Thursday, August 7, 2008

World Book Day at my Primary School

On Friday, April 23 my primary school celebrated 'World Book Day'. After classes got over all the children went to the playground for the party to begin. My school had different little stages set up where some of the teachers read stories in Spanish and English stories to the children. All the children got to dress up all day for the party at the school. Below is a photo of one of the teachers in my school dressed up with some of her students.

Here I am standing with the English teachers at my Primary School. The two women that are in dresses are not English teachers. I loved their outfits so much we had them join the photo. The dresses were made up of different cartons and cardboard. How creative!

Ruben, the main English teacher at the primary school is telling his story in English to the students. The students had a great time!

Monday, June 2, 2008

Another Year!

I am happy to say that since I have enjoyed this experience, the lifestyle, teaching and learning about the Spanish culture I will be returning sometime this coming September to teach one more year! Ben and I have been accepted to come back to teach in the same city of Logrono, Spain. This year, I worked at a Primary School and High School. Next year, I will be working at two different High Schools. I really enjoy teaching English here. Here are the websites for my two new schools for next year: IES d'Elhuyar - http://www.iesdelhuyar.com/and IES Comercio - http://www.iescomercio.com/ On the second website you can even change it to the English language to read! Click on the menu on the upper right hand corner to English. The other one is only in Spanish. I hope to see you all during the summer when I get back to the US!

Friday, May 16, 2008

Cordoba, Spain in the Springtime!

Cordoba, Spain is an absolute beautiful city in the springtime! On March 27, 28 and 29 Ben and I went to discover the great city of Cordoba that I had also traveled to before. The city fragrantly smelled of fresh orange blossoms everywhere! We happened to find one of the best hostels that we have stayed in so far that gave us a cool attic-style room with a nice terrace to sit out on to enjoy the wonderful weather we had. We were also lucky to share that terrace with an older couple that came to Cordoba from Belgium. It was great to meet other travelers.

There are many different sights to see in Cordoba such as the Mezquita, a 14th century synagogue, the Alcazar of the Christian Kings, the Palace of Viana with its many patios, and many presevered Arab baths.

The Mezquita, which means 'The Mosque', dates back to the year 784 when its construction started and was eventually converted into a Cathedral after the Reconquista in Spain. Below are a few photos inside and outside the Mezquita.




Our hostel was near The Alcazar of the Christian Kings. This palace was very beautiful and had excellent gardens to walk around in. The next photos are from The Alcazar of the Christian Kings.



Another famous place to see in Cordoba is the Calleja de las Flores which means in English 'Street of Flowers'. The flowers are beautiful in this small street in the old part of the city. When you get to the very end of the street it provides an excellent photo with the street and the Mezquita in the distance. I love this photo of Ben as his sweatshirt really brings out the red flowers on the street.


This photo is one of the bridges in Cordoba. The river didn't have much water in it when we were there. This bridge leads to The Tower of Calahorra which was under restoration. Usually the tower provides a great look out point to view the city of Cordoba from above.

Cordoba is a great city. I think Cordoba would be one of my favorite cities in southern Spain right now. The people were friendly, the sights were beautiful to see, and our hostel was excellent. If you like flowers, this is the place to visit. The next few photos are just some of the flower photos I took while I was in Cordoba.



After Cordoba Ben and I had a long day of traveling to get back home to Logrono. We had to take two different bus rides which equaled to be about 9 hours of sitting in a bus. After seeing all the different cities and their beautiful sights during Easter Break, I know that my adventure through the south of Spain was definitively worth it all!