Pictures

These two are pictures of the Baptist Church that we go to.  I love this picture as it has the cross with beautiful mountains in the background!  It is about a 30 walk up the mountain to get there.  Kindly, the church provides transportation for us down in Denia.  Already lots of the students have started walking though.  This is also the location where I will be doing my ethnographic study - at the Alpha and Omega school, helping with English in the classrooms. 

This reads Eglesia Evangelica Baptista - that is in Valenciano (the dialect)

Already made the papers!

After our group went to Javea (Xavea) last week this was in the local news paper this weekend.  It reads, "A group of American students show interest in the local culture."  This picture is taken in front of that large cathedral I talked about earlier.  I am up above on the top of the stairs, seven people in from the right, right above where the stairs meet the platform.  :)

Finals are over!! On to Barcelona!!

Hello everyone!! Today is Wednesday and I just finished my final for my interim class, regions of Spain!  This last week has been lots of class, studying, reading, and watching Spanish TV with my Spanish mama.  We watch world news and lots of game shows.  While shopping in January for my trip my mom found the third Twilight book in Spanish for me!  This was great because I have already read it twice in English so I know what should be happening.  When I started it in the car ride home it was super slow going.  I read two pages in the fifteen minutes it took to get home!  Now I am reading it with breakfast and it is so much faster and easier!  Last Saturday night I went out with a couple of girls around 11pm to go to this restaurant called “La niñeta” where at night they have salsa dancing and live music.  It was a blast!!  The Singer there was a man from Cuba who actually goes to my church here.  He and his wife both sang the duets and they had beautiful voices!  There was an area cleared away of tables where all the people could dance.  It like a scene out of Dirty Dancing Havana Nights!  There was even a cute little boy there that could really dance!!  We all got up and salsa danced the night away!  The singer asked where we were from and then played an American song and announced us as the girls form Michigan!  At church on Sunday, which lasted over two hours, the youth group preformed a skit.  The theme of sermons for the next long while is “better together” “mejor juntos.”  So the kids acted out a scene of a basketball game with cheerleaders and a coach and one of the players was trying to be the star but could never make the shots.  When they all passed together and played as a team – they won!  But the best part of this is while they were doing to (silent) skit – High School Musical’s “Get your head in the game” was playing!!  It was hysterical!  Yesterday was our last day of class where I had to recite a memorized poem in Spanish – fun, not!  Then today we had our final which was not to hard but tons of writing!!  Today we are free from studying and then tomorrow we head off super early (7am!!) to Barcelona!  We are taking a large bus with around 25 students from the local high school as their teacher is also one of our professors.  We are first going to Tarragona which has lots of Roman ruins that I am very much looking forward to seeing as I took three years of Latin in high school.  Then off to Barcelona for Friday through Sunday!!  I am looking forward to seeing a new part of Spain!  I will post lots of pictures and more on that when I get back!  Monday we start the 2^nd semester here with professors from Spain.  More to come!  I hope you are all doing well in the states!  Enjoy the snow for me J

Pictures!

There are more pictures on facebook!

Dancing and travel!

Second week of classes – only 5 more days of interim class then trip to Barcelona! I love the Spanish siesta – I usually take an hour nap after lunch – it’s great!  It’s also a good time to just relax and read a book!  This week has been very eventful so far.  Church on Sunday was a good two hours long! The sermon had 5 main points and at least 4 or 5 sub points for each main point with bullet points underneath each sub point!  It was nice because they were on a PowerPoint and we could easily read and follow along.  On Monday when I arrived home from school all of my t-shirts were hanging out on drying racks in front of the house in full view of the neighborhood! At least we have a small patio in back for some of my other clothes!  On Monday night I went to my first dance class of Flamenco!  It was a blast! There are 6 or 7 of us girls from Calvin and 3 women from Denia.  The dance studio is on the side of the castle.  The teacher was very nice and taught us about how there are two types of Flamenco dancing – mambo and fandango.  We learned steps for both and then she made routines from both and we learned them.  We learned 2 long fun dances the first day! She was really easy to follow as she called out each step as we did it.  One of my favorites was waving our pony tails as we turned in a circle :)  I'm not sure where we're going to go from there but I know we will learn tons!!  We stomped a lot with our feet as this is a dance of strong women.  Next Monday after school we are going to the marcadillo to buy flamenco skirts and some tacones (heels).  On Tuesday after school we went to a small town in the mountains called Javea.  It is beautiful!  We received a very nice greeting in the town hall and then were shown the Catholic cathedral and town museum.  At the cathedral we got to go on the roof way up high.  Since the roof is domed there were small hills on the roof.  It was fun to run around and take tons of pictures!  Ah- but the stairs were another story.  It was an enclosed spiral staircase that was no bigger than a normal shower.  The steps were steep and close together.  It was an adventure!  When we went to the visitor center the floor was glass and we could see the ruins of graves beneath us.  Evidently there are ruins everywhere around here.  The museum was neat, there were some beautiful pictures of the mountain, old scenes of homes and some old objects from excavations.  After that we went to a restaurant to have tapas (appetizers).  There were two TV’s; one with old soccer highlights and the other with the snowboarding in Colorado!  There were empanadas, potatoes, Spanish tortilla (potato filled) and much more.  For my drink I ordered orange juice (as I have unfortunately obtained a cold).  Oh my gosh!  I’m pretty sure they went out to one of the orange tree groves and picked an orange and freshly squeezed it just for me – it was delicious!!!  On the way home, the bus driver wanted to give us a better view of the mountain so we took the skinny roads on the side of the mountain, in a bus, on the side of a mountain!! I was praying the whole time J Once, we didn’t turn wide enough and hit the rock, everyone screamed, pretty scary but we are all ok!  We have been having a cold spell here – it has been in the low 50’s and gloomy.  But the weekend is soon and hopefully so is the sun!  I hope everyone is doing well back home! Hasta luego, Jenn

P.S.  The regional dialect here is Valenciano and some characteristics are that they don’t seem to finish their words and as I was just writing hasta luego someone near me said “ha lugo”.  It is very hard to understand initially as it seems they are not speaking very clearly.  Everyone here speaks both Castilian Spanish (the “proper” form) and the dialect.   

Some random things about Denia

They change classes in school here with a song instead of a bell.  When we are in class all morning for interim we can hear the music from the schools through our windows.  The streets have white lines to cross and it’s pedestrians right of way (mostly).  The cars are speeding at you and then stop (maybe) within an inch of your life.  On Friday we went on a fieldtrip in class to the marcadillo (flee market) and to the Mercado (food market).  It was super fun; it has everything from tons of shoes to flamenco dresses to purses to pictures, electronics, dishes, every type of clothing and more!  Yesterday afternoon I went to the beach with some friends.  We walked in the surf, played Frisbee and soccer.  Last night we walked all around Denia seeing the night life and ended up talking in a bar/restaurant.  Today I slept in! :) This afternoon I went shopping with some friends and in one store we met a woman from Nottinghamshire in England!  She has a daughter who is a ski instructor in Utah (I would so love to do that!!)  Evidently she also went to Switzerland one winter but likes Utah better!!  I loved listening to her accent! :)  In a lot of the shops here they play popular English (American) music! Tonight I am going to a ship exhibition of poetry and flamenco dancing!  Today during lunch I asked Maite (my Spanish mamá) what I should wear for my first day of Flamenco class and she told me what she wore (skirt and leotard) and then proceeded to dance two types of Flamenco dances right then and there, singing a song as well J 

Denia!

Life in a super awesome beach resort town surrounded by mountains in the Mediterranean :)

Today was another beautiful day in Denia!  We have now been in town for a week and are starting to know our way around.  Every day I walk down the calle de palmeras (the street of palm trees).  Across the street from my house is the beach and harbor and everywhere I turn I can see the mountains.  It is so beautiful!  The weather is always in the 60’s or 70’s – so different than at home!  Today we received our mobile phones so that we can call our classmates and friends from Denia to hang out.  It was interesting because in the States, the cell phones are getting bigger and bigger.  Our cell phones here are very small (but cute).  The other day I jogged / walked on the beach it was awesome to hear the waves crash against the shore, smell the ocean and the fish, feel the soft sand against my feet and see the beautiful ocean expanding out before me.  In Illinois we can see cornfields for miles.  Here we can see the water for kilometers :)  Today I walked around the old castle to a dance studio and signed up for a Flamenco dance class!!  I am very excited about it and can’t wait to dance again!  I hear it is very hard and a lot of movement with the hands.  But, as I am not Dutch – I think I will do well J  (Sorry Calvin students).  Today some of us Calvin students got together with some local high school students.  We are going to be doing conversation groups – one day in Spanish the next in English.  It was a blast!!  I had so much fun meeting some kids (around) my age.  They were all very nice and we talked in small groups for an hour and a half about music, movies, sports, school, las siestas, and most importantly – las fiestas/the parties!  They have all taken English classes just like we have taken Spanish classes so we did a little bit of Spangish today.  It was so funny to hear some of their phrases in almost perfect imitation of an American accent such as “I dunno”.  We are planning a group dinner/outing this Saturday.  Last night I watched a soccer match on TV between Barcelona and Betis.  It was really good!  Barcelona won 5-0 with Messi scoring 3 goals, Pedro and Keita each scoring 1.  Every time a goal was scored a cannon (or some loud noise) went off in the harbor celebrating the goal!!  Things are going well here, only 9 more days of interim then our vacation to Barcelona.  The high school students told us that Barcelona is awesome and that we will have tons of fun there!!  Already finished my homework so I’m off to watch more fútbol!! J

Ah! The beach :)

Hola!

Today after class I walked on the sandy beach with some friends! Ah it's so beautiful here! We are surrounded by mountains, the meditarian sea and there is a castle here.  How much better can it get!  It's about 68 degrees here!! I found an awesome resturant / cafe where there is free internet.  It plays oldies songs in English :)  Well, I'm off to jog on the beach with a friend.  Oh - school is good too :)  We are studying poetry and the regions of Spain.  Each day we have a new partner for class - this is really nice as it let's us get to know the other students in our group that we didn't know very well.  I hope everything is going well in the States! Hasta luego :)

Some pictures - there are more on facebook :)

Churches :)

Last night I went to mass with Maite then I watched parts of Jurassic Park, Merlin, swimming, and a soccer match while eating pizza – pretty good night!  This morning I went to the Baptist church with the rest of the group.  It was very similar to a protestant church in the United States.  The pastor and the people all seemed very nice but spoke very fast!  After church I ate lunch with Maite, a Spanish variation on spaghetti and salad.  It was very good.  She also shared the Christmas deserts with me – they were delicious!!  After my siesta J I went to a café with my friends where there is free internet!  The weather is still super warm, although not quite warm enough today to go to the beach. 

Hola from Denia!

Today is our third day here.  On Thursday we met our families at the school (U.N.E.D.).  My family is a 73 year old woman named Maite (Maria Teresa).  We did the customary greeting of two kisses on the cheek and then hugged.  She is a very nice, lively lady.  We took a taxi from the school to our house, which was good because I had two large bags, a backpack and my purse.  Her house is in a rectangular neighborhood where all the houses are touching and are bright colors.  When we got out of the taxi there were 6 or 7 guys standing around talking.  Maite introduced me to each of them and told me how they were related, where they lived, etc.  We first went into her neighbor’s house where there were lots more people, the couple that lived there, their children, their mother, and their friends.  We then celebrated the feast of the three kings with cake and coffee.  They were all very nice and we did talk a little.  Next we went into our house, what a surprise!  Downstairs is her bedroom, a living room/dining room, a kitchen and a patio out back.  Upstairs is all mine!  There are two bedrooms, one has a closet, a double bed, a table, nightstand, and a couch.  The other has a single bed, a chair, a desk and a closet.  I also have my own bathroom.  The first day I unpacked my things then we went out to a restaurant/coffee shop for dinner.  I had a crepe with nutella.  After dinner we went to a store that had everything I could need or want including Frosted Flakes!! :) Friday we started class/orientation.  We looked over the cities, rivers and mountains of Spain.  I had forgotten that lunch is the big meal of the day here so I wasn’t expecting much but we had soup, salad, chicken, bread, and oranges!  All delicious! That afternoon we took a tour / scavenger hunt of the city to become familiar with it.  We went in groups of 5 and I had a blast!  I enjoyed getting to know those people more and it was so much fun touring the city.  By the way, Denia has a mountain (mongo) on one side and the Mediterranean Sea on the other side; its streets are lined with palm trees and lights.  All the buildings are different bright colors and it’s in around the 50’s F.  It is very warm!  During our scavenger hunt we saw the ancient castle that is on one side of Denia, the supermarkets, a church, some stores, a few plazas, the sea harbor with many boats and ships, and tons of shoe stores!!  Even though we saw most of Denia (we walked around for three hours!) I acutely remembered a quote my Dad always says.  We are often lost and people will ask him, “Doesn’t this look familiar?” and he says “Yes, because I have been lost here before!”  I feel the same way although I hear in a couple of weeks the city becomes very small and easy to navigate.  I had dinner while watching pasapalabra (password) on TV with Maite.  Oh man, do they speak fast on TV!!!  At night I just did little reading and writing and went to bed.  Saturday morning I got to sleep in, have some cereal and my Mom’s (Jodi) homemade friendship bread which was excellent.  Today we went to el Torre de Gerro(a large tower) (she told us we were going on a nice walk on the beach) this was a three to four mile walk on rocks and to get to the Torre you need to climb a mountain!  It was beautiful and the walk was all on the street next to the beach so we could smell the ocean and feel the breeze the whole time!  After we walked back from that, a few of us got our computers and went to the school to use the internet.  I have talked with a couple of the locals and it has taken them a minute or two to realize that I am American, usually after I saw a sentence or two J  With three hours of walking yesterday, jet lag, and our 6 + mile walk including a mountain, I am pretty exhausted.  Class starts Monday and I am hoping to get to know the city a little better soon so I can enjoy all that Denia has to offer.  Plus I can’t wait to go lay out on the sandy beaches!!   I miss you all at home and I hope you are enjoying the snow for me!  It is 66 degrees F here!  Hasta luego (Until later J)      

T minus one day

Hey everybody!
  I am super syched to head off to Spain tomorrow!!!  We leave for Chicago in the morning.  Nine hour flight plus one more one hour flight, plus a bus ride, plus walking with all my gear, and I will be there.  Please pray for safety for all the flights and a nice easy departure!
  I will update this blog as amazing things happen in Denia, Spain.  Feel free to comment and let me know how your lives are going back in the United States and I will see you all in May!!
~Jenn~