Dear Spain,

I remember how scared I was of starting our relationship. I didn't know if we'd go well together, and prayed that the language barrier wouldn't be so much of an issue. I knew that I would eventually improve my communication skills, but it was quite tough at first and it took a few weeks before I was comfortable being with you.

You weren't slow in opening up to me, that's for sure! Loud, colourful and full of zest, you took my hand and led me from city to city, zipping this way and that, showing me beautiful churches, old monuments, and gorgeous beaches. Thanks for reminding me to take my camera, by the way. You know how forgetful I can sometimes be.

You're quite amazing, you know that? Yeah, you're something of a macho and you really SHOULD stop smoking like a chimney, but I loved you nonetheless and wouldn't have changed you for the world. I'm glad you got rid of your mullet after the summer of '05...although lately it has been slowly growing back. Chop it off for good, ok? Miss France is starting to gag...

However, all good things come to an end. I can't be with you anymore. It was really fun while it lasted and I'll never, ever forget you, but I have to leave. It's not your fault, trust me. I just have to go back to climb up that ladder called life.

I know, I know...it's...painful. There's no easy way to say it. It's now or never, I guess.

I don't have much time left and it's better to end it now than to wait at the last possible moment and let it be even more painful.

There aren't many bad things I can say about you. It seems like the longer we were together, the more I fell in love with you. Damn you for introducing me to chorizo, chistorra, tortilla...and how on earth did you manage to make me love olives? You're quite the little devil, aren't you?

Don't worry. I'm not saying that we'll lose touch and that this is the end, forever. One never knows what the future holds and someday I'll come back to visit you and we'll toast the event with a Cruzcampo Caña and a nice bowl of fresh, green olives. You'll blow smoke in my face and forget to apologize to me when your feet bump into mine under the table, but I won't care.

Living in your surroundings was one of the best things that happened to me. Wow, do you ever have heat over there. I'll miss those 200 plus days of sun...any chance of leaving me a bit in my suitcases for when I move back to the land of poutine?

Ok, so I'll end this here. It's not a final goodbye, but it is goodbye.

I guess I don't have to say that I'll shed a tear at the airport.

Side Note:
Thanks Guys: Gavin, Dearbhla, Caspar, Kevin, Iñigo, Aloha, Donna, Theresa, Belén, Abel, Mercedes, Angel, Carmen, Mónica, Inma, Juan Fran, Lloic, Roberto, Vince, Kelly, Katie, Jason, Randy, etc..."Rock On." You guys made my last 2 years incredible.

I'd also like to thank my friends and loved ones back in Canada...thanks for not forgetting about me, guys. Your emails, postcards, letters meant the world to me.

I'm now off to Rome. Exciting times are ahead.

I'll be home soon, everyone.

(kiss kiss on both cheeks)

Heidi xoxo

Bohemian Like You

HAPPY 2ND SPANISH ANNIVERSARY, CHIQUITITA!
Exactly 2 years ago, I set foot on hot, spanish soil. Excitement and fear were in my bones, but I was prepared to make the most of my time here. And boy, did I ever. There are too many great memories that I experienced, too many great people that I met here. I'm glad that I also kept a paper journal to record all of my weekly doings.
I feel so...blessed. Happy. I'll leave Spain with a big fat smile on my face (and probably a sad tear or two) knowing that my stay here was a success.
These experiences made me realize that I've changed in many good ways. I'm much stronger mentally (perhaps even physically from lifting all of those disgustingly heavy suitcases?) and know that I can make it on my own. Being away from all those you really love gives one time to think, and yes...it was hard in the beginning, but it always is a bit, ain't it? Then it gets easier.
I want to say thank you to my friends and loved ones who read this blog. I'm glad I kept close contact with all of you...thanks for the post cards, the letters, the emails, etc...it was appreciated.
Oh, the Knoo wants me to let you all know that she says hi. Ok, ok...now get off my lap, Knoo.
Today I'm celebrating with the kids the last day of school...bought some little cakes, sweets, kinder chocolate...they should be happy.
I know I am.
xoxoxoxoxo H

Lisbon: A Plethora of Pictures

One of my favourite pics, oddly enough.

Apparently, the whole world loves insults.

Comments? I had a fabulous time in Lisbon and really enjoyed the food as well.

I've been crazy busy at work, which explains my lack of writing a novel here, like I usually do.
2 more weeks of work left!

Can't believe it.

H xoxoxox

El Rocío, una locura verdadera

"Oh what a world, we live in...why am I always in a plane or a fast train? Oh what a world my parents gave me..."-Rufus Wainwright

I had an incredible weekend at El Rocío. It was really nice seeing everybody dressed up in sevillana dresses and the men with their "Cordobes" hats. Donna, Roberto and I left on Saturday evening and prepared ourselves for a night of dancing, drinking and eating...





There were soooo many different "hermandades" (brotherhoods of all the different villages) parading throughout El Rocío, showing off their oxen/horses carrying tributes to the Virgin Rocío. Unbelievable. There were also firecrackers/rockets going off every few minutes, with people shouting: "Viva la blanca paloma, viva la virgen Rocío..."

El Rocío can be a maze, and we walked through the deep sand for what seemed like hours, trying to find Roberto's "Hermandad". Somehow, we didn't seem to care though. It was great walking around and seeing everybody so happy and in a festive mood. There were people dancing and singing in every house.

We were offered drinks at every house we went to. It was great. It was a good thing that we ate an ENORMOUS dinner (best pork everrrrrr) because I might have been writhing/spazzing on the floor after all the "copas" we had that night.

We didn't sleep at all that night. At around 3 a.m., perhaps from being slightly delusional or from wanting to master the art of the sevillana dance, I announced,"Let's just not sleep." It seemed like a wonderful idea. I danced like an imbecile around the other great sevillana dancers, trying to imitate them but ultimately looking like a fool. Yikes. Even Donna was doing it better.

At 7 a.m., the night was still going strong. Taking our copas with us towards a little park, we walked around for a little while, taking in the sunrise and breathing in the cool, crisp morning air. I felt like I was walking in a dream. It was all so surreal. Then Donna decided to go cuckoo on us (lack of sleep? too many copas? I'm still amazed at how well I behaved myself...somehow) and announced to the world all the promises that she would keep in her lifetime. It was awesome. Comical girl. She made me promise some things too, and I did say some things which I will never forget. The only thing Roberto would promise was to finish his copa and to push her into a river if she didn't shut up.

Priceless. I've even got a video of Donna sitting in the middle of the road, yelling gibberish to Roberto and me yelling something back along the lines, "I love you, Donna!" Then Roberto asks her to marry him, lol. Then he tells her to shut the hell up and to make promises to the virgin Rocío and not to him.

Now, at 11 a.m., after going for more than 24 hours without sleep, you can imagine my condition. Roberto had an unbelievably painful idea which wouldn't have been so bad on a normal day, but given our lack of sleep, was quite torturous: "Let's attend Mass!!!" This being El Rocío, the mass should have lasted 2 hours. I only succeeded in staying awake for about 20 minutes. For shame.

The mass was held outside in the hot sun, to make matters worse. We were all given free fans, and I somehow managed to fall asleep, sitting down, with the fan over my face to shield my shamefull lack of devotion. I just couldn't stay awake. My eyes were made out of lead.

Roberto finally woke me up, and we decided that it would be best to just take the bus back. Unfortunately, we had to wait for the bus, and rested in the park for a wee bit. A man took a picture of me sleeping, apparently. I'm sure my mouth was wide open and everyone could see my tooth fillings.

So there you have it. It was really fun. I'm glad I went :) People were all very welcoming and friendly. It was worth it.

This weekend we are (hopefully) going to Lisbon. Angel has been sick these past few days, so we'll see if we do go in the end. I really hope so, but won't be too disappointed if we go another weekend in June. Oh man, there really isn't that much time left. June will be very busy and will go by in a flash. The kids' shows are coming up...thank goodness I've finished most of their masks. I'll try to take some pictures of that as well..we'll see if I post them on my blog.

Ok lovelies, miss you all

xoxoxoxo H

Where in the world...?

Searching through YouTube for some funny, original videos, I came across a gem today. "Where the hell is Matt?" It's about a 30 year old guy who decides to quit his job in Brisbane and travel all over the world. The video shows him dancing in some of the remotest, most beautiful places on earth. It made me smile.

It's not just the goofy dancing, it's his attitude and risk-taking that really inspired me and brightened a cloudy Sunday. I searched for more info on him and across an interview, where he says things like,"I used to be a video game designer, but I wasn't happy. I decided to quit and travel all over the world until my last penny ran out. I guess the hardest part of the trip was actually deciding to go. Once you've decided to actually undertake a big journey, the rest is much easier. You'd also be amazed at how safe and cheap the world can actually be."

He's still travelling. Of course, his video made him famous and everything, but he is still not rich and only works part-time as a video gamer and website designer, to make ends meet.

wherethehellismatt.com is a cool website, where he describes his travels in details. I envy him. There are still so many places that I want to see, someday.

If you watch the video, the most touching scene is where he is dancing with little kids in Rwanda. I don't know, it just seemed like such a simple, happy moment.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I hope to never stop travelling. The good thing with being a teacher is that I can pretty much count on having super long holidays for the summer, so I expect to see a little more of the world, bit by bit.

Travelling is like a drug, really. It gives you such a high to be in a different part of the world, to discover new foods, smells, sights, etc. It's a rush. Once you've been bitten by the travel bug, you can't stop moving around (at least I can't). I know I'll be sedentary in Canada for a while until I finish Teacher's Ed and get a good job, but I'll be booking those tickets as soon as I've got some moolah and a few days off.

Speaking of travelling, I just remembered that I need to get a Lonely Planet Guide for Italy.

H xoxoxoxo

Mar Adentro

Sand, sand everywhere. I close my eyes and take in the sounds of crashing waves and people happily chatting away.
I grab a broken seashell lying next to me and start scooping the sparkling brown diamonds, finding more broken seashells underneath like some sort of forgotten, buried treasure. A black beetle angrily scuttles away, having been discovered in its cool, moist lair.
"Let's go for a walk," I say.
The wind whips at our dehydrated skins deliciously, and the dancing sailboats wobble from left to right, right to left in its grasp.
"It's great that the seashells don't hurt our bare feet, isn't it?" says my friend.
Our white toes clash painfully against the earth's tanned floor. However, if we just let a few sand grains swim onto our skin, it seems as if we've been granted a few specks of gold. That, or ghastly freckles.
"What's that?" we both ask, suddenly.
An enormous, bloated white jellyfish lies in the sand, seaweed clinging to its bulging corpse. It is clearly dead, and may have been so for a few hours.
It seems so fragile, yet so strong at the same time. Its clear, rubbery body glistens in the sun and its head is about the size of 1.5 large dinner plates.
I gently touch it with a big seashell, wanting to know its outer body's resistance to harder objects. It's extremely firm and flexible at the same time.
"Fascinating creature, and one that hasn't evolved much throughout mankind's time", I think to myself.
We walk on, and spot various families and old men trying to find little coquinas (edible oysters) in the shallow sand. Swish, swish, they go...twirling and twirling their feet in the brown, heavy earth.
At this point the wind starts getting harsher.
"Let's head back", I advise.
After struggling with sandy flip-flops, shorts and t-shirts, I turn back towards the water and breathe in.
I'm smiling.
H.

Why, you little...

It's trying, being a teacher sometimes.

God help me.

There are about 3 students I want to exterminate out of 56.

Too bad that bad apples always abound...

This and That...and then some

Yay, it's allergy season!!! No breathing through my nostrils for a few weeks...awesome. I'm loving Spring, but man is it ever hard on me. Itchy eyes, itchy ears, sneezing, blocked nose...seems my allergies get worse every year.
Even the cat's not doing so well and it twitching all over...going to bring her to the vet tomorrow morning if I can get an appointment. Yes, cats can get allergies too. Poor Knoo.
This entry will be a little bit about this and that...just cuz I said so. I'm too allergy-ridden to properly concentrate and am trying to wheeze through my mouth...so forgive me.
Malaga was great. We had a grey weekend, but it didn't rain. It's a small city, but has an awesome nightlife. One only needs 2 days to see most of the city.
This ship here to the left was actually a restaurant, surprise surprise. It probably features posters of Captain Sparrow and has a sweaty/slimy Orlando Bloom greeting customers at the door.


"...where everybody knows your name..."


I never really followed that show, although it did provide me with some laughs on the odd days I'd catch it. Oh, one thing: Kirsty, dang! What a pity.

The Picasso Museum was really interesting, although it had the structure of a labyrinth. Seriously, when you need to hire 25 people just to tell tourists through which doorway/hallway to go through, you should definitely call those architects back and give them a little spanking. Of course, not the good kind. And if you do give them a spanking, make sure to sport a Dali moustachio...just to be an ass. Cuz everyone knows how crazy Dali was. Haha, oh Dali...you crazy boy, you.

Another church...another person getting doomed by God. When we walked into the cathedral, there was a boy/man (gremlin?) playing with the security switches. It only took security 5 minutes to politely tell the gremlin/boy/blob to take his hands off of it.

Preparation H, anyone?

This was a nice fountain right by the port...I somehow managed to strategically hide the kissy couple that was making out riiiiiiiight behind it.


Love the details on the ceramic tiles. Everything has ceramic tiles here in Spain. Just 3 days ago, I saw a woman wearing a ceramic-tiled hat. Then her feeble body crumbled and she sank into the ground. That sucked, man.

The view from our hostel. We were located at an awesome sport that overlooked main street.

Notice the drenched streets. I lied, it did rain...but just at night. No drops hit my lil 'ol head during the day. :)

On Sunday, we went to Ronda...a beautiful town located about 65 km North-West of Malaga. The air was so pure, the grass was so green, my nose was so blocked. Ahhhhh, Spring.

This is the really old bridge that makes Ronda famous. I'm not quite sure in what year it was built, but it might have been sometime during the invention of bread.

Down, down, down...couldn't take it all in. Quite the sight!

Who feels like a little serenade? You've got to hand it to the spaniards, they sure know how to make their balconies look all cute and stuff. Well, Cordoba rules in that area, but I still found Malaga and Ronda beautiful with its flowery balconies and little streets.

I truly had a great weekend with my friends.
My next trip will likely (and hopefully) be somewhere in Portugal. I'd die to go to Valencia and Barcelona again, but unfortunately they are just too far for a weekend getaway. Oh well, at least I've already been ;).
This upcoming week will hopefully be short and sweet. No classes on Tuesday, and no evening class on Friday (there might also be a slight chance that I'll finish at 7pm tomorrow!). May's the last long work month, really. God, the weeks are flying by faster and faster.

Hopefully I'll be able to breathe better soon, but I doubt it...May was worse for me last year than April (eep!). I've got pills, but I don't want to take them every day, ya know?

Other than that...I'm dying my hair tonight! I'm also going to be heading over the hairdresser's this Friday...be shocked, be amazed, be surprised. This girl's gonna look different.

I heard rat-tails have become popular again.

xoxoxoxo H

Weekends are for Winners

I had a d'oh moment yesterday. Ha!

Carmen had asked me to take down the curtains for her, since she wanted to wash them. Thinking that I'd be doing her a favour, I took them down for her yesterday morning and then also decided to wash them for her. Big mistake. Lord knows I'm not the washing queen (Shane recently made me aware of the fact that you can mix 25,000 different shades of colour together in cold water without having everything turn pink or black...so there.).

I put them in the washer, spin-dried them and everything. When I hung them up, part of the window's glass could be seen from the bottom...I had somehow shrunk them. A lot. But HOW??????? I wailed, and wrote Carmen a message before leaving, which went something like this (of course in Spanish): "I washed the curtains for you, and in cold water too...but don't they seem shorter to you?"

When we all finally met up at the WOK (yummy chinese restaurant), she explained to me that the curtains shouldn't have been spin-dried...and that she had re-washed them in the bathtub and hung them up (still wet) so that they could stretch out. Apparently my note gave her the laugh of a lifetime, too. "Of course they seemed shorter to me, Heidi! There was practically a foot missing!!!" :-P

Let's not even talk about ironing. My ironing in Spain involves using my hair dryer and a nice, solid table. Oh yes, high five!

It's Friday, hooray! I'll be leaving for Malaga tonight after my class...pretty pumped :) On Sunday we'll be going to other little villages and beautiful places such as Ronda and Arcos de la Frontera...should be good, weather permiting.

Weather's been weird these last couple of days, very hot and then slightly chilly and cloudy...might rain today, too. Hopefully not.

This week flew by again. I don't know what it is, but I'm assuming it's because I'm loving Spain and am clinging on to the last few weeks as much as possible...

It's funny because I remember counting the weeks and months I'd be here...I stopped counting sometime between starting work at Covent Garden and Xmas. Guess it means that I'm just really comfortable here, and don't feel the need for a countup/countdown?

There's only 1 full week of April left, and on the 1st of May we have a holiday since it's Labour Day here. It'll be strange having a day off on a Tuesday, but we gotta take what we can get, eh?

I booked my flight to Rome! 94 euros...so excited for that as well. Now I'll just have to start booking hostels and planning our route.

In other news, thinking about having to find new roomies in September is scaring the bejeebers out of me. I hope that I'll find a good place close to UWO...with normal, fun people.

In other un-related news, I've been having bad dreams and my allergies have been preventing me from getting any decent sleep. Yes, I've caved and am taking my meds now (this time I even managed to avoid mixing them with beer...I earned my star for the day). They aren't as bad as when I was living in Logroño, but they're still poopooing my nights.

I think I'm gonna be a nerd and continue playing my PC game...I mean, c'mon...last time I played was in February...swear to God. What?

xoxoxoxox H

Times are a changin'

Paris was amazing. Can I keep on travelling forever? After a shitty night of trying to sleep on uncomfortable airport benches, I touched down in Baguette Country at around 8 a.m.

Our hotel was located in the very northern area of Paris, but it was still in a good location since a metro stop was within metres of our bedroom and could be seen from our window.

Oh...where to start? We saw and did so much in that one week we were there together! We were lucky that it didn't rain, and were blessed with sunny (albeit sometimes windy) days. Ha...people at work have been commenting that I tanned a little. Go figure!

I was extremely tired on the first day (due to aforementioned lack of a good sleep) but we decided to go to the Louvre. Yeah, that pic up there is of the Notre Dame (reason being that it took me practically 2 days to find a good battery for my camera...don't ask, long story.) but just stay with me. I'll get to the Notre Dame soon.

The Louvre was HUGE. We only managed to see a few floors overall. We weren't impressed by the Mona Lisa or Venus de Milo, but did enjoy our visit. I'm still surprised that I didn't pass out in the museum...I was THAT tired. Good thing I had a nap that same evening because afterwards we went out for some drinks at a little bar close to our hotel called "Fischer's" which had great ambience and nice service. Shane made me try Kronenbourg 1664 and I fell in love with it :) Very good beer indeed...

On the next day, we went to the Notre Dame...and boy was it beautiful. It was pretty windy and chilly on that day, but we queued just like everybody else and waited to get the chance to climb the steps that led upward to the Great Bell. I think half of that queuing was spent with me waiting to get hot cocoa and coffee for us at a nearby stand...bunch of chinese that all wanted different crêpes...grrr.

Notice the blue sky...are we really in Paris?





Gotta love the Tim Burton-esque metro signs. Oh, sorry...I just noticed that it's a bit hard to see in this pic...but trust me, it had its goulish charm :)
The metro in Paris costs 1,40 euros. Yikes, that's 40 cents more than in Madrid...but hey, it's Paris. This is a city where a normal coffee goes for around 3-4 euros, depending on the location.






Feelin' Groovy in downtown Paris. I miss him already. We had a great time together and even went to see the musical Cabaret...not to mention an ass-kicking great Rocky Horror Show with live actors. The best part was when they thrust a plastic doll's private parts into my face...several times.

And why on earth did I keep jumping the wrong way for the Time Warp? Even Rif-Raf was unimpressed and gave me the evil eye. I think I wet my seat.














On the 3rd day we finally went to the Eiffel Tower and started queuing at around 10 a.m. It took us about 45 minutes to get into the elevator and it cost us around 11 euros. Not bad at all, since we had expected it to be around 20 euros or so (hey, this is where crazypants Cruise proposed after all).
It's really a gorgeous structure, although I had expected it to be jet black and not some light brownish hue. It was sooooo windy up there on that day...we slowly felt our fingers freezing off...totally worth the wait though.

After the Eiffel we went to see the Catacombs, much to Rachel's delight. Quite creepy, and like a true wuss, I held onto Shane's arm for the first few minutes while we walked through the narrow passage ways. Millions upon millions of bones and skulls just lined the walls from left to right...incredible.

On the 4th day we went to the Montmartre area to see the Sacré-Coeur, Moulin Rouge, and other places. It's a really nice area with lots and lots of tourists. Notice again the blue sky.
We went into the Moulin Rouge to look at ticket prices, and promptly left again when we saw that the cheapest tickets were going for 89 euros. Yikes. We were quite happy with our 25 euro Cabaret tickets (and lucky too, since the theatre was half-empty and we were able to get seats that were much closer to the stage).











Not as pretty as in the movie (d-uh). Still pretty cool though.
There was also another mill called Moulin de La Galette, but we couldn't get near it because they were doing some construction...wonder if it would have been worth it. Looked pretty cool from afar.






Probably one of my favourite pics that I took during my parisian stay. What a gorgeous city. It's definitely everything that I had thought it would be.
Clean, surprisingly green, and has got a vast repertoire of things to see and do. One could never really get bored in this city, I believe...










The wall of "I love you", located in the Montmartre area, was pretty cool. It had I love you written in many different languages, and of course I tried finding the ones for English, French, German and Spanish. Quite a cute idea.







On the fifth day we went to Père Lachaise's Cemetery, and went to visit the tombstones of Edith Piaf, Jim Morrisson, Molière, Oscar Wilde and some other famous "personnes" of our time. Wilde's tombstone was totally defaced with lipstick and graffiti, but the others were all nicely intact and clean.
It was a wonderfully quiet and peaceful morning, and we met up with Oli afterwards for a few beers and dessert...hmmm. It was great finally getting to know her, since the last time I had seen her had been over 2 years ago and I only really remembered her from Tommy as the Acid Queen.
On the 6th day we went to a market and just strolled around the stands, glancing at old furniture and interesting postcards, some of which were from the 1940's or even older...very interesting reading material, heheh. I found a nice postcard where a woman was accepting a marriage proposal (almost bought it actually...was touched). I wonder how these old postcards got collected and why the owners didn't keep them, or at least give them to their relatives for when they passed on? Will a stranger read my poscards one day? Will they somehow land up in a 1 euro/dollar/God knows what currency bin?
In the evening, we met up with Oli again and went to the Latin Quarter. What a great place for bookstores and cheap eats!!! Too bad we didn't find it earlier, otherwise we would have eaten there a whole lot more. I finally tried frog legs, hehhe. Yes, they tasted just like chicken. Shane ordered the snails, and they were quite tasty as well, to my surprise. Sacré Bleu, que c'était bon!
It was on my very last night in Paris that we decided to attend a Rocky Horror Show that was happening in the area. I'll never think of the Village People the same way ever again. I think that my song of the year is going to be "Sex Over the Phone". If you haven't seen the video yet, youtube it and you won't be sorry. The actors did a hilarious rendition of it all with a huge plastic telephone...priceless.
My trip back proved to be torturous. An 8 hour bus trek from Madrid to Huelva ended up being a 10 hour one due to traffic jams. It was a quite pathetic Easter Sunday, and I wished that I was with Shane and Oli in the Notre Dame, attending mass with them and having a picnic in the gardens...
Oh, but what a lovely time I did have :) I'd go again one day...I totally needed the break, too. I'm feeling energetic enough to finish this last semester. I can't believe that I only have about another 2.5 months at the Covent Garden Academy. That's peanuts, that's nothing.
On another note, I'm going to be attending Western University in the fall. Although I did have my heart set on U of T, it's not the end of the world and I'm not feeling sad anymore. I'm actually looking forward to it all now. Western's supposed to be a good school, and I'll be close enough to everyone...at least I won't be a whole continent away. Hurray for weekend visits, right? I'll be so busy anyway, judging from my schedule that they sent me...
I'm also certain that those 8 months will just fly by. Now I just hope that I'll find good people to live with close to the uni...
New changes again for little old me. Exciting, scary...I'm looking forward to meeting new friends and reconnecting with the old ones.
Alright, and because I'm me, I shall now book my flight to Rome and send my deposit to Western via internet banking...
xoxoxoxoxo H

Cádiz, and..."Where'd I put my green wig from last year?"

Oh yeah, it fell on a dirty Logroño bar floor and a drunken dude stole it. Damn. I want it back. Beer/Sweat stink and all.

Wow...I've actually got a bit of time to write in this thing right now? The past 3 nights have been spent correcting exams and whatnots...so here goes. I still have 57 report cards to cover this weekend. Fun times ahead, indeed.
So Cádiz was beautiful. Very small overall, but simply magnificent. Mercedes, her boyfriend Juan, Donna and I all had a great time and were able to relax a lot (although some people just cannot walk for more than 10 minutes sometimes...ahem.) Here's the cathedral...which was located super close to our great hostel "Fantoni".






Hmmmm. Seafood is just amazing in Spain, especially in Huelva and along the coasts (d-uh). I never really used to eat seafood in Canada, but I've grown to love it a lot here. Nothing like skinning prawns and scraping out oyster meat! This fine dish cost about 7 euros...about 10 canadian bucks, I believe.







Donna, me and Mercedes in front of the theatre in Cádiz. It was much bigger than the one we have in Huelva. We were pretty lucky with the weather (but heck, this is Spain...there are far more sunny days than anything else) and it was roasting hot on Saturday...I think we had about 26-27 degrees at one point. I'll repeat myself: I shall die in Canada.








Me and Donna acting like a couple of twits in front of a church. I purposely downsized the pic so as not to make you all turn to stone from our medusa-like grimaces.








Tee-hee, how cute. It's a wee lil boat made out of metal...wish I could have somehow twisted it off its pole...then I could have put it on my head and told people I was Poseidon, directing Odysseus to doom and gloom. Yeah, I'm pathetic...I still haven't finished The Odyssey because of my workload, alright?

This was my hostel. I'm a queen. Pfffff, yeah right. I'm not too sure what the heck this was, but it was located close to La Caleta, where there was a nice pathway that led up to a castle (which was unfortunately closed off to locals and tourists...heaven knows why).

I could have sat there all day, it was so nice and relaxing...the sea, the breeze, the waves...we really don't need a lot to be happy in life. I miss nature. I couldn't stop smiling.

I went bonkers when I saw this little Harry Potter carousel in a kiddy park. Not only was the park GORGEOUS, but it had Professor Snape's image in it, too. By far my fave character, he possesses a ruthless and cunning wit, is rarely caught off guard by any comment or insult and often leaves his verbal combatants with little to say.

Oh Alan Rickman, I don't know why I love thee so much. Or perhaps I do?


In other news, there isn't any news. All I've been doing is working my ass off and trying to get everything finished on time. I didn't even think I'd be able to update my blog until next week, but surprise surprise, you all got lucky.

I guess when it rains, it really does pour. Just so much to do.

2 out of my 17 "English Alive" students failed their last exam and I have to give them a make up exam...pffff. WTF. Everybody else got between 80-90% (seriously...we fricking revised everything and I told them exactly what they needed to study) the other 2 should have just studied more. More work for me, and for what?

I've been miss cranky pants for the past few days, considering the mountain of work I'm expected to do for the next few days. The good news is that when this weekend will be over it'll be a bit more smooth sailing up ahead...(I hope). Shane's also coming on Thursday, so that is also considerably lightening my mood.

I swore to myself to go out tomorrow night for St. Patty's Day, regardless of how much work there is to do. I'll just get up early enough in time to go out and meet up with my friends at an Irish Pub (gotta love Irish Pubs that advertise:"The Autentic Irish Sperience"...I shit you not).

Tomorrow is Bono's birthday...I better make sure to call him.

I don't know when I'll have time to post again...perhaps during the week when Shane's in Morocco.

Oh, and I'm still deeply jealous of Eve's The Shins concert happening TOMORROW. Argh (shakes fist). It was all me, baby.

H xoxoxoxox

The Wait...

I need a vacation. Being a teacher in Spain sometimes means becoming deaf and mute. Mostly deaf. Spaniards just CANNOT control their tone of voice...seriously. During the last half hour of my last class today I played a game with one of my 12 year old classes, and (as usual) they were yelling like banshees. DAMMIT. Don't scream in my ear when I am a mere 10 cm away from you, telling me that the other team's point didn't count. I wanted to strip off his skin layer by layer and then chew on it a-la hillbillie style. Where's my spit bucket?

I totally discipline that class, that's just how they are. Even my boss' sister (who's also a teacher) had to deal with their noise last year, so it's not just with me...

My voice has been transformed into steel. I don't lose it because I've strengthened it so much from disciplining. On the other hand, I might already have the hearing capacity of a 92 year old.

My ears actually hurt, they were being so obnoxious during the game. Thank God my other 12 year old class isn't like that.

I'm just tired. Plain tired. I need a vacation. Now. Paris can't come quickly enough...well, at least I'm going to Cadiz this weekend with some friends (hostel's already booked and everything, thanks to yours truly...as usual). I'm such a great trip planner. Seriously. If you ever need a good travel buddy, then I'm that one person in a million that you'll truly cherish spending tied-to-the-hip moments with. I'm a planner, organizer, get-your-shit together kinda person. I'll even find you a hostel where they'll leave you triangular shaped chocolate hearts on the pillows (or Knight Rider stickers, if you're into that sort of thing).

On the plus side, I'm loving my 5 year olds more and more. They're great, and pretty smart too. My 6-7 year olds on the other hand...kinda iffy. It depends on the days, really. Strange, cuz at the beginning of the year it was the contrary. My, my...how some children improve and how others just seem to disintegrate before your eyes, losing curiosity and the will to learn...

I work hard. Did I mention I need a vacation? My ears, at the very least, need one. Maybe I'll package them up nicely and send them off to Cancun where they'll be able to rest on a hammock or something.

My job is gonna prepare me nicely for when I'll be teaching in a real school. I wonder how Canadian kids will be...I don't expect them to be better than the Spaniards. I mean, they can be loud too...we'll see. It really depends on the kids. There ARE lots of kids in my classes that I simply adore, but of course there are some that you just wanna -BLEEP-!

Welcome to the wonderful world of teaching. Get used to it, H-Bomb.

Oh, I had a telephone interview with Wilfrid Laurier U yesterday. It went well enough, I think...considering I had to call AT work because of the time difference and everything. It sucked that I also had to call them...sheeesh. Universities can't afford to pay long-distance calls? Yeah, and Britney loves her kids. (rolls eyes)

It's the only uni out of my 5 chosen ones that needed an interview. Thank God for that. What a hassle...took me so long to get through, too (they were doing interviews all day). I'll know on April 2nd if I did as well as I thought or not.

Besides all of this...hmmm...just been chilling with friends in Punta during the weekends. The weather's been kick ass great. 21 or so degrees here (TO had -21 yesterday, WTF)...I'm so gonna miss this. Most things in Spain are amazing (I'm not gonna say everything due to slight deafness right now)...I look forward to going to Cadiz and seeing another great city. Pictures will follow, my lovelies...don't worry.

Report card season is coming up...this will be a busy month. 22nd, are you there? Hello?

H xoxoxoxoox

THIS JUST IN

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
The Shins WILL be in Paris...but on the frickin' 1st of April....JUST one day before I will arrive!
(sobs unconsollably) :,-(
Why did they decide to change everything AFTER I already booked my ticket?
(sigh) I'd have loved to be 19.60 euros poorer...
H.

Oh golly gee...

...did I ever have a good day. It was a very productive day, too. I somehow got up early without feeling too sleepy and cleaned the apartment from head to toe. I then decided to go for a walk downtown and to go shopping. I pleasantly bumped into my friend Ana along the way and we decided to hang out together. It was such a beautiful day, too! It was honestly a day for wearing a t-shirt (o.k, just during midday, but still). We had some yummy paella and browsed the stores together, and during siesta I went to her house for some tea and telly.
I also did something that I thought I would never get to...I finally cleaned out my closet (damn you Eminem...this will never ring the same way again). Now I just need to find a Salvation Army or something that will take my clothes...I'd hate to just throw everything away.
Shopping can be so exciting. When I'm in the mood for it, of course...which isn't often. I'd rather spend my money on travelling.
It IS nice having new items of clothing though...yayyyy! I'm such a girl.
I'm glad that I have a day off on the 28th...what a great way to end the month of February :) It falls on a crappy Wednesday too, so that counts for double awesomeness.
I wonder if I'll be able to watch the Oscars here...I doubt it. Even if I do, all the speeches would be dubbed, so it would end up sucking anyway. Oh well. I'm no Oscar nut like some of my friends...
This past week just flew by. Really, I can't believe it's Saturday again (but thank God it is). March is just around the corner...wow.
I might be going to Cadiz next weekend, so that should be fun. Don't know if Angel will be able to come with us, so we'll see...it's apparently a small city, but really nice and interesting. I shall prepare Mr. Camera again :)
On another note, Wilfrid Laurier U contacted my parents. They said that they would email me, but I have yet to receive anything from them in my inbox....grrrrr. I had even sent them an email asking if telephone interviews would be possible (I'm pretty sure that's the main reason they called, since their website said that they would be contacting qualified applicants for interviews), but they haven't replied :( I'll have to get in touch with them over the phone somehow...perhaps my mother can call them and explain to them my situation. This is so retarded because I remember writing on my application that I needed a telephone interview since I was living in Spain. I guess even professors and registrars can be illiterate.
Wilfrid U ain't my first choice, but I've got to try out my chances wherever I can, right?
Oh man oh man, what weeks await me...April 4th, here I come. I think.
Besides all of this, I'm doing well. Working lots as usual...sooooo looking forward to Shane's arrival. I can't wait to practise my French again, too. Bonjour, Paris! There will be so many things to see and do, it will just be pure goodness all over :)
I'm pissed that The Shins aren't coming to Paris...I told Eve that they would be coming to TO on March 17th, and she got her tickets for that show...sooo jealous! There are just so many concerts that I will be missing :( I do love Spain with all my heart, but it blows in the concert domain. There are just sooo many artists that skip over Spain, it's unbelievable. Then again, the spaniards aren't THAT interested in English music, so...blah.
I think the cat is gonna make my laptop overheart. She's lying right next to the fan that blows the heat out from the motherboard...oh, Lucifer. My Lucy Knoo...if you bust this baby I will surely eat you on toast. I'll find a way to cough out the fur.
I can't believe that pay day is coming up again...wow. In a way, this month did fly by. Yeah, it was crappy at times and I was sick as a dog, but it really did go by fast.
This post has been really random, sorry. I'm kinda tired now and will go to bed soon...tomorrow will be a deliciously lazy Sunday...
To finish off, I'm looking forward to seeing more of random/insane acts of cries for help Britney "Shears" can come up with. Perhaps next week she'll poop in her hand and say that she finally popped out a baby girl. Then she will proceed to microwave it just like she did with her 2 mutant boys.
H xoxoxoxoo

It can't come quickly enough

What the hell is up with this crap month, anyway? Besides being god-awful sick last week, this week hasn't been much better and should go straight to the crapper as well. I won't go into the whole gory details of it, but I've heard enough "Teaaaacher, he won't leave me alone!!!Wahhhh!" and "Look at me! Look what I can do!! (Crashhhhhhhhhh)" to last me a lifetime.
It seems everybody, including the kids, is feeling aggravated and annoyed by the grey days we've been having and the fact that we're in shitty February.
My boss had some complications with her pregnancy, so she's been resting up all week and hasn't shown up for work. Yeah, to many this would mean: "Score!", but I actually miss her and have lots of things to talk to her about...
I'm lucky to have such a great boss. I hope she'll be alright.
So yeah, I've been whining to my close friends and loved ones for the past 2 weeks it seems. If it wasn't being sick it's feeling burnt out and tired of seeing everybody bitch at each other. Dammit kid, you're 6 years old....play with your friends nicely and shut your trap. Life will be much harder in just a few years.
I'm just frustrated this week. I'll live, I guess.
I loved that idea from Shane's blog about our top 7 Jeopardy categories, so here goes:
Heidi is a 24 year old English/French teacher in Spain who can speak 4 languages but not even one perfectly (including Ingleeesh), her dream Jeopardy! categories would be:

-German Schlager Hits
-Guess my Ascendant Sign
-Space Voyages and Upcoming Missions
-Plans for 2035
-Claustrophobia
-Spanish Safety Measures and Customer Service
-Siamese or Smoke Alarm?

Songs that I can't stop listening to while I feel like poop:

1. Sea Legs -The Shins
2. Headlock-Imogen Heap
3. Raphael-Sur la Route
4. Tapes n Tapes- Gallon Ascots
5. Alejandro Sanz- Corazon Partido

So that's all I've got to say for now, I guess. You know how sometimes you feel annoyed for no reason at all? I'm kinda at that point right now...been having a good day but just feel blargh.
Might invite my buddies out for tapas tonight...need to get my mind off some things.
H xoxoxoxo

Come away with me...to Cordoba

First of all, thank God this week is finally over and it's Saturday once again. I'm not going to do anything at all this weekend. Why? Let's just say that my head was enacting World War 3. I had everything from fevers to headaches that made me want to inject all the world's morpheine into my veins. Not pretty.
This wasn't a cold...I'm pretty sure I had the flu. Ugh.

Here are some pics of my stay in Cordoba last weekend. Although it was cloudy and a bit rainy at times, I had a lot of fun and fell in love with the city. It wasn't too small or too big, definitely a city I could live and work in. It was pretty quiet as well (probably because of the season).
This is a wall from The Mezquita, which is an old Arab structure/giant wall that surrounds a huge and beautiful Cathedral.








Lots of beautiful and old buildings in Cordoba. There are sooo many ruins underneath this city, it's incredible. You can see lots of places where construction had to stop because the archeological department had to approve the tampering with a certain area.

During our first day in the city we went to the Archaeological museum, the museum of fine arts, a site where once famous Arab baths stood, and a castle and gardens from the Reyes Catholicos. There were lots of places that were free for EU citizens...other citizens had to pay 1.50 euros.




The cathedral tower from afar. Beautiful, eh? I was standing on top of a little tower in the Reyes Catholicos Gardens.

The garden was splendid. There were lots of little fountains and goldfish everywhere. It sure wasn't as beautiful as the Alhambra, but it had its own charm...it seemed a little more quiet and secluded.













This was one of my favourite sites in the garden. Statues of Christopher Colombus and the Reyes Catholicos. There are so many statues like these throughout south-western Spain, yet I still find them beautiful and awe-inspiring. It always makes me imagine of what happened when Christopher proposed his idea to the King...

To the left of these statues there was one single red rose that was in bloom. Screaming like I little girl, I almost tripped over my camera cord out of excitement. I took a picture of it, and memories of Beauty and the Beast resurfaced, lol. You can never take the child out of me :)









Jose, Sally, Donna, Angel, Laura and me. Yeah, the bar was soooo smoky, pardon the blurry image. We had an amazing dinner with Donna's old coworkers: Oxtail! No, trust me...it was REALLY GOOD. Joe and Sally were really nice, but typically British, hehehe. They showed us a bit around the city and later invited us for some drinks.
(There was a painting of 2 frogs facing each other, right in front of me...if they kissed would they turn into gay, princely lovers?)




Inside the Cathedral. Arches, arches and more arches...and I've suddenly got a craving for candy canes. Especially the cherry ones...hmmm.

They prohibited picture-taking, but I have my way with sneaking my camera in...too bad the lighting was terrible and all I could really take was this. I guess you can kinda TRY to imagine what it looked like...It's Willy Wonka's prayer zone, dudes!
I actually did attend mass. How it happened, I still don't know...oompa loompa power?





La Plaza Carreta...or something like that. I always got the name wrong. This Plaza was wickedly awesome and reminded me of Plaza Mayor in Madrid. It actually made me miss Madrid as well. One can just imagine how many people there must be during the summer. Cafes and Bars were pretty much all lined up!






Downtown, there was one street that had lots of cool statues made out of bronze. I found that these ones looked cool the way they were all lined up like that. The signs said 1995 but they all seemed a lot older.
During my picture-taking, an old man (about 65 I would say) approached me and told Laura to snap a picture of us...oh, how I like weird men. He kept saying how pretty we were and then proceeded to invite us out for a beer. I said no, of course. Just a beer? Cheepskate!




I snuck my camera in through a gate and took this pic. In the spring, owners open their gates and let visitors look at their flowers and gardens...it's one of Cordoba's trademarks. Balconies are just overflowing with vines and flowers, and people come from all over the world to savour in the beauty.
Perhaps I'll return during spring...
For now though...I'm going to do something which I haven't done in a while during the weekend: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
And I'll enjoy myself.
H xoxoxoox