My Erasmus Placement in SPAIN Sept09-June2010

The Grand Finale: Part 2: Italy!

2010-06-29T16:37:00.000-07:00

ITALIA

First stop: VENEZIA!

A sinking city stretching over 117 small islands, connected by 455 bridges and 177 canals in a marshy lagoon, welcoming 50,000 tourists a day. Venice is without doubt the most unique & mysterious city I have ever visited.

Leaving the train station you are welcomed immediately by the Grand Canal and its multiple water taxis (or vaporettis)- as there are no cars in this city boats & your two legs are the only forms of transport. Although being a huge tourist trap & expensive city to live in, I fell in love with this romantic city from first sight: this is a big deal by the way as I have only ever said that twice in my life- the other city being Sevilla. I don't think my camera left my hand that first day- I just couldn't get over the beauty and uniqueness of the city with its picturesque and winding streets lined by canals. And don't forget to GET LOST IN VENICE! It's easy to do as most street signs seem to lead to different places than they claim and at times you will see arrows pointing in two directions for the same destination.

It's no wonder Shakespeare, Thomas Mann & Ezra Pound found this city so inspiring & enchanting that they based novels, plays and poetry on it; I too fell under its spell the moment I left the station.

The Gondoliers certainly take advantage of their famous city by charging 80 euros for a 30 minute ride in their velvet seated narrow boats with persian rugs. This city entrances you & you part with your money without a second thought; whether it be paying a Venetian to serenade you along the Grand Canal or purchasing that must-buy Venetian mask souvenir- this city eats your centimos! But its such a unique & enrapturing experience. Our Gondolier, Diego, was well informed on & proud of the history of his city and as Christen quizzed him he began to take us back in time whilst cruising down the narrow canals and shared some of his knowledge with us. Furthermore, he not only discounted our ride to 50 euros but allowed Christen and I to have a go at rowing the gondola- which is actually extremely difficult & requires a lot of skill. The oar was heavy and the tight, winding canals made maneuvering the Gondola almost impossible. However our reliable hero Diego held on to us and assured us that he wouldn't let go & guided us through it...how sweet of him ;p -He certainly enjoyed it when Christen was up there with him haha!

St Mark's Basilica and Piazza San Marco were fun places to hang out with a gelato or ice cold drink. NB: If you're looking to sit in the square's cafes you should come prepared to pay the steep prices. 20 euros for a slice of cake and a coffee wasn't really within my budget! It wasn't until the evening when we went for a late night stroll that we realized that it floods at night when the tide comes in!

Although we didn't have time to visit the glass blowing factory, (which is a huge part of their economy with hundreds of shops selling glass-made products) we DID shop for Venetian masks. The humorous thing was that, whilst chilling in Piazza San Marco one afternoon trying to cool down from the intense heat, Kate interviewed me (on camera) about my 'ideal' mask. My description was along the lines of: I want a woman with pert lips, you know, not one of those scary masks or joker mask things, and I would like her to have a hat with feathers, and some sort of music theme, perhaps musical notes on her cheeks or something...I think colour-wise I'd go for something neutral, like beige.

Well, 5 hours later I stumbled across 'the one': I think it fits the description quite well!

My only other souvenir was a beautiful painting by a student who attends the University of Venice. Hundreds of artists line the streets of Venice displaying their work. Christen too invested in some art work earlier that day, and finally I found an artist whose work was different, quite like Monet & so I committed & purchased this painting:

The colours and brushstrokes were what caught my eye and his flirtatious, Italian mannerisms persuaded me to part with my dinero. He actually seemed a little sad to see this particular painting go. He explained to me that it was one of his favorite & most unique works. I assured him I would take good care of it! After exchanging emails I paid him the discounted 30 euros, thanked him and waved goodbye only to hear him mutter 'Bella Bella!' as he watched us walk away & get lost in the crowd. Oh Italians!

Day 2 in Venice was a scorcher and so we took a boat over to Lido for the day. A beach island- we stayed out relaxing in the sun and swimming in the sea for a few hours before returning to the historic island feeling sun-kissed, tired from the intensity of the sun, with windswept, dry and salted hair from the Adriatic sea & skin smelling like a mezcla of sunscreen & sweat...sounds gross but we were left feeling so relaxed. One of those 'Life's so great' moments.

One amusing observation whilst at the beach for the day was the vast quantity of speedos that could be spotted: some more welcoming than others! Kate and I childishly sneaked some photos discreetly & compared. This guy won the award for 'best speedo of the day':

So our short but sweet trip to Venice was incredible & I would certainly recommend this breathtaking, but expensive destination to any lovers out there....just save up for it!

FIRENZE

Capital city of Tuscany and considered as the birthplace of Renaissance, it is home to Michelangelo's masterpiece 'David' & the Uffizi Gallery which displays two of my favorite works of art: Botticelli's 'La Primavera' (which has been displayed on my bedroom wall in Chester since my last visit to Florence at the age of 10) and 'The Birth of Venus'. The impressive & gothic Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, built by Filippo Brunelleschi and the Campanile offer the most incredible views of the city. However be warned that it's quite the climb with its 463 steps and steep ladders to the summit, not to mention the breathtaking (literally as Kate and I suffer terribly from vertigo!) view of the 'Ceiling Fresco' painted by Giorgio Vasari

& Frederico Zuccari depicting The Last Judgment.

I naughtily sneaked a photo of David and was scolded for it by the observer lady. Here it is:

The 5.17 meter (17 feet) marble statue portrays the Biblical hero David during a moment of contemplation. The most widely accepted interpretation is that the statue represents David immediately before his battle with Goliath, unlike previous depictions which portray the hero after his victory.

Firenze is a beautiful, medieval-style city boasting some of Europe's most important and impressive art and architecture from the Middle Ages & Renaissance. Its artistic, historic and cultural heritage are what make this city the art capital of Italy & gives it the name of 'la culla del Rinascimiento'. (Cradle of the Renaissance).

Walking across the Ponte Vecchio (and over the River Arno) with its numerous jewel shops that appear to be held up by stilts, took me back in time and I remember feeling as if I was in a King Arthur film set. The bridge also carries Vasari's elevated corridor (built in the 14th Century!!!) linking the Uffizi Gallery to the Medici palace.

Aside from doing all the cultural 'touristy' things, we also managed to meet some fun locals. Our first night brought us to a little Italian restaurant near our hostel. We showed up rather late (well, our body-clocks were still on Spanish dinner time-10pm and apparently the Italians eat a little earlier at 8ish) so we almost had the restaurant to ourselves. The only other table was a party of 10 middle-aged italian men, feasting and drinking leisurely, filling up their well fed bellies. After our main meal of tasty pasta we decided desert would break the budget and were about to ask for the bill when one of the italians from the other table offered us some champagne and cake! It was his friends birthday and so we joined in singing happy birthday to him and accepted with gratitude the slice of fruit cake & a glass of deliciousness. After a little chatting (half in Spanish and half in English, as half the table understood a little spanish and the other half enjoyed practicing their english on us), they wished us an enjoyable stay and went outside to smoke. We sat and waited for our bill and after 15 minutes we were informed that it had already been paid for by the birthday boy! What gentlemen- I mean, their 'feast' probably came to over 300 euros and so our skimpy 30 euro bill was little extra to add to theirs but still we were so grateful and actually found ourselves lost for words! A nice surprise & great first impression of Firenze!

The following evening we decided it was about time we went to a club! So we hit the streets and asked a group of guys where to go for a disco. One of them spoke good english and informed me that he was a cop and would be starting his shift in a couple of hours so had time to walk us to the best club in town- we weren't sure if we should trust him but he turned out to be genuine and once we arrived (having walked 20 minutes to get there)he wished us a good evening and left- two good encounters. The nightclub was a little different from Spanish clubs that we were used to; the music being much more techno & less latino, but we still had fun. The drinks turned out to be a rip-off though and so we danced the night away sober! We met some cool people in that club, especially one guy who told me he was from Verona and would be my Romeo for the night haha. He was sweet though and fun to talk to. He even ended up paying for our hotel room for the night as we lost Christina half way through the evening (carrying the one and only set of keys for our flat that we were in). What a gentleman!

Legend has it that by rubbing this boars nose & dropping in a coin you will return to the city one day.

PISA

Aside from Florence we also took a train to Pisa for the afternoon to take those typical tourist shots of the tower! Here is how ours turned out....

MONTEPULCIANO and Vino Noble!

One of the highlights of the trip as a whole was our day trip to Montepulciano- a small medieval Tuscan hilltop village in the middle of nowhere, 2 hours drive from Firenze, famous for its wine cellars & vineyards. We spontaneously rented a car for the day (manual Fiat panda- so I drove!) and took off with Jane, our Sat Nav, to the hills! Jane and our little panda got us safely to the town (although we were convinced Jane was a little tipsy as she often got confused, having us go round in circles at times!) and we spent a few hours wine & cheese tasting! I know, aren't we classy! The town is impossible to reach by public transport and so we were surprised to find it was rather touristy. Lunch there was probably the best meal i've ever had in my life! Delicious pasta, salad, wine, cheese and bread followed by chocolate mousse. I died and went to heaven. The surrounding countryside and general 'oldy-worldy' atmosphere of the place was enchanting.

Twilight fans: Did you know that part of the New Moon film was shot in this small village in the heart of Tuscany? It's easy to see why it was chosen, with its old churches, piazzas, hills and medieval narrow streets that made driving even our tiny panda a challenge. Although the book was actually set in the nearby town of Volterra (which caters for tourists by offering Twilight tours!), the producers of the movie felt that Montepulciano was a bit more scenic.

Before leaving we all purchased a bottle of wine and some cheese to take home as memories. On the way home we stopped off in Siena to see the main piazza and cathedral.

Well that basically sums up our time in Tuscany. Our final stop was Naples... needless to say all the locals in Florence tried to persuade us not to go... we soon found out why. However we kept our spirits high as we had had an incredible adventure up until this point and so having the last couple of days not go quite to plan didn't bother us too much... I'll explain shall I?

NAPOLI

Capital of Campania with a population of about 1 million people and home of the Mafia, Pizza and Vespas, this historic but dirty & busy city was our 'base' for the final part of our trip. From our hostel by the port we were able to take trains to both the historic and fascinating town Pompeii and exotic town Sorrento along the Amalfi Coast.

Naples is one of the oldest cities in the world and offers both Greek and Roman influence. I'm sure the city can be fun and fascinating, but our experience was far from both of those things. We arrived from beautiful Firenze at the main train station and entered what it said to be the dirtiest and most dodgy part of the city: Piazza Garibaldi. We were welcomed by the stench of garbage, piles and piles of rubbish, bins overflowing with waste, hundreds of black people searching through the piles of clothes left on the side of the roads with blue bin bags, and a bus station that had no ticket office. We enquired about this and finally worked out that we had to buy a ticket at the tobacconist or news-agents. This ticket said 'valid for 90 minutes'. What we then had to do was validate it on the bus itself and then we were good to go. However when there are crowds of people on the bus, feeling nauseous from the stench of dozens of stinking men and trying hard to breathe, squashed against the bodies of strangers, nearly fainting, the last thing you think about is trying to get across to the other side of the bus to validate your ticket. So the ticket guy found me and made me cough up a 37 euro 'penalty'. I wasn't best pleased and found the man intimidating, arrogant and probably not legit. Not the best start to our stay in Naples and later (when stuck on the broken down train to Sorrento in 35 degree heat) Kate took a video of Christen and I summing up our opinions and experience of the city: enjoy. Oh, and when I mention a guy called Carlos, I'm referring to the guy on the bus who gave me the penalty!

(Video soon to be uploaded)

Pompeii

Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning two days in 79 AD. The eruption buried Pompeii under 4 to 6 meters of ash and pumice, and it was lost for nearly 1,600 years before its accidental rediscovery around 1592. Since then, its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire. Today, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Italy, with approximately 2,500,000 visitors every year.

It was a fantastic and fascinating day trip; experiencing the italian driving, was breathtaking & exhilarating haha! The sun beat down on us that day with no mercy and so walking around the ruins was quite tiring but well worth it. Although there was less to see than I'd thought there would be, I still found some fun stuff like the 'Casa del Fauno' (House of the Faun) where Kate & I began singing our hearts out to the Spanish 2010 Eurovision song 'Algo pequenito..wooooh, algo chiquitito wooooh!' You can probably make the link for yourselves!

This house was built in the second century BC and was said to be one of the largest residences in the Roman Republic, housing many grand pieces of art. Although the 79AD volcanic eruption was devastating, the layers of ash covering the tow

n conserved some art like the mosaic and Latin message 'HAVE' found at the entrance; a greeting for both departing and arriving.

The next day we visited the Archeological museum in Naples to see the majority of the artifacts and the 'original' señor pequenito, otherwise known as the dancing faun ;p

A day trip to Capri was cancelled as we were told the touristy island was a rip-off, although beautiful, and the 40 euros crossing by ferry again wasn't in our budget! So we headed off to the 'beach' of Naples. This entailed a 30 minute bus ride, a 20

minute walk and a lot of steps! When we finally arrived the sun had practically set! We did chill out for a bit on the tiny beach and amused ourselves by observing all the italians. We felt rather out of place to be honest as it was clear we were the only guiris there! Again we delighted in all the hilarious speedos out and about and this one guy who was playing catch in the water- he was very into sweeping his hair off his face in the wind like he was in a movie and flicking it up. We had a good giggle watching him!

Sorrento 'beach'.

Our last day was getting up at 4.30am to catch a taxi to the train station. We arrived a few hours later at Rome Ciampino airport, tired and emotional. We had to say goodbye. Christen & Kate were catching the Ryan-air flight to Ibiza and I, well, I was heading back to scouse land. So it was an emotional moment as I had to join a different line. The queuing took forever and so when we finally got through security we had to run to catch our flights, meaning the goodbyes were stolen from us. Maybe this was for the better though. A hug and promise to keep in touch parted me from two of the most incredible friends I've ever had in my life. It was only when I sat at my gate that I felt tears rolling down my face. An end of an era, the most amazing year of my life and it had now officially come to an end. Again, I was reminded of the nature of my life; TRANSIENT.

And so this marks the end of my 'ERASMUS PLACEMENT IN SPAIN SEPT09-JUNE10 BLOG'. It's been quite the year for me; i've experienced new cultures, traditions, languages, people and been blessed with the opportunity to do lots of traveling. This is the first time i've ever kept a blog and so I hope you enjoyed reading it! Hopefully i've inspired you to take a year out and live in Spain or abroad? If I had the choice I would be back there next year! So thank you to all my readers out there and who knows, maybe i'll feel inspired to continue with another blog sometime. As for now, I'm trying to learn some french before heading back to St Andrews University in September to continue with my 5 year MA Spanish-French degree. After that I think I'm going to pursue my passion of teaching...vamos a ver!!!

I guess all that is left to say is BESOS Y ABRAZOS, CUIDADOS Y ADIOOOOOOS! x0x0

The Grand finale! Part 1: Austria

2010-06-28T15:10:00.000-07:00

Vienna, Salzburg, Venice, Florence, Naples.... 17 days, overnight trains, Ryan-air, Germanwings, kaputt buses & trains, drunken sailors, the Opera, Sound of Music tour, Mozart's Balls, Pizza, pasta, gelato galore, sauerkraut, poisonous dumplings, Montepulciano wine tour, Pisa, Michelangelo, Uffizi, Botticelli, museums, palaces, Klimt, Pompeii, garbage in Naples, dancing, discos, beaches, gondolas, heat, sweat, tan, laughter, tears, friendship....goodbyes....the end of an era.

My european adventure with Christen and Kate was immense. Throughout the 3 weeks we travelled miles; covering three countries/6 cities, all the while soaking up what each country had to offer; its smells, cuisines, history, landscape, traditions and of course- its people- probably the most interesting & entertaining category for me! Read on to hear about my whirlwind & final adventure of my Erasmus Year Abroad.

The journey begins... our trip from Valverde del Camino to Vienna... and of course our final experience and frustrations with the Spanish public transportation!

Valverde: Monday 31st May 2010, 21:45.

As mentioned in my previous blog, some of our closest, and dearest friends came to wave us off at the bus stop in our wee town. A little concerned that the one and only overnight bus to Madrid wouldn't show up was in the backs of all our minds. However, it did and we were quite relieved and impressed! Tears were shed and final embraces exchanged; these were the faces that had been a part of our daily lives in Valverde and were soon to become friends 'a la distancia'... although for me this wasn't out of the ordinary: my life summed up into one word is exactly that situation: TRANSIENT. However this doesn't make me alien and exempt from emotion...my heart SANK when we drove out of the town and began our 10 hour journey to the countries capital. As we sat quietly, reflecting on our year it dawned on me that we had really been blessed and that we would miss our friends in the small countryside town. So we sat on that bus, starring into the distance, watching as we travelled further into the hills of La Sierra and further away from what had been our life for 8 months. Tears were slowly building in our eyes. I looked up at the stars in the beautiful clear night sky and thanked God for bringing these people into my life and felt comforted as I remembered that He is unchanging- constant, absolute, eternal- and my sadness left me and was replaced by peace. I smiled as I was reminded that this chapter may be over but God has a plan for me, for Kate and for Christen and my spirits lifted.

(Psalm 139)

¿Adónde me iré de tu espiritu? ¿Y adónde
huiré de tu presencia?

Si subiere á los cielos, allí estás tú: Y si en abismo
hiciere mi estrado, he aquí allí tú estás.

Si tomare las alas del alba, Y habitare en el extremo de la mar,

Aun allí me guiará tu mano, Y me asirá tu diestra

I think we all fell into a light sleep as the bus cruised down the freeway at a slow but steady speed. At 5am I woke up to feel the coach swerve and jerk. My (by then) deep sleep left me immediately and I sat up wondering what had happened; it wasn't long before I realized that the driver was falling asleep at the wheel. I began fake coughing loudly. Kate and Christen were sleeping alongside me and I wondered whether I should wake them to tell them but before I could the bus suddenly let off a banging noise and the driver (now awake) began cursing in Spanish and pulled over in the middle of the freeway. We came to a complete stop and trucks began to hurtle past us, rocking our coach in the process. Everybody woke up, confused why the engine had shut off and I found it amusing to watch their expressions as our situation suddenly became clear to them: We were without fuel in the middle of the freeway at 5am, still 2 hours from Madrid. Wonderful. And so the adventure began. A replacement bus eventually arrived (spanish time-i.e 2 hours later) causing many people to miss flights and connections. We however were not in
a hurry- our flight was not until midday.

Vienna
On arrival in Vienna (after two flights with a connection in Germany) we lugged our bags over to the 'DO STEP INN' youth hostel (excellent hostel btw!), showered and hit a local pub to enjoy the delights of the Austrian cuisine: Oh yes- Sauerkraut, potatoes and meat...lots of meat. And so began my week of stomach pains. My body, having spent a year eating Mediterranean style: fresh, light and healthy, had quite the shock when I began trying to shovel heaps of meat and potatoes into it and left me feeling bloated, heavy and tire
d after each meal! Austria is a beautiful and fascinating country but the food was not for me. Infact, a day later I went down with food poisoning. I would love to make up some extravagant story as to what the culprit was...but it was a simple dumpling with undercooked red meat inside that left me chucking up for 12 hours the next day. Nice. And here is me in the process of poisoning my body (unbeknown to me at the time!)...

On a positive note, we visited the Leopold museum in Vienna's Museum Quarter and I found myself quickly becoming enticed by the work of Gustav Klimt and even Schiele whose work I would never display in my house (As mentioned in a previous blog, I tend to go for the pretty, colourful, happy images) but was captivating and I did buy some postcards! I also invested in an oversized poster of "Der Kuss" (The Kiss) that I then had to lug around trains, planes and rucksacks for 2 weeks but it was worth the bother! Here are some examples of these two famous Austrian's work:

The Opera.

One cannot visit Vienna without a trip to the Opera whether or not one appreciates or enjoys the experience it is without doubt imperative. Now, we assumed we would have quite the formal and 'pijo' experience at an opera- how we were wrong!

Outside the doors of the Vienna State Opera House were many men trying to sell discounted tickets for seats for that nights performance. These tickets ranged from 40-150 euros depending on the proximity to the stage. As we were on tight student or general travelling budgets, we decided to check out the 'standing seats' option (which I found quite a confusing concept as surely there is no seat if one has to stand?) So we joined what seemed to be a line forming outside the building. It was 4pm in the afternoon, a little chilly and we weren't really sure what we were doing. After 15 minutes of people watching we gathered that we were in the right place- not only were there a few tourists like ourselves in the line but many locals standing by themselves looking alert and as if they knew what they were doing (unlike us). This gave me confidence that 1. We were waiting in a random line in the chilly wind for a reason. And 2. We were not likely going to get ripped off.
After 'un ratito' the line (that had remained stationary) started to move quickly inside the building. It was at this point that I realized this wasn't a polite, wait your turn, get in line kind of queuing system; this was an every man for himself, stand your ground, elbows out and all kind of line. As we entered the building, desperately trying to keep our positions in the queue, the doors suddenly closed behind us boxing the 60 people or so that had shuffled in like sheep into a room. The locals began to pull out fold down chairs from their bags, made themselves comfy and opened up the daily newspaper. It dawned on us that we were about to be in this room for quite some time. So we made ourselves comfy, or as comfy as we could on the marble floor, and began to look through our photos from the trip so far.

THE SAILOR.

It wasn't long before we attracted some unwanted attention from an old, bearded, rather chubby man wearing a sailor hat. He began talking to us animatedly and pointing at the camera and then us. Despite not understanding a word of his Russian we understood that he wanted to take a photo of us. Not wanting to offend we gave him our camera and posed for a photo. However he couldn't seem to work out how to use the digital camera- a simple click of the top button would have been quite fine but even after pointing and demonstrating he still seemed confused by the piece of 21st Century technology. We were about to give up when he suddenly plonked himself in between Kate and myself and demanded that Christen took a photo of us! He was quite a character and seemed to find everything hilarious. By this time other people in the queue were starting to watch us and one Austrian woman was becoming increasingly impatient with the noise and drama that the Russian was making so we quickly put the camera away and tried to ignore him. This was quite impossible considering we were unable to move from our position in the line and he was making himself at home only inches away from us; opening his rucksack and pulling out all sorts of random items. After offering us shots of Schnapps, crackers, coffee, yoghurt and some undeciphable items, he looked confused and offended when we sternly replied "NIET" and finally became subdued, leaving us in peace. This is when we began our conversation with an old spanish man sat across from us on his chair. Christen and I sat for half an hour listening, completely mesmerized by his perfect Castillian and Asturian accent, as he explained the whole process of queuing for the stand up tickets and gave us advice on how to obtain the best 'non=seats' seats in the theatre! For 3 euros we were able to buy a ticket for the Opera! Incredible! So the old, but very wise man, became our master and we followed him like ducklings as doors began to open, people began to run up flights of stairs, through corridors, around corners, stopping at the top of every stairwell until we were given permission to continue up up up to the highest row. For such an old man he was quite sprightly; infact we girls found ourselves panting by the time we reached our 'non-seats seats' in the theatre. The idea is that the process works on a first-come-first-serve basis and once you find your 'spot' on the bar that pans across the final row in the theatre you simply tie a scarf around it which 'marks your territory'.
And so we acquired a fantastic position on the back row thanks to an old wise spaniard. :-)

The Opera itself (Eugene Onegin, by Tchaikovsky) was sung in Russian and consisted of a young girl falling in love with a slightly older man who rejects her. Later in his life he meets her and finds that she is married and wealthy. She has moved up the social ladder and is respected and admired for her beauty and status. Due to her now respectable position in society, the man declares his love for her, only to be rejected by her this time. Girl power ! Although opera is not my 'cuppa tea', I must say I totally enjoyed the story line and my slightly feminist 'power to the women' side came out passionately!

Another stop on the Vienna trip was at the Spanische Hofreitschule (Spanish Horse Riding School). Christen explained that the horses are very unique and agile creatures; the white stallions or Lipizzaner stallions were beautiful and despite having to run off to vomit every half hour like clockwork (this all happened on my food poisoning day!), I really enjoyed watching them practice.

We also took a day trip to Schönbrunn Palace: One of the most important cultural monuments in the country, since the 1960s it has been one of the major tourist attractions in Vienna. The palace and gardens illustrate the tastes, interests, and aspirations of successive Habsburg monarchs.

SALZBURG

Taking the train to Salzburg, the next stop on our journey, we were excited to see some of the scenery where Robert Wise's oscar winning 1965 production 'The Sound of Music' was filmed; such as Mondsee Cathedral, Mirabell Gardens, Nonnberg Abbey and the Conservatory where the classic "Sixteen going on Seventeen" featured (which is now kept in the grounds of Hellbrunn Palace). As we drove through the hills of Salzburg on the 'Sound of Music Tour Bus' I sang along merrily to "Do-Re-Mi, "My Favorite Things", "Edelweiss" and of course the opening song: "Sound of Music" because as we drove it became crystal clear why Salzburg was chosen as the film set: The Hills were really ALIVE! Mountain ranges climbing high, hills covering the landscape as far as the eye can see, lakes and rivers, small cute towns and farms. It was breathtaking. I'd never seen so many miles of unspoilt, green land. Our guide for the tour was Gary; an Austrian by birth but a resident of Florida, USA and quite a character! He had a fixed grin on his face and seemed to find his jokes hilarious- well at least somebody did! He certainly added to the whole experience and successfully entertained us on the 4 hour tour and to be honest, I secretly liked his cheesyness! The trip entailed a stop at the Von Trapp Family's house overlooking the lake where the famous scene in the canoe is filmed. We also stopped at Wolfgangsee (home of Mozart's mother and where he gets his name from) and after a half hour drive through the hills listening to the sound track, we arrived at Mondsee; famous for its cathedral where Maria marries the Captain. Gary informed us that this countryfied and pretty town is deserted for 364 days of the year, but today of all days was the annual marathon! So thousands of people were out running in the heat, draining liquids and the town smelt strongly of beer and bananas! (Yes, the Austrians like to rehydrate with beer!) Nevertheless it was a fun stop and a good way to end the tour. The girls and I also walked around Mirabell gardens and reenacted the song "Do-Re-Mi" by the famous fountain and steps.
Here are some photos from our Sound of Music Tour, including me proposing to Kate outside Mondsee Cathedral, eating Mozart's Balls, at the '16 going on 17' gazebo, the lovely ladies at the lake district, Leopold Palace and Mirabell Gardens:

Having seen the mountains from the comfort of the bus, we decided we wanted to climb every mountain and view the city from above....none of us had suitable hiking gear and so we took the Cable Car. I have NEVER been so scared! We were SO high up and all the way to the top, up the steep incline the Austrians in our cable car were crying out "Oh mein Gott! Oh mein Gott!' And yes, I was thinking along similar lines. The worse part was hitting the pile-ons and rocking from side to side screaming and holding on to each other! At the summit a chilly wind meant we dashed out, took some photos, and ran back inside again. The hills are certainly alive and blustery! Here is a video of us heading back to the safety of the ground:

Finally we visited Hellbrunn Palace and its impressive zoo. The palace was a baroque style summer day house built by the Archbishop and Prince of Salzburg in 1613. The 'Schloss' is also famous for its water gardens. Here is a quick overview of the impressive and magical palace: These games were conceived by Markus Sittikus, a man with a keen sense of humour, as a series of practical jokes to be performed on guests. Notable features include stone seats around a stone dining table through which a water conduit sprays water into the seat of the guests when the mechanism is activated. Other features are a mechanical, water-operated and music-playing theatre built in 1750 showing various professions at work, a grotto and a crown being pushed up and down by a jet of water, symbolising the rise and fall of power. At all of these games there is always a spot which is never wet: that where the Archbishop stood or sat, to which there is no water conduit and which is today occupied by the tour guide.

We certainly got a little wet! Sound of Music lovers: The gazebo/ pavillon where Lisel is 16 going on 17 is now in the grounds of Hellbrunn (see photo above). Unfortunately it is closed now because last year a 70 year old lady thought she was 16 again and started re-enacting the song by leaping over the benches, fell and broke her hip. Oops.

So Austria was a great start to our trip, however I think we had had our fill of Sauerkraut and Mozart's Balls by the end of the week and were all eager to get back to Mediterranean land.
Read on in my next blog (The Grand Finale: Part 2) to hear about our fantastic stay in Italy; including a day trip to the wineries of the beautiful rural Tuscan town of Montepulciano. Goodbye Sauerkraut, hello Gelato!

Just for a laugh:

Here is a funny looking guy we met at the zoo:

"Don't upset the camel, he's already got the hump!" hehe

The End of an Era and my despedida...Hasta luegooo Valverde

2010-06-05T11:08:00.000-07:00

31st May 2010.
Our 6 closest Spanish friends; Ruben, Lola, Miguel Angel, Rocio, Fernando and Marcos turned up one after the other at the poor excuse for a bus stop in Valverde; each appearance made my heart wrench just that little more until I was overcome with both happiness and sadness. Happiness because stood by my side saying their goodbyes at 10pm at night were 6 people who had become true, loving amigos over the year. These people have all taught me so much about their culture, language and have highlighted the fact that in life; it's the PEOPLE and not the place that makes you happy. I also felt an element of sadness because those people who became part of my daily life in Spain were suddenly waving me off on another adventure…but this time I wasn’t coming back.

Life is a very transient thing isn’t it? People come in and out of your life and influence you in some way. However, as Christen told me once 'Life goes forwards not backwards' and I believe this chapter in my life has been such a wonderfully written one that it would only spoil it to look back now wishing I was still there. So I'm going to put on a smile and look forward to the next chapter- for God always has surprises and countless blessings instore for us.

Saying goodbye to my private classes was difficult too; being their teacher and sometimes ‘older sister’ figure has been a real privilege these past 8 months. I have not only watched with pride as they've developped their level of English but also experienced that unequalled sense of love when you see your kids running towards you, reaching out and hugging you as you arrive on their doorstep to teach their weekly class. It made the 20 minute walk in the heat worth every droplet of sweat!! Here are some of my groups that have been such angels over the year:

So all that is left to say is GRACIAS a todos mis amigos en España, gracias a ustedes me lo pasé muy muy bien y nunca os olvidaré. Me encanta vuestro país, y he aprendido mucho de vuestra cultura y vuestra vida diaria y espero volver pronto! Hasta luego!!! Besos! X0X0

A way overdue blog update!

2010-05-17T11:45:00.001-07:00

Oulaaa a todos!

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.....

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 Sevilla

In 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!' 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...

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!

Valverde del Camino... its history and claim to fame revealed

2010-04-14T05:37:00.000-07:00

Hola a todos!

So I thought it was about time that I shared a little history with you about the town i've been residing in for the past 7 months and update you on a few events that have happened over the past couple of weeks.

La historia de mi pueblecito
My town Valverde del Camino, population 14000 + 5 extranjeras is famous across Spain for one thing (apart from it's high population of 'chungos'!) .... BOTOS DE CUERO! (Leather boots!)

Leather boots from Spain are celebrated all over the world, and no place is better known for the quality of its footwear than Valverde del Camino! My town is located in the center of the province, 'en el campo,' equidistant between some of Huelva’s best-known attractions - the mountainous Sierra de Aracena park (see the blog on our day trip to Aracena's limestone caves!), the Doñana national park, Sevilla (45mins by car) and the beach of Punta Umbria (where I spent 6 weeks of my summer 2009).

Valverde is a youngster as far as Andalusian towns go, for it is "only" a few centuries old. It arose around a roadside inn which stood on this spot midway between the port of Huelva and the mineral-rich mountains of the north and, due to its infertile terrain for farming or grazing, has always dedicated itself to trade and industry. The town became an important dwelling of the 'Rio Tinto' copper miners, and was the hub of the railway line connecting the mines with Huelva (Kate and I are wondering where the flip that rail line went!-Needless to say the public transport here is...the DAMAS bus that has a very unreliable & limited 'horario').

Splashing out on the town's claim to fame

Local families had always supplemented their income by fashioning rustic footwear for use by farm laborers, but designs eventually became more elaborate and sophisticated. It was in 1873 that a local cobbler won a gold medal at the International Exposition in Vienna, Austria (our first stop on our whirlwind June trip-more on that later), launching the town’s reputation. Valverde has become synonymous with cowboy boots (botos camperos) and the longer riding boots (botos rocieros), used in the famous 'El Rocio' pilgrimage which takes place once a year. Some two dozen shops produce these items and other footwear, and a number of craftsmen make custom boots to order, for instance for polo players and show jumpers. Made-to-order boots, hand sewn with waxed hemp, can fetch prices in the region of 300 Euros! It takes three to four days to make a pair.....I got mine for 50 Euros! TOMA!

Motorcycles...lots & lots of motorcycles
In other news, Valverde is also the host of the national & annual motorbike race. I have no idea what possessed them to have it here but we do have a lot of dry countryside... so I guess that helps. Where they all stayed was quite the mystery as Valverde only has one small hotel and there were hundreds of people! So we were told by many teachers and friends that 'Hay que aprovechar!' (You have to make the most of it!) so we obligingly went along to check it out. It was actually quite fun and impressive to see so many people from many European nationalities. We heard German, French, English and something else that I couldn't quite decipher! The video below gives you an idea of the random event.

A yummy surprise!
I went to a class yesterday and one of my 10 year old students, Miriam, had made me a cake-the typical spanish cake made from 'galletas y leche'! So so good! I know it's a silly thing to mention, but I guess it was one of those moments when you realise "Wow, that has actually made my day!" It's the small things in life and a gesture like that from a 10 year old girl says a thousand words. I left with a smile across my face that day...I must be doing something right as an English tutor!

YUM YUM YUM IN MY TUM TUM TUM!!!

Finally, last weekend (apart from the Motorcycle racing and finishing my Spanish Project for University!!!), the girls and I planned & BOOKED a 2 week trip starting the day after we officially finish our work at Don Bosco (1st June) until 16th June across Austria and Italy. The plan is to head to Vienna, then Salzburg (for the Sound of Music tour! estoy flipando!), a sleeper train to Venice, Florence & Pisa (the last time I went was in 1998!), Montepulciano (to sample the best wine in the...world!), Naples, Capriz (island day trip) and Pompei (the ancient ruins & remains of the volcanic eruption.) Flights, hostels, trains...the lot! RESERVADOS! I'm so excited, this is the first time i've been 'Back-packing' and so we're hoping for some hardcore sightseeing and wine tasting! Kate and Christen will then head off to Ibiza for the opening night of Cream, and i'll be heading back home just in time for Murray and Anna's wedding and to finally be reunited with some old & very loved friends! Apart from a definite trip to San Francisco to see Ry, the rest of the summer is still a blur... a ver a ver!

Besos y abrazos
Cor xXx

Semana Santa: Impresionante! Y una locura!

2010-04-06T10:43:00.000-07:00

Mateo 28:5-6
El ángel les dijo a las mujeres: No tengan miedo. Yo sé que ustedes buscan a Jesús que fue clavado en una cruz. No esta aquí. Se ha levantado de la muerte tal como dijo que haría.

As I open this word document and enter text, attempting to sum up this past week suddenly seems impossible. The truth is 'Holy Week' in Spain has left me....speechless; and that's saying something! Semana Santa has been a surprisingly (but welcomed) significant cultural experience/shock and learning curve regarding the Catholics in Spain!

As explained in SOL Spain online: Starting on Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday), and ending on Domingo de Resurrección (Easter Sunday), there are 57 brotherhoods that pay the religious visit to the Cathedral of Seville, the third largest Cathedral in the world. It obviously is a religious celebration, but atheists too will be marveled by this impressive happening that lasts a week. It could well be considered the biggest and longest open-air theatre performance, where the city as a whole is the stage and the people of Seville themselves are the actors. The number of spectators may rise up to the impressing number of one million people during the most important moments of Semana Santa in Seville: the early morning of Good Friday which is when the brotherhoods of el Silencio, el Gran Poder, La Macarena, El Calvario, La Esperanza de Triana and los Gitanos set off for their processional penitence to the Cathedral.

Well, I think I'm going to take the advice of Julie Andrews: 'Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.' So whilst Kate, Christen and Erica headed to Roma for a couple of days (they went to mass with the POPE!!!), I took off to Sevilla to greet my family! They arrived in SVQ airport on the Monday of Holy Week and we took a rather dodgy hire car to Granada. Yes, this was a nice welcome for my poor family, who left Chester at 4am to catch a 7am flight to Spain! Oh, but it was Ryan Air, so they were treated like royalty. Ahem*. Having picked up our focus estate car, we joined the motorway and headed east to Granada. About 45 minutes down the road a constant thumping noise could be heard from my side of the car, so we pulled into a petrol station. My Dad gets out, takes one look at the bumper of the car and cries out 'CRIKEY!' Oh dear. Not good news. Half of the bumper had dislodged and was hanging off the car, which was the bashing we'd heard before. Check out the picture below...

So, quick test of my spanish! I had a chat with the man at the counter and explained our situation. He comes out to have a look and proclaims 'Joder! Un golpe no?' (F***! You hit something right?) Well actually no, the spanish are just so unprofessional that they don't bother to check their cars before renting them to holidaymakers! Ugh! Anyway, I politely requested that he find us some string, to which he walks over to a flag pole, chops off a chunk of the string for us and wishes us luck. Joe and Dad managed to tie it on and, after that small unforeseen delay, we were back on the road to Granada! Welcome to Spain.

Granada
On arrival in Granada, we spent half an hour cruising around the city, (aka trying to find our hotel without a map!) It is here in the beautiful and usually peaceful city, nestled in the mountain range of la Sierra Nevada that we stumble across our first.....virgin! Oh yes, Holy Week here is a little different to the Easter celebrations that take place in the UK. Forget a cute easter egg hunt with the kids in the garden or big hollow cadburys chocolate eggs that are 70% packaging. Forget a little easter egg tree by the fire, or easter baskets if you're Murikan! Try this for a change.... 14 hour processions of models of the Virgin Mary and others of Jesus in the city centres depicting the greatest story ever told, hundreds of hooded & cloaked 'penitentes', bands with dozens of musicians with instruments ranging from clarinets & saxophones, to drums, trombones & oboes, hoards of people lining the streets, waiting at 3am for the sighting of 'la Macarena' with her glass tears, reaching out to touch the float and exclaiming 'preciosa! bonita!', the air filled with scents of incense, Spanish women wearing black dresses and veils and leaving a scent of rich perfume behind them, televised all over Spain.... It's absolutely spot on what was stated before by SOL Spain online: 'the city becomes a stage and the people become the actors.'
This, my dear readers, is Semana Santa. Easter: Spanish style.
Even though I may sit for hours trying to describe the festival to you and add photos to help you visualize it, ultimately my words and the images I upload will fail to fully portray this week of traditional and 'religious' events in Andalucia. It's one of those 'You had to be there' experiences. You need to experience it for yourself to fully appreciate and vaguely comprehend the madness that floods the country for a full week. Nevertheless I will do my best to describe the undescribable!

Every city we visited that week; Granada, Cordoba and Sevilla were swarming with people; the Spanish label the huge crowds following the processions as 'la Bulla.' I had been warned about the crowds from many locals in Valverde, most of whom escape to the country during this week. Whereas before I was able to sympathise with them, I can now say that I truely empathize with them! Thousands upon thousands of people come, some in penitence, others in fesitve spirits, to spectate as dozens of models of the virgin and Jesus on 'tronos', I guess we would call them floats, are lifted by the so called 'Costaleros'. (These men go unseen as they are covered under the floats) The tronos are carried slowly through the streets of Sevilla, from their local churches to the cathedral and back again. Each procession lasts .... 14 hours. Yes, they take shifts! The 'penitentes' are members of the fraternity that perform the authentic act of penitence carrying a wooden cross and walking barefoot. They dress like Nazarenos but without a 'capirote' (cone)on their heads like others in the processions.

We were apparantly very fortunate to see la Macarena (the patron Virgin Mary of Sevilla) who is only uncovered once a year for the public, and so seeing her is somewhat of a 'treat' and 'emotional deal'. For the Sevillians each Virgin is different, unique and special (although they all looked the same to me!!) and are sometimes called 'La Dolorosa' (hurt), 'La Amargura' (bitterness) or 'La Esperanza' (hope). I was having a drink with the girls on a street corner, sharing tales of our travels & occassionally chatting with the barman or locals, when I received the text from my Dad that read "Going to c big one vgin de la macarena do u want 2 meet up?" So I phoned him and mum answered. She said he was in the bathroom to which I responded "Oh, I thought he was out looking for virgins. " -Needless to say, I got a few looks! So, we managed to find each other in the crowds, planned a route and set off in search of the Macarena. After waiting on the spot along with thousands of other people for 1.5hours, she finally arrives at 3am (la madrugada) and STOPS right infront of us! What a treat! hehe. After a 30 second break she's off again and Dad & I try to find our way back to the hotel-which is not as easy as it sounds when half the streets are blocked with human bodies!!!

Honestly, I admire and respect the effort that is put into the week; having to organize thousands of people who take part in the processsions. At least Spain has some pride and traditions still retained in the country; it was very clear how this week brought the people together as one nation and for that I salute you Spain! However, 'no tiene mucho sentido para mi!' The processions were all very similar, and as intense and interesting the experience and atmosphere was that week, it started becoming comical for my family and I! We'd be walking through the narrow and beautiful streets of Cordoba, trying to avoid the crowds, and suddenly a waft of incense would fill the air and the hair on the back of our necks would prick up... that was the first sign, and shortly afterwards we would see shadows of hooded figures holding large wooden crosses or oversized candles. We'd turn the corner and .....yep you guessed it... LA VIRGEN! Hundreds of people swarming around the float of the virgin; reaching out, pushing and shoving to get that bit closer to the model.

La Alhambra y Mesquita

We did however make it through the crowds and visited both the Alhambra, Granada and La Mesquita (mosque) in Cordoba. Both of which were beautiful. La Alhambra requires you to book well in advance, whereas the Mesquita just rips you off at the entrance! See the photos below of the two beautiful and historic monuments of Spain.

La Alhambra

La Alhambra, (meaning 'The Red Fortress') is a palace and fortress complex constructed in the mid 14th Century by the Moors (the last muslim Kings before the 'reconquista' of the Catholic Kings). La Alhambra is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our visit entailed both a leisurely stoll around the gardens of Generallife (pronounced by the Spanish as Henayral leafay!!!- nice) and of course the Alcazaba, listening to our Audioguides which became increasingly irritating as the language was very OTT and poetic! The sun was shining bright that day, and I think we all got rather pink! So we enjoyed 5 hours in the grounds of la Alhambra (getting our moneys worth Dad ;p).

Granada itself offers some spectacular views of La Sierra Nevada (Spain's highest mountain range), the only higher point being that of the volcano Teide in Tenerife- which we visited a few years ago! And got pink there too! The city itself is almost divided in two. There is the older part of the town which reminded me of the film Chocolat, a small town feel, with old terraced houses built along the stream that flows below the castle. The city is very hilly, and we climbed in the heat to the famous square where Victoria Hislop's novel 'The Return' is based. (Author of the international bestseller 'The Island') The modern part of the city is like most other small cities with all the shopping you can possibly need and (to remind you that you're in Europe) the odd cathedral and church plotted around various squares. Food wise; we found a cute little Gallecian restaurant down a side street and enjoyed the typical Galician dish pulpo (octopus), paella and lots of red wine! Delicious!

From Granada (which means pomegranate!) we continued our journey to Cordoba. The journey itself only took 90 minutes, however once we arrived in the city of Cordoba we drove around for another HOUR trying to locate our hotel. Cordoba's narrow, winding streets are part of what gives the city character; and as a pedestrian it's quite enjoyable walking down them. However, in a car it proves to be a nightmare; one way systems, dozens of tiny streets that don't feature on the map, literally no parking or turning zones. I think my poor Dad drove out and back into the city 4 times!!!! Finally, after winding down the window and asking the locals (who usually proclaim; todo recto hasta la plaza y pregunta otra vez! Keep going straight ahead until you reach the square and then ask again!) This is the typical advice given by the Spaniards when you ask for directions! We finally reached the hotel which was perfectly located (by foot), in the centre down a little side street within 10 minutes walk of the Mesquita! The rest of the day was made up of discovering the city, the famous Mesquita and enjoying typical Semana Santa dulces (cakes) and yes...more processions. We did stumble across some beautiful gardens (on yet another of Dad's infamous circular walks) that were free for visitors on wednesdays- TOMA! So that became our escapism for a while.... Sevilla

Last stop, mi amor... no unfortunately Ryan didn't show up, but that would have been sweet, i'm refering to my favourite city in the world; Sevilla! This year I have visited Sevilla several times, and each time I fall more in love with it; just when you think you know the city inside out, it surprises you as you discover something new. It is so unique with its atmosphere, it's famous tapas & flamenco bars, the maze that is Barrio de Santa Cruz, la Giralda and spectacular cathedral that holds Christopher Columbus' tomb, dining along the river and the nightlife zone of Triana, churros stands, bullfights at the famous & ancient Plaza de Toros, horses and carriages, orange trees and the smell of blossom year round, shopping and helados...my point is I LOVE SEVILLA and so I finally bought the T-shirt that declares it....tacky? Sorry, it had to be done! We spent the rest of the day in the glorious sunshine, trying to avoid the crowds- but of course failing...Sevilla was a crowd!

Finally, after my parents dropped me off in my town of Valverde, we decided we were 'virgined' out?! haha. However, the girls and I received news that la Veronica was about to 'salir' from the local church.... well, we felt we had to support our town and attend! We arrived to find the whole town out in the Plaza awaiting the Virgin. The procession was very similar to all the others we had previously seen, just on a smaller scale. The only shocking difference was that three (carefully selected) seventeen year old girls from the town were dressed as the three Marys: Mary of Cleopas, Mary Magdalane and Mary, mother of James & John, followed by the Virgin Mary! They were dressed identical, except for the Virgin Mary who wore a different colour. We didn't quite know how to respond to this... we were once again... speechless.

To help you to visualise it better; this is a video of the parade that took place in my town!

Well that's all folks. A belated Happy Easter to you all! He is risen!

Besos y abrazos! Cor xXx

BARCA BARCA BARRRRCA!!!!

2010-03-06T03:29:00.000-08:00

Barcelona- puente of February

European, cosmopolitan, beautiful, dynamic, fun, cultural…Barcelona is definitely in my top 5 favourite cities list. One major highlight was seeing FCB play against Malaga at the Barcelona FC Camp Nou stadium- the 3rd largest stadium in the world after Sao Paulo, Brasil and Mexico City. It has a capacity of 110,000 people and I’m pretty sure the stadium was full or almost full at this match! Excellent! Although I must admit the experience was a lot ‘tamer’ than at English football matches. Far less swearing, shouting or singing was heard. Infact, at times I felt like the hooligan getting all excited and shouting words of encouragement….. or frustration! Although they did sing the Barcel song at the start of the game which was very fun… have a listen.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp5vLVBF77Y&feature=related

Kate and Christina found it hilarious that you can’t purchase alcohol at the stadium because too many people get drunk..but you can get non-alcoholic beer hehe!

The 4 day weekend was mainly packed with visits to Gaudi’s creations and a little Picasso…no clubbing/drinking etc. So I guess this holiday can be placed under the ‘cultural breaks’ list! We had fun walking down Las Ramblas and watching street artists perform, painters, markets ranging from flowers to fruit to animals! Yes, there were actually pet shop stands in the middle of the street selling birds, rabbits, ferrets, hamsters, fish…crazy! The Market ‘St Joseph La Boqueria’ was especially fun and colourful, although we were like sardines in a tin trying to get round it! Check out the piccies….

Oh and I spent about an hour bargaining in shops, trying to find the cheapest FCB scarf available!

Without a doubt, the biggest attraction in Barcelona for me was the work of Gaudi! You can spend at least 3 days discovering his numerous projects that are scattered around the city. The most famous obviously being La Sagrada Familia, the Park Guell, La Pedrera/Casa Mila and Casa Batllo. All of which we visited, despite the rip off entry fees. Each building cost around 12 Euros per person! Barcelona really is a beautiful and fun city, but it eats your money!

Gaudi’s work really was fascinating and so here’s a section of my blog about him and his work; if you don’t know who he is or haven’t seen his work then read on and be amazed… if you want to visit Barcelona sometime and want to keep it all a surprise…STOP here !

Gaudi!
Gaudí era un genio, sí, no hay discusión. Un monstruo de talento y ambición artística.

I think Gaudi really makes Barcelona a unique city. The Sagrada Familia, a huge tourist attraction, Casa Batllo, La Pedrera/Casa Mila and Park Guell are just a few of Gaudi’s many creations that are situated in Barcelona. I absolutely loved Gaudi’s arquitecture; so much so that I invested in one of those ‘Coffee table’ books…weighs a ton but hey ho…another recuerdo! He was a genius and so extraordinary…it’s just a shame that he had such a clumsy death- he wasn’t looking where he was going and walked out in front of a tram one day….splat. Because of his ragged attire and empty pockets, many cab drivers refused to pick him up for fear that he would be unable to pay the fare. He was eventually taken to a paupers' hospital in Barcelona. Nobody recognized the injured artist until his friends found him the next day. When they tried to move him into a nicer hospital, Gaudí refused, reportedly saying "I belong here among the poor." He died three days later on 10 June 1926, at age 73, half of Barcelona mourning his death. He was buried in the midst of La Sagrada Família. Kate thinks he was probably thinking about his next project and how he would incorporate nature into his work to entice the senses and create an illusional and symbolic building…tragic!

Cool fact; Gaudi actually lived inside the Temple Sagrada Familia during his last years before his death!

Gaudi really has a fun and very modern style, considering the period he lived in. Some of his buildings made me feel as if I were in a Dr Seuss film! Check out Casa Batllo….

Gaudi uses nature to create an adventurous and symbolic house, a universe of senses and fantasy. A lot of his roofs convey his vivid imagination, expressing his appreciation for shapes, geometric plant forms and even a type of kaleidoscope effect to express modernity, eroticism, fantasy and light…..I felt like I was in some sort of cartoon land!

La Pedrera was a pretty awesome design too! Especially the roof that is like a maze with towers that look like ice-cream cones! I think Gaudi was going for the swirly, childish playground feel- I got a little vertigo as there's a 30 floor sheer drop, or so it felt! Here are some photos of that place;

The SAGRADA FAMILIA

This masterpiece has been under construction since 1882 and is estimated to be completed around 2030, but if the Catalan people are anything like the Spanish then this could be pushed back a few…...decades! haha! Oh and apparently the church is to be consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI on November 7, 2010! The Sagrada was just mind-blowing! I couldn’t get over the detail and imagination behind it. Unfortunately parts of the unfinished barn and Gaudí's models and workshop were destroyed during the Spanish Civil war in 1936 and so today’s design is a reconstructed version. Every corner had a new surprise waiting to be discovered. The theme of nature is provident in this creation; as Gaudi declared ‘El gran libro, siempre abierto, y que es necesario esforzarse en leer, es el de la Naturaleza.’ Many columns in the church look like trees and the roof appears to be covered in petals. I remember reading somewhere that Gaudi wanted to create a peaceful and ‘one with nature’ setting in the midst of the hustle and bustle of a city.

This Cryptogram was my favourite part of the building; there are 310 ways to equate 33- the age of Christ when he was crucified.

Gaudi intended the church to be the "last great sanctuary of Christendom". A little architectural info for you…. The Sagrada has a total of 18 towers; the Twelve Apostles, the four Evangelists, the Virgin Mary and, tallest of all, Jesus Christ. The Evangelists' towers will be surmounted by sculptures of their traditional symbols: a bull (St Luke), a winged man (St Matthew), an eagle (St John), and a lion (St Mark). The central tower of Jesus Christ is to be surmounted by a giant cross; the tower's total height (170 m) will be one meter less than that of Montjuïc (a hill in Barcelona), as Gaudí believed that his work should not surpass that of God. The Church will have three grand façades: the Nativity façade to the East, the Glory façade to the South (yet to be completed) and the Passion façade to the West. The Nativity facade was built before work was interrupted in 1935 and bears the most direct Gaudí influence. The Passion façade is especially striking for its spare, gaunt, tormented characters, including emaciated figures of Christ being flogged and on the crucifix. I’m certainly intrigued to see how they will depict the ‘Glory’ façade. Tune in around 2030 to find out! The Passion facade

The staircase looked like a snail!
Flowers on the ceiling
The Nativity

Park Güell is a garden complex with architectural elements situated on the hill of el Carmel. Although totally worth a visit, I did feel like I was hiking a mountain to get there! The surrounding area is almost identical to San Francisco, just without the trams to help you get from A to B! I loved the park’s relaxed atmosphere and the hidden gems around it. I again felt like I was in a fairy tale land. The sunshine, parrots in the trees, street performers, bright colours and dazzling works of Gaudi created a surreal fantasy world for me. There were many street performers inside too keeping us entertained whilst we ate our picnic. My favourite part was probably the ‘Gingerbread’ style house at the entrance- making me feel like I was in Hansel and Grettle’s fairytale!

Gingerbread house

Probably the most photographed lizard in the world!

Part 2: Another famous guy and a love/hate relationship!

Real name: Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz Picasso !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have never really called myself a ‘Picasso fan’. Infact, quite the contrary, I’ve always found Picasso a little dull, strange, depressing and quite frankly I would never have chosen to display one his paintings in my bedroom….until I discovered the ‘Dove of Peace’. The painting is so simple, even a child could produce an equivalent, but it enticed me and I think through this painting I gave Picasso a second chance, a second chance to capture my interest and lure me into his works, ideas and his world. Picasso once declared; ‘I have a horror of people who speak about the beautiful. What is the beautiful? One must speak of problems in painting!’ I think this is why it took me a while to begin to appreciate Picasso’s work. I’m a sucker for the ‘pretty, colourful and happy’ depictions of life. I don’t mean a child’s painting of a rainbow, although they can be adorable…I mean, I can do deep. I can do thought-provoking. I’m just not good with old fashioned war paintings or religious paintings you so often find in cathedrals…they don’t inspire or affect me. The famous museum in Seville ‘Museo bellas artes’ didn’t entice me at all. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is I ventured into El museo de Picasso in Barcelona with quite a negative mind-set that said ‘You don’t like Picasso, and here you are walking into a museum which only has his works….have fun.’ And yet, as I walked through the rooms that represented different stages of his life and saw how his style developed, I found myself becoming more and more eager to enter the next room, to see what was waiting. So I guess I came out of the museum still convinced that Picasso’s work isn’t my cup of tea, but I feel that I now appreciate it. Aside from the 'Dove of Peace', I also loved Picasso's adaption of the serious painting 'Meninas' by Velazquez. I had studied this Velazquez painting last year in St Andrews and so got really excited to see dozens of variations of it 'Picasso style'. They even had a screen showing (computer graphically) how Picasso took a section of the painting and transformed it into his style. Pablo Picasso declared ‘My mother said to me, "If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope." Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso’. He certainly is unique.

Painting is just another way of keeping a diary isn’t it? Well, Picasso must have been one of those dedicated people that writes in their diary (or paints a picture) every day, because that museum was full! Out of all the hundreds of paintings in his museum, here a few examples conveying the range of his work, the development and gradual change of his style and finally, The Dove of Peace, my favourite.
NB: The first painting- ‘Guernica’ is actually in La Reina Sofia, Madrid. (Worth a visit if you ever find yourself in Madrid for the day!) The second painting shown is Picasso's version of Velazquez's 'Meninas'.... Well that's all folks. I'm going to be stationed in Valverde now until Easter (3 whole weeks without vacations!! oh no!! haha) Lots of love to you all. Oh, and please please keep in touch and keep me updated about life in the bubble!

Besos y abrazos

Cor XxXxXx

Abuelo Abuelo!!!!

2010-03-03T05:12:00.000-08:00

We love our housemate Miguel Ángel. He looks after us and is fun to hang out with. However, there is a private joke in our household about his obsession with cleaning and the phrase; 'que te toca?' (The meaning; it's your turn to do what?') This question is heard like clockwork once a week from the mouth of our dear Miguel regarding housework chores. Miguel is extremely dedicated to his household tasks (putting us ladies to shame- he even taught me how to mop a floor the 'proper way' once. We've also been learning how to cook the 'spanish way' i.e the better way!) He delegates jobs to us each week. We rotate the following chores; kitchen, lounge, bathrooms and hallway. Whilst in Barcelona this past weekend we found a soft dice that declares lo que 'te toca'....perfect!

Then to take the joke further, we decided to write a song for our Abuelo (grandad as we call him) based on the song 'Maria Maria' by Juan Magan, which by the way is an excellent song! Check it out here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKl9ebJJVCU So we changed the lyrics to relate to our abuelo and the housework. So for all you people who speak or understand a little spanish out there...enjoy!

Abuelo Abuelo

Un abuelo que nos quiera

que nos sube la bombona

que nos enseña su lengua

que nos da la vida entera.

Abuelos gots some papas

regalitos de su mama

pantalones de regla

nike y adidas

El no es malo

Solo estudia en su cuarto

Jaen ya tiene fama

es la Junta que le manda

Desde Roma a Sevilla

Huelva, Punta Umbria

Pero no pasa nada!

Abuelo abueloooooh,

te queremos cada dia más

no sabemos como cocinar

te queremos cada dia más

Abuelo abueloooooh

no sabemos como limpiar

lo sentimos pero es la verdad

imaginamos que dice tu mama!

Como somos, como vivimos, MIRA!

No cocinamos, no limpiamos

no lavamos, no fregamos,

lo sentimos, perdonanos

No nos preguntes, asi que molesta

cuando dices que que te toca

a mi me vuelve loca

cuando dices que te toca

a mi me vuelve loca!

We love you really Miguel ! Las chicas extranjeras xxxxx

Gran Canaria...a 'paradise' (for Germans!)

2010-03-02T10:57:00.001-08:00

Departing on another adventure….

The next day we all got to the airport at around 6am, bleary eyed but excited by the prospect of collapsing on a beach for 5 days! Ryan returned on the 20 hour journey back to the States and the girls and I took a 2 hour flight to the exotic island Gran Canaria in search of some sunshine. Unfortunately the rain and cold weather that has been affecting the whole of Europe these past few months has taken its toll on the canaries too! Before leaving we had heard about the flooding in Tenerife; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1247920/Tenerife-floods-Canary-Islands-hit-downpours.html which is just a few miles from Gran Canaria and so we were just a little concerned that our 'exotic getaway' could be a disaster. Having booked a cheap non-refundable plane ticket, we prepared ourselves mentally for the worst, prayed hard for dry weather and boarded the 7.10am non-stop flight to Gran Can. The Spanish are always claiming ‘eso no es normal’ and ‘no tienes suerte’ i.e, this bad weather isn’t normal, you’re just unlucky. The first day was, as expected, a wet, windy and miserable day. Having been to Tenerife the winter before with Heidi and Hannah during intersemester break, I couldn't believe the contrast in weather conditions. The hot, exotic winter of 2009 seemed like a dream as I peered out the apartment window at the palm trees swaying in the wind and the rain causing the drains to flood in the streets. Holiday from hell came to mind. However, praise God- the next day was a miracle! We woke up to clear sunny skies and spent hours at the beach, soaking the rays!The scorching sun only lasted two days and then the weather became overcast, however we were grateful for a Vitamin D boost, and I certainly felt healthier and glowing. On the final day we went on an adventure to Masapalomas in search of the camels! The Colombian taxi driver made my day- the coolest, friendliest taxi driver I have EVER encountered and her clear musical colombian spanish made my Andaluz accent seem rather dull and unattractive!!!
Don't upset the camel, he's already got the hump! hahahaha?!?!?!
Gran Canaria is one of the smaller islands in the Canaries which means it’s quieter. We did however end up in the rather touristy district ‘Playa del Ingles’ which was full (ironically) of Germans! They were everywhere! The beach was even lined with German restaurants and bars! I wasn’t too impressed by this, as most of you know German is not a passion of mine, and so we tried to choose SPANISH bars and steer clear of the Germans! This was quite a successfully accomplished mission as we found a fantastic bar one night that had a dance floor and, yes …SPANISH people! We danced away to Verano Azul and Maria Maria all night long!

A few anecdotes from the trip; at 5am one night/morning we met an American Army Technical Sergeant in the midst of an early mid-life/identity crisis. Yes, he was rather drunk, so we listened to his life story a few times, consoled him and after a couple of hours, pointed him in the direction of his hotel!
Another guy we met was actually a neighbor of mine, well not really, but he was from the Wirral which is very close to Chester. It was fun watching Kate and Christina’s reaction to the scouse accent! ‘Where youse from? Ah, our Andy is from round der like!’ Oh my. This legend of a guy had flown to Gran Canaria for a weeks holiday a few weeks back and decided to stay and work- didn’t blame him to be honest! We had a good laugh with him as he told us all about the bull fighting and chase in Pamplona. This is a very famous festival in July where bulls chase people down the narrow streets of Pamplona until finally reaching the ring. Many people get trampled, gored, even killed by the bulls, yet Spain still holds the race as an annual tradition and the Spanish love it. This guy ran in it last year, and is still alive to tell the tale. Think I might give that one a miss! Here's a video showing the 'tamer' side of the race....
http://www.spanish-fiestas.com/video/pamplona-bull-run.htm

Next week I’m heading to Barcelona to explore the world of Gaudi, so keep an eye out for that update!

Besos y abrazos a todos!
Cor xXx Our abuelito !!!

You know you're in Europe when.....

Camel riding in the dunes....

Sunshine at last !

Speechless......

Copas por la noche!

PAELLA!!!! Canaries speciality!

A whole new world

2010-03-02T04:54:00.000-08:00

Just for fun….

So before I start: for those of you who haven’t seen this advert yet, watch it now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnsSUqgkDwU. Or youtube Parisian Love. It was played in the States during the Super Bowl. Ry showed me it when he visited and I have to say I totally related to it…via the Google search engine, the advert depicts a beautiful Parisian love story across the miles- so here’s to long distance relationships!

Carnival….
Anyway, updates from Andalucia! February- the month of no work! (well, very little anyway) starts with Carnival in Cadiz. This is an annual, traditional, week long festival in Andalucia that causes many towns and cities to call another holiday and give us hard working people (ahem*) a week off! Kate, Erica and Christina made costumes and headed to the crazy party land of Cadiz for a few days dressed as the three musketeers, whilst Ryan and I headed to Sevilla for my 21st and then Africa! Yes- Ryan actually visited 3 continents within 7 days! We’d been talking about it for a while and we were both itching to go to Morocco! So we did! Very spontaneously we embarked on another aventura!

A taster of life in Valverde….

Ryan managed to spend a few days in my wee pueblo of Valverde too! I enjoyed taking him to a couple of my private classes to give him a taster of my work in the town. The kids loved him and asked him some rather random questions: ranging from ‘How old are you?’ (To which he replied 52!) to ‘What’s your favourite fungus?’ 'What's your favourite foot?' (Ana meant to say 'food'..nearly!) Oh and of course ‘Do you like Hannah Montana’ is always in the top 3! Well, Ryan being his witty self managed to keep them entertained which made my job a lot easier. I let him take over and just shouted a few things in Spanish if they started misbehaving. He was wonderfully patient with them, and quite a catch with one group of 10 year old girls! Lorena even demanded that he gave her his email address; of course we gave her the wrong extension, so someone in the world with the address rcwiik@hotmail.com is going to be getting some love letters in their inbox soon!

This photo is in the local bar El Tablajero. Homer... I mean Ryan is amused that in such a small town in the heart of Andalucia, they sell DUFF beer! - He told me it was pretty bad, but he kept the bottle as a memory!
Unfortunately, as it was nearly carnival, all my Spanish friends were out of town and so Ryan only got to meet Miguel, although I think meeting all of them would have been rather overwhelming! Nevertheless, I think he enjoyed our pueblo and I was happy I got to show him my home in Spain.

Discover Sevilla…. Booooo!

On the 10th February I received confirmation after 1 months wait that our trip to Morocco with DISCOVERSEVILLA would go ahead without fail. So I received permission to miss a day of school, cancelled classes, paid for overnight accommodation and took off to Sevilla. However, when we arrived at the office, our good friend (*ahem) MANU declared ‘Sorry guys, actually trip is cancelled.’ In a way we knew it was going to happen, I didn’t trust this guy and we knew from the day we booked it a month ago that it wasn’t secured. The reason: The King of Morocco was showing up with his entourage in Tetouan (one of the cities on our tour) and so the city would shut down for the King's people and leave the tourists without accomodation! In Morocco there are many pictures of the King; see below: We were quick to forgive his majesty for ruining our plans to visit Tetouan!!!!

So, without giving us time to think, he’s then trying to sell us another trip to Morocco, which keeps changing details, dates, prices etc. Alarm bells were seriously ringing. Ryan and I both sensed something was not quite right and both received the same message loud and clear: ‘WALK AWAY’. With a full refund we did and decided it was best just to celebrate my 21st and not to let this mishap spoil it. So we did….we really did. So here’s how I celebrated the night of my 21st….. typically.

The night of my 21st…..

We decided to hit the bars- typically. We hit up one tapas bar and the waiter served us 8 FREE drinks! 6 of which were shots of taquilla… yes I know, recipe for disaster! Ironically this only happened because he’d forgotten to charge us for part of the meal, so we admitted this and he said it was on the house, to which I replied ‘Un regalo así que es mi cumpleaños’ (A present, seeing as it’s my birthday!) …oops… bad move/or good depending how you view it! He was a fun guy and insisted on us having ‘Tres! Tres!’ (yes, three shots within the span of 2 minutes!) We didn’t refuse- typically! We tried to get in to a bar after that, but the bouncer declared we couldn’t enter because of Ryan’s shoes!! In other words “you guys are too drunk to enter my bar…try next door.’ Hehe. Ryan and I just laughed, as did another guy who was stood outside. Ryan’s shoes are green sneakers. Very fashionable and quite smart by the way…so it was clearly an excuse but I found it hilarious. So overall, my birthday night was a typical 21st drunken mess! Fortunately Ryan was there, far more sober than me, ready to carry me home in my very tiddled state. Phew. The end.

Solchasers….. yaaay!!!!

The next morning, although feeling a little delicate, Ryan and I visited a travel agency and booked a trip to Morocco in a professional, secure and trustworthy fashion, i.e papers were signed, ID was taken, tickets were printed and a full (non-changing) itinerary was received. Before we knew it, we were on the next bus to Algeciras, where we stayed overnight and took the ferry the next morning, arriving in the beautiful blue world of Chefchaouen that afternoon.

We got a stamp for entering Morocco! Being an EU citizen, stamps are quite rare for me so I was rather excited!

Chefchaouen….

A quick overview: Chefchaouen, often referred to as the ‘safest city in Morocco’, is nestled in the Rif Mountains. The name literally means ‘look at the horns’ (referring to the pointed mountains in which it is situated.) It’s hard to describe the experience in a blog, but some words come to mind: breathtaking, exhilarating, unique and …… blue! The town is famous for its blue doors and houses; infact, the whole town is painted a Mediterranean blue! We stayed a couple of days which was the perfect amount of time to explore the town, try out the cuisine, our bargaining skills and meet people. This trip was the biggest culture shock trip i've ever experienced and what an incredible experience it was! It was one of those trips that you return from having learnt something. My eyes were opened in Morocco, to a beautiful but different world where women stayed indoors and the men walked the streets wearing full length robes with pointed hoods; think Jawas and you have the Chaouen men! It was my first time in a Muslim country too, so the 'call' to prayer 5 times a day was surreal but fascinating. I really did feel like singing Aladdin's 'A whole new World' whilst I was there;

'I can show you the world, shining, shimmering, splendid....I can open your eyes, take you wonder by wonder.....on a magic carpet ride, a whole new world, a hundred thousand things to see, I'm like a shooting star, I've come so far, I can't go back to where I used to be'

Here are some photos from our trip..... The first day a local approached us and told us that he wanted to show us a beautiful shop- bad idea… we arrived to find a very hard salesman waiting. We stood our ground despite the intimidation and persuasiveness of the owner. It was our first encounter with a Moroccan salesman and threw us into the deep end causing us to struggle away gasping for air- it was an intense experience! I think Ryan and I needed it to prepare ourselves for the rest of the week, and from that point forward we knew how to deal with the dealers- ignore them, act dumb or just firmly say ‘NO’, which I wasn’t very good at, but I definitely improved by the end of the trip! I found it fascinating experiencing a hard sale; if not a little uncomforting. Listening to his sale tactics changing from ‘Just look….’ To ‘just touch…’ to ‘how much would you pay?’ To which I replied ‘I’m sorry Sir, but I’m not buying a carpet today.’ Which developed into ‘Just tell me a price for curiosity…just curiosity’.. to ‘Just a little higher Miss, just a little’ and when he got the hint that we really weren’t interested, he tried the ‘We are in a crisis, please… any offer…!’ We walked away with him following us and shouting after us. Crazy! However, the guy that had led us to this shop did help us find an excellent restaurant with delicious traditional Moroccan food! Ryan and I died and went to heaven that evening- the couscous was amazing and the meal cost us half what it would in Spain! He also tried to sell us Marjuana, which is cheap as chips and one of the main sources of income!

Mr Opinionative and some prophesies….

It was at this meal one evening that we met another local whom we nicknamed ‘Mr Opinionative’. He heard us speaking English and decided to come over and practice his linguistic skills on us. It was interesting at first, hearing his opinions on politics, culture, people and the meaning of life! However after an hour Ryan and I were slowly losing interest and actually finding it rather frustrating having to listen to his very biased and ill-informed knowledge of America and world politics and how Arabs rule the world, having invented nearly every form of medicine. He even went to the extent of claiming that Apollo could not have happened without one particular Arab. We humored him, well I nodded my head and pretended to agree with most things just to keep on the right side of him, but Ryan was quickly getting heated from the unfair and stereotypical comments being made about his country! Oh and apparently Americans hang too many flags- in all the movies and in every house- check this picture out below….

And the AMERICANS have too many flags! Oh, and let me share this prophesy with you: England is going to become a ‘dry’ land eventually, i.e we are going to use up all its resources and starve the land causing every Brit and his dog to migrate to Africa. Yes, this was shared in seriousness with us.

Redwan

Redwan was the receptionist in our hotel and one of the nicest guys Ryan and I have ever met. He was practically fluent in at least 5 languages but was very humble about it. It was through Redwan that we learnt so much about the history and geography of Morocco. I asked for a map of the town when we arrived. Apparently they don't exist- but he pulled out a huge scroll, unravelled it to reveal a plan of the town and began directing us to local markets and touristic points! It was fascinating to see a map of Morocco, which I'd never really studied before. Both Ryan and I had assumed that Morocco was just desert- how we were wrong! A huge part of Morocco is of course desert but the north is just as green and lush as Scotland! Even more mind boggling is the fact that they have ski resorts too!!! I also didn't know that the King in Morocco had total power over the country. We also learnt some Arabic from Redwan, unfortunately all I remember is 'Shukran' which I think means thank you? Thanks to Redwan we were able to better understand the culture of Morocco and therefore see the land and its people differently.

Donkey or German?

The final day we went shopping in the Medina, or bargain hunting if you will! Before embarking on our mission to bargain the day away, we had a secret meeting. In this meeting we agreed that if we were serious about buying object A, the word ‘German’ would be dropped into the conversation to express and confirm this. Secondly, if we were feeling pressured, unsure or generally uncomfortable with the situation, the word ‘DONKEY’ would communicate this. I.e , ‘get me out of here.’ Our issue was that many of the Moroccans spoke good English and Spanish, thus leaving Ryan and myself unable to communicate without them understanding us. Heading off to the Medina, we came across a beautiful museum-style shop, hidden in the corner of the main square. A very interesting, older man was there and gave us quite the history lesson! Ryan and I were mesmerized by his collection of treasures, some centuries old! We couldn’t afford very much, and the objects were too valuable to bargain for. In the end, I declared a painting was most definitely GERMAN and so purchased a painting of a blue door with roses that opens to reveal the painting itself of the town. Un recuerdo if you will.

Ryan experiences the frustrations of Andalucian transport….

Heading back to Spain was quite the disaster! We got to the port 2 hours ahead of schedule and were greeted by a guy who declared that our boat was not sailing due to bad weather nearer Spain. Now, taking into consideration I could see the coast of Spain from the port and the weather conditions looked identical to Morocco; a little rain, a little choppy on the ocean, but not so bad that they would have to cancel an entire crossing, I became quickly frustrated and expressed this to the company in my most polite but ‘I am NOT happy about this situation and you WILL resolve it NOW’ Spanish. Within 20 minutes they had us put on another boat, with another company without supplementary charge. The boat was a lot bigger and so we were warned it could take longer to cross. Of course we didn’t mind at the time; we just wanted to get back to Spain! Not such a disaster yet right… well we boarded at 3pm. The boat left at the very delayed time of 6pm and we arrived two hours later but lost an hour due to the time difference, consequently missing the final bus back to Sevilla by 15 minutes meaning we also lost our money for the hotel in Sevilla. La vida es asi! (That’s life!) Ryan finally got to experience the Andalucian transport and now knows that all my moaning in the past wasn’t me exaggerating, but genuinely, Andalucia is backward!

On arrival in Sevilla, I managed to cram a day of sightseeing with Ryan and dragged him around all the secrets of Sevilla. I even took him for churros on the river- yum. That evening we met up with Kate and Cristina for tapas and which progressed into a night of flamenco! I was happy Ry got to experience the passionate dance.

Well that's the end of part 1 of Carnival week. My next blog will tell you about the second half when we (i.e the ladies) went to Gran Canaria!

Besos y abrazos a todos!
Cor xXx

A hidden gem in Aracena

2010-02-07T11:19:00.000-08:00

ARACENA

Pueblo hopping on a sunny afternoon……
In the heart of the natural park ‘Sierra de Aracena y Picos de Aroche’ lies the famous town of Aracena. Just an hours drive from Valverde, Aracena appears identical to any other Spanish pueblo at first glance, until you look under the surface. Hidden away in The Gruta de las Maravillas (loosely translated as 'the cave of wonders') is a treasure waiting to be explored! The spectacular limestone caves covering 1,200m, with underground lakes and dramatic limestone formations are any Geographers paradise! Interesting and rather amusing fact: the caves were found by a boy looking for a lost pig in 1886! I never did find out whether he found the pig in the end. I was absolutely stunned when we took the hour tour down into the caves. There were moments when I felt as if I was dreaming or part of a fairy tale, and others when we turned a corner and we were walking through the caves of Moria in 'The Lord of the Rings'. Unfortuately photos were forbidden, although I did sneak a few when the tour guide wasn’t looking! Sshh!

Spain really is home to some historic and geographical gems!
I picked up a flyer in the tourist shop and it summed up the experience perfectly….

"This beautiful cave, the biggest and the most wonderful in the world, is located in the bowels of the hill on which the castle church is built and where the ruins of the old fortress can be found. The beauty of its lakes, the spaciousness of its chambers and the marvelous colours of its wide variety of stalactites and stalagmites, form in its entirety something almost impossible to surpass. Water has written a poem through the silence and slowness of the centuries."

After the tour Kate, Christen, Abuelito and I took a quick trip up to the castle ruins, had a very cute picnic and got some great shots of the surrounding countryside and the town....oh, and Miguel took pictures of his car- his baby- haha! (see photo below) I also worked out (after a year of having my camera) how to take the photos in black and white! I know… technical genius ;p !

Inglesas en Sevilla and other tales

2010-02-06T01:52:00.000-08:00

Nestled within the historic labyrinth of Barrio Santa Cruz, hidden in the maze of narrow streets in the old Jewish quarter of Sevilla, three English Señoritas reunite in a Petit Palace! The enchanting city of Sevilla welcomes the travelers into a city bustling with vibrant flamenco shows, tapas bars, horse and carriages lining the squares, the smell of chestnuts roasting on street corners and the fragrance of oranges delighting the senses. Three English señoritas reunite in style & take a ‘paseo’ around the beautiful plazas and winding streets, laughing and conversing over a meal of tapas and Tinto de Verano into the night. A beautiful journey that created ever-lasting memories….Sevilla…. te quiero!

I cannot give their trip justice with words… it was just magical and a real treat to have the opportunity to show some of my closest friends the country whose culture has shaped me & enticed me over the past few months. Taking up the role of ‘tour guide’ I took the girls to every corner of the city, sharing memories of past visits, introducing them to the most ingenious and delicious creation and past-time on Earth… TAPAS! Also, inspiring Heidi with a Flamenco show so much she claimed the next day; ‘I think I’ve found my calling in life… a flamenco dancer!’ We even took a very random and hilarious bike tour around the city under the stars. Our tour guide didn’t know what had hit him when we showed up, giggling & claiming we weren’t very stable on bikes…only then to find that the bikes didn’t have functioning breaks or lights…clearly failing the safety test! But in the words of the guide: ‘no pasa nada!’ (Basically; Don’t worry about it!) Oh, and helmets aren’t necessary in Spain… obviously?!?!?
Despite a few nerves, we soon got into the momentum and thoroughly enjoyed touring the city by bike for 3 hours….although I must admit, my thighs were burning by the end of it! I was able to see the Plaza de España for the first time, which is BREATHTAKING! It’s like you step back in time and into a world where Venice meets Spain…incredible and beautiful.

Some highlights of the weekend in Sevilla include Heidi’s beautiful performance of the song ‘You’re never fully dressed without a smile’ from the musical Annie, on the steps of a monument in the main square… caught on video by Hannah! On play back we noticed how a group of children had gathered, enticed and observing this strange blonde exotic creature singing and dancing in a different tongue. Heidi, you’re amazing!
Another recuerdo would have to be up in Giralda Tower in Sevilla Cathedral, staring myself and Heidi as the tour guides….let’s just say, I think I can cross off ‘Tour guide’ on my list of ‘possible careers post graduation’ as at one point I proclaimed that ‘there are many houses in Sevilla…hmmm.’ Although do join Heidi and Hannah next time for their trip to Melbourne, Australia hehe; Hannah’s response; ‘I wish’. (yeah, I think you have to see the footage lol) I also invested in a book about the history of Spain- my project for the next few months!

The following two days, the ladies accompanied me to my wee pueblo en el campo! Valverde del Camino, the centre of the universe, or not. Unfortunately they came during the week when the town is at its quietest, so no crazy partying with the locals on a Saturday night occurred….shame. (A more accurate description would be: No smoke filled lungs and itchy eyes and sleezy Spanish men!) Although, I have heard a rumour that the smoking ban is coming into force here in March!? HA! Fat chance.
I loved taking the girls to my private classes and watching them interact with the children. My afternoon workshops in the primary school were a blast, as the kids danced and sang away to ‘If you’re Happy and you know it clap your hands.’ Actually, this version proved too difficult so we simplified it to ‘If you’re happy, happy, happy, clap your hands!’ We then had a giggle mimicking Mr Men characters; the game was that Heidi and Hannah would pick up pictures of the characters and the children had to respond with an action…. ‘Mr funny’ was Heidi’s favourite; as soon as she picked up the picture the whole room exploded in laughter! Took us 5 minutes to calm them down again for the next picture! In the end I would just grab Mr MEAN and they’d all shut up and fold their arms and scowl! Hehe!
At a private class in a house, I got the group of 5 kids to ask the girls questions about whatever they wanted. It was amusing to hear the kids asking things that intrigued them most; Manuel asked ‘Have you looked Nessy?’ At first we assumed he was trying to say ‘Are you messy?’ Then we realized he was referring to The Lock Ness Monster! A legend even in the outback of southern Spain! Teresa asked Heidi at one point ‘Are you funny?’ That just caused us to laugh, which in turn answered her question.

The girls departed on Wednesday morning and completed their Spanish experience with a 2 day trip to Córdoba. It was a magical and memorable few days that I got to spend with them. Life in Valverde continues without them….but my kids are missing the ‘Foreign girls’, as do I! Love you girls xxxx

More news from the bubble of Valverde…

(Housemates ! Kate and I with Miguel -Abuelito!)

We took a trip last weekend to a nightclub on the outskirts of the town and met an Aussie! Hilarious to have an English, American and Aussie chatting away amongst a load of Spaniards! It was rather amusing when I initially met him in the club as I thought he was just another local trying to practice his English on me, so I replied in Spanish and he looked confused and proclaimed ‘I’m from Australia’ hehe.

We met another Couch Surfer called Pablo, from Madrid. A middle aged traveler without destination, going wherever the wind blows him, free as a bird and searching for a ‘resting place’, which led to deep discussions about whether he will ever find his paradise on Earth; deep lol He was passing through our town for a day and we decided to have coffee with him. Despite not being with him for long, we learnt a lot from him. As always, we spoke a lot about language differences in the south when he commented on my Andaluz accent! He told us that Spaniards never really use the future tense like us Brits: Whereas we’d claim ‘I will go to work tomorrow’; the Spaniards believe this is challenging God, assuming you have tomorrow. So for this reason, they use the closer future ‘I am going to go to work tomorrow’ Not much difference right? Well, apparently there is! He also tried to help us perfect the imperfect subjunctive (heart and head verbs as we call them). He was a very philosophical guy and we enjoyed his company. We just hope it was reciprocated.

Other news, I now have an abuela in Valverde (a Grandma). She adopted me and now we have intercambios in her house. I usually pop round to see her twice a week for a couple of hours and enjoy her homemade ‘galletas’ by the fire with a cuppa. I have to admit, I feel like I’m learning a lot from her, not only improving my Spanish, (she’s trying her hardest to beat out the Andaluz accent that I’ve picked up!) but also learning from someone generations older than me about life. She lives with her deaf brother, and so I’m learning Spanish sign language too! I’ve mastered ‘hasta luego’ (see you later) and ‘how are you’. Humanity is a wonderful thing- you don’t need a common language to show compassion, kindness or generosity. He popped out to the local market whilst I was chatting with Pepa (my abuela) and he returned with a tin of typical Andaluz pâté as a gift for me! Despite not being able to communicate by spoken language, it’s amazing how far a nod of the head when passing each other in the street, and a smile goes. Communication…it’s far more than words.

Workwise, I'm still enjoying my private classes, although i'm having to teach maths and the secondary school now which is proving quite a challenge! But it's great in some respects as i'm learning too!!!! The sun has come back after two months of wintery weather and so walks in the country, absorbing vitamin D and blowing away the cobwebs from parties the night before are becoming a frequent occurance !
Well that’s all folks. Tune in in a couple of weeks time to find out how my adventures with Ryan went! So excited for his arrival on TUESDAY! We’re hoping for a wee trip to Morocco, but having some issues with the travel company who are supposed to be ‘organising it’ for us! Vamos a ver… we shall see! Oh, and when Ryan heads back to the States I’ll also be catching a plane with the girls to Gran Canaria for a quick 5 day trip soaking up the sunshine and chilling on an exotic island.

Keep in touch peeps! Miss you all.
Besos y abrazos a todos!
Hasta pronto!
XxX

PUENTE EN LISBOA, ESCAPING THE BUBBLE AND REUNIONS!

2010-01-09T07:30:00.000-08:00

It appears that my promise to get the next blog posted ‘before Christmas’ didn’t go to plan. Sorry guys! Nevertheless, I have at last put into words the fantastic & crazy trip to Lisbon from December & included my travel stories to America & Chester from the Christmas break…enjoy!

Lisbon, Portugal, is the Western most capital in mainland Europe. The beautiful city is surprisingly similar to San Francisco & had both a cosmopolitan and traditional/historic atmosphere, which suited me perfectly! Fortunately for me, pay day came just in time, allowing me to embark on a Portugese adventure! Having been waiting for 3 months for my first paycheck from the Ministery of Education, I was relieved to finally receive it, although a little concerned by the fact that 3 months wage was handed to me in broad daylight over the bank counter in CASH! Ok, so Valverde isn’t exactly crime central or Ghetto land, but I was pretty concerned!

With a little help from our Spanish friend Ruben, we managed to navigate the Spanish transport system and figured out the best way of getting to the city….bus. 7 hour flipping bus journey!

Our hostel was also a bit of a nightmare- the typical creaky beds & bathrooms that you avoid as much as possible, but we were centrally located in heart of Barrio Alto- the party neighbourhood! We literally stepped out of the hostel at night and would be on the busiest and liveliest street in all of Lisbon…or so it felt! The narrow cobbled streets & small bars lining the roads gave the huge city a quaint feel. The neighbourhood had Fado bars, where you can listen to the typical & unique Portuguese music with a famous caipirinha cocktail, & so many bars & restaurants from all cultures. I even had my first espresso- eww. We went from having Indian one day, to traditional portugese, and even an oriental buffet. Our favourite restaurant Chapito was also a nightmare to find, hidden up in the hills near the castle, but when we finally arrived we enjoyed a delicious meal overlooking the city & the Jesús Cristo statue. We spent a whole day shopping too, visiting every Zara, H&M and Berskha in the city, having a giggle trying on new clothes & encouraging each other to buy things that, having been alone; we probably would have passed by. (Like Kate’s 150 Euro pair of designer sunglasses for example) Oh girls and shopping!

One day we took a trip to the town of Sintra, a beautiful historic town with castles & old architecture an hour out of the city. We chose to visit the house and gardens of a ‘summer house’ (aka mini palace!) called Quinta da Regaleira; a magical, labyrinth style miniature palace, where we enjoyed viewing the paintings of men courting the women and treating them like jewels- just how it should be hehe. Another day we took a train to Belem to see the famous monuments; Padrão dos descobrimentos & the Belem tower by the sea. Finally, to kill some time on the final day we attempted to ‘do the museums’…little did we know that it was a portugese holiday & thus many were shut. We ended up in one very random museum of art which was huge & practically empty- a very strange experience. The display was done by videos & showed the artwork of David Claerbout. Despite being the weirdest form of ‘video art’ I’ve ever encountered, it cleverly and mysteriously enticed us & the three of us sat for at least an hour watching the short clips. In a nutshell, imagine one of those movies where nothing really happens, but you keep watching incase something does happen…but then the film ends.

Here’s a little anecdote for you…so one evening we ate out in a seafood restaurant & sat outside undercover from the rain that had decided to surprise us for a whole day. There we met a homosexual couple from Holland- we initially bonded over the weather condition in the restaurant (as it was practically flooding) which then led to an in depth conversation about my memories of growing up in Holland. It was embarrassing how they spoke better English than us! But they enlightened Cristina and Kate with stories of Sinta Claus and Vater Pete & gave Cristina lots of inspiration for her cultural classes.

The rest of the holiday entailed lots of walking, more shopping and viewing art galleries. I personally fell in love with a painting displayed in a brochure- but it ended up being over 300 Euros by the time we got to the Gallery to check it out!! One of those moments where you enter a gallery, immediately realize how ridiculously expensive it all is, and have to ‘browse’ around for a respectable amount of time so you don’t look silly…although I think they knew that I couldn’t afford anything from the start when my jaw hit the floor!

We returned on the crazy public transport- catching the one and only bus to Sevilla- an overnight coach that dropped us off in Sevilla at 3:30am with nothing open and a load of homeless people sat outside. We managed to stay in the entrance to a block of flats under cover from the cold until 6am when we returned to the (now open) bus station. It then took a further 2 hours to get back from there. Needless to say I have now had a taster of what it feels like to be homeless in the middle of winter and it opened my eyes a lot. It was also ironic how one day we went from eating out in a ‘by reservation only’ restaurant (blowing 30 Euros each on food and wine) to camping out overnight in the streets of Sevilla the next! All in all, Lisbon was a wonderful city break destination & well worth seeing- despite seeing a lot whilst we were there, we could return again as there were a montón of museums we missed…due to the holiday! You could probably stay a week and always find something to do there. They have museums on almost everything you can possibly think of! Whether you’re interested in Contemporary Art, Archeology, Marine, Music, Military, Pharmacy, Clothes or 18th Century coaches! Lisbon has it all! Think San Francisco…just more European and less American…and you have Lisbon haha.

Christimas celebrations in Valverde were pretty wild! The Saturday before we left we were invited to the ‘Menendez teachers’ meal out. The ironic and amusing thing is that I’m not even an employee there (I do workshops in a private school) but Kate is and so for some reason I got invited too! We received a FREE 6 course meal + open bar! And the crazy thing was that we were out for 11 hours! It started at 2pm- with plates of shrimp, octopus, muscles, crab, followed by a plate of fish and peppers + a shot + a small cup of this crazy potion from Galicia they were brewing on a stove, which kept throwing up flames! Then after that, and note I consumed 3 glasses of red wine over the course of the meal; they gave me a final drink- que fuerte! Rum and coke! So totally piddled & giggly when I left. We even received boxes of free wine as a thank you for our hard work at the school; by this time I was finding it hilarious how many freebies I was getting for not even working there! The party ended up in the Tablajero, a cute bar in the town where we met up with more friends and chatted until 1am! What a day! Best Christmas do I’ve ever been to…and the cheapest!

Heading back to the UK was fun as Kate joined me for a few days! We arrived back to a very wintery and snowy UK, and spent a few days shopping in Chester for last minute gifts and visiting Wales to go sledging for the day! Which was so much fun but ended up with Hannah spraining her ankle in a field in the middle of nowhere with no mobile signal…oh joy! We had a beautiful reunion with Hannah and Heidi in Manchester which caused more money to be spent, but was so much fun & wonderful to see the girls again, share stories, laugh & have a giggle! It was wonderful to be home even for just a few days to celebrate Christmas with the family & enjoy central heating…there’s no place like home!

On the 27th I flew across the world to see Ryan in San Diego. Travelling was a complete nightmare due to enhanced security measures; all the flights were delayed and no movies were shown on the 8 hour flight across the Atlantic.…nice. However, it was well worth it as I had a layover in Chicago which allowed me to reunite with Sally which was a beautiful treat and true blessing! I think it’s incredible & wonderful how we felt like we’d never been apart despite living on different continents for almost 2 years! We managed to catch up, reminisce & have a giggle with her family, which left me feeling refreshed and ready for my next flight to SD. An awesome friend and still as gorgeous as ever!

My trip to SD was just as magical; seeing Ryan again after 4 months separation was incredible and emotional, especially after just having seen Sally! We seriously had a wonderful week full of adventures! I managed to satisfy my sushi craving for the next few months hehe. I finally took an interest, over a meal with Ryan, in a game that I used to dislike greatly….American football! So after having had the rules explained to me in detail over dinner, I was left pretty enthusiastic and quite a fan of the Chargers! We even got to see a game live against the DC Redskins…and guess what- CHARGERS WON!!!! The highlight of the game had to be when the crowd started shouting ‘CHARGE!’ and I thought they were saying GEORGE! So I asked Ryan in all innocence ‘Who’s George?’ …that caused some amusement.

Ryan also treated me to a Spa date for my 21st bday/Christmas present which was soooo relaxing and totally a memorable & enjoyable experience. A full body 1 hour massage was a new concept for me, but I could defs get used to that lifestyle. Loads more happened that week, with trips around the city, beach, restaurants, my first communion at Church in almost 4 months (thank you Maranatha!) and I even experienced my first ever Earth tremor! A truly relaxing and refreshing week in sunny San Diego…it was a shock arriving back in the UK to the snow and -15 temperatures! I’m now finally back in Valverde, Spain and plan to be until the summer.

Well, that’s all for now peeps… hope everyone had a relaxing and enjoyable holiday. Next blog should entail stories of Hannah and Heidi’s visit to Sevilla hehe…so keep your eyes out for the next post. Love to all & good luck to all who are taking exams this January & trying to travel in this crazy ice age! You’re in my prayers.

Un beso y abrazo,
Corrie xXx

p.s- little amusing faux-pas from last night in Valverde: Miguel declares it is his birthday next week. So I (in all kindness) offer to ‘cocinar un gateau’ for him, which was an attempt to say ‘cook a cake’, but I used the French word for cake instead of the Spanish ‘tarta’ and the word gato (same pronunciation as gateau) means cat in Spanish…so Miguel thinks I’m cooking him a cat for his birthday. Oh dear! Hehe.

Noviembre en Andalucia

2009-12-09T11:42:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-11-03T14:28:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-15T10:31:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-16T02:41:00.001-07:00

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

	¿Adónde me iré de tu espiritu? ¿Y adónde huiré de tu presencia? Si subiere á los cielos, allí estás tú: Y si en abismo hiciere mi estrado, he aquí allí tú estás.
	Si tomare las alas del alba, Y habitare en el extremo de la mar,
	Aun allí me guiará tu mano, Y me asirá tu diestra