I had a VERY busy week. Dr. Dalai and his family arrived Monday morning after spending a week in Italy and a couple days in Barcelona. We all spent the rest of the week seeing Bilbao and some of the surrounding coast. On Monday, I took them to Getxo to see Puente Colgante, enjoy some of the beaches, and have some delicious ice cream from the new port. Tuesday was spent at the University where Dr. Dalai gave a presentation and got to know the lab, faculty, and Eva who may be his future visiting student. After the university, we went to the Guggenheim and enjoyed the new exhibit by Cai Guo-Qiang who does all of his art with gun powder, and was responsible for the amazing opening ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. It was really quite interesting, especially for modern art. We saw everything in Bilbao from Gran Via, to El Corte Ingles, to the ribera, to Casco Viejo and made a day trip to Mundaka to enjoy some of the coast and a typical Basque village. They also got to see my flat and meet my roomies over dinner at Bilbao's only Indian restaurant. It was Jon and Ibai's first experience with Indian food. Dr. Dalai and his family seemed to enjoy their stay in Bilbao quite a bit. Also, after translating for an entire family for a week, I think I can officially say that I speak Spanish. My communication skills seem to have improved a lot.
Being a tourist in Bilbao again was interesting. The city has changed a lot now that it's summer. In the slideshow below, I included the first picture I took of 'Puppy' by the Guggenheim, and you can see how much he's changed in the four months I've been here.
Hasta la proximá vez,
Kathlene
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