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!!!

Alright…go ahead and add rain to the cold and wind of yesterday! Though it’s rained several times since I’ve been here, it’s always been on the weekend or at night when I’ve had a choice to leave the house, so I haven’t really cared. NOT TODAY! I heard the drops smacking down on the pavement as I was getting ready and I have to tell you…I wasn’t a fan. If it had been just raining, that would have been one thing, but it was windy too and my umbrella kept blowing around!

My first class today was with the three-year-olds. I split the hour between two classes: Julia’s and Angela’s. From what I understand, I’ll pretty much be the English consultant for these classes. Today they sang a “Good Morning” song (in Spanish) and I went back through it and translated it for the class. We also talked about numbers, some colors and the alphabet.

In 5A, we reviewed the food vocab from yesterday and then I told them a story with story cards about a chicken and a fox. To make it a little more fun, I spoke in silly voices for the different characters…I think the kids got a kick out of it—they clapped for me afterwards! Next class was 1B with Esperanza. We did an activity in which the kids had to point to the different pictures based on the descriptions they heard on the CD. After recreo I was with Esperanza again, this time with the five-year-olds. To review colors and facial vocab, we created a “monster” on the board with different color eyes, ears, mouths, arms and legs. Last hour was 6A. I talked about typical food in the US/Nebraska…basically the same “presentation” I prepared for Rocío’s classes.

It had stopped raining by the time I left school (thank goodness!) and I saw earlier that the clouds had turned to semi-blue skies! Before I left school, Aurora said that it’s not supposed to be as cold or rain tomorrow, so I’m banking on that! In other news, the other American finally arrived and we’re meeting him in the plaza tonight at eight for coffee! His name’s Arturo (he’s from California…not sure what part exactly yet) and we’ve emailed a couple of times. I talked with him a couple of hours ago and he seems really nice! I’m glad to have another American here!

Xoxo,

Court

Holy guacamole, it’s windy and cold today! It’s the kind of weather that makes you want to snuggle back up under the covers and not get out of bed, you know? I left the house at the customary hour of 8:45 and it was chilly and very windy. I didn’t think anything of it though, because it has been warming up in the afternoons…but no sir, not today! It’s been blustery and cold the entire day. Walking to and from classes was not fun! I saw on the news that it’s going to start getting colder now, so I guess I better get used to it. :( I don’t think it’ll get as cold as back home, so that’s one good thing!

Even though it was a blustery Monday, it was a good Monday! I feel like I never get to visit those classes because every time we have a break, it seems like we have Monday off (not that I’m complaining!). I think this was the second time I’ve been there on a Monday and I’ve been here for several weeks now. I started the day off in Pilar’s 6C class. Since I hadn’t seen them for so long, we did the coloring sheet on Nebraska that I did weeks ago with the other classes. I explained all the state symbols and they had just enough time to color the pictures.

In Francisco’s 2B class, I reviewed all the chapter vocab with them (Davy Dog, Cheeky Cat, square, circle, other shapes, numbers 11-20, etc). I then reviewed “aunt”, “uncle”, “cousin” and “baby” and they had to color in different frames with the corresponding colored words. In Lourdes 3B they had an exam. I helped this student (and by “helped” I mean I basically gave him the answers) who speaks like zero English. He didn’t get done with the exam, but Lourdes was like “alright, I’m leaving” (thank goodness, I was hungry…it was lunch time and we had already stayed an extra ten minutes!). That class is so loud and obnoxious, I’m so glad I only have it on Mondays! I’ve never heard so much talking during an exam before! This one psycho child kept getting up and running around the class; more than once he tried to peek off the exam of the kid I was helping.

I had a free hour right after lunch and last hour I was in María José’s 5A. We discussed people in uniform (police, soccer players, school children and dinner (lunch) ladies…I thought that was kind of random!). Then she introduced new vocab about vegetables (and plums, too! Again, a little random, I thought…) and they did a listening activity.

I left school and went to the store because I was completely out of juice. You know how it is though; I also walked away with several other things. I had two bags and couldn’t walk with my hands in my pockets, so my hands froze on the walk home! I have no desire, whatsoever, to go back out in the cold. I’m thinking that some hot tea (or even better, a siesta!) sounds really good right now!

Xoxo,

Court

Yesterday, Will and I went to Albacete! I went shopping, while he visited some of the sites. We left on the 11:30 train and arrived at 12:18. From there we went to the Tourism office to get another map because w only he had one. After that we both headed to Zara (a clothing store very popular here!). Not that he wanted to shop though…Gunita had ordered a dress online from there and wanted to try to get it a different size and she gave him the info, not me, so he came too! (He told me later that he was there for about half an hour because he tried to ask several sales people about the dress and they kept telling him that they couldn’t help him and he would have to go ask someone else. Great service, huh?)

While Will was waiting, I started shopping! The main things I wanted to buy were sweaters and a jacket…to fit in better here. Many of the girls/women here wear long sweaters that touch around the hips or beyond and I had nothing like that. Also, the jackets I brought with me make me stick out: a North Face, a Columbia fleece (which I’ve been wearing to school every day) and a Columbia winter coat (luckily I haven’t had to break it out yet!). The jackets they wear here are shorter, fitted, more fashionable, I guess. I wanted to get something for going out to the bars; I’ve been wearing one of Gunita’s jackets because I feel totally unfashionable wearing one of mine!

There was so much to choose from, it was really hard walking away with only a few things! I wandered around the store for a while just to see what they had. I don’t understand some of the fashion here (some of it’s just so different than what I’m used to and I think some things are just downright weird) so it as easy to bypass those things. But there was a lot I wanted to buy also. There were several sweaters I saw that I wanted to buy, but I only walked away with one…a black one (the first time!)

Most of the clothes shops in Albacete are on the same street or in the same area (like the bars in Lincoln!), so I walked outside, took seven steps across the street, and was in Modalinea. Within the first five seconds of walking in I found a jacket I wanted to buy (and I did!). It’s a black pleather (or something like that!) that fits around the waist. I was really surprised; it was only 25€. I walked around the store for a while longer, but didn’t see anything I had to have, so I paid for the jacket. On my way out of the store, however, I saw a sweater that caught my eye. It’s dark gray (charcoal, maybe?) and I liked the style so tried it on. It fit really well, so I bought another in brown too (13,50€ each, very reasonable, I thought!). Right after that, on my way up to pay again, I saw this cute little gray/charcoal wool coat (26,50€) so I bought that too!

By that time it was about 2:30 and Will had texted me asking about lunch. Many of the shops were closing for siesta, so we both figured I was a good to take a break. We met at this small indoor café and had a very tasty, filling lunch: We both had salad, I had chicken, and Will had lamb and a cheesecake type of dessert, while I had this chocolate covered ice cream cone filled with whipped cream.

By the time we finished, it was close to four o’clock and we parted ways again, but not before making a plan to meet at 5:40 to walk back to the station to catch our train at 6:30. I mainly browsed the stores after lunch. I saw a brown leather jacket I wanted to buy in a store called Pimkie, but it was 45€ and I had already bought two, so I decided against it (for now, at least!). I did go back into Zara and buy another long sweater, this time in light gray. I really wanted to buy a brown one (I like to have things in black and brown…between those two colors you can’t go wrong!), but I couldn’t find one I liked :(; I’ll keep looking, though!) I walked around for a little while longer and then it was time to meet Will. We stopped in Tea and Coffee Shop (that’s what it was called, actually, no joke!) for a little pick me up then made our way back to the train station.

We waited a little while and then hopped on the 6:37 train. I was tired, but the half hour walk from the train station to our house woke me up! We got back home at five to eight and we went out to dinner at ten, with Conchi, Laura, Teresa, Jesús and Katia (as I learned her name is spelled) to a restaurant called El Portón, ordered several dishes and a couple bottles of wine to share. We finished off the meal with the customary chupitos, but this time they left the several bottles of liquor on the table, so some of us had more than one shot!

We finished dinner about 12:30. Gunita and the girls went to La Komba, Jesús and Will went to Pedro Muñoz to attend a birthday party of a girl they know there and I went home because I was tired and didn’t really feel like being in any loud or smoky places.

As for today, not very much has happened. I haven’t been outside (with the exception of hanging up my laundry (oh, to have a dryer here…), but it’s overcast and looks cold. At least it’s not raining, knock on wood!

Xoxo,

Court

Chicken that I cooked all by myself last night! It was mmmm, mmmm, good!—oh wait, that’s the Campbell’s slogan…

Xoxo,
Court

Hooray for another weekend! I’m glad I have another three days to catch up on some sleep! Today was a great day, I was able to participate in all the classes—I think it was the most involved I’ve been since arriving. I started the morning in Francisco’s Second A class. I got to introduce some new vocab….rooms of the house (bedroom, kitchen, living room, bathroom, etc.). It was kinda funny because the kids think that “kitchen” sounds like “chicken”. Francisco told me that “The chicken is in the kitchen” is a tongue twister of sorts for them in English.

I was in Pilar’s Sixth B class next. They learned about the British celebration of “Bonfire Night”, which is tomorrow, the 5^th. It was really interesting for me to learn about. She asked me if I knew anything about it and I had no idea…but now I do! It commemorates the night of November 5, 1604 or 5 (I can’t remember which!) when Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill the king. Every year Britons celebrate with family and friends by eating hotdogs and caramel apples (I think those are the most popular dishes). Children make a “guy” out of (I think!) straw or pillows and dress him up in old clothes. They have big fireworks displays in their towns, generally in parks, and at the fireworks they build big bonfires and burn their “guys”. It’s a big thing for them and it seems to be a lot of fun!

In Esperanza’s First A class right before lunch, I was able to talk about some members of the family (mummy, daddy, granny, granddad [yeah, it’s totally British! Esperanza even told me yesterday that sometimes she has trouble understanding me because I don’t pronounce my “ts” like they do…I said the word “put” and she was like “what?”]). Then we did a sticker sheet, where students had to match the different hats with the right member of the family.

For the last two hours after lunch, I was with Sandra and both four-year-old classes. She’s also teaching them about family, but different words, like baby, brother, sister, mommy and daddy. I reviewed the words with them, and then we made up some actions to do for when we listened to the CD and each person was called. That was followed by a worksheet which I explained and they understood! Well, most of them, I think, at least. It was very simple: they circled the character outside the picture and drew a line to the character inside the picture. I helped Sandra draw red smiley faces on their papers when they were all done and correct! It’s kinda cool because the kids are starting to get comfortable enough with me to come up and be like “teacher, blah, blah, blah…” I wish I could understand what they were saying—this cute little four-year-old tried telling me something today and I had no idea what she was saying! They like to tattle on each other a lot though…I guess that’s the age!

I got my medical insurance card today, so it’s official! Even though it says “dental” on it, Aurora was like “It’s not dental, I don’t know why it says that.” Alright then…Will’s says the same thing though, so I don’t feel so bad! I want to go to the pastelería this evening to buy some “Huesos de Santos”—a pastry typical for this time of year. Yesterday Teresa told me of a good place to buy them, which isn’t far from our house. I went there about five yesterday and they were closed so I asked her today and she said that after siesta, they should be open until eight or nine…so I’ll try again today!

I’m happy that I get to sleep in tomorrow…I didn’t want to get up this morning—I was so tired!

Xoxo,

Court

Today was my first day with my new/permanent schedule. I had Fifth B first and was able to talk about the typical school day in the US: what time school starts, different subjects, lunch time, after school activities, after school snack time, dinner hour and bed time. The times differ a lot between the two countries so they thought it was interesting! At ten, I went to Fourth B and Rocío wanted me to give my presentation about food in Nebraska, but she didn’t give me any warning…so I didn’t have my flash drive. I ended up talking about the different foods anyway and next week I’ll bring my flash drive and we’ll look at the pictures (corn on the cob, steak, kool-aid, etc.) After that, I went to First B with Esperanza and we played Simon Says with their vocab words (floor, board, door, etc.). We ate lunch and then I went back to Rocío’s Fourth A and C classes for the last two hours.

All the Feria shops are still set up (apparently it’s going on all week, which I didn’t find that out until today) and on my way home I passed by a few of the scarf stands…big mistake! Twelve scarves and 61€ later, I made it home. I know, it’s terrible, but I have a weakness! Scarves, why must you tempt me and be so pretty? Why?

When I got home I grabbed my backpack and turned around and went to the store. Will said he would teach me how to cook, so I bought some chicken breasts, frozen fish, onions, peppers (red and green) and lentils. Yesterday he showed me how to cook fish with diced onions and peppers (I actually got to cook some of the veggies!). He’s been busy all night with different activities, so I made lentils with peppers and onions on my own (of course I consulted him beforehand!)…and it’s actually good! Even though it looks kinda gross:

 I cut everything up and threw it altogether in with the lentils and slow cooked it for about an hour. I’m eating now and it may be a little on the bland side, but for my first time flying solo, I think I did well! Will came home and said it smelled good! Yay! Hopefully while here in Spain I can check off Learning to Cook from my list of things I want to do in life!

Xoxo,

Court

Happy All Souls Day! Here are some photos from Ciudad Real. I know we went like two weeks ago...I finally took the time to upload them now! Not really sure why the last two are huge...

Saturday, October 30-Monday, November 1, 2010

This weekend has been very relaxing, but also a little disappointing because of the rain. It has rained on and off the entire weekend! Normally, I wouldn’t mind some rain here and there, but when Feria is outdoors, it causes problems. I walked through the attractions on Friday when they were still setting up, but we actually haven’t “been” yet because we never know when the rain will fall. Jesús is coming over at 8:30 and we are going to try to go tonight. Hopefully it’s dry because it’s the last night! Another than that, I haven’t done much today—a load of laundry, that’s about it…I really haven’t felt like doing much because of the weather: cold, windy and overcast with intermittent showers. And it doesn’t help that with the time change it now starts getting dark about 6:15. :(

Saturday didn’t find us doing a whole lot until the evening. We ordered Chinese takeout and had several people over: Ana (Gunita’s friend whom worked in my school last year, but now works in a different town) Conchi, Beatriz, Oscar (who used to live in the apartment last year) and his girlfriend Ilu (short for Iluminada), Jesús and Javi. This was the second time we’ve had their takeout—it’s so good! Jesús, Ilu and Oscar didn’t arrive until after 11, because they had a wedding that afternoon, so by the time we ordered the food and picked it up, it was about midnight when we ate. That put us at the bar about 2:00. Gunita likes to which things up and visit the different bars, so she, Will and Conchi went to Bianco a bit later, but I much prefer La Komba (I found out this weekend that it’s actually spelled with a “K”, instead of a “C”), so I stayed with Teresa, Nuria, Leo, Javi and Marisa. We arrived so late that we really weren’t there too long…everyone left about four.

Sunday (Happy Halloween!) was very lazy and we spent the afternoon watching the Back to the Future movies. We made reservations at the restaurant Stone for ten o’clock (we all wanted to eat earlier!). I’m glad the reservations weren’t later because it was still after midnight by the time we finished. We ordered four dishes to share (which weren’t served together, by the way, but rather brought out one after the other) and a bottle of wine (I really didn’t want any because I had a stomachache, but everyone else did, so I had some). Then came dessert and another bottle of wine. That was followed by coffee. Finally the meal ended with some shots. Usually you are served with one shot and that’s it, but when the waiter came back and when we asked for the check, he said he would bring us another. We all were like “NO!” and he said “What’s the problem? You’re not driving are you?” And we had to say no: we weren’t because Jesús left dinner early to go pick up his girlfriend, Rosalía (who lives in another town and had to work last night). So, he brought us another. This time it wasn’t your average shot—it was the mother of all shots! I’m not kidding! He served us glasses three times the size of the first one! And for someone who didn’t feel well, for someone who didn’t even want the first shot or two bottles of wine, it wasn’t easy to slam…let me tell you.

We left about 12:15 and I went home to take some IB Profen, while the others went to La Komba. I rejoined them at another bar, Rivera, about 45 minutes later. We didn’t end up staying there long and left to go to Moma. My stomach started being bothersome again, and our house is on the way to the bar, so I parted ways with them again about 2:30 and went home to go to bed.

I do have something to look forward to though: only three days of school this week! And I can’t believe it’s November already! Where has the time gone?

Xoxo,

Court