Al-Andalus.

Moments before we all jumped into the pool together.

The roomies and I had one last big get together with all of our Spanish friends yesterday. It was a solid afternoon of fun at our friends Alberto and Pablo's cortijo (cottage). With a pool, paddle court, ping pong and food and drink we had a great time just hanging out with everyone and taking in the beautiful southern Spain sunshine. We also had music going all afternoon and this song really stuck out as it was being played. It is obviously in Spanish, and the lyrics aren't too exciting in terms of talking about the culture of Andalucia (from reading them it sounds more like a love song...), but It is called Al-Andalus, which is what Andalucia was called under Moorish rule. I just really like it because it mentions many of the towns and places across Andalucia that I have learned to love during my past 10 months here and thought it would be appropriate to begin a reflection piece with it.

The below video is the song with different pictures from around Andalucia (not created by me, but that gives me a really good idea...). Check it out!

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Here I am, less than 20 days away from my return to the United States, the far and distant place I know as my real home, thinking about my West Michigan bubble, and how eager I was to step outside of it. I left it when I moved to Ann Arbor to attend the University of Michigan in the fall of 2005, and have jumped even further away from it since graduation with my stint in Dallas, incredible first teaching experience in Honduras, and living in Spain for 10 months. But right now, that bubble, and everything inside that bubble, sounds great.

People I know here in Spain keep asking me if I am ready to head home, and for the most part I give them the same answer: yes, but it is bitter sweet.

Bitter:


Spain is Spain. It is an awesome country with an incredible history and unique people. Being a history geek, I have really taken the opportunity to explore many of the sites said in the song above, and many others not mentioned. I wake up every morning, open my blinds, and look out at the Mediterranean Sea. I get to teach my language and be around great kids, which is my passion. I’ve met some awesome people here as well, and the party yesterday was a great way to finish a great year of living in another country, learning the culture and language. I also have my family here with my uncle, aunt and cousins. I have had an awesome time hanging out with them and will be spending another week and a half with them starting this coming weekend. Overall, It is going to be tough to go home and leave my life here.

Sweet:

Another aeroplane

Another sunny place

I’m lucky, I know

But I wanna go home

Mmmm, I’ve got to go home

-"Home" by Michael Buble

Since January 10, 2010 almost 18 months have passed. During that time I have spent a total of 7 weeks in the United States, and a week of that was spent traveling out to Seattle and San Francisco. I am now going home to my friends, my family, and…

I am always looking for excuses to post that picture of her. Go Blue!

…what a long awaited reunion. With no plans in the future to leave any of them, I am looking forward to an awesome summer of Lake Michigan, camping and a few trips to see friends and family across the grand ol’ U.S. of A.
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Now for some fun--things I have learned while in Spain the last 10 months...

1. Breakfast is at 9, Lunch at 3 and dinner at 9 or later.
2. 2 AM is early for Spaniards on Friday and Saturday nights.
3. Roundabouts > traffic lights
4. A sixth sense for avoiding dog poop while walking on the sidewalks is required.
5. Spaniards do not move when you pass them walking on the sidewalks.
6. No matter how hot it is in April and May, jeans and sweaters are still appropriate attire to walk around town in.
7. Spain = Europe
8. New York = United States
9. Barcelona ≠ Spain
10. 30 and living at home is totally acceptable.

More to come about my time here in the next two weeks before I leave for home!

I promise…

Puppy Love.

Literally.


I love dogs and that is me with my uncle's new puppy, Dusty. His claws are sharp and he has puppy teeth, but it was great to be around a dog again.

Last weekend in Algeciras was a lazy weekend of beach and good food and family. Emily came along and we spent a good part of the weekend at the beach with my brother and cousin, Daniel. When we weren't at the beach, my aunt and uncle were spoiling us with good grilled food and were occupied playing with the puppy. Awesome.

I am working on the reflection piece now. Goal, get it posted tomorrow. Sorry its taken so long.

Happy Memorial Day from Spain and enjoy the long weekend!

Fail.

It's Thursday, and I haven't posted any type of reflection. Fail. I have a good reason though, but that will have to wait.

Anyway, I am heading to Algeciras tomorrow evening with Emily to hang out with my family. It is also Jay's last weekend here in Spain before he flys home--he has completed his study abroad program and is fresh off a trip to the Netherlands and London. I am really looking forward to it, but also looking forward to my Uncle's newest family member--a new Goldren Retriever puppy. It is going to be FUN.

I will hopefully have an entry early next week about the weekend festivities, and then try and get that reflection post up by the end of the week.

Have a good weekend!

Video.

Again, my blog has been put aside as I continue to enjoy my last couple of weeks here in Spain.

This is not the purpose of this post, but I do want to mention that this past weekend it was in the 80s each day, and sunny. This allowed Emily and I to go to the beach for 2.5 hours on Friday, and all three of us to go to the beach for almost 3.5 hours on Sunday. Sunday also had to be one of the clearest days to date. While sitting on the beach, the Sierra Nevadas were clearly visible, still covered in snow (although a lot less snow than four months ago). It was picture perfect. Although, the Mediterranean Sea is still rather cold, so I did not go in this weekend (I did go in a few weeks ago, so I am not a total wimp).

Also, I am hoping to start working on a few reflection pieces. I am down to my last 5 weeks here in Spain, and have started to think about what I have gotten out of this experience, and even some things I wish I could have done differently. Of course, that is the plan, and a lazy weekend in Motril the next couple of days should allow me to at least get one post up. So, look for that, but it might not be until Monday or Tuesday next week.

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On to the purpose of this post: video.

While in Honduras, I was teaching full-time, 4 different classes a day. This allowed me to take a lot of video of me teaching, some of which you can see on my personal website in the Honduras section. Here in Spain, I have not done as much lead teaching, and I also haven't been so diligent in bringing my camera to school. Due to this, I do not have a Picasa folder full of videos and pictures like I did last year. However, my gym teacher, who is very tech savvy, and who does an awesome job with the kids, has video taped me doing some teaching in his physical education classes. Below is a video that he put together and published himself on YouTube. I did take my hard drive to school last week and copied and pasted a bunch of raw video, so in the future I hope to put together a video. I will also be bringing my camera to school the next few weeks, and hopefully get some more pictures and video. For now, enjoy the below video of me explaining, and "asessing," (the gym teacher speaks English very well, but some of you may catch that spelling error right away) the students.

***NOTE: In this video students correct their classmate's tests. I have never been a fan of allowing students to correct each other's tests, but we were in a time crunch and needed to get the entire process done. I personally won't do this in my future classroom.

Córdoba.

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After a week off for Semana Santa, the days off school continued this week with Monday and Tuesday. Because of the long weekend, the roommates and I hopped in the car and drove up to Córdoba to visit our friend Joey, a fellow 4-weeker whom we had connected with some time ago in October in Granada. He was a gracious host, and so were his roommates, whom we had also met before and I knew as well.

We arrived in the afternoon on Sunday and spent much of it walking around getting a tour of the historic part of the town. Pictures? pictures.






We had a nice lunch at a restaurant in the centro and made our way back to Joey's for a siesta before heading out for dinner and drinks. We eventually spent most of our night at a really cool Jazz cafe (I know, not that Spanish, but it was a hopping place and fun to be somewhere out of the norm).

The next morning we got up early to head down to the Mezquita, the main attraction in Córdoba. You can read all about it here. Basically, the Mezquita, which is Spanish for Mosque, is the original complex built by the Moors starting in the 8th Century, and unlike others in Andalucia, it is still standing and has been fused with the Catholic Cathedral in Córdoba. Because of this, it is extremely unique because it represents in full Andalucia's transition from Moorish rule to Christian rule in the 14th and 15th Centuries. Here are some pictures.









There is a distinct difference between the red and white painted arches that are Moorish and the central part of the complex where the Catholic cathedral was built. This was all within one complex that used to be the Moorish Mosque before the Reconquista (reconquering) by the Christians. It was a pretty incredible complex, and rates right up there with what I have seen at the Alhambra and the Cathedral in Sevilla.

After walking around here we made our way to the Alcazar, or palace. Like the Real Alcazar in Sevilla, the one in Córdoba has some incredible gardens, as well as a palace that was once the seat of the Reyes Catholicos (Catholic Kings, specifically Ferdinand and Isabella) because Córdoba was the capital of Spain at one point. It also served as a fortess, therefore there are some old walls.







After walking around the gardens we grabbed some lunch and made our way back to Joey's flat to rest, and then took off home. This is usually a non-chalant statement, but there have been very few times in my life where I have driven through the type of rain we encountered leaving Córdoba yesterday. At one point we saw a lightning bolt hit the median on the highway. After about 30 minutes we were able to drive out of it, but it was incredible.

It was a nice weekend trip to see more history, and it is hard to believe that my time to do such trips is coming to a close... but more about that later.