I am SO sorry that it has been so long since I put anything up here. The weather and March in general has been too busy and wonderful- every time I think about blogging, I'm inconveniently located somewhere where access to the internet is either impossible or would require getting sand in my keys. To recap the past month...
-The family came to visit during Carnival (which was wonderful- I'm sure you can ask them all about it if yall haven't talked)
-I had midterms (which went fine- although the grading scale here is odd- from 1-10 instead of 1-100, with decimal points)
-I discovered the next american idol in a local cafe. Spanish singers here sing in English (accents questionable) so he chose "Unchained Melody' from Ghost to serenade my friend Sara on her 21st birthday. Who knew that the next Clay Aiken would be working down my street wearing a tight black shirt with Mama Mia! in sequins...
-Got the plague (food poisoning from Mexican food)
-I taught a class to Spanish students at a local high school. Going into the experience, I think I complained every hour on the hour about the fact that I don't want to be a teacher, but had to go talk to a group of 20 17 year old spanish students about "music" in English. We really had no idea going into the class how much English these kids know, so it was challenging to create a lesson plan based off of practically no information. I (surprisingly) had an awesome time- Spanish students are really receptive to any American influence, particularly if they get to listen to our music (which plays in the clubs here). They love to act and loved to talk, and we had a great time. One guy even knew that the Hawks were Atlanta's basketball team. Go figure. I'm not signing up for Teach For America any time soon, but I will admit to being mistaken about the experience as a whole.
What I really want to show yall more than anything is my experience last weekend. Three of my friends and I hopped on the tram to Calpe- a town just outside of Benidorm (maybe an hour and a half away from Alicante) to explore the beach town and go on a hike. My friend Sara who led us on this excursion is one of those "I have a vague idea of the route of where we should go in my head based on an assumption and also some fact" type of planners, so we went ahead and cleared out the whole day. We got off at Calpe to find a touristy but beautiful beach town and a very cute couple from southern England who helped us find our way to Ifach, the rock we were hiking. Mind you, this is the rock we saw from the tram and said "OK that thing is unclimbable, where's the mountain?"...we found ourselves at the base of what looked like a cliff sticking out of the water, with a path along the way warning of "dangerous hiking" past the tunnel that is there (sorry, Mom and Dad). Anyway, long story short it is the most beautiful hike and place that I have ever been. The most dangerous and exhilirating climb I've ever done, and the high of being up on that rock looking out at the ocean has kept us all in great spirits this whole week. Pictures don't even do it justice, but they certainly do a better job than my words can. The only downside to the whole day was the clan of feral cats that inexplicably decided to post up on the summit and try to eat our bocadillos (sandwiches).
Since midterms and the improvement of the weather, my schedule has simplified...I generally alternate between the beach, class, eating meals, running, thinking about homework, the beach, and the actual doing of the homework (reserved for hours after dark because it is simply too gorgeous out to ignore). We are looking ahead to a trip to Granada this weekend of 75 degrees with sun! I also booked a trip with my friend Hilary next weekend to London- so I'm very excited. We are both very much high strung, let's see everything type people so we will be good travel companions.
In other news, the time changed here on the 27th of March so we are enjoying sunshine until past 8:15 at night. Also, April Fools Day doesn't exist here- it's in December. So much for our plan to dress up like statues in front of our class building and see if our classmates notice...
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| "We're climbing THAT?" |
Well- that's it for now. I promise I'll try to keep this updated more often! Welcome to la primavera (spring)!
Love,
Casey
PS- HAPPY OPENING DAY EVERYONE!
