My day

Up before the alarm, refused to snooze, an hour of quiet, ekg, gypsy caravan, body pump, quick class, truth injection, full stomach, much yelling, much sorting, the perfect song, and bed

The Lady with the Red Hair

Tunes: Kasa no Hone

I dedicate this blog to a lady who I see just about every time I go to the roof. She's stands somewhere under 5 feet tall, lives on the top floor, and always hangs her laundry on the lines on the roof. She has red hair, and a little chihuahua. The first few times I saw her, she would walk up with her laundry in a bucket and her dog sitting on top--the dog had a red cast on its front left paw. It would just sit next to her while she hung things up. Now, the dog's cast is gone, but it still sits next to her the entire time she does laundry.

A few weeks ago, she was walking out onto the roof while I was walking in, and I gave her quite a fright. I could hear her opening the door, but she had no idea I was up there. Today, she gave ME quite a fright. I went upstairs to hang laundry, pushed the elevator button to come up, and it came just like normal, but I almost walked right into this small lady coming out at me. Random timing with her pushing the up button and me pushing the call button.

Anyway, I figured she deserved a place in your hearts.

Rainy day conquered

Tunes: LCD Soundsystem

Yesterday, just like all days this past week, was rainy and exceptionally cold. And it was a Saturday! Bah. No worries. My friend Maria's mom came into town, and she decided to organize a mini-road trip. So Maria, her mother, Anja (the Germans), Jilliann, and I (the Americans) rented a Honda Fit and went North. We went into a cave system that is full of water. So how do they do tours, you ask? Via boat. We took a boat ride in caves. It was fantastic. What a perfect way to get out of the elements, by climbing into a boat and going underground. I don't have many pictures, because we weren't supposed to take any, but I did take some videos. I'll try to post one soon. It highlights the tiny passage-ways and horrible "cave music" that they played during the tour.

After that spot, we traveled to a small town to the West, walked around, visited an olive oil museum, and got lunch at a little bodega. We got bravas, two "chivitos" (sandwich with jamón, lomo, lettuce, and mayonase), and sangria. Finger-licking good. After lunch, we hopped back into our car to find a church that is built into a cave. You heard right. A church in a cave. It was amazing. I have some decent photos that I will paste soon. The drive up there was twisty, because we were in the mountainous regions, and very foggy. When we arrived, we saw the sign and some tour busses. After few minutes of stretching, we realized the building was right in front of us, but its white surface blended in with the thick fog. Walking into the church was awe-inspiring. From the outside, it looks like any other building. But when you step inside, you see the large, rock stairwell that leads down into the sanctuary. It's a legit cave. Everything inside was wet due to the constant dripping from the ceiling.
I never knew such a thing existed, and I'm so glad we discovered it. It wasn't on our list of things to see--we just stopped at a tourist info spot, and the lady recommended it to us. Definitely a gift.
Can you imagine going to mass in a cave?

Maria's mom is a hoot. I sat in the front while she drove, and she often leaned over and asked me a question or commented on something in German. I don't speak German. She knew that. But I generally understood what she was saying, and would casually respond in English. It was a fun game that continued throughout the entire trip.

Well, I actually have some work to do. Later

Two things

1) I love rainy days at French House.

2) Estoy super emocionado de fiestar con los Fryes en Junio.

Y ya está.

No more vacation!

Tunes: Soft Rock Star

Well, to the best of my knowledge, there are no more vacations until school is out. Most of my uni readers in the States finish in less than a month, and that must be exciting. I just used "uni" for university. Been spending too much time around this European English. Just learned last week that they say "takeaway" instead of "take-out." All I'm going to say, is the main Wikipedia article says "Take-out," and everything else redirects to that same page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take-out

Oh yeah, so solid block until exams. That's from today until June 4th, I believe? Shouldn't be too bad. I mean, I've been spoiled by Las Fallas, followed by Pascua, followed by this thing called "Reading Week." Reading week is the equivalent to the book fair in US elementary schools. All the English philology students read books, or something of the sort, and write a mini report. Everyone in the department mocks it, and everyone outside the department envies it.

This week, my underneath neighbors have been remodeling what seems to be their entire flat. I thought I knew something about remodeling, but apparently not. Hitting things really hard with hammers from 8am to 5pm every day is how it's done. I'm pretty impressed, though. That guy really gets after it.

Today's pretty chill--overcast, with the sun poking out from time to time, my plant slowly blooming, working on a philosophy paper, and a chocolate/peanut butter-covered banana is sitting in my freezer for later. I'm about to chat with an amazing friend on Skype, then talk to my UT advisor on Skype too. I love technology. Tonight, I plan on attending the reading of my English teacher's book that was just published.

I don't want to fall into any routines while I'm here. It's about the half-way point of my time in Spain, and I know there's plenty more for me to see.

Last night, I went to a friend's surprise party. We had a tea party, complete with very strong Irish tea, and many sweets. It was Marina's 23rd, and the entire party fit her. It was enjoyable to see how every detail, from the setting to the food to the people to the gifts, was perfectly fitted to Marina. Her friends know her well, and showed it to her last night.

Well, that's about it for now.

Italy pics

Posted my pics from Italy so everyone not on Facebook can see.

Trip to Sardinia

Tunes: Iron & Wine

First things first. I perfected my crepe recipe. A combination of not enough butter and the stupid addition of sugar/cinnamon to the batter caused my last batch to turn into a sort of thin American pancake. Not so good. But today’s are perfect, don’t worry. Only thing is, I believe I enjoy making them much more than eating them. After one of my ‘reeces’ crepes (peanut butter & nutella), I’m all full.

Oh yeah, I got back from Italy yesterday morning. Here’s a brief summary of my travels:
-Saturday: Arrive, tour all of Cagliari, wander, wander, great ravioli.
-Sunday: Easter mass at one of the churches by my hotel, reading in the train terminal while waiting for my train to Sassari. Late train, cancelled last leg, late bus, long bus ride, arrive in Sassari, missed connecting train to Alghero, wandered Sassari for hours looking for a cheap hotel, 0 luck, slept/froze in a stairwell of an apartment complex
-Monday: Early early up, coffee and quiet time/warm up time at a small bar, train to Alghero, wander around, make it to Sassari to check into hostel, wander on the amazing beach/rocks, exploring, made a Spanish friend, drinks and conversation and wandering around with him, pasta cooked on my dad’s stove.
Tuesday: Bus to Sassari, got lost in a stunning cemetery, train back to Cagliari, check into hostel, hang out with another new Spanish friend, met some German Christians, wandering the city/shops, awesome encounter with some locals, hanging at the hostel, bed.
Wednesday: Bus to Mare Pintau (the painted sea), enjoyed great weather, picked and ate prickly pear from the cliff-side cactus plants, waded in the sea, got blown away at the beauty.
Thursday: Since my plane was leaving at 6:30AM this morning, and there were no busses running that early, I slept in the airport.

So I feel a bit bad about giving such a summary, but the trip was really non-stop. You’ll have to ask me in person for a better description. However, there are some things that I really want to dive into.

One of the coolest things I found on the island was the graffiti. It was everywhere, and I really enjoyed finding the same artist’s work in multiple places. In Sassari, I found some of the pieces miles apart, by the same artist. In Cagliari, there were a bunch of these whale-like pieces (I didn’t have my camera out when I saw most of them). The entire city was covered with them. They are a bit awkward, and fun to stare at. Very enjoyable surprise—nothing in any of the websites I visited told me about this aspect of the culture. Kinda makes me want to make my own travel guides.

This trip was my first trial run of my dad’s alcohol stove. I had no problems with it in my carry-on luggage through the airport, and alcohol was easily obtained while on the island. Success. Light weight, quick setup, but I did have a few problems. Now, Dad, I noticed that on the bottom your stove, it said it boiled water with 2 ounces of alcohol in 23 minutes. Problem is, you did that test in your garage. 1) Doesn’t work so well in windy weather. 2) The fire goes out if the pot fully covers the stove (I recommend larger side-holes). 3) It took about 3 refills to boil water, but that’s mostly my fault. I didn’t have a lid for my cheap metal cup I cooked in. Besides that, it was great! You got many compliments from the other lightweight travelers I ran into at the hostels. It cooked ravioli, a sort of quiche dish, and pasta. Nom nom.

When I was waiting for my train from Sassari to Cagliari, I found my way over to the cemetery a few blocks away. I was stunned. It was a beautiful, solemn experience. Each grave reminded me more of life than death. Despite the tears of the people who came to pay their respects, a subtle smile was the overall feel of the cemetery. It was as if every grave had a person waiting to burst forth and join their Creator. I’ve been to cemeteries before, but never seen something as captivating as this one.

The Mare Pintau (the painted sea) is so named due to the seven colors that you can see in the water. It was quite a spectacle. I wasn’t in the main cove where the sea really came to life, but I drove past it and got a good look from the cliffs above. I was at the beach where the sea turtles lay their eggs. Unfortunately, they don’t start coming ashore until about June. One day. I was one of about five people on the entire beach, and it wasn’t small. I wandered around, let my feet sink in the sand, stared at the clear water, climbed all over the rocks, drew in the sand, and listened to a few of my favorite songs—some from my ipod, some from the waves and birds.

That’s about it for now. I have some reading and time with the Big man I’d like to do. My mom tells me that she’s been giving my blog out to many of her friends. If any of you would like to hear more about particular things, feel free to email me. jtwilliams@mail.utexas.edu