Guggenheim, Guggenheim

Next on the trip was Bilbao - the most important industrial city in Spain. When we arrived, it was freezing cold there, much colder than in San Sebastian. So we had to be strategic with our day planning to make sure that we used public transport to the fullest (tram, bus, metro).

Most of our visit was focused on the Guggenheim museum, and believe it or not, we were probably in the museum for about 6 hours total. If I remember correctly, there are 3 main floors in the museum, with more than 8 exhibition rooms on each floor. Outside of the museum there is a large flower sculpture of a Yorkshire Terrier, another metal sculpture of tulips, and others that we didn't walk to because it was too damn cold. The 2 main expositions were "300 years of Art in America" and "Surrealism". The permanent exposition is a bit difficult to describe without a picture -- it's humongous pieces of metal that are formed into spirals and other forms and you walk inside of them. Imagine that there are 12 foot high walls of metal all around you and you walk through the path to find that it's just a wavy path or it's a spiral and all of a sudden you are in the middle of it. Pretty cool.

San Sebastian

This city is absolutely breathtaking. As a Californian, the only reason I could have for not wanting to live here is that it rains a lot and the breeze from the Atlantic can be quite cold. I can learn to deal with it though! I can, I can!

The people in the North of Spain are very proud to be a part of their community, and there is a longstanding disagreement of their inclusion as a province of Spain. Without getting too much into the details, basically some of them feel strongly that they should be completely independent of Spain as its own country. It is unfortunate because in this area (widely speaking) there is a group, called ETA, that supports this cause with terrorist acts. For many Spaniards this is a difficult topic to discuss and as you can imagine, political views range across a wide spectrum. Now that I have scared you, onto the cool stuff.

My top 5 for San Sebastian:
1. The balconies were so beautiful. The horizon of the city is varied with beautiful coppolas, french-style balconies, and large intricately carved wooden doors.
2. The food. Oh man, the food. If I could just replicate some of the plates we were served, I would be that much happier.
3. The bay. Walking by the bay is really nice. I have to say in many ways it made me miss San Francisco.
4. Chillida open air museum. I like to call this the "rocks and metal in the ocean". What is best about it is the symbolism that these "rocks and metal" are windcombs, literally combing the wind that comes through. But my favorite part was the windholes that you can stand on. Once a wave hits, hold on tight because it's a strong wind!
5. Casco Viejo. Most cities in Spain have a "casco viejo", which is the old part of town. San Sebastian's casco viejo has tiny cobblestone streets with millions of tapas bars. It's just nice to walk around, pick and choose which bars to enter and of course, people watch!

Semana Santa Vacation - North of Spain Roadtrip

What's on the agenda?

1. No books, no talk of business plans, no studying. No work for Manu.
2. Rent a cheap car with PepeCar and drive up to the North of Spain.
3. Eat lots.
4. Check out San Sebastian, Bilbao, and Burgos -- and anything else on the way that is of interest.

If you check out the map, all of the little blue spots in the North of Spain are where we drove to, and many of the smaller towns in those areas we also visited. The landscape varies quite a bit and is beautiful. Since it tends to rain a lot in the northern part of Spain, the land is very green and lush. We of course caught a bit of the rain and a lot of the COLD fronts, but it was still a great trip. Of all of the cities that we went to, San Sebastian was our favorite. The city is absolutely gorgeous with a beautiful bay, detailled balconies, and scrumscious food. It's a good thing we don't have a scale at home because I'm sure we would be depressed by how much weight we have gained. The food was THAT good.

We are now back and it seems surreal to have to return to work / school. Well, it's not surreal. It just plain sucks. But life goes on and we'll get more vacation soon enough. I hope!

Voting in Spain

No, I can't vote in Spain but I sure as heck can stalk the voters here to find out what it's all about! I followed Manuel to the high school where he could vote. I'll do my best to explain how different it was.

First you have to figure out what room is designated to you (according to what zone you live in). Before coming to vote, you would have received some information that would help you know some of this. The first thing Manuel did was verify which room he was on a looooong list of names. There were different name lists hanging from the walls with a big number on it (I'm assuming the zone) and on the paper is everyone's name, DNI (national ID number), and birthdate. My first reaction was surprise that so much personal information could be read by others and copied for identity theft, but then again I am a pessimist.

Now you go into the room. One table is for Congress and the other one for Senate votes. You pick up the paper that corresponds to your vote and place it in the appropriate Congress or Senate envelope. There are many different papers on the table. Each pile of paper is specific to one political party. You choose the political party, not the person. Anyway, once you are done licking your envelope, you go to the box where you actually cast your vote and there is a person there who makes sure you are who you say you are, and they manage the security of the voting box.

VOILA - that is voting in Spain!

EL CHIKI CHIKI

This is so horrible that it merits some time to share with you. There's a Europe-wide music contest called "EuroVision." Apparently ABBA won it years ago. But don't let that fool you. That doesn't mean that this contest only has good, quality music. I myself have just discovered quite the contrary. From my understanding, each country has contests to elect one music representative (group/person) who will participate in the EuroVision contest.

Spain will be entering EuroVision with "El Chiki Chiki" song. Even if you don't speak Spanish, you can tell that this is the new Macarena. Electric Slide, MOVE OVER. Here's a part from the chorus that everyone loves:

1. El brikin dance
2. El cruzadito
3. El Maikel Yacson (Michael Jackson with a really bad Spanish accent)
4. El robocop

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=8RviZkSdMes

FAMA

I love this reality show "Fama! A bailar!". It's basically "Fame" where contestants dance in partners and live in a dance school, learning different choreographies. I'm addicted and so is Manu. It's so popular that there is even a "Fama, 24 horas" so that anytime I want to see crap, I just turn on that show and it relaxes me. I know it's pathetic, but when you're doing homework nonstop, it is nie sometimes to just veg and not do any heavy thinking.
(photo courtesy of TV Channel "Cuatro")