´Aw, pobrecita!´ ...in Valencia

The camino has left me limping, feeling sorry for myself, and unable to continue...so where to next in beautiful Spain? Not wasting a minute, made a quick call to English friends Clare and Steve in sunny Valencia, and I´m booked in for two weeks of intense Spanish lessons to fill up my September. And intense they were!

Valencia, birthplace of paella (originally made with rabbit, not seafood), surprisingly lacking in cheap fresh orange juice, but sufficiently student-ridden and laid-back, was the perfect place for my language sabbatical, made all the more welcoming by the chance to hang out with my lovely hosts and their awesome and adorable kids Havana and Pascal. We dove after coloured rings in the pool, attempted badminton on the beach, and even made our own poi, which Pascal preferred to use as airborne missiles or nun-chuckas. Topped off by some gorgeous dinners with the fam and copious amounts of wine and cheese, it was a very fulfilling fortnight.

When it came to classtime at 1.30pm every day(thankyou, Spanish timetable!), I had to gear myself up for the next 6 hours of barely grasping the thick Valencian accents and rapid dialogue of my teachers...obviously Intermediate was a tad too high for me, but I stuck to it like a trooper. It didn´t help that Luis liked to constantly make jokes that I always seemed to miss the meaning of, especially when they involved me! It was definitely a humbling experience being back in the classroom, on the other side of the desk, and it made me think about my own teaching techniques (one to remember - never laugh at your students, it does not improve their learning experience).

A few touristy weekend trips in this multifaceted city made my stay complete. One of these was to the Ciudad de Artes y Sciencias, a crazy space-aged collection of buildings (designed by the architect who made, among other things, the Athens 2004 Olympic Stadium) which include a museum, aquarium and observatory/3D cinema. Inside the arctic dome of the Oceanografic, the playful sea lions grabbed my attention, and I snapped away half of my memory card as the bird like calls of a white beluga whale(known as the sea canary) echoed off the walls. Unbelievable, to experience all this in the middle of Spain´s hottest summery town!

So, a mishap in one adventure can lead you to something better, and to places you never imagined you´d end up.

<<< to explain ´pobrecita´: this word is often used sarcastically by Clare to make fun of someone who is complaining or whinging about a situation which really isn´t that bad....like ´awww, poor Carly!´ I heard Pascal and Steve get quite a few of these ;) >>>

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