Carnaval II

I was in Arcos on Saturday for their Carnaval celebration. It was much better than the one in Cadiz...probably because it wasn't as crazy...I saw lots of my students dressed up and it was a nice, small town party! There was a parade with floats (one of the guys who works at my school had his own float) and there was singing and dancing and everyone was just having a great time. Becca and I put minimal effort into our costumes this time around and basically just wore butterfly wings, antenas, and had glitter.

After the parade I had dinner with Becca and then went back out for the after-party which was basically just everyone drinking in the street. My friend Kate (Lehigh) was in town too so we hung out. Because Arcos is such a small town it is great to walk around and actually know people who live here. If I meet someone, chances are I will see them again so you become more invested in the relationships. It was a good time. I took a 3:30pm bus back to Jerez on Sunday and basically just relaxed and got to bed early in preparation for my LONG day today (I have 3 classes this afternoon...Ive been done since 11 but am waiting to have lunch with Paco and Ali so esentially I am at school from 8-2:30 and then back from 4-7!) LONG DAY!

The weather is beginning to get nicer here...very warm during the day (no jacket necessary) but much cooler and windier at night.

Muchos besos! And enjoy some pictures!

Back in Spain...well for a month already!

*warning: this is not spell-checked or proof-read*

So Spain part II…it has been going well here and I can’t believe that I have already been back for a month. My time here is flying! It has been a bit of an adjustement living in a new place but there is so much more to do in Jerez than in Arcos. I love Arcos and it’s beauty (and it was great that I actually knew my way around) but it is great having options here in Jerez – places to shop, more restaurants, plazas, people! But it is lacking hills which were good for my derrière! Unfortunately I haven’t been exploring the city too much for fear that I will get lost but my good friend Whitney, who I met my first week in Spain during orientation in Sevilla, has been living in Jerez since September so she is a good guide.
A lot of teachers from school also live in Jerez so I have no problem getting to school in the morning and I have been meeting up with some of them for coffee, lunch, drinks, etc. I am so fortunate to work with amazing people who really look out for me. They are also so encouraging and compliment my Spanish (although at times I think they are being too generous with their compliments! What a struggle a foreign language is!)
Because I teach classes in Arcos two afternoons a week it is very tiring to stay in town ALL day, simply waiting to teach from 5-7. I was thinking about dropping the classes because I am so worn out on Mondays and Wednesdays waiting around to teach and then taking the bus back to Jerez (about a 40 minute bus ride). I felt bad about doing this because I care about my students’ success in English and am invested in how they do because ALL of them are my students in the bilingual program. I talked with the English coordinator (Alicia) who is also a close friend of mine at school and she begged me not to drop the classes and made a generous offer: to have lunch with her and her husband, Paco (another English teacher) and their sons twice a week AND she even offered to drive me to the high school where I teach. I couldn’t refuse this offer but I feel like I am imposing so much. Alicia and Paco assure me all the time that this isn’t so however.
I haven’t been around on the weekends here really because I have gone to Arcos twice, one weekend I was a bum and stayed in, and this past weekend I went to Cádiz for Carnavales. This weekend there is a carnaval celebration in Arcos and my friend Kate is coming so we will likely go there for a night and maybe go out in Jerez the following night. I have been to a few bars but haven’t experienced the discotecas in Jerez yet.
So more excitement on the apartment front: my 4th roommate (ahhh! 4 roommates in Spain!) left on Friday because he is going to the Police Academy in Ávila (an area close to Madrid) to begin training. I had fun living with Jorge, although it was brieft and he let me live here for free! He just wanted me to help him with his English. A 22 year old girl from Sevilla, Marta, will be moving in any day now. I’m anxious to see what it will be like living with a Spanish girl for once. She seems very nice so I don’t think there will be any problems. However she looks like a supermodel and I will likely feel inferior to her everytime I see her! It will be motivation to get myself into shape though and to lay off the bread and cheese (a staple here because it is so cheap and tasty!)
At the end of February there is a puente (a break from school) and a friend of mine from college is coming to visit me. She has a Fullbright Scholarship and is teaching in Düsseldorf, Germany and we had been emailing each other a lot to try to meet up and finally it all came together. I’m excited to see her and since I have yet to see the tourist sites in Sevilla we will do that for a day, hit up the beach (yes in February!), and hopefully make it to Gibraltar. I’ve also planned a trip with Kate (my friend who is teaching in Sevilla, not the one in Germany) to go to the Canary Islands during the Semana Santa. We will be there for five days basking in the sun and then will be back in Andalucía to see the processions and festivities of the week. Sevilla is famous for its Semana Santa celebrations so I am looking forward to that. Also on the horizon are the Jerez and Sevilla ferias (fairs) where the women where the traditional flamenco-esq dresses and many people have offered to let me borrow one. In Jerez there is also a huge motorcycle competition and apparently people from all over come here to see that. Sergio, my old fireman roommate will more than likely be here to see that because he is a motorcycle fanatic and it’ll be great to see him then.
Ok…I hope I’ve caught you all up to speed a little. I haven’t really taken any pictures but I will steal some from Whitney and post them soon. Ohh and an exciting note…Jenna, Erica, and Melissa bought tickets to come see me in June for two weeks! I can NOT wait for that! Other visitors are always welcome as well.

Un beso enorme,
CeCe

It's been a while . . .

My fans (mom and Erica) have requested that I update my blog more often. I often think no one wants to read about my monotonous life here in Spain but I will catch you up to speed on what’s happening here. Seriously though, my day to day here in Arcos isn’t filled with bullfights, soccer players, flamenco dancers, and tapas bars on a weekly basis. I go to school four days a week, make lesson plans, teach, eat, take an occasional siesta, go for coffee,sleep…nothing too exciting (but I am in Spain so I can’t complain). Last weekend I went to Valencia with Becca and stayed with my host mother from when I studied there. It was a breath of fresh air to be in a big city and to revisit some of my favorite places from two years ago. I also loved seeing Rosita. She is as lively as ever and it was wonderful catching up with her. I hope to make it back to Valencia in the spring and hit the beach!
This week at school I was giving my students oral exams in English. It was a lot of work but I was pleased to see the progress of my students…many of whom take extra classes in the afternoon with me to practice their English. Because it is so close to Christmas during the week in the teacher’s lounge (la sala de professores) many people bring in treats and even have different types of flavored liquor (crazy!) to enjoy in between classes and during the half hour break (this is beacuase students don’t eat lunch at school but they do have a half hour to socialize with friends, order some snacks at the cafeteria – which is a small room and is basically just a snack bar, and get extra help from the teachers). We are also doing amigo invisible which is like Secret Santa. Next week I’m sure will be very relaxed and more focused on the upcoming Christmas vacation. I come home on Friday. I can’t believe it! It’ll be a much needed 16 day break – I basically need it because the adjustment period here has been difficult as well as my constantly changing living situation! I think I need a rest from speaking Spanish too. Some days I feel like I am improving a lot while other days I think my Spanish gets worse. I sometimes wonder if I will ever be fluent. It definitely doesn’t happen from osmosis…just because I am living in Spain doesn’t mean I can magically pick up the language, have a perfect accent, know what every word means, or conjugate verbs in past tense, present tense, future tense, etc. It is a challenge and takes a lot of work!
I come back to Spain on January 6 and that is a special day here. While in the US we open presents on Christmas day in Spain it is different. January 6th celebrates the three wise men and this is the day when gifts are exchanged. Traditions are changing a bit as ideas are borrowed from the US and other countries but typically this day in January is a much bigger deal than December 25th. I am also not coming back to Arcos in January but rather am living in the neighboring city of Jerez de la Frontera. It is a much needed change I think. Sometimes Arcos is too small from me and I want to get out and do more things and meet more people and sometimes I feel as if that is difficult to do here. Because my current roommate, Juan Carlos (still no picture…I’ve tried but he hates being in pictures so I will have to conspicuously take one in the next few days) was only contracted to work at my school for two months so his contract has ended and he will be placed at another school in January. I had a good time living with him though. The best way I can describe him is a 29 year old Spanish frat boy! He likes to have fun, jokes a lot (most of the time I haven’t a clue what his jokes mean) and he honestly doesn’t look a day over 23 (as soon as I get that picture you can judge for yourself). He helped me a lot with my Spanish, which I am grateful for. But anyway, since he is leaving, another teacher from school has asked me to live with him in Jerez. He has a great apartment – 3 bedrooms, 2 ½ bathrooms and has said I can live with him for free if I help him with his English and he will in exchange help me with my Spanish. It’s a great deal…however he will only be around until February and then he is going to be a police officer and will move to train for this. So again...the sage of my living situation in Spain will continue. I have other friends in Jerez with an open room in February so at least I have that to fall back on. The commute to school will not be so bad because there are other teachers who live in Jerez and can drive me back and forth.
JC (as I like to call Juan Carlos) will probably stick around Arcos until at least Tuesday and then I head out early Friday so I won’t be alone really. Tonight we will hang out and tomorrow we are going with some teachers to listen to zambombas in Jerez. Zambombas are basically like Christmas carolers accompanied by percussion. There are several each night throughout the city and organized by different neighborhoods. There is also a live Nativity scene in the old town of Arcos tomorrow evening so I may check that out as well because I heard it is quite the sight to see.
For now that’s all. More to come in January . . .
Happy (belated) Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year! I hope to see many of you when I’m back in the states but for those I can’t see, I’ll be thinking of you!

Thanksgiving Preps

I spent the weekend in Arcos and it was a fun one. I went to the discoteca in town with some friends on Friday and we stayed until about 5:30am – which apparently was an early evening! We didn’t even get there until after 2 so all in al we weren’t there too long. I was at the disco, called CBC the Saturday before but it was not nearly as crowded as it was on Friday night. I saw some people that I knew there and it is a good feeling to finally go out and see familiar faces and to know some people in town. It is also nice to have 2 friends with cars so we do not have to walk up and down the huge hills here! Becca decided to wear heels out and not only did she tower over the Spaniards (who are not known for being tall) but by the end of the night she could barely walk. From standing so long, her feet were destroyed – bleeding and all! Thank goodness I opted for flats – what they lack in attractiveness they make up for in comfort. All in all it was a good night even though without fail I come home smelling like an ash try. I do not understand why so many Europeans smoke. They are not immune from getting lung cancer but I guess it is a part of their culture they are not willing to give up – deadly or not.
Saturday Becca and I had planned on going to Jerez to shop but we chose laziness over spending money. We decided we’d go on Friday because after all it is Black Friday so we thought it would be fitting if we stuck with the American tradition. We have been planning a Thanksgiving meal. Since there are only 3 Americans here we have a lot of work ahead of us and are expecting to be having dinner with at least 10 people. Our two friends, Whitney and Andrea from Jerez are going to spend the night in Arcos and help us out with the celebration. We are still undecided about whose apartment to have dinner in as none of us really want to have the clean-up duties. Becca’s apartment is the smallest but the homiest. She and her roommate do not work on Friday so it would make sense to have it there just for that reason. My roommate has to work on Friday and so does Lincoln so we would be forced to end our party early if it were at my place or Lincoln’s. Thanksgiving will definitely be a makeshift holiday here in Spain because we do not have all of the necessary ingredients available to us nor do we have all of the cooking utensils. We will do our best.
Saturday night we did not go out but a few of us hung out at Lincoln’s apartment and it was a good time. Another puente is coming up at the end of the first week in December. Becca’s birthday is the 10th so I told her she could choose our travel destination and I would be willing to go. She is thinking of going to San Sebastian, which is where she studied abroad during our junior year of college. It is in northern Spain so it won’t be as warm as it is here down in the south. San Sebastian is known for its gorgeous beaches, which we won’t be able to enjoy, but Becca knows the city well and she will know all of the hot spots and fun things to do. Hopefully next weekend I will make it to Sevilla for a night to visit my friend Kate. My roommate, Juan Carlos, is staying in town this coming weekend so I want to be here to hang out with him a bit because usually he goes home on the weekends. He is the new Spanish heartthrob. Becca and her roommate have decided that he is better looking than the 2 firemen (Sergio and Raul). I do not have any pictures to share right now but I will make sure to take some at Thanksgiving and then you can decide! My mom told me it is snowing at home in Easton. I am jealous I am missing out on it Just the other day I was wearing flip-flops and I still haven’t had to put on any more than a light sweater. Today is one of the coolest days here in Arcos that I can remember but it rained last night so that could be the cause. The English coordinator at my school doubts that it will ever feel like winter! A change from Pennsylvania. I hope you all enjoy your Thanksgiving. Only about a month until I’ll be home to see everyone!

CeCe

hecha polvo

Since I last wrote I went to Portugal and had a great time. Because all of us that went are Richmond alums and it was homecoming weekend, we made it our own little Portuguese homecoming weekend. I did not get a lot of sleep because we went out and enjoyed ourselves too much and that didn’t leave much time to sleep. I liked Lagos a lot more than Faro. The beach was beautiful and the town had a cooler vibe. Faro was fun too as it is a university town but I still enjoyed Lagos more. We befriended a guy from Australia who came to Arcos this weekend with his two travel partners (another Aussie and a guy from California). They all got along really well with my roommate. They said that they have met a lot of people in their travels but Juan Carlos is someone they will never forget. My friend Kate who I met during orientation in Sevilla also came to Arcos this weekend. I had a great time with her as well. But after having 4 houseguests I definitely spent a lot of the weekend cleaning and doing dishes.
Becca and I enjoy being Arcos tour guides though and showing our friends around our beautiful town. Some days we would rather not walk up the enormous hills but we keep hoping we will have buns of steel by the end of the year so that makes the uphill trek worth it.
Again, I had a sleepless weekend. I woke up on Friday morning with a headache and took excedrine at 730am. The headache went away but because there is caffeine in the medication I could not fall back asleep. Friday night I was up until at least 3am. On Saturday evening I could barely keep my eyes open and ended up falling asleep in Becca’s bed and on her couch. Because Kate had come to visit us, I felt badly about not going out to the discoteca with everyone so I was suckered into waking up and joining everyone. I had a great time and somehow got a second wind. I did not go to sleep until 830 am!!! I slept until 43 pm on Sunday. I think this is a new record for me. On Sunday Kate came down with a fever and I played mom to her…I’m taking vitamins every chance I get because I do not want to get sick.
Other than the sleepless weekend, not too much else to report. I have been teaching classes in the evening at the high school where I work to make some extra money. I am also giving private classes once a week to the children of another teacher at the school. I am staying rather busy but I would rather be active than bored. I’m sad I won’t be home for Thanksgiving but Becca and I will somehow have a makeshift meal…her boyfriend is sending her some supplies from the states to aide our effort.

Hugs and kisses!!

CeCe

pictures are from the weekend visitors in Arcos and from Faro and Lagos, Portugal

odds and ends

Again, sorry I have not been keeping up with this blog but my life in Spain has been hectic. When I do have access to the Internet at school I am searching for materials for class and checking my email and the blog comes last. Since I last wrote, a lot has happened. Sergio left Arcos on Thursday morning. I was sad but we have talked through text messages all week (on the phone I have a very hard time communicating as I can not see the person face to face or their gestures or expressions so it makes the Spanish THAT much harder to understand). He is doing well and he passed his police physical exam which is great. He trained very hard for it. A bunch of us went out to dinner in Jerez (the biggest city in Cádiz province and Arcos’s neighboring town) for Sergio’s farewell meal. It was a nice time and we got to know Sergio’s close friend Manuel better and we have since been seeing a lot of him. He grew up in Arcos and knows the town well so he is a great friend to have! On Sergio’s last night he had to work but we all went to the fire station and took pictures with him in his uniform. He even turned on the sirens of the fire truck for us! It was like an elementary school field trip! We have also been hanging out with Raul more but today is his last day in Arcos too as his contract expires at the end of the month. He is a very sarcastic guy and I would enjoy his humor if I could just understand him better. His accent is very difficult to decipher and because I have not been around him as much as I was around Sergio, I am not used to his quick speech and biting comments. Nevertheless he is a great guy. Luckily Raul and Sergio will be back in December to take a firemen exam so they can eventual secure positions and not have to worry about month-to-month contracts. I am hoping to visit Sergio in November if he is not too busy.

The search for a roommate finally has a resolution…at least until Christmas time. There is a new teacher at school who will be in Arcos until the end of December and he has agreed to share the apartment with me. His name is Juan Carlos, like the king of Spain (apparently a lot of children were named Juan Carlos because of this) and he is in his 20s and seems like a really nice guy. He has big shoes to fill because I liked my other roommates so much but I am quite happy with this situation because I do not have to move! I will however probably take Raul’s room because there is LOTS of closet space, it has a double bed, mirror, and 2 night stands with more drawers!

To completely change the subject, my friends and I went out last night for an early birthday celebration. Becca and Lincoln were there (the 2 other Americans in Arcos), Carolina, the girl from Holland and her two dutch friends who are visiting came as well. As did Alberto, a Spanish guy who works at Carolina’s school here, Manuel, and Raul. We had dinner and they baked me a cake and we ended the night at a bar playing darts. I had won the last 2 times that we played (by luck because I definitely had no strategy) but last night I was lucky to even get 36 points on the board! I guess my beginner’s luck wore off. We were out until at least 230 so it was rough waking up this morning to teach my 815 class. Today, my actual birthday I will probably just take it easy and relax.

This week I only have to work until Wednesday and there is a puente here which means a holiday that starts at the end of the week and bridges to the weekend…hence the word puente which means bridge. Becca and I are meeting up in Portugal with the 2 other girls in Spain who graduated from Richmond with us. I’m excited to get away from the small town living for a weekend and to explore a new place. Last time I was in Spain I didn’t leave the country. It is about a 4 hour bus ride to Portugal from our neighboring town so we are hitting up Faro and Lagos. The weather is supposed to be great this weekend too.

That’s all for now. I think homecoming is this weekend in Richmond and I will be there in spirit. Have fun everyone. Love and miss you all.

And on a side note…I am coming home December 22-January 5 and would LOVE to see as many people as I can!



*pictures are at the Parque de Bombero (fire station) and from us hanging out before Sergio left*

Besos,
CeCe

Madrid

A quick update. I was in Madrid this weekend to go to the Mutua Madrileña tennis tournament and I was lucky enough to see Rafa Nadal! Unfotunately he lost (badly). In two sets, he won a total of 3 games. I was disappointed but happy that I had the chance to finally see him play live. The rest of the time in Madrid was good too...I was extremely tired because we took an over night bus there on Thursday and arrived at 7am on Friday. Our hostal was kind of sketchy too so we made an effort to only be there to sleep and shower. We met up with some friends of the boys who I traveled there with, went to some bars, an art museum and just enjoyed the city. It was def a change of pace from the small-town life in Arcos.

Today marks one month that I have been in Spain. I finally feel adjusted however, my roommates are both leaving so as far as housing goes, I am back at square one. Job security is not a guarantee here. Because they are both firemen they have month to month contracts depending on the needs of the towns and cities where they are working. Neither of their contracts got extended beyond this month so now I either need to move or find a new roommate. It is a bad situation but I am going to try to live by the motto "what doesn't kill us makes us stronger" A tough week is on the horizon though. It was hard enough for me to find a place to live, now I need to start from the beginning.

Hope all is well with everyone.