What We Look Forward to in the U.S.A.

in no particular order...

1. BBQ chicken wings
2. Reese´s Peanut Butter cups (implied = peanut butter in general)
3. Gallons of milk instead of liters
4. Family and friends
5. Garage Sales - Lyss
6. Buying in bulk to save money
7. American sports - Robin
8. Our new place on Lake Michigan
9. Church in our first language
10. Using all of our wedding gifts
11. BOOKS!!!!!

Thank you all for reading our blog.  We hope you enjoyed it!

Besos,
Robin & Alyssa

Spain: The Season Finale

Our week of lasts is over. We said our final goodbyes today at church, and we are four days away from landing in Chicago where our new lives await us.  There are so many exciting things to think about, but for now we're content just sitting on our ocean view balcony enjoying the 10:10 p.m. sunset that turns the ocean into a mirage of deep purples, pinks, and oranges. ¡Que preciosa!

I don’t know how teachers do it—how do they form relationships with kids all year and then say goodbye?  Let’s just say there was some waterworks.  In my sixth grade class, the students played a sentimental One Direction song for our last class together and all of a sudden, these SIXTH GRADERS (including boys) started crying....balling even! I couldn’t believe it although I do remember being pretty emotional at that age. I think it was the song haha.  I will definitely miss that class. I have never met such kind and sweet sixth graders.

Here are some pictures of the less emotional four year olds and Robin.

We were so blessed to have had a great church community here in Galicia.  On Sundays, we helped with the youth group and last Sunday they decided to surprise us with a big feast.  We ate paella and tortilla española to our heart’s content.

The Last Tastes of Galician Culture...

We learned how to make homemade Tarta de Santiago (cake made of 4 ingredients: almonds, sugar, lemon, & eggs)

DELICIOUS Arzua cheese from the market. It's made right here in Galicia from cow's milk. It's incredibly creamy! 

Last night, my teacher and her family took us out to dinner way out in the countryside in a rural agro-tourism restaurant.  We drove through endless vineyards right up to the restaurant door. The food was spectacular! Robin even said it was definitely one of the best dinners of his life!  This doesn’t come as a surprise since everything is made right there.  The albariño wine they ordered is made from the grapes in the vineyards on all sides of the restaurant.  We all ate zamburiñas and pulpo!

Zamburiñas

A Galician fashion show.  They sure did wear those outfits with pride!

Saying goodbye to our wonderful American friends! We were so blessed to have met these Washingtonians :)

As sad as it is that we have already eaten our last bite of Arzua cheese and enjoyed our last big Galician meal, the good news is that we don’t have to leave Galicia behind forever since our teachers gave us a traditional porcelain necklace AND a 3-D Galician famous sites book haha!

What We Will and Will Not Miss...

In less than three weeks, we will step off our plane and land in the U.S.A. where baseball games, barbeques, and sweet freedom await us.  Just kidding! Really, it is crazy to think that our time here is winding down so quickly.  Like all seasons of life, when we think back to our first jet-lagged days in Vilagarcía, it seems like an eternity ago.  Fast forward to the present, and we don’t understand where the time went.  After all is said and done, it was definitely time well spent.  The best part is that we feel like we learned just as much during this post-college year as we might’ve during one more year of formal education.  We feel so much healthier, although it wasn’t too difficult to improve considering our former college eating habits.  Up on the wholesome food adventure for next week is goat’s milk.  Apparently, it’s super good for you! We can’t wait to see what a year of “real-life” teaches us.

Since we’ve had more time than we’re accustomed to having back in the U.S.A., we’ve had the opportunity to reflect a lot about our lives here versus our lives in the U.S.A.  Thus, we present our grand list of what we will miss and what we won’t miss about our Spanish life.  In no particular order...

We will miss: 

1.  The fact that we can buy all of this fresh produce for less than 5 Euros.

2. The ability to walk everywhere we need to go.  Sure those grocery trips can be a bit rough since we have to carry our grocery bags about half a mile, but everything is located so conveniently close.  We even started walking to the business where we teach English three miles away.  How can we not? It’s been beautiful outside and we are able to walk through rolling green hills while passing country houses and sheep along the way. 

3. The delicious cereals.  Yes, America has a fantastic cereal variety.  I can’t complain.  The one cereal America is missing is rellenos de leche (basically chocolate pockets filled with milk).  I know I said we were eating healthy, but this is a rare treat.  Maybe this already exists in America, but granola cereal with chunks of dark chocolate is a pretty wonderful combination.

4. The fruit culture! I feel inspired to seriously up my daily fruit consumption here after the twelve-year-old girl I tutor told me she eats at least six fruits daily.  Also, the businessmen told us that it is not uncommon to eat six to eight different fruits during one day.  We have been taking advantage of the super cheap fruits here, but I do miss cantaloupe!

5. Our sweet students and their funny personalities.  They all watch American T.V. shows and movies, and it’s just so funny to hear their thoughts and impressions about American culture.  The third graders were doing a special arts and crafts project with the Mona Lisa.  The teacher showed the painting and asked the students what they knew about the painting.  One third grade girl shot her hand up and enthusiastically shouted in Spanish “Her name is Mona Lisa and she was a virgin.” Clearly, this was an innocent remark influenced by the strong Roman Catholic tradition here in Spain. The teachers on the other hand have even sillier thoughts.  One of the teachers thought (or maybe joked...Spanish humor is hard to detect) that we were from Missouri just because we’re twenty-three and married. 

6. The small town feeling. We feel like we’re getting to know all the neighborhood dogs on the paseo.  If we go out for a walk, we’re guaranteed to see at least one person we know.  When I get a ride home with one of the businessmen, he beeps at literally every person jogging or walking a dog.  He says families here go way back.

fishermen (or mussel-men)

7. These views.  It’s unique to live near the ocean and open green pastures.  This weekend, we ventured out into the country and saw baby horses, sheep, and goats!

8. The evening walks.  It seems that time has not affected Spain as much as it has American culture.  What I mean by this is that technology and the all the other pressures of modern life don’t seem to have changed daily life here as much as they have American life.  Sure, there are still kids texting and playing videogames.  Yet, we see so many more kids being active, having fun outside, and just being kids here.  It’s like clockwork.  At 5 o’clock, families pour out into the streets (grandparents, parents, and kids).  Everyone slows down at this time.  We might even struggle to find a bench since they’re all taken up by grandparents hanging out together.  It’s nice to see people just be still and spend time with one another.

9. Cheap olive oil! We’re trying to use up all of our awesome olive oil made with olives right from Spain before we leave.  I’ve even been putting it on my skin.  This stuff is great! It’s been the sole reason why I’ve been able to eat heaping servings of spinach salads.  Robin doesn’t need any help.  That crazy man can eat a bowl full of dry spinach leaves.

10. Sunsets at 10:00pm!!!!!

WHAT WE WON’T MISS

1. Inefficiency

2. All the smoking!

3. Wearing flip flops isn’t appropriate unless you’re at the beach

4. Saying goodbye instead of hello upon passing someone on a walk...never got used to that.

5. Business hours/ multiple closings.  I can agree with everything being closed on Sundays. In fact, I like this.  However, there are many random closings. Yesterday, for example, all the stores were closed to remember Galician writers.  The bank is only open until 2:00pm!

Next up: What we look forward to in America :)

Os Maios (A Celebration of Spring & New Life)

On Thursday, we went to the center to look at all the Os Maios displays.  In Galicia, there is a tradition of making displays out of all things nature to celebrate spring and new life.  Most of the displays use flowers and greenery.  Some of the displays use fruits such as oranges.  Other displays even add eggs!

 

Pictured above are the displays from Vilaxoán (Alyssa's school)

A girl dressed in her typical Galician outfit 

My favorite display! 

Each school sung typical Os Maios songs.  In the songs, they complain about the horrible winter.  This year, they complained about all the rain.  The song ends on a happier note to celebrate spring.  The kids in this picture are very young and all dressed in typical Galician outfits. 

The Cinque Terre

     Well, it appears that Robin has left the big Cinque Terre blog post to me.  I think Cinque Terre might be the most difficult to write about since so much of the experience involved eating and taking in all the wonderful scents.  The Cinque Terre is located on the north west coast of Italy in the region known as Liguria.  Besides being known for the best pesto anywhere which I have already stated on here millions of times, the Ligurian area is also known for its abundance of lemon trees and vineyards.  Combine this with the great variety of flowers in bloom, and you have yourself quite a delightful mountain hike.  The five villages of the Cinque Terre are basically carved out of the mountains.  There are many trails that allow you to walk from city to city and escape into breathtaking nature where the ocean meets wild flowers, vineyards, and cliffs.  Unfortunately, there was a terrible flood in this region back in 2011 and many of the trails are still closed due to landslides.  At first we were a little bummed, but after hiking two of the more serious trails, our feet and legs were thankful for a rest.

 

Are we in Galicia? Sure looks like it!

Encouragement on the hike! We spy the next town of Corniglia!

The sore legs and tired feet are worth it for these views!

   

     For our Italy travels, we decided to take advantage of the website Air B n B that allows people to post their spare rooms for tourists to rent out.  A few of our trustworthy friends had nothing but great experiences using the website.  We also had unique and memorable experiences staying with real Italian families.  In Florence, we stayed in the apartment of a graduate student and his sister.  They were very helpful with suggesting great, local eats and with avoiding tourist traps.  In the Cinque Terre region, we stayed with the sweetest and most thoughtful Italian family.  We had such a memorable experience there!  We cannot speak highly enough of this family.   They even prepared us breakfast in the morning, and their entire house smelled just lovely!  Perhaps this is because the father takes great pride in his garden.  I would’ve been perfectly content spending the entire day in the garden.  It smells like paradise with the lemon trees and great variety of flowers. They even had tortoises in the garden.  Their cat, Yuvi, surely appreciates it, too! 

 

La Spezia is an important military base in Italy. 

Top Cinque of the Cinque Terre (Top 5 of the Five Lands)

1. Seafood in a Cone

Ok. This one is not for me but for Robin of course.  All the seafood is fresh since the Cinque Terre is right on the ocean.  Everybody was walking around with their seafood in a cone, and Robin had to get one.  I even admit that the smells coming out of the food stand were enticing.  I almost wanted to try the calamari. Next time, Cinque Terre.  Next time. 
 

2. Easter Mass in Riomaggiore

We went to Easter mass in one of the villages.  Mass was in Italian of course; however, I think Italian and Spanish are pretty similar.  We were able to catch a few words, and we even attempted to sing in Italian.  Good times. Fun fact: the very young priest happened to be the doppelganger (look-alike) of a St. Norbert friend.  I read that the true residents of the five villages maintain very close relationships one another, and it was fun to observe the families that probably grew up together interact.  Another fun fact: little Italian kids dressed in their Easter best are adorable!

So many cute nuns in Italy

3. Friends from Around the World

Like Robin mentioned, meeting friends from around the world was a common theme during our trip and it continued in Pisa and Cinque Terre.  We walked with an Indian/English couple from the train station to the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  We met a family from Austria.  We talked for a while with a man from Hungary who was actually traveling to Galicia to meet friends.  Finally, we asked a girl to take our picture and she was from none other than BURLINGTON, WISCONSIN!  She was studying abroad in Milan and she says she frequently goes to Kenosha for Buffalo Wild Wings. Haha the world keeps getting smaller by the day :)

The girls who took this picture was from Burlington, Wisconsin

4. The Bike Ride

Our kind host let us use her bikes to get around the way the locals do.  Italians sure do love their mopeds and bicycles.  It seemed like there was at least one bicycle or moped on the road for every car.  Maybe this is an exaggeration for Cinque Terre, but Florence was dominated by mopeds.  We rode bikes to the nearby town of Portovenere.  It is not officially a part of the Cinque Terre, but it is just as beautiful.  It felt more resorty than the rustic Cinque Terre fishing villages.  We don’t mind, though.  We walked around the town, bought a little jar of pesto, some bread, found a bench, and then watched the boats until it was time to ride back.

5.  The Culture

I know we only skimmed the surface, but there is something special about that place and those people.  Perhaps, all the uphill walking and hard work builds character.  I felt a lot of pride for my Italian heritage while in Italy.  Robin jokingly made fun of me for telling our hosts that I was a quarter Italian, but I am very excited to learn more about this ancestry.  One of my new summer goals is to grow fresh basil and try to remake some of the foods we tried.  If nothing else, we will definitely keep the culture alive through food!

everything is so fresh!

 

 

this is what they use to go up the mountains and hills

We hope you had a blessed Easter! Rejoice! He is Risen! :)

Blessings,

Alyssa & Robin

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

 We look like a couple of teenage mutant ninja turtles enjoying the Leaning Tower!

 A fashion disaster... shorts with a poncho.

 Big Lyss back it up!  Lyss doing a Hulk impression while doing the wobble.

Godzilla attacking the leaning tower of Pisa.

Eating Our Way Through Italy

Buongiorno!  We landed in Milan at 11 p.m. and waited until morning to head to Florence.  The night went by somewhat quicker because we were able to chat with a friend we made from Slovenia.  So far making friends has been a theme during our trip to Italy.

Priority número uno after arriving in Florence was finding something to eat.  We headed to All’ Antico Vinaio, for some authentic Italian sandwiches.  Lyss got Italian ham with Pecorino cream.  The man at the counter said to me, “I bet you like everything, I will make you best sandwich in world”.  He is the expert after all so I gave him free reign to make the best sandwich and he didn’t disappoint.  As we were sitting in the plaza eating our lunch, we heard some people speaking English next to us.  Alyssa asked where they were from, and what do you know they were from Wisconsin visiting their daughter who goes to St. Norbert and is studying abroad in Italy.  Alyssa had predicted we would see a St. Norbert student in Italy and she was right!

mozzarela and spicy salami

Gusta Pizza for the second time

As one tourist put it “You eat your way through Italy.” Most of our time has been spent walking and taking in the sights until it is time to eat again.  Then the whole process repeats itself.  We walked through the flower gardens of Florence, visited a number of old churches, and saw many different versions of the David statue.  There were so many artistic sights to take in around us that Alyssa walked right across a man’s painting while she was looking up at a bell tower.  Mi dispiace...

 

We hiked to Michelangelo's viewpoint to get a better view of the city.
The dome of the church was the world's first dome.

We spent the night in a room we are renting in an Italian grad student’s house.  We chatted with the Israeli family across the hall that is also visiting Florence.  The next morning we walked through the market and shared a panini.  Then we took the bus to Chianti.  It was a great change of pace to spend time in a city that is 100% Italy.  Chianti is a small Italian village in Tuscany known for their wine.  We walked through fields of olive trees, visited a small stone hamlet in the hills, and saw the house of Amerigo Vespucci (who America is named after).  We returned to Florence ready for dinner, but first we helped an Austrian family find their way to one of the churches.  Then it was off to Gusta Pizza, our favorite restaurant here in Italy!  We ate delicious pizza and calzone two nights in a row for dinner.  We followed it up with Gelato on the bridge.  Tomorrow we are off to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  

In front of Amerigo Vespucci's house in Montefioralle.
The moth symbol above the door was the symbol of his family.

Ciao for now!