Hey friends
So this blog doesn’t really have a theme in particular , but I thought I would do a little life update/ how is school going kind of thing. Mainly because my family mentioned I haven’t written anything in a while. Oops. You know how it is…. no? Okay.
To start, I just finished up spring break, which as usual here, falls during Semana Santa/ Holy Week aka Easter. I personally love Easter, it’s my favorite holiday so I was excited to see it here, despite being a bit homesick during this time. In Spain, Easter is a week-long celebration with processions /parades every evening in the big cities. The floats/alter things are carried by at least 20 men and have some sort of statue of either Jesus or the Virgin Mary on it. They are very beautiful, and I will post a picture below. With the parades there is also music, and people in traditional costumes, that look a lot like the KKK. That startled me at first, but they are not affiliated with a cult or anything. It’s just a traditional costume to symbolize religious oppression or something (not sure). It was still a little bit off putting to see even children dressed up as it. I went to two of the parades, but to me and my uncultured American brain, they all appeared the same to me. My host family tried to explain the difference between each of the floats and each of the processions, but since I’m not Catholic, I really didn’t understand it all. I was able to appreciate the cultural aspect but the different meanings kind-of went over my head.
That is something I found interesting during my stay here so far. As I knew from before, Spain, and many European countries are very religious. Most holidays are based on the Roman Catholic faith and their culture is very much centered around it. Being American, where there is a big separation of church and state, and we call public Christmas trees “holiday trees”, seeing religious objects and public celebrations was surprising and took getting used to. This isn’t a bad thing at all but is just very different from what we’re use to in the States.
(Nazarenos, that’s what they are called!)
Towards the end of Semana Santa, I went with my host family back to Fuenteheridos to visit the whole extended family at the grandparent’s villa. We were supposed to see another procession here, but unfortunately it was rainy all weekend and for safety reasons, they can’t do the parades in the rain. Oh well. It was still a nice visit (kind of boring but relaxing). This is probably going to be my last visit here while I am in Spain because I only have a little over a month left (6 ish weeks).
At school, I am no longer teaching regular classes and just doing speaking exam preparation with my kiddos, since they all have their Cambridge level exams in May. This has made things a bit easier on my part, planning wise since all I must do to prep is printing out tests, but I do miss doing full lessons with them (which are honestly more fun). Those tests are spread out during the whole months of May, and then I only work a couple of days in June (and we are back on the half day schedule then).
My Spanish classes are going well. The class has dwindled down to just three of us, which is fine by me, because we get more speaking practice. I really like the people in my class too, and we sometimes hang out outside of class. I’ll be sad when the term ends in June and I wish that I had started the classes earlier!
Going back in time a bit…
I went to Granada and Sierra Nevada with my host family to go skiing during my birthday weekend. Granada is about 4 hours away from Huelva and is the southernmost ski resort in Europe. It was so nice to see snow, which I had been really missing this winter (even though it is spring now!). The first night we stayed in this ski lodge right near the ski resort and spent most of the day at the mountain. I was the only one who went skiing though, the rest of them went tubing. The skiing was okay, it seemed like everyone and their brother was there that weekend, so I was only able to get a few runs in since I spent most of the morning in line for the lift. It was still nice though and I wish I had had more time to practice. I also accidently stole some strangers skis and tried to return them to a different shop but that’s another embarrassing story (long story short I can’t ever show my face at that ski rental shop). Overall, it was super cool to ski at a big mountain and now I can say I have gone skiing in Europe.
Anyway…
The next day we went to La Alhambra in Granada, which was honestly my favorite part. It’s this super old historical castle fort thing that was built hundreds of years ago. It took us around 4 hours to go all the way through and it was so beautiful ( pictures below). It was built with strong Islamic influences with mosaics, beautiful architecture and gardens. I honestly think Granada is one of my favorite cities I have visited here. It is still a fairly large city, but is a lot less commercialized compared to other cities in Spain. This trip was a bit of a struggle health wise though because I had a sinus infection and bronchitis so I was coughing at every historical exhibit. No big deal.
Me, my host mom, Marta and my host sisters, Elena and Cristina on a balcony in La Alhambra.
The view from the top of the watch tower in La Alhambra.
So yeah. I only have a little over a month left. While part of me really can’t wait to go home and see my family (and be able to hear English) , I know the minute I leave I’m going to want to come back. Right now I am in the process of finishing up my final report for my online class (12 page report what’s up), and applying for jobs for when I get home. Most places I have applied for have been really understanding of the fact I am away and can only do phone interviews (keep your fingers crossed).
Well, that’s all for now. Stay tuned for more, friends.
Adios!
Jordan's ESL Adventure 