Somewhere in-between Alicante and Cordoba...

Alicante, Spain

February 27th, 2009

Alicante… is beautiful. I’m here for a long weekend taking care of seven children at a missionary conference. I came here without expectations, simply as a way to show my appreciation to the missionaries who have done so much for me, but I am really glad I came. The hotel is right on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. There’s not a sandy beach, but rather low, rocky cliffs jutting down to the water that are covered with wild-flowers of magenta-pink, purple, yellow, and pale-lavender. It’s gorgeous. This morning I took the kids on a walk beside the sea and we saw a pod of dolphins swimming along the coast. The kids got super excited because a lot of them had never seen wild dolphins before, and I got excited just because dolphins always have that effect on me.

March 2nd, 2009

The conference went well and I had a great time hanging out with the kids. The drive back to Córdoba was so beautiful!

I believe the word is: "avergonzada"

So, I realized last night that there was a terribly embarrassing story that I forgot to tell you. It goes like this… (and unfortunately, it’s true):

Every Tuesday night the teachers meet up for a free dance class that is given by one of the administrative staff (a delightful little Spanish man who’s surprisingly graceful on his feet). I have to say that I often have to conceal laughter at this class because it can be pretty funny watching a group of middle-aged, stereo-typical teachers try to dance. It’s funny enough to me that I could probably guess what everyone teaches without them ever telling me. Most of them fit their roles to a tee. There’s the awkward math teacher (God bless him) with his shuffling, clunky shoes, total lack of rhythm, and cardigan sweaters that could be out of a Mr. Roger’s episode. There’s the commerce professor who always seems to be intensely serious about learning the steps properly, and who must be dressed by his wife because his outfits are way to coordinated for him to have done it alone. There’s the English teacher, who is bubbly and always up for a good time. She likes to wear colors like bright purple and let her wild auburn curls bounce along with her personality. Then there are some of the older-women teachers: sweet, caring, motherly. Last but not least, there are some young(ish) male teachers. I know you’re thinking that the embarrassing part is that I must have stepped on someone’s foot or something (I wish), but it was actually after one of these evening dance classes that the real story begins. One of these young(ish) male teachers tried to strike up a conversation with me while we were on our way out. Out of politeness, I put up with him and tried to be moderately friendly. It was one of those conversations I was not interested in, and not listening to, but just giving the occasional half-smile and nod. I should really be more careful because in my negligence to pay attention, I accidentally agreed to meet him for a drink – without realizing it. We proceeded out the doors and I proceeded happily home. The next day, he approached me with a defeated look on his face. I greeted him in the normal way, not understanding what was wrong. The conversation went something like this (except in Spanish):

Him: Sooo, where were you last night?
Me: Umm, what?
Him: Well, um, I mean you said you were going to meet me for a drink, and I waited at the bar across the street for a while, but… you never came.
Me: [gasp] Ooooh, ahhhh, gosh, I, ahh-mmm sorry…

And then I think I made some lame excuse about my Spanish. Needless to say, he hasn’t really talked to me since. Not a problem for me, but I feel kind of bad for him. Oops. Live and learn I guess!

Hope you enjoyed that story more than I did! lol.

Surprise

I’m not going to lie and tell you that my European birthday was a delightful enchantment of a day. It was lonely. Nothing uniquely horrible happened, but I was just missing all of you so much. Thankfully though, I woke up the next day ready to start a new week and put it behind me. But as I was on my way to teach my second-hour class, one of my students met me. He said that no one had showed up for class – which I believed because that does happen every now and then (Spain is different). But I didn’t want to waste the hour, so I told him that we could still have a class with just the two of us. We proceeded into the dark classroom and I was startled when I was met with a loud “Feliz Cumpleaños!” and an avalanche of balloons from my hiding students. They had decided that we were not having class that day, and had planned a party for me instead. I conceded without an argument. :) I was totally surprised and it made me feel so much better. They didn’t even know that I’d always secretly hoped for a surprise party.

I love my students and I love teaching (and I was saying that before the surprise party!). I continue to be thankful for the opportunity to gain experience in the classroom, and I’m excited that this experience is giving me a good context for some the things I’ll be learning in graduate school next fall.

Gibraltar

Lara and I went to Gibraltar this weekend! We had a great time despite the fact that we almost got blown away to Africa by the wind! We enjoyed speaking in English, eating scones, and finding our first British telephone booth. It was wonderful to spend time with Lara and get to know her better.
Check out the pictures on Facebook.

Good times...

*For more photos, check out my facebook page.

Adventures in Spain-der-land

I hope you all enjoyed the holiday season and that you ate so many delicious goodies that you are determined to join the gym again! Being so far away from my real family made my holiday experience different this year, but Christmas in Spain held some of its own special charms. Most important among those was my visit from Tiffany! Tiffany came to Spain in mid-December, and we traveled to five different cities together: Córdoba, Marbella, Granada, Barcelona, and Madrid. Besides the huge disappointment of not being able to go to Morocco, we had a great time together! We were able to do so many cool things. Some of the highlights would include: audio-guided walking tours, Flamenco performances, the Alhambra, Park Guell, The Prado, and of course, lots of tasty Spanish food. And, as any good adventure will do, we learned a lot as well. We learned that we are actually capable of navigating foreign cities (astonishing, I know!), that we are in much better moods when we get a good night of sleep, and to expect the unpredictable (aka: be flexible). There were so many times on the trip when we just had to laugh at whatever ridiculous thing was happening at the moment, and there will be even more things we’ll be able to laugh about in the future (But not yet. We’re still bitter about Morocco). Having Tiffany in Spain was such a pleasure and we made some memories that we’ll never forget.

All in all, I remain really blessed. From time to time I do miss home, family, and friends. However, I know that those things aren’t too far away and that I want to get everything I can out of experience that I’m having right now.

May God bless you in the New Year and may you find those extra Christmas calories melting off like butter. :)