Buitres y El Salto del Gitano

Cork tree

As much as I miss my little blue hatchback Mazda, which is biding it’s time in Canada in the driveway, I didn’t think I would be able to get around as much as I have without a car here.   Luckily for me, travelling in Extremadura has not been at all what I expected it to be. I read before coming here that it would be difficult to get around, as the railway systems are not that extensive and the buses are limited, not to mention the number of main highways are also limited. Not to mention that Spanish drivers are like offensive hockey players – a little intimidating …

Sarah y Miguel infront of a well







 But considering that I have only been here almost 2 months now, I have seen a whole lot more than I thought I would, it just comes down to taking opportunities and getting up a little earlier on a day off to go somewhere new, somewhere not easy to get to by bus or train.  Sure, I would have loved to have stayed bundled up in my “nordico” (duvet) and not get up at 7:30AM on my day off, but then I would likely have not been able to get to Monfrague until spring next year.

 

IES San Jose has been buzzing this week.  This whole week 18 German students, and 2 accompanying teachers, have been hosted by students and their families at the highschool, and are working on a trilingual project together for the European Union, on the topic of the transition from school to the working world. My only day available to help was on Friday when I helped correct their compositions and even helped make audioclips to put on the website when it’s finished (My voice will be famous, haha). It was a very interesting atmosphere in the classroom that day because the common language between the German students and Spanish students was English, a foreign language for both groups! The two Spanish and English teachers from Germany were Ana and Patrick – both married to Spanish-speakers (a Colombian and a Galician) and feel more comfortable speaking Spanish than English. On Friday Ana, Patrick and I were invited to dinner at Inma’s house (an English professor at IES San Jose). Maria-Jose (another English teacher) and her boyfriend drove the three of us and we enjoyed a meal completely prepared by Inma’s marido Manuel… and often visited by their cat, the Queen of the House herself Luna. It was such a fun night, I really hope to go for dinner with Maria Jose and Inma again sometime soon! 

Acorns - A national symbol

Saturday morning I got up early, again, to be picked up by Miguel and drive with Ana, Patrick and Sarah (another language assistant) to Monfrague National Park. We spent almost 6 hours in the park, hiking the 16km route from the pueblo to the “ruinas del Castillo arabe” on the mountaintop!  Once at the top, we saw at least 20 vultures (who are a protected species in the park) circling around, watching something in the underbrush.. but what a sight to see, they are HUGE birds and actually quite majestic the way they fly! After we had our fill of vultures and the views, we descended back down the mountain and took a different route back along the lake to the pueblo. The landscape is very different from BC  but just beautiful and apparently the vegetation in that park of Caceres Province is more similar to that of the Mediterranean regions than those along the Atlantic – who knew?   Unfortunately during our hike we didn’t see the lynx (another protected species here) but we took some incredible photos.  

PS – Acorns do not actually taste that great. And those red, spikey berries are edible!  Mm.. 

The legend of the "Salto del Gitano". 

A long time ago, a gypsy (gitano) well-known for pulling off robberies and never getting caught, was being pursued by the Guardia Civil. The chase ended up in Monfrague where apparently he was close to the edge of the cliff when he jumped from one mountain to the next and escaped capture. From that point on, these mountains have become famous for their looks but the legend behind them as well... maybe the gitano was secretly trained as a long-jumper?

The 'happy hikers' (Myself, Ana, Patrick, Miguel, Sarah)

Happy to be among the trees again

El Salto del Gitano (The Jump of the Gypsy)

Abuelos en Espana

How can you even start to describe a love that started less than a week ago and left such an impression on me?

 

How can I explain what it was like to have my grandparents travelling a foreign country with me "on a whim" without making any hotel reservations etc?

 

In a few words, absolutely wonderful.

Oma and Opa arrived on Thursday afternoon after having driven across the border from Lisboa, Portugal and spent the afternoon in Villanueva exploring.. and then asking for a city map from a cleaning lady since the tourist office was closed during their walkaround (The Spanish are very serious about their siestas, nothing is open between 2 - 5PM). They found my apartment okay and met my roommates Jessica and Veronica, who entertained them while I finished work in Don Benito and made my way back by bus at 9PM. I checked them into the same Hotel I stayed at during my first night here for 2 nights and we all slept well.

Friday morning we decided to go to Las Cruces, wander around Don Benito for lunch/tapas and then visit Medellin - a medieval town 6km away from Don Benito, where the conquereor himself Hernan Cortez was born. It was a windy day, but we thought nothing of it... until we started climbing the mountain up to the castle. We made it to the castle, only to find out that we were a half-hour away from it being open so we walked around the castle walls and tried to take pictures in the wind and of the amazing views from there. As soon as we had paid our entrance fees, the rain really started to come down and we were forced to stand in archways, tour the towers and underground chambers before finally deciding to hurry back down the hill to the car. Well, we didn't come prepared with rainjackets since the weather was clear in the morning, and so we were walking fast on cobblestones (yikes) and Opa jimmied a raincoat out of a garbage bag... thank goodness there was no garbage in it at the time. Once in the car, we decided to head back into Villanueva to have a relaxed tapas dinner and head out early for Cordoba the next morning.

Saturday came along and we had our umbrellas and rainjackets at hand, no more weather surprises for us. The drive into Cordoba, since we didn't take a main autovia, was beautiful even with the rain! We drove through the flats of Extremadura and made it into the mountains of Andalucia, driving through small towns of whitewashed buildings clinging to mountainsides.. must be incredible to see when the sun's out too! Oma and I were enjoying the views while Opa drove, including when we got to Cordoba. Unfortunately, the weekend we chose to travel on is a long weekend here in Spain (Dia de los Santos) so all the hotels we could find were booked, the traffic was awful, and we were all anxious from having been in the car for 5 hours.. In the end we decided to skip Cordoba, spend the night in a locality close by then head on to Sevilla which was only another hour away. We drove along the highway and found Ecija, a town of about 40,000 people, but since we were there around siesta time, all was quiet. The hotels downtown were booked so we ended up staying in a hotel right near a gas station but with small, clean rooms. We got two rooms, one for them and one for me since the rooms only had 2 single beds, and enjoyed an amazing Andalucian dinner - lots of pork again, roasted vegetables, beer and cold red wine - played some competitive games of rummy in the room then slept.

Sunday morning we made it to Sevilla. I am in love with Sevilla, and just got the strangest feeling even when we were just driving around, a feeling that I could very well see myself living here for a time. We bought my train ticket first, then found a hotel and booked a room, then we had the rest of the day to sightsee in Sevilla in the Santa Cruz district where La Giralda, Real Alcazar, Cathedral and Jewish Quarter are. If you ever look at a map of Sevilla, we spent 6 hours in only one small square... I can't imagine how long it would take to truly 'see' all of Sevilla! Monday morning we woke up early again to have breakfast and then go back to Santa Cruz, tour the bullring, poke our heads into a few more churches, and enjoy a lunch in a square where an old man came to busk by singing and play flamenco on his guitar, while we ate tapas... I really felt like I was in Andalucia at that point.

Having Oma and Opa in Spain felt so natural, even though I had to 'navigate' on the trip and wince at the near-run-ins with cars in Cordoba's crowded streets, I loved having them here and have realized how lucky I am to have a pair of such adventurous grandparents! Everyone here was so surprised that they would venture this far, let alone want to go on a roadtrip in a foreign country... my roommates have settled on having them as their 'adopted grandparents'. Not only that, but their few Spanish words that they spoke seemed to make them friends with the front desk agents at the hotels and with people who didn't speak a word of English... I have so many pictures from this trip it'll take an eternity to put them up but I will put them up soon.

As part of the bilingual program at IES San Jose, the students in 1o and 2o ESO learn about "English" traditions such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, Guy Fawkes Day, etc. and part of their classes included a pumpkin-carving contest, and decorating the front hall of the school with big hallowe'en posters of bats, haunted houses, and ghosts! These students are in the 1oESO Bilingue and are so eager to speak English...and pose for photos! :)

Photo updates!

"Hot Meal"vending machine in Villanueva.... no comment

Don Miguel - candid photo of my teacher/mentor at the Portador in Trujillo

A view of a street in Villanueva

A gazebo in the Plaza de la Constitucion - Vva. de la Serena

"brasero" - a way Spanish families keep themselves warm in winter, they plug this in, then put a blanket over the table and put their feet under the blanket to keep themselves warm. Heaters/furnaces not common in Extremadura.

Roman bridge in Merida

Roman Public forum on the way to the anfiteatro in Merida

Taking a break on the Roman bridge with the moorish castle in the background

Entering the Roman anfiteatro in Merida

Side-stage entrance for Roman performers...

Morning of the pilgrimage to Las Cruces - Ana, Beatriz, Aitana and myself on the 'famous' rock del pollo

Inside the capilla where the Virgen statue was taken that morning

"How do you say igneous rock in Spanish?"

Yes, I am not only helping out in the English classes at IES San Jose, but also in the bilingual program which means I'm helping teach Natural Sciences, Art and even Physical Education... talk about random?
My first day of work at the highschool was eventful, seeing as the professor whom I had two classes with did not show up - her child was sick as I found out later - so I had two upper-level classes (4o ESO and 1o Bach) with Maria-Jose Tapia where she literally explained to me what to do for the listening portion of the class 2 minutes before going into the class. She gave me the textbook and I had to fly with that. After my carefully enunciated introduction of myself - blank stares galore - and a short question and answer period I got going on the listening section and found myself greeted by more, you guessed it, blank stares. Despite having had English classes for about 6 years by 4o ESO a native speaker is still hard to understand even with questions as simple as "How are you?" or "Where are you from?". Needless to say, I have my work cut out for me.

Before I go into explaining what types of classes I have I will outline the Spanish high-school system briefly. There are of course both Private and Public schools, but unlike Argentina, the majority of children go to public schools and the "grades" are as follows into "ESO"s (Educacion Secundaria Obligatoria)

1o ESO - 11 and 12 yr olds
2o ESO - 13 and 14 yr olds
3o ESO - 14 and 15 yr olds
4o ESO - 15 - 17 yr olds
---
1o Bachillerato - 16 and 17 yr olds
2o Bachillerato - 17 and 18 yr olds

Highschool education is only obligatory until the age of 16, whereby the child can then choose to continue and do her/his "Bachillerato" (or basically prep for entering university or further training at some point) or enter the job market. The bachillerato classes are much smaller as they are not obligatory, and the students still need to take English in order to pass the university entrance exam which has an English section. Hence, where I come in to help with pronunciation, reading, vocabulary etc. 

My role in each class varies, I am with about 8 different groups this term, then starting in January I will be helping in other classes... by far my favorite groups though have been the 1o and 2o ESO bilingual classes - they are VERY participative, curious and unafraid to try and pronounce tough words like "igneous" in their bilingual Science class. The older highschool students seem to be warming up to me though, the teachers have noticed because they seem to be more willing to participate and try to speak when I'm there versus when I'm not, so apparently I can keep them entertained which is great! I have to admit though, since they don't understand everything I say, I do have to be a bit of a ham to keep them following at times... which can include making noises, playing charades while speaking and thinking of simple ways to explain ideas like "What's he like?" versus "What does he look like?".

Now, my job in Don Benito still only involves sitting in on Teacher Pilar's classes with the kids (from age 5 - 15 for about 16 hrs/week) but I had my first taste of teaching them on my own this past Wednesday since she had a doctor's appointment. The first group of 10 was a nightmare, not paying attention, fighting amongst themselves, complaining about everything, not completing their work, all talking at once, and all about 7 or 8 years old. I couldn't wait for that hour to be up. The next group was perfect and I had so much fun with them reviewing how to say the time in English... When Pilar returned and we had a chance to speak after the 5 hours of lessons she said that that first group is her worst-behaving group and that I shouldn't be afraid to be stern with them as they are a cheeky group. I'm hoping over the next couple months I will get a hang of this other job and be ready by January... it'll be a challenge, but I'm chipping away at it bit by bit.

This is definately more work than I expected but I still have Friday, Saturday, Sundays off and the occasional Monday too (puentes = long weekends)! Another thing I'll have to adjust to is the noise level in the classrooms... the notion of raising your hand quietly and waiting for the teacher to acknowledge you does not happen here, everybody just seems to shout over eachother although it really depends on the teacher present as well.  I still say kudos to the kids in the bilingual program for learning about types of rock in English...

Acabo de Empezar

Having not updated in so long, seeing as this website has refused to upload any photos at the moment I have neglected to write down everything I've been up to - and wow, it's been a lot. I feel as if I've been here a few months already, just because of how busy the days have been and the places I've been on a whim... or a train.

So since the "puente" or long weekend caught both my roommate Jessica and I by surprise we didn't have time to plan a big trip to Sevilla or Lisbon as we were hoping, but we spent the weekend in Villanueva and then woke up on Monday morning with the idea that we could go to Merida, to see the Roman ruins and see a bit of the city. Note that this decision was made at about noon... In any case, we packed our backpacks with lunches, rain jackets - you never know here honestly - and a change of clothes... just in case! Luckily we found a train leaving Villanueva at 14:00 to Merida for only 3 euros so we took advantage of that to spend the day there. Of course, arriving in a city during siesta (between about 14:00 and 17:00) when nothing is open is not always the best if you're looking for shopping but we in fact loved the lack of busyness when we got there, walked by the river and took pictures while navigating our way through the ghost-town. We stopped at a Doner-Kebab restaurant to pick up some snacks and chatted with the two men running the place, recent immigrants from Pakistan. We never really figured out why they wanted to come to Spain to work but apparently they know that Turkish kebabs sell well in Spain?

After that we bought our passes to see the Roman Anfiteatro and Stadium and spent a few hours just gazing at the ruins, touching the stones, touching history. I don't have any words to explain how it felt to walk and sit in the anfiteatro, despite the mass of tourists, it was relatively quiet.. silent amazement, I suppose. Unfortunately, by the time we left the ruins the Moorish castle was closed for viewing for the day as were the other sites included in our ticket… sights to be seen another day as the tickets don’t have expiry dates, much to our delight. Merida is a beautiful city dotted with Roman ruins, architecture, archaeological sites and beautiful buildings along the river. We are actually quite lucky it’s only a short 40 minute train ride away.

We returned home to our piso that night, deciding that the last train back at 20:50 gave us plenty of time to see what we could, sit in the plaza to enjoy a glass of cold – yes, cold – red wine and then be able to sleep in our own beds. The next morning I agreed to do the pilgrimage to Las Cruces to celebrate “La Vela” – the day where the statue of the virgin/patron saint of Don Benito is moved from the main church there to her basilica in the mountains (not really mountains, just a hill really compared to Canadian standards). So Miguel, Ana and the kids picked me up at 10AM, about 2 hours after the devotees already left to do the 5km walk. It only took about an hour and a half to do, in the hot sun no doubt. When we arrived, the chapel was stuffed with people taking pictures, leaving flowers at the Virgen’s feet and praying, singing etc. But the area around the chapel, a large grassy area was filled with picnickers, and tons of food and souvenir stalls were set up – this was really the place to be that day since everyone and their horse and donkey were out at this event. I met Miguel’s parents, a sweet couple who insisted on buying me “pinchos” – skewers of marinated pork with a salty/curry flavour – and to try various meats and cheeses. Such torture, no?

After many thanks and insisting that I was full we waited for the bus to take us back into town and I spent the rest of the day relaxing at home and getting ready for my first day of work. But that in itself is another story to follow soon.

Trujillo

On Sunday afternoon, after exploring a bit of Villanueva, Miguel and Ana invited me - again! - on a day- trip to the town of Trujillo with their two kids... Trujillo is only 40 km or so from Villanueva and was a very quick drive away. It was also the hometown of Fracisco Pizzaro the conquistador who conquered Peru and brought all the riches he pillaged back to Spain and built an enormous city square and elaborate house. Apparently he didn't care much how he disrupted the lifestyles of many native peoples, inlcuding the Incas and the fact that he changed the face of latin american history altogether... but how could he when he had the notion of "all that glitters IS gold". We spent nearly all day there, from 12pm - 6pm lunch included.. and the kids did really well despite their ages, I'm very impressed... and so were their parents!


Below are some pictures from Trujillo... enjoy! More photos eventually, but don't want to drown you all with billions of pictures of buildings, more buildings, castles and stones. But to me, this arabic castle - Alcazaba - was inspiring and built over 400 years ago... so there are a few pictures below.

Beatriz, Jorge and Ana

One of many family crests found on all the original buildings in Trujillo

El Convento de las Monjas - The Convent



In the main couryard of Alcazaba



A view from the castillo arabe





A view of Trujillo from Alcazaba




Walking along the top of Alcazaba



Two reasons why I love Spain already :)





Living in the Future

After only four hours from Vancouver to Toronto, a few hours in the airport there and finding the right gate the first time around, another 7 hours later and I was in Madrid. Not in a window seat so I couldn't see the landscape, but what surprised me was the amount of pollution that we were flying into during our descent to the airstrip... It vaguely reminded me of landing in Buenos Aires, and seeing that yellowy-brown haze blanketed over the entire city.  The airport was slightly hazy from smoke it seemed - Frankfurt Airport anyone? - but it was quick to navigate through to Customs to receive a stamp then grab my bag off the conveyer belt. No lost luggage here, I lucked out! 

My plan to take a taxi into the city worked out well, as there were plenty of government-issued taxis out front of the airport, very few drivers who spoke English. All the same it was not a cheap ride - 30 euros from the airport to Hostal San Isidro on Calle Principe - but all in all I appreciated the lack of hassle and transfering which would have been the metro. Upon my arrival at the hostal though I was in for a surprise. It was amidst a blend of shops, kioskos and book stores, but part of an apartment building... it seems like here in Madrid, every available space is turned into housing! In any case, after only 4 flights of stairs I made it up to the door of the hostal, welcomed in and taken to my room which has the typical tall windows, original fixtures and even a full bathroom attached! I am still in shock how 'at home' I felt when I arrived... I will always view Canada as my true home, but coming here I was comforted by the smells, the people, the little kioskos and 'antique' buildings amidst a flurry of fashionable modern women and historic copper statues,  the friendly housekeepers, it all reminds me of Argentina... across the Atlantic maybe, but the warmth of hispanohablantes is something I will always admire.

 

Now the stairs were not the nicest with a 50lb bag... but wow it made me happy that I didn't pack it until it was overweight and then would have to lug it up those stairs... Calle Principe is nestled between two plazas that have restaurants lining the sides and a few people milling about, but traffic moves along one edge with a constant flow of cars and scooters... here, too, crosswalks are merely decoration, you basically just have to run for your life when there are no traffic lights... I didn't get to explore much due to being tired from flying however it is a city I will have to spend a few weekends in to see it all...

Photos on the bus ride from Madrid

 

Not Villanueva.. but on the way, a castle!



Seems pretty seamless so far no?  Well, come today - September 24th - I woke up at 4AM, caught my bus at 8:30AM, the right bus too, and made it to Villanueva but was confused as to whether this was the main stop or not since so few people actually got off and the bus was labelled "Madrid - Vva. de la Serena". So I stayed on the bus..... and ended up about 5km out of town in a small farming residential area called "La Haba". I wouldn't have minded so much if it hadn't been for the fact that the English teacher I would be working with was waiting there since 12:50PM...it was now 2:00PM, he was likely in a panic. I asked for a taxi and caught a ride back to Villanueva however after checking in to my hotel and lug;ging my bags up more stairs, and trying to access my email to get Miguel's number.. it was now 2.30. I called him and he was still waiting at the bus station, very confused but not angry. Nevertheless, he came by the hotel to pick me up and took me to his house between Villanueva and Don Benito - a gorgeous house perfectly sized for himself, his wife and 2 children Beatriz (6) and Jorge (21 mo.) We chatted mostly in English, but Spanish with his wife and kids.

I guess I can adjust to living in the future 9 hours ahead.. just will take some time and lots more Portuguese tar.... I mean coffee :)

A new blog.. finally!

So this is just a test to see how this works, looks and feels..
(Click on the pictures to see them full size!)

Here's a picture of Naramata, in beautiful British Columbia! How lucky are we to live in a place so stunning...

From the view of the deck at the Painted Boat Resort, located in Pender Harbour, BC a crescent-moon is illuminated by the blanket of the night tucking in the mountains... Taken in 2009.

So from here on I shall recount the wonder of travel, new places, new friends and all that is to be discovered across the Atlantic Ocean. See you soon!  :)