October 1, 2008 - October 31, 2008
The month was kicked off with a week in Provence with my family, Colleen's family and her sister-in-law's family. It was a week filled with wine tasting, touring small towns around Provence and relaxing days around the Chateau...what a life:) In addition to many wine tasting events, with the support of the group, we were able to add in an evening featuring a beer tasting to represent us minorities amongst the group...they even allowed me to host the tasting and present the various beers to the group. It was a fun week of family, food and spirits that flew by, leaving amazing memories of a very unique experience!! I loved having my family here and having the chance to spend some time with them and to enjoy catching up! My parents, Kelly and Greg flew in and out of Barcelona, so I was able to enjoy them for a few extra days in my city on either end of the trip, which was fun to show them around Barcelona and to enjoy a few drinks and tapas near Barcelona landmarks such as the Sagrada Familia one night, and in the Gothic Quarter and Born area another! My parents were only in town for one night following the Provence trip, but I had Kelly and Greg around for a few more days, where we were able to take advantage of a city tour and fun evenings out and about in the city!
After my family left, the reality of this experience really hit me, that I am really in Barcelona, I really am teaching English, and I am really in a whole new city with so much to see and with so many new people to meet! I have settled into the teaching role, getting to know my different students and learning how to teach English to the various levels, which has been a challenging but interesting experience so far! I have lucked out and I have great students who are engaged and focused on learning English, despite the fact that most of my students are 14 year old boys, who I thought were going to be terrible! Maybe I could do middle school after all:) So I go from house to house in different neighborhoods each day, which has helped me to get to know the city and the public transportation much better everyday.
Outside of work, I am getting to spend time with some friends checking out new parts of the city and tasting new restaurants and bars throughout Barcelona. It's been fun having the opportunity to meet new people from different places. Our group of friends is very diverse, I even noted with Halloween that all my friends were asking me about the traditions and wondering if on Halloween, if children are not given candy, if they would really do something like throw a rock through your window:) It was actually quite funny to me, but made me realize how few American friends I have out here! It's been interesting to meet people from different cultures, as our group is made up of people from Romania, Bulgaria, England, Argentina and other countries throughout Europe and South America. I am working on my Spanish, it is getting better with daily practice on the bus, in the stores, and I'm also doing some intercambios (language exchanges) where I meet with native Spanish speakers and we spend half the time speaking English and half the time Spanish so both people can improve their language skills.
Barcelona is a very lively city and I am glad that I have had the opportunity to experience the sights, nightlife and the culture thus far and look forward to experiencing and seeing so much more:) I'm looking forward to also meeting more locals to add to our multi-national group of friends:)
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
When it rains, it pours
Monday, September 22, 2008 - Sunday, September 28, 2008
This week began with the continuation of my job search, leading to various interviews around the city. The weather helped me to focus my efforts with the gray clouds and scattered rain, as it kept me inside and in front of the computer sending out resumes to different language schools and programs for teaching English. By mid-week I had a few offers, and I made my final decision by the end of the week, accepting a job with a program called Aston Idiomas del Mundo (Aston World Languages). So it's now official, I have made a commitment to stay for the school year, so I'll be out here at least until the end of June '09! I am very excited things seem to be working out so well and going so smoothly:)!
The program sets us up with private teaching lessons where we will go into the students' home and teach them one on one. This will actually be a good opportunity to experience a little more culture here in Barcelona! The program leaders are very friendly and offer a lot of support! The best part of the news is that I was able to negotiate a later start date so that I will be able to join my family on the big trip to Provence next week...this is one of the best parts of the news:)!!! My parents, Kelly and Greg are all flying into Barcelona this Friday and we will head up to Provence Saturday morning to meet up with Brad and Colleen and Colleen's family and her sister-in-law's family, so we have a fun week ahead of us!!
Now that plans are settled here in Barcelona and I'll be here until June, feel free to book any travel out here, as my plans are a little more solid out here in Barcelona...just let me know when and I'll be ready:)
This week began with the continuation of my job search, leading to various interviews around the city. The weather helped me to focus my efforts with the gray clouds and scattered rain, as it kept me inside and in front of the computer sending out resumes to different language schools and programs for teaching English. By mid-week I had a few offers, and I made my final decision by the end of the week, accepting a job with a program called Aston Idiomas del Mundo (Aston World Languages). So it's now official, I have made a commitment to stay for the school year, so I'll be out here at least until the end of June '09! I am very excited things seem to be working out so well and going so smoothly:)!
The program sets us up with private teaching lessons where we will go into the students' home and teach them one on one. This will actually be a good opportunity to experience a little more culture here in Barcelona! The program leaders are very friendly and offer a lot of support! The best part of the news is that I was able to negotiate a later start date so that I will be able to join my family on the big trip to Provence next week...this is one of the best parts of the news:)!!! My parents, Kelly and Greg are all flying into Barcelona this Friday and we will head up to Provence Saturday morning to meet up with Brad and Colleen and Colleen's family and her sister-in-law's family, so we have a fun week ahead of us!!
Now that plans are settled here in Barcelona and I'll be here until June, feel free to book any travel out here, as my plans are a little more solid out here in Barcelona...just let me know when and I'll be ready:)
Monday, September 22, 2008
Another Week, Another Festival
Monday, September 15, 2008 - Sunday, September 21, 2008
This week was another week of job searching during the day and checking out some restaurants and pubs in the evenings. It was a pretty mellow week and ended with the beginning of the Festival de Merce in Barcelona, which is the biggest festival in Barcelona! It is a week long and each day is filled with different events such as parades of statues spitting water, big concerts going on in different plazas throughout the city, circus events on Montjuic and castellares, which are human towers, along with many other big events. Merce is the patron saint of Barcelona, so it's a very significant holiday over here. September the 24th is the actual holiday, so yet another day off of work/school for those that attend such things:) For me, it'll be another day to enjoy the festivities:)
Friday was the first day of the festival and the last day one of my friends was in the city, as he was heading down to Jerez de la Frontera to teach English in a smaller remote town in Spain. I continued my position as the farewell party planner, and we had a fun last night out in the city to celebrate his new job and big move! It was a pretty good send off, enjoying a parade, concerts in the plaza behind the Cathedral, and ending the night at our favorite spot, L'Ovella Negra (the Black Sheep). That Saturday was the Fire Run, which includes statues and people walking through the streets and shooting sparklers all over the place. Many people dance in the street under the sparklers as well, and they shoot the sparklers at the crowds lining the streets...it's a dance/view the run at your own risk, but the correct clothing and protective gear is recommended:) It was a pretty great event, it was cool to see the sparklers out in the streets and the contrast with the old Gothic architecture!!
Each day has a special firework display as well as moving murals along the governmental buildings in different plazas. We enjoyed all of these activities through the weekend, and am looking forward to the events to come this next week! The big day of celebrations is the holiday on Wednesday, September 24th, where there will be even bigger events throughout the day, including an air show, firework shows done to music, impressive castellares in the plazas and even more concerts as well as many other events! It's amazing to see how huge these festivals are out here, and is so fun to experience!!
This week was another week of job searching during the day and checking out some restaurants and pubs in the evenings. It was a pretty mellow week and ended with the beginning of the Festival de Merce in Barcelona, which is the biggest festival in Barcelona! It is a week long and each day is filled with different events such as parades of statues spitting water, big concerts going on in different plazas throughout the city, circus events on Montjuic and castellares, which are human towers, along with many other big events. Merce is the patron saint of Barcelona, so it's a very significant holiday over here. September the 24th is the actual holiday, so yet another day off of work/school for those that attend such things:) For me, it'll be another day to enjoy the festivities:)
Friday was the first day of the festival and the last day one of my friends was in the city, as he was heading down to Jerez de la Frontera to teach English in a smaller remote town in Spain. I continued my position as the farewell party planner, and we had a fun last night out in the city to celebrate his new job and big move! It was a pretty good send off, enjoying a parade, concerts in the plaza behind the Cathedral, and ending the night at our favorite spot, L'Ovella Negra (the Black Sheep). That Saturday was the Fire Run, which includes statues and people walking through the streets and shooting sparklers all over the place. Many people dance in the street under the sparklers as well, and they shoot the sparklers at the crowds lining the streets...it's a dance/view the run at your own risk, but the correct clothing and protective gear is recommended:) It was a pretty great event, it was cool to see the sparklers out in the streets and the contrast with the old Gothic architecture!!
Each day has a special firework display as well as moving murals along the governmental buildings in different plazas. We enjoyed all of these activities through the weekend, and am looking forward to the events to come this next week! The big day of celebrations is the holiday on Wednesday, September 24th, where there will be even bigger events throughout the day, including an air show, firework shows done to music, impressive castellares in the plazas and even more concerts as well as many other events! It's amazing to see how huge these festivals are out here, and is so fun to experience!!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Hitting the Pavement
Monday, September 8, 2008 – Sunday, September 14, 2008
This week began with my first few interviews for teaching positions, all of which were located a little ways outside of Barcelona. These provided good practice for interviews to come, but they were not really the location nor jobs that I would prefer. One interview left me with a new friend, so that part was good:) The job hunt continues…
I spent the evenings with friends running in different parts of the city, trying new restaurants and pubs, and touring through new neighborhoods. Although I have yet to make it to a live futbol game out here, we were able to catch some of the World Cup pre-qualifying games and other futbol games throughout the week.
This week also featured yet another holiday, Thursday 11 of September is the memorial day for when Catalunya lost its independence, so there were many demonstrations in the streets and especially in front of the Spanish government buildings. There is still a lot of Catalan pride and many see themselves as separate from Spain and would like their independence. We took advantage of the holiday by walking through the plazas and witnessing the different demonstrations.
Over the weekend, we rented bikes and biked up Montjuïc and admired the views of the city and took a look around the castle. When trying to bike around to check out the Olympic Stadium and the many other attractions of the area, my bike got a flat tire, so after returning to the bike shop for a new one, we biked along the port and then through an area called Barceloneta, which runs right next to nice sandy beaches and the water. It was a great way to see the city! Biking through the crowded plazas, then up a mountain, and then along the coast…all in one day:)
We ended our weekend watching an American football game, the Broncos vs. the Chargers, and surprisingly, there were a few additional fans alongside us:) The game had a good ending for my friend, as he is from Denver and was happy to see them prevail in a tight game!
This week began with my first few interviews for teaching positions, all of which were located a little ways outside of Barcelona. These provided good practice for interviews to come, but they were not really the location nor jobs that I would prefer. One interview left me with a new friend, so that part was good:) The job hunt continues…
I spent the evenings with friends running in different parts of the city, trying new restaurants and pubs, and touring through new neighborhoods. Although I have yet to make it to a live futbol game out here, we were able to catch some of the World Cup pre-qualifying games and other futbol games throughout the week.
This week also featured yet another holiday, Thursday 11 of September is the memorial day for when Catalunya lost its independence, so there were many demonstrations in the streets and especially in front of the Spanish government buildings. There is still a lot of Catalan pride and many see themselves as separate from Spain and would like their independence. We took advantage of the holiday by walking through the plazas and witnessing the different demonstrations.
Over the weekend, we rented bikes and biked up Montjuïc and admired the views of the city and took a look around the castle. When trying to bike around to check out the Olympic Stadium and the many other attractions of the area, my bike got a flat tire, so after returning to the bike shop for a new one, we biked along the port and then through an area called Barceloneta, which runs right next to nice sandy beaches and the water. It was a great way to see the city! Biking through the crowded plazas, then up a mountain, and then along the coast…all in one day:)
We ended our weekend watching an American football game, the Broncos vs. the Chargers, and surprisingly, there were a few additional fans alongside us:) The game had a good ending for my friend, as he is from Denver and was happy to see them prevail in a tight game!
First week of freedom...
Monday, September 1, 2008 – Sunday, September 7,2008
After officially completing the course, I am now certified to teach English! This week I had a few classes to teach at Oxford TEFL as a real, paid teacher! This was now the beginning of my job search!
After a few days of job searching and teaching some classes, I took a break and went to Sitges for a few days with some friends. Sitges is a cute town on the coast with great beaches and a small downtown area with fun restaurants and bars. We were lucky enough to have a friend with a great place close to the beach, so we spent the days swimming and laying on the beach, and the evenings cooking dinner and then checking out the downtown. We kicked off the first night with a midnight swim, which was great as the water was warm and full of waves to jump:)!
After coming back from Sitges, we spent a day in the city catching up with running and shopping and friends in the city. That Sunday, I headed up to a small town called San Cugat to check out our friend’s place for the day and then checked out Tibidabo in the evening. Tibidabo is a high point in Barcelona, from which there are amazing views and has a Cathedral standing on top of it. There is also a carnival and small town up there which were fun to see. It’s amazing to check out the views from this point at night with all of the lights throughout the city!
After officially completing the course, I am now certified to teach English! This week I had a few classes to teach at Oxford TEFL as a real, paid teacher! This was now the beginning of my job search!
After a few days of job searching and teaching some classes, I took a break and went to Sitges for a few days with some friends. Sitges is a cute town on the coast with great beaches and a small downtown area with fun restaurants and bars. We were lucky enough to have a friend with a great place close to the beach, so we spent the days swimming and laying on the beach, and the evenings cooking dinner and then checking out the downtown. We kicked off the first night with a midnight swim, which was great as the water was warm and full of waves to jump:)!
After coming back from Sitges, we spent a day in the city catching up with running and shopping and friends in the city. That Sunday, I headed up to a small town called San Cugat to check out our friend’s place for the day and then checked out Tibidabo in the evening. Tibidabo is a high point in Barcelona, from which there are amazing views and has a Cathedral standing on top of it. There is also a carnival and small town up there which were fun to see. It’s amazing to check out the views from this point at night with all of the lights throughout the city!
Work hard, play hard....
Monday, August 25, 2008 - Sunday, August 31, 2008
This was the final week of my Oxford TEFL program, it was filled with finishing various projects, getting ready for our final exam, and assembling a portfolio of all the work that had been done throughout the course. It was an intense week of work, but still managed to squeeze in a little fun:) Oxford TEFL was even kind enough to put together a celebration with all of us student teachers, our tutors and the students that we taught, it was a nice way to end the program on a positive note.
With having completed the course, we were able to enjoy our weekend with another excursion, this time to a small town an hour outside of Barcelona called Vilafranca, where we enjoyed a tour of the small town and the Festa Major. In this festival, there were teams of people called "castellares" who build human towers. These people stand on each others’ shoulders to build towers up to 10 stories high, where a tiny little girl would scale up the people’s bodies to the top where they wave to the crowd and then slid down the “tower” of people. They all then scale back down, disassembling the human tower...it is quite amazing!!!
That evening was followed by checking out one of the final Magic Fountain shows of the summer in Plaza de Espana and then checking out the Sants festival, which was a smaller street festival as the Festival de Gracia, featuring a different bands in the plazas. Sunday was another excursion outside of the city to a small mountain town called Montserrat, where we toured a remote monastery and hiked through the mountain in a thunder and lightening storm…it was pretty awesome!
This was the final week of my Oxford TEFL program, it was filled with finishing various projects, getting ready for our final exam, and assembling a portfolio of all the work that had been done throughout the course. It was an intense week of work, but still managed to squeeze in a little fun:) Oxford TEFL was even kind enough to put together a celebration with all of us student teachers, our tutors and the students that we taught, it was a nice way to end the program on a positive note.
With having completed the course, we were able to enjoy our weekend with another excursion, this time to a small town an hour outside of Barcelona called Vilafranca, where we enjoyed a tour of the small town and the Festa Major. In this festival, there were teams of people called "castellares" who build human towers. These people stand on each others’ shoulders to build towers up to 10 stories high, where a tiny little girl would scale up the people’s bodies to the top where they wave to the crowd and then slid down the “tower” of people. They all then scale back down, disassembling the human tower...it is quite amazing!!!
That evening was followed by checking out one of the final Magic Fountain shows of the summer in Plaza de Espana and then checking out the Sants festival, which was a smaller street festival as the Festival de Gracia, featuring a different bands in the plazas. Sunday was another excursion outside of the city to a small mountain town called Montserrat, where we toured a remote monastery and hiked through the mountain in a thunder and lightening storm…it was pretty awesome!
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Getting into the swing of things...
Monday, August 18, 2008 - Sunday, August 24, 2008
By now I have mastered the walk from my front door to the Metro, and from the Metro to the Oxford TEFL school quite well...as well as to a few other key places including the grocery stores, calle Guell with some good bars and restaurants and different walking routes to the same destination, such as to my flat:) I am beginning to feel that I know my way around, especially when I can start giving directions to different people asking within the city...it's a great feeling!
With classes, at this point, I have been assigned Elementary level students, which can be a bit of a rude awakening when you realize how little they know (understandably so) and needing to adjust to teaching people who may only know very few phrases of English, in contrast to the Advanced students who have a pretty good grasp of the language and are able to pick up so much more based off of context. This was a great experience for me to realize how to tailor teaching based off of exposure an skill level to be sure that I am communicating effectively to all students in the class, while not going too slow, boring the other students...what a balancing act, and such great experience!!!
This week was filled with a lot of school work during the day, and fun evenings out, getting the chance to try a few new restaurants in the city. The one thing that was evident was that Estrella tasted the same from one restaurant and/or bar to the next (Estrella is the local beer in Barcelona)...the best things to consider were outdoor seating along with the views...
Over the weekend we were able to enjoy some nice evenings in front of the Gothic Cathedral and on the waterfront in Barcelona, really getting the full feeling of being in Europe...Cathedrals and ports, how can you beat that!?!:) This weekend was a great opportunity to discover a little more about Barcelona and to appreciate all that it has to offer:)!!
By now I have mastered the walk from my front door to the Metro, and from the Metro to the Oxford TEFL school quite well...as well as to a few other key places including the grocery stores, calle Guell with some good bars and restaurants and different walking routes to the same destination, such as to my flat:) I am beginning to feel that I know my way around, especially when I can start giving directions to different people asking within the city...it's a great feeling!
With classes, at this point, I have been assigned Elementary level students, which can be a bit of a rude awakening when you realize how little they know (understandably so) and needing to adjust to teaching people who may only know very few phrases of English, in contrast to the Advanced students who have a pretty good grasp of the language and are able to pick up so much more based off of context. This was a great experience for me to realize how to tailor teaching based off of exposure an skill level to be sure that I am communicating effectively to all students in the class, while not going too slow, boring the other students...what a balancing act, and such great experience!!!
This week was filled with a lot of school work during the day, and fun evenings out, getting the chance to try a few new restaurants in the city. The one thing that was evident was that Estrella tasted the same from one restaurant and/or bar to the next (Estrella is the local beer in Barcelona)...the best things to consider were outdoor seating along with the views...
Over the weekend we were able to enjoy some nice evenings in front of the Gothic Cathedral and on the waterfront in Barcelona, really getting the full feeling of being in Europe...Cathedrals and ports, how can you beat that!?!:) This weekend was a great opportunity to discover a little more about Barcelona and to appreciate all that it has to offer:)!!
School, Beaches, Festivals...
Monday, August 11, 2008 - Sunday, August 17, 2008
The second week of school was more intense with more teaching, introduction of additional projects and papers. Each day of teaching is better than the one before, getting more comfortable in the teacher role and even getting to know English much better:) The first two weeks were spent teaching Advanced students, and then the last two weeks of the program are spent teaching Elementary level students. The advanced students are actually pretty good with speaking and know their grammar very well...in some cases they may be able to teach me a thing or two about English:)
This week, there was a Spanish holiday on Friday, giving us a three day weekend...the holidays are definitely a benefit of Spanish living:) So Friday a group of us headed up to a town called Blanes to find a remote beach to enjoy the sun and the sea! Trains, buses and walks later, we found ourselves on a beach with white sands and crystal clear blue water!
The Festival de Gracia was also this weekend, and was one of the best festivals I have been to! North Beach Festival definitely had some competition with this street fair! The streets were all decorated with different themes, and the various blocks have competitions for the best decorations. Each block had a different band that corresponded to their individual themes...the American themed block had WWF statues and they were playing the "YMCA" song in Spanish, so of course we had to stop and join in on this dance:) This festival lasted a week and there were people dancing and having a great time in the streets...in one night we were swing dancing, then doing the YMCA and ended with some Latin dancing, it was a great festival and a fun way to spend a few evenings!
The second week of school was more intense with more teaching, introduction of additional projects and papers. Each day of teaching is better than the one before, getting more comfortable in the teacher role and even getting to know English much better:) The first two weeks were spent teaching Advanced students, and then the last two weeks of the program are spent teaching Elementary level students. The advanced students are actually pretty good with speaking and know their grammar very well...in some cases they may be able to teach me a thing or two about English:)
This week, there was a Spanish holiday on Friday, giving us a three day weekend...the holidays are definitely a benefit of Spanish living:) So Friday a group of us headed up to a town called Blanes to find a remote beach to enjoy the sun and the sea! Trains, buses and walks later, we found ourselves on a beach with white sands and crystal clear blue water!
The Festival de Gracia was also this weekend, and was one of the best festivals I have been to! North Beach Festival definitely had some competition with this street fair! The streets were all decorated with different themes, and the various blocks have competitions for the best decorations. Each block had a different band that corresponded to their individual themes...the American themed block had WWF statues and they were playing the "YMCA" song in Spanish, so of course we had to stop and join in on this dance:) This festival lasted a week and there were people dancing and having a great time in the streets...in one night we were swing dancing, then doing the YMCA and ended with some Latin dancing, it was a great festival and a fun way to spend a few evenings!
Bienvenidos a Barcelona!
Monday, August 4, 2008 - Sunday, August 10, 2008
After getting over the initial jet lag and finding my way around the city, I had a warm welcome to Barcelona. The first day of class was fun to get to know the other people in the program, people from different places and with different goals to achieve in the program. The class is made up of people in their 20s to 50s, from England, Bulgaria, Romania and the States. We were able to get to know each other on the first night with celebrating a classmate's birthday in Born, a neighborhood in the Gothic quarter.
I was able to get my feet wet with teaching this week as well. A great time to practice speaking slowly and clearly (I'm sure many of you will appreciate this improvement:)). We spent half of our days teaching and the other half as students learning the nuts and bolts of English. We also had a chance to learn a little Macedonian...a language few students knew, to give us empathy for our students...boy is it hard:)
Outside of school, I took some time to discover the city a little bit...touring the Gothic quarter, Born District, La Rambla and the waterfront. The architecture is very unique and the city is so beautiful! It's amazing to see all the old buildings and to enjoy a meal or a drink in plazas outside of the old cathedrals and buildings! I am definitely in Europe!
After getting over the initial jet lag and finding my way around the city, I had a warm welcome to Barcelona. The first day of class was fun to get to know the other people in the program, people from different places and with different goals to achieve in the program. The class is made up of people in their 20s to 50s, from England, Bulgaria, Romania and the States. We were able to get to know each other on the first night with celebrating a classmate's birthday in Born, a neighborhood in the Gothic quarter.
I was able to get my feet wet with teaching this week as well. A great time to practice speaking slowly and clearly (I'm sure many of you will appreciate this improvement:)). We spent half of our days teaching and the other half as students learning the nuts and bolts of English. We also had a chance to learn a little Macedonian...a language few students knew, to give us empathy for our students...boy is it hard:)
Outside of school, I took some time to discover the city a little bit...touring the Gothic quarter, Born District, La Rambla and the waterfront. The architecture is very unique and the city is so beautiful! It's amazing to see all the old buildings and to enjoy a meal or a drink in plazas outside of the old cathedrals and buildings! I am definitely in Europe!
Arriving in Barcelona
Sunday, August 3, 2008 - After flying from Seattle to Vancouver B.C., then from Vancouver B.C. to London, and from London to Barcelona, I finally arrived at my new home, which is located in a neighborhood within Barcelona called Guinardo. I met my new flatmates, Jen, a British girl who has lived here for about 6 years, and a fellow student named Jo, also from England, who had been here for a month and had one more month to go on her diploma program. Ready to embark on my exciting new adventure of getting to know Barcelona, and to be a student again!
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