Study.

Santiago marcado in early 1900'sHi, You never see me. My hair is getting long.

All right people. Winter is here.burrrrr! I just broke another umbrella, the wind was blowing so hard and the rain coming down, my umbrella turned inside out and broke. Urrrrgh.
Back to school( I only have 1 more month) so sad. I have officially decided that I want to continue my spanish studies, I am obsessed with learning to speak properly. I am looking for a chance to get a BECA, scholarship,, Anything I can do to commit my self to more studies, in santiago or anywhere in Spain. Ojala! lets cross our fingers.
My classes are going good, I have 2 new students. i am still doing intercambios with enrique ( he is one of my students) Usually go out on fridays, drink and talk in spanish/english.
The holidays are creeping up. well in the states they are. Next week thanksgiving ( this is the gateway to all holidays) then christmas, which I think we are staying here and sharing with our landlords, very cool people and hopefully we will go to Granada for New Years. I really want to go to paris or Berlin but I guess it is too damn cold.
I am also thinking that when I come home at the end of April for my sisters thing in Mexico that I might stay for a little longer, possibly 2 or 3 months if I can get some work. I am already home so I should work and save, so when I go back I can go to school and have a little cash for comfort.

Lisbon

Lisbon is a magical place, so far it is my favorite city. You can see the wealth there once was. Down by the water front there are gigantic banks lining the street, the water is polluted, you cant go in it but the walk along it is amazing. They are doing alot of work to the city because it is falling apart fast, for many years before the Euro in 2004, the country was very poor and I dont think it could maintain itself. Since it lines the along the Ocean, the salt air takes its toll on the city. The population is near 4 million, stretched along the ocean and out along the rolling hills. It reminds me of San Francisco in a European way. With trolly cars, steep hills, Ocean and bridges.

We rented a car and drove down, stoppin in Fatima on the way, this is a holy ground where there now sits a fantasitc Church. It took 6 + hours to drive there but it was a great way to see the country. The roads are in fabulous condition due to all of the toll booths on the road that you have to pay  a fine for traveling long distances, It is not cheap either but at least you can see where the tolls go to and it is the great shape of the roads. Once in Lisbon, we felt a relief to escape the rains of Spain. The weather is a little humid and much warmer, we walked around in light shirts and pants. THe night life is amazing, with different barrios full of bars, live music, and cheap drinks and food. 1Euro for a beer, wow!! I am loving this place.

During the day John would go to conventions, I would walk around the city discovering it. At night we had to go to dinners with the other students and they out for the night. The other Erasmus Student were so interesting, from all different parts of the world, Super intellegent, some speaking 5 languages. They also had really good food. I cant wait to go back in the spring.

This video is rad.

Weather.cold.rainy.

Nov.7.

TOday is my sisters birthday. Happy birthday!! missing it. Missing them, Missing you..

Sick again. Maybe this is what I will always be like here. the weather is crappy, raining, wet, cold.. siempre. But, when it does dry up, whooo. yaya. take advantage of that. Clothes never dry, water is seeping through the wall, I smell like mold. I guess this is what it is like living in a cold place.Oh I miss california weather, i will never complain about it again.

Being sick is probally a mix of the weather, being in smoke filled bars all the time, drinking and staying out to all hours of the morning. I am a busy bee I tell you. Between giving english classes, going to school, inter-cambios and going out it does not leave much time. I really love my weekends and just doing nothing.

so the halloween is over, fall is coming to end and winter has started. I wonder if in California they have all of the christmas decorations out and are pumping the t.v. and air waves full of things to buy. I dont see that here yet. Give it another month and I am sure commercialism will set in. I dont miss that at all. I feel relaxed and I dont feel like I need to buy stuff, I dont need anything. I dont know if this is because advertisment is not always in my face, I just don't need anything or if it a new leaf. Not sure.

Class is good, I still can't speak very well, but I understand alot more. John wants to go to Italy for the summer so he can brush up on his Italian. Sounds fun, right. Yes and at the same time, another language to conquer. I sure want to stay for the summer, best weather. They can keep there cold ass winters. No thanks you. !!

When I first moved here, I was deperado for a job, so I put up flyers every where about cutting hair and they could call me. I never got one call, so I switched to teaching english. the other day a british guy called me about cutting his hair, he saw the flyer and needed a hair cut. Okay. 20 Euros, sure. come over. He could be a killer, rapist, robber??

Well, he came over, I cut his hair in my kitchen and he was really cool, He was a dude living out here, teaching english, enjoying life. He lived in Poland before for 5 years, teaching english and wanted to do something new so he moved out here. I cut his hair, he was fun and interesting, made 20 Euros and a new friend. I miss doing hair but doing it in your home is a bit ghetto and super messy when you dont even have a vacume. so, I will only so it for friends or a few randoms. The moral of the story is that you never know what is going to come from your efforts.

Autumn

Fall in Santiago

Sunday

Sunday- So- john and usually go to a cafe called RECANTOS on sunday mornings to check our email, have coffee maybe a croissant and hang out with the rest of the world.

This morning while everyone is enjoying there time there is a little boy screaming his head off for his father in the other room of the cafe for 30minutes at least. I go into use the bathroom just to see what the hell is going on. The parents and their other son are sitting at a table eating and watching their other son crying, screaming for his father next to the stroller. He is somewhere around 2 or 3. Amazing. I understand they are trying to teach him a lesson for something but jeeez. do that shit at home. I mean, kids cry , things go wrong,everyone has rough times but after 10 minutes don't subject everyone to your families buisness. I mean come on, I think it is rude. They were just sitting there watching him. poor kid. He is probaly damaged for life from this. We are in a small cafe with 2 rooms and kids are running around playing touch tag up in here. Umm hello, this place is small. It is not the kids fault , it is the parents? No. Am I being a kid hater or something? I don't think so, maybe "I haven't been there done that" kind of thing.

I just think some people lack manners these days.My mom would have me strung up by my ears with my butt cheeks burning.

Halloween

Huesos de Santo ( the rolls in the middle) & goodies.
Halloween, Dia de los Muertos, Hallow for holy and een means eve.All hallows eve, all saint's eve, hallowed end or Samhain.WTF.Samhain is actually a name the celtics called it and the wiccans call it that today. The celts said it was the most unholy day of the year.As history goes it started with the celts from 1000bc to 450ad, it originally was held on november 1st as a celebration for the end of summer. So this holiday transfered to all saints day, and is celebrated on Nov 1st, it is an old pagan holiday that has transfered over.November 2nd is all souls day. Many countries celebrate something similar to either remember the dead and the spirits that roam the earth or protect them from the unknow. England and Ireland are the granddaddy of them all, Tawain has a month long rememberance, Korea celebrate in August, germany, austria, china, japan,canada, belgium, Latin America. Many different places have there own tradition. There are many names for this peculiar holiday. In the states it is a totally different affair. This is actually one of my favorite holidays in particular because you get to dress up like someone or something else, as a kid you trick or treat,( get tons of candy for free) and sometimes you get to get freaked out at scary haunted houses, carve pumpkins and raise hell for a night.T here is so much information out there available about this, the history is really interesting.

Last year I was in Italy for halloween and they did not do much there. I think the children had a fascination with an American holiday, some dressed up and went around in the streets, there were halloween parties an decorations. In Spain they don't really celebrate it here. last night they had "Halloween" parties, but really it was just a party, some people dressed up, no in anything good. I think Sunday is a religious holiday- all saints day, people go to church, they have traditional foods this time of year like Huesos de santo-bones of Saints. Sounds scary, but they are gross little candies that kind of look like bones in different flavors in the inside and are rolled in marzipan.blahh, no me gusta nada. There are many festivals in the streets with booze, traditional music and dance and Castanas Asada. Roasted chestnuts. They are really good, it was my first time trying them last night. I think these celebrations represent the harvest, the coming of winter and remembering family and those who have passed, rooted deep in there history.

Ohhh yeah, someone told me my spanish is getting good. .hehehhh.