So this has been my last week in Spain and I don't even know where to start or what to do with myself. I have had an amazing time here and the time is winding down. I am slightly sad to be leaving, but I think I am much more excited to come home. Or I am really sad to be leaving and it just hasn't hit me yet. I'm expecting it will at some point, but we will see. Anyway, on to my week...I have definitely made the most of it so far. This week at school has been super relaxed. We haven't had real classes at all. On Monday and Tuesday, we just hung out and played with the students. Also, I received a book of drawings from one of my classes! It's adorable and I'm so excited to take a memory from at least one of my classes. I also got pictures with all of my classes. I wish I could show you how cute all of my students are, but due to a law I promised that I wouldn't post them anywhere. They were almost hesitant to let me even take a picture with them and I was like "No way am I not getting a picture with these students!"
Anyway, on Monday after school, I tried going to the bank to close my account, but it didn't quite work because I had bought something with my card on Sunday and it hadn't gone through yet. It kind of made me nervous, but I figured I would start freaking out today if it hadn't gone through yet. But instead of getting that accomplished, I did go to the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum, which is an art museum in Madrid. The permanent exhibits are free on Mondays during certain hours, so Julia (the other girl from my school) and I took advantage of that. It was a really cool museum. It had both old and new art..I'm not an art buff so I couldn't tell you what styles they were but I could tell you that it was a mixture of the Prado Museum and the Reina Sofía Museum here in Madrid, which you might also not understand. Ha. Anyway, I did take a few photos of the pieces that I liked/the artists that I knew.
 |
| (Former) Rey Juan Carlos I and Reina Sofía |
 |
| Les Vessenots by Vincent van Gogh |
 |
| Swaying Dancer by Edgar Degas |
 |
| Hotel Room by Edward Hopper |
So that's that. On Monday night, Esther came over and I helped her with all of her things. I think we finished everything for her speech that she has coming up next week and I think she's ready. I really hope she passes. It would be a really great thing for her! On Tuesday at school it was the same. I did get the chance to show a class the U.S. dollars and coins and they thought that was pretty cool. Then, at night, I had my two last Spanish classes. In my private lesson we worked on interview skills and answering questions in Spanish and I felt pretty good about it. I will be meeting with a principal next week and I want to be at my best. Then, we had our last class that went really well. My professor also let me take a bunch of pictures of all his books that he has, because they are really good resources for me to buy for my hopefully soon-to-be future classroom. Now I just have to find a money tree so I can buy all the resources that I want.
On Wednesday, we had a ginkana at school, which means gymkhana in English, which I still had no idea what that was until yesterday, but according to Google it's a "a day event comprising races and other competitions between horse riders or car drivers." We had no horses or cars at school, but it was a day of competitions. So there you go, I learned a new Spanish word and English word. It was really fun and the students had a blast. It was technically their last days because today (Thursday) there was no school and tomorrow (Friday) half of the students aren't coming to school and we are watching movies and doing nothing, I'm pretty sure. It's kinda sad because some of the students weren't there yesterday and I'm afraid they won't be there tomorrow so I didn't get to say goodbye. :( It's kind of sad. Plus, I think only a few classes completely understand that I am not coming back next year..which leads to be hearing "Nunca te olvidaré" (I'll never forget you)..awwww. So that was me saying goodbye to the majority of my students on Wednesday. Last night, Karin and I went out with our Spanish class to eat at an Argentine restaurant. It was delicious, filling, and really fun! But, it was a sad night in Spain..their national team is now out of the world cup..lo siento.
Anyway, now onto today...although most of Spain was in mourning because of the football game, it was a day in history for Spain today and I am so happy that I was here for it! Felipe VI, Prince of Asturias became the King of Spain today and it was awesome! Lucia and I got up early and watched his father, former King Juan Carlos I wrap a sash around his son's waist. Then, the family minus Juan Carlos made their way to Congress where Felipe swore over the constitution of Spain. Then, the King gave a speech about his plans for a new monarchy. We obviously watched this all on T.V., but we left a little early to go to watch the new King head from Congress back to the Royal Palace. I thought there was no way that we would see anything, but we actually could and we saw the king! ¡Qué guay!
 |
| Waiting for the king to come down Gran Vía |
 |
| There he is! |
 |
| In the city center with royalty :) |
After seeing the king drive by, we tried to go to the Royal Palace where the family would come out on the balcony and wave to us all, but we couldn't get through. Literally every single road was blocked, which is unfortunate, so I had to settle for seeing that part on T.V., but it was still super cool to be here for such a historic event. Also, I should mention that the new princess, Princess Leonor, Felipe's 8-year-old daughter whose feet doesn't even touch the floor when she is sitting in a chair. She's adorable..that was the point of adding that little fact..just to say she's cute. :D If you want to read more about the new king and the football game (because of course it can't just be an article about the king) read one or both of these links:
Anyway, the rest of the afternoon, I just did little things preparing myself to go home. Oh, I forgot to mention this about yesterday. I took all of my pictures down yesterday which were stuck up with blue sticky tack. At first I thought "oh, it's not so bad" then I realized that the wall looked like it had chicken pox..so I had to do something. This led to me taking a butter knife to the wall and pretty much scrapping the stucco off of the wall along with the tack. It actually worked..there are a few bare looking spots now, but at least the walls are white now, right?
So, I have four more days left! I feel like I have a lot left to do..we'll see how the weekend goes. I will see you all very soon! Have a great end of your week!
No comments:
Post a Comment