Jen's Post on Spain!

Celebrity post: Jen!

Hola dedicated Holiday in Spain followers! I will be posting in place of the Shelhorse this week. Smores and I decided on a Wednesday we felt like going to Spain, so we booked a flight for Saturday that week. No big deal. We recommend it. We met up with the Rubia(Tiffany) in Almeria, the closest town with an airport to Huercal-Overa. It’s a nice coastal town, very similar to Alicante. I’m glad we went there because it gave Ashley a taste of our life in Spain back when we studied during junior year: lots of shopping, sitting, eating, drinking and dancing. We did an obligatory castle-hike, ate paella (still nothing to write home about) and enjoyed watching Spanish people do absolutely nothing all day. We stayed in a nice hostel right on the beach along with Tiffany’s friends fr

om Huercal-Overa.

After buying way too much from Stradivarious and Blanco (our favorite stores), we bused back to Huercal-Overa. The bus actually came on time—nicely done Spain! Once in town, we went out to eat at one of the popular restaurants (called Labios. That means lips. Yeah, weird) and had some tasty tinto de verano (a wine-cooler type drink). We ate with a few more of Tiff’s friends from town and had to speak lots of Spanish (Ashley is getting better!). We decided to go out after dinner, but only for one drink because we were pretty tired from our weekend in Almeria. However, in Spain, there is no such thing as “just one drink.” We went to a bar Tiff hadn’t explored yet where we played pinball and foosball (lots of serious foosball-playing guys in that bar). Somehow that turned into us getting behind the bar and making drinks for the bartenders and playing DJ (goodbye techno, hello Michael Jackson!). We were back at Tiff’s apartment around 4:30 a.m.; oh Spain. The bartender, Eduardo (of course that’s his name) and I are getting married. He doesn’t know this yet. I’m excited. (Eduardo is on the right, Jose in the Middle)

On our last day, we went to school with Tiff (teacher! teacher! As all her students call her) to help teach gym class. The gym teacher at Tiff’s school is very nice, and right after I introduced myself to her, she said I had control of the class that day….I don’t think they’d let me teach gym class in the United States. Anyways, we taught the kiddos how to play knockout and had them do some basketball dribbling relay races. They seemed to enjoy the games, despite the fact they know absolutely nothing about basketball.

After school, we went to FERIA! The whole town has been talking about Feria for weeks, and it just so happened that Ashley and I got the chance to visit during one of the biggest festivals of the year for Huercal-Overa. The town sets up lights and huge tents, making the area look somewhat like a fair in the United States (minus the carnies, plus Spanish people in really nice shoes even though the ground is gravel…I did not see a single sneaker) and people just dance, eat and drink all day and all night. And they continue into the weekend. We went with Tiffany’s teacher friends and had a blast! Everyone (really young children all the way up to senior citizens) danced and ate all day and all night. I don’t understand how these people have this kind of stamina! The music ranged from the Twist and Rock Around the Clock to Shakira and Enrique Iglesias to LOTS of Spanish music we didn’t know but danced to anyways. Everyone dresses up in the same costume or t-shirt as their friends or family at Feria—lots of kids and teenagers had on matching t-shirts with different phrases, and some older women wore the traditional Spanish dresses and lace headpieces. All of the teachers at Tiffany’s school had blue face paint on. We danced for 12 hours.....12 hours. I’ve never doubted the Spanish for their ability to party, and they’ve outdone themselves once again.

This is the church in the middle of town.

Settling In

I have now been in Huercal-Overa for two whole weeks. Sundays in Spain are terribly boring. Today I have cleaned the house and ran already and its only 2pm. I now plan on watching several episodes of I love Lucy on youtube.

Friday was the first day of school for me! I started at 9am so I got there at 8:30. I was in the teachers lounge and everyone was asking me why I was there so early for work. The teachers here

show up 2 minutes before class and leave the school 5 minutes after. I guess kids don't go in for help after class! So I get there for my introduction day and the teacher says, "Ok. Go for it." (in spanish) I was like......"ok?" So I spoke about myself and all my family and friends and what it is like to live near Washington DC. The first question I was asked was whether or not I knew Barack Obama. I said no and they were all so disappointed, so I told him I had seen him land in his helicopter. They thought that was the

coolest thing ever. Then one of the girls asked if I knew Robert Pattinson. I told her that, sadly, I did not but I would keep and eye out for him. (I'm not sure he frequents DC as he is actually Englsih but oh well!)

Being at the school was the first time I felt that my Spanish was better than someones English. A lot of the people with whom we hang out are pretty good at English but the students were very rusty. I had to speak with a second long break in between my words for them to understand. I also had to write out a lot of words and names. My job is more to speak so that the kids can hear a native speakers accent as well as to teach them American culture. If you guys could put some ideas for activities down in the comments that would be great. Next week I am going to bring in pictures of me an

d the family doing typically american stuff. The kids will have to describe what is going on and describe the traits of the people in the pictures. "He is playing baseball." "He is tall with dark brown hair." Stuff like that.

I am now also fully settled into my apartment. It has an extra bedroom for people to come visit!!! The rent is 400 Euros a month, split between the two of us. The kitchen is really big but it does not have a stove? This is apparently normal, and as Jen and I almost killed ourselves multiple times trying to light our gas stove in Alicante maybe it is fortunate. If anyone has seen elf, you now know how I feel when I shower. My showerhead is about 6 inches below my head, so I lean over while I shower but I don't care cause I HAVE HOT WATER. This may seem strange for me to be so excited but we didn't have hot water in Alicante. I still find a hot shower to be one of the most enjoyable experiences ever after suffering through ice showers for 4 months.

I have been e-mailing back and forth with a lady named Laura about watching her two daughters. It would cut my weekends down to three days instead of 4 but it would give me some extra income. I wouldn't start until November 1st so Ill keep everyone updated.