Breathe the World

The best Christmas present ever

2012-01-16T20:28:00.000-08:00

This was our Christmas card that we sent out this year. The present says "Do not open until August."

If you didn't get the hint, Brian and I are having a baby! We're due August 13th- and I have just a couple of weeks left to go before the second trimester.

We are ecstatic, nervous, anxious... all of the above! I've been feeling great and no morning sickness- just tired and hungry all the time! Last week we finally got to see the baby in an ultrasound. He/she was sitting right on its head! We saw its little heart beating and its arms and legs wiggling around, too. It was by far the best feeling to actually see the little peanut- it made everything seem so much more real.

We told most of our friends and extended family with the Christmas card. For Brian's parents, we sent them an email with a picture of us holding the "positive" test. They are over the moon excited to have a tenth grandchild. For my family, it will be the first grand baby. To tell them, we added a little mini stocking to the fireplace and waited until they noticed...

Finding out we are going to have a baby was the best Christmas present we could have ever asked for. Our lives are now heading in a new direction, a much different one than when we decided to live in Europe for two years. We will be breathing a new kind of world, but I know it will be just as wonderful as ever.

More updates as they come!

-Leeandra

My Job Now Compared to Spain

2011-12-27T00:24:00.000-08:00

In Spain, my job title was "English language and cultural assistant." To sum up my duties, I provided oral speaking and listening practice for the classes of Spanish students learning English. Sometimes I assisted the teacher in activities, maybe taking a section of their lesson to read directions or just talk with students, so they could practice hearing my accent. Other times I would lead the entire class session, either by bringing my own activities to teach about American culture, or by doing a lesson that related to what they were learning in class. The whole process entirely depended on the teacher I was with, and there was usually no strict structure involved with the lessons where I was present. I wasn't supposed to speak Spanish, the students' native language. When I worked in the middle/high school in Miranda de Ebro my first year in Spain, I felt I had a lot more opportunities to "teach" and held a lot more responsibility in the class.

This year I work in a 6-8 grade middle school, my job title being "Special Programs Instructional Assistant." This means that I basically provide support for students who are in the "LRC" program, aka students who speak English as a second language. I work with these students in their normal classes, such as math and language arts. In this situation, I am never supposed to teach the students or create lesson plans. I'm not supposed to bring any of my own activities or lead the class. My job is all about working one-on-one with students during class periods, whether it be to help them understand a math concept, or to help them practice improving their reading. Here too, I never speak the students' native language, only English.

These two jobs are similar in the sense that I reinforce student learning of the English language through reading, writing and speaking. The difference between the two though, is that while students in Spain learn English as an elective, Spanish-speaking students in the United States are learning it through necessity. In Spain, students don't need English to survive growing up in their home country, but students here in the U.S. whose native language is Spanish must learn it in order to succeed.

Through working in my middle school here in Salem, Oregon, I have come to the realization that I always took advantage of the fact that students in Spain were literate in all aspects of their native tongue (speaking, reading and writing). It was very useful when I worked one-on-one with students there, both at school and through private tutoring. I could always refer back to the Spanish alphabet and pronunciation to teach them English words and phrases. But I've noticed that many (it seems like at least half, although I can't be sure) of the students I work with here in the U.S. who may be "native" Spanish speakers actually cannot read and write in their first language.

In Spain when I would tutor children in English, I would be able to help them spell a word by sounding out the letters like the way they sound in Spanish. But here, there have been multiple times where I have tried to help a student with spelling an English word that had the same spelling as a Spanish word, but when I had gone to say, "it's spelled the same as in Spanish only with an "e" at the end," the student would just look at me in confusion. In the 6th grade language arts class I work in (full of Spanish native students), we were reading a story that had many words in Spanish mixed into the English text. But when the students were to take turns reading aloud, most could not pronounce any of the Spanish words, even ones as simple as "Papa" and "Abuela."

Right now I'm reading Harry Potter in Spanish, and a 7th grade Latina girl (who speaks Spanish with her friends) saw it and said, "you can read Spanish?" When I told her yes, she said, "I can't even read in Spanish..." You could tell she was a little upset about it. I took a moment to show her how to read the vowels, but I couldn't spend a lot of time on it, because we were in math class, not Spanish literacy class. The other day she asked me jokingly when I was going to finish teaching her to read in Spanish. I told her I would love to, it's just a matter of when and how I could arrange to do it.

I think the problem we have with the United States and the way we approach other languages is that we don't give enough of a priority to students becoming literate in their native tongues before we teach them a second language. So many students in the United States grow up speaking Spanish in their households because that's what their immigrant parents speak. Then when these students go to school they are surrounded by a language they may not have heard much of at all. There are some schools that have bilingual programs, but not enough. Since many of these kids don't learn to read and write at home, what happens is when they go to school they are trying to interpret written letters and sounds that don't mean anything to them. This ends up putting them behind native English speakers in school, which I believe contributes to a lack of self esteem on the part of many Latino students in terms of their academic potential. I truly believe that if these students could first be taught the Spanish alphabet and how to read it first, then English would come much faster to them. Especially since there are so many similarities between our two languages.

I'd love to help some of these kids learn to read in their native language, and it might actually be on my plate in the near future. For now, I'll continue working one on one in the classrooms, as well as doing lunch duty and crossing guard (don't laugh). Luckily, I still have another week of winter break off!

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

2011-12-24T00:19:00.000-08:00

A Utah Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T13:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

This year, Brian and I flew to Salt Lake City, Utah to meet up with his parents, and aunt and uncle, whom I'd never met. Brian hadn't seen his Utah family for years, so we were really excited to go.

Aunt Dion and Uncle Paul were so nice and welcoming from the moment we arrived. We couldn't have been more comfortable during the four days we were there.

Thanksgiving dinner was absolutely delicious! Brian's cousin Emily came over with her husband and five kids, so we had a big group (although not as big as it could have been- Dion and Paul have 6 kids and 20 grandchildren in total! But they were all in other places for Thanksgiving this year).

Before we ate, we made turkeys out of apples and candy.

My turkey is on the left, and Brian's little cousin Micah's is on the right!

We all stuffed ourselves and ate the leftovers the rest of the weekend.

During our stay, we mostly just enjoyed each other's company, ate, slept in, ate some more, made jewelry using Aunt Dion's stash of beads, and ate even more!

When we weren't doing that, Brian and I had the opportunity to take their 4-wheelers for a spin up into the mountains. While it wasn't snowy in the city, the mountains had tons of snow.

I never realized just how beautiful Utah is (I've also never been here until now!). I can't really explain in words how majestic it was up in the mountains, to be away from all signs of civilization, surrounded by fresh air and newly fallen snow. Up there, you feel like you're the only person on Earth. It was truly euphoric!

Not to mention, 4-wheelers are just plain awesome.

Before we flew home on Saturday, we went to downtown Salt Lake City to Temple Square. We went to the Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints visitor's center, museum and temple. They had decorations up for Christmas, and it was like walking through a winter wonderland. There were so many people there! There was even someone getting married!

We went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's performance of "Gloria" but had to leave early to catch our plane back to Oregon. The singing was fantastic. It was the perfect end to a perfect Thanksgiving weekend. We always hate to say goodbye to family, but we'll never forget this trip. Thanks moms and pops for bringing us to Utah for a great Thanksgiving!

(By the way, that horse had Christmas lights in its mane! Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!)

-Leeandra

The Best Pumpkin Seed Recipe

2011-11-09T17:38:00.000-08:00

While it's too late to use the pumpkin seeds cleaned out of your Halloween jack 0'lanturns, you can still maybe find some fresh pumpkins lounging around and make this recipe for Thanksgiving.

I got this recipe from the following website: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/toasted-pumpkin-seeds-3/detail.aspx

This snack was absolutely addicting and I probably ate two pumpkins worth!

Ingredients

2 cups of raw pumpkin seeds

1 1/2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons of butter, melted

1 1/4 teaspoons seasoned salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. (120 degrees C.)

2. Rinse the pumpkin seeds and pat dry

3. Place them in a bowl. Add the Worcestershire sauce, melted butter and seasoned salt; stir until evenly coated.

4. Spread them out in an even layer on a baking sheet

5. Bake for about 1 hour (more might be better) in the preheated oven. Stir occasionally. They're done when they're crisp, dry, and golden brown.

We enjoyed this treat on Halloween night while we handed out candy to all the trick or treaters. I didn't go through the trouble of dressing in my gift costume again... this time I dug out my sister's old black wings and halo and was a dark angel. She wore her old jungle woman costume. Brian had lots of homework so he was at the library =(

We had lots of cute trick or treaters. My mom always seems to attract the candy seekers with her Halloween decorations!

Even though it's over a week late, I hope you all had a great Halloween and enjoy the roasted pumpkin seeds on Thanksgiving!

-Leeandra

Happy Halloween Everyone!

2011-10-31T17:54:00.001-07:00

If you can't tell from the photos, I dressed up as a Christmas present and Brian was a glow-stick skeleton. We went to a costume party and tonight we're handing out candy to trick or treaters (hopefully they'll come despite the awful rain!). Later, I'm going to make another post of the best pumpkin seed recipe ever. Stay tuned!

Happy Halloween!!

Halloween Through the Years

2011-10-29T14:18:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry to say I've fallen into the category of people I never wanted to be- those who slack off on their blogs! But I will make a promise that while I may be gone for a while, I'll still come back every so often. Of course, I will still try to write as often as I can with updates from wherever I am in the world (which, currently is pretty stagnant!)

Since Halloween is just around the corner, I thought I'd take a look at what I did every Halloween over the past 7 years (I would have done 10 but I don't have photos going back that far online.)

~2004~ "Fairy"

Junior year of college, I went out with my roommates in Eugene- Courtney (Pocahontas) and Amy (a genie). We were just missing Joanie! My costume wasn't that "original" although I did have a cute little bag that Amy made that held glitter inside (my magic fairy dust!)

~2005~ "Miss America 1984"

I think this costume will always be my favorite. I wore a poofy hot pink and black dress. Amy made me a real sash that said "Miss America 1984." I had the crown and the flowers, too! The roommates and I (Joanie and Kelsey, the pirate and the can-can girl) went down to Corvallis where we met up with Megan and all her roommates. It was a great Halloween with my college buddies.

~2006~ "Dead prom queen and king"

This was the first Halloween I spent with Brian and I think the only time we've dressed up as a couple! We had some friends come down to my apartment in Eugene and it was a low-key Halloween. I'm still not sure why Brian thought the wig would work with the costume, though.

~2007~ "Bunny Rabbit"

Ok so this was my simplest and plainest costume ever. I had an excuse though! Joanie and I were traveling in Panama after volunteering in Costa Rica, and we had plans to meet up with Joanie's friend Brooke and the rest of the Panama Peace Corps group. We were headed to a Halloween party in a small Panamanian village, so we had to find cheap and easy costumes that would fit into our already packed full backpacks. I ended up as a bunny, and Joanie went as an angel. Brooke was a transvestite flasher, although I'd rather not post those photos (as they're probably not appropriate!). It was really cool hanging out with twenty Peace Corps people in a giant hostel/house in the middle of a rainstorm!

~2008~ "Firefly"

This costume is definitely right up there with my Miss America one in terms of unique-ness. It actually might take over as my favorite costume. Unfortunately, I didn't even get a photo of the best part about it- I'd taken two of those battery-operated tap lights that you put on your front porch (little round ones, like this) and taped them on top of my tights, under a see-through skirt. I had them on blinking mode so there was flashing light coming from my booty! This year we went out in Ashland, which has one of the hugest Halloween street celebrations in Oregon (maybe the biggest?). There were thousands of people in the streets all in costume. Brian went as a blind referee and some people actually believed him and kept jumping out of his way! When they realized the joke, they'd yell "awful job coaching that _____ game the other day, ref!" I also went as a bed bug for my work costume. I wore pajamas and carried around a pillow with little black bugs pinned onto it.

~2009~ "I Dream of Genie"

So it wasn't really the costume from the T.V. show, and if you notice, it's the same costume Amy wore from 2004. Actually, I even wore this costume before that, in 2003. This year we were in Burgos, Spain. We noticed that on Halloween, Spanish people either don't celebrate it, or they associate the costumes with monsters. Literally every person we saw out in our Spanish city had messy hair and fake blood/gashes painted on their faces and clothes. Read more about my 2009 Halloween in Spain here.

~2010~ "American girl"

Ok so if you can't tell from the title, last year I didn't dress up at ALL! So sad, because I absolutely love dressing up in costume. There just wasn't much going on in Alcoy, Spain, since Spaniards don't really celebrate Halloween. Actually, we did see a couple of trick-or-treaters, but this holiday is really just starting to take hold in Spain so there wasn't much else going on. We walked around our city and ended up having a nice little night out in our small city, though. Read about it here!

So this year we're planning on going to a Halloween costume party. I'll post about it soon! What do you think I'll dress up as this time?! Guess you'll have to wait and see!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!

-Leeandra

Camping at Otter Creek

2011-09-05T18:16:00.000-07:00

(This is old but I figured I may as well post it. I'll post another soon.)

Summer is winding down around here. I'm happy to announce that I got a job! I'll be a bilingual instructional assistant at a middle school in Salem. It's pretty much the same job I was doing in Spain the past two years- helping Spanish-speaking students with their English in the classroom while assisting the teacher in daily lessons. At least, I think that's how it will be. I start tomorrow so I'll let you know! I will also be a crossing guard too, so that should be interesting!

Last weekend, Brian was invited by some of his fellow MAT students to come camping at the Oregon Coast at Otter Creek. I hadn't even heard of Otter Creek before this weekend, and I've been going to the Oregon Coast my entire life. But we decided to go and I'm so glad we did. The weather was absolutely beautiful, as you can see!

-Leeandra

Summer Update 2011

2011-08-29T00:12:00.001-07:00

Wow, is anyone still out there?

This has been the longest I've gone without writing anything since... well... probably since I started this blog!

So what have we been up to? Honestly, not a whole lot. Oregon is great, don't get me wrong. It's just that after spending 2 years in Spain, nothing seems quite as comparable...

Brian went commercial salmon fishing and made it back safely. Success! Check out some of his crazy photos:

A salmon flew up and bit Brian right on the nose! Can you even believe that?

A hook shot through his captain's nose and he needed stiches. Not a good summer to be a nose I guess!

I'll have him explain more about his fishing experience in detail in an upcoming post. Also, I still promise to post about our family reunion trip to North Carolina (don't worry, it was pre-hurricane Irene!).

Brian has begun full-time school at Willamette University for his Master's in Teaching degree and boy has he been busy!

At least he has been able to find a hockey team to play with when he's not too busy studying.

They even won his first tournament!

I taught dance classes at my old studio all summer.

It was really fun being able to meet the middle and high school aged kids now at the studio and to be able to get back into dancing again. I love dance!!

I'll keep you posted on my progress in the job search (hopefully I'll have some good news for you soon!). In the mean time I've been able to catch up with old friends and enjoy the Oregon summer heat.

We don't have plans to travel again anytime soon but it's always on my mind! I'm missing Spain like no other, but it does feel good to be home.

Until next time!

-Leeandra

Washington's San Juan and Orcas Islands

2011-07-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

San Juan Island is the biggest of the islands (of the same name) off the coast of Washington. My family and I set off exploring the island right away. There were many cute little ports that could have been taken straight out of a movie.

There was even someone getting married!

We visited an alpaca farm on the island. Wouldn't you love to live here?

I'd never seen this breed of alpaca before. Or maybe there is only one type and I just don't remember alpacas looking like this. Either way, I didn't know they were so cute!

As with Lopez island, the beaches were rocky and gray, which is a quality I love about the Pacific Northwest.

We found island markers embedded into the cliff near the water.

The island also had blankets of grassy fields I wanted to run through. We found a trail that led to the ocean and I felt like I'd stepped back in time.

Probably the most interesting thing to see on San Juan Island is the sculpture park. I don't usually care much for sculpture art- but this "museum" was actually fun! There were art pieces scattered in an organized fashion throughout a grassy field, in and around a pond, and along the edge of the ocean.

My mom and sister ended up retreating from the park early. As they ran back to the car, they exclaimed over their shoulders that they heard a "roaring" in the trees that sounded like a bear. Upon further inspection, my brother and I discovered it was the roaring motor of a lawn mower.

Orcas Island was our last stop on our Washington family road trip. We stayed in the cutest beach house in town, called the Wisteria cottage.

Apparently, we were staying right next door to the most famous cow in town, April.

She's up for candidacy for mayor!

Orcas island was more forresty than San Juan and less populated. As we drove around, I kept spotting little meadows surrounded by trees that reminded me of something straight out of the Twilight movies. As with the other islands, this place was gorgeous.

The air is fresher here. It makes breathing a form of pleasure.

Now I'm back in Oregon, teaching dance classes at my old studio. Brian is still commercial salmon fishing in Alaska. I promise to post about both these places soon, but seeing as how we'll be in Oregon for a while, you'll have plenty of time to hear more about it.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer thus far! Until next time,

-Leeandra

Seattle and the San Juan Islands

2011-06-23T19:16:00.000-07:00

We drove up to Northern Washington the day after I got home from Spain/ Brian's O'Leary family reunion, so I haven't really had a break from traveling for over two weeks (not that I'm complaining!).

We went to Seattle first. Even though I've lived only a few hours from there my entire life, I've never actually spent time there before. Of course, we visited the international icon, the Space Needle. The view from the top of the city and Puget Sound was beautiful.

We had lunch in Seattle and stopped by Pike Place Market, where they do the famous fish tossing (just Youtube it!)

These three young men were street performing to famous Beatles songs... see the resemblance?!

After spending some time at the market (there were a lot of fun little shops to check out), we drove over to the ferry to take us to the San Juan Islands in Northwestern Washington, right by the Canadian border.

We stopped on Lopez Island first. We took our car on the ferry, only a half hour ride from the mainland, and drove around the island. It is very small, and as only 1200 people live here, it's very rural and full of endless grassy fields and rocky beaches.

As we were driving around, we noticed that other drivers kept waving at us. We didn't understand why, until we read in a tourist brochure that it's a local custom for "Lopezians" to wave at other residents and tourists alike. How cute!

The beaches on Lopez are very small and beautiful, in a peaceful, quaint sort of way. I loved all the multi-colored rocks and orange and yellow poppies growing along the shore.

Before we went to the next island, we stopped in the only town, Lopez Village, for hot dogs and ice cream:

When I mentioned to the old lady in the ice cream shop that I was going up to the post office, she asked if I could take her mail too, and promptly handed me three letters marked "urgent" on the outside.

There are around 700 islands in this area at low tide. The island above had a house built upon it and a boat parked down the dock. Can you imagine having your vacation home be an entire island?

After Lopez, we took another ferry to San Juan island, the biggest of the San Juans. We stayed in a cute little motel with an outside sitting area. The weather couldn't have been better.

The next few days we explored San Juan island and Orcas island. Stay tuned!

-Leeandra

Washington D.C., So Much to See!

2011-06-13T21:23:00.000-07:00

Brian and I didn't expect to have a mini vacation in Washington D.C.

We were so busy wrapping up our time in Spain, packing and saying goodbye, and getting ready for the family reunion in North Carolina, that we didn't give much thought to what we'd be doing the week before the reunion.

When Brian's uncle Woody picked us up from the airport, we quickly realized as we drove through our nation's capitol city, that we'd be getting a vacation for free that most people spend months planning and saving up for.

The amazing part about it all is that Brian's aunt and uncle live right on Capitol Hill- literally just a couple houses down from the Senate and the House,and a block from the Capitol building!

Even though it was over 100 degrees F. (40 degrees Celsius!) while we were in D.C., Brian and I had a blast just walking around Capitol hill.

Funny story. Uncle Woody asked if Brian and I were going to walk to "the Mall" on our first day. Brian was like, "Sure, why not, Leeann needs some new sunglasses anyway." Then his cousin Connor asked the same thing- if we were going to the mall. I was thinking, what's the big deal about this mall? I guess we'll go there... since everyone keeps talking about it! I remembered my friend Amber talking about the good shopping here in D.C., so I figured the mall must just be really cool! So Brian and I set out for the mall after seeing the Capitol. We asked a street cop where it was, and he told us to head towards the "Big Pencil" (the Washington Monument) and we couldn't miss it. So we did what he said, and walked toward the monument, until we came to a manmade pond behind the Capitol with a mother duck and her babies:

Then Brian went up to two girls nearby and asked if they knew where the mall was. They said, "You're in it!" I thought, wow, this must be a really BIG mall, with some kind of outdoor park thing. But when Brian asked them what exactly they meant, we were put to shame. Now I'm sorry if everyone else seems to have heard of the term "the National Mall", meaning the area surrounding the Capitol building, the White House and all the monuments and museums, but neither Brian nor I had EVER heard this term before. And we've both been to D.C. in the past! Are we really the only ones who'd never heard of the National Mall before!!??

Nevertheless, when we did realize what the Mall is, we had a fun time checking out all the famous monuments in the area:

The Washington Monument, aka the Big Pencil

The Lincoln Memorial

The Jefferson Monument

The White House

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall

World War 2 Memorial

We had a great time hanging out with Brian's aunt Kathleen, uncle Woody and cousins Connor and Chris. My parents-in-law arrived halfway through the week to spend the last few days with us, and we had dinner with Brian's granddad and his wife Alice, who also live in D.C. One of the days, Brian's sister Dani and her family stopped by to see us before they headed out for their own mini vacation in Gettysburg before the reunion. We even had Lobster for dinner on Connor's birthday!

We went to a few of the museums. There's a cool new one called the "Newseum" about the printed press and television news coverage of famous events throughout the past. From the top, there was a great view of the Capitol.

Our favorite was the American Natural History museum because it has dinosaur fossils and massive mounted taxidermist-stuffed animals:

I thought it was funny to see a 1980's video camera on display in the National Museum! That's the same one my parents used when I was little!

Before heading to North Carolina for the family reunion, we did a little shopping with Brian's mom. Then her and aunt Kathleen took me to get a pedicure! It felt great!

Brian's dad took him to get a haircut:

On our last day in D.C., Pops took us to visit Arlington National Cemetery, where hundreds of thousands of American soldiers and other well-known Americans, such as the Kennedys, are buried. It was much larger than I remembered it. It was very calming and somber there, and very beautiful.

The Pentagon is that building in the left of the photo. Hard to tell that's it, but it's there:

We saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where one soldier is always standing by:

But perhaps the coolest thing you can find in this part of the world, which I've never seen anywhere else in all of my travels, are the fireflies. They are one of the coolest little creature's I've ever seen. They were hard to get a photo of as their light-up bottoms turn on and off sporadically, but Brian did catch this little guy, who rode with us during our entire walk home (although he didn't light up once while on Brian's finger!)

We had a fantastic time in D.C.- an unexpectedly fun place to come back to after leaving our beloved Spain. After D.C., we drove down to North Carolina for the traditional O'Leary Reunion. Stay tuned for that post next time!

-Leeandra

The Driving Suitcase

2011-06-10T12:31:00.000-07:00

Coming soon to a store near you!

The world's first driving suitcase!

-Easy to use

-Pedal-powered

Just unfold the pedals, seat and wheel and drive to wherever needed! Can be compacted down to accommodate travel and storage. Affordable prices starting at $199.

Stop dragging around all that extra baggage! Ride it instead!

Overseas Traveling, Oh So Fun!

2011-06-07T16:10:00.000-07:00

We left Alcoy with two heavy suitcases, two stuffed backpacks, two packed laptop bags and two sad faces.

We caught a bus to Barcelona. Upon arriving at 5 am, we met a man who was also going to the airport and ended up traveling along with us. He was quiet except for when we asked him where he was from, whence he perked up in excitement about his return trip home to Uzbekistan. On our train were other airport goers as well as Saturday night drunk partiers headed home.

Our two checked bags were WAY too heavy but we were thankfully told we were allowed two EACH free! So we dug out two extra duffle bags, redistributed the weight, and were allowed to board.

Our overseas flight was 9 1/2 hours long although it was surprisingly un-eventful.

We waited about 3 hours to get through customs in Fort Lauderdale because four different international flights landed at the same time. The foreigners didn't complain, but many U.S. citizens did!

We stayed the night in Fort Lauderdale. The best part was the shower. Having a shower after more than a day of travel is like stepping into an air-conditioned building out of 100 degree weather. Utterly refreshing.

Brian went through security three times the next morning due to a rogue Leatherman in a carry-on. We had to rearrange our suitcases again before boarding our flight from Florida to D.C. and somehow misplaced the knife! He was able to mail it, but only by sticking it in an envelope with 11 dollars in cash in a drop box in the airport. We'll see if we ever get it back!

The turbulence was so bad that the flight attendants couldn't even serve our drinks!

Now we're in Washington D.C. until Saturday! Did you know the "National Mall" isn't actually a mall but the area around the Capitol building, the White House and the other famous D.C. monuments? We didn't until today, when we asked someone where the mall was, and they explained it to us... is that bad?

Y las ultimas fotos! Our last photos of Spain...

2011-06-04T05:16:00.000-07:00

Nos vamos! We're leaving Spain! I promise to write more about my feelings soon... we're in a big hurry to finish packing and cleaning, and we don't want to miss our bus out of town! Tenemos mucha prisa pero escribire del viaje pronto...

For now, here are the second set of photos from our last days of class...

Cooking class with Leeandra and Florian!

Goodbye my dance studio:

Goodbye Loli (the Batoi school cafe owner):

Goodbye Florian and Batoi =(

I will write more soon! Wish us luck on our travels!

-Leeandra

Fotos de nuestros últimos días!

2011-06-02T07:03:00.000-07:00

Fotos de los ultimas dias de clase en Batoi y Cotes Baixes

Photos from our last days of class in Batoi and Cotes Baixes

(Perdona que no se puede hacer 'clic' en las fotos... estoy intentando arreglarlo!)

Secretariado con Leeandra!

Primero Comercio Internacional con Brian!

Marketing con Brian!

Profes con Brian:

Brian y Paco:

Mas Pronto!!

My Spanish Grandmother

2011-05-31T18:16:00.000-07:00

The other day, Brian and I went with our friends, Begonya and her family, to visit the dentist (again). On the way home, we stopped at an elderly residential home to say 'hello' to a relative of Begonya's husband's family.

Well this lady was so sweet and was really happy to have guests. She was super excited to meet some Americans and she kept asking us all how we were related to her. Begonya explained how she was their great aunt, but the aunt was hoping that Brian and I were family, too. Of course, we aren't related, but we told her, "Why not? We'd love to be your American grandchildren!" She seemed happy with that.

So there you go- meet my adopted Spanish grandmother. You can call her "Abuela."

I'm Going to Miss...

2011-05-29T06:04:00.000-07:00

Life is good. But it's sad when things end.

I already miss Burgos.

I'm going to miss Alcoy.

I'm going to ache for Spain.

We want to return someday (no, we WILL return some day) but I'm sorry to say that it is a long ways in the future.

It's been a great two years, full of memories and wonderful people I will never forget.

I'm going to miss all the cool people we've met in Burgos and Alcoy. I hope we can stay in touch for a long time to come. Someday, Brian and I will return, with little ones in tow, and see all of you again.

I'm going to miss how easy it is to get prescriptions here. Whether it be for contact lenses or antibiotics. With no eye insurance, you can go to any eye care store, get a free check-up, and buy however many contacts you wish. No paying for the visit, just the product. How great is that? If you get an infection, you can go straight to the pharmacy and buy 3 dollar antibiotics. Incredible.

I'm going to miss living in the center of town. Surprisingly, I've actually enjoyed living in busy apartment buildings the past couple of years. It feels so much safer here than any living situation I've had in the United States. No one can break into the ones we've lived in here, but I feel like that kind of crime doesn't happen here much. There's so much activity going on outside our windows at almost every hour, day and night. But no one seems dangerous. And also, isn't it funny how buildings and homes here are all made of stone? One Spanish person suggested that a driving game we could play while on our road trip was 5 points earned for anyone who spots a wooden house, because they are so rare!

I'm going to miss the social-ness of Spanish people in general. Tons of people in the streets all the time (except for lunch and the siesta!). A cafe (all of them serving as both cafe and bar) on every street corner and in between, so you always have somewhere to stop in and hang out. And sidewalk cafes = brilliance.

I'm going to miss sitting on my balcony in the hot sun, just watching the world go by down below.

I'm going to miss watching football (soccer) surrounded by die hard fans. This weekend Barcelona beat Manchester United in the UEFA cup and it was crazy here! Go Barca!

I'm going to miss not having to pay for gas or car insurance! Public transportation is so much easier here. Even small towns have city buses that don't cost an arm and a leg and they aren't "gross" as many Americans think of city buses being. FACT: I secretly enjoy riding the city buses and sometimes ride them just for fun. (Just kidding.) No, really.

I'm going to miss... does this even need to be said? Spanish food! Ok maybe not ALL Spanish food, but in particular: chorizo, cured cheese, nutillas (a delicious cookie pudding thing)... and basically just the culture of going out and getting a menu of the day (two courses, dessert and drinks) for cheap.

I'm going to miss this stress free life! I know we can't stay here forever, and it can be hard living so far away from family and friends, but the past couple of years have been so relaxing, so much fun, and filled with some of the best experiences of my life. I can't deny that the sound of full-time work, part-time school and pinching and saving money for however many years to come doesn't sound as appealing as the 15-hour work weeks we've had here! We've been spoiled, to put it bluntly, and you can't blame me for never wanting it to end!

We have less than a week left in this beautiful country. So how do I make the time drag slower???

Let me know when you find out.

-Leeandra

Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands Border

2011-05-23T15:49:00.000-07:00

If you recall, last year Brian and I went on a Christmas Break EuroTrip, and our first stop was in Aachen, Germany to visit our good friend Julia (pronounced "You-leah" and not like the English "Jew-Leah"!).

Among other fun things, Julia took us to see a seemingly regular sight, but in my eyes was super cool.

We went to the border of three countries: Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium!

From this lookout tower we could see all three countries at once!

Look! There's me in the Netherlands, Brian in Germany, and Julia in Belgium! (Technically we were all posing in the Germany side but you get the idea.)

Apparently, which I just found out today while typing up this post and feel extra dumb now, there used to be a fourth country between Belgium and Germany called Neutral-Moresnet connected here as well. Too bad I didn't visit 90 years earlier or I would have been able to see four countries at once!

Random thought: Did you know Santa is sorta a creeper in these parts of the world? Instead of going down the chimney like any respectable fat man in a red suit should, he spidey-climbs his way up people's buildings- no sleigh, no reindeer, and no gift bag for that matter!- and breaks his way into children's houses.

-Leeandra

Today Was Not the End of the World

2011-05-21T13:21:00.000-07:00

Let's talk about today.

As it turns out, the world didn't end over here. In fact, nobody I know had even heard of the "May 21st Rapture" before. Isn't it funny, when you think about it, that while it probably seemed that everyone was talking about it today in the U.S. (whether preparing for it, laughing about it, or just plain being irritated by it) the majority of the rest of the planet's population probably had no idea this was even going on?

And what's with the supposed set time of 6pm? Did anyone ever consider that by 6pm in each U.S. time zone, most of the rest of the world has already moved on to May 22nd? Or does the rest of the world not count when it comes to this sort of thing? Typical Americans!

I heard somewhere that the time of "bye bye world" would be just before midnight Jerusalem time. Well, according to Google, it is exactly 11:47 pm in Jerusalem. Now it's 12:03 am. (I stepped away from the blog for 16 minutes, oops). So scratch that prediction.

Not that anyone really believes the world is ending today, right? I really can't imagine people who do actually exist. I'm not saying they are wrong that someday this all could happen- I'm really not one to judge a person's religion- but the sun could also implode, turning us all into pink ice sculptures.

I just wonder, what are these people going to do tomorrow? No, better yet, what are they doing right now?

All I can say is that everyone needs to step away from May 21st with this in mind:

Live each day to the fullest, be the best person you can be, and get there by all means you believe are true. The world could end today, tomorrow, or thousands of years from now. We can't predict the future no matter how hard we wish we could. The only thing we can do is to enjoy what we have with the time we have left.

-Leeandra

Moors and Christians Festival 2011

2011-05-19T04:35:00.000-07:00

As before stated, this festival is celebrated as a tribute to the reconquest of this area of Spain by the Christians from the Moors between the 8th and 15th centuries. In Alcoy, the festival is surrounded around Saint George, whose ghost supposedly appeared in front of the Moors and frightened them out of the city for good.

Many small towns in this region have their own version of the festival, but here in Alcoy it lasts for three days. During these days, people let off fireworks, party, play musical instruments in the streets, and dress up in extravagant costumes. Groups of citizens from the town (called "filas," which are like private community clubs you have to pay to be a part of) march in a huge parade that lasts all day on Saturday. Half the filas dress up like the olden-day Christians, and the other half as Moors. On Sunday there are more parades and a sacrament taken by the major Christian and Moor characters and a child representing Saint George. On Monday, the final day, there are battle reenactments of the Moors taking the Alcoy castle then the Christians reconquoring it.

In my opinion, the festival was really cool, although partway through, I couldn't help but feel that it didn't seem as "internationally acclaimed" as I was previously made to believe. The thing is, it felt more like a festival for locals who know the holiday inside and out and follow a specific routine because it's tradition, but if you're a tourist, you will probably find yourself a bit lost.

I'm not a tourist to Alcoy as I am currently living here (for two more weeks!), but I suppose that's what I was last weekend. And I felt like an outsider. You see, there is a schedule of events that are supposed to happen over the course of these three days but Brian and I found it quite difficult to know what things were happening, when and where. Most of our friends and acquaintances here seemed to have a general idea of the events beforehand, but they were all unclear on times and exactly what would be happening around the city. No one seemed to be able to give us an accurate timetable.

We never saw a brochure or schedule handed out in English, which was a bit surprising because there were so many British tourists here (and there are always tons of English visitors in this part of Spain). Maybe it's because I wasn't coming from a hotel- maybe there was a list of events handed out to English speaking tourists and I just never saw it. There was a schedule for Spanish tourists that I spotted in some people's hands but I wasn't able to find a copy of it being given out anywhere.

I suppose my point is that while this festival is said to be internationally famous, there were basic tourist anemities missing. For one, there were no food booths that one usually associates with big events such as this one. Sure there was plenty of places to go drinking and some temporary street discos set up, but where was all the food? There were also no tourist shops in the city, although there were plenty of those guys who walk around selling cheap sunglasses and hats from a bag, who are usually immigrants. (A friend of ours said he thinks they are trying to pay their debts to the mafia for bringing them illegally into Spain, but that's probably a story for another day!)

On the day of the battles, Brian and I tried to go watch the show but the gun shots from all the muskets were so loud, we couldn't get very close to the action. When we tried to find ear plugs, we were told to go to the pharmacy, only to find that all the pharmacies were closed for the holiday! And for many people, the parade on Saturday was much too long (lasting four hours in the morning and four in the evening) as each fila gets a chance to march through the city showing off their floats and costumes. Many people complained this year that the break in the middle (about three hours) was too long. All the locals, of course, went home for their early afternoon lunch and siesta while I couldn't help but wonder what the rest of the tourists were doing at this time (as there's really not much else to do in Alcoy!).

I suppose that even though the festival is known around the world, that doesn't mean Alcoy is trying to make it a tourist attraction. It has always been and probably will always be a celebration put on by locals, for locals, whether or not outsiders understand what the heck is going on most of the time. And I don't think it matters. Because I actually believe that the best kind of travel and tourism is the kind that allows you to see what local people do because it's something they value and view as integral to their culture and history, and not something they do just to please the tourists.

And this festival in Alcoy is the perfect place to do just that! Tourists are guaranteed to be amazed by the fantastic production- I sure was!

-Leeandra

The Children of the Moors and Christians Festival

2011-05-15T07:13:00.000-07:00

This goes without saying. These children in the "Moors and Christians" parade yesterday in my town were absolutely adorable! The festival is still going on so stay tuned for more!

Like toilet paper, it goes quicker near the end!

2011-05-08T10:51:00.000-07:00

I can't believe we are a week into May, which means I only have one month left in Spain! Ahhh! It's all going by so quickly now. It's very sad because we won't be returning to Europe anytime in the near future, as Brian and I will be attending University next year in Oregon. Therefore, we're trying to take advantage of the time we have left here as much as possible.

This weekend there is a huge festival in our town called "Moors and Christians" which celebrates when the Christians reconquored the area from the Moors during the 8th -15th centuries. Festivities have already begun- we've been hearing fireworks and music around our town for the past few days now. We didn't realize how big of a festival this is for our town, until we saw some photos of the event. It looks amazingly elaborate and exciting, and we can't wait to see it all this weekend!

Yesterday we had to go to Tavernas de la Valldigna (a town near Valencia on the Mediterranean coast) to visit Brian's dentist. It turns out it was cheaper to rent a car for the day than to take the train or bus there, because there's no direct transportation between Alcoy and small towns like that. We didn't mind the trip because we were able to spend a little time on the beach.

The temperature was warm, though not necessarily sun bathing weather.

There were so many cool sea shells, and of course I took some sand home for my collection of beaches from around the world!

On the way home I decided to start studying for our entry exams into the Master's program this summer!

And we saw another lonely bull to add to our list...

-Leeandra

Bulls, Castles and Windmills, Oh my!

2011-04-29T16:41:00.000-07:00

Some things you will probably see on a road trip through Spain...

#1) The Osborne Bull

The Osborne bulls are 46-foot high bulls that are found along major Spanish highways across the country and are now regarded as the unofficial symbol of Spain. In 1956, the Osborne Sherry Company created the symbol to advertise their brandy, and the bulls (black with the words "Veterano Osborne" in red) were erected across Spain. In 1994, a law was passed to remove the advertisements, but the bulls were so famous that they were allowed to remain up, with only the words removed. Now you can find 88 of these giants across Spain, standing silently but dominantly in the distance...

Maybe if you're lucky, you can pull over and get a picture with one!

#2) Castles, castle ruins, and even more castles:

There isn't much to say about this- just like the Osborne bulls, you'll be driving along and all of a sudden see a castle on a mountain top. We saw about 20 on our trip from Southern Spain and all through the North.

While my camera didn't capture them very well, the currently maintained castles with lights look even more gorgeous at night:

#3) The new 110 km per hour speed limit:

The limit used to be 120 k/hr and has been dropped in order to hopefully help with gas prices. According to this site Blogging Spanish, the Spanish government spent about 250 thousand euros just to change all the signs, so only time will tell if the money saved on gas was well worth it!

#4) Peregrinos (pilgrims) walking the Camino de Santiago:

On our drive through the North, we passed this famous pilgrimage path many times (known in English as "The Way of Saint James"), and we saw many pilgrims doing the trek. We met two pilgrims who said they'd been walking for 10 days, and were about 2/3 of the way done. All types of people do the walk. You can begin anywhere you'd like and even do it on bicycle. There are paths all throughout Europe, all with the final destination in Galicia, Spain- Santiago de Compostela. The most famous route begins in St Jean Pied de Port in France, and ends in Santiago, taking pilgrims 780 km (about 480 mi) across Spain's Northern regions. There are signs everywhere to help people along the way, and very cheap accommodations for the travelers!

#5) Dummy traffic conductors!

#6) Wind power galore!

And...

#7) Breath-takingly beautiful countrysides:

-Leeandra

2011-04-28T15:32:00.000-07:00

Stay tuned for stories from my Spring Break road trip through Spain, and hear the true tale of the hundreds of famous, wooden bulls who silently dominate the Spanish countryside.

A Good Day for a New Tooth

2011-04-17T15:11:00.001-07:00

Though you may not be able to tell in the photo, Brian's circled tooth was found to be "broken in half" inside his gum, and had to be replaced by an implant the other weekend.

Can you tell he was just a bit nervous?

The dentist was very nice. He even tried speaking English to us on Brian's last visit- "we'll need to do an extractation of your tooth and give you an implantation." Apparently, as we English speakers add "o" or "a" to the end of words to make them sound "Spanish," Spanish speakers add "ation" to the end of theirs to sound "English!"

This tooth is temporary; they'll put the permanent one in next month. You can see the screw holding it in!

The left side of his mouth was really numb!

Pooped out!

-Leeandra

A Day Trip to Xativa

2011-04-05T14:08:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Brian's super nice co-worker Begona (also our "landlord"- I say it in parenthesis because we pay close to nothing to live in her house!) took us to a small town near Valencia, called Xativa.

We went with her and her husband, her two daughters, and their aunt. It was sort of a family outing to see the dentist, and they were kind enough to bring Brian and I along with them.

We stopped in Tavernas for the dentist first, which was a cute little beachside town. We had lunch there in this little plaza before heading to Xativa.

We passed an old monastery which is now owned by some rich locals who don't allow people to visit.

We walked around Xativa, admiring the beautiful 18th century architecture.

Do you know why much of the present city dates back only to the 18th century and not earlier? Because in the early 1700's, the entire city was burned in punishment for its citizens' opposing the king at the time, Philip V. Apparently, this king's portrait still hangs upside down in memory of his insult, in the local museum!

A Gypsy girl and her family hanging out in the street:

There is a castle in the hills overlooking the town, Zee Castle, which I hear has probably been there since as far back as Roman times.

This photo, unfortunately, isn't mine, as we didn't get a chance to hike up to the castle. Credit goes HERE.

It stretches all along the mountain top in the distance.

As we were getting ready to leave town, we found ourselves in the middle of a city-wide demonstration. The people of Xativa were protesting a new trash burning site to be placed near the city. We had to wait until the crowd passed our parked car before we could leave!

Brian joined in for a bit, too!

I heart day trips to small towns. You never know what you'll see!

-Leeandra

April Fool's day

2011-04-02T10:53:00.000-07:00

For those of you who may not have clicked the photo of my new "tattoo" in the previous post... April Fool's! I did NOT really get one.

I have to say outright that I don't think I've ever before celebrated April Fool's day until this year. And to be honest, I'm not very good at it.

No, I'm awful at playing practical jokes. While I could probably come up with a pretty good idea for a trick, where I'm lacking is in the follow through. I can't keep a straight face, I'm a terrible actress, and I just plain feel stupid. It was hard enough for me to post that tattoo photo, in fear of what people would think of it if they didn't know I was joking... even if it was for 1 minute before they realized it wasn't real.

So when I tried to play a few April Fool's tricks on Brian, they failed miserably. Nevertheless, he decided to get back at me, and was highly successful:

I noticed the trail of blood dripping down its mouth into the tub FIRST. When I followed the path and saw the source of the blood was coming from an awful creature with an open mouth full of teeth and black eyes staring back at me with malice, I screamed and ran out of the bathroom covering my face.

This year, Brian took April Fool's day to a new level, so now I have no choice but to start thinking of ways of how to get back at him next year...

I got a tattoo!

2011-04-01T06:43:00.001-07:00

Click HERE if you can't read it!

What Have We Been Up To?

2011-03-29T02:45:00.000-07:00

It's almost April, which means we're well into Spring and time couldn't be flying faster!

Exactly one year ago, Brian's parents came to visit us in Burgos, followed by an amazing Spring Break road trip through Spain, Portugal and Morocco:

I can't believe it has already been a year since that trip!

Spring break for us here in Alcoy isn't until end of April this year, but we've been having a pretty good time since the last update.

At the beginning of March, Brian and I went on a weekend trip to Rome! We saw the coliseum, the Roman ruins, the pantheon, Trevi fountain, Vatican City and the sistine chapel... all while enjoying delicious Italian pastries! We also got to see Brian's niece Paige for dinner at her hotel- she was in Italy for a school trip at the same time!

(I promise to write more about our Rome trip soon.)

We've been going out to lunch and dinner with many of our students. This group is Brian's commerce class:

Carnival (like Mardi Gras but bigger) was a few weekends ago here in Alcoy. We dressed up as a pirate and a cowgirl (for simplicity's sake) and went out with Brian's International Commerce class:

Mid-March we went to Valencia, on the Mediterranean coast, for "Las Fallas". During Las Fallas, different groups from Valencia make giant "fallas" which are foam/wooden cardboard statues. They're huge! See Brian on the bottom left?

Many of these statues are parodies- there was a sign by the fat Sandy and Danny below, that said "Grasa" instead of "Grease", which means "fat!"

We saw a few with the president of Spain- Zapatero!

I couldn't help but take a photo of this adorable baby boy!

And of course, they had one about the U.S... apparently this is what some Spaniards think of us!

They burn the fallas at midnight at the end of the festival! These were two of our faves about "cavemen", and I think "life":
And the castle in the center of Valencia is amazing!

Brian went snowboarding with a few friends:

And last weekend was "Las Paellas" held at the University of Alcoy. Basically it's an excuse for everyone to party in the University parking lot and eat paella!

Stay tuned for more updates from Spain! We still have 2 months left!

-Leeandra

Spain's New Smoking Law

2011-03-21T09:49:00.000-07:00

I have never been in Spain when there were no smoking laws. When I arrived to study abroad in 2006, a new law had just been put into place saying that smoking was no longer allowed in the work place and in large-spaced bars and restaurants. I believe this was when the "smoking zone" was put into place in airports, too. Before that, smoking was allowed anywhere and everywhere in Spain.

Even with the new law in 2006, I remember my first year in Spain being a smokey one, and I don't even smoke! But it seemed that no matter where I went, there was smoke around me. Since Spain has such a huge cafe culture (visiting friends and families at the local cafe/bar is a large part of Spanish life) we went to these places all the time, and I always went home with my hair and clothes smelling like smoke. I remember unpacking my suitcase after I'd returned home to the USA and thinking it smelled like cigarettes, and I hoped my family wouldn't think I'd picked up the habit while living abroad!

Fast forward to the start of this year, 2011. A new law is now in effect, which is much stricter than the one from 2006. Smoking is now prohibited in ALL cafes, bars and restaurants regardless of size, near hospitals and on school playgrounds. That funny smoking section in the airport is now eliminated, too.

I'm writing about this new law because I recently realized how nice it is to be able to go out to a cafe or bar, or go out to dinner in a restaurant, and have no more smoke blowing into my food from the table next door. It's wonderful not going home after a night out smelling like a cigarette.

Bars, restaurants and cafes have now set up little stools with ash trays so people can smoke right outside the entrance (as these men were doing in the photo above). While sidewalk tables have always been popular here in nicer weather, food service places have been setting them up through the winter with street heaters to allow people to smoke with their meals.

A lot of people predict that this will be bad for the future business of all the places where Spaniards like to hang out, drink, and have a smoke. Smoking has been such a large part of the culture here for such a long time that many think this will be difficult for smokers to accept and thus will make people less inclined to go out. One cafe I pass by every day on my way to school put up a sign in their window (like many other food service places here) saying, more or less, that: the cafe/restaurant supports the right for minors and non-smokers to have a smoke free environment but it doesn't support total prohibition- as in, there should be permitted smoking zones, which the 2011 law does NOT allow. The sign is in the window below:

I'm not sure if it will be as bad as some think, though. People all around Europe and the US have dealt with no smoking allowed in public indoors for a long time, and it doesn't stop people from going out to eat and drink. Just because people have to step outside to have a smoke on the doorsteps instead of doing it at the table shouldn't change much of Spain's social culture.

In my opinion, cigarettes have no beneficial aspects whatsoever and people can do with a little less smoke in their lives.

Just remember while visiting Spain: "If you must smoke, take your butt outside!"

A Call for Calm- from Tokyo, Japan

2011-03-16T15:22:00.000-07:00

I stumbled upon this blog here about a Spanish person (named Alain Garcia Bariel) living in Tokyo, Japan (but before you click, just know it is all written in Spanish).

I thought his latest blog (from Tuesday) was quite interesting because he writes about the situation in Tokyo and some misconceptions people from Spain may be having (probably the same ones as in the U.S.). As most of you don't speak Spanish, I'll translate what he says in his latest post from yesterday titled "A Call for Calm".

A CALL FOR CALM

(March 15, 2011)

"I just wanted to make a post to let you know how people are doing in Tokyo these days, and to say that you shouldn't believe everything you read in the Spanish news.

My friends and family call me from Spain telling me they've heard it's very bad in Tokyo and that everything is in chaos. First of all, it's important to know how to differentiate between the zones most affected by the earthquake, the tsunami and the problems with the nuclear power plants, which are in Miyagi, Iwae and Fukushima. What is happening in these areas has nothing to do with the state of Tokyo and the areas further South.

In terms of the radioactivity leak issue, it was stated that there has been a leak this morning (March 15th) and that levels of 400mSv were detected in the atmosphere. The Japanese newspapers have clearly stated that this is beginning to be harmful to people's health but only within the 20 km [about 12 miles] radius from the plant, where they have evacuated everyone. They have recommended that people living within the 30km radius from the plant shouldn't leave their houses.

In Spain, it seems like the newspapers are trying to be as shocking as possible; they have only stated that there have been leaks, which have started to become harmful for health, but they've left it at that. People think that all of Japan is now radioactive.

There have also been reports that radioactivity levels were high in Tokyo. This IS true- there was a peak in levels around 12pm today- but within a few hours the level has returned back to normal. Even when the levels were at their peak, they weren't harmful to health.

I just want to make it clear that right now, the only dangerous zone for health is within the 20km zone from the nuclear plant. With that said, I'll drop this issue.

As to whether Japan is in chaos, that there is no food or gasoline… it IS true that the supermarkets and konbinis [little shops] have significantly less food than normal, especially during peak shopping times. Some people seem to be buying food as if preparing to be stuck in their houses for a few days or in fear that all the food will be taken north. Despite this, you can still find food without much trouble. If you go to a supermarket that doesn't have anything, you can go to another one and you'll surely find more things.

Yesterday, I went to the store next to my house at 7pm (rush hour because many people are finishing work) and the shelves were almost empty. But today I went at 10:30am and I was able to buy everything I wanted. The supermarket Shibuya, which is much bigger than the little one in my neighborhood, had everything I needed yesterday, including fresh fish. Almost all the restaurants have remained open; my friend Oskar even ordered a pizza by telephone and they delivered it with no problem. The butcher near my work is running like always; when I want fresh meat I go and buy it that same day, no need to stock up.

With all this I want to make it clear that while even though the food supply in the supermarkets isn't like normal, you can buy food without too much trouble.

In terms of the gas situation, I'm not an expert because I don't have a car, but I have friends who ride motorcycles and they say that yes, there ARE stations that have almost no gas, or who are limiting the number of gallons sold per car, but there are other stations where you can easily get gas by waiting in a short line.

Finally, I want to mention that in areas like Miyagi, Fukushima and Iwae (especially the first two), things are going very badly- there are many people missing, others homeless, and there are many areas without water and light. To make matters worse, it was snowing in some of these places today.

Further south, such as Tokyo, everything is going pretty well…"

Today, Alain has posted some videos from Tokyo, showing how there is anything but chaos in the streets right now, 6 days after the earthquake...

In a post prior to the one above, he talks about the lack of concern for Spanish citizens living in Japan by the Spanish embassy, saying that he hasn't received any contact from the embassy nor have any of his friends. He says, on the other hand, that his friends from Mexico, Italy and France have at least been checked on by their embassies through Facebook or email. He said Spanish newspapers have stated that they have been unable to make contact with four Spaniards that were living in the danger zone of the tsunami but that they assume they are O.K. At this, Alain states:

"The Spanish embassy is starting to worry me. I think I'm going to have to be the one to see if they are O.K.!"

I wonder how many U.S. citizens were/are in danger and if our embassy has been working to contact them? Anyway, I think this is a very interesting blog because we can see what's happening in Japan (at least in Tokyo) first hand. If you understand Spanish, I suggest you follow it- if not, I'll try to post updates now and then if I get a chance!

-Leeandra

What's the Coolest Way to Cross a River?

2011-02-26T13:11:00.001-08:00

The Murinsel in Graz, Austria!

Murinsel means "Mur Island" in German and this cool structure sits in the middle of the Mur River in Graz, Eastern Austria. I saw a picture of this giant sea shell in a plane magazine and made it one of our must-see stops during our road trip through central Europe last year.

This artificial floating platform was built for Graz when it was the "European Capital of Culture" city in 2003. (Way off topic- our city we lived in last year, Burgos, will be the European Capital of Culture in 2016!).

On the outer dome of the Murinsel you'll find an amphitheater, built for 350 people, where they often have live music! Here are some photos (not mine) from above and at night:

On the inside, there's a really cool cafe and a rope-climbing play thing for kids!

If you're ever in Austria, take a trip over to Graz to check out the Murinsel and you'll see it truly is the coolest way to cross a river!

How to Make Empanada (Mas o Menos)

2011-02-07T09:13:00.001-08:00

Every time I have lived in Spain or was planning to leave the U.S. for Spain, I hear the most ridiculous questions by people back home about Spanish food... like, "Are the burritos in Spain as good as the ones in Mexico?" and "Do you like their spicy food?"

I can't believe I even have to say this but...

SPANISH food is NOT MEXICAN food!!!!!

Spanish food is nothing like Mexican food. In fact, it's pretty hard to find any hint of Mexican food here, and if you do happen to find a restaurant that serves it, good luck- it probably won't taste as good as the kind we eat in the U.S.!

Spanish food is actually quite authentic and distinctive. Not everyone in Spain eats the same types of food, although there are many dishes that are common in every region and vary recipe to recipe. Spanish food tends to include a lot of breads, meats, cheeses and fresh vegetables- and it's almost always cooked in olive oil!

Burgos, where we lived last year, was most famous for its "Morcilla" which was a black sausage-looking thing made of rice, onion and, gulp, pig's blood. I tried it once but couldn't get over the blood part. Brian loved it, along with most other Burgalese people! When we lived there, I loved eating "Lomo con Queso"- a fried pork and melted cheese toasted sandwich.

Lots of places in Spain are famous for their specific types of "Paella," usually a plate of rice and multiple meats and seafood. Last year, Joanie had some good paella in San Sebastian, on the North Coast:

When I lived in Oviedo, my host mother cooked me the "Spanish Omelette" many nights for dinner- consisting of fried potatoes, egg and onion. This is eaten all over Spain. At my host family's house, we could never have a meal without a loaf of bread on the table! My favorite thing my host mom made was "Arroz con Leche"- a rice and milk pudding dessert, soooo good. This region of Spain (Asturias) is also famous for its hard cider- the waiters pour the drink over their heads holding the glass down below (as the photo shows):

Here in Alcoy, we've been treated to dinner by a few people and are getting the idea of what they prefer to eat here. We were told "Gaspacho"- that cold, tomato veggie soup- is a popular thing to eat in the summer. During the winter here (and all year round in the North like the other places we've lived) they eat a type of garbanzo bean soup- with garbanzos, meats and veggies (see photo below):

I can't forget about TAPAS, probably the most well-known Spanish food, which are little delicacies of various things- usually meats, seafood, breads, veggies and cheeses- served as snack foods with your drink, and found at all bars and cafes here.

Everywhere in Spain they tend to share the same love for bread, fresh vegetables, meats, seafood, sausage (and the very Spanish cured ham shown in the photo below), cheese (cured or more subtle-tasting, see second photo), rice, pasta, coffee, wine, beer and coca cola!

After our friend Florian made us a delicious meal of "Empanada"last week, I thought I'd try making it too. You can change the ingredients up- he made us one with ham and cheese, and another one made with tuna and tomato sauce.

From what I know, this is a pretty typical Spanish dish found everywhere, many times as a tapa at the local cafe/bar. Here's what I did:

1.) Gather your ingredients. For mine, I used: two small cans of tuna, two fresh tomatoes, tomato sauce (this one is plain jane style), a can of sliced black olives, and the dough- a flat puff pastry. Pre-heat your oven- I'm sorry I have no idea to what temp because our oven numbers are not only written in Celsius but they're also worn off the knob so... you'll have to use your eyes for this one:

And the ingredients without the boxes:

2.) Slice the tomatoes small, then mix them with the sliced olives and tuna in a bowl. I added a pinch of salt for good measure:

3.) Stir in the tomato sauce- I used most of this box, maybe a cup or so? I don't think it matters- just make sure it's all coated well:

4.) Put the puff pastry dough on the pan (it should be thawed out and malleable). Spread some tomato sauce on the dough, then spread the mixture of olives, tomatoes, tuna and tomato sauce evenly. Leave space around the sides:

5.) Put a layer of puff pastry on top:

6.) Pinch the sides together:

7.) Cut holes in the top so it can breathe:

8.) Stick it in the oven! Check it after about 10 minutes. If it's golden brown, then it's ready!

9.) Our oven here is a little funky (remember, worn-off knob numbers) and it only heats from the bottom up, so we had to flip ours halfway through. The whole thing cooked in about 15-20 minutes:

10.) It should be golden and flaky. Cut it in squares and enjoy!:

As only the Spanish would say: "¡Que aproveche!"

-Leeandra

No Words

2011-02-06T09:06:00.000-08:00

I was searching for possible places to visit during Carnaval this year, and I was checking out some prices, hostels etc. in Venice. (We have NO plans yet and Venice is probably out seeing as how the place gets booked months in advance for the Carnaval festivities and prices go sky high).

Anyway, I just laughed at this person's English when I was reading the comments section and I thought I'd share:

Why don't they refrigerate their eggs? Because!!!

2011-01-26T04:34:00.000-08:00

Let's go back to a few posts ago when I asked the million dollar question: Why aren't their eggs refrigerated?

Why do Americans refrigerate their eggs when Spanish people do not? Eggs at the supermarket here in Spain are never in a cooler, they're always just out on the shelf. Everyone leaves them at room temperature and they taste just fine!

And why are American eggs white while European eggs are brown?

I asked some people about this and did a little research, and here are some of the things I found out (although no one seemed to know for sure):

-In terms of the refrigeration vs. non refrigeration issue, a few people have suggested that perhaps Europeans (at least Spaniards) are a lot closer to the fresh market so it's not necessary to refrigerate the eggs for a while. (My question to this is, what happens when the eggs don't sell after a while, and they've been sitting on the shelf too long?)

-When I googled "why don't they refrigerate their eggs," I came across someone asking the same question about Mexico. Someone seemed to think it was a matter of cutting costs on electricity. (I say that's baloney! Maybe that makes sense in some aspects, but all the other poultry and dairy products are refrigerated in supermarkets here, so why couldn't they just throw the eggs on in there too?)

-Some friends living in both Egypt and England told me they also don't refrigerate them there, while another friend in Turkey told me they do.

-The friend in Turkey said that eggs should always be refrigerated, and because they aren't in Spain, they have more cases of salmonella poisoning than in the U.S. and Turkey. This has to just be a theory- I can guarantee I've never heard of anyone getting salmonella poisoning here or it being a problem. In fact, when I googled "salmonella poisoning in Spain," I found THIS website giving statistics on salmonella outbreaks country by country. The US is pretty high up there, and Turkey is higher than Spain. Hmm.

-Then I came across THIS very interesting article talking about an egg recall in the United States from August 2010 because of salmonella , and how in England they use a vaccine they give to the chickens which prevents the growth of salmonella on eggs after hatching. SO...

Maybe that's the answer right there- maybe because the US doesn't use this vaccine before hatching, the eggs are refrigerated in order to slow the process of bacteria growth, while in other places that have used the vaccine, refrigeration isn't as necessary.

I thought these people's comments from THIS site were interesting:

"My daughter did a science experiment on this subject and we used only farm fresh eggs that came out of our chickens. Within hours of laying we did not wash any of them. After two months the eggs in the refrigerator had thick yolks even after warming up to room temps and would separate from the whites in clumps when whisked. The eggs in the pantry at room temp which in my house is 75 degrees (I'm cold natured) was normal and would make great scrambled eggs except she had to use them for school. We only refrigerate eggs that have gotten cold (IE they froze when the coop door was left open), they've cracked, or have been wet or washed. Never Never Never wash an egg & not refrigerate them."

"Being from Montreal, raising my own hens, having my own eggs. green included (they are so beautiful!), I do not refrigerate them at all! There is no need to, unless they are washed, then they might be placed in the fridge as the pores of the usually airtight shell will have expanded and just might let bacteria (as in, if I had salmonella floating around) seep into the egg. Eggs are so beautiful in a bowl on the counter, it is a shame to hide them.
Though any eggs from the supermarket need to be refrigerated as they have been washed and handled and gone to all types of places.
That is my opinion and I am sticking to it!"

It sounds like the refrigeration thing is necessary if the egg has been washed and handled a lot, especially in transit. This makes a lot of sense, as here, many times we've found eggs that still had feathers on them! They clearly hadn't been washed, and that's probably why they didn't need to be refrigerated. Refrigeration also seems to effect the way the egg cooks. The temperature of the place seems to have NO effect in bacteria growth or not, since people from the Caribbean, South America, Spain, Australia, and Ecuador have commented that they don't refrigerate their eggs and they are always just fine.

I can say that I feel perfectly comfortable buying the eggs from the non-refrigerated shelf here in Spain. We've eaten them for two years now and have never gotten sick. However, we still stick them in the fridge when we get home, out of habit I suppose. The same can be said for our American eggs- we would never risk not refrigerating those ones!

As for the reason why eggs are white and brown, these two responses on another site pretty much sum up what everyone else has told me:

"I have laying hens that are black and some that are brown. They lay huge brown eggs. White chickens lay white eggs. There is absolutely no difference in nutritional value between a white egg and brown egg, although some consumers feel the brown eggs are better for you, so will pay a premium price and the egg producers are laughing all the way to the bank. I free-range my hens, that is, they get to run free instead of living their lives in cages, so my eggs are healthier."

"Yeah, I don't know where you're from but I've noticed that in America the eggs are white, whereas in most of Europe they are brown, and I don't think it's anything to do with one being better for you than the other, I think it's soley to do the breed of the chicken. And I think I heard that the American consumer prefers white eggs, so that's why they sell more white than brown eggs!"

I have a feeling no one really knows the truth, and I'm not completely satisfied by the answers I've found yet, either! But I suppose this will have to do, for now.

Note: After posting this, a friend of mine linked me a really cool web-site that shows the color egg that comes out of each breed of chicken! Click HERE.

The Tale of a Spanish Puppy Smuggling

2011-01-22T06:51:00.000-08:00

There once was a pocket beagle named Buck,

And this little pup was destined for luck.

He was born from a breeder in Texas State,

And adopted by a Spanish family so great.

But a predicament was found by this little guy,

In order to get home he'd have to fly.

First he was sent on a plane all alone,

Where he arrived to Alaska all on his own.

But there he was picked up by two lucky peeps,

Who wished they were going to be taking him for keeps.

They watched over the pup for only a few days,

But he was able to fill their hearts in new ways.

He was happy and generous with the love that he gave,

When he learned to climb stairs- he was ever so brave!

He'd take his toys and hide them all around,

There are still one or two things that were never found!

Just like a puppy he was always trying to chew,

He loved to play with people and the bigger dogs, too.

The best time with pup was when going to sleep,

He'd snuggle for hours and not make a peep.

He loved everybody, his company was so great,

But sadly, the trip back to Spain couldn't wait.

All his papers were gathered, he'd received every shot,

A microchip was installed and a carry-on case bought.

The flight was checked into, and Buck put in his bag,

For an extra airline fee he was given a green tag.

The first plane he went on gave him a little bit of fright,

But after the third ride he did quite alright.

During the lay-overs pup was able to use his feet,

He got water, a potty break, and more than one delicious treat.

Everyone in the airport wanted to meet the little guy,

One look at that sweet face, and you can understand why!

On the planes he was secretly taken out from under the seat,

He liked it better above than down by all the feet!

At the arrival in Spain, it wasn't clear what to do,

Claim the puppy at customs or just walk straight through?

His papers were ready but who knew what they'd say,

It was possible that in quarantine they'd make him stay.

Waiting at bag claim, pup was being really loud,

The couple had to take him out and let him walk around.

When the bags were all loaded up Buck was put back in his too,

Straight to the exit the couple walked, with little puppy out of view.

If the guards had been looking, they probably would have seen,

But they ended up leaving the airport without ever saying a thing.

The family was so happy to meet their brand new joy,

He was renamed Sony, and now he's a Spanish boy.

Taking a puppy into Spain was much easier than it did sound,

And the long trip was made much more pleasant with the hound.

Now let's just hope that after telling this puppy smuggler's tale,

The Spanish authorities don't come and throw the couple in jail!

I'll Be Home for Christmas

2011-01-11T00:08:00.000-08:00

I've just returned from a wonderful 3 week vacation spent in Anchorage, Alaska for the holidays, and what an amazing winter break it was!

Last year Brian and I stayed in Europe and spent Christmas traveling, just the two of us. I'm not going to lie- our European road trip last year was amazing. But there's just something about seeing family during the holidays that we didn't want to miss for a second year in a row, so I'm so thankful to my mother-in-law for giving us this perfect Christmas gift home. We couldn't have asked for more.

The flights home were a bit chaotic, with canceled planes, a lost bag (eventually found!) and long layovers... but that's international travel during Christmas for ya! It was all worth it in the end, because not only was I able to spend such an awesome time with Brian's family, but I saw mine for a night on the way over too!

Since pictures always tell more than words, I'll let them do the rest of the talking (with a little commentary here and there).

I hope you all had an equally amazing holiday season.

First stop- overnight layover to see my family in Oregon

I love my mom's awesome Christmas decorations every year

Anchorage was already covered in a blanket of snow when we arrived

The sun never got much higher than this each day. It rose about 9 a.m. every morning, and set around 3 p.m.

The first two weeks were soo cold at times

icicles formed on our eyelashes!

Despite the cold, we took advantage of the outdoor ice by skating and playing ice hockey

Don't try this at home!

Brian and his dad spent an evening together at the Aces hockey game

Not only do you have to be careful with the icy roads during the winter here, but also moose crossing!

My cure for the common cold weather? Melted hot chocolate, mmm!

We had a wonderful Christmas with our Alaskan family

Orange rolls for breakfast- delicious!

We opened presents and enjoyed each other's company

We built a gingerbread house together too

On New Year's Eve, Brian and I, along with his parents, went to downtown Anchorage and ice skated, listened to live music and watched other street performers

There were lots of neat ice sculptures there

We watched one of the best fireworks displays we'd ever seen

Happy 2011!

On the flights home we had one more in our company; a little pocket beagle named Sony. A Spanish family we know here asked if we could bring them the puppy, which they'd bought from a seller in the U.S. We agreed, so he went with us on the plane as one of our carry ons! He was a good sport. I promise to write more about Sony in a future blog because he's too darn cute not to write more about!

The trip back to Spain took half as long as the trip going home for the holidays- 28 hours instead of 48! Sony is safe and sound with his Spanish family now, and we are back to our daily routine in Alcoy (almost).

It was so great to see our families back home halfway through our Teach in Spain adventure this year.

Now we have five more months to study Spanish and take advantage of living in Europe. It's not hard to do here- today it was warm and sunny, almost t-shirt weather! We are so lucky to be able to live abroad and we're ready to live the rest of it to the fullest.

Just remember...

2010-12-19T16:36:00.000-08:00

Even though you can't always see what lies beyond the clouds...

The sun's always shining above =)

(Flying above Paris- December)

Creeper moment

2010-12-16T02:34:00.000-08:00

I greatly apologize for this super creeper moment, but this was just a bit too cute to resist. My kitchen window faces directly out at the roof of this older couple's apartment, so I can't help but notice them as they're hanging their clothes up together.

This is at least the 5th time I've seen them putting out the laundry and they always do it together. The old man controls the clothes pins while the old lady controls the clothes.

When the old man tried to hang a jacket, his wife had to rearrange it.

Husbands and wives are apparently the same in every culture.

All in a day's work.

Why aren't their eggs refrigerated?

2010-12-04T18:07:00.000-08:00

We have a 5 day weekend here in Spain- it's the December "puente" in which everyone celebrates the Constitution Day and the Immaculate Conception, but it's really just an excuse to have some time off from work and school! So although we didn't get to have a Thanksgiving holiday break, we get this early December one which is just as nice.

So tomorrow we are catching a bus to take us north to Valencia. From there, we'll see if we can take a bus or train to Barcelona. Our main purpose for the trip is to see my Uncle Lucky (I know, cool name!). He'll be in a town called "Sitges" for a few hours and he recommended we visit there and come have lunch with him. Sitges is on the beach, so even though it won't be warm, it should be pretty. Pictures to come!

I promise to give some more updates soon as I realize I've been slacking a little on writing.

Until then, you can ponder this and maybe give me an answer to it as well:

Why do Americans refrigerate their eggs when Spanish people do not? Eggs at the supermarket here are never in a cooler, they're always just out on the shelf. Everyone leaves them at room temperature and they taste just fine!

And why are our eggs white anyway?

2010-11-20T06:45:00.001-08:00

Here's wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!! Last year in Burgos, Spain, we had dinner at the Molina (not sure if it was called that) restaurant. What will we do this year?

We'll probably go out to dinner again since 1.) I have never made my own Thanksgiving meal, seeing as how I've been out of the country the past 3 out of 5 years during Thanksgiving and the other 2 years we spent at my sister-in-law's house in California... and 2.) I think it would be difficult to find a turkey here, as well as pumpkin pie ingredients and whatever other American food items necessary for a true Thanksgiving dinner! So I'm excited to be able to spend next year's Thanksgiving with family- whichever family that may be!

On another note, did I tell you we moved houses? I know, I know, I just posted pictures from our awesome new apartment only a short month ago. But we received an offer we couldn't refuse- we can stay in the house of a fellow professor, one she isn't using at the moment, and we don't have to pay her rent until January! Seeing as how we don't know when we'll be paid (last year, the Valencian government withheld the assistants' paychecks until January!), we decided we just had to take the offer and move out of our beautiful little apartment in the North Zone.

We were apprehensive at first because we just loved our place there, but after moving into this new apartment, we realized it's perfect for us. We have the whole place to ourselves because the family is staying in a nearby city for the year, and it's fully furnished. It's a huge place! 5 bedrooms (plus an entry room), 3 bathrooms, a large kitchen and dining area, and a living room. Here's a couple photos from inside:

The entryway:

The sitting room (the woman who owns the house sometimes gives therapy sessions in here):

The "salon"- living room:

Cocina- kitchen:

Bathroom near the entrance:

The house has a couple of balconies too. We're now in the center of the city so it's more lively- we love it! As you can see, we have joined the rest of you in winter. Up until a few days ago, I sat out here basking in the sun:

And there's our bus passing by! The "A" we take to school and back every day:

Last weekend, one of Brian's students gave us free tickets to watch the Alcoy football game (again, soccer for you peeps back home). It's a semi-formal team- not in the same league as our fave Barcelona. It was fun to watch though, and believe it or not, it was the first football game I've ever gone to in Spain! I've been here 2 years plus the 6 months I studied abroad, so it's about time I get to one!

We're the blue team- I didn't even mean to wear a blue shirt!

Don's ask me what that is... I think it's a bat mascot.

At half-time, some little local kids played a short game... cute!

An almost goal!!

We ended up tying 1-1! It was a fun game and we're looking forward to the next!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

-Leeandra