san sebas black and white

San Sebastian

Well, I've done it. I've officially visited a place that I first imagined through the eyes of an author; I've walked the streets and pretended what it was like for him in the 1920's. Those streets were in San Sebastian, Spain, a coastal city in the Basque Country that I first learned about in Ernest Hemingway's book The Sun Also Rises. In the book, Hemingway describes the city as a charming place tucked away in the rolling green countryside of the border between Spain and France. The book also describes the meaningless pilgrimage of the protagonist and his friends as they make their way down to Pamplona for a week of revelry and disillusionment. I was thinking about these things as I stumbled off of the bus at 6:30 in the morning after 11 hours of hazy sleep and discomfort (where I also watched Black Swan, which was quite strange). Damn it was cold and dark! I proceeded to cover my mouth and nose with my scarf and put the hood up on my jacket before following the river that runs through town on its way to the ocean. I had the number of an Australian friend of my friend, Nathalie, but I didn't want to call so early in the morning. I walked along the sea, taking in what I could of the city at that time, this mostly consisted of idly observing the few drunk people still on the street. I was staring into the night-shrouded ocean when I turned around and caught 2 guys in a red car looking my way. It seemed strange to me so I continued on to find a city map. The same car passed me a few minutes later and stopped a 100 yards ahead, so I crossed the street. I was looking at the bus map when the car again pulled up beside me, this time with the windows down, and the man in the passenger street stared me straight in the eyes.

We held the gaze for an uncomfortable moment before he quickly got out of the car and came towards me. I started to back away and he grabbed for my backpack straps, but I ducked just in time and shifted behind him. I started running in the opposite direction and the red car immediately swung a U-turn and came after me. My backpack was effing heavy so I dropped it off behind a dumpster and hoped it would still be there later after all of this finally ended. I was down a side street, not knowing where the hell I was, when a Chinese man opened the backdoor of his restaurant and signaled me to enter. "Alright," I thought. It smelled like wontons and my eyes had to adjust to the neon lighting. I turned around and the Chinese man reached for my face and pulled down my scarf and hood. "You can't dress like that in this city," he said, "they'll think you are a member of ETA. I saw you get off of the bus, so I know you're a tourist." 

He asked if there was someone I could call and I thought it'd be a good time to call the Australian. He picked up quicker than I expected and asked with a heavy accent where the shit I had been. He had expected me to call around 6:45. I asked if he could meet me at the restaurant and he said he'd be there soon because it wasn't too far from his place. The chinese man gave me scrambled eggs and wontons and I waited. 

Fiesta Gallega

My friend, Irene, the woman that I lived with during my first 3 weeks, continues to give me memorable experiences that make my stay here more interesting and culturally rich. She invited me, Bridget (New York), and Mary (California) to a traditional countryside Sunday lunch. It was a gathering of her closest family, about 25 people, to celebrate a patron saint of Spain and the upcoming rival match between Deportivo (A Coruña´s soccer team) and Celta ( a neighboring city). It was splendid. Her grandparent´s house is in the countryside where each family has a plot of land with vegetables growing, an outhouse, and an orange-shingled roof. We chatted and drank sweet vermouth with a lemon slice (very nice!) until the food was ready. The dining room was crowded with 3 big tables, and everyone squeezed in and got prepared. My seat looked out of the window at the rolling hills and small gardens, the dew soaked grass and the grey skies, and I couldn´t help but imagine that I was being filmed in a Pilsbury crescent rolls commercial. Suddenly, the sweet smell of stewed meat and potatoes, cabbage, fresh bread, sausage, and chicken filled my body with intoxicating hunger. I went a bit overboard on the entrees, and was almost subdued by a coma when dessert came. They served a type of dessert cheese, a pastry tray, and cakes--all followed by coffee and Crema de Orujo, which is similar to Bailey´s, only much better. Daaaamn was I full! Then--the best part of all. The table of older gallegos ( the name of people from Galicia with their own language) broke out into magnificent song! It was awesome. They pounded the table and laughed and we just watched in wide-eyed wonder. Finally, a few hours later we left with many thanks and headed to the soccer match. Twas´ a great day, thanks again to Irene.
                                                 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89PWyqWc42Y

hold up swang (return to youth)

i dedicate this to ma' man p-flan
               silver-coated feet
              -hoppin'  into quicksand

thoroughly homegrown
        playin' in
            and
       chillin' on
backyard/front-lawn
last prawn first, dawn
big laugh slow moan
                                  *
                               *
                            *
Sideways stargaze
                       *    leavin'  slightly hazed grass stains
                    *                                        last phase gold light all daze
                 *
Nonsense once spoke twice spoken 3 times a language.

for you sarah

 Shooting a video for this would have been better, but the thought struck me after I had taken the pictures. Oh well. Here's a basic idea of my neighborhood and apartment...

Street leading to my house with small plaza

Same street (side view) cool bar/cafe.

heading down my street (entrance to right of pic)

Calle Orzan (my street)

Looking right from above, beach 4 minutes this way.

My building, top windows ours.

old school elevator

The Entrance

Roomie's rooms behind me, facing front door and kitchen

the kitch and courtyard windows

leaving kitchen, small hallway used to hang clothes out of window

other side of hallway, my room on the right

my desk

my bed and stuff (we livin' large)

half-bath and living room

living room

other side, streetside windows.

The End (thanks for visiting)

Halloween

hola amigos that check this thing every now and then. First a comment on the pictures below: la ostia (which means "the bomb" in all the new spanish slang that i'm learning)! Those trips were my first time getting out of the city since I arrived, and boy were they refreshing. I'm slowly learning how much of a country boy/nature lover I am. I guess, like many things, it is something that has always been a part of me, but that I hadn't noticed. My first month of "life" here was an experience in itself, and leaving the city and seeing how beautiful the land is around me began a second phase for me. I like to partition things like this. The trips coincided with my first weekend spent at my new apartment, as well. We only went 30-45  east or west  along the coast from A Corunia, but it was breathtaking. That was my first time being atop those kind of cliffs, and as I stood there, surrounded by the grazing cattle and wild horses, I mixed my vague memories and impressions of what Wales is like with my recent, strong memories of Estes Park, and I was contentisimo. Seeing those few gems of the landscape made me realize what a treasure trove I have waiting for me just outside my doorstep. My plans for visiting Europe are slowly being replaced by the more immediate urge to just see Spain.  Little by little.

My roomies are cool, and everything turned out great after a few preoccupations about the apartment, location, and the general idea of moving into a place with 2 strangers. They are substantially different and similar. Nicolas is an argentino that has lived here for 10 years. He is a sound technician, plays guitar in a band, and is more social and outgoing. The other is a local guy, Guillermo, and is equally friendly but keeps to himself more. He goes out less and stays home to play video games. It's cool, though, we all beat super mario bros. together for the first time since i was kid. They both are computer savvy, and i hope to learn some new things as the months go by. I've already decided that i like editing photos, although i just used the basic but fun Iphoto program on the mac. Bastante divertido. The apartment is on the "party zone" of town, which made me nervously remember my summer living on the Strip in Lafayette, but it's significantly different. It's actually a really pretty part of town, surrounded by plenty of stores, markets, cafes, pubs and small interesting streets. Not to mention it is a 5 minute walk from the beach. I will go on a walking picture tour from here to the beach next time we get a good sunny day. For now, I'll leave with a pic of this year's makeshift Halloween costume...

first trip to the country-side

Awesome Cliffs 

Cliff-Munching  (opposite direction form above)

They are about 30 minutes east of the city that i live, on the north coast of Galicia, looking towards France.

Pastoral gate on path down cliffside

Galician forest with river and old Celtic house.
You can occupy these buildings if you want: camp out in them for a weekend or just got to bbq