Spring Break

I left off at me leaving for Portugal at 8 pm, so I'll continue on directly from that point. My friend Emily dropped me off at the bus station in time to catch my bus to Vitoria, España (about 2 hours away) to catch a later train in that city to Coimbra, Portugal. Since I wanted to spend more time at the Veldts on Easter among people who would be celebrating it, I took the last bus out of Pamplona to Vitoria, the bus that I didn't realize stops in every little village between Pamplona and Vitoria. There are a lot of little villages. A lot of traffic circles. Did I mention that I sometimes get carsick? Enough said about that part of the trip. Once I arrived in Vitoria, I shared a taxi with an older lady to get from the bus station to the train station since I decided that walking alone through an unknown city at 11:15 at night to catch a train to another country would not be a good idea. The train ride was rather uneventful. I shared a section of the train car (two facing padded benches with a door to the hallway of the car) with three other people: a young man from Portugal (got off an hour before me) and two girls who work in Salamanca. We all tried to sleep the best we could, but I ended up arriving at 8:30 in Coimbra tired, but excited to see the city.

Once in Coimbra, I asked directions to my hotel from some guy on the street. He tells me "sempre frente" (always straight in badly spelled portugues). When I get confused because there is a fork in the road and neither is straight, I ask someone else, who tells me the exact same thing. I spent about 45 minutes finding my hotel that morning, which ended up being only a 20 minute walk from the train station. After finding the hotel, I stopped into a pastelería to eat a really good and really bad for you pastry and a cup of café con leche and then checked into my hotel.

After putting down my backpack in my room, I headed out to see the city for the rest of Monday. Old churches, cathedrals, winding streets, small shops, plazas, parks, an aqueduct, the river, and the university. The steep and narrow streets of the old city played tricks with me, hiding enormous cathedrals and monuments and only revealing them upon a chance turn onto another street. Because of this, I often was lost among the streets and don't know how I found my way out of the labyrinth each time. The map wasn't much help. Midday it poured down rain, and I ran back to the hotel the best I could to grab my umbrella. By 7 pm I was asleep (accidentally) facedown in my bed.

Tuesday morning I went for a short walk in Coimbra and then caught the train to Montemor-o-Velho, a small town about 1 hour away that holds a magnificent castle. I occupied myself during the ride by talking with a Portugues student who was riding a bit farther than me about Portugal and Coimbra. When the train finally came to a halt at my stop, I looked out the window and saw nothing but a concrete slab with a small open-air shelter, a river, and farm fields. I jumped off, the train left, and there I was. In the middle of nowhere in Portugal with my backpack and a lack of Portugues language skills. The castle that I came to visit was nowhere in sight. First, I tried to walk to the nearest town (there was an arrow on a sign), but couldn't find it. I turned around and headed back to the train platform. On the way I asked directions from an old lady trimming her grass, but it didn't help much because all I understood was "sempre frente" and I knew that there was a fork in the road, making it impossible to go straight ahead all the time. Desperate, I tried stopping a car to ask directions once more. The first three or four went past me, but then one stopped and rolled down the window. God was really watching out for me, because the man spoke Spanish. He told me how to get there.

The castle was beautiful. It's atop a hill overlooking the Portugal countryside of marsh and farm fields. On the back side is a medieval village that is almost as old as the castle itself. The first time I stepped off a wall I twisted my ankle, but I didn't let that stop me from exploring the rest of the castle. I climbed all over the castle, saw the holes from which they would have poured the scalding hot oil, the hold for the weapons, the chapel, the tours, everything. I ate the lunch that I had brought with me on the lawn of the castle and then went down through one of the castle doors into the village. I saw a lot of old things. In one of the buildings, named Misericordia (mercy), I asked for a tour of the house because I had read about it in my guide to the castle/town. A lady talked to me about the purpose of the building historically (to help people who need a place to live, disabled, old, poor) that exists even to this day. Mind you, all of the explanation was in portugues, so it was very interesting to try to figure out everything. There was even a string bass that had three strings. I looked it up on Wikipedia and found out that before the 20th century many double basses only had three strings. After I had seem everything I could in the tiny village, I went to the bus stop to wait for the bus to Figuiera da Foz, my next stop. There, I talked to two older ladies who, by the end, had given me fresh bread to eat and invited me to stay at their homes. I think that they wanted to know where my parents were also. They also said something about my blue eyes, something that is not common at all in Portugal or Spain. The bus ride to Figuiera da Foz was not long. I spent the rest of the day in the hostel resting and talking to the owners and the father of one of the owners. For supper I went to a fish grilling restaurant that was all-you-can eat and ate more fish (with heads) than I thought that I ever would be able to. They eat a lot of fish and potatoes in Portugal.

Wednesday morning was rainy. I walked to the tourism office to ask how to get to the nature reserve so that I could go hiking for the day, crossing my fingers that the weather would change. The man at the office gave me an address to tell the taxi, and by 12 I was off. I walked all day up in eucalyptus and pine forest above the Atlantic Ocean, and then returned to town by 5 pm via a road that followed directly above the ocean the whole way with a great view. Of this part I wish I could show you pictures. I swung back around the tourism office on my way back for two motives: one, to say thanks and two, to tell the man at the office that I'd gotten back safely because he was so worried that he had sent me so far away from town alone. He thought it was so strange that I didn't want to go to the forest to see something in particular, but exactly for the reason to be far away from town, away from people, to walk just to walk, to be surrounded by only trees and green.

Thursday I took the 7 am bus to Lisbon and hung around the metro while I waited to meet up with my friend, Suyoun, at the train station. At 12 I went to the train station to meet up with her, but I never saw her. After waiting more than 30 minutes, I went to her hostel to leave a note and then checked into mine. I wasted most of Thursday looking for Suyoun, and she perhaps looking for me. I found at later that she had been at the train station, outside, on the street, while I had been inside, where most of the people wait.

Friday I got up early to take a walking tour of the city. The tour I accidentally chose (I thought I was getting a tour of the castle and learning about the ancient history of Lisbon) turned out to be interesting too. It was about the modern history of the city, about the influence of the dictator and the arts movement, as well as of the Masonic movement. On my tour I met two girls who spoke English, a foreign correspondent from France who works in London and another girl on vacation from Canada. I ended up visiting a church and eating lunch with the reporter, named Lucie, as we were both alone in the city that day. After lunch I had the pleasurable honor to be pickpocketed on a crowded tourist bus, which luckily only left me without my camara. I was very grateful that Lucie went to the police station with me, though I'm glad that she didn't stay the whole time because it took forever to wait for an English speaking officer and then fill out the report. That evening I met up with Lucie again and we went out to dinner together.

Saturday morning I woke up early again to catch the 7 am bus to Faro, Portugal. Suyoun and I were on the same bus, so we recounted our adventures and then slept for the remainder of the 4 hour trip. In Faro, we went directly to the airport to catch our plane to Madrid, we stayed a few hours together in Madrid, and then took separate buses back to Pamplona, arriving at 12:15 in the morning. I went to church, tired, that same morning and spent the rest of the day with some families from the church.

Quick Update

It's been so long since I've written/posted pictures, almost a month. So, in order that I do not let any more time pass without an update, I'm going to quickly list what has happened since my excursion with the other foreign exchange students.

In March, I met a missionary and some students on Spring Break from the United States here on campus when they asked me if I wanted to take a free English class. I declined, but went and helped out with one of the classes and they also invited me to go to see Castillo de Javier, Foz de Lumbier (canyon) and a monastery. That was a Friday and the Sunday I visited the bigger evangelical church in Pamplona with a girl whom I met through the English class.

The next week (23 March) I started teaching a English conversation class to a 16 year old named Maialen. I look up exercises and conversation pieces to read on the internet, prepare lessons, and then tutor her an hour each Friday. I get paid for my efforts, which is nice. So far I've only met with her twice, but we start up again next week. The weekends otherwise I pass with my flatmates or go to the Veldts (the American family) to play ultimate frisbee, eat, and talk.

The 23rd of March I went to Toulousse, France, with some friends because there was a banquet at my friend Frédéric's university. We stayed in his friends' apartments and besides the dance, we toured the city. We went there in his car and returned that Sunday night.

I had my spring break (Semana Santa) from the 5th of March until the 15th of April. That Saturday we had a girls' night at the Veldts, just Jodi (mom), the two youngest kids, Emily (an au-pair from Ohio) and I. Earlier in the day Ximena came with me too and there was another student, Lucas, from Brasil. I didn't pick a very good day to invite Ximena to come with me, since we were watching the 6 hour version of Pride and Prejudice, which doesn't have Spanish subtitles. That night I spent the night at the Veldts in one of the beds left empty since the older kids were at a conference, and Sunday morning we had a little Easter celebration in the house. Nick, who is about 9 years old, explained the Easter story to us while while we ate pancakes and drank coffee with lots of milk. We also colored hardboiled eggs and drew on them with crayons. :-)

Sunday night at 8pm I left for Portugal to travel during the vacations, but I'll tell you about that adventure later. I don't have the time right now to do it justice. I'm going to Paris this weekend (this evening) to visit the city with a friend, Whitney, from the United States. I get to see her in 9 hours!!!