Hola, Hola.

Spain is the one place you can be white and still sound like Jay-Z with dignity. For example, just check the title of this post. Hola!

As Grace has mentioned, we´ve been travelling through Barcelona, Sevilla and Ronda and have recently ended up in Madrid. We´re excited to be here as Madrid is proving to be the breeding grounds for all things Spanish.

For anyone that has been to Spain before, you will know what I am talking about when I say that Spain is a collision of all sorts of things. Culturally, Spain is intriquing due to its dual Moorish and Roman Catholic influences. Even Madrid is showing itself to be a city split between the Bourbon empire and the Hapsburgs.

Even more amazing has been the diversity that exists from east to west (and I am sure north to south as well). Experiencing Barcelona first was both captivating and somewhat misleading with regard to what we have both decided Spain is really about. Grace put it best when she said that Barcelona seems like Spain's second child. Don't get me wrong, its an amazing city, with a very unique cultural heritage, and an incredibly vibrant social fabric, but it is certainly unique unto itself. And, like the stereotype of second children, it has certain freedoms to do what it wants that are not accorded to the other children.

Madrid, then, seems to be Spain´s first child, the capital nd the heart of the country. It´s a bustling city that on first impressions would give both London and New York a run for their money. Delving deeper, Madrid is showing itself to be a unique blend of culture, class, and history that has us drawing comparisons (I know, comparisons are silly when it comes to cities) to our time in Paris.

We are here for another two full days before heading back to the Hague to set up our apartment. I think it is safe to say that we are both anxious to get back to Hollland and begin our life there. At the same time, we will be sad to leave this truly amazing country as it feels like we have only scratched its surface.

Sevilla equals beautiful.

For our first day in Sevilla, we walked around the tiny winding streets. The streets here are so narrow that often you can touch both sides of the street at the same time. Any vehicle that will fit between the walls is permitted to be on the streets, be it tiny car, scooter, or horse.

The city is very colourful. Most buildings are white with yellow and blue accents, which is a result of the Moorish inhabitance. Many buildings have ceramic tile accents that are covered in complicated patterns. It is so beautiful!

Many things in this city are either incredibly cheap, or free to see. This seems really strange because the city is flooded with tourists, yet the city hasn't seemed to capitalize on it. We were walking around a palace today that was deserted. . . it was very strange.

We topped off the night with a "tapas tour", which our hostel organized. There were like 30 people crowding this city's narrow streets in search of dinner, drinks, and eventually, flamenco.

Sevilla is known for Flamenco, and it is beautiful. There was an acoustic guitarist, a dancer, and a vocalist on stage. All the the instruments they used for the complicated rythyms were vocals, hands, feet, and guitar. It was very captivating.

If it were not for someone from the hostel leading us back, it is quite possible Ross and I would have never found our way. Sevilla is so disorienting. Luckily, this was not the case.

I heart BCN!

Hola! It has been difficult to get access to the internet, so I apologize for not updating more often.

Ross & I spent the last for days in the incredible Barcelona! We arrived after an exhausting travel day, and headed straight to our hostel, located on one of Barcelona´s busiest streets, La Rumbla. La Rumbla is also a disgusting tourist trap, so our first impression was not so . . . pleasant. But (over a pitcher of Sangria), we decided to make the best of Barca. From then on, we managed to avoid La Rumbla, and had an incredible time.

There is so much to do and see. There is so much incredible architecture and public art. The public spaces are so enjoyable, and heavily utilized. Of course we checked out Gaudi (Sagrada Familia, La Pedrera and Parc Güell), with my favourite being Parc Güell (if you don´t know what I´m talking about, look it up). The mosaic ceramic work along the winding perimeter bench was so lively and inspiring. I loved it!

We also checked out other architecture. Torre Agbar kind of looks like a bullet sticking out of the ground, but when you get closer, it´s colourful mosiac skin (covered by a second layer of glass) is so cool. We don´t know much about this building as we saw it when it was closed, but I will find out more once we get back. Trust me, it was hot.

The parks and public spaces are so interesting. We wandered to Diagonal Mar, a waterpark on the east end of town. As we sat in the shade, we could hear a whistling sound, and chimes, like an xylophone. We glanced over and saw they were these interactive art pieces which you stepped on to make music. We played on these for awhile. They might have been for kids, but we´re pretty immature, so it was a blast.

The other highlight was the Joan Miro museum. It might have been my favourite gallery experience to date. The space was designed specifically for the abstract expressionists art, and it's treated with such respect. There was an outside balcony, with all these hidden sculptures. You would walk around a corner and find one of his weird sculptures waiting for you. I kept laughing out loud, cause they seemed like strange animals.

The biggest highlight was probably the beach. It stretches for miles, and was packed full of people. Even though it was so large, somehow Ross & I managed to enter right into the old naked fat man part of the beach. We kept walking, cause we clearly didn´t belong in that club. The Mediterranean ocean was so warm, it was only slightly cooler than the air. It was quite salty, so we didn't really swim as much as we floated in the waves. We were there for hours, and wished we could do it every single day.

Barcelona has all these outdoor escalators, which are so awesome. To get to Parc Güell, it should be quite a steep climb, but isn´t bad at all thanks to the escalators. Ross and I couldn´t get over the experience of leaving a Metro station on an escalator and riding up into the sunshine and open air. So Barca!

Also, you can´t tell from photos, but Barcelona stinks. It has pockets of foul smells. Like, you´re walking along, and suddenly you think you´ve walked directly into a toilet. Just when you can´t take it, the air is fresh again. This happens about every 4 minutes.

Most of the places we really enjoyed we found out about in the Wallpaper guide for Barcelona, a gift from Tyler & Claire. (Thank you. It was well used, and unfortunatly ruined from the rain in Paris.)

We took an overnight train from Barcelona last night, and are now in the quaint city of Sevilla. (Even though the population is 700,000 people, it feels like a small town.) The streets here are so narrow, I can't believe cars can drive on them (not North American cars, anyway). This city is known for bull fighting and Flamenco dancing. We´re only here for two nights, so hopefully we will see at least one of those (and I'm not sure about the bull fighting.)

Photos will come in September.

Grace has been on me to make a post, so here it is.

The last few days were spent in Paris. I cannot say how much we enjoyed this city. I´m trying to find a way to focus this entry, but so much worth telling comes to mind. So, in order to keep this (relatively) brief here are two memorable event:

Topping the list of our time in Paris, was (you guessed it), our visit with Clement. For those of you that don´t know, Clement is our former professor and, more relevant to this post, a true Parisian. Our day with Clement turned into a casual insiders tour through the streets of Paris, interrupted briefly by two gallery trips and a lovely lunch at one of Paris´ older, more traditional restaurants. All of this was hand picked by big C himself. We could not have felt luckier. Even streets we had traversed the previous day found new life as Clement pointed out rough dates of buildings, or the significance of certain monuments and plazas. I am sure this day will remain in our minds as one of the highlights of the coming year. Thank you Clement.

The second memorable event, though not so epic, occurred during our first stay in a dorm at a youth hostel. In fact, I should do well to tell you that our second most memorable thing in Paris is but a single phrase offered up by Buddy, a fellow traveler who has just found himself in Paris.
The memorable phrase is as follows:

¨So, Paris, eh? Is there anything to do around here?¨

We´re in Barcelona now, and we have said goodbye to Buddy (sadly), but he has since provided all sorts of laughter when we begin to feel tired.

I imagine Grace will update soon as to our time in Spain so far.

Photos.

The reason we haven't posted any photos is because we have only had access to public computers. Once we recieve our things in September, I can assure you, we will post plenty of photos!

Home Sweet Home

Ross & I have a place to live! It's a very small two-room apartment in what (everyone tells us) is a great neighborhood. Location was much more important us than size, anyway. There was another place that was very big, and inexpensive, but everyone told us it was in the "drug neighborhood". When we checked out the neighborhood on our bikes, there were tons of art galleries, and small grocers. It was so cute and I thought it looked great! But there was also some broken glass on the street (from what I assumed was from car windows), something we didn't see anywhere else in the city. It was a tricky decision because we know that there are some "drug neighborhoods" in Vancouver that are perfectly safe and great to live in. And there are some that are anything but. In the end, we decided that since we're in a foreign country, paying more for a great neighborhood is like investing in insurance, and peace of mind for our loved ones (we did it for you, Mom.)

Our address is:
2e Schuytstraat, 1e voor
2517 XC Den Haag
Nederlands


After Ross & I found an apartment, we made a journey out to the IKEA in Delft. It turns out that IKEA in Holland is the same as IKEA in Canada; exhausing, overwhelming, long, and leaves me craving a hot dog. But all is good, we have a place to live, stuff to put in it, and it's being delivered in September. So, we decided to jaunt off on our holiday, and are currently in Paris.

Dining out is so awkward . . .

Strangely, the most awkward situations Ross & I have encountered is when we go for dinner. As we enter a restaurant, no one even glances our way, but being the polite Canadians we are, we don't want to just walk in. We hover at the door for a few minutes, desperately trying to make eye contact with the restaurant staff, who are bustling away, but no one pays any attention. Sometimes they are standing a few feet away, but we feel invisible. Usually we're muttering to each other "What do we do? Do we just sit down? Do they know we're here? Do they see us?" It's not comfortable.

When someone does finally acknowledge us, we take a seat, and ordering and eating is the same as usual, but the awkwardness returns when our plates are taken away. This is where we wait. We waited 45 minutes for the bill the other night. The staff was very busy, so we didn't want to disturb them, but it became clear that if we didn't disturb them we would be waiting all night.

Since then, we have learned that at the end of your meal, we must say, "Rekening, alstublieft." (Bill, please.) or else we'll be sitting as long as we like. Maybe it's the Dutch who are the polite ones?

Goodbye Vancouver, Hello Den Haag!

As we took off from Vancouver the sun was setting, and the sky was red and purple--it was a beautiful goodbye. Ross & I arrived in Den Haag about 4pm the local time. As we stepped out of the Centraal Station, we were met by a sea of hundreds and hundreds of parked bicycles, and we knew we had arrived. Maybe it was the lack of rest, maybe it was the realization that we were really here, or maybe it was actually humorous, but we laughed and laughed and found a taxi to our B&B, which is our home for the first week.


Yesterday we went to the Expat Centre in the City Hall (Stadhuis). It was so helpful! We are impressed. It had information on everything from getting a doctor to finding work. We recieved a welcoming package with our first dropjes, and a mini pair of wooden shoes. It was a nice welcome.

Afterwards, we went looking for houses. This was trickier than expected. There are many hoops that one has to jump through, and it's very competitive. The first place we looked at was awful, and very much like a WWII bunker; small, grey and the cupboards were labeled in bold Helvetica. Supposedly it was a joke, but we didn't get it. As we left, I slipped and fell down a flight of cement stairs. Luckily I was wearing a small backpack which saved me from falling on my back and getting a concusion, but my right arm took a beating; it is black and blue from my wrist to my elbow. Needless to say we didn't take the place.


After a few more, we have agreed to a place in a good neighborhood. It's an old buildng with high ceilings, and lots of light. Beautiful by our standards, but a very typical apartment here. We are still looking at a few more, however, and may take something else if it appears better.

Last night we went to the beach Scheveningen and touched the North Sea (Noordzee). We wanted to get something to eat, and were suprised at the endless choices of Spanish/Mexican & South American restaurants, with names like Copocobana, Bora Bora, Aruba, Eldorado, etc. It was very bizarre to us; there was a beach and sand, but it was by no means "tropical." Ordering Mexican food off a menu in Dutch proved to be quite tricky, but nachos are still nachos. Afterwords, there was a fireworks show similar to Vancouver's Celebration of Light (it was Spain & China last night), but with way less people.



Well, that's been our last 72 hours. We are presently cruising around, and pretending to be locals, but it's obvious we're not because everyone automatically speaks English to us, which is just fine for now.