Arándano

Today was a good day. :) I always dread Wednesdays just because it's a full day of classes and lessons, but when the day is over, I am always happy because I really enjoy my lessons that take place at the end of the day. But before those classes, I had a full day of classes at the school. My students started learning the food pyramid today. I can't believe how quickly they catch onto things. Some classes are better than others, but for the most part they do so well with learning the English words and phrases associated with things. You can use the phrasing of questions to get students to answer in English, too (even if it's a concept they don't fully understand yet). For example by saying this: "Apples are good for you. Candy is bad for you. Is lettuce good for you or bad for you?" You can get students to answer "Good for you!" and BAM! they now are beginning to know what that means! It's so rewarding. :)

Also at school today, I went to a teachers' meeting about upcoming Christmas events. I can't even believe how much stuff they have to coordinate for Christmas and I can't believe that it's all starting next week! The teachers have to decorate their classrooms, have to have the students write Christmas cards and send them home, have to teach the students two Christmas carols, have to come up with an art project, etc. It's a lot and it all starts next Monday! I'm kind of excited! I love the Christmas season. The only thing that is going to stink is the fact that I don't have Christmas movies easily at my disposal. I would love to have/watch all of the following movies at least twice: Elf, Jack Frost, Holiday Inn, White Christmas, The Grinch, The Santa Clause, Christmas Vacation, and the list goes on and on. I'm sure that I will get the opportunity to watch some of them, but it just won't be the same. I sure am going to miss being home for the holidays. :( However, I am going to make sure that I make my time here worth it all. :)

After school today, I had some of my private lessons. My first one went really well because we talked a lot about culture, which I think is always a good thing. :) For example, this girl (who is 12 years old) ate dinner one night last week at midnight! That is just unheard of in the U.S.! And at that age, she has stayed up until 6 a.m. on a weekend and slept until 3 p.m. I just think that's crazy! The Spanish culture is just very different in terms of going out and bed times and meal times. On another note, the previous conversation came out of her comment saying that Spaniards are lazy. And that comment came out of a conversation about Thanksgiving. In this conversation, I had a pun, which I was pretty proud of. The conversation went something like this..

Her: You eat mermelada de arándano, right?
Me: No, not blueberries, cranberries.
Her: Yes, arándanos
Me: Aren't arándanos, blueberries?
Her: Not sure

I proceeded to show her pictures of both and we looked up both cranberry and blueberry in the English-Spanish dictionary only to find out that the word arándano is used for both.

Me: I wonder why there is only one word. They are two different things!
Her: Because Spaniards are very lazy.
Me: Hahahah, BERRY lazy! :)

ZING!

I know it is a ridiculous pun and I obviously had to explain the play on words to her, but it was funny and she laughed once I explained it! :D And then, I had that moment when I realized that I was that silly teacher with the dumb jokes! I don't even care though. I still think its funny, even as I am writing it. Anyway, that was the highlight of my lessons tonight. :) I came home after lessons, ate dinner, and relaxed! I have been relaxing since then. I should have wrote this blog right away, but I got distracted by thinking about Thanksgiving, so it is now pretty late and I should go to bed. Good night! Have a great Thanksgiving tomorrow! :) Hasta mañana

Más planes

Okay, so today I had classes. All went really well. The students were really fidgety and seemed anxious today, but we all made it through the day. :) The students are starting to learn food vocabulary as well as still practicing the vocabulary for the body. I love hearing the students starting to use words here and there in English. For example, a student asked today if we were going to work in the book and instead of asking all in Spanish, she said "Vamos a hacer book?" Haha. It made me happy. Other than that, after school, I had my language exchange with the teacher at my school. Like I've said before, two hours is not enough time to learn what we both need to learn. I have no idea how anyone can become fluent in another language! There's still so much to learn! And I'm even learning about English again. :) For example, why is it that when we use the word "may" with "I" or "we" it is a polite way to ask a question? (Like "May I/we use the computer?"). However, if you use "may" with "he/she," "you," or "they" it is used to make a wish. (Like, "May you find happiness.) So confusing and hard to figure out when you get asked on the spot. Plus, this whole British English thing always throws me for a loop. Also, what is the difference between "everyone" and "everybody" or is there one? On another note, I like learning more about the Spanish culture. For example, their meals. They have desayuno, almuerzo, comida, merienda, and cena. When learning Spanish, students in the U.S. always learn that almuerzo means lunch, but really here it is a snack. Comida is actually lunch here, although it generally means food. My teacher and I decided that U.S. students learn it as "lunch" because technically it is still eaten at noon and that is when lunch is eaten in the U.S.; but here, it is just a snack and then their actual lunch (comida) is eaten at 2 p.m. It's really an interested cultural difference.

Anyway, once I got home, I had to eat dinner and then I could have went to the intercambio tonight, but I skipped it for the second week in a row. I know I should be going, but I am also making the most of my time here at home. I got some more planning done for Thanksgiving and for Christmas break. I still have a lot to plan and figure out so I need all the time that I can get. I probably should make my Mondays more productive than they have been, but I like having those lazy days. However, I need to remind myself that I need to figure out logistics and budgets for Christmas break, so I will start doing that every once in awhile, when I get the chance. Speaking of, I am going to do that now. :) Have a good night. I will talk to you tomorrow.

La voz

Okay, so today I had every intention of getting up earlier than I have been, but I didn't. I just value sleep so much and when I have a free day with no plans, sleep just seems like the best thing to do. Today was a lazy day, just like every free day. I spent a huge majority of my day blogging about Valencia. It took me like six hours. Ha. Obviously, if you read it, you can see that it shouldn't have taken me that long, but keep in mind that I was distracted by YouTube videos, Facebook, and eating...so that's why it took me so long. So next thing I knew, it was time to do my Monday chores (I finally got rid of our pumpkin experiment on the terrace). Then, I went to Spanish class. I just started the class last week and I am already not regretting it one bit. It's so great and I learn and review so much, which is what I want and need. Now, I am watching La Voz and looking up some things about English so that I can answer my teacher's questions tomorrow in the exchange. If this blog bores you, then go back one blog and read about Valencia. That should keep you entertained. Enjoy. Have a good night.

Valencia

Okay, so as you know, I went on a trip with Karin this past weekend to Valencia. Valencia is on the eastern coast of Spain and it is not only a city, but also the name of the autonomous community. Valencia is also the third largest city behind Madrid and Barcelona. And I didn't know this before arriving, but Valencia has its own little language called valenciano. I felt kind of dumb for not knowing that before. I mean I knew there were different languages in Spain, the four I knew being Spanish, Catalan, Gallego, and Basque, but I had no idea just how many unofficial and recognized languages there were until this second. There's actually quite a few. I was embarrassed to ask about the language over the weekend, because I felt dumb for being uneducated, but I'm glad I did because I got an interesting/political response. The answer to "Is valenciano its own language?" apparently changes depending on who you ask. If you ask a person from Valencia, you will most likely get the answer "Yes." However, if you ask a person from Catalonia, which is the autonomous community north of Valencia, you will get the answer "Valenciano is a dialect of Catalan." Politically, you will get this answer because Catalonians want to and have wanted to separate from Spain for awhile now and it seems like the more people who speak Catalan or a dialect of Catalan, the more support they have from people. However, Valencianos like to see themselves as separate from Catalonians, so they call valenciano its own language. So, yep...that's the answer I got. Obviously, not all people feel this way, but it's possible that a majority of people do.

Long story short, when Karin and I first arrived in Valencia in the early afternoon and started walking to our first destination (the beach), it didn't take long to notice that the street signs were in Valenciano, whereas the map that our hostel gave us was in Spanish. Luckily, the names are pretty similar, so we didn't get lost at all. Anyway, like I mentioned, our first stop was the beach. Unfortunately, we missed the good weather by literally one week (it was beach weather the weekend before in Valencia), but we wouldn't have seen near the stuff we did if we would have "wasted" a day at the beach. I will say this though. If you are ever planning on traveling to Valencia and it's nice beach weather, you AT least need three full days, maybe even four. Karin and I definitely needed more time, but "luckily" and "unluckily" the weather was not beach weather. So, although we went to the beach briefly just to look around, we spent our afternoon at the City of the Arts and Sciences, which is pretty famous in Valencia. And it was awesome! I can't imagine if we would have completely missed it because of going to the beach!

The City of the Arts and Sciences is probably most famous for its architecture. It was designed by Santiago Calatrava who was actually born in the region of Valencia. He also designed part of the Milwaukee Art Museum (I'll show pictures so you can compare) and one of his big projects now is designing the World Trade Center Transportation Hub, which will be completed in 2015.

Milwaukee Art Museum

Inside of the Milwaukee Art Museum

First sighting of the City of the Arts and Sciences
See the resemblance in the bridge?

Inside of the Science Museum in Valencia

Inside of the Science Museum

So, as you can see the architecture is pretty cool. The City of the Arts and Sciences is made up of several buildings and, what I'll call, complimentary structures: the Hemisféric (an IMAX theatre), Museo de las Ciencias Príncipe Felipe (a science museum), the Oceanográfic (an aquarium), Palau de les Arts (an art museum), the Umbracle (a bridge/garden), and the Ágora (an event hall, more or less). There is also an excess of reflective pools, which Karin pointed out to me, but they make for pretty pictures. :)

Enough about the outside, let's talk about what's in them, well not all of them, just one: the science museum! There is no way that Karin and I could have been able to see every building. I don't even think you could do all of them in one day! Karin and I ran out of time in the science museum, which is really a shame because it was a blast! Everything was interactive! It wasn't just reading about stuff, it was actual activities and experiments to show you how things work. That is my kinda museum!

An adorable little girl watching the pendulum swing

This is what she is seeing:

Karin completing a gyroscope and learning about angular momentum

A thermographic image of Karin and I

The amount of water in my body!

Needless to say, we had a lot of fun at the science museum and I wish we would've had time to see everything. Once we left, we hung out for a bit to get some night shots of the "city."

We then walked back to the hostel and ate paella for the first time! Paella is probably the most known dish from Spain and it originates in Valencia. Most of the paella that I have come into contact with has been made with shellfish, which isn't really my favorite thing so I was hoping that there were other kinds. Well, come to find out the most famous paella from Valencia is either made with chicken or rabbit! I don't know why the shellfish one seems so much more popular in Madrid, but yea, I'm going to trust the Valencians, who invented the dish. I also find it interesting that Valencia is a port city and yet their famous dish includes chicken, whereas the one in Madrid includes the shellfish...hmm? I don't get it, but whatever. I'm not complaining. My first try of paella was really good and to top on the Spanish dish, we drank sangria with it.

After the paella, Karin and I unintentionally/intentionally took a nap. I definitely could have slept through the whole night, but I knew that we had planned to go back out just to walk around. So after awhile, Karin tapped on my shoulder and asked if we were going back out. I was pretty un-enthused (don't think that's a word..it is now) to go back out, but in the end, I'm glad we did. We got to see some of the other important buildings in town that I don't think we would have seen, if we had not explored that night.

Valencia's cathedral
Iglesia Catedral-Basílica Metropolitana de la Asunción de Nuestra Señora de Valencia (Spanish)
Església Catedral-Basílica Metropolitana de l'Assumpció de la Nostra Senyora de València (Valencian)

Puerta de la Mar

Ayuntamiento de Valencia

Plaza de toros

After our little exploration, it was time for bed so that we were well rested for the next day.

Rather than make two blog posts about the weekend, I am just going to put it all in one. The next morning, Karin and I woke up and went to breakfast. We had found a café the night before that was going to be open in the morning and that sold horchata so that was our main goal for breakfast: to try horchata. And we did. And it's really good. Horchata is a typical cold drink originating in Valencia. I actually had no idea what was in horchata until our tour later in the day. Horchata is made from tigernuts, sugar, and water. The Muslims actually are the ones who brought the tigernuts to Valencia, along with the spices that are used to make paella. So pretty much the food that is unique to Valencia wouldn't exist without the Muslims, but of course at one point in history they were forced out of the city by the Christians, but it's better now. :)

Breakfast..yum!

Anyway, after breakfast we briefly went into the cathedral just to look at it, but I didn't take pictures because mass was going on. Then, we headed to La Lonja de la Seda, also known as the silk trade building (that's what I called it all weekend anyway). It's another one of those World Heritage Sites and it is famous for its gothic architecture and because it is a symbol of the wealth that was in Valencia during the 15th century. It's funny because when I picture an exchange building, I picture the New York stock exchange, but this was a lot less modern than that is. Plus, right now it's just an empty hall, but Karin and I actually got to see some old photographs from when it was furnished with desks and such, so that was cool.

The column room--supposed to resemble palm trees

The chapel. The ceiling was awesome in here,
but not original to the building

Tribunal room

After the visit to this silk exchange building, we went back to our hostel to meet up for a walking tour. The tour was pretty good, but not fantastic, but we still learned quite a bit and got to see some new, different things. Here are some pictures from the tour:

Okay, so this is such a sad story that our tour guide told us..could be true, but might not be. Who knows. Sometimes I am skeptical of the things I am told, but it's still a good story to share. Anyway, at the top of this building there is a bird with an egg in its beak and supposedly, when times were hard in Valencia, mothers would take their children to this building and tell them to look up at the bird. They would say if you just wait here, the bird will get tired and drop the egg and then you'll have food. Well, pretty much what happened was that while the children were looking up and waiting, the mothers would abandon them there. Horrible story, right? I can see it happening though. :(

There was a marathon going on in Valencia

Watching some street dancers

One of the entrances to the cathedral

What used to be the skinniest building in the world..
before they knocked out the inner wall
and connected to the neighboring building..
and before putting a vending machine
at what used to be the entrance...

The foundation to a building--made of broken statues

Mansion turned ceramics museum

Torres de Serrano and the Valencian flag

After the tour ended, Karin and I went back to the Torres de Serrano to climb up to the top and get a view of the city.

Cathedral is on the right

View of the park
(probably one of my favorite things
about the city..read on to find out why)

Okay, so the park is seriously one of the coolest things about the city. It isn't spectacular or anything, just a normal looking park, but it's in an old riverbed! How cool is that! Imagine if the Chicago River dried up and then was converted into a park, that's exactly what this park is. In 1957, there was a huge flood in Valencia and this flood was so bad that they decided to redirect the river. So the old part of the river just sat empty and dry for several years and then in the 80s, there was a huge project to make the riverbed into a park and voila..you have the Jardín de Turia. I just think it's so cool. The town would be completely different/ugly with an old dried up riverbed running through the center.

Flood then.

Park now.

Anyway, after the tour and the climbing the Torres de Serrano, we went back towards the City of the Arts and Sciences to go to the Fallas Museum. This is going to get into another long tangent, but Fallas is a huge four day celebration held in March that is unique to Valencia. All year round, each neighborhood has a commitee that makes their own falla that is displayed at Las Fallas. The fallas are these big elaborate sculptures made of wood and paper mache that have all of these ninots (doll/puppets) on them. Usually the fallas are very artistic and deal with some sort of social, political, or economic issue that is going on. Las Fallas is about community and about having one big party for four days. Anyway, these elaborate sculptures are made and recognized for four days and then on the night of the 19th of March, they are burned! Literally set up in flames by fireworks. But not all of them are burned, one ninot (only one figurine of a falla) is "rescued" by popular vote and sent to the museum (which is where Karin and I went). When we were on the tour, there was a group of girls from Holland and one girl when she heard about Las Fallas was appalled that with the recession and all that people put millions of euros into these fallas just to burn them in the end. Her reaction was funny, but really it's true. Anyway, to give you a better idea, I have included photos from the museum and found a video on YouTube. I will probably not be returning to Valencia for Las Fallas, although it does look like one heck of a party, but it also looks like I don't want to be anywhere near those flames. Haha

The winner from 2013

After the Fallas museum, we walked around and took more pictures of the City of Arts and Sciences, some of which I already posted above, and then we started walking back to the hostel. We stopped for a brief lunch/snack in the river park and then we hung out for awhile before it was time to walk to the bus station to catch a ride home. The ride home was okay, in the fact that we made it home safe, but it was freezing! And pretty foggy. I was so cold the whole time and really could do nothing about it. When Karin and I got back to Madrid, we thought we were never going to warm up again, but once home, I climbed into my pajamas and bundled up. I felt a lot better and it was off to bed.

So there it is. My weekend in Valencia. Sorry that it took so long for me to write about it. Hope you enjoyed it.

El lado bueno de las cosas

This morning I went to the Rastro with Stephanie and Karin. For those of you who don't remember, the Rastro is a street market that is open every Sunday. I went with possibility of buying something, but with no intentions to buy anything, but I ended up getting a scarf because it was cheap and I am already tired of wearing the only two scarves that I brought with me. I also saw many other things that I wanted to buy, but didn't. However, I did decide that I wanted to buy another sweater, because it is getting chilly here now, but instead of buying it at the Rastro, I bought it at a chino. I actually had a whole outfit picked out, but Stephanie and Karin helped talk me out of it, because it wasn't a necessity. Really the sweater wasn't a necessity either, but it was so cute and simple and it will definitely keep me warm. :) I think we already planned to go again to the Rastro next week. It's hard to go and not buy something. I have to at least wait for my next paycheck though. I am broke after buying all of my plane tickets for Christmas.

Anyway, this afternoon a girl came to look at the apartment because we still are looking for a new roommate. She is English, which isn't ideal because I would like another native-Spanish speaker here, however we're not going to turn her away if she doesn't want the place. We still have our English and Spanish days, so hopefully she would join in on that.

Other than that tonight has been really relaxed. I got to Skype my family, I watched Silver Linings Playbook, and I am going to fall asleep watching Up.

On another note, Madrid's streets are slightly cleaner. It has it's good days and bad days, but I have seen some cleaners here and there. Also, I promise to have the Valencia post up tomorrow. :)

Los juegos del hambre: en llamas

Katniss Everdeen..our twin!

Okay so yesterday was a lazy day, just like today was, and just like tomorrow will be most likely. Yesterday, I am embarrassed to tell you what time I got out of bed. I got up pretty early, but then went back to sleep, then got up again, then took a short nap, then actually got up. Then, I ate breakfast. I hung out for a little bit and then before I knew it, it was lunch time. I ate real quick then headed to Karin's place so that she could do my hair like Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games. We all did our hair like that to celebrate going to the movie. We kind of all dressed like her, too. It was fun. :)

Stephanie, Karin, and I ready for the Hunger Games

Me with my "bow and arrow"

We some quick snacks at the grocery store and then went to the theater for the movie. And It was soo good! If you haven't seen or heard of it yet, here's the trailer...

I can't decide if I liked the first one better than the second one. I liked both. They are both so good and action-packed. So if you've read the books or seen the first movie, I would highly suggest going to see the second one. After the movie, I went home and hung out all night. I made dinner, blogged about Friday, watched The Social Network, did some homework from the Spanish class that I started, and then went to sleep. That was a short blog, I'm sorry. But nothing too exciting happened yesterday and I know that today's blog will be short as well. This weekend has been a relaxed one and I like it!

In vs. On

Okay, so I got up yesterday and went to school. I had only two classes with the the students today and then the teachers' class. In the teachers' class today, we got started talking about school (like the difference between color vs. paint), which led to talking about daily routines, which led to talking about school, which led to talking about the prepositions "in" and "on." I got the question "Do you sit in a chair or on a chair?" My first answer was in; however, after some thinking, I realized that both could be used. You can sit "in" a chair or "on" a chair. Logically, I was trying to figure out why both are correct because really there are so many things that are either "on" or "in," but not both. For example, you sit on the floor, on a couch, on a bench, in a car, etc. but why is it that "in" a chair seems to be the most natural thing to say. Logically, you sit in a chair if it has arms, but a couch and bench has arms, too. And even if a chair didn't have arms, I think I would still say "I'm sitting in the chair." So pretty much, it came down to me saying they could use both, but I don't know why. And throw the British English wrench in there and then you have a mess. I'm just going to go ahead and assume that the British say "on," but I really have no idea. Anyway, after the very productive class, I went home and relaxed for quite awhile. I watched Glee and Grey's and avoided blogging about Valencia (again..whoops). Anyway, I also was looking more stuff up for Christmas vacation as well as Thanksgiving.

Stephanie, Karin, and I are hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for a bunch of people. We should have less than 20 people, but that's still a lot to get ready for, especially when none of us have really ever prepared a Thanksgiving dinner before. So last night we went to a shop called Taste of America to see what they had for a Thanksgiving feast. They had some bagged stuffing and gravy packets, which we would have gotten, but Stephanie's sister actually mailed her some so that wasn't necessary. They also had a 100 dollar turkey (no way were we buying that), and pumpkin pie filling (this we did get!). We also went to a bakery or two to see if they could cook our turkey for us (once we found one). When I was in Peru, a bakery cooked our turkey on Thanksgiving, but I thought it would be an odd question here to ask, but no one seemed to surprised by our question. Anyway, we went to two grocery stores to compare prices and to look for a turkey. We didn't find a turkey, but we found turkey fillets so we decided just to do those, so we'll go back on Friday and buy them (we're not having Thanksgiving until Saturday, since we're all working girls and have no time to prepare a Thanksgiving dinner for 20 on a weekday. But yea, we decided that instead of trying to find/buy a whole turkey and then figure out how to cook it, we would just buy turkey fillets. Obviously, that is not as festive, but it sure is a whole lot easier. Although I will say that I am still learning a whole heck of a lot about turkeys, but I still have no idea what to do with it. For example, I learned what "brining a turkey" is, but I have no idea if I should do it with the turkey fillets or not, and I don't know how to season them so that they taste Thanksgiving-y, if you know what I mean. Any suggestions or advice are welcome. :)

After going on our little Thanksgiving hunt, I came back to my place, made dinner, and hung out for a little bit. Then Karin and Stephanie joined me at my place and we watched the end of Over the Hedge and watched a rerun of La Voz on T.V. Also, Karin practiced doing Stephanie and I's hair because we went to see the Hunger Games, so we of course had to have our hair like Katniss Everdeen's! But I'll talk about that more in the next blog. Anyway, that was my day and as soon as the girls left, I was in bed and right to sleep. Now, I am probably going to bed tonight and I will still be behind by one blog. I will eventually catch up and will write about Valencia as well. Have a good night and for those of you in college, Happy Thanksgiving break! I'm jealous. :)

Hay viento

Okay, so again I am tired and my mind is elsewhere. I am still trying to figure out Christmas vacation, like hostels, what to see, what to do, how much I can spend, etc. Although I am getting really really excited about it. All of my flights are booked! If you didn't catch my blog from yesterday, then I will repeat. I am going to from Madrid to Sevilla to Barcelona to Budapest to Dublin to Madrid. There's one more thing that I haven't told you that is more important than going to any of those places... My boyfriend will be joining me in Dublin and then coming to Madrid with me for a few days! I'm so excited for that! It should be really fun!

Other than getting all of that situated today, the other important thing that happened was that I went to my appointment for my TIE. I left school slightly early in order to get there right at 5 p.m., but I still waited in line for over an hour. I had a great conversation with a girl from Maryland while I was in line though, so that was nice and helped pass the time. Also, we had to wait outside and it's finally getting cold here in Madrid. I had gloves on, plus the wind makes it colder. The whole thing was pretty much waiting though, because once at the desk, I pretty much just handed over some documents, they took my fingerprints, and then said to come back in 25 days to pick the card up. Easy enough, right? Hopefully, I do get the card in 25 days or less because then I don't have to worry about getting authorization to leave the country during Christmas. With my TIE, I can travel in and out of the country without troubles. Fingers-crossed.

Oh, I guess one more important thing happened. I went to a Spanish class tonight! I have been looking for one for awhile and it was getting hard to find one that worked with my schedule, but I finally found one! It's actually twice a week, but I can only go once a week, but that's okay. It's better than nothing. And I felt really good about tonight. It's exactly the type of class that I wanted. I'm excited to keep taking it. With that, the intercambios, and the language exchange with my teacher, I feel like I am finally getting what I want from the language here. Everybody speaks too much English here. It's frustrating. But like I said, now I feel good. :)

Anyway, now I am trying to plan the lesson tomorrow for the teachers while occasionally getting sidetracked by Christmas vacation plans. :) Anyway, I should get going. I hope you all had great Thursdays. Good night!

P.S. Sorry I haven't gotten to the Valencia post yet...

Vuelos

Okay, so it's late and I don't feel like writing a super long post. Here are the highlights of my day...

School,
Four private lessons that all went very well,
And....

I have plane tickets for Christmas break!

I will be going from Madrid to Sevilla to Barcelona to Budapest, Hungary to Dublin, Ireland and back to Madrid! Woo.

I have all transportation booked minus the bus to Sevilla and the flight back from Ireland. I tried paying for the flight, but I think my bank account had to tell me enough was enough so it didn't work. I will try again tomorrow. :)

That's my day.

Good night!

Dos horas es poco tiempo

Just throwing this out there right off the bat...I will not be getting to my Valencia blog again. Sorry, it's been another busy day. I have school all day. The students are getting ready to finish their body unit and start on the next one. The students are still very interested in teaching me Spanish, although they continuously ask me to say the same words over and over again. Haha. I'm sorry, but I really don't have much else to say about school. I suck. School was school. Students will be students.

After school, I had my language exchange with the teacher at my school. It went really well, except I think that we both have realized that two hours is not enough! There is so much to learn and so little time! It's crazy! It really is helpful though and I think we are both learning SO much. I will also say though that it is impossible to know if I am giving her the right answers to her questions. I pretty much follow everything with "Yep, that's right...well, I don't know about British English." Seriously, it's impossible, so many things could be "wrong" that I am telling her, just because they are American English and not British English. Also, it's so hard to tell her things like, "Yea, that's grammatically incorrect, but we still say it." Ha. For example, him/her and he/she. When talking, we never (almost never) say him/her or he/she. We just use the collective words them and they. It was really funny because I was like, well that's incorrect, but it's what we say. That sounds absolutely absurd, but it's true. Silly, English! I obviously made sure that she knew what was grammatically correct and told her that if she was ever writing it, she should do so correctly...but seriously, it's ridiculous. English is difficult...

Anyway, on Tuesday nights, I usually go to the intercambio, but I skipped tonight. I know..that's bad. :/ But I dedicated a lot of tonight to more planning of Christmas vacation. I bought my plane ticket to Barcelona. So as of right now, I am officially going to Sevilla and Barcelona for Christmas! Two other places on the list are still Budapest and now Istanbul. Those last two may or may not change, but I'm sure I will be telling you (hopefully soon!) what my final plans are. It's hard to keep it cheaper while at the same time watching the flight prices fluctuate so much. It's so risky to wait or to buy now. It's quite annoying, but I'm figuring it out. :)
Right now though, it is time for bed. I'm tired and I really need some chapstick. So I am going to go take care of both of those things. Have a good night.

Es difícil inventar títulos

Okay, so today was my day off and it seemed long, but I got some things done-ish. And although done-ish doesn't seem like a good thing, it was still important and I was taking a step in the right direction to get things done. :) I started my morning by relaxing and eating breakfast. Then, I left to meet Stephanie to go get our pictures taken. Yep, that's right. Today was picture day. :) Not for school or anything, I had to get some pictures for my TIE, that ridiculous foreigner identification card that I keep talking about. My appointment for that is on Thursday..woohoo, so I think I am already ready for that...I think. The only unfortunate thing about having my appointment on Thursday is that I won't get to have my private lessons. So, I am missing out on a little extra money, but at least it's for an important thing. Because without my TIE, I will get deported. Haha.

Anyway, once I got home, I grabbed my grocery sacks (because you have to bring your own or pay for them) and I went grocery shopping. I believe I have mentioned this before and it probably won't be the last time I mention it, but grocery shopping is SO stressful. Not the actual shopping part, but the checking out. It hasn't gotten any easier/less stressful on me. Imagine you're at a store, you can only get as much as you can carry in the two big bags you bring to the store...Now imagine that you have to bag your own bags and pay at the same time...all the while, trying to hurry up so that you don't hold up the people behind you. Seriously, it's stressful. I feel like it shouldn't be, but it is. Trying to pay, trying to hurry, trying to not squish any bread or break any eggs (done both already), etc. And then, I feel like an idiot walking down the street with two overly filled bags of groceries while carrying other things that didn't fit in the bags. I don't think it will get any easier.

Anyway, after shopping, I ate lunch and started to research travel things for Christmas break. Also, I took a paper level test in order to enroll in a Spanish class. I tried going to a different place for lessons, but they couldn't really accommodate my schedule so I found another place that I think will work out. This afternoon I went to the school and met the coordinator and he seemed pretty cool and I already feel like I will learn a lot so I will be starting next Monday night, most likely. Once I got home from that, I did my weekly Monday cleaning and some laundry. I will say that our science experiment of a pumpkin is still on our terrace. Haha, I think it's to the point where we should just continue to let it decay all year...maybe not though.

Anyway, I started to blog about the weekend and then that just didn't happen. So still no Valencia blog, sorry. It will come though, don't worry. Tonight, a girl came over to talk about Christmas break. Stephanie and Karin have their own plans for Christmas break, so I posted on a website (one that is made up of teachers, like me) that I was looking for travel buddies for Christmas. I found a few people and one of them was able to come over to start planning tonight. So far, this is what we have. I'm going to Sevilla with Lucia until Christmas then going to Barcelona. Then, the original plan was to go to Prague for New Year's, then to Budapest, but Prague is pretty well booked already and super expensive, so we decided to switch them and go to Budapest for New Year's, then to Prague. So that's the plan right now, but also now I am thinking about cutting Prague out completely because it seriously jacks up the prices a lot on my vacations. I might try and choose a completely different place to go. Anyway, that's that. That was my day. Didn't book any planes, trains, or automobiles yet, but we are full swing into the planning process and it's pretty fun. Hope you all had good Mondays. Again, I'm sorry I didn't get to the Valencia post. Have a good night!

Tengo sueño

"Tengo sueño, tengo frío y tengo hambre." Those were the words I muttered walking into the door at 11:20 p.m. "I'm sleepy, I'm cold, and I'm hungry." I am no longer hungry, my body temperature is starting to heat up, and I will be going to bed very soon, which means no blog tonight. Sorry folks. I will say I had a good weekend and hopefully I will get to some blogging tomorrow, but don't count on it, I have some errands to run and things to get done. But anyway, goodnight. I am safely back in Madrid and about to get some sleep.

Castañada

Today was a good day, especially after the stressful night I had last night. Normally, I get to sleep in on Fridays and leave school early on Fridays, but I did neither of those today and still had a good day. :) This morning instead of sleeping in, I got up early and had to fix a mistake I made in the TIE (Foreign Identification Card) process. I messed up on the payment. I was supposed to pay 15,15 euros, but instead only paid 15. The form that has to be taken to the bank with the payment isn't online and I got really really lucky that one of the few offices that you can pick it up at was on my way train route to school. So I was able to pick up the form and go to the bank to pay the 15 cents, although the banker did laugh at me.

Once at school, I had one first grade class, a delicious breakfast, a kindergarten class, then the teacher's class. The teacher's class, in my opinion, was so boring (and I'm the teacher). So, I should probably spice it up a bit somehow, but it's so hard. I don't want to do anything childish with them, although maybe they would enjoy something like that. Also, I feel like I'm just throwing a lot of stuff at them, because there's always like ten ways to say the same thing and they like knowing them. After the classes, instead of going home, I went to lunch with the teachers and, in the afternoon, there was a chestnut party. Yep, that's right..a chestnut party! It's called the Castañada. It's not really a holiday of any sort. It is just a party celebrated in some primary schools to celebrate fall. The students eat roasted chestnuts and that's pretty much the jist of the party. I have never had roasted chestnuts before and, to be honest, I don't think I really liked them. They kind of had the texture of a baked potato that wasn't fully cooked and they had a bacon-y taste. It was strange. The party was fun and I have some adorable pictures of the students, but because of privacy issues, I'm not going to put them up. Sorry.

Anyway, after hanging out at the party for a little bit, I came home and started doing some more important things like sending e-mails, ordering a book online, looking into things to do in Valencia this weekend, etc. I pretty much relaxed all night and watched some of my T.V. shows. I also packed because Karin and I are leaving for Valencia tomorrow. So you probably won't hear from me until Sunday night or maybe even Monday. I hope you all have a good weekend. I know I will.

Also, on very random note, I remembered today that Lucia and I have a science experiment going on on our terrace. Our little pumpkin from two weeks ago was getting gross about one week and five days ago so we put it in a plastic bag and then put it on our terrace outside. It's still there... Through the condensation on the bag, all I can see is a black blob. I'm now afraid to even touch the bag it is in. Haha. Oh well, it will get thrown away eventually. Anyway, it's bedtime. I will talk to you in a few days. Pray for my safe travels. :)

Un desmadre

My day was again filled with fun. I probably should start writing down all of the little and exciting things that happen in every class, but I never really know what is worth putting in the blog. For example, do you really need to know that the students were crazy today. I had students coloring all outside of the lines like madmen and one student who refused to put on his coat. The defiance of most students is shocking. What I witnessed today would SOOO would not fly in most schools in the U.S. You would definitely be sent to talk to the principal and your parents would most likely be told. I really don't think either of those happened today, but I really don't know for sure. That's a negative about only being an assistant. I am not included in on any family matters, really don't interact with the parents at all. It is kind of unfortunate, but it also makes my life easier.

Anyway, after school, I had three lessons that went great! The first one was really funny and I feel like the boy and I talked about stuff that we probably shouldn't have. For example, somehow the death penalty got brought up and he asked my opinion on it...haha. I feel like that is territory that I shouldn't discuss with a student, so I deflected the question back to him first and found out that he is pro-electric chair. I told him that I didn't think the electric chair was still used, but now after reading Wikipedia, apparently it is still an option in some states. He will be so excited to hear that. Haha. After that lesson, I met with his brother for a little bit and we talked about his "village." I have used this term a lot here and I asked about it not to long ago. A person's village is the place where he/she goes on holidays/vacations, usually it is where your grandparents live. So when I am having lessons, when I ask "What did you do last weekend?" I frequently get the answer "I went to my village." I think the concept of having a "village" is pretty cool and it's such a home-y and comforting word. :) Anyway, after that I had one more lesson with a 12-year-old girl and we talked about her drawing class and her Christmas dance recital at school that they have every other year and we did a few listening activities because that's what she says she struggles in the most.

Then, it was off to my apartment. The night started off pretty well. I ate dinner and was getting stuff done and then BAM! there was pandemonium! I just got really stressed out and annoyed and had 50 things going on in my head at one time and just got so busy! I feel better now, but it took awhile for me to calm down and actually get some things accomplished, so now it is 1:42 a.m. and I meant to be in bed a long time ago. Whoops. Oh well, tomorrow today is a new day, so I will go to bed, wake up refreshed (hopefully), and will get more things accomplished tomorrow. Have a good night!

Though

Okay, I feel like I have been running non-stop all day and that I have a lot to do and so little time to do it! Wish me luck. :) It's 11:24 p.m. Let's see if I can write this with no distractions and in record time.

First of all, in my rapid blog last night, I forgot to mention a random point I wanted to make about the word "though." Pretty sure I blogged about this word when I was in Peru, too, because it was mentioned to me while I was there. Somebody had asked me what the word meant and I didn't have an answer for them. And to this day, I still don't. The word "though" was brought to my attention again last night at the language exchange when an Ecuador-born, Spanish-raised, lived-in-Norway guy mentioned to me that he knows for sure if a US American is talking to him when they drop the word "though" into a lot of sentences. I think it's true and funny! I don't know what it means though. :)

Anyway, onto today, I had a full day of classes. I'm really glad the school gives us breakfast because I walked out of the apartment with only a handful of nuts, not really because I was late, but because I didn't have time to eat a proper breakfast. I honestly haven't had time all week because I have felt that sleep is more important. Especially since I have been going to bed super-late. Whoops. Anyway, I had the same old day as any. The first graders are still learning about body parts and many of them have everything down and it's so great to see that! And one of the classes that is not as well-behaved did pretty well today. Also, I love it when they try to teach me Spanish...so cute and yet, I also think they have lost some marbles because clearly I am comprehending them in Spanish and answering their questions. Tehe. Silly children. I am waiting for them to find me out or to catch on. Also, I had a kindergarten class today, but during class they had a rehearsal for the Castañada on Friday. I still haven't quite figured out the origin of this Chestnut party, but anyway, the students were rehearsing how to line up properly with their partner and in a straight line.

After school, I had my long evening of lessons. All of them went well. I wish I could elaborate more, but we talk about a plethora of stuff during each lesson, so I would never be able to remember it all or have the time to write it all down. The jist of it is that I get to help these amazing students learn English. :) You would think it would be strange sitting for an hour and talking to an 8-12 year old, but it's actually entertaining and the conversation seems to somehow keep going. Anyway, those lessons end at 9 p.m. and I got home around 9:45 p.m. Then, I sat down for a few minutes just to read e-mails, but had no time to respond, because I decided that I probably should eat dinner, then we got a call from someone to visit the apartment, so she came around 10:30 p.m. while my dinner was still cooking, then I ate, then I started talking to people about this weekend, a Thanksgiving feast we're planning, Christmas break traveling, my identification card that I have an appointment for next week, where to go during our 4-day weekend at the beginning of December, etc. See, long list of things, so little time in the day. But isn't that always the case? Although it may seem like I am complaining, I am actually pretty fortunate to even have the opportunity to do all of these things. I am glad that all I have to worry about is choosing places to visit during Christmas break. There are a lot worse things out there. Plus, staying busy keeps me from missing home. There are so many new things that happen everyday and so many opportunities to reflect, so I am busy, yes, but I am happy also. Now, it is time to go. Maybe I'll start making that important list of things to do. :) Have a good night! Hasta mañana.

Cansada

Today was a good day. I went to school and taught the kiddos the body parts and they are now learning hygiene things like soap, shampoo, brush, toothbrush, etc. They did some book work, we traced a body and label its parts, we sang Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes, etc. Like I said, it was a good day. I also had a kindergarten class where they are still kind of working on Alice in Wonderland. During my lunch break and at the end of school, I started researching what to do this weekend (pretty positive I'm going to Valencia..the hostel is reserved at least), tried to figure out what the heck to do over Christmas break, and looked at some things to do in the teachers' English class. So pretty much, I got nothing accomplished. It's really hard to sit down and plan trips, especially when I don't care where I go. I am also still in the process of looking for a travel buddy.

After school, I went to the flat of one of my teachers and we did a two hour lesson. One hour in English and one hour in Spanish. I think it went really well and I am excited to work with her all year. Also, it was confirmed once again that sometimes things are hard to translate. She is the P.E. teacher so she was asking how to say a lot of things that have to do with that, which is great and I think she learned a ton! Me, on the other hand, I have no direction as to what I want to learn/practice..pretty much anything and everything! But, I feel bad because she keeps asking me what she should prepare for the lessons and I am very relaxed about it. I just keep telling her we can talk and she can correct my mistakes and then we can go from there. :)

Anyway, I arrived home a little before 8 p.m. and made dinner right away. I was going to go straight to the language exchange after, but when I was about to go Lucia came home, so I waited for her to eat dinner and then she came with! It was really good and it was the best that I have felt at one of those so far. I didn't feel like we spent to much time in one language or the other and it was good conversation. Also, I think Lucia had fun, so I was glad she came with. It gives me company on the metro. Hehe. :) Anyway, we stayed longer than intended, which was okay, but now I am tired. I got home and started to blog, but then I called my sister and she was already talking about Christmas gifts..oh deer! (pun intended) and then I got distracted by Googling Christmas gifts and now it's super late and time for bed. And I'm sorry this blog is semi-bad because I'm tired and rushed through it. Anyway, time for bed. Goodnight.

Editar fotos

Okay, so today has seemed like such a long day and I still have a lot to do, like eat dinner (it's 9:57) and right now I am distracted by the Backstreet Boys on El Hormiguero, so who knows when I will get to finishing this blog and eating dinner. Also, a girl is coming soon to look at the room, so we have that as well, but boy am I distracted by this show. It's 10:07 now. Haha.

Anyway, today I had a lot on my list to do, but some things/most things took longer than I thought they would. In the morning, I thought that the girl who is coming tonight was coming this morning instead, so I waited for like 45 minutes for her to come and then got a hold of her and realized she meant 10 p.m. not a.m. Anyway, then I went to the bank and there is always a line and grumpy people, but I waited patiently and got what I needed to get done. Then, I went to a frutería to pick up some fruit and as soon as I got home, I left for the library to re-checkout my book and get another one. Well, I could re-checkout my book because they make you wait a day to do that, which is a little inconvenient, but I did get another one. :) Then, as soon as I got home from that, I had enough time to eat a snack and leave again to go to a dance class that I wanted to try out. I was going to go to a contemporary class, then last minute, I switched to the modern class and boy was it intense, but it felt great! We had about a 45 minute warm-up, which included a BUNCH of sit-ups (I was dying by the end) and some crazy stretches that were physically impossible for me to do. Also, the class was a little bit more advanced than I am, but it was still really fun and I enjoyed going!

Once I got home, I ate lunch and sat down and got to work on editing photos. It took forever! Definitely too long. I probably shouldn't have spent the time on them, but they look so good. :) Also, the cool thing is that some of these really aren't even edited. A few of the ones below were just cropped or not touched at all. :)

Anyway, after all that, I got to blogging and not eating dinner and watching Hormiguero and having that girl come visit the apartment. And now. It is 10:56 p.m. I still have yet to eat..whoops. And I have to figure out what I'm doing tomorrow for a private lesson with the teacher at my school. Well, I hope you all had good Mondays. I will talk to you later! :)

Segovia

Okay, we'll see how long this blog takes me to write. I still have a lot to do today. Hopefully, I can make this a quick one, but I doubt it. I might just leave the really insignificant things out though. Anyway, on to the blog... yesterday, Stephanie, Karin, and I went to Segovia. Segovia is a little more than an hour northwest of Madrid. Just so you know some history about Segovia, I will now paraphrase some Wikipedia articles... Segovia started out as a Celtic region and then the Romans moved in, hence the Roman aqueducts (you'll see pictures soon), then Christians flooded into the town, then some Jews came, then Isabel became queen and at one point the Jews were kicked out of the city. So, there's the history of the city. The End. Oh, also, if you're interested, Segovia has two sister cities in the states: Marysville, Ohio and Tucson, Arizona. Also, Segovia is another UNESCO World Heritage Site that I can add to my "been to" list along with Cuzco, Machu Picchu, Lima, Arequipa, Nazca in Peru and Toledo in Spain.

Anyway, we got on the bus to go to Segovia and I slept most of the day since I was up late the night before. Once we got to Segovia, I wished once again that I would have dressed warmer. The sun was not up so it was quite chilly. Actually, I think I would've felt better even if I just had gloves. My hands were freezing taking pictures. Our first stop in Segovia was to see the aqueducts. No one is for sure when they were built, but supposedly they were built in the 1st century. The aqueduct is about 94 feet tall at the highest point. The aqueduct has been restored a few times so it's in tip-top shape.

Main facade of the aqueduct with Virgen de la Fuencisla,
the patroness of Segovia, nested up there in the little niche.

Woo...blue skies..It warmed up in the afternoon so
these are better pictures than the morning ones.

Karin, Stephanie, and I

After seeing the aqueduct and taking an excessive amount of pictures, we walked to the cathedral and took some pictures there. Mass was going on, so we couldn't go in, but it was okay, because we had a castle to visit! :) The castle was built as a fort first, but it was also a royal palace, a state prison apparently, and an artillery college. Also, this castle was one of many castles that inspired Cinderella's castle. It was pretty cool to see the inside; however, I must add that what we saw on the inside was fairly insignificant when you look at how big it is from the outside, but it was still worth the trip.

The throne room
Above it says "Tanto Monta" meaning "They amount to the same"
or "Equal opposites in balance" referring to the
prenuptial agreement of Ferdinand and Isabel.

Cool stained glass..Isabel's coat of arms as Princess of Asturias

In the King's room. There are golden kings
and queens lining the whole room.

View from the outskirts

After taking a stroll through the Alcázar, we ate our packed lunch and then walked to towards the outskirts of Segovia to get a good view of the castle. That's when it finally started warming up! The sun came out and there were blue skies! It was great! After chilling in the sun for a little bit, we started walking back and an elderly man stopped us to tell us to go see the Alcázar from outside the city, where we had just been. He also is the one who told us about how Walt Disney was inspired by the castle. He also told us that he heard people from Chicago are nicer than their counterparts in New York City or another big city in the U.S. :) We thanked him for the chat and then walked back to the cathedral to see if mass was over and it was, but we decided we didn't want to pay to go in. We still glanced in, but it was quick and definitely no time to snap pictures, but that's okay. You can see pictures online. For example, this one...

It was nice to see the Plaza Mayor area with people in it. When we first got to Segovia it was cold and like a ghost town, but it really livened up in the afternoon, which was pleasant. After this, we took a stroll through La Judería, the Jewish neighborhood and then strolled around to the many many churches that are in Segovia. We didn't go inside any because none of them were open and a few of them seemed to be completely abandoned, but seeing the outside of all of them was cool and it was nice just to walk around. Here are many of the churches that we saw...

Iglesia de San Millán

Iglesia de San Miguel, where Isabel became queen

Iglesia de San Andrés

Iglesia de la Vera Cruz

Iglesia de San Estaban

Convento de Corpus Cristi

Convento de Santo Domingo de Guzmán

Iglesia de San Nicolás

See, lots of churches...we hit all of the hot spots. The aqueduct, the cathedral, the castle, and the area on the map where the guy at the tourist office simply circled it and said "churches." :) After walking around we made our way back to the aqueduct and got better pictures, then we had about about a half hour before the bus left so we had a quick tapa for one euro then walked to the bus station. Once at the bus station, we learned that we would have to wait an hour for the next bus. It wasn't a big deal though. Stephanie, Karin, and I chowed down on a bag of cookies and then the bus came. The bus ride home seemed pretty long and at one point a toddler was crying, but we made it back safely. It was a good day and for some reason, Stephanie, Karin, and I all agreed that we liked Segovia more than Toledo. I don't really know why, but we did. It seemed more open, even though some of the streets were still narrow and sometimes sidewalks were non-existent.

Once at home, I made dinner and started to blog from the day before and also began the daunting task of going through a ridiculous 367 pictures from one day. Haha. Lucia and I sat down and watched the EMAs (European Music Awards) together, which was pretty good. I got to see a "more tasteful" performance by Miley Cyrus than her performance at the VMAs. Anyway, that was my day and night. It was fun and I'm happy to be living in a city that makes traveling to other places easy. Anyway, now it's back to my Monday, as I said earlier. I have quite a bit to do today still and this blog took way to long to write, even though it doesn't seem like it. Have a good night. I don't know if I'll make it to today's blog. Wish me luck.