Semana Santa: Anticipation with Participation

¡Buenos días a tod@s!

As the everyone in the Jumillan community were waiting anxiously for the arrival of Semana Santa (Holy Week) 2011, I really wasn´t sure what to anticipate, but I sure was curious.  This year was the 600th anniversary of the celebration of Semana Santa so I made sure that I would be staying in Jumilla for the entirety of the 'Holy Week'.  Each procession represents a different event between the death of Christ and his resurrection. Below is a typical 'imagen' that around 20-30 people would carry on their shoulders.  Totally awesome.

A calling from Jesús...
It just so happens to be that a friend of mine named Jesús has marched in the processions about every year, so he has an authentic costume passed down through his family.  He mentioned that he has the stamp to be a legitimate part of the procession and he said he wasn't going to march this year and asked if I'd like to dress up and march in the procession on Thursday evening of Semana Santa.  If you know me, you know exactly how I responded...''¡¿Joder tío, me dices en serio?  Me encantaría salir!'' (excuse the language)  Wow! This is amazing, I never imagined I would actually march in a procession, ever!  I marched as a Nazareno, or Capurucho, in the Hermandad de Cristo amarrado a la columna.  It ended up hailing and raining a lot this year and unfortunately they had to cancel several processions and resulted in about 80% of all the 'imagenes' needing restauration.  Luckily after an hour rain delay we were able to march and right as we got to the end it started to pour!

The experience was unforgettable.  I was pretty nervous at the beginning because of the unique experience, oh and the whole 600 year anniversary thing!  The part I enjoyed the most is when giving people some treats, speaking them in broken Spanish or if it was my students or their families, I threw out a 'Hello!'.  Their faces lit up and immediately asked me about it the first day back at class.  Nonetheless a great experience for everyone! If you ever get asked to 'salir en una procesión' please take my word and do it, you won't regret it!

See you soon!

"ch ch ch ch changes"

"When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves."  ~Victor Frankl 

Greetings everyone!

I hope this quote has got you thinking, perhaps about the most recent change you've seen in yourself or even a change in your situation: family, friends, significant other, work, location, recent news, an important decision, or maybe it was that David Bowie song from the early 70's...etc..  Now I challenge you to think about how it will affect you now, in ten days, ten weeks, ten months and ten years.  Or if you're thinking about something from a long time ago, contemplate how it affected you in that moment, ten days after, ten weeks, ten months, ten years and finally how it affects you today.

The reason I bring this all up is because my most recent situational change happened this past Thursday when I moved in to a new flat with a friend.  The reason I decided to leave my previous flat was because my roommate's wine production class had finished and he moved back to Murcia capital to live with his girlfriend and I quickly realized that it wouldn't be economically optimal to live there alone, especially on my salary.  So i packed up my things and headed out for a new adventure living with a very social friend in the center of Jumilla. 

I know this will evoke changes in me which is why I'm so excited about the change.  I've come to appreciate change more and more as I add more years to my saga.  It could be because I simply like variety or maybe it's because I enjoy challenging myself and other people, of course; or maybe it's because I know all situational changes bring out changes in ourselves...or maybe I think too much sometimes.

One more thing.  I've decided to renew the grant to teach again next year and I had an incredibly difficult time deciding if I'd like to stay here in Jumilla for another year or move to another one of Spain's seventeen autonomous communities.  I finally decided I'd like to lace up the boots and move westward to the Region of Andalucía.  I was able to choose the region but not the city, so like many others I am anxiously awaiting to find out where I will be teaching for the upcoming schoolyear!

Let's see what tomorrow has in store for us!

Show and Tell

¡Hola a tod@s, cuanto tiempo!  De hecho ha sido demasiado, y por eso pongo unas fotos para enseñaros como he estado viviendo estos últimos meses. ¡Qué las disfrutáis mucho!

Hey everyone!  It's been way too long,  so I'd like to share a few photos with you illustrating what I've been up to these last few months.  Hope you all enjoy them!

Strolled along playa Calblanque (Murcia)

Trekked up Monte de las Cenizas (Murica) for a stunning view

Looked out from a bunker used in the Spanish Civil War and WWII

Gazed at the Mar Menor and la Manga (Murcia)

Relaxed on my roof for a sunset in Jumilla

Tried arroz con conejo

Nibbled on delicious desserts

Admired Valencian architecture.

Prepared home-made garlic chicken, vegetable and rice soup.

Experienced breathtaking sunsets

Enjoyed Christmas Dinner in Mellieha (Malta)

...a lot of Christmas Dinner

Received a Christmas present from my hotel

Conquered the tricky trot towards the sea

Boarded a ferry to Gozo (Malta)

Observed a Christmas rehearsal in Mdina (Malta)

Ascended to Parc Güell (Barcelona)

Roamed around the Château de Versailles (France)

Celebrated the new year at La Basilique du Sacré Coeur de Montmartre (Paris)

Passed under la Tour Eiffel

Explored La Louvre

Wandered down the Champs Elysées and layed eyes on the Arc de Triomphe

Devoured plenty of crêpes in Paris

Approached Notre Dame

Drank redbull that was in french

Made arroz tres delicias 

Mounty's luggage was lost in Amsterdam en route to Barcelona

Hiked up Santa Ana (Jumilla)

Scoped out Jumilla from a different perspective

Paid our respects to those who died at Auschwitz-Birkenau

Ate pierogi in Krakow (Poland)

Crafted open-faced burgers

Had lots of leftovers :)

I hope you all enjoyed the show and are all doing very well!  Miss yuh!

Un abrazote

¿Cómo estás tú, how are you?

Hola a todos!

How's everyone doing out there?

I've been living in Spain for about two months now and I can honestly say I haven't been bored once.  As of now, I assist teachers for 12 classes, teach six of my own classes and have two private lessons every week.  The ages range from six to seven for the classes in Miguel Hernández, six to eleven in my own classes and fourteen to sixteen for the lessons.  The kids are great!  I have 35 students of my own and over 80 other students in the classes I assist at Miguel Hernández.  It's interesting working with such a wide range of ages, from the kids to the teachers I assist, because you get a distinct perspective from each individual.  Everyone at the school has been extremely helpful and welcoming.

A few weekends ago, Maite, the head of studies at Miguel Hernández, invited me to go to El Campello, Alicante with her and her family.  I excitedly said "I'd love to!"  It is just over an hour drive from Jumilla and it is a gorgeous area right on the Mediterranean Sea.  I was able to try Paella with seafood, a typical valencian dish, for the first time and I loved it.  We of course ate much more amazing food and were quite stuffed by the end of the meal.  We decided to take a stroll on the beach after eating and it was about 75, sunny and beautiful in NOVEMBER!  Below is a view of the city of El Campello in the background.

 

At the beginning of November, Jumilla hosted its fifth annual week of gastronomy!  What does this mean?  In Lehman's terms it means we ate amazing food and drank great wine.  About 20 bars in Jumilla participated and all served tapas and wine for a two-euro package.  If you're curious what tapas are, click here.  We typically ate way more tapas than we drank wine, so it was always very inexpensive.  Also another teacher, Pepe, invited me to "tapear" with him, his wife and friends and of course I said yes.  We ate at a Restaurante San Agustín and it was incredible.  I love going out to eat with locals because they know what's good and here they usually know the owner!  Also the language practice is pricelss and everytime it is a great experience!


Since I have been in Jumilla I have met some incredible people and made some great friends.  I have also changed flats and moved closer to the center of Jumilla. There is an extra bedroom with an extra mattress as well!  The apartment  has heat, I have my own bathroom in my bedroom and a view from my bedroom patio door of the Castle that boasts more than 2,000 years of History!  When you arrive in Jumilla the castle overlooks the entire city and at night the scene is especially dramatic.  Below is a photo of the old city entrance and the castle in the background.  This is the entrance to all the old houses in Jumilla and strolling around that neighborhood gives you an interesting perspective on housing.  It's also a great workout taking a hike through that neighborhood and up to the castle because all of the roads are quite steep and narrow, like you think of San Francisco, CA.

Please feel free to comment.

Let's go, let's go! Teacher, Teacher!

Greetings all,

Who would have thought that a passion for Spanish and its cultures would help so many others learn English?  Maybe it was naive to think that when I first realized how much I loved learning a different language and how much culture fascinated me, that I was doing it for myself in order to better my Spanish language skills.  Quickly I've realized that doing this program has evoked something inside me, something very eager to share everything I have to offer to every human being.

Now I've been in Spain for ten days, five in Madrid and five in Jumilla, and it has been extremely heart-warming and life-enriching.   "Why? You've only been there for less than two weeks and you have thirty-five more to go."  For me it's simply because i'm doing exactly what I want, help people.

I found an owner of a flat that wanted to rent out two rooms because her roommates had recently moved out and she is a student at the moment and not working.  It all worked out way better than expected, the flat is brand new and very modern with laundry and hot water :)  Maite (leader of the bilingual program at Miguel Hernández) and her husband picked me up from the train station in Villena, Valencia.  They are incredibly nice people and took me to my apartment building where Ana, the owner of the flat, was waiting outside, eager to meet me.  Ana then took me to Aldi and Mercadona, two grocery stores very close to the flat, to buy some food so I could eat the next few days.  Here is a photo of our living room with the door to the balcony in the back right!  The other roommate is a gentleman that lives in Murcia capital and is taking wine production classes here in Jumilla.  We've decided I will help teach him English with an emphasis in wine and he will teach me what he learns in his class in Spanish.  The next day Maite invited me to go with them to a festival in Fuente de Pino (a small pueblo outside of the city of Jumilla, but still within the municipality of Jumilla) and we wandered around there and did some wine tasting where we were able to taste five different types of wine and keep the huge wine glass for only 1 euro!  They then ivited me back to their house to have dinner with them and watch some futból.

This Tuesday I started teaching my own classes in the afternoon.  On Monday I told the teachers in the school that I was interested in teaching my own classes and that day they made flyers for the kids to take home to their parents.  The rate is twenty euros per month per student and there are two, one-hour classes each week.  There are about 13-14 students as of now with ages ranging from 7 to 11 years old.  If anymore students decide they want to participate in the classes I will definitely break the group up and have two classes every Tuesday and Thursday.  I started the last class with writing "Why are we here?" on the board.  They were a bit confused so I wrote three answers to why we were there.  They were 1) To learn English, 2) To share cultures, and 3) To have fun!  I'm going to start every class off with these written on the board until the students can orally tell me the reasons why we are having this class.  I give my second class this afternoon so it should go a bit smoother.

This weekend I'm going to Cartagena to visit a few friends I met at the orientation in Madrid last week!

Why "Pura Vida en España"?

Hola a todos,

You're probably wondering what the story is behind this blog title.  First, let's start with the literal translation, as most of you know it reads "Pure Life in Spain".  But what does this mean?  With all of your creative, imaginary minds I'm positive you've all come up with your own vision and definition of "pure life" and I won't contaminate those with thoughts of my own.  

Why "pura vida"?  The reason I chose this phrase is because it is very common in Costa Rica, where I lived and studied for four months in the Spring of 2008.  Costa Rica is where I became passionate about speaking Castillian (Spanish) and learning about different cultures.  It is also where I became a costa rican (costaricense), or tico for short and learned the meaning of "pura vida".  I have to thank my host family for that, as they were amazing hosts and welcomed me into their lives and home.  I view that experience as an "awakening" of who I am as a person and what I want out of life.  Therefore as I begin a new adventure here in Spain, where I will learn all about myself, other people and life, I thought it was fitting to tie "pura vida" into this experience, as it is a continuation on the road of life.

I arrived in Spain yesterday, the 27th of September, and stayed up till about 10pm local time so I could adjust to the time change easiest. 

Well, it's a beautiful day in Madrid and I have some exploring to do!  :)

English language and cultural assistant in Spain 2010-2011

On January 3rd, 2010 I applied online for the position of an English language and cultural assistant in Spain for the 2010-2011 school year and now seven months later, after a long and slow process filled with many uncertainties, I have booked my flight to Spain!  I have been placed in Jumilla, a town of 25,000 inhabitants in the northeastern part of the region of Murcia, in southeastern Spain.  Jumilla is home to the world's largest photovoltaic solar power farm, consisting of 120,000 solar panels with a total annual production that would be the equivalent of the energy used by 20,000 homes.  Along with this farm, Jumilla boasts many vineyards and is famous for their fantastic wines.


We start out with a three day orientation at a very nice hotel in Madrid before we begin "working".  This should be a great opportunity to meet other folks that will be in my same region and also to gain insight on how everything works out.  According to the teachers I will be working with, I will help out in the classroom being an assistant in teaching 6 and 7 year olds Science and Art in English!  Our contract says that we will work 12 hours a week and that there will be plenty of time to enjoy our stay abroad.  I'm really looking forward to the pure immersion experience I will have in a town like Jumilla! 


 I have a few friends, Matt and Liz, that will be going to País Vasco, in the northern part of Spain and I definitely will visit them some point during the program.  Also a friend from SDP, Chelsea, will be heading to Castilla y León and I hope to make a trip up that way as well.  Before the program starts I am going to visit my friend, Toni, who will be living in Queens, NY!  Looking forward to getting a little taste of NY and NYC before leaving the country for nine months.


I also want to thank Pablo Hoff and Carter Smith, two Spanish professors that have helped me throughout my college career, my friends for always wanting to hang out and maybe even speak some Spanish, and most importantly my family, who has helped me out in so many ways for me to be able to make this dream come true...and for putting up with my random speaking spanish to them.  THANK YOU!!!!!