Family Affairs

TOBY WAS HERE!!!

Yes, Toby decided to come visit me on his spring break from UCLA. I am very pleased with this decision. He flew into Madrid last Wednesday and I met him there on the Thursday.  We had a blast together. We were really lucky and we had great weather. I didn't have to wear a sweatshirt the entire time and there was not a single cloud in the sky. We stayed at a hostel in Puerta del Sol area – a neighborhood with lots of fun activities and sights to see. The hostel was cute and we met some really great people. Lucky for us, there were some folks living there who had been in Madrid for anywhere from 5 weeks to 2 years. Because of this, we were given good tips on what to do and where to go out, so we didn’t get caught in expensive tourist traps.

 

We did a lot of sightseeing on our own. Although it is a large city, Madrid has a beautiful park. No offense to those New Yorkers, but we both decided more beautiful than Central Park…We spent some time there, went to the Prado (quite impressive, although, personally, I can only handle so many different 2-dimensional pictures of Jesus), and spent a lot of time getting Spanish tortillas and drinks in outdoor cafes.

 

We did take a walking tour of the city, which ended up being really great. At first, neither of us were super keen on the idea, but we had heard that there was a free tour given that was well worth it. We decided we would check it out, and if it were no good, we would cut. We got to the tour’s meeting spot and there was a large group of tourist and decent-sized group of protesters as well. The protesters had signs saying “Illegal tours” and “He’s telling lies” both in Spanish and English. We learned, from our tour guide, that the protesters were part of a tour-guide union and were frustrated because they felt that the free tours were taking clients away from them. They were trying to prove that free tours were illegal, but in reality, anyone who wants to give a free tour can. Thye followed our tour for the first hour, shouting and talking through the entire thing. Que pesados!! It was so annoying. We thought about leaving, but our guide was really good and providing us with all sorts of interesting information, and we wanted to support him. At first, I felt bad for the protesters, because I understood their fight, but they quickly lost all of our sympathy through their means of protesting. After about an hour, they left us to finish the tour in peace (at least another 2 hours).  Spain has a very interesting history, which I was embarrassed to not know more about, but very pleased to learn.

 

You can check out some of our photos if you’re interested. Unfortunately, I can’t take credit for any of the nicely taken ones. That’s Mr. Tobias’s specialty…

 

I was a little sad to come back after Madrid. Although I am living in Spain and experiencing a new culture (and loving it), I am still living a semi-routined life, and the trip to Madrid really made me want to travel more. It did also, however, make me really appreciate Bilbao as a city. As great and lively as Madrid was, I felt happy to be living in a smaller city – one that I can get to know really well.

 

Toby came to Bilbao after our excursion in the middle of Spain. You will have to ask him his opinions on it, but we had a lot of fun together. It was great to give him a taste of my life here and to combine both my worlds.

 

Although I was sad to say goodbye, I was really happy that he got the chance to come. And it’s only about a week until the next family member arrives, so I will have just enough time to recover before I embark on another journey with my mother. One more week until Semana Santa!!

 

 

Bilbao!

So...as I mentioned before, I am in Bilbao, Spain. When I first got here, it was raining every single day. It was pretty lame. The weather was crazy for the last month: cyclone warnings, flooding, wind, cold and rain. But, in the last week all has been changing. The sun is out and it is beautiful. We are surrounded by both the mountains and the ocean and everything is green! It makes me really excited about spring. My friend Colleen and I went to the tourist office and got a few books about the many hikes in the Basque country. I hope we will be able to explore a lot!

However, even when the weather is bad, because it is Spain, nothing stops the people from going out and having a great time. There is so much activity in Bilbao. It is a relatively small city (about 300,000 people) and it used to be totally industrial, but in the past couple decades, it has become a location full of life. There is a University here, which means lots of folks my age and tons of restaurants, bars, clubs, and festivals. 

The family I am living with is very nice and understanding about the life of a 20-something year old. I work in the evenings, but I have almost the entire day free (until 5:00pm) and the weekends are mine to do whatever I please. During the day, I am taking Spanish classes. My Spanish has improved a lot. I am understanding so much more than at the beginning. Speaking is still difficult for me. I know in my head what I want to say, but I often get flustered when I actually start talking. But I have come to accept the fact that I will make a lot of mistakes and that I have to speak anyway because that is the only way that I am going to learn. I have a few language exchanges with Spanish students who want to improve their English. We go out once a week and speak half the time in Spanish and the other half in English. It's very good practice and a fun way to meet people.

Today is the beginning of Carnival...so I'm off!! But if you are interested, here are some pictures of Bilbao. I don't know exactly what people are interested in hearing about, so if you want to know something specific, preguntamelo!! Until next time...

Trying Again

So...Lev nominated me as the worst blogger of all time. Frankly, I quite agree with him. However, I have decided to start again. Its tricky, you see, because I'm just not sure how much people care. People can't be THAT interested in my every day story because although I'm abroad, I'm still me and living a fairly normal life.  But, I am doing a few interesting things, photos are always fun, and many people have recently asked me for updates, so I will try and write every now and then. However, because it has been such a long time since I last wrote, I may start by going backwards. I promise I will put pictures of Bilbao and share a little about my life here, but first, I will start with the most recent: Biarritz, FRANCE!!

Last weekend, three of my new friends (Colleen from Wales, Nadine from Germany, and Lizi from Cali) and I went on a road trip to Biarritz France. Lizi had access to a car so we decided it would be cheaper and more fun if we drove, instead of taking the bus. We only had 2 days to explore a new country so we woke up incredibly early on Saturday and all piled into Lizi's car. Of course, the weather had been so nice all week, and just Saturday morning as we started getting excited about our trip to the beach town, it dropped about 10 degrees and started to pour. We started on our journey, convincing ourselves that the weather would not get us down, and teniamos buenas caras until we realized that neither the heat nor the defroster worked in Lizi's car. Colleen sat up front, wiping the windshield for Lizi every ten minutes during the entire two hour journey. Nadine and I sat in the back - trying to use body heat to keep warm - but both our feet were numb by the time we arrived.

So, although it rained almost the entire time we were there, we had a great time. It was my first time in France and I loved it. I can't speak but three words or understand anything, but, luckily, Colleen speaks very well and was the translator for all of us. Biarritz is a beautiful beach town in the southwest of France and I would love to return in the summer. My favorite part?? I bet you can guess...THE FOOD!!! The food really is as good as they say. Well, at least the bread, cheese, and pastries. That was pretty much all I ate, so I can only comment on that BUT it was amazing. I don't understand how bread can be so different in one place, but it was.  And the cheese. Well...we were in a grocery store on saturday trying to figure out which cheese to get, and Colleen (who is not shy to speak her French to the locals) decided to ask this woman standing next to us which one was the best. They talked for awhile and, of course, as eager as I was to know what the lady was saying, I couldn't understand anything. Afterwards, Colleen told us that the woman said that all the cheese in the store was crap. She said that sunday morning, there is a huge indoor market and we should go and ask for misour ou petit (don't know if i spelled that right - French is impossible). So we went to the market the next day and there was SOOOO much fresh cheese. It was amazing. unfortunately, there was no tasting, but they would just give you a little slice - a euro or 2s worth. So we got a few different kinds and they were all sooo good. Cow, sheep, goat, soft, runny, hard. It was pretty amazing. Unfortunately, we were so awed by the entire market that we forgot to ask for our cheese man. I wasn't too sad when I had figure this out though because I was already stuffed full of delicious food.

Overall, the trip was a blast. It was a quick, but great way to see another part of Europe. Its so interesting that you can drive just 1.5 hours and all of a sudden you are in a different country, with completely different food, culture, language, and overall feel. If you would like to see the pictures from the trip, you can check out my album.

I hope everyone is well and I love receiving emails!! Also, I am on skype a lot so if anyone has skype, or wants to get it, we can talk!! My skype name is: laelenab

Bilbao updates soon - I promise!

The Basics

So...I have never blogged before and I don't really know how interested people are, but I thought that I would start this and write every once in awhile and post some photos if people want to see. First of all, I am always happy to receive emails from anyone and everyone!! My email address has changed and is now laelena.brooks@gmail.com  Please email me so I can keep in touch!

Right now, I am in Bilbao, Spain. Bilbao is on the North coast of Spain in the Pais Vasco (also known as the Basque Country). It is very rainy here at the moment. It has rained every day for the past month and apparently, this is the worst winter they have had in 30 years- lucky me! However, it is not that cold. The average temperature is about 50 degrees. It does not pour, but it drizzles many times a day. The upside to the rain is that it is beautiful here.  There are lots of parks and everything is lush and green. I am surrounded by mountains, which still have some snow at the peaks, but are also full of life. I will take some pictures soon and post them. 

I am living with a family in the city center. The family consists of a mom, a dad, an 11 year old girl and a 7 year old boy. The kids are both very cute and sweet. The boy is a little naughty, but no more so than any other 7 year old boy. I speak to them in English so that they can learn, and they help me speak Spanish. The parents speak to me only in Spanish. Unfortunately, I am pretty lost most of the time. They speak SO fast here and with a different accent from what I am used to. I am trying to catch on, but I think it will be a couple months before I can really get by.  I am taking language classes, which I really enjoy and I hope that will help me improve.

This is where I'm at right now...I will update soon!!