The last 7 days have been extremely busy (I mean as busy as Spanish lifestyle allows) and I've loved every minuted of those days. This past week was 'Semana Cultural' as my school. This is a week dedicated to some part of culture. This week it was dedicated to painting, so the students 'studied' famous artists and their work. But mostly it was an excuse to do fun things all week.
After another rainy weekend we started off Tuesday (because Monday we had off of school for some celebrations) with a trip to Parque Moret. A park near our school. We met what would be the equivalent of a playground leader for the park and rec department and they led the students in games and activities (yes I felt a little parks nostalgic) Us teachers stuck around for a while, but then of course we had to go get breakfast and coffee. Wednesday the kids decorated book marks as a fund raiser to sell to their families.
Thursday, oh man, Thursday was the big day. The day of the Picasso play. Now we were all very nervous for this because the last time we had run through it it took 3 hours and the kids were still a little shaky with the English. 5 minutes before the play started the boy who played the blind man hadn't shown up yet so all the kids were freaking out and trying to figure out how to change the scene, but he finally showed up. In the end the play was fantastic! The kids did so well, a few mistakes obviously, but they performed beautifully. I was so proud, and it only took an hour, so they did good. Thursday evening my friend Kacie from Minnesota and I went to the theater. One of my teachers was telling me about this great musical she had seen called ' Hoy no me puedo levantar.' She let me borrow the CDs and told me it was going to be in town. I've been wanting to see a show in Spanish since i've been here and how perfect to see one that is actually Spanish, versus just translated. Perfect that it just happened to be during culture week. It was awesome! We had the best time. It is basically the Spanish version of Rent, but we enjoyed it so much. Totally worth it. On Friday the whole entire school and eveyones family took a trip out to the country (to a park just outside of Huelva.) It was basically just this forest area with pick-nick benches and tables. The minute we got there the teachers started setting up camp and out came the food. We literally ate all day. First we had salads and gazpacho, tortilla, jamon, fish and a few other things. I sat myself down in front of the plate of jamon was ate way to much. Everyone got drinks too, I had finished a beer and was starting on a typical wine drink by noon. When in Spain do as the Spanish do right? Then the guys started cooking presa (a type of pork) on the grill. Being Spanish they can't go a day without their coffee so out came the thermoses of coffee along with the desserts, tables full of desserts. So like I said, I didn't stop eating all day. But I spent my time either with the teachers (eating of course) or playing with the kids. We played at the park, explored in the woods and there was a little river/swamp the kids discovered and had a good time playing in or building bridges over, or any of those other things that can entertain you for hours when you are a kid. Over all a great end to semana cultural.
Something that is happening in Andalucia that you may not know about is the Feria de Sevilla. It's a festival in Seville that is very popular. In this fair ground area of the city they set up tents called Casetas. Most of the Casetas are private, meaning families or neighborhoods own them and the general public can't go in. There are several public tents as well. You eat, and drink and dance in the Casetas and everyone is wearing flamenco dresses, the typical outfits you think of when you think of Spanish culture. It really is awesome to see. On Saturday a few of us decided to check out the Feria. I told my bilingual coordinator I was going and she found a dress for me! So I went to the Feria very feeling very Spanish in my flamenco dress. It was a pretty nice day and we spent the day wonder the Feria and then the streets of Sevilla for the day. It was fun because my friend and myself had dresses and we were just walking around the streets all day wearing them and it was completely normal, it's just such a fun culture! It was a really fun day.
Sunday it was my friend's birthday and she organized a little birthday lunch and day at the beach. It was beautiful weather and we just have a few drinks, ate and hung out at the beach all afternoon. Perfect. It was seriously one of my best weeks here. I had so much fun with my school, at feria and the beach, oh man. May is just a great month in Spain because the weather is nice and there are a lot of fiestas. The Spanish are always celebrating something, especially in May. It was much enjoyed by this American and i'm looking forward to the few I have left.
Hasta luego
Katie
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