Semana Santa in Malaga

Malaga is a beach town in Spain, off the Mediterranean, close to Gibraltar and supposed to be our two days of suntanning on the beach. The first half day we were there it definitely was sunny and bikini worthy ( although I was still recovering from Granada so I spent most of it sleeping in bed).

The next day though? Total overcast grey day. Chris was determined to go to the beach so melissa and I separated from them and explored the city. We wandered around and climbed up a giant hill to the castle to get a great view of the harbor and downtown.

We didn't realize it, but it was Semana Santa (holy week) in Spain and they had all these catholic processions going on every day all week. It was pretty intense. Especially when you saw what their outfits were when you weren't expecting it...



So what came to mind when you saw that?? Growing up in North America and focusing on American History in undergrad made me think of one thing.... The KKK. And seeing hundreds around town, marching, carrying crosses/incense/giant statues of Jesus, Mary and a whole slew of other biblical things was a little intense!! Being the only "heathen" in the group of Catholics I was traveling with, it was even more over the top in my mind. But at least it was something different and that's what traveling is all about: experiencing other cultures firsthand. No matter how zealous they may seem to you. :)

Granada!!

Granada has been by far my favorite city in spain... And I was sick for half of it! It's gorgeous, friendly, not too pricey, has great tapas and we stayed at an amazing hostel (oasis - much thanks to Lisa for recommending it!)

We missed our bus stop on the metro getting to the hostel, but were able to grab another one and got there fine. The Oasis hostel really WAS an oasis after the rubbish one we stayed in Madrid! Comfy beds, great lounge area, friendly staff and lots of planned activities. We were still not used to the Spanish schedule of siestas and staying out late but luckily found a great tapas bar near our hostel.

All the bars in Granada serve free tapas! And they are huge portions. We got some cheesy ham garlic bread and chips (French fries) with our mojitos and after we ordered a second drink, it came with mini hamburgers! Yum! Ps it seems like all I did on this trip was eat and drink....

We went on our own little walking tours around the cathedral and souvenir shops until it was time to head back to the hostel for a hostel dinner of delicious paella ( but I still cannot eat the prawns... They have eyes!!!)

We played a bit of Egyptian ratscrew (thanks wedge!) and met up with a group of British boys who were teaching English in Madrid and on holiday. A simple drinking game led to us 3 girls joining them out at a bar and club. We got to the club at 12 and were the only ones there. The ONLY ones. Still fun though and by 3 am it finally go busy. Many drinks and a stumble home by monsoon ended the night (Melissa stayed behind to earn her Spain patch).

Unfortunately, awesome nights often lead to horrible next days. Little sleep, a decision to go walking by myself ( and then met an American from my hostel also exploring), and food that i wasnt sure I was eating resulted in a very very sick Susan. I will spare you the gory details but it resulted in a bed ridden day/ night and the toilet and I were on a first name basis.

The rest of the group got to visit the famous Alhambra but that just means I have to go back right?

Off to Spain!!

It's spring term holidays so we get two weeks off from school (unfortuently unpaid) and us Canadians (Monica, Chris, Melissa, and I) have planned a trip to Spain and Portugal! Madrid to Grenada to Malaga to Seville and then Melissa and I will continue on to Lisbon and porto in Portugal.

After a little bit of a hectic time getting to the airport ( and finding out that the oyster card doesn't work from London bridge to gatwick) we got aboard our ever so roomy and smooth Ryan Air flight ( hahahaha yeah right). We touched down in Madrid around lunch time and easily navigated ourselves to the city center and our hostel.

Our hostel wasn't that great: tiny rooms, small uncomfortable beds, not very social, awkward shower arrangements... But it was bearable for the two nights. We were starving so we grabbed food from a nice spanish cafe.

Now last time we went to Spain, we had michelle's grade 11 Spanish to help us get by. This time? No such luck as none of us speak a spec of Spanish. Deciphering the menu with the help of our lonely planet translator helped a bit, but the waiters weren't too pleased with our struggles (especially poor Melissa who is part veggie and only eats chicken! It was a flashback to James trying to find vegetarian food in Germany!)

We ended up getting a three course meal for 9€! I had gespacho soup to start ( I knew what that was and it as delicious!) and then a main course of chicken paella (my favorite Spanish dish of rice, chicken, veggies and spices like saffron). I ended with a Spanish caramel flab for dessert. Oh and some wine too.

In the middle of our dinner, a crazy old woman came to our patio table and tried to steal our bread and drink our wine! I kept telling her "no" (mon said I sounded like I was talking to a reception kid) until some old man walking by yelled at her and she left! It was a little intense!

We ended up just walkin around til he evening as it was sunny until like 9pm before we had a quick nap/shower before heading out for some sangria! We went to a nice patio in a big square and split a jug before moving on to try and find some food. As we were walkin we heard flamenco music and caught the tail end of a flamenco show. Ordered another sangria jarre, got some tapas and even some free tequila shots ( we were a little confused when they brought those over).

Now the day had been so good so far that I was doomed for some disaster. And that came in the way of me climbing up on my bunk in the dark and snapping my glasses in half!! If I got some tape I can so be Harry potter.

The second day in Madrid consisted of a walking and later tapas tour with "Sandeman New Europe Free Tours" (well they work for tips so it's a 5€ tour). I've been on the ones in London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Dublin so I knew they were good. We toured around places like the royal palace, plaza major, and Plaza de la sol. We also learned about the history of Spain and the Spanish inquisition. Pretty informative and right up my ally. Plus our tour guide grew up near Lewisham so that was a pretty cool bonding point!

We ended up joining up with the tour guide again for his tapas tour (8€). We went to four tapas bars,with sangria and tapas included! Tapas is a small dish of food that is served wih your drink. Back in the day, the farmers could only afford either food or drink when they went to lunch (and if offered the choice between only one, most chose drinking cervesa!) therefore, when they returned to work after lunch they were not as productive! So the king made it law for bars and restaurants to serve some sort of small dish with every drink bought. It's not mandatory now but still customary ( but tourists often get charged money for tapas!). Anyways, we tried a whole bunch in Spain and my favorite has been either croquetas (deep fried cheese ham things that are kinda like mozza sticks) or patatas bravas (homefries in a spicy tomato sauce). But since I was trying new things, I even tried ox's tail cooked in chocolate (not bad) and escargot ( never again).

Next stop, Granada!!!!

Sometimes...

Sometimes, you have weekends that are spent inside because you're too sick to go out and have fun.

Sometimes, you have days when all you want to do is be back home with your family and friends.

Sometimes, you hate having to wake up early and teach kids who will never remember your name after that day.

But then sometimes, when you have a class that is wonderful, it makes you remember why you love your job and living in this country.

:)

Already sick....

I have worked TWO days and already gotten sick! Granted, 90% of England is sick right now (including my house), plus jet lag and drinking on Saturday night probably didn't help, but still... I think I really need to develop a stronger immune system. They say that as a teacher, you get a stronger immune system after like three years of teaching. You get sick ALL the time those first few years and then you become SUPER immune. I wish I had that super power right now.

I worked in a nursery as an assistant on Monday, starting my job off easy and simple. I was with the Under 3s, but luckily for me, there were only two babies and the rest were two year olds (the best age! They are so hilarious!). I.e.

Kid holding a toy saw: "I am going to make you something"
Me: "Oh yeah? What will you make me?"
Kid: "A Sandwich"

It was a long day, but at least it wasn't very hard. I didn't have to do any planning or marking and just played with the kids. Yesterday, I went to a Year One class at one of my favourite schools. The kids were pretty wild. well, 5 out of 20 of the kids were wild. The rest were great and I felt SO bad for not paying much attention to them. That's the problem as a supply teacher. You learn all the bad kids names (Lily, Mustafa, Chelsy, Dylan) but none of the good kids names because you don't HAVE to learn their names. :( Its a shite role for them. They slip through the cracks. I did make note of some of their names though, so that at the end of the day when I wrote a note to the teacher, I could praise them for helping me out. Also, three kids lost their teeth that day... whats up with that? They wanted to join the trend after one kid lost his? Good thing I'm okay with blood!


However, after I came home, I was exhausted and starting to feel shitty. Fell asleep early (for me) and called in and told them I was unavailable for work today. Slept til 1:45 but I am starting to feel a bit better. Hopefully I can get back into the hell of the classroom tomorrow!

Stones and Baths!

I have only been here two days and already gone on a mini-trip! We (Monica, Chris, Melissa and I) went to Stonehenge and Bath for Melissa's birthday!

It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we finally did it! Monica and I had tried to go to Stonehenge about three times last year, but the early morning departure time on a Saturday always deterred us from actually doing it! We left our flat in Lewisham around 7 am and headed to Victoria to catch the tour bus. The trip there was about 2 hours and of course, I fell asleep.

Stonehenge was much more impressive than I thought it would be. The rocks were HUGE and it was pretty interesting to hear how they transported them there from Wales and the theories behind their use or why it was created. There were a lot of "theories" but not a lot of evidence which I thought was still interesting. With all our archeological tools and scientific methods, we still can't fully understand it. Some things will remain a mystery I guess. Until we develop Doc Brown's Delorean at least.



Next, our tour lead us to the city of Bath where the main attraction was the Ancient Roman Baths (Hot springs and temples). I thought this was much more impressive than Stonehenge and I got a lot more out of it! We had audio guides that explained everything and were able to walk around the ancient waters and structures and actually see them CLOSE UP (unlike Stonehenge where you had to walk around a circle so far away!). We couldn't touch the water though because the pipes were made out of lead, they do not treat the water, and pigeons / seagulls do their business in there. It was pretty grimy and green, but nevertheless, I had such a strong desire to touch it. However, my sense of "I get sick from everything" overcame my curiosity and I had the common sense NOT to stick my hand in the water.



We were there for so long wandering about, learning things which I won't reiterate here (as I know history is not necessarily as exciting to others as it is to me). When we were finished, we went to a pub and I had some lovely fish and chips (my traditional bangers n' mash wasn't on the menu). We also bought some amazing delicious sweet buns from the world famous Sally Lynns next door to eat on our bus ride home.

While we were in the pub, we noticed that there was a television on that was showing riots that were going on in Central London! During the day there was a peaceful march to protest the British Coalition Government's spending cuts (from social programs and services like education, daycare and health care) and 250,000 people showed up to march!! IT was so impressive!! However, just like with the G20 thing, there were splinter groups the broke off and started rioting. They were upset about the fact that a lot of major corporations don't pay tax in the UK, so they started vandalizing shops on oxford street! TopShop got its windows smashed in, 150 people did a sit in at Fortnum & Mason, HSBC in Covenant got vandalized, and apparently the Ritz was on fire!! It was pretty intense and when we came back to the city, we couldnt' get dropped off at our pick up point because it was in lockdown. Luckily, we ended up at a closer spot (London Bridge) and got home safely, but still... a very eventful day!

Second Time's a Charm!

Well, here i am, en route to London to teach and travel for the second time in my life. I wasn't sure if I was going to return though as I had lost my way for a bit, but I really feel ready now. Ready to go on a new adventure.

This time however, i will be flying over by myself. Left airport around 11:30 pm instead of the original 9:10 departure due to snow removal on the runways, a backup of other planes waiting to fly AND then bc we were waiting so long, the fuel tanks melted the snow that should have easily blown off the wings but now turned to ice and we had to de-ice. Yeesh!!

I have a great window seat (perfect for the view of the de-icing process!) and a nice Indian woman beside me ( yay for no fatties!). Had some small talk and watched the first few episodes of 'community' (thanks for the recommendation Bao!).

Ate half my meal but wasn't too hungry, watched half of 'Sex in the City2' and then fell asleep uncomfortably for most of the rest of the trip. We finally got here around 10:30am in London times...

More to come.... Get ready for the SECOND EDITION OF SUSAN IN LONDON!!!