ay, que tiempo sin verles!
since my last post, i have been busy showing my friends and family around madrid! our first visitors arrived 2 weeks ago today. friends traveled from london, paris, venice, and los estados unidos to come see us and our beautiful city. lauren and i did our best to show everyone a good time (ie lots of sangria from lateral and chocolate napolitanas from la mallorquina), and we were so excited to finally share madrid with everyone else so that they could start to understand why we enjoy living here so much.
then on the following saturday, my family arrived (along with a 10 pound challah from mema)! i could not have been happier to see them (this sharply contrasts with my previous feelings about my family, particularly a time during my teenage years while my phone played beethoven's 5th whenever one of them called). although my cab driver got lost trying to go to arrivals when i went to fetch them from the airport (apparently he was only a seasoned traveler when it comes to departures at madrid barajas), i was finally reunited with bill, lisa, and little hannah. immediately after seeing them, it became clear that this was going to be no different than any other family vacation, as they were accompanied by a giant bag of american snacks (probably enough cheez-its and thin mints to feed a small african country) and were yelling at each other. nevertheless, i was still excited they were there. the three of them spent their first four days in madrid touring all the usual suspects and feeding their newfound love for jamón while i was in class and then on wednesday night the four of us left for barcelona.
while in madrid, my parents were all but subtle about telling me how terrible the hotel was that i put them up in (meanwhile, i've been staying in hostels and sharing people's beds, so it seemed like the effing palacio real to me), and were immediately relieved when we arrived at our posh hotel in barcelona. i told my parents that if madrid is new york, then barcelona is miami, and this analogy was very clear once we began to take in our beachy, modern surroundings. that first night, my parents went to bed at an early 1 am while hannah and i went out and explored our neighborhood (ate at a great tapas bar). from our short excursion, we knew it was going to be a great weekend in barcelona. the next day was bill's 35th birthday, so we celebrated with cod croquetas at the boqueria, this unreal open-air market. the amount of fresh produce, meat, and cheese put central market to shame and would be any foodie's dream (personally i was into the willy-wonka-esque candy stand, but hey, it was bill's bday). after breakfast/snacktime, we went to see park güell, one of the many works in the city designed by the famous architect, gaudí. lucky for us, the weather was beautiful and we were able to get a great view of the entire city from the top of what is now my 2nd favorite park (nothing beats retiro). then we went to a celebratory lunch at a place called the champagnería, a tiny, unmarked, hole-in-the wall bocadillo bar that only serves delicious sandwiches with bottles of cava, spanish champagne. needless to say, it was one of the favorite stops of the weekend. then we walked along the port before taking a siesta to prepare for the big bday dinner, which consisted of the most incredible paella i have ever eaten (if you haven't figured it out by now, us kleinmans love to eat).
although it was difficult to top our first day in barcelona, we did our best the next day with a tour of the sagrada familia. this cathedral has been under construction since the 1800s, and part of the appeal is that while touring the cathedral, you get to literally see them building it. they say that it is going to be finished in about 20 years (mañana, mañana, as they say in spain). for dinner that night, julie g. met us (she was traveling in barcelona as well) and we took a recommendation from my uncle max, my dad's youngest brother and food enthusiast. knowing only that it was recommended by max and that the name of it was "hisop", i had a feeling that this was about to be some sort of crazy dining experience of food and art. my instincts were correct, and we were served things like smoked tuna over aubergine compote and chocolate covered in truffle. bill's personal favorite was the tonic gelatin with gin spritzer (aka fancy jello shots). lisa managed to complain throughout the whole dinner about how she would rather have last night's paella again than have this "culinary experience" for dinner (she is not exactly epicurious) but personally i enjoyed our foodie meal (my friend tex, who never ceases to tell me how often he dines at the french room (once a year for christmas, if you were wondering) would have truly appreciated this experience. tex, i had scallops with truffles over some sort of bacon in a watercress soup and it was exquisite!).
the moral of the story is that i had a great time in spain with my family and i miss them already. this week in madrid, the healthcare bill passed and no one here cared, and lauren and i somehow magically convinced maruja to put us on a dieta ligera in preparation for our semana santa (spring break) trip to italy and paris where we will literally be eating our way through europe. highlights from our meals have included cut-up fruit drenched in orange juice and vegetable soup (hey, beggars can't be choosers) and we are feeling a little bit lighter so that we can proceed to stuff ourselves with pasta, crepes, and gelato. mmmm. more updates after our eurotrip!
besos!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
londres y lecturas
Hello friends!
Since we (I) last spoke, Lauren and I have returned from our second trip out of Spain (we are jet-setters now). We spent last weekend gallivanting around in london where they speak ENGLISH (shocking!!!!). Immediately after deplaning, we were baffled to find that all of the directions were in english and that all the people spoke English. This was slightly unfortunate due to the fact that I am in a place right now where I speak both Spanish and English at a mediocre level with a fourth grade vocabulary (last night as I tried to explain to Lauren why something was “vital” I could not remember that word, but managed to sputter around and came up with the words “important”, “lucrative”, and “viral” in place of “vital” while trying to give my explanation. This is a daily occurrence - and yes, I just figured out what word I was looking for, 12 hours later). Nevertheless, we spent the weekend basking in the glory of the English language and enjoyed a break from violent hand motions as we try to explain ourselves in another language.
As I spent a family vacation in London 3 years ago and Lauren had never been, I let her dictate the trip and what she wanted to do. We met up with several friends from paris as well as our friends studying in London and saw the changing of the guard. Tragically I was unable to snag one of the guards’ signature furry hats. After that, we walked around to see big ben, parliament, the London eye, and the thames river, and also managed to take a token London phone booth picture. The next day, we took a tip from my favorite movie, The Parent Trap, (oh how I miss the days of LiLo’s glory) and “Spent the day getting lost in Harrods” – while we didn’t buy anything (fun fact: they sell everything at Harrods. and I mean everything…including puppies), we managed to eat our way through the famous department store, enjoying sandwiches, cupcakes, and a giant ice cream sundae. Overall, we had a fabulous trip (thanks to our wonderful, hospitable friends studying in London) and it was nice to give our brains a break from the español.
picadilly circus
more reunions
buckingham palace
changing of the guard
the most touristy but best picture of the weekend
london eye
ice cream at harrods
This week in Madrid was a fairly normal one, aside from the fact that on Tuesday, I had my first of two presentations in my class with Spaniards, fundamentals del sistéma jurídica. At the beginning of the semester, we were split up into discussion groups of 5, and each week, one person in the group is the “ponente,” or expert, on the week’s assigned reading, and has to explain to the group the important points and lead a discussion. It sounds fairly painless but let me remind you that a) both the 80 pages of reading and the discussion are in Spanish and b) the people listening to the presentation are native speakers (cue profanities). Needless to say, I was a little nervous. I started reading the morning of (three days before, m&d) my presentation so that the material would be fresh on my mind (because I was too lazy to start before) and was sweating profusely by the time I got to class. As my group gathered around me to listen, I realized that there were 2 people missing, and that I would be presenting to a Spanish girl and an American boy and had pumped out all of that adrenaline for nothing. I stumbled over my words but managed to get through the reading and get my point across. Thankfully I am not the ponente for another 5 weeks.
This weekend, we have friends visiting from london, paris, italy, and the grand ol’ us of a, so a big bienvenidos a Madrid to nuestros amigos y MI FAMILIA! More stories to come soon.
Cheers!
Since we (I) last spoke, Lauren and I have returned from our second trip out of Spain (we are jet-setters now). We spent last weekend gallivanting around in london where they speak ENGLISH (shocking!!!!). Immediately after deplaning, we were baffled to find that all of the directions were in english and that all the people spoke English. This was slightly unfortunate due to the fact that I am in a place right now where I speak both Spanish and English at a mediocre level with a fourth grade vocabulary (last night as I tried to explain to Lauren why something was “vital” I could not remember that word, but managed to sputter around and came up with the words “important”, “lucrative”, and “viral” in place of “vital” while trying to give my explanation. This is a daily occurrence - and yes, I just figured out what word I was looking for, 12 hours later). Nevertheless, we spent the weekend basking in the glory of the English language and enjoyed a break from violent hand motions as we try to explain ourselves in another language.
As I spent a family vacation in London 3 years ago and Lauren had never been, I let her dictate the trip and what she wanted to do. We met up with several friends from paris as well as our friends studying in London and saw the changing of the guard. Tragically I was unable to snag one of the guards’ signature furry hats. After that, we walked around to see big ben, parliament, the London eye, and the thames river, and also managed to take a token London phone booth picture. The next day, we took a tip from my favorite movie, The Parent Trap, (oh how I miss the days of LiLo’s glory) and “Spent the day getting lost in Harrods” – while we didn’t buy anything (fun fact: they sell everything at Harrods. and I mean everything…including puppies), we managed to eat our way through the famous department store, enjoying sandwiches, cupcakes, and a giant ice cream sundae. Overall, we had a fabulous trip (thanks to our wonderful, hospitable friends studying in London) and it was nice to give our brains a break from the español.
picadilly circus
 |
| From london |
more reunions
 |
| From london |
buckingham palace
 |
| From london |
changing of the guard
 |
| From london |
the most touristy but best picture of the weekend
 |
| From london |
london eye
 |
| From london |
ice cream at harrods
 |
| From london |
This week in Madrid was a fairly normal one, aside from the fact that on Tuesday, I had my first of two presentations in my class with Spaniards, fundamentals del sistéma jurídica. At the beginning of the semester, we were split up into discussion groups of 5, and each week, one person in the group is the “ponente,” or expert, on the week’s assigned reading, and has to explain to the group the important points and lead a discussion. It sounds fairly painless but let me remind you that a) both the 80 pages of reading and the discussion are in Spanish and b) the people listening to the presentation are native speakers (cue profanities). Needless to say, I was a little nervous. I started reading the morning of (three days before, m&d) my presentation so that the material would be fresh on my mind (because I was too lazy to start before) and was sweating profusely by the time I got to class. As my group gathered around me to listen, I realized that there were 2 people missing, and that I would be presenting to a Spanish girl and an American boy and had pumped out all of that adrenaline for nothing. I stumbled over my words but managed to get through the reading and get my point across. Thankfully I am not the ponente for another 5 weeks.
This weekend, we have friends visiting from london, paris, italy, and the grand ol’ us of a, so a big bienvenidos a Madrid to nuestros amigos y MI FAMILIA! More stories to come soon.
Cheers!
Monday, March 1, 2010
berlin, gutentag!
alo (ref: scene in eurotrip)!
after 48 lovely days in spain, this past weekend we finally ventured out of the country to meet our friends in berlin. NEWSFLASH: in berlin, the official language is neither english nor spanish. this is very common information to the average knowledgeable person, but that common knowledge was absent from lauren and i when we arrived on thursday in berlin. when the _______ (fill in the blank: cab driver, person at airport ticket counter, waiter, etc) didn't speak english, we automatically reverted into speaking spanish. the good news: our cultural immersion in spain seems to be working. the bad news: no one cares about spanish in germany. danke for that, spain. we quickly learned that any word can be made german by adding some combination of "haupt", "haus", "bahn", "iess", "flugen", etc. for example, water bottle becomes waterflugen bottlebahnhaus (not exactly - but it certainly provided for an entertaining weekend). what made this weekend really exciting was the fact that we were meeting nearly all of our washu friends in germany (there were 12 of us in total). lauren and i were the first to arrive at our hostel, the meininger central station (side note: for anyone planning on going to berlin, this hostel was amazing). we were taken aback by how nice, clean, and new the hostel was, and the fact that it was more like a hotel. i emailed a picture to my parents and of course my dad said that it was "10^6 times better" than the ones he stayed in during his eurotrip before law school (see previous post about his amazing ability to live on 10 USD a day). we quickly sent the all clear report to our friends who were arriving from paris, rome, florence, and venice for our washu weekend of fun. that night, we went to a bar in the hackescher markt area where we met some germans celebrating a friend's engagement (although he didn't seem too concerned about his bride to be as he danced with liz and nicole) and listened to great pop hits from the 90s and early 2000s (think: backstreet boys and linkin park).
the next day, we did a free walking tour of berlin, which was probably my favorite part of the trip. our guide, max, took us around the entire city while giving us the historical background about every place we visited. we saw the bradenburg gate, the holocaust memorial, hitler's last bunker, the berlin wall, museum island, as well as famous cathedrals, opera houses, and universities in a matter of hours. at the very end of our tour, we sat on the steps of the berlin cathedral while max told us about the fall of the berlin wall. fun fact: the berlin wall was knocked down due to the misinformed press secretary - the german government never meant for it to fall when it did. our day was filled with fun facts like this one and we left the tour educated and informed.
the coolest thing about berlin is the fact that basically the city is 20 years old. so many of the original buildings were destroyed during the second world war that were rebuilt either during soviet rule or after the fall of the berlin wall. it was incredible to see history that has only been occuring since the year we were born, and the city is still going through so many changes.
that night, we went on a pub crawl hosted by the same company that did our walking tour. we arrived at 8:30 for a half hour of free beer at our first bar, but there was a group of 30 americans from north carolina who were bellig (for you julie) and had literally started puking before we moved on to the second bar. thus, we decided to leave the pub crawl and go for a lovely dinner. after we ate, we went back to the 2nd bar (as the drunken vomiters had since left) where we tried the delicious german drink of berlinerweiss (pilsner with raspberry syrup). i had emailed my women and gender studies professor (who has her phd in german studies) and she gave us this drink as one of her recommendations. needless to say, we were not disappointed with this refreshing beer-drink (we had it at least 2 more times during the trip).
saturday, we started the day with a trip to the hamburger bahnhopf museum (this is the actual name, not more of my made up german) which was a display of modern art superstars such as andy warhol and robert rauschenberg. it was a nice break from all of the traditional paintings we have each seen at our respective museums in spain, italy, and france. after the museum, we got on the metro to head over to the east side gallery, the famous remains of the berlin wall that have been painted with murals depicting peace. however, when we got on the train, the metro staff was checking for tickets. don't worry - we weren't dumb enough to be traveling without one, but we had a [expired] group ticket that covered 5 people and there were 7 of us on the train (our second ticket was with another friend what had spent the day doing other things). the woman asked us to get off the train when she discovered that we were 2 too many. as we are all used to the lax rules of the st. louis metro, we assumed we would just get off, buy 2 more tickets, and continue on our journey. however, the woman began demanding a fine of 80 euros (40 euros per non-ticketed person). outraged, we explained that we were tourists, our other ticket wasn't with us, etc, but this bitch wasn't having it (it definitely wasn't her day). she said we either had to give her 80 euros or give up 2 passports so that the german metro administration could find us if we didn't pay up. after much angry banter, we finally paid up (it only ended up being 11 euros per person, but still), wanting to avoid giving our names to the german government. angrily, we got back on the train with new tickets and had stopped fuming by the time we got to the east side gallery, which was almost as cool as the walking tour. all of the murals were repainted last year in honor of the 20th anniversary of the falling of the wall so the paintings were colorful and thought-provoking.
our hostel
bradenburg gate
holocaust memorial
walking tour
on the steps of the berlin cathedral
reunion!
east side gallery
the whole crew along the river by the east side gallery
after our view of the gallery, we decided it was time for some shopping (obviously). we trekked over to KaDeWe, the biggest department store in germany (think harrod's with less english). we went straight past the 6 floors of clothing up to the top of the building where there was the biggest gourmet food selection i had ever seen. i'd be lying if i said i didn't make it out of there without a bag of delicious german chocolate. saturday night we went to a club and had a lovely close to our weekend with friends. overall it was a very educational, informative, and fun trip. berlin was an incredibly interesting city, and it was so great to see all of our friends who we have missed so dearly in the past 2 months.
as for madrid, everything here is business as usual (maruja over-feeding us, jamón whenever we can get it). next week i have to give a presentation in spanish to spaniards so that should make for an interesting blog post. until next week!
after 48 lovely days in spain, this past weekend we finally ventured out of the country to meet our friends in berlin. NEWSFLASH: in berlin, the official language is neither english nor spanish. this is very common information to the average knowledgeable person, but that common knowledge was absent from lauren and i when we arrived on thursday in berlin. when the _______ (fill in the blank: cab driver, person at airport ticket counter, waiter, etc) didn't speak english, we automatically reverted into speaking spanish. the good news: our cultural immersion in spain seems to be working. the bad news: no one cares about spanish in germany. danke for that, spain. we quickly learned that any word can be made german by adding some combination of "haupt", "haus", "bahn", "iess", "flugen", etc. for example, water bottle becomes waterflugen bottlebahnhaus (not exactly - but it certainly provided for an entertaining weekend). what made this weekend really exciting was the fact that we were meeting nearly all of our washu friends in germany (there were 12 of us in total). lauren and i were the first to arrive at our hostel, the meininger central station (side note: for anyone planning on going to berlin, this hostel was amazing). we were taken aback by how nice, clean, and new the hostel was, and the fact that it was more like a hotel. i emailed a picture to my parents and of course my dad said that it was "10^6 times better" than the ones he stayed in during his eurotrip before law school (see previous post about his amazing ability to live on 10 USD a day). we quickly sent the all clear report to our friends who were arriving from paris, rome, florence, and venice for our washu weekend of fun. that night, we went to a bar in the hackescher markt area where we met some germans celebrating a friend's engagement (although he didn't seem too concerned about his bride to be as he danced with liz and nicole) and listened to great pop hits from the 90s and early 2000s (think: backstreet boys and linkin park).
the next day, we did a free walking tour of berlin, which was probably my favorite part of the trip. our guide, max, took us around the entire city while giving us the historical background about every place we visited. we saw the bradenburg gate, the holocaust memorial, hitler's last bunker, the berlin wall, museum island, as well as famous cathedrals, opera houses, and universities in a matter of hours. at the very end of our tour, we sat on the steps of the berlin cathedral while max told us about the fall of the berlin wall. fun fact: the berlin wall was knocked down due to the misinformed press secretary - the german government never meant for it to fall when it did. our day was filled with fun facts like this one and we left the tour educated and informed.
the coolest thing about berlin is the fact that basically the city is 20 years old. so many of the original buildings were destroyed during the second world war that were rebuilt either during soviet rule or after the fall of the berlin wall. it was incredible to see history that has only been occuring since the year we were born, and the city is still going through so many changes.
that night, we went on a pub crawl hosted by the same company that did our walking tour. we arrived at 8:30 for a half hour of free beer at our first bar, but there was a group of 30 americans from north carolina who were bellig (for you julie) and had literally started puking before we moved on to the second bar. thus, we decided to leave the pub crawl and go for a lovely dinner. after we ate, we went back to the 2nd bar (as the drunken vomiters had since left) where we tried the delicious german drink of berlinerweiss (pilsner with raspberry syrup). i had emailed my women and gender studies professor (who has her phd in german studies) and she gave us this drink as one of her recommendations. needless to say, we were not disappointed with this refreshing beer-drink (we had it at least 2 more times during the trip).
saturday, we started the day with a trip to the hamburger bahnhopf museum (this is the actual name, not more of my made up german) which was a display of modern art superstars such as andy warhol and robert rauschenberg. it was a nice break from all of the traditional paintings we have each seen at our respective museums in spain, italy, and france. after the museum, we got on the metro to head over to the east side gallery, the famous remains of the berlin wall that have been painted with murals depicting peace. however, when we got on the train, the metro staff was checking for tickets. don't worry - we weren't dumb enough to be traveling without one, but we had a [expired] group ticket that covered 5 people and there were 7 of us on the train (our second ticket was with another friend what had spent the day doing other things). the woman asked us to get off the train when she discovered that we were 2 too many. as we are all used to the lax rules of the st. louis metro, we assumed we would just get off, buy 2 more tickets, and continue on our journey. however, the woman began demanding a fine of 80 euros (40 euros per non-ticketed person). outraged, we explained that we were tourists, our other ticket wasn't with us, etc, but this bitch wasn't having it (it definitely wasn't her day). she said we either had to give her 80 euros or give up 2 passports so that the german metro administration could find us if we didn't pay up. after much angry banter, we finally paid up (it only ended up being 11 euros per person, but still), wanting to avoid giving our names to the german government. angrily, we got back on the train with new tickets and had stopped fuming by the time we got to the east side gallery, which was almost as cool as the walking tour. all of the murals were repainted last year in honor of the 20th anniversary of the falling of the wall so the paintings were colorful and thought-provoking.
our hostel
 |
| From berlin |
bradenburg gate
 |
| From berlin |
holocaust memorial
 |
| From berlin |
walking tour
 |
| From berlin |
on the steps of the berlin cathedral
 |
| From berlin |
reunion!
 |
| From berlin |
east side gallery
 |
| From berlin |
the whole crew along the river by the east side gallery
 |
| From berlin |
after our view of the gallery, we decided it was time for some shopping (obviously). we trekked over to KaDeWe, the biggest department store in germany (think harrod's with less english). we went straight past the 6 floors of clothing up to the top of the building where there was the biggest gourmet food selection i had ever seen. i'd be lying if i said i didn't make it out of there without a bag of delicious german chocolate. saturday night we went to a club and had a lovely close to our weekend with friends. overall it was a very educational, informative, and fun trip. berlin was an incredibly interesting city, and it was so great to see all of our friends who we have missed so dearly in the past 2 months.
as for madrid, everything here is business as usual (maruja over-feeding us, jamón whenever we can get it). next week i have to give a presentation in spanish to spaniards so that should make for an interesting blog post. until next week!
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