Just want to go home.

I just want to go home. HOME!!! BURIEN!!!

Somebody come and take me home!!!

Two more months. FUCK.

/rant.

Pictures from Paris

Beware: There are A LOT of doubles or triples or maybe I got carried away with the Eiffel Tower....

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2389682&id=10721236&l=b577c

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2389684&id=10721236&l=04fbd

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2389685&id=10721236&l=22b5a

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2389688&id=10721236&l=6ce23

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2389691&id=10721236&l=c9227

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2390232&id=10721236&l=ea3b8

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2390237&id=10721236&l=199c3

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2390238&id=10721236&l=3952f


--
Ben Tang

Paris trip

Paris-

Since we had a week off from school, a few of us decided to go to Paris for three days.

The trip started with an overnight bus ride to Madrid from Cadiz, which took eight hours. That bus ride sucked. I slept most of the way but the seats were cramped, the bus was super hot, and there was no bathroom on the bus. Once we got to Madrid, we took the metro to the airport and flew to Paris. The language barrier was a huge problem although most people in Paris speak a little English.

Once we arrived in Paris, we took another metro to our hotel and checked in and everything. Our hotel was about a five-minute walk to the Eiffel Tower, which was nice. So the first night we just went there and walked around that area.

The second day we went to the Louvre in the morning. The Louvre is a huge museum that houses the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and also has Napoleon’s apartment in it. It has three different sections and each section has at least three floors so it takes a while to get around to everything. We spent about three and a half hours there and we were going pretty fast. After that we went to the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. Then we walked to Notre Dame and looked inside the cathedral for a while. Then we went to the top of one of its towers and its all stairs up and down. There’s no stopping point or anything and its full spiral stairs, it was a work out. Once we got to the top, it was worth it. You could see the whole city and the day was pretty clear. After Notre Dame we walked around some more and finally went back to the hotel. We went out to dinner really late and nothing was open. We eventually just went to Chinese food, haha. The lady didn’t know English and we didn’t know a word of French so I got to practice my Chinese.

The next day we went to the Catacomes of Paris. The Catacomes were an old mine which turned into a grave for all the people that died from the plague. It was cool but also kind of creepy. After that we went to a cemetery that a good number of famous people were buried. This cemetery was huge! The cemetery didn’t have headstones or tombstones; it had huge monuments for each person. A lot of them were family tombs and had a lot of names on the grave. After the cemetery, we went to Sacre Coure, which is another cathedral but this one was up on a hill and you could see the whole city from the top. Then we went to see Moulin Rouge and walked around the neighborhood a little bit.

The last day we walked around in the morning before heading to the airport and flying back to Madrid. Once we got back, we went to the bus station to catch the eight-hour bus ride home. This time, I only slept for about three hours and the bus was still super hot. Never again will I take a bus for that long. I actually hate buses now. I would rather pay a few extra dollars or euros for a plane ticket.

Pictures from the Paris trip will be posted shortly.

Cadiz update

Cadiz Two Month update.

Two months since I’ve arrived in Cadiz and it’s time for another update.

The weather is starting to get better, still cold at night and in the house but it seems promising.

I have a newfound appreciation for box wine.

I think my socks are slowly disappearing…

The people here don’t move for you when you’re walking down the street. (I’m at least twice their size and they won’t even move for me)

I’m pretty glad my family has a dryer instead of hang drying everything.

They don’t eat spicy food here and it’s hard to find hot sauce.

I have yet to try the Chinese food here but I will before my next update.

I am slowly forgetting my Chinese.

I still get bored during the day but once we start going to the beach daily and dominating the beach volleyball courts, the day will pass quicker.

I still miss home and the people there.

Carnaval Summary-

Carnaval is a huge festival here in Cadiz. Cadiz has the second biggest Carnaval in the world only to Rio. My host family told me that the population of Cadiz is around 130,000 and can rise to near 1,000,000 during the first weekend of Carnaval. People sleep on the beaches and the streets. It was absolutely crazy, people everywhere drinking and partying until the morning hours of seven or eight. People dress up like its Halloween but for the whole week.

Seville

Seville (Sevilla)

Seville is about 2 hours on train away from Cadiz. Maybe a little closer since we stopped and started a few times. So Saturday morning we had a scavenger hunt around the city of Cadiz and of course my team won. After the scavenger hunt and lunch, we all went to catch the train to Seville at 5:00PM (First time on a train). We get there around 7PM and search the city for our hostel (not hotel, no even the Motel 8) and we finally find it after asking a few people. So we get situated and showered and whatever, then go buy some liquor and come back and drink before going out.

*Side note on hostels* I’m not a huge fan hostels for the lone fact that you don’t get your own bathroom. Other things I could complain about are that the beds are horrible, I could feel the springs in my side when I slept, also the fact that its just four beds in the room the size of mine at home isn’t that cool. Granted we only paid 20 Euros each for the bed, I think four people could have split a decent hotel for five Euros more. But I thank Christina for planning everything and putting it all on her credit card, I wouldn’t have been able to deal with all the people.

*Back to main blog: So we go out, find millions of Americans and it’s just like home. But we go to this bar packed of Americans and if I really wanted this, I could just go home. So we go back to the hostel but can’t find anywhere to buy more alcohol so we just sit around doing nothing, sober.

The next day, we find Starbucks!! I couldn’t seem to decipher drip coffee so I just ordered a latte. Decent, but of course Starbucks in Seattle is better along with the Pike Place Roast. Then we head off to this place called Alcazar, which is some huge fortress type thing, turned into a house, turned into a tourist attraction. Pictures will say more.

Then we head to the Cathedral in Seville. This place is HUGE! I bet mass in there was legit. Hahaha. I took lots of pictures and will post those soon.

You’ll just have to look at the pictures.

Take Care and Happy Chinese New Year.

Mini Update.

Quick Notes:

-They always eat white fish here. I hate white fish, its too fishy.

-I can never figure out when they go to bed, its different every night. I try to stay up so I can watch the Australian Open when they go to bed because it’s on every night here at 1:00AM. So I just end up taking a nice nap during the day.

-I can’t watch Sportscenter top 10 nightly. It’s hard to keep up with the Huskies.

-I still don’t know my way around town. It’s not as easy as “walk down Pike, take a left on 6th, then cross Pine and you’ll be at Pacific Place.” All the streets here are just names and in no specific order.

-Still raining and cold. Just like home!

-The streets are only big enough for one car and people drive super fast down the streets.

-I’m about to get my travel on sometime in March or April and probably going to Paris, Rome, Berlin, and elsewhere. Let me know if there’s any place I really should visit.

Small Update

First Day of Sun and the Pre-Carnaval

So this past Sunday was the first day since we’ve arrived that it was warm enough and sunny enough to wear a t-shirt. At least for us, but the people from here were still in sweaters and long sleeves. I think I saw on the news that it was around 17 degrees Celsius. So… Around 60, more or less. That’s hot compared how its been less than 10° C.

This past Sunday was also the party that leads up to Carnaval. If you don’t know, there’s this thing here called Carnaval, it is basically a huge party in the town and we have a full week off from school for it. This past Sunday was the pre-party, and it was crazy! Everybody was in the Plaza de San Antonio, like everybody. I will post pictures but they don’t do this justice. So we meet up at that Plaza and pretty much the whole city is already out. There are beer venders all over the Plaza, food venders with sea urchins, which I tried and its super nasty. For those back home in Seattle, think of the Bite of Seattle but with the WHOLE city closed and EVERYBODY in Seattle went to Seattle Center. EVERYBODY, including your grandmother, your mother, father, siblings, pretty much anybody you can think of. Everybody is drinking in the streets, eating those gross sea urchins and it is just one big party. We end up leaving the Plaza and walk around and everywhere you go, there are people partying and celebrating. We were finding our way home from the beach and found our way to a small square that was over crowded and almost impossible to walk through. There were people playing drums, dancing, and just partying in general.

Never been apart of something so crazy and can only imagine what the real thing is going to be like.

Other Notes:

The rice here sucks! Its super wet, doesn’t stick together, and the rice is HUGE!

Having to go to the Plaza to use the Internet is getting kind of annoying.

I just want to turn on my iPhone and text you all but that would probably cost millions. Sorry. I do have Skype and might try to call you guys when I can since I put money on it. We’ll have to set an appointment to Skype.

The presidential inauguration is all over the news here. They even have Spanish reporters over in Washington D.C. as well.

I need to watch the Australian Open, I need some Tennis in my life. There’s clay court tune up for Rolland Garros in Madrid, Spain that Roger Federer is supposed to be playing in and I’m going no matter what. Oh, and there’s nobody to talk tennis with here. They all love Nadal. I hate him.

I wish I had more shoes here, like all the ones from back home. I brought two pairs of shoes, a set of flip-flops, and some house slippers.

EDIT: I am watching the Australian Open as I type this. Its 1:00AM over here and it is well worth it. My host parents just went to bed so now I can watch the Open! Haven’t been this excited since I’ve arrived here. I will miss the voices of American commentary but I’ll get by. All they talk about is Nadal! Andy Murray is on live, first match on one of the show courts for day two. WTF! Who starts coverage before they even warm up? This is annoying.

Australian Open prediction: Federer def. Murray 6-4, 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (6)

Photos.

Here is the link that you can view my pictures from.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2371785&l=1b992&id=10721236

Super Homesick.

Homesick benchmark-

Just got out of class and on the way back from class I think I hit the first homesick benchmark at one week. Besides from the first day getting here, it has been fine. It’s fun here, lots to explore, and lots of places to go out. But it’s just not the same. I can’t just call up the homies (its about to go down) and go kick it. To be truthful, I don’t really have homies here. Just friends and acquaintances. Nobody that I would really hang out with on a nightly basis. I guess it’ll just take some time.

I miss calling the 7th Ave homies, the Burien homies, the beacon homies and the eastside homies to go chill, talk, and laugh with. No doors that are just push to open and no greetings with “Heyyyy” or “*%$@&” hahaha.

I miss ordering pizza at unknown hours of the night (no ragazzi here). I miss coming home to a warm house (still super cold here).

I miss going home to my parents whenever I wanted, just a 20 minute drive down I-5 and not a $1,500 flight to the other side of the world.

I miss the food at home, rice with soy sauce and some chicken never sounded so good. Or congee with Chinese doughnut, or Mike’s Noodle house (Peter Phung), or pho from the Ave, or just a huge Caesar salad from Costco.

I miss unlimited texting, internet and phone. I miss ESPN, no college basketball, didn’t even get to watch the football national championship game, no NBA (!!), and I really hope I get to watch the Australian Open (Federer and Murray!).

I miss a nice bed, a big bed and a nice pillow.

I actually miss reading books in English.

I miss my house, my parents, my sister, and the rest of my family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc). I miss hearing Chinese and talking to my grandma.

I miss taking long showers, long hot showers (5-8 minutes here).

I miss my xbox and 2k9 (Eric Liang, Tony Duong).

I miss the IMA and basketball. No hyperdunks here, I only brought runners, I’ll show them how it’s done.

I actually miss working at Best Buy. The discount, the coworkers, the BS sales.

I miss everything about home.

Hopefully it’ll get better from here. It’s Friday while I’m typing this and I don’t even have the inkling to go out tonight. I can’t just text some people and be like “what’s good tonight?” or reply with “I don’t know, you know of anything?” Maybe going out will remedy my homesickness, maybe not. I’ve made some friends apart from the ones I already had coming over but we’ll see who, if anybody, will become a homie.

Have fun at home, and as Dave Chapelle would say, “keep it real”. Hope to talk to you all soon.

new spain update

Quick notes:
The mom in the house does EVERYTHING. It’s like this at all the other student’s houses too. She cooks, she cleans, she does the laundry… even my laundry! Just like home!

Naptime is for real. My host dad was telling me that he’s the naptime champion. The whole city closes at around 2PM and doesn’t open again until 5 or 6. This time is for lunch and nap.

The coffee here is good but small. No size venti here.

Shopping here is crazy cheap, even though I haven’t found anything to my liking, the girls have found clothes and shoes and boots for fewer than 50 euros. There was a lacoste store but that was REALLY EXPENSIVE, something like 120 euros for a polo.

Smoking is permitted inside here, sucks and makes you stink like shit. There are also cigarette vending machines.

Beer is cheap at the bars at least. I got a beer the other night for 1.50 euros.

I am the only one awake before I leave for class so I watch tv while I eat breakfast and found CNN in English! I was really happy. I generally watch tv with the family but that’s all in Spanish and a little hard to understand.

Spain Update

Thursday, January 8, 2009—
Day one-
4:00PM- I was dropped off at Sea-Tac Airport and checked in and went to my gate, S10. It was Mara, Marisa, David and I at first, when we got to the gate, where we met up with Rachael who flew in from Portland. From there, some more people started coming, like Nick, Nicole, Sarah, Samantha, and Maral. We took off at around 6:30PM.


Flight to London-
The flight to London was about 10 hours. I didn’t sleep a wink. I tried to drink some alcohol to put me to sleep but it wasn’t working. I drank 3 little bottles of wine and it didn’t work. It also didn’t help that there were two kids (not babies, like three or four years old) screaming almost the whole flight, fuck those kids. I ended up reading about half my book, No Limits by Michael Phelps. I also listened to some music and watched the in-flight TV.


London Airport (Heathrow)-
We landed in London at about 12PM local time (1/9/2009) in London (about 4AM in Seattle). We all had a connecting flight to Madrid and so we went to our gate. We sat, talked, drank some water, and slept. As more time passed, we were informed that the airport in Madrid was closed due to snow! Mind you, this isn’t Sea-Tac, people told me that Madrid hasn’t seen snow in a LONG time. This is probably comparable to the snow in Vegas this winter. Anyways, we went around the airport in London (biggest airport I’ve ever been to, took 15 minutes to ride a bus to another terminal) trying to find a British Airways ticket office to change our flights and our flight to Jerez (City where we would take a taxi to Cadiz). Once we finally had our flights changed to the next day when the Madrid Airport would reopen, we ate then contemplated the idea of either sleeping at the airport or going to a hotel. This discussion started with eight of us. Then two decided to find a place in the airport to sleep since they didn’t want to spend money. Then another two left for the same reasons. So that left four of us, Marisa, Mara, Samantha, and I. We decided to get a hotel since nobody really wanted to take the chance of having their stuff stolen while sleeping at the airport, plus we all REALLY wanted to shower. So we went to this hotel called Ibis and got two rooms, showered, slept and back to the airport. (1/10/2009) We checked in and went to our gate. Thank God the flight wasn’t delayed because we had all been tired of Heathrow. We flew to Madrid (two hours) landed and went to our next gate…


Madrid Airport-
Once we got to the airport in Madrid, we were looking for our next gate. We had about a four-hour layover and you would assume they would know what gate you would be at…. NOPE. We should have known this to be a bad omen as we posted up near the departures board waiting for our flight to be listed with its gate. We waited, waited, slept, and waited. Our flight was supposed to take off at 4PM and it was nearing 3PM and still no gate. The flight was listed at gate HJK and in Madrid, the gates are something like J10, H33, K34. So what was gate HJK? That’s just a way of saying that our flight was delayed until 7PM. Finally a gate number appeared, we went to our gate and waited there… We were flying with Iberia and the day after this flight, the pilots went on strike. So we finally boarded and flew to Jerez.


Jerez-to-Cadiz
Landed, got our luggage, a lot of people had lost their luggage. We went and took a taxi to Cadiz. The taxi driver was very entertaining but once we got to Cadiz, he didn’t know his way around or anything, he had to stop a few times to ask for directions. BUT we finally arrived at our host family’s house and here, all the homes are apartments. I went into the foyer of the building that my family lived in and they greeted me there. Both are retired and love to watch TV. Their names are Pepe and Charo. We went up stairs and they fed me, I showered, and went to bed around 12 midnight. I woke up around 6AM and thought to myself, “There’s no way I can go back to bed”. I ended up sleeping until 4PM (1/11/2009). Woke up, ate and went to explore a little of the town.


Cadiz- 1/12/2009
Monday, we had a little review class at the University here from 9AM-1PM. After that, I went out with a group of people and we found some free WiFi (I don’t have any at the place I’m staying.) then found some shops and went shopping. I didn’t buy anything besides a Spanish cell phone number. Then back home for “lunch” at like 3PM. Then we went back out and walked around some more then back home around 9PM for “dinner”. I’ve heard that they usually eat a little later around 10 or 11PM but I think they changed it to accommodate us Americans. The mom here feeds me HELLA food, even for me. Last night we had some pasta and some type of pork and I had to tell here that I was full.

Some quick hits that I forgot and am too lazy to find where they go:

The house is all marble flooring so good thing I brought my house slippers.

The house doesn’t have heat and it’s usually not this cold but this year is extremely cold for Cadiz so now its FREEZING in the house and I always just wear lots of layers.

This town is super small, to put it in a Seattle perspective, the old part of town (where I live) is if Niketown was the center, it would go to about the other side of Pike Place Market and think of that distance 360 degrees around. No hills either. There is a new part of town but I haven’t been there yet. On the map it looks like a strip comparable to Alki.

Spain.

So.... I'm leaving in like 2 days. wtf. It's not like i'm going on vacation or anything, I'm going for five months!!! I know I'm going to have fun, I know I'm going to live it up but I've never been away from seattle for more than a month and never away from my family for more than a week. No cell phones, no easy trips down I-5 home, no 7th Ave, no best friends going, and I'll be in a different time zone.

If you've been following this blog or just starting, I'll try to post as much as possible, pictures if I can.

So, I'll see you guys in June. Hope Seattle treats you well.