Yo no se mañana

Well here it is! After a 6 month hiatus here is another blog update for your reading pleasure.
I sure skipped writing about a lot of awesome things, so in a nutshell here’s the last 6 months of my life.
Had an AWESOME going away party from the students and staff in Guitiriz, complete with English and Gallego songs and accompanying guitar.
Spent 3 weeks traveling through Portugal, France, and Italy with one of my best friends ever!



Celebrated the summer solstice festival, San Juan, on the beach in Coruna with my besties in Spain.

Enjoyed summer in Ohio with my family. Spent a TON of time with my nephew, and made a few trips down to Columbus to see my favorite people there.

And in August I moved to AUSTIN! My mom and I drove down and camped along the way. Lots of fun. Moved in to the house I found on Craigslist with roommates I found online, and everything is working out wonderfully! My house is awesome- 2 car garage, in a neighborhood, washer and dryer, high ceilings with sky lights in the living/dining room, big yard and back patio. Pretty much everything I wanted!

So there was a list of things that I was hoping to have this year to really feel good and happy
1. warm weather
2. living in the US
3. having LOTS of opportunities to use Spanish
4. dancing regularly
5. working with kids
6. doing meaningful work
7. having a place to hang my hammock

And so far, I have all of these things!

Also, my job is the BEST THING EVER! I am serving in AmeriCorps again as a mentor/tutor with Communities in Schools, and it is really everything I ever could have hoped for. I have about 20 students that I case-manage and help them out with all sorts of things! Some include homework, social skills, anger management, organization… lots of really awesome things. My school is awesome, the principal is awesome, my boss is awesome, my team is awesome, my students are awesome.
I’m pretty much the happiest and most fulfilled I’ve ever felt. Ever.

Living in Austin is also really cool. The weather is great (I was outside in a tank top in November and wasn’t cold!), there are TONS of cool (free) things to do, lots of young people around- I don’t think I could have chosen a better place to move this year!
Here is what my really great day yesterday consisted of: a garden clean up at my school, grocery shopping and buying raspberries for $1.77, going to a FREE event with FREE cider, FREE BBQ and FREE ice cream! Then going to an awesome concert of a band I hadn’t ever heard, but really enjoyed! (Grupo Fantasma) We ended the night on the back patio of a bar listening to Spanish guitar and eating a yummy pretzel. Lovely, lovely day.

So there it is. A super quick update to my awesome, awesome life. I might start posting awesome stories that happen at school, so keep your eyes peeled!

And the countdown begins… 13 days!

So it’s been almost a month since I last posted, and some exciting things have happened!
First exciting thing- I got invited to serve in the Peace Corps! Buuuuut I decided to decline the invitation. I received an e-mail on April 9 inviting me to serve in Nicaragua as a TEFL teacher and trainer. I was actually a little worried that this was going to happen- I had already accepted my position to serve in AmeriCorps in Austin this fall, and I’m really excited about the position. I was conflicted about withdrawing my application from the Peace Corps before receiving the invitation because at one point I really WANTED to do it. Like, more than anything else. And I wanted to be complete informed about both options before deciding.
Initially I thought I wanted to do the Peace Corps… I mean, so many people talk about it, and I applied over a year ago. I accepted the invitation (you only have 7 days to accept of decline) and began the mountains of paperwork. From Spain this was a bit of a hassle- everything is in English, so I had to find English speaking doctors. Luckily my insurance here is good. After a few weeks of really thinking about what I want next year and the reasons I don’t want to stay in Spain, I realized that at this point the Peace Corps isn’t the best option for me. I don’t LOVE teaching English, and having to go do that in a place with limited supplies and large, multi-level classes for 2 years does not sound exactly like what I want to be doing next year.

After being abroad this year I’m also having some realizations about where and how I want to be living. And basically, unless I’m doing something I love, I don’t think I want to live abroad. BUT, I really DO want to keep traveling- maybe the next few years I’ll work, save, and take a big trip or 4. Some places on the top of my list: Brazil and SE Asia.

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On a totally different topic- I’ve only got 13 days left in Coruna, and 8 days left of teaching!!! Two weeks from yesterday I will be leaving Coruna to begin my 3 week trip to Portugal, France, and Italy! YAY!!! I’m really feeling like I need some actual traveling in my life. I was talking with a new friend about how it feels to live in Spain… in my head it’s this huge, constant adventure; and don’t get me wrong- it is pretty awesome. But really, it’s quite similar to living in any other place. You don’t travel every weekend, you have bills to pay, classes to teach, and the new place really begins to feel like “home”. Even though it is only temporary. And while this is great, I’m really craving some adventure! I want to see new, beautiful places; go to the beach, eat delicious food, see the Eiffel Tower… I’m SO ready to go!
The downside though is that after my 3 week trip, I only have 5 days left in Spain. And I don’t have any concrete plans to return. It’s crazy how fast this year has gone, and while I am very ready to be done teaching, I’m really sad about leaving this wonderful place I’ve called home for the past 9 months.

View from Monte San Pedro

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Since I’m leaving soon, I’ve been doing a little bit more exploring of Coruna than normal, and have seen some of the cool “touristy” things that I had never visited before! I went to the aquarium, the Museum of Man, the Castillo de San Anton, and am going to the top of the Torre de Hercules tomorrow for the first time! I also went to a soccer game a few weeks ago, and am going to another this afternoon 🙂
I’m making more of an effort to go out, meet new people, and really enjoy my last few weeks in this wonderful city.

With a replica of the tallest man on the world!

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I ALSO visited one of the most BEAUTIFUL places of my life!
Last weekend I went on an organized trip to Isla Cíes, a BEAUTIFUL Galician national park that shared a striking resemblance with Caribbean islands I have visited. The main difference- the water is FREEZING!
We went and spent the day on the islands- hiking, relaxing on the beach, and enjoying the beautiful views over the ocean. If you have a chance to go visit, I highly recommend it! We only went for the day, but it is also possible to camp- how fun!

Beach

A post in numbers

215- days since I arrived to Spain for the first time

196- longest time I’ve spent away from home without going back for a visit

178- days until my birthday

68- days until I return to America

43- days until my European adventure to Portugal, France, and Italy begins

41- days until my last day of school

14.5- hours of daylight in Coruna now

13- number of countries I have visited

It’s crazy how time moves- I’ve been in Spain for 7 months. I can’t believe how fast time has gone! I blame a lot of the feeling on the nonstop rain this winter- it was reported that there were 40 straight days of rain through March and the beginning of April, and 172% more rain than usual fell. I picked a bad year to come!

But all that rain has recently lead to the first few wonderful days of spring. It was a quick transition, but there has been sun every day for the past week! And it’s been warm! I even spent a few hours reading and napping in the park the other day. It’s just a shame that I will only get to enjoy about 6 weeks of beautiful weather before I leave Coruña. 

I think I have also figured out part of the reason why eating dinner and going out happen so late in Spain. The amount of daylight is much longer than in America! The sun doesn’t set here until 9:30 pm! While the sunset isn’t so lat all over the country (Barcelona is about 45 minutes earlier), it makes sense that people are spending time outside and doing things late in the evening- it doesn’t really feel like evening! And in the summer, on the longest day of the year there are almost 15.5 hours of sunlight, and the sun doesn’t set until almost 10:20 pm. Luckily I’ll be back in Coruña to witness this firsthand during San Juan before I fly back to America!

Family road trip through Spain!

Last week was Semana Santa, or Easter Week, in Spain. And this meant a week off of school, and out of rainy, rainy Galicia!

My mom and John came and we met in Barcelona. We spent a few great days there before renting a car and driving down to Valencia, Granada, and Sevilla.

It was really really nice to have the break and to see some new, wonderful places! Barcelona was really cool overall. We saw all sorts of Gaudi buildings, visited Park Guell, visited the big market, walked along the beach, ate way too much, and generally had a great time. One thing that I love about traveling with my mom is that we both hate museums. Ok, hate might be a *little* strong, but typically I wouldn’t choose to pay and spend hours in a museum. However, in Barcelona we found what has o be my favorite museum of all time: The Chocolate Museum! I hadn´t heard of it before we got there, but it ended up being a great surprise. It told the history of chocolate, and how its preparation and use has changed over the years. There were all sorts of amazing chocolate sculptures, and at the end we enjoyed some magical hot chocolate.

“Up” house made of chocolate- yum!

My other favorite part of Barcelona was visiting the ¨magic fountain¨ at night. A friend mentioned this in a message of things she had done in Barcelona, so we decided to go. She said it was a big fountain with a light and music show, but I really didn´t have high expectations. And boy was I wrong. The fountain was HUGE and at the base of a hill with beautiful cascading waterfall fountains. The night we went was warm, there were a lot of people out, and the whole view and atmosphere was amazing.

In front of the “magic fountain”

We also visited the Sagrada Familia, which was very impressive. I think one of the coolest parts was taking the subway there and upon exiting saying to my mom ¨where is it?¨ only to turn around and have it RIGHT THERE! In the middle of the city! Quite the surprise. Luckily we bought our tickets to enter and go up the tower online beforehand, and printed them. If you try to visit someday I would highly recommend you do it this way. We didn´t have to wait in any line to enter, while the line to purchase tickets was almost an hour long. The inside of the church was beautiful and had some of the biggest stained glass windows I have ever seen. We also decided to go to in one of the spires/towers, which was terrifying. You are literally at the tippy top, able to see out over all of Barcelona. Then you have to cross this little stone bridge thing before you can begin your vertigo inducing decent. While overall a wonderful experience, if you are scared of heights this might not be the thing for you.

Stained glass windows

Jumping in front of the Sagrada Familia

While in Barcelona we also found an absolutely delicious pastry shop called Hofmann. They had beautiful and delicious croissants- our favorite was filled with chocolate mousse. 🙂

We then drove down and spent a night in Valencia. While it was a little rough leaving Barcelona (our GPS was speaking in German and didn’t have any of the names of the streets…) the drive down along the coast was really nice. Luckily we got good weather in Valencia, and got to walk around and explore, and eat paella.

mmmmmm paella

Then we headed over to Granada. I think of all the places we visited I liked the ¨feel¨ Granada the best. It felt old and quaint and quirky all at the same time. We rented a nice little apartment with a view of the Alhambra, and over the beautiful rooftops of the city. We spent one whole morning visiting the Alhambra, and luckily we planned ahead again and bought our tickets online to enter and visit the palaces. The Alhambra was amazing. It is so cool to see such old buildings, and to imagine the people and lifestyles of the people who lived there. We learned a lot, and got to look over all of Granada and the mountains. Really amazing. And luckily it only rained for about 10 minutes during our visit to the Alhambra, so we were pretty lucky.

The Lion Courtyard

View over the city

While we were in Granada we got our first taste of what the Semana Santa processions in the south would be like. We were really surprised one day to hear a band playing music and to see hooded people and a huge float leaving from the church right by our house. It was an amazing sight, but one that unbeknownst to us, we would see about a gazillion more times that week.

After 2 nights we headed to Sevilla, but decided to make a pit stop in Ronda on the way to Sevilla. Ronda is a small town known for its white houses built on the edge of cliffs. We got there and had some of the most impressive views of the whole trip. It was great because we didn´t know much about Ronda, and were pleasantly surprised. The view over the valley and mountains was breathtaking, and there was a bridge spanning the gap that made me dizzy to even look at it.

Houses on the edge of the cliffs

HUGE bridge in Ronda

We finally made it to Sevilla just in time for the biggest day of processions. And unfortunately we were renting an apartment that any other time of the year would have had a wonderful location, but during Semana Santa was on the street that almost EVERY procession walked down. Which meant that we got blocked from returning to our house on many, many occasions. While there we did a great walking tour with Pancho Tours, saw the bull fighting ring, the torre de oro, Plaza de Espana, went up the Giralda and in the cathedral, saw the old tobacco factory, and walked around Triana. Unfortunately the weather wasn´t great the whole time, but luckily on Friday the rain worked in our favor and prevented the processions from taking over the whole city. We also ate lunch in a delicious and cheap restaurant called Coloniales. I went there during my trip in January, and it was just as good the second time around.

Procession float

Scary hooded people- each church brotherhood has its own color of hoods

In the Alcazar

Overall the trip was wonderful. And while it did feel much more like ¨traveling¨ than ¨vacation¨ we had a really fun time exploring new parts of Spain. The worst part for me was my flight back, which ended up being very turbulent. Otherwise I don´t really think I would have changed anything. It was really fun to show my family around, tell them about some of the history, food, and culture that I´ve learned. But it also made me really look forward to be heading home in a few months. But I can´t wait to do some more traveling before then!

Cow in Valenia

Let’s get traveling!

Today was a lovely, lovely day. My good friend Maria and I were originally going to go to the Festa do Queixo, or Cheese Festival in a nearby town. We got up early and met at the bus station only to find out that there was only one bus back from the festival to our city. And it was at 6pm. We promptly decided that we did not want to spent our WHOLE Sunday celebrating cheese, and decided to go to the town she teaches in. But then the bus was kind of expensive, and the driver suggested we go to a town called Paisaco because there was a feria (market) going on there. So we went!

Carrots

Veggies

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before or not, but I LOVE ferias. And I love waking up early so I am really able to enjoy the whole day. So Maria and I walked around the feria for a few hours, bought some delicious cheese and chorizo and bread to have as a snack in the sun, and had a lovely time.

Braided garlic and onions

Meat

Look at that hair!

Lunch

How many Galician men in hats do you see?

Oranges from Murcia

Piggies

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I’ve also made a pretty concrete decision about what I am going to be doing next year. I got offered an AmeriCorps position working in Austin, and I couldn’t be more excited! I’m going to be working in a middle school as a mentor/tutor with a caseload of between 20-25 students. The school is 98% hispanic, so I’ll get to use Spanish there! I was so worried for a little while about what I was going to do because I feel like I had so many great options. But this one feels right. I was SO excited for the interviews I had, and jumped up and down and couldn’t stop smiling when we got off the phone. After the program coordinator told me some of the issues we would be dealing with (recent immigration, poverty, homelessness, gang activity, etc.) he said he understood if I didn’t feel comfortable working in that environment. But really hearing those details made me even more excited about the possibility to work in the position. I think and hope that I’ll have a chance to be a positive part of students and families lives. I know it’s not going to be sunshine and rainbows, but I like things that challenge me, and that give me a chance to grow and help others at the same time.

So that’s it. Looks like I’l moving to Austin, Texas in mid-August! Any tips about the city would be great- I’ve never been, but couldn’t be more excited to move there!

And who knows, hopefully things go well and I’m there for a couple years (or more). Maybe I’ll even get a cat…

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On a different note, I’ve got a few awesome trips coming up. This coming weekend I’m heading to Asturias, another province in northern Spain, with my roommate. We’re going to visit the 2 biggest cities in the region, try some cider, and hopefully have a lovely time!

Next big trip is to Barcelona, Granada, and Sevilla! I’m meeting my mom and her boyfriend in Barcelona in 19 days, and we’re gonna have out there for a long weekend, and then drive down, sleep over in Valencia, head over to Granada, see the Alahambra, and then end in Sevilla with all the semana santa celebrations! I’m really excited to see new places, to go back to Sevilla, and to see my mom!!!

I’ve also started planning what I’m going to do in June! My last day of school is May 30, and on June 1 I’m going to begin a 21 day backpacking adventure through Portugal, France, and Italy! I’ve started booking flights, and am really, really excited! Now I just need to enjoy my time here, and start saving money!

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Finally I leave you with some pictures of my most recent day trip to Santiago de Compostela with my roomies (and cow!). 🙂

Living in the moment

So I have a huge problem with “living in the moment”. It is something that I have noticed getting worse over time, and it takes me a lot of conscious effort to try to stop thinking about what I’m going to be doing a week, a month, or a year from now and actually enjoy the time I am spending in Spain.

It is a shame because when I think of my first big trip abroad to Costa Rica and Ecuador almost 7 years ago I never remember worrying about anything! Each day was a new adventure, I had no set plans or places I wanted to go, and I ended up doing SO MANY awesome things.

I think part of the thing that keeps me from living in the moment is the fact that I am constantly getting myself involved in 1-year commitments. While this keeps variety in my life, it also means that after about 4 months of doing something “new” I have to start thinking about what my next step will be so I have time to search and apply for new things. And despite the exciting opportunities and new possibilities, it gets exhausting.

I did have a moment yesterday though that really made me slow down and appreciate so many things around me. I was riding back from school with a guy I have never ridden back with before. Usually I fall asleep on the drive home, but this I was sitting in the front and enjoying the beautiful Galician landscape all around me. Towards the end of the drive a song called “to Ohio” by The Low Anthem started playing. It was slow and beautiful, and listening to it while enjoying the beauty around me made me feel so happy and lucky to be where I am right now.

I love living in Galicia, and especially in Coruna. I am teaching in a great school with warm and welcoming teachers and fun and friendly students. I have a few good, close friends I have made here, and a few more scattered throughout Spain. I am making an effort to stay in touch with other friends in America and abroad. I know a lot of really awesome people. I have a great family who supports and encourages me in whatever I do. I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to grow up in the United States, to speak English and to be a university graduate. I speak 2 languages, and really want to learn more.

Overall my life is great. And while it drives me nuts to constantly be thinking about what I am going to do in the future, I guess that I’d rather have options.

That being said, it is extremely likely that I will either be in Austin, Texas or Columbus, Ohio next year. I am really wanting to be in a place and to just let myself live there. I don’t want to have to worry about moving and making new friends every year. Columbus is appealing because I am familiar with the city and have a lot of great friends there. On the flip side, I think it would be really cool to move to a new place in the states and to commit to living there and making a life for a few years. From what I’ve heard Austin is a really cool city, it’s warm and sunny, has lots of opportunities to use Spanish, and has lot of food trucks (yum!). Anyway, I’ve got an interview tomorrow for an AmeriCorps position with an organization that sounds like it could be an awesome fit, so I hope it goes well!

On a different note, in a month I am heading to Barcelona, Granada, and Sevilla with my mom and her boyfriend! I am suuuuper excited to see some new parts of Spain, and to see my mommy! I haven’t done as much traveling as I would like so far, so it will be cool to see more than one place in a trip. 🙂

I’m also starting to get some ideas of where I am going to travel in June. I’ve got about 3 weeks that I want to take advantage of for traveling, and theres a chance I will go to Paris, Croatia, Portugal and Italy. Nothing is booked yet (and any suggestions would be awesome!). The only downside about living in Galicia is that it really is not convenient to travel from. However, I DO feel like I’ve gotten to live in a way that most people who come to Spain don’t get to see.

Well thats all for now- I’ll post sometime soon after my interview! Wish me luck!

Recent happenings

So I just realized that I haven’t written since before Christmas… oops! Heres a “quick” update of the last month or so.

I went to visit my friend Cassie in Madrid before I flew home for Christmas. We had lots of fun, and went salsa dancing! While I don’t *love* Madrid as a city, I DO love the variety that it offers. There are so many different places to eat, and places to go salsa dancing every night!

Then I spent 10 days at home over Christmas which was WONDERFUL! I can’t believe I was thinking about not going home. I am really close with my family, and I love Christmas, so it should have been a no-brainer. While I was there I hung out with my family, ate lots of delicious food, had a whirlwind visit to Columbus to visit some friends, and generally had a great time. I got some really awesome gifts, and brought back some fun things for my family (Turron, Jamon flavored chips, and crema de orujo!)

Before going 10 days sounded like it was going to be plenty, but it ended up feeling really short. I didn’t think to count the first and last day as travel days, which made things feel shorter. Then I went to Columbus, and there was Christmas and Christmas Eve. But oh well it was awesome.

This is what I brought back to Spain…

And while I was there I started thinking more and more about what I want to do next year, and I was feeling really really strongly that I want to be somewhere back in the United States. I love the opportunity I have to be in Spain now, but the auxiliares program isn’t the best fit for me. Our responsibilities are vague, expectations change from school to school and teacher to teacher, and we only work 12 hours a week (which is nice, but it doesn’t feel like enough to make a big difference with the students). I don’t feel like I’m being challenged or growing in ways I want to, so next year I’m hoping to find something that makes me feel more fulfilled.

Here is a list of what I’m actually considering for next year

1. Moving to Brazil to learn Portuguese and teach English
2. Peace Corps
3. 2 different AmeriCorps program in Austin, Texas- one working with bilingual children’s literacy and the other working with a mentoring/tutoring programs
4. Staying in Spain for another year
5. Moving back to Columbus and doing something…

Both of the AmeriCorps programs sound awesome, and I’ve got Skype interviews coming up, so hopefully they go well! I’ve never been to Austin, but have been hearing lots of great things. And I love the idea of being in the US, but being able to use Spanish.

Anyway, I was back in Spain for New Years, and had a nice, low key night with some friends in Lugo. after New Years I went with 2 friends to the south of Spain for 5 days, and it was awesome! We were in Sevilla and Cordoba, and saw so many new, interesting things. The south of Spain is much more similar to the idea I had in my head of Spain before I came. It was much sunnier and warmer, there was a bull fighting arena, we went to a flamenco show, drank sangria…

Plaza de Espana

Tapas en Sevilla

With the Giralda at night

Pretty street in Cordoba

It was also really neat in the two cities to see the mix of Christian and Muslim influence. There were mosque/churches, tea places all over, and a TON of beautiful architecture. We were in Sevilla for the Three Kings parade, which was a really cool experience- tons of people in the street, and a gazillion floats with kids throwing candy! Yum!

In the Alcazar

Cow

View of Sevilla from the Giralda

In the Alcazar

Jesus in the front, Arabic in the back

Cassie, my friend in Madrid, also came to visit me here for 5 days! I had a great time showing her some of the wonderful things about Galicia. We saw the Torre de Hercules, walked around Santiago de Compostela, went to the market in Betanzos, and spent a day at my school! It was a very successful trip overall!

Annnnd I get to hang out with her again in 3 weeks! In 3 weeks I’m heading back to Madrid for an International Bachata Congress, and I am SO EXCITED!!!!

Matanza do porco and other things

So its been a while since I last posted, so I’ll try to give a relatively concise update of my life happenings. 🙂

A week and a half ago we had a “puente” over the weekend. Not sure if I’ve explained this before or not (I think I have but oh well!) but “puente” in Spanish literally means bridge. When we have a puente it means that there is a holiday on a Thursday, but just for fun there is no work on Friday either. So we have a 4 day weekend, because the Friday is like the “bridge” that connects Thursday to the real weekend 🙂

The last puente I really wanted to do something- I love Coruna, but feel like I want to take advantage of my time here and see new things and places! A friend I have here invited me to go to Lugo with her to see her family and the “matanza do porco” or the tradition of killing a pig for food for the year.

I took the bus there on Thursday evening, and we spent the evening walking around Lugo, walking on the “muralla” there, which is I guess the most well maintained and only complete Roman wall in the world. They were constructed in the 3rd century, and are over 2 km long! It was actually really cool to see them, and to try to imagine what the city was like when they were constructed. One unfortunate part, however, is that a lot of the surrounding buildings aren’t very well maintained. Part of this is because of the crisis in Spain- people just don’t have money to repair things; but also there is a rule/law in Lugo that if you are going to do repairs or remodeling or whatever you have to excavate the surrounding area to check for Roman ruins. If any are found, which they often are, you can’t continue whatever you are doing sooooo a lot of people don’t even want to start the process for fear of not being able to complete it.

We also stopped at a cute feria/market that was there because it’s Christmas time and there were all sorts of artesian foods and crafts for sale. I LOVE visiting these kinds of places, especially when I get to try different and new foods! They are my favorite place to shop, especially because you can find such interesting and unique gifts for people. That is one thing I miss a lot about Buenos Aires, Argentina- there were SO MANY different ferias there with all kinds of interesting and awesome things to see. I’m sure they exist in Spain too, but don’t seem nearly as common, and I have yet to see one in Coruna.

Friday was the actual killing of the pig (or 3 pigs which I came to find out…). This part I was really nervous about. In the past I was vegetarian and vegan for a while. I haven’t been for about 3 years (going to Argentina and being a vegetarian was too hard for me), but I prefer to cook vegetarian food, and don’t like to eat gross, processed meat.

**In the next couple paragraphs I’m going to describe the process of killing the pigs- feel free to skip ahead it if grosses you out!**

I was nervous about seeing how they actually kill the pigs and watching them die. Seeing them once they are dead is ok, so I figured I would maybe take a peek and see how I felt and leave if it was horrible.

By the time we got down to the “house” they were killing the pigs in, for first 2 were already dead. Which is kind of good, because I didn’t have to watch all of them,but kind of bad, because if I was curious to see anything this was my last chance. So I tried to look. Which was difficult because on our way down there we heard the pig squealing and crying and it was horrible. I think it was made worse by the fact that this pig had been nearby while the other 2 were killed, so I think it kind of knew what was coming. Before I even saw the pig I saw a ton of blood coming out of this drain, which grossed me out, and from the angle I was standing I was able to see the pigs legs before its head. And it was strapped down but moving and struggling, so I didn’t think I wanted to see. And then it stopped moving, and I thought maybe it was dead, so I moved to see more, and it was definitely NOT dead yet. Just taking a break from struggling. I only looked for a few seconds at the whole thing, but it was pretty intense- the pig was strapped down, wiggling and moving its legs like it was trying to run, and there was blood pouring out of a whole in its neck. I guess it is important to make sure an animal bleeds if you are going to use it for food because blood can make the meat spoil. Also, according to one of the girls there, pigs like the scent and taste of blood. She said I might see people in their town missing fingers because pigs had bitten them and not let go because the taste of blood drives them crazy. Something I didn’t know…

After killing the pigs the put them one by one in this wooden coffin-like thing to wash and clean them. The poured really hot water over their bodies and scraped off the hair and dirt to clean them. Then they hung them by their back legs.

Washing the pigs

Hanging and opening

Then the cut the pigs open, took out the intestines and organs, and let the pigs hang overnight to cool down and bleed some more. Then they took stomach and tripe to be washed because later they will be used as food.

Lavando las tripas

All clean!

Then we all had lunch together, and my friends family is SO NICE! Her dad answered all of the questions I had during the killing of the pigs, and seemed to really be interested in sharing the tradition with me. I felt so welcome there, and the food was delicious! There was also some yummy wine, which my friends brother kept serving me. So at about 4 when we were done I was really full and kind of tipsy, and wanted to make sure I took advantage of the Spanish tradition of the “siesta” and instead ended up sleeping 2.5 hours… oops!

The next day we went back to the pigs and I got to see how they cut them up to use them for food. This was really cool because I got to really see what part of the pig each type of meat comes from, and I feel like I learned a ton. It was also amazing to think about how this process was originally started, and what the first people who cut up pigs were thinking! It was really cool watching, but I kind of felt useless (which, to be honest I was… I wasn’t adding anything to their experience, but I was learning a ton!). Luckily my friends sister-in-law had no problem including me! I help them separate some of the meat and put in in bags for different family members to take. At first they said they felt bad because they didn’t want me to get my hands dirty, but I don’t really care about dirty, and would rather be helping!

Cutting up the piggy

I also helped later in the evening while the women were making salchichones- A bunch of meat and some fat gets ground up and pushed into intestines, and then tied before they are hung up to be smoked. And I got to help tie!

Tying salchichones

Ready to hang!

Hanging

And that was pretty much my experience with the killing of the pigs!

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Now, heres some other cool stuff we did.

We were staying in this little town called San Xillao de Bocamaos, which was amazingly beautiful and rural, but only about 15 minutes outside of the city of Lugo. My friend grew up here, so it was really cool to see how people really live, and to have her show me some of the beautiful places that I could never have found on my own.

Pretty

Also pretty

Hanging bridge

Miño River

At a molino (watermill)

Another really lovely thing about Lugo itself is that when you order a drink you get a tapa. For free. And a pincho. These are just different little foods you get, but they are AWESOME because you can go around and try all sorts of different tapas, only pay for your pretty cheap drink, and you don’t even have to have dinner! In Coruna the tapas are almost never free. There are some places that bring you a little something to eat, but not nearly as much as Lugo.

Also while I was there I saw another dog in a weird place. And this time it was a bar. And not only was there one dog; there were two. One was a little dog it its owner’s purse, and the other was a real sized dog in a leash at the back of the bar. They moved to the front, and the bar tender gave them the evil eye, which I’m glad about because IT’S NOT OK TO HAVE DOGS IN BARS!

Not ok.

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Last week was really busy because it was my last week in Coruna before coming to Madrid and the heading HOME! I tried to squeeze in seeing as many people as I could, which left me exhausted, but also SO excited for the holidays! Is was also suuuper nice because the 2 families that I teach private English classes to gave me gifts! I feel really lucky to be working with them because the kids are super sweet, and the parents are awesome. Its also nice to know “real” people in Coruna. It helps me feel grounded and connected there.

On Friday I took the overnight train to Madrid, and I’m spending the weekend here before I fly home TOMORROW! Saturday my friend and I walked around and went shopping, and went salsing dancing! It was absolutely amazing. I love dancing, and its awesome to have another friend who loves it as much as I do. It was also nice here because the places are much bigger than in Coruna, and a ton more people go. Madrid is also cool because there are people from all over the world here. At salsa I danced with people from Ecuador, Peru, Spain, Cameroon, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic. So cool!

However, I would never want to live here. After living in Buenos Aires, I realized that big cities are really NOT for me. At all. They are too crowded and fast and stressful and cold. It is so easy to feel lonely in them. And while I guess it is possible to feel lonely anywhere, and big cities have tons of opportunities for anything you could ever want, I prefer smaller cities. It is nice to recognize people when you go places, to feel safe, and to have all of your friends live within a 30 minute walk. In Coruna I’m starting to feel like I have a community and a routine, which I love.

I’m glad that I like it so much because I am about to go “visit” home. And I guess technically my “home” is in Spain now, which feels weird, but also feels real. I’ve got my apartment and my job and friends and stuff, and I’m curious how it is going to be to leave Spain, and then come back here and have it as my home for another 6/7 months (at least).

Sorry for such a long post, but I’m gonna end up saying that I AM FLYING TO OHIO TOMORROW!! And I can’t wait 🙂

December in Coruña

Yesterday I FINALLY got the box of goodies my mom sent me! YUM!! While I have really been enjoying the food in Spain, there are a few things I was missing (mostly candy). I got Reese’s, caramel apply pops, chocolate covered pretzels, and a whole bunch of other goodies! And red pepper flakes! Which might exist here, but I haven’t been able to find, and I LOVE them! THANKS MOMMY! And the package arrived just in time for me to take some delicious things for my private lesson students to try. I took a reese’s cup to each of the kids and the parents, and a caramel apple pop for each of the kids. And they were all a hit. The only downside is the outrageous amount it cost to sent it (over $50!), but at lease I didn’t have to pay another tax when it arrived here (some of my friends have had to pay upwards of 20 euros for their packages).

Thanks mom!

Things are also starting to look more Christmas-y around Coruna- there was a huge santa display at the mall, decals on store windows, and lights on a lot of the streets around the city. Its so pretty! And its even cold like it would be at home (with a lot more rain) so it actually feels like Christmas is coming. I’ve still got a ton of Christmas shopping to do for people at home, and luckily I just got paid!! There are a few things I want to buy for myself (new boots, sweaters, pants) but I think I am going to wait for rebajas. I keep hearing EVERYONE talk about rebajas, and am a little unsure what to expect. I did some searching online last night, and found out they only happen twice a year (in January and June I think), but that they are HUGE sales. So I’m going to try to hold out until then for the things I want.

Christmas in Coruna!

Last weekend I went with a few friends to a nearby city called Camariñas. I went with Kat and Emily and their boyfriends, and we stayed with another friend who is living there this year. It was a really nice mini-trip to get out of the city for the weekend, hang out, relax, and see a new place. The town Dan lives in is tiny, but pretty cute. Hes got a nice big apartment with a balcony, 3 bedrooms, and a big kitchen and living room. All of us fit comfortably there, and we had a really fun time hanging out, playing cards, cooking, and playing a few different board games in Spanish. I also learned a few new words/phrases in Spanish! Hucha means piggy bank, and dar calabazas is to stand someone up. We were playing Cranium and I think Balderdash, so really I heard all sorts of random new words, but I don’t remember them all. We also visited a nearby lighthouse, which was really beautiful and cool because we went right around sunset, and on the way we got sidetracked to a windmill farm and I saw a windmill up-close for the first time- and man are those things HUGE! We also stopped in the actual city of Camariñas and saw the lace (encaje) that the city is known for. It’s really amazing to see the detailed lace with that is created, and how fast the women work to make it!

Windmill

Friends at the lighthouse

Lighthouse

Lace-making

Fountain

Last night I tried again to make Spanish Tortilla, and failed, again. The first time I didn’t use nearly enough eggs, and it turned out like mixed hash browns with scrambled eggs. And last night, remembering my first failure, I cut the potatoes a different way, and used more eggs. But it turned out to be WAY to many eggs, and it tasted really eggy and not good. I really want to figure it out before I go home for Christmas, but I’m not sure if that will happen…

OH I also got a letter from my awesome friend Sarah! A couple weeks ago I sent out a batch of letters to people from home. And Sarah must have sent hers at the same time because I received it around the same day she received mine! I can’t wait to get more from people- its really fun to get something nice and hand-written in the mail, and I really like writing letters back!

If you want to be my penpal, let me know and I’ll send you my address!

Thanksgiving

So again another great week 🙂

Last week was made extra super great by the fact that it was Thanksgiving! Tuesday I had my private lessons in the evening as usual, and one of my families was super cute and gave be a bottle of wine so that I “didn’t arrive empty handed” to Thanksgiving. Like always, I visited my favorite bakery and talked to my baker friend after my lessons, and headed home to do Zumba in my living room 🙂

Wednesday I went to pick up my ID card from the police station, got some supplies for Thanksgiving, and sent a bunch of letters home. I’ve got a few more to send still- they are almost 1 euro a piece to send, which isn’t super expensive, but starts to add up when I’m sending a bunch. Then I headed home to bake pie! I ended up making a pumpkin pie, apple pie, and apple tart all from scratch (minus the can of pumpkin that I brought from the US). And they turned out wonderfully!

Thanksgiving pies

Wednesday night it has become a tradition with 2 of my best friends here to hang out, drink wine, snack, watch Grey’s Anatomy in English, and catch up. Its really nice to be able to do something low key, and I think traditions are super cute 🙂

 

Thursday was Thanksgiving! I took the apple and pumpkin pies to school for my students to try. Before eating I talked all about Thanksgiving, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Black Friday, and the tradition of giving thanks for something before eating. Before trying the pie we all went around and said what we were thankful for, and I almost started crying! It was nice to hear what some of my students said, and I told them how lucky I feel to be at such a welcoming, nice school. Then we ate! I was worried that the 2 pies wouldn’t be enough for 18 students, but boy was I wrong. They all tried a small piece of both pies, and there was enough left for me to share with all the teachers as well. And everyone loved them! It was really nice to be able to share such a nice tradition with my school.

Thursday night I celebrated with a huuuge Thanksgiving dinner with a bunch of auxiliares, other English teachers, and Spanish friends. Total there were close to 40 of us. Everyone brought a dish to share, and luckily there was plenty of food for everyone. We even had real turkey, but chicken!

Friday I went to a small dinner with the same friends I spend Wednesday nights with, and it was also super delicious and a lot of fun. I took corn and a pumpkin pie, and we also had turkey, delicious mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, improvised cranberry sauce, and some yummy desserts. And I carved my first turkey! Yay!

Friends

And then, as if 2 Thanksgiving dinners weren’t enough, I went to another Thanksgiving dinner at another friends house! This was another bigger one with about 20 people there, and a really fun mix of people from all over. We had more of the same delicious Thanksgiving food, and I ended up sleepover over my friends house so I didn’t have to walk a gazillion miles uphill to get home.

Saturday and Sunday I pretty much just lazed around my apartment. Did a workout video from youtube, cleaned a little bit, and walked in the park on Sunday evening.

Thanksgiving food

Hope everybody else had a nice and delicious Thanksgiving!

 

OOOHH and exciting news! I head home 3 weeks from tomorrow 🙂