KATIE'S BLOG: My life in the Guadiana

I love life in Spain. We get up, have breakfast and then go to school, lessons are always late and if you have a couple of days off, no-one cares. We finish at 2, have lunch and then the rest of the day is ours, except from Mondays and Wednesdays, when I have sports. I love football and basketball, but we also have to do volleyball some days as well, only an hour but we can choose if we want to go or not (if there is, or has been, any rain at all, sport is cancelled!)

playing football

There are three other English girls at school– Lily, Katie and Hannah. Katie is in Reuben’s class. Lily and Hannah are a couple of years younger than me but we are in the same class. They help me understand the Spanish teachers, even though we are forbidden from speaking in English during lessons.

me, Lily and Gwendolyn

 I get along with them fine, but I am really missing my friends in England and can’t wait to see them again; three more weeks and we’ll be moving!!!

In my year, except from me there are only two other people – two Spanish boys, Alejandro and Jairo. We are taught in the same room as the next three years down – years 3, 4, 5 and us. We study Maths, Science (which I do in English), History, Spanish, French, English, Music, PE, Art and Religion, the teacher changes for different subjects.

The teachers here are really laid back, we call them by their first names and they put up with a lot of nonsense in the classroom. In Carnival, our maths and music teacher Fran played the guitar in front of us as we sang. It was hard to take him seriously as he was dressed as some sort of rock star with a long black wig and black leather clothes, all the teachers looked ridiculous!

Loads of people, like Hannah, have fincas here, they’re like the English equivalent of a farm – little plots of land where they build little cabins and bungalow-type things, surrounded by miles and miles of mountains. I would like to live in one – a huge garden, animals and possibly a dog? They mark the borders on each side of the river, all separated but it’s amazing how many there are!

Reuben, Hannah and me

A couple of weeks ago we had carnival, well, two carnivals really. First, on the 22^nd February and again on the 24^th. The school one was really fun, all the classes had themes, mine was hippies (the dresses were really funny). Reuben’s was rockabillies, and the class above me were rappers, they were really good. We all had to learn a set of songs based on our theme. We marched around the village, blowing whistles and throwing paper confetti, then we stopped back at the school and sang our songs, then everyone ate sweets and drank Coke – I didn’t as I gave up sugar for Lent – but after that I played with the Spanish girls.

ready for school carnival - hippies and rockabillies

off for the parade

me and Luisa

Then two days later, it was town carnival, everyone dressed up in amazing group costumes and at the end gathered at the ‘salon’ until morning. We went as pirates and Martina and her girls as female superheroes, it was amazing!

On weekends or after school, we often go for long walks, either up or down the river, following a small path inland, or walk along the fincas, each are lovely and you rarely see anyone. The weather here is pretty much always sunny and the land when we arrived was brown and bare. In the summer, the farm animals suffer from lack of food. When it rains, everything transforms, there’s suddenly grass everywhere and the fields turn to meadows, it’s amazing.

  

On school days, if there’s no sport, I go up to the ‘pista’ (school playground) on my bike and play either football with the boys or hide and seek with the girls from Reuben’s class. Sometimes I even go rollerblading with Katie and Lily. I thought I knew how to do it, but on my first attempt I spent more time falling over than actually moving. The Spanish mums all sat laughing at me!

rollerblading at the 'pista'

During our stay here, we painted the boat -inside- the galley, our sitting area and my bedroom. Everything stank for a while, and after lunch every day we had to go to Spain, but its fine now, and I have had lots of friends over. I painted parts of my bedroom blue, and stayed a couple of nights with Reuben.

me painting my cabin

lunch with Lily, Gwendolyn and Katie

Last weekend, we had the Contraband Festival. There were lots of bands and stalls, and music up at the Portuguese castle at night. Connecting the two countries was a wiggly, plastic bridge. You had to buy a coloured bandana before you crossed, and there were jet skis and safety boats either side of the bridge, and only a certain number of people were allowed to cross at a time, the queues were massive! At the festival, lots of people wore old-style clothes and there were traditional food and craft stalls and wooden games to play.

wiggly bridge

Mum, Dad and Reuben in front of our boat

  

bands playing in the street

  

At school, we learnt all about the smuggling. Years ago, there was lots of smuggling of goods between Spain and Portugal. The countries were very poor, and things like tobacco and coffee got taken across the river by small boats in the dead of night. Along the river, I think there were around 50 lookout houses for the authorities to spot boats crossing at night.

me pulling water up from the well

Gwenny the dog

  

Easter was good. In the morning, we went for a walk with Gwenny the dog, near a well, and then played at the local ‘beach bar’ in Portugal for the afternoon. I can now eat sugar again!!!

me and Lily at the beach bar