December in Spain

Dear blog reader. You may be surprised by hearing this, or maybe not? There's an orange tree in the school yard! Kind of surreal. And cool. Looks beautiful, doesn't it? This picture was taken a week ago.

Holidays! Holidays! Holidays! Three weeks off work -- a mí me gusta:) Ended the term with a horrific weather this afternoon, it was (and still is) pouring down with rain. The pupils (or "kids" as my colleagues tend to call them) got their reports, Christmas cards (and presents) were exchanged between teachers and teachers, and pupils and pupils, and some of the pupils gave cards and presents to the teachers. I have got wine and chocolate and some unidentified presents that I will bring back home to Norway and open on the 24th. I had brought some "Swedish ginger snaps", aka pepperkaker, to my form group this morning. After all this, everyone was looking forward to three weeks off work!

I'm packing my stuff for Norway now; three weeks in Winter Wonderland. My friend Gina texted me this morning from Romedal, with -20 degrees celcius. Brrr..... Spoke to my niece Oda, and she reported -14 in Hokksund. So I guess I'll leave the summer clothes here in Spain. My suitcase is now full of Christmas presents.

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Here are some images that sum up the last weeks' experiences:

Mrs Mills, Ms Tong, Ms Raustøl, Mrs Wade. Four proud English teacher after the Poetry Party for Year 7. Our students have been working with poetry this term, and written some brilliant poems. We celebrated the poetry Friday 11 December with the 60 Year 7 students, in my class room. (Unfortunately I can't publish pictures of the students while they're reading their poems.)

The famous Christmas Bazaar at Aloha College! Ms Tong in charge of the raffle. Parents had donated around 1000 bottles to the bazaar.

The Christmas Bazaar! People enjoying food in the sun.

The Swedish stand offered además gløgg, pepperkaker, smoked salmon, lusekatter etc. Very nice! Very popular.

The Russian stall.

Elaine, me, Mariela; proud winners of wine.

Look, an orange tree in the school yard!

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The Senior School concert was held last night in the school hall. Karol, the music teacher, had managed to find lots of musical talent at school, and it was a great concert with christmas songs, a samba orchestra, a guitar group, and of course the famous school choir. (They even sang a Christmas carol in Norwegian!!)

The music teacher Mrs Willmer and her assistant Ms Raustøl after the concert. Happy and exhausted. Notice the beautiful flowers we got from Mrs Batchelor!!

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Some teachers went to a tapas bar in Marbella after the concert and enjoyed some nice patatas bravas etc. y un copa de vino tinto.

Ms Sinwell and Mr Escobar

Ms Noelia, Mrs Julieta, Ascención

My Head of Dept. Fiona, her husband, and me.

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What a long day! Elaine, Pedro and I went to Calahonda after the tapas meal. It was great to see Elaine and Julio's Christmas Tree one more time before Christmas. We watched Bridget Jones and had fun! :)

Mr and Mrs Tacky Christmas Tree:)

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So dear blog reader:

Thanks for reading my blog in 2009. I will return to Spain on 9 January 2010 and give you more updates from life in Spain in the new year.

The past four months have been fun, funny, interesting, challenging, hot, very hot, and I feel I've learned a lot here. I'm so glad I decided to move to Spain!

Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad! God jul!

Sunday on the BEACH

What a great day!! Sunny, nice, warm, fantastic! Lots of people were having lunch on the beach today. Just like these guys. And Stine Paparazzi Raustøl went for a long walk.

Had a great tapas night + bar night in Marbella last night, with Ruth, and stayed at her place. We had breakfast at her breakfast cafe in Marbella this morning, and after that I went home, put on some proper summer clothes, and walked down to the beach. Started walking in the direction of San Pedro, and before I knew it, I was there. In San Pedro. Had lunch at a great restaurant, and fully enjoyed the sun at the beach!! Lovely:)

Children having lunch at the beach.

No comment needed.

Lovely!

Nice boat.

This is not a playground, but machines that you would usually find in the gym.

Who needs to go to the gym inside, when you can use gym machines on the beach??

So to sum up, it's been a great Sunday. It's a Bank Holiday in Spain today, and we've got two more days off work. Feels great. I kind of wish I had been in Norway today to celebrate my nephew's birthday (Sivert is 2 years old on Tuesday!!) but this has still been a very good day. And I have spoken to Oda and Sivert on Skype this weekend. Lovely!

Siesta

Spain is a country where they have siestas. I recently read an article in Aftenposten about how siestas make Spanish workers ineffective. You can read the article here. Since I live in what sometimes feel like "little Britain" and not the real Spain, I haven't really experienced proper siestas yet, and the results on society. Until this afternoon....

I stayed up too late last night writing reports (deadline this afternoon). And when I got back from work after a LOVELY choir rehearsal with the senior school choir this afternoon, I felt exhausted, and didn't even want to think about having to make food. I plucked up the courage to walk all the way down to the Chinese restaurant close to Puerto Banus, and the sun was still shining, so I kind of enjoyed the walk:) Not only would I get food, but also some sunshine and vitamin D!!

However, Spanish people don't go to restaurants at 5.30 in the afternoon. The Chinese restaurant was closed, SIESTA, and I had to walk all the way back home. Hungry. Exhausted. I even popped by a Thai restaurant and an Indian one, but they had siestas as well... Of course. I love siestas!! So now I'm waiting for my delicious Mercadona pizza in the oven. Not exactly what I had expected.

And the moral of this lesson is....? Try to integrate asap. Follow the local customs and traditions. Have dinner no earlier than 9pm in the evening. Don't get confused by living in a touristy places. That's just on the surface. After all, they're all Spanish in their way of thinking here. Hæ??