March 20

Well, this has certainly been an interesting day. I woke up with a searing pain in my right ankle/foot. The day before, my friends and I stopped at a park near our house and played on the swings. As I was swinging forward, my foot was pointed downward and it crashed with the ground. I don’t really know how else to describe it-like an airplane crashing, or jumping into a pool and hitting the bottom with too much force. It kind of hurt at first, but didn’t afterwards, and I was able to walk home and get around ok. The morning after though, I woke up and my foot hurt really bad. We told our Señora and she gave me some ice. It really didn’t do anything though, so I decided to go to the clinic. The one we have to go to (because of a special relationship with the insurance through the school?) was far away, so we had to take a taxi. I have not found it is very hard to hail a cab as it is made out to be in the movies J Amanda (my roommate) carried me to a place we could call a cab, and we took it across town. We got dropped off, but we not as close as we had thought, but thankfully some nice Sevillan walked us to the clinic. Fortunately there was no one in the clinic, so I was helped right away. I was nervous because I was not sure if I would be able to communicate my problem to the doctors, and because I have never really been to the doctor by myself. I first saw a doctor who examined my foot and told me I would need some x-rays. I then went into the X-Ray room (and had some flashbacks from breaking my arm!) where I got two X-Rays. After they were developed, I went back to the same doctor who told me nothing was broken, but that there was a problem with my ligament. I assume I tore it-I couldn’t fully understand what he said, but understood “ligamento”. He wrote me a note for the Farmacía for a sleeve to go around my ankle, some ibuprofen and cream for my foot. We hobbled over to the Farmacía and got the prescription. It was a funny experience because in my Spanish for the Health Professions class, we just learned how to give out prescriptions (take with food, take every 6 hours, 1 teaspoon etc.). I guess it was a good thing I stayed in that class J I have to wear the sleeve for 5-6 days. My foot is already feeling much better and I am so thankful I did not break anything. Now I have a cool X-Ray of my feet to take home! Oh-and I almost forgot! Doctors everywhere have the same illegible handwriting

English Class Observation

I am sorry I haven't written anything in a while...I have been busy with school and other Spanish things :) I am not travelling anywhere this weekend though, so hopefully I should have time to write. In the meantime, here is the journal I had to write for my Teaching English as a Second Language class. I am helping out in an Intermediate B adult class.

"I was surprisingly nervous before beginning my first observation. I was assigned to help in the adult Intermediate B class, which I was told was an accomplished and fun group. I first met the teacher, who is from Denver and has been in Europe for seven years. I then met the 10 students, who all ranged in ages from about mid-twenties to mid-fifties. I introduced myself and then the teacher asked then questions about what I said. They repeated my answers back to her, and seemed to have very good English comprehension skills. They then asked me some questions about my life in Sevilla.

The class began with a short game of Pictionary, using words that the class has been learning. For adults, they had a lot of enthusiasm about the game and even made up team names. The students guessed most of the words correctly, but had a difficult time with the pronunciation of the word, ‘wood’. The teacher wrote on the board: ‘wood=good’, which I thought was an interesting and useful tool to help with pronunciation. I have not had any experience in the classroom or have taken any education classes, so all of these processes are new to me in terms of being a teacher.

After the warm-up activity, the class did a listening activity about computer viruses. They use a book that integrates many current and useful topics with grammar and vocabulary. During their activities, I sat near a group of two and watched as they completed the tasks. Christina, the teacher, informed me that she uses a style of teaching where she asks the students to complete an exercise, reviews it, but doesn’t go over the answers necessarily. The answers are in the back of the book, and she says that it gives them more satisfaction and allows them to remember it better if they look up the answers. I thought this was an interesting strategy, but seems to be effective because it allows for active learning.

The rest of the time was used for more activities done in pairs and groups. During my time, I was constantly amazing at the enthusiasm and positive attitude of the group. They joked a lot and really wanted to get the answers correct. I am looking forward to going back and learning more about the group."

El 10 de marzo

I have been quite busy with classes this week (considering I added one and now have a total of 4 ‘real’ ones and 2 ‘others’-baile and cultural realities). I enjoy them all, especially the Teaching English as a Foreign Language class. It is conducted in English by a psychologist, so we talk about some interesting concepts, especially related to how people learn. Tomorrow I will begin some ‘student teaching’ in an adult English class taught by a woman who is from Denver. I am very excited to see this enthusiastic class of 10, but am nervous to find out if I really know the English language ☺ I probably could have played a few more games of banana grams or word bubbles before I left!
Monday evening we were able to see a flamenco show in the Center. A man performed first, then a woman, and finally the two together. It was very amazing to watch up close-they work so hard at what they do and put so much emotion into their dance. I am still enjoying our baile class, and think Lola is a miracle worker, because somehow I am memorizing the dances! Now I just have to work on the my style so I don’t look quite so clumsy.
A few thoughts about our daily lives here in Sevilla: Amanda and I have ‘our café’ where we go to work on the computers during the evening. It is called Pulido’s and is a 3 minute walk from our house. The owner knows us and we really don’t have to ask for our drinks anymore ☺ Across the street from that is our favorite shoe store that has shoes for really, really cheap. I think it is one of those overstock places, so we check every few days to see if there is anything new. I bought a pair a few weeks ago for 4 euro. Yes.
I think that is all for now. Granada this weekend, Friday and Saturday. After that, we have two more weeks of class until Semana Santa and our trip to Barcelona! Hasta luego hombres!

Gibraltar

This past weekend, we took a day trip with CC-CS to Gibraltar. I didn’t really know anything about the place, but found out a lot in my short time there. It is owned by the British, which meant we had to go through customs with our passports. It was very strange to see all the signs in English with some of the people speaking with British accents. I found it to be a very confused place-many people speak both languages and it is right next to Spain….
Anyways, when we arrived (after singing Spanish songs on the bus with Lery), we had a few hours of free time to walk around Main Street. It would have been nice, except I believe there was some kind of tropical storm while we were there. The whole entire time it rained and rained and rained. No end. We ducked into a restaurant, and I ordered tea…haha…which came with milk, which was new. Amanda and I ate some chips and I tried some of Emily’s fish. How touristy. We then walked up and down Main Street and went into some shops. I bought some Cadbury eggs (yum!) and a pin of Gibraltar. We happened upon a church which was very beautiful. The most interesting thing (picture on the google site), was the prayer request board. There were prayers written in both English and Spanish, which for me, summarized the feeling of the city. After our free-time, we boarded buses and took a tour of the city. Our tour guide spoke in Spanish mostly, but sometimes reverted back to English by accident (he also had an English accent). We climbed the mountain and had to squeeze through some parts. When we reached the top, we were able to explore some caves with some very beautiful formations. There was wedding music playing though-which I didn’t really understand. Continuation of the ‘fantasy’ weekend in Morocco? Finally, we were able to see the monos who were just hanging out by the buses. I was able to take a few pictures with them, but we were strictly instructed not to touch them. Our driver commented that our mono was especially dangerous or something, which made me laugh because he probably knows the personalities of all of them. After some great photo ops, we descended and boarded our buses back home. I would have preferred if it was sunnier so we could walk outside more and enjoy the views of Africa, but what can you do? Gracias a Dios por Lery, who rallied us with song on the way home ☺ Coooorazon Latino (David Bisbal).

Marruecos-2

After the scarves, we continued to walk around and casually shop. Along the way as well as on the tour earlier, young boys would come up to us and put their hand out. They usually had two coins and asked if we had any change. I thought they wanted me to make change for the money they had in their hand, but they didn’t seem to understand what I was saying. After a few of these encounters, I became exasperated and said, “Quieres change? He then began to speak French to me, and I replied in Spanish. It was quite funny. We also passed by another group singing, which was apparently some kind of wedding procession? I just got the impression that the people here like to sing in the streets which is pretty cool. After Chefchauen, we took the bus to Tetuán. The landscape on the drive was so incredibly beautiful. I have never been able to see so much land at one time. The mountains, valleys and little villages in between were gorgeous. Oh-not to mention the clouds that were touching the tips of the mountains. It was so expansive. We arrived in Tetuán for lunch and ate at this big restaurant with some entertainers in front of us. I won’t really talk about this too much, because it just seemed a little too touristy for me and I wasn’t feeling the vibe of the place. We ate a salad and chicken, which were both good. For dessert we had the mint tea again, which I drank with less hesitation. We then had a walking tour of Tetuán with our guide who pretty much knows everyone in the city. The place was amazing-a maze of markets and shops tucked into corners. We saw all the shops where the wedding dressed are custom made as well as where the women rent these beautiful belt-type things to wear during the wedding ceremonies that last a few days. We also saw electronic shops that were selling tvs and cameras that looked like they were from the ‘90s. It was all very interesting. Once a man passed me and brushed up against my shoulder, I looked down, and saw he was carrying a chicken by the feet…and it was alive! I am sorry that I didn’t take any pictures of our tour-but I was just so caught up in looking at everything. Some of the food stands looked good-like the ones with dried fruit and nuts, while others looked questionable with whole animals and such. We ended our tour at an apothecary shop; I didn’t even know those exist anymore! The owner showed us various items such as spices for foods and remedies for snoring, mosquito bites and lotions. I bought a tube of ‘magic’ lipstick that is green, but when put on your lips, turns colors. Woah!

Our next, and final, city was Tangier, where we would finally have the ‘fantasy’ show. We checked into our hotel, which looked really nice from the lobby. First impressions can be deceiving though, and our room turned out to be…uh…not so great. I don’t want to sound like a hotel snob, but it just wasn’t very clean and felt damp for some reason. Ok, not to dwell, it was only one night. We had some free time, then went outside for the beginning of the show. It began with a few men on horses with fire and shooting guns. Afterwards, we proceeded inside to have dinner and listen to the music. A few people performed including a magician, a man who balanced candles on his head, a belly dancer, and some gymnast kids. It was a little “circusy” for my liking, but interesting still. The food was excellent-bread, couscous, chicken and tea again for dessert ☺ We met some new girls from another program and have seen them quite a few times afterwards!

Monday morning, we ate breakfast at the hotel, which again was bread ☺ We hopped on the buses again and went to the ocean to look out at the view. We drove by a really expensive area with homes really close to the water. The, we finally got to ride the camels. It was a fun experience-they are kind of awkward when they stand up and sit down. Finally, we walked through the caves of Hercules which has a nice picture window to the ocean. Afterwards, we headed back to Ceuta, through customs, back on the ferry and home to Sevilla. I was glad to be back in familiar territory, but did have a good time observing everything and experiencing a really different culture.

Marruecos-1

Thursday, March 4

Ahhh, finally a day of sunshine for more than a few minutes! I am sitting outsider in front of the river enjoy the view, the people running by (I should be doing that) and the relatively warm weather. We just finished our first week of regular classes, and I like them all so far. But first, I want to talk about Morocco. This may be a lengthy post, and I apologize, but I hope you find it interesting. To begin: we left from Sevilla on Saturday and took a bus to Algeciras in southern Spain. There, we hopped on a ferry and cruised across the water to Ceuta, a Spanish city on the tip of Africa. Before this trip, I didn’t know this city existed, but it was neat to see familiar shops and signs when we first landed in Africa. The ferry was fun, and we were able to stand outside and watch as we approached the big mountain of the new continent. After getting off the ferry, we boarded the bus again (yes, it came on the ferry!) and drove to the top of the city. We were able to see all of Ceuta and the seas. We also visited a park for a few minutes, then got back on the bus to go through customs. We waited in the bus for some time while the police checked our passports and then came on the bus to inspect our passports again. While we were waiting, I saw many people walking along the corridor from Morocco to Ceuta carrying shopping bags and other items. I wonder if many people travel often between the two? We got the green light to continue, and began driving towards Tetuán. It was dark and quite rainy outside, which added to the solemn feeling I had looking out the window. I noticed a lot of men just standing outside watching as our bus drove by. I definitely felt out of place, and they couldn’t even see me yet! Many of the men were wearing these long robes with pointed hoods, that turns out to be the ‘going out’ clothing of men and women. After a little drive, we arrived at the hotel and at dinner. The first course consisted of a salad of eggs, beets, carrots, cucumbers, peppers and some other vegetables. We then ate chicken and potatoes and had something that resembled flan for dessert. We also drank the mint tea. I was leary to try the tea since we are not supposed to drink the water, but it was heated up so I figured it was fine. We also ate quite a bit of bread-as usual in España también ☺

The next morning, w woke up early and ate a breakfast of—what else? Bread. Crossiants, biscuit-type bread and these crepe/pancake looking were accompanied by honey and jam. We also had real orange juice, which I absolutely loved. We hopped on the buses again to go to Chefchaouen. The city is famous for its blue buildings. When we arrived, we met up with our tour guide and began our tour of the city. During our walk through the city, it began to rain, but I think that made it more adventurous! The streets there do not have signs and they are so windey-some very narrow too! We crossed over the river and saw where women bring their clothes to wash them. Just before that, we were serenaded by a group of young men playing drums among other instruments and singing. I don’t know if they do this all the time or if it was a ‘special’ show for us ☺ Speaking of show, enroute to Chefchaouen, I noticed many more men standing outside watching as we went by. Imagine these big tour buses passing through a very rural area. While we were on our tour as well, I felt like we were on display. I have become accustomed to not travelling in big groups here, unlike my last visit to Europe. I was very self-conscious of the way we looked and acted and how these people perceive us.

After the tour and many beautiful photo opportunities, we had some free time to shop at the markets. These are real markets. They were little tents filled with trinkets such as scarves, jewelry, camel memorabilia and dishes. There are no set prices and everything is to be haggled for. I asked one of the group leaders what would be a good ‘token’ item to buy from Marruecos, and she mentioned the Hand of Fatima, which guards against the evil eye. A man overheard her telling us about the Hand, and he offered to show us what it looks like. He was wearing a green djellaba, and proceeded to take us to this scarf shop. Looking back, that doesn’t seem like a smart thing to do (sorry madre), but our tour guide, talked to him and seemed to validate his helpfulness. The people all seemed very nice and welcoming-probably because they want us to buy their staff. But more than that, they were indeed helpful and made sure to say that they want us to come back again. We entered the scarf shop and were greeted by a young boy, then by the owner of the shop. He explained how the scarves are made in the city on a loom. He then proceeded to throw scarves all over us, making sure we notice the fine handy-work and soft feel. They were about 23 euro, which was a little too much than I was willing to spend. A few of the girls bought some for less-they got the 'student price' :) In the beginning, the man said, "We don't push here. We are not like a big city. We want you to come again. Try on anything you like." When we were getting ready to leave he said "See you later aligator". Hahaha.

Friday Febrary 26th

Well, the intensive period has ended, and it really flew by. I knew that my time here would go by really fast, but not this quick! After our final exam today, a few of the girls and I went shopping on the way home. I believe there are three big periods of sales, and the one going on right now ends at the end of the month. So that is basically my rationale for going shopping ☺ Yesterday we had a short day of class as well, then went to visit Itálica, the Roman ruins. It is about a 10-15 minute drive out of the city. I was surprised by how country our surroundings were! It reminded me a little of Dublin, in that you can drive a few minutes and be among fields and farms. We saw rows or orange trees with little towns situated in between. We arrived at Itálica and went first to the reconstruction of the main road and some of the homes. This village was first built to house soldiers I believe, but that part is actually underneath a town now. Itálica was built on a hill which was good for the rain and spotting enemies. We saw the skeletons of houses and tiendas as well as recreations of some sculptures. Finally, we visited the amphitheater, where people enjoyed watching fights between men and exotic animals from Africa. Oh- I forgot to mention that these houses had water running to each one….quite advanced for the age! After trudging through the never-ending flood back to the bus, we drove home and went to our house for lunch.
I have thinking how I want to immerse myself into the culture here, and I was able to do that on Wednesday when I went to a Manifestación, or march. My friend had heard about it in the paper, and we decided we wanted to go. It began at 7;30 p.m. and stretched along the Avenida de la Constitución, one of the main roads in town. The protest was against raising the age of jubilación-or retirement. Most of the people were elderly there, but some families were present. We were laughed at in the beginning due to our picture taking, but suddenly Katie obtained a flag, and we joined the march! There were drums and chants, and one man was dressed as an Indian! It was fun to read all the banners and figure them out. The march (while we were there) was completely peaceful, and we remarked at the obvious lack of policemen. To me, the most interesting thing was that the march went right over the railway and one of the rail signs read “Rail closed for the manifestación” (the picture is on the google site). It was definitely an interesting experience-and something which I have never participated in while in the States.