Jess is in Spain!

Thursday I rushed to Córdoba after school to meet up with Jessica. We went to the Mezquita (my second time there) and walked around it for a while. It was originally a church. Later, when the Moors invaded Spain, they built a mosque on lop of the church (you can still see some of the mosaic floors below). It's one of the only mosques in the world which does not face Mecca. No one really knows why. After the Christians re-conquered Spain, they built a cathedral inside the mosque, but left the Quibla. They put chapels around the perimeter and turned one part into the treasury. The cathedral isn't particularly large, but it's a bizarre sight to have a cathedral inside a mosque. The iconic symbol of the building is the series of red and white striped arches. They constitute the entire interior of the space.

After the Mezquita, we walked around Cordoba, then went to the Corte Ingles for some dinner/snacks before catching the bus to Priego.

It's strange to have Jess here in Spain. In some ways it feels like I haven't seen her in forever and somehow it seems like we were still at Tufts yesterday. I'm also still in shock about this trip. It's something we've talked about for almost five years. I can't believe we're actually doing it and that we're leaving today! (Okay, she left earlier, but I'm leaving Priego today).

I'm also having trouble grasping the fact that I'm leaving Priego. In November, I never thought this day would come. Now that it's here, I'm sort of sad. I'll definitely miss the kids and some of the teachers, but I will not miss the smallness of Priego. It's a nice town and I like that I've been asked for directions twice this week - I've been able to help both times and didn't really have to think about it at all because I know the town well enough.