On Spanish Adventures Part IV: Short and Sweet Addition

In which we catch up, mainly pictorially.

I have had so many amazing experiences the last three days that I want and need to write about¹. Between a bike tour of the old river, to visiting a farm and having the most amazing meal, to exploring the backstreets of old Valencia², to the football match last night. It's been a total whirlwind. But I just spent the last two and a half hours in my room grading so I'm getting a little stir crazy. But, I wanted to give a little update, let people know I'm alive, and share a few pictures.

Unfortunately most of my pictures are stuck on my camera, but I'll get them off of there soon. Until then, enjoy!

A shot from Old Valencia.

On our walking tour of Old Valencia there were a lot of neighborhood that had this classic European look. I didn't get to take as many pictures as I was hoping, but fortunately I went back a few days later with some students and was able to take some more.

This is a shot from further up the street.

Like most a lot of European cities you see a blend of classic architecture with modern flair.

We spent a whole day at a small farm just north of the city where a man has turned his home into a resturant for traditional paella. In his barn he has many of the tools they used to use to farm before modern conveniences. He also has peppers native to the region that you can't find anymore. As well as his own GMO-free corn³.

Adding rice to the paella.

This guy was awesome, he was the sous chef and he was great about talking with our students and letting them experience this multi-hour cooking process. He even hand wrote the paella recipe in spanish at the request of one of our students.

Seriously so good

Most of the beer here in spain is pretty cheap and terrible. Not that I ever complain about the price, I've bought a lot of beer for 1 Euro⁴. Before we came out to the farm one the director of the group we are working with mentioned that he and I could try this great beer that they had. It was amazing, it's almost like a saison but with honey and rosemary. My mind was blown. Then he said you could only get it at the brewery and I was a little disheartened.

Yesterday when I was walking around Old Valencia we saw a beer shop. One of my students wanted help picking out something for her dad so we popped in. I scanned through all of the beers from Spain and there on the bottom shelf in the last place I looked I saw this beer! So I bought some and will be bring it home with me!

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1) Before it all disappears from my mind grapes.

2) We found so much awesome street art.

3) This was the most amazing day, I will be writing about it more in the future.

4) So you don't tip in Spain. As a result servers don't try and up sell you on much. Last night a bartender talked me out of a nicer more expensive beer and down to a cheap shitty one. It was late so I didn't care, but talk about something that would never happen in the states.

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On Spanish Adventures Part III: Making Up For Lost Posts

In which we cover a number of topics because things got real busy real fast.

Well now, it didn't take long for the wheels to come off this train did it? Not that I'm surprised, or upset, having time to update this blog is nice but its not vital. Things the last few days have been super crazy, but also really awesome, it's 20:49 (or 8:49 if you rather) and I haven't even left for dinner yet¹. It's one of my student's birthday today and I promised him I'd go out with them tonight, so this is going to be a long, long day.

On Tuesday we took a tour of Old Valencia, this is the oldest part of the city², and it is what you imagine when you try and picture classic European cities. Narrow streets, old structures, cathedrals, etc. I was trailing behind the group most of the time to keep people movie so unfortunately I missed most of the discussion about the history of Valencia, however, I did get a bunch of good pictures. Though they are currently stuck on my SD card until I can get to a computer lab. Hopefully I'll get some of them posted soon. The funniest thing about the old district is how it turns into a touristy area so quickly. You turn a corner and, boom, there is "Hollywood America Restaurant³." When the tour was over a number of students wanted to hang out in the area and explore. However, they were unsure of how to get back to their homes so I stayed with them so I could help them out. Most of them went off on their own, I was just wanting a place to sit down and have a cheap beer. Two of my students joined me in the quest, which was ultimately successful. It was weird drinking with students, but at the same time it was a neat bonding experience to have. These were two of the students that I knew better which helped it feel a little more normalized, we had the chance to talk about whatever came to mind. It was a cool experience.

The next day started off slower, but picked up as the day went on. After class my co-worker and I spent a few hours in the office getting some work done and dealing with some students that were going to be moving to a new homestay location. Then we had the worst lunch ever⁴. Later that afternoon we went to watch a movie as a class. The program that we are working with normally deals with students who are strong Spanish speakers so they planned to take us to see a Chinese movie with Spanish subtitles. This was not a good idea. So instead there was a weekly discussion group that was watching movies based on the works of Shakespeare. So we watched the 90's cinematic classic "10 Things I Hate About You⁵." It was pretty sweet.

After the movie some of the students wanted to go out to a club that taught free salsa lessons. So before hand I went and got dinner with some of my students. This was especially exciting because they were three students who I didn't know all that well. It was really cool to get to interact with them in a new way. We found a little restaurant at which basically everything that was on the menu was 1 Euro, including drinks. Needless to say, it was quite the value. After dinner we met up with some other students and tracked down the salsa club. It's been years since I've salsad (salsa'd?⁶), we spent about 30 or so minutes practicing various steps, then we broke off and actually danced for a minute. It was cool to notice how something came back to me. Though I also was reminded of how much concentration it takes for me to dance, which leaves me stiff and awkward. After the dance we stepped out to cool down and found a few bars. This was probably the highlight of the night for me. Just a chance to sit out at a table out on a sidewalk and talk to my students, catching them at their most real and open. It was definitely a awesome moment.

I had hoped to get to today also, but I am beat and probably should have been in bed a while ago. Check back for more later.
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1) As of writing this sentence, I doubt I'll finish this whole post before I head out.
2) Duh and/or hello.
3) That wasn't the actual name, but it's not that far off.
4) Seriously, it was so bad I'm not even going to talk about it.
5) I hadn't seen this in a while, it was about the most 90's movie ever. With the possible exception of Empire Records.
6) Seltzered?

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On Spanish Adventures Part II: The Foodening

In which we discuss some food related stories

So I apparently have real problems purchasing fruit in foreign country. A little back story: a number of years ago I was in Italy with my family. One afternoon we stopped by a fruit stand and there were some peaches that looked delicious. So I started moving them around trying to find the best one, which is what I'd do in the states. Apparently this is a no-go in Italy and some little Italian guy yelled at me. Okay, lesson learned. Jump to yesterday. We stopped by a grocery to pick some stuff up and I grabbed some bananas to eat in the morning. Eventually we went to check out. All of our stuff went through no problem. When the bananas came up woman working the register looked at them for a few minutes then said something in Spanish to my co-instructor¹. Then she grabbed the avacados that were next in line, she said something else then sent them aside as well. We paid and left, sans produce. I asked what had happened and learned that apparently we were supposed to weigh the produce before we came up to pay. Who knew. So now I've got to go back later for my bananas, which was a real bummer this morning. A banana would have been real tasty this morning with my yogurt.

Last night the big event with our students was a welcome dinner downtown. We went to a resturant/club/I don't now what to enjoy our meal. The representative from the company we are working with generously scheduled an early dinner for us, 8:30pm². We were all pretty hungry, but that wouldn't last too long as there was a ton of food. We were lucky enough to enjoy a traditional tapas meal, which was a great thing to start off with. The way tapas works is you are brought a plate of tapas (or appetizers) and everyone can try one, or two or three depending on what it was. All together we got to try nine different dishes, and trust me when I tell you that by the end of the meal were incredibly full. Here's a rundown of what we had:

• Gazpacho - a cold tomato soup, super fresh, I'd never had it before but quite liked it
• Bolas de Bascalao - Cod and breading formed into balls then fried, very good, not too fishy
• Spanish ham on bread - A famous offering, traditional Spanish ham on crusty bread served with a tomato and olive oil spread
• Cured pork loin and cheese - This was my favorite tapa, the pork loin was AMAZING I wanted to bring a bunch of it home with me
• Shrimp pancake - There was a more official sounding name but I can't rememeber what it was, these looked like potato pancakes, except with shrimp
• Croissant with eggplant, brie, olives, and tomato marmalade - This was a great combination of sweet and savory, the croissant was a nice change of pace after a lot of baguette, the marmalade paired well with the brie and brought the whole thing together³
• Fried seafood basket - This is when things started getting real, this dish included: fried calamari, mussels, a small fried white fish, and fried whole sardines (heads and all). I'm proud to say that I tried all of them, including eating the sardine, head first I might add⁴

• Fried chicken wings - served with a teriyaki sauce, probably the weakest of the offerings, especially since we had eaten so much at this point
• Fresh fruit cup - This was a simple dish to end on, but it was great way to end, it really bookended things well with the gazpacho

This morning after class I went to a bakery with some students and grabbed an empanada as a snack, but now I'm getting real hungry so I guess it's time to go find some lunch.
Random Spain Factoids of the Day

• When you buy bottled water make sure you don't by carbonated lemon flavored water. Whoops.
• Jumping from an iPhone to a cheap Samsung burner has been a real pain in my ass
• How have I been here a full day and not had any beer OR wine yet. What a travesty⁵.
• Between starting this post and now I went by a fruit market where I purchased two oranges and two bananas for .82 euros. What a deal!

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1) Oh lack of Spanish speaking ability you've gotten the best of me yet again.
2) Here's a standard Spanish eating schedule: 7:30/8:00 a light breakfast (cereal, pastry, coffee), 10:30/11:00 brunch (a sandwich and beer), 1:30/2:00 lunch (biggest meal of the day), 5:00ish a snack, 9:00/10:00 dinner
3) Plus, olives, take that, adventurous eating goal.
4) I actually liked it more than I thought I would. Though as one of my students mentioned, it kind of tasted like a fishstick, just, you know, with a head attached.
5) This one isn't a factoid, but I needed to share, what an outrageous situation to find myself in.

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On Spanish Adventures Part I: Beginnings

In which a trip is taken, a stage is set, and sleep is missed.

I'm currently writing this from a bus in the middle the Spanish countryside¹. I am on my way to Valencia for a three week study abroad trip for my job. I am incredibly excited and fortunate to be taking part in such a once in a lifetime experience. As I was planning for the trip I was trying to think of the best way to keep people back home informed about how things were going. Ultimately I decided that jumping back into the blogging pool was the easiest way to go about it². My hope is to write a post every day or so giving updates, sharing stories, and, as is typical of my writing style, regale you with nonsense riddled with misspellings³.

So how did I get to Spain? Well I'm lucky enough to be apart of a team focused on giving our students a well rounded collegiate experience, so a few years ago we began to offer affordable study abroad trips in May. Most of our students wouldn't be able to afford to a traditional study abroad experience, so a short term one like ours is a great fit. My role in all of this is as one of two instructors on the trip. It's been a long, exhausting journey over the last semester in order to get ready and now that we're here it's almost surreal. For the longest time the trip seemed like a distant object on the horizon that never came closer. Just in the last few weeks did it begin to feel real. Really I haven't had much time to process it all, or even consider what I hope to gain from the experience. We ask our students all the time what they are most looking forward to, and to be honest I don't know that I ever had an answer to that myself.

But, what good is a blog if you can't use it to process things in your life⁴. So without further ado, here is my list of hopes, wishes, and goals for the next three weeks.
1) To allow myself to be immersed into Spanish culture. As an introvert and a 9 my default is to retreat inward and to find comfort in the familiar. I want to get out and experience Spanish life and all that entails.
2) To connect deeply with the students on the trip. Of the 20 students on the trip I know about half fairly well and about 4 of them very well. I know that I won't ever know all them at the same level, but I want to get to know them all more than I already do.
3) To stay active. Whether it's working out in the morning, going for hikes, or only biking around town, I want to stay active over the next three weeks.
4) To know myself better. I am always encouraging my students to be self-reflective and to look inward. This last semester it hit me that I don't do this often enough myself. I hope that upon returning to the states I better understand what motivates me, what my goals are, and of who I am as an individual.
5) I want to be an adventurous eater. Food is weird guys. I'm not an olive fan, I'm not a mussel fan, I've never had sardines but they don't sound too good. Guess what foods I'll see a lot of the next three week? Olives, mussels, and sardines. I'm going to force myself to try some things that I might not normally enjoy. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.
6) Have a wealthy Spanish countess fall madly in love with me⁵. This one's self-explanatory.
Random Spain Factoids of the Day^TM:

• Our contact in Valencia looks like a Spanish Agent Coulson.
• My room reminds me a lot of Bruce Willis's place in The Fifth Element⁶.
• Paella count: 1

Our bus ride is almost over so I'm going to wrap things up for today. Be sure to check back tomorrow for more.
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1) As I was typing that sentence I looked to my left and saw a herd of sheep.
2) Granted this pool may have dried up two years ago, but I just couldn't bring myself to great a tumblr account.
3) And of course footnotes, lots of footnotes.
4) I mean, that's why Livejournal was created.
5) I don't know if there are Spanish countesses, but a guy can dream.
6) Which really was Bruce Willis at his finest.

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