Im getting the itch again already... working on a plan to get back to Spain

What has happened since I left: 8 ½ month summary

our economic crisis has affected the entire world
gas went down in price
mom turned 50
the world celebrated the election of Barack Obama as the 44th president
Phil Fulmer was fired/resigned
we finally got paid
I got my first Spanish haircut
OJ went to prison
George Bush had shoes thrown at him
Dolphins (won their division) and Falcons made the playoffs
a new year
Hudson River Miracle
Bush out/Obama in
I missed a good Superbowl
Unemployment broke 8%
Unemployment broke 8.5%
plethora of mass shootings/killings throughout the US
Nikki went to Afghanistan
Dad went to Mexico during the Swine Flu epidemic
Jay Leno left The Tonight Show
Nikki came home from Afghanistan

So the past two weeks have been insanely busy and I haven't been able to update the blog. Now that I am flying over the Atlantic, and watching Madagascar 2, I have a little bit of time. I was thinking that my last two weeks would be rather relaxing and probably boring. I was way off. Outside of the two weeks in May when I was traveling all over, this was the busiest time that I had since I came to Spain. June 1st was the beginning of the of the dinners and goodbyes. We had a dinner in the main city with all of our friends and was the last time that we were all together. After that, the dinners and goodbyes still didn't stop until right before I left for Madrid.

I went to one of the nice beaches on Thursday with some of my teachers and it turned out that my last day on the beach was probably the most fun I had on this trip. We got there around 2 o'clock and didn't leave until 10 that night. We spent the entire day just playing just about every beach activity we could think of and just acting like kids. Keep in mind that I, at 24, am the youngest., everyone else is between 28 and 38. They also buried me in the sand and made it look like I was a mermaid, i'll put up pics. They only bad thing about the day is that the beach is out in the middle of nowhere and there is only one restaurant and we ate there and it was really expensive. By the way, Madagascar 2 is pretty good.

This trip was truly an experience that I will never forget and wouldn't trade for anything in the world. I really did meet some incredible people that I am sure we will keep in contact in the future. I also seeing myself going back to visit as soon as I came. All the kids were so heartbroken when they found out that I wouldn't be back next year. I also plan on staying in contact with as many of the kids that I can. Right now I am looking forward to landing in Philly and going to Chick-fil-a. I've been waiting 8 ½ months for my number 1 plain with Dr. Pepper.

 

Angel

 

Victor

I went and spent a couple hours with my little Spanish nephews yesterday. They are a month old not and steady growing. I'll put up some pics eventually. I had my first, last class with one of my classes today. They were sad. Two more last classes tomorrow and two more on Thursday. Tomorrow Barcelona plays for the European Championship against Manchester United. I am quite proud to say that I visited the stadiums of the best team in the English League and Spanish League in the same week and two weeks before they played each other for the European Title. Venga Barça!

If anyone wants any specific gift from Spain, tell me. Happy Birthday Dre

So the trip to Barcelona turned out to be pretty good. The 8 hour train ride up there wasn't that bad and actually passed by rather quickly. It was supposed to be raining on Thursday and Friday but once we got there the sun was out and it was warm. So we dropped off our bags and headed out to explore. About two hours into our exploring it began to storm badly and we were stuck out in the rain before it slacked up and we returned to the hostel for the night. We only got to see Las Ramblas, which is a famous, long stretch of vendors and street performers between shops and restaurants.

Friday morning when we left the hostel the sun was out and shining once again and we decided to go Camp Nou, the soccer stadium of F.C. Barcelona, my favorite team and the champions of the Spanish League. Overall it was ok. The tour of Manchester United's stadium was better and a whole lot cheaper. After that we headed to another famous Barcelona site, Park Guell, which was designed by a famous artist named Antoni Gaudi. There are no words to describe the park, you have to look at the pictures see for yourself. It was definitely one of the most spectacular places I have ever been. After a couple hours in the park, we headed to the Sagrada Familia, also designed by Gaudi. We then headed down to walk around the port before heading back to hostel.

Saturday morning we headed to Montjuic, an area of Barcelona that is home to another soccer team, park and some other things. We then headed to the Pueblo Español which is an attraction that has has houses and shops built like those in all the different areas of Spain. We then found another park to spend some time in before heading to a mall and then back to the hostel.

Sunday consisted of us checking out of the hostel and taking another trip to the port and stopping by to see the beach before heading to the train station for the 8 hour journey back down to the south. Barcelona is an incredible city that I loved for its uniqueness from any other place that I have been. I also loved that there was so many different people from all over the world in this one city. At any given time you could hear three different language been spoken around you. The only thing that I didn't like about Barcelona was the food. The food we had wasn't even mediocre. It seems like everywhere else you could just pick a restaurant at random and be thoroughly pleased with the food and the price. This did not happen in Barça. The only meal that we had that luck with was our dinner our first night. Incredible city, good time, good people, good weather, I couldn't be more pleased.

I am supposed to go to Granada this weekend but I am quite tired from the past week and half of traveling, and for that reason I might not go. I also haven't talked to my friend that I am supposed to stay with. I still have a little bit of time to make it down there. 4 weeks til I'm back in Knoxville. I bought my ticket for my flight back last night. ADIOS

pics will be up soon, theres a lot

I forgot to say that I got news that a friend from college had passed away on Tuesday. He was in my good friend Zachs fraternity. He had just moved home to Virginia the day before and then had a heart attack. R.I.P. Big Ryan

 

This past Friday three other teachers and myself took nineteen students on a trip to Scotland and England. It was pretty interesting from t he beginning because it was the first time flying for about a third of the students. After the almost three hour flight, we immediately began exploring the city of Edinburgh. We walked around the city for a few hours seeing everything with the Scottish girl who had my job last year. On Sunday we headed out in our bus tour to a different area of Scotland a couple hours away to take a boat ride on Loch Ness and see other famous areas in the part of Scotland. This tour took nearly 12 hours and once we returned we walked around the city to see a couple things that we didnt get to the previous day.

Monday we woke up and had breakfast before taking a 3 hour train down to Manchester, England. I sat beside a cool guy from Canada on the train that had been living in Scotland for the past 8 years. He even helped us find where we were supposed to go once we got off the train. Once in Manchester, we went directly to our hotel which was right in front of the soccer stadium for Manchester United. We then went to the stadium to take a tour that turned out to be really cool. We practically got to see and do everything but go on the actual grass on the field. We then went to see High School Musical live and the teachers found out how far behind Spain is because it was nothing but little 6 year old girls in the audience mixed in with our grip of nineteen 15 year old kids. Tuesday we had a really good breakfast at the hotel and then headed to the mall for about a hour before it was time to head to the airport and head back.

It was a really good trip and I am very glad that I went. The most impressionable thing about the trip is that we were in the U.K. for four days straight without it raining. Anybody that knows anything about the U.K. will understand that this is something that never happens. The trip consisted of traveling by plane, bus, train, walking and even a boat ride. And of course the kids complained about each one of them and also got sick in almost each of them. I am completely exhausted but I went to my classes today and tomorrow I head to Barcelona for four days. Pictures probably wont get posted until sometime next week. adios

 

We bought two goldfish today

Scotland tomorrow!

Today I spent almost a minute listening to almost every student in the class attempt to say "judge." It was really funny and nobody ever said it correctly. A couple of the teachers I work with are married and had twins last monday, April 27th. Here are pics of my Spanish nephews, Angel and Victor.

Valencia was incredible! I could easily live there happily. On Friday once I got there and went and chilled with my two friends from Tech who are studying in Valencia now. We sat around and talked for awhile before heading out to walk around the city. After a couple hours of enjoying the sights of VLC, one of my good friends from Germany called and met up with us with his friend. We all went to dinner then my two friends from Tech went home and I went out with the Germans. Needless to say a lot of people were looking at us because both of my German friends are about 6'7" and I am 5'6". While we were out we met up with another friend from London who was in Valencia with us who just happen to be in the city too. Saturday we spepnt almost the entire day on the beach, which is a million times better than the beach here in Aguilas. Sunday I said good bye to my Tech friends and then went into the city to meet the Germans before I left. We walked around for a little bit and then it was time for me to leave. Another great trip to city that started it all.

Now I get to rest for a couple days and then then off to Scotland and England with my crazy kids.

In honor of the NFL Draft yesterday and a Georgia Boy being picked number 1, I bought a football and will be introducing the Spaniards here to our great sport. I also ate KFC yesterday. There is even popcorn chicken in Spain.

On Thursday, after all of my classes, I went to the gym to watch some of my students play handball. The boys played first, but I only had one student that was playing. They started off playing well but ended up losing. For the girls team, all but two were my students. I got to be an “assistant coach” for them even though I know absolutely nothing about handball. I helped them in their warm ups and sat on the bench too. They lost as well. After the games, I went to dinner with some of my teachers. They got me a basketball and all they teachers I play with are going to sign it. They also got me the jersey of the Spanish National soccer team.

Friday, two of my classes got to spend the day at the beach and I went with them to help with the activities. We went to the beach at 8:30 to set up everything for the day. One of the teachers and myself went and got in the sea at 10 in the morning. The water was freezing and I started losing feeling in my legs before I got out. The first thing we did was take a boat ride out into the sea. The water is super clear and you can see the bottom which is covered in grass. Once we got out there, we then kayaked back to the beach which was cool too but tiring. Next they had a map and had to go around the beach and find cards that we had hidden. After that, we just chilled on the beach until it was time for them to leave. A few of them stayed and brought me an ice cream cake to eat on the beach. My roommates then came too and we chilled at the beach for a couple more hours throwing the frisbee and going into the water once it got too hot. In the end, I was at the beach from about 8:30 or 8 :45 in the morning until 5:45 in the afternoon. My roommates had a tshirt made with our picture on it for me and Laura made a cake too. We then went to this really good Mexican restaurant for dinner.

Needless to say, I had another incredible birthday spent with all my Spaniards. All day long students were telling me happy birthday and attempting to sing the happy birthday song in English. I am truly blessed to be around such great people here and I will thoroughly miss them.

On Thursday, after all of my classes, I went to the gym to watch some of my students play handball. The boys played first, but I only had one student that was playing. They started off playing well but ended up losing. For the girls team, all but two were my students. I got to be an “assistant coach” for them even though I know absolutely nothing about handball. I helped them in their warm ups and sat on the bench too. They lost as well. After the games, I went to dinner with some of my teachers. They got me a basketball and all they teachers I play with are going to sign it. They also got me the jersey of the Spanish National soccer team.

Friday, two of my classes got to spend the day at the beach and I went with them to help with the activities. We went to the beach at 8:30 to set up everything for the day. One of the teachers and myself went and got in the sea at 10 in the morning. The water was freezing and I started losing feeling in my legs before I got out. The first thing we did was take a boat ride out into the sea. The water is super clear and you can see the bottom which is covered in grass. Once we got out there, we then kayaked back to the beach which was cool too but tiring. Next they had a map and had to go around the beach and find cards that we had hidden. After that, we just chilled on the beach until it was time for them to leave. A few of them stayed and brought me an ice cream cake to eat on the beach. My roommates then came too and we chilled at the beach for a couple more hours throwing the frisbee and going into the water once it got too hot. In the end, I was at the beach from about 8:30 or 8 :45 in the morning until 5:45 in the afternoon. My roommates had a tshirt made with our picture on it for me and Laura made a cake too. We then went to this really good Mexican restaurant for dinner.

Needless to say, I had another incredible birthday spent with all my Spaniards. All day long students were telling me happy birthday and attempting to sing the happy birthday song in English. I am truly blessed to be around such great people here and I will thoroughly miss them.

Only in Spain can you see a woman dressed in all pink and heels riding a 4-wheeler on the street.

More grey hairs in my head. I dont like the way this is going.

We just booked our trip to Barcelona! So next weekend is my birthday, weekend after I go to Valencia, next weekend Scotland and the weekend after that is Barcelona. Im going to be busy...and probably broke, but happy.

Oh yeah, we still havent been paid for March. They went on Easter vacation April 3rd and didnt do our payment before they left. They go back to work tomorrow, April 15th, but they have "a lot of work to do" and we arent on the top of the priority list so they might not get to it tomorrow. Life in Spain...

I had one of my students come up and tell me that Miley Cyrus was from my state and asked if I have ever talked to her. I told her that she isnt from Tennessee, I dont know if that is true or not, but that she was in Knoxville. These kids are forever going to know Tennessee and Knoxville after me being here. A lot of the kids are under the impression that I am a regular teacher and will be returning next year but some are asking and figuring out that I wont be here. The student that I have private class with asked me if I was staying and when I told him no he said "You know a lot of people are going to miss you here." Im gonna miss these crazy little Spaniards too.

I realized I never put up pics from Carnaval, so I just did. Go check them out and be amazed

Happy late birthday to my big bro Priest and Imo. My day began at 7:30 yesterday when I got up to catch my 8:30 bus back to Murcia. I slept the entire first 6 hours until we got to the rest stop to eat. I then slept again until we reached Valencia. After seeing my old stomping grounds, I then read the rest of the trip. So after 12 hours of traveling we pulled into the bus station in Murcia and the last bus for Aguilas, that is supposed to leave at 8:30, hadn't left yet so I got to take it back. So I finally got here at 10 and then had to go find 2 of my friends from TN Tech that are Valencia this semester. They are taking a road trip through the south and wanted to spend the night here.

So my trip to the North was overall, spectacular. My friend Katie was an excellent host and we went and saw more places than I thought we would. I enjoyed it a great deal and met some really nice people up there. All the pics are up so go check them out and I also put up pics and videos from the Good Friday Processions that took place today from 8am until noon. have a good day DUECES

 

Today we went back to San Sebastiian to take more pics during the day and go up a mountain. After all that we went to another little city and walked around for awhile. Now I have to get up bright and early and enjoy this 12 hour bus ride again

 

Today was a pretty calm day in comparison to what all we have done the previous days. We went to town that had a really long and difficullt name, which you can see in the pic. Apple Cider is really, really big up here in the north so we went to a Cider Musuem. It turned out to be really cool. We had a really nice lady take us around the property and show us how everything works in the process to get cider, beginning with the apple seeds for the apple trees. We even gathered some apples like how they do it and mashed them up. The tour ended with us tasting a couple types of cider and other apple products. One being the best apple juice I have ever tasted in my life. Mom would be proud since she is always trying to get me to drink apple juice. There wouldnt be any problem if all apple juice tasted like this. After that we headed back to San Sebastian to walk around again. ok im sleepy, hasta mañana.

So today we went to town called Zumaia that is about an hour and a half train ride away. It's a really small, neat town but the main thing there is Flysch Cliffs. These cliffs along with the views along the trail we walked around the city are probably my favorite thing that I have seen in Spain or anywhere else. The cliffs are incredible and were formed by erosion. We then took about a 90 minute walk along the cliffs and the coastline which then went inland. It was pretty crazy to see all the different landforms there. In southern Spain there isn't much, if any, greenery. The amount of green that I have seen here is insane compared to the desert that is the rest of Spain. It went from the cliffs and the coastline to giant rolling greenhills followed by a forest-like area and then back to the hills. pics are up. enjoy and adios

Today was another good day as well. We went to Burger King to eat then took the train to another town in France called Biarritz. The city was really cool. We spent around 3 hours there walking around and seeing everything. Over the past couple of days we have walked around 8 miles. Last night we into San Sebastian, a pretty big city that is about 30 to 45 mins away. We are going to go back maybe tomorrow during the day to see some more stuff. I put pics up on webshots of my first two days here so far. adios and GO HEELS tomorrow in the championship.

So the 12 1/2 hour bus ride really was not that bad at all. I slept for the first half managed to stay awake for the rest. We stopped in Pamplona, where the running of the bulls takes place, and it seemed like a really cool city. The trip from Pamplona to Irun, the city where I am at, was really green and mountainous. It really reminded me of Tennessee and North Carolina. Today we walked around the city for awhile and then we went to France in the evening with a couple friends. It was only about a 20 minute ride and it was really nice. We went to a really nice beach and got to see the Atlantic Ocean from the other side again, like when I was in Portugal. It was really nice and I will put up pics soon. We are going to go back to France tomorrow. adios

I made it to the north just fine. I will write more soon when I have some more time. I think we are going to France this evening.

more pics


old cars

 

So Julien told me all the cars were at the port so I got my camera and went to take pictures. This was my favorite car. I will put up more pics and videos later

About 30 cars from the 30's, 40's and 50's just drove by while I was out on the balcony. I got sa couple pics and took a video. I also saw a Hayabusa yesterday.



oldies

 

i miss my fish

Here's an article dad found about what i'm, and apparently everybody else my age, is doing.
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/03/20/teaching.abroad/index.html

I have a 5 day weekend this week and nothing to do. I was going to go to Valencia for Las Fallas but I had to pay more for my trip to Scotland, so I have to save what little I have left since we still really don't know when we are going to get paid. The beginning of April I am going to the Pais Vasco in the north to visit a friend. We have 10 or 11 days off so I am going to spend a week up there seeing some of northern Spain.

Got another email from my teacher in Cookeville and she said that the student who was in the wreck is now walking without his cane. That was the good news. The bad news was that one of the older students who comes to class with his wife got pulled over for a minor traffic infraction and is now in the process of being deported back to Honduras. He and his wife have been here for over 10 years and have 4 kids. They took up a collection to help her with the bills this month.

I just realized I missed Girl Scout cookies

This past week was the week-long trip to the English camp with my youngest students. We met at 7:30 in the morning to start our 5 hour trip to a small town that is right past Valencia. Once I finally got ready to take a nap on the bus the kids wouldn't let me, or anyone else that wanted to sleep, sleep in peace. So five hours later, without a nap, we arrived to the camp which was out in the middle of nowhere. The counselors took the kids to their rooms and then showed us to our rooms and our job was done for the week. We literally had absolutely nothing to do the entire week. The rest of the day we spent talking with the other teachers, who were just complaining about everything, and playing with the kids during their activity periods.
On Tuesday, Victor (one of the teachers I work with) and I decided to go to Valencia, which was only a 40 minute ride away. Little did we know it was going to be torrential rains and windy all day long. We walked around for about 4 or 5 hours in which we had lunch went to a couple book stores, a museum and saw some of the things that are to see in the old city in Valencia. While waiting in the doorway of the main cathedral for the rain to slack up, I met a couple of girls from Texas that are in Valencia studying. They didn't know my friend that is studying in VLC right now, but they were cool anyway. We eventually had enough of walking around completely soaked and returned to camp where the weather was the exact same.
I don't remember Wednesday. Thursday, Victor and I went into the actual town of where the camp was and it was pretty cool. It had a castle, just like almost every Spanish town. It also had a Roman Theater which we went to. It's pretty cool to see something that is 2,000 years old. Once we came back I played basketball with the kids. The kids kept asking me to dunk and I usually that I can't but these goals were a little lower than 10 feet, so I said that I would try. Turns out I that I could dunk on these goals so I spent the rest of the evening attempting to dunk for all the kids who would hear about and then come and want to see it. Also, my students were the youngest and the smallest but they won the basketball tournament.
Today, Friday, was the last day. They had class and then a graduation ceremony were they received their diplomas and medals for all the contest and tournament winners. After that, 5 hour bus ride back to good ol' Aguilas.
Besides some of the other teachers complaining about everything all week and not having internet for a week it was a good trip. Some of the teachers were really cool and the kids were really good. The first day I met these two girls who had never left their town before and were happy as can be to meet an American. They were so excited and had so many questions about everything. But most importantly, they wanted to talk in English, which never happens. By the end of the week, all the students from the other schools were saying “hi Brandon” when they saw me around, just like at our school when all the kids I don't have class with and don't know come up and start talking to me. It was fun but I'm glad to be back in Aguilas. I'll be back in Valencia in two weeks anyway for Las Fallas.

Yesterday I went on another field trip with some of my students. We went to a city called Cartagena which is about an hour away. It was a cool trip but we left at 8:30 in the morning and didnt get back until 6:30. 10 hours with 40 13-year olds was a little much though. We saw an actual Roman theatre that was left over from the Romans and a couple other things. I´ll put pictures up soon.

So yesterday morning I noticed thhat I have a grey hair in my head and that a box of contacts costs more than twice as much as they do in the States.

Today is the beginning of the fiesta of Carnaval, which is something like mardi gras I think. For the next 10 days there will be all kinds of events taking place and contests for costumes and food.

Last night I went to see the new Friday the 13th. It was decent, even in Spanish. I was however the only person in the theatre and probably the only person in the entire building. This was fine though becuase I was able to yell at the screen and everything and not worry about other people.

 
here is a pic of my computer I bought a couple months ago

We finally got paid for Janauary yesterday! Today, I went recruiting for new students for the upcoming school year with the two of the head guys at my school. I felt pretty good about the fact that they asked me to go along with them. The first elementary school we went to nobody knew me so we actually had a decent presentation and everybody listened to us. At the second school, a couple of the kids knew me and that just made all the other kids want to ask more and more questions about me instead about our school. When the director introduced me, all trhe kids began clapping and cheering. Keep in mind that I actually only knew one out of these forty kids and the other kid knew me because my roomate tutors him. We had to keep getting the kids back on track with their questions but it was an unique experience.

I received an email last week from the teacher I helped in Cookeville and she said that Francisco, the student that was in the wreck, was back in class. He has to use a cane to walk but he is better and in good spirits.

Today during my free period, while I was trying to watch all the commercials from the Superbowl, I helped 3 teachers with their English homework. A lot of the teachers are taking classes to learn other languages and a few approached me today to help them. It was pretty funny to see the teachers thinking hard and trying to figure out how to say things. Apparently the teacher isn´t that nice or helpful so I told them that they could come ask me questions anytime.

Teachers and students who participated in the game

So this past Friday was a day of activities for all the schools and it was a lot of fun. At my school, the day started out for me being a judge for karaoke in English. It was fun and the kids actually did really well. After that, I had a little bit of time before the 3 on 3 basketball began. I played with my 15 year old students that I usually go play with once a week. I played in the first 3 games with them and won them all. I let them play by their selves in the championship against older students and they still won. I had time to eat a half of piece of pizza before it was time for the teachers versus students basketball game in the gym in front of everyone. This game was also a lot of fun and of course we, the Bad Teachers Basketball Team, won by 20. everybody had fun and nobody got hurt so it was quite a success. Some things never change though, I still get yelled at here for not shooting enough.

Saturday we went to a nearby city for a friends birthday and Julien and I wore our suits. Not gonna lie, we were the best dressed people in the city.

This is a map of my trips I took during December and January from the first trip to Valencia until the end of Portugal.

So Julien and I bought suits yesterday. No reason. Well, they were on sale.

this is the link for all my pics

http://community.webshots.com/user/jamal424?vhost=community

or you can look at them here as a slide show



jamal424;jsessionid=abc7Fn7ScHxOD9cWB716r

we still haven´t been paid for December...

So after speending the night in Madrid, it´s almost time to go home. We have a 5 hour bus ride from Madrid to Murcia and then the 90 min bus ride from Murcia to Aguilas. After the 20 minute walk from the bus station to our apartment, we will finally be home to rest after a busy 2 weeks of traveling in December (Valencia and Portugal).

Porto is incredible. First of all, it didn't rain and it's just a great city. I think this would be the place I would live if I had to live in Portugal and I knew how to speak Portuguese correctly. Just like all the other cities, we arrived, found the hostel and went exploring. The hostel here is really cool because all the rooms are themed according to a movie. This city is what I think of when I think about a typical European city. The building are old, not too many people but not too few, it's on a river and there are plenty of places to eat. I really don't have anything else to say about this city except for the fact that I could and would live here. Maybe everyone will be able to get a good feeling of the city from my pics. Tomorrow, we head back to España. We are going to spend the day in Madrid and then back home to Aguilas.

We were greeted with rain upon our arrival in Lisbon. We found our hostel and immediately began exploring. Lisbon began on a sour note with the rain, large number of homeless people and the insane amount of trash in the streets. It did however get better the next day (today) even though it was extremely overcast and still raining. We still covered a lot of area and got some good pics. My roommates boyfriend is half-Brazilian and has a cousin that lives here and met us for a meal. After that, the sun finally came out and we had the opportunity to get in as many pics as we could. Overall, Lisbon ended much better than it began. We head out in the morning to Porto, a city that is in northern Portugal.

On our way to Lisbon, we decided that we had time to stop and make a side trip. We decided to go to this town called Evora. It is a really small town that didn´t take much time for us to explore it all. Before we left, we had lunch at this little restaurant and it was incredible. Without a doubt, this was the best meal that I have had since I´ve been in Europe. It was grilled beef with rice and some potato fries. It was a great way to start off 2009 and I am pretty sure I won´t have a meal that good for awhile. After that, it was back to the road.

So for New Year's Eve we really didn't do anything. We had lunch at this little diner and spoke Portuguese, Spanish and English with our waiter. After that, we just walked around and explored the little town. We went out to look for a place to eat dinner and just about everything was closed or only having a private dinner; even McDonald's was closed. We finally found a restaurant and it turned out to be really good. I had duck with seasoned rice, not a bad way to end 2008. after our last meal of the year, we walked around some more and found a concert that was taking place in a park. Practically the entire town was there waiting for the new year. We stayed for probably a hour before heading back, right before midnight. The next morning we headed out for Lisbon.

feliz ano novo (happy new year in portuguese)a few days later