San Sebastian and the Bakeries

Hello readers!!! In this edition of Michael Shepherd abroad we have a smattering of pictures that you are able to view via Facebook or you can see a couple on here. We are also proud to bring you another adventure abroad of San Sebastian! Okay guys so this week I went to San Sebastian. It was a lot of fun and the hour long bus ride there wasn't bad at all. It was rather dreary weather but that didn't stop me from having fun or the swimmers from enjoying the waves. It was freezing outside!!! Most of the surfers decided to wear wet-suits, but some crazy guy was jumping around the beach on just some swim trunks. Jaime and I went to San Sebastian together, and we first got some food when we got there. Instead of going to a bar to get some food, we went to a bakery. There we didn't find anything whole, just some souffles and other pastries that were AMAZING! Then we climbed this huge and got to the castle on top of it. We were walking up to it and saw Jesus. Well a statue of him. I dubbed this picture "Modern Jesus" because of the telephone antennae he is sporting on his back.

But the castle was over-all a really interesting place to be, we could see the whole city and the river running right through it. We found a cannon and some German girls up there, they could speak German, English and Spanish. I was jealous, super jealous. Next we went to check out some bit building that Jaime wanted to see. It was closed but I was okay with that, it was just a building to me. Although we did find an ice cream store right next to it, which thankfully was open. We also got to a restaurant called "Vaca" or "Cow". It was very americanized but we didn't care, we just wanted a sandwich. While walking around eating our food (very American), we walked through a really cool park where we found this statue of two lions. I took the liberty of their permanent state to take a picture next to them. 

In San Sebastian I saw the ocean for the second time in my life. It was frankly amazing. It ran off into the sky without so much as a goodbye, but always threw waves my direction. It was pretty cool. I have officially skipped a stone into 2 different oceans. That same night we returned to Bilbao and to our flat. I showered, changed and went off to a bar with my friends from the Txoco. We went to a bar to watch the soccer game between Madrid and Bilbao. Madrid smashed Bilbao because we suck, and Ronaldino just kicked out butt, scoring 2 points out of 4. It was fun watching my friends because they would get super angry when Madrid scored. Apparently between the 2 teams there is a lot of animosity. I didn't bring my camera though so I couldn't get any pictures of angry people. Well it is getting late here so I am going to go, but I hope you enjoyed reading it and don't forget to check out the pictures on facebook!

That is me skipping a stone into the ocean.

School!

Yes, school. I suppose that I am in school taking classes to go to school and teach kids something so that they can hopefully go to the next level of school. Oh and I teach in a school as well right now, but you already knew that. Wow this week has been super busy for me. Lot of school related stuff. I remember when I first applied for this program I was under the impression that I would be a teachers assistant. Why wouldn't I think that? The application of course said that I would be working under a teacher and helping them. WRONG! I teach 9 classes a week and 7 of them I am the only teacher in the classroom. The other 2 I am an assistant and will only be for the first 3rd of the year. The next 2/3's I will be the teacher. I am not complaining, just merely speculating at the difference between the word and the action. I actually prefer teaching the classes on my own, working under another teacher gives me no flexibility or originality! The professor that I assist in named Lourdes. She is extremely nice and has been a huge help during my move here. We have an English Department meeting tomorrow so I will for sure see her there. Who is in the English Department? Lourdes, Amparro and I. Haha so it's not too large, but it feels cool saying that I have to go to the department meeting.

Friday night I went with my friends from the Txoco bar hopping. Being only 20 years old and from the United States I have never been able to drink(legally) and especially not go to the bar. Well my friends showed me what bar hopping meant. They are ridiculous with it here! I don't know what it is like in the United States but here they move as a herd. There were about 60 people at the first bar, then after an hour we decided to move to the next bar. about 30 of us started walking to the next bar. 30! It was ridiculous. At the last bar there was a dance floor and it was a blast. The floor was wet from everyones shoes because it rains a TON here. But it made for a great dance floor and I attempted the moon walk, without much success. Saturday night we decided to take it easy and play a trivia game. I am getting better in my spanish speaking skills but I was useless during this game! I had NO idea what they were asking each other. I ended up contributing to my team by reading the question to the other team. If I leave here tomorrow(which I won't) I could leave knowing that I have successfully taught the culture of Spain one thing; the word awesome. Isn't that awesome? They love saying it and also throw in the occasional "cool". Be proud Mom and Dad, be very proud.

Today I have been working on my homework. I was doing an extra credit assignment for my nutrition class over olive oil. I had to research how it is made, what the difference between Virgin and Extra Virgin olive oil, as well as terms like "first cold pressed", "light" , and some other ones that I can't remember. But in the middle of my assignment Jaime came to my door inviting me to eat lunch with everyone. We had a variety of food but one of the dishes was a regular salad with diced tomatoes, sliced red peppers and EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL! Okay now that I think about it I am pretty sure it was just Virgin Olive Oil. But still, crazy coincidence right? Jaime and I watched a french film today as well, it was REALLY good. I need to take it easy on the capital letters, sorry. This is the second french film we have watched but in each there has been the same beautiful french actress. I have no idea what her name is but she is a great actress. I also studied a bit of piano today but I have a feeling that after 2 weeks I should have learned the bass clef pretty well by now. Oh well, hopefully I study more tomorrow. For now, I am going to go to bed. Will post again soon. Goodnight everyone in the United States, I love you and hug each other for me!

That's my dog Winston. Isn't he awesome? Cool. :)

El Txoco

El Txoco. Seems like a super weird name right? Well it is, it's in Basque, the local language here. It is pronounced (El Choco). Well anyways it is a room at the church here, dubbed "el txoco" because of what it is used for. Basically 20-30 year old's go there just to hang out and most of them are in the youth group at the church. It is just 1 big room with couches, and big table, a sink area with appliances and alcohol. People go there to have a drink or two and just hang out. It is tons of fun! I have made some good friends there and they are super interested in me just because I am American (and no, they are not interested in stealing my kidneys). They ask me questions all the time about how to say different things and if there is an ocean next to me, what houses in American look like (they always ask me if the houses in American are like the house on the Simpson's), and other stuff. The names of the people in the picture below are Irati, Gaistxa, Alvaro, Neera, Mikel, and myself. Also there is a dog running around that room who's name I can't remember in spanish but it means Sawdust in english. Haha I know, really personal.

So those are some of my friends that I met through the church here, they are pretty cool people. I have another local buddy named Jokin. Tomorrow him and I are playing Fronton, I am sure you guys shall hear about it in the next blog post. Which by the way sorry for taking so long to post this one! I have been super busy lately getting myself situated and stuff, but these will hopefully be more consistent (3-4 days). Okay so things are getting better here. At first I was EXTREMELY homesick because this isn't only my first time to Spain but my first time out of the United States. It was such a culture shock. Different languages, almost everything is closed from 2:30 till 5 in the afternoon, breastfeeding in the open is COMPLETELY normal, the lack of vehical laws, the public transportation here, the fact that there are almost no houses, just apartments, the food change and so many other things. What I would give for a chipotle burrito, you have no idea. Well since going out to eat is more expensive than cooking at home and way less fun I have been doing some cooking lately. The photo below is of my roommates and I. There is a new addition to my flat! Her name is Diamandra and she is from the Dominican Republic as well as Annie. She is super cool and very nice. Annie, Diamandra and a friend of theirs cooked for us all last night. The dish was called Mangu, which has a very interesting past. It is made of mashed plantains (not bananas, they're different) cooked some secret way that I don't know, topped with a fried egg and sauteed onions. It was alright tasting, the plantains could have been mashed potatoes for all I knew. But they told me that Mangu got it's name when Americans invaded the Dominican Republic in the early 1900's. They ate food from the dominican republic while they were there and when they tried this specific dish they would say to each other, "man, good!", therefore it got it's name "Mangu". Haha I know that it sounds crazy, maybe it is an old wives tale. Maybe not.

So the picture below is what I like to call the final product. It is me after shaving all the hair of my head and cheeks! It was so much fun! Trust me guys, I much rather prefer to have hair, but now I know that when I go bald at age 45(fingers crossed) I will look gooooood. Anyone who knows my father will say, "Oh my gosh, it is Phil". I am a spitting image of him. It was a good experience though, and the hair is already growing back and will continue to do so. Tonight was the first night that I could see my own breath soooo hopefully it grows back fast, it is getting cold here! Oh and Mom if you are reading this I was walking to the Txoco 2 nights ago and I smelled this amazing odor, it reminds me sooo much of your house. I found the souce, it is a tree with these white flowers facing down. I stole a flower and it currently sits next to my bed for me to smell when I want to, well now it's dead without any nutrients or water to keep it alive. Any idea what this smell is reader? I don't know the name of the tree. 

Oh man, it is currently 1:15 in the morning and I have to get up in like 7 hours. So the michael of friday morning is going to want to punch the michael of thursday night. I suppose I should wrap this up. Well as I sit here on my bed with my window wide open while listening to "Super Freak" by Rick James I am pretty pleased with where I am and what I am doing. This is such an amazing opportunity that I am really fortunate to have been able to partake in. I miss all of you soooo much back at home, I think about you guys every day! But I know that this is going to be so much fun! And plus, ya'll aint going anywhere! So I shall see you all in person in 7 months (  month has already passed! I can't believe it!) and I will make you some amazing spanish food and play you a piano song that I am learning here. Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Si-Do. I hope that was a satisfying preview of my skills. Haha well I hope you guys enjoyed this and I will have another one in a couple of days! Until next time, hasta luego!