A Good Weekend

We had a great weekend! Our friend April, who is from GA but currently study abroad in Salamanca, Spain, flew in for the weekend. It was nice to get to show someone around OUR town. On Saturday we took the half hour bus ride out to Soller, a small town in the mountains north of Palma. Joe and I had never been there before, and it was BEAUTIFUL! A charming little old town (pictures to come soon!) We found a secondhand shop run by an older man from CA, he has been living here 16 years! After looking around the market (because, of course, every town has a Saturday market) we decided to make the about 2.5 mile walk to Fornalutx, an even smaller and MORE beautiful town than Soller! And the walk was amazingly scenic. Mountains, valleys, farms, sheep, tons of orange trees. It was a wonderful adventure!

Oh yeah, and I Friday I went on a field trip with my 6th graders. They called it a farm, but it was more like a farm/dude ranch/adventure camp/park. There was a pool (but of course it was far too cold) horses (but the children didn't get to ride them, though I'm not sure why) animals (pigs, goats, chickens, the usual), a petting zoo, a garden, a ropes course with a zip line, a rock climbing wall, an obstacle course, and a "paddle" court (which, from what I can tell, is kind of like a mix between tennis and racquetball). The kids had a great time playing and exploring while the teachers got to do pretty much whatever we wanted. We sat around and watched TV, played Parcheesi, ate free snacks, and went for a nice bike ride through the scenic country side! It was a nice, relaxing day.

We also found a used bookstore in town, with all of the books in ENGLISH! It's great! It's kind of book-nook-esque. The prices are what I would normally consider high for used books, but after looking at the prices of trying to buy new English books here, or the shopping costs of ordering books on line, it seems a lot more reasonable.

In other news, here are some interesting observations/tid-bits about Spain:
- All cars stop for pedestrians. It's amazing. You hardly need to pause at cross walks because you know the cars are going to stop for you.
- They don't have coffee like we have coffee. The closest thing you can get is a shot of espresso with a lot of milk.
- They are great about recycling here. There are recycling bins right next to all of the dumpsters. So as long as you separate your trash at home, it's just as easy to recycle as it is to throw it in the trash.
- They are also very energy efficient. Most lights, like in bathrooms at restaurants, or stairwells in the apartment buildings are on timers. So they automatically turn themselves off a set time after the button is pressed.
- Dogs are allowed pretty much everywhere. Stores, restaurants, you name it.
- The cider here is nothing like British cider.
- They don't have sweet potatoes here.
- The things that look like giant shutters on the front of buildings are actually doors. Once you open the shutter type doors, then there is a small foyer, then the actual front door. This is so that during the hot summers, they can close the shutters and open the front door to keep the house cool.

I always think of tons of things while I'm out and about, but by the time I get back to my computer, I have forgotten! Maybe I will start writing them down....

Luego!