Class Party, Sigüenza, and Valencia

Hola from the Spainish front,

Updates from the last month include a movie night with Cor's classmates and trips to the towns of Sigüenza and Valencia. We feel a part of the lifestyle here and the last month has been fairly normal I suppose:

1. Get up around 9
2. Eat some copos de maiz (corn flakes)
3. Cor to her university classes
   
4. Tim to Madrid to teach
5. Eat a bocadillo or Turkish kebap for lunch
   
1. Bocadillo=two slices of dry French bread with tortilla espanola (look at previous blogs) or pork product
2. Kebap=pita like break with cordero(lamb), veggies, and special sauce - hmmm good
6. Cor has a break from 1-3, runs with Karin, meets with intercambio, or runs errands
7. Cor teaches English to little devils in Azuqueca (north of Alcala, 15 mins by train) from 3-8 (travel time included) at the South Downs English Academy.
8. Tim returns from Madrid around 9.
9. Eat some more ham or bread with EVOO (thanks to rachel ray for this time saving expression. And for those that no hablo in the kitchen, EVOO is extra virgin olive oil).
10. Catch up on the day and hang with Karin, our roommate extraordinaire
    
11. Waste some time on the computer
12. Plan a bit for the next day/Cor does homework
    
13. Dream about travel locations
14. Eat some more ham/Drink some wine/Chocolate
15. Go to bed around 1230 or 1

Slight variations do occur, like on Thursdays I play soccer or tennis with Cor's British boss' Spanish boyfriend, Antonio, or Cor helps at an English club in Alcala.

I was surprised by the turn out for Cor's "small" get together for a Spanish movie a couple weeks ago. She said a few classmates would be coming over to hang out and it ended up being like 15 people! It's always fun to get a taste of each other's lives since we are working/studying in different locations and with different people, so I enjoyed meeting everyone. The majority of her classmates are from Asian countries which is so fun because they're possibly the friendliest people around. Giving the peace sign for pictures is a popular thing for Cor's classmates. We're all giving the peace sign these days!

In other news, there were some hard feelings between our roommate, Karin, and I because of the opportunity she had to return to the States and enjoy the copious amounts of snow in Colorado. The only sensible way to reconcile this situation was for her to offer us her car while she was gone. I was momentarily happy but remained super jealous of her turns at Breckenridge. No, Karin was actually really generous by letting us use her car and Cor and I were quick to take advantage of it, making two different day trips. The first was an hour north of Alcala to the town of Sigüenza which sported a really cool castle. We sat in the castle's courtyard and had a storybook lunch complete with strawberries and coffee. It was a small town that was incredibly peaceful and quiet. The atmosphere invited us to run around as kids as seen in the pictures . A shout to Kelly Rose as she comes to mind in taking these pics of tomfoolery and balyhoo. (See pics here)

Last week we went to Valencia, located on Spain's eastern Mediterranean coast. Known for Paella, we walked along the beach, Platja Malvarrosa, and entered a restaurant to wait for this famous rice dish. 30 minutes later in large cast-iron skillet, our paella con pollo i mariscos was served hot out of the oven. It was pretty dang good but left our bellies full and our eyes wanting a siesta. If you're questioning the spelling of some words its because in Valencia they speak a dialect of Catalan. Catalan is the language spoken in the northeast of Spain, in the Barcelona region, and definitely different from Castillian Spanish which is Spain Spanish. In a nutshell, Spain has a number of different languages spoken depending on the region you're in. So, back to Valencia, it was 3 hours from home and, a part from the paella and beaches, has a really great bull fighting museum. We haven't been to a bullfight yet due to some issues of animal cruelty and schedule conflicts, but we made due by watching bull murders in a video that the museum showed. I wouldn't mind seeing one before we leave. Not sure about Cor though. Obviously, bull fighting has some deep roots in the culture here and there are a lot of supporters, but we didn't realize how many Spanish people are against it too.
See some (Pics of Valencia here)

We're heading north for Semana Santa, Easter week, (tomorrow morning actually) for a few days of mountain and beach time. Bloggity-Blog soon!

Us