Where to start, that is the question? Well, I guess I am on some sort of good luck streak here lately. I thought I was going to get credit for taking Management here, but the class that I was in was not the right one. Apparently I had dropped the correct one at the beginning of the year. Or so I thought! After talking to my adviser at ASU she told me that I needed the class that I had had so I was bummed out, but I kept seeing it appear on my school web-page as if I were still enrolled. On Thursday I went to the international students office and asked if I was stilled enrolled, and they reassured me that I was and that I would have to take the final exam for the class in January, Bummer NOT!!! The first good thing that has come from the crazy procrastination and lack of organization in the international students office, they did not process the paperwork to drop me from the class! I spoke with the teacher and explained the confusion to him, so he is letting me do the practical work that I missed and told me that should I have any trouble catching up to just ask him questions an turn the work in anytime before January...AWESOME. Apart from that school is still picking up steam. I have agroup project with the first year students in my Essentials of Business class, and it is like pulling teeth trying them to do anything. Too add insult to injury, I had to go to that class and meet with my class mates on Thanksgiving, I am mean come on, make me come to class on Thanksgiving, Ridiculous.
Aside from school on Thanksgiving last week was great. I had my dutch friend's Ries and Charlotte over for dinner on Wednesday night. It was nice to have some younger people over to the apartment and chat and hang out. They were really surprised when I told them that I was not going to do anything for Thanksgiving, so they invited me to their house for Thanksgiving dinner, even though they had never celebrated. I was totally thrilled. I got back from school late Thursday night and went over for the mystery dinner, I was not sure what they were going to prepare, or if they even knew how to cook! I was relieved to be treated to a wonderful dinner. There was some festive music playing, and a laptop on the living room table with a movie of a fireplace burning, damn did they out do themselves. They had made an appetizer of baguettes with sliced turkey lunch meat, cheese and pesto on it so we could have some turkey on Thanksgiving, and Ries made chicken enchiladas and a green salad for dinner. To top it all off, that night we all went out to the nightclub, JOY, that all international students go out to on Thursday nights. Turkey, chicken enchiladas, good company and dancing, for having Thanksgiving away from the family, it could not have been much better.
Friday was a relaxing day, I was supposed to have a group meeting at campus, which is about 45 min from home but it was canceled so I slept in. That afternoon Marc called me and told me that we were going to meet up to go out to dinner and a club with some friends that night. It is always fun to hang with this group, usually Marc, Ismael, Javier and I. Marc was not able to duck out of work early so Javier, Ismael and I met up in Plaza de Espana first had a drink and then went to meet up with the rest of the group. Earlier in the day, I saw on the news that they had just lit up all the Christmas lights throughout the city, so instead of taking the metro to meet up with the guy, I had a nice walk through Sol and took in the sites (pictures are up on my picasa web album, you can find a link to the right hand side of the post on my blog). We were all supposed to go to a favorite tapas bar called La Llama, but apparently Joaquin, another friend of Marc and Javier's didn't make the reservation in time, so we ended up going to an Italian restaurant chain similar to an Olive Garden, wasn't great but again, good company made it a good time. Apparently the disco that we went to was putting on some sort of fundraiser for a college that Joaquin's friend goes too, it wasn't the greatest but we enjoyed ourselves the same.
Saturday was another relaxing day. Ries and Charlotte were going to a mall that is outside of Madrid and invited me to go with them. Not usually on my top 20 things to do, hanging out at malls shopping, but it was cool because it was in a different area of the city and on the bus ride there I got to see some sights I hadn't seen before such as the leaning towers at Plaza Castilla. We got home late from this shopping adventure and instead of going out again I decided to call it a night so I would be able to wake up and study some on Sunday. Good news, I was successful in getting some reading and studying done on Sunday. I read a few chapters of my Macro Economics text and look over PowerPoint presentations for a few of my other classes as refreshers. Sunday Night I went back over to Ries' house to watch the Real-Madird vs Barcleona match. Unfortunately it was kind of boring and did not live up to the competition that it usually brings out. Madrillenos were especially not happy with the 1-0 Barcleona victory!
Well that is all for now. It was hard to crank this post out,burning out...NOPE, won't let it happen. Hope you all enjoyed the holiday weekend as much as I did and are doing well
Much Love,
Phil
Monday, November 30, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Nov 17th - Nov 23rd
Almost to 100, days away from home that is! Today the 23rd marks the 97th day gone by since leaving in August. I am glad to report that things are still good. Last week went by and things are about the same. Things are still picking up at school, with the end of the semester approaching the projects and practical assignments are starting to pile up. So far I have stayed ahead of the curve and have been stressed or kept up working too late on anything. This week I have another Marketing presentation, luckily I don't have to stand up and speak in front of the class, but my group met for a couple of hours today to put it together and get it all sorted out before tomorrow's deadline. In my Macro-Econ class I have another practical to do by Wednesday, and a project to start for my Fundamentals of Business class. Not really looking forward to the Fundamentals of Business project because it is with all first year students and they are just getting into the swing of things, but luckily i have too really good group members that are motivated, and one who is a complete bum but I guess I will find a way to deal with him somehow or other.
The weekend was pretty good and mellow. My friends Marc, who I studied at ASU with, and I went to dinner on Thursday night at an Indian restaurant near my house; and then Friday I met up with Marc, Javier (one of the guys we went to Oktoberfest with), Enrique (a friend of Marc and Javier's from High-school who happens to be one of my classmates), and Joaquin (another friend of Marc, and Javier's from High-school) to go out to dinner and then out to a discotecha. Joaquin and Enrique did not end up going to the Disco with us, but we met up with Ismael (another one of the Hooligans from Oktoberfest) and went to a club called, Lemon, because one of Ismael's was celebrating her birthday there. We stayed at the disco till about 7 am, and I was promptly woken up at 11am by some protesting Farmers near my house who had their loudspeakers out in full force; and the news helicopters seemed like they were circling right over my building! Saturday was relatively mellow, read my book around the house cooked some lunch up for me and my roommate and watched a soccer match. I was going to stay in and relax on Saturday night but Marc and Javier said they were gonna hang out and watch a series called How I Met You Mother and wanted to know if I wanted to join, so I ended up going to Marc's house to hang with them. It takes me about an hour to get out to Marc's folks house, I have to change Metro lines, go to the end of the line I change too, and then catch a bus that takes about 35 minutes to make it to Las Rozas. Marc and his parents had invited me to go watch the movie 2012 with them on Sunday, so Saturday night instead of making the late long journey back home I stayed the night and spent the day with Marc and his parents on Sunday. Marc's dad, also Javier, made a great homemade Lasagna and Caesar salad for lunch and then we went to the movies. I was not crazy about the movie but it was fun to go to it with them, and a good way to practice my Spanish because the whole movie was dubbed over into Spanish.
Well, kind of a scatter brained Post, but there ya go, my week in a nut shell unedited!...I hope that this finds everyone doing well, and that everyone has a great Thanksgiving.
Much Love Always,
Phil
P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!
The weekend was pretty good and mellow. My friends Marc, who I studied at ASU with, and I went to dinner on Thursday night at an Indian restaurant near my house; and then Friday I met up with Marc, Javier (one of the guys we went to Oktoberfest with), Enrique (a friend of Marc and Javier's from High-school who happens to be one of my classmates), and Joaquin (another friend of Marc, and Javier's from High-school) to go out to dinner and then out to a discotecha. Joaquin and Enrique did not end up going to the Disco with us, but we met up with Ismael (another one of the Hooligans from Oktoberfest) and went to a club called, Lemon, because one of Ismael's was celebrating her birthday there. We stayed at the disco till about 7 am, and I was promptly woken up at 11am by some protesting Farmers near my house who had their loudspeakers out in full force; and the news helicopters seemed like they were circling right over my building! Saturday was relatively mellow, read my book around the house cooked some lunch up for me and my roommate and watched a soccer match. I was going to stay in and relax on Saturday night but Marc and Javier said they were gonna hang out and watch a series called How I Met You Mother and wanted to know if I wanted to join, so I ended up going to Marc's house to hang with them. It takes me about an hour to get out to Marc's folks house, I have to change Metro lines, go to the end of the line I change too, and then catch a bus that takes about 35 minutes to make it to Las Rozas. Marc and his parents had invited me to go watch the movie 2012 with them on Sunday, so Saturday night instead of making the late long journey back home I stayed the night and spent the day with Marc and his parents on Sunday. Marc's dad, also Javier, made a great homemade Lasagna and Caesar salad for lunch and then we went to the movies. I was not crazy about the movie but it was fun to go to it with them, and a good way to practice my Spanish because the whole movie was dubbed over into Spanish.
Well, kind of a scatter brained Post, but there ya go, my week in a nut shell unedited!...I hope that this finds everyone doing well, and that everyone has a great Thanksgiving.
Much Love Always,
Phil
P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Nov 10th - Nov 16th
So the post is a day late, and I already have received email telling me to get on my horse and start writing this post(cough, cough, Elizabeth)!!! Here goes nothing.
Last week, was another short week at school, the only thing that I really had going on was a midterm in my Game Theory class...I have to admit some of these economic concepts don't really make sense to me, they don't seem to practical in real world applications, maybe its just me though. I think that I did pretty well on the midterm, it was somewhat difficult, but not unbearable. There was also a problem set that was due, but I had already knocked that out for the most part with one of my buddies, Miguel. The midterm was on Wednesday and Thursday morning before the Crack of Dawn I was on my way to Lisbon to spend the weekend with the family.
I left the house at 6:00a.m. which felt way too early, I don't think I have been up that early yet since I have been in Spain, unless I was still out dancing at the Disco! Luckily I woke up with my alarm and was out the door on time. The flight went smoothly and we arrived to Lisbon just ahead of schedule. Thursday morning was relatively slow, went to the market with grandma and then had an early lunch with her, Tia Nicha, and Tio Joao. After lunch Tia Nicha and I went running around trying to get an EU Health card that I need, weren't successful on the first attempt but started the process. Later in the afternoon my Grandma took me to get the Flu Vaccine, that Tia Nicha arranged for me at the pharmacy, and everyone in the Pharmacy was making fun of me because I told them I was not gonna take it without my Grandma back in the office with me! Sad, yes I know, but it is not my fault my dad passed this fear of needles onto me! hahaha thanks dad! That evening Avo(grandma), Tio Joao, and I all had dinner at home, and that night Domingos and Miguel Castello Branco picked me up to go out for a beer in Baro Alto.
Friday morning Avo and I went out again to the Market to buy stuff for lunch, we had a mess of the cousins over for a get together (Miguel, Pedro, Domingos, Francisco, Teresa). Felicia Made the soup for lunch, and Avo made one of my favorite Portuguese dishes, Grao. After a magnificent lunch we cleaned up a bit, and then went shopping. I needed to buy a warmer coat for the winter time here in Madrid, it hasn't been too bad yet but we have already been in the low thirties in the mornings a few times. We went to a shopping center called Colombo, that is just like any other mall back home. I found an awesome PeaCoat and also a nice pair of long pajamas. After shopping it was back home to drop things off, check on Felicia (our nanny) and then off again to Tia Nicha's house for a Family dinner. It was great too see nearly everyone: Tia Nicha, David, Maria, Teresa, Tio Ze, Tia Paula, Pedro, Miguel, Tio Ita, Tia Po, Domingos, Francisco, Tio Joao, Marta, and of course Avo and I! Unfortunately Tio Quin (wow, don't know if that is spelled correctly, I hope so!) and Mariana could not be there because Tio Quin was out of town, and Mariana was sick (Swine flu, Not, just the regular Flu). Pedro and Miguel invited the other cousins out to a festival at their college after dinner, and Francisco and I joined them for a while. It was a great campus and a fun little party with live music. Unfortunately it started to rain so we called it a night earlier than we otherwise would have.
Saturday was another day full of activities! In the morning Avo and I went out for a coffee and it was on the road again! Avo went to a lunch at Tia Biba's house with Tia Cheeka, and I was off to Tia Nicha's again. Tio Quin had gotten home late the night before and we all got together at the Leftover's Restaurant(I am sure Tia Nicha will get this, not sure about the rest!!!!) for a lovely meal and chat. After lunch Tia Nicha, David, Teresa, Maria and I went for a walk all the way to Pont 25 de Abril, which coincidentally looks just like the Golden Gate! It was great to get out and go for a leisurely walk. The weather was not the best, but we did not get rain drops till we were just about home, and I think that maybe only around three or four might have got me. As always it seems like there is more food in the equation, on the way home we stopped at Careca, a local Bakery - Coffee shop, and bought Croissants fresh out of the oven which were to die for for and afternoon snack. Domingos and Francisco came over for a bit to hang out, and before long it was time for Portugal to play against Bosnia in the World Cup Qualifiers. I stayed at Tia Nicha's house and watched the game with Tio Quin and David, mostly. After the game I met up with Domingos and Francisco again at their house and then we met up with some of their other Cousins, Sebastian, Martin, and Miguel Bruschy, to go out for a night on the town. We went down to the Doca's for a few drinks at an Irish Bar, and then met up with Miguel Castello Branco and a few other of his friends and went out dancing at a Discotecha called Urban Beach. I must say that we all had a blast together, but the quality of the Discotecha was not on the same level as the Disco's here in Madrid.
Well, home around 6:00a.m. on Sunday Morning and up again at 11:00. Not Ideal but had to take advantage of the little time that I had left in Portugal and spend time with Avo, and Felicia before headed back to Madrid at 3:30. We had yet another relaxing morning to end the weekend, a nice lunch together, and like a flash I was back to the airport on my way Back to Madrid. I arrived home around 6:00 completely wiped out and slept from around 8:00 straight through the night to make up for the lack of sleep the night before! It was a great weekend and now its time to get back into the grind of school.
I was finally able to fix my computer and get a bunch more pictures that are far overdue up onto the internet for all of you not on Facebook. Please look at the Picasa Albums I added too see Pictures from Oktoberfest, Dachau, and Lisbon this past weekend.
As always I hope that everyone is doing well back at home, and I wanted to give a big time shout out to my good friend Gerrit who will be competing in IronMan Arizona this weekend...may speed and warmth be with you Young Grasshopper...Have a great race and finish Strong. Also, a shout out to Matt Kipper, you are bad to the bone for rocking out another Aide Station at IronMan this year!
And, a last thought and remembrance for a good friend of our family Carol Hymes who left us a couple of weeks ago, all the memories I have with you are fond ones.
Love too Everyone!
Phil
Last week, was another short week at school, the only thing that I really had going on was a midterm in my Game Theory class...I have to admit some of these economic concepts don't really make sense to me, they don't seem to practical in real world applications, maybe its just me though. I think that I did pretty well on the midterm, it was somewhat difficult, but not unbearable. There was also a problem set that was due, but I had already knocked that out for the most part with one of my buddies, Miguel. The midterm was on Wednesday and Thursday morning before the Crack of Dawn I was on my way to Lisbon to spend the weekend with the family.
I left the house at 6:00a.m. which felt way too early, I don't think I have been up that early yet since I have been in Spain, unless I was still out dancing at the Disco! Luckily I woke up with my alarm and was out the door on time. The flight went smoothly and we arrived to Lisbon just ahead of schedule. Thursday morning was relatively slow, went to the market with grandma and then had an early lunch with her, Tia Nicha, and Tio Joao. After lunch Tia Nicha and I went running around trying to get an EU Health card that I need, weren't successful on the first attempt but started the process. Later in the afternoon my Grandma took me to get the Flu Vaccine, that Tia Nicha arranged for me at the pharmacy, and everyone in the Pharmacy was making fun of me because I told them I was not gonna take it without my Grandma back in the office with me! Sad, yes I know, but it is not my fault my dad passed this fear of needles onto me! hahaha thanks dad! That evening Avo(grandma), Tio Joao, and I all had dinner at home, and that night Domingos and Miguel Castello Branco picked me up to go out for a beer in Baro Alto.
Friday morning Avo and I went out again to the Market to buy stuff for lunch, we had a mess of the cousins over for a get together (Miguel, Pedro, Domingos, Francisco, Teresa). Felicia Made the soup for lunch, and Avo made one of my favorite Portuguese dishes, Grao. After a magnificent lunch we cleaned up a bit, and then went shopping. I needed to buy a warmer coat for the winter time here in Madrid, it hasn't been too bad yet but we have already been in the low thirties in the mornings a few times. We went to a shopping center called Colombo, that is just like any other mall back home. I found an awesome PeaCoat and also a nice pair of long pajamas. After shopping it was back home to drop things off, check on Felicia (our nanny) and then off again to Tia Nicha's house for a Family dinner. It was great too see nearly everyone: Tia Nicha, David, Maria, Teresa, Tio Ze, Tia Paula, Pedro, Miguel, Tio Ita, Tia Po, Domingos, Francisco, Tio Joao, Marta, and of course Avo and I! Unfortunately Tio Quin (wow, don't know if that is spelled correctly, I hope so!) and Mariana could not be there because Tio Quin was out of town, and Mariana was sick (Swine flu, Not, just the regular Flu). Pedro and Miguel invited the other cousins out to a festival at their college after dinner, and Francisco and I joined them for a while. It was a great campus and a fun little party with live music. Unfortunately it started to rain so we called it a night earlier than we otherwise would have.
Saturday was another day full of activities! In the morning Avo and I went out for a coffee and it was on the road again! Avo went to a lunch at Tia Biba's house with Tia Cheeka, and I was off to Tia Nicha's again. Tio Quin had gotten home late the night before and we all got together at the Leftover's Restaurant(I am sure Tia Nicha will get this, not sure about the rest!!!!) for a lovely meal and chat. After lunch Tia Nicha, David, Teresa, Maria and I went for a walk all the way to Pont 25 de Abril, which coincidentally looks just like the Golden Gate! It was great to get out and go for a leisurely walk. The weather was not the best, but we did not get rain drops till we were just about home, and I think that maybe only around three or four might have got me. As always it seems like there is more food in the equation, on the way home we stopped at Careca, a local Bakery - Coffee shop, and bought Croissants fresh out of the oven which were to die for for and afternoon snack. Domingos and Francisco came over for a bit to hang out, and before long it was time for Portugal to play against Bosnia in the World Cup Qualifiers. I stayed at Tia Nicha's house and watched the game with Tio Quin and David, mostly. After the game I met up with Domingos and Francisco again at their house and then we met up with some of their other Cousins, Sebastian, Martin, and Miguel Bruschy, to go out for a night on the town. We went down to the Doca's for a few drinks at an Irish Bar, and then met up with Miguel Castello Branco and a few other of his friends and went out dancing at a Discotecha called Urban Beach. I must say that we all had a blast together, but the quality of the Discotecha was not on the same level as the Disco's here in Madrid.
Well, home around 6:00a.m. on Sunday Morning and up again at 11:00. Not Ideal but had to take advantage of the little time that I had left in Portugal and spend time with Avo, and Felicia before headed back to Madrid at 3:30. We had yet another relaxing morning to end the weekend, a nice lunch together, and like a flash I was back to the airport on my way Back to Madrid. I arrived home around 6:00 completely wiped out and slept from around 8:00 straight through the night to make up for the lack of sleep the night before! It was a great weekend and now its time to get back into the grind of school.
I was finally able to fix my computer and get a bunch more pictures that are far overdue up onto the internet for all of you not on Facebook. Please look at the Picasa Albums I added too see Pictures from Oktoberfest, Dachau, and Lisbon this past weekend.
As always I hope that everyone is doing well back at home, and I wanted to give a big time shout out to my good friend Gerrit who will be competing in IronMan Arizona this weekend...may speed and warmth be with you Young Grasshopper...Have a great race and finish Strong. Also, a shout out to Matt Kipper, you are bad to the bone for rocking out another Aide Station at IronMan this year!
And, a last thought and remembrance for a good friend of our family Carol Hymes who left us a couple of weeks ago, all the memories I have with you are fond ones.
Love too Everyone!
Phil
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Nov 3rd - Nov 9th
Well, the weeks keeping going by quicker and quicker! Next thing you know three months will have passed by and it feels as though I left a week or two ago. This last week was also relatively slow and relaxing. School was really mellow with only one test last week and once assignment due. The test was based on relatively easy material, but the test questions were written with an extremely poor level of English, makes sense considering the teacher has enough trouble speaking the language. To do the assignment for my macroeconomics class I teamed up with a Portuguese friend of mine and we powered right through it, the assignments aren’t graded per say but you get credit if you attempt and turn in 5 of the 6 throughout the semester. We actually did really well on it; we always go over it after we turn them in in class.
I was trying to lay low for the first part of the weekend, but how could I say no to my friends who wanted to go out! Thursday night all the exchange students meet at a bar and then go out dancing afterwards...there was a DJ set being played at the Heineken Lounge by the lead singer of a group called Bloc Party and everyone wanted to check it out so we made our way over there. Upon arriving, there was a huge line but two other guys and I snuck into a small break in between two groups and slowly funneled the rest of the group, probably about 10 or 12, in with us! The show wasn’t great but hey we all had a great time together.
My buddy Ries tried to convince me to go out again Friday night but I was feeling a bit under the weather, so I decided to stay in. It has been really cold here over the weekend, and Friday I spent most of the day reading and drinking Tea trying to stay warm and just relaxing. Saturday I woke up and finished the book I started on Friday, Hornet Flight, by Ken Follett. Saturday night there was a Soccer match with Real Madrid and Atletico de Madrid playing each other, an inner city rivalry. I watched the first part at home, and the second half with friends of mine at a pub in the Center. After that we went to another club for a friend’s birthday, it was a lot of fun because once again, a bunch of the exchange students from of our University were all together.
Sunday, was another low key day, spent the day at home mostly and then went out to dinner with Marc. Although Monday was a Holiday in Madrid, school was still in session, and I had to show up! I am really looking forward to this weekend, heading to Lisbon on Thursday to spend time with the family which is always awesome.
Well, this post has been a bit scatter brained...hope it made sense!
Much Love as always from Madrid,
Phil
I was trying to lay low for the first part of the weekend, but how could I say no to my friends who wanted to go out! Thursday night all the exchange students meet at a bar and then go out dancing afterwards...there was a DJ set being played at the Heineken Lounge by the lead singer of a group called Bloc Party and everyone wanted to check it out so we made our way over there. Upon arriving, there was a huge line but two other guys and I snuck into a small break in between two groups and slowly funneled the rest of the group, probably about 10 or 12, in with us! The show wasn’t great but hey we all had a great time together.
My buddy Ries tried to convince me to go out again Friday night but I was feeling a bit under the weather, so I decided to stay in. It has been really cold here over the weekend, and Friday I spent most of the day reading and drinking Tea trying to stay warm and just relaxing. Saturday I woke up and finished the book I started on Friday, Hornet Flight, by Ken Follett. Saturday night there was a Soccer match with Real Madrid and Atletico de Madrid playing each other, an inner city rivalry. I watched the first part at home, and the second half with friends of mine at a pub in the Center. After that we went to another club for a friend’s birthday, it was a lot of fun because once again, a bunch of the exchange students from of our University were all together.
Sunday, was another low key day, spent the day at home mostly and then went out to dinner with Marc. Although Monday was a Holiday in Madrid, school was still in session, and I had to show up! I am really looking forward to this weekend, heading to Lisbon on Thursday to spend time with the family which is always awesome.
Well, this post has been a bit scatter brained...hope it made sense!
Much Love as always from Madrid,
Phil
Monday, November 2, 2009
Oct 27th - Nov 2nd
Well as usual you turn around and another week has snuck on by. This past week was action packed. School was good for the most part...a bit boring but I guess that is expected at times. Have a test or two coming up this week so studying and preparing is in the future! Can’t really think of anything at school that stood out last week to tell you all about.
On Wednesday night I went with my friend Alberto to a Salsa dancing class, it was really cool there were a bunch of people and the teacher was pretty intense and pushed the class. The class has been going for a few weeks so I am a bit behind but I felt ok out there and should be able to catch up soon! I’ll have to train hard!
On Thursday night I went out with a couple of my friends Javier and Ismael to go out dancing again, had to make sure not to stay out to late because I was leaving in the morning to spend the weekend in Alicante. Well that plan did not work out to well, but the good news is I woke up on time and did not miss my flight! I even had time to stop and pick up some flowers for my Aunt!
In Alicante I was visiting Tía Nana (My mom’s first cousin), Tío Mana (husband), Bernardo and Carolina (kids 16 and 14 respectively). It was one of the best weekends I have had since arriving in Europe. The last time I had seen them was about hmmmm, 13 years ago, so it was almost like meeting them for the first time again. Tío Mana picked me up from the airport and dropped me off at home because he and Tía Nana both had things to finish up at the office Friday afternoon. Bernardo and I shot some hoops for a while (he is an awesome basketball player) and he beat up on me during a few little games. He and Carolina had to finish some homework so I went for an aimless jog around the neighborhood. Later that evening Bernardo had basketball practice so we all dropped him off at the high school and the rest of us went to the beach with Duna, their dog to go for a walk. We played around in the sand for a while and then went to have a tapa before going back to pick up Bernardo. After a light dinner we all chatted and had a relaxing evening before calling it a night and heading to bed relatively early. By the end of the evening I felt as if I had known them all of my life and felt like I was at home almost.
The next day we had a lazy morning, before going to Alicante to tour the old part of the city. It is much smaller than Madrid and quite different. I guess I was not too impressed with the whole downtown area, but it is also under construction and there were parts that were nice but lots of new construction that didn’t really fit in. The nicest part was that the Mediterranean is right there. We had a nice lunch of tapas at a Basque restaurant before taking Bernardo to his Basketball game. It was really cool to watch him play basketball, but much different than back home I must admit. The high school team played on an outdoor court that was not maintained in the best shape, and the kids were slipping and sliding all over the place. It opened my eyes to the sports infrastructure that we have for our students in the states. Gerardo’s team dominated the game and I think he dropped around 20 - 25 points! After the game we were invited to a friends place to have a drink and check out this piece of land that they had just made into a horse back riding complex. Pierre and Iris were the couple that had us to their new facility and we enjoyed a beer over some nice conversation. We finished the day with a nice dinner of seared Tuna steaks at home and chatted away for hours.
Sunday was absolutely awesome. We woke up Sunday morning, had a quick breakfast, and headed down to the harbor because Pierre and Iris invited us to go out on their sailboat for the day. I never knew how awesome that sailing was until this year, this being my second time on a big sailboat! Pierre is an extremely advanced sailor, last year he did a Trans - Atlantic race in his boat SOLO! He had some great stories about how he was able to make it to the finish safely but not without some serious difficulties. Well anyways there were 9 of us on the boat total: Pierre, Iris, Stephen (their son), Alisette (their daughter), I forget their nephews name, Tío Mana, Tía Nana, Carolina, and I. We used the motor to go to the island because the wind was at our heads and we did not have time to fight the head winds to get their, have time for lunch, and return. Upon arrival we anchored about a hundred yards off shore and took a dingy to the island. I on the other hand decided to go for a swim because the water was not too cold, and it was crystal clear. After jumping in and swimming for a while Tía Nana decided to join me and we swam to shore. We had lunch at a nice little restaurant up on a bluff. We all enjoyed a great lunch of Paella, salad and fresh bread. After lunch we took a short walk around the small little island (800x 50 meters more or less) and then went back to the boat. On the way home we raised the main sail and a spinnaker and let the wind take us back. It was a picture perfect sunset over the Mediterranean and couldn’t have finished the weekend any better. After coming into port just after dark Tía Nana took me straight to the airport and it was back to Madrid.
Well, another week gone by, Again I hope everyone is well at home and I hope that you were all able to get through this post, as in it wasn´t too long! Unitl Next time, and hopefully I will put some pictures up soon.
Best Always,
Phil
On Wednesday night I went with my friend Alberto to a Salsa dancing class, it was really cool there were a bunch of people and the teacher was pretty intense and pushed the class. The class has been going for a few weeks so I am a bit behind but I felt ok out there and should be able to catch up soon! I’ll have to train hard!
On Thursday night I went out with a couple of my friends Javier and Ismael to go out dancing again, had to make sure not to stay out to late because I was leaving in the morning to spend the weekend in Alicante. Well that plan did not work out to well, but the good news is I woke up on time and did not miss my flight! I even had time to stop and pick up some flowers for my Aunt!
In Alicante I was visiting Tía Nana (My mom’s first cousin), Tío Mana (husband), Bernardo and Carolina (kids 16 and 14 respectively). It was one of the best weekends I have had since arriving in Europe. The last time I had seen them was about hmmmm, 13 years ago, so it was almost like meeting them for the first time again. Tío Mana picked me up from the airport and dropped me off at home because he and Tía Nana both had things to finish up at the office Friday afternoon. Bernardo and I shot some hoops for a while (he is an awesome basketball player) and he beat up on me during a few little games. He and Carolina had to finish some homework so I went for an aimless jog around the neighborhood. Later that evening Bernardo had basketball practice so we all dropped him off at the high school and the rest of us went to the beach with Duna, their dog to go for a walk. We played around in the sand for a while and then went to have a tapa before going back to pick up Bernardo. After a light dinner we all chatted and had a relaxing evening before calling it a night and heading to bed relatively early. By the end of the evening I felt as if I had known them all of my life and felt like I was at home almost.
The next day we had a lazy morning, before going to Alicante to tour the old part of the city. It is much smaller than Madrid and quite different. I guess I was not too impressed with the whole downtown area, but it is also under construction and there were parts that were nice but lots of new construction that didn’t really fit in. The nicest part was that the Mediterranean is right there. We had a nice lunch of tapas at a Basque restaurant before taking Bernardo to his Basketball game. It was really cool to watch him play basketball, but much different than back home I must admit. The high school team played on an outdoor court that was not maintained in the best shape, and the kids were slipping and sliding all over the place. It opened my eyes to the sports infrastructure that we have for our students in the states. Gerardo’s team dominated the game and I think he dropped around 20 - 25 points! After the game we were invited to a friends place to have a drink and check out this piece of land that they had just made into a horse back riding complex. Pierre and Iris were the couple that had us to their new facility and we enjoyed a beer over some nice conversation. We finished the day with a nice dinner of seared Tuna steaks at home and chatted away for hours.
Sunday was absolutely awesome. We woke up Sunday morning, had a quick breakfast, and headed down to the harbor because Pierre and Iris invited us to go out on their sailboat for the day. I never knew how awesome that sailing was until this year, this being my second time on a big sailboat! Pierre is an extremely advanced sailor, last year he did a Trans - Atlantic race in his boat SOLO! He had some great stories about how he was able to make it to the finish safely but not without some serious difficulties. Well anyways there were 9 of us on the boat total: Pierre, Iris, Stephen (their son), Alisette (their daughter), I forget their nephews name, Tío Mana, Tía Nana, Carolina, and I. We used the motor to go to the island because the wind was at our heads and we did not have time to fight the head winds to get their, have time for lunch, and return. Upon arrival we anchored about a hundred yards off shore and took a dingy to the island. I on the other hand decided to go for a swim because the water was not too cold, and it was crystal clear. After jumping in and swimming for a while Tía Nana decided to join me and we swam to shore. We had lunch at a nice little restaurant up on a bluff. We all enjoyed a great lunch of Paella, salad and fresh bread. After lunch we took a short walk around the small little island (800x 50 meters more or less) and then went back to the boat. On the way home we raised the main sail and a spinnaker and let the wind take us back. It was a picture perfect sunset over the Mediterranean and couldn’t have finished the weekend any better. After coming into port just after dark Tía Nana took me straight to the airport and it was back to Madrid.
Well, another week gone by, Again I hope everyone is well at home and I hope that you were all able to get through this post, as in it wasn´t too long! Unitl Next time, and hopefully I will put some pictures up soon.
Best Always,
Phil
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