Bilbao (1/10/08)

The past two days have gone by very quickly. I’m still not entirely adjusted to the time change, so I get really tired at about 11am and then again at about 3pm. Luckily, I will be able to take a siesta right after lunch most days.

Yesterday morning we took a Spanish placement test to determine what level of Spanish class we will be taking. After that the school took us out to eat lunch at a very nice restaurant. There was a bit of trouble with the food for me, as most people here understand “vegetarian” to mean “I eat fish, but no meat except ham.” I ended up having a first plate* of pasta and sauce, and a second plate of tortilla de champiñones, which was delicious. It was scrambled eggs with garlic and large oyster mushrooms, served with a bit of molasses salsa (they put salsa [sauce] on almost everything here). Desert was a really pretty looking chocolate and orange torta, but I was so full from lunch that I could only eat a few bites.

After lunch, we went for a walk around Casco Viejo, the Old Quarter. This is where the original city began and now is a very pretty area that is mostly closed off to vehicles. There is a town square that is still used for a weekly open-air market and concerts. Off of the square are a dozen or so small streets filled with tieñditas  (little shops) and pincheríos (bars selling small plates of food). Apparently it is a great place to go on weekends at night, as that is when most of the street vendors and pincheríos open up.

At about 4, my friend Jenna and I met up to go to see the ocean. We ended up finding one of the nicest beaches in the area, about 30 minutes outside of the city. There was a bluff overlooking the beach, and a fairly large skate-park behind the bluff. In between the two was a grass covered area where we watched the sun set- very pretty.

Last night, Conchi and I went over to her sister’s house for dinner with her sister, her sister’s husband, their son and daughter, two of their current exchange students, two of their old exchange students, and a very close family friend. Everyone brought a little something to eat and Conchi’s sister made a ton of food for all of us. There were mushrooms in garlic and olive oil (I ate some, they were GREAT!), red pepper with garlic and olives, seven or eight different types of ham/salami/sausage, bread, tomato and onion spread, at least a dozen cheeses, ham and cheese croquets, mash potatoes, and some cut of cooked meat that everyone seemed to really be excited about. Dinner, like most meals, lasted a good hour and a half, after which we played a game that I can only describe as a cross between Trouble, Yatzee, and Sorry. I don’t know how I managed to do it, but I won.

 

*All meals in restaurants here are served in three courses; a first plate (soup, pasta, or fish), a second plate (meat, usually beef or ham), and a third plate (desert). The meal is pretty cheap if you get the “plato del día,” usually about 7€.