Thursday, July 3, 2014

Fun in Spain


Adam came home last week! YAY!!! ADAM IS HOME!!! Time to PARTY!!!! 

 

There were flight delays and we still don't have a checked bag that was lost, but it is nice to have him home!

My last week of Spanish school was really fun!
 my school: 
front door 

 lobby area with office and classroom to the right 

This is above the "lobby area" 

There was some shifting to do for my classes because my 2 classmates both left. They gave me a choice to take 2 hours with my teacher Angela 1-on-1

Or do 1-on-1 for my grammar class and then for the conversation class go to the lower level class (imagine THAT! I have improved enough that I am no longer in the lowest of the beginning levels! Ha! Kind of awesome!)

 my profesora Angela 


my professor Lucia 

I opted for 3 hours instead of 2...
The conversation class was a bit more of a review for me - but we learn through repetition donor was good. Plus I was willing to speak a lot more than I had been 2 weeks pervious. It was much easier to follow. Anglea (my grammar teacher) told me that Fran (my conversation teacher) was very pleased with me. Cause I was participating a lot on class and that my Spanish was improving a lot! So that was really nice to hear and made me happy!

There are a lot of students who all live together and my friend Goovanie was cooking dinner, he is from Italy and was making Italian pasta, we were invited to go. It is up in the Alvicene – which is where the Carmens are up on the hills of Granada. They have a terrace where we ate dinner. The weather was perfect and we sat out and talked. One of the boys who lived there had a guitar. I was asked if I could sing. I said yes and sang a song and he played the guitar. I was asked to sign again and again. It was really fun! I love to sing! I only wish that I had thought to bring my ukulele with me. I cant wait to go out to the beach and have lazy nights sitting around and I will sing and play for my friends!

On my last day of school there was another class that needed to use the classroom that Angela and I would normally use- so we decided to go to a café nearby and have a drink and talk. It was really fun!

Angela and I talked about cultural differences, personal opinions, religion, etc. all in Spanish! Of course she fed me a lot of words as we went along but it was really a great conversation! I also told her about my religious beliefs and shared with her the first vision and some basic beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was a really great opportunity! To improve my Spanish and have the Spirit help me to do so as I shared my beliefs with my friend. 


Angela told me that I am “her first Mormon” haha! I love that! I have had quite a few people tell me that over the years that I am the first Mormon that they have met. I by no means whatsoever think that I am perfect. At the same time I really strive to live my beliefs and be a good example of a good Christian who honors their religious values and morals. I hope that people that I am in contact with can see it in me and the way that I live.

Last week it rained... A LOT! It was beautiful weather when I left for school... but it was pouring when I left. 

I want you to imagine a slick tile floor that is slippery even when it is not wet... now imagine that water has been dumped all over the slippery floor and you only have flip flops on... now imagine walking across that floor... See the picture I am painting here? Well the streets in the city center of Granada are polished marble. Yeah... I know- it sounds nice... and it looks nice too. but it is TERRIBLE to walk on! I constantly feel like I am going to fall. So with the added rain increasing the slip and bust my head open factor, I decided to walk to the bus stop like this...


Yep! barefoot in the rain! I figured it was a little bit safer than my flip-flops. It was crazy how slick the sidewalks were... but I made it home safely ;) 

On my last day of school Adam Anto and I met up. We had a picnic together and went for a walk. We stopped in this beautiful hotel on the hills of Granada and saw some pretty views!



There is a graffiti artist here in Granada – I LOVE his work! Apparently the city used to not like him and paint over his work. But then they realized that people love his art and it was raising the value of some places. Now they don’t paint over his painting any more. He also doesn’t  have to sneak around or try to find places to paint because people commission him to paint on their buildings.

I really like his style and you can find his work all over Granada. It is really beautiful. Then one day as we were out and about I saw THIS…


This is one of his paintings! It all connected who he was and why I love him so much!
This artist had been to NYC! To paint on 5 pointz  and it was one of my FAVORITE!  With the same little boy! No wonder I love this artist so much!

I can't find the picture that I had taken over a year ago in NYC... I will look for it so you can see! 

(This is the website for 5 points. http://5ptz.com sadly it is no more- the owner of the building sold the property and the graffiti art has been painted over- they will tear down the old building and build a high rise) 



Other Fun Things we have been up to include (but are not limited to): 

Swinging…

Ice-cream!... 

Going to a flaminco performance… 



Hanging out with family…


Walking around Granada, seeing art fairs, graffiti and people watching…





Taking the puppies for walks…


shopping...

Bike rides…




Running...
This is where I run every day: 

It is SO beautiful here! 

Going on walks and seeing this beautiful country! 
  (have I told you how many olive trees there are here?....about a gazilion!) 


Siestas...
 (which sounds like a party... but really it is just a Spanish word for a nap!) haha


Remember how I mentioned that Adams suitcase was lost. Well after many hours talking to many different customer service representatives, etc. We found out that his bag finally made it to the airport in Malaga. It is about 1.5 hours away. So we made a day of it. We went to get his bag, then we went to the beach, had a picnic, went swimming in the cold sea, then we went shopping!








It was a fun day!

Jesus is part of a theatre group – they have won many awards for their performance of a greek play called Hippolito. (I have seen it 3 times now) For their final performance they were invited to perform outdoors at Palacio De Los Cordova. Which is this really beautiful plaza in front of an old church. And the backdrop of their performance was the Alhambra! It was pretty cool!



Today was filled with work (yes I do still work I have my wonderful clients to support! I wrote a lot of emails today! hehehe!) I also edited photos and worked on this blog post. My butt is tired of sitting in this chair for many hours! 

Tomorrow! We go to the beach! Yay! Antonios family has a house that is right next to the beach – about ½ an hour away from Granada. I cannot even tell you how excited Antonio is! He has been talking about going to the beach since I arrived in Spain. So we are planning on going for a long weekend. I am sure that there will be many more photos and updates to come from that!

Until then happy summer! I am sending lots of big hugs and kisses from beautiful Spain!

 

These streets! I am in love!

OXOX

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