Some more pictures

(above) Typical Arabic doorway
(below) Arabic palace and gardens

(below) Myself and Diana, my american co-worker

(below) Palm trees everywhere!





(above/below) me and Marion, my French partner in crime



(below) i got my hair cut!



(below) a church in the Alameda at night

Some pictures

(above) Berta, the girl I babysit
(below) Berta with Sarah Smith, a fellow Iowan

(below) a view outside of my apartment building

Entrance to the bullring in Seville






(above)Me
(below) my roommate, Kaya







(below) my roommate Fanny




(below) my roommate Marco

Seville in November

Well, it is officially autumn here in southern Spain, though you wouldn't know it just by going outside. Seville is experiencing an extremely warm autumn, which is quite unusual (the locals tell me this everyday). The weather has been very sunny and warm, which average daytime temperatures in the mid-80s. Although the weather is quite favorable during the day, it is very chilly in the early morning (when i walk to the train station) or after the sun goes down. And because Andalucian houses were built to provide relief from the unbearable summer sun, they definetely do not do a good job of keeping one warm at night. Marble floors, high ceilings- it all makes it quite cool in the house. It is always colder inside the house than it is outside.
Anyway the weather reports indicate that we should be having this weather for another 2 weeks....at least. Hey, im not complaining. Ive heard that its getting quite chilly in Iowa now.....too bad for you guys!!!!! But Spain doesnt have a definitive autumn like the midwest does, with the leaves changing colors and falling off the trees, etc. Here most of the trees are orange trees, which maintain their green color year-round and never fall off. And walking around the city, you will definetely see an array of different colored flowers. You can smell freesia a lot as you are walking through the city. I cannot wait to see Seville in spring, when all the flowers are blooming and the entire city smells of orange blossoms!!

I went to Cadiz this past weekend with my friend Marion. Cadiz is a beach city, about 2 hours in train from Seville. We went for a day trip to escape the city for awhile. Wow, what a beautiful city. It has a very exotic feeling to it. The streets are a lot longer than in Seville, and all the houses are painted pastel colors. There is a beautiful cathedral right by the seaside with a gold dome. It reminded of me of Saudi Arabia for some reason. The pastel colored streets reminded me of Havana, Cuba. It was a really great combination.
Marion and I layed on the beach for a few hours. It was a bit windy, but nice nonetheless. I did get in the water a few times, but I admit the water was quite cold. We spent most of our time walking around the city, listening to music on a little boombox and breathing in the salty sea air. It was great!!!

Seville life is going good. I cannot believe that I have only been here for a month and a half or so. I feel quite comfortable here, although lately I have been noticing my Spanish skills going up and down. Some days I feel so confidant with my speaking skills. Other days I feel like I dont understand a word of what people are saying to me. But I recognize it as my mind trying to adjust to a new accent, a new dialect, and a new social context. I try to counteract my confusion by reading the Spanish newspaper everyday, listening to talk radio on my trek to the train station (my cell phone has FM radio), and keeping my dictionary nearby to look up any unfamiliar words. Living here is a daily learning process. Even though I no longer take language classes, I still make an effort to educate myself more in the language everyday. There is always room for improvement!!!

I have my Christmas plans set and ready to go- I will be going to Nijmegen, the Netherlands for Christmas to spend it with my dear Dutch friend Janneke Jegen. She is an awesome girl who i got to know when she studied at Iowa last fall. I will be staying with her and her family for a few weeks. We will explore Nijmegen (the oldest city in the Netherlands), go back to Amsterdam, and word on the street is that we will be going to Berlin, Germany for New Years. Sounds exciting!!. I bought my ticket from Seville to Dusseldorf (a German town that is near the Dutch border) for 10euros. Not bad, huh? But add in the airport tax, baggage tax, and flight insurance (a good idea if you are flying a few days before Christmas) and the price jumps to 32euros. Still, not too bad.

I leave you now with a few pictures of Cadiz for your viewing pleasure.

Un beso,
Aubree

Hola todos!
Sorry it's been awhile since I've written- I'm in the process of getting used to my new schedule. Also, I'm sorry that i cannot share any pictures with you- it seems that part of the attachment to connect my camera with my laptop got bent and doesn't fit in the hole. (sorry dad.) but i plan on going to a computer guy at my school tomorrow to resolve the issue. i promise i will put up pictures as soon as possible, as I have many....

school is going good. i love all of my co-workers- they are all so nice and friendly and know my name (although i don't know all of theirs- there are 82 teachers in the school!) and talk to me about my experiences, etc. i assist in the classes of 5 teachers: Mila (an extremely nice Basque woman), Toni (a really young guy who is super nice), Jorge (the first professor i met, also very young), Lola (a really cool Andalucian lady) and Elena (a Galician lady who i don't know very well yet). The rest of my time is spent working with teachers. They say that I am supposedly supposed to help them work on computer science curriculum, but all i do for that hour is help the teachers with their english.

regarding the students: this is how it works: students are divided up in to sections A-G. A is the smartest group of students, and G is the "worst" group of students. Each section is made up of roughly 25 students, and they take every class together. I have students off all sections, from A-G. It is quite surpising how different each group is. The A and B's are soooooooooo excited to learn english. Last week when they were learning about family members, I brought pictures of my family (only the Miller side, since the Copeland side is a little too complicated for beginning English learners:)) and made a family tree on the board. they were all so fascinated, asking so many questions. the next day in class (when I was not there- i'm only in each class once a week) the students asked if they could make family trees and bring them to class-aka volunteer homework! so they all made them and showed them to me yesterday. it was so precious!

although the G section is just as enthusiastic about having me there, they are much rowdier and have a much harder time remembering anything in english. in this class i have to use a combination of spanish and english in order to connect with them. this group is also more adult- i see 12 year olds with lip piercings, tattoes. the most shocking is when i saw 2 of my 12 year old students smoking a cigarette outside of school. My co-worker, Lola, told me that this group is made up of children who have a bad family life and/or have mental disabilities. I wonder about the social ramifications that this grouping has on the students- students being sectioned off into "good" and "bad" groups. These are just my first reactions, however.....

I have picked up a few side jobs:

- i babysit for a 7 month old girl named Berta. She is soooooo cute and she has really taken a liking to me. Whenever I walk into the room she starts smiling and jumping up and down. I am the first babysitter she has ever had. I take her for 3 hours a day, 3 days a week. Her parents work inside the house, so I basically take her outside and walk her around for 3 hours. great exercise, but i'll tell ya something- Seville is NOT made for strollers. Regardless, I've spent may a-hour discovering new, tiny, winding streets. i think i've found about 20 different ways of getting myself home within the past month!!!!!!!!

-i am a converation parter for a fellow teacher- Rafa. He has really really good english, but he just needs someone to practice conversation. today was his first lesson with me. we talking about what i thought about the war (ha! don't even get me started!) it was fun, and the hour flew by.

-i will be teaching my boss (almudena's) 2 ADORABLE kids english for one hour a week. One of her 10-year old sons (Alvaro) is in my English 1-B class (first year, very good children). He is SOOOOOOO cute and he is so excited to learn! I will be teaching him and his brother (who is one year younger than him) for 1 hour a week, on thursdays. I haven't started yet (Alvaro is sick) but I plan on working to expland their vocabulary more than the average public school student recieves. i plan on first working about animals, since all kids love animals. i think the key to teaching kids is to keep it in their area of interest.
-side note on Almudena: wow, could I have I cooler boss? I think not! She is a beautiful, short Spanish woman who speaks amazing English. She is the nicest person EVER (Maritheresa from CIEE and her are in a tie for nicest person in Seville). I was sick one day, and she called and emailed me because she was worried about me...in fact i've had 3 teachers do that. I LOVE my co-workers! okay, anyway, about almudena: i am so honored that she asked me to privately tutor her kids- she invited me to have lunch in her house when i give lessons every week so that is so cool......

-carmen, who is the daughter of Maritheresa, the director of CIEE Seville (and possibly the coolest woman alive). Maritheresa is american, but her husband is spanish, so they speak english in the house, but of course carmen is absolutely fluent in spanish. Every friday i take her out of her english class (which she is way too advanced for) and teach her myself. So this means that i prepare lessons for her, and assign her homework. pretty cool, huh?

i gotta say, I am really enjoying being a teacher/teaching assistant. i was first told by a teacher to be more or less serious with the students at first, but that's just not me. and i am myself with the kids- and i think they really enjoy it. It makes me feel so great when i walk through the halls and some of my kids gather around me and say "hello obriiiiiiiii!" they really are great kids.

what else?

right now, my IMS companion, Sarah Smith, is visiting. She came on Friday and stayed with me for the weekend, with plans to leave and discover other parts of Spain. But she became so enamored with Seville that she decided to stay here for the next feel weeks. I have had soooooo much fun with her- she is such a nice, sincere, really fun chica. I will be sad when she leaves!

anyway, i'm getting a bit tired- must rest and get ready for tomorrow's classes.

un beso,
aubree

About my job(s)

Hello everyone! Sorry itś been awhile since I have written. And I apologize if some of my accent marks on this entry are incorrect- I am using a Spanish computer and all of the comas and question marks are in different places.

Things have been going really great. I officially started my job yesterday, and I LOVE it! I do not know what I was so scared about- all of the kids are so nice and really excited to have us there. By the way, when I say us, I mean the other Auxiliar de Conversacion. Yes, surprisingly there is another Teaching Assistant in the same school as me, and she is American as well. Her name is Diana Woods, and she is a super sweet girl from Texas. We have become semi-famous in the school since this is the first year that they have foreigners help out with the language program.
Diana and I have different jobs at the academia, however. She works in math classes as well as in regular english classes. I also work with students in the classroom (only for English classes) but I also spend a good amount of time working one-on-one with teachers creating curriculum for Computer Science classes and doing translation work.
I went to the my first classes yesterday and basically the class consisted of the kids asking me questions. It was pretty hilarious, because the questions ranged from -What is your sisterś name? and -Whatś youŕe favorite color? to -Do you have a boyfriend? -Whatś your phone number? One of them even got in front of the classroom and sang a flamenco song for me. It was so great, the whole class started cheering and clapping, it was really cute.
I just got done with a class of much younger students (about 10 years old) and I noticed that they had a lot less embarrassment of making mistakes. We did the same kind of format, where they asked me questions, and all of them were saying -Obri! Pick me! I have another question! After class they all gathered around me and wanted to talk to me and say -hi- to me, etc. It was SOOOOOOOOOO cute! And when I walk through the halls I always here -Hi, Obri!!!!!!!!- It makes me feel quite nice. Although, all niceness and cuteness aside, they are extremely loud and excitable kids, and I am sure that will be difficult to deal with on some days.



I have picked up a few extra side jobs, luckily enough. I am going to be watching after a little 6-month-year old girl named Berta. Her mother is one of the professors that works at CIEE, and I am lucky enough to watch over little Berta 3 times a week, for 3 hours a day. Tonight is my first day working with her, and I am very excited. She is a really cute girl.
My second job is working with Maritheresaś daughter, Carmen, at her school. I will work with her every Friday for an hour and a half. Carmen is bilingual and has special needs because of this, so I look forward to helping her out in her studies.

Anyway, Just wanted to give you all an update on my work life, etc. I will write again soon and post more pics, I promise.

Love,
Aubree

That's soooooo Spanish!

Hola todos!

So I just got back last night from my Teaching Assistant orientation. I took a 20 euro train ride from Seville to Granada, and the train I was on hit and killed a man. So we ended up being stopped in the train for almost 3 hours, without anyone telling us anything. After awhile, though, 3 buses came to take all the passengers to another train station. Only the bus driver had no idea where we were, so at one point we were driving around aimlessly in far out dirt roads. Finally we arrived at the train station, and I later arrived 4 and 1/2 hours later than anticipated. It would have been really easy to be frustrated in that situation, but luckily I saw it for what is was- sooooooo Spanish! The whole man-dying thing was a freak accident, but the delay in the situation was something that happens alot in this country. Spaniards have a more relaxed notion of time, and it's something that I've accepted, strangely enough. All I can do is laugh it off- if not I'm gonna find myself constantly impatient here.

The orientation itself was boring and non-informative. It was all information that I already knew. Perhaps the most important part of the orientation is when teaching assistants from last year talked to us (all 500 of us) about the position. Both guys are in their 3rd year of doing the program, and they basically told us not to be worried and that we will basically have the time of our lives this year. Also, they told us to NEVER speak Spanish to your students in the classroom. That's gonna be tough for me since I'm now used to reverted to Spanish all the time.

The hotel they put is in was AWESOME. It's called Hotel Abades Nevada Palace, and it was really nice- kinda futuristic. I posted a few pics of my room above. Pretty sweet, huh?

The Ministry also provided us with dinner on Monday night and breakfast and lunch the following day. All of the meals were 3-courses, super chic and very good. On Monday night we had an interesting chicken with caramel sauce dish. An English girl I met later told me that it was supposedly pidgeon that we ate. I don't know....i tasted like chicken to me!

I went this morning to my school. My academia is a secondary school of about 1000 students located in a nearby town called Brenes. It's about an 18 minute train ride from Seville, but I decided that on my first day I would go with one of the professors I already knew, Jorge. Jorge is a really young teacher (28 years old) and he is super nice. I went with him in his car this morning 7:30 in the morning. It was still dark when we left Seville- the sun doesn't rise until 8 a.m. here.

We arrived at the school and I promptly met the school coordinator, Almudena. She was sooooo nice to me, but she informed me that since the Ministry hasn't sent my Medical Insurance information yet, I can't actually start work. So I have to wait until it arrives- hopefully it's soon. Once again......that is sooooooo Spanish! They did, however, assure me that I will get paid, even for these days that I don't work. I met the better part of all 84 teachers that work there. Everyone was so happy to have me there- it made me feel so good. It was a very chill, informal environment. Everyone I met kissed me on the cheeks, which is a common everyday social practice but many times but normally it doesn't happen in the work place. They showed me around the school, and man, is it big! There is a hall that is only for teachers, and we have a cafe too! Every morning your can eat a little breakfast there- I had a cafe solo (espresso) and a tostada (a toasted baguette). I met one of the other English professors, who also happens to be quite young like Jorge and I. He was in the middle of a class, and they brought me in and introduced me. Jorge told the kids that I can't understand a little bit Spanish but I can't speak it. They all kept on saying, "well, we're going to teach her Spanish!" They all said "Hello Obri!" in their best accents. They all yelled "goodbye!!!!!!!!!" after me which made me feel like they were excited to have me there! That took a lot of nervousness away from me.

So anyway, I meandered home and here I am! I'm havin such a great time!

Some more observations:

1. Flamenco is really important here. Whenever you go to a coffeeshop for an afternoon cafe or an outdoor bar to drink a copa (cerveza), you can always here someone singing a bar or clapping out a rhythm. Flamenco is so imbedded in society here. It is so passionate- I love it SOOOO much!

2. Comparing people from San Sebastian in the north (where I studied 3 years ago) and here in the south, I would say that the people are more friendly and open here. Start up a conversation and people welcome you with open arms. Many conversations from random people have led to invitations to have a coffee or even offering to take me to whatever destination I need to go. I am more amazed every day at the compassion that has been shown to me. Most people seemed to be impressed by a young american girl who moves across the world without knowing anyone for a long period of time.

3. Carpet is virtually non-existent in Sevillian homes. Because it gets so hot in the summer (120 degrees and up) most floors are marble, so I always have to wear flip flops in the house and sweep my room almost everyday, or else there's a dustmite fiesta.

that last one was pretty random.

anyway some noteworthy new people I've met that I haven't mentioned yet:

1. A french girl named Marion. She may possibly be my closest of friends here. She is an Erasmum student and she's so nice, and she loves to giggle, so you can imagine how we get along well together! :)

2. Yair, a Israeli friend of Kaya's who is staying at our apartment with him for the time being. He's an amazing flamenco guitar player- he came to Seville to take private flamenco guitar lessons (just like Kaya). He's really well-traveled and I really enjoy talking to him about Israel and his opinions of such things. He's a big fan of the U.S. :)

3. Maritheresa, who is the Director of CIEE Seville (a study abroad program that I worked with back at the U of Iowa). She is one of the nicest people I have met here- she has made a point to check up on me and see how I'm doing, if I need anything, etc. I am so thankful to have her help me so much, and the staff that works at the CIEE Study Center have been amazingly welcoming to me.

Anyway that's all for now. I leave you with a few pics of my Hotel room in Granada, some pics of the Andalusian countryside, and a pic of Yair.

Besos!

Sevilla es una maravilla!

Hello everyone!

Well, I've been in Seville for almost a week, and I'm really enjoying myself. I feel like I'm stepping back in time when I walked down the tiny, winding streets, passing the ancient cathedrals and horse and carriages. It truely is a magical place.

As I've been getting to know my surroundings, I have met some really great people along the way. This past week I've met German, Italian, Dutch, Swiss, French, Brazilian, Mexican, Chilean people.......oh, the list goes on and on! Everyone has been so friendly to me, and it makes me feel very at home. I think this is going to be a great year. Actually, I KNOW it will.

One person that I've met that I'm particularly fond of is a Brazilian girl named Ana. Marco, my roommate, suggested that we go shopping together one day since we are both new to the city. I ended up having the time of my life with her- we talked and laughed for hours and since then we've gone out for tapas (little snacks.....more on that tradition later) and gone out to see a flamenco show. i'm sure we will be quite good friends here.

I went to a flamenco bar last night called "La Carboneria" with my roommates and Ana. It is quite a legendary bar here in Seville- every night they have free flamenco shows. Wow, it was amazing. There is so much passion that goes in to the dance, song and guitar playing of the art form of flamenco. It moved me so much, in fact, that I think I might just take some flamenco classes myself!!

My roommate Kaya studies flamenco, so everyday he plays the guitar, and now his friend from Israel is here the also studies flamenco, and they are having a jam session right now as I am writing this. It's pretty sweet- I'm so lucky to be living with such cool, interesting people.

I start my job as a teaching assistant at the high school on Wednesday, and I gotta tell you, I'm quite nervous. I met up with a professor who works at my school, and he basically said that all the kids are cabrones (little brats) and that I can't smile or else they'll eat me alive. Well, anyone who knows me knows that I'm not the most serious of persons, so needless to say he scared me a bit. But we'll see- hopefully it won't be as bad as he made it out to be.

I go to Granada, a beautiful Moorish city, on Monday and Tuesday for orientation. The Spanish Ministry of Education is putting us up in a super nice hotel, so I'm quite excited about that. It will also be nice to meet some people who are in the same boat as me. Well, it's about 3pm, and its time for me to eat lunch. Yes, that's right. In Spain, you eat lunch quite late, at about 2 or 3pm, and dinner? Usually right around 10pm. Yes, it's been an adjustment, but I'm embracing the cultural differences.

I leave you now with a few pictures- some pics that I took of the city yesterday when it was cloudy out, a picture of the flamenco performance last night, a photo of me and my roommate Kaya, and just for fun, a picture of my adorable parents that I took a week ago, just before I hopped on a plane to Spain.

Besos,

Aubree

i'm in sevilla, baby!

what up friends and family!

well, i've finally arrived in seville. i flew into madrid and took the AVE (high-speed train) to seville. It took about 2.5 hours and it was a beautiful ride. the countryside was pure olive groves, as far as the eye could see. and all of the towns were white stucco houses. it was beautiful!

then i took a cab from the train station to the hostel i had reserved for the night. little did i know that i got the most horrible of cab drivers that exist. i gave him the address of the hostel, written down on paper, and he drove around forever claiming that he couldn't find it. he kept on saying to me "don't give me the address of a place that doesn't exist". Needless to say i got very frustrated. Finally he dropped me off in the middle of nowhere and basically said "well, if you don't have a destination, then i'm going to drop you off here [in the middle of nowhere]. Then he had the nerve to charge me 30 euros for a cab fare that i knew cost only 5 euros. when i began to protest, he refused to get my bags out of the truck unless i paid him. so i paid him, as i yelled at him in the street in the most rapid-fire spanish, and he sped away. jerk.

so there i was, in the middle of a town that i don't know, in the middle of the day when everything is closed for siesta, 100+ degrees, and i have 4 bags. well, i kinda freaked out....and decided to go to the nearest hotel i could find, which was out of my price range, but what could i do?????

today, however, has been a much better day. everyone i have encountered has been extremely friendly. everyone from the hotel clerk to an old lady on the street has engaged me in conversation, asking me where i'm from, what i'm doing here, am i going to find a nice sevillian man and stay here forever?, etc.

i moved into my apartment today. wow, it is so kickass. it is in the center of town. i have to go through a patio with lush gardens and a fountain to get to my apartment. we live on the 4th floor of the building, and there is a balcony that overlooks the patio. so gorgeous!

i have 3 roommates- Marco, a really good-looking brazilian dude who is studying law, Kaya, a german lad(also very good looking) who studies flamenco guitar, and Funny (yes, you read right), a French chick who is an Erasmus student. they seem super cool- i'm looking forward to living with them this year.

so first impressions of seville-

1. it is SOOOOOOOOOO hot. i'm not joking. it is seriously almost hard to function. i can't go outside and walk around without being completely covered in sweat. yet i see tons of sevillians out and about with sweaters on!!!!!

2. it is very, very easy to get lost here. the roads are unmarked, narrow and winding. luckily i have no qualms about asking for directions, and a few times people not only told me where to go, they walked with me!

3. the men are very.....vocal. i was sitting at a park bench at 8 a.m. this morning, looking at a map, when a car full of guys actually hung out of their windows to catcall me. 8 a.m.! isn't that a little early for seduction? and from my bedroom window there are a few construction workers who keep on peering across the way into my window to yell at me. it's pretty funny though.

4. everything is so....white. and old. and beautiful. and the palm trees, my god, the palm trees! this ain't iowa, that's for sure!!!

5. i have studied spanish for a long time, and feel quite confident in my speaking skills, but it is very hard for me to understand sevillians. they talk super fast and swallow the ends of their words. it has left me a little confused, but give me 2 weeks and i'll be okay.

6. mullets galore. i saw this 3 years ago when i was in san sebastian, but the trend is still thriving!

anyway, that's it for tonight. i'm gonna go chat with my roommates for awhile. anyway i really miss you all. drop me a note, tell me how you are doing!! and if you have any questions, please let me know, and i will address them next time.

i leave you now with a few pics- the first is my view from the rooftop of my apartment, where i hang my clothes to dry. the second, a picture of my street (sorry it's sideways). the third is my room. the 4th, a view of the patio from my balcony. the fifth, a picture of me staring at that shirtless construction worker out of my window. ha!

love lots,

aubree

I'm going to Spain in 10 days!

Hey everyone!

I'm sure that most of you know by now that I am venturing off to the south of Spain for a year of teaching English. I have been given the opportunity to be a Language and Culture Assistant at a secondary school in Brenes, a town 20 km outside of Seville. But being that there is regular (and fast) train service to Brenes, I will be living in the city of Seville. Hooray!!

Those who know me know that I had the opportunity to study abroad in San Sebastian (a northern beach town in the Basque Country) a few years back. I had the time of my life and have since been very excited about returning, so this is gonna be like Spain "revisited" for me. Although I have never been to the south of Spain, so I'm sure my experience is going to be very different this time around. I kinda feel like I know the city already though, since I advised for Spain at the University of Iowa this past year and a half and talked about Seville a LOT. :)

For those of you who aren't familiar with the city of Seville- it is one of the best-loved cities in all of Spain, and most would say it is the "quintessential" Spanish city. It's known for flamenco, bullfighting, tapas, Moorish architecture, amazing gardens, tangling cobblestone alleyways, a great nightlife and very hot days! I've posted a few pictures of the city so you can get an idea of where I'm going to be calling "home" for the next 9 months. It looks pretty sweet to me!

So yeah, I will be using this blog for the next year as a way to update you all on what is happening in my life in Seville. I also hope that it will be a way for me to give you all some insight on Spanish (and more specifically, Andalucian) culture. Please don't forgot to keep me updated on what you all are doing- I want to stay connected to you all so drop me an email sometime (aubreedenise@gmail.com).