Un coche, dos alemanas, y esta alaskeña

Road trips have to be one of my favorite things to do on any given 3-day weekend in any country. Life here without a car actually isn't bad, but when I find out about cool, new places to visit (or want to buy groceries, or go to work, or go to Lepe city, etc) deep down I wish I had my own set of wheels. However, when my monthly expenses do not include insurance, gasolina, oil changes, repairs for that maldito transmission replacement, etc, I am glad to navegate this country by foot, friend's cars, or ever-so-thrilling public transportation.

Anywho, this weekend I found myself with two German friends, 4 wheels, and lots of great sight-seeing, hiking, and adventure, that took us from castles in the Sierra in Portugal, to waterfalls and lakes, to hiking the Flecha de El Rompido, sunsets at the beach, and more. I sure love this little rincón of Andalucía.

Salto de Lobo, Guadiana River

Mértola, Portugal, enchanting pueblo in the Valley of the Guadiana

Sunsetting over El Rompido

Good times hiking in the sand dunes..

They can't be speaking English

In spite of being sick for the past few weeks, I took my trip to Ireland to visit the one and only, Samantha Sanders, in the little city of Limerick, which can be known for the silly poems or more commonly for the ridiculous number of stabbings that happen there. The weather was chilly and rainy the whole time, but we still ventured out to see many sights in the South of the Emerald Isle. I think the highlights of this trip are best shared through pictures...

A 50€ round-trip ticket from Faro-Dublin

A visit with a good friend from home

Amazing castles

Visits with another good friend from home

Not getting hit by cars driving on the wrong side of the road

Hiking through some beautiful terrain

Charming little towns

Fall foliage in the woods

Breath-taking scenery


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My first paletilla

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..

10 Oddities of Cartaya

This is my second year teaching in the Cartaya, a town of roughly 16,000, just 5 miles from the Atlantic Coast of Spain. Fortuately, this is also my second year commuting to work because living in there has never felt like an enticing idea. Some mornings when I have a free hour from teaching and bilingual meetings, I like to take a walk through the town or sometimes even grab a coffee and take a seat. I have to admit, the people watching is top notch in Cartaya City.
Here are some of the things I have noticed over my time there, things that would really make you go hmmm if you saw them happening in the US of A.

1. Abuelas mopping the sidewalks outside their humble abodes as a part of their morning routine
2. Being asked if I'm an immigrant from Poland who came here to pick strawberries for a living.
3. Old men decked out in their Sunday best on a Wednesday morning, sitting on a bench and arguing what year it is.

   

   Cartaya's 'Round' Plaza

4. Paying 1.50€ at any bar for the breakfast of champions: café con leche and a half toast with tomato and olive oil.
5. Castles and cathedrals older than my country are simply part of the landscape.
6. The main plaza in the town is called "Round Plaza" when it is definitely a square, or perhaps, a trapezoid.
7. It is not uncommon to hear locals blaming their bad hair day or bad weather on the economic crisis.
8. It is totally acceptable for the entire student body of the high school to skip class the days after the local fair and pilgrimage because they are hung over.
9. If you can understand the older folks of the pueblo, you can give yourself a pat on the back and bask in the glory of how well you have mastered Spanish. Or at least, the Cartayero 'dialect' of Andalú
10. How good it feels to work a second year in this white-washed pueblo of Huelva, but how equally nice it feels to take off for Ayamonte everytime that last bell chimes through the halls of the good ole IES.

La vida en la frontera

Ayamonte by night

It's been a month since I arrived back to Spain and to say the least, Ayamonte has not disappointed. I've been more active than ever (future blog might feature the amazing running and biking routes along the wetlands, river, and beach) and since it's my first year off college I have so much more motivation to study. To improve my Spanish, I am going back to high school! This year, I am sitting in on advanced math and Spanish language and literature classes with the oldest students. I'm at the high school all day anyway most days of the week, and it's a free opportunity, so why not?

On top of that I wanted to take advantage of the language school here which offers German, French, English, and Portuguese classes. Seeing my English is already pretty good, I don't want to offend the French speaking their language, and the German classes were full, I've started learning Portuguese. It is rather convenient since Portugual is just a 5 minute drive or 10 minute ferry ride from here. I already understand a lot of the language since it's so similar to Spanish, but speaking it is veryy difficult. My goal is to change that.

Las compañeras en la terraza

Above is a  picture of my roomies and me on our terrace on a typical weekday night. The lights in the background are from the Portuguese town on the other side of the Guadiana River, Vila Real San Antonio. Our house is a diverse mix of girls and I'm so glad I found them, although our girl from Kansas City dyed my hair a very chocolately color and I had to tolerate an entire day of my students voting rather they liked me better as a rubia or morena.. gotta admire the brutal honesty of the Spanish people.

Ayamonte tiene un color especial

Somehow or someway everything went over smoothly this summer and on Monday, as planned, I got on my plane in Seattle, touched down in DC to sprint to my next plane, and landed in Madrid to see the Spanish sunrise early Tuesday morning. I spent a few days with amigos in Sevilla before I made my way down to Ayamonte, my new pueblo on the border of Portugal- a pleasant change from the un-fresh airs of Huelva. I'll be spending another year working at the same high school and I have returned with ganas. It feels great to be back and I am so content with my new town, new piso, and new roommates.

The view from our terrace: Portugal, La Guadiana, and the Atlantic Ocean.
I have a good feeling about this new etapa in my Spanish vida.

Labor Day again

This weekend marks the second time I've got to have a long weekend for Labor Day in four months. Why would Spain feel the need to observe this holiday in May, while America in September? Either way I am not complaining. I have been immensely enjoying three days off of my ridiculous summer job. Nights out, shopping in Portland, floating the river in the hot sun, and more... life is good.


Oh yeah, I got a job at a frozen vegetable factory. I work 7-4 most days of the week boxing corn cobs, sorting packages, throwing bad vegetables, and meeting all kinds of new characters. When all is said and done, I'll definitely put working this job as a 'good life experience that I do not desire to repeat'. It has its positives though: I have good hours, get paid to exercise, make decent money, practice Spanish most days, and have met some bizarre people I may never forget.


But work is only so many hours of the week and there has been so many more to fill up with adventures, embracing America, and quality time with the family.There's been spontaneous road trips, baseball games, bbqs, lazy days at the lake, fireworks, bonfires, hiking, beaching, nights in, nights out at the dirty, small-town bars, the culinary amazing-ness of American pizza, Mexican food, and Chinese, fun dates, speaking English, listenin' to country, waking up at 6am to run because that's what we do in America, reuniting with old friends to find nothing has changed, seeing my family every day and knowing I will miss them so much when I leave for Spain again. You get the picture.. in spite of having all my plans for summer in Spain thrown out the window, everything has fallen together oh so nicely and maybe there is a reason I had to go home for awhile.

 

This year I did NOT miss out on the annual family pig roast. 

My visa paperwork has been all done and sent out to my consulate so now I'm just playing the waiting game. I am set to take off in a short three weeks for Spain again.. I'll admit it's almost bittersweet to see this summer come to an end, but I'm excited for one more year of international adventures.