Tuesday, December 21, 2010—Today

Happy Birthday, Aunt Marva, (Tuesday, I know!) I hope it was a good one!

Christmas break has arrived! Our last day was yesterday!

Tuesday we had the staff lunch at Casa Francisco— and I can now stay that I’ve experienced a four hour lunch! We started eating at 2:30, with a beer and small finger foods at the bar. Then we sat down at the table. I wasn’t sure what all we were going to eat and I figured we were only having appetizers since they brought like five of them—we started with salad and bread, then cheese and meats, followed by shrimp, octopus and I think lobster. We also had water and wine to drink. It was so much food by itself! I thought that was all and someone said “that was just the first course…we still have the main course and dessert.” Wow!

I ordered pork for second course (very tasty!) and was told that I left “too much of it on my plate”. For dessert, we were able to sample three things—pineapple, butter cake and like an apple turnover type of thing. They were delish, of course. As we were finishing, we were also brought some coffee ice cream to share with the people around us. That was followed by coffee, chupitos and a little heart shaped chocolate covered dallop of vanilla ice cream. That’s all, thank goodness! We stayed for a little while longer and the idea of going to the bar was broached. I don’t understand how people weren’t bursting at the seams at this point, but it was decided we’d go to La Komba.

Well…if you did the math, you know that we got out of there at 6:30. At the bar I shared a rum and coke with María Jose because neither of us wanted a whole drink. I stayed and socialized for a while; Arturo and his school, El Coso, showed up also, having had their lunch earlier too. I left right about eight o’clock, came home and went to bed shortly thereafter.

Yesterday I helped with the infantil festival (kiddos 3-5 years old!). Aurora had talked with me about saying a few things in English—basically translating what she said—or that’s what I understood. I get there and she was like “since we’re a bilingual school, I was thinking that I could speak in English and you in Spanish. Not gonna lie, my heart skipped a beat when she said that. Really…me speak Spanish in front of a whole auditorium of parents?! It wasn’t bad at all though; I said “Welcome to our infantil festival, we hope you enjoy it. ¡Feliz Navidad!” I then stayed backstage and helped with the curtain. Oh, and Los Reyes Magos made a surprise appearance and the kids sat there all wide eyed and star-struck; it was pretty cute!

The sixth years made me Christmas cards, so I went with Pilar to 6A after the festival to get those. Some kids put a lot of time into theirs—they’re really cool! Lourdes (the 3A teacher) invited me to their class party after lunch, so I hung out there in the afternoon. Cookies, chips and Fanta = 21 sugared-up kids!

We all met in the Teacher’s Lounge afterschool for cookies and to say goodbye to everyone! And when I say “goodbye to everyone” I mean that we went around and kissed each person individually! So not what I’m used to! I went over to Arturo’s later in the afternoon because we’ve decided to go to Madrid next Wednesday and we needed to either buy or reserve the tickets. We ended up reserving them. We went out to dinner with Jesús, Javi, Arturo and Teodora because both Arturo and Teo left today for Christmas; Teo to Valencia to see her mom and Arturo to Milan to visit a friend. And of course we went to the bar afterward!

In honor of the first day of Christmas break, I slept in until one o’ clock (it was after 4:30 when I finally went to bed). Arturo and I had decided that I’d go pick up the tickets at the train station because he left for Italy this morning. I knew that it had been raining previously, but I didn’t realize how poopy of a day it actually was until I started walking. I talked with Gunita before I left and we made plans to go Christmas Eve dinner shopping when I was done at the train station (since Mercadona is on the way back from the station, I’d just meet them there). Anyway, I left about 2:30 and it was only lightly raining…no prob, I though, since I had my umbrella. Not so, I tell you, not so. The longer I walked (it’s a half hour walk from our house) the worse it got…and it was cold (at one point, I could see my breath!) and windy too. :/ It wasn’t that bad until the wind picked up and started blowing the rain sideways. Once I was drenched I wasn’t happy and the wind kept blowing my umbrella around and inside out too..grrr!

I got to the station, bought the tickets and called Gunita to tell her I was leaving, so I’d be at the store soon. I was a long walk to the store! (By this time I was soaking wet and freezing!) At the store we bought a pork roast, potatoes, vegetables, tortilla de patatas and the stuff for Will to make pumpkin pie! The walk home wasn’t fun, but I was already so cold and wet that I thought “what’s the difference?”

As soon as we walked in the door and I went to change my clothes…that was followed by some hot chocolate, which was followed by a nice hot shower! I’ve just been hanging out since we got home at five. I invited Ansel, my friend who teaches in Alcázar de San Juan, to stay with us for the weekend, so he’ll be here tomorrow! I think the plan is to have dinner around nine or ten, then go to Javi’s cottage/house for some pre-bar celebration and then out to the bar (yeah, they’re open on Christmas Eve, I was like “say what?”) around three or four! Jesús was like “get ready, because no one ever goes home before eight or nine on Christmas morning. This is definitely going to be a different Christmas experience for me…I’m psyched!

                Our little Christmas tree, compliments of the chino store!

Xoxo,

Court

Yesterday, I stayed in all today and did nothing worthy of note, so we’ll just skip it!

Today, I continued to talk more about Christmas with all the classes. In 6C we went over the flashcards/vocab, then sang the “Twelve Days of Christmas” and we finished class with me reading “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”. I was supposed to have 2B after that, but I waited and waited in the audiovisual room and they never came. Later I talked with Fran and he said the class was working on a Nativity scene and time got away from him. Oh well, it happens to the best of us!

Next came the dreaded 3B class. I think they were actually worse today…if that’s possible! I brought a snowman coloring sheet (see my example below…I love elementary!) and the Rudolph story in an attempt to do something fun, because we never get to in that class, but all they were able to do was the coloring sheet…it took the whole class. The two worst boys kept throwing things and each other (including a marker that came fairly close to hitting me in the head!) and chasing after and kicking each other. At one point even one of the boys took the other and slammed him up against the window. He hit his head and was laying on the floor crying, which them both a trip to the principal’s office—and then they were back like five minutes later. Yeah…it’s not the warmest and fuzziest environment.

We practiced our Christmas carol during recreo (for the last time…the festival was this evening!). We went over it several times and practiced really well! I had a free hour after that in which I colored an example snowman for the next class. Last hour was 3A. I enjoy them so much more than 3B. I put my example on the chalkboard for them to look at to have an idea…and several of them copied it. I was like “ok, that’s not why I did it, but whatever.”

We went to Stone for lunch and then went back to school for the festival, which started at 4:30. They did it by grades—youngest to oldest, each level sang two songs, I believe. All of the classes waited in their classrooms until it was their turn to go on. I wanted to watch the whole thing, but there were people EVERYWHERE! There wasn’t even any extra standing room…but I guess that’s good, right? The teacher’s were the last to sing and that’s all I was in the auditorium for. I think we did really well! Although, I watched a playback of our song right after and you could barely hear us...oh well, we tried!

I got home right about 6:30. I’m still full from lunch (as per usual on Mondays!) so I don’t think I’m going to eat a whole lot for dinner…maybe a yogurt or something light?

Two more school days in the year…WOOT!

                                   This is one warm and happy Frosty!!!!! 

Xoxo,

Court

I feel like I get lazier as it gets colder; my desire to do things and get out has steadily gone downhill as winter continues to set in. I’ve also been sleeping quite a bit lately…I guess I’m like a bear. Normally, I love going to the Friday market, but yesterday I didn’t because I woke up at noon and it was cold and I didn’t want to get out. I totally should have gone to look for presents, though…my bad. Later on, I did go to the store. I came home and cut up some peppers, onions and potatoes and made some hash. I also mixed up the dough for the Chocolate Star cookies and let it chill in the fridge overnight. We went out last night too.

I went to the store again today and bought another six pack of milk because I didn’t have enough hands to carry it home yesterday. I still have about a liter and a half left, but if there’s one thing I hate running out of, it’s milk! I baked the cookies this afternoon…unfortunately they didn’t turn out too well :(. They’re either too done or not done enough, the chocolate didn’t melt at all and the flour stuck to the cookies. Oh, well…at least I tried…guess I’ve have to limit making those to US soil. I’m not sure what tonight will bring…it’s cold and rainy, so part of me just wants to stay here and snuggle up in bed!

Xoxo,

Court

Happy weekend! It’s been a good week! Talking about Christmas makes me so cheery! Today in 2A we went over the flashcards and did a color, cut out and glue snowman worksheet. The kids really liked it…one even said that I’m the best teacher ever! Oh, yeah!!! Fran wanted to look up “Jingle Bells” on the internet, so the kids could sing along with it or watch a short video on YouTube; but as per usual, it wasn’t working. He really wanted the kids to see something, so he went and talked with Alberto and I don’t know what he did, but it works perfectly now! Thank goodness! So we watched a few clips, including “Jingle Bells” and “Feliz Navidad”.

In 6B we went over the vocab first, then learned the “Twelve Days of Christmas”, which we sang a few times, and we ended class with me reading them The Little Golden Book “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”. It was a lot longer than I originally thought…or maybe we were just short on time. I only had about ten minutes with five years B. They were rehearsing for the festival (on Monday!) when I got there. I waited about 15 minutes for them to finish up and by the time everyone got back in the room (they were in the auditorium) and settled down, I only had ten minutes to read a short little story to them.

We continued to rehearse our song during recreo and I shared the Baker’s Chocolates with everyone. Everyone said they there very good! The last two hours I was with the two four-year-old classes. Sandra had to fill out their grade sheets, so she pretty much left me to it. I told them the same story as the five-year-olds. It took a little longer though because I read it in English, then Spanish and every 3.75 seconds one of the kids would pipe up and say something…which much of the time I didn’t get, so I would just be like “Oh really?” or “Sí?” or something like that. I had found a really simple wreath coloring sheet, so we did that after the story and that was pretty much all we had time for.

When I left school, I went to Mercadona to get the ingredients for the awesome Chocolate Star Cookies I’ll be making this weekend! I’m happy that I found everything (minus the vanilla…but that won’t ruin the recipe if I leave that out) even powdered sugar and baking soda! I also bought what I guess is the Spanish version of the Hot Pocket because cooking something would have just taken too long and I was hungry when I got home! There’s English Club tonight at eight; we’ll be talking about Christmas! Will said he thought it was going to be tomorrow too, so I’m not sure what we’ll be talking about then. Oh, that reminds me…I need to check back with Arturo to see if he’s coming!

Xoxo,

Court

So the weather’s been fairly nice the last couple of days, but it was a lot colder today; the cold rushed me as soon as I walked outside...boo. Good thing it’s less than a ten minute walk to school! We had churros con chocolate today; that was a nice surprise! Apparently, every year before Christmas, the parents association pays for a churro truck to come in and make them for everyone. I did bring the candy, but I decided to save it for tomorrow.

I was free first hour because Alberto still hadn’t changed my schedule (because María José and Pilar switched their classes a couple of weeks ago…meaning I no longer have class with 5B first hour). Today, Alberto told me that he couldn’t find another time that worked for 5B…so basically he said I get ask them to switch their schedules back—sweet.

Second hour was 4B. We started off learning “Away in a Manger”. Again, I sang it because the internet doesn’t work too well. I then talked about a typical American Christmas. That was followed by discussing of the flash cards of Christmas vocab and then we play a “game”. And by “game” I mean I said a vocab word and Rocío had the kids get up and point to the picture on the wall. Woo-hoo!

I was waiting for 1A to come in, when Esperanza said that they were finishing up an activity in another class so it would be a few minutes. So we went and got a churro! It was good, but really filling and greasy; fair food, you know? Pilar was like “you should have gotten three or four” and I was like “no, no, one’s good” we finished our churros and the kiddos were ready. We sang “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and I told them the short story with story cards.

We all congregated in the Teacher’s Lounge during recreo and I had another churro! They are so good, even if they’re greasy! The last two hours were the other fourth years and we did the same as in 4B. I’ve been home for about 45 minutes and I’m feeling a nap coming on already. That and some tea too…it’s cold! Tomorrow is the last Thursday! Four school days until break!

Xoxo,

Court

I now have my package! I picked it up this morning. I got to the post office at 8:20 and of course the doors weren’t open yet, so I walked around the plaza for a few minutes. I stopped in front of this one store, just kind of looking through the window, trying to make the time pass and this guy came up behind me and was like “They’re not open so early in the morning; they open at ten.” Yes, thank you, I know, I’m just trying to waste a few minutes. He was nice…just trying to help. I went back a few minutes later and they were open. It took me about five minutes; I showed her my passport and then got my package! I brought it home, grabbed some recycling and off I was to school (the recycling bin is on the way).

I lost track of time and accidently spent the entire hour in Julia’s three-year-old class. She started off the day with the usual picking-of-the-new-helper and roll (is that how you spell it in this context?) call. That takes a little while when you’re working with three-year-olds, I’ve learned. I then told them a short Christmas story with six story cards and then Julia and I translated it into Spanish so they could actually understand it. Julia told me it was late, but I didn’t know how late it actually was until I got to Ángela’s class. She was like “oh, the hour’s over…I didn’t think you were coming, we have work time now”. Oops.

In 5A, I read them the little excerpt about Christmas from their textbooks and then talked about Christmas in the United States. They then corrected one of their workbook pages. For 1B, we were in the audiovisual room. We didn’t have a whole lot of time in there because we didn’t leave the classroom right away. Plus, neither Esperanza nor I knew how to connect the computer to the SmartBoard (it’s harder than it sounds!), so we were only able to sing “Merry Christmas” for the kids without the words and then I told them the same story I told to the three-year-olds…I wasn’t really prepared—I thought we were going to talk about Christmas with that class next week.

We rehearsed more for the festival during recreo. In the five years A class, I told them another Christmas story, one that went along with their book and then they did a short worksheet with stickers. In 6A, we were in the audiovisual classroom again and we learned the “Twelve Days of Christmas”. The internet NEVER works in there…so the singing was compliments of yours truly! Pilar was like “So-and-so wants to know if you knew this song before you came to Spain?” Seeing as how Christmas is pretty big in the US and the carol is an American/English one, yes, I knew it. Some kids…they’re just funny!

When I got home I opened my package…thanks again, mom and dad! I wasn’t expecting to see the chocolate stars, so I’m totally making those rockin’ cookies this weekend! Everyone who tried it said they loved the Soda Cracker Toffee, so I hope they’ll love these too! I’m going to take the candy and kool-aid to school tomorrow for everyone to try…that’ll give ‘em a little taste of Nebraska!

Xoxo,

Court

Last full week of the year…WOOT! Today went by pretty quickly. In 6C we started talking about Christmas; I read them a section out of their books and then we started learning “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. Pilar found the Alvin and the Chipmunks version on youtube and the kids thought it was hilarious! In 2B, they continued learning about weather expressions. We did a page out of their books that showed six dogs dressed up in different colored rain coats, boots, gloves and holding different umbreallas; I described each of the pictures and they had to guess which number it was. I then asked individual questions to each student like “What color is the umbrella in number 4?”.

In 3B, by the time the yelling and chaos got down to a minimum, all they had time to do was color a Christmas picture. So…I pretty much sat there the whole time. During recreo, we continued practicing the carol we’re going to sing at the Christmas festival next Monday…it shouldn’t be too hard, but there are still a few lines I’m having trouble with! In 3A, they had a little more time to color the picture, but that was still all they were able to do.

Our group went to lunch at Stone and then went back to school. I needed to plan some activities so I went to. I think I have most everything figured out now…we have Christmas vocab to talk about (i.e. Santa, presents, nativity scene), the lower levels have pictures to color and the upper levels have carols to sing! Also, my schedule’s been shortened up a bit for next week…Rocío (at least I think it was her) took out the really little kids; it’s just too hard for them to understand some things, plus we only have three days next week!

I got home right around six and I had a note from the post office saying my package had arrived…without any problems! (Thanks mom and dad!) I’ll have to go pick it up tomorrow. They open at 8:30, so if I get there right when they open, I think I’ll still be able to make it to school on time!

Xoxo,

Court

Friday, December 10, 2010—Today

On Friday I woke up right as the train was leaving for Albacete, so I didn’t go…but Will and Gunita did. I did have a pretty productive day though—I went to school for a little while, went to the store, wrote out some postcards and made some lentils. It was actually more like a stew, really, with all the chorizo and potatoes in there! It was very yummy! None of us were in the mood to go out, so we all stayed in.

Not too much happened yesterday. I went to the Chinese store in search of some glue I needed for some Christmas cards I’m making. I also found some Christmas stickers for 60 cents, so I bought those too (how could I not, they were so cheap!) to decorate with! Jesús and Teresa came over last night and we ordered some Chinese. We left for La Komba about one o’clock and stayed there for a while. We went to Rivera 13 after that and it was so crowded, I was having like zero fun. It was literally wall to wall people and every time someone moved they bumped into you. It’s not even fun when you’re standing right next to someone, shouting in their ear and they can’t hear what you’re saying. I told Jesús that I wasn’t having any fun and left about four and came home.

Today has been another chillaxed day. I got up about one and threw some laundry in and that’s about it. I’ve only been up a couple of hours and I’m already thinking about taking a nap, kinda sad, I know! But the weekends are meant for catching up on sleep, right? Tomorrow starts my last fun week before Christmas; I’m pumped! It should be fun…we’ll be learning some Christmas carols and doing other Christmas activities!

Xoxo,

Court

And we’re back to the weekend again!  Today pretty much flew by since I knew it was the one and only work day of the week! In 2A we reviewed weather expressions and then learned some new words that go along with weather (i.e. umbrella, gloves, coat, etc). We then listened to a track on the CD and the kids had to tell me the proper order of the pictures based on what was said. Yeah…I got to Vanna White the activity! In 6B we listened to the story about the prince, princess, eagle and the crown again and then I asked them comprehension questions. In five years B we played a memory game with the five senses vocab. In the four-year-old classes, we learned about Christmas present vocab (i.e. ball, dolly, car, Santa, etc) and then did a coloring sheet where they had to color the unwrapped present the same color as the wrapped one then draw a line connecting the two.

I took the toffee to school and shared it with everyone during recreo/choir practice. Everyone that tried it said that it was really good and they were like “You made this?” And I was like “Heck yeah, man!” I said that it was “my mom’s recipe” haha!

So we’re having a Christmas festival at school on December 20 and apparently every year all the teachers sing a song for the students and parents. I can’t recall the name at the moment, but people kept telling me that it was a “Gypsy Christmas Carol”. The song is pretty fast paced, but I don’t think I did too bad for my first rehearsal! At least we don’t have to memorize it…we’ll be holding hymnal books, or whatever they’re called. That I can handle…and worst case I’ll lip sync!

I went to DÍA after school and picked up a six pack of milk…that oughta last me a few days! Will’s going shopping in Albacete tomorrow and asked if Gunita and I wanted to come. I probably shouldn’t go…but I don’t know if I’ll be strong enough to resist the temptation!

Xoxo,

Court

What a wet Wednesday! It has been raining the entire day—AGAIN! I haven’t left the house today. However, Arturo and I did make some Soda Cracker Toffee (thanks for the recipe, mom!). Instead of pecans I used walnuts, because I couldn’t find any, but other than that, it’s really good…just like I remember! I’m going to take it to school tomorrow, or what’s left of it, (of course we all just had to taste it!) so the Spaniards at school can get a little taste of holiday baking—American style! I think we’re going to dinner in a nearby town—Ilu’s town—to visit her and Oscar. Other than that, that’s pretty much it for today. Tomorrow is the only day of work for the week…I think I can handle that!

                  Soda Cracker Toffee—after some damage had been done! 

Xoxo,

Court

Friday, December 3-Today
Since it’s a long weekend—aka Puente—Will, Arturo and I had discussed going to Madrid for a few days. Arturo and I even walked to the train station on Friday and bought tickets for one of the Saturday trains. We wanted tickets for the noon train (there was also 8:15AM and 6:30PM), but it was full (maybe that should have been a sign…) so we opted for the earlier, 8:15 one. We got back home and I started looking for hostels online (which in retrospect, we should have done that first, obviously). EVERY hostel I looked into as completely booked! Will started looking with me and he couldn’t find anything either! Even the hostels that cater to “primarily gay clientele” were booked, go figure! At that point, we pretty much called defeat. Will looked up the train ticket refund policy and it said that if we got there at least five minutes before our train was to leave we could get a full refund! So Arturo, bless his heart, went back at 7:45 on Saturday morning and got our money refunded.

Saturday Gunita and some others were supposed to go to Lisbon, but there was a massive airport strike in Madrid from Friday to early Sunday (I think!) and the whole country was basically shut down, flightwise, that is. Thousands of people were stranded and stuck sleeping in terminals. The government threatened prison if they didn’t return to the skies! All because of working hours and benefits…they spoiled so many people’s plans. Spanish air traffic controllers earn the most throughout all of Europe, by the way. So with the strike, we probably could have gone and found a hostel with space available, but oh well…it wasn’t meant to be this time.

Saturday night Gunita, Conchi, Jesús and I went to Stone for dinner and then to Tomelloso for fiesta. We picked up Jesٖús’ girlfriend, Rosalía, long the way, so that made us five. We didn’t even get there until about 1:30 and I was already tired. I didn’t have too much fun that night…between the noise, smoke and being tired. I was more than ready to go when we left, I think about 5:15. I’m not exactly sure; all I know is that it was nearly six when I crawled into bed Sunday morning.

I got up at three o’clock on Sunday afternoon and Gunita asked if we wanted to go to Albacete for fiesta and the night. And of course we all went…the three of us, plus Jesús and Arturo. Luckily, Jesús drove, so we didn’t have to take the train! We left I think a little after eight and by the time we parked and walked to the hotel, it was about a quarter to ten. A little while later we went and had dinner at this little tiny café. We only went to two bars the entire night, but they were pretty nice. When I say “nice” I mean is wasn’t wall to wall people (so we actually had bar space!) and the smoke wasn’t that bad either!

              Here we are at one of the bars…Arturo, Gunita, I and Jesús!

We got back to the rooms around five I think and hung out in the boys’ room for a while—actually Gunita, Arturo and I talked while Will and Jesús slept. We went back to our room at six. For some reason I woke up at 8:30 and was ready to get up, but I made myself stay in bed until 9:45—my alarm was set to go off at ten. We left the hotel at noon and went to a nearby café for a small breakfast. We walked around the city a little more; walked to the cathedral, but none of us really wanted to go inside. We got in the car and were just kind of driving around and we ended up at this Chinese store and took a look around. We bought a little tiny tree, some ornaments and garland. I also bought some coasters with different Madrid scenes depicted on them.

We then drove to Imaginalia, a big shopping center there in Albacete. We lunched at Cocina Wok, a Chinese buffet. It was so good! We walked around for a bit after that and found is arcade! Will and Gunita played the dance stomping game (or whatever it’s called), Jesús tested his strength with the hammer thing and Arturo and I played some air hockey! It was fun…I haven’t been to an arcade in like ten years! Gunita said she felt like some ice cream and there just happened to be a McDonald’s right across the street from where we parked, so we all got McFlurries. Those were also really good…it’s been forever since I had one!

We got back home at 5:45 and Gunita and I took naps. Arturo and Jesús came over again to watch a movie, Perfume, at nine. What a strange movie…we started to watch another movie, Scoop, but no one was really watching; Jesús and Arturo left a short while later. The three of us hang out of a while before going our separate ways for the night. I went to bed at 2:45.

It’s three o’clock now and has been raining the entire day. I don’t have to go anywhere (thank goodness!) but there’s something peaceful about listening to the rainfall. I’m still in my pajamas and debating whether or not to get dressed at all today…right now I leaning towards having a pajamas day…

Xoxo,

Court

And the six day weekend has arrived! SWEET! School today seemed to fly by. Getting out two hours early probably helped that a bit, but none of the three classes today dragged on. The classes weren’t shortened at all; rather the afternoon classes were just eliminated.

2B was first. They’ve started learning about weather. Francisco disordered (is that a word?) the story cards, we listened to a story on CD, and then the kids had to tell us the right order of the cards. Later, he reposted the pictures in the right order on the board and called up two students at a time. I would say “it is windy/sunny/cloudy…” and they had to race to touch the right picture. They’re so enthusiastic about “games” like this at that age…too bad that’ll change in a few years!

6B was next and we went to the video room to finish the Thanksgiving food pictures. They were pretty talkative, so that took a little longer than expected. After we finished that there was still about 15 minutes left, which Pilar had anticipated, so she had them bring their English books as well. They really didn’t need them though, because we watched a short video about a prince who was kidnapped by this eagle because he wanted his gold crown. The princess went to rescue him and in exchange for the prince and his crown, she gave the eagle her crown, pearl earrings and her diamond ring. Unfortunately, with all of her jewelry gone, the prince didn’t like her anymore because she didn’t “look” like a princess and so they didn’t live happily ever after :(.

I tried reading the same story to the other five-year-old class, but it didn’t take well; they were so rowdy and talkative! Esperanza thinks it’s because they have “breakfast” hour right before then and they were all sugared up and energetic. Most of them really weren’t listening and so instead of finishing the story, the regular classroom teacher came back and had them get ready to go a few minutes early. It was kinda funny because Esperanza turned to me and was like “She doesn’t care that they were misbehaving”.

I left school and went to the bank to deposit my check (I got paid!) and since we got out early, they were open. The weather can’t decide what it wants to do. When I walked to school it was cloudy and chilly, but not raining. Walking in between classes it was sunny and not too chilly. Leaving school it was cloudy and misting. Two minutes later it stopped, a minute later, it started again and it went back and forth like that a few times on my way home. Luckily, I had my umbrella. Gunita just looked out the window and said it’s snowing! Will came in a minute later and said it’s hailing! What the heck! I need to go to the store, so I hope I can catch it when it breaks. Oh wait, Gunita just looked out the window again and said it sunny…

Xoxo,

Court

Hello, December! Today it’s still not as cold as Monday, but it’s not as nice as yesterday…it’s been raining on and off all day and together, with the cold, it’s not fun :(. It wasn’t raining though on my walk to school, so that’s one good thing!

My first class was 5B, but when I got there, María José told me that she and Pilar, the 5A teacher, had switched hours for Spanish and English (for whatever reason). With there being nothing I could do, I went and had a café in the Teacher’s Lounge. Second hour, I had 4B with Rocío and we went to the video room to talk about Nebraska food and finish talking about Thanksgiving, which she had started last week, while I was in Ciudad Real. We had about ten minutes left after those presentations, so we started on a Christmas carol. We’re singing “Away in a Manager” in 4^th because Rocío had never heard of it before.

Next hour was 1A and we started talking about members of the family (grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, brother, sister), just like with 1B. Once the vocab was introduced, I said the words and had them point to the pictures. Later I had them repeat the words with me. Esperanza left the room for a few minutes and they tried to act up, so I yelled at them in Spanish. They were so surprised, and were like “Whoa, you speak Spanish!” Heck yeah, I do…don’t mess with me!

The last two hours were 4A and C. We did the same as in B, except we didn’t have time to start the carol because the afternoon classes are ten minutes shorter than the morning ones. Pilar offered to give me a ride home, because it was raining when school ended, so of course I took her up on that! On the way home, she told me that tomorrow is noon dismissal because all the teachers have to go to the high school to vote for representatives. It sounds kind of like a school board. Awesome! Looks like my six day weekend will start two hours earlier!

Xoxo,

Court

Today it’s not nearly as cold as yesterday; it was partly cloudy and sunny! Pilar did give a ride to school today, but it really wasn’t necessary…I could have walked; I was expecting it to be a lot worse. I even wore my big Columbia winter coat!

I started off the day with the three-year-olds. In both of the classes we reviewed numbers, letters, shapes and the days of the week. In 5A, using their fruit vocab (strawberry, apple, banana), we learned step-by-step how to make a smoothie. For example: 1. Cut up the strawberries 2. Peel the apples 3. Put the fruit into the blender…then they had to draw and color each of the steps, so that took the rest of the class.

 We played a game to practice vocab in 1B in which one person held a stuffed monkey and then they would throw the monkey to another student and say “Touch something yellow/blue/red…” or “Touch the board/door/pencil case…”. Such little things delight them…like touching the stuffed monkey! I read a story to the five-year-olds and finished talking about Thanksgiving with 6A. I’ll have to talk about it one more time with Rocío’s classes (since I haven’t seen her classes in like three weeks!) tomorrow and then I can say goodbye to Thanksgiving talk!

I know I said this about Halloween and Thanksgiving, but I can’t believe it’s the last day of November! I think December is going to go so fast. This Friday-next Wednesday we’re on break. Monday is Constitution Day and Wednesday is the Immaculate Conception, so they throw in Tuesday as well! So…only one day of work (Thursday) next week! In the words of the Kool-Aid man…”OH YEAH!”

Xoxo,

Court

GOODNIGHT STICK, it’s cold today!!!!! Cold as in snow cold! I didn’t think it was going to be that bad when I went to school, because it usually warms up a bit as the day goes on. NOT TODAY! As soon as I got to school, I started hearing talk of snow at some point today. I secretly doubted it because I didn’t think it was going to be that cold. But, as the day wore on, it started raining and got colder. Tiny snowflakes started falling around three o’clock, I think. While it was cold, it wasn’t cold enough, so they melted as soon as they hit the ground, thank goodness!

Today in 6C and 2B, we finished talking about Thanksgiving and doing activities that we didn’t get done last week. After 2B, I went to the infamous 3B and listened to the kids shout at each other and Lourdes shout at the kids. Right as I walked in, I noted an airborne notebook thrown by a kid at the front of the room at a kid at the back of the room. Apparently, the kid at the back of the room made the kid at the front of the room mad…sweet start to the class, eh? We had recreo, then I had a free period. Also, as per my Monday afternoon schedule change, instead of going to 5A, I went to 3A for the last class. I was rather dreading the class (keeping in mind the other third grade) but it wasn’t bad. These kids are quiet and the listen! They were actually able to do an activity!

A group of about 12 teachers went to Stone for lunch before we (they, really) had to be back at four. I had the soup (again!), then baked chicken and later some hot tea. I didn’t notice it until after I was done eating the chicken, but I had chicken in both my first and second courses…OOPS! They were different enough though, so I don’t think it really matters!

 I went back to school with the teachers to start planning some Christmas activities with Pilar and Rocío. I found several websites last night with various activities and also found and put about ten Christmas carols on my flash drive. I think each class (the older ones, at least) is going to pick a different carol to learn. I only stayed until about 5:30 and then Sweet Pilar gave me a ride home so I wouldn’t have to walk in the cold and rain! She said she would give me a ride to school tomorrow, too, because it’s supposed to be just as cold, if not colder and maybe snow (again!)…I’m so thankful for her!

It’s so cold…all I want to do is crawl into bed and snuggle under the covers! I’m still pretty full from lunch, so I think I’ll forego making dinner and go get warm instead!

Xoxo,

Court

Well another weekend has passed and little of note has taken place. I didn’t go out Friday or Saturday night. As it gets colder, I have less and less desire to go out, especially at night. And, according to the news, it’s supposed to snow sometime week…sweet! Although, I heard that when it snowed (all of three times, at most three or four inches!) last year, they closed school because no one around here has a shovel or a way to dig out and some teachers don’t come to school; my heart wouldn’t break if this were to happen…

This afternoon Jesús came over and we went out for cañas. We started out at Pinta then went to La Komba. We spent a while at La Komba and played some darts. I’ve never played before, so it was interesting…at first I didn’t throw them hard enough and then when I did, my aim was just bad! Yeah, I’ll have to work on that.

Xoxo,

Court

P.S. ~ While the fam was at the dinner last night, this was my feast (hamburger, potatoes, peppers and onions)…not as elegant, but it was tasty!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! It doesn’t really feel like it though here; it was just another day. I wished a few people “Happy Thanksgiving!” and they were like, “Oh, yeah, that’s today.” and one person thought it was next week. We did different Thanksgiving activities in each class. First was 2A. We discussed the PowerPoint and then we did a turkey coloring sheet…that was all we had time for. In 6B, we talked about the vocab cards, then the PowerPoint and then they copied down the song and we sang it a few times. With the five-year-olds, we talked about a few simple vocab words, then sang “I Eat Turkey” and that was followed by a turkey coloring sheet.

During recreo Rocío told me that there was a mistake in my schedule and that I wasn’t supposed to have two 5A classes. The Monday afternoon class that I’ve been going to should actually be 3A. Great…another third grade. I really detest those classes; for whatever reason, the kids are so loud, they never listen, and rude. So, that’ll be my new last class on Mondays.

The last two hours I had the four-years-olds. Again, we talked about simple vocab, sang “Hello, Mr. Turkey” and colored a pilgrim boy and girl sheet. I was able to leave school a few minutes early because the little kids’ classes always end at 1:45 to give time to get their things together, coats on and zipped up, etc.

Today is also Will’s birthday. Gunita and I talked about getting him something yesterday and so she went to the bakery this morning and got him a little chocolate truffle cake! We’ll have some tonight…it looks really good! One of the English classes at the language school is going to be talking about Thanksgiving tonight, so Will, Arturo and I are going to that at eight. I think we may get some takeout later too, and have a dual celebration!

Xoxo,

Court

We got back from Ciudad Real about an hour ago and it went pretty much as I expected after talking with Arturo.  The bus actually rolled in a few minutes before nine. Since it’s only about a seven-ish minute walk from one of the bus stops (not the actual station), we got to the police station about five after nine…appointment was at 9:30.  There was a line out in front, but Will asked and that was for people who didn’t have an appointment, so we were able to walk right in! We waited maybe five minutes once inside and it went very quick after that. We submitted two photos each and got our right index fingers fingerprinted and that was it. The lady said we had to wait 25 days/after the first of the year before we could pick them up…one more trip, grrr. We were done by about 9:30; too bad we had to wait for the 12:03 train back to Socu. We walked straight to the train station after that (as we saw all there is to see the first time we went…which wasn’t much). We bought or tickets and sat in the train station for two long hours! Luckily, there is a café inside the station, so we waited part of the time in there and part of the time in the lobby.

The train was running about ten minutes behind schedule, so we pulled into Socu right around 2:30. Then, of course, there is the half hour walk home; it wasn’t bad really, since it’s not too cold today. I’m going to siesta now though. I got up at five for the bus, so I’m really tired. I tried to sleep a little on the train home, but you know how it is…I can’t believe tomorrow is Thanksgiving! I feel like we just celebrated Halloween and Christmas will be coming soon too! I’m not really feeling all Thanksgivingy though…Spain doesn’t have the vibe :(. Kinda wish I were going to be home…

Xoxo,

Court

Last night I stayed up and sort of helped Will make chocolate chip cookies, Oreo balls and two pumpkin pies that he brought to school today. It was after one when I finally go to bed and I didn’t get up this morning right when my alarm went off…I slept for another 15 minutes! I was so tired when I first got up, but after I started moving around, I was fine (although now I’m kind of feeling it!).

I had the three-year-olds first and with them I talked about some really basic vocab and then taught them the song “Hello, Mr. Turkey, how are you? Hello, Mr. Turkey, how are you? With a gobble, gobble, gobble and a wobble, wobble, wobble, Hello, Mr. Turkey, how are you?” It’s sung to the tune of “If you’re happy and you know it”. That was all we had time for, since I split the hour between the two classes. 5A was after that and we started with the vocab, then talked about the PowerPoint, sang another song to the tune of “Twinkle, twinkle, little star” and ended with one of the worksheets that was already in the stash of Thanksgiving activities. We didn’t have time for the food pictures, so we’ll talk about that next week.

1B was next and after the initial vocab, we did a connect-the-dots-using-numbers-to-finish-drawing-the-pilgrim activity. The numbers went up to 27, and I know they’re only in first grade, but it’s amazing how many kids had trouble connecting numbers in the teens and then some in the twenties. Afterwards, they were to color the pilgrim and that pretty much took the whole time. After class was over, but before Pilar, the student, left, I gave her one of my ten cent bracelets. Her face just lit up so much when I gave it to her and she kept telling people that I gave it to her…who knew such a cheap little bracelet would do so much for a kid?!

We had recreo and our Tuesday bocadillos and then came the five-year-olds. We did vocab, yet another song “I Eat Turkey” sung to the tune of “Frere Jacques” and another simpler coloring sheet (just coloring, no connecting the dots!). They’re usually a good class, but they were pretty noisy today, Esperanza was annoyed with them…so I’m not sure what was up. I ended with 6A and we did the exact same thing as in 5A, minus the worksheet.

Tomorrow is Ciudad Real…again. The bus leaves at 6:45, SWEET! We have to be at the police station at 9:30 to submit photos for our NIEs and then get fingerprinted. I thought we were going to actually be getting the cards tomorrow, but no, (even though the latest email from Juán Ignacio says we will), apparently this is just another step in the process. We have to wait about a month after tomorrow, which means it’ll be after Christmas. Arturo chanced it on Friday and went without an appointment and was able to get everything done that we’ll do tomorrow. What the heck?? So he’s actually ahead of us in the process, which I don’t really understand, since we’ve been here for like a month and a half longer than him. If I would have known they would still see you, even without an appointment, I would have gone like six weeks ago. Heck we did go six weeks ago, our very first trip to CR, the trip that was a total failure, to the police station, and we were told “you can’t do ANYTHING without an appointment”. REALLY? I shouldn’t complain though, at least we’ll be one step closer (I know I said that before) to getting our cards. HOPEFULLY we’ll only have one more trip after tomorrow…I just want the process to be over.  

Xoxo,

Court

Yesterday nothing noteworthy occurred, but today marked the start of my Thanksgiving presentations. I started with 6C. First I talked about some vocab (turkey, pumpkin pie, cornucopia, pilgrims, etc). I found a pretty easy PowerPoint online, so we talked about that next. It just kind of explains why the pilgrims came over, when and the hardships they faced. I had compiled some pictures of food, so I went over that. There wasn’t a whole lot of time after that, so they were only able to copy the song that I had.

2B came after that. I had talked to Francisco last Thursday about some activities and having class in the video room, but I went to his room just to make sure we were still on the same page. I could have sworn he said they were finishing copying some vocab and then they would come and that I was to go ahead to the room and make sure everything was prepared. Well, I waited and waited, but for one reason or another, the class never came…so I sat there for an hour.

3B, my least favorite class, was next. I had hoped that they would be able to change their behavior for once and I would be able to do the activities…fat chance! We got through the vocab and about half of the photos in 40 minutes. Lourdes had to interrupt literally about once every 20 seconds to yell at the class. It was a very long 40 minutes; I even stopped and sat down a couple of times to wait for the talking to cease and she took the class back ten minutes early because they wouldn’t stop talking/yelling.

After recreo, I had a free hour and then 5A. Since I have them twice a week (the only class I have twice), we just did regular activities today. Tomorrow we’ll talk about Thanksgiving. I went with the group of teachers to eat at Stone afterwards. First course I had this yummy soup that reminded me of chicken noodle with chucks of beef in it. Second course was either fried chicken wings or something very similar to it. Bottom line, it was good! For dessert I had vanilla pudding with cinnamon and a big Nilla wafer type of cookie…it was delish! (besides the fact that there was a little too much cinnamon and I kept coughing!).

At four o’clock, I went back to school with the rest of the teachers to finish preparing more activities. Aurora found this website that had so many coloring pages with connect the dots using letters and numbers. They’re perfect for like first and second grade! The age ranges are so varied that it took a couple of hours to talk with the teachers and decide on the most appropriate activities, but I’m just happy that we got everything squared away and finished!

Xoxo,

Court

Shopping yesterday was AWESOME! We left on the 11:30 train and returned at 7:30. We stopped for bocadillos for about half an hour (I had tortilla de patatas and Gunita had jamón y queso), but other than that, we shopped the entire day! We both probably bought more than we should have, but it’s not like we go to Albacete every week, right? I bought two pullover sweaters (different styles—one turtleneck wool turquoise/forest green color and one v-neck gray with maroon stripes…I also bought this scarf to go with the gray sweater—I HAD to; it matched PERFECTLY!). I also purchased a brown cardigan, (I know what you’re thinking: that’s totally Mr. Rogers, but they’re really popular here) gray and green long-sleeved turtlenecks and black and white short-sleeved turtlenecks (wait…are they still called turtlenecks if they’re not long-sleeved???). I also came away with a red necklace and three scarves (yes, ONLY three!). I feel like I bought more, because those packages were so heavy, but I can’t think of anything else right now…

We were both so tired when we pulled into Socu and unfortunately, the train station is about a half hour walk (with heavy packages it seemed like triple that!) from our house. We popped into the Chinese store on our way back because I knew I would need more hangers (my bags were already SUPER heavy, but what’s one more, really, I thought). I’m glad we stopped because I ended up using nine of them; I bought twelve. I also bought a one euro pack of bracelets to give Pilar for the one that she gave me. (Oh, I almost forgot…she was with her family at the train station too, going to Alicante to visit some family there. I soon as we walked in, she grabbed me and kept hugging me…I had to say “Alright, I have to go buy my ticket now. She was still glued to me when I went up to the ticket window…)

We FINALLY arrived home a little after eight and we had already decided that we weren’t going out. I had my slippers on and had already eaten my leftover pasta from Thursday night and Javi called and was like “Do you want to take a beer with me?” Honestly, I didn’t want to, but he’s only here on the weekends and we like to practice Spanglish, so I did. We went to Cuatro Estaciones and talked for a while, then Jesús showed up and we went to La Komba. Considering last weekend, I came back relatively early, at two! I was just so tired from walking around all day!

Today’s been really peaceful and quiet. I haven’t gone anywhere and don’t really want to because it’s cold and raining :(. We’re staying in tonight though (for real!). I think the plan is to order Chinese and then Jesús knows of a drinking game he wants to try…at least we’ll be at home! Hmmm, I wonder how Spanish drinking games compare to American ones…

Xoxo,
Court

Yesterday (Wednesday) I didn’t go to school. I got up to get ready and shortly afterwards, I started throwing up…five times in all. I’m not really sure what’s was wrong or what’s been wrong, but I was sick both this and last Wednesday. I called Aurora and Rocío too (because I was supposed to give that presentation) and then slept away the nausea. I woke up this morning and felt fine, so I’m not sure what’s up…

Today I had 2A, 6B, five-year-olds and two four-year old classes. In 2B we played BINGO and the kids got really excited about it. I don’t think they really understood the concept though because after I called out one vocab word, some started calling BINGO. In 6B, we talked about similar sounding/looking words, like cup/cap, angry/hungry, Alan/Adam…it was really hard for them to differentiate between the pronunciations. In the five-year-old class they colored in a picture from the story we read last week and then cut it out. With the four-year-olds, I told them a story off of story cards.

When I got to school this morning I talked with Rocío about coming to school tomorrow to talk with fourth level about Thanksgiving since I won’t be there next Wednesday because of CR. When I got home though, Gunita said she was going shopping in Albacete tomorrow and asked if I wanted to go (OH HECK YES, I DO!). So now I’m kicking myself for volunteering to come in, but I think I’m going to call her and try to get out of it…I CAN’T pass up a day of shopping! Can you imagine all the scarves that are waiting for me?? I’m also supposed to give my first English “lesson” to the teacher I met at English club last week, so I’ll have to reschedule that too. Also today, I parent asked me if I would give lessons to her two children! I’m not sure when, so I need to call her and iron that out…I’ll have two now!

I letcha know how shopping goes…I’m excited!

Xoxo,
Court

Today, overall, just like yesterday, was pretty regular. I really wasn’t able to do anything fun in most of the classes. I had the two classes of three-year-olds first. The first class kind of sucked because Ángela was like “I don’t know what you want to do, whatever you want.” If I had had some notice that would have been fine, but I had no idea what they were learning. I ended up singing a song about the days of the again. Julia had more of a plan for me…I reviewed colors, the alphabet and numbers 1-15.

 5A had an exam, so that class was rather boring. I answered questions here and there and tried to help the kids “discover” the answer, but I think a few times I actually gave it to them. Oh well…1B was the only fun class today. They played the memory game to review their vocab (board, pencil, sharpener, etc). Esperanza and I went around to make sure they were drawing/coloring the right objects and then actually cutting them out. It was really cute because when I first walked in the door, these two little girls, Diana and Pilar, ran up to me and were like “Corni!” and then gave me this really big hug! Later Pilar was like “here, I have a gift for you, take one of my bracelets.” (It’s like a multicolored jelly/stretchy bracelet.) I thought that was like the sweetest thing ever! I’ve been wearing it all day and I’m going to wear it every day! They sell them in like packs of ten at the Chinese store for like a euro, so I’m going to go buy a pack and give her some! She wanted me to play the memory game with her, so I did and she kept giving me hugs! She’s the cutest little girl ever!

It’s Tuesday, which means it was bocadillo day, so I ate a small sandwich along with my apple today. Afterwards, I had the five-year-olds, which was really pointless, because they were really rowdy today…Esperanza spent most of her time either telling them to be quiet or waiting for them to be quiet. In 6A they finished coloring the pictures they drew from the food presentation I gave last week.

I came home, ate some garlic chicken with vegetables and I’m content now! Will and I got word today that we have to go back to Ciudad Real next Wednesday at 9:30 (which is going to mess up my plans to talk about Thanksgiving with Rocío’s classes) because our NIE cards are in! I’m not looking forward to taking the 6:45 bus AGAIN but I’ll be glad when this whole process is over!

Xoxo,
Court

Today was pretty average. We finished talking about the food PowerPoint in 6C and did a couple more activities involving house vocab in 2B. in Lourdes’ 3B, we weren’t able to do ANYTHING because the class talked and yelled SO much…my being there was pointless. I had a free hour after recreo, so I looked over the book I brought about Thanksgiving. Last hour I was in 5A and helped the class review for their exam tomorrow.

Every Monday a group of teachers goes to the restaurant Stone for lunch and I went with them today! I had paella for first platter, second was meat shish kabobs and dessert was this sort of chocolate ice creamy thing. Everything was really good! Because it’s Monday, all the teachers went back to school from four to seven for the mandatory time. I went also so I could help plan out some thanksgiving activities. They already had a collection of several activities, so I just kind of looked through them and picked out several I liked…I still have to narrow them down a bit though and I want to find a simple PowerPoint that explains the history/origins.

I got home about six o’clock and since I had such a big lunch, I’m not anywhere near hungry yet, so I have some time to look up some Thanksgiving things…I can’t believe it’s next week already!

Xoxo,
Court

WOW…last night was stellar! Gunita, Will, Ana, Arturo and I went out to dinner at eleven. We ordered four rations to share like always, one of which was fresh shrimp, complete with beady little black eyes and all, which I refused to touch or look at. I know it’s totally a mental thing, but I just can’t get used to some of the things they eat here…I didn’t like shrimp when I was in Bilbao (the way it’s prepared that is, or rather lack thereof; I don’t have a problem with frozen shrimp) and I don’t like it now…NEVER! We ordered a bottle of white wine and of course the meal closed with the consumption of chupitos and then another…

From there we visited La Komba where we met this guy who looks EXACTLY like Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory! His name’s Alfredo and he has the same mannerisms and everything…he appeared very nerdy! From there we went to Portico, then Rivera, followed by Moma and another bar/discoteca whose name slips my mind at the moment! I wasn’t planning on drinking once in the bar, but Ana asked me to “help” her finish her rum and cokes…she ordered a total of I think five or six between all the places we went last night and each time she was like “here, help me!”. So, in all, I drank about half, if not more of her drinks! We got home at 7:15 this morning and I was SOOO tired (and hungry…so I ate some cereal). Gunita and I talked for a little while after that, so the time was 7:58 when I crawled into bed!

As I’m sure you can imagine, today has been worthless! I got up at three and ate an apple and yogurt and threw in some laundry and that’s literally all I’ve done! The sky is gray and overcast and it look cold outside. I have no desire to leave the house today, so I think I’m going to hunker down and have some tea…maybe a siesta (even though I’ve been up all of two hours, haha!)

Xoxo,
Court

I went to school yesterday and it was a great day! I managed to fill the whole day, minus first hour. So, until ten o’clock I helped Pilar grade her bilingual science exams. I then accompanied her to 6B and gave my Nebraska presentation. After that, I went to 5B and helped the class go over some exercises to study for an upcoming exam. We had recreo, and then I went back with María José to 5A and we did the same thing. Last hour I was in 6C and gave the presentation again. I still have to give it to Rocío’s three classes next week, and after that, I’ll be glad to be done with it…I’m tired of talking about the same things, I’m over it.

Next week, we’re going to talk about some Thanksgiving activities (I can’t believe it’s less than two weeks away!) we can do. I have a book we can read, however, I didn’t realize it until the other day, but it might be a little over their heads; the younger kids especially. So, I may not actually do anything with it, we’ll see, but they already have several activities made up from previous years, so I’m not too worried. I would like to do the trace-your-hand-to-make-a-turkey activity because anyone can do that, no matter what age!

On my way back from school I went to Mercadona and picked up several things. Then Will and I went to English Club at 4:30 at the language school. Eloy, the sponsor of the club and teacher at the school, is a friend of Gunita’s, and apparently Will knows him too. He asked Will if he would be interested in going and Will asked me also, so I tagged along! There were students of all ages: like 12-adult. I think it was the first time he’d had it, and everyone was so quiet! Will and I did most of the talking.

I’m really glad I went though, because some of us where standing around talking afterwards and this lady asked if I would give her English lessons every Friday! Her name is Carmen and it turns out she is a colleague of Eloy’s, also an English teacher, and she just wants to meet and chat to improve her English. I asked if she wanted me to like prepare anything and she said no! She just wants informal conversation…so I don’t really have to do that much! SWEET! Our first “lesson” is next Friday morning here at the apartment…I don’t even have to leave the house!

We did go out last night, but there’s nothing special to report…just another night of barhopping! Today’s been very lazy. The only things I’ve done are go to the store and I’m also slow cooking some lentils. I changed it up a little bit this time: besides peppers and onions, I also put in some garlic and chorizo, so I hope it tastes good. It’s been on for almost an hour, so I probably should go check it! I’d like to take a siesta, but due to poor planning, I’ll have to wait until the lentils are done. :(  I probably won’t eat a huge serving right now; Gunita just told me we’re going out for dinner later, so I want to save my appetite!

Xoxo,

Court

Happy Veteran’s Day…Dad, love you!

On Tuesday night we met Arturo at the bar (Dulce) and we chatted for a bit. He’s from Palm Springs, California! Jesús showed up a little while later and we then went to Pizzería Milano, right next door to the bar. We ordered two small pizzas and two sandwiches to share (and I gotta tell you, I’m just not that big of a fan of jamón Serrano, I guess I’m just used to our American ham).

I woke up fine yesterday (Wednesday). Took a shower, fine. As a finishing getting ready for the day, it just hit me: this overwhelming feeling of nauseous. I could hardly stand up without feeling light headed. I kept getting ready for school (very slowly, mind you) because I was supposed to give my Nebraska presentation to Rocío’s 4A, B&C classes yesterday. I was moving so slowly that I was fifteen minutes late to school. I got there at 9:15 and had 5B first. I tried to stand there and look happy, but I had to sit down. I felt better and then I did an activity with the class. It was so hard to stand up and look happy and enthusiastic. By 10:00, I felt like I wanted fall over, so I went into the office and asked Aurora if I could sit down for a few minutes before I went to give my presentation to Rocío’s 4B.

So I sat there, leaning forward, with my elbows propped up on the computer desk cradling my forehead, with my eyes closed. I think I sat in there for maybe 15 minutes. Several people came in and asked what was wrong (including the principal) and then Aurora was like “Come with me, to the sala” I thought she meant the teacher’s lounge (sala de profesores), to get like a coffee or something, I was confused, but no, she meant the principal’s office, where there was a couch. He wasn’t in there (apparently he had class) and she told me to lie down (which I didn’t because I felt weird about laying down in his office) while went to go get a cold wet rag for the back of my neck. She put it on my neck and asked if I felt better (I guess that’s supposed to help the feeling of nausea??) and it didn’t help at all.

By that time the Deputy Teacher/Assistant Principal walked by and saw me sitting hunched over, came in and asked what was wrong. I told him everything and guess what he said? He goes, “Rocío lost her voice (probably because she yells at the kids so much, haha!) and is not here today.” REALLY?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?? As soon as he said that, I made up my mind to go home and luckily they were both like “¡A casa!” I grabbed my bag and was walking out the door and Alberto said “Wait, I’ll give you a ride home.” I know he’s super busy (with like 10,000 things to do!), so I said that I would walk. And he was like “No, I’ll take you.” I was secretly happy that he insisted, because I was so nauseous that I don’t know if I would have made it home walking.

I got home at 10:30 and went straight to bed. With the exception of getting up to go to the bathroom periodically (which was quite a chore…I was so exhausted each time I crawled back into bed!) and sitting up in bed to eat an apple (taken from my bag, right beside my bed…any other food sounded disgusting) about six o’clock, I literally slept for 23 hours.

Last night I hadn’t decided if I was going to go to school or not today, but as it is just after noon and I am typing this, can you guess my decision?

My alarm went off at its usual time and I was still very tired (but no longer nauseous!). I went back to sleep and woke up and called Aurora about 8:30 to ask her if it would be ok if I didn’t come in. Of course she said yes, but I felt bad that I was missing today, so I asked if I could come in tomorrow instead. Although she didn’t expect me to ask, she said that would be fine. I feel a little bit better now!

I have no plans for the day, although our Wi-Fi router arrived today. (YES! And we’ve only been waiting two weeks…considering they said we would get it in ten day and this is Spain, I’m pretty happy!) So, we’ll get that set up…not quite sure what’s involved in that, but we’ll see! Wireless, FINALLY!

Xoxo,

Court
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Update--our Wi-Fi is up and running...all three of us are on online at the same time! AND it's SUPER fast! WOOT!!!