the Sierras, nevadas

So the last...oh, entire month? has been really rainy. Its been rather gross and the other day coming home from work and going to the bank, my pants got wet up to mid thigh. AND I was using an umbrella. Ridiculous. Anyway, rain here generally means snow in the mountains, and then last night it decided to get muy cold . Which meant that in the morning the clouds lifted for a bit, the sun came out, and even this winter-grinch thought it was beautiful. =) Do love the mountains with snow. (Apparently there are 3 meters in parts of the ski slopes!) Um, and then the clouds came back, and it even snowed in the city, though didn't stick, of course.

So yeah, this is the view from my roof.

And then a little zoom zoom.

And then ... well, you can dry your clothes on the roof, and I kind of liked the image. So there you have it.

Anyway, so these are all pretty pictures, but the amount of rain has actually been really bad for most parts of the country... lots of flooding, houses destroyed, people getting trapped, crops ruined, olives falling prematurely off the trees, etc. So for selfish AND non-selfish reasons, it would be nice if it dried up a bit.

Um... and to end on a happy note, I'm drinking some delicious rooibus+orange tea. mmm

year new

hola!
It's been a while since I've written... now I'm not sure where to start. I think I will just summarize my holiday adventures.

I headed out on the 23rd to Madrid on a bus. It was cold and rainy.
Got to the airport with several hours of "koosh" time. Then my flight was delayed, because everything was delayed... bad weather in much of Europe = airports a mess. 2 or 3 of the several gates that my flight was supposed to leave from were right next to the smoking room (i.e. glass box) and I didn't like breathing there. I'll save the smoking rant for another blog post, though. Anyway, got to Lisboa after a very rough fligh, the majority of which I slept through (I took my pillow, of course). [note: travel time with bus + wait + plane is about equal to going all the way in bus or train, but slightly cheaper and supposedly more comfortable.] I was picked up by my Portuguese friend and her youngest (13) son, who I hadn't met. Off to her house in a little pueblo beach town.

Time there = relax and lots of good food. Also on the one day it didn't rain we took a lovely walk along the dunes/forest by the beach. yay!

I also went to a Christmas dinner at her ex-husband's aunt and uncle's house. Without her. yup, a little odd. But then the last 3 days I stayed with him (and their sons) and got to tour Lisboa. It also rained there. I only got really wet twice. I liked walking around Lisboa, took a zillion photos and decided it would have been more fun with a touring buddy. Alternately I could limit all my traveling to visits and ultimate tournaments. Oh, wait, that's already true/what I was doing. :) My point is that while I like cool buildings and famous statues, I tire of the general touristy-ness.

Anyway, after Lisboa, I hopped on a night train (though I didn't pay for a bed...) and slept-ish the 10 hours it took to get back to Madrid (It takes about 4 in a car!) and got in to the station at 9ish am on my birthday. Went to breakfast with my friend, walked around a bit and then went to her work. That night we went out with some other friends (all these are frisbee friends, mind you) to the main plaza to do the New Year's thing, eat 12 grapes, etc. Then we wandered about the city, went in some bars/clubs, ate churros con chocolate and then waited in the cold for the metro to start up again in the morning. Oh, and at one point we were asked if we were from Australia (?) to which we, of course, said, "yes!" And later Kika and I became sisters. So by the end of the night we were sisters from Sydney. =)
Slept till late and then we saw Avatar 3-D (in ORIGINAL VERSION!!! This is impossible in Granada, btw, so that's why its so exciting). Then the next morning I hopped back on the Madrid-Granada bus. Since then I've not been doing too much of anything, and its back to work tomorrow, and a group project for class...
The end! Hope you enjoyed this edition of "un poco de mi vida" and had lovely holidays all! Happy New Year, best wishes, and Spanish besos to all... :)