Bonjour tout le monde! (I've been practicing my French at school and on my long commute to teach private English classes--thank the Lord for iPods!)
Well, recently I got to take a lovely little four day vacation to travel to Malága, a city in Andalucía and the birth place of none other than Pablo Picasso AND Antonio Banderas. Hehehe. It was… amazing, to say the least. I took a bus overnight (something I have not done since my travels through South America) on Thursday and was greeted by Lindsay’s smiling face and a bear hug Friday morning.
After a glorious nap and a delicious omelet, we hit the town--in our bathing suits, of course! Lindsay took me to one of Málaga’s beautiful beaches and I was absolutely thrilled to be on the Mediterranean. I can’t believe she lives right there!
We literally spent all afternoon on the “playa,” taking in the sun and catching up. There’s something to be said about the comfort of being with someone who knows you really well, not to mention the sea. It was the perfect day.
The rest of my stay was spent seeing the sites, including an acient Moorish castle (el Alcazaba) and Roman theatre and the house where Picasso was born. I ate at Antonio Banderas’ favorite tapas bar and went to the beach one more time.
I also got to spend some time with another friend from Madison, Julie, who studied abroad in Chile and is doing the same program as Lindsay and me. She came out with us and I got to meet some of her really nice roommates too.
I have to say, a lot of what I’ve heard said about the south seemed to be true. Granted, these are all generalizations, but they really do speak and live differently down there. My first day in Málaga reminded me of my first day in Chile-- I didn't understand anyone! Andalusians are infamous for their thick accent, and despite being fluent, my comprehension skills were no match for them. However, the people down there are so warm and out going, it doesn't matter if you can't understand them, you still get the drift. That's another stereotype that, for the most part, also proved to be true. So much so that I was a bit sad to return to the dry (geographically and otherwise) province of Valladolid, but alas, it has finally become my home. And as much as the kids at school really wear me down (I find myself saying on a daily basis, "I did NOT sign up for Teach for America, what am I doing here?!"), I'm enjoying my job and my life in Valladolid city and becoming more and more comfortable in my "vallisoletano" skin. (By the way, that's what people from Valladolid are called. It's a mouthful).
Even though I've taken to Valladolid, that hasn't stopped me from my almost every other weekend trip to Pamplona. It's just that the city is so great, I can hardly stay away!
The mission of my last journey to the Kingdom of Navarre: to celebrate Halloween. I was feeling a little bit down about missing out on the Halloween festivities in Madison so I dressed up as a zombie with some girlfriends from Pamplona, just to be able to wear a costume on October 31st. People in Spain don't really celebrate Halloween so we were quite out of place, but a great time was had by all.
The next American holiday I will miss out on is Thanksgiving, but thank goodness my sister and neice and nephew will be here to keep me company! Other upcoming adventures of mine: heading to Asturias to visit Marta and her family next weekend and a trip to Portugal during a school vacation the first week in December. More on all of that to come. "Os echo mucho de menos! " (I miss you all a lot!)
Besitos!
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