My new blog: For those who came here for the cake pop class, I've created a new blog with updates on classes and photos over at guiri in the kitchen



Thursday, September 29, 2005

La chica con laptop

Don't know if it is a good thing or not having my nose burried in the notebook all the time; before class, between breaks and after classes. My housemate Alessia just told me that I am known as La chica con laptop in the school :P Dave passed by my class today during break (while I was with my precious laptop, of course) and said, "If you don't get out of that classroom, you are not going to have any more friends left!". Really, I don't know why I spend so much time with the laptop, it's not that I reply mails, or update the blog or upload photos that often. I guess I just have to touch it every now and then, or else my poor laptop is gonna feel left out. Hmm....

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Obras

Already my 14th week here in Spain, but the construction works (obras) that goes around the city never stops (whether in Granada or Sevilla)! At every corner you will find something under construction, or renovation. The amount of ruido (noise) that they make are horrible. Not to mention that some of the obras are situated in the small streets, where only one car could pass, and they would just dump the bricks or sand or cement right in the middle of the road, blocking the traffic. Since the school is situated right in the centre of the city, and unfortunately near the obras *sigh*, from the classroom, one could hear the GGRRRRrRRRGGRRRR ...or HOOOONNNNKKK..... or KerTANG! KerTaNG! going on all morning. Had to move to another classroom today which was smaller, away from the main window facing the street. Much better, but the ruido could still be heard. ¡Que horible!

In summer, it is normal to have lots of obras going on, according to los profesores. The reason being there are less people in the city, all would be at the beach or out of town. But what about poor tourist like me? Quite a number of important historical monuments are closed for restoration or obras of some sort. Some of the shopping streets are also affected because Sevilla is in the process of setting up metro system. *sigh* Not a pretty sight. Wonder if the obra is like a never ending story?

Friday, September 23, 2005

Links to Photo Albums

Here are links to all my photo album in Yahoo! Just click on the name of places :)


Granada
Junio de 2005 - My first destination in Spain, Granada. Beautiful city with free tapas when you order a drink. How nice :) Lots and lots of walking here, everything is within walking distance, no need to take any public transport, unless you are really going out of town. Nobody sleeps before 12 midnight except extranjeros (foreigners, like me). Shops are closed from 2pm to 5:30pm for siesta. Temperature is higher than Malaysia, up to 42 degrees Celcius. No aire, no ventilador (common in every house of Granada, can't figure out why). Life only begins after 10pm, which is also dinner time. Only extranjeros comes out on the street before that (un poco loco, considering the weather is soo hot). Lots of street performers too, you pay one, you'll see another in less than 5 mins time. Best is to stay away from giving to any of them. June is also the Music & Dance Festical in Granada. Lots to see and watch, flamenco performances, cultural dances, ochestras, musicals. Almost everyday and in every corner of the street. They also have a no parking sign, which states the period which you are not allowed to park. I find it weird, from 1st-15th you cannot park on the left side of the street, while from 16th-31st, you can't park on the right. Still have not figured out what is the actual purpose of that. Have seen a few cars being towed away for parking on the wrong side of the road :P I like being here - people always think I am 5 years younger, and I am always referred to as la flaca, coz they find me very thin :P

Julio de 2005 - Shopping month for everyone in Spain. Going to last till end of August. Disasterous. Just like the Sales Carnival in Malaysia. Can't help but bought myself dresses, handbags, and shirts (although I have been forbidding myself to enter to any shops on sale, it just doesn't work). There was also a Flamenco show at Parque 28, north of Granada, where lots of locals came to watch. Interesting to see how the local kids dress. This month, there was also a puppet show at Huerta de San Vincente, where kids and parents gather to watch puppet shows and performances. View of full moon from the Alhambra this month was marvilloso.

Agosto de 2005 - My last 2 weeks here in Granada were interesting. I finally went out clubbing on one of the Saturdays, and did not return home until 9am in the morning. Feels weird when you leave the discoteca and it is bright daylight. I did not feel tired (thanks to the siesta), but my feet hurt so much coz I had not been wearing heels and with pointed toes ever since I stepped into Spain, but I had them on the whole night it was almost killing me. I walked home barefooted from the club after that. What an experience!
10 de Agosto de 2005 - Parapente! The day finally arrived after 2 weeks of wait. First it was too cloudy, then the wind was too strong. But the sensation up there is just wonderful (aside the fact that I almost throw up in the air, of course, how embarassing - should have taken motion sickness pill, but I got too excited that I had forgotten about it). Ineke was the first to go, we had to wait quite a while before we get to take off due to the strong wind. The next time I do this, I would want to land next to the Mediteranean sea. We got to see the sunset when we landed......que bonita! Pictures are in the Sierra Nevada section.


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Cordoba
25 de Junio de 2005, Sabado - On an excursion of the school with Irene. Visited the Mesquita, Sinagoga, Puente de Romano, Torre de Calahora, Madinat al-Zahra, Plaza de las Tendillas, Plaza de Corredero, etc. Lots of walking, a little uncomfortable with my pair of Skechers. Should have worn my Timberlands instead.
15-17 de Julio de 2005, Viernes a Domingo - Went with a group of friends to be in the Guitar Festival. Tried to get tickets for concert of Silvio Rodriguez, but were all sold out. End up watching the concert from outside of Alcazar de Los Reyes Cristianos. We thought it was wise to climb up the wall of the alcazar and watch from the top until we were asked to come down by the security guards :P Also went to a Flamenco guitar competition of Jovenes (youth) in Gran Teatro de Cordoba. Wonderful performance! Only unlucky for me during this trip was to stumble across a cerdo who wanted to F*** early in the morning while I was walking alone to get some fresh air before breakfast. Boy I had a good picture of him!



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Alpujarras
3 de Julio de 2005, Domingo - On an excursion with the school and visited Lanjaron, the place where most of the mineral water of Spain is bottled, and a few other villages, including Trevelez. Visited a jamon factory, and before that, a bodega (if I was not mistaken) with lots of wine & jamon for sampling. Had 4 glasses and felt as if I was walking on air! The jamon factory was really smelling of jamon (obviously) and its interesting to see how the favourite meat of Spanish people is preserved. Also visited the Fuente Agria, where the water from the fountain contains concentrated iron (or ferum) and tasted really nasty. All surrounding area were rusty from the water of the fountain.


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La Alhambra
23 de Julio 2005, Sabado - Woke up early in the morning, all geared up. Was a tourist for the whole week, and La Alhambra was my first stop. Walked around the palaces, the gardens, Alcazabar, Generalife, and spent a total of 6 hours walking and snapping photos. Drain out both my camera batteries, and had to leave because I was hungry :P All in all took 380+ photos in 6 hours, approximately 1 photo every minute...hehe...


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Monuments in Granada
24-29 de Julio 2005, Domingo a Viernes - The rest of my tourist week were spent visiting other monuments and places of interests in Granada, i.e. Monasteria de la Cartuja, M. San Jeronimo, Parque de las Ciencias, Catedral and Capilla Real. Also went on the 24 hour tourist bus, that goes around Granada. Feels great to be a tourist!

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Sacromonte y Albaycin
7 de Julio 2005, Lunes - Nothing much to be said of this area, except that I walk up here a lot. Especially when a group of us goes out for dinner, and can't decide where to eat, we end up walking up here. Just kidding :P There are few miradors from Albaycin and Sacromonte which has a good view of the Alhambra. Once took some pictures of Alhambra during a night of full moon. There is also an Abadia (abbey) in Sacromonte, which I only managed to view from outside. Took a long walk from central of Granada, up to the Abadia, and walked back on one hot Wednesday afternoon. How I long for an ice cold Cola at that moment in time. *sweat* All shops are closed, not even a single fly can be seen flying at that hour *sigh*

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Sierra Nevada
30-31 de Julio 2005 - A group of 12 went to the Sierra Nevada and walked up to Veleta peak from the Alburgue Universitario. Was really a tough one for me since I haven't been doing any exercises for a loooooooong long time! Almost all the time I was one of the last in the group :P How embarrassing. But its a good thing that I was one of the 5 who managed to get up the next morning to walk to Mulhacen peak! Although of course, we did not reach Mulhacen coz we did not have enough time, and had to rush back to base in order to catch the bus to Granada. Nevertheless, the experience was wonderful. The weather and the wind on the second day was really bad that I almost gave up and turned back. Gotta thank the rest of the group for making the walk successful! Thanks guys! View at the lake was beautiful!





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Sevilla
Agosto 2005 - Finally arrived Sevilla, but I feel like rusa masuk kampung. I guess I am so used to living in a small area like Granada, where everywhere is just within walking distance, not more than 15 mins most of the time, unless we plan to walk up to Sacromonte or Albaycin. Here I feel so lost. The main streets are much wider than in Granada, but at the same time, there are also lots of small streets, much smaller than the ones in Granada. This is what made me feel uncomfortable about walking alone here. I guess its also because most of the people are away for vacations in August, and Sevilla is like a dead town, if not for the tourists. Not to mention lots of constructions and renovations going on (it's common is summer coz there are less people around) Anyway, during my first week here, I went boat peddling with friends along Rio Guadalquivir, para pasear y tomar un poco sol.
Here I have to do my own cooking, and imagine how happy I was when I found a shop that sells oriental foodstuff! You would have thought I won the lottery (btw, lottery buying is very common in Spain, you could see the ONCE booth almost at every corner) when I was shopping in the Hiper Oriental! My favourite LKK oyster sauce (no se como puedo vivir sin eso) as well as tomyam sauce, char siew sauce, are all THERE! In my third week, I had an Italian housemate, and he made good pasta. Que guai! I get to eat and learn how to cook good Italian pasta at the same time :) So good that I eat as much as he did! And guess what he said - that I eat like an Italian man :P What an impression to make for myself!
Will add in more stories about the discotheque later.....

Septiembre 2005 - Sevilla comes back alive! Kids resuming school, the people return from vacations, and you can see that many of the bars reopening on the first day of the month. Sales period is also over ...*sniff* *sniff*. Guess its a good sign, as it also mean less temptation for me to spend more money :)
More updates soon...

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Monuments in Sevilla
28 de Agosto de 2005, Miercoles - Visited Alcazar Reales in my second week. The structure is very very similar to La Alhambra, but a chiquitita version. Free entrance for students, so I plan to go there again one of the weekend mornings, this time probably with a book, so that I could just lie in the park and read :)
This upcoming week, I will be going on the tourist bus, cycling tour around Sevilla, visit La Isla Magica (theme park), visit Plaza de España, try the Baños Arabes (have to pamper myself ;)) and visit the Cathedral and Giralda too. Will try my best to update this as soon as I can....somehow I have gotten very lazy here, wonder why? :P


**Albums moved to http://guiri.site.shutterfly.com/ (Update: 16 May 2008)