Living la vida loca

So it's probably time that I write about my time in Spain right? Once again, I apologise for my lack of activity but now I am not traveling, I SHOULD be able to keep up a blog. Should. But don't hold your breath...

Ok...SPAIN. España. I'm in Spain, and have been for 1 month and 1 week exactly. Crazy how time flies. I've been away from home for 2 months now which doesn't feel like that long, but I am starting to miss good ol' gods own (for those of you who don't know, that's NZ I'm talking about!) I guess I'll start with things I like and dislike so far about Spain.

Likes (in no particular order):
- The weather. So far it's rained twice. TWICE. Yes, it is summer but still...amazing. I've experienced the climates of a few different regions already and I've come to the conclusion that I'm living in the best one. Valencia and Barcelona are too humid, Asturias and Castilla y Leon (in the North) are too unpredictable and cold (I had to wear jeans!) but in Zaragoza (in Aragon) it's pretty much perfect. It's around 33c daily average, but can get up to 35. It's pretty stinking hot but it's a nice, dry heat. If you go out between 12 and 5 you're probably going to melt a bit but can still live your life. So, most people are active in the morning and late in the evening (which suits me perfectly) and also ties in nicely with my next like about Spain...
- The siesta. I don't really need to explain this cuz I'm pretty sure most people know what it is, but the siesta is basically the nap you have after lunch. I love it and honestly I don't know how I managed to live without it previously hahah. But in all seriousness, it is necessary. Spanish lunches are huge and it's so hot that you actually can't function after lunch so, hey let's all nap and come alive in the evening.
- The babes. Lots of babes. Self explanatory really.
- The lifestyle. As mentioned earlier, Spaniards come alive at night. It's good because I am more of a morning and late evening person so it's perfect for me.
- The culture/tradition. Spain is such an interesting country because it wants to be modern, but at the same time wants to maintain it's cultural identity and traditional ways. It's really obvious when you're here that there is, not a fight as such, but more of a strange and fragile balance between modernity and tradition. I'll be talking about some of the traditions I've experienced so far in later posts (hopefully).
- The Spaniards. Spaniards are a constant source of amusement for me, they are a nationality unlike any other. The hospitality I have received so far has been nothing short of amazing. I've been welcomed into families like an old friend and been practically force fed because I'm the guest and they don't want me to be hungry. I'm not saying other cultures aren't welcoming and friendly but the Spanish are something else when it comes to hospitality. Spaniards are also amusing for me because they are so expressive. The facials and hand gestures sometimes border on the ridiculous and I have to try to keep a straight face. Also, most of the time it sounds like they are arguing or in some kind of disagreement with the person they're talking to. I asked E (my host mum) about one group we walked past who were having - what I thought to be - a very heated discussion. She laughed and said, oh no - they're just talking about banks and what they think about their banks. And sure enough, 5 seconds later, they erupted in laughter for a second, and then the "anger" continued. E explained to me that Spaniards just speak like that...which is fantastic for me (sarcasm) since I have to rely on tone of voice and visual cues to help me understand the context of any conversation. FANTASTIC but entertaining nonetheless.

Dislikes:
- Meal times. I dislike it mainly because lunch is such a faff on. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day, which goes against my preferences. At home, I barely eat lunch, if I do it's a sandwich or some crackers and cheese or something. Here, it's a three course meal. It's way too much. WAY too much. I can't even function after eating that much - hence the traditional siesta. Dinner is usually a lot lighter but still, I'd rather have my food baby coma in the evening where I can just go to sleep but then I guess that's why Spain has such an amazing nightlife, which I can't really complain about... Breakfast is an issue for me aswell. The first day, I was stoked because I found out that for breakfast they usually eat these little cakes called Magdelenas or just dunk biscuits in their hot drinks. I was in heaven. But then...it got old real fast. Well...I got fat real fast hahah I still enjoy the biscuits, not gonna lie! Toast and cereal do exist here but biscuits are very popular. But from now on I'm going to go and buy cereal and maybe some yoghurts etc so I can stop being a fatty.
- Tradition. Tradition is good because it makes a culture what it is, but sometimes, especially coming from such a liberal country like NZ, tradition can feel quite oppressive in a way... Don't get me wrong, I love the traditional events and whatnot that I've seen here so far (posts to come) but at the same time Spain remains very traditional in general. It's quite conservative and coming from NZ that's kind of hard to get used to. Also, I don't appreciate such traditions that include the suffering of animals, for example, bullfighting. In El Puig's fiestas (local saint's day/week of parties and things) one of the events was having a bull run through the streets...but the bull's horns were on fire. I'm just not okay with things like that. Animals don't have a say in this, and I loathe animal abuse.
- Fashion. I thought Spain was supposed to cool and trendy but so far I am super unimpressed with the shops. I guess this has something to do with the conservative nature of the country too. I miss NZ shops.
- And the biggest one of all... my family and friends aren't here! So far I have zero friends, which is really shit to put it bluntly haha. I miss just talking about nothing with my favourite people and just having people I love around me. Hopefully once I start language school I'll meet some people but for now I remain friendless. Joy of joys.

That's it for now, tomorrow (if you're lucky/if I can be bothered) I will start writing about the Spanish cities I've encountered so far. But for today you get stuck with just my thoughts :)

Oh but I should probs mention my job right? Well so far the fam have been great, I feel pretty comfortable with them and so far no conflicts... but don't expect me to be bitching about them on here if anything happens because I'm not that stupid haha. Sorry, I know it would make for juicy reading but I am a professional (kind of haha).

This post is pretty bland too so I might just throw in some photos that are semi related haha.
Peace and love xxx

I love the graffiti in Spain

Best thing I've ever seen

Ham is EVERYWHERE

So are Spanish flags

 

 

Even D.I.Y ones

This au pair lark ain't so bad...

Hola amigos!

Last time I blogged I was on my way to start my life as an au pair in Zaragoza...So now you can correctly assume that when I got off the bus I was met by an actual family, and not the local underworld boss ready to sell me into the sex trade (my dad thought this would happen). I'm going to keep this brief (as I will discuss in another post) but the family are lovely and so far I'm settling in well. I know I have a lot to catch you all up on but I'm going to skip the major places for now (soz) to talk about a place none of you will know about - Aldehuela de Liestos.

First glimpse of the village

Being photo-bombed by the family haha

This little village is the family village of my Spanish mum (from here on will be referred to as E) and I am so lucky to have the opportunity to go to these places! This town has a permanent residence of 12 people, TWELVE!! Of course it fluctuates throughout the year as families return to their home village, but only 12 people stay there for the whole year. It's amazing, they have a baker from another town who just pulls up in the square and toots the horn and they all come out and get the bread. Same with the groceries, there's a van that comes every so often to bring them food.

Now I'm so enamored with this place I've just gone ahead and rambled and not even explained it well! This little town with the impossible-to-say-quickly name is located high in the hills of Aragon (the region where Zaragoza is located). The landscape is all dry and red and there are fields of sunflowers everywhere. It's unlike anything I've ever seen and I think it's amazing. The village is nothing special but it's just the fact that it's so frozen in time that makes me love it. My Spanish dad (J) told me that in the village a man can stand in the middle of the road and yell "GO(?)" and it means, good morning, hello, how are you and what a beautiful morning it is today hahaha.

Ahhh I can't even write properly because I have too much to say!! Anyway, we visited the village to celebrate the eldest girls' birthday (L). So this celebration included the fam (E, J, L and I), three grandparents, two aunts, two uncles and four cousins - oh and me! As you can imagine this was quite intimidating for me, I had met the family a week before in Valencia (blog will come eventually haha) but a whole weekend of Spanish was pretty daunting. I am starting to understand a lot but still can't speak a great deal which makes things hard, however, the family are so welcoming and lovely that it is never too bad for me. If we can't speak in Spanish, we try English (and also French with one of the grandfathers, who speaks French with a Spanish accent haha) and then finally we resort to hand gestures. I use a lot of these in my life now haha. So the whole weekend was a celebration, I ate far too much, was taught card games by the family and just generally soaked up the vibes of the village.
On one of the mornings I took a walk while everyone was still waking up and it was like I was the only person in the world, it was incredible.

My favourite collapsed barn haha

Landscape

Just me, no-one else around!

 The streets are small and plain but there are so many old abandoned houses that I would love to restore. It's sad that they end up like this but everyone moved to the cities so many of these family villages are full of abandoned houses. There is one church, one shop (I am the first kiwi ever to set foot in the shop of Aldehuela de Liestos - take that Edmund Hilary hahaha) and not much else! It was pretty mind blowing that in our technology mad generation, there are still places like this that are so untouched by it. The most high tech thing I saw was the speaker on top of the church. I only found this out because I was outside the house when all of a sudden "Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend" started playing really loudly and I couldn't figure out where from. Then I looked up at the church and it was blasting out of the speaker on the roof. It was the most bizarre experience - a song from the 50's(?) in English, filling the streets of a tiny town in the mountains of Aragon. So weird but hilarious! I apologise for the shit quality of the video and also the dancing Spanish people but I was too excited to think about what I was filming haha.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv_WI64_ioY

The village from the cemetery

Probs what you would consider one of the main roads haha

Padlocked doors guarding empty buildings are everywhere

One of the houses I want to restore

The well

Standard scene!

Colours

I love this house

The bar - only place I could get wifi

As well as my first experience in small town Spain, I had my first Catholic mass in a very very very long time. Now, the family know I'm not religious but everyone was going so they asked if I would mind going along/it was an opportunity for me to see inside the church (which was closed normally) so I said I would go. Oh my gosh, sorry Grandma and other religious friends, but it just confirmed my views. Even though I couldn't understand the majority I knew the priest was talking about the poor and the sick and the blah blah blah, then of course they ask for a collection. I had to wonder, how much of that collection actually goes to the poor and the sick etc. etc. That's what I can't stand. As well as that, the priest was praying to a cup of wine and a piece of water cracker. It's just ridiculous. Soz for the sudden serious tone/to the believers - I respect your views but sadly I cannot share them with you. Most of the time I was just fighting to stay awake but the worst part was that I was sat next the four year old cousin and she had a fan, and at one point she hit me in the head with it and it was so hard not to crack up! Then later she asked her aunt why I "didn't eat Jesus Christ" (the water cracker) hahahah. So cute.

Phew! Religion aside, I had an amazing time in the village. There are some amazing walks around the village and apparently the mountains are full of vultures which would be pretty incredible to see. I think I will be visiting again so maybe next time I can do that!

On the way home we stopped in a Medieval town called Daroca that used to have fortified walls and is surrounded huge mountains. It is such a beautiful place, even more so at sunset when the setting sun makes the surrounding rocks glow orange. Incredible, I am so lucky to see these places. So untouched by tourism, I love it!

Daroca

12th Century church on the right

So beautiful!

Awful picture, amazing view haha

Off on holiday to Asturias with the family today, will be away for most of August - hasta luego! xx