Incorrect! That is Mexico. Mexico and Spain are *not* the same thing. Two completely different countries that speak the same language. Just like America and Australia. Or America and England. We are not the same as Australia or England, right? Okay...now that that rant is off my chest, let me start writing about my Halloween spent here in Sevilla.
Now, to my surprise, Halloween is bigger than I expected (considering I was literally expecting nothing and for it to just be another regular day). This whole week at my internship en el colegio (in the school), we have been talking about Halloween in almost all of my classes. They totally copied everything from us, which most of my teachers explained to their students before putting the spotlight on me to talk about the "real" Halloween. My host mom told me they've only been celebrating Halloween for like...8 years. Also, the chino stores were full of costumes and other random little Halloween goodies like pumpkin buckets, candy, and little knick knacks. There were a few carteles (posters) posted around town advertising Halloween parties and activities, but I didn't start noticing them until like...three days before Halloween. Typical Spaniards waiting until the last minute to do stuff! Or maybe I was just really oblivious. That's a total possibility. Hmm...
Anyway, on the actual day of Halloween, which was yesterday (Friday), I had to go to my internship from 8:00-14:10. I was really excited I got to spend the majority of my day at the colegio, because that meant I was going to be talking a lot about Halloween to my students. I wore orange and black, and I was definitely the only one up in that school that looked even slightly Halloween-y. I definitely remember when I was growing up, a lot of my teachers dressed up for Halloween (maybe not dress up dress up, but they wore Halloween colors and stuff like that). I guess teachers here haven't caught on to that aspect yet...and who knows if they ever will! This is still Spain, after all.
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| How I looked on Halloween vs. How I felt on Halloween |
Nevertheless, I still spent a good majority of my day doing Halloween related things with my younger students. We played Halloween bingo, looked at Halloween pictures on Google, colored Halloween pictures, and I demonstrated trick-or-treating to them. I didn't spend much time talking about Halloween to my older students, though, because they have more of a strict agenda (my older students are currently reading short stories in English and really focusing on building new vocabulary to prepare themselves for their big test they have to take that will determine whether or not they can go to University). It was a really fun day, and I had a good time answering questions about Halloween and hearing my students' plans for Halloween.
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| One of the teachers I worked with drew all of the Halloween vocab words on the board while I explained how I celebrate Halloween in the USA! I can't believe she took the time to draw these cute cartoons! That's dedication. |
After the colegio, I went home and ate lunch with my host mom, took a small nap, and then headed out to the University with Isis and Genisis to see a couple of scary movies shown by the Aula de Cultura (basically like a culture club?). We watched "El Proyecto de La Bruja de Blair" (The Blair Witch Project) and "La Matanza de Texas" (Texas Chainsaw Massacre).
But really, we were late to the first movie, so we saw the ending of El Proyecto de La Bruja de Blair, and Isis and Genisis watched half of La Matanza de Texas while I discreetly slept during it (I was tired, okay? It has been a long week of exams and little sleep! I could seriously only keep my eyes open for the first 5 minutes. Genisis and Isis said at first they just thought I was closing my eyes for the gross parts, but when I never opened them back up...they realized I was knocked out.) Then, we rolled out of there early to head out to Isla Mágica, a small theme park on the edge of Seville.
When we arrived, everyone was dressed up in a costume, and let me tell you, Spain does costumes RIGHT. Ladies? Forget about the typical sexy pirate/sexy cop/sexy whatever the crap you guys come up with, the women here in Spain GET SCARY. Way more creative, way better make-up skills, and way more fun. I saw so much fake blood, so many fake scars and peeling skin and burns, swords, knives, axes, fake chainsaws, all held by women. I think the US needs to catch on to this. So much more exciting and fun.
When I googled "halloween costumes women" I got stuff like this:
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| Halloween costumes in America for women |
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| Halloween costumes in Spain for women |
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It was a really fun night seeing everyone all dressed up. Even a lot of the kids looked terrifying. Some parents dressed up their little-little kids in fake blood, gave them a fake bloody knife, and let them run around the park looking super creepy.
At the park, I convinced Isis and Genisis to ride several "big" rides with me, including a ride which was the smaller equivalent to the Drop Zone at King's Dominion:
At the park, I convinced Isis and Genisis to ride several "big" rides with me, including a ride which was the smaller equivalent to the Drop Zone at King's Dominion:
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| A photo I borrowed off of Google Images of the ride I'm talking about (click here for where the photo actually came from)
And also I successfully convinced/peer pressured them to ride El Jaguar with me, which is a fun roller coaster at Isla Mágica:
Now, let me give you a little background on my experience with roller coasters. I'm not afraid of any of them. I love roller coasters! Isis and Genisis on the other hand...are the opposite. I'm still not even sure how I managed to get them on that thing. I ended up riding next to Genisis, who as soon as we sat down and got strapped in, looked at me and said, "Is it too late to change my mind???" and of course, me being the jerk I am, said "HAHA NOPE, TOO LATE NOW SUCKA!" Then, as it started off, she began to curse in a strange Spanglish mix of English curse words, Spanish curse words, and prayers. I just sat there laughing because it was hilarious (yet awful at the same time.) Then, we went down the first major hill, and all I could hear was her screaming bloody murder. Then after a few seconds, she got quiet. At first I was like "okay maybe she got used to the ride," so I looked over at her, and I saw her head was down and she just looked straight up dead. I stopped having fun to have a mini anxiety attack because I was convinced that I just indirectly killed Genisis by convincing her to ride the roller coaster. So the rest of the roller coaster, while fun, was also extremely terrifying because I totally thought she had seriously passed out or died. I wasn't about to have to deal with that, so I was really hoping that she was just praying or practicing Buddhism and meditating to find her inner strength while on the roller coaster. Luckily, once the ride slowed down, I looked over at her again and she picked her head up, and while she looked pretty shaken, when I asked her if she was okay, her response was a shaky nod of the head yes. After we got off the roller coaster and hobbled down the ramps like drunks (we decided that walking down ramps after just getting off any type of amusement park ride make you look extremely drunk even though you haven't had a sip of alcohol), Genisis and Isis proceeded to tell me that they're glad they rode it, they had fun, and they'd probably do it again! Success!
We rode a few more rides too, like that typical boat that goes back and forth, and some other thing that spun around and went back and forth. I'm really no good at describing rides, and I don't remember their names so you'll just have to deal with these vague descriptions. Sorry.
All in all, it was a night full of fun and laughter, and it was probably one of the better Halloween's I've had in a while. I also found out that roasted chestnuts are literally the most disgusting snacks on the planet, and while they smell good, they're really just plain disgusting. I do not recommend them.
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Also, a couple of side notes that have nothing to do with Halloween but I still want to include them, so I'm just tossing them here at the end:
1. On Nov. 4th, I'll have been here for 2 months! I can't believe I've been in Spain for almost two months. It feels like I've been here for much longer. I can see improvements in my Spanish, but at the same time, I still know I have such a long way to go, and that's why I've realized lately how glad I am for choosing to study abroad for the year. Hopefully, by May, I'll see a significant difference in my Spanish. It would be kind of embarrassing to come back from a school year in Spain and still not know what the heck I'm trying to say. The students who are only staying for the fall semester only have a little over a month and a half left in Spain, and while that still seems kind of like a lot, when you compare it to my 6 and a half months left...it's practically nothing. I wonder how they feel about that? I mean, I can hardly believe I "only" have about 6 and a half months left here. What the heck, where is time going? I definitely am starting to feel like that I don't want to return to the States, and it's only the beginning of November...I mean, yes, there's things I miss from the States, but I'm definitely starting to appreciate and get used to everything here a lot more, which feels really good to say.
2. Also, internship update. I feel like I always talk about it, but to me it's one of the most important things that I'm doing here. At first, I didn't really like it, and sometimes I still walk up in there like, "Okay, here we go again..." but I'm really starting to get used to it, and I really love it. It's especially great because lately, especially after a more difficult week at the school, I've come to realize that I pretty much have the world's best mentor teacher. I'm always throwing questions at her, and she answers them in a timely fashion with really detailed and helpful answers, and she always tells me how happy she is to answer my questions. I mean, my past mentor teachers were all really nice and truly, I learned a lot from each one, but none of them have ever been so willing to help me succeed in the classroom before. My mentor teacher here is happy to answer my questions and to work with me for every single one of my numerous requirements I have to complete for my internship. She literally told me, "I'm happy to help you with your questions, because in a way, they also make me think about the teaching process and all that stuff." I've never had a teacher who seemed like they were excited to maybe learn about the teaching process with me. It's always more like, "I am the teacher in this class, so I know what's best in this class. You can try your new-fangled models of teaching here, but I don't think they'll actually work that well." I can't wait to continue working with her and my other mentor teachers at el colegio this semester, and probably into next semester as well.
1. On Nov. 4th, I'll have been here for 2 months! I can't believe I've been in Spain for almost two months. It feels like I've been here for much longer. I can see improvements in my Spanish, but at the same time, I still know I have such a long way to go, and that's why I've realized lately how glad I am for choosing to study abroad for the year. Hopefully, by May, I'll see a significant difference in my Spanish. It would be kind of embarrassing to come back from a school year in Spain and still not know what the heck I'm trying to say. The students who are only staying for the fall semester only have a little over a month and a half left in Spain, and while that still seems kind of like a lot, when you compare it to my 6 and a half months left...it's practically nothing. I wonder how they feel about that? I mean, I can hardly believe I "only" have about 6 and a half months left here. What the heck, where is time going? I definitely am starting to feel like that I don't want to return to the States, and it's only the beginning of November...I mean, yes, there's things I miss from the States, but I'm definitely starting to appreciate and get used to everything here a lot more, which feels really good to say.
2. Also, internship update. I feel like I always talk about it, but to me it's one of the most important things that I'm doing here. At first, I didn't really like it, and sometimes I still walk up in there like, "Okay, here we go again..." but I'm really starting to get used to it, and I really love it. It's especially great because lately, especially after a more difficult week at the school, I've come to realize that I pretty much have the world's best mentor teacher. I'm always throwing questions at her, and she answers them in a timely fashion with really detailed and helpful answers, and she always tells me how happy she is to answer my questions. I mean, my past mentor teachers were all really nice and truly, I learned a lot from each one, but none of them have ever been so willing to help me succeed in the classroom before. My mentor teacher here is happy to answer my questions and to work with me for every single one of my numerous requirements I have to complete for my internship. She literally told me, "I'm happy to help you with your questions, because in a way, they also make me think about the teaching process and all that stuff." I've never had a teacher who seemed like they were excited to maybe learn about the teaching process with me. It's always more like, "I am the teacher in this class, so I know what's best in this class. You can try your new-fangled models of teaching here, but I don't think they'll actually work that well." I can't wait to continue working with her and my other mentor teachers at el colegio this semester, and probably into next semester as well.
