paella

It is Thursday in Sevilla, and with my program I don't have Friday class so my weekend starts a day early! The weather has really been picking up here, and I haven't worn my coat since Sunday, it is great! This week was pretty normal with classes, and I had the chance to volunteer (again) and take a cooking class.

Volunteering has been a crazy experience. I work with a classroom of three and five year olds during their craft hour every Monday afternoon. Classroom structure is completely different in Spain! The teacher basically explains the craft and lets them go wild---like really wild, but it is so fun! It always amazes me how fast the little kids can speak Spanish, but I guess it is their native language and they should be able to talk by now, but I am so jealous. This week we made birds out of paper hearts, and I learned a song that they sing about birds. It is funny because my time in the classroom is almost like a vocabulary lesson for me, because of all the basic words that I have forgotten since my Spanish 1 days. And being in a room full of thirty of the cutest Spanish kids is not a bad way to spend the afternoon. The kids seemed to have a rough Monday, so I had to comfort a couple of teary-eyed youngins, but it is the things like that I appreciate most for helping me improve my language skills.

On Wednesday, I signed up for a cooking class that is offered through my program. My food class had a jamón (ham) tasting that morning, and I went out for muffins during my literature class, but I feel like I am hungry all the time here, so of course I was ready to eat! I had to set off to a new part of the city on my own, which meant taking out my map for the first time in over a month, but I found it no problem and the class was incredible. It was in a couples' apartment and we made paella aka the most famous and delicious spanish dish. The couple was on the older side, and hosted a student from my program. They were soo so kind! The woman was so motherly and invited us back to visit before we leave after only knowing us for an hour! She showed us all the ingredients that go into paella and how to cook them. It was a lot easier than I expected, and after about twenty minutes it was ready to eat!

Here is a foto of the paella we made

It has green peppers, garlic, tomatoes, olive oil, rice

black pepper, saffron, shrimp and mussels! 

All mixed together and cooked in something like a pressure cooker. 

So easy, I will definitely be making this often next year!

After the meal the woman announced that she had a surprise for us---she came out of the kitchen with a great big cake! It was a moist, orangey cake with chocolate frosting. So good! It probably wasn't the best idea to eat it after the two muffins and two cookies that I had earlier that morning with my literature class---yes we went to a café instead of having class, even during the week before exams!
But regardless, I happily ate my cake, and gave them my email so they could send me the recipes! While sitting in the dining room, I noticed a big picture of the Memorial Union Terrace in Madison! The couple had a student who went to Madison a couple years ago. It was a nice little reminder of home!

Tomorrow I am venturing off to Ronda, a small white hill town in Southern Spain. I am looking forward to a day with friends in a beautiful city. It is fun to travel on my own, because there is so much to discover with our free time! Then Saturday I am going to my first soccer game to see Real Madrid play. A soccer player's dream!