Something as mundane as taking a taxi in Seoul has turned out to be quite an experience in and of itself. We hail a cab and take a seat. The first thing I notice is the lack of any seatbelts. "Just don't worry about it" Jed tells me. So I shrug and show the man where we want to go. He looks at it and gives us a crazed, toothless smile and off we go. He's honking and weaving around traffic, while speeding ahead. I clutch the seat and think to myself "we should have walked." We come to a red light and I relax a little. Just as I've relaxed he opens his door, leans far out and spits. Not just a quick spit however, the loudest, most obnoxious spit imagineable. I just glance over ... read more

Well, I finally have time to make my final blog about Spain. What a summer I had. I met amazing people, and saw amazing places in Spain. I experienced the culture and got to live with a wonderful family! We ended the summer off by going to Mallorca. Its a Spanish Island in the Mediterranean Sea. When I saw the first beach I was in SHOCK! It was GORGEOUS! Like nothing I've ever seen before. Clear blue waters and perfect, white sand. Basically, the two weeks consisted of relaxing on various beaches, boating on huge sailboats, eating amazing food and shopping. There's too much to say really, so I'll leave it at that. My summer was so fun and I'd like to thank the Bunzl's for letting me join their family and experience their way of ... read more

Barcelona! What a city. Dad and I took the highspeed train from Madrid to Barca (as the locals call it) and it took 2 and a half hours. I slept most of the way (we left at 7 am), but dad was looking out the window, snapping pictures of the landscapes the whole time. I kept forgetting that everything here is so new to him! Anyway, when we arrived we checked into our cute NH Hotel and then headed to this huge mall to look for a computer dad could email mom with. The mall had a road going right through it! Anyway, we couldn´t find a comp so we decided to head downtown. We got help from a slightly strange man, but either way, he led us to the tour bus that we wanted to ... read more

WE WON! WE WON! (Yes, I'm saying "we" as if I'm Spanish now... haha) Anyway, the FINAL game for the EuroCup was last night and SPAIN WON! They haven't won since 1964, so they've waited 44 years for this moment! Just to put this in Canadian terms, its equivalent to the Maple Leafs winning the Stanley Cup! So Madrid went CRAZY. There was a million and a half people in CoLON Square which is where a screen was broadcasting the game. The streets were PACKED. There were a few people trying to drive but it was impossible because of all the drunk Spaniards running around. There were people climbing the street lights waving the Spanish flag. There were huge groups of people running around with their arms around complete strangers. I was with Teresa (a cousin ... read more

Today I ventured out to El Escorial. Its a cute town with a famous palace/monastery complex called, what else? El Esorial! It was gorgeous. It was built in the 1500's by King Felipe II, and now almost all the kings of Spain are buried there! I went into the Pantheon of the Kings, and it was very beautiful, but eerie too. After getting the tour of the palace I had two hours left to kill before I had to catch my bus. I began wandering through the cute streets when a friendly looking grampa said "want a beer?" My first thought was Rafa saying "never trust Spaniards" but my next thought was "yeah actually, I could use a beer on this hot day!" So I took a seat and talked to the man for the rest ... read more