My first venture out solo

I flew into the Bonn/Cologne airport last Thursday night. A guy connected with Liz´s team, I don´t know how, picked me up. He had a little white sign that said my name and everything. Falk was his name. I´m thinking of naming my first child that now, boy or girl. He carted me over to the gym and I walked in to see Liz smiling up at me on a water break. It was wonderful to see such a friendly familiar face in a foreign land. We hugged, sweat and all, and I watched the last hour of her practice.

Leeza gave us a ride home afterwards and we got home around 10:30. We chatted for a long time. Liz was telling me how there are days when she doesn´t even speak to anyone. But, she´ll be starting German classes soon and hopefully getting a computer. So, as you can imagine, she told me everything that has been swimming around in her brain for the last week and a half. Really, it was great, because I missed her and it was so fun to catch up. As I told you in the last blog, she had a cake made and we did a little celebration that consisted of the cake and then a trip downtown by bus for McDonalds at midnight.

I think McDonalds tastes better in Germany than in America. Plus, their workers have to be fairly educated, as it´s in high demand to know english since it´s an American establishment. Anyhow, we walked around downtown at night and looked at the cute little old town with all the typical looking European buildings. We planned our shopping for the next day, which included H&M. I visited 3 H&Ms in Germany. Yes, I´m obsessed. But, they all have some different stuff, so I had to.

Before I get too far into my description, here are the pics I took of Liz´s living sitch...
To the left is Liz hanging off the stop sign at the end of her adorable little street in Bonn.
To the right is Liz eating some of the cake she made me in her cute little kitchen. We finished half of it before going to McD´s. Liz lives on her own in a basement apartment. You walk into one main room and there´s a tiny hallway with a shower on one side and a toilet/sink on the other. Walk up a few stairs in front of you and enter this cutie kitchen. The whole set up reminded me of that Geico commercial with the people in a tiny house... but just right for a Liz.
To the left is Liz unlocking the door to her apartment. As you can see, she has not given up on the open mouth smile, nor do I think she ever will. She is even getting her German team to join in. It´s an international sensation. But, as Dave will tell you, I will never give up on the Darby face, which inevitably messes up any nice picture my mom likes to take. To the right is the front of Liz´s house, where the owner of her team lives with her daughters.

Now, on to the festivities of the visit. We got a couple beers before we went home on Thursday night because you have to drink beer in Germany, it´s like water. I forget which kind we had, but Liz said each region has it´s own type and I think we got the special type for Bonn. And, you can´t really get a "normal" sized beer there, they all sort of look like 40s. So, Liz and I sat at a bus stop and drank 40s in Germany at 1 o´clock in the morning. How great is that? I´m sure we poured some out for our American homies too. We are so classy. Even more classy, we tried to take them on the bus, but that didn´t fly. Oh well.

Since Dave got me the Gilmore Girls season 6, we had to marathon watch that until 5 in the morning once we got home. Liz watched the entire thing throughout the course of the weekend and I watched all but 5. It´s 22 episodes long, about 45 minutes a piece. I think that´s quite a feat.

Friday morning, we awoke at the crack of 1 p.m. Liz is still adjusting from the jet lag. We went out to the town, I guess it´s a town, of Bad Godesberg. Maybe it was just the name of the castle we went to, I dunno. Anyhow, we bussed it in and walked around yet another adorable oldtown area. Here´s a picture of one of the streets, to the right.

There is a castle there that Liz had been wanting to hike to the top of for a while, so we did. I think it was just called Bad Godesberg. I haven´t done any research on why it´s there yet, but it was pretty and had a nice view. Here are a few pics...
The castle from a distance to the left.
To the right is the view from the top. That long white row of buildings and the steeple are sort of the central old town in the Bad Godesberg area I think. Liz will probably read this later and say, Darby is so wrong, she is talking out of her "culo" as we say here is Spain.
To the left is Liz on the top edge of the top tower of the castle of Bad Godesberg. There was a large red sign on the side that said "verbotten" something or other, but we are just dumb Americans, we don´t know any German and also feel a sense of entitlement to whatever we want, so, Liz jumped up and I snapped the shot. She got me to go up and took a picture too. It was a bad one and there was no way I was getting back up there. Really though, it´s Liz´s town, so she´s the only one who should be on top of it.

From there we checked out the H&M and took a bus down town for huge bratwurst and fries. They were the yummiest. The fries, pommes, were a little yellow, but so good. Maybe they used yellow potatoes, but I prefer them to many from home. Maybe they used butter to cook them, oh yum. I´m trying not to be a fatty by the time I come home, but I´m not doing so well so far. I haven´t gained weight, but we´ll see.

Friday night we went to a team party at Liz´s teammate Hannah´s. We were all set to dance around and get crazy, but it was a more mature crowd. Mostly we ate and chatted with eachother as everyone else talked in German. We talked with Liz´s coach Lucas (pronounced Lew-kass) and her teammate Vera, who is very sweet, for a bit. As it got later and we got bored, we decided to surf the net. We had asked Liz´s teammates if they like David Hasselhoff because we heard he was huge in Germany. They laughed and said no. But, this made me remember "Jump in My Car", so I had to show it to her. We found it, but couldn´t hear it, so turned it up. As we did so, the song became quite loud in the other room. Suddenly, we realized the music that was playing at the party was hooked up to the computer. So, Liz thought fast and unplugged the speakers really fast before anyone realized the song was playing. This caused a huge screetch to occur for a few seconds, which was much more disruptive than the song. We laughed our asses off as everyone stared. Oh well.

Saturday was another late wake up. We found a Bagel Brothers, so yummy, in downtown Bonn around 2 and took a train into Cologne for the afternoon. Cologne is home to the most visited site in all of Germany, the Cologne Cathedral. We walked out of the train station and there it was, right in front of us...

I couldn´t even get the whole thing in one picture, it´s humongous! We got a little further away and asked a guy to take a picture of us. Below is what we got, which caused another fit of laughter.
Liz had heard that we MUST hike to the top steeple and look at the view. The hike was interesting. Very skinny spiral staircase of over 500 steps. Oh, and there were people going up and going down the same staircase. Nuts. There should have been a body circumfrence limit for sure and a pre-climb deoderant check. But, the top yielded the largest working chruch bell in the world, which I´d post a picture of, but it´s just a bell and this blog is getting long. The viewing deck was kind of lame, all caged in, but we got some good pics I think...


The first one on the right is between some of the gothic-ness of the top steeple. A lovely view of the Rhine River and the waterfront. The one on the left was just a cool view so I snapped it.
Pretty huh? Well, it was a very fun time. For the rest of the afternoon we went to, guess where... H&M. I went on another birthday spree and bought an awesome striped hoodie, yellow and olive green, and some cool brown striped pants that look like slacks, but have a sweatband tie waist for super comfort. And, no, they were not in the maternity section.

Here ends the first edition of my blog on Germany. The rest is all basketball all the time, so I thought it would be good to put it together. I´ll try to write that one tonight after the kids are in bed.

So, a mini-update on me has more to do with my sis than me. For those of you who don´t know, a team in Norway flew Whit to England to play in a tourney this weekend and she has 10 days to prove she´s good or they´re shipping her home. It´s so exciting! I can´t wait to go visit her, providing she doesn´t get the axe, love you Whit. I´m planning my week off in December to go to Norway and then Ireland. Pretty freakin cool.

For the immediate future, I´m staying in town again this weekend because we have bball practice Friday and I feel bad missing because I missed all last week. Sunday, the fam comes home early from France for Alexis´catechism, pre-speech on Sunday. I´ll probably go to that and then travel with the team to Vitoria where they have a game. I´m pumped about that because then I can maybe get to know the girls better. Coach Inaki, not the weird old guy, made me a spanish CD of music to listen to, per my request. It´s mp3´s so there are like 150 songs on it! Awesome. I can only listen to it on the computer, but I´m going to try to figure out how to get it onto my IPod, my skills from O-Live must be helpful in some way, right?

Thanks for reading, and until next time, here are some goodbye pictures from Liz and I to you...

Mi Cumpleanos

My first birthday abroad went off without a hitch. I think a good time was had by all. I had a language share and checked out a school concert with Annika in the morning and the Rigaults through me a little party in the evening, complete with a bit of jewelry and a CD, how nice! But it didn´t stop there. Liz made me a cake and got me a little sumpin, sumpin too. Thanks for all the emails on the day, it was just great to hear from every one. Here are a couple of pictures...

This is me blowing out my candles at the Rigaults. I´m wearing the necklace Louise gave me. It was a cheesecake, a bit chewy and the words they had written on it slid off to the side. Catherine was pissed and said she´d fire someone Monday for it, ha ha! I still thought it was nice that they got me a cake.

This is my really super cool cake the Rigaults put sparklers on. Really neat to see.

Catherine and I on my big day. Thanks so much for the celebration!

Birthday cake number 2 occurred at Liz´s in Germany, what a sweetie that girl is. I´ll make a couple other blogs about that trip, but I´m putting all teh birthday stuff here. I arrived in Bonn and went straight to Liz´s practice. We went over to her apartment after and she had made an awesome brownie/cake. I blew out the candles and then we went to McDonalds. How wonderful. Here´s that pic...

Liz couldn´t find a 2, so she bought two 1´s for me, as you can see on the cake. How inventive!

Ok, so as I said, I´ll do one blog on the trip to Liz´s and one blog on teh basketball part of it, to sort of split things up. Maybe one tonight, but maybe not. For sure check back tomorrow though for the Darby and Liz German Extravaganza!

Darby Day Eve

The fiesta known to some as "La Fiesta de Pilar", to others as, "Darby Day", is here tomorrow! I allowed myself a little shopping spree at H&M to celebrate. Not too much of one though. I´d ratehr travel and look like crap than don some sweet threads and sit at home.

Really, I´m up to my same ol tricks. Good practice last night and a good class this morning. Annika and I went shopping after, obviously, and she was amazed by Le Clerc and it´s enormity. She says they have nothing like it in Germany. We don´t have much like it in teh U.S. either, but all our stores are so big, so the idea of a humongous store is not off my map.

I´m still waiting to have my first encounter with the Euro GAP. I´ll need some money saved for that because I can´t be held responsible for my actions in that store.

Tomorrow I have a language share at 10:30 and than am meeting annika for a concert put on by the university at noon. That´s about the extent of my birthday plans. I have a few random pictures for you though...
This, to the left, is a really old house in teh middle of down town Pamplona. I went down there yesterday to buy a bus ticket and spied it on the corner of one of the many round abouts (they don´t really have stop lights here, just big circles you have to sort of double dutch your way into without hitting the rope, so to speak). I thought it was cool, so I snapped it. I´m told it´s still a residence, which is extra cool.
To the right is the neighborhood dog. He lives with a man around the corner from our house that owns some pigs. It´s always kind of stinky over there, but he´s a very good dog. He never barks and is always just sort of hanging around in teh street for a pet or a pat on the head.
To the left is a hedge that runs all along the sidewalk on my way out to the trail where I jog. It always smells like mint and pumpernickel, in other words, delicious. Mom, do you know what kind of hedge it is?
This picture of the clouds is specifically for Whitty the Woo Cave. It was much more breathtaking in person, but I thought you´d enjoy the cloud picture, since you take so many. I´d say we´ve got better clouds in Spain than in Portland. France had some good ones too. You better come check it out Whits.
And finally, to the left is a picture of the largest boxes of cereal I have ever seen. The ones on the lower shelves are regular sized, so you can tell how huge they are. But, I was rather disappointed when I picked one up to have Annika take a picture of me next to... it was empty. Sorry Kev, your dream ceareal box is a fake. But, pretty cool lookin´.

I´m not sure when I´ll get to blog again. Tomorrow´s going to be busy and I´m heading to Bonn on Thursday. I´ll get something up after my trip ASAP. Adios.

Go team!

I snagged a few pics from the game last night so you all can see where I practice and who with. Team Navarra (that´s us) smoked team Logrono by about 20, it was awesome. To the left is a picture of the gym from the bleachers up above. Usually, while we practice, two screens are down, dividing it into 3 courts, which we use one of. There´s also a sport court with a blue rubber floor in another building that we sometimes practice on. Down at the far end, you can see team Navarra chatting at halftime.



This picture to the right is sorta blurry, I had to brighten it a lot. Team Navarra is in blue. #14 is Maria. This is pretty much where she stays on offense, or "attaque" as it´s called here. She likes to rome around the 3, hit a shot or drive. I think Izaskun and Pui are in the middle, following the shot. Those two are some hard workers. Izaskun drives and finishes really well and Puis always all over the place. I can´t tell who´s being blocked out in the post, but Anna took the shot, barely visible on the right. She´s only 16 years old and a very good shooter.

I found out last nigth that most of my team is are still in their teens! Maria and Pui are 23 and 25, but the average age is probably 19. It´s so weird I´m playing with girls who are younger than ones I´ve coached. But, whatever, as long as it´s basketball.

Now, I want to show you a picture of Lourdes and I, since she´s so wonderful and sweet...
She doesn´t usually have that weird look on her face, I just don´t think she was ready for the picture. It´s the only one I have of she and I, so, sorry Lourdes.

Finally, here is a lovely picture of myself in my element... writing blogs to my friends and family back home in my sweet gnome pajamas on a Sunday morning.


Have a great Sunday! It´s gorgeous here in Darblona, sunny and crisp. I better get a run in before the "chocolate drawer" placed accessibly in the kitchen and filled with Swiss Milka chocolate, catches up with me. I think it´s safe to say I´ve had a bit of chocolate in some form every day I´ve been here. Yikes stripes! Love to ya.

Bonn Voyage!

So... I´m going to Bonn for my birthday! It´s so exciting. Liz and I will have a couple days together to hang out and then she has a game in Halle Sunday night. Her coach said he´s 95 percent sure that I can just ride with the team to watch the game. Isn´t that cool? I get to see Liz play basketball in Germany! I´ll be sure to take pictures for the blog so you can all see too.

I had my first language share with Lourdes this morning. I loved it. We talked for almost 2 hours, which is extra long. My head was spinning by the time we were done, but she says I´m understanding her a lot better than when we first met and that she understands me when I speak, which is good. Now I need to get the grammar and more vocabulary down.

Going over to her house is like going to see one of my grandmothers. She just welcomed me right in, had an extatic smile on her face the whole time and fed me cookies and tea. We don´t even speak the same language and I know very little about her life, but I know she´s one of the sweetest people I´ve ever met. If anyone wants to come visit, we´ll certainly swing by her apartment to say hello.

Tonight my team has a game, so I´ll go watch, which is cool and lame at the same time. I´d so much rather be out there playing. Last night at practice, Maria got stuck guarding me, meaning she´s a guard, not a post, so it´s pretty easy to score on her. Everyone is a little bit impressed with the hook shot right now because it´s unfamiliar to them. Just wait until I start launching them from 15 feet out, they´ll get tired of it really quick. Anyhow, she and I would just laugh every time I scored on her. We also played this game where it´s one on one, you start at half court and just go at the basket and try to score over the D. Once I faked like I was going to one hoop and went to the other one and that got a good laugh because it left Maria in the dust.

I´m not meaning to toot my own horn here, I just think it´s cool that jokes and silliness can come across even though we´re not using words. We chatted a little bit more last night, some of the girls on the team and I, but the true evidence of our characters and who we each are as people is shown while we play better than when we attempt to talk. It´s pretty neat.

One thing I do understand though is when the girls cuss. And, it´s a lot, they have potty mouths. If they ever miss a shot, it´s "mierda", shit. Yesterday I heard a new one, "hijo de puta", which is son of a bitch. And those are the only two I´m familiar with, just wait until i have a larger vocab. Hilarious.

I don´t curse too much, only yell when I get pissed, thanks to the excellent training in biting my tongue I received at GFU. So, it always sort of shocks me when I hear it and understand it. Funny stuff. Watch out... I may come back with the mouth of a Spanish sailor : )

As you can tell, my first weekend alone is going pretty well. I felt lonely last night, but after practice, I felt better. I watched Mrs. Doubtfire for some nannying tips after my language share this afternoon and had fresh tomatos and fresh buffalo mozzarella (that title is so funny) with olive oil and a little fish dish for lunch. Yummy! Now, I´m going to shop a bit more for my mom´s birthday present and try to explore downtown. Hasta luego!

Odd food no. 2

For the first time ever, I ate a lichi yesterday. It was really good. The best way I can describe the texture and flavor is a mix between a grape and an onion. I know it sounds gross, but it´s not. The peel is bright pink, the color of a raspberry, but looks a lot like the bud from a dog wood tree. You tear it off and a soft, juicy, white fruit is inside. It´s shaped like a tiny pumpkin, but feels like the inside of a grape. It´s very sweet with a bit of bitterness. I´m not sure if we have them in the states, but check them out if you can, like at Zupans or something.

Mini-update

Not much has been up in Spain the last couple days. I´ve been going to practice and class and driving the kids around and eating of course. I´ve also been hunting this little bird that pirches on the window sill when I´m on the computer. Dave was wondering what types of birds and bugs we have over here and I keep trying to get a pic of this bird and it always flies away.

As far as basket goes, the team is now talking to the German Embassy to see if I have enough german blood to play in games. Remember the older guy who I talked to to start playing on the team, Yuso? Well, I saw him again last night and it was weird. He´s always grabbing my neck or putting his arm around me. Maybe it´s just my American bubble of space, but I´m weirded out. We´re going to start a language share on Monday mornings, during which he will stay on his side of the table at all times.

Next week is a holiday for half the week. I say it´s for my birthday, but the Spanish say it´s for some other important thing, whatever. I get Thursday-Sunday off, so I´m going to try and fly to Bonn, Germany to see Liz play a little German ball. I´m sure we´ll eat lots of sausages and drink lots of beer too. I can´t wait! It´ll be so nice to see a friendly face on my birthday! I hope it works out.

Class is about the same. I´m staying home this weekend while the family is in France to catch up on studying and try to go do a language share with Lourdes. A girl from my Spanish class, Annika, and I are going to a movie Sunday as well. A Spanish movie and we´ll speak in Spanish. She´s German and has a little german accent in Spanish and English. Charming. I also plan on exploring downtown a bit more and to go to the bus station and check out schedules for weekend trips.

Louise and i are meeting Catherine and the older son, Max, for Chinese in a few, so I better run. I´m enjoying my time here, but I miss all the little things from home too. Say hello to Portland for me!

France-y Shmancy

I went, I saw, I had a crepe. The weekend in France was very nice. The family´s home there is called Patxoula (Puh-choo-luh) and it´s in a small town called Villefranque. It reminded me of a beach town in Oregon, though it´s not close to the beach. There is a central town area with a grocery store, bakery, dentist, restaurant, etc. You drive out into the country side and that´s where all the homes are... large ones. All the buildings seem to be white stucco with red trim in Villefranque and there are lots of rolling green hills. Here is a picture of Patxoula:
I tried to brighten it up a bit, sorry it´s so dark. You enter through a large wooden gate and come down a long driveway to get to it. Like a fairy tale. There´s one large central room when you walk it with windowns from floor to ceiling looking out over the park-like backyard. To the left is the kitchen and, right, is a TV room. The colors inside are very bright reds and yellows. Upstairs are all teh bedrooms. Here´is a picture of the backyard and pool:
The water was very warm and it was nice out Sunday, so we got to go swimming. I was feeling a bit under the weather, so I slept til 11 both days, yikes! France is for rest, not work, so I had the weekend off though I was with the family.

Louise and I went into Bayonne, the larger town the home is near. My friend Paul infromed me yesterday that it´s the birthplace of the bayonette. Don´t you love items that can do you double damage in a violent way? I know I do... right. Anyhow, the town is charming. Lots of long, skinny cobblestone streets with high apartment buildings on each side and shops on the ground floors. It´s just what you´d imagine old time Europe would look like. Here are some pictures from downtown Bayonne:














The one on the left is Louise in front of the fountain in sort of the center of downtown across from teh cathedral. In the picture to the right you can see the narrow streets and the cathedral´s peak sticking up in the background. This one below on teh left is of homes and apartments that sit right on the river, across from downtown Bayonne. While taking this picture, two French guys came up to me and babbled a bunch in French and then walked away. Louise informed me that one came up and said, "hey, baby, I lost your number, can you give it to me again?" When I didn´t answer, he said, "fine, we´re through then," and walked away. So I guess I had a French boyfriend for a minute and we broke up. Not everyone can say that. Is it cheating if it´s only for a minute? Please forgive me Daveo.

In the ehart of downtown Bayonne lies a huge cathedral. You´ll just be walking along and suddenly a street will open onto a square, the picture with Louise in it. The cathedral is situated there and here are a few pics:

On the right you´ll see the spires of the building from inside. There´s sort of an open walkway all around a grass courtyard when you walk in. The actual church part was locked, so we just looked around the courtyard. Below is one of the corners of the courtyard. I was standing behind one of those open walls you see across the way from me when I took the picture. Hopefully that gives you an idea of what it looked like.





To the right here, you´ll see a statue from the cathedral. It´s headless. Louise, the ever informative tour guide, told me that during the French Revolution, they cut the heads off all the statues of kings and queens in the cathedral. Very interesting. So, none of the statues have heads.

After our tour of the town, Louise and I met the family a few blocks up, at Jose´s apartment. I got to meet his family and have some champagne and enjoy the old architecture of their apartment. It is three levels up, right next to the city walls and gates, in the middle of downtown. As Jose informed me, if you have a house in France, it´s out in the country. Most people actually live right downtown rather than out in neighborhoods. It really preserves an old time feel I think.

That was about the extent of Bayonne, but on Sunday, we got to visit the chateau the family is renovating. It´s so beautiful and Louise told me it once belonged to Napoleon... yes, THE Napoleon Bonaparte. Wow. When they bought it, it had been burnt out and had squaters living in it for years. They had to start from the ground up to rebuild it. It reminds me of something out of a Jane Austen movie. Here´s a picture of the home from the outside and the view from the top room:





Gorgeous to see! The inside is still being worked on, but it reminds me of that Charlie Brown cartoon where they´re in France in a chateau... yeah. The grounds also have a chapel and stables, but the pics I took are too dark to post. Anyhow, cool stuff.

Those are pretty much the highlights of my first trip to France. It was cool, when we crossed the border Catherine and I did a little celebration for my first time there. No champagne in the car of course. We had a bunch of special food while there as well. Fresh bread from teh bakery every day, a berry tart with berry mouse inside, the best souffle of my life (only the 2nd, but incomparable to the one from Morton´s at home), fresh mushrooms sauteed with cilantro, and fau grau (sp?). Yes, I ate duck liver. And, it´s not bad. Very dense and slicable, it could easily be a spread. If I hadn´t known it was duck liver, I may have enjoyed it more.

Now, a quick update on my vacation time... I have the 1st week in December off, not January, so if anyone wants to come travel with me during that time, lemme know and we can plan. I´m thinking Ireland, London or Paris. The family has decided not to go on the African safari, but rather go to an African island off the coast of Portugal and they´re inviting me to go! So, I´ll be in Africa for Christmas, isn´t that cool/nuts? I´m not sure if I´ll get a chance to come home until July, which is a little sad, but I knew this might be the case. I´ll blog more tomorrow or so on some of the regular day to day, but I hope you enjoy this one! Love to all.

The land of fries and cheese

I´m off to the family´s home in France this weekend! I´m so excited to see it and just relax. I don´t have to work, just come along for the ride. I´ll be sure to take lots of pictures and post them as soon as I can. Until then, here´s a lovely picture of me. I think I look a little more Spanish, don´t you?I got a little preview of France last night when I sat down to dinner with Catherine and her friend Jose (Joe-zay) after the kids went to bed. As soon as our bums hit the chairs, they were off, burbling on in French. I couldn´t understand it, but I loved listening to it. All the gurgling throat noises and cooing made me want to take a nap, or maybe that was the champagne...? I think I watched them talk for an hour! Very interesting. By the end we switched over to English and started discussing world leaders. Jose is a big fan of America. He lived there for a while in various places. I think he owns a beer and sells it all over the world, but I´m not sure. Anyhow, he´s a huge Hilary Clinton fan, which I thought was pretty cool.

Oh, and Jose was such a professional eater! He´d grab a few pieces of jamon with his fork, fold them into a small ball with his knife, pop it in and chew. Honestly, I´ve only ever used my knife to cut things. I need to work on my utensil ettiquete. Jose cut every rind of cheese off perfectly and piled them neatly on the side of his plate, he even cut his tiny desserts into even tinier desserts. It was amazing to see, a skilled eater weho I can learn from.

On a side note, I still haven´t been able to buy my Spanish books, which is making me nervous. If I can´t get them this afternoon, I won´t be able to until Monday, which will be crunch time to get my tarea done. I´ll write again sunday or monday!

I´m so European!

Well, it looks like the easiest way for me to be able to travel with the b-ball team is to find some European heritage in my blood. Obviously, I´m not Native American, so it sghouldn´t be too hard. But, I don´t know what percentage I need to be.

Another good practice tonight. I didn´t have as much time to talk with the girls, but I got some names at the end of practice. You know how every school has that funny Asian exchange student who says a few english phrases now and then and it´s hilarious? Well, that´s me on this team. Every time I say something, they laugh. I´m laughing too of course. I wonder if I´m making sense at all? Maybe they´re laughing because they don´t understand...

Anywho, rewind... last night I got to go out with one of Alicia´s American friends Paul. He took me to a bar in Old Town around 9:30 and we had bread with anchovis (sp?) on it and a beer and a shot of something sweet. The shots over here are not very alcoholic, more like dessert drinks, and they are often sipped. This one was about an inch of cream on top and a gingery liquor beneath, yummy!

After the refreshments, we walked all over Old Town and Paul told me all the history. He´s Basque, which I think I´ve discussed before(?) so he has lots of opinions. The Old Town is amazing. Tiny cobblestone streets that turn into huge plazas with one right turn, or city walls to climb on. The night time tour was neat because I´ve only been there during the day.

I dropped Paul off at 12:30 and didn´t get home until about 2! I got lost. First, I went too far on teh freeway and almost went to France, then I over corrected, so I got off the freeway and drove around for a while and finally found my way home. I believe my words were, "thank you Jesus" when I stumbled upon a sign that said Tajonar. Pamplona is very small, so it´s hard to get too lost.

Today we had Alexis birthday party and all his friends came over and it was great. Afterwards, some of the parents came over for an appertief, lots of tiny snack foods to eat and champagne, but I had to go to practice. When I got home, they were all just leaving so there were plates and plates of food out for me to feast on. I hade 4 kinds of the best jamon, probably 5 different cheeses (roquefort is my new fave), and lots of tiny desserts with mouse in them or cream filling. And of course a tall glass of champagne filled to the brim. I can´t say that I´ve ever had such a welcome home from practice. A girl could get used to this.

I best be hittin´the hay now, as I have spanish class tomorrow morning and must be able to understand my professor, or else he´ll continue to say, "Entiendes Darby?" which means, "do you understand Darby?", because of the look on my face. As you all know, my face is always expressing what I´m feeling. So, really, I better go work on a stern class face of interest and understanding before bed. Good night!

Basket: The universal language

I thought I probably wouldn´t be as good at basketball in Spanish as I am when I play in English. But, really, it was about the same. Granted, the level of play on the national team in Navarra is that of a lower class Division 3 team in the states, I´d say. I could understand plays pretty well, and once I asked, "Como se dice..." and acted out a screen for someone, I found out how to say "screen!" and I was on my way.

It was so fun to play basketball again! I think anywhere there´s a court a ball and a team, I feel at home. The coach´s name is Gnaki (like gnocchi, with an "a" sound in the middle). The main guy, Yuso, wasn´t there last night. I think he sort of organizes the teams and the coaches take over from there.

Anyhow, practice started at 9:30 and it was mostly 3 on 3 type drills and then scrimmaging. Gnaki would write out a play to focus on or have us go against a zone. I didn´t really need to understand his words, just had to watch a drill or play one time through and rotate in.

I tried to talk with a couple of girls on the sidelines and we laughed pretty hard at how bad I was at Spanish and them at english, but we got our points across. I´ve chatted with Maria, Pui and Garaze so far. Maria seems to be the main PG. Pui is the oldest on the team at 25 and Garaze is just a baby at 19. We have practice again Wednesday and I plan on chatting them up a bit more.

I think the main difference between this team and those in the states is conditioning. All I´ve been doing is running and I was ready to play more after a couple games while the other girls were dragging. They are talented though. Good passers and shooters. Gnaki said he´s working on a way to make it so I can play with the national team in games too, he knows some english. If it works, I´ll get to travel around northern Spain with them to play! What a great way to see Spain! I really hope it works out.

I had my first Spanish class this morning too. My professor seems nice and I understood more than I thought I would, but will need to ask questions and make sure. There are supposed to be 12 people in my class, but only 9 came today. 2 others are American and most of them speak english. But, I´ll be speaking Spanish as much as I can.

Today we went over the extra credit and where to find books we might need. There are 5 of us in a special program that gives extra help through an online database. We stayed later than everyone else to get acquainted with the stuff on the computer and that was it. My only homework so far is to buy the books for Thusday. It´s a bit intimidating, but I´m just gonna throw myself to the wolves, as I´ve been doing in most situations lately.

Well, I´m off to jog with the butterflies again. I hope everyone is well and thanks for all the notes of encouragment!

Odds and ends

Here are a few more pics of where I live and stuff... 1) This is a view in a park near the kids´school in downtown Pamplona. 2) This is my sweet car, freshly back from the shop. It´s a Renault Clio and it´s so tiny and zippy. I had the van for a while and it´s just too big to park in Pamplona, so this guy should be great! 3) This is my favorite house in Tajonar because of the bright colors. It always has a lovely blue truck in front too. The sad thing is, it´s also a business. They butcher cows here and sell the meat. I guess that´s just a fact of life. 4) This is Tajonar from up in the hills looking down. It was a bit of a cloudy day, but not rainy, so I figured I better just get the picture. It´s absolutely gorgeous when the sun is shining. 5) This is a typical street in Tajonar. Skinny and steep, a great place to learn how to drive stick! 6) These are the hills I run in and the dog path I run along. You have to watch out for little presents that have been left behind because there´s no clean up law here. But it´s a nice loop. Well, I need to go pick up the kids pretty soon. I´m looking forward to b-ball practice tonight, that´ll be quite an adventure.

The rain in Spain falls mainly... on my head!

The first weekend with just the kids and I just got over. You know how I´m a bit idealistic. I thought, wow, this will be so fun, we´ll play games, watch a couple movies, Louise will be wowed with what a cool girl I am and Alexis will be thrilled with my athletic ability. Wrong, oh so wrong.

I didn´t factor in that the kids might feel weird being alone with me for the first time or how much they might miss their parents and how that pain might be projected on me. To say the least, I was tested. There were tears and yelling, the cat was attacked by dogs and my backbone suddenly seems to be made of rubber.

At least there´s only one way to go from here, up. I need to get the rules solidified with Catherine so I have something to fall back on in a tight spot. I need to find out if there is any vegetable the kids will actually eat, so they don´t live on cheese, candy and cold cuts. I guess being an au pair is actually a job, who knew?

But, I´m moving on. A good phone call with mom and dad and I´m back on the rickety track I started travelling. I´ve been asking myself a lot this weekend, "why am I here? Why would I want to leave everyone who loves me the most and knows me the best to start over with nothing?" I realized the answer is not to be an au pair. I want to travel, meet knew people and learn a new language. That is what I have to focus on.

With that, I have basketball tomorrow night, my first spanish class Tuesday morning and this American guy Paul, who´s been a friend of Rigualt au pairs for years, is taking me around to see the Pamplona night life Tuesday night. My first trip will be from October 12th-15th. The fam goes to London on holiday then. Catherine felt so bad because she didn´t know London was one of my must sees. She even tried to get me a ticket after I got here, isn´t that nice? Anyhow, I´m thinking Madrid or Brcelona that weekend. Any suggestions?

I´m pretty tired, so I better be off to bed. Write me if you have time, I need it right now! Love to all.

Pamplona: The Newberg of Spain

I got to go meet with a basketball coach last night! I was connected with him through Alicia´s friend, and mine soon hopefully, Lourdes. She has a friend who used to play in Spain and asked her who to contact about playing. She called me to let me know to call Yuso Janice (Yu-tho Ha-nee-theh). He coaches the teams at a local community center, a pueblog over.

I drove all by myself, down the byway and everything! I got a little lost on the way home, but not too bad. Anyhow, when I arrived he told me he was contacted by Lourdes´friend but also, his uncle, who lives in my pueblo and who I´ve never met. His uncle told him, "there´s an American girl in Tajonar who is 2 meters tall (6 feet)!" So, I guess the town is scouting me.

Here´s the deal... I can´t play for the team that is more my skill level because it´s a national team. Since Spain is not my nation, it doesn´t work. They have a regional team, which is more for fun, so I can play in their games. But, Yuso wants me to practice with the national team to see the difference between his 4´s and 5´s and me, in other words, he wants to see how his team stacks up against American University level basketball. So, I´ll go to practices on Monday and Wednesday and play games with the regional team on Sundays. Yuso speaks some english and I´m going to work on my spanish, of course, with the team and he.

Also, the customary greeting and goodbye in Spain is a kiss on each cheek, which I think I´ve said. Well, Yuso is an older man, 50 or so, and I gave him a ride home from the gym because he lives so close. It was so weird, we kissed on the cheeks in the car before he got out, like the end of a date. Yikes! He´s really nice though, no funny business, I´m sure. I´ll just have to get used to all the kissing. I wonder if I´ll have to kiss all my teammates when I meet them?

Old Town Pamplona

Before Alicia left, she took me, her friend Erin, her mom and dad and the kids down into Old Town Pamplona. We saw where the bullfights take place, the path along which the bulls run and the old city walls. Mostly, I just want to share pictures of this, so I´ll post them below and explain them with numbers here. 1) This is Alicia, the kids and her dad in front of the bull fighting arena where the run ends and the goring begins. 2) Alicia´s mom and dad in front of the count down to the next San Fermin (the week long festival that has the running of the bulls). I´ve heard the whole city comes alive and goes crazy, I can´t wait. I´ll have to miss part of it for Katie and Kev´s wedding, but that´s ok I think : ). 3) Sorry, this one´s a little dark. This is one of the streets the bulls run down. So skinny! 4) Me in the Plaza de Castillo. It´s amazing! As you walk down the tiny streets, suddenly they part onto this huge open space. I heard it used to be covered in trees as well. They broadcast all the festivities of San Fermin here on a large screen they bring in. 5) This is where San Fermin begins. The mayor comes out and puts on his red scarf and belt and there´s a huge crowd down below doing the same. They sing a little ditty and the festivities start. 6) I´m not sure if these guys were a soccer team or just fans, but they were walking through old town singing and holding flags and just being merry. In the pic with them, is a nun we met in a tiny plaza as the soccer guys walked by. She told Aliciaá mom that she´d pray for her for the rest of her life. Wow. And that´s all I can fit in one blog. We also sat at a coffee shop on top of the city walls, very fun.

Success... ish and weird food no. 1

I think I had a successful afternoon. Catherine was definitely pleased. She cracked open yet another bottle of champagne to celebrate my new stick shift driving ability. Any excuse for champagne with her, I love it! I drove the whole time this afternoon, and pretty smooth. No big stalls or jerky stops. The kids were shocked at how much better I am. I think staying calm and using the e-break on hills are the best tips I´ve gotten, they work.

The kids and I went to the park after we got home and played until dinner. It´s like I´m 12 again! Awesome stuff.

Now, speaking of dinner, I´ve been trying to eat as many different foods as I can while I´m here. Every time Catherine offers something to me, I try it. The other night I ate cod liver for the first time. Not so weird in the states, but I´d never had it and it wasn´t as bad as I thought, but too much like cat food for me. Very soft on the tongue. Tonight for dinner we had squid, like long chunks of calamari, cooked in it´s own ink... yes ink! I´d never had or even heard of that before. It looks just like it sounds, pitch black sauce in bowl with little grey, fleshy bits poking out. Sounds disgusing, but it´s not that bad. I tasted it first at lunch and then had more at dinner. It´s pretty fishy and salty, but yummy, if you can stand to look at it on your plate.

Tomorrow I take the kids to school and drop Catherine at work so I can have the car in the morning, yay! The Cleo is still in the shop having the power steering looked at. Oh, speaking of cars, I found out today that Patrick has a frickin´Astin Martin! I can´t wait to see it, it must be in France at Patxoula.

Tonight, I was putting Louise to bed and she asks me all these cute questions like, "how do you put your head when you kiss a boy? So, how do you know when you´re going to kiss? Do you actually love your boyfriend?" She´s so funny, her walls are covered in pictures of famous cute boys. anyhow, Catherine came in to say goodnight and gave Louise a kiss on the cheek and then gave me one, how sweet. I felt like a part of the family!

So, some good moments today. I´ll try to blog about my trip to old town Pamplona and walking along the running of the bulls path tomorrow, with pics! Missing you all still, but settling in little by little.

The hills are alive in Pamplona

I got to go for my first run in the hills of Pamplona today. Really, they are the hills of Tajonar, but whatever. Catherine thought she might leave me the car today, but took it. So, no practice and I was just stewing in my nervousness this morning, so I went on a jog.

I trotted down the street in our pueblo (Tajonar) to the park and found a dog trail that runs up through the hills. I could see all of Pamplona and our pueblo from there, it was beautiful and the weather is beautiful today. Lots of red roofs and large homes on the horizon. I´ll probably go up there soon to take some pictures so you can see where I´m living.

As I reached the top of the trail, it became quite muddy and had huge grooves from truck tires in it. The excursion became more like freestyle walking than running at that point. But, the neat thing was, as I hopped through and around the mud, butterflies and moths would spring from the ground beneath my feet and flutter a bit in front of me before flying off into the brush. It was like butterflies were coming out of my feet. Very cool.

That definitely helped my stomach, but now I´m back and catherine just got home and we´ve gotta go get the kids and I´ll probably drive. I can do this. Send me good vibes and focus!

Crazy weekend

This weekend was go go go! Alicia was leaving so all her friends wanted to give her goodbye parties. Her friend from home, Erin, was supposed to be in Friday and had tons of flight delays and cancellations and lost her luggage and didn´t make it until Saturday. We just hung out with the kids most of the day Saturday, who went totally stir crazy. When Erin got here, she needed clothes, since she had no luggage. Alicia dropped Louise and i off at the mall, where the family´s store is, and took erin to get clothes, while Alexis stayed home with Alicia´s parents. The kids really needed some time apart, so this was great.

Louise and i had a blast shopping! She took me to all the stores she likes and bought some candy we don´t have in America for me to try. I was wondering who the au pair was for a while, me or her! The best part about the mall was discovering that they have an H&M! It´s my favorite store, that we only have on the East coast in the states. If I ever have a bad day, H&M will cure all my ills.

When we got home, Erin, Alicia and I hustled to get ready to go to Alicia´s goodbye party. This is when amazing things start occurring. Alicia´s friends Esti and Itheskun (ee-theh-skoon) went to the store and bought tons of food, then came to pick us up. We headed to Itheskun´s house ansd unloaded all the food into her family´s cocho, which is a spanish word for a kitchen many homes have in teh basement for big parties late at night. It was about 9 pm when we arrived. We walked through the garage and into a big wooden door in the back and there´s a huge wooden table inside with a stove and sink and commode.

Once we were all in, Esti went to work on the Sangria. She busts out a small, never used before, garbage can and starts pooring in wine, fresh cut lemons, peaches and oranges, various syrupy sweet alcohols and sugar. She just mixed and mixed until it was almost full to the top. It reminded me of Streganona and her magic pasta bowl. After the sangria was done, she started in on the food. Everyone had a job of either cutting, simmering, spreading, whatever. We were all busy making this wonderful meal. Itheskun´s parents came down to tell us good nigth and meet us. Her mother pops open a bottle of wine and starts pooring us glasses. I don´t even like wine, but this was wonderful. We just attempted to communicate with our hands and "si, si, si" or "gracias."

The table was covered in food by the time the girls were finished. We had jo jos with ketchup and mayo, baguet with soft cheese and roasted red peppers, the ones that are special to Navarra, salad with tons of stuff in it, breaded shrimp and fried fish raviolis, pickled white esparagas, and of course, large glasses of Sangria all around! We ate until 1 o´clock in the morning. They eat late over here, around 8, but this was extra late. All the girls just chatted and told stories. I couldn´t understand most of it, but, the expressions on their faces and the joy they felt telling the stories was amazing to see. They sang a bunch of songs to Alicia, begging her not to go and we just chirpped the night away. It´s awesome how a garbage can full of Sangria can break the language barrier.

At one, we went out to one of the festivals in Itheskun´s pueblo. The pueblos are like little towns or neighborhoods that surround the city of Pamplona. I actually live in Trajonar. Anyhow, each pueblo has a different time in the summer, usually after San Fermin (the running of the bulls), when they throw a huge street party with dancing and rides and lots of great fun. So, we went to one, but the crowd was a bit too young, so we headed to a small disco and danced until around 4. During this time, i was networking to find a basketball team and Itheskun said she´d help. No game today though, i guess it´s Thursday.

ASIDE: Whoa, just got a call from Lourdes and her friend came through and a coach wants to talk to me! And, I spoke Spanish with her pretty well! Liz, maybe coming here is the way to go... END ASIDE.

PICTURE: Me, Itheskun´s mom, Erin, Alicia, Itheskun, Arransa in the cocho, pre-party.

Long story short, Alicia´s friends are so wonderful. In Spain, friendship is truly forever. Just because I am an acquaintence of Alicia, her friends have completely accepted me into their group and say they will come watch me play basketball and will call me if I don´t call them. Good stuff. I´ll add more pics later, but I need to make some phone calls home! Love to all.

Where I live and who with

¡Hola mis amigas! That is about the extent of my Spanish. But, it will get better because I took a test at the university and have been placed in a class that fits with my schedule, yay! That outta keep me busy. I´m also going to play with a basketball team tonight that one of Alicia´s friends found for me, so hopefully I´ll be able to play a lot. Anyhow, I need to show you some pictures of where I live, then I´ll blog again about what I´ve been up to the past two days.

Picture 1: This is what you see when you walk into my room on the top floor of the house. It´s my sitting area. The whole room is shaped like a U with closets in the middle. Picture 2: This is my desk area. Picture 3: This is my bed. It may look small, but is actually quite comfy. Like I said, I have the whole top floor, which includes a bathroom and shower and little workout area. The house is very open with a large staircase running up the middle and rooms on all sides, 3 floors. Lets just say there are enough rooms in the house for some of them to never really be used. Picture 4: The outside of the Rigualt´s home in Pamplona. There´s a tiny basketball hoop and large yard with a pool on the side yard. The hoop is about 6 feet tall and Louise and Alexis and Alicia and I played some ball before Alicia left. Good times. Picture 5: This is me with the kids at Lourdes´house. She´s Alicia´s friend who wants to do a language share with me. Did i mention her before? Anyhow, I hope it´s all clear and you can see all the pictures once I post.

Those are the basics so far. Like I said, I´ll post about the exciting weekend later, but today is my first day as Au Pair Extrordinaire and I´m a little bit terrified. I know I can do all that I need to for the job, I just want to feel comfortable with it. It just sucks to have a constant nervous stomach ache and feeling so lost all the time. But, I just have to power through. Once I feel good about driving and speaking a bit more, I´ll be ok. Patrick gave me an hour and a half driving lesson this morning, which was nice. I needed someone to push me to get it right, so thanks to him! I´m still working on it though. Then I drove the the university (by myself!) and took my placement test, which took a while and came home. Now I´m here, trying to calm my nerves enough to be more hungry. Catherine is coming home to go get the kids with me at 3 today. I guess Alexis has some school thing at 5, so I´ll go to that, I think it has to do with sports and then we´re meeting Louise´s music teacher, I think. I´ll fill you in later. Then, off to my frist basketball game in Spain, yipee!

Lots to learn

It´s now one past midnight on Sept. 16th where I am, which looks like this: 0:01 am. Yep, even the time is different.

It was a tough/great day though. Alicia and I got up and went to the gym. It was so nice to run and zone out for a while and really felt like home. I´ll definitely be joining. We came home, showered and went for tapas with the lady who cleans the house, so she and I could meet with Alicia as a translator. I have realized my Spanish is not so great and her english es nada. Alicia´s parents came too and we were in the bar from 12 to 3 pm! I had my first of the famous jamon, which is like procuitto (is that how to spell it Stupfels?), but the fat is on the edge, so much easier to eat around. We had big chunks of bread with olive oil and tomato rubbed on it, yes rubbed. It was so yummy, but the finale were these special pemento peppers that they have a special license to grow only in Navarra, the province Pamplona is in. They were roasted, torn by hand, organic and had oil and garlic with them, ¡que rico!

As a lot of you know, i´m not a big drinker because i´m such a light weight, but did not want to be rude... long story short, the 5 of us drank 2 bottles of wine in 3 hours. It was a sleepy afternoon, but we had tons to do, so no rest. Alicia took me around town after we picked up the kids and showed me the adult learning center and the university. It doesn´t look like classes at the university will work with my schedule, but hopefully at the learning center.

We also met Alicia´s friend Lourdes, an amazing woman! She and Alicia do a language share, which means they speak Spanish for half an hour and then switch to english, so both learn. Hopefully, I´ll be able to take Alicia´s place now. Of course, not in anyone´s heart, just to learn some frickin´espanol. Lourdes is mostly blind and also a massage therapist. Alicia gets massages for english lessons! I´ll definitely have to work that. And, she has an old friend who used to be the best basketball player in Spain, women´s. So, I hope to meet her and find out if I can help out at a school or find pick up games.

We came home for some basketball with teh kids, which was so fun. Alexis is so competitive and scrappy. He was the tiniest one out there by a foot, but kept stealing the ball! Louise wants to get better, but is more in it for fun, so the combo makes for a few spats between sibs. Dinner was lovely once again. Wine, of course, these yummy cheesey potatoes, homemade pureed vegetable soup, bread and fruit, with leftover dessert from last night. I don´t know what I´ll do when catherine and Patrick are gone for a week and I have to cook. I ain´t no Paula Deane. I guess I´ll have to fly Dave in special for those times so the kids don´t go hungry. Really, I should work on getting that in my contract.

I called home for the first time, which was really tough. Just the sound of familiar voices made me cry because nothing is familiar here. The kids were so nice, and Catherine too, making sure i was ok. The kids said, "it´s only natural, it´s ok." And we watched West Side Story. Sweetie poos.

I´m not sure if I can write again soon, I may be out all weekend with Alicia. But, hopefully Monday. I´m going to try to take a spanish test to see which class i might be in monday morning, so I´ll let you know. My first day on my own, Monday, and I´m nervous, but what am I not nervous for these days!?

Love to all!

Hola!

I made it! It took a delayed flight in London and half of my baggage being lost, but I´m here! The family is so nice and the kids have such bright personalities. Alicia, the current au pair, has been so helpful and nice. Today was my first day and I slept until 2, half because i didn´t know what the hell to do when I got up. But, we didn´t get here until 3 am, so that may be why all the sleeping too. Anyhow, we went to get the kids at school at 3 pm and the ride is much smoother than my cousin´s truck. I only killed it once. We practiced parallel parking and stuff, which will be tough, but ok.

We also went to the family´s store which is huuuuuuuge and so nice. It´s like Costco, Fred Meyer and Target all rolled into one. Catherine is there during the day and comes home before the kids get home from school. Patrick is there all day until mid-dinner, sometimes through dinner. He came home and said to me, "So, you saw my toy today?" I was like, what does that mean? Then realized he meant the store. So, in short, he´s very proud of his work it seems. They have everything from clothes to wine to bulk seafood.

We had a nice dinner of fish, cooked veggies, salad and bread with an open faced apple tart for dessert, yum! Then, Alicia and I went to meet two of her friends for a drink. They are so nice, but speak Spanish, so I can´t understand much yet, but will hopefully. They´re actually looking into finding a place where I can play basketball. Alexis, the little boy, he´s 8, just got a basketball for his b-day and it´s suddenly his new favorite sport. I can´t wait to shoot around with him and go to his "basket matches" as he calls them.

Really though, there is sort of a sadness at my core. I miss my home and all the normalcy and simplicity of it. This will be a challanging year for me, I can already tell, but an unforgettable one as well. I´ll try to update with pics tomorrow, today was too busy! The house is pretty amazing. Write to me, and I´ll write back! Loves!