This past Sunday my friends Emily, Miriam, Emma and I decided to go to a tiny little pueblo called Niebla about 30 minutes from Huelva. In all the architectural guides and highlights that I've seen about Andalusia, Niebla is pretty much Huelva's only claim to fame. The history of Niebla dates all the way back to the time before Christ, and it is home to a 2 km long wall that surrounds the city, as well as the famous Niebla Castle. In almost all architecture in Andalusia, there are both Roman and Arab influences, and this is also the case in the structures in Niebla.
Well, there were only a few buses to and from Niebla, so we decided to take the 1 pm bus. Of course, the castle was closed for siesta when we arrived, so we decided to go eat a big (and long) lunch at a little restaurant right by the wall. Turns out that the food in Niebla (or at least at this restaurant) is delicious!! And super cheap! Miriam and I shared patatas bravas (basically fried potato wedges with a slightly spicy sauce on top) and salmorejo, and then I got gambas al ajillo by myself...SO good. Gambas are shrimp, but "al ajillo" means that the shrimp was drowned in melted butter and garlic. Delicious. After eating we walked back to the castle, paid 3 euros to get in and then explored! The castle is really well preserved, with staircases that lead up to towers and pathways on the outer walls. Inside the walls, you look down upon the large courtyard, and outside the walls, you can see for miles!
The entire castle is full of small "windows" in the shape of a cross sitting on top of a circle...the symbol was everywhere. There was a replication of a bedroom at the top of one set of stairs, and an armory that opened up to the courtyard.
But the best (and worst) part of the castle were the dungeons...which house a torture museum. You walk down these steep, creaky stairs into a dark dungeon, and the first thing you see is the bench that was used for water-boarding people! It was crazy, because there are more than 30 of these authentic "instruments" situated throughout the winding halls underneath the castle. A little plaque with an image and information accompanied each one, and let me tell you, it was enough to give you nightmares!
It didn't take us long to see everything we wanted to see, and by that time the castle was closing anyway. We had coffee at the little "castle cafe" and then walked BACK over to the same restaurant to get a snack while we waited for the bus home. It was a short day, but well worth the trip!
So many things about Spanish culture are starting to make sense to me. The siesta, for example. The siesta is the solution to all of Spain's inefficiencies. Let me elaborate. After amazingly being paid almost on time, my money was in the form of a check. (Direct deposit would just be way too easy.) The check was from a certain bank called "La Caixa." My bank account is with BBVA. Since my check was from this particular bank, I had to go all the way to the ONE branch they have in Huelva, wait 30 minutes to cash the check (700€ worth of cash) and then go back to MY bank to deposit the money. However, only one of the three ATMs was working, which means I had to wait another 20 minutes to use it. After that process was complete, I needed to put some money on my phone credit ("saldo" in Spanish). This had already been a pain because, long story short, the company I use is new and you can only make transactions online but my online account wasn't working. I finally figured THAT out (after a week of no credit, no data on my phone, phone calls, store visits, and tears of frustration) but by that time, it was about 2 in the afternoon--a.k.a. siesta time. After my morning, my week really, I needed one. I was tired and frustrated...but when I woke up from my nap, life was good again.
Another example: why is the coffee here SO GOOD? Because we need all the energy we can get for a day of wild children and inefficient governing/businesses. Every morning on the way to school, Rocío and I stop for a cup of coffee. For her, "café solo"...basically a double shot of expresso and sugar. For me, "café con leche"...the same expresso but with steamed milk. I'm telling you, with a packet of sugar it is like the best thing in this world. Yesterday we didn't have time to stop for coffee and I thought my day would never end. I had a headache that lasted till this morning. But as soon as I had my first sip of café con leche this morning, the headache disappeared. All Spaniards must be addicted to caffeine...because the coffee is just that good.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about certain Spanish tendencies! Every country has its problems. But I just have come to appreciate (more than I already did) the benefits of an afternoon nap and an excellent cup of coffee.
I'm not really sure why. School was great today! I'm sooo grateful for all my lessons in classroom management, because I'm telling you, sometimes the teachers need help. The kids are just wild! But they respond really well to simple things like singing in a whisper, or a high-pitched voice, or a low-pitched voice...or telling everyone to "tip-toe to your seat" instead of simply saying "sit down." I'm trying to assert myself whenever possible so that maybe they'll see that I can do things too! Rocío asked me to explain Thanksgiving Day today. I used the word "Indians"...politically correct? I thought it'd be easier than saying "Native Americans." I'm going to show them how to make Pilgrim hats and Indian headdresses! Maybe we can do a play of some sort.
I think my private classes are what has made me so tired. (Also, that sentence...grammatically correct? My English is deteriorating with all my Spanish usage.) My three students are more work than my 16 students at the academy! Clara and Paloma just love to compete, but in doing so they disrupt each other and me while I'm teaching. Also, their mothers stayed for the entire class today! At first I was a little intimidated but then I thought...whatever. They probably only understand half of what I'm saying anyway. But, a pat on my back--they both were super impressed with me! Clara's mom asked me how long I had been teaching last week and this week they both were impressed with my level of patience. (Because trust me, I needed it.) At least I have some gratification that I'm doing a good job! ALL of them have just loved Pete the Cat (thanks Tracy!!!) and I'm excited to teach them more songs and games.
Right now I'm going to chill at home for a little bit and then head over to Rachel/Miriam/Ilaria's place later on! Rachel has a friend in town but he's in Granada since she has to work. I've been pretty MIA these past few days, so I figure I'll go hang out a little bit. Sometimes it's nice to just do nothing by myself! But then I get lonely. Sometimes I think I'm an introvert...and then I laugh at myself. Yeah right.
I didn't know what to expect coming to Huelva. As I've already written, I was basically terrified...the unknown is a scary thing. Huelva is home to 150,000 citizens...but how big is that really? A really big town or a really small city? It turns out that it's a mix of small town comfort and big city adventures. Sometimes you need someone to give you contacts without a prescription because you don't have time to make an appointment (shout out to my eye doctor), or someone to pass your car inspection when the windows are clearly tinted too dark (cough cough Caroline and Alex). There's that type of small town mentality here...but at the same time there are things to do, new people to meet and opportunities for new experiences. The other day I was walking home from work at the academy and randomly saw two different friends on the way home. I was having coffee at a café another day and I saw the family of one of the little girls I give private English classes to. However, I'm never bored. We always have things to do or places to go explore, and I can't emphasize enough that the beach is only 20 minutes away!! I'm just really enjoying my time here, and I feel like it will only get better with time.
Speaking of my private classes and my job at the academy, I'll just say that they're going really well! I randomly see some of my students out and about, and I think they really respect me as a teacher but also appreciate me as a friend...I would love to hang out with some of them!! My private classes are also great. I just acquired another student in the same hour that I teach Clara. Her name is Paloma, and she's a neighbor and friend of Clara's. That upped my wage a little bit, so now I'm making 15 euros an hour for both classes! And all three of my students are 7 year old girls...which is PERFECT for me because I can play with them and draw and color, but they still are really smart and are interested in learning English. We're learning about clothing right now, so last week I brought a variety of my own clothes for them to dress up in! With Clara and Paloma, I put the clothing on the floor and whispered a different item in each of their ears...the first one to find the item and put it on won! They loved it. With Cecilia I just had her layer on ALL the clothing, which was hysterical. When I first started teaching her I let her listen to the song "Cecilia" by Simon & Garfunkel, and I didn't think she liked it until she asked me to play it last class! Turns out she DID love it, and tried to sing along with the words, but most of all her own name of course. I took a video of her while we were playing dress up...it's absolutely precious:
As for my classes in Alosno, that's a different story. I'm still loving it, and all the teachers are SO nice and the kids are great, but they still aren't utilizing me like they should be. I'm not one to complain about not having extra planning to do, but my days can get a little boring. But, Rocío said that they're going to celebrate Thanksgiving!! I will definitely be able to give my expertise on that one, as I'm the only American, and I'm sure we'll start making a lot of crafts, hopefully including turkeys made out of handprints :). The town of Alosno is just so tiny, and the ride to school every morning is beautiful. We pass by orchards of orange trees and olive trees and tons of strawberry fields...and whereas North Carolina is beautiful because of the tall trees and the changing leaves, the province of Huelva is quite different. The trees don't grow taller than our house in Sanford, and even that height is rare. That means you can see for miles and miles and miles....the sky seems so massively expansive because of that. The sunrise every morning is stunning, and the white windmills set atop the distant hills and mountains make it all the more picturesque. I wish I could take a drive through the countryside on my own sometime, so that I could stop and explore and take pictures, but I just don't think that would be possible without renting a car. I'll try to snap some pictures on the drive sometime.
Back to the Thanksgiving thing, have I mentioned on here that I don't have an OVEN??? How does one live without an oven? I'm going to have to borrow Jane's and Jessica's for when I cook a casserole for our own Thanksgiving celebration in Huelva. But, what's one thing I CAN cook without an oven? No bake cookies!!! Mama texted me the recipe, and after I went to TWO different grocery stores looking for vanilla and peanut butter, I suddenly realized...they don't use "cup" and "tablespoon" measurements in Europe! So I went online to find a measurement converter and then realized that I didn't have ANY type of measuring cup. Ahhh!! So what did I do? Guesstimated. And for not being much of a cook, I'll say that I did a pretty fine job. The cookies were delicious, just like Daddy makes, and Regina loved them and said that they made a similar type of cookie in the Dominican Republic. Rachel, Miriam and Jane also loved them...it was like a tiny little taste of home :).
Well, that's about it for now. A lot of people are going to Sevilla this weekend or have friends coming into town, so I'm just not sure what my plans are. I might just decide to have a me-weekend and explore Huelva a little more, maybe go to the beach. We'll see. Can you believe it's already November?? I can't. I finally got paid though, and only one week late! I'm one of the lucky ones.
I love you all, and thanks for reading! It makes me feel a little more connected to home knowing that you read about my adventures...I would love to hear about all of yours!
Another trip under my belt! This past weekend I went to the city of Córdoba, which is still in Andalusia about two and a half hours away from Huelva. Rachel and I decided last week that we wanted to go somewhere and decided on Córdoba...but instead of booking a hostel, Rachel used her account on couchsurfing.com to find a host for us! How the site works: you make an account, and you can host people when they visit to your city, but you can also search for other hosts for when you travel to different cities. Rachel found a guy named Ricky...he had great reviews, seemed like a fun and interesting person, and so she contacted him and set it up! We arrived in Córdoba around 6:30, but since Ricky was out with a friend we just walked around and explored the city center for a couple hours. When he was ready we met him at a hookah bar (I didn't partake!) where he was with a couch surfer that had stayed with him the previous night...and this couch surfer was someone quite special. He introduced himself as Thor, and we learned he was from Denmark. About 30 minutes into our conversation with him and Ricky and another American and her boyfriend from the Basque Country (the north of Spain), we learned what he was actually doing in Córdoba...in Spain for that matter. It turns out that he is on a quest, a saga if you will, to travel to every country in the world. He is taking off 3-4 years of his life to do this, sponsored by a company he used to work closely with. As you can imagine, when the Red Cross got wind of his project they also wanted to be a part of it! I won't go into detail here, but basically this trip will take him about 4 years with him spending a minimum of 24 hours in each country. 201 countries!!! Without ever traveling by plain. AWESOME. Here's his blog:
www.onceuponasaga.dk
You have to go check it out. He'll be only the second person in the WORLD to ever accomplish this. If only we had gotten a picture with him!!!!
Anyway, after we parted ways we went and dropped our stuff off at Ricky's and went out for a bit! The next day, our first and main stop was the famous Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba. It. Was. Incredible. The origins of this massive building date back to the Visigoth Era, where it was called the St. Vincent Basilica. When the Moors invaded and conquered Spain, they converted the church into a mosque, or "mezquita," which is when the majority of the architecture dates back to. Finally, in the 13th century, the Christians reconquered the area and transformed the mosque back into a cathedral. It was an amazing/overwhelming feeling to be in a place so old and so full of history and culture. Unfortunately we were kicked out because it was closing time, but we got to see the whole church so I was happy!
Córdoba is famous for being a very important city in the past...it was the capital of two different eras, one of them being the Roman era. One of the biggest displays of this time period is the Roman bridge that crosses the Guadalquivir River. Also amazing.
One of the teachers I work with is from Córdoba, so she recommended a restaurant called La Taberna Salinas. We went there for dinner, where I had pig's cheek. Delicious! We looked around in some of the shops and then went back to Ricky's apartment. We went out for a little bit more but went to bed early. The next day we explored more of the city center and did a little shopping (for Christmas gifts ;)!!), and ate salmorejo, a dish that Córdoba is famous for. It's like a cold, creamy, delicious soup...by far one of my favorite things I've had in Spain! We also checked out the famous "Calle de las flores," a street full of potted plants with a view of the Cathedral Tower. It was beautiful!
We walked around a bit more but then had to catch our bus at 4. It was an excellent trip!
