Cuenca: A box of soocar.

This past weekend I ventured north of Villarrobledo to the Cuenca, the capital of the province of Cuenca.  It is beautiful! Cuenca really is a treat for the eyes.  There are more or less two parts to Cuenca, the old town, and the new town.  The old town is, I believe, a UNESCO site, and cannot be altered at all.  It stays as it is now, and as it has been for a very long time.  Its most famous attribute is probably the hanging houses, or Casas Colgadas.  The new town is really cool too--it is fairly modern and has a lot of good places to shop and eat, but I really loved the old town.  It is so beautiful and not as manufactured and tapped into as many other cities I've seen.

Krista and I originally went to Cuenca in order to get our NIE (Numero de Identification del Extranjero).  Unfortunately, that did not happen.  We actually have to go to Albacete to get our NIEs because of where we live.  When I found that out, I was pretty ticked off, haha, but I have an appointment for sometime in November to get my NIE...so hopefully it will work out just fine.  

It was really an awesome weekend though!! I hung out with some friends that I had originally met at orientation--Corinna, Jaclyn, Helen, and Natira.  We had a lot of fun going to El Quinto Picado for drinks and tapas, and just generally going out in Cuenca--it has quite a nightlife!  It was so fun to hang out with those girls all weekend, and it made me very thankful for the program that I am in, because without it I wouldn't have met them!  Jaclyn is from Ohio, and is an Ohio State fan, but I decided that I can be friends with her anyway :).  De todos modos, we had a blast listening to and laughing at "Sick of Love" by Robert Ramirez, exposing Helen to classic, yet depressing American movies (A Walk to Remember), and just getting to chit chat and plan possible trips throughout Europe! Woohoooo!!

Anywho, here are some pics from this weekend.

From left to right: Helen, me, Krista, and Corinna at El Quinto Picado.  We were there a couple of times this weekend--delicious!

Me in front of the casas colgadas.  One of the coolest and most beautiful things I have seen!

Natira, Krista, Helen and myself with the casas!

A tapa that we had Sunday night.  Previously we had also had goat cheese circles, shrimp (or prawns!), a meat, egg and bread plate, chicken with a *delicious* sauce, and probably more that I am forgetting.  I ate way too much this weekend, but it was worth it, haha :). 

A crooked house on the back side of the Casco Antiguo .  So cool! 

I put up a lot more pictures on my facebook in my Espana album, so if you want to check them out, go for it!   Here is the link: Click here for more pictures!! :)

So, now I am back in Villarrobledo and relaxing for a little bit before I prepare for tomorrow.  I am really excited for the end of the week because they are doing a lot of halloween stuff on Friday and I am looking forward to teaching about that!  

Love and miss you all!  Goodbye for now!

Madrid!!

So, today Krista and I went to Madrid just for a day trip.  It was a lot different than I had expected--and it was awesome!  I really enjoyed it a lot.  It's a big city and very busy, but it is still really beautiful.  The architecture is gorgeous, there are statues and fountains everywhere you look, and we even went to Museo del Prado.  I got to see a lot of paintings by El Greco (one of my faves!),  Rafael, and also a lot of Diego Velazquez.  That was really cool for me, because I learned about him in Spanish classes many times, as well as in art classes.  We would always study Las Meninas, which was at Museo del Prado.  It was so cool to actually see it in person.  It was beautiful. 

 

We did a bit of shopping in Madrid, I got a new purse and some really cute grey boots :), and we also grabbed some lunch while we were there.  I ordered Paella, always a good choice, and it definitely was this time, but it was also very different because of one thing.  There was a dead sea creature on top of my food.  It looked a lot like this, but it was a little smaller:

  Picture Sebastian from the Little Mermaid, just sitting on top of your food, and his dead, lifeless, beady eyes are just staring at you.  It's almost as if he was saying "Eat me, I dare you!" 

Well...I tried, but I actually had NO idea if he was for consumption or just for decoration.  I pushed aside the fact that this creeped me out a little bit and decided to try and eat it as to not look like a foreigner who wasn't open to trying new things. However, I ended up with a dismantled Sebastian on my plate with no meat to be found.  I hope I didn't offend anyone, haha.  I guess I will figure out soon enough why there was a hollow baby lobster on my Paella...but this was just an awkward and very funny moment that I wanted to share with you all :). 

All in all, I really enjoyed Madrid!! It was beautiful and I am already looking forward to going back.  

Here are a few more pictures I snapped of the city:

Best job ever!

So, today I worked again for the first time in 6 days, haha, and I am so so thankful that I was placed here.  I love my school!  The kids are so great.  They are kind of crazy, but that's how I like them :).

This morning I walked to the Mercadona to meet Maria and Ana, the women that I carpool with.  I got there just in time, and enjoyed chatting and listening in Spanish during the 10 minute car ride.  Wednesdays are the days that I only have three classes, so it was pretty relaxed overall.  During the first period, I had a second grade class.  We learned about the parts of the body, the head, the body, and the limbs, and did a few activities.  I stayed in that class for about 20 minutes afterwards (I had a free period) and listened to them sing a song in English that they were planning for Christmas :).  They were so excited about it, and made me promise that I wouldn't tell anyone else at the school, haha. I hope I'm not breaking my promise by writing it here ;).

After the free period, I had 3rd graders, and we talked about the body again, about nutrition, the different body systems and the senses.  For the 6th grade period we went over the skeleton and it's different parts.  Everybody is basically doing the same thing right now, learning about the body and skeleton.  

Also, I am starting up an English club after school on Wednesdays just for a half an hour where we will chat in English, maybe watch a movie or a tv show in English, listen to music, some girls in the class wanted to dance...anyway, I told the 6th grade class about it and they seemed really excited!  I was happy to hear that :)  I'll see if I can make some cookies or something, like maybe no-bake cookies...those are really easy, and hopefully the ingredients will be available haha :).  

Today I got my Carnet Joven (a discount card for people under 26 in Europe!), and tomorrow I should be getting my residence thing.  I have to go to the Ayuntamiento in the morning.  Also, I am travelling to San Clemente tomorrow to check out possible side work.  There is an academy in San Clemente that needs English teachers, and they have asked me if I could work there.  I could FOR SURE use the extra cash.  I was just planning on putting up flyers about private English lessons in both Villarrobledo and El Provencio, but this would be better because I think that I may be able to get more money from it.  I will hopefully still do side English classes as well, hopefully still have a good amount of time to travel on the weekends :). 

I am so enjoying it here.  I have already spent too much money (I am REALLY running low!), but I'm trying to calm down on that, haha.  I am making some awesome friends, really really enjoying my job, and just having a great time being here in Spain :).  

Okay, ALSO.  Today I was leaving the 6th grade class, and some boys stopped me and asked me what my full name was because they wanted to know if I have a tuntie (pronounced twenty. it's like facebook).  I do not have one, and even if I did, I would not be friends with them...haha, Anyway, I turned to leave, and this boy goes "Espera, mira aqui!" so I turned around, and he goes "I want a picture!". I was very confused because he didn't have a camera, and then I noticed that he had turned his webcam on on his computer (all the kids get laptops at school) and had proceeded to take a picture of me. A little creepy...haha but oh well.  I think I just need to bolt it out of there sooner. It is fun to be there though, I love their excitement!

Welp, that's all for tonight!  Later I will post pictures of Krista and my (mostly) successful batch of cookies! woop woooop!

HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY, TONY!!!!  I love you very much!!

Lazy days...

So, for my vacation days, I have decided to chill here in Villa.  I would have loved to have gone to Madrid or Toledo, but it's really better that I stay here...a) because I'm pretty short on money right now!! b) because I just moved here and I actually have a lot of stuff to do...so tomorrow I am going to go to a photo store and get passport sized pictures taken, get a "joven" card (it gets you discounts on things here!), sign my lease, pay my deposit, hopefully open a bank account, and plan for some lessons for Wednesday.

I did buy a purse yesterday though.  It was pretty cheap so I didn't feel bad about it or anything, haha, and it's really cute! I am thinking about buying a purse in every country I go to...however I don't know how pricey that is going to be.  Maybe I'll just get scarves, or postcards hahaha :).  Europe is NOT CHEAP, my friends!! I am finding that out the hard way.  Although, you can get a bottle of wine for 0.79 cents, or 0.45 cents if it's boxed wine.  As my friend Joey Tribbiani once said: "Who says wine needs to cost more than milk?"

Anyway...for those of you who care, here is my first Spanish purchase! (non-food or apartment related stuff)

On another note, I was very disappointed to hear that Michigan had lost to Michigan State.  I know that one day the Wolverines will come back...hopefully when I'm there next year they'll beat the Spartans. 

Also, I'm on the look out for songs that I can play for my students that will help them learn english, like vocabulary words, etc etc.  I have a few in mind, but if anyone has any suggestions, let me know :). 

Love you all! Goodnight!

Settling...

Okay, so, I made it through my first week of working, and have had yesterday and today off.  Oh yeah, and next Tuesday is a holiday, so I have Monday and Tuesday off too.  It's a hard life, man. ;) I think for the long weekend I am going to rest and explore Villarrobledo a little more.   I am definitely excited for that!

My apartment is really cute!  We looked at a few of them last week, two in El Provencio and two here in Villarrobledo.  I really really liked the other one we looked at too, however this one was a tad cheaper and is on the 3rd floor (more light, less likely for someone to break in, although I wasn't too worried about it).  Anyway, here are some pictures of the apartment:

Here is my bed!

my closet..thing...? and behind the drapes is a door that leads to a little terrace :)

the kitchen

Sala, or living room! One set of double doors leads to another terrace. 

this is what is outside of my terrace! I have yet to try Telepizza, but I will!

Yesterday we had orientation in Cuenca.  Pedro, the principal of the school, and I drove there, and he showed me around the old part of Cuenca a little bit. It is awesome.  They have famous "casas colgadas" or "hanging houses", click here for an example.  I am going back to Cuenca in a few weeks because I have an appointment to get my NIE (a foreigner number..?) so that I can stay here for longer than 90 days.  Anyway, I will definitely get pictures then, and travel around a bit more! I met a a bunch of other Auxiliars--they were all really nice and I enjoyed hanging out with them! Hopefully we are going to meet up at some point. 

On the way to and from Cuenca, I was definitely in awe of the landscape.  It changes so much from town to town, and it is all so beautiful too.  In Cuenca, in was greener with more hills and trees.  The landscape changed from that, to smaller hills and vast "girasol" (sunflower) fields, to vineyards.  It all looks so different to my eyes, which are accustomed to the United States.  There is such a simplicity here, even in nature, that is hard not to appreciate.  I really loved it, I wish I could have captured how everything really looks, because pictures definitely don't give it justice! Also, the pictures I do have are blurry because people here drive really fast, haha :)

I've just been settling in the last couple of days, trying to figure out rent stuff and money stuff (gross!), but mostly trying to adjust to this culture.  I come from a culture that's in a hurry all of the time, and right now in my life, I feel that I need to calm down and slow down.  Those of you who know me know that I have a history of hopping place to place pretty quickly, I'm always eager to get going, for better or for worse, haha.  I have noticed that I worry too much about timing of things, about how I am going to live without certain things...but the trend that I am noticing and hearing people around me is this: You survive.  You have a roof over your head, you eat, you live.  You don't worry about little things, because you live without them.  What a lesson that I am learning--one that has been a long time coming :). 

Well, that is all for tonight!  I love you all very much, and I would love to hear from you, so let me know what's going on in your life too!

Mary

Villarrobledo, here I come!

I have an apartment! I am moving in tomorrow :)
It is in Villarrobledo on Avenida de los Reyes Catolicos, woo hoo! I am so excited :)

On Friday,  I found out that another girl was coming from Miami to work at the high school.  It turns out, that she is not at all from Miami, rather from Bermuda!  She is really nice and we have been getting along so well and decided to be roommates in Villarrobledo.  I'm really excited to live there because there is a lot more to do, and the bus and train stations are literally down the street from our apartment.

School has been AWESOME.  I love working at the school, and all of the students are so great! The little ones are so cute, even the mischevious ones :).  I always love to hear what they say when they find out stuff about me.  here are some of my favorites:

"Te llamas Mary? Mary Poppins!" (Your name is Mary? Mary Poppins!)
"Eres de los EEUU?  De Hollywood?" (You're from the US?  From Hollywood?!)
"Mary? Meri...Meri...MERIBEL!"
"Mary? Como 'messy' sin las 's' y con 'r'!"  (Mary? like Messy without the 's' and with 'r'!"

The kids are so cute, I am so happy that I was placed at the grade school.

Okay, I am wiped out, so that's it for now, I'll post more later tomorrow after I've moved in.  WOO!!

Mary

First full day!

Okay, wow, Spain is awesome. This morning after I woke up, I went down to the restaurant and had some cafe con leche and a muffin type thing, and then proceeded to head over to the school.  On the way there, I turned a corner on calle de las mesas, and there was a little boy walking with him mom.  He turned around to look at me a few times, and when I got closer, he had a huge smile on his face and joyously yelled at me "HOLA!" hahaha it was one of the funniest and cutest things I've ever seen!  And then he said "Yo te vi ayer! Caminando con su perro!", which means "I saw you yesterday, walking with your dog!".  I don't have a dog, clearly, and his mom explained to me that he thought I was someone else, hahaha, but it was so funny.

I walked up to the school to find all of the kids gathered outside, many of younger ones with their parents still. I waited around a little bit because I had no idea where to go, and eventually one of the teachers asked me if I was Mary, probably because I looked so confused and I was walking in and out of the building looking for someone!  I met pretty much all of the teachers--they are really nice and helpful.  Two of them live in a town nearby called Villarrobledo where I wanted to live because there is more to do, but didn't have a way to get there and back for school, and they offered to share rides with me and to help me find an apartment there--so nice!  I really enjoyed talking to all of the teachers and getting to know them.  They laughed every once in a while about my use of South American Spanish :).  It's what they taught me in school and what I grew up with con mi mama, and so I've had to make note of a couple of things.  For instance, if you say "carro" here instead of "coche" (car), they will know what you mean, however "carro" in spain means a cart that is lead by a donkey. Also, no one says "computadora" even though they teach you that in school.  Se dice "ordenador" or "ordenador portatil" for a laptop.

I also met all of the kids, that was really fun, probably my favorite part!  A lot of them were like the little boy I met walking to school, the younger ones at least.  One boy with a faux hawk asked me if I spoke english :), another girl asked me if I was related to the previous auxiliar, Anastasia :), it was so cute.  I probably don't speak as good of Spanish as she did, but hopefully I will improve!

Oh, and one of my bags arrived, and the other one should arrive tomorrow. Yipee!!

Here are a couple of pictures so far...I haven't taken too many, more to come!

my hostel room, very cozy! it has a cute little balcony too :)

The view from my balcony

Side view from my balcony of El Provencio!