I found this group on facebook actaully, but most of the points are so true!
This list should give a little insight into my everyday life!
You know you've lived in Spain when...
1) You think adding lemonade, fanta or even coke to red wine is perfectly acceptable. Especially at lunch time.
2) You can't get over how early bars & clubs shut back home - surely they're shutting just as you should be going out?
3) You aren't just surprised that the plumber/decorator has turned up on time, you're surprised he turned up at all.
4) You've been part of a botellon.
5) You think it's fine to comment on everyone's appearance. And to openly stare at strangers.
6) Not giving every new acquaintance dos besos seems so rude.
7) You're shocked by people getting their legs out at the first hint of sun - surely they should wait until at least late June?
8) On msn you sometimes type 'jajaja' instead of 'hahaha'
9) You think the precious aceite is a vital part of every meal. And don't understand how anyone could think olive oil on toast is weird.
10) You're amazed when TV ad breaks last less than half an hour, especially right before the end of films.
11) You forget to say please when asking for things - you implied it in your tone of voice, right?12) You love the phenomenon of giving 'toques' - but hate explaining it in English
14) You don't see sunflower seeds as a healthy snack - they're just what all the cool kids eat.
15) You know what a pijo is and how to spot one.
16) Every sentence you speak contains at least one of these words: 'bueno,' 'coño,' 'vale,' 'venga,' 'pues nada'...
17) You know what 'resaca' means. And you probably had one at least once a week when you lived in Spain.
18) You know how to eat boquerones.
19) A bull's head on the wall of a bar isn't a talking point for you, it's just a part of the decor.
20) You eat lunch after 2pm & would never even think of having your evening meal before 9.
21) You know that after 2pm there's no point in going shopping, you might as well just have a siesta until 5 when the shops re-open.
22) If anyone insults your mother, they better watch out...
23) You know how to change a bombona. And if you don't, you were either lazy or lucky enough to live somewhere nice.
24) It's not rude to answer the intercom to your flat by asking 'Quien?' 25) You don't accept beer that's anything less than ice-cold.
26) The fact that all the male (or female) members of a family have the same first name doesn't surprise you.
27) The sound of mopeds in the background is the soundtrack to your life.
28) You know that the mullet didn't just happen in the 80s. It is alive and well in Spain.
29) You know the differenc between cojones and cajones, tener calor and estar caliente, bacalao and bakalao, pollo and polla, estar hecho polvo and echar un polvo...and maybe you learned the differences the hard way!
30) On a Sunday morning, you have breakfast before going to bed, not after you get up.
31) You don't see anything wrong with having a couple of beers in the morning if you feel like it.
32) Floors in certain bars are an ideal dumping ground for your colillas, servilletas etc. Why use a bin?!
33) You see clapping as an art form, not just a way to express approval.
34) You know ensaladilla rusa has nothing to do with Russia.
35) When you burst out laughing every time you see a Mitsubishi Pajero
36) You have friends named Jesus, Jose Maria, Maria Jose, Angel, maybe even Inmaculada Concepcion...
37) You know that 'ahora' doesn't really mean now. Hasta ahora, ahora vuelvo...etc
38)When you make arrangements to meet friends at 3, the first person turns up at 3.15...if you're lucky!
39) Central heating is most definitely a foreign concept. In winter, you just huddle around the heater under the table & pull the blanket up over your knees...and sleep with about 5 blankets on your bed!
40) Most women under 30 own a pair of those attractive 'Aladdin' style trousers with the crotch around the knees (you know what I mean!)
41) Aceite de oliva is 'muy sano', of course. So you help yourself to a bit more.
42)When women think that clear bra straps are in fact invisible.
43) When it's totally normal for every kitchen to have a deep-fat fryer but no kettle.
44) Te cagas en la leche....
45) To avoid that cheap Eristoff vodka you have to ask for 'un esmirnoff'
46) When you know what a guiri is / have been called one
47) When you add 'super' in front of any adjective for emphasis
48) When it's completely normal for men and women to have at least one facial piercing
49) When you pay for something that's, say, 8.50, you always ask, 'Quieres el cincuenta?'
50) Blonde girls actually start to think their name is 'rubia'
51) When you accept that paying with a 50 euro note is going to get you a dirty look if you're buying something that costs less than 40 euros
52) If something is great, it's 'de puta madre'
53) You can eat up to 5 times a day - first breakfast, 2nd breakfast around 11.30, almuerzo, merienda, cena
54) You know the jingle for Los Cuarenta Principales...
55) If you see someone wearing a T-shirt with something written on it in English, you can almost guarantee it won't make sense. (Pebble Night was a personal favourite)
56) When you go into a bank/bakery etc, it's standard practice to ask 'Quien es la ultima?'
57) Who needs a dryer when you have a washing line outside the window of your apartment?58) You know what 'marcha' and 'juerga' are. (Of course!)
59) You are more likely to call your friends tio/a, nena, chaval, macho or even tronco than their real name.
60) Love it or hate it, you can't escape reggaeton.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
feliz navidad!
FELIZ NAVIDAD!
This pic is from our Christmas party in the piso. We were worried right before that it wasn't going to be good because alot of people cancelled last minute but it turned out to be really fun! A grand success! At first the party was mostly Americans, other English teachers but then we had about 15 Spaniards in our house! So, needless to say, the party was lively indeed. I bought a CD of christmas flamenco songs so eventually the party burst into song, as it should!
Today I went on an excursion with my gitanitos to see all of the natividies in Dos Hermanas. Let me tell you they takes their "belenes" very seriously here in Spain. There is a life size one in La Plaza that people line up for a few hours to see. Even the smaller ones are pretty intense, not just your typical jesus manger deal, oh no. We are talking like all of bethlehem , the wise men, teh shepards, light, water, moving effects... intense stuff. It was cool to see all of the belenes but walking from place to place was pretty tiring, screaming at the kids in Spanish the whole time to get in line, not steal the baby jesus, not to touch the belen, not to run away, not to kill eachother, etc. But then after that I was invited to the faculty christmas lunch which was by far the BEST meal i have had in spain. SO delicious. It was fun too, the teachers are much cooler when you get them away from school and give them a glass of wine. The PE teacher is really funny, he was telling jokes and for some reason I only understood the dirty ones haha, oh well, at least I got some of them! And, Ana Maria the directora (dictatora we say haha) came over to me twice to make sure i liked everything and, when we were going to leave she gave me a besito! hehe i think i am the favorite, yay.
Tommorow Maggie and I set out on our journey home. First we take the bus from Sevilla to Madrid overnight, ge tto Madrid at 7am, then take a flight from Madrid to Philly, then i continue to SF from there. Everyone say a pray for me!
See most of you soon!
Besos!!!
MC
Friday, December 14, 2007
A lovely weekend in the south of Spain
oh what a lovely time!
Wednesday evening my flatmates and I met Lydia at the train station and set out for El Puerto de Santa Maria, which is where our freind Hayley lives. The train was packed as I am sure many people had the idea to go to the southern province of Cadiz to pass the puente. We had heard there is quite the bustling night life in El Puerto, so of course we had to check it out.
First we hit a tapas bar and sampled some exceptionally delicious bacaloa, then we continued out with a very mixed group consiting of americans, brits, spaniards and of course our german.
The next day we headed to Jerez de la Frontera, the home of sherry wine. Jerez actually means sherry in Spanish, go figure. We went to the bodega of Tio Pepe which is one of the most well known sherry producers in the world! We had a great tour of the bodega, it was so much fun! We also go to sample two sherries ( one sweet and one dry, i liked both) and some tapas. It was the most lovely afternoon.
Friday we headed to Gilbralter by way of Cadiz. It was freezing in Cadiz that day so although we intended to do some more sightseeing there we decided to cut it short and catch an earlier bus to La Linea, which is the town right next to Gilbraltar since you can't actually bus in Gilbraltar itself, being a different country and all. In La Linea, we actaully had a lovely indian dinner, quite surprisingly delicious. (International foods in Spain are usually risky.)
In Gilbraltar itself we only had time to go up to the top, snap a few pictures, see some monkeys and come back down againt o catch the bus to go back to El puerto because our poor little Hayley FORGOT her passport so she couldnt cross the border into Gilbraltar! So the poor thing had to stay ont he Spain side will we ran up the rock. We didn't run, we cable car-ed, but still we did so quickly. I would like to go back there and explore more, it is a very interesting place. You literally cross a fence and you are in a teeny tiny peice of Britian, surronded by Spain. Which is still a bit of a sore subject with the Spaniards, all of whom highly discouraged us from visiting there. (haha on of Hayley's friends in El Puerto told us that is was a "shit hole".... he spoke some English.) We were very glad that we ignored them though, it was awesome!
Saturday night we were back in El Puerto and we ended the weekend proudly, staying out with the Spaniards until about 5am. Sunday we managed to get ourselves on the train back to Sevilla and pour our tired little bodies into bed.
Photos of all of these events can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mclauerman/ElPuertoJerezGibraltar
This week, probably as a result of such a packed weekend, we have all been a little sick. I continue on trying to teach "Jingle Bell Rock"... they are getting it... slowly....
Today a very exciting thing happened: We got our NIEs! This was the last buerocratic hoop we had to jump through, to get our resident identification cards. With these cards, we will not only be let BACK into the country after christmas but we are also let in for free to many sight seeing spots around sevilla. So to celebrate we met Lydia and went to the Alcazar Gardens and I climbed the Giralda! What a full and productive day!
Tommorow we are going to have a Christmas-themed dessert potluck at our piso... should be fun!
I fly home next Thursday, less than a week!
Wednesday evening my flatmates and I met Lydia at the train station and set out for El Puerto de Santa Maria, which is where our freind Hayley lives. The train was packed as I am sure many people had the idea to go to the southern province of Cadiz to pass the puente. We had heard there is quite the bustling night life in El Puerto, so of course we had to check it out.
First we hit a tapas bar and sampled some exceptionally delicious bacaloa, then we continued out with a very mixed group consiting of americans, brits, spaniards and of course our german.
The next day we headed to Jerez de la Frontera, the home of sherry wine. Jerez actually means sherry in Spanish, go figure. We went to the bodega of Tio Pepe which is one of the most well known sherry producers in the world! We had a great tour of the bodega, it was so much fun! We also go to sample two sherries ( one sweet and one dry, i liked both) and some tapas. It was the most lovely afternoon.
Friday we headed to Gilbralter by way of Cadiz. It was freezing in Cadiz that day so although we intended to do some more sightseeing there we decided to cut it short and catch an earlier bus to La Linea, which is the town right next to Gilbraltar since you can't actually bus in Gilbraltar itself, being a different country and all. In La Linea, we actaully had a lovely indian dinner, quite surprisingly delicious. (International foods in Spain are usually risky.)
In Gilbraltar itself we only had time to go up to the top, snap a few pictures, see some monkeys and come back down againt o catch the bus to go back to El puerto because our poor little Hayley FORGOT her passport so she couldnt cross the border into Gilbraltar! So the poor thing had to stay ont he Spain side will we ran up the rock. We didn't run, we cable car-ed, but still we did so quickly. I would like to go back there and explore more, it is a very interesting place. You literally cross a fence and you are in a teeny tiny peice of Britian, surronded by Spain. Which is still a bit of a sore subject with the Spaniards, all of whom highly discouraged us from visiting there. (haha on of Hayley's friends in El Puerto told us that is was a "shit hole".... he spoke some English.) We were very glad that we ignored them though, it was awesome!
Saturday night we were back in El Puerto and we ended the weekend proudly, staying out with the Spaniards until about 5am. Sunday we managed to get ourselves on the train back to Sevilla and pour our tired little bodies into bed.
Photos of all of these events can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mclauerman/ElPuertoJerezGibraltar
This week, probably as a result of such a packed weekend, we have all been a little sick. I continue on trying to teach "Jingle Bell Rock"... they are getting it... slowly....
Today a very exciting thing happened: We got our NIEs! This was the last buerocratic hoop we had to jump through, to get our resident identification cards. With these cards, we will not only be let BACK into the country after christmas but we are also let in for free to many sight seeing spots around sevilla. So to celebrate we met Lydia and went to the Alcazar Gardens and I climbed the Giralda! What a full and productive day!
Tommorow we are going to have a Christmas-themed dessert potluck at our piso... should be fun!
I fly home next Thursday, less than a week!
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Better go with 'Jingle Bell Rock'....
Que pasa chicos....
I beleive my last post was about Thanksgiving and we are already doing Christmas! Noelia informed me since my class has the most time with an English teacher, we are expected to sing our song for the christmas program in english. So I had the bright idea to do "the 12 days of christmas' because then every student could have one line each. i had such grand ideas for our performace... (actually mom thought of it) i was going to have them all holding cards of a partridge, turtle doves, etc... but what i forgot when planning all this is that my students are completely incapable of being quiet much less waiting their turn to sing their part. en fin, the 12 days of christmas went down in fiery fiery flames. after the second day trying with 12 days, i brought a back up. now,we are going to sing 'Jingle Bell Rock' because it is only 3 verses long, they already kinda of know the regular jingle bells, and i told them they could wear sunglasses and pretend to be rock stars and they thought that was super. we already have about 2 lines down. Fi-ja-te.
Que ma.... oh here is a weird story for you... so I'm jogging last week... wait, but first let me just mention that people don't really jog in spain. well the spaniards don't. pretty much the only people that jog are the american college students. and me. so ok, im jogging along and i pass in front of the university. there parked in front, is a car of 4 chicos. the one in the back proceeds to pull out a STUFFED HAMBURGER. it was like a pillow, but in the shape and likeness of a hamburger. he proceeds to kind of shake the hamburger at me and try to say, in english, "Jam-beer-gur! Hambur-a-gur! Hamburger!" I just gave them a weird look and kept jogging. ..... but seriously WHAT THE F?!?!?! i mean i know i looked pretty american with my long sleeve tee, calf length work-out pants and my adidas.... but what the hell?!? what are they thinking, "oh, yes if i just shake this thing at this girl as shes jogging and say 'jamburger'....' i dont even know. but, i guess on the bright side, if the worst cultural harassment i am going to get for being american is to have a stuffed hamburger shook in my general direction while im jogging.... thats not so bad. just weird.
kat has illustrated this incident:
anyway, this weekend is the puente, a 4 days weekend! woohoo! we are going to stay with our friend Hayley down in El Puerto de Santa Maria, from there we are going to spend a day in Jerez, and we are also going to Gibraltar to see the monkeys. YES, if you didn't know there are monkeys in Gibraltar. and i am going to visit them!! my friend Lydia, the german girl from my school, is going to come with us, should be heaps of fun.
Hasta ahora,
MC
I will post about it next week, hopefully without mention of a rabid monkey attack.
I beleive my last post was about Thanksgiving and we are already doing Christmas! Noelia informed me since my class has the most time with an English teacher, we are expected to sing our song for the christmas program in english. So I had the bright idea to do "the 12 days of christmas' because then every student could have one line each. i had such grand ideas for our performace... (actually mom thought of it) i was going to have them all holding cards of a partridge, turtle doves, etc... but what i forgot when planning all this is that my students are completely incapable of being quiet much less waiting their turn to sing their part. en fin, the 12 days of christmas went down in fiery fiery flames. after the second day trying with 12 days, i brought a back up. now,we are going to sing 'Jingle Bell Rock' because it is only 3 verses long, they already kinda of know the regular jingle bells, and i told them they could wear sunglasses and pretend to be rock stars and they thought that was super. we already have about 2 lines down. Fi-ja-te.
Que ma.... oh here is a weird story for you... so I'm jogging last week... wait, but first let me just mention that people don't really jog in spain. well the spaniards don't. pretty much the only people that jog are the american college students. and me. so ok, im jogging along and i pass in front of the university. there parked in front, is a car of 4 chicos. the one in the back proceeds to pull out a STUFFED HAMBURGER. it was like a pillow, but in the shape and likeness of a hamburger. he proceeds to kind of shake the hamburger at me and try to say, in english, "Jam-beer-gur! Hambur-a-gur! Hamburger!" I just gave them a weird look and kept jogging. ..... but seriously WHAT THE F?!?!?! i mean i know i looked pretty american with my long sleeve tee, calf length work-out pants and my adidas.... but what the hell?!? what are they thinking, "oh, yes if i just shake this thing at this girl as shes jogging and say 'jamburger'....' i dont even know. but, i guess on the bright side, if the worst cultural harassment i am going to get for being american is to have a stuffed hamburger shook in my general direction while im jogging.... thats not so bad. just weird.
kat has illustrated this incident:
anyway, this weekend is the puente, a 4 days weekend! woohoo! we are going to stay with our friend Hayley down in El Puerto de Santa Maria, from there we are going to spend a day in Jerez, and we are also going to Gibraltar to see the monkeys. YES, if you didn't know there are monkeys in Gibraltar. and i am going to visit them!! my friend Lydia, the german girl from my school, is going to come with us, should be heaps of fun.
Hasta ahora,
MC
I will post about it next week, hopefully without mention of a rabid monkey attack.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
The best Thanksgiving ever not in America
Queridos amigos,
I hope you all had a great day full of turkey, full tummies and good cheer this past Thursday. Although there was no turkey to be had here in Sevilla, there was plenty of cheer. We decided to have our fiestas de Gracias on Friday so some of our freinds could make it up here from Cadiz. So Thursday night Jennifer and I went to our friend Mati's to use her oven to make apple pie! I don't even really like apple pie but it was still exciting. We also created a batata (sweet potato more or less) pie/bake. While waiting for our creations to cool we ordered pizza and drank cruzcampo beer, a true celebreation of american culture. We explained to Mati that if you really want to be cheesy on thanksgiving, you can go around and everyone says what they are thankful for. Mati insisted that we do this tradition and some of mine included: being in Spain this year, of course my family and freinds at home, finding such a great apartment complete with great roommates and being able to come home for a christmas visit. :)
Friday afternoon our freinds Hayley and Jennifer arrived and we started to make ( in a true Grammy tradition) un MONTON de comida. Jennifer tried to send Maggie and I out to get more at the last minute because she was still somehow worried that there wouldnt be enough but we put our foot down and, behold, it is now Tuesday and we still have a few leftovers. The party went very well. We had basically every other tradtional thanksgiving food other than turkey because jennifer received a huge package of goodies from her aunt in the states. we also had a tradtional thanksgiving flan, made by Lydia, the german. 9 ladies total, lots of food,wine, laughs and estrogen. what could be better, haha. On Monday both Noelia and Lydia said that they had a great time and they love American thanksgiving! It was Noelia's first experience of the holiday and I think we definatly did it justice.
Saturday we continued our revelry and we 5 American ladies headed to Cordoba. We went to visit the Mezquita ( a large Cathedral was that originally constructed by the Moors, then took over by the Christians, then by the Moors....etc. For example, on one wall, completely carved in sancrit, they simply stuck a statue of St. Peter in front to make the Catholic presence known.) We also went to the Banos Arabes, which is basically a bath house. There are 3 pools of warm, hot and cold. Beleive it or not you are supposed to go from warm to hot to cold, because the cold water gives your body such a shock that when return to the warn water it is very relaxing for your muscles. Included in our visit was a short massage and tea in the tea house upstairs. It was lovely.
There is another Bano Arabe in Sevilla and I think I am going to buy a trip for Noelia and Lydia and I for a Christmas present to relax ourselves after a semester with our little gypsies. Yesterday for example, Noelia got completely fed up with them and had them copying for 2 hours. I got to play grocery item memory with a few of the good ones that had escaped punishment, but even that was difficult to maintain for 2 hours.
This week we intend to lay low and relax in Sevilla. I may buy myself a space heater though, it is SO COLD! It is always colder in our apartment than outside because we have cold floors and our building is blocked from the sun so it is liek an ice box. I may go and buy myself a little space heater, or at the very least another blankie.
Bueno pues, nada.
I hope all is well at home!
Beso,
MC
I hope you all had a great day full of turkey, full tummies and good cheer this past Thursday. Although there was no turkey to be had here in Sevilla, there was plenty of cheer. We decided to have our fiestas de Gracias on Friday so some of our freinds could make it up here from Cadiz. So Thursday night Jennifer and I went to our friend Mati's to use her oven to make apple pie! I don't even really like apple pie but it was still exciting. We also created a batata (sweet potato more or less) pie/bake. While waiting for our creations to cool we ordered pizza and drank cruzcampo beer, a true celebreation of american culture. We explained to Mati that if you really want to be cheesy on thanksgiving, you can go around and everyone says what they are thankful for. Mati insisted that we do this tradition and some of mine included: being in Spain this year, of course my family and freinds at home, finding such a great apartment complete with great roommates and being able to come home for a christmas visit. :)
Friday afternoon our freinds Hayley and Jennifer arrived and we started to make ( in a true Grammy tradition) un MONTON de comida. Jennifer tried to send Maggie and I out to get more at the last minute because she was still somehow worried that there wouldnt be enough but we put our foot down and, behold, it is now Tuesday and we still have a few leftovers. The party went very well. We had basically every other tradtional thanksgiving food other than turkey because jennifer received a huge package of goodies from her aunt in the states. we also had a tradtional thanksgiving flan, made by Lydia, the german. 9 ladies total, lots of food,wine, laughs and estrogen. what could be better, haha. On Monday both Noelia and Lydia said that they had a great time and they love American thanksgiving! It was Noelia's first experience of the holiday and I think we definatly did it justice.
Saturday we continued our revelry and we 5 American ladies headed to Cordoba. We went to visit the Mezquita ( a large Cathedral was that originally constructed by the Moors, then took over by the Christians, then by the Moors....etc. For example, on one wall, completely carved in sancrit, they simply stuck a statue of St. Peter in front to make the Catholic presence known.) We also went to the Banos Arabes, which is basically a bath house. There are 3 pools of warm, hot and cold. Beleive it or not you are supposed to go from warm to hot to cold, because the cold water gives your body such a shock that when return to the warn water it is very relaxing for your muscles. Included in our visit was a short massage and tea in the tea house upstairs. It was lovely.
There is another Bano Arabe in Sevilla and I think I am going to buy a trip for Noelia and Lydia and I for a Christmas present to relax ourselves after a semester with our little gypsies. Yesterday for example, Noelia got completely fed up with them and had them copying for 2 hours. I got to play grocery item memory with a few of the good ones that had escaped punishment, but even that was difficult to maintain for 2 hours.
This week we intend to lay low and relax in Sevilla. I may buy myself a space heater though, it is SO COLD! It is always colder in our apartment than outside because we have cold floors and our building is blocked from the sun so it is liek an ice box. I may go and buy myself a little space heater, or at the very least another blankie.
Bueno pues, nada.
I hope all is well at home!
Beso,
MC
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Rain, Rain, GO AWAY!
It hardly ever rains here in Andalucia. But when it does... watch out! I literally almost drown on the way to my carpool this morning. It is only about a 15-20 minute walk normally, but that was plenty of time for it to start POURING. MY umbrella blew out about half way there and by then there was no turnig back and I was SOAKED. By the time I got to Noelia´s car I was completely soaked, through to my socks... even my undies! We put on the heat full blast in the car but I was still soaked when we arrived at school (parts of the highway had flooded, we are lucky we made it). My sweatshirt was wet so hte lovely Noelia let me wear her jacket in the classroom and after I was done with my lesson she sent me to ask for una calefactor (a little tiny space heater). Tehy have enough for almost all the classrooms so while she was teaching I sat at her desk with my feet in front of the little heater. It managed to dry me, my shoes are still a little damp but at least i didnt have to be wet all day long. I normally leave at 1 on Tuesday but today I decided to stay until 3, eat lunch here at school with Noelia and then drive with her ( I am going to ask her to drop me off at my door if it is still raining). I won´t go if it is still like this at 5 when I have to go to one of my private lessons because without and umbrella, I wouldn´t make it. Go ahead, call me a whimp (dad... I can hear you now...) but seriously it was a freaking monsoon and there was thunder and lightning and yeah. I am not going anywhere once I get home!!!
Anyway, Jennifer and I made it Madrid Friday night. We met up with two of our freinds from orientation at our hostal, a charming place with a front door that looked like it could very possibly be either a whore house or a crack den. (Julia booked the hostal, I guess there were no pictures of it online???) But lucklily the inside was just fine, no whores, no crack. That evening we went to find soem tapas but we ended up in a restaurant that was expensive and then the food wasn't even very good. The next day we went to El Prado, to see the royal palace, and we had an amazing lunch at a delicious Indian restaurant. The highlight was though, at least for me, seeing, the broadway adapted play "JESU CHRISTO SUPER STAR".... thats right, jesus christ super star.... in Spanish. It was.... amazing. We didn´t get every word but we kind of are familair with the story, especially me after 17 years of Catholic school so it was easy enough to grasp what was going on. It was an experience. That night Julia and I tried to go out and check out the Madrid night life but when we went to go get a cab it was 2 degrees C· and all of the cabs were full! After a half an hour we just gave up because or else we would freeze. So that was a bummer, but we did hang out for a little while at one bar near our hostal and met some really strange Swedes. I usually like encountering interesting characters but these guys were even freaking ME out. The next day we went to El Rastro which is the biggest flea market that has ever been. Or at least that I have ever seen. I purchased a pair of delightful earrings for 3 euros. Then we headed to another art museum, La Reina Sofia de arte moderna. There we saw Guernica by Picasso. Quite impressive. Then Jennifer and I had to catch the train back to Sevilla around 5. Hayley and Julia stayed for another night and I imagine they will tell us what else they saw this Friday because they are coming to Sevilla from where they live in Cadiz for a Thanksgiving party! It will be at our apartment and wil consist of 5-7 Americans 2-4 Spaniards and 1 German (this girl Lydia that I work with at school). Should be fun! We are going to have Pollos Asados (a rotissery chicken place) instead of turkey because there are not turkies in Spain. Well, actaully, Jennifer and I found one in EL Corte Ingles ( a HUGE department store taht has EVERYTHING you could possibly ever dream of : car dealership, makeup cds, lawn mowers a grocery store, tailor, travel agency post office tvs microwaves.... etc etc) The turkey was in a box and was 70 euros. SO, pollos asado wil do just fine.
Anyway, Jennifer and I made it Madrid Friday night. We met up with two of our freinds from orientation at our hostal, a charming place with a front door that looked like it could very possibly be either a whore house or a crack den. (Julia booked the hostal, I guess there were no pictures of it online???) But lucklily the inside was just fine, no whores, no crack. That evening we went to find soem tapas but we ended up in a restaurant that was expensive and then the food wasn't even very good. The next day we went to El Prado, to see the royal palace, and we had an amazing lunch at a delicious Indian restaurant. The highlight was though, at least for me, seeing, the broadway adapted play "JESU CHRISTO SUPER STAR".... thats right, jesus christ super star.... in Spanish. It was.... amazing. We didn´t get every word but we kind of are familair with the story, especially me after 17 years of Catholic school so it was easy enough to grasp what was going on. It was an experience. That night Julia and I tried to go out and check out the Madrid night life but when we went to go get a cab it was 2 degrees C· and all of the cabs were full! After a half an hour we just gave up because or else we would freeze. So that was a bummer, but we did hang out for a little while at one bar near our hostal and met some really strange Swedes. I usually like encountering interesting characters but these guys were even freaking ME out. The next day we went to El Rastro which is the biggest flea market that has ever been. Or at least that I have ever seen. I purchased a pair of delightful earrings for 3 euros. Then we headed to another art museum, La Reina Sofia de arte moderna. There we saw Guernica by Picasso. Quite impressive. Then Jennifer and I had to catch the train back to Sevilla around 5. Hayley and Julia stayed for another night and I imagine they will tell us what else they saw this Friday because they are coming to Sevilla from where they live in Cadiz for a Thanksgiving party! It will be at our apartment and wil consist of 5-7 Americans 2-4 Spaniards and 1 German (this girl Lydia that I work with at school). Should be fun! We are going to have Pollos Asados (a rotissery chicken place) instead of turkey because there are not turkies in Spain. Well, actaully, Jennifer and I found one in EL Corte Ingles ( a HUGE department store taht has EVERYTHING you could possibly ever dream of : car dealership, makeup cds, lawn mowers a grocery store, tailor, travel agency post office tvs microwaves.... etc etc) The turkey was in a box and was 70 euros. SO, pollos asado wil do just fine.
Friday, November 16, 2007
fotos!
I have finally have some pictures up!
http://picasaweb.google.com/mclauerman
Jennifer were supposed to head out to Madrid this morning but all trains were sold out until 8pm tonight, so we have just been waiting around all day. So i had time to finish the pictures!
The rest of my week turned out well. Wednesday I managed to have a 25 minute conversation with the PE teacher who has the thickest accent and speaks faster than any of the other teachers and I understood everything! Wednesday night I got a chance to relax. Thursday I just got a chance to catch up on errands and I have my private lesson at night. The 16 year old that I tutor (who has a band, hehe aw) said that his guitar teacher also wanted an American English teacher- sweet mas dinero para mi!
We are heading out in a little while to finally catch the train!
Hasta Ahora!
MC
http://picasaweb.google.com/mclauerman
Jennifer were supposed to head out to Madrid this morning but all trains were sold out until 8pm tonight, so we have just been waiting around all day. So i had time to finish the pictures!
The rest of my week turned out well. Wednesday I managed to have a 25 minute conversation with the PE teacher who has the thickest accent and speaks faster than any of the other teachers and I understood everything! Wednesday night I got a chance to relax. Thursday I just got a chance to catch up on errands and I have my private lesson at night. The 16 year old that I tutor (who has a band, hehe aw) said that his guitar teacher also wanted an American English teacher- sweet mas dinero para mi!
We are heading out in a little while to finally catch the train!
Hasta Ahora!
MC
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
take the good with the bad
I had kind of a rough day yesterday. At school the kids were a little extra awful. Noelia and I were both tired and keeping control of them is exhausting. I just couldn´t make myself understood to anyone, to the kids or adults. I eat lunch at school on Mondays and Wednesdays and I was trying to follow the conversation of the teachers I was sitting with but I couldn´t - they just speak SO FAST and with so much slang that is barely resembles standard spanish. After a while one of the teachers turned to me - after I had been polietly smiling and nodding throughout most of the lunch as if I had an idea what was going on - and asked me a question. I didn´t even know what the question meant much less the answer. Then they started explaining but their explanation was just as fast and impossible to understand as the conversation had been. Then they asked if I understood, I tried to lie and say yes to not be as embarressed but they saw that I didn´t and then they just laughed it off and stopped trying to explain. I have been in this situation before, I know that sometimes the magic works and sometimes it doesn´t... but that does not make it any less frustrating.
On the way home Noelia noticed I wasn´t as talkative as usual. She started trying to console me and tell me about how when she studied in England sometimes she just wanted to cry because it was so hard. Then she asked if I missed my family and freinds. I told her on good days all I can think about is how lucky I am to be here, how awesome Spain is, how exciting I am to be living in Europe this year. But on bad days I just want to be home where I feel like a competent human being, not to mention to be with people I love that actaully understand me.
Anyway thing turned around in the afternoon though. Since we live in Sevilla, where the main office of our program is, we get the benefit of the services that our organization provides. Sara, teh girl in charge of we English teachers has been sending out emails about people looking for private tutors. Yesterday I went to go meet with a familt that wanted 4 hours a week of private lessons for their two high school aged boys. And I am going toeb paid 15 euros an an hour! (This is great, I only make 12 with my other lessons. Nothing like the promise of income to turn one´s mood around. The boys are very nice, the older basically knows English already and just needs a conversation practice partner. The younger not so much but he knows some and I will be helping him with homework and studying for tests.
Today I had to go through another class without Noelia but today did not go as well as last week. Pepe (the director´s husband) had to leave when it was time for me to teach and the other teacher who came wasn´t very much help with getting the kids to listen. Luckily I had a hands-on activity for them to do which wasn´t too complicated so after I shouted my explination at them while no one was really listening, they managed to figure it out more or less.
One more day of school and two more lessons til the weekend! I am going to Madrid with some freinds. Another very good reason for the extra 80 or so euro a week!
Hasta ahora,
MC
On the way home Noelia noticed I wasn´t as talkative as usual. She started trying to console me and tell me about how when she studied in England sometimes she just wanted to cry because it was so hard. Then she asked if I missed my family and freinds. I told her on good days all I can think about is how lucky I am to be here, how awesome Spain is, how exciting I am to be living in Europe this year. But on bad days I just want to be home where I feel like a competent human being, not to mention to be with people I love that actaully understand me.
Anyway thing turned around in the afternoon though. Since we live in Sevilla, where the main office of our program is, we get the benefit of the services that our organization provides. Sara, teh girl in charge of we English teachers has been sending out emails about people looking for private tutors. Yesterday I went to go meet with a familt that wanted 4 hours a week of private lessons for their two high school aged boys. And I am going toeb paid 15 euros an an hour! (This is great, I only make 12 with my other lessons. Nothing like the promise of income to turn one´s mood around. The boys are very nice, the older basically knows English already and just needs a conversation practice partner. The younger not so much but he knows some and I will be helping him with homework and studying for tests.
Today I had to go through another class without Noelia but today did not go as well as last week. Pepe (the director´s husband) had to leave when it was time for me to teach and the other teacher who came wasn´t very much help with getting the kids to listen. Luckily I had a hands-on activity for them to do which wasn´t too complicated so after I shouted my explination at them while no one was really listening, they managed to figure it out more or less.
One more day of school and two more lessons til the weekend! I am going to Madrid with some freinds. Another very good reason for the extra 80 or so euro a week!
Hasta ahora,
MC
Sunday, November 11, 2007
The week and a weekend in Granada!
Let' see, quite a few things to report!
First of all, got the internet up and running in my house so I should be easy to get a hold of on skype if anyone should so desire! and i am posting pictures as we speak. ...although the process may take about 10 hours, the internet isn't what you would call speedy.
I had a good week at school with my little monsters. Monday was the first day of the second language assistant to arrive at Orippo, a German girl named Lydia. Yes, she is German but is here as an English teacher. She studied in the States for two years, so she basically speaks better English than I do. Unfortunately for Lydia, she was placed with the worst teacher in the whole school, a crazy woman who is always yelling and screaming at her students. By the end of the school day poor Lydia was in tears. My partner teacher Noelia (my only source of sanity at this school) told her that she would change her schedule so she would not have to be with this particular teacher anymore. Tuesday Noelia had a meeting in Sevilla so I had to teach my class with out her support and I was very nervous but it actually went very well. Her class had a sub, which was the husband of the principal who normally does one on one help with students that are behind. Luckily he is very good with the kids so since he was there they were more or less under control. He later told Noelia that after observing my class he was very impressed with all of the vocabulary my kids knew! I have been working on food vocabulary and "the supermarket". We have been working on the same vocab for about a week so that day I had them make posters of their own super markets and categorize all of the foods into their appropriate groups, ie apples with fruit carrots with vegetables chicken with meat etc. I think the teachers had kind of given up on these kids learning any English but during the project the kids were calling out questions like "Los apples son en el grupo de fruit no??" So i scored major points, yay. We have also been doing the parts of the body, so on Wednesday I taught then "The Hokey Pokey", also a great success haha.
Thursday we headed out for a weekend in Granada. We took the 4pm train right after Jennifer was done with school and by 8 we were settled in our hostal ready to go out and explore the city. I take credit for our hostal because I booked it online, it was so cool! We were on the top floor and it had a patio with the most amazing view of the city. We could see the cathedral and all of the rooftops of the city, que guay (how cool). We took the advice of the dueno of the hostal and headed to a nearby tapas bar. Best part about Granada: At the tapas bars, with every drink you buy, you get on tapa for FREE. It is amazing. After we had our fill of tapas, we headed to an Irish pub recommended in our beloved guidebook. There we met a group of Spaniards who offered to show us around and to take us to their favorite tapas place the next night. During the day on Friday we went to up to the Alambra which was the palace of the Moorish kings when they had control of Spain. There are huge gardens there and it is up on a hilltop so it has a great view. Tickets were sold out to take the tour of inside the palace so we just walked around the gardens (this was a big bummer for Jennifer but both Maggie and I had been inside before when we studied here). It was much colder in Granada than we had become used to in Sevilla so then later in the afternoon we headed to a typical tetaria (tea house). We sat on pillows on the floor and ordered several pots of tea and a peach hookah ( 831 peeps: a little different from Indian Summer haha). Then later we met new amigos for some very delicious tapas. The good/dangerous thing about tapas in Granada is in order to make a meal of the free tapas you need to drink about 7 beers. The beers are pretty small, but we were having fun by the end of dinner to say the least. We went to several other bars around town and by 3am we ended up at a very cool discoteca and danced the night away until about 7am. We managed to get ourselves up by noon but by 1:30 when we tried to go to the Cathedral but it was closed for seista as were all of the other tourist spots. But we saw the outside of them, very impressive haha. We caught the 5pm train back to Sevilla Saturday. Today I am resting!
Then next week it all begins again.
I hope all is going well at home. Send me emails!
Beso,
MC
First of all, got the internet up and running in my house so I should be easy to get a hold of on skype if anyone should so desire! and i am posting pictures as we speak. ...although the process may take about 10 hours, the internet isn't what you would call speedy.
I had a good week at school with my little monsters. Monday was the first day of the second language assistant to arrive at Orippo, a German girl named Lydia. Yes, she is German but is here as an English teacher. She studied in the States for two years, so she basically speaks better English than I do. Unfortunately for Lydia, she was placed with the worst teacher in the whole school, a crazy woman who is always yelling and screaming at her students. By the end of the school day poor Lydia was in tears. My partner teacher Noelia (my only source of sanity at this school) told her that she would change her schedule so she would not have to be with this particular teacher anymore. Tuesday Noelia had a meeting in Sevilla so I had to teach my class with out her support and I was very nervous but it actually went very well. Her class had a sub, which was the husband of the principal who normally does one on one help with students that are behind. Luckily he is very good with the kids so since he was there they were more or less under control. He later told Noelia that after observing my class he was very impressed with all of the vocabulary my kids knew! I have been working on food vocabulary and "the supermarket". We have been working on the same vocab for about a week so that day I had them make posters of their own super markets and categorize all of the foods into their appropriate groups, ie apples with fruit carrots with vegetables chicken with meat etc. I think the teachers had kind of given up on these kids learning any English but during the project the kids were calling out questions like "Los apples son en el grupo de fruit no??" So i scored major points, yay. We have also been doing the parts of the body, so on Wednesday I taught then "The Hokey Pokey", also a great success haha.
Thursday we headed out for a weekend in Granada. We took the 4pm train right after Jennifer was done with school and by 8 we were settled in our hostal ready to go out and explore the city. I take credit for our hostal because I booked it online, it was so cool! We were on the top floor and it had a patio with the most amazing view of the city. We could see the cathedral and all of the rooftops of the city, que guay (how cool). We took the advice of the dueno of the hostal and headed to a nearby tapas bar. Best part about Granada: At the tapas bars, with every drink you buy, you get on tapa for FREE. It is amazing. After we had our fill of tapas, we headed to an Irish pub recommended in our beloved guidebook. There we met a group of Spaniards who offered to show us around and to take us to their favorite tapas place the next night. During the day on Friday we went to up to the Alambra which was the palace of the Moorish kings when they had control of Spain. There are huge gardens there and it is up on a hilltop so it has a great view. Tickets were sold out to take the tour of inside the palace so we just walked around the gardens (this was a big bummer for Jennifer but both Maggie and I had been inside before when we studied here). It was much colder in Granada than we had become used to in Sevilla so then later in the afternoon we headed to a typical tetaria (tea house). We sat on pillows on the floor and ordered several pots of tea and a peach hookah ( 831 peeps: a little different from Indian Summer haha). Then later we met new amigos for some very delicious tapas. The good/dangerous thing about tapas in Granada is in order to make a meal of the free tapas you need to drink about 7 beers. The beers are pretty small, but we were having fun by the end of dinner to say the least. We went to several other bars around town and by 3am we ended up at a very cool discoteca and danced the night away until about 7am. We managed to get ourselves up by noon but by 1:30 when we tried to go to the Cathedral but it was closed for seista as were all of the other tourist spots. But we saw the outside of them, very impressive haha. We caught the 5pm train back to Sevilla Saturday. Today I am resting!
Then next week it all begins again.
I hope all is going well at home. Send me emails!
Beso,
MC
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
time flies...
It is already November! I can´t beleive it!
Let´s see what has happened since my last post?
1. Halloween! I spent all week introducing vocabulary like :witch, candy, pumpkin, ghost and bat and then on wednesday we had a halloween party in which my students knocked on the door with masks that we made in class and said "TRICK OR TREAT!". a triumphant moment. Then that night some of our fellow American english teachers threw a halloween party. (I thought I had pictures on my flash drive to post now, but it turns out that i don´t so i will post them later) My roommates were dice and a was a popular talk show host here in Spain named Patricia. She is basically the Spanish version of Ricky Lake. She is amazing. oh! actually I do have a picture of her! I will post me AS her later.
Patirica, in all her glory2. This weekend my roommates went to Cadiz which is a port town down in the very southern coast of Spain. We hit all the traditional tourist sights: the cathedral, the beach, a castle and explorded quiant little winding roads. We also went to a Flamenco show. We have started a tradtion of going to the author´s choice in our guidebook for dinner, and again he did not fail us! We went to the most amazing tapas place, it was delicious. The highlight of this meal for me was dessert: ( I was thinking of you Mom and GRAMMY) the most AMAZING dulce de leche crepe EVER! There were tears in my eyes it was so good. Unfortunatly, something from our delcious dinner must not have agreed with Maggie because she wasn´t feeling weel for the rest of the night so in the morning we decided to head back to sevilla early, which was fine because it isn´t that far and we can go back to Cadiz anytime.
Me, lookin fab in Cadiz :)Sunday Jennifer I discovered a huge outdoor market. A true cultural experience. Vendors yelling their prices, haggling, the whole bit. Jennifer got olives and I got cheap shoes, a very successful venture. Then we walked around the Jardines de Maria Lucia in Sevilla.
This week I really want to pursue getting a few more extra teaching jobs and the job of getting internet for our casa has also been assigned to me so I need to make some phone calls. This weekend we are planning on going to Malaga and Granada. Once I get the internet set up I will make a webalbum with all of my pictures! I already have around 300 or more.
Now I need to go catch the train back to Sevilla!
Hasta pronto,
MC
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
I got a teaching job!
I got a job teaching private English lessons! It is only 3 hours a week, but it´s a start and I intend to take on more private lessons. The only drawback is that between walking to the correct bus stop and riding the bus 30 mins... it takes about an hour to get there. But, i do not have any other job right now so i accepted.
By the way, these are my roommates:
Me, Jennifer and Maggie :)
Monday, October 22, 2007
I left the USA one month ago, today
- ~Completed the tedious process of extending my visa. Pros: was necessary to stay here in Spain legally for the year, so didn’t really have a choice. The office we had to go to is in the Plaza de España which is one of the major sites to see when in Sevilla because it is an amazingly beautiful building. Cons: La Plaza is NOT so beautiful at 7am, 2 hours before the Oficina de Extranjeros (Office of Foreigners) opens at 9:00am, when you are in line behind about 200 people, most of whom have extreme problems with body odor and happen to Romanian. Not that there is anything wrong with Romanians.
-
~ Made a successful bus trip to IKEA. This may not sound impressive, but my roommate Jennifer and I were very proud of ourselves considering that we had no idea what bus to take, where the bus station was or exactly where said IKEA was when we set out on our quest. But we made it there and back and even had time to pop into a nearby Zara. Yay.
- ~Made friends with some Spanish speakers! We have gone out a few times with 2 Colombian students that are super nice and speak obviously Spanish but also great English which is helpful when you want to translate something. Also, we have made friends with some Sevillano boys who like coming over to our apartment. They have kind of developed a habit of just stopping by, but its ok because 1. They are cute 2. They speak Spanish and can help us practice. 3. One of them has a car, bonus. The other night we went out in the true Spanish tradition: we left out house at midnight, hit the bars by one, got home at 5, then went with our friends to get breakfast at 6:30 and made it to bed by 8am.
(our Spanish amgios, Jesus, Hugo y Borja)- ~Made an appointment for an interview tomorrow for teaching some private lessons! I believe it will be a long bus ride, but since my job is only about 15 hours a week, I have the time to spare on the bus so I do not think I will mind, especially if I can get €30 a week out of it.
- ~Have walked a complete lap around the entire city of Sevilla, well at least the center. The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous for the past week or so. Yesterday Jennifer and I took about a 4 hour walk around the city center. We walked down by the river and saw countless people sitting on blankets having picnics by the river, making out (PDA is huge in Spain, fyi) and soaking up the sun. We have decided the next lazy Sunday in Sevilla we shall follow the example of the locals and do the same.
along the river, where we shall have a picnic very soon!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
email to mama
hi mama,
The interview at KeyIdomas went well, but she called last night to tell me that I did not get the class that they immediately wanted to fill for Tuesday and Thursday nights, but this place just opened so they are expanding right now, so she said as soon as she had more clients she would call, maybe within the next month. in addition to offering classes at the school, they also contract out in-home private lessons, so i could maybe get some of those through them in addition to ones i get from connections or posters that i put up around town, school etc. so we will see.
overall the NIE wasn't too too bad. we got there an hour before it opened and there was already huge line, but we only ended up having to wait for about 2.5 hours which was way less than we expected. we got the numbers and everything, which we then had to take a bank to notarize, tomorrow we have to wait in the SAME line AGAIN to show them the notarized paper and get our actual ID cards. oh yeah thats what NIE is national identification something something, they thing that we need to have just in case we ever get stopped by the cops, get arrested, but it mostly for when i come BACK into the country after christmas, because i need to present this card with my visa... whatever..... YAY
Hey guess what, in class today, my niños actually LISTENED! I taught them the days on the week, months of the year and the seasons! I have drawn up another lesson plan to complete "What day is it" and then "What time is it", then the weather. My goal is to open each English class with, for example: "Today is Tuesday, October sixteenth, 2007. The weather is hot and sunny." and have that be like the routine of the beginning of each class and take turns with who has to say it at the beginning of each class. Then after that we are going to do prepositions and classroom vocab. Noelia has told Sara I am a good worker :) I do not feel like I am though, this is the only day I am coming this week! Because I did the NIE yesterday and we have to go back tomorrow to finish it! AND Monday the 22nd is apparently a holiday here in Dos Hermanas. Haha rough huh? I want to use the time to go over those teaching materials I bought from home and also study up on relevant vocab.
Well, I need to get going so I can catch the train back to Sevilla.
Te quiero!!!!!!
Besito,
MC
The interview at KeyIdomas went well, but she called last night to tell me that I did not get the class that they immediately wanted to fill for Tuesday and Thursday nights, but this place just opened so they are expanding right now, so she said as soon as she had more clients she would call, maybe within the next month. in addition to offering classes at the school, they also contract out in-home private lessons, so i could maybe get some of those through them in addition to ones i get from connections or posters that i put up around town, school etc. so we will see.
overall the NIE wasn't too too bad. we got there an hour before it opened and there was already huge line, but we only ended up having to wait for about 2.5 hours which was way less than we expected. we got the numbers and everything, which we then had to take a bank to notarize, tomorrow we have to wait in the SAME line AGAIN to show them the notarized paper and get our actual ID cards. oh yeah thats what NIE is national identification something something, they thing that we need to have just in case we ever get stopped by the cops, get arrested, but it mostly for when i come BACK into the country after christmas, because i need to present this card with my visa... whatever..... YAY
bureaucracy!
Hey guess what, in class today, my niños actually LISTENED! I taught them the days on the week, months of the year and the seasons! I have drawn up another lesson plan to complete "What day is it" and then "What time is it", then the weather. My goal is to open each English class with, for example: "Today is Tuesday, October sixteenth, 2007. The weather is hot and sunny." and have that be like the routine of the beginning of each class and take turns with who has to say it at the beginning of each class. Then after that we are going to do prepositions and classroom vocab. Noelia has told Sara I am a good worker :) I do not feel like I am though, this is the only day I am coming this week! Because I did the NIE yesterday and we have to go back tomorrow to finish it! AND Monday the 22nd is apparently a holiday here in Dos Hermanas. Haha rough huh? I want to use the time to go over those teaching materials I bought from home and also study up on relevant vocab.
Well, I need to get going so I can catch the train back to Sevilla.
Te quiero!!!!!!
Besito,
MC
my address and digits
should any of you want to send me presents, email me at:
mclauerman@gmail.com
and i will sen you my address and also i can give you my spanish cell number if you want to call me! oh, download skype!!
KEEP IN TOUCH!
beso,
mc
mclauerman@gmail.com
and i will sen you my address and also i can give you my spanish cell number if you want to call me! oh, download skype!!
KEEP IN TOUCH!
beso,
mc
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
thank god its wednesday!
i know that i can't complain too much with only a 3 day work week, but trust me, my job is still pretty intense!
this morning went well in class! i created a number/ color game of BINGO and the kids loooooved it. they got really really into it and want to play again. "Maestra, tengo B2! Tengo GREEN!!!" They are 9 so anything with competition is very exciting. this afternoon was a little rough though. there was a big drama because supposedly a boy in our class did something wrong yesterday and the parents of teh other child came into complain today. he ( Lucas, the accused) would not stop crying because they wrote a note to his parents about what he had done, and he said when they saw the note about his bad behavior, they would beat him. i told you i am working with kids from a rough neighborhood. noelia (my partner teacher) is going to try to talk to the mom when she comes to get him and convince her not too be too hard on Lucas. rough stuff...
My roommate Maggie and I have started watching the Spanish sitcoms at night, they are perfect because they are really stupid and they talk slowly so we can understand what they are saying. we are so tired after teaching that all we can do after is take siestas and watch tv. i am still a little sick so tonight i think i will do the same.
i do not have internet at my house, probably not until next month, so any emailing/posting will have to wait til next week when i am back at school and can use the internet for free.
hope everyone is well!
email me about what you are up to, i like to hear what is going on at home!
beso para todos,
MC
this morning went well in class! i created a number/ color game of BINGO and the kids loooooved it. they got really really into it and want to play again. "Maestra, tengo B2! Tengo GREEN!!!" They are 9 so anything with competition is very exciting. this afternoon was a little rough though. there was a big drama because supposedly a boy in our class did something wrong yesterday and the parents of teh other child came into complain today. he ( Lucas, the accused) would not stop crying because they wrote a note to his parents about what he had done, and he said when they saw the note about his bad behavior, they would beat him. i told you i am working with kids from a rough neighborhood. noelia (my partner teacher) is going to try to talk to the mom when she comes to get him and convince her not too be too hard on Lucas. rough stuff...
My roommate Maggie and I have started watching the Spanish sitcoms at night, they are perfect because they are really stupid and they talk slowly so we can understand what they are saying. we are so tired after teaching that all we can do after is take siestas and watch tv. i am still a little sick so tonight i think i will do the same.
i do not have internet at my house, probably not until next month, so any emailing/posting will have to wait til next week when i am back at school and can use the internet for free.
hope everyone is well!
email me about what you are up to, i like to hear what is going on at home!
beso para todos,
MC
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Segundo semana en Sevilla
(written on Sunday, could not post until today)
A week later things are much brighter.
WE FOUND A PISO!
We spent all Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday searching, we called about 50 numbers from ‘se aquila’ (renting) and went into about 8 real estate agencies and everyone said that they either had absolutely nothing, or just a one bedroom for a thousand euro a month. On Wednesday I met with my bilingual coordinator/boss/teaching partner Noelia. She is really nice and was very concerned that we had not found a place to live yet. So, rather than sitting and chatting over coffee, we set out about the neighborhood taking down more numbers, and going into more agencies. The numbers said they had already rented, the agencies had nothing. Finally, the last agency place asked what our price range was and we said no more than 900/mo and we wanted 3 bedrooms. They just so happened to have a place right behind the agency for 900, would we like to take a look? I was expecting all of the apartments in Spain to be old, and rundown and tiny, because that is what we were told to expect. NOT this place! After looking at it with Noelia I excitedly told the agency that the girls had to see this place and that they would be very interested. I RAN back to our hotel to get them, of course they loved it! We gave ourselves one night to think about it but basically as soon as we left we had decided. The piso is more expensive than we originally wanted but Noelia told us it was actually a really good deal for what we were getting. Not to mention the fact that we were getting desperate. We figure that spending half of our paycheck on rent was worth it because then at least we would be poor in a nice place! I have pictures of the apartment which we call ‘el palacio’. (the palace).
So yeah, Thursday we went down to the agency to sign the papers and pay them large sums on money and they gave us the keys! That night we had a little dinner party at our new house with some Spanish take out and Cruzcampo beer (the Spanish equivalent of Budweiser, its everywhere.) We slept at the hotel Thursday night because we hadn’t bought sheets or blankets yet, then Friday we check out of the hotel (not a second too soon, because Thursday was our last paid-for night in the hotel) and finished moving into our palacio! We had a little fiesta for ourselves Friday night and the remainder of this weekend we have just been resting. I am STILL sick with my cough/chest cold, so I am trying to finally take it easy to finally get better. We slept literally all day yesterday, and so far had been laying around today too. We had been going non-stop for 2 weeks straight, so once we hit the ground there was no getting up. Aw one bummer, we were so excited last night to make a cheap dinner (pasta, 1 onion, 1 can tomato, 1 eggplant) and to watch one of my dvds I brought from home, buuuut the stupid regional codes would not let us watch a movie on our sweet tv which came with the apartment! But its alright, Spanish tv will do just fine. I am going to keep loading up with the vitamin C and rest!
Monday my first week of school begins. I went one day last week, it was interesting. The population of students at my school is mostly gypsies (‘jitanos’). What this basically means that they mostly come from lower-income, less-stable homes. In the classroom this translates to basically chaos. They were sweet kids, but just all over the place. No one stayed in their seats, everyone shouting, about a 2.3 second attention span. Our first lesson plan than Noelia and devised went reasonably well, we used pictures of animals to learn some basic vocab. They liked it, although no one is quiet while anyone else is talking, but I guess it is what comes with the territory. I am mostly going to be team-teaching with Noelia, in her class which is 8 and 9 year olds. She said I could go help in other classrooms if I wanted but I have a feeling she does not only appreciate the extra pair of hands in her classroom, but I do not think the other teachers are as receptive to extra help from an extranjera (foreigner).
Well I think I am going to spend another glorious day resting and relaxing in my apartment! Oh yeah, we have a futon, so you can stay with me if anyone wants to visit!
Besos,
Mary Claire
A week later things are much brighter.
WE FOUND A PISO!
We spent all Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday searching, we called about 50 numbers from ‘se aquila’ (renting) and went into about 8 real estate agencies and everyone said that they either had absolutely nothing, or just a one bedroom for a thousand euro a month. On Wednesday I met with my bilingual coordinator/boss/teaching partner Noelia. She is really nice and was very concerned that we had not found a place to live yet. So, rather than sitting and chatting over coffee, we set out about the neighborhood taking down more numbers, and going into more agencies. The numbers said they had already rented, the agencies had nothing. Finally, the last agency place asked what our price range was and we said no more than 900/mo and we wanted 3 bedrooms. They just so happened to have a place right behind the agency for 900, would we like to take a look? I was expecting all of the apartments in Spain to be old, and rundown and tiny, because that is what we were told to expect. NOT this place! After looking at it with Noelia I excitedly told the agency that the girls had to see this place and that they would be very interested. I RAN back to our hotel to get them, of course they loved it! We gave ourselves one night to think about it but basically as soon as we left we had decided. The piso is more expensive than we originally wanted but Noelia told us it was actually a really good deal for what we were getting. Not to mention the fact that we were getting desperate. We figure that spending half of our paycheck on rent was worth it because then at least we would be poor in a nice place! I have pictures of the apartment which we call ‘el palacio’. (the palace).
So yeah, Thursday we went down to the agency to sign the papers and pay them large sums on money and they gave us the keys! That night we had a little dinner party at our new house with some Spanish take out and Cruzcampo beer (the Spanish equivalent of Budweiser, its everywhere.) We slept at the hotel Thursday night because we hadn’t bought sheets or blankets yet, then Friday we check out of the hotel (not a second too soon, because Thursday was our last paid-for night in the hotel) and finished moving into our palacio! We had a little fiesta for ourselves Friday night and the remainder of this weekend we have just been resting. I am STILL sick with my cough/chest cold, so I am trying to finally take it easy to finally get better. We slept literally all day yesterday, and so far had been laying around today too. We had been going non-stop for 2 weeks straight, so once we hit the ground there was no getting up. Aw one bummer, we were so excited last night to make a cheap dinner (pasta, 1 onion, 1 can tomato, 1 eggplant) and to watch one of my dvds I brought from home, buuuut the stupid regional codes would not let us watch a movie on our sweet tv which came with the apartment! But its alright, Spanish tv will do just fine. I am going to keep loading up with the vitamin C and rest!
Monday my first week of school begins. I went one day last week, it was interesting. The population of students at my school is mostly gypsies (‘jitanos’). What this basically means that they mostly come from lower-income, less-stable homes. In the classroom this translates to basically chaos. They were sweet kids, but just all over the place. No one stayed in their seats, everyone shouting, about a 2.3 second attention span. Our first lesson plan than Noelia and devised went reasonably well, we used pictures of animals to learn some basic vocab. They liked it, although no one is quiet while anyone else is talking, but I guess it is what comes with the territory. I am mostly going to be team-teaching with Noelia, in her class which is 8 and 9 year olds. She said I could go help in other classrooms if I wanted but I have a feeling she does not only appreciate the extra pair of hands in her classroom, but I do not think the other teachers are as receptive to extra help from an extranjera (foreigner).
Well I think I am going to spend another glorious day resting and relaxing in my apartment! Oh yeah, we have a futon, so you can stay with me if anyone wants to visit!
Besos,
Mary Claire
Sunday, September 30, 2007
First week in Sevilla
I have been in Sevilla, Spain for one week. At the same time I can’t believe a week has passed and it feels like I left home a lifetime ago.
I had an amazing time visiting mis amigos in Boston! It was just like old times with just as many laughs and shenanigans!! It was like a day had not passed. Rob, Kelly, Alycia, I love you all to death!!!
As for Spain so far…let’s start at the beginning. The trip here was the WORST. Well I suppose not THE worst, because then I would be dead. Not quite there yet (although I am sick…. : ( ) Long story short I had to switch flights and airports last minute, had to cab from LaGuardia airport to JFK in New York, I thought I would never see my bags again AND miss my flight, but I did manage to make my flight from JFK to Madrid and although we were two hours late taking off and I missed my connection to Sevilla, I was able to catch the next connection to Sevilla and I survived. It took over 24 hours and I could have filled about 8 gallons with sweat from running across JFK (large airport) and from the tears when I broke down where everyone else’s luggage came off the transferred flight except mine and when I was sure I was going to miss my flight out of JFK and have to spend the night n New York alone. But I made it, and I actually got bumped to business because I almost missed my flight and they gave away my seat in coach. The lady at the desk told me “it was my lucky day”.
So I arrived, and they only lost one of my bags instead of both like I thought would happen, and they actually delivered it by the next day. Our orientation was….. ok. Very nice hotel, and of course, walking around Sevilla is amazing. It is SO beautiful.
Bad part of orientation is that this is the first year of this particular program so although it was well organized, it was not always relevant or helpful. Not nearly as much help with the practical things like FINDING A PLACE TO LIVE, help with banking and legal issues than I expected. We were basically told “go out and look for rental signs and call numbers” …..uhhhh….
One really nice thing is that I have met some really cool American girls from my program and I am looking for a place with 2 of them that will be working near the area where I need to be. One girl (who is hilarious) studied here before so she knows about the city which is really helpful. But we are only in this next hotel until the end of this week so time is definitely running short and we NEED to find a place. Tomorrow we are basically going to a real estate agency and we are willing to pay a large sum of money to not be homeless. We are not panicking yet though, we still have some time.
So needless to say, it has not been all parties and sightseeing yet. I know as soon as we find a place, get things taken care of, I start my job (I go in Wednesday for the first time), and get a routine down I will start to have fun and enjoy it here. Right now it is basically just really stressful… and I’m sick.
We went out for my birthday last night to dinner and walked around a bit, but I must say I was a little homesick. The girls have promised a “re-do” of my birthday night, which they wanted to do tonight but I think I better just try to get better physically and focus and the more pressing tasks at hand like not being homeless.
I am hopeful though, I know everything will work out and then it will be awesome once I am living and working in Spain. Dude, my schedule rocks, I teach Mon-Weds. 4 day weekends, hell yes. Once I get things for together I will start doing tutoring for extra money, but for the first few weeks I might just take the time I don’t feel like I have right now to just take in the city and relax. I will let you all know when that time comes.
If you are reading this, I know that I miss you and I love you. Email me, hit me up on facebook, get skype, it helps to hear from people at home.
Besos,
MC
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Almost time to go!
Less than 4 weeks before I take off for Spain once again.
I have been working all summer up until about 3 days ago so I have not really had any time to think about going so far away for so long. I am starting to get really sad about being away from my family and my freinds.
Trying this out as an easier means of keeping in touching in leu of the mass emails that i sent last time.
Count down til I fly out : 25 days
I have been working all summer up until about 3 days ago so I have not really had any time to think about going so far away for so long. I am starting to get really sad about being away from my family and my freinds.
Trying this out as an easier means of keeping in touching in leu of the mass emails that i sent last time.
Count down til I fly out : 25 days
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