Feeeeeeeeeria in Jaen, Spain!

On Saturday night we went to ‘la feria’ in the capital town of our province, Jaen.  Feria is a week-long celebration filled with parades, mobile tents that turn into bars, restaurants and even night clubs.  There is a part of the city that is sectioned off specifically for this week–long party.  Each town in the Andalucía province has their own feria at some point during the spring or summer.  The Jaen feria is special because each year it’s the very last feria celebrated in all of Andalucía, marking the “official end of summer”. 

Feria = Let’s see, think a fair that never closes, and add to that – loud music, and a lot of dancing and alcohol. 

Think flea market booths, however much larger tents.  At feria, there are rows after rows of booths, restaurants and clubs, each one carefully constructed for that single week of use.  For example, certain booths were entire night clubs, filled with laser shows, cages in the middle for dancing (I am not at liberty to discuss who entered these cages), and others were assembled as full sit-down restaurants.  And the streets are full of people; women to little kids are all wear the traditional, very formal “flamenco” dresses.  Nancy especially enjoyed looking at all of the different styles of flamenco dresses, and thought about purchasing one until she realized the cost was around 150 Euro and she might only be lucky enough to wear it a few times in the spring once feria season starts back up.  The dresses were eye-catching to say the least, usually very bright with multiple colors and polka dots were not uncommon.  Basically, having a feria gives each town an excuse to throw a week long party – as if they needed another excuse…

Yes... those are real ponies.

There was only one way to go to feria and that would be to “do it like the Spanish do”.  What does this mean exactly?  Well, let’s just say we would be arriving by bus at 4:30pm and wouldn’t be leaving (or sleeping) until the first bus back to Linares at 10:30am.  We were going to party the night away using the Spanish mantra “vivimos en la calle” (we live in the street) to encourage our group of 7 brave souls.

Each tent had its own group of people that it attracted, its own themes, and its own personality.   One thing that everyone had in common was the idea to “botellon”, which is the rough Spanish equivalent of “tailgating”.  It seems that very few people actually buy drinks inside the establishments, but rather choose to buy their own bottles of liquor, beer, or wine, and they carry it around all night, mixing their cocktails in between tents.  Obviously, this was a genius idea, so of course we followed the Spanish example.

The purchasing of alcohol deserves a quick mention, as it involved finding a non-descript door in the back of small grocery store where we had to knock and ask the attendant to bring us a bottle of alcohol.  They opened to door only enough to hear you and then again to hand you the bottle, all this occurring under the eyes of a vigilant police officer standing about 2 meters away.  Also, you didn’t really get to pick what you want … there was no menu or list to choose from, so when you said “rum” or “vodka”, etc. they brought you a bottle of whatever they wanted to give you … and you take the bottle and say “gracias”.

Now that we had our supplies, we joined the party.  The real party starts at night … It was complete mayhem; the booths were packed with people and it was amazing to see the different age ranges of people that were out all night.

Nancy made sure we experienced the “fair” part of feria by riding multiple rides – which absolutely added to the fun of the night.  I begrudgingly accepted her invitation to go on the over-priced rides, but am pretty sure I was the one asking her to do it again, once the ride was over.  I can admit it.

Our typical strategy was to roll up into a tent and create a circle, where the group would dump all of our backpacks/jackets/etc. since we were carrying a lot of supplies to get us through the night.  We would drop it like it’s hot for a solid hour, before deciding to leave and check out another tent.

I was mostly in charge of getting the group to try all of the different food options.  I loved the smorgasbord of edible treats that existed.  After getting some food, we would head to yet another tent, it was a beautiful cycle.

I think we all were a little worried when we started to get a little tired around 3:30am.  Admittedly, it was a little worrisome to realize how you were tired, but to also know you weren’t (couldn’t) go home for another 7 hours.  What should we do?

Thank you churros con chocolate!  We found a booth that served coffee and churros (deep friend dough, dipped in chocolate).  It was like a Popeye eating his spinach, we were all revitalized and put our ‘dancin’ shoes’ back on.  Catching our second wind, we were rocking the different booths of the feria, until Nancy decided to lead the group to yet another round of feria rides.

 Yes, Nancy, after drinking multiple cocktails, eating churros y chocolate and a patata asada (baked potatoes with tons of toppings) earlier in the night, thought it would be a wonderful idea to sit on a large circle and spin around very fast for about 5 minutes straight.  Needless to say, I didn’t join Nancy and her entourage that decided to ride these crazy rides, mid-feria, at 5:00am!!  However, the pictures were classic and wish I had joined them for pictures, if nothing else.

5:30am – We were heading down the homestretch of our trip and feeling strong.  We decided to get to the train station right when they opened at 7:00am to make sure we would be able to buy tickets for the first bus back to Linares.  This felt like an incredibly long (uphill) march to the bus station, only to realize that we wouldn’t be able to purchase our tickets until the bus arrives at 10:25am.  At this point, we suddenly lost all motivation ‘to keep the party alive’ and all remaining bodies quickly crumbled on the hard metal beaches – however, after a long night on our feet, they were actually quite comfortable.

7:15am – The night three hours could not get here fast enough, this was probably the least enjoyable part of the trip and we definitely looked like a pathetic crew.  Nevertheless, we managed to make it through these last few hours and somehow were coherent enough to get on our bus, only to pass out again on our 1 hour journey home to Linares.

Walking back to our ‘piso’ in broad daylight, we were exhausted, but felt like we definitely left our mark on the feria in Jaen.  Boom goes the dynamite.

Un cumpleanos muy bien

This year, I got to celebrate my birthday in Spain.  I think Nancy had it pretty easy this year, since my birthday was already going to incredible because … I was in Spain – I guess, it would be pretty difficult to top that anyways.

The day was fun, extremely busy and went by very quickly.  The only disappointing part of my birthday was the fact that I wasn’t able to talk to my family.  Because we don’t have the ability to connect to internet in our piso yet, it has been difficult to stay connected with friends and family.  Our only resource has been a short list of inconsistent WiFi connections at two local cafes and a McDonalds… all three of which, we have probably worn out our welcome over the last three weeks.

So that I can bring everyone along on the journey that was my birthday in Spain, I will provide a real-time, play-by-play summary of the events of Tuesday, October 11^th.

8:45am – Nancy’s alarm goes off at a time that I consider to be way too early, especially given the fact that her first class isn’t until 10:50am.  It’s become apparent that my lovely wife and I prefer quite different morning schedules. As Nancy disappears downstairs, I wonder “Why does Nancy always have to set her alarm so early … especially on my birthday.”

9:06am – After showering, Nancy saunters up the stairs with a grin on her face and a cup of cappuccino for me in bed … and what is this other thing?  Oh, just the best new find in Spain – a circle of dough plucked from the heavens and dipped into a sea of chocolate, a special birthday treat.  Sound lame?  You have to try this sweet nectar of the Gods for yourself.  I think, “What a wonderful wife”.

9:36am – I finally stir and stumble out of bed, walk downstairs and prepare my favorite Spanish breakfast, Tortilla Espanola.  And, by prepare, I mean take it out of its packaging.

11:25am – I’m literally running through the crowded sidewalks of Linares, dodging cars and old couples that take up more than their far share of the sidewalk, while holding hands (they’ve perfected the human obstacle course).  I'm late for my 11:30am bus to Bailen to get to school.

11:30am – I arrive at the bus station in the nick of time.  The driver fusses that I need to arrive early next time, I explain that “it’s my birthday”, as if this is logical defense.  He responds, “Una revalacion” as he rolls his eyes (What a revelation).  When I begin to assume Spaniards aren’t big on birthdays, he quickly smiles and tells me “pero, felicidades!” (… but, congratulations!).

11:36am – The bus is playing American music on the way to school.  Listening to a REM song "Shiny, Happy People" over the buses’ speakers – a band that just happens to be from Athens, Georgia.  I know it’s going to be a fun day.

2:42pm – My third and final class of the day, an English class filled with 15 year-olds, sing me “Happy Birthday” in English.  I will make sure they will all receive A’s this year.

3:06pm – I walk into our apartment and Nancy had already prepared our lunch, a tomato and mushroom pesto pasta – wow, I’m thinking about enforcing a ‘birthday week’, not just a day.

3:35pm – Before digging in for seconds, Nancy stops me.  And she returns from the kitchen with my first present – an assortment of three desserts from a local pastry shop.  We are still adjusting to lunch replacing dinner as the main meal here in Spain, but taking full advantage of being able to eat our biggest meal during the afternoon.  I think we made a strong statement on my birthday for our ability to eat a lot at lunch.

3:44pm – I finally get to open the first care-package my parents sent, we were very excited!

3:45pm – I’m still opening the package, at a painfully slow pace, just to drive Nancy crazy.

3:46pm – Cheez—Itz, I love it.

3:47pm – Cheez—Itz, White Cheddar.  What’s better than one box, yes, two boxes.

3:48pm – Sour Patch Kids, I guess Nancy deserves a present, as well.

3:49pm – Loved all the stuff, my parents are the best.

4:15pm – Had to leave for a private tutoring session with a local Pharmacist.

6:06pm – Finished our one and half hour private English lesson, only to receive a call from a local firefighter, requesting private English lessons for his son and daughter.  In Linares, English speakers are treated like local celebrities.

6:21pm – Meet with the firefighter, Juan de Dios (by the way, John of God is kind of an intimidating name) over coffee, to discuss the future English conversation sessions.  Yes, I will let you pay me to speak English.

7:01pm – Finally return home – Nancy and I have planned a little birthday shin-dig at our place for the night, inviting all of our new Linares friends.

7:46pm -- Enjoying an amazing Andalusian sunset with my wife and wine, on my birthday in Southern Spain – life doesn’t suck.

8:36pm – Our friends begin to arrive.  The wine begins to flow.

10:32pm – Amazing fruit cheesecake birthday cake complete with candles!  I’m officially 29.

11:35pm – Group picture before going out – headcount, 14 people, 6 countries.

12:05am – Departure to the streets, thank you Spanish holiday on Wednesday.

12:40pm – New friend Jose Faya and I make quick work of several challengers at the Foosball table, until getting blasted by two locals.  I’m pretty sure they were on Foosball steroids.

3:05am – Home, sweet, home.

Nancy's first day of school...

I survived my first day of teaching English in Spain!!!!!!!!!!!  Just being able to say that makes me realize that I crossed another big milestone in our trip today!  It feels soooo good to have the first day completed.  I still don't know everything by any stretch of the imagination, but I definitely have some questions answered, all of the teachers were very nice, and overall I feel much better about the next 8 months.  Plus, the best part of being an "auxiliar" (language assistant) is that I don’t have any lesson plans to make or papers to take home and grade! 

My day started with the shrill of my alarm waking me up at 7:00.  I turned it off and reset it for 7:15 – there was no way I was going to get up yet, it was still pitch black outside and I hadn't been up before 10:00AM in the last four days...  I don't even know if I fell back asleep but the alarm went back off at 7:15 and I was up – for those of you who have actually witnessed me getting ready, I don't mess around.  I do everything quickly and the same goes for this morning.  So when I was ready 5 minutes from being ready and Todd wasn't even up yet – I had to go wake him up (he claims he set his alarm for 7:30PM instead of AM... but I'm not too sure).  By the time we were both ready, ate breakfast, and were out the door it was about 8:15 and we were off to the bus station.  When we got to the bus station only one window, out of 5 was open.   After talking to the very unfriendly woman behind window #4, we realized she couldn't help us – we needed to talk to someone at window #1... but the curtain was pulled down, no one was there, and she didn't seem to know (or care) when and if someone would be arriving.  So... we went outside to see if we could find someone who was also heading to Bailen so we could ask them what to do.  I haven’t mentioned yet that we didn’t know how to pay OR what times the bus ran from Linares to Bailen, all we knew is that I had been given instructions to arrive sometime between 9:00-9:30.  After talking to a much nicer woman outside who informed us that the bus schedule for the Linares-Bailen route is taped on window #1 - DUH!  And she also informed us that we could pay the fare (1 Euro each way) to the bus driver on the bus if the window was closed.  So, we had a few minutes to wait, and right before our bus arrived I noticed another auxiliar (who I "met" on Facebook) waiting for the same bus to Bailen, so we hopped on the bus and I asked her close to 100 questions during the 15 minute ride to Bailen.  She was very nice and helpful, answering all of my questions; it was nice to have some reassurance the morning of our first day.

When we got off the bus in Bailen I was SO happy she was there with us, because neither Todd nor I had any idea where our schools were.  She pointed Todd in the right direction and actually walked me all the way to the front gate of my school!  I arrived around 9:15, perfectly in-between the guidelines.   I walked in the door and successfully asked for my coordinator in Spanish - a good start to the day!  I was directed into her office, right inside the front door, and she greeted me, introduced me to a few other teachers and she spent a few minutes finishing up whatever she was working on with them.  This means I was standing there feeling stupid, understanding probably 25% of what they were saying to each other for the first 3 minutes... which felt like 15!  Once she finished up with them we got down to business.  There have been auxiliars at my school for the past 8 years, so my coordinator is very organized and seems to have the process down.  We went through my schedule, what my days at school are going to look like, what days I have to work (when I have days my day off – Friday!), and my basic responsibilities. My 12 hour work-week is spread out over 4 days and I have to say, it reminds me a little bit of college.  Monday, Tuesday and Thursday I work from 10:50-2:00 and on Wednesday I work from 9:00-1:00 with an hour break in the middle of the day… I don’t understand how it works, but school is only in session from 9:00-2:00 here, which means kids are only in school 5 hours a day.  In my time at school I will spend each hour I’m there in a different classroom – I was placed in “grades” 1 – 4, I can already tell working with the younger students is going to be a new experience for me.  I also spend my time working with 4 different teachers (not all of the teachers speak English, so the ones that do share grade-levels)… but the funny thing is; of the 4 teachers I’m working with 3 out of the 4 are on temporary leave.  Two just had babies and the other one broke her leg, so that means I’m in the classroom with three different long-term substitutes– it should be interesting.  After explaining my schedule to me, Juana (my coordinator) gave me a tour of the school and introduced me to the teachers I was going to be working with.  Everyone was VERY nice!!!

After my tour, Juana took me back to her office, gave me copies of the materials we’ll be using in class – the immersion classes I’m placed in are Science and Art, so I’ll be helping to teach a Science (and Art) class in English… at this point I had about 30 minutes before I had to be in my first class, and she had some lessons to prepare of her own, so I spent some time looking through the materials she gave me and really just letting the anxiety build.  Everyone was so nice that I had met, but I still didn’t know exactly what it would be like once I stepped foot in the classroom.

The time actually passed quickly and before I knew it, it was time to walk to my first class.  And little did I know what I had coming for the next 3 hours – the first teacher I was with was one of the substitutes and she spoke very little English.  It’s still hard for me to completely understand people in Spanish, and it’s much more difficult when there’s background noise, like loud children in the background, but we made the best of it and I think I did very well and it will be an excuse to help me learn more Spanish even if that’s not exactly my purpose in the classroom.  I won’t go through and describe every class, just a few points that stick out in my mind.  All of the students were completely enamored by me and the fact that I was from the United States, I won’t go as far as saying they were on the best behavior, but they were definitely showing off.  This isn’t completely abnormal, my students at home would have probably acted the same way… for the first 5 minutes maybe, and then the excitement would have worn off.  But the students today were completely out of control.  Okay, maybe not completely, that might be an exaggeration, but there is definitely a lack of discipline in the school.  Throughout the majority of my three classes there was a running dialogue between the students while the teacher was speaking, and the teacher wouldn’t stop and wait for them to be quiet (only if they got too loud), she would just keep on talking over them.  In the case they did get too loud she would take the dry erase marker and pound it against the nearest hard surface until they were quiet.  “Time out” is also a popular punishment for those students who are especially bad – they’re told to stand facing the corner and be quiet.  Only, once they’re in the corner, the teacher ceases to monitor their punishment, so they basically stand there, with their back facing the corner chatting to the person who is closest… and this usually goes on long enough so that they get each other “riled up” and start chasing each other around the back of the room.  All of this while the lesson continues to drone on in the front of the room – thank goodness I’m not the official one in charge, I don’t know how I would handle it!  But I will say it seems that the teachers are relaxed, enjoy their job for the most part and the students are definitely having fun!  

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any crazier, the bell rang for “recreo”.  Like I mentioned earlier, students are in school from 9-2, but they don’t eat lunch at school.  For the most part, they all bring a snack to eat during “recreo” which is from 11:45-12:15.  This is literally recess, with snacks, where all 250 students run around like crazy all at one time.  Not only are they just running around, they have jump ropes going, smacking into other students, boys chasing each other, wrapping each other in head-locks, kicking each other, etc.  I honestly have to find some way to take a video of this madness before I leave so you can actually see what I’m talking about – in America it would be a lawsuit just waiting to happen.  And all of this is going on with the supervision of maybe 6 teachers at a time (they take turns during this time so they can have their break too).  I haven’t mentioned the sound level yet because I don’t even know what to compare it to – I’ll have to think on that one.  Towards the end of “recreo” one little boy came up with a scratch, bleeding down the side of his face from another kid’s nail and the teachers treated it like no big deal, there was no hurry to find out who else was involved, no talk of sending anyone to the principals office, nothing of the sort.  It was unreal!  

It really was a good day, and by the end of it, most of my worries had melted away.  I think it will just take some time to get used to how their classrooms are organized and run – it was a weird feeling today to be back in the classroom, but not to be the one in charge, but I don’t think it will be hard for me to enjoy taking a backseat!  As I walked out of the building at the end of the day, I couldn’t help but notice the mass of parents waiting for their children at the front gates to walk them home, sometimes I just have to stop and take it all in – life can be so different here sometimes, but I love it!  It felt like such an accomplishment to finish my first day, I was completely exhausted, even if it was only 5 hours – but I had students waving goodbye to me and practicing their “bye-bye’s” on my way out… so cute and heartwarming!  It was only a 5 minute walk to the bus station and Todd was waiting on me – boy did we have a lot to catch up on!