Gli Italiani Sono Arrivati / The Italians have arrived

Two Italians have arrived to spend a week in Santiago and they are staying with Pepita. Sadly though they do not enjoying talking as much as I do. Maybe I can get to start conversing purtroppo io non parlo italiano :-(

This is an awesome song, instrumental for the most part but still good. 

Last Week in February Update

The Spanish king's son-in-law - Iñaki Urdangarin - spent a second day in court today. He blamed his partner, claimed his wife knew nothing and answered most questions with "I don't remember". So much so that the weary judge suggested he might as well not have bothered to come.

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard believes the Spanish government will revolt against the sort of treatment meted out to Greece. And that she won't be alone in looking to act in her national interest. Indeed, he ends this article with the strong assertion:- My guess is that Germany's refusal to countenance any form of EU subsidies, debt-pooling, or fiscal union - other than policing the budgets of captive states - has definitively broken the EMU spell. Latin nations increasingly regard talk of solidarity as humbug. It has been a nasty shock. The era of national economic rearmament in Europe has begun.

Having semi watch/hear three international rugby games this weekend, I've arrived at the conclusion that one's enjoyment as a spectator would be markedly increased if they abolished all the rules I don't understand. Which is pretty much all of them, in fact.

Switching to football, it's hard to see any other team than Barcelona winning the Champions' League. Though maybe Real Madrid could break the recent pattern and beat Barca when it really counts.

The good news is that FIFA is crawling towards acceptance of goal-line technology, at least ten years after they should have done.

Finally . . . Meryl Streep wins for best actress in the 2012 Oscars. She did an amazing job in "The Iron Lady"! If you have not seen it, I completely recommend it. 

Meryl Streep accepts her Oscar for Best Actress for her performance in The Iron Lady. Photo: Getty Images

What to see!!

The cathedral without a doubt is one of the great buildings of the world; its façade is a Baroque masterpiece, and there are even greater treasures within. The façade stands in front of the original Romanesque exterior, which can be seen as soon as you step inside the doors. Immediately before you is the Door of Glory, an astonishing doorway carved in the 12th century by Master Mateo. At this point, the exhausted pilgrims knew they had reached their journey’s end; gratefully they reached out and touched the central pillar, which has become quite worn away from centuries of touching. Master Mateo is also represented on the central pillar beneath St James, and those who pass through the Portico de la Gloria sometimes bump heads with Mateo in the hope of absorbing some of his genius!The focus of attention within the dark interior of the cathedral is the gleaming 13th-century statue of St James; were visitors are permitted to climb the stairs behind the altar kiss his well worked mantle.

The cathedral’s museum and treasury are well worth a visit, to see some of the library’s valuable religious works and collection of tapestries. In the library you will see a huge incense burner called a botafumeiro; on feast days this is hung from the transept dome keystone and, with half a dozen men clinging desperately to the other end of the rope, is swung to the eaves — one year, it is said, the men lost control and the incense burner flew into the square outside.

Plaza de Espana This magnificent square is bordered on one side by the Baroque façade of the cathedral and the bishop’s palace, on the opposite side by the impressive 18th-century town hall, formerly Raxoy Palace. On the square’s south side is San Jeronimo College —opposite this, on the north side, is perhaps Santiago’s second greatest asset, the Hotel de Los Reyes Catolicos.

The old streets are one of the great pleasures of Santiago, to walk through the old streets that run up to the cathedral. The best are the Rua del Villar, Rua Nueva and Calle Franco; fashionable clothes shops stand next to ancient grocery shops run by wizened old ladies swathed in black. 

¿El buceo de Galicia?

¿El buceo de Galicia?

Viviendo en un país extranjero se siente como el juego que juagaba cuando era niño en la piscina, los niños que íbamos tratábamos de ver cuánto tiempo podíamos aguantar la respiración bajo el agua para ver quien podía durar más tiempo, sino también porque era fascinante estar bajo el agua donde todo se veía y sonaba diferente. Usando agua como mi analogía, me siento como cuando se tratade vivir en un país que no es de uno, hay tres tipos de personas: los nadadores, buceadores y los peces.

Los nadadores (contener la respiración)/Turistas:

Como los niños el la piscina, llegaba el momento para subir a respirar era inevitable. En mi experiencia, la mayoría de las personas que  viajan al extranjero están conteniendo la respiración. Quieren ver cuanto tiempo pueden durar. Vivimos para ver el mundo desde un ángulo diferente, estudiamos y experimentamos con la cultura local, aunque pronto volvemos a casa para estar mas con nuestra familia y los amigos y para seguir nuestra carrera, pero esos momentos que estábamos en el agua nunca se olvidan y comienza un capitulo diferente que cuando me vaya se termina.  Y aunque vayan a los lugares turísticos nunca aprenden como es estar bajo el agua.

Buceadores (succionando aire a través de un tubo)

Otros, están snorkeling, como yo. Por esfuerzos y con bendiciones de casa solicitamos para estudiar en el extranjero, como en mi caso vine a España a mejorar mi español, este es un medio de vivir en el extranjero, pero es el más frágil. Si algo le pasa a ese tubo de respiración, tenemos que subir por aérea y no siempre es fácil subir lloramos, nos reiremos, sufrimos, queremos complacer a todos y a veces  no ser puede . Lo único que se puede hacer es salir adelante y no ver para tras.  Esas cuatro paredes que tenemos en nuestras casas extrañas se convierten a una vida propia, yo puedo decir que me siento español porque estoy aquí haciendo lo que hacen los españoles. Estudio, como, rio, hablo,  con ellos. Pero siempre tengo que subir a respirar a causa de la manera que hablo, visto, pienso, etc.

Peces (respirando bajo el agua)

Finalmente están los peces, que son los mismos españoles, que saben la manera de ser en su propio país, están entre ellos mismos y no tienen preocupaciones como los buceadores y  nadadores. No, ellos se preocupan por el pan en la mesa, que haya agua caliente para ducharse, y que las facturas están pagados a tiempo. Igual es el grupo mas diferente por es el único donde en mi opinión hay un plan recto, depende del día o en el cazo de Galicia el tiempo. 

Para vivir en España tengo que reinventarme, estoy aprendiendo a ser un pez.  Como va el dicho, cuando en Roma hay que hacer lo que hacen los romanos, aunque todavía hay cosas que no voy hacer (ej. tocar las personas cuando hablo o besos como saludo) pero la forma de terminar una conversación se me hace muy interesante, aquí en España hacen la despedida muy larga (venga, vale, ciao, besos) comparado al resto de mundo, pero estoy cogiendo cositas así para ser un pez mientras este aquí en España.

Esta semana ha sido el mejor de tiempos, y el peor de los tiempos a la misma vez (Dickens 1859). Estando lejos de mi casa, es cuando reconozco que me hace falta mi abuela cuando estoy enfermo como anteayer.  Parecería que me estaba muriendo de frio cuando desperté a las dos de la mañana, tenía calentura y descontroladlo el estómago, pero gracias a dios ya estoy mucho mejor y muy emocionado para ir a Sevilla esté domingo. Aunque mi porción es muy poco sobre mi semana. He puesto mucha atención en la manera que ambos habitantes (españoles y turistas) viven juntos y hacen esta comunidad muy preciosa. Estoy muy contento de venir a España, me he enamorado de Santiago precisamente como nunca he pensado. Conozco Madrid y la vida es muy diferente son cosas  tan distintas y tan hermosas aquí en la región de Galicia que no me voy a poder ir a final del semestre.

Porto, Portugal

So last weekend (January 27-29) I went to Porto, Portugal, WHAT A TRIP! I guess I have to start from the beginning so y'all can understand.

10 international students decided to catch the train to Vigo transfer trains and then off to Oporto be there before midnight. Our intended train left at 4:30 Friday afternoon, so we were at the train station at 4 to get our tickets…except there wasn't any space left on the train to Vigo.  Okay, no problem, we’ll just take a bus to Vigo and then catch the train to Porto…except there were only 6 seats available on the 5 o'clock bus and there were 10 of us, and that's where I/we begin to  panic. We had already book our hostel in Porto for that night.  Should we rent a car?  Should we just head home and catch the train in the morning?  Should we catch the next bus to Vigo and stay there for the night?  It was quite a sight and headache.  Finally we decided to just head to Vigo that night, so that we’d get to Porto sooner and not waste as much time.  Oddly enough, we couldn't find any hostels or hotels via the "red", and basically just decided to try our luck once we got there. I did call Pepita to see if she had friends, that were willing to rent the living room floor for the evening. Who doesn't want 50 Euros right? Sadly, she did not know anyone, I also spoke with Maria Juve (culture and civilization professor) explained the whole situation and she sent us links via facebook of hotels. 

Got to Vigo, asked people how to get to the train station, found out we had to wait ‘til the next morning to buy tickets to Porto, asked a nice taxi driver where the best place to find cheap hotels is, and set off wandering around Vigo in search of a hotel.  Finally we found a relatively cheap one (20 euros per person - that was my spending money lol) and called it a night after two bottles of wine of course!