My friend and colleague Alicia is a fellow environmentalist and works with a group of students after school in an environmental club type thingy. She is working with the students to learn about the community's environmental efforts and figure out ways to improve and expand on them. Sooooo we visited the landfill/recycling center in Herrera which is where the trash and recycling goes after being picked up from Casariche (and a bunch of other nearby towns). My environmental engineering professors from Penn State would be so proud. The recycling center actually was pretty similar to the one I visited in State College with my CE 476 class (should out to Dr. Brennan). Although, State College does not bury it's trash on site like this place in Herrera does. The center said they are looking into getting an incinerator to burn the trash before burying it.
Weird story: I learned in my class that these facilities are called MRFs (Materials Recovery Facilities - please, don't ask me what they're called in Spanish). This MRF separates recyclables that were not properly placed in recycling containers from the trash manually. That means there are workers who pick out things from the trash that can be recycled. (NOTE: This does not mean you can throw away whatever into the trash because it will be picked out. This material is not as valuable as recyclables that are properly disposed of.) Anywho...one of the custodians at the school I work at apparently has a son/daughter who works at the MRF separating recyclables. This custodian was purposely throwing away recyclables into the trash bins to ensure that her son/daughter had work.
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The always pleasant Emily Pringle came to visit me in Spain! She's living in England, so she was able to come down for just a short weekend visit. We met up in Granada to explore the city and go skiing in Sierra Nevada. It was definitely nice to see a familiar face while abroad. Thanks for coming, Pringle! DAY 1 Walking around Granada before Pringle arrived. DAY 2 Skiing, lunch break, skiing, churros, sleep. DAY 3 Exploring La Alambra, a famous palace and fortress in Granada.
My life in Spain has pretty much been all consumed by every form of exercise I can get my hands on. I've really taken full advantage of having access to a bike. I'm going to have to figure out a way to make it up to Alejandro for being so nice to me and letting me use his bike. Other than my usual ride to Puente Genil, I've gone to the Herrera Train Station and Estepa. And of course I've been continuing with Muay Thai classes. Herrera - 23 Jan 2018 I felt like I got a much needed escape from dirt-only landscapes. I finally had some green to look at. Muay Thai - 23 Jan 2018 Estepa - 25 Jan 2018 This ride was pretty interesting because it took me over an hour to get there but only about 40 minutes to ride home to Casariche. There is a very, very long uphill going to Estepa, but I definitely enjoyed the ride coming back.
One weekend every year, Casariche and Badolatosa, the neighboring rival town (think Unionville vs. Kennett) have a soccer match weekend. The primary school kids play the primary school kids, the adults play the adults, you get the idea. I went to one of the bigger matches played between the late high school/early college agers with Alejandro. As you could've guessed all of my students were there. Some of the girls from 4o de ESO (10th grade) insisted on a photo. Casariche came out victorious. Definitely a fun time! I've wanted a bike pretty much since I've arrived in Casariche. I think Jill was just about at her wits' end hearing me say how much I wanted one. So I finally said, "screw it." I ran home after work on Monday, ate lunch as fast as I could, and started walking to Puente Genil. Last time I walked to PG with Jill, it took about 3 hours. This time it took me about 2.5. I was on a mission. I wanted a bike. When I arrived in the "big city" as Jill and I like to call it, I went straight for Decathalon. I figured a sporting goods store was a good place to start. Unfortunately, all of the bikes were a little out of my price range and most of them were road bikes which weren't going to work well for the dirt road I planned on taking from Casariche to PG regularly. So I headed to Carrefour. It's a grocery store, but I knew they had bikes. When I arrived, not only did they have bikes, but they had a foldable bike! I was so excited. I bought the works: a wrench, allen keys, a bike lock, a helmet, a tire pump, and of course the bike. After making my way through the checkout line, I proceeded to the customer service desk for scissors. I needed to assemble bits and pieces of this bike immediately because it was my ride home, and I was racing against the sunset.
I literally sat on the floor of the Carrefour snipping tags and tightening bolts and putting on pedals. I even went back into the Carrefour to use the tools from the tool aisle to help me assemble the bike. One dad who was there with his kids even tried to help me for a hot second. But I could not get the dumb handles to point the correct direction. They were parallel to the front wheel instead of perpendicular. Then who did I run into than the director from my school, Ángel. He asked me what was up, and I told him. Reluctantly at first, but later thankfully. He helped me talk to the customer service people. He must've waited there with me for an hour while the Carrefour people tried fixing the handles. They became loose but then wouldn't tighten. Ángel ran back into the store to pick up what he had initially had gone to Carrefour to get. Concerned about me getting home safely in the dark, he told me I should return the bike and he would drive me home even though he doesn't live in Casariche. I felt smart for saving all of the tags that I cut off the bike (like I actually learned something from previous mistakes I've made). I felt juvenile for asking for his help with the customer service people. (I could've talked to them myself, but when you're stressed and speaking in your second language, it's nice to have a helping hand. Even though I speak in Spanish with Ángel, it was a greatly appreciate familiar face and good to feel like someone had my back.) And last, but certainly not least, I felt grateful that my coworkers (in this case my boss) are so incredibly generous and kind and willing to drop everything they're doing to help this struggling foreigner try to live in Spain. The joke now is the Ángel is my angel. I asked him if he Mondays were his typical Carrefour grocery shopping night. He said this was the first time he had been to Carrefour this entire school year. Man, did I luck out! The following day, I told some coworkers what happened. Alejandro decided to lend me his bike until further notice. Did I mention how lucky I am?? In more ways than one. Alejandro and some of the other teachers from the school are planning a field trip for the students involving a bike tour of Seville. I tagged along to Seville for the rest of the weekend after my father left Spain to "learn" the route and help out. It was super fun, but Sunday was about the most Andalusian day I could have ever experienced in my life. I kid you not: we went to 4 restaurants in a period of about 5 hours. First we went out to breakfast. When we got to the bike store it was closed until it stopped drizzling, so we went to a cafe. Halfway through the cycling outing, we stopped for a beer and tapas at a market place. After the cycling, we went to a Japanese restaurant for lunch. 5! That's right! 5 restaurants!! Don't get me wrong. I love food, but that's excessive. Anywho. Below are some pic from the day. Two additional positives that came out of the weekend:
1. Alicia went to Costco because Seville has those fancy things you can't get in my little pueblo, so she got me KRAFT MAC AND CHEESE!! 18 BOXES, BABY!! 2. Cati, who went on the bike ride with us, gave me the number of a Physical Therapist whose office is literally across the street from my house in Casariche, so I can finally get this back/shoulder blade issue worked out. *Fingers crossed* After Christmas and the New Year, I was lucky enough to go to Manchester with my dad to visit my grandmother, aunt, uncle, and cousin who I haven't seen in WAY too long. Grandma was sassy as ever and it was nice catching up with the rest of the family. Then my dad and I headed to Casariche for a week. Because work. Something the new retiree doesn't have to worry about. For the weekend, we headed to Cadiz which I think we both enjoyed more than we expected. Being know for it's beaches, there weren't too many people there for the off season. Nonetheless, we had a great time wandering around the town. Now this is what my friend Callie and I would call a paparazzi photo. My dad snapped this one as I was buying a candy bar. Don't worry mom. I've been eating my veggies. Kind of. I made broccoli for Dad, and he wouldn't eat it. I made him and told him he HAD to report back home that I was eating veggies. He probably forgot, which is why I'm including this photo. Just a little reminder. So there's orange tree everywhere in Andalusia. Just lining the street, like boring, non-fruit bearing trees line the streets of Southeaster PA towns. Anybody who knows JT knows that he loves oranges. So he (and by he I mean I) picked an orange and ate it, leading to probably my favorite sequence of photos of my father ever captured. His review: more tart than other oranges but delicious nonetheless.
Lucky me got a plane ticket home from the 'rents for the holidays. I got in some much needed family time and even got to see snow! Thanks, mom and dad!! It's been awhile since I've updated the blog. But there's no time like the present! |
AuthorI'm Emma. I love food more than anyone will ever understand - specifically cheese, chocolate, bread and pretty much every fat & carb combo you can think of - apple cider donuts, ice cream, the list goes on. Fats and carbs just go so well together. Don't you think? Why is it when I'm tasked to describe myself, I always talk about food? I guess if you want to learn more about me, you'll have to read my posts about my year as a teacher in Spain. Archives
May 2018
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