Allie in the South of Spain

If you have been following my blog for a while you know that I love the yearly Eurovision song competition which takes place each May and features musical performances from countries around the continent. This year Eurovision was in Copenhagen as it moved to the location of the home country of the winner from the last year. The hosts´did a great job with the show and I especially liked how they asked each contestant to create their country´s flag in a unique way to be shown during the introduction to their song. I first discovered this phenomena two years ago (read about it here ) and followed last year´s competition as well ( this blog ). I can honestly say that 2014 had a pretty awesome line-up of songs and artists so I was excited to watch. This was only compounded by the fact that I actually liked the song to be performed by the Spanish singer, Ruth Lorenzo, and had heard that she was one of the favorites to win. Though I think she rocked her performance, she came in 10th plac...

Jose and I had some days off a few weeks ago thanks to the celebration of Seville's fair. We had bought a Groupon for a rural house a while back and decided to take advantage of our free days to go stay in a cabin in the mountains of Cadiz, specifically in a small village called Prado del Rey. We really enjoy this kind of weekend away because we get to know a new place while spending some time outside in the great outdoors. Plus as a bonus we get to bring Cooper and we never spend much money! We prefer heading to the mountains in Andalucia and you can read about other short trips we have made  here and here . Our cabin During this visit we went to another of the Pueblos Blancos (white villages famous for their buildings, read about our first visit to this area of Andalucia here ) called El Bosque to do a bit of hiking with Cooper. The path we took went next to a river and it was a great 5 kilometers through the woods because we were able to stop and cool off every once in a...

Bullfighting, though controversial, is a popular sport here in the south of Spain, especially during the spring and feria seasons. Neither Jose nor I had ever been to see a bullfight but were lucky when one of his students gave us two front row tickets for last week. We were both excited to go but I was a bit apprehensive whether or not I would enjoy the show seeing as how they kill 6 bulls throughout.  Going to a bullfight during feria is definitely an event. You have to dress nicely because it is a place to see and be seen. We were seated in the shade (sombra) which was a blessing because the sun was hot that day and our spots were about the best you could have with a great view of the action. This was a nice teaching perk! Headed to the fight I am by no means an expert in bullfighting but the way it works is as follows: Stage 1- the bull is released into the ring and after a few passes with the bullfighter and his team it is weakened by a guy (picador) riding a horse...

With spring comes lots of different celebrations in the south of Spain. First after Holy Week the yearly fairs (ferias) begin in different villages with the biggest and most anticipated being in Seville next week. Jose's hometown actually has the first feria which kicks off the season. A feria traditionally was the time when people would bring their livestock in to buy and sell. So many people together meant parties which have continued until today. Feria means big tents called casetas where you can eat, drink and dance. There are also carnival games and rides set up as well as stands selling all kinds of unhealthy but yummy food, like churros. We went to Jose's hometown's fair for a night only since we had a communion that same weekend. Spring also brings with it first communions being celebrated by children in grade school. We went to Jose's cousin's communion and it was a much bigger affair than what I remember when I was young. There was a catered lunch...

Right after leaving the airport During Holy Week here in the south of Spain my sister Chrissie came to visit us since both Jose and I had off work (the perks of living in a Catholic country). She has been here twice before (read about the first time here and our wedding here ). We drove and picked her up on Monday and spent that day organizing her trip and allowing her to recover from her jet lag.  On Tuesday we headed to Seville to see some of the Holy Week processions that are so famous here. I will spare you the details of what this all involves since I have discussed it before and I sense that this post is going to be long since we crammed so much into such a short amount of time. If you are interested you can check out my Semana Santa post here . In any case, we headed into the city center and while enjoying the beautiful weather and some beers we got to see a few of the pasos come by before heading home again.  Holy Week The following day we headed to Gibr...

Though this is coming a few weeks late (due to a visit from my sister during Holy Week), I celebrated my 28th birthday at the beginning of the month. In terms of birthdays this one was pretty low key as I had to work that day. I was pleasantly surprised, however, to arrive at school and find that my 6th graders had planned a surprise party for me. It was quite thoughtful of them. They were so excited and I have to admit that I had no clue they were doing anything special. Sneaky sneaky. So cool Cards Later, Jose and I went out to eat in our favorite Moroccan restaurant in Seville, Fez. Its food puts all the food we ate during our trip to Morocco to shame. It is a tiny place with maybe 8 tables and whenever we go there are never very many people which means we get great service. This has become almost like a birthday tradition for me (since we went last year too). I can honestly say that so far 28 is great and am  sure it will continue to be. I have started an ...

Hello all! Greetings and apologies. It's been a while, I know. To be honest life has been a bit boring lately here in the south of Spain. Jose and I have our established routines: work, weekend, work, weekend. Nothing too exciting has been going on except my BIRTHDAY which was on Tuesday!!!!! I have decided that this year my motto is going to be 28 is great and will be posting about it throughout the next 365 days. To celebrate Jose and I went to our favorite Moroccan restaurant here in Seville for dinner. The restaurant is pretty small and when we go during the week we are usually the only people there. The food is AMAZING though and is way better than anything we actually ate during our trip to Morocco. Go figure. We also went to one of Jose's childhood friend's weddings last weekend. It was nice for Jose to see friends that he doesn't get to hang out with that often. This couple got married in a church and then had their reception at a cortijo in the middle of t...