El tiempo pasa volando.

Time really has been flying by since I moved to Punta Umbría. Sometimes I don't know how or where it goes, but between work, studying, extra private classes, beach time, and weekend outings, it goes fast. It's Sunday morning and for once, I am not suffering from 'Sunday Angst' thanks to the fact that in Spain, the whole week before Easter is a vacation. Thank you Semana Santa. A couple friends from Sevilla are coming down to spend the week with me at the beach and I'm stoked! Biking, beaching, and going out are all in works and I'm thinking about buying a blow-up pool for the roof terrace... could be some good times.

The cultural outings that come along with living in a foreign land..


Who doesn't love a good wine tasting?



Huelva Recreativo.. lower division magic!

After vacation I only have 5 weeks left at the high school and then it's summer break for me! Jackie will be visiting for two weeks and then I might be up on the Camino de Santiago hiking like a pilgrim again. Work plans are still up in the air, but I've got many possibilities of English teaching plus the back-up option of going home to see my family and friends and practice English. I am so glad I renewed my contract because I am not done with Spain yet, not even close. Hasta la próxima...

That Spring Thang

I love it...

whether it's a little carnaval adventure in the mountains


Goin' out with amigos in Sevilla



or a long walk on the beach after work.

La Costa de la Luz

Last week I finally bought something I've been meaning to buy for awhile:



Ever since I came to Huelva I noticed there are a ton of bike paths around the pueblos and the coast surrounding the city and I really wanted to get out on them and see where I ended up. Now that I live on the coast in one of the cities connected to all the those green byways, I finally dropped a few euros to buy myself my bici, and I'm glad I did.



There are path ways through pine forests (that smell amazinggg), near the coast and down to the beaches, through the wetlands where you can spot flamingos, to Huelva city, and even to Cartaya. I'm tempted to bike the 20-odd kilometers to work one of these days.. la guiri en bici!!



The weather has been beautiful today (after a good two weeks of storms), so I took advantage of not having to work and biked most of the way to El Rompido, where I ended up at a beach. There I enjoyed a little sun basking before heading towards home to get some lunch. Of course, I got a flat tire along the way and the trek was turning out to be really difficult. Not to worry! A group of Spaniards on bikes stopped saying 'ha pinchaóoo' (Andalú for you have a flat), I tell them I knew but didn't have anything with me to fix it. They did though! They pump up my tire, compliment my Spanish, ask me about my story, and even offer to ride with me home since they live in my pueblo too. I told it wasn't necessary and gave them lots of gracias's, they giggled and said thank you very much in English for some reason then headed on their own sweet way down the highway. Definitely bringing a flat kit and bombín on future outings..

Life on la Costa de la Luz is pretty great so far. I'm only 15 minutes from Huelva, but it feels like another world on the beach. I found out just last week that my renewal application was accepted for my beca, so I will be spending another year around here working at the same high school in Cartaya. Should be some good times in '11-'12.

One year

Well, six months studying in Sevilla back in 2009 and a good six months of this 2010-11 academic year makes for an entire year of my life spent in España. It's official. And I still love it.
So I hear you asking, but whyy do you love it there? And thinking about it, it's not just the fiestas, the travels, the crazy Spaniards, or the oh-so-rico jamón. Day-to-day life and being able to function and thrive in a whole nother world all by myself makes me a happy woman. I work, I study, I hang out with friends from all over the world, and just enjoy the ins and outs of living as a stranger in a strange land that has come to feel like home. The fact that I now live a few minutes walking from the beach now makes things even better.
Sometimes I think back to my arrival in Madrid as a fresh-off-the-red-eye-flight American who couldn't even structure a sentence in Spanish and didn't know a single person, and how overwhelmed and nervous I was to be in a foreign country. It's so amazing to look over the 12 months I've got to spend here, the amazing times, the people I've met, the places I've been able to travel to. I feel so damn lucky.




So, Spain, here's to twelve great months and hopefully many more to come.

La playa

I upped and moved to the beach.

Once again, I don't have internet at home and it's a beautiful thing (we'll see how long it lasts..)

The things you miss.

Every person living in another country has the things they miss, and though I rarely find myself homesick for America, I think it's finally time to make a list of things that make me nostalgic for the mother land.

-People. Friends, family, etc. Missing people and being 10 time zones away from home is definitely the worst thing about living abroad.
-Houses in America. Carpet, central heating, and yards are essentials for houses back home, yet here due to the climate they are veryy hard to find.
-DRIVING. The sweet freedom of having my own set of wheels.
-Not being a foreigner. My Northern European roots and strange accent really set me apart from the crowd.
-Being familiar with things. the etiquette for phone calls, doctor's appts, health insurance system, anything and everything. though this has improved greatly in my time here..
-American English in my everyday life. I get so much more exposure to British/broken English here. and in teaching, it's really hard to explain a dialect and grammar that are not your own.
-Movies and TV that are quality and not dubbed. And not feeling guilty for indulging in English speaking programs.
-Fareinheit, miles, pounds, dollars: I miss them and I don't. Euros are so much prettier and the metric system makes sense, it's just not what I grew up with. Whenever I'm talking about distance, money, time, or weight in Spanish I have to change languages and systems.. keeps a mind active, but sometimes I miss simplicity.
-Wearing sweats or whatever I want to the store and not being stared at.. They take what they wear here way too seriously. I love getting harassed for not wearing a scarf when it's 50 degrees or that wearing shorts or flip flops anywhere but the beach is unacceptable.
-Running in the streets without getting yelled at.
-Certain foods. Easy access to peanut butter, oatmeal, good wheat bread, endless cereal selection, good pizza, cheddar cheese, salty ketchup, non UHT milk, steak, even power bars, yummo.
-American festivities. BBQs, theme parties, apple pie, etc.


-Did I mention I miss my friends and family? Ok. that's all.

Groundhog's Day

It's 'holidays' like this that make me miss the US of A.

Spain has no idea that today, Feburary 2nd, is kind of a big deal. It's basically a joke, but I love that we all wait anxiously to see whether or not the groundhog sees his shadow and the never ending debate of rather that has anything to do with winter ending or not. From the latest facebook status updates, winter is due to end soon in America. I'm hoping and praying the same applies for Huelva- I'm getting a little tired of being so cold I can see my breath inside my house.

My groundhog's day has involved dentist round 2 and finding out that I get to experience the joys of Spanish oral surgery as early as next week! My jaw hurts something horrible these days and I can't wait to just get this over with. On a lighter note, dental office 2 did have a veryy cute assistant who comforted me through the process and I definitely will be headed back there for a few fillings once all the wisdom teeth mess is taken care of!

On a totally different note, my university interviewed me last month and wrote a fun article.. you can check it out here on their website