The Holidaze Has Started

We realized that three months from TODAY we will be home – we have officially begun the portion of our adventure that leads us back to State College.



We hope you all had a safe and happy Thanksgiving surrounded by family and friends. We are writing to you after having our modified Thanksgiving pseudo-feast a day late. The Linzell’s were forced to conform to the local schedule, which required that yesterday the girls attend school (Audrey actually had a field trip) and that Dan teach (don’t worry – his first topic of discussion was “what is Thanksgiving” – (1) family, (2) fattening food, (3) plentiful libations to help with (1), and (4) watching the Lions (relax, DETROIT Lions) lose). Today the girls did not have school. It was the day when the Patron Saint of Youth Education – San Jose de Calasanz – is recognized, ironically, by giving all of the youth a day off from school. Dan still had to do his song and dance – more about that in a few. So, we ate our meal this afternoon after he got home.



Our modified Thanksgiving pseudo-feast was great – we certainly missed having family but, as the picture shows, we had a great spread. Cindy, as usual, did an excellent job cooking and Dan, as usual, did a fair job listening. The girls were great helpers too. The turkey was substituted with two smaller birds that you may have heard of – we’ll use the common phonetic spelling – chikin (thanks Chick-fil-A). Turkey is available here however it’s (a) expensive and (b) provided with a lot of undesirable “extras” (such as feet and a neck – we forgot to pack an axe in our carry-on bags). So chicken it was – we did however have stuffing, mashed potatoes, veggies, fruit and a WICKED pie/cake dessert thing that we purchased from our favorite bakery and coffee hangout (called Ogi Berri, see second photo – we have no idea what it was made of but you CANNOT go wrong if the ad on the cake is made out of chocolate). We plan on following the other important Thanksgiving tradition of having leftovers tomorrow.







In addition to initiating the holiday season in Spain we recently have had an upswing in “playdate” events. Dan has been lucky enough to have his b-ball playdates with the boys every week but, until this week, they have been nonexistent for the ladies. The Spanish are VERY family oriented, especially in the north, and it is interesting how uncomfortable socializing with someone they do not “know” in a one-on-one situation can be (invitations into someone else’s home appear to be very rare). Do not get us wrong, they ARE wonderful people, but there is definitely a “get to know you” period that we are still figuring out. Cindy had coffee this past Tuesday with a mom she met at a school b-day party/insanity/anarchy event involving Audrey a few weeks ago (flash on 24 6 year olds amped up on sugar in a SMALL and LOUD room with a couple of “problem children” and some parents and you’ve got it – pics provided, one of Audrey with her best chica-friend Ana - in case you did not). Kelsey is playing with one of her best school chica-friends –Maria – this “afternoon” (afternoon in Spain starts at 4 and ends at about 8). The coffee went well – Kelsey’s report had not been received as of press time. More invitations to socialize are starting to trickle in – could be due to the holidays, we are not sure. They are welcome.










The “get to know you” period did not exist between Dan and his students, however. They were very welcoming from the start, even though confidence with their English skills was lacking (they are actually quite good). The ease with which Dan interacted with his students is probably due to a number of factors, including their age, the class size (only 8), he assigns the grades and the fact that they quickly recognized that Dan is a freak. A picture of Dan with his class after they completed a laboratory test assignment is shown here (OK, if you MUST ask the lab involved completing modal analysis of a tubular space truss).


This reminds us that we have not said much about the university facility Dan ventures to during the week. You know what it is called (Tecnun) but not much else. There are about 1500 students and 100 faculty/research associates at the campus (one of about 4 for the University of Navarra) and it consists of 6 buildings (MUCH different than Penn State – aerial pic of most of campus shown). It is supposedly the best private engineering school in Spain and 3rd or 4th among all engineering schools. It is about a 15-20 minute walk from our apartment and the University has been gracious enough to provide Dan with an office, computer and access to their structural engineering software suite and structural testing laboratories (NERVE CENTER photos shown – office and lab areas – Ikea is again the theme). He really has a great set-up that is comparable to what exists at Penn State. There are 4 faculty that teach in Dan’s area and about a half dozen graduate students from Spain and South America. They are a great bunch of people and Dan goes to coffee at the campus bar with them at 11ish everyday to ask and be asked questions related to differences between the U.S. and Spain. Research collaborations are being explored and, given the situation he is in, he thinks some good work will be done once he finishes teaching in December.

Enough with the geek stuff. We will provide a report on some more exciting items soon (such as the impending loss of one of Audrey’s front teeth – she gets EUROS from the tooth fairy) and on the Christmas season in San Sebastian soon.

Happy Holidays.

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!

From the Linzells to all of you!!! We hope your holiday is fun and safe.



Our celebration will be tomorrow - girls are in school and Dan is teaching today (funny that the Spaniards do not recognize a U.S. holiday...).

Expect another post detailing our happenings soon!!!

All-skate by the Eiffel Tower

Kelsey recorded the following videos with her camera one of our nights in Paris - 1st strobes and then blue lights on the ET. We forgot to include these in our 1st Paris post - was unexpected and pretty cool and we thought we'd share them with you. If you listen close you can hear Dan birding-it in the background.

It’s been a while (weeks 6, 7, 8??? – we’ve lost track)

First and foremost, we’d like to apologize for being out of touch for a while. A lot has happened since we last provided a riveting update and we know the 3 or 4 of you that still have this site bookmarked have been trying to fill the void (possibly with coverage of a certain election – uh, YES WE CAN - or following a certain central PA collegiate team to the pinnacle and back to earth again – uh, THUD - or watching a certain movie detailing the overtly musical lives of a group of supposed-teens up to their high school graduation – uh, TROY, GABRIELLA). We know those options have paled in comparison to this web page from a literary and social value standpoint and we make a solemn promise to provide updates more frequently from here on out (unless we forget).

Enough of that – it’s time to find out what we’ve been doing since we last left you. It’s been a few weeks of visitors, weather, travel, sickness and awards – in other words, a little bit of everything.

VISITORS – Cindy’s parents left Spain this morning for their trip home after a 2 week stay. Their three-legged flight odyssey to the U S of A began at around 7am our time with an arrival in Columbus, Ohio at around 8:30pm EST (2:30am our time). Needless to say a long day for them (the trip over was long too) and, after two weeks of intense grandkid time, no doubt exhausting. We really appreciate them making this effort to come see us and we had a great time during their two week stay.

WEATHER – During Cindy’s parents time here winter definitely settled into San Sebastian with wet days and high temperatures in the 50’s – multiple umbrellas met their doom. Fortunately the end of their trip brought better weather (low to mid 60s and semi-sun) and we were able to show them some of what the city has to offer during its nicer days.

TRAVEL – We travel in all kinds of weather so the rain was but a minor speed bump for our plans with the grandparents. Cindy showed them San Sebastian and our routine during the first few days and then THE GREAT PARIS (not Hilton) ADVENTURE started.

Cindy’s mom and dad had never been to Paris and since we’d been earlier this summer we figured we’d luuuuvvvv to see Paris in the fall (we know what you’re thinking about us). So, what do good ‘ol Americans do to get from point A to point B in Europe when you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a bus or rail station?? We RENT A CAR (actually tank – similar to the one shown here but larger and heavier - called a Mercedes Vito van and, to be honest, it’s a Mercedes in name only). Actually, given our somewhat precarious Visa situation (still dealing with the paperwork) driving through the now open EU borders seemed to be the best option for THE GREAT PARIS (not Hilton) ADVENTURE. We’ve seen passports checked on trains in the not so distant past and wanted to avoid any problems.



















So, off we went on a 9 hour drive north and east through the southwest and central French countryside (which looks like Ohio and Pennsylvania – rolling hills and agriculture – but with a French feel). The trip to Paris went fine (trip home was another story – see below) and we pulled into our hotel (it was a….NOPE, Novotel) on Halloween evening. The next three days were spent seeing the main sights and basically enjoying the city – if you have not been and ever get the chance, GO. It is truly a magical city – from the Eiffel Tower (a gearhead must see) to the Louvre and Musee d’Orsay to the Champs-Elysees and Arc de Triomphe. We saw all of the major attractions, ate some great food (plenty of Nutella crepes) and the lady Linzell’s even were able to catch High School Musical III, in English (last pic of them leaving the theater - OMG OMG OOOMMMGGG!!!!!!!). It was a good time.

Then, we came back – or tried to, we should say. We walked to the garage the morning of November 4th, where our tank..er…van was parked, loaded her up, got in, turned the ignition and….nothing happened. Dead, el dead-o, les dead-les. It seems that Dan got confused between the US and Metric system when shutting off the lights and probably left either the dome or parking lights on (you see, a Metric dial is SO MUCH different than a US dial…). This created a little problem (the garage we were in was like the one from Seinfeld – you remember). After multiple trips to the hotel front desk by Cindy and a stroll Cindy and Dan took with a nice security guard who, we found out, was sending us in the direction of a place where we could buy jumper cables (we think he was pointing towards London), Jacques and Guy (garage maintenance hommes) we located and jumped ‘er right up. This would have been great IF Dan had not stalled the thing within 5 minutes of them leaving WHICH required that J and G return for a second jump session (another hour). Fortunately Dan kept his cool (anyone believe that???) and WE WERE OFF. Other than that, the trip back to San Sebastian went fine (except for some possible speeding tickets after dark near Bayonne – we’re waiting for the photos to develop and copies will be for sale in the lobby). However, this little adventure did NOT take anything (well, not too much) away from the good time we had on THE GREAT PARIS (not Hilton) ADVENTURE.










After returning from Paris, Dan and the girls went back to work and school for a few days while Cindy’s parents spent some time touring the Basque region with a local guide named Inaki (a Basque name as common as Bob in the U.S.). They visited the Pays Basque region in France with Cindy one day (Biarritz lighthouse shown) and then visited Pamplona and some local wineries the second day on their own. He was a wealth of information and they had a great time getting the local flavor from a true native – Tom, Cindy’s dad, got so caught up in the flavor that he purchased an authentic Basque beret (which is different than a French beret from what we understand – orders for these will also be taken in the lobby). So, if anyone in central Ohio sees a man wearing this hat walking along the side of the road DO NOT call the police, he’s just out struttin’ Basque-style.

















The final weekend with the grandparents was spent travelling to Bilbao –a great city architecturally (combination of old and new) and the location of the Guggenheim museum “designed” by architect Frank Gehry (remember that architects make things look pretty but its nerds like Dan that make ‘em stand up). For obvious reasons we took the bus this time (see above) and, other than having Jose Cuervo fall into the aisle a few rows behind us in a semi-catatonic state, wake up and serende the entire bus as we pulled into the Bilbao station (he could hold a note FOREVER), we had a good time. The Bilbao Guggenheim has a great resident modern art collection, which the girls loved because many of the exhibits are large enough to walk through and interact with (not much interaction allowed with the Monet’s and Van Gogh’s at the Musee D’Orsay for some unknown reason). It also was featuring exhibits by Cy Twombly and some of the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (from the House of Habsburg) which were great bonuses. As far as the Linzell chicas were concerned, the best bonus was the serious playground located just outside the museum. It is honestly one of the biggest and coolest playgrounds going and having the museum (along with an outside bar/cafe serving food and drinks for the parents) directly adjacent added to its aura FOR EVERYONE.








SICKNESS – We knew it was only a matter of time until some/everyone got sick given the new surroundings + travel and unfortunately it happened when Cindy’s parents were here. Colds were in the air and they were largely minor until Audrey got pinkeye and Dan a sinus infection (NOT a minor problem given the size of his breathing apparatus). Unfortunately Cindy was stuck accompanying both to the closest clinic (which is actually quite close) as the translator and for moral support (Dan is a wuss). While some things were certainly different, the most striking being that the Drs. office/desk and exam room were one and the same, the care was quick (never waited more than an hour), adequate meds were prescribed, and costs were not much more than would occur back home. So, while they were not welcomed experiences, they went fine and we’ll know what to do next time (hopefully there will not be a next time).

AWARDS – We have always known that our children are by far the smartest kids in the world and the Spanish agree, at least when it comes to essays written in almost-Spanish by a well-intentioned 6 year old. On our way back from Paris Dan received a call from his colleague at Tecnun who has kids at our daughter’s school. His message was that one of his daughters and Audrey had each won an award and that we were to go to the San Sebastian Aquarium the following evening for a ceremony. That was all we knew – we had no idea for what, with whom, why, what she was going to receive, if King Juan Carlos was going to be there, etc. etc. Audrey was a bit confused too (remember she’s 6). So after some further digging we found out that she had either written an essay or painted a picture on teh subject of protecting our oceans (the Aquarium runs an essay/picture contest every year for all ages – from what we were told hundreds of people enter and awards are picked for various age groups). So we went to the Aquarium auditorium and sat with other proud, but Nicotine-craving, Spanish parents as the awards were handed out. It was a nice ceremony and Audrey received a certificate and a “pluma” (ink pens used by many people here). We found out that her award was for an essay and she received special consideration since she tried so hard to write it correctly in Spanish (the first photo shows Audrey with the other award winners in the Auditorium and the last shows Audrey and Kelsey with a number of other girls from their school – seems they historically clean up at this thing). We were very, very proud of her.


It’s been a busy couple of weeks and that is enough of an update from us. Sorry the post was so long and hopefully you stuck with us to the end. We again pledge not to forsake our blogging duties in the future and, as always, we miss you one and all and hope that you are healthy and happy.