¡Olé Zoe!

Well apparently I'm just a walking celebrity in Spain these days: 8 year old boys from the colegio are falling madly in love me and cry when I'm not in class, random men on the street give me candy and skin cream to protect my "beautiful skin" (?), my American English accent is apparently just lovely to listen to, the teachers at the school buy me food and gifts and invite me to their houses, I was featured on the front page of the colegio's website, and the other day I came into the classroom to find that my 15 year old students had written ¡Ole Zoe! on the black board. And after about 15 minutes of the kids and the teacher  trying to find a direct translation, we came up with basically "You rock/are awesome/a joy to be around!" At this rate, I don't think I ever want to leave Spain... ;)

La almazara de olivas

Two Fridays ago, I went to a mill up in farm land where they grow and produce olive oil as part of my cooking class. We toured the mill, watched how olives are harvested, the process they go through to become oil, and tasted 6 different types of olive oil. It was fantastic!

Harvesting olives!

Trying the very sour olive juice before it becomes oil

Mi práctica/La misa

My internship is going extremely well. I love all the teachers I work with and my students seem eager to get to know me and learn English from me. I've given two presentations in about 9 different classes so far about Sacramento and about American lifestyle (geared towards American teens). There was some confusion about Sacramento being the capital of California when I showed them a picture of the capitol building. Many students thought it was the White House so I had to explain the state capital system which then brought on some confusion between Washington D.C. and Washington state. So then I had to pull out a map. And finally I mentioned that my dad has worked in the California state capitol building from time to time and that brought on a multitude of questions like, "Is your dad the president?" "Does your dad live in the capitol?" So then I had to talk about Obama and that he and his family live in the White House which lead to questions like, "Do you like Obama?" "Who are you voting for in the election?" It was quite the presentation, I must say. This week I'm presenting about Halloween and I'm organizing a Halloween party for some of the students at the colegio and students from my program. Should be fun!

I also went to mass (for the first time in my life) at a Spanish church two Fridays ago to see some of my students sing. It wasn't really a traditional mass (probably why I actually liked it) but the colegio put it on to honor the visit of Don Bosco (the catholic priest/figure of their school). It was very pretty and I'm glad I went.

¡Granada!

Alhambra from afar (it's huge!)

Last weekend I went to Granada which quite possibly might end up being my favorite Spanish city. It's located in southern Spain in the provence of Andalusia (their accent is the absolute definition of a lisp, too funny). I went with my program and we toured around various churches and saw the infamous Alhambra (incredible!). Granada is home to a lot of Muslim/Arab history which was very evident in the Alhambra and even in the streets of Granada which had a lot of arabic shops and tea places (I had the best tea of my life in Granada, I can't wait to go Morocco and drink some more!). Almost two million people visit the Alhambra every year so it is a huge economic resource for Spain. If you come to Spain, I highly recommend going. Granada is also known for its tapas. Any time you order a drink (whether it be alcoholic or a soda) they bring you a free tapa-- a small plate of food. Granada is also known for flamenco dance, so I went to a flamenco show which was really cool! If I lived in Spain, I would live in Granada.

Getting tea! From L to R: Kiersten, Pepa (program director), her daughter Clara (I give her English lessons), Me, Wanyang, & Andrew

Flamenco!

La Alhambra

La Alhambra

Kiersten y yo, La Alhambra

Paella

Making paella!

Our chef!

On Monday, my cooking class and I made a paella! It was very fun, we all got to take turns cutting vegetables and making meatballs. We also made these fancy salads and got to drink a ridiculous amount of sangria...which I later learned was a lot stronger than I thought it was. My host family found me pretty hilarious later at the dinner table when I started making up words that don't exist...

Elche

On Friday, Kiersten, Andrew and a couple of our Japanese friends went to Elche, a small town 30 minutes away from Alicante, to go to this medieval fair they were hosting and try some tapas because the town has a tapas competition going on right now. It was really cute, and the medieval fair was kind of adorable, everyone was dressed up. It was great.

Tried snails for the first time in my life...

Morocco

On Thursday I head to Sevilla on an overnight bus. And from Sevilla with a guided group, Kiersten and I will be heading to Morocco for the weekend this Friday. I'm very excited, a little bit nervous, but we will be with the group at all times so it should be really great. I'm looking forward to riding a camel! I'll be sure to let you all know how it goes!!

Meet Clara, I teach her English!

 Cognados Falsos

If you've taken a Spanish class you know that you shouldn't say "Estoy embarazado" to express that you're embarrassed because it is a false cognate and translates to "I'm pregnant"

Well I found another "oops" false cognate, but from Spanish to English. In Spanish, people say "Estoy constipado" which means "I have a cold" but if a Spaniard were to say "I'm constipated"...well, we all know that doesn't mean you have a cold in English.

Pretty funny :)

Profesora Zoe

This week I officially became an English teacher (Profesora Zoe)! I teach at the colegio (my internship) and I teach Pepa's 11 year old daughter and 8 year old niece (my program leader's family).

La tutoría de niños

I started tutoring on Monday for the first time. Pepa brought me to her house from the University and I began working with her daughter Clara for an hour. Clara is very shy and doesn't like to speak in English so it's tough because I'm instructed to only speak English with her and when she only speaks to me in Spanish, my brain wants me to answer in Spanish which is not good! I need to be firm and only speak in English. Anyways, despite her understandable timidness, she's delightful. Unfortunately, we don't get to have as much fun and play around in English because she has upcoming English exams at the end of the month that I need to get her ready for. So we spent the hour doing her homework from her workbook (which honestly confused the heck out of me). English workbooks make very little sense to me. But after I figured out the point of the activity, she did very well. We went over how "likes" changes to "like" when the sentence is negative (in third person). For example:

• He likes going swimming. 
• He doesn't like going swimming.

She mastered that quite quickly and then we went over the parts of the body and sang "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes"

Then I went over to Pepa's brother's house to essentially play in English with Candela. Candela is the opposite of Clara and is so eager to learn English. She was so excited to meet me. We read Dr. Seuss and played with dolls. Her mom made us cinnamon rolls and says sometime when I'm over we should all bake together. This thrills me because no one bakes here!

This upcoming week Pepa wants me to sing a song with her son Eduardo (he's six, and not quite ready to start having lessons). The thing is they want me to sing "Whistle" by Flo Rida with them. 1) I can't really sing, let alone rap and 2) That song has about a million sexual innuendoes. So while they don't know that, I do feel a little strange singing it with a six year old boy. But what can you do? I'm not about to explain that...

La enseñanza del inglés

This week I also officially began working at the colegio. I work with all different ages. So far I've worked with a class of 9-10 year olds, several classes with 15-16 year olds, and a class with 17-18 year olds. The little kids have the hardest time paying attention. However, some were interested and came up to me to show me sentences they'd written for me to correct, and they were surprisingly well written for their level and age. We're supposed to keep it a secret that I understand and speak Spanish, especially with the little kids, because if they know they won't try and will speak to me in Spanish. But I already failed in one class because I laughed at a joke that the teacher was saying and some girl yelled in Spanish, "see, she does know Spanish!!" Oops. Busted my cover on the first day. It's so bizarre to me to have to pretend to not know any Spanish. Seems contradictory to the reasons why I'm here. But I understand why I have to, it's just so hard for my brain to not want to spit something back out in Spanish when I'm listening to it and being asked things in Spanish. It takes serious brain effort to be making the switch all the time and to only speak in English. You would think it wouldn't be that hard, but it is.

The older kids are great. They ask all sorts of questions: Have I ever seen a famous person walking down the street in California? What do I think of our president? What time to I eat dinner? Do I like Justin Beiber? Do I speak Spanish? (haha) How old am I? Do I like Spain or the U.S. more? What do Americans think of Spaniards? etc. etc. etc. Next week I'm giving a presentation on Sacramento and why it's so great...beats me ;) I like Spain more than Sacramento, I can tell you that. But I suppose that's a little biased. Last week was mostly just having the students get to know me and I observed some oral exams (took me back to high school Spanish presentations, I loved it). We'll see what I actually start teaching this week.

Los acentos

The accents of adults who speak English here crack me up. Spaniards have a pretty thick Spanish accent that hinders when they speak English. But on top of that, they've all learned British English so they have this adorable British/Spanish accent when they speak English. It kills me, it's so funny. I can only imagine what my Spanish accent sounds like to them...or even my strange American English.

Los festivales de Octubre

Parade!

Flamenco!

This last week we had two holidays: the Valencian Community Day and Hispanic Day (roughly translated to English). Tuesday was the Valencian Community Day so I went and watched the parade in town since there was no school. And Friday was Hispanic Day, so Kiersten's host family decided to go up the the Guadelest Castle (about an hour north and and east of Alicante) and invited me to come with them! The castle is very small and located in a very little town. But it was adorable. We had lunch which was essentially breakfast at 2 p.m. (two fried eggs on toast, bacon, and french fries). Even though it was for lunch, Kiersten and I were so happy to have an "American Breakfast." We saw some incredible views and walked around to look at all the little shops. It was a really nice day. It made me miss going on day trips with my own family in the States.

More Dancing :)

View from atop the castle!

Los viajes del futuro!

I have so many trips coming up this semester! Next weekend I'm going to Granada, Spain with my program for two days. I'm traveling every weekend in November: the first weekend I'm going to Morocco, the second weekend my Grandma is coming and taking me to Barcelona, the third weekend my Grandma, Kiersten and I are going to go somewhere else in Spain (TBA), and the last weekend I'm going to Paris with Kiersten and a couple other girls from my program (we just booked this last night, I'm so excited!!!!). In December I'm going to Venice, Italy with Kiersten and her family (from the States) who have family in Italy. And then I'm coming home for Christmas break! I'm so excited for all of it. And I hope next semester I can do even more traveling (Amsterdam, London, Germany, Switzerland, and Greece are high on my list right now!).

¡Octubre!

Octubre

My adorable friend Kiersten

I can't believe it's already October...which means I've already been here for a month. The weather certainly doesn't have me believing it's Fall. It's 86 degrees today! And it's going to be hot all week. I took advantage of the beach today...I wish I had the time to everyday! And I'm getting even tanner. I have proof because my bronzer is now the same color as my face! (Go me!!) By October in Portland...I'd be white as snow.

Mi familia

I think I've set a new standard for American exchange students in my Spanish house. My mom couldn't believe what a good grade I got on my grammar exam and said that I am such a good student because I don't go out all the time and come back at 6 in the morning. It kind of saddens me that these are the expectations they had of me, and have of most American students. My host parents are starting to realize that I actually am interested in their lives, enjoy talking to them and hanging out. Every day we get closer and closer and my parents seem to really enjoy having me around. My host dad is always cracking jokes and asking me questions which never happened at the beginning (I think he thought I was an idiot, from previous experiences with exchange students). Meals used to be quiet and quick. Now we chat for a couple of hours and my host dad and I eat our ice cream cones together after dinner. My host mom knows I want to go to Italy and France in November and December and she pulled out her computer and helped me look up some super cheap flights (thanks to her I found 1-2 euro flights, crazy right?!). I'm glad we're forming such a nice bond. :)

La práctica

As of this Wednesday (tomorrow and Tuesday are holidays), I'll be starting my internship!!

On Monday I went out to the colegio with my other program director, Marisa, and I met the two English teachers who will be mentoring me and keeping track of my hours. I love them to death and I only spent a couple of hours with them. Their names are Raquel and Anabel and they couldn't be sweeter. Raquel works with the high school kids and Anabel teaches the primary school kids. I will mostly be working with Raquel but all of the English teachers at the colegio want my help so I'll be working in several other classrooms as well (I was told I'm going to be spread out among the teachers because they'll get jealous otherwise...). I don't know exactly what I'll be doing yet but I am considered a teacher at the school, students have to call me "Profesora Zoe," I will be speaking only in English while in the classroom and can speak in Spanish during breaks outside the classroom with students and faculty, and eventually I will be conducting classes on my own (!!). They also want me to help plan fun activities like Halloween and various theatrical performances. I could not be more excited to start! I will be working close to 20 hours a week on top of my university classes (this includes some Fridays because I will be working to make up hours from days that I have travel plans). It's a busy schedule but I can only imagine how rewarding the experience will be. And I'll let you know how the first week goes in my next blog!

Horario nuevo

Here is my new schedule for October and November. As you can see I've become quite a bit busier. Monday's are going to be my longest day of the week...not sure I'm ready for that. I'll be gone from 7:30 in the morning until 9 at night. But I am excited to start tutoring on Mondays! I get the privilege of tutoring Pepa's daughter and niece (my program director's daughter and niece!). She said that there are lists of parents who want English tutors for the their kids but she wanted to keep me for herself, which makes me feel really special. I start tomorrow and it pays!

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
8:00 8:55	Colegio
9:00 9:50	Colegio	Colegio	Colegio		(Colegio)
9:55 10:45		Colegio	Colegio	Colegio	(Colegio)
Break
11:10 12:00	Colegio	Colegio	Colegio
12:00 12:55	Colegio	Colegio	Colegio	Colegio
Break
1:10 2:00	Colegio			Colegio
2:00 2:55
3:00 3:55	Social & Cultural Realities Class	History of Modern Spain	Social & Cultural Realities Class
4:00 4:55	Social & Cultural Realities Class		Social & Cultural Realities Class	Women’s Psychology
5:00 5:55	Tutoring English		History of Modern Spain	Women’s Psychology
6:00 6:55	Tutoring English		History of Modern Spain
7:00 7:55	Tutoring English
8:00 8:55		Women’s Psychology
9:00 9:55

La vida nocturna

Me, Kiersten, and Tsunako

Javier, me, Kiersten, and Andrew

When I'm not dead tired from my schedule, I do go out a little bit at night and grab drinks with friends. This last week, I went out for tapas and drinks with my intercambio Javier, Andrew, and Kiersten. That was really fun. And on Friday I went out to a bar with Andrew, Kiersten, Tsunako, and Kenta (two Japanese exchange students that were in my grammar class last month). We didn't do anything crazy or stay out super late but we ordered a liter of sangria and some piña coladas and it was a lot of fun!


La comida

Tapas and wine!

Saturday is my favorite day because Saturday is paella day! I think my host family must think I don't like anything else they make because when they bring out paella, I eat twice as much as I normally do at any other meal. It's that good. My host mom has been trying to get me to eat ice cream twice a day (once after lunch and once after dinner), I'm pretty sure she's going to start asking me after breakfast soon. I almost always take her up on it after dinner and occasionally at lunch. But her new treat after lunch is now vanilla pudding. Yesterday she brought it out for the first time and watched me closely as I took the first bite and immediately asked if I liked. I said, of course I do, it's pudding! I've never seen her so happy that I liked something. There is now a ton of it in the fridge...guess it's good that I like it! My host mom also loves the fact that I like coffee just as much as her. She's always asking me if I want coffee and if for some reason I don't have my usual late afternoon cup she assumes something is wrong with me :)

I'm so very happy to report that my stomach/gall bladder/digestive problems have improved so much since I arrived in Spain. A year ago this last week I was in the ER twice with the first symptoms of a cranky gall bladder and I'm so happy that it's now gone and I can pretty much eat whatever I want now. It's incredible how much better I feel after a year (really 19 years worth of stomach pains and problems). My host mom is convinced that the change in meal schedules and foods have improved my digestive problems. In Spain there are five meals (breakfast, little lunch, big lunch, snack, and dinner) and she believes that my digestive system is doing better because I eat more frequently and thus my liver doesn't have to produce as much bile anymore to digest 3 big meals a day). And she certainly has reason to believe that, because since I've arrived I don't take as much medicine to be able to eat, my stomach hardly ever hurts, and I can eat pretty much anything I want. I'm so grateful. We also learned in my cooking class that studies have shown that people who live along the Mediterranean eat better and live healthier lives. Not too bad, eh?