Bailen

... a side road. The road disappeared at one corner and revealed a massive valley before us along with a twisting road that snaked downward. And what did we see in the valley? More f*ing olive trees. There’s really no way to explain how many olive trees there are. Hopefully the pictures do some justice.

As we were ripping up the road at about 130kph, between massive fields of ______, (c’mon, guess), two birds lifted ...

... everything a city has to offer. The city is literally built into the mountains so it is quite the workout making it up and down the streets. The hills surrounding the city are covered in olive trees and the view is beautiful. Jaen produces what has said to be the worlds best olive oil and so far it has tasted very good to me!  I went to visit the school where I will be teaching to introduce myself and I was greeted with open arms. They were all very excited to have me there and for me ...

... still hits the spot on those really hot days when it's getting over 38 to 40 degrees outside. We will be wrapping up our stay in Ubeda this weekend, which is kinda sad because we have had such a good time with the family there. But we do want to see the rest of Spain. Since we spent so much time in Ubeda, and because it's getting so hot here in the south, we've decided to forego Valencia and the Balaeric islands. The plan is to catch a ...

... for the most part, we have been pretty successful. Of course, it helps that in addition to being excellent hosts, Merche and Paco are also fabulous teachers. This has been especially helpful for our spanish skills. Just in the course of doing everyday things with the family (cooking & eating meals, watching soccer games, going shopping or out for a walk, and just talking about our day) we have learned SO much spanish. There are tons of ...

Well we are having a great time with Mercedes and Paco. We learn tons of Spanish just sitting around doing everyday things, like cooking, or watching a soccer game. :) We have been re-named, Fredrico and Juani, which are apparently easier for our hosts to say and remember. On Saturday night we went for a walk to the Mirador, or view point, looking out over the olive orchards to the south. As we walked we ran into several people that Mercedes and Paco ...

... with good intentions, I'm sure) and always excuse our poor grammar. So, on Thursday we caught a bus from Granada to Ubeda. We found a hostel, booked 2 nights, and then fired up my laptop to check the address. Well, it turns out the address wasn't included in the letter, nor was their last name. Total bummer! We made some quick phone calls back to the states to see if we could somehow extract the data from our home ...

... American teachers at an Irish Pub called Morrisons. One of the girls from Texas is now dating the pub's owner and is now working there, so we stopped by to say hi. Later, we went to the other Irish Pub in town to meet Bea, Antonio and other Spanish friends. Though the Spaniards are usually out till 4 or 5, and still consider that relatively early, but we called it a night around 2:00.

... to me that a good way to help these kids get used to talking is to do the same kinds of things that my Spanish teachers in high school did with us. Sure, high school Spanish was mad stressful and hard, but it worked wonders. I have had no trouble with speaking in Spanish ever since. Remembering this I went about preparing a little "Silla Caliente" sheet. (Linda, Nick, and anyone else from St. Francis, you know what I'm talking about.) For ...

Wow! So it took me a very very very long time to finally develop these pictures...but I tell you what it was worth the wait! I think they turned out great! Most of the photos for Granada are of the Alahambra....(history load up).... This was the most amazing building/buildings I have yet to see! Alahambra is not just one building...it's a collection of buildings, including Palacio de Carlos V, General Life (aka the architect's gardens ...

... another chapel/church (the Mosquita or something like that). The building was quite amazing on the inside and was made up of heaps of archways. For the rest of our time in Cordoba, I just walked around trying to get some good pictures of some of the other buildings and bridges. Unfortunately just about every place I seem to go lately has scaffolding around them for renovations.