Second Honeymoon!

The most exciting part about february was definitely our second honeymoon. We flew out to the Canary Islands which are west of the Morrocan coast. It was beautiful. We had never been to the island before and it was breath taking. There was a tropical climate and fauna on the coast and moon-like territory the higher up we climbed the island in our tiny european car. Unforgettable.

February!

Our blogging skills have been lacking lately. Since Segovia, I went to Barcelona and we both went to Toledo and Cordoba. We went to Toledo with a friend of mine that I met in the Barcelona while we were studying abroad. He had come in town for a week to visit me and our friend, Chelsea, who is living in southern Spain. We had a great time in that ancient city. John and I went into the Cathedral where there are original Grecos, Caravaggis, and Goyas. It is an amazing city with the original wall still surrounding the city.





Barcelona was as beautiful as ever! Paul was sadly too sick to join our friends, Mollie and Lisa, to the city. But we still managed to have a good time. It was a great chance for me to play tour guide in my favorite Spanish city.







In Cordoba we forgot our camera!! So we don´t have pictures:( The weather was warm and the sky was cloudless. We only spent a short 27 hours in the city but it was enough to see the city again.

So we have spent 6 months here and have 6 months left until we come back to Evanston for P squared wedding! This year abroad has been much easier than the year we spent abroad 3 years ago. Now we are able to live with each other and we have been able to speak with our families and friends using Skype and ichat which has helped our homesickness. We forget how truly far away we are from home. Lately we have been thinking that it is time for a change. Paul has not enjoyed teaching as much as he had hoped and we are starting to get tired of the spanish attitudes we encounter over and over again. We have been thinking about making a move to Mexico. We have always talked about Mexico and now it seems more important than ever to make the move there. We would love to learn the differences in the language, be closer to home, and gain experience volunteering there. We love it here in Spain but we are ready to move on.

Segovia

Here are some pictures from our excursion to Segovia. It is a popular excursion in Madrid because of its impressive aquaduct.

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.