http://roundtheworldwithyako.com meet me abroad! Sat, 02 Aug 2008 23:17:13 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en i FINALLY uploaded my argentina album and have also added photos to my germany and bolivia albums!  check them out! http://roundtheworldwithyako.com/2008/03/31/spain-valencia/ to valencia for 'las fallas!'  every year, valencia celebrates st. joseph's day (march 19) with a TWO WEEK festival!  basically, neighborhoods spend all year fundraising so they can erect sculptures with paper -mache to display around the city.  the theme is "anything that can be parodied," so the creations can be ... http://roundtheworldwithyako.com/2008/03/22/valencia-spain-las-fallas/ lesson learned from our trip to ibiza: check the weather and events for your next destination BEFORE buying your ticket.  kelsey and i bought our tickets in january figuring it would probably be warm in march.  man, were we wrong.  it was warm enough during the day, but definitely cold at night.  there was ... http://roundtheworldwithyako.com/2008/03/20/spain-ibiza/ i have absolutely no luck when it comes to holding onto ipods.  there goes another one.   the pensions are pretty cheap so we got our own room, thinking it would be great to not have to worry about personal belongings.  well,  we came home the last night  and was gonna ... http://roundtheworldwithyako.com/2008/03/16/portugal-lisboa-come-back-to-me-ipod/ the discount spanish airlines (vueling and clickair) are absolutely fantastic.  not only are the standard flights already cheap, but this last minute flight with vueling was a 2 x 1 deal!   we only had the weekend, so we settled on lisboa and off we went! although lisboa is the capital and largest city in portugal, it had ... http://roundtheworldwithyako.com/2008/02/29/portugal-lisboa/ you know you've developed a good relationship with your students when they tell you about their weekends without holding anything back.  especially when these people are over 40 and the boss of a company. there are two students in this class (held in one of the offices), alfonso and eva.  i ... http://roundtheworldwithyako.com/2008/02/28/spain-barcelona-magic-mushroom-tortillas/ i love how close everything is in europe.  my friends here go home pretty frequently (well, once a month is frequent when you consider it is a different country), and at first it sounds excessive but then i realize they only have to fly for a couple of hours!  i took a weekend trip ... http://roundtheworldwithyako.com/2008/02/28/france-perpignan/ one of the really cool perks about barcelona is that the catalan city celebrates a lot of special holidays.  a unique tradition is the "caga tió."  it is basically a small log with sticks for feet, a drawn-on smiley face, and its rear is covered with a blanket.  kids have to feed it daily until the night of ... http://roundtheworldwithyako.com/2008/02/20/spain-barcelona-catalan-traditions/ i swear that NOTHING can beat japanese new year food!  it is tradition in japan to prepare a special meal for new years called "osechi."  made up of everything from seafood and beans to pickled vegetables, every item symbolises something (for example, black beans for good health) and is prepared in the days leading up to ... http://roundtheworldwithyako.com/2008/01/28/italia-milano-mmm-japanese-new-years/ for new years, i hopped over to milano to see my relatives.  i can't believe how close everything is in europe.  i mean, the flight was only a hour and a half!  i was last there in july but considering they are so close i really need to visit more often.   buying ... http://roundtheworldwithyako.com/2008/01/24/italia-milano/