Happy New Year!

We had a very quiet, but excellent Christmas. I've been in Pelham with Joel's family since Friday. We've had some good time with his family in Jasper, as well as with his sister and brother-in-law. I love getting to know his family more and spending time with them. I don't think I could have hand picked a better family to marry in to.

I know I haven't finished my Barcelona posts. I'm working on one about Madrid, as well as some that include random thoughts about Barcelona. Hopefully those will be posted soon, but probably not until 2009. :)

Speaking of, I am SO EXCITED about seeing everyone New Year's Eve!!!! It's going to be so good to see everyone again... and to meet Miss Savannah Grace!

Hasta...

Merry Sunday before Christmas!

Well, I made it home from Barcelona! It feels so good to be back. Last night I spent the evening at some friend's farm in the woods. It was a throwback to high school. I don't miss high school, but I miss those trees, the thousands of stars, and the bonfire. I'll soon get around to updating on my last few days in Spain, but until then I'll leave you with this version of my favorite Christmas hymn. Enjoy!

Where are your manners?

If you're out roaming the streets while it's raining, by all means you should have your over sized umbrella with you. I would use mine to.

However, if you are utilizing said umbrella you should not take up the small, dry space that building eaves so kindly provide.

Give the ill-prepared a little help, won't you?

Oh, Mr. Sandman...

Just bring me some sleep!

Last night I turned my light off at almost 2 AM. At 4:03 I looked at the clock because my phone started going crazy (it's beside my clock). I had not slept a wink yet. I tossed and turned some more for a long while and then when I looked at the clock it was 7:47. I woke up at 8:48 to go to class.

This happened the other night as well.

I would really enjoy some sleep.

I think my body is getting tired of my Spanish bed.




New posts about Madrid coming tomorrow or Thursday!

Czech Me Out!

So, it's the afternoon, and I need to be writing a very long paper about La Movida. What better time to write a blog post about Prague! This post will be very very long. Our internet is working well at the moment so I have to make the most of this opportunity.

Oh, and I'm listening to Christmas music. I don't like Christmas music unless it's a hymn. Something must be wrong.

By the way, did you know that you can listen to the radio on iTunes? I remember doing it once in high school before anyone really cared what iTunes was. I rediscovered it today. Oh, the things you overlook...

"Hang your stockings and say your prayers because Santa Claus comes tonight..."

My internet just started going in and out, so this post could take a llooooonnnnggg time to write.


In the beginning of November, Porschia and I took a trip to Prague. I had wanted to go to Prague for several years, so I knew this was one trip I had to take while I was living in Europe. Sure enough, Prague met and exceeded my expectations. I have to admit, I was initially a little nervous and scared I would be let down because it was already dark when I arrived. And it was 4 PM. I don't think it should ever be dark when you arrive in a city for the first time. Especially at 4 PM. However, everything is clearer in daylight and I fell in love the next morning. The city is beyond beautiful. It's so strange to walk into a building and then realize people have standing in the same spot since 1200. It's cool to observe history firsthand.

We hopped on the bus and then on the tram to get to our hostel. I observed 3 things during this first hour.
1. I don't think I have ever been as confused as I was in my first hour of hearing and seeing nothing but Czech. People talking, advertisements, announcements...
2. Czech people will STARE AT YOU ALL THE TIME NO MATTER IF YOU STARE BACK. I put that in caps because at the time, my thoughts were in caps too. It was odd to say the least.
3. There was no need for us to buy those tram tickets. No one pays anyway.

Then we arrived at our hostel, which I've already written about. I just want to emphasize again that this is the best hostel in the world.

We we to eat and walked around for a long time that night, but I chose not to take my camera. I wanted to kick myself about halfway through the night because I knew we were seeing things that I might not see again. And, when you're seeing it with fresh eyes, your pictures always come out better.

Friday morning we woke up and tried to make it to the free morning tour, but Oma (at the hostel) insisted that we have tea and toast. We were late. So, instead we decided to do a little sightseeing on our own and catch the afternoon tour.

Note: When you are in Prague (because you should go), take the Free Prague Walking Tours. Each one only a couple of hours long and you will get a good feel of the city and the places where you would like to spend more time. The guides work for tips, of which about 100-200 korunas is the norm. (That's still less than $10!)

And that's pretty much how our weekend was. We walked around A LOT, and we ate. Porschia and I found out that we travel really well together. We both will pretty much walk until our feet fall off to make sure we see everything, we don't like staying in dirty hostels, and we don't want to sacrifice good food in order to save a few bucks.

Now, what you've all been waiting for.... PICTURES!!! (I took 396, so it will be hard to pick just a few)

I had to have a picture with the astronomical clock. It really was a bit of a disappointment. Unless you're there at noon, it only chimes. At noon the two blue doors at the top open, and little puppet people pass by. I remember a show that used to come on the travel channel. It took 5-6 college aged kids and sent them around the world to just video their adventures. The first episode I saw was in Prague, and all I remember about it was the puppet people passing by the doors.


Walking towards the gateway to the Charles Bridge. All of the streets are tiny and cobblestoned (is that a word?)


One of many statues on the Charles Bridge.


This nice, wholesome work of art is by the Czech artist David Cerny. I'm just going to copy and paste the description from his website. The idea is disarmingly simple. Two bronze sculptures pee into their oddly-shaped enclosure. While they are peeing, the two figures move realistically. An electric mechanism driven by a couple of microproccesors swivels the upper part of the body, while the penis goes up and down. The stream of water writes quotes from famous Prague residents. Visitor can interupt them by sending SMS message from mobile phone to a number, displayed next to the sculptures. The living statue then ‘writes’ the text of the message, before carrying on as before. He has several other works in Prague including one with babies climbing up the building, a man hanging from a window, and this...


Moving along...

This is the world's smallest street. It really is an official street. At the bottom is a restaurant, and there is a traffic light to let you know when to walk. Apparently people get stuck in there a lot.


Lennon wall. The graffiti on this walls started when John Lennon was killed. The city repainted it several times before deciding to "Let It Be."

I'm pretty proud of that one...


The main courtyard to the BIGGEST CASTLE IN THE WORLD!!!


This is inside the castle. The whole castle is like a big city. I don't know why blogger stopped rotating my pictures for me.

The president lives in this part of the castle. When the flag is up it means he is home. It was up. We hung out for a few hours.


How beautiful is this city!

One night Porschia and I decided to go on a riverboat cruise. The website told us, "Do not compare it to riverboat cruises that you might find in London or Paris and you will have fun." The next two pictures were taken from the boat. Low light + moving boat = more than a few blurry pictures.


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The church in Old Town Square.


The old gunpowder tower... or something?


Caroline, Charles Bridge, Prague Castle


Watch out, Reuben! Porschia has a new man!


The Charles Bridge and Prague Castle in daylight.

My next little story and photo montage concerns our Saturday lunch. We had been told to to to a beer house called U Fleku. The building has been there since the 1400s, and it is the place to go to experience Czech culture. The Czechs are especially proud of their beer. So, we went to U Fleku to have some traditional Czech food, and had to have the beer because they don't serve anything else... seriously. You don't even get to choose what kind you want because they just put it in front of you. Before we finished we saw at least 3 people either passed out or carried out the door... and it was NOON! I must say it was a good experience though. There were musicians playing Czech folk songs and everyone sang along, the food wasn't great but wasn't terrible, but it was the kind of loud boisterous environment that you only see in movies. I loved it.





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Wenceslas Square to one direction...


...and the other direction. It's large. The entire time I was trying to remember the song, but it was only after I came back that I did.


I think this is the national museum... or library...

And that's pretty much it! I'm tired from uploading all of those pictures, but I have one more. I woke up during the flight back to Barcelona, and this is what I saw from my window...


Isn't God good?

The BEST hostel in Prague!

Before I write my post about Prague, I have to give a review of the hostel we stayed in.

Porschia and I found our hostel on HostelWorld (I told you I love it!) Once again, the most important criteria we had was its cleanliness rating. One we found Prague's Heaven and it's 99% cleanliness rating, we were sold! The price was pretty good too!

So, we arrived at Prague's Heaven at around 5 Thursday evening and were greeted by the nicest people. The hostel only has a few rooms but it's really cozy and has been updated. The bathrooms looked like they were remodeled recently. They showed us to our room (we got a private room) which was SPOTLESS! No kidding. I don't love staying in hotels anyway, but this room and bathroom were cleaner than many hotels that I've stayed in before. I've stayed in nice places before, but youth pastors and field trip organizers aren't the best at picking winners, you know. My mom would have been okay staying here... and that's saying something :)

The staff were really helpful in showing us where to go and places to see. In the mornings and afternoon Oma (one of the owner's mother) would greet us with breakfast or hot tea to knock off the chill. She didn't speak much English, but she was the cutest thing ever. If you have to be somewhere at a certain time, build in about 20-30 minutes for morning time with Oma :)

The only semi-negative thing I have to say about Prague's Heaven is it's location. It is not located in the middle of the tourist attractions (Charles Bridge, Old Town Square, etc.), but it's really not a problem. The tram system runs 24 hours a day and is really efficient. It took maybe 10-15 minutes to get to all of the action.

If you're making a trip to Prague, try to stay at Prague's Heaven. I promise you won't be disappointed!

Where to Stay: Granada Hostel edition

After searching around on HostelWorld (which I highly recommend), Jonathan and I decided on Mochi Guesthouse. It combined the main two things we were looking for: a high cleanliness rating (me) and it was fairly cheap (Jonathan). So we booked two beds in the co-ed dorm and away we went! (By the way, the co-ed dorm thing was a little weird for me.)

I have since stayed at nicer places, but my time at Mochi Guesthouse made for a good first hostel experience. On the upside you could use their internet and kitchen as much as you wanted. The beds were very comfortable and clean and the people running it were wonderful! Takashi deals with all of the customers and is fluent in several languages. He was very helpful and easy to talk to. We hung out some while I was waiting on Jonathan. His mother owns and lives in the guesthouse. She only speaks Spanish so she didn't interact with guests much, but she did wake up at 5 AM to call a taxi for me!

On the downside, it is located in the heart of the Albaicin area and about a 10 minute walk to all of the action. If Jonathan had not been with me I would have felt very uncomfortable walking back and forth at night. There were some girls traveling alone that did it, but they must be braver than I. Also, Granada is in the mountains and it gets very cold once the sun starts going down. There was no heat, but the bedding was thick and I actually slept very well.

While I'm sure there are a lot more options (both better and worse) for staying in Granada, I would recommend at least looking at the Mochi Guesthouse. It worked for me!

Caroline and Jonathan in Granada

In October (I think) my friend Jonathan and I decided to make a trip to Granada. We had heard it is beautiful, and you can get free tapas pretty much any bar you visit. Sold!

Oh, and to show that I learned something while there, Granada was the last city Isabel and Ferdinand captured from the Moors. They are buried here instead of in Madrid like so many other rulers.

These aren't tapas that you get in Barcelona. Barcelona is not a real tapas city. These are real tapas. Of substantial portions. And no let's-see-who-can-make-the-most-creative-but-smallest-tapas-in-the-world either.

So, being the ambitious world travelers that we are, hopped on our 5 AM flight. Oh, and the airport is an hour away. Oh, and we didn't sleep the night before because we had to hop on a greyhound at 3 AM anyway. Anyway... we finally made it. The first thing we did was take a nap. Actually, I napped and read and Jonathan slipped into a coma. After our room was ready and we freshened up a bit, we went in search of some tapas.

After walking around a bit without seeing anything appetizing we just decided that we would go into the next place we came upon. And did we ever stumble across a place. We walked in and took a seat. Jonathan went to the bar to get some drinks and came back with the weirdest look on his face.
Me: Trouble ordering?
Him: I think this is a gay bar.
Me: What? No, maybe there are just some gay people here.
Him: I saw rainbow flags, and look at the wall behind you.

I turned around and there was an entire wall covered in pictures and articles promoting homosexuality. Then we started noticing all of the people in there. Definitely a gay bar. We just laughed at ourselves and finished our drinks, but it was an interesting experience to say the least. And we didn't get tapas. After that we went to another place to eat, and it was good.

Then we ventured to the cathedral. I actually can't remember the name of it. I'm having a hard time remembering details to most of this trip (should have written this earlier). This is the most beautiful cathedral I have ever seen in my life. It's HUGE and amazing. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. They were tuning the organ though, and that was a little annoying. Jonathan and I sat in here for about 2 hours just talking about life and religion. Good times.







The next day our big stop was La Alhambra. This was a city built by the Moors when they occupied Spain. Washington Irving "re-discovered" it in 1829 and made it famous again. You could literally spend 6 hours here and never see all of it. Insane! We only spent about 4... we were getting hungry :).






That night, we met with a friend of Jonathan's and some of her friends for dinner and a flamenco show. Flamenco is really from this region of Spain, so it was cool to see it really performed.



Then I had to fly back the next morning. Sorry for the lack of pictures and enthusiasm. I took almost 400 pictures on this trip, and it's really hard to sift through them all. And I'm kind of forgetting all of the details :(

BUT...

To see more pictures click here.

Thanksgiving in Spain!

Most of my time here in Spain is spent with non-Americans. So, when we would lament our missing out on Thanksgiving last week, we were met with lots of questions. I ended up getting 2-count them 2!- Thanksgiving meals from these questions. The first one was with my small group at the church I'm attending here. Really it was a Thanksgiving celebration/going away party. Our friend Tim left us for sunny south Spain. He brought Christmas pudding to our Thanksgiving meal... silly Brit.


A portion of our delicious meal!


The guest of honor and I. We're awkward.


This is Heather. We met through our blogs AND she helped us get engaged. She's alright I guess... JUST KIDDING!!! I'm not sure why this is sideways. Blogger usually flips it for you.


The whole group. My camera was the last one, and everyone was tired of taking pictures. You can't see everyone's face.


Then the next night, Porscia and I cooked a feast for my roommates and a few other people. Also, it was Chenell's birthday, so we celebrated that too.


It's not the best picture, but it shows everyone. L-R: Marina, Me, Chenell, Porschia, Jonathan, Hunter, Chris, Anna


This is part of our feast. Porschia made the meats, chicken and beef tenderloin. I made the sides, homemade mac & cheese, broccoli and cauliflower salad, dressing, and caramelized sweet potatoes. And Chenell made rice.


Porschia and I really tried to find normal cake mix so that we could make cupcakes for Chenell, but all we found was flan mix... GROSS! We ended up buying an ice cream cake from Consum (my grocery store of choice). Then she kept trying to make a speech... 2 or 14 times. We had to make her stop because the candles were melting her cake.

It wasn't Thanksgiving with the family, but it was about as good as it could get. I really enjoyed not only sharing some of my culture with people, but I really enjoyed the time we spent together. I really do have a little family here :)