Germany

I've almost been to Germany quite a few times in my life. When I studied abroad in Madrid in the spring of 2011, I highly considered a weekend getaway to Berlin. However, flights were too expensive so I chose the cheaper alternative--Amsterdam--for my northern European fix. Then, this past winter, I learned about German Christmas markets. I thought, "Well that should be a lovely way to spend Christmas break, since I won't be going home." NOPE. Álvaro hesitated too long when making a decision regarding winter break travels, and airfare skyrocketed. Spring break rolled around, and I dreamed of stomping around Berlin in a pair Doc Martens. WRONG-O. Indecision won out yet again (although thanks to an intervention from Dan my Docs were allowed to stop the streets of Barcelona).

So when Álvaro approached me about a possible one week course in Dresden, I reacted with skeptical optimism. It seemed at every stage of planning I expected our plans to completely fall apart as they had in the past. First, he considered not applying altogether. Then, he doubted that he would be accepted. When he received confirmation of his admission, he debated going. 

By this time, I had left for camp. The course was about a month away, and I was too busy controlling a hoard of children and adolescents to look for flights abroad. While I can write a long list of very nice things about Álvaro, "trip planning" is not on that list. He has a tendency to wait too long until the opportunity passes him by. In fact, all of our trip this past year have been last-minute, "Hey, I just got this great idea to go to this place!" affairs. It's not conducive to finding cheap plane tickets. 

You can imagine my surprised when, mid-July, I received an e-mail with two tickets booked for Berlin from the 20th to the 30th of August. Admittedly, the rest of the planning fell on my shoulders, but who cares? I was going to Germany!

We spent five days in Berlin and six in Dresden, renting rooms we had found on Air BnB. I definitely recommend this route for people who want a few extra creature comforts without the price of a hotel. We had access to a mini fridge in both cities, and in Dresden we had a kitchenette, sofa, and a private bathroom with a huge bathtub!

Berlin reminded me very much of Berkeley, my college town. Both are very eclectic cities which welcome and celebrate the "weirdos" of the world. The organic stores, bicycles, and international cuisine made me feel like I was back at university. I immediately felt at home in Berlin. There are some cities that are interesting to visit, but feel like massive tourist traps (I'm looking at you, Venice). Berlin felt like a place I could live. We went on walking tours, learned about World War II and German history. I ate currywurst and doner kebap. Most of the time I was content to just stroll around the cities and take in everything.

The humblest of Protestant churches

The Spree river and famous TV tower by Museum Island

A day trip to Postdam

Modeling around Tiergarten park

Beer: check. Wurst: check. Fries with frysauce: check and check.

German parliament building: best free views of the city (but full of spiders). 

I absolutely wasn't ready to leave for Dresden. I wanted to spend more time in Berlin, but Alvaro had his summer school, so away we went. I admit that Dresden also grew on me. It doesn't have the allure of a big, sprawling city, but what is lacks in urban culture it makes up for in natural beauty. Dresden is a city that would normally only merit a day trip. I had seen the majority of the sights in just one day. Plus, since Alvaro was in class for most of the day, I was on my own. I took advantage of this time and explored the nearby villages, which looked like something out of a postcard.

Stumbling around a palace

This church was mostly destroyed in WWII

Went on a steamboat

In a town called Pirna

I'm on a boat! (that song's still cool, right?)

In "Saxon Switzerland"--the Sandstone Mountains

Königstein

A fort!

This is real. I saw it with my eyeballs.

PROOF.

Meissen: known for its wine. Full of old tourists

View of Dresden from the train

In addition, I was able to spend some time with some of Alvaro's classmates, an international bunch of students. We were almost all expats who had lived (or were currently living) abroad, and so we swapped stories of cultural quirks over glasses of German beer.

Overall, it was absolutely one of the most memorable trips I've ever taken. My only complaint? The language barrier. I've heard that German is supposedly easy for English speakers to learn, but I didn't understand a word of it. After spending a year in Spain, I'm used to being confronted with a foreign language, but at least I can understand it. With German, I was completely lost. Germans generally know some English, but we definitely ran into a few people who didn't speak a word. By the end of those two weeks, I was tired of feeling like a foreigner. I had a fun trip, but I was definitely happy to be home.

And then several days later I got on another plane to Los Angeles....

Candeleda

I'm quite backlogged on blog posts, so even though it's already October I'm writing about the weekend of the 16th of August. (I changed the publish date because its my blog and I can do what I want)

I've touched upon the notion that Spaniards have a pueblo--usually a vacation home in a smaller village, possibly where their family grew up (not always).Alvaro has two villages, and I've had the misfortune of visiting both in winter. Imagine a popular summer destination town in the winter. It's cold. It's deserted. There's nothing to do. So I was quite pleased that, after two years of listening to Alvaro talk about his beloved pueblo Candeleda, I had the opportunity to see it flourishing over the summer.

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Candeleda is a small village on the border of Castilla y Leon and Castilla la Mancha, in the province of Avila and about two hours from Madrid.

"Natural Pools" where people go to swim. A fish bit my foot here.

To be honest, there isn't much to write about my weekend there. I had just returned from the summer camp, and I was going through a bit of a reverse culture shock. I had spent over a month essentially in isolation, surrounded by nature. When I returned to Madrid, I had trouble adjusting to the smells and the views again. A trip out to the countryside was a welcome break in my transition back to the big city. In addition, I had purchased a pair of hiking boots and I was eager to test them out for the first time.

My legs are still two different colors from summer camp :(

We went by motorcycle, which meant packing light and a long, uncomfortable two hour ride. Alvaro's aunt and uncle were very kind to lend us their newly-purchased house for the weekend. Although it still didn't have a fridge, it still had the modern comforts of home (shower, bathroom, etc), compared to his parent's house which is more rustic.

That weekend was hot. It was an oppressive, windless heat that didn't dissipate at night. Alvaro and I managed a seven-mile hike up to an old Roman bridge, and despite the crowds that had flocked to the village for the weekend, the trail was almost abandoned. We dipped in the river, and napped in the afternoon when it was too hot to do much else. At night, Alvaro's parents barbecued our dinner. On the way back, I somehow managed to get stung three times by a wasp--while still on the motorcycle.

Conqueror of worlds. Wearer of ridiculous shorts.

Álvaro off in the distance doing Álvaro-things

Roman bridge

Surrounded by nobody

Overall, a nice, relaxing weekend.  

Caminando por el bosque: One and a half months at camp

I'm alive! Back in May I mentioned a potential summer camp job. Admittedly, I was hesitant to write more in fear that at the last minute things would fall through and I'd be left unemployed for the summer. On the contrary, I was originally only offered 3 weeks and ended up working 6 weeks! So, that explains my long absence.

F.A.Q. about That One Time at Camp:

Where did you go?

I was in two camps in the province of Castilla y León. For the first two weeks of  July and August, I was here:
Molino de Butrera

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It's the same camp as the encuentro, and my personal favorite of the two locations. The scenery is absolutely gorgeous. For four weeks I was surrounded by greenery and rolling hills and forests. The downside: bugs. So many bugs. I quickly learned the word for ticks in Spanish. 

During the second half of July I was here:
Vegafria

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This camp is in Segovia, and significantly different than the Molino. For one, it's situated smack-dab in the middle of the village. I was told by the coordinator that this camp was designed as a "trampoline" for kids who had never been to camp. Downside: flat landscape typical of La Mancha (ok, so we weren't in Castilla La Mancha), and the flies. Oh dear god the flies.

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What did you have to do?

In a sense my job wasn't much different than that of an auxiliar. I was hired to play the ignorant foreigner who "didn't know Spanish." I wasn't there to teach English classes, although I was occasionally assigned entire English activities. Most of the time I was placed within a normal camp activity (sports, archery, etc) and expected to explain it in English. During my free time I was also there for English conversation.

Aaand that's actually all the questions people ask because nobody really cares about my camp experience.

Overview:

July 1-15: Molino de Butrera

The camp had about 90-something kids, which apparently was half as many as the previous year. As a monitor, you are up at 8:30 and in bed by 2:30 if you're lucky. Weekends don't exist. The shift in my sleep schedule also left me exhausted for the first week. I gained the reputation as always appearing half-asleep and yet completely aware of everything. That said, the staff was fantastic and I tried to follow their lead as best as possible. 

Highlights:

I dressed like the statue of liberty for the 4th of July. 

We went on a three day, two night camping excursion through Ojo Guareña park. The monitors camped in tents and we somehow crammed 40 kids inside a church.

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Taking a break after walking 10+ km

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I tried rock climbing. I'm terrible at it!

Too many inside jokes to name.

Getting covered head-to-toe in mud that didn't wash out of my hair for three days.

Swimming in the river.

July 15-28: Vegafria

We boarded the bus from the Molino Sunday afternoon and arrived in Vegafria that same evening. The sudden change was rough. This camp had about 60 kids, but the facilities weren't well-equipped for that capacity. Yes, everybody fit, but the dining room tables had 11 kids each and there were only three bedrooms for the campers. Try getting 30 adolescent boys to be quiet and fall asleep. It felt like things there took longer. Serving food took an hour. Activities always started late. I don't think I ever went to sleep before 3 A.M. I got sick. And there were flies everywhere. It wasn't particularly a bad experience but the constantly delayed schedules tended to wear me down.

Oh no

Highlights:

Almost all of the campers came from Las Rozas (the posh city in Madrid) and therefore had a high level of English.

People kept wanting me to say "queso fresco." Not sure why, but it caught on like wildfire.

Two of the days we had a day long excursion to a swimming pool.

Life is difficult

Canoeing in a canyon and then taking a bus to Segovia.

I did Geocaching for the first time.

Using a compass to hunt for mojito ingredients (admittedly after the campers were in bed).

One kid legitimately thought he was a vampire, and his brother was essentially a 10-year old Hodor from Game of Thrones.

When I got sick, the kids asked me how I was doing. One even gave me a hug. 

Getting porlada, which is a super-secret ritual akin to hazing but I'm not going to tell you about it.

And then I went running with this on my face

I got a call from the coordinator asking if I wanted to stay in August. Yes, it was only because every single other English monitor had gone back to the States but HEY! A job is a job and it was mine for the taking. 

I'm not sure how many wigs I've worn this past summer. Too many

Olympic day

July 29-August 11: Return to the Molino

This time I had all of an afternoon back in Madrid to recharge, do laundry, etc. That Monday we arrived back in Butrera in time for lunch. It was like coming home. We started out with 70 kids and by the second week that number dropped to the 30s. The second week we also had a group taking classes to become monitors (in Spain you need a license to work at a camp), and they were good at engaging the kids during free time and taking a bit of the work from the monitors. 

Highlights:

On the first day they couldn't figure out if I was a girl or a boy. Confidence: Negative 100

Almost going camping again. I went on the hike only to be told I was needed back at camp. Drats!

A girl got a tick on her eyelid.

Mustaches!

I became known for making weird faces. People called me emoticono (emoticon).

The kids represented me in my true form

Buying candles from a German man in a tiny pueblo called Bedón.

Cathedral in Bedón. Also Campsite #2 from the first hike.

Monitores monitoreando

"Camping" literally feet away from the Molino. I carried my mattress into the tent. 

Imagine tents here

Learning how to make new bracelets!

Visiting a cave.

Bat in the toilet. I had to fish it out with a toilet brush.

Shooting stars!

Views from the hike. This area is seriously gorgeous

In summary:

I had a really long but rewarding experience at camp. I am normally averse to nature and have always considered myself a city girl, but I was surprised how well I took to being in the middle of nowhere for a month and a half. I still lack many useful life skills and there's still no way I could survive in the wilderness, but participating in camp activities has opened me up to trying new things. Plus, being away from technology for that long was refreshing. Yes, I would sporadically use my phone for Whatsapp or Facebook, but the time spent connected to the outside world was drastically limited. During that time I wasn't worried about my appearance (thankfully, because I looked like Hell), or my future, or loneliness. I was living in the moment and having a good time. 

If anything, coming back to Madrid has been the biggest culture shock and I still haven't quite adjusted. I've gone from having a full schedule everyday to sitting around on Reddit wondering what I'm doing with my life. I'm stuck somewhere in between my camp self and my Madrid self. I've reverted to my couch-dwelling, internet-fueled persona. However, I've bought some hiking boots and I hope to take them for a spin around the mountains here.

All in all, I would absolutely do it all over again.