Saturday, December 23, 2006

*our* beach - manuel antonio

so pretty much every saturday and sunday most of us went to the beach. and why not - just a 15 minute bus ride away is the town of manuel antonio - where there is a nice public beach and a beautiful national park. and it only cost 105 colones (about 20 cents) to get there. the ultimate cheap weekend trip. plus lots of beach side restaurants and bars with 2 for 1 happy hour specials. :)

here i am surfing. it was my second attempt ever (i had tried it in hawaii too) - but it was a little bit different. in hawaii we were out kind of far and i actually had to paddle quite a bit and then was assisted with a little shove from the instructor. in manuel antonio we were about chest deep in the water and basically we were just lying on the boards and when the wave came the instructor would shove us off and tell us to stand up. kind of strange, but still fun. i definitely got more bruises on this attempt - but my arms and shoulders weren't as sore after.

this is one of the beaches inside of the national park. i actually only went to the park on one day (it cost $7 to get in!!!) during the whole time i was there. but the beaches inside the park were even nicer than the public beach. and the waves were a little gentler so you didn't have to swim out as far to not get knocked over while swimming around.

this is the group that i hiked around the park with - left to right: ryan the lion (there was more than one ryan), me, lesley, mark, and matt. basically all we were doing was hiking through the trails and finding beaches. every time we found a new beach we stopped for a while, had a swim, sat in the sun, and then moved on to the next beach. i did get a little sore from all that hiking around - i'm clearly not in the shape that i used to be and it's been a while since i've done any hiking. but the beaches were worth it.

this is one of the animals that was wandering around the national park. i'm not really sure what it is. it kind of looks like a raccoon and lemur mix. i can't remember what it was called in spanish. but it's not something i'd ever heard of before. kind of weird.

and here is a sunset on the public beach. what more can i say... :)



Wednesday, December 20, 2006

quepos pictures - for a start

so we're finally up and running with the new computer at home. i've been going a little crazy trying to get my stuff all organized once again, but i've finally got some pictures ready to post. this first batch of pictures are of quepos, the town i was living in during my course.


this is the main street of quepos, such as it is... a pretty small town


here's a view of quepos from the road on the hill which leads to manuel antonio - the next town over, a much more touristy (and picturesque) place.


and finally some views of the coastline in quepos - not really nice for swimming or beaches though.



so more pictures to come. i'm trying to divide my time evenly between sending and uploading pictures, christmas shopping, figuring out my future, and spending time with my family. but hopefully in the next couple of days i'll put some more pictures up.


Saturday, December 16, 2006

do you know the way to san jose?

so i'm not technically in costa rica anymore, but i am currently without computer at home (it died a slow and painful death i'm told). just got back tonight and happened to have the opportunity to use someone elses... so i figured i'd do a quick little update while i have access.

so last i wrote it was beaches, beaches, and more beaches... and i think there was another one - we went to playa tamarindo and spent a few days there. it was actually a great beach, but it's a very touristy, very rich gringo area. we managed to find a hostel that was a decent deal, and well, everything is close to the beach. a lot of the restaurants were on the pricey side, but we had some good food and spent a lot of time at the beach working on my tan (and oh my am i tan now - jealous? all you pasty northerners? :P )

after tamarindo we headed inland to arenal volcano. it's the most active volcano in costa rica and it last had a major explosion in 1986, but it's also had some smaller explosions in 1991 i believe. so you can hike into some of the old explosion spots and every once in a while (at least twice during our hike) there is an actual explosion. though really all you can see in the daylight is the ash shooting up into the air. at night you can see the lava actually shooting up out of the top and starting to stream down the side of the volcano - it was sooo cool.

another cool thing about the active volcano is the hot springs it creates. we went to this place called bondi hot springs where they have all these different pools that are various temperatures based on which shoot off of the stream they come from. lots of fun. there was even a swim up bar - and pricey drinks.

after arenal it was a long journey back to san jose so that i could fly home. didn't really see or do anything in san jose, just had some food and went out for some beers.

this morning i woke up early (6am) to get a taxi to the airport. a long day of flights and airline regulation hassles and now i'm finally home. well, sort of. i'm at my nana's. and it's freezing. haven't taken my jacket off yet and we've been inside for the past 4 hours.

so my plan was to do a few posts over the next week or so and put some pictures up - but depending on when the new computer arrives... i don't know when that will be. but for now, i'm home. still trying to plan my future... possibly back to costa rica... who can say.

:)


Friday, December 08, 2006

muchas playas!

we've moved on to a new beach town on the same peninsula (and yet nearly a 7 hour journey to get here) we are now at playa del coco. so far so good, it's really nice. last night was sushi night at this bar/restaurant. a little pricey (for costa rica, it was good prices for home) but sooo worth it. absolutely amazing.

today we rented a scooter and cruised around to some of the other beaches in the area - ocotal, hermosa, and panama. they're all pretty swanky places with lots of new construction and wealthier travelers. but nice beaches and a worthwhile place to sit by the ocean and have a mango daquiri. :)

might be hitting the local discotheque tonight - if it turns out to be cool. we've gotten in such a groove of going to the disco it seems like it's been forever. and there's this lizard lounge place that our driver yesterday reccomended.

so we're off to find some food - hopefully some nachos (though i've been craving a burrito and the only mexican place in town is closed down) and then maybe chill out on the beach to watch the sunset/moonrise.

i can hardly believe that by next week at this time i'll be getting ready to get on a plane to come home... a few more beach days and then off to arenal volcano, i think. :)


Monday, December 04, 2006

the mountain of zuma (montezuma)

so the end of the course was a bit of a rush and everything was crazy. people were losing their minds (myself included) trying to get all their lessons planned and approved and making posters and visuals and oy vey. then there was all the paper work we needed to hand in.... but i'm happy to say that i finished the course, i have my certificate and a letter of reccomendation from the school. sigh.

had a bit of a crazy night the last friday. first there was our free graduation dinner - which was really good. mahi mahi and wine and champagne. then the plan was that a small group of us were going to do a little traveling together. actually the original plan was to go down to panama for a few days - boca del toro or something - and do some snorkeling. after that some of our friends were flying to equador and the rest of us were going to work our way back to san jose.

but then they weren't going to be able to fly out of panama, they would have to fly out of san jose. so it didn't really make sense to go all the way down to panama (a very VERY long bus journey) just to have to make the same trip back. so instead we were going to go south from quepos and hang out on the osa peninsula. and so that was the plan. until friday night after dinner about 6 hours before our bus was supposed to leave (at 5:30 am)

then we get to thinking - getting to the osa peninsula is still a lot of bus riding and still a long way back to san jose. so why not just go somewhere a little closer. so the new plan was to go north on the pacific coast to the nicoya peninsula, find some beaches, and do some snorkeling. and that bus didn't leave until 7:30am - so then the great debate, to sleep or not to sleep. it seemed to make a lot of sense not to sleep when the bus was at 5:30, but 7:30 seemed like it merited at least an attempt at a couple of hours. there were mixed opinions. so some of us stayed up and some of us opted for a little shut eye (can you guess which group i was in? the sleeping one).

however. as nice as it was to get a little shuteye we ended up sleeping past the 7:30 bus. oops. so we sent out a spy to find out when the next bus was - 10:30. no problem. a little more sleep, a long bus ride, and a ferry and we actually managed to catch up with the rest of our group. we all rolled into montezuma around 5:30pm and found a place to stay. after dinner we pretty much crashed out after the long travel day.

sunday we did a little (half an hour) hike to this waterfall near here - which was beautiful. we wandered on the beach, worked on our tans, and made ourselves a bonfire in the evening. the hostel we're at is actually right on the beach, so that's pretty much where we all meet up in the morning. today some of the boys are attempting to do some spear fishing. some local guy told them it might be possible to catch lobsters! if that actually happens i would be pretty happy. (i'm not holding my breath)

tomorrow some people are heading to the airport and the ones left will likely move on to some other beach. possibly to the arenal volcano and hot springs.

oh yeah. montezuma. that's where we are. :)


Tuesday, November 28, 2006

teaching practice - week 2

somehow it seems like i had SO much to do last week... SO much teaching.... SO much preparation... SO much observing. but now that i'm in week two that doesn't really seem like the case. last week i taught a variety of classes. my first class was a group of mixed beginners at a local hair salon. they were a fun group and i think i was able to teach them *something*, though it was tough to know what kind of material to cover with a level like "mixed beginners". they actually turned out to be a little lower than i had anticipated.

my next two classes were both team teaching classes. there were things i liked about team teaching (sharing the workload, poster preparation, worksheets, etc) and things i didn't like so much (counting on someone to show up when you expect them to, not sharing the same vision of the class - plus i have some control freak tendencies). but i did work with two people that i actually like - instead of someone who *really* annoyed me, so that's something.

one class was a hi beginner class in which we had to teach - the present perfect tense. what????!!!!! how many of you reading this can explain to me the present perfect tense? now how many can explain that to people who don't speak english? we went for a grammer free approach, basically telling them the structure to use but not really explaining why. to be fair all of our "training" in the course has been about using there simple dialogue system and teaching beginners. never did we discuss the best way to get grammar points across. kind of annoying. but we got through it.

my second team teaching class was more fun. we taught present tense (a much easier concept) - like i'm running, i'm going to work, etc. we had lots of games and a really fun group of adults. it's the class i've probably felt the most confident about so far.

for the remainder of this week i'm teaching low beginners. and i observed another teacher teaching the class last night and they are VERY low beginners. so i've got to adjust my lesson plan a little - but i suppose it's unlikely that i'll run out of things to do.

can hardly believe this course is almost over.... on friday we have our graduation dinner and then saturday i'm off exploring. i'll most likely be traveling with some people i met on the course and doing whatever as opposed to trying to see the things i'm interested in. anyhow - will try to write at least once more before i'm off traveling and maybe a little more often when i'm on the road (no lessons to plan or teach).


Monday, November 20, 2006

beach saturday + beach sunday = no sunburn

had a very successful weekend at the beach. :) after a marginally late night on friday (but not as late as last friday) i slept until about 11 on saturday and then caught the bus to the beach. lots of people were already there, even those who had been out later than me! so there was lots of lying around in the sun, some swimming, the more athletically inclined played volleyball and frisbee.

had a quiet night on saturday. went out for pizza at an italian place in town. it was actually really yummy pizza, nice light crust and fresh toppings. i only finished half of it so i took the rest home with me. sunday morning i packed up my leftover pizza in my bag and headed out for manuel antonio national park. met up with a couple others heading to the park on the bus.

i had been warned that when you get there the tide may or may not be up and you either have to wade through the water or pay some guy to give you a ride in a boat across. the tide was low, so we really only had to wade through a small stream to get to the park entrance. inside the park i was a little nervous about the sorts of wildlife we might encounter.... (i think you know what i'm getting at here) but there was no problems.

we did see some crazy raccoon kind of looking things (except they had really long tails), some iguanas (kind of creepy), a couple of monkeys, and a sloth. and besides the wildlife there were hiking trails and *stunning* beaches. basically what we did was hike for a bit. find a beach. go for a swim. sit on the beach for a while. have a snack. hike for a bit. find a beach..... :)

i had to do a little work last night for my first class today - which went okay. i was actually the first teacher of the first class today - which was not a big deal. i had a small class of 4 hair salon employees. my lesson was talking about time and making appointments. i think they were struggling a little in the beginning and i was trying to follow the "paradigm" lesson plan that we were supposed to use for our first class... so i think i could have been more helpful. but mostly i'm happy to have the first lesson done. i don't have to teach again until wednesday night so in the meantime i'm trying to get ahead on my lesson planning and observe some other classes.


Sunday, November 12, 2006

parlez-vous bruncajc?

one part of our course is learning a foreign language using the immersion method (no english in class). and to make it fair for everyone (a lot of the other trainees already speak spanish, some quite fluently) we learned an indiginous langauge of costa rica called bruncaj. i have to admit that having taught using only the target language in class (in japan we used only english - lucky for me since my japanese was rubbish) i had no idea how difficult it was. though to be fair - i never NEVER would have taught so much and such complex vocabulary and sentence structures as we were taught in bruncajc.

but i suppose that was not really the point. we had to write a little essay about the experience (three lessons in all) and how we can apply what we discovered about being a student to being a teacher. but all i could think was - i wouldn't make it so hard! and i would certainly do some review each day of some basics. after 3 days of bruncajc i cannot even say "my name is..." because we never went over it again after the first class. but at least it's over now.

we have another full week of classes next week and then teaching practice for the two following weeks. already it feels like we've been in this course forever, but at the same time one week done seems like a lot.

in non-school news, a bunch of us went dancing at a discotheque last night. i was so excited - as my friends at home (and yes, i love you all dearly, but still) never (or rarely, in some cases) want to go dancing. we had a blast and stayed out dancing until 4:30 in the morning. but the best part of the whole night - the disco is the one place in town that our house is actually close to! so we had a nice short walk to our beds after we exhausted ourselves on the dance floor.

today was a pretty chill day. i had planned to go to the farmer's market and do my laundry. but i slept past the farmer's market (it closes at 1pm, which is when i got up). and after i putzed about my apartment for a little while i didn't get to the laundrymat until 3:30 and the woman said i did not have time to do any laundry. so i washed a couple of things in my sink - which may or may not be dry tomorrow - and will have to drop off my laundry on the way to school on monday.

beach day tomorrow, hopefully i won't burn to a crisp. i intend to use sunblock. but we'll see. also i get my second chance at surfing.


Wednesday, November 08, 2006

escuela

so i've now completed 2 days of school.... and so far so good. the first day our morning was filled with orientation and getting to know the other trainees (there are about 20 of us). there are some pretty cool people here. but wait - it's been days since i posted.... let me tell you about my apartment:

it's actually pretty big. we have a kitchen (but no microwave, which is kind of annoying) a small dining area, a living room (and a tv that gets NO channels, very useful). then there are our rooms - four of them (but our 4th roomate never showed up, so we have one empty room), and two bathrooms. we're basically in a one floor home. the big downfall is that it's FAR. from town (about 10-15 minute walk) and even farther from school (25-30 minutes saunter - there's a steep hill, so we're sure not going to be power walking).

the first couple of days have been fun, some of it is stuff i'm kind of familiar with from my teaching stint in japan, and some of it is completely different. we have basically been focusing on teaching theory and a simple type of lesson plan that we are supposed to use for at least one of our practice teaching classes. so for the first two weeks we are in class from 9:30 to 5. but for the second two weeks we don't have to come to school at all - we have a schedule of classes that we are supposed to teach (offered free to the community) and observe.

i'm actually quite excited because TEFL International is throwing a little event for us this weekend, which will most likely be a little bbq on the beach with surfing lessons and stuff (it's not confirmed yet). and when we finish the course there will be a graduation dinner - free food and champagne is the word on the street. sounds good to me. three of my favorite words: free. food. champagne. :)

being the end of the rainy season the days are mostly pretty sunny, but it generally rains in the afternoons or evening. which is fine - i mean, it's hot and the rain is nice. BUT. the streets are such crap that we're sort of navigating small rivers and mud trying to walk around. but maybe by the end of the month the rain will let up some. i'm starting to look a little tan - just from walking around. but i'm hoping to get some real color starting this weekend when we're at the beach.


Sunday, November 05, 2006

yes i am the highly suggestible type

so last night as i was preparing to cook myself some mini-cheese quesadillas in the hostel kitchen the guy from the front desk came out and said those magic words i've been waiting to hear "your luggage is here". so fabulous. so now i have all my stuff - and an extra toiletries that i bought before the bag showed up. plus the mini-cheese quesadillas were fabulous and then we all watched LOTR the two towers.

this morning i slept late (sort of - at least i wasn't waking up all through the night trying to make sure i didn't miss my morning bus like i did the night before) and then went out in search of some breakfast. i was pretty proud of myself - i ordered and conversed with the waitress *all in spanish*. here's our conversation:

chica: que quiere?
me: gallo pinto con huevos (this is rice and beans with eggs - a typical tico breakfast)
chica: huevos revueltos o fritos?
me: revueltos (i looked this up before i went to the restaurant - it means scrambled). y un cafe
chica: con leche?
me: si.

coffee with milk!!?? you might be asking incredulously. i drink black coffee if you didn't know. and yes i am the highly suggestible type. in fact when i was in san jose my first night i had an empanada and a coffee from this little diner next to my hotel. and after she poured my coffee she got me a spoon, opened the sugar jar, and put the spoon in. so i dutifully scooped some sugar into my coffee and stirred.

when my food came i put some of the hot sauce that was on the table on my eggs. i don't know why. it's not something i normally do. it might have been because the side of the jar said (in english) "keep away from the hands of small children". i thought that was pretty amusing.

i went down to the beach and wandered through the market (but didn't buy anything) and then i sat by the water for a while. i don't know if i've mentioned, but the weather is FABULOUS. it's warm and it hasn't rained at all today (this is the tail end of the rainy season). this afternoon i went on a mission to find my apartment where i'll be staying during the course. tonight i'm thinking about making nachos.


Saturday, November 04, 2006

turbulence

turbulence has been a pretty major component of my trip so far... the flight from atlanta to san jose was probably one of the bumpiest i've ever been on. i don't know if it has to do with flying over the carribean or if it just happened to be a bumpy day. and then today my shuttle bus from san jose to quepos was majorly turbulent. and i've made it here safely, despite the scary, scary bridges we drove over on the way.

however, my luggage is still not here.... the man in the office said that they called earlier... but he is presently trying to find the message. hopefully it's good news. if not i'm going to have to go out for some toiletries tonight.

it seems much warmer in quepos - which is nice, since i was a little chilly and unhappy in my room in san jose last night. and we're close to the beach, which is always nice. the hostel i'm at is nice. when the shuttle guy dropped me off there was a sign on the gate that said "warning, big dog" or something, but when i came in the gate there he was.... passed out in the middle of the walkway. and now that he's been awake, he is so not warning worthy. plus there's a couple of other dogs about and a nice big courtyard area.

not sure what is in store for tomorrow, but the day after i'll be moving into my apartment for the course - so it'll be nice to sort of set up shop in one place instead of staying in the dorms... more tomorrow.


Friday, November 03, 2006

getting there (is not fun at all)

so i'm here. and it's been a very VERY long day for me. probably because i decided it would be better to not go to bed at all than it would be to go to sleep sometime around midnight and then wake up at 3:30 in the morning. so after a relaxing evening of watching tv and lounging with my cat we took off for the airport around 4am.

i was there in plenty of time (2 hours early? please, i can't really think of when i've ever needed that much time). i wandered around with my dad until it seemed like the right time to get into the security line. i mangaged to time it quite well and had just enough time to get through security, walk the long, long way to my gate, rest for a few minutes and board the plane.

our flight was practically empty - which was great. so i stretched out and got a little shut-eye. however. we got into atlanta nearly a half an hour late - which really cut into my 45 minute layover. so i had to do a little early morning jogging and barely made my plane - and the flight attendants informed me and the other 4 late-comers that they might have left already if there hadn't been a problem with the smoke alarms.

so late to atlanta, late to san jose. and then i waited and waited and waited for my bag to be dumped out onto the baggage claim belt. and i waited some more. then there was an announcement for passengers who had arrived by way of boston and atlanta should go to the desk. our luggage had not arrived. *sigh*

so thanks to a lovely tourist info desk girl i managed to contact my interbus company (which was supposed to collect me at the airport and then take me to the spot i would get my bus to quepos), explain what had happened, get some information on the place i was going to stay in quepos, and re-book me for tomorrow morning's bus to quepos.

so for tonight i'm still in san jose. at some random hotel reccomended by the interbus people. hoping i can find some dinner without having to try to hard. and then laying on my bed and watching some spanish tv.

hopefully tomorrow i will be a little happier and nearer to the beach!!!!


Tuesday, October 31, 2006

quepos, costa rica

thought i'd just post a little about the town i'll be in - at least for my initial training - quepos. from let's go costa rica 2003 (yes, a very old version, which i bought used and cheap since the new version will come out just after i arrive and there was no point in buying a full priced version that will be out of date in a month):

"three and a half hours south of san jose, the city of quepos is one of the central pacific's most well-trodden destinations, not so much because it has anything of real interest to see, but rather for its proximity to tourist-magnet parque nacional manual antonio and the dozens of tour operators who run adventure trips into the raging rivers and wild mountain terrain just outside town."


so a quiet town near (expensive, i hear) adventure travel. mostly i'm hoping to come back at christmas time with a tan and to be a slightly better surfer. oh yeah, and be certified to teach english as a second language. :) i'm very excited about my trip and if i manage to meet some people half as cool as the people i met teaching in japan, then it should be a great time.

in 48 hours from now i should have actually touched down in costa rica to begin my adventure. buen viaje!


Friday, October 20, 2006

hang loose redux

i've long since recovered from the frustration of losing my post at the shipboard internet center... and i'm not really 100% sure of what i was planning on saying anymore. so instead i'll just post a few more pictures from hawaii as a reminder to "just hang loose".


towards the end of the cruise there was a shift change for some of the crew. and we finally got a cabin steward who knew how to make towel animals. which of course is one of the more amusing things about cruises. we also got a bunny. but out of a 7 day cruise, 2 towel animals does not an extra tip earn.


the zipline in kauai was probably one of the cooler things i've done in my life. here's meg en route across the zipline. the guy in the blue shirt works for the zipline company. but he was once a mere vacationer who never went home and found this job. he's my hero. plus he's from nashua and says he would like to open a zip course in north conway someday. i'm so there. :)


on the last day of the cruise we did some "scenic cruising" past the napali coast on kauai. which was amazing and beautiful. and perhaps due to the proximity of the bar to our viewing spot on deck i took about 100 pictures that all look relatively the same. but none-the-less it was cool.


the sunset on waikiki beach. sadly it's never really an *amazing* sunset in hawaii because as the air gets cooler the clouds pretty much always move in or something. so no crystal clear sunset, but still really nice.

hawaii is definitely somewhere i could see myself being happy for a while. it's beautiful, warm, there aren't any of those bad things that i hate, and the people are nice. but alas - i'm off to costa rica in less than 2 weeks. hopefully i have a similar reaction... and hopefully my spanish improves.


Wednesday, September 20, 2006

maui wowie (but not what you're thinking)

today was our second day in maui. it's been absolutely amazing, so beautiful. yesterday we took a trip to molokini, which is a crater island off one of the volcanoes of the island. from above the island has a crescent shape which shelters a great spot for snorkeling. we spent the morning exploring this spot and we have tons of photos.... which unfortunately are on the underwater camera and therefore NOT available for our immediate viewing pleasure (who knew digital cameras would make me so impatient?).


turtles!

after we left molokini basically we did some cruising around. and our pal captain doug opened up the bar.... the open bar.... :) i managed to ruin my careful tanning system by standing on deck in my suit drinking free vodka cranberries for a couple of hours... but what are you gonna do? we did get to see some turtles swimming near the boat - above is my best picture (which is admittedly not that good).


maui downhill bicycle

today meg and i did the downhill biking safari. now many of you might know how i feel about bikes.... for those of you who don't - i don't like them. living in japan and riding my flippin bike to work every day sort of turned me off of them. but this was an opportunity to ride a bike down a VOLCANO. (almost) no pedalling required. and the views were amazing - they said we had one of the clearest days that they've had in a while. but it was still a little bit scary.... careeening around those hairpin turns... trying not turn too far left (into oncoming traffic) or too far right (over the edge). it was exhilarating and beautful and i'll never do it again.

i'm quite excited that tomorrow i will try surfing for the very first time. i imagine in my mind that i will be quite a natural at surfing and possibly join the pro circuit in leiu of a traditional job. but we'll see how that goes. my immediate goals is to not get too badly sunburned the day before my massage. :)


Monday, September 18, 2006

aloha cousins!

i am in hawaii, cruising like a millionaire (except that i'm staying in one of the practically underwater cabins, but whatever) and having a blast. :) today is our first full day on the ship and we are docked at hilo on "the big island".

we arrived in hawaii on thursday evening after a long LONG day of traveling (i had two stopovers, the rest of my family only had one). it was all we could do to stay awake through dinner (hawaii is 6 hours behind the east coast). but i did make one great discovery at the ubiquitous "abc" stores (there's one about every block in honolulu) - they carry onigiri, which are these fabulous japanese snacks, basically rice and some sort of filling (salmon, tuna...) wrapped in seaweed and absolutely delicious.


waikiki at sunrise

friday morning was probably the earliest i've ever woken up on vacation... i was awake from about 3 or 4 am - dozing when i could. but we all got up and decided to head down to the beach for sunrise. unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the island to actually see the sun rising up over the ocean, but we still had a nice view of waikiki and diamond head.

we hit the beach pretty early and started the tanning (burning) process. i'm happy to say that i'm NOT sunburned (yet) and am well on my way to a deep, dark hawaiian tan (hopefully). by noon time we were pretty much done on the beach (we were there by like 8am) so we had some lunch and did some relaxing.


germaine's luau

friday night we went to germaines luau. basically a huge buffet of traditional hawaiian foods - such as the roast pig and poi and lomi-lomi. then there was a fabulous show of many different kinds of island dances. we saw some from hawaii, tahiti, new zealand (who knew?), and samoa. oh, and did i mention the drink tickets? ;P tropical (and your average run of the mill drinks as well) drinks and both meg and i purchased the souvenir germaine's glass (which only cost one ticket to refill - the same as the little cups). good times had by all.

saturday we hit the honolulu zoo which was nice. and then it was down to the port to board the ship. our rooms are actually really cute and the beds are super comfy. this morning i even woke up at a somewhat normal time (not normal for me, but there are people who wake up at 5:30am, right?). so before i know it i'll be on hawaii time... and looking tan like a native... maybe...


Tuesday, September 05, 2006

my first day of unemployment

and AWWWW YEEEAAAH it feels good to be unemployed. :) well, more truthfully, it feels good to not be going back to that particular job... i do realize i will have to work again at some point. but still. for now, i'm pretty happy.

two months from now i'll be starting my teacher training course in costa rica. it's meant to be pretty intensive, so in the meantime i plan to get myself organized as much as possible. relax as much as possible. study up on some english grammer. and possibly take on some temp work after i get back from hawaii.

for now i'm reading through my let's go costa rica (which is 3 years out of date, since, irritatingly enough, the new version will come out just after i leave for CR - grrr), flipping through my costa rican spanish phrase book, and thinking about starting to listen to my spanish cd's. i'm also thinking about taking a spanish language course down in CR after i finish my training course. it makes sense, since i'm intending on staying for a while...

anyway. i'm sure these two months will just fly by, so if i don't call you, you should definitely call me. :) more later.


Saturday, July 29, 2006

scotland photos

here is but a wee sampling of the photos i took in scotland... i may have gone a little crazy, but i love castles and stone buildings.


edinburgh castle - this is just one of about FORTY photos i took of the castle. most of them nearly identical to this one. i just love how it's perched on the cliffs. and the sun is shining in this one. not that it rained every day... just most of them (at least a little).

william wallace cow - there was some sort of art cow exhibition going on all throughout edinburgh. everywhere you went there were cows, painted with maps on them, painted to look like a feild of flowers, etc. they were everywhere. some of them were cool, but this guy was by far my favorite: perched high upon mercat cross in front of st. giles cathedral. william wallace. cow.

edinburgh palace - i didn't actually get to go in to the palace. the day we went down there it was closed off for some kind of award ceremony. i couldn't even really get a good photo. this one is the view of the palace from the top of calton hill.

greyfriars bobby - at first i thought this was such a cute little statue. and the fact that he had his own bar (pictured behind the statue) was kind of cool. but the (abbreviated) story is that after his master died he stayed by his grave until he also died (which was a long time after). such a cute story. and a cute statue... i was mildly obsessed.

me and jill at uruqhart castle on loch ness - since we were at loch ness with jill's parents, i have lots of pictures of the two of us there. it turned out to be a beautiful day after we waited out the rainstorm that began on our way to loch ness.

uruqhart castle - so amazing. of course i love castles. and even though this one is pretty skeletal (though not compared to elgin castle), it is probably my favorite that i saw on this trip. plus there are lots of stories about saints and picts and crazy highland folk. such a cool place, and all on the edge of the famed loch.

elgin cathedral - i'm told this cathedral was the reason that elgin was granted city status, though it's not so big a place. it's quite old and it was destroyed not by some large enemy, but by some feuding scotsmen. watch out - they're a wild bunch. i just wish they had restored some of the stained glass...

rosslyn chapel - of da vinci code fame. i was fascinated to see this place, which the book describes as being filled with intricate carvings and varied pre-christian, christian, and masonic symbols. it really was quite cool, and though filled with tourists (some of the annoying and irritating variety) i had a good time. took many pictures, none of which really do the place justice.




Wednesday, July 26, 2006

como se dice "rich coast" en espanol?

ooh! wait! i know this one!! costa rica!

that's right. i'm off to costa rica this fall. many of you may have heard me talking about this for a while now... at first it was just an idea, then i was seriously planning on it, then i applied for a job in portsmouth which i thought i would get, but i didn't, and so now, i'm going to costa rica again. (and if you didn't know before, i think you may have noticed that i have decision making problems)

it's been a bit of a struggle to get everything settled... but i've signed up for a TEFL certificate course (that's Teaching English as a Foreign Language) - so in theory i should actually know what i'm doing this time. there was a lot of confusion with trying to make my payment online, and for some reason one card didn't go through, but the other did... anyhow, i've been putting off this post until everything was settled. and now it is. :)

so needless to say, i'm very excited about all of this. but of course there are lots of loose ends to tie up before i go... so i'll write more later.


Thursday, July 20, 2006

bits and bobs part 2

loch ness and nessie
i was very excited at the prospect of spotting nessie gliding through the famed loch ness waters... and after the rain cleared i had many opportunities to gaze out at the water from the ruins of uruqhart castle. but in the end i was surprised by where i managed to spot nessie:


and

i also spotted nessie outside of a large gift shop and strapped to a raft near a loch cruise dock. apparently he gets around. otherwise i would be selling these photos to the tabloids.

men in skirts
i don't know what it is... there's just something about men in kilts that i find very attractive. (not really a fan of the hats these boys are wearing in my photo... but still) and lucky for me there was some sort of award ceremony going on at the edinburgh palace. so while jill and i strolled the royal mile we passed many good looking young boys (and some older guys as well) sporting their kilts. :) makes a girl smile.



the perfect close to my trip since i started out my trip with hassle on my amsterdam to edinburgh flight, it's only fitting that i end my trip with more flight hassles. i arrived in london for my 2 hour layover without issue. i bought myself a magazine (that came with a free bathing suit - yes, seriously) and i sat down to read a bit while waiting for my gate number to be posted on the departures screens. when the gate was posted i gathered my belongings and made my way to the gate. it was a bit of a hike, but i didn't mind since i knew i would be sitting for the next 6-7 hours. as i neared where the gate was i saw a large mob standing off to one side. i breezed past them and to my horror - they were waiting to get in to the same gate i was looking for. *sigh* i took myself to the back of the queue and waited patiently. after standing in line for nearly 30 minutes (and our departure time fast approaching) i was finally through to the waiting room (after having my matches taken away from me, which i packed only because lighters are not allowed). it was exactly 30 minutes before our departure time that we were allowed to walk down the hall... at the end of which there was, not a plane, but a bus. we piled on to buses and rode for nearly 20 minutes (no exaggeration here) to our plane. it was one of those gigantic double-decker planes capable of carrying 5,000 passengers (probably a little exaggeration here...) - and it took well over an hour to get the rest of them from the terminal to the plane. not only that, but i was seated next to this surly american girl who was just angry about all aspects of the flight (okay, so i was annoyed as well, but it was a resigned annoyance, i wasn't trying to get anyone to comiserate with me). luckily i got to eat lovely food (chicken and penne with creamy broccoli and mushroom sauce) and watch good movies (failure to launch and lucky number slevin).

i'll probably post some pictures in a few days - i took like a million.


Friday, July 14, 2006

bits and bobs part 1

since i didn't get many chances to post while in scotland, i decided i would just tell a few short little stories:

royal pain in the arse airlines
or sometimes also called "royal dutch airlines" - KLM. after an overnight flight where i never really slept (like i said before, there were good movies) i had a short flight with them from amsterdam to edinburgh. well, it should have been short. we were all put on the plane, which wasn't very crowded. i had an empty seat next to me and an emergency aisle, the responsibilites of which were explained. then we waited. the captain came on and announced that there were low clouds in edinburgh, which meant that they didn't want planes coming in too close together. so we would be delayed about 30 minutes. we were served juice and pretzels. then we began to pull away from our gate. but before we got too far the captain came on again. this time there was a problem with the electricity on the panel. so we pulled into another stand and waited for the electrician to come on board and check it out. so we waited. eventually some repair was made and we were ready for takeoff *again*. but then.... the captain came on *again*... and due to the weather in edinburgh we wouldn't be able to takeoff for another 55 minutes. fortunately we actually got to take off this time, i was sure there were some surly businessmen who were near mutiny. and my concern was that i had no phone number to call jill and let her know even if i did have a phone (which i didn't). but when we arrived in edinburgh 2 and a 1/2 hours late she was still there. what a peach. :)

monster mash
after a couple of days at less than my normal (giant) appetite, we went to monster mash for dinner on friday evening. and it was sooo good, especially on a cool and rainy night. basically a british diner, the specialty is sausages and mash. there were sausage specials for the day (and vegetarian sausage specials as well) and mashed potato specials. one of the sausage specials was a beef, ale, and stilton sausage - which both jill and i got. then you pick your mash - plain mash, mash with spring onions, mash with neeps (turnips). i chose mash with spring onions. the final step - gravy - i went with the classic gravy. when they brought this food out i was completely enamored with monster mash. a giant bowl of mashed potatoes - giant like i would make for myself when i'm at home and eating nothing else for my meal - topped with my two sausages, and a pitcher of gravy on the side. once i dug in, i knew it was love. monster mash and i were meant to be. a truly perfect meal on an slightly cool summer night. after the short walk back to jill's flat it was all we could do to sit on the couch and have a cuppa tea. soooo good.

castles
i do love castles. and really, stone buildings in general, which edinburgh is filled with. my first glimpse on this trip was of edinburgh castle at the top of the royal mile (literally the mile long road between the castle and the palace). i snapped a quick photo while some fellas in kilts marched about. the first castle i went in was on loch ness, urquhart castle - if you can really call it going "in". maybe explored is a better word. but anyway, what remains of the castle sits on the banks of loch ness and is quite beautiful (minus the tour groups milling around). then there was elgin castle. or rather the spot where elgin castle once stood and now lies a pile of stones and a tall monument. but a nice view of the town. i spent part of my last full day in scotland wandering through edinburgh castle, which compared to my other castle sightings on this trip is very well maintained and dramatically perched on a now extinct volcano. i was actually a little obsessed, taking millions of photos of the walls coming right up out of the cliffs. so cool. (pictures coming soon)


Saturday, July 08, 2006

the haggis experience

so this morning we rose bright (seriously, at 7am!!!!) and early to catch the bus to inverness, north of edinburgh. we were collected at the bus station by jill's mum and dad and took off to loch ness. the weather was a bit rainy, but we managed to get some sunshine while we explored urquhart castle on the banks of the loch.

i have a few nessie sightings caught on film, which i'll share later when i get my camera hooked up to the internet. and loads and loads of pictures of the castle itself (i'm a bit obsessed).

we had a little nap on the ride back to elgin (and got a little bit of a sore neck) and when we arrived the dinner started getting prepared... a traditional bit of dinner... haggis, neeps, and tatties...

truth be told it was actually really nice! even though i had read the ingredients to haggis in the supermarket (not a nice image) it was very, very tasty. you don't really eat the intestine wrapping, you just kind of scoop it out. it's like a pile of minced meat. and there's oats in it, it's spice very nicely. i really, really enjoyed it (which was a surprise to me - i did intend to try it, but i never imagined i would like it). the "neeps" were not so good... (that's turnips) but i can never say no to "tatties" (potatoes). if you ever have the opportunity to try it, i highly reccommend. just don't think about it too much.

so tomorrow we'll do a bit more looking around elgin, and traditional roast lunch. then we're back to edinburgh for a scary ghost tour in the evening.

Friday, July 07, 2006

my favorite letter is RRRRRRRRRRR!

got to see the new pirates movie last night. which was very exciting, and of course is sort of jill and mine's film. (we were a bit obsessed in japan - how can you go wrong with johnny *and* orlando?) we got to sit in the posh "gold club" seats. :) all in all a very exciting evening.

yesterday seemed like my first real day in edinburgh, since my plane arrived 2 and 1/2 hours late on wednesday, and i was in despareate need of a nap.... there were some good movies on my transatlantic flight... i never actually got to sleep.

so thursday we got out bright and early (around 1pm) and did some wandering in edinburgh. walked the royal mile, which is the road between the palace and the castle. saw the castle and the palace (from the outside only....) saw a man dressed as william wallace taking photos with and axe and tourists.

it is really a lovely little city, which jill claims is easy to navigate, but i don't quite agree. everytime i think i know where we are or where we're going i find that i am mistaken. but i do keep ending up at places i recognize, i'm just not sure how we got there.

so for the weekend we're going up to elgin, where jill's mum and dad live, for a visit. i think we'll also go to loch ness. and i may be treated to a meal of "haggis, nips, and tatties" (which is haggis with turnips and potatoes). i'm wiling to try the haggis, but i'll have to say no to the turnips....

i think our plans for the rest of today involve a bit of shopping and more likely than not some food. :)

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

leaving tomorrow, and more to come...

so tomorrow i'm headed to scotland to visit my fabulous friend, jillian, and see the lovely city of edinburgh.

my goal is to actually post a few times while i'm there (i'll be away for a week). but as of late i've really hated everything i've written for this site (hence the lack of posts), so i'm not making any promises.

*however*

this will be my first trip with my digital camera (disney and pennsylvania don't really count...) and i intend on taking as many photos as i possibly can. so even if i don't get around to posting anything (or i only post crap) i will probably have a few photos to post when i get back.

i am also tenatively planning to make a MAJOR journey in the fall... more on that when i return from scotland.


Tuesday, April 25, 2006

hello kitty holidays

one "weekend" late in november (which is almost never saturday and sunday for nova teachers, it was tuesday and wednesday for me, wednesday and thursday for jill) jill and i made plans to go to takamatsu for a little starbucks and to start our christmas shopping. and in the evening we would meet mariko for some dinner and drinks.

well after lolly-gagging in starbucks for far longer than normal people (it feels a little like home... plus there's great people watching) we attempted to do some shopping for people on our lists. sounded like an easy enough task, to pick out some cute japanese themed stuff to mail home. and yet all we came away with that day was a 3-foot plastic christmas tree and some hello kitty decorations. we made plans to go to takamatsu *again* the following weekend - and this time really get some gift buying done.

christmas presents started arriving in our mailbox, along with some confusion trying to pick up packages at the post office, and our flat started to look really festive. we began planning our christmas eve and day feasts, as well as a post christmas detox day before we headed to tokyo for new year's.

christmas eve day was so balmy that we could open our balconey doors and let the air flow in. after watching "pirates of the carribean" for the second time over a breakfast of poached eggs and hollondaise it was time to get ourselves moving. we rode our bikes to vivre in utazu (the shopping center extrordonaire) without coats to purchase our holiday feast supplies. we came away with ¥10,400 worth of groceries packed in our bike baskets and our backpacks (which seems like a lot of money - it's about $100 - but we did get 4 bottles of wine and ¥1,000 worth of beef, so i'd say it was pretty good) and headed home to start preparations.


our christmas eve setup

we spent christmas eve like i do at home every year. we watched christmas movies (my family sent a tape with some of the classics on it - a charlie brown christmas, rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, and white christmas). and we drank and ate (edamame, gyoza, chili shrimp, sushi, pistachios, pringles, and mulled wine).

christmas day was the strangest ever - for many reasons. in the morning we had a lovely, holiday breakfast of bacon sandwiches and mimosas. but then jill had to go to work (while they love christmas in japan, it's not *really* a holiday as most people are shinto and buddhists). i spent my day doing laundry, going to the store to buy jill's christmas gifts (they were open, since it's not a holiday), i painted my nails, and pretty much sat around watching movies until jill got home from work.

then the real holiday began. we started by opening some wine and our presents. then we began preparing our feast. we started with a butternut squash soup (from a carton). then we had a japanese flavored beef stew, mashed potatoes, green beans and corn, broccoli citron, and of course more wine. by the time we finished we could barely move.


christmas dinner (notice the mobile phones at the dinner table)

we had planned to meet some of our friends at karaoke to sing some christmas songs, but in the end didn't feel like getting off the couch. we watched "pirates of the carribean" again (a gift from my lovely girls) and drank more wine. all in all it was a lovely day, but strangely didn't quite feel like a real christmas....

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

if you're going to san francisco...

this post has been hanging in limbo since march 14, 2006... nearly 2 weeks ago. c'est la vie. here it is now:

... be sure to wear some flowers in your hair

both caitlyn and i arrived at oakland airport on friday evening. at danielle's dorm room that night (almost like old times - except no cassie! :( ) we perused a catalog of vineyards in preparation for our trip to napa valley.

we woke early the next day, despite the loud japanese girls living down the hall, without too much trouble (hooray 3 hour time difference - 8am feels like 11am). after a quick stop at starbucks we were on our way.

the day was sunny enough as we made our way to our first winery, the hess collection. located at the end of a long and winding road it had a small collection of modern art, beautiful views, and of course wine tasting. next we headed to darioush. the outside was beautiful, the entry way was flanked by columns and fountains, the view was scenic. but on the inside the wine was pricey and the whole atmosphere was a little too posh. after a lovely midday meal at pacific blues we went to provenance, which we had been given free tasting coupons for from hess. here we learned a little about wine growing and grapes in napa valley and i tasted my first sip of my newest obsession - port.

the next winery on our list was v. sattui. this place had lots of people, like darioush, but was very down to earth. we took a place at the tasting bar and were served by an older guy whose name tag read george sattui (though he claimed it was a coincidence). we made our purchases and headed to our last stop of the day - hall. this place was small, but the staff were funny and the the other tasters amusing. we closed the place down with a glass of sparkling california wine and headed back to hayward.


the crew at hall winery

sunday was our day to explore big sur. big sur is a coastal region of california, with dramatic oceanside cliffs and redwood filled forests. after the long drive we started with some sandwiches and hot tea at the nepenthe restaurant. then we did a short (but steep) hike to an unimpressive waterfall in the pfeiffer big sur state park. we followed the coastal route 1 home.


the beautiful big sur coastline

on our third (and my final) day in the bay area we spent in san francisco. early in the morning caitlyn's dad (mr. man) arrived for a few days visit and they went off to breakfast. after danielle and i got ourselves together we all drove into the city. after checking into their hotel, mr. man took a nap while we girls headed off to japantown for lunch. a seemingly straight route from the hotel was nearly all uphill (*big* hills too) and after a short descent we arrived at our destination.


danielle and caitlyn in japantown

we had some lovely sushi at a shop proclaiming to have the best sushi rolls in san francisco (and they were pretty darn good). after a little shopping (and the discovery of one of my obsessions from my time in japan - rice crackers) we went back to pick up mr. man. after dropping danielle at the bart station (she had work to do, it was a weekday afterall) we drove down lombard street - twice - which was big fun.

then we walked down to the wharves to see the excitement and the sea lions. after wandering around and poking in and out of some shops we chose a restaurant for dinner with a view. sadly there was not the beauteous sunset we had hoped for - it was still quite cloudy from the afternoon rain. my time in san fran was coming to an end. after a little post-dinner tv i was dropped at the airport with my crate of wine bottles and a ticket home.

good times. :)


Thursday, March 02, 2006

video store adventures

¥100 can buy you many things. notebooks. hats. scarves. dishes. cleaning products. and 3 nights (5 nights? my memory isn't that good) with an english language video.

something we did almost every week was rent some videos. after the initial fascination with and amusement at japanese tv fades, sometimes you really want to hear english on tv. while 100% worth it, a trip to the video store (like many activities in japan) was an adventure.

of course it always starts with a bike ride... which i generally despised as part of my commute, but grew to almost enjoy for other activities - such as shopping, going to the movies, going to izakayas and karaoke, and going to the video store. bikes parked and locked out front (and most likely on the ground, knocked over by the wind, when we come back out) we enter the store. and thus begins the hunt.

it's the pretty standard video store layout: a section of video games, a new release wall, the curtained off porn section, your standard video genres, and the "foreign films" section - that's where the english language films are. usually there are many english films on the new release wall, and not all of them that new - and you check there first. with the front of the video case facing out, it's easiest to tell what movies they are. not all of the movies have the english title on the case (or it's very difficult to find).

on to the "foreign films" section. at the end of the aisles were mini displays of movies. and then there were the aisles themselves - packed solid with videos. slowly you make your way down the aisles, head tilted and eyes squinting, trying to look for side pictures you recognize or english words. this part takes a long time. every time. no matter how carefully you think you may have looked, there's always some videos you missed.

as you make your selections you have to look out for "the yellow sticker". this sticker indicates that the film is dubbed in japanese instead of merely subtitled (or is it the other way around?). we managed to avoid that disappointment by asking the clerk "english?". even when selecting subtitled movies there always remained the chance that you could miss out on something. if, by chance, there are any conversations in non-english languages... these too are subtitled in japanese. very disappointing. and to this day i still have not seen and comprehended all of birthday girl, in which about 40% of the conversations are in russian.

an hour or two later we emerge with a stash of movies - some old favorites, some we haven't seen yet. we pick up our fallen bikes and make our way happily home.


Thursday, February 23, 2006

monday is a new day

my partner in crime, jill, and i were similar in many ways. one of those ways was that we both loved our food and drink. after living together for just over a month jill declared "monday is a new day". this meant that we were going to stop behaving as if we were on vacation - stop eating and drinking loads, stop lounging around all the time. i planned to eat slightly healthier, slightly less, and start practicing yoga on a regular basis.

the fact was that we had had enough time to discover many of the yummy foods japan had to offer. the izakayas that we visited had picture menus (for easy ordering) and every time we visited one we knew what things we wanted. of course gyoza (pan-fried dumplings), deep fried oysters, tiny eggplant halves with miso, french fries, sashimi, edamame (green soybeans), and atsukan (hot sake!). white russians at karaoke. fried chicken and egg on rice concoctions from the mini-mart, onigiri (filled rice balls wrapped in seaweed), and late night bowls of ramen.

and as if that weren't enough our home cuisine creations were evolving too. every friday night was "gyoza night". we cooked up a couple packages of supermarket gyoza and sat on our little sofa watching videos. we started making pizza toasts. we managed to make nachos in our toaster oven (in japan they didn't have tortilla chips, but we did find "plain" unflavored doritos - seriously). other favorites included beef stroganoff and jill's fabulous mac and cheese (which i now make for myself and claim it's my recipe - sorry hon!).

so despite riding the bloody bikes everywhere all this food was starting to add up. and i behaved for a little while. but then came christmas. and our trip to tokyo. japan is just a food lover's paradise, what's a girl to do?

Sunday, February 05, 2006

4 jobs and 3 years ago

i can hardly believe it has been so long, but three years ago today i wrote in my journal:

5 February 2003
am here, finally. it's strange. can't believe i'm really here - all the preparation, planning. my nerves come and go. and sometimes i can't believe this is only the beginning, that i'll be wandering for two and a half months...

i had just arrived in london after an overnight flight and was trying to settle into the whole idea of long term travel. and the idea of traveling alone. it was the beginning of an amazing adventure in my life.

after working a contract job for almost 5 months and being turned down twice for a full time position in the group i decided to take my money and run - to do something a little crazy. and it felt a little crazy at the start. as time passed though, i eventually got into the rhythm of travel. lazy mornings, sitting hours at a cafe with only a coffee and my journal, making sandwiches from the supermarket, visiting a museum or sitting on the beach, scoping out a restaurant for dinner.


by the end of the 10 weeks i was feeling confident enough in my travel skills that i was giving advice to other travelers at my hostel. but i was also looking forward to being home again, to staying in one place for a while.

now that i've had 3 years to reflect on that trip, i've learned a lot of things and become a better and happier traveler. a couple of tips for long term travel:

* when everything seems to be going wrong - throw a little money at the problem. sometimes a night in nicer hotel or a meal at a proper restaurant is all you need.
* don't schedule yourself too much - sometimes you just don't feel like seeing the most famous sight in wherever, so don't do it and don't give it another thought.
* take pictures of the people you meet - it'll make your memories that much stronger.
* write everything down - that way you can relive the adventure whenever you want!

lately i've just been dying to be back on the road, i miss the variety, the pace of life. luckily i have my journals, my blogs, and my photos to transport me back to those times. and before i know it, i'll be on the road again. you can relive my france and italy 2003 trip vicariously through my fritaly blog. and until my next big trip i'll continue writing about my adventures in japan.

Friday, February 03, 2006

tortilla espagnol

on my second night in spain i went out with carlynne and alida from my hostel and a friend of alida's who had been teaching in madrid. we charged him with choosing a restaurant, since he was the most familiar with the city. his first pick was far too crowded - we were never going to get a table. after a little more wandering we finally found another of his favorites and sat down to eat.

after perusing the huge menu (which was translated into english, german, and french) i decided that i would try a tortilla espagnol - literally a spanish omelette, meaning a potato omelette. it turned out to be one of the most divine things i've ever tasted. and so i decided then and there that my mission for this trip would be to find the best tortilla espagnol in spain. so here's what i found:

madrid
my first tortilla was perfectly round and crisp on the outside - like it had been flipped out of the pan and onto the plate. no rolled or folded omelettes here. the potatoes were diced small with just a touch of chopped onion and some spice i couldn't quite identify. also, far from being just a filling, the potatoes were evenly dispersed through the entire omelette.

granada
this tortilla was thicker than my last, but still about the same circumference. the potato peices were larger and it was lacking something... that i couldn't quite put my finger on.

sevilla
1. a pre-flamenco meal (very early by spanish standards). once again there were big chunks of potato but that elusive spice was back. :) it was also served with some potato slices on the side.
2. when i arrived early at the bus station on my way back to madrid from sevilla i went out in search of coffee. outside the bus station i found a little stand with a funny man inside. as i stood there chatting and drinking my coffee i decided to get a sandwich for the ride - a tortilla sandwich. the omelette was rolled this time - obviously - to fit inside the bread. the potatoes were a medium dice with onion. overall the omelette sandwich was pretty tasty, even at room temperature a few hours later.

the verdict
madrid wins it - the first was definitely the best. the small dice of the potato gave a better egg to potato ratio. i've even been able to reproduce this at home! it turns out that the onion *is* the elusive spice, somehow in this recipe it's just very subtle.

overall i found spanish food mediocre. but the tortilla espagnol has forever become one of my favorites. this is my last post about spain, next week i hope to get some more japan stories posted as well as a tribute to my 2003 fritaly trip.