What a week it has been!! I really enjoy teaching all of my classes. I am teaching 1st through 6th grade at Juan Ramon Jimenez in Cartaya, Spain. I love all of my classes, but I think I especially love my Science class in 6th grade and my English class in 2nd grade. These two classes are in love with me and are interested in learning. I even got my 2nd graders to flex their muscles for me, adorable!! Some classes seem a little unorganized. Think of the movie Mean Girls, when all of the students are in the hall ways acting like wild animals. That is what recess is at my school. The students are allowed to do whatever they want, except kill each other… I think. I find my solitude, like a lot of teachers, in the air conditioned teacher’s lounge. My school is pretty up to date with new computers, and I think I saw some students with school issued lap tops. We even have interactive projection screens in the higher grade classes.
On Wednesday, the 12th, it was a federal holiday and there was a huge festival right outside our apartment. Fun fact, Huelva is where Christopher Columbus set sail when he discovered the Americas. So there is a huge statue, house, and festival in his honor. That morning while walking into town, we passed by marathon runners. Then there was a parade of horses and their buggies ornately decorated. There were several tents and stands set up selling different crafts and food. Huge wheels of cheese, legs ham, and tables filled with all kinds of spices lured me in. Since Morocco is so close, there were so many African influences. It was really neat to see all of the different incense, spices, dried fruit, and Buddha symbols everywhere. The girls and I made our way around and then relaxed on our day off.
On Friday we made a trip to the beach, this has become tradition! We went down to Punta Umbria and soaked up the sun. The weather was perfect, not too hot. The water was pretty chilly but it couldn’t keep me away from a quick dip.
On Saturday, we left early for Sevilla! We had been looking forward to this trip all week! It’s an hour bus ride into the city, which is not bad at all. We got there and started our search for a hostel. Sarah was staying in a hotel that Jen and I didn’t want to dish out money for so we decided to look for something a little more basic. We wandered down some streets until we found the first hostel, La Casa del Sol. We checked into our room which consisted of 3 bunk beds, one bathroom, and a wall of lockers for your valuables. It was very clean and I actually wasn’t nervous about my first stay in a hostel! After that, the girls and I met with Sarah’s friend Alejandro. We went shopping because it was his friend’s birthday that night and we were all invited.
In the afternoon, we walked across town and met up with Ale’s friend so we could all go to the Festival of Nations. Within the month, the festival circulates 50 countries in 5 continents with over 100 bands. We walked around the different shops and then took a very long time to decided which country’s food we were going to have for lunch. We settled on Greece and I ate one of the best Gyros I have ever eaten. Yumm!! Jen found her Argentinian beer, and we all stumbled across the United States/Canada tent. Good grief. It served chicken nuggets, ribs, and Duff beer. Yes Duff beer, like the kind on The Simpson’s cartoon show. We had to try it and it turns out, it’s pretty good. Thank you Spain for stereotyping us, but at least the beer is good.
One more friend of Ale showed up and we found our way to the Cuban bar. The girls all ordered beer and the boys ordered ridiculous girly drinks. If we were in the states, the jokes would never cease. And I don’t think they did here, either. I dragged some hair across my upper lip to make a moustache to reinforce the perspective that us girls were more manly. (The guys barely speak English.. except for Ale, he’s pretty good!) We moved on to our second round and finally settled in on Mojitos. They were soo good. We even got free hats from the bartender at one point. The girls and I had a blast, and I am sure the boys were amused at our antics of joking around with one another. We enjoyed a Flamenco presentation and called it a night.
Jen and I went back to our hostel to get ready to go out and ended up chatting with our roommates, who turned out to be two traveling girls from Costa Rica! Jen and I both laid out on our bunk bed and soon were fast asleep. Needless to say we did not make it out for the birthday party!! Seville-1, Us-0! The next morning we went to free breakfast which was basically a pitcher of OJ and a bag of sliced bread with which you had to make your own toast. We slathered it with Margarine and headed out.
I have to say, Seville is absolutely beautiful. People always told us that Huelva was ugly and we never understood until we got to Seville. I can’t wait to go back with Ray and venture out with him to make new memories and have a blast. Over river on this beautiful bridge, there are tons of locks with couple’s names and the date they put their lock on the bridge. I hope I can talk him into doing it with me! How cute! Only 3 and a half weeks until he visits! I am soo excited!!
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