Alquerias

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Hola,

First of all, HAPPY HOLIDAYS to everyone, and HAPPY NEW YEAR! Please be sure to check out the first photo in this series, it´s just for you, all of my peeps back home.

Hope you´re all enjoying the warm so-cal weather. Here it´s pretty friggin cold, but I have no complaints.

Anywho, I´m in Valencia now, but for about a month I was teaching English in a town called (ironically) Alquerias del Niño Perdido. It´s ironic because this translates as Collection of Houses of the Lost Boy. At the time I was feeling pretty lost, so it was appropriate. So I was there, teaching English with several others. In a tiny house, with zero insulation, in the middle of orange groves for as far as the eye could see.
We taught mostly in the neighboring town of Castellón, and a bit in Burriana. I took the train every day into town, and walked all over the place to teach English to the children of rich local families. It was relatively easy, just a pain in the arse to walk everywhere, sometimes 40 mins. at a time.
My roommates were really cool though. There was Katie from Arizona, Julie from Texas, David from Ireland, and Lynnsey from Canada. The latter two hung out together so much that we just called the two of them Dynnsey. We hung out a lot, joked around, and basically got nothing accomplished. But it was fun while it lasted.
We had Thanksgiving dinner together, which was cool, and we also invited a couple over from Germany who also happened to be in the same tiny town. At one point, out of complete boredom and cabin fever, Julie and I decided to draw on the walls. We ended up with 5 drawings, some of which are included here.
It was a good experience, though short (about three weeks), and I definitely made some new friends there.

After a while I got tired of living in poverty, so I took off for Valencia, which will be the subject of my next entry....

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Photos

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
(Couldn´t resist taking this pic as I was walking down the street in Valencia. There is a Mullet epidemic in this part of Spain!)

The house in Alquerias
view from the roof terrace

The house in Alquerias
view from the roof terrace

Thanksgiving
Lynnsey, Katie and Julie in the kitchen

Thanksgiving
Katie and myself

Thanksgiving
Andreas and Simona (¨The Germans¨), and Julie

The house
The delux entertainment center, and Coffee table (made of a broken door and an orange crate)

The house
A Dr. Seuss character Julie drew abover the door

The house
Out of boredom, Julie and I drew these with pastels on the wall. They are both copies of works by Egon Schiele. No, we didn´t ask the landlord for permission!

Comments

[andrea!]

SII!!!!
odelay pinchewe!! te extrano mucho pero estoy muy feliz ver que estas muy bien!! podemos hablar en espanol cuando vuelvas y nadie van a conocer que cosas estamos hablando de! SI!!... acepto 3/4 del poblacion en cali :) mi espanol es perfecto, no? :) iiiFeliz Navidad!!! te amo mucho hermano!!!!! S.P. escriben jajaja(hahaha) en espana?? S.P.P. jajajaja

[mamacita]

hola! :)
Feliz feliz navidad, en caso no podemos hablar manana! Estoy haciendo las tortas ahora, me deseo que puedo enviar uno a ti, pero yo no se si vas a comerlo, Senor vegitariano. :) Vamos a enviar el paquete el proximo semana.. que tipo de meditacion pillow quieres? el redondo o rectangular marron flat uno? :) jajaja.. andrea esta aqui una vez mas! :) I love you! Love, mom (and andrea) :)

[Janelle]

Merry Christmas!
Belated Merry Christmas Benny Boo! We all miss you! Work isn't the same without you. Let me know if you're ever in town.

[PAT]

mullet
nice mullet, looks like this guy ben i used to work with,naah yours was much better. hope all is going well in your travels and teaching.