Where am I again? Bellingham or Sevilla?!

If I had to guess on where I was by the weather last night - I would have said Bellingham. All day yesterday was a crazy wind/rain storm. The rain was pretty light all day until later on around midnight.

I went watched a few futbol games yesterday; Madrid vs. Alicante and then Sevilla vs Barcelona. Madrid won and so did Barcelona. Watched the first half of the Barcelona, Sevilla game in a bar near my place with Jennifer and Cherelle. Barcelona was already up 3 - 0 so we left and went to watch the rest at their place. After the games I planned on going downtown to meet some new people with my friend Jennifer. The rain was starting to pick up a bit but we had NO idea it was going to turn out so bad! We made it about 10 minutes from our place when suddenly the wind picked up and the rain was coming down so hard.

My pants were completely drenched

Jen weathering the storm

We were trying to find shelter with no luck. The wind was blowing so hard that the umbrella wasn't really helping. We decided that it wasn't a good idea to head out so we crossed the road to grab a taxi. Unfortunately the winds picked up again and destroyed Jen's umbrella.

Umbrella Fail

Aftermath

Drenched but happy - thank God for NorthFace

Video of what the weather was like

After that I decided to call it a night. I was wet and cold. I went home made some hot tea and for the first time actually slept in PJ's. Bellingham has made me used to the rain but this was up there for being one of the craziest rainstorms I have been in the middle of. All and all fun times though. 

Gloomy Day

It was probably a good thing that the hike got called off today. It has been raining off and on all day. This is definitely the worst weather we have had here but nothing I am not used to thanks to the good ol' Pacific Northwest!

I have been feeling a little under the weather the last few days too. The changing temperatures along with being around a bunch of sniffling kids has taken a tole on my immune system. I am starting to get a sore throat but I have been doing everything I can to combat it. The nice thing about my job is that I get free healthcare and can go to a doctor whenever I want. I don't think I need to yet, but if it doesn't get better by the end of the weekend I will probably make an appointment. My roommate Nacho is a nurse at a hospital in town. He gave me some cold medicine that he had and it seems to be helping a bit. I also have been consuming a lot of tea and drinking lots of water. Yesterday was the worst I felt and I am starting to feel a little better today.

I went out with a few friends last night. We were over by the river and I got to take a few pictures of the Torre del Oro and the banks of the river. I had planned on meeting up with one of my coworkers to go to a botellon, but I wasn't feeling to great so I decided to walk back home.

Torre del Oro and San Telmo Bridge

Torre del Oro and La Giralda

Torre del Oro w/ Isabel II Triana bridge in the distance on the Guadalquivir River

I cleaned my place up today and plan on laying low. I actually just talked to a friend who also has a bit of a sore throat and she went and got medicine and offered me some because she said she isn't going to use it all! I am going to head over to her place and then go get some groceries.

Tomorrow, if the weather permits, I plan on taking a day trip to a small town about 40 minutes from Sevilla named Carmona. It is a small town that was the strongest city of Further Spain in the time of Julius Caesar (100–44 BC) I heard it is a really pretty place so as long as it is nice I plan on going. 

Celebrating Halloween at the School

Today was such a fun day. We celebrated Halloween in the school for all the kids. I imagine for many of the kids it was the first time they have ever celebrated the holiday. I got to school a little earlier than normal to get dressed in my costume. Jose made a witch costume out of garbage bags and a few other teachers dressed up as well.

We went around to every classroom and did the same thing for all the kids: We first knocked on the door and they always started shouting. Some of the younger kids were actually terrified by the blood on my face and my teeth. We knocked, entered the room and said "Trick or Treat!" The kids came up to Jose and I and gave us candy in our bags. After we explained to them that these were our costumes and why we dressed up. I found a really easier story about a pumpkin to read to the kids too. For the older kids we had a haunted house pop-up book that another worker brought. I explained them the different rooms in the house and some of the objects in it. 

Like I said before, some of the kids were absolutely terrified! A few were crying so hard and kept repeating they wanted their mommy. I felt bad, but after a while they calmed down and they realized who we were. Below are some pictures of the day. 

Jose and I in the first class of the day

Telling the kids that the blood is not real

The children giving us candy

The second I went up to this kid he started crying for mom :( ha

haha - doing my best to scare them :)

Jose explaining how he made his costume while one girl cries

Telling them the pumpkin story

Lucre and I

Jose showing a group of 5 year olds the Haunted House

Easy way to calm down the kids is let them try on the costume

Teacher coming to the door after we knocked

All the kids running to answer the door - all pretty excited

After the story with a group of students

Explaining how he made his costume

Showing another group of kids the Haunted House

Gorge and I - my head is bigger than his whole body! ha

Everyone was very interested in the book 

A little apprehensive at first, but then they lightened up

Jack-o-Lantern in one of the classes

Walking into a class as they eat their breakfast

Jose and I

It was a great day and it seemed like all the kids really enjoyed it, the teachers too! After classes Jose took me to the bank to get my checked cashed. Once I got back to Sevilla I went to my bank to deposit the money in my account. The guy who set up my account actually messed up and we had to cancel the first account and open a new one. He thought I was living in Europe for good and because of this he selected the wrong type of account. After 30 minutes or so we had it all figured out and I headed home.

The hiking trip for Saturday is postponed because it is supposed to rain here. I was taking a siesta not to long ago and was woken up by the wind. It was howling pretty loud. Looks like a storm might roll in tonight. Since I have been here it has only rained once. That day it rained super hard, but for small spurts of time and in between the rain it was clear and sunny. I imagine if it does get stormy it won't last for long.

The most clouds I have seen since I have been here

I don't have work on Monday so who knows what I will do this weekend. I might try and take a day trip to a town close by on Sunday if the weather isn't bad.

Halloween party tomorrow at work

Santa Justa Train Staion

 Today at work a group of parents of students were decorating the school with halloween. They joked with me saying it was "my fault" for the decorations. They were really excited to help the kids celebrate halloween they way a typical US elementary school would, at least the way i remembered it. They hung streamers of pumpkins, bats, skulls, and spiders around the school. The walls are covered with spider webs and they even made a witch hanging in the entry way flying on a broom. I was really impressed with how well they did with the decorations. It seems like most of the teachers are going to have some type of halloween themed outfit tomorrow.

Steamers throughout the hallways

Work went by really quick today and the best part was I finally got paid! Which is great because I can really use the money. I didn't get a chance to cash it today, but tomorrow after work I am going to head to the bank with Jose the English director at the school.

Jose's Office

Picture of the King and Queen in a lot of the rooms throughout the school

First Check

 After work I hung around in Dos Hermanas until my coworker was done with classes. I went to her house today again to help her son with English. She cooked another great meal for me before I started working with her son; potatoes with pork ribs in a really good broth. Today her son, Fran, interviewed me for a class project. He asked me questions about the US and my experience so far in Spain. It went quick and was a lot of fun. I went and finally bought a bus card with the money I got paid. This will make riding the bus half the price, which will be nice. I still haven't got my Sevici card in the mail, I really hope that comes soon.

Small Plaza Near Bus Station in Dos Hermanas

Dos Hermanas Train Station

Plaque of Senora de Valme - Protector of Dos Hermanas

 So tomorrow should be a lot of fun at work. I am getting there a little early to dress up and get ready. It would probably be a bad idea to be in full vampire costume at 8:30 am on the train.

They Did a Great Job With the Decorations

Witch flying through the school

Heading home

 They did such a good job with the decorations, tomorrow should be great. Heading to bed to get some rest.

Walk around town

Walked around town today and went to a big park in front of the Plaza de Espana. here are some photos from the journey. 

Old aqueduct ruins near my place

Right in the Middle of the street

Plaza de Espana in the background

Maria Luis Park

Statue inside the park

Plaza de Espana

Other than the walk my day was pretty uneventful. Tomorrow I am going to my coworkers house again to help her son with english. I guess he is going to interview me for some project. It isn't for his English class but I think we will try to do it in English and then I can help him translate it. It was a long day and time for me to go to bed. 

Halloween and Hiking

This week all the kids are getting ready to celebrate Halloween. Normally this isn't a tradition of Spain, but over the past decade they have slowly but surely started to be like the Americans, and by that I mean getting dressed up in slutty outfits and drinking in the streets. Luckily I get to celebrate it with a bunch of little kids who don't really know what's going on other than they get to dress up as "Spiderman" or a princess and get free candy.

The teachers and some of the parents started putting up decorations around the school. I also have been teaching the kids some Halloween oriented vocabulary; Pumpkin, ghost, vampire, skeleton, witch.. etc. This is probably the most interested they have been to actually learn English. My English teacher and the schools principal were asking about what we should do to celebrate. Most of the teachers are planning to dress up and have candy for all the kids. It should be a lot of fun. It was pretty funny because the principal wanted to stress that I had to find a costume that wasn't going to frighten the children. Being that they are so young, it probably wouldn't be the best idea to show up in all black with a scream mask and a bloody knife or something like this:

I decided to go with a less scary and more traditional costume; A vampire. I found a place with some cheap costumes and this was the least scary one I could find. 

If I would have thought about it I would have brought my Tele-tubby costume I bought a few years back. They would have loved it! 

Needless to say friday should be a lot of fun. 

My friend Matt invited me to go hiking with his roommate and a few other people on Saturday. I am not sure where we are going exactly, but it's just a day hike, so it should be a lot of fun. I am glad I brought my hiking boots and hopefully I will be able to get out more often. I just need to know where to go. It should be a fun and eventful rest of the week and weekend. I imagine there will be some Halloween festivities going on somewhere in town on Saturday and Sunday night.