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!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
New Photos
Well, this weekend we were kind of bored and felt that although we have been living here for more than a month, we had not done our duty of snapping as many photos of our new city as possible. So, we spent Sunday walking around unknown streets in Old Town, the historic district of Palma, and photographing to our hearts content. It was so touristy and great!
Check them out here, under "Tourist Day" http://photobucket.com/ourspainadventure
Check them out here, under "Tourist Day" http://photobucket.com/ourspainadventure
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Paychecks, the French and Other Updates
After a lot of confusion and round-about conversations, we finally got paid!! Apparently our program was created by the old government, and the new government here doesn't like it so much. So getting the money out of them has been difficult. Luckily our schools agreed to pay us out of pocket while the government figured it out. Having money is definitely nice, but I'm having trouble accessing mine. There is something wrong with my bank card, so I have to go to the bank tomorrow and figure that out! Luckily I have two tutoring gigs right now (and another one starting next week!) so that keeps me in pocket money.
For those of you who haven't heard, my grandmother, Maw Maw, was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer last week. They've given her two weeks to live. I struggled with what to do, but have decided not to fly home. It is too expensive to be practical and I think I'd prefer to keep my pleasant memories rather than seeing her in this state.
Josh (another UGA student doing the program here) had some friends from France come visit last week. I'm not sure how exactly he knows them, but they were really nice. We had a great "botellon" which is where you buy bottles and go sit in a park and drink until your heart is content (there are no open container laws here!) It is much cheaper than going to a bar! Being from France, they spoke very little English and so we conversed in Spanish the whole time. I found it easier to converse with them since they were not native speakers. They spoke more slowly and clearly, and I wasn't as nervous about messing up. My Spanish is slowly getting better. Tomorrow I am meeting with one of the parents from my schools, I didn't understand her exactly, but I think she wants a conversations partner. This way I could help her improve her English and she could help me improve my Spanish. So hopefully that works out well!
The weather here has gotten a little colder. With a high of mid to low 60 during the day. Lots of people here are wearing huge coats, but I am fine with my light jacket during the day. Plus I walk everywhere, so that helps me keep warm!
For Thanksgiving, the American style diner is having a big turkey dinner, so I think we are going to try to join in on that!
I think we've decided on Christmas plans as well. We will spend Christmas eve/day here with the roomies. Then we will fly to Zurich (Switzerland) and spend a few days there. After that we will take a train to France in time to celebrate New Years in Paris! I'm very excited, I can't wait!
School is going well. In some classes I'm just there to pronounce words and help with work sheets, in some classes I deliver the teacher's lesson plans, and in others I get to do whatever activities I can create. So it's a nice range. I think the students here are more or less the same than at home (and definitely better behaved than in England). Some of my roommates say the students here are worse behaved than American students. I don't know if their students are that much different than mine, or if my time actually teaching and working in classrooms at home has given me a different perspective. None of my teachers here have very strong management strategies (most rely on sheer voice volume) so it is difficult to compare. Plus there is just a more relaxed air to the classrooms here that is hard to find (but not unheard of) in the states.
Shipping here is definitely much cheaper than shipping to England! Joseph's family sent him a rather large package (9lbs I think) and it cost about $50. A similar sized package to England cost almost $150!! Also mail appears to take just over a week to arrive.
Also Jessica discovered that shopping on Amazon.co.uk (the British website) ends up being a lot cheaper than the American one. International shipping from the American one is outrageous, so even with the conversion rate, shopping in Pounds is a better deal!
Well I guess that will have to do for now! We are getting ready to head out to a Cider Bar! From the little I've had, Spanish cider is nothing compared to British cider (which I fell in love with while I was there) but I am looking forward to it none the less! Luego!
For those of you who haven't heard, my grandmother, Maw Maw, was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer last week. They've given her two weeks to live. I struggled with what to do, but have decided not to fly home. It is too expensive to be practical and I think I'd prefer to keep my pleasant memories rather than seeing her in this state.
Josh (another UGA student doing the program here) had some friends from France come visit last week. I'm not sure how exactly he knows them, but they were really nice. We had a great "botellon" which is where you buy bottles and go sit in a park and drink until your heart is content (there are no open container laws here!) It is much cheaper than going to a bar! Being from France, they spoke very little English and so we conversed in Spanish the whole time. I found it easier to converse with them since they were not native speakers. They spoke more slowly and clearly, and I wasn't as nervous about messing up. My Spanish is slowly getting better. Tomorrow I am meeting with one of the parents from my schools, I didn't understand her exactly, but I think she wants a conversations partner. This way I could help her improve her English and she could help me improve my Spanish. So hopefully that works out well!
The weather here has gotten a little colder. With a high of mid to low 60 during the day. Lots of people here are wearing huge coats, but I am fine with my light jacket during the day. Plus I walk everywhere, so that helps me keep warm!
For Thanksgiving, the American style diner is having a big turkey dinner, so I think we are going to try to join in on that!
I think we've decided on Christmas plans as well. We will spend Christmas eve/day here with the roomies. Then we will fly to Zurich (Switzerland) and spend a few days there. After that we will take a train to France in time to celebrate New Years in Paris! I'm very excited, I can't wait!
School is going well. In some classes I'm just there to pronounce words and help with work sheets, in some classes I deliver the teacher's lesson plans, and in others I get to do whatever activities I can create. So it's a nice range. I think the students here are more or less the same than at home (and definitely better behaved than in England). Some of my roommates say the students here are worse behaved than American students. I don't know if their students are that much different than mine, or if my time actually teaching and working in classrooms at home has given me a different perspective. None of my teachers here have very strong management strategies (most rely on sheer voice volume) so it is difficult to compare. Plus there is just a more relaxed air to the classrooms here that is hard to find (but not unheard of) in the states.
Shipping here is definitely much cheaper than shipping to England! Joseph's family sent him a rather large package (9lbs I think) and it cost about $50. A similar sized package to England cost almost $150!! Also mail appears to take just over a week to arrive.
Also Jessica discovered that shopping on Amazon.co.uk (the British website) ends up being a lot cheaper than the American one. International shipping from the American one is outrageous, so even with the conversion rate, shopping in Pounds is a better deal!
Well I guess that will have to do for now! We are getting ready to head out to a Cider Bar! From the little I've had, Spanish cider is nothing compared to British cider (which I fell in love with while I was there) but I am looking forward to it none the less! Luego!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Pictures!
So after spending the last few hours uploading all of our pictures to Photo Bucket, I've realized that I don't really like it. But I've spent too much time on it to change it now!
I'm not good at taking lots of pictures, but here are the ones I have taken so far!
Go to: www.photobucket.com/ourspainadventure
The front page will be blank!
All of the pictures are in sub-albums. They are listed on the left side of the page, under the heading "Albums".
Click on the sub-album you want to see and enjoy!
The pictures all have titles, to see the full description, click on the picture. Once you have clicked on a picture, it becomes larger and you can see the full discription. From there, there is a little slider bar in the upper right hand corner where you can click to go to the next picture (you have to actually click on the photo you want to enlarge on the slider bar, clicking the arrows only lets you browse to the following pictures).
I hope it works ok! Let me know if there are any problems with it!
I'm not good at taking lots of pictures, but here are the ones I have taken so far!
Go to: www.photobucket.com/ourspainadventure
The front page will be blank!
All of the pictures are in sub-albums. They are listed on the left side of the page, under the heading "Albums".
Click on the sub-album you want to see and enjoy!
The pictures all have titles, to see the full description, click on the picture. Once you have clicked on a picture, it becomes larger and you can see the full discription. From there, there is a little slider bar in the upper right hand corner where you can click to go to the next picture (you have to actually click on the photo you want to enlarge on the slider bar, clicking the arrows only lets you browse to the following pictures).
I hope it works ok! Let me know if there are any problems with it!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
We have internet!
Yay! We finally have internet! I can now type to you from the comfort of my living room instead of having to balance my laptop on the windowsill!
Things are going well. I've been teaching Halloween this week which is fun, but a little bit difficult.
Joseph and I went with our friend Stephen (another Language Assistant, from LA) out to Inca, which is the second largest city in Mallorca. It was about 45 minutes away by train. We got to see a lot of the country side, which was nice. They were having a big Sunday market, which was really cool.
Now a bit about Spanish food.
First and foremost, they do not refrigerate their milk. Which is just plain creepy. I dunno how it works, but it does. The milk does not have to be refrigerated until it's opened.
The grocery stores bake bread daily, which is awesome.
When eating out, tomatoes come on everything and olives always come on the side.
Not having a microwave is kind of nice. I feel like I eat a lot more healthy. But cooking with a gas stove and oven have their own set of challenges. It took us about half an our to get the oven lit the first time. And then about 2 weeks to figure out that was the grill setting (which is why everything was coming out burned). We know have the bake setting figured out, but unfortunately it has no temperature setting. In fact it only appears to have 2 settings - on and off.
Fresh fruit and veggies are cheap and easy to come by. Not so much from the grocery store down stairs. But there are tons of little fruit stores everywhere. And there is a big market everyday until 2 right down the street. And on Saturday's it is twice as big and super crowded. But it's nice to have such great access to them.
I have a new found appreciation for seedless grapes. Because they do not exist here.
I am in love with "creme de cocoa con avellana" which is basically like chocolate frosting with hazelnut, only I get the kind that is half regular and half white chocolate, and it is super fantastic. Spread it on some butter cookies and mmmmmmmm.
A really popular mallorcan pastry is "ensamada" and they have it at every cafe and on every desert menu. It's basically just sweet bread in a swirly shape, but they came in all sizes (like pizza sizes) and with lots of different fillings (my favorite is the creme, but I haven't tried the peach yet).
They have this awesome flavor of ice cream here called "stracciatella" which is kinda like vanilla with ribbons of brownie in it - but better! It is sooo good.
The cereal selection isn't nearly as wide here, but they have the knock-off frosted flakes so I'm good.
We'll I guess that'll do for now. We have a three day weekend coming up, and if we get paid in time, we might try to hop over to "the peninsula" (the main land of Spain). But we'll see. Hope everyone is doing great over there!
PS: Don't forget to vote!!
Things are going well. I've been teaching Halloween this week which is fun, but a little bit difficult.
Joseph and I went with our friend Stephen (another Language Assistant, from LA) out to Inca, which is the second largest city in Mallorca. It was about 45 minutes away by train. We got to see a lot of the country side, which was nice. They were having a big Sunday market, which was really cool.
Now a bit about Spanish food.
First and foremost, they do not refrigerate their milk. Which is just plain creepy. I dunno how it works, but it does. The milk does not have to be refrigerated until it's opened.
The grocery stores bake bread daily, which is awesome.
When eating out, tomatoes come on everything and olives always come on the side.
Not having a microwave is kind of nice. I feel like I eat a lot more healthy. But cooking with a gas stove and oven have their own set of challenges. It took us about half an our to get the oven lit the first time. And then about 2 weeks to figure out that was the grill setting (which is why everything was coming out burned). We know have the bake setting figured out, but unfortunately it has no temperature setting. In fact it only appears to have 2 settings - on and off.
Fresh fruit and veggies are cheap and easy to come by. Not so much from the grocery store down stairs. But there are tons of little fruit stores everywhere. And there is a big market everyday until 2 right down the street. And on Saturday's it is twice as big and super crowded. But it's nice to have such great access to them.
I have a new found appreciation for seedless grapes. Because they do not exist here.
I am in love with "creme de cocoa con avellana" which is basically like chocolate frosting with hazelnut, only I get the kind that is half regular and half white chocolate, and it is super fantastic. Spread it on some butter cookies and mmmmmmmm.
A really popular mallorcan pastry is "ensamada" and they have it at every cafe and on every desert menu. It's basically just sweet bread in a swirly shape, but they came in all sizes (like pizza sizes) and with lots of different fillings (my favorite is the creme, but I haven't tried the peach yet).
They have this awesome flavor of ice cream here called "stracciatella" which is kinda like vanilla with ribbons of brownie in it - but better! It is sooo good.
The cereal selection isn't nearly as wide here, but they have the knock-off frosted flakes so I'm good.
We'll I guess that'll do for now. We have a three day weekend coming up, and if we get paid in time, we might try to hop over to "the peninsula" (the main land of Spain). But we'll see. Hope everyone is doing great over there!
PS: Don't forget to vote!!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Two in One Day?!
So apparently Joseph and I were writing simultaneous blogs without even realizing it! Since he posted his first, I’ll amend mine to exclude the bank account and Day of the Virgins that he has already covered, but here is everything else!
I know, I know, the updates are few and far between. But we still don’t have internet and there is so much to say, I never know where to start or what to include.
Today’s topic? Work:
I finally just went over to my other school and found my way to the head English teacher. The school, San Francesco (not to be confused with my other school, Sant Francesc d’Assis) is only a 15 minute walk away and it is HUGE, at least 5 stories by my count (well only 4 according to them, because Spaniards don’t count the first floor). It covers every course (so from ages 3 to 18) and has multiple classes of each course (unlike my other school where there is only one class of each). I’m only working in the primary section, which I thought was kind of odd since I think my advanced level of English could be put to better use with the older students, but it’s still great. I work with both 6th grade classes, both 5th grade classes, one 2nd grade, and one 1st grade. I would say my students here know more English than at my other school, but not by much. Unlike my other school, where there is only 1 English teacher, there are several, so the student’s levels also depend on their teachers. Some emphasize reading/writing with others emphasizes speaking, some do activities, so do rote memorization, so it varies. One of the non-English teachers at the school wants to improve her conversational English, so starting this Thursday I will give her a one hour lesson each week. Of course I’m not charging her a lot, but it will be nice to have a little bit of pocket money.
I get to plan some Halloween activities for next week which should be fun! But I’ve been spoiled with technology. There is zero technology in any of my classes. No smart boards, no overhead projectors, not even white boards! Just good old fashion chalk and black boards. So it has definitely taken some re-getting use to. I thought my big school might have at least overhead projectors since apparently it is much harder to get into and a large portion of the student’s parents work in the near by Parliament building, but no such luck.
Ok, that’s all for now!
Luego!
I know, I know, the updates are few and far between. But we still don’t have internet and there is so much to say, I never know where to start or what to include.
Today’s topic? Work:
I finally just went over to my other school and found my way to the head English teacher. The school, San Francesco (not to be confused with my other school, Sant Francesc d’Assis) is only a 15 minute walk away and it is HUGE, at least 5 stories by my count (well only 4 according to them, because Spaniards don’t count the first floor). It covers every course (so from ages 3 to 18) and has multiple classes of each course (unlike my other school where there is only one class of each). I’m only working in the primary section, which I thought was kind of odd since I think my advanced level of English could be put to better use with the older students, but it’s still great. I work with both 6th grade classes, both 5th grade classes, one 2nd grade, and one 1st grade. I would say my students here know more English than at my other school, but not by much. Unlike my other school, where there is only 1 English teacher, there are several, so the student’s levels also depend on their teachers. Some emphasize reading/writing with others emphasizes speaking, some do activities, so do rote memorization, so it varies. One of the non-English teachers at the school wants to improve her conversational English, so starting this Thursday I will give her a one hour lesson each week. Of course I’m not charging her a lot, but it will be nice to have a little bit of pocket money.
I get to plan some Halloween activities for next week which should be fun! But I’ve been spoiled with technology. There is zero technology in any of my classes. No smart boards, no overhead projectors, not even white boards! Just good old fashion chalk and black boards. So it has definitely taken some re-getting use to. I thought my big school might have at least overhead projectors since apparently it is much harder to get into and a large portion of the student’s parents work in the near by Parliament building, but no such luck.
Ok, that’s all for now!
Luego!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Slackers
Okay, I know we've been slacking lately, but school has kicked into full gear, we're still trying to get basic things like bank accounts and internet etc., so we've been pretty distracted. All apologies. Anyway, we've at least set up our bank accounts, now hopefully the schools and government will figure out how they're going to pay us! What have we been up to since our last post? We've been to a few beaches (it's funny, whenever I tell that to my students, they look at me like I'm crazy because it's so "cold" but in my opinion, it's still great beach weather), we've enjoyed a few parties and bars (to understand the culture of Palma of course), although our adventures are still a bit limited since we haven't been paid. We're hoping to explore a little more of the island this weekend. We've gotten a few recommendations from coworkers. I also start my first tutoring job on Friday! I'll be helping the children of one of my coworkers. So far, it's only for one hour, but maybe I can bump it up to two. Nikki got offered a tutoring position today. While we were signing up for our bank accounts, the clerk was asking us questions. He asked where we were working and, coincidentally, his daughter attends one of Nikki's schools! So by the end, he said he'd email Nikki about possibly tutoring her. What else...Today we celebrated the Festival de Las Virgines. All the men go out at night and serenade the women at night. Then, during the day, they give the ladies clavelas (carnations). The women reward them with buñuelos (fried postres with potatoes in the middle, then sprinkled with powdered sugar). They reminded me of funnel cake or beignets. It was really sweet, the music was good, and the food was delicious. So far, that's all that's really happened. We spend a lot of time living a "European" lifestyle: making delicious meals with fresh food we buy nearly daily, spending time reading and writing in parks and cafes, etc. We live on a main avenue, but only a few blocks from the immigrant neighborhoods, so we have excellent restaurants and markets surrounding us. It's great. I've started writing another script. I hope it turns out well. Hopefully we'll have time to adventure out more with the next few weeks. Once I have more than 30 Euro in the bank. Thanks for the letters! I will try to find some stamps this week too so I can get on writing you back! Well that's all for now I guess. I miss y'all and love you a lot!
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