HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! Hope you’re still able to enjoy today even with your ankle. :(

It’s like 70 degrees today! The sun is out, the wind is almost nonexistent and there’s not a cloud in the sky. It’s a gorgeous day to be outdoors; I may go read in the park…

School today seemed to go by very quickly! First hour I was in 2B. I reviewed some clothes vocab with them (to practice pronunciation mostly, since they’ve had this vocab for several weeks). Later there was a picture of four different people in their book and I described what each person was wearing and they had to guess which person it was.

As per my schedule change, in place to 6B, I went to 3B…and sat there. I talked with Lourdes a little bit about some Easter activities, but that was it.

In five-years A we listened to a song to practice the clothing vocab they’ve learned. We mimed putting on shoes, trousers and a hat. It seems like each week we lose more and more class time because they’re always hungry and restless. Today we only had class for about half an hour, instead of 50 minutes because they were complaining so much.

With the four-year-olds, Sandra is putting booklets together of all of their worksheets from the beginning of the year, and so they colored a cover page for that. It was a picture of the main character from their English materials, Ellie the Elephant.

I don’t have a lesson today, because with Pilar gone Juan An said he didn’t have anything to study (with me) and apparently Carlos doesn’t either. I was going to go over to Arturo and Teo’s later to do laundry, but when I got home, I got a big surprise! Will told me they’re coming to give us our new door, in about an hour, at 4:30!!! I’m super excited—it’s almost been a month since it broke for good. Also, at seven o’clock I’m meeting up with a teacher who taught English at Gerardo last year and we’re going to have a conversational hour—half in English and half in Spanish…it’ll be good practice for both of us!

Xoxo,

Court

It’s 61 degrees and partly cloudy today. It’s a little windy, but other than that, it’s a pretty nice day. The forecast is calling for the 70s over the next few days, so it should be a pretty nice weekend!

I got to school this morning and Alberto told me that María José was sick and so 5B wasn’t going to have English. I was headed to look up some activities for Easter and then the 5A teacher, Pilar, asked if I could teach something, or at least be in there, along with her, so they could at least have English today. So I went and we corrected a couple of workbook pages and then did this other worksheet.

We started talking about Easter with the fourth years. I found a few songs to sing and then I talked about traditions in the United States. There’s still a lot we haven’t covered yet though, like some vocab, videos and coloring sheets, so that should take us up until break.

With Espe’s 1B we were also in the video room. She said they’d been taking an exam all morning and needed a break and so we watched this like two minute video in English about an ant who gets saved my a pigeon, and then later he saves the pigeon’s life. And then all the kids were like “BobEsponja—en español!” (SpongeBob) so we watched cartoons (in Spanish) for the rest of the hour.

This afternoon I’m totally watching some Modern Family! I bought some blanks CDs yesterday and Will burned the first several episodes for me. I’ve only seen a few episodes from the current season, but I LOVE it, it’s hilarious! So now I can watch all of them!

Xoxo,

Court

It’s nearly 60 degrees today and sunny at the moment (although it was raining as I was walking home). I actually got a little warm while walking back and forth from classes earlier, but when the sun went into hiding and the rain made an appearance, it was a rather chilly.

First hour was split with the three-year-olds. I went to Julia’s class first and they were just finishing up the “Buenos Días” song. Then Mayte called roll in English and we counted the number of students in school and at home (17 and 3). Then Julia taught the class a few tongue twisters for spring.

Ángela’s class is learning about fruits and vegetables, so they went over those several times (and I would say the name in English). The student who said the word first took the card and stuck it on the board. It’s amazing how into it they were! Some actually got upset if they had said the word but weren’t able to put it up there—but they are three, I guess!

5A is reading a comic strip book based on the novel “Around the World in Eighty Days”. They were working on questions and doing an assignment for the majority of the time, so I didn’t do much. Although I was able to go over the assignment with them with ten minutes left in class.

1B had a little quiz of sorts. They had this picture of fish and the bubbles from their mouths had different letters to spell out animals (lion, elephant, dolphin, etc). Below the big picture, there were smaller pictures of the animals and they had to find the word and write it underneath the picture. Later, I said “color the fish/lion/dolphin red/yellow/blue”. Espe had predicted that some would have trouble with it and she was right…they took a long time; we almost ran out of time and had to rush towards the end of the hour.

In five-years A we did this activity to practice putting on and taking off clothes. Espe had this poster of a scarecrow in which we could change the shoes, hat, pants and shirt. We had one student at a time go up the board and I would say, for example “put on the purple shoes” or “take off the yellow hat”.

In place of Pilar’s 6A, I went to 3A Plástica (aka Art). I’d never been to Plástica before, so I was interested to see what they’d do. It’s wasn’t what I’d expected: they colored this picture of a castle. So I sat there as I usually do with the third years and watched chaos unfold, as Raúl reached into Lourdes’ coat pocket, stole her keys and tried to run out of the class. Oh how I hope they find a replacement for Pilar sooner rather than later!

I’m gonna go to the chino store when it opens back up at five to see about getting some blank CDs, for Will to burn some Modern Family. Oh and I also need to call this lady about possibly giving her a class. I hope it works out!

Xoxo,

Court

And my schedule has changed again—for the time being, at least. Last week I found out that Pilar is pregnant and is really worried about the baby. And rightfully so I learned that she had a miscarriage in November. So she went to the doctor I think Friday and he basically has ordered bed rest, possibly until the baby is born, which is gonna be a while—as she’s not even showing yet. So all my sixth year classes have been changed until they can find a sub English teacher. Guess which classes two of the three hours have been replaced with? Wait for it…I don’t even wanna say it: third year…NOOOO!

In place of 6C first hour, I went to bilingual science with Lourdes and 1A. That wasn’t bad. They’re talking about weather conditions, so I described a picture of the weather from their books and they did fill-in-the-blank sentences about it.

In 2B I helped this kid, whom had been in China for a month and a half visiting family, get caught up on a comprehensive exam. That was rather boring—I basically sat there and gave him many of the answers about colors, animals and numbers.

I didn’t do anything for the last two hours with third year. Wait, no, I take that back—for the last six minutes with 3A (last hour) I read them I VERY short story with eight fotos—though I did have to stop numerous times in order to wait for attention.

I have my lesson with Juan An this afternoon, although I’m not sure what we’ll do since we didn’t have class today. I could always have my lesson with Carlos…they did the clown activity like I did with 2A on Thursday. We shall see…

Xoxo,

Court

Today has been very low-key. At the store yesterday, Will decided he wanted to make an American breakfast this morning. We had pancakes and bacon (they actually have the Oscar Mayer brand here, go figure!). Gunita helped him with that and then I did the dishes. I cleaned the bathroom after that. I went to church at 6:30 and got home 15 minutes ago. I’m trying to download season one of Modern Family, but it’s being SO slow…it’ll be a while. I think the others are going out to dinner later. I passed; I’m trying to save some money for Germany, plus you know there’s whole pay-sharing thing, so it’s better not to go I think!

Xoxo,

Court

I’m so glad it’s the weekend! I’ll be catching up on some sleep over the new few days!

It started out nice and sunny this morning, although the wind is still making its presence known. I went over to Carmen’s at 11:30 for our weekly chat and espresso. We talked longer than I thought—at 1:45 she was like “Well, I have to go pick up María now.” The time just flew by today! We talked about the washing machine and how it’s still not fixed. Then she started telling me about how her mom used to wash clothes the “old-fashioned way”, with a tub of water and a scrubber thing. That evolved into the Amish and modern day technologies and a few other things.

I hit the store on the way home, as I usually do. Then I got home and Gunita was like “Jesús is coming over and we’re going to the store at three”. So I went again. But it was a different store, so it was ok…and of course I still found things to buy!

By the time we left Mercadona, it was pouring outside. That made it fun to unload Jesús’ car. It wasn’t actually that bad. I’m just glad we had a ride and didn’t have to walk.

We got home about half an hour ago and it’s pretty quiet around her now. The rain has stopped, but the sky is still kinda dark—good napping weather! I’m not going to do anything tonight…I’ve been on the go the past three days; I just want to hang out!

Xoxo,

Court

HOLY WIND, BATMAN! It’s been so incredibly windy today and yesterday! Combined with the cold, it’s been kind of miserable. Yesterday was quite a tiring a day. I did the same thing with 5B that I did with 5A on Tuesday. Wendy was in Rocío’s 4B class, so I just kind of sat and listened that hour. Also, there was a Bulgarian English teacher named Bodie here from Tomelloso. I’m not sure why she was there (maybe she’d heard that Wendy was here) but she stayed for a couple of hours and I skipped 1B to have a chat a coffee with her. The last two hours with 4A and 4C Wendy was in other classes, so we continued talking about different states—this week it was California, New York, Illinois and one other one I don’t remember.

After school, we went to nearby El Toboso for lunch and to follow some of Don Quijote’s route, including Dulcinea’s House (yes, we did this in October when Carol, another Irish teacher, was here). Then we went to Campo de Criptana to see the windmills and walk around a bit, but everything was closed. It would have been more fun/better if it wasn’t SO WINDY, but what can you do? I got home at 7:00 and I was so tired; I was in bed by 9:30.

I don’t think today is as windy as yesterday (don’t get me wrong, though, it’s still really windy). In 2A we listened to this short little story about a clown and then the students had to put the phrases from the story in the correct order. I then wrote sentences up on the board and they had to draw/color a clown based on what I wrote (i.e. the clown has got purple eyes/red nose/yellow mouth/pink hair…)

With 6B I first helped them correct their homework and then we did this fill-in-the-blank activity Saint Patrick’s Day activity they didn’t have time for last week.

I didn’t go to the other classes because Wendy and Aurora were trying to get a video conference going with her school there in Ireland and I wanted to see it. The problem was Wendy has never used the program before and it was being difficult. We finally got everything squared away about 1:30, so they were able to chat a little bit. Some of her students were there and Rocío and Pilar brought some of ours in, so it was kinda cool to see! I wish we could do that with some of the kids in NP, but the time difference is so great, when we leave school, their day hasn’t even begun yet.

We went for another lunch after school at Stone. I tell you these Irish get all the special treatment! It was Antonio, Alberto, Aurora, Rocío, Wendy and me. We ate some delicious paella! It was so good—I could eat paella every day!

I got home about an hour ago at four and I’m thinking about taking a nap now. I don’t know why, but I’ve been so tired like every day this week. I’m definitely looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow!

Xoxo,

Court

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my MOM!!! Hope you’re having/have an awesome day! Love and miss you!!! Today also marks six months for me in Spain! I can’t believe it…where has the time gone?

Well, we’re back to winter-like weather today—it’s 50 and SUPER windy! The wind wouldn’t be so bad, but since it’s a cold wind, it kinda sucks. It’s been cloudy all day. One good thing though is that they were calling for rain, but we haven’t seen any yet…knock on wood!

I met the Irish teacher when I arrived at school this morning. Her name is Wendy and she’s from the west of Ireland, from a town called Sion Mills. She’s very nice.

I had the three-year-olds first today, but didn’t do anything because Julia was gone (I think they said her dad’s in the hospital), so I just sat in her class whilst another teacher taught. Then I went to Ángela’s (Wendy was there) and they were talking about places around the town again, or at least Ángela was. I sat and listened.

In 5A, I read them a story about their new unit they just started: things in Thailand—for example beach, jungle, river, lake, waterfall, etc. Then I asked them questions to check for comprehension and showed them more pictures for them to name.

1B was rather noisy and rambunctious today, so we only had time for one activity. I handed out the vocab flashcards (one or two to each student, including animals and colors) and when I said the word, that student had to bring me the card. And then class was over.

In five years A we did a review activity. We “built a monster” on the whiteboard. I would call on a student and say something like “pick up the blue/red/green head/arm/leg/ear” and they had to stick it on the board. I remember doing this activity several months ago…and some students did too!

Last class was 6A. Wendy was in that class to talk with them a little bit about Ireland, so I just listened most of the time. The kids introduced themselves and then we sang “He Lived Under a Rainbow” since they didn’t have a chance to sing it last week.

I have another lesson with Juan An and Carlos this afternoon, because they both have exams tomorrow, so Emi asked if I could come back today. Then at six, I’m meeting some of the teachers and Wendy at Mulligan’s (the Irish pub!) for a café.

Xoxo,

Court

It’s another fairly nice day! It’s 55 (which isn’t bad), but the wind is quite active today! The forecast is calling for rain the next few days…I hope they’re wrong!

For the first two hours of the day (6C and 2B) we talked about Saint Patrick’s Day, since we weren’t able to do so last week. I think I’m done with the PowerPoint now! Thank goodness—I was getting a little sick of it! We watched a couple of short video clips in both classes, also. After that, we sang the “He Lived Under a Rainbow” song with 6C, whereas 2B colored a picture.

I sat in 3A/B classes and observed chaos, like always. Lourdes explained this activity, in which they had to draw and color vocab words (having to do with clothes—i.e. shirt, skirt, sweater, pants, etc). This is totally something first years can do, and have done. It’s definitely time to raise the bar, but at the same time, someone would probably rip the bar down and hit their classmates with it…

I have my lessons in an hour—Juan An at four and then the other kid at five. I thought his name was Javier, but then Will was like “Uh, there’s no Javier in that class.” Alright then. Things on my to-do list for the day: 1. Go to school—check 2. Go to lessons—will soon be checked 3. Learn student’s name—work in progress.

Xoxo,

Court

It’s another gorgeous day! 63, sunny and clear—not a cloud in the sky! It’s been really refreshing to have my window open so much!

I ended up going to mass this morning. I actually did try to go last night and got there at 6:20 and the doors were shut and locked. There was a group of older ladies standing by the door; it seemed as if they had intended on going too. As I was walking away, this car pulled up and asked if the church was open—so apparently no one (or not everyone) knew it was going to be closed.

So I went to this morning at 11:30 and of course saw all of my kids there. A few fifth level girls sat behind me and some of the sixth boys took part in the mass: saying a few welcoming words at the beginning, doing petitions and taking up the collection. It was kind of a longer mass, the homily was rather lengthy today; I didn’t get home until 12:42!

It’s three o’clock now and I’m gonna take a nap! I must admit that although I like going to mass on Sundays, because it gets me up and around (also it’s easier for me to understand the children’s mass!), but I always get sleepy from like 2-4ish (not that that’s different from a school day, I guess).

Xoxo,

Court

¡Feliz Día de Padres! Happy Father’s Day—in Spain at least! Hope you’re having a good day, Dad!

It’s so gorgeous outside today—65, sunny and not a cloud in the sky! I’ve had my window open all day! I like listening to all the happenings down below…it’s relaxing in a way—the sounds of spring!

Today’s been pretty slow. I went over to Arturo’s at one and did some laundry (I hope our new door doesn’t take forever to get!). I made a salad for “lunch” about an hour and a half ago, at 4:15. And I’ll be heading to mass in a little over half an hour. I’m looking forward to the walk! More so than other days (not that I hate walking, though, but it’s so nice outside!) We’ll see what the evening bring—something usually goes on Saturday nights…

Xoxo,

Court

Today is a beautiful day! It’s sunny, clear and 62! And it’s supposed to be in the 60s and clear all weekend!

I went for my lesson with Carmen at 11:00. We talked about school and how her classes are going, more about Semana Santa and that I’m staying here next year!!! She was really happy to hear that. We were talking and she was like “Well, I don’t really want to go, but I told Mr. Sánchez (Eloy) that I’d go to the movie tonight because it’s my movie!” They’re going to show The Bourne Ultimatum and since I love the trilogy, of course I said that I would go!

I hit the store on the way home for some more milk (and it’s a good thing I went today too, because tomorrow is Father’s Day here, and everything is closed). I got about 1:45 and Gunita asked if I wanted to go to lunch at Stone. So Gunita, Will and I walked by Arturo’s and “collected him” or whatever and then met Jesús there. The restaurant was pretty empty—only one other table was occupied.

Afterwards, Gunita said that she needed to go to the store, so we all (minus Jesús) went. And of course I found a few other things to pick up even though I’d already been once today: tuna, makeup wipes and a new type of juice to try!

We got home at four o’clock. I’m meeting Carmen at the corner in an hour, at 5:45, for the movie at six. I’m pretty psyched to see it: not only is it in English, but it’s one that I really love too!

Xoxo,

Court

HAPPY SAINT PARTICK’S DAY!!! Today it’s 60 degrees and sunny! It’s beautiful outside…I even got hot wearing my coat! Let’s hope the nice weather continues and spring is on its way!

Today was all about Saint Patrick! Even with the littles! 2A was first and we went to the video/orange room to talk about the PowerPoint. That took a while, because they’re still pretty small and don’t understand a lot of English, so Fran translated everything. We then watched a few more SPD video clips While Fran went to grab some paper for the class to draw a picture.

6B was basically the same, except we had more time, so we sang the “He Lived Under a Rainbow” song. The kids wanted to watch more videos, but Pilar and I were like “NO! We have to do SOME learning!”

Five years A was basically pointless. Espe and I had planned to tell a short story of SP, but the kids were so restless and were like “we’re hungry!” The problem is the regular teacher usually feeds them snack at 11:00, but on Thursdays, since we’re there from 11:00-11:50, we have class first and then snack about 11:40. It’s kind of a lose-lose because if they have snack before class, they’re all sugared up and want to run around and so they don’t listen, but if we don’t have it until after, sometimes they don’t pay attention anyway because they’re so hungry.

With the four-year-olds, Sandra made up a story about SP and a leprechaun (I thought about doing it, but it’s still REALLY hard for me think on the spot like that in Spanish!) and then they colored a sheet in which SpongeBob was dressed as a leprechaun, since they love SpongeBob SO much! Oh and also this little girl wiped her mouth on my jeans and left a stain…I almost gagged as I was trying to clean it. I showed Will and was like “Alright, here’s your gross out for the day!” He was like “Yeah, that’s nasty… that’s actually really nasty!” I know, right? True story.

Xoxo,

Court

The temperature isn’t too bad today; it’s about 50 right now. They’ve been calling for rain for the past several days, but we didn’t see any until today (not that it was a lot, though). I was getting ready to leave school and Rocío was like “it’s raining”. It was more like spitting every now and then…not even enough to pull out my umbrella.

Today was pretty monotonous. With fourth and fifth levels (first, second, fourth and fifth hours) I talked about Saint Patrick. We went over the PowerPoint, talked about some vocab (shamrock, rainbow, pot of gold, etc), watched a few short video clips and sang this song I found “He Lived Under a Rainbow” sung to the tune of B-I-N-G-O. And Rocío told me that there’s another teacher coming from Ireland next week! That should be interesting!

The only class that was different today was 1A. We talked about different/new animals (giraffe, squirrel, turtle, bee, etc). We then played a game where the students had to come up to the front of the class and act out an animal for the rest to guess!

One more day in the work week! Ahh, and I’m gonna have to make sure to wear green tomorrow…Whilst talking about SPD, I kinda made a big deal about getting pinched if ya don’t!

Xoxo,

Court

I’m officially staying in Spain for another year!!! I got word yesterday that I’d been placed at my same school again and I accepted right away! Arturo got his email as well and he’s staying here too! Will hasn’t gotten his yet, because he made a mistake on his application and his has been delayed a bit, but I don’t doubt his email will come…so we’ll all be together again! WOOT!

Today, I started talking about Saint Patrick’s Day and will continue to do so tomorrow and Thursday! The only thing I don’t like about going to the three-year-old classes is that sometimes it’s hard (like today, when I had planned a special activity) to talk with them. Neither Julia nor Ángela speak English and so I was trying to explain a really simple history of St. Patrick to them in Spanish and it was really hard! I got through I short little history and then I had found this leprechaun song (sung to the tune of “I’m a Little Teapot”), but then I like totally forgot the words, so we didn’t do that…next week, when I have it memorized!

It was more St. Patrick’s stuff with 5A and 6A (second and fifth hours). I found this easy PowerPoint that explained the history, symbols and things like that. It was only six slides but it took like the whole hour in both classes, because I would stop for María José and Pilar to explain things in Spanish. The last slide talked about popular Irish last names and of course I added GILROY to the list! How could I not?! I even bolded it and put stars around it! Some of the kids were like “Why is that one bigger and starred?” “Uhh, only cuz like the best name EVER!!!”

In 1B we talked more about animals from their zoo unit. I asked them what each animal was and what color it was. Some of them are really smart and good at English and knew all the answers right away! Then they had to color the pictures of the animals exactly as the examples appeared.

Five years A was really restless today. We sang the “Hello” and “What’s the Weather Like” songs and that was about it. I was going to review some vocab with them, but they wouldn’t sit still or quietly long enough to do so. In the end, Espe explained a worksheet about the number eight, in which they had to draw in different numbers of spots on cows to equal the number. Like three minutes later it was time to go.

I went to the store again on my way home, because I couldn’t get everything I wanted yesterday. I still want to get a six pack of milk, but that’s like super heavy and when I buy that, I can buy little else, in order to make the walk home possible. So I’ll probably go back again in the next couple of days! Oh, the Spanish lifestyle…

Xoxo,

Court

Not to jinx it or anything, but they were calling for rain today, but we haven’t seen any! (Yet…) it’s partly cloudy/sunny and 54 degrees…not too bad, although the wind is kinda being obnoxious!

Today was just an alright day. First hour was pretty good with 6C. We did the same thing as with 6B last Thursday—started a new unit about Robin Hood, which incorporated vocab such as cruel, kind and cleaver. Also, this class thought the character Sir Guy was so funny because his name “sounds like” gay. 6B didn’t have a problem with this…so I don’t get it.

In 2B Fran stuck the clothing flashcards on the board and I asked questions about what color each item was. Later, he left the room to go get some photocopies from the office and asked me to do this activity with the class in his absence, but they were way to noisy and I didn’t even get one question asked. When he came back, he said he could hear everyone from the stairs and so he took away their recess. Furthermore, he made them copy the sentence “I have to be quiet and pay attention to the teachers” 50 times! When I left the room, Carlos, who sits at the back, was crying (because he was one of the good ones) and I patted his back and said a few things to try to make him feel better…but it didn’t work :(.

3B was punished with lines as well today (although I don’t feel bad for them, seeing as how they’re ALWAYS like that). Lourdes tried to explain some science activities to them, but they were their usually selves. To make matters worse, she lost her voice over the weekend and still can’t talk very loud. She gave up trying to explain the activities and made them copy “I have to be quiet” 30 times. I thought that was pretty generous of her, considering I’d just come from 2B; I would have given then way more!

3A had an exam and (while I so I asked Lourdes if I could leave a little early, because I knew I wouldn’t do anything. So I went to the store for some juice, cereal and a few other things.

My lesson is in 40 minutes and starting today, I have another lesson right after that, at five o’clock—neighbors of Juan An and Carlos. When we got to their house on Thursday, the other mom was outside and Emi went to talk to her (while I stood there in the cold, for like five minutes waiting for her to unlock the front door). She basically told her who I was/why I was there and it turns out that she has a son also in sixth (6A, I believe, if I’m thinking of the right person), Javier, who is really good at English too. So Emi was basically like “You’ll be here from 4-5, there from 5-6 and then back here for a café after that and I’ll take you home afterwards”. WOOT for another lesson!

Xoxo,

Court

I got up early (for a Sunday, at least!) and went to church at 11:30. Although I was tired when I woke up, it’s good for me to go to mass on Sunday, because it forces me to get up and around and do something! Being the children’s mass, I saw a number of my students. About ten of my fifth graders sat in the two rows ahead of me and they were all (and countless more!) like “HELLO!”

I got home a little after 12:30 and haven’t been doing much since—wait, I take that back, I looked for a simple St. Patrick’s Day PowerPoint to share with the classes this week. It talks a little bit about traditions, symbols, who St. Patrick was, things like that. By Thursday, I will surely be an expert on SPD!

Oh, and we may get Chinese tonight…Will and I were talking about that earlier, so we’ll see. I know that Gunita and Tere (and Jesús too, I believe) were talking about going to the cinema—so it’d be after that.

Xoxo,

Court

Today’s been quite a lazy one! We went out last night and celebrated the 60s and 70s (the carnaval theme for the night…it was far out!). I came back about four and therefore slept until about 11. But I stayed in bed until about 2:30 playing and dinking around on the computer. I didn’t shower until four o’clock and was intending on going to mass, but then the last and biggest parade (de comparsas) started and we were watching that for about 2.5 hours, so I didn’t go tonight!

I just put some lentils on and I’ll let those cook for a couple hours and then probably just go to bed. Gunita and Tere were talking earlier during the parade about going out (since it’s the final night of carnaval) but I don’t really feel like it—especially if I’m going to mass tomorrow morning and plus I don’t really feel like drinking tonight…I drank enough last night!

Xoxo,

Court

Bah! The parade was canceled yet again today! It was supposed to start at noon, so I got there about 11:15. As I walked to school, I felt raindrops every now and then, but it was nothing steady. I asked the principal, Antonio, if we were still having it and he said yes and I figured we would too because there was a band there and they had started playing a little bit. I found Pilar and asked her what was up and she said she didn’t think we were going to have it because Alberto had told her probably not.

We went to the Sala de Profesores and had a café and were speculating with a few others as to the outcome. Some thought we’d for sure have it because it was already canceled once last week and others didn’t think so. Well, in the end it was a no-go (and it has officially been canceled permanently) because the rain started to fall a little heavier. However, since the kids were already dressed up and ready to go, we all went to the gym for pictures and they ran around for a while in costume. I have some good pictures and video.

Pilar offered to give me a ride home (which I gladly accepted!) since the rain was—and still is—rather steady. The sky is gray, it’s cold and it’s just not a good day. The biggest parade is supposed to be tomorrow, but if it keeps raining like this (which is what they’re calling for) then that’ll be canceled too.

Xoxo,

Court

And it’s the weekend again…I love two day work weeks! The weather is much better than yesterday—it’s sunny and 54; it’s still windy and cold, but nothing like yesterday!

2A was first and we listened to a story about carnaval from their books. Fran then randomly ordered the story cards on the board and as we listened again, they had to put the cards in the correct order. I Vanna White’d the activity! Afterwards, I asked them comprehension questions about the story.

6B started a new unit—about Robin Hood—and so I went over the characters and vocab with them. There was one character that I’d never heard of: Sir Guy, and he was supposedly rich. Robin Hood was cleaver, Maid Marian kind, The Sheriff cruel, etc. I read this tongue twister out for the class and then they read it too. We then listened to this song which incorporated the vocab. It was really silly and cheesy, as are most textbook/educational songs…I recall from my North Platte days!

In five years B we reviewed some clothes vocab, like shirt, coat, shoes and “trousers”. Espe then drew a line on the board and put half the flashcards above and below the line and I would call out a word and they had to say whether it was “on” or “under” the line. We finished by listening to a song on CD, were we had to act out what they said—put on your shoes/shirt/coat…

I had the four-year-olds the last two hours and we did this really hard worksheet (well, for them, at least haha!). There were three weather conditions: cloudy, sunny and rainy in one column, different types of hats in another and boots/shoes in another. They were supposed to pick three colors, one for each condition, and match the proper shoes and hat to it. Most of them did it in all the same color (confusing!) and had lines drawn every which way they could possibly go! (ten times more confusing!) Bless their little hearts! Most of them really tried, but just didn’t understand it!

I have a lesson in about an hour. I’m not sure who it’ll be with (though my money’s on Juan An) since we didn’t meet on Monday because of carnaval. And speaking of carnaval, the school parade has been rescheduled for tomorrow at noon. Although they’re calling for rain again, so from what I’ve heard, it may be cancelled again. Only time will tell…

Oh, and Paqui came over yesterday to look at the washer and said she would go appliances store to inquire about a new one. It looks like we’re gonna have to get a new one though, because she said the one we have is seven years old and they don’t make those/replacement parts anymore. She said she’d let us know when she finds something out…

Xoxo,

Court

Yesterday the weather was poopy (much like today, actually) and so it was pretty much a chill, indoor day. We went and paid the rent and then I went over to Arturo and Teodora’s to do laundry because our washer officially broke on Sunday. One of the hinges was already broken, so we had to be really careful and hold the door in place when putting laundry inside; then I went to do a load on Sunday and lost my grip on the door as I reached for more clothes and the door fell to the floor and the glass shattered. Sweet luck, I know. So the owner’s daughter is coming over in about an hour to have a look at it and I guess decide if the whole washer needs to be replaced or just the door. We’ll see…

Today the sky is gray and it’s blustery—really cold and windy…I haven’t experienced many windy days like this whilst here, but it’s pretty fierce today! It was the first day of the school week because we breaked (is that a word??) for carnaval, so it was like a Monday and pretty laid back.

5B was first and I went over a page with them in their books about sports and then asked almost everyone what their favorite sport was. I thought I would hear all about soccer, but there was actually quite a variety: basketball, tennis, gymnastics, judo and rollerblading. We ended by correcting a few activities in their workbook.

Second, fourth and fifth was fourth level and today we talked about the states of Montana, Nevada, Alabama and Mississippi. And I learned today that I need to brush up on the state capitals—I guessed them all wrong, except for Mississippi. I thought Montana was Billings, Alabama was Birmingham and I had no idea about Nevada. Yeah…

Third hour was 1A and we did a worksheet were they had to match the shadow to the animal and then color the picture…pretty basic and simple, you know, first grade stuff.

I hit the store on my way home for a few things and now I’m here with no intentions of leaving again—it’s so cold and windy…not a fan! Paqui will be over in about 45 minutes, so I’ll get to explain to her what happened with the door. The washer was already partly broken and the landlord knew that, so it’s not ALL my fault!

Xoxo,

Court

Saturday, March 5--Today
Saturday was a big night for carnaval! I went to mass at 6:30 because I didn’t know how late we would be out and didn’t want to chance sleeping through mass in the morning. I got home from mass about 7:30 and got ready to go…put my costume on. We went to dinner at Stone at ten. I think we got done a little after midnight and came back here so Jesús and Javi could put their costumes on (the rest of us wore them to dinner!).

We went to La Komba and it was pretty packed. There were so many cool costumes—Lady Gagas, Toy Story characters, footballers, etc. And Arturo’s was cool too. He came over before dinner and changed into it and was like “Courtney, don’t be offended”, so I knew it had to be something Catholicy… and he was a bishop! Jesús’ costume actually; and he was like “Everyone has to call me ‘Padre’”. So we did and Jesús was still calling him that today.

Teresa encountered his stalker/guy who we think is in love with her, dressed as Lady Gaga! Almost every picture that she’s in, he was like right there! He was like super close to her all night long and kept kissing her on the cheek! I was like “Oow, oow, Tere, go for it!” And she was like “No, no”. She came over yesterday and was like “I have no idea who that was—I’ve never seen him before!” It was funny because she was like “He was nice, but he smelled bad”. I kept smelling this, like, not good odor, but I didn’t know it was him...it’s understandable though because there were a lot of people in there and it was quite warm!

It was a lot of fun! The only thing was I had developed this cough at dinner and kept coughing and coughing and so I ended up going home before everyone else—I think about four-ish.

Yesterday (Sunday) I didn’t leave the house because I was still coughing and felt poopy. Jesús and Tere came over for a while and Jesús was like “You seemed really strange last night, especially at dinner and you went home really early”. Really? I was like “Yeah, dude, I was sitting right next to you, coughing up a lung at dinner”. And then he was like “Oh, you have a cough?” “YES!”

Today’s been a very tranquil day. I was so tired last night. I fell asleep at 10:30, woke up at 11:30, shut of my computer and my light and went back to sleep and woke up at 11:30 this morning! I guess I really needed the sleep. My cough is much better today and my chest hardly hurts! We went to lunch at El Portón, a little before three and went for a quick coffee afterwards, since Jesús had to be back at the pharmacy at five. I’m just kinda hanging out now. I’m glad we have today and tomorrow off!

Here is a video of the children's parade taken yesterday, from our living room window! I also took a couple of videos at La Komba Saturday night, but they're too dark to see anything :/.

Xoxo,

Court

Well, today has been kind of a bust—thank you, Mr. Rain! I went to school only to find out that our parade had been canceled. We still had churros con chocolate, at least, and that was really yummy! There was really nothing else for me to do…even though they’re having regular classes, I have no schedule…so I came home about ten.

I can still meet with Carmen, though, so that’s good! She’s picking me up at 11:15 and we’re going to church to kiss the feet of Jesus! I know it’s a tradition, I just don’t know if it’s always March 4, or if it’s the start of carnaval or in anticipation for Lent. Hopefully I can find that out! I imagine we’ll go back to her house after that for some convo, but that remains to be seen.

Now that I have the better part of the day free, I’m not sure what to do with myself this afternoon! Dani came over last night and we were talking and he said he was going to the English movie playing tonight (as part of Eloy’s group, I found out!). So I called Eloy to see if I had to sign up or could still come and he said I could; so we’re going to that at six! It’s The Incredible Hulk this week. It should be interesting because I’ve never seen it/know nothing about it, but a movie in English? Heck yeah, dude!

Oh and of course now that the parade’s already been canceled, the sun has won the latest battle over the rain and is currently shining. Only time will tell who will win the today’s war…I’m rooting for the sun!

Xoxo,

Court

Today was a very easy day…I only had two classes again! Not for the same reason as yesterday, though. First hour I was with 2A and again, as with 2B, I described both a boy and a girl—what they were wearing and then they drew the picture.

I went to 6B after that, only to find out that they didn’t have English class because Pilar was busy grading those diagnostic exams she helped give. So I went to the teacher’s lounge and read a brochure about children’s posture in school—yes, it was quite a riveting hour!

Third hour was five years B and we took the class to the video room to watch Mickey Mouse cartoons (in English, of course). The kids were like “SpongeBob, SpongeBob!” and we were like “NO! Mickey, Mickey!”. It was rather easy…sitting there and watching old cartoons!

During recreo, I, along with some of the teachers, put the finishing touches on our carnaval costumes—like, we added accessories and extras like that. Then, I was supposed to have the four-year-olds the last hours, but Aurora was desperate for some help with painting our banner for the parade tomorrow, so Sandra and I helped with that this afternoon! It was a fun day! I don’t normally work of Fridays, but I’ll go in tomorrow, for carnaval. The parade doesn’t start until 11, but Aurora was like “Come at nine, like you normally do…we’re having churros con chocolate.” Sweet! No arm twisting needed!

I have my lesson with Carlos in 45 minutes. We’ll see what he has to work on…if nothing else, he always needs practice the alphabet. My throat doesn’t feel that bad right now, I mean, it hurts a little, but it’s nothing terrible. I hope it stays that way—or gets better! I’m not looking forward to the night…nights are the worst when you have a sore throat/you’re sick…

Xoxo,

Court

Today has seemed like a long day...even though I only actually went to two classes. I didn’t sleep great last night, because my throat started to get progressively worse. It got a little better once I got up this morning, but it still hurt.

I had 5B first this morning and we talked about different ways to live a healthy life (exercising, sleeping, and brushing your teeth). I asked them questions from the reading to make sure they were paying attention and they did a workbook page after that and the hour was over.

I didn’t have class with Rocío today because fourth level had more diagnostic tests, so second hour I went to go see Jesús at the pharmacy to get something for my throat/head/neck. He gave me some envelopes of powder (surprise, surprise…they love their powder here—it’s the only thing I’ve ever been given!). They’re orange flavored and decent tasting—not like the nasty IB Profen ones. So I went back to school and took one.

Third hour was 1A with Espe. We went to the video room and tried to play some interactive games on her computer. The key word here is “tried”. We couldn’t get the computer hooked up to the SmartBoard. We kept trying to do it ourselves and finally she went and got someone to do it. There was only like 20 minutes left after that and then the sound wouldn’t work, which was kinda essential for what she wanted to do. In the end, we played with it a little bit, but there was so little time and sound, that it really wasn’t worthwhile.

I left school after that. I went to the Chino store in search of a turtleneck and leggings for my carnaval costume, but they didn’t have anything. On Friday, Carmen had told me about this store near the plaza that had semi-cheap under things (or whatever they’re called!) like that, but I couldn’t remember the name or where exactly it was. So I called her and she was actually in the plaza so she took me to the store and I was able to get what I wanted! Well…they’re not leggings exactly, but they’ll do.

From there, I went to the store to buy some more juice (which I’ve drank a ton of in the past couple of days!) and a few other things. I got home about 1:15, unpacked my groceries and made some tea with honey! I’ve been tired the whole day and my eyelids are getting droopy—so it’s definitely naptime!

Xoxo,

Court

I don’t know if anyone actually pays attention, but this is a special post. Why? Because it’s my 100^th since arriving in Spain!!! Some five months, 67 pages in Word and 49,251 words later!! That is quite a lot, indeed!

And not only is this my 100^th post, but it’s also the first day of March! Well, HELLO March (aka the month of birthdays!). The weather is much like yesterday’s—48, windy, on- and-off sun. It’s partly cloudy, but at least there’s blue sky (right now, at least!).

I started off the day with Julia’s three-year-olds. Yesterday, Aurora told me to send her an email with my SpongeBob pictures attached so she could print them out for that class. But, when I got to school, she was like “I couldn’t do it because I don’t have Word 2007 on my laptop at home”. So she had to do it there. The only problem with that is she’s a very popular person and it’s really hard to get anything done with her in a hurry because people are always coming and interrupting (kids and adults too, no less!). Personally, I think it’s rather rude—like if I’m talking to her or she’s helping me, I think they should wait their turn…I always do—if someone is there, I wait until I’m addressed.

Like today, she had pulled up the email to print and this mom came in and was like “I need this blah for my child’s carnaval costume”. I don’t know…maybe I was annoyed for no reason, but I was like “Really, you need it right this second when we’re not even dressing up until Friday and I’m sitting here already late for class?” It’s not the first time it’s happened…but I guess Aurora pretty much enables them too by tending to what they need at that very moment.

After a couple more interruptions, she printed off what I needed and I went to class…20 minutes late. We talked about all the characters in English and Spanish, where they live/work/how long the show’s been on for. I didn’t have time to go to Ángela’s class, so next week I’ll spend the entire hour with them.

Second was 5A. María José and Pilar (the actual 5A teacher) were working on some sort of written objectives or something like that and in the meantime, María José had them working on a few workbook pages. When they were done they had to go show Alberto, like right then, apparently, so I was to be left alone with them. I didn’t think it’d be a big deal because they’re a pretty good class, but WOW they were terrible! They kept talking and many of them weren’t working. I kept asking them to quiet but they ignored me and I said something in Spanish and this one kid laughed at me. I was mad—and when María José came back I told her so. As I was leaving, one of the really sweet girls tapped me on the shoulder and was like “here”. She had drawn a picture of me to try to make up for her classmates…it was cute!

1B was third hour and they were a lot better. We played this “game” where Esperanza handed out all the flashcards and the students had to hold up their flashcard when I called their word. Later we started a new unit about the zoo, which includes animals like lion, penguin, snake, elephant, fish and dolphin. We then went around the room and each one said what their favorite animal was—penguin was by far the winner, like three times over!

After recreo came five years A and we also started a new unit—about clothes…pants (or rather trousers, that is), shirt, coat, hat…They were pretty rambunctious and talkative too, so we didn’t get too far in this class either.

Last hour was 6A and they had to finish a writing portion of an exam, so there wasn’t really time for anything else. I went around and helped students here and there, but other than that, I didn’t do a whole a lot.

I’m glad I don’t have a lesson today, because I don’t feel really well right now. My throat doesn’t hurt exactly, well, kind of, but not terribly, but like my swallows are really heavy (if that makes any sense…like I’m aware of every time I swallow) and I have a head, neck and back ache. Yeah…I don’t know what it is about Spain, but in the five months I’ve been here, I think I’ve felt, like, not good more times than in the past five years. It seems like every few weeks there’s something “off” inside me…

For the 100^th time…

Xoxo,

Court