March 5, 2006

Hola,

Another week has flown by here, in Spain. They all go by so fast. This week seemed shorter since we did not have school on Monday or Tuesday. So, I went to class on Wednesday, which was a little difficult since we hadn’t gone for a week, and then it was the weekend again! Sweet!

On Thursday, I volunteered at an elementary school across town, which I will be doing every Tuesday and Thursday. I absolutely love it! Helping at the school has been one of my favorite experiences here. I help teach English to 11 and 12 year old students. The teacher speaks only a little English, so the other volunteers and I often help her with words and phrases. I speak to the students in English, but when they do not understand I explain to them in Spanish. It feels so great to be able to communicate with others in their language and then to try and help them learn my language as well. The kids are really nice. Initially, I was worried that they would start making fun of me in Spanish and I would have no idea! But, I teach them and they teach me. It is great.

On Friday, I visited Cadiz again with the students of my program (about 50 students came). First, we visited a bodega, which is a wine cellar/shop. We took a tour through a building that held barrels and barrels of wine. Our tour guide described to us how the wine was made and stored and how long it had to be in a barrel before being sold. After touring the wine cellar, we had an opportunity to do a little wine tasting. J They had tables set up with crackers, peanuts and chips. Everyone found a seat and then these ladies came around pouring wine into our glasses. They had seven different types of sherry for us to try! There was another group scheduled to tour the bodega right after us, so the wine tasting was a little rushed. Everyone drank seven half GLASSES of wine (not just little sips) in less than a half an hour…And this on empty stomachs…Our next bus ride was a little wild, to say the least!

Once we arrived to Cadiz, we spent a few hours at the beach playing cards and kicking a soccer ball around. Then, we visited the older part of Cadiz where we were able to see the Cathedral and a couple more famous monuments. The streets were still filled with debris from Cadiz’s Carnival. Its carnival is a little different than the Canary Islands’ Los Carnavales. Cadiz’s Carnival makes fun of political figures and celebrities in Spain, but there is still the same lively atmosphere (lots of dancing, costumes, parades, food, and drinking). Since the carnival was still going on the day that we visited, there were candy stands every direction you looked! Yum! The weather in Cadiz was less than great. It actually started to rain right as we were leaving.

When we arrived in Seville that night, it began to rain and the next morning it seriously monsooned here. I think that I brought the Oregon weather here with me, or at least that is what I told my senora. She keeps telling me how hot and sunny the weather here is during the spring. She is funny, though. She thinks that her knee can predict the weather! Last December she had surgery on her knee, and since then she believes that if her knee hurts, then the weather is going to be bad. If you haven’t gotten this out of my letters yet, my senora is a little on the crazy side. Jennie and I have stopped taking her advice since she told us that we could take our bags with us on the airplane to the Canary Islands and have the pilots drop us off at whatever island we wanted! We have decided that her daughter, Macarena, is a better source for advice. My senora is still wonderful in every other way, though.

For instance, this morning (Sunday) she took Jennie and I out for breakfast. I was not too thrilled when she woke me up at 10:30am to go, but we had a great time. We went to one of the only cafes that stay open on Sundays. (Sunday is definitely a day of rest here; no one works and so nothing is open.) We ate a typical desayuno (breakfast) of Spain: bread (of course) with jamon curado (cured ham) and olive oil. My senora and Jennie had café con leche, which is what everyone drinks here with their breakfast-except for me. I am not a coffee fan, so I take tea instead. Jennie and I were a little frightened at first of our desayuno since we could see the ham leg, where the meat we were eating came from, dangling from the ceiling with about 30 others. Yum. Actually, it was pretty good.

We thought that we were finished with breakfast, but then our little senora wanted to go to another café for more café and postres! So we went down the street and had more coffee (well, I had freshly squeezed orange juice-freshly squeezed is the only kind of orange juice they serve here and it is amazing!) and little postres. It was fun to try some new Spanish food, even though it was definitely out of our comfort zone.

We returned home and immediately our senora started to prepare our lunch! So basically I have done nothing but ate all day! I love it here! Lola, my senora, is teaching me how to cook. So, when I return home my dad, my mom and brother are definitely going to be trying some new and amazing Spanish meals! Are you excited, Joe?!

Lots of love,

Steph