Gallegita in Training: Planting Potatoes, Bottling Wine, and Picking out a Pig!!

One of the things that Jonathan and I love about living in Galicia is the connection that people here, particularly our family, have to what they eat.  I love how none of them have grass or flowers, and that they use all of their yard space to plant food or house animals (to eat, not to cuddle with).  To Jonathan and I, this is really romantic.  To eat mostly food that you grow yourself, the fruits of your labor.  But in all actuality, it's hard work. Who knew? haha.  The family here always laugh at us when we show interest in helping to do stuff like this, because to them, it's not fun.  They are activities based upon necessity, born from a recent history of literally starving.  

Before we went to Argentina I helped Chelo and Gonzalo plant potatoes in their backyard.  I'm not sure what I was expecting to actually plant, whether they'd be potato seeds, or some sort of bulb, or something.  But I was shocked to find out that they planted quartered potatoes that they had just let grow until they had eyes.  Who knew?!.  Anyways, here's a few pictures:

When we came back to Spain from Argentina, we were able to bottle the wine we made with Gonzalo this past fall!!  If you're curious, here's a link to my blogpost from when we made the wine, here.  How exciting!!  We bottled the albarino, the local white wine.  The red wine wont be bottled for a few more weeks still.  Jonathan and I took turns filling the bottles and putting the corks in.  Gonzalo watched to ensure quality :). The cork presser thing was pretty awesome, though it took a lot of force.  Upon watching me push the lever down, Gonzalo told me that I needed to drink more Cola Cao (popular, fortified Yoohoo/Nestle Hot Chocolate like drink).

So first, we soaked the corks:

Here are a few photos of Jon and I filling the bottles:

And here are a few photos of us corking those bad boys!

And then just recently, I went out with Chelo to pick out a new pig! They slaughter one every year, which they eat throughout the course of the year.  You can see my previous blog post re: the slaughter if you're interested, here.  So Chelo and I went to this pig farm place.  They had 5 different rooms full of pigs, each room was for pigs of different ages.  The piglet room with the littlest pigges was the best.  The pig farm kind of freaked me out though.  When you walked into a room, the pigs just started going crazy, like jumping all over each other and stuff.  The pig farmer man said they weren't used to people, which I guess I believe, but even still.  Later, I asked Chelo if they actually breed the pigs at this place, or if they are bred somewhere else and just housed here for purchase.  More literally, I asked her in Spanish, "do they make the babies at this farm, or do the pigs have sex at a different farm".  Chelo laughed at me and told me that they do it all here. After asking Chelo this, Jonathan then began singing Spinal Tap's "Sex Farm", which if you're unfamiliar with you can view its brilliance here. 

Here are some pig farm photos:

VIP

In order for me to be able to live in Spain for a year, I had to declare residency (they only give tourists a 3 month visa).  Declaring residency involved an absurd amount of gathering paperwork, taking a number, waiting, being told that I don't have the right paperwork or being told a new list of things to bring, taking another number, waiting some more, and so it goes on.  Needless to say it took me several months for us to get everything in order with the Spanish government.  Once I had FINALLY completed everything, I got this sweet residency card.  You can take a look at it here.  When we went to Argentina this past February I had already been in Spin for 7 months, well beyond the 3 month tourist visa limit.  In going through customs to leave Spain I was super amped to show them my sweet residency card and to somehow for myself validate that it was all worth while.  I went through.  They stamped my passport and said nothing. I though about saying, "don't you want to see my residency card????" but opted against engaging any more than necessary with the police in fear of inciting some sort of international incident.  So somehow, I'm not sure how, but I was able to get over this immense disappointment while in Argentina.  :)  So in going through customs again this April to reenter Spain I just went through as normal, assuming they could care less who is entering and who isn't.  But little did I know they actually care!!! (I credit this to the recent revolutions in the middle east and the large influx of immigrants to Spain).  But anyways....I go through customs and the guy asks me "how long are you going to be in Spain" and I say "until August".  And then he just kind of looks at me.  I, shocked he actually cares, said "Oh!  But I've got Spanish residency!!!".  Before he can even ask me, I gleefully whip out my ID card!!!  He looks at it, and then tells me that I don't have to stand in the foreigners line, and that, because I am a resident (aka VIP/awesome), that I can stand in the SPANIARD line!! Woo hoo!!!!

Back in Spain: An Update

Jonathan and I arrived back in Spain on April 20th and will be here until August 1st.  In Buenos Aires we finally heard from all of the film schools that Jonathan applied to.  He applied to 6 MFA programs, 2 in NY (NYU and Columbia) and 4 in LA (UCLA, USC, AFI, and CalArts).  Unfortunately, we have heard no from all of them :(.  We were really disappointed to get this news :(.  Though we knew that there was a strong possibility that we may be rejected from all of the schools (some of them have about a 2% acceptance rate), I guess we just weren't emotionally prepared for it and in my head I began to think about the future as though Jonathan was accepted.  It was difficult to be in Buenos Aires and to also be handling this disappointment.  To have to go out, meet new family, and continue like normal was hard.  When Jonathan is upset about something, he prefers cope with stuff like that by himself.  So for some of the time in Buenos Aires, despite being constantly surround by family and still physically always being with Jonathan, there was this strong experience of isolation for me.  Not being able to feel close to Jonathan is obviously difficult, but at the same time not being able to fully express myself to the family there (both my actual ability to express my feelings well in Spanish and my ability to be frank and honest with most of the family, whom I we had just met for the first time) was trying as well.  Also, there was also this desire not to talk to a lot of people (friends and family from back home) about what was going on until we finally heard from all of the schools.  We weren't really interested in having people ask about it all the time...it's like not telling people you were going to take your road test in high school until after you already passed it :).  You also don't want to call your parents from Argentina, crying (when traveling, it is best not to worry the rents).  But this is why I really can't say enough about Nora, Jorge, Santiago, and Sebastian, the family we stayed with for the majority of time in Argentina.  In a time where we were struggling a lot, they made us feel so comfortable and so loved and we will certainly never forget all of their kindness.

So anyways, Jonathan was invited by USC to reapply for admission for the Spring 2012 semester with his same materials.  Unfortunately, we wont hear from them until November (they're definitely fucking with us).  Sp we fly into JFK on August 1st.  From there we plan on spending a few days in Westchester and then head to Gettysburg for Corey and Linsdey's wedding!!  :)  And then from there we will spend some time in Buffalo.  We are currently planning on relocating in New York upon returning to the US.  In a month or two we will start our job search with the hope of starting sometime around September 1st.  I am aiming to take my NYS social work licensure exam sometime in August upon returning.  With regard to our living situation, we will be staying with Jonathan's family in Westchester until we both have jobs.  We are not interested in signing a lease until we are both fully employed (unless one of us finds the most amazing job ever).  Once we both get jobs we can sit down and decide whether we should wait until we hear from USC (located in LA) to find an apartment or whether we should move forward with moving into an apartment and if we hear good news from USC in November then we'll just figure things out.  I'm not really interested in living with Jon's family for 4 months (no offense guys, I do love you, but I just like to have my ow space), while at the same time breaking a lease sucks.  It's all rather hypothetical at this point, so once we get back we can make some decisions with regard to living situation. PS.  Anyone want to hire us???? :)

We're both really excited to move forward and relocate to New York and to be close to a lot of our friends and family.  But until then, we've got 3 months left here in Spain.  We've got a bunch of friends and family coming to visit us here this summer and we're really excited to show everyone around and just generally live it up. 

Argentina Goodbyes

Our time in Argentina was absolutely wonderful.  It is an amazing place to visit and travel to, while at the same time it was really special for us to meet so much family.  Jonathan had met some of the family in Argentina previously as a child, as some of the family visited them in New York after Jonathan's father died and also before Jonathan's grandfather died.  But to be able to know them as an adult, and to be able to spend so much time with them was really awesome.  I cannot say enough about all of the family in Argentina.  They were so welcoming and generous to Jonathan and I, and we have certainly created memories we will never forget and relationships we hope will continue to grow.  The word family has several different meanings.  In one sense, it means nothing more than shared genetics.  In another sense, it means everything.  They are the people in your life that you can rely on and trust, the people you share with the most important experiences in your life, and the people you love spending time with an care to be close to.  The family we met in Argentina absolutely blew us away.  It was so special to spend so much time talking, eating (a lot, of course), telling stories, and creating new memories together.  They are family in the truest sense and Jonathan and I will forever be grateful for all they did for us.  In our last few days in Argentina we had to go around and say goodbye to all the family in Buenos Aires.  It was really sad :(.  It's hard to say goodbye and kind of strange to know that you wont see them for several years.  A lot of the family has email and is on facebook, so we hope to keep in touch until we can all visit again. 

Here are a few photos of our time with Graciela, Jon's mom's first cousin.  They live a few blocks from where we stayed in Rafael Calzada, so we spent several afternoons with them :). 

Here are a few pictures we took at Tino's (Nora's brother and Jonathan's mother's first cousin) home when we went over to say goodbye:

Jonathan and I made an American style BBQ for Nora and Jorge's family as a way to begin to say thank you for everything, and of course, to imperialize Argentina with American food :).  Jon made some delicious hamburgers (for a country that eats so much beef, it's surprising that they don't really do good hamburgers) and I made macaroni and cheese.

Here's a photo of Jon being the grill master and the family enjoying their lunch.  I also put in a few photos we took with Nora, Jorge, and Sebastian right before leaving for the airport.  How I miss them so already!!!        

 

 

 

The Inter-American Rock Paper Scissors Championship

Jonathan is a self-proclaimed rock paper scissors master.  His love affair with the game began 3 years ago when he went to Italy with our friend Chris, though undoubtedly he has always had some natural talent.  It just wasn't fully refined until then.  The two of them played an intense best of 100 rock paper scissors match in the streets of Venice.  The stakes?  Wearing an adult diaper for a day.  Jonathan won, though I believe Chris is yet to put on that diaper :).  But regardless, since then Jon has proclaimed himself as an ultimate champion and obviously, what better way to show off your skill than to represent your country in the first ever Inter-American Rock Paper Scissors Championship.

During our stay in Buenos Aires, we spent a lot of time with our cousin Sebastian (how we love him and miss him so :).  During this time we told a few untruths by Sebastian:

1. That South America and North America are not two separate continents, but rather one continent, called America (insert joke about them wanting to be us here :)
2. That Sebastian is good at rock and paper scissors
3. That women from Argentina are more attractive than women from Spain

Sebastian and Jonathan played rock paper scissors everywhere we went - in the bus, in the train, in the streets, etc and one night, after a few drinks, we decided to have the first ever Inter-American Rock Paper Scissors Championship.  Best of 100 (each point is best of 3 throws).  The stakes?  The Panama Canal.  Also, if Sebastian lost he had to hit on every person we told him to the next time we went out to a bar in the city.  If Jonathan lost, he had to listen to Jefferson Airplane's "We Built This City" 50 times on loop. 

Here are a few action shots:

Generally, Sebastian did pretty poorly throughout the entire competition, though he did have a few shining moments.  Sebastian refused to participate in an interview, but here is Jonathan's:  Jonathan's Interview

Here is a video of the last few throws:Championship

Congratulations Jonathan on your victory!!  

PS.  It should be noted that Sebastian is amazing at ping pong and killed the both of us.  

Lanus

Our very last stop in Argentina before we left to go back to Spain was to visit family in Lanus, where Jonathan's mother used to live.  Like Rafael Calzada, where we stayed the majority of our time in Argentina, Lanus is a suburb of Buenos Aires.  We stayed with Jon's mother's first cousin, Josefina.  Our first night there, we went to Josefina's restaurant, Nuestra Pampa, which was absolutely awesome.  We got a tour and merchandise and everything!  We had a big dinner and met most of the family there from Lanus, Jonathan's grandpa's brother's children and their families. 

The next morning we headed out to see Jon's mother's old house, only a few blocks from where Josefina lives.  The house appears abandoned now, but we took a few shots.  Josefina also showed us the corner store where she and Jonathan's mom would go and buy alfajores (dulce de leche filled cakes).

From there we went to La Boca, neighborhood in the city of Buenos Aires.  Historically, it is the part of the city where the shipyard people lived.  They used the paint from the boats to paint the outside of their homes, resulting in all of these multicolored homes.  We had already been to La Boca, but we went in the middle of summer and it was completely full of tourists, so we wanted to go again to take some photos.  There are some parts of La Boca that are really annoying and full of tourists and tourist merch, but there are other parts that are really beautiful and fun to wander around. 

Later that night we headed back to their restaurant to grab a quick bite and a few drinks.

Our last night we went to have dinner at Angelica's home, which is also located in Lanus.  We had a really nice time spending time together, looking at old photos, telling stories, and learning family secrets :).  They served us some good Galego food - fish empanadas, shrimp, and calamari (a welcomed reprieve from the all meat, all the time diet we were on in Argentina).  The first picture is of Angelica, who wanted me to show Jon's grandmother that we were using the tea cups Jon's grandparents gave them for their wedding.

I do also have to include this photo Jon took of an old photo, where Jon's grandpa is quite obviously telling one of the greatest stories ever told :).