When I left my apartment this morning, the trash situation was even more apparent than yesterday. The street trash cans are overflowing with rubbish. If it looks the same tomorrow, I will take a picture so you can understand just how bad it is getting after only two days. If you want to see pictures right now, click here and then click fotos. I understand why the workers are striking, but I also can't help but think that they will have a lot of work to do once they are back. Anyway, school went well today! Like, I said the last few days. The students are learning the parts of the body, but I really don't have much else to comment on besides that. They already have a pretty good grasped of most of the words, but some give them trouble. Now they are starting to practice recognizing the written word; however, they won't start writing it yet. They are still learning how to write in Spanish. Also, I had a kindergarten class today and I always love playing with them. They say the funniest things and give me the funniest looks when I am talking. It makes me smile.
At lunch today also, our coordinator invited us to the Castañada next Friday. A castaña is a chestnut and at this event (La castañada), parents are coming to the school to roast chestnuts and it's like a little party..a chestnut party! I can't say that I have ever actually eaten chestnuts. I can't even think about whether they are in the mixed nuts my mom buys or not. I don't think they are..and even if they were, I feel like they would be the nuts in the bowl that I would avoid because they seem like they would be hard to crack open. Anyway, I will probably stay for this party even though I don't have to stay all day on Fridays because I have never had roasted chestnuts. I've only ever heard about it in the song "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..." or if you are from my immediate family, you might know it as "Two peanuts getting hot..." Anyway, why I bring this up is because talking about the word castaña opened a can of talking about all of the idioms and uses of the word. We had the teachers laughing at our literal translations of things. For example, "menuda castaña que llevo" means "I'm drunk." Literally translated, it is something along the lines of "What a large chestnut I carry," which is just funny. I hope they don't think we're making fun of their language when we are having fun with idioms. I don't think they are because they were laughing right along with us and everyone knows we have our fair share of ridiculous idioms like "when pigs fly" or "hold your horses." hehe On another random note, I have gotten the question a few times about how to say "Buen provecho" in English and when I answer with "Bon appétit," I get a very strange look. :) I'm always like, "Yep, we use a French phrase to say that." Saying "Enjoy your meal" is just boring.
After school, I had my private lessons. I found out today that the 8 year old that I converse with wants to be a chauffeur when he grows up. He wants to drive famous people around. When I asked him who he would want to drive around the majority of the names he said were football (soccer) players, however Obama made the list. Also, I helped his older brother with his English homework. He had to choose a fable and then write a summary, describe the characters, and the moral, etc. He chose "The Fox and the Crow," which I thought was a good one and he finished all of his homework with me there. Then, it was onto my second lesson where we talked a lot, I help her with her homework, she showed me pictures from Halloween, and she shared some of her Halloween candy with me. :D
Once I got home, I made dinner and just relaxed. Harrison Ford was on El Hormiguero tonight. Also, I found out that the Backstreet Boys are putting on a free small concert at a club here in Madrid next week. You have to get your name on a list, but I just might try and get on that list because I love them! :) And who doesn't want to see them for free?! Anyway, now that I have wasted my night by not planning for the teacher's class tomorrow, I have to do that now. Have a good night. Adios.
Here is a quick news story (in English) about the strike: http://www.euronews.com/2013/11/06/spain-six-thousand-rubbish-collectors-go-on-strike-in-madrid/
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