Short week, only 5 days between posts. What does that mean...
a. Last week I was behind on posting, like most posts as of lately.
b. This week I am on top of my game and Posting on time.
c. All of the above
Answer: C
If you answered C, well done. It was another slowish week this week, but that does not mean that there were not a few nice highlights.
I spent the early part of last week studying and searching for apartments, the later of which still is not going so well. On Thursday, I had my final for Game Theory. This was not my favortie subject by any means. I do not know why, but some of these more abstract economic concepts just do not click very easily for me. Luckily, my good friend Miguel helped me with some last minute studying and I felt pretty good going into the test. Have you ever had one of those moments where someone explains something that you don't think you understand, and even though the explanation is real brief it just kind of clicks? That is how I would sum up my studying for Game Theory, I was kind of lost and then we had a little study session and I felt goo going into the test.
After the test, I relieved a call from Eric Gavin. Eric was here with Annaleise, his fiance, on a study abroad trip organized through USD. I left school and went to their hotel to meet up with them. It was great to catch up, I don't think I had seen Eric since senior year of high school or so, maybe once or twice afterward. We ended up going out for a late lunch and walk around the city. I took them to one of my favorite restaurants, Lateral, and we enjoyed some tapas and a nice bottle of wine. After lunch, I took them back to their hotel and we planned to go out later that night with them and some of their friends from the study abroad group. I went back to Marc's, cleaned up, and then went back to Madrid for a dinner with the guys. Ismael, Javier, Marc, Alvaro and I went to our favorite Indian restaurant and had a great meal before the other guys started their exams, kind of a last little get together before they started to cram. We ended up sticking around late, laughing and talking and by the time I left i was right on time for the 24:00 rendezvous in the hotel lobby.
I was just a few minutes early, and before I knew it a group of kids was starting to congregate in the hotel lobby. I overheard two of the girls say Eric's name, and I asked them if they knew where he was, all of the sudden they both said "...you must be Phil?!" It was a little bit of a shock at first, but kind of funny that they all already knew my name, we started chatting and a great time had already begun! By the time everybody made it down we ended up being a group of about 12, 4 of us were guys, no too bad right! I felt a little bit like a tour guide walking in front of this big group of people, and making sure that we had not left anyone behind. We all went to Joy, the club that most students go to on Thursday nights, and ended up running into a ton of people from my school. Lots of the students had finished exams and were having one last wild night out on the town before going back to their respective homes. When we arrived the place was kind of dead, it does not usually start going off until about 2 or 3 a.m. but that did not keep us from hitting the dance floor right away. We got the party going that night! All the kids from USD ended up leaving around 3a.m. because some of them ad flights to catch, but I ended up sticking around with the other exchange students from Carlos III till the end of the night!
The next day, I met back up with Eric and Annaleise around 2p.m. for some lunch, and then we went to the Reina Sofia (modern Art Museum) to look at some of the works. Annaleise studied some of the pieces that are held their, such as Guernica by Piscasso, and wanted to see what it looked like in person. I had already been there a few different times, but what is one more right, especially because with your student card it is free! It was a nice afternoon and then they were on their way. they had an early flight to catch, and I was going to head back home to meet up with Marc ans Alvaro for dinner and a movie...don't laugh because we are three guys and we went to dinner and then the 00:15 movie together. We watched Sherlock Holmes, which I had already seen and ended up sleeping through because of the lack of sleep Thursday night, all the same it was good to be hanging out with the buddies.
Saturday was a mellow day. Marc and I hung round his house, had lunch with his folks at home and watched some movies. The weather was not that great, off and on rain, and the weekends always seem to be for catching up on rest. Saturday night we again met up with Alvaro and went to Madrid for some Mexican food, yes you did hear me correctly, Mexican food! The last experience that I had with Mexican here in Europe was not the best, so I was cautiously optimistic going into this one. Luckily, we had something that was a little more reminiscent to the Mexican we are accustomed to back home, but still a far reach from it.
After not having done any studying any weekend, Sunday was the day to buckle down and get my Monetary and Fiscal Macroeconomics studying out of the way. You guessed it, I had a test today Monday. Again, it was one of those times were you get stressed because you don't think you know anything, then you get together with a colleague, discuss it and BAMMMMM, you realize that going to class every time pays off, and you really do know it! I had the test this morning, and I think that it went really well, or as well as it could have gone. I am 95% sure that I passed the exam, and if I need a little help I am confident that the professor will help me out, especially being that the whole thing was in Spanish and I did not have the prerequisets to take the class done (yes mom, I discussed this with him at the beginning of the semester and he told me to stick with it).
Well, that is it for this past week...Four tests down and one to go on Saturday. This week is going to be another week of more apartment searching seeing as I am still sleeping on that one bench, under that one bridge, near that one park...ok so that is a lie; life is sweet at the Contijoch house, but really I have to get my new place soon.
I hope all is well at home, and wanted to send an extra special Hug and Kiss to Uncle Ralph and Aunt Sylvia; I am going to miss Bertha very much, but will always remember her for all of the wonderful times we had together at family gatherings.
Much Love, and until next time,
Phil
Monday, January 25, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Jan. 13th - Jan 20th
I am currently sitting at Chamartin train station waiting to catch the connecting train t get out to Marc’s house, so I thought, what better way to spend my time than to write a new post for everyone to enjoy. Well, I do not know about that last part seeing that it was a boring week, but I will give it my best shot…where did I leave off, I think it was just after my marketing exam.
I think the test ran pretty well, by no means do I think I got 100%, but I think I did well enough to pass. That exam was on the 13th, and then I had another one on the 15th. On the 15th, I had the exam for my first year class. Being that it was a 9:00 a.m. test and it takes 2 hours by public transport to get to campus from Marc’s house, it was an early morning. This test was written in English…well kind of…it was written in such broken English that I had troubles understanding some of the questions. There were words that I had never seen before such as, Indebtfuledness. Correct me if I am wrong but I had never heard of this word, and no, that is not a spelling mistake on my end while writing this! I made it through the test, and got the grade back this weekend. I ended up getting a 6.5 of 10 in the class when I just needed a 5.5…this means that it transfers to ASU as an A!
Friday night, the same night of the exam we ended up going out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant with Marc’s whole family and then Marc and I went and met up with the usual suspects for a night out (Ismael, Javier, and Alvaro). We had a great time as usual. The next day we laid low, took a long nap in the afternoon and then again went out to dinner because it was Ian, Marc’s brothers, last night in town before going back to ASU…funny thing is I am actually going to be graduating with Ian next year, he also studies Finance.
Sunday was another day to lay low, I tried to get some studying in but it was to no avail. Woke up late and was pretty bad about getting the day going; It is good to rest up though right! That is what I kept telling myself at least. We had lunch as a family, and then watched the movie The Lord of War. Apart from that I kept on looking for apartments online but have not had much luck as of yet…that and I am indecisive about where I want to live; either in Getafe (the suburb where my school is) or in the city center. Every day I seem to go back and forth between the two, we’ll see where I end up. Monday was more of the same, stayed at Marc’s till about 3 looking for apartment’s and then went and looked at a few different neighborhoods. Unfortunately I didn’t find anything that I was too thrilled about so the search goes on.
Today, Tuesday I went to school early and tried to get some studying done for my exam that I have on Thursday, but ended up spending a lot of time running into people in the library, and then finally got some studying done with my friend Miguel Castelo-Branco from Portugal (another one of those times where I put the name in so I will remember it 20 years down the line, and everyone that is reading is thinking, could you make this any longer…well that just happened, you even read this whole explanation of me justifying writing the whole name for no good reason.)
Alright, well that is it for now folks. Because of all the exams life is pretty much dead here…I think these people take this whole exam period of a month a little too seriously, that igh also be because I need to get above a 5.5 to get A’s and they need to get a good score for a good overall average, but man loosen up a little. Ok really that is it.
Much Love as Always,
Phil
P.s. Just an absolute last thought, what a tragedy in Haiti this past week, shows how lucky we are to be healthy and happy…I am thankful to not have been affected by it, but am thinking of those that were, and wish all in Haiti a quick and safe recovery.
I think the test ran pretty well, by no means do I think I got 100%, but I think I did well enough to pass. That exam was on the 13th, and then I had another one on the 15th. On the 15th, I had the exam for my first year class. Being that it was a 9:00 a.m. test and it takes 2 hours by public transport to get to campus from Marc’s house, it was an early morning. This test was written in English…well kind of…it was written in such broken English that I had troubles understanding some of the questions. There were words that I had never seen before such as, Indebtfuledness. Correct me if I am wrong but I had never heard of this word, and no, that is not a spelling mistake on my end while writing this! I made it through the test, and got the grade back this weekend. I ended up getting a 6.5 of 10 in the class when I just needed a 5.5…this means that it transfers to ASU as an A!
Friday night, the same night of the exam we ended up going out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant with Marc’s whole family and then Marc and I went and met up with the usual suspects for a night out (Ismael, Javier, and Alvaro). We had a great time as usual. The next day we laid low, took a long nap in the afternoon and then again went out to dinner because it was Ian, Marc’s brothers, last night in town before going back to ASU…funny thing is I am actually going to be graduating with Ian next year, he also studies Finance.
Sunday was another day to lay low, I tried to get some studying in but it was to no avail. Woke up late and was pretty bad about getting the day going; It is good to rest up though right! That is what I kept telling myself at least. We had lunch as a family, and then watched the movie The Lord of War. Apart from that I kept on looking for apartments online but have not had much luck as of yet…that and I am indecisive about where I want to live; either in Getafe (the suburb where my school is) or in the city center. Every day I seem to go back and forth between the two, we’ll see where I end up. Monday was more of the same, stayed at Marc’s till about 3 looking for apartment’s and then went and looked at a few different neighborhoods. Unfortunately I didn’t find anything that I was too thrilled about so the search goes on.
Today, Tuesday I went to school early and tried to get some studying done for my exam that I have on Thursday, but ended up spending a lot of time running into people in the library, and then finally got some studying done with my friend Miguel Castelo-Branco from Portugal (another one of those times where I put the name in so I will remember it 20 years down the line, and everyone that is reading is thinking, could you make this any longer…well that just happened, you even read this whole explanation of me justifying writing the whole name for no good reason.)
Alright, well that is it for now folks. Because of all the exams life is pretty much dead here…I think these people take this whole exam period of a month a little too seriously, that igh also be because I need to get above a 5.5 to get A’s and they need to get a good score for a good overall average, but man loosen up a little. Ok really that is it.
Much Love as Always,
Phil
P.s. Just an absolute last thought, what a tragedy in Haiti this past week, shows how lucky we are to be healthy and happy…I am thankful to not have been affected by it, but am thinking of those that were, and wish all in Haiti a quick and safe recovery.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Jan 7th - Jan 12th
AHHHH finally back to Madrid.
(Looks like this is going to be a short post, not much happened and it was not a full week since I last posted)
The rest of the stay in Lisbon was very nice. Unfortunately, I came back from Prague with a bit of a cold, so I spent as much time as I could sleeping and trying to recover before exams. I never ended up getting more than about a half an hour of studying in while in Lisbon, but I was kind of expecting that; I thought that it was a better use of my time to hang with family than hit the books!
I am really drawing some blanks on the exact order that things happened, so I am going to tell you of the memorable things in the last week.
1. Battle for my European Health Card - Went into the office that deals with the card and battled it out with under educated people who hate their jobs...result = Success (Thanks in part to having a AWESOME Aunt who helped me all along the way with paper work and formalities...Thanks a MILLION Tia Nicha!)
2. Lunch with Paula and her kids, a long time friend of my mom's, we had a nice meal in a restaurant by her house and I think mom had a great time catching up with her. She was really nice, and the kids were fun too.
3. Picking Maria up from school. On Friday, Tia Nicha and mom had gone out and were not going to be home in time to pick up Maria (my 9 year old cousin) up from school so I went and picked her up, then we met up with David and went to have a snack at this awesome coffee place that has killer croissants.
4. Lunch with Tia Bia and Tia Pepa, mom's aunts. Avo, mom and I met up to have lunch with them right around the corner from Avo's house. I would not call it the most exciting lunch I ever had, but it always nice to see the family.
5. Sporting Portugal...On Saturday evening I went to a soccer game with Domingos and Miguel Bruschy, we watched Sporting Portugal win 1-0 in a game that should have been much more lop-sided.
6. After the game...Saturday after the game I met up with Teresa and went to one of her friends 18th birthday party in downtown Lisbon, we had a great time dancing all night to jams put on by her DJ boyfriend Francisco! (you would never guess he was a DJ if you ran into him!)
7. Lunch at Tio Ita and Tia Po's. Sunday was yet another family lunch, here is a list of the people there: Tio Ita, Tia Po, Domingos, Francisco, Mom, Avo, Tia Nicha, Maria, Tio Joao, Marta, Mariana, and me (mostly so I can try to remember in 30 years when I look over this again!) Tio Ita made a nice shrimp curry and mom got to see there new apartment.
8. Packing, BORING..BORING...BORING
9. Dinner with Tia Sofia. This dinner was supposed to have a total of ten people there, but within minutes we received news that a couple different groups of people couldn't come and just like that we were down to 4!!! It was a blast, she is really really nice (my mom's first cousin, if anyone was wondering how she is related, again mostly for me 30 years down the line!)
10. Delays, thanks to snow all day on Sunday and the Madrid airport not having the ability to deal with large amounts of snow efficiently my 1:30 flight ended up leaving a 5:45. The good news is, I saw online that this was going to be the case so we were able to squeeze one last lunch in with Avo and Tia Nicha across the river Tejo. Yet another good meal of fresh fish.
11. Arrived at Marc's...Ahh to have good friends, I am still looking for an apartment so Marc's family has been nice enough to take me in while I do so. On top of that, because of the snow, they picked me up at the airport so I wouldn't have to battle public transportation to their house (well, that worked out mostly thanks to my extremely delayed flight, but all the same I was VERY grateful).
Well, those are the past events in my life in a nut shell. Had a Marketing final today that went ok considering I forgot my English/Spanish dictionary at home and there were some words I didn't know off the top of my head. Time to start studying for the next round of them.
That's all for now Folks, much love as always from Madrid and until next time.
Phil
(Looks like this is going to be a short post, not much happened and it was not a full week since I last posted)
The rest of the stay in Lisbon was very nice. Unfortunately, I came back from Prague with a bit of a cold, so I spent as much time as I could sleeping and trying to recover before exams. I never ended up getting more than about a half an hour of studying in while in Lisbon, but I was kind of expecting that; I thought that it was a better use of my time to hang with family than hit the books!
I am really drawing some blanks on the exact order that things happened, so I am going to tell you of the memorable things in the last week.
1. Battle for my European Health Card - Went into the office that deals with the card and battled it out with under educated people who hate their jobs...result = Success (Thanks in part to having a AWESOME Aunt who helped me all along the way with paper work and formalities...Thanks a MILLION Tia Nicha!)
2. Lunch with Paula and her kids, a long time friend of my mom's, we had a nice meal in a restaurant by her house and I think mom had a great time catching up with her. She was really nice, and the kids were fun too.
3. Picking Maria up from school. On Friday, Tia Nicha and mom had gone out and were not going to be home in time to pick up Maria (my 9 year old cousin) up from school so I went and picked her up, then we met up with David and went to have a snack at this awesome coffee place that has killer croissants.
4. Lunch with Tia Bia and Tia Pepa, mom's aunts. Avo, mom and I met up to have lunch with them right around the corner from Avo's house. I would not call it the most exciting lunch I ever had, but it always nice to see the family.
5. Sporting Portugal...On Saturday evening I went to a soccer game with Domingos and Miguel Bruschy, we watched Sporting Portugal win 1-0 in a game that should have been much more lop-sided.
6. After the game...Saturday after the game I met up with Teresa and went to one of her friends 18th birthday party in downtown Lisbon, we had a great time dancing all night to jams put on by her DJ boyfriend Francisco! (you would never guess he was a DJ if you ran into him!)
7. Lunch at Tio Ita and Tia Po's. Sunday was yet another family lunch, here is a list of the people there: Tio Ita, Tia Po, Domingos, Francisco, Mom, Avo, Tia Nicha, Maria, Tio Joao, Marta, Mariana, and me (mostly so I can try to remember in 30 years when I look over this again!) Tio Ita made a nice shrimp curry and mom got to see there new apartment.
8. Packing, BORING..BORING...BORING
9. Dinner with Tia Sofia. This dinner was supposed to have a total of ten people there, but within minutes we received news that a couple different groups of people couldn't come and just like that we were down to 4!!! It was a blast, she is really really nice (my mom's first cousin, if anyone was wondering how she is related, again mostly for me 30 years down the line!)
10. Delays, thanks to snow all day on Sunday and the Madrid airport not having the ability to deal with large amounts of snow efficiently my 1:30 flight ended up leaving a 5:45. The good news is, I saw online that this was going to be the case so we were able to squeeze one last lunch in with Avo and Tia Nicha across the river Tejo. Yet another good meal of fresh fish.
11. Arrived at Marc's...Ahh to have good friends, I am still looking for an apartment so Marc's family has been nice enough to take me in while I do so. On top of that, because of the snow, they picked me up at the airport so I wouldn't have to battle public transportation to their house (well, that worked out mostly thanks to my extremely delayed flight, but all the same I was VERY grateful).
Well, those are the past events in my life in a nut shell. Had a Marketing final today that went ok considering I forgot my English/Spanish dictionary at home and there were some words I didn't know off the top of my head. Time to start studying for the next round of them.
That's all for now Folks, much love as always from Madrid and until next time.
Phil
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Jan 2nd – Jan 6th
As some of you may just have learned from my last post, or have already heard, I spent the last four days in Prague with mom, Tia Nicha and Tio Quim. We arrived late in the afternoon after and went straight to the hotel, Hotel Josef, to check in and start exploring. The hotel was really a great place, and old typical Czech building that had been completely redone inside recently with a modern feel…It was a cool balance of old and new. We dropped our bags of and it was straight to the city, it took me a little bit to get oriented but before long I found my bearings on the map we had and we were tearing through town seeing the things we wanted to check out. Just as we arrived at the Old Town Square for the first time, it was the top of the hour and the astrological clock did its little sing and dance…There is a clock that I cannot even start to explain, it shows something like the hour of sunrise, the hour of sunset, the astrological signs, the 24 hour clock, and the days of the year all at once! See pictures on my web album to believe! After that we wandered around the Christmas markets that were still open and drank Mull wine, which is a warm wine drink and ate some typical Czech cinnamon pastry thing that they cooked over coals. Later that evening we went to a restaurant off the beaten path that was recommended in mom’s guide book. We ended up having a great meal of Pork stuffed with, I forget what, potatoes and Sauerkraut if I remember correctly; and to wrap things up we split some berry pie for desert. Whoops, how could I forget the world famous pilsner that we drank there. It was the first time I had had this mystical pilsner I had read about, and it was indeed tasty. After a brisk, below freezing walk balk to the hotel it was off too bed. I know, I let myself down by not going out to the disco in Prague, but I would have been a one man show and by the time we were done with dinner I was exhausted…WHIMP, I accept the label!
The plan for the next morning was to take a bus tour to get to see a general overview of the city for a couple hours and then set off to more specific places later on. I am not usually a big fan of those big touristy bus tours, but it was something Tio Quim really wanted to do so we gave it a shot. Almost forgot to mention the killer spread the hotel put pout for breakfast, anything you could imagine, a wonderful cheese spread, fresh fruit, eggs, potatoes, prosciutto, Lochs (salmon) , fresh bread, anything you could ever want for breakfast; I wish I would have taken a picture of it. We booked the bus trip and it was off to see the city during the day. We ended up taking the bus all over, and looking back, I think it was one of the best things that we did; it gave us a great overview of the city and took us to see things that we would not have seen otherwise. After the bus ride, we decided to head up to the royal caste and toured the grounds. Before making it, we ended up stopping in at a church that was about to have an organ concert so we ended up staying and enjoying some Czech organ playing before making the rest of the trek to the castle. The castle was pretty cool, the Czech President or ruler has ruled form the same exact place for, I don’t remember the exact number but I think it was something like 2 or 3 centuries. The architecture was quite different (please enjoy the photos again), and the grounds had spectacular views of the city below. We ended up buying concert tickets for the Royal Orchestra and headed back down to the city for dinner. We ate at a local brewery and had some more great food. We ate dumplings, potato soup, pork, roast duck and this time enjoyed some darker ale with the meal. Afterwards, we headed back up to the castle and watched Orchestra play in one of the oldest churches on the castle grounds. This may have been one of the coldest moments of my life, the church was probably a brisk -3 or 4 Celsius, we were sitting on old wood benches, and the whole place was stone…no wonder the other signs for concert said HEATED, ok so I did not notice that until afterwards and I was thoroughly pissed that we froze while listening for an hour and change. Whoops, we actually went to the concert and then to dinner, I had that switched around but so be it.
On Monday, we spent the whole day touring the Jewish Quarter of Prague. I did not know that there was a big Jewish population in Prague, but there must have been six or seven synagogues within a square mile of each other. After going through the first couple we stopped off at Franz Kafka Café. I do not know exactly who he was, or cannot remember, but he was some really important guy because there are things all over the city named after him. After finishing up with all of the synagogues it was back to the hotel to rest for a few minutes then some aimless wandering through the city until we went for dinner…why does food always seem to be one of the highlights of trips…it is always fun to try all of the different types of foods. Again, we ended up in another pub/bar called something that translated to the rope makers wife…we ate another meal of pork and potatoes, these people must get sick of it after three days or so, at least I was ALMOST starting too, key word being ALMOST! There was a funny story about the rope makers wife, and how her husband would go on long trips and she was lonely so she started a bar, then one thing led to another, it was full of guys and they were served more than just dinner…astonished after hearing about this, the rope maker came home from one of his trips and strangled her with a rope he made…her ghost has since been in the bar. There was a really interesting wood carved lady in the restaurant, which you would need to see pictures to do justice, for everyone to enjoy.
On our last day in Prague it was back up to the royal palace to see the Cathedral that we missed out on the first time because it was closed. It was absolutely breathe taking, and took some 6 hundred years to complete because of war, communist ruling, and who knows what else…possibly the brutally cold winters they have. (On a complete side note I think I failed to mention that it snowed every single day that we were in Prague, except the last day where the weather cleared up and we had some sun but also the coldest day out of all of them) After visiting the cathedral we wandered up to monastery and took a look around. We went to some super old Library that had all these collections of dried up animals from all over the world; it was pretty cool to see. Unfortunately, the main hall of the library was under restoration and of course they did not tell you that when you paid for your entrance, so that was kind of a bummer, but I guess they would not have money to complete the project if no one paid to go see it! After being through there it was lunch time, we went to one of the oldest breweries in Prague that was up on top of the hill near the monastery had had probably the best meal of the trip. For starters we had venison pâté and pickled sausages…neither of which I was extremely crazy about, but I had to try them both to see what they were all about. Along with the meal, we enjoyed some Pilsner that was brewed at the restaurant. For the main course we shared a goose dish, a rabbit dish, and pork on a skewer; all of which were excellent. I am not sure that I had ever eaten goose before, atleast not that I could remember but it was very good, and it had been a long while since the last time I had eaten rabbit. Oh man I almost forgot, on the second day we were there, we were at the Christmas market cruising around and there was a stand selling different smoked meats and sausages. On the board of what they had it said horse, so I asked the girl to point out which the horse was and it was a sausage that they had made from horse…she offered me a piece and it was not too bad either, didn’t taste much different than a regular sausage, it was kind of spicy with paprika or something, interesting I guess. Ok, back to the monastery…after lunch we took in the views of the city from above and then leisurely made our way back down to the hotel and relaxed and packed things up for a little before going to dinner later. We had a light dinner at a kosher restaurant in the Jewish Quarter, and then did a small little lap around Old Town Square again before calling it a trip and heading back to the hotel to mentally prepare for waking up at 3:30 a.m. to catch our 6:00 flight…WHO BOOKS A 6:00 a.m. flight!!! Waking up was a little rough, but it was nice to be back in Lisbon by mid-day. Last night some of the cousins got together for a dinner send off for Martin who lives in Italy. All in all it was an awesome trip and now it is time to try to buckle down and start studying for my exams that start next Wednesday!
Hope everyone is well back home and that classes are going well if you have them.
Much Love Always,
Phil
The plan for the next morning was to take a bus tour to get to see a general overview of the city for a couple hours and then set off to more specific places later on. I am not usually a big fan of those big touristy bus tours, but it was something Tio Quim really wanted to do so we gave it a shot. Almost forgot to mention the killer spread the hotel put pout for breakfast, anything you could imagine, a wonderful cheese spread, fresh fruit, eggs, potatoes, prosciutto, Lochs (salmon) , fresh bread, anything you could ever want for breakfast; I wish I would have taken a picture of it. We booked the bus trip and it was off to see the city during the day. We ended up taking the bus all over, and looking back, I think it was one of the best things that we did; it gave us a great overview of the city and took us to see things that we would not have seen otherwise. After the bus ride, we decided to head up to the royal caste and toured the grounds. Before making it, we ended up stopping in at a church that was about to have an organ concert so we ended up staying and enjoying some Czech organ playing before making the rest of the trek to the castle. The castle was pretty cool, the Czech President or ruler has ruled form the same exact place for, I don’t remember the exact number but I think it was something like 2 or 3 centuries. The architecture was quite different (please enjoy the photos again), and the grounds had spectacular views of the city below. We ended up buying concert tickets for the Royal Orchestra and headed back down to the city for dinner. We ate at a local brewery and had some more great food. We ate dumplings, potato soup, pork, roast duck and this time enjoyed some darker ale with the meal. Afterwards, we headed back up to the castle and watched Orchestra play in one of the oldest churches on the castle grounds. This may have been one of the coldest moments of my life, the church was probably a brisk -3 or 4 Celsius, we were sitting on old wood benches, and the whole place was stone…no wonder the other signs for concert said HEATED, ok so I did not notice that until afterwards and I was thoroughly pissed that we froze while listening for an hour and change. Whoops, we actually went to the concert and then to dinner, I had that switched around but so be it.
On Monday, we spent the whole day touring the Jewish Quarter of Prague. I did not know that there was a big Jewish population in Prague, but there must have been six or seven synagogues within a square mile of each other. After going through the first couple we stopped off at Franz Kafka Café. I do not know exactly who he was, or cannot remember, but he was some really important guy because there are things all over the city named after him. After finishing up with all of the synagogues it was back to the hotel to rest for a few minutes then some aimless wandering through the city until we went for dinner…why does food always seem to be one of the highlights of trips…it is always fun to try all of the different types of foods. Again, we ended up in another pub/bar called something that translated to the rope makers wife…we ate another meal of pork and potatoes, these people must get sick of it after three days or so, at least I was ALMOST starting too, key word being ALMOST! There was a funny story about the rope makers wife, and how her husband would go on long trips and she was lonely so she started a bar, then one thing led to another, it was full of guys and they were served more than just dinner…astonished after hearing about this, the rope maker came home from one of his trips and strangled her with a rope he made…her ghost has since been in the bar. There was a really interesting wood carved lady in the restaurant, which you would need to see pictures to do justice, for everyone to enjoy.
On our last day in Prague it was back up to the royal palace to see the Cathedral that we missed out on the first time because it was closed. It was absolutely breathe taking, and took some 6 hundred years to complete because of war, communist ruling, and who knows what else…possibly the brutally cold winters they have. (On a complete side note I think I failed to mention that it snowed every single day that we were in Prague, except the last day where the weather cleared up and we had some sun but also the coldest day out of all of them) After visiting the cathedral we wandered up to monastery and took a look around. We went to some super old Library that had all these collections of dried up animals from all over the world; it was pretty cool to see. Unfortunately, the main hall of the library was under restoration and of course they did not tell you that when you paid for your entrance, so that was kind of a bummer, but I guess they would not have money to complete the project if no one paid to go see it! After being through there it was lunch time, we went to one of the oldest breweries in Prague that was up on top of the hill near the monastery had had probably the best meal of the trip. For starters we had venison pâté and pickled sausages…neither of which I was extremely crazy about, but I had to try them both to see what they were all about. Along with the meal, we enjoyed some Pilsner that was brewed at the restaurant. For the main course we shared a goose dish, a rabbit dish, and pork on a skewer; all of which were excellent. I am not sure that I had ever eaten goose before, atleast not that I could remember but it was very good, and it had been a long while since the last time I had eaten rabbit. Oh man I almost forgot, on the second day we were there, we were at the Christmas market cruising around and there was a stand selling different smoked meats and sausages. On the board of what they had it said horse, so I asked the girl to point out which the horse was and it was a sausage that they had made from horse…she offered me a piece and it was not too bad either, didn’t taste much different than a regular sausage, it was kind of spicy with paprika or something, interesting I guess. Ok, back to the monastery…after lunch we took in the views of the city from above and then leisurely made our way back down to the hotel and relaxed and packed things up for a little before going to dinner later. We had a light dinner at a kosher restaurant in the Jewish Quarter, and then did a small little lap around Old Town Square again before calling it a trip and heading back to the hotel to mentally prepare for waking up at 3:30 a.m. to catch our 6:00 flight…WHO BOOKS A 6:00 a.m. flight!!! Waking up was a little rough, but it was nice to be back in Lisbon by mid-day. Last night some of the cousins got together for a dinner send off for Martin who lives in Italy. All in all it was an awesome trip and now it is time to try to buckle down and start studying for my exams that start next Wednesday!
Hope everyone is well back home and that classes are going well if you have them.
Much Love Always,
Phil
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Dec 15th - Dec 29th Con't, actually thru Jan 1st
You ever have that thing you are trying to get done but never seem to get around to because any excuse you can find is a good one? That's almost how it has been with these posts over the holidays for me but I am getting through them slowly but surely, usually after being hassled by friends! Get your game face on and hold on to your seats, this is a big one!
Well, here we go, the arrival to Portugal. Did I already tell you about the arrival after the horrid flight, well if not here is a really quick overview. When we arrived it was pouring rain, my bags came off the plane wet because we did not pull up to a gate, but left the plane on stairs on the tarmac. At that point I was just happy to be home, or in Portugal.
The next few days were pretty mellow, lots of relaxing, and lots of errands to get done. Tia Nicha, my aunt, really has been helping me out a ton since I came...I have been trying to get this European health card so I have health coverage while living here and it has been an absolute pain in the neck. Tia Nicha and I have been all over, and talked to countless people about what needs to be done to finally get the darn thing. It seems like after a day and half of that we are on the right track, but who knows! Apart from the health card I also got a cell phone so I could speak easily with family, and mostly call for help if I was lost or ad any troubles in my grandma's car. Have you ever wandered around semi-aimlessly trying to find your way somewhere, that seems to be me about half the time when I am driving around Lisbon, there are so many places that I have never been too or driven around so I am usually half lost. Luckily, I have been able to do some loops and always end up home on my own...well almost always, that story to come. The lead up to Christmas was very strange for me this year, it was hard to get into that Christmas spirit. Typically you always have those same faces around you during the holidays, and when you don't have them it is really strange. Although I was with my family here in Portugal, Christmas is not the same without my family back home, well and my friends too of course, I can't believe I missed the Christmas play at Kyle's, and the gift exchange at Lizzy's for Nana's cookies(well, actually I think they took my life size cut out to the Christmas play so I guess I was there)!
Christmas eve was a slow morning, got up and didn't do too much. I hung around the house and helped my grandma make a fish dish to take over to my uncles house for dinner and watched some movies on my laptop. Dinner was good, we had the typical Bacalhau (dry salted cod fish that you rehydrate to eat) dish with potatoes, carrots and cabbage, some nice wine and of course great company. On Christmas eve it just was Tio Joao, Avo, Tio Ita, Tia Po, Domingos, Francisco and me.
Christmas day was more of the same, relaxing all morning (well, I think I woke up a bit after noon so not really the morning), helping Avo cook a Fish/clam chowder that she makes for Christmas dinner, and then it was off to Tia Nicha's house for Christmas dinner with ALL of the family, there must have been 25+ people there, or at least it felt like it. The chowder is a hit with all of the cousins, it is pretty good and all but I was more excited about the Turkey because I didn't get m yearly fix of Turkey on Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun to see how everyone spent Christmas here, and as always it was nice to have all of the family together.
Christmas night is a big night for going out to discos in Lisbon but by the time rolled around to go out partying, I was completely wiped out and decided to stay in and call it a night, weak, yes I know! The 26th was a new day and there was no way that I was gonna pass up another night out on the town. I met up with Domingos, Francisco, Miguel Bruschy, and White Castle (Castello-Branco) for dinner and a night out. We went to a restaurant called Bota Velha (The Old Boot) and had some tasty grinds for ridiculously cheap prices. After that, we went for a Caipirinha at a local bar and it was off to the club. We went to the club that we usually go called Urban Beach and danced the night away. Well, after getting home at some ridiculous hour and then talking to friends for another hour or so I think I ended up going to sleep around 8a.m. or something which meant that the next day was a waste cause I slept for most of it. Oh yea, now I remember what I did, in the mid afternoon I went with Tia Nicha, Tio Quim, Teresa and David to see Sherlock Holmes, totally dug that movie, would definitely recommend watching it if you haven't already. Nearly forgot another thing, man putting this off was not a good idea, my cousins Marta and Mariana were staying at my grandma's house this weekend and on that Sunday night before they went back to their mom's, we all had dinner together and hung out.
The 28th was a big day, my MOM arrived for a visit!!! Spent most of the day at Tia Nicha and Tio Quim's hanging with the cousins waiting for the evening to roll around to go pick mom up from the airport. Her coming to visit was going to be a surprise for everyone, but we ended up telling everyone but Teresa, my cousin, her god daughter because she wanted it to be extra special for her because on the 29th she turned 18 and she did not know mo was going to be at the party. Her flight came in a few minutes late but nothing to major...we waited and waited and she never came out...Thank you Iberia Airlines for loosing her luggage in transit. Well, it is hard to say if Iberia lost it but, it was lost and it was not the best way to receive mom, very worried that the bag was stolen because all of the presents for the family over here were in it. By the time we got home it was around 10:00 p.m. we had a late dinner/snack and called it a night.
Due to Jet Lag, mom was up at some absurd hour, I think it was 6:30, and heaven forbid she miss any time with her son...next thing I knew I was up and at them at WAY TOO EARLY IN THE MORNING! The first part of the day I was trying to track down the luggage, I hate dealing with the airlines cause no one will take responsibility and they all give you a different answer for the same question. In the afternoon, before the big party we went over to Tia Nicha's and surprised Teresa...I think she was pretty surprised, maybe she had a little idea but anyhow she was extremely excited. We all had lunch at the house and then it was off to buy mom clothes to wear at the party (tie and sports coat, and ladies in their fancy attire); while the girls went shopping I hung around the house with David and then headed back to Avo's with mom when she returned to get ready. After getting ready I headed over to Domingo's house and a bunch of the cousins went to a friend Miguel's for dinner. Met back up with mom and the rest of the family at the party. When I got there, there were tons of kids hanging around but no one really shaking tail so I immediately jumped out onto the dance floor and started dancing by myself, probably making a fool out of myself but hey, someone had t get this party off the ground. Before long the dance floor was grooving and everyone was having a great time. We rocked the house till about 4 a.m. mom and I stayed around to help clean up at the end and then it was off to get home. We had to drop a cousin of my cousin off at his house and by the time we were headed in our direction it was almost 4:30. You ever have one of those OH SHIT MOMENTS while driving (excuse the language)...we definitely had one of those on the way home; we were getting onto the freeway that we needed to go home and came to a fork in the road where we could either go left or right, right looked like it ducked onto a frontage road so I took the left side, before I could think at that hour I was seeing headlights coming at us...THE EXIT RAMP, yea you guessed it!!! Luckily at that hour there were only three or four cars visible in any direction, but man was that a scary instant, flipped a quick U ball and was home safe!
The 30th was a long morning, spent most of it battling with the airlines for the missing piece of luggage and of course nothing had shown up and it was lost in space somewhere. I am not exactly sure what we did that afternoon (I really need to keep on top of these entries otherwise they become scatter brained and are written and obscure hours like this one where I am not thinking straight, have you noticed yet? I think I am actually doing pretty well to tell you the truth, but ok back at it), but that night it was a night on the town with the guys. Martin, a cousin from Italy was in town for the new years and a bunch of the cousins all met up to have some fun. We ended up going to 80's and 90's music club that was totally packed. It was mostly the 30+ crowd, but the music was killer and we all jammed out and had a great time. At some point in the night when it was time to get going I was trying to round up the guys that I had driven in my car to go and couldn't find them or they were gonna walk because we were close to a couple of the guy's houses; by the time I got back to the other area where the other cousins were, they were gone. Of course, with my luck there was no signal in the club so I left. After, I left I got a message from Miguel who was the last one that I was missing saying he had gone home with a friend and that I was on my own. This is where we get back to that story about how I have never really gotten lost in Lisbon while driving...I couldn't have guessed where I was. To get there we took every back alley and one way street that I think there was in Lisbon and I knew I was not close to home. I ended up calling Miguel who gave me some directions and then I asked some taxi drivers until I found a main road that I recognized and was able to make it home.
The 31st was another relatively quiet day, in the afternoon again I battled with the airlines and was unsuccessful...what is that Airlines 3 - Philip 0, anyone that knows me knows how frustrated that makes me! Mom and I took Avo out to lunch up the avenue from the apartment for a great lunch, mom and Avo had grilled Swordfish, not the one we know back home but also excellent, and I had Pernil (which is like a pork shank). Darn was it a great meal, and it was nice to finally have some time just the three of us relaxing. In the afternoon mom and I went over to Tia Nicha's and hung out with the kids and Tia Nicha before a big family dinner at her house. We had about 8 or 10 of us over to Tia Nicha and Tio Quim's house for New Years Eve. I was supposed to go out with the cousins for dinner but it was hard to leave mom there and bail so I stayed and enjoyed a great meal of Duck rice. After dinner, I kid napped David, and took him out to celebrate the New Years with some of the older cousins. We went down the the Rio Tejo, and watched the fireworks...it was really funny because we were meeting the other cousins down there, and we ended up running into them as we were trying to get there...we all ended up making it to the big gathering point just as they were starting to count down from 10 and brought in the New Year by Spraying Champagne everywhere (not me this time!!!) and then each enjoying a few sips when we were done playing! After the party at the river it was off to find a Disco to party at for the rest of the night. No need to take David home, he might be 15 but passes for a 23 year old no problem! We got To Urban Beach, our typical place and were bared entry because it was guest list only that night. Luckily, Domingos had a friend or two that worked in there and we were able to get in after not too much hassle. Typical night out, dancing our tails off till some absurd hour, I probably would have stayed later but I had to be responsible and get David home at a decent hour...Ok so maybe that didn't work out to plan but I made an honest effort. At one point I told him hey, we are going to leave no later that 4:30 a.m. I am not going to get you home later than that...4:30 rolled around and there was some killer jam on an we couldn't stop dancing; next thing you know it was 4:45, again, I told him hey no later that 5:00. what do you know, 5:00 rolls around and we couldn't stop dancing...does the Dj throw down the best songs at the top of the hour??? At 6:00 in the morning I ended up pulling the plug and we got out of there. By the time had dropped him off at home and made it back to Avo's it was almost 7:00.
For some reason, I decided to check on the baggage and what do you know it was delivered the morning of the 1st, and was a huge relief for mom. Not a bad way to start off the new year huh! I think I ended up getting two hours of sleep and then it was on to the next thing. On the 1st mom and I did a mini road trip around Portugal to see family before they went back to other parts. First we drove about an hour and 45 to see my mom's nanny, Felicia. She was thrilled to see us, and her niece treated us to some lunch on arrival. We enjoyed some Portuguese Chorizo roasted on wood coals and fresh bread. It was nice to catch up with them, but before you knew it we were off to the next place. The next stop was to mom's first cousins Kikita's new house where all of here siblings were for the new year. As some of you may remember, I spent a fabulous weekend in Alicante sailing and enjoying time with family in early November; this was at Tia Nana and Tio Mana's house, and Tia Nana is Kikita's sister. Ok, so I am not going to give you the whole family tree and the name of everyone there, but it was great to see all of them and especially nice to see Tia Nana, Tio Mana, Bernardo, and Carolina before they headed back the next day to Spain. After chatting and having some tea, it was back on the road to Lisbon. we ended up getting home around 10:00 p.m. and it was straight to packing our bags...We are In Prague!!! I don't think I mentioned this yet on my blog but on the 2nd in the morning we left with Tia Nicha and Tio Quim for 4 days in Prague...Well I am not gonna add more to this monster of a post. I hope as always things are well back home, and that everyone will enjoy a great new year, 2010.
Much Love Always, and yes the Prague pictures are already up, and the post will come
Phil
Well, here we go, the arrival to Portugal. Did I already tell you about the arrival after the horrid flight, well if not here is a really quick overview. When we arrived it was pouring rain, my bags came off the plane wet because we did not pull up to a gate, but left the plane on stairs on the tarmac. At that point I was just happy to be home, or in Portugal.
The next few days were pretty mellow, lots of relaxing, and lots of errands to get done. Tia Nicha, my aunt, really has been helping me out a ton since I came...I have been trying to get this European health card so I have health coverage while living here and it has been an absolute pain in the neck. Tia Nicha and I have been all over, and talked to countless people about what needs to be done to finally get the darn thing. It seems like after a day and half of that we are on the right track, but who knows! Apart from the health card I also got a cell phone so I could speak easily with family, and mostly call for help if I was lost or ad any troubles in my grandma's car. Have you ever wandered around semi-aimlessly trying to find your way somewhere, that seems to be me about half the time when I am driving around Lisbon, there are so many places that I have never been too or driven around so I am usually half lost. Luckily, I have been able to do some loops and always end up home on my own...well almost always, that story to come. The lead up to Christmas was very strange for me this year, it was hard to get into that Christmas spirit. Typically you always have those same faces around you during the holidays, and when you don't have them it is really strange. Although I was with my family here in Portugal, Christmas is not the same without my family back home, well and my friends too of course, I can't believe I missed the Christmas play at Kyle's, and the gift exchange at Lizzy's for Nana's cookies(well, actually I think they took my life size cut out to the Christmas play so I guess I was there)!
Christmas eve was a slow morning, got up and didn't do too much. I hung around the house and helped my grandma make a fish dish to take over to my uncles house for dinner and watched some movies on my laptop. Dinner was good, we had the typical Bacalhau (dry salted cod fish that you rehydrate to eat) dish with potatoes, carrots and cabbage, some nice wine and of course great company. On Christmas eve it just was Tio Joao, Avo, Tio Ita, Tia Po, Domingos, Francisco and me.
Christmas day was more of the same, relaxing all morning (well, I think I woke up a bit after noon so not really the morning), helping Avo cook a Fish/clam chowder that she makes for Christmas dinner, and then it was off to Tia Nicha's house for Christmas dinner with ALL of the family, there must have been 25+ people there, or at least it felt like it. The chowder is a hit with all of the cousins, it is pretty good and all but I was more excited about the Turkey because I didn't get m yearly fix of Turkey on Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun to see how everyone spent Christmas here, and as always it was nice to have all of the family together.
Christmas night is a big night for going out to discos in Lisbon but by the time rolled around to go out partying, I was completely wiped out and decided to stay in and call it a night, weak, yes I know! The 26th was a new day and there was no way that I was gonna pass up another night out on the town. I met up with Domingos, Francisco, Miguel Bruschy, and White Castle (Castello-Branco) for dinner and a night out. We went to a restaurant called Bota Velha (The Old Boot) and had some tasty grinds for ridiculously cheap prices. After that, we went for a Caipirinha at a local bar and it was off to the club. We went to the club that we usually go called Urban Beach and danced the night away. Well, after getting home at some ridiculous hour and then talking to friends for another hour or so I think I ended up going to sleep around 8a.m. or something which meant that the next day was a waste cause I slept for most of it. Oh yea, now I remember what I did, in the mid afternoon I went with Tia Nicha, Tio Quim, Teresa and David to see Sherlock Holmes, totally dug that movie, would definitely recommend watching it if you haven't already. Nearly forgot another thing, man putting this off was not a good idea, my cousins Marta and Mariana were staying at my grandma's house this weekend and on that Sunday night before they went back to their mom's, we all had dinner together and hung out.
The 28th was a big day, my MOM arrived for a visit!!! Spent most of the day at Tia Nicha and Tio Quim's hanging with the cousins waiting for the evening to roll around to go pick mom up from the airport. Her coming to visit was going to be a surprise for everyone, but we ended up telling everyone but Teresa, my cousin, her god daughter because she wanted it to be extra special for her because on the 29th she turned 18 and she did not know mo was going to be at the party. Her flight came in a few minutes late but nothing to major...we waited and waited and she never came out...Thank you Iberia Airlines for loosing her luggage in transit. Well, it is hard to say if Iberia lost it but, it was lost and it was not the best way to receive mom, very worried that the bag was stolen because all of the presents for the family over here were in it. By the time we got home it was around 10:00 p.m. we had a late dinner/snack and called it a night.
Due to Jet Lag, mom was up at some absurd hour, I think it was 6:30, and heaven forbid she miss any time with her son...next thing I knew I was up and at them at WAY TOO EARLY IN THE MORNING! The first part of the day I was trying to track down the luggage, I hate dealing with the airlines cause no one will take responsibility and they all give you a different answer for the same question. In the afternoon, before the big party we went over to Tia Nicha's and surprised Teresa...I think she was pretty surprised, maybe she had a little idea but anyhow she was extremely excited. We all had lunch at the house and then it was off to buy mom clothes to wear at the party (tie and sports coat, and ladies in their fancy attire); while the girls went shopping I hung around the house with David and then headed back to Avo's with mom when she returned to get ready. After getting ready I headed over to Domingo's house and a bunch of the cousins went to a friend Miguel's for dinner. Met back up with mom and the rest of the family at the party. When I got there, there were tons of kids hanging around but no one really shaking tail so I immediately jumped out onto the dance floor and started dancing by myself, probably making a fool out of myself but hey, someone had t get this party off the ground. Before long the dance floor was grooving and everyone was having a great time. We rocked the house till about 4 a.m. mom and I stayed around to help clean up at the end and then it was off to get home. We had to drop a cousin of my cousin off at his house and by the time we were headed in our direction it was almost 4:30. You ever have one of those OH SHIT MOMENTS while driving (excuse the language)...we definitely had one of those on the way home; we were getting onto the freeway that we needed to go home and came to a fork in the road where we could either go left or right, right looked like it ducked onto a frontage road so I took the left side, before I could think at that hour I was seeing headlights coming at us...THE EXIT RAMP, yea you guessed it!!! Luckily at that hour there were only three or four cars visible in any direction, but man was that a scary instant, flipped a quick U ball and was home safe!
The 30th was a long morning, spent most of it battling with the airlines for the missing piece of luggage and of course nothing had shown up and it was lost in space somewhere. I am not exactly sure what we did that afternoon (I really need to keep on top of these entries otherwise they become scatter brained and are written and obscure hours like this one where I am not thinking straight, have you noticed yet? I think I am actually doing pretty well to tell you the truth, but ok back at it), but that night it was a night on the town with the guys. Martin, a cousin from Italy was in town for the new years and a bunch of the cousins all met up to have some fun. We ended up going to 80's and 90's music club that was totally packed. It was mostly the 30+ crowd, but the music was killer and we all jammed out and had a great time. At some point in the night when it was time to get going I was trying to round up the guys that I had driven in my car to go and couldn't find them or they were gonna walk because we were close to a couple of the guy's houses; by the time I got back to the other area where the other cousins were, they were gone. Of course, with my luck there was no signal in the club so I left. After, I left I got a message from Miguel who was the last one that I was missing saying he had gone home with a friend and that I was on my own. This is where we get back to that story about how I have never really gotten lost in Lisbon while driving...I couldn't have guessed where I was. To get there we took every back alley and one way street that I think there was in Lisbon and I knew I was not close to home. I ended up calling Miguel who gave me some directions and then I asked some taxi drivers until I found a main road that I recognized and was able to make it home.
The 31st was another relatively quiet day, in the afternoon again I battled with the airlines and was unsuccessful...what is that Airlines 3 - Philip 0, anyone that knows me knows how frustrated that makes me! Mom and I took Avo out to lunch up the avenue from the apartment for a great lunch, mom and Avo had grilled Swordfish, not the one we know back home but also excellent, and I had Pernil (which is like a pork shank). Darn was it a great meal, and it was nice to finally have some time just the three of us relaxing. In the afternoon mom and I went over to Tia Nicha's and hung out with the kids and Tia Nicha before a big family dinner at her house. We had about 8 or 10 of us over to Tia Nicha and Tio Quim's house for New Years Eve. I was supposed to go out with the cousins for dinner but it was hard to leave mom there and bail so I stayed and enjoyed a great meal of Duck rice. After dinner, I kid napped David, and took him out to celebrate the New Years with some of the older cousins. We went down the the Rio Tejo, and watched the fireworks...it was really funny because we were meeting the other cousins down there, and we ended up running into them as we were trying to get there...we all ended up making it to the big gathering point just as they were starting to count down from 10 and brought in the New Year by Spraying Champagne everywhere (not me this time!!!) and then each enjoying a few sips when we were done playing! After the party at the river it was off to find a Disco to party at for the rest of the night. No need to take David home, he might be 15 but passes for a 23 year old no problem! We got To Urban Beach, our typical place and were bared entry because it was guest list only that night. Luckily, Domingos had a friend or two that worked in there and we were able to get in after not too much hassle. Typical night out, dancing our tails off till some absurd hour, I probably would have stayed later but I had to be responsible and get David home at a decent hour...Ok so maybe that didn't work out to plan but I made an honest effort. At one point I told him hey, we are going to leave no later that 4:30 a.m. I am not going to get you home later than that...4:30 rolled around and there was some killer jam on an we couldn't stop dancing; next thing you know it was 4:45, again, I told him hey no later that 5:00. what do you know, 5:00 rolls around and we couldn't stop dancing...does the Dj throw down the best songs at the top of the hour??? At 6:00 in the morning I ended up pulling the plug and we got out of there. By the time had dropped him off at home and made it back to Avo's it was almost 7:00.
For some reason, I decided to check on the baggage and what do you know it was delivered the morning of the 1st, and was a huge relief for mom. Not a bad way to start off the new year huh! I think I ended up getting two hours of sleep and then it was on to the next thing. On the 1st mom and I did a mini road trip around Portugal to see family before they went back to other parts. First we drove about an hour and 45 to see my mom's nanny, Felicia. She was thrilled to see us, and her niece treated us to some lunch on arrival. We enjoyed some Portuguese Chorizo roasted on wood coals and fresh bread. It was nice to catch up with them, but before you knew it we were off to the next place. The next stop was to mom's first cousins Kikita's new house where all of here siblings were for the new year. As some of you may remember, I spent a fabulous weekend in Alicante sailing and enjoying time with family in early November; this was at Tia Nana and Tio Mana's house, and Tia Nana is Kikita's sister. Ok, so I am not going to give you the whole family tree and the name of everyone there, but it was great to see all of them and especially nice to see Tia Nana, Tio Mana, Bernardo, and Carolina before they headed back the next day to Spain. After chatting and having some tea, it was back on the road to Lisbon. we ended up getting home around 10:00 p.m. and it was straight to packing our bags...We are In Prague!!! I don't think I mentioned this yet on my blog but on the 2nd in the morning we left with Tia Nicha and Tio Quim for 4 days in Prague...Well I am not gonna add more to this monster of a post. I hope as always things are well back home, and that everyone will enjoy a great new year, 2010.
Much Love Always, and yes the Prague pictures are already up, and the post will come
Phil
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