New Life in Maine y una cena española.

A couple things have happened since my last post (9 months ago...ooops). I got a new job, I moved to Portland, Maine and my obsession with all things Spanish has gotten worse.  At my new job I work with high school spanish exchange students scattered across on the US and constantly refer back to my experiences in Spain.  Added bonus: I get to speak Spanish quite a bit too. I am keeping the dream alive as my 5 year plan includes moving back to Spain.

In the mean time I am having a great time exploring Portland and the State of Maine.  Maine is obviously an outdoor mecca: skiing, hiking kayaking, fishing, hunting, SURFING, boating, sailing, rock climbing...you name it you can do it in Maine.  In that mecca, Portland feeds all those outdoor junkies and it is a foodie heaven: farm to table is super popular, amazing restaurants, bars and all kind of grocery stores (Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Hanafords, Rosemont all within 1 mile of each other).  It is awesome. Seafood is also amazing..more to come on that later...

Keeping on with the food scene, we had a Spanish potluck and as 2 of the diners were vegetarian/vegan, it was time to scour my sources for Spanish recipes.  The native spaniard was making a tortilla, salad had been called but luckily I stumbled across an amazing cookbook and later found another source, a blog called I Love Tortilla de Patatas where an Española who lives in the Netherlands writes and shares recipes for some typical Spanish foods.

I decided to make escalivada (catalonian roasted vegetables) and with guidance from this blog entry I made my own escalivada.  More or less,  you need a selection of onion, tomatoes, eggplant, garlic and red peppers, dress them in olive oil and salt in a roasting dish.  Roast in the over for as long as you need (eye ball it!).  Let them cool, peel, and marinate over night in more olive oil and some vinegar if you are so inclined.  The next day, arrange in your own fashion on a serving dish, adorn with some fresh dill and voila....Escalivada! Enjoy my pictures and if you feel like actually making it...check out the recipe at the link above...hasta luego!!                                             

Amuuurica is no Spain.

Having been home for a little bit over a month, the thrill and excitement of being back home is starting to wear off thus causing me to realize just how much I miss Spain.  Don't get me wrong, I am glad to be home for the various weddings, celebrations and summer time fun but...the thought of not going to Spain in the fall makes me want to grab a cruz campo and eat all the jamón I can. So yea, I know I am over reacting but oh well.

So a couple things that make me smile and show that Spain is still running in my sangre...

1. Since being home I have made 3 paellas...each one yummier than the last.  Thanks to Goya, they actaully have "Valencian" rice which is actually pretty spot-on.  I tried an italian style when I could find the Goya stuff at a smaller grocery store and the results were still decent but...Valencia Rice is the way to go.

2.  I still find myself wanting to say words in Spanish!! Most recent experience, taking drink orders from a table, I double check the order and say "Ok so thats dos - I mean... two Pinto Grigios?" The table thought it was funny, so fine by me, maybe I'll drop some spanish words more often

3. I had the chance to be on Canal Extremadura to talk about some summer music popular in the States.  So at 11:30 Spain time (5:30 am !!) I was chatting in Spanish- I did ok but realized i misunderstood some questions after the fact but whatever, waking up that early and speaking  a second language.... TOMA YA ( here is the link... around time 1:20 http://ondemand.extremaduratv.ondemand.flumotion.com/extremaduratv/ondemand/mp3/2011-07-21--elsolsale.mp3)

Bueno... os dejo...have a good week!! 

One Post for May...

As I am such a good blogger, I figure it would be good to blog once in May...From the last time I posted life has been full of trips, funny stories and some ups and downs.

Spring break was a great trip...as  was my trip to scotland.

Tomorrow is my last day of work and hopefully I'll find out too about next year.  Thursday we head to Ibiza for one last group trip, and I am sure it will be fun.

Weird to not know what's next in life, but I guess that's kind of exciting too....

Fallas!

So about a month ago, there was this festival in Valencia called FALLAS...its an incredible week long event that is similar to...well nothing in the USA.  Its just that cool... I should describe it for you here but I think wikipedia does a brilliant job so, here's the link Fallas. Anyway, it was a glorious week and I was OH SO exhausted at the end!

Life is still going well...and I have applied for another year in Spain...different program which would be more hours of work (which I actually want!!!) and more dinero, of course.  

As for the next months or so of plan "living the dream," I have some trips planned...

1) For Spring Break, going to Pais Vasco (Basque Country) and Cantabria with the girls. We're renting a car and road tripping it for a Week and a half! No camping this time, just luxurious hostel life...it's going to be fantastic.

2)Beginning of May, going to meet up with my friend Ryan in Barcelona and we're coming back to VLC so he can enjoy paelllllla and the playa!!

3)In May, going to go to Glasgow and (hopefully Edinburgh!!) to visit Antoniiiio 

4) Going to IBIZA for my birthday in June and an end of the year celebration!!! Really excited for this one! 

Needless to say, life is good...

hasta la próxima!

La gente está muy loooooka

So since the last time I've blogged I've been up to some pretty fun things

Firefighter Airplane in La Maestranza de Albacete

• Took a field trip to an Airplane base/museum/factory in Albacete
• Went rock climbing with the family of one a private classes
• Pulled a "Ferris Bueller" to go skiing in Teruel (I made up the day and went in on a Friday!)
• Went to Germany to play  lacrosse...hollllla MADRID lax...you were the BOMB!
•  Went to England to visit  friends at Leeds University (thanks Kris and Lorna!)
•  Celebrated this thing called FALLAS (a post to come shortly devoted alllll to Fallas-PROMISE!)
• (but a sampling of fallas....lots of firecrackers, lots of fireworks, lots of beer, lots of paella, bull fights and lots of fun!!!!)                       

Rock Climbing in the Campo

Valdelinares Ski Resort near Teruel

Guiris at the Leeds Town Hall

MAD LAX OSOS in Munich, Germany

Also in the mean time, I've been enjoying life aka going out with friends, eating out more than anyone with my salary should and I've joined a gym in hopes to not pack on the kilos!!

Anyway, enjoy the assortment of photos that sum up the last couple months that I have been MIA and look for a post about FALLAS asap. BESOS

Tapas: Fried parts of piggies and bread.

über.

"I don't know where I'm going from here, but I promise it won't be boring." ~ David Bowie


Stole this from someone's facebook status, but it is a very appropriate quote.  I really have no idea where I am going in the grand scheme of things but one this for sure, it won't be boring. 


side note I wish my closet was filled with this type of clothing...

poco a poco.

"I graduated summa cum..." wait....Spain doesn't care!

Today I completed my resume, in Spanish.  Well, much to my dismay, there are some things that just don't translate thus making many college accolades, just not that important.

Allow me to share a few...frustrations.

• In Spain, putting your grades on your Resume or CV (Curriculum Vitae) is not the "done thing."
• Wait.., so you mean my GPA/honors don't...even... MATTER?!  First of all, if you call you resume by the latin name CV(Curriculum Vitae) Shouldn't my LATIN HONORS that I graduated with count for something....anything? Bad logic, I know.
• The anglo-saxen idea of a Bachelor's degree, until very recently, didn't have a Spanish equivalent.  
• This basically means that kids my age (23/24) graduate from University with what we in the US might consider a masters degree.  That may explain why is takes most kids 5 years to finish 1 degree. Consider it similar to a 4 + 1 program here in the US where you end with a Masters. So most kids have a masters and I feel a bit chummy with my "low level" US degree.(BUT, thankfully, a new european education plan is essentially copying the 4 year idea of a bachelor's degree, and has been implemented across the EU.  Thus I can give my degrees a name in spanish:  "Título de Grado."  Yay, I guess I have 2 títulos....ha)
• All those college athletic achievements or extracurricular activities don't realllllllllllllly have a place on the CV.  Sorry, no where to show on your CV that not only did you study, but you also were playing on a sport's team and oh ya, maybe  you had some time to volunteer or organize some activities... sorrrry doesn't really fit. 

In a nut shell, only 1 of my 3 "I'm a great applicant" things can clearly be translated...hopefully I am mistaken and I can put some more life back into my Spanish CV..but for now, it just doesn't look as pretty as my American Resume. ¡qué lastimaaaaa!