I can’t believe it’s the last day of February! Where has the time gone? According to my weather thing, it’s not that much colder than yesterday—it’s reading 48—but the wind is blowing today and that make a big difference…so it feels colder than it actually is, you know? The sun’s been playing peek-a-boo with the clouds all day, so when the clouds take over, it feels a lot colder too.

Today was fairly easy. I forgot that Pilar told me on Thursday that they have diagnostic testing today, tomorrow and Wednesday, so there wouldn’t be any class with 6C first hour. I would have brought something to do had I remembered, but I didn’t, so I basically sat in the teacher’s lounge and drank one coffee after another (and yes, I had to go to the bathroom a couple extra times today!)

2B was second hour and they started a new unit about clothes. I read over the words with them for pronunciation practice and later I wrote on the board two descriptions of outfits (one boy and one girl…green cap/red and orange sweater/pink skirt/yellow boots…) and had them copy them down and draw/color them.

Third and fifth hours (with fourth hour being my regularly free hour) were 3B and A and as per usual, I sat there whilst they kind of did an activity. Lourdes’ actually class, 3A usually behaves so much better than 3B, but today, I gotta say, I think they were worse. They kept being like “Teacher, what’s that? (she was writing stuff on the board) Can I…?” Teacher this and teacher that…the whole hour! Let’s just say I was glad when two o’clock rolled around!

My lesson with Juan An’s in about 45 minutes. Not sure what we’ll be doing today, since I didn’t have class with him, because of the testing. If nothing else though, I’ll help him with his science…it’s bilingual. I don’t like doing science—I know nothing about it! Sometimes he’s like “How do you say this word/What does this mean?” And I think “Hmm…that’s a good question!” Sometimes we learn together!

Xoxo,

Court

It’s still fairly nice today—about 55. It may be the last one for a few days; it’s supposed to be chiller and rain for the next few days, (better break out the umbrella!) starting tomorrow. We just got back from a walk a little while ago. We walked for about an hour, to the outskirts of town, to the bullring. I thought it was a little chilly before we left the house, but once we were walking, especially in the sun, it got kinda warm. Not nearly as warm as yesterday, though!

Not sure what’s in store for the rest of the day. I know Jesús has guardia at the pharmacy and so Gunita was talking about getting some Chinese and bringing it over. I’m not sure if I’m gonna go though—I have some hamburger in the fridge I need to cook, plus we just went to lunch on Friday and cañas yesterday…so I think I’ll save some money.

Xoxo,

Court

It’s gotta be at least 70 today! My little weather thing says it’s only 66, but I think it’s lying! We went to FeriaStock about 11:45 and it wasn’t nearly as big or cool as I thought it was going to be. Jesús was supposed to come and 11, but then he was gonna come at like 11:30 and pick us up and drop us off and then go back for Teodora and her mom (who’s in town for the weekend). And we were like “well that’s just silly; we’ll walk—it’s such a beautiful day!” So we did and were there for like 20 minutes…it was just small and boring.

We got home about 12:30 and Conchi came over and we went for cañas. We sat outside in the sun! It was great, the only thing was after a while, it was a little on the hot side! We were there for a while before the others showed up (Jesús, Arturo, Teodora, her mom and her boyfriend), so we sat for a while longer and chatted.

It’s a little after three o’clock now and I have a few hours of relaxation to enjoy before mass at 6:30. The children’s mass last week was ok, but I think I prefer to go when 50 little children aren’t shouting my name! I’m not sure what’s on the agenda for tonight. We talked about doing something at cañas, but as of right now, nothing’s definite.

Xoxo,

Court

It’s sunny and 65 degrees today—or at least it was; probably not so much now that the sun is going down. I just shut my window a few minutes ago and it’s still really nice out there!

I feel like today has been a productive day! I went to Carmen’s a little after 10:30 and we had our chat and espressos! We talked more about politics. She told me all about Franco and how not everyone hated him (as I had believed). I guess that’s the fault of American textbooks, because I’ve always read that he was this horrible person whom oppressed the Spanish people for some forty years and was terribly disliked. Granted many people despised him, on the other hand, many liked him because he truly took care of his people (as long as you were on his side, that is) and he didn’t put up with ANY crime. I love our chats…they’re super interesting and I learn lots, too!

I left Carmen’s about 12:45 and went to the market to look for some white leggings and a sweater to wear with my carnaval costume. The dress itself it rather see-through and I want to have a sweater in case it’s chilly. Unfortunately, I didn’t really find anything.

I went to the store after I left the market and when I got home Jesús, Gunita and I went to lunch at Stone (Will didn’t want to go). Whilst eating lunch, Jesús mentioned that (and I had forgotten that Emi did too yesterday) there’s this thing called FeriaStock this weekend. Basically it’s like this ginormous sale of regularly expensive items and apparently, they sell everything, so I can look for legging and a sweater there!

When we got back from lunch I cleaned the bathroom (hence the productive part of my day!). I mean I like really cleaned it…I scrubbed the sink, the walls, the toilet, swept and mopped too! I also swept and mopped the hallway, living room and kitchen. There’s something about having a clean house that just makes you feel better, you know?

Now I’m just kind of hanging out. I’m tired, but it’s too late to take a nap, otherwise I won’t sleep tonight. I’ll just go to bed early! Jesús is coming over at 11 tomorrow morning to go to FeriaStock, so I’ll have to get up and get myself into gear fairly early for a Saturday!

Xoxo,

Court

Another beautiful day! It’s about 60, but it feels so much warmer than that! I totally got hot walking home—and if you know me at all, that says A LOT! I shared the fudge during recreo today and everyone who tried it said it was really good! One of the teachers was like “Are you trying to make us gain weight?” Haha…maybe I am! I’m glad they liked it!

In 2A I made a list of animals and characteristics, just like I did for 2B on Monday. The sixth animal was “sheep” and so I wrote the number “6” on the board and they were like “what’s that?” Apparently my sixes aren’t Spanishy enough!

Second hour was 6B and we corrected homework for much of the time. With the last about ten-ish minutes, we did another dictation. We didn’t have a whole a lot of time, so I only said two sentences…but they seemed to get it better than 6A on Tuesday. Thank goodness!

Then came five-years B. I read them a story about a clown and then they did a worksheet, in which they had to match the word (policeman or doctor) to the picture.

The last two hours I was with the four-year-olds. With “B” we did the same thing we did with “A” last week—read the story about the bee and then did the worksheet where they had to color the bee and draw in a flower. In A, we tried to do this cut-out, like, craft activity, but it had a flaw. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize it until the kids had already started working, so it was kind of a flop! Oh well…you never know unless you try and they didn’t seem to mind!

I have my lesson with Carlos at four (in about 45 minutes!). I’m going to bring them some fudge! 1.) Because Emi is always making things for me and I thought I’d repay the favor for once and 2.) That way, I won’t eat it all myself!

Also, I’m meeting some of the teachers from school at for a café at the bar, Abadía, at six. I’m sure Emi will stuff me full of her sinfully delicious pastries beforehand, so I’m not sure if I’ll actually have anything—I’m gonna guess no though…I usually eat very little after my lessons on Mondays and Thursdays. But, I’ll be able to chat with them, so that will be nice!

Xoxo,

Court

What at gorgeous day! The sun is shining, the wind is only slightly blowing and there are very few clouds in the sky! I’d say it has to be at least 60 or 65 degrees! I think it’s supposed to hit like 70 on Friday or Saturday! It was so nice to walk to school this morning and not be freezing!

I made the fudge yesterday and it was a success! Or at least the flavor was…the consistency is a little off—it’s rather soft, not hard like it should be. It made two pans and I took one pan to school. I should have just left it in the pan, but I decided I was going to take it out and wrap it up in some foil, in an attempt to make it easier to transport. I cut it up in the pan and then dished it onto the foil—which probably was mistake number 1. By the time I got it all onto the foil, it had lost most of its shape and was kind of just like this big blob. I was going to put it out for everyone to try at school, but it was WAY too soft! So, I put it in the fridge and I’ll put it out tomorrow!

First hour I had 5B. I went over the same vocab with them that I went over with 5A yesterday. Then María José checked some homework with them.

Third hour I was with 1A. They had a little quiz of sorts, in which they had to color their vocab words the appropriate colors, then trace the words on the bottom of their sheet. It took the entire time! Some students got it done super quick and didn’t have problems, and other students just did not grasp the concept. Espe and I went around the class to make sure everyone was doing alright and there were several students whom I had to stop with and be like “Which is the color orange/green/blue? Which is the bike/swing…?” Later, with one outrageously hyperactive student, I had to sit right next to him in order to get him to work.

Second, fourth and fifth hours I was with fourth level. Rocío had printed off a coloring sheet of the US flag and so they colored that first. She then put up a US map and we talked about a few selected states, just about their location and capitals: North Dakota, Virginia, Texas, Oregon and (of course!) Nebraska. She wants to focus one state each week and talk about it. Later we looked at the seal of the United States/the President’s seal and talked about that. I always learn so much in her classes! For example, I knew nothing about the seal before today and now I know, like, everything about it and I also thought the capital of Oregon was Portland and totally told second hour wrong. Later I looked and saw that it’s actually Salem—oops! My bad…

Right now I have my window open (because it’s SO nice!) and I’m listening to the happenings going on outside in the street below. It’s really relaxing! It maybe naptime soon, if I get too much more relaxed…but I’m totally down with that!

Xoxo,

Court

Happy 279^th Birthday, Mr. Washington!

The nice weather has returned! I’m not sure exactly what the temperature is, but it’s sunny and decent. It’s a little windy, but it’s not a cold wind, so that makes all the difference!

Today seemed to go pretty quickly. My celebrity status continued, with several more students coming up to me and being like “Te vi, te vi en la misa!” And María José was like “So I heard you went to mass on Sunday!” Ahh, stardom!

I had the three-year-olds first hour. I went to Julia’s first and we started out with the “Buenos Días” song (which I am learning!) and then the maquinista of the day, Patricia, called roll in English—“Is _______ here?” “Here.” That was followed by the counting of the students at school and home sick. I then talked a little about the characters from Sponge Bob, because we talked a bit about them last week. They LOVE Sponge Bob! I wasn’t able to get a picture to show them this week, so that’s my homework for next week!

I was only in Ángela’s class for about 20 minutes because we ran over in Julia’s (it’s so hard for me to split the hour between the two!). When I got there, they were reviewing places/things around the city—fruit store, bread store, traffic light, sidewalk, street lamp, etc. That was all they really did whilst I was there, because they reviewed the places several times.

When I got to 5A, María José was reviewing their homework with them. That took a while and when she was finished, I talked with them about some leisure activities from their books—reading, rollerblading, watching TV, listening to music…I then asked them questions about the activities to check for comprehension and I totally called on the kids who weren’t paying attention or who didn’t have their hands raised! I guess that’s the teacher in me, haha!

Third hour was 1B and we played a “game” called STOP! in which I said a vocab word and then went through all their flashcards, and when I came upon that word, they had to yell STOP! It was kinda cute because each card it wasn’t, they were like “NOOOO!”. They then did a workbook page where they had to draw the next shape in the series. The concept seems pretty simple, but some of them had trouble with it.

Today was bocadillo (sandwich) Tuesday. Emi told me yesterday, when I was at my lesson with Juan An, that was her group’s turn to do it, so when she dropped me off yesterday, I was like “OK, see you tomorrow!” I bought a small bocadillo just like I always do and I saw her when recreo was over and she was like “Corni, venga! I was like “See you later!” and another one of the moms was like “Wait!” And then Emi came and gave me another sandwich, bless her heart! I think she thinks I don’t get enough to eat or something…either that, or she felt bad for “only” serving me store-bought pastries yesterday because she didn’t have time to make anything! She was like “Don’t worry though, because on Thursday I’m going to make blahblahblah type of cake.” No doubt it’ll be delectable and she’ll sent half of it home with me…Yeah, hard life, tutoring, I know!

Five years A was after break and I reviewed carnival things with them and also read them the story again (apparently when I read it before several students were sick. They then did a simple worksheet about series as well, in which they had to draw the next character. It was like “teacher, ghost, pirate, teacher, _______, pirate. They were so lost; they had no idea what to do, do I ended up giving several of them the answers…my bad!

Last hour was 6B. While I usually enjoy that class, today, they just annoyed me. I did a dictation with them (like I did with 6C yesterday) and they didn’t get it at all. No matter how many times I repeated the sentences—literally ten times for some—they were still like “WHAT??” And then they would talk because they didn’t understand it and so the ones who actually did understand it couldn’t hear. I mean, 6C had a little trouble with it, but not nearly the trouble that this class had. I even said “If you guys’ll just be quiet and listen, it’s not that hard!” I just had an “off” day with them, I think.

I think I’m going to try to make some fudge this afternoon…since I have marshmallow crème now! Thanks Mom and Dad! We’ll see how that works out. I hope it turns out well and tastes like it should, because that sounds so yummy right now!

Xoxo,

Court

Happy Presidents Day! On this day, that our country remembers all of our past (and present…) leaders, I had quite a busy morning! On my way to school, I always see kids…and that’s when the first one said “I saw you at mass yesterday!” I heard that like 37 times today! Yes, yes, I know, I didn’t forget. That and, “Did you like the mass? Did you understand it? My brother/sister/friend saw you!” Awesome, so they go home and tell their families they’ve seen me. One of the teachers was even like “So, I heard you went to mass yesterday.” Sweet—it’s parents and teachers now too! Yep, I’m officially a rock star!

6C had several workbook pages to correct, so I went over them with them. Then Pilar was like “Oh, you could do a dictation with them!” Me: “Suuuuure.” I didn’t know, (and still am not totally sure exactly what is—because I don’t think we actually did a real one) but had an idea of what a dictation was… and let me tell you, the words “writing” and “boring” were the first words that came to mind! Basically we/Pilar entitled it “Courtney’s Weekend” and I made up sentences (some true…some not so much!) about what I did. They may have been too complicated though because after every sentence, they were like “WHAT???” Pilar said they weren’t too hard, but I’m not sure…

In 2B, still working with farm animals, we put the flashcards on the board and I made up sentences about each animal. Sentences like “The pig has got four legs.” “The hen has got feathers.” It was really weird writing and saying the “has got” part, but that’s what they’re used to. I was tempted to add a British accent in there, you know, to make I sound more authentic—but I restrained myself! Oh those British and their proper English!

During my free hour at recreo, I started looking for possible activities to do for Saint Patrick’s Day. I found poems, songs, games and coloring sheets galore! The hard part will be narrowing it down!

3A and B were busy making their costumes for carnival, so I basically sat there the whole time and watched them do that—not that that’s any different than what I usually do, I guess! I helped Lourdes cut a few things out for the costumes (third level is going to be police officers!).

I’ve got (wait—listen to me…when you’ve been in a country for five months that teaches British English, you’re bound to get affected! I also say “flat” a lot too…) my lesson with Juan An in about half an hour. They have an English exam on Wednesday, so I’m sure we’ll study for that. I think I’m gonna come home and take a nap after that, because I’m T-I-R-E-D!

Xoxo,

Court

I went and picked up my package yesterday! Finally, after almost five weeks of waiting, I have it! There was so much more than I thought there’d be—I totally had a second Christmas yesterday!  Thanks mom and dad!

I was planning on going to mass at 6:30 last night, but then we ended up going to a nearby town, (like half an hour away) La Mota del Cuervo, because they have a pretty nice costume shop there and with carnival coming up in like two weeks, we all wanted to look for something! Gunita’s gonna be Minnie Mouse, Javi’s gonna be a bird, Jesús’ gonna be a baby. He was like “I’m gonna be a naughty baby!” Yeah, I know he will…Will didn’t find anything he liked and as for me—say hello to a Roman goddess!

We got done I think about 7:30ish. My friend Dani called on the way back and so he came over about 8:30 and gave me some music we had talked about before. It’s actually Marilyn Manson! I always thought he was kinda weird, but Dani really likes him and so we listened to some of his songs and I like him to now!

I went to mass (the kids mass!) at 11:30 this morning. I actually thought it was at 11, so I left here at 10:35 and got there ten minutes later and the doors were locked. Yeah, it was actually 11:30, so I went and walked around for a while to pass the time. I came back at about 11:10. I knew that there would be a million of my kids there, when I ran into like 20 of them on the way there.

I sat down and then Carlos and his friend Pablo came and sat down by me (without their parents)…there were a lot of kids without parents. So I was pretty much their babysitter. I don’t know how many kids I saw there—a ton! And each one, every time they saw, was like “CORNI!!!” Even as they were going up for communion, like 15 of them were like “HELLO!” rather loudly…so much for the tranquility of the House of God!

I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the rest of my day. But, if I end up doing nothing else I’ll be ok with that. I went to mass and therefore took a shower and got dressed—that’s more than say about last Sunday, so I’ve already been more productive, haha!

Xoxo,

Court

My package has finally arrived! Or it’s at the post office, at least...I got a little slip in the mail today saying that it was there. I don’t think they actually tried to deliver it though, because someone was here all morning. At least the post office is open on Saturdays— so I can go get it tomorrow!

At eleven o’clock I went for my chat with Carmen. She made espressos! It was so good…real European coffee! She served some chips ahoy like cookies with it; those were good too! We talked until about 1:15, about many different things—my package (before I knew I got the little slip), politics (Sarah Palin, go figure!), war… Franco, slavery, Nazism (of all things!  We’ve had some pretty deep conversations!) and Jane Austen! She showed me a book about the places in her novels, places she frequented, things like that. She has a couple of books that I’m going to barrow sometime. And some afternoon we’re going to watch a movie—she has Pride and Prejudice, The English Patient and a few others!

I went to the store after I left her flat for several things. When I got back Gunita asked me if I wanted to go to lunch with Jesús and her. I was really hungry and it sounded good so I went. Teodora and Arturo went too! We went to Sastre. I had arroz a la cubana, pechuga de pollo and natillas for dessert. I’m so full now! I don’t think I’m going to eat dinner, or at least a real meal—maybe like a yogurt or something.

Just kinda hanging out now…I’m sleepy. It’s pretty quiet around here. My cold won’t give up…it’s hanging on for dear life! I keep like blowing my noise, then sneezing, and then blowing my nose again. Yeah—it’s about as fun as it sounds. I hope it’ll wave its white flag soon…maybe tomorrow?

Xoxo,

Court

I feel like Winnie-the-Pooh and this blustery day! The sun has peeked through the clouds a few times, but mostly it’s been overcast and windy, too, of course. With the temperature having dropped the last few days, it’s a mighty cold wind, as well!

On my way to school, I again met Pilar and José Carlos. I thought they lived in the apartments that are right there, but actually they said they have coffee in the little café next door every morning. I also found out that Andrés, a kid in 5B, is José Carlos’ son, when we went and picked him up on our way to school. This was the first time we did so, though I’m not sure why.

When I got to 2A, Fran said they had an exam and that I didn’t have to stick around because there wouldn’t really be anything I could do. So…I went to the Sala de Profes, had a café and tried to figure out Sudoku on my phone. I’ve never really played the game before and I just don’t understand it…either that or I just don’t like thinking games—I think it’s the latte, haha!

After my free hour, I went to 6B. We talked/they made their own valentines. For some reason, I thought we had already talked about it last week and so I left my valentine at home…oops! It was ok though, because Pilar had examples from other classes for me to use.

Third was five years B. The basically did the same as last week and talked about carnival again, then listened to the song on CD, whilst we acted out each character. Oh and I also read them a short little story about Max, Poppy and Ellie dressing up like pirates, ghosts and policemen.

The last two hours were with the four-year-olds. I asked Sandra if Pilar ever said anything to her about the “disorganized classroom” last week and apparently she didn’t. In B, which is first, they did a coloring sheet with squares and circles—in which they had to color the squares pink and circles orange. For some, it was surprisingly difficult! Then on the back they had to write the numbers 1-5. I always go around and help Sandra and most of the time I have to speak Spanish because they’re so young and don’t understand much English. And, like every time, there are these two or three students that laugh at my accent, whenever I say anything! But they’re four I guess…

Many times Sandra plans different things for A and B because A behaves so much better. So with A I read them a story about a bee that makes honey and then we did a bee coloring sheet and they had to draw in a flower with the bee, just as in the story.

I have class (it should be Carlos’ turn today) in like an hour at four o’clock. I’m not sure what kind of homework he’ll have, but I would like to practice the alphabet. When we practiced it a couple of weeks ago, he didn’t know it too well…and it’s kinda essential to know!

I also got an email last night from the people holding my package hostage in Madrid. I went and paid the 43.09€ at a bank on Monday. In the email they said “It’s our pleasure to inform you that your package has left our office…” Really?! It’s your pleasure? Of course it is—I just paid you 58 dollars to RECEIVE a package that had already been paid for. If I don’t get it today, it better come tomorrow.

Xoxo,

Court

Today wasn’t nearly as rainy as yesterday, but it’s not that nice either. It has been cold, windy and dreary, though. It’s been lightly raining on and off for the last few hours…and of course, as is my luck, it was when I walked home.

5B was first. María José said they got back from Madrid at 11:45 last night, so she was really tired today! They started a new unit, all about sports…handball, gymnastics, bowling (I never knew that was a sport), soccer, kite surfing, judo and karate (which I thought were the same thing, but apparently not). We did several activities with those—repeating the words, descriptions and talked about who practiced what.

I had the three fourth levels today and we talked about U.S. presidents in honor of Presidents Day (next Monday!). I found a webpage that listed all the presidents with bios, so we took a look at that—looked at a few in particular…Washington, Lincoln, Kennedy, Clinton, the Bushes and of course, Obama. Then the classes colored a picture of número uno, Mr. George Washington! Leave it to Rocío to find coloring pages about Presidents Day…haha!

Third hour was 1A and they were a bit on the terrible side today. I pretty much sat there the whole time because they wouldn’t stop talking (in some cases shouting!) and were just like up and all over the place. Espe had wanted to do a game with their shape mobiles they made, but after getting nowhere after like 20 minutes, she had them put them away and get out their books. For about the last ten minutes they sort of did a workbook page. When I left, she was making them sit there for a while longer and miss some recreo. Most of them deserved it—exactly half of the class’ names were on the board. Yeah…she yelled a lot today.

Well, it’s no longer raining, just overcast at the moment, but it looks like it could start again at any time. Not that I had any plans to go anywhere else, but that’s the one downfall of walking everywhere—you have to brave the elements…no matter what they are!

Xoxo,

Court

…and the good weather has officially ended. :( It’s cold, rainy and gloomy today. I’m not too surprised though, after all it is still winter. I’m just thankful for the beautiful weather we had last week!

It was pouring when I left for school this morning! God was totally watching over me though because Pilar and José Carlos were just leaving their building again when I walked by. So I didn’t have to walk in the rain after all…thank you, Lord!

I had the three-year-olds first. After we sang the “Buenos Días” song, the maquinista/helper of the day, Víctor, called out everyone’s names. Then we practiced numbers, colors, shapes, modes of transportation (car, bus, train, etc.) and places around the city. They sure do get off task easily, but they’re so darn cute!

I didn’t have 5A today because fifth went to Madrid to visit El Prado and I think watch a basketball game as well. Third was 1B. Espe had them color shapes, cut them out and make a mobile out of them. It sounds pretty simple, right? Well, in theory, yes…but it took so long! Most of them weren’t even done break rolled around.

Fourth hour was five years A. We reviewed carnival costumes and then tried to play a really simple game where I took one flash card away and they had to guess which was missing. The only problem was that they didn’t want listen. They were all antsy and hyper, probably because they weren’t able to go out and run around during recreo, because it was pouring all day long.

Last hour was 6A and we talked about Valentine’s Day! I read the excerpt from their book with them, listened to the song “Sugar”, I showed them my example Valentine and then set them loose to make their own.

It was only drizzling a bit on my walk home, so it wasn’t too bad! I had some lunch and now I’m totally taking a nap! The weather’s perfect for it! Plus, I didn’t sleep well at all last night—I could sleep, I like wasn’t tired, kept tossing and turning and to top it off, my stomach hurt too. So yes, this has seemed like a very long day!

Xoxo,

Court

¡FELIZ DÍA DE SAN VALENTÍN! Unfortunately, Saint Valentine has decided to bring winter with him…it was so much colder today than it has been lately. Yesterday was kind of a preview though—it was overcast and rained for a bit too. No rain yet today (knock on wood!), but they’re calling for some tomorrow.

I set out for school and ran into the first grade teachers leaving their apartment (which I didn’t know before, but it’s very close to ours!) and they offered me a ride. Of course I said yes, because it was cold. When I got to school, I showed Aurora the email that I got about having to pay 43€ and she looked over it and told me which bank to go to. Luckily, I have a free hour on Mondays (the only day!) so I was able to go during fourth hour and take care of it (I hope!).

I had 6C first and we read the section about Valentine’s Day from their books. Later, I showed them my example and then they made their own. I know it’s good to show them examples, so they have some sort of an idea, but the bad part is then several of them copied it—that wasn’t the idea!

With 2B we did the same thing that we did with 2A last Thursday—I described different farm animals from their book, including what color hat they were wearing and food they were eating, and they had to guess which I was talking about. I did several and then we had students come up so they could choose one for the class to guess. And one thing that I don’t like about British English—for descriptions, they say “she’s got a hat/a pear” (or at least that’s how it is in their book) and I kept saying “she’s wearing a hat/eating a pear” and they were like “what?”.

3B had a science exam, and so I sat there the whole time. Fortunately, it wasn’t that bad because the worst kid wasn’t there—apparently, he hit one of his classmates in the eye last week and earned a week in the principal’s office. They still talked and cheated like crazy…but it was so much better than it normally is. That one kid sure does have a huge effect on the others!

I went to the bank fourth hour and came back for 3B last hour. They exchanged Valentine’s cards! They even surprised me with one! It was so unexpected—they were like “you’re the best teacher!” don’t know about that…I never get to do anything because it’s always so chaotic! Lourdes had them come up to the front and read them. Unfortunately, it was hard to hear because the worst kid of that class kept yelling and jumping around from desk to desk (he literally jumped on the desks, some of which had kids sitting in them). Lourdes called the office, but I didn’t hear what was said and she kept threatening to go get the principal but she never did.

I have my lesson at four (in like 25 minutes!) I think with Juan An today…but we’ll see when I get there. And having gotten to know Emi over the past several weeks—I didn’t eat too much for lunch!

Xoxo,

Court

It’s not going to seem like it (because now that I’m writing my thoughts down, it doesn’t seem like that much) but I feel like I did a lot yesterday. I actually got up (not just woke up!) at ten. It was another gorgeous day and so we had the windows open, let the fresh air blow in and cleaned for a bit. I went to the store afterwards to pick up a few forgotten items from the day before. I then went to mass at 6:30 again at San José.

From there I headed to Arturo’s because we made plans to go see Romeo and Juliet (the play). It was supposed to start at 8:30, but being that we’re in Spain (gotta love them laid back Spaniards!), it didn’t start until about 8:45. Oh no, wait…the actual play didn’t start then. Apparently, there had been some sort of poetry contest and the winner read her FIVE poems. It was funny because after she read them Arturo was like “I could have written a better one to win 50€”. He probably could too…Also, the mayor spoke a few words.

It was after nine (I think!) when the play started. It wasn’t only Shakespeare’s version…it was mixture of Lope de Vega and someone else too (whose name, of course, I can’t recall at the moment). I liked it (or what we saw of it, at least…we left at five to ten because our posse had dinner reservations for ten). It was very Spanish—loud and flamboyant. On our way out I stopped in the restroom and when I came out, Arturo was talking to these two gentlemen. So, of course, I joined the conversation. The older man told us about his daughter who had studied English. I recognized the younger man, having previously met him one awkward night at La Komba. The mayor walked up as we were on our way out the door and the older gentleman called out to us and was like “here, meet the mayor!”…so we did!

I thought we would be late to dinner (though I don’t know why…I always forget where we are!) because we had stayed to chat for a little—but of course not! We got to the restaurant at 10:15 and we were only the second ones there. The rest (we were 12 in all) showed up within ten-ish minutes. Dinner was just alright—almost everything was fried…mushrooms, croquetas, chicken wings and some meat and French fries. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—one of the very few things I don’t like about Spain is that we share everything when we go out. I‘m still not sure if that’s just how our group does it, or if it’s a general Spanish thing, but I’m not a fan. Maybe I’m just being a grouch, but I want to order and enjoy something that I like and pay for just that…I don’t want to pay for wine or beer that I didn’t drink.

By the time we finished, it was about 12:30 and I was already tired (I started feeling sleepy at mass). Everyone had planned on going out and I was like “NO!”. Jesús was like “What’s wrong? You were so quiet at dinner.” I was like “Yeah, dude, I’m tired!” So I came back, while everyone else went out.

As per usual, today has been my lazy/nothing day. I’m still in my pajamas, in bed, and I have no intention of getting dressed or leaving the house. Here’s to another fabulous Sunday! My idea, at least…

Xoxo,

Court

The streak of good weather continues…what a beautiful day! I feel like I’ve been super busy today even though I really haven’t. I had my lesson/chat with Carmen at 11:00…we talked for about two hours! About my package (which I have yet to receive…), school, religion and coffee too! She said that she has an espresso maker and loves it! Next time she said she’d make me one! She showed me her different flavor packets, which apparently you can’t get here, but in Madrid. I’m psyched for next week—she has caramel!

I left her house at one and went to the store…to get some more fruit, yogurt and such. I guess I need to not buy so much at once (because it’s super heavy to carry home!), but I am American and used to Wal-Mart! Anyway, I left with three (heavy!) plastic bags and on my way home, one of the bags burst open and my juice went rolling out into the street. I was kinda miffed that my bag broke in the first place, but also by the lady who was walking down the street with her two children, staring at me the whole time, as I tried to gather my fallen items. I was just kind of annoyed because she didn’t stop or say anything (I would have offered to help in some way) and when her little son stopped and pointed to my juice that was rolling around, she was like “Let’s go.” Woooow lady…thanks.

Luckily, I didn’t have too much in the broken bag and between the other two bags and my purse/bag; I got home with no problems. After I put everything away, I boiled some pasta for a salad and also took out some chorizo…I think I’ll make some lentils later. I’m doing a whole lot at the moment. Even though I didn’t get up until nine o’clock, I still feel really tired.

Xoxo,

Court

WOOOOOOT for the weekend! I’m ready to catch up on some sleep, too…I did not want to get up today! I had a pretty good day, for the most part (but I’ll get to that in a little bit).

I had 2B first and to start out Fran had the kids act out different animals and the others had to guess what they were. Actually, the original plan was to just have them make the noises, but then they all got into it and acted them out too! We then did an activity where I described certain animals from their book (wearing different colored hats and holding different objects) and they had to guess which picture it was. Later, just like with the other class on Monday, I asked them what their favorite food/drinks were.

Instead of going to 6B right away at ten, I stopped into see Aurora, because she’d been saying since Tuesday that she would take a look at my application to reapply for the program. It took longer than I thought: first she looked at my letter and I thought she was going to print it off, but she said something about tweaking the margins a bit…I guess the paper here is different. Then I pulled up the application itself and we were trying to input more info and it wouldn’t let us for a while, it said it couldn’t be done and yada, yada, yada! In the end, I don’t know what changed, but we were finally able to finish it and print it out. She said they’d send it in for me, along with the principal’s evaluation, so my part is done—they have my letter and app!

Third hour was five years B. We talked about different costumes (carnival is in a few weeks!) such as a pirate, witch, ghost, teacher and policeman (I realize it’s not politically correct to say “policeman”, but that’s what they teach them at that age). We then came up with gestures to do whilst listening to a song on CD and ended class with “Simon Says”.

The last two hours I was with the four-year-olds. The second class were prefect little angels and we had fun, but the first class behaved terribly! Hence the reason I said my day was good for the most part. I mean they usually do talk and get off track easily—that’s part of dealing with four-year-olds—but they’ve never been so intolerable!

There’s this one little boy who always acts out…never listens, hits, screams, I mean you name it, he does it. Today Sandra had to sit right down next to him the whole time to make sure he wasn’t up, running around crazy. So that left me…and I’m really not comfortable being the “main” teacher. I don’t know them too well and they don’t know me; I only see them once a week. Not to mention there’s a language barrier. I mean, I can communicate with them, but not as well as the other teachers.

So while Sandra had her hands full with this one little boy, I tried (to no avail!) to keep order with the others…they ran amok, all 20 of them—there was hitting, screaming, crying and toys everywhere. Finally when the hour was up, the regular teacher came back in and kind of looked around, but didn’t say much. Then, as we were leaving, she was like “Wait, Sandra, we need to talk later because you left my classroom disorganized and now I have to clean it up.” I didn’t check everything she said, but I got the gist of it. First of all, it’s not like that happens every time; this was the first time. Second of all, there are 20 of them and two of us and third of all, they’re four…yes, sometimes your class is going to get messy and you’re going to have to clean it up. We were both just mad because she was annoyed with us. I think we did our best for how they were acting!

Now, I’m just at home, chillaxing...I’m kinda thinking that a nap is in order! Since I don’t have a lesson today, I can totally take one! I need to catch up on my sleep for sure…everyday this week I’ve grumbled as my alarm went off!

Xoxo,

Court

I don’t want to jinx it or anything, but this has been like the fifth day in a row of fantastic weather! It’s so nice! I’m looking out my window right now and there’s not a cloud in the sky—just miles of clear blue!

First hour today I had 5B. Since it’s the first class of the day, there’s generally “first thing” things to take care of—like collecting their exams they took home to get signed and just others things to start off the day. By the time we actually got started with class, we had only about 40 minutes. I went over homework with them for the remaining time.

Second, fourth and fifth hours I was with the fourth years. We talked about Valentine’s Day! There was a little section in the book, which I read to them and then we made, or started to make, at least, (we didn’t have enough time to finish in any of the classes) our own Valentine’s cards. I showed the one I made for an example and they were all like “OHHHHH, WOOOOOOW!” Some construction paper, cut-out hearts and some glue can work wonders! I taught the class (and Rocío!) the word “stellar”! One of the phrases I wrote in my card was “I hope you have a stellar day!” Also, “I love you more than chocolate!”

Third hour was 1A. Espe played the song about shapes for them and they were supposed to do they actions (while we watched, to see what they remembered), but they just kind of jumped around and didn’t really pay attention to the song. I explained a worksheet to them after that (a picture of a park), where they had to color, for example, the triangle shapes red and the circles orange. They did pretty well with that…I walked around and made sure they had the colors right!

I have my lesson with Carlos this afternoon because they have something else to do tomorrow. Plus, I think Emi said he has a science exam tomorrow—which is bilingual—so getting some extra practice/studying is a good thing. After that…I don’t know for sure, but there is only one more day left in the work week!

Xoxo,

Court

The spectacular weather continues today! I’d say it was at least 60…not bad for February! While I was with the three-year-olds, they got a new student! Julia and I thought it was a girl at first (we saw him from a far with long hair) but no; his name’s Deivid and he’s from Ecuador, I believe. He cried for a little while after his mom left, but all the kids were super nice and were like “don’t cry!” it was really cute!

In 5A we corrected homework for the majority of the time, which was kinda boring, but I got to do it with them at least. Any time spent in the classroom is good, I guess, regardless of what you’re doing.

We reviewed shapes (triangle, square, circle, star) in 1B and then we listened to this song and we made up actions for the words as we sang them. I know I’ve said this before, but their overall behavior is not as good as it was a couple of months ago…we seem to accomplish less, in both class, 1A and B, than we did before. Espe has to wait more for them to be quiet and they’re just altogether rowdier :(.

In five years A we reviewed the short little story we read last week. Espe then handed out the story cards to different students and as we listened to the story on CD, each student had to hold up the corresponding card. Later, they did a worksheet where they had to circle all the characters in the story and color them (of course!).

We did more correcting of the homework in 6A…so nothing too exciting. On way home I stopped at the store and got a loaf of bread because for some reason, I had a huge craving for it! I’ve spent a good chunk of time this afternoon making an example Valentine’s Day card. Since it’s next week, I just figured we would talk about it next week and I’d have plenty of time to make a card, but NO! I was talking with Rocío earlier and she was like “so yeah, we’ll talk about it tomorrow!” I’m not complaining though, it’s not like I didn’t have time to make it this afternoon. Besides, now it’s done and I can do something else…like cook the hamburger meat I took out of the freezer two days ago!

Xoxo,

Court

I’m still congested today, but I’m surviving! The weather’s been awesome the last couple of days! I actually got hot walking home from school today and I wasn’t even wearing gloves! Perhaps spring is coming early…I can dream, at least!

In 6C we reviewed their vocab and then I corrected some of their homework with them. They were kinda talkative today and Pilar told me they were on punishment, from Friday, when they wouldn’t stop chatting apparently…that’s what happens on Fridays, though.

I spent half of the first half of the hour with 2B waiting for them to finish up with some science stuff. They were in a different room, one with a projector, so I waited out in the hall on a bench. Not that I minded though, my head ached this morning. When they got back to the room, there was only about 25 minutes left and Fran checked off their homework (which takes a long time with seven-year-olds, I have learned). Afterwards, I went over pronunciation of their vocab words—food—and then asked each what their favorite food or drink was. It was kinda funny (and by funny, I mean a little racist) but when I got to the Chinese kid (he really is, I don’t just mean he’s Asian) Fran asked him if he liked rice! I wanted to laugh, but then I stopped myself.

3A and B weren’t too bad today. The troublemaker of all troublemakers wasn’t there, so Lourdes didn’t have to deal with him and she was actually able to explain a worksheet to them! I didn’t know if I’d ever see the day! Their studying food also, although different than second level.

I was so hungry when I got home…I don’t know why—I’m usually hungry, but not that hungry! I had some leftover rice (Jesús, Will and Gunita went for Chino last night and brought me back some because I didn’t feel like leaving) and some mandarinas. I never eat that much on Mondays or Thursdays because Emi (Juan An and Carlos’ mom) will make me eat a ton while we have café after our lesson. Regardless of how much I eat for lunch, she’s always like “come! come!” Yeah, she’s really nice, though!

Xoxo,

Court

I have another cold…ugh! It started Friday with my throat being a bother—just kinda dry and scratchy, but nothing painful. I didn’t sleep well Friday night because I couldn’t breathe and I was congested. I woke up yesterday and felt the same, so really the only thing I did was go to mass at 6:30 last night. I went to the one by school—San José. There was also one at another church at 7:30, but I decided earlier would be better. I’m kind of ashamed to admit it, well not kind of, I’m actually completely ashamed to admit it, but that was the first time I’ve been mass while here. I decided that it was time to get reacquainted with Our Lord!

I came home and crawled back into bed and stayed there for the rest of the night. I woke up this morning and still feel the same. Again, I didn’t sleep to well last night. So…I’ve pretty much been a lazy bum today! I did a load of laundry and hung it up to dry and that’s quite literally all I’ve accomplished. I just don’t have the energy (totally the Gilroy side of me, haha!) to do anything. I feel so blah. Maybe tomorrow will be better…hopefully, since tomorrow’s Monday!

Xoxo,

Court

 

Today I had my lesson with Carmen at 11:00. I went over to her house again and we talked about TV shows, smoking (which was banned here after the New Year) and also politics, go figure…that was a very “not me” conversation! It was interesting though…she talked about Zapatero and I talked about Bush and Obama—we talked for about two hours!

From there I went to school to have Aurora send the list of items that are in my package in Madrid. I got there a little after one and Aurora was in class—which I was confused about because I could have sworn she told me to come around that time. I had to print out the list and luckily Alberto walked in and was like “oh, you can use my computer…it’s all yours, I have to go to class.” Sweet! So I printed it out and waited for Aurora to come back (though I didn’t have to wait long, maybe like five minutes, so I don’t think she was actually in class…but whatever). I had hoped that she’d fax it right away, but she had to leave right away for a meeting at city hall, so she said she’d do it Monday. I totally appreciate her doing this for me, because she doesn’t have to…but that’s another three days—I just want my package!

I got home about two o’clock and heated up some tortilla de patata that I got at the store a couple of weeks ago and had frozen. I love it…it’s so good! I also made some more arroz con leche! I’ve tried it before at home and thought it was disgusting, but here, it’s like, so good! It’s totally becoming one of my favorite things to make! It’s been a very Spanish food day!

Xoxo,

Court

Hooray for the weekend…and I got paid today! Today went by pretty quickly. First hour I had 2A. We went over the Alphabet, like we did in 2B the other day and they had to come up with words that started with the letter I chose. Fran then put the farm animal flashcards on the board and the kids had to come up and spell the animals; then we spelled them out loud together.

6B was next and we read the story about Kimani, the oldest pupil in the world, again and I asked them comprehension questions. Later, we played BINGO! with their profession vocab.

In five years B, we sang the song about greetings and the weather. We later played this “dominoes” game, where we all had two flashcards and we had to place the similar ones (i.e. doll, car, ball) next to each other, so that they were touching. The game took quite a while though, so that’s really the only thing we had time for, before “breakfast time” (ten minutes before class gets out).

The last two hours I was with the four-year-olds. I tried to read the first class a story, but they were much too rowdy and so Sandra decided to skip the story and go right for a worksheet. They had to color things in the park—swing, slide, tree, etc. With the second class, we did another activity where they had to punch out their picture (instead of cutting it with scissors) and then Sandra I and wrote park words underneath the flaps, folded them and the kids had to rewrite the words. That was it for those classes...the four-year-olds always get ready to leave about 15 minutes early, so I was able to leave too!

I have my lesson with Juan Antonio at four o ‘clock today and after that, I need to go to the bank to deposit my check. I don’t actually have class tomorrow, but I may go in to send a fax to Madrid to release my package. I have no idea why this is different than the first one, but it’s taking forever to get! I just want my package, is that too much to ask? Now they’re saying they need a declaration of exactly what it contains and the approximate value before they’ll release it. Come on, already!

Xoxo,

Court

I had lots of free time today! First hour I was finally able to have class with 5B! I hadn’t had class with them since well before Christmas! The schedule conflict has been resolved, so I’m back on track with them now! We talked about unique buildings, like I did with 5A the other day.

Second hour I didn’t have class because Rocío had to go to the high school to meet with her son’s teacher. Third hour I had 1A and we reviewed some park vocab and then Esperanza and I hung the flashcards around the room and then we had the kids point to the different words as we said them.

On the way to 4C with Rocío I ran into Pilar and she told me that Rocío’s uncle had died and she was at church, though I didn’t understand if it was for a rosary or just to pray for him or what. So I went with Pilar to 6A and we played BINGO!

Last hour Pilar said I could just go home, but as I was leaving, I ran into Rocío. I didn’t go to class with her though because they were doing some sort of standardized test preparation with computers. Instead, I looked for some Valentine’s and Presidents’ Day activities.

Because I didn’t have class last hour, I was able to leave about ten minutes early. I came home, had some lunch and now I’m just kinda hanging out and watching How I Met Your Mother. Today is also Arturo’s birthday, so he’s coming over about ten o’clock and we’re going to have some cake!

Xoxo,

Court

I left for the post office about 8:30 this morning. Unfortunately, I didn’t get anything resolved—yet. I thought all I had to do was fill out the sheet they sent and then take it to the post office. I got there and the guy was like “Oh, you need to fax this and then you’ll have to pay to have your package sent here, from Madrid (even though it was already paid for once, when it was sent…what the heck??). So I was a little annoyed this morning and told Aurora about it and (thankfully!) she said she would call and get the “scoop” on what exactly I have to do.

Because I went to the post office, I arrived to school about ten minutes late and then spent another ten talking to Aurora, so I didn’t get to class (three years) until about twenty after; so I didn’t have too much time with either class…we did greetings, went over some shapes and numbers and that was it.

5A was after that. They were finishing up science in English when I got there. We then talked about the city of Oxford and all the things there are to do and see there—malls, movie theaters, museums, etc. Portions of Harry Potter were even filmed there, which I didn’t know! I then asked them questions to check for comprehension and realized that I still don’t know some of their names…not good, I know!

In 1B, we didn’t get a whole lot accomplished. I don’t know what the deal was today, but there were just really antsy; up and down, hitting, talking—they just didn’t behave well. We reviewed some things from last week and I read them a story from their books and that was about it.

In five years A I read them a story that had to deal with park vocab and then they did a worksheet. Last class was 6A. We listened to a story on CD about Kimani, the oldest pupil in the world. Then I asked them comprehension questions.

As we were leaving for the day, I heard the regular 6A teacher say something about crying and Pilar told me that one of the students had broken the window with his head and he didn’t want to go home to face his parents. I asked if it was on purpose and she said yes, but I think she might have misunderstood. Apparently he was beating on the window with his hand to say hello to some students outside down below.  And then for whatever reason he started to pound his head against the window and it broke…oops! It doesn’t sound like it was on purpose, so I don’t think it was.

On my way home I stopped at the store to get some more mandarins and ended up with several more things too! That’s the way it always goes though, right? I had some leftover lasagna for lunch and I’m thinking that a nap sounds pretty good about now…since I did get up a whole 20 minutes early today!

Xoxo,

Court