Another Ending

Well my trip to Granada, Spain has come to an end. I was sad to leave because it really started to feel like home for me. Seeing as I was recognized at two pastelerias and a teteria I consider my first trip to Europe a success.

Where will teaching and traveling take me next? Only time will tell!

Weekends Strolling Granada

More pictures from my weekends wandering!

Aren't the doorways beautiful!?

This is where people used to get their water before there was public plumbing.

More doorways!

The man in the blue sweater looks remarkably like Mr. Rodgers...

Statues - there are SO many here!

Alhambra from afar - Thursday I will get to see it in person!

Just another beautiful Spanish building!

Far shot! :) Talk about lovely!

My former housemate Nick and I overlooking the Alhambra. What a gorgeous day!

Stephanie, Kelsey, myself, and Nick resting from our stroll up through the Albaicin. Ah, those are the days!

Mas Comida!

As usual, I've tried more food in Spain! My latest treats are from my favorite pasteleria in Granada - Olympic 21. I am actually recognized there and am buddies with the employees... oh what my love of goodies has brought me!

This one is the same fruit one I had before (it was too good to pass up) and then another new addition on the right. It is pastry with custard in the middle which is light and super cinnamony. YUM!

My gigantic sandwich! Roscos are super common here - this one was labeled as vegetable but had mayo and tuna. It was yummy!

Side view.... I did in fact eat the whole thing. I surprise myself sometimes!

FINALLLLLYYYYYY!

The glorious day finally arrived for churros and chocolate - let me just start off with saying yum. :) It was quite tasty and completely spur of the moment as we walked around one night.

These are the churros and the milk chocolate (the one complaint I had was no dark chocolate for sure!) but it was tasty!

The smile on my face could not fade because finally I got what I'd been waiting for! :)

Then the guys soon found it endlessly funny because it looked rather.... shall we say inappropriate to see me eating the churros...

Boys will be boys but they were sure tasty! :)

Pronunciation Errors

Well this is just a funny story from teaching English...

Pronunciation of English is sometimes difficult for non-native speakers because we have different sounds that aren't in other languages.. For example:

During a teaching practice with beginners a teacher was drilling (saying the word and having students repeat the word to pronounce in correctly) the word breakfast. This older gentleman was having trouble and no matter how many times they went back and forth repeating, he just kept saying "breast-fest". I couldn't help but laugh!

Then when I was teaching beginners the same gentleman was having difficulty saying waitress only to pronounce "white-trash".... certainly makes a sentence funny when the "white trash" was taking your order or bringing you drinks. HILARIOUS!

Graduation!

We did it! We all graduated with our TEFL certificate! YAY!! Here are some shots from the event...

Mercedes - our house caretaker - makes an amazing amount of paella for us... boy was that delicious!

Vegetarian and mixed - those shrimp were awesome!

The spread - bread, paella and an awesome salad. Complete with sangria and fanta. YUMMY!

We waited patiently to hear our names being called!

And here we are from left to right: (top) Nick, John, Ryan, Juliana. (bottom) Luke, Fred, Megan, Keith, Kelsey, Stephanie, Suzanne, and me. :) Fun day!

The trainers in all their glory! Left to right: Dylan, John, Antony, and Richard.

A more serious picture!

Me accepting my certificate from Dylan! :) And the most exciting news was that I was valedictorian! YAHOO!!! All that hard work definitely paid off!

The classmates started chanting "Speech, speech, speech...."

So here I am making me heart-felt, impromptu speech. :)

Sights around Town

During my latest outings I snapped a few photos to show everyone back home. Somewhat random but they caught my eye!

Even in Spain the kids like Spiderman (this was for you AJ!). The kids here generally dress VERY nicely but it is fun to see a kid every now and again dressed like super hero!

I generally don't take pictures of dresses but this was gorgeous (minus the bow) and would totally wear it whenever I get married. Definitely caught my eye.

Street views in Granada.
My postre - a little tart with vanilla custard and fresh strawberries on top. YUM!

Stephanie with her dessert called Felipe.... we aren't really sure what it is actually called because when she tried to ask what it was called she accidently asked the nice man behind the counter what HIS name was, to which he replied, Felipe.... we got a good chuckle outside the pasteleria when we realized what happened and proceeded to call this little morsel Felipe! :)

Me, the city, my dessert, and a sunny day - what could be better!

Wide shot of the same thing. Just a gorgeous day in Granada!

A fountain in town - nearly every plaza (and there are tons) has their own fountain. All are so different!