Monday is FUNday!

Hola folks!

I was so busy yesterday that I couldn't really post. So here's yesterday's post!

We took a nice little trip around the city of Zaragoza on Monday (the BIG walkabout will be Thrusday) to see a few sights of the city we are in. First, we went to the Patio de La Infanta, a 15th century courtyard that has been carefully restored and installed in...a bank. Strange but true. Then we stopped for my favorite Spanish tradition- the cup of coffee. Here, the students got to practice their very best "¿Me pones un café con leche, y un cruasán?"

Next we traveled to the basilica of El Pilar, the heart of this city. There will be pictures of this un Thursday when we have a sunny day!

Then on to the Aljafería, a muslim palace built during the Moorish occupation of Iberia, in the 11th century. 

Truly a beautiful place! Finally, we went to Puerto Venecia, winner of the MAPIC award for best commercial center in the world. I had no idea that this award existed, and neither did you! Anyways, it's a big mall with play areas, climbing walls, restaurants, rental boats, etc.

Oh yeah, and it was snowing. For the first time this year. Zaragoza is in the desert. It NEVER snows here.

Whew! It was a full day, but wait until you see Tuesday's pictures. BARCELONA!!!!!

A lazy Spanish Sunday

So far, so good! It seems like everyone is having a great weekend with their host families (lots of out-of-town travel to the mountains and small villages). We all get back together tomorrow morning for an event-filled day.

Now that you have a little information on Zaragoza, I thought it might be interesting for you to get a sense of the typical Spanish Sunday. when you think about it, most of our days are anchored by mealtimes; the true can be said of days in Spain. Here are the typical mealtimes in España on a Sunday morning:

9:00 (or so) breakfast. Breakfast is small in Spain. Maybe a muffin and coffee, maybe some toast. If you're really going for it, you might have toast with a little olive oil and grated tomato on top, like this:

https://spoonwithme.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pan-con-tomate-from-the-top.jpg


11:00, almuerzo (also known as "second breakfast"). This is the meal that tides you over until lunch in a few hours. Typically one would have something slightly more substantial than breakfast, but not like lunch. My typical almuerzo is a slice of "tortilla española" (a potato omelette) and a cup of coffee. More typical at this hour would be a glass of beer or wine, but I save that until later.

I'm not making it up about the beer and wine. Here's a pic of an advertisement for almuerzo (served until noon at this establishment:


(translation: "almuerzo" special- M-F until 12:00- sandwich with beer, wine, water or coffee- 3 euros)

2:30 or so, lunch. This tends to be the big meal of the day. Typical lunch is 2 dishes (like a heavy appetizer then a main dish), dessert, water, coffee, and beeor or wine, all for one low price (about 10-15 dollars). At a place like this:


Or if it's warm, out on the street like this:


It's a social time, and lunch can last anywhere from 1-3 hours. Our lunch today, at a Latino restaurant, went for about 2 hours of food and conversation.

Then comes a walk around to digest, and a nap.  Here are some shots from the walk:


Now comes siesta (one of the world's great inventions) and then...

Dinner, around 9:00 or so. Lighter than lunch, dinner can be anywhere from 9-10:00 at night. Just a nice way to say goodbye to today's food adventure. Here's one shot from this evening's dinner, with the fabulous Alejandra Pardos, Gould class of '16:


Tomorrow we reconvene as a Gould group to visit part of the city, including the amazing Aljafería palace. Stay tuned!!

Zaragoza, an Imperial City

Saturday morning, 8:30 am.

Warning: Pangs of jealousy coming in 3...2...1..

This is the unfiltered view from my hotel room.

I though that, since all of the students are off having adventures with their host families, I would spend some time today showing all of you out there what the city of Zaragoza looks like. First of all, a few basics:

• Zaragoza is a fairly large Spanish city, with an ancient city core and a modern city surrounding the center.
• Zaragoza is the regional capital, and was once the capital of the medieval kingdom of Aragón (if you studied British history, you might remember the name of Catherine of Aragón, 1st wife of Henry VIII and daughter of Fernando and Isabel, the Spanish monarchs that bankrolled Columbus' 4 voyages).
• Zaragoza is in the middle of a rocky, desert-like area of Spain and on the banks of the Ebro river, Spain's largest.
• Due to the geography (in a limestone-carved river basin), Zaragoza is nearly always windy.

That should get us started.

Here are a few pictures of the inner city that I took while walking around today. I hope you enjoy them!

The Basilica of Nuestra Señora del Pilar, with the Ebro River in the foreground.

Café culture in Zaragoza

Plaza de España, in the newer part of the city.

Plaza de Los Sitios, Zaragoza

Llegamos a España!

Welcome to Spain!!!!

I am starting this blog so that the families and friends of the Gould/Juan de Lanuza 2016 exchange can see a bit about what we are doing this year.  Feel free to check back- I will try and post every day, at least a daily itinerary and a few pictures.  Here goes!

It is Friday, March 11th. We arrived in Spain yesterday after a couple of flights, then hopped a bus from Madrid to Zaragoza. For those who don't really have any idea where Zaragoza is, let me give you some info:

Zaragoza is Spain's 5th largest city with a population of around 750,000 in the city proper. The local outlying communities take the population up to about 900,000.  Zaragoza is located in easter Spain, in the Ebro river basin (Spain's largest river). It is about 3 1/2 hours by car from both Madrid and Barcelona, and 2 hours from the French border up in the Pyrenees mountains.

On arrival, students met their host families and went off into the cities. By all reports the hosts are wonderful!

Today we spent all day in school at Juan de Lanuza, a private coed day school. One of the foci of the school is bilingualism. All students, starting at age 3, spend half of the day with English-speaking teachers from Britain and the US. Here are a few pics from this morning's "welcome to school" breakfast:

This afternoon Gould students head home with their host families to spend an adventure-filled weekend in and around Zaragoza. I've heard about hiking, cycling...who knows what awaits our brave students?

Here is a site to look at if you want to find out more about the school we are visiting:

http://juandelanuza.org/index.php/quienes-somos/?lang=en

I'll write more this weekend about the city of Zaragoza and some of the things we'll see here!

Abrazos,

-Doug