Asturias, two months in
Well not all that much has changed since my one month update. The weather finally kicked into proper autumn mode (RIP, veroño). By the 6th November there was some snow on just a couple of the surrounding mountains. The first week was rough but now the central heating has kicked in it's more than bearable. My housemate situation seems to have a couple of miserable days every couple of weeks but otherwise be ok. To cope with the bad days I browse ads for single bedroom places. With Spanish, I feel like words and sentences come out of my mouth (or fingers) a little more fluently each week. I have been doing some BOM work, but not enough - I need to kick it into another gear. I got paid by the Spanish government for the first time! A few days after October 1, not too bad.
So here are some adventures I have been on in the last month:
· Oct 26 - I went for a ride with AsturiesConBici, the local cycling group. It was really fun, although at a frustratingly slow pace for a road bike.
· Oct 30 - I went to see Nikki Hill sing in Gijón. She is a rock and roll/roots/soul/blues singer. It was cool, although I messed up my plans for getting back to Oviedo and ended up having to get a taxi which cost 40€. Uncool. But I will know better next time.
· Nov 2 - I did a cycle by myself along the Fuso de la Reina track and ended up finding a castle! photos
· Nov 7-8 - I went to Zaragoza for PyCon España, the second year it has been held. I didn't get a chance to see much of the city but it made me quite homesick for Melbourne! And I took the opportunity to eat at a hippie vegetarian cafe and felt a bit jealous about that. I really enjoyed meeting local Pythonistas and especially the PyLadies. I wrote a blog post about it but I want to translate it to Spanish before I post it. Should get on that. photos
· Nov 15 (yesterday) - I went for a walk along my beloved Pista Finlandesa and decided to explore the pre Romanesque buildings nearby. It ended up being about 8 km over 4 hours. Super nice afternoon. photos
· Nov 16 (today) - I went with another auxiliar, a French woman named Marion, with a mountaineering group to do a 5 hour hike to "Pico La Loral" (or Picu Loral in Asturian). Did 12.7km in 3h37, climbed almost 550m up and a bit further down (the bus picked us up in a different place so we didn't have to do a loop, which in itself is novel to me). I was a bit worried I was underdressed when I saw everyone else, and I was a little, but I survived. I need some windstopper type pants - my running tights just don't cut it against piercingly cold wind on the top of a mountain! I wore a long sleeve top, a t shirt, my cycling jacket and a rain jacket which was mostly ok, sometimes would have liked another layer, but probably I would have overheated and annoyed myself but putting it on and removing it all the time. A beanie will be a good idea for next time. I had my snood as a small scarf which worked well. And my hiking boots got properly muddy! They were great, only at the very end did my feet start to feel really sore, and that was after 4 hours walking yesterday. Next time I should also bring more than 500ml liquid, and my camera (my phone battery survived the journey, but only just). photos
I'm really happy to have this hike done as the whole idea of mountains was a big part of what I was telling myself Asturias was about before I came.
As for the coming month, I will probably go away the weekend of December 6-7 as the Monday is a holiday and Marion is keen. Either Madrid or somewhere in the north of Portugal like Porto. School ends on December 19th and goes back January 8th (a Thursday... I'm sure that will be a packed week!). In Spain children actually receive presents not from Santa, but from the Three Wise Kings on the 6th January after they travel the world on their camels! There is also a parade with the kings in many cities, including Oviedo, on the 5th I think. So that is why school doesn't go back immediately after New Year.
Anyway my Christmas/NYE travel plans are almost fully formed. On the 22nd I'll make my way to Madrid, then fly to Frankfurt, then train to Freiburg to stay with a Pythonista friend and his family for a few days. I'm really happy he welcomed my visit, it will be nice to stay with a family for Christmas even if it is not my own. Then on the 26th I'll bus to Munich to visit another friend for a few nights. On the 30th I will fly back to Madrid, and meet Di and Alejandro, who are stopping in Madrid for NYE on the way to their honeymoon in South America! So that's gonna be awesome. And the days after that I don't have planned yet, but it will probably be easiest to stay and explore Madrid some more, maybe do a trip to Toledo, than anything more complicated than that.
Small trips still todo in Asturias: Cycle in Gijón, visit the botanic gardens there, visit Áviles, maybe an overnight at Llanes.
And now photos...more as always at Flickr, highlights at instagram.
With AsturiesConBici
Local castle
My first sighting of snow in Asturias
Squinty in Zaragoza
Meeting Yamila, founder of PyLadies Spain and generally impressive go-getter
Along the Pista Finlandesa: on the way up, is this water stop, and while I was there this guy led his donkey up for a drink.
Along the Pista Finlandesa: wonderful views over Oviedo and beyond.
Along the Pista Finlandesa: incredibly cute lamb and also these other sheep rubbing their heads SO CUTE DYING
Along the Pista Finlandesa: this tree is rocking autumn colours like nobody's business
With a pillar built before the year 900! WTF.
Rest of building of said pillar
Pre Romanesque church being all autumny and shit! (I took a lot of photos of berries)
Autumn is chestnut season!
Marion at the peak of Pico La Loral
Heavenly glimpse of sunlight on the mountains
x2
Heading down
All the way down!
So here are some adventures I have been on in the last month:
· Oct 26 - I went for a ride with AsturiesConBici, the local cycling group. It was really fun, although at a frustratingly slow pace for a road bike.
· Oct 30 - I went to see Nikki Hill sing in Gijón. She is a rock and roll/roots/soul/blues singer. It was cool, although I messed up my plans for getting back to Oviedo and ended up having to get a taxi which cost 40€. Uncool. But I will know better next time.
· Nov 2 - I did a cycle by myself along the Fuso de la Reina track and ended up finding a castle! photos
· Nov 7-8 - I went to Zaragoza for PyCon España, the second year it has been held. I didn't get a chance to see much of the city but it made me quite homesick for Melbourne! And I took the opportunity to eat at a hippie vegetarian cafe and felt a bit jealous about that. I really enjoyed meeting local Pythonistas and especially the PyLadies. I wrote a blog post about it but I want to translate it to Spanish before I post it. Should get on that. photos
· Nov 15 (yesterday) - I went for a walk along my beloved Pista Finlandesa and decided to explore the pre Romanesque buildings nearby. It ended up being about 8 km over 4 hours. Super nice afternoon. photos
· Nov 16 (today) - I went with another auxiliar, a French woman named Marion, with a mountaineering group to do a 5 hour hike to "Pico La Loral" (or Picu Loral in Asturian). Did 12.7km in 3h37, climbed almost 550m up and a bit further down (the bus picked us up in a different place so we didn't have to do a loop, which in itself is novel to me). I was a bit worried I was underdressed when I saw everyone else, and I was a little, but I survived. I need some windstopper type pants - my running tights just don't cut it against piercingly cold wind on the top of a mountain! I wore a long sleeve top, a t shirt, my cycling jacket and a rain jacket which was mostly ok, sometimes would have liked another layer, but probably I would have overheated and annoyed myself but putting it on and removing it all the time. A beanie will be a good idea for next time. I had my snood as a small scarf which worked well. And my hiking boots got properly muddy! They were great, only at the very end did my feet start to feel really sore, and that was after 4 hours walking yesterday. Next time I should also bring more than 500ml liquid, and my camera (my phone battery survived the journey, but only just). photos
I'm really happy to have this hike done as the whole idea of mountains was a big part of what I was telling myself Asturias was about before I came.
As for the coming month, I will probably go away the weekend of December 6-7 as the Monday is a holiday and Marion is keen. Either Madrid or somewhere in the north of Portugal like Porto. School ends on December 19th and goes back January 8th (a Thursday... I'm sure that will be a packed week!). In Spain children actually receive presents not from Santa, but from the Three Wise Kings on the 6th January after they travel the world on their camels! There is also a parade with the kings in many cities, including Oviedo, on the 5th I think. So that is why school doesn't go back immediately after New Year.
Anyway my Christmas/NYE travel plans are almost fully formed. On the 22nd I'll make my way to Madrid, then fly to Frankfurt, then train to Freiburg to stay with a Pythonista friend and his family for a few days. I'm really happy he welcomed my visit, it will be nice to stay with a family for Christmas even if it is not my own. Then on the 26th I'll bus to Munich to visit another friend for a few nights. On the 30th I will fly back to Madrid, and meet Di and Alejandro, who are stopping in Madrid for NYE on the way to their honeymoon in South America! So that's gonna be awesome. And the days after that I don't have planned yet, but it will probably be easiest to stay and explore Madrid some more, maybe do a trip to Toledo, than anything more complicated than that.
Small trips still todo in Asturias: Cycle in Gijón, visit the botanic gardens there, visit Áviles, maybe an overnight at Llanes.
And now photos...more as always at Flickr, highlights at instagram.
With AsturiesConBici
Local castle
My first sighting of snow in Asturias
Squinty in Zaragoza
Meeting Yamila, founder of PyLadies Spain and generally impressive go-getter
Along the Pista Finlandesa: on the way up, is this water stop, and while I was there this guy led his donkey up for a drink.
Along the Pista Finlandesa: wonderful views over Oviedo and beyond.
Along the Pista Finlandesa: incredibly cute lamb and also these other sheep rubbing their heads SO CUTE DYING
Along the Pista Finlandesa: this tree is rocking autumn colours like nobody's business
With a pillar built before the year 900! WTF.
Rest of building of said pillar
Pre Romanesque church being all autumny and shit! (I took a lot of photos of berries)
Autumn is chestnut season!
Marion at the peak of Pico La Loral
Heavenly glimpse of sunlight on the mountains
x2
Heading down
All the way down!