Arrivederci Italy, Buenos Dias Spain!
Trip Start
Mar 08, 2004
1
32
126
Trip End
Ongoing
Madrid,
Spain
Monday, August 30, 2004
BUENOS DIAS MIS AMIGOS!
"What is that feeling when you're driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? It's the too-huge world vaulting us, and it's good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies."
Sal Paradise from Kerouac's "On The Road"
Well there's much to tell so why not start at the beginning.
My bus from Prague to Udine was 13 hours long and got me there at 4 in the morning, much thanks to Brian for picking me up.
That day was the first day of the Fagagna festival where Tulio, Brian's father in-law and our boss, grew up. It spoiled me as much as Prague did; nothing but eat, drink and be merry for two days. Then monday came.
Oh man, if you could have felt my hands, feet, back, neck, knees, eyeballs, hair follicles and whatever other parts of me that were sore this past month. I don't want to waste time with too many details of the work we did, but it was basic re modelling of apartment buildings and homes. Carrying, lifting, moving, hoisting, moving back, hammering, sledghammering, drilling and painting were among my formal duties.
Prague was a vacation compared to this. Doing bicycle tours and managing rowdy bunches of British on tour was a cake walk when matched against the slave/death/labor camp known as Italian construction.
But it was a worthy experience and I'm glad I got to do it. It helped teach me a little more about myself and has made me really appreciate all the opportunities I have even more.
Now I'm in Madrid, got here two days ago. If my buddy Jamie hadn't picked me up from the airport I don't know what I would have done. Not only is he being gracious enough to allow me to crash till I get on my feet he helped me transport my luggage to his flat, which couldn't have been done on my own, even though I'm probably stronger now than in my whole life, thanks again Tullio. But this brings up an interesting topic.
Next time you decide to use a budget airline, make sure you check on their luggage allotment before you get to the check-in desk. Sleasy Jet gave me a nice 35 kilos when I flew to Scotland for Gabe's and the now Lyndsay Cantu's wedding. Volare, the Italian equivalent, gave me a measly 15 kg for my bags. "And how much did they weigh?" 64 kg. "Oh my, and how much extra did you have to pay?" 280 Euros. "Oh dear, and how much was the ticket to begin with?" 160. "Golly jeepers, now how much money do you have now?" Less than half of what I started with, thanks Volare.
But I have just come from the office of Culturales Relaciones, the company that places you with a family and you get to live with them and eat them out of house and home in exchange for a few hours of English lessons a day for their kids. I also want to improve my Spanish while I'm here because I want to hit up the Sudamerica after I get back to the States visiting friends and letting Mommy love me for a while.
So I'll be coming back somewhere in the beginning to mid of December. That being said I'd like to know what everyone's plans are. Even if you don't live anywhere near me let me know, you never know where I might go to visit friends and family. If i can drive to Miami by myself to see Phish on New years I'm sure I can lay down a few miles to see some friendly faces. Dean Moriarty drove back and forth across the country on "The Road" looking for kicks so I'm sure I can spare the gas and rubber.
So be cool kiddies and I'll write again when there's news to be told.
Ciao
