observations

1. People in America like to dress like people in Europe to be a little bit different and more trendy. The thing is, when you live in Europe and you wind up looking like everyone here and not looking different and trendy. Now, what is trendy is to where clothes from the United States.

2. Spanish people use white out all the time. The kids even have little bottles of white out in their pencil cases for when they make mistakes.

3. This is probably because they teach the children to write in cursive from the time they first learn to write. Even a little 5 year old, who I tutor, writes in cursive and never in print. Also, the cursive they use is different. They keep some letters in print like the capital "G" or the "k" and then continue on with the rest of the word in cursive.

4. The students have pencils and erasers. This sounds like the American students except for the fact that NONE of the pencils that they use have erasers. Did the concept of putting them together not reach Spain yet...? :)

taking Spain for granted

After biking through the city of Munich, climbing the Alps in Salzburg, and riding pedal boats up and down the Vltava river that runs through Prague, there is still something sweet and serene about running through the rolling hills of Spain, surrounded by millions of olive trees. With only a little more than a month left, it's easy to begin to realize how much has been taken for granted. I remember when I first got to Spain, everything was foreign and exciting and different. I used to go for walks or runs on this path that sits above my little town, just to be in the mountains, to breathe in the fresh country air and see the sun set over the sea of olive trees. Of course, with the colder weather, came fewer and fewer walks but also less appreciation for everything. The characters in my story slowly became real people with real families and jobs and problems and dreams.
About a month ago, groups of people from France, England and Germany came to Spain to work with the teachers in my school on a project that links the 4 elementary schools, internationally. They come up with ways the children can learn about each of the different cultures by sending each other things and doing the same activities despite the difference in languages. In order for everyone to communicate, English was the languaged used, which meant that Michelle and I had to translate everything for these few days. Taking the people on tours of our little town of Cabra and then to Granada to tour the famous Alhambra, made me realize how much I have gotten used to seeing things here and how much I have taken for granted. Watching their faces change with appreciation for the architecture and the cultural traditions that are so different from their own, made me realize that I am lucky to still have more than a month left in Spain. So often have we (the American girls here in Cabra) complained about so many luxuries that we miss about the United States that, in turn, we forget that there are things we will never find in the States except maybe in Epcot, Disney World or a restaurant imitating this foreign culture. When we were driving back from the airport after our wonderful trip to Munich, Salzburg, Vienna and Prague, I was overwhelmed with the landscape we were driving through from Malaga to Cabra. I felt as if I had just arrived for the first time all over again. Everything was so green and the mountains were glistening orange as the setting sun spewed its purples and blues and pinks all around us through the clouds.
I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to live here and experience the people, the typical food, the architecture, the traditions and the amazing landscape. I look forward to embracing this next month and a half ahead of me and appreciating the moments I have left. :)