Category: Spain

Destinations, Ruminations, Spain

Meet Spanish Joe

Molly On the Move

I met Spanish Joe my first day in Spain, en route to Santiago. Fifteen out of seventeen hours of traveling complete, I needed coffee. So I ordered coffee. And this was the coffee I received:

The First Coffee
Scale: sugar packet is the same height as the cup.

I was appalled. This squatty little imposter was not fit to be called a cup of coffee. A shot of coffee, perhaps. To think: hundreds of years of innovation and progress had culminated in this, a veritable thimble of liquid!

Don’t get me wrong. Spanish coffee is cute. You want to admire its dimples, give it a lollipop, and pat it on the head. But.

You can’t wrap your hands around a thimble of coffee and let the warmth seep from your fingers  to your toes. You can’t nurse a thimble of coffee through two hours of history reading. Spanish coffee, in other words, goes against all my preconceived coffee-culture notions.

But.

Over time, I have grown fond of these little nuggets. They are a testament to quality over quantity. Each sip is rich and frothy, and because I have to ration my sips, I appreciate the richness and frothiness all the more. Furthermore, most coffee I’ve ordered is served with a fluffy croissant or a spongy slab of cake. (Which are busting with gluten and logically useless to me, but illogically make me happy.) If carbs and coffee can’t make you smile, I don’t know what will.

Upon returning to Spain from my winter travels, I found I missed my fun-sized caffeine. So I suppose what I’m trying to say is this: thank you, Spain, for three months of mouth-watering, irresistibly-photographable coffee. Here’s to many more.

– MB

(P.S. If you actually want a helpful guide for ordering coffee in Spain, check out Trevor’s guide. I, for one, always adhere to the café con leche.)

DSC_0209
Mi Manda Picone (A Pobra do Caramiñal)
Mi Manda Picone (A Pobra do Caramiñal)
La Tertulia (Santiago de Compostela)
La Tertulia (Santiago de Compostela)
La Tragaluz (Ourense)
La Tragaluz (Ourense)
O Galeon (A Pobra do Caramiñal)
O Galeon (A Pobra do Caramiñal)
Café-Bar Derby (Santiago de Compostela)
Café-Bar Derby (Santiago de Compostela)
O Lago Ness (Escarabote)
O Lago Ness (Escarabote)
Recantos (Santiago de Compostela)
Recantos (Santiago de Compostela)
La Taza de Pandora (Boiro)
La Taza de Pandora (Boiro)
Destinations, On the run, Spain

On the run {in Santiago de Compostela}

Molly On the Move

Parque do Monte de AlmácigaParque do Monte de Almáciga

Parque do Monte de AlmácigaParque do Monte de AlmácigaParque do Monte de AlmácigaParque do Monte de Almáciga

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of discovering a new park in Santiago. Too often I get stuck running laps in the Alameda, but it was refreshing to break out of my hamster wheel and see some new scenery. This is Parque do Monte de Almáciga, tucked just up the hill from the Museo de Pobo.

Oh and you guys. I have decided that I like running in the rain. No small advantage in Santiago 🙂

Un beso,

MB

Destinations, Ruminations, Spain

Navidad news

Molly On the Move

20131219-110658.jpg
Plaza Cervantes, Santiago de Compostela

My stomach is shuddering at the Valencian orange and cup of coffee I have just consumed. Come at me, litmus test. (Sorry, that is not at all newsworthy. Just pressing at the moment.)

Anyways, I am writing from the airport in Madrid. A flight home, you might guess? To bask in the glow of family and friends and overplayed Christmas music and general revelry? Nay. This pauper cannot rationalize paying for a pricey ticket home, especially after having spent less than two months in Spain. So this is the first time I will be missing Christmas with my family, and it’s weird. I’m trying not to think about it. On the plus side, though, I’m spending winter break meandering through Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, and Belgium. So it could be worse 😉

A very feliz navidad to you! Until next year!
-MB

Destinations, Ruminations, Spain

The Piso

Molly On the Move
Rúa San Pedro B&W.jpg
Rúa San Pedro, the lovely street a minute’s walk from my piso.

So last week I moved to Santiago, right? I found a cheap apartment with two nice female Spanish college students in the older (prettier) part of town. As it turns out, these three positive qualities (price, roommates, and location) have been overshadowed by the true heinousness of the apartment. After a week here, I have come to terms with my own stupidity in housing selection, and have come up with seven rules to keep from making the same mistakes again.

Do not select an apartment:

1. Because the roommates call you “chulo” (cool) for being American and that makes you feel warm and fuzzy because you don’t have friends yet.

2. If you have only toured the apartment at night. Those shadows in the corner/behind the desk/around the window might be are assuredly mold.

3. If you there are so many spots in the wall that it is hard to tell at a glance which ones are holes and which ones are mold.

4. If the hot water is powered by a gas tank that you have to manually switch on before you shower. On Sunday, you will run out and the landlord won’t be able to bring more until Tuesday because Spain, and the last time you showered will have been on Saturday, and you will have to start taking sponge baths seventy years prematurely.

5. If the apartment does not have heating, and also does not have the ability to both run a heater and charge a laptop at the same time.

6. If the statement “yes, we have wifi” is followed by an explanation that includes the words “descodificar” (to decode) and “de nuestro vecino” (our neighbor’s).

7. If you cannot bend over the sink to brush your teeth without entering the shower.

Having learned these seven very valuable lessons, I feel both ill and well-prepared to begin round two of apartment hunting. Wish me luck!

Destinations, Ruminations, Spain

Week {3} in review

Molly On the Move

Week three brought lots of changes, the biggest of which was my move to Santiago de Compostela. Other things worth noting:

Escarabote
Port of Escarabote, Galicia
Obligatory coffee picture (La Tertulia, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia)
Playa Cabío
Playa Cabío at sunset (A Pobra, Galicia)
Favada asturiana, a traditional Asturian stew (as prepared by the English profe)
Preparing labels for art classes in English.
Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as seen during my furious apartment hunting.
My students have taken to gifting me things…
Port of Escarabote
Here, the preferred method is to decapitate trees before they shed their leaves. Naked trees > leaves on the sidewalk, duh (Port of Escarabote, Galicia)
My two lovely Pobra roommates saw me off on my move to Santiago with a slice of cheesecake in a butter container. (Nauseating Bus, Galicia)

Destinations, Ruminations, Spain

Two-week-iversary.

Molly On the Move

Today marks two weeks since I moved to Spain – can you believe it? Seeing as I’ve done a pretty poor job writing as I go, here are some highlights from my first 14 days as an expat.

IMG_0073
Sunrise in A Pobra do Caramiñal.
Lunch, as made by the English teacher: Spanish tortilla, salad, Albariño wine.
Lunch as made by the English teacher: salad,  Albariño wine, and Spanish tortilla.
Salad & prosciutto with cheese
Salad & prosciutto with cheese.
IMG_0085
Café con leche and churros.
PB&J on a rainy day
PB&J on a rainy day.
A Pobra, regularly.
A Pobra, regularly.
A Pobra, on a rare sunny day.
  • First Spanish word I learned: Escarabajo (as in the type of car I drive – a Beetle!).
  • First English phrase I taught my teacher: Couch potato.
  • Weather in Galicia: Really, really rainy (ahem.)
  • In a manner of speaking: There are two languages in Galicia – Castellano (standard Spanish) and Gallego (the regional language). Residents of Galicia are raised learning both languages. When I first got here, my Spanish was so rusty I couldn’t understand the difference between the two, because I understood nothing at all. Now…let’s be real, that still happens.
  • Weirdest food eaten: Octopus. Suckers and all. Suckas.
  • Beverages I know how to order: Café con leche and vino blanco. Es todo.
  • Peanut butter consumption: Moderate. Still on my second jar.
  • My school: Small but wonderful, with less than 200 students and less than 20 teachers. The kids have a terrifying amount of energy, and the teachers, a terrific amount of patience. My face hurts from smiling by the end of every day.

I really like it here so far. Big changes are on the way, though. This weekend, I am moving out of A Pobra (the little beach town I am in) and up to Santiago, a much larger city with a university. I will be living with two Spanish college students (!), and will definitely miss the two wonderful Americans I have been living with here in A Pobra. But Spanish must be learned!

Hasta luego,

MB

Destinations, Ruminations, Spain

In the beginning

Molly On the Move
Leaving Madrid
Leaving Madrid
Arriving in Santiago
Arriving in Santiago

In the beginning, there was a plane, and on the plane was Molly. After 17 hours of flying (Atlanta – Miami – Madrid – Santiago – oh my), I finally arrived in Galicia. I could tell the difference between Galicia and central Spain just by looking out the window. While the land surrounding Madrid was craggy and brown, the Galician countryside was a rolling patchwork of green.

Montse, the English teacher at my school, picked me up from the airport in Santiago, carrying a sign the students had made.
20131031-183152.jpg

Needless to say, I felt quite welcomed. Montse has been an absolute blessing, driving me around to pick a cell phone plan, get my foreign documents in order, and open a Spanish bank account.

Presently, I am staying with two auxiliars (that is, English Language Assistants like me) in A Pobra, which is where Montse lives and a 10-minute drive from school. They have an extra bedroom and are kind enough to let me use their apartment as home base while I figure out where to live.

A Pobra is obscenely picturesque. I will leave you with the following view. This is what you see if you exit the apartment building and walk for about 30 seconds.

Playa del Arenal, A Pobra
Playa del Arenal, A Pobra do Caramiñal.

I’m sorry, what?

Destinations, Ruminations, Spain

Will wine for wifi

Molly On the Move

20131026-133400.jpg

So.

I am in Spain.

There is so much to tell, but that will have to wait. I am still bustling around, trying to figure out which city to live in. Right now, I am on my way to Santiago to meet with a potential roommate. I am currently crashing in a small town (absolutely precious) with two other auxiliares. However, they do not yet have internet, which means we must patronize the cafe-pizzeria a 45-second walk away to get wifi. This is not a terrible thing to have to do, unless you count the fact olives are served with my wine (olives are always a terrible thing).

The important things to know for now are (1) Galicia is gorgeous, (2) buses are nauseating, and (3) olives are repugnant.

Hasta luego!
– MB