Los Últimos Diez Meses: Badajoz, Cáceres, Madrid, Needham, Lisboa, San Sebastián, Sevilla, Vienna, Boston, Nueva York, Almendralejo

Plaza Alta of Badajoz

Wow, has it been a long time since I wrote a blog post.  Since I'm going to cover a long period of time, I'm going to try to be short and sweet.

So I left you last year after my exciting Semana Santa adventures.  Well, May was also a very exciting month for me.  It was the last month of the program, and the weather turned warmer and the people went out more, and there were special events in Badajoz.

The first event was an international concert in Cáceres.  Cáceres, if you remember, is a city known for a well-preserved, old part of the city.  Well, in the walls of the medieval city they held concerts.  People packed themselves into the little plazas where they had squeezed in stages and bands from Ireland, France, Spain, Africa, and even a rapper from the United States took turns exciting the exciting the audience teaching us words in their native languages.

The other event was in Badajoz.  At the top of the alcazaba, or muslim palace on a hill, they put a giant stage.  A famous, Spanish Youtube sensation band performed.  You probably haven't heard of them.

And that was essentially how I ended my first year in Spain.  I had a great time teaching in elementary school, however, I really enjoyed teaching older kids in my private classes.  So, when I decided to return to Spain the next year, I requested a high school.  Although the schools understood, they were sad to see me go.  They actually purchased several gifts for me including a watch and a typical liquor from the region that tastes like amaretto.  Even my roommates got me this apron!

My class of 6th graders

I took my gifts and headed to Madrid for a few days before catching a plane back to Massachusetts.

Well, for the summer, I returned to my summer job as a supervisor of a local pool.  I did some typical summer travel, like going to New Hampshire and Maine.  Although being home was fun, I definitely missed Spain.  People that I met over the summer even told me how much I lit up when talking about the beautiful country.

In September, I came back to Spain.  Well, first I went to Portugal.  I flew into Lisbon, and I can't repeat how much I love Lisbon.  It's a beautiful little city with teeming with surprise so that every time that I go, I find something new.  This picture is of a well that leads to an underground cave system of a garden of some rich, dead guy.  I did a lot of walking and I returned to many of the beautiful sights that I fell in love with.

In October, I started working again.  I definitely feel more comfortable working at a high school and I kind of knew I would.  I have always thought about working in a high school somewhere down the road.  In the same month, I also went to San Sebastian.  San Sebastian is a really small city in the North of Spain.  My roommate from Granada recommended it to me, and I was more than happy when the opportunity arose.  It has a beautiful old city that leads to a cove with a beautiful beach.  They have delicious, albeit, "expensive" tapas and a crazy nightlife.  Although the official language is Vasco, everyone understood Spanish.  Although there had been a drop in temperature the week before, when we went, it was beautiful beach weather.  I enjoyed the beautiful city and it was the farthest North that I had traveled in Spain.

In November, I participated in a Color Run in Seville.  I had seen pictures of my friends in the States running in and I knew it would be something that I would want to do.  Essentially, it's a 5K where every kilometer, the people spray you with paint powder.  At the end, they had a concert and passed out packets of the paint powder.  Every 20 minutes, we tossed it in the air.  It was definitely an experience.

Vienna Town Hall

In December, I decided to travel outside of Spain.  This would be my first trip outside of the Iberian Peninsula since I studied in Granada three years prior!  I had planned a trip to Vienna the year before, but it fell through, so I decided to fulfill my desire from the year before.  I didn't know much about Vienna besides being a historical city, but I wasn't prepared for what I encountered.  December was the perfect time to go because there were Christmas markets everywhere.  Although very cold, and I got caught in the rain on both of the days that I was there, the Viennese have a great way to keep warm: hot spiced wine.  In every Christmas market, there was cheap hot wine and a unique coffee mug to drink it in.  I even brought one back with me!

We also did two walking tours and visited the castle, which was on par with Versaille in France.  For not knowing much about Vienna, I left knowing the entire history of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.  Now if only I could remember it now...I'm just kidding, I remember most of it.

St. Stephens Cathedral and Christmas market

All in all, I had a great time in Vienna and although I was there for over 2 full days, I still feel like I got to see the city.  I can't wait for the next trip that I'm taking.  I'll be sure to write about it here after I go to Budapest and Istanbul...anyways.  Moving on.

In January, actually, in December, I also went back to the United States.  I spent a great holidays with my family and friends and did some sightseeing in Boston and New York.  This is where January comes in.  Before I flew back to Spain, I spent three days in New York.  This was the first time in about 10 years that I'd been to New York.  It definitely annoyed me when students would ask where I lived and then why I don't go to New York more often if I'm so close.  You don't want to know how many times I've fell for that!  New York is as beautiful as always, but I probably shouldn't have gone on the two days that it was below zero without including the windchill.  From JFK, I took a flight to Madrid (with a layover in Morocco) and I started work again.

In February, we have had two events so far.  The first was on February 2nd and I went last year.  Groups of people, schools, bars, and pretty much anyone makes a large pile of wood with a papier mache doll that represents a demon or a vice and then they burn it.  They had the evil minions from Despicable Me 2, the Joker, the Queen of Hearts, the Clown from that Steven King book/movie (It?), and lots of witches.  This is how they get rid of all of the evils from the past year, they set them up in flames!

The other event that happened in February was Carnaval.  Carnaval is the Spanish Halloween on steroids.  People gather in the streets and drink in costumes that they made, bought, or put together the night before.  I was one of those who bought the costume the week before.  I decided to be a banana because bananas are universal! It turned out that with a backpack, I became a Spanish cartoon character from the early 90's called Mochilo, or Backpack, probably because he wears a backpack.  I went out with my friends who went as Mexican Death and two old geezers.  We met up with more friends once we went out, and, as always with Carnaval, we had a phoenomenal time.

So, the past 10 months have been busy with work and play.  I got to see some incredible places and do incredible things.  Of this year, there are still 4 months left to fill with fantastic adventures.  I'll try to keep up with this blog more because I know I don't talk to many of you as much as I should.  Keep looking out for more posts!