Living Small in Jaen

Photo

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 09:00:28 -0400

4th graders...

Summer lovin', had me a blast

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 08:57:37 -0400

I don’t know if those are the correct lyrics to the song, nor do I know why that title came to me but one thing is for sure and that is that Grease is not my favorite movie.

The last day of school came. And it went. The ‘inspector’ came to school today and whenever he comes everyone is in a jumble. He works for the Junta de Andalucia as the guy who ensures the teachers are doing their jobs and the school is running properly. That being said, today was not as slow and emotional as I thought it was going to be, which is neither a good nor a bad thing. Said goodbye to all the teachers, gave them hugs and wished the children the best in the future. As I walked to the door of each class, kids were trying to quickly complete drawings of houses, trees or basketballs to give me as a gift. One kid pulled out of his pocket a striped red/yellow bouncy ball with a black bull on it. Was this gift something he had planned in advanced? I don’t know but it was a great gift.

Being around the goofball children for 10 months is something I will definitely miss. I will miss the kinder-kids using half a bottle of soap to wash their hands and 15 paper towels to dry them, kids pretending to not understand me when I speak spanish (maybe they don’t..), little girls telling me I have many girlfriends, and above all, eating salami and artisan loaves of bread everyday for lunch. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough time to write about all the goofy things they did.

Heading to Granada today to finally see the Alhambra with my French friend Rafael that I met in Cadiz. It is the most visited monument in Spain - and I almost missed it? #cmooonguy

Last month

Wed, 30 May 2012 12:45:31 -0400

Here's Jeff, the dude you will read abt

The heat forced us to find a river

nice little cave

Malaga

Malaga

View from the top of Malaga

Last month

Las ultimas 3 semanas, es decir - Mayo

Wed, 30 May 2012 12:36:04 -0400

Que tal va todo, 3 weeks have past at a rate slower than 24 hours per day. May has lasted a long time and it is exactly what I needed. I am more than happy to come home in June, but don’t let that fool you. Wrapping up my time here has not been fun because I know I will miss walking 10 feet out my apartment door to go watch a La Liga soccer game with 10 other 40-year-old men dressed in Barcelona/Real Madrid sweatsuits accordingly.

3 weeks ago, I played in my second frisbee HAT tournament. A HAT tournament is played with teams that are chosen at random. Two full days of running around on a astro-turf field in upper 80/lower 90 temperatures. Water was consumed and the shade was utilized. I had the privilege of working, yet again, with this dude named Jeff. A native Oregonian living in Sevilla. He played ultimate frisbee for the Ducks. We won the tournament again haha…This guy plaaaaaays. Two tourneys down!

Returned from Granada that week to continue working with the nin~os (see above)

Being an elementary school teacher is like being a boss. The only difference is a boss never has to beg his/her employees to stop repeating him even when the ‘repeat the english word’ game is over. (Yes, that’s the only difference). I’ll miss these goofs - tomorrow is my last day and so far this week I have received 3 presents. A shirt that says — ‘Siempre con el rojo’ - ‘always with the red’ — a Spanish national soccer team shirt, a red/yellow bracelet with a small metal plaque with ‘Cambil’ etched into it and…a bouncy ball. I don’t think the gifts can get any better but we will see.

Ok so after Granada, the power-draining heat continued. 14:00 May 15th, 2012 Jaen reached 37 Celcius. That’s 96.6 F which doesn’t sound too bad, but the sun in Andalucia has an incomparable presence to the sun in Seattle (yes, we each have our own sun). When Maria Eugenia drops me off 300 meters from my apartment after school, I literally run from shady area to shady area hoping to reach my apt without allowing ‘el sol’ to set foot on my skin. It’s like the eye of sarumon in a way - you’re pretty much done if within vision. Waking up at 4am as sweaty as a boxer was standard that week.

That next weekend I found myself in Malaga - the 2nd largest city in terms of size and population in Andalucia. Malaga is known for its luxurious location on the Costa del Sol. Many Germans and English set up shop in Malaga because of its beauty, beach access and weather so as I ventured a bit out of the capital city of Malaga, I heard a bit more english. My first day in the city, came across a free outdoor concert where a 14 year old was beeeeelting, little kids were showing off their flamenco skills and a group of women impressed the crowd with their singing and dancing skills. Stayed at the hostel 2 nights - the guy I shared the bunkbed with was an 18 year old from France who has already been to Wenatchee and Spokane..What was he, a world traveler making his rounds in the USA, doing in these locations?..Even he didn’t really know but he said he had a good time which was all that mattered. Beautiful view from the top of a hill that ran parallel to the Malaga Gibralfaro - an old Phoenician site turned fortress, turned castle, turned residence for Fernando II - some Spanish king of Arago’n. So this view from a path showed me more than I would have imagined —

— I’ll put some more pictures up. As I was climbing this mountain, every 30 meters had a place to stop and check out the view and each time I stopped, the view got that much better. This is a panoramic shot and so although it lacks in detail, I thought the view of 3 pictures worth of the width of the city was pretty coo.

Ok and this last weekend I went to Cadiz, the oldest city in western Europe. Some interesting things that happened/I learned

-Learned that the green on the Andalusian flag is representative of Islam and the dude on the flag is Hercules

-Went to the beach that Halle Berry strutted out of in the James Bond Film ‘Die Another Day.’

-Buried packaged pasta in the sand with a friend from the hostel so that we could go back the next day, dig it up in front of a lot of people and appear amazed.

-Saw a dude playing basketball outside (2nd time in last 10 months), asked if I could join, climbed through a hole in the fence 10 ft up and shot around for a bit until I realized I didn’t put sunscreen on

-Went to visit my friend Auxy who played on my recent ultimate frisbee team in Algeciras (across the bay from Gibraltar).

-Went to Gibraltar, took a few pics outside the border, tried to enter and realized my NIE (Spanish ID) wasn’t enough identification to enter….oy, where was my passport when I needed it..We laughed and zoomed outta there so I could catch my bus.

Now back at school for my last day tomorrow!

Tyler's Birthday Present

Wed, 23 May 2012 15:03:54 -0400

Tyler sent me a message today for the birfday and I wanted to share it. He gave me permission to share it.

Ryan, happy birthday! This is little bro Tyler, and I hope that you will celebrate your birthday like a king, and will enjoy your presents coming in the mail… My birthday present to you is my (the) top 23 most favored players in the NBA. From least-to-greatest, they are: 1. Ray Allen, 2. Kevin Durant, 3. Kevin Garnett, 4. Rajon Rondo, 5. Shaqueol O’neol (retired), 6. Russell Westbrook, 7. Nate Robinson, 8. Brian Skalibrini, 9. Brandon Roy (retired?), 10. Isaih Thomas, 11. Dirk Novitzki, 12. Chris Paul, 13. Kendrick Perkins, 14. Derik Fisher, 15. Camello Anthony, 16. Dwight Howard, 17. Pau Gasol; I’m realizing that 23 players is a lot for me, haha, so I am just going to say: 18. Larry Bird, 19. Michael Jordan, 19. Magic Johnson, 20. Tony Wrotten, 21. Steve Nash, 22. Derrick Rose (not true!!!), and the final magic 23: the white cigar (Brendan Sherrer). I hoped you enjoyed my portion of this letter because I accidentally deleted my first one when I almost finished typing it; so… HAPPY GOLDEN BIRTHDAY RYAN!!!! Can’t wait for you to get home!

So I’ve been doing intercambios this whole year —...

Wed, 23 May 2012 14:48:16 -0400

So I’ve been doing intercambios this whole year — I’ll sit down with a person and we’ll talk in english and spanish for 30 minutes respectively. No one pays no one.

I’ve also been doing ‘clases particulares’ — Someone will come over to my place and we’ll talk in english for an hour. I will help them with their pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. In Jaen, the going rate for this is 8 euros per hour, which is not bad at all. Earnings from three ‘clases particulares’ will pay my transportation to Granada and back.

Sometimes I’ll get people who are very serious about their hour with me. THey’ll bring their own materials and want to talk about specific topics. And then there are the others, like Francisco, with whom I always learn and have a good time discussing topics such as olives, economics and music. Here is a look into 3 minutes of one of our most recent conversations.

"Turn your brain off"

Fri, 11 May 2012 05:30:58 -0400

“Turn your brain off”

- What relevantmagazine said about going to see ‘The Avengers’

Couple pictures from the past 2 weeks Today in my 1st grade...

Thu, 10 May 2012 15:18:11 -0400

Happy bday rosanna

Gustavo with his family

Couple pictures from the past 2 weeks

Today in my 1st grade class, I sang the alphabet melody and during, the kids raised/waved their hands with the beat like they would have if they were listening to kumbaya. I received an applause afterward as well.

¿Plural?

Wed, 09 May 2012 05:32:19 -0400

Is yogurt pluralized - yogurts?

Yesterday played soccer at our basketball practice and it was the best practice yet

Frisbee tournament this weekend in Granada

Weather is getting hot fast, looking into importing sunscreen soon

terco-stubborn

manchar-to stain/get dirty

Good morning Nana

Mon, 07 May 2012 08:34:56 -0400

Good morning Nana

Feria de Sevilla

Sat, 05 May 2012 09:35:36 -0400

On Friday, I was sitting at home wondering how I would take advantage of this 4 day weekend. The initial plan was to head to Málaga, but things turned unfortunate when the Saturday, Sunday and Monday weather report predicted rain and cold. My friend Tyson and I thought it better not to embark to the beach-town during bad weather. So on Friday I was talking to a friend that I had met with my parents on the train to Sevilla during mid-April when they were visiting. He invited me over to spend a night at his home and go to the Fería de Abril. (A Fería is like a festival..more or less each city in Andalucia has a week devoted to such an occasion. I think the best tway to describe it would be a suuuuper-spanish version of the Puyallup Fair with a lot less attractions/concerts/animals and more hanging out in tents). Because it would probably be the last time I saw Juanma (the guy who guided my parents and I around Sevilla for 7 hours, taking us to shops and restaurants with great food that were owned by his friends) and also because the Fería de Abril is considered the most famous in Spain, I took the 4.30pm train to Sevilla the next day.

When I arrived, it was raining pretty hard. It was the last full day of the Fería and so normally, Juanma told me, it would be full full full of people but the rain made it not so. We walked 5 minutes from the train station to his house (You’re more or less walking distance from everything in Andalucía). I thought I was dressed well (I certainly was relative to how I normally dress)- nicer jeans, a sweater-type top and all black sambas. It turns out guys wear suit and tie to the Fería de Abril. At first, he lightly suggested I wear a jacket or something over my sweater, then he suggested I wear a pair of some of his nicer shoes..Next thing I know, I was wearing suit and tie with dress socks haha….None of it fit me that well, but once I arrived to the fairgrounds, I was glad I changed. The majority of the girls were wearing Flamenco dresses and all of Juanma’s friends were dressed as if we were at a wedding.

Unlike the Feria de Jaen, the majority of Sevilla’s caseta’s (tents) are private. In Jaen, I entered and left tents as I pleased (there were about 20 total tents during the Jaen feria where as in Sevilla, there were over 1000) but in Sevilla, you pretty much had to know somebody to enter into the tent. The tents were divided into two parts. The first room had tables/chairs off to the sides and space in the middle for people to dance to flamenco music. The second part of the tent was a bar that served food and drinks. Juanma’s friends intermittently started dancing around the bar and often tried to get me involved. Since this is the only dance move I feel comfortable pulling off, I tried the flamenco for a quick second, then kinda got out from the middle of the circle.

Got home, went to sleep and took the train home the next day!

Notes:

Digiorno - I think we all classify eating Digiorno pizza (not so much Digiorno pizza and cookies) as satisfactory gastronomical moments. Today my roommate has informed me that Digiorno is an Italian word and it means —- ‘In the morning.’ —- Cool? I also showed her a picture of Olive Garden’s dish; the Sicilian Scampo. Perplexed, she wrote it off. Apparently it’s not so popular of a dish there. I thought it necessary to show her this because she is from Sicily, the island south of mainland Italy.

Milo and Otis , the great journey by cat and dog, was actually a Japanese film.

-Just booked tickets with Bojie to go back up to San Sebastian for a few days in June before I head back home to Seattle on the 11th

-2nd Frisbee Tournament next weekend in Granada

Vaccination Day

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:02:51 -0400

Was hanging with some 2nd graders during PE and all of a sudden they were told they had to go get some shots. Tristeza began. Some of the girls started crying while the boys were already pulling the collars of their shirts down past their shoulders albeit not being anywhere near the nurse’s office.

We arrived to the nurse’s office and they started lining up by number. You can tell that this is never fun for teachers because the kids try to sneak their way up to the front because clearly it is the coolest place to be. On top of the screaming and disorganized line, 4th graders were entering/leaving the hallway to go check out the book-fair that was taking place. 4th graders are cooler than 2nd graders via elementary school law and so the 2nd graders pretty much believe anything they say. I think we know what happens next. One of the 4th graders walked by the line and just HAD to share his thoughts on the amount of pain the should would bring to them. Thankfully, the teacher realized what was happening, shoo’d away Julio the 4th grader and assured to all nothing was going to give them pain.

Important things to note:

-All of the boys had ruined the collars of their shirts. Where is MJ when we need him..

-The girl who had the most fear of receiving the shot ended up not taking it because her mom didn’t sign the paper or something

I was planning to go to Málaga this weekend but it has been said that it will rain in all of Andalucia and so I may be in Jaén for the 3rd weekend in a row. Going through beach withdrawals

Don't even tell me..

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:26:41 -0400

Today I really thought about going on a walk to get some exercise…..what is going on

Spinach and milk for breakfast? Time to go to the grocery store.

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 05:12:16 -0400

Spinach and milk for breakfast? Time to go to the grocery store.

Video

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 08:53:02 -0400

UPDATED SATURDAY I had this post about halfway done and...

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 06:58:00 -0400

**UPDATED SATURDAY**

I had this post about halfway done and then I clicked out of it..woow frustrating!

During Easter Holy Week, my parents came! For about 8 months I have tried so hard to rid myself of the touristyness that I gave off but with the coming of the parents I think we took a few (hundred) steps back haha…It was a great sight when they first hopped off of their bus, stepping foot on Jaén soil. They had just finished a 20+ hour journey and so needless to say, we made our way to their hotel so they could rest. Along the way, we said hi to the infamous Diop which was awesome..I didn’t think I would get to introduce them to him but fortunately we ran into him.

I went to school the first two days while they rested and explored the town without me during the morning. They raved about the architecture and how cool it was to be in such an old city. It was Scott’s first time in Europe and so all was new to him. On Friday, they came to school with me. The teachers would not stop commenting on how ‘guapa’ Lisa’s eyes were. She loved talking to the kids despite a language barrier. I think they both learned a few words during their time here but having no background made it too hard to pick up on words in conversation. I will leave out a couple embarassing experiences we had in terms of mispronounciation haha..

They liked Jaén and Cambil but I think all 3 of us were ready to get to our other destinations: Sevilla - the capital of the south, San Sebastian, Madrid and Toledo.

We first found ourselves in Sevilla - the largest and most populated city in Andalucia. During our train ride to Sevilla, a guy sat next to us who was heading him for the holiday. His name was Juanma and I don’t think Scott, Lisa nor I could describe to you how generous this guy was. He offered to show us around town the next day. As we would only be there for 2 days, he wanted to make sure we got a nice taste of Sevilla. He met us at our hotel around 10.30 the next morning and literally hung out with us for 7+ hours..walking around town with us, showing us the best places to eat and what to order, introducing us to all his friends that owned small businesses and restaurants. It felt like we were at home with him. San Sebastian was our next destination and our plane left at 6 in the morning after our 2nd night in Sevilla.

Got to San Sebastian after a 2 hour plane ride, 1 hour wait in the bus station and a 90 minute bus ride. Instead of taking a taxi to our hotel, we decided to walk along the river that lead to the ocean. I have seen a lot of cities with rivers running through them in Spain and it’s always a pleasant site . The weather wasn’t amazing the first day we got there but the beach still had us in awe. Took a quick (2.5 hour) nap and headed to the streets to do some souvenir shopping.

If I were to note our favorite moments of the trip, I think my mom would say going to dinner with dad and finding two spanish women to talk to for 2 hours. Apparently the two women didn’t speak any english. Their conversation functioned through drawings and hand gestures I’m sure. I wasn’t there so I would not be able to tell you. Scott also liked heading to the top of the castle on top of the tallest mountain in the city. Him and I went up there and kinda gazed and admired the view for about 30 minutes. If you look at this picture, the castle is the small white thing on top of the mountain closest to where the picture was taken. The view was one of the best! I’ll put a picture up. That hike was also my favorite part of the trip along with dancing bachata and salsa. Lisa and I went into a casino with 20 euros. We came out 10 minutes later with 10 euros. How? She lost her share after 5 hands of blackjack and I kept mine haha..Just as we were about to walk outside, I heard some music downstairs and kinda peaked into the basement room. No way, people were dancing salsa and bachata..so i had to stay. Mom went back and I went to work asking 50 year old women to teach me how to dance. Very fun.

Thankfully, the sun came out the 2nd day so we spent a lot of time at the beach, throwing a ball around and admiring sand-art. There was a crucifixion of Jesus and also Jesus riding in a car which I do not have a picture of on my computer :(

to be continued..business time

pintxo tapas

"Segunda bebida, este chico"

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 05:32:41 -0400

“Segunda bebida, este chico”

- I don’t have time right now to update so this is just a quick memory from my time in San Sebastian . While my parents were out eating dinner, I went to a small restaurant near our place of stay. There was an older man around 70 sitting at one side of the small L-shaped bar and I was on the other. The bartender was around 45 years old and was behind the bar.

The older man would not stop talking. The bartender did a good job of pretending to listen to him while looking at his newspaper. It was around 10pm so nobody else was there aside from us. The bartender managed to slip away from that side of the bar towards the other side in hopes of ending the ‘conversation.’

I was the next victim. Nobody was talking at first, the 3 of us were just chillin’ you could say. The silence bothered me so I asked the older man, ‘De aqui, cuantos kilometros hasta Francia?’ which means - how far away is France -. The old man proceeded to tell me the amount of time it would take depending on what cars we were driving. With his car 45 minutes, with a lamborghini 20 minutes, with a spaceship 5 minutes, walking 4 hours..He laughed after everything he said, great guy. We spoke in ‘english’ for a moment but I understood nothing. The bartender loved it.

He had been drinking, not much, but a little..as it was difficult to understand him. He went outside to smoke, then quickly came back in and informed me of the time it would take to get to France in another car. Clearly, this was an important subject (asignatura) to him haha..He was a really funny dude, 30 minutes well spent in my opinion.

As I was walking out, he said ‘Segunda bebida, este chico,’ which basically means - Another drink for this guy - ..This was as I was walking out the door, so I turned around and looked at the bartender. He was looking at me too and we laughed. I asked the old man if he was sure he wanted to buy me another drink. He changed his mind..

Today in Spain there is a general strike. This is just one photo...

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 07:38:51 -0400

Today in Spain there is a general strike. This is just one photo of the types of things that are happening around the country. In Cambil, the tiny village where I work, the only general store in town is closed. There is one bakery open but really, if anyone wants to get food here, they have to go to Jaén - 25 minute drive from Cambil. So the effect is super-drastic but noticeable.

The photo shows a group of people in Valencia blocking the street so that people going to work will not be able to. (I imagine this is the reason).

I saw another video of people holding flags supporting the strike lined up outside of an entrance to a business. As the cars (full of people going to work - aka not participating in the strike) went by, the people picketing hit the cars with their flags. The police were there too but it did not look like they were punishing anybody for doing so. Maybe they did later, I don’t know..just saw 1 minute of the video.

In other news, mom and dad made it safely! Last night we got something to eat and then they went to bed. It was 8:45 when I left their hotel. Hopefully they slept like dogs all night as today we will be doing a lot of walking. Over and out.

words with friends

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:24:47 -0400

Watching a spanish game show on words. Compañero is a word that means companion or partner. Me gusta tirar ruedas en la basura con mis compañeros de clase - I like to throw tires into the garbage with my classmates. — example

If we break down the word - compañero - we see that:

‘com’ comes from the spanish word ‘compartir’ which means SHARE

and

‘pan’ means ‘bread’

The word ‘Compañero’ comes from combining the spanish words for ‘share’ and ‘bread.’ Whoa?

-Parents on their flight to Spain at this moment. Pray for a safe flight.

-We will stay 2 nights in Jaen, 2 nights in Sevilla, 2 nights in San Sebastian and 2 nights in Madrid. I will try to keep this updated better than normal so you guys can stay updated.

Adios

Some pictures from the last 2 weeks and some random...

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 18:59:34 -0400

Happy Birthday Rosanna

Speed of Spin Boy

Castle walls in cities the coolest

Some pictures from the last 2 weeks and some random experiences:

1- Finally decided to buy lunch during lunch time at school instead of sneaking around in the cafeteria eating bananas and mandarin oranges. Went to the mini-mini grociery store in the tiny 2300 person town of Cambil. Asked for a bar of bread and 8 pieces of sliced sausage. He assured me I didn’t have to pay….We have 3 new Spanish interns at the school doing what we would call ‘internships’ getting ready for their teaching career. One of the guys lives in Cambil too and his parents own a panaderia -bread shop —- We went there the next day and they also made me a sandwich and gave me some sweets without paying. Feelin it

2 - An 8th grader said I looked like this guy from the Jersey Shore.

3 - Marquette lost

4 - My friend Bojie, who I lived with in the fraternity for a few years, came to Jaen to visit. We ate like warriors and celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with my roommates.

5 - Went to Cordoba/Granada with Pieter H and Ryan Anderson. Pieter heading to Canary Islands and then heading home. It was a great run Piet..

Living Small in Jaen

Photo

Summer lovin', had me a blast

Last month

Las ultimas 3 semanas, es decir - Mayo

Tyler's Birthday Present

So I’ve been doing intercambios this whole year —...

"Turn your brain off"

Couple pictures from the past 2 weeks Today in my 1st grade...

¿Plural?

Good morning Nana

Feria de Sevilla

Vaccination Day

Don't even tell me..

Spinach and milk for breakfast? Time to go to the grocery store.

Video

**UPDATED SATURDAY** I had this post about halfway done and...

"Segunda bebida, este chico"

Today in Spain there is a general strike. This is just one photo...

words with friends

Some pictures from the last 2 weeks and some random...

UPDATED SATURDAY I had this post about halfway done and...