The days start to get longer. Little by little. It's a wonderful thing.
Today is a day of celebration in basque country. People are out on the street drinking and eating.
It's hectic and full of life.
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Monday, December 23, 2013
12/23: Exploring the rails to trails
Today Ashlyn and I took a field trip.
We grabbed our bikes and headed for the hills.
Well, first to the train station, then to the hills.
There is this great path along a former railway starting in a town called Andoain.
After hopping off the local train with our bikes we took this outdoor double ecalator up the hill into town and started on our way.
At first there were lots of people out exercising. We would greet them as we go by, Kaixo (pronounced kay show), "hello" in basque. The further along the path, the fewer people we saw, as we greeted them with an "aupa" Ash says "that's what I say to greet people when hiking".
Okay, I am starting the learn the different basque (Euskera) nuances. The only tough part is that I know the right word, but I forget when to say what. I just shout out something in Basque and then kind of hope no one heard me...
Stick with spanish, I think to myself.
So, we rode up a gentle grade seeing beautiful hills, a gorgeous river, and through dark tunnels along the way.
Because the trail was initially made for trains: they had done mining in the area...
the tunnels were already built nicely. They were lots of fun as sometimes dark, drippy, and full of puddles. Ahslyn rode ahead of me, and all I could see was darkness and her blinking light.
I just had to trust for that short moment in time that the ground was right there in front of me even though I couldn't see it.
Its like that same feeling of getting to the top of a hill, but you can quite see the top because it drops down right after it peaks. Fun.
After a 3 hour ride, we took the train back and continued planning the rest of our trip.
Plans changed, and we aren't going to the small town near Portugal anymore. We had planned on celebrating the holiday in Kepa's mom's country home there. But, instead, we are now going to Bilboa with a picnic and tourism along the way.
With that, i have to pack up and prep to leave San Sebastian. Such a great city!
I hope everyone has a great holiday, time to relax, and enjoy!
Sending love!
We grabbed our bikes and headed for the hills.
Well, first to the train station, then to the hills.
There is this great path along a former railway starting in a town called Andoain.
After hopping off the local train with our bikes we took this outdoor double ecalator up the hill into town and started on our way.
At first there were lots of people out exercising. We would greet them as we go by, Kaixo (pronounced kay show), "hello" in basque. The further along the path, the fewer people we saw, as we greeted them with an "aupa" Ash says "that's what I say to greet people when hiking".
Okay, I am starting the learn the different basque (Euskera) nuances. The only tough part is that I know the right word, but I forget when to say what. I just shout out something in Basque and then kind of hope no one heard me...
Stick with spanish, I think to myself.
So, we rode up a gentle grade seeing beautiful hills, a gorgeous river, and through dark tunnels along the way.
Because the trail was initially made for trains: they had done mining in the area...
the tunnels were already built nicely. They were lots of fun as sometimes dark, drippy, and full of puddles. Ahslyn rode ahead of me, and all I could see was darkness and her blinking light.
I just had to trust for that short moment in time that the ground was right there in front of me even though I couldn't see it.
Its like that same feeling of getting to the top of a hill, but you can quite see the top because it drops down right after it peaks. Fun.
After a 3 hour ride, we took the train back and continued planning the rest of our trip.
Plans changed, and we aren't going to the small town near Portugal anymore. We had planned on celebrating the holiday in Kepa's mom's country home there. But, instead, we are now going to Bilboa with a picnic and tourism along the way.
With that, i have to pack up and prep to leave San Sebastian. Such a great city!
I hope everyone has a great holiday, time to relax, and enjoy!
Sending love!
Not sure how to delete these didn't mean to upload multiple times.
Friday, December 20, 2013
Rain sun and rain in San Sebastian
It's ok. After that hike my ankle swelled up and needs a break from all the walking. I finally found wifi so I am uploading some photos.
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Donostia/San Sebastian
You know you are not in the US when you can buy digestives and convince yourself they are healthy. At least they sooound healthy, right? Mmm.
Really, though, it seems like one of my favorite things is to walk down the aisles of the grocery stores once in a foreign country.
Today, I got up early, left the house with Ashberg and went for groceries.
My first stop was the milk vending machine in the Plaza Hernani. Yup, bring a bottle, drop a euro, push a button, and viola: Milk dispensed. All fresh, no middle man.
I shmaied (browse for those yiddish speakers) around looking at the bioloque stores and the shoe stores and finally made my way to the grocery store, super Amara.
There I explored, amazed by the variety of cured meats. I listened to hear how people ordered. I knew what I wanted...with all that pork product every which way, I wanted my Cecina, the only one option of cured meat sin chancho.
The last time I tried to get some thing, I just didn't know how much to order/how to say how much I wanted. You can't really show that with your hands. I definately didn't want a kilo, or medio kilo, do I say, 1/8th of a kilo? Nah, I got it! I want 150 grams. Thats right. So, it worked great, a little bit of eaves dropping and I was good to go.
Next I asked this poor old man if he knew what was in the albacore? Do they have albacore in water here? He looked at me like I was an alien? Okay.....tell me then, what is Escabeche...
A nice woman saw our interaction and chimed in. Some kind of vinegar she told me. We smiled and agreed that there were just way to many options as she handed me the bonito en aciete with the option of less salt. Perfect!
So I headed home, cooked up some veggies I bought at the market the day before and had a nice lunch before my afternoon nap.
At this point I haven't found wifi (en espanol se dice como: weefee) so I haven't been able to upload pics yet.
So far: day one, arrival to bilbao: took a bus into town, rented a bike and explored all day by bike before taking a bus to San Sebastian (Donostia is the basque name).
Day 2: walking around town, make lunch, nap, tweaked ankle, biked, and rested, iced, and elevated ankle so that it didn't get any worse. Note: always turn light on when going down the stairs :P
Day 3: today! shopped, napped, hiked, beautiful, though stormy, views of San Sebastian. What an awesome town!
thanks for reading,
Rel
Really, though, it seems like one of my favorite things is to walk down the aisles of the grocery stores once in a foreign country.
Today, I got up early, left the house with Ashberg and went for groceries.
My first stop was the milk vending machine in the Plaza Hernani. Yup, bring a bottle, drop a euro, push a button, and viola: Milk dispensed. All fresh, no middle man.
I shmaied (browse for those yiddish speakers) around looking at the bioloque stores and the shoe stores and finally made my way to the grocery store, super Amara.
There I explored, amazed by the variety of cured meats. I listened to hear how people ordered. I knew what I wanted...with all that pork product every which way, I wanted my Cecina, the only one option of cured meat sin chancho.
The last time I tried to get some thing, I just didn't know how much to order/how to say how much I wanted. You can't really show that with your hands. I definately didn't want a kilo, or medio kilo, do I say, 1/8th of a kilo? Nah, I got it! I want 150 grams. Thats right. So, it worked great, a little bit of eaves dropping and I was good to go.
Next I asked this poor old man if he knew what was in the albacore? Do they have albacore in water here? He looked at me like I was an alien? Okay.....tell me then, what is Escabeche...
A nice woman saw our interaction and chimed in. Some kind of vinegar she told me. We smiled and agreed that there were just way to many options as she handed me the bonito en aciete with the option of less salt. Perfect!
So I headed home, cooked up some veggies I bought at the market the day before and had a nice lunch before my afternoon nap.
At this point I haven't found wifi (en espanol se dice como: weefee) so I haven't been able to upload pics yet.
So far: day one, arrival to bilbao: took a bus into town, rented a bike and explored all day by bike before taking a bus to San Sebastian (Donostia is the basque name).
Day 2: walking around town, make lunch, nap, tweaked ankle, biked, and rested, iced, and elevated ankle so that it didn't get any worse. Note: always turn light on when going down the stairs :P
Day 3: today! shopped, napped, hiked, beautiful, though stormy, views of San Sebastian. What an awesome town!
thanks for reading,
Rel
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Enjoying the journey
Aw traveling...
On my way out of town, I have that weird feeling when going away for a while.
I have those questions, ¨am I really going somewhere? Is there and adventure awaiting me? If so, what kind?¨
I didn´t talk about this trip much because I just didn´t plan a ton. I wasn´t so nervous, but more hesitant not knowing exactly what would happen. When I feel that way, I know it will work out, but I tend not to talk about it.
So, without fail, the adventure begins. To me, it really starts when I meet people along the way who inspire me in some way.
On my layover in Chicago, I joined the thick crowd of people surrounding the charging station. Nothing like a grouping of electric outlets to bring people together. Our modern well.
I had to ask someone to plug my phone in for me. I couldn´t reach without having to squeeze between people. ¨hey, will you charge me? uh, will you plug me in?¨-fun for me sometimes to make a situation more weird. The guy I asked took one peek at my classy bike pannier¨luggage¨ and thus started the conversation. Fellow bike tourers, you know how that goes.
He wanted to know all about bike touring. He had made his own panniers out of small trashcans and explored on his own bit, he told me. He wanted to explore and live, he wanted to be young and enjoy it.
He was on his way to Poland to visit his grandparents and get away.
A senior at UNC in computer science, he just found out that he had to do another semester in order to graduate. He was sick of it. He said he needed a break. He wanted to ¨take advantage of being young¨. If he had only studied abroad, it all could have happened differently.
So, this trip, for him, starts a semester off. He looks for both inspiration and acceptance (his parents are pissed). I hoped that whatever he seeks to learn, my words were enough to help him have some direction. His eyes were full of questions as he seemed to be trying to pick them out slowly, one by one. There was time for a few more topics and stories, as we traveled into line, waiting to board the plane.
We separated when finding seats and I wished him a nice flight.
Meeting people like him are the reason traveling is just so exciting.
Without fail, the adventure begins.
On my way out of town, I have that weird feeling when going away for a while.
I have those questions, ¨am I really going somewhere? Is there and adventure awaiting me? If so, what kind?¨
I didn´t talk about this trip much because I just didn´t plan a ton. I wasn´t so nervous, but more hesitant not knowing exactly what would happen. When I feel that way, I know it will work out, but I tend not to talk about it.
So, without fail, the adventure begins. To me, it really starts when I meet people along the way who inspire me in some way.
On my layover in Chicago, I joined the thick crowd of people surrounding the charging station. Nothing like a grouping of electric outlets to bring people together. Our modern well.
I had to ask someone to plug my phone in for me. I couldn´t reach without having to squeeze between people. ¨hey, will you charge me? uh, will you plug me in?¨-fun for me sometimes to make a situation more weird. The guy I asked took one peek at my classy bike pannier¨luggage¨ and thus started the conversation. Fellow bike tourers, you know how that goes.
He wanted to know all about bike touring. He had made his own panniers out of small trashcans and explored on his own bit, he told me. He wanted to explore and live, he wanted to be young and enjoy it.
He was on his way to Poland to visit his grandparents and get away.
A senior at UNC in computer science, he just found out that he had to do another semester in order to graduate. He was sick of it. He said he needed a break. He wanted to ¨take advantage of being young¨. If he had only studied abroad, it all could have happened differently.
So, this trip, for him, starts a semester off. He looks for both inspiration and acceptance (his parents are pissed). I hoped that whatever he seeks to learn, my words were enough to help him have some direction. His eyes were full of questions as he seemed to be trying to pick them out slowly, one by one. There was time for a few more topics and stories, as we traveled into line, waiting to board the plane.
We separated when finding seats and I wished him a nice flight.
Meeting people like him are the reason traveling is just so exciting.
Without fail, the adventure begins.
My need to get away
This year something changed. Well, lots changed. When getting my place, I talked to many different people. I connected with my parents and friends, people in my homebuyer education classes (yup, I took two), my lender, realtor (s), and many neighbors. If you were around me, I talked about it.
I learned lots about so many aspects of getting a place. I calculated loans over and over, I read small print for so many things. I applied for assistance programs for which I wasn´t sure I would qualify. I remember the moment that Sean, my neighbor, in congratulating me, said, ¨get ready to always have a project to work on¨.
I heard his words. I thought I knew what he meant. Having projects sounded daunting and exciting at the same time. I just didn´t realize how it would make me FEEL.
As the excitement and feelings of being so fortunate, started to fade, feelings of responsibility became ever present. Normal.
With the sense of responsibility, came this difficulty in being able to relax. Now, I have always liked doing things, being active, not sitting still, and making the most of my time. You could say I have ants in my pants or a short attention span, whatever words you use to describe it, that´s me
It got more intense this year: it changed, affecting me in a different way. With that, I could not relax when at home. I could finally relate to the people who take vacation to relax, to get away. It never made sense before. Now, I get it and need it. I can relax when away, something that is just not possible when I´m home. At least, not this year.
Everyone (I talk to about it) says it will get better. I am looking forward to it. To mellow things out for me.
Here I am, happy to be on vacation. Processing, relaxing, and reflecting.
I learned lots about so many aspects of getting a place. I calculated loans over and over, I read small print for so many things. I applied for assistance programs for which I wasn´t sure I would qualify. I remember the moment that Sean, my neighbor, in congratulating me, said, ¨get ready to always have a project to work on¨.
I heard his words. I thought I knew what he meant. Having projects sounded daunting and exciting at the same time. I just didn´t realize how it would make me FEEL.
As the excitement and feelings of being so fortunate, started to fade, feelings of responsibility became ever present. Normal.
With the sense of responsibility, came this difficulty in being able to relax. Now, I have always liked doing things, being active, not sitting still, and making the most of my time. You could say I have ants in my pants or a short attention span, whatever words you use to describe it, that´s me
It got more intense this year: it changed, affecting me in a different way. With that, I could not relax when at home. I could finally relate to the people who take vacation to relax, to get away. It never made sense before. Now, I get it and need it. I can relax when away, something that is just not possible when I´m home. At least, not this year.
Everyone (I talk to about it) says it will get better. I am looking forward to it. To mellow things out for me.
Here I am, happy to be on vacation. Processing, relaxing, and reflecting.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Heading out
I am headed out of town for another trip. The unknown lies ahead of me. 
I know I am looking forward to having some time to refresh.
It will be great to visit friends, avoid xmas, re learn my Spanish, and leave a big calendar year behind me.
I'm thankful for my miles to get me so far and I'm already dreaming of my next trip.
Goodbye bay.
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