My Busy Summer Vacation

So it seems I'm not the best at updating my blog, but once in a while is OK, no? Here is a blog entry I wrote for the children of my school. Thought it was a good summary of my summer. :-)

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This summer, I did quite a bit of traveling. So much that I don't want to see a plane for a very long time! But what exactly did I do? Here's a basic summary of my international summer vacation. (If you'd like to follow the places I've been, scroll down to the bottom of the page and see the maps.)

First, I left Spain and flew into West Palm Beach, FL. That's where my parents live. I enjoyed swimming in the pool, taking boat trips into the ocean, and eating good American food with the great company of my parents. I was lucky because my aunt from Colombia was also visiting so I had a chance to see her too.

Since I hadn't seen my twin sister in months, I decided to visit her in San Francisco! I've never been there so I was very excited. I did quite a lot of tourism including seeing the Golden Gate Bridge, the impenetrable prison Alcatraz, and visiting Muir Woods with its gorgeous ancient old trees. Also, my sister's boyfriend works for Pixar so I was able to go on an exclusive tour through the studio. How lucky! It was a great trip.

I returned to Florida but soon after, I flew into Washington D.C. to visit my very close friends. Have you ever heard of the saying, 'The more things change, the more they stay the same'? Well, this was definitely the case for me. I hadn't seen my friends in about two years, and though they had changed (new jobs, marriage, some with babies!), they had also stayed the same. When I visited them, it was as if I had never left. What great fun!

Then I flew back to Florida to spend some more time with my parents. However, at one point, I had to return to Europe so I said my good-byes and flew into Milan, Italy (with a quick stop at Madrid). My older sister, who lives in Milan, had two big things happening in her life: She was moving into a new apartment and she was getting married! So I flew over to help her move and organize her wedding. It was a lot of work. However, her apartment looks great and the wedding was AMAZING! The ceremony was held in Stresa, a cute medieval town north of Milan. She also got married in a castle overlooking the lakes. It was a Colombian-Italian-American wedding. We ate great food, Italian style, and at night we danced Colombian style! It was a lot of fun and I'm happy for the new member of my family, my brother-in-law Claudio.

But my sister's wedding was not the only wedding that summer. My cousin from Colombia was getting married... in Germany! This time, however, I didn't fly. Instead, the whole Colombian side of the family rented a van and we drove through Switzerland to a town north of Frankfurt, Germany. It took about 8 hours. My cousin from Colombia was getting married to a German. It was a civil ceremony. They were married inside a tower in a German town filled with old colorful buildings. It was a very memoriable marriage and trip.

However, at one point I had to return to Spain and get back to work. So my family and I drove back to Milan, and then I flew into Madrid. PHEW!!! That's a lot of flying!

So I'm back in Spain, living in Linares and working in Bailén. In general, I had a wonderful summer with a lot of trips and exciting adventures. Though I love traveling, I am glad to be back in Spain where I can rest and take a break from all those plane rides. Till the next trip!


Below are some maps that show the places I've visted this summer:

Why I Love Spain

I wrote this blog for my school. I received positive remarks from my students, so I thought I'd share.

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This is my second year living in Spain and I'm considering staying another year. When people hear this, both Spaniards and others ask me the same question: 'Why?'

Why do I love Spain? I have given many answers. I've said how I love Spanish food, including paella, croquetas and salmorejo. I really like eating tapas. Going out with friends and eating different foods, sitting out on a terrace and people watching... there's something very relaxing about it, especially in the warming days of Andalusia.

Perhaps it's its history. From Moors conquering Spain, to Napoleon and Franco, to the present Spain, this country has a complex past. Traveling through the Iberian Peninsula also reflects this complicated history, from Cadiz to Merida to the region of Asturias (to only name a few). All of them are beautiful cities with a lot of ancient stories to tell.

Or maybe it's as simple as the vacations. In Spain, you get minimally 1 month of vacation. In the United States, in average, you start with 0 hours of vacation and you build 1.5 hours every 2 weeks. It takes a long time to build up a good vacation. But perhaps their attitudes towards their vacation reflects something more. Something that is found deep withing the Spanish culture. It's an attitude. A belief. It is hard to pin down but the closest I've come to describe it is: 'They work to live, not live to work.'

All of the above are good reasons and definitely play a factor in my liking of Spain. But the real and ultimate reason why I love Spain is its people. I can't really describe why they are so great. I can say they are fun, friendly, open, caring, fiery people. They seem to really appreciate life. I think that's why I keep staying here. Because I love the Spanish way of life, the people, and its culture. I learn from them and I feel that in Spain, I truly enjoy my life to the fullest.

A Nose by any Other Name...

A few weekends ago, I went to Granada with my roommate to visit a friend. We hit the bars that night and much later, decided to get a kabob. As we walked in, a man sitting on a bar stool and eating a gyro looked at my friend quite intensely. He started talking to us about how pretty her nose was (which was cute, small and perky). He kept staring at it and just couldn't keep his eyes off it. He even tried to touch it! Of course, this freaked my friend out and she quickly left the establishment.

I, on the other hand, was determined to get my gyro no matter what weirdo was around, so I stayed in line. Plus, he wasn't harassing my nose, was he? (Not cute enough for you, huh? Bastard. ;-) ) However, I had the honor of talking to his friends who somehow found out about my Colombian heritage and asked me about cocaine and if Colombians lived in trees. (Great catches, these boys.) Then, two other girls walked in and the guy stared at their faces too. He commented on how these girls must have had nose jobs. I looked at their noses and they too were small, cute and perky. The girls, understandably, were weirded out and said no, that they were natural and ignored him.

As I grabbed my gyro, I admit I was fascinated. I've never met anyone who was so mesmerized by noses. He didn't just stare and talk about them. He tried to feel them too! Even when it was obvious the girls didn't want to be touched. Very strange behavior.

Then it hit me. This guy had a nose fetish! Isn't that crazy? I've never met anyone with a nose fetish before. Feet? Yes. Belly buttons? Sure. But noses? Never! It was quite exciting.

And you know what the irony was about this whole scene? He had a HUGE nose! HA!

Ah well. To each his own! :-)

Why Spain Needs English Teachers

I was walking around, clothes shopping when I saw this written on a sweatshirt.






(In case you can't read it, it says, "I <3 Schol", not school.)


Once I saw this, I knew. Spain definitely needs me and English teachers like me!

I'm happy to help. :-)

The Red Head

I wanted to write this story for quite some time. It happened at the elementary school I worked at last year.

In the first grade class, there was this cute little red head boy. He was quite a spunky fellow who was always the first to volunteer for any activity, holler whatever English words that would pop into his head, and dance and do spins on the ground whenever hip hop was played. He was also the first to throw up his hands in despair and give up. Quite a rumbustious personality. I liked him.

On this supposedly normal day, he had been complaining about a stomach ache. He would hold his stomach painfully and walk around like an old man. As the rest of the class worked on their projects, he would sit in his chair in quiet misery, staring numbly down at his desk. The teachers had wondered if they should send him home and ultimately decided to wait till recess, because 'recess cures almost all illnesses'. Still, I kept watching him from the corner of my eye, making sure he was alright. He pretty much just stayed quiet (which was quite abnormal for him).

About halfway through the class, his face suddenly lit up. He got really excited, ripped a small piece of paper from his notebook and wrote something feverishly on it. Then, grabbing the paper with his two hands, he raised it up into the air and, with a desperate look in his eyes, stared pleadingly up at the ceiling. Then, he quickly slammed this piece of paper on his forehead. He'd leave it there for a moment, then smack his head a couple of times with it and raise it up into the air again and continued to stare up into the sky. He did this a couple more times.

I couldn't hold on to my curiosity any longer so I walked up to him and asked, 'What are you doing?' He gave me this dirty look and shot one finger at me, silently telling me not to interrupt. I waited and continued watching him smack his head some more. Then, the bell rang. Recess time! So he jumped up with the rest of his class and ran out of the classroom.

I was left dumb struck, stunned by the spectacle as well as the sudden end of it. What exactly just happened here? Then I noticed that he had left the small piece of paper on the table. I picked it up and read it. It said:

'Dios, por favor cure.'

'God, please heal.'

Do you believe it? The red head was praying for God to cure him! But not in the normal let's-put-our-hands-together-and-pray. No, not for this boy. Instead, he choose to write it on a piece of paper and smash it on his head. It was great!

When I told the story to the other teachers, they obviously laughed. The Religion teacher said she was proud. He'd learned to ask God for everything.

As for the kid, I'm not sure if praying that way helped, but he made it through the day. As for me, I now have a memory that makes me laugh every time I think about it. And I also have something that reminds me of him... I kept the note. :-)