La Costa Blanca: Valencia/Denia

Meet Fede.

Fede is a Rotary exchange student from Denia, Spain, currently living in my hometown, Jefferson City, Missouri, USA.  I met Fede and his family last summer, in Madrid, when I was playing tour guide for the Russells, another Jefferson City family. Fede was to spend the 2011-2012 school year studying at Jefferson City High.

I remember talking with him about my hometown, the high school rivalries between JC and Helias, high school differences between the USA and Spain in general, and finally I had to explain the fact that the only people who would be able to speak Spanish with him were Spanish teachers or waiters at El Jimador, our favorite Mexican restaurant! I imagine that threw him off a bit, but it clearly hasn’t phased him.  A quick catch up over Christmas proved to me that the only way to learn a language is to throw yourself, head first, into a place that doesn’t speak your language. 

Fede did just that. 

By Christmastime, he was speaking really great English. We rarely spoke in Spanish and when we did, it was to clarify a word or two, but grammatically, he had improved drastically! (I wish I could say the same about my Spanish this year…) We shared stories (that I mentioned in my Christmas blog) about Americans asking him if he knew what a cell phone was and his daily adventures in the cafeteria, where getting out alive was sometimes difficult. (They don’t eat lunch at school in Spain; they eat around 2pm after they finish school for the day!) 

Hanging out in Jefferson City over Christmas break with Fede (andDusty the dog!)

Just recently, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Fede’s family in Denia, Spain.  While most Spaniards thought I was crazy for going to Denia from Friday to Monday, I found it quite easy to get there/get back with trains and busses.  You see, Denia is on the complete opposite side of the country… now, when you say it like that “I went to the other side of the country,” it sounds a bit far, but it was just a 3.5 hour train to Valencia from Madrid and a two hour bus from Valencia to Denia. We broke the trip up by spending Friday afternoon and night in Valencia before making our way to Denia on Saturday. 

Valencia was quite relaxing… but, we walked a lot. (Katie and I blame Will.) We toured the center of Valencia, visiting the Cathedral and tower to look out over the city.  Later, we had some authentic Valencian paella (Valencia is famous for it!) I did, actually, enjoy our walk to see the Arts and Science Buildings, as we walked through this old river bed that has now been converted to a grand park, full of climbing jungles, orange trees, and fountains. It really was a fantastic place to find!

Traditional Paella Valenciana: It's what's for lunch!

First plates: chips, ensalada and calamares

Valencian oranges are some of Spain's best!

Orange trees!

Plaza de la Reina/Cathedral against a great sky!

Overlooking Plaza de la Reina from the Cathedral's tower!

It was a little windy up there... photo with my travelmates, Will and Katie

Streets around siesta time: empty.

Walking in the old river-bed park... wonderful surprises like this were around every turn!

We made it! Arts and Science Park!

We didn’t go into any of the Arts and Science Buildings for two reasons: 1) they were closed. 2) I had been to the science and aquarium buildings when I went to Valencia with my Jefferson City friend, Zach, and his family in 2009.  I didn’t have much “ganas” to pay again. 

We decided to head out to find the beach; because it was a “beach weekend” after all, and we couldn’t wait until Denia on Saturday! After nearly 50 hours of walking, we made it, “Damn lemons” in hand, for a nice night at the beach. We taxi-ed it home, which was probably the smartest decision we made all weekend!

Love me some claras con limon.

Saturday we left for Denia. Fede’s mom, Belen, and Fede’s older brother, Jaime, met us at the bus stop. We went to their house where we met, Fede’s father, Jaime, and their Rotary exchange student, Maryse. We had a really nice meal, arroz al horno, while we shared stories about our experiences teaching and studying in Spain and how I wasn’t quite sure what Fede liked about JC. (After living in Navalmoral, I know it’s not what is around you, but who, so I can see why he will miss JC so much!) After lunch, Maryse kindly showed us to the beach… and later, to the port for a few drinks! We went back home and cleaned up for dinner, deciding to stay in at Fede’s house with Jaime and his friends to watch the Madrid-Barcelona game. We had a very “American/Canandian” (Maryse is Canadian!) dinner, complete with pizzas and mac&cheese!  We drank a few beers and watched the game before heading out to see some of Denia’s night life.

Views from the bus from Valencia to Denia!

Know that distance doesn't make you forget...

Beach!!!

Trying to get tan.

Denia's port with Katie and Maryse!

Holding myself up in one of Spain's smallest streets! (It's harder than it looks!)

Sunday was just as adventure filled. First stop? Of course, the beach. Second? Lunch with our Denia family, and saying goodbye to Jaime (the dad), as he was off to participate in a bull fight! That means, Saturday afternoon was full of bulls. We went to a nearby town, just outside Denia, to watch the bull fight – a bull fight for charity, to raise money to build a school in Africa.  No bulls were killed, and the toreros were more armatures. Fede’s dad even took a whirl at it, saying that even though the bull was a baby, he was more scared than anything! Mainly, we watched as the grown men ran from the bull, something that never happens in a real bull fight. It was such a unique experience and I’m so glad we had the opportunity to see it and be a part of everything. It was cool thinking “I know that bull fighter!”

Denia's main street on a Sunday morning.

There's a castle up there surrounded by trees... view from the beach!

Fede's dad, Jaime, all ready for the bullfight!

In true festival fashion, we had carriages and flamencas.

Preparing for the fight! Do you see Jaime!?

What a festival it was!

Maryse, Katie and me in our sunny seats!

It began to rain just as the bull fight was coming to an end, so we went back to the house, got comfy, and took a tortilla making lesson from Belen.  It was just as good as it looked! I hope Will took lessons, so he can cook one for Katie and me! (wink wink!)

Tortilla lessons!

Monday was spent traveling, as we decided to go straight from Denia to Madrid vs. Valencia to Madrid. It saved us some money, but not in travel time, as it was just about 7 hours to arrive to Madrid from Denia… even stopping in Calp, Alicante, and Benidorm, three of the big tourist beach cities on Spain’s eastern coast. After arriving to Madrid, we had to travel back to Valladolid in first class on the train… which, besides the price, wasn’t so bad, as they gave us free champagne and nuts!

Calp - you couldn't miss the gigantic rock! Incredible!

Don't mind our faces.

So, thank you to my dear friend, Kris Arthur, for setting me up as “tour guide” for my new-adopted-parents, Jim and Mary, who belong to Rotary… so I could meet Fede and his family in Madrid last summer… so I could go and spend the weekend with them and see their life this spring! I had a fantastic time (Katie and Will would probably agree!) and can’t wait until the next time, with Fede in attendance!