Valencia

We spent last weekend visiting some friends in Valencia, which is on the eastern coast of Spain. It is about a 4 hour bus ride from Madrid. Valencia is known for many things - it is the birthplace of paella (Spain's national dish), it has a wonderful "city" of arts and sciences which houses the largest aquarium in Europe as well as a science museum and opera house, and it has one of the biggest festivals in Spain - Las Fallas, where they set stuff on fire! Remember, you can visit our travel blog to get more information on the cities we visit. Here are some of my favorite images from the trip:



These Rodin sculptures usually live in Paris, but I guess they are traveling and they are now in one of the plazas in Valencia.....does anyone recognize "The Thinker?"



Valencia's beach is beeeeeeeeeeeautiful, especially at this time of year.....its cool at night but still very warm during the day, the beaches are pretty deserted, the sunsets are spectacular, there are resort type hotels and restaurants lining the beach and beautiful palm trees everywhere - can someone please have their wedding here and hire me, please???







So I did promise to post some pictures from Aranjuez but we will be returning this weekend for a friends birthday party and some engagement pictures so I will save them so I have some detail shots to mix in with my lovely friends, Rachel and Thomas!

My grandmother

This is my grandmother on my dad's side, isnt she lovely? I love old photographs! There is just something so special about them.

Aranjuez and jewelry shots

Thank you everyone for my happy birthday wishes. I've had a bit of a rough week. We have both been feeling under the weather. We had a pretty good weekend though - Yesterday we went out to Aranjuez to hang out with our friends Rachel and Thomas (the ones that we went to Portugal with). They have a big beautiful apartment and the sweetest little kitty! We walked through the palace gardens and then had some coffee and tea at a little bakery. Then we all cooked a delicious dinner while drinking wine. Rachel made a really yummy eggplant spread. Thomas made AMAZING chicken curry and Martin and I made apple pie! We got back home really late and so today we are just staying home to rest since we are not completely better. Last week I got another class from a language academy that I will be starting on Tuesday. It meets twice a week. And I have started meeting with some other teachers out in Humanes for an intercambio, where we help each other with Spanish and English. So we are staying pretty busy. A few weeks ago I met a girl who is going to photography school here in Madrid and I went into the studio with her one day to practice some lighting. Im leaving you today with some jewelry shots I took. Check back later for some pics from Aranjuez!

Porto, Portugal

So, as I said, we had a long holiday weekend, so we took up an offer from our friends to go with them to Porto, Portugal. We started driving early Saturday morning and stopped in Salamanca, Spain for lunch and some sightseeing. Martin and I had already been there but we enjoyed seeing the beautiful cathedral and Plaza Mayor again. We finally arrived into Porto around 7 in the evening, and after getting settled into our hostels, we roamed around the river front for dinner. We ate so well in Porto!! We all had a delicious dinner, finished off 2 bottles of wine, and had dessert for a fraction of the cost of something similar in the states. On Sunday, we sort of lounged around the city. We went into one of their many cathedrals, but this one is special because it houses the most gold leaf in all of Portugal (could even be all of Europe, Im not sure). It was definitely worth seeing. Most of the day we stayed by the river and drank wine. We went to another side of the city to see the Casa de Musica which is a very avant garde music/concert hall. It was really beautiful and funky inside and I couldnt help but think what a cool place it would be for a wedding reception! Then we walked along the nearby beach and watched the sunset and searched for sea glass. We ended the night with another delicious dinner at a tagine restaurant that we stumbled upon. We layed on the floor on pillows and played cards and drank more of Portugal's yummy vino verde. I highly recommend this city! Enjoy the pictures!

Update

Monday we did not have to work - Columbus Day is Spain's National Day. And since we never work on Fridays, we took off for the weekend with some friends to Porto, Portugal. It was WONDERFUL! I have lots of pictures and details but until I get them ready to share, I wanted to give an update on work and Madrid. I have now worked almost 2 weeks at school and while I still get frustrated daily, it is much much better. I have some kids that are very smart and know and understand very well in English but others haven't got a clue. So it's a bit hard trying to come up with activities suited for both types of children. I try to work one on one with those that are challenged, so hopefully they will get better. I still haven't had any "intercambios" (to practice my Spanish) but I finally have someone who has returned my emails and I think we will start meeting to chat next week. Also, there is a teacher in Humanes who wants to meet after school once or so a week to chat in English and Spanish so I think things in that area are starting to turn around. That is why I am here after all! I met a girl who is going to photography school here in Madrid and on Friday I am going with her to the studio to practice lighting and other techniques. I am so excited!! I think her friendship will be invaluable - that we can help each other with our skills and ideas. I will be working on the pictures from last weekend over the next few days so check back!

Updates from Madrid, plus more pictures from Ireland.

Yesterday was my very first day on the job. It takes me an hour to get out to my school, It is in Humanes de Madrid which is south of the city. I take a train to get out there, its nice though because it gives me a good walk and some reading time. Honestly, my first day was a little disappointing. Our orientation gave us great ideas of things we can do with our students, ways we can help our teachers, all sorts of materials we can create.....but my school has absolutely no techonology. We do have a small computer room but there is no technology in the classrooms - no computers, no overhead projectors, no laminating machines, really no resources for creating materials. About the only thing I have to work with is a CD player. So far I have only met and worked with one of my teachers. I will be working with four different teachers, with several different classes of students. Mostly I am working with 6-8 year olds but I think I do have one class of 5th graders. So Im eager to see how this next week goes, hopefully my other teachers are great and exciting, that my kids are good (bc so far they are very very unruly!), and that I will discover ways to actually make class fun. I will keep everyone updated. In the meantime enjoy the last of the pictures I have from Ireland. These were taken during our little road trip to the Cliffs of Moher and The Burren. It was so beautiful there!!! We are finally able to use our abonos (our monthly metro/bus passes) so we are going to go out into the city today to see all the little neighborhoods we loved last time, to go see an Annie Leibowitz exhibition, go to a comic book signing, and whatever other fun we can find.

Kilkenny, Ireland

Kilkenny was our first stop on our Ireland road trip. We went mainly for the castle but there are also several beautiful churches to see as well.