¿Qué? ¿Estas bien? – Sí, bien. I realize that sometimes the only exchanges I have with people in my town is asking “how are you” and such … well, ever realize that the automatic response is yes? Perhaps it’s not always true, however on my recent walk back from grabbing coffee while studying for the GRE, I pondered what I had just said … yes, I am good. To be honest, I can’t complain, I am great! I have been living in Spain for the past 8 months, I am loving my job, trying as much to improve the education of my students, helping students and teachers learn proper English, meeting many people both old and young, having personal acquaintances with coffee shops and so much more. I have had the opportunity to explore Spain and Europe, and although my Spanish might not be at the peak I would like it to be, it is improving and I might get made fun of back in the States for my new Andalucían accent and the eating of my “s”, but I am happy for all that I have achieved! Just thought I’d share my recent thoughts and as my last month has started I want to thank everyone who has supported me through this chapter in my life! I couldn’t have done it without you all! ¡Gracias a todos!
Anywho … I apologize for the two week delay of this blog but I think I put it off because my “spring break” also known as “Semana Santa” did not go quite as planned but I suppose my pictures show otherwise.
For “Semana Santa” a friend (Ashlee) and I traveled to Tenerife (Canary Islands) and Sevilla. Our plane left Sevilla at 7am on Sunday morning so we decided not to get a hostel Saturday evening and just walk around Sevilla until we could head to the airport. It actually was not too bad as there was a festival going on called “Festival of Nations”. This festival was also there when I arrived in Sevilla in September. Hence we spent some time here catching up, drinking beers from all over the world and eating! We then walked across Sevilla towards to the bus stations and hailed a cab at 4am to the Airport when it reopened. We slept a little on the benches before checking in and heading to Tenerife.
We arrived to a cloudy scene, however as the cab descended the mountain the sun came out. Althought it was still early in the morning we were hoping to be able to check into our hotel room or at least leave our luggage while we explored the town. However, when we walked up to the front desk and gave our names they did not have our reservation. We double checked the email and had unknowingly made the reservation for 2 weeks PRIOR to when we were there. Hmmm … Great. So seeing as it was the week of Semana Santa I was nervous we would not be able to get a room because everything was booked up. We left our luggage at the hotel and took a walk around while they figured out our room situation. We explored the little areas newar by and saw lots of lizards and amazing plants! Needless to say after a few hours and paying twice for rooms, we got a room and it had the OCEAN view which before we had a mountain view. Breathtaking!
Tenerife view to the North
The next two days we spent the time the sun gave us laying by the pool or taking the hotel bus into town and explore the more developed areas. There were black sand beaches, lots of tourist shops and great views. However our second day there after coming back from the pool we arrived in our room with water pouring steadily into our room, on the floor and the beds. And then they proceeded to clean up the mess with more blankets. As our hotel staff said on the phone “There is a tsunami in the room, quick we need a boat.”
How they clean up water in Spain.
After switch rooms (which they seemed reluctant to do) we continued to enjoy the little sun we had while spending our second to last day inside due to all the rain. Our very last day we checked out early and headed into town until we had to be at the airport. Here we wandered around, ate some tapas and enjoyed the SUN! Of course, the last day we weren’t at the hotel we had sun.
That evening upon our arrival to Sevilla and after an extremely scary cab ride, we spotted our first and only “KKK” sighting. Kinda creepy in the dark!
Sighting!
I still have yet to learn why they have these costumes and I was hoping to see processions but as the rain followed us to Sevilla, all the processions were canceled. I was thoroughly disappointed. The next two days in Sevilla were filled with rain. The moment I stepped off the train in Almería (only an hour from Vera), the sun was shining and the weather was glorious. Once again … “It’s always sunny in Philadelphia Vera”.
Since returning from break, I was welcomed back at school with thundering footsteps as students rushed towards me shouting “Seño” and dozens of arms wrapped around me for hugs! I guess I can’t complain when students greet me that way. The ways of teaching in the US are so different, I believe hugs are unacceptable. I must say I am going to miss my students!
Also this past weekend my friends and I rented a car (since we have Labor Day today (Monday)) and hence a longer weekend, but for me a normal weekend as I always have Monday’s off. Anywho … Friday evening we followed our friends as they played in this “Traveling Acoustic” group. Traveling Acoustic are different people playing guitars and singing and they play at a new bar every other week or so. We followed them on Friday evening to El Pilar and enjoyed a night of music and conversation with the Brit’s. On Saturday after the market we decided to go explore Almería and find this inactive volcanic crater that we have all heard about. However … a 40 minute drive turned out to be an almost 3 hour excursion as we headed in the opposite direction and everyone we asked along the way for a volcano simply laughed and had no idea this existed. Although I must say the views along our drive were beautiful!
Almeria coast
Our directions were also pretty vague:
After barriers turn L,
dirt rd backwards,
2nd dip,
dirt rd. Left.
After shouting after every dirt road and finding what we thought were barriers, we managed to pakr and hike our way towards the volcano. The inside was MASSIVE! There were many trails we walked upon and also went to the very center where the rocks were built up. It was nice and relaxing. We finally made it!
The following day three of us went to the caves in Sorbas. We went on the basic route through the caves and it was very interesting. We want to go back at some point and go on the “combined” route as this involves more climbing and crawling further into the caves. Interesting facts learned: Your eyes would never adjust to the darkness (as I finally asked after vigorously waving my hand in front of my voice) and the rock found in the caves (gypsum) used to be used to make plaster. You can also still see marks made from dynamite on the outsides of the caves.
This is the cave we entered. But were not allowed to take photos inside.
The lines going up and down are all marks from dynamite.
My cousin and her husband arrive on Saturday where we will head off to Roquetas de Mar for the night and then spend the next two days in Granada. Can’t believe that my time is winding down!
