Santander etc.

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How is fall going over there? I keep forgetting it's not summer anymore and am only reminded when I write down "blank de octubre" on my notes every day. I miss football...but I have futbol. I could really go for some brown leaves, though.

The summer mindset is harder to get rid of on a beach like Santander. The weather was BEAUTIFUL and completely worth the 6 hour bus ride. We visited a palace of some sort on the hill and the caves of altimira, the latter of which was fascinating for several reasons.

One, because we've been studying it in Historia del arte, and then there it was (well a replica of there it was) right in front of you.

Two, this seemingly primitive artwork is a lot more advanced than you'd think. The artists used the curves in the walls of the cave to make the buffalo etc. look 3-D.

Three, the focus of prehistoric art was the same all over the world. You won't find any prehistoric landscape or fruit bowl paintings. It's all people and animals..things that move. The odd shape of the people and animals isn't due to lack of talent, but to express their fascination with the mere movement of life. And thousands of miles away, people were painting the SAME things!! Turns out, history isn't as boring as I used to think it was.

I was only there for one night, so I didn't get to see a lot of the city, but from what I did see, it's an adorable town worth spending more time in. Maybe I should write my own personal "Travel in Spain" book and give Rick Steve a run for his money.

Also, I started my job yesterday! Yes I got a job. I'm working for a woman who was born in Spain and raised in the states. She has a set of 2 year old twins that understand English completely but refuse to speak it. So I'll be working on teaching them some English in between playtime at the park and feeding them ham for dinner (apparently that's all they eat. True Spanish toddlers.) They only speak spanish to me, along with their grandmother who visits often, and I in turn speak Spanish to the Grandma and english to the kids. It's a linguistic workout 2 days a week that will make me feel less guilty about weekend trips to Ireland and Italy.

And now I believe it's time for a siesta. I'm missing most of you. Okay, all of you.
--me

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