Sofia Somewhere

In the South of Granada, below the Sierra Nevada lies 70km of valleys in a region known as La Alpujarra . La Alpujarra extends over Granada and Almería , and is sometimes referred to  as   Las Alpujarras . This region is one of the last areas of Moorish settlement in Spain. The name alpujarra supposedly derives from the Arabic word al-bugsharra meaning "sierra of pastures." La Alpujarra is made up of quaint hillside villages that have an average altitude of 4,000 feet above sea level. They're full of whitewashed houses and are thus known as pueblos blancos (white villages). Surrounded by streams, ravines, and woodlands, the make for some of the best hiking trails in Spain. So yesterday, Lyle and I decided to take a day trip and go for a hike. Our day started with a bit of misadventure -- the bus to the bus station was taking really long, and we ended up missing the 10am bus by just a few minutes. The next bus was still at 12nn, so we ended up visiting a nearby Carre...

Last Friday, a friend of Lyle's colleaguem MJ, invited us to join one of the activities in the school where she works. We had met her before, and had talked about it a bit, and we were happy to go for the day. She warned us that the school we were going to was very different from the schools we were teaching at. The school, IES La Paz, is located in the worst neighborhood in Granada, and it's one of the worst schools not only in Granada, but also in Andalucía. The school is 'bad' not because of the facilities or the teachers, but rather because of the students. The school building is actually quite big and well maintained. They have a basketball court and a football field (something my school doesn't even have). They do receive a lot of money from the government, but they have very few students in the school because nobody really wants to go there. They only have a total of 40 students at the school, and with 20 teachers, it's practically a 2:1 ratio. Unfortunat...

After my Brussels, Sierra Nevada, and Cádiz trips, I spent the last couple of days of February chilling in Granada. I can't believe I've been here for 5 months, yet there's still so much to do and see! I think I'll spend the next month exploring more of the city and the nearby towns. Anyway, a little of what I've been up to since: We caught a free flamenco show in one of the local bars here in Granada. Now flamenco is actually a music genre, and not just dancing. So a flamenco show could be either a flamenco singer or a flamenco dancer or a flamenco guitarist, or a combination of two or all three. The show we caught had cante (singing), toque (guitar playing), and palmas (handclaps). The singer I think was a local singer. I don't know much about flamenco, but she sang really well with a lot of emotion. Not bad for a free show. Flamenco singer and guitarist A guy from Couchsurfing messaged me a few days back to ask if I wanted to meet up; he was looki...

While Catholicism is predominant in Spain (though nowhere near as big in the Philippines), Carnaval festivities only started getting big recently. Carnaval is, of course, a festival that takes place before Lent. It's typically a week long fiesta with parades, public celebrations, and merry making. Cádiz is one of the most popular Carnaval destinations here in Spain, and we joined a group that organized a day trip to Cádiz for Carnaval. It was another good deal at €18 round trip with food and snacks (a normal bus trip costs €35 one way). So on the morning of Saturday the 14th, we dressed up in our costumes, headed to the meeting point and we were off to Cádiz. A fairy, a pirate, and a hippie

The Sierra Nevada is Spain's most famous mountain range, and also contains the highest point in peninsular Spain (the summit of Mulhacén at 3479m). Rising behind the city of Granada, we took advantage of its proximity and made a day trip out of it. In the summer it's known for its hiking trails, and in the winter, what else but for its skiing. So on Friday the 13th, we took a bus up to the mountains (€9 round trip) to enjoy a day of snow and skiing. (Quick cultural trivia: in Spain and Spanish speaking countries, the day of bad luck is on Tuesday the 13th. They have an idiom that goes: "En trece y martes, ni te cases ni te embarques." which means that on a Tuesday the 13th you shouldn't get married nor board a ship). Snow capped mountain peaks Winding roads up the mountains The bus ride was a short hour away from the city, winding up and around the mountains. We left at around 10am and enjoyed the magnificent views from the bus as we were going up. We ...

All right, here comes a long overdue post: my weekend trip to Brussels . I'm stuffing it all into one long post so bear with me! I had bought my ticket in December last year (for a cheap €65 round trip), but I forgot to take into account that early February was still winter. So when I arrived in Brussels, it was pretty cold! I did manage to explore the city and have a good time, and all in all it was a nice weekend trip. I arrived on Friday evening, so I just had a simple supermarket dinner and rested up so I could start early the next day. The Belgium city center is pretty small, so I spent the day just walking around. They do have a metro, but I didn't have to take it since I just stuck to the city center. I walked the 15 minutes from my hostel towards the center and came upon my first stop: the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert , a shopping arcade with vaulted glass ceilings. Built in 1847, it's one of Europe's first shopping arcades. The Saint-Hubert Galleries st...

On January 30, my school celebrated the "School Day of Peace and Non-violence." It was founded in 1964 by Llorenç Vidal, a Spanish poet, and is now celebrated in schools all over the world. Its basic message goes, "Universal Love, Non-violence and Peace. Universal Love is better than egoism. Non-violence is better than violence. Peace is better than war." Throughout the week the different classes in my school learned about several peace efforts, and decorated the school with posters, paper cranes, and poems. They also had a short program that they did on the 30th (which I missed since I didn't have work that day).  Decorations in the lobby Update 1: The program didn't push through last Friday, so they had it today (Monday). The students just made short speeches and did their usual reading poems and phrases about peaces, and sang a few songs. Aside from the program, the 3º de ESO in my school went to Alfacar on the 29th to do do an activ...