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Published: January 6th 2006
Hello Reader.
On Thursday night I came back to the hostel in Valencia and spoke to my new roommates. Erica, from Canada was a real hippy girl blonde (who I could see my friend Bradley Mosier liking), and Paul, from Western Australia who had met Erica two weeks before and traveling with her ever since. We had a great conversation and then headed to bed with a 'nice to meetcha' as the lights went out.
The next day, Friday, seemed to blow by, like the rest of the weekend. I bought some food, hung around the hostel and met a few more people. Seton, not to be confused with Satan, was from Perth, Western Australia and a theater actor. He was traveling with Chris, also from Perth, studying psychology and acting as well. Then there was Caitlin, a really cool girl from Sydney who was studying history (with a concentration on the Spanish civil war). She now worked in a law firm and was en route to becoming a great lawyer some day, she certainly has the debate skills for it. There was Seth, from Indiana who was passing through with his friend Amanda. They were both studying in
A Boy Infatuated
A kid staring at the amazing fountain located in the river bed.Europe for the next six months.
I finished my book by Mitch Albom ('The Five People You Meet in Heaven') and decided that I needed more books. I found a media store, found an English book section, and proceeded to buy four books. Crime and Punishment (Dostoyesvsky), Moby Dick (Melville), Catcher in the Rye (Salanger), and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Verne). These are all books quite often referenced, but, Catcher in the Rye withstanding, I don't presume that many people actually read them, only understand what they are about by word of mouth. Anyways, I started with Moby Dick. It's thick - and not just width wise. It's dense; to illustrate, I will use the following example: if reading Brave New World was like swimming in a clear blue pool of water, reading Moby Dick is like attempting to swim through a giant vat of butter.
Anyways, on Friday night I went out for a few beers with my mainly Australian crew. We kept it low key and had a nice relaxing time at a couple of bars.
On Saturday, we all seemed to split off in our own directions. Caitlin and I walked through
the city, which she had not yet seen. We walked along the river garden and found an amazing fountain that Erica and Paul told me to visit. We also found an enormous playground in the form of Gulliver, as in Gulliver's Travels. It had kids playing all over it which added to the surreal effect. I introduced her to Monica and the three of us went to eat at a crepe restaurant. The salad was amazing and crepes were superb. (I took note of the ingridients in the salad which I would later duplicate in the hostel on a couple of occasions - I am my mother's son.)
I had changed my room because someone else was checking into mine, and went to Setan and Chris' room. That night, we all went out to Radio City, a nearby bar. I held off from dancing, (except for one dance with Caitlin, that she later told me made her feel cheap and used... i don't know why she would feel like that, I even tried to pay her later... who knows... girls, right?). Anyways, I went home with half the group early, around two am. Seton, Chris, and Seth stayed and
Crepes for Lunch
Monica, Caitlin, and I sitting down for lunch. drank way too much. I knew it was too much by the amount of time Seton spent hugging the toilet... and later the trashcan next to his bed. I was laughing pretty hard... but not at him... with him... at least some of it sounded like laughing.
The next day, Sunday, Erica left in the early morning (around ten am... well, that's early for Spain.) And the rest of us decided to decompress. The only excursion made to the outside world was when Chris, Caitlin (who was having major stomach pains), and I went to the flea market. After treking twenty-five minutes, we finally found something that could possibly be considered as a 'flea market.' I hope we came at the end of it, because it looked as though a bulldozer had driven through the entire lot and all that was left was people walking round kicking rubble on the pavement trying to see if they could find anything of worth. There was an elderly gentleman whacking a microwave vigorously with an axe and the only actual stand with any sort of organization to it was selling pornography. Chris described it as one of his circles of hell and
Sunday Flea Market
Please note that the man in the blue jacket next to the tree has his axe poised for his next microwave attack hit. we exited the vacinity immidiately for fear that the very essence of our souls would be sucked out should we stay any longer.
Back at the hostel, we watched movies the rest of the day, played Trivial Pursuit, (which I lost), and fell asleep early... not too exciting. I had decided to extend until Monday.
On Monday morning, Chris and Seton packed up and headed out around ten am. Then, about fifteen minutes after they left, who should walk in but Nick, my old traveling buddy from Barcelona. He put in to stay for the next couple of nights, and so did I. He, Caitlin, and I walked around the city some. We went to FNAC, where Monica works to see if I could finally introduce her to Nick. No luck there, but I did buy some new earphones that turned out to not work very well. We went to the market and later fixed dinner. And Monica showed up to suprise us! We hung out around the kitchen table, which was becoming a treasured pastime at the hostel, and planned to have dinner at Monica's later that week. Seth, Amanda, Caitlin, and I went to a bar
Decompression
Caitlin, Setan, Chris (on the floor), Seth, and Amanda (in the back). as kind of a farewell to Seth and Amanda, who would leave early the next morning. We also invited along Josh, a Californian chef traveling alone. He was nice and would eventually be one of the friends with whom I would share Christmas.
On Tuesday, Caitlin, Nick, and I finally got to the beach. We took a bus (number thirty-two) there and walked along the shore about a half a mile before stopping at a little restaurant for some paellea that was good and fresh, but too salty. I slept on the fourty-five minute bus trip back to the city center. And we prepared dinner before heading to Radio City, which has a flaminco show every Tuesday night. Flaminco is a type of music and dance that is native to Spain, specifically Seville. The music there was really great. There were no cheesy tourist dancers, but friends of the musicians dressed in normal street clothes that were dancing on stage. It was like watching a private jam session among friends. While enjoying a Gin and Tonic, my new favorite drink, Nick and I talked about opening up a hostel in Valencia. I ultimately told him that while I believe
At the Beach
Caitlin standing on the rocks at the Valencian beach. it is a real possibility and something that I would be interested in doing, this is not the time in my life to start something like that and not be able or willing to put my whole heart into making it great. I told him to talk to me again in a year.
The following day, Wednesday, we went to the central market (which was becoming a daily trip) and I flirted with the Cheese Lady (aka Señora de Queso) and the Bread Lady (Señora de Pan) and had tons of fun. I made sandwhiches of an impressive caliber, and Josh made pasta with veggies. We read our respective books and made a run for alcohol before the four of us (Josh, Caitlin, Nick, and myself) met Monica outside of her work. We took the metro to her house and stopped at a store to pick up some food. Josh came to the rescue when it appeared that Monica was stumped with what to do for dinner. We decided to go back to the apartment and make due with what was there.
We met Laura and Suzana, Monica's roommates, and had a tour before we split into two
Monica's House
Caitlin, Monica, Laura, and Suzana (her roommates). groups: Monica and Josh stayed in the kitchen mostly; Caitlin helped Nick, me, and the roommates make agua de Valencia (a drink with orange juice - more or less a mimosa) before she headed out for a quick run to the corner store for some key ingridients. With a show of real skill, Josh had turned an evening with an indefinite meal plan into a three course meal for seven. And if that wasn't enough, he finished up by making the most incredible crepes with reduced syrup made from fresh squeezed oranges, topped with shaved chocolate. We rolled home at three am, stuffed, and with new friends to speak of.
Thursday morning, Nick packed his things and left on a bus for Frankfurt. He wanted to try and suprise his family for Christmas. This brought back memories of last Christmas when I suprised my family, and made me wish that I could do it again. I said a fond farewell to my pal, then went to the market and drowned my parting depression with fresh fruits and vegetables. The same day, Will and Adam, two travelers from northern England, came to the hostel. We (Josh, Caitlin, and I) hung
Josh's Feast
Amazing what one can do with what's in the cupboard. out with them for the day and I started to make a generalization about people from northern England (having now met five in my lifetime): they have the best sense of humor.
We made sandwiches for dinner again, and I split off from the group to use the internet. I was going to meet them at the bar, called Pinball. But when I got there, it was full of sixteen year olds and there was no sign of my friends. I waited for ten minutes, and just when I started to feel like repremanding the children for being in a bar, I left. I searched the surrounding bars with hopes of finding Adam, Will, Josh, Caitlin, Mike (a crazy hostel worker from New Zealand) and his girlfriend, Sue, from southern England, now working at a sister hostel in Valencia. I figured that maybe they went to Pinball and discovered the prepubecent center of Valencia as I had and decided to find another place. No luck across the board. I went back to the hostel and fell asleep. Turns out they had arrived only a few minutes after I had left. Oh, well, there will be many more nights out.
The Head Scratch
Caitlin, Mike, and Josh scratching thier heads at the hostel. Mike is a notorious head scratcher, but without reason. The following day, Friday, we watched dvds all day. I had seen pretty much every movie that the hostel had to offer. And I had watched Kill Bill Two thrice. We watched The Professional, which I had never seen, and really enjoyed it. Caitlin and I went out for candy, and sat in the large plaza with the blue star in it. As we sat chatting, a protest marched across the street in front of us. I took a couple of pictures and then we both were dragged into the croud and handed a poster to hold. We talked to a girl with a word written in white out across her forehead who explained that the protest was to end poverty and hunger and so forth... she then invited us out to a restaurant to eat with her friends... is that ironic to anyone else? We didn't end up going. I can't remember the girl's name, or the word on her forehead, because I was too busy staring at her underarm hair.
That night, Will and Adam left on a bus for Granada, where they would spend Christmas. Which left Josh, Caitlin, and me (and Mike, Sue, and
Protest in the Street
I walked... mainly cause they were going in the same direction I was. Jrisa - Mike's roommate and also a hostel worker) for our Christmas fun. Then another American arrived named David. David works with software in Seattle and is traveling through Spain for a few weeks. We welcomed him into our little group of three seeing as though we were pretty much the only ones staying in the hostel durning this down time.
The next day, Saturday, Josh, Caitlin, and I made plans for Christmas Eve and Christmas, trying to put a little bit of our respective traditions into them. We went to the market, yet again, and later split up to buy eachother presents (five euro cap for each person). Back at the hostel, we watched Monty Python's Holy Grail, which I had embarrassingly never seen, and wrapped our presents for the next day, placing them under the christmas tree that we drew on a piece of paper. We were going to go to a Mexican restaurant on Christmas Eve to see if we could get some tomales (one of my family's traditions). Josh and I went out to see if the Mexican place was open, and found the entire city deserted. Not only was the restaurant not open, NOTHING
A Charlie Brown Christmas
It might be paper, but it's the presents that count, right? was open. I guess we should have expected it. We went back home and cut up some cheese and pressed meats and bread for dinner... accompanied by a couple rounds of Gin and Tonics, of course.
That night, we slept with sugar plums dancing in out heads... and the sound of Josh snoring like Santa would after a few too many servings of milk and cookies.
I am currently working on my Christmas to New Year's blog and will publish it as soon as possilbe. Here are some highlights to look forward to: my awesome Christmas, a night of five tequila shots, missing a train, find a potential job, finding an apartment for the next few months, new year's eve, and Dirty Dancing. Stay Tuned!
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Briana
non-member comment
Finally...
word from my boy!!! I was getting very anxious waiting for a new blog. We have been so spoiled in the past with one almost everyday, that now I am trained to open my email on a daily basis. So it is funny that you bought Moby Dick b/c just this morning on the news was a story about Starbucks and how their name is taken from a character in that 19th century clssic. Just a little trivia for ya! Ok get bloggin and I look forward to your words and wisdom very soon. Love ya- Briana