Life Update - Dec, Jan, Feb in Seattle and Spain

Hello all!

I figure that it's been quite a long time since I last wrote in this dilly-o, so it's high time that I give a little update. I just noticed also that in my last post, I mentioned something about telling you all about my Thanksgiving, trip to Marbella, and Christmas. Well, here's the Reader's Digest version:
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Thanksgiving: Flew to Barcelona (Sabadell) for the weekend. We celebrated Thanksgiving (El Día de Acción de Gracias) on the Saturday after the real holiday in the States. It was fantastic! The turkey was even bigger this year and we made the amazing pumpkin pie from scratch! That means that we actually bought a pumpkin, scraped out the insides, blended them with other ingredients and then poured them into the pan with the homemade crust (a Youtube video taught me how to make that, haha). It was a wonderful weekend to meet the new au pair, Meghan, show her around, and to just spend some wonderful quality time with Anna, Bernat, the kiddos, and the extended familia. I was also able to go around Barcelona and visit some of my good friends from the year before.
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Marbella trip: It was a lot of fun. At the beginning of December, I took a train down to Malaga, got on a bus to Marbella, and then met up and stayed with my friend, Tim, who I met in a church in Barcelona the year before. He showed me the city, the nightlife (which has inspired me to learn salsa), and the beach (which I insisted on because I miss living next to a big body of water, whether the Mediterranean, Puget Sound, or Lake Washington). Valladolid only has a dirty river called the Psuerga. Anyways, it was a fun trip and on the way back, for the first time I took a night train and slept in the small, uncomfortable beds.
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Christmas in Seattle (and Linnea's wedding!!): was fantastic! It was wonderful to go home and see everyone, to relax, and get some good, quality time with family and friends. The highlights of the trip were definitely Christmas with the fam-bam and Linnea's wedding (which is why I came home). I was the maid of honor (along with the amazing matron of honor, Emmy Grob) in Linnea Grob (now Wexler)'s wedding. It was such a fun wedding and I had a ton of fun being a part of Linnea and David's special day. I loved my dress too and can't wait to wear it again.
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Since then: I arrived to Valladolid sano y salvo (safe and sound) on the 18th of January (I left the day after Linnea's wedding), which means that I've been back for exactly 4 weeks. Since then, I've just been back in the routine of teaching English, learning Spanish, and traveling. I'm excited to have passed the Intermediate 2 level Spanish and will go onto the advanced level this following semester (as long as the schedule allows). Teaching English is the same old, same ol' with the teenagers at the high school. I'm starting to run out of things to do with them... but luckily the resources online keep growing as well. :)

In terms of traveling, I stayed home my first two weekends back in Spain, and then traveled these last two weekends. Last weekend, I had an amazing 5 day weekend, so I bought some super last minute train tickets to and from Barcelona to visit my friends and "family" (host family in Sabadell). It was such a wonderful weekend and I absolutely loved being back with everyone and seeing the kids, and the other moms and dads at "my" (the kiddos that I took care of) kids' school.


The two family dinners that I had with my host family were amazing. I really love that family and hope to stay in contact with them for a very long time.


Photo of the kids and I thanks to Meghan Smith (new au pair).
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Madrid y Castilla y León road trip:

Then, this last weekend, I went on sort of a road trip with my friend, David. I met David exactly a year ago (as he pointed out), when I traveled to Madrid to meet up with him and another friend of a friend, Alicia. I met David through my friend, Mike, who I worked with at Redwood Camp as camp counselors in the summer of 2006, and I went to his wedding in Switzerland in June. Mike knows David because they went to high school together in Germany. Anyways, so I traveled down to Madrid, crashed there for the night, and then David and I drove in the amazing Smart Car first to El Escorial. El Escorial is in the province of Madrid and is a super impressive old monastery. It even has sort of a crypt with the tombs of many of the kings and queens and royal family (including a weird cake-like structure with the tombs of the royal children). The town around El Escorial is super cute as well.

Then, we drove another 5 or 10 minutes to The Valley of the Fallen (El Valle de los Caídos), which, to my great disappointment, was pretty much closed. We were allowed to drive up to it, park, and look at the structure from the outside, but we could not go into the Basilica (which was dug out out a mountain and apparently is quite eerie inside), nor could we hike up to the huge cross on the top of the mountain. It was still quite impressive from the outside and we took some photos and explored a bit around the area. I definitely want to return there someday to see the inside and hike up to the top.

After The Valley of the Fallen, we drove about an hour north to the small town of Coca to see their very impressive castle. Unfortunately, the inside was closed by the time we got there, but we were able to explore the ground floor, outside of the castle and down inside some short tunnels. This also was a very cute town with kind people (population ~ 500 inhabitants), some greenish-yellow fields of wheat grass (or that's what David told me), a church, and a random tower. Haha, you wouldn't believe the funny looks and stares we got because of the Smart Car in that town. Though, thinking about it, I probably would laugh and stare at us too if I were them... we did look quite ridiculous in that car (see the pictures). I don't think that I'll return to this city, but it was definitely worth seeing the castle.

We arrived in Valladolid around 8 pm on Saturday night, walked through the city center, got some tapas (we were practically falling asleep during dinner), and then hit the hay. The next day, I showed David around Valladolid, we explored Campo Grande (the big park with peacocks), some churches, and then he peaced out around 1 pm-ish. I was really tired from the weekend, so I haven't done much since.
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I have a 5 day weekend coming up, with the Carnaval holiday, but I haven't decided what I want to do. There's a group going to Valencia and some other people going to Sevilla. I'm honestly tired of traveling. Haha, I guess we'll see.

Oh, and in other news, I have decided not to extend my stay in Spain another year. I'll be coming home to hang with all of you from June 22nd, 2010 to 2011 (at least). I don't know what exactly I'll do when I get home in terms of work, but I'm trusting that it will all work out (at least I have a summer job. I've already talked with my boss about that). In terms of future traveling, if an opportunity presents itself in the next couple years, I would not be against spending some more time abroad (assuming that my life circumstances allow it). I just need at least a year or two to be at home with my family and friends.

Well, friends and family, hasta la próxima. I miss you and can't wait to see you after June 22nd. :)

Saludos desde Valladolid,
Linnell

Switzerland and Next Year!

SWITZERLAND

This last weekend, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Switzerland to attend my friend, Mike’s wedding. I met Mike in the summer of 2006 when we both worked as camp counselors in the Christian camp, Mt. Hermon in Santa Cruz, CA. When he found out that I was in Europe, he told me that I needed to check out Switzerland and insisted that I attend his wedding as well. I decided to make it into a long weekend (Thurs, April 30^th – Mon, May 4^th) and do some touristy things as well.

I first must ask: What are the images that first cross your mind when you think of Switzerland? If they’re anything like the typical cliché things I had associated with the country, I’m guessing that you probably thought of cheese, chocolate, cows with bells, mountains, yodeling, Swiss army knives, or possibly even singing hills (“The hills are alive with the sound of muuuusiiic!”). The funny thing is that I did experience/encounter all of these except for the yodeling and, well, and the singing hills, though I did hum the song while I was there. The majority of cows that I saw had bells, cheese was very tasty, most of the stores had extensive chocolate selections, the mountains were gorgeous, and there were plenty of Swiss army knives being sold.

I flew through Swiss Air (amazing service and very reasonable prices) into Geneva on Thursday morning and immediately caught a train to Lausanne where I had made reservations to stay in a hostel for two nights. I toured the city for maybe an hour and then decided to get away from the crowds and visit a castle that was highly suggested in my Switzerland travel book.

The name of this castle is Château de Chillon and it is on the eastern side of Lake Geneva. This castle is known for its amazingly picturesque surroundings (lake, hills, & mountains) and its interesting medieval history as well. The fact that the castle seems to teeter just above the water makes this popular tourist site incredibly appealing and striking, especially with the towering mountains in the background. I was very fortunate to have had the entire castle to myself since it is usually uncomfortably crowded during tourist season. I arrived to the castle just before they shut the gates and was very lucky to find out that the castle is kept open an hour after closing entry. This allowed me to explore the castle alone for an hour without anyone else entering. It was pretty awesome being the only person in the castle and only hearing my footsteps and the water lapping against the castle walls. There was also a huge bear exhibit, so I thought of you, Dad. :)

On Friday, my second day, I decided to get out of the city again and go on a daytrip to the town of Gruyères, which is known for its cheese and old castle. On the train there, I randomly met a guy from Texas who was in Switzerland on a business trip for Eurovision and since we were both traveling alone, we sort of stuck together. During lunch, he convinced me that it was worth paying a little extra for the famous Gruyères cheese fondue and meringue dessert and I’m glad he did because they were delicious. The castle was beautiful (though I preferred the Chateau de Chillon) and the town very charming. I was just happy to be there for its relaxed feel, green pastures, views of the mountains, and cheese. It was a great relaxing daytrip and wasn’t very crowded at all, which was a relief.

The next morning, I woke up very early to get ready for Isaline and Mike’s wedding and took a 30 minute train ride north of Lausanne to the small town of Romainmôtier (about 300 inhabitants). The wedding was held in the Romainmôtier church, which is said to be the oldest abbey church in Switzerland. The present church was begun at the beginning of the 11th century on the foundations of buildings from the 7th and 8th centuries and the surrounding walkways are all made of cobblestone, which is very hard to walk on with heels. I stayed in an incredibly hospitable bed and breakfast in the neighboring town of Croy, which was only a 20 minute walk along a creek (very picturesque) to Romainmôtier.

The wedding was absolutely amazing. The wedding ceremony and evening party were held in incredibly old buildings and had a very medieval atmosphere. The ceremony and speeches were all in both French and German (two of the three official languages in Switzerland), so Mike’s Cambridge friends and I didn’t really know what was going on most of the time. Despite this, it was such an amazing night. I met people from all around the world (Mike has lived in many different places) and spent most of my time with Mike’s English speaking friends from the UK and Switzerland. The entire celebration lasted nearly 12 hours and was exquisite and incredibly classy. I felt so honored to be there. At the end of the night, around 2 AM, someone drove me back to Croy (my heels wouldn’t have faired well on the rocky path by the creek) and I slept very well.

The next morning (Sunday), I had a wonderful breakfast provided by my host and a great conversation with the couple that was staying there as well, who had also come for the wedding. In the early afternoon I took a train to Geneva where I spent my last night. Though Geneva is one of the most influential cities in Switzerland and is the home to a huge number of international organizations, there isn’t much interesting to see in the city as a tourist. After checking into my hostel, I rushed over to the Red Cross Museum to catch the last 40 minutes of it being open and practically sprinted through the exhibits. My Switzerland book dubbed the museum “one of the best museums in Europe”, and I can see why. It is very creatively laid out with many hands on exhibits and visuals. The exhibits in this small museum are packed with interesting information and great interviews, provoking much thought and emotion. The entirety of it all really gave me a sense of the brokenness of the world that we live in and the sad realities that people face every day in war-stricken and third world countries.

If I had arrived earlier and gotten the audio tour, I am sure that it would have been an even more meaningful experience. So, I would suggest setting aside at least an hour and a half to two hours if you want to fully digest all of the video, audio, and visual information. Other than this, I saw the United Nations from outside the gates, two gardens, the Lake Geneva waterfront, the famous fountain, and old city. I did all of this within almost an hour and a half and then decided to get a quick early dinner and go to the hostel for the movie night. Haha, I found it quite funny that I watched “Bend it Like Beckham” while traveling in Switzerland. My night ended with my two hostel roommates and I talking for about an hour about our travels, studies, and Barcelona. The next morning, the three of us woke up and were out of the hostel by 4:30 AM in order to catch the first train to the airport. The two girls went on their way to Brussels (Belgium) and I left for my European home base, Barcelona.

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This Week and MY PLANS FOR NEXT YEAR!!

This week has been great so far. We had a small family birthday celebration for the little boy that I take care of. He just turned three. I’ve been thinking a lot more lately about what it is going to be like when I leave Barcelona, my host family, and the kids. Just the thought of it makes me very sad because I’ve really become attached to this family and grown to love these two children. I feel like such a mom saying this, but when I’m on vacation, I miss the kids. It is going to be very hard leaving them. Luckily we have Skype, so I will still be able to keep in touch and see them.

Some other great news is that I got accepted into the “Cultural Ambassadors” program in Spain that asks its applicants help teach English in public schools (elementary through high school) and official language schools. I was originally a bit disappointed with my placement because it wasn’t in any of the regions I had requested, which were incidentally all coastal regions (Andalucia, Cantabria, & Asturias), however, after some research and talking with a few people, I’m actually getting pretty excited about my location. I was placed in Castella y León, which is one of the largest autonomous communities (aut. comm. is basically like a state) in terms of actual square kilometers (around 94,223 km², or 36,380 mi²), but is one of the least densely packed in terms of population (2.5 million). To give you some perspective on the density of Castella y León, the Seattle metropolitan area is considered to be around 8,186 sq mi with a population of around 3,263,497 (2007, source: Wikipedia, “Seattle”). The largest cities in Castella y León are Salamanca (155,740 inhab.), León (204,212), Valladolid (the capital. 319,943), and Burgos (177.879). Salamanca is a university city, so I would much prefer to be placed there. Anyways, I just have some more waiting to do and then try to renew my visa here in Barcelona, which I’m hoping won’t be too complicated.

So, it looks as though there’s an 80% chance that I’ll be living in Spain for one more year. It will be a different experience for sure because I will have quite a bit more free time, more independence, bills to pay, and food to buy. It will also be different because unlike Barcelona, in whatever city or town I will work, it will be much smaller and less international. Also, I’ve heard that some of the “purest” Spanish (Castellano) is spoken in this region, which will be great for my studies of the language.

So, that’s where I’m at right now. I’m trying to figure out the cheapest way to fly back home to Seattle for a month and a half this summer, so if any of you are experts in this area, let me know.

I hope all is amazing with all of you and I’m counting down the days until I’m back home to Seattle.

Besitos y abrazos from Barcelona,

Linnell