For those of you looking for the quick fix and the response to the inevitable question "How is spain going?" I provide you with this:
Spain is wonderful. My english worsens as I spend my days speaking in spanglish ; other wise i pretty much e about. My time in spain really humbled my artificial belief in the differences inherent in geography. Really, its just another part of the same world with another part of the same race. The most different thing is really just how they drive, and even that has the same comparitive feel that any american suburb has when compared to any other.
its odd but very cool.
For those of you looking for a slightly longer version, please read on.
Hola a todos!
I hope that everyone is doing well. I believe that everyone has factbook so I wont kill my self reloading photos. If you seek to sneak a view of Santander, tonight's menu has the photo albums entitiled Santander to quench your thirst. If you are vixen enough to view photos of London may I recomend the albums entitled London.
As you can see, recomending things is really easy and so has been the story of my job. The only hard thing I find is following directions. Last week, on saturday, I broke two bottles of wine, three wine classes, one regular glass, wasted two beers from the tap, and, to top it off, threw away a whole bottle of AguaDiente (think over clear, then mark up the price).
Yuppers, bartending is the life for me ^_^
But seriously, I have really just been spending my time singing and dancing. I have been singing more or less the same but dancing has improved. I have been taking a dance class every Monday and Wednesday and we have been Marangue-ing and Cha cha cha-ing it up. Im kind of addicted and Its been an awesome way to meet people. I'm excited to, how do you say, bust some moves this weekend...but I am far from excited to go to work. Who knows, maybe ill start the calling in sick stuff but I really must start saving for...
VACATION 2!
Thats right folks. Vacation two has been decided. You are now reading the blog of a proud soon to be visiting the vatican for christmas and venice for new years individual. Thats right folks...can you say fun? I can...but it seems to make my wallet substantially lighter every time; paradox? I think not.
Regarding London, it was a crazy sucess- failure story. To start negative and end positive: I ran out of money, the exchange rate killed me, I was stranded in london for two nights and lived in the streets, and my travel companions were dying by the last day from illness (not literally).
On the positive side, I had friends who kept spotting me monday, apparently bankrupt has the same value in every country so when I ran out of money I was no longer being affected by the exchange rate (that is REALLY stretching the rose glasses thing but I figure its better than nothing), of the two nights I was stranted, one I met really cool hobos and saw amazing sites like the Thames river, Parliment, Big Ben, the Churchill Monument, Westminster Abbey and some other stuff, and the second night i was stranded I dressed up really nicely with my friends and pretended to be guests at a really nice hotel close by and got free food (oh...Cornell has taught me so much ^_^) and beyond that I got to see my best friend and spend some happy time together.
On balance- i would say it was a good trip if for nothing else than the fact that i got STARBUCKS!!!!! you dont know how much you miss it till its gone, let me tell you lol
Other than that, time has been rather congenial. I have also resolved to relax EVEN more so I joined a swim team which competes around Spain, I changed my spanish class to a spanish literature class (it was grammer and i wanted to die but now its Burges and I just kinda want to smile all the time), and am looking for a second job. I also took it on my self and dropped a bunch of classes and so I am now literally taking 4 courses.
Life is sweet, coffe is bitter, I am poor and my boss is way to rich to fire me.
Despite everything, things seem to be looking up (even though whenever I do it rains in my eyes...but you can take the Cornellian out of Ithaca but you cant take the Weather from the Cornellian).
May your days pass you well as you dance right through them
respectfully submitted-
Z
26.10.07
6.10.07
ch 2. New life
Well, classes have starte and I was going to write this post latter but crazy stuff happened last night so I figured I would write THAT story and then deal with school stuff latter.
So I´m a bartender.
In a super nice restaurant.
That is French.
In Spain.
And it pays well.
But the story...is far less lovable.
So a few days ago, after being mortified by the scracity reflected in my bank account, I started to look for jobs. I went into this random restaurant and was like this preety! I awkwardly approached the bar and was like "Hi. My name is Zeta. I´m looking for work and I would like to lend a hand here." Note, three verb tenses...I practiced this little into in my head 700-800 times and it came out flawless, with a little smile at the end just to make things smooth...thats when things got rough.
The very cool chef, Fernando, came out and after a few formalitites was like sup kid? Do you want to be a Bartender/Waiter or Chef? I stupidly reply, Chef would be good but I can do either. He replied, Do you want to be a Bartender/Waiter or Chef? I reply Chef would be good but I can do either. This exchange was repeated about 2 more times before he was like, ¨So...bartender" and I pulled a little Wicked and said, with rather well placed emotion, "Sounds perfect!" while judiciously omiting the rest of the line, "lets go down to the oz dust ball room.."
Any way, so I had a pretest to see i I was real on Thurday and then Friday was my first day of paid word. Thursday, things went find, I poured drinks, made my first cafe con leche, opened wines, poured, made mixed drinks, fucked up a gin by putting an orange in it...but at least that was to a chef and not a customer lol.
Friday is where the fun being. I arrive with pen and paper in hand to take notes and shit were there notes taken. I basically got a crash course in ridiculously fine dining...I mean I have never eaten at a restaurant this nice.
Some examples. Every table comes with a single, long stem, dried rose in a vase with a two page special apatizer menu. Breads come in 4 ways, there are three types of salt (whose names I can never remember), two types of olive oil (both of which have 4 names, all of which I have to say), and the only thin there is one of is the fish/lobster tank where you can casually decide what you want to eat that day.
When your bread is gone, there is a shiny, stainless steel, dust pan to pick up the crumbs and the music is a techno trancy version of soft pop and random british techno and pop, mixed with a bit of dance music, softly placed for ambiance.
It is beautiful.
I, however, do not add to this.
As I learned, everything went from bad to good, so transition was deffinitly in my cards. The boss´s best friend, the boss´s best friend´s girl friend, and the boss´s best friend´s girl friend´s mom all came to dinner and I, I, was given the HONOR of serving them...oh my god.
Everything from their special wine to start, please, of which I broke the cork, to the champagne to end, of which I broke a glass was a catastrophy punctuated by awesomeness.
The awesomeness was getting plates down, explaning two of the three salts (one I was just like, fuck, its white salt and rather then calling it Sal Maldun (HEY! I rememberd it!)), doing a crazy serving method so I dont ever touch anything so I have to use a special fork and spoon held in a special way to give napkins, place bread, to clear teh table, etc. Things that went wrong, my boss randomly decided today would be a good day to eat with his best friend so I ended up serving HIM too...I was like seriously...how you gonna do that to me on my first day? At one point he asked for the easiest bread to serve (with the special way or wahtever) and i gave him the harest one...and he looked at me and was like "no, you should have given me chapata." ater an awkward moment of internal trnaslation I just smile and walked away...mostoso like no other
Any way, things continued and the dya progressed. The bar wanned and the serving waxe and I was constantly remined of the act that Amanda is like you NEED to be a waiter to get appreciation and waht not and bc i really wanted to do this forever and all summer she was telling me to do this and I never did..well now I am and its fucking hard!
Ps- if you are a waiter you are invisible and its a strange and random feeling that is hard to explain why you feel it but its because no one recognizes you...its like background noise but then its kina liberating when you embrase it and let you self be like the wind!
Any way, so the night ended on a good note when, after the boss left, and just the serbian, columbian and I were left. Naturally, I dont even know why I was suprised sine its so obvious it woudl heppen, they kept on low lights and some special lights, poured rum and cokes (with orange and lemon inside...soooo gooood) and broke down this restaurant club style...very fun and very " i have repressed worker issues" but it was cool and remined me that things are teh same the world over
Possibly the best part though...I got a super official corkscrew-bottle opener-etc thing as a starting.
Any way...today is day two of the test and I hope i Didn´t jinx it by writing this but, as they say, good stories left to dry are moments forgotten and then soon die.
Your barrista,
So I´m a bartender.
In a super nice restaurant.
That is French.
In Spain.
And it pays well.
But the story...is far less lovable.
So a few days ago, after being mortified by the scracity reflected in my bank account, I started to look for jobs. I went into this random restaurant and was like this preety! I awkwardly approached the bar and was like "Hi. My name is Zeta. I´m looking for work and I would like to lend a hand here." Note, three verb tenses...I practiced this little into in my head 700-800 times and it came out flawless, with a little smile at the end just to make things smooth...thats when things got rough.
The very cool chef, Fernando, came out and after a few formalitites was like sup kid? Do you want to be a Bartender/Waiter or Chef? I stupidly reply, Chef would be good but I can do either. He replied, Do you want to be a Bartender/Waiter or Chef? I reply Chef would be good but I can do either. This exchange was repeated about 2 more times before he was like, ¨So...bartender" and I pulled a little Wicked and said, with rather well placed emotion, "Sounds perfect!" while judiciously omiting the rest of the line, "lets go down to the oz dust ball room.."
Any way, so I had a pretest to see i I was real on Thurday and then Friday was my first day of paid word. Thursday, things went find, I poured drinks, made my first cafe con leche, opened wines, poured, made mixed drinks, fucked up a gin by putting an orange in it...but at least that was to a chef and not a customer lol.
Friday is where the fun being. I arrive with pen and paper in hand to take notes and shit were there notes taken. I basically got a crash course in ridiculously fine dining...I mean I have never eaten at a restaurant this nice.
Some examples. Every table comes with a single, long stem, dried rose in a vase with a two page special apatizer menu. Breads come in 4 ways, there are three types of salt (whose names I can never remember), two types of olive oil (both of which have 4 names, all of which I have to say), and the only thin there is one of is the fish/lobster tank where you can casually decide what you want to eat that day.
When your bread is gone, there is a shiny, stainless steel, dust pan to pick up the crumbs and the music is a techno trancy version of soft pop and random british techno and pop, mixed with a bit of dance music, softly placed for ambiance.
It is beautiful.
I, however, do not add to this.
As I learned, everything went from bad to good, so transition was deffinitly in my cards. The boss´s best friend, the boss´s best friend´s girl friend, and the boss´s best friend´s girl friend´s mom all came to dinner and I, I, was given the HONOR of serving them...oh my god.
Everything from their special wine to start, please, of which I broke the cork, to the champagne to end, of which I broke a glass was a catastrophy punctuated by awesomeness.
The awesomeness was getting plates down, explaning two of the three salts (one I was just like, fuck, its white salt and rather then calling it Sal Maldun (HEY! I rememberd it!)), doing a crazy serving method so I dont ever touch anything so I have to use a special fork and spoon held in a special way to give napkins, place bread, to clear teh table, etc. Things that went wrong, my boss randomly decided today would be a good day to eat with his best friend so I ended up serving HIM too...I was like seriously...how you gonna do that to me on my first day? At one point he asked for the easiest bread to serve (with the special way or wahtever) and i gave him the harest one...and he looked at me and was like "no, you should have given me chapata." ater an awkward moment of internal trnaslation I just smile and walked away...mostoso like no other
Any way, things continued and the dya progressed. The bar wanned and the serving waxe and I was constantly remined of the act that Amanda is like you NEED to be a waiter to get appreciation and waht not and bc i really wanted to do this forever and all summer she was telling me to do this and I never did..well now I am and its fucking hard!
Ps- if you are a waiter you are invisible and its a strange and random feeling that is hard to explain why you feel it but its because no one recognizes you...its like background noise but then its kina liberating when you embrase it and let you self be like the wind!
Any way, so the night ended on a good note when, after the boss left, and just the serbian, columbian and I were left. Naturally, I dont even know why I was suprised sine its so obvious it woudl heppen, they kept on low lights and some special lights, poured rum and cokes (with orange and lemon inside...soooo gooood) and broke down this restaurant club style...very fun and very " i have repressed worker issues" but it was cool and remined me that things are teh same the world over
Possibly the best part though...I got a super official corkscrew-bottle opener-etc thing as a starting.
Any way...today is day two of the test and I hope i Didn´t jinx it by writing this but, as they say, good stories left to dry are moments forgotten and then soon die.
Your barrista,
1.10.07
A fin por los empesandos (The end of the beginnings)
Well, as is to be expected, the summer came to an end and classes have begun but not with out a last hurrah, of sorts.
I'M GOING TO BARCELONA!!!
Thats what I was saying last Tednesday. Last Tuesday night i relaized that I am devistatingly poor and my value, economically speaking, goes down with every moment i live in Spain and the dollar becomes weaker, as it happens even now...as I write, in comparrison to the Euro.
As they say in Spain, joder.
Any way, I thought a more earthy (read: cheap) trip would be more fun (read: wise). As such, last wednesday, and bunch of americans and I sudenly realized that we all love hiking. Less than 12 house latter we were on a bus to the Picos de Europa, considered one of the most beautiful ranges in Europe, becoming more and more accessible at its base but, with climate change, more hazerdous at its peak. Needless to say, it was phenomenal. We hiked through the picos (and under my auspicious [read: trickerous ways {I kinda convinved people that a red trail, the hardest, was a green, easiest...in the end they thanked me! it was beautiful...really, they did} -_- stop judging] took some beautiful walks)...like straight through. I never imagined it could be so beautiful. We started at a town called Fuente de, after passing a church that has the largest people of THE cross inside it!
Any way, so we started off to some...sites that were all right, in a pueblo called Funte De. I'm not bragging or anything, but it may have, possibly, been awesome. the hike up was a beautiful trail of many many switch backs that took us up through the pass you see there.
a
The trai was marked, as shown here. It was carzy to see the random yellow and white bands but eventually it became an imspiration, well possibly annoyingly so, because I started called the trail the trail of equality an, in a moment of exasperation, one of the hikers quitely mused "Open minds, open hearts, open trails." Her absent musing was so awesome that I literally fell off the trail (luckily up hill) laughing. Any way, you can take the student out of cornell...
Any way, on the way up to the top, I, being me, naturally got scared out of my wits. literally, as we were toping the pass and going between the highest point on our trail, out of nowhere, a vaca/cow appeared with horns like sabers, ready to spear me.
The other people on the trip said it was cute and slow, but, trust me, I know...it was blood thirsty and about to turn to a carnivors life...if you could have only seen its blood thirsty eyes and sharp teeth, pefectly suited for chewing grass...or flesh!
Any way, the view from teh top was, to say the least, inspiring.
That night we stayed at a hostel which was basically a refridgerator with 4, unused, cold, sad, beds. But, other than that, it came with a kitchen, utinsils, a stove, tables, napkins, and everything- all for 7 euros...
While leaving, the view was pretty good too.
The next day had some random sites...
I thought this was a house but apparently it was a mine walled up because you could not go inside any more after it had been closed up because ther was a collapse
This is hte awesome tree that I thought was a ... well tree but it was an AWESOME tree!
There was also some very exciting water along the way which was a strange color and of course an awesome bridge, because what trip is complete with out the perfect bridge with running water beneath it?
Any way, the rest of the trip was eventfull...ish. We all kinda hyperventilated when the never ending valley didn't end but then it did, and that wasnt so bad. We made it back safe and sound and classes have begun. Ill send a happy message soon about classes and everything im learning and what not ^_^
Heres to all you chaps at home!
I'M GOING TO BARCELONA!!!
Thats what I was saying last Tednesday. Last Tuesday night i relaized that I am devistatingly poor and my value, economically speaking, goes down with every moment i live in Spain and the dollar becomes weaker, as it happens even now...as I write, in comparrison to the Euro.
As they say in Spain, joder.
Any way, I thought a more earthy (read: cheap) trip would be more fun (read: wise). As such, last wednesday, and bunch of americans and I sudenly realized that we all love hiking. Less than 12 house latter we were on a bus to the Picos de Europa, considered one of the most beautiful ranges in Europe, becoming more and more accessible at its base but, with climate change, more hazerdous at its peak. Needless to say, it was phenomenal. We hiked through the picos (and under my auspicious [read: trickerous ways {I kinda convinved people that a red trail, the hardest, was a green, easiest...in the end they thanked me! it was beautiful...really, they did} -_- stop judging] took some beautiful walks)...like straight through. I never imagined it could be so beautiful. We started at a town called Fuente de, after passing a church that has the largest people of THE cross inside it!
Any way, so we started off to some...sites that were all right, in a pueblo called Funte De. I'm not bragging or anything, but it may have, possibly, been awesome. the hike up was a beautiful trail of many many switch backs that took us up through the pass you see there.
aThe trai was marked, as shown here. It was carzy to see the random yellow and white bands but eventually it became an imspiration, well possibly annoyingly so, because I started called the trail the trail of equality an, in a moment of exasperation, one of the hikers quitely mused "Open minds, open hearts, open trails." Her absent musing was so awesome that I literally fell off the trail (luckily up hill) laughing. Any way, you can take the student out of cornell...
Any way, on the way up to the top, I, being me, naturally got scared out of my wits. literally, as we were toping the pass and going between the highest point on our trail, out of nowhere, a vaca/cow appeared with horns like sabers, ready to spear me.
The other people on the trip said it was cute and slow, but, trust me, I know...it was blood thirsty and about to turn to a carnivors life...if you could have only seen its blood thirsty eyes and sharp teeth, pefectly suited for chewing grass...or flesh!
Any way, the view from teh top was, to say the least, inspiring.
That night we stayed at a hostel which was basically a refridgerator with 4, unused, cold, sad, beds. But, other than that, it came with a kitchen, utinsils, a stove, tables, napkins, and everything- all for 7 euros...
While leaving, the view was pretty good too.
The next day had some random sites...
I thought this was a house but apparently it was a mine walled up because you could not go inside any more after it had been closed up because ther was a collapse
This is hte awesome tree that I thought was a ... well tree but it was an AWESOME tree!
There was also some very exciting water along the way which was a strange color and of course an awesome bridge, because what trip is complete with out the perfect bridge with running water beneath it?
Any way, the rest of the trip was eventfull...ish. We all kinda hyperventilated when the never ending valley didn't end but then it did, and that wasnt so bad. We made it back safe and sound and classes have begun. Ill send a happy message soon about classes and everything im learning and what not ^_^
Heres to all you chaps at home!
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