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.

Semana Santa Part 3.

As I said in Part 1, Emily and I had gone and watched one of the processions for Semana Santa before we left for Edinburgh. When we returned to Motril after our below trip to Scotland we made our way to another procession. For both I took some video, and I edited some of it and posted it below. Enjoy. Sorry if you aren't too entertained by it, but I think it is some interesting stuff...

Things to watch for:
-The tunics worn by those in the procession. Most will see them and think the Klu Klux Klan, but it was actually the KKK who took the idea from the Catholic Church and the processions (ironically the KKK was very anti-Catholic). They wear them as a sign of anonymity as they walk in the processions. Although, you often see the people lifting there hoods to say hello to friends or family in the crowd as they are walking. Each night the tunics are different colors, most notably all black on Thursday and Friday.
-In the second clip, there is a man holding a pole, and he is using that pole to keep a power line above the street lifted above the float as it passes by. You can here me say "cleared it" as it passed under the line (about 2:17)
-The style of the floats. Three of the four floats are carried by men who are underneath the float. The other is carried by men using exterior poles. The underneath style is more typical, and give the float its "floating" feel. Also, look at the exquisite design of the floats--gold, silver and the statues. If you have ever entered a Catholic church in Europe, you have seen something like that.
- The bands. The band members come in all ages and sizes. It is not exactly the most impressive ensemble, but that adds to the effect of the procession.



It is a major part of the Spanish culture and I could not believe the crowds that came out to watch the processions in Motril. They are best known in Seville, but happen throughout Spain. Many of my students participated in them, and as you might hear Emily in part of the video, she saw some of her students in the one we saw the second night.

I really don't know the history behind these processionals, so I will fail you on that part (which usually doesn't happen that often in regards to historical background), but it is definitely a cultural phenomenon that has been part of Spain and the Catholic Church for centuries (and other countries with a strong Catholic connection). I think they are still well known and done throughout Spain because of the political atmosphere around Spain and Franco. Franco, during his dictatorship rule, was a devout Catholic and was close with the Church. In fact, during the Civil War, that is how he gained much of his support--from the Church. Therefore, he might have been a strong believer in sticking to the tradition during his rule, and is why Spain is still so well known for having these processions. That is only my hypothesis though...

You can read more about Motril's Semana Santa processions here (hopefully your browser has a translator), and more about Semana Santa in Spain and the processions here.

Semana Santa Part 2.

One of my favorite movies, as “dumb” as it may be, is “Dumb and Dumber” featuring Jim Carrey and Michigan native Jeff Daniels. There are many quotable scenes from that movie, but one of my favorites is below.



While walking around St. Andrews with Emily this past week, I was reminded of this clip when I saw this:


Classic.
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Well, Emily and I are back from a whirlwind trip to Edinburgh and St. Andrews. It was a fantastic trip and it was refreshing to be in an English speaking country. The Scottish were extremely nice people, including my good friend Laura and her parents, who graciously hosted us for two nights and provided bus schedules, breakfast and tea, and any other needed information about the city. Like I have always done when I travel, here is a summary with pictures of the trip.

We arrived late Tuesday night and Laura’s dad picked us up at the airport. For the first time I was in a car driving on the English side of the road (the “wrong side”), and rode shotgun, which in most other parts of the world is the driver’s side of the car. That was an adventure and honestly felt pretty weird.

The next morning, Laura’s dad brought us into Edinburgh to the bus station where we hopped on a bus to St. Andrews to visit Laura. The bus took longer than expected (we later found out we had gotten on the least direct of the two buses between St. Andrews and Edinburgh, thus it took twice as long because it stopped at twice as many towns). Laura was at the station waiting for us when we arrived and we first checked into the hostel and then went on a walking tour of London. Our first destination, the Old Course of St. Andrews. The girls can attest to the giddiness I had during this part of our tour. Enjoy.





Eventually, the girls pried me away from the course and we headed into town where we went up and down the streets of St. Andrews, and into the older part of town along the shore, where the graveyard and remnants of the old church stand.




We then went and had some drinks and dinner, and watched the Barcelona vs. Real Madrid Copa del Rey final. After the game, we made another trip back to the course. Now, many of you may know that I worked at a private golf course through high school and college. In the clubhouse we have a picture of Jack Nicklaus standing on the iconic bridge on the 18th hole at St. Andrews. Similar to this picture:


I couldn’t resist.



I also walked from the bridge to the 18th green, and snapped this picture.


One of the highlights of my trip.

The next morning, after sharing a hostel dormitory room with 7 others, including one of the loudest snorers I have ever heard, we made our way back to Edinburgh and spent the day exploring the town. In short, the town is split into two parts, Old Town and New Town. Old Town includes the castle and is situated on top of a hill. New Town is at the bottom of the hill and was built in response to the growing city and the lack of space in Old Town. A park now separates the two. Here is a good picture that I took inside Edinburgh Castle that shows the two parts.


We explored mostly the Old Town the first day including St. Giles Cathedral, the home church of John Knox during the Reformation.


Holyrood Palace, the royal palace in Edinburgh, where Mary Queen of Scots lived in during the 16th Century and is today the official residence of the Queen of England when she is in Scotland.



Edinburgh Castle, which contains a building that is over 900 years old, and also contains the Scottish Crown Jewels, War Memorial, and several museums. It also allows for some incredible views of the city.





After dragging Emily around all of the historical sites I told her we could go where she wanted to go, which was a place called Edinburgh Obscura. It contains a camera that allows you to have 360-degree view of the city. It was evidently built in 1853 and there are only a few like it in the world, including one in San Francisco that I saw when I visited my friend Steve there this past summer.


Along with the camera, this building had several floors of optical illusions and other cool things. Emily and I had some fun with the distorted mirrors, the heat camera, the crazy designed size room, and a program that allowed you to take a picture of yourself and then make yourself younger or older, or a different race.





After having some fun here, we continued walking around the town and eventually caught a bus back to Laura’s parents house.

The next morning we packed up and went back into the city to look at one more church I wanted to see, St. Mary’s Cathedral.



After walking through it we went and browsed through the National Gallery of Scotland. We then grabbed some lunch at Pizza Hut (we couldn’t resist) and caught the bus to the airport.


Trip accomplished.

P.S. Check out Emily's post too!