Am desperately trying to keep this going...

Dear all,

So it has been about 2 months; needless to say a lot has happened, so I'll break it down by month...

Feb:

Feb was crazy! I flew home to London for an intensive interview weekend for a job in Japan with a company called AEON. The first day was mainly made up if presentations on life in Japan etc. but later on we had to teach a 5 minute lesson in front a small group!! It was for a beginner level class so I mainly taught useful language for a shop and had the group practice some phrases. Luckily, I received a call back for the next day! I ended up spending 2 hours being interviewed, for which I had to prepare another on the spot lesson! After all that fuss, I am very relieved to announce that I did get the job and am going to Japan in August!!! YAY!!

March:

Not a great deal happened in March, BUT during the last week, Seville has its Semana Santa (Holy Week) so I had a week off work! Since my brother had to spend his holiday doing his dissertation in San Francisco, my mum and I decided to go with him!! IT WAS AWESOME! We had a HUGE scare with the BA strike as we had booked our flight right on the day they were striking :o but luckily we were able to go a day later! I still prefer Virgin Atlantic though...
Sadly it rained most of the time so we didn't walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, but we did take a taxi across and took some pictures from a lookout point on the other side! The weather cleared up during the afternoon one day, so we took the ferry over to Alcatraz (the prison island where Al Capone was imprisoned!). We took a tour of the prison and they told us stories of escapes etc. It was really awesome! Plus, the views of San Francisco bay were incredible! The guides, however, did try and send out this 'everything was happy and jolly for the prisoners' vibe, so take everything they say with a pinch of salt.
After my brother joined his study group, my mum and I spent the rest of the holiday mainly shopping. As a result, I have now discovered my favourite store ever: Forever 21. Please start delivering to the U.K!!!
We also went to the theatre to see Wicked, which was wicked ;) and we took the ferry over to Sausalito, a really beautiful, old American town across the bay.
San Francisco is a stunning city, so if you have the chance, definitely go! Though watch out if you have breakfast at Mama's, because you will be waiting for an hour! Good pancakes though ;)


Robert and I by the Golden Gate Bridge!

April:

Other than the news that I have the Japan job, April has mainly been working and looking forward to another week off during Seville's feria (festival). I am told there will be a fairground, as well as marquees for drinking! A few of my student have invited me to their marquees, so we'll see! I am also going to Morocco next weekend!! I AM SO EXCITED!! I have always wanted to ride a camel!!

With only 2 months left to go, I will definitely be making the most of my time here! I am really excited about Japan, but I'm also going to be so sad to leave Seville.

Watch out for my hopefully more recent next post!

Sonia
Xxx

Arabic Baths and Cordoba!

Hello All,

It has been a while since my last post, but things calmed down rapidly after the drama of the first week! Last week, however, was extremely action packed as my mum came to stay for a few days!! Yay!!

Sadly I had to work, so we didn't do a great deal. We visited the main attractions in Sevilla last time she came, so this time we just walked around during the day and ate a lot of tapas!! I did manage to persuade her to get out of bed and do something cultural when I suggested going to the Arabic baths. It was a really amazing experience. For about €30 each, we had two hours to relax in various hot baths (and one REALLY cold one) and a fifteen minute massage. Lovely :)

The building has a lot of candles and no other lighting so it has a very Zen like atmosphere. In one room, there are three baths; one is a massive medium temperature bath, one is really hot and the other is really cold. We were laughed at by a few other people after squealing in the cold bath! You can also go into a whirlpool bath and a very steamy steam room on the same floor. Downstairs there is a salt water bath. The massage was awesome too, and I would recommend going to the baths if anyone just wants to do something vaguely cultural and relaxing!

Mum left on Friday, and on Saturday my friend Kate and I took a day trip to the nearby city of Cordoba! Cordoba was really beautiful. The Cathedral was build on top of an old Mosque, so you can see parts of the Mosque when you go inside. The palace is stunning too, and since it was SO sunny, we spent a few moments sitting outside in the gardens which as you can see below, were absolutely breathtaking.

We also walked down by the river and across this massive bridge! The water was like liquid mud though; it was pretty disgusting! You can also see the old ruins of a water mill and a castle like tower on the other side of the bridge. After walking around a while, we stopped to have some local cuisine; fried aubergines and honey! A must have if you're ever in Cordoba!

Well that's it for now! Keep checking back for more posts!!

Lots of love!!

Sonia

The first weekend and the new job!

Hello All!

The first week of my new job was great; having students old enough to talk to, and to even go out drinking with, is extremely refreshing! My students are great, and classes were going really well until along came the death sentence of all classes; teaching the English tenses. I assumed that the students in one of my FCE classes would be familiar with the future tense - I was wrong. It is not an easy thing to drop a lesson plan and improvise, especially when I wasn't entirely sure how to answer the dreaded questions such as "why do you use 'going to' instead of 'will'?" It is like asking the meaning of life as far as I'm concerned. Hopefully the next class will be ok as I have planned for all of these evil questions! I pray they understand... stay tuned!

The first weekend was awesome. I went for drinks after class with my students on Wednesday, and ended up going to watch the Sevilla vs. Barcelona match with some people whose names I don't even remember now! That's what I love about Seville. You have no idea what is going to happen. We had a great party on Saturday night too, and everyone from the CELTA/English teacher world was there; saves me a load of organisation ;)

My housemates have had a hell of a time this week trying to find jobs etc. My friend Kate was also looking for a new place, and has just managed to secure a great one bed apartment near us. Yay! It took me back to when I had just finished the CELTA and had nowhere to live. Luckily I did have a job, but I had to start working out of a hostel!!! My friend Holly and I spent days trying to find an apartment! You will not believe how hard it is to find a place to live here! If you go through an agency you will pay a fortune, otherwise you need to walk around the various areas and call every 'se aquilla' sign you see. After a desperate few days of having to fight for the shower with one crazy French lady, we ran crying back to Clic (the school we had studied with) for help. Luckily we were friendly with the receptionist, and she gave us a number for a place she knew that had some spare rooms. We took the apartment without even seeing it! Luckily it was AMAZING, and is in the best area - only five minutes from the centre! As always, in Sevilla it is about who you know. This city really does push you to the limits sometimes.

All is well now lol, and I am currently eating Lucy Charms cereal with Christina (below) and feeling quite content :)


Will post again soon!

Sonia

I have returned!

Dear All,

I have returned!! And the rain in Spain is definitely not staying on the plain – it is bucketing down outside! As always, it has been drama, drama, drama, since landing – but would I want it any other way?

I guess the major news is that I was offered another job, out of the blue, with more hours and a less than five minute walk from my flat! Plus it is classroom based teaching, definitely more my scene. I sent an e-mail to Linc with hopes of letting them down easily, but to my dismay received a most scathing response condemning my lack of professionalism and what’s worse, refusing to hire a friend of mine just because she is acquainted with me. All I can say is that it must have been a pretty stressful day. In the TEFL world teachers come and go; you can’t offer someone a part time job without knowing that they will accept more hours if it is offered to them. A girl needs to eat. Anyway, the job is great – I have pretty much been thrown into it this week, and have been panicking over lessons that I have had to plan on the day! I was also told at 4pm last night (before a 4-6pm class) that I had more hours (YAY) but I was teaching 8-10pm that night. With almost no time to prepare, I decided to recycle and old lesson plan. However, neither of the students showed. I can honestly say that being paid to teach is great, but being paid to do nothing wins every time…

I have yet to see everyone here as the rain really does persuade you to stay inside, but seeing my flatmates has been great. They are all stressing too as they begin the January job hunt. It definitely brought back the stress of finding my first job. The key is not to panic; hours take time and you will piece together a schedule. Plus in Sevilla, it is definitely more about who you know – use every resource you have!

We are heading out to this great Flamenco bar called Carboneria on Thursday night to celebrate our first week back. If you are ever in Sevilla you MUST come here. It looks like an old converted church and on some nights (definitely on Thursdays) they have live Flamenco music and sometimes live dancing. It is a really authentic experience but it is ALWAYS packed out, so get there before 10pm!

I managed to digg up a picture of me, Holly and Kate outside our old CELTA school!! Doesn't it bring back memories??!

I am looking forward to going a bit mad this weekend so I’m sure I will have more stories for next week!

Keep checking my blog!

Love Sonia

First post! Happy New Year!

Dear All,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! It has been such a great holiday, especially as I have had ten days to see all of my family and friends! In a few days I will return to Spain to start my new job a Linc, and to see all of my Sevilla friends! It is, as always, chaotic and exciting times!

I spent New Year’s Eve in London with my darling friends Shona, Luce and Zara. (See below).

As you can see, we were all wrapped up as it was bloody freezing!!! Luckily the DJ started to pick up around 10pm so we bopped in the street with many other drunken, merry people with whom we can-canned and created the greatest conga line ever! The fireworks at midnight were incredible, plus we opened up another bottle of Cava to celebrate... good times all round! I am glad to have experienced London on NYE once, but I have to conclude that you must be mad to go there on NYE; the queues into the underground were crazy and we got caught in a number of drunken mobs on our way home!

A few things to round up before I return to Spain, but I must say that I will miss the U.K and everyone here whom I love so much!

Take care guys and have a great 2010!

Love Sonia
Xxx