"Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a single day." - Robert Caspar Lintner

Thankfully, (no pun intended) I had the chance to talk to some of you about my holidays, but for those of you who I haven’t talked to personally, time to update.  Let’s rewind a month and talk about Thanksgiving.  My roommates and I decided that we would attempt the most traditional Thanksgiving dinner possible under the circumstances.  So what was on the menu? Cheesy potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, broccoli casserole, biscuits, and a red velvet cake for dessert. Unfortunately, (or fortunately for me) our oven is much too small to cook a turkey so we got a couple of rotisserie chickens to substitute.  I didn’t mind this one bit seeing as I don’t even really like turkey.  Sounds pretty basic right….wrong.  Here are just a few of the challenges we ran into.  The broccoli casserole was my dish.  That turned out to be the easiest because the only ingredient I had to substitute was cheddar for Velveeta cheese, no big deal. (I was shocked that I found Ritz crackers, though!)  The cheesy potatoes were made by my friend Hayley.  Two challenges:  1) You can’t just buy a big bag of frozen hash brown potatoes, so they were all cut and cooked by hand. 2) Sour cream does not exist in Spain, so she used plain yogurt.  Next, my other roommate Mary decided to do the green bean casserole with, again, two challenges:  1)No Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup.  (we later found out that they do sell it at one store, but it was too late by that time) So, she had to use this powdered soup and it took us a couple times to get the consistency right.  2)  No French fried onions – the key ingredient.  However, this was a blessing in disguise because she ended up frying onions in corn flakes, and they were absolutely delicious.  Lastly, don’t even get me started on the red velvet cake because that was a HUGE pain in the butt.  I had to go to about 4 different supermarkets and spend way too much money to find all of the ingredients.  The red food coloring was really weak, even with two bottles, so the cake turned out this weird mauve color, and I couldn’t find buttermilk, so I made my own.  Yes, I made my own buttermilk, be impressed.  On top of that, they don’t sell frosting, so I had to make that from scratch too.  Oh, so in case you try to contact me, I’ve changed my name to Betty Crocker.  So after slaving away in the kitchen all day with my roommates, I now know what all you parents go through every Thanksgiving and I appreciate it so much more.  I will say, the hard worked definitely paid off.  We had a few Spanish friends over, as well, to show them a real American Thanksgiving, and everything tasted sooooo good.  I couldn’t find my camera that day on account of my room being a pig sty, so here are some pictures my roommate, Hayley, took of our quaint little Thanksgiving away from home.

Me with the food - haven't even had time to take off the oven mitts!

Creepy pterodactyl shaped bone I pulled out of the chicken after "carving" it.

 

Bon Apetit! I took a page out of my Dad's book and served myself last : )

Everyone at the table, ready to eat!

And the grand finale!

So there ya have it.  And although our dinner was really great and so was the company, I still missed home like crazy.  I was able to skype with some of you for a little while, but the connection was terrible.  I was so frustrated by the end of the conversation that when I hung up I started crying. Not to worry though, just a wave of homesickness, but I realized that I have a lot to be thankful for on both side of the Atlantic so I let it all out and regrouped.  Next post will be a little out of order, because I'm going to post Christmas stuff, then Amsterdam.  Stay tuned!

A picture is worth a thousand words...

First of all, sorry for being M.I.A. for about a month.  Things have started to get pretty busy here and I’ve neglected my blog posting as a result.  I will do my best to get you all up to speed starting with my trip to Lagos, Portugal.  My roommates and I took a long weekend trip to Lagos during Halloween weekend.  I could sit here and write page upon page about this particular trip, but I will keep the words to a minimum because is this case the pictures will do most of the talking. Lagos is a small international beach town in the south-western corner of Portugal.  It seems you can walk the whole width of the town in about 15 minutes and for some reason, I felt really at home there.  Because they have so much tourism, pretty much everyone speaks English, so we were able to get by without speaking a word of Portuguese.  This was a relief, but also very humbling.  I feel very spoiled that I can travel just about anywhere and get by because I speak English.   

Another great thing about Lagos is how cheap everything was.  First off, the hostel we stayed in was the best I’ve ever stayed in.  It had free breakfast, linens, towels, and internet.  We had our own bathroom in our room as well as personal safes to put our valuables, and everything was really clean and secure.  Not to mention is was in a perfect location – walking distance to everything! Total cost: 36 euros per person for 4 nights.  Unbelievable.  Eating and drinking was also extremely cheap there, and they have amazing food.  Because there is such an international atmosphere there, they have so many different kinds of restaurants and they’re all amazing.  One afternoon we went to a tiny diner that prepares American style breakfasts – something we’d all been craving.  I got eggs, bacon, hash browns, toast, and a giant pancake all for 3 euro.  Ridiculous!  My stomach didn’t particularly enjoy this meal, but I sure did!

One thing Lagos is not lacking is beaches.  I think we made it to a beach at least once a day while we were there.  Lagos is lined with skyscraping cliffs that separate the coastline into small intimate beaches, each one more beautiful than the last.  On Sunday afternoon, we took a little boat tour along the coast line and into the cave areas.  I got a little seasick even with the Dramamine, but I managed to enjoy they tour and keep my breakfast down.  Win-win. 

Here are some pictures from the boat tour:

Monday we had planned a day trip to Cabo San Vicente in another small town called Sagres.  Cabo San Vicente (or Cape St. Vincent in English) is known as the “end of the world” because it is the south-westernmost point of Europe and people thought it was where the world ended.  Ya know, back when people thought the world was flat.  So we took the bus from Lagos to Sagres which took about an hour.  Poor planning on our part, we didn’t know exactly how far Cabo San Vicente was from Sagres or how far we would actually get there.  So when we got there we tried to walk around and find some signs to no avail.  Finally we walked into a gas station to find out that it would have probably taken us over an hour to walk there.  The man who worked at the gas station must have read the “what the bleep to we do now” looks on our faces and says to us “don’t worry,” summons his daughter from the back of his store, and tells us “she will drive you.”  Now to some of you this may sound shady, but this kind of hospitality, even among strangers, is actually very typical in Europe.  Now before you think, “but haven’t you seen that movie Taken???” And yes, I have.  And no, it does not make me afraid of Europe.  It’s just a movie.  So this man had his daughter drive us to the point without asking for a thing in return.  He did make it clear we were on our own when it came time to come back, but we all decided we’d cross that bridge when the time comes.  When we arrived at Cabo San Vicente, we knew we were in the right place because there we quite a few other tourists there, but it wasn’t too crowded because the weather wasn’t that great. We got lucky though because although it was cloudy and windy, we had the sun break through every once in a while which made the views from the cliffs absolutely breathtaking.  We walked around for a while taking it all in and taking a lot of pictures.  Then we saw a bus pull up, and the light bulbs went off.  We weren’t really sure where this bus was going, but we asked the driver if we could get on here and get off in Sagres and he said yes.  So we were able to take that bus right back to the other bus we needed to get on to get back to Lagos.  All in all is was a really successful day trip.

Me by the cliffs at "the end of the world"

Ok one more fun story about Lagos and then I’ll be done (so much for keeping it short).  There was a restaurant right by our hostel called Casa Rosa that had a deal called the power hour and for 12 euro, you got a meal and all the beer or wine you could drink in an hour.  My roommates and I decided to do it one night at 9 o’clock. The food was really great, and let’s just say we drank more than our money’s worth of beer. The cool thing about it was you didn’t have to finish your beer at the last minute, so we got one last beer right before 10 and stayed for about another hour sipping on our beers and laughing our asses off at absolutely nothing.  So it was about 11 by the time we left and I was trying to get my roommates to stay out for the night.  I mean we were already pretty drunk and I figured it would be a waste to go back to our hostel so early.  One of my roommates wanted to stop back and go to the bathroom, but I knew if we went back to the hostel, everyone would get in bed and that would be the end. And that’s exactly what happened. Luckily, since I’ve assumed the role of rallying my roommates to party, I set an alarm for 2am and miraculously managed to get them all back out of bed and back out to the bars with me.  A good time was had by all, haha.  Ok that’s it for Lagos, now I’ll work on getting you updated on my life in Spain! 

Here are some more pictures just for fun:

My roomies and I just climbing some rocks.

Getting into some precarious positions... anything for a good picture, right?

Our boat guide pointed out to us in sort of English that the side of this cliff was Michael Jackson.  If you look right in the middle you will see some kind of weird face with no nose. 

"Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theatre." -- Gail Goldwin

The quote in this title has never been more true for me.

The tile sign outside of the front gate to the school

Now that I’ve almost completed my fourth week of “teaching,” I feel that I can aptly write about my experience so far. I’ll start with the basics.  I’m teaching at a primary school (pre-school through sixth grade) called Josefa Frías in a town called Santiponce.  The school is really great and the town is absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful.  I haven’t gotten a chance to walk around and take pictures, but I will post some soon.  My commute consists of a 20-25 minute walk to the bus stop and then a 20 minute bus ride, unless I catch the express bus which only takes 10 minutes.  It’s a really easy, convenient commute because the bus actually stops right in front of my school.

The front entrance to the school.

Now for the actual experience so far.  One word to sum it up: interesting.  There are two things that have been the most challenging these first few weeks. The first is the fact that my bilingual coordinator (the person who is essentially in charge of everything I do and how I do it) just arrived at school last week. So for the first two weeks the other teachers that have been covering her position have been scrambling, changing my schedule, shuffling me around, and giving really no direction at all as to what I was supposed to be doing.  Also, 8 out of my 14 classes (yes, I have 14 different classes every week) are taught with her. So, I had been working with a sub who seemed to be just about as clueless as I was.  Another result of her absence the first weeks was that in some of the English classes they had no sub, so they principal said to me, “well you can just teach the classes right?” Oh sure, I’m completely comfortable teaching classes I have never met, I have no idea what they are studying or what their level of English is, and I have no materials. Awesome. However, now that she’s here, there has been a complete 180⁰ change.  She is a really cool lady, extremely supportive and helpful, and I’m really glad I am going to be working with her so much.  She came right out and said “ok this is how it’s going to work, I’ll let you know at the end of the week exactly what you’ll be responsible for doing the next week. I’ll gather all the materials you will need and let you know at least two days in advance if I want you to prepare something, and if you need anything just let me know.”  Whew.  Finally I feel like I have direction and support for what I’m doing which makes me much more confident.  She even took away one of my classes so that we can have an hour for coordination every week.  This is huge, because the teachers don’t have plan periods like I’m accustomed, at least no plan periods that coincide with my schedule.  The school day goes from 9-2 with only a half hour break from 12:00-12:30, so that leaves no time to plan things with any of my teachers. But now I’m much more comfortable with what’s going on.

View of the front gate from inside

 The second part that has been most challenging is the fact that I completely underestimated how different teaching a second language to elementary students is from teaching one to high school students.  I realized that a lot of my personal teaching style is based on my ability to relate to my students and make jokes with them and be on their level.  That is nearly impossible to do with the 4-10 year olds.  When you’re working with kids that small, you are much more a parental figure   than a friend. 

the front courtyard

To compound the fact that they are younger kids, we are not supposed to speak to the students in Spanish at all. So, to try and avoid the inevitable blank stares, I find myself speaking really slow, being really animated and using gestures for just about everything I say (hence the title of this post.)

the back yard flooded with rain

   I’m pretty comfortable with the 5^th and 6^th graders, but the four pre-school classes that I have are totally out of my comfort zone.  The good thing about them though, is that really all you have to do is sing songs and draw pictures and do activities because they don’t even really know how to read or write in Spanish, let alone English.  Little by little, I’m getting used to working with the little kids, and I’ve come a long way since that first day. 

Last week was really fun because all week, all I had to do was talk about Halloween and do Halloween related activities, so it was a pretty easy week.  Well now that I feel like I’ve covered all the basics I’ll leave it at that, now I can just share short, funny stories when they come up!  Stay tuned for my next post about my trip to Lagos, Portugal.

The camera's only job is to get out of the way of making photographs. - Ken Rockwell

Ok, so I've gotten some really great feedback from my posts so far, and I've received some requests for more photos.  The post that will follow this one is going to be all words because it is about my teaching experience thus far, so I figured I would just share some pictures for now. I hope you enjoy!

This is me in Plaza de España, which, in my opinion, is Sevilla's most impressive site. 

On October 15th we went to the Global Democracy demonstration. It was really moving to know that all over the world people were marching for the same cause on the same day. The sign in this picture says "If they rescue the banks with my money, then the bank should pay my mortgage." 

This is the pedestrian street San Jacinto.  I walk through it twice every day when I go to and from the bus station.  It's full of cute shops and cafes, and it's always bustling with people.

I love taking pictures of the graffiti around the city.  Here it seems to be almost accepted as an art form.  I find most of the good stuff under the bridges that cross the river...here are some of my favorites:

 

life's a beach.

A trip to the beach in October? Yes please.  This past Saturday, my roomies and I, along with some other girls from our program, took a trip to a beach called Matalascañas. After almost getting lost on our walk to the bus station (the very same bus station I walk to every day for school, but that shouldn’t surprise any of you) it was about an hour bus ride from Sevilla to the province of Huelva, where the beach it located.  We couldn’t have asked for better weather.  There was hardly a cloud in the sky, it was hot enough for a beach day, but not too hot so you were sweating just lying there.  When we arrived, we set up shop on the beach – we brought sheets and airline pillow that we found in our apartment and packed lunches, so we were set for the day.  One great thing about it was that not many natives still go to the beach in October, so it was not nearly as crowded as I’m sure it gets in the summer.  With Spanish people, they adjust their lifestyles according to the calendar, not the temperature.  We foreigners on the other hand decided we would take advantage of this heat while it lasts!  All in all it was a wonderful day.  We were there from 12 to 5:30 soaking up the sun, taking walks up and down the beach, cooling off in the water, and taking LOTS of pictures as usual.  Don’t worry; I only got a teeny bit sunburned.  Even though it’s still very hot here, the sun is not as strong because it is technically fall.  My two favorite things about the trip were the amount of shells on the beach and this super hot guy that we affectionately named “Ken Doll.”  But back to the shells…the part of the beach closest to the water is covered with thousands of beautifully colored whole shells.  Very different from some beaches where you‘re lucky if you find a few intact seashells.  And as far as the guy, I think the nickname explains it all.  

 Me = super excited to be at the beach! Well more like I felt the need to take a picture jumping because that's what people do at the beach I guess. And it looks like I was waaaayyy further off the ground than I really was.

My new roomies and I