Life here in Murcia has been following a very busy pattern. From Monday until Thursday a great deal of free time has been dedicated towards planning activities for Nuestra Señora de los Angeles and Vicente Medina the two primary schools that have contracted me to work as an English language assistant. Tuesdays have now officially become the most pressing day of the week because at Nuestra Señora de los Angeles located in El Esparragal, Spanish for Asparagus, I have taken the helm of an English after school program to help some of the students receive extra practice. With the goal of helping fourteen students gain an increased understanding of my native language while also giving myself some much desired extra experience teaching without supervision I am confident that everyone will gain something valuable from this experience. The first class ended with a variation of "Hot Potato" which was surprisingly successful.
This past week has also marked the return to full-time salsa lessons at Bora Bora which will be good for learning some new dance moves, meeting new people, and also getting more Spanish practice. The group so far seems really nice and I'm excited to see where things go. When not dancing or doing something related to teaching English a great deal of time has been spent doing language exchanges, exploring new parts of Murcia, and taking part in some of the country's more well-known festivities. Murcia is not a big city when compared to Madrid, Barcelona, or even Denver but it manages to provide its inhabitants with a wide variety of dining options, nightlife, parks, group activities, and all for a very affordable price. Also with more than 40,000 university students there is a constant energy that keeps the lifestyle here refreshing.
Last Saturday for many people around the world represented a day to be with your significant other, also known as Valentine's Day. In Spain and in various other countries, most notably Brazil, another celebration was in full effect: Carnival. A month before Lent, typically around February, many cities around the world take part in large parades, days of non-stop dancing, exotic costume parties, and various celebrations that last for two consecutive weeks. If you happen to be in Spain during this special time of year there are a handful of destinations worth visiting such as Cadiz, the Canary Islands and Águilas.
Águilas is a small Mediterranean port city of roughly 30,000 people that is sandwiched between the edge of the Murcian and Almerian districts of southern Spain. Last weekend my roommate Lucia, her classmates, and myself took a train from Murcia and took part in the Carnival festivities within it's narrow stone streets and under the protection of the cities' once prominent cliff-side castle. Between DJs playing tunes ranging from Blink-182 anthems to latin infused foot stompers we had a really fun time. Thousands of people, all of whom dressed up in costumes, crowded the narrow streets in what turned out to be a seemingly infinite dance party. Dressed as a picnic I quickly lost most of my costume in the fray of dancing and crowd swimming people, which mainly included plastic plates and neon colored silverware glued to a green T-shirt.
The following morning we all arrived back in Murcia via a early train not exactly sure what year it was but the trip was well worth it. Next weekend one of my best friends, Anna Sun, will be visiting Barcelona from California and a much anticipated reunion almost six months in the making is going to be taking place.
Thank you for reading this blog. You look really pretty. I hope you are having a great day and I miss you a lot.
Much love, gravy, and plenty of biscuits,
Daniel Anetac (Catena)
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