Noviembre en Andalucia

Hola a todos,

Por fin! I finally got around posting the November blog… better late than never! In this blog read about the amusing night with a couchsurfer (if you don’t know what the flip that is, read on!) A fiesta de disfraces, my relationship with the Catholic church ;p (deep I know, sorry!), new arrivals, Thanksgiving celebrations in a small town in the south of Spain, and another magical trip to Sevilla!
Ok, so backtracking to about the 2nd week of November….

Ever heard of couchsurfing? Well, I think you can make an educated guess what it is by the name! So, think hitch-hiking, but with sofas lol. It’s a fun way of meeting new people, it’s absolutely free (great for students who are trying to travel on a budget!) and well organized on a webpage. You can create a profile and host or surf couches in all of Europe and America. Yes mum- it’s also slightly dangerous as you could quite possibly be inviting a lunatic into your home, but Kate assured me you can quite often get an accurate description of the person from comments made from other people who have stayed with/hosted them in the past. It seemed like it could be a laugh, and in our wee town in the middle of the country, we’re sure up for some entertainment! So we hosted a guy from Granada for a night. SO much fun! This young guy was a talented musician and multi-lingual traveler. Talk about feeling inadequate! Chatty, sociable, hilarious, caring, cute….this guy made our week hehe! Not only did he bring DVD’s (i.e entertainment!!) into our home, and buy us dinner, but he also fixed our TV (yes- by plugging it in properly, but how were we supposed to know you have to stick an aerial into it???!!! Oops!) After weeks of only being able to access 3 channels, we are now set up with a ton…including late night movies on LA1 !! Spoilt Oh, and he taught us some fun Spanish words! The best was the difference between ‘una chispa’ un rato and un ratito…each qualifying a period of time- so una chispa would be ‘a moment i.e second’, whereas, un rato could be a few hours. He then explained that this could vary between people, so if one person declares they’ll call you back in ‘un rato’- it could be 2 hours, whilst for another…southern Spaniard especially, it’s more likely going to be 8!

Half way through November, Kate and I attended a Peluca party (wig party!) Kate and I loved it- we bought two rather dazzling wigs from the local Chino store and felt like the Dr Seuss characters! The party was in Rubén’s flat & we danced the night away with our friends, practicing lots of Spanish, learning some new Spanish songs (apparently a few classics from the 80’s!)…a merry night indeed!

New arrivals….
After living with a spare room for a month, Kate and I finally got ourselves a new housemate! May I introduce Miguel Ángel! A 29 year old PE teacher from Jaen, Andalucia. Not only does he have a car (SWEET!) but he is probably the most domesticated man I have ever met in my life! He cooks (and I mean cooks- fresh Spanish cuisine yummy!) and he cleans…in the space of a month I have learnt how to mop a floor the proper way, cook fish ‘a la plancha’, speak with a Andaluz accent –maybe not a good thing!?!! ;p and have been introduced to 20th Century Spanish costume dramas: ‘La Señora’ haha! Not only has the rent now reduced to 150 Euros a month (!!) but we now have a Spanish teacher, a more Spanish lifestyle (our flat now shuts up for siesta like clockwork!) and another amazing friend here in Valverde. Kate and I are quite pleased with our new flatmate.

Another recent arrival, is 25 year old Christen from Florida, USA. Fun, outgoing and entertaining with a slight ‘no me jodas’ attitude, and if you don’t know what that means it’s probably for the best! We love her and she has settled very quickly and become a great friend of Kate, Miguel and mine. Coming from the beach in Florida and the ‘ghetto’, it was a shock for her as she got dropped off in our country town in a now wintery climate. But she’s a tough girl and has settled & adapted quickly and now shares in our frustrations (backwardness ahem*), laughs, excitements and adventures with la vida en Andalucia! I think it’s fair to say we’re all quite different, but we seem to balance each other perfectly so that instead of 3 different cultures/customs/languages colliding with one another, we seem to gel and almost value & respect each other more because of this. Christen is learning British English from me (although I frequently get teased about my random words- quid, ‘half past three’, cutlery, bog, ‘do a wee’ etc are just a couple of examples lol!) And Kate and I are learning Mexican Spanish from her- ¿que Honda guey? And terms like ‘what the French..toast?’ and totally loving the exclamation: Shut up!!! (no way!) –yes, there are actually people who say this- it’s not just on the movies! hehe

Ok, now I’m going to try and face the subject of the Catholic church and my experience with it thus far… I’ll start on a positive and rather ironic story….So a couple of weeks ago I was sat in my room planning lessons, when I heard music. As soon as I heard it I knew it was worship music- I swear my heart skipped a beat and I’ve never moved so quick in my life! It must have been hilarious for Kate watching me run from one side of the flat to the other, trying to figure out where in the street it was coming from! Then we realized it was coming from below us! A catholic church group were having a random meeting in the empty building two floors below us! I think this may have been God hinting ‘right Cor, if you’re not getting off your bum to go and seek out a church, maybe I’ll plant one under your nose and make it easier for you!’ Or something like that lol. So I waited until the service was over, then spoke to the pastor. He informed me that there was a group called ‘Jesus es también para hoy!’ (Jesus is also for today) that met twice a week. So I went. Honestly, the first time I went, it couldn’t have been better. The speaker was incredible and did the infamous illustration of Adam and Eve-tree- snake-sin- separated from God- Jesus comes to build the bridge- unite- forgiveness. You know… the best story ever? Well, the fact it was in Spanish made it even more exciting. But then the following week I was rather confused by the talk. The topic was confession. Yep- catholic style. So not only was it a slightly alien concept for me, but when they asked us directly what we thought about it I was stuck for words. I really just wanted to say: ‘well, if Jesus died so we could have a relationship with him and God, why can’t we speak directly to him…why go through different Saints, and confess to a human in a box?’ But I decided it wasn’t the best idea to insult the church, and I’m already labeled as the ‘Protestant’ that is forbidden to take communion. Ah, this was something I had to have one of those 2 hour Skype sessions with Ryan about. I feel bad for him, he always gets my rants about this kinda stuff lol. But he certainly makes me understand it all better and helps me to let things go. I guess I was just annoyed that people who have taken communion classes because their parents forced them too, and are therefore ‘Catholic’ even though they openly declare a lack of faith, can take part in communion and I have to sit and watch feeling like an outsider. Let’s just say the Catholic church is a little slow to change and can make you feel quite unwelcome if it wants. But it’s certainly made me even more thankful for my church back home, that’s for sure! On a more amusing note, I need to start learning the Catholic hand movements- they do a lot of things with their hands and it’s rather confusing- God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit etc- but one time the priest did this thing were he touched his face in like 10 different places really quickly and everyone followed- I think I probably looked like I was slapping my face – I had no idea!

American influence in Spain

The end of November saw the Americans (and the ‘half American’ as I’m now also called!) bring their culture and celebration of Thanksgiving to a small town in Spain! We held a dinner party at the flat, and all got stuck in with preparing food, decorations etc. Kate’s mum visited that week and so it was good fun having her around, shopping for the non-existent turkey, and finally settling for a whole chicken! The meal was a success, everyone brought a dish and so we had plenty of food for everyone. Although there was a slight hitch at the start, as the Spanish found the concept of a buffet rather confusing, but they soon got the idea that they had to eat off their own plate and help themselves to the buffet table- I think tapas is all their used to for an evening meal- but we got there eventually, and Christen got them all to hold hands (yes- about 20 of us!) and said grace.
Making my apple pie was interesting as there were no pie dishes or rolling pins, but it was a laugh nevertheless.

Finally, November finished with a short and sweet weekend trip to Sevilla with Christen, Kate and her mum. It was great to see Sevilla decorated for Christmas, with a nativity market and chestnuts roasting on every street corner. We ate well, as ever here in Spain! Yummy tapas, Flamenco por la noche and all the usual treats that come with my favourite city.

We celebrated Barbara’s 60th birthday in Valverde, taking her out for delicious tapas! (I just realized I’ve talked an awful lot about food in this blog- I used to tease the Spanish about it, and now listen to me…but it is sooo good) Miguel found it strange and almost rude that I dipped my cheese into my wine, so kate and I tagged him later on facebook in a photo of a friend of ours and I dipping cheese into wine. The catch-phrase was ‘Immersion del queso en el vino- un tradicción de Jaen- que rico!!!’ …in other words, we claimed that it was a tradition from his home city in Jaen, Andalucia hehe. Oh flat banter!

Before Barbara flew back to Wisconsin, we managed to visit the Saturday market in Valverde- out in the streets the tents are full with shoes and clothes at really excellent prices! I splashed out on two sexy pair of heels and then bought sensibly by buying some winter clothes- although the weather is still dry and the days are sunny, the nights can be cold and due to the backwardness of southern Spain, the houses aren’t heated! Que frío!
We also bought a Christmas tree for the flat and had a laugh decorating it, especially when we switched on the lights to find they were musical lights that played a very out of tune jingle bells! Fortunately there’s an off button!

Well I think that’s it for November folks. Will be posting a final blog before Christmas with tales from our trip to Lisbon (amazing city!) for the December 4 day weekend and any other happenings here in Valverde. So until then, besos a todos! Keep in touch!

Blessings,
Cor xXx

Halloween in Madrid, a trip to Sevilla and other tales...

İHola a todos! ¿Que pasa? (literal translation of the American phrase ‘What’s up?’ and one of my favorites here J lol) I decided it was about time I updated my Blog spot with more updates on la vida en Andalucía, so I sacrificed taking a siesta and opened up a word document ;p

I have lots of bits and bobs to tell you and they come under four main headings; 1. a trip to the discotheque in Valverde ;p. 2. Updates on school/teaching. 3. A beautiful weekend break in Seville with my family (minus José ) and 4. a very spontaneous trip to Madrid this past weekend.

So, discotheque…let me back-track to that morning….if you remember the Italian boys I mentioned in my last blog; well, they decided a trip to the beach in Punta Umbria would be fun. (This is the beach town I spent 6 wks au-pairing in this summer). So Kate and I took the bus down to the beach and chilled out in good & entertaining company for the day- bliss! It amazes me how the sun is still shining & the ocean is still inviting despite being the end of October! I took a book down to the beach with me, and was determined to read it. It’s called God Stories and I bought a copy for Ryan as part of his 23rd birthday present. I thought it would be cool to read something together & he’s been asking me lately how much I’ve read, and when I would be ready to discuss it with him. So that morning whilst packing my beach bag with sunscreen, towel, bikini, Ipod… I took the book & said to myself: ‘Right Corrie. You are going to read the first 3 chapters today.’ (very achievable right?) I was SO determined. And had it been me in the UK, I would have probably read 5 chapters! But I totally did a Heidi that day! Hehe! I.e; I went down to the beach determined to crack open the book (not a dense poetic book like Heidi’s ‘King Lear’ in Tenerife, I salute anyone who can read that whilst on an exotic beach! This was a very light-reading style book) Instead I woke up a few hours later having taken a very long siesta & found that the bookmark was still in the ‘Prologue’. Hmpf. Well, this is the Corrie of Spain…and Tony laughed and said to me ‘mañana!’ Yep, tomorrow perhaps. Ah, I just remembered one funny story: So we were all dozing/relaxing on the beach when Tony suddenly reached for a cigarette and proclaimed: ‘Cuando siento bien, yo fumo mucho, cuando siento mal, fumo igual!!!’ ah, it cracked us up so much!!! Literal translation is: ‘When I feel good, I smoke a lot. When I feel down, I smoke the same amount.’ I guess it sounded funnier when he said it in Spanish because it rhymed (mal/igual), and I guess we were expecting him to say he smoked less or more when he felt down, but anyway, it cracked me up and went in the quote book!

Anyway, so that was a long paragraph about not a lot.... so we ended up missing our bus back to Valverde…again! Our bus to Punta Umbria should have got us to our connection 10 minutes early, but it decided to pass by all the villages and so we ended up missing our connection by 5 minutes and had to wait 2 hours until the next bus! Ooh the transport!
So, we eventually got back to Valverde and I think maybe the Italians had been unclear about the town, because Miguel walked out onto our patio, took in the view of the countryside and said “Bueno. Entonces, ¿dónde está la playa?”…oh dear. We felt bad explaining that, actually, Valverde is a countryside town & that there is no beach! Although Kate and I were tempted to tell him to ‘take a left and just keep walking…you can practically smell the sea air’ hehe, but that would have been mean ;p But they enjoyed their time regardless. Kate, Erica and I took them to the one and only nightclub in the town. The legendary ‘Blue’! It was an interesting night lets say. The Spanish see nightclubs as places to talk. And the Spanish love to talk! We girls were desperate to have a dance, but the Spanish all stand outside the nightclub with their plastic bags from the local supermarkets, full to the brim with cheap alcohol…and other stuff …ahem* It was also amusing seeing many students shouting ‘Maestra maestra! Hola profesora de ingles!’ Oh Blue…!

Two weekends ago, I was treated to a weekend break in Seville with my parents and Hannah. Unfortunately Joe, (who I now refer to as José) couldn’t take the time off uni, but it was amazing to see them & show them around a bit. Seville is just beautiful. I absolutely love the city. It’s just full of character, horses and carts, artists, street performers, helados, incredible cuisine, flamenco dancing, bull fighting, Moorish architecture…the list goes on! Dad treated us to a very luxurious hotel with spa, beautiful pool and a central location. We took a day trip to the ruins of a Roman town and gladiator stadium called Itálica. (Photos on facebook album ‘Vale, venga, vamos!’) To be honest, it was hardly ruins. It was almost like being at the coliseum in Rome! A lot of the original construction still stands. So that was great to see, and we had a giggle by the conman in the parking lot: As we parked up off street, a scruffy man with what appeared to be a policeman’s hat and florescent jacket walked up to us and told me we had to pay to park there. So I asked where the ticket machine was, and he said HE was the ticket machine. So I asked how much it was. He said ‘Como tu quieras’!!! In other words, whatever I was willing to pay him! I was confused at this point and spoke to my Dad in English, translating what I had been told. My Dad laughed and said “Give him 2 Euros, this is one of those ‘Would you like me to look after your car, sir?’ moments. If you don’t pay them, you may return to find your car is scratched or is missing a wheel!’ Apparently my Dad’s accustomed to this-one word: Liverpool ;p So we paid him, he seemed happy, and we carried on with our day. Oh..and we didn’t get a ticket to prove payment- apparently his plan wasn’t that advanced haha.

On the final night, Hannah and I got into our PJ’s & I washed my face, took off my make-up, got into bed and checked my facebook. Immediately a Spanish friend from Seville ‘facebook chatted’ me, saying it was his birthday and he wanted me to come to his party tonight, starting now. Coincidentally he lives opposite our hotel!!! I was so tempted to just sleep, but I thought ‘Corrie, you’re here once as an Erasmus, make the most of these opportunities’-if anything, it will be good language practice. So I got out of bed, threw my clothes back on, slapped the make-up back on, tried to make myself ‘guapa’ and nipped across the road to find a house packed with Erasmus students from all over the world! It was a great night & of course great Spanish practice! When I was there, I just got stuck in and made the effort to meet new people. I guess this experience has built up my confidence a lot; not only in speaking Spanish, but in feeling comfortable about talking to new people from different countries, customs and backgrounds etc. It’s such a great and crazy experience. There must have been about 10 different nationalities in that room that night, and we were all communicating in Spanish. So cool!

Quick update on school: I’m now settled into more of a routine and I’m enjoying the laid-back and friendly atmosphere of the school. I’ve got to the point now where I’ve learnt a lot of names which makes me feel at home, and I’m enjoying the benefits of free trips to the theatre hehe- even if it was a ‘waiting for Godo-esque’ play ;p
I have even more private lessons now- most with children, but now I have a conversation class with an adult too. This class is great because it doesn’t require preparation- I just get paid for going out for a drink with someone and teaching them some English! Hard life hey?! ;p I actually now have classes at a primary school with kids (aged 5-11) which is stressful but rewarding too. The kids are so sweet (well, there’s this one boy called Jesus who is naughty- I told him he has to change and live up to his name- but I don’t think he understood lol). Another group, which I think might be my new favorites, is a group of six 17 year olds who are really enthusiastic about learning English, and I’m now friends with them on tuenti! (the Spanish facebook!) It’s fun chatting with them and playing Coldplay songs and making them pronounce the words properly! For some reason Spanish people ALL pronounce words that begin with ‘s’ as ‘es’, like scary would be ‘escary’, and spider ‘espider’, it’s very amusing. But I’m sure I constantly pronounce things wrong in Spanish so no pasa nada hey? ;p
I took Hannah to a tutoring group when she was over. It was one of my better groups; just two girls aged 7, (actually identical twins!) and we taught them farm animals with flashcards, played a few games and sang ‘Old Macdonald had a farm!!’ They loved it, and they loved Hannah too- although for a while they thought she was Hannah Montana, but I explained that there’s more than one person called Hannah in the world! It was so amusing holding up a flashcard with a name of a farm animal and hearing them make the relevant noise- especially when you hold up the word ‘pig’ and they start clucking like chickens hehe. Bless!

I love how Valverde is so loco! (Crazy!) People say that it’s a very unique town with crazy people, but in a good way! For example, Wednesday nights I always head to a bar with some of the younger teachers. Last week, this guy starts singing to Kate and I Flamenco style: ‘No quiero más mentiras. Solo tú, la verdad!’ (I don’t want any more liars, only you, it’s the truth). It was funny. Then we met this guy who told us he had a friend in Madrid who would show us the sights if we wanted. Everyone just goes out of their way to help you here. I guess in such a small town, people have more time on their hands to do so?

So finally I come to the third and final big update: MADRID! By pure luck I was talking to a geography teacher at my school and she mentioned that she and her husband were heading to Munich for the long weekend and that they were driving up to Madrid to catch a flight! How lucky was that! So she had enough room in the car for Kate, Erica and I! Amazing! We took her up on the offer and paid her a quarter of what it would have cost by bus! Sweet!!!

On arrival in Madrid, Erica exclaimed “I have a good feeling about his place’ and a second later a huge cockroach scuttled towards us in the metro station, causing Kate and I to scream and start running in the opposite direction. It reminded me of 1st year German; studying Kafka’s metamorphosis; for a second a part of me was like ‘don’t kill it. It might be a person!?!’ I’m losing my marbles. Madrid is a nice city but I think having visited Seville the week before I had to force myself not to compare them. I loved Seville with its Moorish architecture, quaintness and Mediterranean atmosphere and so the cosmopolitan city and the ‘hustle and bustle’ of Madrid came as a shock to me. Even taking the metro took a bit of getting used to- learning that when the doors shut, they shut. So if you get stuck in between you have to force yourself inside or risk getting killed lol.

On arrival, we exited the tube at a station called ‘Sevilla’ and came out onto one of the most impressive streets in Madrid. The huge grand, white buildings were a stark contrast to Seville’s andalucian Moorish fashion. I was really impressed with the statues and fountains plotted around the city.
Our youth hostel was literally the haunted house and we had a tower of terror as the lift- imagine one of those old fashioned, black barred lifts. Argus Filch- well, an old creepy man, took us to our dorm and handed us the key. Lets just say the hostel was very appropriate for the Halloween weekend!

On Saturday we toured around the city by foot and I met up with Mairi for the day (another Erasmus student from St Andrews). It was wonderful to see her, catch up and exchange experiences of Spain- which were unsurprisingly different considering she’s living in the capital whereas I’m in the laid-back loco region of Andalucia. However, some things were similar; opening hours of banks (9am-2pm Mon-Fri) causes her just as much bother as it does me! The day consisted of visiting an Egyptian Temple, the palace, la Reina Sofia art gallery (which features Guernica, a painting by Picasso that I studied last year) We stayed in the tourist areas and had a relaxing lunch outside Plaza Mayor; the perfect spot for people watching and enjoying the street performers. Churros and chocolate were a treat that morning for breakfast too- healthy…not ;p In the evening we tried to dress up a little for Halloween, although Erica was the only one in a ‘halloween-esque’ outfit really! I wore a Flamenco dress that was black and yellow- best I could do! We hit up an Irish bar and met some other Erasmus students there. It was great being sat at a table with a guy from Kent, a N.Irishman, a Scottish gal, me and Kate. It felt like I was back in St Andys! Kate loved the N.Irish accent and found the guy from Kent hilarious-English sarcasm was a different kind of humor for her, but she loved it. We even got a free pumpkin hat, which attracted attention when Kate and I were walking back to the Hostel, as guys shouted ‘Calabazas…adonde vais?’ (Pumpkins, where are you going!!?) lol

Having got to bed at 5am, Kate and I decided to skip the Prado art gallery the next morning and have a long sleep until midday- then we took a trip to Toledo! It was the best plan- I’d always heard that Toledo was beautiful, and it definitely lived up to my expectations. We took a guided bus tour and spent a few hours just walking around the cities narrow and winding cobbled streets, popping into souvenir shops and buying mazapan (marzipan), which later made us sick because we ate too much! Typical tourists hehe. Being there made me feel like I was in the Land of the Elves in Lord of the Rings- with the beautiful river, hills, cliffs and plantation. Check out my photos on facebook (Halloween in Madrid and Toledo)

The final night Erica was sick with a cold, so Kate and I went out for a burger and in search of a 24 hour pharmacy. Lets just say we got a little lost and as we walked down a main street, Kate turned to me and said “Corrie, check out their outfits!’ A few women/men (couldn’t really distinguish!) were hanging around in rather skimpy clothes. And as we got further down the road we realized we had stumbled across the red light district! We quickly got out of there!
The final day we took a stroll in Retiro Park. It’s a nice green area in the middle of the city that has a lake with rowing boats to hire, fountains, cafes and interesting statues- a little tranquility in an extremely busy city.

Well, I think that’s all my updates for now. Sorry for the essay! Please please please keep me updated with your news. I miss hearing from you St Adrians. I hear that you’re experiencing flooding at the moment- crazy times! It’s now November 3rd and I’m sat on my terrace soaking up some sun

Blessings,
Un besito, Cor xXx
P.S: My landline in Spain for those who fancy a chat hint hint: (+34)959 550 104

First update from España

So after 3 weeks of la vida en Andalucia, I decided it was about time I updated my blog & let you all know that I am alive despite the lack of communication everyone has received from me! Life is different here. I think that’s the best word to describe my experience so far. And of course this ‘different’ life has its advantages- long siestas, muchas fiestas, a relaxed & very friendly manaña mentality! But naturally it also has its complications- shops close between 2pm-6pm (the time when you’re out of work and want to do stuff!), public transport is unreliable & limited (sometimes bus drivers stop for cigarette breaks causing you to miss your transfer!) and communication is still in the 20th Century… internet is only just being introduced properly & therefore costs an arm & a leg. Different, but an experience! And I love it!

I arrived in Valverde 3 weeks ago and already I feel I’ve really bonded with some people here. Although the town is pretty & has character, I would say it’s the people rather than the place that makes Valverde an enjoyable and peaceful home. There’s a group of Spanish teachers who are all in their twenties & we meet up twice a week for meals and games etc. Playing taboo in Spanish was defs an experience & great oral practice! I have been blessed with an amazing housemate- a girl called Kate (24) who lives near Chicago. She’s so great & we have lots of giggles together. It’s just refreshing to be able to come home and speak English after a day at the office ! We’re living in a beautiful & pretty huge ‘piso’ with a terrace, 4 bedrooms (2 spare bedrooms – hint hint for visitors), two bathrooms, lounge & kitchen & it’s just a couple of ‘calles’ away from the centre which makes things a lot easier for getting to internet spots! Incredibly it’s only 200 Euros a month pp! Now if that doesn’t tempt you to move to Spain, maybe the 1 Euro a liter Sangria, white beaches & the constant sunshine might! !

Last weekend was a holiday, so we had a 3 day weekend to enjoy. We weren’t sure where to go, and so figured a trip to Lagos, Portugal might be a laugh. İİİQUE BONITA LA PLAYA!!! Seriously the most beautiful beaches I have ever visited- the historic town provides tourists with paradise beaches, palm trees and crystal blue oceans, nightlife and the most incredible cuisine I’ve ever tasted, pescado as cheap as chips but delicious and so fresh! Check out the photos on facebook.

We arrived Saturday after a pretty hectic journey- again, the transport system is quite backward here, so a mere 4 hour journey by car took us 8! 2 buses, a ferry and 2 trains brought us safely to the beautiful coastline of Lagos & smiling, tanned faces! We literally went straight to the beach to cool off in the ocean. We spent a lot of time soaking up the sun at the beach & swimming with mini fish in the tropical ocean-.I was sad not to find Nemo though ;p In the evenings we hit the bars & met some cool people on the final night- Italian romantics- Kate & I made it quite clear we weren’t interested in ‘sexy time’ but it didn’t sway them…and Erica (another American assistant from our town) had a holiday romance with Miguel whilst Kate and I told tales of our lovers in America who were equally as romantic as Italian men but with a little something extra… oh yes.. Faithfulness! Hehe. Seriously though, it was amazing to hang out with them and another American- Paul. (He was a sweetheart & we’re hoping to make a trip to Seville sometime to visit him & his Spanish roommates!) We even took a dip in the sea at 4am- la vida loca is taking its grip on me! Seriously great for our Spanish too, as it was the only common language we all shared!

Another fun guy was this hippy style, organic, tea-total, multi-lingual, hilarious magician that called us over to watch his show in the street- I was ‘Miss English’ & helped assist him in his unicycle act. His favorite saying in between his acts was “I like you, you like me… 50/50!!!” We found it quite amusing. Later we bumped into him at a bar & had a great time hearing about his incredible travel stories in S.America, USA and Europe & I was amazed at how perfectly he spoke Spanish, English, Portuguese and French. He also knew a bit of German, but it was limited to “Hallo, auf wiedersehen and scheizer.” Lol. He’s now trying to fulfill his 5 ambitions in life- 1. Save the planet…well, by planting trees, 2. Write a book of his travel stories (he has started it), 3. Move to Brasil (his dream) and finally 4&5. Find his soul mate so he can reproduce & make baby magicians! He was one wacky guy!
I just find it astonishing hearing about other peoples views of the world, of life and their tales of other lands. I told him at one point that I was afraid of heights, and he asked me seriously what my star sign is… apparently it is quite common for an Aquarius! ;p

The return journey was an experience too- we got to the bus station in Lagos at 7am (after an all-nighter on the beach with our Italian friends) and planned to catch the 1st of 2 buses to Huelva that day. Only to discover that the hour we had been given was the ‘Spanish hour’ i.e. an hour ahead. So we had missed the bus. Amusingly we went back to our hostel, checked back in and slept until midday- 3 very much appreciated hours of sleep! Then we tried again that afternoon- this time turning up Portuguese time! When we got to the city of Huelva at 7pm we were welcomed by a moody Spanish ticket lady who told us there were no more buses to Valverde. Panic time. But you know what they say… ‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know!’ So we called our Spanish friend Rubén- a real legend! And he proclaimed that he would ‘come and rescue the three musketeers!’ And so we arrived safely back in Valverde after experiencing the very frustrating but sometimes amusing Andalucía transportation system! So Lagos- perfect beach holiday destination- a must- just rent a car!

I guess I should mention the school briefly too- I work at a middle school called Don Bosco. I’m teaching Geography, PE and English & so far so good. It’s hard at times because I have to learn the stuff about tectonic plates, hemispheres, terminology etc before I teach it, but I’m enjoying the challenge & the translation work that comes with it. Unlucky for Kate, she has to do Math classes- sometimes we sit down together and try and figure out the problems, but 12 year old math is just too much for our brains hehe- we are hopeless! But the students find it amusing ;p, and besides, we didn’t sign up for this- I left math and geography behind 5 years ago! Just keeps coming back to haunt me lol.
On our first day we asked to sit in an English class just to observe. When we introduced ourselves they asked us “Do you have boyfriend?” It confused them greatly that both I and Kate’s boyfriend are called Corrie/Corey. We got a giggle out of it though. There’s one boy who has a bit of a bad reputation in the school called Samuel. But if you keep on the right side of him he can be nice enough. He frequently winks at me & proclaims on a regular basis how he loves me and even wrote in permanent marker on the white board: ‘Corrrey y Samuel’ in a heart…. I don’t know what I found more amusing, the spelling of my name or the fact that it wouldn’t rub off & is now stuck on the classroom board as a ‘recuerdo’.

I love how friendly Spaniards are. The teachers are so welcoming & the students reasonably enthusiastic to learn. I can’t walk down the street anymore without hearing ‘Hello! Hello!’ and turning to see a teenager with their eyes twinkling & a beaming smile (yes, that tends to be the limit of their knowledge of the English language, but it brings a smile to my face every time.) I’m having to work 12 hours a week in the school & a further 4hours tues/wed afternoons doing English Workshops as an after school club. I’ve also been lucky to have a few private lessons lined up helping to pay for my travelling & exploring of this beautiful country! Just this week I've also started additional tutoring in a private school that is situated literally across the road from me. So lots of teaching and little free time during the week but it helps pay for the trips at the weekends!

There have been so many good times so far & I just love how laid back everyone is here. A good example would be our landlady. We’ve been living in the house for 3 weeks now and we’re only just getting round to signing the contract & she’s letting us pay her when we want- within some limits of course- but I just find it incredible that I have been living in an apartment for 3 weeks and haven’t paid a single cent! Life here depends a lot on TRUST I guess.

I think you will be able to view the photos from Lagos. I will upload the ones of Valverde soon too. For now I think that’s all I wanted to say. Thinking and praying for many of you St Adrians- I hear, after talking with Hannah and Heidi that honors level is a big step up & you’re all working very hard. I’m worried I will have a slight shock returning next year to … what’s that word? … ah, study!?!
Well, I miss you all and sending muchos besos around the world to wherever you beautiful people are.
Keep me updated with news and gossip from the bubble!
Abrazos y besos,
Cor xXx

Preparations

Querido amigos,

Welcome to my blog! Over this coming academic year I will be updating my blog, hopefully on a fortnightly basis, with bits & bobs, mostly photos & stories from my wee town in the region of Huelva, Andalucia, so that despite the distance between us, you can follow my progress & remember me!

Right now I'm still in the UK, and despite all the frustration & impatience that comes with preparing to embark on a year abroad in a new country, with a new language and different culture, I'm also becoming increasingly excited about it all. Little Miss Organized that I am, I have been spending the past week emailing, calling, googling (is this actually a verb now?) various contacts in Spain, trying to sort out accommodation and working out what my job entails, working hours etc. Typically Spanish, I have received thus far no response from my school. It has been known that assistants show up to find that the school wasn't aware of an "Auxiliar de conversacción". Oh dear. I haven't even arrived in Spain, and I'm already learning that maybe my slightly Germanic way of leading a structured and organized life may need some re-adjusting this year! The theory of "manaña" comes to mind. Nevertheless I'm trying to stay positive and believe that our heavenly Father has a plan, and even if it may not be the organized and meticulously detailed plan I had been hoping for, it is the better one by far. So watch this space.....


One thing that is most definitely official is my flight ! I depart from Liverpool to Faro with the wonderful Easyjet on Sunday 27th September, at the very disagreeable time of 04:45am. Yes, this time was my choosing as booking so late meant the prices of flights with a sensible departure time were over my budget!Anyway, on a positive, I'm very blessed to have my mum flying over with me = 20 kilos extra luggage (so I can bring all my dresses ;p), a familiar face and a chauffeur to drive me across the border into España and to my wee town in the country. (More details on the town to come in future blogs as right now I know next to nothing!)


The plan so far is to book some temporary accommodation in a B&B/hotel for a couple of days and frantically search for a 'piso' (flat) of some sort as well as organize my life with regards to opening a bank account & getting the official N.I.E (identity card) documentation dealt with. Oh, and that small detail of introducing myself to 'el director y el jefe de inglés' in my 'colegio'.

That's all for now. As soon as I'm set up with internet in Spain I will update you all on la vida en España. I hope all you St Adrians are enjoying moving back to the beautiful bubble of ours. Praying for a successful & inspiring 'free'shers week :-)

Blessings,
Un beso y abrazo,
Corkster xXx