Seasons Greetings

Sometimes I just can’t believe I left the shore, but I never wonder why it took me this long to get here. One of the greatest lessons to date is how everything falls into place because it’s happening for a reason. Mark Twain said, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” If I come off cheesy, it’s because this trip to Europe is more just that – it’s a lifestyle and it’s slowly changing my way of thinking. For instance, here I am, 3 months in today and the things I’ve learned so far are amazing: I would have never experienced anything nearly close to it – that’s not okay :-) So here's my experience in December and our trip to Malaga, London, and more Cadiz.

8 Lessons So Far:

London actually LOOKS like this at night. The moon was shining for you Mandy. I miss my besties in San Antonio.

1. JUST LET IT COME TO YOU. Within the last few weeks, Europe caught me off guard with a unique happiness when I least expected it. As my roomies and I wandered the famous Picadilly Circus in search of the perfect pub for lunch (on OUR time, not the 2 pm/8pm rules Spain haha), SantaCon 2011 invaded the streets. We were left buzzing with real Christmas Spirit and too many hugs… then yesterday, my good friend Nicole and I were suddenly serenaded in front of the majestic cathedral by 20 members of a flamenco performance after wandering around as she showed me more of Cadiz’s nightlife. A beautiful brunette woman beat on a drum, little kids ran around, a young girl danced with just her hands, and the Christmas lights laid out the three wise men ahead of us in an alley. Incredible.

Pictures: Google SantaCon 2011! It's an event all over the world with silly rules. Also, a previous night in Cadiz this month. This one felt like Alice in Wonderland, because we stumbled upon it at a small bar and no one outside was aware of the party going on. The bottom right is me in Malaga's city center with a unique Christmas tree :)

2. TRY SOMETHING NEW. Food, enough said. I’m all about meeting new people, so that experience just continues to make me happy. However, the food has been a slap in the face as I’m faced with the face of a fish on the plate (to name a few). It’s just a refreshing reminder to live in the moment because you may not be around a moment like that again, i.e. real sangria :-D! London’s bangers and mash were way over-rated on that note. Indian food turned out to be a “spicy” I could handle and basmati rice is great!

To the side: Dunkin Donut's menu in Malaga featured their version of Spanish breakfast, which involves ham pate, orange butter a.k.a. flavored lard - not with orange, etc....I'm not there yet. Below: My roomie took a stab at making "berenjenas con miel", eggplant lightly fried and served with local honey! They're a great tapa here in Southern Spain and sooooooooo good.

This is the group that went to London on the right at Food Network's Chocolate Festival in South London! Below is the classic meal of Steak Ale & Mash. The bartender with a great accent served us samples of ale but it just wasn't for me - however that strawberry cider is another story and craving! c  

3. BE PATIENT. Oh man, kids. Childreeeeeeeeeeeen. Life in Chiclana de la Frontera, Spain. Where do I begin? I needed this. There’s nothing like a roomful of adorable 6 year olds at 9 am asking you if they did the assignment correctly, individually. In Spanish…even though you can just tell they understood you in English. Just in time, the 6th grader’s class is next and you’re filled with a pride you didn’t know you could have over listening to someone read a second language carefully. It’s been a beautiful experience. I really lucked out at “home” too because my roomie situation is a fun balance of youthfulness, silly kitchen adventures, deep conversations, and alone time.

4. DON’T OVER-STRESS. I had a 3^rd grader run up to me in tears at Physical Education Day a few weeks ago at the school. Apparently Alejandro had hit him and I was going to be the judge. Ummm… so I turned to a teacher I hardly talk to for help. Quick Spanish lesson: “pegar” means hit OR glue something. She told both of them that if they were so intent on “pegandose” then she would go look for glue and they could glue at their emotions…or something like that. I’m a terrible story teller, ask my friends haha. Anyways, it was great! They laughed, and practically ran off holding hands. Or take the situation where I needed to teach the difference between the Earth’s orbit and rotation to my 4^thgraders. I used Simon Says to get the kids acting it out and before I knew it, one of the teachers came along to play too! She’s so short that I didn’t notice…

5. EMBRACE THE CLASSICS. I’m listening to Bob Dylan as I write this. It’s important that future generations remember the good ones. The Cure. Johnny Cash. The Beatles – just like my cool bilingual director who is having my 6^thgrade class learn Happy Christmas (War is Over) by John Lennon for the Christmas Day at school this week.

We got to visit the Picasso Museum in is birthplace; it's actually built on an old Moorish palace. I'm so glad I read "The Paris Wife" because it prompted me to research him more and all in all, seeing the art throughout his years really brought it to life. There are quotes from people that saw him become this man, such as Gertrude Stein, and more. It's just incredible. I'm excited to see Guernica in Madrid!

6. LIVE IN THE MOMENT. Here’s a day in the life of Liz in Spain: wake up around 8, read a few things (books I brought along to finally cover), eat a breakfast with the stuff I bought at the mercado this week, walk down 4 flights of stairs from my piso, walk to school for about 20 minutes, socialize with the teachers during break, keep teaching, and walk back home for lunch at 2:30 pm. Throw in a few tutoring classes that I love from about 4-6 pm and make dinner or go out for tapas. Weekends are all over the place :-) but this past week, I noticed the Christmas music playing in the center of town I pass everyday, the musicians on the street competing with said music, the bustling families walking all around me (5 more months without a car…) the endearing old men with newsboy hats on sitting around in clusters on benches. Well, note to self.

The local man in this picture went on to tell us about this view. It's Malaga from a small hike we took, in all her glory. Franco had his soldiers plant all that green you see when things were slightly at peace, if you will, to make the place a beautiful home to be proud of. He gave them a job when there was nothing around so...there's a little good in everyone?

7. APPRECIATE YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS. I got sick this past week. I got a strong taste of independent adulthood when I went to the doctor in a foreign country alone and at night. However, my mom was waiting by the phone back home to hear from me, my friends were an email away, and my boyfriend was supportive. It's the little things that count. My mom, dad, brother, and sister have never felt closer to me in my heart. This just really took our relationships to another level when I thought we were already great. By the way, YES, this is mariachi greeting us at the London airport.

8. EMBRACE HISTORY. Westminster Abbey. WOW.

Christmas in Belgium with some friends from CIEE is around the corner! I want to plan more trips next year of course, but save money... So who wants to go to Greece for my Spring Break?!

These pictures are all over the place. Nightlife in Cadiz with a mannequin, Plaza de Flores covered in poinsiettas with Nicole, a "bunuelos" food stand with Christmas lights in my town of Chiclana, a view of Cadiz from the walkway out to the beach while another local musician fills the air with Spanish tunes, and a traditional scene in Jerez de la Frontera: a zambombazo performance of Christmas carols, which involves a drum that I can't describe/do justice on...

“in a cable car hanging above as the canyon comes between”

Listening to Menos El Oso, miss you

The work week went by smoothly as the first graders cracked me up with their witty statements, the kids I tutor after school melted my heart a little more, the fifth graders got that same heart racing in PE and the sixth graders continued to amaze me with their quick understanding of the English language. The cutest moment was Friday morning when 7 year old Diego turned to another teacher in the class and asked her in Spanish where the key was that she kept telling him to zip his mouth with… then he popped right back to attempting English with me in a much more polite tone. My week was topped off by a bus ride home from two students I tutor on Thursdays when the Spanish driver was singing along to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” in English and still saying goodbye to me in the typical long farewell, “hasta luego! Venga! Venga! Buen dia, vale? Hasta luego!”

Teaching is certainly rewarding and I COMMEND those who majored in it and are headfirst in this back home or the teachers who have been at this for over forty years with so many lives touched. This is because teaching English is enough experience to show me that every career path requires serious consideration and thoughtfulness.

It blows my mind that a year ago, I had NO idea what direction to put my life. It’s one thing to want something badly, but it’s another to think you’ve realized you have no control over it. That’s when faith and belief kicks in for me, because how can you not believe in something Greater when things fall into place just the way you really needed them to? As usual, these thoughts creeped into my mind this past weekend amidst a“Friendsgiving” (thank you Erica M. for such an endearing title to our late Thanksgiving dinner), literally being in a cable car, and another happily lazy Sunday. I’m not taking these great Sundays for granted either; usually I research all those things I promised I would all through college…today it’s been politics, a usually neutral topic for me but these candidates really have me intrigued. That’s enough of that.

the two small pumpkins shadowed by all the olive oil here haha

So Thanksgiving in a country that certainly does not observe it in the least bit (really Spain, you chose Halloween instead?!) turned out a success. More so because yours truly attempted to BAKE with an oven that only has a dial ranging from 1-10. As in, no degrees, just suggestions (2: warm up, 6: baking 9: meat - which in this town is mostly pork or “ternera” at the market). My pumpkin pie was made from scratch, down to the tiny pumpkins roasted in the oven at about an 8 haha. I even crushed up cloves when I couldn’t find them at the supermarket. Everyone got together in Cadiz in Friday night and we definitely enjoyed a feast so my first “away from home” holiday really did go well. It helps that Skype allowed me to talk with my family back in Harlingen and hear from my 4 year old niece (today’s her birthday!):

Niece, "EBET! Where are you?!" me, "umm...in Spain. I love you!" niece (over it. gets off the phone and tells my sister in a make-this-happen-because-i-believe-you-can-do-it-all kind of way), "Momma I want to go to Inspain. Ebet needs turkey. I need to go to Inspain...Inspain...mom where is that?" geeeez ♥

 This dream I’m getting to live really does go further than I imagined. On our bus ride home from Cadiz that night, after a great evening with great conversations and too much cheap Spanish wine, I was amazed by this thought: You have to get outside your comfort zone and pursue your dreams. If you can just make it to at least one, you’ll open to the doors to even more possibilities. I used to dream about Europe, but now I know about how to really live here and everything I could do if I wanted to reach for more. You'll stop striving for more [happiness] if you don’t let yourself see what’s out there.

Africa over the coast!

The next day, roommates and Joe (Jackie’s friend visiting from Philly) caught a two hour bus ride to Gibraltar, down along the coast towards the south of Spain. The landscape views were sprinkled with the famous Osborne Sherry bull (previous post), awareness of the country’s several sources of renewable energy, and Africa within sight.

 As usual, there was a stop for café con leche beforehand, thank you great beans from www.delta-cafes.es – yes I’m that nerdy about it. Crossing the border brought back fun memories of Progreso, MX back home haha and it was a simple flash of your passport as well. Just like that, we were in an English speaking world. The cable car ride to the top was first on our agenda and we just so happened to be amongst the apes that inhabit this area FREELY. Fun facts about Gibraltar, through the owner of a local fish & chips place we had lunch at:

      -            you ride a cable car or touristy bus on the mountain to find these primates EVERYWHERE

-          there are about 270 apes roaming the city and they like breaking into tourist shops to steal bags of chips (smoky bacon being their favorite)

-          “he went ape” is a commonly…funny…phrase to use

-          Feeding the apes chocolate will stop their procreation abilities

-          The Trafalgar Cementary holds the bodies of those lost to the battle in 1805, but there is only a statue of their leader, Admiral Nelson, because his body was sent back in a bottle of good rum to France. The battle was the most decisive British naval victory of the war. The Franco-Spanish fleet lost twenty-two ships, without a single British vessel being lost.

the Meditteranean Sea!!!

Impressive lunch by the way, pretty excited for London in two weeks now! 

Christmas is looking down to be Brussels vs Germany vs Spain for the day, followed by a visit from my friends back home for New Years (Happy Birthday SHEA!) and Brussels –if I didn’t go for Christmas/need to reschedule it again vs. Italy because I still need to see Venice. I’m pretty grateful for my cheap rent here, cheaper Ryanair flights and tutoring jobs that allow for these adventures…not so much for the crappy shower that comes with said apartment. I’m this close to renting a hotel room for the weekend here in Chiclana just to have a great shower...

'Merican Donut joke :)

Music we're cooking to: Adele & The Postal Service <3

“Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quiestest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.” - Pat Conroy

Flowers from one of the 7 year old girls I tutor! She glued them so they would last....umm...well it was a very cute gesture!

Saturday night, I found myself at a bar around 4 am, explaining to another new friend from this program that my 62 year old dad (mind you, a tad bit younger at the time but nowhere near presumably capable of such feats) had climbed up into Indian caves when we visited a national park in New Mexico– this was a couple years back. So it’s in the loudest settings, or the quiet room in Chiclana where I experience bittersweet peacefulness, that this quote comes into play.

I am so happy. Where I am, what I’m doing, just makes so much sense right now in the midst of a loss for any certain direction.

This week on random nearby travels:

Jerez de la Frontera is another corner of this Sherry Bermuda Triangle thing that can only be found in Spain. The city itself, an 40 minute (?!) train ride away from my current hometown, is an entertaining attraction full of young people, scooters, more great tapas and orange trees. It’s framed by beautiful Tuscany-like fields of olive trees and said orange groves. We couldn’t escape the rain but it ended up showing us the smell of Jerez: accidentally fresh-squeezed orange juice. Somewhere between strange&delicious tapas like lasagna with goat’s cheek drenched with a sweet brown cream, potatoes drench in neon-orange Mojo Picon sauce, and finally discovering my favorite sherry of the 5 options (Oloroso, the one right before that liquid raisin juice flavored option)...or stuffing some of those oranges into my roommate’s bag because the look on her face when she discovered this thoughtful souvenir the next day was WORTH it…this run on sentence…the sight of a carnival and protest right next to each other…the view of a simple train station…I decided Jerez would require more than one visit. I want to travel around Europe, but my friends here and I constantly remind ourselves that we can’t leave Spain without traveling around there as well. So this would suggest that there’s no time for repeats because there’s only 6-7 months left (yes time flies)!

We were back in our second home of Cadiz by Saturday evening. We finally visited a TripAdvisor-approved restaurant called La Gorda Te Da De Comer, “the fat lady feeds you” haha. We stayed at our friends’ place in the new part of the city and their apartment literally steps out into the Atlantic Ocean view. That side has tall buildings, the soccer stadium, and a 2 story McDonald’s…no big deal. We met up with about 10 friends altogether and went to typical bars here: drinks allowed outside or in, techno music, party promoters offering coupons for 1 Euro shots, creative shots without said coupon, and no curfew. The weekend was fun but my own self is definitely past that, but I still stuck around with great new friends ‘til 6 am.

Next week is the big Thanksgiving dinner attempt with about 40 expats, a visit to Gibraltar, and London in a few weeks!

Finally, a little entertainment: This is our apartment after the washing machine broke halfway through and flooded our floors...the door was slightly cracked open when we saw this :( yes, the window's open because that's the clothing line where it hangs to dry.

 “Travel is not reward for working, it’s education for living.” – Anonymous, funny…someone should jump up to claim these wise words :)

The Last Year

“Bad Fish” – Sublime

I saved an excerpt from this article about a year ago…

“How to Work: Under every circumstance, work in poise. Work with all the energy you have, but apply that energy in poise; and never permit yourself to violate this rule. Avoid nervous rush, regardless of conditions or demands; and also avoid the habit of doing less than you can do; for remember that we always lose what energy we do not use. Use all the energy you have; use it constructively; use it in poise; and use it in the full conviction that you will immediately receive more. Again, we should consider the great law of expectation. Expect more; expect much; expect everything you want; then live in the absolute faith that all your expectations will be realized.”

This job has really put all this in perspective and is molding my work ethic into something I want to be proud of.

This is a castle in El Puerto de Santa Maria which is along the coast here in Southern Spain where we had the option of taking a bus, train or ferry - also a combination of said transportation - to get there. Haha I still don’t know what to expect in Spain. My everyday motions seems normal with a kind reminder of “no…you’re in a foreign country and yes everything really is making your senses feel heightened to a level you never appreciated before.” Something like that!

A few fun facts about Spain so far:

-I spend my free time researching the latest news (I honestly didn't keep up with the headlines as much as I think we should before I got here) and looking for info on my realistic travel destinations such as the Thankgiving weekend plan for Gibraltar or the London trip we booked for December

-I teach 1^st-6^thgrade Tuesdays-Fridays with 3 day weekends and several private English language tutoring gigs during the week.

-Last Friday, one of my third graders in science class whipped out her giant perfume bottle. It was just the most amusing thing to see how this affected her...and the room's smell.

-In my first grade class, the teacher asked for some examples of "fizzy drink" (teaching the food pyramid, where yes I'd like to draw the world's biggest olive oil container at the top because it sums up their consumption of it here at breakfast alone. In fact, my roomies & I are now proud owners of a 6 liter!) and they screamed Coca Cola while one little girl said CHAMPAGNE in her most eloquent attempt at English.

-We got internet at home last week after waiting since the day we got here. Bittersweet: the night before it was installed, we'd had one of those "how do we entertain each other" nights where everything under the kitchen sink went into our homemade batch of cookies: Jackie's hot chocolate powder mix, some  pecans I'd bought, cinnamon when in doubt, and more: the result was a wonderful smell of Christmas and too many laughs.

-I am about an hour away from the only certified sherry-producing region of Jerez. We toured a bodega last Saturday and the oxidation process/barrels/humidity factors that result in liquid raisin flavored wine is fascinating.

-The sunset view upstairs on our roof is now at 18:30.

-I've realized that Scotland needs to get added to my list: how could I forget about my chance to see Nessie!?

-I sleep about 10 hours a day and it's enough reason to never want to go back to my American lifestyle. Just kidding.

-The Ethnic Food section at the CostCo of Spain is creative:

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive. Then go and do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ~Howard Thurman

Life’s too short to dwell and not appreciate what you have in front of you. That’s a surprisingly tough lesson to grasp sometimes, but just like learning patience, any new experience allows you to really make the most of your blessings. I am alive. This past weekend I realized how incredible this past year really has been. The people in my life can't even begin to realize what 2011 really meant for me. I'm just really grateful.
Last November I was seriously willing Spain to happen. Honestly by December, I felt like I was drowning in how much I'd settled. So I was giving myself a year or two to make sure I got here. Not there – but HERE because it’s real. I just can’t let myself forget that.

 I still have similar dreams to realize as I did a year ago as well, such as work for a great business and really see it from the top, pursue higher education such as my master’s degree (anyone know in what anymore?!), and most unexpectedly: embrace the foodie in me. I cook so much now with really fresh market ingredients and I love it! So maybe it’s still culinary school like I thought when I was a kid.

More importantly, it was to see unconditional love in many aspects of my life, just like my mom taught me with her own actions. With that said, God was holding me up a year ago and now He’s constantly by my side. I really believe this.

“I could have. What does this phrase mean? At any given moment in our lives, there are certain things that could have happened but didn’t. The magic moments go unrecognized, and then suddenly, the hand of destiny changes everything. But love is much like a dam: if you allow a tiny crack to form through which only a trickle of water can pass, that trickle will quickly bring down the whole structure, and soon no one will be able to control the force of the current. Love is a trap. When it appears, we see only its light, not its shadows.” ~Paulo Coelho