A German Christmas

Today I just returned from Germany. I had an absolutely wonderful time. So now...to recount all my adventures.

On December 16th I took the train (which I barely managed to make on time...ofcourse...I literally ran to the station grabbed a ticket, ran to the train which was already waiting, sat down and the train started moving) to the airport where I took a flight to Zurich, Switzerland.

i've got to run...i'll finish later

More Hiking

As always I am forever behind in keeping up with my life...

The first weekend I was back in Spain was really very nice and relaxing. There were holidays here which meant the kids didn't have school and therefore I didn't have much work except watching the baby. Mostly I got to sleep in and relax, which was really nice. Then over the weekend I got to go on a wonderful hike with Meritxell and Sergi, not in Montsant. We left from a little village from Farena and hiked all day, it was great! Partially we hiked all day on purpose, but mostly by the end we were a little lost, but it all worked out. The following week was fairly uneventful and I fell back into my normal crazy schedule long enough to be ready to leave again the following Saturday for Switzerland and Germany!

Here are pictures of my hike: http://drexel.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2041317&l=f1467&id=10500847

Homecoming

It was the worst reason ever to go back, but it was really nice to see family and friends. I love you Grampa George and I will miss you so much! You were the most wonderul and special grandfather ever!!

After the service I went hiking with family and it was wonderful. I also got to see my parents, a couple friends, and spend lots of wonderful time with my Grama Fern. She showed me the textile museum at the University and the stained glass at the church and we had a great time!

here are some pictures of the hike: http://drexel.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039394&l=e8645&id=10500847

Thanksgiving Dinner and my Birthday

Wow, what an adventure...that is all I have to say. I spent all week searching for just the right pan for the 10 lb. turkey I ordered from the market. Luckily I found one big enough for the Turkey but not too big for the oven at the dollar store. I thought I ordered cranberries from the market but in the end ordered blueberries. Many things went wrong, well, at least not as they were supposed to, but in the end it was wonderful.
I could not have done it without the help of my mother who sent me over 20 emails with recipes and suggesstions...although i might have made a little less food without her. I thought I was making one pumpkin pie and one apple pie, but when it came right down to it, I made to of both...well, it all got eaten eventually. After talking with several people and taking the turkey out of the oven, I realized I cooked it upside down, but as I was serving people who had never had thanksgiving before, they had no idea so it didn't matter. Well, all this in comparison to what happened the night of my dinner was nothing.
I spent all day cooking and everything was going really very well. The Turkey was in the oven and cooking along quite nicely and on time...I was planning to take it out an hour before our company arrived. Well...either way, it was done an hour before company came whether I wanted it to be or not...why? Because the power went out..all of it.......no lights, microwave, frigde, or oven! haha ofcourse I was downstairs in the kitchen and the kids and glória were upstairs...Biel and Teresa immediately started flipping out and Glória told me to come upstairs and take Jan and she would go fix it. Well, to make a long story short, Glória couldn't fix it and we still had no power by the time the guests arrived. We did find some flashlights and were planning to buy some candles...I made the gravy by flashlight and then the electrician came! he restored the power but not the oven or the microwave...so I couldn't reheat any of the food, but it was still all wonderful if I do say so myself.
After dinner Glória and the kids put candles in one of the pumpkin pies and everyone sang happy birthday and all my friends brought me presents, i couldn't believe it! they are all so sweet!! It was really very wonderful.
Here are some pictures: http://drexel.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039387&l=52b3e&id=10500847

Later that weekend Anikó and I decided to go to Montblanc...a small pueblo about 45 minutes away by train. We had a wonderful time walking around and taking pictures...which you can see at: http://drexel.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039384&l=cbb79&id=10500847

Olive Oil!

Here in Spain we have the most amazing olive oil. November 18th and 19th there was an olive oil festival here...little pieces of bread drizzled, well drenched really, with olive oil are handed out at all of the 20 or so booths representing different co-ops from different areas. It was all very excellent. On Sunday my olive weekend was concluded with getting to personally collect olives with some friends at their country house. It was a wonderful adventure and learning experience, plus later I got a wonderful present of fresh olive oil. For those of you who were lucky enough to get to try it when I took it back to New Mexico, you know how good it was!
But I have gotten ahead of myself. Friday night was Anikós birthday and in honor she made a wonderful spinach pasta (from scratch, i can't wait to get the recipe!), cheese sauce, and very interesting and amazing cake! then we went out for drinks to celebrate.
On Saturday Miren came to visit and we went to the olive oil festival and then the flea market. It was really quite wonderful and very large. We looked at books, weapons, nick nacks, clocks, type writers, anything you would think of really and we got to hear some native peruvians play music. It turned out to be quite a nice day and we ended up sitting on my patio enjoying the sun and then later going for a nice walk. well, i guess that was it for that weekend...look i am getting so efficient and good at catching up to the present, i am almost done! here are pictures of anikós birthday: http://drexel.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039311&l=53f18&id=10500847
and pictures of olive picking here: http://drexel.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039380&l=70c7b&id=10500847

last time no train, this time no hostal...

In other parts of the world it is important to reserve a room when you are travelling before you get there. Here in Spain I have managed several times without reserving anything in advance. Case in point: my trip to Zaragoza.
The weekend after Madrid, Miren and I decided to visit Zaragoza...no where near as far away, normally about three hours...on the fateful night we went it took about 4 hours. We left around midnight on Friday night...I was completely exhausted and at any point I wasn't walking, I was sleeping, well at least trying to on the train. Miren and I only planned this trip earlier that day and had only bought the train tickets in advance. We tried to find somewhere to stay online but the circumstances (the mean librarian in Tarragona) was giving us mean looks and so we rushed out of the library without booking anything...i guess figuring we would work it out later or something like that.
Well, by the time midnight rolled around neither of us had done anything about it, but oh well...
It turned out that the train station was having construction done during the night so the train to Zaragoza couldn't actually go to Zaragoza at night, so we went to Casetas at 3 o'clock in the morning...and it was cold! There we waited for 20 minutes until a bus came...which thankfully took us to the train station in Zaragoza. Luckily there was a security guard there and he assured us that if we took a cab and asked the driver to take us to a hostal we would find one that was open. And low and behold 4 o'clock in the morning we stumble into a hostal where we got a room with two beds and a shower all to our selves! for only 30€ a night, what a deal! and at 4 in the morning i didn't really care what we got.
Zaragoza turned out to be quite fun and we did a lot of walking once I woke up (at 11 can you believe it??) because we didn't have a map of the city and we figured we could walk around and find the center and the old buildings...little did we know how big of a city Zaragoza was. After wandering around in what turned out to be the complete wrong direction for 45 minutes we broke down and asked where a tourist office was where we could get a map. After hopping on a bus and walking around some more we finally found it and all the ruins. The old buildings were gorgeous and mostly included a bunch of churches...we saw at least 3 weddings! it was rather ridiculous. Other hightlights of the trip included an impromptu jazz concert, touring the local castle, and learning how to write in caligraphy! See pictures here: http://drexel.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039378&l=bce8f&id=10500847