A Very Touching Afternoon
9th graders
Today a group of my Tercero de la ESO or 9th graders threw a Fiesta de Amy!! After school was over they ran to their room and set up for at least 15 minutes, until finally Montse, their English teacher said ‘venga, venga chicos!” I then walked into a balloon and food filled room with a line of beautiful smiling faces clapping and cheering 
Definitely putting the poster up in my room this summer!
Then each of them said something they will remember of us from the year. Even the students that barely talk said something, reminding me that you never know who you’re going to impact, so treat everyone with kindness.
We finished the hour out with traditional Spanish foods, English music, and popping balloons. I feel so very special! I guess this cancels out all the times they annoyed me with their ridiculous noise when I was trying to give class. Looking forward to another year with them!
La Ascension
This past weekend was my last here in Oviedo for a while and I was incredibly lucky with gorgeous weather, the festival “La Ascension” and some quality time with great friends La Ascension is an annual festival to showcase all the traditions of Asturias. There were tents covering La Losa, a raised, fountain filled, pedestrian walkway and a medieval market right in front of the cathedral. I visited the festival both Saturday and Sunday to sample lots of different cheeses, hams, and honeys, check out all the cute farm animals, shop through traditional markets, listen to bag pipping, watch traditional Asturian dancing and take in the sunny 85 degree weather. Below are some pictures of my favorite moments from the weekend. Enjoy!
The girls and I finally able to pull out the sundresses
Cheese everywhere!!!!
A stop in the animal tents brought us closer to Emus, a kangaroo, birds, kittens, chickens, baby goats, baby raccoons, baby ducks… baby everything!
Only 15 Euros! It took every ounce of will power not to buy one
Traditional Asturian dancing
Heading to the Cathedral part of the festival we found the medieval market…
Look at that cloudless sky!
And after spending money on unnecessary medieval trinkets, we made a lazy stop in beautiful Parque San Francisco
Everyone had a great bittersweet weekend!
Homemade Sushi :)
Posing as Japanese would
This past weekend, I made my first attempt at sushi…and surprisingly it didn’t turn out that bad!! One day I was walking through Hipercore (the biggest supermarket in the city) and I noticed a fabulous international aisle. And in this isle was an 8 Euro ‘sushi making kit’ which included everything except for the filling. I thought to myself…”who can I convince to make sushi with me???…IGOR!” (He is equally obsessed with fabulous food). So, we finally found some time this weekend to partake in this adventure.
We decided on salmon, carrots, and avocado. Probably would have been better with cucumber, but I can try that next time. It was quite interesting (for me) getting the fish because the butcher just grabbed a full salmon from the ice and chopped off a portion, right in front of me. I’m sure this is quite normal for a lot of people, but I prefer not to look at what I’m about to eat in its original form. Nevertheless, it was fresh and delicious. All in all it took about an hour to make…and only about 5 minutes to devour
Robot Project
Recently at my school the technology and art teachers teamed up and designed a really cool project for the kids. They instructed the students to make a robot out of recycled materials! The kids got really creative and had lots of fun with this. The student who made the one above (with the Cola Cao box) said he wanted it to look like Jason Mraz. Do you see the resemblance?
Here’s a few more examples. We even got a girl robot in there! They turned out great! Way to go guys
Natalia’s Flamenco Skirt
Beautiful!
On Tuesday evenings I tutor a lovely Spanish girl named Natalia. Her English is great, so we just get to have fun and talk about life. Ever since I met her, she has been talking about her dance classes and performances. She is a ballerina and a Flamenco dancer! A couple months ago we had a conversation about Flamenco dancing and how elaborate and important the skirt is. Look at how long the train is! Can you imagine dancing in that? Well, last week she finally received her custom made Flamenco skirt! She was so excited that the second I walked in to start the class, she ran to her room and pulled it out for me. It was beautiful! I can’t wait to see her perform in this next year. Good luck practicing Natalia!
Sidra Festival!
Notice the umbrellas...it's always raining here in Asturias
This past weekend, after arriving back to Oviedo from Arenas, I partook in the city’s annual sidra festival! It took place on Gascona Street, aka ‘El Bulevar de la Sidra” (Boulevard of Sidra) because the street is lined with Sidrerias (restaurants that feature cider). I was surprised to hear that it was only happening from 12:00 – 2:30pm, but when I arrived and realized how much free sidra we were about to receive, I decided it was probably a good idea 
By paying 3 Euros you got a fantastic sidra glass, a cool bandanna, a sticker, and a bollo preñado (which is so delicious it has it’s own blog post from earlier this year).
I ran into some friends, enjoyed some delicious sidra, and then ended the day feeding some adorable stray kitties.
soooooo cute
I wish all Sundays could be like this!
One Month to go…
I remember posting my thoughts of how things were going over here a month after arriving. It is now a month until I leave and I find my mind consumed with memories from the year and thoughts of going home. I woke up this morning realizing it was May 12th, only one month until I hop on a plane and head back home and couldn´t help but get excited. And when I walked outside in my rain boots, rain coat and popped open my umbrella to avoid the downpour on my walk to the bus stop, I got even more excited. This school year has been a whirlwind of emotions; from moments of pure bliss (like being on top of a mountain last weekend) to moments like yesterday, where I worry I will never get to do exactly what I want due to my own setbacks and other outside forces. One thing I have learned (beside the fact that Spanish does not come easy to me) is that no matter where I go or what I do, I find myself questioning why I’m doing what I’m doing. I thought this past summer, when I was living at home unemployed, that if I could only get to Europe, I would be satisfied. Well…8 months of living in Europe have almost come and gone and yet again, I find myself unsatisfied with my situation. I’m learning how to cope with this wonderful, yet torturous personality trait by making short term goals for myself (that will inevitably help with my future goals…hopefully). For example, some goals I have come up with are:
1. Rock the GRE (so I can get into a rockin’ grad school)
2. Volunteer with one or two organizations this summer (This is a self-explanatory win-win situation)
etc. etc. etc.
All in all, this year has been incredible. Moving to another country always helps a person learn so much about themselves, and I’m sure next year will help me even more. I truly live a blessed life and have the Lord and all those around me to thank for this. So in closing, I must thank all of you that have made this year a memorable one. Thanks to the tiny, one Euro cafe con leche’s I have grown closer with friends here in Spain, and thanks to Skype, Facebook, e-mail, and the occasional greeting card I have remained close with my friends and family over the ocean. One more month of classes, speaking Spanish, and a little trip to Greece and I’ll be back home; where I can get back to calling you all on a cell phone! Let the countdown begin!
Arenas de Cabrales (take 2!)
Kind of looks like the walking trees/brooms from Fantasia, doesn't it!?
This past weekend John, Beth, Lindsay and I ventured to Arenas de Cabrales to see my fellow Wisconsinite in Spain, Kelly Ackmann. I went with some other friends to visit her in the fall, but I just had to get in one more visit before the year was over. We were lucky to have some beautiful hiking weather (it only sprinkled for an hour or so) so we took advantage and did a couple trails. The first was on Friday and was only 2 hours. It was only supposed to be an hour, but we got pretty distracted by all the adorable animals we kept running into. We saw a baby cow with its mom:
Then we saw a baby horse with its mom:
A few sheep…
Tonz of slugs:
And finally a happy puppy!
Later that night we went out for some good-times in the little pueblo pubs and I ended up salsa dancing with the karaoke-singing bartender! What a night
The next day we tackled a much bigger, longer, and certainly more difficult hike. It took us a little longer than 4 hours and my body is still a bit sore today, but it was worth it! Here are some pictures from the hike. Enjoy!
We took a little break to drink some fresh spring water from a little waterfall and saw some of the little houses/cabins where farmers keep their hay and supplies for their cows, goats and sheep. They’re a bit hard to see in this picture, but if you click on it to make it larger, look for the orange spots and you’ll see them.
And then after huffing and puffing and wondering ‘why are we doing this to ourselves’ we discovered the top of the mountain…
Breathtaking!
And after eating our delicious homemade tortilla lunch, we headed back down for a hilarious yet terrifying descent. Everyone of us fell on our behinds at least once, and Beth unfortunately took a real fall leaving her a bit bruised and puffy. Luckily she’s doing better now!
We then spent the night watching movies and passing out from an exhausting day. Leaving the next morning for Oviedo came much too early. I wish I could have stayed longer! I’m definitely looking forward to getting there again next year, unfortunately it won’t be the same without Kelly.
Ribadesella and Rodiles
This past Sunday morning one of John’s awesome buddies, Matt had to return to his humble abode, but the other, Abe was sticking around for another 48 hours, so Igor decided it would be fun to take the three of us on a little pueblo excursion. This time we went to two great places: Ribadesella and the beach of Rodiles. Both were located on the Northeastern coast of Asturias and both were beautiful! We started with a delicious menu del dia in Ribadesella. I enjoyed Pote Asturiano (soup with Swiss chard, meat and beans), calamares en su tinta (squid in its ink), and arroz con leche (rice pudding). Three of my favorite foods here in Asturias, how perfect. I was not the only one who had a perfect lunch, however. As we were finishing up our meal a man stopped by our table and said to Igor, “Sorry to interrupt, but are you British?” I think Igor was so excited he was going to pee his pants; and the rest of us were laughing so hard at Igor’s excitement that we almost peed our pants. You see, Igor’s enthusiasm for the English language and the cultures of English speaking countries is so intense that it was a dream come true to be mistaken for a native English speaker.
After lunch we decided to walk off some of our energy (and food) and took a stroll up and down the hills of Ribadesella. As we were approaching the uphill part, it started to rain, rain, rain, in true Asturian fashion. I of course will never learn to always have an umbrella with me, so I had to tie my scarf around my head like a little old lady. (You can kind of see this in the first picture). No matter the weather it was a beautiful walk.
We finished up our visit with a ‘rock skipping’ session on the beach, where John accidentally got soaked by walking too close to the water…
We then took a sleepy car ride to Rodiles to chill on the beach. The weather cleared up for us so we could enjoy a very relaxing end to the day. Thanks a bunch Igor!
Fabada…yummm
This past weekend John had a couple visitors from two other parts of Spain, Abe from Malloraca and Matt from Extremadura. (Of course they’re actually American, but they’re living in Spain at the moment). Since they had not experienced the lovely farm-influenced cuisine of Asturias, John decided he would give them the most popular treat here in the north, Fabada. I was excited because I could finally use the recipe I received from a teacher at Christmas. It was a traditional recipe from her mother, so the boys and I knew it would be delicious! We did a bit of translating and Abe took charge of the cooking. It took a little more than 2 hours to make, in which time we all hovered in the kitchen drooling over the smell, and in the end was a complete success! Of course we complimented it as traditional Asturians would, drinking sidra and adding more calories by eating a bite of bread between spoonfuls. I have to say it was the best fabada I’ve tasted here in Spain. Good work guys!
