Colegio Caja Granada

When you make the decision to study abroad, studying will definitely be just one of the many things you will do during your time. Other activities may include traveling and meeting/becoming friends with the locals. But one of the coolest things you could do while studying abroad is to volunteer in your host city. 

The (amazing, wonderful, incredible, etc.) program that I studied abroad with, Academic Programs International (API), has a relationship established with a local school in Granada, Spain  called Colegio Caja Granada. This is where I decided to do my volunteer work. First, API set up a general meeting for interested students with the director of the school. Afterwards, if we decided we were interested, they assigned us to a classroom of either primary or secondary students. That was when I was placed in a classroom of 27 primary school students, between the ages of 7 and 8. For 6 months, I volunteered around 3-4 hours per week.

Similar to the elementary schools in the States, the kids studied a variety of subjects throughout the day including Math, English, and Religion. I served as a teaching assistant to the main teacher, María Carmen and the other permanent teaching assistant, Mario. I taught Conocimiento del Medio or the Social and Natural Sciences. I taught many different types of things (including things I didn’t even remember or know about in English!). Some of them were:

-        --  The body including the respiratory system, teeth, and the digestive system

-        --  Nature

-        --  Nutrition/how nutrients are absorbed by the body

It was so much fun to teach these kids about these subjects. I put together different activities for each one from channeling my 4^th grade leaf project and bringing in real life leaves to study, to taking an hour to tape string to the end of a straw to teach them about our breathing/respiratory system.

Mi clase!: My class with their teacher, María Carmen

My class and me :)

Throughout the whole school year, the 3 classrooms of primary students worked to prepare a theatre production of the Little Red Riding Hood, entirely in English. It was such a fun way for the kids to learn English. I helped them with the songs and dialogue of the play. There were the main characters while the rest of the kids wore bees, flowers, butterflies, and ladybugs to depict the forest. While the main characters had all the speaking roles, the ‘chorus’ sang songs in between. Let me just tell you, it was the cutest thing ever.

The forest for Little Red Riding Hood

The Lumberjack, Wolf, Little Red Riding Hood, me, the Grandma, and the Narrator

Little Red Riding Hood when she found the Wolf instead of her Grandma

Ta-da! All done their first performance

The day of the production was my last day in Granada so there were already lots of emotions flowing. After seeing my kids up there doing all of Little Red Riding Hood in English, pride was added to that list. It was so great to see all their hard work paying off. It was also very cool to see at my school in Spain because Little Red Riding Hood is such a traditional and common thing to see during the elementary years here in the States. 

So, if you choose to study abroad, don't forget about the great opportunities to volunteer! No matter if you decide to teach or do a different type of volunteering, it'll be a great learning experience and an awesome thing to put on your resumé.

 

Photo diary: Street artists and performers of Granada, Spain

An artist sketching on a piece of paper attached to the side of a building in the Albaicín

A festival/procession in the Albaicín that we discovered was about an amputated finger (that was supposedly in the box in the middle of that hut that they're carrying) that was done every year in October

A dragon controlled by people dressed up for the Medieval Festival next to Rio de Genil in Granada, Spain

A couple dancing Sevillana with two men playing guitar in the background at the Mirador de San Nicolas in Granada, Spain

The same two men playing guitars on a Saturday in January at the Mirador de San Nicolas

One of my favorite artists drawing a Sharpie landscape of Plaza Nueva in January 2012
Here's his blog if you are interested: http://thelostphotographer.blogspot.com

The same man sketching the other side of Plaza Nueva in March; He sketched on the ground of Plaza Nueva almost every Saturday and Sunday

Typical Spanish dishes: Sopa de Picadillo

                When I studied abroad with API, the housing options we had were a home stay, a residencia, a shared apartment, or independent living.  I elected living with a family in a home stay during my first semester abroad. This meant that I would live with a Spanish family and my host mom (or dad) would do my laundry once a week, provide 3 meals a day, and cleaning once a week. One of the best things about this option (besides the great daily Spanish practice with a local) is the food. My host mom, Maria Jose, was a fantastic cook. She believed that a proper meal always consisted of a first plate, a second plate, and bread. While I was living with her, I took to habit to take pictures of almost all of our meals. Here, I will share with you some of the typical Spanish dishes she cooked for me!

                To start things off, one of my favorite dishes:  Sopa de Picadillo

The lunchtime spot: the kitchen table of Maria Jose

                This dish has shredded chicken, small thin noodles, carrots, and cooked egg. Sopa means soup in Spanish and Picadillo means mince, such as minced meat. So Sopa de Picadillo means a soup of minced meat. In this photo, the meat is not so much minced as it is shredded. This soup is delicious during colder weather; it’s a perfect pick-me-up! That day, it was served with a side place of an egg, ham, and green bean omelet as well as bread (what I observed as a huge staple in the Spanish diet) 

Sopa de Picadillo

Stay tuned for more pictures and 

information about typical Spanish dishes!

x

Oh the places you’ll go! : Granada, Spain

                I’ve decided to start a little series of post called Oh the places you’ll go! Throughout this series, each post will be focused on a different city that I’ve been to and recommendations that I have about hostels, food, and places to go. 

                I decided it was only appropriate to start with the city that captured my heart and where I have just called home for a year: Granada, Spain. 

                First off, if you haven’t been to Granada yet, you need to go. This is my favorite city in Spain for numerous reasons that would take a whole different post to list. Instead, here is what I consider some of the best food and drink places in Granada that should be visited if you ever have to good fortune of going. Since I was there for some time, some have two choices because, well, it’s like trying to pick your favorite child—you just shouldn’t do it.

Favorite overall café:

 Mundo Manila (Realejo, near the statue of Isabella and Colon)

-          All their food is delicious (yeah, I actually do mean all), the atmosphere is what I would call ‘global relaxation’, and the staff is super nice

-          Placeta de las Descalzas, 3

18009 Granada, Spain

Favorite breakfast place:

Mundo Manila (Realejo, near the statue of Isabella and Colon)

-          Placeta de las Descalzas, 3

18009 Granada, Spain

Hicuri (Realejo)

-          They have great ‘tostadas’ with scrambled eggs, which is a luxury considering the Spaniards don’t normally eat or offer eggs for breakfast

-          They also offer whole wheat bread for tostadas

-          Awesome artwork/décor inside

-          Calle Santa Escolastica, Esquina Plaza Girones 4,

Granada, Spain

Hicuri Restaurant and Bar

One of the paintings inside of Hicuri
Photo credit: Jiela Peyman

Favorite wine:

                La Ermita (Centre)

-          Their semi-sweet white wine is my favorite but frankly, every wine I had there was good

-          They are also the reason I learned to like olives—they’re the best there!

-          Great gazpacho, nice staff, and prime location right next to the Cathedral of Granada. I could sit in that plaza sipping on wine all day long!

-       Cárcel Baja, 1, 18001, Granada 

The view from the plaza where Ermita is located-- can't get much better!

Favorite tapas:

                Bubión

-          My ABSOLUTE favorite tapas bar, ever ever ever

-          Calle Socrates between Calle Pedro Antonio and Camino de Ronda

-          Their Tinto de Verano (half red wine, half lemon Fanta) here is amazing and their tapas are phenomenal. Plus, you get to choose what you want!

-          Favorites?

o    Pechugas de pollo: The chicken and fries with a garlic-lemon aioli sauce

o    Carne en salsa: The meat in sauce

o    Croquetas : croquettes

o    Paella: this is usually a ‘Tapa del día’ but whenever I’ve had it, it’s delicious. It’s a typical Spanish rice dish

Bubión is on the left

LAX

-          Great eggplant with honey among other things

-          You get to choose your own tapa here and they’re all wonderful so it’s a win-win

-          Follow Calle Puentezuelas until you reach Calle Paz and take a left and go all the way down the street

Chicotá (Centre)

-          Great wine and wonderful tapas

-          You don’t get to choose your own tapas but they’re pretty much all good so it’s a safe bet

-          Calle Navas, about mid way down

Photo credit: Jiela Peyman

Favorite fancy coffee place:

                Il Caffe di Roma (Centre)

-          Their normal coffee is fine too but they have a large selection of ‘fancy coffee’ options too that are delicious

-          Plaza BibRambla

Il Caffe di Roma in Plaza BibRambla

Favorite ‘pan’ place aka bakery:

                Name is unknown but I have supplied a picture and directions

-          Their fresh baked loaves of bread are the best thing since, well, sliced bread. Almost  always warm, fresh out of the oven. A great accompaniment to any meal—and only .65 euro cents!

-          They also have a pastry that is like a log donut, covered in sugar, stuffed with Nutella, and then drizzled with chocolate— .95 euro cents and it’s a wonder how I didn’t get one every day

-          The sign says ‘Pizza al tallo, pizza, croissant’

-          The corner of Calle Pedro Antonio de Alarcón and Calle Emperatriz Eugenia

My favorite bakery

Favorite Gelato:

               Heladería Tiggiani (Centre)
                              -       Great gelato, tons of flavors, big portions, and cheap. How do you say no to that?
                              -       Plaza BibRambla


               Los Italianos (Centre)

-          The most famous gelato place in Granada and for a good reason. Although you get a small amount, it’s expensive, and sometimes you feel like you’re in a crowded bar trying to get a drink, it’s worth it to go

-          Don’t get it in a cone… it’s a rip off, trust me

-          My favorite combo: Chocolate and Hazelnut

Favorite bar:

                Tantra Bar

-          Great atmosphere and place to hang out with friends

-          Wander the streets like Calle Elvira beforehand because many times, they have reps walking around giving out deals on beer that are worth it

-          Feel like dancing after? One of the popular discotechs in Granada is owned by the same person. After you get a drink, go up to the bar and ask the bartender for however many free passes to Granada10 and then go off and dance the night away!

-          Calle Álvaro de Bazán, 9, right off of Gran Via

-          Granada 10 is 2 streets down on Calle de la Cárcel Baja

Great hangout:

                Damasqueros (Realejo)

-          Great atmosphere and close to the Center of Modern Languages

-          There are couches indoors and seating outdoors. Great place to spend an afternoon for a drink

-          Follow Calle Sta Escolástica from the statue of Isabella and Colon down and take a left onto Cuesta del Realejo. It’s across the street from where Cuesta del Realejo and Calle de los Molinos meet

Happy traveling and happy 4th!

x

 

Semana Santa

                About two weeks ago, España had a 10 day break of school to celebrate Semana Santa, known in English as Holy Week. Holy Week here should be on everybody’s bucket list in my opinion. It was nothing like I’d ever seen before. It started Saturday, April 1^st. Holy Week here is filled with processions throughout the city of floats, first with a depiction of Jesus followed by a float of the Virgin Mary. The whole procession has an order that every procession follows. (keep in mind, this is a rough description) It always starts with someone carrying a cross in the front, then a lot of people dressed up in pointy face covers (more about that later) then some depiction of Jesus, then women dressed in black with big black veils on carrying a rosary, and followed by the Virgin Mary.

                For any American, the sight of the uniforms for the persons of these processions is a bit unsettling at first. Why you ask? Well, the sight of these uniforms is linked to a horrible time in our history and quite an awful group, the Ku Klux Klan. The uniforms are a large cloak with one of the pointy head pieces where you can only see the eyes. Each procession has a designated color ranging from blue to deep purple to brown to white (where it really reminds you of the KKK) 

The uniforms from the first procession we saw

The paso of Jesus on a donkey

The women in black veils with a rosary that always precede the Virgin Mary float

The Virgin Mary paso

Each procession also has a name. Some of the ones that I saw included Jesus’ sentencing, the Last Supper, and the Penetencia. The floats or ‘pasos’ are extremely large and very heavy. This gets interesting with the streets of Granada because some of the streets are very narrow. The people who carry the pasos are called ‘costaleros. And yes, you did read that correctly, people carry these giant things. There are, on average, 30-60 costaleros for each paso. Well, logically the question comes up of ‘Why would they have people carry this extremely heavy float when, well, they know the wheel exists’ (Seinfeld reference? I’ll put a little refresher in: I'll tell you what I like about Chinese people. They're hanging in there with the chopsticks,aren't they? You know they've seen the fork. They're staying with the sticks. I don't know how they missed it. Chinese farmer gets up, works in the field with a shovel all day. Shovel. Spoon. Come on. You're not plowing 40 acres with a couple of pool cues!) I was curious about this as well so, while I was learning in my Flamenco class about Semana Santa, I asked this question to my professor. It turns out the people feel extremely honored when they get to carry the paso. The crowd also loves the illusion of movement that happens when people carry it. The costaleros are hidden underneath and the movements from them walking makes the figures of Jesus, Mary, the disciples, etc. look like they’re actually moving too and are real. The crowds go crazy for this life like-ness. 

The feet of the costaleros underneath the paso

More of the outfits from the processions

A paso of Jesus in Plaza Trinidad

This is the outfit that the costaleros wear while underneath the paso

The Virgin Mary squeezing between some of the narrow streets in Plaza Trinidad

Some of the white outfits at night

Yeah, real freaky for anyone who has studied American history

One of the larger Jesus paso's

                I saw a total of 5 processions in the one day I was in Granada for Semana Santa before heading out to Mallorca. One of my friends, Maria Angeles and her sister, Eva, love going around seeing all of them so they took me along with them! It was a lot of fun and nice to have people who were knowledgeable as to where everything was, the names, etc.

                In the middle of Semana Santa, I left a rainy and chilly Granada for the island of Mallorca (which, actually was rainy and chill for the second day we were there but I digress). The rest of the days in Mallorca were sunny, beautiful and a bit windy. The beach and beachy atmosphere of the city were very nice and appropriate for a little beach vacay :)

Beautiful Mallorca

:)

A lovely day at the beach watching all the windsurfers in the background

Our view from coffee at one of Kristen's favorite places

                That sums up my Semana Santa. It was much different than anything I had ever experience in the US. Holy Week is a huge deal here and I wasn’t accustomed to that from the states. It was such a cool sight to see!