pictures...finally

Hello all
I have been neglecting this as of late and I'm sorry for that. But I have a good reason..I have been spending my time downloading pictures from my camera and then uploading them to a yahoo account. So you'll be able to view some of the things that I have seen..pretty similar to Eric as we have been to a lot of the same places but there are a few different ones..

http://photos.yahoo.com/abenturner

At least I hope this works!!

Today, Eric and I went to Linares, where Jose (who visited Lethbridge last year) lives. We had an excellent home cooked meal (paella) and it was fantastic. Jose and his sister showed us around Linares, a few museums, a church, a bull ring (so cool - empty but still cool..) and museum dedicated to Andres Segovia, a huge guitarist back in the day. I had never heard of him but he was from Linares and he had pictures with some pretty important people (the pope, a few kings, president Carter)..so I guess he was a pretty big deal.

Other than that, we met the university president on Friday. It was a big affair with tv and newspaper pictures so we're waiting to find ourselves in one of the minor headlines. It was a cute little affair. Also, I think the nightlife has finally caught up with me since I have caught a cold/really bad sore throat. I'm hurting a lot and should probably not go out but it is Conrad's birthday so I think I will make an exception. Also, it has been pretty cold as of late and it actually snowed last night..the guys here at the res were loving it outside this morning...but it wasn't fun last night, walking around in the snow at 5am and almost getting locked out..luckily Shane was still up talking to his girlfriend, and after a few penny throws to his window, he let me in.

So, I'm off. Take care all and I hope you enjoy the pictures.
AT

Granada

Hey all
This past Saturday was a great day. We went to Granada last minute as some teachers at one of the guys schools offered to take us down. It is about an hour south of Jaén and if we could get a free ride and talk to some locals on the way down, why not! So went to Granada for the day and it was fantastic. We visited the Alhambra which is a must if you do make it to South Spain. It was simply incredible. (Quickly: It is a Muslim settlement/castle purched ontop of the surrounding hills. Built by the Muslims during the occupation of Spain and then retaken by the Reconquista, it has a great mix of Arabian architecture and Christian architecture, as some rulers tried to leave their own Christian influence right in the middle of some awesome Arabian monuments...I hope that is correct..I had to have it explained to me yesterday by Conrad, one of the Canadians here, as he is a History major. So blame him for anything!)

But we toured that for 4 hours and saw some great things. Just an awesome place to see. Hopefully Eric will post some pictures of it as he took over a 100...crazy! Then we walked around old Granada for a few hours and watched the sunset..very nice.

Later, we made it back to Jaén and proceeded to a international students party. (there are many university students here in Jaen on an exchange program called Erasmus...) Very good program and great to meet so many Germans, Italians, Slovakians. Very interesting to talk to them over a glass of wine about life in their countries and their experiences. So great. Of course, it was a classic Spanish night as we did not head unti midnight, stayed at the house until 4am, and then proceeded to go the bars. And yes, there were many people still out and about in the streets. Incredible. The bars were typical of most nightclubs you can see...I´ll let you take that for what it is. But then point is that we stayed out until 7:30am...really tried to do the whole nightlife thing and I tell you, this old guy isn´t cut out for it. Really really really tired today and will hopefully sleep it all away. Definitely no plans for today. Maybe that is why Sunday is considered a write-off to all people here in Jaén as so many people go out at night.

So that is my update...a great cultural trek to Granada and will hopefully show whoever comes to Europe around that as a must see spot of Southern Spain. And I experienced the nightlife scene...how many times I participate again depends on how I hold up after this. And it doesn´t help that we were up late on Friday night and Thursday night (late in Western standards maybe - 3 am - but early over here.....)

Still so fantastic to be here and loving it all...And of course, the teaching is going well. My classes this week consist of french so I will hopefully be up to par on that!
Adam

oops

I guess that one from last night did go through....guess you get twice the update on the schools!!

school

Finally, the long awaited school update. Yes, I have finally begun teaching. I had my first day yesterday and tried to post a blog but to no avail, hopefully this actually works.

My first day was awesome. Was essentially just talking in English to kids about Canada and myself. I "taught" 3 classes today, and except for one, where their english was a little lower level, it was great. The lower level class just meant I had to talk that much more and hopefully they understood everything. But the other two, a grade twelve age-group, was full of questions and curiousity it seemed.

Essentially, I am teaching all over the school in many different classes. So this week is a lot of repetitiveness with me telling about Canada and myself and what I´m doing here. The lowest group, which is 1st year ESO (obligatory seconday education) is about grade 7 and 13-14. I teach 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year ESO and then they have older groups of 1st and 2nd BAC (equivalent to Baccalaureate..spelling??), so basically grade 11 and 12´s...or 17-18 year old people. I teach essentially this group of kids in English this week and then the same idea (in regards to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th year ESO and 1st and 2nd BAC) to French classes next week. And I will keep on alternating each week. Yes, I´m sure some teachers/future teachers are wondering if I´m essentially seeing every class once a week, every second week...and yes, that is correct. I hope this isn´t too confusing to understand but give it time, I´m just coming to terms with it today! and I´m sorry if I have confused you, I´m sure there is a better way to explain this!

Great to talk to kids as it is amazing to be seeing Canada through their eyes. They are blown away that we eat at the times we do. (breakfast around 7-8, lunch 12-1, and dinner around 6.) I have had to aclimatize myself to eating a light breakfast around 8 (two pieces of toast), followed by lunch around 2:30 and then supper at 9. A huge difference to some of the kids I talked to today! And then the other stuff...earlier driver license ages, kids actually having jobs during school and university in Canada (I have yet to meet a kid in the school that has a part-time job...very little chance of employment for high school and university students alike during school) and so many other things. And yes, I do inform them that we don´t live in igloos and that it is cold all the time...some of them really did think it was cold all the time. Funny stuff...

But great to talk to the kids and hearing the questions they ask. Interesting to explain some of our culture as it is and seeing their reaction. (funny when you tell them that there is a festival in the middle of the summer where loads of people dress up like Cowboys and attend games and rodeos...) But I do warn them that is all my view of Canadian culture and hopefully they do understand that. And I try not to embelish stuff too much...it is how it is.

Hopefully going to see Granada this weekend with some of the other Canadian students. And one of the following weekends, will go spend a weekend in Murcia with a friend. Other future weekend destinations include Sevilla, Cordoba and especially Malaga..maybe a venture down into Morocco...who knows though!

For those interested, Eric, the other Canadian student here in Jaén, has posted some pictures on his blog (look to the right of this window and you´ll see it..) He has a laptop so more time and better computer to download some pictures. I have yet to try on this computer here in the Residency but I have a feeling it might be a challenge..one day I´ll try. And thanks to those who keep on checking this...nice to hear about what´s going on.

Take care
Adam

teaching

Today we went to the school and began our first days of teaching. I had a great time, presenting things about Canada - culture, lifestyle, other facts and then I usually ended up talking about my family. 3 classes at an hour each..definitely recylced my material but the kids had lots of questions and it was fun. Funny things...
I´m teaching all different ages from 1st year ESO (obligatory secondary education) which goes up to 4th ESO and then they have 1st and 2nd year BACC (equivalent to the baccalaureat program..sorry, don´t know the spelling). So the 1st years don´t talk to much so I talked a bunch in that one but I taught a 3rd ESO and 2nd BAC and it was good. Good quetions and they said they understood me...lisp and all hey pops? ha ha So essentially, it is ranging from 12-18 year olds...roughly grade 7 to grade 12 in our system.
It was interesting talking to the older kids (2nd year BAC) because they asked lots of questions about Canadian school, employment, university - as it is something they´ll be entering next year.
Another quick note before I sign off, if you check out Eric´s blog, he has some great pictures of Jaén and other stuff. Sorry about my lack of photos..have a digital camera but it is harder for me to download them all on since I don´t have a laptop like he does. One of these days I´ll try on this computer here in the residence.
Take care all
Adam

teaching

Today we went to the school and began our first days of teaching. I had a great time, presenting things about Canada - culture, lifestyle, other facts and then I usually ended up talking about my family. 3 classes at an hour each..definitely recylced my material but the kids had lots of questions and it was fun. Funny things...
I´m teaching all different ages from 1st year ESO (obligatory secondary education) which goes up to 4th ESO and then they have 1st and 2nd year BACC (equivalent to the baccalaureat program..sorry, don´t know the spelling). So the 1st years don´t talk to much so I talked a bunch in that one but I taught a 3rd ESO and 2nd BAC and it was good. Good quetions and they said they understood me...lisp and all hey pops? ha ha So essentially, it is ranging from 12-18 year olds...roughly grade 7 to grade 12 in our system.
It was interesting talking to the older kids (2nd year BAC) because they asked lots of questions about Canadian school, employment, university - as it is something they´ll be entering next year.
Another quick note before I sign off, if you check out Eric´s blog, he has some great pictures of Jaén and other stuff. Sorry about my lack of photos..have a digital camera but it is harder for me to download them all on since I don´t have a laptop like he does. One of these days I´ll try on this computer here in the residence.
Take care all
Adam

Jaen

Hello all
After touring around the university and actually participating in a Spanish university class, things might be looking up with the Spanish. Understanding more and more everyday. Very reassuring and after talking to a friend who teaches in Murcia, more and more will come. Just so hard with some people because they talk so fast and swallow many word endings or don't pronounce certain letters. The great part about the Spanish beginners level class was that the teacher would talk slower and pronounce every word which helped immensely. All the Canadian students noticed that.

It was good in the class because it is made up of mostly European students from Italy and Germany (and one U of L student on a Management exchange - she was very relieved to meet some Canadians, let alone two from U of L) and the prof was asking about things that we liked or disliked about Jaen and spanish culture. Very interesting hearing people's comparisons to their own culture and what not and the differences that are noted, and that sometimes turn into annoying nuances.

Also, the prof brought up three things about stuff specific to Andalusia - TV and how they are pretty much soap operas (also applies to the rest of Spain after further discussion), the smoking (which is interesting because there is always something to talk about since a new law just passed this year, prohibits smoking in public places..comparable to the changes that are going on in Canada and also the initial changes that happened a year or two ago..or maybe more..can't quite remember). Naturally, there are many malcontent people, especially a few in our residency, since smoking is very European it seems...and from other people's word of mouth, that seems to be the case. Finally, there was a discussion between the different dialects found in regions of Spain, or the autonomous communities (17 in all I believe). So depending on where you are, Andalusia, Madrid, Basque region, different Spaniards have different accents and manipulate the language according to their traditional way of speaking. Interesting but also challenging from a person learning the language since in some regions, certain rules apply and certain syllables are pronounced whereas if you travel a few 100 kms anywhere, completely different..

So very interesting stuff and awesome to be here... but, I was just told that this looks like a novel and yup, it is..so I'm signing off.

Adam

maybe not

Actually,
on second thought and after actually reading the dude of the month, maybe it is a better idea not to check it out...
Sorry about that..
Nice one Bones..thanks for making me look so good!

Jaen

Hello all,
First of all, thanks to those who have been responding. It is great to hear from you all (note to family...especially number 2...can we keep the posts about my big butt and girl life to a minimum..this is an educational blog and if necessary, I can delete your comments. Just a warning..) No keep the coming everyone, great to hear from you all. Good luck to the other students who have been arriving the last couple of days to their places (Magdeburg and Leeds)

Jaen is a gorgeous place. So Spain like Owen pointed out (he was here last year on this project and as I´ve heard over the last few days, a legend of a sort. Incredible scenery and old buildings that are just fantastic. So much history and culture.

I start my teaching next Monday and am looking forward to meeting the teachers and students and facing the challenge and excitement of teaching again. Great to meet the people who are here in Jaen from other schools (SFU and Univ of Regina).

I will hopefully be able to load up some pictures sometime next week so don´t worry P-rab. They´re definitely some incredible pictures..or at least I think! Have already begun planning some trips to surrounding places - Granada, Sevilla, Murcia, Malaga and hopefully Morocco..sorry about some of the spelling.

The spanish is coming along..everyday is a challenge and I look forward to the schools as the university liaisons all speak english which is comforting but definitely need to work on my spanish. We are staying in a residency affiliated with the Univeristy in the older part of time, about 2 blocks away from the incredible Cathedral here. Beginning to talk to more and more students which is needed...really good guys here. All attend the university so are pretty much similar in age. Even played some soccer with them today which was a hoot.

Well, I should get going but thanks again to all the peeps sending word back and I look forward to hearing more about stuff. (on a completely unrelated sidenote, I was voted Dude of the Month on my friends website which is the "stitchface" link on the page..check it out...)

Take care

one more thing about spain..

I have been getting crazy stares from so many people with me wearing shorts. It is really only 3-6 degrees C so it is not that bad. But people here have face masks, huge parkas, and definitely aren´t wearing shorts...so the stares are there..I guess they can tell that I´m a foreigner....but I guess Canadian weather prepared me well..

And it finally rained today..so no shorts..will rain all weekend if I heard the news correctly...that could be completely off given my improficiencies in spanish but we´ll find out soon

finally in Spain

Hello all
I hope life is treating you well wherever you are..some are back in school, others are starting practicums and such and some are going back to work..

I finally arrived in Madrid late Monday night, found my hostel no problem and stayed there for 2 nights. Toured around for 2 days seeing the big sights like the Prado museum, thyssen-Born..(spelling) museum, parque de Buen Retiro (A big park that is somewhat central park like but not nearly as big but with lots of great statues). The next day, I saw the royal palace which blew me away by its immensity and grandness. Each room was incredibly extravagant indicating how much money they spent back in the day on the royalty..crazy though.

Have been walking around lots and luckily my ankle and knee are holding up!!! Yesterday I went to Segovia (North of Madrid) and saw the Roman aqueducts..simply amazing. They stretch for almost a km and at a good 20 meters high. To think that the Romans build this all without modern tools that we would have blows your mind as you´re staring at the grandeur of it. Then there is an amazing cathedral and a castle which was awesome. Unfortunately, today (friday the 6) is Epiphany, which I am told is the equivalent of Spaniards Christmas. This is where presents are exchanged and holidays are. So, the castle and church closed down before I got around to them so I did come home early from there. But I did catch a parade through the streets of Madrid in honour of Epiphany..loads of people and great festive atmosphere. Bands playing in the streets, street entertainers..loads of fun. Have one more day in Madrid before Eric comes to town and then we´ll head down to Jaen to begin the practicum thing. Really glad I came a week early to see Madrid as it is an incredible city. I loved walking around all day, down narrow streets and seeing all the different plazas and churches, and then history of everything. Great to be here..

Well, should get going. Have almost adjusted to eating little meals all day instead of the typical 3-meal thing that I´ve been use to. So, I need to go catch something. One note, I´ve been incredibly fortunate to meet Palbo, a buddy of Tim´s who I play volleyball with in Lethbridge. Pablo has shown me around town the last two nights and is even letting me stay in his place until I leave on Sunday..saves a couple of euros with no hostels!! So very kind of him. Great to get his insight of Spanish lifestyle and he explains so much that I didnt´know about his culture and such..

take care all and hope this finds you all well,
Adam

It has begun...

Well, I leave in a little under 3 hours...so exciting. Cannot wait to not being able to communicate...such a challenge and look forward to it! I spend a week in Madrid until heading down with Eric, the other U of L student who is participating in this program to Jaen, on Sunday...then the whole teaching thing begins.

Take care all and until the next time when I'm updating this in Spain...