It’s a little cooler (though it’s not exactly chilly) than it has been earlier this week—61 and cloudy. I’m glad it’s the weekend—for some reason I didn’t sleep too well last night, so I have plenty of time to rest up! I went to Carmen’s at eleven o’clock and brought her some chocolate from Germany…I hope it’s good! I told her all about our trip and she told me a bit about Semana Santa here. She saved me a magazine from the week, so I’ve got a memento!

As per usual I hit the store on the way home. Included in my purchases were two 2-liter bottles of Coke Zero; I was going to get just one and then I saw a sign that said if you buy two, you get a free reusable bag. Since all of the stores now have “gone green” and not only make you pay for plastic bags, but also have made the bags SO much smaller and…what’s the opposite of sturdy? Weaker, thinner, crappier? Anyway, I thought it would be good to have a reusable bag, only I discovered it was made of such poor quality that it started ripping on the way home, and the coke wasn’t even in there! So I guess I won’t be reusing it after all…

We had lunch and then we met Jesús at another store so we could get some cleaning supplies and other things for the flat that we were out of. Now I’m just taking it easy. Not plans to do anything…since I didn’t sleep well last night, I’m pretty tired, but it’s a little late for siesta now, so I’ll just turn in early.

Xoxo,

Court

And the last school day of April is over! It’s a beautiful day as well—71 and mostly sunny! I’m glad we haven’t seen any of the rain we’re supposed to be getting this week!

We listened to a story on CD in Fran’s 2A this morning. He put the story cards in random order on the board and the second time we listened to it we went card by card and decided the right order. I Vanna White’d the activity! I then asked each student a comprehension question.

It was my first day back in 6B, with María. I read them these survey results from their books about favorite school activities in England, then the class translated the sentences into English. We finished by checking a workbook page and then they had a little time to start their homework for tonight.

I read/reviewed this short story with five-years A. It was about Max, Poppy and Ellie going on a picnic and their friend Mouse who, ate all of their sandwiches along the way and got sick. We never have that much time in that class, between the talkative students and the eating of the “breakfast”.

With the four-year-olds I read them a story, which I can’t even remember what it was about now (how sad is that, it was less than two hours ago!). We later did this maze worksheet, where they had to find this basket of food. It was a five-year-old worksheet, so they were pretty proud of themselves for doing it, granted I had to help several of them finish it, but they tried so hard!

I don’t have class again today, so I have more free time—I’m not sure what to do with myself…oh the possibilities!

Xoxo,

Court

It’s 69 and sunny today—beautiful day—no sign of the storms they were calling for (knock on wood!)

Today has been quite a repetitive day, as is every Wednesday with the fourth years. First hour was 5B and we talked about then/now…like when I was six, by favorite toy was ________. We used the verb to be: is/was/are/were. I told them about my doll Sally that Grandpa gave me for Christmas one year!

With the fourth years I talked a little bit about Germany and what I saw. Then I pulled up a map of Europe and we reviewed, or rather named and repeated, all the countries in English. We also left a little time for them to make Mother’s Day cards—it’s this Sunday…here in Spain!

We played this game in 1B that was similar to the memory game we played in infantil yesterday. But rather than practicing numbers, we practiced vocab words like body parts, places around the classroom and members of the family.

To my surprise Pilar’s replacement did come today! I haven’t talked to her very much, but her name is María. So I’ll be able to go to 6B tomorrow…it’ll be nice to get back into the swing of things with sixth again. And I called Paqui to make sure we were still on for class with Raúl today at four and she said he’s sick, so no class. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to take a nap now…darn!

Xoxo,

Court

Nothing worthy of note occurred during the rest of break, thus I’ve waited until now to post anew. It’s partly cloudy and 65 today—not bad—although tomorrow they’re calling for thunderstorms.

I spent the first half of the three-year-old hour with Ángela’s class. We did the usual: greetings, numbers, colors, shapes and days of the week. We also went over the alphabet and numbers in Julia’s, but I had less time in there, so that was about it.

With 5A we talked about school holidays—I read a section from their books about holidays in Britain and then compared those to American holidays. I then asked them questions about what we read and I said and it took them forever to answer like three questions! María José hadn’t anticipated that either. I asked her if they were too hard and she said no. I mean, they were pretty straight forward like “What holiday do we celebrate in November?” and “In what month does our summer vacation normally start?” It was the first day back from break, so that could’ve had something to do with it.

We did this worksheet in 1B in which they had to trace the numbers 1-10 then connect-the-dots to form a picture of a penguin. Oh and of course they colored it afterwards. That class was pretty easy going today.

Espe wanted to review a whole bunch of vocab today with five-years A, so we played this memory game of sorts. She wrote the numbers 1-10 on the board and placed a flashcard face down underneath each number, and then I would say a vocab word (i.e. sheep) and they had to guess which number they thought it was…some weren’t very good at it—they kept forgetting what had already been called and where it was!

I left after that because ‘whoever’ still hasn’t sent a sub for Pilar in sixth year. I talked with Rocío and she said they’re hoping someone will come tomorrow (which is what she told me before break about today, so who knows). They don’t expect me to keep teaching on my own (good!) and so she Ok’d me leaving early.

I’m glad I did leave early because I went to the store after that and ran into my student Pilar’s dad. And I was like “I’ll see you later this afternoon” and he said that she’s in Portugal, which I didn’t know…so no lesson. I’m kinda glad though—now I have the afternoon/evening to myself…I need to run back out and grab some milk (not enough hands before) and I think I’ll take a nap too!

Xoxo,

Court

And Arturo and I are back from Germany! It was so much fun, yet tiring at the same time!

We flew from Madrid to Munich to Berlin and arrived at five in the afternoon on Friday. Marvin (our host—we couched surfed!) doesn’t get off of work until 8ish most days, so we went and stored our luggage at the train station (because it was right by the tram we had to catch to get to his house) and walked around there for a couple of hours. We ended up getting to his place (on a quaint street in the district of Frankfurter Tor) at nine.

We were both tired and hungry and asked him if he wanted to join us for a bite nearby and he offered to make us a (very yummy!) salad! He’s so nice and super cool—he treated us like we were his friends and not just people he was hosting for a few days!

Saturday morning we left around 10:30 and went to a nearby café for a small breakfast. We walked around the heart of Berlin—Alexanderplatz—for most of the day, just seeing everything there was to see in the area. I can’t really remember any specifics from this day; it seems like so long ago now!

We had a leisurely start on Sunday—we left early afternoon. Marvin told us there were a couple of flee markets in the area, so we went to check those out. The first one, in Frankfurter Tor, I didn’t think was anything special and just browsed. The second (GINORMUS!) one was near Alexanderplatz. It reminded me of like Woodstock or some Hippie gathering. It went on for miles…vendors everywhere, people napping and lunching in the grass and music playing. It was awesome! We walked around for several hours. We had some Curry Wurst (the Berlin specialty) and it was AMAZING!

We got back and Marvin invited us to the birthday picnic of one of his coworkers. So we bought some beer and snacks, took a couple of trams and walked a very long way to the center of this beautiful park. We met everyone who had already gathered on this bridge and hung out for a while. It was very chill and fun to hang out with some Germans; we ate and drank and talked…I loved it! I don’t really know that much about Berlin, but it seemed very Berlin-ish! It was like earlier in the day when we were at the flea market; so cool!

Monday we went to the famous Berlin Zoo. It was so big that we didn’t see everything (hardly!), but I feel like we saw the main attractions; well we saw everything that interested us, at least: lions, tigers, zebras, elephants, pandas…you get the picture. I could have sworn there were polar bears at that zoo—I thought that’s were Knut the Polar Bear lived. I know he died several weeks ago, but I figured they had more than one, although we never found any…

Checkpoint Charlie was after the zoo. I had no idea what it was, just that it was famous. I guess I was expecting more than a small building/checkpoint (well, obviously) in the middle of the street. It was cool though; we took pictures all around the area and I learned about the history (Arturo already knew). Arturo wanted to get a picture with the actors/soldiers, but not for two Euros! Jeez, they try to squeeze money out of you wherever they can! I even opted not to go to the bathroom a few times when we were out because several public restrooms were charging 50-80 cents; I mean, not that it’s a lot of money, but it’s the principle of the matter…I refuse to pay to use the restroom!

Tuesday we went on a tour of Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, in nearby Oranienburg, about 30 minutes outside Berlin. We met up with a tour group at 10 and took a couple of trains to get there. It was sad and heartbreaking to see, but I’m very glad we went. It was very informative; our guide, Michael, originally from London, was awesome—he really knew his stuff and had an answer to every question!

You know you can see pictures on TV or read about it in books, but it makes it so incredibly real to be standing in the exact spot where these horrible things happened. We stood in this execution ditch, where thousands of people were lined up and shot. Also, in a tiny cabin where some 400 people crammed in together to sleep—some three to a bunk. It’s hard to explain my feelings, but more than once did I get goosebumps or a chill ran up my spine whilst listening to explanations or trying to imagine the atrocities.

We got back to Berlin about 5:30 and went to a mall, in Alexanderplatz, called Alexa, just to check it out. We got to Marvin’s right about eight and told him we went to the mall and it was funny because he was basically like “ohh, really…you should have gone to a different one!” He said it was the first mall (I think in Berlin) to be modeled like an American mall—with a food court and everything! Yeah, he’s not a big fan. He made us some delicious pasta with zucchini and tomato sauce! We also had some red wine and later this rum ice cream that was indeed quite rummy!

Our flight took us from Berlin at 9:30 yesterday morning, to Frankfurt. We left Frankfurt at 11:50 and were back in Madrid by two o’clock. We opted to take the bus (it left earlier and was cheaper than the 6:30 train) at 5:30 and arrived back in Socu right about eight o’clock last night. It made for quite a long day, having left Marvin’s apartment at 6:30 yesterday morning! It was super fun, but I’m so glad we’re home!

Xoxo,

Court

¡Ya estoy en vacaciones!!! No school until the 26^th…WOOT!!!!!

They started a new unit in 2A today…about sports and games—football/soccer, basketball, swimming, cards, computer, etc. I read the vocab for them, had them repeat, and then had them stand up and pantomime each word as I said it.

I didn’t have class with 6B today, so I rant to the store to pick something up, so that I wouldn’t have to go on the way home.

We had an Easter egg hunt in the classroom with five-years A. Espe barrowed the eggs from María José and the class was big enough to have a hunt in; the kids thought it was super fun!

With the four-year-olds, we colored an Easter worksheet. One side was a bunny and the other a basket of eggs. They folded it down the middle and it became a card! And on the inside they wrote “Happy Easter” and their names.

Oh my goodness…I have so many things to do tonight! I have class at four and then I’m going to get my hair cut at 6:30. After that, I have to go into super fast mode, as I haven’t started packing or getting anything together! Yeah, I always leave it til the last minute…

Until next week, after GERMANY!

Xoxo,

Court

It’s a warm one today, or maybe it just seems like it’s a lot warmer than it actually is (72) because I spent a good deal of time outside today for Easter egg hunts.

With 5B we had the Easter egg hunt/activity that 5A did yesterday. María José told them they’d be doing it in pairs, the person they were sitting next to, and it was funny because several of them were like “NO!” Even one of the smartest girls in the class was like “I don’t want to play” because her partner was this silly kid. Everyone played in the end though.

We had hunts with all of the fourth years. Rocío reviewed the songs and a poem entitled “Easter Bunny Poop” while I went a hid the eggs in the “garden”. They were really excited—running all over the place, shouting, and having fun!

With 1B we colored this Easter Bunny color-by-numbers worksheet. It was good for them to review both colors and numbers, because some weren’t sure about all of the colors.

I have class again with Pilar at six, but before then I need to go to the bank and the store for a few things for our trip IN TWO DAYS!!!

Xoxo,

Court

It is exactly 70 degrees! Looking out my window, all I can see is blue sky; not a cloud out there! There is a slight wind today, but it’s a warm one!

Today I did a lot more than yesterday. First hour with the three-year-olds we did greetings in English first. Then we counted the number of students and did a shapes series (today was blue square and green triangle—in English of course). Then I reviewed fruits with them using flashcards and finally I asked them what their favorite fruit was. We do a lot of the same things every week, but at this age, it’s all about the repetition, you know?

We sort of had an Easter Egg Hunt in 5A. By “sort of” I mean that María José had placed plastic eggs around/outside the class/with other teachers and in pairs the students had to go find the egg, which had a question inside for them to answer. For example: Name five places in the city or describe yourself. I was kinda surprised—even at that age they thought it was great fun.

1B listened to a story on CD and had to place the story cards in the correct order on the blackboard. The problem was that they were really talkative and in the end Espe gave them two (extremely simple) pages to do for homework. I almost laughed because several of them started to pout and almost cried!

With five-years A we played this game/activity to practice the words on/in/in front of/behind/under. Espe used Ellie, the stuffed Elephant, and we would say things like “Ellie is under/behind/on the bag and they would have to put her there.

Last hour with 6A, we finished talking about Easter and the worksheet. A lot of the kids had had trouble with it, so we basically watched the video again and did the worksheet together. And Paqui from 6B told me they had something to do Thursday, so we won’t have class then (I’m kinda glad!). I’ll be happy when someone comes to fill in for Pilar! I mean teaching the classes on my own has been alright, but it’s not really what I signed up for…

I have class with Pilar at six and after that, I think I’m going to turn in pretty early. Every school day I wake up and think “I’m going to take a nap today” and it rarely happens (not today either), so I’m just gonna go to bed as early as possible!

Xoxo,

Court

It’s another nice day. My weather thing says it’s only 59, but it’s gotta be warmer than that! I thought it was at least 70, before I saw the actual temperature.

I mean to sound super negative, but today was almost pointless—in terms of my being at school. First hour was really the only worthwhile hour…it was 6C. Thank goodness Rocío has first hour free on Mondays, so she was in there with me. We finished talking about Easter and the worksheet we started last week. I also learned that Rocío rules with an iron fist in every class she goes to, not just with the fourth years!

I went to 2B, but Fran said they had an exam, so I went to the Post Office instead.

With the third years, I sat there, like usual. I’ve grown not to hate these hours now; although they are very chaotic, I don’t mind just sitting there…it makes for an easy end of the day.

I have three classes this afternoon: Juan An (he told me in class that he/Emi wanted to have it today) Javi, his neighbor, and another class with Raúl, he has another exam tomorrow, this time in Science. I know I should be happy…the more classes I give, the more money I get…but I’m tired; with this cold I haven’t been sleeping well. I’ll just have to grin and bear it I guess.

Xoxo,

Court

I feel like a haven’t gotten a lot of sleep this weekend…maybe because my cold has been eager to make its presence known, lest I forget, at night, I think I slept better last night than the night before, but perhaps not long enough.

Last night was Jesus’ birthday party. We had it at Javi’s house on the outskirts of town. Before we left at about 9:30, Gunita told Will and I that the front yard was home to some turkeys and chickens (which is a somewhat recent development, as there were none when we there for New Year’s Eve). I just didn’t realize how scary turkeys were! Javi came out to the street, basically to give us the warning of: If you’re loud, they’ll attack you! We walked the 20ish yards from the street to the house and they were like “GOBBLE GOBBLE!” They were huge ad so scary…Javi said one of them bit his dad’s friend the other day!

I was terrified from that point on and made the mistake of telling Will that. The whole night he made turkey noises and was like “they’re waiting for you to go out there!” Of course the bathroom was outside (though not an outhouse…it’s like a separate room). On my way out, Arturo was covering me but he went back inside and when I was ready to come back in, I was the only person out there! I opened the door, heard the turkeys and slammed it shut again!

I stood in the bathroom for like ten minutes, listening to the turkeys, or what I thought were the turkeys—it could have been Will, because Jesus came to rescue me and Will was with him. Jesus told me to come out and right before I did I heard this really obnoxious noise (which I know was Will!). Anyway, I screamed and freaked, used Jesus as a block and pushed his all the way though the front door! I didn’t go to the bathroom the rest of the evening…

I had a special class with Raúl today because he has an exam tomorrow, but before then we had cañas with Jesus and he said that the turkeys were killed this morning. And I was like, “WHAT? They couldn’t have been killed one day sooner, REALLY??” I don’t know, maybe I wouldn’t have been traumatized…

Xoxo,

Court

 

And my cold continues… I went to bed about 10:45 last night and got up a little before ten this morning; though I didn’t sleep the whole time—hardly, between waking up to blow my nose or because I couldn’t breathe or to go to the bathroom several times from all the water I drank because my throat was so dry. But, on the bright side, it’s still 81 degrees at eight o’clock in the evening!

I drug myself out of bed and slowly got ready to meet Carmen at noon. We talked for about an hour and a half—among other things about my upcoming trip to GERMANY! Obviously we won’t be meeting next Friday, but she said she wants to hear all about it the Friday after next!

I went to the store on my way home to pick up some more fruit—strawberries and oranges. And I’ve just been hanging out since then. I’m feeling a little better than when I got home, so I’m meeting Pilar, my English student, for dinner—just for fun, not to study or anything.

Xoxo,

Court

Well, my cold is in full force today: I have a headache, my sinuses are sore, I’m sneezy, my throat is irritated just enough to be bothersome, my neck hurts and I can’t breathe. :( So, today was not my favorite of days. On a positive note though, the weather is nice again—72.

Today seemed to drag on, though I caught a break first hour—Fran said they had an exam on Monday and so all they’d be doing was copying down some vocab. So I went to the Sala de Profes and chilled.

Second hour was my least favorite today. Since Pilar’s been gone, I’ve sort of had to teach the classes on my own this week. The other teachers are there of course, but they can’t do much with English, so I basically fly solo. We talked about Easter. They were just really talkative and I was getting annoyed, so I was glad when the class was over.

With five-years B, we had class for probably only 20 minutes before they had “breakfast”. I reviewed some vocab with them and then Espe hid the cards and they had to find them and then stick them under the correct word on the board.

We had a pretty simple class with the four-year-olds. They had to do/color this worksheet about the number six. In each square there were a different number of fruits and they had to write the word above the picture and color only the square that had six items. Pretty easy…most had no trouble with it.

I got paid yesterday, so I’m going to deposit my check at five. I was going to call Marina again for a chat like last Thursday, but I have little energy…the thought of doing anything else today is just not appealing.

Xoxo,

Court

Today’s not as nice as it has been. It’s cloudy and really windy, which makes it a little chilly. I’d say it’s about 62ish. Maybe it’s a reflection of how I feel today: I woke up with an irritated throat…not a good sign. I’m fairly certain that a cold is coming on; that’s always the first sign for me. I’ve also been a little sneezy and have had a slight runny nose and don’t really have a whole lot of energy. GREAT….

Today in 5B they finished coloring and cutting out the pieces for the Guess Who? game. They spent a while doing that, so luckily I didn’t have to do a whole lot. I gave them a couple of examples towards the end of how to play the game, but that was all the talking I really did.

With the fourth years we talked more about Easter. Rocío had them make Easter cards and so I was able to sit there and look up more videos/poems/images. We talked about some vocab, reviewed the songs and watched “The Story of an Easter Egg” video I found. It’s really rather silly and more for like pre-schoolers, but Rocío it was good for them to read the sentences.

1B was kind of a bad class today. Espe had wanted to review the parts of the body with this activity, but they were so talkative and antsy! This one kid just gets on my nerves. The regular teacher said he’s ADHD and so naturally he’s always all over the place. But today he was playing with his eraser (throwing it up against the wall—and it hit me twice). I told him to put it away once and he didn’t listen, so I took it from him for the rest of the class. Would I have been more forgiving if I had more energy and my throat wasn’t bothering me? Probably…but oh well, that was my day.

What’s more it that I have two classes this afternoon. I met with Pilar yesterday and it turns out she’s studying for an exam in June and so she wants to meet twice a week, Tuesday and Wednesday, both at six o’clock. And on my way to meet her yesterday this lady stopped me and asked if I could give a class to her son Raúl, who’s in 2B with Carlos, who apparently isn’t doing too well in English. We’re going to meet Wednesdays at four. So now I have seven classes a week, at least one every day, Monday-Friday.

Xoxo,

Court

Another beautiful day—69 degrees, a little cloudy with a slight wind. It’s supposed to hit 82 by Friday!

Today was an easy day. I went to infantil first and helped them review some of their words in English. We sang the Days of the Week song and learned about some fruits and vegetables. In Julia’s class I asked them what their favorite fruits were and this one little kid was like “COOKIES!”. And thus starts another generation who prefers sweets to fruit…

In 5A we played “Guess Who”, or rather they spent the time preparing to play the game: cutting out and coloring the pictures. That took almost the whole time and I was able to do an example with them at the end and that I all there was really time for. Hopefully next time we can play.

With 1B I reviewed the parts of the body by playing “Simon Says” with the class. They’re at the age in which they take it really hard if they get out and so they try to lie and said they didn’t actually make a mistake (i.e. do something without Simon saying so). Not to worry though, their classmates are little tattlers and keep them in check pretty well!

I tried to read this story with five-years A, but they were rowdy and it didn’t work out too well. Espe then put on the CD of the story because it had music and sound effects; they listened to that a little better, but they were still up and down and everywhere.

Raquel brought 6A down to the video room and so we talked about Easter—as with 6C yesterday and 6B on Thursday. We had a little more time than with 6C, so they were able to do more of the worksheet. They didn’t get it all the way finished, but Raquel said they could do it for homework.

I’m meeting Pilar Loro, my newest English student, at the plaza at six. I think then we’re going to her house to, I guess, iron out the details of our meetings. When I talked with her dad last week (and when Arturo and I went to see Romeo and Juliet) he said she either studied or spent some time in Minnesota, so I’m interested to hear about her experiences there!

Xoxo,

Court

65 degrees today. A pretty nice day overall—a few clouds in the sky and it’s not overly windy.

I got to school today and Rocío asked me if I could try to give class to sixth level, with the regular teacher in the room. Since we don’t know how long Pilar will be gone for and we’re waiting until another teacher comes to fill in for her (though we’ve heard that someone won’t come until after Easter), at least I can give them a bit of a lesson. So in 6C, we talked a little bit about Easter vocab and we watched a video that goes along with their books.

We did the same thing with 2B that we did with 2A last Thursday—I described different characters and their clothes from a page in the book and they had to guess whom I was talking about. Later, I said different clothing items and they had to decide whether they were too small or big or a perfect fit for Emma, the girl from their book.

3B had a Science exam, so I watched (and listened to them talk) them take it. They were actually quiet for a few minutes, which was amazing!...and then they started talking again. The exam was so EASY. It was mostly matching and fill-in-the-blanks with word banks. I could’ve gotten an “A” if I were to have taken it, and I haven’t even been to any of those lessons.

3A did this worksheet also about clothes (hat, scarf, sunglasses). I’m not sure why they’re not on the same schedule as 3B, but whatever. There was a word search, fill-in-the-blank sections and a write-your-own-sentences section. That could have been difficult for some, but Lourdes always gives them the answers, like tells them exactly what to write. Again I say: the bar needs to be raised for third year.

I have two classes this afternoon: I’m guessing one with Carlos and Javi after that. I doubt I’ll have class with Juan An for a while—at least until after the replacement teacher comes.

Xoxo,

Court

Not a whole lot to report today: It’s been quite a wet Sunday; raining on and off all day. By the look of the trees outside my window, it appears to be a bit windy. The temp isn’t bad though, 63, although I’m sure the wind makes it feel a little cooler. I haven’t actually been out. Since I went to mass last night, I just haven’t gotten up and around (it remains to be seen if I’ll actually get dressed today). It’s just so nice to have a pajama day and not leave the house, you know?

Xoxo,

Court

Wow…it’s April already! And again I say: Where has the time gone? In a short two months this school year will be over for us!

I didn’t meet with Carmen yesterday because she said she was really busy this weekend and didn’t have time. That was ok with me though because I was able to sleep in—as late as I wanted—until eleven o’clock. It was a pretty laid back day (much like today!). It was a beautiful day, about 75 degrees. I went to the store and at five I went and read in the park for a while. I found a bench in the shaded sun (oxymoron, I know, but it was a little of both). It was so nice to be outside and breath in the fresh air…the next few months are going to be awesome!

I went to the store again today. I bought some strawberries when I was there yesterday and they were all gone by this morning—and I didn’t even share, haha! So I went back and bought a huge thing this time (two kilos!) and some more balsamic vinegar as well, for salads.

With the time change last week mass changed to 7:30 now, instead of 6:30. I have a couple of hours before that and then we’ll see what tonight brings. It’s still very nice today, 65, but it’s also cloudy and Gunita said it could rain. I really hope it doesn’t; I know it’s supposed to tomorrow, though. I was gonna go read in the park for a while again, but the prospect of rain isn’t exactly inviting, so I think I’ll just stay in until mass.

Xoxo,

Court