flamenco!

Hi friends!
I was lucky enough to have the chance to attend an amazing flamenco show in the country last night with some wonderful people. it was an unexpected journey and turned out to be quite the adventure.

birfday partay

I have officially attended my first Spanish birthday party!

it's been a while!

Just spoke with my Gramma and my Pom-Pom and Gramma said she had been missing my blogs! I am way behind, no? I explained to her that the internet here is a little bit shoddy, so it can be frustrating trying to blog and having to restart when the internet goes out.

Being American

I do not consider myself to be a particularly "patriotic" person, but being in Spain has made me realize how much of a spoiled American I am.

La Feria

We were all a little bit short on sleep this past weekend because of all the festivities going on in and around Jerez.

New Friends

Well everyone knows I don't have much in the way of friends here in Jerez, and if you know me at all, you know that I hate being without friends. I am a very social person, maybe to a fault. However, the gal who comes to clean the flat (every single day) is the one person I have connected with, mainly due to the fact that she is around M-F and she is about my age and she is very kind. She is from Romania, and has been through quite a bit, but she is a very happy person and genuinely nice to everyone she meets. 

La Playa

My first weekend in Jerez has come and gone and it was a really relaxing one. 

Job Interview

I just got home from a "job interview" at the preschool where all of my girls went and the youngest is still attending. It went really well and the director loved me, but there may be some problems as I am not "legal". We will see, I only want a few hours a week of volunteer time, I do not want to be committed to a paying job, but there is some concern of whether or not I can even do that. I find out next week. 
It is nice that I was even able to have that experience and I hope that there won't be any issues with me having a little bit of volunteer time there, but at the same time, I wasn't expecting to even have any opportunities like this one at all, so either way, I am going to be happy!

Night Life

Although I have not yet been able to go out in Jerez during the night time, I had a chance to experience Spanish nightlife in Madrid and in Segovia.

Food

One of the endless differences between Spain and the US is the food. It is the number one thing I am still adjusting to! I am very lucky because my host family eats healthy and fresh, but still, the way of eating and the types of food are not what we are accustomed to at all.

curriuculum vitae

My host mother was nice enough to speak to the director of the nursery (preschool) that her youngest daughter attends about me possibly getting a job in the mornings there. The director told my mother to have me call her and set up an interview to which I should bring my "curriculum". I started to freak out in my head because I have never created any kind of curriculum before and I was unsure of what kind of curriculum I should be bringing into a Catholic Spanish Preschool.

20 questions

The girl's favorite game is "20 questions" and they like to play this any time we are all sitting around the table.

The 7 year old always picks the most ridiculous things, for the first 5 or so rounds, the thing she was thinking of was me. At one point, she was thinking of a hippopotamus (eep-oh-poht-u-mahs) and I asked "could you have it as a pet?" She said, "me, yes. my mother, no." She told me she would keep the hippopotamus in her swimming pool.

 

Jerez de la Frontera

Jerez de la Frontera, where I am staying is located in the south of Spain. It is in the province of Cadiz and is the largest town in this province, although it is still quite a bit smaller than Portland. The south of Spain is right next to Africa, and a long time ago, large parts of the south of Spain were occupied by Arabs for many years. Because of this, many cities in the south are set up like old Arab cities, with a Plaza in the middle and the streets radiating off the plaza. Jerez has many plazas, but there is one central district which all of the neighborhoods lead to.

The Girls

Here in Spain, I am living with a host family, taking care of their three girls and teaching them English. The girls are 10, 7 and 1 years old. All three have very distinct personalities and we get along quite well.

First days in Espana!

Hola friends, I hope this blog entry finds you all well and happy. As for me, I am finally in Jerez, the town where I will be living for the coming months.