When we arrived in San Sebastian last Saturday, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that it was the first day of "semana grande". We're still not really sure why they have a celebratory week, but enjoyed world-class fireworks every night (from distances not considered safe in the US... it was cool to be so close). Every night, another country or region of Spain put on 20 minutes of gran finale quality fireworks and at the end of the week local judges choose a winner. They also had evening parades of about eight 30-ft tall figures being carried by single people who danced and twirled around. They also had 15 people dressed up in costumes wearing masks that were like over-sized bobbleheads. They went around hitting children with balloons on ropes and parents tried to steer their children to get hit... I really want to find out the reasoning for this! Everyone was laughing and having a good time though.
We took a week of intensive Spanish classes and now have one week to practice as we travel before heading to Barcelona where they speak a different dialect. Jeff went hiking with a buddy from his class and went to the Gugenheim in Bilbao and I went to the southern coast to couchsurf with an American who is a naval officer at the base here in Rota. His apartment is approximately 10 feet from the beach promenade. We went out to tapas the night I got here and tried sherry from this region (very raisiny). Yesterday, I went to the beach for a couple hours and then came back and read part of a biography of Teddy Roosevelt (it felt great to have access to an English book again!) from his balcony that overlooks the beach. Last night, we met up with two friends of his who live on the naval base and went to town for dinner.
Now, I'm heading to Sevilla for a day and then to couchsurf and practice Spanish in Salamanca for a few days. Not really sure when I will meet back up with Jeff?
I fly to Seattle September 10th and will be in Portland September 12th or 13th!
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