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Monday, May 4, 2009
Vuelvo a Oregon
Hola, vuelvo a Oregon, I'm coming home!
I'm flying back home from Spain May 13th. These past few months I was hoping to have my return planned a little more in advance but it has hit me again that when it's time for a transition, it can be a little scary, but I'm thankful for the peace that God has given me and I'm so excited to see everyone this month.
I've been able to see more of Spain these past few months, and during Easter week I took a trip down to the South, Andalucia, and visited the cities of Malaga, Cordoba and Granada. I'll have these last pictures on my blog at: kylevivaspain.blogspot.com .
The teaching has been a good and challenging experience for me and I'll see if I can continue in the same area of work.
Now, I'm looking for some work opportunities in Oregon and am really excited to spend time with the family and my nieces!
Thank you everyone for all of your prayers and support over this year. I've had such a wonderful time here and have made some great friendships.
I look forward to seeing all of you again and will keep in touch when I arrive home.
I'm flying back home from Spain May 13th. These past few months I was hoping to have my return planned a little more in advance but it has hit me again that when it's time for a transition, it can be a little scary, but I'm thankful for the peace that God has given me and I'm so excited to see everyone this month.
I've been able to see more of Spain these past few months, and during Easter week I took a trip down to the South, Andalucia, and visited the cities of Malaga, Cordoba and Granada. I'll have these last pictures on my blog at: kylevivaspain.blogspot.com .
The teaching has been a good and challenging experience for me and I'll see if I can continue in the same area of work.
Now, I'm looking for some work opportunities in Oregon and am really excited to spend time with the family and my nieces!
Thank you everyone for all of your prayers and support over this year. I've had such a wonderful time here and have made some great friendships.
I look forward to seeing all of you again and will keep in touch when I arrive home.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Primevera for sure
Buenas dias y buena primavera a todo. The weather here has been astounding and I'm so fortunate to see what Spain is like at the onset of spring.
The past couple of weeks I've been able to see a bit more of Spain outside of Madrid. I went to Toledo two weeks ago. Such a rich city only 30 minutes from here on train, and saw a such a mixture of cultures in one city- from Roman, to Muslim, and Jewish imprints on the city. Its situated in the plains of Castilla-La Mancha, south of Madrid, the geographic area of where Don Quixote was based off of. It was great to see the landscape, rivers, valleys, and farming land.
It's been great travelling with and getting to know Nuria and other friends who have shown me a lot of Spain.
I also went hiking this past weekend in the Navacerradas, just north of Madrid. Its a mountain range that surrounds the meseta and I've been dying to go visit. I went with Nuria and a couple of others hiking for half the day along some trails, past some lakes, and breathed some fresh air outside of Madrid for a change. It reminded me so much of home.
The classes have been going well, and maybe for a little while I might take on some other classes with little kids where I can be paid as a private teacher and practice my spanish a bit more during the class hours. I've noticed a big improvement speaking with people and still find it fun learning spanish.
Thank you all still for your prayers and support,
Kyle
The past couple of weeks I've been able to see a bit more of Spain outside of Madrid. I went to Toledo two weeks ago. Such a rich city only 30 minutes from here on train, and saw a such a mixture of cultures in one city- from Roman, to Muslim, and Jewish imprints on the city. Its situated in the plains of Castilla-La Mancha, south of Madrid, the geographic area of where Don Quixote was based off of. It was great to see the landscape, rivers, valleys, and farming land.
It's been great travelling with and getting to know Nuria and other friends who have shown me a lot of Spain.
I also went hiking this past weekend in the Navacerradas, just north of Madrid. Its a mountain range that surrounds the meseta and I've been dying to go visit. I went with Nuria and a couple of others hiking for half the day along some trails, past some lakes, and breathed some fresh air outside of Madrid for a change. It reminded me so much of home.
The classes have been going well, and maybe for a little while I might take on some other classes with little kids where I can be paid as a private teacher and practice my spanish a bit more during the class hours. I've noticed a big improvement speaking with people and still find it fun learning spanish.
Thank you all still for your prayers and support,
Kyle
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Happy New Year
Hola,
Happy New Year and greetings from Madrid. I just got back yesterday from a little euro trip with Walter. We had a great time and fun celebrating Christmas and New Year's together.
He came here to Madrid to visit me as I was finishing up my classes in mid December. He got to see a bit of Madrid and its beautiful city decorations and I was teaching the words to Jingle Bells, other Christmas carols and learning about the Christmas traditions they have here in Spain - Christmas day and Jan. 6th, yesterday, which is the Day of the Kings or Three Wise Men on which a lot of the kids receive their presents. The snowfall here is scattered but in other parts of Spain it's snowing quite a lot and the temperatures were at -4 C this week.
After my classes finished, Walter and I took our first flight to Barcelona. We stayed there 2 nights. Our hostel was on Paseo de Gracia, with very fashionable stores, and not far from Gaudi's Casa Batllo and another one of his houses (I'm using some of Walter's pics that are much better). We then took a tour bus which we could get off and on when we wanted. This took us through the whole city, up Mont Juic where we had a great view of the city, along the pier where we had lunch and monuments for Columbus, then through the Gothic district, the modern district, modern architecture everywhere, past Gaudi's Sagrada familia which is an enormous and spectacular modern cathedral, and up to Parc Guell with more of his designs and very nice view of city. So we had a nice stay in sunny Barcelona.
We then flew over to Rome, somehow again finding our way after plane, bus and walking, stopping in pizza shops for directions to the hotel where his dad was staying very near to the Vatican. At one point that first night we were walking right along the Vatican walls with our luggage looking for the street. The nice hotel with terrace was just ten minutes to walk into Vatican city. Walter's dad gave us a 3 day pass for the tour bus and Christmas midnight mass. First day we went into Vatican museum for several hours with Egyptian, Roman and many other relics, statues and such. We meandered through halls and halls before reaching the Sistine Chapel, took some pics with hundreds of other tourists relaxing on the ground looking at the paintings. We then had a our first Italian pizza-buenissimo. Following day we took the bus tour through the city, to St. Paul's cathedral, had a tour through there where his tomb and the actual chains from execution are displayed, his execution was not far from where the cathedral is. Then went to Colisseum where we got tickets to go in, walked around, could see the inner tunnels everywhere, amazing sight. After we walked to the Roman Forum with ancient ruins and remains of the city center with the capital and temples. On to Trevi Fountain, had a calzone, the Pantheon, fought with a Roman soldier, walked along the Tiber and went back. That evening we waited in St. Peter's square for 3 hours to get into the midnight mass. Once the doors opened thousands were let inside while thousands stayed in the square. Walter and I had never seen nuns be so aggressive before as people were mobbing to get in. St. Peter's is astounding inside, and we were within feet of the aisle as the Pope came down and gave his blessings that night. It was a marvelous experience we got to be a part of. Had a good Italian Christmas dinner together.
Early the next morning to catch our flight to London, well, to Dublin where we had a frantic sprint down the terminals to catch another flight to London just at the last minute, but whats a good adventure without that... In London we stayed at a hostel which is an old courthouse and prison, The Clink, still has jail cells you could stay in, and the band The Clash were held on trial there. Met a lot of people from around the world there including Americans who just came to the UK to work for 6 months and they all met there the same day. The first day we met with my friend Simon another teacher at the academy here who's from London, so he showed us around the city. Walked through a couple of markets, had a traditional English breakfast, walked down to the Parliament, Big Ben, across and along the Thames by some theatres including the Shakespearean Globe, and up to London bridge. Next day we went into Picadilly circus, St. Paul's, and to Tower Bridge where we went up in an elevator for a nice vista over the city. Saw Charles Dickens' museum in his old house. London was freezing, huge, and expensive.
Then another early bus and train to get to the airport to fly back to Dublin. Our hostel, although the worst in condition, was in the city center, not far from O'Connel St. and Trinity College. Walked through the city for a day, along two big streets with statues lined through the middle, across the Liffey River and around the college a bit. First evening we stopped into a pub and watched a small band with guitar, accordian and violin. Spent New Year's there, with many people in the center and just a diverse as London, many live bands playing. Next night we did a literary pub crawl where a couple of actors/Irish literary enthusiasts guided us through four different famous pubs and a couple other sites, rehearsed scenes from plays, sang a few songs, gave us the history and facts of writers such as Joyce and Oscar Wilde, who went to Trinity, had a little quiz at the end. Some of the streets and pubs were central in Joyce's Ulysses so it was fun and entertaining. Had some delicious traditional breakfast with eggs, sausage, bacon, rashers(whatever those are) and mushrooms-- at least 3 times at Kylemore's restaurant with statue of James Joyce right out front.
The next day we went on a bus to Galway in west Ireland and stayed there three nights. We took a bus tour to the cliffs of Moher and saw a lot of the landscape, rock burial sites, and castles. Took bus back to Dublin then flew the next morning back to Madrid.
I had an awesome time traveling with Walter and seeing a lot of the world. Thanks for all your prayers. Missed everyone deeply over Christmas and New Year. Thank you all for the presents in the package and reading The Shack right now. Watched Ryan's DVD of the family down in Sacramento and Thanksgiving, and a lot of Kaelyn, so precious!
I'm continuing with my classes here for a while, awaiting to see what God wants for me next and enjoying the experience.
Happy New Year and greetings from Madrid. I just got back yesterday from a little euro trip with Walter. We had a great time and fun celebrating Christmas and New Year's together.
He came here to Madrid to visit me as I was finishing up my classes in mid December. He got to see a bit of Madrid and its beautiful city decorations and I was teaching the words to Jingle Bells, other Christmas carols and learning about the Christmas traditions they have here in Spain - Christmas day and Jan. 6th, yesterday, which is the Day of the Kings or Three Wise Men on which a lot of the kids receive their presents. The snowfall here is scattered but in other parts of Spain it's snowing quite a lot and the temperatures were at -4 C this week.
After my classes finished, Walter and I took our first flight to Barcelona. We stayed there 2 nights. Our hostel was on Paseo de Gracia, with very fashionable stores, and not far from Gaudi's Casa Batllo and another one of his houses (I'm using some of Walter's pics that are much better). We then took a tour bus which we could get off and on when we wanted. This took us through the whole city, up Mont Juic where we had a great view of the city, along the pier where we had lunch and monuments for Columbus, then through the Gothic district, the modern district, modern architecture everywhere, past Gaudi's Sagrada familia which is an enormous and spectacular modern cathedral, and up to Parc Guell with more of his designs and very nice view of city. So we had a nice stay in sunny Barcelona.
We then flew over to Rome, somehow again finding our way after plane, bus and walking, stopping in pizza shops for directions to the hotel where his dad was staying very near to the Vatican. At one point that first night we were walking right along the Vatican walls with our luggage looking for the street. The nice hotel with terrace was just ten minutes to walk into Vatican city. Walter's dad gave us a 3 day pass for the tour bus and Christmas midnight mass. First day we went into Vatican museum for several hours with Egyptian, Roman and many other relics, statues and such. We meandered through halls and halls before reaching the Sistine Chapel, took some pics with hundreds of other tourists relaxing on the ground looking at the paintings. We then had a our first Italian pizza-buenissimo. Following day we took the bus tour through the city, to St. Paul's cathedral, had a tour through there where his tomb and the actual chains from execution are displayed, his execution was not far from where the cathedral is. Then went to Colisseum where we got tickets to go in, walked around, could see the inner tunnels everywhere, amazing sight. After we walked to the Roman Forum with ancient ruins and remains of the city center with the capital and temples. On to Trevi Fountain, had a calzone, the Pantheon, fought with a Roman soldier, walked along the Tiber and went back. That evening we waited in St. Peter's square for 3 hours to get into the midnight mass. Once the doors opened thousands were let inside while thousands stayed in the square. Walter and I had never seen nuns be so aggressive before as people were mobbing to get in. St. Peter's is astounding inside, and we were within feet of the aisle as the Pope came down and gave his blessings that night. It was a marvelous experience we got to be a part of. Had a good Italian Christmas dinner together.
Early the next morning to catch our flight to London, well, to Dublin where we had a frantic sprint down the terminals to catch another flight to London just at the last minute, but whats a good adventure without that... In London we stayed at a hostel which is an old courthouse and prison, The Clink, still has jail cells you could stay in, and the band The Clash were held on trial there. Met a lot of people from around the world there including Americans who just came to the UK to work for 6 months and they all met there the same day. The first day we met with my friend Simon another teacher at the academy here who's from London, so he showed us around the city. Walked through a couple of markets, had a traditional English breakfast, walked down to the Parliament, Big Ben, across and along the Thames by some theatres including the Shakespearean Globe, and up to London bridge. Next day we went into Picadilly circus, St. Paul's, and to Tower Bridge where we went up in an elevator for a nice vista over the city. Saw Charles Dickens' museum in his old house. London was freezing, huge, and expensive.
Then another early bus and train to get to the airport to fly back to Dublin. Our hostel, although the worst in condition, was in the city center, not far from O'Connel St. and Trinity College. Walked through the city for a day, along two big streets with statues lined through the middle, across the Liffey River and around the college a bit. First evening we stopped into a pub and watched a small band with guitar, accordian and violin. Spent New Year's there, with many people in the center and just a diverse as London, many live bands playing. Next night we did a literary pub crawl where a couple of actors/Irish literary enthusiasts guided us through four different famous pubs and a couple other sites, rehearsed scenes from plays, sang a few songs, gave us the history and facts of writers such as Joyce and Oscar Wilde, who went to Trinity, had a little quiz at the end. Some of the streets and pubs were central in Joyce's Ulysses so it was fun and entertaining. Had some delicious traditional breakfast with eggs, sausage, bacon, rashers(whatever those are) and mushrooms-- at least 3 times at Kylemore's restaurant with statue of James Joyce right out front.
The next day we went on a bus to Galway in west Ireland and stayed there three nights. We took a bus tour to the cliffs of Moher and saw a lot of the landscape, rock burial sites, and castles. Took bus back to Dublin then flew the next morning back to Madrid.
I had an awesome time traveling with Walter and seeing a lot of the world. Thanks for all your prayers. Missed everyone deeply over Christmas and New Year. Thank you all for the presents in the package and reading The Shack right now. Watched Ryan's DVD of the family down in Sacramento and Thanksgiving, and a lot of Kaelyn, so precious!
I'm continuing with my classes here for a while, awaiting to see what God wants for me next and enjoying the experience.
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