Granada: part 3

Monday through Friday of our ten days in Granada was spent with 25+ teenagers at the English camp run by the local church. Joel and I both worked with the teen camp, which was right up his alley and quite a stretch for me. I think it's safe to say we had an awesome time with those kids! One of the most outgoing students had fun dancing with Joel (above).... she knew how to break dance and wanted him to imitate her smooth moves. 

English camp ran from 9am-2pm with a snack time in the middle. We had some classroom teaching time where we introduced English vocabulary, practiced forming sentences, and utilized new vocab to play games. All of the other activities were to reinforce English vocabulary and conversation.... crafts, games, and team competitions gave kids a chance to practice English in a non-threatening way.

Wednesday was spent at the beach about 1.5 hours away from Granada. Other than some motion-sickness on the bus, it was wonderful. The view of the nearby mountains took your breath away. Then, if you got tired of looking at the mountains, you could gaze into the crystal clear waters. I was surprised to find that the water was totally smooth, with no waves or undertow. The kids had a great time splashing around, playing cards on the sand, and eating their picnic lunch. Beach Day was unofficially a Spanish-English conversation day, so we both used our language skills to connect with the kids who weren't too confident to speak just English with us.

On the last day of camp, we celebrated with a huge water fight. Everyone was soaked and had an awesome time!

Granada: part 2

On our second morning in Granada, we woke up to a beautiful view of the convent's central garden. We weren't invited to explore it, as that's the personal property of the nuns in residence. The above photo was taken through the glass door near the front entrance.

We spent Saturday morning at the Alhambra, which is (in my opinion) a must-see for anyone visiting southern Spain. We spent a few euros for an English audio guide, which was helpful because there weren't many written signs around the place. I think we were there for about 4 hours, but could definitely have spent twice that much time. The Alhambra is BEAUTIFUL and we were there on a hot, sunny day. I got tired and a tiny bit nauseous, but there were lots of spots I could sit to rest while Joel and our teammates continued to explore.

Joel made friends with a little guy whose parents are working in Granada full-time. He was a pro at smelling all the beautiful flowers :)

 The view of Granada from the Alhambra was amazing. You could see the entire city and far beyond...

Saturday evening we had the chance to watch a flamenco show. It was lively and exciting. Somehow, I managed to fall asleep for about 2 minutes in the middle of the show.... first trimester woes for ya...

Part of the goal of the long-term workers in Granada is to give the short-term team a chance to experience the local culture before spending the week teaching English to the kiddos. We were thrilled to get to see so many fun, new things. Sunday was a leisurely day which included some walking around town, churros con chocolate, and church with the team.

we're baaaack!

We arrived home from Granada last night around 7pm (Philly time) which is actually around 1am Spain time. We were exhausted and sweaty and I was hungry because the airplane food wasn't all that great. After looking through our mail and getting the AC units going, we hit the hay around 9pm.

Here's a sneak peek: Joel and I dead passed out on the floor of the Paris airport. After 15+ hours of traveling and little sleep, this was real life...

As the week progresses, I'll have a lot more pictures and some stories from our 10 days in Spain.

Granada: part 1

I looked through the photos I took over the last 10 days and became overwhelmed with the task of debriefing about our trip. Because the photos are uploaded on the computer in chronological order, I'll update that way, too. So here goes...

Our first day in Spain was VERY full!  We met the rest of the English camp team, received our assigned roles for the camp, met church members, ate a delicious lunch, took a quick nap, explored the convent where we stayed, and generally got acclimated to Granada.

That evening we were invited to eat dinner at someone's house who lived up in the nearby hills. On our way, we stopped at a beautiful overlook where we could see the entire city. The sun was going down, the lighting was amazing, and the Alhambra (more on this later!) looked stunning.

Dinner was eaten on the rooftop, while watching the sun set over nearby houses. We tasted amazing local olive oil, drank Spanish wine, nibbled local delicacies, got to know our teammates, and watched a rainbow in front of the mountains.

As we walked home that evening (around 11pm), I was overcome by how the city seemed to have changed in just a few hours. The lights of Granada at night created such a different feel for a city we quickly came to love.

Getting ready for Granada

Well, our bags are packed, mostly. We have copies of our passports, drivers licenses, and credit cards. We have snacks for the plane rides and for long days with late dinners. Our collection of socks and underwear should be enough to last 11 days without laundry (!!). The bank got us some euros so we don't have to exchange money at the airport.

It feels so surreal. When we first started talking about going to Spain, I don't think I imagined we would actually get to go. Once we realized we would get to go, it seemed so far off... We had to finish school, interview for a job, paint our basement, go to Charleston, and do all sorts of summer stuff at home. But now, the time has come.

And we are ready.
Scared, sure. Overwhelmed, of course. Uncertain about so many details we have yet to discover.

But we are beyond grateful for the privilege.

We are ready to explore, play hard, ask good questions, stumble through our Spanish, be stretched, walk a lot, pray a lot, eat new foods, and make relationships for the long term.

Charleston trip: Part 3 (Sunday, Monday, and our house!)

On Sunday evening we finally got to walk through quintessential Charleston: water (!!!), pastel hued houses, sailboats, fountains, and old, old, beautiful homes. Since our house was on the northern edge of the city, quite a hike from the historic area, we drove to the historic area and parked along the water. The weather was wonderful and the breeze was much cooler than we expected.

Some highlights of this evening include watching little kids giggle through the fountains, staring at the sky and clouds as the sun started to set, eating gelato on a bench near the water, and taking what could totally be a band cover photo...

 

Our last day in Charleston, Monday, was a rainy, buggy day. We went to Magnolia plantation which is a 30 minute drive from downtown Charleston. It was gorgeous and I highly recommend visiting if you ever go to Charleston (which you should!). Our spirits were dampened a little due to at least two hours of rain and the resulting mosquito stampede we experienced afterward.

 However, the petting zoo was really fun. Plus, Lauren met us there!!!! The gardens were amazing and we got to see a couple small alligators. If it hadn't been so nasty outside, we might have done the swamp tour, which is where you can see a lot more alligators. Sounds really fun, but not when it's hot, wet, and buggy.

One of the absolute highlights of our stay in Charleston was the house we rented. Since there were four of us traveling together, we figured it'd be cheaper to stay in a place with two bedrooms and a kitchen where we could make some of our own meals.

Melissa found this property on vrbo.com. It was about $500 per couple for 4 nights and 4 days, which is much less expensive than staying in a local hotel. Plus, we bought breakfast ingredients at the store for the mornings and we used the grill to cook dinner at home one night.

The house was seriously awesome! Clean, fresh, modern, and within walking distance of tons of restaurants, shops, and sights. We had off-street parking, wireless internet, a grill, cable TV, and super helpful owners who accommodated our requests and gave us the insider's scoop on the city.

I would HIGHLY recommend using VRBO for your future vacations and of course would recommend staying in the specific house we rented in Charleston.