Sofia Somewhere

So yesterday was Thanksgiving, and for one of my English classes I did the presentation on Philippine holidays and festivals since we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in the Philippines. To introduce what I was going to talk about, the teacher went on to ask the class what day it was. (Note that I alternate Week A & B so I see this class every other week, but I didn't see them 2 weeks ago since they had a conference to attend). Teacher: So what day is it today?  Student 1: November 27.  Teacher: Ok, yes, but it's the 4th Thursday of the month. What happens?  Student 2: Sofi comes! We all had a good laugh and it was a fun way to start the class. And after my presentation they all gave me a round of applause which was surprising, but nice. It felt good to be appreciated, especially by the older students. Although Spain doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, I do have an American flatmate. So a couple days back Elisa and her friend Katie planned to host a Thanksgivin...

I started off my birthday with Sunday morning mass at the Cathderal . Construction of the Cathedral was halted in 1728, and the Cathedral was never finished. It thus lacks the South Tower, and was given the nickname La Manquita -- the one-armed woman. The facade of the Cathedral

Our second day in Málaga was amazing (so be prepared for a picture heavy post). My co-teacher from Málaga told me that Málaga has a much warmer climate than Granada, and we were really looking forward to that. True enough, the temperature stayed in the low 20s the whole day, dropping only in the evening, and we had clear blue skies and a lot of sun. It was perfect weather for us (a much needed break from Granada's cold) and we enjoyed a good day sightseeing and eating. We started the day with a visit to the Mercado de Atarazanas , the central market of the city. It's located in an old iron-clad buildings which was originally a gate that connected the city with the port. It was recently restored and now boasts a beautiful stained-glass window at the entrance.

I wanted to spend my birthday someplace new (and nearby), so I decided to visit Málaga. I had always wanted to visit, and missed out on it when I visited Andalucía on my last Spain trip. At just 1.5 hrs from Granada, it was a nice and stress-free weekend trip. Lyle and I took a Blablacar for just €6, and Julie met us there after taking the bus from Madrid. Upon arriving in Málaga, we dropped our stuff off at our hostel and then set out to explore. Located in Andalucía and in the Málaga Province, Málaga  is the sixth largest city in Spain, and heart of the Costa del Sol which is comprised of the towns along the coastline of the Málaga Province. Although it's a pretty big city, most of the touristic sites are located near each other (in the historic city center), and it's quite easy to walk everywhere. From the bus station to our hostel it's about 10 minutes, and then another 10 minutes to the city center. Signs at the city center

So November's rolled around and the city is beginning to show it's Fall colors. Such a pretty season it is, with the leaves changing colors and falling to the ground. Unfortunately, Fall also means the days are getting colder. This is what my weather app showed a few mornings ago. 0°? No thank you very much.

From Sevilla we arrived in Ciampino, a town 45 minutes from Rome (life of a budget airline traveler), but easily took a bus to the center of Rome. We found our hotel, checked in (our receptionists were Filipino!), and then headed out for Lyle's birthday dinner. An Italian feast. We forgot to take a picture of the pizza. Most everything was closed by then, but we explored the city anyway visiting the fountains and plazas. Fontana del Tritone in Piazza Barberini Stopped for gelato even though it was cold because we're in Italy!

Last Friday was Lyle's birthday and to celebrate we spent the weekend in Sevilla and Rome. Flights out of Granada were expensive (mostly connecting flights in Madrid), so we decided to take the bus to Sevilla and fly out of there (did end up significantly cheaper). We took the 3am bus to Sevilla -- we went out the night before and just ended up sleeping on the bus -- and arrived at 7am giving us a few hours to explore the city before our 2pm flight to Rome.

Because Thanksgiving is approaching (and most of the previous auxiliares have been American), the English teacher at school for the b achillerato class asked me if we celebrated Thanksgiving in the Philippines and if I could prepare a presentation on it. I told her we didn't celebrate it back home, and instead we decided that I'd talk about holidays and festivals in the Philippines. For holidays I chose Independence Day and the EDSA Revolution , and for festivals I stuck to the bigger ones like Ati-Atihan, MassKara, Santacruzan , etc. I actually bought a deck of "Philippine Festivals" flash cards from National Bookstore before I left so I used the information on those cards, googled a bit more additional information, and downloaded some pictures to go on the powerpoint. I had a good time researching some of the festivals, and was particularly trying to find some relation between Spain and the festivals, or the influence the Spanish had on these festivals when they...

The night before Halloween, Elisa invited us to go to one of her friend Kati'e's Halloween party/event (some students in her tourism school were raising money for a trip). I didn't dress up, but went anyway. At the party, there were quite a few people dressed up. Random Halloween cookies made by Katie's baking students During Halloween (as well as the day before and the day after), I saw a lot of kids dressed up in costumes. I didn't realize that Halloween was quite big in Spain, since I remember not celebrating it at all the last time I lived here. While talking with one of my co-teachers yesterday, he told me that Halloween started getting popular over the last 4-5 years. In my school, we didn't really celebrate Halloween (Elisa dressed up at her school and Lyle's school had a Halloween program). The classrooms of the lower levels had some Halloween decorations up (that they presumably worked on in art class), but that was pretty much the extent o...