The tale of (Anna's last) two cities...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. I suppose you have already read that tale of two cities. Or at least the Cliffnotes version of it.

The tale of Anna's last two cities takes place Alcalá and Sevilla. On Monday morning I opted to skip Spanish class because I hadn't done the homework and I didn't want to be harassed by the teacher for not doing it. Besides, Anna was in town and it was better not to leave her all alone in Alcalá all morning. That afternoon we started our first tour: Sevilla.

This tour consisted of visits to the Catedral/Giralda (again), the Plaza de España, Torre del Oro, Parque María Luisa and Plaza Alfalfa. In the plaza we drank sangría and people-watched:

Then we went to dinner, where Anna had goat cheese with fruit and I had cod with onions and oranges and we shared a pitcher white wine sangría. After dinner we booked it back to the bus stop and back to Alcalá where we made cookies (and ate a ton of them), drank wine (from Sevilla- Espartinas, in fact) and talked. We also discovered that the time it takes to climb the stairs up to our piso is equal to the time it takes to get there via the elevator.

My iPod takes terrible photos.

We saved the Tour de Alcalá for the last day (Tuesday). I took Anna to the dragon bridge, the castle, and the mall.

Los Alcores Mall in Alcalá.

As if that weren't enough, she even got to go to school with me again. On the way there we stopped and arranged for a taxi to swing by the piso at 5 AM the next morning to take her to the airport. At school, Anna observed/participated in two of my conversation classes (a fourth year and a first year). She did quite well. She just has to work on getting a British accent.

After class we had a drink/tapas and watched the Semana Santa practice procession. Ever since Thursday night on the way to the Mexican restaurant, when we saw some costaleros practicing for the big week, Anna had been hoping to see more Semana Santa action. This was her big chance. Clarisse and José joined us as well. Afterwards, (for the last supper) Anna, José and I went to another tapas restaurant and had wine, mayo with potatoes and veggies (its real name is ensalada rusa, I know), goat cheese with jam and bread with a sauce that I thought was solmorejo, but I'm not really sure.

Bed time didn't come until about 1 AM, which made 5 AM all that much earlier. I helped Anna carry her suitcases down to the taxi that awaited her and we said our goodbyes. I stood and watched as the taxi drove away.

Saying goodbye to all my visitors has been hard, but I've managed to keep it together. I don't know if it was because Anna was the last visitor or because it was 5 AM or because I'd been drinking more than usual, but as I turned to go back up to the piso, I started to cry.

Highs 8-11€ (TF: Part III)

After an hour long train ride we arrived in Santiago de Compostela. We were without a map, but not without a plan (and vague directions from the Internet). We took the main road up the hill, past a busy plaza and into what we imagined was 'downtown' (judging by the ratio of people to cars). There, we stared at the directions, looked up at the street signs, looked back down at the directions, went around the 'block' and decided we didn't know where to go next. We thought we could try to follow the helpful signs for tourists. They are color-coordinated based on the type of attraction you are looking for. In the case of the tourist office you want to look for a yellow sign with an 'i' and an arrow pointing, presumably, towards the tourist office. The arrows are less than helpful though. They are really just saying 'the tourist office is over there somewhere- in that general direction- more or less'. 'You'll know it when you see it, if you don't see it you went the wrong way.' So it wasn't a surprise that we couldn't find it. You know what that means- time to play the Directions in Spanish comprehension game! I asked a waiter at a nearby restaurant how to get to the tourist office. I passed the that test with flying colors but failed the Spanish culture test. Of course the tourist office would be closed at 2:30 PM. What was I thinking? We were standing in front of the office contemplating our next move when up walks a woman who takes out some keys and starts to unlock the office. It seemed like she worked there and just coming back to pick up something she had forgotten. I didn't ask her why she was there, but I did ask her how to get to the hostel. She said, 'Just a second, I'll be right back.' She went inside the office for a few minutes and returned with a beautiful city map with our hostel and the tourist office highlighted and circled. She told us the office opened again at 4:30 if we needed any help finding other things to do in the city. We thanked her profusely. Before we got away she asked if we could tell her where we were from, for the office's statistics. We told her, wiped the fairy dust off of our shoes and went on our way.

We made it as far as the Plaza de Cervantes, but from there couldn't tell which of the eight adjacent roads was the one we needed to take. We examined the map, turned it upside down to match where we were facing and still couldn't find the road we were looking for. Then, a woman came up to us and asked us (in Spanish) if we needed help. I hesitantly said that we did. Why was I hesitant? What is weird about a person offering to help someone who is standing in the middle of a plaza with a map? Spaniards don't offer help, that's the problem. If you want help, you need to ask for it. They are more than willing to help you, but you have to initiate the conversation. I showed her the street we were looking for and she walked us there. I made sure to keep a few steps behind her because I thought it weird that she was physically taking us to the correct street. Once we got there she said the hostel was just down the road a bit. And she was right. I guess I was just being paranoid.

The hostel was also a bar/restaurant so we entered the restaurant with our suitcases and checked in at the bar. It was 3 PM so the restaurant was busy and they didn't have time to do the whole check-in process. They took us across the street to the hotel part of the business and escorted us upstairs to our room (hostel = no elevator). They left us with the keys and told us to stop by the bar again later to sign some things and officially check-in. We dropped our stuff off in the room and headed out to find lunch and do some site-seeing. First stop: lunch. We stopped at a restaurant in a quiet area near the market. Since it was later in the day, we were the only ones eating. We opted for the menú, consisting of three courses plus bread, dessert and a drink for 11€.

I ordered red wine and Anna ordered white wine. They brought us a bottle each and told us to serve ourselves.

The bread and 'drink'.

First courses: Sopa Gallega and Ensalada.

Merluza (Anna got the breaded chicken and fries- not shown, you've seen it before)

Dessert for me was the juiciest orange I've ever eaten. Anna opted for the chocolate pudding. The after-dinner drink was the rest of the wine.

I made Anna finish the last of my red wine bottle.

It was around this time (after three courses, bread, and wine) that Anna looked at me and with a straight face asked, 'So, what are we going to do for dinner?' I couldn't stop laughing. It might have been the wine. When Anna finished her last glass (shown) we started walking. Soon, we found ourselves in the Plaza de Cervantes again. And who should we run into but the good samaritan giving directions to lost tourists. She helped those people and continued pacing around the plaza in search of her next victim, I mean the next person in need. We took some pictures to document the situation and then walked past her. I told her thanks again and that we found our hostel. She seemed confused, but I assume she just helps so many people every day that she doesn't remember everyone.

 By this time we had to use the restroom. In order to do so, we decided to stop and buy ice cream. A pack of teenagers came in as we were trying to order and use the bathroom so we had to wait to do both. Then we headed back out to the streets of Santiago de Compostela.

We weren't really in the site-seeing mood though. So we stopped and had another glass of wine.

Then we tried to go shopping, but didn't really find anything. We eventually walked to this park and sat for a little bit, along with these nice caballeros:

We took pictures, sat and ate peanuts, and watched the runners do laps around the park.

And then a bird pooped on Anna:

Anna pointed out the bird poop in her hair.
She used hand sanitizer to get it out.

When we tired of the excitement in the park, we walked back to the main tourist area (which was actually just on the other side of the street from the park).

It looked like a crowd of people in real life. The
picture doesn't do it justice.

Unsure of what to do next, we found another cute looking restaurant and had another glass of wine (that came with tapas) and dessert. (We also took the opportunity to use the bathroom, hence why Anna is not in this photo.)

After that we called it a night and went back to the hostel. We watched TV for a little bit and then Anna turned in about an hour before I did. With the noise from the street, the bar across the street and the toilet that ran all night, neither of us got much sleep. That, and the fact that for some reason there was a crib in our room and it was very much in my way. Each time I got up to go to the bathroom (and/ or tried to get the toilet to stop running) I tripped over the crib and caused ruckus.

At some point we both fell asleep though and when I woke up and looked at my iPod (it's not an iPhone) it was 11 AM. I woke Anna up with the following announcement: 'It's 11 AM, we have one hour to get ready before check out. Ready- GO' She jumped out of bed and into the shower.

We checked out in time, but left our bags at the front desk while we enjoyed our last few hours in Santiago de Compostela.  We hadn't yet officially visited the cathedral of the city and it was imperative that we did so. The cathedral is the biggest attraction in the city. It is supposedly where St. James is buried, and is the destination for the 'Way of St. James' pilgrimage route. You might recall seeing photos of seashells in the sidewalk in my other blog entries (if you read Bilbao and Santander). Well, those markers lead the way to this cathedral.

We even went inside the cathedral, but there was a church service (it being Sunday and all), so we didn't stay long.

We tried to find other interesting sites, but gave up after a half hour and just started walking.
We stopped for lunch:

Ensalada Rusa aka mayo with some potatoes and veggies.

Anna's entree- chicken with a red pepper on top.

Merluza again.

Dessert

For the record, I tried to order tea, but they didn't have the kind I wanted (the only kind I drink). I had to settle for red wine.

After lunch we started walking again. Eventually we made it back to the park we were at the day before. We sat on a bench in the sun and waited until a good time to go pick up our bags again.

Anna and I in the park with the cathedral in the background.

When the time was right, we picked up our bags at the hostel and made the journey back down to the train station. We made it with about 15 minutes to spare. Our train, however, was late. And to make matters worse, it stopped on the tracks for an extended period three separate times. We were a little nervous about making our flight. Had our luck run out?

The train finally arrived in La Coruña, but unfortunately we didn't know exactly where the airport bus stop was. I thought I knew, but I wasn't 100% sure. We tried to stop at the information desk in the train station and ask where it was, but there was another person in front of us and she wasn't going anywhere. Time was of the essence (the airport bus comes only once per hour on Sundays). We either got to the bus stop without error or we took a taxi. I told Anna I was pretty sure I knew where it was. I led the way. I do not think (although I didn't ask her) that I adequately convinced Anna that I knew where I was going, but she followed me anyway. That's what you call a faithful friend. Whether by luck or by travel savviness, we got there on the first try. And there were even a few other people waiting, which was a good sign. A minute or two after we arrived I looked at Anna and said, 'I wonder when it's coming.' 'It's here,' she said. And I turned around to see the bus pulling up to the stop. Now do you believe in the Transportation Fairy?

The rest of the trip you've heard before: plane to Sevilla, bus to the city, bus to Alcalá and your feet to your front door.

It was then Sunday night and Anna had just two full days left in Spain. What better places to spend them than Sevilla and Alcalá? (It's a rhetorical question, please don't email me your 'better places'.)

TF (Part II: ...With a Chance of a Fairy Dusting)

We booked a flight to La Coruña that left on Friday. Once again my mental whirlpool caused a travel wave. I did extensive planning to figure out what time I had to get up in order to run, get ready, walk to the bus, take the bus to Sevilla, wait for the airport bus, travel to airport on that bus and be at the airport at noon (45 minutes early -according to the airline rules). It would have been a great plan, except for the fact that I forgot to take into account that the time we got off the Alcalá bus had to coincide with a time that the airport bus passed the nearby stop. This meant that we had to take the slightly earlier bus out of Alcalá. When I realized my mistake about 9:45 AM we had little time to discuss it. We threw the rest of our stuff together and ran out the door (as best we could weighted down by several packs/suitcases).

This is where our transportation fairy (TF) made her appearance. When we got to the bus stop in Alcalá the bus was waiting for us. When we got to Sevilla we barely waited for the airport bus. When we got to the airport there was hardly a line at check-in. We flew through airport security check-point and checked our watches on the other side: 20 minutes until our flight left. 

The Fairy Dust storm didn't stop there. When we got off the plane in La Coruña, we picked up our suitcase and then waited in line at the information desk for a map of the city and airport bus information. We were told that the bus left every half hour from the bus stop 'over there'. We walked outside, found the bus, and paid our fare. As we found seats the bus driver shut the door and started the venture to the city. It was as if the bus had been waiting for us to get there. 

Flags of Galicia, Spain and the EU at the airport.

The information I had from the Internet about the airport bus stops was not helpful (aka accurate, as far as I could tell). We didn't really have any idea where to get off. I was waiting for a sign or a familiar street name to come up, but the road we were traveling down was supposed to be the third stop. After a few stops and a little sweating we realized there was a map of the stops posted above the back door. I got up to look at it at the same time that a woman was asking an old man on the bus where her stop was. (First she asked if he was from there and then she asked where her stop was.) Based on the answers he gave her, I determined that the next stop was ours. 

Once we found the right stop, getting to the hostel was no problem. Working the intercom to get buzzed in was the challenge. The sign said to press the # sign, call the number and press the bell symbol. That's what I tried to do, but never got an answer. I gave up and used my cell phone to call the front desk to tell them we had arrived. The woman was amused that I couldn't work the intercom and after a little chuckle she let us in. Once upstairs (no elevator, as seems to be a requirement to be called a 'hostel'). We checked in and the hotel clerk took several minutes to recommend good places to eat and and the best way to get to them. We dropped off our bags in the room first and decided we would take the long way to one of the restaurants so we could see some of the sights of the city. First stop was the beach. It was an unusually hot and sunny day for April and especially for Galicia, so the beach had some life.

Second stop was the restaurant, but by the time we got there it was closed for the afternoon (It was about 4 PM). We found another non-recommended restaurant close by and ordered wine and a few tapas. I got shrimp with saffron rice (arroz con gambas) and Anna got chicken with a cream sauce (pollo a la crema) that also came with french fries. We shared the zorza de cerdo, which seemed to be spicy pork with french fries.

Recharged and energized, we continued our tour of Galicia:

Torre de Hercules- the oldest working lighthouse in the world.
It is Roman and dates back to the first century.

Bagpipes at the soccer game. I could hear him, but couldn't see him.
I stuck my hand through a bush and took a blind photo.

That's Anna in the center of the compass rose.

The climb back up from the compass rose.

Perhaps I should tell you, if you haven't already Googled it, that La Coruña (or A Coruña) is in the Northwest part of Spain, above Portugal and on the Atlantic. It is much greener and rainier than the southern part of Spain where I currently reside. They also speak Galician and, from our experience this weekend, it seems the bagpipes is their instrument of choice. I hope I just shattered all your stereotypes about Spain (or at least one).

A young lady getting First Communion photos taken.

We were exhausted from taking so many pictures, so we sat by the water and talked and rested a little bit.  For dinner we opted for a low-budget option: empanadas (essentially the original 'Hot Pocket', but without cheese) from the grocery store and ice cream from the best looking ice cream shop we could find.

We made it an early night. The next morning I got up and ran along the beach/coast. We then went walking along the coast in the direction we hadn't yet covered.

The Torre de Hercules from a distance.

There wasn't much going on in this area, so we walked back to town where we stopped for tea for me and hot chocolate and a churro for Anna. Around 11:30 we headed back to the hostel to pick up our bags then went on to the bus stop to catch a bus to the train station. (We were going to Santiago de Compostela, another city in Galicia.) We knew where the train station was (and I remembered seeing it when we were on the bus the day before), but we didn't know exactly which bus would get us there directly. But who needs that when you have a Transportation Fairy?

There was an older lady in sunglasses waiting at the bus stop (The TF herself?). When we couldn't figure out the stop from the information that was posted, it was time to practice my Spanish. I said, 'Pardon me, but do you know which bus to take to get to the train station?' She looked at me for a moment and then removed her sunglasses. She fumbled in her pocket and pulled out her regular glasses. She asked me what I had said. I repeated it. She explained that the 1A (I could write any bus number and you'd believe me, wouldn't you?) would take us to the train station. She said that was the bus she was taking and that she would tell us when we needed to get off. So we followed her on the bus and she alerted us to the stop. She told us to take the bridge over the road and then we'd see the station on the left. Anna thought she said something in English, but I can neither confirm nor deny why I understood what she said.

We hadn't yet purchased train tickets for the journey. When we arrived at the train station we discovered that we had about 10 minutes before the train left. It took a lot of time to decide which return train to take and the ticket machine didn't like the credit card we gave it, so we had to cancel the transaction and start over. The clock was ticking so we decided to just buy one-way tickets and worry about getting back later (this is NOT foreshadowing by the way). The tickets printed out and we walked to the correct platform and onto the train. Not two minutes after finding seats did the train leave the station. And so began Anna's first train ride.

Part III (Santiago de Compostela)...

When we met the transportation fairy (Part I: Foggy...)

I'm kind of forgetful sometimes. Maybe spacey is the better word. My mind is a perpetual whirlpool of facts, ideas, thoughts and songs. There is no 'off' position on my mental whirlpool, so I sometimes forget things, am foggy on the details and/or confuse the facts. I had it in my head that Anna would arrive on the 7th. When I re-read the itinerary she sent me I discovered it was actually the 6th. Luckily I caught it in time so I didn't leave her stranded on the airport. However, my Spanish class ended at noon and her flight got in at 12:50. Getting from the University to the airport in 50 minutes via two buses would take a miracle or maybe just a lot of luck. It wasn't impossible, just unlikely.

I got to the bus transfer point at 12:30 and on the airport bus at 12:50. Needless to say, I was late but fortunately Anna's flight was too. I was relieved to see it marked 'delayed' on the flight status board. It would have been horrible for Anna to have traveled for a day only to arrive in Sevilla and have me nowhere in sight, even though she knew I might be late. When the plane finally did land I thought she might have lost her luggage because she was nowhere to be found. Eventually she appeared, luggage and all. While she may have thought her journey was over, she actually had an hour and a half of bus-riding and a half-mile walk to get to the piso in Alcalá ahead of her. These last legs of the journey went well, except that I had some difficulty steering her suitcase down the sidewalk (suitcases with wheels and Europe do not mix). Anna was able to stay up long enough for some lunch and until I had to go to work. Then she, like so many before her, succumbed to the weight of her eyelids while I went to work. She woke up again when I got back from school and we had some bonding time with my roommates. Anna got to meet Cone (that's co-nay, as in conejo (rabbit)), José's pet rabbit, and show off photos from her trip to Africa (to my roommates, not to the rabbit).

On Thursday morning we slept in but managed to make it to the bank before it closed (at 2). Anna needed to exchange American Dollars for European Euros. To exchange money at a bank you have to have a bank account there, so I got to pretend that Anna's Andrew Jacksons belonged to me. The teller totally fell for it.

At the bank, Anna not only got Euros, but also got to experience some important aspects of Spanish culture. First was the experience of waiting in line. There were maybe ten people milling in the vicinity of the two tellers. You can never tell who is waiting for what or what they are doing there. You just have to take a number and wait until it's called. When it was our turn we went up to the teller and told her we (I) needed to exchange money. She said I had to have an account to do that. I told her I did and so the transaction commenced. (This is Anna's second lesson: random questions and behaviors- at least from an American's perspective.) She asked if I wanted the money in cash or in my account.
'In cash,' I said.
'All of it or part of it?' she asked.
'All of it,' I said.

I had to sign something saying that she was going to give me all of the euros except for 33 cents. I didn't understand why she didn't want to give me the change but I didn't press her for answers. Maybe 'todo' didn't mean what I thought it meant. She then proceeded to give me the (whole number) Euros and we were on our way. Turns out that she deposited the 33 cents in my account and gave us the rest of the Euros in cash. (I owe you, Anna.) Apparently I failed the bank transaction comprehension test.

After the bank we went to school so I could plan out my lesson for later that day and make any necessary copies for it. Anna met a few of the teachers, saw a little of the school and even got to help me find videos for the lesson! The topic was science experiments, so I was going to use videos from MythBusters for a discussion. She got to search for good ones (we decided on an experiment to see if eating poppy seeds made you test positive for drugs and whether or not a ceiling fan could decapitate someone, as you see in horror films). We exited the building around two when the school closed for the afternoon.

We made our way to the bus stop to Sevilla. It was a quick visit. We took a short tour of the cathedral and Barrio Santa Cruz area. Then we had lunch in the Barrio, ate ice cream at my favorite place in Sevilla and then headed back to Alcalá for class.

Fried goat cheese, black olives, bread and a tomato jam.
Anna banished the olives to my side of the plate.

Tortilla Española with a sauce.

Artichokes and ham

The 'Take Anna to Work Day' activities continued with two classes: a fourth year and a second year. In the fourth year class we did the aforementioned MythBusters activity. In the second year class we did two activities:  one with weird US laws (and they had to restate them using 'you must' or 'you mustn't') and a role play shopping activity. You'll have to ask her what she thought of them.

After class we needed some nourishment so we went out to eat at the Mexican restaurant in Alcalá (along with Megan, José, and Clarisse). It was here that I began my longest stretch of days with at least one glass of wine and simultaneously disproved my theory that I couldn't drink wine and run the next day (breaking point TBD). The waitress came by to get our drink order and Anna ordered a 'Dos Equis' without batting an eyelash. She even tackled her meal order in Spanish, including asking for a 'side of guacamole' (with ayuda from her wordsmith friend, José). She fooled me with her skills because a few minutes later I looked right at her and said something to her in Spanish. She started laughing, along with Megan and Clarisse. The comment I made wasn't funny (save your jokes, people) so I didn't understand why they were laughing. 'Who are you trying to talk to?' she asked. I'm a little foggy on those details.

(To be continued...)

But how do you say it in British English?

As I've said before, the students are learning British English and I am learning it right along with them. True that I have a slight advantage because I know American English, but I still learn new words/phrases every day. It's sort of a testament to the fact that the two are different. And the students want to make sure they are learning British English because that is what they will be tested on. If they say something the American way, like: 'At the university you can study Urban Geography,' they would be wrong. They have to say 'At university...' (without the 'the'). They also say 'at hospital' and 'at weekends'. There are differences in verb conjugations too. Learned and learnt, for example.

One day in conversation class I felt like I was being set up. A student was talking and asked how to say 'cola' in English.
"Line," I said.
"Queue," said another student.

Then the speaking student asked how to say 'galleta' in English.
"Cookie," I said.
"Biscuit," said the other student.

I thought the third time would be the charm, but "¿'Farmacia' en inglés?"asked the speaking student.
"Pharmacy or drug store," I said.
The other student shook his head, "Chemist," he said.

So you can see how easily I can lose credibility in a short amount of time and why students are skeptical that the answers I give them are correct.

But there have been a few 'in your face' moments too (I say it all in good fun, of course). The other day students from the second year class were talking about their families. One student asked how many brothers (hermanos) her partner had. 'Hermanos' can mean either 'brothers' or 'siblings' in Spanish so I thought it would be a good opportunity to teach them the word 'siblings'.

"Siblings?" one student asked, "is that British or American?"
"Both," I said.
"But what do they say in the UK?"
"Siblings," I said.
She reluctantly wrote it down. I could see her making a mental note to look it up in her British dictionary when she got home though.

My favorite moment when I was right was in a first year class. The students were going a role-play activity wherein one person was a store clerk and the other was a customer. The script read, 'Hello, how can I help you, Sir.' As you might imagine there are some females in the class too, so they wanted to know how to say the feminine form of 'Sir'.
"Ma'am," I said.
"But what do they say in Britian?" asked the student.
I considered for a moment if there was a more British alternative.
"They say 'Ma'am'," I said.
"Well I'm going to ask José (the teacher) when he gets back." (He was downstairs making copies at the time.)
When José came back the student waved him over to her desk. By this time I was helping another student, but I had one ear on the conversation.
"Ma'am," José said.
"Yesssssssssss," I said to myself.
"I just had to be sure," the student told me. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be rude."
"It's ok," I replied. "I understand."
And believe me, I do. I don't want to learn the South American word in Spanish. I want to know the Spain Spanish word.