November Times

So, November is almost gone and I haven't written much about it lately. We've been busy here in Logrono (as I'm sure you've all been back in the States), and we're even busier planning trips for this year and next year even. We officially have a place to stay in Sevilla (Seville as far as many English translations are concerned) in the southern Andalucia region of Spain during what's known as Semana Santa (Holy Week--the week before and including Easter). !!! It could potentially be the coolest thing we do on this entire trip: and we've got five nights booked in a hostel for Good Friday through the day after Easter. They have amazing processions through the streets, giant marionettes, music, decorations, festivities, parades, food, parties, yadda yadda yah hoo. And that is all going down in March of 2008... Click here to check out more about Holy Week in Sevilla. And click here for more on Sevilla itself.

Before then we have our Italy trip to Milan. We are currently trying to book a reservation to go see Da Vinci's The Last Supper in one of the museums. I had no idea that you needed a reservation to go see a painting in a museum... oh well; hopefully we'll get in. If not, I think we'll find plenty of things to do. I want to do some shopping in some of their famous markets. I need some sweet new European jeans.

Anyways, classes are going well. I should explain some more about them, but I'm going to leave that to another blog in the near future. I will tell you that I am submitting an article to the school magazine this month, and (though it's in Spanish--I need help with the many mistakes that still remain... eek!) maybe you can see it online or something later when the thing is printed and finished in January I think. I wrote a little about m opinions on learning language; I compared the Spanish students' learning English to my own endeavors learning Spanish. I tried to make it as inspiring as I could, though I don't know how it will transfer through the language barrier. Oh well; it is what it is.

I think that my students are getting the general message that I mean well here (although some of my efforts aren't really that successful in class). Classroom management is a science, especially in Spain.

Abby and I are doing well. We've just purchased a poinsettia for our apartment, ate some mushroom soup tonight, and shared a bottle of 'sidra' (hard cider). We're listening to Christmas music on my computer, surfing the internet simultaneously, and chattin about the upcoming work week. Pretty happy and relaxed here.

My mom always laughs when I tell her that we're busy and sometimes a little overwhelmed with things over here... but it's true. We're very occupied worrying about ourselves, our classes, our friends, our own trips, and the trips we're going to share with family and friends. I can tell as I'm writing this that I'm not going to gain any sympathy... Anyway, greetings to everyone from Spain! Happy Holidays to one and all. I hope that you all find time to relax! We're still workin on it here.