Exciting News

So, I must share with everyone the exciting news. I have not really told many people about it and think it's time that I do. Every month our program (CIEE) sends out a newsletter to all of its participants with relevant information and updates. Well, the December newsletter contained a curious link about a Master's program for foreigners. Not wanting to miss out on anything exciting, I clicked on it and found a wealth of information about a program for Americans/Canadians to obtain a Master's degree in the Teaching and Learning of the Spanish Language and Culture (a rough translation of the title) at the University of Granada. After checking into the necessary qualifications and what it would take to apply (not much), I decided to take a chance. Well, I was ACCEPTED! I sent out many emails asking questions about the validity of this program in the US and what it would take for me to be able to come back to the US and teach. I got a variety of answers, some positive and some a little on the negative side. I have not 100% made a decision but I think all of you have an idea of which way I may be leaning. The only thing holding me back now is the money aspect (of course, what else?!)
If anyone has any information about where I can find one of these, please contact me - Thanks!

I have to let them know and have the payment in by the end of February so I am quickly checking into options (ie. loans). I am very excited to see where this opportunity could possibly take me!
In other news, Tad and I went to Granada this weekend. My friend Juan Carlos (whom I am sure you all know of if you have ever read my blog) asked if I wanted to hang out on Saturday afternoon. Our original plan was to go to this commercial shopping center and eat and then go bowling. Well, we definitely did the eating part as you will see from the pictures - but bowling was closed! I was bummed because I have never been bowling in Spain (not that I really think it's any different but just seems like something cool to do). Anyway, we ended up eating at this restaurant called none other than.......

So, this restaurant is Spanish chain and specializes in American/Mexican food. Just imagine, you open the menu and the list of appetizers includes: onion rings, jalopeno poppers, cheese sticks, etc. The main dishes include: ribs, pasta, burgers, steaks....everything that any American could ever dream of and more. I was surprised at how busy it was. Unfortunately, Juan Carlos and Tad went against every healthy moral I have and ordered "el clasico" for an appetizer......Fries covered in ranch dressing, cheese and bacon. Could I resist eating some? Definitely not.

My favorite part of the experience was this......

Rough translation: another, another, another! Order a pepsi and we will refill it as many times as you want!
SCORE! One thing Spain just doesn't do is free refills and so this just made my day! I think I had 3 :-)
After a very filling meal (I had a burger and Tad had ribs), what else is there to do but take a very long walking tour around the city (really unintentionally though). Juan Carlos and I took Tad to Garcia Lorca Park and we took a walk around.
Juan Carlos and me by the pond

We also paid a visit to Mitch and Catherine (Catherine is my coworker and Mitch works at the same school as Michael Lynn). They had just recently moved into a new apartment in the Albaycin and we just had to check out their spectacular view from their terrace.
No, I am not jealous of this at all............ ;-)

After a fun and exhausting afternoon with Juan Carlos, Tad and I met up with my other group of friends in Granada. He now knows all of my friends and got to work on his Spanish a lot (as did I).
Here's Tad with my buddies!

Oh, I completely forgot....before we left for Granada on Saturday, Tad and I met up with our landlady to give her the rent and also to meet her new son!!! She gave birth on the 27th of December. He is absolutely precious.
Here is little Antonio

Hmmmm....what else could there be to mention about this past weekend?!?! THE SUPERBOWL! Ok, so I act like I was really excited about it but I was not. Fortunately for us, our friend Pablo got in touch with someone who has Canal+ (the channel that was showing the game) and got this person's password to be able to stream it online. He ended up bringing over a TV (yes, he brought a flat-screen tv) and his computer and hooked it up so we could watch it.
Here's our fancy set-up

The coin toss

It was so nice of Pablo to go to all that trouble so that we could watch the game. Bern also came over to watch as he had NEVER seen a football game before in his life! The announcing was in Spanish but we also had another stream on Tad's computer to see the commercials. Wasn't the commercial for Chrysler representing Detroit so awesome?!?! I ended up going to bed after halftime (It was 3am here and work was calling my name this morning).
It's crazy to think it's February already....time flies. I hope everyone is surviving the snow!! Love to all.
Em