Fallas... A Pyro Kid's Dream!

DaVinci falla before it was burned

So for St. Patty's Day  I stayed in Madrid for once and just enjoyed myself and relaxed but the following Monday (19th) we didn't have school because it was Father's Day in Spain.  So some friends and I decided to go to Valencia for the day/night to celebrate Las Fallas.

First I will give you some information about Las Fallas.  Every year in Valencia they celebrate the end of Spring and their patron saint St. Joseph for 5 days. Every day starts with La Desperta, or the wake-up call.  A brass band walks down the street followed by people throwing firecrackers.  Every day they also have Mascletas in every neighborhood which is a large firecracker display but the loudest is on the final day.   On the 3rd day there is a large flower parade and they had a large Virgin Mary made out of flowers which you can see below.  Every day is a huge party and then for the first four nights they have a fireworks display. 

Virgin Mary flower display

Each neighborhood has a group of people, the Casal faller, that works all year long raising money and building their ninot or falla. They have 2 types of fallas a falles infantils and a falles majors.  The infantils are always smaller and generated toward children.  The major is a large paper maiche figurine that can be as tall as 20 feet.  Most of them are satirical and are used to take a jab at famous people or things.  There is a contest amongst the fallas and one fallas wins every year and is placed in the museum of the fallas.  All the others are set on fire with a huge fireworks display by 1:00 am.

DaVinci being burned

As a Spanish teacher it was a great experience and after having to teach about Fallas it makes me very excited to come back and be able to offer my students first hand photos and stories about this very strange cultural event.  Every year they spend thousands of dollars on these fallas only to burn them in the end.  It almost seems stupid, especially during a economical crisis.  Only in Spain!  My friend and I decided to watch the burning of the largest falla we saw which was the Da Vinci replica.  You can't really see in pictures but it is placed in a plaza very close to apartment homes and trees so as soon as it was set on fire firefighters had to spray water on the buildings and trees to prevent any damage.  If you ever happen to be in Spain or Europe in the middle of March Fallas is definitely worth a stop!

Sometimes a Country Girl Has to Get Out of the City!

Overlooking Plaza Mayor in Chinchon

So of course I live in a big city which I have come to realize has its pros and cons but for a country girl like me it is always nice to get out of the city.  So I was in Madrid this past weekend with no real travel plans so I decided to take some day trips to Avila with my co worker and Chinchon with my roommate and her co worker.  They were perfect escapes from the city.  One is just north of the city with the weather being a little bit cooler and the other is just south of the city with just warmer weather.  So two opposites for the weekend.

On the walls in Avila

 

City Walls in Avila

Avila is an old town that has one of the most well preserved city walls in the world.  It's located north of Madrid and closer to the mountains so it was a little chilly but not bad.  There isn't much to see but it is a very calm and quite town so it was nice to just walk around and experience the small town life.  We did get to walk along the tops of the city wall which was really cool and well worth it.  It had some amazing views from the top of the wall.  We visited some churches and tried to find the convent that had their patron saint's real finger in it but failed.  Avila is still bigger than Hickory (which isn't saying much) but I'm glad I got to see it especially since a lot of my professors at my school are originally from Avila.

View from the wall in Avila

The next day I hopped on a bus to Chinchon which was only a short ride away.  It is just south of Madrid and the weather was absolutely perfect.  This town is very small and is actually smaller than Hickory (believe it or not)  This town is known for its Plaza Mayor which they turn into a bull fighting ring in the summer.  One of the teachers at my school told me that a lot of people come here to get married (which I still find a little strange... I could pick prettier places in Spain).  This town is even smaller than Avila so I wasn't really sure what we would be doing all day but we discovered that Chinchon is known for having wine caves.  So as a wine drinker I enjoyed visiting 2 caves with Melissa and Maria.  At the first cave we sat at a small table and enjoyed some tapas and wine in the cave which was very cool.  This cave was the largest and went very deep underground.  The second one also had a restaurant and the food looked and smelled delicious (when I go back I will eat here).  We had a little picnic overlooking the city and discovered an amazing shop with ceramic dishes.  I will be going back just to get a ceramic dish!  Also in the Plaza Mayor they give donkey rides (tempting I know) but there were only little kids on them and let's be honest I would probably break that poor donkey's back.  But there is always next time!

Overall very peaceful and relaxing weekend with another one to follow! 38 days until I'm home for one of my best friend's wedding.  I can't wait to see how beautiful it will be and share it with some amazing friends.  See y'all soon!

View of ChinChon

In one of the wine caves

Living's Easy and Life's Good

This past weekend I went to Tenerife (and island that is a part of the Canary Islands... which are a part of Spain even though they are off the coast of Africa) with a large group of friends that I have met here.  It was amazing, relaxing, and absolutely beautiful! 

Found a quote that I feel like really related to me and my travels with this great group of people.
“What you’ve done becomes the judge of what you’re going to do – especially in other people’s minds. When you’re traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.” –William Least Heat Moon

Most of the group I was with knows a lot about my past but yet they still don't let that play a role in the person I am today.  This large group of guys and girls are very open and accepting and I couldn't be more blessed to be forming some friendships with them.

We stayed at an all inclusive resort in the Playa de Las Americas part of the island (it's on the south side).  I read some reviews of the resort before we went and wasn't really sure what to expect but I must say it was amazing.  We had apartment style hotel rooms that overlooked the pool and all food and alcohol was included.  I'm pretty sure I gained back a lot of weight that I lost.  Oh well it was well worth it :)

I spent my days doing nothing but laying by the pool and reading the Hunger Games.  That's my idea of relaxing.  The first day I woke up early and ran down to the beach and it was breathtaking.  The island has a volcano on it so if you walk around on the beaches you can definitely see that.  Some of the beaches are rocky with dark sand while others are very smooth and a little bit lighter.  Based on my personal opinion even though it is a part of Spain I felt like there was more of a Latin American culture/ vibe to the people and communities of the island. 

There isn't much to say because I literally relaxed the whole time so I will keep it short for now.  I hope that someday I get to go back... well worth another trip!!  More travels soon!

Exams in... London!

The group after we just returned home

So I have the privilege of working at a pretty amazing school and we took a field trip to London 2 weeks ago.  Yes I know I am a little behind on blog posts so I will be playing catch up now!  It was with a Segundo Bachillerato class.. aka Seniors in high school.  We had 15 students and I must say that it is one of my favorite classes.  These students have to take a regular English class and then decided to take this English speaking class as an elective.  So we decided the main teacher, myself and another assistant from the U.S. to take the students to London for their oral exams.

It was amazing to see the students trying to use English and for some of them they refused to even speak to me or listen to me if I spoke Spanish.  As a language teacher it was a great experience and gave me some great ideas!  We didn't see many tourist attractions except for Covent Garden, the British Museum, Tate Modern, and Shakespeare's Globe which we used as a part of their exams.  The Globe was by far the best experience for me because we got to watch a live rehearsal.  The students seemed to enjoy it too.  They had 3 parts to their exam.  A presentation, amount of English spoken throughout the trip, and a walking quiz.  We broke off into 3 groups and just walked around and I made the students do everything for me.  It was quite relaxing and the students are really sweet and made it a great experience for me.

On a side note I fell in love with London and can't wait to go back at the end of March for another field trip with my school, instead of 15 students it will be 45. Yuck!  But I could definitely see myself living in London, especially when I am young.  Downfall, it is bloody expensive!!  Although on a recent study I found Madrid wasn't far behind, London definitely burned a hole in my pocket.  The exchange rate to pounds did not help.  My students think I need a boyfriend so the whole trip they kept trying to find a British boy for me.  They told me that they think I need to stay in Europe and never go home.  I don't know how happy my family would be about that!

Looking forward to my upcoming travels and a trip home for a wedding in April!! Until next time!