BLUE

3 Musketeers

October 20, 2009

Yesterday was my birthday, and what a day it was.

The day started promptly at midnight when I got a text message saying that I had a voicemail. The last three times i received this text the voicemail was static and i had no idea who called me so this time i ignored it. I couldn't sleep the entire night. Every time I would wake up I would check the clock and only an hour would have passed. I'm not sure why I was having sleep problems because normally I want to get a good nights sleep the night of the birthday, but this was not the case. When the clock finally hit 8am i got up and spent a little more time than usual getting ready. I wanted to look nice so i wore a dress and did my hair. I also brought a huge piece of my birthday cake (which i purchase myself) for Pocho and Ana. The past week the weather has been hot and in the 80s, today it decided to be fall. I was cold and rainy but i still wore my dress. As i walked to school all the kids i passed would look at the cake and their eyes would get big. haha Not for you!

When I got to school I quickly started the internet because I wanted to check my emails as soon as possible because i had a full day of school. After Pocho came in I gave her the cake and she wished me happy birthday and any teacher she met in the hallway she would point out that it was my special day. First up for the day was my favorite grade, 1st grade. I had to retrieve flashcards from another teacher and when I reentered the classroom the teacher had signaled the kids to starts singing Happy Birthday to me. SOooooo cute. Already a good start to the day. After a hectic class of running around and helping the kids start a new unit of Food is was off to the second 1st grade class. After repeating the same lesson i had a short break to check my emails again. (THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO SENT ME AN ECARD, EMAIL, FB POST, MESSAGE, AND PHONE CALL (you know who you are :D) MUCH LOVE TO ALL). Next i had art with Inma and the 4th graders and then the rest of the time i worked on my Living Things poster, planned out my tutoring sessions for the day, and caught up on my news.

As i said goodbye to Pocho she said she wanted to do something special for my birthday on Thursday so I'm really looking forward to that. I quickly power-walked home for it was starting to rain. I made myself an AMAZING lunch and watched the news and some random tv for a while. Since I had finished planning out my sessions i had some time to kill so i decided to take a siesta. I was out like a log and didn't wake up for another 2 hours. When i woke, it was POURING out. I had to walk to my tutor session, which was one of the farther ones, in a literal MONSOON. I had my raincoat on top of my backpack because i was carrying my laptop and didn't want it to get wet. But it was too bulky to zip close so i had to clip it close with a hair clip (it didn't work). Next my hair was down so i tried to contain it in my hood but it just went all over the place because of the wind. I was also carrying another slice of my cake for the girls i tutor in one hand and an umbrella in the other. I was a hot mess. My pants and shoes were soaked midway through my trek down the street and at multiple times during my walk the rain and wind were coming at me from every angle so i was literally huddled into a ball, spinning around trying to escape the rain. It was quite a sight. It if wasn't my birthday i might have been in a bad mood, but instead i was kind of laughing at myself. The best part was as i struggled to cross the street this car full of kids came up next to me and every kid inside started pointing at me and laughing. Not cool. Again, if it was any other day I would have been tempted to use a hand gesture but i refrained (if you know me you know i would never use a hand gesture).

I arrived a little early and when i finally got to the house the girls had made me a birthday card and a cake with candles. There mom made the girls sing Happy Birthday to me and then i made a wish. (I wished for it to stop raining...it did). We ate the cake and hot chocolate and then started the session. It was so sweet of them to do that for me, i really appreciated it. I ended the session early so that i could check my mail on my own computer but their wifi was not working, so alas i had to wait until today to post my blogs and send out my long emails. The mom insisted that she drive me back to my house and gave me some pieces of the cake to take home as well as some home made dulces. So sweet. Once i got home i changed my outfit and quickly cut another piece of cake for my next session with my neighbor. I got to her house early and was able to use her computer to check my mail one last time for the night. The little girl Marta made me a birthday card and again i shortened the session because i wanted to get to Corrie and Kate's place for dinner. Plus i wasn't in the mood to be all teachery with the girl.

I dropped off my things, grabbed the rest of the cake, and made me way down the hills to Corrie and Kate's. At their place they had blown up some balloons and had an arrangement of sweets on the table for me. They cooked fajitas for dinner (not gonna lie it didn't come close to my Taco Tuesday/Thursday nights at Ivory---holla) but i didn't complain because it was a very nice gesture and one i really appreciated. I later checked my voicemail and kicked myself because Dani had attempted to call me (MY PHONE NEVER RANG errrrrrr) and then left me a message. She timed it so that she called me at exactly midnight. At the time i was like who would call me at midnight, i'm sleeping. haha it didn't even dawn on me until i heard the message. I wanted to call her back but i forgot her cell number and i didnt have the internet to use Skype so i was a little mad about that. After dinner we had dessert and i got to talk with my mom and dad separately for a few minutes. It was nice to hear their voices and speak to them in person. I kept it short so not to run up the long distance bill to badly. Being that it was a Tuesday and it rained all day there were not a lot of people out and most of the bars were already closing so my nightlife choice were minimal. We ended up going to the only bar that had people in it (and a tv with soccer FINALLY). The bartender was very friendly and asked us who we were and what we were doing in Valverde and all that jazz. Then a man walked in and sat next to us. Corrie and I turned to each other and were like, we know this man, who is he??!?!? Ah HA, the waiter from the Hacienda! He recognized us as well and said hello. We chatted about the bus schedule to Sevilla and then about soccer. When i asked him if i could watch the Real Madrid game here he said but of course, but here we have a lot of Barcelona fans and then the Hacienda waiter chimed in, Viva Barca! haha I said no, no, no. He then asked if i like RM because of David Beckham and I said absolutely not, b/c of Sergio Ramos. I think that impressed him that one, i knew a less famous player and two, that my favorite was a Spaniard no less. So after our drink we left and parted ways. The bertender (Vasquez pronouced Basquez) wished me Happy Birthday and said he would see me tomorrow. I now have my local bar hangout. Wahoooo. I will know all of their names shortly.

So yeah that was the bday. Nothing to crazy but i enjoyed it a lot and every email, phone call, voicemail, ect really just made my day. The weekend before i was really bummed about the bday because i didn't think anything special would happen and i didn't have my friends and family to celebrate with, but the messages i got throughout the day really did the trick and made me feel like everyone was here with me in Valverde. So THANKS AGAIN TO EVERYONE. I LOVE YOU!!!!!

Oh i forgot to describe my birthday cake. This was the holy grail of cakes. On top, creme brulee style carmelized sugar. HEAVENLY. Then a thin spongy cake layer, followed with rich vanilla icing, another thin cake layer, then Nata (chocolate mouse) with vanilla puffs on top. It was amazing and i'm keeping the rest for myself!!!! A picture will accompany this post shortly i promise.

The adventures of the 3 Musketeers

It’s FRIDAY!!!!! I have been waiting for this day since Tuesday. I just finished the bank ordeal, ate a large lunch, took a power nap, and now I’m ready to spend the next 5 hours in the Youth House. Lets do this! Hehe

Okay this week in school and tutoring: where to begin. Alright well Tuesday I had Ana and Rocio 1 (there’s another set of Ana and Rocio on Thursday’s so they will be A&R2) first. The session went well. I made them do some grammar worksheets and I think they benefitted from it. I tried to hit all the things they needed to work on since they had a test in English on Thursday. It went faster than I had anticipated so I procrastinated by asking them what kind of music they like so I could plan for the next session and then we ended with 20 questions. They’re not my favorite session, but the go along with my silly activities. After that I had Marta (neighbor’s child). She is a lot easier to deal with when she is the only one because then I can push her and do more challenging things with her. I got creative and made her figure out which three pictures went together, then I made her put them in order, describe what was happening in each picture, and then she got to color it. Her favorite subject is art so anything artsy is a winner. I made her say her favorite things in English and then draw them out on a poster to show her mom. The mom Toni likes to see Marta’s progress so having something physical to she her is a good thing. I had just the right amount of activities for her and at the right level of difficulty so I consider it a success. After the session I talked with her mom for a while and she told me a little more about the past bilingual assistant Kayla. She told me how Kayla couldn’t speak Spanish at all in the beginning and how she missed her home a lot so she only hung out with other bilingual assistants and only lived with Americans. Very different from me. It made me wonder how she conducted these tutor sessions without a good base in Spanish. Toni reassured me that even I spoke better than her and that I have a better grasp of the language than she did. There’s hope for me!

Even though I had my cita on Wednesday I still had to conduct my tutor sessions. First I ad Sergio. It took me forever to figure out what to do with him and try to find fun things to do to help improve his English. I spent a good hour and half planning something out and when I got to his house his mom had a list of things she wanted me to go over with him since he had an English test the next day. AHHHH all that time I could have been sleeping :( Well he wrote out a paragraph about himself and then worked on some activities from his personal English activity book. I tried to help but he didn’t need my help so I just sat there. I got paid ten Euros to watch him work. It was easy but at the same time I felt bad because if someone is paying me to do something I want to earn my money. Well Sergio could tell that I didn’t have anything to help him with so he made smart talk with me about soccer. He knows me so well and we’ve only hung out three times. He asked if I watch the games on the TV and if I want to see anyone play. I explained how I would like to see Recre and Real Madrid but he told me about how expensive tickets were and now I’m rethinking that goal. I tried to ask him when his game was this weekend but he didn’t quite understand and he told me he was playing in Huelva. I swear next class I will get the time of his game and I will see him play.

After Sergio I had only Paco since Ana was busy. Again I had planned to talk about controversial topics in the news to spark up conversations but first I was going to do my standard introduction to myself with my pictures. Well we got through half of my pictures and we didn’t even come close to my conversation starters because we just talked about all kinds of other things. He told me about the little towns close to Valverde that he likes to visit and told me where I should visit. I asked if a bus goes there and he said no. Great, how am I to get there Paco?!?!?!?!? He really liked the pictures of my house the best and because he loves the country and outdoorsy things he loved our chimney that we never use. He also couldn’t get over how big my house is. The session just flew by but once again I wasted that time planning a session. Now I’m thinking do I really need to plan so much or should I just wing it and see where it goes? Still on the fence about it…

Thursday at school I spent the first morning sessions with the first graders. They’re my favorite. I just about have all the names and faces down. When the kids see me enter the classroom they brighten up and get excited. Little do they know I do the same thing! Well this lesson was to make a mini book of body parts. They had to first color the correct pictures. Some had boy and girl heads so if you were a boy you only colored the boy and so forth. Once they colored the picture they had to cut it out. Once they finished one I would hand out the next sheet with pictures. All the kids really got into it and only one or two messed up and cut the paper the wrong way. The teacher Rocio had a good handle on the class and kept it very organized and efficient. We were able to staple every book together before class ended and had a few minutes to go around to some of the kids and look at their books.

Next I went to the other first grade class with Gregorio doing the same activity. THIS time things did not run smoothly. The teacher approached the mini book in a less organized and punctual manner so it ended up taking way more time and it was so hectic and frantic the entire class period. He handed out all of the sheets at once and said color. Well the girls started coloring the boy heads so then he tried to get the attention of the class to tell them only color the pictures that correspond to you. Well that did work and I would have to go around and stop kids mid color and say wrong picture! Then every time a kid finished one picture they needed approval to start the next picture. Oh man it was so repetitive and I was bouncing from kid to kid to kid to kid. Then kids started cutting the pictures wrong and I had to keep distributing extra pictures out. Then we only had one stapler. Geez I didn’t have a second to breathe. There were always four hands up saying Teacher! They were cute but I was worn out after it. There was no way Gregorio would have managed the class without my help. After that I was looking forward to art class with the fourth graders but I had to go to the bank so that class got the boot.

Thursday afternoon I had A&R2 for the first time and forgot that they added another kid to the session. Now its Ana, Rocio, and Leandro (a boy in Ana’s class). Goodness gracious. Since it was my first session I didn’t have to plan it, I just did the same thing I did with every other first session. After the picture session I made the kids write out a paragraph about themselves and then went over it with each kid individually. Next I did the comparison activity between Spain and USA. I really liked that activity and if I was a kid I would have thought it was pretty interesting to see how different our cultures really are. I ran out of time with that so that session was pretty easy. The only issue is the mom is Pocho and she really wants her kids to speak English better so I really have to step up my game with them because if I don’t get results with the kids she might get mad. After the session I showed Pocho all of my pictures because she hadn’t seen them yet and I finally got to show her a little more about who I am. I was more animated and extended to more stories with each picture because I could with her. When I got to my soccer pictures she seemed really impressed with the fact that I played on the team but I don’t think she quote grasped the concept that I’m a good soccer player and that I’ve played at a very high level my entire life. Here girls don’t know what a sports team is. If they play a sport its for fun on the weekends to pass the time. So having a girl say she plays a guys sport and she’s been playing her whole life is a very foreign concept here. I also told Pocho that I wanted to try and practice with Sergio’s team. She was horrified and said but they are so rough. You will get hurt. I reassured her that I could handle myself and that I was use to it. How lady like.

After that I had Marta (again) and Diego. The two of them are hard to handle. They kept speaking Spanish to each other. Errrr I had them read a book with me, write out some difficult words, and then do color some Pictures. Since I wasn’t sure if I was going to be teaching two or three kids I had an extra picture so I finally got to draw!!!! YEAHHHHHHHHH. The kids really liked the way I colored the bat. The session was a little harder than I expected because my reading activity didn’t take up as much time as I had hoped so I let them color more things even thought I know I should be focusing more on talking. It’s so hard to keep these sessions interesting and not repetitive. Especially since I have Marta three times a week (Wayyyy to much for a 7 year old girl but I’m not going to say anything. At least they pay me). The only blessing that the extra cita brought me was an excuse to cancel the third Marta, Diego, and Maria session because I didn’t have time to prepare a lesson in time, which is completely true. Toni didn’t seem upset, which was good. I thought she would be mad because she worked hard to set up all of these sessions. AND THAT WAS MY WEEK.

Now for Friday….

Youth Hostel time = catch up on long emails, blog posts, picture uploads, skyping with the family, chatting with my friends, and catching up on my diminished list of TV sows that I am attempting to follow while over here. The list has gone from like ten shows to three. I’m proud of myself for cutting out the unnecessary TV. Well Corrie and Kate tell me before they leave the YH that they want to go to Huelva and shop a little and then go to Punta Umbria tomorrow. They ask if I want to come. As tempting as getting one last day at the beach was I physically could not get on a another bus. I needed a break from traveling and I also had a lot of things I wanted to do on Saturday so I declined. I wanted to take full advantage of my relaxing weekend of no travel or money worries. Well before the two pack up there things Corrie gets a fb chat from our two Italian friends that we met in Lagos and they ask if they can come visit us this weekend. Well Corrie makes the arrangement with them to meet at Huelva, go to Punta Umbria together, and then take the buses back to Valverde and they can stay the night and leave sometime on Sunday. Sounds good to me. This made me a little sad that I passed up the beach, but looking back (its Sunday as I write this) I’m happy with my decision because I got a lot of thing done on Saturday that made up for the funny stories they told me they had at the beach. Also I knew the guys were staying in Valverde so I knew I would get a chance to see them.

So Saturday I slept in. HALLELUHA! First I made scrambled eggs for the first time in Spain. They came out pretty good for the first time. After a leisurely breakfast I put a load of clothes in the washer and headed down to Mercadona for a major grocery shop. I wrote out a list and was prepared to stock up for possible guests and so forth. I had a very successful shop and I finally purchased heavy items like potatoes, carrots, and wine since I had my rolling suitcase with me. So smart. After unloading my bags I cleaned the house. I started with the kitchen and moved into the living room and then my bedroom and bathroom. I swept each room and then mopped it like Elisa told me too. It was quite tiring being on my feet the whole time. I then took out my clothes and put in another load of clothes. Organized my room finally. It was getting out of hand because I still hadn’t unpacked completely from Lagos. Satisfied with my cleaning job I then went for a run around the town. After that I showered, got ready for the night by doing my hair really nice. I haven’t straightened it yet since arrival and I had time to blow dry it as well. What a treat. I did some other things like get organized for school and then that’s when I received a phone call…

Boy was I glad I didn’t go to the beach. I get a phone call from Kate about the time when they should be about to board the bus to Valverde saying that the PU bus is stopping at a million pueblos so they are going to miss the last bus back to VDC. Déjà vu anyone?!?!??! So yeah, she called me to see if Elisa could pick them up from Huelva. Elisa was in Sevilla so that was a no but then I told them I could ask Pocho. Well I tried calling Pocho but she couldn’t hear me on the phone so she was like just come to my house. Great, I’m not the one stranded yet I have to run down the hill to ask a favor. Ugh. I sprint down the hill because Kate was waiting for my response so that they could try and call someone else if they had to. Picture a girl in a dress flying down a hill in flip-flops. I had just showered and now I was getting sweaty. Not happy about that. Well I get to Pocho’s and explain the situation. She said if she could drive she would leave right now and pick them up except that she doesn’t know how to drive, her husband currently has the car and he’s out, and lastly he would have to go alone in order to fit all four into the car and he doesn’t speak English. In short, no she can’t pick them up. All that for nothing. Corrie and Kate decide to take the only bus to Beas (again) and have one of their teachers pick them up from there. I was VERY happy I wasn’t there. I wouldn’t have been livid.

Once they finally got home and showered they called me to come down and we pregamed with wine and combo game of spin the bottle and truth or dare. Man it’s been a long time since I’ve played either of those games. After finishing off the wine we headed to a grown up bar in town to find “the people of Valverde”. It was fun but the girls wanted to dance so we headed to the only nightclub in Valverde, Blue. It was packed. People everywhere inside the club and outside on the curbs and streets. I lost my friends and was afraid I was never going to find them again but eventually I did. The club was okay. The music wasn’t the best for dancing and nobody was dancing. I was disappointed.

After spending a good two hours at Blue we called it a night. I was too tired to walk all the way up the bloody hills again for the fourth time in one day so I decided to stay at Corrie and Kate’s (I was just thinking it’s a good thing Corrie and Kate are relatively short and easy names to spell because I write them a lot). I ended up sleeping in the same bed with Michele but we did not sleep together. Mind you he and Tony sleep in tiny Speedo underpants. Quite revealing I may add and they prance around in their underwear as if that’s normal, its not. Haha Well in the morning the boys decided to sleep in instead of catching the 9:30a bus so once they woke up I said goodbye to them and headed back up to mi casa. Now its Sunday and I’ve just stayed a home and wrote blog entries, more emails to friends, prepped for lessons, put away my clothes, and uploaded photos. To be posted soon I promise. Well that was my weekend. Peace mis amigas.

Me Odio La Officina de Extranjeros (w/ a passion)

Well after being stranded in Huelva momentarily, I thought the week could only get better. Not the case. Tuesday was painful because I didn’t get much sleep the night before, I woke up early to shower, I had a full day of work ahead of me, and then I had two tutor sessions to plan for. Oy vey. School is fun. I got to work a lot with the first graders and they are a lot of fun. They are learning the parts of the body so we get to sing Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes all day long. I think one of the cutest things kids do is whenever a song comes on every kid, boy and girl, does the same generic wiggle or sway (not sure what to call it) to the music simultaneously. I’m going to try and get it on video if I can. My day was going really well until Maria, my principle, knocks on Pocho’s door and talks to her in the hallway. I’m called into the hall and find out that The Office of Extranjeros emailed the school saying I was suppose to be there today for my appointment. Well there was no possible way I would have been there in time even if I had received the email personally because they only sent it today. Maria called the office and talked t someone explaining that it was 1, impossible for me to get the appointment tomorrow, and 2, that I have a scheduled appointment with them tomorrow. Maria told me to go to the appointment tomorrow and it should be okay, It better F*ing be.

I don’t mean to get vulgar, but this permiso de residencia business is the biggest pain in the butt for so many reasons. One, it requires me to take the earliest bus to Huelva at a whopping 6:20am only to sit for over an hour until it finally arrives in Huelva.------SIDE NOTE: The only good thing about this, I repeat the ONLY good thing is that I can see the stars in the sky in the morning and they are the most spectacular thing. Being in the middle of nowhere is great for star watchers. Kate and Corrie each swear they’ve seen a shooting star (I have yet to harrumph). I just stare at the sky as I wait for the bus and it is the only thing that brings a sense of calm over me. The big dipper and Orion’s Belt are so massive and so clear. Every late night or early morning I just gaze at the stars and planets. If you like stars you need to come visit me :)---------Next I walk the twenty minutes to the office and wait another 2 hours outside for the bloody office for it to open. Once it opens I wait my turn before I can finally go in and then wait another hour before my number is called. I either get something or nothing accomplished only to wait another hour for the next earliest bus back to Valverde that isn’t until 12pm. To pass the time I’m reduced to spending money on food because by now I’ve been up for 6 hours and am starving. Once I get on the bus I have another hour and a half bus ride back home. It is sooo time consuming, so yeah I hate it. Oh and the best part is how much money I’ve pissed away going back and forth. So far I’ve spent 32 Euros on transportation alone. Add in every breakfast and it comes out to 40 Euros. I could take a bus to Barcelona and back for that kind of money. Good grief. It gets better…

So I go in on Wednesday to my appointment with Kate and Claire isn’t there. This freaks me out because she’s the best one at Spanish and she knows how to get things done. Well once inside I notice these girls who are in the same shoes as us except one appointment behind us in the process. It’s a good thing I decide to pay attention to their conversation b/c at one point the Office people ask if they are “Erica, Mary, or Katherine” and I scream from behind the barrier, “SOY ERICA!!! AQUI!!” I think the only reason I got something accomplished during that appointment was because they realized that I was indeed present for my appointment and therefore I got to skip out of line and get my paperwork done promptly after the group of girls were done talking. Kate was oblivious to everything and without me she would have sat there for another hour and a half and maybe have gotten her papers filed, maybe not. Sometimes I wonder it she could manage anything on her own. It’s harsh but im convinced that she couldn’t. Well we leave the office with this paper we need to give to the bank and pay the bank 15 Euros and then come back some to the Office again. Little did I know that we were suppose to come back after going to the bank that same day. NOBODY TOLD ME THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So on Thursday, Maria knocks on Pocho’s door again. I see a pattern, every time Maria comes to the door its always concerning me. What did I do wrong now? Well the Office called and said I was suppose to come back today with the paper from the bank. Mother F*er. Maria tells me I NEED to go to the bank right now, pay the money, and then go back to the Office tomorrow. Yeah this is when I break down and start to cry. I just feel so helpless because I never know what’s going on with this dumb permiso process and I hate how inefficient everything is. Its reminiscent of the Visa process only this costs time AND money. Well I run to the bank just before it closes and get that sorted out. Again on Friday I do the whole travel to Huelva trip for the second time in one week. I don’t want to go on another bus for a VERY long time. I never thought that day would come for me but I am so sick of this and the bus is now associated with painful memories of frustration and anxiety. Well the whole time I waiting in line I’m reviewing what I’m going to say to the guard so that he lets me in since I don’t have a cita. My turns up and literally as I’m about to open my mouth he sees the paper takes it and motions me to go through the metal detector. All that prep work and anxiety I had about trying to get in without a cita for NOTHING. So I get to go straight to the desk and the lady gives me that “sigh, not you again look” and takes my paper and gives me another small slip of paper. I assume that THIS is the paper I need in order to open a bank account so I’m finally relieved. I know that this is not my permiso card but I knew that I would eventually have to return to get that at another date. I ask the lady if there is anything else I need to do. She says NADA MAS and motions me to leave. Gladly. I get back to Valverde at 1:30p and run to my school in order to get Pocho so she can come with me to open a bank account before the banks close at 2p. We walk to Santander and I get all my papers ready feeling happy that this day has finally come. Oh wait, this is the WRONG paper, I needed to have gone to the Police Station in Huelva, give them this slip of paper and get a temporary residency card and THAT is what I need to open a bank account. NOBODY TELLS ME THESE THINGS!!!!!!!!!!

That’s it, I have a mental and physical breakdown. I start crying. I am SO sleep deprived from my early morning bus rides and staying up late finishing lessons, I’m starving, and I’m an so sick of Huelva and Spanish bureaucracy. I want to collapse and melt away at this moment. Tear, tear… The lady is nice and takes pity on me and lets me open my account anyways. Finally, a little bit of sympathy. Pocho reassures me that everything is going to be okay and that she will call her brother and maybe he can give me a ride to Huelva so I don’t have to pay for the bus or wait that long. That was nice of her. Well I got ONE thing done on my list, finally! Ahh I’m so drained that’s all I can write.

An education in promotional hug giving plus much more

Destination: Lagos, Portugal

Nights: 2

Days: 3

Hours of Transportation: 13.5

# of Hugs: 3

# of nude families/couples at the beach: 6 a day

# of times I was scolded by a Portuguese person: 4 (which is 4 more than I ever expected)

But alas, # of awesome memories: endless

This weekend I set out on my first adventure into another country. This rather last minute trip to Lagos, Portugal was poorly planned and executed but none-the-less I enjoyed almost every minute of it. At 11:45pm on Friday night Kate, Corrie, and I decided that we should go to Faro, Portugal because it wasn’t that far and we could get some quality time there. Well after reading hostel reviews and discovering that it isn’t really close to the beach after all we decided to scratch that plan and go to Lagos. The weekend before a bunch of my friends from CIEE went to Lagos and had an AMAZING time. I was so jealous that I attempted to create their trip as best I could. This started with booking the same hostel, The Rising Cock. Great hostel names almost always lead to great stories. Well after consulting my fellow companions we decided to go with a cheaper hostel in hopes that those few extra Euros we were going to save would make up for the lack of party atmosphere that the Rising Cock promised. We were feeling ambitions when planning our transportation and decided to attempt to catch the 8:45am bus from Huelva to Lagos so that we could sleep on the bus and not have to worry about getting on and off throughout the trip. The only problem is the earliest bus from Valverde to Huelva was at 7:45a so it would be close. Our back up plan was a bus to Ayamonte (a town in Spain that is right next to Portugal) at 9am.

Well in true Damas (only bus company in Huelva) fashion, the bus got to my stop (the first in Valverde) at 7:50a so already it wasn’t looking like we were going to catch the bus straight to Lagos. We pulled into the bus station at 8:55a. I sprinted to the ticket counter to purchase our tickets while Corrie tried to flag down our Ayamonte bus and ask them to wait. The line for tickets was so long (errr). Corrie called me and said run to the bus, we can buy tickets on the bus. We run back to the bus and the impatient bus driver grudgingly gave us tickets and let us aboard. Go figure we get on the only Damas bus that wants to leave on time. “The bus leaves at 9. I want to leave at 9. You tell your friends to run.” What a grouch. Since I was rushed I grabbed my two bags and walked to the back of the bus and as I went down the aisle I think I successfully hit everyone with my bag. It was a great start to our trip. We got to Ayamonte in an hour or so. We walked around the cute city in search of the ferry to Portugal. We got there just in time to make the 10:30a ferry. While our plan of attack from here on required different means of transportation, we were open to the experience. On the ferry we talked with this older lady about Lagos. She told us that the Portuguese people are extremely friendly and that almost all of them speak English. She told us that Lagos was beautiful and that we should really try and eat Portuguese food while we are there. The last piece of advice she gave us was to try and go to this specific beach but we later found out that the only way to get there was by a car. After the ferry ride we arrived in another tiny town in Portugal called Vila Real de St. Antonio. They had a Saturday fair going on so we walked through it to pass the time. The people were selling pottery, rugs, jewelry, food, and other interesting goods. We found a waffle station and Corrie couldn’t help herself and got one while Kate got a churro filled with chocolate. After the fair, we walked to the train station. When we got there it seemed abandoned upon first glance. The windows had the binds down and there was no person in sight. Wtf? We found a man and he told us that the train we wanted wasn’t going to be here for another hour and that the ticket window would open about ten minutes before the train’s arrival.

Something I’ve learned through my short travels thus far is it is really hard to plan ahead in terms of transportation because schedules are not online like they are in America and they often change or are unreliable. We passed the hour by reading. When our train came we boarded and settled into our seats. Unfortunately we had to transfer trains at Faro so we couldn’t just doze off because we didn’t know how long it would take to get there and we couldn’t afford missing our stop. The lady at the ticket office said our total trip should take around 2.5 hours. She was off by two hours. The train at points moved slower than people on bikes. Why, I couldn’t tell you? Normally I would have been really upset about the whole situation but really we weren’t in a hurry and I’m trying to act more like a Spaniard, so that requires not stressing about time. My first encounter with a Portuguese person was not an enjoyable one. The train ticket man yelled at me when he walked by to put my feet down. Excuse me but nobody was within four seats of me and he could have at least said it in a nice tone. Well after changing trains I tried to get some sleep since I only got 4 hours the night before. I dozed off for a good two hours I think because when I woke up a large old man was sitting very close to me. Haha I had no idea. I noticed that Corrie and Kate were now sitting next to each other and that the train was now quite full. It seemed like everyone was heading for the same destination: Lagos!

Two hours later than we had expected we finally arrived. We knew that our hostel was within walking distance to the train station but we didn’t know which direction. We followed the heard of young people also toting traveling bags and then eventually asked for directions. A young man told us approximately where our hostel was and told us a handful of useful landmarks, all being bars/nightclubs. Interesting….. the guy’s directions only took us so far because after ten minutes we still couldn’t find our place. I was hoping that someone with the actual address of our hostel written down would take charge and make a decision, but I was mistaken. I really just wanted to put my bags down and go to the beach so I stepped up and lead the rest of the way. We made it at last! We walk into the lobby to a screaming match between the owner, the cleaning lady, and some man from Rwanda. Nobody addressed us as we approached the check in counter but continued to yell and make a scene. We didn’t know what to do so we just waited for it to dissipate. Finally the two ladies got the rude man to leave. What a welcome. Even after the man left the lady at the counter still wasn’t helping us so we spoke up. She took our passports, copied them, gave them back, and then took like 15 minutes to figure out our rooms. She never said anything to us the whole time so we should stood there waiting for her to give us some instruction or tell us what she was doing. What seemed like ages later, she finally gave us our keys and we got to put our stuff away and change into bathing suites. It was WELL worth the wait because the beach was stunning! Claire was not exaggerating when she said the beach looking like the beach in Pirates of the Caribbean.

The water was clear and the prettiest shades of blue and green. The only problem was you could see the little fishies swimming all around you. It kind of freaked me out so I only stayed in the water for short increments but I did go in even though it was on the colder side. The sand was soft and a light shade of tan, close to white but not exactly. It was very pleasant to walk on. There were cliffs of rock that jut out into the ocean, enclosing the beach. You can go to the top of the cliffs and get an awesome view of a sunset or sunrise. The beach is also rather exclusive so not a lot of people hog all the sand and I would say it was tailored more towards families than everyday young people, which I actually kind of liked. That being said the beach was full of nude kids running around. I got a kick out of that. Oh and the kids were not the only ones. It was a clothes optional beach so most of the women went topless and a few guys went bottomless when tanning at least (mostly the old men, gross). We found a spot on the beach and just relaxed until the sun went down. We sat next to this dad and his son. They were British and the cutest pair I have ever seen. I swear if that dad had left the kid alone for a second I would have swiped him he was so damn cute. And the dad wasn’t so bad himself. The way he played with his son made him ten times more attractive. I was really hoping to see him out that night hahaha.

After a few hours on the beach we headed back to the hostel, showered, settled in, and relaxed for an hour or so because it was too early to have dinner yet. I noticed that we didn’t have towels so I asked the front desk for some. He came back with three towels and he said unpleasantly, “you aren’t suppose to get towels but I will make an exception this one time and only one time”. I get the point, thank you?!!?!? Any who, after showering we gossiped about our day and stared stories about our schools and tutoring sessions. Once we ran out of things to talk about we got all dressed up, put on some makeup (I haven’t worn any makeup since I arrived in Spain so I was kind of excited for that. This would be my first night out since settling into Spain. To most this would be shocking but for me this is pretty standard), and headed into town for some local Portuguese food.

We started a little to early even though we delayed dinner as long as possible. Because of the location of our hostel we ended up walking past the same streets all the time and therefore we pasted the same bars, restaurants, shops, and people. We decided to walk around everywhere, come back to the start and then decide on a place. Well our second time through we passed this guy, Ben from Britain, and his job was to promote the bar Johno’s the whole night long by means of hugging people. Well he chatted us up and we assured him that after dinner we would go to his bar. We then asked him for a recommendation of where to eat. He did us one better, he took us to the hidden local spot. On the way we talked and found out a little more about his lifestyle. He has been traveling for the past year promoting bars in various countries. It sounds awesome at first, but then I thought it must get so monotonous. At one point in the walk he lead us down this dark side street and Corrie was like, you better not be leading us down a dark alley to nowhere. He was like “I would never”. Then I said, “good because there are three of us and one of you” and his reply was “there are 3 condoms in a pack”. Haha good answer.

So after he dropped us off at the restaurant we talked it over and decided that we didn’t want to go there because it was so secluded and we wanted to people watch and eat outside. After all that….haha. Well we didn’t want to see Ben so we chose a restaurant that was farther down the street from our hostel and away from Ben. The food was really good but the service was questionable. The waiter was kind of surly from the start but I didn’t really pick up on it like Corrie did. We split a rosy wine and shared each other’s meals. We all got some kind of seafood since that was recommended to us by everyone. We had milked the meal as long as we could and decided to go back to our hostel real quick so I could drop off my food. So I signaled the waiter and my instinct made me say “La cuenta, por favor (the bill please in Spanish)”. He came back with the bill and said to me, “by the way, one of the rudest things you can do is talk Spanish to a Portuguese person. It is a spot of national pride that we speak our own language so next time don’t do that. The Portuguese and the Spanish don’t like each other so when you speak Spanish I get offended. But don’t feel bad.” EXCUSE ME?!?!? I was so close to crying. I did my best to play it off like it didn’t affect me but he basically reviled me in front of everyone. I understand his point but at the same time it was a simple mistaken, I was trying not to speak English which was apparently the wrong choice, and he could of told me this is a polite manner. Corrie was outraged and about to speak only Spanish to him for the rest of the night but I told her it wasn’t worth it. He kissed his tip goodbye though. It was awful because I was in such a good mood and then I felt like hiding myself in my bed and not resurfacing until the next morning.

Cue Ben. As we walked back to our hostel we saw Ben’s partner and he started giving us the spiel about Johno’s when BOOM out popped Ben shouting JOHNO’s at us out of nowhere. Corrie and I jumped a good foot into the air. Inadvertently he made me more susceptible to tears. Now that we had finished our dinner he said we owed him a hug. I asked what kind of hug? He replied with 5 kinds: sexual, daddy, promotional, cuddle, and the Mackenzie hug. (this is named after the little girl that was kidnapped in Portugal recently and has yet to be found. This hug consists of him lugging you over his shoulder and running away with you---I think it was too early to laugh at that one). I was up first and I said I didn’t know which hug to ask for so he insisted on the sexual one. He made me put out my leg like you do when your being dipped in dancing and then told me to lean back and then he hugged me. What I didn’t notice was that after the hug he dropped his pants. Corrie and Kate busted out laughing. I didn’t know what happened but I laughed as well. Kate got the daddy hug and then Corrie got the cuddle hug. At that point he was going behind her and she said “are you going to come from behind?” and his reply was that “its going to take a little more time for that to happen honey.” Someone really has a one track mind. After Corrie’s hug I asked how do you give a promotional hug? Without my consent he picks me up (he’s 6’5”) and brings me up to his level where he hugs me and whispers into my ear (come to Johno’s bar tonight for half priced….blah). Now I know. Well after all the hugging we told him we needed to put my food back but we promised to come back. After dropping the food off we had a drink at The 3 Monkey’s. They had a deal for two Sex on the Beach’s for half off so Corrie and I got that and Kate got a Caprihini (traditional Portuguese cocktail). Well neither Corrie nor Kate drink all the much so after our split bottle of wine and very strong cocktail they weren’t in the mood to drink much more. I didn’t want to spend any more money and had a buzz so I was okay with no more drinks. After mingling with some locals we ventured over to Johno’s as promised. I got a pina colada (b/c I felt obligated to buy something) and split it with everyone. Last drink I promise. It was awful but I paid for it so I felt obliged to finish it and get my money’s worth. We danced for awhile but the music wasn’t that great and nobody else was really dancing. We walked outside and asked Ben where we could go dancing. He told us that the best dancing places don’t open until 2am and it was only 1am. He assured us that it would be the same on a Sunday night so we decided to wait until tomorrow for dancing because we were tired and wanted to put in a lot of hours at the beach the next day.

The sun was strong early on. We got to the beach around 10:30 and stayed out there until 5:30p (long day). There weren’t a lot of people out yet so we picked a good spot and just enjoyed Lagos. Every so often I would go into the water but it was to cool to go in all the way so I never put my head under. Also I could not get over the fishies. I tried but every time one got too close I bolted. What’s to keep it from biting me? I still haven’t decided if I prefer clear water where you see everything that’s around you or cloudy water where you stay oblivious to what could be swimming right next to your foot. What would you prefer? I enjoyed reading my book, listening to music, and occasionally sleeping on the beach, but I got restless after some time. I would rather do something active than just lay out but I didn’t have anything else to do. I walked around the beach and enjoyed the scenery as best I could but I was running out of things to do. I was tempted to find the other beach that the lady on the ferry told us to go to but Kate and Corrie were quite content where they were so I stayed put. The highlight of the day was this very affectionate couple. I thought they were Dutch but Kate predicted they were French. I don’t know what they were but they were ALL OVER EACH OTHER. She was topless and he would rub sunscreen on her bare ass and kiss and make-out in the ocean and the sand. I almost thought they were paid entertainment for the beach goers’ haha. The couple was attractive so I wasn’t completely complaining, I just wasn’t use to it. As you probably already guessed I did not go topless. I would need to be drunk to attempt that. It’s just not in my DNA….not yet at least. I did snap a picture of them though (haha creeper I know).

Once we were satisfied with the amount of sun we had gotten we returned to our hostel. We took a power nap and slept until 8:30p. We were determined to start the night later than the night before so that we could party like the locals. At that point we dot dressed and ready to go by around 9pm. Corrie and Kate ran out of clothes so they had to wear whatever they had that didn’t smell like smoke or beach while I, being the smart packer had a nice dress to wear on our last day. Corrie had to borrow my scarf for the night because her neck and only her neck got really sun burned. Thinking that this night wouldn’t be as eventful I didn’t put as much effort in my makeup as the night before. We needed to find an ATM because Kate and I ran out of money. On our way to the ATM this street performed was trying to get out attention. He was like “pretty ladies, come watch my show, it starts in 2 minutes”. When we ignored him he replied, “oh they must be lesbians that don’t speak English.” We couldn’t help but smile, but we still didn’t stop. After getting money we had to walk by him again and this time he was like, “ahh the lesbians are back. Come watch my show! I promise you a striptease if you stay”. He was pretty funny so we decided to stay. What else are you suppose to do on a Sunday? He asked where we were from and for the rest of the night he referred to us as England and America (Kate and I were lumped together as one). He was very funny and got a lot of people to watch his show by commenting on them and asking where they were from. Every time someone said England he would say “oh your daughter is over there” and he would point to Corrie. Corrie would smile and wave. Lol I can’t even tell you all the funny things he said throughout the show but he improvised a lot of it and he spoke like every language. Example: a dog ran through his act as he was on a unicycle with flamed batons and he shouted “ah, hot dog!” Sounds corny but it was really funny. Part of his act was to speak different languages while attempting his tricks. Sometimes it didn’t work so he would improvise with something else. Over all his interactions with people and his clever one liners were what kept people around verses the act and tricks themselves. When a trick wasn’t too impressive he would come out with “I LIKE YOU, YOU LIKE ME. IT’S 50/50. Then he would do this little wiggle and go OLAY! He would make the whole crowd say it with him every time. The show was over an hour long. I was getting kind of restless but in the end I’m glad I stayed. And like he promised he gave us a little striptease at the end. Keep in mind that this is a homeless looking 40 year old man. Funny as hell but not attractive. His act was called Helium High btw. I think the most impressive part was the crowd, he had over 50 people watching which I think is a really high number for one of those side street performances.

After our show we walked back up the main street in search of a cheap meal of pizza. Again we spotted Ben’s partner so we approached again to ask him for a recommendation and again BAM! out popped Ben screaming at us again. I’m normally really observant but he got me again (fool me once….). Again like the night before he escorted us to another restaurant. Once we got to this small place we realized that he thought we wanted traditional Portuguese food again rather than pizza. Just like last night, we ended up going to another place for dinner. The pizza joint was so good. By the time our meal was over it was 11:30p. I really wanted ice cream before we left so I didn’t eat all my pizza in hopes of saving room. Corrie and Kate took their sweet time finishing their pizza so by the time we got to the ice cream place it was closed. Errrr On the way to the ice cream place we ran into the street performer. He walked with us to the ice cream place and when I told him I wanted ice cream he was like “it’s only going to make you fat.” Ouch, zing #2 from the Portuguese. I had enough of the scolding. He was joking but I was still a tad offended. Well he walked us all the way to our hostel. At one point we was like “it might seem like I am following you but AHA (he jumps in front of us), now it seems you are following me!” hehehe After getting to know him he was actually a really interesting guy (more on him later). After dropping off my food, the overall consensus was that we were all kind of tired and since we had to wake up early (6:30a) to catch our bus Corrie and Kate were ready to call it a night. ----At this point you’re thinking, OKAY?!?!? when does it get good right? Ha-ha I like to keep the suspense going but honestly this is how it happened.

I felt the same way but for some reason I was too wound up so I said I needed to walk around a little before I went to sleep, I told the other two that they could join me if they wanted to, no pressure. They decided to join me. BEST DECISION of the trip :) We made our way back to the main street but from a different side street. I told them I wanted to take a picture of Ben and then we could go back to our room. Well we saw the performer again so he came up to us and starting chatting away. He knew everyone in the street and was telling us about all the people he knew in this town. He then introduced us to this guy who was also at the show. His name was Paul and he was a junior at Yale studying abroad in Sevilla. He had come with a huge group of American students to Lagos for the weekend. He ended up staying with us the rest of the night despite the fact that none of us were drunk or planning on drinking, which says a lot about his character because trust, there were plenty of drunk, falling over themselves, obnoxious drunk girls from his group to go around. I was actually really embarrassed to associate with them because these girls looked so foolish.

The performer, Helio entertained us with some magic tricks and crazy stories about his travels. He also talked to us about all kinds of things. We got into all the subjects that are taboo in America in public. For instance, orgasms, waxing our private regions (both guys and girls), nudity, what girls prefer their partner to be like and vice verses. I know I was blushing through parts of the conversation. I don’t really like to talk to anyone about those kinds of things unless I know them really well so it was a tad uncomfortable to me but yeah, that was actually the point really. You know, that American’s are so prude and won’t discuss stuff like that. What started out as one last 5 minute walk before bed ended up as a two hour conversation on the side of the street with this fascinating, hippy, organic, environmental 40 year old Portuguese man and a college guy from Yale. Who’d a thunk it? We would get these looks from college guys as they walked by. Their facial expression conveyed their thoughts: “why are three cute girls talking to this old man and not me?” haha it was pretty funny. Helio told us that he was in the middle of writing a book about the places he’s been and the people he’s met. Corrie and I were hoping we’d make it into his book under the names England and America :) His four goals in life were: 1. Plant a tree (did that) 2. Write a book (in the process) 3. To move to Brazil and live there forever and 4. To find his soul mate and make many babies so they will become street performers as well. Lol

We had been talking this whole time in front of this three story bar that was the fork in the road of the main road in town. Helio insisted that we see it before we leave Lagos so he accompanied us in. At this point I was trying to convey to Helio and Paul that we had to wake up really early and that we should probably head back soon. It was now 2:30a. I know Corrie was trying to do the same thing. They ignored our hints and ushered us through the club. We walked up the stairs to the second level and Helio waved at some other friends he knew that were talking at a table. He told us that they were from Italy and they had come to his show the other night. We continued onto the third level and saw the amazing view of the moon, the beach, and the town. It was really nice up there but we decided to go back to the second level for some reason. As we passed the table of people again one of the Italian guys turned around and asked us where we were from. Helio told him and then he asked some more questions at which we were now entitled to answer for ourselves. Mind you this was all in Spanish, not Italian oddly enough. One thing lead to another and we ended up sitting down and chatting in Spanish to these Italians with Helio and Paul in tow.

We started talking to them and they introduced themselves. After that, I remember looking over my shoulder and noticing Helio giving Corrie a foot massage. What?!?! Haha I think I said something like wow your lucky to be getting that kind of treatment in a bar. Helio asked if I wanted one and I was like no thank you. At that point one of the Italian guys got up, motioned for me to sit, and told he was studying to be a physical therapist and could give a really good massage. What??!! A massage by a gorgeous Italian man in a bar in Portugal? WHAT??!? Omg, he was so good. He wasn’t kidding around, he went all up in my neck and back of the head. It was heavenly. The only problem was I couldn’t relax. I mean I had the rest of the table taking pictures of me, starring at me, and obviously talking about me in another language. I was embarrassed so he kept taking my hand and placing it palm up and said “tranquila” or “relaje”. Easy for you to say, I hate being the center of attention. At this point Helio was like, “Kate you should get a massage too”. He motioned for Paul to give her one and he did. It was a strange sight. It was a massage train in a bar. The other Italian guy was left out so Corrie offered to give him a massage, but he declined. After a while the two guys and Helio started talking really fast in Spanish and I was pretty sure that they were negotiating my payment for me. I firmly said “no, no, NO! I can give you a massage back. “ He seemed satisfied with that answer, thank god because that was THE ONLY form of payment I was willing to agree to.

I was getting hot because of the lights and the smoking all around me so I asked if people wanted to go upstairs into the fresh air. From there on I spent the whole time talking (in Spanglish) to the Italians. There was this girl from their school named Juliette who spoke Spanish and English and she acted as our translator at times. It was pretty funny. She was really nice though. I learned that they rented a car from Sevilla where they are studying for the year to Lagos for the week. They have been sleeping in their car this whole weekend. Pobresito! One guy lives in Rome while the rest live in Napoli or Bologna and they have only been studying Spanish for three weeks. HOLY CRAP! I’ve been studying for a combination of 5 years all together and I didn’t speak as well as them. Good Lord that made me feel like a complete idiot. Some people can just pick up languages and others (like me) REALLY can’t. They didn’t speak English but they understood words here and there that I interjected between my Spanish. At one point one guy turned to Juliette and asked her to translate that he thought I had very very very beautiful eyes. Awwwwwwwwwwww, WAIT. This was a only a pickup line. Dammit! I’m suck a sucker, but you can’t help but think that perhaps he’s being sincere. It wasn’t until the next day that I decided the next time I hear that line (cuz I heard it three more times that night) that I would close my eyes at that point and ask what color are they. A-ha! That would be the real test. Why can’t I think of these things when they count. Ugh.

So I couldn’t help but yawning all the time because by now it was 3:30-4a (We had given up on the idea of sleep and said f* it were stayin up all night). I didn’t want to go because I was enjoying trying to speak Spanish to someone who isn’t a native speaker. It kind of loosens the pressure to know that neither of you speak that language fluently. In order to prolong the fun that we were having Corrie suggested we go to the beach since nobody from the Italy group or Paul had been to the same beach as us and they were truly missing out. We walked back to our hostel and Corrie and Kate changed into bathing suits. F* that I wasn’t going into the water. Its cold and do you know how many Shark Week stories start off with “I was swimming at night when suddenly I noticed….”. I was perfectly happy on shore, thank you.

Some people went in the water others stayed dry (ME!). We talked into the night (and perhaps some birding action) until it was getting really late so we finally walked back to our hostel at around 5:30a (good lordyyyyyy). There we exchanged emails, phone numbers, and names with everyone so we could stay in touch. It was an awesome night. This is the kind of thing I was hoping I would get the chance to do while over here in Spain and traveling; meet people from around the world and use Spanish (or English) as a common language to talk to each and learn things. Once everyone said their goodbyes (and ciao’s!) we decided not to sleep since we had less than an hour before we needed to leave anyways. To pass the time we talked about what we had learned about our new friends because some of us understood more than others (that was directed at me) so I was mainly comparing what I thought I understood with what they had actually said to us haha. Some things I was completely off hahaha. At 7am we checked out and walked the ten minutes to the bus station only to find out that we missed our bus. FUCCCCCK (sorry for the language but that’s what I was feeling at the time)!!!! Corrie thought the bus left at 7:30 BUT that was in Spanish time and Portuguese time is an hour earlier. So yeah we missed our bus because it left at 6:30a. OMG sometimes I want to scream b/c it’s so hard to just know these things in Spain. Nobody tells you this. Our only other option was to either take the next bus at 1:45p and pray that we get a bus to Valverde or take the same route we did to get here and pray that it is faster. We chose the bus because we wanted to sleep and we wanted a straight shot there. I couldn’t tell you if we made the better decision because it’s hard to say if the other route would have yielded the same results.

Well we go to board the bus that goes from Lagos to Sevilla but makes stops at all these places (including Huelva) along the way. I board the bus and the driver tells me that Huelva people get on the other bus. So I get on the bus next to me and only Corrie, Kate, and I are the only passengers. This new bus driver proceeds to caravan with the other bus to all the stops. Clearly this is a new bus driver and he DOES NOT know the routes. AWESOME!!!!!!! Well instead of getting worked up about it I decide to sleep. Good choice because along the way we lost the other bus (so I was told by Kate) and we hit a road sign. The bus driver was incompetent. We didn’t know where he was going, he didn’t stop at Ayamonte, he just about backup into the Ocean in Portugal, and he made us arrive in Huelva two hours later than expected. Mother F*er. Since in was a holiday by the time we got to Huelva there were no more buses going to Valverde until tomorrow morning. Oh and people got on our bus who were trying to go to Sevilla and the driver decided to just end the trip at Huelva so they had to pay for ANOTHER bus to Sevilla. Don’t get me started……. So yeah we were stranded. We decided to call Corrie and Kate’s favorite teacher Reuben. He ended up rescuing us but we had to take the bus to Beas and he would pick us up there. Beas is the midway point between Huelva and Valverde. It was better than nothing but it required waiting another hour before the bus would leave. Once we got to Beas we didn’t know when to get off. Reuben called Corrie and was like “I saw your bus, why didn’t you get off?” Crap. It was ironic because I had told them that I thought we should get off at that stop because it was a good landmark. What I didn’t understand is why didn’t Reuben just follow the bus and get us at the next stop instead of making us walk all the way back to the first stop. Ughhh Spaniards sometimes. I didn’t complain since he was doing us a big favor. Once we got to Valverde I still had to walk up the monstrous hill to my house. I got home and was too tired to shower, eat, or do anything but just sleep. It was a longgggggggg 48 hours.

AND THAT WAS MY FIRST TRIP TO ANOTHER QUESTION (this is how tired I am…COUNTRY). AMEN. I’m exhausted, goodb . ……………….. ……….

At Last

Lagos, Portugal

skype to the rescue

Friday.....the last day of the week. And what a week its been. Monday is a national Holiday so I'm planning on taking a trip to Portugal this weekend. Pictures to follow I promise.

At school I had a full day of school prepping for other classes. I had to created an activity incorporating the 5 senses and then one incorporating the food pyramid. It really doesn't take me long to create a worksheet once i know the topic of the unit and the goal of the sheet. Pocho is always so impressed when i finish producing a worksheet within a hour or two. she says it takes her a long time to create anything on the internet. I pride myself on being diligent and hard working so was glad to have gotten both activities finished before the weekend. That allows me to focus on my tutoring sessions for the rest of the weekend.

After school i had a session with three 7 year olds. Marta, Maria, and Diego. They were mostly cooperative but they liked to speak Spanish and I had to keep repeating "Solo Ingles o no habla!" I got through all of my activities with good time and i think i was pretty well prepared for this session. they really liked looking at my pictures that I had brought from home so I'm excited to share with them all the goodies i brought. Those pictures were just the beginning. When i showed Diego that pictures from the World Cup his face lit up and he got so excited. It was the first time my World Cup pictures got the reaction I was looking for. After the session was over I even played a little soccer with him as we waited for his parents. Also, once again Toni offered me food. This time in the form of birthday cake from her daughter's birthday the day before. She told me that her mother had brought it but that it was coffee cake and little kids don't like coffee so nobody had really eaten it. I asked for a small piece and she loaded me up with a tupperware container full of it haha. She is just to kind. I enjoyed the session with the kids but because it is on a Friday I think I'm going to have to pawn it off to Corrie a little later. Boohoo. Alright my time at the internet cafe is nearing its end and I've had it up to hear with all the slamming of ping pong paddles. As i wrote this one boy came in and just starred at my computer screen as I typed. I was like "can i help you?" He introduced himself and asked where I was from and then exited. Okay??!! I gotta skype, hasta luego!