Hola familia y amigos!
As I said in my latest post I have
a fun week to blog about. Last
week a joined a gym and on the way there I discovered a part of the city that I’d
never been to before. There were
long cobblestone streets with gates large gates surrounding it and benches
every few feet painted with the most vibrant blues and yellows. On the way, I saw parks complete with
older couples, playing children, and adorable dogs. Vibrant energy and tranquil peace existed simultaneously, as
they often do in Sevilla. As I
got closer to the gym I found tons of cute cafés and a bunch of indie/artsy/hip
stores. The gym itself is located
in between two squares with awesome plants, bars, and restaurants. It was so amazing to find a part of the
city that is so close to where I live but had never been to before. I told all of my friends about it and
I’m going to bring them back there.
Luckily for me, I get to see it everyday when I go for my workout.
Last
week was also exciting because I decided to become a student teacher. I am going to be volunteering once a
week at a Catholic school called Calet where I will teach English to 12 and 13
year-olds. When I went to the school
last week I met the teacher and the students that I will be teaching who were
all very enthusiastic about learning English. The teacher said to me in his broken English, “I am very
happy and proud of you to be here.”
It made my heart melt!
After
meeting the students I got a private tour from the principal of the high
school. The school’s facilities
are unbelievable! I never went to
private school as a child (except for Kindergarten but I don’t remember what it
looked like) so I’m not sure if that is how all private schools are, but it was
truly breathtaking. I most enjoyed
when he took me to the playground and I saw the kids in their adorable little
uniforms running around playing with one another. Something that I found interesting was how affectionate the
children were with the principal.
While we were walking around the playground, a bunch of kids came up to
him and gave him big hugs and he hugged them right back. I have found that people in Spain are
generally more affectionate, but this took me by surprise because I cannot
imagine having hugged my elementary school principal on the playground.
Another
fun thing that happened last week was that my grammar teacher sang for us
during our lesson! We were reading
about different singers and when we didn’t know a song she would sing it for
us. It was so cute!
My
week ended with a visit to the Plaza de Toros. (For those of you who
don’t know, un toro is a bull.) The outside of the arena is absolutely
breathtaking and on the inside we toured a museum containing much of the
history of this ancient tradition.
The museum has an amazing art collection that portrays bullfighting in
every medium; posters, paintings, photographs, sculptures, bronzes, and
costumes
worn by actual bullfighters.
When
I was touring I found myself fascinated by the rich history of
bullfighting. The fact that it is
such an integral part of Spain, especially Sevilla, made me disappointed that I
would probably never see a bullfight because I wouldn’t be able to handle
watching an animal die. But when I
expressed this to a new friend I met in Madrid over the weekend, he explained to me why bullfighting is not a cruel pastime and how bulls are treated better and allowed to live longer than many other animals. I realized that I was being closed-minded and I plan to read a book he recommended to me about bullfighting called "In the Arena." I am normally not keen on changing my views on an issue once I've taken a stance, but since my knowledge is obviously limited in this area, I am totally up for reconsidering my thoughts on this practice. Once I read the book and do some more research, I will share my thoughts
with you on this blog.
Hasta
luego! Stay tuned, because I am off to Paris tomorrow and when I
return I will have that entire trip to blog about as well as my weekend
in Madrid.
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