Ronda

Last Saturday I had the chance to take a day trip out to a town called Ronda with my friend Theresa from church. We hopped on a bus at 10am, and after an hour and 45 min. bus ride inland we arrived in Ronda. It is a rather large town, set up on a cliff. Sort of. I don't know how to describe it, I'll have to post pictures below! The old town and newer part of town are connected by an old bridge over a gorge. We hiked down part of the way and actually went under the bridge...though there wasn't really a clear walkway, so it was a bit narrow at times! But we had a good time exploring the city and enjoying the beautiful Spring weather that has finally arrived! (I won't linger on this subject, out of respect for my PA friends and family. Sorry to hear about the April Fool's snow :(
ahora, fotos!

Puente Nuevo...the "new" bridge, built in the 18th century. Beautiful!

This is what I meant, about it being up on a cliff! Green fields surrounded the city below.

On our hike down to get pictures of the bridge.

Wildflowers, gazebo, and countryside

Theresa and me (and bridge, of course!)

Walking through town. It's was fairly touristy, but still awesome. I just can't get enough of these narrow alleys/streets!

Hey, twice in one week!

Look, I'm back already! Turning over a new leaf? Probably not, but I'll be hopeful that I'll get in a few more blog entries in March :)

I don't know if I've mentioned that I have 2 jobs here. One, obviously, is teaching my 3 lovely ladies. They continue to make me smile everyday with interesting questions that I often don't know the answer to (student: "what color does brown and pink make?" me: "uhhh...pinkbrown?") and shower me with gifts of their artwork and silly bands. (That was today's gift!)

However, I do have a second job working as a part-time administrative assistant for the head of the Staff Care and Development Team (SDCT) from CRM. (The agency I'm working with) The main responsibility involves processing their monthly expenses, gathering receipts, etc, etc...not the most exciting aspect of the job, but after the first month's disasterous attempt (when I'm pretty sure the finance department wanted to hunt down this new Kate person who mixed up all the receipts and emailed monstrously large PDF files by accident that couldn't be opened), I am proud to say that I improved enormously by the next month and hopefully redeemed myself in the eyes of the finance department!
Anyway, all this to say that in this other job I have been delegated the task of putting together a website for people who come to Spain to visit the SDCT team.
Huh?
When have I ever put together an entire website??- was my first thought. But thanks to Apple and iWeb, it's actually rather easy! I've been considering switching this blog to a custom made website, actually, where I can easily post photo albums and links and all sorts of exciting stuff! (But that's pending...you can see how good I am at updating this blog, so let's just stick that idea in our back pocket for now, shall we? ) But I am enjoying learning this program and some of its intricacies. Now, before you all start lining up to have me create your websites for you ;) let me say that I'm no expert...yet. Seriously though, it's something I never thought I'd do and I am enjoying playing around with different features and design layouts. It's a loooong way from done, however, so I'll let you know when (if) it's ever completed. And I need to add, it's totally a group effort. I'm plugging info into the site and arranging the text, etc, but others are doing a lot of research for the site!

And now for some photos. (Which I could put in an album on my someday-website. sigh.)

SCIENCE!! Test tube gardens...first you grow these magic crystals that turn from little salt-like rocks into big squishy things, then you plant a seed in them. So fun! (thanks, dad!) I think the girls' favorite part was growing the crystals and squishing them around...

Me in a funny hat...Lily and I went to a place with little artisan booths for artists from Malaga and Morocco, and at one place the man insisted that we both try on this hat, which I think is traditionally used in a type of dance costume. How could we resist?

Picture Fun

Okay, so my attempt to be a better blogger has failed miserably. Ah, well. I think instead of typing out a bunch of stuff, I'll post some photos with captions about what I've done in the past month.

The end of February/beginning of March was Carnaval...as you can see, downtown Malaga was all lit up and decorated, with people running around in fun Halloween-ish costumes, and groups performing songs all along this long walkway. Songs that seemed to be funny, but I really have no idea because I had no idea what they were singing about!

Here I am, ready for Carnaval craziness! It was some sort of mix of Mardi Gras (but not as crazy) and Halloween. Even little kids were dressed up in costumes!

We sort of ran into a parade, so we stopped to watch! When I wasn't being pummeled with confetti from people on the floats, I managed to get a few photos.

Last week I ran around town with my friend Lily and took pictures because she had a Flat Stanley sent to her by a friend! So we went all around Malaga, which worked nicely for me because I got to take a few pictures too. This is a picture looking down on the bull fighting ring in Malaga. And the Mediterranean, of course!

Overlooking the harbor

The view the other direction, which is downtown Malaga.

A back/side view of the main cathedral in Malaga

Oh Flat Stanley (whose name is actually Flat Nathan), what are you doing hiding in that little alleyway??

And I just love beautiful sunsets from my bedroom window (well technically, classroom window!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My, You're Looking Leafy Today...

I just caught myself talking to one of my plants. Hmm...never thought I'd be one of "those" people. :) I won't look too deeply into why I felt the need to speak words of encouragement to my new friend..I mean plant..

Happy Valentine's Day....yesterday! We had a nice little gathering with our kids and team members, filled with valentine making, chocolate fondue dipping and lots of love all around. We had tables set up with fun paper and cut out hearts and stickers, where people could make valentines for each other right there on the spot, then deliver them into their friend's paper bag mailbox. The kids had a good time, as did the adults! I'm not much for this holiday, but I enjoyed spending time with people who are becoming dear friends.

I'm reading a very good book right now (well, I'm reading a few books. I can't help myself!) The one I'm referring to, however, is Courage and Calling by Gordon T. Smith. A friend lent it to me as I am going though a personal process of re-focusing and getting to know myself a bit better. I keep joking that I hope to figure out what I want to be when I grow up, but part of me knows I'm not really joking! The book centers on God's specific call in a person's life, which is your vocation. A person's vocation can be carried out anywhere, at any point in one's life. Most often we think of our vocation as what we do for a living. It may overlap with your job or profession, but maybe not completely. Basically, it's figuring out who He has called you to be, and then being true to yourself in that calling. (Sorry, I'm not good at summarizing.) Just wanted to share a bit about the personal growth process I am starting here, led by some wonderful friends. I'll share a bit more as we go along!
Some pictures...

Poor Yogi had a heart balloon attached to his collar...but it was so cute!

Isn't she a beaut??

Pie and Visas

There's lemon tree right out front of the kitchen window, and it's been heavy with lemons for the past few weeks. Those lemons inspired me and could be the only possible explanation for my desire to bake a pie from scratch! My Grammy's lemon sponge pie is a family favorite, and though I have never baked it before in my life (nor any other pie for that matter) I decided to give it a go! They don't really have pre-made pie crusts in the local supermarket, but they do have sheets of dough that can be used as a crust. I discovered, though, that they are rectangles and didn't quite fit the pie dish I was using. So I ended up making my first pie crust from scratch as well! And I have to say, it turned out rather well. The oven has no option to bake just from the bottom, so the top got browner than it's supposed to, but the taste came out pretty close to what I remember...so all in all I'm calling it a success!

Good news...the family I am homeschooling (one of the families, I should say) all have their visas now to live in Spain! Mom and the 2 girls' visas hadn't come through after months of waiting, so they returned to Costa Rica and were gone for about 3 weeks. They finally got the situation figured out and praise God, came back on Friday with their visas! Such a huge burden lifted and an answer to prayer. I'm excited to have my students back :)

¿Qué tal?...what's up?

Life has been rolling along nicely here so far in 2011. I'm not quite at the halfway mark for my time here, but getting close...I can hardly believe it! I feel like I have been here longer than 3 and 1/2 months, and yet I know time will be running out soon enough. I'm still not using my Spanish nearly enough as I'd like, so that is definitely a goal I need to put more energy into in the near future. I am teaching in English, and primarily interacting with other friends and families in English, so it's all too easy to just "get by" with minimal Spanish. I would love to be fluent, and I'm in Spain for an extended period of time, so I don't know when an opportunity like this will come up again! The church I am attending is all in Spanish, so I do have the chance to interact with people there...I have a hard time getting to know people in my own language, so it's difficult to break through that first layer of acquaintance, where you just say hello and how are you, etc. Hopefully I'll be going to a language exchange (intercambio) in downtown Malaga this week, where we'll alternate speaking in English and Spanish. It sounds terrifying to me, to walk into this unknown situation and use my rusty Spanish with strangers, but who knows...maybe it'll be more freeing if I know I may never see them again!

I had the chance to do some more driving practice today. Actually, it's only the second time I've gotten to go out and drive. I think the first time I had some beginners luck on my side, because today I had a lot more difficulty getting into first gear to get the car to go! My friend Lily was very patient with me, and very generous to allow me to continually stall out her car (which she just got a week ago!) It was slightly discouraging to spend nearly 10 minutes in one spot, unable to move the car forward. But, perseverance did pay off and I got it eventually! I only drove around 1-2 blocks over and over again, but that was fine with me. I need to practice getting into first gear from a dead stop. I will come out of this experience with the ability to drive stick!!

Quick school update...2 of my students have been back in Costa Rica with their mom to pick up their visas...well, it turns out at first they still hadn't come through to the embassy, but last week we got news from them that all 3 visas came!! Praise God! It was a long process for them, but was all in God's timing. Meanwhile, I've had the chance to get to know my other student better, as it's just been the 2 of us for the past 2 weeks. She's in kindergarten, and we've been working on letters and numbers together. We're having a good time creating art projects and science experiments, which is a favorite subject of her's!

Speaking of school, I need to get some prepping done for tomorrow and this week. I am determined to blog more, even if it's just about what I ate for dinner, so please don't give up on me yet!
Have a wonderful week :)

Vrrroom!

I have a list of things I'd like to do while I'm here. Some are travel goals, some are deeper ones like spiritual growth, figuring out what to do with my life, etc...

And I want to learn how to drive a manual car. A daunting and scary task? Somewhat!

I had my first driving lesson today with Randy, the dad of my students. It was kind (and brave!) of him to agree to teach me because I know sometimes when I'm stressed out driving my automatic car I freak out a little bit. Like when I'm trying to parallel park and a line of cars is waiting impatiently for me to get out of their way, or trying to park in the cramped parking lots of LA. Panic!

But as I said, he was kind enough to take me in. After some explanation of how to shift and use the clutch and some observation time while he drove, I was ready to get behind the wheel. A brief bout of panic took over when he pulled over to switch but I pushed it aside and powered on! And I have to say, I didn't do so bad! No parking lots for me, we started on roads. (Nearly empty roads around warehouses, but still.) It's a totally different rhythm to get in, using 2 feet to drive, but after about the 8th or 9th time around one block I started to get the hang of it! I only stalled out the car once, maybe twice, but I think all beginners do that. (right??)

Then I was ready to be around other cars. We went up and down one stretch of road outside of town, where I wouldn't have to stop and start so much. Spain also has an abundance of traffic circles, which actually made it easier for me. I only got beeped at once for not pulling out fast enough because I was being extra cautious, but in general people here are fairly considerate drivers. With such narrow streets all over, you really have no choice but to wait for a car to pull out in front of you. All the roundabouts felt weird to me at first, and I don't think I've driven around one since I was last in New Jersey, but I think they've grown on me!

All this to say, I think today was a success. I have another lesson on Thursday, where maybe we'll practice hills and going in reverse. Considering I live on the side of a huge hill with lots of twists and turns to drive up, I think that would be a good skill to practice. The idea of driving up up up these little roads makes me start to panic slightly, but I'm determined to try!

Happy driving :)

Wow, I am a terrible blogger.

And the longer I wait to update it, the more daunting it becomes! I do apologize.
I have had a few fun excursions since my last post, before Christmas. The day after Christmas I took off for Fes, Morocco for a few days and it was amazing! A friend of a friend was up here with us for Christmas and she is currently living in Morocco. I traveled back down with her on the 26th. It was a full day of travel, involving a bus, ferry, taxi, train, and another taxi. (I flew back on a plane, so I pretty much covered all modes of transportation on this trip!)
I had a great time seeing Fes, spending time in the Medina (the old city). It was just incredible to look around at this city that has been there since like 700 or 800 AD. The city was a combination of old and new, traditional and modern. Men and women in traditional dress walking next to youth in jeans, talking on a cell phone. Old structures that have been there for hundreds of years, scattered with satellite dishes. The contrast was fascinating to see!
The Medina is a maze of tiny alleyways, where no cars can go and the main way to transport things is by donkey. Many times I had to flatten myself against a building to let a donkey carrying bags of sand to pass through! We did a tour one day, with a guide who was clearly very proud to be from Fes. He informed us all about how his uncle was a great craftsman, and because he grew up in this city he knew it very well...which very well may be true, but I can't say I learned too much from him. (He was the one who informed us that to be a good woman, you need to be able to make good bread :)
One of my favorite parts of the trip was spending time at the home of the woman who is my friend's Arabic tutor. This woman, Fatima, had such a bubbly personality that it didn't matter that I had no idea what she was saying while we were there! (My friend did translate for me, so that did help.) Fatima had us over 2 nights, once to have tea and snacks and the next night for have dinner. Moroccan tea is a very sweet mint tea...I mean, really sugary! But sooo good! I had it many times while I was there. The next night she made a harira soup, which is like a national dish, according to my friend. It was very tasty...a tomato based soup, with chickpeas, little noodles and vegetables. She brought out spoons for us to use, probably because I was there, but my friend shooed them away so we could drink it traditionally, right out of the bowl. So yummy!
We went back to the market(s) in the Medina the last day so I could so some shopping. There were so many beautiful hand crafted goods, being made right there in front of you. Beautiful scarves, rugs, pottery, leather, just about anything. I was glad to be with someone who was learning to speak the local Arabic dialect, because she did most of the talking in the shops! Well, stalls, really. I think we maybe got a slightly better price because she lives there and knows the language! All in all, it was a great trip. I'll put a few pictures below, but I took a good amount so if you'd like to see more, send me an email and I'll send a link!

My favorite picture of shoes in the market!

A main entrance to go into the Medina (old city) of Fes

A view from above, with the Medina spread out below

The tanneries, where they clean, dye and dry leather

Dressed up in a traditional dress for a formal occasion (We had fun playing dress up!)

I feel so blessed that I was able to go see another corner of the world, one I never thought I'd see. Another stamp in my passport...and, now I've been to Africa! Check one more continent off my list :)
I will update again soon, with pictures from my weekend in Sevilla, I promise. 2/3 of my students are going to be gone for the next 2 weeks, so I will have a bit more free time to upload pictures and whatnot. Thanks for reading!

Merry Christmas Eve!

My first Christmas spent anywhere other than my parents' home in PA...it's a strange feeling, of not being there to do all the usual traditions. Since it's Christmas Eve, I should be helping my dad make the kipfel (the favorite Stremme cookie) in the kitchen, and finishing wrapping up my gifts. To help sort of follow this tradition, I'm going to go bake another kind of cookie that involves jelly and is German (I think), a linzer cookie. Plus, I do still have some wrapping to do! It's nice to know I can procrastinate in any country :)

One of things I'm most sad about missing is a Christmas Eve church service. The church I'm attending doesn't have one, nor do any of the other churches that we've found. Maybe some of the cathedrals have mass? Anyway, I'll sing Silent Night on my own if I have to!
Christmas is most definitely celebrated here, but the bigger holiday happens on Jan. 6th, el dia de los Reyes Magos (or something to that effect). King's Day. I've been told on the 5th in the evening, there is a parade where the kids dress up in costumes and throw candy into the crowds...I don't know, I'll blog more when it gets closer and I can see for myself!

One thing I have enjoyed is seeing a few different nativities around Alhaurín and in Málaga. There's one outdoors, in front of the main cathedral in town. It has full size figures, and since the floor is filled with hay all the homeless kitties around town have taken up residence beside the baby Jesus. It's really cute, actually! I got a picture of them...

You can see the two curled up together in front of Mary. There were more along the sides of the creche, probably 5 or 6 in all. This was the only life size belén (nativity) I saw.

The others were all in miniature, but were entire villages...the stable was just one part of it! We went to one that was inside a...not a church, I'm not sure what to call it. A place where they store the floats and saints for Santa Semana (Holy week, the week before Easter when they have tons of parades with their favorite saints/icons) Anyway, inside this building they had a little village set up, but when we looked closely we saw that there were little scenes from Jesus' life in different parts. One of him as a boy, while Joseph was working as a carpenter, one of Mary while she was riding on the camel, pregnant, with Joseph leading...it was neat, actually. You could always pick the 3 of them our because their figurines had the gold circle/halo around their heads. I didn't get any pictures, because I wasn't sure if it was allowed, but it was fun to look at. And the nice church ladies inside were playing tambourines and singing. Not so much in a performance way, more like they decided to stand in a little circle and sing together, And they offered us drinks. Like, shots of the anise flavored liquor...I don't know what it's called. But these Spanish ladies knew how to party!
The last belén I saw was yesterday, at the main cathedral in Málaga. It was...confusing? It was in miniature, like the other one, but the scene was more like 18th century. The figurines were dressed more 17th or 18th century, I'm not really sure. One guy had a white wig like he should have been in parliament in the 1700s...then we did see the creche at the end of the scene, but it wasn't really a stable. There were animals, and a decorative fountain in the wall behind them..umm..okay. An interpretation of Bethlehem perhaps? lol...it was interesting!

Well, the cookies won't make themselves so I better get to work. I hope to blog tomorrow at some point, but if not, then please pray for me as I prepare for my trip to Fez, Morocco! I leave on Sunday the 26th, and I'll be back in Málaga on the 30th. Just a few days, but I excited to see Morocco! Who would have thought I'd ever go to Fez??
¡Feliz Navidad!

Christmas in Malaga

Last Friday I had the chance to go downtown with 2 friends, Lily and Theresa, to see the Christmas lights. Let me tell you, they know how to do lights here! It was beautiful! Around the main plaza, la Plaza de la Constitucion, there is a big pedestrian outdoor shopping area, and they went all out with Christmas lights and more Christmas lights, hung from building to building. Plus, as we were standing in the plaza, a marching band came through, just sort of pushing their way through the crowds. And further down there was an excellent string quartet playing off to one side. It was loud, crowded, bright, and alive...as much as I like living in a smaller town, I equally enjoy getting out into the city! After walking around and taking many pictures we found a good sushi restaurant and really, when have I ever refused sushi??
Pictures of the lights...

Ole!

Last night I had the chance to go to a flamenco show at the local cultural center. It was so much fun to watch! It was put on by a local dancing school, and it seemed like a recital of sorts. Which made it all the more fun, because there were dancers of all ages and skill levels- from a 4 year old that stood completely still and just played with  her dress and smiled, to the adults who danced  and moved their hands beautifully. Flamenco is fascinating to watch...so much of it is in the hands and how they twist and turn them in the air. There were several different styles of flamenco, which I never realized there was more than one style. Some involved castanets and soft shoes, and others were more about the stomping and clapping rhythms. And the costumes! Some were wildly inappropriate for little girls to be wearing on stage (gold bikini-like tops? really?) but most were what you would picture for flamenco dancers. Mermaid style gowns with big ruffles that trailed behind on the floor, hair in tight buns and big flowers pinned in. I didn't get any pictures of the adults, but I couldn't resist these little ones in their orange ruffle dresses...they were so cute!

We all had a really good time watching the recital...and at the end they all gathered on stage and had what I refer to as a jam session. Dancing improv, as they clapped to the beat and called to each other to come forward and dance in the semi circle. Oh, it looked like so much fun, it's tempting to find some flamenco lessons! And, at the end of each performance people from the audience shouted "Ole!" Ah, what a Spanish experience.

Tonight I'm headed into downtown Malaga to see the Christmas lights in the shopping/pedestrian area. I saw them up last time I was in town, unlit, so I'm excited to see them all lit up. Pictures will come of that! I did take a pic of my mini-tree. I like it! And it was only 6.49 Euro. Not bad for a little tree :)

Hello, December!

Felices Fiestas!
I've seen that expression in lights around town, and the closest I can gather is that it is the equivalent of our generic, secular Happy Holidays. (Literal translation is Happy Parties...) I prefer Feliz Navidad!

I decided not to go home for Christmas this year. I was going back and forth about it, which meant I waited until flights got to be rather pricey. I finally decided to take advantage of being on this side of the Atlantic and fully experience Spain during Christmastime. It'll be weird to not be home for making cookies with my dad, Christmas Eve dinner and church service, and all the traditions that Christmas brings with it. But I have a wonderful group of people here who are more than welcoming and will gladly draw me in to join in the Christmas festivities. And, I even bought a little tree about 2 ft. tall, and little inexpensive ornaments to decorate it with. Can't have Christmas without a tree :) I would post a picture but I haven't take it out of it's little box yet. Soon, though.

One thing that made it feel like Christmas was going shopping this weekend. There was Christmas music, mostly in English...the mall was all decorated inside with lights and a big tree, and there were huge crowds- just like back home. A mall is a mall, no matter where you are. They had an H&M, Sephora, Claire's, and a few other common stores. The main difference I would say is the food court. Well, I wouldn't call it a food court, because the only fast food option was McD's (of course), then the rest were all little cafes/restaurants where you need to sit down and order. It's just much more common to take time to sit down and eat, especially for the main 2:30ish meal. It's a good thing, to slow down and enjoy each other's company.

That's it for now...I will try and blog more frequently this month!

Water, water everywhere

Things are getting a bit soggy here in southern Spain. The rains have come, which means Winter is upon us! It doesn't get cold enough to snow where I am living, but it does get to be quite chilly. And rainy. It has rained 3 of the past 4 days. I like rain, but not in my bedroom...
I think my family water curse has followed me here. Water is trying to seep in through the bottom of my door that leads out to the patio. Then I started hearing a drip-drip-dripping sound over the weekend, and saw my roof was dripping in 2 spots. (luckily, not over my bed or anything!) I only mention the water curse because these water incidents are on top of my toilet not flushing properly at the moment, the lack of hot water for a week until we had the hot water heater replaced, and the kitchen sink upstairs that is leaking in the cabinet below. I'm not complaining, just realizing that perhaps my family does have a water curse! At any rate, I'm still feeling thankful and blessed to have hot showers after a few days of trickling, cool water showers in the chilly mornings!
On Sunday it did not rain. In fact, it was gorgeous and clear, and I took the opportunity to walk around my neighborhood. Below is a photo of the view from the top of my street. I am living in one of the pinkish houses you can see in the near distance, to the right a bit. So blessed to be here!!

The Mediterranean in the distance. I can't get enough of these views!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Living outside of the US doesn't stop us Americans from taking time off from work/school and stuffing ourselves full of turkey and mashed potatoes! Sure, there were a few elements missing (the Macy's parade, football, the snow that apparently fell in Philly...??) but those aren't what really makes Thanksgiving a great holiday. As much as I love eating all the food, one of my favorite parts of the day is the time spent cooking with others in the kitchen. I like the chit chat and time spent together as you do even the most mundane tasks, such as peeling potatoes or chopping vegetables. At least this year I didn't have to fight off 4 cats who know how to jump up on the counters :)
Our little community of 11 came together yesterday to have Thanksgiving, and it was a really great time of fellowship and laughter, with a few small cooking missteps (ovens in Spain are weird. Though from what I hear, it can be normal for a house/apartment to not even have an oven.) But the turkeys came out great, as did all the side dishes. I was in charge of mashed potatoes and broccoli salad, naturally. The kids had all made little Pilgrim and Indian dolls from toilet paper rolls, and created a little village! I love the creativity these kids have.
There is just so much to be thankful for right now...thank you to everyone who has been praying for me and supporting me. I'm truly thankful for God's provisions for me here and everything he has done in the past few months. Amazing! 

Happy Thanksgiving, and Happy Black Friday shopping to you all!!
And now I can start listening to Christmas music ;)

Our village people!

Ready for dinner

Discount Shopping and Hot Engines

Today I went shopping! There have been signs all over Alhaurin and Malaga for a huge discount shopping weekend at the Malaga Convention Center, where vendors come and sell maybe their overstock? Or items that are out of season? Anyway, it involved clothes, shoes, children's clothing, housegoods, and even some kitchen appliances. My friend Lily invited Doralicia (mom of my students) and me to go, so the 3 of us ladies piled in the car and headed over this afternoon. After we exited the autovia (highway) and were approaching the convention center, suddenly the little screen in the middle of the console beeped and flashed a message at us to inform us that they engine was too hot and needed coolant. Sure enough, the little gauge was all the way over in the red, and in the middle of the area in front of the driver there was a red light and kept flashing STOP STOP STOP over and over at us...yikes! Luckily, we were already there so we were able to keep going long enough to park safely and let the engine cool while we shopped.

And shop we did! It was overwhelming...we realized we came right after siesta, so there was a huge rush of people that arrived the same time we did. I had expected a crowd, and it was a bit crazy at times. Sometimes just walking down the aisles I almost started throwing elbows just to get through :) But they did have some good deals..I realized it is a tad chillier here than I had anticipated, so I bought another long sleeved blue cardigan. I also found a pair of green flats (shoes) that were on a good sale. I was tempted to buy a pair of cute boots, but I restrained myself. (Well, plus the ones I tried on didn't zip all the way up my leg. Boo for having fat calves :( But the ladies at the shoe booth were friendly and patient with my broken Spanish!
Also, we got a microwave for my little kitchen area. hooray! After doing a little research in the past few days, we got an idea of the prices of microwaves in the main stores around here. They had a nice looking microwave today for 39 Euro, which was by far the least expensive we've seen. It wasn't fun to carry it all the way through to convention center out through the parking lot to the car, but hey, we got it there!

We pile in the car and go to drop off some people who met us there and sure enough, after about 5 minutes the car is again yelling at us to STOP STOP STOP! and we're in the red again. Lily's friend points us in the general direction of where she's pretty sure there's a gas station and after a scary 5 minutes of not seeing anything, the bright BP sign is like a haven. Thank you Lord! We pull in to where you get air and water, and luckily there is a guy there who had just finished putting air in his tires. Dora (who is fluent) goes up to him and asks if he knows anything about radiators (like, where they are under the hood...?) and explains the situation to him. He very kindly helped us out by not only finding the radiator, but filling it with water for a quick fix to get us home safely. We got in the car and again said thank you Lord for sending us this guy! We made it home safe and sound and tired from a long evening of shopping. But it was a good time :)

¿Cómo?

"What?"
I feel like I say that a lot to people here! I had the chance to practice my Spanish a little more today...and I discovered I'm still horribly out of practice! I had to send a fax from a store in town, and it didn't go through. The man said something to me that I didn't catch, but I was able to understand that the line was busy and I'd have to try again later. I'm hoping that that overwhelming sense of panic and deer-in-headlights look on my face when someone speaks to me in Spanish will eventually diminish as time goes on :) I suppose it's up to me, though, to get out there more! I've also been able to interact with employees at IKEA and the supermarket to ask basic questions, but I feel like I communicate like a 5 year old. "I want, I need, where is..." etc. I think this needs to on a list of goals for my time here...to become more comfortable with the language and actually use it in the community! It's just a challenge for me when I'm not really that chatty to begin with, even in English :) 

Field Trip!

Life is rolling along nicely here in Alhuarin de la Torre...my two students are still eager to come to school, so that's a good sign! I'm enjoying getting to know them and their unique, fun personalities. Sometimes I forget that they are in the midst of such a huge transition in their lives- moving across the Atlantic to live in a new country. They are adapting well so far, and in fact the whole family has been a huge help and support for me too, during this time. They are living here in the same house as me for now, while looking for a house to rent. They're a blessing :)

On Tuesday of this week, we went on our first field trip of the school year! A group of people here that work on CRM's staff care team planned a trip up to the city of Granada and we decided to go along. More specifically, we went to visit the Alhambra, which was (insert history lesson here...) a huge palace, fortress, and small town that was built by the Moors in the 13th and 14th centuries. Granada was the last Moorish kingdom left in Spain by the end of the 1400s, and the Alhambra was the center of the Moorish rule there. In 1492 the Reconquista, led by Ferdinand and Isabella, reached the Alhambra and the Moors surrendered and left Spain. (Sorry...I studied and taught all about the Alhambra with my girls on Monday, so I need to spread my knowledge somewhere. ;) I even had them make a foldable to help them learn the basic facts, with a little help from my dad on Skype! Thanks, Dad!)

Anyway, we woke on Tuesday to a sunny day here on the coast, but as we drove inland the rains descended. And cooold! It was the cutest thing, the girls had gotten their first pair of winter gloves before coming here to Spain and they were super excited about them! Coming from Costa Rica, gloves were not a winter necessity, I suppose. They were fuzzy, muppet-like gloves and by the end of the day I was wishing I had had my own pair!
We had a fun time anyway, despite getting rained on throughout the day. The gardens around the Alhambra are beautiful, as is the Moorish design and architecture. I can't even put it into words, I'll just be attaching some pictures below to show you! You can't even wrap your mind around how much work must have gone into building this place, with all the intricate tiles and designs carved in the walls and ceilings. I highly recommend a visit if you're ever in Spain!

I highly enjoyed the city of Granada as well...in fact, I'd like to go back and do some more shopping. In addition to all the twisty little alleyways we visited, filled with Moroccan goods and teterias (tea shops, many filled with hookah things), I also made an exciting discovery as we were driving out of the city....a Sephora! Woohoo! Bare Escentuals makeup, here I come! (it's the small things, okay?)

View of the Alhambra, on the left, from the gardens

Waiting to go inside...getting rained on...with the village Albaicin in the distance

The beautiful columns inside with intricate arabic designs

This is a ceiling in one of the rooms...so cool!

Hanging out in one of the courtyards, by the reflecting pool

This is just a sampling of the Alhambra...I can put more pictures in a Snapfish album, if anyone is interested..let me know!
Thank you for all your prayers and support for me while I'm here. Please know that I am thinking of home often, even if I'm not able to call or write as much as I'd like. But please feel free to email me or try me on Skype! It's just my first and last name. Even if you don't have video, I can still use it as my phone! It just gets a little lonely here sometimes, though I know I am where I'm supposed to be :)

Nutella

Eating nutella straight of the jar can only mean 2 things....1- nutella is awesome and delicious and 2- I desperately need to go food shopping.

As a small jar of peanut butter costs about the equivalent of $5, nutella is making itself a fine replacement. Not the same, but also delicious!
Life suddenly got rather busy, which is why I haven't blogged lately (and why I'm getting down to eating nutella a la carte), but I will very soon put up pics about our field trip yesterday to the Alhambra in Granada!

El parque de las palomas

Pigeon Park! That's where we went yesterday on a little outing, because Nov. 1st is All Saints Day here, which means the kids had off from school. Since my littlest student turned 6 today, we took the opportunity to celebrate her birthday yesterday while everyone had off from school. We had a little picnic and spent the afternoon at the pigeon park, which is a really pretty park right on the coast. Like, you could see the water from the top of the hill where we ate our snack. The weather was gorgeous- sunny, blue sky, a bit windy, but still nice... and we were surrounded by nature. Literally. There were free roaming chickens, roosters, and giant bunnies!
So, we're walking to the entrance, and I'm hearing roosters crowing and I'm like...where is that coming from?? Apparently, from the roosters wandering around inside. And they're not afraid of you. They're not aggressive or anything, they're just not afraid to start cock-a-doodle-do-ing from a foot behind you while you're sitting on a bench, trying to have a conversation. :) I found it all delightful, actually. And of course, there were pigeons down by the little lake. And little turtles, swans, seagulls, ducks, etc. Also a place to bring your non-traditional pets, because we saw 2 ferrets on leashes, and a small 5 month old piglet! Needless to say, the kids had a blast with all the animals.

Below are some pictures from the day...

The pond below

From where we ate lunch you can see the Sea!

And I forgot to mention the decapitated heads the children could climb and play inside. Hm.

Aforementioned chickens and roosters, looking for food.

One of the free bunnies, enjoying some peace before being chased by children.

sneeze..boo

That boo is me boo-ing being sick, but I guess it also fits today..happy halloween! Halloween isn't nearly as big of a deal here in Spain as in the US, but it is celebrated. From what I can gather, it isn't as light hearted, like the fun costumes and candy we're used to. Of the little bit of costumes or makeup I've seen, it celebrates the darker side...lots of blood, ghouls, skeletons...dead things I suppose. The girls in the one family who was living here last year said they got one piece of candy last Halloween! Disappointing, I'm sure. So, I have no real halloween plans for today, other than trying to feel better.
I felt this cold coming on two days ago and tried to fight it with my Zicam as best I could...but alas, I failed. I woke up stuffy yesterday and overnight last night I got headache-y and a little feverish. I'm feeling better this afternoon, as I took something for my headache and ate some homemade chicken soup made by the mom of the family I'm staying with. She made it a few days ago, but was kind of enough to offer it to me! So delicious. But I think its a good day to pop in a movie and curl up for a bit.
Have a safe and fun Halloween!