A different type of week...

This week was a strange one. It began with a commute day after day in a torrential downpour. There were changes in my work schedule as the PE teacher at school showed up with a neck brace and is now out for 10 days, then I learned the music teacher is pregnant and hasn't been coming into school due to illness. So now I go to school and have to look busy during the hours when I would normally teach those classes. Election Day came and I swear if I had a penny (or perhaps a Euro) for every time someone said Obama with a big smile on their face, I would be "vacationing" in Greece right now. On Election Day, I had my social studies class in which the teacher, Marcos, displayed an impressive amount of knowledge (and I think more knowledge than some Americans) about our voting system and government. He had certainly captured my attention as I felt like I was getting a review on the nitty gritty details of how everything works but I couldn't quite tell if the 13 year olds were really understanding a word he said. I did learn one thing though, they somehow were all pro-Obama and when I told them I wasn't I was shocked by a response of "boo's". I was offended because I knew their opinions came from the portrayal of Obama on the news. Throughout the day, I was continuously surprised to overhear Spaniards talking about the election and being happy about the results. And also fun fact, coincidentally, gay marriage was approved in Spain within 24hrs of Election Day. The world is changing, that's all I can say.

In other news, I have gotten one step closer to teaching my 6 year olds the alphabet. Victory!!!! We played Alphabet BINGO on Wednesday for almost an hour. If only they could remember "J" from "G" and "B" from "V". We shall see come next time, if they remember what "alphabet" even means.

As for the weekend, well, I went to Badajoz to visit my friend Daron for her birthday. Daron graduated from UPS with me and studied abroad with me and she is teaching (like me) but in a different province of Spain. Badajoz is about 3 hours Northwest from Sevilla and on the border of Portugal in the province of Extremadura. The town is quite small, but is an authentic Spanish town with real tapas, no tourists and beautiful viewpoints. We had walked around the city, ate some tapas and shortly thereafter I found myself with a VERY upset stomach. I believe it was food poisoning and hoping not the stomach flu. I had the chills, couldn't keep anything in my system and slept like a baby. I was so bummed I had missed the rock concert and celebrating Daron's birthday, but at the same time I was grateful to have gotten rather ill where I was in good company. All I had wanted was to be able to call my mom, be in a familiar place and even just go to Walgreens. Luckily the next morning, after successfully eating a piece of toast (ya TOAST!!!!), I decided I would attempt to endure the 3 hr bus ride home. I survived, that's all we need to say about that.

Now, 2.5 days later, I am still recovering. As if this weekend couldn't have been a better weekend to get sick, today also happened to be a big rowing regatta on the river versus two Sevilla teams. I think my love for rowing miraculously got me out of the house and I don't know what else would have. I was really excited to watch the race and to meet some new Spaniards as my rowing club was hosting a party to watch it and mingle. I made it for a few minutes but was not feeling up to socializing. Not to mention I had forgotten that Spaniards dress to impress always no matter what the occasion or day and I, in my "I barely made it out of the house" clothes was feeling a little embarrassed to be seen. I tried to stick around as I was supposed to meet a woman who trains with a triathlon club but I just couldn't do it.  I did manage to see the race go by (all 5 seconds) and it was quite an unexpected sight. There were only 2 teams racing, but between the boats there was about 7 launches (boats with coaches and whoever else) driving between them, creating a chaotic scene in the seemingly narrow river. Then along the bike path there was a crowd of bikers following the race, it was overwhelming and took away from the race so I'm not really sure what was actually happening in terms of the results. Anyway, it was fun to see a an international regatta. After my hour of fun for the day, I slowly meandered back home and figured I could at least blog about this.

 Daron and I in Badajoz!

View of the old Plaza de Toros (bull fighting ring)

 

 The tapas that may have resulted in my food poisoning! But it's just goat cheese and bread!

Daron excited about the concert!

 

If you can see it, the sign reads "Regata, Sevilla-Betis"

Here they come! Note the crowd on the path and on the river!

You can't even see the boats racing! I felt like I was watching some James Bond movie with a high speed chase. And this guy on his Moto clearly thought he could beat them all!

 

 

The flyer for the Regata.