Janglin' Souls

Alright, so unfortunately I have to start off this week’s blog with a bit of a finger shake at all of you.  I have to say, I’m slightly (okay, more than slightly) disappointed that nobody responded and commented the last week and a half when I asked about Halloween plans and whatever else is going on back home.  I miss you all like crazy, you don’t even know, and all I really want is to know what’s going on in your lives.  That being said, another week with no contact from home (though I have to exclude my wonderful mother and sister and a few others from this) and there will be no more blogs! :P

Okay, now that I’m done throwing my temper tantrum, it’s blog update time.

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted (yeah, I’ll admit I was on a bit of a hiatus) so I’m going to have to think for a few minutes about what’s all been happening.  Today was the start of my week, as we had Monday off for Festival and I had Tuesday off for other school reasons, so I had a long weekend (no work on Fridays either) and only a two-day week this week.  What a hard life :)

Oh yeah!  Sort of big news, at least for those who don’t have Facebook – I booked a flight to Paris!  I’ll be there December 2-5, and I’m suuuuper excited (well, duh).  Our French friend, Mathieu, told us that Paris is unbelievably beautiful during Christmastime because the entire city is lit up with Christmas lights, which works out perfectly because we have a really long break in early December and I didn’t know what to do with it!

Sooooo….. Speaking of Christmas.  I hate to be the one to break the news (but right, who else is going to do it) but it looks like I won’t be coming home for Christmas… plane tickets are so expensive, and the stress of flying and having jet-lag is just not worth being home for only two weeks and then having to say goodbye to you all again.  Solution? Everybody come see me in Spain instead! :)

Well, since I don’t get to come back home over Christmas, any ideas for what I should do???  I’m considering spending it on a beach in Majorca, but in reality I realize that that would probably be way too lonely and pathetic, so I’m up for suggestions!  A friend here is going up to Scotland for New Years for a huge festival there, and I’m considering joining her, but other than that I have no ideas!  So if you guys know of any places that are supposed to be really good that time of year, let me know!  

Let’s see… what else has been going on?  Last weekend two of Katharina’s German friends stayed with us and we all went to this little village called Cedeira where we first went to this church called San Andres, where it is rumored that his finger was buried or something, so people go there offering various body parts and ask for him to help heal them.  Weird place.  Also there was some saying about how if you go there once while you’re alive you don’t have to return when you’re dead, whatever that means.  We also saw a little bit of the highest cliffs in either Galicia or Spain (I can’t remember everything) but it was really foggy and rainy so we didn’t get so see much.  A horse just about bit off my hand thinking it was food and then later on there were two wild horses (which are everywhere) that blocked one of our cars for a little bit.  After that we headed into town for the Samhain festival (sort of similar to Halloween), where the whole town groups together at around 9 or so and then walks through the streets in the pitch black.  Sort of hard to explain, and honestly I never really got what the point was, but it was fun and I’ll post some pictures soon. (PS, there’s a link up at the right for a few new photos I took around Ferrol the past week.)

The fountain where all the girls go to splash water of their faces -- it's supposed to make you more beautiful

Pumpkin carving contest at the Samhain festival

The leaders of the Samhain "parade" through the town

(remember to look out for the rest of the pics in a day or two, I'll post a link when I get the chance, but I can't do it right now while I'm at my school)

Other than that it was a pretty calm weekend.  Nobody wanted to dress up with me, so unfortunately I just went as Jessica the American, though I did go all out and wore some of Leslie’s red lipstick, something I haven’t worn since… well, ever.  Monday we had a little potluck dinner thing with all the people in our program who are living in Ferrol, plus a Scottish dude who had been here working in the shipyard the past month.  There are only about 10 of us in Ferrol, but it was definitely nice to get together with everybody over good food, wine, and gin and tonics.

Classes have been good.  Last week I mostly talked about Halloween and showed them pictures of trick or treaters, haunted houses, and zombie walks.  This week I only have 4 classes (as opposed to my usual 12) so there shouldn’t be too much excitement.  In my only class so far this week we just did a classroom activity where I read about after-school jobs for teenagers in the US, and I realized that that doesn’t exist here.  People here don’t get their first jobs until they’re in the twenties, and they typically have the same job for their entire life.  Can you imagine!  That’s insane; I think I would go crazy if I had to do the same thing my whole life.  The economy is even worse here than it is in the States (they are in what they call a “crisis”) and my teacher said that people are worried that these students won’t even be able to find jobs at all when they graduate high school and college (not even the crappy fast-food jobs that people can easily fall back on in the States if they have to), so that is slightly terrifying.

Other than that, my students are constantly entertaining me.  Last week, one of the boys (about 14 or 15 I think) had been imitating Cristiano Ronaldo all week.  If you don’t know who he is, look him up on Wikipedia.  He’s probably one of the most famous people in Spain (and kind of Europe).  But anyway, it was hilarious.  The week before that, one of the kids fell over sideways in his desk on the floor.  The desk fell with him.  Today there was a girl who had apparently looked up “tirar un pedo” in her dictionary and for the rest of the class was repeating “fart” over and over.  So the kids are great.  And I’ve been wanting to think of something to get them from Nebraska (or the States in general) thats cheap and easy to ship over here (ie- a cornhusker sucker) so if any of you have any ideas, let me know!

I think it’s time to head out now, I’ve got to run to my next class, but before I leave I’d like to reiterate my need for home-grown love and stories with juicy details, so PLEASE either leave me a brief comment to let me know you’re still alive or a long message via Facebook or email to help me pass the time during siesta.

Love you all, sorry if I was a bit bitter in this blog.  Oh yeah! And a super thanks to my awesome sister-in-law for sending me a surprise care package with all sorts of winter/water proof gear.  It rained all weekend so I got to put that umbrella to good use!  Bryan, thanks for picking such a super gal to marry :)

Don't forget to check out this week's soundtrack:

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros -- Home

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros -- Janglin'

Cheers!