School and everyday life

School is going well for me. I am starting to get down a routine with my classes and get to know some of the students. It is hard because I have about 100 different students between the 5 teachers that I work with and I am only in each class once or twice a week. I am enjoying it though. My English class for professors started last week. That class was a lot of fun and I think I am going to really enjoy it. I am working with 9 teachers who want to improve their English. The class will mostly focus on conversational practice.

With Halloween coming up, I get to do a lot of presentations on Halloween and what it is like in the United States. Halloween has not been very popular here in the past but it is slowly becoming a thing. The other day during our break, one of the teachers was teaching how to make a vampire with origami. That was fun!

 Ben is keeping himself busy during the days with researching hydroponics, prepping for English classes, researching and planning trips and going to the Mercado. The food here doesn’t have the same kind of preservatives in it so we usually need to go grocery shopping for meat and produce about twice week.

Hydroponics is a way to grow plants without dirt. We are having a hard time finding seeds though. He wants to try growing a vegetable but all we can find are marijuana seeds. The plants are legal to grow here and you can smoke it too you just can’t sell it. We have some bean seeds that he is in the process of sprouting right now so hopefully that will work.

He is up to 7 English classes which he teaches between Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights. I have met one of the women he works with so sometimes I go to that class with him. A couple of the classes are with adults and they just want to focus on conversation. One class is with a 13 year old boy and another with an 8 year old girl. Ben had fun with the boy on their first class last week because the boy is really into sports and longboarding so they had a lot to talk about. The class with the little girl is a little more challenging because she doesn’t speak much English but they have fun working with flashcards and playing Monopoly.

We think we finally found a church we want to go to! It is a Spanish church but has a very international population. They have translation services for English and French. I really like the pastor and there seems to be good size group of people our age. Also the leader of our Bible study and his wife attend the church. Services are held in a night club because the church doesn’t own their own space big enough to hold a church service. The church is close enough that it only takes about 20 minutes to walk there or if we want, we can take the metro.

Bible study is also going really well. We are having fun getting to know everyone and fellowshipping with other believers. Last week we didn’t get home until midnight because we were having so much fun hanging out! Fortunately I have a short day of classes on Fridays. We usually do the Bible study part first and then everyone brings tapas to share and we have dinner afterwards. It is a great group of people from Spain, the States and the UK. Many of our conversations revolve around the cultural differences between these countries and they can be quite entertaining!

Overall, life is going well here. We are finally starting to adjust to life in a different culture. Although I still wish I had a dryer and I would love to have a conversation with the city planner about putting VISIBLE street signs on every corner so you don’t have to crane your neck to look around trees or walk four blocks just to figure out which street you are on. And I would really like to find some candy corn too. That is basically the only thing I love about Halloween and I was really bummed that the Halloween party at the U.S Embassy didn’t have any. I might have stayed longer if they had some. Someone from Bible study told us about an American store here in Madrid so I am going to check it out next time Ben has his English classes and hopefully I will get my candy corn fix.

Yeah Yeah Yeah It's a party in the U.S. Embassy

We got to go to a Halloween party at the U.S. Embassy on Friday night. One of the people in my program heard about it somehow and he was able to add us to the list. It was a costume party and we dressed up as American tourists. There was karaoke but not much else. We didn’t stay very long but it was fun to see the embassy. Ben had an interview before the Halloween party and he was offered the position. He walked out of the interview and said “They sure play fast and loose with the term “interview””. He was told to come in for an ‘interview’ but was just offered the job on the spot. It is a job teaching English classes but these classes would be during the day which would be nice because his nights are already booked with classes. We need to wait for him to get his visa though so he will have all the correct documentation. Prayers for that please! It is supposed to be ready soon but we don’t know how he is supposed to get it.

The karaoke guys:

We watch a lot of Friends. Can you tell?

Campo del Moro

Ben taught his first English classes today. I went with him partly to get out of the house and partly to help him find it. When he went for the interview for the job we had a really difficult time finding the place so I had to ask for directions a couple of times in order to find it. Ben didn't want to wander around lost on his first day! As we were walking towards the street where we needed to turn onto, we found a really pretty park! From the park we found you can see some of the buildings in Plaza de Espana where we live. We also found the river that runs through Spain that people kept telling us about. 

Laundry

We always do laundry in the morning so that it will dry by the end of the day or at the latest, the next morning. We are on the inside track of the apartment building so our area doesn't get a ton of sun. As we are getting ready for bed the other night, I pause in brushing my teeth and listen closely. It is raining and the laundry is still out on the line! We rush to the bedroom to start pulling it in but not all of it was dry so we had to find places around the apartment to hang the laundry. I sure miss having a dryer!

Sangria

When we were in Segovia, we found a souvenir shop that sold pitchers especially for sangria for only 8 euros! They were hand painted and I wanted to try making sangria so we bought a one. Sangria has a lot of fruit in it. The pitcher is designed to be able to pour without dumping out all the fruit. It is pretty handy! While I was at school the other day, Ben went to the Mercado to get some fruit for our sangria. We used strawberries, oranges, nectarines and peaches. The strawberries definitely made the drink! You’re supposed to let the fruit sit in the wine overnight to let the fruit juices leak into the wine. We tried it tonight and it was really yummy!

Segovia

I had a three day weekend this weekend so we decided to go on a day trip to Segovia. While at the metro we saw a girl from the program. She was on the other side of the platform but we still had a conversation across a platform and two metro tracks. Once we said good-bye I turned to Ben and I said “I bet people don’t carry on conversations across the tracks like we just did.” He agreed. It was still fun to see her though. We probably know about 30 people in all of Madrid and we have seen some of them on more than one occasion! It is funny because in a city of 6 million people, we have seen friends out and about more often than we ever did in Bellingham!

Segovia was a fun town! It seemed more spread out than Toledo so it wasn’t as busy and crowded. We took the train from Madrid and got there around ten in the morning. From the train station it is a 15 minute bus ride into Segovia. You can take the bus from Madrid and that takes you right into Segovia but it takes about an hour and half and the train is only twenty-five minutes.

The first thing we saw when we got into Segovia was the old Roman aqueduct. It is 800 meters long and 29 meters high, most likely built in the 1^st century BC. It is made out of granite blocks and put together without any mortar or cement. It used to transport water from 15 kilometers out of the city and was used up until the 19^th century. The water traveled on the upper channel and it crossed the city underground up to the castle Alcázar.

Next we headed to the castle Alcázar from the 12th century. As we were walking up to the castle we heard someone say our names! We looked over and there walking towards us was another girl from my program, Erin. Even if we get out of the city we see someone we know!

The three of us headed towards the castle together. Alcázar was the official residence of Queen Isabella’s father, Juan II and her brother Enrique IV. It is also where Queen Isabella was named queen of Castile in 1474 and where she met her husband, Ferdinand. Columbus came to Castle Alcázar to receive financing for his trip the New World. The castle is said to be the most defensible castle in all of Spain. After the monarh moved to Madrid, it was used as a state prison for over two centuries. In 1762 King Carlos III founded an artillery school which lasted until the fire in 1862. The fire destroyed the roofs and badly damaged the framework. Restoration began in 1882.

The castle includes the throne room, the Pine-Cone room, Royal bedroom, the room of monarchs, a chapel, an armory and the tower of Juan II among many others. In the throne room above the thrones is written “Tanto Monta”, meaning that Isabella held as much power in Aragón as Ferdinand held in Castile; equal sovereignty. The Pine Cone room is named so for its ceiling because the decorations that hang down from the ceiling look like pine cones. The royal bedrooms’ walls are covered in tapestries depicting court life. In the middle of the room is the royal bed made of walnut with a brocade canopy woven with gold. The room of monarchs used to be the most important room in the castle. The decorations near the ceilings in this room show busts of all the monarchs of Asturias, Castile and León. The chapel contains pieces of art and original altar pieces from the 15^th century. The armory contains armor and weapons from different times, included in the collection is a hunting cross bow from the 16^th century. Through a 12^th century Romanesque gate in the armory is a press for minting coins dating back to the 18^th century. The tower’s construction was started during Juan II’s reign and completed during his son’s reign, Enrique IV. It was used as a state prison for long time. There are 152 steps to the top and once you get there, you have a great view of the city, including the cathedral, La iglesia vera cruz and, Santa María del Parral Monastery.

From the castle, we wandered around a bit until lunch. While walking around we saw a few houses from the 15^th and 16^th centuries and the Royal Jailhouse. We also saw Casa de los picos which is famous for the diamond tips on the front façade of the building which served as a defense mechanism.

Finally it was time for lunch! Segovia is famous for their cochinillo, roast suckling pig and they are also known for judiones de la granja, white beans. We found a restaurant, Casa Duque that is well known for their cochinillo. It was delicious! You are supposed to eat everything, including the skin, which surprisingly wasn’t that bad, almost buttery tasting.

After lunch we went to the cathedral, Nuestra Señora de la Asunción y San Frutos. The lay out was similar to that of the cathedral in Toledo but wasn’t quite as impressive. San Frutos is the patron saint of Segovia. After the original cathedral was destroyed during the Comuneros War, Charles V began construction on the current church in 1525. Various pieces, such as the choir, cloister and baptismal font were salvaged from the old one. This cathedral is the last Gothic style cathedral to be built in Spain.

From the cathedral, we found a path that wound around the back of the castle and lead to the monastery that we wanted to go to. While walking on it, we discovered that it was part of the Camino Santiago. For those of you who don’t know what that is, the Camino Santiago is a very old pilgrimage. A monk was said to have found the bones of Santiago, Saint James, and the church used this discovery to persuade people to come see his bones and while there to help fight to get the Moors out. People were told that if they made the pilgrimage and helped fight their sins would be forgiven. It is a very popular thing for people to do now and if you do a minimum of the last 100 kilometers you get a certificate in Latin saying that you completed the Camino Santiago.

Eventually we ended up at the Santa María Parral Monastery. You can only enter at certain times of the day and there is a man that will give a tour. The tour was in Spanish and I caught some of it but it was too difficult for me to listen and translate for Ben at the same time. I did catch though that at some point during history the organ was stolen and the jewels that nobles had brought in to decorate the cathedral were also stolen. Ben thinks the Moors stole them when they invaded Spain. It makes sense because the monastery is outside the city walls.

From the monastery we started walking to the Iglesia San Juan de los caballeros, the oldest church in Segovia and where the Museo Zuloaga is housed. On our way there a man sitting on a bench stopped us and asked if we spoke Spanish. I told him I did and he wanted to know where we were from. After that he switched into English and started asking us a little about Washington and told us about a picture of the Grand Tetons that he has and how beautiful they are. We talked with him for about 10 minutes and then he told us if we kept walking down the path we were on we would walk through a beautiful park. We are pretty sure he just sits there and waits for tourists who speak English to walk by so that he can practice his English. It was pretty funny! He was a nice old man though.

The church was pretty cool. The museum inside is dedicated to a man named Zuloaga who specialized in ceramic and mosaic art. After the museum we headed back to the aqueduct to catch the bus home. We really liked Segovia and would love to go back some time.                 

The Roman aqueduct              

Castle Alcázar

With our friend Erin.

When you first enter there is a foyer with some displays of armor.

Look how pointy his armor boots are!

The fireplace room.

The throne room. You can see where it says "Tanto Monta" above the thrones. 

Stain glass of Enrique IV, son of Juan II

This is in the galley room. It got its name because the ceiling is in the shape of a galley. There is writing all around room where the wall meets the ceiling. The top strip is a prayer in Latin and the bottom strip informs about the construction of the room.

A view of the monastery from the galley room.

A mural of Queen Isabella being crowned in the town square of Segovia.

The ceiling of the Pine Cone room. 

 The white stone work survived the fire and is from when the castle was first built.

They royal bedroom.

The room of monarchs.

The Cord room which is next to the Queen's Chamber" where it is believed that the fire started.

The Queen's Chamber.

This is a door leading into the Queen's Chamber. You can see where the fire left burn marks on the stones.

The chapel.

An original altar piece from the 15th century.

The armoury.

The 16th century hunting cross bow.

The press for the minting of  coins.

The gate from the 12th century.

On the way up to the tower you could walk out to this little area and we found an old well.

At the top of the Juan II tower. 152 steps to the top. The cathedral is in the background.

From the top of the tower looking out over the castle.

View from the top overlooking Iglesia Santa Cruz.

These designs are from the Muslim era. The name had something to do with graffiti so it looks like this was the original graffiti! A lot prettier than what it is today.

Casa de los picos

Casa Duque where we had lunch.

The yummy white bean dishes. The one closest to us had pig's cheek in it! Ben tried it and he said it was pretty gross!

Here is our roast suckling pig. Yum!

As you walk out you can see where they roast them!

The cathedral Nuestra Señora de la Asunción y San Frutos

From the back side of the cathedral. 

The main altar. 

The organ for the choir. The place where the person would sit and play is just behind the fence.

'The Tree of Life'

This is the back side of the choir.

On the inside is where the remains of San Frutos are laid to rest.

A baptismal from 1472.

I liked this view because you could see the country side in the background.

Puerta de San Andres

One of the community gardens in Segovia. This is the path that lead us to Camino Santiago.

A view of the castle from the Camino Santiago.

Santa Maria del Parral Monastery.

The main altar inside the monastery. 

Me walking along the Camino Santiago. 

Puerta de San Cebrian

Iglesia San Juan de los Caballeros

An old tombstone inside the church.

There was a bookcase full of these old books!

This is the symbol of Rome; a female wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, twins who are said to be the founders of Rome. When their grandfather's brother overthrew him, the grandfather ordered the twins thrown into the Tiber River. The she-wolf found and nursed them until a herdsman found them and raised them.