Cuba? Mexico? Why not!

I'll be home for Christmas...just 3 days late.  I think I might win an award in the "nightmare travels" category, because my trip from Sevilla to Phoenix was horrendous.  It would take writing a novel to describe my adventures, but I'll do my best to summarize: Due to bad weather, my flight from Madrid to Paris was cancelled, which resulted in missing my flight to Atlanta.  So after standing in line for 6 hours (please just try to imagine standing in an airport line for 6 hours - no sitting, no eating, and just stressing about your next flight), I finally got my turn to reschedule my flight. Because it was the holidays and the weather was bad everywhere, there were no flights to the USA or Canada until Christmas Day. Unacceptable. So, I stayed the night in Madrid and then flew to Havana, Cuba the next day. I'm not going to lie - I was pretty scared to go to Cuba and have to spend a night in the airport there.  So after a 10 and 1/2 hour flight, we landed in Havana.  I spent a sleepless night in the smokey, dark, cold airport in Havana, and then flew to Mexico City the following morning.  Of course that flight was delayed as well, so I ended up sprinting, yep literally sprinting, through the airport in Mexico City to catch my next flight.  I barely made it, and we flew to Hermosillo, Mexico.  Then we FINALLY flew to Phoenix, and I can say I've never been more glad to be on American soil.  After 72 hours, precious little sleep, wearing the same clothes, and only eating airplane food, I finally made it home for the holidays. :)

A Volei Christmas

So after my Christmas party in El Cuervo, I went back to Sevilla to celebrate the holidays with my voleibol team. We went to a few bars in Triana (the neighborhood next to mine), and then to Sara and Maria's apartment, where some very entertaining Spanish karaoke and dancing ensued. The party lasted until about 4 am, at which point I was exhausted.  Over 14 hours of Spanish-style partying in one day...phew!

Salud!

JuanMa, Maria, and I.

Mi equipo de voleibol.

Vero, Pablo, and Ale.

Alicia, Sara, and Maria.

Christmas in El Cuervo

Today we had our staff Christmas party in El Cuervo...and let me just say, it was a feast like I've never seen! We went to a little restaurant near the school called Kubala.  We were there for over 5 hours, and the entire time, plate after plate of food were brought out - and of course endless Spanish wine and beer as well. :)  Everything from Spanish ham and cheese, shrimp, pate, fish, chicken, pork, chorizo, croquetas...and then when I was stuffed, the waiter came back to take our entree orders. I couldn't believe it!  The conversation and laughter never stopped - it was amazing.  We also exchanged our "Amigos Invisibles" gifts, which is something like Secret Santas.  Then we had our coffee, dessert, and chupito (dessert liquor)...wow, I was stuffed.

Afterwards, some of us went to a local bar - including the director of the school. Spaniards sure know how to celebrate! Another round of drinks, some dancing, and lots of laughing.  I'm honestly not sure how long the party lasted because I had to catch the train back to Sevilla to attend my volleyball Christmas party, but it was an experience (and meal) that I will never forget!

My friend Puri and I.

Yep, those are all ham legs - an obligatory sight at every good Spanish bar.

Toasting the staff and holidays.

Ana and I.

Pepe (director of the school) and the girls at "Challe Cafe & Copas".

More of the after-party at Challe!

Christmas Cookies

I had Annie and Maggie over to my apartment today to bake Christmas cookies. We shopped for ingredients yesterday, which was interesting as many items are really hard to find here, such as powdered sugar and almond extract. In any case, we finally were able to find all the ingredients...or suitable substitutes. :) Many places here also don't have ovens, so we had to do our baking in my toaster oven. Funny! It was a slow process, but luckily we had Christmas music and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "The Grinch" to keep us entertained. And in the end, we had delicious sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, and chocolate-peanut butter cookies as a reward!

Annie and Maggie commencing baking with a Noel Spritzer.

The little toaster oven that could...

Frosting the sugar cookies.

Anisada

La Navidad in Spain is a wonderful time of year. The city is beautifully decorated, and there are parties and celebrations galore. Today, my friend Abraham hosted an "anisada" - which is a Christmas party during the day with food, drinks, Spanish Christmas carols, etc. The name comes from the liquor "anise" which is typically served at all Spanish parties this time of year.  So after you have snacked on tapas and wine, it's time for dessert and anise. Anise serves 2 functions: first, it is obviously a dessert liquor.  But in Spain, they also use the Anise bottle as a musical instrument to accompany Christmas carols. You simply take a piece of silverware and strum it against the corrugated design on the bottle - and voila! You have music.

Anyway, the weather today was beautiful, and our little party was on a terrace right in the center of town.  My friend Agu is an incredible chef, and we had everything from typical Spanish tapas to potstickers to sushi. It was amazing! I thoroughly enjoyed my first anisada.

Aranoa, Abraham, and Agu in the kitchen.

Agu, Inma, me, Aranoa, and Vero enjoying the terraza.

Just a small sampling of our delicious food. Sushi!

The first anise toast...

Abraham leading the first round of anise Christmas carols.

Abraham and I.

Another Letter

I have about 4 or 5 girls in my classes that write me letters every week in English. They think it's the coolest thing, and I actually think it's a great activity because every time they write to me, I write back to them (in English). They love it...and I do too, because the letters are priceless! I'm actually starting to run out of space on my bedroom to display them all! Anyway, I already posted the first one that I received, but this one was too funny not to post as well. So here goes:

HELLO! I love you, eres she la mejor teacher. She is descripcion, y good looking, she is tall, she not beard. I not glasses and frecless. You nose big and ears, you mouth big. I LOVE YOU! Eres la mejor teacher!  - To firm: Laura B.

So in case you didn't catch that, she was describing me. Luckily, I don't have a beard (phew!). Nor do I have glasses or freckles. However, I wouldn't say I'm all that tall...and I'm not sure what to make of my big nose, ears, and mouth! Yikes! Well, despite all of my disproportionate features, she still thinks I'm good looking and the best teacher...  :-)

The Letter

The wall in my room, covered with letters and drawings from my nieces/nephews and the kids at school.

Spanish Birthdays and Karaoke

Today was the birthday party for my friend Maria, whom I play volleyball with. The party was at Sara and Maria's apartment, and as usual, I was the only American with a bunch of Spanish volleyball-playing girls. They had a delicious array of Spanish tapas and vino...not to mention the best chocolate tarta (torte) that I have ever eaten. After eating, drinking, and singing "Feliz Cumpleanos", a lively round of Spanish karaoke ensued (a small shout-out to my family: it made me think of you! You would have loved it!). Most of the songs were in Spanish, but every time an English song was chosen, the girls thought it was only appropriate that I sing. The best for me, however, was to listen to them sing in English...it was classic!

Sara and I

Chani singing "YMCA" - with backup dancers

Helena and Veronica singing, while Sara and Maria dance along

School Lesson #1: Thanksgiving

Usually at school, I work as a language assistant in the English classes. However, part of my program involves teaching about American customs, etc. and last week I was assigned my first solo lesson = Thanksgiving. It was pretty interesting because I have a wide age range of students, so I had to think of Thanksgiving activities for 5 yr olds - 12 yr olds. Not to mention the fact that their English vocabulary is VERY limited...so words like "pilgrim" and "cornucopia"are almost impossible to teach. But, the students were very interested in the holiday, and I'm pretty sure they learned 4 things about Thanksgiving: pilgrims, indians, the Mayflower, and turkey. :) I can only wonder what they must be thinking about this holiday in their heads...

The school has designated a wall in the main entrance as the "bilingual wall" - so it is my responsibility to make sure that there are American/English decorations, projects, etc. hanging up at all times. Thanksgiving was my first bilingual display...check out the pictures below!

An American Thanksgiving in Spain

Today we had a party for Thanksgiving (or in Spanish, Dia de Accion de Gracias).  It was a collaborative effort amongst a group of us Americans who are here in Sevilla to teach English.  It turned out to be about 40 people, mostly Americans, but we did have some people from Spain and Greece as well.  In order to get a turkey here, my friend Maggie had to go to the butcher a few days ago and request that he kill a turkey for her.  Luckily, that went well and she was able to get a big turkey for feast.  The rest of us brought side dishes and wine...and I was honestly amazed at the turnout!  We had a complete Thanksgiving spread with all the necessary food: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, etc. We even had canned cranberry sauce, which you can't buy here, but one girl's mom sent some from the U.S. To be honest, I never thought I would be so glad to see canned cranberry sauce! We had a blast, and one of the Spaniards told me, with a full plate of food, that he didn't realize what he had been missing before his first Thanksgiving!  So of course we "come con los ojos" (the Spanish equivalent of having "eyes bigger than your plate"- but here, the say "eat with your eyes") - and enjoyed a truly American Thanksgiving in Spain!!

The girls making traditional hand-print turkeys for decoration.

Annie and Caitlyn carving the turkey.

Maggie and I in the kitchen.

Joselito's first Thanksgiving!

Sevilla by Night

For me, there is something magical about Sevilla at night. Here are a few photos that hopefully capture what I'm talking about...

La Catedral

La Giralda

Una calle cerca de la Alameda

Utrera

Unfortunately, my camera broke a couple of weeks ago, so I haven't been able to take pictures recently. Sad. And thus, I have no photos to accompany this blog post.  So for those of you who are purely visuals - my apologies. But I still want to document my adventures, so here is the latest:

After our volleyball game yesterday, I went with some friends to a birthday party for one of our amigas, Helena. Her family has what I would equate to the Spanish version of a cabin...except that here, instead of being in a forest, her "cottage" (as they call them here) is amongst mainly olive and orange trees. [As a side note, the region of Andalucia is a huge producer of olives, olive oil, and oranges.] So we drove out to Utrera, where Helena's cottage is, and had a barbacoa.  The sense of time here is something I still am adjusting to.  So it still feels a bit strange for me to be having dinner at midnight, and then having birthday cake at about 2:00 am.  But that's just how things are done!  After a busy day and 3 intense volleyball matches, I have to admit that by about 3:30 am I was the first one to go to bed. But have no fear - the rest of the girls, in true Spanish form, sang and danced and laughed until about 7:00 am.

Aceitunas

This is for my family: I am eating aceitunas (olives), and am actually enjoying them!!! Ah, will wonders never cease...

Nerja

Nerja is a beautiful little town on the coast. The picture above is of Nerja through the fog. We spent time on the beach, exploring coves, looking for sea glass...it was really relaxing. And of course, something funny was bound to happen. We found a private, little cove that was totally unoccupied, so we decided to chill on the beach and read our books.  All was quiet, and we were just enjoying the sun and the sound of the waves, when all of a sudden a man walked around the rocks into our cove...totally naked. He was shocked (as were we!), and you could tell that he clearly did not expect to run into anyone while on his skinny-dipping adventure. He froze for a second, and then promptly turned around and ran away. Annie and I burst into laughter...I think that was the last thing either of us expected to see come around the rocks!

My still-life of a much deserved snack of blanco joven vino and queso manchego after hiking to the caves.

Cheers!

Annie and an old boat on the beach.

I had to sneak a picture of this. It was a group of men, swimming and jumping off of the rock. It was like they were kids again...

Me on the Balcon de Europeo.

Las Cuevas de Nerja

Our next stop was the small beach town of Nerja, but I am devoting a whole blog post just to the Cuevas de Nerja (Nerja Caves) because they are that cool. Annie and I hiked up to the caves, which was neat because it was Halloween, and it was appropriately really foggy that day. Las Cuevas de Nerja were only discovered 50 years ago by a group of boys who were playing and stumbled upon them, but they trace back to 25,000 BC and have cave paintings from ancient civilizations, etc. Pictures won't do the caves justice, but they are INCREDIBLE. I think Annie put it perfectly when she said, "I'm an English major, and I'm at a loss for words to describe the beauty of the caves." They are immense, and the number of stalactites, stalagmites, and columns must be in the millions. I was just awe-struck by their natural beauty. God is truly an artist.

An old aqueduct amidst the fog on our hike to the caves.

Annie at the entrance to the caves. They are celebrating their 50th anniversary of discovery.

Me in the caves.

Just trying to give you an idea of the scale of the caves: that's me looking at the biggest known column in the world. The caves are immense - some places are around 250 feet high. In total, the caves are about 16,000 feet long.

Pictures were tough in the caves...we weren't allowed to use flash. But man, they were beautiful.