Christmas Time in Mérida

After being away from Mérida for the weekend I was very happy to have this entire week off from work. Not only did I completely pick up my room, but even had some time for fun activities.

Tuesday night myself, Kristina, Christina and Sara got together to have a little cooking party. We

decided to make Fried Eggplant with Honey.

We'd had it as a tapa at couple of places outside of Mérida and knew we could make it just as well. After breading the eggplant (berenjena) we sauted / fried it in Spain's favorite product, olive oil. Then we drizzled some honey (miel) on top. I also made some honey mustard to go with it, delish! The main course was a carbonara pasta..equally delicious-thanks Kristina!!

Every Wednesday myself and the other auxilliares go to a place called Cerveceria 100 Montaditos (translation = little bites) a bar / cafe that sells little bocadillos / sandwiches. Imagine a little baguette (about the size of the palm of your hand) with jamón o queso o pate o anchovies on it DELISH. On Wed it's even more amazing because they sell all the montaditos for 1 euro (as well as cañas and vino too). So we had a bite there, then moved to anther cafe near the Plaza España because we were waiting to watch fire works that were being sent off for the Santa Eulalia Holiday (the patron saint of Mérida).

There are lots of Christmas lights up on the main streets in Mérida adding to the Christmas Vibe. Wed night was especially Christmas feeling as there were many people out and about to watch the Procession of the a statue of Santa Eulalia. They do a Parade through the city and when it arrives at a cetain part, the fire works being. They set the fire works off near the Roman Bridge, and the fire works were actually really quite good! Then we decided to take advantage of the fact that we didn't have to work the next day because of the Santa Eulalia holiday enjoyed some yummy chupitos made carmel liquer and topped with whipped cream, After having a couple of those it was time to call it a night.

The next morning, British Kristina treated us to a Full English Fry Up breakfast- eggs, sausage bacon, tomato, mushrooms. We also had some Mimosas... a very fun Brunch. Later that night we showed our friend Blanca how to make chocolate chip cookies. It was really fun to see the reaction to us measuring butter and things by sight- rather than weighing/ measuring it out. The cookies were really good, even though Spain doesn't really have chocolate chips, a crushed up candy bar does the trick!

Friday was the big day of our Christmas Party, I even woke up early to make sure I had time enough for everything. I was in charge of picking up decorations for the day and the best place to go for that sort of shopping is the local Chino Store - Imagine a super market / dollar store where you can find anything. I ended up buying a tree, some lights and ornaments as well as gold garland and green wrapping paper to wrap around picture frames and then hang on the wall. The decorations were pretty fantastic. For the "party" we had a spread of typical Spanish snacks (jamón, cheese, bread chips/crisps etc) we also ordered tapas from a local place and enjoyed Mulled Wine.

We had a pretty good turn out considering our pool of friends in Spain is still on the small side! Overall the party was def a success and I even enjoyed the fact that we listened to Christmas Carols (villancicos...which I normally hate!).

I've learned to expect the unexpected and thus the fact that on Saturday we went out for some tapas and a couple of drinks turned into an awesome all day/night excursion, did not surprise me. We ate at a place called Lizarran and from there went to watch our friend Cody, another auxillar, play Basketball. His teammates are super nice and some had even come to our Christmas party the night before. After the game we went back to the same restaurant and enjoy a few more pinchos before heading out to one last place. I was in bed by 3, a early night by spanish standards, but I was ready for sleep for sure.

Going back to work tomorrow is certainly going to be a bit rough but I am excited to teach about Christmas. Craazzzy to think this time next week, I'll be on a plane home...HASTA PRONTO!!

Catching up on mi Vida!

So I have been terribly busy with really living it up in Spain the past month or so, that I CANNOT believe its almost the end of 2009!

Let me catch up with what I've been up to. During the week I've continued to teach during 12 hours of classes and from 3 to 4 individual classes a week. Weekends have been filled with interesting and fun trips to near by cities and campos... let me digress!

So in November I made a trip to Badajoz on a Friday night for some shopping and sight seeing. They had a great Alcazaba that was fun to see at night.

Didn't buy much in terms of shopping but it was still good to be in another city for a bit. It was fun to take pictures with new statues, even though truthfully I am not sure who they were!

The next day, we took the train back and a couple of my buddies here, Sara and Kristina were off traveling so I met up with my friend Ben and his neighbors at a local tapas joint. We enjoyed numerous rounds of beer and a delish tapa of deep fried pig parts, I think the face. Not sure what the name of it was but it was DELISH! That night Ben's neighbors, Oscar and Blanca invited myself and some others over for dinner. It was fun as we dressed up and started the night with appetizers and continued to well into the late night early morning talking, laughing and finishing an entire box of Truffles! Oscar and Blanca invited me to stay the night as Sara my roommate was out of town so I slept in the extra bed, it was amazing! The next morning Oscar made migas - which are bread crumbs fried with olive oil, garlic, pancetta and red peppers for breakfast, again another delish meal! It was another lazy sunday spent relaxing and catching up on sleep.

The following weekend started again on Thursday, Thanksgiving! IT was truly international with Spanish, French, Americans, Canadians and even an Argentinian celebrating together.

We had a turkey, potatoes, multple stuffings, tortilla espanola y frances. We also had some mince pies from england and I contributed an apple crisp for dessert. It again was another late night of just enjoying the company of others!

On that Friday, Christina (the one from america!) went and saw Luna Nueva (New Moon, part of the twilight series!) IT WAS AWESOME!!! FRiday night we stayed in and relaxed as we were all quite tired from Turkey day.

That Saturday, the 31st I think, I went to the Campo with Oscar Blanca and Ben. The equivalent of the Campo (country i suppose) is like a cottage or ski house here in the States. People get together and buy enough drinks and food to last an entire weekend, as many campo gatherings last that long.

This campo trip was about 20 mins away and was a great way to spend a Saturday. We ate migas, and another dish typical of Extremadura, the name alludes me right now! We stayed all afternoon and until midnight just enjoying the company of some great people who are as nice as they are fun. Upon returning home that night, we played Kareoke in Spanish and English...def a funny night I will not soon forget.

This past weekend Spain had two holidays thus we had a long weekend, or a Puente a they say. I FINALLY made it to Sevilla and Córdoba. The Alcázar en Sevilla is spectacular and deserves a visit. We stayed in a pretty nice hostal and enjoyed meeting fellow travelers. I also did some amazing shopping at the HM including a dress for our upcoming Christmas party!

For me the highlight of the weekend was my trip to Córdoba. I stayed with a girl named Carmen who is a student at the University of Córdoba. There is a network where people who have an open place to sleep, bed or couch, can connect and also play host/tour guide for the weekend. Without a doubt Carmen was the best guide someone could ask for.

She lived in the old part of the city in a great apartment with her parents and brother Alvaro, with her grandmother living next door. She was super nice as was her brother and friends. It was great to practice my spanish and go around Córdoba with someone who knew it well. We visited most of the important things as she hadn't seen them since her years in highschool. We missed out on the free visit to the Mezquita (on of the highlights of Córdoba) but I am positive I am going to return again next year when its warmer weather. It was a great couple of days as we hung out, ate some great meals.

On the last night, Monday we chilled out and enjoyed a cerveza sitting on the walls outside the Mezquita, and a nice walk through the city with the street lights and christmas lights adding to the ambiance.

Needless to say, I've been enjoying myself and am very happy that everything is going so well. I have no work this week so will just be working on cleaning my room, the apartment and getting ready for our Christmas party this friday...and then I'll be home on the 22nd which of course I am excited for but I know already, I am going to miss Mérida un montón!

Pay Day!

La Junta de Extremadura finally was able to process all our paper work and we received our first months payment! Its nice to now be able to spend euros and not loose out on the exchange rate. Since my last post, not much has changed, just still giving classes and individual lessons as well on the side. I'm trying to stay active and have been running more days than not but am in no where as good as shape as I used to be when playing lacrosse!

Speaking of lacrosse, I decided to play "wall ball" one day (throwing the lax ball against a wall and catching it aka playing catch by myself). First of all, the walls I used is part of the Alcazaba, a quite old arab era structure in Mérida that is by the rio. So as you can imagine, it was funny to be playing wall ball against something that is so old and storied. I had to chase the ball a few times as it ran astray after hitting an errant piece of the wall.

Speaking of ancient buildings, I FINALLY saw some of the sights in Mérida... We managed to go on the only day its rained in the past 1.5 months but still enjoyable none the less! The pictures along side are of the Amphatheatre and the Theatre. The girls in the picture are certainly my new mejor amigas... Sara (canadian) on the left, Kristina and Lorna (british!) Its fun to have a great group of girls to plan english lessons with, and when we have time, to go out on the town and enjoy tapas and the occasional glass of vino ;)..... AKA we get alone well and I couldn't be happier!

Thats all for now... I'll post more after this weekends trip to Badajoz for shopping!!

Halloween!

Another week has gone by, and I cannot believe ya estamos en noviembre!

This week in class I taught about fall holidays in the english speaking world aka Halloween, Guy Fox Day, Bonfire Night and Thanksgiving. It was fun to see what the students already knew and then test their knowledge at the end with a little trivia game. Teaching "Trick or Treat Smell my feet" was also quite enjoyable! Spanish Translation below:

Truco o Trato

Huele mis pies

Dame algo bueno para comer

Si no lo haces, no me importar

Quitaré tu calzoncillos

Quite fun. This week I also started two more individual classes. One with a man who runs a regional radio station. Very interesting guy who has traveled all over the world. Also met his wife and friends Saturday afternoon as they were relaxing at the cafe below our piso. I was invited to sit down and have a cerveza and ended up eating lunch with them and learning about Mérida and the best places to go for tapas etc. Side note, Russel Crowe's character in the Gladiator is from Mérida!

My other new "students" are a set of triplets, 2 boys and a girl who are 5 years old. I'm going to do an hour a week with them, So we shall see how that pans out...most likely will be a bit crazy at first but I'm up the the challenge.

This weekend was once again fun and surprising. Friday night we ended up going to Badajoz, the biggest city in Extremadura which is about 35 mins from Mérida. We went to a place to eat then a few other spots where there was some live music too.

Saturday was Halloween and we had visitors from Zafra come to eat dinner and enjoy the night. We had a little gathering at our piso that was quite well attended. Myself and the two other girls I hang out with most dressed as Ancient Méridians aka Romans bc Mérida was the Roman Capital of the Iberian Peninsula way back when. We looked very good I must say even with Togas made out of bed sheets. We carried around mugs, mine saying "I Heart Mérida" as a way to tie the costume together. Overall a very fun night.

On Sunday we visited the Roman Museum in the morning and then rode the tourist train around Mérida, a fun little afternoon excursion.

Also this week Sara and I signed up for library cards and were able to take out some books and other materials. I am very excited to now be able to read some books in Spanish and have access to movies, cds and other materials at the library.

¿Das clases particulares ?

Time is moving by super fast. This week was filled with more introductions about myself, my town my family. Who knew that talking about your self for 12 hours a week would qualify as a job. I'm slowly beginning to pick up on how to best approach teaching the kids. I personally think its better to suffer through the silence and making them ask me questions, rather then just talk to them in English and have them not understand a clue.

I am also learning from the student too. For example, without a doubt I am asked "what is your favorite fútbol team?" I respond Barcelona (For no real reason other than I like they city and already own a jacket ...reminder to self...bring it back after break!). Almost on cue half the class erupts in cheers and the other half in groans...the groaning half supports Real Madrid. The follow up questions then alway test my true fan-ship. When I was first asked "Do you like Messing?" I replied with what, whats that? Turns out, he's THE player for Barca...oops! So after a few classes I know to say I love Barca, Messing included....and No, I do not like Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid ("best player in the world" apparently muy muy guapo accoring to the girls).

Other than school I have been making a pretty big effort to try and meet up with as many Spanish people as possible to really improve my spanish. Without a doubt offering to give "clases particulares" or individual english classes is the best way to do so. I can charge money for these but so far have opted to do it more like, you buy my coffee and we'll talk in spanish and english. Most of the people I have met with have been people whom I've met out and about. Now, there are pros and cons to the situation. I have one conversation friend who is this older-ish business man who my friends and I can't tell is very metro/euro (aka way too nicely dressed all the time) or...simply you know..either way its entertaining as at our last "lesson" we ended up at a cafe with his friends/co workers talking only en español.

On the other side, I met with two younger guys Raul and Juan, both who are/ have studying for their masters/doctorates in the science field. These two we met at the cafe/bar near are piso and they seem to be two really nice guys, normal and actually interested in working on their english.

Also, at the local police station/dmv time building where I had to go to turn in paper work for my foreign ID card, I met a really cool chica named Paz. She is originally from Galicia, lived in Tenerife (Canary Islands) for a while and is now in Mérida for a few years while working on a third degree. She is super nice and met with myself and two others just for some tapas and drinks. So nice and offered to take us out to this nice place whenever we want.

The here in Mérida and everyone I've met is nothing but friendliness and offers to help in anyway needed. Two of my neighbors, Emilio and Agoo (short for Augusta I think) have also offered to help with anything at well. Its great to already feel at home after only 3 weeks in a city.

On Tuesday nights we pretty much have a ritual down of our "hip hop" class, which i struggle through, and then going to the "Jazz Bar" for live music. Its funny because we clearly are the token foreigners and people are welcoming and love to chat. Wednesday night my teacher, Montse, invited me to the movies with her and her two sisters. The sisters live in the building next to me so I rode with them and we also had tapas and a drink before the movie, Agora. It was pretty good, and I understand around 85/90 percent of the conversation which I felt pretty good about! The director is Spanish, but the movie was dubbed en Español. I can't wait to see "Where the Wild Things Are" as well as the "New Moon" (the twilight movie!!)

Well tonight a few of us are traveling to Almendralejo, a smaller city about 30 mins away, to visit another friend and get out of Mérida for a bit. Saturday night I have plans to go out with a Spanish girl, Elena, who is the student of one of Montse's sisters. Elena is studying international business and is 23 and seems pretty excited to introduce me to her friends and go out. Its pretty awesome how helpful and open everyone!

OH and since Halloween is an important holiday to be celebrated we're hosting a dress up party next weekend..so there will be pictures by then for sure!

Ya es OCTUBRE!

Merida is a much better city then I could have ever imagined. Not only does it have great Roman Ruins (still have to see them...waiting for some visiters!!) but there are quite a bit of other activities as well. Friday morning we went to a forum on Migration and Development in Extremadura, mostly dealing with Moroccan immigrants. It was interesting to as well because my final research paper for Spanish dealt with similar themes. And believe it or not, it felt good to actually be doing something a bit academic. Of course I am enjoying the leisure activities here but I also am glad to be getting involved in other ways as well.

Friday night we (my flatmate Sara and Kristina, from the UK) ordered in Telepizza...Spains version of Pizza Hut. VERY delicious! We also met up with our American friend Ben and his neighbors who showed us a great time. It is very true that the people in this region are super friendly and want to help you in any way if need be.

Saturday was a fun day as we went to Mérida's basketball game. There are a couple guys on the team from the US, and one put on quite a good show. It was cool to see how some cheers/chants are universal. Although there was no "wave" there was plenty of cheering and horn blowing as Mérida won by 2 in the last 30 seconds. Also on a funny side note the shot clock was 24 seconds quite an arbitrary number.

Saturday night was fun as well as people from the nearby city of Zafra came to visit. We also had a family style dinner with homemade tortilla de espana, pasta carbonara, bread, meat cheese and of course coffee at the end! Later we went to this place called the La Amsteleria, that Sara and I live above. It reminds me of a Spanish version of Applebees/TGIF...friendly people, standard spanish fair from Tapas to Paella, and frosted mugs. There was a group of about 12 of us from France, Canada, Germany Sweden and Italian! At the end the waiter brought everyone at the table either a t-shirt of this crazy Red back pack/fanny pack/ duffle bag....Surely will make a great Christmas Present...sidenote....(I'll be home for the Holidays!)

Another great thing about our neighbor hood is the near by bakery. Open from 7 am and on, its a great spot for bread and of course pastries! Napolitanas de york (jamon) y queso or Napilitanas de chocolate are possibly the most amazing thing ever...anytime of day or night.

I'm semi looking forward to another week of work, but hope that the kids at Ruta de la Plata (in Calomonte) are a bit more enthusiastic then the first time around...pero, thats typical for the classroom I guess.

Pictures to come soon...time for a shower and some Paella!

"Do you like spanish boys?"

So started my first week of actual classes today...sort of. We had a long weekend so I didn't have to go in until tuesday and had 3 classes. They consisted of kids being almost forced into asking very basic questions about me, and me this having to talk for about 35 minutes in a slow voice about anything I could think that would interest them. Two classes were kids about 14/15 years old and the other was a class of mostly 11/12 years old. In the latter of the two ages, I helped read some exercises out of their work book for them to fill in.

Today (wed) I went to my second school where I gave 4 classes. Pretty much the same thing except I have my own classroom and kids come to me have a class as a time and asked questions they had already written down. The students in this school seemed more eager to participate, and by that, i mean they actually asked some questions rather than just have me talk at them.

MY favorite question of the day, "Do you like Spanish boys" and of course I said yes and explained my love of Rafael Nadal and our sharing of the same birthday...he also won his tennis match today !

Besides the job part I've been checking out a few different places at night. Went to a "Jazz bar" last night which was really fun live music with bongos and steel drums. Over the weekend a group of French girls doing my same program came to visit the our city so we all had dinner together and then went out and hit up the hot spots of Mérida.

It turns out I live right next to one of the nicer bars that the Spanish young people frequent before they head out to the late night clubs. That means from 12:30 to about 3:00am the bar, Caramelo is busy, inside and out. Anytime between 2:00 and 3:00 people make there way out to the El Foro, a mall by day, mecca for clubs by night. We managed to stay out till about 5, which pales in comparison to those late night-ers who stay out until 8 or 9 in the am. My stamina will clearly be tested in the coming months.

I've also signe up for a hip hop dance class with the other girls in Mérida...I clearly am not the most coordinated person in the world but I figure a month of dance classes can't hurt. Also I've been running and going out to eat a bit too... I officially love the Spanish Tortilla, Jamon Serrano and green olives.

Grocery shopping isn't bad, cheaper but nothing compared to Wegmans. However, they do have quite the selection of canned "seafood" (shout out to Joe Mullin, you'd love the selection of anchovies, calamari and everything kinda of canned sea food imaginable!)

Alright time to get back to living the spanish dream!

New Apartment!

Haven't had much time or internet to write but I've got some down time now...

Just moved into our piso, I'm living with a Canadian girl Sara who I met at orientation. We have 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms kitchen and a "salon" (pictures to come at some point). Currently we can still internet from the third bedroom...not a bad set up at all.

Also, I officially have a NIE- foreign national number kinda thing and am getting the equivalent of a green card, making me legal in Spain. Thus I opened a bank account with BBVA and now have a cell phone with through Vodafone.

Also funny to note, when we arrived in Mérida we came by train and stayed at a hostal for one night. Rather then spending all that money on a less then nice establishment, we called up our teachers at ended up staying with them till we moved into our APT.

My spanish teach's place was super nice...4th floor with an upstairs enclosed room and terrace. She had a little girl who was 3 years old...super cute but a little princess for sure. It was nice to be fed breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday and not have to really do a thing. However, I am glad to now be "on my own" to go about my day.

For dinner last night we had cheese and jamon on a baguette, toasted in the oven. Simple but delish.

I'll be sure to write more later!

Hola!!

Arrived in Madrid this morning at 8:05 am...about 2 am for you all in the states... I lucked out and not only had an isle seat but an open seat next to me... talk about lucky! AND one of my new Facebook Friends, Cody, was on the flight too so its nice to actually know someone and have a legit friend to find an apartment with and explore Mérida!.

Also met some fellow Language Assistants and even traveled with one on the Metro! So glad I only packed 1 big bag wasn't not too bad traveling trough the metro (and only cost 1 euro as opposed to like 40 for a taxi!)

I'm now staying at Las Musas hostal (www.lasmusas.com)... Pretty new and clean and trying to make some friends for an afternoon of travel. I am not really sure what I'll get into today besides going to the train station to get my ticket for tomorrows trip to orientation in Caceres.

But time to go start practicing my spanish again bc its a little bit rougher than I though!

BESOS!

Maggie

1 Week

Spain in one week.. too much to do this week ( and alumni weekend on friday SHOOOT!)

Going to check out Thread tomorrow this store in the south wedge... because clearly I need to go shopping before I leave!

Time for bed..buenos noches!

Countdown to Spain

My Spanish adventure begins in 9 days, and as you can imagine I am bundle of nerves and excitement. Packing has slowly started but nothing too monumental yet.

As this is my first "blog" I am going to keep it short, but Extremadura better be ready for me!