If I could stop to appreciate the sunset from our rooftop EVERY DAY, I would. Yes, that's my clothes hanging to dry after using our loud washing machine...
the pink starting to take over the sky and hit the white rooftops
our kitchen window!
So I thought I’d write myself a play by play of these great memories lately, now that I’m pretty much used to living in Spain. Of course, I’m happy to share it with those of you reading along and I appreciate it! This is my average week lately, sprinkled with hilarious anecdotes about the kids I teach and such J
The week starts on Monday here, even in English and I don’t know how to correct my students on that…so moving on.
On Monday, I have the blessing of a day off. Yes, the oh-so-despised Mondays are my favorite now here in Spain. Sure procrastination kicks on throughout the weekend and sometimes in the midst of traveling, this day becomes my “oh crap time to get on the ball and make lesson plans, deposit money to the bank, pick up groceries, etc.” but I still love it. It’s still my own day to do what I need to do after enjoying a full weekend. So I’m not bragging, I’m just saying – look into it Uncle Sam. Please. This is actually thanks to the amazing bilingual director I was blessed with at my school. She goes back and forth between a mom role (“I made your schedule at the school a 4 day so that you can travel at a better price and such on the few weekends you have here”) and quite the mentor with her fantastic (I have a feeling this is her favorite English word - I love it) bilingual skills and inspirational teaching manners.
These pictures features my town during siesta, the bakery that we LOVE, the fail on Cheetos here in Europe, and the American goodies my roomies found last week!
Then there’s Tuesday, the start to my week at Al-Andalus Elementary at 10:50 am, which means I need to go down my 5 flights of stairs with no elevator and WALK (hello morning workout) about 25 minutes to work. I thoroughly enjoy it. For instance, the other day I felt like I was in my own music video: I turned the corner and there were musicians playing a duet by the grocery store, an old Spanish man in his adorable sweater vest and plaid newsboy hat observing the duo, and finally a happy child in their awesome stroller (Spain just does the whole “cute children” thing better, with outfits and all) reaching for a balloon with a smile decked out with big dimples….this day is spent with my genius and incredibly respectful 6th graders followed by a silly afternoon with my 2nd graders. Sad to report that the latter group still hasn’t learned how to subtly pick their noses….
the Peace Wall at school, i love it!
That fun start to my workweek is followed by the first of many after school tutoring gigs, for lack of a better term. “Clases particulares” sound so much more legit. Anyways, there I am at 4 pm after robbing myself of a perfectly hot southern Spain siesta period to teach 5 crazy fun 8 year old some English and improve their skills. In the next hour, I meet with my 2 thirteen year olds. They are awesome; we tend to correct each other on our words (yes, I’m still learning new Spanish words and their proper use) and laugh with cheesy jokes. I even busted out the “Jamaican me craaaaaaazy”line when we studied countries the other week. It was followed by a bored stare. Haha, good to know that my joke telling abilities stand their pathetic ground.
On these evenings, my roomies and I tend to touch base on where we stand at our schools and the duties for the week, along with cooking adventures and introducing Abbie to Sex & the City. We’re on the 6thseason, which is fitting with our experience coming down to its last 3 months.
On Wednesdays, I get up at the same time and do it all over again, except this time I meet with my Physical Education group of 5thgraders, followed by science class after recess. They have progressed at an incredible rate and I am so proud of every word that comes out of their mouth –in English. Haha. This is a picture of us this past month during – AND I CAN’T MAKE THIS UP – Strawberry Day at the school. Alright, it’s a move by the government to encourage the food pyramid with a myriad of fruits & veggies every month. I was soooooooooo happy!
That afternoon, in the middle of the week, I cherish the 45 minutes I spend in the teacher’s lounge (woahhhhhh I’m a teacher) before school let’s out because I am graced by the presence of a beautiful soul. There’s just no other way to put it. The Special Education kids meet in the hallway outside and Juan, one of the 9 year olds, has become my good friend. He first peeked in earlier this month, when he said “hola” while I was at the computer. The next week, he caught on that I was on the bilingual teacher and said “Hello”, and finally, after several weeks, he just said “que tal” - as in, ‘what’s up?” On numerous occasions. he’s asked if it’s true that there’s a Disneyland in the United States. Melt my heart, kid. Makes me remember and smile more about my overdue 23 year old visit to Disneyworld for the first time a while back. Juan is awesome and he catches on quick to the words I teach him. I’m pretty grateful for this experience alone.
By the way, I meant to mention this earlier, but I’ve realized that paella is a lot like pizza and other cuisines of the word. Paella, is of course, one of Spain’s trademark dishes. Well, it can be made of up anything under the kitchen sink. The other day, after classes were over, I was dragged back to the teacher’s lounge only to find that they were cooking Paella in a giant cast iron pot. The cook was the usually silent 1stgrader teacher drinking beer and describing all the ingredients to me. He talked about the squid ink in black rice paella, the saffron in the authentic orange-y yellow one he was making, and the vegetarian, etc. This one had 12 kinds of shrimp (no thanks, glad to know I’m close enough to the janitor like a daughter to scoop them onto his plate – sorry Cody haha) and chicken along with red pepper and tomato sofrito (best thing everrrrr) and so on. He said he also does a variation with rabbit and chicken…interesting.
I’ve gone off topic, but I have to mention that I’ve noticed Spain has a holiday - oh I dunno - every other week. But more importantly or seriously, every month. Coming up is the Semana Santa which happens to be Spring Break for auxiliars like me…but I talked about it with the girls I tutor on Thursday at their home (the reason I have so many recipes from Spain households that I want to share like Berenjenas con Albondigas, eggplant fried in olive oil and meatballs in tomato sofrito). Essentially, there’s a big procession during that week and it lasts about 7 hours like a parade. On that note, Spain did the traditional hats first, a long long time ago. Everyone holds a giant wax candle, as it drips onto their hands, scalding their skin but they carry on. All they could say about it was, “It’s cool! We like it and we spend time with our family. If kids want to stop they can stop. There was a 4year old who walked 6 hours last year.” and yes folks, that’s all in English. So proud of my girls J I dunno, I just think we need more family stuff like this back home. Most of Spain’s events have tradition rooted in it (i.e. Carnaval) but at the end of the day it seems to be a get together with Family and friends that is cherished every year.
This is is version of Twix candy here. Random.
Later, I have a couple of lessons: from a colleague at the school to adorable 7 year olds (2 girls of which like to tell me who they are going to marry this week) and 2 women my age that carry on a great conversation and unknowingly give me great fashion tips. Why are Spanish women so good at this whole matching thing!? Ha.
these are some of the kids at my apt, admiring the rainbow from our window
Here are a few more great stories about the kids:
The other day, the 6th graders I tutor were trying to guess the animals I was listing, almost like playing Taboo. I began to discuss a butterly by saying “it has wings….it has many legs…it’s an insect”to no avail. Finally, I said “okay..it had beaaaaaaaaautiful wings” and suddenly Eduardo yelled out “beautifly!’ No, I mean butterfly!!!” I kinda like the ring to it J
Eloy, one of the quite hyper active kids in first grade, showed off his new hairstyle (gel attacked his head) and said he wants to be a rock star when he grows up, so that’s why he was practicing (as I suggested earlier, he was air guitar-ing all over the classroom). Then he then he paused and said “well…or military (mind you this is all in Spanish, we’re still only covering colors and favorite foods) and I said “why?” and he said, “To protect the world Elizabeth! but I also want to be rock star to strum the guitar like this: brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
Speaking of 1stgrade, there’s Samuel. He started drawing hearts a month ago during the “shapes”chapter and putting faces in them to show me it was a picture OF me. Awesome. I get one every week and have a proud collection. Only this past week, when I was covering school supplies like ruler, pencil, eraser, glue, book, Samuel drew a small heart without a face. I asked “what happened? What’s missing…” and he said “oh yeah!” and ran back to his desk to glue the whole thing together….umm…. then proudly said, “GLUE!”. He’d learned a vocabulary word. Too cute. Really makes me miss my niece’s crazy antics but definitely fills the voice just a bit.
Fun fact, “shelf” is “estanteria” in Spanish. Some of the third graders explained it the other day. I had NO clue. I love finding another reason for living in the life that I’ve built myself here and now: always able to learn something new. Like how to make paella or plan out a cross country trip easily with airline, hostel and entertainment rolled into one.
The week goes on, with a late start on Thursday followed by an afternoon at school with 6th graders and second graders again. The 6th graders sure do know how to strike up the most random conversations in English and the second graders have this intelligent backtalk that I can’t help smirking at. The other day, an assistant asked Nuria, in second grade, why she wasn’t listening. She replied, “que (what)?” and the assistant said “listening, Nuria. Use your ears! Do you have a listening problem?” Nuria replied in Spanish with an elaborate story about how her ears were broken because of listening to cartoons too loud and blah blah blah…kind of funny haha. They’re quite witty!
Speaking of second graders, nothing says unconditional love like the bombardment of hugs by 1st and second graders. Oh my gosh, to have these big blue eyed, green eyes, brown eyes kids just look up at you (literally and so on), is just the most rewarding thing ever!
I’ve gone off topic, but I have to mention that I’ve noticed Spain has a holiday - oh I dunno - every other week. But more importantly or seriously, every month. Coming up is the Semana Santa which happens to be Spring Break for auxiliars like me…but I talked about it with the girls I tutor on Thursday at their home (the reason I have so many recipes from Spain households that I want to share like Berenjenas con Albondigas, eggplant fried in olive oil and meatballs in tomato sofrito). Essentially, there’s a big procession during that week and it lasts about 7 hours like a parade. On that note, Spain did the traditional hats first, a long long time ago. Everyone holds a giant wax candle, as it drips onto their hands, scalding their skin but they carry on. All they could say about it was, “It’s cool! We like it and we spend time with our family. If kids want to stop they can stop. There was a 4year old who walked 6 hours last year.” and yes folks, that’s all in English. So proud of my girls J I dunno, I just think we need more family stuff like this back home. Most of Spain’s events have tradition rooted in it (i.e. Carnaval) but at the end of the day it seems to be a get together with Family and friends that is cherished every year.
It’s been so cool seeing students and kids basically from a parents/teacher’s perspective. It’s amazing how much parents sacrifice and work with schedules in the midst of futbol/soccer practices/gymnastics/surfing/horse riding/ etc. to still have an English class with me, make sure their kids are doing well at the school, and more.
So that’s my week, it goes on until Friday with a full day ending with 3rd graders who are too anxious to learn that it causes a competition every time….they sure do love chalk board race games I’ve created.
Did I mention that the bus driver I ride with almost every week likes to hum “Mick Jagger” by Maroon 5? I’m never alone J This is an incredible experience and I urge you to follow your dreams. It is worth so much more than you think it will be.
This meal above was the start to my weekend: jamon serrano, queso fresco, pan con aceite campesino de oliva and that amaaaaaazing red wine from Santander (wine region in the north of this country). Translation: salty cured strips of ham, crumbly fresh goat cheese and thick olive oil from a local farm.
This meal above was the start to my weekend: jamon serrano, queso fresco, pan con aceite campesino de oliva and that amaaaaaazing red wine from Santander (wine region in the north of this country). Translation: salty cured strips of ham, crumbly fresh goat cheese and thick olive oil from a local farm.
This is is version of Twix candy here. Random.
No comments:
Post a Comment