Feliz Navidad! Merry Christmas

Heeeeeeeey People!

So as of late this blog post is following the trend of being rather tardy! hahaha as much as it is over due i have plenty to write about! in fact i'm sure there is a lot more that i have forgotten about already! XD anyways stay tuned! got some great pics and vids to share with you all! :D

Let's start with something not so interesting and try work towards the more exciting things! a couple weeks ago i read a book series called the hunger games! was very good! am interested to know if anyone else has read these books? great concept and beginning but i'm afraid the last book was a bit of a flop! they are going to be making a movie out of the first book so i hope it will be good!

School has been very good! lot's of exciting things going on! a week or so ago a Scottish person came to school to tell a story in english to all the first year students about a red pearl! was very good and they all got to hear bag pipes etc! Maria is now back at school and it is nice to have her about! i was very sick at one point with a flu and spent half the week in bed but she brought around a heater and a douvet! what a lifesaver that was! now i have a toasted room in the freezing weather! i suppose we get worse weather in NZ but maybe i've just climatized! we had 2degrees last night and apparently (or so my flatmate tells me) we will have negative tonight! gona be chilly! have to say i miss the warm weather! then, last week was exams so i got to help out by assessing lots of kids in oral/talking exams! i think i am a far too harsh a marker lol so next time if they let me i will easen up a bit!

I have been to a mall called Thader a couple times now! to buy bits and pieces! mainly clothes! need to buy a few more i think, of all the things i loathe clothes shopping the most! it's beyond me how anyone can find it enjoyable!

to continue a little bit more with school n such a while ago we had 2 more national holidays which was fantastic! and they coincided nicely with me being sick so i got to stay home and rest up a bit more! firstly we had some saint day and then in the same week a day of the constitution! not too sure exactly what they were all about! hahaha this is my last week of school now and we finished thursday! thursday is going to be a kinda fun day at school cake competitions and Christmas Carol singing! soooooooo in all my classes we have gone to the music room and practiced Christmas Carols! we're learning rudolf the red-nosed reindeer, silent night and we wish you a merry christmas! lots of fun for everyone i'm sure! then the bilingual dept are supposedly learning a few more but it's more like a few dedicated ones! will be lots of fun this thursday! i will have to take some pics/vids!

Then in classes i'm also talking about the differences in how we celebrate Christmas between NZ and Spain! the main difference obviously being that it's winter here and summer there! so i think the kids find it a little odd we all go to the beach or have a bbq lunch/dinner haha here it seems like the main Christmas meal is a dinner on the 24th and traditionally presents are brought on the 6th Jan when the 3 wise men come! and that makes a lot more sense to me that wise men come with gifts than some random santa claus character! also i think chocolate is a big thing here at Christmas! which is fantastic cause i love chocolate but sooooooooo bad cause the supermarkets are crammed pack with all these new products i've never tried before so i'm like aaaaaah i'll take a little bit of this and a little bit of that! hahaha and end up buying far too much than i could ever hope to eat alone! luckily my flatties like it too! :D

Also more to do with Christmas! they really do go to town, quite literally, with all the Christmas decorating! i remember we have houses that like to decorate themselves with lights n such but here every street have these amazing decorations that all light up at night! so pretty and our local mall has a crazy opulent display going on! pictures a little further down!

 This is the Christmas Decoration at the entrance to our building!

 The big display outside of our local shopping centre

 Cortylandia because the shopping center is called corte ingle!

 Street lights! wait till they light up! :D

 Christmas Tree at Thader Mall

 Thader

 Water wheel at Thader

 Thader

 Shopping Centre! wish i could be in this shot but i went alone this time >.<

 Local Shopping Mall at Night!

 Same building with all the big characters from above

 Hhahahaha i love that they put a bicycle at the of a tree! XD

Feliz Navidad!

Ooooook now for something extra special! a video for you all from me and my 2bachillerato class who all agreed to me being able to share this with you! In case you don't quite catch it, we say "Desde España Feliz Navidad...From Spain Merry Christmas"

P.S

I know  this post is a little before Christmas but i do not know when i will next be able to write anything! i am planning on traveling to a city called Bilbao for Christmas on the 24th! unfortunately my bus leaves super early in the morning =( but i will miss you all incredibly over these holidays! wish i could spend it with you all!

P.P.S

All my students couldn't believe i was related to my brother when i showed them a picture of him today in class! hahaha

1 Week Anniversary

Heeeeeeey All!

Well as the title suggests today marks my 1st week anniversary here in Murcia! so what better way to celebrate then to update this blog and let you know a bit about what has happened! Warning: i have a feeling this is going to be a long entry >.<

Let's start with school shell we? Well i have now meet all my classes! the school system is a little different here so at times i'm confused! they have what's called ESO which is compulsory secondary school which i think is from 12-15 and then Bachillerato which is 16-18 but we teach both at Miguel Espinosa! The school runs a bilingual programme so 2 classes from each year level have to have all there classes in both english and spanish so about have the teachers there have some degree of english! I'm blessed to be at Miguel Espinosa! it's by no means a wealthy or modern school but the teachers are all very kind and friendly! OMgosh i don't think anything could have prepared me for spanish kids tho! Maybe it's just been a while since i've been in school but they all seem very loud and noisy! i suppose they're just super excited about learning! XD

Some of my classes prepared me beautiful cards welcome me to Spain and Murcia! it was very nice surprise and they made me feel very welcome! I hate to be biast but i have to say my favourite class is 2nd Bach (bachillerato) which is my last class on thursdays! They are the oldest class and obviously are the best behaved! Also they are alot closer to my own age and are very interested in what i have to say! Because you don't usually eat lunch until after school here and our class finished after 3 a couple students and the teacher brought some beautiful spanish food to eat! i have to say, other then the eggs i am reaaaaaaally loving spanish food! it's so delicious! i just wish i knew what half of the stuff was called >.< A typical food here is Murcian salad which is tuna, boiled eggs, olives and canned tomatoes! really nice and they are dessert specialists here! lol :D

Moving on! at school on thrusday morning we had a english department meeting! and as english is compulsary at a highschool of 450 students there are alot more english teachers then say spanish teachers in a NZ highschool! so i thought it was pretty crazy when 4 were speaking at once! when that happens in a group everything just turns to noise to me! that's one of the hardest parts of a new langauge! i was talking to some1 who has been learning english for 20 years and they say they still don't understand what's going on when more then 1 person is talking.

But then! if i thought that was bad yesterday (friday) we had a party for all the new teachers at Miguel Espinosa! i had completely forgotten and looked like such a retard when i got a text from Maria asking me where i was?! i felt soooo bad but i quickly got up and promptly rushed to school to join the party! there was alot of nice food there and was very cool to meet people! but like i say i barely understood anything! i was like WHAT is going on! o.O

Another very exciting part of my week was applying for my NIE which is a foreigner identification number! because the visa that i spent so much effort getting is only valid for 60 days >.< but anyways a girl called Irene from my school drove me to the office for foriegners and helped me out! i was soooooo glad she was there to explain things to me because it was sooo complicated and stressful! i had to go see sooooo many people and wait in lines and talk with people at different desks! Then i got my NIE but had to also apply for a TIE which is a special card for foreigners, so we were just about to do that and had everything ready when the guy told us my passport photos were too big! and i was like really? so we raced around to some random shop to get some new ones because the guy told us to hurry! we raced back and the guy gave us a number to meet with another person and said we were the last people to be processed so that was incredibly lucky! long story short i got my NIE and processed everything for my TIE which i will need to return in 40 days to pick up!

Yesterday i went to open a bank account! which by the way is NOT easy! i wonder if it's just as difficult for foreigners in NZ? anyways i finally got that open with my passport, my NIE and my letter from the ministry of education of Spain! so i have a card coming soon and alo internet access! or at least i hope so XD but there is a CajaMurcia (my new back) just around the corner! and i have now sent all my details to the ministry to recieve my pay! let's hope it comes a lot earlier then planned! :D

That's about it for now! I went out with my friend Marta again around Murcia, visited an art store and bought a sketch book! ^^ also visited yet another manga store! stoked! lol :D Here are a couple pictures for you all!

 Corte Ingles! this is like their main department store here! none of the shops here are the same except like BK and no1 can believe i've never heard of any of there shops lol

 Swing bridge to walk over the Segura River

 The 'Old Bridge' lol what a name! XD

 Marta and I! gosh don't we look happy! >.<

 A small market in Murcia

 Manga Store

 Do you see that Green! :D

A statue in the Plaza de Flores - the flower square! for a rather dry place i have seen some very impressive flowers for sale!