La comida mexicana

Okay, so yesterday, Saturday, I woke up kind of early and stayed up for an hour and then decided to take an hour and a half long nap. Haha. So pretty much you could say that I slept in quite a bit. I ate lunch then went on a three mile run with Karin and Stephanie. We were going to do more of a workout, but we got distracted by sitting in the sun and talking. Yep, it's still nice enough here to be comfortable and warm in the sun. The shade is chilly at times, but I'm loving the weather right now. I went back to my apartment after the run because I thought someone was supposed to be coming to see the room, but no one ended up coming so I left for Karin's and ate leftovers from her birthday party aka guacamole and Oreo balls. YUM! Stephanie, Karin, and I hung out for a little bit and then I went back to my apartment for another girl who was coming to look at the place. The girl seemed really nice, but it seemed like she wouldn't be at the apartment much. She goes to school in Madrid, but lives semi-close to the city so it seemed like she would be going home almost every weekend, which isn't necessarily the atmosphere that Lucia and I want, but it didn't matter anyway because she said she wasn't taking the place. Her parents came with her to the visit and found a few things "wrong" that apparently weren't worth their money, but it's okay because we have someone else coming to look at the apartment tomorrow.

Anyway, after this, I just hung out at the apartment for quite awhile. I blogged some and skyped with my boyfriend and started watching the recent movie of Alice in Wonderland, since I had it on the brain because the kindergarten classes were learning about the story. I didn't finish it, but I will...maybe tonight or tomorrow on my day off. Anyway, last night I also figured out bus times for our Segovia day trip that we took today. Wait and see pictures tomorrow. Probably won't get to that blog tonight. It takes awhile to fact check and edit photos. :)

Anyway, last night I went to Lucia's classmate's house for a Mexican-style dinner. It consisted of an Old El Paso burrito kit and an Old El Paso nacho kit, but they were both so good and the company was great. I was surrounded by five Spaniards rattling off words, phrases, idioms, etc. in Spanish that I didn't even know and they were talking soooo fast at some points, but I managed to somewhat keep up. We also played some charades, which was fun, but I have found that there isn't really a translation for that game. We also watched some YouTube videos here and there and then...Lucia and I "sprinted" to the metro station to make sure we made it to the metro before it closed. I would say we started out sprinting, but we wore out pretty quickly and started huffing and puffing and slowing down, but we kept running. Once at the platform, we had 10 minutes to catch our breath before the train came. Haha. Oh well, we ran off all the food we ate. :) Anyway, that was my day/night. It was really fun! :) Hope you all had great Saturdays, too.

Lucia, Jorge, Natalia, Vic, Jaime, and me!

El cumple de Karin

Yesterday was a good day of class and relaxation and partying. I got up and took some pictures of the trash on the streets because it is still bad (see pictures later on). Went to school and had two classes. I had one 1st grade class that worked on reviewing the rules of the classroom and then coloring a page so that they can start learning the concept of my/your/his/her next week. Then, I had a kindergarten class where I read Alice in Wonderland in English to the students. Then, they learned words in English like cat, queen, cards, Alice, rabbit, etc. The kindergarten classes have been learning about Alice in Wonderland for the last few weeks because this past week they had a field trip to a children's theater to see it, which I think is fun! :) Even though, I think it is a strange story. :) Anyway, after those two classes, I had a class with the teachers. I was a little nervous about it, but it all went well. This group of teachers considers themselves to be beginning English learners, so I was unsure of really what level they were at, but I had a lot of fun with them. We went over formal and informal greetings and questions that you ask someone when you're first meeting them. We also practiced the pronunciation of the English "R" because it is one of the hardest letters to pronounce. And I honestly agree with that when referring to the Spanish "R"...still trying to get that trill down.

After school, I went to the post office real quick to send Flat Stanley and María back to the United States, then I came home and made lunch. My Friday afternoons are for watching Grey's Anatomy and Glee. :) I really can't think of what else I did. I started to look at my calendar to try and figure out when to take trips and where to go. The possibilities are endless. Do you know how many places there are to go?!..gahhh Anyway, yea, I am still trying to figure out where to go, when to go, how much it will cost to go, etc.

As for the night plans, yesterday was Karin's birthday so she had a few people over to her house. Stephanie and her put together Oreo balls, sangria, chocolate cake, and guacamole. So we all hung out for quite awhile and ate too much. :) We then planned to go to a rooftop terrace just for a drink and to see a view of the city, but it was closed. We thought it closed at 2 a.m., but the doors were locked, however the lights on the terrace were on...so it's possible that they stop letting people in at a certain time or maybe they only let so many people in. Anyway, it wasn't a big deal, because we still got to see go to a terrace on the top of the city hall, the building that has made a few debuts on this blog already. It was really cool to see the inside of the building even though a lot of the floors were blocked off at night. After taking a quick peek at the terrace, we went home and it was off to bed. I hope you all had a great Friday. Hasta luego.

Celebrating Karin's Birthday

Plaza Cibeles from the top of the city hall

Inside of the town hall

La castaña

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/

El pulgar

Today was just another day of school and private classes. The students are learning the parts of the body and by golly they are learning so much at once! I feel like we are just throwing English in their face, but hey, I guess that's okay! They are going to have one long list of vocabulary when this year is over with. For example, I'm pretty sure in the first few years on learning Spanish, I knew the very basic body parts: eyes, nose, mouth, face, head, ears, arms, hands, fingers, legs, feet, toes, hairs. Now take that list and add eyebrows, eyelashes, tongue, neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist, knees, hips, ankles, waist, thumb, index finger, middle finger, ring finger, little finger (pinky in British English apparently), etc. and that's the list of vocabulary for my first graders. Whoa. Not gonna lie, just learned the Spanish words for all of the fingers today, haha. The students at my school have been studying English for technically 2ish years and are already learning the names of the fingers. I have been studying Spanish for 8ish years and I am just now learning the specific names of the fingers. Makes me feel somewhat unaccomplished and yet today I feel accomplished because now I know them. :)

Anyway, after school, I had my three and a half hours of private classes. They all went very well and I am impressed every week by the amount of English that they all know. I can't wait to see their progress throughout the year. Also, one of the books that one of my students and I are reading deals with some issues of World War II and I am pleasantly surprised about how much she knew about the United States' involvement in the war. She hadn't heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor, but she knew about Hitler and she knew about the atomic bombings. She also knew about what was going on in Spain at that time with Franco and such, so I thought that was pretty cool! I mean, obviously she learned about it in school and I know I learned about it at her age, but the fact that she was telling about it in what is her foreign language proves that she has a pretty high level of English. It just makes me happy. :)

Once I got home, I plopped down and relaxed, made dinner, and chatted online with Stephanie and Karin. We are trying to figure out what to do this weekend. We were originally thinking Valencia, but like Granada last weekend, everyone and their dog will be in Valencia for this motocross championship thing, how random?! So, instead we might take a day trip to Segovia, which is another ancient-esque town a little outside of Madrid. We might try and plan Valencia for next weekend instead. Hopefully the world champion for mobile phone throwing or stone skipping aren't scheduled to be there next week.* I'll have to check the schedule. Anyway, long story short, I have no idea what this weekend has in store for me.

On another note, this morning when I was walking to the metro, I noticed that there was a lot of trash on the ground. I couldn't decide if it was always like this or if I was just now noticing. And I couldn't think about how Chicago is, when I've been there. I don't think it's riddled with trash, not like it is here right now anyway. Well, come to find out the the street cleaning service workers are on strike because many of them might get laid off and wages are being cut. However, by strike, I don't just mean that they are not showing up to work, but it has been reported that some are actually spreading garbage around in the streets and littering big time. I have not witnessed this yet, but it does seem to be a problem. However, another problem is that the government just simply does not have the money to pay them a lot either because of the economy right now. It's quite interesting. So, that's that.

Lastly, you probably will not understand this at all, but it made me laugh and I'm putting it on here so that someday I will see it again and it will make me laugh again.. It is a tumblr webpage that has a bunch of memes about auxliares, which is my title/what I do. Click here if you want to try and make sense of it.

Have a great night! Buenas noches!

*Those are real world championship competitions, Google it.

Por si las moscas

So, today was a good day. I was almost late to school because I had to wait ten minutes for the train, but I made it just in time. Once at school, the bilingual coordinator came in and said that the bilingual adviser from the Comunidad de Madrid wanted to meet with us...good thing I wasn't late... Anyway, she just wanted to meet us and reiterate our job description. I felt bad for not having any questions for her, but it is a pretty simple concept to get. I'm sure I do have questions, I just can't ever think of them. :)

Anyway, on to the classes, the students are starting to learn the parts of the body, so they were practicing this and then also one class started practicing the five senses. It's really cool to see how much they understand even though they are being taught in a language that they don't quite understand. It's beneficial to know Spanish to because then I know for sure that the students are getting it because usually once they get it they immediately translate it into Spanish; which isn't always the best, but for those students that need the extra help, the translation is good for them, I think. Anyway, I also had a kindergarten class today and they got to meet Flat Stanley and María! I had them take a picture with them so that I could send it along with him back to the U.S. Also, I showed the teacher's at lunch and one teacher said they were dressed perfectly in the flamenco clothing! Yay, thank you Google for giving me accurate outfits when I typed in "Flamenco dancer costume." :)

After school, I ventured home and hung out for a little bit. I worked on the Flat Stanley project so that I can get that finished and sent back to the U.S. I also am still trying to figure out my schedule and everything...looking into taking dance classes and Spanish classes. Then, tonight, I went to the same language exchange that I went to last week. I saw some of the same people there, but this time, I also met a Peruvian! Yay, she was great to talk to and I asked her where the best Peruvian restaurants were in Madrid. :) Got the inside scoop on Peruvians in Madrid! It was fun! I think Lucia is going to come with me next week, so that should be fun!

Once I got home, I ate dinner and chatted with Lucia for a bit and we talked rent because we're paying it tomorrow...boo! Real life blues. However, we also talked about the 5 people that have already contacted us to look at the room were renting! That was so quick and awesome. So far we have a few people coming on Thursday to look at the room, which is great! I bet we have someone in here by this time next week, but we will see! Also, while discussing this matter, Lucia used the phrase "por si las moscas," which means "just in case," however it is literally "For if the flies." I asked her what the heck that even means and she just shrugged her shoulders, looked up as if flies were flying around her, and repeated "por si las moscas." I thought it was funny because all I could say was, "What the heck are the flies going to do? Attack?!" Haha, you probably had to be there, but Lucia thought it was pretty funny and I googled it and Google told me it could come from the tapas. Remember tapas are called tapas because you use the food plate to cover your drink, ergo you cover it "just in case" the flies want to take a swim in your drink. However, I will now always remember that phrase and think of flies attacking! "Por si las moscas" is now right up there with "paso de cebra" and "pillow consulting." :)

Have a good night. Hasta mañana.

Un día flojo

I did absolutely nothing today! I know that I usually say that, but this time I mean it. I didn't even shower. I know that's gross, but whatever. Go ahead, Taylor, make fun of me. Anyway, when I woke up this morning, I made breakfast and kind of helped my roommate's mother and boyfriend move her things out, because she will be moving to England soon. Then, I watched four movies all day long: We're the Millers, Safe Haven, Midnight in Paris, and Like Crazy. They were all good movies. My favorites were probably We're the Millers and Midnight in Paris. I really enjoyed watching Midnight in Paris because I just saw works of art by Picasso, Dalí, and Man Ray at the museum the other day and all of these figures make appearances in the movie. It was pretty cool. Other than that, I did my Monday chores, finally picked up my cross-stitch for the first time since being here, and ate. Also, tonight Lucia and I put up an announcement online to look for another roommate and we watched her friend win his first battle on La Voz (The Voice). I really can't even think of anything else to tell you. I'm sorry today was so lame and lazy. It doesn't give you much to read and I'm sorry for that, but I'm not sorry about my day. It was relaxing, so I guess that's good. It's back to work tomorrow though. Hope you all had great Mondays! Hasta mañana.

Las aventuras de Stanley el Plano

What was my day devoted to? My day was devoted to going around Madrid and showing Flat Stanley all the cool places to hang out! My cousin sent me Flat Stanley all the way from Charlotte, North Carolina, and I think I had more fun with him then she will have after receiving him again. I explained Flat Stanley to my roommate and she wanted to join me on my journey. We had a lot of fun with it and we both can't wait to hear how well it goes over in the class. I have an awesome roommate who wanted to join me. I finished creating/coloring Stanley this morning and then we left a little after noon to go on our adventure! We started at Puerta del Sol (the center of Madrid), walked over to the Royal Palace, then up Gran Vía (the most famous street in Madrid) to Retiro Park, then bused it to the Real Madrid football stadium. It was a really fun day and we were exhausted by the end of it, even though it was only 3ish hours. See the pictures below of everything that Flat Stanley got to see today!

Before taking the metro

On the metro

At the symbol of Madrid statue at Sol

At Kilometer marker zero in Sol

Plaza Mayor

Cathedral

Royal Palace

Lucia and I at the Royal Palace with Flat Stanley

Flat Stanley meeting his new friend
and dance partner, María

Stanley and the Spanish Flag

At Plaza España in front of the Cervantes statue

At the start of Gran Vía

Plaza Cibeles

Town hall

Puerta de Alcalá

At Retiro Park, Madrid's biggest park

Feeding the fish in the pond

At the Real Madrid soccer stadium

In front of the famous skyscrapers of Madrid

On the bus ride home

So there you have it. Lucia, Stanley, and I had a lot of fun today! When we got home, we ate lunch which was at 4ish p.m. Whoops. I also got the chance to talk to both of my grandmas, my grandpa, my mom, and my dad! It was a great day to talk to family and I also worked on uploading Stanley pictures and creating another little project. Stanley's new found friend from today, María, got flattened! She shall now be called, María la Plana...

After an eventful day out, I relaxed at home, watched the movie, The Change-Up, which was pretty good. Good music. :) I also legitimately made a dinner tonight. It still involved noodles, but there was what seemed to be ground beef in it. I say "seemed" because the ground beef, well at least the kind that I bought, is quite different from the ground beef in the U.S. Luckily, it still tasted good, but again, I didn't eat until after 10 p.m. Luckily, it's almost 1 a.m. now, so I don't feel so bad for eating late, because it's not like I ate and went straight to bed. I feel like I have more to tell you, but nothing seems as important as my day with Stanley and María. On a side note though, I found out today that a crosswalk can be called a paso de cebra (zebra pass) in Spanish. It is now my favorite phrase/word in Spanish or it comes in a close second to consultarlo con la almohada (to consult your pillow) meaning "to sleep on it." These are two things that I will now try and use the literal translation in English because it's so fun. Crosswalks are now zebra passes...get it..awesome.

Anyway, it's bedtime. I will talk to you tomorrow. Have a good Monday! Buenas noches.