Emily's Life Adventures

Crazy Time Lapses

2011-06-02T23:37:00.000-07:00

I apologize for not writing for so long - life has been crazy-busy lately....jammed packed with work, emotions, goodbyes, parties and the list could go on. I am not going to write a lot in this post but just wanted to show a handful of pictures that caught my attention recently.

Here are the three roommates signing the lease to our new apartment in Spain on SEPTEMBER 29, 2010

Here we are again - this time, celebrating Michael Lynn's birthday on MAY 31, 2011 (our last day of school).

Here is Tad opening a bottle of champagne to welcome us to our new apartment in SEPTEMBER 2010

Here is Tad opening a bottle of champagne in JUNE 2011 to celebrate one of his last nights in the apartment and his new job

It just seems so crazy that this amazing 9-month adventure is coming to a close. Obviously, life is full of so many mixed emotions right now and I am taking things day to day. It's all I can do. I want to thank everyone for their amazing love and support!
More to come later.....
Em

Happy Heart

2011-05-12T01:06:00.000-07:00

So there have been some things in the last few weeks that have really made me smile and I'd like to share them with you.

1. After a slow winter (business was not so great), Emily's gym is back and full of people eager to work out. I have gone running the past couple of days and at two different times (once in the evening and once in the morning) and both times I have seen many people out walking, running, biking, etc. It has always been said that Spain is a healthier country than the US and now I am starting to believe that. Granted, I have seen my fair share of older men and women who have clearly been hitting up the pastry/bread shops WAY too often but for the most part, I'd say Spain is a pretty fit country. Even those people that are overweight are out walking. I will say that the climate here, especially in Motril, is much more conducive to outside exercise all year round whereas the weather in Michigan keeps us cooped up indoors for the greater part of November-April. It doesn't help when a person may not have a gym membership (for various reasons - they do cost a lot) and then can't take advantage of the great outdoors. Also, Spain has much more foot traffic on a daily basis. People walk to work, to the store, mostly anywhere. We all walk here to get our groceries yet at home I live closer to a grocery store than I do here and I never walk there. It's just funny to see the difference between a culture that is accustomed to walking everywhere and one that is accustomed to hopping in the car to get to every place. It doesn't help that gas here is about 1.4 euro/liter which calculates to somewhere between $7/8 per gallon. And you all thought $4 was bad, right?

2. I have a class at my academy where I teach in the afternoons that is absolutely terrible. For the hour that I am with them on Mondays and Wednesdays, I can think of nothing more than how I wish the clock would strike 4:30 and I can be done with them. Well, on Wednesday, a certain trouble maker was absent and I actually had a relatively pleasant class with them. We were covering "do you like" and responding with "yes I do" or "no I don't" and also revisiting some of the foods they had learned earlier in the year. I asked them individually if they liked each thing (ie. ice cream, milk, oranges, sandwiches etc) and I was amazed at how little some of them liked. It reminded me of my good ol' days when I was picky (ok that's me poking fun at myself because I'm still very picky but am getting better little by little). I rewarded them with candy every time they said something correctly. I was so happy to be able to leave class with a smile on my face. I gave them all high five's as they left class. Hopefully this behavior will continue for the next few weeks!

3. I also give private English lessons and two of my students are sisters (one is 13 and the other is 18). They are such nice girls but seem to be very reserved and quiet. The other day, I was giving class to the 13 year old and we were trying to get the CD player to work so we could do a listening activity. I flipped the CD player and all of the batteries came out of the bottom. I know it doesn't really seem funny but Isa was dying laughing and so was I. She had tears in her eyes. It made me so happy to see her enjoying herself and laughing so much. I usually try to crack jokes with them whenever I can and they laugh, even if they aren't so funny.

4. I know it's probably hard to believe but I only have 34 days left here in Spain! I have mixed emotions about this but I will include it in the list of things that make me smile for this reason: I can't WAIT to run into my parents arms and give them the biggest hugs on June 15th when I get home. It turns out that 9 months feels like a really long time to be away from family and friends. I have made friends here and cherish the relationships that I have with them but I can't wait to get back to everything I know and love about home (including but not limited to: my family, friends, my bed, El Chaps, baby carrots, the lake, driving, and the list could go on and on.....)

That's all for now - I'll try to keep you updated as best I can in this last month here. Much love to all!

A little weekend getaway

2011-05-06T09:52:00.000-07:00

What does everyone need after 10 days off for Holy Week and Easter? A 5-day weekend. Well, at least that's how Spaniards see it. So this past weekend was another festival here in Spain called "las cruces" or "the crosses" and so we had Monday and Tuesday (the 2nd and 3rd of May) off of school. We spent part of the weekend in Motril and then headed to Cordoba on Sunday to visit a friend of Tad's who is also teaching English there. I had been to Cordoba when I studied abroad but was eager to see more of the city.
During "Cruces," people build elaborate altars with crosses to celebrate Jesus and his sacrifice to the world. Some of the crosses are really beautiful and have flowers all around them - here are a couple of examples.

It's funny because this is supposedly a "religious" holiday but like most other Spanish festivals, it would not be complete without alcohol. There were many different tents set up with hundreds of people swarming them. A popular tradition is to dress up in Flamenco dresses (for the women) and dance Sevillana. It's really a cool thing. Unfortunately, we were a big group of Americans and so we didn't really experience the authentic "cruces" holiday but there's always another year!
We did some touring around the Jewish quarters of the city and took a walk down this famous street called "calle de las flores" or "flower street."

Sunday night we went out to dinner and then went to a really cool Jazz Cafe for some drinks.
Here I am with our awesome host, Joey.

Joey is a guy with a great sense of humor and shares with me a love of singing, theater and the arts in general. We ended up swing dancing in the middle of the bar (no, no one else was dancing but we didn't care) and it was a blast.
Monday morning was off to do the touristy things. We paid the mosque a visit - it's an impressive Moorish masterpiece with a strategically placed Catholic chapel in the middle (added when the Christians conquered the Moors in Spain). It's famous for it's red and white striped arches throughout.
Here are a few pictures from the mosque.

After that it was off to the palace and gardens. I have an obnoxious amount of pictures of flowers (because I love to take pictures of flowers) but I definitely am not going to post them all.
Joey and I just taking in the gardens

I masterfully placed my camera to self-time a picture of us in this little "cave"

Beautiful flowers and ponds

A view looking out over Cordoba

Tad and I were using each other as back rests....that's what friends are for, right?

Cordoba is known for it's beautiful flowers (as I think you can gather from the many pictures of flowers) but I absolutely loved the balcony on this house!

And last but not least - another one of my self-timed masterpieces :-)

I am down to less than 40 days here in Spain - I can't believe it - but that's all I am going to say about that for now!

Scottish Haggis Neeps and Tatties

2011-04-24T11:58:00.000-07:00

If you don’t understand any of those words, don’t worry because before this past week, I didn’t know what any of them meant either. Then I saw them on a menu and decided I would not order said dish since I didn’t know what it was (ok, I knew what Haggis was only because I had looked up typical Scottish cuisine before our trip and knew it was something I would not touch with a ten-foot pole or should I say ten meter pole since I’m in Europe). Haggis can be described as “a dish containing sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally simmered in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours (complements of Wikipedia). Here is a picture of haggis, neeps and tatties (neeps and tatties are turnips and potatoes).

Well, I didn’t try typical Scottish cuisine but I still had a blast on my trip to Edinburgh (the capital of Scotland) with my roommate Tad. Luckily, Tad had connections in Scotland (he taught with a girl down in Honduras who lives in Scotland). She is currently attending St. Andrew’s University and so that was our first stop. It was such a cool town – it was full of students and really just had that college town feel. It made me want to go back to my college days (wow, that makes me sound really old). We toured around the city with Laura - here are a few pictures from around the campus and by the sea.

The highlight of Tad's time in St. Andrews was definitely going to see the Old Course at St. Andrew's. Tad worked at a golf course for many years in high school and in the summers during college and was so thrilled to see the golf course and the famous bridge where golfers such as Jack Nicklaus posed. We went there during the day to see the course and upon Tad's request, we returned at night for him to get a picture on the bridge!
Here's the bridge...

...and Tad in all his glory

Here we are with our awesome host in St. Andrews - Laura.

On a completely random side-note - I found the mixer that I will one day own (it's a good thing the store was closed or I might have come home with a mixer).

We spent the night in St. Andrews and caught a bus early in the morning back to Edinburgh to begin a full day of touring. Edinburgh was so beautiful and one of my favorite parts was the contrast between how green the grass and trees were compared with the dark bricks on a lot of the buildings. There are two parts to Edinburgh - Old Town and New Town. We spent all day Thursday exploring Old Town. We walked down the Royal Mile (it's a mile stretch between the Palace of Holyrood/Scottish Parliament and the Edinburgh castle).
I don't really know what this is but it was on the main drag (Princes Street)

The view of the castle from Princes Street (there was always a haze when we were there)

St. Giles Cathedral on the Royal Mile (had a beautiful organ inside but it was 3 pounds for a photo pass and well, we didn't really want to pay for that)

Of course, there were reminders of our "home" country - a random bull and Spanish flag. Viva Espana!

We decided to fork out the money to go inside the castle - nothing is cheap when you are paying in pounds (about 1.7 dollars) but it was worth it. It has parts that are 900 years old. We got a 1/2 hour free tour and then did some exploring of our own. The Scottish crown jewels are located here along with war museums and other educational opportunities.
Here are some pictures from around the castle

Another random side-note - we happened to walk by a little convenience store on the walk up to the castle and I noticed they had Dr. Pepper. Now, Tad and I both love Dr. Pepper so of course we went in and bought one and then got weird stares when I took the following pictures.....

It was worth it! :-)

Now, Tad and I made a deal before we went into the castle - if we did something that he wanted to do (go to the castle) we could also do something that I wanted to do. My choice: Camera Obscura. It's a famous attraction in Edinburgh and the main part is a 360 degree camera that lets you see the city of Edinburgh - also included in the entrance fee....hours of entertainment with things such as distorted mirrors, optical illusions, heat cameras, etc. We released the inner child in both of us and it was a blast!
Tad and I as midgets

Two of my heads with Tad's body

Tad as an Asian

Heat cameras - yes, please

Em, what happened? why are you so small?

We had dinner on Thursday at a cool restaurant called the Villager and I had hummus for the first time in 7 months!!! I was beyond excited.

On Friday, we visited another cathedral

We also saw a block with a TGIFriday's and a Starbucks - oh America.

We also couldn't resist eating lunch at Pizza Hut on our last day because the pizza in Spain is horrible and we wanted some real pizza.

The flowers and scenery in general in Edinburgh were amazing!

Overall it was a great trip and although Scotland was not on my "list" of places that I wanted to visit, I am glad that I went. Everyone was so friendly and I absolutely loved the culture - including the accent (though sometimes I questioned whether or not they were actually speaking my native language!)

The Return of Eli and Emily in Spain

2011-04-07T12:22:00.000-07:00

So, if you took a look back in my blog to 2008 when I first started writing it, you might find a comment or two about an awesome girl named Liz Baxter. You wouldn’t find a picture because my blog was utterly dull before because I didn’t know how to put up pictures. Well, if I did know how to put them up, this one probably would have appeared…..

Liz and I met our first year of college. We lived on the same floor of Mary Markley at the University of Michigan.
Here are Liz and I with some other friends from the dorm - such fun times in 5th Blagdon!

It just so happened that three years later, we both ended up studying abroad in Granada, Spain.
Here we are for our first visit to the Alhambra (this is our first week of study abroad).

The last time I had seen Liz was in September of 2009 when she came back to U of M for a football game while I was still in school.

Now, the last time I have seen her was when SHE CAME TO VISIT ME IN SPAIN!!!

I could not have been more excited to have a visitor and let alone one that shares friends and memories with me in Spain and who also speaks Spanish. Liz arrived in Spain on Thursday and the reunion was a sweet one. We had so many things to catch up on and so many memories to reflect upon in our short 6 days together.
We had beautiful weather the Friday she was here and so we took a day trip to the beach in Salobrena (the neighboring town). It was all three roomies, Bern and Liz. We took some sandwiches, a couple beach umbrellas, some sunscreen and towels and were off for the day. Bern and Michael Lynn were like fish (yes, actually we all went swimming but I only got a picture of these two).

Later that night, it was off to Granada to reunite with Abelardo, Javi and the Granada gang. Liz and I actually met Abelardo randomly on a flight to Barcelona back in February of 2008 and it has been nothing but a great friendship ever since.
Here is a picture of Liz and our other friend Emilee with a couple of our Granada friends, Javi and Pablo.

Here I am with Abe and Javi when I first reunited with them after 3 years in the fall

We spent the evening catching up with all of the guys – we had tapas and then went to a pub. Unfortunately, all the guys didn’t come out but we had fun with the ones who did.
Here we are at tapas

Abe, Emily, Javi and Liz

We spent part of the day on Saturday just walking around Granada and remembering things from study abroad – there was a little shopping here and there too.
Oh, and some sitting in a park :-)

Saturday night it was back to Motril to hang out with the Motrilenos. We stopped by my friend Emilio’s cortijo (cottage) where all of my friends were having a surprise birthday party for a friend. We were there long enough for Liz to show off her awesome ping pong skills and then it was out on the town.

No Motrilena night would be complete without a stop at Tito Daniel’s.

Sunday was a day to relax. We spent the day watching movies and catching up on the happenings in our lives. We met up with friends for coffee that afternoon and kicked the soccer ball around a bit. My roommate Tad's girlfriend is in town this week and so we all went out for a tapa on Sunday night.

Unfortunately, I had to work both Monday and Tuesday (refer back to the last blog post about my busy life!) I was able to cancel my classes on Monday night so we went to Granada (surprise surprise, right?!) We had tapas once again and were able to just relax.

It was back to Motril on Monday night so that I could work again on Tuesday (what is this thing I have called a job and why can't I make it go away?!!) But, once again, it was back to Granada on Tuesday night because Liz had to fly out from Granada Airport early Wednesday morning. I think we spent a fair amount of time in transit between Motril and Granada but it was well worth it.
Tuesday night was filled with more tapas and beers that were bigger than any I've ever seen before.........(it may seem that all we did was eat and drink but I promise you we did more than that - it just happens to be where I take the most pictures!)

And we roasted our own pork skewers at the table

It was a sad goodbye - I didn't want her to leave and she didn't want to go. I am so grateful that she came to visit me. We had so much fun and created more memories that we will never forget. THANKS, ELI BAXTER!

No time for blog posts

2011-03-15T14:50:00.000-07:00

Well, it appears I went on a blogging frenzy the last time I posted (I think it ended up being three posts in one day) and now it seems that I have hit a dry spell. Well, there's a reason for that. I am no longer BORED TO DEATH in the afternoons anymore as I have some new work. Here's how the story goes.
So I am sure you all know of my awesome friend Bern who lives in Motril....yep, that's him!

Well, he applied for a job with an American study abroad company that has an office base in Granada (International Study Abroad) and he got it which required him to move to there. What does that have to do with me you might be asking? Well, when he was living here in Motril, he taught English at a language academy (Center for Languages and Studies) and also gave private lessons to some kids. Who is the lucky girl that got to inherit his entire line-up of work?
This girl

I was so fortunate that Bern talked to his boss in Granada and told her that he had a possible replacement. I emailed off my resume and expressed my interest in the job and my phone was ringing within the hour of me sending it. I had to go to Granada for an "interview" and the job was mine. I now work every afternoon at a different school than the one I teach at in the mornings. On Mondays and Wednesdays, I have one class of nine kids (all in first grade - so around 6 years old). On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have two classes. The first is another class of four first graders and then a class of nine second graders (7-8 yrs old).
Let me just tell you a little bit about these classes. Although they are learning English, I do most of the talking to them in Spanish. I have to constantly be on my toes as they are witty and can spit Spanish out much faster than I can. They are used to having Bern as a teacher who not only speaks perfectly fluent English but also Spanish (duh, he's from Spain!) Anyways, I came in at almost the end of the trimester so tomorrow and Thursday I am giving them a test. Luckily I didn't have to make the test but it's still not the most opportune time to change a child's routine. Some of them are absolutely adorable and I will have to get a picture soon to share with you guys. I've only been with them for three weeks now and I am already dreading the day I have to say goodbye to them (well, all of them but one....and I think I'll just leave it at that for now).
In addition to putting me in contact with the academy, Bern also gave all of his private lesson kids my phone number. I now give private English lessons to two sisters - Isabel is 13 and Laura is 17 and also to Paola who is 17.

IT'S NOT AS EASY TO TEACH ENGLISH AS YOU THINK! Passive voice? Reported speech? Modal verbs? Adjective clauses? Relative clauses? First, second and third conditionals? What?!!?
It's a good thing I have the internet - it has quickly become my best friend when trying to teach English. Ok, it seems silly - we all speak English right? And I am sure that most of you have even been corrected by me at some point in your lives because I am such a grammar freak. But that doesn't mean we all have the ability to teach these things. There are so many things that you learn in a native language just from conversing or that you inherently know. Who remembers all the way back to their middle school or high school English classes and learning about prepositions or why you use "in, on or under" in certain cases? Or why sometimes you can use the infinitive of a verb and other times it has to be conjugated? My point is: it's a challenge and I am learning right along with the kids. However, I am enjoying it.
Long story short - I used to work 12 hours per week. Last Tuesday I worked 12 hours in ONE day. Instead of getting home every day at 2 and sitting there bored out of my mind (and wasting my life away drawing pictures like this one..........)I now have things to do and get home around 7ish and am exhausted!

In other news.......I am also in the process of gathering all the necessary materials to apply for this job again for next year. I am sure that isn't a shock to most of you as you are well aware of how much I love Spain!

Also, my roommate Tad and I have just planned a trip for part of Holy Week.
In April

will be going to............

Edinburgh, Scotland!
Tad found some cheap tickets and he also has a friend living there so we will be able to stay with her. It should be fun! I never thought I'd be going to Scotland but I am excited. Now that I have this extra work, I have to spend my money somewhere!
Love you all from Spain!

P.S. I may have read this over at least twice checking to make sure the grammar was decent....oh boy. :-D

I went to Great Britain!

2011-03-01T09:13:00.001-08:00

Well, apparently it's just a day full of blogging - this will be my third post today! However, I wanted to keep the post about the monkeys separate from the rest of the pictures from Gibraltar. So here's the real story - not just seeing monkeys.

We had a long weekend this week because of a national holiday in Andalucia - it's ironically called the Day of Andalucia :-) Michael Lynn went to Cork, Ireland for the weekend so Tad and I did a little trip to Algeciras to see his family again. Of course, the first thing on our agenda was to play with Tad's 6-year-old cousin Daniel. He is absolutely adorable and loves to practice his English with us.
Here we are being goofy together (well, this is the good picture but there are other goofy ones that will not be posted!!)

He wanted me to take a picture of him with his venus fly trap so that all of my friends could see it!

We hit the hay early so that we could be up to beat the lines to go to GIBRALTAR! I had tried going there a few years ago when our good family friends visited but I didn't have my passport and they will NOT let you in without a passport (even with 4 other forms of identification). We beat the rush and were in by 9:15am.
Here's the rock from the drive (recognize this from anywhere? Prudential maybe?)

Our plan was to take the cable car up and walk our way back down. Good idea - walking up would have been torture.
Here is a view from the cable car.

It was an absolutely beautiful day and the blue of the water and the sky were perfect! I will post some pics from our walk on the rock.
Here is the sun rising - I love it!

From the top lookout point when you get off the cable car

That's Africa - no biggie

Pretty pics

Tad and me at the top of the rock

Pretty view

British flag (with my possible next adventure in the background.....CRUISE!!!!!)

We had lunch downtown at a place called "The Angry Friar" - also had some English beer.

Then Tad ordered more food than a person needed for an entire day - and he ate it ALL!

We drove around to the backside of the rock and there was a cute light house

And a mosque

And here is a picture of the rock looking up from the only beach on gibraltar

Add the entertaining monkeys and it was an overall great day! So weird to be just across the border from Spain but to hear lots of English!! It was a treat!
Love from Spain!

MONKEYS

2011-03-01T04:00:00.001-08:00

There were two things that I repeatedly asked my parents for when I was a child:

Yep, that's a cash register (I was completely obsessed with playing "store" and was not satisfied with a simple toy cash register. I wanted a real one and every time I went to Staples with my parents, I would go to the aisle with cash registers and play with them. I sadly never received my cash register :-(
And yes, the second thing is a cute, cuddly pet monkey. No, I didn't ever get a pet monkey (aren't my parents just mean?!? haha that's a joke - I have the greatest parents a girl could ask for). However, I think I was able to satisfy my desire to have a pet monkey this weekend with a simple trip to Gibraltar. Gibraltar is famous for the monkeys that live on the rock and I have to say they were quite entertaining. I will write more about the day in Gibraltar in a different post - this one will be dedicated entirely to the monkeys :-)

Here is a bit of info in case you'd like to familiarize yourself with the history of the monkeys
The Barbary Apes of Gibraltar, Macaca Sylvanus, are actually tail-less monkeys and are an unusual and delightful attraction for anyone visiting Gibraltar or the Costa del Sol. No one is really sure how the only wild apes in Europe arrived in Gibraltar. The two most popular explanations as to the appearance of the apes of Gibraltar is either that they crossed via a subterranean tunnel from their native Morocco or British sailors introduced them having picked them up on their travels. Whatever the explanation they readily adapted to their new habitat and have lived, bred and been an integral part of Gibraltar for some centuries now.
Gibraltar Monkey History
The Gibraltar monkey population was under the care of the British Army and later the Gibraltar Regiment from 1915 to 1991, who carefully controlled a population that initially consisted of a single troop. An officer was appointed to supervise their welfare, and a food allowance of fruit, vegetables and nuts was included in the budget. Births were gazetted in true military fashion, and each new arrival was named. Following the withdrawal of the British garrison, the Government of Gibraltar took over responsibility for the monkeys.
Currently the monkeys are managed by the Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society (GONHS) and veterinarian expertise is provided by the Gibraltar Veterinary Clinic (GVC). The macaques receive a daily supply of fresh water and vegetables, fruit and seeds as supplement to natural food resources (leaves, olives, roots, seeds and flowers).

The animals are caught on a regular basis in order to check their health status. Additionally, body size, weight and several other measures are taken. Finally, the animals are given a tattoo number and a micro chip as a means of identification. But tattoos are not the only way to recognise animals. Barbary macaques quite often show particular marks, scars or spots which can be used as distinguishing features. All monkeys are photographed and the pictures together with individual characteristics catalogued.

Anywho, needless to say, they were VERY entertaining. They were spending their Saturday doing many things:
Grooming each other

Having a mid-morning snack

Spending quality family time together

Sleeping

Doing Yoga

Hitching a ride on the bus (yes, it was moving as I took this picture)

Trying to rob harmless Americans

Getting piggy-back errr "monkey-back" rides

Contemplating life from behind bars

Leaning on a pal after a hard day

Then of course, it's always entertaining to do imitations!

Here is an awesome video that Tad put together with some of my pictures and the videos we took from the day. Enjoy!!

Master's News

2011-03-01T03:30:00.000-08:00

So, as I told you all before, I was accepted into a program at the University of Granada to do a Masters in the Teaching and Learning of the Spanish Language and Culture. I found out at the beginning of the month and had to make my decision as to whether I would participate in the program or not. Initially, I was very excited for this opportunity and had even told people that I was almost 90% sure it was something that I was going to do. However, after spending some quality time making a list of pros and cons and truly being honest with myself, I have decided not to do the Masters. It was not an easy decision but in the end, it just doesn't feel like the right thing to do. My list of cons slightly outweighed the pros. One of the biggest things that swayed me from doing the program is that I am not entirely sure that teaching is what I want to do with my life and do not want to spend time and money on something that will not be of worth to me in the long run. It's true though - when I was young, one of my favorite birthday gifts was a box full of school supplies (my dad worked for a printing company that also sold office supplies and it was like a dream come true when he came home with that gift for me). I had my own lunch tickets, stapler, tape dispenser (which to this day still has a label that says "tap") and many other goodies. I had the best class of pretend students who were always eager to learn. I've been teaching since a very young age. When I studied abroad in 2008, I even contacted someone in the School of Education department about switching my major. People have told me that they think I would make a great teacher. One of my biggest role models and the reason why I have a passion for the Spanish language is because of my high school Spanish teacher, Pat Peters (she has since passed away from cancer and to this day I would give anything to be able to sit down and tell her how much of an inspiration she is to me). She was one of the best teachers had such a passion for what she did and made learning a foreign language an enjoyable adventure for me. If I were to become a teacher, I would want to be just like her.
However, I also had another dream that crept into my life as I grew older and that was to be a doctor/work in the medical field. When I was applying for college, I didn't really know what I wanted to study (like most 17/18 yr old kids). My cousin's husband suggested that I look into Kinesiology programs. It seemed like the perfect answer as it was a mix of two things I love - sports and science. I fell in love with the class I took related to exercise and nutrition - especially after my grandpa passed away when I was in high school from a sudden heart attack when he was 75. I just couldn't fathom how such an active, seemingly healthy person could just be gone one day. From that point on, I have developed such a passion for nutrition and also with passing my knowledge onto other people (I know that sometimes my friends and family roll their eyes at me as I read every label and feel compelled to tell people all about the dangers of trans fats just at the point when they go to put that donut in their mouth - but it's really for their own good :-) I also was blessed with the opportunity to work at U of M hospital for 4 1/2 years while I was in college. My uncle passed away from multiple meyeloma when I was a senior in high school. My family spent a lot of time with the doctors of the Hematology/Oncology division at U of M and they did everything they could to make my uncle's life the best it could possibly be during his treatment. I was fortunate enough to get a job in this same department my freshman year of college and was able to meet and interact with all of his doctors. I am so grateful for them and am impressed by the passion that they have for the work that they do. It's not easy and they do it with such grace and poise. So, the point I am trying to get at here is that I have this degree in Movement Science and there are many options of things that I could do with it - many requiring Grad school. However, I am willing to look into these options and pursue my dream of working in the medical field (maybe not so much an MD at this point but possibly nursing, orthotics and prosthesis, dietitian etc...) I earned this degree at U of M and don't just want it to go to waste.
With that said, I am still in Spain and am not sure that I have completely rid myself of the desire to live here after this year. I am considering reapplying for the job that I currently have, coming home for the summer and then returning to Spain in the fall for another year. After that, we will see what life brings. Any thoughts, comments, suggestions - please feel free to share! haha

Dominating the Sierra Nevada

2011-02-19T08:28:00.001-08:00

So I have to start this blog post off with a very special "Thank You." My awesome day of skiing in the Sierra Nevada mountains of Spain would not have been such a smashing success without all of the help and guidance of the Gietzen family. I went with them when I was 18 to ski in Utah and it was there that I had a private lesson (only after they saw how terrible I was) and then got much instruction from John and Mr. Gietzen. Being on the mountain again brought back many fond memories of that trip.
Anywho, the roomies, our friend Javier and I decided to go skiing yesterday in the Sierra Nevada mountains. They are always visible from Granada and even from Motril but I had yet to go there. It had been 5+ years since I had gone skiing (and really have only been 2-3 times in my life). I was nervous but knew it was something I wanted to do. We set out bright and early (I had to be up at 6.....yeah, that wasn't fun seeing as how I am used to waking up at 9-9:30 every day). The drive up was windy but beautiful and the views kept getting better and better.....especially when we started seeing SNOW! I didn't think I missed it but I must admit it was nice to be around (gave me a little taste of home - only with much better views!!)
Here are some of the surrounding mountains on our drive up

Here is the ski resort as we were approaching...the lights are still on because the sun hadn't reached this side of the mountain yet. The nerves really started to sink in at this point!

We parked and made our way to a rental shop. We chose the first one and in retrospect probably should have looked around as we paid a little more than some of our other friends but the people were nice and helpful so it all worked out.
Here are Tad and Javier all decked out and ready to ski/snowboard

We had to take a gondola ride up to the part of the mountain where we were going to be skiing. It was beautiful. As you can see from the pictures, we had a blue-sky, cloudless, windless and overall amazing day. It could not have been any better of a day. We got to the top and put our skis on
Here I am...ready to go

Upon my request and after a bit of laughter, we went up what they call "the rug." It's this tiny little conveyor belt that climbs up to the bunny hill....I might not even call it a hill. Still, I hadn't skied in a while and wanted to see if I still remembered anything from my lesson 6 years ago. I made a few cuts back and forth and felt pretty good. Tad, Michael Lynn and I went up on a lift with runs that were green (very easy). Normally, in the US, your lift ticket is on your jacket and it's impossible to lose. Here, in Spain, you get a card and you have to scan it and then go through a turn-style to get onto every lift. It was so annoying because you had to take off your glove and get it out every time you wanted to go up a lift and I was always so afraid I was going to lose it. I wanted to keep it but you pay a 3 euro deposit for the card and I wanted my money back so I returned it....the pictures will have to do as a souvenir :-)

Anyway, back to the first run we went down....it felt amazing!! I fell right back into the groove of skiing and felt pretty comfortable. Tad did really well too and from that point on, we went off to explore other lifts. We stuck to another lift with easy runs and then made it to the blue runs (still considered "easy" but just challenging enough for my beginner level!)
Here we are at the top of one of the lifts...partners in crime for the day!

We found one lift that had a run that we loved and managed to take some pictures with Granada and the surrounding mountains in the background.

We skied for a solid 3 1/2 hours in the morning and then it was time for lunch - of course, bocadillos (Spanish sandwiches)

Javier and me at lunch (yes, my cheeks are red....the sun was bright and I have fair skin!)

After lunch, Tad and I were ready to hit the slopes. We climbed our favorite lift again and decided to ski all the way down the mountain. This required going past the point where we were normally catching lifts and then having to take the gondola back up. It was amazing but we were so tired after that!
Just because I am a super-nerd (and because it's Saturday and I have nothing better to do with my time), I have mapped out the route we took down the mountain :-)
It's the turquoise line that goes from the top red star to the bottom one - hope you can see it - might have to click on the picture for a better view ;-)
When we got back up, we ran into Javier and Michael Lynn and took a picture post-mountain domination :-) Can you tell we were proud of ourselves?! haha

Then we got one of all three roomies~

Tad and I did a few more runs and eventually ended up going all the way down the mountain again to finish our day.
Again, I've mapped out our route - it's pink this time. This was the way down through the "rio" or river. It's the main way to get all the way down the mountain.

Here is a shot of a cool rock formation on the way down the mountain - it was just as the sun was about to go behind the mountain.

We called it quits around 5:00pm and boy, we were tired. We returned all of our equipment. A couple of friends that I had met in Granada were also skiing yesterday and we met up with them (unfortunately, we never caught each other on the mountain).
Em, Diego (from Argentina) and Julie (from France) - yum, hat hair!!

We followed them in our car to a neat cafe about half-way down the mountain for some much-needed refreshments.

On our way down the mountain - just look at how beautiful the sky was

We got home just in time to catch a full, gorgeous moon over Motril :-)

Overall, it was an awesome day and Tad and I want to go back again soon (though not too soon...I have to save my money as it was not a cheap day!!!)

Lessons in Inconvenience

2011-02-13T08:29:00.000-08:00

Well, I have to start by saying that I had a very fun weekend. Secondly, I think I have mastered the technique of inconveniencing people. Let me tell you all I have learned about the art of "INCONVENIENCE."
We'll start the weekend on Saturday morning. I had plans to go to Granada for a birthday BBQ during the day and an International Dinner at night. I was so excited for both of these things. Since I already had plans, Tad and Michael Lynn decided they would go to Guadix (a town north of Granada). It was a trip that we had planned for last week but didn't end up doing it. Since Granada is on the way to Guadix, Tad offered to drop me off so that I didn't have to pay to take the bus (we'll consider this inconvenience #1 - only because even though he offered, it was still out of their way a little bit). So they dropped me off and then my friend Jacob (the BBQ was for him because it's his birthday on Monday) came and picked me up where Tad dropped me off (Inconvenience #2). I felt bad that he had to come pick me up because it is a BBQ for him yet he was the one who brought all of the stuff and pretty much planned it. We went and picked up his cousin and ran some more errands and then finally made our way to the BBQ site. We ended up going to a recreation area behind the Alhambra. It was a bumpy road but the climb was gorgeous. There was never a moment that I didn't have an amazing view of the Sierra Nevada mountains. I will never tire of the landscape of Spain.
It took a while to get everything set up but the BBQ was a blast. Here are some pictures.
Some of the guys standing around the grill, enjoying some beer and a beautiful day

Me and my friend Javier - I had a blast teaching him new English words :-)

Me and a couple of the girls

The group (except for me)

Now here is a personal inconvenience (#3) - they decided to play a game of soccer and guess who didn't get the memo to wear tennis shoes?!?! ME. Being a trooper, I played in the shoes I wore (which weren't outrageously uncomfortable but they are getting worn out in spots). Anyways, I had so much fun playing soccer - I miss it so much. You could tell we are all a little out of shape as the beginning of the game was rough but we improved. I stopped playing once I noticed this..... (hope no one is grossed out by feet....especially dry, nasty feet)

It hurt a lot and had bled through my sock and into my shoe. This whole weekend, I have had to walk differently to avoid putting pressure on it. And in compensating for that, other parts of my foot have started to hurt! Oh well, it was worth it and now I have the itch to play more soccer!
After everyone was sufficiently worn out, there was a water fight....
Just check out Irma's clothes

....a group shot that included Emily (thanks to self-timers)

.....and a beautiful sunset on the drive down

After that, it was time for the International Dinner at my friend Abelardo's house. He has tons of friends and a lot of them are in the Erasmus program (it's Europe's study abroad program). He organized a dinner and everyone that came had to bring a traditional dish from their country.
Here are all of the flags of the countries that were represented last night - Can you guess them all?

It's the US, Spain, France, Argentina, Mexico and Columbia.
I of course made the apple pie that I made for our Thanksgiving dinner. Only this time, I made a lattice crust on top (just to make it look fancier).

We had many different dishes (quiche, a pork dish with potatoes and honey mustard sauce, salmorejo - a tomato-based Spanish dish, candied coconut, impossible cake - half chocolate cake/half flan, and my apple pie). Little did any of us know, Abelardo decided there would be a contest to see who brought the best dish. Well, we decided to initially vote for two categories (sweets and main dishes) and then have the winners from each category go head-to-head. Well, my pie won for the dessert and the guy from Argentina who made the pork and potato concoction won for the main dishes. To add another element of surprise, Abe made Diego and I give speeches about why we thought our dishes should win. Diego went first (and even being a native Spanish speaker) he had nothing to offer. Then it was my turn. I was nervous (besides the French girl, I was the only non-native Spanish speaker). But I gave it my best. I said "my apple pie was hand-made with love. I spent a lot of time and effort peeling and cutting apples for this delicious pie which is so typical of the US." Everyone clapped and loved it. Then we voted.
I WON!! YAY!!! I have an award-winning pie! haha There was also a prize. Abe is an architecture major at the University of Granada and he did a drawing for the winner (aka ME).

I love it and think it's so cool to have something that my friend drew.
Here is a picture with my pie and my prize (it's a bad pic because my lazy friend would not stand up to take the picture but you get the point)

Well, here's where the real inconveniences start. So after the dinner, all of the people were going to another party (a going away party for a couple of Erasmus students). I didn't really know anyone and was also not feeling well. I had started coughing and really in no way wanted to go out but since I was staying at Abelardo's apartment, I had to do what he did. This party was jam-packed. There was standing room only and even if you could find space, you could be guaranteed that within seconds, someone was going to be bumping into you. I was not feeling this party and was looking for a way to leave.
Enter my other good friend Juan Carlos.

He was out with friends and I met up with him and he told me that I could stay with him even though all of my stuff was at Abe's. He told me that I could have his bed and he would sleep on the couch (#4 - how sweet of him). We took a bus home and I immediately crashed. His mom made us breakfast this morning and after that I ventured off to Abe's to get my stuff and catch a bus home to Motril. After asking Abe to look at the bus schedule, we determined that there was a bus at 1:30. It was 1:20 and so Abe offered to drive me to the bus station (#5). We got there in record-time (thanks to the wonderful driving skills of Mr. Abe) and I went to the ticket window only to find out that we read the schedule wrong and the bus left at 1:15 and the next one didn't leave until 3:30. FAIL. I texted him and told him what happened and he told me to walk back and he would drive me back at 3:30. Upon arriving at his apartment (again), I told him all I wanted to do was sleep. I crashed on the couch for an hour and he took me back around 3:15 (#6). After nearly couching my head off and with barely any voice, I am back in Motril but after a fun weekend.
Long story short, I inconvenienced a lot of people this weekend and I know that I really am so fortunate to have such amazing friends here in Spain. They do so much for me and I never know how to re-pay them. I can only hope that they all come to visit me one day in the US so I can spoil them rotten (hint hint to any of my Spanish friends that read this....COME TO THE US!!!)

Exciting News

2011-02-07T11:47:00.001-08:00

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

This'll be random.....

2011-01-28T07:41:00.001-08:00

So, I know that I haven't written in a while and frankly, it's because I really don't want to bore you all with the complete and utter nothingness (I think I just invented a word) that has been going on in my life. One thing that I have noticed as more time passes and the more Spanish that I am speaking....my English is progressively getting worse. Or, not necessarily worse but I have started speaking and writing in English the way that I think about the sentences in Spanish (if that makes a bit of sense at all). I guess that's a good thing, though, as it means I am becoming more of a Spanish thinker.

One very important thing that I need to inform all of you if is that I am feeling much better!!!! I am supposed to go back for a follow-up chest x-ray after a month has passed but other than that, I am good to go. Thank you all for the numerous thoughts and prayers. It was so difficult to be away from home but knowing that so many people care about me and were thinking about me definitely made getting through it much easier. I am back to happy Emily!

Other than me being healthy, we also had a visitor. Tad's brother Jay arrived the second week of January. He is going to be studying in Sevilla this semester. He spent a couple of days with us.
Here I am surrounded by VandenBrink's

We took Jay to Salobrena one day - it's the next town over and has a cool castle to see (we didn't end up going up there) but it also is on the beach and so we spent some time on a huge rock formation that has amazing views of the coastline. Then, we hung out on the beach and watched the beautiful sunset.
View of the Costa Tropical

Sunset

One other thing that has happened to me in my couple of weeks since I have been back to school is that I was bullied. Yes, I was bullied. So, the girls that worked at Antonio Garvayo Dinelli last year were named Alisha and Heidi. Yes, there have been numerous times (especially in the beginning) that I was called Alisha or Heidi simply because they were not used to me. However, in my defense, I have over 200 different students of which I see one time per week. These 200 students have to remember ONE name. Emily. Is that so difficult?!! I know it's not a Spanish name...my name is not Maria, Marta, Alba, etc but really, how hard can it be to say "Emily." Anyway, I have a class that is always unruly and out of hand. The teacher does not control them very well. It's very frustrating. Well, the other day, I went to this particular class. The teacher lets them work at their own pace and so there are some students that are still working on the Thanksgiving turkey project I gave them and some are already done with all their work and sitting there bored. It's not the greatest system because it makes it hard for me to plan anything and I usually just end up being a glorified babysitter. One of the girls is a little bossy/controlling of her teacher and other friends in the class - yes, I said she is controlling of her teacher. Anywho, she started calling me Alisha. She did it three or four times and then another student followed suit. Well, jokingly, I went to the board and wrote my name in block letters "EMILY." This did not help. Said student went to the board and wrote ALISHA underneath my name. To make matters worse, as I was wandering around the room and trying to instill interest in the students to speak English...someone had gone to the board and written VS. between our names.
The board looked like this.....

I couldn't believe it. I had walked away from the groups of students that were writing things on the board and was trying to ignore them when all of a sudden I hear people chanting, "Alisha, Alisha, Alisha!" It was such a frustrating moment for me. I wanted to walk out of the room. I could not believe how rude they were being and how bullied I felt.
Now, looking back on the situation, I realize that I never should have acknowledged them and next time I will simply ignore it. They know that if they get a reaction out of me, they have been successful. It was still just flabbergasting to me that this could happen. There is just some amount of respect lacking with the students in Spain.
Well, that's about all I have to say - oh wait, there is one more piece of exciting news. Tad came home the other day and told me that someone had contacted the English academy where he teaches classes in Motril and wants to learn English. None of the teachers at the academy are available to give classes and Tad teaches every afternoon so he passed the opportunity on to me. I have an email out to him and let's all pray he responds and that my afternoons are filled with something exciting to do!
I am sorry for not providing you with more exciting things but it's all I have for now!
Hugs to everyone from Motril!

My weekend in pictures (ok and some words, obvioiusly!)

2011-01-10T14:01:00.000-08:00

Well, as I am sure many of you know from my mother's Facebook updates, this weekend has not been the most pleasant of weekends.
On Friday, I was happy and looking like this (the bubbly person that most of you know me as)......

and today, still - I look more like Tad does in this picture (sorry for posting this pic, Tad but I didn't have any of me looking sad!)

Somehow, throughout the weekend I caught a nasty bug of some kind. It began to get worse on Saturday afternoon. I took a bubble bath (complements of the gift that Connor's parents gave me) and attempted to rest. I was feeling feverish but don't have a thermometer. This was the last Saturday of break and me being the one to never miss a party, I decided to try going out to hang out with my friends for a bit - it is some of our friends' last weekend in town as they are all headed back to school. I actually felt ok - I had taken an ibuprofen and think it was helping with the fever. Well......once the ibuprofen wore off, that's when the fun begins. I split from the group and walked home (did I mention it had started pouring outside and I had no umbrella?!), I was shivering, my body was aching including my stomach. Like I said, I didn't have a thermometer but I am pretty sure that by the time I got home, you could do this with an egg but on my stomach.....

Long story short....Saturday night was miserable. Fast forward to Sunday.
I wake up still burning up. I ended up talking to my roommate Tad who was still at his uncle's house and he tells me that he has a thermometer in his room and I can use it.
This particular thermometer reads 37 degrees...that's normal body temperature in celcius. Mine read 40! That's a fever of 104.1

Really having no appetite, I have been trying to stay hydrated as best I can and this is why my nightstand looks like this....

However, there is a problem staying hydrated when you 1. have a high fever and 2. are making frequent trips to the bathroom (and I'll leave the rest to your imaginations). So as Sunday passed I was getting weaker and weaker. Standing up was difficult, my calf muscles started to cramp from lack of water. I just didn't know how much more I could handle. So my amazing mother called around to the insurance company to figure out what the options were and the best solution we came up with was to go to the emergency room - we took this measure simply because it was Sunday and EVERYTHING else in Spain is closed.
Yep, I went to the emergency room in Spain....

No, I could not have gotten there without my driver and translator...

My amazing friends Pablo (on the left) and Bern (on the right) went with me and sacrificed most of their night to stay with me (I could only have one visitor and so unfortunately Pablo ended up waiting outside...what a trooper - though he is very outgoing and made friends with a dog...haha and his owner, of course).
After some heckling about my insurance, the woman finally took my info and got the ball rolling. I was asked preliminary questions and got my temp taken and blood pressure as well. Then we were sent to another waiting area.
Here's my awesome sticker to prove I was there

Finally, I was seen by a doc and she poked and prodded, listened to me breathe, nearly gagged me with a wooden stick. Then another nurse came in and drew blood and made me do a urine sample. Now, think about this - I have been sick, I am severely dehydrated, I didn't have to go to the bathroom at the time and what?! you want me to produce urine on the spot?!?! Well, sparing details, I managed just enough. :-)
Then we waited some more.....and we waited....and we waited. It was forever long. Finally the woman came to Bern and said that she didn't see anything too abnormal in the tests but she wanted to do a chest x-ray. I looked at Bern and said "a chest x-ray?! there is nothing about me that is making my chest hurt or anything near it?" Well, anyways, here is my pretty hospital souvenir...in addition to the sticker, of course. That big white patch on the right is supposedly mucous.

After taking the x-ray, we waited again. Finally we were called into the consulting room and I was given the diagnosis of broncopneumonia.

I went in there with symptoms of a high fever, abdominal cramping, dizziness, inability to keep anything in my body etc....and I come out with pneumonia and some prescriptions for some antibiotics. I just don't get it.
Well, Sunday night was horrible as well. I think my fever broke at some point in the night as I woke up sweating more than if I had just run a marathon. I changed my clothes only to wake up an hour and a half later to the same situation. I finally gave in and just showered at 2am because I felt so gross. And beyond that point and into today, the bathroom and I have become one (once again, I'll spare details and encourage you to imagine what you like). Today (Monday) was supposed to have been my first day back to work but instead of spending my day with little kiddies...I spent my day with these guys instead...

Yes, that is my collection of medicines for my "pneumonia" which I am hoping will miraculously cure these other ailments from which I am suffering.
Tomorrow is a new day - I am not going to school tomorrow either but I hope to be feeling a little better. Thanks for all of the love and prayers that you have shared with me. It has been hard to be really sick and be away from home but knowing all of the support I have makes it that much more bearable.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-07T08:43:00.000-08:00

Happy 2011 to everyone!! I can't believe another year is upon us already. Time is just flying.
Anywho, I know that it has been a while since I have posted and I am sure you are all anxiously sitting in front of your computers, constantly refreshing your screens in anticipation of my next blog post...so here goes.
I have to try to remember the dates of when things occurred....the days have just been all mixed up in my mind.
Connor and I went to Granada on Monday (Dec. 27th). I was so excited to show him around the town where I spent 6 months living previously. We were very lucky and my co-worker (Catherine) and her boyfriend live in Granada but they went home to the US for the holidays and so she left me the keys to her apartment so that Connor and I could stay there instead of getting a hostel/hotel in Granada. It was so nice of them. We first paid a visit to the Cathedral. I think Connor was very impressed.

Then we hiked up to the "mirador de san nicolas" which is a lookout point with amazing views. it's all uphill to get there but it's worth the effort.
Here is a view of the Alhambra (which we unfortunately didn't get to visit) and the beautiful Sierra Nevada mountains...oh, and us too!! :-)

After, we had tapas at one of the very first places where I had tapas with some friends after we had all moved into our homestays. We definitely deserved it after our climb to the lookout point. The place is called "La Bella y la Bestia." For all those blog readers out there who don't speak Spanish...that's "Beauty and the Beast." It's a fitting place for Connor and I to go because (without getting too mushy), Connor calls me "Belle" like the princess from Beauty and the Beast...here's where you all sigh and say "awwwwwwwwwww."

Connor also had the pleasure of meeting my host family - Paco and Pilar. I was so happy that we were able to stop by their house and visit them. Two of their grandchildren were there (Julia and Pablo). It was so adorable when Pablo first saw Connor because he ended up hiding by Connor's leg like he was his dad or something.

After this picture, though...Connor didn't have so much luck with Pablo (he wouldn't even look at him! haha) Here is a picture of Pilar with her adorable grandchildren.

Oh, I almost forgot. Before our visit to see Paco and Pilar, Connor had the pleasure of having his first "cola cao." Now, it is part of daily life in Spain to have a coffee around 5pm whether it be in your house or if you go out and meet a friend at a cafe. There is one problem, however. Connor doesn't like coffee. What is the solution? Spanish version of hot chocolate or "cola cao." I think he liked it :-)

Later that night (sheesh, we did a lot that day), Connor and I met up with some of my friends in Granada for a drink.

Connor and Abelardo

The next day, I made sure Connor had his first "chocolate con churros" experience. We only asked for one order even though we were two people eating them (that's my way of justifying us eating churros!)

We met up with my friend Juan Carlos later to have tapas but I forgot to get a picture. We went to a great tapas place by the plaza de toros and there Connor experienced his first paella! It had chicken and some shrimp but he swiftly avoided the shrimp (as did I).
After a relatively busy time in Granada, it was off to Barcelona on the 29th!
First thing on the agenda for Connor???? FC Barcelona stadium!!

We paid to go inside and see the museum and also the stadium. It was so cool and there are so many photos that I could put on here but I do want to finish writing this blog post before I start sprouting gray hairs!!
My roommate Tad and his girlfriend Rachel were also in Barcelona at the same time and so we met up that afternoon and went to Parc Guell (one of my favorite spots in Barcelona). We took sandwiches up there and planned to picnic but the weather was pretty crummy. We sat and ate with a constant drizzle. We walked around the park for a while and took in the views.
Connor and I sitting on the famous Gaudi benches in Parc Guell

Here I am by the famous lizard at the entrance of the park. We had to literally fight to get by it to take a picture. There are soooooo many tourists around (and I say that like I am not a tourist haha).

Later that night, we went to Sagrada Familia (Gaudi's still unfinished masterpiece). We did not go inside but Tad and Rachel had earlier in the day. I guess it's another reason for me to go back to Barcelona one day (in three visits there I have still not been inside).

We made it back to the center of the city and walked down Las Ramblas - the famous street in Barcelona with street performers and crazy people like this guy that dress up and get people to give them money by doing silly things or taking pictures with people. It's a fun place and our hotel was right on a side street off Las Ramblas.

I am trying to make this a cohesive blog post but we did so many things and on so many different days that everything is a big blur and I apologize for any confusion this blog post may cause to the readers :-)
So, now I think we are to New Year's Eve day. The first item on the agenda was to get Connor a scarf. After having been in Spain for almost a week, he caught on that a LOT of Spanish men wear scarves and he wanted to join the club. We paid a visit to H&M and had some retail therapy and here's the result.
Handsome Connor

Complete with new scarf and for me a new jacket, we were ready to face the day. We met up with Rachel and Tad to go to the Olympic Park. I had never visited it before and it was giant! When you enter from where we did, it seems like nothing special but there was a lot more to discover when you walk around to the side of the complex. It is so insane that they build these huge complexes for the Olympics and then they sit empty.
Inside the stadium

The view from the side - so beautiful.

After our Olympic park visit, we went to see the arc de triomf (modeled after the one in Paris).

We also passed by the National Museum of Art of Cataluyna and it is so beautiful.

We also managed to snap a pic of the four of us.

Now, onto one of my favorite parts of the trip. It's pretty pathetic but when you have been away from American food for three months and all of a sudden you find of of these.....

It is your obligation to stop and have a sandwich. Oh pure BLISS!!

After an amazing meal at Subway, it was time to prepare for NYE in Barcelona! Here are Connor and I waiting in the hotel for Tad and Rachel to arrive.

Now, the tradition in Spain is to eat 12 grapes at midnight. If you want to learn more, see this link
Anyways, Tad and Rachel bought grapes for the group and we took them out to Placa Cataluyna (where we thought it was going to be like Times Square with a big screen or something but that ended up being far from the truth) and waited for Midnight.

We were highly disappointed that this was our only way of knowing when the clock was going to strike midnight and we had to take clues from other people of when to start eating our grapes. Obviously there are no photos of this spectacle because we were all too busy shoving our faces with grapes (and they had seeds too....so gross). NYE in Barcelona ended up being a bit anticlimactic but it was still awesome to be in such a cool place and with good friends.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

On New Year's Day, we paid a visit to both of the houses that Gaudi designed -
Casa Batilo

La Pedrera.

After, we went down to the water to see the port and to stick our feet in the freezing cold water (which, all along I thought was the Mediterranean but I have just done some geographical research and see that indeed we were sticking our feet in the Balearic Sea and not the Mediterranean....oops).

We had lunch at an Italian restaurant (delicious food) and we could look out on the water.

Here is the statue of Christopher Columbus

Another one of Gaudi's creations that is near the water....it's a statue with 7 faces but I have not been able to find all of them....so I don't believe it!

And what's life if you don't enjoy some Ben and Jerry's? Although I was very angry because I got Cookie Dough ice cream and I'll be darned if there was not a single piece of cookie dough in my dish!!

We caught a flight back to Granada the night of the 1st and I will spare you all the details of the rest of the trip because it involves a lot of traveling and not too much time for enjoying the end of the trip. Needless to say, I think Connor had to endure more then 48 straight hours of traveling to make it back to Michigan and then had to go to work. He is a trooper. I really appreciate him taking the time to come and see me and to let me show him Spain!
I have this whole week off to and do not go back to work until Monday the 10th. I have been pretty bored and can't wait to get back to some kind of routine (even if it is just working 3 hours per day).

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2010-12-26T10:10:00.000-08:00

So I know it is now a little late but I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.

Connor has finally arrived in Spain after some long and weary days of traveling. His flight arrived into Madrid on Wednesday the 22nd at 9:30am. It would have been much easier for him to fly into Malaga or Granada but I guess we weren't really thinking about the easiest option when he booked his flight - we were more concerned with the price. So, I did not want to leave him to navigate the airport, metro and bus station by himself so I went to Madrid to pick him up. I went to Granada the night before to see some friends and caught a 1:30am bus to Madrid. Now, wouldn't you think that a person might be tired at that time and would probably sleep on the bus? Yes. Did I sleep at all? No. :-) I think it was a mixture of excitement, nerves, adrenaline, etc. I looked around several times and noticed that I was the only soul on the bus that was awake. I arrived in Madrid at 6:30am and made my way to the airport to wait for Connor. I thought I might be able to sleep a little at the airport but alas that did not happen either. Connor finally got in around 10am and it was a happy reunion. It's amazing how long 3 months can be. We then made the trek back to the bus station via the metro (it takes about an hour to get from the airport to the bus station because you have to make a change on the metro).
Here is Connor happily riding the metro!!

The weary travelers waiting at the bus station

We arrived at the bus station to see that there was a bus to Granada at 11:30. It was currently 11:15 am. So why did we end up having to catch a bus at 2 and wait 2 1/2 hours? There was only one seat left on the 11:30 bus. Ugh. So we waited and waited. The only thing that made the wait ok was that my mom sent Christmas cookies with Connor and I may have indulged in a couple of them. After a 5hr bus ride and a couple of hours of sleep later, we finally made it to Granada around 7:20 only to find that the 7:30 bus to Motril was already full. Feeling pretty defeated, we had a beer at the bus station and caught the bus to Motril at 8:30 and ultimately arriving in Motril around 10pm. Tad graciously came to pick us up at the bus station and he and his girlfriend (who is also visiting for the holidays) had dinner prepared for us!! Point of the story: It was a LONG day for both Connor and myself.
Here are my friends with Connor and myself on Christmas Eve

And another random one of Connor and me

For Christmas Eve, we went to my friend Bernardo's house in Motril. His family was so kind for letting us invade their family meal. I wanted to bring them something very traditional of Christmas in the US and lucky for me, my mom had sent me vanilla extract (because they don't have it here) and I was able to continue with my culinary ways and baked Christmas cookies for his family. Connor was a great help with the cookies. The challenging part was making frosting without powdered sugar. I was able to find a recipe online which directed me to make a thick paste with flour and milk and let it cool and then add a ton of butter, sugar, and vanilla. I added a little bit of cream cheese to kick up the flavor. It wasn't perfect but turned out much better than I thought it would.

For dinner on Christmas Eve, the first course was one of my absolute favorites.....seafood soup (ok, so there was definitely some sarcasm there). Bern's mom knew that Connor and I don't like seafood and so she gave us both just broth and spared us having to eat oysters, shrimp and who knows what else. There was also bread, jamon serrano, and cheese on the table. Next course was a pork roll with a yummy sauce and then these potato pancake things (made especially for Connor and myself and we were the only ones that ate them). For dessert, we had cheesecake and Christmas cookies and we also drank the bottle of champagne I had brought for them.
Bern and Emily

Bern, his mom and his sister - aren't they an adorable family?!

The group on Christmas Eve

Bern's aunt on the left and mom on the right. They are beautiful women.

Christmas day was very relaxed. Connor and I watched Elf in the morning and were able to talk with our parents. I was finally able to open the many presents that my mom sent with Connor. Connor plays a great Santa Clause!!!! She is simply the best mother there could ever be. She bought me some new clothes, CD's, a book, a new vera bradley duffel, a bracelet, socks, a necklace, and tons of candy! It was so exciting to be able to talk with my family via skype and open my presents.
Today, we did something very Spanish and went to my friend's cortijo (cottage). I was excited for Connor to experience it. My friend Bern made 'migas' which is a very traditional Spanish dish made with oil, garlic, water and flour. You cook all those things and it becomes a very crumbly, bread-like mixture. I think it's really good.
Bern cooking the migas

Here is the finished product "migas"

Emilio was in charge of cooking the meat (bacon, sausage, blood sausage and filets of pork

Here is a picture of the table all set

Here is a nice self-timed picture of the group

The group all sitting around the fire

One other picture I can't forget to include is my ridiculous outfit that I wore to school on Tuesday for Christmas. My mom had sent me these Christmas socks and I just had to wear them to school. I also had on a bracelet with bells. The kids and teachers loved it.

I brought in treats for the kids and the teachers (I made apple pie, peppermint bark, and rice krispie treats). I tried to dye the rice krispie treats red but they turned out very pink. The kids were skeptical and I even had to try one before they would. However, after they tried them, I received comments like "you should stop being a teacher and be a chef" or "you can bring these every day, Emily." Some of the teachers told me that I would be a "buen partido" one day which translates roughly into "I will make a man very lucky and will be a good wife" haha If anything, being in Spain has made me more domestic, that's for sure.

Here is one of my 4th grade classes with their Christmas tree made of hands

Again, like with the last post, I have a lot of videos I want to post but they will not upload. I took a video of the kids singing "we wish you a Merry Christmas" and "the 12 days of Christmas." They are absolutely precious and I wish I could share them with you.
Connor and I are off to Granada tomorrow to explore and then to Barcelona!! Can't wait. Love to all!

Christmas Part I

2010-12-16T06:08:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess I will start my Christmas blogging now even though I know there will be much more on the topic in the days to come. I have spent the last week explaining how Christmas is celebrated in the United States. The main differences that I have been able to see between an American Christmas and a Spanish Christmas are the pastries - Spaniards eat things called "mantecados" and "turron". Mantecados are pastries which come in a variety of flavors and resemble a very crumbly cookie. Turron is something similar to fudge. And here is one of the perks of being a teacher and never having tried these pastries before......

However, after looking up a recipe for "mantecados" and the absurd amount of butter one needs to use to make them....I think I'll be sharing my wealth of mantecados!
One other difference in the way Christmas is celebrated is that the Spanish people celebrate the coming of the Three Wise Men on January 6th. This is the day they normally open presents from family. They also have big parades in some cities. For the most part, the celebrations are the same (plus or minus a few details).
This week, I had two of my classes make a Christmas tree by cutting out their hand prints on green card stock and assembling them as a tree. They are both 4th grade classes.
Here is the tree that Pilar's class made

Here is the tree that Arturo's class made....we had to spill the presents onto the side of the wall!

Other than giving me a ton of sweets, I have also been receiving other gifts from students.
Here is a gift from a girl in one of my 5th grade classes....she had folded a piece of paper and inside was a "silly band" (they are becoming very popular here and kids wear them by the 20's on their wrists....I think my collection is nearing 20.

Here is a sign that a boy made me in the same 5th grade class

This present was my favorite by faaarrrrrr. One of my 6th grade English classes was getting all packed up to leave class today and a boy approached me and sheepishly handed me a piece of paper and this is what it was.....

Here is a close-up of the message!

How adorable is that?!! I absolutely love it and it is certainly hanging on the refrigerator (for once, something that I didn't have to color as a decoration for our apartment).
I was trying to upload a video of my students singing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" but it isn't working :-( I'll keep trying!

CHAPERON

2010-12-15T08:54:00.000-08:00

After being the student for 19 years, I was finally gifted with the opportunity to be the all-powerful CHAPERON on a class field trip! YAY!!! This may seem like such a simple and meaningless gesture but for me, it only solidifies my position as a teacher and an authority figure in the school. Now, there was a downside to this adventure...I normally wake up for school around 9ish (hitting the snooze a few times here and there) but today I had to wake up at 7:45!! It has been so long since I have woken up that early. I was the first person out of the piso today and all of my roommates commented that it was so unusual.
Anywho, the trip was a tour of the town to see the history of Motril. It wasn't all that thrilling because as my bilingual coordinator explained to me, the people of Motril did not do a great job of preserving the history and the buildings. We made a route of things that "used to be." It was still fun and I will share some pictures with you from our adventure.

The kids had maps and had to mark each point where we stopped to talk. I believe this was point #2.

The Spaniards celebrate the coming of the Three Wise Men on January 6th and have big parades. We stopped into a cultural center where there was a big display dedicated to the celebration of the Three Wise Men. Here I am with the costumes.

Here is a self-timed portrait of the entire group....yes, I am the jolly-green-giant on the right :-)

One of the highlights for the kids (and for these children, too) may have been when we stood right by the window for a daycare as one of the stops and children in the daycare would not stop banging on the windows (I even saw some licking the windows....oh kids do the darndest things!)

This is a random picture but it just killed me to see a grand piano all covered up during the holiday season when I want nothing more than to be sitting at a piano and playing and belting out Christmas Carols!!

Here are all the kiddies lined up like duckies!

Here is Antonio (my bilingual coordinator) explaining to the kids about the old Arabic water system.

I have been doing Christmas things with the kids all week but am going to wait until next week to do a post about it. I have to gather some more blogging resources!!!

I simply love Spain!

2010-12-09T07:18:00.000-08:00

Well, after all of the excitement of the Thanksgiving dinner, my life became kind of dull (just as I expected it to) and hence why I haven’t written in a while. So this post is going to be some of the reasons why I LOVE Spain.
1. MY WORK SCHEDULE - This week in Spain, Monday December 6 and Wednesday December 8 were national holidays and so we all had those days off. So, I normally work Mon-Thurs and this week I only had to work two days :-)
2. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION - Spain’s public transportation is so efficient and convenient (now I must add a disclaimer because I am not knocking the public transportation of the US but it’s just that I haven’t really ever had a need for it). I can’t tell you how nice it is to decide to go to Granada to visit some friends and to be able to look online and find a bus that leaves every hour from Motril to Granada. It makes my life so simple.
3. GREAT FRIENDS – I know that you have heard me talk a lot about Juan Carlos and that is because he is a great friend to me.
Juan Carlos and I this weekend

This past weekend, Juan Carlos invited me to spend the weekend with him and his parents. I have been to Juan Carlos’ house before but I had never met his parents. There were so nice but very hard to understand. They are both from small villages in Spain and have very heavy Andalucian accents. His dad was a riot. He wanted to know all about the US (unfortunately, most of the time I end up feeling like a fool for being so ignorant about the history and sometimes even current issues of my country). I told him that he most definitely needs to meet my roommate Tad (who studied History and Social Studies to become a teacher at U of M). His face lit up and he told me to bring my roommate to meet him. His mom is a great host. She made certain I was never hungry. She always made coffee and toast/croissants for breakfast. On Saturday, she made Canelones – which are an Italian dish made with noodles stuffed with meat and topped with a cream sauce and cheese ( I feel myself getting fatter just writing about it). Later that night for dinner, she made us all kinds of fried delicacies…French fries, chicken nuggets, pork that was breaded and fried. Then, to top it off, she made a tortilla (like an omelette) with ham and cheese. Then on Sunday, she made paella with meat! Not to mention that at every meal she also put out tapas – chorizo, murcilla, olives, chicken, bread, mushrooms. I ate more than I needed to for a whole week in just two days. Juan Carlos and I went out with some of his German friends one night. They were fun and it just amazes me when we can all be in a bar and have three different conversations going on in three different languages (English, German, and Spanish).
If only I were in this picture, then we'd have Spaniards, a German and an American.

By request of Juan Carlos, we also did something cultural. He found an art exhibit at the Palace of Charles the 5th at the Alhambra. It was celebrating the 100th anniversary of Henri Mattise’s visit to the Alhambra.
Here is one of Matisse's paintings

Neither of us really cared for the art work too much but it was still fun to walk up to the Alhambra and do something different.
Here are pictures of Juan Carlos and me with a great view in the background from the Alhambra

We also walked around Granada a bit to do some shopping because he and his friends are doing a secret Santa gift exchange. He has to buy a gift for a girl and so he solicited my help. The lights around the town are amazing and in one of the plazas there is an ambulatory market for Christmas. It was so awesome.
Here are some traditional Spanish pastries for Christmas

This is the Corte Ingles all decorated with snowflake lights (Corte Ingles is the closest thing I can come to finding a store like Macy's in Spain!)

More lights in plaza Bib Rambla

I am so in love with Granada. I think I could go there every weekend and never tire of it.
4. REUNITING WITH SPANISH FRIENDS – So I was in Granada from Friday – Sunday and then came back to Motril. I had to work on Tuesday. On Monday night, I got back in touch with a good friend from Granada. After work on Tuesday, I asked him if he had plans for the night and he and his friends (most of whom I already know) were going to hang out and he invited me to come! So I hopped on a bus on Tuesday night (refer to #2 – why I love public transportation) and he picked me up from the bus station and off we went to have tapas. It was so strange to see them after 2 ½ years because it felt like I had never left (minus the fact that I had to fill them in on my life and it was a lot of work to tell them everything in Spanish!)
Here is the group while we were out for tapas

Me with Abelardo and Javi (the two from the group that I know the best. aren't they so handsome?)

The next day, Abe Jacob and I went out for some afternoon tapas and some tea afterwards.

Well, after two rough days of work (that's a joke) it's the weekend again for me. I don't really know what I will do. Tad is in London so it's just the girls here in the apartment.
Love from Spain <3

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

2010-11-28T05:40:00.000-08:00

So I have so many things to tell you all about that I don’t even know where to begin. I guess I will start by saying that our Thanksgiving meal was a SMASHING SUCCESS! It was a very long and labor intensive week but it was well worth it.
The week started with me making 100 copies of this Turkey project for some of my classes.

By the end of the week, I think I had printed 225 copies of this page. Needless to say, I don’t ever want to see this project again – I was asked by so many students “can we color it with colored pencils?, can we color it with markers? Can we use crayons? Do I cut this part or just this part? How do I put it together?” Ugh, it got old by the end of the week though the kids all enjoyed making them. Here is a picture of some of the students with their turkeys.

I did have some extra free time on my hands this week before the craziness of our Thanksgiving feast started (what’s new) and so one afternoon I sat and colored all of these pictures to replace the Halloween ones on the fridge.

Didn't I just say earlier that after helping with 225 turkeys that I didn't want to see another one?! Well, that didn't hold true. Michael Lynn, Tad and I spent part of the day coloring, cutting out, and assembling a turkey as a party favor for each of our guests.
Here is our work station where all of the turkeys were created

Here are Tad and Michael Lynn diligently cutting while I was assembling

Our mess of scraps

My favorite turkeys - Texas A&M, Michigan, and Texas - it's Thanksgiving, what better themes for turkeys than college football?!

Here are all the turkeys displayed behind the buffet of food

Besides hunting down a turkey, here is my pride and joy of the Thanksgiving meal
APPLE PIE before being cooked (It was delicious but I still can't think about how much butter I had to melt to make the sauce.....Ms. Nutritious.

and after

Here is all of the bread sitting out to get stale

Here is the finished product - Stuffing!

I thought our table all set was so cute!

My first helping - I don't know if I actually tasted it or just inhaled it :-)

Michael Lynn and I actually relaxing a bit and enjoying ourselves after a very hectic couple of days!

Tad worked very hard and made a video of our Thanksgiving adventure and I will share it all with you here. He did all of the video-taping and the pictures are from my camera and a few from his. Enjoy!

We had an amazing Thanksgiving with our Spanish friends! We have much to be thankful for and glad that we were able to celebrate it with friends and great food!

Big Girl Panties

2010-11-21T08:49:00.000-08:00

Well, I had to put on my big girl panties on Saturday. Unfortunately, I think I put them on backwards. To explain further, Tad and I were invited this weekend to go to a pueblo for a lunch with our landlady (Michael Lynn was invited too but opted to go to Malaga for a couple of days with one of her teachers). Our landlady informed us that she was going to make paella for us (a typical Spanish dish).
Here is the table all set with the paella

Now, the most popular paella is made with seafood (here is where I insert the fact that I am absolutely repulsed by even the thought of seafood and it's quite unfortunate that I live in a coastal town in Southern Spain because obviously seafood is a staple of the diet here). At one point I went into the kitchen to see if I could help with anything and immediately regretted that decision because right at that moment, Marian was putting the octopus into the paella! AHHHHHHHHH yuck! She told me she didn't need help and so I quickly turned around and went and sat myself directly in front of the bowls of chips that she had set out as an appetizer and began to dig in! I sat there nervously munching on chips and mentally preparing myself for the food that was about to be put in front of me. I was happy to see that there was a salad in the kitchen only to be surprised again when it was set on the table and covered in Tuna! It just wasn't my day. As we all sat down at the table, people could tell by my reaction that I didn't like seafood and Marian felt bad but I was quickly relieved when she told me that she left most of the seafood that she planned on putting in the paella at home. So instead of having to eat clams, mussels, prawns, octopus and calamari............
(I don't like that they have eyes and are staring at me...)

- I luck out with only having to face the challenge of calamari this little creature.....

I had eaten dried octopus when I was in Granada with my host family but these were actually whole little baby-like octopus. After much harrassment about how there are so many foods that I don't like and how picky I am (yeah, like that's a conversation I've never had before...), it was time to dig in. I was happy to know that the rice didn't taste too fishy. This is why I think that I put my big girl panties on backwards - I brought myself to eat the calamari but avoided the octopus! I chickened out!!! I was disappointed in myself but I will settle with baby steps.
After our meal and some coffe and Spanish cake, we went for a walk around the town (called Itroba). It was cute and here are a few pictures I snapped.
The views were gorgeous.

There were tons of cats around and they were all sitting on this wall and so I had to snap a picture!

It's time to face another week - on the agenda...plan a great Thanksgiving feast for all of our Spanish friends :-)

I am a celebrity!

2010-11-17T06:33:00.000-08:00

Who is this? Hannah Montana. What is she? A celebrity. My students in Spain absolutely love her. But that is beside the point. After only a month-and-a-half of working, I now feel like a celebrity at Antonio Garvayo Dinelli. I get bombarded with hugs and students are always saying hello in the hallways. A lot of them ask their teachers why I only come in once a week to their respective classes. Pretty soon, you'll be able to Google my name and images like this will appear as quickly as a million of images of "Hannah Montana" appeared
Celebrity Emily

But really, that's a joke. In all honesty, I wanted to write a post to tell you all how much I am enjoying my job. When I didn't have internet in my piso (which was a long time, as I am sure you are all well-aware), I was not really making any lesson plans and simply felt like a glorified babysitter. Well, these past couple of weeks, I have been making lessons and have been much more active in the classroom and have really been enjoying myself.

Each week, I go for two hours on Wednesdays to the "infantil" side of the school to teach 5 yr-olds songs and games. These past two weeks, I have been teaching them to sing "5 Little Ducks"
Refer to this video for an example if you missed out on this hit of a song as a child!

Anyways, it has been interesting and fun. The teacher made a poster with 5 little ducks and a mommy duck and also they have real plastic ducks. Well, this week, I brought in my own special surprise!

Yes, I have my own collection of ducks. Yes, I brought them all the way from the US. Yes, I know I am a dork, but I deal with it :-) Well, they LOVED these ducks and I even caused some tears when certain students didn't get the duck they wanted. At the end of each class, I ended up setting a different duck on each table and letting them pass them around. Needless to say, I washed all of them before I brought them home as I saw children picking their noses and then putting their hands all over my ducks! ewwwwwwww

In my 5th grade classes, the students are learning about plants. I had them fill out this worksheet with the parts of the plants and they explained it very well in English!

Then, I had them label all the parts they could on this picture.

For me, it was something simple to come up with and they all enjoyed it. It was a good review and it's amazing how creative some of the kids get when coloring pictures.
I am working on a Thanksgiving lesson plan for tomorrow and part of next week!! Even though they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, they want us to teach our students about it because we obviously love this holiday (who doesn't love stuffing their face with thousands of unnecessary calories worth of delicious food once a year?)

Because I like to be random

2010-11-15T09:27:00.000-08:00

I can't say that I have too many interesting things to tell all of you but I will do my best to come up with some semi-interesting reading material for the blog world out there!

One very funny story from school that I have to share with you - I don't have a picture of it because I didn't want to embarrass the student but it was pretty cute/funny. The fifth grade classes had been working on classifying animals (amphibians, reptiles, birds, etc..) and one particular class made wall-size posters with all of the different types of animals and it was each child's responsibility to bring in a few pictures that they had colored of animals to post under each category. Well, one student brought in a picture that resembled something like this....

Ok - I hope this is going to make sense to you all. So this is a Chameleon. However, if read in a Spanish accent, it almost appears as if it says "cama" and "leon." Those two words translate into English as "bed" and "lion." So this particular child brought in a picture of a chameleon with the title being "Bed Lion." Hahaha I about died laughing once I understood what had happened (it took the teacher and I a couple of minutes to put it all together). I had that same class today and there is a label taped over the old one that says, "chameleon." :-)

And I must have spoken too soon with the whole "I don't have anything interesting to say thing" because after I wrote the story above, I went to go blow dry my hair because I had just recently showered and well, something happened. I must start off by saying that I did not bring my big blow dryer all the way from home. My plan was to buy one here like I did when I was in Spain two years ago. Lucky for me, while I was staying for a week with my host family, my host mom offered to give me a small blow dryer that she never uses so that I didn't have to buy one. I graciously accepted it and figured I could buy a new one later on, if needed. Well, let me tell you - it is one devil of a little machine.

The fan part on the opposite side that blows out air, sucks in air and I had flipped my head over to dry my hair and this is the result when I flipped my head back up......
Yes, that is the blow dryer stuck in my hair.

I had to ask my roommate Tad to come in and help me get it out. After laughing at my misfortune and requesting to take a picutre, he saw no other way of remedying the problem than to use.....SCISSORS!!!! ahhhhhhh in all of my 24 years of living, I don't think I have ever had to cut anything out of my hair! I now have a nice little short piece of hair as a prize (luckliy it's one of the bottom layers!)
I also have this as a reminder of how deadly this little blow dryer can be.

More random things....I went out for tapas with some teachers after a meeting we had last week and this is one that my teacher ordered.
It's called "Chorizo al infierno" or chorizo of hell.

So what happens is the waiter brings over a small dish of alcohol and lights it on fire and it is your responsibility to roast your own piece of chorizo (just like a marshmallow!) I was obviously highly entertained by this and requested my picture to be taken with the tapa (even though I do not like chorizo!)

Two more interesting things and then I am done being random - I was in Granada for a couple of days this past weekend and was excited to see the leaves are changing on the trees!

And at the same time, there's tons of snow on the Sierra Nevada's!

Love to all from Motril!!

Welcome to Antonio Garavayo Dinelli

2010-11-10T08:28:00.000-08:00

Since I gave a wonderful tour of my workout facilities in Spain, I thought I would continue and show you all what my school looks like. Enjoy the photo tour!

Welcome to Antonio Garavyo Dinelli

Here is the front entry-way looking out and looking in- yes there is a fence around the entire school and a locked gate. Do I have keys? No. Someone has to buzz me in every day. And why the fence? I was told by my co-worker today that a child once escaped and now to combat that issue, there is a huge, prison-like fence.

Here is where you go to see the secretary - it also looks like she is imprisoned!

What I refer to as a big waste of space right as you enter the school

Here is looking down the main hallway (this is the 1st floor here in Spain but they start from 0 and to us it would be the second floor).

A Spanish classroom

The smart board (the board that I wrote about in a previous post and was so excited that each room has these - they are so useful)

Here is one of my favorite pictures - this is the "teacher's lounge" and everyday at 11:30, the children have recreo (recess) for 1/2 hour. What do the teachers do? They all gather here and have coffee, cookies, cakes, toast, pate....you name it, they eat it at this hour. It's so entertaining!

And lastly, here is the gaggle of parents waiting to pick their children up at 2pm!

Well, I hope you all enjoyed the tour - and I think as you all can tell - I have entirely too much free time on my hands! Anyone out there know of anyone who needs some work done around Motril, Spain?!?! :-)

Emily's Gym

2010-11-09T07:43:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wanted to join a gym with great amenities and a personalized workout plan? Welcome to the wonderful world of “Emily’s Gym!” It’s my latest endeavor in Spain and please feel free to take a look at “The Essence of Emily” – the inaugural edition of the monthly newsletter for Emily’s Gym.
What are you looking for in a gym? Whatever your desire, I’m sure we have just what you need.
• Terrains of all types for a diverse workout experience - uphill, downhill, gravel, pavement

• Areas for doing sit-ups, lunges, and stretching

• Climbing equipment

• Breathtaking views from each piece of equipment

• Personalized work out plans

If Emily’s Gym interests you, please contact Emily for more information. Membership numbers are hovering right around one right now but we are always looking to increase. As an incentive, if you join before December 1st, your name will be included in a drawing for a free flight to Spain! Don’t miss out on this awesome opportunity!
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Ok so obviously this is a joke (and you would need that flight to Spain to be able to work out with me) but I wanted you all to get an idea of a little bit of the landscape of Motril and also how I am combating the issue of gaining weight in Spain - if you need a refresher, just refer back to the "culinary adventures" blog post. I have been enjoying my runs but hope to join a real gym here soon. Though, I joined one in Granada and it didn’t stop this from happening!

In other great news, I am writing this blog post from the comfort of my own bed in my piso because WE FINALLY HAVE THE INTERNET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Culinary Adventures Cont...

2010-11-01T11:26:00.001-07:00

So, remember how I was all excited about the cooking that I had been doing for the roommates? Well, there are just those days when you don’t really feel like making food or you simply have nothing in the house to make. What do you do? You order pizza. Tad, Michael Lynn and I had a brilliant idea to call and order pizza this afternoon for lunch. We gathered all the coupons/fliers we have collected from our mailbox and got to making a decision from which place to order. Our options were Telepizza, Telehorno, or some other place that I don’t even know if it has a name. This nameless place advertised specials for pizzas on Monday so we decided to go with the cheaper option and forgo choosing the places that we had previously heard of (Telepizza and Telehorno). Michael Lynn made the call but then could not understand what the guy was saying so she passed the phone to me. Everything was going great until he told me that he couldn’t hear me (my phone is really horrible) and while trying to put him on speakerphone so he could hear me better, he hung up on me! I got hung up on by the pizza guy!! After gathering confidence and making the call with my phone on speakerphone, we called back and he immediately knew it was us again (I have no idea how?!?! – that’s a joke) and we got things squared away. It took a while for the pizza to get here and when I met the guy at the door to pick it up, I was pleasantly surprised to know that we didn’t get any great “Monday deal” on our pizza and paid the full price for our pizza. Oh well. So I took it upstairs and opened up our half Hawaiian/half cheese pizza to see something that resembled a pizza but that had been sitting out for days. It looked quite like a plastic pizza.
Take a look for yourself

We were all a little skeptical but Tad cut it for us and we dug in……….well, not really. Upon further inspection of the pizza, Michael Lynn was not too excited to find a shiny, silvery substance that reminded us of fish scales. You also have to keep in mind that it was a 4 quesos (4 cheese) pizza and so we also considered the possibility of this being some kind of moldy cheese – haha. I took one bite and it was disgusting. Michael Lynn, expert food investigator that she is, then encountered a meat-looking substance that we were quite unable to identify.
Can you help us figure out what it is?

Here is the damage Michael Lynn and I did without really eating anything

Needless to say, I don’t think we’ll be ordering pizza from the unidentified company again.

Halloween Cont...

2010-11-01T10:50:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it through a Spanish Halloween! Tad and I dressed up twice! We went to what they refer to here as a “chino” (it sounds really racist but that’s the Spaniards for ya!) Everything there is really cheap (think Dollar Tree in the US) and we got some stuff to make costumes. I got the traditional cat ears and tail and also a gypsy skirt and some accessories to go with it. Tad found stuff to be a pirate and pulled it off well. Since Halloween is relatively new here in Spain, everything for them has to revolve around being scary and gory. Every costume has some sort of blood. A Spaniard would dress up as a ballerina but you can bet your bottom dollar that there will be some blood on that costume! With that said, there are still people in the US that make Halloween about everything to do with monsters, blood, death, etc. However, in the US, Halloween has acquired this sense of promiscuity (at least in college). Every girl tries to find the cutest costume and pretty much leaves the blood in the dust. Both nights I was dressed up, people kept approaching me and telling me that my costumes didn’t scare them!
Tad and me – night 1
Tad, Michael Lynn and Em – night 2
Our friends had a party last night at Pablo’s cortijo (cortijo can roughly be translated to cottage or country house). They went all out – they decorated, bought food and drink for the party, had music. It was very cool because Spaniards don’t frequently have parties at their homes. I took some pictures and a video so that everyone can get a sense of a Spanish Halloween party. It certainly was different but very fun!
Here are some crazy Spaniards

So I didn’t get a good picture of him, but we all voted and Beetlejuice was the “best costume” winner for the night

We weren’t really sure what Bernardo was supposed to be but his costume was hilarious!

Just don’t ask questions…..

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

I wrote this a few days ago and just am getting around to posting it (I won't mention anything here about lack of internet......)

Ok, so even though it is relatively new in Spain, kids LOVE Halloween. I have spent the better part of this week having students color a Halloween page and also teaching them the things related to Halloween and then doing a word search. They know mostly all of the typical Halloween things – pumpkins, witches, bats, Frankenstein, Dracula, etc… To them, the concept of putting candy into a pillowcase is quite unheard of and that word was a tough one to explain. However, you must keep in mind that the Spanish pillowcases are very long (think body pillow size) and have openings at both ends. I can imagine the confusion for a Spanish child as they are imagining all of their candy going into their pillowcase only to go right out the other end! Ha Trick-or-Treating is not common practice here but I have been told that there are some apartment buildings where they organize it and it does happen. Trick-or-treating here is called truc-o-trato.
I showed this video to my 4th grade class today while they were working on their haunted house project and the laughter was non-stop. I didn’t even plan to show it but my teacher asked me if there were any songs for Halloween?!?! I could only think of one and that was the monster mash. The kids had no idea what it was saying but it was funny to them all the same. I laughed just seeing all of them look so happy.

I also had to do my typical “dress for the holiday” like I always did in HS and even in college. I seem to have a pair of socks for every holiday (though they did not make the cut of things that I brought with me to Spain). I was asked by a lot of 4th graders why I was dressed like a witch. I guess they just can’t appreciate my effort I put forth to be festive!
Can you see why I was voted “most likely to be a soccer mom” in high school?! Thanks, mom, for teaching me everything I know!

Also, like I mentioned earlier, I had my 5th graders color a “Happy Halloween” page and made it a contest. Today, on the way to school I stopped by a candy store and bought candy for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners. Shhhhhh, don’t tell anyone but a small amount of candy may have snuck into the bag for me :-) I didn’t have this particular class today and so I just visited them to announce the winners. However, I was very relieved to not be staying in that class because I think I caused a bit of a disturbance by giving only three children candy. Most of the others started rambling in Spanish about how their drawing was good and they should have won, blah, blah, blah….I quickly snuck out. Getting to the point, Michael Lynn and I also colored one at home the other day and Tad hung them on the fridge!

PS - I have to mention that Tad drew his own picture. Michael Lynn did not know this and asked me if one of my students had given it to me! haha Don't worry, Tad. I give it an "excellent!"

One other point that I’d like to make about Spanish children is about their complete and utter lack of self confidence. I have to say that this is probably a mix of things they get from parents, teachers, friends, and themselves. I have another 5th grade class (different from the one mentioned above) and I had them in class yesterday. They were making drawings of an invertebrate and a vertebrate. The teacher had this cool website that showed them how to draw the butterfly and shark step-by-step. Well, this seems like a cool thing until each child either gets up out of their seat to come see EVERY step and give them reassurance that they are doing it correctly or they raise their hands and shout “teacher” or “Emily” for me to walk to their seat and see what they’ve done. Imagine this for 9 steps X 25 students (all of which end up speaking to me in Spanish and stare blankly at me when I answer them in English) and it gets a little tiring. I think my teacher and I both were ready to just run out of the classroom yesterday once the day was over. But in all reality, teachers act in either one of two ways with their children. I have observed many of my teachers putting other students down and to their faces. They will tell them that their drawing is really not that good, or will call them out in front of everyone for not having their materials for the day. In this regard, I think there is a lot of tough love. On the other hand, I have seen some of the teachers giving the students hugs, or touching their backs reassuringly. These children receive such mixed signals all of the time. I have yet to form an ultimate opinion about that, so I will have to get back to you.

On a completely different note, the internet guy came!!!!! Ok, that certainly didn’t warrant 5 exclamation points and this is why: we still don’t have INTERNET! I was the lucky gal that got to be here when the technician came and did the work. I won’t bore you with the details of the story but after coming and going 3 times in a matter of an hour, we think that we have a successful internet line installed. What the company failed to tell us and what the guy told me the other day is that now we have to wait for our router package to arrive and we get to set the rest of it up ourselves. The bad part is, we were planning to go away tomorrow and now we have to be here in case the router is delivered because it is coming through a private company and we have to sign for it. Do any of you have a headache reading this because I certainly am getting one writing it! Who knew that such a simple task could turn into something so difficult? I will reserve further judgment, however, because I have had my fair share of difficulties with Comcast in my college days (wow, I sound old when I say “in my college days!”)
I am wishing everyone a safe and Happy Halloween!!
Love to all from Motril!

So many new friends

2010-10-24T10:17:00.000-07:00

So, despite my dismal thoughts about the town of Motril, my roommate Tad and I have finally discovered that there are indeed YOUNG PEOPLE in Motril and we found them last night! It just takes getting to know some locals and they show you all the cool places. Here are a few pictures of new friends.

*Disclaimer* From the pictures, it appears that all my friends and I do in Spain is drink. This is entirely untrue. We are simply assimilating to the culture - which in Spain revolves around sharing beverages with friends in moderation. We are also doing many cultural things such as visiting small towns, going to museums, etc.

Roommates :-)

New friends at the bar

A champagne toast for my birthday!

NEW FRIENDS

Motril is becoming a more and more attractive place to live. We went a visited a neighboring beach this past weekend (and managed to go on the only cloudy day all week). It's like a ghost town now....everyone flocks there in the summer and then is not there now! It's crazy. it's still warm enough to lay out and work on a tan!

That's all for now - we have someone coming on Wed to install the phone line - one step closer to internet!!

Culinary Adventures

2010-10-22T09:52:00.000-07:00

I have a very short multiple choice quiz for all of you blog followers out there……
Which would you rather NOT eat?
a. Pastries
b. Chocolate
c. Candy
d. Churros and chocolate
e. Anything healthy (including but not limited to vegetables, fruits, chicken, etc…)
Well, as most of you may expect, I chose “e” for my answer and unless there is something seriously wrong with you, I might suspect you have all picked the same answer. Here’s where my favorite Southern Spain phrase “no pasa nada” enters into play. This can be translated to “don’t worry.” Well, one could say that I took this phrase a little bit too literal when I came to Spain two years ago (especially with my eating habits). Now, I have to preface this by saying that this is not going to be a post about self-image or body confidence but more just about pure facts. When I left Spain before, I was FAT.

Just look at the chub that has accumulated around my nice round face here when my parents came to visit me.

I don’t think my parents would have recognized me if I hadn’t snuck through the security exit into the baggage area at the airport and ran toward them like a flailing idiot. Also, you know it’s bad when you come back to visit your host family two years later and they spend the better part of 10 minutes looking at this picture which is displayed in their living room and commenting about how fat I was when I left (I guess I will take that as a compliment though as they are implying that I look better now).

This is a direct result of my “no pasa nada” attitude when it came to eating. My friends Liz and Emilee did not help the situation but only made it worse. There would be nights that we would make trips to multiple candy stores, devour two pastries, and then sit by the river eating a carton of neopolitan ice cream. Would I feel a little guilty? Yes, but then would think “well, I am in Spain and I might as well enjoy myself.” This eating situation was only made worse by my host mother who insisted on giving me the largest portions of food at lunch. Then, there was the problem of my picky eating…..if there was something at lunch that didn’t taste so good to me, I would simply shovel it down with plenty of bread (yes, I am pretty sure there were days I may have eaten an entire baguette by myself.)
Moving on, those days are behind me and I am looking to still enjoy myself in Spain but might I say “in moderation” this time (at least with regard to food). I stopped in a magazine shop the other day and picked up a “cooking healthy” magazine and another one that has recipes. Might I say they are all a little strange? There are a few that I think we could stomach but for the most part that idea was a fail. One of the shows that I really like to watch on TV is this guy who has a cooking show. He always breaks out into song and is just really entertaining. Well, one of his side dishes the other day was couscous. It looked good. I couldn’t stop thinking about couscous the entire next day. Here is where domestic Emily enters the picture (I know I say it a lot but these domestic things don’t come easily to me….cleaning, cooking, laundry). I decided to cook up some chicken, broccoli and couscous. Everything came out really great (and I even used chicken broth instead of water to make the couscous like my cooking show guy did so it had more flavor). Tad and Michael Lynn were a little skeptical of the couscous but after trying it decided that it wasn’t so bad.
Here are some pictures from our dinner the other night

So, in my package that is so happily displayed in my last post, there was the October issue of Fitness magazine. One of the highlights on the front cover was recipes for easy, healthy soups/stews. Well, this is perfect for Spain because that is what they eat all of the time. I went for a run this afternoon and came back with an exceptional amount of energy and decided I’d try my hand at chicken tortilla soup.
I looked at the list of ingredients and thought I’d be able to find them all in a Spanish grocery store. The only ingredient I couldn’t find was cumin and so I substituted curry which seemed to work fine. The recipe claims that it only takes like ½ hour to cook but I managed to prove them wrong! It took me a good chunk of time but the finished product was a success! Tad and Michael Lynn really liked it and so did I! We had a nice healthy meal and have some left over for tomorrow.

I have a couple of other pictures but I can't get them to load (I'm not always the best with this blog website!)
So I can’t say there was much of a point to this post except to show that I am actually trying to make meals and have acquired the label of "resident cook/mom" of the piso.

The arrival of the coveted package

2010-10-20T09:37:00.000-07:00

Well, Tad says that I keep spitting out blog posts like it’s my job (and they are all quite random but would you expect anything less of Emily?) and quite frankly, it could be my job since I only work 9 hours per week and am bored out of my mind the other 159 hours. Though, I am working on that problem – I have printed my flyer for private classes and posted a couple today around the school and will post more tomorrow when I find myself some tape. I got my package from my mom today for my birthday and it was like Christmas morning! Here is the unopened package in all it's glory It is so nice to get little things from home (even though I have only been gone for a month, it is possible to miss things like goldfish and sugar babies!!!) Everyone should be jealous of my” American drawer” which now has a home in my room (ok maybe everyone reading this in America is not jealous but I showed my roommate Tad and he was definitely jealous). My mother is amazing and sent me macaroni and cheese! My roommate Michael Lynn has searched feverishly for mac and cheese here in Spain with no success and now I have a coveted box. She told me to make sure she was nowhere near when I eat it because she just couldn’t handle it. Here are my birthday cards I also took a picture of the gift my landlady gave me….the picture just doesn’t do it justice…… I brought along some extra pictures and they didn’t really have a home so I made this little collage on my wall today. I used sticky tack and I hope my landlady doesn’t mind
Also, here is a video I took of Granada from the main lookout point at the Alhambra.

2010-10-18T10:48:00.000-07:00

Well, I have officially turned 24 years old! Birthday weekend in Granada was a success! I already knew how much I loved Granada and will probably go there quite frequently but I think Tad fell in love with Granada in his maiden voyage there. It is just an absolutely awesome city with so many things to do and people to hang out with. And can you beat this view? (You could only beat it if it were a clear day!)

On Saturday, I was able to hang out for a bit with Paco and Pilar. Pilar gave me a big hug and kisses and told me happy birthday! We went for a walk to what I would like to refer to as the Wal Mart of Spain (here it’s called Corte Ingles). We had to exchange some shoes for Paco and that was an adventure in itself. There were people everywhere and of course we had to go to the customer service counter which was packed. They have a thing for you to take a number and wait your turn. Well, this still doesn’t stop Spaniards from being pushy and trying to get waited on before their number. It’s incredible. Pilar said they didn’t used to have a number system and there would be fights. Now just picture that….two old Spanish women heaving their purses at one another and pushing/shoving just to be waited on a minute sooner. Craziness. Pilar made lunch for us – boy does she know me. She cut up potatoes and made me homemade French fries, scrambled eggs and then I had a giant slice of juicy pineapple after. It was a perfectly acceptable birthday meal. Michael Lynn joined us in Granada that afternoon. She brought me a bag of candy (she already knows the way to my heart) and also a gift from my landlady! How sweet. I might just have to post a picture of the gift though – it will speak for itself. We ended up going out for tapas at one of my favorite places around plaza de toros and they brought a surprise with them for me! They had bought a sampler of these pastries complete with candles. They even sang to me!! I felt like such a lucky girl. After that, we went out for a night on the town.
After a weekend in Granada, I think I might be ready for the slower pace of Motril. I get to go on a field trip tomorrow with a group of the kids to the sugar cane museum! I am excited with the only exception being that the museum is right by my house which seems convenient but tomorrow I get to walk to school (20 min), walk back to the museum (probably like 30 min with a bunch of little rug rats), then I get to walk back to school with them (30 min) and then I get to walk back home after that (20 min). With that being said, I am a capable, healthy person and I think I can handle it!
Here are some random pictures from the weekend – Enjoy!
Tad and Michael Lynn out for my birthday

Juan Carlos and me

Someone had a crown on in the bar on Friday (technically it was Saturday and so it was my birthday) and she let me wear it for a minute! BIRTHDAY CROWN!

Birthday pastries before we dug into them…..there were 7 different flavors – dulce de leche, carmel, truffle, chocolate, cheesecake, tiramisu, and mocha.

And the damage…….

Roomies!

Here are the new friends we made and toured the Alhambra with on Friday – Oscar and Natalia

My third trip to the Alhambra!

One of the many pictures I took of flowers…..and caught the bee in action, too!

Just a few random thoughts......

2010-10-15T09:43:00.000-07:00

So I am in Granada for my birthday weekend and though this will not be a very cohesive post, I thought I would share some random things with you just to hold you over until my next juicy post!

So on Thursday the students from my sixth grade English class sang Happy Birthday to me! It was so cute and yet barely understandable. I am tempted to take my camera in on Monday and have them reinact it and then I will post it on here so you can hear how adorable they are. I was so touched. A few other students from my 4th grade art class also told me happy birthday!!

Tad and I went to the Alhambra today at the bright and early hour of 8am. My host mom thought I was crazy getting up that early but it almost wasnt early enough. There was a huge line when we got there and we kept hearing announcements of the dwindling amount of tickets as we waited in line. We started talking to a couple in front of us who was from California and finally, Natalia got out of line and checked out these self-serve kiosks which we thought were only for people who had pre-reserved tickets online and needed to print them. Lo and behold, you could purchase tickets there. So we got tickets for an afternoon visit starting at 2pm. Meanwhile, what do we do with 5 extra hours before we can enter? Well, this is where tourguide extraordinaire Emily steps in.....we had a mini tour of Granada. We had coffee at cafe futbol, had chocolate filled muffins from the infamous bread lady (see old posts for pictures - and not to worry, we did a sufficient amount of exercise today to burn off those calories). Then, we did a tour around the Cathedral and the surrouding touristy areas. We did a walk-through of Plaza Bib Rambla (styled after Las Ramblas of Barcelona). We then climbed up to a very cool pottery shop that I visited with my parents when they were here and we all picked up some things (We all got new mugs for the house and Natalia and Oscar bought some gifts for family and friends). Then we went to a place for some drinks and tapas and by the time we knew it, it was time to go to the Alhambra.

The Alhambra visit was fun - granted it was my third time there and I am officially exhausted but it is worth it. I got some really cool pictures of some of the flowers in the gardens there and am thinking about investing in some pastels here to do some drawings. If they come out well enough, I may take them to a shop to see about selling them since I am already a famous artist in my school, I might as well try my hand at it in the real world (this is a joke!) We got Natalia and Oscars email addresses and hope to stay in contact with them. Can anyone say trip to California to visit them when I get back? yes, please!!

I think we are going to meet up with my friend Juan Carlos again tonight and have a little birthday celebration. At this point, all I want to do is sit and rest my feet for a while. Oh, I almost forgot some of the best news............WE WILL HAVE INTERNET NEXT WEEK!! YOu can all stop hearing me complain about the lack of internet and we can all stop going and hanging out at the McDonalds!!! Hallelujah!!!

Bye for now!

Well, you might as well call our piso the infirmary

2010-10-12T09:59:00.001-07:00

It has been so long since I have written that I had to look back at my own blog to see what I last talked about – how pathetic. I can’t say that I’ve been too busy to post (that’s certainly not the case) but it’s more for our lack of internet and always having to go in search of it is getting quite frustrating (and it’s usually either at this bar that has wifi or McDonald’s – yes, of all the places in Spain we sometimes go to McDonald’s to use internet – and we end up spending money which we are all very tightly holding onto since it seems to be a precious commodity and we don’t get paid for another 3 weeks).
I made it through week one of teaching (or should I say of glorified art babysitting). Michael Lynn comes home every day and is telling us about how she taught the kids about bones or the circulatory system at her school in science class while Tad barely has any time with his children and spends more time planning with teachers and I spend my days wandering through art classrooms fielding hundreds of questions about myself and telling kids “good job” when they color inside the lines. It’s funny the range of work a person can have here yet we are all making the same amount of money. I drew an “autumn” scene for one of the classes. I gave it to the teacher and thought it was only going to be inspiration of some sort for the kids to draw something on their own. Lo and behold, I walk into the classroom to see my very elementary picture of a scarecrow by a fence with some corn and three pumpkins in the corner largely displayed on the smart board and the teacher is having them draw my picture. Didn’t know I was such a talented artist as to have people be reproducing my work already. Some of the kids did the picture justice while most just butchered it.

I drew mine free-hand but this is pretty darn close to what my picture looked like!

The teacher then informed me that he sent it to the other 4th grade teachers so who knows how many times I will see my drawing reappear.
Today is a national holiday in Spain and so we didn’t have school. I love how I have worked for a week and already have a day off. Normally, the students and teachers have that Monday off (yesterday) so that it creates a Puente (bridge) and there’s just a really long weekend but this was the first year in many years that they didn’t do that. We had to work on Monday but then supposedly we have more days off around Christmas.
I went to Granada on Friday to see my friend Juan Carlos and to celebrate his birthday. I know some of his friends from when I studied abroad in Granada. It was a good time and I was so happy to be in Granada. It is so much more of a “college town” with students and young people everywhere. Motril is not a bad place to live but it’s just a little boring and lacks a certain amount of young people to make it lively.

The welcome sign makes it seem likes paradise....but it's not!

However, Tad got to know a couple of other Americans that are working in Motril (Javier, Cynthia – who is also a UofM grad, and Sara). We went out with them last night and had a blast.

Here are our new friends in Motril.....Yes, I am carrying a rather large drink and no, it wasn't just mine.....we all shared it.

Javier’s parents are from Cuba and so he speaks Spanish fluently and Sara also speaks really well. We spent most of the night speaking Spanish with them and I think it will really help all of us to improve if we always speak together in Spanish. I also met some cool people when I was in Granada with Juan Carlos.

Here is a picture of Juan Carlos and myself...two years later and some other friends I met - some Spanish people and Germans

I am hoping to start making more connections and have things to do.
The roomies and I are going to Granada this weekend. I am so excited. We might go to the Alhambra on Friday. We aren’t sure of our other plans yet – Saturday is my birthday so I’m sure we’ll celebrate. It will be weird to be away from home on my birthday. This will be the first time this has ever happened. But mom told me there’s a package headed my way and I am so excited!!! She sends the best packages! Every time I opened one up when I studied abroad in 2008, it was like Christmas morning. Oh the creature comforts of things from home.
And now, getting back to the title of this blog post…..Michael Lynn and I have both developed pretty nasty colds and I think whatever sickness Tad had in Sevilla is still lingering with him as he is still coughing a lot. Put us all together and even combined, we wouldn’t make a complete healthy person. Mine started off as a sore throat and now has turned into a nice little cold in my head and chest. Michael Lynn’s started the same way only her sore throat was worse and she is having trouble breathing. I just hope we all feel better before this weekend and that the little rug rats at school would start covering their mouths when they cough and sneeze (oh the joys of being an educator!!)
Here’s where I stop making any promises about us getting the internet in our apartment…….we just don’t know when or if it will even happen and that’s all I have to say about that!
I send my love and hugs to the US!!
P.S. Tad and I watched the Michigan vs. Michigan State game this past weekend at a bar on his computer……what a disappointment. I brought my Michigan flag to Spain and have it hung up with sticky tack – only it keeps falling and so right now it’s crumpled up on my bedroom floor and I think I’ll just leave it that way for a while.

My address

2010-10-05T10:22:00.000-07:00

Hello from sunny Spain!

I thought I would tell everyone my address - just in case something needs to be sent my way :-)

Emily Allshouse
Escribano Valderas
Bloque A 1C
Motril (Granada) 18600
Espana

Just as a little side note......I don't know how to make a degree symbol but there needs to be one between the 1 and C in my address!! haha

Lots of things to catch up on

2010-10-05T03:26:00.000-07:00

October 4 2010 – 8:45 pm

Well, these last few days have been nothing short of interesting, exciting, nerve-wracking, frustrating and I’m sure the list could go on and on. The last time I wrote was Friday but I didn’t tell you about my first day of school. The kids are very noisy – you can always tell when they are in the hallways. I didn’t really have contact with kids on Friday, however. I met with the bilingual coordinator and also the headmaster of the school and we talked about our job expectations and our schedules and what not. There is also another girl at my school from New Jersey named Catherine (she went through a different program and so I had no idea she was also going to be in my school). She is really nice and her boyfriend is also in Motril teaching in the same school as Michael Lynn. The bilingual coordinator (Antonio) also showed us how to use the smart boards that they have in each classroom. They are totally digital and there are an endless amount of possibilities of things to do with them! He let us play around and draw and of course I drew a flower (it’s my go-to drawing!) Tad, Michael Lynn and I all met up after school back at the piso and talk about our days. Tad had also been in touch with his uncle who lives in Algeciras and told us that we could come and pick up the car he was going to let us borrow for our time here.
On Saturday, our great adventure to pick up the car began. We caught a bus at 10:30 and headed west and south toward Algeciras. It’s a really long bus ride (much longer than by car) because it makes stops in all the coastal towns (Nerja, Marbella, etc…) It’s a beautiful ride, though. You can’t beat the views of the water and the mountains. We finally go to Algeciras around 2:30 and Tad’s uncle picked us up in our new ride  It’s a maroon 1992 BMW! Yes, we are ridin’ in style (kind of, but I’ll tell you about that later). Tad’s aunt had prepared us a feast of tortilla, tortilla de sacromonte, salad, chips and guacamole (no, that’s not traditional Spanish food) and we also had flan for dessert. It was DELICIOUS!! We walked the beach and relaxed after eating and hung out with their 5 yr old son, Daniel. Tad’s uncle is an English teacher and so they speak to Daniel in both Spanish and English! He can speak English well – better than some Americans I know. We had pizza for dinner while we watched the MICHIGAN football game which we streamed from the computer and then hooked up the computer to the tv! It was so awesome to be able to watch the game (and nearly have a heart attack right at the last minute watching Michigan trying so hard to lose that game).
On Sunday, we slept in and then had breakfast and Tad’s uncle showed us the ins and outs of the car. We made sure all the light bulbs were functioning (we’re short a back-up light but I think we can manage to buy one of those). We had lunch (I think Ali, Tad’s aunt, was trying her best not to freak us out with any weird food). For lunch we had grilled BBQ chicken, backed potatoes (regular and sweet), sour cream with chives, salad and bread (of course). It was sooo good and we are so grateful that we had some awesome meals. After that, it was time to hit the road.
Now, one must remember that while there are some universal road signs (Stop, for example), many of them are very different in Spain and have no words on them as to indicate what they mean. In addition, there are many hills, roundabouts, one-way streets and crazy drivers in Spain. Meanwhile, Tad knows how to drive a manual car but let’s just say he’s not an expert by any means. We got out of town safely and were on the highway when we quickly realized that we needed gas (and remember, gas is by the liter here and it’s about 1.15 euros/liter – this can equate to about $7-8/gallon). We found a gas station not too far from Algeciras and decided to stop. We did not know how to use the pump and so I swallowed my pride and went inside to tell the worker that it was our first time pumping gas in Spain and we weren’t quite sure what to do. He asked us how much we wanted to put in (we chose 30 Euros which only ended up getting us ½ tank!!) and then we were all set to go. (There is a part here that I had to omit by request of one of the roommates.....maybe a story for another time). We made it home safely and without too many problems (we had a hard time keeping a radio station in the mountains and so part of the time we listened to The Beatles greatest hits on cassette tape – yes, 24 yr olds are old enough to remember those!) It was a beautiful drive and much quicker than by bus. We made it home in less than 3 hours.
Monday was our first day of school with the children. I have three hours of work every day and one free period which the bilingual coordinator said would either be free time or a time when I would hang out with the teachers that also had break then and help them with their English. So, my first class was with Antionio (the coordinator) and I had 6th graders. They all had prepared questions to ask me to get to know me and so I spent some time answering them and asking them questions back. It was really cute and they were well-behaved. My next class was 5th graders and it was a science class but they also try to incorporate the arts as well. I had to teach them the primary and secondary colors and then they made colors mixing them and of varying intensities. Their English skills were a little lower but as I would walk around the room, some of them were curious and would ask me questions. They are always so curious about where we come from and how long it took us to get here. That class was fine.
Now, let’s move on to my last class of the day. It was 4th grade and they knew even less English. I can only use one word to describe this class and it is CHAOS. Not organized chaos, just pure madness. This is an art class but they try to incorporate science into that so they were drawing pictures of flowers and they would bring them up to the teacher and he looks at it and gives them a grade. The teacher had no control over the class and for this reason, I’m either going to need to invest in a set of heavy-duty earplugs or else a lifetime supply of some strong ibuprofen. All they did was run around the room and shout. They don’t have any concept of inside voices or respect for that matter. One student told me that I was very pretty and that I was much better looking than their teacher and that their teacher is soooo ugly (all while he was standing right there). That class will be a struggle!
I came home and had lunch and a little nap (just to de-stress from those kids) and then went for my first run in Spain! It was a struggle as I am really out of shape but I think I found a good place to run and part of it is uphill which will really challenge me. Michael Lynn, Tad and I just got back from Al Campo (Spain’s WalMart) and got a lot of food. We will see what tomorrow brings! Oh, and I’ve done two loads of laundry already – yes, be proud of me, please!!
Hopefully we will have internet soon – we are all dying without it!

2010-10-01T06:28:00.000-07:00

Friday October 1, 2010 – 9 am Spain
Well, it’s the first day of school – my 20th consecutive first day of school. However, this one stands out because this time I’m the TEACHER and not a student. So I guess my count starts over again and this is really my FIRST day of school.

Can't be without a "first day of school picture"

Here's Tad and Michael Lynn trying to figure out how to get to school (I embarrassingly had to pull my map out on my walk because I got a little lost).

The program told us that we should be ready to go to school today at 9am when the school day starts but I had been in contact with my coordinator at school and he said that we were having a meeting at 11:30 with the English teachers to talk about expectations and what not. I had emailed him about whether to come at 9 or 11:30 and didn’t hear from him before this morning. So I got all ready to go with Tad and Michael Lynn and Antonio (bilingual coordinator at my school) texts me and says that 11:30 is ok to come and this was at like 8:20. So, I have some spare time to catch up on all the exciting things that have been happening lately.
I finally have a home in Spain!!! Yay. We ended up renting the same piso (apartment) that is in the pictures from the previous post.

Here we are in the rental office signing our lives away for our piso

It’s so nice – our land lady (Maria) is still working on some things but we don’t really mind. She is so nice and has driven us around and helped us bring over our luggage from the hotel. She is pregnant and might be the cutest thing ever. She has lived in London for 10 years as a teacher and so she speaks English and Spanish. I always want her to speak Spanish but it has been nice when there are certain technical things that we had to discuss and we could easily communicate with her.
After deciding to rent the apartment, we had to do the only thing that was fair as far as picking which rooms we will all have – we drew from a hat. The three choices were BIG – ORANGE – BLUE (as there is a big master room, a room that is entirely blue and one that has orange curtains in it). Well, guess which room is mine????
I lucked out and drew the BIG room.

This is an initial picture.....it will look different soon, hopefully!

Tad picked the blue room and then Michael Lynn has the orange room. We spent a lot of time unpacking yesterday and Michael Lynn and I took a trip to Al Campo (the closest thing I can think of to Wal Mart in the US). We had to get some essentials (hand soap, dish soap, hangers, shampoo/conditioner, etc.) Some of our rooms are lacking storage space and so we are thinking a road trip to IKEA in Málaga might be in order once we get the car from Tad’s Uncle (Tad’s uncle lives in Spain and lucky for us has a car that we can use while we are here because he just got a new one). It’s a manual and Tad is the only one who knows how to drive a manual. Michael Lynn and I said he could teach us how to drive it but seeing our parking garage and how hilly this town is…..um, I might just let him drive me around  (thanks, Tad!)
We cooked a rather American dinner last night after Tad and I went to the store for a few essential food items (this of course included alcohol). We even ate a very American hour (around 7:00) because we hadn’t eaten the main meal of the day (at 2ish) and we were all starving. We made penne pasta with a tomato sauce with oregano and then we had a salad and of course the Spanish staple, bread. It was delicious!! After dinner, we had a champagne toast out on our balcony to our new home.

We sat out there for a while and just chatted about life and relaxed from the day.
I’ve only been here for a week and a half but it feels so much longer (Tad has almost been here 7 weeks and Michael Lynn nearly 4!) I am not missing too much from the US yet (though I did finally open the bag of goldfish I brought yesterday afternoon because I was so hungry and needed something to hold me over). I did finish the box of Mike & Ikes that I had brought with me – but there’s plenty more candy to be found around here so I’m not too worried!
I send my love and hugs to all 

Finally in Motril

2010-09-29T02:51:00.000-07:00

So there is a huge sign when you enter into Motril and all I could think last night as my bus passed it was, "here's home for the next 8-9 months!" YAY!!!
Orientation in Sevilla is over and we have all departed for our respective towns. Orientation was helpful but was a bit tiring to sit and listen to people talk to us all day. I had to leave a bit early on the second day as I had to take a bit of a round-about way to Motril. There is only one bus that goes directly from Sevilla to Motril and it leaves every morning at 7am. Well, I couldn't miss the entire day of orientation so I took a bus from Granada (3 hours) and then bought another ticket from Granada to Motril (1.25 hours) and finally arrived last night around 10ish.

My friend Tad (he's from Michigan too) met me at the bus station and I was happy to see a familiar face (especially since I am in an unfamiliar town and had no idea where I was). They are staying in a hotel and since I am very cheap and didn't want to pay for my own reservation, I am shacking up with them! They were so kind to let me stay!
They have done all the leg work in looking for apartments and had set up two appointments to see the two that the liked the best today. After seeing both, we have decided that this one will be our home...........

This is one of the bedrooms - it has a bed but the owner hasn't opened it up yet.

Here is the kitchen - it has really new appliances and also has some of the same cups from IKEA that we have in our house at home! haha Imagine that

Here is a half-bathroom that is right off the main living area. It's small but functional

This is the living room complete with Tad, Michael Lynn and Javier :-)

Here is our oh-so-adorable terrace where I am sure I will be enjoying many hours of reading and sipping on coffee - and look at our amazing view of the city and the water in the picture right under this one

Here's the laundry room (guess I might have to learn to use the washing machine since my mom isn't here with me ;-) love ya, mom!! haha

This is the master bedroom - I love how open and airy this apartment is

This is the main bathroom

Here is the third and final bedroom

Here is another view of the "blue bedroom"

We are so excited to have a place to call home. We have called the agency and the owner and confirmed that we want to rent this apartment and we will meet them later and even move some of our stuff there. It's sooooo exciting!! I can't wait to fill it up and make it our own!!

Oh, and I told you about the strike in the last post and it's today - there are police everywhere and a lot of things are closed. They are in such crisis here. I didn't do myself any favors by moving from one country with an economic crisis to another. But here is the picture of the sign I took in Granada which I translated in the last post.

A random post that wasn't functioning when I tried to post it before....

2010-09-29T02:48:00.000-07:00

So I wrote this a while ago (obviously) and had troubles with blogspot and uploading photos so I will post it and there won't be pictures but maybe I can get it to work soon.

Monday September 27, 2010 – 2:45 pm – Spain
So, I have finally made it to Seville for my orientation and am enjoying some free WiFi from the hotel (although it’s pretty spotty and my connection keeps cutting out while trying to talk to people). Pilar came with me to the bus station this morning and helped me with all of my luggage. She is so kind. I have been told by both she and her daughter that I can come and stay at their respective houses in Granada anytime I want.
The rest of this post is going to be pretty random. Just thoughts and things I have done the past couple of days.

Here is a picture I took of a sign hanging on a wall in Granada – there is a huelga general or “general strike” on Wednesday the 29th of September. I have been trying to catch what it’s all about on the news but I can only catch about 60% of what they say (Spaniards talk so dang fast)…..but when I saw this sign it made more sense.
It says, “Against Capitalism – their crisis, their solutions, their laws, their labor reforms, their values, their wars, their political parties, and their methods of communication” Interesting.

Yesterday, Pilar’s youngest daughter invited me to go to a small town with her family and the rest of the sisters. There was a group of about 15 of us (including husbands, boyfriends, children etc…). There was some sort of festival going on and we ended up going to two “bodegas.” However, in the US, I would consider them beer tents! We had beer, wine and tapas and just had a very fun day. Later, there was a parade in Granada and I went out with Paco and Pilar and two of their friends (and drank more…..). I thought it was going to be a relaxing day but it ended up being a fun/drinking kind of day and I was exhausted by the end.

Some Pictures

2010-09-25T10:20:00.000-07:00

Nothing too interesting has been going on here lately but I'll share some pictures with you. I went wandering around Granada today and visited some of my old stomping grounds.

Here is an example of a Spanish rest stop - on my way to Granada from Madrid

Here are Paco and Pilar's youngest daughter's kids - Julia and Pablo

This is the reason why I gained so much weight two years ago - the BREADY LADY who makes delicious pastries!!!!

It´s simple, really....I hate cell phone companies

2010-09-24T10:45:00.000-07:00

Friday September 24, 2010 6:23pm – Spain
What do I hate?! I hate cell phone companies. Not only do I hate cell phone companies in the US, I now hate cell phone companies in Spain and I’m sure I’d hate them in any other country I happen to visit. I hate them with a passion that transcends all evil (that doesn’t even make sense but it sounds mean).
This morning at 10:00¸ I met up with my friend Juan Carlos and after dropping a paper off at his university, he was a trooper and we began our adventure of finding a cell phone. We traversed to all of the popular cell phone companies to find catalogs of the cell phones. This took about an hour and then we sat in a plaza to start our search for the perfect phone for Emily (but I think I was a bit disillusioned that something would measure up to my iPhone and I was sadly mistaken). Since I am not really a Spanish resident (yet) and don’t have a bank account (yet), I have to get a pre-pay cell phone and those options are much more limited than if you have a contract (much like the United States). Well, I decided upon a company and three phones I wanted to see. So we went to Orange (the company I chose) and asked to see the phones. Easy enough, right? Wrong! The woman didn’t have any of the phones but she said that another store had them. So Juan Carlos and I trekked all the way across town only to find that none of the ones that I wanted were at that store either. So it was onto another company to see my second option of phone (which was still a nice phone). We hiked to Vodafone and asked to see this particular phone which said in the catalog “pre-paid.” Well, the woman told us in so many words that this particular phone could only be purchased if you have a contract. Strike 2, 3?! Feeling very defeated, we did the next best thing……we drank. At this time, our search had gone on for 2 ½ hours and we had nothing to show for it. We sat and had a beer and a tapa and discussed our options. Juan Carlos suggested that we go to this place called The Phone House. And yes, the name is in English. However, the whole time, I thought he was saying “let’s go to the FUN house.” Ohhhhhh boy. This is a place where they sell phones for all of the companies. I found one I liked there with a company that is not as well-known. However, it was nearing lunch time and Juan Carlos had to go home and so did I. So we parted ways (at 2:30 – almost 5 hours after our adventure began and with empty hands) and agreed to meet at 4:15 to buy the one we had picked out. The woman at Phone House assured us that the store doesn’t close for the afternoon like the rest of Spain.
Imagine our disappointment when we met each other at the Phone House at 4:15 and it was closed. I think that was maybe strike 15 of the day? Juan Carlos had to go to work at 5 and so we walked toward his workplace and we happened to find an open Vodafone store on our way. I said “hey, let’s go in and see what they have – it can’t hurt.” Lo and behold, they had the phone that I wanted earlier and it could work pre-paid and not only with a contract!!! It was like the heavens opened up and angels started singing. I quickly made a decision that this was the phone for me (and most of you know Emily and quick decisions don’t go together). It’s an LG Cookie Fresh (what a name, right?) It has a touch screen and it’s pretty nice. I have put in most of my Spanish contacts and am good to go. I don’t really want to walk anywhere for days – I think I covered just about every square inch of Granada in my search for a cell phone. My feet hurt so bad.

Here is a picture of my phone (of course they didn´t have it in pink and mine is black but I was not into being too picky at this point in the day.)

So, after this long and drawn-out story (I’m sure most of you stopped paying attention in the first paragraph), I’d like to reiterate that I hate cell phone companies. That’s all for now!

Oh the Spanish way of life

2010-09-24T10:44:00.000-07:00

Thursday September 23, 2010 10:04 pm – Spain, 4:04 pm – United States

Well, I made it through my first full day in Spain and it was exactly how I remembered it. After a long 36 hours of traveling, I finally made it to Granada only to find out that my cell phone that I had bought two years ago when I was in Spain did not function. I tried contacting my host mom numerous times and her daughter via text message (why a text you ask? Because I am a chicken and was scared to call). There was a little internet café in the bus station in Granada and I logged on to keep my sanity. I was able to send an email off to my parents to let them know I was safe and a few other tasks. When I was done with the internet, I had no choice but to put on my big girl panties and go find a payphone and call Pilar. Let me tell you, it was not nearly as bad as one might imagine making a phone call could be ;-) She answered and was so happy to hear from me. I took a cab to their house and she was outside waiting for me. I gave her the biggest hug and it was amazing. I went inside and saw Paco – more hugs and kisses. Everything is the same except for their new wood floor which I noticed right away. I feel right at home here. I took a shower (I don’t think I could have possibly fallen asleep with the stench that was following me everywhere) and went to bed around midnight. I didn’t wake up until after 11 this morning (can we say jet lag?)
I spent time with Pilar this afternoon – we went for a walk and made stops at the pharmacy and to get fruit. We ate lunch and then like a true Spaniard, I took a siesta (nap). Paco and Pilar’s daughter Pili came over tonight with her husband Pablo and their children Julia and Pablo. I couldn’t believe how much Juila had grown since the last time I saw her but she still remembered me and was all smiles. Pablo (their 2-yr-old son) was born shortly after I left in 2008 and so this was our first meeting. It was a lot of fun to see them all again.
Moving on to dinner……Pilar is a good cook but tonight’s dinner was interesting. We had a cold pasta salad with cheese, tomato, hard boiled eggs, onion, olive oil, and POMEGRANATE! I had actually never tried an actual pomegranate and was shocked to know that you essentially are eating seeds. Oh, Spanish cuisine, how I have (not) missed thee.
Nothing too interesting to happening now. I am going to meet my friend Juan Carlos tomorrow and take him to be my representative when I try to figure out this cell phone issue. He knows some English so I think it will be helpful.
Hugs to all!

Long Day(s)

2010-09-23T08:50:00.000-07:00

Wednesday September 22, 2010 – 12:30pm Spain time/6:30am in the US

Well, here I am sitting in the bus station waiting for a bus to take me to Granada so I can see some familiar faces in Spain (aka my Spanish family – Paco and Pilar). I made it safely on my flight and was lucky enough to sit next to a girl who is doing a similar thing as me (teaching English in Madrid). However, she has no job and really no place to live, etc. And my family and friends thought I was crazy?!
She was nice and we were able to chat about our respective experiences in Spain (she did two years of college in Spain at St. Louis University which apparently has a campus in Madrid – how neat).
On a random side note – since I mentioned that my flight to Spain went so well, maybe I’ll tell you about my flight from Detroit to Atlanta. What is everyone’s worse nightmare of flying (besides the plane crashing)? When you spot that person that you pray doesn’t take the seat next to you? Yep, well this time he was behind me but that didn’t stop me from smelling him. This particular gentleman had the worst body odor I have ever smelled. The woman sitting right next to him had her face turned away with the paper covering her nose. I had never seen such a horrified look and I thought many times she might just lose her cookies right there in the airplane aisle. After the flight took off, she disappeared! I caught up with her on the tram and asked her where she was lucky enough to sneak off to and she said the flight attendants let her sit up front (because the flight was full). I kept getting wafts of the smell and could only thank God that this was not my 8 hour flight to Spain! 
In case you are all wondering and sitting in suspense, the luggage contraption worked like a charm and I had a much easier time navigating the airport and the metro to make it to the train station. Does this mean I am not sitting here sweating and smelling like I just played 90 minutes of soccer? No. Does this mean my hands do not have blisters? No. Does this mean I’m not exhausted beyond belief and can’t wait to take a shower and put my head on a pillow? No. Nevertheless, it worked and I was a self-sufficient traveler.
As we were approaching our descent and about to land in Spain, it became very surreal that I am finally back. I always imagined I’d be back but maybe just for a visit and that’s it. I can’t believe I am actually fulfilling my dream of living here for almost a year. I know that it will be a different experience (I already felt different as I was traveling because before I had a whole group of U of M students with me and this time I was completely on my own). I had a few moments of just plain fear while I was sitting waiting for my flight in Atlanta (and anyone who talked to me during that time before I left could probably sense it – aka mom, Connor, Meghan, Emilee, Dave Wu – haha). But I think that I am ready for this adventure. I am ready to be independent in another country, immerse myself in the Spanish language and culture and just have fun.
I send love and hugs to everyone from SPAIN!!!!!

Moving Day!

2010-09-21T06:32:00.001-07:00

Since I have a few extra minutes before I leave for the airport, I thought I'd begin my blogging adventure from the comfort of my own home. All my bags are packed and let me tell you about the adventure my father and I had this morning which caused the neighbors to come outside and stare. Dad was concerned about me lugging around two suitcases (combined weight = 100 lbs) in addition to my carry-on. So he rigged a system (aka a bungee cord) which would link my two suitcases together and thus leave me with a free hand to open doors and to make me a self-sufficient traveler. He even walked around the driveway demonstrating it's capability to make swift turns and maneuvers. It was quite the sight to see and we laughed that the neighbors were probably watching out their window. Well, upon further inspection, I realized that suitcase manufacturers pay people millions of dollars to figure out contraptions to avoid having people make their own redneck straps. There are indeed straps that allow one to hook suitcases together making travel easier for individuals. So, again we strapped them together with our newly found discovery and mom had come out at this point with her camera. Needless to say we were all amazed and took a turn "driving" the suitcases around the driveway........that's when the neighbors came out and requested a turn with the suitcases! I guess we just all needed a good laugh this morning!
I want to thank everyone for their love and encouragement as I am about to embark upon this new life adventure (and this time I promise I'm actually moving to Spain and won't move back in a week ;-) Like I always say, I'll try to be good at updating my blog but I know that the first couple of weeks my internet accessibility will be spotty and so I'll do my best.
Love to all,
Em

Here are some pictures for your entertainment

Life is Unexpected

2010-02-01T19:27:00.000-08:00

I wrote this a few days ago and never posted it. I will post it now for the people who may not know what happened.

Some of you are probably wondering why it has been so long since I have written a post and I have to say it's because sooooo much has been going on that I have not even thought about writing. Instead of delaying the inevitable, I will just say that my mom and I had a great vacation in Florida and are now back home in Michigan (yes, BOTH of us). After some further investigating and getting answers to questions (which were not asked by me before I packed up my life and moved to Florida), the internship turned out to be something that did not seem to be the right fit for me. However, along the way mom and I made a friend. His name is Jim and he is the owner of the house that I "lived in" for two days. He is a good friend of the boss. He is a pilot and wanted to take mom and I up in his plane but the weather was not great when we were there. We definitely have his card and will look him up if we are ever back in the area. He was at the house on Sunday doing some work when I decided to not take the internship. He was very sad as he had enjoyed talking to my mom and me and vice versa. He had another friend helping him with the house and so we all piled into my car and went to lunch at the marina in Placida, Florida. We had a blast and laughed so hard. I have to give him credit because he did his best to keep me in Florida. It's funny how you can meet a person and instantly feel comfortable and like you've been friends forever. That's definitely how Jim made us feel and he helped contribute to our positive memories from this experience.
We did have a wonderful two day visit in Longboat Key with some family friends (have to give my shout-out to the Goldsens for being such awesome people). It was relaxing to get away and we had a great time.
The drive back was long and we did it in one trip. I drove the first 15 hours (through the night) and then mom finished out the last five. We are exhausted today and my mom and I definitely took naps this afternoon. It's a bit depressing to be facing the reality of Michigan winter again (after being in FL weather for a week) but I've done it for 23 years now so why start complaining now?
I'm on to bigger and better things in my life....I hope :-)

Home Sweet Home (for now, at least!)

2010-01-27T18:14:00.000-08:00

Hello again from sunny Florida! Mom and I woke up this morning and after our complimentary breakfast at the Hampton Inn and a good rinse for the car (it was filthy from our 1400 mile adventure), we met up with the man who owns a house in the area to check things out. It's in a neighborhood that looks pretty quiet (and is right on a golf course). The guy who owns it, Jim, is hilarious. He's quite the jokester and mom and I enjoyed talking to him. He's a pilot and suggested we come fly with him!! I think I just might take advantage of that! He gives lessons and I have always wanted to be a pilot....new career option?!? I have good news and bad news, however. He is putting the house up for sale once he makes some last-minute fixes and hopes to have it on the market by March 1st. So this living situation may be temporary but I really can't beat the price. Now for the good news......there was a zero-turn lawn mower in the garage!!!! For those of you who may not know, I really have an unhealthy obsession with zero-turn lawn mowers. Ever since I worked for the City of Adrian, I have dreamed of owning my own one day. I told him that he would never have to mow the lawn at this house again because he could include that duty in the price of rent! Yay.
After that, mom and I decided to take a little overnight trip to Siesta Key. We have been here before when we were in Longboat Key for spring break a few years ago and had some places we wanted to revisit. We had a cocktail at a place called Daiquiri Deck and then went for a nice walk on the beach. It was beautiful. We are planning on going to the Broken Egg Cafe for breakfast tomorrow (a favorite place of Dick Vitale when he's in town) and I might hit the beach for a while (to take care of that little ghost problem I have).

The pictures above show mom washing the car, my new humble abode, and mom and I on our walk on the beach! Enjoy

The trip through pictures

2010-01-26T17:12:00.000-08:00

Emily and Mom's big adventure

2010-01-26T16:25:00.001-08:00

So this isn't going to turn out exactly how I want it to because I am not smarter than the blog website but I think you'll get the picture. My mom and I are in Port Charlotte, Florida!!! We finally arrived around 4:30 pm and are all settled into the hotel. We are currently watching Michigan vs. Michigan State men's basketball (yes we are just sitting in our hotel but we are exhausted - we will start exploring tomorrow). So here's a re-cap of the past two days. Some of you have heard of our entertainment from yesterday but most haven't so here goes....

After a nice little sit-down breakfast of Rhodes cinnamon rolls (thanks mom!) and packing up the car, mom and I finally left Adrian at about 8:30. The first three hours of the ride went without a glitch. My mom and I are both gifted with the uncanny ability to snack. In our haste, we left the house without a single bag of goldfish or chex mix in sight. To remedy this, around 11:30 we decided to kill two birds with one stone and stop for gas and lunch. I pumped gas while she went inside the gas station to fix our ever so brainless mistake (bought us some snacks) and came back outside just as I had taken the gas pump out of my car right as a gust of wind swept through and spilled gas on my pant leg and shoe. Needless to say, our car smelled horrible as we made the short trek next door for our dieter's special lunch. As we got out of the car at McDonald's (ok I may have lied about the diet part but who doesn't crave french fries on a long drive?!) I had my camera in my pocket of my coat and pulled it out to take a picture (because it was our goal to document every part of our super adventure). We snapped a picture (meanwhile avoiding the stares of the other fast food goers) and got lunch. Then it was back on the road for us. We had finally made it out of the most horrible state (Ohio, of course) and into Kentucky when I began to feel warm. I wanted to take my coat off but before doing so, I asked my mom if I gave her the credit card back from getting gas at our stop. She replies, "yeah, I think so" and then proceeds to check her wallet. Unfortunately for both of us, there was a big empty spot in her wallet where her card normally spends its days. My thought at this moment "UH OH!" After searching the entire car while still driving, we finally decided to pull over and check every where. Nothing. Frustration set in and we felt helpless. With nothing else to do, we called the gas station (we had the number from the receipt for the gas) and had one of the maintenance people look around for the card. Nothing. With hope dwindling, I used my iphone to look up the number for the McDonald's in Franklin, Ohio. I tried calling 4 times and no answer. We decided to just turn around with no real idea if our card was lost forever or not. Finally, someone picked up at McDonald's. I was in no mood for games and the man who answered told me that he had the card in his pocket but had already gone on a shopping spree. Finally after more banter, I was about to yell but remained calm and got it out of him that he indeed had Sue Allshouse's visa card. We were 50 miles away. It was a long ride back north (and we had to go back to Ohio - who wants to do that?!?!) We finally arrived at the McDonald's and the manager gave us back the card. From there, it was back South.....again.
I have to say the entertainment of our journey ends there. Every stop from that point on, mom would hand me her card for gas, I'd swipe it and immediately give it back to her and then make sure she had it before we pulled away. We stayed with a good friend in Atlanta (Thanks, Megan) and it was so nice to get somewhere and sleep in a nice bed after 13 1/2 hours of driving.
We left for leg number two of our journey this morning around 8:00am. There was no traffic and everything was smooth sailing. I got a call from my boss on the trip and now don't have to start work until Monday. Mom and I now have 5 days to tear up this town and explore all that Port Charlotte has to offer. I feel that I am scaring people when I walk around here with how ghostly white I am - might have to try to remedy that a bit in the next few days....but there will be plenty of time for that in the next 7 months as a resident of the great state of Florida.
Bottom line: Mom and I made it to Florida in one piece, we are still speaking to each other after 1400 miles in a 2-door grand prix, and life is good and we have no complaints!!
Until next time, Em

Here is our photo documentation of the trip....

Finally bought a new computer!

2010-01-23T15:46:00.000-08:00

So I am ecstatic right now because I am writing this blog post on my brand new Dell Inspiron 15 laptop. My old computer had just seen better days (it got me through 4 1/2 years of college though). I had received money for graduation (so thank you for all who donated to my new computer fund) and decided to put it to good use. I don't really want to move to Florida with an unreliable computer. It has a built-in webcam so I can skype and video chat.
I went to Ann Arbor yesterday to say goodbye to my friends who are still there. It was bittersweet but I was able to see most everyone. It's hard to think that I am moving to a city where I do not know a single person. I am hoping that I can meet people through work or by going to a church down there. Time will tell.
I contacted a friend of my boss who owns a few homes in the Port Charlotte area and so I am hoping that something will work out with that. He is willing to rent me a room and so I am going to meet up with him when I get down there and see what we can work out price-wise. I guess I can't really use the excuse that I am a poor college student anymore. I guess now I'm just a poor graduate. It's all relative.
The nerves are starting to kick in but I'm sure the excitement will quickly return as soon as I see some sunshine and feel the warmth of Florida!
Until next time...

Life in 2010

2010-01-20T19:23:00.001-08:00

So, since the last time I have written, some things have changed. For one, I graduated from the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology with a BS in Movement Science and a Spanish minor. My parents were there for my graduation and Jeff Daniels was the speaker (yes, he brought up the toilet scene from Dumb and Dumber and the audience was thoroughly amused). Our family had a great Christmas. I was so happy that my soon-to-be sister (in-law but who needs to mention that) was able to celebrate with us. Andrea and Chris will be getting married on May 15, 2010 in Southlake, TX and I can't wait. Here is a picture of the family.
Since then, I have been presented with an amazing opportunity that I simply cannot ignore. I was sent an e-mail by my global advisor in kinesiology about an internship in Florida with a company called International Internships, LLC (). I sent in a cover letter and resume and waited. I was called a few days later, had a phone interview and a couple of days later, I was offered the position. I will be working to contact interested students and give them information, advise students and help them with paperwork if they decide to go on an internship in one of the 14 countries where internships are available, help to recruit at study abroad fairs, and help with marketing strategies for the company since it is relatively new. I am very excited and am excited to get my foot in the door with an international company.
I am packing up my car and leaving for Port Charlotte, Florida on Monday. My mom is driving down with me and then flying back once I get situated (though I know it will be difficult for her to come back to Michigan after getting a taste of Florida in the winter). I feel that she may be visiting me frequently. Once I find a home (yes, that part is still up in the air), I encourage all visitors :-)
I will do my best to keep updated about my new life in Florida. This is a big change for me and I can't wait to see what life has in store for me!

LONDON!!!

2008-06-21T16:01:00.000-07:00

Well I am back safe and sound from London. The plane ride back was ok except that I could not really sleep because I kept waking myself up - once I heard myself snore and the next time I could tell my mouth was hanging open. To make matters worse, one of the times that I woke up, the stewards (yes, they were all males) were standing right by our row handing out drinks. I know they saw me drooling on myself = )
Anywho, I had an amazing time in London. It seems a lot like the US only with an accent and royalty. I got in very late on Wednesday night (essentially Thursday morning). My friend Patrick(who has been studying with me in Granada) was in London on Thursday as well. We toured together and saw many things. We saw Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the London Tower, Tower Bridge and London Bridge (and no, it was not falling down like the popular song goes - though it is the 7th official London Bridge and so lots of others have indeed fallen down before this one). Patrick and I had a very busy day but the best part had to have been going to see Wicked that night at the Apollo Victoria Theatre. Even though I have seen it before, it was still absolutely marvelous. It was off to bed after the show as Patrick had to be up very early to continue on with his travels in Munich, Germany.
I spent the day touring by myself on Friday (first time in my life I have ever done that). I went to the Globe Theater and got a picture and saw the River Thames. I went on a 3-hour walking tour through the old-city part of London. It was long but very worthwhile and informational. We saw the business district, the Bank of England, St. Paul's Cathedral, Millennium Bridge, and much more. It rained that afternoon and so I did some shopping. That night, I went to see The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre. It was wonderful - it's amazing how the costimes are designed so that the people look like animals but you can still see their faces and you don't lose all aspects of the human quality. The music was amazing and I am so glad I got to see it. Friday night, I met up with a friends of my friend Liz (who studied with me in Granada as well) who is studying/working in London right now. There was a private going-away party in the upper part of a pub for one of his friends and so I felt like a VIP tourist or something for going to a private party in London though I had only spent two days there. It was fun to meet Will (Liz's friend) and some other American's studying there.
Saturday, I got up and checked out of the hostel and went to the British Museum. It was cool but I didn't stay for long as my attention span just wasn't prepared for a museum. I did a bit more wandering/souvenir shopping, ate some lunch, then went to catch my bus to get to the airport.
Now, it's back to Granada until Tuesday night and then it's off to the U.S. for me........

Night in the Pueblo = )

2008-06-15T14:01:00.000-07:00

So I have to fill everyone in on my night in the pueblo of Iznalloz (small town where Paco was born and where they still have a house) with Paco and Pilar. I have been to the pueblo with them twice before and this time we went to have coffee with the two other couples that they always go on vacation with. Firstly, as we were headed up the winding road to the mountain where the one couple lives, Paco ran over a snake that was slithering across the road. After it happened, I peered over my shoulder out the back windshield to see it squirming and suffering. We all laughed and continued on. When we got to the house, which was mid-mountain and placed all alone, I was taken away by the amazing views of the city below and of the other mountains. I can understand now why people have houses in the pueblo and in Granada in the city. I met all of the couples and they were very nice. We had coffee and cookies together and then the owner of the house asked if I wanted to see the goats. So he gave me plastic booties to put over my shoes and off we went to see the goats. He is an old man and has a think Andalucian accent, dropping pretty much every "s" that he possibly can and so I understood about half of what he said. Nevertheless, we went to the barn and there must have been over a hundred goats walking around. It didn't smell as horrible as I thought it would. I was even able to hold a baby goat that was born yesterday!! It was soooo cute. Then we continued on to see the chickens, a hen that was sitting on its eggs, sheep, a peacock, and all of the equipment they use for collecting milk from the goats. He was quite proud to show me all of these things and I was happy to be part of the tour. He also had a room full of ham legs that were curing (called serrano ham and is considered a delicacy in Spain). There were so many things to see on their piece of property. After my tour, we all sat around outside and talked. Meanwhile, the sun was setting over the mountains and the view was spectacular. I can't put into words how beautiful the night was. We finally left around 9:45pm and headed back to Granada. I hate to say it but on the windy mountain roads back to the pueblo and eventually to the highway, we encountered the poor snake we had trampled with the car earlier on in the night and indeed, he was dead. As much as I don't like snakes, I also don't like seeing them dead in the middle of the road either.
It was a very fun night - the two other couples besides Paco and Pilar are so nice and made me feel right at home (even though I was the only kid there). I hope I can come back to the pueblo at least one more time before I leave Granada in 9 days!! ahhh it hardly seems possible.
Until next time,
Emily

PRAGUE!!!

2008-06-10T08:25:00.000-07:00

I am writing this blog entry on my flight from Paris CDG to Malaga (obviously I posted it when I got home). There must be 5 or 6 babies on the flight and so there is a constant chorus of screams and cries – not exactly the most relaxing flight of my life but that’s why I have an i-pod. My journeys to Prague and back have both been very long travel days but very worth-while. I decided to do a weekend in Prague to visit my cousin Sarah (she currently teaches English in Prague). We had an awesome time together. I got in on Friday night and we went to her flat and decided to make dinner for ourselves. We made delicious chicken fajitas (it was a welcome relief to have some Mexican food!!!) Saturday we spent the entire day being very touristy and seeing as many things as we could. We saw the Charles Bridge, the astronomical clock (and we saw it strike noon), the Prague castle and cathedral (complete with breathtaking stained glass windows), the Jewish quarter of the city, and many other little treasures. It was a sunny and beautiful day for touring. We spent about 8 hours walking around. We had a late lunch (which I am used to in Spain) at Bohemia Bagel. Yes, that’s right – I had my first bagel since December of ’07 and it was D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S. Another plus – bottomless refills on fountain pop! I also have not had a refill on a drink since before coming to Spain. My how I can delight in the small things in life = ) Saturday night, we went out for a night on the town. We went to an 80’s/90’s themed club and it was soooo much fun! We danced the night away. Sunday, we spent some quality cousin-bonding time together. We had a picnic in the local park near Sarah’s flat. Unfortunately, immediately after finishing our lunch, it started raining and we were forced indoors (where it quickly turned into the perfect afternoon for a nap!) W went to dinner near Sarah’s flat at an Italian place that was very good but very filling. Afterward, we met one of Sarah’s friends Laura for a movie. We saw Penelope (I had not heard of it but it was very cute). We got up very early this morning for Sarah to get ready and off to work and so I could get to the airport to head out. It was the perfect weekend get-away! Only 1 ½ weeks in Granada, then to London for 4 days, Granada for 4 more and then I will be headed for the United States of America!

Until next time,

Getting to Prague

2008-06-10T08:23:00.001-07:00

(FYI – this blog entry was written during the excruciating amount of time that I spent in the airport in Malaga)

Well, it sure has been an interesting time getting to Prague. I decided to fly out of Malaga, Spain (1 ½ hours from Granada) instead of the Granada airport (since it is so small and lacks flight options). So, here’s where it gets a little complicated……My flight out of Malaga was scheduled for 10am on Friday morning. However, the earliest bus from Granada to Malaga leaves at 7am and arrives at the Malaga bus station at 8:45am – which did not leave me enough time to get to the airport and check-in. Instead, I took the latest bus on Thursday night and arrived in Malaga at 11pm. Luckily, I caught the last bus to the airport and arrived around 12am. Needless to say, I arrived in plenty of time for my flight (10 hrs is early enough, right?) I had good intentions of sleeping for at least part of the night in the airport, gripping very tightly to my things, of course (all because I was too cheap to pay for a hostel and really just wanted to prove to myself that I am a tough girl and can sleep in an airport if I need to). Much to my dismay, I passed the entire night wide awake – my mind not letting me drift off to sleep. I walked around a lot – half attempting to exhaust myself and half attempting to find a comfortable place to catch a few zzz’s. I got my hopes up for a while at about 5:30 am. There was an earlier flight leaving for Paris (my 6 hour lay-over site). So I decided to check into the possibility of changing my flight from 10am to 7am (more time to leave the airport in Paris and explore). After checking in at the counter, I was told I had to go to the AirFrance ticket office to make any changes in my ticket. Well, I went there only to find out the office didn’t open until 9am. Unfortunately, I had no such luck changing my flight and was left to wait for about 3 ½ hours longer in the airport. My only saving grace for the entire night/morning was that I met a very nice family from Georgia and sort of made friends with them for the remainder of my wait in the Malaga airport. Finally, around 10am, I was off and en route to Prague. The rest of my travel day was long but well worth it when I finally made it to Paris and saw cousin Sarah waiting in the airport for my arrival.

Spain, Spain, Spain!

2008-05-19T03:40:00.000-07:00

Nothing too terribly interesting has happened in the past couple of weeks, but I will still give an update. I am chugging along with my three days of class. It’s stressful, let me tell you! (I hope everyone knows that was a joke!) We only have two days of class this week on Monday and Tuesday because of Corpus Christi and the Feria of Granada. You have to love all of the parties in Spain! My Senora told me today that I will be the only American girl she has hosted to ever experience Corpus and the Feria. I am pretty excited though I am not quite sure what those events entail just yet. I guess I will find out soon enough.

I had the privilege of spending the day with my host family yesterday in the pueblo (town). It is called Iznalloz and is about 35 Km away from their apartment in Granada. Paco and Pilar have a house in the pueblo where they raised their kids. Paco is from Iznalloz (Pilar is not…she was born in Granada). I was able to meet one of Paco’s eight siblings – a brother named Luis and his wife. They live in a house right next to Paco and Pilar’s – as a matter of fact, they are connected! It was fun to meet family and to see the pueblo. Pilar and I went for a scenic drive through the town and made a stop for a walk and a tapa in the Sierra Arana (part of the Sierra Nevada Mountains). It was a nice change of pace to be able to get away from the city and to spend some quality time with my family. Last night, Pilar and I also went for a walk – she walks everyday and I tag along when I can.

In other news…..I have made some travel plans. I have booked a flight to Prague to visit my cousin and I also plan to go to London and meet up with a couple of friends from my program. I am very excited to venture outside of Spain.

That’s all for now….until next time.

Emily

2008-04-30T01:49:00.000-07:00

I am officially done with classes at Cegri. I had my last class this morning at 9am! I know I have said it many times before but I am just shocked that time has passed so quickly. Tomorrow is MAY!!!
We have a farewell dinner for our group tonight. We had a welcome dinner one of the first nights we were here and so it is only appropriate to have a farewell dinner. From what I have heard the restaurant is kind of fancy and all of the girls are going to wear dresses and get fancy! It should be fun. Our director and his wife will be there for the entire dinner and then they have invited all of the Cegri teachers for dessert and coffee after so we can say goodbye to them in a setting outside of the classroom. It will be a bittersweet night as I am looking forward to having fun and talking to everyone but not looking forward to saying goodbye to people.
The rest of the week is holiday in Spain and hopefully there will be some fun things to do to keep me entertained. I think some my Michigan friends and I are going to have a picnic! Should be fun!
Until next time,
Em

No puede ser (it can't be)

2008-04-24T01:02:00.000-07:00

The title of this album was my senora's response when I told her that I ran 10 kilometers. It was quite hilarious. Yesterday I ran 11.3 km = 7 miles! I can hardly walk today because my legs hurt so bad so I think I will take a break from running.

My host family is going on vacation next week and my senora is stocking up the kitchen. She has four meals for me in the freezer and has a mountain of other things. She has a supply of cookies, pizza, tortilla, chicken broth, fruit and diet coke! Oh she knows me too well! I told her she can stop buying things but she said she still needs more! At the rate she is buying things, I will definitely need those 6 and 7 mile runs!!

I think today is supposed to be 27 degrees Celsius! Finally....the weather we have all been waiting for!

Hump-day Hola from Granada!

2008-04-23T01:14:00.000-07:00

The weather has finally cleared up in Spain after about 5 consecutive days of rain and slightly chilly temperatures. It is a little disheartening to keep hearing from my mother that the weather in Adrian is nicer than in Granada. I thought we were supposed to have these unbearably hot days?! Haha Oh well.

Since the weather improved, I thought I would make an attempt to make those pesky pastries disappear that have suddenly found their home on my thighs and backside! I ran 10 km yesterday around the city (an equivalent of 6 miles). It was a struggle at times but I made it. Two of my good friends here are training to run half marathons next week and so I thought I should get my butt in gear (literally!)

We only have 4 more days of class left at Cegrí and then most of the Illinois and Wisconsin students will be leaving to travel and then go home or just to go straight home. Once my classes are done at Cegrí, I will only have class on Monday from 6:30-8pm, Tuesday from 11-12:30pm and then Wednesday from 6:30-8pm. Needless to say, my Michigan friends and I are going to need to find something to do to fill our empty days. My girlfriends and I are thinking lots of day trips or weekends at the beach. I also hope to do some traveling outside of Spain. I need to explore Europe while I am on the continent! Who knows when I will be back!?!

Until next time,

Emily

2008-04-20T08:55:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I went on a hiking trip with 27 other students from my language school (Cegrí) to the Alpujarras. The Alpujarras (for those of you who don’t know) is part of the Sierra Nevada mountain range of southern Spain. There are several different areas of the mountain. We left on Friday morning (4/18) and returned Saturday evening. Of course, the only weekend we get rain is the one for which we are scheduled to go hiking in the mountains! Some of my friends and I were walking to the plaza where we were to catch the bus and it started down pouring on us. We quickly caught the first bus that we could and rode it the rest of the way to the plaza. We thought our trip was doomed but actually it turned out to be a wonderful first day. We made it to the mountains (after a long and winding bus ride – I certainly took Dramamine!) We left our stuff in a big room and headed off to hike. We decided to cut the root short so that we were near a small town if the weather were to break loose on us again. It was soooo beautiful and breathtaking. We were able to see very clearly the top of the highest peak of the Sierra Neveadas (Mulhacen). I can’t do it justice by simply using fancy adjectives but needless to say there is nothing like this ANYWHERE in Michigan!! There were definitely some scary moments (near edges of cliffs, hiking downhill on loose dirt and rock, etc…)

We had a nice picnic lunch and then headed back to the hostal to relax and hang out. We had a really nice dinner at the hostal. Some people ate conejo (bunny) and it was not pleasing to look over and see an entire little peter cottontail sitting on peoples plates. Our director, Miguel, would request the head of anybody’s bunny who did not want to eat it! Ewwwww

Saturday was one continuous day of rain but we persevered and hiked anyway. A lot of people had either ponchos or rain coats. The hike on the second day was supposed to be longer but since it was raining and cold, it too got cut short. We hiked for about 3 hours and had a break for a snack then we made it to the next town where the bus picked us up and took us back to camp where we attempted to dig out as many dry and warm clothes out of our backpacks as we could. We all bonded sitting for a few hours in that room and we ate a nice lunch and then took off for Granada. The ride home was interesting as we had to stop at one point while 4 girls got off the bus thinking they were going to get sick. Luckily, no one got sick and we made it home just fine. It was an amazing trip and I had so much fun!

Get excited - it took me less than a week to make another post!!! yay!

Mom and Dad in Spain = )

2008-04-14T01:07:00.000-07:00

So I am mad at myself for having to apologize before every post and I really thought I would be better about updating my blog while my parents were here (since we had WIFI in our apartment). However, we just had so many fun things to do everyday and I could not justify spending any of the precious time I had with my parents updating my blog. Therefore, here comes another exhaustive summary of the events from April 1st – April 9^th……….

Tuesday April 1^st – The arrival: I have never had a day pass so slowly in my entire life! My parents were supposed to arrive in Granada at 1pm but instead arrived at 5:10pm because of changes in their flight schedule. I was worried the entire day that they were playing the worst April Fool’s Day joke on me of my entire life (however, I knew better!) Their plane finally arrived and I was there waiting in the luggage area as they walked off the plane. The reunion was all I could have hoped for. I ran to my parents arms and just hugged them for minutes (complete with tears and all). I had never before felt such joy and excitement! Unfortunately, they arrived without luggage but we checked in with the airline and made sure they had our contact information for when the suitcases arrived. We took the bus from the airport to Granada. It was so hard to believe that my parents were actually with me in Spain! It seemed too good to be true – but it was! We got settled into our apartment – it was very spacious and modern (two words that are quite uncommon to Granada). We met two of my friends (Bill and Patrick) for tapas later that night and we had a good time. It was an early night as Mom and Dad were very tired from a day-and-a-half of traveling.

Wednesday April 2^nd – Mom and Dad slept in – I think jetlag got the best of them that first night. We went to the SuperSol to pick up some food for our apartment. Dad quickly realized that Coca Cola Light is nothing like Diet Coke in the US! Then I took them on their first of many walks around Spain. We went to the Albaycin and Sacramonte (the caves and neighborhood of the gypsies). It was a hike and I was proud of them for not complaining TOO much. We made it up to a lookout point called the “Mirador de San Nicolas” and they were in awe of the views of the entire city and of the Alhambra. They agreed that it was definitely worth the hike.

Wednesday night we had tapas again with my friend Liz. Then we took my parents to a salsa dancing bar so that they could experience a bit of the Spanish nightlife!

Thursday April 3^rd – Alhambra day – Once again, Mom and Dad flashed their mighty super strengths and hiked all the way up a very large hill to get to the Alhambra. I was very proud of them as it is a struggle for even the most young and in-shape of people (and that was not supposed to be a reference that they are old and out-of-shape). We made it just in time for our 11:30am visit. We spent about 3 hours touring the three parts of the Alhambra. I tried to tell them as much as I knew about it but for some parts we hopped on the end of a tour group who had an English-speaking leader (we know how to be resourceful, when needed!) We were tuckered out by the end of our visit and we all were ready for a siesta by the time we reached our apartment.

Thursday night – my parents had the privilege of meeting my host parents (Paco and Pilar). Pilar made tapas and we all sat around the table and had cervezas (beers). It was a wonderful visit. Paco and Pilar kept talking in Spanish just like my parents understood everything they said. Naturally, I had to be the translator and found it to be an entertaining job for the night. I gave my parents a tour of the apartment and they were very impressed with how nicely it was decorated and kept clean. Mom and Dad did the best that they could to speak as much Spanish as they could quickly gather from their high school memory bank. I couldn’t have imagined a better meeting of my two sets of parents!

After tapas with Paco and Pilar, we met up with some of my friends and we took my parents to see the botellon in Spain. It was fun but a little uncomfortable as they were easily the oldest people there. Oh well – they will probably only be in Spain once and my friends and I wanted them to experience all there is to see and do in Granada!

Friday April 4^th – We did the most “touristy” thing we could possibly do….we took a ride on the Granada Tourist Bus! Most of my friends in the program say they wouldn’t be caught dead riding on it but while my parentals were here, it was completely acceptable for me to be a full-blown tourist! It was a lot of fun and we got to see most of the city. We even had a very informative narration (in English too!) We had to return to the apartment mid-afternoon to pack for our weekend get-away to Barcelona. We had a flight out of Granada at 8pm on Ryanair to Girona (a small town about an hour outside of Barcelona). Once in Girona, we had an hour bus ride into Barcelona. We had rented a flat in Barcelona in Barri Gotic for the two nights we were there and we met someone from the rental company to let us in and got all situated. It was off to bed as we had a long day ahead of us.

Saturday April 5^th – Barcelona! We decided to do a weekend trip to break up the time that my parents were here. My Mom has always wanted to visit Barcelona and so that’s where we headed. Saturday was a busy day and we did a lot. We walked down Paseig de Gracia to see both of Gaudi’s houses, went to the Sagrada Familia (though we passed up going inside to conserve time), visited Parc Guell (one of my favorite parts of Barcelona – and there we had a picnic lunch), walked down Las Ramblas and visited a big open-air market where we bought fresh fruit, bread and cheese to snack on that afternoon. We returned to the flat for a short siesta and snack time! Then it was off again to do some more exploring. We went to Barceloneta (known as little Barcelona and is near the water), we all put our fingertips into the Mediterranean Ocean, and then we hit up a couple of bars for some drinks to end the day. I had been to Barcelona before and so I knew where I wanted to take them and how to navigate the city/metro (which was very helpful since we had so little time in Barcelona).

Sunday April 6^th – We visited the Cathedral (which dates back to the 1200’s) and saw more of Barri Gotic. We took a walk to Parc de la Ciutadella and it was a beautiful day for a nice stroll in the park. We also visited the Chocolate Museum. It was a random/spur of the moment decision but it was fun and entertaining. We had lunch on Las Ramblas and did some postcard shopping. Our flight was at 6:40pm and so we had to catch the bus to the Girona airport around 4pm. It was a short visit in Barcelona but very fun. Once back in Granada, we had dinner at a nice little restaurant that I had eaten at my second day in Granada. It was a hit!

Monday April 7^th – We paid a visit to the infamous “bread lady” of Granada. There is a kiosk in a small plaza in Granada (very close to my school – Cegrí) and every morning a woman sells bread and pastries there. She is a hit with all of the people in my program and also with a lot of people in Granada. She always has a line of people waiting. We bought some goodies and ate them near the river in a park. Then we took a bus tour of the University of Granada (really we just stayed on the city bus all the way around campus and I narrated!) We had some tapas with Liz during the afternoon and I had class. That night we had a group outing for tapas with some of my friends and Patrick’s parents were here too so we met up with them. We filled a whole bar with all English – speaking people. I am sure the people working just loved us! It was so much fun. I didn’t want to leave.

Tuesday April 8^th – We had a lazy day because we had done most of what we wanted to do in Granada. We did some more shopping for souvenirs and then we took a walk to a big park in Granada called Parque de Garcia Lorca. Mom had brought a couple of movies from home (at my request) and so we all sat around and watched The Holiday together and it was just perfect. We had dinner at an Italian Restaurant called La Piccola Italia. It was very good and we all had a great time. We had tapas once again (though we were not hungry in the least) with Alan and Mike.

Wednesday April 9^th - The Goodbye – The day we had all been dreading had finally arrived. We all were up early as Mom and Dad’s flight left Granada at 9:55 am. I walked them to the bus stop on Gran Vía and that is where we had our tearful goodbye. We hugged for a long time – no one wanting to let go! It was so hard to see them drive away on the bus.

It was an amazing time and we made some memories that none of us will ever forget. I still can’t believe that I was able to have my parents with me in Spain for nine days. I am so grateful that they were willing to spend the money to come visit and to experience life with me in another country. Love you guys!!!

Now it’s back to normal life around here. We only have two more weeks of class at Cegrí and it seems hard to believe that most of the group (Wisconsin and Illinois students) will be going home at the beginning of May. It will be weird without them here.

Until next time (at the rate I am going, who knows when that will be?!?! Haha)