2010

Big overarching entries are difficult to do, but some kind of year-in-review entry is in order in this thing, I think. I was contemplating doing this in the style of 12 Days of Christmas, but that's a lot of counting.

2010 started in Sevilla with the family during their Christmas trip last year to Andalucía. Highlights included wondering when exactly we start shoving 12 grapes in our mouths and the family´s sudden realization that grapes are not seedless.

My dad using his windbreaker's pockets well.

After the trip I returned to the daily grind in Málaga at the high school I was working at. I was having small conversation groups with the students who were going to take the Trinity exam, an international English test. Thankfully they all passed, as we spent a lot of time in those little rooms.

Around February, the traveling momentum picked up. In Semana Blanca, which is not a celebration of all things white, rather a week that Málaga province gets off in late February/early March to make up for the fact that our feria falls in August. In the past, this was the week that kids went skiing in the Sierra Nevada, but now just makes it seem like our province is lazier and racistier than other ones. Not true, we are equally as lazy and racist as others. Anywho, during Semana Blanca a group of us Americans ventured to AFRICA! Well, Morocco. Saying that a visit to Morocco is a visit to Africa is the Spanish equivalent of saying a visit to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico is a visit to Latin America. It's technically true, but doesn't feel that way. Our trip included me throwing up on the boat over, narrowly getting off the train in Marrakesh due to my shitty French, marveling at the markets in Marrakesh, a desert trip on a minibus through the Atlas mountains and later on camel out to a camp in the desert, a 14-hour highly educational return trip in which Eric nearly killed all in the back seat of the minibus, and similar shenanigans. It was awesome and highly photogenic.

Ait-Benhaddob oasis, Atlas mountains.

Rock the Casbah, Marrakesh.

Camel riding in the west Moroccan desert.

Semana Santa involved a similar trip with a similar group of kiddos to Portugal and has the distinction of being one of the funnest trips I have been on to date. We rented 2 cars in Málaga and cut across southern Spain and Portugal until arriving in Sagres, which is the name of one of my favorite beers and also, less importantly, the end of Europe and the closest you can get to the Americas on the continent. After an awesome beach day there we swung up to Lisbon and Sintra for a few days and then cut down back to Málaga through Évora, Mérida, and Sevilla. The trip highlighted the ease with which you could die when an Australian is driving, the awesomeness of beach soccer at the end of the world, and that a little fog and mist could mean you have a medieval Portuguese castle all to yourself.

Sagres, Portugal.

Albufeira, Portugal. We saw this in a magazine in
Faro and realized it was 20 minutes away.

Sintra castle, outside of Lisbon, was ours.

In April Joseca became an important person in my life and, as one of my 5 loyal readers, is getting a shout out. :)

Looking pensive in Istanbul.

In May, as my year in Málaga at the highschool finished, I went to Paris with a friend of mine from college for 5 days. It was an awesome trip and I got to spend some intense sight-seeing time there, as the first time I was in Paris it was a whirlwind 2 days.

Atop the Eiffel tower, it was a sweaty climb.

In June I tearfully left Málaga to go to Istanbul, Turkey, where I was a live-in English teacher to two adorable little girls, Mina and Melda, for 2 months. Turkey is an incredibly beautiful country. It is both extremely modern in Istanbul, think New York, yet can be very antiquated in the countryside. The family was wonderful and it was a great experience seeing the city and the south of the country during vacation, but was a little lonely, as you know my Turkish isn't flawless (haha) and I didn't make friends. For the summer, it was ideal, however.

Blue Mosque, Istanbul.

Boating in Southern Turkey.

Bodrum, Turkey.

Mina, 6, and Melda, 3. SO CUTE!

In August I went home for 6 weeks in Florida. It was great to catch up with the parents. We made a quick trip out to Colorado and New Mexico, where my parents are from, and then headed back to Málaga. This year I am working in an elementary school, which I love. Overall, 2010 was a great year. Try to top that, 2011!