Side Note and more Portugal

I really don't mind doing laundry, although I can't wait to have a nice dryer when I get back and be able to do laundry whenever I want.  It's even more frustrating when my roommate does her laundry, but sometimes she'll leave it sitting in the washer for days at a time.  Last night I finally figured it out.  I was getting ready for bed when I heard her put something in the washer and that's when I realized:  she puts things in there and doesn't wash them right then!  Like I said, she'll leave them in for days at a time or just leave her stuff hanging out on the line for days.  I was super frustrated because she has a whole other room dedicated to just clothes (yes, that could be an extra bedroom, but it has just her clothes in there) and here's me with eight months worth of clothes stuffed in one suitcase.  And not to mention I was gone all last week so I had a week's worth of dirty laundry and I'm going away this weekend again too.  Needless to say I need to do laundry.  Thankfully she did hers this morning and it wasn't a lot, but still!  I wouldn't mind if she actually did it and then hung up the laundry right afterwards, but no.  Then I came home on Saturday to find recycling that was there before I left still there along with another thing already filled.  The garbage is seriously right across the street so it's not that hard to do.  I'm pretty sure I've always taken the garbage out, at least since January.  Then she said 'oh, we have a lot of garbage'.  Well yeah!  So we both take it out since she was leaving and so was I and she said 'oh, the recyling goes in the yellow bin'.  Yes, I know that too since I always take it out.  Ok, moving on to Portugal.

The next city I went to was Coimbra, which is known for its University.  It has this old library and in a different part of the campus there is a room that future doctors take their exams in and then they have to swear an oath and all that jazz.  The University was nice, but I think we have universities just as nice back home.  There really wasn't too much to see there besides that and you couldn't take pictures in a lot of the buildings.

Lisbon was the last place I went to.  The first day I got there I did a walking tour of the three main neighborhoods, the Barrio Alto, Baixa, and Alfama.  I had my own self-guided walking tour courtesy of Rick Steves and it took most of the day.  I took a furnicular up to the Barrio Alto which was pretty cool and saw the oldest beer hall in Lisbon, although it really looked like any other bar.  The Alfama is famous for fado, a type of music that is sung in Portugal, but more specifically in Lisbon.  I visited a fado museum which was really interesting.  It told the history of it and you were able to listen to the music throughout various parts of the museum.  It was probably one of the better and more interesting museums I've been to.  The Baixa is the historic downtown part of Lisbon and where my hostel was at so I did that one last.  The walk brought you to several different plazas, one by the river Tagus, and another where a lot of African migrants from former Portugues colonies hang out at.  In one of the plazas you can find the famous ginjinha drink, a cherry liquor that tastes like cough medicine.

The furnicular

The 25th of April Bridge - looks like the Golden Gate Bridge, right?

By far the best place I visited was Sintra, a 40 minute train ride from Lisbon to the majestic forests that have five castles/palaces.  I felt like I stepped into a Hans Christian Andersen fairytale and really the one word that comes to mind to describe Sintra is magical.  The Pena Palace, the most famous, is painted in bright colors and the inside is so cozy anyone could picture themself living there.  The remains of the Moorish Castle are basically the foundations, but I felt like I was climbing the Great Wall Portuguese sytle.  The Quinta was architecturally romantic and I seriously felt like I was in some sort of Alice and Wonderland fairytale.  There was a cave with an underground passage that led to what is called the Intrinsic Well.  The cave led to the bottom of the well and then you can climb up stairs that lead to the top.  The last place I visited was my least favorite since they were doing a lot of renovations on the inside, but the outside had gardens that were pretty cool and had a whole Mexican themed garden with cactus and flowers from there.  So if you decide to go to Portugal you must visit Sintra.  I'll let the pictures speak for themself.



The Pena Palace



The Moorish Castle



The Pena Palace



The Intrinsic Well



The Quinta Palace

On the last day in Lisbon I went to the Belem area which is on the river and a little outside of the center.  They have a Maritime Museum, a monastery that has the tomb of Vasco da Gama, a discovery monument where you can go to the top of, and it supposedly has the best pastel de nata (cream cake) in Lisbon.  The cake was good, more custard like than cream, and flaky.  You could put cinnamon and powdered sugar on top too.  Overall it was a good trip and now I'm off to Madrid and Salamanca this weekend since we have next Monday off. 

Discovery Monument in Belem

Portugal

The past week I've been in Portugal for Semana Santa and I just got back last night, although I'm asking myself did I really go to Portgual since I'm pretty sure I heard just as much Spanish spoken as I did Portuguese.  The first city I went to was Porto, in the north of Portugal.  It's known for it's wine, port, hence the name.  I took a metro from the airport into the city and I had directions to the city, but after that the directions that the hostel had given were awful.  You had to go down more streets than it said and I stopped and asked this guy and he was nice enough to look on the internet for the address since I was on the street, I just couldn't find the building.  I finally found it and after I checked in I went and wandered around for a bit since it was later in the evening.  The next day I went to some churches (there will always be a church to visit in Europe) and this palace that used to be the stock exchange in Porto, but now they only have it in Lisbon.  Then I headed across the river to go to a winery.  I was walking when I saw this girl explaining to two guys about a river cruise and a winery visit for only ten euros.  I had been in line for a river cruise earlier that was for ten euros, but the time changed for it so I left.  This was even better so I got a ticket and went to find the winery.  Portugal has to be the hilliest country I have ever been to.  Every single city I visited had huge hills to climb.  So I climbed up another hill and after asking for directions I finally found the winery.  The English tour started in a half an hour so I had to wait around, but as soon as you got there they gave you a white port to try.  The port was just ok - not as good as a rioja, but definitely better than sherry.  There were a lot of people there when I first got there, but they were for the Portuguese tour so once they cleared out it was only me and two other girls from Korea until more arrived.  I found out that they had walked the Camino de Santiago, a walk in northern Spain to the city of Santiago de Compostela.  The walk can start in various cities, from the Navarra region of Spain to a small French city on the border of France and Portugal.  I actually read a book before I left about a German man's journey on the camino.  It's supposed to be grueling and people can average anywhere from 15-30 kilometers per day.  Finally the wine tour started and it was informative albeit a little short, but after it was over we had another sample of port, this time a red one which was better than the white.  After the wine tour I went on the river cruise which was peaceful and then I just walked some more around the city.

At the winery in Porto

The next place I went to was Braga.  I had planned on going here before I found out it was the biggest place in Portugal for the Semana Santa celebrations, but really the processions were the highlight of Braga.  Otherwise it was a smaller town filled with churches and basically only churches to see.  I was able to catch the morning procession, a very short one to the Cathedral, where they held palms and they carried this funky thing that looked like a mini circus tent.  I'm not sure what the purpose of that was, but at this procession there weren't as many people.

Morning procession in Braga

The afternoon procession went throughout the main center of Braga and it had a lot more people in it along with solemn music.  The main piece was Jesus carrying the cross which several men carried.  It ended at one of the churches with a priest speaking and then they brought out Mary.  The procession continued, but it had already been an hour since it first started so I left. 

Two little boys in the procession

Besides the processions Braga had this beautiful garden filled with amazing flowers.  They didn't have any hostels in Braga so I stayed at a place that was nicer than a hostel, but not quite as nice as a hotel.  The best part:  they had tv stations in English including the BBC World News.  The highlight though was watching Glee (the Sexy Episode), the end of ultimate Cake Off and an episode of Cake Boss (he goes to Rome to make a cake).  I was in heaven.  Or English tv heaven at least.

The next day I took a side trip to Guimaraes, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and overall overrated.  It was supposed to have this castle (it did) and these cable cars that went up and overlooked the city (it did), but the castle basically just the foundation and it took me forever to find the cable cars.  Actually it took me forever to find a lot of things including a map just to get around the city and lets not forget Portugal is the country of hills. 

The castle in Guimaraes

Semana Santa

Semana Santa is upon us!  Semana Santa, or Holy Week, is the week before Easter and it's a big deal here in Spain.  It's filled with processions throughout the street and apparently the best ones are in Sevilla.  Sadly, well not really, I'll be in Portugal so I won't be able to see them here, but I'm pretty sure they have them in Portugal too and in one city I'm going to, Braga, I read they have the best processions there during Semana Santa out of the whole country.  From what I hear the processions are like the stations of the cross and these brotherhoods, called nazarenos, dress up in tunics and hats, and process in penitence.  These nazarenos resemble the KKK and I remember the first time I came to Spain we saw these figurines that, yep, looked like the KKK.  There were five of us who decided to buy one each and give it to our senora as a joke.  I've added some pictures of what the processions look like and check out how much the nazarenos really do look like the KKK.



Resemblance, anyone?  Minus the fancy purple color.



The Big Read

When I first came here I had a lot of spare time on my hands.  Now that I have private classes Monday through Thursday I don't have as much time, but there's always the weekends.  I'm an avid reader and The first few months here I read books like it was my job.  I bought The Portrait of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde in Florence and had it finished in two days.  I got a kindle for Christmas and I bought a new book last week and had it finished in a matter of days too.  My favorite classes were always History and English and, unlike many students who only looked at cliffnotes or sparknotes, I actually read the books that were assigned except for one, Tess of the d'Urbervilles.  That book was so hard to read and I missed a major part of the plot (thanks sparknotes), but everything else I read.  I did read Anna Karenina while I was here and I'm pretty proud of that one.  It's super long and I had tried to read it once before.  Yesterday I stumbled upon a list made by the BBC in 2003 (kind of old now, but oh well) of the top 100 books to read.  Apparently they think that the average person will read only six of them.  I can proudly say that I have read 21 of them (some of them several times like the Harry Potter series, To Kill a Mockingbird, Crime and Punishement) and right now I'm attempting to read War and Peace although that's another epicly long book like Anna Karenina.  I've heard that Ulysses is the hardest book to read and some books I know what happens in the end and they're kind of depressing (although that didn't stop me from reading Anna Karenina).  I know Wuthering Heights is supposed to be one of those books you have to read, but I know what happens in the end and it's pretty depressing.  I've seen Pride and Prejudice the movie, which, ok, it may not be the same as the book, but I have other things I'd rather read first.  Besides, where is Sense and Sensibility on this list by Jane Austen?  I have read that one and they put some of her other books before that.  Another example:  Love in the Time of Cholera.  I saw that recently here and the ending is depressing too.  In my opinion there's way too much Dickens on this list (have any of you read Great Expectations?  It will forever be in my memory as the much disliked book of freshman year of high school), but at least Lord of the Rings is number one, even though in this case the movies are better!

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien [x]
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling [x]
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee [x]
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell [x]
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë [x]
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens [x]
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy [attempting to read now]
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling [x]
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling [x]
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling [x]
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien [x]
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy [attempted and failed]
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving [x]
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck [x]
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen [x]
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen [x]
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald [x]
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell [x]
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy [x]
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer [x]
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky [x]
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding [x]
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar [x]
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

El Cuervo

A couple weeks ago I was talking to the lady who teaches English classes at my roommate's work and she asked me about my experience so far and if it was better than I expected.  I hesitated and she told me to be honest so I told her how awful the kids at my school are.  A girl walked in and we told her what we were talking about when she asked where I worked at.  I told her El Cuervo (the name of the city where my school is at) and she gave me this look that said it all while saying repeatedly, "Oh I'm so sorry.  Poor you!"  Every time I tell people where I work this is basically the same reaction although it varies sometimes from at first surprise and then pity.  Needless to say I understand why I receive these piteous looks and people saying they're sorry that I have to work there.  I explained to the lady who speaks English how the kids have no desire to learn English, or for that matter anything, and how their behavior is plain awful.  She said that people in El Cuervo can barely speak Spanish, proper Spanish, let alone English.  So very true.  Then she told me that the government believes the public schools should have a more 'free spirit' outlook so they don't crack down as much on how important it is to learn.  Hippie outlook much?  Now that I think about it though I have to agree.  The first time I skyped Jill we were talking about how different teaching abroad is and she said that over there they color a lot and I replied I know.  I'm pretty sure all the students in my school are expert colorers.  Seriously they will be outside in the hall coloring something to hang up on the walls and I'm thinking 'shouldn't they be in class?'  They're only at school 25 hours a week and they have a half an hour break every day - that's only 22.5 hours in class a week, way less than back home.  It will take them the entire 55 minutes to copy down an exercise that is only ten sentences long.  Today one of the kids asked if he could listen to music while copying down the work on the board and the teacher said it was fine.  Also during that class a student decided to throw eraser pieces at other students and a pencil case at the chalkboard.  Of course the teacher doesn't do anything.  No pasa nada.  One day last week two kids were fighting and literally rolling around on the floor.  I know my eyes were wide and I'm pretty sure the teacher saw my face.  If this ever happened back home I'm pretty sure half the school would be either suspended or in detention.  The kids are crude too and definitely know things that they should not know at their age.  Six year olds flipping each other off?  Teachers don't care and yes, it means the same exact thing as back home.  Needless to say these kids me vuelven loca (drive me crazy).  I'd love it if some of these teachers came to the U.S. and saw how our schools worked.  I'm pretty sure they would be shocked and maybe then they would realize that the let's color-celebrate-World Peace Day- attitude doesn't exactly enhance intelligence or help out the student whatsoever.   

Sevilla

My friend from back home, Sarah, who is in the program with me, but lives up in the Catalunya region came down to Andalucia this weekend.  We met up in Sevilla and it was really nice to get away from Jerez and to see someone familiar.  We visited the Cathedral and the Alcazar, the two major sites in Sevilla and we had lunch outside at the Irish place that has a good mix of Spanish and normal "American" food.  We both had a mix of both, a tortilla de patatas (basically it's potatoes and eggs cooked and mixed together) and cheese sticks.  Yum.  But it was SO hot!  Definitely summer weather and on the one side of my body I got sunburnt so now one arm is more burnt than the other and one side of my nose is redder than the other.  I was skyping Jill yesterday and she told me I get sunburnt at everyone opportune moment and she's basically right, but I wasn't expecting it to be that warm out!  We went to a cafe later and just walked around.  It was extremely refreshing and we were saying how our time is basically over here.  I only have four more weeks (five for the 1st graders) of lessons that  I have to plan and then I am finished!  I have this week of class left and then I leave for Portugal on Friday for our Semana Santa (Holy Week) break.  I can't wait!

Football

Last week I had one of the students ask me, "What's your team?"  Being in Spain for over six months now, I know what either answer should be.  Football aka soccer to us Americans is the most popular sport in Spain and in Europe.  Here in Spain there are many professional football teams, but really there are only two that count.  So the answer to this question would be either Real Madrid or Barca.  Real Madrid is from Madrid (obvio, no?) and Barca is from Barcelona.  Real Madrid is home to mega super football star Cristiano Ronaldo and Barca's superstar is Messi.  Now, being an American where soccer isn't too popular I used to shrug the question off.  This would result in the students deciding for me what my favorite team was or in comments that I like rugby which people constantly confuse with American football.  I have to explain that no, we don't play rugby and they are not the same.  So over the six months I've slowly started to side with Barca and when the student asked me I told him Barca.  Just the other day I was in my private class and he told me his next writing composition would be on sports.  I told him to pick a sport, which at first he said horseback riding, and I promptly told him to pick another one.  Seriously, horseback riding?  I had limited ideas on that topic for him to write about.  So he picked football and I told him to write why it was his favorite, his favorite team, and how to play.  When it got to the favorite team part he asked what team I was for and I told him Barca.  My response elicited a dropped mouth and writing in all caps that said REAL MADRID.  Then yesterday in the car the song Viva la Vida by Coldplay came on and the girl told me this was Barca's 'hymn', along, of course, with the Waka Waka.  So if you ever come to Spain and are asked which your favorite team is know that even if you are from Sevilla, Almeria, etc. (both of which have their own teams) know that there are really only two correct answers:  Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Messi, on the left from Barca, and Ronaldo, on the right from Real Madrid

And I thought my sister was loud

Back home my room is right across from out bathroom.  My sister started going to school almost a month and a half before I left for Spain so she would always be up around 6:30 or so.  I'm extremely light sleeper and needless to say my sister is quite loud in the morning.  She would leave the bathroom door open while she brushed her teeth, brushed her hair, and whatever else, while slamming the drawers.  Naturally I would wake up and then I would get out of bed to snap at her to shut the door and quit slamming the drawers before I attempted to go back to sleep since it takes me a bit to fall back asleep.  I'm pretty sure my roommate is worse than my sister in the being loud department when someone is trying to sleep.  She knows I'm attempting to go to sleep since I say goodnight.  She's just as bad with leaving the door open and light on while she gets ready for bed or wherever it is she goes off to in the mornings.  The tv is on the opposite wall of where the head of my bed is so sometimes she listens to the tv really loud and I can hear every little thing.  And then sometimes it's really late at night and she's talking on the phone.  Example:  Last night it was 11:30 when she walked in chatting on the phone. 

So Val, if you get up early in the mornings I'll try really hard not to snark at you if you're being too loud.  Keyword:  Try.

Two Months

I will be on U.S. soil in exactly two months.  I've already thought about how happy I will be just to be in the Atlanta airport knowing that I am at least in the U.S.  I talk to my family and friends on skype but I will be oh so happy to call them from my phone and tell them that I will be home in only a few short hours.  So family and friends, please expect a phone call from me, although I really think you all wouldn't expect anything less.

While living here there have definitely been some ups and downs emotionally.  The first month, October, was extremely hard with the stress of being in a new country and trying to get everything figured out.  Since then there are days that you miss home more than anything and this weekend was one of those.  At the cooking class on Friday the girls were AWFUL and I swear I need a drink everytime I leave that place.  I think I only have to do it one more time while I'm here, but I never like doing it.  From there it just went downhill. 

I decided to post some pictures of good memories of friends and family back home.  I cannot wait to be back home, even though Spain is great (mostly). 



Costume party in the middle of March?  Well, ok!



21st Birthday on the overnight train to Switzerland

Bathroom party

Motos abound

Jerez is known for four things: sherry, flamenco, horses, and motorcycles.  I visited a bodega (winery) when my mom and sister came to visit and flamenco really gets going in May so hopefully I'll be able to see a show then.  The feria, basically a week full of festivities at this park area that I can walk to (toma!) is the second weekend in May where they have horses and apparently everyone dresses up in flamenco atire.

Tio Pepe Bodega in Jerez



Even Steven Spielberg and Orson Welles have visited Tio Pepe!



At the bodega in December

This weekend is the World Motorcycle Championship and it's here in Jerez.  This means that there are tons of motos (motorcycles) around.  I can constantly hear them zooming outside of my piso.  I was walking back from the grocery today and I saw at least twelve motos parked outside of one tapas place.  This also means more police are out and I've heard more sirens going off too.  As I was writing this I've heard two sirens go off, in the matter of seconds, and countless motos.  The motorcycles aren't exactly like the ones we think of back home.  They're a lot sleeker looking, kind of like the hot rod of motorcycles.  The weekend's halfway over so hopefully I don't get run over by one.  I'm not counting on it at least.