The Never-Ending Birthday Surprises

24. It's weird to think that's how old I am now. But it's true; another year has come and gone.

What's also weird is that this may have been the best birthday I've ever had! Despite the fact that I'm so far away from friends and family, my Spanish friends here made my birthday so special.

It started with a wonderful surprise party thrown by Ana Bello the day before my birthday (Thursday)! Apparently I arrived a little early to my own party, so Kike came to the rescue! We "had to go buy the drinks" because he, Ana and I were going to have dinner together. Ok I thought, nothing strange here. We walked around foreverrrrr, and went to a grocery store way out of our way (in fact we passed two others on on our way there!). We were chatting about this and that, superhero movies, Megan Fox and Zac Effron (and yes, all of this was in Spanish!), and FINALLY, what was probably 30 or 40 minutes later, we walked back to Ana's apartment. The whole house was filled with a great aroma, and by this point I was wondering if she had planned something, but all I could think of was just a special dinner.

Than seven of my friends pop out and yell "SURPRISE!!!"! There was a banner wishing me a happy birthday, and a delicious Spanish meal cooked just for me. There was even cake and a candle for me to make a wish (which I did in Spanish. Booya)! I was further surprised by presents given to me by Ana and Mercedes - a ring, a purse, and a wallet! The whole night was so thoughtful and so amazing. It made me feel so loved, knowing that my friends here wanted to help celebrate my birthday with me.

The night was capped off with an impromptu skype chat with the boyfriend. And I was able to open my present from him because it was officially my birthday in my part of the world (it was already 2am). He gave me super warm pajamas to help stave off the cold while I shiver in my apartment. And the thing that makes the pajamas even more perfect - they are covered in SNOWFLAKES!

Friday I received cards from my parents, grandparents, the Horos', and Adam. It was such a good feeling being remembered by so many people. And of course with the barrage of facebook wallposts. :) Then on Friday night I was supposed to meet with my friend Marta and her colleagues for tapas and drinks, but the plans got canceled and new and better plans were made. Adam wanted us to spend my actual birthday together, so we hung out on skype! We talked for 5 hours! I didn't go to bed until 5:30am. We played games, watched episodes of TV shows, and just talked and spent time with each other. It was the perfect way to spend my birthday.

On Saturday I went with two of my American friends, Emma and Sarah, to our church for a "Change Your Look" party where we got hair and makeup tips with the rest of the women in our church. Afterward we met up with Sarah's and Emma's husbands, and Kike and Martin for Domino's pizza and dancing at a club!

Needless to say, the weekend wore me out. But the birthday celebrations weren't complete just yet! I walked into my favorite class on Monday (the fourth years), who also threw me a surprise party! They made Spanish food to share with all of us, and also gave me presents! But the thing that touched me the most was the T-shirt they made that said "We Love Rachel", and a video with all of them talking in English to me! It was so sweet.

On Tuesday, a class that I have basically no relationship with because I only have them once a week, burst into a broken rendition of "Happy Birthday to You" and "For She's a Jolly Good Fellow" when I walked in. And they too had presents! I don't even know how they knew it was my birthday.

And last but not least, I went for tapas with Marta on Thursday night. I love going out with her. I am so blessed to have made a friend like her here in Spain. She completed the "birthday week" with a new bracelet and scarf, and especially her time (she's always so busy, it's hard to get together sometimes!).

All-in-all it was an incredible birthday. My friends and family back home still kept me in their thoughts, and my friends here helped me to celebrate and keep on celebrating. I'm so thankful for my friends here, and amazed at how each of them tried to make my birthday special and memorable. It is definitely one I will never forget.

Mercedes and Ana and me with the wonderful tortilla

The DELICIOUS dinner!

 Mmm, chocolate cake

Sarah and I

Me and my presents!

 A purse and a ring!

Sevilla Through the Internet

Want to see where I live? I came across this really cool website that took photos of Sevilla from one of it's tallest points. You can read more about it (don't worry, you can change the language into English!) too. It's really interesting, but most importantly you can see my city! Now you can experience my apartment AND the actual city! It's like you're all here with me. :)

http://www.sevilla111.com/

It's amazing that even though we are thousands of miles apart, we can still be seeing the same things at the same time! Enjoy my beloved city!

My Apartment

I took a video tour of my apartment to show you around, but I'm having trouble uploading it. So instead, here are a few pictures for you to enjoy! It's only taken me six months, but now you can all see where I live. :)

This is my kitchen, with washing machine to do our laundry. 

We don't waste any space in Spain!

 My Christmas decorations thanks to my parents and Emily Jipping :)

My ugly living room, complete with teeny tiny TV.

My "front yard"

 My bathroom. The shower is so small you can

barely turn around, let alone bend over.

 

These three are of my "backyard." There is a soccer and basketball court where kids are always running around and playing. The above picture shows the clothesline where I hang my laundry, 3 floors above the ground. Hopefully I won't drop anything!

 These are my roommates' rooms.

Fatima has the larger one, and Silvia's is the cleaner one :)

My bedroom - the smallest one in the apartment. It is TINY! But I like it :)

 My shelves and wardrobe - 

everything I brought is crammed into this thing.

 My "Family Board" (and Adam of course). 

Don't worry friends, I look at you everyday on facebook :)

 My wall of cards from friends and family! Thank you everyone! 

I just got a bunch more for my birthday too that I need to add. 

This is the only decoration and bright spots of color I have in my room, so I love it!

And there you have it. Finally you can all see where and how I live. It's a great apartment filled with two amazing roommates. They are so patient with my Spanish and include me in everything they do. I'm so blessed to have had the opportunity to live with such fun and welcoming girls! I hope you enjoyed my picture-tour :)

Coffee

I have a confession: I now drink coffee. And I love it.

I know, it’s shocking. I successfully was able to avoid getting into the habit during my four years of college, and even when living in Spain for four months the first time. But sadly I could not stand strong forever. I started shortly after arriving in Spain, when I had my orientation for my job in October.

It was early in the morning, and I was herded into a lecture hall with hundreds of other language assistants like myself. It was going to be a long day of just hearing a panel of Spaniards talk about what is expected of us in our jobs, what we need to know, etc. It was exhausting straining my ears to hear them well enough, and my mind to understand everything they were saying.

Needless to say, I fell asleep after the first two hours.

Thankfully, there was a break at midday where they offered us coffee and pastries. Since there was nothing else to drink, I reluctantly took a cup of coffee. No cream was available, but there was a packet of sugar sitting in my saucer. I poured it in, stirred it around, and thirstily gulped the coffee down.

From that point on I was WIRED. I was so wide awake I couldn’t even close my eyes long enough to BLINK. The rest of the day I was sitting on the edge of my seat, taking notes and listening with rapt attention. I was jittery, and as I was told by other people there, talking faster than I normally do!

Who knew that one cup of near-black coffee could keep me awake and energized for an entire day? I was quickly hooked on the feeling, and knew that from that day on, I could no longer evade the deliciousness that is coffee.

I don’t drink it every day; in fact I can probably count how many times I’ve had coffee on two hands. But it is becoming more frequent, both here and when I was at home during Christmas. I feel older now, a little more refined and sophisticated. It’s a new me.

Christmastime

This is going to be long. Brace yourself.

I can’t believe it’s been over a month since I last posted. So much has happened in this last month. I’ll start with what’s freshest in my memory, then work backwards in future posts.

For those of you that don’t know, I went home for Christmas!!! In November I was frantically searching for the cheapest airfare I could find, then finally, with the help of Adam and his parents, I was able to purchase a ticket home for the holidays! It was so difficult, but I was able to keep it a secret for an entire month from my whole family. There were many times when I almost slipped and told one of them, but thankfully I was able to keep my mouth shut.

I left in the middle of December to go home. It was a long journey – I had to take the train from Sevilla to Madrid, then another train in Madrid to the metro, then the metro to the airport. Whew. Next came a flight from Madrid to Philadelphia, then another flight to Chicago! It was such a long day, and I was too excited to sleep on the plane, or the night before.

On the flight to Philadelphia, I had the fun experience of sitting next to a very kind woman, Cati, who didn’t speak any English. She was on her way to visit her daughter in Virginia who she hadn’t seen in three years! We had long talks, and throughout the flight she needed me to interpret for her to the flight attendants for meals, drinks, movie malfunctions, etc. It turned out the two people in front of us also didn’t speak any English, so I helped them fill out their paperwork for entering the States. It was such a wonderful feeling being able to help all of them, and I think I have finally narrowed down my choice of careers to just two options: Spanish teacher or Spanish interpreter.

Adam met me in Chicago and it was incredible to see him again. I am so glad he was able to pick me up so we could spend some time together in Chicago. We roamed around looking at all of the Christmas decorations and lights before heading home. It was a little odd being back and hearing English all around me. I’ve gotten used to hearing English only sporadically (aside from when I’m teaching of course) on the street when I’m walking around, and feeling like I know some secret language. It was good to be back though, with all of the snow and cold (and in my new coat!), friends and family, and Christmassy things!

When I went home I had Adam call to “drop a book off” to my parents to make sure they were there. He walked in first, and 20 seconds later I popped through the door, yelling “Merry Christmas!” I wish I had gotten a picture of my parents’ faces.

We stayed up late talking, my parents, brother, Adam and I, and it was so good to just be in my familiar and comfortable home again. The next day I saw the rest of my family, who were all sick. Kind of messed up my whole entrance, but oh well. :)

I was home for just over two weeks, getting to experience all of the American and family holiday traditions I’m used to. Adam had already decorated his whole house (which looked wonderful!), and we put up a tree together. I ate my weight in Christmas cookies and other goodies, and loved hearing Christmas music, seeing snow, and watching Christmas movies.

I also got to spend some time with friends. I loved seeing everyone again, and can’t wait to see more friends in the summer when I return. For those of you I couldn’t see, I apologize. It was a hectic two weeks that were as full as possible!

Adam and I drove to Pennsylvania to visit his parents before Christmas for a few days, and it was so good to see them again too. We went to dinner, watched movies, did puzzles, played a lot of Wii, and just had a great time. Adam and his dad got to go to a Steelers game too!

New Years was spent downtown watching Good Charlotte and some of the other bands at Rosa Parks, then to the symphony for the Rat Pack (a surprise from Adam!)! Afterwards we met up with some friends at the Windchester and rang in the New Year with good champagne, good food, and good friends.

I also had a sort of job interview at an interpreting company in GR. It went really well and they want me to come back in the summer for another interview. They said I could shadow an interpreter also, just to make sure it’s something I want to go into. They interpret for physical and mental health, and court. It was so interesting learning about everything, and I’m eager to see if this is could be a future career path.

Eventually, my time was up in Michigan and I had to return back to Europe. But not without making a pit-stop in Paris to visit Sarah first! After being separated for a whole 5 months (the longest we have ever gone without seeing each other), our reunion was wonderful. The only hindrance in our time together was her having the flu (as well as her roommate, Anita). Due to them being sick, we spent most of our time in her cute apartment watching movies, doing crossword puzzles, reading, talking, and just enjoying being together again. One day I went to school with her to help teach a class, and got to see her neighborhood, school, students, and other fun things around her area. Finally, on the day before I left (Saturday), we explored more of Paris. This was my fourth time there, so I didn’t really need to do all of the tourist things again. We walked up and down the Champs-Elysées, went to the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower, went into some shops along the way, and best of all, went to an amazing art exhibit in the Louis Vuitton art gallery. It was a showcase of seven or eight artists displaying some form of art about Peter Pan and never growing up. It was SO COOL to see all of these very original and imaginative art pieces. We also went to Pere Lachaise, a beautiful cemetery near Sarah’s apartment. Some famous people are buried there, and it’s crowded full of tombs, but it was the prettiest cemetery I’ve ever been to. Sarah and I both could have spent the entire day walking through it.

Alas, my time there quickly flew by and I had to return to Sevilla. As excited as I was to start my life back up here, I was so sad to have to say goodbye to Sarah again. I hadn’t had a chance to be sad about leaving everyone in Michigan either, since I went straight to Sarah, so after returning to my apartment yesterday, I spent the majority of the day being alone and missing everyone. Sad day.

Now I’m back in my normal routine, teaching classes and speaking in Spanish, with only one hitch – I am now sick too! I blame it all on Sarah and Anita. I was sick TWICE in Michigan, and now again here. Who gets sick three times in one month?! All I know is I will never skip another flu shot. Ugh.

It was fun going back to school today. I was greeted with many “Feliz año!” (Happy New Year) and warm hugs and kisses by other teachers and students. It was everyone’s first day back to school (they celebrate Christmas on January 6), so all the students were excited to tell about what they got for Christmas.

Here are some pictures of Chicago, Michigan, and Paris. The rest are all posted on facebook if you would like to view all of them. :)

 The Christmas tree in the Walnut Room in Macy's (Chicago)

Decorating the tree at Adam's house

Our finished tree!

My niece and nephew Jacob and Lauren  on Christmas Eve

Happy New Year!

The cemetery in Paris

 I loved being with Sarah again

A New Kind of Thanksgiving

My Thanksgiving was celebrated a little differently this year. It was just another normal Thursday - no one knows about Thanksgiving here (and why should they?). My celebration did not take place on the actual day of Thanksgiving like usual, but instead three days later. And it was celebrated with Spaniards, not family. However, it was still just as fun, and just as special, as any other Thanksgiving I’ve had.

At school that Thursday, I spent the day teaching my students about our holiday, feeling proud to be an American as I shared my favorite foods and traditions with them. When a few of them would wish me “’Appy Tanksgeeving Raashel!” (most of them can’t quite pronounce my name correctly) in the hallways it made me feel…a little emotional I guess. It hasn’t been difficult to be away from home, but a part of me may have felt a little homesick during the holiday.

The weekend began with my good friend Rachael English coming to visit. She studied in Sevilla with me three years ago, and is now living and teaching in Toledo (a small city just outside of Madrid). She came in October with another friend of hers to visit me before too. It is always so much fun when we’re together, even though she always seems to bring the rain with her. It rained almost the entire time she was here….and has barely stopped since.

We spent that Saturday talking, grocery shopping, and making a pumpkin pie from scratch. That’s right, we bought a butternut squash from the local SuperSol grocery story, chopped it up, boiled it, and mashed it. We also made the pie crust from scratch as well. And you should all know that when I say “we” I mean Rachael.

We went to Ana Bello’s house to help her with whatever last minute details or dishes needed to be prepared. We were there late into the night, and as a result slept until about the time we had to go for Thanksgiving the next morning!

We arrived to Ana’s house bearing beer and coke (staple drinks for a Spanish lunch), and all excited for a Spanish-American Thanksgiving.

There were ten of us in all; four Americans and 6 Spaniards. Ana had outdone herself: the table looked immaculate, and the meal was incredible. She even made a “turkey” out of different foods and utensils (picture below). And we actually had AMERICAN food!!

There was: corn, green bean casserole, stuffing, turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and most importantly, PIES! We had two pumpkin pies and two apple pies! It was as authentic American food as you can get here in Spain. :) It was absolutely delicious. Some of the food the Spaniards had never tried before, like the sweet potatoes and the green bean casserole. But everyone there loved everything, and we stuffed ourselves as much as we could, then somehow still managed to find room for dessert (coffee or tea, and two pieces of pie each. Yum).

After clearing the dishes and washing up, we decided to play games. Now normally I would be in a food-induced coma sleeping off the feast I had just indulged in, but Spaniards don’t know all the Thanksgiving rules quite yet. So we decided to play Taboo. As you all know, I LOVE playing games, and this is also a tradition in my family during holidays. But playing a game where you have to describe words….in Spanish?! Needless to say I got quite nervous, and was not at all excited to play.

Rachael was good encouragement, and soon it was my turn to describe the word. And you know what? I did GREAT! Rachael and I both did. I was so impressed with us, and so proud of myself for being able to describe a word well enough (without being able to use those obvious clues) that Spaniards could actually guess correctly. What an ego-boost.

The day continued with lots of other games: cards, Parcheesi, poker…and lots more talking. All in all, Rachael and I passed ten hours there, speaking in Spanish almost the entire time (we did have our few off to the side sarcastic responses here and there, and they just wouldn’t be the same in Spanish).

On Monday after work, Rachael and I went to our old school (Acento) to visit our old professors and go to a flamenco show put on by this semesters’ students who have been taking flamenco dance lessons. The show was great, and afterward Rachael, Ana, our friends Kike and Martin, Sarah and Jordan (Acento’s student-coordinators) and I all went out to a couple of bars for drinks and tapas. It was the big rivalry soccer game between Barcelona and Madrid, so every bar was packed full of spectators (Barcelona won 5-0 – a blowout game and a big scoring game at that! Some people are calling it Barcelona’s greatest victory game). We had a fun time talking the night away, ending with tea to keep away the cold edge that the night had brought on.

This Thanksgiving made me realize just how much I have to be thankful for this year. Here I am living out my dream in the city I love so much, surrounded by friends who are encouraging me helping me through this new and challenging experience. I am so grateful that I’m here, and that I have my family and friends back home as well praying for me and thinking of me. :)

This is Ana cooking :)

Here are Rachael, me, and Ana at about 1:30am before our big day

Ana made this turkey out of different foods, and a rubber food paintbrush 

(I don't know the real name) for the top of its head!

The table was set so nicely, and the food was delicious! 

As you can see I still don't like my food to touch...

All of us ready to dig in!

Rachael, Kike, Martin, and Ana

The flamenco show!

My Spanish Life

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you are all having a wonderful time celebrating with your families and filling your bellies full of delicious food. Today was just a normal day for me here. I didn’t think it would bother me to not be home for Thanksgiving, but it did a little bit. I miss the tradition and the holiday, being with family, and eating a huge feast. I also missed watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade! I tried to stream it online but only caught the tail end of it (at least I saw Santa!) I will be having a Thanksgiving celebration on Sunday with some good friends here though, but I’ll write more on that later.

Today I wanted to talk about my life in Spain. I am working in a high school in a pueblo called Coria del Río (it’s about a 30 minute drive from Seville). I teach English on Monday through Thursday mornings to students ages 11-15, and in all different subjects: English, math, science, gym, and music. All I do in the math and science classes is read out loud in English and the students repeat after me to practice their pronunciation. It is actually really boring, for me and for the students. I love my English classes though – I have really fun students, and I get to make presentations for them, and teach them different things every week. They are curious and very talkative students.

The discipline in Spanish schools is very different than back home…meaning there really isn’t any. The students aren’t really bad by any means; they just like to talk a lot. I feel like half of the class period is spent by the teacher shushing the students so they can hear what she or I have to say. Sometimes it’s frustrating, but for the most part I love it.

I also teach private English lessons in the afternoons. I have eight different students, and they are all at different levels. One of them I meet twice a week in a bar in a cool part of Sevilla, called Alameda (it’s similar to East Grand Rapids), and the others are families in another pueblo called Tomares (about a 15 bus ride from Sevilla). I enjoy some of my private lessons very much, but there is one family that I struggle with every time I’m there. To them I am a glorified babysitter – I go to play with the kids for two hours (3 kids: a five year old boy and two seven year old twin girls) and speak with them only in English. It sounds like it would be easy and fun, right? Wrong. The kids are the most ill-behaved children I have ever met. On the first day one of the girls slapped me in the face! Her mom was so angry (I was too!), and sent her daughter to bed by 5:00. It’s gotten better, but they are just brats. The treat me like a jungle-gym, or a doll, or any other kind of toy. They don’t listen to me or obey me in any way.  The mom is a teacher, so you would think she would control her children more like she would her students. This is also wrong; she stays in the same room as us the whole time I’m there, but still does nothing to stop her little monsters. It’s awkward for me to discipline the children in front of her. I hate going over there every week, but I need the extra money, so I don’t really have a choice.

I spend the majority of the day speaking in English (because of my school and lessons), but the evenings and in-between times are all in Spanish. I’m learning so many new words and phrases every day. It’s overwhelming to think of how much of the language I don’t know and still have yet to learn. But I’m improving, poco a poco.

I am in love with this city. I treasure the fact that I’m actually here, living my dream! I love walking around the city and exploring new areas, or going back to my favorite hotspots. I especially enjoy the city at night. The bars and restaurants are always full late into the night, and the lights, architecture, and landscape turn Sevilla into a special metropolis that I revel in. It’s crazy to think how quickly my time here is flying by, and that I only have 7 months left until I return home. I have so much learning, improving, and exploring to still do in those few shorts months!