In Barcelona!

Here I find myself sitting at my hostel in the very large and intimidating city of Barcelona. I don´t have the ability to put any pictures up quite yet (I can´t even charge my darn camera, what with my having plug-in complications and all). But I love it here. It´s a HUGE city. But if you know anything about modern art, then you´d know the name Antonio Gaudi. I´ve seen a ton of his architectural designs today. One is the Cathedral of the Sagrada Familia. Absolutely amazing...but unfinished. I´m going down to spend time on the beaches of the Mediterranean Sea tomorrow. Should be a better than average day I suppose. You know...the Sea and all...I guess. Or, I could be rendered speechless for hours at the amazing things I´m seeing! That one actually sounds about right. So, I´ll be able to spend more time detailing this trip later, but for now, I´m safe, I´m happy, and I´m in Barcelona, Spain. That still blows my mind.

Concert in Spain!

Hey,
The concert was awesome! I played like 11 songs, and everyone seemed to have a really good time. I have some pictures too:

Concert 1
Concert 2
Concert 3

I also got a good shot with me and few of my fellow american classmates before the show:

Classmates

I really enjoyed myself last night. How many people can say they´ve played a show in Spain? It´s now my privilege to be able to claim that one. Yes!

Well, Tuesday night I went to a pizza place with my classmates because we were celebrating like 4 peoples birthdays. My teachers even came. But yeah, here´s my teacher Manolo and I. He´s crazy, but in the very best way! As you can tell from the picture, he´s a very animated guy (he´s the one that danced to the Sinatra in class). Anyways, here he is:

Manolo and I

Also, I started a once a week meeting with a girl at the university. Her name´s Marta. She´s pretty nice. She´s on the far right in this picture. So far, we just bounce back and forth between speaking english and spanish, so we both get to practice. She was a little hesitant to come at first seeing as how there were going to be like 25 americans scarfing down pizza and only about 4 actual Spaniards, but she ended up having fun. Probably because crazy-in-a-good-way Manolo always keeps things lively and entertaining.

Me, Katie, and Marta (with Alex in the background)

K, well I have to go. I´m headed for Barcelona in a few hours and I haven´t packed yet. I don´t know if I´ll be able to update at all for a few days, but I for sure will when I get back on Tuesday morning! Laters all!

Everyone´s invited.

Hey, good news: I´ve been slated to play a coffee shop concert here in Santander next Wednesday night. Actually, it´s a bar. And since everything starts late here, I´ll be openning up at 10:30. This just might turn out to be a very memorable night. Me, my acoustic guitar, and some laid back vocals. Every song in English, and nobody knowing any of them...seeing as how they´re originals. Oh well. This opportunity never comes for some people. I´m playing a show in SPAIN!!! Everyone´s invited of course. It´s at Bhengala. See you there?...maybe?

I just booked a flight to London for a 4 day weekend I have mid November. Some fellow Americanos and I are headed out. All that´s left is to book a hostel. From there, we do whatever whenever in one of the biggest, craziest, most expensive cities in the whole world. Who am I that I should have opportunities like this? The flight´s costing me about $50 round trip. I´m going to go down to the bus station today and buy a bus ticket to Barcelona for a long weekend we have at the end of this month. That should be cool. I´ll have lots of pictures to post for everyone.

Speaking of pictures...let´s see what I got.

I took a class field trip yesterday to some ancient caves. (picture of the sign...terribly uninteresting) The word they use is 'prehistoric' but I don´t buy that crap. They were definately old...very, very old. But the cool thing was seeing the paintings on the rock faces. The second cave I went to wasn´t even the real one. It´s been closed down, so no one can visit it, but they reconstructed a perfect duplicate of the origin. Lame, i know, but apparently necessary. Something about preserving the art.

We got the chance to 'hunt' while we were there. We threw the spears at the targets, with the assistance of something called a propulsor, and wow, that thing increase the speed of the spear by a ton. The physics of the lever and all that. More output, less effort. However that all works. I wasn´t very good at it. Here I am in action though.

Jason, the mighty hunter

Oh yeah, these were our targets.

And here´s the countryside...and here´s me posing.

That´s all I´ve got as far as images go. I know I still need to get those Euromullets captured on camera. Last night I saw like 7 of them walk by at once, and so wished I had my camera on me.

Ok, well I need a nap, and then a shower. Laters.

Went to a bible study today.

Wow,
I was blessed to get the chance to bible study it up with some fellow Americans today. I´ll be bringing my guitar next time so we can do worship. There were six of us, and one girl was a devoute catholic who is ALL mixed up in what she believes, and has a very week faith in the things she does. We had a really good talk with her afterwards. Her name´s Martha if you want to mention her in your prayers.

Praise the Lord though! Bible study in Europe!

Plane Tickets

Nothing crazy to report except that I´ve been going on a shopping spree these last couple days.

I bought a ticket for Dublin, Ireland that leaves Dec. 2nd and a ticket to Vienna, Austria that leaves Dec. 13th.

I hate spending money...but I can´t pass up these traveling opportunities.

I´d better go open up my guitar case and start playing the street corners for small change.

Prepare Yourself For What You´re About To See

This image will either leave you speechless or render you absolutely furious. I say that last bit because it´s a big file, and unless you´ve got fast internet, you´d better start downloading it now, while you go work out at the gym or go winter clothes shopping, or start a game of chess with that old friend, or whatever you like to do that you know will take a few hours, ´cause this one is a monster. I might have exaggerated, but I know I´ll be home again before my family gets it downloaded. Here it is¨

Intense panoramic of Santander and the Bay

This photo is courtesy of a close friend of mine at the Antioch House by the name of Josiah DePaoli. A class act with a knack for Photoshopping. (Note to older generation: That´s where you take images and do cool computer stuff to them so that they become even cooler. I don´t have enough space or time to also define the word ¨cool¨ for you though...sorry.) See if you can find the hidden image of Adam Rothrock within the picture.

Well let´s see, what´s there to tell as of today, Tuesday...

I went to a basketball game in this fairly large stadium that was unfortunately a little boring, even with overtime and a nail biter ending. I bite my nails anyways (ignore that comment mom) and the level of competition just wasn´t that great. I so wished I was at a beaver game. One funny thing was that all the boys around the age of 5 to 10 were up on the last row running around with those inflateable bats beating each other senseless. I ended up getting some pizza with friends after that. Not a bad night, considering I didn´t have to pay for the game. But yeah, what else...Oh yeah, I have a few more pictures to show.

One is of my my host grandma (Abuela I call her). Her names Flora. I had Begoña, my host mom, take the picture, and wow...what a fiasco! We seriously took the same picture about 5 times cause grandma wouldn´t smile long enough for the red eye flash to take the picture, and Begoña could center us, and the dog was jumping in and out of every other photo attempt. We were all having a good laugh though. Flora was always super concerned that her slip would show, and she continually fluffed her hair with the movie star glamour motion. But she was a crack up. Here it is though:

Flora and I

Also, I have a picture of my room now. About time, sorry.

My Chambers

And a few other just kinda random shots. The dog made it into a couple again.

The Bay at Night
The Bay at Twilight
Typical Cup of Coffee
Bizca on the Carpet
Bizca the Sphinx

I case anyone was wondering...this blog is going to be about my adventures in Spain, but only until Dec 2nd. After that, I´ll be traveling a bit, so I don´t know how much internet access I´ll have for about a week. I´ll be back home in Oregon for almost the entire month of January, then it´s off to Europe again. This time, though, I´ll be in a city in France called, Angers. I won´t be coming home until the start of June, so look forward to several more month of what I would hope you all would consider quality blogging. Thanks for commenting those of you who do. I´ll keep the updates coming.

Sunday at Church

This morning, Sunday morning, I went to a different christian church. It was tucked in amongst all the buildings as if it was a café, but the inside felt more like a church back home than the other did. Everyone there was super glad to see us (my friend Natalie and I went). There were lots of little kids too, which helped give the church a lot of life. I got to meet a young Spanish girl named Jenifer (a very American name) and I greeted her with the standard double cheek kiss, then Natalie did the same. She´s 12 and goes to school here in Santander. She was always there to help N (I hope everyone´s ok with my rather lazy name abreviations) and I to find the right worship song in our booklets. We had a great time of worship though. We actual sang the spanish versions of Come, Now Is the Time To Worship, and Shout To the Lord. I really enjoyed it. Afterwards, we talked with this American at school here in town named Brett from (this one´s for you Carter family) Tennessee. He´s got the genuine accent to. Well he and I are going to try and start an English Bible study, and it´s perfect that I have my guitar here.

Well, I didn´t do too much this weekend. I did, however, meet up with a few of my local buddies I´m friends with now to watch a game. That means we watched soccer. Actually we were at the Celtic Tavern, and afterwards we played a game of darts then headed out to grab some grub. I wasn´t hungry though because I had just dined rather like a king at my house. But I did enjoy some Sangria (a very juice-like wine).

Oh yeah, and the night before there were some French sailors who were docked in port, and they were out of control. Half of them were drunk, barely any of them spoke spanish, but some could mumble a bit of English. They were being perverts with some of the American girls from OSU, so we quickly became disenchanted with them and decided to vacate to our favorite bar, Bhengala, but the French sleazeballs followed us. I suppose I never got bothered personally, but it really ticked me off seeing some of our girls give into their crap. Not cool, but those girls are adults and if they don´t want us trying to protect them (which they tell us they don´t), then the rest of us guys are only going to feel bad/mad, but not responsible, when they do stuff they regret. Anyways, I´ll get off that subject. I did, on a bright note, enjoy talking in French with some of them. I feel like I´ve gotten a bit worse at it since I had my summer class at the U of O, but it started coming back. I love that langauge. But what a dumb bunch they were. Sailors aren´t the most moral and gentle people in the world (back me up on that one, Dad). I guess that´s why foul mouthed people are said to curse like sailors. Au Revoir to those guys.

Well, I´m going to post 2 pictures I took of the sky as the sun was setting. It was a firey red I really couldn´t resist capturing for everyone back home. In bewteen churches and buildings made for a cool shot too.

Santander Twilight 1
Santander Twilight 2

Well, I don´t have a ton to do tonight...no homework this weekend. I might start planning a trip to Ireland if that´s at all possible. Cross your fingers everyone. I´ll have everyone I know in Ireland (which is no one) start kissing the Blarney Stone. I´ll get there...one way or another!

I haven´t posted anything in a few days, so it´s about time I caught up.

Let´s see, I have a few important pictures to post today...
First, here´s one of my host mom (Begoña) and me, and the little dog Bizca (pronounced Beethca).
http://oregonstate.edu/~normansj/pictures/Week%2003/Bego%f1a%20and%20I.JPG

And here´s Bizca...tiny little thing. Mellow though, and that´s good.
http://oregonstate.edu/~normansj/pictures/Week%2003/Bizca.JPG

And here´s where I watch TV (El Señor de los Anillo, aka Lord of the Rings...has been on every monday night.)
http://oregonstate.edu/~normansj/pictures/Week%2003/watch%20TV%20on%20this.JPG

Along with every good TV watching session, I enjoy a fine meal on this small, but accomodating table. Everything´s typically set out for me, and I don´t have to take a single dish to the dish washer. The gals I live with seem to do every little thing for me down to making my bed. I take care of all personal hygene though. It´s like a hotel here. Anyways, here´s the table.
http://oregonstate.edu/~normansj/pictures/Week%2003/where%20I%20eat.JPG

So last night, I spent about 2 hours watching Spanish dubbed American shows with my host mom. We actually had some really good conversation. She loved talking about all the American actors and movies I liked. It was fun pronouncing everyone´s name like I was Spanish. I´d forgo the American way of saying names after awhile and just say things like Brad Peet, and Rowben Williams, Hoolia Rowbairts (hope that not too hard for anyone to figure out). I figured out that the title of the movie Hook, is translated as NeverLand in Spanish. I wasn´t pleased with that. But I watched a show I think is called Without a Trace in English. Not sure, but we enjoyed it.

I´m loading up some pictures of the bay I live nearby too. I took a picture then moved a little so if you join them all together, you might be able to get a good panoramic sense of where I was standing when I took the pictures. I actually think I caught a couple of lovers smootching on the bench too (Bay 7). I´m really quite sneaky. Too bad I wasn´t that good at the Guggenheim.
Bay 1
Bay 2
Bay 3
Bay 4
Bay 5
Bay 6
Bay 7
Bay 8
Bay 9

Josiah, that would be rad if you´d string those together for me. Do it whenever if you´re up for it. Oh, and I hope you all notice how I finally figured out how to get rid of the ugly wesite addresses. I´m not feeling like doing it to the rest of the addresses right now, but I´ll start doing it from now on. It makes it look so much nicer!

Well I don´t have plans for this weekend, but I´ll let you guys know if anything cool happens.
P.S. Holly, do you like having my cell phone?

Sinatra during class

Alright, where do I begin today? Well I hooked up my iPod to the stereo system in class today, and we pumped some Frank Sinatra while we did our standard verb conjugations. Our prof was getting so excited that he has dancing around and knocking over our waterbottles on our desks (which he makes a habit of doing whenever the oportunity presents itself). Then, he opened up the classroom door and double the volume level as if to the tell the whole Spanish college that we were having the time of our lives...which, of course, we were.

Last night, I was up til 1 watching Las Dos Torres (The Two Towers) but I headed to bed early because I´ve seen it a billion times, and I value my rest a little more, especially since I´ve been trying to get healthy again. Yeah, I still have a little cold.

Dad, I think you would fit in perfectly over here. There´s something that they do here that you´ve been harping on us kids for years...they turn off lights when they leave rooms! It´s actually very bad (very very bad) to use excess electricity here. I get scolded if I leave a room and don´t turn the light off. I think of you every time dad. Wait and see what kind of man I am when I come back...I´ll be so refined!

So I took a picture of the keyboard I´m using, cause I think some of you might be interested to see a few of the differences, and why, if ever I keep adding all these weird symbols when I type. Here´s the link for it.

http://oregonstate.edu/~normansj/pictures/Week%203/Spanish%20Keyboard.JPG

And as I was leaving the school today, I happened upon an unfortunate car wreck...here´s the picture for that:

http://oregonstate.edu/~normansj/pictures/Week%203/car%20wreck%20at%20the%20University.JPG

And here´s a couple more shots of the University...

http://oregonstate.edu/~normansj/pictures/Week%203/Universidad%20de%20Cantabria%20distance%20shot.JPG

http://oregonstate.edu/~normansj/pictures/Week%203/UC%20sign.JPG

http://oregonstate.edu/~normansj/pictures/Week%203/UC%20entrance.JPG

Well, there´s only one more picture I could load. It´s not even that cool, but it´s something I see everyday, so I suppose it´s relevant.

http://oregonstate.edu/~normansj/pictures/Week%203/Walking%20back%20from%20class,%20overlooking%20the%20bay.JPG

Sorry these links are so long, but lucky for us, we call all just click on them! Well, it´s time to bring this blog entry to an end. Oh, and before I forget, something cool happened this morning as I was sitting in front of the TV eating my chocolaty kid´s cereal...I turned the channel and lo and behold, Fraggle Rock was on (in Spanish obviously). Great way to start a day out right. Well that´s it. I don´t have class tomorrow, so we´ll see if I can´t get some good pictures taken and posted. Laters.

German?

This blog, which typically has all the links and all the words (other than those I´m typing here) in Spanish, is today giving me nothing but German. I have no idea why, but I´ll roll with it because I know where to click now, regardless of language.

So, I put up a few more pictures. The Guggenheim didn´t let me take any photos inside of course.

Go here to see them:
http://oregonstate.edu/~normansj/pictures/Week%203/

I have some video clips that I´ll be trying to upload too, so You guys can maybe start seeing Spain in motion.

On another note, my cold seems to be leaving. It´s strange because it was almost as if every American here I knew was sick. Conspiracy??? Let´s hope not.

And I´d like to close by saying this...Hi dad, I miss you and love you a ton.

Back from Bilbao

Bilboa was pretty cool. I think this is a safe comparison... Bilbao is to Santander as Eugene is to Corvallis. By that I mean a few things. First, Bilbao is bigger. It´s also got a more artsy feel to it. But most importantly, downtown Bilbao is full of hippies. I kid you not. Downtown Bilbao (Casco Viejo as it´s called) is a bit odd. There are bars with dozens of picture frames hung on the walls to either commemorate, celebrate, or immortalize all the imprisoned Basque radicals who have connection with the ETA (a Basque terrorist organizion). I didn´t feel unsafe there...no, not at all, but I did sense the much more liberal nature of the town, or at least the downtown area.

I´ll get some pictures up, but I left the battery for my camera in my room, so I can´t upload anything yet.

But the Guggenheim museum was a trip and a half. Now that place is unique...to put it mildly. I actually got nauseous walking in and around it, not just because of the architecture, but also because of some of the intensely large exhibits that you could walk through that did a fine job of throwing your equilibrium off.

Well, I think I´ll spend more time updating when I get these pictures loaded. For now, I´m going to make some phone calls.

Another day in a foreign land

I´m planning on heading east this weekend to the Basque town of Bilbao. If any of you out there is afraid for me because of what you may have heard about that region and it´s potential dangers, don´t worrÿ: I´ll do nothing but enjoy myself. But my professor today told us that if we see any kind of demonstration, to stay away. There´s the Gugenheim museum there that we´re going to step into. Modern Art is actually beyond my comprehension for the most part, but I suppose I want to go to see what all the fuss is about.

Well, I think it´s safe to say I have about an hours worth of homework or less this weekend. I can´t believe how easy we have it. We might be getting paired up with Spanish students next week to do a little conversation exchange. Meaning talk in Spanish for a while, then talk in English so as both people can better their skills. But I´m excited because I´ve done a pitiful job of making actual Spanish friends.

I´m going to a jazz concert tonight. It´s a performance by the Charlie Parker Legacy Band. Sounds impressive, but it´ll be fun no matter what. There´s a group of us Americans going, and then afterwards we´re all going to Bhengala, our favorite bar.

So I was trying to plan out trips around Europe today, and even work out how and when I want to arrive in Vienna, the city I´m eventually flying back home out of, and I was a little overwhelmed. Plus, I have my guitar, which actually means cumbersom travel. Oh well, I choose that. I wouldn´t have it any other way.

I found a place in town that rents surfboards finally. It´s this bar that´s decked out with Foster´s beer advertisements to reinforce it´s aussi themed interior. Not a bad place, but it seems expensive to rent boards. Speaking of expensive, maybe I should not travel at all, and just save as much money as possible (seeing as how I don´t have a lot anyways). That would probably be wrong of me though, to be here in Europe and forgo the priveledge of seeing the sights.

Hmmm, you´d think in a foreign land I´d have more to report about. I guess I´ll have to go create some excitement tonight that will be worth telling about tomorrow. Oh, I suppose I could say that I think I´m on the brink of being sick with some sort of common cold. Maybe it´s my immune system finally caving in after holding on for so long. I haven´t had any reactions to anything here. Not the food, not the water, not the air...nothing. Hopefully the worst of it will pass this weekend.

Well, I still haven´t taken anymore pictures. I´ll do that. Special thanks to Zach Gerig for making the DB mix CD for me with the mellow beats. They served me well today.

Speaking of listening to my iPod, there´s an interesting battle I go through every time I listen to it. Seeing as how I´m in Spain and love the ambiance of the street noises and conversations that I don´t really understand, I don´t like using my iPod. On the other hand, seeing as how I love my music and find life with a soundtrack extremely appealing, I do like using it. So I´m torn. Half the time I considered the problem solved by simple putting the volume to a meager half way setting, but there´s something magical about blasting the Further Seems Forever as the pidgeons land on the Virgin Mary statue next to the sidewalk where the outdoor café plays host to quiet locals sipping their coffee, all while the compact Peugeots go tearing by down streets just wide enough to fit a horse. It´s a daily toss up how I´ll use my toy, but either way, it´s a win win situation.

I want to give a special shout out to all my brother at the Antioch House.
Family, I love you all a ton, and can´t wait to see you for Christmas.

I´ll start by catching everyone up since Saturday.

Saturday was a great day. I went wish my group from OSU to the Picos de Europa, which are these alp-like mountains in the northwest corner of Spain. They were absolutely gigantic. Probably the biggest mountains I´ve ever seen, but when I asked someone if they were as big as the Alps, they said no way. But we drove through some really amazing small towns to get there, and when we finally did, we took one of those lifts up to the top...you know, the one where it´s just your boxcar on this cable with thousands of feet below you. It made one of the girls in our group cry just looking at it. Right before we were about to go up she lost it. No one told her we´d have to do anything that scary today. She ended up making it up, but once we got up there, we were actually in the clouds, so we looked out into fog more or less. It´s strange to be deceaved like that, thinking that you´re not that high because you can´t see down through the fog, but realizing that you could throw something down and it wouldn´t hit for a solid 25 seconds. But we had lunch up there, and headed back down only to look up again 5 minutes later to see the clouds break for a moment, revealing our once hidden observation deck. Oh well.

Actually, I think I should catch up on something I did Friday too. A bunch of us walked with our new Italian friend, Manuele, out past Santander city limits to a lighthouse. The journey there was way more worth it than the actual lifehouse was. There were some spectacular view from dangerous cliff around every corner. I fed everyone the last of my red vines midway through.

On Sunday, I relaxed all day and went to this small evangelical church service I stumbled upon. Cooped up tiny building they meet in, all smashed between two towering apartment building, I actually felt more like breathing in fresh air again. The saints are here in Spain too! Although the service was more the style of the older American generation, with hymns (mixed with a few more modern songs, played on a classical guitar), the fact remained that I was experiencing godly fellowship after what seemed like forever. And it´s an answer to prayer too. The only thing now is to figure out which one I´ll go to, having now discovered that ther´s a few more in town. I think I´ll try each one out. But everyone at the service was super friendly, and, talking with some afterwards, I learned a lot about Catholocism here in Santander...which is a whole tragic book in itself. But I´ll move on to Monday...yesterday.

I got online and posted a bunch of new pictures on my website. I put them in a folder entitled...New Pictures! Imagen that. But if you didn´t have that website, and didn´t see the addresss in earlier blogs, here it is...

http://oregonstate.edu/~normansj/pictures/

or the link directly into the New Pictures! folder is

http://oregonstate.edu/~normansj/pictures/New%20Pictures!/

Monday was back to school, but this time the entire student body was back (They start late over here...first day of October), so the halls were CROWDED! I still don´t really have homework ever. Sorry to all you Antioch guys struggling through 3rd year Engineering right now...not fun. I´m pretty much on vacation, trying not to spend too much money. Gotta make it last. Last night I watch the Fellowship of the Ring here in Spanish with my host mom. She´d never seen it. I was quoting it in my mind, overlaying the Spanish dubbing with the actual voices that I imaged I could hear. It was a strange way to watch a movie. Oh and Frodo Baggins was called Frodo Bolsón...which mean Frodo Big Bag. HAHA! But we didn´t end til 2 am or so. I was a bit tired for school this morning, but I just woke up from my 2 hour nap (Jon you would have been proud).

Oh, and one more thing, I have a bag of loose leaf yerba maté from Brazil here with me, along with a gourd and bombilla (specialized drinking straw) on load from Phil Lund. I took it out on the town on Saturday night, and got in the gourd in a pretty chíc Spanish café. Again, Jon, you would have been proud. Shoot, I should´ve taken a picture. Oh well. And after that, I managed to meet a bunch of local high schoolers and we hung out and I talked with them all night. We went to this Irish bar called Tir Nan´Og, where I paid an outrageous 5€ (roughly $6) for a pint of Guinness.

Well, that´s all for now. I suppose I have a checklist for pictures to take and post. The Euromullet, my host family, my class/school, and whatever else anyone wants to see pictures of. For now, I´m outta here. Ciao.