crazy mornings

I wrote this last Friday, but I saved it as a draft on accident instead of putting it up! Enjoy =)

Gijon is probably the safest place I've ever been in my life, that said... this morning at 5 Greg and I woke up to someone ringing our doorbell and banging on the door.  Well, we got up and went to check thinking maybe Brian or Jodie was having an emergency and needed us.  I looked out the peephole and couldn't see anything, and someone was speaking in Spanish asking us to open the door, of course I totally freaked out, we asked them to turn the light on but they didn't and neither of us knew what he/she was saying in the hallway.  I eventually threatened to call the police, and she said "please no I'm your neighbor!"  Turns out, it was our next door neighbor, she's about 96 years old and thought she was going to the bathroom but actually walked into the hallway.  Unlike in the States, when a door closes it locks, so this poor woman was locked out of her house and we had no idea who to call or what to do.  Greg finally thought he'd give the old credit card trick a try and it worked, he "broke" into our neighbors house!  Unfortunately, we were both heart broken for our poor neighbor, but it is a pretty funny story!

My swimming update, I swam 62 laps yesterday, up 12 since Tuesday.  And I did 5x100 IMs (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle).  I was pretty impressed, and it felt great!  I loved just being able to think about nothing else except for breathing and counting my laps.  And I was the only person in the whole pool, it was great.

so out of shape

I decided a few weeks ago that I was going to start swimming again. Well today I finally busted out my bathing suit, goggles, towel, cap, flip flops... and took the bus to the pool to check it out. I didn't exactly know where I was going, but I found everything ok...

But I quickly discovered I am WAY out of shape! Last week on our hike, my friend Pam asked me how long I thought it would take to get back into the swing of things, and I thought I'd hop right back in and be fine.. wow was I wrong! I swam 50 laps and had to convince myself that I was saving myself from heart disease and obesity in order to just do that many. So, I'll keep you updated on my progress. The good news-I swam 3 whole laps of butterfly!

winter wonderland

Asturias still surprises me every day.  We have so many different landscapes in a small province.  Greg went skiing last weekend, and was sore for days, but had a great time.  And on Wednesday I went on another hike with my friends in 4 inches of snow.  It was fun to be the first footprints!  And you can't hike through snow without throwing a few snowballs.  I'm always amazed at the way of life here, even in Gijon-the biggest city in Asturias-I have to go to a few different grocery stores to get the things I need and they've never heard of preservatives... chicken goes bad the next day, no pre-made anything.  I'm actually starting to enjoy it.  But out in the mountains where we go on our hikes, I don't know how these people live!  We'll be hiking through what seems the middle of nowhere and come across a little village of 5-7 houses.  My spanish teacher told me that different trucks will travel out to these towns every week or every other week to sell goods (fish, meat, pharmaceuticals, etc).  I'm really glad Greg didn't move me out there... anyway, here are some pictures.

And yesterday (Saturday) we went to a different area to the East where the coasts are met by big cliffs.  This area is known for holes that have been formed because of the water that go from the sides of the cliffs and come out on the surface like these huge geysers.  I had no idea where were actually going and was wearing my nice boots and wool coat, and arrived at this mud/rocky parking lot with water/air streaming out of random holes, luckily my husband had an extra pair of shoes in the back and let me wear his jacket, what a sweetheart!  Here are some pictures from that adventure too.

Our friends daughter running away from the stream of air/water exploding

They went up at least 50ft!

Greg ran to the end of this rainbow..and regretfully informed me that there is no gold. 

A new year!

Sorry I haven't been posting!  A lot has been going on here in Gijon.  The day after Christmas my parents came to visit, and they left New Years day, it was fun to show them around and let them see the town we live in.  We went on a few hikes, toured Oviedo (the oldest city in Asturias) and spent a night in Aviles sampling Spanish wines.  We also spent New Years Eve in the Plaza Mayor (the big square in Gijon).  And getting them out of Gijon was quite an adventure.  Their flight was at 7:30am, and so we woke up nice and early on New Years Day (after staying up nice and late) and were ready to leave for the airport at 6, 5 minutes of 6 the lights went out.  We checked to see if it was just our lights and it was our entire street!  Luckily Greg got me a Harry Potter wand for Christmas, so I used it as a flashlight, and we made our way downstairs with luggage etc, only to discover that our garage doesn't open without electricity (there is a parking garage under our building).  So we ran to the bus station in hopes to get a bus to the airport but because it was a holiday there were no buses until 10.  So we ran back to our apartment hoping maybe the electricity turned back on (remember... it's now about 6:20, they have a flight at 7:30!).  We checked the taxi station near our house and there were no taxis, because all the New Years Eve party-goers were on their way home.  And instead of freaking out, Greg came up with the brilliant idea to go to the hotel we stayed in before we moved into our apartment and ask them to call a taxi.  So off we went on our last hope adventure-and it worked!  A taxi was at the hotel in less than 2 minutes and my mom and dad made it to the airport just in time to get on their plane!  And we went without power for about 2 more hours... what a morning.  But here are some pictures from there visit: