Beaches, Discos, and Lots of Jamon

Now that I am a little over two months into round two, I have many updates.  First of all, right after my mother and aunt left Spain, I went with my friend Santiago to Ibiza, Spain.  It is one of the Balearic Islands and known for its beautiful beaches and insane dance clubs.

 Every Thursday this year, I go out with coworkers from my school.  It is perfect for me since I don't work on Fridays, but they do and still go hard.  In the picture below is a language teacher, the vice principle, director, myself and my friend Paige from New York.

Chipiona, Cadiz

roommates

A few weeks later I went to Cadiz for the weekend with my roommate Salva and a group of his friends, including three Antonios...this is Spain.  The countries represented by the ladies were Russia, Romania and the US.  

Aracena has some of the best jamon in Spain, therefor making it a great spot for a jamon festival.  We were all over that.  There was a group of around twenty people who all threw in ten euro to make a magical afternoon.  We had around ten cheese wheels, a great selection of sausage, twenty bottles of wine, bread, and a jamon leg.  After about four hours of eating we hiked to the castle that over looks the town for a beautiful sunset.  Life is tough.

One of my future husbands

Two of the Antonios, Concha, Hannah and I

Marlies getting at that jamon leg.

view of Arecena from the castle at sunset

Take Two.

I am now well into my second year as an auxiliar de conversacion.  This year I feel like the old wise owl who watches as everyone else scrambles around trying to figure out their surroundings.  As I sit in my room now, listening to the cars below and my new roommate (Andres) play guitar, I feel at home.  I am continuing with many of my private classes from last year as well as taking on new ones and referrals from my friends who could not return.  Seeing the improvement of my students has motivated me to work harder for them.  Now, I spend countless hours each week preparing and studying English and Spanish.  We shall see where the road leads, but for now I am content in my journey.

VALENCIA!!

Right after Will left in March, my trusty travel partner Hannah and I left for Valencia's annual festival, Las Fallas. We found a place to stay the day before leaving on couch surfing.  A lovely family picked us up in the airport and to our surprise spoke English quite well.  The mother, Heidi, from Switzerland, was very excited at the opportunity to practice English.  Her 19 year old daughter, Carla, was more than willing to show us around and introduce us to Las Fallas.  What a blessing!  This family went above and beyond what is expected of a couch surfing host.  Hannah and I now feel like we have a family in Valencia!

The family!

Valencian Paella

             

Spanish Blues Brothers

Typical dresses for las fallas.

The "fallas" are structures made by different groups with a theme, usually political in nature.  After a week on display they are all set on fire and burnt to the ground.  Most of them looked like they came straight out of a Disney film.  Along with the fallas, there are fireworks everyday, parades, and lots of partying.  Our kind of festival.  I must say, the group of 19 year old girls out did us, but only by a little.  Hannah and I took an eight hour train ride back to Sevilla and enjoyed our time reading and eating our lunch lovingly prepared by the family as the Spanish country side rolled past.

Carnival De Will

james william dougherty

and carnival in Cadiz

My good old buddy and pal, Will came to visit for a solid week of non-stop fun.  Of course when I told Will that it was carnival in Cadiz, a short two hour bus ride away, he was in.  We took the 7pm bus to Cadiz in our New Orleans masks and beads and made it all night on the streets to take the 7am bus back to Sevilla.  Hannah and Arturo accompanied us in the madness...

We explored Lora del Rio and were given a tour by an English student of mine who works at the Cultural House.  It was my first time to see many of sites in Lora.  My students loved Will and are now online friends on call of duty.

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Will came up with a great idea for a game after I threw an orange at him.  He decided that after the sun had gone down it was full out war.  We would run to the orange trees shake them until they gave us ammunition to launch at each other.  The Spanish were appalled until they realized that we were only after each other.  I met some great tourists and a waiter who even jumped and pulled them out of the tree for me.  I still find orange pulp on some of my bags and shoes.  It was epic.

With Will, I made my first trip to the Texas Saloon to enjoy Budweiser and  North Carolina basketball game.  Ahhh, booze and basketball.  Will will be missed and so is Texas.  A little taste of home is never a bad thing.

Fairy tales do come true

Belgium is a country that I could visit time and again, rain or shine, what I saw was absolutely beautiful.  All of the cities I visited (Gent, Brugge, Brussels) were on a different color pallet.  Each place was the perfect backdrop to a fairy tale.  Hannah's former roommate showed us around the city and gave us a more than comfortable place to stay.  It is always better to view places with a local.  She knew the best places, what to order and could describe all the incredible Belgian beers.  Being quite fond of beer myself, I was in love with the fine Belgium beers that cost half of what they are sold for in the States.  

beer

and chocolate :)

We went out on our own in Gent before having to catch a train to a bus to the Ryan Air airport outside of Brussels.  We found a book market and then around the corner a beautiful flower market.  Too bad we were limited to the amount we could take on our flight or else I would have redecorated my Sevilla apartment.