Asturias, Aerobics, and A Few Less Hours

Continuing with my travels, I went to visit my friend Rosie who’s spending the year in Oviedo, Asturias. It took about 5 hours to get there by bus which wasn’t a problem on the way there because it wasn’t very busy and I could sit by myself, but on the way back I was squished next to a very large lady who (as well as sitting on most of my seat) decided to sit next to the window despite that being the seat I’d booked. Not ideal for a whole 5 hours. However, it was all worth it in the end and we had a lovely weekend doing what we do best - shopping and eating lots. Oviedo was a nice city but it’s not very big and it didn’t really seem like there was much to do, which really made me appreciate Bilbao. I don’t have any good photos because we didn’t really do anything cultural so instead, here’s a picture of the best frozen yoghurt I’ve had so far in Spain.

Back in Bilbao I’ve been to my first two exercise classes. I started my year here with good intentions of getting a gym membership but I’m so busy Monday to Thursday with school, and the gym doesn't really open at the weekends, so there isn't much point in me paying all that money. Instead, I just pay for the classes. However, these haven’t exactly gone to plan. The first class we went to turned out to be a weightlifting class (we were very confused when we walked in and were told to go and choose the weights we wanted, but by this point it was too late to leave), and the second class was aerobics. I thought that aerobics was a pretty standard thing across the world but, apparently, this isn’t the case. The class we went to turned out to be a very elaborate dance class, so I spent the whole of it walking from side to side and spinning, pretending I knew what was going on when really I didn’t have a clue. I’m determined to persevere with more classes though, and have the best beach body in time for summer and my return to England.

I’ve had a nice surprise this week as one of my lessons today and all of my lessons tomorrow have been cancelled. My friends in Bilbao rarely ever work 12 hours a week as their students seem to have a lot of exams or their teachers just don’t need them there, whereas I work my full 12 hours every week without fail. I can’t resent only having to work 12 hours as it’s really not a lot, but I do resent the fact that I have 3 hour gaps in between lessons. Because Ermua’s so far away I can’t come back to Bilbao, so I just have to fill the time by going to the tiny library or reading the daily mail online (great for keeping up with the celebrity gossip). When I wake up at 6am and don't retun until 4.30pm after only having 3 hours of classes while my friends are only working 2 hours a day without any gaps and only a 20 minute commute, I definitely get very jealous. However, I do think I have a better deal with the students as I get on with them so well (even the worst pupils now think I’m cool after I told them that my brother’s going to the festival Tomorrowland – cheers Nath!) Some students interviewed me for the school magazine within my first few weeks at the school and I’ve now managed to find it online: http://issuu.com/anaitasunabhi/docs/anaiberritasuna. The information’s completely wrong but I appreciate that they wrote it in English rather than Basque so I can at least understand the mistakes!