The Ash Cloud

Posted on 21 April 2010 by k

After 4 weeks away in sunny Spain, we were meant to fly back to real life on Saturday, 17 April. As luck would have it, our flight was cancelled and we had to brave it Spain for yet another week…I know…poor us 🙂

First up, how to get home…and when?

Mother nature can’t be reasoned with. And with K traveling to the US from London in a week and a half from our original flight date–and G needed back at the office in London, we decided that it would be best to sort rail or boat travel as an alternate to trading dates for our flight (esp since the earliest available date for a return journey by air was EOD the following Saturday, 24 April!).

So, looking at trains next…the Spanish and French sites for trains were completely overloaded with traffic and essentially ‘broken’ for browsing. But, from what we could gather, there were no trains available to travel north to France on Saturday…or Sunday (17/18). It could be possible to travel north on Monday/Tuesday, but the costs altogether would essentially double those of our EasyJet journey refund. And, the Eurostar was adding additional journeys to their schedule, but at a cost of Ă‚ÂŁ400-450 from Paris, not including the journey costs north, we decided an alternate would be best. Traveling by train would be neither FUN or cheap.

Finally, upon reviewing a few maps in our Spain guidebook, we found a ferry route to the UK located in the Northwest of Spain–an easy train journey from Barcelona. Centered around the cities of Santander and Bilboa, the journey back to the UK would just about equal out to the cost of our EasyJet return refund (including the domestic train journeys at either end). And, it would afford us a week in lovely San Sebastian. On the downside, this option includes a 29 hour ferry ride back to the UK…but at least we’ll have a room…

Next, up rail tickets for the 4.5 hour journey to the north to San Sebastian. So, we woke up bright and early on Sunday morning to purchase our train tickets for [hopeful] same-day travel to San Sebastian. Upon our arrival at the station, the line was already snaking! For an hour and a half, we waited behind an army of people who visited the window with questions like ‘do you have tickets available for ANYWHERE in France?’. Wow. We took turns standing in line so that the other could grab a number (as in number to be seen) to purchase train tickets for the next day’s travel–just in case train travel for same-day service had sold out. And we also took turns visiting a park outside the train station which was lovely enough to somehow feature in the guidebook. After waiting for 2.5 hours at the station in total, we secured tickets to San Sebastian [the attendant was pleased to speak with some people with a very pointed request and sold us tickets for Monday (next day) since the Sunday journey had sold out when we reached the window!!–though he could have sent us to stand in yet another 1.5 hour line].

After a painless train journey on Monday morning, we’re now safely stowed in a lovely and CHEAP room in San Sebastian’s old town. While it’s true that flights are now running to the UK, we’re happy with our choice…

Stay tuned for more on San Sebastian…

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Barcelona: Bird’s Eye View

Posted on 21 April 2010 by k
Wow…how far we’ve come! It’s incredible to think that a month ago we could speak only in the present tense 🙂

Now, a month and four tenses later, we’re well on our way to being able to carry on a semi-normal conversation with friendly locals. Friends and family who know us well will not be surprised that upon deciding to move to Spain for a month to learn the language, K undertook the task of finding the perfect programme–a matrix for comparison, of course… There were a dozen or so programmes in Barcelona which were certified by Cervantes Institute and of them, their locations and prices seemed the only key differentiators…well, perhaps also the staff attentiveness and web sites.

After much contemplation, we chose Ole Languages. While perhaps not the most posh, it was significantly less expensive than the alternatives and the reviews online were solid. It was a bit stressful leading up to our arrival because we weren’t exactly sure how the ‘shared flat’ would work and it’s a bit strange going back to ‘school’ again. We’re 32/33 and not too accustomed to sharing our spaces anymore…and would feared we would feel like teachers or parents rather than students…

Now we know it was an incredible experience and we wouldn’t change a thing. 🙂

I guess this just goes to teach us that getting out of our comfort zone is for good sometimes…

So. What did we get up to?

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We would generally start our day with breakfast in the flat before heading elsewhere. Some days G would work from the beach in the morning [see photo at right]…and I would go running along the beachside promenade. Other days, if the weather was icky, we’d head to a cafe for G to work and for me to study. And, of course, we were in class every afternoon between 2:30 and 6:30. After class, we’d visit the Chartuceria (sp) for some fresh cuts of Iberico jamon or chorizo for our ‘happy hour’  at the flat and a cheap 5Euro bottle of yummy Rioja. Some days we’d also treat ourselves to our favourite Spanish cheese—Manchego seco (tastes a bit like a nicely aged Gouda or Parmesan…).Then,after, we’d stay at the flat and play games with our flatmates, go out for tapas on our own…or meet up with our friends/classmates for dinner and drinks. And every Thursday, the school hosted a meet-up for all students…we always made it out for those with our friends–and that meant a late night.

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Afterall, we were keeping pace with 20 year olds! [see photo at right]

Of course, weekends meant a different approach…

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There’s a lovely park named ‘Citudella’ which we visited a number of times. Here, the City provides Wifi and just about every single patch of green grass is covered with bodies and blankets. Interestingly, tight rope walking is quite the hobby in Barca??? One two separate occassions we noted multiple groups of people in Citudella park tying ropes between trees for a tightrope walking competition amongst friends…training for the circus??? 🙂

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Barcelona’s also a very bike-friendly town. One weekend, we rented bikes to ride about town. We had a great time riding the main avenues because there are bike-friendly cycle paths EVERYWHERE. And many of the main corridors through the city are tree-lined. On a gorgeous day, this makes for a very good time.

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Stiges is also nearby. Our final weekend in Barca, we traveled to Sitges for a day. It’s a bit more relaxed than Barca (hard to believe that’s possible, right?). And really beautiful. It was historically an artist’s village…then gays found it and made it into a posh beach resort. There are still lots of gay couples walking about town…but it seems to be on its way to becoming a family-haven as well? There were loads of families with children all about town on the day we visited. The city is still known for its artists and as we were walking back to the train station, I found ANOTHER painting. Yep–that makes three. Thankfully, all budget buys 🙂

And, of course, we often played beach tennis, ran or lounged on or around the beach in Barcelona, as well.

So, with the advantage of hindsight, we’ve gathered a few lessons on this trip:

-We’re officially OLD!

-Hanging out with young, smart people keeps you young [at heart] despite the spots and wrinkles

-It’s good to do things that make you the slightest bit uncomfortable [like living in a shared flat with complete strangers for a month]

-We LOVE speaking Spanish and need to pepper our holiday plans with frequent jaunts to maintain our ‘skilz’

Stay tuned for a couple additional posts on Barcelona themed around favourite places and the food.

For additional photos from Barcelona, click here.

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Spanish Sentence Mapping…my personal hell!

Posted on 7 April 2010 by k

Rough day. Ugh. I’m a perfectionist. And I like to feel that I can hold my own…I think this is true of most of us.

Today, I couldn’t and didn’t hold my own in Spanish class and felt a bit like the village idiot. Learning a foreign language has now made me acutely aware of how very little I know about my own native language. Direct object? Indirect object? The infinitive? The preterite perfect? The gerund. The nomative? WHAT happened to past, present and future? Noun, verb, adjective and adverb? I don’t like these titles for things…

During the course of the last couple weeks I’ve been able to connect the dots with the various tenses, but today’s bit on pronouns threw me over the edge. Our Russian roommate (who also speaks German and English) had to explain it to me in ‘plain American English’ when we returned to the flat…thank goodness she once had an American boyfriend and was able to explain the concepts in terms I understand!! 🙂

Onward and upward…tomorrow’s another day…

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Picnic in the Park…

Posted on 29 March 2010 by k
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It’s amazing what a difference a few extra degrees makes. If in London today, we would have likely experienced temps in the 50’s. But, luckily for us, Barcelona’s experienced a bit of a warm weekend with temps in the 70’s! It won’t last long, I’m sure…but we’ll enjoy it while we can.

Sunday we visited the Parc de Citudella near Barceloneta. Interestingly, it seems that most of the parks we’ve visited here are more shady than sunny. I’m sure that’s welcome amidst the summer sun and humidity, but for us Londonites visiting in the Spring for a bit of sun, the Citudella’s bound to be a favourite. It’s a bit of vivid green amidst a sea of asphalt and sand and a welcome change on a sunny, but mild day because it’s rather open with lots of grass and sparing shade. We enjoyed a bit of lounging and then headed for the beach.

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We settled in for a quick paella and sangria combo at a restaurant with a good view and enjoyed the people watching. Incidentally, the restaurant also provided a good background for portraiture photography. Hence, the shots of G and I shown here.

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The plan for Monday morning is to work and study from the beach! Ahhh…how nice it is to be by the sea… [Thank goodness for G’s mobile USB key internet! :)]

To see additional photos from Barcelona, click here…

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Una Primera Semana Buena en Barcelona…

Posted on 28 March 2010 by k

Wow! What a great week!

We learned 3 new tenses, loads of new vocab and passed our first exam! Now, we’ve officially upped-level. And to cap it all off, we spoke to each other (G&I) almost exclusively in Spanish yesterday (probably 70-80%). That’s a new record. Not bad.  It’s SO NICE to be able to speak in the past tense a bit rather than only present!!!!

We’ve also grown used to our flat and it now feels like home…though, admittedly, wherever G is, is home. And the fresh flowers and Brita have helped, as well.

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We’ve also made friends in our class and had a couple more nights out for gorgeous little tapas. And yesterday was GORGEOUS out. We started out the day by visiting ‘Plaza del Sant Josep Oriol‘ where all the local Barca artists sell their wares. We found our favourite and bought a couple of her works. Luckily for us, they’re muy barato (cheap :)). If only that were also the case for the frames in London…Pobre chico, G no le gusta me amor para la tienda del frames en Belsize Park, esos son un poco caro comparado de las pinturas.

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Then, we visited the Boqueria Marcado (like Borough in London) for lunch at a seafood counter. El pulpo y championyes (octopus and mushrooms—separately, of course) were delicious.

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We then popped down to the patisserie in one of our paintings for a postre and, finally, to Parc Guell to take in the view, terrazzo tile and a bit more sunshine.

As we were out on the town for tapas and semi-late nights on both Thursday and Friday, we decided to stay in for a movie-night. Thankfully, our school has DVDs for borrowing and one of the flat mates had borrowed the second Bridget Jones. We switched the language to Spanish and had English subs. It was fun to watch all the London street scenes with Spanish v/o.

Now, another park…some paella…and maybe a run? And, you? Oh, and as an update, we now know which touristy areas to avoid…and seem to be onto the pick pockets’ tricks. So far, so good with avoiding them 🙂

To see additional photos from Barcelona, click here…

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¡Barcelona dice hola!

Posted on 23 March 2010 by k

We’re now in sunny Spain and have successfully completed day two of our classes. And we have seen the sun, afterall.

As we’ll be here for 4 weeks in total, and we’ve been in classes for 4 hours each day, we really haven’t seen much of the city yet. But, we are alive and well and having a good time. Amongst the highlights:

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  • Our flat. It’s located 5 minutes’ walk from the school in a nice, seemingly safe neighborhood in the North. It’s not in the Old City, but we LOVE having so many shops and conveniences literally downstairs from our flat without the worries of so many pickpockets that the main tourist areas seem to attract. Our roommates have been lovely so far. And we’ve now rearranged the furniture in our bedroom and I’ve now stopped obsessing about finding fresh flowers to freshen up the place after finding the perfect ones just up the street this evening (yes, these are the types of things that I stress about). Oh, and our roommates are lovely—young, but lovely. Our flat is not the loveliest, but it’s certainly a step about our first week’s digs in London…not bad….
  • The food. Freshly sliced cured jamon and manchego cheese is available in every grocery deli in town. Yum! What more do we need?
  • Our class. As you might expect — our 6 classmates are from diverse backgrounds — it’s a flashback to the MBA (except our cohort’s average age is probably 10 years lower this time) Classmates are from Italy, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden, Australia and Japan. This makes for an interesting, if challenging, Spanish-speaking experience, but we have already begun to learn a few things. So far, so good. Though it is a bit of a shock to our systems to ACTUALLY have other people in our class after 5 months of independent study with a dedicated professor.
  • The City. Still admittedly settling in, and also because G’s working part-time, we really haven’t seen much of the city outside our school, the groceries, cafes, mobile phone stores and hardware shops. But we’ve been struck by how incredibly helpful and willing the Catalan people are. The shopkeepers have been so patient with our Spanish and incredibly willing to help us along without reverting to English.

On our first night, we did go out for tapas and had a great night out in a Spanish dive with the best octopus in town (the guidebook says so, anyway?). And today, we went out in the morning for a walk down the Ramblas and over to the beach. Tomorrow we hope to go for a run through the Olympic park early in the day…fingers crossed for sun because we all know I don’t run in the rain.

Perhaps the most surprising tale from our stay thus far is that at least 2 of the 10 people we know so far (2 roommates, 2 professors and 6 students) have been pickpocketed during their stay in Barcelona. We’ll do all we can to keep ourselves and our belongings safe. Fingers crossed my front facing satchel keeps us in the clear.

For more photos from Barcelona, click here…

Posted in Adventure Travel, Europe, Learning Spanish, Spain | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Bath Half Marathon

Posted on 8 March 2010 by k
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Yesterday, I ran in my first ever half marathon (yes, this is K writing…can you believe it?).

For years I’ve said that I wanted to get into better shape. I just wanted to reclaim muscle tone that’s been lost to desk jobs over the years. So, while I’ve frequented my various gyms’ steam rooms frequently over the years, I decided to turn the knob up a bit last Spring. I signed up with trainer Steve who has taught me to use the various machines that I hadn’t a clue of before. And, perhaps most importantly, to use them safely! And, by seeing him once per week, he also keeps me honest and monitors my muscles’ development–adjusting my weekly routine to help me maintain a well-rounded workout regime. It’s actually been fun! I guess it just goes to show, sometimes it’s just best to pay someone who knows what they’re doing to help you out with things. 🙂

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Upon finally reclaiming some of my basic muscles after a few month’s work, the next natural step was to sign up for some sort of competitive event–a goal of some sort that would help to increase my cardio and keep me progressing. Trainer Steve softly suggested a 10k (mainly because I’m such a girly girl). To my trainer’s surprise, I signed up for the Bath Half Marathon. A half marathon is just over 13 miles and for a girl who hadn’t ran a mile since sophomore year of high school (15 years ago!), the training was admittedly tough, but surprisingly manageable.

Basically, my weekly workout programme has included running 30 minutes at least once per week since last May. I signed up for a 5k (3ish miles) with G in September. I ran 45-50 minutes in a go by November. And then the weather turned. Have I mentioned that I don’t deal well with wet or cold very admirably? All the wet winter snow of December didn’t bode well for my running habit. So, I took it to the gym. While the treadmill’s not ideal for training, it kept me healthy and warm while I whittled away the miles.

Luckily for me, my race day in Bath was graced with Blue Skies and sunshine! Having done the hard work in training, the race didn’t actually seem too tough. I’m not a fast runner, I definitely take my time, but I beat my personal goal and was still smiling through the end after 2 hours and 21 minutes of constant running movement. Thankfully all muscles seem to me ok today. Not bad! [Though perhaps my easy time of it today is also due to the 6 hours we spent in the yummy Bath Spa following the race, hmmm…. :)]

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So now, this brings me to the boobs. Loads of people wear fancy dress to the races. And it’s a lot of run to see the craziness that they dream up. But, alas, going slow (as I do), it’s not at all uncommon to be passed by Wilma Flintstone, PacMan…or a giant ice cream cone. But, apparently the guys have gotten in on the whole ‘running for breast cancer’ trend with a twist. T-shirts emblazoned with ‘Jogging for Jugs’ graced many a male torso yesterday, but were obviously topped by these gargantuan boobs. And yes, they beat me :0

So, if there were ever a moral to our blog posts, this one would be ‘GET FIT, it’s easy….and fun (even if you’re beaten by Boobs)!’

Posted in Adventure Travel, Novice Fitness, UK | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment