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melaniestacy
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Name: Melanie
Metro:
Gender: Female
Interests: cycling, tennis, places outside the U.S., puppies
Expertise: journalism, obscure sports
Message: message me
Member Since:
12/5/2005
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WInter is starting here in Andalucia, and I'm dreading it a bit. This week, the temperatures dropped suddenly, from sunny clear days in the 70s to cloudy windy days in the 50s. The ride to work hasn't been as pleasant, as a result.
Have I written about my commute? Man oh man, its something. The ride takes about 35-40 minutes (I've never done it below 35 minutes... yet), which is the same time as taking the bus (less if you count the 15 minute walk to the bus station).
It's winding and curvy, and super steep. The first 5 kilometers are all downhill, until you hit a pueblo called Arriate. If someone made an elevation profile of this town, it would look like "V". To make things more interesting, the most busy section of the only street through the town, is only wide enough for one vehicle at the time and has approximately three blind curves.
I go screaming around a corner at 25 mph in my big chain ring, shoot a glance at the caution mirrors going into the curve, drop abruptly into my small chain ring, charge up the hill out of saddle to keep speed, and usually finish the hill out of the town in my smallest or second to smallest gear.
The next 5 km is STEEP, with a couple flater sections. You can really break your legs on this one if you want to, and I'm usually all sweaty and nasty by the time I get to the outskirts of Setenil. Then comes the fun part — 3.5 km of open, fast downhill, right up to the front door of my school. WIth no wind, I can usually cruise down it at 38 mph or so, getting wierd looks from the townspeople or sheepherders I happen to whiz by.
The other teachers have gotten used to seeing me cruise into work in Spandex, although they still think I'm crazy for doing it because they drive that route daily. The kids, however, are still somewhere between bemused and impressed at seeing me on a bike. I mean, its gotta be wierd seeing your teacher in a brightly colored lycra suit, right?
I'm still hanging in there and learning a bunch as a teacher. I'm loving getting to know the kids and teachers more.
I had a cooking date with a boy named Noel today. He's a fifth grader at my school and my neighbor, and how cute is this — he's very bright and sweet as all get out, and he wants to be a chef. He was teaching me how to make natilla, a kind of pudding thing. It went down like this: he cooked, running between our apartments for ingredients, getting stuff all over his shirt, spilling the milk all over the floor... I cleaned up after him, laughed, dug through our cupboards for utensils we don't have, and learned Spanish cooking verbs.
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On the way to the Guggenheim. Loved this bridge
I spent the last weekend in Bilbao, a city in the northern Basque country. I wasn't sure what to expect because people had described Bilbao as "industrial" and "a city that won't wow you immediately". However, I was curious to see the place that breeds some of the best climbers in the world.
"They speak their own langauge (Basque), and the people are more cerrado (closed)," a couple Andalucian friends told me. "People are friendlier and happier down here."
However, I absolutely loved it! I found the city beautiful. Its built around a river, crisscrossed by bridges, and the architecture was a mix of old, reminiscent of Barcelona, and modern, such as the Guggenheim museum (see photo) that Bilbao isknown for. IT's smaller (350,000 people), so its a bit more chill, which I liked.
It's true, the people aren't like Andalucians, who are loud, friendly (they treat you like a best friend the second time you meet), casual and sometimes just over the top. It was a lot more toned down, but it fit me a lot better. I thought, "I could live here."
Casco Viejo, the historic section of Bilbao
I was there to volunteer with Youth on a Mission (YWAM, or JCUM in spanish). They've got a cool youth program going, and I spent the week with two missionaries, Keli from Brazil and Patricia from Colombia. In the end, it was far more of a blessing and encouragement for me than anything — I helped run some events, cleaned up for them some, but I had way more fun watching the kids dance, amd exploring the city with Keli.
I'd imagined myself really making myself useful, cleaning the church, counseling kids, etc etc, but it didn't really turn out that way. I did get to give a presentation to a group of teenagers on self image... in Spanish. I literally had the walk to the church in order to prepare. It went pretty well, but lets just say I did a lot of praying! Nothing like another language to put you in your place!
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| 1. There is no Dr. Pepper here. And Pepsi is an off brand, costing half the price of a Coke! 2. New fave word: Monton, meaning lots. I like to think about it as a cross between mountain and tons. Use liberally. 3. Americans would never eat anything that was literally covered with an inch of pure white fat and looked suspiciously like meat paste, right? Its like a bread spread for breakfast here. decided to be brave this morning and try it. It was really good, but I think my heart is gonna stop. 4. Worst thing thats happened to me: On the way to give a private english tutoring class, I see an old lady in the hall. She asks me where I live. I say, Oh no, I dont live here, Im just giving an english class.¨She says, I dont understand you. So i repeat myself. and she responds, English classes?! How can you give english classes if you cant speak spanish. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. 5. Highlight of the day: I played partido matar (death game!), which is basically dodgeball with a bunch of first graders. they may stink at throwing, but theyre so stinkin competitive. Had to break up several ball piles! PE teacher says Spaniards are just competitive... 6. Spainards are LOUD. Conversations inevitably end up in shouting matches. Going to a crwoded tapas place with a group o fabout 12 spaniards the other day equaled a total headache and me shouting in bad spanish across the table. | | |
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One of my favorite rides: 12 km climb (involving the 23) up to a lookout called Puerto del Viento (Gate of Wind). And they mean it.
An all-out roadie geek session was just what I needed today. The weather was buenissimo, perfectly clear, no wind, and the clouds were making the coolest patterns in the sky. Saturday was my first ride with this crew, a group of 6-12 guys who are local racers or road enthusiasts.
The first ride is always interesting. They sorta eye you like "Hm, a girl. What's with that?" After two hours and kilometers of climbing, and I was still there, it was a little different. They were making guy jokes, which I only understood half of, and they said, "We're not upset that you're listening because you're just one of us."
Oh great. One ride and I'm one of the men?! Story of my life.
I kid, but it was a good change from cruising around on my own, pacelining downhill (kinda scary, actually), killing it up a climb (got my butt handed to me by a guy named paco with the craziest calves ever).
Aside from that, it's been great fun teaching my kids and hanging out with my roommates, although the difficulty of not being able to understand or express myself completely is really getting to me. Today my roommate was messing with me and joking around, but I couldn't understand him. My very mature reaction? To yell comebacks at him in English and scream "dejame en paz!"
Oh boy.
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Setenil de las Bodegas, the town where Im teaching
My Spanish goes up and down between being very good and completely horrible. For example, the other day I went into a bike shop to inquire about mountian bikes. I asked the guy, Hablas Ingles? and he gave me the negative. So i proceeded in Spanish, talking my way around the bike jargon I didnt know. A man who was watching the whole thing told me as he left, You dont need to ask about speaking English, your Spanish is very good. that made my day.
On the other hand, later that day, everything I said become this huge jumble, and wehn I was talking to my roommate Fernando, I couldnt even conjugate verbs. I finally tried to tell him I was frustrated, then realized I couldnt say that either.
Been sick all weekend, but I did go on a nice little mountain bike ride. the route around here arent very technical or difficult, but there are a lot of dirt roads. I made friends with some local cyclists too, who told me about group rides on the weekend. might hit those up when im not coughing up a lung.
Went out with my spanish roommates and their friends on saturday and found that two years of living at 8000 feet has done wonders for my alcohol tolerance. However, the next mroning, my roommate and I were in the same boat. Her, because she drank too much. Me, because I stayed out 6 hours past my bedtime.
one of th ecoolest things I did however, was go to an evangelical church here in Ronda. Its a really small group, and I went to their sunday service. It was so awesome to sing and take communion with them, and I even understood most of the sermon! Its really cool to be like, wow, it doesnt really matter where were from, weŕe both comiong from the same place, and we understand each other, dont we?
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