When I lived in Spain I taught English lessons to one of the French teachers, Javier, and his son Yann. The lessons happened at their kitchen table, at which Yann truly struggled to remain seated for the whole thirty minutes. When Yann left Javier and I would usually just chat in English. I learned a […]
Tag: Spain
Things that Bilbao and Kansas City have in common: part 2
Some friggin awesome art museums. The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art is the long time pride and joy of Kansas City. The original Beaux Art building opened in 1933 with a modest collection of work that has grown significantly over the years. The permanent collection now includes plenty of impressive works ranging from Egyptian artifacts […]
Morocco: where the mattresses are really hard
About a month ago I went to Morocco. I was really looking forward to the trip; I spent all year in Spain wanting to go there, plus it was my birthday trip! All of my friends who had been to Morocco eagerly told me about the wonderful food, beautiful architecture, and how CHEAP everything was. […]
The Great Debate: preterite versus imperfect
In case you forgot (or blocked it out of your memory) in Spanish there are two past tenses: preterite and imperfect. It has always been difficult for me (and for most native English speakers, I’d imagine) to figure out which to use. Well a few months ago when I was still working at a Spanish […]
The sunset at the end of the world
Last night I watched the sun set in the Atlantic Ocean. It was cool. It went down kind of groggily because the clouds and the stratosphere were getting in the way. It’s funny ’cause at the moment that the sun was going down here in Fisterra it was approximately 2:40pm where you are (always 7 […]
El Camino de Santiago: photos
Day 1: San Sebastian to Zumaia Day 2: Zumaia to Markina Day 4: I took a break in Bilbao Day 5: Bilbao to Islares Day 7: Guemes to Queveda Day 8: San Vicente to La Paz Day 9: La Paz to San Esteban Day 10: San Esteban to Deva Day 12: Gijón to Avilés Day […]
El Camino de Santiago: the basics
I owe you all a post. Actually I owe you more than a post. I owe you a post and lots of chocolate. Well here’s a post until I get a hold of lots of chocolate and your addresses. I spent pretty much all of July following those yellow arrows like in the picture above. […]
Tomorrow I’m starting the Camino de Santiago. I might be crazy.
A few months ago I came up with this awesome idea that I would ride my bike around Spain. I like riding bikes. So I bought a bike. Then I bought a train ticket with a bike reservation. Then I bought a helmet and rode my bike around Madrid. Then I bought a patch kit […]
A letter to my students…
Dear students, I wasn’t able to properly say goodbye to each one of you. Me habría dado tanta pena, saying goodbye to each and everyone one of you. Too much pena. But there are a few things I would like to say to you… Thank you for introducing me to David Bisbal, Paquito el Chocolatero, […]
Buen provecho, gente
Bueno provecho means bon appetit. (Funny how I translate something to English and it ends up in French.) But the phrase buen provecho cannot be explained so easily. But it’s much more than a phrase. It’s a cultural mindset. Saying buen provecho to someone when they are eating is the equivalent of saying bless you […]
Anne Foster 