Bienvenidos a Terra Nova

(Chris is not in this clip, in case you were wondering.)

One person.

Funny how days go.

When I started typing this...

There was only one person in the cafe. One. He's deaf. Sooo... I built a little play list on the iTunes... Productive I know.

I also cleaned every table, every menu, every dish, and was about to sweep when some people walked in. Wow. Now, there are six of us (I'm including myself this time).

Yay, I have something to do!!

... And I broke a cappuccino glass today, part of it is now embedded in my middle finger, do you want me to show you the finger?? Wow, I crack myself up.

Noia.

Sundays we get off. Well... actually, we simply choose to remain closed on Sundays. Last Sunday Jacob, Matt and I went for a hike. It was great. Jacob's camera was out of batteries when we got to the top to take pictures though! Doh!

Today we went to nearby Noia and walked around the city and explored a little bit. It was a bit eerie at times, because it was Sunday, everything (almost) was closed, and there wasn't many people around until we made it down by the bay.

I have loaded a bunch of shots up over at my flickr page.

You can see all my photos from Spain so far here. Or click here for a slideshow.

I took an online Spanish test today... Like the kind you would take before being placed at a University... I scored a 224. It put me in Spanish 102, but if I had scored a 226, I would be in Spanish 103!! Two weeks on the job... or two semesters... hmm. I'll take it again in a week (if you remind me) and post the score and the link then.

And... I almost forgot...

Broken on Saturday -

2 Specialty Heineken Glasses.

Brings the total to 9. Monday is a new week.

Poco y poco...

So, little by little the Español is a comin'. The worst is trying to type English or HTML code on a keyboard... The symbols I need are all in strange places.

New pics over at my flickr.

I don't know how many things I have broken since I have arrived in Santiago... lets count.

1 - Glass from picture frame.
1 - Black umbrella (I helped it along, it was already hurting).
1 - Large coffee cup.
1 - Old footstool.
2 - Porcelain tea strainers.
1 - Super delux Coca-Cola glass.

7 - My total brokeness. In less then two weeks, amazing!

Ok... I need to run to bed. Tomorrow I have to go shopping for the cafe (I'll try and take some pictures), and work on the public use computers... They are are gummed up with garbage programs. Programs like... MSN Messenger and eMule. Who installs this junk?

No comprendo.

So, I sit here at the cafe, on a bit of a break. Really between mini rushes. Nothing like the mornings I used to suffer at 'bucks (and may suffer yet again soon). The people are pretty chill for the most part. They drink coffee because they enjoy it, not because they will run someone off the road on the way into the office if they don´t have their quadruple venti extra foam vanilla latte in less than three minutes in the drive through surrounded by addicts like themselves.

No, the people here come to socialize, to use our FREE wifi (a newer concept here), soak in our song choice.

Occasionally -- They come in to ask questions. That is where I struggle, you see... I don't speak Spanish. I never have, I never took a class in high school or college, never had a friend who forced me to try and learn a few words. Just a minute ago, a couple of girls came in and ordered a couple of cokes. Then, they started asking a questions about the cans of coffee that we sell. I don't know the words to help them, I want to, its my nature to help people, but I hit a veritable brick wall when trying to converse with these people.

No comprendo.

Those are the words I say the most. Well, maybe behind 'cafe con leche' and 'coca cola.'

It seems dead for a Friday night. I mean, c'mon, I am blogging for crying out loud. But, people here don't really go out until 11, 12... They stay out later too. A cafe (like us), can only stay open until 2am, but a pub can stay open until 6am. So, now, would be the calm before the storm if we were a pub.

More later... I have to serve some drinks.

Viva España!

I am in Santiago de Compostela now. I arrived here last Tuesday and have been settling in a bit. I am trying to learn as much Spanish as I can, as fast as I can. I am blessed to be able to stay with the Swains. Their daughters (4 and 2) both speak varying degrees of Spanish because they both attend a Spanish pre-school in a local Catholic Church. Its amazing to see one of them switch into Spanish when around other Spaniards. Its amusing to see them reach for a word to describe something - and come up with the Spanish word in its place. When asked what the English word is... a sheepish "I don't know..." follows. Abi asked me yesterday - "Chris, why don't you speak Spanish?"

Why don't I... I wish I did.

Dosvedanya Rossiya.

:: car wrecked on new years ::

I leave tomorrow.

Hard to believe that six months have passed - to the day, since I came to Russia.

I won't be back in the US until March however. I am heading over to Spain to help out with the team in Santiago de Compostela. I hope to make a longer entry about it soon, but the team there is in need, and is close to my heart. Check out Matt or Jacob's blog for a video of the cafe there, and to get some insight into what's happening with them.

Tomorrow night I will be in Madrid, and flying on to Santiago the next afternoon, hopefully this time on Tuesday I will be loading up some photos from Madrid.

The photo above was snapped on Jan 4th - the car wrecked on New Years day. It stayed in the very spot it crashed for five days. On the edge of the intersection, sticking out into a traffic lane, in the way. The morning of the sixth, I came out, and it had been pushed up onto the sidewalk, on the other side of the intersection. And tonight, it was still sitting there on the sidewalk. Crazy.