Grateful for the feature, thank you so much!
An interview with Asturian TV. Grateful for the feature, thank you so much!
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If you plan to travel to Asturias, you must try the regional speciality drink called sidra. This tart yet sweet natural hard cider can be found in siderias and other local restaurants all over the region. Sidra is considered to be the regional "wine" of Asturias and has been produced from local apples since ancient times. It has a relatively low alcohol content, somewhere between 4.5-6%, and is best enjoyed on warm days since it's served chilled. During our holiday break we were able to travel to the small town of Nava, which is known as the cider making capital of the world, for a private sidra tour at the Sidra Viuda de Corsino! The tour was very fascinating, with the owner explaining the sidra making process as well as giving us some interesting facts about the beverage. This llagar, cider-house, was founded in 1875 and has been producing some of the best sidra in Asturias! The wooden barrels you see above have been used in the sidra fermenting process for dozes of years. Every couple of months the inside has to be cleaned out, so a worker has to crawl inside that tiny opening and hose down the barrels. Yikes! The opening was only big enough to fit a medium sized dog. How anyone could squeeze in there was beyond me?! But hey, people fit and sometimes get drunk off the remaining fumes of the cidra. Not a bad day at work! Ha! Modern apple press as well as stainless steel fermentation barrels. Lovely tour and best of all, a little tasting of sidra directly from the barrel! In typical Asturias fashion, our group shared only one glass between us all. We each had our own tasting of sidra but from the same glass. Sidra: The Asturias peace pipe! Sidra is unlike any other alcoholic beverage we have ever tried, not only taste-wise but there is a certain presentation and etiquette involved during it's consumption.
Okay, totally kidding! Barnacles are not our favorite but at least we can add them to our list of "food we never thought we would try." These dinosaur- like claws are very expensive (50 Euros a kilo!) and most Spaniards only eat them once a year on Christmas. To us, they don't taste like much. I would definitely opt out and recommend trying a delicious Asturias cheese and cured ham plate to go along with your sidra! Enjoy and happy drinking!
Christmas Carols, the Lottery, Pizza Juan & an Argentine Parilla. Felices Fiestas de España!12/30/2013 This is our third year away from home during the holidays. We always miss our family dearly but it's also nice to experience Christmas abroad, mainly to see how other cultures celebrate these special occasions. This year we have been fortunate to celebrate Christmas in Oviedo, Spain surrounded by new friends. Spain has rich Christmas traditions and I wanted to drag Dan to anything Christmas related. I am sure he was oh-so thrilled but hey, you can't say no to a pregnant lady ;) We started off our holiday celebrations at Iglesia de San Juan el Real for a Christmas mass and a little holiday concert. The church is absolutely breathtaking! It was built between 1912 and 1915, and it was where Francisco Franco was married in 1923. We didn't know many of the Spanish Christmas Carols or for that matter understand mass, but nonetheless it was a nice evening spent in a 100 year old church. To keep up with Spanish Christmas traditions, we had to buy a ticket for the national Christmas lottery, the Lotería de Navidad. The Spanish Christmas lottery is the second longest continuously running lottery in the world (started in 1812) and has the best odds of winning. Yay! So we figured we can risk our 5€ to come out with a grand prize of 546,200€. The lottery is played a little differently than in the States, each ticket with identical numbers is printed multiple times. Then a business can purchase a specific number and sell those tickets to their employees or anyone who is interested. The lottery tickets vary, the most expensive ones cost 200€ each and include a ticket with all of the numbers or one can buy a part of the numbers for 20€.We played the "friends" way, where the club bought the main ticket and we all went in on it. That way each person gets their own part of the number and splits the main prize equally. I am sad to report that we are not millionaires, but it was worth a shot. Maybe next year Papa Noel will bring us a bag full of Euros! Spain is known for it's elaborate Nativity scenes and the one in front of the Cathedral of San Salvador in Oviedo definitely does not disappoint! It's spread out across two long wooden structures in the front of the church. I have never seen such a big Nativity scene! Each church in the city has their own version, most are a lot smaller, but each one is quite impressive. We spent Christmas Eve with some teammates and their families at a sponsor's restaurant, Pizza Juan. The food was amazing, lots and lots of Spanish specialities! In typical Spanish fashion, dinner didn't start till 10 pm and lasts till 4:30 in the morning. Wowza! The evening was truly special and we felt right at home. We are very grateful to the management, teammates and Salva (Pizza Juan owner) for welcoming us with open arms and showing us a great family time on Christmas Eve. Muchas Gracias! The following day there was an article about our Christmas Eve dinner in the local paper, La Nueva España. Very neat! The next afternoon we met up with a couple of teammates, their families, as well as the president of the team and his wife at an Argentine Restaurant, located half way up Mount Naranco. The views from the restaurant were to die for! Stunning Spanish landscapes, views of downtown Oviedo as well as breathtaking mountains in the background. Ahhhh, plus going to an Argentine Parrilla was a bonus! Meat, meat, and more meat! I actually gave up meat for six months before becoming pregnant....now meat is back on the menu - along with Cheetos, pizza and lots and lots of green olives! The baby wants, what the baby wants ;) The food at the restaurant was delicious (better than in Buenos Aires actually!) and we loved the English menu...especially the "attacked of pilgrim's scallops!" Ha! Gotta love lost in translation writing abroad! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season!Who knew being married to a European would finally pay off?! Well, we always hoped it would and now it's finally official. Dan is officially regarded as a "bosman" in Spain! A bosman is basically any player that is married to a European or has dual citizenship. So thank you, mom and dad for giving birth to me in Poland. And yes, raising me there! I am beyond thrilled that my Polish citizenship has finally come in handy! Going about obtaining proper proof has proved to be a little challenging. Since we don't have one home base (we travel between Chicago, Milwaukee & Minneapolis in the summer time) getting all of our official paperwork reguired us to drive 719 miles. That's right! Good ole 719 miles! We basically needed to have our marriage license apostilled (or apostille, I still can't pronounce that word or know how to use it properly... it's not only because I am foreign! Well maybe it is.) We basically needed to prove that we are still married. Apparently Spain needs more proof than a FB status!
So our adventure took us from Minneapolis to Chicago to pick up our official marriage certificate from my parents house. Then back to Madison to get the documents signed off on. I should explain this further....you can't just got to ANY courthouse to get your documents apostille or authenticated. You are required to go to the State where you got married. Thankfully we got married in Wisconsin and not Hawaii! And not all court houses do these types of authentications. Soooo instead of driving across the Wisconsin border to Milwaukee, we had the pleasure of driving to Madison. The good part was that we were able to hang out on State Street till our documents got apostilled! So cheers to being a bosman and showing Spain we are still married! ;) The process of traveling gets a little mundane at times...the security checks, passport control, wandering airports during layovers, etc.....so clearly we needed to spice things up in Zurich. "Come with me" said the customs control police officer. Yikes, that's never a good sign! We followed him to a tiny room while Dan's teammates watched in surprise.
"You go too fast by car? Speeding ticket?" "Ummm no, I don't think so. We were here for two weeks and we didn't really drive far...when is the ticket from?" He dissapeared into the tiny office room and started checking our information. We waited and waited, wondering what was going on. "Parking ticket in Zurich, Citroen car with Ticino license plate, 2010" "Ohhhhhhhhhh....THAT ticket. Yup, that was us." Sh*it, THAT ticket! The time when Dan drove himself to a hospital in Zurich for surgery, couldn't find parking and parked on a street next to the hospital (which apparently was only 2 hour parking). He asked the hospital staff if he could leave the car there. They said YES and a nurse put a sticker on it so he could leave it there for a few days. Hmmmmm, apparently not! Because months later we got a ticket in the mail from the Zurich police telling us to pay up. Which we didn't because we figured we wouldn't be back in Switzerland anytime soon. Plus it's not like they were going to shake us down to pay a parking ticket! It's only a parking ticket folks! Oh my, how wrong we were....three years later, they wouldn't let us leave Zurich airport until we paid up. Ha! Those clever Swiss will get you! So pay your tickets or you might get stuck in Switzerland, which wouldn't be such a bad thing at all. :) We have been fortunate to be a part of the Swiss Cup Finals with SAM Basket Massagno! The team did amazing in the tournament beating a top team in the semifinals to pave the way into the Finals in Fribourg. This was SAM's second appearance in the cup finals, the first one was 21 years ago. So last Saturday, I boarded one of the three fan buses leaving Massagno to head to Fribourg (4 hours away). The fans were all amazing, all wearing matching t-shirts and scarves, beating on drums and using a megaphone to cheer! Amazing experience to be a apart of! SAM was competing against Union Neuchatel Basket. A very physical and aggressive team. And lucky for me, the team was able to get me a photo press pass. Yay! The game was great to watch but unfortunately it did not go SAM's way. They lost by four points in the last seconds of the game. You could tell how deeply disappointed the players, coaches and fans were. There were tears in the eyes, but hugs of enormous pride that the team achieved making the Finals. Even though they were plagued by injuries throughout the season, they were still able to showcase their talents all the way to the Cup Final. Cheers to SAM Basket Massagno on a great season! Swiss Basketball Press pass! Yay, I love my profession. Now who wants to get me a 70-200mm lens?! Hint to Dan, birthday gift for me? ;-) Check out the video below to get the full Swiss Cup experience! This past weekend we were fortunate to travel to Colorado to see Mike's (Dan's brother) senior night at the Air Force Academy. We had an absolutely AMAZING weekend filled with basketball celebrations. Mike had an amazing night and we couldn't be more proud. Air Force beat #12 New Mexico on a three point shot (almost) buzzer beater...the student section stormed the court and lifted up Todd Fletcher (who scored the last three to win) and Mike. AMAZING, doesn't even come close to describing it! Everyone was screaming, jumping around and celebrating. What a way to end your college career!!! And we couldn't be happier to be a part of it all. Best.Senior.Night.EVER!! Mike celebrating. As Dan put it: "My brother Michael Fitzgerald. He's a stud, but doesn't get a big head about it....well, he does and he doesn't! What a rockstar." Who wouldn't want to have a huge head cutout?! Awesomeness. Here is a video of the celebrations. If you watch closely you can see Mike getting lifted up at the end of the video. I was too excited to keep filming so I totally missed the full moment. Ugh. A little glimpse will have to do! All Images © Air Force Academy.
First off, let me start by saying that I wish not to offend anyone by this post. I am simply writing about cultural differences and my feelings as a westerner living in Japan. The Japanese culture is a very complex one. Even living here two seasons, I can honestly say I have only discovered a small layer in a multi-layered culture. As a westerner, I have had moments of love and hate with Japan. The love mostly outweighs the hate, but the moments of disappointment have been hurtful. I was advised not to write about my experiences because I might offend, but I think enough time passed by for me to look at them as lessons and not go on a hateful bashing rant. This week's news has shed new light on some of my low points with the Japanese culture and helped me open my eyes to a new cultural understanding. The news has been buzzing over a Japanese pop-star named Minegishi Minami, of the AKB48 group, and her "sex" scandal, that has caused her to shave her head in shame. This scandal included nothing more than sleeping over at her boyfriend's house and getting photographed leaving early in the morning. For Americans, just your typical walk of shame, but for the Japanese it's a huge media scandal that caused the girl to be demoted from the group. It's unbelievably amazing how different two cultures would have reacted to this. I think most of us wouldn't think anything of it and even calling it a scandal sounds a bit dramatic. I feel very sorry for her. Even though I don't speak Japanese, watching her public apology was very moving. Reading some of the articles associated with the scandal has lead me to finally understand a part of the Japanese culture that I previously was unaware of and helped explain why some sport teams don't include family members in their regular team events and dinners (note: some not all). I remember sitting in our tiny Japanese apartment on the verge of tears because I couldn't fathom the idea of family not being included. After all, we were there alone and leaving out a family member to make their husband seem available was beyond shocking and disrecpetful to me. I was so unbelievably hurt and if I heard one more person tell me that this was the "Japanese way" I would have punched them in the face. Truly. Reflecting on it now, I still have a hard time coming to terms with it, but seem to understand it just as a culutral difference. Pop-stars, sports figures, newscasters, actors and anyone in the public eye are told to refrain from relationships or to keep them a secret. Gosh forbid, you lose a couple of single fans! They say fans would feel less personally connected to the stars who they think might have romantic lives. This is so different than in the west! Family is treated equally and always included in activities. Family comes first, which I believe strongly. Now I look at it as an experience, an adventure, in a new culture and am beyond thankful to have experienced it, in a strange way. Japan is a unique country with so much to offer, yet for a Westerner it can be hard to understand. Life is one big adventure, no matter how we look at it..."it's 10% what happens and 90% how you react to it." One more lesson learned and one more cultural mystery solved! Oh Japan, why do you have to be so confusing at times? ;) On a related "head shaved" note, in Asia shaving your hair is a sign of remorse and redemption. Hmmm, is that what people are thinking of my new shaved haircut?! Oh no, I wasn't planning on making a cultural statement, just trying something new. I promise! ;)
It’s official we live in the tundra. I was skeptical at first and wanted to give Akita the benefit of the doubt…after all, the city is located on the same latitude as Denver, Colorado (or for my Midwest peeps like Indianapolis) so my initial thought process was that it wouldn’t be terribly cold and snowy. Man, was I wrong! So now it is OFFICIAL that our little Japanese home is located in the frozen tundra. Being from the Midwest I thought I saw my fair share of snow. However, I wasn’t expecting this constant amount of snow. It has literally snowed EVERYDAY. So most days I just want to stay in the house and hide underneath a warm blanket with our hot water bottle (Thanks Shan!) I don't think I have ever seen so much snow (actually that is a lie, I did see more snow last season when we drove to Niigata. But seeing it and saying “oh my gosh, this is insane” and snapping a couple of pictures is much different than living in it day to day.) We were told that February is supposed to be THE snowy month. (Are you serious?! So this is just the snowy appetizer before the main blizzard?!) Deep breathe. I look forward to it. I look forward to it. I look forward to it. Maybe if I say it enough I will believe it. So I look forward to the snow and digging ourselves out of it…or maybe just looking forward to taking pictures of my neighbors shoveling snow. Speaking of our neighbors, they must hate me because anytime I see them shoveling our parking lot I just give them a nice little “konnichiwa” and keep walking. Then I hide behind the building and take their picture. And then take a picture of myself. Just in case you didn't believe how cold or snowy it is. People don’t shovel or plow the roads here. Well actually they do, but they can't keep up with the constant amount of snow. The snow keeps building up and then freezes, so essentially cars end up driving on a layer of ice! It’s the craziest thing! I was told that putting salt on the roads is too expensive so it’s only done on the highways. Wowza, we must really be spoiled in the States. I am still trying to figure out how these small Japanese cars don’t spin all over the roads. Even walking on the sidewalk is challenging…mounds and mounds of snow that are starting to turn into snowy tunnels. It's going to be interesting winter...bring on the blizzards February!
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