lovely, lovely

On Saturday I went with Aina and her "crew" to a sidrería (cider house) in Astigarraga, a small town near San Sebastian that is known for its sidrerías. There they give you a fixed meal, with all the sidra you can drink! The sidra's great, the food is amazing, it's a good time with friends; all in all, it's a very nice excursion. There's a certain way of getting the sidra: first you pick which batch you'd like to try; next, the staff turns the spigot and out comes the sidra arcing through the air to the ground, and you do your best to get it in the glass and get some nice foam on top. The idea is that a line of people does it, each one with his or her glass under the one before, and thus no sidra makes it into the bucket on the ground. I'll admit we weren't that good at it, though, and we got told off a little bit. Hehehe.

Our "menú" consisted of: chorizo y morcilla (sausage and blood sausage); next, a tortilla de bacalao (cod omelette); a nice piece of bacalao (cod with I don't know what delicious green veggie on top); chuleta (steak, wonderfully rare and salted); and finally dessert of membrillo y queso (quince jelly and cheese) y nueces (walnuts). Sorry about the Spanish... but it's just not that cool in English. Everything was amazing. I didn't know what blood sausage was until afterwards (to tell the truth, I'm still trying to be vague on it so I don't get grossed out), but it was amaaaazing. I was the one going "you're not going to eat that? Ok, hand it over here." Haha. Yummay.

The next day I rolled out of bed and met a couchsurfer from Australia who was just visiting San Sebastian for the day, down from France; we met for breakfast (well, I had a café con leche and a croissant, but he was ready for some pintxos already) and ended up spending the whole day together. It was kind of rainy and shitty, but he was in such a good mood and so willing to do anything that we ended up having a great time together. We went up to the Jesus statue on Urgüll, souvenir-shopped, ate amazing pintxos and drank beer, and even got into the Real Sociedad soccer game for free. (We got there late; I told the ticket-checker that the box office was closed - which was true - and he was like "OK", shrugged, and let us in. Schwing!) It is days like that that make me really love Couchsurfing and couchsurfers. I also love it when there's really nothing you *should* be doing.

En fin, it was a great weekend and it should be a great week. Yesterday night I had a nice candlelit dinner with friends and much red wine after climbing, and today my kids didn't show up for my 4.30 class because the cafeteria workers are on strike (long story, chaos has ensued at school) so I just hung out with Molly before heading to the library. Tomorrow night is 1970s American thriller night at the Teatro Principal, and on Friday Aina and I have been invited to a dinner at a "sociedad" (a kind of gastronomical club, shrouded in mystery, closed to outsiders and historically women) with Molly and her Basque boyfriend. Yep, things are looking up. I hope they stay that way. :)

cold waves

Yes, I went swimming in the Atlantic today. Yes, it was cold. Yes, it was salty. Yes, it was awesome.

Afterwards we had a sushi picnic with the leftovers we had from last night and went for a hot chocolate. That was a few hours ago, but I'm still cold... I'm doing it again next week. :P

new year, new me, blah, blah, blah.

Well everyone, here we are in the new year, happy and healthy, I hope. I for one am back in the city we all know and love - San Sebastian. No, I'm not glad to be back, but I will be soon.

Let me tell you how my vacations actually turned out. They were fast and slow, hot and cold, short and long... to summarize, they were kind of messed up. I left San Sebastian for Barcelona on a Friday to spend the weekend at Inga's house before flying out on Monday. My mom called on Saturday, however, to tell me that she'd been diagnosed with "follicular lymphoma" (can't tell you what it is really, I should really Wiki it sometime). Cancer always kind of puts a damper on things, so I ended up scratching the plan for Connecticut and going back to Yellowknife instead. Ev and I spent hours the next day changing all my plans - I still would go through Toronto on my way up to Yellowknife, and I'd bump back my return flight from JFK to give me more time up north. So I spent a few days in Toronto; Ev left for Connecticut on the 25th. I spent most of Christmas Day in a hotel in Mississauga, watching tv. I did battle the awfully cold wind and rain to get myself supper from Popeye's, which was the only restaurant around open; I had never eaten from there before, and I probably never will again.

Anyway, I shipped out bright and early on the 26th and stayed up north till the 6th of January. Not a whole lot to report: Reub was there for a bit; they got a Christmas tree just before I came but we never decorated it; my dog is cute; it was cold but pretty; we watched lots of Jeopardy. I went snowmobiling once with my dad and we drove alongside a dogsled. You don't realize how cool yet absurd those things look until you actually see one. I got a cavity filled. I managed to eat most of my gigantic slab of Arctic char at Bullock's (delicious, but for some reason you get a double portion size). There was nothing really happening in Mom's situation, since it was everyone's Christmas vacation. However, once I got back here she got word that her latest biopsy turned out clear, which means she will be doing four weeks of radiation on the affected area, rather than any chemotherapy. So that's great news.

Her and Dad were going to come to visit me here in February, but it looks like that trip will be postponed now. That is good news for the Fito & Fitipaldis concert that José Luis invited me to that week. (I think it's that week?) Whatever. The point is, I have a week off in February ("la Semana de nieve", "Snow Week", so nicknamed because everyone goes skiing). And I should be able to make a li'l trip down to the nether regions of Spain, otherwise known as Madrid/Ciudad Real.

I also have good news about my program at MIIS. Not only did I find out that I got in super fast, they also let me know only a short while later that they're giving me a $12,000 merit-based scholarship. The maximum they give out is $14,000, so that is pretty freaking awesome actually. Goooo me! :P Free money!!

As for my time in Toronto, it was really amazing. I have this weird love affair with that city... I'm not sure why I like it so much. But I managed to see a lot of great people and buy myself rain boots (sorely needed) and another pair of those Puma sneakers I love (just 'cause).

It was pretty cold, but I was so happy just to walk around the streets while Ev was at work. Yes, I also got to be with Ev again, which made me very happy indeed. I had a really good time with him, just eating out and walking around like we used to do.

That meant of course though that things were pretty shitty when I first got here. We agreed that we wouldn't speak for the remainder of my time here, so I had probably the longest week of my life this past week. Kudos to Molly and Aina for putting up with me and for their support. Aina even brought me out last night, so I was nice and hungover today to teach. You know... people here have the idea in their heads that I don't drink. I was like... what? Really? Wow, I was that much of a hermit last semester? For shame, Laura... for shame.

Ok, I can't figure out how to put pictures in the middle of my post, or I would put some up. And on that undramatic note, I sign off for now,

yours truly,

the Juicemeister.