Monday, October 27, 2008
...Absentee Ballot
It finally came on Thursday, October 23rd, which was the day I left for Galicia for a four day class trip.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Why voting abroad is awful
So last Friday, October 17th, after waiting and checking and bothering our Municipal clerk with emails (who assured me it had been sent last week; lost in the mail...?), and waiting some more for my ballot to come, I was beginning to lose hope that it would arrive (most of my other classmates here had already received theirs). Coincidentally, I received a Madrid_Warden "US Embassy in Spain" email in the morning before class. These always look like spam emails, but I think we were signed up to learn more about voting abroad, etc. The subject of this email was "Final Reminder to VOTE!" and a section that said "Ballot hasn't arrive yet?" recommended the Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot (also known as the "FWAB") which we can print and send or fill out at the embassy, as a back-up vote, if the absentee ballot never arrives. Note: if the absentee ballot DOES arrive later, you have to fill that out and send it back ASAP as well, because that's what they are waiting for. I checked the US Embassy website and it closes at 1pm, and I figured getting this ballot filled out before the weekend would be the best way to ensure that SOME sort of vote goes in, so I decided I would have to sacrifice a class to get this vote in.
So the US Embassy is inconveniently located in between some metro stations, but after a little asking around, arriving at the BACK of the embassy and having to walk around it, I finally was able to get there. Luckily, I was not one of the hundreds of people trying to get a passport so by the time I was done filling out my "FWAB", my "number" was called (it's like the DMV, with TONS more people). Granted, no one was at the window with my number on it, but I think they were a bit occupied with a more serious situation. An American woman who had stayed in Madrid for 10 days and was on her way to airport, suitcase in hand, when someone slipped their hand into her purse and robbed her on the metro (and her passport was also one of those things so she was trying to get a new passport before her flight left that same day). Terrible terrible luck. Note to self: even if it is the LAST day in Europe, never forget to guard my stuff with my life.
Finally, I got my vote in, got the consulate to sign as a witness, got everything taken care of, and for free, so I was more or less content. Trying to find the closest metro to get to school was tough because I was a bit misoriented and basically smack dab in between 4 metro stops all around me, but I figured it out and got to class with 10 minutes left (I felt really bad about...but the professor did not seem to upset...). This was my 2 hour adventure on Friday.
But wait, that's not all. Remember; this blog is about the adventures of Jojo. And my life seems to be full of them.
After the second class, I came home to a response from the Madison Municipal Clerk to my very angry email about not yet recieving my ballot (sent two nights prior), and they had conveniently attached my absentee ballot to this email...wish they could have done that before I went through all the hassle to go the embassy. I figured I'd continue to be patient and wait till Monday, especially because if my ballot did come in the mail by Monday, it'd be a lot easier to fill it out and send it back than finding a cyber cafe, paying to use internet/print off the ballot from my email, buy the stamp/envelope, the list goes on.
Well unfortunately, my ballot did not arrive by Monday and since I did "technically" recieve my absentee ballot (via email...does that even count?) and am supposed to send it in if do get it, I need to get it done before it is too late. I went to a cyber cafe Monday night (where I realized that every cyber cafe is run by Bengalis, just like me, although I think most are Bangladeshi), and printed off the pages. With help from my friend from class as a "US Citizen Witness", I filled out the ballot while sitting on a park bench near her house.
Tuesday morning, I realized I had some random envelopes so I didn't have to pay to buy some, so I filled everything out, with my name/address on everything, twice, and taped my envelope shut. I went to the bus station to buy my bus tickets to Barcelona and luckily, right outside the bus station was a "Correos" post office, and I just wanted to make sure my envelope was not overweight and would ACTUALLY get there (hopefully, in time!). When I asked for a regular stamp, the lady weighed my envelope and told me that it was .02 grams over the .2 gram limit, and thus would be about 1euro more. I commenced to open the envelope, tore off half a page which was just blank white, gave it all back to her, and it was perfectly fine (thank God), and I carefully watched her glue it shut and put it in the mail courier.
So after spending 2 euros on printing/stamps, but more importantly, probably about 4 hours of effort, my absentee ballot should be going in, as well as my back-up, Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot. I am hoping that one of these votes will be counted for me and all this effort pays off with a president who will actually try stop the war, boost the economy (make the dollar worth a bit more in Europe?), help me pay off college loans and such, and actually make our lives better, overall.
So the US Embassy is inconveniently located in between some metro stations, but after a little asking around, arriving at the BACK of the embassy and having to walk around it, I finally was able to get there. Luckily, I was not one of the hundreds of people trying to get a passport so by the time I was done filling out my "FWAB", my "number" was called (it's like the DMV, with TONS more people). Granted, no one was at the window with my number on it, but I think they were a bit occupied with a more serious situation. An American woman who had stayed in Madrid for 10 days and was on her way to airport, suitcase in hand, when someone slipped their hand into her purse and robbed her on the metro (and her passport was also one of those things so she was trying to get a new passport before her flight left that same day). Terrible terrible luck. Note to self: even if it is the LAST day in Europe, never forget to guard my stuff with my life.
Finally, I got my vote in, got the consulate to sign as a witness, got everything taken care of, and for free, so I was more or less content. Trying to find the closest metro to get to school was tough because I was a bit misoriented and basically smack dab in between 4 metro stops all around me, but I figured it out and got to class with 10 minutes left (I felt really bad about...but the professor did not seem to upset...). This was my 2 hour adventure on Friday.
But wait, that's not all. Remember; this blog is about the adventures of Jojo. And my life seems to be full of them.
After the second class, I came home to a response from the Madison Municipal Clerk to my very angry email about not yet recieving my ballot (sent two nights prior), and they had conveniently attached my absentee ballot to this email...wish they could have done that before I went through all the hassle to go the embassy. I figured I'd continue to be patient and wait till Monday, especially because if my ballot did come in the mail by Monday, it'd be a lot easier to fill it out and send it back than finding a cyber cafe, paying to use internet/print off the ballot from my email, buy the stamp/envelope, the list goes on.
Well unfortunately, my ballot did not arrive by Monday and since I did "technically" recieve my absentee ballot (via email...does that even count?) and am supposed to send it in if do get it, I need to get it done before it is too late. I went to a cyber cafe Monday night (where I realized that every cyber cafe is run by Bengalis, just like me, although I think most are Bangladeshi), and printed off the pages. With help from my friend from class as a "US Citizen Witness", I filled out the ballot while sitting on a park bench near her house.
Tuesday morning, I realized I had some random envelopes so I didn't have to pay to buy some, so I filled everything out, with my name/address on everything, twice, and taped my envelope shut. I went to the bus station to buy my bus tickets to Barcelona and luckily, right outside the bus station was a "Correos" post office, and I just wanted to make sure my envelope was not overweight and would ACTUALLY get there (hopefully, in time!). When I asked for a regular stamp, the lady weighed my envelope and told me that it was .02 grams over the .2 gram limit, and thus would be about 1euro more. I commenced to open the envelope, tore off half a page which was just blank white, gave it all back to her, and it was perfectly fine (thank God), and I carefully watched her glue it shut and put it in the mail courier.
So after spending 2 euros on printing/stamps, but more importantly, probably about 4 hours of effort, my absentee ballot should be going in, as well as my back-up, Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot. I am hoping that one of these votes will be counted for me and all this effort pays off with a president who will actually try stop the war, boost the economy (make the dollar worth a bit more in Europe?), help me pay off college loans and such, and actually make our lives better, overall.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Cordoba! Saturday, October 11th through Sunday, October 12th
Finally, I have some free time to blog about my trip to Cordoba (I was vigorously working on a presentation for class the last few days). So Hannah and I got on a bus at the bus station at 9am to head to Cordoba. At first, the ride was pretty smooth and it was easy to sleep for a bit. However, the road turns really windy and goes through some beautiful landscape and mountains after a couple hours, which makes it harder to stay asleep (and not be a little carsick).
After a break during the 5 hour bus ride, we finally got to Cordoba! The weather was a bit bad, but luckily, as soon as we got there, the rain stopped so that was pretty lucky. We asked the bus driver how long it would walk to get to our hostel instead of taking the bus, and he said about half an hour, so we just decided to walk and save that 1 euro and combine getting to our hostel and discovering the town. So although we had maps in our "guidebooks" and knew the general direction, it was a bit of an adventure figuring out where exactly we were especially because many narrow little streets aren't on the map, but walking through the gorgeous antique streets was really fun and we made it there safely and in a short amount of time.
Our hostel was very nice, connected to a little cafe (where we would get a free breakfast) and with the most helpful staff. In fact, they were really surprised that we were able to get a room in such a short amount of time because the phones were going off the hook for people looking for a place to stay in Cordoba. They gave us a map and helped us figure where the best sights are. After settling in our room, we headed off towards the "Mezquita", the largest Mosque in all of Spain (built when the moors made it their capital hundreds of years ago). Since it costs 8e to get in, people say that it's not worth that cost, and postcards seem to have a ton of pictures of the inside anyways, we just absorbed the essence from the gardens outside of it.
After Mezquita, we walked around a bit but since it was "siesta time" (in Spain, from about 2:30-5:30, other than restaurants, everything is closed for a giant lunch/nap break). So we headed back to the hostel and joined nap time. Right around this time, I started seeing tons of people in the streets with suitcases and backpacks, and the person at hostel front desk constantly telling every other person that walks in that they are full. It was evident that tons of people were thinking they could come to Cordoba without hotel/hostel reservations and easily find one, but they were just as wrong as we were. At that point, I felt soo lucky to have found a place to sleep in Cordoba that night that it didn't even matter how tiny the bathroom was. Finally, we went to the famous bridge, Puente Romano (built originally by Romans but very remodeled now) at night to take some night pictures. I think they turned out well. Afterwards, we went out to a jazz cafe and had some delicious drinks, but called a pretty early night around midnight.
The next day, we had a few more sites to see, such as the Alcazar de los Reyes, which is a castle and some gardens,both gorgeous and fullll of tourists. We also walked across Puente Romano some more and explored the other side. We relaxed a bit in a park and some friendly people with adorable dogs chatted with us (I have come to terms with my addiction to petting cute dogs and craving "zumo" or juice--although natural orange is always the best kind). After a mediocre lunch, Hannah and I trekked back through town (very efficiently this time) to the bus station, all the while having a VERY interesting debate about "feminism" vs. "feminists", a recent topic in class. The bus ride back was fairly smooth; I tried to sleep a bit but after a rest stop, we picked up our conversation and were back in Madrid before we knew it. It was all in all a great experience, and you should check out all the pictures of Cordoba, and more of Spain by looking at
My Picasa Albums
Please keep the comments coming!!! Will update about Madrid very soon!
Love,
Jojo
After a break during the 5 hour bus ride, we finally got to Cordoba! The weather was a bit bad, but luckily, as soon as we got there, the rain stopped so that was pretty lucky. We asked the bus driver how long it would walk to get to our hostel instead of taking the bus, and he said about half an hour, so we just decided to walk and save that 1 euro and combine getting to our hostel and discovering the town. So although we had maps in our "guidebooks" and knew the general direction, it was a bit of an adventure figuring out where exactly we were especially because many narrow little streets aren't on the map, but walking through the gorgeous antique streets was really fun and we made it there safely and in a short amount of time.
Our hostel was very nice, connected to a little cafe (where we would get a free breakfast) and with the most helpful staff. In fact, they were really surprised that we were able to get a room in such a short amount of time because the phones were going off the hook for people looking for a place to stay in Cordoba. They gave us a map and helped us figure where the best sights are. After settling in our room, we headed off towards the "Mezquita", the largest Mosque in all of Spain (built when the moors made it their capital hundreds of years ago). Since it costs 8e to get in, people say that it's not worth that cost, and postcards seem to have a ton of pictures of the inside anyways, we just absorbed the essence from the gardens outside of it.
After Mezquita, we walked around a bit but since it was "siesta time" (in Spain, from about 2:30-5:30, other than restaurants, everything is closed for a giant lunch/nap break). So we headed back to the hostel and joined nap time. Right around this time, I started seeing tons of people in the streets with suitcases and backpacks, and the person at hostel front desk constantly telling every other person that walks in that they are full. It was evident that tons of people were thinking they could come to Cordoba without hotel/hostel reservations and easily find one, but they were just as wrong as we were. At that point, I felt soo lucky to have found a place to sleep in Cordoba that night that it didn't even matter how tiny the bathroom was. Finally, we went to the famous bridge, Puente Romano (built originally by Romans but very remodeled now) at night to take some night pictures. I think they turned out well. Afterwards, we went out to a jazz cafe and had some delicious drinks, but called a pretty early night around midnight.
The next day, we had a few more sites to see, such as the Alcazar de los Reyes, which is a castle and some gardens,both gorgeous and fullll of tourists. We also walked across Puente Romano some more and explored the other side. We relaxed a bit in a park and some friendly people with adorable dogs chatted with us (I have come to terms with my addiction to petting cute dogs and craving "zumo" or juice--although natural orange is always the best kind). After a mediocre lunch, Hannah and I trekked back through town (very efficiently this time) to the bus station, all the while having a VERY interesting debate about "feminism" vs. "feminists", a recent topic in class. The bus ride back was fairly smooth; I tried to sleep a bit but after a rest stop, we picked up our conversation and were back in Madrid before we knew it. It was all in all a great experience, and you should check out all the pictures of Cordoba, and more of Spain by looking at
My Picasa Albums
Please keep the comments coming!!! Will update about Madrid very soon!
Love,
Jojo
Friday, October 10, 2008
Pre-aventura a Cordoba...
So my friend from the Carleton program and I agreed upon a short weekend adventure to Cordoba (the northern city of the southernmost province, Andalucia, which also has Granada and Sevilla). We then went to the station on Thursday to buy bus tickets (25e roundtrip) and were pretty set to go. We came back and started to casually email a couple cheap hostels for rooms. All of a sudden, we began to realize that all the rooms to the cheap hostels were taken, which was a bit odd and annoying, and I emailed them to let them know I already have tickets and to notify me of any cancellations. We started to enquire about more and more expensive hotels, and everything (under 100e) was taken! Literally, I called over 15 places and they all told me that they were "completo" or full for the ONE Saturday night we'd be there. The logic that one receptionist told me was that Monday is a holiday, and thus, everyone is traveling...but everyone to Cordoba? Maybe we'll discover some giant fiesta or festival going on. Anyways, we began to freak out a bit, because with tickets already bought, but no desire to pay 50+e each for a hotel/hostel, we started asking about couch surfing and I was considering tent options...no dice on anything. Finally, at around 4pm on Friday when we were ready to scrap the trip altogether, I received an email from one of the higher priced (25e per person/night) but still pretty cheap hostel (they range from 20-40e usually; under 20e is pretty lucky) that a room with 2 individual beds had freed up and they were waiting for us to confirm it!!! I called them right away and booked the room and so I'm leaving for Andalucia in about an hour and half (so I'll head to bus station right about now). Wish us luck, and pray for us that those predicted PM showers won't come!!!
More about our trip soon!
PS We found out there is a HUGE concert going on in Cordoba tonight. And the weather is amazing and it is FILLED with tourists. Longer update about our trip soon!
More about our trip soon!
PS We found out there is a HUGE concert going on in Cordoba tonight. And the weather is amazing and it is FILLED with tourists. Longer update about our trip soon!
Friday, October 3, 2008
Castilla...Friday, October 3rd
So I am writing this to you from a gorgeous hotel (Hotel TRYP) in Salamanca, while the rest of the group is out and about on a Friday night and I'm just hoping I feel better by tomorrow. I have a bit of a head cold, and it isn't too bad, but I just don't want it to get any worse because it's just awful to be sick in a foreign country (and city, nonetheless!).
Our trip to Castilla has been very exciting so far. Yesterday early morning, we went from to Valladolid (via coach bus; that is how we are doing all of our travels these few days), a gorgeous little city about 2 hours north west (?) of Madrid.
After dropping our bags off at our hostel, we first went to the "Museo Oriental" with tons of objects and art pieces from Asia, with a tour guide that explained the diligence that went behind ever piece. We toured the town a bit more and then went our separate ways for some Spanish "tapas".
We reconvened afterward to go to the Christopher Columbus Museum, because Valladolid was the last town he lived in before passing away. The museum was very modern and although it's not the most interesting information ever, it was very interactive and engaging. After that, we walked all around the town and saw a ton of stuff, but I think we we are all a bit lethargic at this time. After some cafe (or "zumo de naranja"=orange juice) for me, we met at the hostel at 8pm to go to a pueblo for dinner.
Last night, some students took a bit of a nap and woke up at 2:30 am to watch the VP debates. I wanted to but at 2:30 am when my alarm went off, I decided it'd be best for my health to just sleep some more. In the morning I felt really great when finding some breakfast with my roommate and it definitely was the best decision at that time.
The dinner was really good. Finally, we got some pretty tasty, authentic, Spanish food, with wine and sausage and tortilla (potato and egg dish). I loved my "arroz con leche" (rice with milk) dessert; it was the perfect sweetness and temperature.
This morning, we started off by going to a castle! It was in a rural area and it amazing and the plateau looks a bit like Nebraska. We next went to "Villa de Libro", an extremely rural pueblo, to visit a professor at St. Olaf who knows a lot about some antique and modern musical instruments in Spain. We ate a really delicious lunch in this tiny town, with rabbit and pork chops (yum). This town really felt like there was absolutely no one around (although we saw a couple people here and there). It was so calm and so completely different than Madrid, and I think a lot of us really enjoyed this change of pace.
After that, we went to the monestary of this town, another church in another town, and honestly, the images of Jesus Christ and GIANT churches in rural Spain are kind of melding together and floating around in my head. Being sick probably didn't help either. I think I'm forgetting a couple things, but basically, we got quite the taste of rural and religious Spain.
We arrived at Salamanca around 8pm and came to our hotel rooms. I chatted with people a bit before everyone decided to go out and I decided to try to connect to some free internet with my roommate's computer (thank you!) and wait for my NyQuil to kick in (which it's doing right about now).
I just finished watching a good chunk of the debates on youtube while writing this out. Joe Biden spoke better than I thought he would, although so did Sarah Palin (grr). I'm thanking god for this free wireless internet and hoping all of you are doing okay. Keep in touch, and I will post like, HUNDREDS of photos that go along with this post on Sunday night/Monday. Until then, keep in touch.
Much love,
Jojo
Our trip to Castilla has been very exciting so far. Yesterday early morning, we went from to Valladolid (via coach bus; that is how we are doing all of our travels these few days), a gorgeous little city about 2 hours north west (?) of Madrid.
After dropping our bags off at our hostel, we first went to the "Museo Oriental" with tons of objects and art pieces from Asia, with a tour guide that explained the diligence that went behind ever piece. We toured the town a bit more and then went our separate ways for some Spanish "tapas".
We reconvened afterward to go to the Christopher Columbus Museum, because Valladolid was the last town he lived in before passing away. The museum was very modern and although it's not the most interesting information ever, it was very interactive and engaging. After that, we walked all around the town and saw a ton of stuff, but I think we we are all a bit lethargic at this time. After some cafe (or "zumo de naranja"=orange juice) for me, we met at the hostel at 8pm to go to a pueblo for dinner.
Last night, some students took a bit of a nap and woke up at 2:30 am to watch the VP debates. I wanted to but at 2:30 am when my alarm went off, I decided it'd be best for my health to just sleep some more. In the morning I felt really great when finding some breakfast with my roommate and it definitely was the best decision at that time.
The dinner was really good. Finally, we got some pretty tasty, authentic, Spanish food, with wine and sausage and tortilla (potato and egg dish). I loved my "arroz con leche" (rice with milk) dessert; it was the perfect sweetness and temperature.
This morning, we started off by going to a castle! It was in a rural area and it amazing and the plateau looks a bit like Nebraska. We next went to "Villa de Libro", an extremely rural pueblo, to visit a professor at St. Olaf who knows a lot about some antique and modern musical instruments in Spain. We ate a really delicious lunch in this tiny town, with rabbit and pork chops (yum). This town really felt like there was absolutely no one around (although we saw a couple people here and there). It was so calm and so completely different than Madrid, and I think a lot of us really enjoyed this change of pace.
After that, we went to the monestary of this town, another church in another town, and honestly, the images of Jesus Christ and GIANT churches in rural Spain are kind of melding together and floating around in my head. Being sick probably didn't help either. I think I'm forgetting a couple things, but basically, we got quite the taste of rural and religious Spain.
We arrived at Salamanca around 8pm and came to our hotel rooms. I chatted with people a bit before everyone decided to go out and I decided to try to connect to some free internet with my roommate's computer (thank you!) and wait for my NyQuil to kick in (which it's doing right about now).
I just finished watching a good chunk of the debates on youtube while writing this out. Joe Biden spoke better than I thought he would, although so did Sarah Palin (grr). I'm thanking god for this free wireless internet and hoping all of you are doing okay. Keep in touch, and I will post like, HUNDREDS of photos that go along with this post on Sunday night/Monday. Until then, keep in touch.
Much love,
Jojo
Monday, September 29, 2008
Talavera de la Reina, Monday the 29th
So on Monday, we took a day trip out to a small-ish town called Talavera, a one and half hour drive outside of Madrid. After a little bus tour of the city, we explored a museum filled with ceramics, which is the famous speciality of this town. After getting a bunch of free books and postcards from them (they were so kind!), we went to a high school to see what high school is like for some students around our age.
The school was totally new so it was gorgeous and clean, but the students were a bit...immature, to say the least. I guess we'd just forgotten how high school students can be like. Then afterwards, we ate some "authentic Spanish food" in their cafeteria, which, I have some reservations about.
First of all, they Spanish really like their food very mushy, and I'm not sure why. They think this is "riquiissimmo" (delicious) and honestly, it's just a bit overcooked...and has some funky smells sometimes, but I'm probably just spoiled with the aromas of Indian food. Also, there tends to be this "surprise" chunk of hardboiled egg in some dishes...it's totally unexpected and I don't quite understand it, lol. Lastly, sometimes, the meat looks like it was just cut off the animal's bones, cooked, and served on a plate. No spices or sauces or anything! But some food is definitely tastier, especially the dessert and fresh squeezed orange juice.
After a very filling lunch, we went on an adventure to a little pueblo outside of Talavera, I think called Ospera (?), to see a picturesque castle and walk around. This area is just soooo calm and noiseless and beautiful, it's completely different than Madrid. I mean, it might be a bit too rural for me because sometimes I would feel a bit...stuck? It's not easily accessible and although there are a few stores, I'm sure it's very difficult to aquire ALL your necessities...and there's no "Corte Inglés" (the Super Walmart of Spain) either. But what is really strange is that I can envision a lot of people would love to enjoy their last days in a little town like this.
Which reminds me of the book we're reading right now (Palmar; I think this was the point!), La Lluvia Amarilla by Julio Llamazares. It's a beautiful poetic memoria about the last survivor of a pueblo in Spain. I'm pretty sure that every paragraph almost sent me to tears. Not in a bad way but in a really prophetic, realization about being alone and having to die someday, kind of way. That sounded really depressing, and although it is, it's definitely worth a read, kind of like a slap in the face of sorts. Or rather, a "gentle breeze brushing across your cheeks", to keep in synch with the book :). Find a translated version if you can!
More pictures are up on the link and I'll try to post them here too! Keep the comments coming!
Love,
Jojo
The school was totally new so it was gorgeous and clean, but the students were a bit...immature, to say the least. I guess we'd just forgotten how high school students can be like. Then afterwards, we ate some "authentic Spanish food" in their cafeteria, which, I have some reservations about.
First of all, they Spanish really like their food very mushy, and I'm not sure why. They think this is "riquiissimmo" (delicious) and honestly, it's just a bit overcooked...and has some funky smells sometimes, but I'm probably just spoiled with the aromas of Indian food. Also, there tends to be this "surprise" chunk of hardboiled egg in some dishes...it's totally unexpected and I don't quite understand it, lol. Lastly, sometimes, the meat looks like it was just cut off the animal's bones, cooked, and served on a plate. No spices or sauces or anything! But some food is definitely tastier, especially the dessert and fresh squeezed orange juice.
After a very filling lunch, we went on an adventure to a little pueblo outside of Talavera, I think called Ospera (?), to see a picturesque castle and walk around. This area is just soooo calm and noiseless and beautiful, it's completely different than Madrid. I mean, it might be a bit too rural for me because sometimes I would feel a bit...stuck? It's not easily accessible and although there are a few stores, I'm sure it's very difficult to aquire ALL your necessities...and there's no "Corte Inglés" (the Super Walmart of Spain) either. But what is really strange is that I can envision a lot of people would love to enjoy their last days in a little town like this.
Which reminds me of the book we're reading right now (Palmar; I think this was the point!), La Lluvia Amarilla by Julio Llamazares. It's a beautiful poetic memoria about the last survivor of a pueblo in Spain. I'm pretty sure that every paragraph almost sent me to tears. Not in a bad way but in a really prophetic, realization about being alone and having to die someday, kind of way. That sounded really depressing, and although it is, it's definitely worth a read, kind of like a slap in the face of sorts. Or rather, a "gentle breeze brushing across your cheeks", to keep in synch with the book :). Find a translated version if you can!
More pictures are up on the link and I'll try to post them here too! Keep the comments coming!
Love,
Jojo
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Some reflections, Saturday the 27th
Some bad news first.
I can not work at the AECC (Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer; sort of like the American Cancer Society) because to work with the kids, there's a law that I need to take a day and half long course. And this course isn't offered till October 22nd :( (which is less than a month before I leave). I even thought it'd be good to take the course and work for a month, but the lady I talked to suggested that the post-course volunteering should be a least 3-6 months, if not longer, and since I have class and can only work a few days a week, it's not worth it to take the course. Lamesauce. She does have my number so if there are any mailing projects I can help out with, she'll call me.
So blogger HATES me and only once a day lets me load a single picture onto my blog. It's as if some unknown force WANTS my blog to look as boring as possible!!! I'm so sorry! I will keep trying but I still suggest:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jojo.basu/
To see some fantastic pictures that dumb blogger won't let me decorate this blog with.
To me, it seems that when anyone speaks Spanish, their voice sounds less...high pitched? Shrill? It's subtle, but if you listen for it, you might agree. So little Spanish speaking girls are probably the cutest kids in the world, because they're little girls that sound wayyyy more mature just by speaking Spanish.
One of my favorite areas of the city is called Barrio de Huertas also known as Barrio de las letras (with street names after famous writers that used to live there), and with the well known Plaza de Santa Ana in this neighborhood's center. This area is very central, close to Sol (which is the heart of the nightlife), near the museums, and beautiful both in the day and night. I will try to take pictures and post them here if possible, but if blogger hates me, keep an eye on my Picasa albums. Oh and you should "google image" it!
I have yet to visit Templo de Debod and Palacio Cristal, but otherwise, I have most "main" tourist spots covered and will try to make a list with descriptions of these places soon. You may also be receiving a postcard in the next month or so with a picture of a famous site (sent a bit cheaper in the US, thanks to my parents)
If you read this and want a postcard, I need your addresses if you want a postcard! Please!
That's all for now. Keep the comments coming (especially with addresses!)
I can not work at the AECC (Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer; sort of like the American Cancer Society) because to work with the kids, there's a law that I need to take a day and half long course. And this course isn't offered till October 22nd :( (which is less than a month before I leave). I even thought it'd be good to take the course and work for a month, but the lady I talked to suggested that the post-course volunteering should be a least 3-6 months, if not longer, and since I have class and can only work a few days a week, it's not worth it to take the course. Lamesauce. She does have my number so if there are any mailing projects I can help out with, she'll call me.
So blogger HATES me and only once a day lets me load a single picture onto my blog. It's as if some unknown force WANTS my blog to look as boring as possible!!! I'm so sorry! I will keep trying but I still suggest:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jojo.basu/
To see some fantastic pictures that dumb blogger won't let me decorate this blog with.
To me, it seems that when anyone speaks Spanish, their voice sounds less...high pitched? Shrill? It's subtle, but if you listen for it, you might agree. So little Spanish speaking girls are probably the cutest kids in the world, because they're little girls that sound wayyyy more mature just by speaking Spanish.
One of my favorite areas of the city is called Barrio de Huertas also known as Barrio de las letras (with street names after famous writers that used to live there), and with the well known Plaza de Santa Ana in this neighborhood's center. This area is very central, close to Sol (which is the heart of the nightlife), near the museums, and beautiful both in the day and night. I will try to take pictures and post them here if possible, but if blogger hates me, keep an eye on my Picasa albums. Oh and you should "google image" it!
I have yet to visit Templo de Debod and Palacio Cristal, but otherwise, I have most "main" tourist spots covered and will try to make a list with descriptions of these places soon. You may also be receiving a postcard in the next month or so with a picture of a famous site (sent a bit cheaper in the US, thanks to my parents)
If you read this and want a postcard, I need your addresses if you want a postcard! Please!
That's all for now. Keep the comments coming (especially with addresses!)
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