Cabo de Gata-Níjar

My friend Kirsten came to stay with me last weekend, and did we have fun! One of the days we went to a small beach village called San José. It was muy precioso! I loved it! A small village with white buildings on a nice little beach. So right next to Almeria is a huge Natural Park called el Cabo de Gata and San José is a village within the park. It is only about an hour on the bus from Almeria. The bus stopped in some pretty random places along the way. On the way back this dude got off seriously in the middle of nowhere and it was pitch black out. Honestly, where the heck did he think he was going?

Anyway, so we were tortured that we didn’t bring our swimsuits with us…the water was so crystal clear and tempting. Seriously, even in the port at night you could still see the bottom. So we did some exploring and there is supposed to be a lot of very nice beaches around the area. We wanted to rent bikes to ride around, but the tourist office was closed when we got there, so we opted to walk. It was better that way cause our walk turned out to be a full-out hike. Yep, we were hiking along the edges of cliffs that dropped into the ocean at some points. It was so beautiful though!! I love the outdoors, and I definitely loved this! We hiked for about 4 hours and saw some pretty amazing things. The map shows the Cabo de Gata and if you look for San José on the lower right side of the cape, we walked from there almost all the way to Playa de Mónsul.

There are some fabulous beaches around (the kind I had in mind when I first found out that I was assigned to a beach city). And none of them are commercialized since it is a Natural Park, right? I’m definitely going to be going there in the Spring when I can swim and explore some more.

The terrain was amazing, definitely a lot prettier than around Almeria (a scorched desert - worse than AZ). So the ocean came in on the beach, which turned into sand dunes, then desert with yuccas and prickly pear, then grass with trees and flowers, then volcanic rocks, and then mountains. To top it all off, there were pine trees growing in the village. Such broad vegetation! It was incredible!!! Enjoy the pictures!! But let me just tell you…they don’t do it justice…

There is a small prickly pear forest between the beach and mountains...

A wind sufer taking a break on the beach...

Can you see the sailboat off in the distance?

Small beach between volcanic rock only reachable by foot...

Eating ice cream on the beach in Almeria...

chuches

Check out these GINORMOUS chuches!! I had to dedicate a whole entry to them because I was SOOO excited. So check out the size compared to the regular-sized chuches…huge!! Definitely one the best discoveries yet…

qué dia de perros!!

My little space heater broke and I’ve had to go without heat for the last week. Let me tell you, not very fun. I’ve had to wear tons of layers. The worst thing is that it is so much warmer outside because of the sun, right? It’s warm enough to wear shorts outside while I have to wear a coat inside. Hmmm, there’s something wrong with that…I finally got it replaced though so it’s all good now! Exchanging it was quite the hassle, but well worth it. I had to go back and forth between a couple of places. Then when I was checking out (I bought some other things) the security officer had to come and inspect my bag with my new heater…standard procedure. Ha! I surprised they didn’t look in my backpack!

Then the same day my wireless Internet stopped working and hasn’t since. So I’m back at the locutorio for the time being until it comes back up, if it ever does. So my updates may be like this, just to warn you - a bunch at once!

feliz dia de la virgen imaculada

So Kirsten and I were hoping to see some type of procession to the Cathedral, but the whole plaza was pretty empty when we went. We did get a chance to look inside (I hadn’t even been inside yet), both of our first Cathedral to go into in Spain. Well, minus the other 100 we saw when we were in Spain before!! Ok, so that’s a little of an exaggeration, but not much if you include all the little churches. So here’s some pictures of the Plaza de la Catedral. There was a ¨puente¨ last weekend which means if there is a holiday on a Thursday, it is ¨bridged¨until the weekend with Friday off as well. Sounds like a good idea to me!

feliz día de constitución!

This is more of a formal holiday and isn't really celebrated that much, except everything is closed. In Madrid this time of year you can celebrate by wearing masks or wigs. I never really figured out if that was to celebrate Day of the Constitution somehow, Christmas, or the coming new year. Anybody know? Here's a big assortment of choices of masks and some dude displaying a very lovely wig...think what you will...

feliz dia de santa kristina!!!

So my students told me that today is the day of Saint Kristina (really Cristina, but hey, what does it matter?). So everybody named Kristina gets to celebrate the day. In Spain everyone gets 2 days to celebrate: your birthday and your own day of the Saint you share the same name with. Everyone celebrates a few of the big, famous Saints days, such as San Jose on June 24, which here in Almeria everyone goes to the beach and has fires. Sounds fun to me! So then my students told me that I must invite them over to celebrate!

oh happy day!!

Ok so life is grand! I just got my new computer and got the Internet working again (hopefully for good), got my other suitcase in the mail a couple of weeks ago, got myself a little space heater to keep me warm (since there’s no dryer to sit on top of!), hung Christmas lights in my room, and best but not least…found a scrumptious döner kebab restaurant that has arroz con leche for dessert - the best combination ever!! I’m going to take advantage of that for sure! They even serve the food on glass plates - now that’s quality! So I have so much to catch up on. If you get tired of reading, at least scroll down until you see pictures of the castle here in Almeria.

sundays

• Maria Carmen y familia
  Today I spent the day after church at Maria Carmen’s house and met her family; she is the only member. I ate delicious albondigas (meatballs), which are coming to be one of my favorite Spanish meals, along with morcilla (blood sausage). I could have done without the latter, but I ate and ate. Asking for a little more rice ends up being a whole plate full, then you eat two pieces of fruit for dessert, then chocolate a little later, and to finish off roasted chestnuts! Wow, what a meal! So I’ve never eaten chestnuts before…they are pretty good! Interesting though. The middle is soft, not like a nut. You’ll have to try them.
  

• Isabel y familia
  The people in the ward have been super nice! Last weekend I went to another member’s house, Isabel and her family. I ate another delicious meal of course. Her husband makes pastries for a living and I ate 2 desserts at their house, plus a chocolate napolitano after church. They are both bigger people and they even said themselves that they like to eat well, especially dessert! Just like me!! So you can imagine that it worked out very nicely…haha! They were a little hard to understand, but I managed. Isabel’s husband, Andres, promised me that I will speak perfect Andalucían by the time I leave and dance the sevillano as well! Wow, what a promise!

more school

So I already have my favorite students. I know that as teachers we aren’t supposed to do that, but it just happens, right? You can’t help it. But I teach so many different students that I always forget who is in which class, so it’s always a surprise when I walk in. I don’t think I’m ever going to learn all of their names - impossible. Now that it’s cold my squeaky voice has decided to present itself to my students. It’s funny cause I know they want to laugh, I can see it in their faces, but they don’t dare. But then I laugh so then they do. Always entertaining to say the least.

Speaking of voices, some things that I’ve noticed is that generally speaking, not always true, the women have lower voices and the men have higher voices. Or maybe just the people I have observed have been the few that that is true for. Also, Andalucí ans speak very loudly. Isabel’s husband even said so himself. At church, there will be 5 people speaking at once all very loudly. I have no idea how they have a conversation or discussion like that, but it seems to work!

On my way home from school the other night, there were some people conducting interviews and doing research on the bus for that particular route. I was one of the lucky ones to be interviewed, how exciting! They just got information about how close you lived/worked to the bus stop, how long it took you to walk, how long the bus ride was, your nationality, etc. Never seen that before…

lots of exercise

I played paddle again last weekend and I think I am getting better. It’s really fun! Has anyone ever heard of it? Maybe it’s more European. I still can’t serve very good (has to be underhand) so they finally just let me serve it like tennis (overhand)- much easier! Antonio told me that I will be a pro after 2 or 3 more matches. Ha, we’ll see about that! I played with a different group of guys, but they were just as good as the other guys - too good!

Also, I went swimming this week, but not just any swimming - swimming laps. I’ve never swam laps before in my life! I really enjoyed it though. I worked on my backstroke and free style. I might even join the club and go a couple times every week. There’s some hard core people there though, a guy had a trainer there timing his laps. I’ll just stay out of his way…

I still go running on the beach 2 or 3 times every week. The other day I saw some surfers! They had to have been beginners though, cause the waves really weren’t that good. As you can see I’m staying active - it’s obligatory with all the delicious things I eat. Hehe!

Alcazaba

I finally visited the local castle here, it was about time! Funny, my roommate didn’t even know that there was a castle here. I don’t know how you couldn’t, it’s HUGE! The biggest tourist attraction of Almeria. I think she watches just a little too much TV…I think the people here take all the castles and old buildings (tons) for granted because they are so common.

Almeria still isn’t very touristy like other cities in Spain. Probably because it’s in the very corner, not very pretty, not much to see, etc. It’s just not as popular. There is more of a Moroccan influence here than European. I wasn’t excited when I first got here, but it grows on you. I now consider it my home and actually really like it! There’s so much to explore.

Oh right, the alcazaba…It’s a really cool castle! I think way more so than the one in Má laga that I saw. It is situated above the city on the hill so you can look out and see the city and harbor. For you history buffs…it was originally founded by the Moors in the year 955 (imagine that!) until taken over by the Catholic monarchs, who built and added more to the structure. Under the protection of this massive fortress, Almería became the most important port and market in Andalucía, or Southern Spain. Merchants and travellers from Egypt, Syria, France, and Italy frequented the port and brought a lot of revenue to the city.

The castle itself has three different parts and there is a mosque, underground water cisterns, baths, etc. They are still working on under covering much of it as the picture shows where they are digging.

There is a small valley that dips down where a wall follows until the top of the opposite hill. There is also a big statue of Christ there as well. Here is a close-up.

Here are some pictures of the city from the view of the castle, which is the opposite side of the city from where I live. I live in a nicer area. Can you see the big passenger ship docked in the port ready to leave for Morocco?

When I was leaving, there was a bride and groom taking their wedding pictures with the castle in the background. The bride’s dress was gorgeous, of course, and the groom was wearing a purely gold suit! Cool! Imagine this picture with a bride and groom in the foreground…

Carmen

I have started teaching Carmen English once a week for an hour. It´s been very fun thus far, plus it´s a little extra income. She speaks pretty well, but has a hard time with saying things in the past. Her husband is from California actually and they are going to visit his family this next summer so she wants to improve her English for that. They met 12 years ago in Salamanca. She was a student there (is now a doctor) and he was a tourist. They met, fell in love, he left after a few days, but they continued to write letters and visit each other once or twice a year. Now they are married with 2 little girls. How crazy is that!

The best Spanish meal EVER!!!

I spent another day with Pablo and Eliana after church yesterday. We went to her parents for lunch and boy was it delicious!! I finally ate my first home-made paella and tortilla...all delicious and soaked in olive oil, of course. You would think that after living in Spain for 4 months before I would eat those 2 most famous dishes of Spain at least once, but many of you know that would never happen. Pero, bueno...needless to say it was delicious.

After sitting at the table for a couple of hours and not understanding hardly any of the conversation, I decided that my Spanish is not progressing like I would like it to. Yes, I understand mostly when people are talking directly to me, but when there is 5 people talking at once and very fast, I don´t know who to concentrate on! Aaaah! Once I can understand and respond to the people of Andalucía, I can say that I speak Spanish perfectly - they are the hardest people to understand of Spain besides the Catalonions and Basque of course since they speak a different language. I definitely speak more English here than I do Spanish and that makes it harder to go back and forth between the two. I´ve hit a wall in my language abilities that hopefully I can knock down soon. I feel like I spoke better when I was in Mexico this summer. I just have to be patient and continue practicing...

So last week I was exuberantly recruited to sing in the ward choir after church. I told everyone that I can´t sing, but they didn´t seem to care - they didn´t give me much choice in the matter. Hehe! We spent the first day learning how to breathe and stand properly. Then they proceeded to have each person sing some notes individually....and that´s when I made my triumphant exit!! Sorry, but there´s no way that I´m going to sing by myself in front of 30 other people. No way!! I like to sing, as many of you know, but not as a solo. Plus, I had to catch the bus, right? Good excuse anyway....

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Make sure you eat lots and lots! So here´s a couple of lists I thought I would make for Thanksgiving...

Things I´m thankful for that I DON´T have here in Spain & you do (bummer):

• fresh milk - the boxed kind that doesn´t have to be refrigerated just doesn´t do it for me


• my car - too much wasted time waiting for the bus


• carpet - I bought myself a small rug just so I can do my daily crunches


• dryer - all my clothes are going to be so stretched out! Plus, I can´t sit on it to keep warm!


• oven - limits my enjoyment of food considerably


• microwave - anything I reheat usually ends up getting burned on the stove


• mexican food - don´t know how in the world I am surviving!


• selection of clothes & shoes - my students see the same outfit too many times
• heating system - usually colder inside than outside unfortunately
• SUVs and trucks - all I see are sedans and smart cars, no variety
• dishwasher - difficult to wash dishes with only 1 side of the sink
  

Things I´m thankful for that I DO have in Spain & you don´t (hehe!):

• döner kebabs - although I have yet to find lamb kebabs (the best)


• all the delicious food I already dedicated a whole entry to...


• the beach - yep, it´s still warm enough to go. In fact, I spent the whole weekend there. Imagine...lying on the beach listening to your favortie tunes with the waves crashing against the shore with a bottle of Fanta in one hand and a delicious pastry in the other...now that´s what I call enjoyin´ life!!


• cobblestone streets


• hundreds of years old buildings all over the place
• Blinds that make the whole room pitch black - have no idea what time it is when I wake up

I´m also extremely thankful for finally getting my extra suitcase that I had to leave behind. It´s nice to have some extra things and more variety. Thanks Mom! I went a month and a half with just some limited things...very hard!

Well, enjoy the holiday with family everyone!!! I´m looking forward to Christmas - my next holiday. I´ve already busted out the Christmas songs on my ipod and the mall here put Christmas lights up the beginning of November. It´s great!

el mercado

So every Saturday there is a market with basically everything you can think of. It´s right around the corner from my apartment, so I can´t complain. It´s just like Los Lunes in Alcalá de Henares, but like 5 times bigger. You can buy any of the following and much, much more: clothes, jewelry, sunglasses, music, movies, purses (sorry, no fake Coach ones Terri), home decor, kitchenware, shoes, frutos secos, fresh fruits and vegetables, etc. All for super cheap!! I want to spend so much money there, but have to refrane myself. There is even a guy with a whistle and flourescent vest directing traffic - like the guy in the bakery parking lot in Mexico (Elise, Sonya, & Cliff) How funny is that! There is a make-shift churrería where you can eat hot churros con chocalate - so delectable!

Teaching is still going really well. Most of my groups are older, which is nice. I have at least one older person in each of my 12 classes. I do have a couple groups of rambunctious high school boys, but that´s to be expected. I had to break them up this week. They are entertaining to say the least. So we teach English from British books, and there is definitely some major differences! In vocabulary as well as pronunciation. Take ¨stoppities,¨for example to mean ¨times outs¨or they say ¨burgled¨to mean ¨robbed.¨ I laughed pretty hard at that one!! My voice carries well in the classroom (which many of you know I don´t have the loudest voice and it is very squeaky at times. hehe!) because there is no carpet or anything to absorb sound. So that´s a plus!! Makes it easier for me at least. There are 10 other teachers total that teach English and they are all fairly young, late 20s, early 30s, as well as teachers of French, Italian, German, and Arabic.

Yesterday I played paddle for a couple of hours with some of the teachers from the school. Yeah, I know, you´re asking yourself, ¨What the heck is paddle?¨ It´s just like tennis, basically, with a wall behind you to play off of. It sounds easy, did to me anyway, but it´s pretty difficult. You have to control your strength of hitting the ball and be in the right positions to play off the wall. It was fun though. The other guys were really good! Hopefully they didn´t mind playing with a beginner...I´ll have to practice some more.

Oh no! I found a delicious bakery close to me after all! A little too close....I´ll have to walk a different way to get to the bus stop from now on! So it seems like I spend a good chunk of time waiting for the bus. Good thing I have lots of extra time! Wish I could just buy a moped or something to get around. There is tons and tons of ´em here in Almería, as well as just regular motorcycles. It´s crazy!