Leslie & Lewis: We're getting married!

La Boda (The Wedding)

2009-05-28T23:17:00.003+02:00

We'll tie the knot on July 11, 2009 at Leslie's dad's house in Chico. Get ready for homemade sangria, pintxos (Basque style tapas), music, food, and good friends. Dress for warm weather, it is Chico after all. See you soon!

If you want registry info, check the links at the right of the page :)

About Us

2009-05-28T22:53:00.012+02:00

Leslie: I met Lewis in high school. We became pretty good friends right away. I remember him telling me about his summer trips to visit his family in Alabama and driving around Chico in that old car he was so proud of. We started dating in college and I had a feeling he was gonna be around for the long haul. He was there when I needed him and could always make me laugh. We survived all the parties and craziness that came from living at the Normal Street house. And when Lewis said he would move to Spain with me and learn Spanish...I knew that what we had was really special. So, we finished college, packed up all our things, and moved to Spain. Lewis started learning Spanish and we both made a ton of really great friends. We taught English together and traveled every chance we could get. About 6 months after moving to Spain, we started talking about getting married. We talked a lot, and then finally decided we were ready for that scary but exciting next step in our lives. So we planned a trip to the Portuguese coast to celebrate our engagement. There, on the beach, Lewis got down on one knee and proposed. So now, here we are, back in Chico, planning our wedding with our friends and families and looking forward to our next adventure together, our honeymoon! We're going to Belize to scuba dive, check out the Maya ruins, and enjoy the beach with cocktails in hand!

Lewis: I met Les back in 10th grade. We had different friends but we randomly started hanging out one day. I think she might have been using me for my car... Then we became really good friends during our first year at Chico State and started dating. We rode bikes, spent lots of time in the park and basically spent all of our college years together. Leslie had all of these great stories and memories of traveling and studying abroad, so I guess you could say I caught the "travel bug" from her. She went off to Spain twice while we were in college, so this time I decided I would go with her. So we put off being grown ups for a while, moved to Spain, and traveled together. We experienced other cultures, learned new languages, tried new foods, made new friends and had the time of our lives! Now we're taking the next step and officially starting a new life together. The memories we have from our adventures together are really special to us and I know that we'll add more and more of these experiences together in the future.

Engagement Party in Chico, California

2009-05-28T22:05:00.005+02:00

My Aunt Amy and Aunt Nancy decided to throw us an engagement party (instead of the traditional bridal shower) and man, do they know how to throw a party!! It was a Mexican Fiesta themed party with absolutely delicious food: a complete taco bar, mango margaritas, and homemade flan. Tons of friends and family came to celebrate with us and everyone had a blast. We played some games (thats what the flags are in all the photos!) and ended the night sitting around the firepit and then camping out in the backyard.

To see more engagement party photos go to:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lbanes615

Leslie's California Bachelorette Weekend

2009-05-28T21:39:00.009+02:00

Thats right...MORE PARTIES!! My sister, Kelly, organized a weekend trip to California's beautiful wine country, Sonoma. We stayed in the Sonoma Mission Inn, a super luxury hotel that my aunt works for (thanks Aunt Amy!). All my chicas and I hopped on a bus that took us from winery to winery where we tasted different kinds of wine, stopped for lunch, and then continued wine tasting the rest of the day. When we got back to the hotel we enjoyed the HUGE rooms with fireplaces and took advantage of the giant jacuzzi tub (those are made to fit 8 people, right?). We drank margaritas and champagne until late and then cured our hang overs the next day with the hotel's "spa bathing rituals." We put on fluffy white robes and headed to the spa. After soaking in a series of different temperature pools (that really remind me of the Turkish baths in Madrid) and saunas and drinking flavored waters, we felt refreshed and not so hung over anymore. It was a wonderful relaxing weekend and I loved getting to spend so much time with my friends. Thanks Kelly, Shannon, Holly, Kaitlin, Alma, Stacy, and Erin!

To see more California Bachelorette Party photos click:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lbanes615

Leslie's Spanish Bachelorette Weekend

2009-05-28T21:03:00.007+02:00

Before we left Spain, my girlfriends took me to Madrid for a weekend of fun, food, and lots of drinks. We did all my favorite things, ate churros con chocolate, went shopping at the huge street market (el rastro), went to indian food, and the best part was, they took me to see Cirque du Soleil!! I absolutely loved the show, it was the craziest acrobatics/gymnastics I've ever seen! Amazing costumes and incredible music. Then we hit the town for a night of mango daquiris and a list of "goals" I had to accomplish by the end of the night. The list had things like: find the oldest guy in the bar and get his phone number, find the cutest guy and get him to kiss me on the cheek, get 10 signitures on the back of my "despedida de soltera" (bachelorette party) shirt that the girls made me, and tons of other crazy things. :) Que buenas amigas tengo!! Os quiero muchiiiiisimo!!

They dressed me up in butterfly wings with my name on them, a red cowboy hat, and whistle I had to blow everytime we went into a bar. So much fun!!! What a perfect way to end my stay in Spain...

To see more photos of my Madrid bachelorette party click here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lbanes615
More photos coming soon...

Lewis' Spanish Bachelor Party (Despedido de Soltero)

2009-05-28T19:33:00.010+02:00

Before we left Spain, my best guy friends had a little party in my honor. We had the fabled Bachelor's Party. Now, there is a Spanish custom about the bachelor party. It's the same as its American counterpart, but with a twist. The friends of the bachelor get to choose what the bachelor will be wearing during the night. I lucked out, because my friends decided to go easy on me. Oh wait, what?! That's a lie. As you can see in the pictures, I had a wig, headband, makeup, cave woman shirt, a regular low cut chick shirt, a skirt, fishnet stockings and 80's style leg warmers. Awesome. I made a pretty hot chick. All the other guys wore a little costume too. We all started at my house. We ate and drank and played some Power Hour. Then we hit the town. We took the usual route and met lots of people who were very interested in us. We partied all night long and had one helluva time!

To see more bachelor party pics click here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lbanes615

Pistache Bash!

2008-11-23T20:54:00.003+01:00

Yesterday I fullfilled 25 years. A quarter century, joder! In order the celebrate we had a Pintxo/Mustache party, the Pistache Bash. Everyone was supposed to bring a pintxo and some booze, and me and Les provided the staches. It was a success! Les made bacon wrapped cherry tomatoes, I made a pintxo with rasberry jam, goat cheese and carmelized onions, our friends brought guacamole, spicy garlic shrimp, artichoke croquetas, fish and chip pintxhos and tons of other ones.We all ate a lot of delicious pintxos and had some drinks and then we took off to the old part of town to start the bar crawl.

Biarritz

2008-11-12T12:36:00.006+01:00

Bonjour! Me and Les had the pleasure of a spending quiet weekend away from the city life of Bilbao in the beautiful Pays Basque, the French Basque Country. Biarritz is a super ritzy little town full of rich people and tourists, but it's incredibly beautiful. It's right on the coast and has excellent, picture worthy views. We spent our weekend walking around the town and the beach, window shopping at the little stores and eating and drinking. We indulged ourselves in delicious Indian food because we can't get it in Bilbao. And we drank a lot of French wine as it's quite cheap over there. Au revoir!

Halloween!!!

2008-11-12T11:43:00.007+01:00

I love teaching lessons about Halloween, making haunted houses, and reading stories about witches and their brooms...Halloween this year was really fun. We dressed up with all our French friends and went out for a night on the town. We had to show all our international friends what a real American Halloween is all about. Then saturday we headed to Las Arenas to meet up with Hannah and Alex and a big group of friends to eat a traditional Basque meal. We went to a cool little bar where the owner happens to also be a great cook. We ate in a little upstairs room with long tables and low ceilings. We stuffed ourselves on seafood salad and giant ox steaks, mmmmm! Then we went out to some bars to show off our dance moves and our fancy dress costumes (haha British English is so funny). HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Back to school

2008-11-12T11:31:00.002+01:00

Well, after a long summer of traveling we're back to the daily grind. We're both teaching English at a language acadamy in Bilbao. We have classes with children, teenagers, and adults at all different levels; from beginners to people who I think know more English than I do! Our little kid classes keep us on our toes trying to find fun ways to entertain them...and our adult classes are really interesting. I like teaching conversational classes the best. I'll I do is sit and talk to people in English, they tell me about the Basque Country, about their experience traveling, and their views on American culture and politics. We both like teaching but we're excited about the plans we have coming up soon, Halloween and Thanksgiving (al estilo americano) and a trip to Biarritz,France and hopefully we'll squeeze in a trip to Germany to visit some good friends before we head back to Cali. Besos!

EuroTrip 2008

2008-07-24T17:04:00.003+02:00

After Leslie and Kelly finished travelling with their family, they came back to Bilbao. Justin met up with us and then on the 27th of June we went to Paris where we met up with Jon, Dana, Brennan, Troy and Timmy. We spent 4 days in Paris, then 3 days in Rome, and then returned to Bilbao where we met up wth Dennis, Erin, David and Brittany. From there we all went to Pamplona for Las Fiestas de San Fermin and the running of the bulls. Then we came back to Bilbao for a few days then went to Sevilla, Granada and then Madrid. Then Timmy, Brennan, Dana, Jon and Kelly had to go back to the States. The remaining group went back to Bilbao for a while and then went to Gijon for a weekend. There was a fiesta in Gijon so we had a great time. Once we all came back to Bilbao from Gijon everyone started leaving...

We had a great time with everybody. It seemed like the time flew by. Some of the highlights were: the Pamplona fiestas, the cider house in Bilbao and drinking kalimotxos in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Family Travels

2008-06-25T13:12:00.003+02:00

Hola Todos!!!
I had a fantasitc time traveling with my family. We took a 7 day mediterranean cruise and went to Barcelona, Malta, Naples, Rome, Florence, Nice, and Monaco. Then we spent a fabulous week on the mediterranean coast in Denia, near Valencia. We went to the beach, visited castles and cathedrals, and enjoyed paella, tapas, and sangria from the umbrella tables of beatiful terraces. It was a great trip and I was really excited to get to spend so much time with my familia. You can see our photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/Familytravels2008

Our friend Justin is coming to Bilbao today, yay! And on Friday we are all headed to Paris to meet up with Timmy, Jon, Dana, Brennan, and Troy. Then on the first of July...Rome!!! We'll be back in Bilbao just in time to celebrate the 4th of July!

El Guggenheim

2008-05-27T10:46:00.007+02:00

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a modern and contemporary art museum designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, built by Ferrovial and located in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain. It is built alongside the Nervion River, which runs through the city of Bilbao to the Atlantic Coast. The Guggenheim is one of several museums belonging to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. The museum features both permanent and visiting exhibits featuring works of both Spanish and international artists.

Fun Fun Fun

2008-04-21T22:36:00.005+02:00

Kaixo todos! We have some new photos posted of our recent adventures. We went with friends, Beth, Markel, Mike, Kaitlyn, and Kris to Santo Domingo, a small pueblo in La Rioja, the wine region of Spain. We stayed in a condo, made a fire, and cooked steak and vegies on a grill in the fireplace. We played games, ate, and drank until la madrugada (the very early morning).

The next weekend, we went with Mike and Kaitlyn to San Sebastian (where I use to live!). San Sebastian is famous for it's pintxos and the counter of every bar was covered with all different kinds of snacks, sea food, and fried deliciousness. We walked around the city and then went to a cider house. We had all the cider we could drink that came of big barrels in the wall. We ate and ate and ate, as is the Basque tradition. They brought out two whole plates of chuletón steaks and just when we thought we couldn´t fit in another bite, out came the cheese course! Everyone sat at huge long tables as people began to finish eating, the basque singing began! Basque singing usually comes with clapping and dancing, and the tables only held people back a little! If I could speak Basque, I would´ve joined in!

Vacaciones de primavera

2008-03-30T16:10:00.005+02:00

Costa Blanca: Alicante, Santa Pola, Valencia, Denia

Saludos, besos y abrazos a todos! We got home from our trip at 8 am on Easter Sunday. We had a fantastic time exploring the Eastern coast of Spain, although I think I'll steer clear of all night bus rides for while...this one was especially uncomfortable!! We had great weather through our whole trip until the day we left. Sunshine and beaches!! The day we left some huge storms hit spain...including snow in most of the northern part of the country, even in Bilbao! So I'm glad we hit the beaches while we could. We met up with Beth, Markel, and Beth's parents (Patrick and Carol) in Santa Pola, a small town just south of Alicante and where we all stayed at Markel's grandma's condo. We played on the mediterranean beaches and went to a Medieval market full of costumes, fun things to buy, and tons of stands with delicious things to eat and drink (including whole pigs grilling on the BBQ!).

The next day, Lewis and I went to Valencia...there's so much to see and do there. It's famous for Valencian oranges, a drink called Agua de Valencia, and of course Paella and tapas! Lots of cool sights to see there! Cathedrals, castles, Roman ruins, the City of the Arts and Sciences, and a huge market in a beautiful building. We also took a day trip to Denia...this is where I'm spending 4 days this summer with my family after our cruise. It's going to be a really fun place to stay. We toured the castle there (every real spanish city has a castle!) and had drinks and tapas on the port, did some shopping, and watched the sunset. I can't wait to go back with my family!!

Fútbol: Go Bilbao Athletic!!
We celebrated Easter by going to a football game with Beth, Markel, Patrick, and Carol. It was wet and freezing cold, but soooo much fun. Lewis brought the bota of course (bota: a goatskin wine bag- very Basque!) So, we huddled together under umbrellas, drank from the bota, and cheered for our team. And we won the game!!! Pintxos (delicious snacks) and drinks after the game topped off a great Easter.

New fotos

2008-03-16T22:34:00.001+01:00

Aupa todo el mundo. We've added some new foto albums to our foto page of some things we've been doing over the past month or so. Check em out!

San Juan Gaztelugatxe y Carnaval

2008-02-15T11:08:00.003+01:00

Last Saturday, we went to this church outside of a town called Bakio. It's built on an island. It was really cool. There are 238 (or so) steps to climb to get to the top. We are definately not jealous of the slaves, presumably, who had to build the place! There is a bell in the tower and you can ring the bell as much as you want. We all rang the bell. It was amazing. Later that night, we went to Carnaval. Basically a huge street party were everyone dresses in costume. I was a priest, Les was a pirate, and Mike was a Cesar. We walked around, looked at peoples costumes and drank some beer. All in all, a great Saturday!

Portugal! We're Engaged!

2008-02-06T21:49:00.000+01:00

We went to Portugal this weekend. We went to 3 different cities/towns. I proposed to Leslie on the beach. We're engaged!

Cascais is a little fishing town on the coast of Portugal, directly west of Lisbon by 30 minutes or so. It's mostly coast as it is stretched out for a couple kilometers. The coast there was very rocky but the beaches were nice and there were a lot of old mansions on the waterfront. We stayed in a really nice hotel overlooking the ocean, curtousy of Leslie. We had a balcony and everything. Naturally we walked around and looked at things, took pics ect. Typical tourist stuff. We had some great weather and it was very enjoyable. That night we had some wine and ate delicious Indian food. Then we walked throught the town and stopped at one of it's many beaches. That's were the magic happened. All in all, a good trip to a small fishing town.

Sintra is about 40 minutes northwest of Lisbon. The town itself is over shadowed by a large mountain, on top of which are a Moorish castle and a 16th century monastary turned palace. Surrounding everything is a dense forrest. We had some bad weather while we were there. We got rained on a bit but it made the forrest that much more fun to walk through. The town overlooks a large valley. After we walked through the town for a while we decided to climb the hill to check out the Palace Pena. We walked for miles up the winding mountain road. It took us a couple hours. We had amazing views of the valley below and the town. We passed lakes, the moorish castle and other historic treasures and finally made it to the top of the mountain to the palace. It was definiately worth the effort. We checked out the palace for a while then decided to go back to Lisbon because it was pouring rain.

Lisbon was hella awesome. Lots to do and see. There are 7 hills in the city with great views. We stayed in a jankety hostel, but it was pretty nice none the less. We spent our time there walking around, photo-ising things and eating a ton of good food. On Saturday night we went to the Barrio Alto (it's on a hill) and searched for one of the many famous Fado restaraunts. We had almost given up hope of finding one, but then we finally found one. It is inside an old church. The food was incredible! There were dancers, singers and people playing all sorts of instruments. We were definately glad that we found it.

That pretty much sums up our Portuguese adventure. We would go back there in a heartbeat!

Madrid y Toledo

2008-01-26T22:15:00.000+01:00

We spent a fabulous weekend with Beth and Markel in Madrid. Went out to eat with a bunch of friends in the program, went to a beer bar with hundreds of different kinds of beer (Lewis loved it!) and ate some tapas. We spent a day in Toledo, a small midieval town about an hour south of Madrid. And spent Sunday wandering through the rastro, a huge flea market that takes over a big part of the city.

Don't forget to look at our photos in the album called Madrid y Toledo: http://picasaweb.google.es/lbanes615/ToledoYMadrid

Toledo: The City of Three Cultures

Toledo was once the capital city of Spain. Toledo is a magic place, probably one of the most spectacular cities in the world. The buildings and winding streets contained within the old city walls hold hundreds of years of history.

During the 13th century Toledo became one of the few places in Spain where Moors, Christians and Jews managed to live together and tolerate eachother more or less peacefully. and the singular combination of styles and cultures which resulted from this period in Toeldo's history is one of the city's unique characteristics. Visitors can still admire the remains of churches, mosques and sinagogues built during this time.

Toledo became a fortified city under Roman occupation - its location and the River Tajo made it an ideal fortress, and from that moment on the city became one of Spain's most important political, economic and cultural centres. The Visigods named Toledo their capital, and it retained its importance under Arab occupation. When the Spanish armies regained control of the city, it became the official residence to the Spanish Kings and Queens until the 16th Century.

Info taken from: http://www.euroresidentes.com/euroresiuk/guides-spain/guide-toledo.htm

¡¡Feliz Año Nuevo!!

2008-01-07T20:43:00.000+01:00

Helloooo everyone and saludos del pais vasco! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday. We spent our days walking through Bilbao, eating, drinking, and generally enjoying not having to be at work. On Christmas eve our apartment was visited by Olentxero, the Basque version of Santa Claus who rode a donkey down from the mountains to deliver our gifts. Our stockings were stuffed full of candy, mandarins, earings (for me!) and other goodies. We had fun looking at all the lights and decorations in Bilbao and watched the christmas parade lead by Olentxero himself! We had a delicious Christmas lunch with friends Beth and Markel at Markel's mom's house in Getxo, a beautiful small town that's about 30 minute from Bilbao. We ate lots of seafood, lamb, and vegies...so much food! This Christmas was very different for both us because it was our first Christmas away from home. I missed my family alot but we had fun combining traditions from each of our families as well as some Basque and Spanish traditions to make a special Lewis and Leslie style holiday.

We went to an amazing Basque restuarant with some fellow Americans abroad, friends studying in France and Sweden that were exploring Spain durring their break. Now, let me explain what happens when you go to eat lunch at a Basque restaurant. First, you don't even think about eating until around 2:00. Then you sit down at a huge long table with a whole group of friends. First, the drinks come: vino tinto (red wine) or sidra (cider) which is sorta like apple beer that is a world renowned Basque specialty thanks to the amazing sidrerias that are found all over the San Sebastian area. By the time the first course arrives, you are already starting to get a little tipsy (at least I am!) and we all eat the txorizo (chorizo sausage) and morcilla (blood sausage, which sounds gross but it's really good). Then comes tortilla (a spanish omlette with eggs and potatoes) and croquetas (fried blobs of gooey goodness). Then you might get alubias (an amazing bean stew with bacon) or salad. Then comes the main course, which at this restaurant was two whole chickens and an entire ham hip...a lot of food for any group and keep in mind there were only 6 of us!!! Then, of course, desert and after dinner shots or coffee. Absolutely amazing!

Beligium was so much fun. Lew and I spent 5 days exploring Bélgica, 4 days in Brussels, and 1 in Brugge. It was cold but beautiful in Brussels, and it snowed when we were in Brugge! We had a great time tasting all the Belgian specialties like mussels and fries (the national dish), waffles (of course!), chocolate, and different types of beer. Lew's favorite beers were, well, all of them! The Belgian beer is much stronger and has much more variety than Spanish beers, so we took full advantage! The fireworks were cancelled on New Years Eve because of terrorist threats but we went out to a nice meal and enjoyed watching the hords of people partying in the main square. Clearly Belgians were not discouraged by the terrorist threats, however, everyone simply set off their own fireworks in the middle of down town. Brussels is well known for it's comic art. We took a walking tour of all the colorful outdoor murlas that are scattered all over the city. And we went to a really cool musical instrument museum and saw and listened to instruments from all different cultures and time periods. Brugge was my favorite city, the castles, and venice-like bridges and canals were made even more beautiful by the snow. Check out our photos by clicking the link to right "see all of our photo albums" and leaves us comments so we know you stopped by! Happy 2008!!!

You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I'm tellin you why...OLENTZERO is coming to town!!!!

2007-12-24T18:59:00.000+01:00

Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Zorionak! I hope everyone is spending time with their family and friends and enoying themselves this Christmas. Lewis (whose name in Basque is Koldobika, Koldo for short) and I are busy making homemade raviolis for Nochebuena (Christmas Eve). Mmmmm, they are cooking now and they smell delicious. We've been drinking spiced cider and Patxaran (a licorice flavored booze made with sloe berries, a basque specialty!) and walking around Bilbao, enjoying the lights, christmas trees, and christmas parades. Tonight, Olentzero (look for him with the oxen in the christmas parade) the Basque Santa Claus is coming to fill up our stockings...I hope!!!

Gora Santo Tomas!!

2007-12-22T20:11:00.000+01:00

Lew and I had a great time yesterday eating lunch with the teachers of one of the high schools were I work. We ate, and drank, and talked, and sang for about 4 hours and then we headed out to the traditional festival of Santo Tomas. This festival took over the streets and plazas of the old part of town all day and all night. Thousands of people flooded the streets to dance and sing in the traditional basque manner, with acordians and berets. We ate talo con chorizo and drank a very special white wine called Txakoli, and of course, lots of cider!!

Night out on the town!

2007-12-17T11:04:00.000+01:00

Bilbao is a great place to "paint the town red." It´s fun teaching my students expressions like these! :) At night all the streets and plazas around Casco Viejo (the old part of town) are completely filled with young people (sometiems too young...like my 16 year old students!) Everybody drinks "botellones de kalimotxo," large 2 liter coke bottles filled with 1 part soda and 1 part cheap red wine. I know, it sounds awful, but it kinda grows on you and its a must if you´re going to go out in the basque country! People start going out at about 1 or 2 am and wander home at about 6 or 7. Then of course, we sleep all day the next day...what a life!

Bonjour o algo asi

2007-12-10T23:20:00.000+01:00

Well we had another puente and thus had to travel. We went road trippin with our friends Kris and Hannah to Kris' hometown of Cotignac, France. We drove all Wednesday night and arrived in the morning. Cotignac is about 900km and 9.5 hours from Bilbao. So it was a long trip. We had a great time. Cotignac is a very small town full of friendly people. We ate a lot of great food and met a lot of great people. We hung out with Kris' friends and they were all really cool. Cotignac is a very old town butted up against a cliff. The cliff used to have a waterfall running off it so the rocks have a lot of deposites on them. The side opposite the cliff is a big open valley with an amazing view. Check out our pics!

La Navidad en Espana

2007-12-05T13:37:00.000+01:00

Chritmas is celebrated a little differently in Spain. Here's whats going on during the holidays...

December 8th - This is the public holiday of Immaculada (Feast of the Immaculate Conception) which marks the beginning of the religious Christmas celebrations. Another four day weekend "puente." We're headed to southern France for a road trip with Hannah and Kris!!!!

21st December - In a few cities including Granada the celebration of Hogueras (bonfires) takes place. This date marks the winter solstice (shortest day) and where it is celebrated involves people jumping through fires to protect themselves against illness.

22nd December - All over Spain people never stray far from a TV or radio as the Christmas lottery is drawn over a period of many hours. Everybody in Spain buys tickets for this lottery in the hope of winning El Gordo (the fat one) and the winning number usually means that a good number of people from the same village become a lot better off overnight. Besides the big three prizes there are thousands of smaller prizes shared by people all over Spain.

24th December - Christmas Eve is called Nochebuena in Spanish (Goodnight) and it is the most important family gathering of the year. In the evening people often meet early for a few drinks with friends then return home to enjoy a meal with the family. Most bars and restaurants close in the evening. Prawn starters followed by roast lamb would be a typical meal rounded off with a typically Christmas sweet called turrón which is a nougat made of toasted sweet almonds. Another typical festive sweet is called Polvorones which is made from almonds, flour and sugar. Cava, Catalan champagne, would be the chosen drink for the Christmas toast though plenty fine Spanish wines will also be consumed with the meal.

25th December - Children may receive a small gift on Nochebuena or this morning but the day for presents is 6th January, Epiphany, when the Three Kings bring gifts for the children. Christmas Day is a national holiday in Spain so shops are closed yet it is not a day of great celebration but rather a calm day when people go out for a walk, drop into a bar, etc.

28th December - This is the day of Santos Inocentes (Holy Innocents) and is the equivalent of April Fools' Day when people play practical jokes on one another. Often the national media will include a nonsense story in their broadcasts. In some villages youngsters of a village light bonfires and one of them acts as the mayor who orders townspeople to carry out civic tasks such as sweeping the streets. Refusal to comply results in fines which are used to pay for the celebration.

31st December - New Year's Eve is known as NocheVieja. It is a big celebration all over the country with street parties and special nights in hotels and clubs everywhere. Until midnight people tend to stay at home and on the stroke of midnight it is traditional to eat 12 grapes, one on each stroke of the clock to bring good luck for the new year. In Madrid and other main cities revellers congregate in the main square (Puerta del Sol in Madrid) and eat the grapes along with a celebratory bottle of cava then head out into the night until after sunrise.

1st January - A low key public holiday with plenty people sleeping off their excesses.

5th January - There are processions all over Spain this evening where sweets are thrown from the floats to all the people who come out to watch. Every town has its own variation such as in the Sierra Nevada where the Three Kings can be seen to ski down to the village.

6th January - This is the Feast of the Epiphany when the Three Kings arrived in Bethlehem. For Spanish children this is the most important day of the year when they wake up to find that Los Reyes Magos (the Three Kings) have left gifts for them in their house. Santa may leave them a token gift on 25th but the Three Kings are their favourites, especially Baltasar who rides a donkey and is the one believed to leave the gifts. During the day of 6th the Three Kings continue their good work and are seen distributing gifts to children in hospitals all over Spain.

7th January - The day after receiving their gifts children return to school, their parents go back to work and Christmas in Spain is all over for another year.

felices fiestas!!

2007-12-05T13:21:00.000+01:00

Kaixo todos!!

New photos have been posted of our fabulous thanksgiving feast and a night out on the town with Beth and Markel. Thanksgiving at Hannah's aunts house in Las Arenas was so much fun we had a lot of the traditional turkey day dishes like stuffing, vegetables, chickens (instead of turkey), salad, gravey....and Lew and I made an apple crisp for desert. We ate and ate and ate....

Then we went out in Bilbao with Beth, Markel, and a bunch of their friends. Check out more photos by clicking the link on the right of this page. The file is called Thanksgiving.

Happy Turkey Day!!

2007-11-19T15:56:00.000+01:00

What a wonderful holiday! I hope everyone in the US is enjoying their time off from work or school and having fun preparing for the big day. This Thursday I will be thinking of my friends and family...have an extra piece of pumpkin pie for me!! Last night I attempted to make a pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin (not an easy task by the way). But it turned into a big mess when I tried to mash the cooked pumpkin with a spoon (I don't have a food processor) and of course it was just all gross and stringy. Oh well...

In honor of this holiday I want to make sure all the important people in my life know how much I appreciate them. To all my friends and family members at home thank you for always being there for me and for supporting me, even when I'm on the other side of the world. To my professors and the teachers I work with, thank you for inspiring me to keep learning and improving. And to my students, thank you for making me smile as we learn together (you in English and me in Castellano and Euskera). Happy Thanksgiving!

What we've been up to...

2007-11-18T01:15:00.000+01:00

Well we've both been really busy teaching: Lew at a language academy and me at two different high schools and evening classes at the academy. I love my job and the teachers I work with. I have so much fun working with high school students...they always keep me laughing.

We've been exploring the city on the weekends, going to good restaurants (found a really tasty asian-italian fusion restaurant downtown), and going out with friends Hannah, Chris, and Nate. Lew and I both have intercambios who we meet with as often as we can. We get to practice our spanish and our intercambios practice their english...they're also turning into some really good friends.

We went to the museum of fine arts last wednesday and saw some really cool stuff from Picasso, Jean Planque, Dubuffet, Luis Fernandez, and Poussin. Turns out Hannah's grandpa (she's part Spanish with family in Bilbao) was one of the foudners of the museum and has some art work there. Very cool!

One of the English teachers I work with is the drummer in a spanish rock/pop band called Dr. Deseo. They do concerts all over Spain and are currently working on their album.

Lew's birthday is thursday--yes, I know that's thanksgiving!! So we're going to club to hear some rock/metal cover bands on friday and then celebrating thanksgiving at Hannah's on Saturday. I'm attempting to make pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin. Hope it's good...

Un abrazo muy fuerte a todos!

Lots of new photos posted. Check out the link to the right that says "see all our photo albums"

We finally have internet! Now you can see fotos of our home!

2007-11-09T20:40:00.000+01:00

Last weekend was a "puente" so we had a nice long 4-day weekend. All Saints Day was thur and its a national holiday. When hollidays fall on thursdays spaniards sometimes take friday off too and call it a puente (bridge) because it bridges the holiday and the weekend (go spain!!). Our friends Beth and Markel came up to Bilbao from Madrid and on Sat we drove across the French border into Bayona (Bayonne in French). It's a very cute town in the Basque region of France and we had fun walking around, looking at shops, and eating a huge lunch of steak, cheese, and wine.

PICS!!!!!!!!!

2007-11-09T19:19:00.000+01:00

here are some pics of Munich. hella nice city. there's les' dad's band, and some fools surfing on the wave in the canal in the park. pretty sweet.....

2007-11-09T19:12:00.000+01:00

here is the inside of the Spaten beer tent. and here a pic of our table. and then me and les basically getting drunk.

2007-11-09T19:00:00.000+01:00

here are some pics from Oktoberfest. there are the outsides of a couple of the beer "tents." a couple of the horse drwn beer wagons. and then les' dad's band.

2007-11-09T18:51:00.000+01:00

so here we have a pic of us with some guys from the hostel at a cooking class. there's me and les at a fountain show. there's a hella sick park and then the fountain at daytime.

2007-11-09T18:35:00.000+01:00

here are some pics of Barcelona. there is the Sangrada Familia twice, once from up close and once from the top of park Guell. there's me with the mosaic lizard fountain in park Guell. there's a view of some downtown area fountain and then les on her bike in front of the Arc de Triumph

Finally...

2007-10-18T13:51:00.000+02:00

We finally got a place to live. it only took like a month. we are living in a 1 bedroom piso in santutxu, which is a barrio of bilbao. it´s pretty sick. the land lord is cool. he just had the place remodeled with new appliances and modern furnishings and stuff but then he got transfered to a different city for his job so it wasnt worth it for him to live at his place. score for us. the layout of the place is totally american style. all the rooms branch from the living room. where as all these other spanish style pisos branch from a hallway, making long, narrow pisos. we are only 30 feet form the entrance to the metro which is nice. so finally we can rock it here in españa and learn some castillano and such. rock n roll. and once we get internet service at our apartment i´ll post hella pics of recent adventures. i promise.

Barcelona-Munchen-Madrid

2007-09-30T18:10:00.000+02:00

We got back 2 days ago from Madrid for Leslie's job training. It was pretty much pointless. They said it would be 3 days of conferences but it turned out to be only 8 hours. sweeeeeet. But that's ok cause we hung out in Madrid for a few days with Beth and Markel and that was legit.

Our time spent in Barcelona and Munchen was awesome. We stayed at the Barcelona Mar Hostel. We met some cool people and saw some neat stuff. We walked around for days, did a bike tour, learned how to cook some spanish food, saw a fountain light show, and a lot of other things. It's definately a cool place to check out and would be worth going back to.

Munchen was sick. Oktoberfest was amazing. Imagine like a million drunk people, a lot of who are wearing latterhosen and durndels, and giant liter mugs of beer. Hella bomb to say the least. Oktoberfest is held in the fairgrounds. It's like a giant carnival with tons of cool rides, food stands, games ect. Then there are the Beer Tents. There are 6 tents, one for each of the 6 breweries in Munchen. Each of them are huge. They hold like 12,000 to 15,000 people each. Each one is decorated in a different way and they all have a second story and a band that plays german songs. We went to the parade and saw all of the floats and watched Leslie's dad play in the band and saw the horse drawn beer wagons.

All in all it was a good week and a half. we would definately like to go back to Oktoberfest. I have a score to settle. I have to drink one Mass (liter mug) from each of the 6 tents.

I'll post some pics soon. This website keeps crashin when i try to load em so it'll have to wait....

My School

2007-09-12T21:04:00.000+02:00

This is the website for one of the schools I will be teaching at. I'll be working with 7th-10th graders who are learning English. Check it out!

http://www.iesunamuno.net/

Saludos de Getxo!

2007-09-12T20:42:00.001+02:00

We're hanging out in Getxo for the time being. Here are some pics of the city and me at my two schools...I'm excited for my new job to start! Ciao!

fotos de san francisco

2007-09-09T20:57:00.000+02:00

we spent friday night in san fran with aunt amy and met up with the menucci crew. here are some pics for your pleasure:

Arrival!

2007-09-09T11:31:00.000+02:00

well we made it to Madrid finally. we are chillin here in Markel and Beth's apartment. it was a long ass day of traveling and we have some more to do tomorrow or the next day to get up to Bilbao, but for now, we are going to explore the city. peace out!

The tables have turned

2007-09-02T01:25:00.000+02:00

Fate, as they say, has a weird way making things work out. Leslie's visa came today. We have a free place to stay in Bilbao until we find our own place. That will save us like 50 euros a night. That was all thanks to Markel and Beth. Talk about a hookup! And we bought some plane tickets today as well. We leave San Francisco at 6:30am on Saturday and arrive in Madrid at like 8am on sunday (Spain time). Then we'll hang out with Beth and Markel in Madrid for like a day and then we'll head on up to Bilbao.

Once we're in Bilbao, we'll start looking for a place to live and then go to Oktoberfest in Munich and then back to Madrid for a couple days for Leslie's training and then back to bilbao all by septemeber 30th. it's going o be a busy month.

It's about time...

2007-09-01T04:46:00.000+02:00

Leslie finally got a call from the consulate today. Her visa is in the mail. That is neat. It will be here tomorrow. Which means that hopefully we'll be outta here in about a week! WOOT!

Oh Snap!

2007-08-31T07:37:00.000+02:00

So as of right now, the spanish govt has approved visas that were turned in on 7/12. so we figure that perhaps our visa is only two weeks out. which sucks. hella.

2007-08-23T00:45:00.000+02:00

What Leslie meant to say was: El pais vasco ya nos vamos eventually, cause stupid spain is slow with stupid visas. Everyday she calls to see if the visa is ready and everyday thy say call back tomorrow. Mad lame.

2007-08-22T22:02:00.000+02:00

El Pais Vasco ya nos vamos!!

Waiting sucks

2007-08-22T19:53:00.000+02:00

Still waiting to hear from the Spanish consolate about Leslie's visa. Hopefully we'll hear something today and then we can finlly buy some freakin plane tickets and get this show on the road.