Today was a day for the books!!!! I had a horrid morning. I went to Claret
and my students were poorly behaved. They did not listen to a word I said. It
drove me up a wall!!! Then took the bus back to the university. People stand
outside the bus stop with petitions and asking money. The proper response is to
walk away and say no…well I did that and got spat on. My time at the
University was fine. Class was class. You know the drill….
Yet another beautiful day in sunny Sevilla. Today Brittany, Briana and I went
on a walk. We went to la Plaza De España, which is the location of filming a
scene from Star Wars Episode II. We walked around there and a park. This park
was amazing…it reminded me of the secret garden but with palm trees. There
was also a plaza de America there. In this plaza, you could feed the birds.
There was one woman there who looked like the bird lady from home alone. After
that we walked around El centro for a bit. This lovely three hour walk came to
a close at 6 pm. I cannot describe how beautiful this park is…there are no
words that can describe it but if any of you come to Seville, you must go there.
The name of the park is parque de María Lusia. It is a must!!! While I was
there I had a character of me drawn. The guy who drew it asked me if I knew
what it was and I said it was an exaggeration. He said “yes it is for laughs,
a joke. Are you English or American?” I said American and he was really
nice. It came out really cool!!!! In the drawing, I am wearing a flamenco
dancer’s dress and at a fiesta.
Other than that today was relatively boring. I have no idea what the plans are
for tonight but tomorrow night will be busy for me 
I am meeting friends from
school to go out dancing and I am meeting my Spanish friends.
I went to the catholic school where I will be
a teacher’s assistant for the semester. Mondays and Wednesday I will be
teaching there for an hour from 12:30-1:30, which is right before my classes
(3-7) The commute is 10 minutes via bus 34 which conveniently has a stop in
front of our university. The school is large and confusing. As I become better
acquainted with the building I will tell you more about it. There are two parts
of the building with several corridors. On our first day the teacher’s we
will be working with are going to meet us in the lobby. Outside the building
near the gym facilities and playground is their nursery school. During recess,
the nursery schools are literally caged in a small area to play.
Each class we teach, is a selected group of dedicated students. I will be
working with students aged 12 -15. The class size is approximately 30 but I will
have a group of 8-10 students. I will have free reign over what I do with them.
The first day they get an opportunity to learn about us and interview us.
After that, we get to go whatever we choose. The objective is for the students
to hear a native speaker and to improve their speech. The two teachers I am
working with are Julio and Charro. I am looking forward to my first day! I
made a video of pictures of my friends and family to show my students. I will
let you know how it goes!
As some of you know, I went to Portugal this weekend with my friend Mary. It was beautiful. Our only complaint was the weather. We missed our first bus, because believe it or not buses here actually leave on time. It was a 6hr ride. We found ourselves chatting with two guys who wound up being our roommates in our Hostel the Crazy Monkey. The next day we went on a tour of thegrottos. They were beautiful. We were on a small boat, like a water taxi. It was a trip. The waves were huge and tons of them crashed into the boat or on the boat. Let’s just say we caught the last ride out for the day at noon. We spent the rest of that over cast rainy studying and watching movies. Sunday we took the bus back home. Now I am getting ready for my last days of teaching and 2 finales.
So when people think about Spain, the first thing that comes to mind is flamenco and bullfights. Well that’s what this break is all about. Starting Monday night at midnight, the gates to feria where lit. Since then it has been a no stop party. There is one area called the caseta. It has private tents and a few public ones where you can dance the Sevillanas and drink and eat. The popular drink right now is called the Rebujito. It is a mixed drink of Manazilla (chamolie) and sprite, or one can purchase just Manazilla. The other side of the feria is a carnival. There are games and rides. I went with my friend Mary. We went on the pirate ship and this other ride that swings you upside down. On the outward apperance it looked rather tame. Boy were we suprised!!! The pirate ship here is very different. At the ends of the boat there is a metal cage and if you are crazy enough, you stand in the cage. Well that’s where I was. If you are on the end that’s high in the air, as you come down you jump and you get this anti gravity feeling. It was so cool!!!! The women are all dressed in flamenco dresses an the men wear riding outfits. The foreigners don’t dress up. So where jeans others skirts or day dress with a flower in their hair. During the day, horses line the streets and there is a procession of horses from about 6 pm to about 9pm. Mary and I also danced the Sevillanas. The classes we took came in handy!!! It was a lot of fun!!!! We stayed out til 4 am. After 4 am the crowd there starts to get sketchy.
Hey all!!!!
So the past six days I have been traveling in Africa. I went to Morocco. It was absolutely amazing. In my opinion we spent way to much time on the bus. Our first day we spent driving and stopped in a few towns for a rest stop. We spent that night in Fez. We also had a very rocky start. On our way to the port after 15 minutes in to the drive we heard a loud bang. After inspecting it, we realized that our suspension had broken. Then after we arrived in Morocco we were pulled over. Apparently we scratched the toll booth. The people there were asking for 50 euro to repair it and the young children near by were giving us death threats. The second day more bus time!!! We traveled to the Sahara desert. After we got to a hotel, we took 4×4’s to the desert hotel. We had to drive off rode and through the plains right before the famous sand dunes. The next day we went to a near by village. It was extremely poor. We stopped at the orchards, oven and handicraft store. That afternoon we mounted camels for a 2 hour ride into the Sahara. We were heading to the oasis where we were to camp for the night. We climbed up the most famous and tallest sand dune to watch the sunset. We had dinner and a bonfire where our guides sang Moroccan songs and danced. The next morning we went back to the hotel and made our way back to Fez. We rode the 4×4 through the dunes of the Sahara and got to meet the driver’s family. He also taught me how to drive stick shift!!!! We swam and then took the bus back to Fez. We spent the day in the Medina of Fez. I felt like Jasmine from the movie Aladdin. Vendors were shoving products in my face trying to encourage me to buy them and then me hade to haggle the price down to something reasonable. We also went to the looms, communal oven, tannery… (All the dyes they use are natural and the best kind of leather is camel skin, while cow skin is the worst) and the pharmacy. Our last day we spent driving. In the town of Tangier, where the port is, children like to make a game of jumping on the back of trucks and buses. Our guides warned us but I still panicked when I heard another bang and saw a kids face pop up in the back window. Before we got off the bus our guides checked under the bus because Moroccans will notice the Sevilla sign and try to sneak across the boarder. Thankfully there were no Moroccans under the bus or in the luggage compartment.
The group I went with is Discover Sevilla. The trip was totally worth it!!!! I wont lie it was on the pricey side but worth every penny!!!!
This shall be an on – going list….My plan is to help you if you come here. This list will have things to pack, places to go, things to see, travel companies and best methods of travel…..
Things to pack:
Places To go:
Things to See:
Travel Companies:
Methods:
I hope this helps you plan your time here better!!! I wish someone gave me this info before I came but it is here now to help you
Hey everyone!!!!
I believe that you all deserve a brief introduction to who I am and why I am in Spain….I am Stephanie and currently a Spanish and secondary ed major at New paltz. My true love of language started with Italian…as most of you know, it is very difficult to find a teaching job as an Italian teacher in the USA. I first feel in love with Spain last summer while I was in Oviedo. I loved my time there so much that I came back. Before I left it was very difficult. I was going for a longer time…a semester in comparison to a Summer….I am thrilled to be back. The trip here so far has been amazing and it is my ever intention to fill you in on all the on goings of Sevilla (fortunately I have been sending messages to my family so catching you all up was easy). This past week I have been spending my time with my mother. She is here for Holy Week….that is a story all in itself….We are staying in my amazing apartment. The apartment is about a twenty minute walk from the university, if you walk fast….and a block away from the Sevilla home football stadium. I can here the commotion of every game. It is getting late and I have teaching tomorrow. I am a teacher’s assistant at a school called Claret. I help students practice English and I work with a small group of 10 – 15 children. It is amazing to have a class to work with but it also means lesson planning on top of school work. Ok now I am really going so I can get ready for my classes.
My mom arrived at the Malaga airport at 9:40 and my train was to arrive at 10:15 which means mom was going to wait and call me to set up the meet. She tried to call and it did not work…Had to call Ted to ask him to call me, so I could figure it out. To top that off, when Ted called me, I was passing through the mountain range the Sierra Nevada. I missed his first few attempts of calling. WOW..ok so we talked and decided that since a train took me to the airport..I would meet her at the airport train station. Mom asked directions…got lost, had to walk thru construction and over a bridge (that went over 4 lanes of traffic) The bridge was metal plates layed on a support structure Many calls latter we finally meet on the platform after walking over that bridgge twice!
We get on the train to town and a taxi to our hotel… It is beautiful.. Very contemporary!!
It was like the contemporary hotel in DISNEY, only in black and white. Well along the wall to our room, looking down, I was having panic attacks..we were on the 5th floor. We then went to town and walked around…stopped at a street fair and had Turkish tea. We watched some flamenco dancing, (it was a team of dancers doing the bulleria….a very festive dance) picked up shells off the Mediterranean Sea beach. We then went to dinner at the best sea food place. Wow, we picked out our fish and watched them grill it (with salt…everything here has salt).
Sunday… PALM SUNDAY we went to the Picasso Museum, Alcazaba castle and fort. We saw our first procession, it was great.. They had Palms, flowers and bands and people who looked like the KKK… wait till you see the pictures. We ate TAPAS.. This is a plate of finger food or appetizers and a beer.
Monday.. We took the bus to Gibraltar, did you know that Gibraltar is a British sovernity and you have to go thru customs. We had to walk from the bus stop to customs (like going to Canada). Then we started to walk into town. First you have to walk thru the airport run way… Yes where the planes land…Steph was freaking out!!!!!! (I was waiting for a plane to land as we tried to make our way across) We finally got to a taxi stand and asked them to take us to the hotel. We were on the Caspian Bay….we had a balcony over looking the bay and we could watch the sun rise. By the way the sun rises around 8 is and sets around 9 ish…..We then had a proper English dinner in the oldest PUB.. I had potato jacks (which is a stuffed potato, the potato was the size of an eggplant) I finally had a burger that was made out of real burger meat not any chicken burgers or pork burgers!!!!!.
Tuesday. We shopped, and went to see the rock apes…Steph wanted to use the tram, so sad to bad.. It was broke and we had to use a car…up 495 kilometers.. with no railings and very curvy … I am dying!!!!.. The apes were friendly and great, the Tunnel where the WW2 siege was fought.. Was interesting.. Even when a manikin yelled “stop.. Who goes there and both of us screamed!!!! We saw the lighthouse and Africa (which is only 15 miles from the point) we had a great Italian dinner at the Hotel. It is funny to order British food or Italian food in Spanish in an English speaking town!!!
Wed….we traveled back through customs and back to the bus to finally go to Seville. We arrived late in the day and decided to go to in to town to get dinner, as we were leaving the apartment…there was a procession.. We heard a singer (Cantador) sing a Seta.. (Another Spanish word for Saeta is fecha or an arrow….it is always sung to honor the Virgin Mary) Which is a song that is song with out any instruments and it honored Jesus…..We ate a Tai restaurant which was fantastic….WE have seen several possessions by this time. A procession has up to a thousand people dresses like the KKK; each costume is a different color, based on the church affiliation. Several alter severs and a huge float of Jesus and a second one of Mary. The float is either gold or silver, lots of candles, flowers and takes up to 40men to carry. They are magnificent…
Thursday. We went to La Gilrada and shopped. Thursday we saw women dressed in black with the black lace on their heads (called a Mantilla) It is only done for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday in observance and mourning for Jesus (Hesus). All stores are closed from now until Monday.. In observance of Easter. All men are in suits and women are in dresses. Children are dressed alike.
Friday we took a train ride to the sea shore, a town called Matasclaña. We went horse back riding… on the beach!!! We finally got churros con chocolate!!!!!! It is pieces of fried dough with a cup of a thick chocolate…the left over chocolate from dipping is a good snack!!!!! And of course had a seafood lunch. Ok lunch is usually around 3 ish and dinner is around 8 30… but it doesn’t feel strange because of the sun time… nothing is open before 10:00. Oh… you can start drinking at 10 am… it is not unusual to see people drink beer with their breakfast.
Saturday.. we took a train to Granda.. What a beautiful town.. Very old world charm.. we did not see the castle because it was too crowed and sold out, but we saw gardens, and cathedrals and churches …Since Granda is in the Sierra Nervades Mountains it was cold. I mean 40 degrees and there was snow on the mountain!!!! Friday, it was 80 degrees on the beach and now I am freezing.. I had to buy gloves!! The cab driver said that we were fools for not having a jacket!
Today Is Easter… I miss you all!!! We got up and went for a lovely stroll through the gardens and went to listen to the cathedral bells. We could not go in to service because women were only allowed in during designated times. We had a wonderful lunch in a beautiful garden restraunt and then walked home. We will spend the evening watching a movie and having a Tapas type snack.
Hey everyone!!!!
I believe that you all deserve a brief introduction to who I am and why I am in Spain….I am Stephanie and currently a Spanish and secondary ed major at New paltz. My true love of language started with Italian…as most of you know, it is very difficult to find a teaching job as an Italian teacher in the USA. I first feel in love with Spain last summer while I was in Oviedo. I loved my time there so much that I came back. Before I left it was very difficult. I was going for a longer time…a semester in comparison to a Summer….I am thrilled to be back. The trip here so far has been amazing and it is my ever intention to fill you in on all the on goings of Sevilla (fortunately I have been sending messages to my family so catching you all up was easy). This past week I have been spending my time with my mother. She is here for Holy Week….that is a story all in itself….We are staying in my amazing apartment. The apartment is about a twenty minute walk from the university, if you walk fast….and a block away from the Sevilla home football stadium. I can here the commotion of every game. It is getting late and I have teaching tomorrow. I am a teacher’s assistant at a school called Claret. I help students practice English and I work with a small group of 10 – 15 children. It is amazing to have a class to work with but it also means lesson planning on top of school work. Ok now I am really going so I can get ready for my classes.