The one with the return journey

Here I go, bags packed, and I am ready.  I spent the afternoon taking a nap, packing up last minute things, and hanging out at our favorite place, Restaurante Ramirez.  Fran, our waiter, just kept saying, el ultimo dia (the last day).  It feels good to know we will be missed.  Marissa and I both gave him some Spanish kisses and bid him 'Hasta Siempre' (until always).  Parting is such sweet sorrow.

Yes, I will be carrying all of this, and yes, my arms are going to fall off.

As for what is coming, I have one good bye with Marissa.  We will eat a dinner of the random food that we have left and watch a  movie.  And then at midnight, she will help me carry my many bags to the bus station.  I am taking the 12:30 bus to Madrid and should arrive around 6 AM.  My flight to JFK will hopefully leave around 10:30, and then I will fly from there to DC in the afternoon.  As to how all of that goes, I will let you know when I get home, 24 hours from now.  See you on the other side of the Atlantic!

The one with the ending

Today was a day to wrap things and tie up all the loose ends.  I turned in our mobile internet.  Gosh that thing has created some memories, like that time when we took it to Portugal without realizing there would be extra charges.  Next it was off to the bank because Chus said they would convert my significant amount of change to bills.  Unfortunately I missed the memo where you have to put your coins into those slips.  The guy explained that to me, but then he counted it out and gave me the bills and told me I had to do it next time.  What can I say? I am an American, and nobody told me.  

Finished with my errands, I headed to school for my last two lessons with my third and fourth year students.  My third years and I looked at pictures of my travels this year.  Reduced down to one powerpoint, one slide per place, I am really impressed with all of the places and things I have seen this year.  Somewhere along the way, I became that person. All the homesickness, boredom, uncertainty, and confusion was definitely worth what I got in exchange. I finished my classes with my fourth years, watching a presentation about a FC Barcelona football player.  Each of the students has to finish the bilingual section program with an oral presentation and powerpoint on the topic of their choosing.  Let's just say I have seen several on football and various football players.  

After the presentation, Chus told me we were going to the Salon de Actos for a surprise.  Almost all the bilingual students were waiting there.  I absolutely love the enthusiasm of my first and second years.  I am truly going to miss them!!  We watched a slideshow of me teaching and going on trips with the students this year.  It was set to Home by Michael Buble, which is just not fair unless you are trying to make me cry.  I managed to hold it together for them to present me with a sash and sort of diploma-esque paper.  After followed many Spanish kisses and good-byes.  I gave back my key to the school and all my English books, effectively ending this part of my life.  

The one where I felt the love

Today was an awesome day.  I really wasn't looking forward to it because it was one of the longest days that I have had during my time in Spain.  I had to get up at 6:50 AM (I know, boohoo.) to get to school for the first lesson.  It was an extra lesson with one of the first year Arts classes.  They are working on an English brochure about our field trip to Merida, so I went in to help out.  The teacher, Lluvia (which means rain in Spanish), forgot to tell me that he didn't really need me, but I had fun walking around chatting with  my students and giving them advice on color combinations that look good.  

After an hour, I had my final English class with another group of first years.  We played Bingo and had a good time.  It is funny how not with it the first years are.  It makes sense because it is a lot like 6th grade in the United States; the kids are a bit older, but the adjustment is rough for sure.  There was one really funny moment when Chus was yelling at them to be quiet so we could play the game, and I heard, "Callate o nos separamos el huevo." This more or less means 'be quiet or we'll separate the egg.'  Seeing that this made no sense to me, I asked Chus whether it was an expression, and she and the kids laughed because she said, "nos separamos el juego," which is like 'we will stop the game.' Oops, so I guess my Spanish still needs some work.  

During recreo, the teachers in the bilingual section met to say good-bye to me and eat sweets.  It was sort of fun talking about my perceptions of the program, schools, and Spain in general.  After recreo, I said good-bye to my second group of 2nd years.  If I had to pick a favorite class, this might be it.  The girls from my private lesson are in it, and for the most part, the students are engaged and well-behaved.  After looking at American money and answering their questions, it was time to go.  Most of the girls gave me the Spanish kiss (on each cheek) before they left; it was really cute :)

Elena, one of my REALLY enthusiastic first years

I had another extra arts class that was fun.  I actually felt like I knew what I was talking about at that point.  The real highlight for the afternoon though came in my final first year English class, 1B.  Those students, well I love them, but they are the most rambunctious, talkative kids that I have ever had to deal with during the last class of the day.  But they also have really good hearts.  They got super into my entrance to class, with one of the girls covering my eyes and everything.  They had written 'Good-bye Sandy' on the board; it was pretty funny how excited about it they were.  I decided to show them my American money, so we did that for a while, and then the teacher randomly started telling me to wrap it up.  So I did. Then the students were suddenly all getting out of their seats and moving towards me.  They had made a card (with some of the worst grammar I have ever seen, thanks to the use of an online translator) and got me a frame with a picture of me and some of the girls from a class trip.  Then we took a new picture of the whole class for me to put into it.  After that I gave out stickers and took pictures with the students before it was time to call it a day.  

1B

That wasn't the end for me because Wednesdays I have three private lessons in the afternoon.  First I had Pablo and Maria, my young ones.  I had them draw me pictures to take back to the United States with me.  Mine was the best, and I am not biased at all and the fact that I am 15+ years older than them had no effect on the outcome.  They have a lot of energy, and I often spent much of the lessons telling them to stop hitting, kicking, yelling, etc. but I will miss them nonetheless.  At least I am going home to a bunch more of my kids : D Can't stop smiling about that.

I also said good-bye to my Antonios, Chus's husband/son combo.  I will really miss talking to them.  It is really funny to me that I went the whole year without watching a whole football match, but I still know so much about it from talking about it with them.  I truly believe that the best way to get people talking is to have them talk about something that they are passionate for, and I learned a lot and loved having them teach me all about it.  I also gave Chus a book, Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein.  She gave me one as well, a novel written by an author from Zafra who is quite famous.  The book is about a family after the Spanish Civil War.  It will be a challenge, but I hope to read it.  My final good-bye was with Alvaro, my third year.  He has improved so much this year, and I can't believe it is over.

Only one more day and then I am headed out.  I gave my students my email, and I joined the social networking site that is popular here, so hopefully they will keep in touch!  It has been quite the year, and somewhere along the way, I made a home here.  I am so excited to go back to my US home, but it is still hard to leave my home here.

The one with the first good-byes

Today I started the final school week.  I am so filled with mixed emotions.  I am sooooo ready to go home and see my friends and family and get started with Fintastic coaching again, but I have grown pretty attached to many of my students.  It is exceptionally weird to think that I may never see anyone that I have met in Spain again, including Marissa and Masha.  Hopefully that isn't the way it goes, but stranger things have happened before.  Which brings me to my first good-bye.  Marissa and I grabbed lunch with Masha at one of our favorite restaurants to eat at.  Masha will be staying in Spain next year to teach English in the bigger coastal town of Huelva.  It has been awesome getting to know her throughout the year, and it was strange to say good-bye.

I also kind of said good-bye to my five 13 year old girls.  I have English class with them at school later in the week, so I will see them again, but it was our private good-bye.  I brought some pastries, and we played their favorite game from this year, Apples 2 Apples.  I even talked them into some pictures, which for 13 year olds is quite the feat. They have grown up so much this year, and their English has improved by leaps and bounds.  There is no question that they are going to be quite proficient by the time they finish secondary school in two more years.  They have helped to make my year great, that is for sure :)

The one with clouds in Cadiz

This weekend, my last weekend in Spain, we headed to Cadiz, Spain.  Cadiz is a typical beach town along the southern coast.  In general it is windy and sunny, a population destination for water sports and relaxation.  Unfortunately, as has been the case all too often while here in Spain, the weather just did not cooperate with us.  We were hoping that the last few weeks in Spain would treat us better, but at least it has been consistent.

We took the early bus on Friday, leaving for the bus station at 7:30 AM to get to Cadiz.  I was so tired! It is interesting how much habits play into how I feel in the morning.  I don't mind getting up early, but when I am used to being able to sleep in, it is like pulling teeth to get up and feel awake.  I am going to have to get used to it with many early swim practices to come.  We arrived in Cadiz to lots and lots of clouds. The original plan had been to lie on the beach, but with the cool wind, we decided to walk along the shore instead.  The rest of the day consisted mostly of a rest, lunch, and another rest.  Luckily the clouds gave us a reprieve around 6 PM, so we headed to the beach to enjoy the sunshine.  The highlight of the day was watching the sunset on a beach recommended by the hostel. The angle of the beach was perfect for the sunset, though the sand was quite cold.  I also enjoyed looking for sea glass along the shoreline; it is so pretty! We finished the day with some delicious tapas.  We had some goat cheese and spinach bombitas, vegetable cous-cous, potatoes with aioli sauce, and some fried chicken pieces with BBQ.  They were new for us and made my tummy happy!

Day 2 in Cadiz was much better than the first.  The clouds parted to a certain degree and made lying on the beach fun, if not slightly chilly at times.  Therefore, we spent most of the day reading and listening to music, with a break for lunch.  We capped off the day eating a Bolognese  pizza and watching the first half of the King's Cup Final football game between the two German teams.  I haven't watched much football here in Spain, but Antonio, Antonio, and I often discussed football, specifically the Champion's league, in our lessons.  By nighttime, it was definitely one of those days when after a long day of doing nothing, I was ready for some sleep.


In the original plan, we were going to leave Cadiz Saturday night, but we decided that it would lead to us returning to Zafra to wait around until it was time for us to leave to go home.  Ultimately, it was a good choice, though Sunday was once again cloudy and chilly.  We walked around, saw the plazas, and explored the castle on the coast.  It was definitely a castle in terms of the defensive meaning of the word, rather than being palace-like.  There was some interesting art exhibits inside, and it was a good way to pass some time.  We ended the afternoon with a couple of hours on the beach reading before catching the bus back to Zafra.  Somehow I made it to 5 days until I leave for home! CRAZINESS!!!

The one with silly Salamanca

This weekend Marissa and I headed back to the north to Salamanca in the region of Castilla y Leon.  Many of our teachers are from or went to university in this area, so they were very excited for us to go see it.  Our landlord and Marissa’s mentor told her she was going to love it so much that she would never want to leave it.  Unfortunately, the weather was so terrible that it made it extremely difficult to get excited and motivated to sightsee.  Despite that, the city was really beautiful; I only wish the weather had cooperated with our plans.

We left on Thursday after school, taking a bus as usual.  It was five and a half hours on the bus from Zafra to Salamanca, including a thirty minute stopover in Caceres.  It wasn’t too bad thanks to the beautiful countryside, a new Criminal Minds episode to watch, and a good book to read.  It is still amazing/crazy to me that it is light so late in Spain.  It still wasn’t completely dark when we made our way to our hostel just before 10 o’clock at night!  By the time we arrived, all we could do was grab dinner and head back to the hostel to rest.  We were both craving kebabs so we found a place nearby and ate up. 

Friday was supposed to be when we did the majority of our sightseeing, but it was a rainy, cold, miserable mess. Because of the weather, we had a late start in the morning.  We met an interesting, young woman from Mexico who is studying medicine in Spain for the semester and ended up talking with her for nearly an hour.  When we did leave, my umbrella broke thanks to the wind, but I could not bring myself to buy another with less than two weeks left in Spain.  We weren’t prepared for the cold, so we decided that a café con leche and pastry was in order.  We settled into a café in the Plaza Mayor for warmth. 

See the red roofs!

Afterwards, we walked over to see la Iglesia de la Clerecia.  Based on previous experiences, we decided to pay to see go up into the towers of the church, rather than pay to see the inside of the church itself.  We always enjoy getting a view of the city from above, and to be honest, the churches start to look the same after you see so many of them.  I believe we chose well, seeing how pretty the city looked, despite the bone-chilling wind.  I love the way the red roofs look from above, so classically Spain to me.  Next to the church is the Casa de Las Conchas (House of Shells) which is covered in stone shells.  It was built at the end of the 15^th century and has the shells because the owner was a member of the Order of Santiago (St. James), whose symbol is the shell. 

Then we saw the Catedral Nueva and Catedral Vieja.  They are basically combined, with the older cathedral being built sometime during the 12^th century and the newer cathedral being built during the 15^th century, I do believe.  The old cathedral had tombs and art that were old and neat, but it was much smaller and plainer than the new cathedral.  The new cathedral was more of the baroque and renaissance style, with sweeping arches, domes, and columns.  All of these churches, cathedrals, basilicas, etc. are just so breath-taking, though Sagrada Familia is still my favorite (love me some Gaudi!).

We stopped for a delicious Spanish lunch.  I started with a plate of paella mixta, that I am pretty sure included rabbit, seeing as that is the typical way to eat it in this part of Spain.  It was good as always, though impossible to eat the tiny shrimp with their shells and heads still on.  My second dish was a pork chop with french fries.  We both finished with some flan, that wasn’t quite as good as I have had in Spain but still better than most.  I am going to miss being able to get a meal like that, including drink, bread, and tip (no tip) all for 10 Euros. 

On Saturday, we got ready a little earlier and headed out to walk around the city a bit more. As you can tell from the picture, it was pretty cold, so we bundled up in our scarfs and sweatshirts.   Honestly I am not exactly sure what we saw specifically.  I know we saw some old churches and part of the Ponticifia University, which is extremely old with construction beginning in the 13^th century.  We also walked along the river, which was quite nice.  We even witnessed the start of a protest rally, though I’m not sure what they were protesting, probably budget cuts.  The last thing we saw was the Roman bridge, dating back obviously to Roman times.  Salamanca was on the same ’Via de la Plata’ (Silver route) as Zafra, which is pretty nifty. We finished the morning with another cafe con leche and pastry in the Plaza Mayor before going to get our bags from the hostel.  After it was time to get back on the bus and head home. 

With only one weekend left in Spain, we wanted to be able to go to our café on Sunday and relax.  Can you believe it? I only have one more weekend in Spain.  We are going to the beach in Cadiz and will enjoy swimming and reading a lot, I am sure.  This week I am seeing all my kids for the second to last time, which is definitely bittersweet.  I had a really good lesson with my second years today about baseball.  I loved telling them about something I enjoy and that makes up a part of American culture, and they seemed to be really into it, asking questions and listening for the most part.  I am definitely going to miss them!

The one with Portugal, take two!

This weekend we had a fabulous adventure to Albufeira, Portugal.  It is a relatively small town on the coast, part of the Algarve region, and it is fabulous.  Masha, Marissa, and I left on Friday around noon because the bus schedule wasn't being very cooperative.  Our bus from Sevilla departed at three, but it was impossible to figure out when it was supposed to arrive.  Portugal is one hour behind Spain, and the tickets made no note of arrival time.  The website said six o'clock, with a five hour bus trip, but on Spain or Portugal time that didn't add up with leaving at three.  We finally arrived at around 6:20 PM, though still as confused as ever with how the return journey was going to go.   

We put all of that out of our minds and headed to our hotel.  We stayed in a nice plalce called Sol a Sul Apartments.  The apartment was complete with a bedroom, a private bathroom, balcony and a kitchen, though we didn't end up cooking while we were there.  After de-traveling for a bit, we headed out to find dinner.  We weren't that successful for a while. It is rather difficult to get three people to agree on a place that is also in the right price range, meaning relatively cheap.  We didn't mind too much because it gave us the chance to wander around a bit and see the beach.  We settled on a place, I think it was called Eddie's, and we actually had a fabulous time.  Our waiter was this young-ish guy from England, and he got a major kick out of us, probably because we are awesome.  Marissa and I shared a supreme pizza that was exceptionally delicious, though I can never understand why they put olives with pits on the pizza.  Eventually, we headed back to the apartment to wind down before bed. 
 

Saturday was the best day! We lied on the beach for most of the morning, after slathering up with sunscreen.  I read my book, listened to some music, and even got in the water a bit, though being the Atlantic, it was freezing.  As you can see, my facial expression says it all.  Eventually we got hungry and ate lunch at an over-priced restaurant along the beach.  After, we decided to walk the length of the beach to see what we could see.  The hotel owner had said it was a twenty minute walk, but it was more like 45.  It was fun to people-watch and see the different parts of the beach.  After making our way back, we stopped for some gelato; I got chocolate.  We whittled the afternoon away with more laying on the beach, reading, and swimming; I even went almost all the way under.  It was a peaceful, relaxing day, the kind of day where you finish and say, "After a long day of doing nothing, it feels good to kick back." One hundred points to anyone who recognizes that quote.  Not feeling up to making the decision on where to eat, we returned to the same restaurant as the night before.  This time I mixed things up and ordered fish and chips. I love me some fish and chips, and these were exceptional. I even treated myself to a beer and a second gelato, this time mint. 

 

Sunday was kind of an awkward day.  We weren't supposed to leave until late afternoon, but we couldn't track down the hotel owner to ask if we could check out late.  Ultimately we decided to spend the day relaxing by the hotel pool, so that we were out of our room but could enjoy the sun without getting covered in sand.  The pool was also really cold, but I enjoyed doing some shallow water aqua-jogging and cooling off from the intensity of the sun.  I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't get burnt at all on the whole trip.  It probably helped that I put on sunscreen like it was my job. Eventually we changed into our clothes and went back to the restaurant for a final meal before heading to the bus station.  Yes, Marissa and I shared another supreme pizza.   

Then the real adventure began.  Like I mentioned, we were having a terrible time with deciding what time zone the buses were using.  It didn't help that many people on line said that it was often the case that a bus would leave Portugal using the ticket time as if it was in Spain.  Because of this, we decided to show up early in case our 5 o'clock bus actually decided to leave at 4 o'clock.  We arrived and asked at the information desk when the next bus to Sevilla left.  The lady told us there were no more buses.  Then when we said that we had tickets, she said that the bus was at five, but you can't buy tickets from this bus station, which is why she didn't mention it.  Ok, weird. 

We finally got on the bus, but we were quite concerned how a bus leaving at five Portugal time was going to arrive in Spain (supposedly at 9 Spain time).  That leaves time for a 3 hour journey, which seemed impossible when our journey there took 4 hours and 20 minutes.  We were doing well on time until we hit beach traffic headed into Seville about an hour from our destination.  It was a real nail-biter, with us preparing to have one of us literally impede the bus to prevent it from leaving without all of us and our bags if necessary.  By some miracle, we made it the station at 9:55, five minutes before the bus to Zafra was supposed to leave.  Masha had to pee, so she told us to hold the bus and went bounding off into the darker end of the bus station.  I swear I thought she had gone to pop a squat somewhere, but evidently there was a bathroom that I didn't know about.  We finally made it on the bus and then on to Zafra.  This is why we usually try to come home early in the day, to prevent all this stress, but Albufeira was definitely worth it. 

The one with a field trip to Merida



Wednesday I got the pleasure of joining all of the first year students from my school, including the students not in the bilingual section, on a field trip to Merida, the capital of Extremadura.  The first years studied the Roman Empire, particularly its history in relation to Rome, so this trip sort of brings that all together.  The students in the bilingual section will have to create an English brochure on some of the things they saw and then will have to be prepared to discuss it in their oral exam at the end of the term. In the fall, Marissa, Rebecca, Masha, and I went and explored the Roman ruins of Merida, so it was nice to go back and see it after having actually gone to Italy and seen Rome.  This time, we started our excursion with a look at the Museum of Roman Art, which houses many of the works of art, mosaics, relics and statues found near and in the Roman Ruins.  

 

I love spending time with my students in a more relaxed environment.  I feel like it really gives them a chance to see that I am a real person.  I always think it is funny how surprised they are that I can actually speak Spanish too.  I almost always try to only speak English with them, but on this trip in particular, I felt that some Spanish was justified since there were students present who don't understand any English.  At one point, I was trying to herd the students,because we were running late and that is what you have to do with 100 students, and I said, "Corre, corre, arriba, arriba!" You would think I had just said the funniest joke ever told. Also I was pretty psyched when one of my girls say next to me on the way there and then felt that she had to save me a seat on the way back. It was cute, even though she was shy and didn't really speak to me.  I can hardly believe that in three weeks I will be saying good-bye to them, most likely for ever.

The one with swimming in Marsalforn

Friday was my last full day in Malta, and the weather was not quite as nice, with a bit less sun than the other days.  You can see how the water looks darker without the sun shining down on it.  I didn't let that stop me, and I set off relatively early along the cliffs to see what there was to see.  Originally I wanted to walk over to Ramblas Bay, the closest traditional beach to Marsalforn, but ultimately I decided the hill in the way was too big.

 

Instead, I stuck close to town and just wandered a bit.  In fact it consisted of a lot of me walking 50-100 feet, sitting down for 15-20 minutes to read, and then walking another 50-100 feet for a new reading spot.  Like I said, that is what a vacation should be for me.  Honestly, don't I look like I am having fun?  I read nearly five books, so I am pretty proud of my vacation success.  Eventually I got hungry, so I turned around and headed back to the main part of town.  To distract myself, I decided to count the number of salamanders/lizards I saw on my way.  In the short (maybe 15 minute) walk back to town, I counted 36 of those little guys!  If my survey is any indicator of their overall prevalence, then I swear those things are everywhere on that island.  They were green, blue, purple, brown, and cute so long as they stayed outside.  For lunch, I got a four cheese pizza, which came with a peach iced tea that was so summery and sweet.  The pizza was really good but might have had a little too much of the overpowering blue cheese.  I didn't mind so much, seeing how I ate it for lunch and dinner. 

 

Post lunch, the sun had come back out, and I was ready to test the waters, both literally and metaphorically.  Now with my swim suit on, I was ready, in the sense that I was ready to sit on the rocks and read my book some more.  Eventually, I took off my clothes and stared at the water instead of my book.  Finally I got my feet wet, but it took a good 10 minutes more for me to pysch myself up to jump in.  Let me say, my hesitation was totally justified because that water was cold, maybe not arctic or anything, but cold another to make the stoutest of hearts hesitate, at least that is what I am going to keep telling myself.  I had grandiose ideas of swimming across the bay and back, but after about 20 seconds the cold and fear of things lurking beneath the surface had me climbing back out to the safety of my rock and my book.  Then again, look how happy I am.  I conquered the Mediterranean Sea.  I celebrated with two scoops of gelato, one chocolate and one after eight (mint).  The evening was passed in leisure: reading, packing, and eating cold pizza, pure bliss. 

 

Saturday I made the long journey home all the way to Zafra.  I nearly scared myself to death on the plane ride home due to a poor choice of reading a novel that begins with a deadly and tragic plane crash.  I was convinced that the plane was going down and that Teddy wasn't going to survive.  Luckily it was all in my head, and I made it back to Zafra safe and sound to do lots of laundry and wait for Marissa to come back on Monday.  For those who are wondering, I am now well into my final month in Spain.  Goodness gracious, I can't wait to be back in the states to do all the things I have been wanting to, but that list will have to wait for another day!

The one with Gozo site-seeing





My enjoying the beach in Xlendi Bay

Thursday in Gozo, I decided to hit up some of the different areas of the island and see what there was to see.  Part of my motivation for coming to Malta was that Emma (best friend) studied here two summers ago and absolutely loved it.  I wanted to go somewhere new, and it was an added bonus that I had some recommendations on what to see.  The biggest problem with Gozo for me was getting around.  Technically Gozo is small enough that nothing is that far away (potentially walkable), but the roads are all tiny and not really meant to accommodate two cars, let alone cars and pedestrians.  Furthermore, the buses were on winter schedule, which meant that in Gozo, nearly all of them operated only once an hour, and I had to go back into the central town of Victoria to go anywhere else. I made it work for me by planning ahead and spending only one hour in each of the places that I wanted to visit.  It would have been nice to spend more time at some of them, but an hour was enough for a basic overview. 

 

Anyways, the first place I headed was Xlendi Bay.  Xlendi is another little fishing village sheltered by a nice-sized bay perfect for swimming and diving/snorkeling.  It was a little quieter than Marsalforn, but if I could do it again, I would probably stay here.  It had some excellent areas to walk along the coast and plenty of areas perfect to set up for a picnic or reading expedition.  It also had a bigger, more traditional walk-in beach area, which was nice.  The best part for me was this staircase and path they had that went up onto the cliff overlooking the town, so you could look down on the town.  The last part of the path led into a sort of cave that reminded me something out of a pirate movie, like when Captain Hook is holding Tiger Lily captive in the cave.  Basically, it was really cool.  I tried to wade in the water, but it was really cold.





After catching the bus back to Victoria, I headed out to Dwerja Bay, home of the Azure window.  Nature never fails to amaze and astound me with the things that it creates, all on its own.  It reminds me a lot of the Natural Bridge at home in Virginia, except this one doesn't really lead anywhere.  The whole site is rather cool with salt flats and rock worn away by the sea.  Additionally, under the surface lives a whole other world, with this area being the location of a drop-off not unlike the one from Finding Nemo.  I really wish I had been able to do some scuba diving while I was there, but I wasn't feeling 100%.  Experience has shown me what can happen when I dive when I probably shouldn't, and it is not fun or pretty.  At least now I have a strong motivation to return and see what is going on beneath those perfect crystal blue waters.  The two blights on the area were the one older man who deemed it was to swim naked a jaybird right where all the tourists are and then the poor man who fell trying to walk around the area and had to be taken away be ambulance.  Quite the exciting place to be, obviously. 

Next I headed back into Victoria.  I was lured in by a little shop that had their food for sale displayed for everyone to see.  It was scrumptious.  I got a pizza-like square with Maltese sausage and a sausage wrapped in bread, kind of like a big pig in a blanket.  Plus I guzzled a water; like many beach and coastal areas, the water in Malta tastes mineral-y and vaguely salty, not very appetizing.  I also wanted to check out the Citadel located there.  Some version has been the heart of the island since at least 1500 BC, but its origins  may lie during the Neolithic era.  You can walk through most of it, and it has some excellent sites of the city and surrounding area.  Because Victoria is in the center of the island, you can also look out and see the ocean on a couple different sides, which is quite neat too. 


To be honest, by this point I was hot and tired and kind of just really wanted to go back to my hostel and take a nap, but I powered through for one last place, the Ggantija temples.  They were constructed sometime between 3600 BC and 3000 BC, which is pretty nifty in and of itself.  Sometimes I wonder what will be left from our time in history 5000 years from now.  My guess is not much and certainly not much worthwhile (i.e. plastic).  Legend says that the temple was carved out by a female giant because of the size of the stones used in the temple. 

Upon returning to Marsalforn I finished my outings for the day with a stop at the market for groceries so I could cook dinner.  I spent the rest of the evening in perfect bliss lying in my bed reading another book, all in my quest to make my trip to Malta a vacation and not only site-seeing.  That is what a good vacation needs in my opinion, lots of good books.

The one where I flew solo

This week we had Wednesday off of school, so I decided to bust out of this joint early for a long-ish vacation. Marissa had a friend's wedding this weekend, so she was stateside.  When I first came to Spain, I had figured out that I would end up doing a lot of solo adventuring and traveling, but it didn't work out that way.  So I decided where I wanted to go, and I went! I spread my wings and flew, all the way to the island nation of Malta, located to the south of Sicily, Italy.  It was awesome, and I am pretty proud of myself for doing it.  I actually had a great time and think I will take more solo vacations in the future. 

 

I started my trip on Tuesday afternoon, heading to Sevilla as usual.  I was surprised when I got to the airport, it looked like a group of bored teenagers had attacked.  The whole front hall with the ticket counters was a mess with toilet paper hanging from the rafters.  A person was walking around throwing paper bits like a flower girl at a wedding.  Once I got a bit further in, I realized, as I should have right away because this is Spain, that it was a strike.  The airport staff hired to work in the food shops and the cleaning staff were all on strike and were hard at work to prove their point of how necessary they were.  It seemed a lot more successful than the school strikes where the teachers or students don't show up for a day or two.

 

Anyways, I didn't arrive in Malta until after 8 o'clock.  I had originally planned to spend all my time on the smaller island of Gozo, but when I realized that I was going to have to take a bus to the ferry station, then the ferry, and then two more buses to get to my hostel on Gozo, I decided it was better to spend the night on the main island.  I checked into my hostel and headed out to find food.  This beautiful pizza is what I found, and let me tell you, it was freaking awesome.  I enjoyed it with a Maltese beer.  Everyone who says that pizza and beer is the perfect combination is so right.  I even made it through eating an entire meal out alone without feeling too awkward and stared out. Go me!  The pizza was big enough, that it actually would have been nice to have someone to share it with, but such is life. 

 

After a relatively good night's sleep, I got up and walked around Sliema, the town where I was staying.  The breeze was blowing, and lots of people were out running, walking, and riding bikes.  Wednesday was a holiday in most of Europe, Worker's Day or something like that, so I imagine there were more people out than usual.  Next it was time to make the journey to my other hostel, and journey it was.  It took more than three hours with all the transfers and waiting to finally arrive at my hostel.  I didn't mind too much because I got to see more of the islands riding the bus around, and the weather was quite nice.  On the ferry, I rode on the top deck, where it just so happened every family with children was on that boat.  I was a happy girl, watching the kids be kids and enjoying the salty air. 

 

By this point, it was already Spanish lunch time, so I wandered down into the fishing village of Marsalforn where I was staying to scout out the food situation.  I ended up eating this delicious and juicy cheeseburger and fries.  I know, not very Malta-y, but it is extremely hard to come by a good burger in Spain, probably because they make their hamburgers with at least some ham!  After, I walked along the coast a bit, taking in the blueness of the water.  I was exhausted from traveling, so I'm not going to lie.  I went back to my hostel and hid out in my room for the rest of the afternoon reading until dinner.  I had a light dinner and headed back to my room for more reading, a  good start to any trip.



The one with hiking Castellar

You know when you live/work/go to school somewhere, and everyday you go by that restaurant you always mean to try or that park you want to meander through or the antique store you should browse.  But you are too busy or too tired or too poor.  Today was awesome because everything finally fell into place for me to do one of those somethings that has been staring me right in the face every since I came to this sleepy little town.  We got to hike el Castellar, a mountainous ridge overlooking our little city.  It is one of those things that has been so close and yet so far. Today I got to sit at the top of it.  My ankles hurt, and my knees are angry, but I am content and happy, because I won't leave Spain with the regret of never doing this one thing that I really wanted to.  Look how awesome it is! Then we went out to eat at our favorite cafe/restaurant, Restaurante Ramirez, where the food was excellent.  We ended with some thick chocolate mousse that DELICIOUS.  To cap it off, when we went to pay, the owner came out with a note that said, "Invitation, Thank," which, though poorly translated, meant that our meal was on the house for the work we (mostly Marissa) had done to translate their menu from Spanish to English. It was cute and awesome!

The one with the Alhambra (Granada)

 

Unfortunately, we really only had one day in Granada as a consequence of only having a 'normal' three day weekend. The good news is that there isn't 'that' much to do in Granada. Don't get me wrong, it is a beautiful, happening city, just not a TON in terms of site-seeing.  We got up and enjoyed the usual hostel breakfast of toast and Nutella. I can't complain because it is delicious!! Then we had to find ways to entertain ourselves in the time we had before our scheduled time on our Alhambra tickets.

First, we went to check out the Catedral de Granada, which is a pretty cool place, even though they gouge you for all you are worth and make you pay four euros twice to see different parts of the cathedral.  We only went into the crypts part because that is where the tombs of four of Spain's Kings and Queens and buried, including Queen Isabel de Aragon and Fernando de Castilla.  Their marriage united most of Spain and created what we think of as Spain today.  Furthermore, Queen Isabel was the one who sponsored/order Christopher Columbus (Cristobal Colon in Spanish) to sail to the West Indies by way of the East, discovering a land near and dear to my heart!  I thought it was interesting that, in addition to all the usual religious scenes depicted, the main altar included images of Isabel and Fernando.  

After a quick stop back at the hostel to map out the rest of the day and to let Marissa change clothes (it was colder than we expected), we headed over to Plaza Nueva, the oldest plaza in Granada. There we got some information on where to go for the Alhambra later, before beginning the trek up to the neighborhoods of Sacremonte and Albaycin.  These are two of the oldest neighborhoods with a long tradition in Granada.  Sacremonte is known for its 'caves' built into the sides of the mountain and home to the gypsies and flamenco. Some say that flamenco originated here in Granada, but there are other cities that have just as big a claim to it, like Sevilla.  Albaycin is the old Moor neighborhood dating all the way back to the times of Arab control over the Iberian peninsula.  Though the Arabs were eventually pushed out and their mosques destroyed by their Catholics, their influences on the area are evident, and today you can enjoy the smells of sisha, teas, and kebabs as you stroll down the street.  Speaking of kebabs, we stopped and got some on our way over to the Alhambra, and man, were they good!

The Alhambra was breath-taking.  Also built during Arab rule of the area, its architecture strongly reflects these influences.  Its history dates back to the 1100s and was also home to the later Spanish Monarchy, including Isabel and Fernando. More than anything I enjoyed the views and the smell of the flowers surrounding us.  

We spent the afternoon strolling around the extensive grounds and tiring ourselves out, so a little rejuvenation was in order.  We freshened up with some Nutella-flavored gelato that really hit the spot.  Then it was time for a nap. Eventually, I forced myself out of bed, so we could scrounge up some more awesome food.  We ordered some more tinto de verano to drink (that was maybe the best I have had), and it came with a tapa, that had like these cheese torilla wraps along with cabbage and covered in a yogurt sauce and a berry reduction sauce; it was SOOOO good, unexpectedly so!  I ate chicken curry for the first time with a side of creamed rice, and both were absolutely excellent.  They weren't flavors that I am used to eating, but they both had a comfort food feel to them.  

After some good sleep back at the hostel, we got up in the morning to some more Nutella and toast before heading out.  Granada isn't that far by car, but it required a three hour bus ride to Sevilla, then a three hour wait before another hour and forty-five minute bus ride to get home. I certainly appreciate the benefits to driving myself around a lot more.  My review: the Alhambra is totally worth a visit, especially in the beautiful spring, but if you are staying in Granada more than a couple of days, plan on taking a day trip to one of the cool surrounding places like Nerja or the Sierra Nevadas.