Night Out in Marbella

There’s nothing like a Girls Night Out to break up a long week of teaching! Last night, all of the student teachers, Deb and her daughters, and four of the teachers from SIS took a mini-road trip to Marbella, a bigger city about 25 minutes away from Estepona.  After school, we hopped in a few cars and made our way down the road.  Deb and her daughters were waiting for us close to the beautiful oceanfront and Salvador Dali statues.  Deb informed us that Salvador Dali lived in Marbella for a time and donated some of his beautiful art to city.  While the first group waited for the last few ladies to show up, we ordered a few tapas and watched a little boat take people to and from shore from a gorgeously lit cruise ship in the distance! 

When the whole group arrived (all thirteen of us!) we walked to a quaint little restaurant around the corner.  Eliza and Lisa, Ashley and my cooperating teachers, took the reins and ordered a few different dishes for all of us.  We weren’t always sure what we were eating, but I personally thought everything was delicious! A new dish was brought out every few minutes, and it just kept coming and coming! One dish we ate was called morcilla, which roughly translates to black pudding, meaning blood sausage.  Tastes better than it sounds! Other dishes included calamari, octopus, squid, unpeeled prawns (shrimp) and lamb chops!  We ordered a side of chicken and potatoes for Ashley J

During dinner, we traded stories about American and Spanish life.  The Sotogrande teachers explained to us more about how public schools in Spain work.  In Spain, every single public school uses the same textbook, and teaches the same lesson on the same day.  It is very traditional and regulated.  I think we were all surprised at how different Spanish schools are from Sotogrande and most American schools. 

A few years ago Eliza came to Gustavus for a short visit.  At dinner, Deb was trying to convince the rest of the ladies to come next! Everybody seemed on board… until we told them how cold it really gets in the winter!  We’re all hoping that our teachers can visit us someday…maybe when we have our own classrooms!  Sitting by the ocean, eating and enjoying good company was just what we all needed! It was great to spend some time with our teachers outside of school and get to know them better.  We want to thank Deb for all her help, and taking time out of her busy schedule to visit us and provide us with some great advice! We’ll be good when you’re gone Deb, we promise!  


-Christa