Spring Break 2012

At school, we get a week off for Easter holidays.  Instead of staying in Palma, a few friends and I had planned a trip to Greece.  This is a country that I’ve wanted to visit since I came to Europe the first time in 2009, so I was very excited to finally be able to make the trek.  Originally we had planned to spend a few days in Athens and then take a ferry to a couple of the other islands but, as early April isn’t high tourist time, the ferries weren’t running.  In the end we spent about half our time in Athens and half in Santorini. 

The first night of our trip we flew into Milan, walked around the city a little bit, and ate dinner at a restaurant that was recommended to us by a family that our friend Becca works for.  We gorged ourselves on typical Italian food and ordered pizza the first night.  These pizzas were HUGE.  We were starving so we got (and finished) three entirely for the five of us. 

  

I think our only redeeming quality is that they were thin-crust and so we didn’t fill up on bread.  One thing I have taken for granted here in Palma, or in Spain in general, is the wine situation.  The wine we had in Italy and in Greece was NOT up to par with what I’m used to in Palma. 

During our stint in the city center, we went to the Vittorio Emanuele II where there are a ton of designer shops and mosaics on the floor.  One of the mosaics is of a bull that is famous because you’re supposed to spin around on your heel on his testicles for good luck.  Of course we had to try this too.

Next we visited the Duomo di Milano, which was interesting as it was Holy Thursday.  There were a lot of tourists there and I even ran into a woman that works at my school in Palma while we were there!  Small world!  After we got done looking at the inside of the church, we climbed the stairs outside to the top and were able to see the entire city of Milan.  Well, not quite, as the city is huge, but we could see a lot. While my friend was trying to take a picture of me (alone) in front of the Duomo, this man came up and tied a string bracelet on me even though I repeatedly told him no, I don't want it, please leave me alone, I'm trying to take a picture.  Nothing worked, obviously, so instead of a smiling photo of me in front of an ancient Italian church, you get me wearing a look of utter disgust and a random immigrant.

One thing that I wish we could’ve seen while in Milan is Da Vinci’s Last Supper, but you had to buy tickets and they were sold out far in advance.  Oh well, I’ll just have to make a return trip to Milan!

By the time we made it to our hostel, we were ready to put our stuff down and relax a little.  Easier said than done as it turned out because when we went into the building the receptionist told us he couldn’t find our reservation and was I sure I’d made one.  Um…don’t even TRY this with me because I have my confirmation crap right here AS WELL AS the confirmation email you sent me yesterday.  Boom!  I tell him this and he suddenly is able to find my reservation by some Easter miracle.  Then he tries to tell me it’s only for one person.  Again, wrong, it’s for five of us, just like it says in my emails.  He then tells me that they’re overbooked and, just one second, while he tries to sort his life out over the phone with their “sister” hostel.  Whatever.  15 minutes later “his colleague” comes to get all five of us and our luggage and takes us to this tiny four-door on the street.  Alright, clearly we’re not going to be doing this legally since there’s six of us in the car…  As if we didn’t have doubts before the ride started, the “driver” whips out a GPS, which prompts Amanda to question the fact that he doesn’t know the way back to his own hostel.  Now we’re all thinking that we’ve just become part of the movie Taken.  Before arriving in back alley nowhere, our ride zips in and out of night-time traffic, runs a few reds, and almost takes out an unsuspecting man on a bike.  Thankfully we were only staying one night in Milan.  By the grace of god we made it in one piece to the hostel and were gifted upon arrival with “I’m sorry for the misunderstanding” bottle of strawberry vodka and awkward comments.

The next day, April 6^th, we headed to Athens, Greece.  We stayed at a great hotel in the center of the city and were able to easily get to all the touristy destinations.  We started the morning by walking to the Acropolis and the Parthenon.  These sites were located on a big hill that overlooked Athens and you could even see the Aegean Sea.  There was also an amphitheater next to the Acropolis, which is still in use during the summer for various concerts.  I can’t imagine attending a concert in something that old and with such a gorgeous view. 

That afternoon we walked to the Temple of Olympian Zeus ruins and through a park to get to the Parliament building.  On our way to dinner we saw a group of very attractive cops in the Plaka neighborhood of Athens.  We were all wondering why they were just hanging out with shields and nightsticks when we realized there was a protest march happening through the city and up to the Parliament building where we just were.  I picked up one of the flyers the protesters were throwing; I have no idea what it says as it’s all in Greek, but I thought it was a cool “souvenir”.  Better than the pro-communist flags Amanda and I got last year in Palma. The first photo is of the Temple of Olympian Zeus ruins, followed by the Parliament building.

After watching the end of the protest we stumbled upon a change of the guards ceremony.  I’m not sure how long the guards’ shifts are but we got lucky enough to see a change.  The outfits were quite interesting: they wore white tights, kilt-like skirts, long sleeved tunic type shirts, and red caps.  Below is a picture of me and an attractive guard.  He's smiling on the inside...

On Easter Sunday we climbed the Lycabetta Hill.  Apparently there was a cable car you could take to the top but by the time we realized that we’d probably missed the pick up, we were close to the top so we just kept going.  Good exercise for the day.  At the top of the hill there was a small church and a café with excellent views of the sea and Athens.  Inside the church you could light a small candle and put it in some sand by the window.  It was really cool, especially to see in the inside of the church elaborately decorated. 

That night we went to dinner at a traditional Greek restaurant.  It had great Greek food and a live show of typical Greek dances.  The audience was even asked to participate and I was dragged up on stage, among others, to dance around on a full stomach.  It was actually pretty fun but got really hot.  After dinner we went to a restaurant by our hotel to watch karaoke and have after dinner drinks.  Becca, Angela, and I tried Ouzo, which is a typical Greek liquor flavored by anis.  I’m not a huge fan of licorice flavor but I thought I’d give it a try anyway.  It wasn’t terrible, but it also wasn’t one of my favorite drinks.  Slightly better than Hierbas here in Mallorca though.  Before our trip, I’d read about a poet in Athens that also makes leather sandals, so the next day we walked to his shop.  He had a ton of different styles and we tried on a bunch before making a decision.  Once we picked out our shoes, the owner made them right then and there.  I’m currently still trying to break them in but they’re such a cool souvenir from Greece!

The next day we made our way to Santorini for the last leg of our trip.  Sadly, when we arrived, the weather was terrible.  We really got spoiled in Athens.  We arrived at our hotel in Oia in mid afternoon where Becca and Angela were waiting-they’d taken an earlier flight.  The place we stayed was more apartment style, which was nice because we had a kitchenette and more freedom to have breakfast/coffee in our room.  The manager of the hotel was really great; we got to know him pretty well over the next few days.  He treated us to a bunch of stuff too, like wine and typical Easter pastries and told us some good restaurants to see the sunset.  Apparently Oia is THE place to see the sunset-especially in the summer-as the sun looks like it’s sinking right into the Aegean Sea.   

The Greeks really know how to do food.  I ate a ton of Greek Salad, tzaziki (yogurt and cucumber sauce) with pita bread, mousaka (kind of similar to shepherd’s pie), and dolmades (grape leaves stuffed with rice or meat mixture).  Everything was so amazing.  That night when we got back to our hotel and it was freezing, we decided to have drinks at the bar downstairs.  This is how we felt about the weather--Amanda's face explains it best.

Panos, the manager that we’d become fast friends with, treated us to a shot of typical Greek liquor and, dear god, was it strong.  It burned going down, but then pleasantly warmed my innards because I didn’t pack for cold weather.  It was funny staying in Oia because a lot of people get engaged or honeymoon where we were staying.  I can see why, the views were breath taking.  Not really the place you’d expect to find a group of single girls though.  Spring Break 2012 YEAH! 

The next day was finally sunny so we decided to explore the island a little bit and head to Fira, a town in the center of Santorini.  There we shopped a little bit and walked around taking photos.  It surprised me how many jewelry stores were in Fira, or in Santorini in general, but I suppose if a lot of people get engaged there, they need to meet the demands of the customers. 

One thing that made a big impression on me was how all the buildings really are blue and white.  We even found the site of the postcards of Santorini-it was right behind where our hotel was!  Of course we had to make our own “postcards”

On one of our last days there, we had coffee overlooking the sea.  It was finally nice out so we soaked up a little sun.  That evening, we finally were able to watch the sunset.  We had dinner at a restaurant near our hotel and just relaxed for a couple hours.  I really am starting to enjoy not being kicked out of restaurants after 45 minutes because the waitress wants to turn tables.  I ordered a Bloody Mary (delicious!) and another round of mousaka.  That stuff is so good. 

By the time our trip was over, I was ready to be back home.  And warm.  After a quick pit stop back in Milan for dinner and breakfast, we were back home in Palma.  This past week it was a little difficult to get back in the swing of things work wise, but it’s nice to be back on a schedule.  All in all, we had a great time in Italy and Greece.  Spring Break 2012 was a hit!

Cultural Week

The week before Easter vacation was Cultural Week at our school.  This is basically a week to learn about Mallorca and go on field trips related to subjects that the students have studied over the year.  I definitely took advantage of this week and it was awesome.

On Monday, April 2^nd, we made crespells with second graders.  These are a typical Easter cookie, similar to a sugar cookie, but are made with lard and lemon instead. They're not as sweet as a sugar cookie from the US.  It was really fun making the dough with the kids because nothing was premade so they got a chance to measure the ingredients and learn the process of baking.  Ingredients here are measured in grams instead of cups and we used a kitchen scale (measuring up to 2 kilograms) to find the correct amounts of what we needed.  I’d never used anything but measuring cups before so it was a new experience for me too. Below are two second graders, Sergio and Nuria, kneading the crespell dough.

All day Tuesday I accompanied 3^rd and 4^th graders to a nature reserve called Puig de Galatzó in the city of Puigpunyent.  We took a charter bus to get to the reserve, about an hour outside of Palma.  This wouldn’t have been terrible but the roads here are very narrow.  Comfortable, in my opinion, for a Smart Car to travel if it’s the only vehicle on the road but we were in a humongous bus and it was a two-lane “highway”.  Oh, and the roads were curved and didn’t have shoulders.  Perfect.  During our ride through the mountains I kept it together until we got to a hairpin curve that scraped the bottom of our bus and we ground to a stop, did a 12-point turn and continued.  There were a couple more incidents when I feared for my life, but, thankfully, we made it to The Puig alive, albeit I was extremely sweaty and nervous.  Low point, we were going back the same way.

Once there, we walked through the reserve accompanied by a guide that spoke Spanish rather than Catalan so I was able to understand!  I learned a lot, especially since Xisca and Paquita were there explaining things to me too.  We saw typical plants of Mallorca and quite a few animals, even peacocks!  The kids were pretty well behaved but Xisca still had a problem with one of her students.  I really like this boy, Miguel, but many of the teachers have issues with him.  He actually reminds me a lot of Jerod when he was younger; very strong-willed and has a mind of his own.  I told Xisca that Miguel reminds me of my own brother and she just laughed. 

On Wednesday, I traveled (NOT through mountains, thank god) with Xisca and Ana’s classes (4^th and 3^rd graders) to a small town called Sa Pobla to learn about the meteorology of Mallorca.  It was really quite interesting.  I learned the eight winds of Mallorca in Catalan.  There’s also a mnemonic song but I haven’t figured that out yet.

Once I got home Wednesday I needed to pack like it was nobody’s business as we were leaving for Greece Thursday and I’d done nothing.  I was really excited to go on vacation, especially to a country that I hadn’t been to before!

I Can Run But I Can't Hide...

As some of you remember, one of my main goals after I graduated from college in Iowa City was to high tail it out of that state and get away from the snow.  I hate being cold and I don’t like wearing five layers and then still be freezing and waking up early to dig my car out of the snow.  Pretty much the only thing that I like about the snow is it makes for a nice Christmas Eve.  You can snuggle up with a blanket and a hot drink and watch a movie or read a book.  But it’s only nice if you weren’t planning on doing anything that day anyway which, never actually happens.  Anyway, I’d had enough after my last winter in Iowa.  So I figured, hot dog!  I’m moving to a Spanish island!  What better way to avoid snow than on small piece of land in the Mediterranean Sea.  Ohhh how wrong I was.  A few weekends ago it SNOWED.  Big time (for Palma).  There was even about a week leading up to it; the excitement was palpable.  On Wednesday, everyone was so happy and telling me with huge grins on their faces that Palma was going to get snow.  I met their child-like happiness with a face that would’ve made the Grinch proud.  I was definitely not looking forward to snow; but, then again, I didn’t really believe that it would actually happen.  The weather is wrong nine times out of 10, why should they be even close this time?  They were SPOT ON.  For once. 

I woke up on Saturday morning to see humongous snowflakes dive-bombing (falling gracefully toward) our apartment.  Amanda and I just looked at each other with disgust-filled eyes.  Once I got past the fact that the snow had found me on my island paradise, I warmed up (but not literally!) to the fact that hey, we could get a snow day out of this!  Apparently they cancel school if it snows because no one knows how to deal with it and “no one here has snow tires” (Um…how much snow were you planning on getting..?!)  Too bad all our snow happened on Saturday and Sunday.  That was just not my weekend.

I looked on Facebook a few hours later, around 10 am, and one of our teachers had already uploaded about 60 photos of the snow.  She lives on the outskirts of Palma and it had snowed about 4 inches where she was.  She was on cloud nine, as she had never seen that much snow in Palma before, or maybe in her life.  I’m not sure.  The last snowfall that actually stuck to the ground a little bit was in 1985 and one comparable to this one was in 1956 (this woman hadn’t been born yet).  She got up at 4 in the morning, realized it was snowing, woke up her sister that lives next door, and started taking photos.  At FOUR in the morning.  I’m glad they enjoyed it, because I was sitting, freezing in my apartment, pissed.  At any rate, the snow’s melted now and we’re back to sunny, albeit, chilly, skies.  Let’s hope that was the end of it.

A few weeks ago (Feb 16 and 17) I took part in Carnival at my schools in Campos and Palma.  Carnival reminds me a lot of Halloween in the US; everyone dresses up elaborately and there’s a big party at school.  I went to Campos on Thursday, rather than my usual Fridays, to participate in their Carnival celebration and parade.  The teacher I work with has an extra costume that I borrowed, I was a ladybug, and she also invited me to have lunch with her family at her house in Campos since it’s about an hour outside of Palma and we’re going to be there for the whole day.  Carnival and lunch were fantastic.  Her parents were really welcoming and I got to meet her sister and infant nephew, Marc.  For lunch we had some type of soup; it had home-grown potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, pork meatballs and what I was told was ox.  It was delicious and I went back for seconds.  Of course, before the meal even started, we had olives and booze.  Typical.  I tried Martini liquor, a strong but tasty beverage, before the meal and then chased with wine during.  I was pretty relaxed by the end of lunch to say the least.  After, we had dessert, which was a cake topped with apricot halves and powdered sugar, and coffee (would I like a shot of cognac in mine?), I was stuffed and ready for a nap but we still had to go back to school for the parade.

The three, four, and five year olds and their teachers all took a walk around Campos up to the main plaza in town.  They were all dressed up; some were superheroes, princesses, Formula 1 drivers, the whole shebang. 

I had a great time, and I’m really thankful the opportunity to work in Campos was given to me.  The town itself is very different from Palma, I don’t think I’ve heard two words (that weren’t directed at me) in Castellano, they ONLY speak Mallorquin.  I’ve already picked up a few essential phrases in Catalan:  Has fet pipi?  (Have you gone to the restroom?)  Seu bé (Sit down properly) and Menja (eat (your snack)).  More to come, I’m sure!

Finally, an update.

Since I’m long overdue for a blog entry, I thought I’d start with our Christmas trip.  But first I’ll give you all a quick update on my life so far:  I’m still in Palma, Mallorca teaching English.  I’m at the same school, same apartment, same everything as last year and it’s great.  The people I work with are a really good group and they’ve taught me a lot about Mallorcan culture and the Spanish and Catalan languages.  

This year I also decided to broaden my horizons and take a Catalan course.  It’s just two nights a week for a couple of hours and so far it’s not too bad.  It’s a little more relaxed than I would like, but we don’t have to memorize a bunch of verb conjugations either.  I’m not sure if that is a high point or a low point. 

Also new this year, I’m teaching an adult English class through a separate company here in Palma.  It’s Monday evenings to a group of teachers at a local school.  They’re intermediate level so they know quite a bit; I’m able to joke with them a little too, which is fun.  The first day, when we talked about our weekends, one of the women asked me how to say “resaca” in English.  Hangover.  At least they’re not scared to ask questions.

I was also approached by the superintendant of our school to teach Infantil (ages 3-5) in a town called Campos.  It’s about 45 minutes outside of Palma and it’s on Fridays.  Goodbye three day weekends.  I agreed and my first day was this past Friday.  I work with a teacher who speaks English and basically we do crafts with them and I just talk like I would talk to any other preschooler.  The only problem that I’ve had so far is they speak Catalan to me because the teachers only speak to them in that dialect so they assume that I speak it too.  I don’t.  It’s close enough to Spanish that sometimes I can figure out what they’re saying.  I think it will be a good experience and I don’t work with Infantil in Palma so it’s something new.

Now on to our holiday trip.  I didn’t make it back to the US this year for Christmas; instead Amanda; her sister, Paige; our friend, Neus; and I traveled around Eastern Europe for ten days.  We started off in Budapest, Hungary for 4 days then bussed to Vienna, Austria for two and finished up in Prague, Czech Republic.  It was a chilly trip, but, thankfully, there was no snow.  We got really lucky, apparently, because this has been a very mild winter for that part of the world. 

After almost a full day of traveling, we reached Budapest in the early evening.  We found our hotel, set stuff down, and headed to dinner.  One of my favorite things to do in new countries is check out the food situation for local grub.  Typical dishes in Budapest (pronounced Bu-da-pesht) is goulash, but not the typical pasta dish that I was thinking.  It’s more of a hearty soup/stew meal that has potatoes, pork cubes, vegetables, and lots of paprika.  Budapest is known for paprika, which is used abundantly in many dishes and comes in two kinds: spicy and sweet.  I like the spicy one better myself, probably because I’m deprived of a good fire in my mouth here in Palma.

The 27^th was our first full day in Budapest, which we took full advantage of by heading out on a guided, walking tour of the city.  The day was pretty terrible to be honest, weather-wise, as it was extremely foggy and cold.  Wet cold.  So about eight minutes into the walk we were complaining to each other about being cold. 

The way the walking tour worked was it was free and then at the end, if you were impressed with the guides/information, you would tip accordingly.  We’d done this before in Berlin and were very impressed.  It’s nice because the guides are working for tips only and that usually makes the tour a lot more fun. 

Budapest is divided into two sides: Buda and Pest.  They used to be two different cities entirely but they merged some years ago.  Pest is completely flat and known for its rich culture whereas Buda is very hilly and more industrial.  Separated by the Danube River, the two are actually different tectonic plates; hence the difference in landscape. 

Probably my favorite part of the tour was our guide pointing out a bronze statute of a little boy in what looked like an elf costume (tunic; large, pointed hat; and slippers) sitting on a railing by the river.  He told us that the people of Budapest rub this child’s thighs for good luck; sure enough, the bronze was shining bright on the upper leg area of the statue.  Extra bonus: the statue is a girl—the sculptor who created it wanted to include his son; hence the boyish charm.  Yes, I rubbed his/her legs.

During World War II many Hungarian Jews were arrested and deported, however, a large number of them were taken to the river and drowned.  The Nazis would make them remove their shoes before either shooting them or shoving them off the pier. 

In commemoration of this incident, there is a memorial of different sorts of bronze shoes left in disarray on the riverbank. 

The food here is delicious, it really gives Germany a run for its money.  That, and it rivals portion-size in the US.  Double bonus.  One meal I ate goulash soup followed by beef/veal stuffed in cabbage served with cream sauce.  Coupled with a few of local Hungarian beers, it was a dinner fit for kings.  The next day we went to a restaurant for lunch where I ordered cream cheese (not Philadelphia cream cheese) soup with bacon accompanied by mushroom risotto.  Both of these options were on the appetizer menu but were humongous!  We found the food and lifestyle in general in Budapest to be very inexpensive; we always got a ton of food for a very reasonable price. 

During the evening we ventured around the Christmas markets.  Our guide had told us earlier in the afternoon that Budapest’s markets had won “Best of Year” in 2008 so, of course, we had to check them out.  We saw a lot of handmade crafts and many food and beverage tents.  One of my favorites was the kiosk that sold rum-spiked hot chocolate.  It was rich and delicious; you couldn’t even taste the rum!

We left Budapest of the 30^th to take a bus to Vienna, Austria.  The bus was only about 2 hours, so it wasn’t that bad.  We arrived in Vienna in the afternoon, checked into our hostel, and went to find coffee.  We landed at this quaint café in the center of the city where I ordered coffee (which turned out to be a shot of espresso and sugar) and a pastry with a shit-ton of meringue.  I guess I can’t get too used to my ‘cafes con leche’ (coffees w milk) that I have all the time in Palma.  Though my dessert was meringue-laden, it didn’t destroy the taste of cookie and raspberry, thankfully.

After we put our stuff down in our hostel, we went to the Freud museum.  We figured we had to use our time wisely in Vienna as we only had two days to fully appreciate the Austrian-ness of the city.  Let the touring begin.  The museum was Freud’s old apartment in the center of Vienna and it was a self-guided tour, which was nice because you could look through things at your own pace. 

Later that night we decided to go to an opera.  We were definitely underdressed, but it didn’t really matter as we got tickets last minute and were in the top most seats.  In some aspects, the top was better; you didn’t have to worry about seeing over anyone’s head; but at the same time, we couldn’t really see in general.  I got pretty lucky and was able to watch in between two peoples’ heads.  The opera was only about an hour and a half long; it was in German so I couldn’t understand anything, but let’s be honest, I wouldn’t have been able to understand if they were singing in English. 

The opera house was enormous and very beautifully decorated with frescoes and all sorts of statues and chandeliers. 

The next day we went to the Royal Summer Palace.  Most of it was close because it was winter, but the grounds were still nice to walk around.  From the palace we walked around the city some more and saw the main squares of Vienna.  We had a pretty short time in Austria but were able to spend New Year’s Eve there, which was fun, though there were way too many people in the plaza for my liking. 

On January 1^st we took a bus to Prague!  I slept most of the way, it was about five hours, and was ready to be done traveling when we arrived in the Czech Republic.  Amanda had organized a taxi pick-up for us when we got to the bus station (around 10:00 pm) but we waited for about ten minutes and the taxi wasn’t there.  Luckily, there were other taxis waiting and we just grabbed one of them.  We asked the driver before we got in if it would be about 10 euros for him to take us to our destination (we showed him the address) and he said, “Yes, 10 euros”.  Perfect!  Looks like this taxi worked out after all.

Well, we finally get to the street that our hotel is on, after the driver getting turned around a little bit in the city; and we get out and he says 20 euros.  We tell him, no, you told us that it would be 10.  No, no, 10 for going through the first plaza, 10 for the second.  Hm…  We all go to argue and then he starts yelling at us in Czech so we decide, whatever, to cut our losses and give him the 20 euros, the jackass. 

Our hotel is a bit more of a nightmare.  By the time we get there, it’s about 11:00 pm and we just want to go to bed.  Well, there’s a sign on the door saying reception is closed that we have to go to some other hotel around the corner and get our keys for this hotel.  Um…this is a little sketch.  After we get our keys, we’re able to get to our room, which is a dingy disaster, to put it lightly.  Amanda and Paige’s sheets/pillows looked dirty, there were still used dishes from another tenant, and just overall, it looked very grimy.  All we wanted to do was shower.  And not get a disease… 

We spent one night at the “hotel” and the next morning found new lodging.  It was successful as we found another hotel across the street for a similar price.

Prague is home to the oldest working Astrological clock, said to be made in 1410.  It’s very impressive.  On the hour it rings and the 12 disciples march around while a tiny skeleton ticks the hours.  The four figures flanking the sides of the clock represent undesired characteristics during the time period when the clock was made: vanity (symbolized by a woman holding a mirror), greed (a man holding a bag of money), death (obvious reasons), and pleasure (a man playing an instrument).  I’m not sure why the last one was a ‘despised quality’, but he’s next to ‘death’ so we’ll go with it.

The next stop on our tour was the Dorotheum; a large music hall that had four musicians’ statues on top of it: Mozart, Handel, Bach, and Beethoven.  It used to have other people but the Nazis knocked most of them down.  They were originally supposed to find the Jewish composers and only push their busts off the roof but they didn’t know which ones to choose.  In the end, they craftily thought that the one with the biggest nose would be the Jew.  It turned out to be Hitler’s favorite composer; he was Austrian and not Jewish…

We continued walking around the city on our tour.  I really like the guided walking tours because you usually see things that you wouldn’t see on your own.  And there’s not getting lost in the city and having to whip out a map.  We visited another sculpture made by Czech artist, David Cerny, who is known for creating the unusual.  One of his sculptures is a bunch of black babies crawling up the TV tower in Prague, another is Freud hanging by his hand from a pole in the center of town, and the last is what we visited:  two urinating men.

According to our guide, these two men are Hitler and Stalin urinating on the Czech Republic (the area they’re standing in is the outline of the country).  You used to be able to send a text message to a phone number by the statues and they would pee your message.  Now they just write quotes from famous Czech residents.

Our next stop was the John Lennon Wall.  It’s just a large wall in central Prague that is filled with graffiti of messages of love, peace, and songs from the Beatles.  It’s the only wall in Prague that can be graffitied and the designs change almost daily.  It’s funny to see the wall next to it, as it’s completely blank.  If the security cameras catch you painting the wall next to the Lennon Wall, have to do hours of community service and clean the wall that you painted.  Just paint the Lennon Wall…

After the Lennon Wall, we ventured through Old Town Prague.  Our guide told us that many people long ago used to be illiterate, to the point that they couldn’t recognize street addresses and house numbers.  To solve this problem, people put a symbol above their doors; so instead of living at number 23, you would live at the house with violins.  Some of them are very intricate, like this Medusa:

Marionette puppets are very popular here; there are a ton of shops with all different kinds of them.  Some are people, witches, dragons, Harry Potter, you can pretty much find anything you want.  They reminded me of The Sound of Music when Maria and the kids put on a puppet show for the Captain. 

We also found a lot of places that sold Matryoshka dolls.  I asked a woman if they were typically from Prague, as I’d always thought of Russia.  She said, no, they’re Russian, but there are a lot of Eastern European immigrants to Prague and they bring these dolls with them.  Some stores we walked past just sold these dolls and the entire store would be filled with them in all different sizes.  I really wanted one, but I think that’s the type of thing you need to purchase from the country of origin.  I guess I’ll just have to go to Russia!

As many of you have heard me complain, there’s not a Starbucks on the island of Mallorca.  At all.  Now, at home, this doesn’t really bother me because I don’t go to Starbucks that often or if I’m in the mood for coffee I go to local coffee shops around us.  However, the whole fact that I can’t have it makes me want it so when we travel one of the first things I Google is if there is a Starbucks even remotely close to where we’ll be.  Lucky for me, there were Starbucks in ALL THREE CITIES!  I managed to hold myself back until Prague, because, let’s be honest, it isn’t even that great of coffee, BUT I needed my seasonal peppermint latte.  Which I got, though it wasn’t in its normal red holiday cup.  I guess you can’t have everything in life. 

By the time our ten days were over, I was ready to go home.  Or at least not have to wear four layers.  I forgot how much of a hassle it is to go inside and take off your hat, coat, scarf, gloves, etc.  Not to mention, I looked like that little kid in A Christmas Story when he can’t put his arms down properly because he’s in a snowsuit.  Palma has really softened me to the elements of winter. 

We arrived back in Palma on the 5^th of January and had a few days to relax before heading back to school.  We had a great trip and it was really fun to see three places that I’d never been before.

On A Boat

Last weekend Xisca invited Amanda and me on her family’s fishing boat to spend Saturday out on the water/beaches of northern Mallorca.  We took the bus to Port de Pollença, which is at the very top of the island, and met Xisca, Biel, and their daughter for a day of sun-filled fun. 

We hopped in the boat and headed out to Formentor; a luxurious area where the wealthy of Europe buy real estate.  The mansions we saw from the boat were enormous with rock cliffs and beautiful vistas of the sea. 

We arrived at our destination about an hour boat journey later.  It was an informative ride as Biel pointed out different historical areas and told us about old-time Mallorca.  Amanda and I were both relieved that Xisca and Biel like to talk because sometimes it’s hard to start lengthy conversations in Spanish; especially over the roar of the waves, motor, etc. 

After I made sure my sunscreen was on, I jumped into the water-cool but refreshing.  We swam around a bit and then got back on the boat for lunch that Xisca had packed.  It was so delicious, and we were starving.  We ate roast chicken, trampó (cold salad of raw onion, tomato, and green pepper with salt and olive oil), melon and brownies-not to mention the pre-lunch Spanish standard of olives and chips. 

Something that I really admire about Xisca is she never makes me feel stupid, which, trust me, there are plenty of times that I either say something odd or misuse Spanish, or eat raw red pepper for that matter, that she could look at me like I’m a complete idiot and she doesn’t.  Anyway, as Amanda and I were eating melon, we took bites and it basically exploded juice all over us—Xisca’s family was in control of their pieces.  I made a comment about how we were a couple of disasters on this side of the boat, but Xisca reassured me that we just needed a couple of napkins because they already knew how to eat melon-we just needed practice.  I thought that was nice of her; it’s the little things.  Ha.

We also talked about cultural differences during lunch, which is always a fun topic.  The major one we hit on, besides how Amanda and I both DESPISE dos besos (kissing a person’s cheeks when you meet, see them, say goodbye, ALL THE TIME), was the use of alcohol.  Somehow we got on the subject of how wine, champagne, and usually anis are always present at my school and how that’s not only unpracticed but straight-up illegal in the US.  They couldn’t believe it.

As we were heading back to Pollença, the wind picked up and started majorly rocking the boat to the point where Amanda’s hand (on the side of the boat) dipped into the water on a wave.  And I yelled at one point.  I was sure we would die and we still had about an hour to go in the boat. 

We finally arrived back at the port, unpacked the boat, and went to Pollença to drop off Xisca’s daughter as she had to get ready for a concert (she plays the trombone).  We met Biel’s mom who’s about 90, but cooks Sunday dinner for her whole family still!  I couldn’t believe it.  Biel’s family (4 people) and his sister’s family (4 people) come for weekly dinner to their mom’s house.  It’s a great tradition, but I think it would be so much work for her to cook for that many people.  Apparently it isn’t though, and maybe she really enjoys it.  I’m not sure I would, especially if it wasn’t potluck style and happened every single week. 

After Pollença we went back to Xica’s summerhouse in Llubí (a pueblo in the center of Mallorca) in order to catch the train back to Palma.  Biel offered us an afternoon coffee, but as it was about 1000 degrees, I said I’d pass.  Instead, Amanda and I watched him down an espresso and then take (and offer us) a shot of hard liquor.  Um…okay.  He told us the coffee was to wake up, and the liquor was to take the espresso taste out of your mouth.  Good to know. 

When we got back to Palma, we were dead tired, and it was only about 8:30.  Between sun, swimming, and Spanish all day, I was in bed by 10:00.  Such a fun day and I’m so thankful that we were invited.