A Tale of Two Cities

No, I did not take this photo. But I saw this today
so that counts, right?

Thus far my prediction that there would be no dull moments in Bilbao has been true. I expected no less. I did not expect, however, to be sweating non-stop while here. And yet, alas, I have done almost nothing else since arriving. León was unseasonably warm and sunny and perfectly lovely and dry every day. Bilbao is humid. Really, really humid. Not hot, just humid. And so I sweat. A lot.

Ditto

Either way, after not being able to fall asleep until 4:00 am last night (good times!), I dragged myself out of bed at 9 this morning so I could be ready to attend an English class with Maite only to find out the student had to cancel. Of course my first secret thought was that I could go back to bed for a bit but Maite, never letting the grass grow under her feet, got on the phone with a mutual acquaintance/friend/associate and made plans to meet up. Just like that. Two minutes later we were walking out the door, literally.

We headed to the center of town and met Fernando, the man who organized the group that Maite came with twice to Lancaster. Me pouring sweat by the time we got there made a very lovely impression, I assure you. Actually, we had met once before when I was in Bilbao so it was a bit more of a reunion. Hopefully Fernando’s memory is good enough to remember that I don’t usually show up to places glistening with perspiration with my hair plastered to my neck. Oh yes, lovely.

The gals from EMY Cursos

Back home for lunch, then Maite had to head to a class and I ventured off on my own to meet up with another friend… and another Maite (who shall, for purposes of clarification, henceforth be referred to as Maite the Dos. I met Maite the Dos in Lancaster just this past summer when she escorted a group of students (are you seeing a pattern here yet?) and immediately knew that we could be friends. Today we met up at the bus terminal and headed off to another city for the afternoon, the city that is renowned to be the most beautiful in all of Spain: San Sebastián.

Seriously artistic (and yummy, to boot) tapas

One would think that when in the most beautiful city in a country, one would take lots of pictures, no? One would think. But one would be wrong. I got too wrapped up both in my conversations with Maite the Dos (we were trying to solve all of the world’s problems, which is difficult enough in English but when done in Spanish, necessitates even more effort on my part) and with trying not to sweat. Success on Count One; on Count Two, not so much.

After meandering for a bit, we met up with two other ladies who live in San Sebastián that run the organization that sent one of the Spanish groups I worked with this summer. More meandering, then we settled on a pub by the water where we got comfy with some Spanish wine. After a while, two more ladies from the office came to join us, which made me plus 5 native Spanish speakers all sitting around a table having numerous conversations at once. Commence brain overload. I think the wine helped. But who am I kidding, wine always helps.

We made our way to Zeruko, an award-winning tapas bar where the tapas (or pinchos, as they’re called here) aren’t just delicious, they’re works of art. I almost felt guilty eating them! But I got over it. Sorry to say, the pictures I nerdily took (yes, I’m a tourist) do them absolutely no justice. I highly recommend going in person to check them out for yourself.

I had a great time both reuniting with some and meeting others for the first time. Sitting by the water in a beautiful city, drinking good wine, enjoying the company of so many smart, funny, dynamic women, and getting to spend an evening speaking Spanish (never gets old). Yeah, not too shabby. But eventually the other ladies had a dinner to attend so Maite the Dos and I made our way to one more tapas bar for a final round. Cut to us losing track of time and suddenly realizing we had a 10 o’clock bus to catch. Which was the last of the night so if we missed it we had some serious issues. And Maite the Dos still had to finish her drink. And we didn’t know where we were going. And yet, no real panic, no crazy mad dash, no running. We walked a bit faster than usual and we bandied about the idea of getting a taxi but, in the end, we just kept walking and we eventually made it, with even a few minutes to spare. So as it turned out we could have totally stayed for one more tapa… doh!