2/5/2013 Granada, Flamenco, and Teaching

On Friday morning our bus for Granada left at 9am. I was a 3 hour ride ad we stopped about half way for 30 minutes. Once we got to Granada we walked to our hotel. We had about 30 minutes and then we had to be back down in the lobby of the hotel to walk back to the bus. The first thing we did was go to the Alhambra, which was amazing. We had a 3 hour tour through the Alhambra. I could have spent all day taking pictures there because it was so beautiful. I just seemed like every doorway that we went through got better and better. I took over 300 pictures during our tour at the Alhambra. After the Alhambra we walked back into town, down hill the whole way. This walk made me really happy that we took the bus to the Alhambra. We were are a little hunger, so we stopped at a small bar. One of the great things about Granada is that when you order a drink you get a free tapa. So we ordered drinks, the tapa we received was like a bagel with ham and tomato with french fries on the side. So I got a Coke sandwich and fries for 2.20 Euros. We then got to go back to the hotel. We had about two hours to ourselves at the hotel. Gabe and I decided to take the time to play a few games of chess on the chess board I bought that is made of inlaid wood. Let's just say that I has been a REALLY long time since I played chess, but it was still fun! At 8 the chaperons from the school took us down to the bars. Once there we all split up. My friends and I went to a few different bars and had some alcohol and some soda (and of course some tapas).  On Saturday, we walked up to the part of town that the gypsies live in. It was and uphill walked the whole way. While we were up there we got to see a gypsy wedding. Then we walked back downhill part of the way and then took a different way up and we went to a "balcony" area where we to awesome pictures for the town and the Alhambra. After that we were set free. Liz, Hannah, Gabe and I went across the river and hike and climbed for like 2 hours which was a lot of fun. That night we went out again and it was a lot of fun. Then next morning most of us slept in then we left on the bus at about 12. Our trip to Granada was our, just like that, way too soon! On Monday we had Flamenco class. For those who want to know what we are learning you can look it up on YouTube. Just copy this URL: http://youtu.be/0m-6MqOS9cs This is the traditional Sevillanas Flamenco style of dance. So far we have learned the first two dance sections and we danced in partners. It is a very fun class but also very challenging. This morning (Tuesday) I woke up early and left my house at 7:15am. I walked about 35 minutes to a school across the river. That is where I am volunteering to help in an English class. The kids in the class are all about 15 years old. Today, I introduced myself to the class and then the teacher gave me 7 students to take into a smaller room and just talk with them. Normally, I will be doing evaluations in smaller groups, like 5 students, but today we sat down and they just got to ask my questions. I had a lot of fun talking to the kids and helping them with their English and teaching them more about America while also learning more about Spain. I had so much fun that I actually went to Sam, she is one of the employees at the school,  and asked her if I could volunteer a second day every week. So, I get to spend an hour every Tuesday and Thursday morning with the kids and I am very excited!!!!!