Merry Christmas :)

The highlight of Christmas this year was by far the annual visit from our favorite Minnesotan, Adam. :) He made the two-hour AVE trip down on Friday afternoon, stayed here for the celebrations all day (and night) the 24 and headed back to Madrid on Christmas day. It was a too-short visit, but all the same we were happy to see him. Somehow, having visitors at Christmas makes it seem more festive!


Last year, if you remember, we made a bonfire and spent the night of Christmas Eve singing carols and celebrating. This year, however we were quite a bit warmer, since we all got together to spend the night in a friend's garage that is equipped with a wood stove. :) Bedtime was 6:15am...

No sooner had I closed my eyes, than my parents called wanting to Skype! I'm sure they assumed they'd woken me up and thus my refusal to get up and turn on the computer, but that was far from the case. I was exhausted after a full day of merry-making. Nothing could take me away from my warm bed and snuggly down comforter. (sorry!)

Chirstmas Eve is just the start of the holidays here in Spain. There's still New Year's Eve and the Epiphany to be celebrated! Although some of the excitement and joy abates after the 25th, people are still in festive moods and this year there are all kinds of activities and events that the city has organized to celebrate the holidays.

Wednesday was the equivalent of "April Fool's Day" in Spain: el día de los santos inocentes. The city organized a costume foot race for the occasion. In the end it was more of a jog/quick walk for about a mile through town, but it was great fun. What did I dress up as?? Santa Claus and his six reindeer!

Here are the pictures:

The reindeer.

We look slightly like Christmas hobos...but once we're pulling the sleigh it's obvious what we are. :)

Santa in his sleigh! :)

This is the sleigh from behind. Apparently the white doll figure is the symbol of los inocentes. Just like a "Kick me!" sign, people cut out a little paper doll like this one and stick it to your back... strange Spanish customs, what can I say. I think a "Kick me" sign is funnier!

And here's the view from the front. All of us reindeer were holding the reins that had jingle bells sewn on to them. You can't really see that in the picture.

The only awards given at the race were for best costume. We won second prize: a surtido ibérico (a chorizo, a salchichón and a cured pork loin). Mmmmmmmm... Soon we'll have a party all together to enjoy our winnings. :)

Finally, among the other events in town, last night was a concert at the church. It was a trombone and piano duet--beautiful! It's been at least two years now since I last played my trombone, and the truth is that as I sat there in the church listening to such wonderful music, I couldn't help wanting to join the band again. I do miss playing, but I really haven't got the time to dedicate to it... The concert lasted for about an hour and they played a great variety of songs: classical, jazz, film sound tracks, Disney. Finally they played an encore of my all-time favorite Christmas Carol, Silent Night.

I hope your Christmases were merry and you've been properly enjoying the holiday season. Have a happy new year!

My Christmas Carol

It might be a bit presumptuous to liken myself to Charles Dickens, but I have just come home from the first annual Christmas story contest. I won first prize. :) The city organized the contest for all ages. The only pre-requisite being that you had to be "de La Roda". The maximum length was two pages, a little bit short for much development, but I took it as a challenge and last weekend wrote up a short story about an American girl's first Christmas in Spain. (Sound familiar?)

Unfortunately there was very little participation, so I can't be quite as proud of my first prize as I would be otherwise, but all the same I have a full "cesta de Navidad" valued at 50 euros! Needless to say, I was thrilled, though now that I haven't got much of a sweet tooth I'm not sure what to do with all the Christmas candies, chocolates and truffles. I'm most happy about the bottles of cava and the salchicón ibérico!

Here's a photo of the winnings:



Merry Christmas!

Aguardiente y Pestiños...

"que los hace con gusto, mi abuela!"

That's the chorus to one of many traditional Christmas carols. It's been running through my head all afternoon because my mother and sister-in-law made 4 kilos of pestiños today! This year I wasn't a whole lot of help since I had classes and couldn't stay long, but Angelines and I went over to pitch in a little and have our post-siesta café con leche. ;)



I'm looking forward to pestiños with my coffee tomorrow.

...And other news, A and I finally made our way out to the pueblecillo to visit a good friend of ours who has an adorable three-month-old son. :) We hadn't been to visit her since the birth! Inexcusable really, especially considering how CUTE he is. This is little Nicolás:

'Tis the Season

Yesterday was a great day. It's been a while since Angelines and I have taken off on a Monday. It used to be every Monday we would go somewhere new to have lunch and explore. Since we've moved into the house, and since the economy's gone south we haven't done much of that. Yesterday was an exception.

After an hour swimming laps in Antequera and a quick stop at Mercadona for sandwich provisions, we headed to Malaga with the excuse of seeing the alumbrado (Christmas lights). Of course, you can't fully appreciate the Christmas lights before dark so we had to find something to do between 3pm and sunset. We headed to the mall at the Renfe station in central Malaga and while we waited for the movie theater to open, we went to the bowling alley!

I haven't bowled since I was a Girl Scout. I remember we would take trips to the bowling alley with troop 309--I hated it! I don't know if it was because I was a sore looser and was never any good at bowling, or if it was the ugly shoes that always smelled; but I dreaded going bowling. Angelines, however, had never bowled and so I decided to put childhood hatred aside and give it another try. For one euro each we got 10 rounds... In the end, we miraculously tied and both of us had sore fingers; but it was a good time.

After the movie, the newest in the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn, it was dark and so we walked to the calle Larios in central Malaga to enjoy the Christmas lights. We were not disappointed. They were beautiful.

Looking up calle Larios.

Rotunda at the end of calle Larios decorated with a giant nativity scene and the Magi on camel-back.

A glimpse of the Cathedral's bell tower through the narrow streets of the city center.

Giant Christmas ornaments!

The facade of the Cathedral (La Manquita).

What trip to Malaga would be complete without coquinas??

...And thus we've officially inaugurated the Christmas season and spent a lovely lunes out on the town.

And I thought I was unique:

Excerpt from today's reading in my "Artistic Education" class (use Google Translator):

"Las niñas de esta edad con frecuencia centran mucho su interés en los dibujos de caballos."

I think drew more horses as a kid than there are in the entire United States! And it continues:

"Ahora que ha desaparecido el miedo a los animales, las niñas proyectarán sus propios sentimientos en esta forma animal. Para algunas, el caballo se ha convertido en un símbolo veloz y gallardo de la libertad que forma parte de crecer."

This was one of my favorite books when I was at the height of my horse craze (wait...have I outgrown that?). I think mostly because the pictures were colorful and beautiful, but also easy to imitate. I can remember drawing horse after horse from this book: horses running, horses grazing, horses rearing.

But I wasn't alone in my obsession. My best friend at the time, Katy, was right there with me. When we weren't drawing horses, we were playing horses! The game consisted of galloping around on all fours in Katy's basement, grazing, whinnying and trying to escape from her little brothers who usually assumed the role of wolves or bears.

We were quite technical in this game, nothing was left to chance. Both of us had horse encyclopedias that we spent hours pouring over so when it came time to be a horse we were never merely "small brown horses," but chestnut Morgans. We were "buckskin," "bay," "dapple grey," or "palomino;" and depending on our moods we were wild Mustangs, Shetland ponies, or Thoroughbreds.

My favorite horse in the book was the Andalusian. He stood tall and strong. He was powerfully built, yet still elegant and well-balanced; and his mane and tail were amazingly full, long and beautiful--I fell in love. When I wasn't a buckskin Mustang, I was a dapple grey Andalusian. Looking back, my current life is an adult version of the same game: switching between wild American and proud Spaniard.

When I finally got a horse of my own he was about the furthest you could get from a noble Andalusian: a mixed-breed pony named "Snake" (Note: I did not name him! My horse names ran along the lines of "Desert Sunset"). Snake was a Christmas present.

Just like the movies, Emily and I woke up early on Christmas morning, tore through our presents and as the euphoria was wearing off, my dad said causally, "I think Santa left you girls a present outside!" And after scrambling to the window, we looked out to see a 13-hand, brown (excuse me, chestnut) pony tied to a young madrone tree and complete with a big red bow around his neck.

Snake was an ornery little one, but I was too excited about having my "own" horse to worry about much else. When I think about how I rode him I feel a little guilty. Now, after taking several horsemanship classes, reading books and watching movies, I feel bad for man-handling (or girl-handling, as the case may be) that stubborn little gelding. But for the most part we were friends. There's a home video of me jumping Snake at Glenna Atwood's house. She gave me riding lessons and on about a three acre piece of her property she had set up jumps made from logs and oil barrels. In the video I take little Snake through the jumps seamlessly and then try with Glenna's palomino mare, Blondie--no luck. She's a stubborn thing and though I kick and kick and kick, she balks and walks around every jump. Finally I give up and get back on Snakey for one last lap around the jumps. He doesn't flinch.

Snake was a pet and a toy all at once. I would take him out and brush him, trying to give his coat the luster I read about in my horse books. I braided his mane and tail. And many were the times that Emily and I would play Indian princess in the forest behind our home in Somes Bar, leading little Snake along behind us. He, of course, was an integral part of our play, being the trusty Indian pony. Every now and then we would have to hop on bareback and trot through manzanita and poison oak to escape the imaginary cavalry.

After Snake there was Apache the Appaloosa; Straw, my dearest Palomino Overo; Hobo, our wonky little, flee-bit Mustang; and finally Fuego, Straw's colt (now my mom's horse). I love them all. Still, no one taught me patience or perseverance like my first pony. He died when I graduated from the eighth grade; I may never have cried so much over any of my pets.

Here, I haven't got time much less money for horses, but I still love them as I did when I was seven. When I go back to California I get as much saddle time as I can. And during the feria here in Sevilla, I am still gaga for those strong Andalusians who prance through the streets, legs high and necks arched, proudly bearing their polka-dotted riders.

West Wing - Why are we changing maps?

I'm doing last week's reading for my "Didactics of Social Sciences" class today (oops...just slightly behind!). The reading covers the difficulties of teaching geography to students. According to Jean Piaget children's cognitive abilities evolve through a series of stages progressively allow for greater abstraction of concepts, mainly: pre-operational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages. Primary education covers almost exclusively the concrete operational stage (from seven to twelve years of age). Abstract concepts are generally only able to be conceived toward the end of the concrete operational and formal operational stages. We don't tend to think about it, but teaching the very concept of a map, much less how to read one, is very abstract and therefore difficult for elementary students until around 5th and 6th grade.

Maps are something we don't give much thought to generally, but when you begin to think about it they are very complicated. How can you transfer something spherical onto a piece of paper? There are several different methods, but of course all are merely symbolic representations of the actual Earth's surface. None of them can be absolutely faithful to the area, distance, angle, etc of the world's terrain, even accounting for scale; there's a level of distortion innate in the translation from three to two dimensions.

Of course being our only guides for understanding location and spacial relationships, maps are quite useful; but the spacial distortions can be a problem if one doesn't fully understand that a map is merely that: a guide. They are not actual, true representations of our world.

While reading, I was reminded of this scene from my all-time favorite TV series, "The West Wing" and lucky you, I found it on YouTube to share. ;)

Kind of a trip, huh?

Evolution

This is the evolution of the latest assignment in my "Artistic Education" class.

Enjoy:

Ta-Dah!

Pretty good, huh? I am very pleased with how it came out... It was doubtful when I began adding the shadows, but I think I can safely say I've never been so impressed by something I've drawn! :)

---

Yreka, California 1990: I am seven years old and enrolled in an evening art class. Every week my mom comes with me along with another mother-daughter pair, friends of the family. We do things like linoleum block prints, glass etching, and drawing upside-down to work both sides of our brains.

Today we're drawing hands--they're hard! I've been erasing and redrawing line after line and I'm not very pleased with the way mine have turned out. As I scowl down at the paper, my mother's friend looks over from across the table, "That looks like a cow's udder!" I blush and an embarrassed anger churns in my stomach--I will not cry.

But when we get home I let loose. I cry and cry, and scream: "I hate her!!" Then I cry some more.

A Feast to be Remembered

Thanksgiving preparations left little time for work and thus my delayed post: Please excuse me.

Our Thanksgiving feast was, in a word, fabulous. :)

Menu:

Starter:

Clam and saffron soup (a little Spanish touch, compliments of my mother-in-law)

Main Course:

Oven-roasted turkey (previously brined--soooo moist and tender!)

Traditional bread stuffing with roasted pine nuts

Steamed green beans with garlic

Lemon mashed potatoes

Dessert:

Pumpkin pie

Maple syrup yams with cinnamon and walnuts

... Although I gave specific directions to each of my sisters-in-law--bring nothing other than drinks--they showed up with more food! So in the end add shrimp, green salad, tomato/tuna salad, pastries and a cake to the above...

There was too much food, but Angelines and I have been pecking away at the leftovers throughout the week and we're nearly finished. Needless to say the week's menu has been somewhat monotonous. (I'm currently eating turkey soup).

Everyone liked the food. My green beans didn't turn out as good as past years, but everything else was delicious! The turkey was incredible. I was able to brine it the night before and this year I squeezed it into my tiny gas oven. It slow cooked on low flame all morning: 8am-2pm. I'm not sure if it was the brinning, the slow cooking, or the extra love and attention I added, but this was by far one of the best turkeys I've ever cooked/eaten. (Only surpassed, of course, by my dad's BBQ turkey!)

Angelines took the day off so she could really enjoy and relax with all of us--definitely something to be thankful for.

American as Apple Pie!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

This year, like past years, I will be celebrating this weekend. However, unlike other years, we're going to celebrate with family rather than friends. I am a little bit sad about this; it's been five years of Thanksgivings here in La Roda. One of those years, I was back in the States and my friends made a Thanksgiving feast all on their own--complete with turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie! So, the tradition has caught on. ;) But I wanted to share the fun with the family and so this year Angelines's sisters and brother with their families are going to come over for Turkey dinner on Sunday. This afternoon, my mother-in-law is coming by to help me with some of the prep.

In past years we've taken the turkey to the baker's to cook it in the big bread oven. This year, I'm going to see if I can do it in our little gas oven. The turkeys here don't tend to be monsters like in the US (18 lbs and up!!), especially since I've ordered this one before Christmas. Most turkeys here are raised for Christmas Eve dinner, which means they're not quite fattened up by the end of November. My poor, meager, turkey has been sentenced to an early death! I'm sure any guilt will wear off by the time my house is full of turkey smell, Sunday. ;)

To celebrate Thanksgiving with my classes, I've had cooking lessons all week. We made little apple pies in each of the private classes. Pumpkin pie, I decided, was too labor intensive given that you can't buy canned pumpkin here. And besides, is there anything more American than an apple pie?

All the kids LOVED the activity. I was a little wary because my last class on Tuesdays is just a pair of high school boys--17 years old. My inner feminist was angry with myself for even considering NOT baking with the boys. Of course, if it were a mixed class, I wouldn't think twice, but being that they were just boys I was wondering if they would be into it...wondering if I should make up some other activity for them... After thinking it over and consulting with my friend Sara ("There's no reason those mama's boys shouldn't know how to make an apple pie! And besides, it's tasty!"), I opted to go for it.

It was a huge success. I think the boys liked it even more than the girls! One was in awe by the way I folded the pie crust to be able to neatly put it in the pie pan, "es guapo, eso, ¿eh?". By the end of class both of them were talking about making apple pie for their Christmas dinners this year. :) We had a blast all together, and the pies came out beautifully.

The activity consisted in first labeling everything on the table, and then filling in the ingredients on the worksheets I gave them. As we worked, they had to fill in the measurements, too. The younger students then had to order the steps of the recipe, while the older ones had to write the steps themselves. I also gave them a second worksheet with key vocabulary (cut, add, bake, mix, etc.) and a short explanation about apple pie.

Here are all the labels. The pie you see, was my sample one. Since there wasn't time for their pies to bake and cool during class, they each took home a slice of mine. I also had to have some crust already made and in the fridge, since it has to be cold when you work with it. I felt like the professional cooks on TV as I said, "you have to chill the dough 30 min." and then whipped a cold batch out of the fridge to be rolled. :)

And here are the pies! The one on the far right is the boys'. You can't really tell, but they cut a smiling face into it and then laughed, saying, "it looks like the sun on Teletubbies!" :)

Recommended Reading:

Prior to my Auntie Ann's visit we spoke on the phone, discussing train reservations, etc. She asked me what I wanted from home and told me Maggie had recommended peanut butter. I concurred with the peanut butter suggestion, but couldn't come up with much else until a few days later it hit me: books in English! I skyped my auntie again and asked her to please bring me any books she'd read and thought I needed to read. I wanted anything--fiction, non-fiction, science-fiction... Anything worth reading in the English language.

It's not that I can't read in Spanish (obviously I can), or that I don't enjoy it; but it is true that I'm slower, and depending on the book there are still lots of new words. Sometimes I let those words slip by, guessing from context, but usually the teacher within scolds me and so I have to keep a dictionary handy. Curling up with a good book that I can just lose myself in has still got to be English.

About a week before my aunt arrived, I got a box full of books in the mail (too heavy for the suitcase). I was thrilled. Half-broke Horses, Jeannette Walls, was the first one I read--highly recommended. I devoured it in a little over a week. And I've just finished the second of the batch: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks--a book we should all read.

It is the story of Henrietta Lacks and her cells, taken from a cervical cancer tumor without her knowledge. Those cells never died. They revolutionized tissue research and were key to the discovery of many of today's cancer drugs and other medical advances including polio vaccine. They continue to be an integral part of scientific studies today and earn millions of dollars each year. Nevertheless, her family knew nothing about their existence until more than twenty years after Henrietta's death and the beginning of her cells' immortality.

The book is the result of ten years of reporting, researching and relationship-building between the author and the Lacks family. It is an incredible story--in some instances weirder than fiction--that brings to light myriad issues from ethics in science and medicine to patient's rights, race, and poverty. It is the history of one woman and her family inextricably intertwined with that of the greater panorama of scientific advancement.

Fascinating.

For more information about the book and the Lacks family see the author's FAQ page.

Be careful what you wish for...

The week has gone by too quickly, and more than once each of us has said, "We need another Monday!" Monday is the only day that neither Angelines or I work so we get to enjoy each other for a full 24 hours. No sooner did Tuesday hit, than we were clamoring for another free day together.

I've been fighting a cold now for about a week and today I woke up nearly completely mute. I can barely speak above a whisper if I really force my voice! So today's classes are canceled. How can I teach if I can't talk?

Angelines has been complaining about our pillow lately: it's too flat. So last night we tried another one we have in the house--too hard. She might have a slight Goldilocks complex, but I can't tease her because the poor thing woke up this morning barely able to get out of bed. She cannot move her neck. She's taken a muscle relaxant, heavy anit-inflamatory and I rubbed her shoulder with icy-hot. The bar will not be opening this evening.

It turns out someone was listening to us: Thursday has become Monday, though we won't be able to enjoy it quite the same.

At last:

Winter is here:

Rains have cleared--bringing cold to stay.

Blue skies and cloud puffs.

Warm sun and frosty wind.

Put on an undershirt for the first time since ... April.

Season's first fire: Warm and Cozy.

Memorial

Monday my Aunt and I bought a native encina (holm oak) at a local nursery to be planted in memory of my cousin Drew.

It's rained these past few days and so we took advantage of a break in the storm and the soft ground--very auspicious--and planted it today. We went outside town to where Angelines and I were married because it's a beautiful location, looking out over the olive fields and La Roda in the distance. Up on the hill next to the chapel we planted Drew's tree.

May it grow strong, straight and tall.

Auntie Ann!!!

Forgive my blogging absence. I have a very good excuse: she's 5'4", green eyes, blond hair, weighs 5 kilos more after her Rick Steve's tour around Spain (that number is going up in La Roda)... That's right-- my dearest Auntie Ann!

She arrived at lunchtime Sunday and will be with me here through Saturday. Needless to say that the prep. (studying, etc. in order to enjoy her properly) prior to her visit wasn't conducive to blogging, and I'm afraid that her visit is proving to be more of the same. That is to say we are enjoying ourselves immensely and I haven't a min. to spare in which I can sit down at the computer to write.

(With the exception of right now. She is on Angelines's computer and has just forcefully told me, "We are both going to write!" Read: "Shut up, already, Viola!")

Our adventures thus far include a visit to the Laguna de Fuente de Piedra, a natural wetlands area very near La Roda and one of the only breeding grounds for flamingos in Europe. Usually this time of year there aren't any flamingos, but since we've had several good water years there's still food for them and about 200 are still around. Auntie Ann was thrilled since this year she's decided to learn about birds and joined the Portland Audubon Society. In British, this means she's a "twitcher". ;)

We hooked up with a woman that I coincidentally met the night before over drinks with Angelines. She was a guide for years at the Laguna and met us there with several pairs of binoculars and even a birding telescope! I've never seen the birds so close since we don't have a pair of binoculars ourselves. She was full of little tidbits of information. Did you know that Egyptians refer to the flamingo as phoenix? When they're chicks they're ash grey and then grow to be flame pink--re-born from its own ashes. :)

Yesterday was a trip to Córdoba. We saw Madinat al-Zahara, the archaeological site outside town and then had lunch and toured the Mezquita in the city center. I love going places with her because she is even more curious than I am (can you imagine?) and therefore asks all kinds of great questions. If I don't have the answer ready for her, I love speculating over possible answers and/or later looking them up. Such fun!

The week's going to fly by, I can already tell. Well, it's already Wendnesday, for cryin' out loud!

Off for tapas with my Auntie. :)

Generals and Teachers

The other day, just before my duathlon, I went into the grocer's for some bananas and a few other fruits and veggies and rather than being greeted with the usual "buenos días," was met by "Are you training to be a policewoman?" I was shocked and even looked around to be sure the owner behind the counter was talking to me--policewoman?!

"No," I answered, surprised and wondering where on Earth she'd gotten such an idea.

"Well," she went on, "you've got the body for it. I've seen you running lately and I figured you must be training for the physical exam to be a Guardia Civil or something."

When I laughed at her reasoning, an elderly man waiting to buy peppers and eggplants piped in with, "Well, why not? Nowadays there are lots of women in the civil service!" I couldn't argue with that, but left the conversation stating my lack of interest in the profession. Sure, I can "be serious" as they assured me was all it took to be good at the job, but somehow busting people for speeding, etc. doesn't get me very excited.

Once I got home, I had to laugh over the whole exchange: why in the world would anyone, much less a woman, run so much if she weren't training to be a general!? ;)

---

From my latest book: Half Broke Horses--Jeannette Walls

In this day and age, she went on, there were really only three careers available. A woman could become a nurse, a secretary, or a teacher.

"Or a nun," I said.

"Or a nun," Mother Albertina said with a smile. "But you need to have the calling. Do you think you have the calling?"

I had to admit I wasn't sure.

"You have time to reflect on it," she said. "But whether or not you become a nun, I think you'd make a wonderful teacher. You have a strong personality. The women I know with strong personalities, the ones who might have become generals or the heads of companies if they were men, become teachers."

"Like you," I said.

"Like me." She paused for a moment. "Teaching is a calling, too. And I've always thought that teachers in their way are holy--angels leading their flocks out of the darkness."

---

So perhaps it's my "strong personality" that draws me to teaching even though in this day and age I most certainly could become a general!

Disconnect To Connect

It is ironic, verging on immoral, the way advertisements capitalize on the disconnected, hurried lives many of us lead in order to sell us the very products that, in many cases, are the cause of such problems. With a smooth slogan and poignant images they miraculously transform the problem into the solution. Of course, the simple fact that they're trying to sell something doesn't take away from the truth of the messages--of course that's what makes them good advertisements; but still, there's something wrong about using our yearning for connection, family, love, or quality time against us for economic benefit.

MoviStar, a leading cell phone company in Spain, uses the catchy line: "Compartida, la vida es más" (Life is more when it's shared). MoviStar couldn't be more right on. But incessant texting on a Blackberry or iPhone isolates us from the real people around us. Is that really sharing? As the following ad points out, what is the price we pay for "sharing." What are we missing out on when we spend so much of our time connected via technology, and what connections are we neglecting in the process? Does what we gain compensate for what we lose?

This video came to me via email--a forward from a friend and I had to share it. Apparently the Thai message at the end reads: "Use your phone...just enough." Another good line, something we should all reflect on... but should that message be coming from the cell phone company?

Back to School!

Quickly:

As of yesterday, I've begun my second second year as a university student. ;) This semester's classes are: visual arts education, didactics of natural sciences, didactics of social sciences, didactics of Spanish language and ICT applied to English language learning. Once again I've got five classes--uf! Spring semester it'll only be four, thankfully...just in time for my being worn out and sick of studying. ;)

I got up early this morning to dig in on my studies. I'm hoping that with mornings free this year it'll be easier to balance my life, work and studying. Only time will tell. I have the sneaking suspicion that even though I have more time, I'm going to be quite busy; this morning, my first foray into this year's schedule, I was already thinking, "how did I manage last year?!"

I finished my reading for my arts class--absolutely scintillating. There's no sarcasm there. I was thoroughly intrigued (no time to go into detail); and more than anything, it felt great to be thinking again.

I am a hopeless case: an eternal student!

Okay, off to eat dinner and spend some time with my poor, neglected wife. ;) (I think she's going to have a rougher time adjusting to my schedule than I am!)

I Duathlon Cross La Roda de Andalucía

Today was La Roda's and my first duathlon! :) A duathlon is bike and running. This one started with a 5k run, then 20k on the bike, and ended with 2.5k running. Pretty complete, eh? I wasn't really too nervous for it until last night when my friend Nuria told me she'd be talking to one of the organizers and he told her about the killer hill on the course--"what!?!"

The cycling club in La Roda is called "La Vinkecuesta" which, roughly translated means, "Damn!WhatAHill". Apparently, the bike route included their namesake. It was quite a hill, let me tell you. After a long gradual upgrade the course just shot upwards. Those of you who came to my wedding can think of the walk up to the ermita; Portolans, think behind the high school; and the rest of you just think STEEP! If I remember right, they told me that the steepest part was one kilometer... it felt like at least two, to me! I rode a little ways up, but when I saw how long it was and saw that everyone was walking their bikes up it I decided to get off and walk, too.

Luckily, the hill was shaded because it was in the 90's yesterday! (...does October mean anything to anyone???) It was brutally hot when we started the race at 11am and only got hotter as the day went on. I thought Fall was here...looks like we'll have to wait a bit more for real autumn weather.

...But back to the race: I ran the first 5k in 22:55...not bad since I really wasn't going all out considering what I had still ahead of me. Then it was off on the bike. I had ridden most of the course before on my explorations through the olive groves, but I'd never been up that crazy hill, which turned out to be beautiful. Undoubtedly, I could have enjoyed the scenery much more if my tongue hadn't been dragging on the ground, but all the same the little pine forest was a welcome break from the sea of olives that surround us.

The best part of the race was getting to the top of the hill, by far--what goes up... It was all downhill to La Roda. I sped back to town, dropped my bike and realized that my legs were much more tired than I thought they were! Those last 2.5k were killer. I think I was jogging, but it was all I could do not to fall on my face my legs were so wobbly! I guess after about 500 meters or so I looked more like an athlete and less like a drunkard stumbling along, and actually I passed three people running (two in the home stretch). So I must have been doing something right.

It felt great to cross the finish line, let me tell you! A woman from out of town who had come with her husband's cycling club saw me finish and couldn't help saying, "Great race! I admire you for what you've just done." That felt pretty good. And the truth is it's pretty fun to participate in these races at home--now when I run people know why. I'm not just the crazy American; I'm the crazy, fast American! ;)

It certainly was an experience...and perhaps I'll sign up for more duathlons once we figure out how to put the bike rack on the car.

Family Bar-B-Q

Welcome Fall!

Today was a perfect day; weather-wise and otherwise. ;) The morning chill wore off quickly and it was a beautifully sunny afternoon. Today we had the whole family over for a barbecue. The food was delicious and we spent a great time all together--there's never a dull moment at family gatherings. There were half moons being shown, water fights and a whole lot of teasing. If we were ever able to get the whole Wilbanks family together with these guys it would be a blast ...and maybe just a little dangerous! ;)

Antonia and Alejandro working the grill. We had chorizo, panceta, loin fillets and beef steak. Yum! Along with grilled eggplant, zuchinni and goat cheese.

I must say, the patio looked pretty cool all set up for the BBQ. Don't you think? You can't really get the full effect here, but it was perfect. I do love entertaining at this house!

We had a silly photo shoot on the patio swing... that thing's a lot sturdier than it looks!

All the nephews and niece with Uncle Ale. :)

This one came out really nice: Angelita with the four kids... All four of them are still just big kids, let me assure you. ;)

"We are Siamese..."

I used this in one of my classes today... It turns out Disney songs are great fun in the classroom! :) For old times' sake I wanted to share it with all of you.

Enjoy!

1ª Ruta de "Los Tragamillas"!

For a year and a half we've been talking about doing a hike in the nearby town of Archidona. Today we finally did it! My friends Nuria, Jesuli and Chichi did the Camino de Santiago last year and came home with the hiking bug; nonetheless, it wasn't until today that we finally got our acts together and our schedules aligned to actually do a hike around here! So it was the three of them, another girl who has done El Camino, Sara (our new renter) and I out on the trail.

The route was a semi-circle of 14km. Luckily we had two cars, otherwise we would have ended up walking the last stretch along the road (not fun!). The first part of the hike was beautiful, winding along a little creek and through canyons of pine and holm oak; but the last few kilometers were kind of boring landscape (more developed/agricultural) and on dirt roads as opposed to trails...not as fun or interesting. It wasn't too bad in terms of difficulty, a really steep ascent in the beginning and a long down hill--killer for my knees--at the end. We took our time and had to ask for directions more than once seeing as how the signage was a little patchy at best, but all-in-all it was a great morning/afternoon out in the sun and fresh air.

Of course nothing in Spain is complete without a cervecita and so when we finished the hike we headed into town for a beer and some food. Archidona has a beautiful central plaza, la Plaza Ochoavades (1804), which is octagonal and the only one of its shape in Spain (if I'm not mistaken). It definitely felt good to sit down, and the cold tinto and a plate of porra were just what I needed to start feeling myself again. ;) Somehow walking tires me out much more than running!

Over beers, Nuria suggested we give our little group a name since we hope to plan more hikes in the future. The only one we came up with was "Los Tragamillas"--the "Miles Swallowers". I pointed out that they don't measure distance in miles here...but somehow "tragakilometros" is just too much of a tongue twister to be a good name! Besides, Jesuli assured me that the name is partially to honor our American participation--Ha! ;)

After our light lunch we moved on in search of coffee and pastries. We were informed that there was no pastelería in Archidona, but after our coffees, on the way back to the cars we walked by a monastery where the nuns bake and sell all kinds of delicious treats. I've been told of this before: you order the sweet you want from one side of a lazy susan and put down your money, then the nun spins it around to deliver the pastry. You don't actually ever see the nuns. Anyway, it was quite an interesting experience and the pastries were DELICIOUS!

Ordering pastries!

This is the little display case showing all the goodies you can buy from the nuns--edible and otherwise.

So we're back in La Roda after a great day of exploration and adventure... As it turns out, the "Tragamillas" gulped down quite a bit more than just miles!! But it was wonderful, and anyway what's the point of burning calories if you can't re-stock?! I look forward to our next hike!

Preparations

Starting Sunday, we're going to be renting out our spare room to one of the American language assistants who will be working here in La Roda. We've been in contact via email and have agreed that she'll stay here at least while she looks for another place. If she ends up liking the house, etc. then she'll stay through May. :)

I'm hoping it works out for all of us and she'll stay for the school year because it will certainly be nice from a financial point of view to be getting a little help with rent. And if she ends up staying, it will be because she fits in nicely with us, so it will be fun to have an American around and someone to hang out with when Angelines is at work.

Anyway, this week has been spent preparing our spare room for our new guest. I've emptied out the closet, which required a lot of shuffling of clothes, and general junk; and consequently I've organized our junk room now to be the guest room so that we still have a place for visitors even though the "guest room" will be occupied. Those of you with Spain on your list of travel destinations needn't worry about being left without a place to stay! ;)

Also inspired by Sara's arrival, we restored two different pieces of furniture for the room that were in the garage: a little, marble topped night stand and a table. The night stand was pretty easy. We just cleaned the top, re-painted it and bought new knobs for the draws. The table was a bit more work... First we stripped it, then filled the cracks, sanded it, and finally stained it. It looks pretty damned good, in my humble opinion. :) What do you think?

It turns out all the cool furniture is going into the guest room!