PM in Sevilla was probably my last conference as an active aiesec member. its a weird feeling, after being to over 20 conferences all over the world that i wont be going to anymore! during the conference, i was the conference manager as well as a faci. being conference manager for a conference this big was challenging, very challenging. i was doing sessions at 5am after a party challenging. i was working with a great OC team and a great faci team that made the conference easier. and the delegates were amazing, always trying to help out and being supportive. i dont feel like this experience in aiesec is coming to end... it feels like we still have so much to do. it was very sad though, the last time i will be seeing some of the amazing spanish members that i have met and gotten to know over the year.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Sevilla
After the conference, we had a free day to explore sevilla. it was beautiful. i filled up my memory card with pictures! we visited the Giralda, the Real Alcazar and went to a flamenco show. i dont have all of the pictures, but enjoy the ones below. i really enjoyed the city - it was very relaxing and amazing. also the food was cheap and fantastic (we ate like kings)
Ferias de Sevilla
Luci and I went to Sevilla early before a conference to work and enjoy the ferias! the feria of sevilla was nothing like i had seen before. i had been to a feria in valladolid and it mostly involved drinking and hanging out.. but this was different. the feria ground is covered in like 1000 "castas" which are tents. but these aren't regular white tents that you rent for a reception, they are built like little houses or restaurants with walls, picture frames, waiters, bathrooms, a bar and dancefloor. it was amazing! you can only get into the casetas if you know someone or work somewhere - they are based on tickets so its not full of tourists and stuff like that. there are a few public casetas but i was told they were ghetto.
in the tents, you drank, ate and danced sevillanas. it was amazing dancing and watching the live band and all of the women dressed up in sevillanas. the women dress up in the dress, the flower i the hair, the earings, the heels, the makeup, the earrings, everything. its amazing! doesnt matter how old you are (75 or 3)..everyone looked amazing. i really enjoyed it and im glad i went early!
valladolid
i went to valladolid for 2 days for LC visits (aiesec translation: work). its a city that is about 2 hours by train north of madrid. the people there are incredibly hospitable and nice and always wanting you to have a great time! although i was there for work, i was able to hang out with the aiesecers there and go out! something of note in valladolid is kalimotxo. i think its basque, but! i have only ever had it in valladolid. its half wine and half coke and its AWESOME! they serve it to you in a half liter cup and its only like 2 euros.
i also learned some new awesome spanish words/phrases like mola and in la leche... thanks aiesec in valladolid :)
Fés
Luci and I found cheap tickets to go to fés, morocco for April 5th - 7th on good ol ryanair. we went to print the boarding passes 3.5 hours before our flight..but we couldnt! it closes the online check in 4 hours before boarding... so we had to pay 40 euros EACH for boarding passes at the airport...ridiculous really. so that doubled the cost of our trip already. we stayed at a hotel near the train station which was a bit sketchy at night time. we couldnt really go out when it was dark. there weren't any other women on the street and guys were just a little bit more creepy. this means we stayed in quite a bit - watching BBC and going to bed early (that part was great!) we explored the medina (medieval city) for a day. the medina in fés is the oldest living medina in the world. we ate moroccan bread, drank mint tea and shopped. we also had fresh squeezed orange juice which was AMAZING. we went really early (like 9 am early) which was early for the medina too! nothing was really open, but it was cool to walk around. it is full of winding alleys and shops with everyone having the best things to buy. we did buy quite a bit, but we tried to bargain everything. it was funny because half of the people there thought i was from india (yelling NAMASTE in the street) or moroccan and speaking in arabic to me. a guy led us on a tour of his carpet store, showing us how the carpets were made and trying to get us to buy them (which we didnt obviously) but the guy said that i seemed like i was moroccan, from marakech! speaking of people trying to con you into buying things, 2 boys (probably like 8 years old) who knew a LOT of different languages tried to get us to go to the a leather tannery that his father owned (but it smelt reallllly bad, so we didnt even want to go near :P) so they took us to his mother's shop where she sold spices and soaps and oils. they were very persistent.. to the point of annoyance and asked for money as well at the end (which we felt uncomfortable about and didnt pay) we also visited the royal palace which had huge golden doors (but thats all you could look at). overall the first trip to morocco was very cool. the next time i would like to go to another city and visit people from morocco - i think that would be a very different experience and i would be able to see moroccan culture.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Greece
On the 22nd of april, i bought a flight ticket to athens, greece... for the 27th. My roomate sylvia was going anyways, and i thought, "why not?". so landing in athens on the 27th started a week long vacation in the land of feta, souvlaki and ouzo.
the 27thi arrived to athens. i went to a party straight from the airport! the music was so weird, but noticing the greek style, i felt like i fit in more in greece than in spain. everyone in greece is very laid back, stylish but more relaxed (compared to spain) and just interested in enjoying life. chara was our AMAZING host that had us in her house and took us all around the city. i dont know how we could have experienced athens the way we did without her.
the 28th
when in athens, you have to see the acropolis, and thats the first thing that we did. its free to enter on sundays, so we just walked right in to see it. even though it was crawling with tourists, the acropolis is absolutely amazing. its incredible how much history exists in one place and how it has survived throughout centuries, different rulers and different religions. the new acropolis museum was also opened across the street during the summer. it has a very complete collection of objects found at the acropolis including original statues, marble panels, vases and more. we walked down from the acropolis through thissio which is an area of athens with lots of street vendors selling jewelry and random things and lots of coffee shops and cafes as well.
in greece, the coffee culture is very strong. whatever you do, you always "take a coffee" during the day. you could be drinking a coffee with friends for hours! but it is an integral part of any greek day. what do you do in these cafes for hours? talk, read horoscopes in the free newspapers and play backgammon. they have something called a frappé. now its nothing like a frappuccino you would get at starbucks, but greek coffee with ice. the coffee itself isnt different, but the way its made is... im not sure how to describe it but! if you go to greece, try it!
that evening, we went to a typical greek tavern to try typical greek beverages including ouzo. the first drink we tried was called raki - its a very strong alcohol that is boiled and mixed with honey so the taste is smoother and its very warm when you drink it. we also tried ouzo. now, generally when i had tried ouzo in the past, it always involved a greek party or restaurant in canada with a shot glass and a bottle of ouzo. i found out this is not the best way to drink it. you mix the ouzo with ice and water and its actually quite delicious! on Eros
the 29th
we went to the cycladic art museum which had a temporary exhibit on eros - the god of love and eroticism. the exhibit was very interesting as it explored different aspects of the concept of love - from romanticism, homosexuality, bestiality, sex as well as the mythical life of eros himself. but some of the vases - it looked like porn painted on a vase! we also say the permanent exhibit which related to ancient greek life as well as pre historic artifacts from greece. from my understanding, ancient greek life, philosophy and myths are pretty well known but the prehistoric artifacts and findings are super interesting and not as well known. i was more interested in the pre historic cycladic exhibit than the greek life in antiquity exhibit!
after that, we walked around kolonaki which is the pricey shopping district and started our whorl wind eating tour of athens. we started with souvlaki, moved to another place for coffee (of course), to another place for typical greek sweets (which were AMAZING! i still feel the sugar in me from then) and then we went to a funk bar for a drink. food and beverage in greece is generally pretty cheap... except for the coffee (which is anywhere from 3-5 euros compared to spain where you can get a cup of coffee for 1.20)
the 30th
we hopped in nikos' car and drove for an hour to Sounio. our first stop was the temple of poseidon. it was beautiful - not necessarily from the temple itself but from where it is situated. the temple is on a hill which overlooks the sea. take a look at the pictures to see - the colours - the white of the marble, the green of the grass and the super blue water was amazing and created some great pictures too! we had a packed lunch on the beach and then of course had some coffee. we had it at this place called the house project. the concept of the place was that it was a house - with a library (with books), a living room (with a playstation and computers), a games room (with pool), and a patio that was on the beach but you could order coffee, food, drinks etc. it was really cool and it seemed like something out of the OC.
the 31st
Sylvia and i went off on our own towards the center and Monistraki square. we bought souvenirs and i was on a hunt for the ancient agora. i was disappointed when i saw that it was just some ruins on either side of a small road with grass growing all around it. but! there were ruins..in the middle of the city.. it was kind of exciting? we met up with konstantinos and nikos and went for shisha and to try another typical greek drink - inomelo. its red wine that is heated up and mixed with honey. you drink it like a shot and it is delicious!
the 1st
we took a ferry for an hour to the island of aegina. as soon as we got there, we went to the ticket booth to ask when the ferries were departing back to athens. the guy in the booth told us that we were in the village and needed to go the city of aegina, where the ferry departs. he said we could take a taxi or take "that" bus, pointing to a bus driving by at full speed. sylvia and i tried to wave it down, but it didnt stop. sylvia also saw a sign that said aegina town, 10 km. Syl then suggests we walk the 10 km because its not that far. so without thinking, we start walking thinking 10 km is like a 20 minute walk. as we are walking, i start calculating how long 10 km really takes to walk and am pretty sure it will take us well over an hour and a half. but when when we turned any curve, syl would optimistically say "i feel like the city is just around the corner!" we finally saw some very nice people (after 45 minutes of walking) that said that the town was another 5 kms away. at this point, we decided to look for a taxi. we quickly waved one down and drove the remaining 5 kms to aegina town. it was our very own "camino de santiago" but the "camino de carajo" in aegina - very fitting for easter. (the camino de santiago is a religious pilgrimage where you walk across spain during easter).
while on our wonderful walk, we saw some tourists on motorcycles. after this, sylvia was addicted with the thought of getting a motorcycle. so after finding out what time the ferry left, we found a place that rented motorcycles. the guy asked us if we could rive motorcycles, we said no so he gave us a quad to share. it was the best decision ever! syl and i took turns driving the quad and explored the entire island! we saw a giant church (the monastary of agios nektarios) and drove to the temple of aphaia. we then got lunch near the sea and drove around the rest of the island. it was a lot of fun.
the 2nd
we visited the national archaeological museum which has an amazing collection of greek statues and marble depictions in the world. it was in a huge building and the exhibits were fascinating. the only thing that tainted the experience was the hordes of american high school kids there for spring break and the other stereotypical american tourists there. they were loud, taking pictures with flash, hording all of the displays, walking in front of people looking at displays, calling over to friends and people - ah so aggravating!
overall the experience in greece was amazing! we relaxed, enjoyed the lifestyle, saw lots of things, had an amazing hostess and of course, ate SO MUCH FOOD! when you look at the pictures, you will see almost everything we ate. it was fantastic! tomorrow i am off to fés in morocco for a 2 day sight seeing tour!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
WENA LDS 2010
Stella and I were faci's at wena lds 2010 in malta. Our faci team consisted of people from Colombia, Germany, Denmark, Malta, Belgium and Greece and us. The conference focused on leadership and not so much on AIESEC. we had a pre meeting for 2 days where we went through all the sessions, worked on new ones and played a lot of foosball. we were in a fishing village in malta so we got to see the colourful boats and walk around a bit along the water as well.
the conference itself was very interesting and very challenging. It was nice to see something new in AIESEC again. when you have been in the organization for 5 years, things start to get a little routine. the format of the conference was in homegroups. so each delegate was placed in 1 of 10 homegroups and each session was based in homegroups. you could meet and get to know 16 other people really well as you worked with them in team building activities, discussions and of course parties as well. each homegroup has its own style and bonded in its own way. it was really cool to see new aiesecers coming into the organization with such motivation, passion and excitement.
there were of course some challenges in the faci team, especially with working styles. There were two clear groups in the faci team - the mediterranean group (of 4 - greece, malta and italy) and the german group (of 3). Ana (from Colombia but on the Swedish MC) and myself were somewhere in the middle - we understood both sides. It wasn't a bad thing at all! It was just very interesting to see how each group thought and worked. Coming from Canada and now living in Spain, i could understand and defend both sides and also sometimes play the intermediary. but it was very cool to see how different people thought and worked and also to see the realization each side had. the cultural understanding showed on their faces and challenged how everyone thought. it was a very intense 5 days with people from very different cultures - it was very frustrating, very fun, very challenging but awesome at the same time.
Malta
I was selected as a facilitator for the Western Europe and North America Leadership Development Seminar (WENA LDS for short :P) which was hosted in Malta. We went a few days before the conference for touring around and for pre conference. malta itself is an interesting place. it is only 316 sq km and has around 450,000 people, so the size of a small city. you can drive across the entire country in 20 minutes but because of the traffic, its more like an hour and a half. malta has been invaded by pretty much everyone (english, italians, spanish, french, arabs) so the maltese language is half arabic and half everything else. you can also see the influences of the british in the slang the maltese use, the italians in the food and the arabs in the architecture. Usually its a balmy 20 degrees in the winter, but not when we were there. it was rainy everyday except for the last 2 days and it was REALLY cold. but the people were amazing - very warm and hospitable. they were willing to show us around, drive us around and of course brag about their food. another weird thing...each house had a name! instead of a number on the outside of the house, it was a name (one was named cockburn..i would not want to live there...)
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Málaga
Continuing on the tour, i made my way to málaga. when the bus arrived to málaga, we arrived to rain. this wasn't the normal kind of drizzle rain, it was raining hard... like cats and dogs some would say. during the trip to málaga, i was in meetings, had an opportunity to actually work! and get to know the members of AIESEC there better. i even did a couple of little speeches in spanish (very proud of that!). Camby also took me on a tour of the center of Málaga! It's a cool little place with a muslim style castle (the alcazaba) and the birthplace of picasso! enjoy the pictures!
Zaragoza
I was in Zaragoza for 4 days over the weekend, continuing my whirlwind tour of Spain for work. Zaragoza isn't a huge city but it had a lot to see. The first night i was there, we went to "El Tubo" which is an area of the city that has lots of bars and restaurants. We went for tapas. Now, i was under the assumption that tapas worked the same all over Spain. Well. I was wrong. we ordered patatas brava (thick cut french fries with "hot" sauce) and croquetas - they were 9 euros each! I was not impressed. We went to a pintxos place after where they have cut pieces of bread with different toppings (ham, salmon, combinations of things) laid out along the entire counter of the bar. You picked whatever you want and at the end, they count the number of toothpicks you have and charge you 1.20 euros each. It was fantastic!
Continuing with the food theme, I ate SO MUCH that weekend. I was staying with Teresa's family for the days i was there. They were incredibly welcoming, warm and hospitable. I really did feel like i was at home. Teresa's sister works as a baker at a french bakery. Every morning when we woke up, there was a giant platter full of amazing things from the bakery. Teresa's dad loves to cook (he even wears a chef's hat when cooking) and cooked for 5 people every meal (when only 2-3 of us were eating). I don't think my plate was ever empty!
In terms of work, we went non stop the entire weekend! We had meetings, trainings, discussions - it was really great actually. I felt very productive, a little tired at the end of it all but very productive.
As a team building activity, we went to a horse stable on Sunday morning. Teresa's dad goes to this place every weekend or something, so they gave us a great deal! It was only 10 euros for 2 hours of riding and we used the place for a meal as well. The place (the Poni Club, yes Poni with an "i") is set up like a cottage with the stable attached. We learned about the horses (Spanish, English, Arab, purebred, mixed), how to clean them, about the organization. We also cooked and ate there as well - BBQ. Now it is March and winter in Spain, but the weather was perfect. It was around 22 or 23 degrees! So we sat outside, ate, took in some sun (even darkened a little :P). Actually riding the horses was awesome! They showed us how to ride properly, took us on a walk through some of the countryside which was very pretty and showed us how to take care of the horses and show our appreciation. Teresa's dad was leading my horse and showing me what to do and at one point said to me (when i wasnt understanding), "I thought you could speak spanish!" and i said, "i can! just not with horse related words!" At the end of the day, it was just us left, cleaning up and ready to lock up. Teresa and i looked up to find one of the horses just hanging out, but not in the stable. We called Teresa's dad to confirm and he said no, the horse shouldnt be out of the stable - thats right, an escapee. So Marco picked up the rope and was ready to get the horse back! Marco and Ruben jump into the pen, a dog is barking at the horse and because of all of these things, the horse gets spooked - starting to run around the pen. So i decided to be a horse whisperer and calm the horse down. Sure enough, he calmed down with my awesome technique and we could get him back to the stable.
On Monday, i went on a tour of Zaragoza. Isabel (studying tourism and doing a placement at the tourism office) took me on a very informative walk through the center of the city. Zaragoza has a lot of history - roman, muslim, christian. and they all have buildings and sites to represent them. There is also the Catedral Basilica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar - a giant church that has a pillar in it. a saint apparently saw the virgin mary over the pillar and decided to build a gigantic church! the part i liked the most was the 2 holes in the ceiling and 2 missiles on the wall. apparently during the civil war, the two missiles were lodged into the roof of the basilica, but never exploded.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Granada
I was in Granada for work (LC Visit) for three days. I was there to help coach the members and learn more about the reality of AIESEC in Granada. Of course i feasted on tapas (which are HUGE... you get a full hamburger and fries as a tapa for free with a drink for 2 euros, i still dont understand!). I also spent a lot of time on one of the campus' of the university of granada. the campus is on a hill....its a building (with one faculty), a billion stairs and then another building (with another faculty) and another billion stairs. You would for sure lose like 20 kilos if you had to climb the mountain everyday. i of course took the bus one day and walked up the mountain the other.
the members of aiesec granada were great! we eat lots of tapas, went salsa dancing and walked around the center of the city a bit. I really like Granada - a nice small city with lots of history. I didn't go to the Alhambra (as I have already been twice) but discovered newer parts like the Plaza de Torros (where all the great tapas places are) and a cafeteria in the university that has the most AMAZING view of Albaicin, the Alhambra and the entire city. I loved it!
Here is my crazy travelling scehdule for all of you to enjoy! Feb 19 - Valladolid > Feb 21 - Back to Madrid > Feb 23 - Granada > Feb 25 - Back to Madrid (for 7 hours, overnight) > Feb 26 - Zaragoza > Mar 1 - Back to Madrid (overnight only) > Mar 2 - Málaga > Mar 5 - Barcelona > Mar 7 - Madrid > Mar 9 - Malta > Mar 18 - Madrid (for how long, who knows?!)
Monday, February 22, 2010
A very interesting birthday
Yes, that’s right, February 22nd is my birthday. Those with facebook might be wondering why they didn’t know. Its because I didn’t post it on facebook! Now that the day is almost over, I can recount a few interesting details.We went to lunch at a Greek restaurant near the office. We had two waiters serving us – one a Spanish guy and the other an African guy. Sylvia of course tried to get something for free (like a dessert or something), but its not really a custom in Spain. But the African waiter did come over, notice we were talking in English and sang happy birthday to me. So! I’m in Spain, in a Greek restaurant with an African man singing to me in English. So international. In our metro station (near the office), there is an array of musicians and singers (both good and bad) that perform either in the station or on the metro itself. (Our favorite is a lady that sings AWFUL karaoke every morning in an unknown language wearing the same clothes everyday). But! On the way home, there was a man playing the violin. Stella asks him to play happy birthday because of obvious reasons. He starts playing, Stella and Sylvia are singing and Kimmie is recording. At this point I am dying of laughter and embarrassment and have turned a very bright colour of red (an achievement with my skin tone). Stella at this point is telling random people “es su cumpleaños!” (It’s her birthday). Sylvia commented “Stella, stop telling the old ladies and tell the hot guys!” But alas, no boys just nice old ladies.
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Valladolid EB Retreat
The EB of AIESEC Valladolid invited me to a casa rural (cottage) to chair their EB retreat. We went to a little village (pueblo) 30 minutes outside of Valladolid. It was a great cottage with lots of room, a great kitchen and an amazing patio (but it was a little too cold to use). The weekend was filled with a lot of laughs, jokes and of course drinking games. We played board games, card games (i have learnt how to play with Spanish playing cards - there are different suits and ways of counting!) and did some sessions to team build. I even tied their hands together with string and made them cook and eat lunch that way. It was very entertaining for me! I spoke so much Spanish (i.e. 95% Spanish) that I was exhausted by the end of the weekend!
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Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Munich
Beer + Cold Weather = Canada... i mean! Germany! Sylvia and I hoped on a plane on Saturday to Munich. My friend PEC lives there right now, doing a semester abroad at the Munich Business School. This is the first time Syl or I had been to Germany. It was very cold (kind of like home) with snow and slush and a cold wind that made your face freeze. As soon as we arrived, there was a giant BMW grill in the airport - very cool. but what was even cooler was that Lufthansa has free coffee machines in the airport (the fancy ones with like hot chocolate and espresso and stuff too). After meeting up with pec and his friend xavier, we walked around to get a few drinks and catch up. the weird part was that the bars and restaurants were closing at 11:30 or 12:00 on a Saturday! but we found a couple of places to enjoy a beverage and then went to a club. The club was very interesting - loud techno and electronic music and very interesting characters. our favorites were the 2 blond german girls who couldnt dance to save their life - they just bounced around off beat, looking like they were having an epileptic seizure. they also had high top, hip hop style sneakers lining the bar - random but cool detail.
Dachau: on valentines day, syl and i headed out to Dachau, where the former Nazi concentration camp was. we knew it was going to be an intense experience going in, but it was very hard and emotionally draining. we got the audio guide which provided so much more detail and sometimes in a graphic manner. it was nonetheless very interesting to see exactly where all of the things you read in a history book actually happened. the day itself was super cold and cloudy - the perfect conditions to experience Dachau. Especially after seeing the crematorium, you feel a profound sense of loss and complete confusion - how can one person do this to another.
Bavarian Dinner: We went for a very Bavarian dinner that consisted of meat and potatoes in different forms. It was excellent and VERY German. There was a band playing at the restaurant as well, giving us a nice ambiance. We then went to the Hofbräuhaus, a beer hall that is all over Germany. A friend of mine advised me not to go there, but it was awesome! There was a band playing, 1 liter mugs of beer and very salty pretzels. It was really fun to just chill, drink beer and chat.
BMW: On the way to the BMW museum, we had to wait at the u-bahn stop, münchner freiheit. it was the coolest metro stop ever! pec described it as the star wars metro stop. whatever it was, it was awesome - electric blue columns, lime green walls and mirrors on the ceiling. while we were in Munich, it was Carnival, so the BMW museum had a bunch of things planned - one being a Brazilian carnival party and the other was a motorcycle demonstration. For the Brazilian party, they had a small capoeira demonstration, dancing, a band playing and food and drink from Brazil. There was also a guy doing tricks on his motorcycle on the stairs, it was cool. The brazilian music was a cool soundtrack to looking at the new BMW cars and motorcycles. We went to the Olympic park after (it was across the street). Nothing is open, so we just walked around. It was a little anticlimactic. Like it was cool that the Olympics were there, but we couldn't see much other than the outside of the buildings.
Carnival: In Marienplatz (the main square in Munich), the carnival celebrations were in full swing. I guess Carnival in Munich is like Halloween. Kids and adults dress up as whatever they want (take a look at the picture of the 2 guys dressed up as M&Ms). There are concerts in the main city squares and of course crazy parties. We walked around the city center in the freezing cold. Munich is a really cool city - it has a small town feel but has so much history and significance.
Party: Our last night in Munich, we went to a University party in a Roman Temple. That should sound weird right? But it was really cool! One area had a DJ, another area for drinks and in another room they had a band playing disco remixes. We had a good time dancing around in a very strange location. We then went to the Milch und Bar which was so much fun. They played 80s music all night and we just danced the night away. We made friends with 4 other Spanish people that were also studying in Munich and lived in the same building as pec. They were awesome and really fun to party with.
vending machine - for books?
when at the príncipe pío shopping mall in madrid (a very cool mall that used to be a train station!) i came across a vending machine. i know, a vending machine is not blog worthy or really worthy of any mention. but! what if it was a vending machine that sold books. thats right, i was impressed and felt it was note worthy!
pick pocketing in madrid
camera, ipod, wallet with full salary in cash and credit cards, coin purse with 1.50 euros. i was the victim of a couple of pick pocketers one february evening. but jokes on them, they only took my coin purse with 1.50 euros - suckers! Ok, so the full story. Lupo (visiting us from Panama that week), Cynthia (Morra), Kim and I were on the metro home during rush hour. we were huddled around one pole in the middle of the train. there was this sketchy couple that were speaking russian or something (and the chick DEFINITELY had a mustache). this is what it looked like: the guy went to hug his mustached girlfriend and i felt something near my purse. i moved it and mouthed to Morra, "I think they are trying to pick pocket me". at the next stop, when people got off, they moved and sandwiched Morra. She only had dirty tupperware in her bag, so they wouldnt have gotten anything good at all. then at the next stop, they moved to kimmie. when our stop came, Morra, lupo and i started to get off the train. we noticed kimmie wasnt following us so we turn around to see that the mustached lady had opened the button on kimmie's coat to take her wallet out. When kimmie turned around (she felt something in her pocket), the mustached lady dropped the wallet and kimmie grabbed it. at this point, lupo and i are trying to reopen the metro doors so kimmie could get off and morra had jumped back on the train from the other entrance, ready to drop kick the mustached lady's ass. the pick pocketers ran down the train. Kim and morra reported them at the next station but i doubt they caught them (although i dont know how many mustached ladies ride the metro nowadays).
Bar Hawaiano + Luci finishes her last exam
On february 4th, Luci finished the last exam of her degree! So in celebration, we had cake in the office and Sebas even made Luci a graduation hat out of paper (very creative). After work, we went to Montaditos for dinner (they have mini sandwiches for like 1-2 euros, cheap drinks and overall awesomeness). We then headed to Bar Hawaiano. Its a little place that doesnt like too big of a crowd but is amazing! The place is like a cave including faux rock for the wall. You sit around and order drinks, which of course come in a VOLCANO! that has smoke too! The straws shoot out for about 2 feet (yes i nearly poked myself in the eye several times) and you share the drinks and enjoy the overly sugary Hawaiian delights. The waiter also brings all of the girls leis, a carnation and little umbrellas (and tapas of course). Super cheesy but very entertaining!
Monday, February 1, 2010
Alicante - the most relaxing trip from hell
our friend maria has some things: a nice camera, a car and a house on the beach near alicante. our friend stella had a birthday and a wish: to get out of madrid for the weekend. this meant that cynthia (morra), stella, maria and i piled into her car for a great trip the beach! you would think it was all rainbows and candy, but we had a few hiccups. we planned on leaving thursday night around 10:30pm, to get to alicante by 3am or so, sleep and then have the whole day on Friday to sit at the beach. We only left Madrid at around 1am. We filled up gas and were on our way. Towards the last part of the trip (around 3:30am), I was sleeping in the back seat when i hear maria and morra cursing in the front seat. We are out of gas, the gas light is on and we have already been to 2 gas stations that were closed. we decided that waiting at a gas station for a few hours was probabaly better than running out of gas in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere. So we pulled into the next gas station we found and it was seriously out of a horror movie. Maria and i checked out the place once to see if anyone was around and nothing, just alleys with shady lighting. Then morra and maria went to look around and a car alarm went off..so of course we are freaked because we think that someone is lurking in the darkness. during the next 45 minutes or so, we are joking, morra is screaming out of the window of the car "quiero gasolinaaaaaaaa" and generally being a gong show. as we are talking and deciding what to do, we hear a man´s voice, very low like a grumble. of course we are freaked out (again), looking around everywhere, making sure the doors are locked etc etc. morra insists she doesnt hear anything. then we are quite again to see if we can hear the man again and we hear something! then morra says, "ah! thats my stomach!!" so the conclusion? morra´s tomach sounds like an angry man. next, a random truck driver comes by to pick up his trunk and we find out there is a 24 hour gas station about 20 kms away. assuming you can drive about 50kms on the gas light, and the fact that we had already driven about 35 kms on the gas light, we decided to risk it and go. so we drive REALLY slowly (like 40kms/hr on a highway with a speed limite of 120kms/hr) and we made it to the gas station! we finally got to the house and slept for a few hours before getting groceries. the beach house is awesome! its been in maria´s family for a long time (her mom grew up there) and is across the street from the beach. literally. you walk 20 steps from her front gate and you are on sand. even though it was a bit windy and cold, we spent the good part of 3 days on the beach. on friday (our first day on the beach), towards the end of our time there, maria and i decided to walk along the beach. at this point, it was incredibly beautiful - the rock on beach a cool red colour, the sea was really blue and there were lots of seashells. there was also these really cool rocks that you climb onto. they were generally pretty flat and close to the sand. so maria and i decided to start walking on the rocks. there was a slippery part, and i slipped, stumbled a bit and fell face first. i hit my legs, my arm and my face. (disclaimer: a little graphic & bloody, skip ahead if you need to! :P) When i stood up, i looked down to see my big toe nail on my left leg flopping in the water, it was only attached by a bit of skin. maria ran towards me asking if i was ok, i said ok and that just my toenail was gone. then we look down and a huge flood of blood came down my leg. we rolled up my pants to see lots of blood coming from below my knee and the blood pooling in the water aronund my feet. it looked like a low budget horror movie at that point. maria got me to the beach and then ran to get stella and morra. at this point, im super light headed and try to gain my bearings. when i looked down at my leg again, i started to freak out a bit from the blood. while morra was calming me down and walking me from the beach, maria and stella ran to get the car. we jumped in the car and maria was on the phone with her dad who is a doctor. we went to pharmacy #1 and were shooed away, then we went to an ambulancia, where they wouldnt treat me because i didnt have insurance from the EU, then we went to another medical clinic and they wouldnt see me because they didnt any doctors. SO THEN! we went to another pharmacy and they finally helped. they were kind of shocked no one would help me! so she patched me up and we bought supplies (like gauze and antispetic) and we were on our way. after getting back to the house, i felt fine after some dinner. we were playing monopoly when i looked down and saw that my bandage was completely soaked and blood was dripping down my leg. we changed the bandage only to find the 2nd one getting wet pretty quickly. we decided that going to the emergency room was the best way to go, so even if it was nothing, the doctor could tell us that (or get stiches if i needed). 2 hours in the hospital and €204 later (it only took 5 minutes of time with the doctor and the nurse and all they did was re-wrap my leg and toe), we were on our way. in the next few days, we hung out, sylvia met up with us, we sat on the beach and went to a restaurant to have paella and celebrate stella´s bday. we also had a sweet photo shoot on the beach with maria´s awesome camera. i don´t have any pictures yet, but they will be up soon!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Morra & Cindy's Birthday
Last night, we went out for Cynthia (Morra) and Cindy's Birthday. Cindy is on AIESEC International and was in town for the weekend for her birthday celebrations. They are also both Mexican. So what did we do? Go to a Mexican restaurant for dinner! It was amazing...all of the food was spectacular. The decor? Like a piñata exploded on the walls. It was the cheesiest thing ever, but fantastic.
We went to Chapandaz (i think thats how you spell it) afterwards. Its a bar that has cool music, so works for lots of different people. The bar was FILLED with american exchange students. Apparently there are like 150 American exchange students in Barcelona and Madrid and they are taking over our spots... hhmmm although i love nafta and what not..not sure if i love this
Chapandaz has a drink that is very famous...called "Leche de Pantera" - Panther's Milk. It cost almost 10 euros but is HUGE! There is this cream liquid stuff that comes out of the ceiling, then the bartenders pour in like 4 different types of liquor and put in some cinnamon. People love this stuff! Personally I am not a huge fan of the sugary drinks, but it was an experience nonetheless.
Churros
Stella and I decided that we didn't want to just sit at home and watch movies on the weekend, but instead explore the city and get to know Madrid a little bit more. So we ventured out Saturday to San Gines, a very famous churro's spot in Madrid. Its tucked behind a church on Calle Arenal, just off of Sol. It was amazing and the best thing for a chilly afternoon.We also explored Calle Fuencarral which had SO many cool stores and shops. We had only ever been there in the middle of the night on the way home from the bar, never when everything was open and it was amazing! Super crowded but at the same time, really cool.
Team Day
Thanks to AIESEC, we had a team day that was pretty awesome. It consisted of three parts - bowling, dinner and ice skating
Bowling was a lot of fun. In general, we all kind of suck, with only 2 (out of 8) breaking 100 points. I must say that the bowling alleys here are way more ghetto than good ol' gateway lanes back home. They didnt even have machines at each lane so you could put in funny bowling knicknames! But still, it was fun - seeing who could lift the heaviest balls, how fast we could throw them and the bowling form of each person. It was also an accomplishment for some of us to even hit the pins. All in all, good times.
We went to a place called Chicago's for dinner. It was "American" food - so burgers, steak and greasy appetizers. Apparently "american" food restaurants are quite popular in Spain. It looked like a midwest gas station, an old general store and a planet hollywood threw up on the place. Pinned to the walls were motorcyles, old coca cola posters, an old gas pump and upside down tables!
Part 3 was ice skating. I have decided that I may be the worst canada ever - don't like cold, can't ski and definitely can't skate. But what I would like to point out is that I have potential. The potential to bean awesome canadian representative. At the beginning, Kimmie and I were hugging the boards as the Mexican, Chilean and Spaniards were skating circles around us (while doing turns on one leg!) but by the end, we could venture out on our own. One very successful point was that I didn't fall..AT ALL! even when i tried to turn around. Why yes, I AM proud of myself. The other highlight was that the very proud canadian sport of Curling is taught at this ice rink in Madrid! The curling circles and everything were painted on the ice. There was also a Zamboni - oh I love my Canadian fun facts (but I think my team is getting sick of me saying: "Fun Fact! Did you know that _____ is Canadian?!?!"). Hey! we might not have a national dance or food (other than poutine) but! we do have fun facts and I will be damned if I don't share them! I may not be the best ice skater, or a lover of cold and snow, but I do know my fun canadian facts!
NPM 2.0
On the 16th, we had an extraordinary meeting for all of the LCPs in AIESEC in Spain. It was the 2nd round of MCP elections. It was the first time I had seen the members since September! It was good to reconnect and talk to them once again. It was also a great opportunity for me to reconnect with my team. Sebas and Raquel were running for MCP and Sebas won in the end.
Pretty much everyone slept over at the MC flat after the party and some even made homemade pasta after!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
guess whose back...
guess whose back in madrid? thats right! i arrived last to wonderful madrid. flight over
the super long (9 hour flight) from calgary to london was fine except for the three crying babies around me. having to wake up every 30 minutes was delightful. not to mention the fact that the airline lost my bags, which was also wonderful. the flight out of calgary was also delayed almost 5 hours, but i had the chance to spend time with the walter family, which was awesome. last 3 months
i know i haven't been posting much over the last three months, but nothing extremely excited has really happened. i was continuing my position (MCVP for the aiesecers) virtually from home. although it was fantastic to keep in touch with the position and the work i was doing, it did get lonely and frustrating working from my basement. i wouldn't recommend working from home :P other than work, i hung out with friends and family and generally relaxed. now
so now i am sitting in the flat in madrid, looking out the window and seeing SNOW. i left edmonton to escape the freezing cold and snowstorms only to come to warm madrid at a whopping 0 degrees and light snow. now that i am back to the excitement that is europe, you can expect more pictures, posts and stories!
the super long (9 hour flight) from calgary to london was fine except for the three crying babies around me. having to wake up every 30 minutes was delightful. not to mention the fact that the airline lost my bags, which was also wonderful. the flight out of calgary was also delayed almost 5 hours, but i had the chance to spend time with the walter family, which was awesome. last 3 months
i know i haven't been posting much over the last three months, but nothing extremely excited has really happened. i was continuing my position (MCVP for the aiesecers) virtually from home. although it was fantastic to keep in touch with the position and the work i was doing, it did get lonely and frustrating working from my basement. i wouldn't recommend working from home :P other than work, i hung out with friends and family and generally relaxed. now
so now i am sitting in the flat in madrid, looking out the window and seeing SNOW. i left edmonton to escape the freezing cold and snowstorms only to come to warm madrid at a whopping 0 degrees and light snow. now that i am back to the excitement that is europe, you can expect more pictures, posts and stories!
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