Las Plantas

Plants are living things.
They have roots, leaves, and a stem.
Plants need water, air, soil, and sunlight.
Some pants have flowers.
Flowers give fruits.
Inside the fruit there are seeds.
The stem can be tall or short, thick or thin.

Dios mio, if I have to talk about plants anymore I'm going to grow branches and squirrels are going to nest in my hair. Luckily, the students are adorably enthusiastic about plants and plants are relatively easy to make activities for. Here are some pictures of our plant activities- a big tree with sentences describing it attached in corresponding areas, and LOOKING FOR THE LIGHT, an experiment with lima beans and lentils contained in a dark box.

Tutoring

"Tutorials," "clases particolares," one-on-one time... Tutoring has taken over my life. I started off with no classes and no prospects. The teachers didn't want any, parents and students alike were wary of me... any work was looking pretty slim. Rest assured my lack of Spanish did not help alleviate the situation. Then, the Parent's Association invited me to a meeting one fateful day in January. A few parents trickled in, sat down, stared at me, and waited. Well, I was unprepared to give a speech in SPANISH or any speech at all, considering they invited me, but I winged it (as usual.) More and more people showed up, until the room held about 18 adults. I thought, okay, if half of these people are interested, that's about 10 kids. That's good enough for me. Soon after I realized that 10 was a minimum. The number increased to 20...24... by the next week it was 30, and today as I write this, I have a ripe 40 students (mind you, this is literally half of my school.) I have 3 classes Monday, 1 class Tuesday, 3 classes Wednesday, and 1 class Thursday. I went from having no money, to being able to go to the bar and (attempt to) buy my friends drinks. Feelin' like a winner.

But this gain is not without hard work and patience. And for those of you who know me, the patience thing does not come easy. I have come home with a hoarse voice and sore throat, covered in germs and chalk. I have done homework at the bar and have stood outside the cold just for a taste of wifi to talk to Sean. I have taken advantage of all free time (recess, breaks between class, the 2 hour lunch break) to plan classes, listen to children's songs, practice lessons, search for games, estimate comprehension levels and time duration. My brain works in rhyming verses and "The Tidy Up Song" keeps me awake at night. Florida is no longer "floor-da," it is "flow-ree-da" and "amerka" is now "a-mer-ee-ka." My English is deteriorating and my Spanish is improving(ish.) It's nice being a resident expert with little training-- by birthright I am a native expert. But the rest (teaching children, interacting with people of a different language, getting around, buying items, etc.) I am learning as I go.

What I have learned the most

• Learning a second language is HARD. Your students are trying to do it, and so are you. The mutual lack of understanding leads to a mutual, non-lingual, understanding.
• You get farther with a smile and a laugh than anything else.
• Yelling at children only makes you tired and anxious.
• Explanations work better with hand gestures and slow pronunciations.
• Always hug your students back, and even if they are sick and coughing all over your face, you let them kiss your cheek and hold your hand.
• Appreciate and swoon over every picture your students draw/paint/sketch/color/design for you. They worked hard on it, with you in mind (and if you're lucky, they will put your name in a heart on the back.)
• New words are best taught accompanying an image and possibly the direct translation.
• Don't allow yourself to get too stressed out. Live in the moment, enjoy the little things, and don't worry too much about anything.
• Learning the native language is a blessing and a curse; beware the moment your students realize you understand them in Spanish, and, by God, do NOT let them hear you speak it.
• Every place, situation, classroom, school, and student is completely different from the next. Don't compare, just enjoy.

León

Brittany and I were able to get a free ride with a lovely family that she works with in San Leonardo to the beautiful city of León. Here is our trip in pictures.

The Cathedral in León

Beautiful stained glass

San Marcos. First a prison, then a hospital, now a 5 star hotel


The courtyard at San Marcos


Hand-made stone walkways in the courtyard

MUSAC - Museo de Arta Contemporáneo de Castilla y León. The colored windows are the modern interpretation on the cathedral's gorgeous stained glass.

Burgos

After getting attitude from everyone about choosing Burgos for Carnaval weekend, Nataya and I couldn't be happier with our decision. It is a beautiful city, we stayed in a perfectly located luxurious hotel, and saw and experienced so many amazing things...


Our hotel, Via Gotica, was located directly across the street from the Catedral de Burgos...


... which just happened to be the most spectacular and beautiful cathedral I have ever seen (inside and outside) -and believe me, I have seen quite a few ...


First stop was the Human Evolution Museum. It was 4 stories of nothing but hominids, Darwin, evolutionary theory... basically it was heaven. If it was a man, I'd marry him.


We saw the statue of El Cid.. still not totally sure who he is but he's a big deal apparently.


Carnaval is a big deal in Spain. The closest thing we have in the states is Mardi Gras. And if you think Mardi Gras is weird, or a bit crazy, then you have yet to see the way the Spaniards get down for Carnaval weekend. Flocks of people dress up together in themed costumes. Among the chaos we spotted some Greeks, Romans, pirates, fried eggs, Lego men, Indians, Einsteins, the Jackson 5 (complete with a white-faced MJ), fairies, drag queens, cheerleaders, clowns, soccer players, etc. Parades, parties, food, drink, singing, dancing, bands, debauchery... you name it, and they're doing it. They don't just do it, they've mastered it.


We trekked the whole way up to the Castillo only to find that it was closed. However, a fantastic viewpoint is located directly next to it, and we got to experience the most beautiful view of the city.

Albondigas

Attempt #2 at a Spanish meal was exponentially more successful than Attempt #1 (Tortillas.) Albondigas, also called Russian Steaks, are basically the Spanish version of a meatball. Ana and I bought carne picada from the butcher (a mixture of ground pork and ground beef.) We added eggs, garlic, milk and bread to the mixture and let it sit for 30 minutes. Then we rolled them into medium-sized balls (albondigas) or flattened the larger balls (Russian steaks.) We then covered the meat in flour and fried them in a saucepan. Super easy and they are delicious. It's basically a more amazing meatball (sorry Mom...)

I can cook, I swear

El Día de San Valentín

February 14th snuck up on me this year. January flew by and now we're already halfway through this month.. Well anyway, in Spain Valentine's Day isn't a very big deal. BUT, since I'm here and very far away from all my American Valentines, especially my better half Sean, I decided that it would be a good idea to make something fun out of it. So, we made Valentine's Day cards. We printed a picture and folded the paper in half and voilà. Sandra and I wrote, "I'm thankful for your friendship because..." on the inside cover, and on the opposite side the children wrote 3 or 4 things about their friend that made them special.





That seems simple enough, right? WRONG. Remember, it was in English.. They turned out pretty spectacular in my opinion, although often you can see two words combined into one, very complex misspellings, and an interesting mixture of capital and small letters... Nonetheless, I was VERY pleased as their teacher and they were all my very special Valentines.

Soria

I went with my boss to Soria (the capital city of the region with the same name) for a weekend getaway. I was with her, her boyfriend, her sister, and her friends.

We went to the Hermitage of San Saturio. This church is built into the side of a cave and is situated on the Duero River, which was frozen solid. The legend states that a boy, age 6, fell out of the highest window. San Saturio was able to save the mangled child.. and something about his cape? Either way, you can see this window that the legend takes place in, and the living quarters and skull of San Saturio.


We also went to the Parque del Castilla, a huge beautiful national park. A beautiful view, but the wind made it nearly unbearable to walk around. There's one celebration in Soria that involves bulls (naturally.) They are released from their pen and run the length of the park all the way to the city center.


In the same park there is a waterfall (cascada.) The weather is so cold that the waterfall was frozen solid.


The rest of the time we spent drinking and eating (of course.) Dinner doesn't start until 10:30, and isn't finished until 2 hours later. This includes 3-4 bottles of Rioja and two bottles worth of dessert chupitos (shots.) The discos are open until probably 7 am, so we had no trouble finding a few places to drink and dance long into the night (5 am.) It was a cold walk home but a warm night overall.

You know you went HAM when even the Spaniards the next morning say, "Whew, wild night last night, jaja."

Snow

Epiphany

Picturesque

There are so many beautiful moments in Spain that are each worthy of their own individual posts, but since I believe that a picture is worth a thousand words, I will let the pictures speak for themselves.