Angel

 

Victor

I went and spent a couple hours with my little Spanish nephews yesterday. They are a month old not and steady growing. I'll put up some pics eventually. I had my first, last class with one of my classes today. They were sad. Two more last classes tomorrow and two more on Thursday. Tomorrow Barcelona plays for the European Championship against Manchester United. I am quite proud to say that I visited the stadiums of the best team in the English League and Spanish League in the same week and two weeks before they played each other for the European Title. Venga Barça!

If anyone wants any specific gift from Spain, tell me. Happy Birthday Dre

So the trip to Barcelona turned out to be pretty good. The 8 hour train ride up there wasn't that bad and actually passed by rather quickly. It was supposed to be raining on Thursday and Friday but once we got there the sun was out and it was warm. So we dropped off our bags and headed out to explore. About two hours into our exploring it began to storm badly and we were stuck out in the rain before it slacked up and we returned to the hostel for the night. We only got to see Las Ramblas, which is a famous, long stretch of vendors and street performers between shops and restaurants.

Friday morning when we left the hostel the sun was out and shining once again and we decided to go Camp Nou, the soccer stadium of F.C. Barcelona, my favorite team and the champions of the Spanish League. Overall it was ok. The tour of Manchester United's stadium was better and a whole lot cheaper. After that we headed to another famous Barcelona site, Park Guell, which was designed by a famous artist named Antoni Gaudi. There are no words to describe the park, you have to look at the pictures see for yourself. It was definitely one of the most spectacular places I have ever been. After a couple hours in the park, we headed to the Sagrada Familia, also designed by Gaudi. We then headed down to walk around the port before heading back to hostel.

Saturday morning we headed to Montjuic, an area of Barcelona that is home to another soccer team, park and some other things. We then headed to the Pueblo Español which is an attraction that has has houses and shops built like those in all the different areas of Spain. We then found another park to spend some time in before heading to a mall and then back to the hostel.

Sunday consisted of us checking out of the hostel and taking another trip to the port and stopping by to see the beach before heading to the train station for the 8 hour journey back down to the south. Barcelona is an incredible city that I loved for its uniqueness from any other place that I have been. I also loved that there was so many different people from all over the world in this one city. At any given time you could hear three different language been spoken around you. The only thing that I didn't like about Barcelona was the food. The food we had wasn't even mediocre. It seems like everywhere else you could just pick a restaurant at random and be thoroughly pleased with the food and the price. This did not happen in Barça. The only meal that we had that luck with was our dinner our first night. Incredible city, good time, good people, good weather, I couldn't be more pleased.

I am supposed to go to Granada this weekend but I am quite tired from the past week and half of traveling, and for that reason I might not go. I also haven't talked to my friend that I am supposed to stay with. I still have a little bit of time to make it down there. 4 weeks til I'm back in Knoxville. I bought my ticket for my flight back last night. ADIOS

pics will be up soon, theres a lot

I forgot to say that I got news that a friend from college had passed away on Tuesday. He was in my good friend Zachs fraternity. He had just moved home to Virginia the day before and then had a heart attack. R.I.P. Big Ryan

 

This past Friday three other teachers and myself took nineteen students on a trip to Scotland and England. It was pretty interesting from t he beginning because it was the first time flying for about a third of the students. After the almost three hour flight, we immediately began exploring the city of Edinburgh. We walked around the city for a few hours seeing everything with the Scottish girl who had my job last year. On Sunday we headed out in our bus tour to a different area of Scotland a couple hours away to take a boat ride on Loch Ness and see other famous areas in the part of Scotland. This tour took nearly 12 hours and once we returned we walked around the city to see a couple things that we didnt get to the previous day.

Monday we woke up and had breakfast before taking a 3 hour train down to Manchester, England. I sat beside a cool guy from Canada on the train that had been living in Scotland for the past 8 years. He even helped us find where we were supposed to go once we got off the train. Once in Manchester, we went directly to our hotel which was right in front of the soccer stadium for Manchester United. We then went to the stadium to take a tour that turned out to be really cool. We practically got to see and do everything but go on the actual grass on the field. We then went to see High School Musical live and the teachers found out how far behind Spain is because it was nothing but little 6 year old girls in the audience mixed in with our grip of nineteen 15 year old kids. Tuesday we had a really good breakfast at the hotel and then headed to the mall for about a hour before it was time to head to the airport and head back.

It was a really good trip and I am very glad that I went. The most impressionable thing about the trip is that we were in the U.K. for four days straight without it raining. Anybody that knows anything about the U.K. will understand that this is something that never happens. The trip consisted of traveling by plane, bus, train, walking and even a boat ride. And of course the kids complained about each one of them and also got sick in almost each of them. I am completely exhausted but I went to my classes today and tomorrow I head to Barcelona for four days. Pictures probably wont get posted until sometime next week. adios

 

We bought two goldfish today

Scotland tomorrow!

Today I spent almost a minute listening to almost every student in the class attempt to say "judge." It was really funny and nobody ever said it correctly. A couple of the teachers I work with are married and had twins last monday, April 27th. Here are pics of my Spanish nephews, Angel and Victor.

Valencia was incredible! I could easily live there happily. On Friday once I got there and went and chilled with my two friends from Tech who are studying in Valencia now. We sat around and talked for awhile before heading out to walk around the city. After a couple hours of enjoying the sights of VLC, one of my good friends from Germany called and met up with us with his friend. We all went to dinner then my two friends from Tech went home and I went out with the Germans. Needless to say a lot of people were looking at us because both of my German friends are about 6'7" and I am 5'6". While we were out we met up with another friend from London who was in Valencia with us who just happen to be in the city too. Saturday we spepnt almost the entire day on the beach, which is a million times better than the beach here in Aguilas. Sunday I said good bye to my Tech friends and then went into the city to meet the Germans before I left. We walked around for a little bit and then it was time for me to leave. Another great trip to city that started it all.

Now I get to rest for a couple days and then then off to Scotland and England with my crazy kids.

In honor of the NFL Draft yesterday and a Georgia Boy being picked number 1, I bought a football and will be introducing the Spaniards here to our great sport. I also ate KFC yesterday. There is even popcorn chicken in Spain.

On Thursday, after all of my classes, I went to the gym to watch some of my students play handball. The boys played first, but I only had one student that was playing. They started off playing well but ended up losing. For the girls team, all but two were my students. I got to be an “assistant coach” for them even though I know absolutely nothing about handball. I helped them in their warm ups and sat on the bench too. They lost as well. After the games, I went to dinner with some of my teachers. They got me a basketball and all they teachers I play with are going to sign it. They also got me the jersey of the Spanish National soccer team.

Friday, two of my classes got to spend the day at the beach and I went with them to help with the activities. We went to the beach at 8:30 to set up everything for the day. One of the teachers and myself went and got in the sea at 10 in the morning. The water was freezing and I started losing feeling in my legs before I got out. The first thing we did was take a boat ride out into the sea. The water is super clear and you can see the bottom which is covered in grass. Once we got out there, we then kayaked back to the beach which was cool too but tiring. Next they had a map and had to go around the beach and find cards that we had hidden. After that, we just chilled on the beach until it was time for them to leave. A few of them stayed and brought me an ice cream cake to eat on the beach. My roommates then came too and we chilled at the beach for a couple more hours throwing the frisbee and going into the water once it got too hot. In the end, I was at the beach from about 8:30 or 8 :45 in the morning until 5:45 in the afternoon. My roommates had a tshirt made with our picture on it for me and Laura made a cake too. We then went to this really good Mexican restaurant for dinner.

Needless to say, I had another incredible birthday spent with all my Spaniards. All day long students were telling me happy birthday and attempting to sing the happy birthday song in English. I am truly blessed to be around such great people here and I will thoroughly miss them.

On Thursday, after all of my classes, I went to the gym to watch some of my students play handball. The boys played first, but I only had one student that was playing. They started off playing well but ended up losing. For the girls team, all but two were my students. I got to be an “assistant coach” for them even though I know absolutely nothing about handball. I helped them in their warm ups and sat on the bench too. They lost as well. After the games, I went to dinner with some of my teachers. They got me a basketball and all they teachers I play with are going to sign it. They also got me the jersey of the Spanish National soccer team.

Friday, two of my classes got to spend the day at the beach and I went with them to help with the activities. We went to the beach at 8:30 to set up everything for the day. One of the teachers and myself went and got in the sea at 10 in the morning. The water was freezing and I started losing feeling in my legs before I got out. The first thing we did was take a boat ride out into the sea. The water is super clear and you can see the bottom which is covered in grass. Once we got out there, we then kayaked back to the beach which was cool too but tiring. Next they had a map and had to go around the beach and find cards that we had hidden. After that, we just chilled on the beach until it was time for them to leave. A few of them stayed and brought me an ice cream cake to eat on the beach. My roommates then came too and we chilled at the beach for a couple more hours throwing the frisbee and going into the water once it got too hot. In the end, I was at the beach from about 8:30 or 8 :45 in the morning until 5:45 in the afternoon. My roommates had a tshirt made with our picture on it for me and Laura made a cake too. We then went to this really good Mexican restaurant for dinner.

Needless to say, I had another incredible birthday spent with all my Spaniards. All day long students were telling me happy birthday and attempting to sing the happy birthday song in English. I am truly blessed to be around such great people here and I will thoroughly miss them.

Only in Spain can you see a woman dressed in all pink and heels riding a 4-wheeler on the street.

More grey hairs in my head. I dont like the way this is going.

We just booked our trip to Barcelona! So next weekend is my birthday, weekend after I go to Valencia, next weekend Scotland and the weekend after that is Barcelona. Im going to be busy...and probably broke, but happy.

Oh yeah, we still havent been paid for March. They went on Easter vacation April 3rd and didnt do our payment before they left. They go back to work tomorrow, April 15th, but they have "a lot of work to do" and we arent on the top of the priority list so they might not get to it tomorrow. Life in Spain...

I had one of my students come up and tell me that Miley Cyrus was from my state and asked if I have ever talked to her. I told her that she isnt from Tennessee, I dont know if that is true or not, but that she was in Knoxville. These kids are forever going to know Tennessee and Knoxville after me being here. A lot of the kids are under the impression that I am a regular teacher and will be returning next year but some are asking and figuring out that I wont be here. The student that I have private class with asked me if I was staying and when I told him no he said "You know a lot of people are going to miss you here." Im gonna miss these crazy little Spaniards too.

I realized I never put up pics from Carnaval, so I just did. Go check them out and be amazed

Happy late birthday to my big bro Priest and Imo. My day began at 7:30 yesterday when I got up to catch my 8:30 bus back to Murcia. I slept the entire first 6 hours until we got to the rest stop to eat. I then slept again until we reached Valencia. After seeing my old stomping grounds, I then read the rest of the trip. So after 12 hours of traveling we pulled into the bus station in Murcia and the last bus for Aguilas, that is supposed to leave at 8:30, hadn't left yet so I got to take it back. So I finally got here at 10 and then had to go find 2 of my friends from TN Tech that are Valencia this semester. They are taking a road trip through the south and wanted to spend the night here.

So my trip to the North was overall, spectacular. My friend Katie was an excellent host and we went and saw more places than I thought we would. I enjoyed it a great deal and met some really nice people up there. All the pics are up so go check them out and I also put up pics and videos from the Good Friday Processions that took place today from 8am until noon. have a good day DUECES

 

Today we went back to San Sebastiian to take more pics during the day and go up a mountain. After all that we went to another little city and walked around for awhile. Now I have to get up bright and early and enjoy this 12 hour bus ride again

 

Today was a pretty calm day in comparison to what all we have done the previous days. We went to town that had a really long and difficullt name, which you can see in the pic. Apple Cider is really, really big up here in the north so we went to a Cider Musuem. It turned out to be really cool. We had a really nice lady take us around the property and show us how everything works in the process to get cider, beginning with the apple seeds for the apple trees. We even gathered some apples like how they do it and mashed them up. The tour ended with us tasting a couple types of cider and other apple products. One being the best apple juice I have ever tasted in my life. Mom would be proud since she is always trying to get me to drink apple juice. There wouldnt be any problem if all apple juice tasted like this. After that we headed back to San Sebastian to walk around again. ok im sleepy, hasta mañana.

So today we went to town called Zumaia that is about an hour and a half train ride away. It's a really small, neat town but the main thing there is Flysch Cliffs. These cliffs along with the views along the trail we walked around the city are probably my favorite thing that I have seen in Spain or anywhere else. The cliffs are incredible and were formed by erosion. We then took about a 90 minute walk along the cliffs and the coastline which then went inland. It was pretty crazy to see all the different landforms there. In southern Spain there isn't much, if any, greenery. The amount of green that I have seen here is insane compared to the desert that is the rest of Spain. It went from the cliffs and the coastline to giant rolling greenhills followed by a forest-like area and then back to the hills. pics are up. enjoy and adios

Today was another good day as well. We went to Burger King to eat then took the train to another town in France called Biarritz. The city was really cool. We spent around 3 hours there walking around and seeing everything. Over the past couple of days we have walked around 8 miles. Last night we into San Sebastian, a pretty big city that is about 30 to 45 mins away. We are going to go back maybe tomorrow during the day to see some more stuff. I put pics up on webshots of my first two days here so far. adios and GO HEELS tomorrow in the championship.

So the 12 1/2 hour bus ride really was not that bad at all. I slept for the first half managed to stay awake for the rest. We stopped in Pamplona, where the running of the bulls takes place, and it seemed like a really cool city. The trip from Pamplona to Irun, the city where I am at, was really green and mountainous. It really reminded me of Tennessee and North Carolina. Today we walked around the city for awhile and then we went to France in the evening with a couple friends. It was only about a 20 minute ride and it was really nice. We went to a really nice beach and got to see the Atlantic Ocean from the other side again, like when I was in Portugal. It was really nice and I will put up pics soon. We are going to go back to France tomorrow. adios

I made it to the north just fine. I will write more soon when I have some more time. I think we are going to France this evening.

more pics


old cars

 

So Julien told me all the cars were at the port so I got my camera and went to take pictures. This was my favorite car. I will put up more pics and videos later

About 30 cars from the 30's, 40's and 50's just drove by while I was out on the balcony. I got sa couple pics and took a video. I also saw a Hayabusa yesterday.



oldies

 

i miss my fish

Here's an article dad found about what i'm, and apparently everybody else my age, is doing.
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/03/20/teaching.abroad/index.html

I have a 5 day weekend this week and nothing to do. I was going to go to Valencia for Las Fallas but I had to pay more for my trip to Scotland, so I have to save what little I have left since we still really don't know when we are going to get paid. The beginning of April I am going to the Pais Vasco in the north to visit a friend. We have 10 or 11 days off so I am going to spend a week up there seeing some of northern Spain.

Got another email from my teacher in Cookeville and she said that the student who was in the wreck is now walking without his cane. That was the good news. The bad news was that one of the older students who comes to class with his wife got pulled over for a minor traffic infraction and is now in the process of being deported back to Honduras. He and his wife have been here for over 10 years and have 4 kids. They took up a collection to help her with the bills this month.

I just realized I missed Girl Scout cookies

This past week was the week-long trip to the English camp with my youngest students. We met at 7:30 in the morning to start our 5 hour trip to a small town that is right past Valencia. Once I finally got ready to take a nap on the bus the kids wouldn't let me, or anyone else that wanted to sleep, sleep in peace. So five hours later, without a nap, we arrived to the camp which was out in the middle of nowhere. The counselors took the kids to their rooms and then showed us to our rooms and our job was done for the week. We literally had absolutely nothing to do the entire week. The rest of the day we spent talking with the other teachers, who were just complaining about everything, and playing with the kids during their activity periods.
On Tuesday, Victor (one of the teachers I work with) and I decided to go to Valencia, which was only a 40 minute ride away. Little did we know it was going to be torrential rains and windy all day long. We walked around for about 4 or 5 hours in which we had lunch went to a couple book stores, a museum and saw some of the things that are to see in the old city in Valencia. While waiting in the doorway of the main cathedral for the rain to slack up, I met a couple of girls from Texas that are in Valencia studying. They didn't know my friend that is studying in VLC right now, but they were cool anyway. We eventually had enough of walking around completely soaked and returned to camp where the weather was the exact same.
I don't remember Wednesday. Thursday, Victor and I went into the actual town of where the camp was and it was pretty cool. It had a castle, just like almost every Spanish town. It also had a Roman Theater which we went to. It's pretty cool to see something that is 2,000 years old. Once we came back I played basketball with the kids. The kids kept asking me to dunk and I usually that I can't but these goals were a little lower than 10 feet, so I said that I would try. Turns out I that I could dunk on these goals so I spent the rest of the evening attempting to dunk for all the kids who would hear about and then come and want to see it. Also, my students were the youngest and the smallest but they won the basketball tournament.
Today, Friday, was the last day. They had class and then a graduation ceremony were they received their diplomas and medals for all the contest and tournament winners. After that, 5 hour bus ride back to good ol' Aguilas.
Besides some of the other teachers complaining about everything all week and not having internet for a week it was a good trip. Some of the teachers were really cool and the kids were really good. The first day I met these two girls who had never left their town before and were happy as can be to meet an American. They were so excited and had so many questions about everything. But most importantly, they wanted to talk in English, which never happens. By the end of the week, all the students from the other schools were saying “hi Brandon” when they saw me around, just like at our school when all the kids I don't have class with and don't know come up and start talking to me. It was fun but I'm glad to be back in Aguilas. I'll be back in Valencia in two weeks anyway for Las Fallas.

Yesterday I went on another field trip with some of my students. We went to a city called Cartagena which is about an hour away. It was a cool trip but we left at 8:30 in the morning and didnt get back until 6:30. 10 hours with 40 13-year olds was a little much though. We saw an actual Roman theatre that was left over from the Romans and a couple other things. I´ll put pictures up soon.

So yesterday morning I noticed thhat I have a grey hair in my head and that a box of contacts costs more than twice as much as they do in the States.

Today is the beginning of the fiesta of Carnaval, which is something like mardi gras I think. For the next 10 days there will be all kinds of events taking place and contests for costumes and food.

Last night I went to see the new Friday the 13th. It was decent, even in Spanish. I was however the only person in the theatre and probably the only person in the entire building. This was fine though becuase I was able to yell at the screen and everything and not worry about other people.

 
here is a pic of my computer I bought a couple months ago

We finally got paid for Janauary yesterday! Today, I went recruiting for new students for the upcoming school year with the two of the head guys at my school. I felt pretty good about the fact that they asked me to go along with them. The first elementary school we went to nobody knew me so we actually had a decent presentation and everybody listened to us. At the second school, a couple of the kids knew me and that just made all the other kids want to ask more and more questions about me instead about our school. When the director introduced me, all trhe kids began clapping and cheering. Keep in mind that I actually only knew one out of these forty kids and the other kid knew me because my roomate tutors him. We had to keep getting the kids back on track with their questions but it was an unique experience.

I received an email last week from the teacher I helped in Cookeville and she said that Francisco, the student that was in the wreck, was back in class. He has to use a cane to walk but he is better and in good spirits.

Today during my free period, while I was trying to watch all the commercials from the Superbowl, I helped 3 teachers with their English homework. A lot of the teachers are taking classes to learn other languages and a few approached me today to help them. It was pretty funny to see the teachers thinking hard and trying to figure out how to say things. Apparently the teacher isn´t that nice or helpful so I told them that they could come ask me questions anytime.

Teachers and students who participated in the game

So this past Friday was a day of activities for all the schools and it was a lot of fun. At my school, the day started out for me being a judge for karaoke in English. It was fun and the kids actually did really well. After that, I had a little bit of time before the 3 on 3 basketball began. I played with my 15 year old students that I usually go play with once a week. I played in the first 3 games with them and won them all. I let them play by their selves in the championship against older students and they still won. I had time to eat a half of piece of pizza before it was time for the teachers versus students basketball game in the gym in front of everyone. This game was also a lot of fun and of course we, the Bad Teachers Basketball Team, won by 20. everybody had fun and nobody got hurt so it was quite a success. Some things never change though, I still get yelled at here for not shooting enough.

Saturday we went to a nearby city for a friends birthday and Julien and I wore our suits. Not gonna lie, we were the best dressed people in the city.

This is a map of my trips I took during December and January from the first trip to Valencia until the end of Portugal.

So Julien and I bought suits yesterday. No reason. Well, they were on sale.

this is the link for all my pics

http://community.webshots.com/user/jamal424?vhost=community

or you can look at them here as a slide show



jamal424;jsessionid=abc7Fn7ScHxOD9cWB716r

we still haven´t been paid for December...

So after speending the night in Madrid, it´s almost time to go home. We have a 5 hour bus ride from Madrid to Murcia and then the 90 min bus ride from Murcia to Aguilas. After the 20 minute walk from the bus station to our apartment, we will finally be home to rest after a busy 2 weeks of traveling in December (Valencia and Portugal).

Porto is incredible. First of all, it didn't rain and it's just a great city. I think this would be the place I would live if I had to live in Portugal and I knew how to speak Portuguese correctly. Just like all the other cities, we arrived, found the hostel and went exploring. The hostel here is really cool because all the rooms are themed according to a movie. This city is what I think of when I think about a typical European city. The building are old, not too many people but not too few, it's on a river and there are plenty of places to eat. I really don't have anything else to say about this city except for the fact that I could and would live here. Maybe everyone will be able to get a good feeling of the city from my pics. Tomorrow, we head back to España. We are going to spend the day in Madrid and then back home to Aguilas.

We were greeted with rain upon our arrival in Lisbon. We found our hostel and immediately began exploring. Lisbon began on a sour note with the rain, large number of homeless people and the insane amount of trash in the streets. It did however get better the next day (today) even though it was extremely overcast and still raining. We still covered a lot of area and got some good pics. My roommates boyfriend is half-Brazilian and has a cousin that lives here and met us for a meal. After that, the sun finally came out and we had the opportunity to get in as many pics as we could. Overall, Lisbon ended much better than it began. We head out in the morning to Porto, a city that is in northern Portugal.

On our way to Lisbon, we decided that we had time to stop and make a side trip. We decided to go to this town called Evora. It is a really small town that didn´t take much time for us to explore it all. Before we left, we had lunch at this little restaurant and it was incredible. Without a doubt, this was the best meal that I have had since I´ve been in Europe. It was grilled beef with rice and some potato fries. It was a great way to start off 2009 and I am pretty sure I won´t have a meal that good for awhile. After that, it was back to the road.

So for New Year's Eve we really didn't do anything. We had lunch at this little diner and spoke Portuguese, Spanish and English with our waiter. After that, we just walked around and explored the little town. We went out to look for a place to eat dinner and just about everything was closed or only having a private dinner; even McDonald's was closed. We finally found a restaurant and it turned out to be really good. I had duck with seasoned rice, not a bad way to end 2008. after our last meal of the year, we walked around some more and found a concert that was taking place in a park. Practically the entire town was there waiting for the new year. We stayed for probably a hour before heading back, right before midnight. The next morning we headed out for Lisbon.

feliz ano novo (happy new year in portuguese)a few days later

I´M IN PORTUGAL. I came to Sevilla last night, after 9 hours of riding on the bus, and spent most of today there too. I went to this place called the Alcazar and it was amazing. I took around 100 pictures so they will beup soon. After that, we left and headed Portugal, which was only around an hour and a half away. Right now we are in a town called Faro, which is right on the Atlantic Ocean. Tomorrow we are heading to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. Enjoy the last day of 2008!

The rest of the Valencia trip went smoothly. Sunday, we pretty much walked around a good majority of the city. We went by my old apartment on the way to the beach and even ran into my landlord from almost 3 years ago.We shared a room with an Australian girl and a guy from El Salvador in the hostel. We also befriended a couple Australian guys, that didn't speak Spanish, from the hostel that went out in the city with us. Monday, we rested in the morning and then went to the aquarium in the afternoon and that was a wrap on that day. On Tuesday, we headed back to Murcia. We stayed in Murcia to have Christmas with our few friends that were still here in Spain. That night we went to a light show that took place in the main plaza. It was a show about the birth of Jesus and it was all displayed on the cathedral. Christmas Eve is known as Noche Buena here and is probably more important than Christmas Day. We had our dinner, sang Christmas carols in English and French and then went back to the cathedral at midnight for the service. Of the 6 of us that went, only 1 was Catholic so we really didn't understand what all that was going on. After that hour long service, we went to bed. Christmas morning we had breakfast then exchanged gifts and walked around the city some more. That was my Christmas in Spain.

Feliz Navidad!

So the almost 5 hour trip from Aguilas to Valencia was fine. We got here and were able to find the hostel pretty easily and I still know my way around. I did not bring my passport though because I figured I didnt need it. Wrong. Apparently now you have to have your passport or national identification card to check into a hostel. Not a problem though because I keep a copy of my passport in my backpack. Oh yeah, I took it out. Thats ok though, mom and dad have a copy and they can tell me the info. Oh yeah, they are in Florida. So after a few costly international phone calls and Imo running over to our house to get the copy of my passport, I got the info I needed and now had a place to sleep. After that, we went and ate and walked around a little bit. It feels good being back in the VLC.

So my school had a dinner tonight and I had not planned on going because it was 40 euros, but when I went to tell one of my teachers goodbye and Merry Christmas he relentlessly insisted that I go since I had nothiing else to do so I said that I would go. The food was good and plentiful, but not worth 40 Euros to me. When I went to pay, I was told that my dinner had already been paid for by one of the head guys. I think that I truely work with the best people imaginable. I am always hearing horror stories from other people that I know about the teachers they have to work with and have nothing but compliments about my teachers, All the teachers then began to call me spoiled, like someone else I know, MOM. I really do work with the best people imaginable and I think that they are just as appreciative to have me.

The concert was really good. It was a group a called B-Vocal and they did everything a capella. Their whole show is a comedic version of the history of music from cavemen to present day music. The show was in Spanish but almost all the songs were in English. They actually talked about gospel music and even sang O Happy Day and sounded really good. I wish there was some way I could have recorded it. They also sang Yesterday by the Beatles which was really good. Overall, it was a good show and both the students and teachers enjoyed it. They have been on TV here so I will try to find some clips of them from youtube and put them on here. Valencia tomorrow!

Today is the last day of class before the Christmas break. I dont have class but I am here anyway beacuse we gave gifts to each other in one class and this afternoon I am going to go to a concert with some classes. I received a basketball with all the signatures of the guys in the class who I play with. Yesterday, all the teachers gave gifts and I received a Nike Barcelona bag.

Today Julien is heading back to France for the next 3 weeks. Tomorrow, I am heading to Valencia with Laura, other roommate, and some friends from Murcia. We are going to return to Murcia on the 23rd and stay there until the day after Christmas. Im excited to go back to Valencia and see my old stomping ground and how it has changed over the past 2 1/2 years.

I have more pictures of Aguilas to put up, hopefully soon.

This week has been kinda crazy because the teachers have been handing out the final grades for this session of classes. Grades aren't a private thing here. After each test, the teachers read the grades of each student aloud. Overall, the kids do pretty horrible on the tests. They have a 10 point grading scale here and usually the average of the test scores is maybe a 3.5 out of 10. If a student gets a grade above a 4, they usually scream, shout and get all excited. And if they do really bad, it seems like it doesn't matter to them. I still really don't understand the process of moving up to the next class here. Everything is Pass or Fail so normally the students only need a 4 or 5 to move on to the next class. After receiving the final grades, if they don't have a high enough grade to pass, they get to take the test one more time to see if they can pass. The students are getting their grade back this week and it looks like a lot will be taking the test again. A lot of the kids don't work that hard and treat class as a joke. So when they get their bad grades they like to complain about everything. The majority of my day today was spent listening to the students complain about everything to the teachers. They fail to realize that the minimal effort they put forth isn't even enough to get a 4 out of 10. And in return, they blame it all on the teachers. I noticed all of this from the beginning and was wondering how it was going to play out. Most of the time I side with the students, but on this subject I am with the teachers.

The funeral for Isaias, my student in Cookeville, was on Saturday and all the students went. Francisco, the other student in the wreck, has now left Vanderbilt and is back in Cookeville recovering. His brother owns store and a taco stand that I used to go to and buy tacos and burritos. Speaking of my students in Cookeville, I received a Christmas card from them yesterday. I really look forward to going back to Cookeville to talk with and see how their English has improved throughout the time I have been gone.

So Friday I finally went and got a haircut, my first one ever in Spain. Last time I was here we all avoided the situation by simply not going and letting our hair grow. We had seen the crazy hairstyles that the Spaniards had and along with a few horror stories about trips to the peluquería (hair and barbershop) we decided not to go. This would not work this time since I have a job and feel that an afro wouldn't be appropriate. I probably had to wait about 45 minutes before I got my haircut and it was rough. I was sitting there all nervous, contemplating getting up and leaving. I was even sweating. It turned out to be okay though. Once he started cutting I knew it was no turning back and I just had to wait it out to see the outcome. This was also the first time I had ever had anyone use clippers, a razor and scissors to cut my hair. He did a decent job, it is a little bit shorter than I wanted but its all good. I am going to continue going to him and I think he will get a little better each time.

Here is a pic of the entrance of my school

Julien, Laura and me

I forgot to say that I bought a new laptop on tuesday too. Now we just need to get internet...

I got an email bearing bad news this morning from the teacher I used to help teach the English as a Second Language class back in cookeville. Two of our students, Isiaias and Francisco, had a wreck on I-40 and Isaias was killed and Francisco was severely injured. So say a prayer for their families and friends and one for the health of Francisco. R.I.P. Isaias

Now that you have been updated on the events of the past 2 months, I can talk about the people that I live and work with. My two roommates are Laura and Julien. Laura is from D.C. and Julien is from France. We all get along very well which is good because there is nothing to do here and we spend a lot of time together doing absolutely nothing. There are 3 secondary schools (ages 11-18) here and we all work at different ones. So between, the 3 of us we know the majority of the kids in this town. Aguilas can best be compared to Florida because since there isn’t a university here, there are only young kids, people in there thirties and forties and a lot of senior citizens. My school is a 15 minute walk from our apartment. I enjoyed the walk at first, but now it is cold and windy in the mornings and I am getting tired of it. Spaniards are never on time so I am always the first or second teacher to get to the school in the morning. All the teachers are really nice and the ones that I work with are incredible. I help with English language classes in all 6 levels of the school and also with a math, music, science and computer class in English. I usually play basketball once a week with some other teachers and at least once a week I play basketball and/or soccer with some of my students. Even though they are very energetic and never stop talking, I have a good group of kids. They actually usually listen to me more than the teacher. Well I am tired of typing now and the movie Troy is on so I’m going to watch it. Have a good day.

November was a whole lot better but still filled with plenty of drama. I wasn’t making weekly trips to all these offices so I actually finally got to work and get to know my students and the teachers that I work with. On the other hand, we were supposed to receive our first check on Halloween and we didn’t, go figure. The next week passed and still no money. Every week we were promised to get paid the following week but it never happened. Each week there was a new reason why we weren’t paid and something else that we needed to do so we could get paid. This trend continued until the first week in December when somebody went to the office and see what the deal was. She was told that maybe we would get paid this week and if not, it probably wouldn’t be until the end of December when we got paid. After hearing this, people starting getting together and talking about striking. After many emails between all of us teachers in this region, everything was organized and the strike began on Thursday, December 4th. Needless to say, we got paid on the 5th and the strike was over.

The month of October was rather hectic overall. I spent at least one day a week waking up 6:30 in the morning to catch the 7:00 bus to the Murcia, the capital of the region, to try and get all my papers taken care of so that I could be a legal foreigner in Spain. These trips consisted of an hour and half bus ride and hours of waiting and standing in lines at Foreigners Office. For the first trip we waited in line outside for 2 hours to be told we were in the wrong line event though we asked before we got in line if it was the right one. After 30 minutes of waiting in the other line, we were told that we need to go to the line we were previously in. Once we told the man we had already been in that line and the guy told us to come here, he said that he doesn’t know what to do with us and sent us away to someone else. This lady was nice and gave us a number to wait and talk to someone else. After 2 more hours of waiting, the new guy told us that we needed different papers and that we needed to go to an office in a different city and then come back to this office afterwards. So the following week one of my roommates went to the office in the other city (Lorca) which is a 30 minute bus ride, with one of her teachers who knew someone who worked there and got her paperwork taken care of. I went 2 days later and had to stand outside in line for an hour in constant wind and once I got to go in, the man told me that I couldn’t do anything here and that I needed to go back to the office in Murcia. I then told him that I had been there and they told me to come here and that my roommate came here and got her papers taken care of 2 days ago. To which his reply was that I still had to go to the other office to do anything. The next week I went to Murcia again to go to the office but this time I was going to go with the director of the program for our region. I went to her office and we were going to go, but the person we needed to see wasn’t in so there was no need to go. So I left my papers with her and left again. Sadly, this was the most progress I had made at all with the situation. The following week I went once more and finally got everything taken care of after 2 hours of waiting. It was so much easier last time in Spain when I didn’t do all of this stuff and just lived here illegally for a few months but this time I’m getting paid so I need to be legit.

I would like to give an update on why I have not been adding any posts to my blog. First off, we don’t have internet. Secondly, we had not been paid until this past Friday, which was December 5th and without a paycheck it is kind of difficult to get internet. Thirdly, my computer crashed. After being here a little bit over a month, I had decided one day while I was in the shower that even though we didn’t have internet I was going to start typing posts for my blog on my computer and saving them so I could post them later. I decided to start right away so I wouldn’t forget to do it and once I went to cut on my laptop, I received a message that my computer’s hard drive had crashed. So this was another setback for the blog but now after another month of nothing, I am getting around to doing some work on it.

I got my passport and visa back today, so now it's just waiting until my plane takes off from McGhee Tyson on September 29th.

Well, it's official. I will be returning to Spain 3 months from now to teach English. I will be in Aguilas, which is in the Murcia region. My school is only a 1/3 of a mile from the beach, so I have been blessed to be on the Mediterranean Coast once again.

Well, I have been back in the good ol U.S. of A for a month now and it seems like nothing has really changed. I seem to be accustomed to everything again but every now and then something wil l remind me that it is a whole lot different here than in Spain. I constantly have Spain on my mind because it was an incredible experience but I am glad to be back and anxious to see what is going to happen next. Well, this is the end of Jamal in Spain, for now at least. But one day (soon hopefully) I will be back with Jamal in _______.

Today Vincent, our little Frenchman, left. The flat is down to two, Ward and I, but I will be leaving tomorrow and Ward is going to move out as well but he is staying here for 2 more weeks. We miss our Frenchy already.

Friday was la fiesta de San Juan because it was the first day of summer. People began arriving at the beach during the day to set up camp to spend the night there. There were people and bonfires covering the entire beach along the entire coast. I have never seen so many people in one place at the same time in my life. It was literally atleast half the population of Valencia on the beach. The estimate on how many people that were there is 300,000. Twice as many as the year before. At midnight everybody ran into the sea then came out and dried off by the fires. I can't think of anything else to help describe the event, so check out the pics. Hasta Viernes

Today Travis (Maryland) a.k.a. Trapster left. 2 down, 3 left

well it's official, back to reality June 30th.

This past weekend I went to Madrid with Sara, one of my best friends from high school. We had to take the 6 hour train because all the early trains were already full. This actually worked out because it gave us plenty of time to sleep and we still got there at 2 in the afternoon. Once we finally made it out of the subway and to our hostel, we saw somebody that went to high school with us, but he was in the grade below us. We didn’t stay at that hostel because they overbooked and we made our way to the new hostel they booked us at. Once situated, we explored one-half of Madrid until around 10 pm when we went to a bar and watched the U.S.-Italy soccer game. There were actually Spaniards cheering for the U.S., I though I would never see anything like that. After that, we walked around some more and then went to the hostel to get some rest for Sunday. We hit a couple of the same spots again before heading to the other half of Madrid. In all we visited cathedrals/churches, museums, parks, a lot of Burger Kings, more parks, a huge palace and a few more parks. It was a lot of fun and the pics are up on webshots: http://community.webshots.com/user/jamal424 ¡Hasta Pronto!

Happy Father's Day! sorry for the one day delay, I was in Madrid.

Sam, my Austrailian brother, left today. He is the first to leave from our piso. We will see him again if we can make up to New York when he comes in October.

No more school for me... until August atleast

Happy 21st Nick

Cumpleanos Feliz a mi primo Dre and belated cumpleanos feliz a mi tio Anthony (April 26)

Happy Mama's Day to all the mamas out there!

Cumpleanos Feliz a mi sobrina Cierra. Ella tiene siete anos hoy!

Not too much has been going on here, just taking it easy like I always do. We went to a futbol (soccer) match between Valencia and a team from Madrid. It was pretty cool but the fans were not as crazy as I thought they would be. It was the last match at home for the season and since we had not been to one, we decided that going to it was a must. The stadium was pretty big but it definitiely doesn't have anything on Neyland Stadium. This was pretty much the only pic I got before my batteries in my camera died. ADIOS

FELIZ CUMPLEANOS A MI

Yesterday it rained so we went to the aquarium. Go look at the pics. http://community.webshots.com/user/jamal424

Well tomorrow is Easter and the culmination of Semana Santa (Holy Week) I think, it might actually end on monday. Anywho, Pascua (Easter) is another huge holiday for the Spanish. They spend the whole week parading around neighborhoods in the same attire as the KKK. I believe I read somewhere that the wear that attire so that thier identity is known only to God, or something along those lines. They have been doing this for probably hundreds of years so the KKK had to take it from them. I have been trying all week to get a good picture of them but I was only able to take some at night and they did not come out well. At midnight, this place went crazy. There were two fireworks shows on the main street by our apartment and people were throwing plates onto the sidewalks and into the streets. I don't know the significance of this but I do know that there are going to be a lot of cars tomorrow with flat tires because people just drove through the shattered plates in the street as if they weren't there. It was crazy, Spaniards get wild at every chance they get, even Easter. Adios and Happy Easter... go to church

Feliz Cumpleanos a mi tia Imogene and mi hermano Priest. This pic is from 1990, I was in Kndergarten. Tennessee has made Spanish news twice in the past two weeks for all the tornadoes.

Only in Spain can you go to a party that involves a ranch in the middle of nowhere and have people in a ring with a little bull calves and after hours of that, have a group of Spanish guys start a fight with our people. iQue Loco! Feliz Cumpleanos a mi primo Damon (April 1)

Cumpleanos Feliz a "Gran-Gran" (March 29th) and "Grand Daddy" (March 31st)

My pics: http://community.webshots.com/user/jamal424

Las Fallas ended early monday morning following the crema (burning) of the main falla. The whole Fallas experience was insane. The only thing that I can compare it to would be what I imagine a warzone being like. The whole week all we heard was contniuous firecrackers/fireworks 24/7. And these were in no way small firecrackers. They were definitely extremely loud and occasionally would shake our apartment. People in the States would be amazed to see kids in strollers rolling down the street throwing firecrackers while their parents push them. This is definitley a city full of pyros. March 1st through the 19th there was a huge fireworks show (mainly just loud firecrackers) everyday in the city along with about 5 big ones at night. The last couple of days all neighborhoods seem to have their own mascleta that would be almost as big as the main one in the city. There were plenty of tourist here and the city was packed no matter where you went. On the other hand, Fallas took a 180 degree turn after the crema when a riot started 10 feet away from where we were standing and talking with some people we just met. Some people were acting wild and jumping into a garage door and the police came and one of our flatmates friends who was visiting was pushed into the the group by one of them and was arrested by the police along with only 2 of the maybe 6 or 7 that caused the scene. This is probably the best example of being at the wrong place at the wrong time that I know of. He has spent the past 2 nights in jail and they won't let him go. They are holding him for resisting arrest which is the complete opposite of what happened and he is finally in court right now. FREE BETS!!!

We went to a Corrida de Toros (bullfight) yesterday and it was probably one of the most incredible things I have seen since coming here. It is definitely one of the best ways to experience the Spanish culture. There were three matadors and they each got to kill two bulls. The second matador could not kill his first bull and the Spaniards got mad and the third matador got taken out by his first bull (which I have on video) but he was fine and finished the fight. It was a crazy 2 1/2 hours. -I have the pics on webshots-

I really like this picture for some reason so I put it on here

I just got in from a parade for Las Fallas and a midnight Mascletà. A Mascletà is a fireworks show that is held from March 1st through March 19th everyday at 14:00 and are known for their loudness rather than display. The one I went to didn't start until about 12:45 am and I really liked it since it was the first one i've seen and it was at night (early morning). I'm pretty sure I will finally make it to the Mascletà during the day and I will definitely see the rest of the night Mascletàs. Buenas Noches

This was our first weekend taking a road trip. Our destination was the cities of Toledo and Cuenca which are both further inland in Spain. We got to Toledo Friday night and found a hostal to stay in. On Saturday the weather started out sunny and windy but quickly turned to pouring rain and extremely windy. Before we headed in because of the rain we went to see this huge cathedral that was there. The pic above is the Lord's Supper that was on the outside of it. We walked around some more and were let down when we found out the castle (pictured above) was closed for renovations. Later that day we went around to see some museums and to explore the area outside the castle. On Sunday, we drove around Toledo a little bit more before heading off to Cuenca. To our surprise, it was snowing in Cuenca. It started off as flurries but by the time we had reached the top of the mountain we were in around 8 inches of snow. We made our way back down the mountain and went to this bridge that connected the different sides of the city. In the parking lot we saw a nice Jaguar S-Type so I had to take a pic of it for my moms :) Anyway, the bridge was fairly high and it was really windy, two things that are not that great of a combo. After a several hours of driving, being lost in the cities, many great quotes/memories and a few scratches on the car, we made it back to Valencia and its warm weather. I am mad that it is warmer in Knoxville than it is here but I AM practically living on the beach so no complaints here. Feliz Cumpleanos to my Aunt Sherry (March 4th) and Uncle Wayne (March 7th). Hit up http://community.webshots.com/user/jamal424 to see all my pics from the weekend. PEACE