Greetings to all...from your intrepid blogfuhrer!
Yep, we are alive and kicking. I know that it has been ages since you heard from us; apols for that! We have, as I am sure you have guessed, been rather busy! Now that school is in full swing for me, my days have been taken up with all of my course work. See, those of you that thought I was just coming over here to be a lazy bum were wrong!
Due to the fact that I haven't posted a blog for ages, and due to a few other things, I have been making changes to my daily schedule over the last few days. We had been going into Mahon, the capital, every day on the scooter and had been working there from 9am to 1.30pm every day. Then we had been heading back home for lunch, and usually heading back out in the evenings to Spanish/Catalan classes. Well, over the last few days I have stopped going into Mahon and have been staying home (and so has James!) I have been trying to re-align myself to managing with the opening hours of the San Luis library instead. They have much more restrictive hours than the one in Mahon, which means that I am forced to be more prodctive when I am there. In Mahon it is easy to sit in the library and do all the usual web surfing things, and then to find that it is almost time to go back to the apartment! With the library in San Luis being only open for a few hours each day it does wonders for sharpening the focus! The upshot is that I have been doing more of my class reading and stuff "offline" at the apartment. I also felt that I was not getting as much time to spend taking pictures as I wanted to, and this new change has helped me fix that. I have so far been out taking pictures three days running! I am trying to make myself go out and shoot for a minimum of one hour each day. Good stuff! I think James is also benefitting from the change in work habits too...maybe he'll post soon as to how he is getting on with it.
Anyway, enough of the boring stuff...so what have we been up to? Well, the last time I wrote a proper blog was about 3 weeks ago. Since then we have not done a huge amount of "special" things, other than daily living. My Spanish classes are...well....they are. My Spanish is improving slowly, though not at the rate I would like. I am also trying to fix that with the new schedule, with 1 hour of Spanish reading a day. We will see how that goes. James is doing brilliantly with his Catalan classes (are you all surprised?). He is teachers pet of course!
We have been out for (cheap) dinners a few times....to places like La Bolla and S'Olivera in San Luis. Cheap means about 6 euros each in our new poor status! Surprising how much you can enjoy things though when it becomes a real treat! James has even discovered that he likes the liver at La Bolla! He has yet to order a whole plate of his won, but he has had some of mine a few times now.
We have continued to enjoy our sunday evening routine of dinner with the delectable Denise. We usually arrive around 6.30pm and kick of the evening with Vodka and Tonics, and then settle in to watch Dancing on Ice on television. At the break, around 8.30pm, one of us cooks dinner. So far we have eaten Shepherds Pie, Chilli, Chicago Pizza (made by James), Catalan Beans, Chicken Pie, Trout in Bacon and Garlic and whole host of others. It really is a highlight of our week! We have also been out on other days to see John and Sarah, and had some super nights out with Jenny and Dave (who we spent Chritsmas Day with). Last Friday James cooked a Colombian dish which I don't know how to spell (Chicken soup with potatoes) for Denise and a new friend we have made from Colombia, Jorge. Jorge is originally from Colombia but has been here in Menorca for 30 years; he and James have become fast friends!
The weather here has changed over the last few days to a stormy period. There have been high seas and some rain. It has not been too cold though, which is good! We continue to have the odd fire in the apartment, and have got much better at lighting them! The high seas have presented some good photo opportunities, and I will post those when I get them all sorted out. Our friend Christine from England has also just told us that she is coming out for a few days in March and we are really excited about that. We haven't seen her for a few years, so we are looking forward to catching up! She will be here for 3 days just before Easter. Remember, if you would like to come and visit we would love to see you!
Well, thats it for now! I promise to do better and to post again shortly. Don't forget, if you would like to write to us, you can find the address in one of the archived posts from 2007. Also, come see us!
Hope all are fine and dandy....
David
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
More pictures...
Hello to all!
Just a very (very!) short post to say that I just uploaded some new images to my Flickr account, this being one of them. You can head over to flickr by clicking on this image and you can see the new pictures in the set marked ARTO 498.
Enjoy, and feel free to add comments on the images if you want or here on the blog.
I'll write a proper blog post in the next few days.
Love to all!
D&J
Just a very (very!) short post to say that I just uploaded some new images to my Flickr account, this being one of them. You can head over to flickr by clicking on this image and you can see the new pictures in the set marked ARTO 498.
Enjoy, and feel free to add comments on the images if you want or here on the blog.
I'll write a proper blog post in the next few days.
Love to all!
D&J
Friday, February 1, 2008
Photos available
Greetings all!
Just a short update to say that I have published my images to the Flickr account from Saint Anthony's day in San Luis. You will no doubt have read all about it in a previous blog entry, and now you can see the resulting images. Out of the 300 or so that I took I whittled it down to 38 and they have now been worked and posted to my Flickr account. You can get there with the link http://www.flickr.com/davidnmartin98 The images are in a set called ARTO498. Alternativly you can click on the image of the Donkey and it will take you to Flickr
I also created a slideshow for the images as well. The slideshow is posted at http://www.rapidshare.com/files/87272567/St_Anthonys_Day_0002.wmv So you should be able to download it there.
Hope all are well. Everything is fine here. I'll write more next week!
David
Just a short update to say that I have published my images to the Flickr account from Saint Anthony's day in San Luis. You will no doubt have read all about it in a previous blog entry, and now you can see the resulting images. Out of the 300 or so that I took I whittled it down to 38 and they have now been worked and posted to my Flickr account. You can get there with the link http://www.flickr.com/davidnmartin98 The images are in a set called ARTO498. Alternativly you can click on the image of the Donkey and it will take you to Flickr
I also created a slideshow for the images as well. The slideshow is posted at http://www.rapidshare.com/files/87272567/St_Anthonys_Day_0002.wmv So you should be able to download it there.
Hope all are well. Everything is fine here. I'll write more next week!
David
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Where are we?
Well, a comment was posted to the blog asking for some more information as to where we are located. I am a totally a novice when it comes to Google Earth, but I did manage to find us and make a note of the Latitude and Longtitude. They are:-
Lat: 39°50'0.01"N
Long: 4°18'4.05"E
That should put you just about on the roof of the apartment. Now if any clever folks out there can give any more information from these details, like GPS co-ordinates, then please post a comment so that everyone who's interested can find out! I just know that there are people out there who are likely to be able to do these things....like DavidW, AndrewT, JoeK!
David
Lat: 39°50'0.01"N
Long: 4°18'4.05"E
That should put you just about on the roof of the apartment. Now if any clever folks out there can give any more information from these details, like GPS co-ordinates, then please post a comment so that everyone who's interested can find out! I just know that there are people out there who are likely to be able to do these things....like DavidW, AndrewT, JoeK!
David
Horses, Cows and chickens....Oh my!
Greetings to all from Menorca! Yep, I am finally doing an update!
Things are going well here. School has got underway for me, and James is busy doing his stuff too. The weather has been up and down, though not particularly terrible I have to admit! No snow, unlike some of you folks back in the US...The coldest it has got here so far is about 3 degrees Celsius, just a little above freezing. That may not seem too cold to those of you in the northern US, but in an apartment built of stone it's quite chilly! Still, with the help of the space heater and James' ever growing fire lighting skills we are keeping warm.
Last week we experienced our first piece of culture. Actually, we had two pieces of culture if you think about it! The first was St Anthony’s Day, which was a national holiday. The central point of this is a festival/market in each town, along with a ceremony where people have their pets blessed by the local priest. We went to San Luis for the morning and had a great time. The market was amazing and we bought some local sausages and meats and I took a whole load of photos, soon to be uploaded. The blessing of the pet’s ceremony was next, and was quite unlike anything I have experienced before. People brought not only, dogs and cats....but also chickens, gerbils, cows, donkeys and horses. All of this took place in the high street outside the church and was very noisy indeed. Dogs were barking at everything that moved, horses were stamping, cows were mooing etc. It was a wonder that there was no stampede! Then when the priest started flicking all the animals with holy water, it all got much tenser. Horses started to rear up on the hind legs, cows pawed the ground and most of the dogs started to look like Cujo. Still, all ended with no one being eaten and we went on our way.
The next piece of culture was going to the theatre. The man who works in our bank had written the music for a version of Homers Odyssey. It was being performed at the big theatre in Mahon, the capital, so we went and purchased our tickets there. I had never been to the theatre here before, and when we arrived last Friday evening it was filled with smartly dressed people everywhere. We had erred on the side of caution and were smartly dressed too, albeit with "crash-helmet hair". We headed inside and took our seats. The building is amazing inside and is really something to be quite proud of for the locals. It has 4 balconies, boxes and a huge orchestra/stalls area. Very nice indeed. The music started, the curtain rose and the play began......in Catalan! Needless to say we understood next to nothing, but we enjoyed the music, the singing and the dancing. Fortunately it was primarily a musical, so it ended up being a little like the opera really; you knew the general plot, but couldn't follow exactly. We had a good time anyway and will certainly go again!
School is a little stressful for me at the moment. I discovered yesterday that some of my professors have not been receiving any of the emails I have been sending. This is very concerning and I am trying to find out why. It also seems that some of you may not have been receiving emails either. If you were expecting something from us and have not received it, then please let me know. I will continue to investigate. Online classes are ticking along, although it is taking me time to get used to this new way of working. Due to the time-difference, and not having internet access at the flat, it is meaning that I have to be careful with my time management. I haven't quite cracked it yet, but am getting there. I am keeping up to date with online assignments, but coupled with the siesta in the middle of the day, where the library closes down, it is proving challenging. Spanish classes in the evenings are interesting, but progressing. The instructor speaks at 100 miles per hour and I don't understand most of what she is saying, but I am finding that things are coming back to me, although just as I think I have grasped a concept and try to use it, James informs me that I am not correct. It’s quite frustrating, but I guess it always is at the beginning.
Anyway, that’s about if for now. This weekend is James' birthday (54yrs) so we are going to celebrate it with a few friends at S'Olivera in San Luis on Saturday. We also have a Lasagna party on Friday, together with our usual date for dinner with Denise on Sunday evening. I'll write again next week!
Love to all!
David
Things are going well here. School has got underway for me, and James is busy doing his stuff too. The weather has been up and down, though not particularly terrible I have to admit! No snow, unlike some of you folks back in the US...The coldest it has got here so far is about 3 degrees Celsius, just a little above freezing. That may not seem too cold to those of you in the northern US, but in an apartment built of stone it's quite chilly! Still, with the help of the space heater and James' ever growing fire lighting skills we are keeping warm.
Last week we experienced our first piece of culture. Actually, we had two pieces of culture if you think about it! The first was St Anthony’s Day, which was a national holiday. The central point of this is a festival/market in each town, along with a ceremony where people have their pets blessed by the local priest. We went to San Luis for the morning and had a great time. The market was amazing and we bought some local sausages and meats and I took a whole load of photos, soon to be uploaded. The blessing of the pet’s ceremony was next, and was quite unlike anything I have experienced before. People brought not only, dogs and cats....but also chickens, gerbils, cows, donkeys and horses. All of this took place in the high street outside the church and was very noisy indeed. Dogs were barking at everything that moved, horses were stamping, cows were mooing etc. It was a wonder that there was no stampede! Then when the priest started flicking all the animals with holy water, it all got much tenser. Horses started to rear up on the hind legs, cows pawed the ground and most of the dogs started to look like Cujo. Still, all ended with no one being eaten and we went on our way.
The next piece of culture was going to the theatre. The man who works in our bank had written the music for a version of Homers Odyssey. It was being performed at the big theatre in Mahon, the capital, so we went and purchased our tickets there. I had never been to the theatre here before, and when we arrived last Friday evening it was filled with smartly dressed people everywhere. We had erred on the side of caution and were smartly dressed too, albeit with "crash-helmet hair". We headed inside and took our seats. The building is amazing inside and is really something to be quite proud of for the locals. It has 4 balconies, boxes and a huge orchestra/stalls area. Very nice indeed. The music started, the curtain rose and the play began......in Catalan! Needless to say we understood next to nothing, but we enjoyed the music, the singing and the dancing. Fortunately it was primarily a musical, so it ended up being a little like the opera really; you knew the general plot, but couldn't follow exactly. We had a good time anyway and will certainly go again!
School is a little stressful for me at the moment. I discovered yesterday that some of my professors have not been receiving any of the emails I have been sending. This is very concerning and I am trying to find out why. It also seems that some of you may not have been receiving emails either. If you were expecting something from us and have not received it, then please let me know. I will continue to investigate. Online classes are ticking along, although it is taking me time to get used to this new way of working. Due to the time-difference, and not having internet access at the flat, it is meaning that I have to be careful with my time management. I haven't quite cracked it yet, but am getting there. I am keeping up to date with online assignments, but coupled with the siesta in the middle of the day, where the library closes down, it is proving challenging. Spanish classes in the evenings are interesting, but progressing. The instructor speaks at 100 miles per hour and I don't understand most of what she is saying, but I am finding that things are coming back to me, although just as I think I have grasped a concept and try to use it, James informs me that I am not correct. It’s quite frustrating, but I guess it always is at the beginning.
Anyway, that’s about if for now. This weekend is James' birthday (54yrs) so we are going to celebrate it with a few friends at S'Olivera in San Luis on Saturday. We also have a Lasagna party on Friday, together with our usual date for dinner with Denise on Sunday evening. I'll write again next week!
Love to all!
David
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Life in Menorca
Greetings one and all! The promised update! I am sure you have all been waiting with bated breath....lol!
It's wednesday morning and we are here in the library in Mahon. Wot, not the Library in San Luis I hear you all cry? Well, yesterday when we came into Mahon we checked out the big library here and joined it as well. They also have free wifi and much better opening hours. Whereas the SL library opens at 11am and closes at 1.30pm, this one is open at 9.30am, so it suits our working patterns better.
So what have we been up to? Looking back though the blogs it seems the last proper update was on December the 26th! That was just before the car was due to go back...and a lot has happened since then. Christmas passed without a hitch. We had a lovely time, seeing the few people that we know, Denise, Jenny and David, John and Sarah. We then purchased our scooter on Friday 27th, which was very exciting. Registering it takes 5 business days here in Menorca so we were on foot for almost a whole week. Most of the time we walked to San Luis, which takes about 50 minutes. Once, we decided to hitch and were picked up very quickly. John Whaley (henceforth known as American John to avoid confusion with John Talbot (English John)) gave us a lift a few times as well which was nice. The walk is really not so bad, and those of you who are Menorca visitors might want to try it sometime. You get to see so much that you never do in the car! Some of the days we took the bus from San Luis into Mahon as well. So although we were on foot, we were very active and mobile. We had waterproofs, torches, backpacks etc.....you all know me and my organizing, so everything went well. We received some mail as well, which was all very exciting. The mail service here on the island is erratic at times, but the packet of mail forwarded by our divine neighbour, Cheryl, reached us just fine. We also got a Christmas card from Alison and Martin and a few others. Thank you all! If any of you feel like writing to us, sending cards etc....then our address is as follows:-
David Martin & James Koschoreck
Apt 53b, Avenida Ocho
Salgar,
San Luis 07710
Menorca, Baleares
Spain.
On New Years eve we cooked dinner for Denise, American John, John and Sarah and their eldest son, Blair. James cooked some Mexican food and we had plenty to eat and drink! We had a great time and it was lovely to spend the evening with some good friends here in Salgar. We missed all of the people we usually spend New Years Eve with in the US too. Maybe one year we can get everyone together! After dinner we headed into San Luis and spent an hour or so in one of the bars there. It was a cultural experience to say the least! At the stroke of Midnight the Spanish have a custom of taking 12 grapes and eating one for every chime of the bell. If you have never tried eating 12 grapes in quick succesion before, try it! It's not as easy as it seems!
On Saturday we got to pick up our nice new scooter! It was an exciting moment, not least because we had been walking everywhere! The guys who own the bike shop in San Luis have been so helpful to us. it was pleasure doing business with them. We picked the scooter up and then headed straight back to Salgar on it. I drove and James rode pillion. I had ridden a Honda c90 in the UK for a few years but had never legally had a passenger on the back. Everything was fine though, and we made it back ok. James then took the bike for a little spin around Salgar on his own. He wants to practice a bit before venturing too far as the driver, but he did really well. With a bit more practice maybe I can sit on the back and watch the world go by!
We are now settling into daily life. We go to the supermarket, go for walks and continue to work on the small challenges that living in a different country bring us. One by one we get them sorted. Most of the big challenges we have now overcome. We have transport, we have internet access and we can be warm when we want to. Thanks to Andrew and Louise for the tip on the hairdryer! Yesterday we also had success with tracking down the elusive Mari, the nightschool teacher in San Luis. We met her last night at the school and spoke to her about joining classes. She is happy to have us, so I will be joining Spanish Level Two tonight. I will be in Spanish class Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings. She says if Level two is too hard I can step down to Level One, or I can also step up to Level Three. Frankly I am quite terrified, so we will see how it goes. I have been working on my Spanish since we arrived, and it is slowly coming back to me. I suffer from terrible confidence issues with my Spanish, so I am looking forward to getting back into class. James is enrolled in Catalan classes with Mari, and he will be in class on Tueday and Thursday evenings. We will both have some catching up to do, as classes began in September, but it will be exciting!
So that bring you all up to date! I start my online classes and independent studies on Monday of next week. James is prepapring to start his work as well. Maybe he'll post sometime, as I am sure you all could do with a change from my blogging! Thanks for all of your comments on the blog. It's nice to know that people are reading it and keeping up to date with us.
Love to all of you, and watch this space! I have no idea if you can subscribe to this blog and if you get notified automatically of updates or not....can anyone tell me if they are doing that?
Big love to all!
David and James
It's wednesday morning and we are here in the library in Mahon. Wot, not the Library in San Luis I hear you all cry? Well, yesterday when we came into Mahon we checked out the big library here and joined it as well. They also have free wifi and much better opening hours. Whereas the SL library opens at 11am and closes at 1.30pm, this one is open at 9.30am, so it suits our working patterns better.
So what have we been up to? Looking back though the blogs it seems the last proper update was on December the 26th! That was just before the car was due to go back...and a lot has happened since then. Christmas passed without a hitch. We had a lovely time, seeing the few people that we know, Denise, Jenny and David, John and Sarah. We then purchased our scooter on Friday 27th, which was very exciting. Registering it takes 5 business days here in Menorca so we were on foot for almost a whole week. Most of the time we walked to San Luis, which takes about 50 minutes. Once, we decided to hitch and were picked up very quickly. John Whaley (henceforth known as American John to avoid confusion with John Talbot (English John)) gave us a lift a few times as well which was nice. The walk is really not so bad, and those of you who are Menorca visitors might want to try it sometime. You get to see so much that you never do in the car! Some of the days we took the bus from San Luis into Mahon as well. So although we were on foot, we were very active and mobile. We had waterproofs, torches, backpacks etc.....you all know me and my organizing, so everything went well. We received some mail as well, which was all very exciting. The mail service here on the island is erratic at times, but the packet of mail forwarded by our divine neighbour, Cheryl, reached us just fine. We also got a Christmas card from Alison and Martin and a few others. Thank you all! If any of you feel like writing to us, sending cards etc....then our address is as follows:-
David Martin & James Koschoreck
Apt 53b, Avenida Ocho
Salgar,
San Luis 07710
Menorca, Baleares
Spain.
On New Years eve we cooked dinner for Denise, American John, John and Sarah and their eldest son, Blair. James cooked some Mexican food and we had plenty to eat and drink! We had a great time and it was lovely to spend the evening with some good friends here in Salgar. We missed all of the people we usually spend New Years Eve with in the US too. Maybe one year we can get everyone together! After dinner we headed into San Luis and spent an hour or so in one of the bars there. It was a cultural experience to say the least! At the stroke of Midnight the Spanish have a custom of taking 12 grapes and eating one for every chime of the bell. If you have never tried eating 12 grapes in quick succesion before, try it! It's not as easy as it seems!
On Saturday we got to pick up our nice new scooter! It was an exciting moment, not least because we had been walking everywhere! The guys who own the bike shop in San Luis have been so helpful to us. it was pleasure doing business with them. We picked the scooter up and then headed straight back to Salgar on it. I drove and James rode pillion. I had ridden a Honda c90 in the UK for a few years but had never legally had a passenger on the back. Everything was fine though, and we made it back ok. James then took the bike for a little spin around Salgar on his own. He wants to practice a bit before venturing too far as the driver, but he did really well. With a bit more practice maybe I can sit on the back and watch the world go by!
We are now settling into daily life. We go to the supermarket, go for walks and continue to work on the small challenges that living in a different country bring us. One by one we get them sorted. Most of the big challenges we have now overcome. We have transport, we have internet access and we can be warm when we want to. Thanks to Andrew and Louise for the tip on the hairdryer! Yesterday we also had success with tracking down the elusive Mari, the nightschool teacher in San Luis. We met her last night at the school and spoke to her about joining classes. She is happy to have us, so I will be joining Spanish Level Two tonight. I will be in Spanish class Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings. She says if Level two is too hard I can step down to Level One, or I can also step up to Level Three. Frankly I am quite terrified, so we will see how it goes. I have been working on my Spanish since we arrived, and it is slowly coming back to me. I suffer from terrible confidence issues with my Spanish, so I am looking forward to getting back into class. James is enrolled in Catalan classes with Mari, and he will be in class on Tueday and Thursday evenings. We will both have some catching up to do, as classes began in September, but it will be exciting!
So that bring you all up to date! I start my online classes and independent studies on Monday of next week. James is prepapring to start his work as well. Maybe he'll post sometime, as I am sure you all could do with a change from my blogging! Thanks for all of your comments on the blog. It's nice to know that people are reading it and keeping up to date with us.
Love to all of you, and watch this space! I have no idea if you can subscribe to this blog and if you get notified automatically of updates or not....can anyone tell me if they are doing that?
Big love to all!
David and James
Monday, January 7, 2008
Happy New 2008!
Hello to all!
This is a quick update blog......and I will write a proper entry tomorrow or the day after.
Things are good here on the island. We have been quite busy, especially with all the holiday stuff. For those of you who are not from Europe, lots of Europe has an extended holiday from December 24th untill January 2nd, so we have had our work cut out for us in terms of getting things done. But things are now taking shape! We have internet access sorted at the Library in San Luis, the nearest large town to us, and we took delivery of our scooter on Saturday! I'll take pictures and post them in the next day or two.
As I say, I will write a proper update tomorrow, but in the mean time have fun! For those of you wanting to see (basic) pictures of the apartment, I just uploaded some to the Flickr account. You can get there off the photo attached to this post, or by heading to http://www.flickr.com/davidnmartin98 . Some have you have been wanting to check it out with a view to coming and visiting, so pictures are now up for viewing!
Love to you all!
D&J
This is a quick update blog......and I will write a proper entry tomorrow or the day after.
Things are good here on the island. We have been quite busy, especially with all the holiday stuff. For those of you who are not from Europe, lots of Europe has an extended holiday from December 24th untill January 2nd, so we have had our work cut out for us in terms of getting things done. But things are now taking shape! We have internet access sorted at the Library in San Luis, the nearest large town to us, and we took delivery of our scooter on Saturday! I'll take pictures and post them in the next day or two.
As I say, I will write a proper update tomorrow, but in the mean time have fun! For those of you wanting to see (basic) pictures of the apartment, I just uploaded some to the Flickr account. You can get there off the photo attached to this post, or by heading to http://www.flickr.com/davidnmartin98 . Some have you have been wanting to check it out with a view to coming and visiting, so pictures are now up for viewing!
Love to you all!
D&J
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