Elizabeth Goodwin
Actualidad Económica Española
Profesor Rafael Escobedo
Trabajo final
03 mayo 2007
La economía de Asturias
La economía
La economía del Principado de Asturias está definida en cada uno de los tres sectores muy específicamente en una manera que distingue claramente las principales actividades, las cuales colocan la economía de Asturias en una posición única en España. En primer lugar, en el sector primario se ve manifiestamente que la alimentación, en particular la ganadería vacuna y la agricultura, mantienen un papel importante en la economía de esta región. Casi un cuarto de la alimentación de España viene de esa pequeña región. Por otro lado, en el sector secundario, que está compuesto de la siderurgia, las armas, química, y la metalurgia y fabricación de productos metálicos, asume un papel más importante en la región de lo que posee en España. Finalmente, si vemos al sector terciario de esta región, encontraremos que últimamente ha habido un aumento en el porcentaje de la economía que proviene de este sector porque se ha aumentado el número de turistas y, sobre todo, las empresas pequeñas de donde los servicios proceden.
Rasgos físicos y demográficos
El Principado de Asturias en una de las diecisiete Comunidades que desde a Constitución de 1978 integran España. En comparación con el resto de las comunidades autónomas, Asturias es relativamente pequeña, con solamente 10,571 Km2 de superficie, lo cual equivale a 2.09 % de España.
Aunque la población de esta región es pequeña (1,076,896 habitantes), la densidad de la región supera la del país entero por más de 10 hab/km2. En Asturias reside el 2,7 por ciento de la población del Estado Español. La región ha experimentado una caída del número de habitantes de un 0,96 por ciento en los últimos 10 años, a consecuencia de que el crecimiento natural de la población, tanto por número de nacimientos como por número de inmigrantes, ha disminuido a la vez.
En cambio, el numero de las defunciones no ha variado tanto, por lo cual resulta que la región va envejeciendo y ahora, los mayores de 65 años han logrado de ocupar 18,9 por ciento de la población de Asturias cuyo porcentaje es mayor en comparación con el de España, en la que los mayores solo ocupan 15,4 por ciento. Este alto número de individuos mayores es negativo para la economía de Asturias ya que una población envejecida hace que la productividad disminuya bastante.
Los tres sectores de la economía
Aunque los datos dan valores diferentes, los porcentajes de la población dedicada a cada sector son alrededor de un 11-12 por ciento trabajan en el sector primario, un 30-33 por ciento trabajan en el sector secundario, y un 56-58 por ciento trabajan en el sector terciario. En la tabla 1 , se observan las agrupaciones de cada actividad que más contribuyen a la economía de Asturias de cada sector.
Tabla 1. Evolución de las inversiones netas, según ramas de actividad
Unidades: miles de euros
Ramas (R65) 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Total industria 532.269 1.063.009 672.596-¡675.420¡ 587.928
4 Extracción de carbones minerales 41.050 47.007 52.894 52.926 46.838
9 Industrias cárnicas 912 2.335 4.550 6.046 4.151
10 Industrias lácteas 14.626 34.695 26.508 25.597 22.052
11 Industrias de otros productos alimenticios 7.093 18.244 10.630 10.203 17.699
22 Productos de caucho y materias plásticas 5.060 3.913 2.771 1.276 19.035
23 Otros productos minerales no metálicos 32.291 67.599 59.908 197.701 92.939
24 Metalurgia 194.991 252.496 156.073 97.867 59.544
El sector primario
Las mayores actividades del sector primario son la ganadería, la agricultura, que produce sobre todo manzanas, la pesca, y la minería, en particular, la minería de carbón. La ganadería trata de los productos que provienen de los animales, por ejemplo las lácteas y cárnicas vacuna, los cuales han disminuido en los últimos años.
La agricultura de Asturias se caracteriza por ser una explotación de la tierra en parcelas muy pequeñas y poco productivas (solo el 3 por ciento de su superficie es tierra de cultivo) y que existe una falta de diversificación del sector agrícola. Por otro lado, el numero de trabajadores del campo ha ido creciendo mientras la tierra disponible no ha aumentado. Esto hace que haya más gente cuya economía depende de este pequeño sector de la industria.
La minería es otro de los elementos del sector primario que, en Asturias, ha sido uno de los principales motores de la economía. Sin embargo, actualmente ya no tiene la importancia económica de hace unos años. La minería es la obtención selectiva de minerales y otros materiales a partir de la corteza terrestre, este también corresponde a la actividad económica primaria relacionada con la extracción de elementos y ha sido una las fuentes principales de beneficio económico. Dependiendo en el tipo de material a extraer y beneficiar, la minería se divide en metálica y no metálica.
Los elementos o minerales que se extraen comúnmente, de acuerdo a su clasificación extractiva son, para los metálicos: el aluminio, el hierro, el oro, la plata, el titanio, el plomo, la blenda, el cobre, el platino, el uranio, el manganeso, el magnesio, el níquel y el cinc; y para los no metálicos: el carbón, los diamantes, el fosfato, la sal, el boro y el azufre. Carbón es el elemento esencial porque es una de las principales fuentes de energia y además, de el se puede fabricar productos que son empleados en una variedad de otras actividades, por ejemplo del carbón se fabrican plásticos.
El sector secundario
El sector secundario se compone de la producción o elaboración de lo que se obtiene del sector primario, que son los elementos crudos. Según la tabla 2, en el sector secundario la alimentación toma el papel más importante en la región porque se cultiva casi un cuarto de la alimentación del país entero. Además de la alimentación, como se observa en la tabla 2, la metalurgia y fabricación de productos metálicos supone más de un cuarto de la producción total de España. No obstante, este sector ha adquirido un papel cada vez más importante en la región de Asturias ya que es la actividad profesional del 30 por ciento de la población activa. En la tabla 1 se observaba que la industria de la alimentación ha progresado en los últimos años pero la metalurgia ha caído en su valor económico últimamente. De todos modos, la metalurgia mantiene su importancia en Asturias y España, y el desarrollo de la producción de productos minerales no metálicos diversos va creciendo. Por otro lado, la siderurgia es un gran parte del sector secundario que contribuye de manera notable a la economía asturiana. El presidente del Principado de Asturias ha expresado su confianza en las posibilidades de futuro de la siderurgia. Ha dicho que debe actuar «como buque insignia que nos ayude a promover la innovación. »
Tabla 2. Distribución del número de ocupados por agrupaciones de actividad en Asturias y España
Nº de Agrupaciones de actividad ocupados Asturias España
% %
Total industria 62.249 100,00 100,00
1 Industrias extractivas y del petróleo 6.289 10,10 1,85
2 Alimentación, bebidas y tabaco 8.131 13,06 14,71
3 Industria textil, confección, cuero y calzado 1.337 2,15 8,82
4 Madera y corcho 1.757 2,82 3,70
5 Papel, edición, artes gráficas y reproducción de soportes grabados 2.774 4,46 7,54
6 Industria química 2.432 3,91 5,20
7 Caucho y materias plásticas 1.105 1,78 4,53
8 Productos minerales no metálicos diversos 4.311 6,93 7,45
9 Metalurgia y fabricación de productos metálicos 20.175 32,41 16,42
10 Maquinaria y equipo mecánico 5.397 8,67 7,24
11 Material y equipo eléctrico, electrónico y óptico 1.683 2,70 5,54
12 Material de transporte 2.759 4,43 8,09
13 Industrias manufactureras diversas 1.919 3,08 6,50
14 Energía y agua 2.180 3,50 2,42
Otro factor en el sector secundario es la producción de fármacos, específicamente la de los laboratorios Bayer. Este laboratorio es una instalación de Bayer HealthCare localizada en La Felguera, pequeña población del Principado de Asturias y en la que se elaboran tres tipos de ácido para poder producir varios tipos de Aspirina. En Asturias se produce el 85 por ciento del ácido en que la Aspirina está basada.
El sector terciario
El sector terciario está compuesto de los bienes inmateriales, por ejemplo los servicios del transporte y de comercio. Aunque la población permanente de Asturias ha experimentado un descenso en los últimos años, el porcentaje de la gente que trabaja en el sector terciario va en aumento, y esto hace que la concentración de la población sea principalmente en los centros urbanos, como Oviedo, Avilés, y Gijón. La periferia de la región está poca poblada y la gente se inclina vivir en las ciudades que están cerca de las playas o no son montañosas. En el área central de la región se concentra 80 por ciento de la población donde la agricultura escasea y el sector de servios está bien desarrollado. En esas grandes ciudades de la región es donde también coexisten las zonas mineras y siderúrgicas. También, la importancia que el turismo ha alcanzado recientemente, ha añadido una fuerza de trabajo al sector terciario.
Otro elemento de este sector es la construcción de los ferrocarriles, los primeros imitan a los primitivos ferrocarriles arrastrados por caballerías que, desde la tercera década del siglo XIX, ya se empezaron a usar para transportes de las minas. Ahora han construido vías para los trenes de alta velocidad hasta Barcelona. En 1884, empezaron la construcción de ferrocarriles que supuso la ruptura definitiva del aislamiento de Asturias, y la que abriría sus minas, puertos, e industria al resto de país. Los ferrocarriles van creciendo en importancia cada año más todavía.
Otras industrias importantes
Otro sector secundario de la industria que va teniendo una mayor importancia para el crecimiento de la economía, aunque todavía no merece un papel de mucha importancia por los pocos años que lleva de desarrollo, es la construcción. En toda España, el año 2004 fue uno de aumento en construcción, pero en Asturias sintieron un avance del 2,7 por ciento en la construcción no por la necesidad demográfica siono por otras causas. Una de estas causas, podría ser el aumento del el sector del turismo en la región, que conlleva la necesidad de construir edificios para albergar a los turistas.
Una industria que se relaciona tanto con el sector primario como con el terciario es la pesca. Desde hace pocos años, se ha revivido como una ocupación profesional ser pescador. Históricamente la pesca tuvo en papel muy importante en la economía de Asturias y el puerto de Gijón va recuperando esta posición cada año.
Conclusiones
El Principado de Asturias tiene una economía importante en relación con la de España por la metalurgia y la alimentación. Es una economía que ha sido creciendo pero con el alto nivel del envejecimiento y la disminución de los nacimientos, rasgo común de todo las regiones en España, ahora está manteniendo una posición más o menos fija.
Bibliografía
Asturias. 2007. (http://web2006.idepa.es/doc/PRENSA_EXPANSION.pdf)
Asturias pierde peso en la economía española, 05/05/2007, Fuente de información: ElComercioDigital
(http://www.asturiasnatural.com/articulo380.html)
Baquedano, Susana. 29/04/2007. El número de empresas asturiansa del metal crece un 17,5%..., http://www.elcomerciodigital.com/prensa/20070429/economia/numero-empresas- asturianas-metal_20070429.html)
Castaño, Clara. El 85% de la fabricación de Aspirina se hace en Asturias. 14/04/2006. (http://www.websalud.com/articulo.html?xref=20060523salwsdfar_2&type=Tes &anchor=wsdfarntc)
Debilidades en la economía asturiana, 15/11/2006, Fuente de información: lne, (http://www.asturiasnatural.com/articulo907.html)
El Dato Comparativa. Instituto de Desarrollo Económico del Principado de Asturias.
El Principado de Asturias en la Comunidad Económica Europea. (http://europa.eu.int/spain/publicaciones/ccaa/1999/asturias/Asturias.html#Prologo)
Gijón, Ferrocarriles Portuarios. 15/10/2006. (http://www.puertogijon.es/index.asp?TR=C&IDR=808)
Gijón, Pesca y conserva. 25/02/2006. (http://www.puertogijon.es/index.asp?TR=C&IDR=808)
Índice de Precios de Consumo (IPC). 03/2007. (http://sadei.es/)
Vallina, Jaime Izquierdo. Desarrollo Rural de la Consejería de Medio Rural y Pesca.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Monday, April 30, 2007
Para aprender un idioma
The Navigator dijo...
And please tell me you can still speak English...please.
April 30, 2007 1:53 AM
Lizzy G. dijo
UN POCO....Un poco...jeje!
Este fin de semana he intentado pensar, escribir, leer, y escuchar a música solomente (aunque ha sido realmente solo la mayoría del tiempo) en esapañol y creo que me ha ayudado mucho. He cumplido milliones de ejercicios en mi cuaderno de español, he leido mucho sobre la temporado de la Restauración el la historía contemporanea de España, y he escrito paginas sobre la economía actual que hay en España y en la que tendré un examen el jueves. Además he escuchado a la música solomente en Español o con la que no tiene palabras. Te digo que he escrito también unos correos en íngles pero ni eran muchos ni muy extensivos. ¡Me quede aquí solo tres semanas más y quiero aprovechar mi tiempo en esta tierra donde se habla Español!
And please tell me you can still speak English...please.
April 30, 2007 1:53 AM
Lizzy G. dijo
UN POCO....Un poco...jeje!
Este fin de semana he intentado pensar, escribir, leer, y escuchar a música solomente (aunque ha sido realmente solo la mayoría del tiempo) en esapañol y creo que me ha ayudado mucho. He cumplido milliones de ejercicios en mi cuaderno de español, he leido mucho sobre la temporado de la Restauración el la historía contemporanea de España, y he escrito paginas sobre la economía actual que hay en España y en la que tendré un examen el jueves. Además he escuchado a la música solomente en Español o con la que no tiene palabras. Te digo que he escrito también unos correos en íngles pero ni eran muchos ni muy extensivos. ¡Me quede aquí solo tres semanas más y quiero aprovechar mi tiempo en esta tierra donde se habla Español!
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Trabajo en Traducción
Como… hacer “footing”
Guy Browning
Sábado, 30 enero 2006
La Guardia – Revista del fin de semana
Hacer “footing” es un deporte de riesgo, sin el riesgo y sin deporte. Se considera como un riesgo solo si tu deporte normal es pasear. El hacer “footing” para los humanos es igual que el medio galope para los caballos; ni es andar, ni correr, es simplemente moverse con mas empeño. Sin embargo los caballos no tienen la necesitad de llevar ropa transpirable para correr.
A mucha gente no le gusta hacer “footing” porque lo encuentra aburrido. Heavy metal es aburrido si lo escuchas muy silenciosamente. Hacer “footing,” como Heavy metal, se hace interesante solo cuando esta hecho con una intensidad que amenaza con estallar algo vital del cuerpo (…) Técnicamente, tu velocidad de hacer “footing” puede llegar a ser inferior a la de tu velocidad de andar y tu puedes todavía estar haciendo “footing” siempre y cuando mantengas tus codos separados de tu cuerpo.
Estirarse es vital antes de hace “footing.” Estirar la verdad es lo primero que hay que hacer cuando le cuentas a todo el mundo lo lejos que vas a ir (…) Es necesario para hacer “footing” que los zapatos sean buenos, especialmente el par que llevas cuando te pateas las tiendas comprando todo tu imprescindible equipo de primera clase para hacer “footing.”
Cuanto más te vistes como un ciclista, mas lento eres como corredor. Si te encuentras a ti mismo llevando un casco, mas te valdría coger el autobús Nunca llames a un corredor genuino corredor de “footing.” Un corredor de “footing” se convierte en corredor cuando la ropa que usa para hacer deporte les cubre menos que la ropa interior que se quitaron al ponérsela.
Mucha gente elige llevar música consigo. En 1970 esto significaba 60 libras a la espalda, pero hoy en día puedes llevar un minúsculo aparato que contiene toda la música jamás compuesta. Como solo vas a correr seis minutos esto puede ser mas de lo que necesites. Mucha gente pierde mas tiempo programando su música que corriendo.
Guy Browning
Sábado, 30 enero 2006
La Guardia – Revista del fin de semana
Hacer “footing” es un deporte de riesgo, sin el riesgo y sin deporte. Se considera como un riesgo solo si tu deporte normal es pasear. El hacer “footing” para los humanos es igual que el medio galope para los caballos; ni es andar, ni correr, es simplemente moverse con mas empeño. Sin embargo los caballos no tienen la necesitad de llevar ropa transpirable para correr.
A mucha gente no le gusta hacer “footing” porque lo encuentra aburrido. Heavy metal es aburrido si lo escuchas muy silenciosamente. Hacer “footing,” como Heavy metal, se hace interesante solo cuando esta hecho con una intensidad que amenaza con estallar algo vital del cuerpo (…) Técnicamente, tu velocidad de hacer “footing” puede llegar a ser inferior a la de tu velocidad de andar y tu puedes todavía estar haciendo “footing” siempre y cuando mantengas tus codos separados de tu cuerpo.
Estirarse es vital antes de hace “footing.” Estirar la verdad es lo primero que hay que hacer cuando le cuentas a todo el mundo lo lejos que vas a ir (…) Es necesario para hacer “footing” que los zapatos sean buenos, especialmente el par que llevas cuando te pateas las tiendas comprando todo tu imprescindible equipo de primera clase para hacer “footing.”
Cuanto más te vistes como un ciclista, mas lento eres como corredor. Si te encuentras a ti mismo llevando un casco, mas te valdría coger el autobús Nunca llames a un corredor genuino corredor de “footing.” Un corredor de “footing” se convierte en corredor cuando la ropa que usa para hacer deporte les cubre menos que la ropa interior que se quitaron al ponérsela.
Mucha gente elige llevar música consigo. En 1970 esto significaba 60 libras a la espalda, pero hoy en día puedes llevar un minúsculo aparato que contiene toda la música jamás compuesta. Como solo vas a correr seis minutos esto puede ser mas de lo que necesites. Mucha gente pierde mas tiempo programando su música que corriendo.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
The Rain in Spain falls mainly on PAMPLONA!
I tell you, its crazy! I was just sweating as I walked up past the hermita to Our Lady of Fair Love to Pio XII where I had to run some errands. I came back down, studied for a while, change into my running clothes and headed back outside already running. I asked Encarnita if Icould leave my good ole´UCLA sweatshirt in the portería while I ran. She looked at me over the rims of her glasses as she stiched some fantasically intricate piece of baby clothing, smile and nodded yes as if to say "Yes, but this is the laaaaast time..."
As I ran out slowly staring at my iPod shuffle to get to the song about coming home to California after hacing caught a plane to Spain that I had just heard on my computer and inspired me to run, lightening flashes, instantly thunder claps, and my streched and wore out William and Mary basketball t-shirt turns into a natural mop! I perservered in my running back up the hill, making a u-ey at the clínica and cutting across the high path to campus. When my feet began slipping on the dirt path and the only other people who I saw running anywhere near me where certainly were not dressed as ones intending to run, I decided to turn back.
By that time, not only were my cloths sopping, but I began to worry about whether my poor little nano iPod blaring Boston´s "Peace of Mind" was water-proof. Wiping my nike watch, I looked at the time: 20:56.
I had been running for 8 minutes! I came back only because I was supposed to meet to run with Ana at 21:00, but for some reason she wasn´t interested in going. These Spaniards.... (just kidding!)
At least in California, one can reasonably guess when it is going to rain at least a few moments earlier. We don`t have this kind precipetous precipitation. I hope that you are all Californians. Though, that wouldn´t mean much, because I´m sure there are plenty in California who would disagree with me about our capabilities of weather forecasting...
As I ran out slowly staring at my iPod shuffle to get to the song about coming home to California after hacing caught a plane to Spain that I had just heard on my computer and inspired me to run, lightening flashes, instantly thunder claps, and my streched and wore out William and Mary basketball t-shirt turns into a natural mop! I perservered in my running back up the hill, making a u-ey at the clínica and cutting across the high path to campus. When my feet began slipping on the dirt path and the only other people who I saw running anywhere near me where certainly were not dressed as ones intending to run, I decided to turn back.
By that time, not only were my cloths sopping, but I began to worry about whether my poor little nano iPod blaring Boston´s "Peace of Mind" was water-proof. Wiping my nike watch, I looked at the time: 20:56.
I had been running for 8 minutes! I came back only because I was supposed to meet to run with Ana at 21:00, but for some reason she wasn´t interested in going. These Spaniards.... (just kidding!)
At least in California, one can reasonably guess when it is going to rain at least a few moments earlier. We don`t have this kind precipetous precipitation. I hope that you are all Californians. Though, that wouldn´t mean much, because I´m sure there are plenty in California who would disagree with me about our capabilities of weather forecasting...
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
The Present in Pamplona
Hello readers,
I´m back in Pamplona and it has been hard settling down here once again but now I have a lot to study so I kind of have to settle down!
Two days ago, I woke up and it was still gray outside so I put my tights and boots on again. When I went into the Oratory for the prayer and mass in the morning, I noticed that Agnes was not wearing dark tights nor boots. After the comida, I was so toasty that I was forced to go back to my room and remove the restricting tights once and for all and put on my chanclas, those are sandals. Since then, my tights and boots have not emerged from my drawer, not do I plan on having them emerge. Even if it is chilly in the mornings when I walk out with my sandals, I refuse to return to the tights because by noon, the sun is shining so brightly that I almost need to put on sun screen to walk around Pamplona! There are tons of dandelions blooming all over the lawns on campus and these other tiny little white flowers too. I like to cross the grass and stomp on them! I´m sorry Debbe, it´s true!
I think everyone in the Colegio gets a kick out of the fact that I have stripped the stockings. The first day that I did, María Fernanda caught me passing by and asked me, "¡O, pero que veraiega (there is some word that means "summery" I think)! ¿Sueles vestirte como así?" (Do you normally dress like this?) And I responded, "¿Como que?" Quickly she shot back with a smile "Tan fresca!?" This means, "Do you usually dress so lightly" or something to this effect.
Anyway, I think everyone more or less had a similar reaction to my chanclas. Just before we said the rosary last night, everyone started attacking me with English phrases like "ggghhhhello, tonight is the eengleez night!" and "You want..no.. We want....no.. I want to espeaka eenglees" and "Dees summer, we go to londres and sOOOO we need to practice eenglees!" And then Marianna said something in "Eengleez" that made everyone laugh and she started yelling "You don´t believe me? You don´t believe in me? Why don´t you believe in me?" I don´t know what she said or what she meant to say when she was asking whether or not we believed in her but we were all laughing so hard that it doesn´t really matter...
I´ve gotten a lot of grades back in my classes and the good news is that I´m doing well in all my classes! Even in History. On the last exam, I answered one question completely wrong but the professor still gave me credit. It´s because I confused the three groups who wrote the constition of 1812 and the three groups who fought in the civil war that occured about that time. But really, Spain has had over 12 consitutions in the recent history and I don´t know how many internal wars (no wonder they could never get involved with world wars) that its pretty awesome that I could remember any three groups pertaining to one of the consitutions or wars! No, I´m just making an excuse for my lack of study in that issue. I have another history exam tomorrow that I´ve already been studying for two days for! Woohoo!
Speaking of Spanish history, I was talking to Chris on Skype today when Inés came in the computer room and asked when he is coming to visit. I told her that he is coming on the 11th of May and she said, (I´ll just translate for you) "Oh too bad, he´ll just miss graduation on the 5th of May!" And then Chris reminded me that there is a celebration on May 5th for the Mexicans: when they became independent from Spain! I told Inés just to make sure she´s know that Chris wouldn´t be missing out on all the fun and to remind her of Spain´s loss in America (hehe), and she said "Yea, and Peru´s is the 29th of July...." I love how the Spanish are such realistic people. haha!
Tonight is the concurso for the cantautores, that means, people who write their own songs and play them and sing them. There is one girl from the Colegio here named Erika who is doing a song and she´s sung it for us here at the Colegio and it´s amazing.
I still haven´t told you about Valladolid and Madrid yet but I will soon. And right after I got back to Pamplona from Madrid, the Clarks came and we went to San Sebastian for a nice visit. And then, the last Sunday, I went with Monica Klem, a friend who visited from her UD campus in Rome and some of the girls from the Colegio, to Vitoria, which is the greenest city in Spain (literally) and in Pais-Vasco. It was beautiful, but I´ve had trouble uploading the pictures to my yahoo acount. Anyway, for now, I just have to concentrate on being here in Pamplona again. It´s good weather now but it´s still good old Pampie, as we, or maybe it´s just I, affectionately call it....
PS In a month from today, I come home to see you!
I´m back in Pamplona and it has been hard settling down here once again but now I have a lot to study so I kind of have to settle down!
Two days ago, I woke up and it was still gray outside so I put my tights and boots on again. When I went into the Oratory for the prayer and mass in the morning, I noticed that Agnes was not wearing dark tights nor boots. After the comida, I was so toasty that I was forced to go back to my room and remove the restricting tights once and for all and put on my chanclas, those are sandals. Since then, my tights and boots have not emerged from my drawer, not do I plan on having them emerge. Even if it is chilly in the mornings when I walk out with my sandals, I refuse to return to the tights because by noon, the sun is shining so brightly that I almost need to put on sun screen to walk around Pamplona! There are tons of dandelions blooming all over the lawns on campus and these other tiny little white flowers too. I like to cross the grass and stomp on them! I´m sorry Debbe, it´s true!
I think everyone in the Colegio gets a kick out of the fact that I have stripped the stockings. The first day that I did, María Fernanda caught me passing by and asked me, "¡O, pero que veraiega (there is some word that means "summery" I think)! ¿Sueles vestirte como así?" (Do you normally dress like this?) And I responded, "¿Como que?" Quickly she shot back with a smile "Tan fresca!?" This means, "Do you usually dress so lightly" or something to this effect.
Anyway, I think everyone more or less had a similar reaction to my chanclas. Just before we said the rosary last night, everyone started attacking me with English phrases like "ggghhhhello, tonight is the eengleez night!" and "You want..no.. We want....no.. I want to espeaka eenglees" and "Dees summer, we go to londres and sOOOO we need to practice eenglees!" And then Marianna said something in "Eengleez" that made everyone laugh and she started yelling "You don´t believe me? You don´t believe in me? Why don´t you believe in me?" I don´t know what she said or what she meant to say when she was asking whether or not we believed in her but we were all laughing so hard that it doesn´t really matter...
I´ve gotten a lot of grades back in my classes and the good news is that I´m doing well in all my classes! Even in History. On the last exam, I answered one question completely wrong but the professor still gave me credit. It´s because I confused the three groups who wrote the constition of 1812 and the three groups who fought in the civil war that occured about that time. But really, Spain has had over 12 consitutions in the recent history and I don´t know how many internal wars (no wonder they could never get involved with world wars) that its pretty awesome that I could remember any three groups pertaining to one of the consitutions or wars! No, I´m just making an excuse for my lack of study in that issue. I have another history exam tomorrow that I´ve already been studying for two days for! Woohoo!
Speaking of Spanish history, I was talking to Chris on Skype today when Inés came in the computer room and asked when he is coming to visit. I told her that he is coming on the 11th of May and she said, (I´ll just translate for you) "Oh too bad, he´ll just miss graduation on the 5th of May!" And then Chris reminded me that there is a celebration on May 5th for the Mexicans: when they became independent from Spain! I told Inés just to make sure she´s know that Chris wouldn´t be missing out on all the fun and to remind her of Spain´s loss in America (hehe), and she said "Yea, and Peru´s is the 29th of July...." I love how the Spanish are such realistic people. haha!
Tonight is the concurso for the cantautores, that means, people who write their own songs and play them and sing them. There is one girl from the Colegio here named Erika who is doing a song and she´s sung it for us here at the Colegio and it´s amazing.
I still haven´t told you about Valladolid and Madrid yet but I will soon. And right after I got back to Pamplona from Madrid, the Clarks came and we went to San Sebastian for a nice visit. And then, the last Sunday, I went with Monica Klem, a friend who visited from her UD campus in Rome and some of the girls from the Colegio, to Vitoria, which is the greenest city in Spain (literally) and in Pais-Vasco. It was beautiful, but I´ve had trouble uploading the pictures to my yahoo acount. Anyway, for now, I just have to concentrate on being here in Pamplona again. It´s good weather now but it´s still good old Pampie, as we, or maybe it´s just I, affectionately call it....
PS In a month from today, I come home to see you!
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Posting pictures
Amigos y amigas!
Me cuesta mucho tiempo subir mis fotos, como esa,
en mi blog. Por eso, si quieres ver algunas, me dices por correo en elizabeth.amanda.goodwin@gmail.com y te enviaré todos los libros que quieres. Son divididos igual como mis aventuras son divididas, ¿si?
An adventure from Madrid to Toledo
I am going to make this blog post more brief since I have been thinking, writing, reading, and speaking English far too much over the past two weeks of vacation. I have practically lost my Spanish soul entirely! I admire those who have adopted a language other than their native one to live by. This is a task of great exertion, strength of will and mind and heart and soul!
From Sevilla, I left Tuesday afternoon and was supposed to arrive in Madrid at a fairly reasonable hour of 12:00. Zipping along the Andalucian highway I was thinking about how good the traffic situation in Spain is and that, basically, its a perfect country. Then suddenly the highway stopped completely for an hour and a half: there was an accident. I got into the bus station at about 1:30 and to the hostal where Mrs. Clark and Lauren were staying with an extra bed at 2:00 am!
We got up bright an early at 7:00 to go to the tour bus place to get tickets to go to the Medieval town of Toledo, about an hour south of Madrid in Castillo- La Mancha that was a bit pricy but well worth it! Toledo was a beautiful town and most of all the incredible cathedral, that was built over hundreds and hundreds of years. You know, it takes a heck of a long time to upload photos to my blog, so if anyone is interested in seeing them, tell me and I will send you my yahoo photo albums. Or, just wait a month, I´ll be back, and I´ll really want to show them to you then to!
There was a lot of El Greco paintings in the Cathedral and the sacristy and we saw his famous painting in another Church nearby. I got some gifts and postcards around town too. Then the lunch was included in the tour so we went up to this isolated restuarant where the food was not bad, the marzapan cost 1 euro each little piece, and we were serenaded by.... MARIACHIS!?! If only it hadn´t been raining, I would have thought I was in So Cal in that restaurant! But after lunch, we went up to see a panoramic view of the city, which was just phenomenal. Its surrounded by a large river, like a huge moat. And the city itself if up on the cliff, where the river is below.
We came down to go to a steel factory, which Toledo is known for and we saw demonstrations of some workers carefully imbuing some steel with gold lining and welding the hot metal. That was cool! There were a lot of swords and armor all over the whole city but especially here in this factory. I didn´t buy my brothers any armaments, but Lauren and I took some funny pictures for them. Next door, there was a store called "Wine, Steel, and Cheese" or something to this effect and I wanted to go in there to look for a gift for my Mom, but it was closed.
We came back to Madrid, met up with some of the Clarks friends from Germany and went to dinner. Then I took off to an internet cafe to write to you, my dear readers. I slept in a hostal room by myself that night in Madrid and it was quite cozy. The next morning, I woke up and wondered down past the Puerta del Sol in Madrid, past the Plaza Mayor, to the Plaza San Miguel, where the Basilica of San Miguel is, where there are priests of the Work. I took some pictures of the pasos then: they were really beatiful in that Church especially.
I caught the bus to Valladolid at noon and that is another adventure I will tell you about in my next blog!
From Sevilla, I left Tuesday afternoon and was supposed to arrive in Madrid at a fairly reasonable hour of 12:00. Zipping along the Andalucian highway I was thinking about how good the traffic situation in Spain is and that, basically, its a perfect country. Then suddenly the highway stopped completely for an hour and a half: there was an accident. I got into the bus station at about 1:30 and to the hostal where Mrs. Clark and Lauren were staying with an extra bed at 2:00 am!
We got up bright an early at 7:00 to go to the tour bus place to get tickets to go to the Medieval town of Toledo, about an hour south of Madrid in Castillo- La Mancha that was a bit pricy but well worth it! Toledo was a beautiful town and most of all the incredible cathedral, that was built over hundreds and hundreds of years. You know, it takes a heck of a long time to upload photos to my blog, so if anyone is interested in seeing them, tell me and I will send you my yahoo photo albums. Or, just wait a month, I´ll be back, and I´ll really want to show them to you then to!
There was a lot of El Greco paintings in the Cathedral and the sacristy and we saw his famous painting in another Church nearby. I got some gifts and postcards around town too. Then the lunch was included in the tour so we went up to this isolated restuarant where the food was not bad, the marzapan cost 1 euro each little piece, and we were serenaded by.... MARIACHIS!?! If only it hadn´t been raining, I would have thought I was in So Cal in that restaurant! But after lunch, we went up to see a panoramic view of the city, which was just phenomenal. Its surrounded by a large river, like a huge moat. And the city itself if up on the cliff, where the river is below.
We came down to go to a steel factory, which Toledo is known for and we saw demonstrations of some workers carefully imbuing some steel with gold lining and welding the hot metal. That was cool! There were a lot of swords and armor all over the whole city but especially here in this factory. I didn´t buy my brothers any armaments, but Lauren and I took some funny pictures for them. Next door, there was a store called "Wine, Steel, and Cheese" or something to this effect and I wanted to go in there to look for a gift for my Mom, but it was closed.
We came back to Madrid, met up with some of the Clarks friends from Germany and went to dinner. Then I took off to an internet cafe to write to you, my dear readers. I slept in a hostal room by myself that night in Madrid and it was quite cozy. The next morning, I woke up and wondered down past the Puerta del Sol in Madrid, past the Plaza Mayor, to the Plaza San Miguel, where the Basilica of San Miguel is, where there are priests of the Work. I took some pictures of the pasos then: they were really beatiful in that Church especially.
I caught the bus to Valladolid at noon and that is another adventure I will tell you about in my next blog!
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Semana Santa in Sevilla and then onto el Capital!!
I don´t want to spend a lot of time on my blog now because I have not yet finished with my travels this Easter vacation, but I just wanted to jot down a few things so that you can know where I am and so that I don´t forget where I´ve been!
I got into Sevilla on Monday morning after the night-long bus to Sevilla. I wandered around the city with my huge luggage quite a bit trying to meet up with Jessica Gutierrez before she jumped on a train to Madrid, but to no avail. I eneded up in the internet cafe where I last wrote an entry on my blog.
After that, I found my way to the hostal where I thought I would be staying with some friends, but it turns out, that though they had invited me to come, told me the address and the days they would be there, they had neglected to reserve me a spot. O goodness, and semana santa in Sevilla is jam packed with people so I knew that I wouldn´t have much luck if I looked elsewhere. Luckily, one of my friends from the Colegio was gracious enough to take me in for the night. She´s Aurea and she´s a supernumerary like me!
After I had lunch with my absent-minded friends, I wandered through the city looking for an open church to do my prayer. Amazingly enough, even though there are about 500 million churches in every city in Spain, it´s somewhat of a challenge to find one that´s open if it´s not mass- time (usually 12 or 6 or later). I finally found one in Plaza San Lorenzo, which also happend to be the Church where the paso of the Gran Poder was kept. There was another humongeous line of humanity waiting to go and kiss his hand!
After that I met up with Aurea for mass in a church that was on the street where a paso of our Lady was passing by. There were so many people we could barely push our way through to get to mass on time! Then Aurea´s friend Esperanza and her cousin and another friend Pilar met up with us to see the pasos for the night. Esperanza knew exactly where every paso was passing (no pun intended) and at what time it was passing so we dart around the crowed streets seeing these amazing processions! I will put some pictures up as soon as I can!
The next day, Aurea and I had a delicious desayuno (the Andalucian pistañes are the best I´ve tried yet!) went to mass at 12 (that´s when life really begins in Spain .. hehe just a joke) and then she dropped me off back with my absent-minded friends. I had left my bag in the hostal for the night because it would have been too crazy to try and pick it up with all the people. So I despididod a my absent-minded amigos and headed to a center called Entrepuentes to do my prayer and go to circle. I talked with a friend who I had met in Pamplona in Zudaire at the International dinner named Lolita! It was a funny coincidence to see her again! There was another supernumerary in the circle who was working in Madrid and so they gave me the map of the hotel where I was going to meet Mrs. Clark and of the Basilica of San Miguel´s, which is a church that the priests of Opus Dei take care of because I wanted to go to confession there. That´s an amazing church and I´ll put pictures up of their pasos soon because I was just there again this morning!
After Sevilla, I went to Madrid and met Mrs. Clark and Lauren and we went to Toledo for the day! Then I went to Valladolid to visit Mercedes, my old roomie from Westfield. I will write more about these days because they were great and because I want to show you my pictures. Now I´ve left Valladolid and come back to Madrid to visit Irina! It sounds like she has done even more travelling than I have recently. She just just got back from driving through France, Monaco, and Italy. Today after we had the desayuno, I went into the city by myself for mass and exploring. I like Madrid a lot and it is a very beautiful city. I walked along the Calle Mayor and Calle Alcalá and saw tons of grat edificios. And then at the Plaza Cireles, I caught the 27 bus up Paseo Castellana to find the center where I´m going tonight for circle. That was like taking a tour bus of Madrid (but my only guide was the good bus driver who helped me find 124).
Now I´m back in Gatafe and Irina´s in class. When she gets out will head back to the city, where she wants to show me the Parque of Buen Retiro (I think)! I´ll write about the adventures in between Sevilla and Madrid soon.
I got into Sevilla on Monday morning after the night-long bus to Sevilla. I wandered around the city with my huge luggage quite a bit trying to meet up with Jessica Gutierrez before she jumped on a train to Madrid, but to no avail. I eneded up in the internet cafe where I last wrote an entry on my blog.
After that, I found my way to the hostal where I thought I would be staying with some friends, but it turns out, that though they had invited me to come, told me the address and the days they would be there, they had neglected to reserve me a spot. O goodness, and semana santa in Sevilla is jam packed with people so I knew that I wouldn´t have much luck if I looked elsewhere. Luckily, one of my friends from the Colegio was gracious enough to take me in for the night. She´s Aurea and she´s a supernumerary like me!
After I had lunch with my absent-minded friends, I wandered through the city looking for an open church to do my prayer. Amazingly enough, even though there are about 500 million churches in every city in Spain, it´s somewhat of a challenge to find one that´s open if it´s not mass- time (usually 12 or 6 or later). I finally found one in Plaza San Lorenzo, which also happend to be the Church where the paso of the Gran Poder was kept. There was another humongeous line of humanity waiting to go and kiss his hand!
After that I met up with Aurea for mass in a church that was on the street where a paso of our Lady was passing by. There were so many people we could barely push our way through to get to mass on time! Then Aurea´s friend Esperanza and her cousin and another friend Pilar met up with us to see the pasos for the night. Esperanza knew exactly where every paso was passing (no pun intended) and at what time it was passing so we dart around the crowed streets seeing these amazing processions! I will put some pictures up as soon as I can!
The next day, Aurea and I had a delicious desayuno (the Andalucian pistañes are the best I´ve tried yet!) went to mass at 12 (that´s when life really begins in Spain .. hehe just a joke) and then she dropped me off back with my absent-minded friends. I had left my bag in the hostal for the night because it would have been too crazy to try and pick it up with all the people. So I despididod a my absent-minded amigos and headed to a center called Entrepuentes to do my prayer and go to circle. I talked with a friend who I had met in Pamplona in Zudaire at the International dinner named Lolita! It was a funny coincidence to see her again! There was another supernumerary in the circle who was working in Madrid and so they gave me the map of the hotel where I was going to meet Mrs. Clark and of the Basilica of San Miguel´s, which is a church that the priests of Opus Dei take care of because I wanted to go to confession there. That´s an amazing church and I´ll put pictures up of their pasos soon because I was just there again this morning!
After Sevilla, I went to Madrid and met Mrs. Clark and Lauren and we went to Toledo for the day! Then I went to Valladolid to visit Mercedes, my old roomie from Westfield. I will write more about these days because they were great and because I want to show you my pictures. Now I´ve left Valladolid and come back to Madrid to visit Irina! It sounds like she has done even more travelling than I have recently. She just just got back from driving through France, Monaco, and Italy. Today after we had the desayuno, I went into the city by myself for mass and exploring. I like Madrid a lot and it is a very beautiful city. I walked along the Calle Mayor and Calle Alcalá and saw tons of grat edificios. And then at the Plaza Cireles, I caught the 27 bus up Paseo Castellana to find the center where I´m going tonight for circle. That was like taking a tour bus of Madrid (but my only guide was the good bus driver who helped me find 124).
Now I´m back in Gatafe and Irina´s in class. When she gets out will head back to the city, where she wants to show me the Parque of Buen Retiro (I think)! I´ll write about the adventures in between Sevilla and Madrid soon.
Monday, April 2, 2007
I was in Alicante with Meg
Monica dijo...
I was at Mass in St. Peter's square on Palm Sunday and saw the elaborate palms you are talking about. Pretty neat- and some of them were huge! I was pretty close... And we saw the pope again today- even closer!! Wish you were here... but see you soon!
April 2, 2007 3:47 PM
LIZ DIJO:
Hey hey! That´s awesome! The palms were spectalcular in Elche and I bet in Rome they were too. I forgot mention that we went into the basilica at Elche and among many chapels, there was a statue of St. Josemaria there! And below there was spot for his prayer cards in about 10 different languages.
On Friday night, I left rainy Pamplona at 11:00 pm on a bus that was to arrive in Alicante at 8:30 in the morning. We were supposed to leave at 10:30 so I thought that the bus would arrive at half hour late too, at 9:00. So I hopped on the bus, wrote Meg a text message that I´d be late, but in my industrial ear`-plugs that I use to sleep at Goimendi, and fell asleep at 12:30 or so. At 1:00 I was awaken by the whole bus stampeding off to the bus stop for a 20 minute break. It surprised me that even though we had left late we were taking such a lengthy stop. Anyway, we got back on the bus and managed to fall asleep again while listening to Phillip Glass´s Mad Rush, a 13 minute piano solo of the minimalist composer. At 3:00 I awoke with a jolt as the bus pulled into another stop and the driver announced we´d be here for a half hour!! I was totally disoriented and I got up from my seat and went straight up the driver and asked him whether "el bus suele para tantas veces cuando sale tarde?" (if the bus usually stops so many times when we leave late). He assured me that we´d arrive in Alicante on time.
So we drove again and at 7:15 am the chatty lady next to me woke me up by claiming that we had just passed the Alicante bus station! Somehow we managed figure out that we would be going back and when I got up to look for my paraguas (umbrella), I couldn´t find it anywhere. She likewise helped me to search and we were dumbfounded about where it could be. Then her helpful sister in law sitting in the seat in front was enlisted in the search and suddenly she thought to look in her bag. And, low and behold, my umbrella had somehow found its way into her bag!
By the time I figured out about my precious umbrella (so desperatly needed in Pamplona), I was so relieved that I just got off the bus and called Meg that I was here and hour and half early! And in Spain, 7:30 is REALLY early. It´s almost an embarrassing time to do anything but sleep (unless your in the Work....hehe). I totally forgot my bag in the bus and didn´t realize until it was well on it´s way to Torrevieja. Meg came and got me and the lady at the bus stop just told me to keep calling all day and they would get my bag back to me.
So then we went and had the desayuno and cafe with host parents who are very gracious and kind. And the host mother is a very good cook, I don´t know if that blurred my vision about their graciousness, or actually, they probably go hand in hand! Anyway, then we went out hiking up the montaña up to an old Castillo that overlooks the whole city. We were hiking steadily but talking faster than we could intake the appropriate amount of oxygen so we paused a number of times to take pictures that I will post soon. Or, maybe Meg has already posted some on her blog: www.meginalicante.blogspot.com.
And, as many of you know, it is a challenge for me to talk and walk at the same time, so sometimes, if we started talking about something that takes a lot of mental energy, we would just have to sit for a while and discuss. There were even some public benches for lying down and sunbathing on! We only took funny pictures there, I promise you that we did not even think about wasting our time sunbathing...
Then we headed back down through the barrio, passed the public aquarium that is like a big fish tank in the middle of the city, to the Church of Gracia Divina for mass at noon. Then we went for a walk by the beautiful beach where there was an awesome sand scultpture of the Pieta. I took a picture of it, but only from the side behind a palm tree so that I wouldn´t have to pay. Oh shoot, now I´ve told you everything!
Anway, then we found out the the center of Opus Dei was really near her house so after a delicious comida with her house parents, we headed over there for benediction. It was a cool little piso right about a little parish nestled among the residences. Everyone there wanted to practice their Enlgish with us!
And now, I don´t have enough time to write about our awesome Palm SUnday in the awesome capital of palms in Spain, and I think in the world! At least that is what Meg´s host dad told us: they send these palms everywhere, including to Pope Benedict to use in his processions. There were incredible and intricatly designed palms and tons of people. THere was one paso that came out, Jesus riding on the donkey triumphant into Jerusalem. It was interested to see that even the mayor of the town was a prominent figure in the procession. It is remeniscent of how Spain used to be a confessionalist country I think.
Later yesterday evening, Meg and I went to mass back in Alicante and then saw three more pasos going through Alicante that were beautiful! Then we had a cafe and went pack so I could pack to take another night bus to Sevilla. That´s where I am now and I will be here until tomorrow, when I will take another bus to Madrid to meet Mrs. Clark (Meg´s mom) and Lauren for the day. I´m going to post pictures of Meg and I´s (?) visit as soon as I get to a computer that I can. Oh, I got my bag back in Alicante at 8:00 pm when the bus was returning from Torrevieja. Today, I asked my guardian angel to especially help me to remember it when I arrived in Sevilla. Gues what? I walked up the escalator and almost out the door of the train station before I remembered! Luckily the bus was parked there for a while, so I have my big fat bag with me now!
I was at Mass in St. Peter's square on Palm Sunday and saw the elaborate palms you are talking about. Pretty neat- and some of them were huge! I was pretty close... And we saw the pope again today- even closer!! Wish you were here... but see you soon!
April 2, 2007 3:47 PM
LIZ DIJO:
Hey hey! That´s awesome! The palms were spectalcular in Elche and I bet in Rome they were too. I forgot mention that we went into the basilica at Elche and among many chapels, there was a statue of St. Josemaria there! And below there was spot for his prayer cards in about 10 different languages.
On Friday night, I left rainy Pamplona at 11:00 pm on a bus that was to arrive in Alicante at 8:30 in the morning. We were supposed to leave at 10:30 so I thought that the bus would arrive at half hour late too, at 9:00. So I hopped on the bus, wrote Meg a text message that I´d be late, but in my industrial ear`-plugs that I use to sleep at Goimendi, and fell asleep at 12:30 or so. At 1:00 I was awaken by the whole bus stampeding off to the bus stop for a 20 minute break. It surprised me that even though we had left late we were taking such a lengthy stop. Anyway, we got back on the bus and managed to fall asleep again while listening to Phillip Glass´s Mad Rush, a 13 minute piano solo of the minimalist composer. At 3:00 I awoke with a jolt as the bus pulled into another stop and the driver announced we´d be here for a half hour!! I was totally disoriented and I got up from my seat and went straight up the driver and asked him whether "el bus suele para tantas veces cuando sale tarde?" (if the bus usually stops so many times when we leave late). He assured me that we´d arrive in Alicante on time.
So we drove again and at 7:15 am the chatty lady next to me woke me up by claiming that we had just passed the Alicante bus station! Somehow we managed figure out that we would be going back and when I got up to look for my paraguas (umbrella), I couldn´t find it anywhere. She likewise helped me to search and we were dumbfounded about where it could be. Then her helpful sister in law sitting in the seat in front was enlisted in the search and suddenly she thought to look in her bag. And, low and behold, my umbrella had somehow found its way into her bag!
By the time I figured out about my precious umbrella (so desperatly needed in Pamplona), I was so relieved that I just got off the bus and called Meg that I was here and hour and half early! And in Spain, 7:30 is REALLY early. It´s almost an embarrassing time to do anything but sleep (unless your in the Work....hehe). I totally forgot my bag in the bus and didn´t realize until it was well on it´s way to Torrevieja. Meg came and got me and the lady at the bus stop just told me to keep calling all day and they would get my bag back to me.
So then we went and had the desayuno and cafe with host parents who are very gracious and kind. And the host mother is a very good cook, I don´t know if that blurred my vision about their graciousness, or actually, they probably go hand in hand! Anyway, then we went out hiking up the montaña up to an old Castillo that overlooks the whole city. We were hiking steadily but talking faster than we could intake the appropriate amount of oxygen so we paused a number of times to take pictures that I will post soon. Or, maybe Meg has already posted some on her blog: www.meginalicante.blogspot.com.
And, as many of you know, it is a challenge for me to talk and walk at the same time, so sometimes, if we started talking about something that takes a lot of mental energy, we would just have to sit for a while and discuss. There were even some public benches for lying down and sunbathing on! We only took funny pictures there, I promise you that we did not even think about wasting our time sunbathing...
Then we headed back down through the barrio, passed the public aquarium that is like a big fish tank in the middle of the city, to the Church of Gracia Divina for mass at noon. Then we went for a walk by the beautiful beach where there was an awesome sand scultpture of the Pieta. I took a picture of it, but only from the side behind a palm tree so that I wouldn´t have to pay. Oh shoot, now I´ve told you everything!
Anway, then we found out the the center of Opus Dei was really near her house so after a delicious comida with her house parents, we headed over there for benediction. It was a cool little piso right about a little parish nestled among the residences. Everyone there wanted to practice their Enlgish with us!
And now, I don´t have enough time to write about our awesome Palm SUnday in the awesome capital of palms in Spain, and I think in the world! At least that is what Meg´s host dad told us: they send these palms everywhere, including to Pope Benedict to use in his processions. There were incredible and intricatly designed palms and tons of people. THere was one paso that came out, Jesus riding on the donkey triumphant into Jerusalem. It was interested to see that even the mayor of the town was a prominent figure in the procession. It is remeniscent of how Spain used to be a confessionalist country I think.
Later yesterday evening, Meg and I went to mass back in Alicante and then saw three more pasos going through Alicante that were beautiful! Then we had a cafe and went pack so I could pack to take another night bus to Sevilla. That´s where I am now and I will be here until tomorrow, when I will take another bus to Madrid to meet Mrs. Clark (Meg´s mom) and Lauren for the day. I´m going to post pictures of Meg and I´s (?) visit as soon as I get to a computer that I can. Oh, I got my bag back in Alicante at 8:00 pm when the bus was returning from Torrevieja. Today, I asked my guardian angel to especially help me to remember it when I arrived in Sevilla. Gues what? I walked up the escalator and almost out the door of the train station before I remembered! Luckily the bus was parked there for a while, so I have my big fat bag with me now!
Friday, March 30, 2007
Barcelona, Zaragoza, and back to Pamplona!
My parents just came to Spain for the first time this past weekend! My Dad had a meeting in Barcelona that just happened to fall on my 21st birthday!! So I went to visit them there and it
was a beautiful city and we had a great time, although it was short. My Mom and I had time to go to mass in the Cathedral before they closed it for the day at 1:00 o´clock, then we ran to the Park Guell and see the whole city from the top of the trail of the Three Crosses and the awesome Guadi art. And then we went to see Sagrada Familia,
but only from the outside. It was pretty fantastic and I took pictures of the different scenes of the life of Christ depectied all over the facade very intricately. It´s still in construction, since 1908! We celebrated my birthday at a very nice cena organized for the doctors in Las Damas, a very fine restaurant that served us about 8 courses, including sea urchins!!
was a beautiful city and we had a great time, although it was short. My Mom and I had time to go to mass in the Cathedral before they closed it for the day at 1:00 o´clock, then we ran to the Park Guell and see the whole city from the top of the trail of the Three Crosses and the awesome Guadi art. And then we went to see Sagrada Familia,
but only from the outside. It was pretty fantastic and I took pictures of the different scenes of the life of Christ depectied all over the facade very intricately. It´s still in construction, since 1908! We celebrated my birthday at a very nice cena organized for the doctors in Las Damas, a very fine restaurant that served us about 8 courses, including sea urchins!! 
Then we drove back through Cataluyna, Aragon, and Navarra to Pamplona. It took 6 hours
across the Spanish countryside and it was a lot of fun. Stopping in Lleidre for lunch, we then past the Greenwhich Meridian, among many other things.We also stopped in Zaragoza to see our Lady of Pilar, the patroness of Spain! She is tiny and so be
autiful! I´m sorry that I can´t think of any other English adverbs to describe things right now. But we arrived in the Basilica of Our Lady just at the time that the
sister of the King of Spain was giving her flowers so there was a big celebration going on. There were bagpipes and music and dancing outside in the Plaza as they processed out. Zaragoza is the only city in Spain that has two big churches, and they are right next to each other! The Plaza of the Basilica and the Cathedral is trmendous. I have wonderful (new adjective: you like?) pictures that I will post asap!In Pamplona we had a lot of fun too. I took them to places that the girls at the Colegio recommended me, like the Mirador by the Cathedral, where I had never been before. We could see the whole city.
I also showed them around the campus of the Universidad de Navarra and we had the comida with Lili and Crispin!
They came over to Goiemendi for the comida one day and my Dad gave a tertulia cultural in English and Spanish about the health care system in California and social security. The thing is that many of the girls thought that it´s very 
hard to get health 
care in the States but he set them straight. And then he told them about some interesting cases he has seen as a obstetrician, which the baby is in danger of dying but the mothers choose life and give testimony to the doctors in training about the value of life.
After tha
t tertulia on the last day before they left, we went to a big Castle nearby where the King of Navarra used to live in the 1400s called Olite. It was a cool castle that they have restored a lot. Because it was raining, we were basically the only ones there! I have some good pictures from there too.
Yesterday, I played hooky and went with my friend Daniela to the Bardenas Reales because it was her last day here and she wanted to see them before she left. We actually weren´t able to walk all the way to the Bardenas Bardenas but we saw some similar hills on the way. The Bardenas are kind of like th
e Grand Canyon of Navarra, only they are mountains that have been formed by the dry weather, torrential rains, and strong winds into weird crinckled shapes. The picture is of a house in the nearby city because I forgot to put pictures of the mountains on my flash drive right now. But I´ll add them soon. There was also a theme park in almost in the middle of them called SENDAVIVA that I really wanted to go to but it´s not open until tomorrow! So I´ll have to head back there next time I have a visitor who´d like to go with me....
So we made it as far as the Hermita of Our Lady of Yugo and we said hello to her and had the comida there. Thank goodness there was a little bar there because we were out in the middle of now where and we had forgetton to ask for lunch of bocadillos from the administration!
We I visited the Our Lady of Pilar and Our Lady of Yugo you can be sure that I prayed for each and every one of you who is reading this blog! I´ll post pictures soon!
hard to get health 
care in the States but he set them straight. And then he told them about some interesting cases he has seen as a obstetrician, which the baby is in danger of dying but the mothers choose life and give testimony to the doctors in training about the value of life.
After tha
t tertulia on the last day before they left, we went to a big Castle nearby where the King of Navarra used to live in the 1400s called Olite. It was a cool castle that they have restored a lot. Because it was raining, we were basically the only ones there! I have some good pictures from there too.Yesterday, I played hooky and went with my friend Daniela to the Bardenas Reales because it was her last day here and she wanted to see them before she left. We actually weren´t able to walk all the way to the Bardenas Bardenas but we saw some similar hills on the way. The Bardenas are kind of like th
e Grand Canyon of Navarra, only they are mountains that have been formed by the dry weather, torrential rains, and strong winds into weird crinckled shapes. The picture is of a house in the nearby city because I forgot to put pictures of the mountains on my flash drive right now. But I´ll add them soon. There was also a theme park in almost in the middle of them called SENDAVIVA that I really wanted to go to but it´s not open until tomorrow! So I´ll have to head back there next time I have a visitor who´d like to go with me....So we made it as far as the Hermita of Our Lady of Yugo and we said hello to her and had the comida there. Thank goodness there was a little bar there because we were out in the middle of now where and we had forgetton to ask for lunch of bocadillos from the administration!
We I visited the Our Lady of Pilar and Our Lady of Yugo you can be sure that I prayed for each and every one of you who is reading this blog! I´ll post pictures soon!
Friday, March 23, 2007
Mas Fotos
Crispin dijo...
SEE, THAT´S WHY YOU WERE SICK! Making snow angels, crazy girl! Humf!
March 30, 2007 2:11 AM
LIZ DIJO: What ees dis "sickness" of which you espeak? Yo no sé nada of sickness, perdón, I duna aspeak dis tongue mucho...
March 30, 2007 2:23 AM
I have noticed from the comments section of my blog that I tend to receive more visitors, or more vocal visitors to my blog when I publish pictures. And for this fact, I will add a few more here. I´ve been taking lots and some people get tired of all the pictures I take but I tell them, "I have to put them on my blog and show them when I get home" so that they understand the necessity of stopping every few minutes when we go for a walk....hehe!
Here´s the one of Our Father (St. Josemaria) that I wrote about on St. Joseph´s day. Do you like his hat?
I making a snow angel! Don´t worry, it wasn´t that cold and, contrary to how it may look, I went really quickly!
Look at what an angel I am! haha
SEE, THAT´S WHY YOU WERE SICK! Making snow angels, crazy girl! Humf!
March 30, 2007 2:11 AM
LIZ DIJO: What ees dis "sickness" of which you espeak? Yo no sé nada of sickness, perdón, I duna aspeak dis tongue mucho...
March 30, 2007 2:23 AM
I have noticed from the comments section of my blog that I tend to receive more visitors, or more vocal visitors to my blog when I publish pictures. And for this fact, I will add a few more here. I´ve been taking lots and some people get tired of all the pictures I take but I tell them, "I have to put them on my blog and show them when I get home" so that they understand the necessity of stopping every few minutes when we go for a walk....hehe!
Here´s the one of Our Father (St. Josemaria) that I wrote about on St. Joseph´s day. Do you like his hat?I making a snow angel! Don´t worry, it wasn´t that cold and, contrary to how it may look, I went really quickly!
Look at what an angel I am! haha
Monday, March 19, 2007
¡Let it Snow on St. Joe´s!
ESTEY SAYS:
Wow--sounds impressive and beautiful (even if the snow is a little soggy).
I hope this "blog" allows me to leave this "comment", as I don't have a Google account and don't want to sign up for something else! You look great (I perused the photos) and was so IMPRESSED by your 19.3 mile (50 km) walk!!! Sounds like a great experience.
Praying for you--
Love,
Estey
I wrote this blog yesterday but for some reason it didn´t get posted. It started snowing yesterday morning in Pamplona! It was freezing and it just snowed a little, but enough to halt our day of sports and outdoor activity we had planned to celebrate St. Joseph´s day. It was a big holiday and we didn´t have any school!
It snowed a little more in the afternoon but I had to head out to run some errands. I felt like that little girl in that kids´book about a mother who is a seamstress and she sews a dress for the princess´ball. She just barely finishes on the day that the ball is going to take place and she worked so hard that she falls ill and the little girl (I think her name is Wendy) has to carry the dress in a box through the snow to the princess´place. On the cover of the book, there is an illustration of this little girl plowing diligently through the snowstorm holding the dress box, with her umbrella perpendicular to the ground blocking the force of the wind and snow. At one point in my stroll down Pio XII (pronounced "do-se"), I identified with the little girl so strongly as my umbrella nearly blew out of my mittened hands. I ran my errands without many other eventful occuraces.
Today though, it is snowing buckets! It has been snowing since I woke up and it´s still snowing now: 4 hours later! I say that it is snowing buckets because the snow is practically the consistency of rain. When it hits the ground, and we walk on it, it is like snow cone ice shavings. Instead of hearing the deft and crisp crunch of walking in the snow, a rather unromantic sploshing noise prevails on campus today. Luckily, Lucia waterproofed my boots before I left, but I think they will need a new coat after today. I took a picture when I opened my window this morning to see what the weather was like and I will put it up as soon as I can. I also took another picture of the statue of St. Josemaría in the middle of the central building because it looks like he is wearing a little white chapela, the little black berets that the Basques wear.
It snowed a little more in the afternoon but I had to head out to run some errands. I felt like that little girl in that kids´book about a mother who is a seamstress and she sews a dress for the princess´ball. She just barely finishes on the day that the ball is going to take place and she worked so hard that she falls ill and the little girl (I think her name is Wendy) has to carry the dress in a box through the snow to the princess´place. On the cover of the book, there is an illustration of this little girl plowing diligently through the snowstorm holding the dress box, with her umbrella perpendicular to the ground blocking the force of the wind and snow. At one point in my stroll down Pio XII (pronounced "do-se"), I identified with the little girl so strongly as my umbrella nearly blew out of my mittened hands. I ran my errands without many other eventful occuraces.
Today though, it is snowing buckets! It has been snowing since I woke up and it´s still snowing now: 4 hours later! I say that it is snowing buckets because the snow is practically the consistency of rain. When it hits the ground, and we walk on it, it is like snow cone ice shavings. Instead of hearing the deft and crisp crunch of walking in the snow, a rather unromantic sploshing noise prevails on campus today. Luckily, Lucia waterproofed my boots before I left, but I think they will need a new coat after today. I took a picture when I opened my window this morning to see what the weather was like and I will put it up as soon as I can. I also took another picture of the statue of St. Josemaría in the middle of the central building because it looks like he is wearing a little white chapela, the little black berets that the Basques wear.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
¿Navarre becomes part of Pais-Vaisco?
My friends, I have a somewhat shocking announcement to let you in on about the political state of Spain right now. It´s really not looking good: Zapatero is succumbing to ETA, to the demands of these terrorists. The rumors are that ETA helped him to win the election right after the 3-11 bombings in Madrid and that, now, they are threatening to reveal this piece of information if Zapatero doesn´t do what they want. In the first place, he has released de Juana Chaos from prison "for humnanitarian" reasons because he was on a hunger strike and near death. He is a member of ETA, in other words, a terrorist who has killed over 25 people. Now he is back at home in San Sebastian gaining weight.
But the next thing that they want is the the Autonomous Community of Navarre become part of Pais-Vaisco. There is a clause in their Foral (Navarre is a special type of region in Spain) constitution from 1976 that says if the people of Navarra vote to have a referendum put on their ballot, then they can chose to become a part of Pais-Vaisco. In reality, the people of Navarra don´t want this but, ETA is playing with the parliamentary vote by coalition here. They are even sending people from Pais-Vaisco to register in Navarra so that they can vote. It´s and important issue because it involves terrorism, which is ultimately a global phenomenon.
There is a manifestation on Saturday that I plan on attending in Pamplona. It should be a hoot! I´ll be sure to take some photos.
The Navigator dijo...
dD2939064Liz-Please take care of yourself at these "manifestations." As you are beginning to learn, this is very sereous business and many people have been killed or injured over the years by ETA.Glad to hear your lip is healing. We love you and miss you.Dad
March 14, 2007 8:59 PM
Mary dijo...
Listen to the Navigator. . . and do not get mixed up in this "sereous business" or you may have more than just lip stiches.Sister
March 15, 2007 7:55 AM
Ok, Ok, so I didn´t go to the manifestation after all. It turns out that I got a cold, fell asleep, and didn´t wake up until after they had already left for the 17:00 manifestation. So much for my Navarra patriotism...hehe. Now, I prayed for them this morning. It´s true that it was going to be a little rough because ETA planned a counter-manifestation in a nearby part of town at 17:30. I guess I´ll be reading about it tomorrow in the papers that same as you! Well, a lot of people from the Colegio Mayor went so I will get a first-hand account from them I guess... Thanks for the advice!
But the next thing that they want is the the Autonomous Community of Navarre become part of Pais-Vaisco. There is a clause in their Foral (Navarre is a special type of region in Spain) constitution from 1976 that says if the people of Navarra vote to have a referendum put on their ballot, then they can chose to become a part of Pais-Vaisco. In reality, the people of Navarra don´t want this but, ETA is playing with the parliamentary vote by coalition here. They are even sending people from Pais-Vaisco to register in Navarra so that they can vote. It´s and important issue because it involves terrorism, which is ultimately a global phenomenon.
There is a manifestation on Saturday that I plan on attending in Pamplona. It should be a hoot! I´ll be sure to take some photos.
The Navigator dijo...
dD2939064Liz-Please take care of yourself at these "manifestations." As you are beginning to learn, this is very sereous business and many people have been killed or injured over the years by ETA.Glad to hear your lip is healing. We love you and miss you.Dad
March 14, 2007 8:59 PM
Mary dijo...
Listen to the Navigator. . . and do not get mixed up in this "sereous business" or you may have more than just lip stiches.Sister
March 15, 2007 7:55 AM
Ok, Ok, so I didn´t go to the manifestation after all. It turns out that I got a cold, fell asleep, and didn´t wake up until after they had already left for the 17:00 manifestation. So much for my Navarra patriotism...hehe. Now, I prayed for them this morning. It´s true that it was going to be a little rough because ETA planned a counter-manifestation in a nearby part of town at 17:30. I guess I´ll be reading about it tomorrow in the papers that same as you! Well, a lot of people from the Colegio Mayor went so I will get a first-hand account from them I guess... Thanks for the advice!
Monday, March 12, 2007
Javierada: Part II
(the Pamplona native, Uxue, who sewed my shoe for me)
(Me cerca de el r'io Agarrete (or something like this))
(I walked all the way in a shoe sew up by Uxue when we went hiking in Joshua tree)
(20,000 people went to Javier)
(I walked all the way in a shoe sew up by Uxue when we went hiking in Joshua tree)
(20,000 people went to Javier)
The 50 KM (that's right: fifty) was awesome! We walked almost continuously from 6:30 in the morning until 4:15 in the afternoon.
(6:30 in the morning)
It was a great walk! There were a few girls with us, I met Carolina Bayo who is a Californian, but mainly I was with three numeraries who marched us on staunchly! They said that if we stop then I our legs would start to hurt, so we basically only paused to use the bathroom. They even handed out a ton of food to the pilgrims but we mostly ate on the run. They had some nice bocadillos (sandwiches) that I probably shouldn't have eaten with my lip in the state that it was (all sewn up) but now the thread is all dissolved and gone and I went back to the doctor today and he said it looks great (even though he expected the thread to stay for at least a week!).
We talked, said the rosary, prayed, sang, listen to my iPod shuffle, consumed calories and water and didn't stop to think about how far we'd gone! When we arrived, Maria Fernanda was a little fried (literally) but, luckily, I had put some of the sun screen that Janet offered us. We said hello to our Lord in the big buetiful basilica and then waited outside on the rocks for mass to begin. We got a good spot on the rocks amongst the old people right next to the altar. There we could sit down, do our prayer, and massage our calves...hehe.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Javierada
(I'm sorry/ I'm having some trouble adding the pictures to my blog. The one on the left is of Estey and I when we were in Westfield being really cool. And the one one on the right is of the big parish church in Estella *Lizarra* called San Pedro.)It´s 10:15 and I just got back from a 50 km Javierada (pilgrimage to a Castillo called Javier) that was crazy! We left at 6:00 in the morning and got there at 4:15. Mass was at 5:00. Last year was the 500 year celebration of the birth of San Francisco Javier (Francis Xavier) and there were tons of Jesuits at this Castillo that´s now a seminary, I think. It was very impressive and thousands of people make this pilgrimage each year in Navarre for two different weekends near his feast day. I´ll write more about this later because now I´m going to go to bed!
"Javierada"
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The Navigator dijo...
The whole family is in a debate now about whether this can mean you walked the 50K? It soudns like a great experience. Look forward to reading more about it.Dad
March 11, 2007 4:33 PM
YES! 50 KM!! It was great! I'm going to write about it more. And hopefully get some good pictures up soon! I'm just on my way to see the doctor for a checkup on my lip that's looking good (a little fat but what else is new...).
The Navigator dijo...
Liz, I am sorry that I haven't been commenting on your blog. I thoroughly enjoy reading of your exploits, and I have no idea how you accomplish so much every single day...I am happy your surgery went well. I cannot believe you walked 50 k . You are amazing! Lots of Love,Mom
Thanks, Mom! Love you and I'll write more.
Friday, March 9, 2007
Peqeña Operación
- Chris dijo...
-
Welcome to an elite club, that makes two of us that have had salivary glands removed! Actually you are the only other person I know besides myself that has had one removed. Lets just hope that none of your nerves heal backwards :)
- Lizzy G dijo...
-
What a coincidence! Do I know you? (haha)
If you double click on the pictures, you can see what is going on with my lip. If you want...haha.
I had a little bump on my lip that turned out to be a mucocele, a swollen salivary gland. I went to the doctor at the best hospital in the world, the Clínica of the University of Navarra, and Dr. Sanchez Carpintero operated on me a week later. It´s been two days since the surgery and there is no more thread left from the 8 stiches and it is healing wonderfully. Everyone assures me that it is definetely less swollen than yesterday!
And the surgery went well! I had to wait about 2 1-2 hours for it to start but then it only took about 40 minutes. The put me under so many sterile sheets and covers and alcohol swab that I hope that my immune system has already kicked back into action so that I don´t catch a cold! Luckily Dr. Sanchez Carpintero speaks English pretty well and kept the operating room lively. They only used local anesthesia but they even put a sterile mask over my entire face except my nose and mouth. It was sticky so now I don´t have to pay to get a facial waxing.... hehe. It was funniest when he would ask my questions like, "Does it hurt now?" ("Me: Yes.")¨"OK, mooooore anesthesia!" But it went fine, I´ve now got 8 stiches inside my mouth. I got some photos post-op with a nurse in the my room.
My lip fortunately has not adopted the appearance of an African bushwoman, in fact, it has definetely gotten smaller since the mucosele is gone! The nurses were asking me after if I had ibuprofen and I was trying to explain to them that I had advil, which they had never heard of but I told them that I thought it was like ibuprofen. Then they asked if it was like "aspirina" and I said "I think" and they told me I defintely not to take. And then that one nurse left the room and another came in and we started a similar round of questions. Finally, she asked me again: "Tienes aspirina?" and I said "Imaginamos que no yo tengo nada para quitar el dolor (Let´s just imagine that I don´t have any pain killer")," to make things more simple.... Then I came home and had lunch, and Crispin and Lili came to visit. They brought cute little flowers that were wrapped in purple paper. The funniest was that Crispin had written a little note on the side "Get well soon, Angelina" accompanied with a little dibujo (drawing) of a little face of a woman with huge lips. Ever since she found out that I despise Angelina Joli, she calls me that all the time. It made me laugh so hard that my lip started bleeding! hehe.
And the surgery went well! I had to wait about 2 1-2 hours for it to start but then it only took about 40 minutes. The put me under so many sterile sheets and covers and alcohol swab that I hope that my immune system has already kicked back into action so that I don´t catch a cold! Luckily Dr. Sanchez Carpintero speaks English pretty well and kept the operating room lively. They only used local anesthesia but they even put a sterile mask over my entire face except my nose and mouth. It was sticky so now I don´t have to pay to get a facial waxing.... hehe. It was funniest when he would ask my questions like, "Does it hurt now?" ("Me: Yes.")¨"OK, mooooore anesthesia!" But it went fine, I´ve now got 8 stiches inside my mouth. I got some photos post-op with a nurse in the my room.
My lip fortunately has not adopted the appearance of an African bushwoman, in fact, it has definetely gotten smaller since the mucosele is gone! The nurses were asking me after if I had ibuprofen and I was trying to explain to them that I had advil, which they had never heard of but I told them that I thought it was like ibuprofen. Then they asked if it was like "aspirina" and I said "I think" and they told me I defintely not to take. And then that one nurse left the room and another came in and we started a similar round of questions. Finally, she asked me again: "Tienes aspirina?" and I said "Imaginamos que no yo tengo nada para quitar el dolor (Let´s just imagine that I don´t have any pain killer")," to make things more simple.... Then I came home and had lunch, and Crispin and Lili came to visit. They brought cute little flowers that were wrapped in purple paper. The funniest was that Crispin had written a little note on the side "Get well soon, Angelina" accompanied with a little dibujo (drawing) of a little face of a woman with huge lips. Ever since she found out that I despise Angelina Joli, she calls me that all the time. It made me laugh so hard that my lip started bleeding! hehe.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Estella (in Vasco: LIZarra)
We took an excursion to Estella on Sunday and it was great and I´m going to buy a pen flash drive now so that I can upload the pictures from a computer here or at school since I have so much trouble with my laptop connecting to the internet. The reason that we (collectively) decided to go there was because, in Vasco, my name appears in the name of the town! How could we not go there? hehe! (Lili and Crispin are great travel buddies...) It was tiny but there were many beautiful churches going back as far as the 12th century (maybe you already know that)!
San Pedro, the main parish had a huge set of stares leading up to it and an enclosed convent in the back. St. Domingo has been converted into a retirement home but it is still an astounding stone building from the outside. And San Miguel I think is the oldest church where there were tons of people for mass with the choir loft that looked like it was precariously perched over the congregation. It too is high up, like San Pedro, and so after we descended the stairs to the street we were pretty far from the church. Suddenly a ping pong ball flew out of the sky and we saw all of the youth of San Miguel leaning over the edge of the courtyard yelling for their ball. They used it for that game called foosball that they were all engrossed in. I went halfway up the stairs and threw it back to them: it barely made it to them but 3 of the boys reached their arms out and somehow they got it back to return to the game. I hope that they weren´t supposed to be in mass right then!
The río Ega was nice, I went wading in it even though my friends ditched me...hehe. And it was a wonderful day- I was hot and sweating! We ate the pilgrim´s menu at the Roma Cafe for 7 euros and shared a bottle of wine from Irache monesterium! Estella is on the route for the Camino de Santiago so the tourist office had a lot of good information for us and it there were many pilgrim "outfitters" around town. Only a few restaurants were open though because it was Sunday. After lunch we went to a Cafetería and Lili and Crispin studied for some time, while I climbed to the top of the pueblo and took some more pictures of the colorful rooftops. What a paseo!
San Pedro, the main parish had a huge set of stares leading up to it and an enclosed convent in the back. St. Domingo has been converted into a retirement home but it is still an astounding stone building from the outside. And San Miguel I think is the oldest church where there were tons of people for mass with the choir loft that looked like it was precariously perched over the congregation. It too is high up, like San Pedro, and so after we descended the stairs to the street we were pretty far from the church. Suddenly a ping pong ball flew out of the sky and we saw all of the youth of San Miguel leaning over the edge of the courtyard yelling for their ball. They used it for that game called foosball that they were all engrossed in. I went halfway up the stairs and threw it back to them: it barely made it to them but 3 of the boys reached their arms out and somehow they got it back to return to the game. I hope that they weren´t supposed to be in mass right then!
The río Ega was nice, I went wading in it even though my friends ditched me...hehe. And it was a wonderful day- I was hot and sweating! We ate the pilgrim´s menu at the Roma Cafe for 7 euros and shared a bottle of wine from Irache monesterium! Estella is on the route for the Camino de Santiago so the tourist office had a lot of good information for us and it there were many pilgrim "outfitters" around town. Only a few restaurants were open though because it was Sunday. After lunch we went to a Cafetería and Lili and Crispin studied for some time, while I climbed to the top of the pueblo and took some more pictures of the colorful rooftops. What a paseo!
Monday, February 26, 2007
Glory in La Rioja
(Num-num's had catsup...)
Yesterday we travelled to what I´ve just realized is the 4th province in Spain I´ve been to in three weeks: La Rioja! It´s a ver small province that is full of wineries. There was one built by Moneo and another stlyish one from Frank Gheary. We didn´t have time to stop this trip but we will hopefully return in May to see the beautiful bodegas up close!
The reason for the exursion was that one of the supernumerary, Gloria´s, parents had invited us to their house in Haro. It´s about 1 1/2 hours from Pamplona and Ines, Anges, Ester, Lucía, Pelu, and I all went in the Fornaretta (I really can´t rememeber the word for van but I know it is something like "oven" in Italian...). It was a beautiful drive and I took pictures of the best bodegas (like Moneo´s) and as soon as I figure out how to get my pictures on this computer then I will for sure post them here on the blog.
We first went into the old part of town and found a restaurant to have the comida at 3:00 (a little late...even for the Spaniards!). It seemed like Gloria was just directing us to go to any old place but when she told us to stop and park in front of a glorious old church, Agnes looked around and the only restaurant in site was "Nam-nam´s" and she loudly pornounced that we were not going there (because of the strange name I gather). But Gloria diligently lead us quickly into Nam-nam´s upstairs where we discovered a few other families enjoying the great food and the waitress told us that we had all our lunches pre-paid for, wine included! The Spaniards got a kick out of the fact that I wanted to take a picture of everyone at the table with our food, so they grabed my camera and I have some great shots of chorizo, pimientos con carne, and croquetas... and catsup! They thought it was hilarious that I asked for ketch-up (which, of course, Nam-nam´s had) because they served french fries with my pimientos con carne! Whatever! hehe
Then we went to Gloria´s house in the residential part of town and it was just a magnificent day with the sun shining brightly. It was a really picteresque scene, especially with Agnes loudly singing the refrain of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" in honor of Gloria. We had the cafe with her parents and her Dad made some excellent coffee that kept me awake until 11:30. I haven´t even written about Saturday yet, which was a huge fiesta at Goimendi calle"El Día de los Padres" when all the families of the 100 residents come to the colegio to honor the 3rd years students and celebrate the WHOLE DAY LONG, with mass, and awards ceremony, aperativo (appetizers) the comida, a funny show, and the merienda (more food!). After that jalleo, I went to another center called Zudaire for meditation, benedication, and a crazy international dinner that lasted until 11:30! We all sang songs from our respective countries and I fooled a few people into thinking that I knew how to dance Sevillanas. After that, we went to some bars and danced until 3:00. Elizabeth and I crashed at Crispin´s at 4:00 and we were up by 8:30. So, in conlusion (to bring this story full circle), for Gloria´s Dad´s coffee to keep me up until 11:30 pm, it must have been pretty strong!
Now I´m back to studying. I took an economics test today that I hope went well! It was my frist exam at the University of Navarra!
The reason for the exursion was that one of the supernumerary, Gloria´s, parents had invited us to their house in Haro. It´s about 1 1/2 hours from Pamplona and Ines, Anges, Ester, Lucía, Pelu, and I all went in the Fornaretta (I really can´t rememeber the word for van but I know it is something like "oven" in Italian...). It was a beautiful drive and I took pictures of the best bodegas (like Moneo´s) and as soon as I figure out how to get my pictures on this computer then I will for sure post them here on the blog.
We first went into the old part of town and found a restaurant to have the comida at 3:00 (a little late...even for the Spaniards!). It seemed like Gloria was just directing us to go to any old place but when she told us to stop and park in front of a glorious old church, Agnes looked around and the only restaurant in site was "Nam-nam´s" and she loudly pornounced that we were not going there (because of the strange name I gather). But Gloria diligently lead us quickly into Nam-nam´s upstairs where we discovered a few other families enjoying the great food and the waitress told us that we had all our lunches pre-paid for, wine included! The Spaniards got a kick out of the fact that I wanted to take a picture of everyone at the table with our food, so they grabed my camera and I have some great shots of chorizo, pimientos con carne, and croquetas... and catsup! They thought it was hilarious that I asked for ketch-up (which, of course, Nam-nam´s had) because they served french fries with my pimientos con carne! Whatever! hehe
Then we went to Gloria´s house in the residential part of town and it was just a magnificent day with the sun shining brightly. It was a really picteresque scene, especially with Agnes loudly singing the refrain of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" in honor of Gloria. We had the cafe with her parents and her Dad made some excellent coffee that kept me awake until 11:30. I haven´t even written about Saturday yet, which was a huge fiesta at Goimendi calle"El Día de los Padres" when all the families of the 100 residents come to the colegio to honor the 3rd years students and celebrate the WHOLE DAY LONG, with mass, and awards ceremony, aperativo (appetizers) the comida, a funny show, and the merienda (more food!). After that jalleo, I went to another center called Zudaire for meditation, benedication, and a crazy international dinner that lasted until 11:30! We all sang songs from our respective countries and I fooled a few people into thinking that I knew how to dance Sevillanas. After that, we went to some bars and danced until 3:00. Elizabeth and I crashed at Crispin´s at 4:00 and we were up by 8:30. So, in conlusion (to bring this story full circle), for Gloria´s Dad´s coffee to keep me up until 11:30 pm, it must have been pretty strong!
Now I´m back to studying. I took an economics test today that I hope went well! It was my frist exam at the University of Navarra!
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Skiing in the Pyrenees
This past weekend 12 other girls from the colegio and I went to stay at Iñes´house in Jaca (close to Huesca) and we went up to Formugal on Saturday and Sunday to ski! It was a great time. We left on Friday at 6 and it took us about 1 hour and a half to get to Jaca. We had to take two cars: the fornaretta with all of the luggage, and the administration of Goimendi packed Rosario´s new little choche containing all the comida and towels for everyone. After we arrived in Jaca it took a few minutes for the coldness to sink into my skin, but then it did and it was cold!
On our way up to Formigal the next morning it started to rain as we get higher in elevation. Soon the rain turned into snow! But by the time we had our skis on and were ready, the snowing had stopped and we had wonderful day heading down the azul (medium hard) pistas (I forget that word in English for ski trail- oh run). On Saturday, I think I fell down on average 5 times per run. Marianna, a very good and patient skier from Bilboa, was my instructor who would yell at me the exact times to ¨Gira¨(turn) and then ¨sube un poco¨(go up the mountain a little to slow down). And everytime I fell down, or threw myself down because I got going way too fast, she would instantly appear by my side, ¨Has hecho dano, Liz?¨(Have you hurt yourself?) I think by the 20th time she asked me that question and I responded, ¨Noo, noo, no he hecho dano¨she asked me ¨Has visto ¨Los Incredibles? = tu eres Elasteek girl!"
On our way up to Formigal the next morning it started to rain as we get higher in elevation. Soon the rain turned into snow! But by the time we had our skis on and were ready, the snowing had stopped and we had wonderful day heading down the azul (medium hard) pistas (I forget that word in English for ski trail- oh run). On Saturday, I think I fell down on average 5 times per run. Marianna, a very good and patient skier from Bilboa, was my instructor who would yell at me the exact times to ¨Gira¨(turn) and then ¨sube un poco¨(go up the mountain a little to slow down). And everytime I fell down, or threw myself down because I got going way too fast, she would instantly appear by my side, ¨Has hecho dano, Liz?¨(Have you hurt yourself?) I think by the 20th time she asked me that question and I responded, ¨Noo, noo, no he hecho dano¨she asked me ¨Has visto ¨Los Incredibles? = tu eres Elasteek girl!"
Skiing on Sunday went much better, as Rosario first gave me a few private lessons (we got separated from the others)! Luckily, my neighbor in the colegio had lent me her bright yellow jacket, so they couldn´t ever lose me enitrely! hehe. We firgured out the my real problem was that I just scared of going to fast and not being able contralar la velocidad, so we worked in that area. Though it was very snowy and very windy at the tops of the runs, it got less windy as we went down. I only fell 3 times the whole day! The last fall was at the end of the last run, when it was already flat (but very icy). This time, when Marianna and Ines came to help me up¨, they didn´t ask if he hecho daño but "How can you fall right here!? My legs were tired and there was an icy river that I was vearing towards, what else could I do but fall? hehe
The following day we were all very sore and had many "agujeros" (I couldn´t really figure out what that meant even though I asked a number of times... but I´m sure that I had them!) But for sure it was very worth while!
Friday, February 16, 2007
You can be published too!!
Haven´t you always wanted to see your writing cemented into the world wide web through HTML?
Well, now you have a once in a lifetime opportunity to see yourself published through this earth on afarinnavarre.blogspot.com! If you write a comment on one of my post, when I check my blog I will publish them below the section you commented on. See below for some of the exciting new entries already published! You could be next!
The Navigator dijo...
Hey, hey, hey! Phototimes. Very nice.
Congratulations, your blog has already received three times the number of comments mine did when I studied abroad. Ah well, you're more loved, I guess, what can I say?
February 19, 2007 2:20 AM
Lizzy G dijo...
Wow! I´m lucky to have poeple who actually read my stuff! I gotta count me blessings...
February 20, 2007 2:48 AM
Thursday, February 15, 2007
The past, the Pamplona, and the future
I´m glad that I´m here learner Spanish and I´m really glad to be in the Colegio Mayor. It´s similar to Westfield but even more regulated because there are 100 girls living there and many younger girls too. I just have to make sure I get enough sleep! And I´ve had trouble doing that because I haven´t been doing much exercise to tire me out. I´m going running tonight with Alicia and Paz at 9:15. That means we have a late dinner = 10 pm! Life here is very late in Spain (did I already mention that?).
A few of us are going to Huesca this weekend and then go skiing in the Pyrenees. There are three other supernumerary students, like myself, living in Goimedi and one of them, Ines, has offered to let us stay in her vacation house there. It´s been really nice weather here in Pamplona this week, very sunny, but I´m pretty sure there will be snow in the Pyrenees this time of year! Even though it gets really sunny here in the afternoons, when I leave from the colegio mayor in the mornings for 9:00 class: there is ice on the grass!
Last Sunday we went for an excursion to a beach in the south of France called Biarritz that was very pretty. It was more touristy than San Sebastian but the beach was more beautiful! The waves were huge and broke very far out so they took a long time to roll in and there were many huge rocks for them to hit along the way. We looked around the town a bit and those who had a European Union ID card looked in the Casino on the beach. Before that, we headed over to Bayonne (Bayonna is Spanish) and saw a huge beautiful gothic cathedral and monastery there.
I received my camera today in the mail (thanks Mom!) so I`ll post some pictures soon! In the international student orientation, they took a picture of us all. Then it was put on the unav website and then it got into the Navarra Diaria (the local paper) so were famous! It´s a good pic and I´ll post it when I get it.
A few of us are going to Huesca this weekend and then go skiing in the Pyrenees. There are three other supernumerary students, like myself, living in Goimedi and one of them, Ines, has offered to let us stay in her vacation house there. It´s been really nice weather here in Pamplona this week, very sunny, but I´m pretty sure there will be snow in the Pyrenees this time of year! Even though it gets really sunny here in the afternoons, when I leave from the colegio mayor in the mornings for 9:00 class: there is ice on the grass!
Last Sunday we went for an excursion to a beach in the south of France called Biarritz that was very pretty. It was more touristy than San Sebastian but the beach was more beautiful! The waves were huge and broke very far out so they took a long time to roll in and there were many huge rocks for them to hit along the way. We looked around the town a bit and those who had a European Union ID card looked in the Casino on the beach. Before that, we headed over to Bayonne (Bayonna is Spanish) and saw a huge beautiful gothic cathedral and monastery there.
I received my camera today in the mail (thanks Mom!) so I`ll post some pictures soon! In the international student orientation, they took a picture of us all. Then it was put on the unav website and then it got into the Navarra Diaria (the local paper) so were famous! It´s a good pic and I´ll post it when I get it.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
A Day in San Sebastain
I´ll tell you a little about San Sebastain meanwhile! It´s called the town of three´s because there are three beaches, three hills, and three of another thing I can´t remember. We went to two of the three beaches and climbed up one of the hills where there is a huge statue of Jesus reaching out to embrace the town. It´s really beautiful and the on that hill, three battles occured between the British and the French so there is a big fortress surrounding the Jesus statue called "The Castillo." It was quike a little hike but all of the international students and I agreed that it was well worth it because the view of all of Donostia (San Sebastian) and the Atlantic Ocean were incredible.
Then we walked down to see two gorgeous churches: El Buen Pastor and Santa Maria de Coro. There was a wedding about to start in Santa Maria del Coro so there was also beautiful music in there and the acoustics in the old church were astounding!
After stopping to shop at Zara because of the great rebajas (sales) that are going on in the month of February, we walked on the main boardwalk surrounding La Concha (the main beach) to el Peine de Los Vientos. I think that Mary and Sam took a picture near those because it seemed very familiar to me. There are these holes in the rock where air shoots out when the tide comes in and you can stand on top and get blown in the face. It looked really fun and so Elizabeth, Crispin, and I each stood on one for about 15 minutes and we didn´t catch any of the wind, so we just sat and looked the scultpures in the rocks and the beautiful ocean for a while. Crispin and Elizabeth took som0e great pictures that they promise to share with me when because I forgot my camera!
And we had pinchos for lunch that were delicious! Apparently San Sebastian is known for its pinchos and so we wondered around the calles a little looking for a good one (there are many) and then we décided to ask a local. He recommened one that was bustling with people and very good. THere we ate with some of the Australian girls from UNAV because they had read their lonley planet guides to come to that place. There were good cheap pinchos and good Sangria, and we were lucky to find a spot to sit down!We left just as the Real Madrid team left with Beckham! A few of the students got pictures of him. A prostest about socialism was also going to start right after in the main part of town. I´ll go check the papers to see what went down there!
Olivia dijo...
Hey Liz,
Aw your description of San Sebastian is bringing back great memories of when i visited Spain. Its so beautiful over there. It sounds like you having an awesome time! Miss yah!
<3 Olivia
February 13, 2007 9:08 PM
Suprimir
Lizzy G dijo...
I miss you too, Olivia! Happy Feast Day (2º14). Hey could you send me Carlota´s email and her mom´s email one more time? Your mom gave it to me but I´ve missplaced it and I want to get in touch with them! Thanks Lïz
February 15, 2007 8:41 AM
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The peektures make everything better. :) So I'm interested- did Uxue sewing your shoe and being in the picture with you mean that she was in Spain with you or was that from LA?
March 12, 2007 3:05 PM
hey liz! i love the pics. now i can live vicariously thru you...hehe. life is good here, altho finals are coming up very soon for me (wednesday)! hope to hear from you soon.
March 12, 2007 10:41 PM
btw, it's suyin. :)
March 12, 2007 10:42 PM
Your blog is awesome. I love to pop in and read what is going on!
March 15, 2007 7:52 AM
In reply to the comments:
I tell you Uxue is accompanying my here only in spirit, not in physical reality. She sewed my shoe earlier for me when I was hiking with her in Joshua tree. The point is, that her sewing job has held 50 km and more!
Su Yin, and all you Bruins, I hope that finals went well! I was praying for you then. Well, today is the last day of finals so I´ll continue praying today...
Mary, I´m thinking this is my cousin, and I´m glad that you pop in! It´s a pleasure to have you here in my cyber little place of being! hehe
March 23, 2007 3:16 AM