#1 The Moon Over Camp
#2 View at the Top of My Run in the Mountains
#3 Bad Picture in the Only Bar with Good Beer in Leon(and possibly all of Spain)
#4 Groovy Train Ride into Leon from Camp
#5 Where I Sit at the Entrance to Kitchen With Best WiFi Connection for Blog/Skype Calls
#6 Part of the Walk to "Town" From Camp w/ TEFL Course Friends
#7 Cabins Full of Dust Where We Try to Sleep After Late Nights Drinking
#8 Something I Ordered Without Having Any Idea What I Was Going to Get
This post is dedicated to the day to day experiences of the last couple of weeks. As I prepare to go back to Madrid on Sunday, I realize that there are a thousand little things that make life here quite interesting. I still haven't taken a picture of the storks that populate this area and make huge nests on top of poles and ruined churches. I can't explain the strange mechanical sound they make that comprises an integral part of this camp experience. You haven't seen the comical array of computers that scatter the cafeteria as we fight for bandwidth to skype call our friends and family back home. It's difficult to believe how much beer and wine just 16 students can throw back on a nightly basis.
All this is about to end as we wind down the Leon/camp section of our TEFL training. Many of us will be staying at the same hostal back in the city, but I'm guessing the party schedule will slow down a bit as we slam out the last assignments and study for the dreaded grammar portion of the final exams. It's true that I am amphibious in that when I'm in the city I long for the open skies and green of the country, but am equally excited to return to the city where I can have my delicious cafe con leche on demand and soak up the beautiful architecture and unique style of Madrid.
I've got wifi where I'm staying for at least the next week, and then I'm off to a remote town about an hour and a half south east of Madrid called Ucles where I'll be teaching four weeks of summer camp in what looks like a monastery straight out of Harry Potter. I'll be thankfully very busy planning lessons and dealing with spoiled Spanish children so that I won't miss home so dreadfully much(I'm aware that this is a lie, but shhhhhhh, I'm trying to trick myself). I really appreciate the great comments I've been getting on my posts. It helps me feel less lonely as I try to sort through the complication that involves living in two worlds: home and here. Keep up the communication so I'll be motivated to snap more pictures and share what's going on.
4 comments:
OK, is that #8 photo CRAWDADS? yikes. Looks like you had some beer to go with your mystery meal so that's good. Sorry I'm such a low-tech loser so no skype for me yet. Looking forward to hearing more about the Harry Potter monastery and spoiled little spaniards (can one say "spaniards" or is that politically or grammatically incorrect? Good thing I'm exposing my ignorance for the whole blogging world to see.) love the blog, love the pics, love you. Jo
Oh Karen! the pics are great!! what a brave soul you are. i can't believe you're out there. it's strange, here or there, life's just life, isn't it. ups and downs; beer and little fishy things with eyeballs. i'm getting my taste of the world by watching the EURO cup. Spain plays on sunday. i'm hoping they win just cuz you're there and you'll be around all them spanish peoples yelling... or crying... it's hot here and i miss you!
Looks like you were eating grilled or fried sardines...which are also very popular in Portugal. Did you like them? Can't imagine you not liking the beer there...they are pretty well known for same. Funny about the food thing and not knowing what you were ordering. For some unknown reason food items are usually not listed in dictionaries either. I should have given you my list before you left the USA. I made up same as like to know up front if I am ordering brains! Have you tried bacalao yet? (salt cod). Now there's a real gem. Very Spanish, expensive and I really dislike that! All going along here. Lisa added to her blog yesterday too. You wouldn't believe gas prices here. Still high with forecasts of going higher! Stacy is off to Oklahoma again on 7/2. It's the same destination and same airlines as when she went in April.. only now costs almost twice as much. High gas prices seem to be adding to the cost of everything here now.That's it from Bako. Am looking forward to reading more about your adventures. ~ Jean
All these wonderful pictures and stories, even of things going not quite as perfect as one might envision, are all the reasons that I still look forward to having the time to travel someday. Perhaps I shoulda done that *before* settling down a bit with a kid and all -- but, hey, that's an extraordinary adventure all its own that I wouldn't give up for anything, so I can't complain.
Hope teaching goes well! I know you've got it in you -- not many of my own former instructors ever got much to stick in my brain in first-period classes, so there's gotta be something special about your style, ha! Best of luck, and keep the pictures rolling.
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