Trip to Italy

Today is MLK Day in the States, but you would never know that here. I would never have realized it if it wasnt for Spencer mentioning it. No vacation for me. I have school today, but I get plenty of other days off, so Im not complaining.

Jenna left on Saturday after being here for 2 weeks. With Spencer and Jenna both visiting I had a month with visitors. How lucky I am

The day Jenna arrived was the day Spencer left. That same day, Jenna and I flew to Rome, Italy. We got to our hostel at 11pm, and were very exhausted, especially Jenna after the flight and jet lag. The next morning we walked around Rome. We went to the coliseum and Roman forum and then went to the Trevi fountian and then to that small island in the middle of the river... that was kind of lackluster after it took us awhile to walk there. We did discover some more ruins along the way. That afternoon we caught a train to Naples and got to our hostel by 6:30 or 7ish. We were pretty excited about this hostel because it had a 99% rating on hostel world, and I have never seen a rating that high. And I have to say– it did not disappoint. When we first arrived the hostel owner sat down with us and told us all about Naples (Napoli in italian) and the good places to go, etc etc. He talked with us for an hour and a half. In the midst he asked if we had eaten (and we hadn’t) so he told us he was going to cook for us. How kind He made us pasta with home-made pesto sauce– delicious

The next day we went sitseeing around Napoli. The best part of the day was going up to the Castle of St. Elmo. It had amazing views of all around Napoli (360 view). We got up there right before sunset so we got to see Napoli in the 3 lights- daylight, sunset, and night. It was wonderful.

The next day we went to Mt. Vesuvio and Pompeii. We joined up with 3 guys from our hostel, and thus, with such a large group it took us awhile to get started. We caught a shuttle up to a parking lot and then we had to climb up to the summit. It was really cold. Jenna did not like the climbing too much, but I kinda liked it. It was straight-up but it wasnt too awful far. However, the summit was absolutely freezing. It was windy and then it began to snow. We were lucky we got there when we did because when we started to climb back down all these clouds moved in and you couldnt see anything. Whew Just in time

Once we got back down the mountain, we set off for Pompeii.

Pompeii was amazing, but it cost. 11 euros for entrance. Thats like $16.50. And somehow none of the 5 of us spotted the free maps that were given out at the ticket office. So here we were wondering around this massive town of ruins with no map and no idea our direction. We eventually borrowed someone’s map to see what we had seen and what parts we still hadnt seen yet. I think we eventually made it to everything major, but im sure we missed a few sights. It was absoutely incredible to see an entire city preserved like that– streets and houses, temples, and theatres. We spent like 2.5 hours. They say the norm is 4. I think the lack of map and the freezing, rainy weather cut our time short.

Even though we were not there long, we were exhausted by the end of the day. Luckily when we got back to the hostel Giovanni (our hostel owner) was making lasagna for dinner for everyone. Made with homemade noodles. He was cooking for hours. He told us that morning that we were going to have dinner at 8:30.... however it was 11pm by the time we actually started eating. But I must say it was worth the wait. It was delicious

The next day Jenna and I went to Capri (island off of the coast of Napoli). It was a beautiful day. We took the ferry there and then walked all around the island.

We hiked up to a roman palace that had fantastic views all around the island. AAAnnddd it actually did not rain. It was amazing since it had rained and was horrible weather the day before.

That night we ate at the most famous and best pizza restaurant in Naples (Gino Sorbillo), and since Naples has the world’s best pizza, then it was clearly the best pizza in the world. Yummmmm

So, the following day we were planning on going to Dubrovnik, but we realized that the ferry times would not permit us to go, so we added another night in Naples and added an extra night in Rome. So, with our extra day in Naples we went to a town called Casera and visited the Royal Palace there. The say the palace is bigger than Versailles with gardens that rival Versailles’ as well. However, I do not think that the gardens were as spectacular as Versailles, but the palace was nicer I would say.

That night Giovanni cooked another meal. Homemade pasta with chickpeas. Delicious

The next morning we went to a few churches in Napoles we hadn’t visited yet and then we did a little shopping at a store jenna wanted to go to.

That afternooon we caught a train to Rome. We got to our hostel around 6 or 7 and then decided to go explore Rome by night. We went to the Pantheon and got there right before it closed. We ate at a restaurant right next to the Pantheon in their outdoor patio. Then we walked over to Piazzo Navona. Then we walked back to our hostel but went thru the Roman Forum section. It was so different at night– all the ruins were lit-up and it was silent, because none of the tourists were around. I am glad we got to see the ruins that way.

The next day we decided to do the catacombs tour. It required a little bit of travel– metro and city bus. A little difficult since we don’t speak italian, but we made it alright. Our tour guide was a little difficult to understand, but it was ery interesting over all. He said essentially that we were exploring the ruins of the very first Christian church in Rome. Paul had been there and everything. That was pretty amazing.

After the catacombs we decided to hunt down this hot air balloon. I read in a otur book that there were hot air balloon rides in the biggest hot air balloon in the world (holds 35 people). I looked it up online too to make sure it existed. It cost 15 euros– not bad for a balloon ride. So we hunted the location down and as luck would have it the company is out of buisness.... sad. We got to walk thru a new part of Rome, so it was okay.

We then went to Vatican City. We got into St. Peter’s basilica right before it started pouring. And we decided to stay until the rain calmed down. It really didnt take long and St. Peters was pretty empty compared to how it was when I was there 3 years ago.

That night we had free dinner at our hostel and then went out for some gelati :) Yummmm

The next day, our last day in Rome, our last day in italy, was not good. The weather was terrible. It just rained all day. And it was cold. We walked around some. We went to this church, where the crypt is decorated with bones. Super creepy. Like there are floral designs on the ceiling and walls that are made out of vertebrae. Bizarre. Me and Jenna were not keen on staying there long. What we read was that the decorations were intended to celebrate death, etc.... but I didnt really get that.

We did a little shopping, well mainly Jenna, I don’t think I bought anything and then we were off to the airport.

We got to Madrid by 11:45 and to our hostel by 1 am. That was a miserbale night. It was freezing in Madrid and our hostel had no heat. We barely slept because of the temperature. For once, we were actually happy to get up early and go to the bus station. We caught the 8:30 bus and were back in Don Benito by 12:30.

When we got back to don Benito it was freezing My piso was so cold Because it takes time to heat up my room with my little heater. It was Sunday so we had to take a little walk to this small store to buy some vegetables and bread to help us make some lunch (all the supermarkets are closed on Sundays. Well pretty much everything is closed on Sundays). But on the way home— it started snowing Now I know this isnt a crazy thing for most people, but it is extremely rare in Don Benito. By 8:00pm that night there was like 4 inches on the ground. And they said it hadnt snowed like that since 1983. And it was three years ago that flurrys just fell out of the sky.

The people were really funny about it. They had snowball fights and people brought out their nice cameras to take photos.

I was kinda hoping that I didnt have to go to school the next day, but as my luck goes, all the snow had washed away by the morning.

The first day back was fine. The students werent as crazy as I thought they would be.

Jenna seemed to enjoy the week in Don Benito. It was definitely a lot more laid back than our trip in Italy. We went shopping on Tuesday (I don’t work on Tuesdays except for a private lesson). But Jenna’s debit card had been blocked so we spent a good amount of time trying to call her bank on skype, etc, etc. Finally we got it all worked out and were able to go shopping. Lucky for Jenna it is “rebajas” time in Spain. This is essentially a nation-wide sale in Spain to encourage people to go shopping. This goes from the beginning of January to the beginning of March. I have not done much shopping at all since I have been here, so it was definitely fun to be able to with Jenna. On Friday morning, we left for Madrid. It actually wasn’t too cold in Madrid and we spent the afternoon walking around and site seeing and little bit of shopping. I was actually pretty impressed that Jenna was able to fit everything into her luggage when all her shopping was complete. On Saturday I saw Jenna off at the airport and I spent the afternoon wandering around Madrid a little bit. I went to a music store to see what kinda of music they sell. And I was kinda surprised at the breadth it had. One thing that I thougt was funny/interesting was that Weezer’s pinkerton album was on the “ofertas” rack (on sale). I almost bought just because it was a good deal and I liked that it was there. But my reasonable side kicked in and reminded me that I already have that CD and I did not need it.

After a few hours I wandered onto the bus station and then eventually I made it back to Don Benito. I was pretty warn out from all my travels so I slept like 12 hours that night.

Well, if you made it all the way thru that post, I am very impressed. I know I should write shorter, more frequent posts... I will try that.

Thanks for reading.

Un beso

Update on my christmas travels

I wrote a blog entry a month ago, but never posted it... i think it is too late to post it now. So i will just write a new one.

Today is my first day back at work after my three week break. During that break I traveled alot around Europe/Africa.

Spencer arrived on December 19th and we stayed two nights in Madrid. I was so excited for him to come! I am so lucky that he missed Christmas in NC to spend it with me here. On Dec 21, we flew to Marrakech and stayed there 3 nights. It was not like any other place I have ever been. It is a lot what you imagine. There were street performers and snake charmers and general madness around the main square in the medina. Marrakech kinda wore me out in the sense that I always had to watch my back. Traffic was crazy and women are second class citizens, which was not something i was used to. Overall it was a great excperience and I am glad we went.

After Morroco, spencer and I flew to lisbon, portugal and arrived on Christmas eve and stayed there 3 nights. I loved lisbon! (even tho it rained most of the time we were there) . We got caught in the rain on Christmas day and spent the next several hours drying off in our hostel.

It was definitely weird not to be at home for Christmas, especially since europeans arent into it like americans are. The lights were beautiful in lisbon tho. Every street had a different kind of lights. Ill put up pics on facebook later. While in Lisbon, we took a day trip to Sintra and neighboring town. It was a very beautifulplace with lost of palaces and an awesome castle perched high on a hill. It actually didnt rain that day, so we had a beautiful day.

After portugal we returned to Spain and spent the next two nights in don benito. We took a day trip to Merida, a city 40 mins away that is filled with roman ruins. It was pretty incrdible. They have a beautiful roman theatre. One our way back to the bus station we got caught in the rain (again) and we were completely soaked. Our umbrella and rain jackets did not help defend us from the rain. I dont think spencer was in too good of a mood by this point. At least we were able to dry off in my apartment that night.

The next day we left early for sevilla and stayed there for one night. It was pretty rainy there as well. I kept telling spencer how beautiful sevilla is when its sunny. The second day we were there, it was sunny! Yay! But storms started rolling in when we left. At least he got to see it in some sunlight.

The next day we went off to madrid to spend new years. In spain the tradition is to drink Cava (champagne) and eat grapes at midnight. 12 grapes to be exact- You eat a grape at each chime of the clock at midnight. With every grape you eat on the chime you are supposed to have a month of good luck. We were in the main plaza and we could not hear the chimes well at all, so we just ate our grapes... i dont think I will have good luck, haha. Afterwards we went to the most famous chocolate con churros place in madrid. Its open everyday of the year. It was really good i have to admit and i normally dont like churros con chocolate.

The next day, spencer left me :( I was really sad to see him go. Luckily, jenna arrived the same day so i didnt wallow in self-pity. hehe.

I will write another post to update on me and jennas trip. I think this is enough for now. Thanks for reading!

A lot to catch up on...

Two weekends ago, I went to Cáceres for an Irish music festival. One of my friends in Don Benito found out about it. Cáceres is only about 1 hr and 45 minutes from Don Benito by bus so it wasn’t a very intense trip. We went on Saturday morning and spent the morning walking around the old section of town. I kind of already did this when I was in Cáceres for orientation, but I really didn’t put much effort into it last time because I was so preoccupied by starting the program and very anxious to go to Don Benito. So it was nice to be able to go there again and really see it. The old section (“Ciudad Monumental”) was very beautiful. Its just a cluster of old buildings near the center. The music was supposed to start at 6:00. But ofcourse they were on Spanish time and the music didnt actually start until 7:30 at the bar we were at. That was more like a jam session, where who ever can play just comes and they improv it. Later that night were the actual concerts. The stage was set up in the old part of the city, so it was a very pretty setting. The first set was these two guys (I cant remember their names), they were pretty good, nothing exceptional. Then the “headliner” was an irish group called Dervish. Most all of their songs were in the Irish language. They were really good. They had some Irish dancers come out at times to dance during the songs. It was pretty cool.

Last weekend, I went to Trujillo for a day. Trujillo is only 45minutes from Don Benito, so it makes for a nice day trip. I signed up and went with a tour group of sorts from Don Benito. The trip, which included transportation to and from Trujillo and breakfast and lunch was only 10euros, which is really good. However, the lady from the travel agency told me that there would be a “charla” which is when we have to sit through a sales pitch of some sort, but we are not obligated to buy anything. I imagined that this sales pitch would be selling some type of local handicraft, like pottery of Trujillo or something..... but no.... the man was a mattress salesman. Mattresses?? How random This sales pitch lasted like 2.5 hours too. At first I was like, well I will pay attention and learn some new vocabulary, but after like an hour I was completely zoned out.

So after all this and lunch, we finally went to see Trujillo. The old section of Trujillo is very beautiful. It is the home if Pizarro, the conquistador. We went to the house where he was born and also to the old churches in the old section. We went to a Clothes museum that showcased the traditional clothes of many different areas in Spain. The sun was setting by the time we got to the Castillo (castle), so it was very beautiful. Castles are always situated on the tops of hills, so the view was amazing. We could see all around Trujillo... and with the sunset., it was perfect. So after all the mattresses and everything, it was a worthwhile trip.

Don Benito has set up Christmas decorations throughout the city. I am looking forward to seeing them all lit up once Dec. 8th rolls around.

So, me and my roommate have moved apartments... well almost. We have to go clean the old apartment tonight and then hand in our keys tomorrow. We wanted to live with a Spanish person, so we happened to find this girl, Irene, who just moved here who is in school to be a dental hygienist. So we had to move to a 3 bedroom. Luckily, our new apartment is right across the street from our old apartment. So it was a relatively easy move. I’ll put up some pics of our new place on facebook soon. I really love the new apartment. Its old, but has a lot of character. :)

Thats all for now. Thanks for reading my blog!

Past few days

I started working at my second school last week. It is a secondary school, but its more like our junior high. It has our equivalent of 7th-10th grade. But I teach the equivalent of 8th-10th. So this school combined with the primary school, I teach elementary, middle, and high school age levels. I guess that will give me a lot of practice with each level so I can decide which one I am best suited for, so when I come back to the US I can know what I am looking for.

I really like working at Sierra La Mesta (secondary school). I really like the age levels. The teachers here are really helpful and supportive. Even though my work is “easy” its pretty hard starting out because I just have no idea what they know and what they don’t. They have been taking English since they started school, but they still do not know a lot so I’m always asking whether they know this certain thing before I continue explaining. Because I don’t want to insult their intelligence nor do I want to leave them behind. I only work with each class once a week also so its hard to keep track of the exact level of each class.

This past weekend was pretty boring. I just stayed around Don Benito and there was really not much to do at all. I have three day weekends which is great for traveling, but I cant afford to travel every weekend, so when I don’t I just get really bored. I mean I do need time to plan my lessons, but not three days. :)

Also, Sundays are the worst because everything is closed. I cant go to the gym or the library or to grocery store or the movies.. nothing So, I watched some TV which is good on one hand because its in Spanish so at least Im practicing. I watched some local programming so I learned about the wine country around here and then about bullfighting. I cant help but wince when I watch the bull fighting. I don’t know if I could go to one and sit through the whole thing.

In all of my classes this week I am teaching about Halloween. I am already sick of it. But the professors here are all about some Halloween. I guess it is pretty interesting for the students since they don’t do that here, but its not that cool. I think there is way more interesting things in the US. But I do as I am told. I spliced together a little video from an episode of Freaks and Geeks where they go trick-or-treating so they could see what that is like. But, of course, their stupid operating system wont play it because I have windows (I did it on windows movie maker) and they use linex (sp?). Why would anyone use linex? Its so annoying and hard to use. AAAnnnd it wont play my fun video. I do my powerpoint presentations on google docs, because it wont work otherwise.

I had sevillanas and latin dance class tonight. I do love dancing. It was fun, but my feet hurt now. :)

Thats all for now.

Fiesta in Don Benito, Fiesta for my Birthday

This past Monday there was a national holiday in Spain. It did not really understand the explanations for why it was a holiday, but I think it was something to do with honoring the Patron saint of Spain, “Nuestra Señora del Pilar”. In Don Benito, the festival that took place was called “La Vela” (the candle) and it was to honor Don Benito’s patron saint, “La Señora de las Cruces” (the lady of the crosses). The statue of Señora de las cruces was brought in earlier in September and had stayed in the main church in Don Benito, Iglesia de Santiago. Sunday had a day of festivities and masses to celebrate the saint. In the afternoon children offered flowers. Then at night there was music and traditional dancing. The music and dancing was very Spanish, slightly reminiscent of Flamenco, but a completely separate thing.

On Monday, there was the pilgrimage. Whoever wants to do the pilgrimage meets in the Plaza at 8am and then the “camino” (the walk) began at like 8:20. My friends, who were supposed to meet me at 8, did not get there till 8:45... so we had some catching up to do. We hustled and it did not take us long at all to catch up with the group of peligrinos (pilgrims). This was mainly because a group of people have to carry the statue of the Señora de las Cruces, so naturally, they can not move that fast. Since it was fairly early in the morning it was not very hot yet, which made for a pleasant walk. The walk ends at the “ermita de las cruces” (chapel). It was about a 6-7 kilometer walk. The pace was pretty glacial because that Señora was moving so slow. We got there about 11:30, I think. Im not really sure. As soon as the statue gets there a mass begins. But none of us were really feeling the mass since it was starting to get hot and you had to stand in the sun for that. The sun here is pretty killer too. So we walked around and visited the different vendors, but we got drained pretty quickly, mainly because of the sun. So around 1:30 we decided we were going to get the bus back to Don Benito (there were buses running so people didnt have to walk back or make the pilgrimage at all– weak!)

We were not very prepared for our trip out there because we realized that everyone had brought picnic baskets and blankets to sit on and we had nothing. The food was way over priced, which is expected because it’s a festival, but we had no where to sit because we had no blanket, so we just decided to head back. We definitely felt dumb tho, because people were just arriving and were telling us the party was just starting, why would we leave?? Oh well. Next time we are in Don Benito for the festival, we will know what to do :)

Yesterday was my birthday. And it was a pretty nice day. I didn’t have to work, so I got to sleep-in and take it easy. I went to the city gym thing and signed up to take a step class. So, hopefully that will keep me in shape :)

Later that night I went out with my friends to a restaurant for dinner. The place was called El Museo because it is right next to the museum. We just got raciones (portions) of different things and all tried them. We ate patatas bravas (french fries with this spicy pink sauce), Croquetas de bacalao (little fried things with cod and cheese inside), berenjera con queso y beicon (eggplant with cheese and bacon), revuelto de setas y gambas (scrambled eggs with mushrooms and shrimp), and tonssss of pan (bread). They love their bread here The waiter accidently gave us a salad too. It was very interesting food overall, but I liked it mas o menos. My friends gave me some fun presents too. I got a hoola-hoop :)

Before I came to Spain I expected my birthday to be kind of non-existent because I didn’t think I would know anyone to celebrate it with, but luckily my friends here made it great!!

Oh, and my class sang happy birthday to me today. In English of course! :)

Thursday October 8th

Today is Thursday and I have been in Spain for about a week and a half now. I am really loving Don Benito. It has everything I need, and it’s a real friendly place.

I just signed up for Sevillanas classes. That is a dance originating from Sevilla. Its kind of similar to Flamenco. It was a pretty good deal. I start classes next Thursday and I will continue until I leave at the beginning of June.

I went to school for the first time on Monday and it was kind of overwhelming, but the students seemed pretty interested in me and the US. I taught my first lessons on Wednesday. I did one presentation about myself, my family, my university, and my hobbies. I showed them a video of NC State football because that doesnt really exist in Spain. I explained that it was kind of like rugby, but they get super confused because fútbol is soccer, so the words just mix them up like crazy. I was trying hard to get them all to love NC State by saying they were the best team. But I don’t think they really care. I was hoping to have like a whole school in Spain loving NC State so when they come to the US they know whats up :)

I also taught a lesson on the central nervous system. They just decided to make the school a bilingual school but its not going very well. They don’t really understand much English at all. But, I still thought the lessons both went pretty well. I definitely feel more prepared for this job than I thought I would be. Most language assistants have never had any teaching experience so I know I have it a little easier.

This weekend I am going to visit Guadalupe. It’s a small town north of here. A lot of people make pilgrimages there so it definitely has some value. The teacher I am working with is taking me so she can show me around. She used to work in that area so she knows what going on. I have off Monday because it’s a national holiday so I have a pretty laid back weekend ahead of me. Spain, you are so wonderful

First Few days in Spain

I’ve been in Spain for not quite a week. My flights over were terrible. Wind in Philadelphia caused a lot of issues. I got rerouted thru Lisbon and arrived in Madrid like 5 hours later than normal. Which all would no have been that bad except that my bags of course got lost in the process. But, luckily, they made it to me about 48 hours later. I have to admit I was nervous they would be gone forever. Spain did not instill me with much confidence. I started out the week in Cáceres for orientation. And the city was pretty nice, but I didnt try to hard to get to know it very well since I knew I was not going to be back again. The university in Cáceres is pretty famous and classes were about to start so the university students there were partying pretty much 24/7. It was really hard to walk through the Plaza Mayor. The old part of the town was very beautiful, but of course, my camera died before I could take even one picture... oh well.

Orientation, overall, was a little pointless, but it was good to meet all the language assistants of the region. Right now, there are six of us that are living in Don Benito. My piso (apartment) is really cute. It’s a two bedroom with a big living room. My room is pretty small, but I don’t really need anything big. I’ll try to put up pics later.

I met one of the teachers I am supposed to work with this year on Friday. She was pretty helpful and very talkative. She told me a lot about extremaduran specialties. I think I will learn a lot from her.

I forgot how frustrating the siesta in Spain can be. On one hand I love it because I do love naps, but on the other when I am trying to have a productive day, it is impossible because of those three hours. For those who don’t know, all the stores shut down from 2 to 5or 6. And then stay open till like 8. Restaurants stay open of course, but other than that nada.