I cut the trip short by a week, because I couldn't face another week of taking part in the 'let's get on the bus and shag as many people as we can physically do whilst travelling across Europe, imbibing as much alcohol as I can and generally acting like dickheads' marathon. That my friends, was my Busabout experience. A well spent 250 pounds if you ask me.
The following things pissed me off whilst I was meandering round Spain:
- Asking me why Spanish people insist on speaking Spanish to foreigners and not English. And telling me that they're stupid because they don't speak English.
- Butchering Spanish culture and telling people to climb up public statues in parks to rub balls on the statues. You wouldn't like it if someone did that in your country, don't do it in other people's countries.
- Having a go at Catholicism. We're not force converting you anymore, leave us the hell alone. We know we have problems, you go deal with yours and we'll deal with ours.
- Turning the lights on in a dorm room at 3am is not funny and will get me telling you to go somewhere where the sun doesn't shine. Have some respect for the people sharing the room with you and they will give you chocolates and instant noodles. Don't, and they will shout at you at 6am when you've just got to sleep. Also, please don't try to have sex in your bunk when the rest of us are in. That's just gross.
- Judging Spanish people and their country based on visiting the country's cities for 2 days at a trot and only seeing the cathedral/ museum/ whatever was on offer in the guidebook and then going out to the pub with your fellow countrymen and shouting your order in english to the barman. Then doing point 1 on repeat. You could not possibly know anything about Spain, its government, how the people live, what the people think. You don't even really know what they eat, since all you do is eat pizza. Actually, they do eat pizza, so I suppose that's the most local thing that you have done. I lived in a village for a month, and barely scraped the surface.
- Getting to a place and not knowing anything about it. That's just silly and a waste of time. I'm sure your city has some form of a cathedral and museum that you can go to from the comfort of your own home. Why pay money to sleep in a crappy bed and share bathrooms that smell like feet? I don't get it.
And now, since I've got that all off my chest, I can go back to waxing lyrical about Spain. Which I will in the next post. Thank you for listening.
Friday, 25 July 2008
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
Fiesta de San Juan
so last night we went out for the festival of san juan. i was promised a huuugge bonfire and fireworks and burning of a Juan and Juanita - god only knows why.
Instead i got.....a guy running around with a metal bull on his head, loaded with firecrackers (the erm whizzing round and round ones, spitting fire and gunpowder) running around the plaza like a bull on caffeine. It's one of the downright crazy funny nuts things I have ever seen. He did it twice, the second time, I was in the square, right next to him. It was insane. It's going down as nuts as the night I was in Inner Mongolia and the fireworks landed up right over our heads because they didn't bother to aim the crackers away from the wind. and yes, fire on your arms does hurt. i'm still laughing about it now.
the rest of the festivities consisted of a fat bloke with four keyboards singing some godawful karoake songs on a little stage and a prize giving ceremony for something that we couldn't quite work out.
It was crazy and it was crazy good fun. Tomorrow, we go to learn to surf and get our hair cut -by the same guy. I love this town.
Instead i got.....a guy running around with a metal bull on his head, loaded with firecrackers (the erm whizzing round and round ones, spitting fire and gunpowder) running around the plaza like a bull on caffeine. It's one of the downright crazy funny nuts things I have ever seen. He did it twice, the second time, I was in the square, right next to him. It was insane. It's going down as nuts as the night I was in Inner Mongolia and the fireworks landed up right over our heads because they didn't bother to aim the crackers away from the wind. and yes, fire on your arms does hurt. i'm still laughing about it now.
the rest of the festivities consisted of a fat bloke with four keyboards singing some godawful karoake songs on a little stage and a prize giving ceremony for something that we couldn't quite work out.
It was crazy and it was crazy good fun. Tomorrow, we go to learn to surf and get our hair cut -by the same guy. I love this town.
Monday, 23 June 2008
Loco Futbol
Because England didn't make it into Euro 2008, my team for this tournament is Spain. Last night was crazy because they were playing Italy and the match went all the way to penalties. It was crazy, nail biting and frustrating, but such good fun anyway. There isn't a better way to bond than to be in bar with spanish people, cheering their team on. Also, you don't have to speak spanish to them ,just gesticulate wildly at the screen. The girls would let me call the referee a bastard (cabron), even though that's blatently what he was!
So, Spain beat Italy and go on to play Russia. The festivities continue.
Tonight and tomorrow is the festival of San Juan (John the Baptist), a 'magical' night when you apparently can wash your bad luck away in the sea and pray for a better year. Guess who's going swimming at night? I have rented a car and will go pick it up tomorrow night, then we'll go to the playa (beach) and wash all our bad luck away. Send all my bad luck to africa, I could use all the good luck that I can get.
Spanish lessons continue to frustrate me. We now have an hour and a half of conversation class with the class above, an exercise that drives us all potty. We have very interesting topics (today's was sport), but I can't get what I think across at all because my sentence structures and vocabulary are pants. It's muy muy muy frustrado (really really frustrating) and to top it off, the girls in class are staging some kind of mini bitch fest with each other, so it's incredibly aggravating.
Ah well! Life goes on! It's my last week here, so I'm savouring every moment.
So, Spain beat Italy and go on to play Russia. The festivities continue.
Tonight and tomorrow is the festival of San Juan (John the Baptist), a 'magical' night when you apparently can wash your bad luck away in the sea and pray for a better year. Guess who's going swimming at night? I have rented a car and will go pick it up tomorrow night, then we'll go to the playa (beach) and wash all our bad luck away. Send all my bad luck to africa, I could use all the good luck that I can get.
Spanish lessons continue to frustrate me. We now have an hour and a half of conversation class with the class above, an exercise that drives us all potty. We have very interesting topics (today's was sport), but I can't get what I think across at all because my sentence structures and vocabulary are pants. It's muy muy muy frustrado (really really frustrating) and to top it off, the girls in class are staging some kind of mini bitch fest with each other, so it's incredibly aggravating.
Ah well! Life goes on! It's my last week here, so I'm savouring every moment.
Saturday, 14 June 2008
i'm really really tired today. i´m sat at an internet cafe near the house, and the sheer relief of finding a quiet, chilled out place with the internet is such a relief.
it's full on here - classes, then living here, where you have to use spanish all the time. which is the plan, but given that I speak like a 2 year old, it gets frustrating and tiring after a while. Which really means, I should just stay home and study.
But even communicating in english is frustrating as well. Everyone here that i know is a student, everything is very transiant and while the group that i hang with is very welcoming and open, not all(as normal) are. So I've swiftly established that I'm not part of the cool club and don't want to be in it. The cool club consists of 2 irish brothers, their surfer duuude friend from Leicester, and a motley assortment of other weird monged out people. The reason that they're cool and why everyone wants to hang out with them is that they have wait for it.... a transit van! yes! transportation!
living in this teeny pueblo, where I've seen three different people that I know just walking down the street to the internet cafe, not having a car and being dependent on the spanish public bus system (2 a day rattling around the countryside, and just the 1 on the weekends) means that youhave to be LOADED and take taxis everywhere.
i am loving it here (not as much as Aoife,who's decided that she wants to live her forever and is going to get a job as soon as her course is over). I love the town, the lovely spanish people who try to teach me spanish wherever I go, the orange trees, the terraces, the beaches, the really weird vibe that vejer has, because it's half expat half spanish. so i can have tostada in the morning, then falafal at night with the hippy community of andalucia. it's really traditional, but modern at the same time. and peaceful. whilst the rest of spain is embroiled in strikes and floods, it's hot (crazy hot) and comforting here, on my little mountain retreat.
I think I broke the camera last night, it's making these sad little whirring noises and i'm well upset with myself and situation now. Hopefully the photoshop can fix it, if not I will cry and cry and cry.
I can't wait till I get home! I want to bring spain to singapore.
it's full on here - classes, then living here, where you have to use spanish all the time. which is the plan, but given that I speak like a 2 year old, it gets frustrating and tiring after a while. Which really means, I should just stay home and study.
But even communicating in english is frustrating as well. Everyone here that i know is a student, everything is very transiant and while the group that i hang with is very welcoming and open, not all(as normal) are. So I've swiftly established that I'm not part of the cool club and don't want to be in it. The cool club consists of 2 irish brothers, their surfer duuude friend from Leicester, and a motley assortment of other weird monged out people. The reason that they're cool and why everyone wants to hang out with them is that they have wait for it.... a transit van! yes! transportation!
living in this teeny pueblo, where I've seen three different people that I know just walking down the street to the internet cafe, not having a car and being dependent on the spanish public bus system (2 a day rattling around the countryside, and just the 1 on the weekends) means that youhave to be LOADED and take taxis everywhere.
i am loving it here (not as much as Aoife,who's decided that she wants to live her forever and is going to get a job as soon as her course is over). I love the town, the lovely spanish people who try to teach me spanish wherever I go, the orange trees, the terraces, the beaches, the really weird vibe that vejer has, because it's half expat half spanish. so i can have tostada in the morning, then falafal at night with the hippy community of andalucia. it's really traditional, but modern at the same time. and peaceful. whilst the rest of spain is embroiled in strikes and floods, it's hot (crazy hot) and comforting here, on my little mountain retreat.
I think I broke the camera last night, it's making these sad little whirring noises and i'm well upset with myself and situation now. Hopefully the photoshop can fix it, if not I will cry and cry and cry.
I can't wait till I get home! I want to bring spain to singapore.
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
Life in Vejer
It's still cold when you're not standing in the sun over here, and it's about 15 degrees at night. Not quite flip flop weather, but I'm soldiering on, because I'm in Spain and I have to wear flip flops. We went to a friend's house for a barbaquoa last night, their terrace overlooks the valley and the sunset from it was phenomenal. If you stand up, you can see Africa from their terrace. How cool is that? I could swim to Africa. (And lots of migrants from Africa attempt the crossing in all manner of floating devices, poor bastards.)
The church bells toll every hour here, so if you're like me, you know when you're late for class (9 o'clock. Bugger!) I am woken in my room at 730am by the girls running around outside and the noise of the traffic accelerating up the slope by the house. The noise seems to bounce off the really narrow roads.
Get up, shower etc. in the toilet cupboard (as it henceforth shall be known), grab a actimel shake and run out the door. There are exactly 4 vertical slopes to the school, but if you persevere, you can be there in 5 minutes. We have classes with Lola this week and we're learning about kitchens (cocina) and food (i've forgotten the word already) in Espana. Yesterday was a really hard lesson and we were all exhausted by the end of it. We have 2 hours and then a break, wherein everyone (teachers y students) head to the cafe at the top of the hill to have cafe, tea and my personal favourite, tostada with tomatoes - mushed up tomatoes with peppers and garlic. like gazpacho on toast. You pour the olive oil all over the toast, then liberally smear the bread with the tomatoes. break and eat. Gorgeous. Today, I attempted to order tea with milk, as opposed to my ordering tea, then asking for some milk. Something went horribly wrong, and I landed up with hot milk with a tea bag in it. Apparently, he wasn't taking the piss out of the stupid foreigner (who was very embarassed, much too embarassed to ask him what the hell it was) and this is a normal way of drinking tea here. It wasn't too bad I have to say, but very rich. It taste almost like tariked tea. I shall attempt again tomorrow, but will ask Lola what to say first.
We get out at 1pm, then go and have lunch. So far, we've then gone shopping for food or come to the school to use the computers. Yesterday, we took taxis to El Palmar, the nearest beach - 15 minutes taxi ride down the hill and across the country side, COVERED in sunflowers (amazing fantastic etc etc). The beach is beautiful, the water is 4 different shades of blue, it's more or less empty for miles, we're going to learn to surf there as the waves are good. The only downsides are that it's still a little too cold to sunbathe and the wind blows a fine layer of sand over you while you're lying down, which then insidiously finds its way into your bag, to cover your room in a fine layer of sand as well. I'll take pictures the next time round.
Today, I've come to the computers and also attempted to study on the patio. It's the nicest study area I've ever had, sitting under the orange trees and bounganvilla trellis, overlooking the valley. It meant that my ADD-that-only-flares-up-when-I'm-studying is limited to every 30 mins instead of 10.
So there you have it. I was shown where the market and shops were today, so I'll write about the next time I´m here. I'll try to upload pictures then as well. We are watching a spanish movie tonight and I need to feed myself before that. Pink processed meat and cup noodles, here I come!
The church bells toll every hour here, so if you're like me, you know when you're late for class (9 o'clock. Bugger!) I am woken in my room at 730am by the girls running around outside and the noise of the traffic accelerating up the slope by the house. The noise seems to bounce off the really narrow roads.
Get up, shower etc. in the toilet cupboard (as it henceforth shall be known), grab a actimel shake and run out the door. There are exactly 4 vertical slopes to the school, but if you persevere, you can be there in 5 minutes. We have classes with Lola this week and we're learning about kitchens (cocina) and food (i've forgotten the word already) in Espana. Yesterday was a really hard lesson and we were all exhausted by the end of it. We have 2 hours and then a break, wherein everyone (teachers y students) head to the cafe at the top of the hill to have cafe, tea and my personal favourite, tostada with tomatoes - mushed up tomatoes with peppers and garlic. like gazpacho on toast. You pour the olive oil all over the toast, then liberally smear the bread with the tomatoes. break and eat. Gorgeous. Today, I attempted to order tea with milk, as opposed to my ordering tea, then asking for some milk. Something went horribly wrong, and I landed up with hot milk with a tea bag in it. Apparently, he wasn't taking the piss out of the stupid foreigner (who was very embarassed, much too embarassed to ask him what the hell it was) and this is a normal way of drinking tea here. It wasn't too bad I have to say, but very rich. It taste almost like tariked tea. I shall attempt again tomorrow, but will ask Lola what to say first.
We get out at 1pm, then go and have lunch. So far, we've then gone shopping for food or come to the school to use the computers. Yesterday, we took taxis to El Palmar, the nearest beach - 15 minutes taxi ride down the hill and across the country side, COVERED in sunflowers (amazing fantastic etc etc). The beach is beautiful, the water is 4 different shades of blue, it's more or less empty for miles, we're going to learn to surf there as the waves are good. The only downsides are that it's still a little too cold to sunbathe and the wind blows a fine layer of sand over you while you're lying down, which then insidiously finds its way into your bag, to cover your room in a fine layer of sand as well. I'll take pictures the next time round.
Today, I've come to the computers and also attempted to study on the patio. It's the nicest study area I've ever had, sitting under the orange trees and bounganvilla trellis, overlooking the valley. It meant that my ADD-that-only-flares-up-when-I'm-studying is limited to every 30 mins instead of 10.
So there you have it. I was shown where the market and shops were today, so I'll write about the next time I´m here. I'll try to upload pictures then as well. We are watching a spanish movie tonight and I need to feed myself before that. Pink processed meat and cup noodles, here I come!
Monday, 2 June 2008
Hola from Vejer!
Que tal? I am here in Vejer, which is a very windy, windy (as in lots of bends in the roads), full of white coloured houses with roof terraces and boungavilla flowers.
I flew to Seville at the unearthly hour of 7am and after dreading my journey for months, it worked out to not be as god awful as I had expected. Which is good, as I will be coaching my way around South Spain at the end of this.
Seville is beautiful, with trees lining the road covered in lavender coloured flowers. It´s such a shock to the system to see them, just bright lavender, everywhere (well, on the way to the bus station from the airport). The airport shuttle was insane. I merrily sat waiting in the airport thinking that NO ONE else was taking the bus. But of course they were, queued at the bus station, which I didn't know existed. :P Muy tonto. So i'm watching as the one bus that comes every hour fills up, hoping that I´ll get on it, fighting with some spanish bint with a massive suitcase to get onto the bus, as everyone in the bus accordians to let as many people as the bus can take in. There must have been about 80 to 100 people in there. I have got very up close and personal with some spanish girl's hair and don't want to repeat the experience again. But beyond that, the trip here wasn't too too awful. Indiosyncratic, but not awful.
Vejer is perched on the top of a little mountain and the view of orange trees overlooking plains is just amazing. It is so so much bigger than the little photo on the leaflet though. I'd brought all number of things that I thought I couldn´t get here, but it's all very civilised and lovely here. There are paintings of nuns walking the streets everywhere, and lots of references to the Virgin Mary.
I am going to go broke in Spain. Or at least owe Natwest my soul. I am staying in a little andalucian flat, which is as windy as the streets. There are 6 of us:
Me - Desperately seeking Spain
Sophie - from Montreal, sleeping on our sofa whilst looking for a bed to kip in that's cheaper than the schools. Classical musician. Here for another 2 weeks.
Aiofe - from Ireland. Has the little room off the living room (basic at best) and is lovely. Everything is grand with her. She has taken us to the supermarket, sheś up for anything, she´s just lovely. Here for 2 more months.
Her and sophie got back from tangiers in Morocco last night and were harassed by the men so much, that I never want to go to Morocco without full on bodyguard protection. They threw tomatoes at them!
Judith - from Norfolk and works for an insurance company. Has a beautiful room that I'm trying to get, which also costs more (hence the bankruptcy issue). Here for the week.
Maya - Austrian. Quiet but friendly. Lives at the bottom and has the only double bed. Here for 3 months, has 3 more weeks to go.
two missing girls - meant to show up yesterday, have missed their flight.
All the rooms are very different (aside from the one that the two MIA girls are in, which I haven't seen). MIA girls and I share a little bathroom, with no ventilation and not very much lighting. Very claustrophobic. I'll pay extra to NOT use that loo. Judith´s room has a terrace and an ensuite.
All the girls (who have arrived) apart from Maya are in my class, which is nice. This week we have Lola teaching us (I love that name) and she speaks muy MUY rapido. We started off quite badly, because 2 of the newbies were much better than our level (Basic 2) and I was reduced to a gibbering wreck trying to keep up with them. But they've moved up another level and I'm much more comfortable now. Sorry, I'm not one to seek a challenge for challenge sake. Not when I've paid this much for this course.
So, I'm here and all is grand (as the Irish would say). We are going to beach tomorrow and I shall try to find surfing lessons down there. Pictures to follow soon.
I flew to Seville at the unearthly hour of 7am and after dreading my journey for months, it worked out to not be as god awful as I had expected. Which is good, as I will be coaching my way around South Spain at the end of this.
Seville is beautiful, with trees lining the road covered in lavender coloured flowers. It´s such a shock to the system to see them, just bright lavender, everywhere (well, on the way to the bus station from the airport). The airport shuttle was insane. I merrily sat waiting in the airport thinking that NO ONE else was taking the bus. But of course they were, queued at the bus station, which I didn't know existed. :P Muy tonto. So i'm watching as the one bus that comes every hour fills up, hoping that I´ll get on it, fighting with some spanish bint with a massive suitcase to get onto the bus, as everyone in the bus accordians to let as many people as the bus can take in. There must have been about 80 to 100 people in there. I have got very up close and personal with some spanish girl's hair and don't want to repeat the experience again. But beyond that, the trip here wasn't too too awful. Indiosyncratic, but not awful.
Vejer is perched on the top of a little mountain and the view of orange trees overlooking plains is just amazing. It is so so much bigger than the little photo on the leaflet though. I'd brought all number of things that I thought I couldn´t get here, but it's all very civilised and lovely here. There are paintings of nuns walking the streets everywhere, and lots of references to the Virgin Mary.
I am going to go broke in Spain. Or at least owe Natwest my soul. I am staying in a little andalucian flat, which is as windy as the streets. There are 6 of us:
Me - Desperately seeking Spain
Sophie - from Montreal, sleeping on our sofa whilst looking for a bed to kip in that's cheaper than the schools. Classical musician. Here for another 2 weeks.
Aiofe - from Ireland. Has the little room off the living room (basic at best) and is lovely. Everything is grand with her. She has taken us to the supermarket, sheś up for anything, she´s just lovely. Here for 2 more months.
Her and sophie got back from tangiers in Morocco last night and were harassed by the men so much, that I never want to go to Morocco without full on bodyguard protection. They threw tomatoes at them!
Judith - from Norfolk and works for an insurance company. Has a beautiful room that I'm trying to get, which also costs more (hence the bankruptcy issue). Here for the week.
Maya - Austrian. Quiet but friendly. Lives at the bottom and has the only double bed. Here for 3 months, has 3 more weeks to go.
two missing girls - meant to show up yesterday, have missed their flight.
All the rooms are very different (aside from the one that the two MIA girls are in, which I haven't seen). MIA girls and I share a little bathroom, with no ventilation and not very much lighting. Very claustrophobic. I'll pay extra to NOT use that loo. Judith´s room has a terrace and an ensuite.
All the girls (who have arrived) apart from Maya are in my class, which is nice. This week we have Lola teaching us (I love that name) and she speaks muy MUY rapido. We started off quite badly, because 2 of the newbies were much better than our level (Basic 2) and I was reduced to a gibbering wreck trying to keep up with them. But they've moved up another level and I'm much more comfortable now. Sorry, I'm not one to seek a challenge for challenge sake. Not when I've paid this much for this course.
So, I'm here and all is grand (as the Irish would say). We are going to beach tomorrow and I shall try to find surfing lessons down there. Pictures to follow soon.
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