Recent Highlights of Extremadura

Several of my posts are about traveling to other places, but I have found some pretty fun things to do in Extremadura as well! At the beginning of March, I explored the Roman theater and amphitheater here in Mérida with Doris. Two weekends before that, I went to Badajoz for a couple days with Fanchon - but it was not just any old weekend, it was carnival!

Roman ruins in Mérida

Carnaval is celebrated right before Lent in many Catholic countries. Spain has a few celebrations that are pretty large, such as the Canary Islands and Cadiz; ironically, Badajoz (Extremadura) is not too far behind!? We had a few days off at the end of February for the occasion, so I decided to take advantage of what was close to home instead of traveling far. Carnaval consists of parades, dressing up in costumes, and having a good time with friends.

Nikki and Elliot's terrace gave us the perfect view for the parade - can you see it behind us?

For the first half of the weekend, I stayed in Mérida. Last fall/winter markets had come to Mérida for the Medieval festival and for Christmas, and they were back again for carnival! I explored the markets on Saturday with my English friend Jess. While it was fun to "window shop" and admire all the interesting jewelry, I refrained from purchasing anything other than a crepe for lunch. That night I dressed up as a pirate and met up with another friend, Doris, and a few of her Spanish friends. It was really fun to see everyone in costume. Some people got really creative with a certain character or theme, and others just went crazy with ridiculous outfits, bright colors, and wigs.

A few of the market stands in Mérida, plus pony rides for the kids 

Sunday morning Fanchon and I headed to Badajoz for a couple days. After stopping for lunch, the rest of the day was spent watching the parade - it was 6 hours long!! It was really impressive - the costumes were intricate, the groups changed formation while marching down the street, and the music was good. We watched most of the parade from our friends' terrace, which was more relaxing than sitting/standing along the road for so long, and we were able to see more of the group at the same time. We also saw the first few groups up close as we were heading over to their place. I am glad we saw it both ways and definitely think the bird's eye view is best!

Monday night tons of people went out because Tuesday was a day off for most schools and businesses. Everyone, and I do mean absolutely everyone, was dressed up in a costume! There are three main plazas in the center of Badajoz, and each of them was filled with groups of friends mingling (or if you've been to Spain, think of a giant botellón). I was able to meet up with my travel buddy Taylor (her and I have been on one trip together all ready, and we have two more coming up this spring), in addition to the friends that I went with.

With friends during carnival - looks more like we're having a late Halloween celebration!

The Roman ruins are really impressive! The Anfiteatro was built in 8 A.C. to hold gladiator fights for up to 15,000 spectators. A few years later the Teatro Romano was built right next to it, and its audience can hold up to 3,000 people. Although slightly deteriorated, it is still usable and holds performances during Mérida's annual fair each September. I think it is incredible how intact both of these monuments still are. 

Me and Doris in the amphitheater 

Teatro Romano 

Sitting in the stands of the Roman theater 

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! 

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!

Last Days of "Vacation" Before Working

Apartment searching in Spain was far less intimidating than I expected :) One of my biggest concerns before I got here was finding housing, but it turned out there were TONS of options, so I had nothing to worry about! You can use your other senses to find what you want, which you cannot do for things such as setting up internet or opening a bank account. I talked with a few other auxiliares about housing over the summer. One of them, Jessa, had contacted a realtor about 2 she saw online. I arrived a few days earlier than her, so I was able to look at them and send her pictures. This made things move a bit faster once she arrived. Our favorite had an extra room; shortly after arriving I met Mariana, an auxiliar from Puerto Rico, so she was able to join up with us. Jessa’s boyfriend Patrick is also in Spain this year, so there are 4 of us total. Our piso is in a great location & it’s a nice size. So far the landlord has been on top of taking care of things when we ask, which is a good sign incase other things come up.

This is the view from my bedroom window! 

What’s the next step after moving in to a new apartment in a foreign country? TAKE A VACATION!! Well, not always, but that’s what I did! I wanted to take advantage of having a few days off before work starts, so Mariana and I went to Lagos, Portugal. It was a great time to go to the beach, because it was still sunny everyday. Lagos has the prettiest beaches out of any I have visited, and we explored a new little beach near our hostel each day. We met a few others our age, mainly from Germany, so it was fun to hang out with them a bit too. Our bus ride was a bit long, but it was well worth the trip! On the way down we had to switch buses in Sevilla (there’s not a bus straight to Lagos from my city), and so we got the chance to walk around a bit and eat lunch in a cafe. Mariana and I had both been to Sevilla in the past, so it was fun to reminisce.

Mariana and I in Lagos

The past 2 days we had our orientation in Cáceres, an hour north of Mérida. Most of the information they gave us was pretty basic, but I enjoyed exploring a new city. Cáceres has an old section with lots of beautiful, medieval architecture. Their main plaza is huge and the city as a whole seems like it’d be a fun place to live. (Badajoz, Cáceres, and Mérida are the 3 largest cities in my region of Extremadura.) All of the auxiliares from Extremadura were there; I think there are about 100 of us. There are a lot more in Mérida than I realized: 2 from France, 1 from Puerto Rico, 1 from England, 1 from Canada, and 4 from the US. In addition to my roommates, I spent a lot of time with Fachon (French) and Jess (English), so we spoke in all Spanish because that was our common language. It was neat to use so much Spanish because I speak a lot of English with my roommates, and the 3 of us were at a similar level of Spanish.

I haven't uploaded any Cáceres pictures yet, so here's another picture from Portugal :)

Things here in Spain are moving along pretty smoothly so far. My main frustration has been that I wish my Spanish was better; however, I know that will improve with time. It can be easy to forget how much progress I’ve made with the language when I'm speaking with native speakers. The most beneficial thing I took away from orientation was realizing that my Spanish is decent.

Getting Started

I have only been here a week, but so much has already happened! Getting settled in has been far less overwhelming than I anticipated. Other than a few small rough spots, things are coming together great. Here’s an overview of my first week in Spain:

Traveling: It went well overall, but was a lot of waiting! My plane was delayed almost 5 hours. On the bright side, this allowed me to meet a fellow auxiliar of Extremadura (Anna, near Cáceres) & a girl (Rachel) who is doing a TESOL program in Barcelona. About 2 hrs before our 10:00 pm departure, I thought I overheard those 2 girls talking about teaching English, so I went over & talked with them. All afternoon I had been hoping I'd be able to find another auxiliar on my flight! Having them to hang out with made the time pass by more quickly. After we landed, Anna and I figured out the Aerocity shuttle together. We weren't on the same shuttle, and unfortunately I had to wait quite a bit for mine to arrive, but otherwise it was a pretty smooth process. I got to the bus station just in time for the 2:30 bus, except that it was sold out. And so was the 4:30 bus. BUT I got a ticket for the 6:30 one. This one happened to be an express bus, so it was faster- only 2 stops between Madrid & Badajoz!

Welcome: Two of the auxiliares I had met over the summer, Nikki & Elliot, let me stay with them in Badajoz when I first arrived. It was awesome to see them waiting at the bus station as I pulled in & to have others to show me around and hangout with during my first days back in a foreign county. I cannot imagine how lonely I might have felt if I was in Spain all by myself for those first few days. Their piso is really nice too- it has an awesome, large patio & plenty of space inside.

Mérida: On Saturday, the 3 of us took a day trip to Merida to explore. I though about checking out a piso or two, but most places are only shown on weekdays. It did help to get a feel for the city though. I really like Mérida so far. There are Roman ruins everywhere, which gives it a different feel and appearance than most cities.  There are also more than enough plazas and parks, as well as plenty of stores, cafes, and restaurants. It is a great size too- both in terms of physical size and amount of people (UNLESS it is during siesta). The city is very walkable, and overall you can walk from one place to another more quickly than I anticipated from looking over google maps. However, when you are crossing the river, those bridges are longer than they appear!

Badajoz: On Sunday Nikki and Elliot gave me a tour of Badajoz. We spent a good portion of the day exploring the Alcazaba (an old castle). It also has a larger business atmosphere than Mérida, but there are still several plazas, fountains, and walkways lined with trees. Their city is a little bigger than mine & it’s fun to compare the two. Despite a few differences, I would definitely consider both of our cities to be good placements for the auxiliar program. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, there were randomly fireworks one night, and we had a pretty good view from their terrace!

Settling in: Monday morning I took a bus over to Mérida. Unfortunately, by the time I checked into my hostel, it was already siesta so I was not able to purchase a phone from the store. I wandered around, jotting down numbers of pisos for rent and taking pictures of sites I’d missed on Saturday. In the afternoon I met up with one of the teachers I’ll be working with at the primary school. He told me about Mérida, the school, the students, and answered several questions I had. He spent a few years in London, so his English is very good- we probably spoke about 40% Spanish and 60% English. He showed me around the city a bit and went with me to get my phone. It was awesome that he was there because the particular store I went to wouldn’t accept just a passport & I didn’t have my letter from the Junta de Extremadura with me (that letter is almost as good as gold as I’m setting everything up as a foreigner!) 

As the week has progressed, other auxiliares have been showing up. So far I have met 4 others, some of whom will be my roommates! The past 2 days have been much more enjoyable since I have had fun people to explore the city with. Not that Monday and Tuesday were bad, but there's only so much you can do by yourself before you get bored. I am definitely happy to be back in Spain & I'm very excited about this upcoming year! I will miss everyone back home, but I’m sure the time will go by very fast.

[I wanted to write about the piso search process too, but I’ll save that for another day because this post is already very long. SPOILER ALERT: tomorrow is moving day :) ]

Airline Tickets: Check.

My plans were already official, but now, it seems even more real- I bought my one-way ticket for Sept. 15th!! I've checked on flight prices a few times, and although they haven't changed much, something else caught my attention- one of the many available flights for under 500 was a DIRECT FLIGHT :) Just one. I previously planned to keep an eye on prices for a few wks, but I know I'd regret saving the small bit of money if a direct flight was no longer available (last time I flew to Spain, I had TWO layovers ...no gracias).

Typically, one-way tickets are not much cheaper than round-trip. I recently found out about 2 discount websites for "Youth" (ages 16-26) airline tickets: Student Universe & STA Travel. Both are similar to Expedia or Travelocity type sites. There may be more out there, but these are the 2 I know of... I'll describe my experience with each company incase anyone reading is looking to travel soon.

Student Universe I learned about because other participants in my program purchased their tickets here. It seemed like a great place to find cheap flights from the U.S. to Europe. This is where I first found my flight, but had to get my age verified as under 26 before being allowed to purchase the ticket. I was only put on hold when I tried calling, and I also emailed them 2 days ago, around 1pm. They responded tonight with an email including "It looks like you were looking for a ticket to Madrid but didn't end up finalizing your order. Would $15 off your ticket change anything?" ...Two full days seems a bit long for a booking agency, but maybe your prices improve as you wait it out? 


STA Travel had the same flight for essentially the same price. I found out about the site Thurs. night as I was waiting to hear back from Student Universe. I contacted them Fri. morning, and they were very prompt, organized and helpful. There was a $7 booking fee, but that's not a big deal. (I do not know if Student Universe has a booking fee). ...This company also sells International Student Identity Cards (ISIC) & International Youth Travel Cards (IYTC, under 26), which provide some additional discounts while traveling.

As a recent grad who doesn't have a ton of money, I will continue to search both sites for future travel. A good price is my biggest concern. If I can find a much better deal on Student Universe, I would not be against booking with them in the future; however, I do plan to start with STA Travel next time.


Here are the prices of my flight (including taxes & fees), if you'd like a reference point:
STA Travel: $439
Student Universe: $443 
Travelocity: $728
Expedia: $728
Orbitz: $728
Aer Lingus: $728
United: $2,692 
...on all of the flight search type sites, this flight shows up as a United flight, operated by Aer Lingus, which is why I added those two. (A round-trip flight returning on a random day is $750 on United (unless you want a refundable ticket ...making it 3,300?), but I plan to return in June, which is too far in advance for a RT ticket) ...basically, I'm very excited I qualify for "youth" status :) 


Once I get to Madrid I plan to take a train to Mérida (or possibly a bus). It will take about 5 hrs, due to several stops along the way, and cost about $30. 

Gold lines are regular train routes, Purple lines also offer the high-speed trains

My flight will arrive early on a Friday morning, which should make me available for whatever the train schedule happens to be. I've already been narrowing down my list of hotels/hostals for my first few days, so I may book that soon too. I'll probably take a couple days to explore the area while I get a feel for where I'd like to live!

Viviré en...

MÉRIDA para el año que viene!!

Mérida is a city in the region of Extremadura. It is
3 hrs. North of Sevilla,
4 hrs. Southwest of Madrid,
4 hrs. South of Salamanca, and
3 hrs. East of Lisbon, Portugal.
I think I see some exciting day/weekend trips in my future :-P

Here are a few reasons why I am excited about my city:

1. Since I already mentioned this, I'll start with central location. It is at the intersection of a North/South & an East/West highway, and public bus transportation is incredibly affordable in Spain/Europe. Additionally, it is along a train route.
2. Population is about 60,000. This should give me plenty of things to do & places to go, while still being very walkable. While I know it's not the biggest of cities, several participants in my program are placed in tiny pueblos of 10,000 people or less, and Mérida is one of the largest cities in my region of Extremadura. 
3. I love walking, and I'll be able to walk to school each day! I'm also glad I won't have to rely on rides from another teacher or public transportation on a daily basis. 
4. Río Guadiana- Cities on water are so pretty! 
5. Southern-ish Spain = warmer temperatures. While it won't be as warm as Sevilla, the low in Mérida rarely drops to freezing, and it also should not get as cold as Madrid or Salamanca.
6. Southern-ish Spain = less rain. I actually enjoy rain, but not all the time and not when my main means of transportation will be by foot. In Northern Spain it can rain nearly everyday during their rainy season.
7. Very low cost of living. (i.e. rent should be about 100-150 per month for a shared apartment)
8. My Spanish skills should improve greatly :)
9. Mérida was an important Roman city back in the day, so there is a lot of neat architecture and ruins throughout the city. 

Puente Romano sobre el Río Guadiana

Mérida's Plaza de España ...there seems to be one in every city! 

Plaza de Toros

Roman Amphitheater 

Check back soon for info about my teaching assignments! I am very pleased with those too :)