Time to leave Bilbao

Iker arrived slightly before 6. We carried the luggage to his car and luckily everything fitted in the car.

Arriving at the airport I still had 3 kg extra in my luggage but I manage to take them with me filling up the laptop's case.

Arriving to Munich for our connecting flight I was on my way to toilet when a police came towards me and asked: where are you going. He wasn't dressing like a police and he showed me the police identification (like in a movie). Tired couldn't imagine that he was asking to which country I was travelling and I quickly answered: to toilet. And asked from where I was coming and if I had s connecting flight to what I answered yes to Finland. He told me that he might see my password! I said fine, it's in my bag. There was a policewoman also with him and they followed me to pick up the passport that was in my laptop case with the girls. The girl though that we all have to show the passport and the police just asked again the sane question to where we are going. They answered at the same time: to Finland. Jenna stressed that we have been in an internship in Bilbao. Ahm, you are in s group said the police. We said yes and after that he didn't want to see the passport any more.

The four hours at the airport were not that fast as I thought, maybe I was excited to get home. 14:45 was the flight time and it left in time. We arrived to Finland 20 minutes before the expected time.

Last moments in Bilbao

Today we had lunch with Ariana (Krista's boss from manuel&ariana where Krista was interning). Larruzz Bilbao was the restaurant chosen by Ariana and it was a great choice. We went for the menu de la casa which includes starter, main course, dessert and drinks and we paid only 15,50€. Ariana is a great person. We had a nice time with her pity that we didn't meet before.

After tasting different starters as we shared, paella was our main course. This paella is made with a special pasta and not with rice as normal, different and also tasty!

For the first time I tried a dessert from the Basque country, yummy! 

When we arrived to Ariana's shop her husband warn us about the manifestation that was happening in Bilbao. Jenna and I couldn't realize that in the morning because we were at Ballonti shopping mall in the morning. 

Guggenheim was hosting a big 'conference' and the participants were from many European countries. Couldn't understand well why they broke up all the shops and bank's windows and they also poor some ink on it.

Ops, it was nice that good day as Stradivarius was expecting.

  

In Casco Veijo (the old Bilbao's town) was even worse, they burned some dumpsters, it was awful.

Iker came to our place at 7 pm to set up the time he was coming to pick us up to the airport. 6 o'clock was what we agreed. We had a long conversation with Iker and it was nice to hear the good feedback about our group. 

When Iker left we started to pack the last things. I couldn't imagine that I would have such an extra kilos as on Monday evening I had only 15 but didn't put everything inside. We fight to reorganize the luggage and we even change luggage to manage better. Well, in the final end the solution was to have an extra luggage. That's what Jenna and I did, pay for an extra luggage.

Goodbye feeling

Time flights and now is time to pack, next Tuesday we go back to Finland. Happy and sad it's how I'm feeling at the moment.  For sure it will be good to go home but I think we are already missing Bilbao. 8 weeks felt like long time to stay here but there is still many things to see and do in Bilbao. Well, impossible to do and do everything in eight weeks!

Trying to do things that we couldn't do before, taking pictures from the places we will miss gives me a really picture of last moments.

Our Sunday program was a visit to Areeta and to a Park in Abando. We couldn't go before, so we did it today as our last chance.

Well, just have to say that I really enjoyed the time in Bilbao and the internship at Ian Mosh where I have learned a lot.

Hope to come back one day to Bilbao in summer to enjoy the warn weather in this cozy city.

Carnival in Bilbao

Weeks ago we heard that there will be carnival at our last weekend here in Bilbao. Neene had an idea that our fantasy could be the 70's clothes and we all liked the idea. There are many fantasy shops here in Bilbao from the cheapest option to the most expensive. The fantasy shops have been crowded last weeks.

I went with Jenna on Wednesday to Zubiarte shopping mall to look for a fantasy. It was not easy to find the one we wanted in a good price. At least we saw what they had available and we could plan what to do.

On Thursday Jenna found a second hand shop and she bought there her fantasy. 

On Friday I went to look for my fantasy. As we didn't have so much time I decided to buy only pieces and create a fantasy. 

Cowgirl was the fantasy I choose after being indecisive between pirate and Cowgirl when I opted to Cowgirl. 

The parade was at 6 o'clock. Laura was also coming to join us together with her friend. 

For some time we thought that they had to cancel the parade because of the rain but not, they didn't! We had the opportunity to enjoy the rainy and fanny carnival in Bilbao. The parade was great, they even have a WhatsApp group which was for me quite funny as nowadays WhatsApp is known  worldwide.

After the parade Krista and me went for some pintxos with Laura and her friend, Jenna went home because her boots were completely wet. Laura's friend also left after some pintxos and we continue to try another pintxos. 

The carnival feeling was great around the city that we couldn't resist and we went to s pub to dance.

Again we gad nice time with Laura and we got hone slightly before 2am. 

Sushi at mu Japonês

Thanks Krista for the idea of going to mu japonês to have dinner. Mu japonês is located in Indautxu. The Japanese restaurant has a typical atmosphere of a Japanese restaurant. Jenna suggested Misou soup as starter and I like it.

My surprise was that while ordering using my 'portunhol' the waiter understood that I speak Portuguese and I asked me in Portuguese if I speak Portuguese and I said 'sim' yes! After that it was much easier to interact with him and I also speaks good English. He learned Portuguese by travelling to Portugal and he have been also to Angola and Mozambique and he said that he love it.

As main course I chose a dish with salmon and rice. It was delicious.

After asking for the menu I didn't know what to choose. Well, chocolate never disappoints me. I opted for coulant  de chocolate with green tea ice cream, yummy!

We head back home after the lovely dinner.

Last week at Ian Mosh

The week went fast as the time here in Bilbao! This week I was teaching to José (the new employee) the the tasks I have been doing so that he can start doing when I leave. It was good to teach and see how he was going but that gave me a real view that the time in Ian Mosh was in the end. He learned quite well and fast. The parcels were perfect. After he learned everything I just organized in a file all the work I have been doing to help them to find easily when I'm not there.

My farewell...

Olatz is quite busy and she doesn't come to the company everyday. I was glad that she came on Friday to thank me for the work and say good bye. I also thanked her a lot for the opportunity and the great time there. 

They order some pintxos for lunch. We have a great time talking and laughing. 

Olatz gave me two lovely dresses on my choice. They look amazing and I love it. I gave them the Finnish chocolate Fazer and the famous Sammiakki candies. I could see from Laura's face that she didn't like it so much but at the same time she didn't want to be impolite. When I said to her that I don't like it neither she felt but comfortable to say that its bit difficult to know if she likes or not because it's kind of different taste that she can't describe. 

Once again, thanks to Ian Mosh for this opportunity!!!

The Spanish Siesta Zzzz

The Spanish work culture includes 'siesta' to mostly of the companies, shops and even banks. Siesta is a short nap taken in the early afternoon, often after the midday meal and it can last from two to three and half hours.

At Ian Mosh they don't have siesta, their working hours are between 8:30 to 3:30 which I like because after work I could still have a short nap and after that had time to make something else.

If the work starts at 10pm and there is siesta in between it seems that the working day can finish at 8pm.

For example:

10 - 14 work
14 - 17 siesta
17 - 20 work

There are some facts showing the benefits of the siesta:

Siesta Facts

- More energy
- Improve productivity by over 30%
- Improve alertness by up to 100%
- Reduce stress and the risk of heart disease by 34%
- Better negotiation and communication
- Reduce risk of accidents at work and on the road
- Happiness and wellbeing- Warning
- Possible slight risk of developing Diabetes Type 2


Somehow I thought that siesta was only to shops and some small companies but once I went to bank before 5pm and it was closed. They told me to go back at 5pm after siesta.

So siesta is not only for shops and small companies (as I thought) it extends to big institutions as well and has existed for thousands of years. Previously was regarded as a physical necessity rather than a luxury.

Siesta is also common in Italy (there called riposo), where museums, churches and shops close during siesta so that proprietors can go home for a long lunch and perhaps a snooze during the day’s hottest hours.

Madrid, lá ciudad que no duerme

A trip to Madrid was one of the first plans we had when we arrived to Bilbao. Therefore we decided to leave this trip to the end of our stay here in Spain. Getting to the train we were bit happy about how we were going to sit, we had four seats two turning to each other and a table in between plus the garbage box in the corner of the table, that was a good start to our trip. The train was confortable and the trip didn't feel so tiresome and we were also excitede to get to Madrid (Capital of Spain).

For our surprise, during the trip one lady came to talk to us in English (that as been rare here) and she ask from where we are and what we are doing here in Spain. It felt good to speak English because many times I have to survive with my 'portunhol' the mix of Portuguese and Spanish. The lady was so kind and when we arrived to Madrid she kindly warn us about the thefts in Madrid specially because we were arring to a big station. Day before I went to by a smaller sholder bag to control it better and it helped me a lot.

Well, its easy to know when a tourist arrives because they don't know were to go. We wanted to buy tickts to get to our hostel where we didn't know yet the area. The lady who we met in the train came again to help us, she was really kind and luckily she met one friend or colleague of her that helped us to buy tickets using the same train tickets from the trip Bilbao to Madrid, that was good because we wouldn't do that alone, we defenetly would buy new tickets.

Puerta del Sol was the area where our our hostel was located, in the center of Madrid, close to Gran Via and close to everything, we just use train once during the all trip because we were really tired. We got to the hostel, we quickly made the check in and we head off to to have lunch. After lunch we went for a walk in Grand Via getting crazy for the last 'rebajas' = sales.

Before we came to Madrid I talked to Neidy, an old friend from my childhood who is living in Madrid, actually we are not really friends (maybe we will become now), but we grew up in the same area and in Africa everyboby is friend of everybody. We agreed to meet at 10pm at Praza del Sol as her boyfriend was living at 9 from work. We couldn't avoind the warm and long hug, it felt really good. Neidy and Diego planned to take us to a typical Spanish restaurant which was a great choise and we would never go there by ourself. The waiting time was nothing more than an hour and 15 min, yes, that long! It was crowd but the good thing is that the starter is for free and we got two small plates of chorizo and small breads, Neidy told me a little story about those little breads but better not write it here because it involves politicians.

We got our table and it was time to choose our dishes. Neidy and Diego recomended us to take small plates so that we could tast many things and that was an awesome idea. The only thing that was missing between our choices was the famous rabo de toro that I though I would taste it in Madrid but they didn't have.

Between our choices there was something I couldn't forget the name because I have seen many  times here in Bilbao, jamón. The jamón is quite famous in Spain and they also have Jamón museums around the city. its like a butchery but there they sell Jamón which is a meat from pig's leg. They cover the meat with salt for almost 8 months and after that its ready to slice it and eat. Its so tasty that I would take a leg home if it would't be so expensive. Its about 200€ to get one leg of jamón and you can have a better quality if you want but it could cost 500€. I got interested about that and ask from Neidy and Diego what makes it have better quality. Well, it's about how they grow and what they eat. When they grow freely and eat acorn the tast of the Jamón is different, wow, interesting!

To accompany our dinner we decided to order sangria, nothing better, once in Spain why not to drink the real sangria? It was also tasty! To finalize it we had cheese cake which is also different than the ones I have eaten, huum, nami nami. We closed the dinner with some licors, one was baileys and the other one was something different, can't remember the name but its similar to Port wine.

The talking with Neidy made me get back a little bit to my childhood, we laugh a lot and from time to time I felt bad because we were speaking Portuguese and nobody else could follow us.

After the great dinner Neidy wanted to take all of us to see Madrid by night, the girls were already tired but I decided to go to enjoy a little bit more Neidy's company. We went to La Latina. Is an area where mostly of the bars and discos are located and our hostel was at the same area. Just some minutes walking and we were there.


It was already six o'clock when I got back to the hostel and the girls where complaining that they could't sleep because of the noise. That was a minus point to Equity point hostel or maybe to many of them as they are all in the middle of this city that ever sleeps.

El Rastro was our first visit on Sunday. The Sunday market is bigger than what I could imagine. All what you can imagine and also what you can't imagine is available there. Art, clothes, antiques even electronics are available there. I think we have been walking for almost 3 hours. Neene found a huge scissors, she loved it but she coud't explect what was coming. The first price was bit high and I tried to deal with my portunhol to lower it and the final deal wasn't bad. krista also got a funny and small motorcicle and we also made a good deal for that, getting professional in dealing in Spanish, ha ha...

We met Neidy in the afternood and she took us for a walk by Grand Via to Praza de España and also to Temple of Depod, we took some pictures in front of the Palacio Real and after this we went to Principe Pio the shopping mall which was built in an old train station. We stayed there for almost two hours and we had dinner there. My feet were so sore that I could't walk long distance and I think the girls were also as tired as me and we decided to go to hostel by metro.

The night was quite ok, not that bad to sleep. At 4 o'clock I heard some people talking and some of them were Finns, I think they were at the same hostel. The bad thing was that before seven there was some people having a conversation outside and we could hear it so well. After that was difficult to sleep.

The rain didn't prevent our visit to El Retito, the huge park close to Plaza da Indepencia. We could appreciate the Cristal Palace inside the park, amaizing.

After that we went to make our las shopping, me and Jenna to shoos shop and Krista and Neene to their favourite shop, yes, fabric stop.

We still had sometime and we went to eat in MacDonalds and after we went quickly to Mercado del San Miguel (San Mighuel's market), its an indoors market where they use to sell vegetables and fruits in the past and in nowadays they made it a bit more mordern, they have pintxos (the Spanish scacks), small bars... Pity we didnt have time to stay there and enjoy.

It was Tim to go Back home.

Live healthy

Olatz (the owner and designer of Ian Mosh) cares a lot about health and wellness so she gave me the responsibility to create some articles about some fruits and vegetables that are good to our heath. I learned a lot about some fruits and get to know how healthy they are to our body.

I appreciate this 'creativity' of connection the health and wellness to the web page. The beauty is not just buy beautiful clothes, wear it and that's it. The process of being beauty is a long one starting to take care of yourself. It's not about money, is about changing the habits to have a healthier life. Read articles about health and wellness from time to time is also good because we learn a lot. Small things that can change our lives.

Olatz was happy about the article and it was grateful for me to know that the articles I wrote will go to the Ian Mosh's Web page.

New tasks + Santander

The Ian Mosh's articles are available not inly in Spain but in some other countries in Europe but not yet in the Scandinavian countries. As they want to expand their sales they gave me a task to search for some retailers in the Scandinavia. It's not easy to get a contract in this way as usually those companies are the ones who contact you if their are interested in your products but its always good to try. First I searched for the contacts in the Web pages, then I made a presentation of the brand (Ian Mosh), after the presentation I called to the companies to ask from them the proper e-mail address to where I could send the presentation. Have been sending applications for the all week and also looking for more online stores.

On Saturday I went with the girls to Casco Veijo (the old town), we spent the all new day there. After walking around the old city of Bilbao we stop for a cup of café con leche/té = coffee and milk/tea. Neene left us there because she was going to meet her work colleagues. On our way home we decided to go to Abando station just to see how much a ticket to Madrid costs from Bilbao. For our surprise it was cheaper than going by bus as we were planning. We decided to buy the tickets right away.

Getting home Krista cooked food for dinner. After dinner we set for long time. This Saturday we went to bed quite late!

It was 1:30pm when I decided to check in internet the buses to Santander from Bilbao. The price was excellent for a quick decision, 12€ round trip. I quickly got out from the bed and went to talk with the girls before they fall asleep as we have been awake untill 1:15am. The idea was well accepted by Jenna and Krista once Neene already had a plan to Sunday.

We decided to take the bus at 9:30 so we could get some sleep.

Santander...

We were ready in time but we were afraid the tickets were sold out but no, we got it!

The waiting time wasn't so bad but the cold inside the bus when we got in, ought, I even put the gloves on.

We enjoyed the lovely sea view on the way to Santander and after 1:30h we were there. The sun was shining brightly.

The weather was excellent and the pleasure of being outdoors without coat was aweome. People wearing only T-shirt and eating ice-cream gave me a great Spring feeling. I would have taken an ice-cream but unfortunately I was still recovering from the flu :(

We went first to the beach as Krista suggested. It was a long walk till we got to the great Sta Madalena park, green and blue are the colors to describe the park. An amazing place to walk, to have a picnic and yeees, to make beautiful pictures as we did.

After being at Sta Madalena's park we were bit hungry and it was time to find a pace to eat. That was another challenge, find a suitable place (for us) to eat. The places by the sea were quite expensive. But with a five minutes walk we find a good place to eat and not expensive.

After lunch we were bit lazy and tired and we didn't know anymore were to go and what to do. We just walked by the boardwalk enjoying the weather. We stop in a cafetaria to have a cup of tea and plan our next three hours. We saw on the map that there was a park near by and we decided to visit the park. I think we were bit tired and we could't find out where was the park. At least Jenna realized that there was no park to the direction we were going to. We turned on our left and decided to walk and look for the bus station in time. Suddenly we realized that we were walking on a green area, ha ha... that was the park, it was a water park but without water ops, maybe they close it during the winter but at that time we didn't care anymore. We just wanted to get to the bus station after being walking for 8 hours. The best part was when we realized that the bus station was in the end of the park, yes! We could sit before the time to get back home.

It was once again a lovely trip. Now can't wait to go to Madrid.