After hassling the internet company for a solid month, we finally have wireless in our apartment! So as long as things are interesting over here, and hopefully they won't cease to be, I will try to write here more often.

Last weekend I visited Baeza for the second time. It is a town of about 15,000 a quick 30 minute bus ride from here. I have made a few friends who live there teaching English. Wonderful, welcoming people - and seems you couldn't be any other way in this city - being in Baeza really makes you feel like all is right in the world. It is one of the most peaceful, tranquil places I have ever been. Baeza flourished in the Middle Ages as a Moorish city. It's famous for it's Renaissance architecture and the entire city has been incredibly preserved. There are few modern buildings and you really feel like you are in a different era as you wander the streets. One of my friends doing the same job as me was fortunate enough to be placed in a high school that was originally the university - absolutely beautiful. The poet Antonio Machado taught there in the early 1900s and his classroom is perfectly preserved. He moved to Baeza from northern Spain after the death of his wife, to escape the memory of her everywhere he went. We walked along a path named for him overlooking mountains and olive trees, and watched some old men play bocce ball and chew sugarcane.

Here is the link to my photo album of Baeza... it may be small and not well known but wow... love it.

I am liking my job more and more all the time as I get more comfortable and get to know the kids. They are little esponjas (sponges) and learning so quickly. No longer do they look at each other, shrug, and smile shyly when asked such things as "How are you?" Whoo! Although there's a handful of them who still say "My name is..." in response to "How are you?" ... but we're working on it. The five year olds are adorable ("Como se dice 'Harry Potter' en ingles???"), the first graders are monsters who nearly kill each other daily but I love them anyway, the second graders are great kids but it's the third graders who really make it worth my while. They are my oldest class, and so intelligent and enthusiastic. I think that in the last few weeks we've really made some breakthroughs when it comes to making inferences. Before, if they didn't understand a word in a phrase they would shut down and assume it was impossible for them to make sense of it, but now they are using contextual clues and can usually get pretty close to the meaning! I can tell they are excited about speaking English and that makes me feel like I am where I am supposed to be.

I was sad to miss Halloween in the US, but I whipped up a zombie face and went to a fun party thrown by some fellow English teachers. Only about a third were in costume, but hey - five years ago apparently no one in Spain had even heard of Halloween, so I'm happy! I also gave a lesson on Halloween to my kids. I brought candy and tried to make them to say "trick or treat" to get it, but they just didn't get it, and thought it was one or the other so I had to settle for 20 ten year olds yelling "treat!! treat!!"

We have befriended some Italian Erasmus students who invited us over for dinner last Friday. It was great, they had a big spread of appetizers - Spanish and Italian style - and for the main course they cooked a pasta typical of Rome, don't remember the name but do remember it was delicious. We're thinking of cooking an American brunch soon for all of our friends.. mmmmm

A fancy indoor pool just opened a five minute walk from my house... pretty excited about that, I'm going to go check it out tonight!

This weekend I'm going to Barcelona, the next I might go see a friend of mine in Alora for a Thanksgiving feast in the countryside, and the next weekend my cousin Shannon comes to visit!

A few of you have asked me for my address, so in case anybody wants it:

Calle Hermanos Álamo Berzosa
Bloque 2 Portal 2 3ºA
Jaén, España 23003

Sorry I've been such a bum about keeping this thing active, but I'll do better I promise!

Love and miss everybody un monton.

smooches,
kathryn