Come on n get here, Spring!

Who remembers this guy? He was cool back in the 90s and you'll be glad to know he can still keep kids' attention today! And that's saying a lot as kids nowadays have an attention span of about 30 seconds.

I taught a lesson today about volcanoes in my 7th grade social studies/science class and I used Bill Nye's Volcano episode. It's good because it's geared towards kids of that age so the vocabulary and whatnot is simple enough but there's still some humor that appeals to adults. That's not to say that my students got any of the jokes because I assure you they didn't haha! But it was fast enough and visual enough that it kept them quiet for nearly the entire 25 minutes that the episode lasted...that's an accomplishment! 

I found it especially funny, as a 90s kids, to go back and catch all the 90s references. The last part of this episode featured a spoof of TLC's "Don't go chasin' waterfalls" entitled "Don't go chasin' lavaflows." Pretty funny and even a bit educational. 

Now, what happened to good, old-fashioned, educational programs like this one? Is there anything even remotely similar that kids these days watch? I can't think of anything. Kinda depressing...

What's the first thing you think of when you think of Spain? I'm willing to wager that bullfighting would be in the top 3 answers of at least 95% of people. However, most people, Spanish or otherwise, haven't actually been to a bullfight. Yesterday I saw my first one! It was interesting, but shocking is probably the best word I can think of to describe it.  

I'll preface this story with the fact that this wasn't a real professional bullfight...though I imagine it was about as close as you can get to the real thing. La Escuela Taurina de Almería, Almería's Bullfighting School, sponsored an event for its amateur bullfighters and Juanmi's dad got us a couple of free tickets because one of his friend's sons was one of the bullfighters. Neither of us had ever seen a bullfight in person--I had never even seen one on TV or on the internet--so we decided to go.

For all of you who are like me and know little to nothing about how it actually works, I'll fill you in.

First the bull is released into the ring where he is taunted by several bullfighters with capotes or capes made of bright colored fabric, in this case, pink and yellow. They taunt the bull to make him charge at them and then run and hide behind a little wall. You'll see this happening at the beginning of my first youtube video (click on the little gear at the bottom of the screen and select the original resolution for best quality).

Then, the main bullfighter, or matador (literally "killer") takes over with his cape. As he is toreando, the banderilleros prepare themselves to run up to the bull and stab him in the back with banderillas which are colorful sticks with a kind of hook on the end. The purpose is to basically irritate the crap out of the bull. If the banderillas are stuck in there correctly, every time the bull moves it hurts them. This is generally where you start to see blood.

After the bull has been stabbed with banderillas, the matador gets out his muleta which is the traditional, red-fabric deal that we all think of when we think of toros. He puts on a show by making the bull charge at the muleta which is just far enough away that he avoids getting hit with the bull's horns. The amateur fighters aren't that good yet so they do a good bit of moving out of the bull's way unlike the pros who are fearless and barely have to move.

After the bull is sufficiently tired and annoyed, the bullfighter gets his sword and prepares to stab the bull. In the second youtube video (below), the matador stabs the bull right at the beginning, the crowd goes wild, and then the others come out with their capes to make the bull dizzy so he dies faster :/

When he finally lies down to die, one of the bullfighters stabs him in the head with a small sword just to make sure he is dead.

I'm not sure if this only happened because it was an amateur bullfight or if this is something that usually happens, but it took the bull quite a while to die after it was stabbed. It was probably because the sword didn't hit in exactly the right spot, but there were a couple of kids who had to take the sword out and stab the bull again. As you can imagine, this meant substantially more blood and substantially more squirming from me. Up until the third bull I was kinda sorta ok with it but when the sword came out and there was blood all over the bull, my liking of the spectacle decreased.

Anyway, after the bull dies, the matador turns to the crowd and the judge. If you watch the crowd in the video, you'll see they're waving handkercheifs...the better the bullfighter, the more handkercheifs he gets. If a bullfighter kills the bull, he gets to keep its ear. As you'll hear, towards the end the crowd begins chanting "Otra! Otra!" They are trying to convince the judge to give him another ear. If you're really really good you get both ears and the tail.

Now that I'm writing this down, it seems pretty brutal. Lots of Spaniards are actually against bullfighting and want to have it abolished, but as it's considered part of the national culture, they haven't had much success. I was always of the opinion that it's a cultural thing and that surely the people who were against it were just crazy animal lovers who were overreacting. I didn't think I would be at all bothered by it, but much to my surprise, I was not especially enthused about watching this big animal get poked at, taunted, and eventually killed.

It wasn't the killing of the bull that bothered me really. It's just odd that such a big, intimidating animal can me made to look so weak and pathetic. It gets to a point where it gets tired and frustrated and it sometimes can't stay on its feet after it charges and tries to change directions. A couple of times when the bull fell over, nearby kids started laughing at it. I think that was when I felt the worst for it.

Like I said before, I don't really know how to describe it or how I feel about it. It was cool to get to go and experience the environment of what a bullfight is like, but the actual bullfighting was not exactly my cup of tea. I don't think I'd ever spend the big bucks it takes to go see a real one. Nonetheless, it was a cool experience.

This past Saturday, Juanmi and I spent the day in Almerimar, a little resort town on the coast to the west of Almería. We found a cheap apartment for rent (the price was cheap but the apartment was incredibly new and modern) and randomly decided to go on a spur-of-the-moment trip. Almerimar is really touristy and has not, from the looks of it, been around very long. It appears to be the result of the construction boom that took place before the present economic crisis as it is mostly hotels built on beautiful green golf courses (green is a rarity here) and houses that are only occupied in the summer when people come for vacation.

After a 2 and a half hour trip in 2 different buses to get to place that's only like 40 minutes away (way to go, Spain) we spent the afternoon just wandering around checking the place out. Then, before we went to dinner, Juanmi made me Carpaccio because I had never tried it. It's really thinly sliced raw beef which he served with onions, a bit of cheese, and a drizzle of olive oil. Not bad for being raw beef haha.

After our appetizer, which as you can see was more like a small meal than an appetizer, we went to dinner at an Italian restaurant down by the port which was really good and surprisingly cheap.

On Sunday, instead of messing with trying to catch the bus back to Almería, Juanmi's parents came to check out the apartment, pick us up, and we then spent the afternoon with them.

We went to eat lunch at a little tapas place in Aguadulce (Almería's neighboring town) called Stilo Campo--delish!--and then we drove back to Almería where Juanmi's dad insisted that we go up to the top of el cerro de San Cristóbal, St. Christopher's hill, where he used to take Juanmi and his brother when they were little. The views were INCREDIBLE. You can see literally ALL of Almería. Check out the panoramic below in full size by clicking on it.

After leaving there, we went and bought some typical Spanish desserts and went back to his house to enjoy them with a cup 'o tea. It was a nice, relaxing, and fun little Sunday :)

This year I'm working in a high school in the little town of Canjáyar, Spain, located in the Alpujarra mountain range about 45 minutes from the capital. It's an itsy bitsy town like Rioja (where I worked last year) with only like 1400 people. It's famous for one product, olive oil. There's an olive oil production plant there called La Almazara de Canjáyar. You know what I'll be bringing back to the states when I come!

Rioja, the town where I worked last year is located between Benhadux and Gádor on the map and was about 20 minutes away from the capital, so that gives you some idea of how far I have to go to get to work. Luckily, there are plenty of teachers who live in Almería so I don't have to take the bus. In fact, it's a really good thing that there are teachers in Almería because there are no buses to Canjáyar in the mornings haha.  The drive is long and the road is really small and curvy but the landscape is really pretty. 

In any case, I've got a pretty sweet schedule. Since it's so far and since I'm also gonna be at the university on average 3 days a week, I talked them into letting me work 3 days a week instead of 4. So I work Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Tuesdays I leave Almería at 7:30am and get back home at 3:30pm (my longest day), Wednesdays I leave at 9:30am and get back at 3:30, and Thursdays I leave at 7:30 and get back around 1:30. All in all, not too shabby.

I'm really happy with my job so far. The 6 teachers I have classes with all speak really good English, the classes are small, and the kids are good kids--don't have to deal with disciplinary problems like at bigger high schools. I'm teaching 7th-10th graders and one class of adults who are there doing a ciclo formativo de gestión administrativa which is essentially vocational training to be able to work in an office as an administrative assistant, etc. That class is basically business English. With the high schoolers, I help out with their English classes but I've also got classes of Social studies/history, technology, and math (my favorite of course!).

With Halloween and Thanksgiving coming up, I'm sure we'll be doing some celebrating in English classes so there will be pictures to come! :)

Back in the land of fresh produce, tapas, and jamón! This was my first meal real meal back in Spain aside from the bocadillo de jamón (serrano ham sandwich) which I had on the train.

Juanmi and I went to this little hole in the wall place close to his house called Safari which, according to him, has the best patatas bravas in the world! Bravas, as they are often called, are potatoes, boiled and then fried, topped with a spicy, creamy, tomatoey sauce. There are tons of variations but this place makes a delicious sauce. So good, in fact, that they are only served once a week (Saturday at lunch time) as they just make one batch of their secret-recipe sauce and when they're out, they're out! Top it off with a beer or a glass of tinto de verano (red wine mixed with soda) and you can't get much more Spanish than that!

The view from my living room window...Juanmi's house is directly behind that first tree on the first floor (America's second floor)

I got back to Almería a little more than a week ago and hardly even had time to unpack my suitcase before things took off again! I had Saturday and Sunday to get settled in the new piso and then Monday it was off to work in Canjáyar, the city of the high school where I'll be teaching this year. That's right, you heard correctly. High school. Eeeek!

It's been a crazy week as I've already started work AND classes for my masters! I'll be filling you in on all that soon. Also, you'll get a virtual tour of the new apartment which, by the way, is awesome! :)

 

After 3 months and a week back home in Texas, I'm finally back in Spain and back to blogging! I don't feel like I really have the time to write about the summer but I'll leave you with some of the highlights...

Asian adventures (aka trips to China town) with Ben and Lavinia

Family brunches, lunches, and dinners

Art walk with all my friends from home
 

A visit to Tallahassee to see my Aunt Nessa, Uncle David, and cousins Cameron and Joanna (plus an eventful roadtrip back with Lavinia complete with a middle-of-the-night truck breakdown in Lafayette, LA haha)
 

A weekend in Albuquerque to see Audra and play in a grass volleyball tournament

The September birthday bash

Zeke's 6th birthday

Cuddling, running, and being licked to death by the one and only Pubs

 
Kayaking at the beach 
Many a beach run and beach workout
and of course, lots and lots of family tennis (yes, Pubs is most definitely considered part of the family)!

Thanks to all for a great summer! I'm gonna miss y'all :)

On Saturday, May 12th, Kelly (Lumphead as I fondly call her haha) and John got in to Almería after having spent their first night in Barcelona. They got to my house around 1, got settled in, and then we headed to the grocery store to get some stuff to make lunch.

At the grocery store, we filled the little rolly-cart to the brim and ended up spending only a little over 60 euros with enough food for like 3 days...and we weren't eating crappy food either. For their first lunch we made sauteed peppers and mushrooms and grilled filets of salmon (see the picture). They were quite surprised at how cheap it was especially considering the quantity of fresh produce and fresh meat we bought.



After we made our lunch, we headed up to the beach for a couple hours. We laid out but no one was brave enough to get in because it was still too cold. Afterwards, we walked back home, showered, and got ready for a night out: tapas and the bars with my friends!

On Sunday, May 6th I went to the celebration of Juanmi's cousin's first communion at the Club de mar (Boat club) here in Almería. We didn't actually get to go to the communion itself because it was in a small church and each kid could only invite like 10 guests so of course the closest family members (parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles) were the ones who went to the actual mass and the rest of us just went to the celebration afterwards.

I was nervous to meet all of Juanmi's family but it went really well! They are all super nice and really funny...especially his uncle, Jose Luis! After eating his lunch with a few beers, he was walking around the restaurant acting a fool and making everybody laugh! SO funny!

In addition to the good company, the food was AMAZING. When we first got there there were plates of serrano ham, manchego cheese, Raf tomatoes (a really expensive and delicious species of tomato grown exclusively in Almería) and anchovies drizzled with olive oil. Then they brought out two more appetizers: stuffed artichokes and vegetable tempura with shrimp. After the appetizers were gone, the first dish, a filet of bacalao (cod) with a garlic sauce, came out followed by a lemon flavored slush to clear the palate before the second dish. The second dish was a steak served with sauteed veggies and new potatoes. It was the first steak I had eaten in Spain and it was SO good. Finally for dessert, they brought out a brownie-type deal with chocolate sauce and a scoop of ice cream. Oh and I forgot to mention you had your choice of drinks, but the default was to eat the appetizers with beer, the fish with white wine, the steak with red wine, and the dessert with champagne. It sounds like a ton of food and drink but the portions were relatively small so you didn't end up popping out of your clothes haha.

After everyone was finished eating, we sat around and socialized and eventually they started serving mixed drinks as well. Juanmi's aunt handed out some little trinkets to all the female guests to serve as a reminder of the communion and the men got cigars. Smoking isn't allowed inside public places in Spain but after enough pestering the waiters, the ash-trays were brought out and the remaining guests all started migrating to the cool table (i.e. our table--Juanmi, his brother, cousins and their boyfriends/girlfriends who are all around our age) to smoke their cigars. It was hilarious, just as I expected.

Overall, I had a great time not only meeting Juanmi's family but getting the insider's perspective on a real Spanish family event. It was cool to get to take part in the celebration and to be able to compare it to the first communion in the States. Granted I'm not Catholic, but I've got several Catholic friends and I'm certain that this event isn't celebrated on such a large scale back home.

The little boys here that are doing the First Communion dress in little sailor suits and the girls in all-white fluffy mini-princess dresses. Afterwards, they're showered with gifts. Depending on the kid, his family, and the number of guests invited, the kid will walk away with more stuff than he knows what to do with. I didn't even see all the gifts Juanmi's cousin Dani got, but I know he had at least 3 watches, 2 digital cameras, a remote controlled helicopter, and several video games. I'm virtually certain that he had to have cleaned up moreso than at Christmas even. Crazy.

I'm looking forward to getting to celebrate more events with Juanmi's fam! As the evening was coming to a close, everybody kept teasing his cousin Lorena and her boyfriend about the fact that their wedding would be the next big family celebration...no pressure, guys haha!

I know teachers aren't supposed to have favorites, but I'll admit, I've got one! I finish school on Friday, June 1st and now that it's only ONE week away, it's starting to set in that I'm not gonna see these kids anymore after that :(

It's gonna be weird not seeing their smiling faces and not having little "Monkey Zaira" as everyone calls her, jump on me and latch onto my leg everytime I walk into the classroom.

On one hand, I'm gonna be really glad to be done, but on the other hand really sad. Even though overall, I haven't really enjoyed this year at school as much as I enjoyed last year, I like the bilingual classes better this year. 

Since there are 2 bilingual classes, 1st and 2nd grade, and 2 bilingual teachers, Valeria and Jose Luis, we combine the two classes for science and math. We've had a great time all year with these classes (3 hours a week) and the kids have learned a TON. Combining Valeria's and Jose Luis's different strengths has resulted in awesome results and these kids are seriously badasses at understanding English. I literally talk to them how I talk to a regular American kid. Granted they don't understand every word I'm saying, but they usually get the gist of what I'm saying. That's what I'm gonna miss.

Unfortunately as the economic crisis in Spain gets worse (it's REALLY bad by the way, for anyone who didn't know), I think that the bilingual program is gonna be one of the first things to go. Education has already been deemed one of the areas that's gonna receive heavy budget cuts, so I would not be at all surprised if the bilingual programs had dissolved in the next 2 years. 

It makes me sad to know that these kids are gonna lose a good majority of their English the moment their home room teacher isn't bilingual. It's such a shame because if they were to continue in the direction that they're headed now they would basically be bilingual by the time they got to high school.  

Butttt, what can ya do. Hopefully some of their parents will realize this and will enroll them in English classes somewhere else, because sadly to say, without the bilingual program, I have very little faith in the Spanish education system's teaching of foreign languages.

This picture is of three of my favorite second graders--Zaira, Aihnoa, and Carmen, with their 3-year old little siblings--Abel, Idune, and Shere! SO adorable! This picture makes me want to see my lil Zeke-sterrr :(

I'm not exactly sure of the true significance of Las Cruces de Mayo, but from what I was able to gather it's basically a religious celebration that's a fund raiser for Semana Santa. If I understood correctly, the cofradías, or different groups that sponsor the pasos during Semana Santa hold dinners and events downtown during the first week or two of May in order to raise money for their Semana Santa festivities.

At school, the preschool moms and dads planned a little part for Friday, May 4th. Basically all it was was a bunch of food and drink and kids running around dressed up in the typical Sevillana costume for the last two hours of the day. The three girls pictured above definitely get the award for best dressed!

This is the lemon meringue pie I made Juanmi for his birthday! It was my first attempt at meringue and I was super nervous because everything I read on the internet made it seem hard or at least really tedious.

Supposedly the egg whites won't fluff up if there is any sort of oil present in the bowl with them so you have to be sure to use the right type of bowl--metal or glass is ideal as plastic retains the oil from previous dishes. Also I had to wash everything like 95 times to make sure it was perfectly clean and oil-free. You have to try to not get oils from your hands on the parts of the egg shell that they whites touch when you separate them. You can't make it on a humid day because it won't fluff up, etc.

It sounded like a huge hassle but mine turned out just perfectly! Next time it'll definitely be much easier, and yes, there will be a next time because it was super tasty!

On the night of Saturday April 28th we went out for Juanmi's birthday which is the 29th. Since he seems to know like all the bartenders everywhere, he was torn as to where to celebrate. Guarapo won him over when they made him this sign and publicized it on their facebook! hahahaha



At 2 or 3 am they played the traditional Feliz Cumpleaños song and gave him a bottle of champagne with a sparkler on top haha. It was quite the spectacle as all the boys were pretty intoxicated at that point. Needless to say the bottle of champagne got opened by one of the guys and sprayed everywhere...it splashed off the ceiling and got a LOT of random people wet. They were not happy campers haha

The excursion was to last until like 4:30 so all the kids had brought their lunch. Around 2, instead of eating the lunches we had brought with us, much to our surprise all the teachers headed back up to the restaurant where the owner had prepared a paella for all 10 of us! It was GLORIOUS. 

Paella is a traditional rice dish which I believe originated in Valencia. According to wikipedia there are 3 types of paella: "Valencian paella consists of white rice, green vegetables, meat (rabbit, chicken, duck), land snails, beans, and seasoning. Seafood paella replaces meat and snails with seafood and omits beans and green vegetables. Mixed paella is a free-style combination of meat, seafood, vegetables, and sometimes beans...Other key ingredients include saffron and olive oil."

The paella they made us was mixed. It had white rice, red peppers, peas, shrimp, clams, snails, and pork. SO good.

After we had stuffed our faces, they brought us plates of the house deserts to sample them. Later we just sat around til 4 and waited for the bus to come. Overall, a great day :) I wish every day was field trip day!

At the farm there were several ponies and much to their liking, all the kids got to ride one! The guy who was with the first and second graders was AWESOME. He was such a character...always making funny faces and making the kids laugh. He was even able to convince some of them that were scared to ride the pony. The kid in the picture claimed he couldn't get onto the pony by himself so the guy threw him on! Haha

How do you make a peacock open its tail? I still don't know how to answer that question. I do, however, know that throwing pebbles at it doesn't work haha. Jose Luis and Valeria, the first and second grade teachers spent a good 3 minutes chunking pebbles through the fence at the poor peacock while i tried to get a good picture of it. We are SO mature. This was the best picture I got of the little guy...beautiful colors, especially the blue on his head and chest!

 
Is there anything cuter than baby animals?? Even the ugliest of animals are cute when they're babies! Look at these baby goats. Goats are hideous when they're full grown but the little ones sure were adorable.

There were also pigs... 

rabbits...

 
donkeys, as well as iguanas, ferrets, guinea pigs, chickens, various other birds, and more!

On April 26th, we took our last field trip of the year. We went to a town about 15 minutes from Rioja called Sierra Alhamilla to visit a farm called Cortijo El Puntalillo. It was a super cool place and the best part was that the people running the place completely took over and we didn't even have to go with the kids! 


At first they took all of us teachers up to the owner's restaurant and served us a breakfast of toast with your choice of tomato, ham, butter, or jelly and a cup of coffee. Then they showed us the spa which uses the water from the natural hot spring there in the town. After that they finally took us down to the farm and let us wander around without having to supervise the kids. It was great!