rrroooooaaaaaaaaarrr (Leon)

I went to Leon on the weekend, (the Leon in Spain not France.) It is very pretty, very different to Salamanca. It actually reminded me a bit of London, Eva said it reminded her of Germany. I went with two friends from Tia Tula (the college I'm at in Salamanca) Eva and Julie who are from Germany and Hungary respectively and met up with Nat (my friend from home).

We had a very nice weekend - wandering around and looking at pretty buildings and streets and drinking coffee and sitting in parks. The cathedral in Leon is very famous and was quite beautiful, though I have to say that I like Salamanca's better. We also saw about 12 weddings or so. Nat and I were standing at the back of the cathedral taking it all in - I want to recount an exert of the conversation.

Me) There's a Leon in France too isn't there?

Nat) Yeh....but it doesn't mean anything, it doesn't mean tiger. 

Me) Does it mean lion?

Hysterical laughter. Nat's Spanish is getting really good. (Well it actually is but it was a funny mistake. Maybe you had to be there.)

On Saturday night we went to a bar to get some tapas when Nat and I started talking to a Spanish couple who were locals to Leon. They were maybe the friendliest people I've ever met. The six of us ended up spending the rest of the night with them (as they spoke clearly using lots of hand gestures so we could actually understand everything they were saying!) and they took us around to all the best tapas at all the best places. We also saw Indiana Jones (who I gather was attending a bucks night).

On Sunday we went to a Museum of Contemporary Art - which has won an award for the building. It was closed for siesta when we got there (siesta is really annoying sometimes..) so we waited for an hour to go in and then it was pretty funny how bad it was. It was modern art at its most pretentious... a pile of sand with a boot on it... a giant X. But the building was really cool. 

with Julie

la catedral

from inside

even the dogs look like lions in Leon!

Indy! The whole plaza started singing the theme music. 

new friends

modern art

more new friends

very interesting from the outside...less so from the inside

some sad palomas and some happy news

So I've now been in Salamanca for two weeks and have developed some very enjoyable routines. For the past two weeks my classes have been starting at 10:30 and as those who know me well will know that 10:30's too late for me. So before I start class I buy myself a coffee (and now the guy knows me, it's like being home!) and sit in one of the very beautiful squares and do my homework and read for a bit. I've also met a few people who have dogs who let me pat them. It's all very nice. I'm reading Harry Potter y el caliz de fuego. Very slowly and with a lot of underlining.

Unfortunately Cora, Emily (my english flatmates) and I have had some bad luck with pigeons. They witnessed the slow and tortured death of one last week and were quite traumatised by it. Yesterday I came home and was sitting on our balcony when I saw that a pigeon was sitting on top of our clothes line. I tried to shoo it away but it didn't go anywhere - and I realised that it couldn't fly. It's been pretty hot so I thought maybe it had heat stroke so I put a container of water next to it and it drank a lot. Then it tried to climb into the water container so I moved it onto the ground of our balcony. It climbed into the container and stayed there and then a few hours later was dead. Poor pigeon - I think maybe it had eaten poison or something. But then the three of us had the issue of a pigeon carcass to deal with. The removal was going okay until it fell out of the bag we were trying to put it in, headfirst. Like a last bid for freedom. Poor pigeon. Now it's gone to pigeon heaven.

Aside from its population of suicidal pigeons, Salamanca is still a very nice place - and while the festival is winding down, University is starting soon so students are moving back in. I'm really enjoying learning Spanish but find myself a bit out of it a lot, I think my brain is processing things and so other parts have shut down in the meantime. Or something like that.

Tomorrow I'm going to Leon for the weekend with my German friend Eva and I'm so excited because Nat is meeting us there! (Good friend from high school!!!) Leon is supposed to be very nice and it's only a couple of hours from here so should be fun.

Not sure if I blogged about the sad crocodile in Laos. When I was in Laos, the neighbours of the school I was working at had a crocodile in their backyard that lived in what was pretty much like a big concrete bathtub. Poor thing. We joked (well some of us were joking) about trying to free it, I dreamt of it running down the muddy street and jumping into the Meekong - but apparently it's been taken to live in a zoo! Much nicer than a concrete bathtub.

being on the other side of the desk and a weird (but nice) coincidence.

I'm feeling a bit of blog fatigue. I'm not quite sure what to do about it. I'm not saying this like when girls say they look fat so that you say 'noo you don't' I just figure that it's my blog and I can say whatever I want.  Anyway, suggest what's not boring if you feel so inspired.

So tonight a crazy thing happened, I was in the Plaza Major here in Salamanca in Spain with a couple of friends among the din of people who have packed out Salamanca during the festival that's on, when I saw who I thought was one of my high school teachers. As she walked past I said somewhat timidly 'Mrs Dunn?' and lo and behold it was her. We had a nice chat. That's the first zero degrees of separation I've had, unplanned, in another country.

I've been in Salamanca for about a week and I think it's the most beautiful town I've ever seen. It is actually incredible. Every building is beautiful, it's quite breath taking - especially walking around at night. I've made good friends with my flat mates (two british girls and a venezuelan). We had quite a strange fellow living with us as well but he has left as of this morning and we're all a little more relaxed in the place since then. Not to go into too much detail but we'd hear some crazy, loud laughter and then some pretty loud and angry 'damnits' a little too often for comfort. He was quite nice, just a bit odd. But anyway, who isn't odd I guess. Except me.

It's interesting being a student again. Interesting especially because where I'm studying, it's very similar (although a lot smaller, and obviously Spanish..) to where I was teaching in Sydney. One thing I can't get over is the three brothers in my class. They are 18, 16 and 15. They're Americans but live in Taiwan, and their parents have sent them (unaccompanied) to Spain to learn Spanish for six months. So the three of them live in an apartment together. The oldest one doesn't like to go out much, but I'm sure you can imagine what the other brothers get up to at this University town in Spain - needless to say I'm quite worried about their livers among other things. They have not only managed to know pretty much all the bartenders in town but have also found a variety of people who cook for them.

There's been a big festival on in Salamanca over the last 4 days so the place has been packed out. There are lots of street stalls (casetas) selling super cheap tapas and drinks all over the place. I have had some amazing paella more than once. Tonight we went to a medieval market which was really cool. I skipped the pig on a spit but had an amazing falafel.

a lost bag and the search for a good coffee

For someone who is moving to London I had put a remarkably small amount of thought into what the city is actually like and so didn't have a whole lot of expectations. I had heard that it was very expensive and that the people aren't particularly friendly, and that there are lots of museums.

I arrived and following Linda's thorough instructions on getting to her place arrived at the tube station with relative ease, surprised that in some countries on trains that take people to the airport they have room for bags (that was a hint Cityrail). Walking from the tube station I realised I'd taken a wrong turn. I was standing on the street looking for a street sign when a man pulled up in a car and asked me if I was lost. I asked him the way to York St and he pointed out the direction and then told he'd give me a lift there because he was driving past. I started to wonder if he was going to try and murder me, when he showed me that he is a cabbie and drove me there for free. We stopped along the way when I saw Linda walking past. He told me that he's the friendliest cabbie in London.

It was so much fun staying with Linda. Camden town near where she lives has some very interesting markets and we had a wander around (drank some truly woeful coffee) and then spent about half an hour looking for a fur coat, due to her imminent move to Moscow. Now don't get me wrong, if we eat animals we might as well use the whole thing, but there is something creepy about wearing fur. It's like taxidermy but you have to keep touching it. There were also baskets of little fur animals you could hang around your shoulders. I was trying hard not to show my real feelings too clearly (and not being someone known for my subtlety) while also fighting the temptation to give the coats different voices and Linda was asking about each coat by saying 'what animal is this?' They're also not the cheapest things, the second hand wolfie coat that she was keen on cost 400 pounds. The guy in the shop was also both disconcertingly attractive to be working in a fur shop and very serious about the whole thing.

Including but not limited to the fur shop I had the best time in London. It was so nice to hang out with Linda and catch up with Tom and Charlotte who are lucky enough to have me on their couch upon my return. (Cheers guys!) I went to a whole lot of different areas, had a nice look in the Natural History Museum, The National Gallery and found (on Tom's advice) a very nice coffee place. I also had many friendly encounters with Londoners. I saw the blue door in Notting Hill and watched the guards in red with the tall black fuzzy hats march around Buckingham Palace.

This pleasant feeling about England unfortunately ended when British Airways lost my bag on my flight to Madrid. (Ok, not so much) but really it made me appreciate my toothbrush all the more when we were reunited about a day later.

The bridge the guy in Love actually walks across after being rejected by Keira Knightley

In front of the National Gallery

Red telephone box

The changing of the guards

Tom and Cha looking very civilised

this is what happens when you go to the loo and leave your camera unattended

this Notting Hill door advertised itself as 'the' blue door 

in the natural history museum