My first visitor!

Well, it seems like it has been ages since I wrote in my blog! Sorry that I haven't been writing for so long - for a long time we didn't have internet and then the first weekend that was had it (last weekend) I had a friend in town.

My friend, David, and I went to high school together (go Scots!) but didn't really stay in touch through college. Turns out he is stationed in Bavaria and has been to Basque Country before and wanted to come visit. Since us Americans rarely know many other Americans in Europe, we decided we should visit each other's countries! Dave came last weekend and I wanted to make sure to show him a good time in Pais Vasco (Basque Country).

The most important thing on my list was taking him to a sidreria - a place where they make cider. Here, cider is very very popular. It is midly alcoholic but tastes just like apple cider. The Basques make barrels of it, and its sold in basically ever supermarket. When you visit a sidreria, you get all-you-can-drink cider along with a manly dinner. Along with my friends - Madeline (from Britian), Esther (from California) and Paul (from Ireland) we headed off to experience Basque Country at it's best in one of the best-know sidrerias in town - Petritegui. When you walk in, they hand you a glass, tell you where your table is and then you just put your stuff down and head to the cider room. They keep in the cider in HUGE barrels and then the workers just open the tap and you actually catch the cider in your cup as it squirts out! The room with all these barrels was gigantic, but was packed. Turns out you can buy a ticket to just stay in the cider room and not even eat dinner, which seems silly. You just stand there all night and drink haha. Well we ordered dinner and it was delicious. We started out with a tortilla de bacalao (cod omlet) followed by some more cod, then the chuleta (steak)! The restaurant is very 'rustic' (I don't know if that's the best word) - huge wood picnic tables, stone walls, dirty floors and all. It's like a huge wood cabin where you happen to be having a great dinner! For dessert we got some sheep cheese and this special apple jelly. The sidreria was filled with Basque people, it seems as if we picked a very local spot which was good! I think we were the only foreigners, but we made friends quickly, singing songs and sharing cider! Since I had never been to one of these sidrerias before I was really excited to take my friend and we all had a great time!

Sunday we went to Bilbao to see the Guggenheim. I have already been, when I first moved here, but the exhibition was different so it was nice to go back. The weather was perfect (finally) so it was nice to walk around and explore. The Bilbao soccer team was playing so we watched some of the game on a TV at the bar and just relaxed most of the day. Sadly, Monday always comes. Dave went home and I went to work for another week. Since he came here, I have now planned a trip to Germany woo hoo. The second week in March I am Bavaria-bound and can't wait! You will hear all about it! Don't you worry.

This weekend in San Sebastian is Carnival. I have already seen a million people walking around dressed up in crazy costumes (disfrazes). I miss my costume box that I have in the States with so many fun peices, but alas, I have decided to be a cowgirl. My friends and I are all going out tonight, and I am sure I will have some fun pictures to share with you early next week :D I hope you're having a great weekend, and I now that I have internet, I will make sure to keep the blog updated a lot more!

Besos!

Amanda