Horseback-Riding on the Beach!

Two weekends ago my roommate Jessa and I went on a trip with Discover Sevilla to go to Mataslascañas Beach for a day of riding horses and enjoying the coast! It was actually the first time I went horsebacking-riding, so it was very exciting. My friend Jeanie was on the same trip, and I talked a bit with a few other travelers too, most of whom were study abroad students.

Jessa and me enjoying the playa

My friends and I were in the first group to ride the horses. My horse was really calm, and her name was Albina (she was albino!). Our trail led from the stables through Doñana National Park. At first we were just riding through the trees. As we got higher into the hills, we had a beautiful view of the beach to our left and the valleys to our right. To head back to the stables, we went down the hills to the shore and rode most of the way back along the coast! A short trail through Doñana National Park lead us the rest of the way back from the beach.

I do not have pictures from the horseback ride (can you imagine holding a camera while riding a horse?), 

but here is a short video from their webpage to give you an idea of the scenery.

It was really nice being in the first group to ride because it gave us the rest of the afternoon to relax without any interruptions. After enjoying a glass of the free Sangria provided for us, Jeanie and I headed to a seafood restaurant for lunch with one of the other travelers. We got an outside table with a view of the beach that was right in the sun. It was perfect. The local shrimp was especially tasty :) The weather that day was sunny and warm, but also had quite a bit of wind - at times it was a little chilly, but while we were at the restaurant, the building blocked the wind for us!

Jeanie and me after lunch

I finished out the afternoon with attempted napping/sunbathing, walking along the beach, finding a souvenir seashell, and grabbing dessert with friends. 

Matalascañas Beach, in the providence of Huelva

On my horse for the day, in the morning before the ride.

[Almost] Wordless Wednesdays 3/14

"Springtime Spirit" - Munich, Germany

While I know it is somewhat late for a Christmas-y photo, the colorful, fresh produce does tie it into Springtime a little bit. Incase I do not get around to posting my December puentes, I wanted to share a small sample of Germany's Christmas Markets. With how warm the temperatures are beginning to get here, I am not sure I will find much motivation to post cold weather pictures after this week. 

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

I may have celebrated Thanksgiving more this year than any year in the past, which is ironic since I was not on American turf. Granted, my celebrations were a bit different, and it was my first Thanksgiving away from my family. Luckily, I had some good friends to celebrate with here so I was not lonely on a holiday centered around spending time with good company!

Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving #1 - Dinner with other auxiliares/expats!
My roommates and I hosted a Thanksgiving feast in our piso for dinner on Thursday. Since our piso has both an oven & a large table, we cooked the chicken here. (No, I do not mean the turkey. It is tough to find turkey here, and if you want a whole one, it must be ordered weeks in advance from what I have gathered, so we settled for baking 2 chickens instead.) There were 11 of us & everyone brought a dish. We had mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, salad, rolls, a jello dish (family tradition of one of the auxiliares, kind of our substitute for cranberry sauce), apple pie, and a couple other desserts.

The rest of our group

Thanksgiving #2 - Skyping with my family!
It was really fun to be able to see and chat with not only my parents and siblings, but also my aunt, uncle, and cousins! It made me feel not so far away to talk and joke around with them for 30 minutes. Definitely made it feel more like a holiday as well.

My family on Thanksgiving last year - miss you all so much!

Thanksgiving #3 - Cooking a Thanksgiving meal for a few of the Spaniards in Mérida
On Sunday Angela and I cooked another traditional thanksgiving meal for her host family and a few other guests. It came out really well, and they seemed to enjoy it. The menu was very similar, but we added homemade stuffing this time. It turned out to be my favorite part of the meal. I was very proud of our cooking skills because we only partially used a recipe, then just invented the rest. (We used bread, celery, celery leaves, onions, garlic, chicken stock, and quite a few spices & herbs.) I stayed around to hangout for several hours after the meal, it was a great time to just relax & enjoy each other's company.

Part of our improvised Thankgiving dinner

I have been cooking from scratch way more than any other time in the past. It's not as intimidating as I once thought, and I usually end up like the food more than the quick things I would make back home.

Another homemade success! 

Sevilla-Venice-Sevilla

Sevilla: For most of my flights this year, the Sevilla airport will be most convenient. I am okay with this, as it is a great city and I enjoy returning to my old "home." I met up with one friend going on the trip to Venice in the early evening before our flight. We were craving Chinese food, so I tried to remember where I ate my one Chinese meal while studying abroad. When I knew we were close, we asked for directions. People sent us all. over. town. But, we eventually came to a different Chinese restaurant that was just as good. Two of our other friends arrived to Sevilla shortly after this, so we reunited with them and headed to the airport for a little sleepover before our early morning flight. 

This is the restaurant I was trying to find.

Venice- Day 1: Once in Venice the next day, we met up with the 5th member of our group. We found our hostel by wandering through the little streets until we reached Via TraGHETTO (I'm sure the Italian have a more elegant way of pronouncing that, but it made it easy to remember our street name). We saw a unique Da Vinici Museum that had interactive inventions in addition to the paintings and sculptures. We also stumbled upon what became our favorite café, which we returned to two more times during our short stay. For dinner that night we went to a small Italian restaurant, where the waiters made a couple move to another table so our group of 5 would could sit together ...that was a bit awkward, sitting outside or waiting would have been alright. Our group continued to the University area that night, which had a pretty fun atmosphere & there were a lot of people out.

On the Rialto Bridge

Venice- Day 2: Although Italian mealtimes are similar to America's, we had a surprisingly hard time following them because we are so accustomed to our Spanish schedules. Luckily we did eat lunch early (for us) this day because we found a cool restaurant in which the entrance was almost hidden. We ate on the outside terrace & there were plants and flowers all around. We saw the major tourist attractions this afternoon, including San Marco's Basilica & the Doge's Palace. Although they were both gorgeous, I actually enjoyed the palace more. I think part of it was that I knew the basilica would be incredible, but since I did not know much about the palace, I went in with very few expectations. Many Doges lived in the palace at the same time, so it had to be huge. In addition to living quarters and salons, it also had meeting rooms and prisons. All of the rooms were filled with artwork. On our way back to the hostel, we stopped in the University square just to relax and people-watch for a few minutes. We opted to participate in the pasta + salad dinner our hostel hosted this night, which was a great, affordable choice!

Inside Doge's Palace

Venice- Day 3: Venice has a few surrounding smaller islands, in addition to the main island, so we chose the explore Murano on our last day. Murano is known for its glasswork (sculptures, dishes, glasses, clocks, vases, etc.) We saw some pretty neat artwork and I loved all the colors of the glass. There wasn't a whole lot more to do on this island though, so we did not stay too long. One fun thing we did on the way over was take a gondola! Well, a 50 cent public gondola that is. It lasts about 2-3 minutes and just takes you straight across the Grand Canal with 8-10 other people. All throughout the trip we devoted some time wandering through the cute streets and browsing the little shops of Venetian masks, and this day was no different. Masks were as cheap as 3.50€ and as expensive as a few hundred! Each of us was able to find one we liked on the lower end of that spectrum. It makes a unique room decoration & has definite potential for costume usage in the future.

Glass sculpture on Murano island. 

Sevilla, round 2: We arrived to Sevilla in the afternoon of the 31st. While walking to our hostel, we ran into another auxiliar! (One of my friends said, "I feel like auxiliares are so nice and helpful to each other, it's almost like we have automatic friendships because we are in similar situations" and I could not agree more. It is pretty cool to have a network of auxiliares all around Spain to meet up with while traveling.) For lunch we found a tapas restaurant with lots of variety and even more flavor. My friend Angela met up with us to explore Sevilla and celebrate Halloween. The Festival of the Nations was going on while we were in Sevilla; it was comprised of markets and food stands. Several of the markets represented other countries, and they sold purses, clothes, jewelry, wallets, belts, and candy, just to name a few items. In the food half, we were almost overwhelmed by the amount of options we had. Anyone who has lived in Spain knows that Spanish food is not spicy. Ever. Flavorful, yes. Delicious, yes. But spicy, no. So, we did want many other expats would do in our situation & created a meal out of a few of the countries with spicier food; however, we did not entirely stray from Spanish culture because we realized going at it tapas style (sharing one plate per country) allowed us to taste the most dishes. I already mentioned Halloween in my previous post, so check that out to hear about the rest of my trip.

Tasting various ethnic foods at the Festival of the Nations.

I know this post was long, so I'll leave you with a few extra pictures from the trip (:

Some of the more elaborate Venetian Masks 

Group shot along the Grand Canal

There were tons of little footbridges throughout the city.

San Marco's Basilica

This is near the palace that I loved.

Almendralejo, Appetition & Agendas

I am nearing the end of another great weekend! It is hard to believe how quickly time is going by- I have already been here for 5 weeks. I took a trip to Almendralejo with Angela for Friday and Saturday. We took a train after finishing up our clases particulares (private English lessons/tutoring). It was my first train ride in Spain! The train station in Mérida is less than 5 minutes from my piso and the prices are comparable to taking a bus, so I am sure it will not be my last! One surprising thing I found out is that the trains almost always run late, which is the complete opposite of buses here- running a couple minutes behind often means the bus will be long gone when you walk up.

Most of our group from Friday night :)

We stayed with Sophie, an auxiliar from England, for the weekend. I had met her at orientation, so it was fun to catch up again. On Friday night she organized a get-together with the other auxiliares in town. We went for drinks and tapas at 2 different places then headed out to a bar. On Saturday a few of us girls went shopping. I found a jacket that will be perfect for in-between weather (too chilly for just a light cardigan, but not cold enough for a wool coat). I also bought a few scarves for 2€ each! ...speaking of these things, it is starting to cool down here. Considering summer stuck around until Oct 20th I know I cannot complain that it is over, but I will say that it still took me by surprise. It almost seemed like summer would last forever!

Exploring Almendralejo

This afternoon Angela's host family had me over for lunch. A few others from our church were there as well, so it was a pretty large group. The meal consisted of a Columbian salad, the Spanish equivalent of pork chops, 2 kinds of potatoes (some with herbs in a buttery garlic sauce & the others with ham in a creamier sauce), fresh bread, a rich raspberry custard (that's probably not the right word, but I'm not sure how else to describe it), assorted fresh fruit, and coffee. Everything was so good, and needless to say I was very full when I left. They slowed down their Spanish so we could understand them better, which was very nice. As long as I remained focused, I could understand a lot, but when my concentration slipped, I had to have Angela fill me in. I actually understood more towards the end of the lunch because during the beginning I kept forgetting to concentrate on the Spanish instead of just relax. ...Angela and I are planning to cook them a Thanksgiving meal, which I am really looking forward to doing. It probably will not be on Thanksgiving Day, but sometime that week. If anyone has Spanish-ingredient-friendly holiday recipes, please share!

I did not take a picture of our meal, but here's a similar version of our main dishes.

Since I have only posted about the primary school, you are probably wondering how the secondary is going, but to be honest, I am still figuring that out! Here's a breakdown of how my first week at the secondary school went:
Day 1- Met my tutor, the principal, and a few other teachers.
Day 2- Attended an English department meeting. This was when & where my schedule was made. I do not have any Tuesday afternoon classes, so I was able to go home after the meeting. I will be working with 4 different English teachers, and I will only be seeing each class one time per week.
Day 3- School holiday, no classes.
Day 4- This would have been my first and only real day at the school. However, I ended up being pretty sick so I was not there for very long.
Day 5- I have Fridays off every week, so this does not really count towards my work-week.
Tomorrow starts week 2 there, so I will be getting a better feel for it soon.

My secondary school

I only ended up being at the school for an hour the entire week, and I only met once class of students. Students were allowed to ask me questions about myself, but they had to do it in English. They were a bit shy to use their English in front of me, so they only came up with 3 questions:

1- What part of the U.S. are you from?

2- Do you like Spain?

3- Do you like Spanish boys? (haha, I guess that student wasn't so shy...)

I actually came close to having a 4 day weekend, but ended up with a 3 day weekend plus Tuesdays off. Definitely a good schedule, even though I cannot use the extra free day towards traveling :/ For both of my schools, I will start late on Monday & end early on Thursday, so I really can’t complain! Here is a breakdown of things worked out:

	Primary	Secondary
Mon	11:00-2:00	10:20-2:20
Tues	10:00-2:00	---
Wed	11:00-1:15	8:30-2:20
Thurs	9:00-1:15	8:30-12:40

My plans for the upcoming break have changed! Guess where I'll be going for my 5 day weekend?? Other auxiliares, how will you be spending our first long break?

Home Away From Home

I spent most of the weekend in Mérida (other than a short day trip yesterday) and I really feel like I'm starting to settle in here. Since arriving, I've encountered a variety of situations- in some cases, the people I interacted with were very welcoming; other times, not so much. The past few days though, I've experience a lot of hospitality, so I wanted to share...

Jess and I in Plaza de Constitución during our day trip to Almendralejo. 

Scenario 1: The lunch with teachers from my school (that I mentioned in my last entry) went great! We meet at a restaurant called El Castuó, near some of the Roman monuments on the edge of town. We got several raciones (platters, more or less) to share. They were excited about introducing me to some new dishes. Everyone was very nice to me even though I ended up doing a lot more listening than talking because my Spanish is kind of rough. A couple of the teachers have kids visiting/studying in the US! Although a few of the teachers know English, most of them happened to be at the other end of the table; however, my tutor was very helpful in explaining things to me when needed. (I finally learned the difference between jamón iberico & jamón serrano!) I prefer to use my Spanish anyway, even when it means I miss certain parts of the convo.  They talk quickly most of the time, but one of the teachers told me I knew a lot (of Spanish), which is the best compliment anyone can give me right now. They said they will invite me to come with them when they go out again :) ...oh, I can't forget to mention that when the check came, they didn't let me pay a cent!

One of our raciones had 2 types of chorizo & 2 other types of jamón- all very tasty!

Scenario 2: I went to a church service for the first time since being here, and the congregation was extremely friendly! Several people introduced themselves to me while waiting for the service to start. They seemed enthusiastic to get to know me, and asked lots of questions such as what's my name, where am I from, how long will I be here, when did I arrive, what am I doing here, do I go to a similar church back home, how did I find out about the church, where I live in Mérida, etc. That might sound a bit overwhelming, but every person did not ask every question, though I probably answered each of those at least twice this morning. I had not been sure what to expect beforehand, and actually thought there was a good chance no one would talk to me- turned out quite the opposite! They also introduced me to another American auxiliar, Angela, who had attended the previous week. She then introduced me to more of the congregation whom she remembered from her previous visit. (I had been wanting to find a church since I usually attend one back home, and just found out the exact time and location for this one yesterday afternoon. I will definitely be back on the weekends I'm not traveling!)

Scenario 3: Walking home from lunch today, I passed one of my primary students on the street. She said hi & that she was looking forward to seeing me in school tomorrow. So cute! ...although I did have to explain to her that I will be teaching at a secondary school this week and will only see her class every other week.

Another friendly face from this weekend.

Us auxiliares are sharing a bit of our own hospitality with each other too! Our potluck dinner on Friday was fantastic! There was plenty (or possibly too much) food and lots of good conversation (and in Spanish as often as possible)! The dinner was at our piso, and it was the first time my flatmates and I had  the group over to our place. It was fun to host & we hope to do something similar again soon :)

Sorry to be behind on pictures again, but the potluck photo is only on my flatmate's camera
...so for now, here's one from the Cáceres orientation- Jessa, Edward, me, Sophie

We have also begun discussing travel plans for our first long weekend at the end of the month! Nothing is finalized, but I am leaning towards País Vasco in Northern Spain. If anyone has advice on things to see and do there (Bilbao & San Sebastián), please share!

The Excitement Continues!

Several things came together this week to make me more prepared & even more excited to go to Spain this fall!

I finally met some of the participants in my program, who will also be in Extremadura next year :) Up until Thursday, I did not personally know anyone else who will be teaching in Spain. Granted, I still don't know them well, but sharing conversation over coffee, tapas, and sangria is a step up from briefly chatting online. Plans to meet up had been in the works for a few weeks. Due to work schedules, there ended up being 2 separate get-togethers.

I met a girl and her boyfriend who will both being teaching in Badajoz (largest city in our region, about an hour west of me) & a girl in Jerez de los Caballeros (1.5 hrs southwest of me) at Starbucks yesterday morning. I had not actually planned on making it to this one, because I was APPLYING FOR MY VISA that morning, but I finished up around the time they were meeting, so I was able to join :)

Dinner last night was with the same girl who will be in Jerez de los Caballeros & the other participant placed in her city. These girls have been talking a lot with others currently in Jerez & also about their living/travel plans since they're placed together. I think it is awesome that they are able to share info & go ahead and work out some of the details. I cannot wait to actually meet someone living/teaching in Mérida! (So far I know of 4 others who will be living there, and another who's returning to one of the nearby cities) ...We went to a delicious Spanish restaurant called La Tasca, I recommend going there if you are in the DC area! We sampled several tapas, and my favorite was Shrimp in a garlic butter sauce with red peppers.

One of the best things about meeting up with other participants was that we are in the same situation & able to relate to each other. Several of my friends who have lived or studied abroad are able to relate to certain aspects of what I am about to do, but their situations were still a bit different. Some of our popular topics of discussion were flights, orientation, living arrangements, our schools, expectations, things we have heard from past/current participants, what we have been doing since graduation, future plans, and traveling.

Mérida, my soon to be home!

Another town in the region

Extremadura countryside

...I briefly mentioned getting my visa, which was my major accomplishment for the week! I had just completed the last requirement the day before by getting an Apostille of the Hague (basically an internationally recognized version of a notarization) on one of my documents. I might post more details about the visa process later, but in summary it's a bit of a hassle to figure out what exactly is needed & waiting for each item to come back requires a bit of patience ;) So having this out of the way is a huge weight off my back! Now that most of the technical preparations are out of the way, I can focus my attention of the fun aspects of going abroad, as well as spending quality time with my friends and family here.