Hotel Las Arenas

I went to the beach where the big Hogueras de San Juan (Bonfires of St. John) took place. This celebration, or festival dates back to pre-Christian times and marks the arrival of summer solstice, the longest day of the year. This celebration takes place from June 20-June 29. It is celebrated in many costal towns including Alicante (the biggest celebration) Velencia and Barcelona. Jumping in the sea at midnight is supposed to wash away the evil spirits and gain fortune and eternal beauty. Well here are pics of the hotel room and the beach

My Cave

Here are a couple pictures of my study table in my room and my tiny window. This is a typical study night. My computer, a little wine, cheese and Serrano and my class notes. I try to type my class notes in the afternoon or evening but I'm behind. I should have started from day one, but I didn't think about it until week two, so I'm trying to catch up.

Comidas en Espana

Spaniards, at least in Valencia eat FIVE meals a day! Here's how it goes:

Desayuno: usually between 7-8 AM it consists of something very light, such as expresso or cortado (expresso with just a little steamed milk in a cup just a little larger than an expresso cup. The may also have a biscuit (not like our southern biscuits but more like a mildy sweetened cookie) or a piece or a fruit. They DON'T EAT eggs, omelets, ham, bacon, sausage, cereal with milk, french toast or pancakes.

El Amuerzo: usually around 10-11 and it might consist of another piece of fruit, more coffee, maybe a glass of juice or horchata.

La Comida: Usually between 2-3 PM. In travel books they may call lunch "Amuerzo" but people who are born and raised here call the mid-day meal La Comida. This is the big meal of the day. This is when the Valencians eat Paella, meats, heavy soups etc. Remember many businesses close between 2-4 PM so this is a good time for a big meal and a little rest before returning to work. When they return to work at 4 they might work until 7:30-8:00PM.

La Merienda: This meal is between 6:00-6:30 and is mostly designed for children when they get out of school. Even small, elementary children have school until 4:30-5:00PM. This meal would consist of a little sandwhich (bocadillo) some milk or fruit, crackers etc.

La Cena: this is the last meal of the day and is taken between 9:30-10:30 PM. Again, nothing heavy. This is the time to eat tapas and light salads. The natives never eat Paella, steak, or heavy soups at this hour.

So that the rundown. Let me know what you think.

Paella

I know this may be boring, still, I thought I'd let you guys know the variety of paellas here in Valencia. These are from a paella restaurant called Marisco thus the name is incorporated into may of the recipe names. I've been to other restaurants with similar menus so I felt this was fairly representative. I'll try to supply more pics of the prepared dishes late.

Fideua De Marisco - this paella is made with thin pasta rather than rice. I've never tried it but I've seen it. It contains mussels, prawns, squid, sweet red bell pepper, artichoke heart and green peas

Paella de Arroz Negro - Black rice Paella made with squid ink that causes the rice to appear black. It contains squid, mussels, prawns, squid ink, artichoke hearts and peas

Paella Valencia - This is the actual paella most people HERE think of as being the local recipe. I had a small dish of this from a vendor in the street but I don't think of this when I think of paella. It contains chicken, green beans, carob beans and sweet red or green bell peppers

Paella De Marisco Pelado - peeled seafood including squid, prawns, mussels, sweet peppers and green peas

Paella Mixta - chicken, spare ribs, prawns, mussels, sweet pepper and green peas

Paella De Marisco - scampi, squid, prawns, mussels, green peas, red bell pepper

As you can see there is a sorta typical combination of ingredients. Interestingly I never see onion listed as an ingredient. The first time I remember eating anything like this is when my grandmother (Abuela Argelia) would make what we called yellow rice ad chicken (arroz con pollo). She would combine the rice and chicken in a baking pan and cook it in the oven. When it was almost done she would add roasted red pepper and green peas on top and then pop it back in the oven to finish. I guess it was basically a chicken paella.

Instructor Yolanda

This is the first picture I took of instructor Yolanda and I thought it was fully because it looks like she's nude. Actually she has a dress or shirt that is strapless and the way I took the picture made it look funny (to me). So I took another one a few days later.

instructors

These are pictures of my instructors. The one sitting is Yolanda the one standing is Sylvia. Sylvia mostly teaches vocabulary and Yolanda teaches grammar (the tough stuff). There is also a photo of me and the other student in my class named Karin from Sweden.

During one class the instructor asked where we would like to vacation. I think I said the Keys or the Caribbean. The other student, Karin says she wants to visit, Iran, Lebanon and Korea! So I mention that two American reporters were just sentenced to 12 years in prison in a closed trial that lasted 15 minutes. Karin's response was "what about Guantanamo?". I mentioned the folks in GITMO may have had something to do with the deaths of 3,000 Americans and the two reporters just happened to be in North Korea.

I'm not positive about what Karin does for work but I think she said she's a librarian in Sweden. The instructor is asking about various different things as a lesson and we answer and its an interaction type thing. So she asking about things and whether they are very important, important, or not important at all. and of course there are varying degrees, in fact the instructor drew a scale on the board with very important on one end, important in the middle and not important at the other end. The instructor, Sylvia, ask what we think of money (amongst other things). So I say money is very important because it allows us to live a nice comfortable life and allows us to help others and having money is better than not having money. So Miss Swiss says "oh, money isn't very important". Either she and her family are rich and don't have to worry about money or she is unrealistic about how the world works. Money isn't the most important thing and the attainment of money and wealth shouldn't consume a person, however, as I said, when you have money you can live comfortably and you can help others less fortunate.

Dinner

Walking along "restaurant row" I saw so many dishes with fish and prawns, langostino, mussels, octopus on and on... I hadn't eaten a thing all day and now it was 9:45 PM. I found a little bar with a TV and people watching a soccer match between Spain & Uruguay. I actually starting think soccer wasn't a half bad sport, it certainly takes tremendous athletic skill.

Entonces, after 2 glasses of Tinto I walked a few doors down to a restaurant called La Marcelina. It was more of an upscale restaurant even though I was wearing shorts a t-shirt and flip flops they served me. Of course I ate alone. None of the people from school were around and I didn't know anyone else. The menu was extensive and none of it was in English. I knew I wanted a seafood paella, (see pictures of all the paella pans and the kitchen) but I wanted it with the mussels in the shells and the prawns and shrimp whole. I ordered Sopa De Ajo which is a garlic soup. I've been wanting to try that for a long time. It was one of the best things I have ever put in my mouth! I had it only once before in Puerto Rico but that was so long ago I don't remember. I have some recipes for this soup now I know I want to try this at home.

Next I had Pulpito which are baby octopus that are sauted in a wine sauce and served in a little tera cota dish straight from the oven. The garlic bread was toasted and it was actually rubbed with whole garlic. I enjoyed my appitizer and soup with a glass of the house wine called Murviedrt. I believe the name refers to a type of grape or a region where it is grown. Finally my paella came. It was simply called Paella Marcelina, the house specialty. It is prepared when you order it rather than plated from a larger paella that was prepared in advance. It contained, bacalao (cod), camaron (shrimp), and mejillon (mussels). It was fantastic! I had to order a portion for two because they don't make individual servings of this dish. So I had plenty to bring home for today.

Beach II

Just a few more pictures of my time at the beach and another example of the parking situation here.

Next to where I stayed was a five star hotel called Hotel Las Arenas that was beautiful. I tooks a picture from front and back. I think I might stay there next week for a day or two.

La Playa (the beach)

I stayed at the beach on Saturday and Staurday night. The hotel was called El Coso. It was right on the beach (along with tons of other hotels). The sand is tan in color and water isn't really blue or green like at home. Its just a little different. The beach was crowded like at home. Maybe 20% of the females were topless which is not a big deal over here. Its a shame most of that 20% were Abuela's! There is a long prominade between the back of the hotels and the beach where venders set-up places to sell stuff. I saw the most wonderful looking seafood. I'll tell you about my meal in the next entry. I've included some pic of the beach. There is one where you can make out a montain range in the distance. It was much clearer in person. I'd like to go to the beach at the foot of those mountains.

Supermarket & Parking

These are pictures of the supermarket that is in the basement of a mall called El Corte Ingles. It's like a Publix Supermarket. First I have to say, I have no idea how to manipulate my text with the pictures so however it comes out is out of my control. Anyway, the first picture is of part of the seafood department. There are about 8 different types of shrimp, praws and Langostino's. They told me I cant take pictures so I didn't get one of the actual fish, to the left. Many, Many different types of fish & eel's. Usually whole fish and even live fish.

Next you will see all the Jamon Serrano's hanging. There must have been 100 of these. This ham is like Italian Procutto. Some of the pigs (cerdo) are farm raised and some are raised in the mountians free range. These are the most expensive and the have black hooves. They take the whole ham leg and place in in a carving rack then slice off thin pieces for you. I have never seen them put any ham on an electric slicer but I'm sure the do once they take it off the bone. The price can range from 10 euro/kilo to 145 euro/kilo. A kilo is about 2.2 pounds.

The last picture is an example of how close these folks park next to each other. This picture is not unusual. The cars are usually parked less than a foot apart. There are NO TRUCKs and No SUV's. There are 90% compact cars, Sabb, Peugot, Audi, Mercedes, Fords. Every now and then I see an expensive Benz or Audi sedan. The richer people live in apartments with underground parking. There are also hundreds and hundreds of mopeds & motorcyles (moto's)

Tapas & More

These are pictures of two different Tapas bars I have been to. The tapas bar in the two pictures to the left is called Sagardi on Carrer De Saint Vinvent Martir. They leave various plates of different Tapas out on the

counter all day. There are all kinds of munchies. You can't really see the food very well in the pictures. But each Tapa is usually a meat or cheese or seafood on a small slice of bread. There are also lots of little sandwiches (bocadillo's). They are like food passed at a cocktail party. Each Tapa has a toothpick in it. Either a short or long toothpick. When you have eaten as much as you want the waiter just counts the toothpicks and they know what to charge you. It's a beautiful thing, the food is wonderful and looks so enticing! Now the picture on the right is the same place I had dinner last night. This is a little different. There are plates of food but you don't physically pick an individual tapa. You either order off the menu or you just point to which tapas you want and they put what you ask for on a little plate and hand it to you. The first time I went there I was starving and I asked for three different things. There was so much on each plate I couldn't nearly finish it. I think it coast about 5 euros. Last night I had a large plate of seafood and a bottle of red wine for 20 euros. One euro is about $1.50 but the exchange rate changes everyday.

Your guess is as good as mine

No idea what this means. I've been by the

place 2-3 times but its never opened

Dinner & Instructors

These are pictures of my two instructors. Yolanda is the one sitting. She's the one that mostly gives grammar lessons, the most difficult for me. She's nice but It's tough to learn when she tries to correct me in Spanish. The other girls name is Sylvia. She is much more light-hearted and fun. She mostly teaches vocabulary and some grammar. It is very difficult to learn a new language. The picture of food is from a Tapas bar I went to after class on my way home. The name of the place is Freiduria Botella Tapas-Cerveceria on the corner of D'ercilla & Placa Del Mercat. The plate includes: Chirretes (tiny fish 2"), boquerones (little fish 3"), sepia (cuttlefish), calamari (squid), & puplo (octopus). I ate at a table on the sidewalk and just watched people walk by. There was a cool breeze and it was very relaxing after class. The classes are very intense and I am drained afterwards. Now it's 1:10 PM and I am beginning to type my class notes and do some Rosetta Stone for about an hour before class. Next week my hours change to the morning and I get an additional 1:45 of "conversation". I will have class from 9:30-1:30 then "conversation" from 2:00-3:45. I prefer class in the morning so we'll see how it goes.

My Buds

It might seem silly but I do miss my two dogs which are like my closest family because I'm with them and caring for them every day. So I worry about them and at least I have my pictures. The boxer is named Rocky and the English Bulldog is Rosco. I've had Rocky since he was about 8 wks old. Now he is almost 13 yrs old. Rosco is a rescue dog. I got him when he was about 1 1/2 yrs old, he's about 4 now. Rocky is losing his sight and hearing and he has separation anxiety. You cannot close a door behind you (like a bathroom door) without him whining. Rosco could care less. Rosco is the comedian and the real bully. He moves furniture around, he carries his dog bed around the house, pounds on Rocky when it thunders, he will eat anything in sight if allowed to.

Better School Back to Heat

The instructor made my day when she announced "no grammar tonight". Of course she said it in Spanish because she rarely ever speaks English. Regardless, we just focused on vocabulary and it was cool to not have anxiety. Sadly I left my cold hotel room to return to this hot apartment with the construction workers banging and speaking loudly outside my window. I have headphones on listening to Howard Stern as I write my blog. Last night I went out again but I guess I found the "good" part of town because there were lots of nice people out and lots of bars and restaurants open. It's so easy to get lost here. There are a million tiny roads and side streets. I suck so bad with directions that I got lost last night and had to ask for directions back to my hotel. One wrong turn and everything looks unfamiliar and I end-up just getting farther and farther from where I want to be. In these pictures you will see a beautiful apartment building and one of the tiny side streets I mentioned.

Better Day

Much better today at class. No grammar lessons today. We just focused on vocabulary. This is a good way of learning because its not just learning words but it learning what words mean and how to use them in a certain context. Of course we still apply the "rules" of grammar but its just not as hard core as when we are just focusing on the grammar itself.

So I have another night with the comforts of a quiet room with cold air. I'm having a little Cuban rum called Havana Club Anejo Especial. I just wanted to try it because its from Cuba and we can't get any Cuban products in the U.S. This hotel (Hotels Catalonia) is right downtown in the center of the business district. I stood on a street corner that had three huge old buildings all of which were banks. There was De Banco De Valencia, Banco De Espana, BBV. Not sure what BBV stands for. I went out from my hotel at 8:15 pm last night and the streets surrounding my hotel were filled with people and bars/restaurants were all very active. I went out again about 10:00 PM and the streets were empty. I literally had people coming up to me asking if I wanted marijuana or hashish or cocaine. It was pretty scary, so I bought a hamburger and headed home.

Sidre

There is a drink here called Sidre, which means Cider. They pour from a large cask as you see in the picture. The bartender holds the glass far away which airates the drink and causes a small head to form. It tastes like flat sour beer and its room temperature. They serve it in a straight glass but only fill about three fingers of the glass. I saw lots of people drinking this when they are eating Tapas so I tried it. Once was enough for me.

I went to an Irish pub with some guys from school that are from England. They wanted to watch some soccer (no basketball, baseball, or football). I ordered what I thought was a import beer from the tap. I had never seen this type of beer before so I thought I'd give it a try. It looked good but when I tasted it, it was like drinking carbonated apple juice. It turns out there are two kinds of cider here. The Spanish "Sidre" and the Irish type of cider which what I mistakenly order at the pub. I couldn't drink it (too sweet) but the bartender knew I made a mistake so he exchanged it for a Guiness.

Classes Kicking My Ass

I had another tough day today. Again, its singular and plural verb forms and the correct sentence structure that is seriously messing me up. If the instructor could just explain it in English for 5 min I could probably catch on but she insists on only speaking Spanish and tries to encourage me not to use any English. How do I ask for clarification when I can't speak English to her and she wont speak English to me? It seems like I get through the first 2 hrs OK, then the other instructor comes in and the subject matter is much more technical. I even asked for extra homework. Great idea! The instructions for the homework are in Spanish. At least there is some examples to follow. I'm really going to buckle down, otherwise I can't see it getting any easier. I have three more weeks so I need to get it together. I might stay at this hotel again tomorrow night. I'll look for an apartment but tomorrow I want to focus on these studies.

When I left class I just felt dumb and sick in my stomach because I am not catching on and other girl in the class is getting it better than me. She has been studying more and when she is interacting with people at school or at the apartment she tries to only speak Spanish even though its a struggle. I even complemented her today, telling her that her Spanish has improved in one weeks time. I can tell the difference in how she speaks and how she does on the lessons in class.

The hotel has cold air, I already told you guys that. What they don't have is ice makers on any of the floors. I needed some ice for a Coke so I go to the lobby and ask for some ice thinking they will bring me a bucket of ice. The guy comes back with a single short glass and asks me "is this enough?" I laughed slightly ans asked if he had anything bigger. He did manage to find a small pitcher for me. Luckily the room has a mini bar so I took some stuff out and put the ice in there so it'll last longer. When you enter a hotel room, you have to take your key card and place it in a slot just inside the room in order for the electricity to work. When you leave, obviously you take your key card with you so the electricity is shut off (including AC). Strange, but they are very Eco-conscious here and into conservation of everything.

Ice Cold Air

I found a hotel just around the corner from my school called the Gran Hotel Catelonia. Nice room, ice cold air, very clear color TV. I should get a good night rest tonight. I'll begin looking for an apartment tomorrow. I have three more weeks here and I can't stay in the hot box during that time and it's too expensive to live out of a hotel for three weeks. I want to enjoy my time here and learn as much as I can. I won't be able to do either if I'm hot and bothered all day and night.

Pictures 2

The obscured photo of the building to the left is where the construction is going on. The picture below is the ham station at the supermarket. This is where they have the best quality hams.
There is also a picture of the hundreds of Jammon Serrano hanging at the supermarket.

Pictures

I'm trying to learn how to upload pictures and haven't gotten the hang of it yet. The picture to the left is an old castle that has been converted to a hotel called a paradores which means its a government owned hotel. The picture below is the street immediately in front of my apartment called Paseo de la Pechina. The trees tops you see to the left of the street
are in the Jardines Del Turia. This is a riverbed that was closed down in 1958-59 and turned into a park. The river traversed the entire southern part of town but because of flooding issues they closed either end of the river and re-routed it to the outside of the city. Now we have this beautiful park that is about 8 kilometers long.

Noise & Rules

The construction continues at the building that's about 20 meters from my bedroom. Of course because of the heat I have to leave my tiny window open. So promptly at 9:00 AM they start what sounds like a game of pipe throwing. It sounded like they were throwing one huge metal pipe on top of a pile of metal pipes. After a few lovely minutes of that as my alarm clock, they start pounding metal with hammers. As I look out my window I see they are erecting a scaffolding. I took some pictures so you can appreciate how close this is. I'm sure most of you are thinking, 9:00 AM is late and you're probably at work by then so what am I bitching about. When I'm at home I wake up between 5:30-6:00 AM. But remember, in Spain they don't even eat dinner till after 8:00 PM. Its not uncommon to be out walking around the streets or having coffee or a beer until 1:00 AM. I don't have class until 4:00 PM and I'm only sleeping a few hours a night, so to hear this horrendous noise at 9:00 AM sucks Chef's salty chocolate balls (South Park reference).

So I come home Sunday afternoon and the Nazi superintendent has imposed a new doctrine. He posts a note on the bathroom door written in Spanish (he doesn't speak English) so I had to get my dictionary out. "Taking more than one bath a day is Prohibited". One more reason to find a new place to stay for a while.

I knew it would be a little tough not having the comforts of home but the noise, the heat, not being allowed on the trerrace after 10:00PM (not 11 which I thought) having the door to the Terrace chained and now being told I'm only allowed one shower a day, in this heat! Id rather spend a few hundred Euros more and have a little more comfort.

Get Some Air Conditioning!!

I stayed at Hotel Turia last night just for some nice cool AC and a TV to watch. The AC sucked and barely kept the room cool. No English stations which was fine since Im here to learn the language. And at least I had a shower hwre I didn't have to hold the sprayer while trying to shower. The hotel is only about a 15 min walk but next time, I'll pay a little more and get a room with COLD air.

Since the mall is next to the hotel I went there for dinner. I had a dish I saw on the Gordon Ramsey show called "The F Word" . The meal is a Donar Kebab. It's not exactly a kebab as we would think of it. The Donar Kebab meat is assembled like the meat used in a gyro if you have ever seen those large conical shaped meats on a verticle rottissorie (sp). These are very popular all over Europe, especially in the UK. In order to be called a Dnar Kebab as opposed to just a Kebab the meat must be prepared a certain way and must have a certain ratio of ingredients. There is a special inspection process used in England to ensure quality. According to the food critic on the Ramsey show, this is a late night drunk food in the UK. Similar to our Krystal Burgers.

So the meat is shaved off of the larger portion and placed in a large flour tortilla then they add lettuce, onion, tomato and a thin white sauce and optionally you can ask for a sauce picante which is a spicy thin red sauce. All in all it was OK. Id rather have a Gyro. Plus, Im not sure if it was the sandwich, but this morning I made about 5 trips to the reading room.

Horachata

Horchata (or-CHA-tah) is a cold drink that looks like watered down milk. It was originally made from tigernuts, water and sugar. Now people may use a variety of seeds or grains to make it, including almonds, sesame seeds, barley or rice. Chufa was the plant that was originally used and the root of the plant is like a tiney seed, like a nut. I believe this is what they call "tigernuts".

The name is said to come from King Jaume I, the first King of Spain (hundreds of years ago). It is said that when he was given the drink by a local in the town called Alboraya, he said "Aixo 'es or, xata" (That's Gold, Darling).

Arabs brough the chufa plant to Spain during the time of Moorish Kings (700 BC - 1,200 AD). The eastern Spanish province of Valencia was the best environment for growing the Chufa.

Stay off the patio!

I think I mentioned before that the superintendant removed all of the chairs and table from the patio area and said we are not allowed to be on the pation after 11:00 PM. I guess they have had a lot of complaints about noise when students are out on the patio talking late at night. In fact they say the police have been called in the past to investigate the noise complaints. So when I come home from classes last night around 9:00 PM I find the door to the patio chained and locked! I guess they're really serious about this shit. But I can understand it. I took some pictures of the buildings surrounding the patio which I hope will be posted. You can see how our patio is in the center of a bunch of apartments and the sound really does travel. So if 2-3 people are on the patio bullshitting at 3:00 AM I can nderstand how that might piss some people off that have to work in the morning.

I'm heading for a hotel nearby for a little comfort tonight. Thank God AC and a normal shower! The hotel (Hotel Turia) is right next to the mall and there are tons of restaurants all around. Its about a 15 min walk from my apartment.

Buen fin de semana!

The title means "have a good weekend" and an appropriate response is " igualmente" (same to you). I wanted to point something out about the language here. Not only are things pronounced a little differently such as ce and ci sounds like th and "v" sounds like b. So Valencia is pronounced "Ba len thia". Another difference is the use of the word Vosotros which means they/them is not used in Latin America. So Spanish speaking people from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Argentina etc.. will never use this word. When you say your age or someone elses age you dont say "Mike is 43" you say "Mike tiene cuarenta y thres anos" translated: Mike has 40 & 3 years.

One of the favorite sayings is vale (bah-lay) which means "ok". The first day the class the teacher (la profesora) kept saying this again and again I had no idea what she meant. Another saying is "que guay!" (how cool). Also in the street people might say "oye tio" or "oye tia" which means something like "whats up friend" There is a local dish here called Alli pebre they tell me its like their version of gumbo. I'm gonna look for it tomorrow. Sailing is postponed until next weekend so I may go to El Ciudad de arts y ciencia, The City of Arts and Science. Its not far from here but its a series of buildings with guess what? art & science stuff. There is also the oceanografic specifically dealing with the ocean like the place we have in Tampa

Week One

Today was a tough day at school. The first two hours was cake, just went over family names like Abuela, Abuelo, primo, cunado, Suegro, yerno, nuera, Bisabuelo etc.. But the next two hours we did Los Pronobres Posesivos. Singular/Plural + verb form + name; Verbo + posesivo + Nombre. I just had a tough time with this today. (nosotras)/ Amigos: Son nuestros amigos y los amigos son nuestros. Here is another example: (Vosotros)/ Hijos; son vuestros hijos y los hijos son vuestros.

I just has a time with it. This will take a while to catch on. I bought a John Grisham book in spanish called "La Tapadera"

Outside America

Our reputation (USA) to other countries isn't so good. I've spoken to people from Holland, London, Scotland, Germany, Australia and Argentina. Here's the basic idea others have about America. Most of you won't even be surprised, but what WAS surprising is how the attitude about the States is pretty much consistent across Europe. People outside the U.S. think we have an elitist (sp) attitutue, don't give a shit about the environment, consume, consume, consume. More is better, bigger is better, tell others how to run thier contries, police the world, impose our ideals on others. They also feel Americans have their heads in the sand because they don't travel outside the U.S. I tried to explain that lots of Americans don't travel to Europe because we have everything we need at home (AC & Comfortable cars) and most Americans haven't seen all of America. I know I can't change others attitudes. The funny thing is that most of these Euro's want to go to America. I LOVE THE USA!

Heat

Its hot this morning and I was awakened by pounding hammering at 9:00 AM!. I know that sounds late but we stay up till like 3-4 AM. So to hear pounding hammers at 9 is a little disconcerting. Its hot and moist this morning. I think I'm gettin a hotel room this weekened just for the AC and TV. I found one around the corner for only 50 ero/night. Saturday I'm going on a sailing excursion on the Meteteranian. There is somekind of Rigatta going on so we will watch that and they will cook Paella on the boat. I'm looking forward to that.

I learned something yesterday about ordering wine. I have been going to the bars and saying "un vino rojo" for one red wine. Someone corrected me and told me I should just say "Tinto". With this, the bartender will know what I want and give me the house wine. Interesting. I have also been told they have a local dish very similar to a gumbo called Allipebre. I haven't tried it and I haven't seen it on the menus but I'm going to look for it.

There are a tons of different kinds of Paella. They even make it with spaghetti. I'm not sure if it has a different name when they use noodles but I'll investigate.

Fellow Students

When I first got here I thought the other students were a bunch of rich kids using their parents wealth to travel. This is not the case. In fact it is far from the case. One guy is/was an Investment Banker in New Yory. He looked to be maybe 28 yrs old. He made a shit load of money now he decided to take 6 months off to travel and learn Spanish. After this he is attending the Kellogg Business College in Chicago for his masters degree which will take two yrs. Another guy from London is an Investment Fund Manager. A guy from Australia has a dad who is somekind of governmental diplomat in Tialand and he wanted to work for Greepeace but now he changed his mind and he wants to work for a government agency that promotes energy conservation. As part of what he wants to do he needs to speak Spanish. Another kid just 22 yrs old from Germany speaks some Spanish, Russian, German, and Italian. He is finishing his Masters thesis in Spain for six months. One girl is a teacher and since they have summer break she is here to learn Spanish which she wants to teach to her students in Holland when she returns. Nice folks, hard working, educated people.

Mercado Centro

I went through the Central Market this past Sunday and it was like a Twilight Zone episode. First I walk through a crowded market with literally thousands of people and probably more than 100 booths with people selling all kinds of things. So I pass through the market area and go off to the park that runs through the city. No less than 2 hrs later I head home and I pass through the market again. Only this time there is abosolutely nothing there! No people, no booths, no nothing! There were maybe three people sweeping-up. Even so, there wasn't much of anything to sweep-up. That was amazing. How can it go from 100 mph to 0 in a two hr period? Id like to go back and watch that occurr

Hotels and Poop

I realized I didn't tell you about the hotel part in my last blog. Anyway, since I'm living like a poor student in an 8x10 room and sharing two bathrooms with eight people I thought maybe once a week on Sunday's I might stay in a hotel close to the school that actually has a bed to fit a grown sized American with a gut, cable TV and AC. So when I was walking around I found two hotels that looked nice ( I was tempted to check in right then and there). They were Melia Plaza (http://www.meliahotels.com/) and Vincci Hotels (http://www.vinccihotels.com/).

One of the Tapas places I visited to was Sagardis (http://www.sagardi.com/). Another restaurant I check out was L'hamadriada (http://www.hamadriada.com/). I'll try to get more info and post it as I go.

Now for the poop. Poeple here love ther dogs, and in fact all the dogs seem very well behaved on the streets around crowds of peeple. The problem is, there is NO GRASS anywhere accept in the park that runs through the southern part of town and ocassionaly in medians. So when nature calls... I haven't seen this in action but I've seen the results. Most people carry bags and clean-up but every now and then you'll come across a "log drop" or ten. Seriously, it's not that bad. Just wanted to share my observations.

Thoughts

I've only seen two law offices and about ten dental clinics, either they don't like to sue one another or they really like nice teeth.

These MoFo's can parallel park thier asses off!! The cars are seriously, less than a foot apart in many instances. I saw this one guy getting ready to park and I thought "there ain't no way that dude is getting that car in that space" and like a freaking ninja, bam he slides right in. If I lived here I'd have a moped.

And to all you grammer and spelling freaks out there, ease up on "grading" my blog, I type what I think I don't have time to consult Mr. Webster. If I can fingure out how to spell check I'll do it - MAYBE! Ok it's Shiatsu, are you happy now Mrs. Smith? (My first grade teacher at St. Lawrence Elementary I was her favorite)

Mucho Tapas

I found two places that have kick ass Tapas of completely different styles. The first I walked by on my way to the Mercado. It is called Freiduria Boatella Tapas y Cerveceria on Placa Del Mercat street. I walked in and saw all the dishes of beautiful food laid out on the counter and people sitting in the shade on the patio and at the bar having expresso, cerveza and Tapas. The food included plates of small fried shrimp, chirretes (little whole fish 2"), Boquerones (bigger, little fish 3") I took a picture of the food and left, hoping to stop by later. I wanted to find my school so IO kow where to go tomorrow morning so continued on past tyhe mercado. As I'm walking I see one beautiful building after anthother and I begin taking pictures, but after a while I thought they will all look the same and I can't really tell a story about each one so why bother. I did go inside one church called Lonja De Valencia (I think) that had it's 500th anniversity in 1996! As I continued on my way I came across another Tapas bar called Sagardi on Carrer de Saint Vicente Martir. It was fancier than the first place and the tapas were all small sandwiches and fancy 'horderves (sp). Took another picture of the food and left. Turns out my school is two doors down. I know where I'm having lunch tomorrow! Well I could go on and on (and I have) but suffice to say, so far I love this place and the people. Its relaxing and beautiful, the people are not in a hurry for anything, (including getting me a second expresso when Im sitting at the counter and no one else is in the place). Oh, and I purchased a long shower hose! I stopped at a place to get water and a Korean mad and his wife were there, I asked if they spoke English - no, but perfect Spanish I laughed and I think I offended them but I couldn't help myself. Stopped at another place later for more water and another Korean ran the place. It was a tiny little shop like a convenience store. I tried to explain that I was having a terrible time finding an adapter for my computer cord to plug into 220v. The guy pulls out a small plastic tub filled with abunch of various electrical adapters not even in packaging and he hands me one. I look at it and initially tell him it won't work - remember I spent a good part of yesterday looking for one of these things, including going to a huge Circuit City type place. He shows me that it will work, and charges me €.75. I hope it does work.

La Mercado y mucho mas

I can't even begin to tell you what a day I had - one of the best times of my life. I've been walking the city for 6 hours. I'll try to remember some of the things I saw. First, walking through the Mercado Centro was amazing. Its like a flea market in the street with booth after booth set-up and people selling merchandise. The direction I entered began with stamps and coins. My dad used to collect stamps and some coins and this reminded me of when I would go to the flea market in Tampa w him to The Lions Club booth he helped out with. Next was leather bags, wallets, & sunglasses. Now here is the strange thing. Since I've been here, all of two days I haven't seen many black folks, but at the mercado every single leather booth had a black male merchant (not one woman), and only the leather booths. next I headed toward the Port of Valencia but it proved to be much too long of a venture so I stopped at another market that is in the city park only on Sundays. There are bands and entertainers and people selling all kinds of things. I got a Shitzu (sp) massage for 20 min which helped my back tremedously. Next I purchased a variety of cured meats and cheeses. The Jamon Serronao de Borreno (sp) still had the hoof on and iot was the black hoof meaning it was a pig raised in the mountains and much more revered than the white hoofed pigs that are farm raised.

Ill try to post picture of my adventures later. I had to find a place for laundry because in my apartment the washing machine is next to the stove in the kitchen which is about 3 1/2 ft wide and the washer is only big enough for about three towels. No dryer, must hang everything out on the porch where people gather to talk, smoke and drink. Didnt want my boxers hanging out with the young-uns. The shower is a whole nother story. It is a hand held sprayer attached to the spicket in the tub. Although there is an hook to attach it to the wall like a traditional shower, the tubing is too short so you have to hold it in your hand and bend over. When you rinse you're hair if you don't bend over enough the cord pops off and you have to reattach it to the sprayer. The first time this happened I just cracked up while washing.

Beautiful Sunday

What a great start to my day. First, I finally had a good nights sleep woke uo at 9:45. Breakfast was banana and two cups of expresso. This cafe is 2 min from my apt and they serve it with a packet of condensed milk instead of sugar. This makes all the difference in the world. I remember my grandmother used to make it this way when I was young. Went by a beautiful church letting out of mass, then off to The Laundry Shop where I found internet access to write this. Weather is great, next Im heading to the Mercado the large outdoor market.

I'm Finally Here

I arrived in Valencia at 6:20 AM, we had a strong tail wind and got here an hour ahead of schedule flying at 40,000 ft and -57F outside. Now that I figured out how to sign in I can keep you up to speed as to what I am experiencing. My battery on the computer is dying and the adapter I bought doesnt work with coputers. Guess I should have opened the box and read it before I left. There's a mall nearby so I'll pick one up later. Everything is very old. Streets, buildings etc. but also mixed in with new buildings and lots of fancy architecture. Going out for my first real meal later. I tried buying some Tapas of mussles, escargot and baby clams at 10:00 AM but they said it was too early. My biological clock was at 4:00 AM st the time.

Valencia - Here I come!

I leave NY on Friday 5:05 PM and arrive in Valencia at 7:30 AM. I have no idea what happens after that. The school is closed down Saturday and Sunday. The school is sending a driver to pick me up. I hope the driver knows where I'm staying and has a key to my apartment. Otherwise I'll be looking for a hotel at 7:30 AM. The exchange rate from US dollars to Euro's is unbelievable. It cost me $500 US for 310 Euros at Tampa International.

The Big Apple

I arrived a few minutes late. Sat next to a man from Sarasota who lived in France for the past 10 yrs, married a German woman and works for a company that produces components for Lance Armstrong's bikes. He didn't speak any French when he moved there now he is fluent. He explained so many things about the Tour de France that the casual viewer would never know. It was an enjoyable flight

The Adventure Begins

My day started at 6:30 AM. The usual routine of caring for dogs, checking e-mail, making sure I packed everything. My plan was to leave at 8:30 for my 11:55 flight to JFK. Then I turn on my phone and have a text from the friend I thought was taking me to the airport telling me to find another ride. Now it's 8:00 AM and I start calling limo services. No problem, the first one I call says they'll pick me up at 9:00. Smooth ride to airport. But as soon as I loaded my large suitcase I knew I packed too much. So as soon as I get to Valencia I'll probabaly mail some clothes back home. I set this blogg up while waiting for my plane at TIA.