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Originally uploaded by John L.
Hola amigos,
Interim is over and second semester is almost 2 weeks done! Wow. I finally have time to write an update which will highlight some cool stuff I´ve had the chance to see and do.
I´ve been on a couple of trips so far that were pretty sweet. Alicante, for example, was a great city for a day trip. Florie, Ben and I took the slow-train from Denia and met a funny little British man who filled us in on all sorts of random bits, like where the Russian mafia lives (Altea, Spain) and how there are 40 different types of herbs on the local mountain, Montgo, and that Arab princes would send herb-gatherers to the mountain and back. The city itself had a sweet castle (it seems that many of these cities have castles…) and a really awesome beach, especially because about 5 people were swimming in the cold Sea.
Another cheap excursion involved taking the slow train to Calpe, another coastal city, but much closer to Denia than Alicante. The awesome thing about Calpe is that it has a great beach, but the best thing about Calpe is that there is a giant rock-mountain that divides the beach in half. Tim, Brooke and I took a day off and climbed up. We originally planned on staying a while and doing homework up top but it was pretty windy. Also, besides all the sea-gulls, there was a house-cat up there. Meeooow.
The biggest weekend trip so far was a Calvin-group trip, to Barcelona, Spain´s second largest city. Although travelling as a 30-some person group sounds difficult, the trip was well put-together in that we saw the huge touristy spots (La Sagrada Familia, Casa Mila, Parc Guell, a bunch of Cathedrals, etc.) as a group and then had free time to divide into smaller groups. Saw some cool street performers, a big market, and some more ancient architecture. Great city, Barcelona.
And this upcoming weekend, hopefully, I´m going to Zaragoza and then Teruel. They sound like really cool cities and I´ll finally get to try out the weekend city-hopping hostal method of travel instead of the hike and pitch the tent method, which I am actually missing right now. Fortunately there is a mountain in town and some nearby caves too.
As far as my family goes, which consists only of mi host mamá Ana, life is good. I´ve got my Spanish hearing-comprehension down pretty well and just need to focus on speaking better. Other than that though, I get to enjoy the Spain-schedule which involves the shops closing from 2-5pm for lunch (usually around 2pm or 3pm) and siesta. Dinner is typically at 9pm. Nightlife starts at 2am apparently, which explains the awesomely chill vibe all the bars have before then – everyone is sleeping until 2am.
Food is good here. Breakfast everyday consists of toast with peach jam, colocao (hot chocolate), and peach-grape juice (green grapes, not red ones), which is the best thing ever. Fresh fruit, too. Lunch varies but I´ve enjoyed paella, meat and veggie combos a lot, fish, good noodle soup and also this vegetable puree soup, but usually it is pretty good. Can´t really complain about anything. Lunch also always involves watching The Simpsons in Spanish and then the news for a bit. Dinner varies just like lunch. Restaurant food varies too but there are some nice spots for cheap food.
The beach is a sweet spot. It is winter here so there are no tourists, which is great, though the Mediterranean water is too cold to go swimming (but I´m going to end up running in one of these nights). Good thing the weather is usually sunny, and between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius. Sometimes people walk there dogs out there too. There are a lot of dogs in Denia, and the majority of them do not have leashes. The other day I saw a man walking 5 dogs and none of them had leashes!
Yeah.
Other than that, I finally got my address up so if you were inclined you could send me letters. I´ve been trying to write some for you all too but there are too many of you for everyone to get something. Sorry.
In closing, I´m writing a parody to a child´s rhyme here and it is going to be awesome. I´m not ready to unveil it but at least it gives you something to look forward to in the future.
Mañana.
-Juanito
Photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/basecamp/sets/
