Life goes on in Santander.....

Visitors/Visiting

I had a great visit from Mary and Conal (who are spending 4 months – count them – in their apartment in the south of Spain). They decided to take a road trip to the north and we all stayed with Estela and Jacobo, about 30 mins from Santander. They were terrific hosts, organising food, hikes, restaurants, etc.

  

We had pretty good weather and managed to get two hikes in – one coastal with gorgeous sea views and another one in the Cantabrian Mountains. It was a stunning day with searing blue skies and brilliant sunshine. Thanks Estela and Jacobo!



Caves in Cantabria
There are literally hundreds of caves in this region. I’ve been to two recently. Soplao, which is spectacular with incredible stalactite and stalagmite formations in all sorts of colours – I really enjoyed this one, but it felt just a bit ‘touristy’ to me.

 

I thought that the second caves I visited in Puente Viesgo were more authentic – one with cave paintings reported to be possibly from Neanderthal man but definitely dating back 37,000 years – unbelievable when you think about it. Another cave in that region was incredible – I felt like I was in Lord of the Rings and ‘Golum’ was whispering from one of the ledges….’come to me my precious……..’ (Sandra, if you're reading this - remember Golum's Gully on the way up Mweelrea??!). The mean temperature is approx. 13 degrees and I’m telling ya….I could live in one of these – they are incredibly funky and awe inspiring.

 

Of course - the motherlode of all caves in Cantabria are the Altamira caves (check out this picture of cave art), but unfortunately they closed them 10 years ago due to visitor impact....they 'recreated' them but definitely not the same thing.

I also met my very own Neanderthal man in one of the caves...but that's another story.

Observations on life in Santander – I take full responsibility for the views/opinions expressed herein!

Stylish Santander
it’s been fun observing the style around town. As I’m not frequenting too many bars or clubs at night, I can’t really comment on the U-30s gear but certainly walking around the streets during the day you see some very stylishly dressed people (women in particular but also some very dapper looking older gents). A lot of women are very petite and slim and always wear the correct accessories. It is pretty conservative though and you see the same type of clothes over and over again.

Hi, my name's Mutt
Some of you will be familiar with the phrase ‘mutton dressed as lamb’. Well, they have it down to a fine art here. While I’m all in favour of dressing ‘differently’ or with a little sass or funk…..and in older women wearing bright colours and dressing with pazzazz….in fact I love to see that, I dress way too conservatively myself….however, there comes a time in one’s life where you have to shout HALT….STOP…..or the fashion police will send you to roam forever through the aisles of Penney’s.

And I’m talking the extreme version here – picture this - you walk behind someone in colourful leggings, long boots that come over the knee, leather biker jacket….all beautifully put together and then you pass her and look around….holy God…there’s more creases in that face than in the Grand Canyon.

But I will say that while there are many people here to whom the phrase ‘there goes mutton dressed as lamb’ could be applied…it’s at least  very stylish lamb (it helps!).

The Santander women are also not shy or ashamed when it comes to fur jackets and coats. I don’t know where the PETA representatives are, but they ain’t here.

Real Men Wear Skinny Jeans….and scarves!

Men – scarves/skinny jeans/bright colours. One thing you see a lot of in Spain is men in skinny jeans – and not only that, but in lots of different colours. They have no compunction about wearing them, often with a neat jacket and scarf. Mustard, salmon pink, light blue, emerald green, orange and purple are popular colours. I hasten to add that most of the men who are wearing them are relatively tall and slim!! But I just couldn’t imagine an Irish guy in the same gear….it’s refreshing to see it here – it definitely jazzes things up in the mens' style department.

Wellies

Wellington boots – when I first came to Santander I couldn’t understand why so many shoe shops prominently displayed wellington boots – in lots of different styles, colours and lengths. The most common ones seem to be the ‘Hunter’ wellies from the UK – definitely a brand name kind of thing. I thought at first it was because of the weather and the fact that the north of Spain gets much more rain than the south. But it often didn’t make sense when I saw women wearing wellies on a perfectly dry day.

My curiosity got the better of me and I introduced it as a class discussion. Bottom line – it’s a fashion statement – they didn’t
realise it came from the likes of Kate Moss et al wearing wellies at soggy, mucky, music festivals like Glastonbury – they have barely heard of her. No, this is just fashion for fashion’s sake.


I even saw one woman wearing red wellies that had bows at the front, just like these ones!!

Children

Enough about the adults – what about the children? I’ve been gobsmacked to see lots of kids on Saturdays and Sundays, dressed to the nines, and all apparently for the sake of ‘strolling’ through Santander with their parents. You would not believe the get up of some of them.



Absolutely beautiful outfits, excellent quality and everything matching to boot.

I cannot imagine an Irish kid lasting more than an hour in some of the outfits without destroying them. Honestly, it’s like a fashion show.

This little girl was only DELIGHTED to have her photo taken
(her parents too!)

 

Dainty Doggies

And last but not least – the dog clothes. A lot of people here have those little Paris Hilton style dogs. And, by God, do they dress them up in little cutesy outfits, sometimes even matching their own gear – as was spotted the other day on my rambles. Lots of care, attention and money goes into this…
 

Family oriented
I thought the Portuguese were extremely family-oriented but the Spanish take the biscuit. Family is everything…it’s funny to listen to the teenage groups when having a class discussion about things that are important in their lives (of course I expect them to say family – to a degree) but it seems as if their radars don’t extend too much further than family – some good gap year travel would be a great benefit I think.

Parents often do everything for their kids – and I was amazed in one class discussion with adults when two of the women said they had given up their professions in order to be at home to monitor their kid’s homework with them, because it had got so competitive and you just HAD to do that. This isn’t about people deciding to be a stay at home mum or dad….that’s different…this was mostly about the need to do this so their kids would at least be on a level playing field later in life  - amazing.

But it is kind of sweet to see the relationships between parents and kids – we have kids as young as 3 and 4 attending language classes (I know!!)…..and it is really cute to see them coming and going and the delight with which they greet their mother/father/grandparents.

Spanish Style Eating
I am definitely not on Spanish time with regards to eating. Maybe if I was settling here for a long time I would adjust but I find the time between lunch at maybe 2pm and dinner at 9-10pm too long

Typical eating pattern in Spain
08:00   Breakfast – can be anything but lots of people seem to eat a really light breakfast.
Maybe coffee and a slice of toast.

11:00  (or thereabouts) some sort of coffee break where they eat something very light....  a
piece of tortilla (Spanish Omlette) or a Croissant or similar.

 
15:00   Lunch – this is generally the biggest meal of the day and usually involves at least two courses (soup and main) if taken at home or the Menu del Dia (daily menu special) if taken in a restaurant – every café/restaurant offers this and usually for about 10-12 Euros…it will be 3 courses plus wine (yes, they all drink either a class (or two) of wine or beer at lunchtime), plus coffee. They then spend the next hour relaxing or sleeping it off.

21:00 - 22:00  Dinner – lighter than lunch but still a significant meal at that time of night.

Talking, talking, talking – the Spanish are extremely sociable and they love their long lunches even when hiking and most people bring TONS of food to share around. Completely different from my experiences in Austria or Ireland or the States….where possibly one or two people bring a bar of chocolate or some nuts to share around…on the last hike I felt like a complete skinflint with my two neatly packed sandwiches, when everyone else was passing around cake, chocolate, strawberries, nuts etc.


Goodbye, au revoir, adieu, aufwiedersehen, hasta luego…..just like in Ireland, where you spend 5 hours at someone’s house socialising and then another 30 minutes or more saying goodbye, the Spanish love to take time to say goodbye. And then, of course, there’s the obligatory ‘air’ kiss on both cheeks when greeting or leaving someone’s company – sometimes it takes 10 minutes just to go through that rigmarole if there are 15 people hiking. All very sociable!

Am I allegeric to Santander?



I'm beginning to think so.....this is the first week in about 6 weeks that I am halfway normal. I seemed to have picked up every bug imaginable, from strep throat to bronchial/sinus infections and boy did they linger. Everyone has a different reason for why I was subject to such atrocities and why they lasted for so long.....from being around young children in the school, to the humidity in the Santander air, to the changeable weather, to me not being used to the 'atmosphere'. I've lived in many places and NEVER experienced anything like it.

I kept the tissue comanies in business and grossed everyone else out with my sniffling and snuffling and snotting (is that a verb?) and hacking and rattling and spluttering. Thankfully, it's all over now and here's looking forward to warm weather, sunshine and being disease free.
 
Learning Spanish
 I’m ashamed to say that I have picked up very little conversational Spanish – my own fault entirely but here are the inevitable excuses….I spend approximately 8 waking hours every day either teaching English or preparing for classes (and I sure as hell ain’t thinking in Spanish when I’m doing that)….Most mornings Mon-Thurs I spend either alone – going swimming, etc., or if I do meet someone for coffee their English is about 100% better than my Spanish so we chat in English. I think because I know I’ll be leaving at the end of June that my motivation to push myself is just not there (take classes/immerse myself in it, etc.). I can definitely read and understand quite a bit and can make out what people are trying to say most of the time, so I’m happy with that. I do try to watch Spanish television but they speak soooooooooooooooo rapido that I’m lost most of the time. Quick rap on the knuckles for that Ms. Murray!!

That’s it for now…..Easter is coming and as we have a very short break in the Language school – basically a long weekend. I'm going away for a few nights with friends Carla and Marisa, heading west this time in the direction of Asturias, one of the regions bordering Cantabria. You think that when you come to live somewhere that you’ll be hopping and trotting all over the place. The reality is that (a) you’re working during the week and (b) weather, other plans, laziness, etc., gets in the way at the weekends!

Hasta proxima...HEL

And finally, some images from Santander....

First swim of the season - great waves - cold but doable....roll on the warmer weather




I met this guy on one of my walks....he liked his funky haircut but wanted a beard trim...




Crazy weather for a few weeks - lots of storm-force winds and gales and breaking through sea walls!

More of the same - spectacular wave action in Santander




Banco Santander - nice building - lots of MONEY there...!

One of the loverly buildings overlooking Puerto Chico...'little port' - nice place to live





She takes care of all the sailors....

Cool 'graffiti (or simply 'street art'?)

 

 

Santander - three months on....

 More on my Spanish adventure

General Activities and Travel

Snowshoeing and hiking

I’ve been doing a fair amount of hiking, mostly in the Cantabrian Mountains and generally within an hour’s drive of Santander. Nothing like the rather strenuous standard of hiking I’m used to with clubs in Ireland, in particular the clubs I’m a member of in the Galway area. I now realise that we really are hard core hikers (without getting into the serious mountaineering aspect of it). Here a lot more people take to the hills (weather is better!) but not as many people seem to go in for the rugged type of hiking.  I’d love to get out and do a good old belt up the hills, the kind of thing that leaves you feeling that you’ve actually done some exercise. They tend to do more gentle walks on lovely trails with MANY stops, but I’m going with the flow and enjoying the scenery.

I did manage to organise a trip to the Picos area with a few friends and we had an incredible day snowshoeing.


 
The scenery was fantastic and walking on the snow was great fun, it brought me back to my days in New Hampshire and all the snow activities I did there.  



I’ve also done some great coastal walks – they really have a stunning coastline in the north of Spain.


I've only seen the half of it and I'm looking forward to exploring more in the coming months.



 
























 
Christmas and New Year

They definitely don’t ‘do’ Christmas here like they do in Ireland. A blessing or a curse, depending on your view of Christmas. As most of my friends and family know, Christmas is not my favourite time of year – too much palaver, commercialism, materialism….etc. I usually try to avoid it like the plague and this year was no different. That was easy enough to do in Spain. They only celebrate with a family meal on the evening of the 24^th and the 25^th is a holiday/family day. The really big day here is the 6^th of January – what they call ‘The Three Kings’ and what we call either ‘the three wise men’, or the Epiphany.

My friend Susan from Ireland came for a visit over the Christmas period, which was great, as no matter how much one protests about not being ‘in’ to Christmas, it’s not a very pleasant time to spend on one’s own. We had pretty reasonable weather for the week and spent the first few days around the Santander area doing coastal walks. Estela very kindly loaned me her car for the duration of the visit – which was great as it helped with the scheduling. Susan was blown away by the beaches to the east and west of Santander and it was nice to see them through different eyes….they are magnificent.



Basque country
We drove to Bilbao where we stayed for one night in the old town. I really liked Bilbao and of course we spent a few hours at the famous Gehry building – the Guggenheim. I felt the same way about this as I did about Machu Picchu in Peru. I wasn’t that pushed about going to visit it but when I got there WOW. The outside of the building is pretty stunning when viewed from all sides, but the inside….I thought it was fantastic.

The shapes and curves and flow of the physical aspect of the building are amazing…forget the exhibitions…you could wander around outside and inside, looking up and out and down and God knows where for a few hours. Like everyone, I was a bit disappointed with the exhibitions – I felt they could have made more dramatic use of the space but there is one permanent one there that is well worth seeing….......

Richard Serra's A Matter of Time. It doesn’t look like much initially but the sensation you get when you wander in and out of the sheets of steel is very unique.

San Sebastian
Then on to San Sebastian, which was gorgeous…we stayed two nights and visited a town 30 minutes away – Hondarribia, last stop before hitting France – you look across the estuary and vive la France. There’s a small ferry which takes about 10 minutes.





There was a marked difference between the ‘tourist’ experience in Santander and the Basque country. In Bilbao and San Sebastian nearly everyone we spoke to understand and spoke English and they were friendly – almost the opposite of Santander. Although I'm reliably told that it was because we were non-Spanish...hmmm...not sure about that! 
 





The Basque country is the BEST place for Pinxtos (pinchos)…No, not tapas as we know them - and not raciones - here’s a little description for the uninitiated:

Tapas : these are usually tiny, bite-sized snacks

I’ve been informed that if you're paying for tapas, then you‘re in the wrong bar…..they’re usually given out free, but not everywhere – Granada’s the place apparently where they're always free.



Pinchos: more than bite – sized and

usually on a piece of French bread with

a cocktail stick through the middle. 

3 or 4 of these pinchos and that's dinner taken care of for me. My favourite one is caramelised onions with melted goat's cheese and a splash of balsamic....mmmmmm! 


Raciones: a portion or platter….
usually to be shared… 

In Bilbao and especially in San Sebastian, the array was dazzling in every single bar/restaurant in the old town area. The atmosphere each night was electric…everyone comes out between about 6-9pm and wanders from one bar to the next. I’ve never seen such displays of food on bar counters. You just help yourself and then when you go to pay you tell the barman how many you’ve had and pay accordingly.
 
One weird aspect of all this is that people drop the tiny paper napkins they use onto the floor…this is definitely the thing to do – no rubbish bins anywhere….but it is a bit disconcerting as sometimes the bars look really messy and dirty and it definitely goes against the grain when you are brought up to always put rubbish either in a rubbish bin or in your pocket – Susan and I were traumatised by having to do this but we got over it quickly enough and went native.

…..and then south to Elviria (Marbella region)

Susan went back to Ireland and I headed down to the south of Spain to visit Mary and Conal who have an apartment there. They’ve stayed for longer durations for a few years now since retirement and semi-retirement but this is the first year they are there for a full 3 months.

We had pretty good weather – even when it’s only 14 deg, if the sun is shining it feels like 20 on their terrace. Suffice to say that I was waited on hand and foot…Mary cooking up a storm of great vegetarian food and Conal doing all the driving and route planning for the hikes.

We did some great classic hikes in the general area and while it was not as hot as it can be at this time of year, it was perfect weather for hiking – with lots of sunshine and blue skies.


Torrecilla and a horseman passing by...showing the way

Torrecilla and the ridge at La Concha.....a 'must do'

On New Year’s Eve we had dinner and then took a trip into Orange Square in the old town of Marbella…the tradition in Spain is to eat 12 grapes as the clock strikes 12….so, 12 grapes in 12 seconds……….try it – it ain’t easy. Each grape represents a month of the following year so you need to make sure you eat 12 to bring good luck. It was interesting to see the results of the cutbacks and the effect on the atmosphere this year – no fireworks and a more muted energy about the place.

What I did notice was a bunch of tourists (mostly British and German) tottering along in high heels on the cobblestones, making their way from whichever restaurant they’d been at with festive hats askew and glasses of champagne spilling onto the street ….not a pretty sight. All in all I’ve come to the conclusion (without being a total killjoy about it) that New Year’s Eve is TOTALLY OVERRATED….

The finer things in life (for some people!) in Puerto Banus near Marbella
 

This trip was a perfect way to end the lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg (unpaid) Christmas break from school (19 days!). I returned to Santander fully refreshed and ready for action. Luckily the first week was just 2 days of classes. Now it’s full steam ahead until Easter, when we just have a four-day break. It was nice seeing the kids again – they were so full of their experiences – no problem getting them to talk about Papa Noel or their big day on the evening of the 24th December, or the three Kings festival, when they always get presents and of course the eating of the 12 grapes at midnight on New Year's Eve.

Observations on Spain….some great things

Their National Health system. I can’t speak for anyone needing a heart bypass operation or similar but for the common or garden stuff – fantastic. I was unfortunate to get strep throat TWICE in the space of 6 weeks, so paid three visits to my doctor in the designated health centre across the road from where I live. The first time she gave me a prescription for antibiotics and painkillers, the second time we tried to avoid the AB and the script was for a powder solution and painkillers and the third time I had to succumb to AB again. Total cost for three doctor visits and three trips to the pharmacy……15 Euro….the equivalent in Ireland would be at least 175 Euro.

They are also extremely efficient – you pop in or phone and usually get an appointment within an hour or so and when you turn up, you are seen bang on time or within 5 minutes. On both cost and efficiency, Ireland could definitely learn a thing or two. It was the same in Portugal. 
 
Dog Poo….they are conscientious!
Lots of people with dogs – they are crazy about them and you see them walking their precious little bundles everywhere. And – here’s the kicker – they really DO pick up the dog poo. Every single time I’ve seen a dog poo the owner has donned the plastic gloves and done the necessary. Definitely makes for more pleasant walking in the streets.

Recycling pedal bins
Rubbish collection – again, the same as Portugal – you can drop your rubbish off every day into recycling bins which are dotted on practically every street (not very aesthetic but very convenient). And they have bins with foot pedals, so you don’t have to open them with your hands and be treated to that awful PONG. They are unsightly though and they are slowly replacing them with smaller compact versions at waist level…..the rubbish goes deep into the ground (don’t ask what happens to it after that or how they empty them!).

WeatherI got a rude awakening in November – suddenly we had two+ weeks of dull, dreary, rainy, depressing weather – in other words, I might as well have been in Ireland. But it came good in the end – thank God – and morphed into a couple of beautiful blue sky and sunshine weeks leading up to Christmas. Santander really is beautiful down by the little port (Puerto Chico) – looking out to the snow-covered Cantabrian mountains over the glistening sea. All in all I’d have to say that the weather has been pretty good since I’ve been here – although the Spanish might not necessarily agree. But when you’re used to living in a country where even the thought of the winter is enough to depress people and we probably have a high rate of people suffering from S.A.D, I find this a very pleasant environment to live it. Mild temperatures (12-16) and enough blue sky days to offset the rainy ones…..we’ll see how we progress over the next couple of months. The other great thing is that it never got dark earlier than 6pm and now it it almost until 6:30pm on a bright sunny day. It really helps you get through winter - in fact it hardly feels like winter at all!
 

….some not so great things

Manners…….our version and the Spanish version
I have been observing this since I came here – it would appear that a lot of Spanish people don’t seem to know how to say:

o   Please

o   Thank you

o   Excuse me

o   You’re welcome

o   Sorry (for pushing past you/into you/bashing through you)

o   Oh I’m sorry….did I just cut in front of you in the queue you’ve been waiting in for 15 minutes, never mind I’ll just do it anyway and keep the customer service person talking for 5 minutes’

o   ‘Oh excuse me, didn’t mean to shove into you in order to get in front of you in the aisle on the plane – never mind, I’ll just shove and say nothing’

And…this is not just me talking – a friend told me that her brother married a Spanish woman and he had to re-educate her to Irish norms….e.g. ‘give me a slice of toast’ or ‘pass the butter’ without the please and thank you just didn’t cut it with his mammy at the Sunday tea!

This is definitely one of the things I’ve had to get used to here, especially in Santander - the attitude of the people in terms of what I consider politeness. For example, someone pushes past you in the street – forget ‘I’m sorry – or ‘excuse me’. Don’t hold your breath, you’ll be waiting.  I've talked to lots of people about it and I now understand that it’s absolutely a cultural thing. But while you have to be open to adjusting to other types of cultural norms (e.g. they don’t eat their evening meal here until about 10pm), it’s hard to adjust to this one – the funny thing about it is that when you discuss this with Spanish people, they nod their heads vigorously and say….’yes, yes, that’s typical Spanish’!

And ......
Just in case you think the sun always shines in this part of the world....it doesn't....I'll leave you with these pictures taken on a 'wet knicker' day in the mountains!!

On that note……Happy New Year everyone and here’s hoping to at least a healthy one – that’s all we need, everything else is a bonus.

¡Hasta luego!

....Hel



Santander - I've arrived

Reconnaissance in Santander - 15th September

Well, after a less than auspicious start to the journey to Santander (sick as a dog the night before and queasy as hell at 07:00 in the morning before my flight).....I was met by Estela, my sister's friend, at the airport. If I had any qualms about 'having' to make conversation and to be 'nice' to people when I felt like shit, then they quickly vanished. Estela and husband Jacobo were the ultimate hosts. I stayed at their gorgeous house in Meruelo - about 30 minutes east of Santander. 


They were fantastic to me and their grown kids came and went with ease....lots of lovely walks on beaches and great swims in the MUCH calmer seas than experienced last year in Espinho. The water was pleasantly warm and luckily Estela is an avid swimmer as well. I also received as introduction to typical Spanish family life and was utterly spoiled, with great food being served up three times a day. I could get used to that! 

Note #1 re Spanish food: they use a hell of a lot of olive oil here in their cooking - Estela kept telling me that it was 'good' oil, etc., but I'm not convinced that Irish constitutions process it in the same way - the jury is out on that one.

Some photos from a beautiful walk on Noja beach which has a very odd 'moonlike' landscape when the tide goes out.



Apartment hunting

So, first thing on the agenda was to try to get an apartment and it proved to be an interesting experience. The criteria were slightly different than those if I were to be staying long-term in Spain and between the jigs and the reels, it took 4 days of traipsing around with an injured leg (painful shin splints), becoming more depressed as I moved from one unsuitable flat to another....but we managed it in the end. It's not perfect - but then nothing is.

The outside of the building is your bog standard street scene but the location is great for my purposes - right in the centre of Santander, and 5 minutes from the train and bus station, which is brilliant for all types of travel. All in all, a stellar job on Estela's part and I definitely wouldn't have found this one without her. It has been completely re-done (all IKEA) and I am the first person to rent it since then. Brand new bed, etc. It's lovely - small and basically an 'all-in-one' studio type setup but very cleverly done. So although I've no outside space, I'm close to the water and all the other advantages make up for any shortcomings - or so I thought.

BUT...........and isn't there always a but...
3 days after moving in....DISASTER STUCK....it turns out there is a café/bar DIRECTLY beneath the apartment that I hadn't reckoned with.

Is a major pain in the butt....in the evening if I turn the TV off it sounds as if there is a party going on in the apartment - and they don't close until 11:30pm...

that's bad enough - but then the clunk, clink, bash, wallop of the cleaning process goes on until about 12:30.....and if THAT's not bad enough, it starts again at 07:00 in the bloody morning. I couldn't believe it....

I did think about moving out but for the moment I'm staying put. Because I will be leaving at the end of June, it would be difficult to secure another apartment for such a short timeframe (I was lucky with this one on that front) and most of the other ones I had looked at were crap anyway. So, Maugie, if you are reading this, I am trying to practise your 'block out the noise' meditation mantra (it's kind of working with the help of ear plugs, playing music, etc) - we'll see! Sometimes it helps to visualise the two guys cleaning after closing and imagining stabbing them with something sharp or gluing their lips together with super glue...ahhh, the imagination.

Santander

It's hard not to compare everything with my experiences in Portugal, especially when the two time lines are so close together and the cultures are not a million miles apart. On the whole, Santander as a location is going to suit me much better than Espinho - much more 'life' around the place, close to a swimming beach (about 2kms) and relatively close to the mountains with many more opportunities to hike. But my initial impressions of Porto were much more 'wow' and 'this place is cool and funky'. Santander is a very nice city but with less charm than Porto. As I said, the other attractions are more important to me and it's early days yet. I like what I see so far and there's lots more exploring to do.

Quick trip back to Ireland - end of September

(Photos courtesy of Fio - my camera was broken)

I went back to Ireland after 10 days for a 'hockey girls' reunion weekend (although we are all more 'auld wans' than girls at this point).


As the saying goes...'old friends are best' and it is true that they accept you for all your faults and are way more tolerant, sharing the same history, etc.

 Lots of eating and drinking and messing and craic (the good kind)....as you can see from this photo we have a new girl's group in the making....and it set me up for the trip back to Santander and the thought - God forbid - of having to actually start WORK?!!!

Teaching....or trying to

The school is about 10 minutes away on the train in a small town called Santa Cruz de Bezana slightly west of Santander. It is quite a small school, which an English friend of Estela's started two years ago and is slowly growing. Liz is the director and couldn't be nicer. She is extremely organised and the school is very well run - quite a contrast to the school in Espinho. Plus the teachers actually get paid on time (late salary payments seems to be a feature of more than a few language schools). A fellow Dubliner, Paul, is also a teacher there. He married one of the many Spanish students who came to Ireland for a summer English course many years ago.

I've been working now for just over a month and it's going well. Much less stressed than this time last year. I have a mixture of class ages and as mentioned before, I know which age group is my favourite - anything over 20! I have three kids' classes twice a week and one of them in particular is doing my head in....I am not equipped to deal with eight 7-8 yr olds....OMG...they require so much energy and patience. These photos are from a Halloween party we held recently - beats giving classes. I know they look cute.....but looks can be deceiving.

You can't take your eyes off them for a second. I've tried a few strategies and have decided the best one is to act like a drill sergeant for half the class and like a benevolent angel for the other half and let them draw and colour to their hearts content. Probably not the best strategy but I think they are at least learning something.

One of my teenage classes - a nice one!
Note it's the girls who dressed up for the occasion

Activities

I've been hiking most Sundays, which is great. The Cantabrian Mountains are quite close - about an hour's drive and I've been on 'strolls' with the official school of languages in Santander - lots of Spanish people learning German/French/English/Italian...etc.  

More of a social outing in a beautiful place with lonnnnnnnnnnng lunch breaks and lots of chat, but I've also been on a couple of more challenging hikes with other people. There seems to be lots of hiking groups here and I'm slowly making contacts.


Swimming

I found a 50 metre pool.....yoohoo! I've never swum in one before and I LUVVVVVE it. More continuity when lap swimming and it's easier to overtake/be overtaken if there are more than a few people in the same lane. It's also sanitised with Ozone, rather than chlorine, which is great as it doesn't have that horrible swimming pool smell (probably just as damaging to you and the environment though)

Hables español?

I'm trying to learn Spanish, which is much, much, much, much, (get the picture) easier than Portuguese (for me anyway). I'm doing an audiotape by Paul Noble (thanks to Marguerite for the tip - I think he is very good) and trying to put it into practise when I'm out and about but I'm still at the stage where I can understand a reasonable amount but cannot put a proper sentence together (there's only so much call for 'I would like to make a reservation for a double room with a bath for two people for two nights' if you catch my drift). But I am determined to get to some level of proficiency during my stay. Not so easy when you're speaking English every day for work and trying to figure out bloody English grammar to present to classes......a Gerund anyone....maybe a Second Conditional or how about a Reflexive Pronoun??

Ok, that's it for now. Weather has been fantastic - in the low to mid-twenties until the very end of October. It has definitely changed now and it feels more like autumn but still relatively balmy so I'll take it.

Lots more exploring to do and observations to make and the next blog will have plenty of those....I have a lot spare time in the mornings and spend time observing all kinds of behaviour, etc......wait for it! Some photos of Santander to finish...

¡Hasta luego!

xoxo....Hel