A Spanish Thanksgiving Con Mi Padre!

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!!!

Climbing Mountains, Racism, Sexism, and Head Lice

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... 

Just Keep Calm and Teach On...

The title of my post (if you can't tell) has to do with some frustrations, or should I just say, cultural differences, when it comes to teaching in Spain vs teaching in the US. In February, we have the choice of renewing our contract. My friends and family keep asking me if I'm going to stay another year and as of now, I don't think I could do it. I really don't like having such a random schedule and moving from 1st grade to 5th grade to 3rd grade and so on... hour after hour. I feel like I don't have as good of a relationship with the students as I would like. (I still don't know all of their names!) Then again, I know other Auxiliares in this program who are only with one grade level. It completely depends on the school to which you're assigned. But I know if I stay another year, my Spanish would improve immensely.

Don't get me wrong, I love Spain and the Spanish culture. Why else would I have been here three times already? You would think that by having a background in teaching would make this job easier, when instead it makes it more difficult and more frustrating.

It's frustrating being in a classroom when a teacher asks me to lead an activity, then he/she butts in while a child is trying to read something to the whole class and the teacher starts yelling, "Come on! Faster! Read it! What does it say?!" then just finished the sentence for them. I stand there in disbelief, wanting to yell back, JUST LET THE CHILD READ. But instead I have to keep calm and teach on.

I could go on and on about my frustrations, but most of them are already on this site: http://whatshouldwecallauxiliares.tumblr.com/

Take note: there are ELEVEN pages. After you view them all (or at least a few), you'll know what my life is currently like... to a T.

On a happier note... here are some more positive things happening in my life:

Alex and I forgot our lunches at school last week so we decided to eat in the lunchroom with some of the teachers. I don't know about you guys, but my school lunch wasn't always the greatest food. But to our surprise, the cooks prepare a special meal for the teachers every day. It's about 4 euros for each meal, but it is so so worth it. Last week, we walked in and there was a long table set up with nice plates and bowls (not your typical student trays). There was a big salad on the table, as well as pumpkin cream soup, fresh bread, and a broccoli/ham salad. I thought that was it, but then they started bringing out chicken fillets, two types of fish, tortilla patata, fruit, yogurt, etc. Every time they brought something new out to the table, Alex and I were like this:

Another happy note - I finally got paid this week! I know I said that in my last blog post, and technically, I did get paid last week. But I took my check to my bank account to deposit it and when I looked online it said it was "retained" until November 5th. Aka 5 days later! They also charged me a lovely commission fee on top of that. I found out later that I could have just gone to a different bank and cashed the check for free, then put the cash into my account and used it right away. Definitely not making that mistake again.

Alex, Grace, and me at "The Disco Bar"

Last weekend, other than watching the entire 5th season of Breaking Bad (Horrible, I know), I went out on Friday with some other English teachers and I spent Saturday and Sunday at two different markets! On Friday, Grace and Alex and I met at the metro, then went to a different part of the city where some of Alex's friends were celebrating someone's birthday. Their apartment had a big terrace so we sat outside talking for a while and eventually we got on the subject of where everyone is from. Grace is from Illinois, so when she said that, a guy across the table said "I'm from Iowa so I'm somewhat close to you!" Then I got overly excited and asked where he was from in Iowa. As it turns out, he's from Davenport, he went to University of Iowa (such a shame), and after we played the "do you know" game, we discovered that he knew a few people that I went to high school with! What a small world. Then we all went out to "The Disco Bar" - such an original name - and enjoyed some free tapas.

On Saturday, Grace and I went to Madrid's Farmer's Market, which happens on the first Saturday of every month. All of the food for sale is made right here in Madrid and they had free samples at nearly every stand. We love those free samples. They had cheeses, olive oils, jams, cakes, fruits and veggies, olives, chips, beers and wines, etc. We brought our fancy cameras and took some pictures. Because I know how much you all love my pictures of food...

On Sunday, Grace and I met up again for yet another market. We went to the Rastro market again, the same market we went to last Sunday. We also decided to stand in the same ridiculously long (but worth it) line for the same tapas, ordered the exact same tapas, and we sat in the same park. Grace and I already have plans together for this coming Sunday... and believe it or not, it's NOT a repeat of the past two Sundays! We actually signed up with Madrid's hiking group and we're spending the day going on a 12 km hike up Monte Abantos, near Madrid. So we'll be hiking instead of eating!

An update regarding the strikes in Madrid: Two weeks ago the schools were on strike, transportation always seems to be on strike, and this week it was the.... cleaners. Of all things, it had to be the city cleaners. Everywhere I went there was garbage everywhere! I'm anxious to see who will be on strike next week.

Happy weekend, everyone! I miss you all so much!

Here's a few super exciting countdowns...
18 days until my dad visits me in Madrid
43 days until I come home
47 days until Christmas
48 days until I'm in Colorado
52 days until I'm reunited with all of my Ames peeps

:)