Easter Break..... First Stop: Brussels, Bruge, & Luxembourg

@ the chocolate museum

Okay so I need to start by saying I had a 10 day vacation for Easter, or known as Semana Santa (Holy Week), in Spain.  Spoiled? I know!  :)

Also I haven't shared a quote in a while so here you go.

“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” – Cesare Pavese

 This quote helped me through my whole trip during Easter Break.  You will understand after you read about all the places I have visited.  With that being said Mom & Dad please don't kill me or have a heart attack before I come home.

So to start with I was traveling alone for the most part, except for a few friends I met along the way and I did something that is very popular in Europe called CouchSurfing.  So instead of staying at a hostel you send a message to people in the city you are going to and ask them if you can stay with them.  First I know what everyone is thinking.  Small town girl traveling by herself through Europe and then asking complete strangers if she can sleep on their couch.  Stupid right?  Best experience of my life.  I now know that there really are good people still left in the world... and that maybe I'm to trusting of others.  Well you live and you learn and this was one of those times that it worked out.   Yes Mom & Dad I know I lied but you win some and lose some... I won this one.  I love y'all... don't forget that!  Now that that's off my chest let's get to the real story.

Chocolate display for the chocolate stores

The Lambic Brewery in Brussels

So I got to Brussels on Monday morning and went to where I was staying and dropped everything off and quickly left to go discover the city.  I must say the chocolate and beer IS all that it is cracked up to be.  Don't get me wrong I had some beer that I didn't like but overall some of the best beer I have tasted.  The chocolate pralines are to die for...  find me while I'm home and maybe I will be generous enough to let you try some! I started my first day with a tour of the chocolate museum and got to taste chocolate and see how they make pralines.  It was right off Grand Place (the main square) so I spent some time there and did some shopping at The Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert.  Then I went to see the Manneken Pis statue.  You can see from my photo in the Picasa photostream that they change the statue occasionally and the day I went it was a vampire. I also walked up to the Royal Palace.  Before heading back I went to the Cantillon brewery to have some Belgian beer.  The beer they make is Lambic.  Now don't get me wrong it was really cool to hear about how they make the beer different from traditional beer, and I tasted other lambic beers on my trip that were delicious, but these were horrible!  Still pretty cool experience though.  The people I stayed with cooked me a great dinner and then took me out for beers.  The next day I woke up early and went and saw the Cathedral St. Michael and then met some of my friends.  We rented a car and drove to Bruge.  

Sam & I @ the brewery in Bruge

Bruge is very small but has canals running through it which makes it even more beautiful.  Downfall we went on a Saturday and it was packed with tourists and people trying to go shopping. We just walked around, attempted to get lost, went to a brewery, and I ate the specialty: french fries.  All Belgians will tell you that they are the ones who invented french fries.  I met some French people in Belgium and they also said that it was the Belgians.  The difference between their french fries and ours is that they fry them twice.. yes twice (they are true southerners at heart) and serve with a mayonnaise/ ketchup sauce.  I must admit they were delicious but you can't really go wrong with french fries.  

View from the Bock Casemates

On Sunday I met up with my friends again and we drove to Luxembourg to spend the day and stay the night there. Little history Luxembourg is the only Grand Duchy left in the world aka it's expensive.  We went to the capital Luxembourg City which is tiny.  It was beautiful and everywhere you looked someone was driving some sort of a very expensive car.  We went in the Bock Casemates... built by the Spanish during the war to be used as a defense system that could house soldiers and if needed the citizens.  It is underground and now there are 17km still remaining.  There used to be more.  After that we just walked around and saw the cathedral conveniently called Cathedral Notre Dame and the palace.  Epic story of Luxembourg: I had to take a bus from Luxembourg to Brussels South airport.  About a 3 hour bus ride away.  One of my friends decided he would wake up at 3 in the morning and drive me to the bus stop with our rental car.  This was great I could sleep a little later and wouldn't have to walk 20 minutes there.  When I got there I went to pull out my wallet... no where to be found... mini panic attack.  So we got back in the car and drove back to the hostel.  I ran to the room and found my wallet underneath my blanket.  Bad news is if I miss this bus I miss my flight because the next bus was in like 2 hours so I had to get on this bus.  Luckily driving like race car drivers we made it back in time.  Life saver.  

I made it safely to the airport and was off to my next location: Budapest!

Field Trips to London... is this really my job?

In front of the Tower of London with some of my students

Some of my kiddos outside of the Buckingham Palace

Of course I got lucky again and actually got paid extra money to go to London for a 2nd field trip with my school.  They came to me and asked is it okay if we give you 4 days off to go to London with students and 3 other teachers and then pay you additional money than we already pay you... let me think for a second... ummm YES!  So I agreed and we were off to London with 45 kids.  Let me put this in perspective... I am the only teacher on the trip that teaches all 45 of them so I think this gave them a sense of connection to me (aka they think I am their mother)  For every problem they encountered or any idea they had they were always running to me to see what I thought.  Needless to say it was a great but very exhausting trip. 

We left on Monday March 26th flying British Airways (another perk seeing as how I have been flying budget airlines the whole time I've been here... except for that one time to Amsterdam)  which definitely brightened my day.  We were picked up by bus and taken to the hotel and got everything ready for the day.  I must say I felt spoiled because I am not used to being chauffeured like this.

After getting everyone in their rooms and finally rounded back together we were off to see London. We saw Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square and let the kids go around and do some shopping around Picadilly.  There is nothing better than watching a kid who has never left his parent's house before on his first adventure alone in a new city.  For me it was definitely the most rewarding part of my experience with all of the students.  We were informed later that night after we arrived that we were probably going to have to cut our trip short due to the strikes in Spain.  COME ON SPAIN!  We had two options fly home a day early or stay 4 extra days.  There was no way our student's could afford that so we went with come home 1 day early.  The kids were devastated so here was our difficult task.  See as much as we can in 2 1/2 days.  Ready... GO!

I had to do it... little kid at heart

Some of my kids being goofy

The next day we spent seeing as much as possible.  St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, the Monument, a Boat Cruise down the Thames, the London Eye, Big Ben, the Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Kensington Park and of course some shopping at Harrods.  These kids were absolutely exhausted.  On our last day before we were chauffeured back to the airport we made a quick trip to King's Cross Station (Platform 9 3/4 for you Harry Potter fans) and to the British Museum.

The whole group

Although the kids were upset that we had to leave early I couldn't have asked for a better group to go to London with.  I am truly blessed that I was placed at the school I was this year as I am learning a lot about the teacher I am and how I affect students and how they can affect me when I least expect it. 

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!

Mardi Gras to some... Carnaval to me!

So as many of you  know this weekend started the beginning of the French celebration Mardi Gras.  Well for those of us living in a Spanish-speaking country it is called Carnaval!  First to start with my usual quote I have one from Samuel Johnson.

"The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are"

I love this quote because half the time I feel like I am living a dream and that this can't be reality because how did I get this lucky to see all the great things around the world.  I mean how many people get to celebrate Carnaval in Spain?? So after reflecting on this weekend and thinking about my upcoming travels it's nice to re read this quote and reaffirm for myself that for the time being this is my reality and I love it and the changes I'm going through.  I am truly blessed!

So a group of us decided to go to Cadiz to celebrate Carnaval.  Cadiz has one of the largest Carnaval celebrations in Spain hence why we decided to go here.  First I must say thanks to Maria for finding a marvelous apartment for us to stay in. First it overlooked the plaza where everything was happening for Carnaval and second it was a tower... no joke a tower and it was amazing.  We had 3 different balconies and could see almost all of Cadiz since it was the penthouse suite.  So clearly she did a great job! This is what it looks like from the outside from our first balcony! Also I should say that it only sleeps 6 comfortably and we had 10 people sleeping there at one point.  Honestly it wasn't too bad and the best place to stay.  Also the owner lived right below us so we had to creep around a lot but it was totally worth it. 

The first day I arrived the weather was a little overcast as you can see in photos which are all on the picasa photostream at the bottom of the page!  We walked around some despite the weather and one of the girls got to taste raw sea urchin!  Cadiz is on the coast so they have fresh seafood everywhere and the guy told us that someone had gone and gotten these sea urchins off the rocks earlier that day.  It also rained some that night so we didn't really do too much the first night we were there.  We went out in the plaza at our apartment which you can see part of in the picture to the left and saw the crowning of the Carnaval Queen.  I didn't expect to see that.  On the second day we awoke to beautiful weather and started with breakfast on the second balcony!   This is a view from the second balcony and a picture of everyone (minus Melissa) eating breakfast!  What a great way to start the day.  Since some of the group hadn't ever visited Cadiz (I went in 2009 when I came to Spain to study abroad) we decided to do some walking around and discover the city and beach before all the festivities really began.  During the day is more or less the festival for the children so they are all dressed in costumes and throwing confetti and silly string on each other.  It is really cute and you will see some pictures that I tried to take of some kids without looking like a weirdo.  We made it to the beach and the weather was great and we literally sat on the beach all day and talked, laughed, and drank a little tinto de verano (popular wine drink in the summer). It was a perfect and very relaxing day.  It was so hot that I wish I would have had my bathing suit on instead of jeans and a tank top.  Keep in mind we are still in February and if you look on a map it is actually a little further north latitude wise than Hickory, NC so it shouldn't be that much warmer.

That night we celebrated one of the girl's birthdays and dressed up in costumes (pretty much like Halloween except they are really creative here)  and celebrated the way locals do.  First we enjoyed dinner at an Argentinean restaurant (delicious) and then, as is Spanish tradition,  stood outside with wine or beer and watched musical performances by different groups in costumes for Carnaval. It was actually very interesting and fun!  What a great way to experience a traditional Carnaval.  People stayed up all night and when I say all night when I walked to the train station this morning at 7:15 there were still a lot of people still going strong.  The town was a complete mess and they have to do it all over again next weekend.  Cadiz is located in the Andalusia region of Spain which is my favorite area so I am a little biased and must say I love this city and some of the other major cities in the area.  It was a great time with great friends and after seeing some of the parades for Mardi Gras in New Orleans (the weekend before Mardi Gras started)  I think they are both very similar in the way they are celebrated.  Especially since during the week in Cadiz they will also be having large parades.  It was very cultural especially being a Spanish teacher and a great way to experience something similar to Mardi Gras with a different name in a beautiful city in the world.

Also thanks to the wonderful roommate I have started a food blog which I attempt to update everyday that I cook something that she approves of so make sure to start following it too!
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