Saying Adios!

This ending post is for Emily Jo who insists that if I don't finish my blog, nobody will know what I did the rest of the days of the week or know how I got home, so here I go, wisdom teeth out this morning and finishing up my blog while I'm cooped up in bed.

Thursday

My Thursdays were a mimic of my Tuesdays; class from 9:00-10:30, then I went to the elementary school and volunteered from 11:00-2:00 during the free time hour where I read the kids a book and chatted with the teachers then helped out with two classes, followed by lunch with my señora, class again from 4:30-6:00, then it was the start of my 3 day weekend. 

Here is my Grammar teacher, Julia, and I.

Many weekends I had to prepare myself for a weekend of traveling, others I just went out for tapas with some friends. Two girls, Paulina and Patty, lived close to me near the south side of Granada, so we often (tried to make it weekly) got together so we could have tapas and hang out. Definitely am going to miss my weekly dates with these girls.

Patty and Paulina

 Friday

Since I had Friday off, I did many different things, usually traveling, hanging out with my señora's family, or finding something to do around Granada. My last Friday in Granada was only 2 days after my Spanish niece was born, so I spent the whole day at my señora's daughter's house. 

David (4 years) and Emma (2 days)

During the afternoon, Antonio had a football game, so I decided to go with David and Antonio (the father), so Elisa, Ela and Emma had some quiet alone time together. He ended up even scoring his first two goals! On the left is David playing with his stick, that's all he needs to be content for the whole game. The one the right is our champion Antonio after his game.

 I happened to snap this beautiful pictures of the three kids the night before leaving (yes, I printed it and framed it for Elisa).

I got my snuggle time in, she is absolutely perfect.

My Spanish family: Antonio, Emma, Ela, Elisa, David, Antonio, and myself. So lucky they included me in all their family gatherings.

The most amazing woman and host mom I could ever ask for, Elisa.

On the last day of school, we had to take one last jumping picture in the patio... Scott and I. 

 A group picture in the computer lab, about half of our program.

 The night after our last day of classes, we had a farewell dinner with several teachers and all the students. We had a verrry fancy dinner and it was nice seeing everyone together one last time. From left to right, I am with Sandra (secretary), Elsa (teacher), Nerea (teacher/program assistant), and Miguel (program director). They were all such beautiful people and it was a pleasure being able to meet them!

 Saying goodbye to the family that I became so close with through tutoring and weekly lunches was definitely the hardest. I spend the whole Saturday before I left with them, we had dinner, watched movies, chatted, and exchanged some gifts. I decided to give Raquel (the mom) the rest of my peanut butter and my Wisconsin sweatshirt, she loved them both! Also, eating the pb with nocilla (the Spanish version of nutella) is deadly and delicious!

I likewise had to say goodbye to my intercambio, Marta. We decided to go rollerskating and had a blast! I will definitely be keeping in contact with all my Spanish friends and family for the rest of my life. It was an amazing experience that I wouldn't trade for twenty truck fulls of $100 bills. 

My travels home also went smoothly, I met a girl in Madrid who had the same itinerary as I did: flight to Dublin, 16 hour layover, then an 8 hour flight to Chicago. It was nice to have the company and the extra eyes to watch over our stuff. Everything was smooth sailing and on time. Zak was at the airport waiting for me, I woke up the next morning to a phone call from the Boys & Girls Club in Virginia offering me my preferred position with AmeriCorps, of course I gladly accepted. I can't complain about a single thing that has happened in the past 5 months, and I hope the good karma or luck, whatever it may be, continues with me on my way to Virginia. 

Thanks for keeping posted with my blog, it was fun to write and will be a great memory for me! Adios!!

Wednesday

On Wednesday, I have the same classes as Monday from 9:00am-12:30pm. Afterwards, I sometimes make it to the "bread lady" (I'll explain more later), eat with Elisa, and run to ASPACE for the evening. 

We took some new pictures as a class with our teacher, Elsa. Since this Wednesday was our last week of class, Elsa showed us a few cool places around town.

 And yes, we did finish our Literature class with drinks.

"The Bread Lady"

There is a little town outside of Granada (it's actually the town that Elisa's daughter lives in) that is famous for their bread. Since everyone loves it, they sell it at a few locations around Granada. There is always a line, and it never seizes to hit the spot. This little bread shop/stand is within a 3 minute walk from our school, so it's a great between-class snack.

ASPACE-Asociación Granadina con atención a Personas con Parálisis Cerebral

I spend my Wednesday evenings at ASPACE in the residence home for people with cerebral paralysis. Each evening, they have a different activity: going for a walk, crafts, singing, taking pictures, watching a soccer game, etc. The goal of my time there is to change up the scenery for the residents. ASPACE treats all the residents amazingly... I wish I could bring this back to the United States with me. They have tons of resources, sufficient help, and workers that thoroughly enjoy being at work, all factors that I could tell by just seeing the happiness the residents portray.

Sandra is in charge of the activities in the residence home. She's simply amazing; she knows how to balance work with some fun, while making all the residents feel at home. Not to mention, she was welcoming and hospitable to me while in ASPACE.

 Last night we went walking downtown with the residents to admire the beautiful Christmas decorations. Everyone loved it, except the "see you later" at the end.

Seven of the, I believe, 16 residents that ASPACE has with 3 of us volunteers and Sandra.

Tuesday

Tuesdays start out with Grammar class from 9:00-10:30. I usually come home and take a little siesta before I have to be at the elementary school to volunteer. One day I decided to ask the people at the elementary school across the street from my apartment if they needed any extra help in English classes. Once again, I was welcomed with open arms and started the very next day.

On Tuesdays, I go in from 12:00-2:00. For the first hour I help in Daniel's fourth grade English class and for the second hour, I help out with Maria Gracia's first grade English class. Walking into the classroom brightens up my day, all the kids come running up to me giving hugs. Likewise, they all enjoy speaking English with me, so it's a great learning experience for them. Usually the teacher's have a little something they want me to do with the kids because they love to have the children hear the language from a native speaker.

Daniel

Maria Gracia

Now that it is the Christmas season, I've been helping out with the Christmas program. The program has songs in both English and Spanish, so of course I intend to help with the English songs. Unfortunately, the program is two days after I leave, so I won't be able to see it.

I head home for lunch with Elisa after the school, then have Art History class.

Right after class, I meet up with my intercambio, Marta. I've already described what the intercambio program is, so I won't bore you with that again. However, we've done lots of cool things. Sometimes we meet on weekends and go to a movie, go to a tapas bar, go shopping, find a cool view of Granada, or walk around talking.

Marta, Alex (her brother) and I after seeing the Hunger Games

Some of the cool views we find.

 

I finish up my day again eating dinner with Elisa and watching some Spanish TV.

Monday

I've decided to post about my daily life here in Granada, starting with Monday.

Monday mornings I start class at 9:00am. It's about a fifteen minute walk from my apartment to school. I have two classes in the morning; one from 9-10:30 and the other from 11-12:30. Here is a photo of my first class (I wanted my professor to take a selfie with us in the background and this is what we got). Yes, there are only 6 students in my first class, Oral Spanish. There are I believe 8 in my second class, Spanish Literature, with the same teacher, Elsa.

 I have an hour and a half to get back home and relax for a little, usually chat with Elisa, my host mom, until I meet up with a different Spanish family. At my first day of volunteering at an elementary school (will explain later), the mother of a student came up to me and asked if I would be willing to come to their house once a week to help tutor their child in English. Of course, I agreed, which ended up being the best decision ever. They are such an amazing family, and I'm starting to feel like I am part of their family. Juan Antonio and Raquel are the parents, and María and Raquel are the girls. Each day they greet me with such open arms. I go to their house to eat lunch first, then María and I go work on some English. We practice vocabulary she's learning in school, sing songs, and record our voices in English so she can practice when I'm gone. It's safe to say I will miss them sooo much when I leave.

The first day I went to meet up with them, they introduced me to Raquel's brother, David. David is job searching, and today in Spain, with a high unemployment rate and difficulty with finding a job, English is key. In fact, some jobs here only interview people in English. So after I help María for the day, David comes over and I also help him with his English. We've done practice interview questions, translated his resume to English, and practiced anything else he feels like he needs help on. 

This picture is of Raquel (the mom) and David (the brother). I'm not posting any pictures of the girls, but I do have plenty on my computer for my memory.

Then I always finish up my day by eating dinner with Elisa, which usually is around 9:30. The meals here are much different. Breakfast is small, usually bread and coffee (but I still get my cereal fix). Lunch is around 2:30/3 and dinner is around 9:30/10.

Snowboarding

On Friday, I went snowboarding in the Sierra Nevada mountains with a Spanish friend. It was by far one of my favorite days here in Spain. It was only a 30 minute drive away. The weather was perfect. There was barely anyone on the hills. The view was breathtaking. It was about as peaceful as it gets. It was my first time snowboarding in the mountains (20 minutes from top to bottom makes the day much more fun). I didn't get hurt. Successful day in my book. Here are some pictures, but I have to say that these pictures don't do justice.

 The entire place to myself it seemed like.

 Most of the snow was artificial snow, but it surprisingly wasn't too bad of conditions.

 It was the first time I had ever seen an enclosed lift. To get to the very top of the hill, you had to take three different lifts. However, the very top wasn't open yet, so we only took two to our starting spot.

 I cannot wait to go back next time, there should be more natural snow and nearly all the trails open, yahooooo!

Monachil

 Monachil is a small village outside of Granada with some great hiking trails, accessible by just a 40 minute bus ride. Two friends and I went hiking in Monachil on Saturday morning. Though it was quite chilly, the sun made the hike much more pleasant.

I've always wanted to walk across a bridge like this, like in the movies. Yes, it's pretty scary to be in a bridge that moves with your every step.

A jail-ish looking ruins in the middle of the mountains?

 

Next adventure... Snowboarding in the Sierra Nevada mountains!