I’ve always thought the reason the Spanish siesta exists is due to the hot weather in Spain. After all, when it’s so hot, you want to escape the heat and take a little rest to re-energize. As it turns out, this is a myth, or at the very least, not the whole story. Continue reading
It was a pretty spring day in Valencia, warm with a nice breeze. I walked to barrio Ensanche to try what I’d read was the best pizza in Valencia. When I arrived, I saw a fire in the Italian domed and tiled oven. I had a good feeling about this place.
It was 13:00, opening time according to Google, but the friendly employees said they’d be open at 13:30. I showed them that Google had incorrect open hours, and they pointed me to an older gentleman that I would come to know as Antonio.
Earlier this year, we took a trip to the south of Spain, to visit Andalucía. This region is responsible for many of the stereotypes associated with Spain. E.g., flamenco, bullfighting, and the Moorish influenced architecture (it was under Moorish rule from the 8th-15th centuries). As we traveled though Andalucía, we began to feel a better sense of this amazing country. We saw olive orchards that seemed to go on forever. Green pastures with the famous fighting bulls (toro de lidia). Snowy mountains of the Sierra Nevada, with their views of the shore of northern Africa in the distance. Continue reading
Updated 1 May 2020.
We get asked a lot – how’s your Spanish? (current status: B1/B2) Which is inevitably followed by, how are you learning? So, we thought we’d give an update on our progress, our experiences, and share our favorite methods to learn Spanish.
We arrived in Spain in July of 2016, and began our journey to learn Spanish (Castilian/Castellano). We’re from California where there are lots of Spanish names for places, streets, Latino owned businesses, Latino radio and TV stations, and lots of Spanish speakers. We were familiar with a few basic words, and some pronunciation, but were starting from knowing near-zero Spanish. So how do you learn Spanish in a hurry – at least enough to get by? Continue reading
I’ve been walking the streets of Valencia for a few months now and frequently come across little stands selling orxata de València or horchata de Valencia (the former being Catalano/Valenciano and the later Spanish (Castellano) both pronounced or-CHA-ta). I just passed them by, writing them off as a tourist thing.
We moved to Valencia about 2 months ago, so I thought I’d share some of my first impressions, both the good and the not so good. Keep in mind that we’ve only lived here for a short time, and much of that time has been spent finding an apartment, and setting up our household. We’ve been eating out a lot during this time, and since it was summer, TJ was not in school and we were working hard to try and keep him entertained. (Note: We now refer to our home in San Jose as “Home Sweet Home” and our apartment in Valencia as “Home”. It just makes it easier in conversation so we can distinguish one from the other). Continue reading
She and I have always enjoyed traveling, and have done a lot of it together over the years. We enjoy learning about different cultures, the history, and trying new foods. As a life-long suburbanite, I’ve always wanted to try living in a city, and love the idea of living in a really old city. We’ve talked many times about moving to Europe, and I’ve even had a couple of potential career opportunities here, but there was always something that held us back. Whether it was her career or mine, the birth of our son, or something else, the timing was just never right to make it happen.Continue reading