Santander, Bilbao, Beach!

I haven't quite met my goal of once-weekly blog updates, but I've been spending so much time familiarizing myself with northern Spain, the spanish language, and spanish people! It seems I have some catching up to do...
Three weekends ago, I went to the beach with Nelson, Alejandra, Netta, Mallory, Jenny and Chelsea. We walked all over the peninsula of the magdalena. Check out this aerial view of the peninsula. I would've taken a similar one, but taking my helicopter through customs is always such a hassle.


I brought grapes, cheese and a frisbee and Jenny brought the crackers. Nelson and Alejandra brought "palas"- a game like ping pong, but without a table. Along with seeing the Palacio Real, a huge mansion on the peninsula, we also went to a maritime zoo. Here's a picture from our little camping spot on the beach:


Two weekends ago, Jessica Sloan (OU) and Katie Daehler (Ohio), both teaching in the same program, came to visit! I took them around the peninsula, and we also took a boat tour of the bay! It's wonderful to see this city from so many angles; if you can't tell, it's a really goregous town. Moreover, that weekend was the Festival for Nuestra Senor de Pilar, the patron saint of Spain. In honor, all of the buildings were flying the Spanish flag.



I love the bay!!!

After the bay tour, the three of us has a delicious lunch on the beach. I ordered the "cocido montañés", a typical Cantabrian stew that includes beans, chorizo (sausage), morcilla (blood sausage! ew!), and tocino (bacon). The rest of the regional dishes are mostly fish. One of my favorite dishes is rabas: fried calamari!


The next day the three of us went to Bilbao. We spent the whole day wandering around the city, debating America's international policies, and admiring the Guggenheim.

"We claim this land for OU!!!"




Bilbao's beautiful Plaza de Federico Moyúa!








Last weekend I went to Liencres, a small beach town right outside of Santander. Can you see the surfers at the bottom of the picture? I can't believe they were surfing, the water is so cold!


Anyways, I love hearing from all of you, even if I don't always have time to respond! Rest assured that I'm "aprovechando la vida espanola" (enjoying spanish life) and missing you all very much! Please keep the e-mails (and facebook messages) coming!

Now welcome to a new portion of the blog: shout-outs!

Eric: Everything I do here would be 1000x if I could do it with you. I love you. ew, gross! e-PDA!

Mom: Thanks for the apple pie recipe! I'm going to make it on Friday for my spanish friend Patri's birthday! She's so excited to try it for the first time!

Dad: I've been thinking, I'd really like to go hunting with you next summer. Not that I'd like to kill anything, but it would be fun to hike around.

Aunt Toody: Your e-mails make me so happy, even if they are attached to incorrigible fowards that denegrade OU.

Laurie Martin: Holy canoli! You're engaged! I'm sooo happy for you!! Jefry's one lucky dude.

Andrea Leitch: Don't even think about graduating and not coming to visit me.

Stefanie Schuler: Ditto.

Love to you all!!!


Your globe-trotter,

Madeline

1st week of school!

Hola mis queridos amigos y familia! It's coming up on one month in Spain and I am having the time of my life! I just finished my first week of actual school. All of my co-workers have been so welcoming; one of my feIlow teachers gave me a huge coffee-table book of Santander. Another teacher gave me a huge map of the city. I've already had two teachers ask me about giving private lessons to their children. And I'm meeting another teacher tonight for coffee to help her with her English! Whew! I teach 11 one-hour classes during the week, of mainly 12-16 year olds. I especially enjoy the 12 year olds; they are so eager to learn! On the first day of each class, I showed them a map of Oklahoma, a city-scape of Tulsa, and a picture of Native Americans dancing. We also had a question-and-answer period where they coud ask any question they wanted about the US or about me. The most popular question was: "Where is Springfield (from the Simpsons)?" Ha! The second most popular questions was: "Do you have a pet?" Aww.

I also teach one secretarial class of 23-27 year old girls! I actually went out for drinks with a few of these girls last night. We were able to learn much more easily than in the class room! For the most part, they would speak in English, and I would repeat and correct them. Then, I would speak in Spanish, and they would repeat and correct me. It's much more fun to learn when drinking calimocho (half red wine, half coca-cola) or una clara (half club soda, half beer)!

These are my two new Spanish friends/students. The girl on the left is Sonia, 23 years old. Sonia went to college for social work and knows sign language. She bought me my first clara! The girl on the right is Angela, also 23 years old. Angela studied abroad in Ireland for a month, but only hung out with Spaniards so she didn't learn much English. I'm trying so hard to limit the time I spend with other English speakers!



My friend Marilyn introduced me to my first calimocho! She's a really amazing person. She is 27, has a 7-year-old, takes care of her disabled mother, has a boyfriend, works as a secretary, goes to school, speaks Spanish, English, and French, and still manages to have time to have some fun!

I'm still getting used to what I would refer to as "inefficiency" here. We don't have a clothes dryer, we don't have a dishwasher, and we take the bus or walk everywhere. I walk approximately 3-4 miles a day! All the stores are closed from 2-5 pm for siesta and NOTHING is open on Sunday! All of these "inconveniences" are really gifts though, because they force you to just relax and enjoy life!

Next weekend, Jessica S. (a girl from OU, teaching in Ciudad Real) and Katie D. (a girl from Kentucky, teaching in Toledo) are going to come visit me in Santander! The three of us spent some time together in Madrid after the orientation. They both really cool girls and I can't wait to show them my beloved Santander!

Well, I'm about to hang my clothes up to dry and then go explore the city, but I would like to close with a profound thought in light of the impending OU/Texas game:

BOOMER SOONER!!!!!!!!

Your favorite Spanish-Okie,

Madeline

First real post, long time coming!

Hey guys! I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to make a post! I hope to update more frequently now that I'm a little more settled! I've been here in Spain for the past 3 weeks now, starting my new Spanish life! I have a few excuses for the tardy post; in the past 3 weeks I have: rented an apartment, started a bank account, applied to be a legal worker in Spain, started a new job (today was my first orientation!), had a 1.5 week vacation in Spain with my parents, bought a spanish cell phone, and made about 500 new friends here! My Spanish is getting better poco a poco, I learn so many new words every day!

As you can tell from the picture portion of my website, Santander is a wonderful place to spend a year! My apartment is absolutely beautiful, you can see the ocean from the kitchen! I am also only a 20 minute walk from my school, I.E.S. Alisal. I will post pictures as soon as possible!

My new roommate, Jenny, is a really cool person. She's in the same auxiliar program, teaching in a small town outside of Santander, Santa Maria de Cayon. She's from Nebraska, is a vegetarian and likes to run! We went running together yesterday and she obliterated me. We're getting another roommate, Mario, tomorrow. All I know about Mario is that he is 23, working on a master's in civil engineering, is from a city near Santander, and, according to our landlord, is "muy majo" ("very cool"). Jenny and I are very excited to have Mario as an incentive to speak Spanish all the time at home. When we're together, it's too tempting to just speak in English!

I've been spending a lot of time with Nelson and Alejandra, friends of a Colombian friend of mine, Cesar. Nelson and his daughter, Alejandra, who's 10, have been helping me adjust! Since Nelson has a car, I went with them to Comillas, a little town 30 minutes away from Santander. There, we saw a castle by Gaudi and went to the wonderful beach! Check out the pictures on facebook!

I also went to Madrid for 5 days for the orientation of the language assistants in Spain. This wasn't just for the English language assistants- there were language assistants from France, the UK, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Switzerland, everywhere! It was a very interesting international environment; every time you sat down for a meal, you would meet another person from a different country!
We spent some time exploring the city, though not nearly enough. I went to all three of the major museums- The Prado, the Reina Sofia and the Thyssen. We went to the Palacio Real, where the Spanish Royal family used to live. I also watched the soccer game between Real Madrid and Sevilla! Madrid has a few nice buildings, lots of fabulous art, and a great nightlife. I can't wait to go back and see more of it!

I really enjoy getting e-mails from you, so keep sending them to maddiebarker@gmail.com! Besitos a toda mi familia y amigos de Oklahoma! Te echo de menos!!!

Your Spanish viajera,

Madeline

8 more days...

Until Spain!!!