Penguins in a foreign land....

First, a some profound Portuguese graffiti from last week:

Last Wednesday, Michelle arrived from the motherland and found herself amidst in the windy, smoke-filled streets of Santander, which had cooled significantly from the humid climes of the previous week. She explored the town while I worked on Thursday and Friday, and then over the weekend, we did a wee bit of sightseeing.

On Saturday, we headed for the big attraction known as Carrefour, the big supermarket just out of town a tiny bit. It's like a big department store that also sells food. Big-box shop, French style, in Spain. We picked up a few things that I've been meaning to get, and didn't find a few that I was looking for. Things like bigger bags of flour and sugar for baking and bigger boxes of cereal didn't exist there. They were the same size as at the little Carrefour in town. How disappointing. So I will have to stock up on a few when I get into a baking frenzy. 1kg bags are too tiny to last long for cakes and cookie urges!!

Later that day, after the exciting grocery excursion, we rented bikes (borrowed, since they are free courtesy of the local government, olé!) from one of the location points scattered through the city and set off for the Magdalena peninsula. While renting the bike, we met a New Yorker who offered to help us but ended up not knowing what to do and needed our help. =P He was an interesting character, also teaching English here in Santander, but in a public school (pity the poor guy). We rode together for a while and then he headed off to meet a friend further up the beach.

Michelle and I rode into the Magdalena, and found ourselves amongst a queue of cars and swarms of people taking advantage of the sunny day. Though it was very windy and cold, it was stunning nonetheless, with the mountains, sea and trees enclosing us and some adorable little friends.....

What are you staring at?

Is the food coming yet?

Yes that's right, there are penguins in Spain!!! My first time seeing them live and in person, I think. And of all places, in Spain. Yup. On a sunny day, not with negative temperatures, and in a tropical (more or less) country. They were super cute, and we watched them hanging out looking for food, and swimming in circles for a while--they are so clumsy looking but in the water, boy are they speedy!

Speaking of which, we also saw some other clumsy-on-land and speedy-in-water animals:

Imagine fishing out here way out on the north coast of Spain....spectacular views but I couldn't figure out what he was trying to catch, or if he was successful. Went up to the fence to look but couldn't see, and he wasn't looking up so I couldn't ask him....

Here's the two of us posing with some cool ships that were just sitting around...was too lazy to read the plaques of information--there was a lot and we were getting really cold....

The view of the park from tip of the peninsula. There is a palace at the top of the hill but it wasn't anything super fabulous. There was some kind of VW rally up there though, because the parking lot was full of them and nothing else.... Though we couldn't figure out the deal with the crowd around this guy on a megaphone hawking stickers....he kept shouting about stickers....

On the way out, of course we had to stop and say goodbye (more like "See you again for sure you cute little guys!") to the goofy penguins. This one ignored us though, probably because we didn't have any fish to show him....

Saturday night, Michelle and I went out with one of my colleagues, and a student studying Spanish at the school, and hit up a few bars. Unfortunately, that means smelling like smoke all the time, which is unavoidable in this country, sadly. Sigh. We went round and round to about 5 places, had drinks and chatted, and by the time Michelle and I called it a night, it was about 3am. The others kept going for a bit longer....hey, they are learning the Spanish way. ;)

The following day, we slept in really late and ended up making pancakes for breakfast, even though it was just past noon... Look it's a smiley face! (This wasn't actually part of the pancakes, but later that night we made eggs and it turned out cute, so it had to go on the blog, hehe.)

It was a chill day of hanging out, working a bit (prepping class work for me) and then later that night we went for a nice long walk around town. We trekked up to take the lift in town (yes there is a gondola/elevator-type thing in town--shows you how steep it is here!), and then headed towards the university area. Just a mellow stroll around, and when the sun was setting, we caught a glimpse of this stained-glass window all lit up by the sunset. It was nicer looking in person, since you can't tell the sun is setting here.....

Anyhow, that night Ruben came out after a long bike ride with some friends, and we went for some tapas at a place a colleague recommended, which was really nice. It was more like a combo tapas bar--restaurant, since you could order from a menu board as well as pick from the counter, and there were tables to sit down in addition to standing. We did the tapas and drinks standing, but couldn't resist dipping into the dessert selection either. :)

After a few more days of exploring Santander and its surrounding beaches, Michelle has taken off and headed westward bound in Spain. She mentioned heading to Salamanca, which is a good call since it's so pretty and I loved my time there this January! She may end up in Portugal to chase down some sunshine and warmth (it was about 30C last I checked Lisboa!) and do a bit of surfing, so stay tuned for updates! :)

This weekend, a bit of chill time and enjoying some cooking and baking time, yay! No big plans, but happily enough, I had a productive afternoon and finished almost all my class prep for next week--if only every Friday was this productive then my weekends would be always this enjoyable and relaxed!!

Thanksgiving weekend in Portugal

Coasting along in the Cantabrian Bay

One of my classes learning about betting and winning money. :)

Last weekend was a long weekend here too, but not due to the history of Pilgrims arriving to settle in North America, nor did it involve turkey and giving thanks. Nope, it was Spanish National Day, which didn't amount to much celebration in the country except military parades in Madrid and a big do in Zaragoza for their patron saint, Pilar. which is also celebrated Oct 12.

So to give thanks for a much-needed long weekend (which wasn't long enough...), I left the country. :) I set off early Saturday morning on the train and then took another bus to Ruben's town and had lunch with him and his family. Then we set off westward bound and crossed over to Portugal--without any fanfare nor sightings of customs officers begging to see my passport. How strange. There is a border with a control booth, but the ones that I have seen in my two trips into Portugal thus far seem long-abandoned.....

We arrived into Porto on Saturday evening and checked into the HI hostel there, which seemed relatively quiet. Then we headed out into town to explore and see what this coastal town had to offer. Over the two days, I have concluded that Porto is a place of:

beach football games

cycling along the coastal path

fishing (without buckets or anything for the catch)

surfing

bridges (there are 6 in total)

Also, it is a town of dangerous dogs, as we witnessed one chase and maul the other to death in the middle of a square, in amongst the chairs and tables, while various people tried to separate them with metal chairs, throwing water, pulling on its tail.

But nothing. In the end, no one knows or saw what happened to the victim, as the owner pulled the killer off and we saw no remains of any murder.....apparently the owner will get fined for letting this type of dog off-leash and unmuzzled. Yikes.

Beautiful stretch of beaches, with lots of greenspace, palm trees and gorgeous views out into the Atlantic. And oof was it hot! I don't know what the official reading was, but I would estimate that it was high 20s/low 30s--and crazy people were wearing jeans and long-sleeved shirts while I was scorching in my summer wear!!

That day, I had a ride-along pet for a while, as you can see here.....

It decided to hitch a ride and so I put it on my arm for a bit and then it took a liking to keeping an eye (or both eyes??) on the time..

Porto of course is famous for its Port (how creative...) and so we walked across one of the bridges to Gaia, the town across the river, and checked out the various bodegas. They had tours but unfortunately we didn't get to go because of time constraints and limited offerings of tour times. We did enjoy seeing the life out along the water--entertainment and people just chilling out in the sun. And of course we enjoyed yummy seafood meals on the Atlantic coast!

View of Porto from Gaia

Along the water's edge in Gaia, Porto in the background

Sunday night we went back to Benavente and hung out with Ruben's family again, as I had to return back to Santander on Monday in order to get organized for work again on Tuesday. If we had more time, we would've explored further down the coast to Lisbon, but we'll save that for another adventure. :)

This work week was only 3 days but it has felt way longer than that...it has been difficult, doing lots of planning, homework (for our online course to teach young learners) and organizing logistic things like getting textbooks and such. That is still not completed because of some issues with the publisher, and so photocopying pages for all the students is another thing to be dealt with. So we are all very happy to have the weekend before us again!

Michelle arrived on Wednesday night and has been wandering around the city, checking out the beaches and seaside, and exploring different areas while I've been at work. Luckily the weather has been sunny, though chilly due the wind and the lower temperatures (compared to last week) but it has been nice. This weekend we're going to do some sightseeing locally, as I haven't had much chance to do that either!

Survived our first full week of work!

We made it to Friday and are all exhausted, after our first official full week's worth of classes. Each day, we teach starting at 1pm at a local school, and then have a lunch break before starting classes later on at our main school in the afternoon.

My schedule is as follows: 1-2, 5-6, 6-7, 7-8:30. It's the same for Mon/Wed as Tues/Thurs in terms of hours, but each pair of days involves different classes. Fortunately I'm not teaching a full-load like some of the others, who have 4-5 and 8:30-10 (yes that's PM) classes as well. It's not so much a long day (and it is long even though we start late) as the planning that is involved with so many classes. I guess I should be thankful that 4 of my classes are the same level--supposedly. The only thing with that is each class is different and will undoubtedly be at different points once we start on their textbook.

It was a long and trying week because the textbooks haven't arrived, and we had to find materials suitable for levels of students that we are only just getting to know. Of course the indicated level is not quite an accurate description of classroom dynamics, as we are getting familiar with pretty quickly....

I'm teaching a big mix of classes, with one very young and beginner's level class of 6-8 year olds, which is pretty cute and fun so far. There are only 3 of them and the other day we played a game to review (or learn for the first time) body parts. They enjoyed sticking tags all over me to indicate my ears, knees, nose etc. I've got 4 groups of an elementary level group of 10-12 year olds, which seems to be the most challenging level so far. Sometimes they are still but once you get them started, they talk and talk and talk and interrupt and run around, and control is but a faint hope in the distance. Still working on how to deal with more classroom management (rules, discipline, rewards etc) which isn't my forte....being strict isn't really my style but it needs to be done here! I also have one group of teens 12-14 who are at quite a high level and foresee doing the Cambridge First Certificate Exam (FCE) in the future. They are quite the opposite of the 10-12s because they are quite subdued, in their teenager ways. :) They are a good group (only 5) and we have been doing various topics--taught them about gambling the other day! ;D Lastly at the end of the night, I end off nicely with very relaxed adult classes. Both are quite high upper-intermediate/advanced levels, so it's nice to be able to have good conversations and let them practise without having to worry about babysitting issues! With Spanish adults, you don't have to worry so much about them not contributing to the conversation! :D I had more of an issue with shy students not wanting to speak out in Canada, but not here! There are of course some that are more hesitant, but you will undoubtedly find a topic to stir the pot a little. ;)

So it's the long weekend here too, and not because it's Thanksgiving, but because it's the Spanish national day on Monday the 12th. It doesn't seem like a big deal as far as I can tell, but hey, it's a much-needed extra day off. We were all exhausted today and it showed while we were having meetings and doing planning. None of us seemed to have gotten much done after about 6 hours of admin work of the day....

I'm going to head off for a mini-vacation to Portugal for 2 days, just to explore another town and get out of the house for a bit. Even though I have lots to do, I don't want to spend the next few days sitting at home working, or probably more like getting distracted and wandering in circles. =P Instead I'll be meeting up with Ruben again and we're going to be tourists in Porto, one of the major cities in Portugal, the country known for towels, coffee and peanuts (among other things).

The weather is supposed to be great (unusual for this time of year) and staying in the mid to high 20s throughout the following days....the world it is a changing!

The next holiday is the beginning of December...a long, long weekend of 5 days free! Something to think about as we slog through the following tough weeks...

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to folks back home! Eat some turkey and pumpkin pie for me, and be thankful for the autumn beauty that has arrived before you. :)

Trivia--win a prize!

To make things more interesting and interactive (come on, post more comments! :D), I have come up with some questions. Some may be things I am wondering but am too lazy to research, and others are to see if you are paying attention. First three people to EMAIL me an answer (to each one) will get a surprise of some sort in the mail. I don't know what it will be yet, but I promise it will be cool. :) So play now--round one of Noreen's blog-trivia!

1) What is the proper name (in English of course) of bodies of water that are formed when you dam up an area?

2) Look carefully at the photos I have posted to date. There is an animal hidden in one of them. Find it and tell me what it is, and where it is located.

Hint: It is not alive.

3) What happened during the Independence War between the French and the Spanish? (Sum it up in simple and interesting terms for this non-history person)

Okay, ready, go!!! Email away!! :D

Beaches and valleys and caves, oh my!

A few more photos from my first weekend in Santander. You can see the lovely beaches (with a football game going on in the wet sand), the greenery that is around, and the stunning blue-green waters of the coast out to the Bay of Cantabria. Plus the stadium that is shaped like a whale (though it looks to me more like a pear on its side....) with a nice park beside it.

Sunday, Ruben and I had a lazy day and got up late, then walked around Aguilar de Campoo a bit before exploring more of the surrounding area. We first went and saw some of the dams that are plentiful in the nearby region,

and then to another area further away, waaayyy up in the mountains where there was a beautiful viewpoint (mirador de valcabado) on the edge of Castilla y Leon that offers a stunning look over the Cantabrian valley.

Near this lookout point, there was an attraction called Cueva de los Franceses (Cave of the French), so named because it used to be the burial ground of many French soldiers during the War of Independence. Unfortunately there aren't any photos because they weren't permitted, but we got a private tour (only two of us signed up) and the guy gave us lots of info. I don't remember a ton and some of it was technical and beyond my grasp of vocab, but it was interesting nonetheless. Really cool stalactite (on the ceiling, "holding tight") and stalagmite (on the ground, "climbing with all their might") formations, and some joining to form beautiful columns. Of course people have a lot of imagination, so within the cave we saw a joker, a "sculpture" of two people embracing and kissing, a pig and a resemblance of the Virgin Mary. Hey, Spain is a very very Catholic country. :)

Monday morning, Ruben dropped me off in a town called Reinosa where I took the train into Santander. He set off back home to Benavente after a weekend of being my guide and chauffeur. :)

And so I headed to the school and began orientation. That night, I moved into my new place (the old tenant had just moved out so no sofa for me!) and began the official start of my time here in Santander.