Navidad

Yesterday I spent Christmas with my roommate and her family.  I was supposed to go over to my friend's place too, but by the time I got home everyone had already left from there.  I helped my roommate wrap some last minute gifts (the wrapping paper had glitter on it which does not make it easy for tape to stick) and she explained that they usually exchange gifts on January 6th, el Dia de Reyes Magos or Three Kings Day, but one of her siblings couldn't be there that day so they were doing it on Christmas.  We went over to her sister's piso where we ate lunch consisting of much of the same foods we had on Christmas Eve.  After that her newphew, who is four, went someplace with his mom and grandma while everyone rushed around getting out the presents since he still believes in Papa Noel, Santa Claus.  All the gifts were anonymous and I even got a travel bag and a sweet scarf.  After eating dessert we played a bingo game which is almost exactly like our bingo except they don't use letters so it's just every number 1 through 90.  The last game I played everyone did so the prize was 6 euros and guess what - I won!  I left after that and came back to skype with my family.  My mom had sent some presents through the mail so I opened those where I got three new cds, Mad Men Season One, earrings, and some clothes.  And now I just have to wait until tomorrow until I get to see my mom and sister!  I'm so excited that they are coming to visit for twelve days!

Nochebuena (Christmas Eve)

Christmas Eve is much more of a big deal over here than back home and all the festivities are at night.  I was invited by roommate to eat dinner - and a big dinner at that! - with her and her family.  Dinner was supposed to be at nine so of course it was more like quarter til ten.  First off were the appetizers, classic Iberian and Andalucian dishes that consisted of ham (who would have guessed) and chorizo (sausage).  There were definitely two types of different hams and a couple other types of meat, probably another type of ham or sausage, along with cheese, some sort of potato salad which I'm not a fan of, and mariscos (shellfish).  Mariscos are more of a luxury, especially around Christmas, and when I went to my Christmas lunch with other teachers from my school one teacher told me they can cost over 100 euros for one kilo.  I saw last week advertised on tv that one kilo at the local Carrefour was 14.99, so it's definitely pricier.  I tried them at my teacher lunch and they weren't bad, but honestly they are just plain creepy looking.  They still have the black eyes (I think they're eyes) in them along with the legs and creepy feelers and I'm awful at unshelling them so I passed on them last night.  And of course there was bread and rioja.
Next came some French dish that was a flaky outside and had potatoes, some sort of sauce, and raisins on the inside.  It had a French name because my roommate's brother-in-law is a chef at a hotel in Mallorca.  They're were also slices of what was extremely similar to roast beef.  After that there were pimientos (peppers) that were stuffed and it actually reminded me of Mexican food back home!  Naturally I thought it was delicious.  And last, but not least, was the dessert.  I made a cheesecake, but I'm bringing that to the lunch for today since the brother-in-law made a dessert that was like ice cream with different berries on top.

The other thing to do here is to go to mass at midnight.  I've never been to midnight mass back at home and honestly I was pretty tired last night by the time we actually went to the mass.  We went to a smaller place so it wasn't crowded which was nice and overall the mass is a lot like back home except for a few things here and there.  There wasn't any singing and at the end they bring out a Baby Jesus doll and everyone goes up to kiss it.  I felt kind of awkward, but hey, it's all part of the cultural experience, right?

Another observation.  We were driving home last night and we passed this big lot where tons of cars were parked and all these young people were standing out there drinking.  I asked my roommate's sister about it and she said it was typical for young people to go out drinking and dancing on Christmas Eve.  Definitely something I wasn't really expecting since it seems like family is more of a focus on Christmas Eve night, but one thing for sure is that Spaniards like to and know how to party.  I feel like Christmas Eve isn't as important back home as it is here, but nothing is really open on Christmas Eve so people back home usually spend it with family and friends.

One final thing is that I woke up this morning and went out into the living room and saw a belen (nativity scene) set up.  I'm not sure when my roommate did it, maybe yesterday and I just didn't notice although I noticed it first thing this morning.  I thought it was pretty neat since most people have a belen in their house/piso versus a Christmas tree.

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!!!  Merry Christmas!!! 

Navidad en el cole (Christmas in the school)

Today was the last day of school before my nice long puente (break). I knew there were activities planned, but I wasn't quite sure what. I brought in m&m cookies for the other teachers to try since making cookies is the thing to do back home around Christmas. I originally wanted to make something more Christmas-y like snickerdoodles, but like I've said before, you're limited on ingredients here. One thing I was not expecting was many of the younger students to be dressed up! I'm talking costumes in the shape of Christmas trees, wise men, and other ones I'm really not sure what the significance was. I have no idea why they were dressed up and I really didn't think to ask anyone why now that I think about it. In the afternoon I listened to villancicos (carols)that all the classes performed. There were cookies and bizcocho (basically any type of cake or bread, like my banana bread, is called bizcocho) during the recreo (recess break) and overall it was a good day! I read Twas the Night Before Christmas and had a few of my first grade students make reindeer where they traced their hands for the antlers and we sang We Wish You a Merry Christmas, which they performed in English when they sang villancicos, and Jingle Bells.  I've uploaded a short video of some of the kids singing We Wish You a Merry Christmas.  I'm pretty sure you can hear me more than them, but I have to lead them!  Also, please note the costumes.  I wish Nico the Christmas Tree or Manuel the who-knows-what had been there just so everyone could have seen those costumes.

Driving

I was having a conversation a few weeks ago with one of the teachers I have a bilingue class with and we were discussing driving. He asked if I thought people drove better here or in the U.S. I told him I would never want to drive over here and that is a fact. The drivers over here are crazy and I've never seen so many roundabouts in my life. In the mornings I wait for the other teacher I drive with by an intersection that a secondary school is at. The parents drop their kids off there and I have the privilege of seeing the awful and scary driving of Spaniards. A stop sign (where the sign actually says STOP) is more like a suggestion than a law. If you stop too long you get honked at.

Let's not forget the student drivers either. I honestly have never seen so many driving schools. This morning I was walking to the post office and on one certain street all the driving school cars are lined up. I've seen this before so it must be a normal thing, but you will always see a driving school car at any point of the day. Are there really that many people learning how to drive in this city?

And the roundabouts. I'm always afraid that someone is going to crash in one of the roundabouts because sometimes whoever is on the outermost lane wants to go straight while the person in the lane next to them needs to turn. This would normally result in a crash and I'm surprised I have yet to witness one.

I really should take a video sometime of the driving over here. My mom says I sometimes get too close to the car in front of me when I stop, but really I would be considered far away in Spain's driving terms.

Christmas/Zambomba

Christmas is by far my favorite holiday of the year.  I like Halloween because it means Thanksgiving is in less than a month and I like Thanksgiving because the day after is Black Friday which means it is officially the Christmas season.  Needless to say, there is no such thing as Thanksgiving or Black Friday and Christmas here is just not quite the same.  I've yet to see a Christmas tree (the one in Italy doesn't count) and now that I think about it I don't even think they sell them at Carrefour!  They sell Christmas lights, but you won't find lights on people's houses, apartments, or stores.  The extent of my Christmas decorations at my flat is garland I put around my bed and a super small Christmas tree I discovered yesterday on a table next to the front door.  It's kind of sad really and is it bad that I'm already looking forward to next year's Christmas where I know I'll truly be able to enjoy all the Christmas spirit? 

One cultural aspect that is uniquely Andalucian is zambomba, a mixture between flamenco and Christmas songs.  People dance and sing upbeat Christmas songs (not that you could tell they are Christmas songs) that have a distinctly flamenco flair.  On Friday night I went to a party at the youth club my roommate works at.  All the families of the girls were invited and zambomba was performed.  It wasn't really what I was expecting because honestly, it sounds like nothing Christmas associated, except for perhaps the words, but I've yet to understand Spanish songs.  I've posted a video of zambomba from the southeastern most province, Almeria, in Andalucia.

Italia!

This past weekend until yesterday I had a puente (break) and I went to Italy.  I went to Rome and Venice over the summer and I loved Italy as a whole.  A lot of people told me that I should have gone to Florence too so that's what I did. 

I booked my flight through Ryanair, a cheaper airlines over here in Europe.  I heard about it over the summer when we were staying in hostels and some people had mentioned it and yes, they do have cheaper flights!  The flight was quite different than any other flight I've been on though.  First off, you don't have an assigned seat, you just sit wherever you want.  On my one side I sat next to a fifty-something lady who was wearing high-waisted leather pants.  I'm sorry, but I feel like leather pants are never in fashion at any age, but what can I say?  European fashion.  Throughout the entire flight the stewards and stewardesses kept trying to get you to buy things.  Cigarettes (didn't quite figure that one out since it's not like you can smoke on the plane), food, and other random stuff.  Let's not forget the turbulence.  I don't mind flying, but I don't like turbulence at all since one of my biggest fears is falling to my death.  There was some turbulence at the beginning of the flight and about twenty minutes before we landed the turbulence was worse than anything I've ever experienced before.  The only thing comparable was when I went to the Grand Canyon and my mom, sister, and I took a small plane ride over the Canyon and it was extremely windy (people proceeded to vomit on that flight while my then six year old sister laughed thinking it was all great fun).  You could hear the luggage moving around in the cabins and people were gripping their seats and the seats in front of them.  The plane definitely dropped and when that happened people shouted out and screamed.  I was sending a silent prayer to not crash and afterwards, thankfully, the turbulence lessened and everything was fine.  Too bad on the flight back there was turbulence too and I couldn't help but think of the flight over, hoping not to crash either.  I think I've been watching too much Lost. 

Florence is known as the Renaissance city and there are quite a few museums there filled with famous Renaissance (of course) art.  Too bad the museum workers decided to go on a strike while I was there and there was no forewarning whatsoever.  Thankfully the day before the strike started Sarah and I went to the Accademia where Michaelangelo's David is.  If I hadn't gotten to see that it would have been really disappointing.  It's like going to Paris and not going to see the Mona Lisa.  It's one of the things you have to do in the city.  Honestly, I don't quite understand Europe and their protests/strikes.  The day before the museum strikes there was some sort of protest about water (not too sure what about it) and the same day I left Spain for Italy apparently the Spanish airlines were on strike (again).  Everytime I've been in Europe I have witnessed some sort of protest/strike.  Just this past summer, in Spain once again, we saw a general labor strike. 

Although I didn't get to see the Uffizi or some of the other museums in Florence, I did climb the campanile, the tower of the Duomo where I had a great view of the city.  We strolled down the Ponte Vecchio that is filled with jewelry shops, and, of course, let's not forget eating the fabulous Italian food. 

In front of the Duomo in Florence

Seeing as the museums were all closed, I decided to take a day trip on my last day to Pisa.  I had originally wanted to do this, but I didn't think I would have enough time.  I had hoped that the Leaning Tower wouldn't be too crowded so I could climb it and I was lucky enough to be able to go right up and get a ticket and then climb it.  To be honest, it's not as tall as it looks in pictures, but as you are climbing the stairs you can definitely feel the way it leans.  They only let a certain amount of people up at a certain time so it wasn't too crowded either.  I wasn't able to do the picture where it looks like you are holding it up, because everyone there was either Asian or Italian.  I don't speak any Asian language or Italian, so I felt lucky to just get a couple of pictures with the Tower in the background.  This is just an observation, so please, don't take offense, but every place you go in Europe there will ALWAYS be a tour group of Asian people.  This never fails, in any city that I have been in.  If you come to Europe I guarantee you will find an Asian tour group.  

Around the tower are other buildings, such as the Duomo and a baptistry, and two museums.  It all cost 22 euros (including climbing the tower) so it was definitely worth the trip there!

 

Thanksgiving

I was invited by a girl I work with to celebrate Thanksgiving with her, her roommate, and a couple friends on Thanksgiving Day.  I thought it was really nice that she was trying to make an effort to celebrate some American holiday with me and I was looking forward to having them try "American" food, but....let's just say it's a little difficult to celebrate Thanksgiving over here.  First off, it's hard to find certain ingredients.  Cranberries?  Non-existent.  Pumpkin?  Well, it's a white pumpkin and if you really want to attempt to make a pumpkin pie from scratch then go for it.  Turkey?  We live in the country of jamon (ham) so it's not exactly popular.  The girl from work exclaimed that she would provide the chicken and my reply was that we needed to have turkey or at the very least ham!  Too bad she likes neither which is how Thanksgiving Number One ended up being like a nice meal.  The chicken was good and I made super yummy potatoes (probably the most Thanksgiving dish at that meal).  Of course there was jamon and cheese as an appetizer.  Not very Thanksgiving, but it's the thought that counts, right?

Thanksgiving Number Two was much more successful.  My friend Leslie and I went to Carrefour Saturday night in search of ingredients for our Thanksgiving feast where we found that: 1) Pumpkin is definitely hard to come by.  2) Cranberries are not sold at Carrefour.  3) Maple syrup is over 4 euros which is more than five dollars.  Good thing I made oreo cheesecake for dessert which everyone liked!  Even though we had a lack of ingredients we made do.  There was stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, a green bean casserole, and there wasn't any turkey (pork), but Leslie made a phenomenol cinnamon apple sauce.  I'm usually not a fan of baked apples, but I will most definitely be trying to make this on my own!  Although it wasn't quite like Thanksgiving from home, it was good comfort food and very delicious! 

As a side note, I'm glad I was able to skype with everyone on Thanksgiving!   It was nice talking to everyone from back home!

The cheesecake I made for Thanksgiving Number Two!

Food

I'm no expert at cooking, but I can do the basics and I almost always cook my meals.  They're pretty basic - meat and some sort of side dish, mostly potatoes or pasta.  It's not that I don't want to try and be more creative, it's just hard to do so over here!  There is definitely more of a variety of food back home and it's not like I can go to the store over here and pick up a box of macaroni and cheese to make.  I like baking back home, but trying to convert recipes is difficult.  The measurments aren't exact and it's hard to find certain ingredients.  I had to trek to the other part of town to go to IKEA to get measuring cups and I had to go to Hipercor, a store about a 20-25 minute walk (depending on if you are walking in the rain or not like I was yesterday) to find vanilla and sour cream.  I'm fortune that there is a larger store, Carrefour, about five minutes away from me.  It's comparable to a Meijers back home, although yesterday when I went to find some ingredients for a cheesecake I'm supposed to make it was hard to find some (i.e., sour cream, vanilla).  Let's not forget the fact that even if they do have the ingredients everything is smaller!  A pack of oreos isn't as big as back home, there's not as much cream cheese in a pack and it only comes in a container, and the pans to bake in our smaller.  I'm supposed to make this cheesecake for "Thanksgiving" dinner/lunch for Sunday so we'll see how the cheesecake turns out....I did successfully bake banana bread which I was very proud of.  As my mother has told me several times now you have to be precise with baking and well, let's just say even with my mL measuring cups converting a U.S. recipe to milliliters will result in 1 cup equaling an uneven amount so it's still not all precise, but precise enough!  People over here say they love the Spanish food, and yeah, it's fine and all, but I miss the variety from back home.  If I do want to bake or need ingredients that are harder to find they're always so much more expensive.  A jar of peanut butter is around 3.39 euros - that's a $4.50 jar of peanut butter.  It better be good if I'm paying that much.  For all the ingredients that I had to buy yesterday for this cheesecake I probably could have gone to a panaderia and bought something for cheaper so it better work out and taste good too.

Jerez is famous for its wine and I have to say, it's pretty good.  Jerez translates to "sherry" so right there you know it must have good wine!  They have all different types over here and more than half of the time I don't know what type is what.  I usually get the standard rioja, a red wine, and it's never failed before.  I've had two different white wines and I wasn't a fan because it didn't have a great aftertaste.  So if you ever come to Spain, or particularly Jerez (hint to mi madre) order a rioja.  They'll know what you're talking about.

I'm usually a picky eater (that may be just a tad bit of an understatement), but I have definitely ventured out while I've been here!  When I first came to Jerez and was staying with two girls before I found my flat there was this dish that had some sort of meat and another type of food in it.  I have no idea what the other food was and I have no desire to find out.  I'm not sure if it was a type of pea (my least favorite food ever) or something completely different, but I still ate most of it.  Another time I was invited to eat with the two ladies I work with who live in Jerez and the day before I was going to eat with them the one lady was explaining what kind of meat she was preparing.  She asked me if I liked pork and I said yes, then she proceeded to tell me that it was "secret" meat from a pig.  Secret?  I didn't like the sound of that and the next day I most definitely tried to not think about what part of the pig I was eating, although it wasn't bad.  The next time I went to Carrefour and I was looking at the meat section, sure enough there it was on the label saying it was "secret" meat.  It wasn't bad, but I won't be buying that to make for myself. 

I've heard of arroz con leche (a classic dish that every student in Spanish class has heard of), but I had never tried it before and honestly I wasn't too sure what was in it.  One day my roommate brought me some that her mother had made.  As I said before, it's actually a desert and it's cold cooked rice with milk and cinnamon.  It may sound not too great, but it was actually really good!  And last but not least, let's not forget about the bull's tail. 

Tomorrow's Thanksgiving and the two ladies at work said that we should celebrate it together.  First off I should make it clear that it is extremely hard to find ingredients that we normally associate with Thanksgiving.  Pumpkin?  Forget that, although for the Thanksgiving on Sunday my friend's roommate's family grows pumpkins (in luck!) and they're attempting to make a pie from scratch.  The one lady said she would bring chicken and my response was "you have to have turkey or at least ham on Thanksgiving!", but I found out she doesn't like turkey or ham.  So much for a real Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving.  I suppose it's the thought that counts right?  I told them I would make potatoes and the one girl didn't really respond to that and their idea of a dessert is fruit (more like a side dish to me) so we'll see how Thanksgiving Part 1 turns out. 

Speaking of Thanksgiving I have been having all my classes make turkeys using construction paper, crayons, etc.  I wanted to use paper plates and then have them use construction paper to make feathers, but all the plates here are plastic.  One of the many things that one would think is easy to find in Spain, but it's not.  I've attached some pictures below of my first grade class making their turkeys.  I hope everyone back home has a Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Out of the comfort zone

It's one thing to live on your home back in the U.S. and it's something else entirely when you do it in a different country.  I lived on campus my last two years in college, but it was close enough to go home every weekend and still have home cooked meals : ) so my first time actually living on my own is out of the country!  Although I've never really studied abroad in a different country for a long period of time like a semester or year, I still think it would be somewhat different.  You have people to rely on if you need help with things such as professors, whoever is in charge of the program, fellow students, etc., and I imagine it's much easier to be acquainted with everything since you have this added help.  Being in the program I am calls for a lot of independence and is definitely a growing experience.  There's no one really there to help you out if you need help, perhaps in extreme conditions, and if your schools offers help that's great, but for the most part you are on your own.  Two ladies who live in Jerez helped me find my piso, but that's basically been the extent of the help I've gotten.  When you first arrive in Spain you have to apply for the NIE, a foreign number that allows you to stay in the country.  I had to figure out where exactly I needed to go in Jerez and do the entire process by myself and it's still ongoing, even though it has been almost two months since I've been here!  After you get the NIE you need the TIE which is the number with your photo on a card.  You have to pay a fee, send those papers off to Cadiz, and wait (or so I think) until the card arrives.  Besides applying for the NIE I had to open a bank account all bymyself and now I have a bank account in Spain!  It's still weird to think about, but at the same time it's really cool because it's like a statement of my independence here. 

You are also forced to come out of your shell here.  I'm pretty shy, but here your forced to speak and communicate with people in order to accomplish things like getting the NIE, bank account, etc., and just everyday things such as asking for directions, buying a train ticket, etc.  It's good because I have to use Spanish and it makes you more confident.

Not only am I (somewhat at this point - poco a poco!) more confident in Spanish, but I have definitely been more open to trying new food.  I'm a very picky eater so I have "limited" food options, but I've already tried things that I would never have tried back at home.  I've had "secret" meat from a pig (still not sure what part it was and I do not want to know), arroz con leche which is cooked cold rice with milk and cinnamon, and just this past weekend I had, in my opinion, the most exotic of all - bull's tail!  Yes, that's right, a bull's tail!  I'm not sure if this is something that is popular in just Andalucia, but I have heard about it several times and on Saturday there were five of us who went out to several different places for tapas.  At one of them we ordered bull's tail and yes, I tried it!  It actually wasn't too bad tasting, a little fatty, but it tasted like roast beef or something along that line.  It still hard to wrap my mind around eating a bull's tail, but hey, now I can say I've tried it!

Living in a different country can be uncomfortable and yes, there's a culture shock, but it really does make you grow more as a person.  I feel like if I can do all of these things in Spain then living on my own and conquering things back home in the U.S. will be so much easier!

Britishisms

Yesterday I was in one of the second grade classes and they were learning about weather.  The teacher shows them flashcards of a certain type of weather and they have to say what it is like raining, snowing, windy, etc.  After the weather flashcards the English teacher pulls out other flashcards with different pictures of a coat, umbrella, etc.  When the students don't know the answer I say what the word is out loud so they can hear the pronunciation of it.  She shows a card and at first I wasn't sure if it was socks or rain boots so I look at the back of the card and it says "wellies."  My response:  "Wellies?  What are wellies?"  Her response:  Shrug.  It wasn't until when I saw in their book the lion wearing the "wellies" and it was splashing in water that I realized it was the word for rain boots.

They  learn the British English here so rubbers are erasers, school bag is backpack, mum is mom, granny and grandad are grandma and grandpa, and the letter Z is pronounced like the word said.  Let's not forget the grammar!  They say "have you got" instead of "do you have" and it always makes me inwardly cringe while I'm thinking no, no, no, you have it all wrong!  That's improper grammar!  It's not as if I can interrupte and say "oh, excuse me, but that's not what we say where I live".  Sometimes I wish the English teacher would ask what we call things such as with the wellies incident, but she doesn't.  I guess it's all something I will have to live with!

More about what I do

Here's some more info on what exactly I do.  My official title is a language and cultural assistant, so not only am I supposed to help teach the kids English, but also about U.S. culture.  I only work three days a week, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 9-2 and there's a half an hour break during that time period from 11:45-12:15.  I work with the English teacher and the grades at the school are 1-6, although she only works with 2-6.  Most of the grades have two classes except for 1, 3, and 4 so I am with each class one time throughout the week.  I basically come up with anything I want to talk about with the class and do a short lesson with some activities.  The program at my school isn't very structured which makes it somewhat hard, but it gives me more freedom to do what I want to.  I plan a lesson for each week since I have the different classes all throughout the week while I'm there.  So far I've talked about where I'm from, my family, likes, dislikes, etc., Halloween, and this past week with the older students I talked about the different types of schools in the U.S. and then asked them questions to go along with it.  With the younger students I reviewed the ABCs and in a Highlights magazine that I brought over with me there was a drawing activity where you use letters to make animals.  For example, you used an S to make a swan, X's and O's to make a spider, etc.  Next week I'm going to talk about the human body and the following week about Thanksgiving.

The exception to all this is the 1st grade class.  I work with them four different times during the week and it's with their teacher.  Instead of working in the class with them I have four different students each time I'm in there and we go to a separate room where I teach them English.  Since they are only five to seven I have to explain things in Spanish, but I make sure to say it in English also.  I like working with them by myself and in smaller groups because it's easier for them to focus and for me to teach them.  Plus I get to teach them what I want.  We've reviewed colors, numbers (although they only know to 12, but that will change!) and this week I went over the ABCs.  My mom sent me a great color-by-numbers coloring book and it had letters in there so it was great for this week since it focused on the alphabet, numbers, and colors.  Of course it's difficult for them to remember all the letters at this age, but I was pretty impressed with how many some of them could remember!  I wrote their names on the board and had them tell me each letter in English and one boy, Francisco, knew them all except S!  I had found Chicka Chicka Boom Boom on youtube and today I showed the one class the story and they all liked it. 

I also have bilingual classes with three of the teachers.  One is with the English teacher and the other two are with teachers who are in the level two at the language school (there's three levels).  In the past I've printed out articles and we've read them, talked about them, and then I've asked questions about them and different topics in general.  Next week though I'm going to have them watch the first few minutes of The Office from the pilot so we can talk about what an office setting is like.  I have questions prepared about the objects, clothing, and comprehension questions.  I need to do some more research, but after that I think I'll do a mock interview with them, but we'll see how that goes! 

I'd talk about my kids and their behavior, but that's a whole other post!

Here are two activities I did with the first grade class at Halloweek.  The first was a matching game with different Halloween words and for the second one I had them draw the eyes, nose, and mouth of the vampire since we had talked about some of the body parts the week before.

FIFA World Cup

Okay, so I realize the World Cup (also known to Jill, Jackie, and I as FIFA Fever), happened over the summer, but I have to make a comment about it and futbol, or soccer as we know it, in general.  First off, the World Cup is basically the World Series, the Superbowl, the Wimbeldon, etc. etc., of soccer and it only occurs every four years, a fact I didn't know about until later.  It's a month long event, another fact I didn't realize, of soccer matches between countries all around the world and this past year it was held in South Africa.  Europe is a huge soccer continent and Jill, Jackie, and I were fortunate to be in Europe throughout most of it (of course we missed the final two matches for the main title and second place!).  I remember we were in Lucerne, Switzerland when it began because there were banners on all the bars and restaurants along the river.  We weren't super into it at first, but along our trip we kept hearing FIFA this and matches would be on in the hostels.  It was pretty unavoidable and there were several times that we found ourselves watching a match such as in Berlin at the biergarten, numerous hostels, the crazy Brazilians in Amsterdam and who can forget when we were in Prague at the Old Town Square with the vagabond dance-off!  Need I say more? Spain ended up winning when we got back to Minnesota (how about those Spainards!) and I never gave too much thought to it after that until recently.

The one Friday I went with my roommate, who is a secretary at a girl's youth club, and in one of the activity classes they were dancing to this song called Waka Waka.  Apparently it was the theme song for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and I was pretty impressed that these eight and nine year old girls knew this whole dance.  It wasn't until I kept hearing the song and went on the excursion with them where even more girls were dancing and singing to it that I realized how huge this song is over here which made me think even more about the World Cup.  It was exciting being in Europe where all these people and different countries are huge devoted fans and it's something else to see how united and emotional everyone is about it. 

When I first came to my school I had students ask me who my favorite team was, Real Madrid or FC Barca, the two most popular teams in Spain, the first being based in Madrid and the latter in Barcelona.  I told them I didn't have a favorite and that I liked American football to which they shouted 'Rugby!'  Not quite.  One particular student pulled out a map and was asking me all these questions ('Do you know anyone famous?'  The answer was no which was met by disappointment), and one asked me if I had met Cristiano Ronaldo and had his autograph.  Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the most famous soccer players in Spain and he plays for Real Madrid.  He's actually Portuguese and I replied no to those questions too. 

I'm not a huge soccer fan, but I have to say watching the World Cup was pretty exciting and intense!  I never really wanted to see a game here in Spain, but who knows, maybe if I ever have the opportunity I just might go to one!  Below I've attached the music video for Waka Waka by Shakira so everyone can see the dance.  It's also really cool seeing everything from the World Cup!

Finally a post!

It's been a while since I have posted something, but that's not my fault!  I didn't have internet at my flat so I had to connect to random networks using my ipod or go to an internet cafe where I had to do other things such as prepare activities for work.  Now I have internet so I will be able to update more frequently!

My roommate is a secretary at youth club for girls and the one weekend there was an excursion some of them could go to at a nearby national park.  I went along with them as a "monitor" and we hiked some trails while later on all of the girls kept complaining how tired they were and how they were so hungry.  After lunch we went to this so-called cave where they had Neolithic cave drawings.  It wasn't nearly as exciting as it sounds because the cave was basically a big rock outside and you could barely see the drawings on the cave. 

This past weekend I went to Valencia with a friend who is in the same program as me, but lives in Catalunya, the northern part of Spain that borders France and the Mediterranean.  Her program is so different than mine because once we get accepted our regions are in charge of the different details.  She has to give two presentations later on in the year about her role in the program and she had to have all this paperwork in by a certain time so she could get paid.  She also has to attend two more orientations about what they can do to improve in the classroom.  We have to do none of the above!  She also has a time set apart where she talks with the teacher she is working with on what activities she can do so it goes along with what the students are learning.  I basically come up with something and ask the teacher if it's okay if the next week I do this or that and she says yes.  I try to do it based off a theme like the one week it was Halloween and next week I'm going to talk about schools in the U.S. 

Valencia is a great city though!  I was fortunate to stay in a hostel located in the city center so I could walk to most of the major sights like the Cathedral, a neat ceramic museum where the inside really looked like a palace, etc.  Valencia is famous for paella, a rice and vegetable dish mixed with fish, but we didn't eat that because neither of us really liked what was in it.  They're also famous for their oranges and the one morning at breakfast I had orange juice and it was the freshest orange juice I've ever had.  I also found a cafe where most of the menu items are chocolate, my favorite, so my friend and I split churros that you dipped in chocolate.  Right next to my hostel there was a cupcake store called Cupcake Valencia that had a bunch of different varieties of cupcakes.  Yum!

There is this really cool part of the city called the Arts and Sciences center where it is a bunch of different buildings, but the architecture of the buildings is what makes it really neat!  They have a science museum there, a place where sporting events are being held like right now there was a professional tennis championship going on, an aquarium, and an IMAX theatre.  We went to the aquarium on Saturday and I knew it was one of the biggest in the world, but I expected it to be like Newport Aquarium where it was just one really big building, but it wasn't.  It was a bunch of different buildings divided into different places like Arctic, Temperate, Tropical, etc. and you had to walk outside to get to the different ones.  We were lucky enough to be there when there was a dolphin show which was very cool to see!  On Monday after my friend had to catch her train I went back to the IMAX, called L' Hemisferic, and saw a show on Arabia.  I tried to watch it in English in first just because I wanted to be sure I could understand it, but we had to wear these weird headsets that went completely around your head and it had a microphone in it.  There was a button you pushed to change the language, but when I pushed it, it only stayed on Spanish so I watched it in Spanish.  Luckily I understood most of it except for a few sentences here and there so I felt very proud of myself!  Also on Monday Sarah and I went to the beach.  I thought there might have been a boardwalk area, but there wasn't, only a couple of restaurants.  It was cool when we went, in the 60s, but there were still people there in bathing suits!

Me at the Arts and Sciences area in Valencia

This week was a pretty good week so far!  I received a package from home that we were worried about reaching here because on facebook under the auxiliares group there were a few girls saying they had packages sent from home, but they were stuck in Madrid and they either had to go to Madrid to get them or pay a large amount of money to get it to them.  Luckily my package came and I was so excited!  I was surprised to find Lost Season 6 in there (yayyy!!!!!) which made me extremely happy.  I also had a card from my sister and her yearbook photo from this year.  The things she says just cracks me up!  The day before I had received a card from one of my best friends which also made me extremely happy!  I also received my first paycheck the day before unexpectedly so that was great too!  I hoped that my good fortune extended to Friday which was when I had to go to the National Police to pick up my NIE, my number so I can stay in Spain.  I easily received it and then I went to the library where my library card was ready and I checked out two books in Spanish.  Then I went and opened a bank account, although they later called my roommate later and said I needed some papers that showed my economic status in Spain (not too sure on that.  I have to talk to my school Monday) and then I was FINALLY able to get the internet so overall it was a good week!

The Cathedral in Sevilla

Me in front of the Alhambra in Granada

Also, if you want to see more pictures from my time in Spain you can look at them on my facebook, but if we aren't friends yet you need to add me!  facebook.com/katie.collins.l. 

Granada and other things!

Not this past weekend, but the weekend before I went to Granada.  I had really wanted to see the Alhambra, a large Muslim palace, and it was my main reason for going.  My train ride over there was quite interesting!  I had to take one train and wait for an hour or so and then get on another train.  On that train at one point we had stopped someplace extra long and there was an announcement that I didn´t quite catch all of.  All I knew was that something was wrong and we had to get off to take a bus where more confusion occurred because there were two trains there, one going to Granada and the other to Malaga.  A police officer announced that the one bus was going to Granada so people started to get on, but then the driver came on and said he was going to Malaga.  Everyone headed to the other bus, but the driver said he too was going to Malaga.  Now there are people standing in the rain extremely confused until we were told which bus to finally get on.  Once on the bus the ride was about a half an hour to another train station where I then had to take another train to get to Granada.  It was like my time trying to get from Berlin to Amsterdam this past summer with Jackie and Jill!

Granada is a beautiful city!  It is surrounded by the Sierra Nevada mountains and the Alhambra, a Muslim palace, is up in the mountains.  Unfortunately I wasn´t able to go to the Alhambra even though I woke up at six fifteen to catch the seven o´clock bus and proceeded to wait in a line for an hour to get a ticket.  They announced they have 130 tickets and by 8:15, only fifteen minutes after the ticket office opened, they were out!  Needless to say that was a bit disappointing, but I plan to come back with my mom and sister and now I know we need reservations in advance! 

Granada has a lot of Islamic influence and this can be seen by the many tourist shops and by the Cathedral where they have people write your name in Arabic calligraphy, which I had done!  There is also a famous neighborhood here called the Albaicin which has a fantastic view of the Alhambra and many Islamic inspired shops with the geometric designs, scarfs, even hookahs! 

I don´t have internet at my flat yet, but hopefully I will next week one I get my NIE, a number that I need to have in order to live in Spain.  After that I can open a bank account and get internet at my place, or so I hope if all things run smoothly.  The weekend of Halloween I plan to go to Valencia, a city located on the Mediterranean coast that is famous for their oranges. 

Things at my school have been going pretty well.  In my class where I work with students ages 5 to 7 I am now working with them in groups of four bymyself, which suits me just fine.  I feel like I can do what I like with them such as plan different activities where before it was harder to do so. This week I have been going over colors, numbers, different foods and where you buy them, whether they are pretty or handsome based on if they are a boy or girl, etc.  We also have been reading a book about a girl who makes a drawing with a magic head and adds different body parts so I taught them all the heads, shoulders, knees, and toes song too.  Next weeks will be all about Halloween so hopefully that will be fun!

What a Week!

It´s been a while since I posted, but I have been busy trying to find a flat!  The good news is I finally found one and I move in this morning.  It is with a lady in an apartment building near where one of the girls I work with lives.  My room is pretty nice with lots of closet space (not that I have too many clothes!) and the rest of the apartment is also nice.  The only downside is she doesn´t have internet, but I plan on talking to her on what I need to do to get it. 

Last Friday I was still in Sevilla and that night other auxiliares from the program met up at a tapas bar.  Two other girls and I went out to a different tapas place first and then we went to the one with the other people from the program.  It was a lot of fun and I met some other people, although most people are living in Sevilla. 

Sunday evening I took the train to Jerez de la Frontera, the city I am living in.  It´s about an hour train ride from Sevilla and it has around 200,000 people here.  The past few days I have been staying with a girl who works at my school and her roommate.  They have both been extremely nice in accomadating me and trying to help me find a piso (flat)!  I have been able to see some of the city when driving around with the girls, but today I am going to try and figure out the bus system.  The city has a lot of roundabouts here and in many of them there are either fountains or statues.  In one of them there is even a statue of the Michelin man although I have no idea why!  Another funny thing that they have here is an IKEA!  Now I know where to go if I need some cheap house items. : ) 

I went to my school two days this week and next Wednesday I am going to give a presention about myself, where I´m from, and read a book about Kentucky.  The school doesn´t have any computers in the classrooms so it limits me to what I can show them and the activities I can do (like powerpoints, show pictures, etc.).  I only work three days now, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, which is much better than before. 

The other day the two girls, another lady who works at my school, and one of the girl´s friends, and I went to a city called Puerta Santa Maria, a city on the coast.  We went to a cafe that overlooked the beach and across the water you could see Cadiz.  It was beautiful and I wish I had my camera, but I didn´t know we were going there!

This weekend is a long weekend due to holidays and I plan on going to Granada tomorrow.  It´s supposed to rain, but that won´t stop me!

My School!

Yesterday evening I went to the Alcazar in Sevilla, an old Muslim fortress and palace in the city.  It doesn't look very big on the outside, but it is quite large once you go inside and it's easy to get lost.  I bought an audio tour guide to go along with it and it was a little confusing and where the rooms on the guide were situated because they were not all next to each other.  The Muslim influence can easily be seen through the architecture and it also has large gardens in the back.  It's one thing that I had wanted to see while in Andalucia so I can check it off my list!  I'll post some pictures once I upload them to my computer.

Today was the first day I was supposed to go to my school and I was worried about getting there because there was only one bus that went in the morning.  Luckily I got to the station in the morning and didn't have any problems buying a ticket.  When I first got to the school I met with the other teachers and the lady I have been e-mailing so it was nice to finally meet her!  I went with one of the English teachers who works with younger kids (the ones in the room today when I was there were around 6).  They don't know a lot of English but I went around and asked them all their names in English and then we played a game that the teacher told me about where I say point or touch a certain color.  Later I went with the English teacher who works with older children, which would be our 2nd to 6th grade.  The teacher had English books and she used those for the lesson.  It was going over certain vocabulary and either doing an activity from the book or listening to a song.  The kids asked me some questions like what was my name, where I was from, etc.  I didn't expect to stay there the whole work day, which is only 9-2, but I did.  I'm supposed to work Monday through Thursday, 18 hours in total, but as part of the program you are only required to work 12-16 so I might say something about it.  Two other girls who are staying the same hostel with me only are working 12 so I am going to try and see if what other auxiliares' hours are.  I feel bad about maybe having to ask to change my schedule because they have been so helpful, but part of the program is to experience the culture, not just work since it's a student grant. 

I had to take a train back to Sevilla from a city called Lebrija where one of the teachers at the school worked.  She was nice enough to drop me off at the train station where I was able to buy a ticket.  When I arrived back at the train station in Sevilla I bought a train ticket to Jerez for on Monday.  I canceled my other days staying at the hostel because on Sunday I am staying with one of the teachers at my school so on Monday we can go looking for a piso, a flat. 

One day next week I'm supposed to have an orientation, but the school was supposed to provide the information.  When I asked about it at my school they had no idea!  Hopefully I can find out more information about it soon through other people!

First Day in Spain

Today is my first official day in Spain, but I will backtrack a few days.  Two days before my flight was supposed to leave I got a phone call saying my flight from Madrid to Seville was going to be cancelled due to a national strike that was going to be held in Spain.  Mom called Iberia and we were told that I could get a flight on the following day (which would have been this morning) and as we were figuring out the hotel situation, Iberia hung up on us!  The next day my mom called back and had a much nicer man help and I was going to be able to get on a flight to Seville on my original day, just in the evening. 

Both of my flights went well and on my long flight over from Chicago I had an aisle seat and no one was sitting next to me so that was even better, although I didn't really sleep that much.  My flight arrived in Madrid around eight and my next flight didn't leave until eight so I had a long time to wait.  The flight to Seville was a short one, only around an hour and it went by pretty fast since I was so tired.  I took a taxi to my hostel becaue I thought it would be easiest even though cars can't come down the street my hostel is on so I was dropped off a street or so down from it.  I probably looked funny dragging this large suitcase on the cobblestone streets, but a large suitcase was necessary.  It's extremely hard trying to pack eight months worth of things into one suitcase!  My hostel itself is a little outside the city center and the room is pretty small.  There are six beds and not much room for anything else!  I did meet two other girls who are auxiliares (people in the same program I am) who are very nice and they will be living in Sevilla. 

Today my goal was figuring out how I need to get to my school tomorrow.  I went to one of the bus stations with the two girls I met and found out I needed to go to the other station which is basically across town.  I got lost (my navigation skills aren't up to par with Jill's) and eventually found my way after walking across the town in the hot heat.  My town is rather small and I know what direction it is in from Sevilla so I went up to one of the counters and asked a lady if a bus went to Sevilla.  Either she didn't understand me or didn't have any idea where that was because she sent me to the information desk.  The lady there was somewhat helpful.  I did find out a bus went there at seven something in the morning.  I could hardly understand her and then I was dismissed.  I came back to the hostel and figured out that the bus leaves at 7:15 and gets to El Cuervo at 7:50 while the bus that goes back to Sevilla arrives in El Cuervo at 11:20.  That's not a whole lot of time and I'm not sure how long I'll need to be at my school and since it doesn't look like another bus goes to Sevilla from El Cuervo, I guess I'll have to figure something else out if I can't make that. 

I've been e-mailing someone who works at my school and I think I am going to leave my hostel early and go to Jerez de la Frontera, the city I plan on living in, on Saturday.  The girl and her friend are supposed to pick me up from the train station and then I can stay with a friend she knows until I find my own place.  My orientation is going to be in Sevilla, but I'll just take a train or bus on that day.  Hopefully I get to and from my school rather easily tomorrow and I hope I'll be able to find it!

Thousands of miles and an ocean away...

There are only a couple of weeks left before I leave for Spain for eight months which is the reason for this blog.  I've never had a blog before, but I figured that through this I can tell about my adventures and time in Spain.  This way I won't have to send several e-mails out to friends and family that detail the same thing over and over again. 

Everyone keeps asking me if I'm getting excited, where am I going to stay, is there anything in particular I want to do before I leave?  Of course I'm getting excited, who wouldn't be excited to move to another country for eight months?  I'm also feeling quite nervous, although my nerves have been eased since this evening when I received an e-mail from a lady who works at my school.  I don't think the reality of the situation will hit until I'm actually in Spain where I won't have my family or friends to help me out.  Although I have studied abroad in Mexico for a month I know the culture shock in Spain will be quite different.  Sure Mexico was different than life here in the U.S., but everything was planned out for us and I had two other American roommates.  In Spain I'll have to find my own housing, apply for a residency card, and open a bank account among other things. 

I'll be staying in Sevilla the first week while I'm in Spain because that is where my orientation is going to be (supposedly), although I have to go by my school before my orientation.  My school is in a town called El Cuervo de Sevilla and I'll be working with the English teacher where I'll help teach English to children ages 3-12.  I just received an e-mail from a lady who works at the school who said she and her friend are looking for an apartment for me in Jerez de la Frontera, a city that is closer to Cadiz.  Sevilla, El Cuervo, Jerez de la Frontera, and Cadiz are all cities in the southernmost region of Spain, Andalucia.  I've been to Madrid and Barcelona twice before, but I chose the region of Andalucia because I've heard it's beautiful there and home to the Alcazar, Alhambra, and Mezquita (all things I've heard and learned about thanks to my Spanish classes). 

It certainly will be hard living so far from home for eight months, but I know if I didn't do this it would be something I would regret.  I've always wanted to become fluent in Spanish and this is a great way to be immersed in the language (is it bad that I don't want to be around Americans or other English speaking people?).  I will miss many things from home, after all I am missing football season, although I will always be cheering on the Bengals even thousands of miles away in Spain.  And the food!  I will miss American food greatly; Graeters, Skyline, La Rosas, you will be truly missed.  I realize that Spain has great food and drinks (tapas, sangria, etc.), but believe me, grocery stores in Europe are NOT the same as in the U.S.  Ham is the meat of choice (turkey is virtually non-existent) and instead of going to the store and stocking up on items Europeans go weekly, sometimes several times a week!  Simple things such as these I will miss, but I know this will be a great learning and growing experience which I am greatly looking forward to. 

The countdown until I leave has officially begun (if only I could keep track of what the date is...)!