Trip Home = Quite the Adventure

Well, up until it was time to leave, we hadn't had any major problems during our trip. But, it seemed as if Bernardo's wish (to stay in Spain longer) was coming true...

When we got to the Jerez airport at 7am the morning of the 17th to leave, we discovered that our flight to Madrid that morning had been canceled (even though I had confirmed the itinerary online that morning). After much phone calling (Since the SpanAir agent wouldn't arrive at the airport until 10am and the information desk lady was of no help) Delta switched us to a later SpanAir flight (waving the $500 per person fee to switch!) But, we still needed to wait 5 hours in Jerez, and then overnight in Madrid since we'd miss our connecting flight to Atlanta. So, we spent the night in Madrid. We stayed at a Hotel near the airport, and then we went sightseeing in Madrid... I showed everyone Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor, Palacio Real, El Prado, El Parque Retiro, la Plaza de Toros, etc. We even ate dinner at Doner Kabobs! Everyone enjoyed getting a peak at Madrid during our unexpected layover.

There were no snags with our new flight to Atlanta the next day. We met up with my parents and my sister (who surprised me by coming) to say hello at the Atlanta airport. They came bearing a birthday cake, a welcome home sign, and drinks for everyone. I can't say I have ever had a birthday party in an airport with my family and my students before!! :)

Once we finally got confirmed seats on the flight to Norfolk, we thought we would be home soon. In fact, we arrived in Norfolk, and were told that we were preparing to land. Ten minutes later, they came on the PA and told us that we were not, in fact, about to land. Instead, we would be rerouting to Raleigh-Durham to refuel due to tornado warnings/storms in Norfolk. Everyone had to wait an extra 3 hours at the Norfolk airport for us to arrive last night!

Thanks to everyone who waited for us, and thanks once again to Bernardo, Diego, Sergio, Benito, Emilia, and Tomás for an amazing trip. You guys were all so good-natured about everything (and Emilia seemed to love the various turns our "adventure" took). Tomás even got one of the planes to announce my birthday :) It was a wonderful trip, and I hope everyone is getting some much needed rest, after being up for 24 hours straight yesterday!

Manana- los Estados Unidos!

Our last night... we made a huge paella together at MundoLengua. Everyone contributed- you should have seen Thomas chopping tomatoes, Diego, Sergio and Emilia cutting up seafood, Benito chopping vegetables, and Bracey acting as master chef and stirring the whole pot. It was fun, and yummy!
We leave for the airport at 6am tomorrow morning - from Jerez, we fly to Madrid, then Atlanta, then Norfolk. See you soon!

Last Day

Bittersweet. the only word to describe it. i dont want to leave. Tonight im gonna party it up Cadiz style with Emmet and deprive myself of sleep as long as i can.

Last Day in Cadiz

So today is our last day in Cadiz and its definitly bitter-sweet. This trip has been sooo much fun and I have definitly learned a lot!! My teacher has been really nice and is a really good teacher. Also all the site seeing has been very informative and all the architecture is beautiful. I will also definitly miss my senora, who has been very nice and feeds us soooo much food, and my roomate Ashley, who has been sooo much fun to hang out with. Anyway today was our last day of school and we went to the market to look around and buy some stuff for the paella that we are making tonight. It was fun but the smell of raw fish and meat and spices and fruit mixed together was not a good combination. Then, when we returned from that we were going to watch a movie but there were some technical difficulties so we ended up playing games for the rest of class, which was realy fun. And for our last free time on our last day, most of us are going to the beach!!! Then tonight we have a cooking class where we are going to make paella!!!! I hope its good!! Anyway I am now off to my last meal with my family. This was most definitly and GREAT trip and I can´t wait to tell everybody the details!!

El ultimo dia en Cadiz...

Well, today is our last day in Cadiz... we leave for the Jerez airport at 6am tomorrow morning. I have really enjoyed the trip - exploring a new city, eating tapas, chatting with my family, and teaching and watching as Bernardo, Sergio, Diego, Emilia, Benito, y Tomas learned about the Spanish language and culture. I think my only complaint about the trip is how hot my room is when I´m trying to go to sleep at night, as there isn´t air conditioning... otherwise, MundoLengua has done a great job of organizing activities, classes, and homestay families for us.

Yesterday afternoon, we met up with Senora Lopez, her mom, and her daughter. Everyone really enjoyed meeting her mom, who seemed to especially enjoy talking to Bernardo. We sat and had refrescos while everyone caught Sra. Lopez up on everything we´ve done during the trip. Then, Sra. Lopez took us to "one of the best pastelerias in Cadiz," where we tried "Pan de Cadiz." We also enjoyed some napolitanas (Benito is addicted) and other sweets. It was a lot of fun to see Sra. Lopez, and to meet her mom (who is a walking libro de recetas!)

We also had our "goodbye lunch" yesterday with David Hirsch, the director of MundoLengua. He took us to a restaurant on the beach called "La Arana," where we had lots of tapas - patatas alinadas, lomo (with blue cheese sauce), croquetas, and paella! Tomas won the prize for eating almost all of the random seafood in the paella.

I´m off for a quick run, then to observe classes (in one of the classes, they´re watching a scary movie this afternoon). Tonight, we all make paella together in a GIANT paella pan. Should be fun! Hasta Pronto!

-Sra. Ligler

cadiz day 9

Alright its been a long weeken with a trip to sevilla which is a much larger city with alot to see however it was hot im talking about 40-45 degrees celsius. the food still good and im looking forward to my last two days although i will be sad to leave.

Second to last day...

I think im gonna cry when i leave. last night was so much fun. i went out with Emmet and some friends and then we went to the beach for a bit. it was awesome. but that night...my family and i stayed up til 3 am talking about political issues and government all in spanish. we were yelling, looking thingsup on the computer, etc. it was fun. today was pretty normal school and we went to the market i brought some gifts.

im sad that this trip is almost over. i will miss spain very much. To Mrs. Gach-Sanin: wish you would have told me that earlier and thomas found a shirt with my handwriting on it.

Sevilla!

We arrived at the Hotel Don Paco in Sevilla yesterday morning, and I immediately realized that it was the same hotel that I stayed in when I went to Sevilla during study abroad several years ago... What a coincidence! We spent day 1 exploring Sevilla with our guide Enrique. My favorite parts were paddle boating in the Rio Guadalquivir, and seeing the Alcazar (which I don´t remember from before). However, it was blazing hot in Sevilla, even though we stopped a ton for cold drinks and ice cream (Benito bought at least 7 bottles of apple juice!) Today, Enrique took us to the Plaza de Espana - Sevilla´s Plaza de Espana is awesome. We also walked through the Barrio Santa Cruz, with its narrow streets, shops, and a yummy place where we had tapas for lunch (everyone really likes patatas bravas y paella). Later, we went to the Catedral and climbed the Giralda. We were pretty tired out from the heat and walking, and I think everyone is taking a nap now before we go to see a movie.

¿Donde debo empezar?

Where should i start? Well, after our flamenco class on friday we were about to go to the festival but instead decided to get tapas and explore the old city some more. It was a good decision. the tapas were delicious but unforunately we didnt get to visit the cathedral even through we sprinted there, only to our dismay that in was in fact closed. In one of the tapas bars we visited we met a mundolengua teacher. After exploring the old city we took a long walk on the beach. it was beautiful. I took off my shoes, slung them over my shoulder and (as emma would say) frolicked through the water. after that we sat in a bar and had a drink or two and then i hightailed it home for some much needed rest.
The next day we were off to Sevilla. we arrived there and immediatly began our tour with our guide Enrique. he took us to the river where we paddle boated (mur divertido). later we went to the palacio alzacar, a stunning edifice of arab and christian architecture. It was like something out of Assassin's Creed or the prince of persia. that night emilia and i wander around sevilla for hours, soaking up the local's way of life. we also took a carriage ride after i failed to rent a bike :P We returned to the hotel and spent the rest of the night playing cards, watching interesting and extremely informative television programming etc
Sunday we visited the plaza españa, a large monument to sevilla's once great power in trade with the americas. afterwards we explored the Barrios santa cruz and ate lunch in a small restuarant. i bought a guitar after lunch and played it to the delight (dismay) of passerbys and those in my group. we finally visited the cathedral which i had been dying to see since we arrived in sevilla. it was stunning. we climbed the 36 ramps up to the top of the tower and had a stunning view of sevilla for miles.
now im back in cadiz and dreading wednesday (when we have to leave :( ) but still enjoying to the fullest all the spanish lifestyle has to offer. my accent has been perfected, or should i say perfe"th"ted?

Weekend in Sevilla

So we just got back from Sevilla and it was really fun. We did a ton of walking and it was really really calor (hot)! The Cathedral was muy bonito and climbing the tower was divertido! Oh and we went paddle boating, which was really fun....and went on a horse carrriage ride around the city. Anyway this weekend was definitely a lot of fun, and now i have to go back to my señora´s house and eat dinner and then we´re off to the movies!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday Night

Ahhh.... a chair :) I just sat down to post quickly before we leave for Cadiz. Today we toured the Plaza de España and the cathedral. They were both amazing! The cathedral was huge and we climbed the bell tower, which had ramps all of the way up instead of stairs. It was really cool but now we are headed back for Cadiz. Tomorrow we are supposed to go to the market, and then possibly meet up with Señora Lopez.
Adios for now!

Yesterday afternoon, we had our ¨sevillanas¨class, a type of flamenco dancing. I must admit, we were all (well, maybe not Bernardo) a little afraid of the class, and several people even asked me if we could skip it.... But, we ended up having a great time. The teacher was good, and although the dance was rather complicated, everyone did well. It was quite fun - see pictures above. Later on, we were supposed to go to the Feria de Chiclana, a big festival in honor of Saint Antonio (where they apparently dance the sevillana). Unfortunately, we would´ve had to wait 45 minutes for the bus to come, take the bus for 45 minutes, and then only have an hour at the festival to make it back for curfew. So, we went for more tapas and helado (ice cream) instead. I enjoyed trying more tapas and sitting in the Plaza de Minas and having helado. This morning, I´m off to get churros with Tomas y Benito (maybe others?) and then we´re off to Sevilla. It´ll take us an hour and a half on the bus to get there, and we´re staying the night in a hotel. Should be fun!

SPAIN ON VIERNES

HOLA! We´re having a great time in Spain! I have been trying spanish food my senora makes and my favorite was the chicken paella (rice dish). It was really good! Yesterday we went to the beach and then played volleyball on the beach. I was on a team with all of the girls from Charlotte and we were against Bracey & his team. We went out for Tapas afterward and I got to try some more spanish dishes. They were pretty good and we got home pretty late. Today Emma, Shane, Ashley, and I made the trek to Cortes Ingles and I bought some shorts. Then we came back to school for a flamenco lesson and that was...interesting... especially with our uneven ratio of guys to girls... haha Now we are headed to the bus to the Fair and tomorrow we´re off to Sevilla! Adios for now!

¡No me digas!

¿Q pasa?
yesterday we had tons of fun at the beach and i have an amazing tan. we played voleibol (to tell u how it was...well lets just say dan and i were the best on the court). we also went to get tapas in the old city. La gorda te da de comer was the best place. When i got home i spent a halarious evening with my family as they explained what "la gorda te da de comer" really means, among other things. the explainations were complete with acting. I laughed til my sides hurt. Today, we played taboo in spanish....muy interesante. im learning shanish very rapidly, but unfornutnately i think my english is getting worse. at times i cant recall english words but i dont worry cause that just means im beginning to think more like a spaniard. after class we went to do a cultural exchange between our mundolengua class and the english class of the spanish school. it was great craic (very fun :) ). afterwards i returned to my house and ate and took a long siesta, so long i slept through part of the flamenco class that i was supposed to attend. Flamenco was fun but difficult. my accent is getting better day by day. Why can´t i stay here forever?

cadiz day 6

I got hit by a heineken truck.........

La Playa y Tapas!

Yesterday afternoon, everyone went to the beach to relax, since we´ve been walking like crazy the past few days. At 7, we had to meet up at McDonald´s for beach games with MundoLengua... voleibol, futbol, etc. After beach games, we decided to go out for Tapas. We went to a couple places - Our favorite place was called "La Gorda Te Da De Comer." Every two people ordered a tapa, and then we passed them all around to try. Sergio liked his Senora´s paella so much that he ordered it as a tapa... it was then that he realized that most people make paella not with chicken, but with shrimp (& other seafood). The expression on his face looking at the shrimp with its eyes in tact was great!

today my class got to meet a spanish class. they were very nice. to Mrs. Gach-Sanin: yes there was a girl in the and yes i did talk to her

Espana, dia 5

¡Hola! ¿Que tal?
yesterday was probably the best day so far. We walked all through the old city of Cadiz and had Telepizza, which was the greasiest (but delicious) pizza i´ve ever had. i got some helado (ice cream) later and enjoyed it in one of the plazas. life here seems to pass slowly, as though the people dont have a care in the world. ¨"no te preocupes" (dont worry) is the phase i would use to describe Cadiz. sitting in the sunny open-air plaza i know why spainards use this phrase so often. the breeze at my back, the sun on my face, and the murmur of a fountain captivate u. I dont want to leave.
Later that day we walked through a beautiful park and then saw an ancient castle located in the sea, connected to the mainland by a long stone walkway. the sights were beautiful . i wanted to jump in the clear blue water but settled to merely sit on the rocks and try to rid myself of the accursed farmer´s tan. we also visited the Torre Tavira, a tower used to sight ships back when cadiz was a trading superpower. u could see the whole city. it was breathtaking.
More later
Bracey

Cadiz day 4

yesterday we got out to the castillo de san sebastian it was beutiful the water is so blue here. we also went by genova park wich is this amazing park in the old city with caves and waterfalls almost like the citys own private jungle. yesterday afternoon we went to a tower that gave an amazing view of the city there was also a camera like mechanism that operated by projecting light off a mirror onto a white surface creating a crystal clear picture of the city.