I know it has been forever since I have up-dated my web-site. I'll apologize (like I always have to do). The truth is that I get busy and forget or realize I have so much to write about that I get lazy and don't want to do the work. I also don't have Internet at home so I am limited to using it at school or paying at an Internet cafe. So I'll try to give a quick up-date on what has been happening lately.
About a month ago (March 18-22) Katie, Olga and I went to Valencia for Las Fallas. This is a festival that happens every year only in Valencia. I had learned about it when I was studying in Donosti and it was one of the festivals I had always wanted to experience. It starts about 3 weeks before the actual festival begins and officially lasts for 5 days. All year long artists build these huge works of art out of wood and paper mache called fallas. They are gigantic. Most of them are about 3-4 stories tall. And they are so colorful and elaborate. I had seen photos but seeing them in person is completely different. So the artists work all year long constructing these pieces of art and they get placed all around the city. They are in small plazas, side streets, in front of city hall and every other corner they can find. Every day at 2:00 pm they have a firework show in the city center (called the mascleta) and on the second to last night they have a huge firework show (called the Nit de Foc). Think 4th of July but a million times bigger and better. Everyone is in the streets and everyone has fireworks (including 5 year old children) and they are going off all day, every day. It really is a sight to see. At first I jumped every time I heard one go off. But by the end of our days there I was used to it. On Thursday night there is La Crema and on this night they burn all the huge statues. These amazing works of art that has been worked on all year are burnt to nothing! The burning starts around 10:00 pm with the smaller fallas and they goes on and on until they are all burned. We went to watch our favorite falla burn. It was supposed to start around 11:00 pm but didn't actually burn until sometime around 1:00 am. Apparently there weren't enough firefighters to go to all the Cremas so they got behind schedule. We had to wait for a while but it was so worth it. It is started on fire by another firework show and then it just goes from there. We happened to be pretty close so we could feel the heat and there is ash that falls from the sky and you have to cover your mouth and nose with something because the smell is so strong. But it is so worth it! Just actually amazing. So the festival ends early Friday morning (around 2:00 or 3:00 am) and then everyone goes home. We thought everyone would go out so we went to a few bars but it was like a ghost town so we eventually just went back to the hotel. The next 2 days were spent actually seeing the city and all its attractions. The city is beautiful and quite big. It's nice because it has a real contrast between the old and new. Of course it has the old part but it also has a newer, more modern part. And it has the beach! The weather was nice...a little colder than I expected but it didn't rain and it was very sunny. We went to the beach 2 days and it wasn't warm enough to be in a bikini but nice enough to lay on a towel and read a good book. All in all I just had a great time. It was the first time I had been out of the Basque Country since I arrived in September and it was great to get away for a few days.
After Valencia I returned to my normal life here in Irun. We only had 2 weeks of school and then it was Spring Break. Here in Spain we have 2 weeks for Easter and almost everyone does a bit of traveling. Endika and I knew that we wanted to go somewhere but we couldn't figure out exactly where. We had thought about Logrono (in La Rioja, the wine region), Salamanca, Leon, and Pamplona. Eventually we settled on Burgos, which is a city about 3 hours west of Irun. It's in Castilla y Leon and kind of in the middle of nowhere. Bilbao is a couple hours northeast, Santander about 2 hours north and Leon is about 2 hours more west. I had been to Burgos before but only for the day and had never gotten a real feel for the city. Endika and I left on Thursday morning and arrived by about 1:00 pm. We had to find the hotel which was a bit difficult because Endika had forgotten to get directions or even write down the name of the hotel. So after driving around and going to hotels that he thought it might have been, I convinced him to call and find out where it was. We finally found it and checked in and it was quite nice. We had booked a room with hidromasaje (a bathtub with a whirlpool) so the first thing I did was try it out. I had been really excited about this feature so I wasted no time jumping in the tub. It was fantastic...a little small but I'm certainly no giant so it was perfect for me. After Endika and I went to go check out the city. We walked around and saw a lot of the sights. There is an amazing and huge cathedral and we walked along the river and got ice cream. We saw the Plaza Mayor and the old part. When we were tired we stopped to have coffee and a little snack. After we went to see the religious processions and then headed back to the room. There was an important basketball game on TV that Endika wanted to watch so I took advantage of the bathtub (again!). The next day we slept in a little and then we tried to go to this monastery but it was closed so went back to the city center. We met with a friend of mine that I worked with last night and she invited us to have lunch at her apartment. But first we went to have some tapas...so yummy! It was raining a little on Friday so it was nice to be warm and cosy in Amaia's house eating great food. After we decided to go out of the city a little and check out some small towns. We went to one that was about an hour north of Burgos and it was great. The main attraction there is a waterfall and a cave. And the landscape is amazing. We only spent about 2 hours there because it is a really small town and wanted to also see another town before it got dark. So we drove to another town called Poza de la Sal. It also is incredibly small and also in the middle of nowhere. Just above the town is a castle from the Middle Ages so Endika and I stopped to see it. We opened the car doors and they almost flew off because it was so windy! We debated climbing up to see the castle but I persuaded Endika because we were already there. Honestly the castle wasn't that impressive but the views were worth the climb and the wind. You could see the whole valley and the small town just below. It was beautiful. Before blowing away we went down and went into the town. It was Good Friday and mass had just ended so I went into the church to look at it while Endika waited outside. The entire town we saw in about 20 minutes but I thought it was so cute. And it had quite the ambiance for such a small amount of people. We decided to have dinner there but it was a little early by Spain's standards so we went to a bar first and had a beer. It was really nice to just relax a little and see all the citizens of the town. After dinner we drove back to Burgos and were going to go out but it was pretty late when we got back and it was freezing! So instead we decided to stay at the hotel. The next day we woke up, ate breakfast and then went back to the monastery, which was now open. We went on a tour and it was nice. After we went back to the old part and decided to have tapas for lunch. Oh my God! They were amazing! We went to a couple different bars to try the tapas and everything we ate was great. After lunch we had to start heading back to Irun because I had a surprise planned for Endika and we had to be back by 7:00 pm.
I had told Endika that I had a surprise planned for him for his birthday. Weeks before I started contacting his friends to plan a surprise birthday dinner in Donosti. I wanted him to think that just him and I were going to dinner and then when we arrive all his friends are there. So through the wonders of Facebook I started talking with him friends and setting up the dinner. It was quite the job coordinating the day and the time and the restaurant and how to get there and what to do after but very worth it. We arrived to the restaurant around 9:30 and Endika was quite surprised. When we walked in they all started singing Happy Birthday to him (but in Euskera!) and the look on his face was great. He didn't even hardly say anything! But the look said everything! So we had dinner and then all went out. It was a lot of fun and a really good night out in Donosti. I finally caught the topo home at 4:15 am because I had lunch the next day and wanted to be semi-rested.
The rest of Semana Santa was spent being lazy. I read a lot and slept a lot. The weather was quite crummy but one day was absolutely gorgeous so Endika and I took advantage and went to these 3 small towns on the coast called Orio, Zarautz and Getaria. I had been to them all before and many times but I think they are just so cute and the weather was amazing that I thought it would be a good day to go again. We went first to Getaria and went for a walk along the ocean and through the town. Then we went to Zarautz for ice cream! And then we finished in Orio, which is my favorite small town. We decided to walk up the mountain a little, which I had never done before, and the views were fantastic. You can see Getaria and Zarautz and when we were coming down the mountain the sun was setting and it was so beautiful. The Basque Country is honestly one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen and it is days like that that remind me how lucky I am to live in such a wonderful place.
The week after I returned to school for my last 2 weeks of work before I return home. Last week was normal but this past weekend was one of the most fun weekends I have had in a long time. On Friday the other professors at the school took me out for lunch here in Irun. We went to the "casino" which really isn't a casino any more, except they have Bingo. But it was really nice and the bought me a purse that I absolutely love! ESKERRIK ASKO!!! My friend Katie had told me earlier in the week that a friend of hers from Murcia was coming to visit and that we would have dinner at her house and then go out. So Endika and I went to Hondarribia that afternoon to meet with his cousin and have a drink. After we returned to Irun to get ready to go to dinner and Endika went home to shower. A little later he came to pick me up and I was so worried about being late but he was insistent on having coffee before we went. I couldn't understand why he would want to have coffee at 9:00 at night but it didn't seem like there was much I could do to convince him otherwise so we went to have coffee. I was so worried about being late to the dinner so I kept trying to hurry Endika along but it was a lost cause. Finally we arrived to Katie's house and I walk in first and see a couple balloons on the wall. And I thought: "Oh, that's so nice. They decorated for Jenny (the friend that was supposedly coming to visit)." And then I walk around the corner and there are all my friends! They all yelled "SURPRISE!" and let me tell you, it really was a surprise! I had no idea! Katie, Olga and Endika had been lying to me all week about little things and I believed every single one! So we had an amazing dinner of mac n cheese and salad and then we played flip cup for a little and then went out. Wow! What a great night! At one point in the night I was playing doorman at our favorite bar telling everyone that walked by that the party was inside and that they all had to go in. Crazy. I finally finished the night around 4:00 am because I had class the next morning at 11:00. Saturday I woke up and went to the class and then after headed to Donosti for lunch. A friend of Katie's invited us to have lunch at his sociedad with his group of friends so we met in Donosti at 1:30 pm. We went in search of shaved ice first for a surprise and then headed to the sociedad. We met his friends and then the party started from there! Javi, Katie's friend, was so nice and all his friends were amazing. They cooked this huge, amazing lunch that was fantastic. Seriously the food was some of the best that I have had in Spain. So we had a great lunch and wine and wonderful conversation and more laughs then I could handle. We stayed at the sociedad until 8:30 pm when we decided to go out. We went to play darts and then to have some bocadillos and more drinks and more laughs. We finished the night at a bar dancing and drinking until I left at 2:00 am. It was so much fun and one of the best nights I have ever had. The weekend was more than I could have ever asked for and a wonderful way to remember my last days here in Spain.
This week is my last week at school and it has been really great. With some of the classes I have had little parties and 2 of the classes have given me little presents very unexpectantly. One class gave me this painted ceramic plate of La Concha in Donosti and they all signed it on the back. And another class gave me this beautiful necklace from the Basque Country. I was completely overwhelmed and not expecting it at all! Today I have 3 more classes and then tomorrow 2 more and then I am finished! It seems so weird but in a way I am looking forward to it also.
Well this has taken me forever to write and I think it is now long enough. Hopefully before I leave I will be able to write a little more and post some pictures of the last couple weeks. If I don't have time I will do it when I get back to the States. Hope all is well with everyone!
