Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Week Three

Time is sure passing quickly! Only 9 days left here in Spain. It may sound odd, but I'm ready to come home. Don't get me wrong, I've had a great time here! But I'm definitely missing home! I'm also missing American food! At this point, anything and everything sounds good! I think if I was to walk into an American grocery store right now I would buy everything in sight! Therefore, I won't be going into a grocery store for the first couple days after I return. But I will find me some Mexican good! Yum!

Anyways, this past weekend I decided to stay in Barcelona. Sarah and I went exploring in the center! We paid 27 euros each to get on a tour bus. Not bad considering we were on the bus all day! Before getting on the bus, Sarah and I decided to eat lunch. We stopped at a KFC to eat! It was nice to finally eat some "normal" food. The chicken was really good! In my opinion better than the KFC chicken at home! Crazy! The cried werent too good though! They were in desperate need of some salt! The cashier thought we were crazy when we asked for extra salt packets. After lunch, we got on the tour bus. We went all around town! We stopped at a famous Catholic church (not sure of the name), the Olympic stadium, and a castle! However, it was rainjng during the entire trip. In Spain, it doesnt just rain, it pours! But the end of the tour, I was soaked. I was even carrying an umbrella. For dinner, we decided to stop in the first restaurant we could see. We were very eager to get out of the rain! Everything on the menu was quite strange! But they did have pizza. It was pretty good, but it doesnt compare to pizza hut! After dinner, we both decided to go our separate ways and head home. I made it all the way back to the house without getting lost! Go me!

On the other hand, school is going well! It is a lot different from American schools though. One thing that is a big difference is the way the children are disciplined for negative behavior. Here the children are not as disciplined. So it makes it hard sometimes to teach! It's just something I will have to get used too! Anyways, I've been teaching small lessons each day! They have been pretty well! As many of you know, I'm teaching art. So I would say everything is going great! My artistic ability is also improving! I could not draw for the life of me before coming to Spain! But last Wednesday, I drew a model gingerbread man for the children and I think it looked pretty good! I also got the opportunity to make two clay owls from leftover clay! They are in the kiln now! I'm excited to see how they turned out!

9 more days left! Cant wait to see everyone back home! I love and miss you all!

See you soon,

Monday, November 24, 2014

Hello again!

Today is Monday, November 24th. I've successfully completed my first full week here in Spain!

This past week I've done a lot of exploring! On Wednesday, I went to the center of Barcelona called "Placa de Catalunya," my very first time riding the metro. The center was beautiful! But very crowded! While in the center, the girls and I went shopping! What girl wouldn't! I bought a few things! :) After shopping for awhile, we found a small restaurant that served pizza, burgers, and Coca Cola! I had nachos and a burger! It was nice to finally have some American good. Even though they had too I clue what a pickle was! I guess I'll have to wait until I'm back in the states for that one. At about 8:30, we decided to head home. Sarah and I decided to try the metro! But we all had to go our separate ways. Scary! The metro was quite confusing at first! There are so many different lines that go to all different places. But think goodness the stop I needed is fairly common and almost every line stops there! Once getting off the metro, I had the task of finding my way home. For anyone who knows me well, I'm absolutely horrible with directions! I use my gps everywhere. So of course I got lost! It turned out I was on the right street the entire time! I just passed up the house! But I finally made it!

On Friday, I went to London with 4 other girls! The plane ride was okay. It made me anxious being on a foreign flight company. But we made it safely. We arrived at about midnight! Saturday morning we began touring the city- it was rainjng and I had no umbrella! The girls and I decided to pay for a tour bus. It cost is about 30 pounds. Expensive but worth it! I soon realized everything in London was expensive! We even had to pay 10 pounds for Wi-Fi at the hotel! Throughout the day Saturday we saw the Buckingham palace, the London eye, the London bridge, big Ben and much more! It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I went!

Until next time,
Audra

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Hola!

It's officially been one week since I've landed in Barcelona, Spain! It's very beautiful here! On November 12th, we arrived. I was beyond exhausted! I didn't get much sleep on the plane. It was about an 8 your flight! When we got to Barcelona, we met Ashley, our contact person in Spain. Once we met him, we all boarded a bus and headed straight to school! On our way to school I saw some beautiful scenery! It's all so different from Kentucky!

When we got to school, we had a quick meeting and then off to breakfast. For breakfast I had a donut ( very good!) and some Apple juice! I then went on a tour of the school and met my teacher. The school is huge! It's 4 separate buildings. The buildings are used for all different ages/grades. The first building is for infantry (similar to kindergarten), the second and third for primary, and the fourth for secondary ( similar to middle school). They have a huge playground! They also have full sized soccer (futbol) and basketball courts. It amazes me how big the school is! After the tour, I met my teacher. His name is Richard. He teaches art to children from grade 1 to grade 6. He is very nice! The first day I just observed. That was about all I could do! I was a little jet lagged and dizzy. I'm feeling much better now. The children are very sweet! A lot of them knew where Kentucky was! I was surprised! One thing that caught me by surprise was that they called all teachers by their first name! Definitely something I will have to get used too!

After school, I met my host parents and the children! They are very nice! But they don't speak a lot of English. The little girls name is Gabi and she is 10 years old and the little boys name is Nico and he is 11. The first question they asked me was if I liked KFC. When we got home, I was able to unpack and take a small nap. At 8 I clock I woke up and ate dinner with the family. The dinner was prepared by Let, the housekeeper. She is from the Philippines and speaks rather good English. We had a soup with vegetables served over white rice with pork. It was very good!

On Friday, we left for the Pyrenees mountains. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking! They had a House that we stayed in! On Saturday morning, we went on a bike ride to the village. A 1 hour bike ride! I cant believe I was able to ride it the entire time! Let's just say that today I'm very sore! While in the village, I got to rate some French cheese. It was very rich but good! I love all kinds of cheese! I also got to try a crepe!

Everything is going great! But I do miss home and my family! I hope this feeling of being homesick passes soon!

Adios,

Audra