The fact that i've not updated my blog for around a month can only mean one thing....far too much partying! haha . Yes, as the end of my contract as an English Language Assistant in Don Bosco draws nearer, I decided one morning to go along with what the Spanish have been telling me the past 7 months and 'APROVECHA!' And that's just what i've been doing. Every chance given to go out for a drink and tapas, socialise, hang out with some new made friends, well- we take them up on it. Kate and I have been little party animals the last few weeks and why not? All good things must come to an end, and we are becoming more and more aware that this chapter in our lives is doing just that. It breaks my heart knowing we will be leaving Spain in just 7 days and that Christen, Kate and myself will be parting ways in just 3 weeks. I think I speak on behalf of all of us when I say that this has been an amazing year, full of adventures and fun, countless blessings and even the downsides (like the heavy rain over winter, and general backwardness of our pueblo) have been forgotten. Although part of my heart will be left behind in Spain, I have gradually come to accept with joy instead of despair, that this chapter of my life is over, and what a beautifully written chapter it was. Praise God for that. Anyway, Spain is only a 2 hour Ryan air flight away right?- although that was problematical last weekend when I went home to Chester for the weekend to drop off my luggage (leaving myself with just 1 bag in Spain for my backpacking trip around Europe that begins 31st May)...anyway, the 'ceniza' of the volcano meant my flight back on Monday was cancelled with Ryanair and I had to take an Easyjet flight to Malaga on Tuesday; then a rip-off train, taxi and bus to Valverde. Ugh. 14 hours door to door whereas the journey there from Sevilla took me 6 door to door. Slight difference. Oh natural disasters.
Recent trips to Sevilla
A couple of weeks ago the girls and I took a trip to Sevilla for the FERIA! We were lucky that a friend of mine offered me the keys to her flat for the weekend, saving us around 100 Euros, as hotel prices shoot up during the Feria weekend. The Feria is an annual tradition in Sevilla that basically consists of 7 days of Sevillano dancing, singing and drinking in the 'casetas' (tents), dressing up in Feria dresses, watching horse & carriages trot by, children eating candyfloss and riding the fairground rides... Kate and I had a couple of drinks to give us the courage to 'montar' the biggest attraction in the park...crazy times. We are both scared of heights, and so this was quite the accomplishment for us! I was very proud. Check out the video filmed by Christen who sensibly kept her two feet planted firmly on the ground.....
Ryans' trip to Sevilla
I think the main highlight for us was the bull fight! Sunday afternoon in the blistering sun we sat out for 2 hours in the Plaza de Toros, on some very uncomfy stone seats, and observed as 5 bulls were skillfully killed. Neither Ryan nor I had ever been to a bull fight and we were really unsure what to expect. It didn't disappoint! The colours, the teamwork, timing, co-ordination, even listening to the crowds reactions made the massacre of 5 bulls seem like art. Each bull fight followed the same routine: the bull was released, ran frantickly at the toreros, got tired, the toreros with pink cloaks played with the bull and the crowd shouted olé after each sweep of the cloak, the blinded horse came out and the rider stabbed the bull, the spear men jabbed the spine of the bull twice, finally the matador came out alone with the red cloak...the bulls' time was up. Here are some photos...... 
I must mention that most of these photos are courtesy of Ryan. His always come out better than mine and I always steal them from him, much to his disapproval. Sorry Ry!
So on to updates for the past couple of weeks here in Valverde 'el centro del mundo...o culo'- well, the heat 'ha llegao' and so we hit the beach with an Aussie friend (Glen) and topped up on our tans! It makes for fun banter when you have two americans, an aussie and an english girl together! Our friend Fernando also occassionally helps us escape the bubble and takes us on mini road trips to places like the Sierra and Huelva etc whenever he can... bless. We have learnt a lot from him and he, like Miguel with 'la virrrrgggenn!', has some phrases that he likes to use; BASTANTE! AHÍ! We also like to tease him about his lack of hair and his early developped pregnancy belly hehe...we love him to bits but at the age of 29 we've decided he needs to get himself a wife, and sharpish haha! We also love the Montaña rusa that we 'montar' every now and then for a spin around the town jaja.. chungas! We even had some driving practice ourselves...so I have now officially driven in Spain and on the other side of the car on the other side of the road...it was easy peasy. Kate however had some trouble with 'cambiando las marchas!!!' but she's improving poco a poco jeje! I think our friend got through 20 cigarettes whilst she killed his car hehe-stressed? hehe Oh americans and your automatics ;p
De Copas... We will miss these guys
I didn't need a pee but the photo gives that impression- on our Fernando tour of La Sierra
Touring the villages of La Sierra
The 'no me mires, mi kebab está roto!' shot
In other news; Kate and I are totally 'enganchadas' on Gossip Girl! We have been watching it over the past month, totally getting into the characters and loving the trashyness of it! We went as far as buying a one month subscription for it! QUE FUERTE! However, this is totally la culpa de Miguel Angel jejeje- he introduced it to us! We are even now refering to eachother as 'B' and 'S' and every text message ends religiously with X0X0... you know you love me ;p We particuarly find it amusing when we put it in spanish!
Now that i've entered my final week of classes, I am getting my kids to perform 'Jack and the Beanstalk' for their parents. The next blog update will entail some of their theatre performances and pictures of the students from my private classes that have been a huge and important part of my life these past 8 months. Some groups were obviously favoured above others, naturally, but each group was a very different dynamic with very different personalities and levels. Some of you- Hannah, Heidi and Ryan have even had the honour of being in the classroom with me hahaha...
A couple of weeks ago the girls and I took a trip to Sevilla for the FERIA! We were lucky that a friend of mine offered me the keys to her flat for the weekend, saving us around 100 Euros, as hotel prices shoot up during the Feria weekend. The Feria is an annual tradition in Sevilla that basically consists of 7 days of Sevillano dancing, singing and drinking in the 'casetas' (tents), dressing up in Feria dresses, watching horse & carriages trot by, children eating candyfloss and riding the fairground rides... Kate and I had a couple of drinks to give us the courage to 'montar' the biggest attraction in the park...crazy times. We are both scared of heights, and so this was quite the accomplishment for us! I was very proud. Check out the video filmed by Christen who sensibly kept her two feet planted firmly on the ground.....We bumped into a few Sevillians who serrenaded us in the street, which was hilarious, and then invited us to have dinner with them....we refused! The night ended with a trip to the Budda discoteca where we met some English men- Kate and Christen delighted themselves in the delicious london accents, whilst I was reminded how much I miss British humour! The 24 hour day concluded with our favourite means of transport...two Damas buses to the campo with a 3 hour connection in Huelva! Oh yeah..we love the Damas bus!
Ryans' trip to SevillaIn other news, I had another weekend trip to Sevilla just a couple of weeks ago and a certain American decided to join me in the gorgeous sunshine. We had 4 blessed days together, relaxing by the pool, strolling around the city without agenda, soaking up the sun and eating our body weight in tapas and pasta (we seemed to go for the italian theme for some reason!). Despite being a very short trip, it was worth every minute. We stayed a little out of the centre in a beautiful and very modern hotel with a fantastic pool that we made the most of, although it reminded me of how Ryan can't sit still for more than 20 minutes without getting bored and also of how throwing me up in the air off his shoulders and into the pool is still as fun as it was with my Dad at the age of 5!
Our trip also consisted of a stroll around the beautiful Alcazar- the King's home and gardens when he visits Sevilla. The Moorish arquitecture took our breath away. It reminded me of a mini version of the Alhambra. Whilst in the gardens I saw a bird that looked like it was meant to be a peacock, but had lost it's beautiful colours. Ryan explained it was a female peacock and asked if I knew what the name for it was... well, in all innocence I gave a sensible suggestion... apparantly 'peagina' is not the correct response...but rather 'peahen'...so there you go.
I think the main highlight for us was the bull fight! Sunday afternoon in the blistering sun we sat out for 2 hours in the Plaza de Toros, on some very uncomfy stone seats, and observed as 5 bulls were skillfully killed. Neither Ryan nor I had ever been to a bull fight and we were really unsure what to expect. It didn't disappoint! The colours, the teamwork, timing, co-ordination, even listening to the crowds reactions made the massacre of 5 bulls seem like art. Each bull fight followed the same routine: the bull was released, ran frantickly at the toreros, got tired, the toreros with pink cloaks played with the bull and the crowd shouted olé after each sweep of the cloak, the blinded horse came out and the rider stabbed the bull, the spear men jabbed the spine of the bull twice, finally the matador came out alone with the red cloak...the bulls' time was up. Here are some photos...... 
I must mention that most of these photos are courtesy of Ryan. His always come out better than mine and I always steal them from him, much to his disapproval. Sorry Ry!
Oh, and some videos of the bullfight. The first video is not typical, and shows the bull winning, whereas the second shows the bull doing some acrobats about half way through-so keep watching! (Soon to be uploaded)
So on to updates for the past couple of weeks here in Valverde 'el centro del mundo...o culo'- well, the heat 'ha llegao' and so we hit the beach with an Aussie friend (Glen) and topped up on our tans! It makes for fun banter when you have two americans, an aussie and an english girl together! Our friend Fernando also occassionally helps us escape the bubble and takes us on mini road trips to places like the Sierra and Huelva etc whenever he can... bless. We have learnt a lot from him and he, like Miguel with 'la virrrrgggenn!', has some phrases that he likes to use; BASTANTE! AHÍ! We also like to tease him about his lack of hair and his early developped pregnancy belly hehe...we love him to bits but at the age of 29 we've decided he needs to get himself a wife, and sharpish haha! We also love the Montaña rusa that we 'montar' every now and then for a spin around the town jaja.. chungas! We even had some driving practice ourselves...so I have now officially driven in Spain and on the other side of the car on the other side of the road...it was easy peasy. Kate however had some trouble with 'cambiando las marchas!!!' but she's improving poco a poco jeje! I think our friend got through 20 cigarettes whilst she killed his car hehe-stressed? hehe Oh americans and your automatics ;p
De Copas... We will miss these guys
I didn't need a pee but the photo gives that impression- on our Fernando tour of La Sierra
Touring the villages of La Sierra
The 'no me mires, mi kebab está roto!' shotIn other news; Kate and I are totally 'enganchadas' on Gossip Girl! We have been watching it over the past month, totally getting into the characters and loving the trashyness of it! We went as far as buying a one month subscription for it! QUE FUERTE! However, this is totally la culpa de Miguel Angel jejeje- he introduced it to us! We are even now refering to eachother as 'B' and 'S' and every text message ends religiously with X0X0... you know you love me ;p We particuarly find it amusing when we put it in spanish!
Now that i've entered my final week of classes, I am getting my kids to perform 'Jack and the Beanstalk' for their parents. The next blog update will entail some of their theatre performances and pictures of the students from my private classes that have been a huge and important part of my life these past 8 months. Some groups were obviously favoured above others, naturally, but each group was a very different dynamic with very different personalities and levels. Some of you- Hannah, Heidi and Ryan have even had the honour of being in the classroom with me hahaha...
Finally, our Europe 3 week trip is now totally booked and we are mega excited about singing in the hills of Salzburg to the sound of music, enjoying the culture of Viena, the punting in Venice, the beaches of Sorrento and the volcanic eruption remains of Pompei! Fingers crossed our bus to Madrid shows up in Valverde, otherwise we're screwed haha.
Well that's all folks!
Besitos X0X0
P.S Funny anecdote: I was out having a quiet drink with Kate the other night and we stumbled across a swearing parrot. This parrot had not only perfected the andaluz accent, but also the swear words that are seen as 'tame' in this town... it was so funny we took a video of it!
