Another bonus plog for being slack... because I promised Damian
I’ve decided that when I have $2000 in my change jar (or however much it costs to get a return ticket to Spain), I am coming back here. It makes me so sad that I have this incredible family that I’m not going to see for years and years. Everyone is so lovely, but their lives are so hard, and most can’t afford to visit Australia. Unemployment is crazy high here and everyone’s worried about their kids and their futures… but everyone is still so nice and they take us out to dinner and buy us lollies and show us the sites. They can’t afford anything, but what they have, they share and it’s like a completely different meaning to family to what I’ve seen before. Maybe Australians are greedy or maybe our culture is just different, but whatever it is, I love it here, and I want to spend forever here.
Note to self: Must learn Spanish in a proportional rate to the increasing wealth of my change jar. (Tiredness leads to grammatically incorrect sentences; can’t even think of a simple way to phrase this.)
The saddest thing happened to us on the drive to Ayegui that no one else even thought was sad. A guy on the side of the road at traffic lights was selling tissues and dad had stolen my last packet that morning due to his illness and decided to buy them. He asked “how much are they?” and the guy said “just give me some money so I can eat”. Like, he doesn’t even have a price, he just needs something to live on, and that’s one of the saddest things ever. How many people will turn him away because they can’t be bothered to search for change, or are impatient to get on with their journey? Life is so sad and horrible and the fault is not within ourselves but in the stars.
I’m in a really good headspace here and I’m not sure if it’s the place, the people, or the lack of uni stress. I feel like I can achieve anything I set my mind to and I’m willing to try for a few things. Here is my “carefully written list of short-term goals”:
• Earn enough money in the next three years to be able to come back and visit Spain. If I save $2000 in my change jar, I’m willing to take the rest of the necessary money out of my savings. Therefore, if I accumulate money in change jar at an approximate rate of $13/week, this goal will be achieved. Factoring in my tutoring job that gives me $45/week in cash, this should be totally attainable.
• Learn Spanish. I don’t need to be able to speak in Spanish, I have plenty of translators here to do that for me. But I want to increase my vocabulary, to the point where I can understand the simple phrases my aunts and uncles ask me, and can order from a menu that isn’t translated. I’m not entirely sure how to go about this and I expect it will be quite difficult but, learning Spanish has always been on my bucket list.
• Find a better organisation system for uni. Last semester, I ran out of space in my maths books before anything else, and I only printed some lectures… I think I might have two books, one for lectures one for tutes, and not print lecture slides because they’re there at the end when I need them anyway… maybe numbers or something.
• Try hard at uni early to relieve later stress particularly during exam time. This is going to be crazy hard for me because uni starts tomorrow and when I get back to Australia I’m already going to have two weeks to catch up on, but I think I can do it… I might start listening to lectures on my holiday. Am I that pathetic? Maybe. (Don’t say pathetic, say dedicated Ebony).
• I’m going to cook more when I get back to Australia so I can have some edible food for lunch. In Spain, most of the food is rice and potato based, so I think I should try and replicate some of that at home. Plus, learning to cook is a generally good thing, even if my boyfriend will always be better at it than I am (but I beat you with desserts darling).
• Stop making up crap in my head. My fucking mind is a complete piece of shit and I am over dealing with it. I have enough things in my life to keep me occupied without overanalysing other peoples’ actions and words. If someone wants to tell me something, they will, otherwise, don’t go looking for it.
• Try and be a little less me and a little more what I want to be. Most people grow out of the stage where they talk too much and demand attention from people and are in your face all day. I am a child. And everything you say about me is everything I hate about me so I can understand why you don’t like me. I’m sorry I ruined everything for you. I love you. More than I thought I could, considering I barely know you.
(Just realised that these feel like new years' resolutions because I have such a long holiday and it's summer so it feels like January)
And that's all folks... will catch up on normal posts when I have spare time...
Tuesday, 17 July 2012
Day twenty-one
Woke up really late after a fabulous sleep, had some cornflakes, had a shower, and got ready to go canoeing. Edurne drove us to the lake we were canoeing in, it is the most beautifulblue green colour I have ever seen, so soft, so clear, I adored it. The first thing we did was eat lunch because we were early, and eating with Uxue is always fun. She gets bored eating so I play food games with her like choo choo trains to get her interested. But she’s a bit scared of me so they don’t always work.
After that we went out on the canoes, which was really cool and I always love kayaking because it makes me feel so free. But then I had a go with dad and we basically had a war because we both wanted to steer, but he was going in the wrong direction (true story).
And then we went to an island in the middle of the lake and saw the unbelievable view from there, and realised that there were no killer creatures in the bushes because we’re in Australia anymore. After that we paddled home, most of us were tired and had had enough.
We knew that Diego had been sailing his boat at the lake the day before, and there were some people out their sailing, but we didn’t know if he was one of them until someone had a conversation with one of the women on the edge of the lake whose son was out there and it turned out Diego was there too. So we had an hour to kill between finishing kayaking and Diego finishing sailing, so we went and at some chips and had hot chocolates.
Eventually, 6:30 came and we went back down to the lake and waited for them to finish. Then we helped Diego pack his boat away (what a mission) and took a photo with him and said goodbye and told him to start saving money to come to Australia. When we got home, Nikki and I got ready to go out again because Naiara had invited us to a dinner with her friends.
The place we went to is owned by my great uncle (Naiara’s grandfather) and it’s basically a pool, the world’s biggest vegie patch and a shed that you can cook in and chill out in. One of her friends also has a boyfriend from England that can’t speak Spanish so Nikki and I weren’t so alone. But after a while he turned out to be an obnoxious English person, and we liked him less as the evening went on :)
But it was a brilliant night and we ended up playing a game mixed between pictionary and charades so that depending on where you land, you either draw or mime the word on the car (or act it out with a little doll that I name Randy). All the English speaking people were on one team, and the most fluent of the Spanish was our translator so that we could actually understand the cards.
It all turned out to be a lot more fun than I would have guessed, and we all increased our knowledge of each others’ language (including weird expressions like “pull your socks up”).
By the time we got home it was very late and we just crashed into bed.
And then we went to an island in the middle of the lake and saw the unbelievable view from there, and realised that there were no killer creatures in the bushes because we’re in Australia anymore. After that we paddled home, most of us were tired and had had enough.
We knew that Diego had been sailing his boat at the lake the day before, and there were some people out their sailing, but we didn’t know if he was one of them until someone had a conversation with one of the women on the edge of the lake whose son was out there and it turned out Diego was there too. So we had an hour to kill between finishing kayaking and Diego finishing sailing, so we went and at some chips and had hot chocolates.
Eventually, 6:30 came and we went back down to the lake and waited for them to finish. Then we helped Diego pack his boat away (what a mission) and took a photo with him and said goodbye and told him to start saving money to come to Australia. When we got home, Nikki and I got ready to go out again because Naiara had invited us to a dinner with her friends.
The place we went to is owned by my great uncle (Naiara’s grandfather) and it’s basically a pool, the world’s biggest vegie patch and a shed that you can cook in and chill out in. One of her friends also has a boyfriend from England that can’t speak Spanish so Nikki and I weren’t so alone. But after a while he turned out to be an obnoxious English person, and we liked him less as the evening went on :)
But it was a brilliant night and we ended up playing a game mixed between pictionary and charades so that depending on where you land, you either draw or mime the word on the car (or act it out with a little doll that I name Randy). All the English speaking people were on one team, and the most fluent of the Spanish was our translator so that we could actually understand the cards.
It all turned out to be a lot more fun than I would have guessed, and we all increased our knowledge of each others’ language (including weird expressions like “pull your socks up”).
By the time we got home it was very late and we just crashed into bed.
Day twenty
Had a really good sleep. I feel the need to constantly mention this. Woke up at 9am, had a shower, packed my stuff, blogged about yesterday, and realised that I may not get a chance to Diego again before we go back home, but he’d already left the house :(. We left at 11 to go to Ayegui, a town out of Pamplona where some other family members live. Dad’s uncle from yesterday took us again, and it took us just over half an hour.
When we got here, we met with Jose, Edurne, and Uxue, who was dressed as a princess (getting her outfit ready for medieval week).
Eventually, a billion other cousins got here, and we all settled down for lunch. Which was crazy filling. Again. And we ate my tim tams, which they loved, because they are delicious.
After that, Nikki and I went to Naiara’s house (a second cousin) to get some Internet (because we don’t have any where we’re staying [crazy!]) and I added her on facebook :) Then we went to a café/bar owned by a Spanish soccer player from this town, and it was all south African themed because of the world championship. And I spilt hot chocolate on my laptop, trying to stir it without a stirrer (class!)
We all decided to go into Estella (the next suburb) to look at a cathedral and a palace and some pretty gardens, and it was all beautiful. But the best part, as always, was the lolly shop (the words ‘sin gluten’ bring me so much joy).
We all went to Jose’s friend’s mum’s house for dinner (a friend who had been to Australia) and she had cooked for an army and I ate possibly more than I should have done… as per usual. Plus there was this mandarin champagne sorbet thing that I drank before considering its lactose potential. And I have a feeling I will regret that impulsiveness in a few hours… (edit: it only took ten minutes, I forgot that lactose was so much quicker than gluten [hahaha, fuck life])
After a baby cup of coffee, we all went home because Nikki and I were falling asleep on our feet.
So yeah, it was a sort of short day but also feels like forever since I was in Pamplona. I guess, a lot of little things happen that I don’t really notice. Or don’t find important enough to write. Or don’t want to draw attention to the importance of.
Eventually, a billion other cousins got here, and we all settled down for lunch. Which was crazy filling. Again. And we ate my tim tams, which they loved, because they are delicious.
After that, Nikki and I went to Naiara’s house (a second cousin) to get some Internet (because we don’t have any where we’re staying [crazy!]) and I added her on facebook :) Then we went to a café/bar owned by a Spanish soccer player from this town, and it was all south African themed because of the world championship. And I spilt hot chocolate on my laptop, trying to stir it without a stirrer (class!)
We all decided to go into Estella (the next suburb) to look at a cathedral and a palace and some pretty gardens, and it was all beautiful. But the best part, as always, was the lolly shop (the words ‘sin gluten’ bring me so much joy).
We all went to Jose’s friend’s mum’s house for dinner (a friend who had been to Australia) and she had cooked for an army and I ate possibly more than I should have done… as per usual. Plus there was this mandarin champagne sorbet thing that I drank before considering its lactose potential. And I have a feeling I will regret that impulsiveness in a few hours… (edit: it only took ten minutes, I forgot that lactose was so much quicker than gluten [hahaha, fuck life])
After a baby cup of coffee, we all went home because Nikki and I were falling asleep on our feet.
So yeah, it was a sort of short day but also feels like forever since I was in Pamplona. I guess, a lot of little things happen that I don’t really notice. Or don’t find important enough to write. Or don’t want to draw attention to the importance of.
Friday, 13 July 2012
drink more. think less.
Bonus blog in the middle of my holiday, makes up for being slow with the posting...
"sonder: the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk."
--dictionary of obscure sorrows
"Don't be sorry. Apologies shouldn't be one word anyway"- PaulPham
"Hello, my name is Ebony, and I deal better with things falling apart than staying together. When things go wrong, I know that people will always be there for me, I know that I can whinge and complain, and wake up in the morning and feel better. When things go right, all I have is myself. When things go right, I get lonely."
I was reading through some tragically old blogs the other day and I stumbled upon this quote, and it really made me think. Lately, I've just been feeling so lonely, and, it kind of sucks.
I mean, apart from Damian, who is like my reason for waking up in the morning, there's no one in my life that I feel that close to or feel that I have anything in common with. All my friends from school have gone their different ways and made their different connections, and I'm scared of overwhelming my friends from uni by being all I LIKE YOU, BE MY FRIEND :D which would not be the first time... So I don't really feel like I can heart to heart with anyone... and that's a really lonely feeling, for me.
There he sat, propped up on a stone beside the lake, his body turned away from me so I could not see his face. I sat down on the stone beside him and he slowly turned to look at me, he expected me to say something. I guess I’m not surprised, most people don’t just sit next to people because they like to feel close. Most people don’t edge a little closer each possible second, rearranging their body every few seconds to move just a millimetre closer. I don’t really know why I like being so physically close to people, just that I do.
“I guess this is it” I said, simultaneously filling his expectant silence and distracting myself from further analysis of my persona.
“You say that like it’s the end of my life Elle, but it’s just one day” he looked sad “I know, but it’s a really big day for you; it determines everything”
“Stop reminding me” he smiled like his father, his eyes so beautiful and blue “I should be packing” and he looked over the lake again
“And I should be hugging you” I said as I reached my arms around him
I still hadn’t figured out whether he liked it when I did that. I hadn’t figured out a lot of things about him. Did he stay awake at night and think about me like I did about him?
“Haha ok” he had practically no response. He didn’t push me away, he didn’t hug back, he smiled, but it seemed like he did it out of obligation. Sometimes he would act like being with me was the best thing is the world, sometimes I felt like a burden on his life. Do boys know how confusing they are?
It took about three seconds of hugging him without being hugged back for me to feel awkward. The thing is, I feel more awkward when I’m not touching people. But I stopped anyway, because what else was I going to do, wait for him to pretend he cared about me.
“Good luck” I smiled
“Thank you” he looked back at me, happier now that I’d stopped touching him.
“You’ll be fine” I assured him. He just nodded. “And if not, I’ll love you anyway” He smiled. Why do I always have to make everything so awkward?
I started writing this and then got tired for about 4398239847928 days straight so it will never be finished. The conclusion of the story is: I hate myself and my awkwardness and my inability to make proper friendships, and I talk too much and think too little and life is terrible. :D Smile!!
"sonder: the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk."
--dictionary of obscure sorrows
"Don't be sorry. Apologies shouldn't be one word anyway"- PaulPham
"Hello, my name is Ebony, and I deal better with things falling apart than staying together. When things go wrong, I know that people will always be there for me, I know that I can whinge and complain, and wake up in the morning and feel better. When things go right, all I have is myself. When things go right, I get lonely."
I was reading through some tragically old blogs the other day and I stumbled upon this quote, and it really made me think. Lately, I've just been feeling so lonely, and, it kind of sucks.
I mean, apart from Damian, who is like my reason for waking up in the morning, there's no one in my life that I feel that close to or feel that I have anything in common with. All my friends from school have gone their different ways and made their different connections, and I'm scared of overwhelming my friends from uni by being all I LIKE YOU, BE MY FRIEND :D which would not be the first time... So I don't really feel like I can heart to heart with anyone... and that's a really lonely feeling, for me.
There he sat, propped up on a stone beside the lake, his body turned away from me so I could not see his face. I sat down on the stone beside him and he slowly turned to look at me, he expected me to say something. I guess I’m not surprised, most people don’t just sit next to people because they like to feel close. Most people don’t edge a little closer each possible second, rearranging their body every few seconds to move just a millimetre closer. I don’t really know why I like being so physically close to people, just that I do.
“I guess this is it” I said, simultaneously filling his expectant silence and distracting myself from further analysis of my persona.
“You say that like it’s the end of my life Elle, but it’s just one day” he looked sad “I know, but it’s a really big day for you; it determines everything”
“Stop reminding me” he smiled like his father, his eyes so beautiful and blue “I should be packing” and he looked over the lake again
“And I should be hugging you” I said as I reached my arms around him
I still hadn’t figured out whether he liked it when I did that. I hadn’t figured out a lot of things about him. Did he stay awake at night and think about me like I did about him?
“Haha ok” he had practically no response. He didn’t push me away, he didn’t hug back, he smiled, but it seemed like he did it out of obligation. Sometimes he would act like being with me was the best thing is the world, sometimes I felt like a burden on his life. Do boys know how confusing they are?
It took about three seconds of hugging him without being hugged back for me to feel awkward. The thing is, I feel more awkward when I’m not touching people. But I stopped anyway, because what else was I going to do, wait for him to pretend he cared about me.
“Good luck” I smiled
“Thank you” he looked back at me, happier now that I’d stopped touching him.
“You’ll be fine” I assured him. He just nodded. “And if not, I’ll love you anyway” He smiled. Why do I always have to make everything so awkward?
I started writing this and then got tired for about 4398239847928 days straight so it will never be finished. The conclusion of the story is: I hate myself and my awkwardness and my inability to make proper friendships, and I talk too much and think too little and life is terrible. :D Smile!!
Days eighteen and nineteen
Ok, so, got sleep at 7am, woke up at 1pm and got driven to a restaurant to have lunch with Beatriz, all her siblings (four of them and their children) and her mother. Everyone was laughing at Nikki and I for being so tired but all said they weren’t surprised because that’s kind of what San Fermin is all about. Nikki and I met another second cousin around our age with an impossible name, but couldn’t talk to him much because, you know, usual language barrier. It seems to be more of an issue with people our age because we’re used to them being able to talk to us because so many learn English at school. With older generations, we just don’t expect them to be able to talk to us, so we talk to them in English and they read our facial expressions and smile and life is peachy.
Anyway, lunch was very filling and I almost exploded with food again and then we went home at around 7pm fully intending to sleep again until 9 but I couldn’t sleep for the life of me. So I got up and watched athletics with Inigo (fully ultimate boredom, right?)
At around 10, Inigo and I went with Eli and Montxo into Pamplona (Nikki wanted to sleep) and met up with Alexei and some of Inigo’s friends that I’ve met before and don’t remember.
We bought rum and coke and went to watch the fireworks as per usual. I talked mainly to Alexei, telling him all about Pamplona and explaining to him that he can’t speak Spanish… After the fireworks we went to see a Basque concert, and Inigo’s friend, Yosu, who’s Basque, explained to us in terrible English that he hates Spanish people and he hates Inigo and Spanish people are terrible. Of course, the drunker he got, the worse his English, and Spanish got, until no one could understand him and he was just slurring everywhere. Very entertaining.
We also met up with a random of group of girls from I don’t know where and we spoke to them for about half an hour before they left to go somewhere so then we left to go somewhere else.
We ran into an American girl named Sabrina who I was very excited to find because she spoke English well enough to understand us! Also, she was gorgeous. So we spoke to her and her friends for a bit and then went to a bar and then somehow ran into Sabrina again, but she’s only 16 so she couldn’t come with us to the next place and we walked all around Pamplona and saw heaps of people that Inigo and Onar recognised (by this point Yosu had left, probably at home in bed or something).
We went around to a bunch of other place, but Inigo and I were pretty tired so we decided to go home after Alexei had something to eat. So Inigo and I sat in a doorway and rested and Alexei ate and then he and Onar went to one more club. Then Inigo and I went to find them, and they’d met up with Sabrina again so we hung out there for a bit. A bit turned into a few hours and before we knew it the sun was rising and I realised I had to get to the bull ring to meet my dad.
So I got there at 7:05 and he was with all the cousins from the day before and we made our way in and found somewhere to sit and waited until 8 for the bullrun. They ran, someone got hammered, they played games with calves, someone got hammered, Alexei said “I want to do that tomorrow!” We all told him he was stupid, it was all good fun. After that we went to Beatriz’s mum’s house to eat churros with homemade chocolate sauce. It was fantastic but I was very tired because I hadn’t slept since 1pm the day before so Nikki and I had a lay down on the lounge after that, then we all came home.
At home, I showered, got dressed and then we went out again this time with a different uncle. He took us to a winery where his son (dad’s cousin) worked and we had a tour of the place and then a wine tasting that was terrible because wine sucks. After that we went out to lunch with them and dad’s other cousin, Belen, and her two adorable children that are adorable and I gave them koalas :) We also went on a mini tour of a castle that was like, a castle. I was the king of the freaking castle! I’ve never been to a castle before…
Anyway, then we drove home and call me crazy but the tiredness had worn off so when we got home I kind of chilled out and blogged a bit before I realised I had to sleep or I would die because it had been 31 hours, so I slept. Then woke up, ate some dinner, and slept again. For 10 hours. Until the beautiful morning came.
Another very long two days, but it’s my last time partying so I should be better from now on :D
Anyway, lunch was very filling and I almost exploded with food again and then we went home at around 7pm fully intending to sleep again until 9 but I couldn’t sleep for the life of me. So I got up and watched athletics with Inigo (fully ultimate boredom, right?)
At around 10, Inigo and I went with Eli and Montxo into Pamplona (Nikki wanted to sleep) and met up with Alexei and some of Inigo’s friends that I’ve met before and don’t remember.
We bought rum and coke and went to watch the fireworks as per usual. I talked mainly to Alexei, telling him all about Pamplona and explaining to him that he can’t speak Spanish… After the fireworks we went to see a Basque concert, and Inigo’s friend, Yosu, who’s Basque, explained to us in terrible English that he hates Spanish people and he hates Inigo and Spanish people are terrible. Of course, the drunker he got, the worse his English, and Spanish got, until no one could understand him and he was just slurring everywhere. Very entertaining.
We also met up with a random of group of girls from I don’t know where and we spoke to them for about half an hour before they left to go somewhere so then we left to go somewhere else.
We ran into an American girl named Sabrina who I was very excited to find because she spoke English well enough to understand us! Also, she was gorgeous. So we spoke to her and her friends for a bit and then went to a bar and then somehow ran into Sabrina again, but she’s only 16 so she couldn’t come with us to the next place and we walked all around Pamplona and saw heaps of people that Inigo and Onar recognised (by this point Yosu had left, probably at home in bed or something).
We went around to a bunch of other place, but Inigo and I were pretty tired so we decided to go home after Alexei had something to eat. So Inigo and I sat in a doorway and rested and Alexei ate and then he and Onar went to one more club. Then Inigo and I went to find them, and they’d met up with Sabrina again so we hung out there for a bit. A bit turned into a few hours and before we knew it the sun was rising and I realised I had to get to the bull ring to meet my dad.
So I got there at 7:05 and he was with all the cousins from the day before and we made our way in and found somewhere to sit and waited until 8 for the bullrun. They ran, someone got hammered, they played games with calves, someone got hammered, Alexei said “I want to do that tomorrow!” We all told him he was stupid, it was all good fun. After that we went to Beatriz’s mum’s house to eat churros with homemade chocolate sauce. It was fantastic but I was very tired because I hadn’t slept since 1pm the day before so Nikki and I had a lay down on the lounge after that, then we all came home.
At home, I showered, got dressed and then we went out again this time with a different uncle. He took us to a winery where his son (dad’s cousin) worked and we had a tour of the place and then a wine tasting that was terrible because wine sucks. After that we went out to lunch with them and dad’s other cousin, Belen, and her two adorable children that are adorable and I gave them koalas :) We also went on a mini tour of a castle that was like, a castle. I was the king of the freaking castle! I’ve never been to a castle before…
Anyway, then we drove home and call me crazy but the tiredness had worn off so when we got home I kind of chilled out and blogged a bit before I realised I had to sleep or I would die because it had been 31 hours, so I slept. Then woke up, ate some dinner, and slept again. For 10 hours. Until the beautiful morning came.
Another very long two days, but it’s my last time partying so I should be better from now on :D
Thursday, 12 July 2012
Days sixteen and seventeen
Not sure where one ends and the other begins.
Woke up and went to San Sebastian, a city about an hour away, on the coast, where Inigo goes to uni. Pretty much just slept in the car on the way there. We walked around a lot when we were there and went on a bus tour of the city. It’s pretty beautiful, and very old, and has fairly interesting history of changing sea levels and rebuilding after wars and a whole bunch of things we never get in Australia. On the bus, I listened to music with Diego which was awesome because he had foo fighters and jet and other really awesome bands on his phone. I also got a lot closer to him which is good because he’s pretty awesome, but I’m always hanging out with his brother which is disappointing. But then he started being creepy and licking me and stuff (not as weird as it sounds, but close) and we were having mock fights and stuff. His mum thought we were acting like boyfriend and girlfriend, dad thought we were acting like cousins, Montxo thought we were acting like sisters. Either way, I’m just glad to have cousins my age that I can talk to and muck around with and listen to music on a bus with. I’ve never had that.
After the tour we had lunch at a restaurant near the water, and after that I think Diego and I both fell asleep on the table (I needed it, trust me) and then we walked back over to the beach where Inigo rang and said he’d finished his exam. He’d done “not good. Not bad but not good.” Unfortunate. We took a funicular (an icular of fun) up one of the mountains where they had a kind of mini theme park and we ate some churros and chilled out and everything was sunshine and lollipops.
Eventually we took the funicular down the mountain again, walked to the car, and drove home. By then it was about ten o’clock and Inigo was in a hurry to get into Pamplona to drink away his uni woes (not what he said, but we all knew it) so we had about four minutes to change into white clothes, cut a bread roll in half and race to the bus stop. We were successful.
In Pamplona, Inigo, Diego, Nikki and I walked around looking for cheap sandwiches and then I did a transplant on mine into my gluten free bread roll. Diego went to join his friends, and Inigo, Nikki and I bought a bottle of rum and a bottle of coke and headed to the fireworks. We caught up with a bunch of Inigo’s friends, some from home and some from uni, and watched the fireworks with them before going to a concert.
Spanish people tend to be a little afraid of speaking English until they’ve had a bit to drink so Nikki and I spoke mainly to each other and Inigo for the first few hours. We also grilled Inigo about his personal life and why he doesn’t have a girlfriend (and informed him that he’s a player. He seemed excited by this new word.) And then a few of his friends started talking to us and we felt like part of the group and it was all good. For the next five or so hours we went from bar to bar in Pamplona. Same routine everywhere; follow one of the group in, find space, dance fairly slowly until someone has a drink/feels brave and then start dancing crazily with everyone and we find them so hilarious that they join in. Highlights of Inigo’s drunkenness include him dancing with his own reflection, picking Nikki and I up at the same time, sweating so much that we could gel his hair with it, and picking me up with a friend and throwing me in the air in the middle of the street. Several times. I thought I was going to die.
At around five or six we finally stopped the drinking and dancing and went in search of kebabs for breakfast (yeah, apparently that’s an international thing). We also went looking for the band that plays at sunrise, but although it’s very famous here, no one actually knows where it is so we decided instead to go to the bull ring. From there we watched the running of the bulls on tv screens and then watched a few games they do with the calves who were very cute. Inigo spent most of the time falling asleep on my shoulders and lap, but woke up every time the crowd cheered. We also DNMed about life problems and exams and how he thinks “woman” and “complicated” are synonyms. And my life is now complete :D
After the bulls, we went to a hotel thing where Montxo works and got some free beer (to wash down the kebabs) and then finally, FINALLY went home. Got home at about 10 and slept until about 1 when dad woke us up to get ready for lunch. We were picked up by a cousin (Beatriz) at 2 to go to her mum’s house and had a really nice lunch with them. Her kids were the cutest things ever and I have a photo with them in their car :) Also, they loved my tim tams
After lunch we came home and slept for a couple of hours and then got up, got ready, and went out again, this time with a different second cousin. Her name is Oihane and she is the prettiest person in the universe and I’m so glad I’m related to her. But her English isn’t very good so Nikki and I had a bit of trouble communicating. We watched the fireworks with her and her work friends, one of the guys there had spent a year on exchange in the US so he basically translated for us the whole time. We hung out in the park that the fireworks were in for a good few hours, getting very cold whilst the whole group got very drunk. Then we went to a bar for a few hours. Although it was nice to hang out with a different cousin, we didn’t have much in common with her and her English speaking friend went home reasonably early so we just kind of stood around awkwardly a lot. At 4am we decided to call Inigo to see what he was up to, and he came to get us with his friend and we went to a few more bars before getting breakfast kebabs and coming home at around 6:30. The bus that promised to come at about 5:45 didn’t come until 6:10 which was really bloody annoying. But we got home and we had some (not much) sleep and that was the end of a crazy 48 hours.
Sorry it’s taken me so long to post this, so fucking tired and busy. But this is what it’s all about, right?
Woke up and went to San Sebastian, a city about an hour away, on the coast, where Inigo goes to uni. Pretty much just slept in the car on the way there. We walked around a lot when we were there and went on a bus tour of the city. It’s pretty beautiful, and very old, and has fairly interesting history of changing sea levels and rebuilding after wars and a whole bunch of things we never get in Australia. On the bus, I listened to music with Diego which was awesome because he had foo fighters and jet and other really awesome bands on his phone. I also got a lot closer to him which is good because he’s pretty awesome, but I’m always hanging out with his brother which is disappointing. But then he started being creepy and licking me and stuff (not as weird as it sounds, but close) and we were having mock fights and stuff. His mum thought we were acting like boyfriend and girlfriend, dad thought we were acting like cousins, Montxo thought we were acting like sisters. Either way, I’m just glad to have cousins my age that I can talk to and muck around with and listen to music on a bus with. I’ve never had that.
After the tour we had lunch at a restaurant near the water, and after that I think Diego and I both fell asleep on the table (I needed it, trust me) and then we walked back over to the beach where Inigo rang and said he’d finished his exam. He’d done “not good. Not bad but not good.” Unfortunate. We took a funicular (an icular of fun) up one of the mountains where they had a kind of mini theme park and we ate some churros and chilled out and everything was sunshine and lollipops.
Eventually we took the funicular down the mountain again, walked to the car, and drove home. By then it was about ten o’clock and Inigo was in a hurry to get into Pamplona to drink away his uni woes (not what he said, but we all knew it) so we had about four minutes to change into white clothes, cut a bread roll in half and race to the bus stop. We were successful.
In Pamplona, Inigo, Diego, Nikki and I walked around looking for cheap sandwiches and then I did a transplant on mine into my gluten free bread roll. Diego went to join his friends, and Inigo, Nikki and I bought a bottle of rum and a bottle of coke and headed to the fireworks. We caught up with a bunch of Inigo’s friends, some from home and some from uni, and watched the fireworks with them before going to a concert.
Spanish people tend to be a little afraid of speaking English until they’ve had a bit to drink so Nikki and I spoke mainly to each other and Inigo for the first few hours. We also grilled Inigo about his personal life and why he doesn’t have a girlfriend (and informed him that he’s a player. He seemed excited by this new word.) And then a few of his friends started talking to us and we felt like part of the group and it was all good. For the next five or so hours we went from bar to bar in Pamplona. Same routine everywhere; follow one of the group in, find space, dance fairly slowly until someone has a drink/feels brave and then start dancing crazily with everyone and we find them so hilarious that they join in. Highlights of Inigo’s drunkenness include him dancing with his own reflection, picking Nikki and I up at the same time, sweating so much that we could gel his hair with it, and picking me up with a friend and throwing me in the air in the middle of the street. Several times. I thought I was going to die.
At around five or six we finally stopped the drinking and dancing and went in search of kebabs for breakfast (yeah, apparently that’s an international thing). We also went looking for the band that plays at sunrise, but although it’s very famous here, no one actually knows where it is so we decided instead to go to the bull ring. From there we watched the running of the bulls on tv screens and then watched a few games they do with the calves who were very cute. Inigo spent most of the time falling asleep on my shoulders and lap, but woke up every time the crowd cheered. We also DNMed about life problems and exams and how he thinks “woman” and “complicated” are synonyms. And my life is now complete :D
After the bulls, we went to a hotel thing where Montxo works and got some free beer (to wash down the kebabs) and then finally, FINALLY went home. Got home at about 10 and slept until about 1 when dad woke us up to get ready for lunch. We were picked up by a cousin (Beatriz) at 2 to go to her mum’s house and had a really nice lunch with them. Her kids were the cutest things ever and I have a photo with them in their car :) Also, they loved my tim tams
After lunch we came home and slept for a couple of hours and then got up, got ready, and went out again, this time with a different second cousin. Her name is Oihane and she is the prettiest person in the universe and I’m so glad I’m related to her. But her English isn’t very good so Nikki and I had a bit of trouble communicating. We watched the fireworks with her and her work friends, one of the guys there had spent a year on exchange in the US so he basically translated for us the whole time. We hung out in the park that the fireworks were in for a good few hours, getting very cold whilst the whole group got very drunk. Then we went to a bar for a few hours. Although it was nice to hang out with a different cousin, we didn’t have much in common with her and her English speaking friend went home reasonably early so we just kind of stood around awkwardly a lot. At 4am we decided to call Inigo to see what he was up to, and he came to get us with his friend and we went to a few more bars before getting breakfast kebabs and coming home at around 6:30. The bus that promised to come at about 5:45 didn’t come until 6:10 which was really bloody annoying. But we got home and we had some (not much) sleep and that was the end of a crazy 48 hours.
Sorry it’s taken me so long to post this, so fucking tired and busy. But this is what it’s all about, right?
Monday, 9 July 2012
Day fifteen
Woke up because dad is incapable of turning off an alarm when he goes to have a shower, and then got ready to go out for lunch. All my cousins on dad’s mum’s side of the family had organised a get together because we were here and they don’t really see each other much… Unfortunately, my favourite translator had already left for uni so I was expecting it to be a difficult day.
So we drove to wherever we were going and then went inside and met a whole bunch of people as they began to arrive. Good thing dad had the family tree on him because there were so many people it was ridiculous. But, I did get to meet my second cousin Uxue for the first time, she is the cutest thing ever. She’s 5 years old and her parents came out to visit 6 years ago, so she was born about 10 months after they left and I’ve been dying to meet her since I found out she existed. I also have another 5 year old second cousin named June and she is also the cutest thing ever. I spent the day playing peek-a-boo, chasing them, teaching them words in English, and taking photos of their cuteness. Oh, and also talking to Diego because now that Inigo is at uni, he is the only one who can speak fluent English to me. Plus, I’ve been getting close to his brother and not him because he’s kind of shy and not really touchy-feely and I needed that to change :)
So I spent much of the day talking to him, showing him photos of my trip so far, letting him play games on my phone, and hugging him :D (I know I’m creepy :()
So yeah, it was very hard to leave Uxue and June today, but I promised them both I’d visit them again soon, and the we came home. At like 8pm. So dad, Eli and Montxo decided to go out drinking with the cousins they’d just been with (of course) and Nikki and I stayed home to sleep/facebook/chill out.
They eventually got home at around 1am and we sat around eating dry cereal and discussing our plans for the next day. I realised that although I had eight hours until I had to wake up, I was way too excited to sleep.
Must ingest more alcohol to get tireder….
Maybe another day. Goodnight all!
So we drove to wherever we were going and then went inside and met a whole bunch of people as they began to arrive. Good thing dad had the family tree on him because there were so many people it was ridiculous. But, I did get to meet my second cousin Uxue for the first time, she is the cutest thing ever. She’s 5 years old and her parents came out to visit 6 years ago, so she was born about 10 months after they left and I’ve been dying to meet her since I found out she existed. I also have another 5 year old second cousin named June and she is also the cutest thing ever. I spent the day playing peek-a-boo, chasing them, teaching them words in English, and taking photos of their cuteness. Oh, and also talking to Diego because now that Inigo is at uni, he is the only one who can speak fluent English to me. Plus, I’ve been getting close to his brother and not him because he’s kind of shy and not really touchy-feely and I needed that to change :)
So I spent much of the day talking to him, showing him photos of my trip so far, letting him play games on my phone, and hugging him :D (I know I’m creepy :()
So yeah, it was very hard to leave Uxue and June today, but I promised them both I’d visit them again soon, and the we came home. At like 8pm. So dad, Eli and Montxo decided to go out drinking with the cousins they’d just been with (of course) and Nikki and I stayed home to sleep/facebook/chill out.
They eventually got home at around 1am and we sat around eating dry cereal and discussing our plans for the next day. I realised that although I had eight hours until I had to wake up, I was way too excited to sleep.
Must ingest more alcohol to get tireder….
Maybe another day. Goodnight all!
Sunday, 8 July 2012
Day fourteen
First full day of San Fermin. Woke up expecting everyone to be going to the procession, but Nikki decided she was sick and Inigo was sleeping (hungover) because he didn’t get home until 6am, so it was only Eli, Montxo, Diego, Dad and I. Poor Diego didn’t get home until 4am but couldn’t sleep after his parents woke him up, so the two of us basically slept on our parents the whole time. The procession was pretty cool, there were these giants that danced in the street but we couldn’t see them very well (got there late) and a parade of gladiators, and then the actual San Fermin statue came through the streets and everyone danced behind him and then sang him a song. We also caught up with a lot of Eli and Montxo’s family friends, some of who spoke English, and I bought myself a Pamplona bag and Diego bought himself a pair of shoes. Also, his plastic bag broke, so he completely redesigned it to have a stronger handle than it started with and dad and I decided that he’s an engineer in the making (have I mentioned that Inigo is doing chemical engineering? Freaking love this family).
After that we went home and Nikki woke up and we skyped mum and then Inigo woke up and we all had lunch. And then dad, Montxo, Eli and Inigo fell asleep on the lounge. Nikki and I play around on our laptops a bit and then went downstairs to watch NCIS dubbed in Spanish (surprisingly captivating, also we think the voice of Ziva might be the same). After all the adults woke up, I fell asleep on the lounge, and then eventually we got ready and Eli, dad, Nikki and I went into Pamplona (Montxo had been at a bull fight) to see Montxo and dance with the band from his club. Yeah there’s lots of dancing, it’s pretty awesome. After that we went to Eli’s parents’ second house in Pamplona so we could see the fireworks from their balcony, and Inigo joined us. From the seventh floor balcony, the winds were pretty strong, so we all hugged each other to keep warm, and watched the fireworks for a good twenty minutes. There was also a fantastic Spanish omelette for dinner, with chorizo, salami and jamon and oh my gosh I love home cooked meals.
After dinner, Inigo drove us home and Nikki said he drove better than Eli and she pretended to get all offended and it was pretty funny. Then we got home and wished Inigo good luck for his exam because no one was waking up early the next day to say it, and went to bed.
After that we went home and Nikki woke up and we skyped mum and then Inigo woke up and we all had lunch. And then dad, Montxo, Eli and Inigo fell asleep on the lounge. Nikki and I play around on our laptops a bit and then went downstairs to watch NCIS dubbed in Spanish (surprisingly captivating, also we think the voice of Ziva might be the same). After all the adults woke up, I fell asleep on the lounge, and then eventually we got ready and Eli, dad, Nikki and I went into Pamplona (Montxo had been at a bull fight) to see Montxo and dance with the band from his club. Yeah there’s lots of dancing, it’s pretty awesome. After that we went to Eli’s parents’ second house in Pamplona so we could see the fireworks from their balcony, and Inigo joined us. From the seventh floor balcony, the winds were pretty strong, so we all hugged each other to keep warm, and watched the fireworks for a good twenty minutes. There was also a fantastic Spanish omelette for dinner, with chorizo, salami and jamon and oh my gosh I love home cooked meals.
After dinner, Inigo drove us home and Nikki said he drove better than Eli and she pretended to get all offended and it was pretty funny. Then we got home and wished Inigo good luck for his exam because no one was waking up early the next day to say it, and went to bed.
Saturday, 7 July 2012
Day thirteen
Thirteen, only unlucky for some,what a day!! Today is the 6th of July which means that San Fermin started at midday! We woke up, showered, dressed from head to toe in white, grabbed our red handkerchiefs, and hit the road. All seven of us piled into the big car and went into the city to have breakfast. I wasn’t really hungry so I kind of just sat around talking to Eli, our communication is getting much better as her English improves and our hand actions become more detailed. After that, Inigo said he was going to meet some friends and invited Nikki and I to join him, so we walked around in Pamplona until we found his friends.
Once we found them, we wandered through the streets a little until we got a few streets from where the rocket is launched (at midday to mark the start of San Fermin). Everyone got crazy excited, people in balconies were throwing buckets of water on the crowds below, and everyone was singing songs consisting of no words, only noises, so everyone could join in. Nikki and I decided that we needed to find some Aussies before the end of the day. At the countdown to midday, everyone raised their handkerchiefs and started chanting “San Fer-min, San Fer-min” until 12 when we heard the rocket, and everyone tied them around their necks (handkerchiefs, not rockets, keep up with the pronouns).
They whole place was crazy, people everywhere, but Nikki and I heard our first Aussies and yelled “AUSSIES” so they looked at us and we pretended to look away and Inigo thought we had gone crazy until we explained that they were from our country… Ok, yeah, he still thought we were crazy.
When we tried to get out of the street we were in, the entrance was absolutely swamped. Every time we took a step forward the whole crowed carried us back again and it was actually getting quite ridiculous (plus everyone smelt like off wine because they use it like water in wine bombs, wine pistols, wine fights, etc). So Inigo got out his rage face and basically pushed the entire crowd aside to get through. And then held out his hand and pulled me through, and then I held out my hand and pulled Nikki through. And then we waited for his friends to get through (When I explained this story to dad later, he seemed exceptionally pleased that we're spending all our time with a boy who has a rage face, which I find only slightly confusing).
After that we just sort of walked around for a bit, Inigo’s friends went home because they’d been out late at the concert with him the night before, so he decided to show Nikki and I some of the sights of San Fermin.
We went and saw the tower that drunk Aussies jump off to crowd surf, and the plaza that the rocket launches from, and we hung out at few bars playing good music (people in Spain know the words to the ketchup song, my joy cannot be explained. It’s like the time dad’s cousin sung me the Macarena).
We also heard our second group of Aussies and Nikki and I yelled out “AUSSIES” and one of them turned around and yelled “let’s get pissed mate!” and he was completely purple from wine. But Nikki and I high fived him anyway and he asked how we stayed so clean and I said we hung out in the right places and he held up his boya and said “If I had any more wine in this…oh wait, I do” and proceeded to cover both our shirts in wine. And Nikki thanked him for christening us and we walked back to Inigo who said “Australians?” and we were like “…yeah” and then someone exploded a bottle of Pepsi and we all got covered in brown (went well with the purple). Well, I thought we all got covered, but Inigo only had a few spots, so maybe there’s some sort of trick to staying clean that I will have to learn by the end of the week.
Also, some random guy came over to me with a shoe tied to his backpack, picked up my foot, and measured it against the shoe. The shoe was smaller than mine. He said “no, sorry, it’s not you” and went on his merry way. Note to guys: try this at a party, it might fit someone ;)
After hanging out and dancing a bit more, and learning a few Spanish chants, we made our way to the restaurant we were having lunch at. Inigo sung and whistled most of the way there, but when we got there Diego made him shut up. And then we waited for our parents to arrive.
Our parents showed up and we went inside and we had an awesome meal. Between dad and Inigo, I basically figured out what everything on the menu was and I ended up having salad and roast beef. Nikki and I taught Inigo and Diego to say “G’day mate, how’s it goin’?” with an aussie accent, and they actually did it remarkably well, particularly Inigo. They’re opening up to us heaps more now which is really good because I think they’re both really awesome but I don’t want to be all “I LIKE YOU, BE MY FRIEND :D” because I’m not sure they could handle that, haha. So, step by step. Today I put my arm around you walking down the street; tomorrow I put my arms around your waist and dance with you; next week, we DNM about all our life problems! (See, now I’m being all creepy and I LIKE YOU, BE MY FRIEND, why am I so fucking creepy all the time?) So yeah, we also had dessert, and Eli and I danced together waiting in line for the toilet. And at point during dinner, I waved to Eli down the other end of the table, and she waved back, and then we both got up and ran over to each other and hugged. And then Montxo pretended to be sad, but he was on the other side of the table so I just leant over and kissed his cheek and they both got so excited and they’re so cute and oh my god I love this family. I could live here forever <3
Post lunch we came home and chilled out and stuff (blogged) until dad’s cousin (on the other side), Beatriz, came to pick us up at 7:30. We went with her and her husband and daughters to a bar in Pamplona where we drank and danced and oh my gosh her daughters are so cute and now I know why I’m so beautiful :) Then her daughters went home with her sister and we met up with a bunch of randoms and went to another bar to drink and then another bar to dance before walking for half an hour to the place we had dinner at.
Dinner was absolutely delicious, squid, prawns, salad, olives, wonderful food but I was so full from lunch that I couldn’t finish it and that was the biggest disappointment of the day. Also, Nikki was pretty sick, so although we originally planned to go out with Inigo after dinner, we changed that plan to only me going out with Inigo after dinner. And then Nikki got worse and I asked if she wanted me to go home with her and she said yes so I decided that partying with my second cousin is not as important as my darling sister and we all came home. R.I.P. possible social life
Can’t wait for tomorrow, first real day of San Fermin.
Once we found them, we wandered through the streets a little until we got a few streets from where the rocket is launched (at midday to mark the start of San Fermin). Everyone got crazy excited, people in balconies were throwing buckets of water on the crowds below, and everyone was singing songs consisting of no words, only noises, so everyone could join in. Nikki and I decided that we needed to find some Aussies before the end of the day. At the countdown to midday, everyone raised their handkerchiefs and started chanting “San Fer-min, San Fer-min” until 12 when we heard the rocket, and everyone tied them around their necks (handkerchiefs, not rockets, keep up with the pronouns).
They whole place was crazy, people everywhere, but Nikki and I heard our first Aussies and yelled “AUSSIES” so they looked at us and we pretended to look away and Inigo thought we had gone crazy until we explained that they were from our country… Ok, yeah, he still thought we were crazy.
When we tried to get out of the street we were in, the entrance was absolutely swamped. Every time we took a step forward the whole crowed carried us back again and it was actually getting quite ridiculous (plus everyone smelt like off wine because they use it like water in wine bombs, wine pistols, wine fights, etc). So Inigo got out his rage face and basically pushed the entire crowd aside to get through. And then held out his hand and pulled me through, and then I held out my hand and pulled Nikki through. And then we waited for his friends to get through (When I explained this story to dad later, he seemed exceptionally pleased that we're spending all our time with a boy who has a rage face, which I find only slightly confusing).
After that we just sort of walked around for a bit, Inigo’s friends went home because they’d been out late at the concert with him the night before, so he decided to show Nikki and I some of the sights of San Fermin.
We went and saw the tower that drunk Aussies jump off to crowd surf, and the plaza that the rocket launches from, and we hung out at few bars playing good music (people in Spain know the words to the ketchup song, my joy cannot be explained. It’s like the time dad’s cousin sung me the Macarena).
We also heard our second group of Aussies and Nikki and I yelled out “AUSSIES” and one of them turned around and yelled “let’s get pissed mate!” and he was completely purple from wine. But Nikki and I high fived him anyway and he asked how we stayed so clean and I said we hung out in the right places and he held up his boya and said “If I had any more wine in this…oh wait, I do” and proceeded to cover both our shirts in wine. And Nikki thanked him for christening us and we walked back to Inigo who said “Australians?” and we were like “…yeah” and then someone exploded a bottle of Pepsi and we all got covered in brown (went well with the purple). Well, I thought we all got covered, but Inigo only had a few spots, so maybe there’s some sort of trick to staying clean that I will have to learn by the end of the week.
Also, some random guy came over to me with a shoe tied to his backpack, picked up my foot, and measured it against the shoe. The shoe was smaller than mine. He said “no, sorry, it’s not you” and went on his merry way. Note to guys: try this at a party, it might fit someone ;)
After hanging out and dancing a bit more, and learning a few Spanish chants, we made our way to the restaurant we were having lunch at. Inigo sung and whistled most of the way there, but when we got there Diego made him shut up. And then we waited for our parents to arrive.
Our parents showed up and we went inside and we had an awesome meal. Between dad and Inigo, I basically figured out what everything on the menu was and I ended up having salad and roast beef. Nikki and I taught Inigo and Diego to say “G’day mate, how’s it goin’?” with an aussie accent, and they actually did it remarkably well, particularly Inigo. They’re opening up to us heaps more now which is really good because I think they’re both really awesome but I don’t want to be all “I LIKE YOU, BE MY FRIEND :D” because I’m not sure they could handle that, haha. So, step by step. Today I put my arm around you walking down the street; tomorrow I put my arms around your waist and dance with you; next week, we DNM about all our life problems! (See, now I’m being all creepy and I LIKE YOU, BE MY FRIEND, why am I so fucking creepy all the time?) So yeah, we also had dessert, and Eli and I danced together waiting in line for the toilet. And at point during dinner, I waved to Eli down the other end of the table, and she waved back, and then we both got up and ran over to each other and hugged. And then Montxo pretended to be sad, but he was on the other side of the table so I just leant over and kissed his cheek and they both got so excited and they’re so cute and oh my god I love this family. I could live here forever <3
Post lunch we came home and chilled out and stuff (blogged) until dad’s cousin (on the other side), Beatriz, came to pick us up at 7:30. We went with her and her husband and daughters to a bar in Pamplona where we drank and danced and oh my gosh her daughters are so cute and now I know why I’m so beautiful :) Then her daughters went home with her sister and we met up with a bunch of randoms and went to another bar to drink and then another bar to dance before walking for half an hour to the place we had dinner at.
Dinner was absolutely delicious, squid, prawns, salad, olives, wonderful food but I was so full from lunch that I couldn’t finish it and that was the biggest disappointment of the day. Also, Nikki was pretty sick, so although we originally planned to go out with Inigo after dinner, we changed that plan to only me going out with Inigo after dinner. And then Nikki got worse and I asked if she wanted me to go home with her and she said yes so I decided that partying with my second cousin is not as important as my darling sister and we all came home. R.I.P. possible social life
Can’t wait for tomorrow, first real day of San Fermin.
Friday, 6 July 2012
Day twelve
Woke up at ten again and chilled out on facebook until another one of my family members woke up because I’m awkward like that. When dad got up I was just about to get in the shower, and after that I went down and had breakfast with him. The rest of the morning was kind of lazy; I called Damian but spent most of my time on my computer. Eli got home from work at 1:30 and made us lunch which was lovely and then I played with my sims until it was time to go to dinner.
We went to dinner at dad’s Aunty’s house, the one he stayed with last time he came to Spain, right in the heart of Pamplona. Her brother and one of her children were there, and her daughter joined us after she finished work.
We all sat around talking for forever and I attempted to keep up (I’m learning more words, I’m getting better). Nikki had had enough for the day so she kind of just slept the whole time. After that we all went to get a drink at a bar and then went to another bar for dinner. It wasn’t really a meal, per se, just a whole bunch of little nibbles. But they all involved bread so I kind of avoided them and Nikki was tired and I guess we were a bit bored too. Post dinner, we took a photo with all the family and Nikki and I were invited to go to a concert with Inigo but we were too tired so we just went home with dad’s cousin. Once we were home, we kind of crashed, even though my stomach was hurting a bit.
We went to dinner at dad’s Aunty’s house, the one he stayed with last time he came to Spain, right in the heart of Pamplona. Her brother and one of her children were there, and her daughter joined us after she finished work.
We all sat around talking for forever and I attempted to keep up (I’m learning more words, I’m getting better). Nikki had had enough for the day so she kind of just slept the whole time. After that we all went to get a drink at a bar and then went to another bar for dinner. It wasn’t really a meal, per se, just a whole bunch of little nibbles. But they all involved bread so I kind of avoided them and Nikki was tired and I guess we were a bit bored too. Post dinner, we took a photo with all the family and Nikki and I were invited to go to a concert with Inigo but we were too tired so we just went home with dad’s cousin. Once we were home, we kind of crashed, even though my stomach was hurting a bit.
Thursday, 5 July 2012
Day eleven
Woke up and felt awkward being in someone else’s house so just chilled on facebook for an hour before getting out of bed and having a shower. After my shower, I had a bowl of cornflakes and spoke to Inigo about San Fermin (once he finally started talking to me. Clearly I am scary). Then I set up my livesport account so we could watch origin. The next two hours were full of highs and lows, and in the end, I couldn’t really be disappointed with the effort our boys put in. Brett and Josh Morris were completely amazing and basically asked to be put together more often because of the magic it makes.
Anyway, after I mourned another series loss that wasn’t even a loss (those are getting quite common) we went to Eli’s parents’ house for lunch. Her parent’s house is about as amazing as hers. It’s out in the countryside, and although the house itself is quite small, it has a pool and a vegie garden, and a freaking well! The views from the house across the mountains are amazing, this whole country is amazing. And then have really cheap gluten free food.
So anyway, we ate lunch there, and hung out with some other second cousins, and basically zoned out of a lot of conversations because it is way too much effort to try and follow.
Eventually we all went home, got changed (it was getting cold by 7:30) and decided to go for a walk in the old part of Pamplona to see the palace and the walls that used to protect the city. We were walking around for about an hour before Inigo rang Eli and invited Nikki and I to maccas with his friends, who spoke English. We jumped at the opportunity.
I kind of want to make friends with my second cousins whilst we’re here, but I don’t want to be too eager and Ebony-y because it will probably scare the crap out of them because I tend to do that to people…. So yeah, I’m trying to chill out a little. So I had a salad at maccas because it’s the only thing they sell without gluten in it. Except they put some crumbed bacon in it just to piss me off and yeah, I wasn’t happy. But we met heaps of Spanish people who spoke English to us and that was a really nice change :)
After we got home, dad, Eli and Montxo weren’t home yet, but Diego was there, so the four of us decided to play a board game, and we found Spanish simpsons cluedo. It was really interesting to see all the rooms and weapons translated, but it didn’t impact the game that much. I couldn’t read the rules and the boys couldn’t be bothered so we basically played by the Ebony Rules which are flexible depending on who I want to win. Inigo kept asking “can I stay in the same room instead of leaving?” or “can I go through the secret passage even though I rolled?” and I would answer “technically no, but I’m nice, so I’ll let you” which I learnt to regret because towards the end of the game, both of us had a lot figured out and the other two were oblivious… Anyway, on my last turn I knew that he had the room I was in but I didn’t know if he had the person, and I asked him if he had one or two cards that he could show me and he just raised his eyebrows. Then he turned to his dad (who was home by then) and asked which card he should show me. So I assumed he had two, and I had one. So I guessed what the answer was. And it turned out he only had one card and he was just messing with me so I lost and he won. But I knew I had to guess on that turn or he would win anyway. I REGRET NOTHING.
And that’s about all that happened. Clearly Cluedo was the highlight of my day, because I’m a bit pathetic like that.
Anyway, after I mourned another series loss that wasn’t even a loss (those are getting quite common) we went to Eli’s parents’ house for lunch. Her parent’s house is about as amazing as hers. It’s out in the countryside, and although the house itself is quite small, it has a pool and a vegie garden, and a freaking well! The views from the house across the mountains are amazing, this whole country is amazing. And then have really cheap gluten free food.
So anyway, we ate lunch there, and hung out with some other second cousins, and basically zoned out of a lot of conversations because it is way too much effort to try and follow.
Eventually we all went home, got changed (it was getting cold by 7:30) and decided to go for a walk in the old part of Pamplona to see the palace and the walls that used to protect the city. We were walking around for about an hour before Inigo rang Eli and invited Nikki and I to maccas with his friends, who spoke English. We jumped at the opportunity.
I kind of want to make friends with my second cousins whilst we’re here, but I don’t want to be too eager and Ebony-y because it will probably scare the crap out of them because I tend to do that to people…. So yeah, I’m trying to chill out a little. So I had a salad at maccas because it’s the only thing they sell without gluten in it. Except they put some crumbed bacon in it just to piss me off and yeah, I wasn’t happy. But we met heaps of Spanish people who spoke English to us and that was a really nice change :)
After we got home, dad, Eli and Montxo weren’t home yet, but Diego was there, so the four of us decided to play a board game, and we found Spanish simpsons cluedo. It was really interesting to see all the rooms and weapons translated, but it didn’t impact the game that much. I couldn’t read the rules and the boys couldn’t be bothered so we basically played by the Ebony Rules which are flexible depending on who I want to win. Inigo kept asking “can I stay in the same room instead of leaving?” or “can I go through the secret passage even though I rolled?” and I would answer “technically no, but I’m nice, so I’ll let you” which I learnt to regret because towards the end of the game, both of us had a lot figured out and the other two were oblivious… Anyway, on my last turn I knew that he had the room I was in but I didn’t know if he had the person, and I asked him if he had one or two cards that he could show me and he just raised his eyebrows. Then he turned to his dad (who was home by then) and asked which card he should show me. So I assumed he had two, and I had one. So I guessed what the answer was. And it turned out he only had one card and he was just messing with me so I lost and he won. But I knew I had to guess on that turn or he would win anyway. I REGRET NOTHING.
And that’s about all that happened. Clearly Cluedo was the highlight of my day, because I’m a bit pathetic like that.
Day ten
Woke up, got ready, and had an amazing breakfast at the restaurant we went to for dinner last night (which I forgot to mention). Breakfast was: eggs, potatoes, sausages, bacon, bread, fried tomatoes, mushrooms, orange juice and coffee. After that we got all our luggage together and went to the train station with Blanca, who caught the train with us to the national train station and waited for our train with us. Then we got on the train to Pamplona. Long train ride but beautiful country side, and on the train they had gluten free, lactose free muffins, what is this?! Eventually we got to Pamplona, and were greeted by twenty of our family members of various ages.
We stayed there talking to them all (by “we” talking I mean dad, and us listening) for about an hour before Eli (dad’s cousin that we’re staying with) decided it was time for us to leave. So we packed our suitcases into their massive car (it has buttons to open and close the doors, it’s amazing) and headed to their place. When we got here we met our second cousins, Inigo and Diego, who were too shy to talk to us at first, and mainly conversed with dad. Also, this house is completely amazing, it’s kind of a four storey townhouse, but each level is massive, and the second level has a courtyard and an outside eating area. So Eli gave us a tour and made us a fantastic lunch of salad and fish and all these wonderful things, before we decided to go shopping for clothes for San Fermin (which I had, because I’m prepared, but dad and Nikki aren’t).
In Pamplona, we looked for an Australian pub to watch origin from, but sadly couldn’t find one. Decided to pay $10 to stream it live internationally :) After wondering around Pamplona for a bit, we went back home, where Eli cooked a beautiful Spanish omelette and her parents came over and we all had a glorious meal outside. I'm doing pretty well with the Spanish... I understand about 75% of the things they say, but I could only reply in Spanish about 1% of the time. But dad and Inigo were pretty happy to translate to Eli and Montxo so I managed. I wonder how the rest of the holiday will go....
I was too tired to blog after that, don’t hate me.
Next blog might take a while too…
We stayed there talking to them all (by “we” talking I mean dad, and us listening) for about an hour before Eli (dad’s cousin that we’re staying with) decided it was time for us to leave. So we packed our suitcases into their massive car (it has buttons to open and close the doors, it’s amazing) and headed to their place. When we got here we met our second cousins, Inigo and Diego, who were too shy to talk to us at first, and mainly conversed with dad. Also, this house is completely amazing, it’s kind of a four storey townhouse, but each level is massive, and the second level has a courtyard and an outside eating area. So Eli gave us a tour and made us a fantastic lunch of salad and fish and all these wonderful things, before we decided to go shopping for clothes for San Fermin (which I had, because I’m prepared, but dad and Nikki aren’t).
In Pamplona, we looked for an Australian pub to watch origin from, but sadly couldn’t find one. Decided to pay $10 to stream it live internationally :) After wondering around Pamplona for a bit, we went back home, where Eli cooked a beautiful Spanish omelette and her parents came over and we all had a glorious meal outside. I'm doing pretty well with the Spanish... I understand about 75% of the things they say, but I could only reply in Spanish about 1% of the time. But dad and Inigo were pretty happy to translate to Eli and Montxo so I managed. I wonder how the rest of the holiday will go....
I was too tired to blog after that, don’t hate me.
Next blog might take a while too…
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
Day nine
Woke up because dad asked who wanted the first shower and I thought I was dreaming and then realised I wasn’t. So we all showered and then went upstairs again for our gorgeous breakfast with a view.
After that we sort of wandered the streets in a westerly direction, stopping at souvenir shops, buying a Euro2012 shirt (last one in my size left in Madrid) and eventually reaching a plaza and some food markets for snacks and lunch. After a lunch that was bigger than it should have been, we walked towards a palace (too lazy to go inside) and got some ice cream, before taking a train to just east of our hotel and visiting a nice park there. Also, the park had these two adorable guys kissing in the middle of it and I think it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen (jokes, Damian’s face is). So we walked through the park and saw the ducks and birds and fish (legit, you can feed the ducks bread here, and the fish swim to the top and fight to the death for it, it’s insane). In the middle of the park was this incredible building called The Glass Palace, so I’ll give you a moment to picture that…. With a fountain out the front…. Surrounded by a lake… And ducks around the lake. And tortoises around the lake. I’ve never seen a wild tortoise before! (And let me tell you, they’re not that wild.)
After that we walked back to our hotel. Or attempted to. But there were half a million (I shit you not, I counted the bastards) proud Spaniards partying in the streets, in front of a massive stage. And yeah, all the roads were segmented off to provide access for emergency vehicles and stuff… and we couldn’t cross the roads! It took soooo long to get home. But it was worth it to see the nutty people.
Off to Pamplona tomorrow! Sad to say goodbye to Blanca, but it will be nice to see Diego and Inigo.
Farewell!
After that we sort of wandered the streets in a westerly direction, stopping at souvenir shops, buying a Euro2012 shirt (last one in my size left in Madrid) and eventually reaching a plaza and some food markets for snacks and lunch. After a lunch that was bigger than it should have been, we walked towards a palace (too lazy to go inside) and got some ice cream, before taking a train to just east of our hotel and visiting a nice park there. Also, the park had these two adorable guys kissing in the middle of it and I think it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen (jokes, Damian’s face is). So we walked through the park and saw the ducks and birds and fish (legit, you can feed the ducks bread here, and the fish swim to the top and fight to the death for it, it’s insane). In the middle of the park was this incredible building called The Glass Palace, so I’ll give you a moment to picture that…. With a fountain out the front…. Surrounded by a lake… And ducks around the lake. And tortoises around the lake. I’ve never seen a wild tortoise before! (And let me tell you, they’re not that wild.)
After that we walked back to our hotel. Or attempted to. But there were half a million (I shit you not, I counted the bastards) proud Spaniards partying in the streets, in front of a massive stage. And yeah, all the roads were segmented off to provide access for emergency vehicles and stuff… and we couldn’t cross the roads! It took soooo long to get home. But it was worth it to see the nutty people.
Off to Pamplona tomorrow! Sad to say goodbye to Blanca, but it will be nice to see Diego and Inigo.
Farewell!
Monday, 2 July 2012
Day eight
Woke up this morning bright and early (for Spain… you know, like 9:30) so we could shower and go to breakfast upstairs. The view from the breakfast room was incredible, we could see all the way up one of the main streets of Madrid, and you know, the food was pretty good too.
After breakfast we walked down to the street and waited for Blanca to pick us up and take us to some of the sites of Madrid. We started at a place called The Valley of the Fallen (to which I said “transformers?” and Blanca said “yes, we’re going to see Megatron” [awesomeness is in my genes]) which is a memorial built to honour those who died in the Spanish Civil War. The memorial was absolutely beautiful; it looked a bit like a church but it was entirely carved out of a stone mountain, with ceilings of mosaic tiles. The next stop was an old palace that’s been turned into a sort of exhibition and that was nice, but it got a bit boring… and creepy when there were graves everywhere… and sad when the graves were of children.
Post palace we went and had lunch, and then stumbled upon a fantastic lolly shop where I got a bag of gluten free coke bottles and strawberry lollies and all sorts of good stuff for around $5.
Then we drove to factory outlets and Nikki did her silly shopping and bla di bla we went back to Blanca’s father’s house (his name is Angel). There we watched the soccer, ate glorious Spanish food, introduced Blanca to tim tams, and marvelled at the craziness of people in Madrid when Spain wins a football game. There were seriously fireworks everywhere, cars honking, people singing and dancing in the streets! When Blanca eventually drove us home, most of the streets in the heart of the city were closed due to people partying, so she dropped us a few streets away and we made our way through the crowds to the hotel. Seriously, these guys go all out, even on the drive home people in other cars were screaming and singing and banging on the car roof and honking the horn in tunes. Part of me actually wants to move here to join these crazy loons…
Anyway it’s after 1 again, so off to bed now!
After breakfast we walked down to the street and waited for Blanca to pick us up and take us to some of the sites of Madrid. We started at a place called The Valley of the Fallen (to which I said “transformers?” and Blanca said “yes, we’re going to see Megatron” [awesomeness is in my genes]) which is a memorial built to honour those who died in the Spanish Civil War. The memorial was absolutely beautiful; it looked a bit like a church but it was entirely carved out of a stone mountain, with ceilings of mosaic tiles. The next stop was an old palace that’s been turned into a sort of exhibition and that was nice, but it got a bit boring… and creepy when there were graves everywhere… and sad when the graves were of children.
Post palace we went and had lunch, and then stumbled upon a fantastic lolly shop where I got a bag of gluten free coke bottles and strawberry lollies and all sorts of good stuff for around $5.
Then we drove to factory outlets and Nikki did her silly shopping and bla di bla we went back to Blanca’s father’s house (his name is Angel). There we watched the soccer, ate glorious Spanish food, introduced Blanca to tim tams, and marvelled at the craziness of people in Madrid when Spain wins a football game. There were seriously fireworks everywhere, cars honking, people singing and dancing in the streets! When Blanca eventually drove us home, most of the streets in the heart of the city were closed due to people partying, so she dropped us a few streets away and we made our way through the crowds to the hotel. Seriously, these guys go all out, even on the drive home people in other cars were screaming and singing and banging on the car roof and honking the horn in tunes. Part of me actually wants to move here to join these crazy loons…
Anyway it’s after 1 again, so off to bed now!
Day seven
Forgot to post this earlier... damn it
We had these awesome plans to be up and showered by 9 so we were ready for breakfast… didn’t really happen. But eventually we were all fed and showered, so that’s all good.
We had to check out by 11 and after that we had all of our luggage with us so we thought we may as well just go to the airport because we thought that might take a while. It was three stops away by train but most of it was across countryside because London is a very condensed city. Once at the train station we also had to take a shuttle bus to get to the actual airport and even though this all seems like a mammoth task, we were still way too early to check in our luggage. So we chilled out at starbucks for over an hour (have I mentioned how incredible it is that there is starbucks everywhere? Getting actual good coffee is really hard in Europe because they’re all into black coffee, rather than really good, frothy, milky coffee). After that we checked our luggage in, ate some noodles/rice for lunch and then headed off to the departure gates. Through there we were searched by security more thoroughly than anywhere else in the world. We had to have our liquids in small bags, we had to take off jackets and hats (yes my friends, I was rocking a beret), and Nikki’s chucks set off the metal detectors, resulting in her being very thoroughly searched by one of the security guards. Other than that our day was rather uneventful until we got to Madrid, where I met my second cousin Blanca for the first time.
She intended to drive us to our hotel from the airport, but Madrid had this Mardi Gras thing going on that closed the streets, so it took a fair while and when we finally got here at around 9pm, we were ready for dinner.
Of course, due to the parade, we thought everywhere would be full so we sort of wandered the streets until we found this marketplace that looked nice, so we stopped and ate there. I shared three dishes dad and Blanca which were all delicious and we barely had room for dessert… but we managed. Flan was on the dessert menu, which is something I haven’t had (particularly homemade) since my grandmother died. And yeah, hers were better.
So by this point it was 1am and we all thought it was time to say goodbye to Blanca and roll home. Until tomorrow!
We had these awesome plans to be up and showered by 9 so we were ready for breakfast… didn’t really happen. But eventually we were all fed and showered, so that’s all good.
We had to check out by 11 and after that we had all of our luggage with us so we thought we may as well just go to the airport because we thought that might take a while. It was three stops away by train but most of it was across countryside because London is a very condensed city. Once at the train station we also had to take a shuttle bus to get to the actual airport and even though this all seems like a mammoth task, we were still way too early to check in our luggage. So we chilled out at starbucks for over an hour (have I mentioned how incredible it is that there is starbucks everywhere? Getting actual good coffee is really hard in Europe because they’re all into black coffee, rather than really good, frothy, milky coffee). After that we checked our luggage in, ate some noodles/rice for lunch and then headed off to the departure gates. Through there we were searched by security more thoroughly than anywhere else in the world. We had to have our liquids in small bags, we had to take off jackets and hats (yes my friends, I was rocking a beret), and Nikki’s chucks set off the metal detectors, resulting in her being very thoroughly searched by one of the security guards. Other than that our day was rather uneventful until we got to Madrid, where I met my second cousin Blanca for the first time.
She intended to drive us to our hotel from the airport, but Madrid had this Mardi Gras thing going on that closed the streets, so it took a fair while and when we finally got here at around 9pm, we were ready for dinner.
Of course, due to the parade, we thought everywhere would be full so we sort of wandered the streets until we found this marketplace that looked nice, so we stopped and ate there. I shared three dishes dad and Blanca which were all delicious and we barely had room for dessert… but we managed. Flan was on the dessert menu, which is something I haven’t had (particularly homemade) since my grandmother died. And yeah, hers were better.
So by this point it was 1am and we all thought it was time to say goodbye to Blanca and roll home. Until tomorrow!
Saturday, 30 June 2012
Day six
So I had a dream that I was being attacked by a broom and woke up to find Nikki’s elbow in my head. She is such a bed hog it is driving me crazy. I should never share a bed with anyone other than Damian…<3
We got up, showered, had breakfast, and went in search of a laundrette… which we found! So now all our clothes are clean and then world is beautiful. It took a good few hours for the clothes to clean and dry so we kind of chilled out in there for a good while.
After that we went in search of a traditional English fish and chips, which is really easy to find if you’re not gluten intolerant and in need of grilled fish. In the end I just got fried fish and pulled all the batter off and it was good. Plus, they gave me olives to satisfy my inner wog.
Then we took the tube to hyde park and walked along it until we got to Harrod’s. Which is the fanciest, awesomest shop ever and ohmy gosh their shoes are ridiculously expensive. On the other hand, they have a really fancy café where I had a Devonshire tea that was quite possibly the best scone of my life. Thank you England, you did not disappoint.
After that we half walked half ran to the National Science Museum because it was about to close but it was really good and I wish we had something like that here. I was expecting it to be more gimmicky and hands on and here play a game and pretend to learn, but it was filled with some seriously cool information about the past and the future and current technologies. A+ England.
The museum closed at six, so we strolled along the road popping into souvenir shops and clothes shops and so forth until we reached the bunch of grapes which is basically a really traditional old English pub. Dad has been looking for one the whole time we’ve been in London, so it was good to check something else off the list. After that, we continued our stroll, going into more shops and things and eventually having dinner. We ate at a place called Spaghetti House but awkwardly none of us ate pasta so that’s a bit of a fail, although dad had pizza so at least it’s Italian.
After dinner we went to the metro station and Nikki saw a sign that said “If the time is 12:01 and trains arrive whenever the minute hand and hour hand overlap, how long do you have to wait for a train?” to which she found the immediate answer of 64 minutes and I found the immediate answer of 64 minutes and 5 seconds but upon reflection realised that this is an infinite paradox and if you believe ancient philosophers the train will never come which is quite obviously not true, and I could write you an equation to determine when the train will come, and yet if I were to calculate it, it would take an infinite time to calculate and would be an infinite decimal; the limit of which is the correct answer. I guess this made me think about infinities and think about the way we think of things because we take infinite limits of things everyday which seems like it would lead to inaccuracies but is actually the only way of being correct, in the same way that 0.99999999999 repeated is equal to, not smaller than 1. Infinities exist in everything, and although we try to eradicate them, they are necessary and beautiful.
You’re welcome for the philosophy.
I don’t think anyone who understands this maths actually reads this… life is sad.
Off to Madrid tomorrow!
We got up, showered, had breakfast, and went in search of a laundrette… which we found! So now all our clothes are clean and then world is beautiful. It took a good few hours for the clothes to clean and dry so we kind of chilled out in there for a good while.
After that we went in search of a traditional English fish and chips, which is really easy to find if you’re not gluten intolerant and in need of grilled fish. In the end I just got fried fish and pulled all the batter off and it was good. Plus, they gave me olives to satisfy my inner wog.
Then we took the tube to hyde park and walked along it until we got to Harrod’s. Which is the fanciest, awesomest shop ever and ohmy gosh their shoes are ridiculously expensive. On the other hand, they have a really fancy café where I had a Devonshire tea that was quite possibly the best scone of my life. Thank you England, you did not disappoint.
After that we half walked half ran to the National Science Museum because it was about to close but it was really good and I wish we had something like that here. I was expecting it to be more gimmicky and hands on and here play a game and pretend to learn, but it was filled with some seriously cool information about the past and the future and current technologies. A+ England.
The museum closed at six, so we strolled along the road popping into souvenir shops and clothes shops and so forth until we reached the bunch of grapes which is basically a really traditional old English pub. Dad has been looking for one the whole time we’ve been in London, so it was good to check something else off the list. After that, we continued our stroll, going into more shops and things and eventually having dinner. We ate at a place called Spaghetti House but awkwardly none of us ate pasta so that’s a bit of a fail, although dad had pizza so at least it’s Italian.
After dinner we went to the metro station and Nikki saw a sign that said “If the time is 12:01 and trains arrive whenever the minute hand and hour hand overlap, how long do you have to wait for a train?” to which she found the immediate answer of 64 minutes and I found the immediate answer of 64 minutes and 5 seconds but upon reflection realised that this is an infinite paradox and if you believe ancient philosophers the train will never come which is quite obviously not true, and I could write you an equation to determine when the train will come, and yet if I were to calculate it, it would take an infinite time to calculate and would be an infinite decimal; the limit of which is the correct answer. I guess this made me think about infinities and think about the way we think of things because we take infinite limits of things everyday which seems like it would lead to inaccuracies but is actually the only way of being correct, in the same way that 0.99999999999 repeated is equal to, not smaller than 1. Infinities exist in everything, and although we try to eradicate them, they are necessary and beautiful.
You’re welcome for the philosophy.
I don’t think anyone who understands this maths actually reads this… life is sad.
Off to Madrid tomorrow!
Friday, 29 June 2012
Day five
(Note: I think I babble a lot in this because the post is soo long, but whatever, I saw the queen so there)
Another day, another bowl of miel pops without milk, although in London we also have toast and eggs and stuff cooked for us so I had a fried egg and that was nice. We had a big day ready so we headed off through the underground into Green Park. We arrived at Buckingham Palace at around 11 to see the changing of the guard at 11:30 and oh my gosh it was the most boring thing in the world and we stood around just waiting for something to happen for ages. Eventually the guard changed, we took some photos and then rushed off because we wanted to hear Big Ben chime at 12, but all the streets were blocked and we could barely move. And then the queen drove past. And I can now tick “see the queen” off my bucket list. After she left, they let people cross roads but by that time it was too late for poor Ben so we crossed the river and went to our next stop; The London Eye.
The London Eye is basically the biggest ferris wheel ever and it takes half an hour to go round because it moves so slowly and from the top you can see the entirety of London. It is magnificent. And it took forty minutes to get to the front of the queue. But when we were up the top, we looked down, and the queue was gone. So yeah, we were pretty pissed. But it was gorgeous, none the less. After our trip on the Eye, we went to have lunch which was meant to be fish and chips but we passed this shop that sold hot dogs and they smelt so amazing that we immediately changed our plans. And dad made me eat some popcorn because I couldn’t eat the bread which was pretty awesome. The shop also had some amazing looking ice cream so I got white chocolate and coconut and they were fantastic.
Our plan was meant to be to catch a bus to St Paul’s Cathedral but when we looked at the bus routes we didn’t realise that the one we wanted was different depending on the direction and also you need to prepay for bus tickets and have exact change and dad didn’t have 2.30 in coins for each of us so we cut our losses and started walking. The walk took forever, mainly because Nikki kept wanting to stop and upon reflection we’d walked from like, before Buckingham Palace so our legs were a little stressed. We got to St Paul’s Cathedral at 4 o’clock and saw a café near it that looked really tempting so we had to make the choice which to visit first. We walked into the information centre next to the Cathedral and found out that it in fact closed at 4, so we’d missed it. But they had a service inside at 5 that we could go to for free (entry normally cost 15 pounds each, so this kind of seemed like a brilliant idea). So we stopped at the café for an hour and had a drink and then went to the service at 5 and then caught a bus back to the steakhouse from yesterday for dinner.
We’d intentionally caught a bus because Nikki wanted to catch a traditional English double-decker red bus, and yeah it was pretty fun. In the end, we didn’t even need to prepay for our tickets because it had a conductor that was fully like the Knight Bus who came up and sold us tickets, and also didn’t believe that I was eighteen because apparently I look so young. Dad’s genes (or so he claimed). We got to Trafalgar Square and walked up and around Leicester Square waiting until we were hungry enough to eat. And after Nikki went into one shop I decided it was time to stop that shit and eat.
The steak house does this amazing Stone Grill thing where they give you your steak partly cooked and give you a really, REALLY hot stone and you slice your steak, cook it, and it. That way, every bite is warm, and cooked exactly how you want it. And also, there’s a sort of novelty to cooking things on a rock that normally ends in Nikki or I cooking vegetables and potentially cutlery. After dinner, we walked down Coventry Street (I shit you not this place is a monopoly board) to the comedy store. It was stand up night =D So dad bought Nikki and I Bacardi and cokes and we sat down in what I consider the best seat in the house, and watched an awesome night of stand up. The comedians were fantastic, although there were some jokes that only English people could get, and basically the whole experience was fantastic.
After that it was late, so we just jumped on the tube and came home. Very long day. I don’t know how this post got so long…
Another day, another bowl of miel pops without milk, although in London we also have toast and eggs and stuff cooked for us so I had a fried egg and that was nice. We had a big day ready so we headed off through the underground into Green Park. We arrived at Buckingham Palace at around 11 to see the changing of the guard at 11:30 and oh my gosh it was the most boring thing in the world and we stood around just waiting for something to happen for ages. Eventually the guard changed, we took some photos and then rushed off because we wanted to hear Big Ben chime at 12, but all the streets were blocked and we could barely move. And then the queen drove past. And I can now tick “see the queen” off my bucket list. After she left, they let people cross roads but by that time it was too late for poor Ben so we crossed the river and went to our next stop; The London Eye.
The London Eye is basically the biggest ferris wheel ever and it takes half an hour to go round because it moves so slowly and from the top you can see the entirety of London. It is magnificent. And it took forty minutes to get to the front of the queue. But when we were up the top, we looked down, and the queue was gone. So yeah, we were pretty pissed. But it was gorgeous, none the less. After our trip on the Eye, we went to have lunch which was meant to be fish and chips but we passed this shop that sold hot dogs and they smelt so amazing that we immediately changed our plans. And dad made me eat some popcorn because I couldn’t eat the bread which was pretty awesome. The shop also had some amazing looking ice cream so I got white chocolate and coconut and they were fantastic.
Our plan was meant to be to catch a bus to St Paul’s Cathedral but when we looked at the bus routes we didn’t realise that the one we wanted was different depending on the direction and also you need to prepay for bus tickets and have exact change and dad didn’t have 2.30 in coins for each of us so we cut our losses and started walking. The walk took forever, mainly because Nikki kept wanting to stop and upon reflection we’d walked from like, before Buckingham Palace so our legs were a little stressed. We got to St Paul’s Cathedral at 4 o’clock and saw a café near it that looked really tempting so we had to make the choice which to visit first. We walked into the information centre next to the Cathedral and found out that it in fact closed at 4, so we’d missed it. But they had a service inside at 5 that we could go to for free (entry normally cost 15 pounds each, so this kind of seemed like a brilliant idea). So we stopped at the café for an hour and had a drink and then went to the service at 5 and then caught a bus back to the steakhouse from yesterday for dinner.
We’d intentionally caught a bus because Nikki wanted to catch a traditional English double-decker red bus, and yeah it was pretty fun. In the end, we didn’t even need to prepay for our tickets because it had a conductor that was fully like the Knight Bus who came up and sold us tickets, and also didn’t believe that I was eighteen because apparently I look so young. Dad’s genes (or so he claimed). We got to Trafalgar Square and walked up and around Leicester Square waiting until we were hungry enough to eat. And after Nikki went into one shop I decided it was time to stop that shit and eat.
The steak house does this amazing Stone Grill thing where they give you your steak partly cooked and give you a really, REALLY hot stone and you slice your steak, cook it, and it. That way, every bite is warm, and cooked exactly how you want it. And also, there’s a sort of novelty to cooking things on a rock that normally ends in Nikki or I cooking vegetables and potentially cutlery. After dinner, we walked down Coventry Street (I shit you not this place is a monopoly board) to the comedy store. It was stand up night =D So dad bought Nikki and I Bacardi and cokes and we sat down in what I consider the best seat in the house, and watched an awesome night of stand up. The comedians were fantastic, although there were some jokes that only English people could get, and basically the whole experience was fantastic.
After that it was late, so we just jumped on the tube and came home. Very long day. I don’t know how this post got so long…
Day four
So the day started later which was utterly fantastic and we ate some Miel Pops which probably had gluten in them but were mainly corn and honey so I didn’t care about the rest of the ingredients. We packed our suitcases and left them in the hotel room as we went to get breakfast, same place as yesterday. I had the same hot chocolate with whipped cream, still just as good, and this time a bacon omelette which was pretty sensational because the one thing guaranteed to make life better at any given time is bacon.
After that, Nikki did some more shopping and I did a lot of complaining before it was time to go back and check out of our hotel. From there we carried our suitcases down way too many sets of stairs to catch a train to the station where our train to London left. The train ride to London was gorgeous, across the French country side and then through the Chunnel. Thankfully, in London, our hotel is near the international train station, but we didn’t know quite where so we took an English cab to it. Unfortunately, our room wasn’t quite ready because the toilet is leaking :/ so we have to stay in some crappy room overnight. Tres depressing. We decided to abandon ship and catch a train to London where we basically walked through a monopoly board because all the streets have familiar names. We saw Big Ben and Buckingham Palace and Piccadily Circus and Victor Tower and the London Eye and all the gorgeous sites.
We passed this place called pret that make all this awesome food and then you just go in and pick up what you want so dad and I have salad and fruit salad in there and the Nikki went looking for food she actually liked and we ended up at a steakhouse that was really similar to stone grill and we decided we had to go back later. After dinner, we pretty much just went back and crashed.
After that, Nikki did some more shopping and I did a lot of complaining before it was time to go back and check out of our hotel. From there we carried our suitcases down way too many sets of stairs to catch a train to the station where our train to London left. The train ride to London was gorgeous, across the French country side and then through the Chunnel. Thankfully, in London, our hotel is near the international train station, but we didn’t know quite where so we took an English cab to it. Unfortunately, our room wasn’t quite ready because the toilet is leaking :/ so we have to stay in some crappy room overnight. Tres depressing. We decided to abandon ship and catch a train to London where we basically walked through a monopoly board because all the streets have familiar names. We saw Big Ben and Buckingham Palace and Piccadily Circus and Victor Tower and the London Eye and all the gorgeous sites.
We passed this place called pret that make all this awesome food and then you just go in and pick up what you want so dad and I have salad and fruit salad in there and the Nikki went looking for food she actually liked and we ended up at a steakhouse that was really similar to stone grill and we decided we had to go back later. After dinner, we pretty much just went back and crashed.
Thursday, 28 June 2012
Day three
So dad decided that today was a good day to let Nikki loose and allow her to shop, but first of all, breakfast! Today was the day that I got to eat my one piece of gluten for the city, so we had croissants for breakfast which were absolutely incredible. And I also had a hot chocolate with whipped cream that was just as incredible, ain’t life beautiful. Then we went to a shop called Desigual which was actually kind of awesome and Nikki bought a shirt and everyone was happy and we walked down the Champs Elysse to the Arc de Triomphe, which of course we had to walk up… because our legs weren’t hurting enough from the Eiffel Tower, but the views of Paris were gorgeous.
After that, we caught a taxi to some huge shopping centre which had ice cream in the shape of flowers (really the only thing going for a shopping centre…) And then we came home so I could talk to Damian before he went to bed <3
I guess we must all still be pretty tired because after that, and skyping mum, we all kind of crashed for a few hours and then woke up at 8 for dinner (the people here eat at 9, it’s nutty). Post dinner, we searched for some take away coffee, but starbucks and McCafe were both closed so we gave up and came home.
And home just meant sleeping which was glorious as always.
After that, we caught a taxi to some huge shopping centre which had ice cream in the shape of flowers (really the only thing going for a shopping centre…) And then we came home so I could talk to Damian before he went to bed <3
I guess we must all still be pretty tired because after that, and skyping mum, we all kind of crashed for a few hours and then woke up at 8 for dinner (the people here eat at 9, it’s nutty). Post dinner, we searched for some take away coffee, but starbucks and McCafe were both closed so we gave up and came home.
And home just meant sleeping which was glorious as always.
Wednesday, 27 June 2012
Day two
Woke up, showered, and went in search of breakfast which turned out to
be eggs again… go figure gluten intolerance. And then we started walking to the
Louvre, which was not very far away. It was sort of beautiful and the Mona Lisa
was bigger than I expected and the crowds were not as big… Which I guess says
something about how people change my expectations of things. We then went to
Notre Dame which was amazing as far as architecture goes, and like 849 years
old, but also kind of a church, which put a bit of a damper on things.
We also decided to see the Eiffel Tower at night, as we wanted to see
the lights... so we walked from our hotel, which took some time but we had heaps. We ate dinner along the way because dad saw a fancy restaraunt and wanted to be a fancy pants and then we finished walking to the tower. We got there at 9:30, and it was still light,so we watched the light show at 10 and then decided to climb it to see the lights of Paris at dusk. When we got down it was so it was dark and we got to see the lights
again in the darkness at 11 (they play the light show every hour). We got a taxi home and then completely crashed for the night :)
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