keeping up

Wow, it is so hard to find the time to keep up on everything. Today I was thinking that the travel to and from places adds time that we typically use for phone calls, emails, etc. in the states. Getting to and back from the University takes about 30 minutes each way and walking to the beach or to meet folks is a good 20-25 minute walk. It is amazing that for the first time in my life I am actually on time almost all of the time.

The third week in Alicante had some rain and cooler times. I spent more time in the apartment preparing for class, reading for my European Women class, and making travel arrangements for some of the coming adventures. Have finalized going to Granada with Cody and Setare when they arrive, a 10 day trip to Morocco to see Cheryl Woehr, about 5 days in Istanbul to see Marat and that area, sometime in Barcelona and ??

The instructor in the European Women class is fantastico! Her name is Pilar and she is quite engaging and energetic. We are teasing her about creating a following called "Pilarism." She took us to the MARQ museum on Thursday and we were able to see the archeological findings from the area of Alicante. It is a beautiful museum (won best museum in Europe in 2005) and fit very well with our studies in her class. The films we are watching help put everything in context and have really made being here interesting and fun. It has also created a bonding for this smaller group. We ended the "tour" with a special drink at a great outdoor cafe called Soho. Great trees and shade. I had a blanco y negro which is like an slushy iced coffee with a plop of vanilla ice cream on top. Very refreshing. The same waiter is always there whenever we have been there. They also have great Sangria!

We watched soccer some more this week as well. Wednesday Espana won and the crowds were ecstatic! It is wonderful to be here during soccer. There were guys running up and down in front of us between the three outdoor bars so we did the wave and screamed. I have a small flag but many of our students are wearing shirts, scarfs, etc. We are becoming Spaniards!! Hercules, the local team, also won their second game so now they will be going up a division to play with the big teams -- Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, etc. The city folks were cheering in the squares until 2 a.m.

On Thursday we finished our snorkeling adventure to the island of La Trabaca. There were 12 girls screaming everytime we went over the waves, a Russian and a Spaniard captain laughing at us, only a couple of sick chicas (they had celebrated the twins, Jasmine and Jacqualine's 21st birthday till 5 a.m. the night before), and a great cave to explore. It was very cold as we returned around 11.

Due to the extra partying Wed. night many students didn't show up for class on Thursday. They are all given a single miss so almost everyone in my class has taken it. Having more general studies students makes the class a bit different then when I'm teaching folks who plan on being counselors. There are a few, but others are just interested in the topic and didn't want to take another language class. The summertime students are a bit less focused on learning, however, it is interesting to note the variety of students -- from Clemson to Chico to U of Maryland to UNLV to upstate Michigan to Point Loma in So. Cal to Cornell, to N. Dakota. While many are working towards spanish minors, most are planning to go on to grad school.

Well, Brussels is next so I'll do that in a separate post.