Spain!

Hello all!
I know it has been a long time since I wrote. So much has happened this summer, with DC, and Ravi, that I have completely forgotten that A) I'm moving to Spain in a month, and B) that people want to know what's going on!

I will be leaving Sept 23. I am moving to a small city called Ciudad Real (which means Royal City) which is about an hour south of Madrid and a little bit west. It is within the province of Castilla la Mancha, in the heart of Spain. According to Wiki, "It is mostly in this region where the story of the famous Spanish novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes is situated - due to which La Mancha is internationally well-known. Although La Mancha is a windswept, battered plateau, it remains a symbol of the Spanish culture with its sunflowers, mushrooms, oliveyards, windmills, Manchego cheese, and Don Quixote."
They are known for their great "embutido," meaning sausages and hams. CR is a stop on the AVE high speed train as of a couple years ago (thank goodness!) with easy access to Madrid and Sevilla. I don't feel like writing all about it so I might copy and paste some of the info I have from Wikipedia about Ciudad Real.

"After the unification of the Iberian kingdoms under the Catholic Monarchs, Ciudad Real became the capital of the province of La Mancha in the 17th century (1691). This fact favoured its economic development which was spilled into important buildings. The city was founded by Alfonso X in the 13th century (1255) to fight with the Military Order of Calatrava.
The city was surrounded by walls. Nowadays, there are only two parts of the wall left."

The city is also home of the Universidad de Castilla la Mancha. I can't wait to get to know it. Right now the temp there is 95 so pretty close to Missouri. They are known for harsh summers and harsh winters. it seems to stay hotter for longer than Missouri but have a longer, harsh winter in December-March. We'll have to see!

I will be teaching at a secondary school...not sure if it is the post-secondary school type or not. They have one secondary school that goes from age 12-16 and then 2 years of non-compulsory college prep. My school is called IES Hernán Pérez del Pulgar. Hernan Perez del Pulgar is a famous captain of the Spanish army in the 1400-1500s from Ciudad Real.

My fateful trip to Edmonston, MD

I was very excited to visit Edmonston, Md especially because I have just found out with genealogy documents sent from Grandma Jean that the Edmonston anscestors probably founded it. I was, however, disappointed with what I found. I figured out you could take the metro then a bus to get to Edmonston. I thought it would be kind of a small town. Well, no. I took the metro way out north east and should have remembered that anywhere E of DC is a bit questionable. All I found in Edmonston was a dilapidated ghetto populated by a vast majority (think 70%) of Hispanics (which was cool to me!) and probably 30% black. For the last hour of my transit rides I was the only white non Hispanic person on there, not a big deal, just a point to help explain. So anyway I went, walked around for one minute, passed Edmonston Rd, entirely populated by Mexican-Americans it would seem, because out of every other house hung a huge Mexican flag and all you heard from all the shops and cars was Spanish music. I walked past a repair shop blasting Mexican pop and then past a few restaurants, grocery stores whose signs were entirely in Spanish. That was pretty neat to me, but I didnt feel too comfortable walking around after the 47 people who yelled at me or honked out their car. (I was wearing a sweater) so I went back to the bus stop and sat with an African American man who kept talking bu I couldn't understand him so I just kept nodding.
And THAT was my Edmonston, MD experience. Ha! Guess a lot has changed since Capt James Edmonston had his plot of land there in the 1740's.

On a lighter note, here is me eating a piece of pizze three times the size of my head!

4th of July!

4th of July in Dc was great! The girl in the picture is my roommate from New York, Courtney!

Mayor Blomberg's Broken Spanish

Typical Day at TeleSUR

Today we had a crazy busy day!

It all started when we had to be there at 9:15...this is a major setback for our office. Hahah. No one likes to be in before 10:30.
We went to see Obama's speech at American University. While Nitza was allowed access, the interns were not because we were not on the list (although we tried). There was crazy security--snipers on the roof, and bomb-sniffing dogs everywhere. Tons of press people were there too.
We 3 interns waited with Willy for about an hour while Nitza was inside listening to the speech then we filmed a press conference after with prominent leaders of the immigration reform debate. It was pretty interesting. These included the Rev Al Sharpton and Mayor Michael Bloomberg of NY.

Then, we rushed home after getting some interviews, ate lunch really quick, then went to a protest at the White House where religious leaders (even conservatives!!! MIND YOU!) were begging Obama to pass immigration reform and not keep talking about it. We filmed the stand-up and left.

Got back to the office, uploaded all the footage from the day, edited it, and sent it in as a Nota (story) to Caracas, Venezuela. And got to go home early, by 4:00. I stopped by the Farmer's Market on the way home and bought 3 most delicious tomatoes. For $4.29.

All in a DC day's work.

It's not really letting me post pictures, so I need to figure out why its not working and then I'll upload them in another post.

Observation Walk

Sometimes, I really like to go for what I call an "Observation Walk." DC is a great city, actually maybe the best city, to do this in. Basically I just walk with my iPod for as long as I can go until I get bored then try and remember some funny or interesting things I saw. Here's a list of some great things I saw today on my dusk walk all around the monuments.

-about 34 planes take off from Reagan and almost take out the Lincoln Memorial
-about 100 flags flying at half-mast in honor of the death of Sen. Robert Byrd
-at the Washington Monument, I saw the sun set over the Lincoln Memorial, reflecting pool, and WWII memorial
-from the Washington Mon, I realized you can see the Jefferson Memorial, Potomac River, Lincoln Memorial, WWII memorial, Vietnam Vets memorial, Korean War Memorial, White House, and Capitol all depending on where you stand at the monument
-a set of identical twin guys wearing yellow shirts and jeans (reminded me of Ravi)
-about 500 flags being set up for the 4th of July
-about 9340823759784 tourists
-a family of a dad and 3 little kids all dressed in their complete Sunday best entering through White House security and being allowed into the building (if only I knew who they were!)
-for some reason they had all the closest lookout points closed to the WH
-a Caterpillar construction machine in the WH lawn
-about 30 games of softball being played all over any green lawn, anywhere
-and finally, a building I have never noticed-the federation of American States building that has all the names of all the countries in the Americas on it-US, Brazil, Haiti, Cuba, Uruguay, Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, you get the picture
-this was complete with a statue of Simon Bolivar


I don't feel like a tourist anymore! StL landscape doesn't look anything like here, but I still miss it. :(



SO WHO'S COMING TO VISIT?!!!?

Little Things I Like About DC

1. The thunder sound the Metro makes when its in the tunnel about to arrive
2. All the different types of people
3. Georgetown
4. Starbucks on every corner
5. Not being able to walk anywhere without passing the White House, monuments, or government buildings
6. How low it looks like the planes are always flying really low and close (Reagan is really close, a few metro stops away)
7. The morning GW Athletes gym...I'm usually the only one there

Today I went to the Zoo, which was disappointing compared to the St Louis Zoo which is so much better. BUT. I did see a panda which was pretty cool. I also went to the Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam Vets Memorial Both are very nicely set-up, with the architecture and the way of presenting them. The Korean War Mem is really neat, its a bunch of soldier statues as though walking through a field. I'm also going to add a picture of it in the winter, it looks gorgeous.

Watching the US-Ghana game now!!