Flamenco, Catedral, Puente y Coro

Hola! This will probably be the last time I post, so I'll try to recap the week and what is coming up!

This past week was quite busy. On Friday we had a choir rehearsal all day (literally all day, with break time and lunch still added in) in order to prepare the choir for tour that happens tomorrow and Friday. It felt like a Christmas in Christ Chapel rehearsal to have it all day- but more fun, since I was leading it, and hopefully the kids had fun too. We changed our set list last week in order to make it easier for the students. After rehearsing all day we had a practice concert for the primary students who liked to dance all around to our Christmas songs, and I conducted all of them while Kerry worked with the sound. We are going to do Carol of the Bells, that is affirmative. I asked the students after our rehearsal on Friday how many of them didn't think we would be able to do that song. All of them raised their hands. Then I asked how many of them didn't think we could do the song now and no one raised their hands. Success. Kerry and his wife's baby was due yesterday, so she will deliver any day now. There's a good possibility that he might not be at school tomorrow or Friday, which would mean he wouldn't be on the tour with me. However, another staff member is planning on coming with no matter what, so I wouldn't be all alone with the students.

This past weekend was a long one because of two Spanish National holidays. They celebrated Immaculate Conception day as well as their constitution day. Since their constitution day fell on a Sunday, schools and businesses take off the holiday on Monday. On Saturday, Deb (our supervisor, different Deb than was here the first time) Laura, Chelsey and I took a day trip to Ronda, a mountain town about an hour north of where we are staying. The two main attractions there are the puente (bridge) and the plaza de toros (bull ring). The bridge had a truly magnificent view of the Spanish countryside into the valley below. The bull ring was also pretty cool to see and had a museum (in which we were not allowed to take pictures). At this point, I'm going to wait to post more pictures until I'm back in Minnesota because the internet here is so slow. Then we did some shopping along the streets, and headed back in the evening.

On Monday and Tuesday, we took an overnight trip as a whole group to Sevilla. It's actually the first time that our whole group has traveled together anywhere. Deb was able to use her travel budget to pay for the bus tickets and the hostel in Sevilla, so that was a nice treat. On Monday, we went on the tour of the Catedral (Cathedral) of Sevilla. It was absolutely amazing. The architecture is incredible, and it's hard to believe that the initial construction of it started in the 12th century. I took a lot of pictures, but I don't feel like the pictures really do it justice.

We then had the afternoon to ourself and did some shopping and then met as a group for dinner. We happened to be eating dinner at siesta time, so very few restaurants were open. Finally we found one though, that turned out to be pretty good.

Later on Monday night, we went to a free Flamenco show at La Carboneria. While it might not have been as flashy as the ones that you pay 30 Euros for, it was still a Flamenco show and we enjoyed it. To add to it, we ran into two Gusties, Brett and Lee, that worked with one of the other girls in our group. I didn't believe them at first until one of them pulled out their Gustavus student ID, and then I believed them. Small world!

Tuesday there was a parade for the holiday, which consisted of several marching bands, and we watched that for a bit. After we watched it, we wandered along the river, and checked out the outside of the plaza de toros, and then the Plaza de Espana. It's too bad that we looked at the Plaza de Espana last, because it is huge and there is so much intricate tile work that we could have spent at least another hour looking around.

We came back last night and now only have three days at school this week. I get back to Minneapolis at 11:35 pm on Sunday, after a two and a half hour layover in my FAVORITE airport ever (not really) O'Hare. I will be in Minnesota until Saturday, and then I am planning on driving back to Chicago Saturday morning. (The 19th)

Also, there has been something seriously wrong with my phone (no incoming calls are going through) so sorry if you have been trying to call it and not getting through. I just tried it now and it should be working though.

Have a great day everyone!

-Emily