Oh Valenciaaaaaaaaaaa!

These last six months have flown by. Sorry I haven't blogged during my stay here in Valencia, I feel like I'm always running around from one place to another.

Quick update (October - January)

Playa de la Malvarrosa

I was lucky enough to find an apartment with two Spaniards, one guy and one girl. I'm not living near the city center, but I really like my living situation. I'm 20 minutes from the beach by bus, close to the Rio and La Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias. The river Turia used to flow through the city, but after floods in the '50s they converted the space into a park and everyone still refers to it as "el rio."

Also, there is a bike route from my house to the school I work at, which is really convenient.
It's in the city and is a good 45 minute walk/25 minute bike ride/bus ride away from my house.

Oh! And there is another English assistant at my school, though we are not in the same program. She is from Turkey and is one of the kindest people I've ever met. We have a lot of fun working together, teaching each other things about our different cultures and learning a lot about Spanish and Valencian culture. The majority of the children are interested in learning English and they are always ready to share random stories, even if they may tell me in Castellano or Valenciano.

I have a great group of friends here. Most of us are in our second year as auxiliares, but there are two who are in their third year of being in Spain. We get together on the weekends for potlucks and even go to trivia at an American bar on Sunday evenings. We're known as "The Americans," and we're not very good, but we're not too bad either. With out powers combined, we win lots of spot prizes, things like free canas and 2 for 1 lunch coupons, though we never seem to get more than 30/40 points. The questions are aimed for people who are at least 5 years older than we are. It's fun though, we learn lots of random facts and get to test our knowledge.

Though the winter here was mild, it was very humid. The apartment buildings are built to let hot air out and keep the apartments cool. This is not a nice thing in the winter.

For Christmas, I went to Zielitz on the 20th and missed the Christmas concert at school. Each class from first through sixth grade sang at least one song in English. Songs were also sung in French, Italian, Turkish and Greek. The theme for the school year is "The Mediterranean," so classes sang songs from various countries that border the Mediterranean. The nice thing about arriving to Germany on the 21st was that I was able to be there for Tobias' birthday and Bastian's class party! Both celebrations were really nice. There was no snow this year, but it was still lovely.

Renato, Sally, Lia and me on NYE

 I spent New Year's Eve in Madrid with friends I had made last year in Badajoz. We went to Puerta del Sol with a bag full of grapes around 11:40. When the first bell rang 12 seconds before midnight, we began the Spanish tradition of eating one grape every second for the 12 seconds before midnight. This is supposed to bring you good luck. However, it didn't go very smoothly. We panicked when we heard the first bell so Lia, Sally and I began laughing because we realized we had put too many grapes in our mouths but in the end, we somehow managed to eat all 12.



Lia and I stayed in Madrid for about week with our friend Inma, who is from Badajoz but is studying in Madrid. We all ate the "Roscon de Reyes" or King's cake and Inma found the figurine of one of the Three Kings. She got to wear a crown and is supposed to have good luck this year.

We went to Toledo for a day. It is only an hour's bus ride away from Madrid and buses leave every 30 minutes from 9am to 10pm. Toledo is beautiful, the buildings are well preserved, it has a mosque, cathedral and synagogues and is filled with history. It is known for steel, jewelry and being the capital of the Spanish Empire. There is even a tv show called "Toledo" that is on tv now.



At the end of the month, my Mom visited me! That was a real treat. We went to a couple of museums, el mercado central, ate Paella Valenciana, had coffee with some of my coworkers and enjoyed spending time with each other. She met all my friends and even made amazing chili and cornbread that was taken to a friend's house for a potluck dinner.