Where has the sun gone?

Hey people!

How are you all doing? lol i have to say that sometimes these blog entries seem more like personal emails than actual blog entries, but that ok because i love sharing my life with you! i think it's a more of a personal style! i haven't been up to anything super uber exciting lately but i'll talk about some of the events that are worth noting in the last couple weeks! As you may have been able to tell by the title i'm wondering where the sun has gone! it's officially getting colder here! seems like it's already winter but i suppose it's just gona get colder! I think of everyone back in NZ and wish you would send me some warmth in a bottle! lol XD this last week been it was raining constantly and i have decided not to buy an umbrella because according to everyone it's so out of the norm and everyone is amazed by it's presence! so for the time being i've just gotten wet walking about places! but when i say rain it really is nothing like NZ rain! i have to laugh sometimes at how many people are walking around with umbrellas up in nothing but the slightest drizzle XD

With winter approaching i guess i should be thinking about buying some new clothes! one suitcase is not alot of space to bring your whole life with you! so since being here i've been cut down to 2 pairs of longs! one pair of trousers got a massive tear in them and one pair of jeans i've discouvered are too big and my belt is useless because it also is too big =( i'm hoping like heck the spanish clothe sizes are better suited to me! however there's the fact that i absolutely despise clothes shopping! =(

Speaking of shopping guess what i bought this week with the groceries! half a RABBIT!!! gah i saw it and was like omgosh they eat rabbits! so i asked the women about them and how to cook them etc and i was like ok let's do it! so i shell let you know how that goes hahaa i'm sure it will be interesting! Also another little story about grocery shopping! they have like a pick and mix thing going on but not with lollies but freshly baked sweets and pasteries of a bazillion different kinds so i filled up 2 big bags full of amazing looking chocolates and cakes etc! but i pretty soon realized i wasn't going to eat it all so i told my flatmates to help themselve and they were like Flippin heck Chris! you're crazy! XD in the end i had to take them to school just to get rid of it all! hahaha

And i suppose that leads into school! Well whats going on at school? Poor Maria is still off with her injured back! i have discouvered that she slipped over in the parking lot when it was raining! she says she's feeling better and can walk around house but at school with stairs and everything it will be too difficult! i have to admit the 2 classes i have the hardest time controlling are both the ones i have with her! lately i've been talking about Maori culture! and inevitably the idea has come up that we all learn the haka! i don't know why i thought i'd ever be able to avoid it >.< Also something i was super excited about was showing a video of a short animated film! the teacher said the kids were studying past tense and so i found a film told in past tense and then got a transcription of the entire thing and edited it so the kids would have to fill in the correct form of the verb in the past tense! but then that morning i watched the film all the way through and was like holy heck! i do not remember it being this violent! and thought better not show this film to such a young class lol so instead we tried doing some debating! which was all well and good but students who are just studying past tense it was waaaaaay to difficult an activity! haha one of the topics was parents should know where their children are at all times and it was almost impossible to explain the idea that one team had to argue for it and one team against it >.< so one girl starting saying how she loves the children and when she grows up she wanted to have 6! i'm going to give the debating another go only with an older class! should be really good! :D i am excited!

Something else that is going on lately at school is that the kids are going on 'huelgas' which is basically a strike! and when i came to class and there was no 1 there, firstly i couldn't believe why they were on strike or what on earth students would hope to accomplish by doing so and secondly how the heck did these kids become so organized! o.O It's beyond me that they would go on strike! they're not even being paid and don't they realize how lucky they are to be in school? apparently not! i think they just want days off school! XD

 Let's talk about one of the more exciting things that has happened! recently i gave my first conversation class! to be honest i didn't really care for it at all and felt a little pressured into giving it! Let's be clear! it wasn't the fact that i have to speak in english with some1, in fact i love the idea! but it was because the person with whom i was going to be giving lessons was 12 years old and needless to say english isn't very good! so i was absolutely freaking out thinking wtheck am i suppose to talk about for an entire hour! anyways for the conversation class i have to go to the girls house! the mother is a teacher at our school who i'd never meet before lol and finding my way to their house was a mish! i had an idea where is was but finding apartments here is sooooo impossible! thankfully i left myself lots of time and after about 30mins walking i stumbled my way into it! lol they mother and student came down to meet me which was nice! thankfully i've got the hand of understanding most things people say to me! but talking back is another thing lol XD anyways the lesson went really well! one of the activities i had prepared lasted the whole hour which was fantastic! so now when i go again 2moro i'll know what to expect! Oooh and i was lucky enough to be given a 2euro pay rise! haha we hadn't even talked about how much i was gona charge but she gave me 2 more euros then then what i had found out was the common rate!

This weekend has been good! the sun has come out which actually just makes life sooooooo much more enjoyable! so yesterday i went for a short car ride to La Ñora with my flatmate Juan to pick his friends up! then we went out for a hot chocolate which was nice! then this morning i managed to finally NOT miss my bus and went to church again! was cool! church goes for a long time tho! i leave about 10 45 and get back around 2 30-3 00 lol i love hearing some of the english songs i reconize in spanish but sometimes i have no idea what they pastor is talking about so i tend to switch off pretty quickly XD

I think i'll leave it there! i was going to talk a little bit about spanish vs english but i've written plenty already! sorry no photos this time but plenty of writting! This wednesday i'm going to a big shopping complex so it may be the ideal time to hunt me some clothes! if only they magically appeared for me everyday XD

A week of Activity

Hello lovely people! long time no see!

Well really not that long but people have been requesting i update my blog and what better time to do it then now! i have had a full on week this week and have been doing lots of different things! there is much to tell and i fear i've probly forgetton some of it! but bear with me!

Let's start at the beginning of the week! this week i only had 2 days of classes!!! hahah was super stoked! classes are good but at times i freak out if i don't know what i'm suppose to be doing! anyways i have now obtained the email addresses of all the teachers i will be working with so i can email them and see what the go is! the key to teaching is being prepared! preperation preperation preperation! i'm sure some of you may all ready know that! i may have mentioned it before but i prefer older classes! simply because the younger classes have lower level english and it's a mish trying to communicate in english without speaking spanish! But i have to say i love the younger classes enthusiasm! they're so excited all the time (maybe not about learning) but at least they have no fear in asking questions and giving things a go! that i love! the older classes understand everything alot better but don't want to talk so it's like Come on guys!!!!!! get excited would ya! XD

This week in one class we did a listening excercise and the kids had to fill in the missing words to a song! cry me a river by justin timberlake. Of course i knew it and half the girls did but otherwise it was fairly unfamiliar XD so this week i am going to do a similar exercise but with a nz song! so should be really fun! :D

Moving on! on Wednesday was Columbus day! the day that Christopher Columbus arrived in America! But here in Spain it is celebrated as Dia de Hispanidad! and thus everyone gets a day off! so i was stoked with that! So wednes day night i went out with my flatmate Juan and a couple of his friends and we drove around in a car to park some random place on the other side of Murcia and we looked for a certain bar place that was suppose to be near the Plaza de Toros and we finally found it so we got hot drinks and i have to say hot chocolate is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay different here! Unlike the NZ version of hot chocolate the spanish version actually adheres to it's name! Literally just Hot Chocolate! XD lovely thick melted chocolate! but thankfully it comes in a smaller cup cause i don't think i could handle a big mug full XD then after that we all went in searc of 'Billar' or Pool! we found 1 place but it was busy and by this time is was getting late so we decided to head back to the car! In all honesty i think it might have been quicker to walk back to our flat! because we got hopelessly lost, which seems to be a normal thing for me lately >.<

When we got back to the flat, a friend of our flatmate Mariavi had broken down outside, seemed like a flat battery! i was just like hang! i'm so glad i don't have to worry about that! XD

Ok so Thursday! Well on thursday i had another orientation! this time it was just for language assistants in Murcia! you know there are far more of us then i ever expected! in Murcia alone there has to be at least 50+ Anyways this time i went with Maria! So that was good! they talked alot about things i already know so it was long winded! But on our break we joined up with a bunch of other teachers and another language assistant and went for drinks and toast! was sooooooooo nice! hahaha even toast is different here! We had it with like blended tomato paste then you cover it with oil and salt! amazing!

I think this might be a good point to talk about english here in Murcia! Ok so by no means do alot of people speak it but it's far more spoken then spanish is in New Zealand! English is a cumpolsory subject for like 4 years! so most peoeple will be able to say a few things and help you out! they run at my school and alot of others bilingual programs! which is what i'm involved in! so all their classes are given by teachers who speak english to them! and i'm like flip! no wonder the english level is so much better then spanish in NZ! Even after my studies at uni my spanish was soooooo lacking!

Ok moving on! ready for some pictures? :D thought i'd put in some pictures of typical food here! but by no means is this anywhere near all they have here! just a snipet

 A Bocadillo! Spanish style sandwich

 Chorizo - Here pronounced Choritho XD bet you've never seen it like this before? Oooooh it's so tasty!

 Here in Murcia they are know for their Jamon - Ham

 I think i might have talked about this already but this is Ensalada Murciana! Murcian Salad! Other then the boiled eggs omgosh i love it! :D

 Another one of my favourites! These are pasteles de carne! Meat pies! but not like any meat pie from NZ! hahaha

 Pickled herring! And here they have everything with lemons which is fine by me! love it!

Pickled Olives! yum! So it would seem the spanish are almost fearful of spicy food! some1 told me to be careful because something i was about to eat was spicy but it wasn't hardly spicy at all XD but they love their salty food! and i'm just like Yus! :D

No prize for guessing what these are! or why they are here! hahah XD Chips! everyone keeps telling me not to say Papas! they are Patatas Fritas! >.< but you'd eat these with lemon juice, olives, herrings etc

Tortilla de Patatas - Litterally just a potato omlet kinda thing!

omgosh after all that i'm hungry!!!!! XD

Where were we? Ok moving on to Friday! Fridays i get off because all my classes have been scheduled for mon-thurs! Stoked! :D anyways i went out and joined a bunch of the teachers after school for a drink (don't worry i don't drink alcohol) and a bite to eat! Was really cool! enjoyed just sitting there chatting! not that i understood alot >.< ok so i'm warming up to the accent but there's still alot that i plain don't know which can make things hard! if some1 is talking to me it's not too bad i can understand them! in groups it's alot harder following the conversation! i can pick up the general gist of what's happening like they'll be talking about a movie or something but i'm really bad at picking out the subject! like what is the movie they're talking about! but i'm learning! little by little!

I'm afriad the pics are rather limited this entry! i wish i had taken my camera with me everywhere but alas i didn't XD Last nights, being saturday i meet up with a friend to go to church! hahaha i think we finally arrived over an hour later, after getting well lost some1 came to pick us up in the end! Thank goodness i didn't try getting there by myself! Church was really cool! i'm gutted we missed out on the singing tho >.<

Anyways that's about it for this week! Hope you are all doing well! Love to hear from you all!

P.S

Good job All Blacks! :D

Beginnings in Murthia

Heeeeeeey everyone! Time for another update! Gosh it’s hard to think what has happened since last I updated the blog! Seems like sooo much has been happening to fast it could have been months since I’ve been away! Or at least it feels quite a while! Garuntee I’ll get to the end of my stay and be like where the heck has all the time gone?! Anyways I am now in my home to be for the next 9 months Murcia! And no the title is not spelt wrong! Eeeeeeeveryone here says it with a lisp so it’s more like Murthia!

Let’s recap a little! So before I came to Murcia I had my orientation at the hotel convention in Madrid! A super big hotel along with about 100+ other language assistants! We had shared rooms and my 2 roomies were cool! One from the UK and another who was French who spoke perfect Spanish and not a word of English! Anyways made a few friends there from around the place! Hahaha so they had the representatives form each country ie embassies come to talk so there was just bout every embassy under the sun except NZ >.< and during the course I didn’t meet anyone from NZ! Anyways what else? Ooooooh the food they feed us was incredible! It was like 3 course meal at every meal! I was like how am I suppose to eat so much! I think it must be a European thing to feed people so much! At least that’s coherent with my European grandparents! But it did my heart wonders to see a good piece of steak! :D

It sounds like things are going to be hard setting up things like bank accounts etc and even harder seeing as I’m not from the EU! I have to apply for all these different things! It does my head in a bit =( the accent here is veeeeeeery different to mexico! It’s actually like they’re speaking another language! Sure a Mexican would have no problem but I’m not fluent in Spanish so it’s more then just the accent but I am learning! Poco a poco they say! Little by little!

Anyways fast forward! Arrived in Murcia yesterday after a 6 hour bus trip! Was a little scared not knowing what awaited me but I really didn’t have any reason to be afraid! Maria the woman from my school in charge of me came to pick me up! She’s such a kind friendly person! She sent me a picture a little while ago so I’d know what she looked liked but looked a lot younger in person! Anyways she took me to my flat which is really good! It’s on the 3^rd flight and omgosh you cannot believe how relieved I was when I saw the elevator! Aaaaaaaah thank you God! :D the flat is very central to the main city and to my school which is good! Later Maria and I went for a walk around! Everyone keeps saying Murcia is such an ugly city or nothing special and I’m just like it’s incredible! Nothing I’ve ever seen before! We also went to a supermarket and I bought the necessaries!

Today my flatmate Juan and I went for another walk around Murcia! Aaaaaah the food here is amazing! I’m gona come home fat! :D had my first tapas yesterday! And today I had some pastry thing filled with Nuta which is like whisked egg whites and sugar! But soooooooo sweet! They have pastelerias which are shops just for pastries! I try exaplain what a bakery is to people here but it’s just so different! XD

I haven’t got internet yet! Juan is letting me use his satellite internet for the time being! Hope to get it sorted soon! He’s really kind which makes the world of difference.

Anyways 2moro I start my classes! Should be fun! I’m super nervous but I’m sure it will go well! Just got to ask and answer lots of questions! Pray all goes well for me and I will update you when I can! In the meantime I leave you with a couple of photos from Beautiful Murcia!

 The cathedral de Murcia! we went in side but couldn´t take photos it was a bit sureal

 There i ammmmmmmm! wooooooooo proof guys! ;D

 Incredible architect! how can you say it´s not very impressive¿ lol

 The bull fighting stadium! my flatmate says there should be some matches sometime!

EL puente viejo - the old bridge XD