November the Whirlwind

Well it’s already the third of December, which is truly hard to believe, I’m actually in a tavern called La Factoria right now having some dinner as I had some extra time tonight before my trip tomorrow with Pablo and Pilar to Madrid during our days off (for national holidays).  Although each of the first few days felt like many with all of the new things, it feels like the time is continuing to go faster, but I suppose so long as I’m doing the maximum possible (with a few moments of rest) I should be content at the end (and I’m pretty sure I’m getting darn close to that).

I must say I am happy to have Pablo as a host dad. He clearly has a passion for the natural environment and enjoys showing me (and often Maggie and Brian) is workspace (AKA the forests, plains and waters of Spain).  A few weeks ago, the geese were migrating from northern Europe to Africa and Pablo wanted to show it off. I honestly never thought in my life I would find watching birds to be interesting, I was, however, incredibly wrong. After driving through the countryside and some villages, we came to an expansive lake where we watched literally thousands upon thousands of geese descend upon the area to rest for the night, swarming like some sort of collective being.

The week after, I went mushroom-hunting with Pablo and Pilar, of which I could tell they were excited for (though it’s really not hard to tell that they’re fans) Alas as this year was a dry one (apparently), we didn’t find too many, but I did certainly enjoy my time in the mountains.

On Sunday, we had a joint rotary trip with the rest of the club. In Terragona we received a tour of the gorgeous cathedral and a small walkabout the rest of the Pueblo and then went to a winery on the outskirts of town that had absolutely ancient caverns built underneath it, and afterward we had a delicious dinner and wine tasting (er, for those who could anyway, I suppose they had good water) where we enjoyed each other’s company, talked and sung (a bit).

In the following weekend, I left on a bus for Pamplona where I met with Julia (another rotary student) and the other Pamplonians. I will admit that Pamplona certainly has a gorgeous old town and does a good job of incorporating the old military fortifications into the city design. Of which, I did end up seeing the old wall, their cathedral and the 15^th century military star-fort that they have in the center of the city the next day. Also, I should mention, I did stay the night in a hostel, which turned out to be a surprisingly nice stay (with the other strangers) and I will admit, as the whole trip was done alone, I did enjoy the independence. In the evening, everyone else came into town to have a nice thanksgiving meal sharing stories and thoughts.

I feel like I’ve done more, but I really can’t entirely remember with the speed that this month has gone and quite frankly, I can’t promise that everything is in the correct order. Which I suppose is certainly not a bad thing if it’s due to the fun. On a general note, I did get into Flamenco dancing, which has been an incredible class. All of the students seem nice and the teacher is happy to work with me (despite my newborn-deerlike coordination) plus, last week, we had a guitarist come in to play for us which was absolutely incredible and to top it off, at the end we clapped (more complicated than it sounds) to a full ensemble, which was a fascinating and very fun to participate in. I did by the way have to buy dancing boots for this, something which has yet to sound normal to say.

Also in general, I’m doing pretty well now, I’m definitely getting the main ideas in all of my classes and the details in many and I’m continuing to hang out with friends and deepening the relationships. I am also trying to just go day by day and enjoy what it brings, although I can’t always do that, it does seem to help.

Anyway, my sandwich is done so I should probably go, I certainly didn’t expect to write this much, and I suspect there’s more to say, but I think this is good. I do apologize for any mistakes along the way. On an unrelated note, I think I could have just eaten tongue-of-something. In either case it was tasty, though I suppose that’s what tongues do.