Navidades

Ahhh, two weeks of vacation from work for Christmas. Sarah´s parents came to Spain and after a few days in Madrid we went to Andalucía. We traveled to Granada first and visited The Alhambra, an old Islamic palace/fortress. Because it used to be a fortress, the Alhambra is at the highest point of the city so the views were really tremendous. Granada is beautiful because it has both palm trees and other tropical plants and, in the distance, you can see snow capped mountains. The Islamic history is palpable in the architecture and atmosphere of Granada. Sarah, her parents and I had a great time just strolling around the city and taking in the scenery. The people in Granada were extremely nice. Sarah and I noticed immediately that the level of hospitality of the people is higher than in Madrid. It was remarkable. People aplogized, admitted when they were in the wrong, treated strangers with respect, truly amazing. After Granada, we went to Sevilla. Sevilla is my favorite city in Spain. It was warm, the architecture is vibrant and colorful and the people are kind. The downtown area of Sevilla has many green spaces and parks and the city is filled with orange trees. The orange and green contrast is beautiful but, unfortunately, the oranges are not edible. They are used for syrup and jelly. After a few days, we returned to Madrid and spent new years eve here. Sarah´s aunt came in from Barcelona, we ate the traditional twelve grapes at midnight and had a great time. Our new years resolutions are to make the most of each day, take more deep breaths and spend more time just smelling the roses (or the evengreen trees since it´s winter).

Lisboa

It has been a whole month since the last entry! We have been living well. I was sick for the last two weeks and have passed it on to paul but it is just a mild cold. This past weekend we had an extra long weekend thanks to the Spanish Constitution day. We took advantage of it along with thousands of other spaniards and went away for the weekend to Lisboa! Paul and I had not visited Portugal before and so we did not know exactly what to expect. We loved it. Our hostal room was in the center of the city. The owners of the hostal were an old portuguese couple. The man was a bit grouchy which led to some discomfort but the place was charming and comfortable. The city had all of its christmas lights up and it was beautiful. Lisbon has a lot of pedestrian-only avenues in the downtown area so it is a great walking city. If we had known more about geography, then we would not have been disappointed when we learned that Lisbon is not on the Atlantic coast but rather on the bank of a river. We were a little bummed but there were nice views of the river from some hills in Lisbon. We had fun learning some survival phrases in Portuguese but were surprised that we could not understand anything at all when we would listen to a real life colloquial conversations in restaurants and on the street. All in all, it was a great trip. the weather was very pleasant and it was fun to visit a new country. Thanks for reading!

Andalucia

Hey we did something exciting and different! This weekend we went down to Andalucia to a small fishing town 25km away from Portugal to visit our friend Chelsea. The name of the town is Cartaya. All of the buildings in Cartaya are painted white and the city is surrounded by agriculture. On our nature walk one day we saw almond, olive, lemon, and clemintine trees. Cartaya also is a 20min bus ride away from the Costa de la Luz so on our first day we went down to the beach to sleep off the rocky night bus ride.

I knew this would get more boring...

Welp, we are fitted snugly in our routine here and we are feeling more at ease. We are both working with adorable 2nd graders and it just happens that in the Alcalá de Henares primary school system, the school days start at 9am and end at 2pm so we have a lot of free time on our hands. The schedule also forces us to eat the Spanish way. We eat breakfast before we leave for school, coffee/fruit/cookies at 12, and then an actual meal at 2:30, and then we dont get hungry again until 9 or 10pm. The schedule also forces us to get some extra-curricular activities. I am going to be teaching 4 private english classes a week at 15€ a pop and I have a painting class that meets 4 hours a week. Paul has signed up for not one, not two, but three bookclubs and he is still working for ENH 10-25 hours a week, though his workload should be lighter soon. I might have already said this but Alcalá is also filled with cultural events that we have been frequenting movies, adult (adult: over 18 not adult: xxx) storytelling, and book fairs. We are fitting in just fine but we are still struggling to make friends. The program that we are in does not have a social aspect to it but its ok friends will come with time. Speaking of friends, two friends of ours came to visit us this weekend. Chelsea, a friend of mine who I studied with in Barcelona is doing the same program as us in a small fishing town in the south 25km from Portugal named Cartaya and Paul´s step sister Katie who had just finished an awesome Eurotour. Katie only stayed for a night but with Chelsea we were able to show her the town, take her to Madrid, and go for a nature walk. It was so nice to see familiar faces.

one week down, 40 more to go....

alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5119054438004515490" />


So the school start wasn´t the best but now things are falling into place. We love it here. The town is so small that we walk everywhere (except paul has to take the bus to his school). Alcalá is also filled with cultural events free to the public just about everyday of the week! Paul has been making a big effort to us out there and to make sure we are making the most of everyday and I really appreciate it. This week is Cervantes week so they have been holding a midevil fair ever since Saturday. The fair has taken over the central part of the city and has everything from delicious sweets to hawks and owls. Alcalá´s streets have been filled every night since then until 11 o´clock at night, even later.
School is getting better each day for the both of us. Soon enough Paul´s unorganized school will have a schedule made out for him. The teacher that I work primarily with is still out but she has finally been replaced by an actually substitute and not just randomly being covered by the teachers anymore. Other teaching English opportunities have been literally falling from the sky into our laps with out even searching for them. I have 3 tutoring jobs lined up and Paul has one with an English Institute in town. Paul does not want to overwhelm himself since he is still doing work for ENH and a lot of it. Hasta la proxima!

Yay obligatory drawing!

MOVIN ON UP!

Hello queridos. Hooray! We have our own space, own schedules, own roommates, own kitchen, own students, own everything! As you might be able to tell, we were getting tired of living in other people´s spaces but now we have no reason to complain! We moved in on Sunday afternoon and met our first roommate, Estefan. Estafan is Czech and an Erasmus student (Euro equivelant to study abroad program). Surprisingly, he went to a Czech/Spanish biligual high school and speaks Spanish as well as he speaks English (his mom is an English teacher and they learn English in school). He is very nice, clean, and funny. He was surprised to see us cooking because he told us he thought Americans cook everything in the microwave. We met our other roommate, Constancia, on Monday. She is from Germany and is also an Erasmus studet. She learned some Spanish in school but speaks English better. We told her about the American stereotypes/knowledge of Germans, funfun, bratwurst, being strict and orderly, etc. She was surprised we weren´t fat. Our room is very big and our closet is a monster which is nice. We still do not have a very good internet connection so ichatting and skyping isn´t working so far.
Alcalá de Henares is such a nice town! It has a beautiful Plaza and very old main street. Our place is right out side of the center of the city and still has all of life´s necessities including a library down the street where Paul signed up for one of his book clubs.
We have been trying our best to intergrate ourselves here, Paul signed up for two book clubs in the library and I am taking a painting class in the community center for young people. Paul has really enjoyed the last two sessions that he attended even though he was not able to read the book on time of course. He said that the people were very friendly and he loved listening and learning from the conversation. I am really enjoying the painting class. The fellow painters are very nice and the teacher has been helpful and supportive.
And what better way to intergrate your self than becoming a teacher! We started classes Wednesday! Paul´s first day was almost a joke. He met the school principal, the director of the program, and the other young teacher helpers and then pretty much sat around until school got out because the school had not yet organized their schedules.
My day was almost a nightmare. The way my school works is that you are scheduled with 1 or 2 teachers and help them teach English and Science which is taught in English. 1 of my 2 teachers, who I have the majority of my classes with is out because her mother is ill and they do not know when she will return. They still have not gotten a sub for my teacher which means that the other teachers from the school are scrambling around the school in order to cover all of her classes. Every period my second graders get a new teacher who most likely does not know what they are studying and may or may not speak English. As you can tell my school is also disorganized. So, on the first day, during my first period a teacher came in to teach the English lesson but she did not teach English so...i had to teach the lesson plan for the day, control the kids and most importantly improvise. It was awful, the kids didnt listen to me, they were chatting, throwing things, not paying attention, hitting, etc. I need a lesson in discipline because I have know idea how to control 7 year olds. But wait, that is not my job. So I was very discouraged and annoyed the rest of the day. Lucky for me today was better and we have Fridays off so I am feeling all right.