Hello everyone! The week is over half over, and while it is Thursday, the day I dread the most, it is gorgeous out, so you can't have a bad day!
Last night, after work, our boss took us teachers out to dinner and a super nice restaurant (restaurante in spanish and jatetxea in basque) in Hondarribia! My boss' name is Helena and she is Sweedish. She is married to a Basque man and has lived in Hondarribia for quite some time now. She has 3 kids, 2 of which are my students! She opened this school by herself and a year later met Erika, another Sweedish lady. Erika is a teacher at the school as well and has been here for 7 years. She basically runs the place because Helena is very busy with her kids. The other teacher is Adam Peck, a guy from Canada who has been living here for a few years after studying here for his Ph. D. And then there is me, the American girl who has never even been to Europe haha!
Helena wanted to treat us to a nice dinner and get to know us a little better. Around 9:30pm, we went to 
Abarka, which was the name of the restaurant. It was an old, rustic building...very Basque. You can check out the website by clicking here. She told us they customarily order an appetizer of meats, followed by a first course, second course and then dessert! There was SO much on the menu, most of which I wouldn't have even imagined eating 5 years ago. They brought us a complimentary soup, which we drank out of a shot-glass. It would have been like a triple shot glass, but it definitley reminded me of a shot glass haha. It was some tuna soup or something and was just right because we had just come in from the freezing outside! This was 
followed promptly by champagne, yum! We later ordered a bottle of red wine (vino tinto) from the Rioja region, which is the famous wine region in Basque Country. For my first course I ordered Raviolis Mariscos, which are seafood raviolis! Who would have thought...me and seafood! They were DELICIOUS...they rivaled Chef Boyardee haha. For my second course I ordered a filet mignon with a cheese risotto. Having never tried risotto, I was pleasantly surprised and also loved this dish. For dessert, I saved room for the carmelized french toast, again very tasty.
Abarka, which was the name of the restaurant. It was an old, rustic building...very Basque. You can check out the website by clicking here. She told us they customarily order an appetizer of meats, followed by a first course, second course and then dessert! There was SO much on the menu, most of which I wouldn't have even imagined eating 5 years ago. They brought us a complimentary soup, which we drank out of a shot-glass. It would have been like a triple shot glass, but it definitley reminded me of a shot glass haha. It was some tuna soup or something and was just right because we had just come in from the freezing outside! This was 
followed promptly by champagne, yum! We later ordered a bottle of red wine (vino tinto) from the Rioja region, which is the famous wine region in Basque Country. For my first course I ordered Raviolis Mariscos, which are seafood raviolis! Who would have thought...me and seafood! They were DELICIOUS...they rivaled Chef Boyardee haha. For my second course I ordered a filet mignon with a cheese risotto. Having never tried risotto, I was pleasantly surprised and also loved this dish. For dessert, I saved room for the carmelized french toast, again very tasty.
It was great to be away from the school and talk about other things besides kids, grammar and english games! I really like the people I work with and we all get along very well. Helena told us that she had been making her way around the playgrounds in the town (which are like THE hotspot and social scene in Hondarribia because all the kids go there, which means all the parents do too...always a million people at the playgrounds!) and that she had been hearing really good things about our teaching! Most kids that are in my young classes have a brother or sister that are in the older classes too and sometimes even a parent takes classes! Helena had said that parents are saying thier kids are really enjoying class and really like us - yay!
Once midnight hit, we decided we better call it a night. It was a great dinner and I managed to steal some pictures because I told them all about my blog and figured you guys would want to see the people that I work with! I was sitting next to Helena and Adam and Erika were sitting on the other side of the table! They all say hello :D
Off to work now, enjoy your day!
Besos,
Amanda
Amanda
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