Ronda!

Hey All!!

So, this weekend I went to another city in Andalucia called Ronda. It was so fun and pretty... check out the pics on facebook they are great! My roommate Abbey was in the states for a few days because she was in her best friends wedding, and my other roommates went to Granada with some friends so I thought it was a perfect weekend to get away for a little bit and visit my friend Mel. My friend Megan and I took a bus there (it took 3 hours which was kind of a pain) and stayed with her Friday and Saturday.

Ronda is a little mountain town. It has about 30,000 people and it is very touristy. They have a lot of Roman and Arabic ruins around the town along with GORGEOUS views of the Sierra Nevada mountain range- truly a really beautiful city! The drive there and some of the views really reminded me of Colorado. Ronda has a nursing school so there are a good amount of Spanish nursing students in the town, some of which I was able to meet- they were all so nice and fun! I definitely want to go back to visit. During the day, we mainly just went sightseeing- we saw the ruins and hiked around to look at all of the beautiful views. On Friday, Mel set up and intercambio (like an exchange sort of) with some Spanish girls, so we met up with them to Speak English and Spanish. The girls also took us on a little unofficial tour of Ronda which was great! That night, we had some tapas at a local tapas bar and it was really really good!! Really traditional Spanish tapas... we at standing up in the little tiny bar, which is how REAL tapas is done! It is so weird here... people aren't really aware of personal space. Everyone was just crowded in this little bar and no one really seemed to care or become annoyed. Definitely something you wouldn't see in the US.

After tapas we went to another bar, and then we met up with Mel's roommates at a discoteca. You had to be 16 to get in to the discoteca.... and I was carded!! Yes, they actually thought I might be 15 years old. Not exactly a confidence booster!! Haha. The night ended up being very fun though and we made it home at and early (according to Spanish standards) 2:30 am. They next day consisted of more hiking around seeing Ronda and then we went out for tapas and dancing that night again! I wasn't carded this time and we got home at a very respectable 6am!! Today mainly consisted of sleeping, eating, and riding the bus home back to good ol' Cádiz.

I will start my 3rd week of teaching tomorrow. I should also find out sometime this week if I get that other teaching job so I will keep everyone updated on that! All in all, things are going really well here! I miss each of you and I really hope everyone is doing well at home! Keep checking the blog for more updates....

Besos,

Jade

The Dolphins!!

Hello Again!

Well today is Sunday and I just got back from the beach... and I hear that it is 28 degrees there and snowing!! Burrr... it is 28 degrees here too but in Celcius!! Haha! I am still getting acclimated to the calm lifestyle here. It sounds all great having no work from 2-6pm or on Sundays but when you want to run errands and you have to plan your whole schedule around the siesta and nothing being open on sundays it gets to be a little bit of a pain. I am also getting used to the food here too. The common things people buy here are a lot different. For example, they don't have tortilla chips and when you do find them, they cost like 5 euro. Also, oatmeal, pickles, ad turkey are almost impossible to find along with black beans. Just random things like that can really throw me off! But I am sure I will become acclimated with time.

Yesterday, a bunch of us (the Italian people, and some other americans) went to Tarifa ( a city on the southern coast at the Gibralter Straight) to go whale and dolphin watching on a boat. It was really really cool! We were able to see a ton of dolphins. However, we went on a small boat that was open and none of us were prepared for how wet we got! We were soaked and freezing by the end and I got very sea sick. I didn't throw up or anything, but I was getting dangerously close! After that, we went to a small beach to hang out. From this beach, you can see Africa!!! It was really cool to know I was THAT close. As a matter of fact, a boat from Tarifa to Morocco is only 35 minutes. It is definitely a trip I am planning on taking in the future.

Tonight, we are having a bunch of people over to drink some wine and have tapas! I am pretty excited for that. Tomorrow is a holiday in Spain ( it is Spain's national day, kind of like out 4th of July) so no one has work or school (including me!) so we are all going out tonight too! Other than that, things here are very very laid back. I find myself getting a little anxious every now and then, thinking I need to be running around all crazy busy but I am hoping that will subside once I immerse myself more in to the Spanish lifestyle. Seriously... nothing stresses these people out or riles them up. Every one is "muy tranquilo". Especially here in Cádiz. Everyone is so relaxed and friendly.

Abbey and I planned a trip to Granada to see some friends and hang out over Halloween so that should be really fun! I am excited to get out to Cádiz for a little and start exploring!!

That is about all for now... sorry there are no pictures right now but I will put some up next time I promise! Besos y Abrazos a todo!!!

xoxo,

Jade

La Cucaracha... Y otras cosas

Hello again everyone!

Well I have officially ended my second day of teaching. I have finally met all of my students as well as the other teachers I will be working with. Everyone seems great!! At first, I was really nervous that the teachers wouldn't take me seriously (because I look like I am about as old as their students) but everyone welcomed me so nicely! They seem to really appreciate having me there to incorporate my expertise of English language and American culture in the class room. I am with the students when they have gym and technology class. Today I gave a presentation to them about myself, Colorado, the US and things like that and they all seemed so interested! All of them (especially the girls) seem to really like having me in the classroom. They all say "hello" when I pass them in the halls and they ask me so many funny questions. I don't think any of them have ever been to the US so I am excited to share a bit of myself with them this year. I am really looking forward to this upcoming year!!

After I got home today, I took full advantage of the Siesta and just lazily sat around the house and took a nap. I made some dinner (btw, cooking here is really hard... the ingredients and food are so different so that is a little challenge for me every day but I am sure I will get used to it) and then I decided to sit on the terrace and watch my favorite show, So You Think You Can Dance. I finally found a website where they put all the episodes online!!! It really made my week- haha. Now if only I could figure out how to watch a live Broncos game! Anyway, I was sitting there having a nice little dinner when out of no where the biggest f-ing cockroach I have ever seen was crawling around under the table!!! AH!!!! I screamed super loud, ran in the apartment and jumped on the couch and started crying. Needless to say, my Spanish roommates (along with Abbey) were all cracking up at me while I was making them go on the terrace to get rid of the thing. Well it ran back down the pipes but it took a lot of courage for me to go back outside to get my computer and the rest of my dinner. Needless to say, I wont be enjoying my terrace anymore for tonight.

This weekend my Italian friends that I met along with some other American girls from the program are going to a city called Tarife which is on the very southern coast of Spain on the Straight of Gibralter. We rented a boat and we are going to hang out and go dolphin and whale watching! We will also spend some time in the city as well. I am very excited for that and I will definitely tell you guys how it is!

Well that is about all for now, sorry this blog was so boring! I will have more exciting ones to come! Miss you and love you all!

xoxo

Jade

Pictures for my presentation

El Fin de Semana

Hello Everyone!

Things here in Cádiz are still going great. This weekend was my first weekend being in my new apartment and it was really fun! Friday night I went out with some other girls form the program (Megan, Lisa and my roommate Abbey) and some Italian friends we met. We had drinks on the beach and walked around New Cadiz and then went back to Enrica's and Louise's (Some of the Italian people) and had some Sangria. It was a pretty calm night but still very fun. It is so funny because with just a few people sitting together, there are so many languages going on. First, you have the Italian people who at times would speak really fast Italian that we couldn't understand, then you have us Americans speaking English that they can't understand, then the Spanish people that more or less everyone can understand (unless they speak too fast) and then to communicate together we have to speak slow, broken Spanish or slow, broken English. It is really weird but cool. This is something that Europeans deal with all the time because of the extremely close proximity to so many languages, but as an American really only exposed to English on a daily basis, it was neat to be a part of.

So, on Saturday, after running a few errands (which were difficult in the first place... try buying meat at a grocery store when they use kilos instead of pounds and no one can understand what you are asking for- I definitely need a conversion table or something) we went to the beach in the afternoon and then came home to relax, have dinner, and get ready to go out. This time, I went out with all of my roommates (Abbey and Garazi and Ane the Spanish girls). Garazi is the one on the very left and Ane is the one on the very right in the pic above. You obviously probably know which one is Abbey by now too. We met up with 2 of Garazi and Ane's friends named Sara and Olga and had tapas style sandwiches and drinks at this really good restaurant and then went out to a bar called Nahu and another one called Persigueme (?). All of these places are less than a minute walk from my house so it's pretty awesome!! There was definitely a language barrier (especially when they would talk really fast) but we were steal able to communicate and have a really good time!

I guess how it works here is in the summer everyone goes out in New Cádiz (the newer part of the city by the beach) and then in the winter when it gets colder, everyone goes out in Old Cádiz (the city center part where I live). So it is getting to be that time of year when everyone goes out in the old part so I am looking forward to that!

My first day of real work is tomorrow, when I will actually be sitting down with the teachers and going in the classroom. I am pretty nervous but excited to get in to a routine at the same time. I still haven't heard from that guy that I had the interview with at the English school at I probably wont hear from him for about 2 weeks but I will keep everyone posted on that. Well that is about all for now

My first day of teaching!

Well today was my first day of teaching! I didn't actually do any teaching today, I just went to the school to set up my schedule, talk about what my main duties were, and meet with the faculty. The person I work most closely with is the bilingual coordinator of the school and his name is Angel de Felipe and he is extremely nice and helpful. He actually picked me up from the hostel, loaded the rest of my luggage in his car, took me to the school, and then when the day was done he dropped me off at my apartment! It was really helpful because otherwise I would have had to lug that enormous bag on the bus with me and all through the tiny street of Cadiz which would have been a disaster! He even offered to drive me to school in the mornings since it is a bit of a pain by bus from where I live. That is how all the people here in Cádiz are... so patient and helpful and nice! As a matter of fact the people of Cádiz are known to be some of the most welcoming in all of europe! And Angel is no exception.

Here is what I understand of my duties so far. I will spend 12 hours in the classroom and 8 of those hours are just going to be 1-on-1's with various teachers. I will be working with 4 different teachers to help them plan lessons in English, and help them with their English in general. The other 4 hours I will be working with kids (about 14 years old) and making my own lesson plans! I will be working in PE class (you can help me with that Josh) as well as Technology class. The teachers I will be helping are going to be the PE teacher, the technology teacher, the art teacher, and the geography teacher. The school I am working in (as with all the schools in the program) is a "bilingual school" which means a certain amount of hours for some classes (not all) must be taught in a second language (in this case English). This is only the 2nd year for my school being bilingual so my main job is to help the staff get the program off and running.

As you all know, I will not be earning much money at all so I am also trying to be and English tutor as well to earn some extra cash. Angel put me in touch with some people who need a tutor so that is off and running as well! Also, tomorrow I have an interview at noon with an English academy that is looking for another teacher so hopefully that will work out as well and I can be earning even more money from that! Wish me luck!

Overall it has been a very eventful day and I am thankful to finally be home in my apartment relaxing. The next big thing I have to do is set up a Spanish bank account so I am sure that will be an adventure in its own right as well!

Even though I miss everyone so much and wish you could all be here with me, I am extremely happy here. I honestly can't believe how lucky and thankful I am to have the life I do!!

Abrazos,

Jade