Last week, everything I did with the elementary students was related to Halloween. In school on Wednesday, we played a game similar to musical chairs using a witch's hat. When the music stopped, the student standing closest to the witch's hat was out. On Thursday, we talked about Day of the Dead in Mexico and how Spanish people celebrate Halloween and All Saints' Day, and I read a story about a little witch who didn't like Halloween and asked questions about it. In my after school lessons, we worked on Halloween vocabulary, like pumpkin, trick-or-treating, vampire, etc, and singing songs about Halloween. So by the time Thursday rolled around, I felt like I had been celebrating Halloween for ages.
On Thursday night, I got together with my friends Morgan and Vicki because Morgan's friend from London was visiting for the weekend. It was really nice to meet her and as always, we had many laughs. We met in a bar that was decorated for Halloween, so that helped keep me in the Halloween spirit.
Friday was the day I was going to Madrid to see my friend Blair. Blair and I went to West Chester together, so she is a fellow Golden Ram. She graduated a year before I did, but she grew up in the same town as one of my roommates, so I've known her since my freshman year. I love meeting new people, but I was looking forward to seeing a familiar face.
I wanted to take a direct bus to Madrid, so I got on the bus at 10:45 and got to Madrid around 12:15. I made my way to my Airbnb place, which was only about 3 blocks from Blair's apartment, and dropped off my stuff. Blair had a full day of school, and I knew I wouldn't be seeing her for awhile, so I went to a park down the street that my Airbnb hostess directed me to. The park, which was called Canal de Isabel II, was really a park for athletes, because it had a track running around the whole thing, but it was nice to be outside that day because the weather was beautiful.
Canal de Isabel II
Later in the evening, I met up with Blair and her boyfriend, Gabe. Blair and Gabe met when they studied abroad in Granada, so it's really nice that they're back in Spain together. We went to a market called Mercado de San Miguel, where they have a little bit of everything. They had fresh produce, fish, meats, cheeses, and much more. Blair and I visited the mozzarella stand and we each got two concoctions that used mozzarella. One of mine was a toast that had mozzarella, ham (of course), and figs on it. It was delicious!
After we left the market, we went to the Plaza Mayor and had a drink. My favorite drink in Spain is the tinto verano, which is red wine mixed with some lemonade and sometimes grenadine, depending on who makes it. It has become my go-to drink everywhere I go, and I found out that Blair likes those, too! (Gabe chose to have a beer instead.) Blair moved to Houston last year to be with Gabe, so I hadn't seen her since August of 2014. It was really nice having the time to catch up, and hanging out in the Plaza Mayor felt sort of surreal. But we called it an early night and I went to bed before midnight.
The next day, we decided to take a day trip to Segovia. I was really excited, because Segovia was one place I really wanted to go but I wasn't sure if I'd actually get there. Segovia is somewhat famous for its acqueduct. The Segovia acqueduct is a Roman acqueduct and one of the best-preserved examples of Roman architecture in the world, and it's ancient. Experts guess that it was built in the first century AD. It's also sort of an architectural marvel because all of the stones fit together just so; it's construction doesn't require mortar or cement. Then Blair told me that there's also a gorgeous cathedral and a castle in Segovia that some people say might be the basis for Cinderella's castle in Disney World. To say I was excited would be an understatement.
We met up the next morning (on Halloween!) and things got off to a bit of a slow start, due to some confusion about the train schedule to Segovia, but we pulled into Segovia at 2:10. I really enjoyed the train ride there, which was my first train ride in Spain. It was a regular train, not a high-speed one, so it took a little over two hours to get there because the train made stops. But the ride was absolutely lovely, and I loved looking out the window at all the fall foliage. Segovia is northwest of Madrid, so they have even prettier foliage up there.
After a bit of wandering around, we made our way to the acqueduct. It really is a marvel, and it was another surreal moment to see something in person that I had seen so many times in my Spanish textbooks.
Roman acqueduct in Segovia
Closeup of the acqueduct (No mortar!)
As you can probably tell from the pictures, Segovia is a beautiful city, particularly the casco histórico, or the old city. It's one of those cities that it would be really fun to get lost in. It has winding cobblestone streets and lovely terraces covered in flowers (even in October) and gorgeous architecture around every turn. Segovia reminded me a lot of Toledo, but I might have even liked it better, which is really saying something.
After we left the acqueduct, we had a quick bite to eat of kebab (Apparently if I don't eat ham, then I eat kebab) before continuing on to the cathedral. The cathedral is in Segovia's Plaza Mayor, and let me just say that it is breathtaking. I came around a corner of one of those windy cobblestone streets and actually stopped in my tracks. Whoever designed the layout of Segovia really knew what he was doing.
Segovia's Plaza Mayor and cathedral
We were going to go in the cathedral to see the views of Segovia from the top, but when we heard the tower was closed, we decided to skip it and continue on to the castle.
The Alcázar de Segovia is a gorgeous castle situated on a ledge at the edge of the historic district. When we got there, I totally saw the resemblance to Cinderella's castle.
Alcázar de Segovia
We took a tour of the inside of the castle, and the interior architecture is just as impressive. Blair pointed out how the Spanish expelled the Moors from the country, and yet they continued to use their architecture. The inside of the castle in Segovia reminded me of the inside of the Alhambra in Granada, but it wasn't as much carving into the walls as decorating them. And there were a ton of huge windows that let a bunch of light pour into the castle. It was really lovely.
View of the countryside from inside the castle
Since we weren't able to go to the top of the tower in the cathedral, we decided to go to the top of the tower in the castle (the top of the square part in the photo above). It's probably best that I didn't know that "the tower" was that staggeringly tall part of the castle because I might have backed out. And boy, getting up there was a challenge. There's only one stairwell (a very narrow spiral staircase made entirely out of stone and marble) for people both going up and going down. It was, in fact, just as tough as it sounds. I very nearly fell down the stairs on the way up (a lovely Spanish man caught my arm to steady me, thank God) and the way down took almost 15 minutes because there was such a bottleneck. Not the best system, Segovia.
However, when I got to the top, I couldn't deny that the struggle to huff and puff my way to the top was worth it. We managed to get to the top just as the sun was setting, and it truly felt like I was in a photoshoot for a postcard.
View of the countryside from the tower
View of Segovia from the tower
We stayed at the top for nearly half an hour, just taking in the breathtaking views. After we struggled back down that nightmarish stairwell, we made our way back over to the Plaza Mayor and had tinto veranos (and beer for Gabe). Enjoying a drink in the shadow of the cathedral was picturesque, to say the least. The Plaza Mayor was also full of children in Halloween costumes and their families, having fun and being loud, as Spaniards always are. It was a great end to a great day.
Cathedral in the evening
We took a direct bus back, to the ride back to Madrid only took an hour. We were back in the city at 10:00, and Blair/Gabe and I parted ways. I had a wonderful day, but up until then, after all the Halloween buildup all week, it hadn't really felt like Halloween, so I found the classic Hocus Pocus online and watched that in my Airbnb room before I went to bed. Once I did that, I was ready to put Halloween behind me.
The next morning, Blair, Gabe and I went out for churros with chocolate, my favorite Spanish breakfast food. They took me to a place that is apparently pretty famous in Madrid, because one wall was papered with photos of celebrities who had visited the establishment (Most of them were Spanish celebrities, but apparently both Rod Stewart and David Hasselhoff have been there. How fortunate I am to follow in such footsteps.). After we had breakfast, we went to this huge flea market that spanned arguably a couple of miles. They had everything, from t-shirts and silly tourist souvenirs to antiques and clothes and purses and more. It was nuts, and incredibly crowded.
Madrid flea market
I decided to make my way back to Quintanar in the early afternoon, and I got to the bus station around 2:00, so I was back home pretty early for me, because Monday was quickly approaching.
When I got to the high school on Monday, I went to a class that I've never been to before. It was an English class with the students in their second year of bachillerato, which is their last year of school before they go to university. So these students are 17 and 18. I really enjoyed talking to them, and they suggested that I go to Valencia and Ibiza, two suggestions that I will definitely keep in mind.
I also found out yesterday that the high school has arranged after school classes for me to teach as well, so with those, I'll be teaching 10 after school lessons a week. I have a ton of free time, so this is all good news, but I'm going to be even busier from now on! So I met with the first group yesterday and they were great. They're really motivated and they have a pretty extensive English vocabulary, so I know I'm going to enjoy those lessons more than the ones with the elementary children.
I actually don't have a trip planned for a few weeks, so I don't know what I'll spend my blog posts rambling about--but I'm sure I'll think of something!
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