Entre pino y mar

Rain rain go away I´d really love to have clean clothes today... oh what I would do for fluffy warm clothes straight from the dryer, smelling of bounce static control sheets.. mmmm, America. The cabbage smelling rain in Huelva definitelyyy is not my favorite weather pattern, but, oh well. I´ll take it over the blizzards in Washington state any day of the year.

Life in eSpain has been just as good as usual, though very busy the past few weeks. The week days had been so full that I was managing maybe 4 hours of sleep a night.. it was like a university days flashback, except better because all morning I get to play teacher instead of student and I find that a lot more fun. My days at work are a mix of learning experiences, ridiculous hilarity, frustration, strange strange comments, and all kinds of language issues. Sometimes I can´t even speak the English correctly after hearing it be butchered all day. Then, I return home to my Scottish and English roommates and that´s a whole nother story of dialect fun... everyday is another adventure.

Too make up for the crazy weekdays, I have been having even better weekends. Last weekend I took a trip with some members of Team America and a London bloke over to Faro, Portugal. It was a great time. Some happenings of the weekend involved: friends getting detained at the Portuguese border and sent back to Spain, Obama in Lisboa, fake train rides, a drunken Brit who believed America was still a British colony, a mariachi man singing Juanes songs, boat rides to desert islands, churches made of human bones, a German who believed he was barbie, a science museum, street hot dogs with extra carrots, just the usual.

Human skulls and bones. How festive.


The highlight of this week was definitely being able to celebrate Thanksgiving with a great group of people in Cartaya: 4 ´mericans, 2 Kiwis, and 4 Spaniards. So much fun, good food, rioja, arts/crafts, Macy´s day parade, and thankfulness. I ended up falling asleep on their couch and woke up to find the blanket fairy had put a table cloth over me to stay warm. Definitely a holiday well done.


Thanksgiving dinner at the usual 10pm

It´s a nice rainy saturday and I need to get out and do the shopping, work on some projects, clean the casa, and then probably go out with some friends to see what there is. Christmas holiday plans are almost complete and Christmas day will be spent on a flight from Amsterdam to Basque Country, Spain, with my amiga, Allison. Thanks Vueling Airlines for your great deals.

Besos y abrazos, Cotrina

Viva las vacaciones..

The holiday season is in the air. Carrefour has been decked out in Christmas lights since Halloween, street venders selling roasted chestnuts are popping up all over, the chino stores are filled with 6euro Christmas trees and flashy ornaments, the nights are dang cold without heating, and I'm feeling my usually lack of holiday excitement. Lesson plans are being made to teach about the wonders of American Thanksgiving and I'm considering roasting some sort of poultry to celebrate the occasion after work next Thursday. My favorite part of all this madness: many weeks of vacation are headed our way in December and it is time for a very untraditional holiday season.

Due to a beloved Spanish "puente" in early December, I will have 6 days off work in a row. I know if I stay in Huelva province too long, I could go crazy breathing in the fresh arsenic air, so I am talking with some friends about exploring more regions of Spain. Up to now I have seen most of the western half of the country plus Barcelona and Madrid, but something tells me I am missing out by not seeing the east coast yet. Also, I found out I only have until February to renew my job contract in order to continue working in Spain next year. The time to do my "new location shopping" is flying past. I am happy with where I work this year, but I think I need to explore some new lands when next fall comes around. Right now I'm between Valencia, Murcia, Asturias, or a new location in Andalucia (maybe Malaga?).

Any input from Auxiliares/other Spain savvy readers on a good place to live = greatly appreciated..

Anywho, besides more travels in Spain, I am planning some international endeavors for my time off between Dec 17 and Jan 9. Right now, I am planning on going to Amsterdam at the start of the break, then possibly to Germany and back to northern Spain (Bilbao), then headin south for a week of relax in Huelva-land. My Christmas will probably be spent on some form of public transportation because there's something about me that has never quite appreciated a traditional holiday season.. Times like these really make me miss holiday times spent with my best friend, kayaking through the snow, digging my truck out of two feet of frost, enjoying the movies of Kevin Spacey and Will Farrell, and drinking good amounts of white zin.

Oh well. Let the games begin

my job, etc.

I've been working at my high school for a good 6 weeks now, and thinking about it, it seems like I've been there way longer, though I guess in hindsight, time always flies. Time is such a strange concept in this country on any level anyway. I can't believe it's already mid-November. Halloween, Election Day, and my big 2-2 all have already come and gone, and Fall is finally settling in. I'm thankful to be here this year and that snow and ice will not be a part of the horrible season called winter.

So far, I have been pleasantly surprised by how well the whole "language assistant" job is going. I never studied education or really thought about being a teacher: this job was simply a means for going back to Spain and to be able to do it legally of course. By some sort of luck though, I enjoy going to work because it seems like I'm doing something different everyday and I haven't fallen into the whole monotony of routine. The teachers I work with keep me entertained and make my job even better. My schedule is different almost everyday and even from week to week. One day, I'll mostly do class prep, working one on one with certain teachers, and another day, I'll be in the classroom helping to teach math, technology, or English. Some days I work evenings as well teaching a private class to a group of students or working with adults (mostly other teachers) who are learning the very basics of English. Honestly I think I like teaching math more than any subject, especially English language.. just because someone speaks a language does not mean they should be teaching it.

When I first started working with my students, I tried to pretend I didn't know Spanish. In the end that hasn't really worked, especially with the non-bilingual classes. I always tell them over and over to only speak English to me, but it doesn´t work all the time. My students´English levels range from pretty bad to almost conversational. Yesterday, I was having a funny chat with one of my students about whether Mexico spoke English and if it was a part of America and not until 5 minutes into the talk, when he said to me, sii entiendes español, and I said nooo, did I realize the whole time he'd been speaking Spanish to me and I was answering him in English.

I really need to sleep more.

Everyday is a Winding Road

I get a little bit closerrrrr

Buenos días, noviembre...

These past few weeks have been real crazy with a whirlwind of problemas coming at me from both sides of the pond and for a good while all of the madness left me exhausted, overwhelmed, and wondering what the heck I am doing so far from home. Luckily though, the support of mama Rosa (and many others), along with a weekend spent with good friends in Sevilla and Granada reminded me why I love being here and yet again, I’m content, pasándolo bien, and stayin on my toes with all that is living abroad.

This morning I woke at 5am, freezing cold, with no hopes of falling back asleep. I came to terms with that fact and just got out of bed, showered, and took the scenic route to work. Thanks to fall back, the sun was already rising at 7am, and I was enjoyin my bus ride, lost in random thoughts staring out over the Atlantic. That was until the bus driver suddenly got on the loud speaker and started speaking German. The woman next to me began giggling like a crazy and I asked her, “es alemán el conductor?” and she just continued giggling, saying, no no, he just speaks german for fun..

Instead of trying to write about the good times that were passed in Granada for Halloween weekend with some members of Team America, I'll just post a few photos. It's time for me to get going on my chino store shopping experience, the great need for more blankets in my new flat (which, btw, is equipped w a rooftop terrace), and the fact that some gypsy just walked into this bar trying to sell me leaves means I really need to move on and pay for my cerveza...

Never stop exploring.

No puedo leer sin mis gafas, Alberto...

Anywho, I´m very busy the rest of the week with work, study, then fiesta fiesta.. I love life. <3 near and far,
Cotrina