Is it better to be single or married?

I have thought a lot about the pros and cons of being single a lot lately.  When I got back from Spain so many married people said, "I wish I had your life."  So many times I have wished for their situation in life.  The ideal of course would be married to the perfect guy, have perfect children, and travel the world together. 

In reality, most of my close friends are divorced.  They tell me horror stories of how their ex was controlling, lost their faith, or abusive in some cases.  I have a friend who tells me horror stories about the teens in her house.  I have to say that the longer I teach the less I want children of my own.  That is so horrible, but it is so true!

In my own family, my mom did everything my dad told her to do.   She did it joyfully and with no complaint.  At times, I wanted to complain for her.  I could not live like that.  I could not smile and say, "Sure, no problem." to everything. 

My ideal would be my partner, my equal, and my friend.  I want someone who will challenge my mind and make me want to be a better person.   For now, I will try to make myself a better person. 

I assume that I will always be single.  I am okay with that.  I have a great life and I get to do things that married people dream of doing.  For now my single friends are my family and they are great!

Where Did You Go In Spain?

One of the most often questions that I have had about my trip to Spain is "Where did you go?"  I think people were expecting the normal, "Madrid and Barcelona" or other places that Americans have heard of.  They are not expecting to hear, "Vilalba, Santiago de Compostela, Vigo, and La Alberca".  I did go to Madrid - we flew into and flew out of Madrid.  I did spend a few hours touring Madrid - I did see a flamenco dance there and did go to Sol.  But it was such a small part of my trip that I hardly count it.

Vilalba is a very small village in the Autonomous Community of Galicia in the Province of Lugo in Northwest Spain.  Before I go on, let me educate you on the way Spain is set up, it was very confusing to me, so I'll put it in American terms.  Spain is broken up into 14 (I think) regions called autonomous communities - in America we would call those states.  Those regions are broken up in several provinces - in the states we would call them counties.  The provinces are actually named the same name as the biggest city - so Vilalba is a village in Lugo, Galicia, Spain.  Just like I live in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, USA.

This picture was taken next to the village and it was the walk we took every day when we doing our one-on-one conversations.  It was more spring like than summer.

Here is the village next to our hotel.  It was very small but very cute

We went on a long walk next to this river.  It was beautiful!

Pueblo Ingles!

• Pueblo Ingles is a week long program where you speak no Spanish.

• It is just English - a full immersion week.  You have to provide your way there, but they provide all meals and hotel rooms.  They have programs in Spain, Germany, and now Ireland!!  I actually saved money because I didn't have to pay for gas, groceries or eating out, or entertainment.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  

• We "worked" from 9 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.

• With 1 1/2 hrs nap after lunch.  I say "worked" because I did not really consider it work. I was getting to know some great people!  We not only spent formal time together, we also had our meals as a part of the program - we had to sit Spanish - English - Spanish - English at every meal.  It was delightful to meet so many new people and I could have easily gone on my own because we had to sit with different people at every meal and we did other things as an assigned group.
  

  

  Learning About Butterflies

  
  
  The food times are much different than the USA.  Breakfast was at 9 a.m., Lunch was at 2 p.m., and Dinner was at 9 p.m.
  
  
  
• 
  

  

  Breakfast - this is only showing one side of the buffet.

  
  

  I went to a teacher's week and a regular week where mostly business people attend. 

  
  
  During the teachers week, we had presentations from the English speakers, 
  there are one-on-one conversations, two-on-two conversations, theater, group activities, and the teachers had to present a 10 minute lesson.
  

  

  The Teachers in Vilalba

  During the regular week, there are one-on-one conversations, two-on-two conversations, group activities, theater, presentations by English speakers, 2 presentations by the Spanish speakers, conference calls, telephone sessions and more.
  
  
  

  

  The Business People at La Alberca

  
  
• I do have to say that at every lunch and dinner there is wine and they (the people in charge) seem to encourage drinking. The funny thing is that the ones who drank the most were not Spanish.
  
  
  

  

  There was a party night where we had a dance!

  
  
  An English friend of mine told me that most Spanish people drink to talk and so most of them did not over drink.  English people drink to get drunk, I tend to think that Americans are the same way.

• 

  A performance of a Frank Sinatra Song

  If you want to get more information, go to: 

  http://www.morethanenglish.com/anglos/index.asp