American in Spain » Extremadura

We’re Getting Wet!

erik — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:08:20 +0000

I was going through some old photos and videos and discovered this gem that my mother-in-law recorded last Easter when she and my wife took Nora down to Extremadura and left me de Rodriguez. It was a great example of her Spanish language skills at 25 months old. Now, however, after the death of her great-grandfather, it’s a poignant video of them playing together in at his house in Extremadura. They had a really great time playing together that week.

I’m not going to subtitle it, since it’s very repetitive. She’s primarily saying “Está lloviendo” and “¡Que nos mojamos!“, which are “It’s raining” and “We’re getting wet!” respectively. Apparently there was a light drizzle at the time.

The way she says “que no’ mojamo’ ” in an Extremaduran accent, in which the S’s are dropped from the end of words, is particularly cute.

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Extremadura Stroll

erik — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:49:51 +0000

When we go on summer vacations in Extremadura, as we do most Augusts, the weather is usually too hot to do much besides drink and sleep during the day, but at dusk, it’s just the right temperature for a nice stroll through the countryside. Just after sunset, the stars come out with a light-pollution-free brilliance that I almost never get to enjoy. In the past, I have been a bit more serious about photographing the serene beauty of an Extremadura sunset, but this year, in a marriage of convenience and laziness, I decided to only take my iPhone with me.

Gently blowing grass.

A broken wall.

I think this wall ends in China.

I made a video, which includes a clip of Nora walking with her mother and grandparents down a country road. In the video she’s saying, “Y por eso no se puede andar!” (And that’s why you can’t walk!), repeating a reason given for why she wasn’t allowed down from the stroller during the previous stretch of dirt path.

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Encounters with the Guardia Civil

erik — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 21:05:05 +0000

I had my third ever run-in with the traffic division of the Guardia Civil, Spain’s national police force, this past week. I was on my way out of Higuera de la Serena, the small town in Extremadura, southern Spain, where we spend a week each August drinking beer and complaining about the heat. Luckily, it was early in the day, before the day’s imbibing had begun. Before I explain what happened, let me briefly summarize my first Guardia Civil encounter, because the lessons it taught me came in handy this week.

Close Encounter of the First Kind

It was before we moved to Spain. My future wife and I were living in England and had flown to Spain for August vacation. The first time I went to Extremadura with her family was in 2003, and I think this encounter with the law probably happened the second year, in 2004. We had flown to Madrid and rented a car. To save money, I agreed to be the sole driver. My future in-laws’ car didn’t have air conditioning, so we took most of our excursions in our rental car. We were on our way to my future father-in-law’s hometown of Zahínos, which took us through the lovely town of Zafra.

In the middle of downtown Zafra, there was a cop directing traffic. He had one arm straight up in the air and was waving his other arm under the other one. I saw his waving arm and thought he was waving me to continue, so I continued, as my future wife and father-in-law erupted in “What are you doing!?” dismay. But by then, it was too late. The cop was whistling and gesturing angrily for me to pull over. I understood this gesture, at least.

As the policeman was approaching, my father-in-law had a brilliant idea: he told everyone in the car to be quiet and “let Erik do all the talking”. My Spanish at this point was very, very limited. When the cop asked for my carné (license), I wondered what piece of meat he wanted me to show him. From a general knowledge of how these things go, I figured I should show him my license. “Americano,” I said. The cop took one look at my North Carolina driver license and decided dealing with a foreigner with a foreign language and documentation while he was supposed to be directing traffic in a busy intersection was too much of a hassle for such a light infraction and he waved me on and said something about “más cuidado“.

The lesson here is, when dealing with an overworked, underpaid cop, the bumbling foreigner tourist act can save you a lot of trouble. I plan to use it as the first line of defense should I ever find myself under mild legal scrutiny.

Close Encounter of the Second Kind

The second time I had to deal with the Guardia Civil, they actually gave me a ticket for not having proof of car insurance in the car, a stupid law that has since been repealed.

On a side note, did you know that, in England, you don’t even need to have your driver license with you. If a cop asks for it, and you don’t have it, you just have to send proof that you have one to a certain address within a certain period of time. How reasonable is that?

Close Encounter of the Third Kind

Last Thursday, August 18, 2011, I was driving my wife and daughter to a nearby town to take my daughter to the emergency room. Well, not really to the ER, but we did go in the ER entrance before getting directed to the main reception area and sent to the pediatrician. She had a bug bite on her foot which was swelling considerably. The doctor gave us a topical antihistamine and the swelling went down in a day or two.

As we were headed to the nearby town, a traffic cop was waiting at the edge of town and flagged me down. I rolled down the window, and, without thinking, some Spanish escaped my lips. But I was feeling pretty innocent, so I just wanted to be helpful and be on my way. He asked for my license, and I opened my wallet to search for my Spanish driver license, but I couldn’t find it. I dug around for a bit, but could only find my American driver license, so I gave him that and explained that I was an American. He examined it and addressed me by my first name, asking for the car’s registration. I found it in the glove box and gave it to him. “The car is in your wife’s name?” he inquired. I answered in the affirmative. He gave me back my documentation and sent us on our way.

When I was driving away, I had two thoughts.

First of all, why the heck were my tax euros paying two officers (his partner had been leaning against their car) to stand out in the heat in Middle-of-Nowhere, Spain (14.5 inhabitants/km², 37.7 inhabitants/mile²), to check drivers’ documentation? Their primary objective must have been to check for seatbelt use and people driving without a license, but I can’t imagine that would be very fruitful. Oh, and also, I was taking my child on an emergency visit to the doctor!!

My second thought was to congratulate my own cleverness in outwitting myself. I remembered that I had intentionally hidden my Spanish drivers license deep in a part of my wallet that I normally never put things specifically for this situation to make sure my future self didn’t chicken out, get too obedient, and proffer my Spanish license first. Sure enough, the nerves of dealing with an authority figure was enough to preoccupy me enough to the point where I was unable to find my Spanish license (and I was trying to find it). Not that it would’ve been a disaster, but giving him a document that he knew how to read would not have helped my cause in any way, and it might have led him to discover the traffic law I was actually breaking: driving with non-prescription sunglasses.

I often find that my future self is a bit of a clueless idiot that needs all the help he can get.

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Queso de la Serena – Serena Cheese

erik — Wed, 11 May 2011 15:48:54 +0000

When my in-laws came back from their annual Easter trip to the La Serena region of Spain, they brought back a wheel of the typical cheese of the region, Queso de la Serena. It’s made from the milk of Merino sheep, and it takes almost two dozen sheep to product enough milk for a kilogram of cheese. It’s coagulated using a natural vegetable rennet taken from the cardoon, a thistle-like plant related to the artichoke. The coagulation happens very slowly, allowing for a rich, but tart, flavor to develop. Cheeses coagulated with cardoon tend to be very creamy, making the interior of the cheese very oozy. In fact, a traditional way to eat it is by slicing off the top and eating the creamy inside with a spoon. I’ve never done that, but it sounds wonderful.

When I unwrapped the wheel my in-laws brought, which had been unrefrigerated for some length of time before, during and after their nine-hour drive from Extremadura, I may have leaned back in horror. It’s not a pretty cheese. On further inspection, however, I did eventually find the bumpy moldy landscape quite beautiful and worthy of some photographs.

The taste is really wonderful if you like strong cheeses. On her initial tasting, Nora spit it back out, but over the week it took us to consume it, she learned to like it. On the last day, she ran into my office with a piece of it and pronounced, “It has a strong flavor!” Very true.

Yes, I did cut the mold off before eating.

It almost looks like a rocky landscape.

Yum!

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Kisses from Carla

erik — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:06:46 +0000

It’s been over a week since I’ve seen my daughter, and I miss her a lot. Her grandparents will be bringing her back on Sunday. If words from the front line are to be beleived, Nora is being extremely well behaved, is being polite to strangers, and even offering up her cheek to be kissed by total strangers (giving kisses is reserved for loved ones). Perhaps this kiss reception was learned with her “friend” Carla.

Carla is the daughter of one of Marga’s best friends from Extremadura. Nora and Carla first “met” last June in Madrid. Even though Carla was born 25 days after Nora, she is waaaay more advanced than Nora by just about every available metric. She walks freely, speaks several words, follows instructions, and gives people kisses…man, does she give some kisses! Carla’s parents suggest that it might be from spending 7 hours in daycare every day (Nora spends 3) with older kids that challenges her to excel. Nora won’t be where Carla is now for another four months.

They were so adorable together. Carla has clearly been given a lot of positive reinforcement for her kissing behavior.

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Grapes of Wrath

erik — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:12:30 +0000

I am unable to watch this video without laughing. It’s my favorite video I recorded last weekend. It demonstrates both how Nora does a good job of commanding her mother to do her bidding and just now irritated she gets when her great-grandfather does or says anything. I declined to subtitle it because the conversation is so mundane. At one point, she does call him something that sounded to all the Spanish ears like “malo” (bad).

The things pretty people get away with…

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Extremadura 2010

erik — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 21:49:02 +0000

Last Friday, August 6, my wife and I headed down to Extremadura to see our daughter, Nora, who had been down there the entire previous week with her grandparents and great-grandfather. It was a little disappointing not to be able to present her to our friends down there, as most of them had already seen her earlier in the week. She clearly recognized us (whew!), but was pretty unenthusiastic about it. We were immediately merged into her ordered hierarchy of people she likes to be with:

Mommy (Marga)
Abuelo (her grandfather, Juan)
Abuela (her grandmother, Marce)
Daddy (Erik)
…everybody else…
Bisabuelo (her great-grandfather, Ramón)

She spends a good portion of her time in her great-grandfather’s house prohibiting him from touching things. If he puts his hand on a chair or table or toy or glass, even if the object is across the room from her, she will race over (still holding someone’s hand) shouting, “No no no no no!!” and remove his hand from the object in his home that he had the nerve to touch. It’s actually pretty cute, and I think she understands that it’s a bit of a game. He certainly does.

Our visit was very nice. We got to have some good fun with Nora and do the items on our “it wouldn’t be a summer vacation in Extremadura if we didn’t” todo list, which include going out for cortos (beers and snacks) every midday, having dinner at our favorite restaurant, drinking liters of cold, refreshing gazpacho, having fresh hot churros every day for breakfast, and walking in the countryside at night gazing up at the milky way.

Nora’s great-grandfather’s house is very long.

The original plant that spawned the Cactus Cam Project flowered one night we were there.

With temperatures up to 38°C (100°F) and no air conditioning, a lot of Nora’s activities involved water. She had great fun with buckets.

Ooh! Wet!

She fit quite well into the buckets.

Nora also very much enjoyed the “swimming” pool at her great-grandfather’s house. She spends a good deal of her days down there in the nude.

The grape vine had a very fruitful year. Nora always responded correctly to the “¿Dónde están las uvas?” (Where are the grapes?) question, and she waited fairly patiently as they were plucked, peeled, and deseeded for her consumption.

There was some pretty tough cuteness competition when the neighbors brought out their puppy, Tango. As far as I know, there was no other puppy named Cash.

Tango didn’t always respect Nora’s “I can touch you, but you can’t touch me” personal space rules.

Unsurprisingly, Nora greatly enjoyed the power trip of holding Tango’s leash.

Trying out her new dress, which she will wear to a wedding in September.

Dinner at El Cruce. We call it that, but just because it’s at a crossroads between several towns. The real name of the place is Hotel Trajano. Their waiters have been taking orders on handheld computers for six years now! Nora was very well behaved throughout the meal.

One of our daily outings for midday beers, one of the customs that can be hard to understand if you’re not used to life in Spain.

The sunsets are always amazing. Two of our three days were cloudy this year, which is very odd for the Extremadura summer.

Nora eating an ice cream the last night we were there.

When it came time to leave (on Tuesday, August 10 at 6 AM!), we were faced with the difficult decision of whether or not to leave Nora with her grandparents where she was obviously having a wonderful time or bring her back with us. There were pros and cons on both sides, but in the end we decided to let her stay down there for two more weeks!! Hopefully we’ll be able to survive without her; she’ll have no trouble without us.

All 43 photos from our trip can be found here.

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Grass and Pigs

erik — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:39:43 +0000

Here are a few photos from my summer vacation in Extremadura that fell through the cracks. As the title implies they are mainly of grass and pigs.

Hello there, Miss Piggy!

What a lovely snout you have!

Wow, those are some serious gonads!

“Hey, buddy! You photographing my genitals!?”

Sorry, Mr. Pig, sir.

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More Extremadura Sunsets

erik — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:10:09 +0000

During our evening walks in the Extremadura summer heat, I enjoyed taking my camera along and capturing the beauty of the sunsets across the huge horizon-to-horizon sky. Here are a few pictures that didn’t make the cut for my previous HDR post.

One of the cool thing about taking an entire fortnight of vacation and spending much of it outside in the evenings for an astronomy enthusiast is that you get to see one complete half of the moon cycle, from new moon to full moon.

This is my favorite photo in this post. With the wide angle, you can see all the colors of the rainbow, from red to purple. And yes, there is a tiny hint of green in there.

All of these first three photos show the atmospheric phenomenon known as crepuscular rays, lines of shadow rising up from the clouds.

Sunsets just aren’t the same without clouds. I suppose cloudless ones are pretty in their own way, though. It reminds me of this photo I took of a beer bottle.

Some days we had walked too far and the sunset was obstructed by trees.

My thumb and the setting sun, pretty similar in angular size. This is what we photographers call a “thumbnail” image.

The red evening sky silhouettes some trees.

On the night that I knew the moon was full, I spent a lot of time staring at the horizon opposite the sunset, waiting for the Moon to make her appearance. That she came up over this little house was just a bonus.

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Extremadura Sunsets (HDR)

erik — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:05:06 +0000

The point of high dynamic range (HDR) imaging is to, via post-processing, more accurately capture the wide range of colors and tones that the human eye sees as it saccades around the scene. Current camera photon sensing technology is just not as good as the human eye at capturing a wide range of light levels. The typical procedure involves taking three or more photographs of the same subject, with minimal camera movement, at various exposure levels, e.g. one where the shadows are underexposed, one where the highlights are overexposed, and another middle range. Then, using a computer program, the images are aligned and the detail from the shadows in one exposure is combined with the details of the highlights of another exposure, thus giving you detail across a wide range of light levels.

Shortly before going on my summer vacation to Extremadura, in southern Spain, I learned about a auto-exposure-bracketing feature of my camera that lets me click the shutter button three times rapidly (while doing my best to not move the camera) and have it give me three photographs with a low, middle, and high exposure setting. I have finally gotten around to doing the post-processing of these sets of images, and I present them to you below.

Not HDR

These first two images are not HDR. They are one single shot with some post-processing to bring out the shadow details. By comparing these images with the ones below them, you should be able to see the limitations of post-processing a single image compared to the HDR technique of combining multiple photographs.

HDR

The following images were made by digitally combining three separate shots using the HDR tools in Photoshop CS4.

And the sun has finally set.