights..........
Had the blood tests and xrays (hips knees and ankles), and according to the traumatologist, everything is fine. In short, he doesn´t know. So i´m being bundled off to rehabilitation, but its going to be crap again. At least I have noticed vast improvement since i stopped going to the physio, weird that. I start the rehab in January, but i have low hopes for it. Oh well.
I have to pay 1900€/$3600nz in backrent and bills. Great. Yipee. My paychecks gone!! After December i´ll be able to save properly tho. Looking forward to that. I may even get a laptop. We´ll see!!
Ok. Lots of hugs and kissesssssssssssss
Janine/Nina/Kiwi/Miss Ruys/Pitufina/Guapa
xxooxx
Quickie
ok, i don´t look the most awake in this photo, but there it is, haircut done. not much has happened lately, i have to prepare exams for 6 classes this week, so that´ll be "fun".
Haven´t had any travels, so unfortunately its a bit boring on that front. The weather is real northern spain weather, tho thankfully it hasn´t rained as much as it should have in november. the autumn so far has been splendid, tho really variable.
oh dear, i´m talking about the weather. time for that to stop.
having xrays & more blood tests in the beginning of december with my legs, that is, ankles, knees and hips; the whole package. i don´t konw what to expect, i just want my life to return back to normal. in 5 days marks the anniversary of screwing up my legs, that is to say, 1 year without running or doing exercise which i love to do, 1 year without physical freedom. its a pain. (in 2 senses).
anyway, enough moaning, and off to bed now!!!
c you
Haven´t had any travels, so unfortunately its a bit boring on that front. The weather is real northern spain weather, tho thankfully it hasn´t rained as much as it should have in november. the autumn so far has been splendid, tho really variable.
oh dear, i´m talking about the weather. time for that to stop.
having xrays & more blood tests in the beginning of december with my legs, that is, ankles, knees and hips; the whole package. i don´t konw what to expect, i just want my life to return back to normal. in 5 days marks the anniversary of screwing up my legs, that is to say, 1 year without running or doing exercise which i love to do, 1 year without physical freedom. its a pain. (in 2 senses).
anyway, enough moaning, and off to bed now!!!
c you
Nighttime Appearances
Well, life here has fallen into a good routine.
I work 30 hours a week - classes from 4 ish until 10 at night, then on saturdays 3 hours not doing much with a bunch of kids - mostly its colouring in and playing sports, in english of course.
My classes are going really well, i only have 1 class that is absolute hell. 3 hours a week of them lot is harder and more exhausting than the other 27 hours. The buggers have exams soon (which i get to set hahahahahaha) so i´ll make them work hard to be quiet.
the weekends i have, well, only 1 entire day free, and aaah it is good to relax. its a shame that the weather has gotten colder now, the central heating on, and i take a coat and scarf out, its not entirely necessary, but it gets cold waiting for the subway at 10 at night!!
recently went for a drive 2 hours away to Haro in the province below the Basque Country, called La Rioja, just to accompany a friend who wanted concert tickets for a concert there, and to have a coffee. Good evening, nice to drive around (well, be driven). Beatiful old village in the heart of the wine making province.
Things here go pretty much the same... increasing problems with my legs.... its in my hips now and today when i had to walk 30 mins i had to almost crawl into bed to rest for 30 mins after. having xrays in 2 weeks & more blood tests, and seeing a traumatologist.
thats pretty much all for me at the moment, i´ll tell you if soething exciting happens........
janiiiiiiiiiiiine
I work 30 hours a week - classes from 4 ish until 10 at night, then on saturdays 3 hours not doing much with a bunch of kids - mostly its colouring in and playing sports, in english of course.
My classes are going really well, i only have 1 class that is absolute hell. 3 hours a week of them lot is harder and more exhausting than the other 27 hours. The buggers have exams soon (which i get to set hahahahahaha) so i´ll make them work hard to be quiet.
the weekends i have, well, only 1 entire day free, and aaah it is good to relax. its a shame that the weather has gotten colder now, the central heating on, and i take a coat and scarf out, its not entirely necessary, but it gets cold waiting for the subway at 10 at night!!
recently went for a drive 2 hours away to Haro in the province below the Basque Country, called La Rioja, just to accompany a friend who wanted concert tickets for a concert there, and to have a coffee. Good evening, nice to drive around (well, be driven). Beatiful old village in the heart of the wine making province.
Things here go pretty much the same... increasing problems with my legs.... its in my hips now and today when i had to walk 30 mins i had to almost crawl into bed to rest for 30 mins after. having xrays in 2 weeks & more blood tests, and seeing a traumatologist.
thats pretty much all for me at the moment, i´ll tell you if soething exciting happens........
janiiiiiiiiiiiine
June, I Double Promise
Well. Sorry for the delay. It has been a long delay..... Sorry.
Ok, I have a job, well, 2 actually, 1 teaching 27 hours/week of English to 90 students (distributed in 9 classes, ages from 6 to 40ish), basically 5 hours a day from 4/5ish until 10. This is in Sopelana, 4 metro stops away. Its a really nice modern building, and cool teachers (3 from spain, one from scotland). i have a good time there! And a second small job on saturday mornings where i basically play and entertain 7/8 year olds... painting, playing sports etc, "creating a fun environment" to learn English. Both jobs pay well, and both jobs have a contract until June..... therefore I come home in June. I´m extatic about staying, tho i realise there were many awaiting my return around xmas. I´m really sorry, but while i´m here i´d love to take advantage of this opportunity.
I come home in June, and finish my degree july-februrary at waikato. After that, who knows.... maybe i return here.
In other news.......... the tendontitis has spread to my knees, my legs are a mess. This is severely dissappointing, and tomorrow i´m phoning a new doctor. I´m sick of not being able to do stuff.... i haven´t run, danced, hiked, etc in 11 months. And most of you all know me as an outdoor person, so this totally sucks, i get very very frustrated.
In more news....... i smell lunch cooking and i have to go and prepare my classes today.
i hope all goes well, and that all is going well.
Happy Birthday Erica!!!!!
&
Farewell Markel!!!!! (he´s off to the USA, buena suerte amigo)
Ok, I have a job, well, 2 actually, 1 teaching 27 hours/week of English to 90 students (distributed in 9 classes, ages from 6 to 40ish), basically 5 hours a day from 4/5ish until 10. This is in Sopelana, 4 metro stops away. Its a really nice modern building, and cool teachers (3 from spain, one from scotland). i have a good time there! And a second small job on saturday mornings where i basically play and entertain 7/8 year olds... painting, playing sports etc, "creating a fun environment" to learn English. Both jobs pay well, and both jobs have a contract until June..... therefore I come home in June. I´m extatic about staying, tho i realise there were many awaiting my return around xmas. I´m really sorry, but while i´m here i´d love to take advantage of this opportunity.
I come home in June, and finish my degree july-februrary at waikato. After that, who knows.... maybe i return here.
In other news.......... the tendontitis has spread to my knees, my legs are a mess. This is severely dissappointing, and tomorrow i´m phoning a new doctor. I´m sick of not being able to do stuff.... i haven´t run, danced, hiked, etc in 11 months. And most of you all know me as an outdoor person, so this totally sucks, i get very very frustrated.
In more news....... i smell lunch cooking and i have to go and prepare my classes today.
i hope all goes well, and that all is going well.
Happy Birthday Erica!!!!!
&
Farewell Markel!!!!! (he´s off to the USA, buena suerte amigo)
It´s Back
Oh yeah, you know what time it is
Oh yeah, you know what is occupying all my bandwidth
Oh yeah, you know what just kicked off its 3rd season
Oh yeah, you know I´m obsessed
Oh yeah, you know I´m more obsessed with this programme more than I was with Button Moon
Oh yeah........ it´s back
Oh yeah, I´m in heaven.........................
Oh yeah, you know what is occupying all my bandwidth
Oh yeah, you know what just kicked off its 3rd season
Oh yeah, you know I´m obsessed
Oh yeah, you know I´m more obsessed with this programme more than I was with Button Moon
Oh yeah........ it´s back
Oh yeah, I´m in heaven.........................
English Village
Well, my week long adventure is over. And it was very cool.
You´ll have to excuse the jumpy aroundness of this email, its due to the fact i just ate an entire mango. and lots of chocolate. my stomach is doing some interesting somersaults.
I did a Pueblo Inglés, which in english is English Village. I went to a 4 star hotel near a beautiful town called La Alberca near Salamanca. The climate was amazing, as here i am seen jumping (no i´m no kneeling) into our pristine pool during siesta (nap) time. I stayed in an awesome place, buffet breakfast, lunch & dinner 3 courses, exquisite food (& free wine) it was too. I shared my little house with Irene from Burgos who works in DVD sales for Warner Bros in Spain. I had my own room with bathroom and we shared a lounge. The photos i have up show more about the place.... but it was the people that really made the experience.
So my "job" was to speak English to the Spaniards who had paid nz$4000 to come here for 1 week. It wasn´t really a job at all.... i just made more effort to converse than i normally would speak. And it was fantastic, there were only a few "cobweb moments" as we came to call moments of silence (you find yourself staring up at the cobwebs in the ceiling). (but there were no cobwebs). The 22 spaniards came from many works of life, tho all professionals (lots of lawyers and sales reps), and were all really easy to talk to. And the other Anglos (english speakers) on the programme were really funky people also, a mix of aussies, poms, americans, canadian, irish, and even a south african from israel.
The week flew by and then i was in madrid meeting up with Vanesa who used to live in Bilbao, and i spent the night and day with her and her sister Mari José. I had a really fun time, unfortunately i was so tiredddddddddddd. So i caught the night bus from madrid to bilbao (5 hours) and crawled into my bed at 7am surprising a shocked spaniard hehehehehehehehehehe.
Such is life.
Life is beautiful.
I´m living a wonderful life.
(Um, unfortunately i´m still jobless, so i´m living a wonderful poor life at the moment hehehehe) (thanks mim)
JaNina
You´ll have to excuse the jumpy aroundness of this email, its due to the fact i just ate an entire mango. and lots of chocolate. my stomach is doing some interesting somersaults.
I did a Pueblo Inglés, which in english is English Village. I went to a 4 star hotel near a beautiful town called La Alberca near Salamanca. The climate was amazing, as here i am seen jumping (no i´m no kneeling) into our pristine pool during siesta (nap) time. I stayed in an awesome place, buffet breakfast, lunch & dinner 3 courses, exquisite food (& free wine) it was too. I shared my little house with Irene from Burgos who works in DVD sales for Warner Bros in Spain. I had my own room with bathroom and we shared a lounge. The photos i have up show more about the place.... but it was the people that really made the experience.
So my "job" was to speak English to the Spaniards who had paid nz$4000 to come here for 1 week. It wasn´t really a job at all.... i just made more effort to converse than i normally would speak. And it was fantastic, there were only a few "cobweb moments" as we came to call moments of silence (you find yourself staring up at the cobwebs in the ceiling). (but there were no cobwebs). The 22 spaniards came from many works of life, tho all professionals (lots of lawyers and sales reps), and were all really easy to talk to. And the other Anglos (english speakers) on the programme were really funky people also, a mix of aussies, poms, americans, canadian, irish, and even a south african from israel.
The week flew by and then i was in madrid meeting up with Vanesa who used to live in Bilbao, and i spent the night and day with her and her sister Mari José. I had a really fun time, unfortunately i was so tiredddddddddddd. So i caught the night bus from madrid to bilbao (5 hours) and crawled into my bed at 7am surprising a shocked spaniard hehehehehehehehehehe.
Such is life.
Life is beautiful.
I´m living a wonderful life.
(Um, unfortunately i´m still jobless, so i´m living a wonderful poor life at the moment hehehehe) (thanks mim)
JaNina
Missing Home
These past few weeks i´ve been missing home. Which is a little weird because i haven´t missed it that much during the past year. Ah, which reminds me, in Granada I celebrated 1 year away from NZ, which probably sparked this want for NZ. Which reminds me that yes i have finally bought my ticket home. Unfortunately due to sky rocketing prices it had to be after xmas, but luckily before new years eve. So we will meet again!!!! Fear not!!!!
So i´m sitting here in my lounge watching NZ getting its arse kicked by the Spanish basketball team in the world cup in Japan, quite possibly increasing my homelyness. I´m not calling it homesickness because its not that, but its something there.
Recently there were the festivals in a part of Algorta where i live, and there was a mini parade with about 20 groups - 2 of which were performing the maori haka!!! one group was more specialised with the "flax" skirts etc, and they did
a face off with the new haka and the old haka. It was the first time i´ve seen the new haka and i don´t like it! I like the old one a million times over the new one, plus i was the only one singing along in 
the crowd. The photo on the left is of Tibu, one of my friends, more friends with Markel than me. His group did awesome!Listening to Evermores new album Real Life and i´m loving it. So talented those 3 boys are.
My flatmate Gema, the journalist who is doing an internship in El Correo, the 4th biggest newspaper in Spain, is going to write a report on New Zealand!!! Yihooooooooooo! If you guys have any fantastic photos that you have taken yourself please send them to me and lets see if they´re good enought to make it into the saturday edition..... I have a few family photos, but seeing as Willoughby my (idiot) brother formatted our family computer without saving any of my stuff (documents, uni stuff, videos, photos...) i now am left with nothing. :-(
Well, I have a mini job in Salamanca, 8 hours away, teaching english for 1 week to business executives. Well, teaching kind of, i am there to talk english to them in an English Village. Looks to be very interesting, with lodgings and meals and bus all paid for. So here´s to getting a bit of experience!!!!!!
Wintery weather here, storms and low temperatures and miserable Hamilton weather. Just like you´re having now i imagine? Well at least we get soaring temeratures next week... hehehe.
Fantastic Granada
Well, I was blown away by Granada.
Stunned.
Incredibled. Wait thats not a word.
Thats because words fail to describe Granada.
Hence i took LOTS of photos. You can see them here.
Lets just say i did lots of walking around La Alhambra, a mix of christian and moorish (from north africa) palaces and fortresses and castles and gardens that were built between the 12th and 15th century. Its fantastic. I loved it.
The photos explain it all.
I love the bee one. perfect timing!!
well, i´m back home in Getxo now, and i really really have to find a job. i blew the budget on my trip........... i´m in debt for the first time in my life (excluding my debt to the government... oh jeez don´t remind me about that....)...... thank goodness i don´t have to pay rent every month, instead it gets lumped into one giant sum in december. oh crap, december.
sigh.
my holiday now just a memory!!! i want more holidays!!!!!!
hehehe, the cat just twitched next to me.
ok guys, enjoy the photos. i know there are lots. be patient. i enjoyed taking them, i hope you enjoy watching them.
Stunned.
Incredibled. Wait thats not a word.
Thats because words fail to describe Granada.
Hence i took LOTS of photos. You can see them here.
Lets just say i did lots of walking around La Alhambra, a mix of christian and moorish (from north africa) palaces and fortresses and castles and gardens that were built between the 12th and 15th century. Its fantastic. I loved it.
The photos explain it all.
I love the bee one. perfect timing!!
well, i´m back home in Getxo now, and i really really have to find a job. i blew the budget on my trip........... i´m in debt for the first time in my life (excluding my debt to the government... oh jeez don´t remind me about that....)...... thank goodness i don´t have to pay rent every month, instead it gets lumped into one giant sum in december. oh crap, december.
sigh.
my holiday now just a memory!!! i want more holidays!!!!!!
hehehe, the cat just twitched next to me.
ok guys, enjoy the photos. i know there are lots. be patient. i enjoyed taking them, i hope you enjoy watching them.
Camels Snakes Spiders & Dolphins
All were creatures discovered through my trip to Tangier, Morocco. Wow. So overwhelming. I can't wait to put my photos up. At my current hostel in Granada i can't, so thats a bit dumb. When i get home in 2 nights i'll put them up.
anyway.
CAMELS. got a bit seasick on the 30 min ferry, then straight into the tour bus (there was no way i was doing morocco on my own) where we were taken to ride camels!!!! they are awkwardly graceful and didn't spit at me which was nice.
SNAKES. taken around very very windy and narrow streets, with vendors trying to sell us everything under the sun, and i mean everything (apart from hashish (a moroccan specialt) lamented one tourist), and were very very pushy about it. saying a firm no and walking away wasn't enough. you couldn't escape! i didn't buy anything from them tho. hehehehe i won. We were led to a snake charmer and i got the snake around my neck. its very slimey and cold. not a nice feeling. then on to lunch which was shish kebab and kuskus with mint tea afterwards to help indigestion. very nice restaurant with a band playing traditional arabian music. then more winding walking and we were taken to many bazaars with carpets and spices galore.
SPIDERS. ok so i'm exagerating this one, i had a spider on my hotel pillow. hehehehe. i spent the afternoon by the hotel pool, and this was one really really nice pool. i did venture out to the beach, (the hotel was beachfront ***) but the hissing and stares as i simply walked along made me really uncomfortable. i was the only blonde on the beach, and i'm not exagerating. 95% of the people were men and that made me feel even weirder. i didn't last 30 mins before i went back to the safety of the hotel. a nice buffet dinner and then a $60nz call from the hotel phone to spain, then bed.
DOLPHINS. i ate dolphin for breakfast. nah just kidding. i ate crepes. walked around for half an hour in town, quite bravely i might add, and then back on the ferry to Spain. on the way there were a few pods of dolphins!!! they swam happily along but alas i did not get a photo.
and that was my trip! then there was more, obviously, but i have a line behind me for the internet so that'll have to do so far!!!
adiossssssssssssssss
muchos besos
nehi dut futsis
anyway.
CAMELS. got a bit seasick on the 30 min ferry, then straight into the tour bus (there was no way i was doing morocco on my own) where we were taken to ride camels!!!! they are awkwardly graceful and didn't spit at me which was nice.
SNAKES. taken around very very windy and narrow streets, with vendors trying to sell us everything under the sun, and i mean everything (apart from hashish (a moroccan specialt) lamented one tourist), and were very very pushy about it. saying a firm no and walking away wasn't enough. you couldn't escape! i didn't buy anything from them tho. hehehehe i won. We were led to a snake charmer and i got the snake around my neck. its very slimey and cold. not a nice feeling. then on to lunch which was shish kebab and kuskus with mint tea afterwards to help indigestion. very nice restaurant with a band playing traditional arabian music. then more winding walking and we were taken to many bazaars with carpets and spices galore.
SPIDERS. ok so i'm exagerating this one, i had a spider on my hotel pillow. hehehehe. i spent the afternoon by the hotel pool, and this was one really really nice pool. i did venture out to the beach, (the hotel was beachfront ***) but the hissing and stares as i simply walked along made me really uncomfortable. i was the only blonde on the beach, and i'm not exagerating. 95% of the people were men and that made me feel even weirder. i didn't last 30 mins before i went back to the safety of the hotel. a nice buffet dinner and then a $60nz call from the hotel phone to spain, then bed.
DOLPHINS. i ate dolphin for breakfast. nah just kidding. i ate crepes. walked around for half an hour in town, quite bravely i might add, and then back on the ferry to Spain. on the way there were a few pods of dolphins!!! they swam happily along but alas i did not get a photo.
and that was my trip! then there was more, obviously, but i have a line behind me for the internet so that'll have to do so far!!!
adiossssssssssssssss
muchos besos
nehi dut futsis
The Rasmus
well, the trip has begun. actually i´m halfway thru it now, and have some photos up too.
for the meantime i´ll tell you about the beginning.
so, flew to málaga in the south of spain, stayed the night in a hostal but could only sleep 2 hours (heat!!!), then took the bus tu fuengirola, a nice midway stop on the beach before heading off to my real desination of Estepona.
no estepona isn´t a resort destination nor is it well developed, which makes it FANTASTIC. a nice tranquil beach town that is about to get rocked by one of my favourite bands, the finnish group The Rasmus, in the local bull ring.
the spanish warm up band was good, but the real fun came when the 4 rocked out on stage and played for a long time, thier hits, thier two albums, and some earlier ones. i knew every word. i was very proud. and lauri the lead singer was so hoooooooooooooot. is so hot. mmmmmmm, lauri.
ahem.anyway. seeing as i didn´t have accomodation afterwards i hit an all nighter, bought the book deception point by dan brown (author of the da vinci code etc) and read it all that night sitting in the terrace of an all night bar and talking for an hour on the phone with susi.
made it to sunrise and wow what a beautiful sunrise it was. so relaxing. then onto my next destination, gibraltar, the small english colony/territory on the tip of spain that "controls" the gibraltar strait between europe and africa. so everything was in english, even the weather as it became cloudy the next morning and i was a bit pissed off because i wanted to go up the rock, because gibraltar basically is just a rock.
observations in gibraltar: # the prices are scandalous. not only are they in brittish pounds, but its a holiday destination, and they have to be imported. # it was wonderful to drink normal fanta orange # even better to eat aero mint chocolate # all dairies are owned by indians # i could see morocco/africa # i had a big big english breakfast # everytying was very brittish and evreythying including bars etc closed at 11 when i went out for dinner. so no dinner for me, just an apple and skittles.
it was weird talking in english. but SO good to sleep. from friday 11am until sunday 11am when i checked in to my english hotel, i´d only slept 2.5 hours. thats 48 hours with only 2.5 hours sleep. man wsa i tired. but functioning!!!!
next on to tarifa, the most southern part of Spain, and here its windsurf and kitesurf capital. very nice place, lots of beaches and a nice little historic area also.
missing a lot of people, mostly my beautiful spaniard who´s at home from work with an injured shoulder, while i´m out here lazing on beaches. sigh.
and i miss friends and family. dad and wibly and nan i hope you all enjoy western samoa.
and the rest of you, well, email me or something.
hehehehe
ciao for now, i´ll write again when i get back from morocco.... oh yeah, i´m going there tomorrow for a night. should be very very interesting!!!!!!!
adiós!
for the meantime i´ll tell you about the beginning.
so, flew to málaga in the south of spain, stayed the night in a hostal but could only sleep 2 hours (heat!!!), then took the bus tu fuengirola, a nice midway stop on the beach before heading off to my real desination of Estepona.
no estepona isn´t a resort destination nor is it well developed, which makes it FANTASTIC. a nice tranquil beach town that is about to get rocked by one of my favourite bands, the finnish group The Rasmus, in the local bull ring.
the spanish warm up band was good, but the real fun came when the 4 rocked out on stage and played for a long time, thier hits, thier two albums, and some earlier ones. i knew every word. i was very proud. and lauri the lead singer was so hoooooooooooooot. is so hot. mmmmmmm, lauri.
ahem.anyway. seeing as i didn´t have accomodation afterwards i hit an all nighter, bought the book deception point by dan brown (author of the da vinci code etc) and read it all that night sitting in the terrace of an all night bar and talking for an hour on the phone with susi.
made it to sunrise and wow what a beautiful sunrise it was. so relaxing. then onto my next destination, gibraltar, the small english colony/territory on the tip of spain that "controls" the gibraltar strait between europe and africa. so everything was in english, even the weather as it became cloudy the next morning and i was a bit pissed off because i wanted to go up the rock, because gibraltar basically is just a rock.
observations in gibraltar: # the prices are scandalous. not only are they in brittish pounds, but its a holiday destination, and they have to be imported. # it was wonderful to drink normal fanta orange # even better to eat aero mint chocolate # all dairies are owned by indians # i could see morocco/africa # i had a big big english breakfast # everytying was very brittish and evreythying including bars etc closed at 11 when i went out for dinner. so no dinner for me, just an apple and skittles.
it was weird talking in english. but SO good to sleep. from friday 11am until sunday 11am when i checked in to my english hotel, i´d only slept 2.5 hours. thats 48 hours with only 2.5 hours sleep. man wsa i tired. but functioning!!!!
next on to tarifa, the most southern part of Spain, and here its windsurf and kitesurf capital. very nice place, lots of beaches and a nice little historic area also.
missing a lot of people, mostly my beautiful spaniard who´s at home from work with an injured shoulder, while i´m out here lazing on beaches. sigh.
and i miss friends and family. dad and wibly and nan i hope you all enjoy western samoa.
and the rest of you, well, email me or something.
hehehehe
ciao for now, i´ll write again when i get back from morocco.... oh yeah, i´m going there tomorrow for a night. should be very very interesting!!!!!!!
adiós!
Hot?
When i say hot, in my post before, i mean HOT.
26degrees minimum during the night and during the day the thermometers read 38º but the official papers record 32º .
And to think in a few days i go further south..........
26degrees minimum during the night and during the day the thermometers read 38º but the official papers record 32º .
And to think in a few days i go further south..........
Heat Wave
Days of heat. Lots of heat. A wave some would say.
This means lots of going to the beach, and getting nicely tanned and relax. Relax being the key word.
R
E
L
A
X
This means not doing too much, which means i don´t have too much to write.
Going to get a job (probably) teaching english when i get back from my south of spain, Anadalucían trip, on the 1st of august. but school starts for the little ones in september, so i may not even get something until then. I´m not too fussed at the moment, just trying to recover still from the tendonitis, tests etc from the doctor are ok, but i´m still on medication, and well, we´ll see.
Anyway, back to watching TV. In this heat its best to stay inside.
Chao
This means lots of going to the beach, and getting nicely tanned and relax. Relax being the key word.
R
E
L
A
X
This means not doing too much, which means i don´t have too much to write.
Going to get a job (probably) teaching english when i get back from my south of spain, Anadalucían trip, on the 1st of august. but school starts for the little ones in september, so i may not even get something until then. I´m not too fussed at the moment, just trying to recover still from the tendonitis, tests etc from the doctor are ok, but i´m still on medication, and well, we´ll see.
Anyway, back to watching TV. In this heat its best to stay inside.
Chao
Running With The Bulls
I am alive.
So is the other New Zealander who ran with the bulls but got gored in the left thigh, i´m surprised the nz media weren´t able to release his details, anyway he got gored in the left thigh, still in hospital, and is called David McBell Toby.
Anyway, my story.
I didn´t plan on running, mainly because i still can´t run due to my tendonitis. after a long night of partying the night before, 1 hour of sleep in the crack of 2 beds pushed together (but i can´t really complain because at least i had a place to sleep, the other however many thousands of people here sleep in the park or don´t sleep), and went into the center city to get the party going again. from the hostel to the run area was like travelling through a cloud of foam, the grounds of all the parks and streets were COVERED in rubbish, mainly plastic bags and cups that people carried thier alcohol in.
got to my place at 645am, and stood waiting by the fence for just over an hour, with the running starting at 8am. my two f
riends from usac last semester Mike and Phil were running but i didn´t see them because it was really really hard to see anything. if you want to see the action you need to be on the fence (i was 3 people back) or on the balconies over the streets. the run was over very quick, 3 minutes in total, and the saturday run was a very clean one, no gorings or injuries. so the run ´finishes´ and people start climbing over the fences to make their way into the bullring to see the bulls finished off. i followed of course, but all of a sudden a bull comes swanking by me. wow what panic i felt!!!!!!!!! saw it coming out of the corner of my eye, it got close, 2 meters or so, and i turned and jumped on the fence. what a rush, i think i will run the next time i´m there, there is something about it thats exciting!!!!!!!!
Initially i was going to stay another night but i was way too tired and sore in my tendons so i hopped on the bus home (after standing in line at the bus station at least 1/2an hour).
The experience was really cool, but it didn´t meet my expectations, i was a little disappointed, mainly because i couldn´t see the run (the photos you see are not what i saw, they were taken by me on my tiptoes with my arm stretched between 2 peoples heads), and because i wasn´t in the party mood the night before.
next time i´ll have my own bed, be completely in red and white (white
pants and top, red scarf and tied belt), go two nights (one for partying/watching the bulls, the other for relaxing/running), and get a get into the bullring at the end. Ah, and go shopping more (of course).
and that was my exciting weekend.
-------
In other news, i quit the job at the bar, it was destroying my tendons and my social life, and my sleeeeeeeeep. nicely added to my pocket, very nicely indeed, but i prefer my health than money. it was a stressfull 5 days, working 52 hours, with everything new from making the drinks, to remembering what they´re called, to using formal spanish (i´ve never used it before, only to talk to old people on the street asking directions).
next friday i´m going to málaga for The Rasmus concert, and i´m staying in the area of southern spain for 10 days visiting Granada, Tarifa (the most southern point of Spain), Gibraltar (English territory in spain controling the Gibraltar Strait of the mediterranean) (just going there to eat a mince and cheese pie, i´m killing for a pie (they´re not sold in spain), and fish ´n´ chips. they had better be good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i might take a day trip to Morocco (Africa), tho i´m not sure. All in all, i´m looking forward to some sun and beaches!!!!!!
signing off ----- janina
So is the other New Zealander who ran with the bulls but got gored in the left thigh, i´m surprised the nz media weren´t able to release his details, anyway he got gored in the left thigh, still in hospital, and is called David McBell Toby.
Anyway, my story.
I didn´t plan on running, mainly because i still can´t run due to my tendonitis. after a long night of partying the night before, 1 hour of sleep in the crack of 2 beds pushed together (but i can´t really complain because at least i had a place to sleep, the other however many thousands of people here sleep in the park or don´t sleep), and went into the center city to get the party going again. from the hostel to the run area was like travelling through a cloud of foam, the grounds of all the parks and streets were COVERED in rubbish, mainly plastic bags and cups that people carried thier alcohol in.
got to my place at 645am, and stood waiting by the fence for just over an hour, with the running starting at 8am. my two f
riends from usac last semester Mike and Phil were running but i didn´t see them because it was really really hard to see anything. if you want to see the action you need to be on the fence (i was 3 people back) or on the balconies over the streets. the run was over very quick, 3 minutes in total, and the saturday run was a very clean one, no gorings or injuries. so the run ´finishes´ and people start climbing over the fences to make their way into the bullring to see the bulls finished off. i followed of course, but all of a sudden a bull comes swanking by me. wow what panic i felt!!!!!!!!! saw it coming out of the corner of my eye, it got close, 2 meters or so, and i turned and jumped on the fence. what a rush, i think i will run the next time i´m there, there is something about it thats exciting!!!!!!!!Initially i was going to stay another night but i was way too tired and sore in my tendons so i hopped on the bus home (after standing in line at the bus station at least 1/2an hour).
The experience was really cool, but it didn´t meet my expectations, i was a little disappointed, mainly because i couldn´t see the run (the photos you see are not what i saw, they were taken by me on my tiptoes with my arm stretched between 2 peoples heads), and because i wasn´t in the party mood the night before.
next time i´ll have my own bed, be completely in red and white (white
pants and top, red scarf and tied belt), go two nights (one for partying/watching the bulls, the other for relaxing/running), and get a get into the bullring at the end. Ah, and go shopping more (of course).and that was my exciting weekend.
-------
In other news, i quit the job at the bar, it was destroying my tendons and my social life, and my sleeeeeeeeep. nicely added to my pocket, very nicely indeed, but i prefer my health than money. it was a stressfull 5 days, working 52 hours, with everything new from making the drinks, to remembering what they´re called, to using formal spanish (i´ve never used it before, only to talk to old people on the street asking directions).
next friday i´m going to málaga for The Rasmus concert, and i´m staying in the area of southern spain for 10 days visiting Granada, Tarifa (the most southern point of Spain), Gibraltar (English territory in spain controling the Gibraltar Strait of the mediterranean) (just going there to eat a mince and cheese pie, i´m killing for a pie (they´re not sold in spain), and fish ´n´ chips. they had better be good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i might take a day trip to Morocco (Africa), tho i´m not sure. All in all, i´m looking forward to some sun and beaches!!!!!!signing off ----- janina
Brendan´s Isle
Well folks, this is where i work, the Irish pub in Sopelana called Brendan´s Isle. Its a cool pub, cozy, nice clientele, good location, and we´re in the middle of sopelana´s fiestas, that is, the mad mad drinking week for sopelana where its fun fun fun with stalls, concerts etc etc. And me, starting new in a pub. I have never worked in hospitality before, i will make that clear. I have never worked in a foreign country before either. Nor even heard of half the drinks they have here even tho they are in english. So everything is new new new and i´m learning pretty well i reckon. This is the bar where vanesa one of my friends works, which is how i came by the job, just helping out for this week for starters.and what a lot of work the first 3 days so far. 11 consecutive hours on my first day, 10 yesterday, and 10.5 today. My feet are murdering me, but i´m thankfull for it because it masks the pain of my tendonitis. Well actually my fisio is a bit astounded that so much work (with no sitting down and only 30mins for lunch) hasn´t killed my legs yet. so i´m good! but tired, jeeeez, starting at 815 everyday.
ok. going to take a nap now, man i´m tired, and another 10 hours tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!! ah, and tonight i go out to enjoy the fiestas hehehehehhehehehehehehehehehehehe.
good night!!!
janine
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