Catching-up part dos (Portugal, Bilbao, Colin's Bday)

Part III

Now for our trip to Portugal. A friend of Colin's from work invited us to his house in Portugal, and this neighboring country has come to symbolize all things wonderful. If you decide to visit Portugal be sure to stay in your friend's country house, have all your meals at your friend's family's restaurant, and roast chestnuts in a brick fireplace. Also you should collect the chestnuts whilst walking through pumpkin patches and fields on a bright sunny day.

Our friend lives in a small town called Viseu. The sidewalks and pathways are a mosaic of hand laid grey stones. Trees, vines and flowers spread over the parks, walls and walkways like a scene from The Secret Garden. A church spire peaks above the skyline in the center of the town. On Friday evening shouts burst onto the streets during the Portugal v. Russian futbol match. On Saturday morning Colin and I went running. At the end of the road we ventured into the woods. At the end of the path we ran into an elderly Portuguese man herding his sheep.

After bring in Madrid, Portugal was like a completely different world. We had a great time getting to know Colin's co-workers better, exploring the countryside of Portugal, and dining on food fit for kings and queens. A huge thank you to Marco and his family for their gracious hospitality and wonderful memories.

Here are some photos taken by our friend Shen. We didn't have a camera, so I am borrowing his :)

Part IV New Jobs and Bilbao

We got back to Madrid on Sunday night. I started two new jobs the next week, and then on Thursday night we flew to Bilbao. It was a pretty hectic 4 days. 

The first job I took on is a combination of marketing, college counseling, and English teaching. I spend about 15 hours a week helping kids choose colleges to apply to, editing their essays, and get the Spanish grades/ recommendations sent to the US or UK. I'm learning as I go along, and hopefully a few of my students will get into college. the other job is babysitting for a Spanish family a couple afternoons a week. The family is awesome. Both the parents are engineering professors, and they lived in Boston last year working at MIT. They have two boys (ages 8 and 4) whose English improved a ton last year, and now I play with the boys in English. It's almost like they got to bring a piece of Boston back to Spain with them :) It's been a lot of fun getting to know their family. 

Half Marathon in Bilbao! When we arrived to Bilbao on Thursday night it was pouring rain. With both of us having had busy weeks we hadn't planned out the Bilbao trip very thoroughly, and the tentative hostel plans we made fell through. Even with the rain and mist, and the spur of the moment planning Bilbao was beautiful. 

Walking through the city

The city's main attraction use to be a steel factory that has since closed down. Now the Guggenheim get sall the attention. There are still remnants of the steel factory though, like this brick tower in the middle of the park:

We met up with Rachel and Steve on Saturday evening! They couldn't help themselves when we told them we were going to be running a half marathon :) We explored the city with them, ate some tasty pinxtos, nearly solid hot chocolate, and then some more pinxtos. 

Bilbao at night

On Saturday we visited the Guggenheim. Definitely cooler from the outside than the inside. 

Outside the Guggenheim

Saturday night we ran a half-marathon through the city! It started at the Guggenheim with fireworks. It was a really cool course. There were people out cheering almost the whole way. Colin did awesome with a time of 1:39 something. I'll spare you the details of what happened during my race, but I finished a little bit after Colin. Rachel and Steve had a fantastic race and beat their goal time! Overall it was a great experience. We loved Bilbao! 

Part V Colin Turned 25! 

Colin's birthday was the 23rd of October. I organized a surprise dinner for him with some friends, and baked him a cake at our neighbors house (turns out you can't bake cookies or a cake in the microwave, even with the grill setting). He had no idea I was planning anything, and it was good fun. My 80 year old neighbor, Teresa, really saved me though. On the night of his birthday I was dashing up and down from her house to ours checking the cake, getting ready for dinner, and trying to hide everything from Colin. Teresa really came through with candles, a cake pan, a tray, and a smile. At one point Colin came into the apartment when I wasn't expecting him, and I had to hide parts of the cake under the bed #iloveoursmallapartment. Here's a short video from the dinner. 

Happy birthday Colin! 

The next weekend we flew to England. More on that to come!

Catching up

Last post we were basking in the sun along the mediterranean coast in an economical smart car with a menu del dia in our tummies. Six/seven weeks further into our Spanish adventure a lot has happened! There have been ups and downs, but rarely a dull moment. Welcome to a small snap shot of what's it like to travel, eat, get robbed, run, see family and ultimately to be young, in love, and naive in Madrid.

Part I

The last weekend in September Colin and I had plans to go to a birthday party, and relax. On Friday afternoon I met up with a friend to walk around the city. I stayed out longer than I had planned, but didn't think much of it. I got home around 6pm. The door to our apartment was open, which was odd since I didn't expect Colin home for a couple of hours. I pushed in and our suitcase was open in the middle of the living room. I had asked Colin to retrieve a blanket from that suitcase the night before, so my first thought was that he was home and had taken the blanket out. Then I looked around. The computers were gone. The shelves and drawers had been ransacked. The camera was missing. Bank documents were strewn on the floor. Colin's wedding ring was nowhere to be seen. I started to shake a bit then immediately called Colin. A co-worker helped him call the police, and we spent the rest of the evening filing a report.

The next few days Colin and I had several debates about appropriate punishments for thieves. Colin's ranged from severe to more severe once asking why society stopped cutting thieves hands off. Trying to make the robbery seem less terrible I sometimes tried to imagine that the person who stole from us must have been desperate and needed the money very badly, maybe his or her kids are eating tonight because of us...? We've come to terms with the fact this it feels crappy to have someone break into your house and steal your stuff. But, in our case, there was no permanent damage, and worse things can happen.

Now we turn our deadbolts all four times, we always close the metal window guard, I never answer the buzzer for the mail lady (spanish still not good enough to verify it's actually her), and we hide things when we leave for the weekend. We may have been naive thinking that we were safe on the sixth floor in an apartment building on a busy street, but we won't let it happen again.

Verdict is still out as to whether or not our landlord's insurance policy will cover anything. Cue Final Jeopardy music.

Part II

Colin did a triathlon! He swam like a fish in the murky lago water, biked like Lance minus the drogas, and ran like the wind. I'm just a LITTLE proud of his triathlon debut :) I dashed between courses to capture the grueling,  sweaty moments on our sub-par phone camera.

He even looks good a swim cap

"I workout"

Drafting

Finish line!

Part III and more coming soon!