Spanish School (3 weeks in)

After three weeks of Spanish school, we feel like we know less than when we started. Of course, that is not true, but a few weeks of formal instruction has taught us how much we don't know (and it's a lot), and now we understand how much we have to learn.

As you might expect, we’ve been a bit frustrated at times. In addition to making the same mistakes over and over (although we are quicker to correct them now), we are also learning how much the little things matter. For example, in Spanish more so than in English, one letter can change everything – pesas means weights, but pasas means raisins. We don’t want to ask someone in the gym if they are done with the raisins they are using. Similarly, contar means to count, but cantar means to sing. So you need to be clear that you will count your change, not sing your change.

The importance of each letter has also brought unwanted attention to our handwriting. We are used to
making quick notes that will only be used for our own purposes and no one else will see. No one would want to read Shana's notes about a call with opposing counsel or from a deposition – they are sloppy and full of abbreviations. But now, as noted above, we need to write clearly to show, in particular, what vowels we are using (particularly at the end of words), and often Shana's o’s look like e’s and a’s look like o’s, all of which are probably the reverse of what they should be in Spanish. In English, you would know what she means, but in Spanish, that’s not the case. So now we’re self-conscious of our penmanship to boot!

In addition, prepositions are a big deal in Spanish. As native English speakers we often don’t pay much attention to those little words like “to, for, from, etc.” But in Spanish the prepositions are used to give very specific meaning. To go “a pie” means by foot, but “de pie” means standing (on your feet). (Pie, pronounced pee-ay, means foot, not a baked good with a crust.)

Finally, it is interesting to be in a class with students with different perspectives and experiences. This week, Shana’s class focused on vocabulary related to films (a welcome topic) and none of her 11 classmates had seen or knew of the Godfather II!

The New York Times reported this week that the United States now has by some counts more than 50 million “hispanohablantes” -- a greater number of Spanish speakers than in Spain. We recommend you start learning!

Adios,
Shana and Jeff

Hiking The Coast

Last Sunday we woke up and were too lazy to go to the gym, so we decided to take a hike instead. As you might expect, almost 5 miles later, the hike turned out be much harder than the gym. But it
was a beautiful day and the views were fantastic:

First, you have to understand that this hike did not require us to travel far. We simply jumped on a local bus and 9 stops later got off in the small, picturesque village of Pasaia (cost of the ride 93 centimos (about $1.10) each using our new bus passes). Pasaia is divided by a small inlet of the Bay of Biscay and since there is no bridge, you have to take a "ferry" from one side to the other. We didn't make the crossing this time but there are more hiking opportunities on the other side.

As you set out on the hike, you get amazing views of the Pasaia Bay. Since it was such a beautiful day, plenty of people were out on their boats:

The route is 7.5 kilometers (4.5 miles) of fairly rough terrain with lots of ups and downs. Walking sticks were not required, but certainly would have been helpful. Despite the guide book calling it an "easy route," we give it a rating of three scoops of ice cream - the amount we ate after returning to San Sebastian.

The hike took us through Ulia – a nature preserve that sits on the eastern edge of San Sebastian's
main city area. Part of the trail is one of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela routes walked by pilgrims and tourists alike. Although it is fiction, we highly recommend the Martin Sheen movie “The Way” about the Camino.

At the end, we literally walked backed into San Sebastian, but not before getting a fantastic view of the city and the beaches from above:

Next time we’ll do reverse the trek and go from San Sebastian to Pasaia. Although we didn't see an ice cream store there...

Hasta luego,

Shana and Jeff

La Semana Grande Fireworks

What do competitive fireworks look like? First, they are done without music. It is all about the explosions and the visuals. Second, they take place on several levels: there are fireworks just above the ground, some that go up to a middle altitude and others that go to the high altitudes, which is what we are used to seeing during a fireworks show. Finally, they involve A LOT of fireworks - each night lasted from 15-20 minutes of almost constant fireworks.

We did not see the fireworks every night, and several nights we watched from a vantage point that only allowed us to see the fireworks at the middle and high altitudes. But, on two nights we stood on the walkway above La Concha (the main beach in San Sebastian) and had a great view of everything. First thing to note is that literally tens of thousands of people come out to see these fireworks. Here is a shot of just some of the people watching from the beach:

The lighted building with the two towers is City Hall and the lighted statue to the left of and above City Hall is Jesus on one of the hills overlooking the city.

This picture was taken from across the river:

Here is one from the walkway above the beach (notice how much is going on):

Finally, on the last night, they did a fireworks exposition, which was set to music. Strangely, the music selected was entirely in English and mostly was from American artists who died drug-related deaths: Michael Jackson, Prince, Whitney Houston and Elvis. Then they threw in a dead Brit (David Bowie) and finally a living artist named John Miles (another Brit) who we did not know. The fireworks were pretty spectacular that night (photo taken from the city center closer to launch point):

While we learned that there are official judges of the competition who determine a winner, we have not been able to find out who won yet (we are sure you are all anxious to know). Our conclusion is that the fireworks are spectacular, but after awhile they mostly look the same. At this point we are happy to be done with them.

Hasta luego,

Jeff and Shana

La Semana Grande Experiences

La Semana Grande is a fascinating study. It feels like a combination of a county fair (rides, food, exhibitions of Basque culture), a street fair (street performers) and a music festival (several stages around town have bands late into the night). Of course, there is also the nightly fireworks spectacle.

Apparently, a combination of dance and humor is a big part of the fun. Here, a grounp of older Basque gentlemen entertained the crowd in the street:

Of course, when they looked for female volunteers from the crowd to join them, Shana jumped right in:

Hasta luego.

Jeff and Shana

Spanish School (week 1)

We started Spanish school on Monday August 7. We plan to attend classes for the next 15 weeks to improve our fairly mediocre Spanish language skills. The first day we took a test to determine our level. The test consisted of a written, multiple choice exam (grammar concepts), a brief oral exam (conversation with a teacher), and responding to some basic written questions. You do not receive your scores, but are assigned to classes based on the results.

We were assigned to different classes – which we anticipated and appreciated since we learn in different ways and it would allow us to compare notes. Shana’s class is slightly more advanced than Jeff’s, but during the week we covered some similar vocabulary.

The morning class (9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.) is generally dedicated to grammar concepts; the afternoon class (11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.) focuses on vocabulary. Each session has a different teacher. The classes are conducted entirely in Spanish so we get 3 hours of Spanish only five days a week.

What we like so far are the interesting people in our classes. Shana is the oldest student in her class – most of her classmates are 21! And from Germany. They start teaching English to Germans in first grade now, thus the German students all speak English quite well, as do the other European students. Jeff’s class is a bit more diverse in age and background.

As native English speakers, Spanish can be tough for a few reasons: (1) nouns are either masculine or feminine, which of course we are not used to; (2) there are so many irregular verbs; (3) word placement is different, especially pronouns and adjectives; (4) Spaniards use the familiar form of address, which we really have not studied much; (5) there are many words used here that are different in Castilian Spanish from Mexican or South American Spanish. There is a lot to learn and remember!

Each week the classes will be rebalanced as students come and go from the school, so each week will be different. It is interesting to be back in a classroom environment at this age.

We haven’t started dreaming in Spanish yet, but Shana is dreaming about Spanish (homework)!

Sending our best,

Shana & Jeff

La Semana Grande (Great Week)

August 12-19 is La Semana Grande here in San Sebastian (apparently other cities in the Basque region have their own semanas grandes at other times). La Semana Grande is a giant festival including live music, food fairs, sports competitions, rides for kids, and a fireworks competition. We are not joking. Each night for the next eight nights from 10:45-11:15 a different company (mostly from Spain, but also companies from Italy and China) will shoot off fireworks over La Concha Bay:

While we are not sure how the winner is decided, we will find out.

During La Semana Grande the already short hours of businesses in San Sebastian are cut further. For example, all week our bank is only open from 9 a.m. to noon (yes, seriously) and closed Tuesday (a holiday in the city).

We will have a full post about La Semana Grande when the festivities are over and we have recovered from partying while still going to school every morning but Tuesday. In the meantime if you want more information, check out this site (in English):  https://www.sansebastianturismo.com/en/blog/culture/1337-great-week

Hasta luego,

Shana and Jeff

Observations after two weeks in San Sebastian

Hard to believe that we have been here for two weeks already. Here are a few quick observations about our new home:

We have been surprised at how many people smoke in Spain. We’re so used to the lack of smoking in CA and WA, this one has been a difficult adjustment. Although smoking in restaurants and bars is prohibited, when you sit in a restaurant terrace on a nice day, you have the pleasure (not!) of sitting with the smokers.

In San Sebastian, the number of English speakers is significantly limited to staff in hotels and restaurants. Although some others speak limited English, we have been surprised by the overall lack of English. Good thing we’ve started Spanish school! (Post on our first week once we get through it.)

Eating – items you can eat at nearly every meal include bread and jamon. Seriously, the jamon is omnipresent!

Alcohol – wine and beer flow freely (no objection from us.) No one will even think twice if you order a drink at 11 a.m. or even earlier. And, the price is right – a glass of wine costs about $2. (While the pours are generally smaller than what you’d get in the US, they are more than fair for the price.) Also loving the fact that you simply order a glass of red wine and it is quite good. You don’t even need to know what you’re drinking.

You can’t get natural peanut butter. The best you can do is JIF.

As a pedestrian, if you have the right of way, the drivers will stop for you. If you don’t have the right of way – do NOT step in the street!

San Sebastian has a significant network of well-organized bike lanes. We are slowly learning not to walk in or block them.

Hasta luego,

Shana & Jeff

A fond farewell to Seattle and the Pacific Northwest

A quick post in honor of our former hometown: Seattle, Washington. We will miss Seattle a lot. Although we only lived there for two years, we really loved it and agree that if we move back to the United States, Seattle is where we would return.

Yes, it rains a lot, and we even survived the 2016-2017 winter, which was the wettest and possibly coldest on record. We even had to get Clyde a fleece for the cold. (Poor guy, in his old age he tolerated it well.) Still, Seattle has so much to offer. A few things we loved about it:

It’s so green and pretty. The number of trees makes you smile.

We liked it’s “smallness.” The city has only about 740,000 residents, the greater Seattle-Tacoma area about 3.5 million, and the entire State is only 7 million. Compared to California, that’s small!

It rains! Honestly, the drought in CA just gets old. And it has seasons – enjoy the summer while it lasts!

Mount Rainier – the view (when it comes out) never gets old. Great place to hike too! Yes, we did hike there:

The people. Seattleites are an interesting bunch. Lots of crazy liberals, which we appreciated. Casual, outdoorsy, and interesting folks.

The house and neighborhood we lived in. Shout out to Greg & Jeff, our terrific neighbors in the Central District on Spruce St.

The city’s/state’s inferiority complex as expressed by The Seattle Times’ sports writers in particular. If you were ever from Washington or played for a Washington school, you will forever be known as “former Washington State Cougar Klay Thompson” or “former Washington Husky standout Isaiah Thomas.” This always made us laugh.

Being close to Shana’s siblings and our nephews. So nice to see them on a more regular basis.

Thanks to those of you came to visit us in Seattle! We’re not sure when we will return – no current plans – but Seattle will always be in our hearts.

Required picture of Puget Sound and the Seattle Eye taken during our last week:

Shana & Jeff

Why San Sebastian?

Short answer, why not San Sebastian?

When we visited San Sebastian in 2011, during our second trip to Spain, we truly felt a connection with this very special city. It is beautiful here, the food is unbelievable, and it is located in an interesting historical area that is unique. (We’ll post more about the unique history and characteristics of the Basque region of Spain and France later.)

We have traveled many places together and discussed which we liked or didn’t like. San Sebastian spoke to us both and we agreed it was the only place we had ever been that we thought – “we could live here.” It’s an odd thing, right? We weren’t looking for a place to live at the time, but we both felt that almost immediately. The reasons we might have felt that in 2011 are likely different than 2017, but here’s a few that were important to us as we decided to move here:

We preferred moving to a place where we could speak the language and Spanish is manageable, especially since we both grew up in Southern California, and it is a useful language as well.

We have always lived close to the ocean or large bodies of water – it’s a great perk.

We enjoy living somewhere with a great culinary scene and you can’t beat San Sebastian. (There will definitely be many future posts about the food culture here.)

People will come visit us here! (Hint, hint . . . we doubted anyone would visit us in Uruguay.)

We learned to appreciate smaller places after enjoying Seattle, Washington for 2 years, which was quite a bit smaller than what we were used to in Southern Cal.

And if those 200 or so words are not enough, here are a thousand more:

Shana & Jeff