A day in the life of...

a Mexican restaurant we found. yeah.

CARNAVAL 2012 is around the corner...

My Saturday evening drive in to Cadiz from Chiclana. A wonderful way to pass 30 minutes!

Buying tuna jerky on the side of the street on a busy late Sunday morning

 The random parks in Cadiz...

First of all, it’s the half way point! Oh no! haha this is actually bittersweet. Actually, my exact return date to Corpus Christi is June 11^th

Today, a second grader successfully asked his classmate IN ENGLISH for a pencil J

Fernando: May I borrow a penciiiiiil? (they love to draw out the “i”…)

Paquito: You can borrow my penciiiiiil but not my Pokeman cards. No.

I thought Bob Esponja was the cool thing now with 7 year olds, but I guess other things will always hold a certain title. With that said, Dora the Explorer’s Circus Extravaganza has come to town.

 

I have become a soup-maniac, thank you local fresh fruit & vegetable Mercado! I told you I was obsessed with this place. My roommates and I started out American style, reaching for carrots and potatoes…then we ventured out over the past few months to new spices, foreign veggies with bright colors, and some brown sugar just to mix things up. I love my tiny little Spanish kitchen with a gas stove and an oven with dials that MAKE NO SENSE.

This job is so rewarding, there’s just no way to go into detail on the stories I have about the various children that I work with! My tutoring classes after school are going well and it never gets old when they run up to hug me tight every time I get to school.

My new favorite past time is running out to the salt mines by the river. At one point, when you’re gasping for breath and quite frankly you’re over it haha, you turn around and see the entire town behind you with its cathedrals and Moorish-inspired buildings amidst hundreds of little apartments. I love it.

Trip planning is in order, most importantly: my mom’s! She’ll be here in less than a week with a friend and we’re still hoping to get to Paris. Fingers crossed. Aside from that, I’m planning for Greece, Portugal and Italy more than anything. The second half of this adventure has me soaking up the local town more, so we’ll see.

I leave you with this, some great advice that the 6^th grade teacher gave one of my students today, “(talking about her exam results) You look for perfection and you just don’t realize that you’re never going to find it. You’ll stumble upon it when you least expect it. Trust yourself.” It’s sooooo much more moving in Spanish!

Reason #2736 I have to go back to Italy <3

“Dear Elizabeth,
Thank you for your email and interest in Caffè del Doge, I am sorry for the delay in responding to you.

If your travels bring you to Venice in the future, please let me know and I will arrange to meet with you in our coffee bar. We are located in the heart of Venice, near the Rialto bridge, and the coffee bar showcases all of our blends and single origins.

It sounds like you are enjoying a wonderful experience in Spain!  I came to Venice many years ago...only intending to stay about 6 months. Those six months turned into 16 years and counting!  Living abroad is a fantastic experience and I hope you are enjoying every second of it.

Kind regards,

Jill

Caffè del Doge srl
Via Mattei 11/E
35020 -  Due Carrare (PD)
Cell: +39 340 6805096
Tel. +39 049 9126188
Fax +39  049 9129532
http://www.caffedeldoge.com”