It's my goodbye and I'll cry if I want to

Its been a rough few days, yesterday in particular. Monday was my last day of work and I said goodbye to the rest of my students. Our goodbye was similar to our "hello" when we first met. In 3rd, 4th and 5th level they all asked for my John Hancock- "FIRMAME!!" I wrote them each a little note saying how much I enjoyed teaching them and good luck in the future, but all they were concerned with was my signature. So whether they still think I am BFF with Hannah Montana or that one day I will actually be famous myself, it was a sweet way to end the year.

Yesterday we had our goodbye lunch with the teachers. We ate at an outdoor restaurant in Torre del Mar called, "Las Americas." We had a typical Spanish lunch, plates of olives followed by shrimp, clams and anchivoes to start and then a massive pan of paella. I managed to have a pitcher of beer and some after meal shots which might have contributed to my emotional breakdown when it actually came time to say goodbye. The teachers gave the other auxiliar and I each a card that had been signed by all the teachers in the school and a beautiful wooden, hand painted fan. So Spanish. Love it. They taught me how to open it like a proper Andaluz. Super sexy. Can't wait to show it off at home.

After 3.5hrs, it was time to say goodbye. We all stood up and I just started balling. I didn't realize how much I would miss the teachers I worked with this year. We have become so close and I will miss seeing their smiling faces every day and sharing stories. I was pretty embarrassed, I couldn't even form sentences because I was choking back the tears. I think it just all of a sudden felt so real that I would be leaving the next day. Which is now today. My room is packed, my suitcases are extremely overweight and my flight gets in at 4pm to JFK. I had planned to write a really thoughtful conclusion and reflection on this year, but I have been so busy and nervous and anxious the past few days that I haven't thought of anything profound to say. See you in the states...

Above: Me in 3rd grade

Above: Me and Choni, the Music and English teacher, at lunch

Above: Me and Elo, the third grade Science and English teacher, at lunch

Above: the whole group

Above: traditional paella lunch

Above: My demise ?

Mercado Atarazanas

The renovated Mercado Atarazanas opened about a month ago, and it's conveniently located right across the street from my flat. It's a historic landmark and had been under construction since we arrived in September. There are rows and rows of fruit and vegetable stands on the right hand side, fish stands in the middle and meat stands on the left. They also have nut, olive, bread and pastry stands. Everything is extremely fresh and well priced. As you can see from the first picture below there is a giant stained glass window in the back of the market- not your average supermarket! Today I bought 5 apples, 5 pears and a cucumber for a total of just 3euro. I'm going to miss grocery shopping here!

Click, drool, repeat

This isn't exactly Spain related, but I need to share my new addiction: food porn. Because lets be honest, there is a similar obsession and fascination with food as there is for sex. Let me know if you feel the same.

BARCELONA LIST

Restaurants:
We ate at soo many amazing restaurants! Here is what I would recommend to order at each:
Tapas 24: (they don´t take reservations, go early and sit at the bar) foie burger, patatas bravas, bread with tomato, jamon and mozzarella sandwich, chocolate desert
Txapela: ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING
Can majo: tomato mozzarella salad, paella, sangria
Cal Pep: shrimp, fried artichokes, white fish
Attic: any salad, monkfish, lamb, apple tart

Sightseeing:
Casa Battlo
Parc Guell
Sagrada Familia
Las Ramblas
Montjuc
Cathedral
Barcelona Aquarium

Olé!

This week CNN reported on S. Pellegrino's annual "World's 50 Best Restuarants" list and guess what? While the United States was this year's most honored country, 5 of the finishers were in Spain! Olé !

2) El Bulli (Roses, Spain)
4) El Celler de Can Roca (Girona, Spain)
5) Mugaritz (Errenteria, Spain)
9) Arzak (San Sebastián, Spain)
33) Martin Berasategui (Lasarte-oria, Spain)

Tapas Tourism

If you´re going to be in Madrid, Barcelona or San Sebastian any time soon I recommend that you
a. call me so I can meet up with you
and
b. check out this article from the WSJ on the best tapas restaurants AND tapas tour guides in those cities. Ms. Alonso, for example, is a 44yr old Spaniard who has abandoned engineering in favor of tapas tourism- for just €95 she will take you on a private tour of tapas bars in Spain.

I will be going to Barcelona with my mom in just two weeks and can´t wait to check out Tapas, 24 and try one of their famous mini sandwiches (por ejemplo: jamon iberico, mozzarella, and grated black truffles.)

¡Que aproveche!

Buffet Me

One of my favorite things about Morocco was definitely the buffet style eating, at EVERY single meal. It was pretty much my dream come true ( did I just say that out loud?!?) There were amazing vegetables, mystery meats and desserts every day three times a day. It was a blessing and a curse that I had a pretty bad cold the whole week in Morocco and had to rely on Rachael to taste and smell things since I was not able to. When I could taste the food though it was amazing!

Paella Paradise

Friday we all went to an amazing paella restaurant in Nerja called Chiringuito de Ayo. It is pretty famous and considered to be the best paella on the Costa del Sol. The paella bowl above is just ONE of TWO that we ordered for our group of 8. A serious food coma ensued but it was worth it.

Life Changing Chips

Emily and I discovered these life changing chips in Nerja in October and I had not had the pleasure of tasting them since until I brought Lily and Alice there this past weekend. Clearly the two had to be introduced. They are homemade potato chips and are SO DELICIOUS. For just €2.50 a bag, you are in for a serious treat. If I can't find a job when I get home I am thinking of opening up a franchise in Central Park. Stay tuned.

Porto List

Solar oinho de vento

Casa do livro bar

Duoro wines: Porca de murca

Brasa dos leoes

Poets Hostel

Day trip to Guimaraes

Rua dos Caldeireiros

Ponte Dom Luis I bridge

Rio Douro

Praca da liberdade

LISBON LIST

Origami sushi restaurant

Yes! Hostel

Rossio Square

Rua Augusta

Walk through Alfama neighborhood

Santa Luzia viewpoint

"Sumaria" smoothie shop

Castelo de Sao Jorge

Day trip to Sintra

Day trip to Cascais

Lux

BBC

OP Art

El día de Andalucía

Today we started celebrating "el día de Andalucía" in school. The children learned a typical Andaluz dance and we ate typical Andaluz food. I would say every other day someone brings in a typical Spanish food for everyone to try- usual a pastry. It's such a cute tradition, but at this rate I'm definitely going to engordar. Thankfully it is not beach weather yet and I will have some time to get in shape. Today someone made these amazing mini donuts. The exact name is escaping me right now...The ingredients were: eggs, yogurt, butter, oranges, and a pinch of salt. One of the teachers made them right in the teacher's lounge and they only took a few minutes to cook.

Brunch on the mind

It's been one week but I can't stop thinking about the delicious brunch that Rachael's friends in Madrid made for us!

Above: Me and Rachael at brunch
Above: frittata
Above: homemade potatoes
Above: homemade cinnamon buns for dessert!! so yummy!

More Madrid

Here are some new cool spots I visited in Madrid this past weekend:

O'live: Restaurant and lounge in Serrano

Moulin Rose: Bar and lounge near Tribunal. Ambiance and live band was really great.

Lamucca: Restaurant and bar near Tribunal. Atmosphere and food was amazing!

Sushiwakka: Sushi restaurant

Below: at Moulin Rose

Rodizio

Rodizio is my new favorite restaurant concept. While I am sure there are tons of locations in New York City I had never experienced this great Braizilian cuisine until this past Saturday when my friends and I went to a restaurant in Plaza Mayor. A few of them had been before and told me of its holiness, "a guy comes around with different meat on a stick and you can eat as much as you want." So it was essentially a €9 all you can eat meat buffet. Gulp. Since it was 5pm the restuarnt was about to close, but we begged them to let us squeeze in this precious meal. We got up to serve ourselves from the buffet of salad, rice and beans. Then we waited hungrily for the meat to appear. Suddenly the man appeared with the first giant skewer of meat. Pollo (chicken). Luego el pollo con bacín (chicken with bacon). Después, ternera (veal), cerdo (pork), cordero (lamb), y chorizo (saussage). This incredible meal was followed by a serious food coma but it was so worth it and will definitely be happening again in the near future.

Bringing Spain to the USA!

So I've finally found a way to bring a little bit of Spain to all of you in the USA! It's a website called La Tienda and you can order anything from jamón serrano to wine to Spanish cologne and bath soaps and have it delivered to your doorstep! It's genius!

La Tienda is a bilingual, family owned company. It was founded by the Harris family in 1996 in Williamsburg Virginia. The Harris family lived in Spain in the 1970s and their goal in creating this company was to share all of the joys of life in Spain with their friends in the USA. Some highlights of working for the company are: paid health and dental insurance, life insurance and classes in English and Spanish. Um where do I apply? The website is so authentic that if you're feeling adventurous you can order the actual leg of ham just like they have hanging in the restaurants in Spain. They even have their own blog. After perusing the website here are some of the best and most interesting finds in my opinion:

• Jamón serrano
• Ham holder for all whole Jamones
• Professional jamón carving set
• Paella recipes
• Wine botas & porrons
• Rioja red wine
• Olives
• Paella burner

Need I say more? Order up!!

British Pancakes

This may appear to be a pizza, but it's not... IT'S A PANCAKE! When I ordered a "tomato, cheese, chicken and mushroom pancake" (why I thought this would make for a good pancake is another story) I imagined it would resemble a standard pancake. You can imagine my surprise when this giant plate of deliciousness was placed in front of me. The guy next to us ordered the "chocolate, ice cream pancake." It had the same pizza formation, but with 2 huge scoops of ice cream on top. YUM.

Palacio Wok

Conveniently situated between the AC Palacio Hotel and The Cathedral lies Palacio Wok, an authentic Asian buffet that Emily and I tried out today. For 15euro you get all you can eat Chinese, sushi and wok ( you serve yourself the raw vegetables and meats you want and pick a sauce and they make a wok for you). We have all been seriously dying for some sushi and Chinese so needless to say this is our new Sunday tradition.

Ch Ch Ch Churro!

There are a few events that have occurred in my life that I can dramatically and confidently describe as "life-changing." I'm not talking about having divorced parents, going to college, or moving to a foreign country. I'm talking about those little things that you stumble upon, or that stumble upon you that completely rock your world. Por ejemplo, two years ago for my 21st birthday my mom bought me a facial at Lancome. I had had facials before and was pretty disappointed when I realized this was going to be part of my 21st celebration. In my memory facials were painful, long and left horrible marks on my face that I didn't think possible with all of the water that I drink to prevent them. The facial at Lancome however was "life-changing." It was relaxing, soothing and I felt completely rejuvenated afterward. It changed my life. My most recent "life-changing" experience was my visit to a churreria. I don't have a sweet-tooth, I am much more of a french fry and onion ring kind of girl, but these churros really rubbed me the right way. There were three fresh hot heavenly sticks placed before me. I carefully dipped them in chocolate and they found their home in my mouth. Above I am standing in the churreria. Life changing.

Street Nuts

So I finally decided to take the plunge and buy some nuts that they sell on every street corner here. I really like the roasted peanuts, cashews and almonds they sell on the streets in New York so I figured this would be similar. I was wrong. You have to peel this shell-like structure off of the nut before eating, but it is impossible to get the whole thing off so you end up eating some of the shell. The actual nut is soft and looks like a papaya. Overall not a fun experience and not very tasty. I am NOT nuts over these nuts.