Dad's Visit

Hi all! My dad has come to visit and gone already. We met up in Salamanca and visited the famous University there. We enjoyed some "pinchos" which are like tapas (small appetizers) only they come free when you order a beer. We then took the bus back to Badajoz where I live.

Here, we visited the Archaeological and Carnaval Museums. We saw some fabulous costumes for Carnaval which was coming up in one and a half weeks. Unfortunately dad had to leave before the Carnavales got underway, but he did get to watch some of the competing singing groups called "Murgas" on TV. The first week, he came to some of my classes to talk to the students. I think they liked it, one boy asked if he could come back. They all thought he was really tall.

We went to Portugal at the weekend. In Sintra we saw a Moorish castle and a beautiful fairy-tale castle called Castelo da Pena. We took a 5km hike on a winding road up to the castles, through a valley with a special climate where plants from all over the world are able to grow. Then, we drove out to the coast to see Cabo da Roca, the Cape of the Rock, which is the western-most point on continental Europe.

Next, we went to Óbidos, a medieval walled city. We stayed in a government-owned Pousada, or hotel, in a castle. The next day we walked up on the city walls and then drove out to the coast to a fishing village called Nazaré. The women there were dressed very strangely, in argyle socks and sandals, seven-layers of skirts, and sweaters. We found out that the city was holding Carnaval celebrations, but the women actually were in their typical dress, not in costume.

We stayed in Lisbon two nights in order to go to a Sporting-Porto soccer game (football match) and visited the aquarium. We ate well everywhere we went, thanks to my dad. Then, it was back to Badajoz, with a pit-stop in Évora to see a roman temple. Dad was able to accompany me on a Badajoz city-tour where I translated for visiting teachers from Sweden, Estonia, Belgium, and Poland. He also got to work on his Spanish a bit talking to some teachers and to my roommate Laura. He took a bus back to Madrid last Thursday to get to Colorado in time for the Primary Caucuses there.

This week, we went back to school on Wednesday after Carnaval, and found mold in the school hallways. Yesterday, the students were organizing a strike to protest the lack of heat in the school, and, I hope, the presence of the mold. You would think the principal would take responsibility for the mold and have something done immediately, but things just work slowly and differently here. I don't think I'm allergic to it, but it is a bit worrying. We'll see what it's like next week.