Sunny in the South of Spain

So I made it to the South of Spain, and.... DAMN it´s hot. Or maybe I´m just not used to doing everything without Air conditioning. Yes, that´s probably it. Washington D.C. I´m sure is much hotter than this.

I have been in training week before my summer camp which starts on Sunday, and have been busy from 9 a.m. - 10:30 p.m. learning the ropes and preparing my teaching materials, after which we all go out for drinks all night in El Puerto de Santa Maria, a little town near the Strait of Gibraltar. I will be teaching the same 10-15 Spanish students every day for 2 weeks and my age group is the 12-13 yr olds.

Our camp site (40 mins away) in Santi Pietri is in an old Monastery made of sun-washed white stucco with yellow and blue tiles, with beautiful courtyards on the inside filled with flowers and palm trees. There is a huge swimming pool and a beach within 30 mins walking distance.

The one problem is, there´s no internet... and days are long, and we are not near a city. So if I go MIA for a while, that´s why. Just know I´ll be spending my action-packed days in the hot sun of the South of Spain having fun :)

Something tells me...

I´m not in South America anymore...

That something is: the Euro

My wallet hurts. But after a free week of red wine, good Spanish food, Jamon Iberico, and good times with new people, I can´t complain.

I´ve only been in the Madrid for the weekend and leave tomorrow to head south to where I will be working for the rest of the summer. One of the Spaniards on my Pueblo Ingles program told me told me that El Puerto de Santa Maria is a very posh area in the summer so we´ll see!

I´m off to enjoy my last night in Madrid (hopefully on the cheap)!

At it Again

I didn´t really tell anyone I was leaving. I guess I hadn´t made it very public that I was back at home for a time there, either. My year wasn´t complete yet. I still had Spain.

And now I´m here!

After one of the more uncomfortable plane rides in my repertoire, complete with seats that would not recline, 4 full hours of 2 crying babies, a delayed connection out of London, and the ensuing delayed arrival of my brand new Mountainsmith Scarlet backpack, made completely out of recycled materials (very green of me!)... I´m in Madrid.

And just when I had broken down and bought a new shirt because I could no longer stand the building-up grime on my clothing, my backpack arrived to the hostel.

So we´re off to a good start.

It´s nice to be back in Europe. Last night I had tapas and Sangria for dinner with 5 other people who are doing my first program with me, Pueblo Ingles at La Alberca. The week-long program is an English immersion for 20 Spaniards and a "free" week of accomodations, meals and fun experiences for 20 English-speakers, just for speaking all day in English.

I´m off to a flamenco performance now, hosted by the program, wearing my kind of geeky, but very practical Sprigs Banjees wrist wallet from REI and money belt. Europe is no South America in terms of danger... but I swear I am not going to get robbed again!

Now I´ve cursed myself :)