Side Note: Spain

In between the end of the school year and preparing for my journey to Alaska, I decided to be totally crazy (because I'm not already?) and spend a few weeks in... SPAIN.  It ate up most of my summer vacation, but I don't regret it at all.  Spain is beautiful, and I'm not entirely sure why I'm not just moving there...  But instead, I've found a cozy spot in the Washington D.C. airport during my 5 hour layover between flights to Anchorage.  Today is finally here.  I've started my travels to Alaska and it feels a little surreal...

Anyways, Spain.  A lot of amazing happened in just a few weeks, so I'm warning you now; this post is a little lengthy.  But worth it for the pictures!  (See them all on my Facebook profile!)

But first, a quick chaotic Adriana story to give you a taste of my last week of school, and the start of the trip to Spain:  The weekend before my flight, I had a great time visiting my grandparents near Syracuse, NY for a father's day celebration.  As I drove back to Nyack that evening and parked my car in the driveway at 1:00 am after a three hour drive, I stopped to look for my wallet before heading into my apartment.  Yep, you guessed it.  It was gone.  It took me a minute, but I remembered that I had placed it on the back of my car as I filled my tank at the gas station near my grandparents house.  If you're wondering whether or not to try this yourself, I will warn you that it is quite possibly the worst idea in the history of ideas, ever.  It is not convenient or easy to place your wallet on your car while you pump gas.  It is just stupid.  Very stupid.  And yes, of course I drove away with my poor little wallet still sitting on the back of my car.  Upon realizing this in my parked car, a panic-attack quickly ensued after a completely uneventful and relaxed three hour drive back to Nyack.  The rest of the week involved repeated phone calls to my bank and credit card companies, having my amazingly patient grandparents search miles of roads near them, and further convincing my parents that I should not be allowed out of their house anymore.  It was such a great time.  In the end, the wallet was found and mailed to me.  I danced around my room a little.  Or a lot...  "When you're happy and you know it... act like a crazy maniac!" 

I flew out of JFK on Friday, June 26 2015, at 11:30 pm.  Before the flight though, I spent the day with a bunch of 4th graders; my last day as a teacher in the South Bronx.  The last day was bittersweet and emotional for many reasons, but it was toughest of all to say goodbye to so many wonderfully brave people I now call some of my closest friends, from my time in da hood.  At the end of that last day, I lugged my little blue carry-on suitcase and pink backpack from the Bronx to JFK.  After quite a few tears stemming from the end (FINALLY) of such an exhausting first year of teaching and the lovely people I had had to say goodbye to (and a few awkward situations with strangers and their kindly offered tissues on the plane), I was off.  

The House

Upon landing in beautiful Malaga, I met up with the rest of the New York team from CFC Potsdam, and was welcomed into the gorgeous home in Alhaurin de la Torre that we rented during our stay. 

The pool was a life saver throughout the trip; there wasn't a day that it wasn't fully enjoyed by all of us! 

The gentlemen let us ladies move in downstairs while they stayed upstairs, dying of heat almost every night.  They did have the best view from the balcony though....

The next morning on Sunday, I met Eugene and Joy Greco, who have planted the church in Alhaurin that we were going to be working at for two weeks.  That morning I was a little baffled to received a text from my sister asking me to extend greetings to Eugene and Joy from my dad... Of course, he had gone to college with them both, a little less than 30 years ago.  The world can be such a small place.  

English Camp

Let me quickly outline our purpose: Eugene and Joy are connected to CFC Potsdam from their college years (which I attended during college myself), and after planting their church many years later in Spain, now welcome young adults for the past three summers to help run an English Camp for kids ages 5-16 from the local community.  The camp was a blast- along with a group of counselors from Portland, Oregon, we worked with the kids to improve their English skills through Sports, English Class, and Arts & Crafts (my specialty!).  

I was a counselor for the 10-12 year old group, they were such a lovely little group of kiddos.  After coming from my 9 & 10 year old crew in the Bronx, it was a wonderful breath of fresh air to work with these cuties: 

At the end of the two week camp, this bunch performed the cup game they had learned and practiced everyday at lunch.  Occasionally I joined in with them, but they eventually got too speedy for me to stay in the game for long!

Every morning and afternoon, before camp classes started and after they ended, Eugene led all the kids in some English sing along songs.  This was mostly a time of crazy children running around followed by camp counselors chasing after them or piles of hot and sweaty children on top of a counselor.  Although quite warm in Spain (95-100+ most days), their excitement for camp and fun-loving personalities carried through every day! 

Their little faces are so cute, aren't they??  All the rest of the travelling and sight seeing was definitely great (getting to that next!), but these little ones were such a huge part of the trip and touched my heart in such a big way.  I hope to see them again next year!  

Mijas

During the first week there, we visited a little town called Mijas.  We drove wayyyyyyyyy up the side of a mountain in our rented 9 passenger van (Jamie was, quite literally, a rockstar driver through the whole trip!), and spent the evening shopping and admiring the town's beauty together.

We're a pretty fun bunch.  If we don't actually scare you away. 

Also, this is where I first discovered the nectar of the gods.  Zumo de Naranja.  Yes, it's orange juice.  But nothing compares.  It's squeezed from the most amazingly fresh southern Spanish oranges... And watching this contraption make the juice is quite fascinating...

Living and navigating through day-to-day activities in a place where most people don't know your language can be highly frustrating and very exhausting at times.  This was something unexpected for me, as I assumed most people would be able to understand and speak at least a little basic English.  I know now how presumptuous that was.  And how important it is to know a few vocab words and simple phrases of the native language before plopping yourself somewhere long term.  After only spending only about two and a half weeks in that sort of immersion environment, I now understand and speak quite a bit of basic Spanish, after knowing very very little.  It really is impressive how quickly the human brain adapts itself.  

Gibraltar

During the following Saturday we took a day trip to explore the Rock of Gibraltar.  The Rock is located on an island in U.K territory.  For me, ordering food and communicating in English again gave my brain a little bit of a break.  The Rock, or El Roca, is pretty impressive.

After lunch in the main square of Gibraltar, we all squeezed into a taxi van for a tour of The Rock.  Our tour guide was great, and he gave us ample time to explore the caves, monkeys, tunnels, and views from the rock.  Having a monkey climb up on my head was certainly a highlight....

Because of the fog that day we were unable to see Africa only a few kilometers away, but that beautiful sight would come later in the trip.  From Gibraltar it was blue in all directions.

The Greco's

The next day, Sunday, we went to church again with the Greco's, and were graciously invited to their house for dinner that evening.  Upon chatting with Joy at dinner, she began sharing stories with me of her college years.  She had spent a weekend with my dad camping and canoeing in the Adirondacks as part of a group gym class at Potsdam, when they both attended SUNY Potsdam.  After a few minutes she ran upstairs and was able to find slides of pictures she had taken that weekend, almost 30 years ago- some of my dad in a canoe!  Eugene, Joy, and I all laughed over how much they had changed, noticing the abundance of hair then and lack of hair now, (for my dad anyways), and admiring pictures of kids and they're accomplishments.  Listening to, and now being part of stories like these just make me smile.  It was such a lovely evening of good food, good friends, and good conversation.

The view from their balcony porch is stunning.  They look over the entire town of Alhaurin; it's breathtaking.

We watched the sun sink behind the mountains.  We were all fascinated that you can actually see it gently fall below the horizon.

Just imagine rolling over and waking up to this view through your bedroom window??  In Spain, I'd have no problem becoming a morning person.

Thus ended the first week in Spain. 

Week Two was also tons of fun!  By now, we had our schedule down.  Most days after camp included a splash in the pool and hanging out at the house, or relaxing on the beach.  Costa del Sol beaches are wonderful!  We did get into some more noteworthy and beautiful adventures during the second week though.  We spent an evening in Malaga shopping, visiting the Cathedral, and eating.  Everywhere we went we spent time eating- the food was always yummy!  

Ronda

We visited Ronda, the origin of bull fighting.  Which, by the way, is a traumatizing experience and from what I know of it, I definitely would not recommend watching or participating if it can be helped.  But, Ronda is beautiful.

Granada

Everywhere we went was just gorgeous, I really couldn't get over the scenery!  The next Saturday we spent in Granada, which was about a two hour drive from Alhaurin.  We toured the Alhambra and spent some time on the tower of the Alcazaba.  It was hot, but beautiful.  The Moorish style of the entire palace was mesmerizing.  The repeated and intricate carvings were fascinating, along with the history held through many hundreds of years.

  

And sometimes it's just too hot to do anything but play in the garden fountains when security isn't watching... 

After Granada, we were thoroughly exhausted, but still had a great time jamming out to Jamie's awesome playlist on the car ride home.  If you need recommendations for some fun music, hit him up- he knows the coolest tunes.  

Vejer and the West Coast

On Monday, our last full day, we traveled across the bottom tip of Spain to the west coast to visit "The White City on the Hill;" Vejer.  Eugene and Joy came along with us, and we had a great time exploring the town they stayed in while studying Spanish, and swimming in the Atlantic for most of the afternoon.  We were able to relax and rejuvenate before heading home on Tuesday morning.

Everything is painted white, and it's beautiful.  Sunglasses are very necessary though.

On the drive back to Alhaurin that evening, we stopped at a little rest stop on the side of a mountain near Tarifa, to see the view of Africa....

Africa has always been on my heart, and it was killing me that I was only 8 miles across the water.  Yep, that's Morocco through the haze...  It's been a dream of mine for years to go to Africa.  It wasn't the plan for this trip, but my travels have barely just begun, and I know I have a lot of life ahead of me to get there.  

Now you've experienced Spain with me!  Really though, wish you all could have come; Spain is a magical place.  And after the hours now that I've spent writing all this, and you reading it (again, apologies for the length!), it's time to move on to the next big life event: ALASKA.  See you again soon, on the other end of a few North-bound flights! ;)