I'm currently sitting in the computer lab during my two hour break at school, listening to Christmas music, and thinking about how I only have TEN DAYS left until I fly home to see all of my friends and family! I don't know if I've ever been more excited in my entire life!
Even though we've only had one very small frost here in Madrid, being in the city center definitely makes it feel like Christmas. Last weekend, I went to Puerta del Sol with my friend, Grace to take pictures of all the Christmas lights and decorations and also to see my host mom from Caceres! Lola was visiting for the weekend and we met up on Saturday night and walked around the city, ate some churros con chocolate, the famous calamari sandwiches, and looked around at the Christmas markets. It's always so good to see Lola!
Lola always on her phone...
In Puerta del Sol
SO crowded in the city center!
Lights in the sky at Plaza Mayor where the Christmas market is
My host mom (and her moose hat) <3
Calamari sandwich
Also last weekend, I went out with a group of people and we hung out at a hostel in the city center for a while. (It was strange being in a hostel again!) Then we went out dancing at a very American-ized bar where they play American pop music and NFL was on every TV. I should get a little better at immersing myself into the Spanish culture, huh?
Grace and me at "Dubliners"
notice the NFL in the background...
On Sunday night, Grace and Alex came over and we made a big batch (and an even bigger mess) of Christmas sugar cookies. We listened to Christmas music and drank some red wine as we decorated cookies. It probably took a total of 4 hours since we could only fit a small tray of cookies at a time in my tiny oven. The next day, Alex and I brought some of the cookies to share with the teachers at school and they loved them! However, Alex and I did not partake in eating the cookies the next day because we may or may not had eaten too much cookie dough the night before... to the point of possible salmanila poisoning. Whoops.
Before the mess...
Alex and "Patrick"
Antonio and his girlfriend frosting their own cookies!
Finished product (no comments, please)
Both school and tutoring have been the same for the most part. A few frustrations here and there, as well as a few more funny stories...
1. The 4th grade teacher is out for a month because his wife had a baby (yes, they have paternity leave in this country!) And apparently it's hard to find a sub this time of year, so I randomly have to teach his 4th grade class this week and next week... and they are not the calmest of kids. When the bell ran on Monday, one of the students tried to sneak out the other door in the back of the classroom. The other students told on him and I had him come back in the classroom and go to the back of the line. On his way out, he shut off the lights and then turned to me and said "A kiss." Now, this wouldn't have been so creepy if it had been a cute little first grader or maybe he had wanted to say goodbye with the European 'dos besos' type of thing. (Because a lot of times the teachers will kiss the students on the cheek.) But no, it was not a 'dos besos' on the cheek type of thing. It was definitely just a creepy thing.
2. This one is about one of the students in my private tutoring classes. Surprisingly enough, it's the same student as before with the 'chino' story. Last week, he kept clicking his pen trying to annoy me. He laughed and said, "Am I molesting you?" I couldn't help but laugh because I knew he did not mean the word "molest". The word, "molestar" in English means "to bother" or "to annoy". He just used a little Spanglish and he had no idea (and still doesn't) what the word "molest" means in English.
3. Here's another quick one about another student that I tutor, which just happened today actually. I was explaining what the word, "quarrel" meant and when I was giving an example of two people arguing, possibly yelling at each other, he said very nonchalantly, "Oh, so for example, if this person called the other person a motherf***er?" My mouth dropped and he just started laughing and said, "Or, b*tch?" I think the five minutes that followed these comments was just him laughing at the fact that I wasn't quite sure how to respond.
4. And finally: my first time experiencing a fire drill in a school in Spain (I think you already know how this one is going to go). I was in the first grade classroom (of ALL grade levels to be in, why first?) when the fire alarm starting going off. The other teacher just said, "Go, go, go!!!" and all the students rushed out to the hall, down the stairs (where many of them fell down), and out the door. The teacher just kept saying, "Vamos, vamos!" When we got outside, I looked around at the swarm of students as they were fighting and wrestling each other, running around, dancing, cheering, yelling, etc. It was the definition of chaos. I've never seen anything so chaotic in my entire life. I spotted Alex through everything that was going on and we just stared at each other, knowing that the other one was thinking the exact same thing. Just wait, it gets better. Then, the principal comes out jumping and cheering saying, "Yay! We did it!" and then all the teachers and students started cheering and clapping and jumping up and down, with the exception of Alex and me. All we were thinking was, "What just happened?"
Small living situation update: My living situation has been a little different lately and it will continue to change quite a bit within the next few days. My Spanish roommate, Diego, moved out last week because his work is sending him to London to learn English for three months. In the meantime, Antonio (my Italian roommate), his girlfriend moved in and she has been staying here for a little over two weeks. However, this weekend, both they and my other Italian roommate, Graziana, are moving back to Italy since their semester abroad is over. This means I could have three new roommates when I come back in January! Crossing my fingers!
I think that's all for now... I'll see many of you in just diez dias!!!!!! <3
This past Tuesday, I had my first visitor since I've been in Spain! It had been about 5 months since I last saw my dad and we had such a wonderful time together here in Madrid! I switched my hours at work so I was able to pick him up at the airport and spend the day with him. On Tuesday we did a little shopping, ate some delicious food at a couple restaurants near my apartment, and just hung out with each other all day. That night, we went to the Irish Pub next door and had a couple of my favorite Paulaner beers on tap.
happy to have my dad here!
On Wednesday, my dad spent the whole day with me at the school. We taught about Thanksgiving together and did the classic Turkey hand activity with the students. We taught 5th, 3rd, 1st, and 2nd grades together. Needless to say, my dad was a celebrity during the two days he was at my school. Before one of the third grade classes had started, my dad was sitting on a chair in the back of the room and within 5 minutes, ALL of the students had surrounded him, full of questions. One of the questions was, "Are you Santa?" I don't know if it was the fact that he was in the back of the room sitting on a chair or if it was the red pants he wore that day. Another question that one of the 5th graders asked my dad when we entered the classroom was, "Is that your brother?" That really boosted my dad's ego. Me... not so much.
so popular
my favorite 5th graders :)
The Turkey Hand activity was a big hit. On the four feathers, the students were supposed to write four things that they are thankful for, so to get some ideas rolling, we had a class discussion about what they're thankful for. In one third grade class, a student said, "I'm thankful for the spa." I asked her to repeat because I didn't think I heard her correctly. I mean, what third grader goes to the spa? She kept repeating herself and the other third grade teacher started flipping out. "The SPA?! You're thankful for the SPA?!" Then the third grade teacher turns to my dad in all seriousness and yells, "SPAIN IS IN A CRISIS! WE ARE IN A CRISIS! I don't know why they are going to the spa!!!" My dad just smiled and nodded... Then of course ALL of the students ended up writing "spa" on their turkeys.
On Wednesday night, Dad and I did the rest of our shopping and started preparing for our Thanksgiving meal. I found a store somewhat close to my neighborhood called "Taste of America", where we found a ton of imported American foods. That's where we bought cranberry sauce, canned pumpkin, marshmallows, etc. As we were looking around, I saw there were other things that I have been missing in my life lately... JIF peanut butter, Betty Crocker cake mixes, cereals such as Lucky Charms, cookies, mac and cheese, etc. The workers even spoke in English and passed out chocolate chip cookies as we shopped! One lady even threw in some expired pie crust "as a gift". How thoughtful.
Later that night, my dad made two pumpkin pies (which turned out really well!!) and my friend Alex came over and we made Deviled Eggs to bring to school the next day to share with the teachers. A couple of my roommates came into the kitchen as we were making 30-some of these eggs (which neither of us had made before) and they asked what they were. I translated "Deviled Eggs" to Spanish... "huevos de diablo", then Alex and I looked at each other, both thinking the same thing - "why are they called that??" We got some strange looks from my roommates (and the teachers the next day) and all we could say was that we had no idea where that name comes from. So if any of you reading this knows, feel free to tell me!
The next day, Dad and I just taught three classes then we had the afternoon off. In one of the second grade classes on Thursday, there was a magician who came to the school to talk about recycling. The magician was from England and the entire show was in English, which was neat for the students, but also for my dad so he could understand what was going on :) Here's a video of part of the show.
The pumpkin pie and the deviled eggs were a big hit (hardly any of the teachers had tried either of the foods before). Some of the teachers even made their own turkey hands during break!
After school on Thursday, Dad and I came back to my apartment to finish some last minute cooking and baking. That evening, we went to go pick up the turkey that I had pre-ordered at some American restaurant across town that my friend Grace told me about. When we got back to the apartment, Dad and I were going to warm everything up in the oven... then I discovered that the OVEN WASN'T WORKING. Of all days for the oven to break, it had to be Thanksgiving. So we did the only thing we could do and warmed everything up in the small microwave. I'm so glad that we had almost everything prepared the night before! Grace came over with the mashed potatoes and she, my dad, and I warmed everything up and made the gravy and stuffing on the stove top (which fortunately was still working!) Then finally around 10pm, my roommates- Leo, Maria, and Diego joined us and the 6 of us had a really great time together! We had turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberries, stuffing, and pumpkin pie for dessert. And obviously lots of Spanish wine. Toward the end of the night, we were mostly talking about politics and the differences between Spain and The US, but before we got on that subject, I learned quite a lot about my roommates! I learned that Leo knows a lot more English than I thought because he spent some time in Philadelphia and Miami. Maria wants to open her own bakery one day that sells mostly American pastries such as cupcakes. And Diego doesn't like vegetables or sweets... including ice cream!
Yesterday, Dad and I slept in a bit then went on a day trip to Segovia. Neither of us had been before and I've heard wonderful things about Segovia and I'm glad that we went! It's a very beautiful and charming city about an hour from Madrid. As we walked around the city, we could see snow on the mountains in the distance, which made the views even better. Speaking of snow, it snowed in Madrid on Thanksgiving morning!!!! Not even a half an inch and it was gone within a few hours, but it was so exciting! Anyway, while we were in Segovia, we stopped for a very nice meal so we could try "Cochinillo" aka suckling pig, which is very famous there. We had a lovely three course meal with some fantastic wine.
Dad reppin' Northern Iowa everywhere we go...
Pictures of Segovia from my DSLR:
We came back to Madrid in the evening and then went to the city center to see all the Christmas decorations. Seeing the trees, the lights in the streets, all the people, and the decorations everywhere really put me in the Christmas spirit!
Speaking of Christmas... I'll be home in just 3 weeks!!!
The three things listed in the title of this blog post have nothing to do with each other... but they are pretty much the highlights (maybe a couple of them are more like lowlights?) of my week.
Last Friday night, I went out with Alex to a part of town that I hadn't been to yet called Malasana. It is close to where she lives so I stayed at her place instead of having to worry about taking the metro or a taxi. The next morning as I was walking to the metro station, I passed a dumpster and I could not believe how much garbage was there! In my last post, I mentioned the city cleaners' strike. Well, apparently it is still going on. Fortunately, it isn't as bad in my neighborhood so I don't see it as much, but near the city center, it is horrible!
This was a week ago... imagine what it looks like now!
Saturday night was my roommate's birthday. We spent the evening making an assortment of tapas, chocolate cakes (there were 3 of them!), and a very large pot of homemade Italian pasta. By 9:30pm, our apartment was packed with about 25 of her Italian friends and only one of them spoke Spanish. So I just sat and ate the delicious food and tried to pick up on some Italian. It didn't work.
my peanut butter/nutella dessert :)
Sunday morning, I went to a small town called San Lorenzo, which is about an hour from the city. My friend Grace and I went with a group of about 35 people and we climbed a mountain! There were Americans, Spaniards, Germans, and there was even a lovely Dutch couple who brought their cute puppy! I left my apartment at 9am and didn't get back until about 9pm so it was a full day, but it was so much fun! I definitely plan on going on another hike with this group in the future!
taking a break :)
it was SO windy at the top!
This past week was a busy one. I had to give some extra English classes so it felt like a longer week. Plus my dad is coming SO soon (yay!) and it's getting closer to the holidays and I feel like that is making my weeks longer. This week in school, we learned that head lice is traveling around a couple of the classes. I was told this right after I hugged a student for giving me a picture. You could say I was a little paranoid the rest of the day. I had head lice once in third grade and I NEVER want to experience it again.
the picture from my student... I'm not really sure what Cedar Rapids has to do with anything...
This week in one of my private tutoring classes, I was teaching a 9 year old about comparative and superlative adjectives. We were playing a game and he had to create a sentence using a list of adjectives that I wrote down and on his turn he chose the word "intelligent". His sentence was: "I am more intelligent than the chinos." I was so happy when he said "more intelligent" rather than "intelligenter" that I barely caught the end of his sentence. I said, "What?!" Then he started laughing uncontrollably. I don't know what the Spaniards have against the Chinese, but this is definitely not the first time I've heard something like this!
I decided to cross off the word "intelligent" from the list.
This weekend is a relaxed one - full of lots of Skype dates with friends and family, laundry, cleaning, and lesson planning. This morning I finally joined a gym! I've been looking for a cheap gym close to where I live and I finally found one. It even includes free fitness classes every day and a steam room. I went to work out this morning and just like any other gym, there's a section for cardio and a section for weights. As I was on the treadmill, I was looking around and I noticed a little section of weights in the corner (on the opposite side of the very large section of weights) and on the wall it said "feminino". There were two women lifting weights in that section. Then I looked over to the very large section and noticed it was ALL men. I haven't been a part of too many gyms in my lifetime, but that's not typical... is it? I wonder what would happen if I started lifting weights in the larger section...
