Thanksgiving in Spain!

Hi Everyone!!!

I hope you all had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving! I was sad I wasn't able to be with my friends and family at home, but I had a great time here! Abbey and I decided to host a Thanksgiving dinner for our Spanish and American friends. The Spaniards loved it! They were all saying that they had seen Thanksgiving done in the movies and TV shows and they were interested to see how it all worked out. Abbey and I did pretty much all of the cooking (Abbey was definitely a rockstar... we pulled it off thanks to her stellar "Monica Geller " planning!). Since places in Spain don't really just sell big turkeys we had to reserve one a week in advance at the market by our plaza. When we went to pick the turkey up all of the butchers were cracking up because they definitely knew we were American and doing thanksgiving. We had some good conversation with them and taught them all about Thanksgiving! Below are some pictures of how our night turned out...

The table, all set!!!!
The Chefs and Hostesses
I was in charge of potatoes!! Delish

Turns out, sticking your hand up a dead animal's but isn't that fun...

AH!!

Well that is about all for now. Sorry this is so short- we are in the middle of booking a place to stay in LONDON! That will be in next week's blog. Love you and miss you all! I am so thankful to have each of you in my life! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

BESOS!!!

Jade

Since Granada...

View of Cádiz from el Torre (the Tower)
I can Salsa dance!!! (kind of)...
GO CADIZ!!!!!!!!
Hey Everyone!!

Sorry I haven't posted in so long. It has been a mixture of being really busy, really lazy, and a little sick. SO I am just going to talk about what has been going on since Granada. I haven't done anymore traveling unfortunately because all of us are really trying to save money for... wait for it... LONDON!!!!!! That is right! I bought a plane ticket a few days ago and from Dec. 3-7 I will be in London. I am so so excited and I know I am going to want to do a lot of shopping and stuff so I am trying to be very good with my money.

As most of you know, I got that other teaching job with English for Living, an English academy here in Cadiz. I like it a lot but it is A LOT of work! Right now, I am covering for a teacher that is out because she had an operation so I am teaching 5 separate classes right now. It is a little overwhelming at the moment because I am REALLY not used to lesson planning, classroom management, etc. (any ideas Josh??) but I am confident I will get the hang of it. I think the hardest class to teach is the adults because I never account for how fast they are able to pick up topics and stuff and then I get stuck with 30 minutes of class time and nothing to do... kind of intimidating but I am up for the challenge! It is a lot of work but I will have lots of money to Christmas shop! Yay! And maybe if I am responsible enough I can save for a fun trip to Paris or something. When things settle down though, I will be teaching 2 classes (one kids and one adults) which will come out to be 5 hours per week.

When I am not working I am literally trying anything and everything new that I can. Abbey and I started taking Salsa dancing lessons at this one Salsa club in Chiclana (a city close to Cadiz). As if we don't stand out enough, we were obviously THE WORST dancers in the club. By far. But it was still really fun and something new! We went with our friend Sandra that Abbey met in the school she teaches in. I also tried out oriental dancing at this one place called Nahu that we go to a lot. It was interesting, but I don't think I have to do it again. I also went to my first soccer game! It was really fun! Not as crazy as the ones you see on TV, like Madrid and Barcelona, but the fans are still very hardcore. Cadiz is a 2nd division team so they aren't nearly as big as other teams like Madrid, but the atmosphere was still amazing! They fans were literally chanting and singing the entire time. It was fun, up until I realized that when there is a tie in soccer (and it is a regular season game), they don't keep playing. It's just a tie. And everyone goes home. Kind of annoying but still a fun tim! (See pic above).

This past weekend my friend Mel came to visit Abbey and I. It was a little crazy! We ended up going out till 7 AM on Friday and as you can imagine we weren't very productive. Saturday night we went to El Puerto de Santa María to go to some clubs over there. We met up with a few guys that my friend Megan knows. It was fun, but I prefer to stay in Cadiz. Then, on Sunday we took Mel on a little tour of Cadiz. We saw all of the important places and then made dinner and hung out at home. It was a really fun weekend but I definitely paid for it by being sick for 3 days. Don't worry though, I am feeling much better!

This weekend is going to be really low key. Both Abbey and I just got over being sick (oh the joys of sharing a bedroom) so we just kind of want to relax and take it easy. Also, we want to save our money and health for London! Abbey and I will be hosting an American style Thanksgiving dinner next Friday (because we don't get Thursday off... Surprising that Spanish people don't care as much about American colonization as we do right? haha) so we will be doing one Friday. We went to the market today and reserved a 10 kilo turkey for next thursday (thank you to my knowledge of obscure butcher shop-spanish!).

Well that is about all for now! Hope you guys have a GREAT Thanksgiving! I will try to blog again next weekend to tell you how mine went. I miss each and every one of you and I am SOOOOOOOOO excited to see you guys over Christmas!!!

Besos!!

Halloween and Gypsies in Granada!

Hey Everyone!!

So sorry I haven't posted anything in a while, things have been going pretty much the same as usual! I definitely got that other job and I will officially start teaching those classes in a few weeks. This past weekend I went to Granada (another region of Spain in Andalucía) and it was AMAZING. I honestly think it is my favorite city I have EVER visited. The history, charm, and beauty of the city is so breathtaking. It has a unique mix of east and west- the area was occupied by arabs for a very long time so there is a lot of old middle eastern influence. It is so interesting! We stayed at a hostel called Oasis and it was so cool! We met some really awesome people staying there from all over the world. The rooms were like 8 beds to each one so we were able to meet a lot of random people. The hostel itself was really clean, fun and they actually had a lot of activities and stuff for us to do- it was really cool! I would consider that my first REAL hostel I have ever stayed in and I really enjoyed myself. I went to Granada with Abbey (my roommate), Megan (another American friend who lives in Cadiz) my friend Mel who teaches in Ronda, and a few other girls I met at orientation in Sevilla who teach in Granada.

We left at 9 am on Friday and arrived in Granada around 2 pm (by bus). We then checked in at our hostel and then went to get tapas and drinks. The cool thing about Granada (well one of the cool things) is that you get a free tapa with every drink you order, which is really fun! So we did that, and then went walking around the plazas and shops around the city. The city itself is so beautiful and clean, I just love everything about it! After we walked around for a while, we went back to the hostel and had some drinks there and hung out. We entered in a pumpkin carving contest (there were only 2 entries, people in Spain do not celebrate halloween as much as we do in the states... it is a very American holiday) and just hung out on the hostel patio and ate the paella they made for dinner. We met some really cool people: pedro from Mexico, Olaf from Holland, and Daniel from Germany. They all helped with our pumpkin and we just hung out with them the rest of the night. Megan and I went in early (around 2) because we had an early date the next day with the Alhambra!

So the next morning (halloween day) Megan and I left around 8:30 for the famed Alhambra! The Alhambra is a famous palace that was first constructed by the Moorish (Muslim) occupied Spain in the 9th century- that means some parts are over 1000 years old!!!!! Rediculous. Some parts were changed by the Chirstians after they defeated the Moors in the 13th century but a lot of the Muslim influence still remains. The palace was mainly used as a fortress for protection, but it was also a very lavish castle for the royal family. It was the most gorgeous thing I have ever seen- so amazing, words really can't even describe it. I have pictures on FB but they don't do it justice either. If any of you are looking on planning a trip or anything Granada (and the Alhambra) is DEFINITELY a place you have to go. After we got back from there, we met up with the other girls and started to go walking around the Albazín which is the old Moorish neighborhood of Granada. It has the typical winding roads and whitewashed buildings of a lot of old neighborhoods in Spain but what makes the Albazín unique is the Muslim and Middle eastern influence- very cool.

While walking around the Albazín, we went to a very distinct part called El Sacromonte which is the old gypsy neighborhood. There are the Las Cuevas which are literally caves that the gypsies live in. These caves are considered the birth place of flamenco, and have such a cool feel about them, its awesome. Literally reminded me of Fraggle Rock- haha! Anyway, while we were here we decided to find a gypsy to read out palms- and we did! She was so funny, I absolutely loved her. And for the bargain price of 10 euro I got my palm read in her cueva! (picture above) She spoke really weird Spanish so I didn't really catch all of it but she said that when someone is interested in my I never give them the time of day and that I need to be more open minded when it comes to love. She also said that I don't notice when people like me, that I am kind of oblivious to it. She said I have 2 true friends of the heart ( I think I have more but I will let you guys fight amongst yourselves over who are my true friends of the heart) and that I am very intelligent and I have great dreams! So all in all, even if she was crazy I think she got some things right. After that little side trip we headed in the direction of the hostel, stopped in a hookah and tea bar, and then went back to rest up for Halloween night!

That night, there was a costume contest at the hostel and my friend Mel won! She was the joker from batman and she looked hilarious! The prize was a box of milk, some butter, and a half eaten jar of Nutella- nice! I dressed up as a goth, Abbey was the devil, Megan was a cowgirl, and the rest of the girls were vampires or cats- we all looked pretty awesome! We headed out and went to a few bars and ended up at a nightclub called Granada 10. We called it a night around 5:30 and went back to the hostel. The next day we got up (very slowly) and went shopping on this really cool Moraccan street. After that we got some lunch and headed back to the bus station to head back to Cádiz.

All in all, it was a GREAT weekend. I had so much fun, and it is definitely a place that I HIGHLY recommend. I miss you and love you all!! I think about you guys all the time- can't wait to see everyone in only 6 weeks now!! Wow time is really flying by...

Besos!!

Jade

PS- For all of the great pics check out facebook