Hey Va-(lencia)

So, I’ve been busy eating pan con tomate, but I now take a break from trying to officially become a Spanish Person to bring you some highlights from a week and a half ago.

Juice with Jose Manuel and Wife

It all started with a bag of lemons. As in, around thirty oversized (think Willy Wonka vibes) lemons, in a plastic shopping bag, from the garden of our landlord. Who brought them to our little flat without so much as a batted eyelid (or explanation). They were, and have remained (THIRTY, I repeat), the core of many of our beverage choices.

Post Ice Cream Joy in Plaza De La Virgen

Then we were whisked away by said landlord and his as yet unnamed wife to a random but beautiful sandy stretch of beach, the lights of a port a Valencian skyline in the distance, and then around the city as we got a driven tour to the main sites.

Commence midnight ice cream eating (8 year old Natalia yes this is your life now), uber healthy juices in what can only be described as an authentic pre-hipster café, and a night-time trip to the futuristic City of Arts and Sciences, where a day later we “water cycled” our hearts out.

Paella Making: Dessert Team

The following day began with a rather fabulous paella making class for the 15 of us in Valencia, complete with equally fabulous Italian chef. Sangria was imbibed, rice was eaten, joy was produced (been teaching the passive, can you tell).

We wandered through the park, only to discover the nigh impossibility of keeping 15 keen people together (kudos to Amy), and I ended up with Dave and Asta watching a two man guitar/cello band playing funky Spanish music to an audience of dancing children. Note: English clowns are weird, Spanish clowns are weirder.

Tune in tomorrow for a teaching based segment – but for now, I’ve got a lesson plan with my name on it…