This picture pretty much sums up how we have lived this last week in Valencia. Scraping by. Trying not to buy things that we're not going to finish, like dish soap. Once that was finished, we started washing dishes with hand soap. We resorted to using our tissues for toilet paper...tissues too rough to use on the nose. Then when the cleaning ladies threw the box away (which still had like half of the tissues in it) we've been grabbing handfuls of toilet paper from the bathrooms in the lobby. Roughin' it.
SATURDAY
A lot of students went scuba diving but I passed. Too cold and they had to take a 2 hour bus ride...I just couldn't travel anymore. I relaxed and walked around Valencia some.
Festivities for Holy Week were starting. In the plaza de la Virgin there was a big group of people dressed up in these fancy robes and playing drums.
That's pretty much all I can tell you about it.
Later, there were tons of people outside our towers. (I had a mini-flashback of horror to fallas)
This was a rally for people who want Valencia to be separate from Spain.
Other regions in Spain like Cataluña also want to be separate from Spain.. I didn't realize that this many Valencianos felt the same way.
SUNDAY - Palm Sunday
Outside the cathedral were these incredible palm creations.
Roommates walking to the park
Passing my bus stop
We all went to this park nearby called viveros to sit, enjoy the sun, and study. Well, they studied. I AM FINISHED!...something that still hasn't really hit me. Finished with school. Eh, maybe it will hit me when I get home.
We sat next to this french fry lookin' structure...
and this little barky dog
But he was a cute barky dog
Melissa found a four leaf clover. Jealous.
So Freddie and I started lookin... which is when Matt got a hold of my camera.
But ha! I found one!
A really lovely last weekend in Valencia.
Sunday night we all went for a Top Shelf dinner at our favorite
Italilan place. It was 10 of us plus little Chris and his parents.
Many of us had extra cheques to spend before we leave the world that
accepts cheques so we splurged. I got an appetizer, main dish, and
dessert... AND water. (Normally I bring a water bottle in my purse so
I don´t have to pay for water...ahhh free water, a luxury I am looking
forward to). We stuffed our gullets and then it was time for the
check. In Spain they never separate the bill. Never. I remember
this being very difficult for us all in the beginning...the math, the
change, the headache. But now, wow, we are so Spanish and accustomed to it. So
with a group of ten you wait until the bill comes to you and you can
add up what you owe. We all start whippin' out our cheques. I look up
and ask "Where´s the cuenta?" Then, I see what is happening. Other
people are just staring. My eyes fall on the check. It is sitting in
front of Chris's dad...with his credit card on top. Noooooooo. My
mouth falls open. He is not about to treat us ALL to this dinner. We
all had the same dumb and embarrassed look on our faces. I start
fanning myself with my cheques. I can't even say thank you at this
point.
"Don´t cry Emily" someone says.
"I'm not! I'm just embarrassed at all the food I just ordered on their tab!"
We got it together, remembered our manners, and (after trying to
give some cheques) we gave proper thanks. So nice. Here we all are with Chris's parents on the right.
MONDAY
Monday morning. A regular morning. I wait for the bus and I get on
the bus, but something was different. My bus driver, Vicente, was not
the driver. Ok. He is probably sick. But then no Vicente in the
afternoon either. I decide to wait and ask Maribel about him if he is
absent again on Tuesday.
Sometimes I get off (ahh no.. I GOT off) at an earlier stop and walk home.. only a 10 minute walk through the riverbed.
Some pictures on my way home
These trees would drop little fluffies... and it looked like cotton all over the ground.
Orange flowers
Interesting way to end a semester in Valencia = Celebrate Passover with my first Seder meal.
My teacher Julie is Jewish and she had a Seder at her house with 2 other couple from school and their kids.
The Seder plate.
Matza and hummus
Matza ball soup ... my first time
The messy end of the table
First a kid spilled some grape juice...then Julie's husband spilled wine trying to clean up the grape juice.. later someone spilled some matza ball soup.
It was educational ... in many ways. I got to refresh my memory on the plagues and the story of the slaves leaving Egypt. The script was read in Hebrew and in Spanish. The makeup of the people at our table went like this:
COUPLE #1
Julie - New Yorker
Her Husband - Italian
They speak Italian to each other, she speaks English to her kids, he speaks Italian to the kids.. and they all speak perfect Spanish.
COUPLE #2
Eran - Israeli
His wife Paula - Spanish
He speaks Hebrew to the kids, she speaks Spanish, they all know English.
COUPLE #3
Jeff - American
His wife - Brazilian
He speaks English to kids, she speaks Portuguese to them, and they all speak Spanish.
I am pretty sure my face was like this :0 all night. Wide eyed and grinning at how normal it was for all these languages to be around me.
TUESDAY
Tuesday morning, no Vicente. Maribel says he no longer works for the
company but she doesn't really want to talk about it in front of the
new driver.
The bus on Tuesday was brand new and shiny...the look and
smell... I hate this bus and its new shiny driver. Where is Vicente?
I ask Maribel again in the afternoon. All Maribel tells me is that it was a personal problem with the business and that it is better for him... At least that is all I could understand. Maribel still hasn't realized that I need her to go a little bit slower with the Spanish.
Wow. I am so sad. The bus to and from school just isn't the same without Vicente. But Maribel says he is going to meet me at the bus stop Wed. afternoon to say goodbye.
Tuesday we dyed Easter Eggs... not the easiest thing to do in Spain. First of all, they don't do it. So there are no little kits for you to buy. We used food coloring. Second, white eggs are harder to come by. Most stores have only brown eggs....Oh and they don't refrigerate their eggs in the stores, just a side note.
Tuesday night was my second Seder dinner. A girl who lives in the apartment below ours is Jewish and put on a Seder Monday and Tuesday night and invited whoever wanted to come.
I am a Seder pro.
Chris me and Maddie, the Seder hostess.
WEDNESDAY
My last day of school. Up until this day, every other day has just felt normal. I haven't really gotten sad yet, and I don't feel like I am going to. But I did have a ball of nerves in my stomach all day at the thought of saying goodbye to my kids. It also didn't help that Wednesday morning is when my bus driver showed up. I was standing at the bus stop, still half asleep, and small talking with another teacher when Vicente shows up out of nowhere! I was so shocked to see him and I hadn't woken up yet and I hadn't thought about what I wanted to say to him AND the bus showed up literally 30 seconds after he arrived. Even if I had had the time, it still would have been difficult to say all I wanted. When it comes to expressing the most sincere and deeply felt emotions, it's very difficult in another language. And even after you say it, you still don't feel like you truly communicated all you wanted.
Ricardo and his folder... lord that child is a mess.
Every couple months, the we rearrange the room. The way Julie does it seems like it would be the worst idea ever...but it's the opposite. She puts the map of the new classroom seating on the board then let's the kids just move their own desks... the only rule is they have to all move in the same direction... clockwise. I videoed it this time.
And after 5 minutes, we almost have our classroom back
We had a regular day and then an Easter/my goodbye party in the afternoon.
I made sure to get a picture of each kid...but I won't put them all here.
Laura and Pepe
Cecilia and Jose
I loved Jose. He was a student that needed a little more attention...guess those are the ones you always love, even though some days you want to shake them.
David, Inés, and Francisco
Angela and David Allan
Then they sat me down and gave me some good bye presents from the whole class.
Facundo presented me with a hat and shirt from the school. I'm showing him what a smile is... the kid rarely smiles.
Salva presented me with a zip drive from the school... my first zip drive to ever own.
Jose brought up the bracelet.
And best of all, a book of letters from each child...presented by Carmen.
Love it
Me and all my gear
I managed to hold it together for the most part. Except for when I had to say bye to Julie.
Uhhh I hate goodbyes. Then it was to Ms. Carmen. Then to Maribel.
These people... a bus monitor, seat companion, and bus driver, who I spent very little time when you look at the bigger picture of my time here.. only 90 minutes 4 days a week, but they have been some of the most significant. My Spanish would not have improved if it hadn't been for them.
I got off the bus just in time to meet the whole FSU group leaving for Monteditos. First round of drinks and sandwiches on FSU! Then we had a girls photo shoot in the plaza de la Reina.
Then in the plaza de la Virgin. What am I gonna do in a world without plazas?
Sadness
Freddie and the guy who works at Chinos... where we buy cheap beer.
Wed. night was the big Copa del Rey fútbol game. Barcelona vs. Madrid... and they have to have it in a neutral city sooooo VALENCIA! The city was full of fans in their respective jerseys all day. We went to a bar near the stadium to watch the game. On our way, we got stopped by a police man as we were about to cross a street. Why? There weren't any cars coming. Why can't we cross the street? Because THE KING OF SPAIN was passing by with all his entourage. So, we saw the king... or at least his car.
Got to the bar and stood outside in a group of people to watch it on the outdoor tv.
Fútbol fans
Then these fans were behind me (p.s. we were all going for Real Madrid)...
We were parked in front of them so they automatically started heckling us .. me..
"Rubiaaaa" ...which basically means blondy. What will I do in a world where my blonde hair doesn't instantly get me harassed?
I turned to them and informed them that I have a name... then we became friends.
Matt insisted that I be in a picture with them.
Check out eyebrows on the left.
It was so much fun. The fans around us were chanting and singing.
And Madrid won!
Fútbol, creepy Spaniards, crowds that violate your personal bubble... a perfect Spanish night to end with here in Valencia.
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