Semana Santa Part 1.

Last year over Semana Santa my good friend Steve Decker came down to Honduras to visit me and our other friend Mike DeWit, who you know from the microfinance posts from earlier this year. Along with Steve, two of Rachel's good friends came down and visited, and along with Laura Beth we took an awesome trip to Copan Ruinas and Tela. Pictures to remember? Sure:

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Semana Santa is here once again and I have this week off from work. I will post a more detailed entry later this weekend, but a quick run down on the happenings so far.

My friend Lauren Maat, who I visited in London back in December, came to visit her sister who is studying in Sevilla. With her in town and wanting to connect, Emily and I took off to Sevilla this past Friday afternoon. We first stopped in Malaga to drop Michael Lynn off at the airport to meet her parents, and then headed up towards Sevilla. We had an awesome weekend visiting with Lauren, her sister Lindsay, my brother and our friend Cristian, who we met in Motril, but is now working in Sevilla. I forgot my camera and have yet to get the pictures from Emily, so look for those in a post this coming weekend.

We got back to Motril Sunday afternoon and have relaxed the last day and a half. Last night Emily and I went to see the processionals that the Catholic Churches perform during Semana Santa here in Spain. We were able to catch last night's just a short walk from our flat. Enjoy some of the pictures. I have video too, but that will have to wait because I want to edit it. Hopefully this weekend I can get that up.





These are nothing like the processionals Rachel and I saw in Chichi, Guatamala last June, but both are unique and very interesting:



It is a major part of Spain's culture and tradition, and I am glad we were able to catch one before we head off to Scotland. We might try and get to Granada to see the ones this coming weekend when we get back, or catch the ones in Motril.

As mentioned, Emily and I are getting ready to head off to Scotland. Our flight leaves at 9:30 tonight and we will be spending Wednesday through Friday visiting Edinburgh and St. Andrews. My friend Laura Collins, who I met in Honduras last year, is graciously hosting us. We are staying with her parents in Edinburgh and visiting with her in St. Andrews, where she goes to college. It is going to be an awesome trip and look for another post this weekend or early next week!

That is all for now, I must go pack...

Patience is a virtue y mi amor

For a long time, I was a very impatient person. I would find myself getting irritated for little reasons, especially when I had to wait for people. But then I began my training to be a teacher, and found that I had an extreme amount of patience in the classroom, which was an incredible and useful revelation for me. Yet, outside of the classroom, I still found that I struggled with my patience tolerance.

But then I moved to Honduras, and a whole new level of patience, in every aspect, was needed while living there. From the very beginning, when I stood in line with Mr. Rodrigo to open a bank account for 2 hours, and then later standing in line for 3 hours to take out money in Tela with Larua Beth, I was constantly having my patience put to the test.

I then moved to Spain, which much like in Honduras, no one is ever in a hurry. It is easy to get frustrated with the “no pasa nada” (no worries) style of living as you sit there, trying to get the servers attention to bring over the bill.

Overall, I feel that my time in both countries has allowed me to become a much more patient person.

With that said, thank goodness for my 6 months in Honduras and my 8 months in Spain, because I needed every bit of that patience training when I arrived at the airport last Saturday to pick up Rachel. The last part of her journey took her from Madrid to Malaga, and before I left for the airport the flight’s status online was “on time.” Well, when I arrived in Malaga, I was greeted by flight information informing me that in actuality, her flight had been delayed FOUR HOURS (for the record, it is only a one hour flight…)! All I wanted to do was see my girlfriend, and now I had to sit in the airport for 4 hours for that to happen. I will never mention this 4-hour time period ever again.

Rachel and I shortly after our delayed reunion

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Rachel has come and gone her second time around, but we were again able to enjoy each other’s company and do some traveling. I won’t bore you with all of the sappy details of our journey, but I will provide a quick narrative and pictures of what we did.

She arrived in Malaga and we headed straight towards Ronda, where we were going to spend Saturday night and Sunday. We arrived, found our hotel, and went and saw the famous bridge. We then grabbed a bite to eat at a restaurant around the corner from the hotel.

Sunday morning we woke up and took a walk down into the gorge where you are given the best view of Ronda’s famous Puente Nuevo (New Bridge). Check it:




We then walked around the outskirts of the city and back through the historical center towards the famous bullring, where it is said modern bullfighting was born.



While at the bullring I had my world reduced to the size of a marble. While walking around one of the museums at the bullring I recognized another tourist as someone who worked at my high school in Holland. I could not remember her name, so I finally asked if she was from Holland, Michigan and if she worked at West Ottawa High School. Her immediate facial expression proved my intuition. It was Mrs. Kiekover, one of the athletic trainers from my high school. Here we were, in the middle of Spain, and West Michigan found me. She was there with several other teachers on a spring break trip, and I found out that a few other West Ottawa teachers were with her, including Mrs. Eberly, my senior year Expository Writing teacher. I regret not getting a picture with them, but I was pretty stunned.

After chatting with them for a while, we continued to explore the city, but the poor, rainy and cloudy weather kept us from really enjoying more of the town, so we headed back towards Motril.

Monday, Rachel came to school and academy with me and hung out with my students and watched me “work.” That night we went up to Granada and I surprised Rachel with an hour appointment at some Arab Baths. That. Was. Relaxing. We then met up with Emily and her friend Liz, who was also visiting that week, and some other friends, and had tapas and returned to Motril

Tuesday Rachel went to the beach with Liz while I worked, and then to academy class to watch me with my 6 year olds. She helped me quiz them on the alphabet. It was a lot of fun, and Rachel quickly picked out my favorite student (but really, teachers don’t have favorites…). That night we went to the flamenco store and studio that my bilingual coordinator owns with her husband. We watched one class lesson and then Rachel was able to try on a flamenco dress. I was also able to put on a jacket and hat...

Wednesday our traveling adventures continued as we drove up into Las Alpujarras and visited three towns.

Pampaneira:
I had visited this town with Michael Lynn and her teacher back in December, and really enjoyed walking around the stores and visiting the chocolate factory. I took Rachel on the same tour I was given months ago. I bought a rug for my room and some chocolate.

Bubión:
I had asked my teachers if they had any recommendations for a good place to eat and my math teacher recommended a restaurant in this town, just up the mountain from Pampaneira (all three of these towns sit on the same side of a valley stacked one on top of the other at different elevations). Rachel owed me a free meal for my victory in the NCAA basketball bracket, so this was my chosen meal. Look at these pictures. Mmmm…


Capileira:
We then went up to Capileira, the highest of these three villages, checked into our hostal, and walked around town and checked out the views of the valley and the Sierra Nevadas.



Thursday morning we took off and took the long and curvy scenic route back to the coast. It took longer than I excepted, and it was a little frustrating at times because the mountain roads were not that well marked. But it was a beautiful drive.

At one point, I thought we were lost in the coastal mountains. We eventually found the major coastal highway and headed up towards Cabo de Gata near Almeria. There were a few more frustrations navigating through the park (poorly marked roads, no roads at all, “Rachel, we have no food…”) but we eventually settled down on one of the beaches there, only to be pelted by sand. Although the views and scenery were incredible, it was not a beach day--the wind was simply to strong. We gave up with sand in our ears and noses and went off to explore the rocks and other beaches.

After grabbing a quick bite of Spanish salad and calamari, we headed back to Motril.

After a few long days of traveling we relaxed on Friday and even went down to the beach for a coffee with my roommates. We then took of for Malaga and relaxed the rest of the night. Saturday morning I took her to the airport, and after standing in line for 45 minutes to print off her boarding pass, I saw her through security and the countdown now starts for my return home in June.

It was an awesome week.

Take Two.

I guess it doesn’t take people visiting me to delay blog posts, since it has almost been a week since my last entry! Oh well, I think the excuse that it has been sunny and in the mid to high 70s everyday this week should suffice. That is correct, it has been incredible weather here the last week, and I am disappointed that my parents missed it, but hoping that…


RACHEL GETS IT ALL THIS COMING WEEK WHEN SHE VISITS FOR A SECOND TIME!

I forget when she actually purchased these tickets, but she had found an $800 ticket and jumped all over it to come see me during spring break—she has a week off of work from her after school program in Grand Rapids. Thus, we have an excellent itinerary planned that includes stops to…

Ronda



Las Alpujarras


and Cabo de Gata


I am extremely excited for her visit and will be leaving Motril late tomorrow morning to pick her up in Malaga. If all her flights are on time (Chicago to JFK, NYC, JFK to Madrid, Madrid to Malaga) she will be in at 1 pm tomorrow afternoon! Thus, per usual when someone is visiting, I will most like be MIA for the next week.
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With all of the excitement surrounding my parents and Rachel visiting, I have forgotten to mention that I will be leaving Spain and traveling to….



Edinburgh and St. Andrews, Scotland!

Laura Collins, who some of you may remember from my Honduras blog (Laura, and my other friend Renske, were two girls who worked at the Abundant Life Christian School in La Union) is currently going to college in St. Andrews, so I will be visiting her. Her parents have also been gracious enough to host me, and my roommate Emily who will also be coming, in Edinburgh as well. I am excited for this trip, which will take place over Semana Santa (Holy Week), April 19-22. More about that as it approaches!
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I apologize for the sporadic posts, but I have been trying to make the most out of my time here in Spain as the weather begins to get warmer. I spent over 6 hours at the beach last Sunday with my friend Peter and his friend Annie, as well as with Emily and our friends Bern and Cristian, and 4 hours there today. I think it is safe to say that I will return home with a solid tan.

Along with that, I had an awesome field trip with my students this past week to a national park near Granada. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, but it was a gorgeous day for the activity. The activity was called an orientacion. Students were given a contour map of a section of the park that contained circles indicating checkpoints.


Students then had to use this map to find each checkpoint and stamp a card.


I actually completed the activity myself, and had a blast doing it. At one point I was jogging across a field, looking at the map for the next checkpoint, and looked up. Straight ahead were the 4 tallest peaks of the Sierra Nevadas. It was incredible.

Well, that is it for now. See you in a week!

Mis Padres.

So I think it is safe to say that when I have visitors here in Spain, my blog gets neglected.
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While in Honduras last year Rachel’s parents made the crazy trip to our mountain to visit for a week. At this point I already knew that I was heading to Spain, and didn’t expect my parents to come visit me during the 6 months I was in Honduras. However, I had every expectation that they would come and visit me while I lived in Spain for 10 months, and this became an even higher expectation when I found out Jay would also be in Spain at the same time studying in Seville (higher expectation because between Jay and I, and then my uncle, aunt and cousin, there were a lot of people to visit). Thus, a week before I left last August, my parents bought tickets to come.

They have now come and gone, and it went quickly. They arrived last Thursday and I dropped them off at the airport this morning. It was an awesome week with them—I only went one day without seeing them, and the itinerary went as planned.

Their flight arrived on time and after a scare at the baggage claim (their baggage was sent to a different carrousel, but it took 30 minutes and the panic of lost baggage to figure that out) we were on our way to Algeciras. We arrived and spent the rest of the night just hanging out.




Friday we drove out to the lookout point you have seen before and snapped some pictures of Africa.


We then backtracked and picked up my cousin Christopher and went to a town (I believe it was Sabinillas) and had an awesome lunch right on the Mediterranean. I could tell that my parents were both giddy at the fact that they were in Spain, and that they were sitting on the Mediterranean. It was a lot of fun to observe.


Saturday morning we woke up early and headed towards Bolonia, the location of the Roman ruins my uncle took me to back in August and also went to with Jay in January. We walked around the ruins and then went and grabbed a bite to eat near the beach.




After enjoying another great meal we headed back towards Algeciras, but not before stopping off at the lookout again for a coffee and the clearest view of Africa I have seen yet from that spot.



My parents, Jay and I then packed up our things and headed up towards Seville. After dropping my parents off near their rented flat, and a crazy time trying to find a parking spot, we went out for dinner in Seville. Afterwards I took my parents for a night walk around the historical center of town, most notably the Cathedral and La Giralda, which both look incredible lit up at night.

Sunday morning we woke up, went out for breakfast, and started our long walking tour around Seville. This included El Museo de Bella Artes, Triana and Jay’s homestay, the Real Alcazar and Plaza de España. We grabbed some dinner at one of my favorite tapas bars and went out for ice cream. (Note: at this point I left my parents and Jay to go watch the Michigan vs. Duke basketball game at a Tex-Mex bar I had discovered when I lived there, and that Rachel and I had visited and watched the NFL at back in December. There was a Duke fan there, as well three current Michigan students. What a heart breaker of a game…)





Monday morning we woke up and went out to breakfast. We then headed towards the Cathedral and La Giralda. My parents, especially mom, were pretty overwhelmed at its’ size, but they really enjoyed the views from La Giralda.




After checking this out we began our adventure of trying to figure out how to get out of Seville, and on to the highway towards Malaga on our way to Nerja, where my parents had rented a flat for the rest of the week. This proved to be very difficult with the confusing roads, lack of street signs, and road construction. What should have probably only taken 20-25 minutes ended up taking us over an hour. Finally, after a couple of wrong turns, roundabouts, and finally asking someone where the highway was, we were on our way. However, we were soon slowed down again as we came upon a giant oversize truck carrying an enormous steel structure that was taking up both lanes of the highway and not letting anyone pass. We were stuck going between 30-60 km/hour for over an hour. Eventually it took an exit and we were on our way. We made it to Nerja, found the flat, and went grocery shopping.

Tuesday night after classes Michael Lynn, Emily and I hopped in the car and drove to Nerja to have dinner with my parents. My parents had walked down to the beach and spent the afternoon relaxing (I took all their pictures off my mom’s new camera before they left).




Wednesday ended up being the only day I didn’t see them, but Thursday night Emily and I went to Nerja after our classes and we all went out to dinner. We went to a local place that was owned by a British couple, which was a short walk from the flat. It was quite the interesting restaurant. The menu was only in English (they may have had a Spanish one), but no one in the restaurant was speaking Spanish, only English and Norwegian. It was pretty good food, though.

Friday morning (yesterday) we drove up to Granada. We again went on a walking tour of another culturally rich Spanish town that included seeing the Cathedral, walking through the Albaicin neighborhood, and the Alhambra.





After a long day in Granada we made a quick stop in Motril to show my parents my flat and grabbed a bite to eat. We then headed back to Nerja.

This morning we were up at 5:30 and were off to Malaga by 6:45.

The week went by fast, but it was a treat to have my parents come all the way to Spain to visit. I am super fortunate that they were able to come and my expectations were met!

Thanks mom and dad!