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