(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!
2 comments:
Liz! I love that you are actuyally diligent about updating this thing- it's so good to hear how things are going for you! I hev a little blog but the updating of that goes not so well. :) I'm impressed at the crash-at-4-up-at-8:30 trick- something that I wish I were better at imitating, especially right now that I'm running on 6 hours and am exhausted! :) Anyway I can't wait to hear more about you and Navarre and everything you can think of, and even more to see you in a few weeks(!)
ps- you don't have to "publish" this. :)
Your "frist" test...hmm, hopefully it was in Spanish. Remember to occasionally talk out loud to yourself in English, lest you lose your mother tongue...
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