I'm sure these lists will get longer, but here's what I have for now:
Things I miss about the US:
1) Civilized water fountains. These European water fountains are nothing but pipes in the ground. I don't want to have to bend my head and drink from beneath a pipe. I prefer my tap water hitting my lips at a sophisticated 45 degree angle.
2) Efficiency
3) The concept of "customer service"
4) Being able to do anything productive at any time. They say it stresses you out less to have everything closed at the times when it would make the most sense for them to be open (e.g. weekends, 4PM), but it stresses me out MORE. You see, my mind is like a huge desk covered with post-its that tell me the next thing that has to get done, e.g. "go to the grocery store," or "go to Vodafone for (literally) the tenth time to resolve the same issue." If I can't get things done in a timely, regular way, they just build up and it stresses me out to think of the piles of things yet to be taken care of!
4) Speaking the same language as those around me. I know this one is a no-brainer, but there it is. Everywhere I go, I have to try to map out my side of any likely interaction and also brainstorm any likely snags or questions that might be thrown at me. Tiring, to say the least.
Things I'll miss about Pais Vasco:
1) Kind of goes without saying, but the FOOD and the DRINKS. Mosto, pika, setas, pimientos, tortilla, pastelitas, OH MY GOD YES.
2) The landscape. I adore the mountains! I hate the rain, but it makes the grass and the trees that cover the mountains look really verdant and alive, which is a nice side effect. I still have a hard time believing they're real, having lived in Florida for so long. It's started getting cold enough that you can see snow on the tops of the highest mountains in Amorebieta, which makes me more than a little giddy for some reason.
3) The 80s music on the radio. I've heard Roxette, Madonna, The Police, The Bangles ("Walk Like an Egyptian" and "Eternal Flame"), Whitney Houston, and much more. I could do without the bad 90s music, though. I'd rather not visit the dark place where the greatest hits of Vanilla Ice and Shania Twain went to die.
26.11.08
20.11.08
Hi!
The following update will consist of me putting captions on the most interesting pictures I found on my camera from the last week or so. I'm too tired to try to be funny, so get ready to be bored. I'm just keeping it real.
1) Dom and I walked down the river since I'd never done it before. I hadn't explored where I lived! La Ria Bilbao is like 10 steps from my door, and it stretches for a good distance in both directions.
2) Katie graced us with her presence this past weekend! We went to Art After Dark, which is a party in the Guggenheim, and then to Fever.
3) The next morning, Katie had the brilliant idea to go to Burger King. We met up with Ryan, Dom and some other Brits and went to BK while they got some kebab. I spent 7 euro on this hamburger (ridiculous, I know), but it was worth every penny. Here's a picture of the boys huffing kebab:
I think it's hilarious that they have the nerve to call these things "tapas." It gives BK a touch of class, don't you think? I felt excellently disgusting after eating it, but Katie was altogether pleased.
4) To help burn off some of that awful meal, we took a walk to Casco Viejo, the old part of Bilbao. It was lovely!
We passed by a fish market, where we spotted this disturbing dead fish. Just look at that eye bulge. ::shudder::
5) At some point before that weekend, Kyle and I bumped into Hannah and Leslie (both English teachers here) on their way to pintxos, and they invited us along. I tasted pika, which is lemonade and beer, for the first time, and I think I'm in love. It was so refreshing! This place also had tasty and cheap pintxos. I went there again today, actually.
6) I saw this stack of jam in the grocery store the other day. That brand name has GOT to be a joke.
In other news: I got the internet!!!! Oh...MY...GOD. It's amazing. It's everything I thought it could be and more. I'm Skyping my life away. In a way, I feel like it's probably unhealthy to love the internet this much...but in another way I don't care! I have internet!!
1) Dom and I walked down the river since I'd never done it before. I hadn't explored where I lived! La Ria Bilbao is like 10 steps from my door, and it stretches for a good distance in both directions.
2) Katie graced us with her presence this past weekend! We went to Art After Dark, which is a party in the Guggenheim, and then to Fever.
3) The next morning, Katie had the brilliant idea to go to Burger King. We met up with Ryan, Dom and some other Brits and went to BK while they got some kebab. I spent 7 euro on this hamburger (ridiculous, I know), but it was worth every penny. Here's a picture of the boys huffing kebab:
I think it's hilarious that they have the nerve to call these things "tapas." It gives BK a touch of class, don't you think? I felt excellently disgusting after eating it, but Katie was altogether pleased.
4) To help burn off some of that awful meal, we took a walk to Casco Viejo, the old part of Bilbao. It was lovely!
We passed by a fish market, where we spotted this disturbing dead fish. Just look at that eye bulge. ::shudder::
5) At some point before that weekend, Kyle and I bumped into Hannah and Leslie (both English teachers here) on their way to pintxos, and they invited us along. I tasted pika, which is lemonade and beer, for the first time, and I think I'm in love. It was so refreshing! This place also had tasty and cheap pintxos. I went there again today, actually.
6) I saw this stack of jam in the grocery store the other day. That brand name has GOT to be a joke.
In other news: I got the internet!!!! Oh...MY...GOD. It's amazing. It's everything I thought it could be and more. I'm Skyping my life away. In a way, I feel like it's probably unhealthy to love the internet this much...but in another way I don't care! I have internet!!
7.11.08
The "real" update
Last weekend, Kyle, Jaron, Dom, and I went to visit Katie in Irun. Irun is a little city on the border with France. It was so cute and the weather was beautiful. We walked around and found some kebab (ohhhh yes). I met Katie’s super nice roommates and enjoyed the comforts of her uber modern apartment. The kitchen was amazing! All the appliances are cleverly hidden and the cupboards have Lamborghini doors. Saturday, we went to St. Jean-de-Luz, a little beach town in France. That’s right, France. It took 20 minutes to get there and I got to practice my French phrases such as “cinq billets, s’il vous plait.” Unfortunately, my camera died on the first night of the trip, so I don’t have many pictures. I say unfortunately because the beach was too stunning. I wish I could have pictures to remember it by. We also ate some tasty, but expensive, crepes at a creperie by the sea.
I also managed to take some pictures of the city around my second school. It's called Igorre. It's lovely and quaint and nestled in a valley.
Oh, and if you thought they weren't serious about this whole Basque language thing, check out a picture of the sign-on screen for the computer. The whole computer is in Basque. My Basque lexicon is up to about 12 words now, which is 12 times what I knew when I moved here, so I think I'm doing pretty well.
On another note, where are all the people our age around here? It seems like everywhere we go, it’s either filled with teenagers or viejos. I’m confused. Maybe I just have old people habits or something?
4.11.08
Delays
Seriously, this not having internet thing is a real pain. It should be coming shortly. The annoying thing is that we have the router all set up, blinking patiently in our living room, but it´s up to someone at Telefonica (phone company) to flip a switch to give us the internets, so you know that means a huge delay. Anyway, I´ve written an update, but it´s on my laptop, which I can´t use because I can´t find a Wi-Fi (say wee-fee) connection right now. GRRR. I´ll post that real update soon.
In the meantime, I´ll just say that the Spanish proved to me they could get it together by making it very easy for me to get my lost umbrella back. Like an idiot, I left it on the metro two days after buying it (I upgraded to a more expensive one because my cheap one broke soooo hard). All I had to do was make a quick call and take a 5 minute metro trip to pick it up at their lost and found! I was amazed at how easy it was. They did grill the crap out of me, though, asking me what the brand/color/pattern/size were, as well as making me produce my passport, but at least I got it back. That´s one efficiency point for Spain.
In the meantime, I´ll just say that the Spanish proved to me they could get it together by making it very easy for me to get my lost umbrella back. Like an idiot, I left it on the metro two days after buying it (I upgraded to a more expensive one because my cheap one broke soooo hard). All I had to do was make a quick call and take a 5 minute metro trip to pick it up at their lost and found! I was amazed at how easy it was. They did grill the crap out of me, though, asking me what the brand/color/pattern/size were, as well as making me produce my passport, but at least I got it back. That´s one efficiency point for Spain.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
