Switzerland: Four Paynes in the Alps

Last weekend we went to visit Josh (Will's cousin) and his wife Davnah who are living in Zurich, Switzerland. For such a small country, Switzerland has a lot going on. For example, did you know they have four national languages? They speak German (Swiss German in addition to High German), Italian, French and Romansh (a language spoken now by only about 30,000 people in Switzerland). We got to visit the German, Romansh and French areas in the few days that we were in town. We wanted to make it down to the part near Italy too, but decided we have to save something for the next trip. The whole country is breathtakingly beautiful, and I basically couldn't stop taking pictures the whole time. And I haven't even mentioned the cheese yet! But just wait... we'll get there. 

On our first morning in town, Josh made us French toast with a delicious brioche-style local bread. The weather predictions for our trip kept telling us it would be rainy, but we lucked out and had beautiful, sunny, 75-degree days almost the entire time. Take that, weather forecasters! It was so refreshing to be outside in the sun that we started our day with breakfast in the backyard: 

Also, it's pretty much impossible to keep me away from tulips that are this happy; so that was another good thing about us hanging out in the garden. Seriously, look how beautiful these are, and there were yellow ones too! 

Josh and Davnah's neighborhood is up on a hill above Zurich, with easy access to hiking, biking and running trails. Here's Josh and WP as we set out on our first day to check out Zurich: 

This photo of the forest was taken about a four-minute walk away from Javnah's (Josh + Davnah) front door. There are all sorts of goodies growing in the forest like nettles and wild garlic (which is more of a leaf than a bulb) that they use sometimes to make soups and salads. Of course, some of the things growing out there can be dangerous if ingested, so you have to have a real Swiss person around like Davnah to help you figure it out. One night she collected nettles and made an amazing quiche with them for us! 

Walking around Zurich was great. Josh was able to take off work to be our tour guide, and we got to see some pretty neat things in the city. One highlight was walking up to the high towers of the Grossmünster church. From the top, we were able to see the river, and looked across to another church with a very narrow pointed steeple. Here's the view from the top:

And here's the twisty, narrow staircase we had to use to get up and down:

After the church, we walked along Lake Zurich and the boys stopped to get bratwurst. You can tell it was a beautiful day by all the people hanging out lakeside in the background. Here's me and WP on the bridge crossing the lake:

Of course, no visit to a German-speaking country would be complete without some beer! I think we definitely checked it off the list...several times:

We only got through about two-thirds of the tour Josh had planned; I blame it on the fact that we were having a great time catching up with him! And that we're just a bunch of chatter-boxes. We did make it to a chocolate shop, a cocktail bar, a market to buy stuff for dinner, through a hip young neighborhood, and eventually ended up having a beer sitting outside on the riverbank. Apparently during summer everyone swims in this river, and they even have ladders built into the side walls to help you get back out. Only in Switzerland would a big city's river be clean enough to swim in!

That evening after getting home from work, Davnah made us some delicious fondue. This was the first moment (of many) that I realized I should have been born in Switzerland for the cheese. Such good bread, fondue and pickles! 

The next day we set out to do some wine tasting in a little town called Fläsch, about an hour and a half drive from Zurich. It was amazing how quickly we left the city behind and entered the movie-backdrop world otherwise known as the Swiss Alps. In Fläsch we were surrounded by beautiful snowy peaks, quaint country houses, and vineyards: 

Our first winery tasting appointment was at a winery called Adank. We all loved their wines and after trying a bunch of different bottles (and some grappa, in the case of Will and Josh), we ended up purchasing some to take home. Unfortunately the bottle of Chardonnay we bought there didn't make it back to Ciudad Real, exploding in our checked bag. Even after a wash, some Will's clothes still have that Chardon-tastic wine smell. Such is life - we're just glad we got to taste it while on the trip!  Here's a photo of the crew with our loot from the winery and of the cat with the world's most beautiful view:

Before our next wine tasting appointment we ate lunch, had some time to explore the town, and then had a mini photo session at this vineyard. The town was adorable, picturesque and the type of place where little old ladies peek out from their windows when they hear outsiders walking past.  Davnah and Josh did all the research to find the wineries and make appointments for us; we were definitely thankful to have such knowledgeable guides!

The next tasting we did included a tour of how they age, bottle, and label the wine. It was pretty interesting to check out the facilities, and Davnah and Will did an awesome job translating for me and Josh.  Josh is learning German, but from what they tell me, the Swiss-German they speak in Switzerland is difficult if you know (or are learning) standard German. I, of course, was totally lost, but it left me plenty of time to be the group photographer.  Not understanding also might have been a blessing in disguise at this winery. This winemaker was making some crude (but mostly harmless) jokes about women and wine along the lines of "after three years with these barrels we throw them away for a younger model, just like women." Some of these got translated for me and sounded pretty awkward.  Here we are with some of the gigantic oval barrels that the interns apparently have to climb inside to clean!

This winery did get major points for their outdoor tasting table. It was the perfect warm afternoon to sit outside and enjoy some wine: 

After this tasting, we left Fläsch and made our way up to Langwies (in the Romansh part of the country) to stay the night at a bed and breakfast that is also a dairy farm. The woman who runs the B&B is English, and married a Swiss man who grew up in the centuries-old house they live in now. They have three adorable kids who we got to meet, and were just an all around awesome (and very busy) family. In addition to the B&B, they have around 30 dairy cows to take care of, and all the kids are competitive downhill skiers. The mom seems like she spends a lot of time being a "race-mother," waxing the skis and constantly looking out for used ski gear for her growing kids. When we arrived the kids' ski season had just ended, so they were all enjoying their first slower-paced weekend of making smoothies and jumping off the balcony with tarps and umbrellas to try to fly in the wind! Here's a picture of the house: 

After an awesome dinner at the farm we woke up to an even more amazing breakfast spread! The homemade Swiss style müesli (yogurt, berries, grated apple, banana) was a big hit in our group. 

The breads they provided were also very tasty. Their was one hearty seeded wheat bread and then the lighter challah/brioche-style Swiss bread called Zopf (on the left). Both were excellent! 

We also had the pleasure of trying some cheese, butter and milk that all came from the cows out in the barn. The cheese and butter were from last season, since typically the cows make the good stuff later in the season when they are up on higher in the Alps eating the fresh grass. It was so tasty, and was my second oh-man-the-cheese-here-rules moment after the fondue:  

The family's house was very cozy, and seemed almost like we were in a fairy tale. It was really easy to imagine how good life would be even with snow covering everything outside, as long as you could curl up with a blanket in the cottage. One hilarious thing about this old house was how small a lot of the dimensions were, especially the door frames! This one even makes petite Davnah look like a giant: 

The view from our room was incredible. It was like looking into a postcard! Here's the view looking to the right: 

And the view looking to the left:

After breakfast we went outside to play a little bit; here's WP on the swing set; can you imagine growing up here? Lucky kids!

We decided the only decent thing to do would be to go in and see the cows after eating their milk and cheese. Right now they are just hanging out in the barn, but when the snow up higher on the Alps (or "the Alp" as the locals call their particular mountain where they summer their cows) melts a little, they get taken up there to graze on the grass:

They definitely have a different look from the cows at home, and each one is wearing a big Swiss cowbell: 

Will and I went up to the second floor of the barn to check out the hay supply. There was so much stored up there, even by this point in spring! 

Maybe we're just city-folk, but we were impressed with the way they get the hay down to the cows. There is this hole in the ground in the upstairs part and they just shove some hay down so it lands right in front of the cows. Simple, yet genius:  

Here are some of the old-fashioned cow bells on display in the house; some are quite heavy and made of silver. The owner of the B&B was telling us that you can tell how wealthy a dairy farmer is by the bells on his cows. If you see some cows out on the Alp with big bells and fancy leather straps, then you know their owners are probably doing ok for themselves. 

After saying our goodbyes we headed out for a short hike down to the river in this valley. Here's WP and Josh with the B&B sign (if you're planning a trip to Switzerland, I'd highly recommend staying here!): 

The entire time we were in this area I was just in awe of the beautiful mountains. I know it is a cliché, but I had to work hard to restrain myself from breaking into "Sound of Music" songs. If only I had remembered to bring a guitar and an old-fashioned suitcase (and maybe a dress made of curtains?), we could have reenacted the movie here on the Swiss side of the Alps! 

After getting a little more into the forest there was still snow along the side of the path. A lot of snow had just melted due to the fabulous weather, so the river was flowing pretty fast. Here are the boys on the bridge over the river: 

On our way back up to the car we got to see the train go by and over the bridge in the distance. I'm still amazed that they figured out how to lay tracks to get people through these mountains. Josh was telling us that the train is actually really easy to use to get to snowboarding and skiing mountains, and that during winter weekends it is crowded with people on their way up the mountain wearing all their gear. The train is red, you can see it on the left: 

On our way back to Zurich, we stopped in Chur to have some lunch. Chur was a cute little place with a few cool clock towers and surrounded by mountains. We chose our lunch restaurant largely based on its outdoor seating availability, and were surprised that they only served Mexican and American food and had recently stopped serving the Swiss specialities that were on the menu. Let's just say Europe still has a ways to go with nachos and buffalo wings.

We also got to stop in a little candy shop and buy some goodies to take home. My favorite were the little hard candy raspberries:  

All the way home the scenery was beautiful. As we got close to Zurich I managed to snap this photo from the car: 

On Monday we decided to go to Bern to visit Davnah's brother and his husband Trevor for a night. But before the hour train ride we had to get some snacks. We went to the train station and picked up several types of pretzels; the pumpkin seed and salt pretzel was a favorite, as was the hot dog inside a pretzel bun. 

We also decided to get some train beers from a convenience store in the train station whose in-house brand is called "OK." Being the dorks that we are, this prompted a bunch of corny jokes. "Hey Josh, how's your beer?" "Oh, well, it's OK." Hahaha: 

Bern is the country's capital, but compared to Zurich has a more relaxed atmosphere. Even though all the official political decisions are made in Bern, Zurich is the financial capital, so it tends to be a little more fast-paced. We enjoyed walking around Bern, and even got to see some bears that they keep around for tourists. In German the word for "bear" is similar to "Bern" and they have a bear on their city flag, so of course that means they keep some bears on hand as mascots. On the left is a photo of the river going through town and on the right is the big papa bear hanging out on a log: 

When we got to town, we met up with Trevor, Davnah's brother-in-law, and he showed us around. Trevor is an all around nice guy, and is originally from South Africa, so he speaks English and after only a couple years in Switzerland now speaks fluent German too! 

Trevor was a great tour guide, and even set up a visit to the parliament building for us. They didn't let me take my camera along for the tour, but the building was very pretty inside. They modeled some of their government after the American system of having a two-chamber legislature, so we got to see the equivalent of the Senate meeting room and the House of Representative room. I have to say, they might have done a better job decorating than we did. There were bright murals of the Alps and awesome stained glass in the dome on the top. Here's the building from the outside: 

After some more Bern wanderings, we headed to David (Davnah's brother) and Trevor's house for dinner. Davnah and David both work in Zurich, so they took the train together after work to meet us in Bern. After a whole weekend of beautiful weather, the clouds started rolling in that evening and made for a nice sunset seen from the window of David and Trevor's apartment: 

David and Trevor knew that I don't usually eat much meat, so they planned a cheese dinner for us! They had several types of local hard cheeses, and soft cheeses, and even one stinkier cheese that got its own plate with a cover. They were all so delicious! Now, I've eaten cheese for dinner plenty of times in my day, but I have seldom met so many other people who find cheese dinner to be a perfectly acceptable meal. In Switzerland it seems that people grow up with this as a fairly normal custom. Incredible! And did I mention the delicious green salad and boiled red potatoes that we had on the side? It was the best ever: 

The next morning we set off once again to visit Davnah's mom in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, over by Lake Geneva. Davnah's mom lives in a little town called Vevey that is near Lausanne. It was a little cloudy the day we were in Vevey, so we couldn't see the very top of the Alps that are across the lake, but it was still just perfect. Even the flowers along the promenade were perfect!   

After seeing most of downtown Vevey, we headed up a hill in a funicular (cable car tram): 

Towards the top of the hill the tracks got pretty steep: 

From the top of the hill the views were incredible. Here's a photo of a church and Lake Geneva. The opposite lakeshore to the left is part of France! 

We decided to make our way back down the hill on foot, and set off walking through vineyards and on the road. Since Davnah lived in Vevey as a kid, she knows her way around very well. She led us to a place to get a special pastry that is local to only the tiny town that we were in. It was kind of like a big doughy pancake with sugar on top, and it was delicious. Here we are chowing down in a vineyard:   

From Vevey we had to get back to Lausanne (a larger town nearby) to take the train back to Zurich. Instead of taking the train between Vevey and Lausanne, we got to take a boat! Here's our boat pulling up: 

Davnah's mom was so sweet and sent us off with some cheeses and dried meat as well as a bottle of wine to snack on during the boat ride.

After dinner in Lausanne, we caught a two-hour train back to Zurich. Javnah had work the next morning and we had to get back on a plane to Spain. It would have been difficult not to enjoy Switzerland, but we were really lucky to get to spend our time there with Josh and Davnah. They showed us all the highlights, and even put up with us stopping all the time to look at old maps and books. Josh and Davnah and their Swiss family were all so hospitable; we couldn't have asked for a better host group. Thanks for all you guys did to set up fun things for us to do and see. We'll definitely be back someday!

Lisbon, It Was Nice To Meet You

Last weekend we went to Lisbon, Portugal. It is one of those random places that was never on the top of my travel list, and I'm not quite sure why. Maybe it's just that Portugal is such a small country, or that in Europe there are so many "must-see" places like Paris, London, Barcelona, etc. After having been to Lisbon though, I think it definitely deserves a spot up top with the big boys.  Lisbon is what you would get if you combined Paris (the cafes, bookstores, and overall adorableness), Madrid (the cheap prices, some grunge, good art) and San Francisco (the hills, colorful houses, restaurants).

I think it is only natural that new places you visit will remind you of places you've been before, but when we first arrived, I think the San Francisco feel of Lisbon was especially surprising.  We didn't expect to take an hour-long flight from Madrid and be reminded so much of home! I mean, they have a big red bridge, a bay, hills, and even cable cars. And in addition to all that, they have delicious food, and eclectic buildings. 

Flying into Lisbon I was able to snap this photo of the Ponte 25 de Abril (25th of April Bridge). It actually has two towers like the Golden Gate Bridge, but I couldn't get both in the picture:  

On the way into town on the airport bus we got to see some of the city, including this awesome bull-fighting ring (the ring is awesome, not the fighting of bulls): 

After checking into our swanky hotel (the Sheraton, which was having a 40th anniversary sale, so our room was only €40 a night instead of €160! Thanks to WP's internet deal-finding skills!) we started walking toward the old part of town and ended up seeing some cool murals along the way: 

We also stumbled upon one of the cable cars in the city, called the Elevador da Gloria, and after it filled up with (mostly) tourists, we took it up a pretty steep hill. Here's the cable car: 

When we got to the top of the hill there were some pretty cool views of the city, including the old Moorish castle on the hill across from us: 

That evening we ate some Japanese food and then walked down to the center of the city to check out some more historic buildings. There was actually a big soccer match between Sporting (a Lisbon team) and Atletico Bilbao (a Spanish team from the Basque country), so the downtown area was totally deserted. On the flight from Madrid we were on the plane with a bunch of Bilbao supporters who were all dressed up in red and white jerseys and as soon as we touched down in Lisbon erupted into pro-Bilbao cheers. We assume they were all flying in to actually attend the match, which Portugal ended up winning with two goals late in the game. Here's one of the big empty plazas lit up at night:

On Friday we did some sightseeing around the city, starting with the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, a pretty big monastery in the part of town called Belém. Here's the main cathedral: 

And the outdoor courtyard of the monastery: 

The stone work was really cool-looking, with lots of spirals and small arches: 

We also happened to be touring alongside a high-school group, which ended up having its benefits. They were learning the history of the monastery from some actors who kept changing costumes and singing songs. They were speaking Portuguese, so we couldn't understand a lot of what they were saying, but from the costumes we gathered it had something to do with an angel and a devil (one guy's face was painted red): 

Inside the monastery and actually, all over Lisbon, we kept seeing beautiful painted tiles. There were tiles with all different colors and patterns, and I really liked these ones from inside the monastery: 

After checking out the church, we kept walking along the water to see a couple more famous monuments. Padão dos Descobrimentos, or the Discovery Monument, is located right on the water where numerous ships departed for India, the Far East, and the New World during Portugal's "Age of Discovery" in the 15th and 16th centuries. Here's the front of the monument, a giant sword (photo pose thanks to a very determined WP who had to lie on the ground to get this shot): 

And carved into the side there are a bunch of explorers:

From the Discovery Monument we also got a pretty good view of Lisbon's Golden Gate:

You can tell we didn't have the best weather, but at least it was just cloudy most the time and not raining on us! 

A little ways town from the bridge and monument is the famous Belém Tower, built in the 16th century during the "Age of Discovery": 

After seeing all these monuments we had to stop off at Pastéis de Belém, a bakery founded in 1837 that specializes in these delicious custard-filled flaky pastries, pastéis de nata. These treats are sold in most bakeries and cafes in Lisbon, so we had the pleasure of getting to try them a few different times. Here they are, topped with cinnamon and powdered sugar: 

Three mornings in a row we ate breakfast at Cafe Versailles, a really cool old restaurant and pastry shop that was near our hotel. The inside of the building was beautiful and it was full of Portuguese people, always a good sign. The waiters were pretty patient with us trying to order in Portuguese. We found that reading the menus wasn't too bad since many words are similar to Spanish, but speaking was a whole different matter. For the most part people in Lisbon spoke really good English though, and would immediately switch if we tried to say anything in Portuguese. On our last morning we stopped by the cafe to pick up some food to go. Just to try something new, I decided to order our food in Spanish with some Portuguese words that I had learned over the weekend. The pastry man understood me and responded in Portuguese, correcting my pronunciation of the word for "two", dois, which sounds like "doh-eesh". I know that a lot of Spanish people travel to Portugal for their beaches, so maybe they are used to hearing Spanish. Before we went we were also told by Spaniards that "all Portuguese people understand Spanish," so I'm guessing the Spanish don't try too hard to adapt when they cross the border. Here's WP getting ready for some breakfast:

Once we tried their pão de leite, there was no going back. The name technically translates to "milk bread" but it is basically what we call Portuguese sweet bread in the States, or Hawaiian sweet rolls (like the little guys that come in 24-packs). At Cafe Versailles we ordered the pão de leite with cheese and a little butter. Versailles also had an awesome tea selection and fresh orange juice, and the prices were a little cheaper than what they would have been in Spain. For both of us to eat breakfast it was around seven euros. I wish we could take this place home to Ciudad Real! 

After breakfast on our second morning we headed back toward the center of town to check out some old book shops. We were amazed by the number of new and antique book stores in Lisbon, and had a great morning leafing through prints, maps, and old fruit-box labels at an outdoor book fair and in some shops. Along the way we saw the Elevador Santa Justa, a Gothic metal elevator designed by an apprentice of Gustave Eiffel (the tower guy) that is used to take people from the lower neighborhood to a higher one. It began operating in 1902 and was originally powered by steam. Pretty nuts that the city is so hilly that they need an elevator! 

Here's another one of the cable cars, this one looks even more like the cable cars in SF: 

After some more walking around we ended up at the Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto, the official home of port wine in Lisbon! They had hundreds of ports on the menu and very reasonable prices, so we were able to try a few different types. The tasting area was very relaxed and felt more like being in someone's living room than a tasting room. They maybe made it a little too comfortable though; I saw an older couple taking a little nap in their chairs between glasses of port!

After our port tasting we went over to a nearby church that was having a free organ concert. The church was beautiful inside with a painted wooden ceiling (including fake domes painted in perspective; look at the row of "windows") and lots of intricate gold work. 

We were surprised that churches in Portugal look so different from Spanish ones. They have some similarities of course, but we noticed a lot of them have more detailed chapels on the sides of the main hall, and the art includes more exotic animals like elephants. We figured maybe this is due to Portugal's colonial connection to India. Here's a shot of some of the arched chapels on the side of the hall: 

The organ concert was amazing! We got to hear six songs that lasted about 45 minutes. The organ pipes were up on the second floor balcony in the back of the church:

I took a quick video of the concert. You can really tell how loud the organ was and get a good idea the impressive painted ceiling:

After the concert we started exploring a little more and found some crazy things in this church! First of all, they have human arm bones on display. Here's one up close: 

And just to give you an idea how many arm bones there were, here's the whole window full of them: 

On the other side of the alter there was a display case the same size full of human skulls and small busts of various people, it was so weird! I guess these must have been some pretty special people to make it into the church display case...

Despite the weird bone discovery, Lisbon was such a fun trip! We came home with sore legs from walking up and down all those hills (should have taken the elevator...) and full bellies from sweet bread and custard pastries. And this weekend? Switzerland! We head off to Zurich tomorrow evening to visit Will's cousin Josh and his wife Davnah. Looking forward to pretzels, wine-tasting, chocolate, fondue, hiking, and more!

Oktoberfest in April

If there's one thing I've learned in Spain, it's that at any given moment there is probably something bizarre, fun, and hilarious happening right under our noses. I'm not saying Ciudad Real is always bustling with things to do, just that now and then they hit the sweet spot. The latest installment in "what is happening, where are we?" came to us in the form of Oktoberfest. 

Yep, it's April 18th, and Ciudad Real is right in the middle of a ten-day celebration of German beer, food and to some extent, music. Other cities wait till, well, October, to have Oktoberfest, but not Ciudad Real. Maybe they like being several months ahead (or behind, depending on how you look at it) or maybe the German band charges fewer euros in April. We'll never know why it came about, but one thing's for sure, we're happy about it. 

We even went on opening night to check out the liters of beer and to celebrate our friend Jenna's birthday. Here are Jenna and Jessica with some mighty big beers:

The Oktoberfest organizers erected a big tent in one of the main plazas in town and decked it out with German beer signs and banners that look suspiciously like they're leftover from St. Patrick's Day celebrations (is orange a particularly "German" color?) They also have a bunch of tables set up beer-garden style and on the first night they had a German-speaking Bavarian Orchestra. 

Since that first night we've been back once (on "Day of the Pig", free-sausage night) and there were considerably fewer Spanish people hanging out and instead of the live band we got to enjoy disco-era and 80's hits coming from a laptop. Nothing like hearing some American hits while drinking a half-liter of hefeweizen in small-town Spain. 

Here are a few of our friends; Erica, Mariana, and Jenna:

This isn't the world's best photo, but I wanted to show y'all the advertisements for Oktoberfest that are all over town. The ads feature a pretty (and quite busty) lady with her pretzel and beer. Also note that if you attend Oktoberfest, they are advertising "máxima diversión", or "maximum fun":

In addition to beer they have plenty of German sausages, some pretty dry pretzels, pastries and cheese for sale. Here's WP with the giant wheels of queso:

And to prove my point about random things happening all over Spain, I'd like to direct your attention to the video below. On our last day in Barcelona, my family had already left for their plane, and Will and I were wandering the streets looking for anything that was open. Our last day was Easter Monday, a big holiday in Spain, so very few stores were open. After going several blocks seeing only a few people, we stumbled upon this plaza with a huge crowd. Of course, we had walked into a Swing Dancing festival in Barcelona. They had an awesome junior high band playing swing tunes and a bunch of people were showing off their dance skills. 

We had a good time watching the dancers and then ended up finding a Mexican restaurant with decent food. I never thought I'd be so happy to eat chilaquiles verdes, a chip/green salsa/cheese/sour cream/avocado plate that had been a staple in SF life. 

Tomorrow morning we fly to Lisbon, Portugal where we have grand plans to try local pastries, see some cool castles, and taste port wine! I'm sure we'll get into some adventures along the way...xoxo!

Miguel Angel on Food

Since I last wrote about my student Miguel Angel (see previous post here), I've gotten a few more private class students, including a couple of dynamic brother/sister duos and an adorable English-speaking three-year-old. Miguel Angel, however, continues to be my most entertaining student. I see most of my students on a weekly basis, but with Miguel Angel and his brother, Jesus, I come twice a week for a couple hours. I feel like I know a lot about them now - like Jesus' love of fantasy novels (especially ones that involve time travel), or how Miguel Angel likes chorizo and ham, but not bacon, and how he loves all types of cheese, even though he can't name any of them besides Manchego.  

Today while studying for an English test, Miguel Angel came up with some pretty amazing drawings:

Just a few things I'd like to point out: 

1. The face at the top is "Food-Man." As the name indicates, he is a man made entirely of food. Those are "biscuits" (or cookies, in American English) for ears, lettuce for hair, eggs for eyes, bacon for nose, ketchup for mouth, and an ice cream cone as a body.

2. In the bottom right corner, you'll see a Martian holding cheese and bacon. Enough said.

3. Towards the bottom of the list of foods on the left you can see Miguel Angel's first attempts at writing "juice." The first one is "chus" (him trying to sound it out) and the second "lluasi" (him trying to write letters that I pronounced in English; J-U-I-C-E became LL-U-A-S-I). English is hard! 

4. See the ham? He draws a pretty mean ham.

After the drawing and writing practice we played Hangman and then sang a couple rounds of "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" just for good measure. On days like this I think I have a pretty fun job. Thanks Miguel Angel!