Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Vacation 2012 part 10

Santiago de Compostela has a very extensive museum on the history of culture in Galicia set up in what once was a large convent. Inside we got to see how many things were done in the past in this region, such as:



 -how houses were made with granite stones
-hand made shoes
-the process to make a boat
-basket weaving
-hundreds of versions of lace
-how to cut stones
-old musical instruments
-paintings


These things were demonstrated with hundreds of miniature examples alongside real relics. A staircase with four stairways leading up in an intricate looking twist was a dramatic piece of architecture along with the carvings found in the center of the church.


A huge cathedral (that wasn't a museum) was not far from where we were staying, so we walked there after lunch. There were huge lines of people waiting to take mass and communion in this cathedral of Santiago. Around the edge of the cathedral were confession booths with signs advertising confessions able to be heard in almost any European language. Outside were booths full of souvenirs, a garden, fountains and a guy painted completely white impersonating Ghandi.

Pontevedra and coastal Spain; Vacation 2012 part 9

Leaving Portugal behind, we traveled north back along the Spanish coast in the region of Galicia. Our first stop was near Pontevedra in a suburb called Granja. We could see sailboats in the ocean from the balcony of the hotel.

The next day we took a boat out to the island of Ons and hiked the island all day. We saw the lighthouse, a tree with fuzzy green things all over it, lots of sea gulls, boats and awesome coastline. And Elias really liked riding on the boat, especially when the spray would get them every once in a while.

The next day we took a road trip to the westernmost part of Spain, spelled two ways Fisterra or Finisterre; both mean "land's end." Here is also where a famous pilgrimage, the camino de Santiago ends. Supposedly Santiago, also known as the apostle James, after being put to death in Palestine (according to the guidebook) was put on a stone boat where his body floated all the way to the shores of Galicia. This coincided with a need for Spanish patriotism... so this and other miraculous rumors inspired a pilgrim path beginning in several places around Europe and ending in Finisterre. Supposedly it is customary for pilgrims to burn the dirty socks the traveled in at Finisterre.

The city Santiago de Compostela is named after James as well, but it's not at the end of the trail. It is considered the capital of Galicia, though, so I wonder if the pilgrims come through there, too. We'll be checking that out next.

Montalegre, Portugal and la ponte romana; Vacation 2012 part 7

Montalegre, Portugal isn't far from where we stayed in the national park so we visited two days to check it out. Since we are in Portugal during summer vacation, we get to see a lot of fairs and markets: one of which we enjoyed at Montalegre.




Another cool sight is the castle built on a high enough spot that you can see it from most places around town, making every moment feel like it's taking place in the past.
 

 On the way back we saw a sign saying there was a Roman bridge not far off of the main road, do we decided to see what it was like. We drove down a paved road by fields that then narrowed into an unpaved lane that kept getting narrower and rockier. When it dead ended at what looked like a puddle we thought we had missed it or the trail hadn't been kept up... But then we saw a tiny bridge made out of rocks:

Things I Miss

No matter how many times you move, there are still things you miss. For me, some of these have changed since moving from Guatemala. For example, Guatemala was full of green, growing vegetation and while Abu Dhabi does an admirable job of trying to sustain gardens and trees along the roads and parks, there's still a drastic contrast to the amount of growing things. However, family and friends are always missed the most. These are some things I miss:

1. Family, friends
2. Natural green
3. Spanish
4. Natural food stores
5. Jalapenos, Mexican food
6. An easier place to exercise
7. Rain

 For everything I miss I have things that I am thankful for: new friends, new languages to learn, new foods to appreciate and the gulf right by our apartment. Life is a balancing act of growing and moving through stages. While I miss many things about the stage we just left, I see many ways to grow in this new one.

Vigo, Spain; Vacation 2012 part 6

One weekend in Portugal we took a weekend to go celebrate our 7 year anniversary (with to kids to keep it real) and to check out a church in Vigo, Spain about a 2 hour drive. It felt odd that crossing borders between countries was as simple as state lines in the States. The checkpoints between countries reminded you that Europe was in a new era.

Vigo is a port city with lots of beach tourism. Every crosswalk was full of people coming back from the beaches and each beach was lined with cars for miles. Seagulls swooped down in front of the car a few times and Talia thought it was funny that they sounded like they were laughing. Beach murals lined the streets.

Driving in the rain with an unhappy baby looking for the address for the church with barely marked roads and lots of one way streets wasn't the most fun part of this trip, but we found it! This made life much easier the next day, which was Sunday. The church, oddly enough, had no Spanish people that we noticed. We met people from the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Columbia and Guatemala, however, and really enjoyed speaking Spanish again.


Ben got me a beautiful bouquet of red non-roses. (Because roses are so cliche...) I can't believe we've been writing our saga for 7 years together.

In Vigo we enjoyed having wifi again so we could communicate with family and getting to know a new city. Not much longer in Portugal and we'll be going back through Spain.

Ben's Portuguese Mouse Charade

Ben's attempt to find out where to get mousetraps...except conveying what a mouse was turned out to be the difficult part.

Fontainho, Portugal; Vacation 2012 part 5

Hello from Portugal, the land of beautiful mountains and 25 degrees Celcius vs. Abu Dhabi's 45 (and sometimes more.) We are currently in a Portuguese national park area, where people live and farm and have stores just like outside of the park area. I suppose mining and lumber are prohibited within this area. There are many hiking trails, river beaches, zip lines, and picnic areas.

To get wifi we have to go down the mountain about a mile to a little cafe. Since Talia and Elias get restless if we stay there long enough to update things; I usually just do most things offline and then let Ben take my phone with him and update it when he goes to town.

There are an orange, fig and a nectarine tree right outside of the cabin. Then, there is a fenced garden with grapes growing on it right behind the trees growing corn with bean vines growing up the stalks, squash, lettuce or cabbage and broccoli. I had never seen broccoli grow before, so I was surprised to see it made almost a small tree! I thought it grew more like lettuce does. All of the Portuguese gardens I've seen also have a sprinkler on a stand in the middle, or several if it's a larger field. Coming from the desert, this is so green!

The caretakers, Blino and Delfina, live up the road and work in the garden in the morning and evening. Those are also the hours Blino goes down the road hollering behind his huge cows with big horns either moving them to or from pasture. Talia likes to stand on our side of the gate and watch him.

Portuguese, while challenging, isn't as challenging as many languages would be since we know Spanish and a little French. If we can't get our point across in Spanish-sounding "Portuguese", many people also speak French. Occasionally, though, there's a word we just can't figure out. Ben's charades to express the word "mouse" had me rolling in laughter. And, yes, I took a video!

Porto, Portugal; Vacation 2012 part 8

Driving to Porto, (I was reading the map, Ben driving,) Ben tells me to open the photos on his iPad, as he's taken screenshots of the map with directions to get us there. So I do. And we make it all the way to the final destination before we realize we are following the directions to get to the church, not the hotel. This is when Ben enlightens me the he had created a different photo album for these directions... So we spent the next few hours driving in circles looking for barely marked roads, working with maps that were labeled wrong and one way streets. Ben's two favorite things to say in times like these are "at least we're together," and a not-too-sarcastic "good times!" Thankfully the kids were either sleeping or good humored throughout this whole adventure.

Porto, Portugal is famous for its wine, but we went there to visit a church. Listening to a sermon in Portuguese was amazing; we easily understood over 80% of it! To get to church we figured out how to use the metro, which the kids liked, and meant we didn't have to worry about parking.

We took another trip on the metro to a seafood restaurant, El Marinheiro. We ordered fish, but didn't know what kind we had ordered. When it came complete with bones and eyes we couldn't help but laugh... That doesn't get served much in Texas. (Another thing not found in Texas is the octopus in a can found on the tuna aisle at the supermarket.) When we got back to the hotel there was one of the most majestic sunsets I'd ever seen. Pictures can never do those justice.

Not far from Porto was a big Medieval fair that we went to. There were tons of booths and all sorts of languages flowing. We met people from Iran, Senegal, India, Ukraine and I'm sure there were more we didn't meet. A booth set up with homemade soap bars made me miss friends in Texas.

Going back through Spain next!

Arabic Appetizers

The appetizers that accompany Arabic food are very refreshing. If you are walking in very hot weather, the last thing that you want is something hot first thing in your stomach... so here is an example of a very typical arrangement:

Tomato, lettuce or cabbage, spearmint, cucumber, basil and carrots. These are usually accompanied by pita bread, sometimes hummus and usually a pickled selection like the one below:

Green and black olives, pickles, and spicy peppers.

Have I mentioned that Arabic food is one of my favorite parts of Abu Dhabi?

Lugo, Spain; Vacation 2012 part 4

[phone post disclaimer]

Lugo is supposed to be the only city on the world with a remaining intact Roman wall. We walked on the wall, which is about 2 kilometers, and saw, along with being a tourist attraction, many people use it to exercise and train for running.

This city was full of courteous people and interesting places. Ben recorded a guy from Romania playing the accordion at the wall entrance.

Because we are in the Galicia region of Spain the regional language of Galego appears along with Spanish on the signs. It's not too hard to understand, though, which is good since if there's only one language Galego is the default.

We found a frozen yogurt/ ice cream shop with free wifi which was appreciated to upload photos so family could see we were still alive and kicking.

The walkway through the middle of town had arches made from what looked like Sycamore trees. Talia said it looked like all of the trees were holding hands. She also liked the statue of the guy with a bicycle.

Lugo is the kind of place I wouldn't mind living in the next chapter of our saga.

Next stop, Portugal!

Playgroup: A Desert Solution to Outside Play

There are beautiful, creative play places and parks in Abu Dhabi. One is very close to where we live. The only issue is that it is outside where the weather regularly hits over 105 during this time of year. The most busy time at the park is in the evening when the sun is down and the temperatures are following it.

Another solution to the temperatures for a place to play that I had never heard of before is found in playgroups throughout the city. Usually, this is a group of moms with kids of similar ages with someone who acts as a coordinator. Sometimes there's a small fee to go towards toys and snacks. Snacks are usually things like cheese, bananas, tomatoes, grapes, crackers, juices and generally healthy fare, so the fee is very reasonable. Plus, there's no way I would ever have the range of toys available otherwise. Something I like about playgroup is being able to test out toys and see what my kids really like. Some things that look interesting in the package are boring once they've played with it for a few minutes, and some are worth the money. The playgroup I have been to rents a big room where they have a place to store the ton of toys and people show up on the days playgroup is scheduled and get everything out. It is volunteer based and the people who are working don't have to pay the fee for that time.


Abu Dhabi is a very international city and this fact is emphasized in playgroups. English seems to be the language everyone has in common, but there are many more present and flowing. Besides the wide range of English accents, I know I have heard Tagalog, German, Arabic, French, Chinese, and several other languages I didn't recognize. Everyone is here for different reasons, in different occupations from different places, but with the common ground of kids and being expats it's not too hard to make conversation.

Kids who normally don't get to play with others have a chance here, though sometimes that means intense lessons on sharing. At the end of each playgroup that I have been to, the kids get little drums and play and sing kids songs as a dismissal routine.

Yes, we miss playing outside, but it's nice to have an air conditioned place to play in the mean time.

Lleida to Iregua and Logroño, Spain; Vacation 2012 part 3

Though we had to move on, we decided Lleida was the kind of place we wouldn't mind visiting again.

Traveling with a 4 year old and a 7 month old can be, um, educational. If Elias hadn't been screaming in the car from Lleida to Logroño, we might not have learned an important traffic rule in Spain: he was crying and Ben was looking for a place to pull over and spied a quiet country lane on the left of the road. Alas, the line in the middle of the road was solid instead of striped, prohibiting us from making a left turn... or it might have had we known. The Spanish traffic cops were very insistent that this rule also exists in the U.S., and maybe it does, but I've never seen it enforced or taught. Thankfully after explaining this rule multiple times they let us go with a warning. Maybe the crying kid helped with that too. While we were pulled over I noticed a place where those market snails might've come from.

Driving to Ireguas, which is a small town outside of Logroño, we got to see where a lot of the fresh fruit in Spain comes from. We passed miles of peach and pear orchards, sunflower fields and many other crops. Talia liked running along the peach orchard to stretch her legs when we stopped for a break.

In Ireguas we spotted Elias' name on the water system when we were walking around trying to find something to eat. About this time we noticed a pattern with the food places: most of them don't cook. For breakfast they serve pastries or croissants. They'll serve sandwiches with salted ham and maybe some sort of potato side for lunch but nothing cooked and no fresh vegetables. Supper seemed to have vegetables, but I was feeling pretty overloaded on carbs and looking forward to finding a salad somewhere.

While it was a good between point and the hotel in Irreguas was better than average, we wouldn't want to go back.

Next stop, Lugo!

Kids Unscripted; Chapter 5

Talia: (singing) "If you're happy and you know it, put lotion on your legs!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Talia: (singing) "5 little ostriches jumping on the bed, one fell off and bonked his head..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Talia: "Elias doesn't poot, he smells like butterflies!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Talia: (telling a story) "...and they walked through a big dessert, that's a lot bigger than a little bitty one."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Talia: (to Ben after sitting where he had recently vacated) "When you sit here it makes the chair nice and warm!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Talia: (to Mommy) "Does your back hurt?"
Me: "Yes."
Talia: "If you poke yourself with a safety pin it won't feel better... it'll feel badder!"
Me: "Um, thanks!?!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Talia: (about turning her dolls head) "it's a lot hard but a little bit easy."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chel: "So what number is old?"
Talia: "15"
Chel: "So is your [8-year-old friend] old?"
Talia: "She's just a little bit old."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Talia: "Do you like it if I have toys?"
Ben: "Yes..."
Talia: "Why?"
Ben: "Because then you have something to play with?"
Talia: "Why does that mean I have something to play with?"
Ben: "This sounds like it's going to be a very circular conversation..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Talia: "I have my own language. It's called 'Thé'. Do you want to learn some words in Thé?"
Me: "Sure, how do you say 'sun?'"
Talia: "pal-esal" and paper is "gam-estell-al"
Me: "Where does Thé come from?"
Talia: "It came from my voice..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Me: "Talia, why are your dolls standing on their heads on the couch?"
Talia:"They just took a bath and now they need to be hung up to dry..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ben: "Talia, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
Talia: "A baby catcher, like [the midwife.]"

Barcelona to Lleida, Spain; Vacation 2012 part 2

Ben laughs at me because I think Spain is like a combination of all of the places we've been so far: palm trees like Abu Dhabi, pine trees like Texas, mountains and painted ads on walls like Mexico... and a few other details. It is wonderful to hear the Spanish language again!

After seven hours in the Istanbul airport, we were very glad to make it to Spain. Talia was so tired she fell asleep on the plane curled up in her seatbelt. Barcelona has the most tranquil airport I've ever visited! It wasn't that there weren't people, just that the same amount of people in any other airport I've been in would've made a lot more noise.

We rented a car in Barcelona and drove to Lleida, pronounced different ways: "yay-duh" or "yeh-di-duh." I found it interesting that stop signs in Spain say "Stop" instead of the Spanish equivalent.

Lleida is a small but busy little town. It has some interesting sculptures and lots of little shops. A huge church in the Plaza de San Joan is opposite the hotel: Hostal Mundial, which was simple but with very nice people. We ended up buying a kettle, (I guess you call it. You pour water in it and turn it on and it boils in less than a minute for the amount we need.) It's cheaper to make our own coffee than to buy the amount we would consume. (By "we" I mean Ben!)

The fruit here is amazing! We bought fresh peaches, pears, strawberries and apples at the shop down the road and they disappeared very quickly!

Some interesting things for sale at the market included snails, rows of cured ham hocks, and a frozen fruit with cream in it that I couldn't figure out the fruit. There was also an interesting Spanish chess set with campesinos for pawns, bulls for knights and other things.

Our next stop on the way to Portugal will be in Iregua, close to Logroño.

Istanbul, Turkey; Vacation 2012 part 1

Abu Dhabi Airport Security

For us it has always been cheaper to go back to the States for vacation, but since we've only been in Abu Dhabi for a little over 2 months (except Ben) and it's very expensive to get everyone back we decided to go to Spain and Portugal. It sounds weird to us when we say it's cheaper to go to Spain than back to the States; we've never been able to say that before.

Apart from price, we also wanted to reinforce Talia's Spanish since she's been away from a Spanish-speaking country for a year.


The trip started with a 4-5 hour flight from Abu Dhabi to Istanbul... where we had a seven hour layover. Ben chuckled at the Abu Dhabi security driving BMW's.

Pide with Turkish Sausage

During the layover we got to try "Pide" which is like the Turkish version of pizza, and strong Turkish tea. 


A guy in a chef's hat with a huge metal crushing tool was smashing pistachios to make a special kind of Turkish ice cream. I didn't try it, but it looked interesting. The store also had a lot of pistachios and hazelnuts for sale.

Strong Turkish Tea

We saw lots of beautiful tapestries, glass work and things for sale in the "bazaar." I wondered if the peacock had some sort of significance because many things in the bazaar were decorated with peacock feather designs and colors. These are some of the pretty colored glass lanterns:
I was a little confused when I saw a group of older men all dressed in what looked to me like white bath towels until I figured out it was some sort of of cultural or religious group... But when I saw the first one out of context it was really confusing.

Colored Glass Lanterns in the Bazaar

Getting to experience a small part of Turkey was a nice, unexpected start to this trip.

Learning About Ramadan

Moving to an Islamic country when I've had almost no contact with the Islamic culture before arriving here has been interesting. There are so many new things to learn! Alphabet, numbers, clothing, foods and holidays to name a few. One of the most important Islamic holidays is Ramadan, which is approaching very quickly. Since I don't know much about it, I've been  trying to learn more. Wikipedia says:

"Ramadan is also a time when Muslims are to slow down from worldly affairs and focus on self-reformation, spiritual cleansing and enlightenment; this is to establish a link between themselves and God through prayer, supplication, charity, good deeds, kindness and helping others."

It goes on to explain how during Ramadan Muslims fast from sun up to sun down for the duration of the lunar month. Fasting includes drinking water or chewing gum. However, once the sun goes down, the fast is broken many times with the ceremonial 3 dates and a banquet. The city is decorated with lights and the whole town comes alive after dark, many times with people out in the streets and shops until the early morning hours. Many shops adjust their hours to accommodate, I'm told, by friends who have lived and worked here for several years.

What do you know about Ramadan?

A Sea of Wax

Talia really likes playing with colors and making things, as I'm sure every kid does, so when we saw an idea to use old crayons and melt them through a glue gun to create a unique work of art, she was very interested. Every time we went to the store she would remind us that we needed to get a glue gun! Ben finally went to a cheap store by the apartment and bought us one so that we could get to work.

A friend of ours came over to make a piece for her daughter's room as well. We explained how to be careful with a glue gun and showed Talia how to hold it properly and she got started. The old crayons we were using took a little while to melt, but when they did, they poured out rather quickly... which created some interesting textures.

I thought the "A" used for our little friend's room turned out nicely. It's almost like wax splatter/drip art!

Earlier this month, we went to the beach and had gotten some shells that Talia was anticipating using. She used browns to make the beach (but it seriously looks like chocolate) and lots of blues and a green to make the water and then glued the shells in the middle.

She was very excited with the finished result. Now the only problem is figuring out which way to stand it up since every way seems to work.

(Disclaimer: Yes, I know I use the word "art" rather loosely!)