Trick or Treat! =]

Hello Friends,

We all will be gone for the weekend! One of Riley's friends, Matt, that he met at NYSP (a summer youth program)is coming to pick us up and take us to his house. Matt lives near Tarifa, one of the most southern points in Spain. He worked at the Sotogrande International school last year, and took a year off to play and perform music in California. Fun Fact: Matt's brother is Dominic Monaghan, one of the hobbits (Merry) in the Lord of the Rings movies. We had plans to watch his performance tonight at a local pub and then go to the beach for swimming and surfing tomorrow. However, those plans may need to change due to rain. It seems like our good luck with weather may have run out.

Happy Halloween, have fun tonight friends, stay safe I will be thinking of you! =]

Ronda

Today Tim picked us up early at the house around 9:00. We are becoming best buds with him…=]. We stopped by the bank at Sotogrande Port to pick up some cash for the trip and then went down the street to get a coffee. It was so good, a lot better than the instant de-caf crap that we have been drinking at the house at night when it gets cold. It is amazing how the weather changes from day to day here.

At 10:30 we made our way to a gas station in Torreguardiaro, a small town between our house and Sotogrande Port. I started getting nervous when the bus hadn’t shown up and it was 10:45. Not long after a coach bus pulled up into a parking lot and a British man named David stepped out. He would be our tour guide for the day accompanying Julie for the day. There were about twenty people total going on the tour.

We rode the bus from Todaguardiaro to the train station at Algeciras. This is where we may catch a train if we want to travel to Madrid and Barcelona during Thanksgiving break. I talked to the employee at the train station about the cost and length of a trip to Madrid…in Spanish. I was so proud. Before getting on the train we walked though a Spanish market. This was one of our first real cultural experiences since a lot of the area is actually occupied by the British. The market was very busy and loud, ladies hang on to your purses. We saw some very interesting things, especially in the meat section, not very appetizing looking at whole animals hanging dead from the ceiling. I looked briefly and then decided to walk quickly through the rest of the market with my head down to avoid feeling nauseous.

As we boarded the train on platform four we passed a very large group of soldiers (500 at least)…not sure where they were from.

Our train ride was a little about two hours through the mountains to the town of Ronda. The line opened in 1896 and was built by an English engineer. We made a few stops along the way at small diminutive stations almost all identical. When we got to Ronda we walked through the town and looked at the beautiful scenery. We stopped to take pictures of the old architecture and statues including the bull statue outside the bullfighting ring! After eating lunch at a café we walked through the town over the Puente Nuevo y Puente Roman (old and new bridges in the city). The town streets are uneven cobblestone and very narrow, not a fun place to drive, or wear stilettos!

Around five o’clock we made our way back and rode by coach home. David, our tour guide was hilarious, cracking jokes and narrating the entire two hour drive home. One of his jokes was that when people thought the world was still flat if you sailed between the two large rocks out at sea (Gibraltar and Africa) you would fall off the edge of the earth and go to hell….now you just go to America.

After listening to his narration, my brain was exhausted from soaking in all of the information he had to provide about little towns, landmarks along the way and Spanish history. I learned that Spain produces 25% of the world’s olives and olive oil. I also learned how olives are picked and how extra virgin, virgin, and regular olive oil is processed. I would love to go to an olive orchard/factory for a tour. We also learned that 75% of the worlds cork comes from the cork oak trees in Spain and Portugal alone. The tour was great, I am learning so much about Spanish culture and history.

Estapona at Night and Work Day

Last night (Tuesday) Dawn, Riley, Brittany and I tried our luck with the bus system again. We took the 8:00 bus to Estapona to try and find a place for dinner/entertainment. I talked to two Spanish men on the bus and tried to get information on good places to go in Estapona. We found a nice Italian style restaurant for dinner, I had penne carbonara, it was very good. After dinner we walked along the strip, there were a few people out an about. We went into a pub that was playing some American music. Once in there we found out that there was going to be a live band. Two men played guitar/bongos…it was traditional style Spanish music/Flamenco, they were pretty good. We were entertained by a man dancing wearing a red fleece. He was attempting to get anyone around to dance with him, and wasn’t having much luck. A group of older ladies entered the pub later and I met a 67 year old party animal. ;) I had a really hard time understanding her but later found out that she was from Ireland. Immediately we entered political conversation. She did not have very nice things to say about the Republican Party, it was very entertaining.

Today we woke up late, I experimented with laundry. There are so many unfamiliar dials, but I think everything turned out alright. The drier wasn’t working so well so I ended up air drying most things.

Later on Brittany and I walked down to the pool area. She worked on some standards/her Student Impact Project while I did some speed agility drills and stretched. (Have to make sure I’m ready when I get back for softball season). The weather here has been cooler lately, about 60 degrees F, so it was too chilly to go into the pool. If it warms up again some day soon I will definitely go for a swim.

When we got back to the house we made mashed potatoes and salad for dinner. I really need to figure out our grill. Hot dogs, and hamburgers are alright on the stove, but they could be so much better!

After dinner, we decided to watch a movie. Riley thought it would be fun for us to all write which movie we wanted to watch on a piece of paper and draw it from a hat….the majority would win. We all gave him a hard time, because if majority wins there was no need to draw from a hat. But I guess this is how we entertain ourselves. The four movies that we had to choose from were: Memoirs of a Geisha, Dodgeball, Hook, and Shawshank Redemption. Memoirs of a Geisha “won.”

I set up a tour tomorrow for the five of us plus Tim to go to Ronda by an old fashion train that was built over 100 years ago. We will see mountain scenery by train with villages and Victorian stations. Once in Ronda we will explore the old Moorish town, including the 18th century bridge over El Tajo Gorge. We should get back around dinnertime. By dinner time I mean normal American dinnertime 6-7, not Spanish dinnertime, 10-12.

Estapona

After using the internet at Flaherty's we made our way back along the beach to the bus stop at 5:15. We weren't exactly sure what time the bus would come but the waitress thought maybe 6:00 or 6:30. It was kind of a long wait. We passed the time by playing around with our walkie talkies (yes we were only about five feet away) and people watching, which we took to a whole new level. The game was -- watch people walk by across the street and play "conversation game" between two individuals or a group of people or start singing a song in your head that reminded you of them. Song titles included: Brittney Spears "Hit me Baby One more Time", Nancy Sinatra "These boots were made for Walkin" and "Mambo Italiano" Terrible, I know, but it passed the time.

While at the bus stop, a man, his wife and two kids asked us if we were the Americans working at Sotogrande International, from MN. We said yes, and he introduced himself as one of the PE teachers (Kevin) that Riley would be working with at the school. I guess we still stick out here, sad.

The bus came by just as Brittney at I were going to ask someone at the general store for a bus schedule at about 6:30.

The next morning Kevin offered to pick us up at our house and take us to Estapona to look around. We met Tim there and he took us for ice cream. It was so good, some of the best ice cream I have ever had...it put DQ and Cold Stone to shame. Estapona is about 30 minutes away from Sotogrande and the population is around 100,000? There are lots of shops, bars, restaurants there, but most of them were closed for siesta (nap time) from 2-5. It was a nice day out so we walked along the beach and met for a drink at a restaurant.

We talked with Kevin and his wife, Lisa, who also works at the school as an English teacher for the middle years program. We are all very excited to start working at the school, it sounds like it is going to be an amazing experience.



When we got home I made hamburgers, salad, and bruchetta for Brittany and I. I think I am going to get more practice cooking here than at home.

Where We Live...=]

The Group before Leaving the Minneapolis Airport

First Few Days in Spain

Hello Friends,
Brittany, Riley, Dawn, Annika, and I made it safely to Sotogrande, Spain. We arrived late Friday night. We were picked up at the airport in a big blue van by Pippa, an employee at the International School. The flights were not too bad, first we flew to Chicago and then to London (about 7 hours). We had a 5 hour layover in London that was brutal, but I managed to sleep for about 2 of those hours. Our flight from London to Malaga, Spain was only about three hours, and the bus ride to Sotogrande was one hour. Not too bad after the nightmare trip to get to Australia when we were traveling for about three days. At the end of the trip we looked good!

The house we are staying at is amazing. We have four bedrooms and three bathrooms. I will post pictures as soon as we get internet at the house.

Yesterday Tim, a math teacher at the school picked us up and showed us around Sotogrande. We went to the port and walked around the beach. Since Sotogrande is a popular summer vacation area there are not too many people here, however, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie just bought a house here. We are pretty excited and hoping they will stop by for a visit at the school =].

We also went to a large Wal-Mart type store to get groceries, shampoo, the necessities. I practiced some Spanish with the cashier but only managed "how much" - cuanto questa, and "thank you" - gracias. I'll keep at it...

For dinner Tim took us to a place where we had tapas, they are kind of like appetizers, very good. Not exactly sure what we ate, but something is telling me I don't really want to know... ;)

When we got home we were ready for bed.

Today I woke up and went for a run outside. I was on a mission to find a Fitness center that I had been seeing signs for, but after running up and down hills for about 3 miles, I turned back. The run was beautiful though, amazing houses, we are staying in a very wealthy area. Also about 1 mile away is the golf course where the Volvo Masters is taking place. Today was the Championships.

At the house we are experimenting with a Spanish kitchen. Riley is doing most of the work. We had pasta and I attempted to cook some hot dogs in the microwave. I didn't know that it could be so confusing, but after messing around with 3-4 dials and letting them cook for about 6 min, they were warm. Pretty sure they would have exploded by this time in an American microwave.

At 2:50 we walked about 10 minutes to the bus station. We rode the bus for 2 Euros to Sotogrande port. Right now we are using Wi-Fi internet at a bar called Flaherty's. There is a futball game inside right now so there are a lot of people around.

If it is a nice day tomorrow we are hoping to take the bus all the way to Estapona (40 min maybe). Estapona is a larger town with more people, apparently a nicer beach, and shops/stores/restaurants.

SPAIN

I have decided to create a blog page for family and friends to view while I am away student teaching in Sotogrande, Spain - October 23-December 17 2008. I am currently in my first student teaching placement in Cleveland, MN in a second grade classroom but am eagerly anticipating my abroad placement. Brittany, Annika, Dawn, Riley and I leave in 21 days and counting...=)