Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Welcome 2010!


So the rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain....... ohhhh, that's right, I am back in Spain...and of course, there was snow to welcome me back. (It seems to be following me these days). Dropped temperatures and slippery sidewalks, here I come. uffff. Hopefully it gets warm soon!

Anyways, home was fun....I got to see some friendly and familiar faces. Christmas, just like I imagined, pure awesomeness. Everyone just being merry and in a good mood. New Years Evetoo....super fun times drinking the bluuuuueberry vodka and playing games with my cousins. haha. Viva Monopoly Deal!!!

A little Christmas day action.
All of us with grandma and grandpa.....Today is Grandma's Birthday!

I think James actually grabbed this shot. Doesn't it look like my mom is falling over??? hehe

haha. This is us WITHOUT drinking liquor.....


Go cousins!



Well, after my two week stint in the U.S., I headed for Frankfurt, Germany, to visit Peter and Joyce! And yes, I couldn't bear to leave the snow behind, so I took it with me. haha. What a weekend though! Germany is absolutely gorgeous, and it recieves first prize as the first country I have visited this year, other than Spain. I arrived last thursday and Joyce picked me up at the airport, she looked AWESOME!! We went back to her place and it was so cute, she set up my bedroom like a little hotel, complete with a welcome card, a bottle of water and chocolates. haha. I never wanted to leave! So we went for a walk around Bad Vilbel (her town) and we waited for Peter to get home, and thennnnnn.....they took me for schnitzel!!! hahaha, I can now safely say, that I've had schnitzel in my lifetime. haha. You can't say it without laughing. Anyways, it was so good...and above all, it's pork, which I hate (usually). But this, was delicious.


Peter and Joyce!
Joyce's latte in Darmstadt....that one's for you Mike!!

Darmstadt


The only Russian chruch in Darmstadt. Yuriy, I know you're not Russian orthodox or even really Russian.....(technically Ukranian, right?) But you speak it, so I thought of you!!! hahaha
I am really short....

Creepy German trees.....

The five figures building. Apparently people get married here. And, yea, that guy eventually fell off......


On Saturday, we headed for Darmstadt to have coffee at Joyce and Kristina's favorite coffee house. Which I must say, was delicious. and then we walked around the tiny little town for awhile. I must say, the only thing that was a let down was the fact that it was -4 degrees C outside! It was sooooo cold! I still can't believe how cold it was there. Still pretty awesome though. After Darmstadt, we headed down to Heidelberg for lunch and to see the castle. This town was so adorable. Little red roofs, typical German house siding (that crazy white with the brown siding) and cobblestone streets. Lots of fun, apparently a pretty good place to go shopping too. Well, Peter had to work a little bit, so Joyce and I decided to hit the town, and oh, did we hit it. It was soooo cold, and we walked for awhile! We even climbed the mountain to the old castle that Ludwig von something-or-other lived in, a long time ago. The castle, I must say, was pretty cool. It was missing half of it its walls, so you could see right through it. Crazy!! Like, one part of the tower, had just like, fallen down, and stayed whole. It is STILL standing there. what whattttt.


Me and Joyce on the Heidelberg tram....
Heidelberg!!


The big wine drum that was in the castle....it could hold 220,000 liters!!!!
That's right....I'm on TOP of the wine drum. This thing was bigger than my house....


The part of the castle that kind of just....fell off!
hehehe. Support the Arts. (Don't worry, I gave him some Euro...)

That night, the three of us went to the tiny town of Heppenheim (haha, spelling???) Like, this town is the size of Coventry. Wicked adorable though. Joyce knew about this crazy little restaurant there...we basically ate in a stone cave/basement. Seriously, it was something out of a movie. The coolest part was that I got to cook my own meat! Such innovation! The walls were all made of stone, semicircular in fashion, wooden tables and chairs, you know the whole bit. It really set the tone for the dinner. Once again, Joyce and Peter make an awesome choice!


The Heppenheim restaurant we ate at...
My meat! hahaha... on a hot stone plate....soo good!


The next day we woke up, and surprise, surprise, it had started snowing. Soooo, Joyce and I unanimously decided to be lazy and start the day off late. Peter, thought we were nuts....ahhh, what are ya gonna do? haha. So after our lazy-do-nothing morning, the three of us went to Bad Nauheim...which, uhh....was where Elvis lived back in his military days! sooooo cool! It was such an adorable town too. Peter was telling me that a lot of the buildings were nicer because I guess a lot of rich people used to live there?? Go Elvis..... Anyways, surprise surprise, it was cold out...but that wasn't stopping us! I got to see Hotel Grunewald, one of the three places Elvis stayed while in Bad Nauheim. Ahhhh!! It was aweosme, apparently it was the 75th celebration of his birthday too....good planning! Next we walked over to the local tv station that had a small exhibit set up about Elvis, and inside was one of the coolest things...I got to meet the man that delivered Elvis his mail everyday for two years! haha...the closest I'm ever going to get to Elvis! That's for sure...I got to shake his hand and everything. hahahaha. Then, because I was the only person under 30 in the room, they asked if they could interview me! hahaha....so not expected, they said that it was interesting that I was so young and liked Elvis music....can you believe it? So suddenly I had this camera on me, and this guy wearing a military jacket (a la Elvis style) interviewing me on the reasons why I though Elvis was cool! hahaha. Super fun times.
The view off of Peter and Joyce's balcony
See Uncle Sal? There's a Pane e Vino here too!! Now there are no excuses!!


Hotel Grunewald

Me with the crazy German TV dude. Christophe

http://www.badnauheim.tv/ - About 3 minutes in....it is sooooo dorky though!

Elvis' post man!! And the crowd goes wild!!!!!

After Bad Nauheim we headed over to Frankfurt, the banking capital of the worllllllllldddd...so that I could see downtown and all. Guess what, it was still cold! haha. We saw the Rumer and the old town hall and the river...which was all absolutely gorgeous. Peter and Joyce really spoiled me with their hospitality! They took me everywhere....everything was absolutely incredible!


This became a frequented place due to the need to warm up....


Frankfurt!

So now I'm back in Espana, and everything is getting back to normal...jet lag and tiredness left behind. Tutoring has started up again, I'm up to six students! whoooooaaaa. haha. They're fun though. Good ol' Cala had a nice little snowshower on Monday, but all the snow was gone by the afternoon....not even enough for snowballs. The weather has been rainy and cold all week too. Today the wind was ridiculous. yep, ridiculous. Now I'm trying to figure out my semana santa vacation...that is if the airlines and their prices will cooperate with me.

Today I re-taught myself the Simple future tense, so I could in turn, effectively teach it others. How did we learn this stuff when we were so young??? oy!

Until later....

2 comments:

  1. Ok so I just relived my time in Germany through your travels! loving it! looks like you had so much fun!! when you get back we will compare pictures..you walked where i walked and photographed where i photographed...even the meat on the stone!! (which is amazingly good) the heidelberg castle was actually destroyed by a few wars. you can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidelberg
    i love the history of that city..so amazing to walk the streets that are soooo historic

    and the trees in darmstadt - i had the same reaction!! i was like "wait, we don't have those in RI" hahaha

    have fun with teaching english!! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wonderful. I want to go there.

    ReplyDelete