1 week in Murcia

Everyone in Murcia comments on how there’s nothing to do here; it’s kind of true but part of the fun. You’re not overwhelmed with tourist attractions and worried about not fitting it all in. It’s just chilled.

I’ve been here a week now, of course it feels like it’s flown by but then when I look at what I’ve squeezed in it makes sense that I was jetting off from England 7 days ago.

In my first week I’ve; moved in to a new apartment, been to 2 job interviews, met and taught 3 new students, done 3 hair braids, visited 1 beach, consumed my fair share of sangria and gross shots, danced to cotton eye joe with some crazy yanks, signed up to the gym, navigated my own way around most of the city, been to 1 student festival, booked tickets for another festival (aaaaye up years&years, 2manydjs, Morrissey etc!), dyed my hair, temporarily scared a few with my botched hennas, been rained on whilst trying to eat dinner, been woken up by the Spanish remix of ‘murder she wrote’, been woken up to the sound of continuous gunshots that turned out to just been weird play bomb things, been excited at the thought of Nina coming to visit, dodged rollerbladers, watched more than enough Louis Theroux documentaries, booked flights to attend an assessment day (planning my next move), seriously considered buying pet rats, met a bunch of new gals and guys (mostly english oops), people watched from my balcony, seen a double rainbow, sun bathed and generally had a wicked time.

Don’t worry mum & dad (not that you ever would), I’m keeping busy.

I don’t know what else to add apart from the fact that I’m feeling veeeeery grateful and if anyone wants to visit and join the LOLz (and you’re not a psycho…) you’re more than welcome to.

Mary x

Dance, bugs and raps – 28th February 2014

Hello!

I feel like so much happened so this day deserves a whole post, sorry for my rambling!

Friday started differently to most days, I was the only one in the GAP flat as Rebecca, Eleanor and Annika had gone to Otjiwarongo with Sara to buy some essentials. This meant I was teaching PT for the morning, my favourite and easiest PT lesson is to teach dance so I spent the morning with the speaker, my laptop and the kids teaching them a dance to ‘Katatura Baby’. I think it’s good for them to do something different every so often as obviously not every GAP will want to teach dance in front of nearly 40 judgemental kids (especially if they’ve never danced before). Before the classes even began I had a scare when moving the tables to the sides of the room, a bird was just sitting on the table and I’d touched it before I saw it which really freaked me out (I thought it was a giant rat or something…). Shepherd kindly came to my rescue when I screamed and picked up the bird, opened the window ready to let it fly it, as he let it go it didn’t fly off like we expected, it fell straight to the ground and landed on it’s back… I’m not saying we killed the bird but we didn’t do the best job of trying to save it, sorry bird!

 

At lunch I went to get Vet cakes from Sister Albertina (like big balls of deep fried dough) and attempted to tidy the GAP flat and found some unusual bugs whilst doing so. You’d think after spending a year in Namibia I’d have seen all these different types of insects but apparently not, almost everyday I have to ask the GAP’s ‘what on earth is this?!’. As I started the mop the girls returned from Otjiwarongo. When I asked if they’d bought much they looked guilty, they’d bought LOADS. They showed me their purchases; lots of toiletries, pesto, more peri peri sauce, chocolate, doritos etc etc. 

 

I went to Skype Fran and was surprised that it actually connected as the internet has been playing up recently. It was so nice to ‘see’ her and chat about the gossip here, the kids that were around were really happy to hear her voice and chat to her too. I can’t wait for Fran to come and visit at some point! That evening we decided to have a talent show as the hall was being cleaned so we couldn’t have our usual TV time. I was the organiser but didn’t really organise much, the GAPs and Sister Albertina were judges, I did the music and Renico ‘presented’ it. There were some hilarious acts performing and I hope the GAPs agree that it was great entertainment for us. The kids here rarely get nervous and most are happy to just get up on stage in front of 250 others and sing or dance. The standout act for me was definitely Damian and Peterson rapping, the lyrics were hilarious even if they weren’t intended to be and we all got to dance along (put your hands in the sky, I’m guna make you fly) plus the height difference was great. The GAPs voted for the top 3 places, all of which won some sweets, crisps and some biscuits. Even though there might of been a bit of a mix up with the winner (Renico’s fault!) everyone had a wicked night, it’s fun to do something different as to not get bored of the Otjikondo routine. 

 

In the evening we saw a car pull up to the flat, we assumed it was one of the teachers but we didn’t recognise the guy when he came in. He told us he was driving to Otjiwarongo and needed food. He wanted the crisps but I refused and offered him 2 of our apples if he gave us $10. He then asked for a beer, we obviously refused and I proceeded to push him out of the flat.

 

The kids keep asking when I’m leaving and it’s just starting to dawn on me that I only have a few days left here before returning to Cape Town so I’m trying to cram in as much as possible! I’m having an amazing time and I’m so grateful for how welcoming the GAPs have been to me. That’s all for now 🙂

Lots of love,

Mary

xxx