Trick or Treat

Here are some updates on teaching in Santa Fe, Spain

I've been teaching about Halloween all week. A few children in each class are not allowed to listen to what I say because they are evangelical and Halloween is a satanic holiday and leads to hell. Oh my...I keep saying BUT Halloween is not religious. The rest of the children get very excited when I say Halloween. They start smiling and jumping up and down in their seats.

In one of my classes (7 year olds) we played a Halloween game. I stood at the front of the room as each kid got a turn to come up to me, put out their hands and say "Trick or Treat." Then I pretended to give them a candy, and they pretended to gobble it up with huge smiles on their faces. Apparently they don't even need REAL candy, its just the idea of the funny American giving them candy that makes them happy! : )

Another 8 year old said to her regular English teacher, "Her English is sooo good (referring to me)." I was happy to find out that my English is good! haha.

On a more negative note, I broke up a fight today. Two little 5 year old boys were punching each other and pulling each others' hair out and I had to get in between them to stop it. : 0

Classes

This week I get to teach my classes about Halloween! I've tried to think of the simplest possible way to explain the holiday. Then were going to play some fun games with vocab words. For the older classes I'm going to ask "what's your favorite candy" to practice saying my favorite. I think these classes will be a fun departure from the regular classes and its making me excited for Halloween this weekend!

Halloween in Spain

This week Austin and I decided to go to our local "pumpkin patch" and pick out a pumpkin to have in our little apartment. There weren't many to choose from, but I love the one we chose!

It sits at our table in the kitchen/dining room/living room ; ).

I'm not sure if we'll be celebrating Halloween by dressing up this year, but we'll likely go out for some tapas. We are both also planning Halloween activities for our English classes. On that note, today when we were walking to the bus stop to leave Santa Fe (the town we teach in) two of my little students walked by with their mom and said "hello, bye bye" to me. The little girls LOVE telling their moms that "that's my new English teacher!!" (only in Spanish). I'm beginning to look forward to teaching every day!

Granada, Espana, October 18th

We have internet! So now I should be posting more often!

It feels like Austin and I have finally settled in here. Adjusting to the Spanish way of life was a challenge as I'm sure it will continue to be, but we seem to have finally gotten through most of the difficulties. We have bank accounts, internet and are working on getting our ID cards. Thankfully, we'll be getting paid in two weeks.

Its impossible to believe we've already been here 4 weeks. The time seems to being going very fast, especially now that we have internet. Most days we work from the mornings until 2:00 then head home for lunch (at 3:00!). Then we usually go for a walk or run. Everything is closed here for the siesta from 1:00 to 5:00 so we cannot get anything done until 5:00. At first I was annoyed by everything closing but now I take it as an excuse to rest and do anything relaxing. For our runs we run the Sacromonte- its the gypsy neighborhood where they have flamenco caves. It all hilly and for me a difficult run (a bit easier for Austin though : ). Here are some great pictures of the Sacromonte: http://www.hola.com/viajes/rutas/lugarescuriosos/2002/09/23/7581_sacromonte_2C_el_.html?pagina=1&tipo_bloque=cuerpo.

If we go for a walk we have a few places we usually frequent. Often we go to Plaza Nueva (http://granadamap.com/plazanuevasp.htm), or another small Plaza near our house, or Plaza Bib Rambla (http://www.google.es/images?q=Plaza+Bib+Rambla&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&safe=active&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=es&tab=wi&biw=1280&bih=648). Everyone goes for a walk here, they spend much more time outdoors in the plazas then in their houses.

Before dinner we also often go the the Mirador San Nicolas. Its right up (literally uphill) our street in our neighborhood (The Albycin). Its a lookout for the Alhambra and there are always locals playing music there. Its very beautiful-- here's a picture of the view: http://alhambra-granada.eu/san_nicolas.html.

For another daily diversion we often walk up the steps to the Alhambra, around the back of it, and down the other side. We start and finish near our apartment. I'll have to take picture next time to show you what this looks like.

After dinner, we often go out for TAPAS! Tapas are little plates of food/ snacks that you get for free with any small beer. We have one favorite place that makes excellent food called "El Espejo." El Espejo is on Calle Elvira (a street that has a lot of Tapas bars). We have also tried many other tapas bars. Recently we had Moroccan tapas which were also very tasty. Another favorite treat of mine is found at a churreria. There they make churros (like long indian fry bread) and you get hot chocolate to dip it in. They are so good but so bad for you but we usually stick to tapas anyway.

Its a fun, relaxed culture here and although its taken some getting used to I'm thinking it will be even harder to get un-used to (I'm taking the liberty of making up a word).

This is just to give everyone an idea of my life here-- next I'll give more details on teaching here and my quest for making extra money tutoring.

We miss everyone and thank you for reading my blog!!

Granada Espana, 01 October, 2010

I'm here in Granada!
I luckily already found an apartment to live in but I still don't have internet yet. Here I am in a cafe in Plaza Nueva (stealing someone elses internet). I had my first day of teaching English today. I met all the clases I'll be teaching. I'm teaching elementary school and the children are very cute! Today I met a four-year-old named Shakira! I only work Tuesday through Friday from 10:30 to 1:30. Hopefully I'll be filling in my extra time with tutoring to make some extra money. Now that I've started working I feel calmer. This week has been a whirlwind of Spanish, trying not to get taken advantage of, travel, discomfort and worry. Finding an apartment here was porbably the hardest thing I have ever done-- naturally I made some mistakes but I have come to terms with the fact that this trip may just be about that. I have to make mistakes to learn and here its just so easy. One deosn't know general information that is so important-- such as how renting an apartment should work. But I think I have made it through without losing too much money to silly things I didn't know or understand. My apartment is beautiful and clean with a view of the Alhambra. There are kitties in the back yard, but I have resisted adopting any.

This month will be the hardest as I won't be paid until the end of October and I still have to get internet, a bank account, and my identification card. I am incredibly happy that I'm living in Granada instead of in the pueblo I'm teaching at (Santa Fe). There is essentially nothing to do there-- it's a quaint, quiet town that would surely turn out to be a bit too quiet for an entire year.

On the other hand Granada is an interesting city. It's very "hippy." The people love walking here and at any time or day the streets are filled. I have already become used to going for a walk after lunch and dinner and even as entertainment.

I don't have much time right now so this little glimpse of the past week will have to suffice. Hopefully I will have internet soon and can explain the details of life here!