Quincena 2

#1 My class!
#2 View from my window(no joke)
#3 Entrance to the monastery

I'm finally taking a breath after two weeks of teaching and figuring out how things work out in the middle of nowhere. As I mentioned before, Ucles is the home of a monastery of the Order of Santiago(yes, it's related to the Camino de Santiago that I'll be doing in August) and it's beautiful. The view from my window stuns me every time I look out as the light changes on the ancient walls and birds constantly circle the towers. There is a tiny store, two bars, and a church in the plaza. The town people are very friendly as they are used to a lot of newcomers every summer because of the summer camp. I've already taught my first class, gone running past the old ruins, drank from the town fountain that everyone stops by to fill up jugs of water, and had a late night song sharing session with the locals-one gypsy/flamenco tune per KJB. Internet access here is quite limited, and I normally work about ten hours a day. It's a lot of work figuring the maze of schedules and preparing five hours of instruction a day.

More to come, but I have to go down to the cafeteria for lunch(that's a story in and of itself), and we'll see if I can fit in a few more moments of computer time before the next set of students arrives this fine Sunday evening at 5pm......

Sensory Overload

#2 Caves outside Leon-Creepy, huh?
#1 Gigantes(giants) at Leon's festival

More pictures to come when my connection's not running out.....

No! It isn't true! I didn't get hit buy any of the crazy drivers in Madrid, run off with gypsies, or drown in a plaza fountain during the mayhem following Spain's victorious claiming of the Eurocup. I was quite simply carried off on a proverbial wave of events, some business, some pleasure, some mundane.

Having finished the TEFL course last Friday, I got down to some serious celebrating, shopping, site seeing, and errand running. The fair friendships that blossomed have been mercilessly plucked as buses, trains, and planes take each of us now certified TEFL teachers to the four corners of Spain. It also makes for continuous reasons to stay out late seeing each one off along the merry way.

EUROCUP. That's all that needs to be said for anyone who knows anything about soccer, but since so many don't in the states(really, including me), I'll add a little more. To say Spain is obsessed with soccer is a serious understatement. With that in mind, imagine a whole nation, not to mention the rest of the world, poised in front of television sets in bars, apartments, and even big screens projected on the side of a building in Plaza Colon. The chanting, cheering, and general mayhem started with the game at 8:45pm, and continued well into the next morning because Spain WON. They haven't won since 1964, so people were a little excited. I watched in a small family bar and drank beer, smoked, and cheered, "A por ellos" or "ES-PA-NA" along with the best of them. Then I took a stroll with a couple of classmates and watched guys with huge Spanish flags stand in the streets making cars pass through like a bull and torero. Every fountain in every plaza was filled with people splashing about like escaped lunatics. An experience not to be soon forgotten.

I'm feeling melancholy as I'm about to leave this fair city Sunday morning to make my way to camp where I'll be teaching five hours a day as well as acting as assistant camp director, i.e. the person they get to do anything they don't feel like doing. As I've mentioned, it's in a small town called Ucles in Cuenca. More specifically, in a monastery on a hill that looks like the setting of Hogwort's in Harry Potter. True to my Jekell and Hyde self, I'm reluctant to leave my hostal where I can walk out the door and within five minutes eat incredible food, see magnificent architecture, and shop like I'm in New York City. However, I've also started to feel the jitters that hit me when I don't go running or hiking in lonely places, and where it is actually quiet enough to allow a person to think.

I'm also happy to report that my writers block as far as poetry and song goes has started to dissipate. I've written two complete poems the last two days, and if I don't loose my courage, and my classmates/volunteer managers, Jaime and Eric, don't back out, I'm planning on playing in the commercial area on the street to see if I can't make a few extra euros. I'll let you know how it goes, and hopefully, continue to update the blog if the internet connection proves better than the vicious rumors have stated about camp.