Bullet Points

In reality I'm writing this thing more or less for myself. I know the entries are long and all over the place... but I did not want to keep a blog and a journal.. so for that reason I am doing this and that way I can print it all out when I leave.  To any loyal friends or family members who are indeed interested in what I'm doing - I AM trying to keep this as interesting as possible haha. 

This Journal Entry is going to be all over the place so I'm just going to hit some bullet points...

1. The Beauty: Pretty much everything that has been built in the last 20 years - which is a LOT of the city... is VERY beautiful. The architecture here is just AMAZING. I can remember thinking while I was in Sevilla that everything in Europe is just so much more beautiful and detailed than everything in America. Well here that statement is exponentially more true. You notice everything from curved staircases and details in the facades of random buildings to colored windows. I dont think I realized just how beautiful and different Bilbao was until Rachel and her friends told me they had come just to study the architecture here. 

2. Las Tiendas de los Chinos: I bought a pack of batteries from a small chinese store for .75 euros and all 4 of them lasted in my camara MAYBE 5 minutes total... Once I buy some better batteries I will take some pictures of random things to put on here. 

3. Sea of Neutral Colors: Hmm.. what else do I notice here. NEUTRAL COLORS. If you are over 15 - you wear neutrals, neutrals, and more neutrals. White, Navy, Black, Brown, Tan, Gray, and MAYBE a Camo green every now and then. Everyone  here also dresses extremely well all the time. It was a lot like this in Sevilla but Sevilla also had more of a punk/grunge population than Bilbao. 

4. Inferiority Complex: I'm also pretty amazed and intimidated 1. by how BEAUTIFUL everyone here in Spain is and 2. by how YOUNG everyone looks. Nobody here looks their age. 

5. Calimocho: This is a very typical drink here in Bilbao. It's 1/3rd wine and 2/3rd coke. It is kind of like the Tinto de Verano that we would drink in Sevilla except Tinto de Verano is made with yellow fanta, orange fanta, or just soda. I tried Calimocho with Rachel and her friends and did not think I would like it but it is very good. 

6. Walking: I don't know how but the people here walk at least twice as fast as I do. I don't know if they are taking more steps or if they take larger steps or they just have longer legs than I do but they walk exponentially faster. This reminds me of when I was with Abbie in Sevilla and she was always telling me to slow down... She'd hate it. 

7. Temperament: The people in Spain in general - not just Bilbao -either  have a New York state of mind, or they just seem to dawdle. Most of the time they either seem to be very late for something, or they seem to have no place to go. Either way - the people always seem very business like. I learned last time I was in Spain that although it is normal to smile at people when you make eye contact with them in America - it is not normal to do that here. That's something I am constantly reminding myself here. But I also have to note that the people here are very very kind. This time - as opposed to when I was in Sevilla - because I'm living with this amazing family - I kind of feel more like I belong. Although I had many more friends in Sevilla - here I feel more like a local. 

8. Conversions: I MUST MUST MUST get used to using the Celsius scale, the metric conversion system, and military time. Those are the hardest things for me to get used to. I'm constantly hurrying home because I think I am late for something only to find I am an hour early. 

9. My Spanish: Because with the kids I am constantly speaking in English - and with Joseba I'm pretty much always talking either in English or in Spanish - Yo tengo que intentar mas para aprender Espanol. Because this family's English is very good and I can get by on minimal - and I mean MINIMAL- Spanish - I really need to start trying harder to learn more. I need to get a notebook and start writing stuff down. 

10. Time: It seems like I have a lot of free time. 9 to 5. That's 8 hours. But that FLIES by. In reality it's 9:30 to 4:30. So that's 7 hours. Then if I go to the gym in the morning... that lasts until at least 12 with showering and getting there and what not. Then I have 4 and a half hours left. With going to and from the house for lunch... that's about 3. I want to be reading a lot. I want to be writing a lot. I want to learn and study more Spanish. I really just need to get into a better routine. 

11. Lessons: I need more lessons or learning games for the kiddos. If anyone does by chance read this thing - and you know of anything - let me know. 

12. Tortilla: In Sevilla we had Tortilla Espanola. Here... we also have that but it's just called Tortilla or Tortilla de ... Whatever. I don't know if it was just that my old host mom - who I'm being generous when I say was somewhat sub-par - was not a very good cook or if the Tortilla in Basque country is just THAT much better. Who knows. It's made of eggs and potatoes mainly. Then you can put cheese, mushrooms, ham, peppers...or really just WHATEVER you want in it and it is GREAT. The key is cooking it so it's goopy (for lack of a better word) and not dry. 

13. Vasco/Euskera: One thing I am AMAZED by is that everyone here speaks both Castellano and Vasco. Castellano is the Spanish we learn in the United States and what most people think of when they think "Spanish". Vasco is a special dialect they speak here in Basque country. I THOUGHT that I would be able to understand some of it... but I understand NOTHING. It is a COMPLETELY different language. I could understand more French or Italian or Portuguese than Basque. For example here are some of the words I have learned.. and I am not even sure the spelling is correct:

Mom: Ama (Vasco); Madre (Spanish)

Dad: Aita (Vasco); Padre (Spanish)

Congratulations: Zorionak (Vasco); Felicidades (Spanish)

Grandma: Amuma/Amama (Vasco); Abuela (Spanish).

Street: Kalea (Vasco); Calle (Spanish) 

The first two days here... I thought about a million of the streets ended in Kalea. Because on the map.. it says for example: Calle Fontecha y Salazar Kalea. So I was going to ask Iciar where something was and I was going to say... I am not sure where it was but I know it is one of the ones that ends in Kalea. Then after exploring that day I realized that every single street sign had Calle at the top and Kalea at the bottom. Aka Kalea is street in Vasco. Just barely escaped that embarrassing moment. Most of the signs here have things written in Castellano and in Vasco. 

Also apparently everyone on the street speaks Castellano but that many people grew up speaking only in Vasco and many of the schools (including my kiddos' school) teach only in Vasco. It amazes me that kids that young (beginning at age 3) can differentiate between the two languages. It is very very impressive.