Days here: 90
Currently reading: Te Darè La Tierra- Modern Spanish novel set in 11th century Barcelona. A thrilling mix of political intrigue and romance. Too bad that lately I don't have too much time on my hands.
So this week I embarked on a new adventure for my time here in Spain. My school's AMPA (parent's group) hired me to lead after school English practice activities for whatever students sign up. I started this Tuesday and it's going to be a weekly thing, with two hours on Tuesdays, three on Wednesdays, and two on Thursdays. I'm glad about this because not only will it take up some of my formerly excess time but it also means some extra money =D Let me explain the posting's title. The parents made it clear when I agreed to do this that they don't want me to give English lessons to the kids, they just want me to lead activities in which they can practice the English skills that they acquire in school and in their private lessons. (Private lessons are a big thing here because Spanish people- both adults and kids- are really enthusiastic about learning English. I myself have five hours a week of one-on-one lessons with an adult.) I, of course, have no problems with this. Not having to plan lessons or actually teach will only make things easier for me.
Anyway, my first week was somewhat challenging and I had several conflicting impressions. I will be leading activities for all the ages from the preschoolers to 6th grade. My very first hour was with the preschoolers. I had 16 kids, which is a lot for one person alone. After all, when I enter preschool during school hours there are three adults: the English teacher, the main teacher, and me. As we all know, 3-5 year-olds are a riot, all over the place and difficult to control. Some of the activities I had for them included listening and singing songs. We sang and I tried to teach them "If you're happy and you know it" and "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes." They love the latter because the words and the dance are easy to learn! I also taught them the game "red light, green light," but the motion-oriented nature of the game only led to chaos. Since they are learning body parts, I also let them play with a robot that I got from the school, whose limbs and facial features come off so that they can have the opportunity to put them back on, listening to instructions from me. Some of the kids are very good. But there were three or four that just would not listen or stand still. Some of them were just running around and screaming the whole time and bothering the other kids, hitting them and throwing them on the ground. I was so tired that I let them go to the playground for the last ten minutes of class. I must confess: by the end of the first hour, I was dispirited. I told myself that I was going to talk to the parents' group mothers and tell them that I didn't want to work with the preschoolers. But I'm glad I didn't. My hour with preschoolers on Wednesday was also chaotic, but for the last half hour I had some assistance with one of my school's teachers. Afterwards I had a very enlightening conversation with her. She no longer teaches preschool, but she did for twelve years. She let me know that we will be helping me from now on and that we just have to organize ourselves very well in order to lead the preschoolers. Basically, for preschoolers it's all about repetition, repetition, repetition. I already knew this. I know that in order to teach preschoolers, I have to do the same things every week so that they become accustomed and they can internalize the information. So what we're going to do is choose books (the first being Old McDonald) and make visual posters of the story (i.e. ducks saying quack, pigs saying oink, etc.). Using these visuals, we can get so much repetition out of one book that it can last us one whole month. We will be using these visuals every lesson for as long as it takes the kids to be able to sing the song along with me. Of course, there will also be intermittent songs and games, but this organization will help calm the kids down and make things easier for me. I see working with the preschoolers as a challenge which I'm happy to tackle!
The elementary school kids are obviously much easier to handle. I have two 1st/2nd grade groups of about ten kids each. I have two 3rd/4th grade groups of about eight each. And I have one 5th/6th grade group of about 13 kids. For my 1st/2nd grade kids I designed a game board (think a windy road a-la-Candy Land), and during class I instructed them in how to fill each square. The instructions were things like: Go Forward 1,2,3; Go Back 1,2,3; Stay here; Go to certain color; and some squares colored in. I was glad that the kids really enjoyed making their game boards and that they quickly discerned how the game was going to work. They were really excited to begin playing the game, but after filling out the board there was not enough time left. We are going to begin playing their game in two weeks because next week I am going to have all the groups make Valentine's Day cards for each other. In the first 3rd/4th grade group we wrote a story together. I tried to have each kid come up with one sentence, but like in every group, there are some kids who don't speak and some who just love to speak. So, with a little guidance from me, they were successful in writing a whole story with characters, a conflict, and a resolution. After finishing the story, I assigned each of them a sentence that they were to draw. Once the drawings are finished, I plan on putting our story together and we are going to read this story to death. After all, making them practice English is my job, right? In the second group, I wrote a short skit with a group of characters that appear in their English textbooks. They really like these character, which is a group of superhero kids, so I figured it would raise the interest-quotient. What we did in our first session was that we assigned characters and we read over the skit, and I had them each translate everything that they read. In future sessions, we're going to continue going over the skit and I'm going to have them act it out until they learn it as best they can. The next day at school the 3rd/4th English teacher told me that several of them had told her that they really enjoyed it. I overheard one of the girls say (remember, they think I don't really understand Spanish) that this was the best English class she'd ever been to. Things like this make it all worth it =) But honestly, I think the real reason why they all really enjoy it is because they can see their friends and talk, and I don't get as serious or angry as their real teachers. Finally, in the 5th/6th grade group, which is my favorite because they're all really good at English, I also had them write a story together. I also helped them, but they required less help than the 3rd/4th graders doing the same activity. Likewise, the participation level was more even and balanced than it was in the younger group. I gave them the same drawing assignment and we are also going to read this story to death.
I think that for my first week it went very well. I definitely noticed that the kids enjoyed themselves and the parent organizers all seemed satisfied. I myself am satisfied. Of course, things can definitely improve in every group. But the way I see it, it's a work in progress. It was the first week, and I'm not a trained teacher. The experiences I have and lessons I learn each week will help me to improve the way I approach these sessions and will help me to better organize myself. After all, what are experiences for if not to learn from them? This is, after all, why I took a job halfway across the world from my home.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Scientologists
Circle I Limbo
George Bush
Circle II Whirling in a Dark & Stormy Wind
Parents who bring squalling brats to R-rated movies
Circle III Mud, Rain, Cold, Hail & Snow
Republicans
Circle IV Rolling Weights
Libertarians
Circle V Stuck in Mud, Mangled
River Styx
Objectivists
Circle VI Buried for Eternity
River Phlegyas
Creationists
Circle VII Burning Sands
Jerry Falwell
Circle IIX Immersed in Excrement
Osama bin Laden
Circle IX Frozen in Ice
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
The Tourists Go to Madrid
Days here: 61 (It's my two-month-aversary today!)
New Year's Resolutions: 1. Write more; 2. Spend less money on alcohol; 3. Make better and more mature choices
Last Week, from Wednesday 29th to Friday 31st, Courtney, one of my fellow Auxiliaries in Socuèllamos, and I spent a busy few days as crazy American tourists in Madrid. Though I've been here almost two months, I hadn't had a chance to go to Madrid and really spend time there taking in the sights. I'd gone there for official business and spent a night or two there waiting for a flight in the morning, but I hadn't really experienced Madrid. Shameful, I know! Well, I finally made it.
Day 1
This trip was all the more exciting because it was my first couchsurfing experience. For those of you who don't know what that is, check out couchsurfing.org. Basically, you search for people who offer couches in various cities. You request to "surf" on somebody's couch for a certain amount of nights, and if they accept, you have a free place to sleep! So legit and a really great way to meet people. Our host was Carlos, a 28-year-old Peruvian immigrant who worked at the Madrid airport as a waiter. He gave us a bed and an extra mattress to sleep on, so our two nights were actually quite comfortable. We arrived in Madrid on Wednesday, and after dropping our stuff off at Carlos' place, we started on our way to the Madrid center. Fortunately Madrid's metro system is very extensive and it was easy to get there from our neighborhood, which was well outside of the main areas.
Our first stop was Plaza de Puerta del Sol, Kilometer 0 of Madrid. This bustling and crowded ant farm of a plaza is called Kilometer 0 because of its centralized location and because all of the important sites can be easily reached with Puerta del Sol as a starting point. After spending a few minutes admiring the street performers we headed towards Calle Alcalà, one of the four major avenues branching out of Puerta del Sol. Alcalà, as busy as the plaza, is a giant avenue of shops, businesses, and government buildings. Not the least of which was... STARBUCK'S! Yes, it was obligatory to walk into the shop and get a little taste of America. Because it was freezing, I had to resist the temptation of getting a Mocha Frappuccino and instead went for a good old-fashioned Cafe Latte. Tall, of course. After this short pit stop, we continued on our trek. After a short walk, we reached the intersection of Alcalà and Paseo del Prado, another major Madrid avenue. On the corner was what is possibly my favorite building in Madrid (from outside, as we didn't go inside). It was the Palacio de Comunicaciones, which houses the Madrid mayoral offices. I was impressed by it's majestic presence in the middle of such a busy intersection (as opposed to the other important buildings, which are mostly set apart), by its aesthetic beauty, and by the fact that such a beautiful building still serves an official purpose rather than being redesigned as a museum. We continued down the same street and finally hit the Plaza de Independencia, which houses the Puerta de Alcalà. The Puerta is much like the medieval city doors in many European cities, and it quite reminded me of the Arc de Triomphe (thought Alcalà is bigger and of course, nicer), but that doesn't take away from its majesty and imposing presence.
After a million pictures, we continued down Calle Alfonso XII. It was getting close to 6pm and we had made plans to go to the Musèo Nacional del Prado at that hour. We arrived at the Prado, a public art museum which houses mostly Renaissance-era productions, such as Goya, Velazquez, etc. (Mostly Spanish artists, of course.), right around 6. We made plans to meet with Kayla Gordon (whom many of you know from Berkeley and is an Auxiliar in Sevilla), Johnny Chiou (whom many of of you also know and was visiting for the holidays), and two other friends of theirs also from Berkeley, at the museum at 6pm because that's when the free admission starts. Of course, being poor recent college graduates, we take advantage of every free opportunity. As we arrived, the line was already kind of long but it actually moved quite fast. We were inside the museum by 6:30pm. We headed into the galleries and giddily didn't follow any particular order or look for any particular rooms. We just followed the layout of the galleries and enjoyed the various paintings. My favorite piece was definitely Francisco Goya's La Familia de Carlos IV. Now, you all know I'm not a monarchist, but the beauty of this work of art in its representation of the royal family is quite breathtaking and thought-provoking. Like, for example, why did Goya decide to shroud some of his subjects in shadows, including himself? Haha, look at me sounding like an art scholar! The thing is I've been reading much about Goya and romantic art since the exhibition.
After the museum, Courtney and I walked around a bit more before deciding to stop for dinner at a restaurant not far from the center. After dinner, we went to a bar called Populart, a place we had read about that offered live jazz shows. The place lives up to its name- it was very full considering it was a Wednesday. We couldn't find anywhere to sit, but the show was enjoyable. What wasn't enjoyable was the bill: we paid 7euros for a Tinto de Verano, a drink for which in Socuèllamos we pay 1,50 for comparable size and quality! Yeah, I limited myself to one. We decided to call it a night and headed to our host's flat.
Day 2
After breakfast on day 2, our first stop was the Plaza del Oriente, the park just east of the Palacio Real. After walking a bit through the streets and through the Plaza (beautiful, I can just imagine the royal family centuries ago taking strolls in the same places I walked), we decided to get in line for the Palacio. The Palacio Real used to be the official residence of the Spanish royal family and the royal court, but now it is used only for official ceremonies. The line didn't look as long as the Prado's, but it moved soooo much slower (and it was cold and rainy!!!). Maybe that's because people actually had to pay this time. We finally got in proceeded to follow the museum-like route of the Palacio. First stop was the Real Armerìa, the Royal Armory. This exhibit houses an interesting collection of old weapons (from ancient swords to modern-ish pistols and rifles) and sets of armor from all eras of Spanish history. There's even a section of child-sized sets of armor for the little prince's. Those were purely ceremonial, obviously, but kind of interesting. The next stop was a temporary art exhibit called "La Pintura de los Reinos," or "The Painting of the Kingdoms." I really enjoyed this exhibit (gosh, I realize I am becoming an art junkie), which was a demonstration of the way Spanish and Italian art in the 16th and 17th centuries influenced art in New Spain and vice-versa. So you can picture what the exhibit was like, one prominent section showed three different paintings of Jesus' Crucifixion. One was done in Spain, one was done in Mexico, and one one was done in Peru, all within one hundred years of each other. I don't understand much about painting, but the displays explained the similarities in the pieces despite the different styles and miles that separated them. The next stop were the Official Palace Rooms, which is a pre-set tour of several (though not all, as that would probably take too many hours) of the Palacio's chambers. The chambers are very pretty and elaborately decorated, but honestly, once you've seen one you've seen all of them. Anyway, the tour was mercifully short. The last stop in the Palacio was the Real Farmacia, the Royal Apothecary. This... basically... consisted... of... several... hallways... with...jars.... and... vases... labeled... with... different...herbs...and...potions. Yeah, seriously! I had to write it like that so you could get a full sense of the experience. Finally we left the Palacio, which overall was a good site. And in any case I consider it such a privilege to be able to witness all of these testaments to history that I enjoy even the most miniscule and insignificant things.
Next we walked up Calle Mayor towards the center. By this time it was about 5:30pm so we stopped by one of its restaurants for a late lunch. The essence of this meal is that I ate WAYYY too much bread. And some food and triple chocolate cake with it, I believe. We continued walking up the street and stopped by Plaza Mayor, one of Madrid's important plaza's for some window shopping. The Plaza is surrounded by quaint shops and restaurants, and because of the holidays there were cute shopping stands in the middle. Being the pragmatist that I am, I didn't buy any of the cute stuff. We then went back to Puerta del Sol's shopping district and did some actual shopping. The whole time I'd been looking for a messenger bag as a Christmas gift for myself, and I finally found a really great one at H&M. I bought it! And I use it all the time now! We ended the night by going to Cafè y Tè, a Spanish coffee-shop chain, and having some heartwarming coffee and napolitanos (Spanish pastries filled with chocolate or custard). We chilled there for a good couple of hours, marking a good end to the night.
Day 3
Our last day! Our first stop was the Parque del Retiro, known as the "Central Park of Madrid." Honestly, that's an exaggeration. The park is beautiful, but it's actually pretty small. We entered the park through the Puerta del Angel Caìdo, a reference to Lucifer, the Fallen Angel. After a short walk, the path from this door led us to the Monumento del Angel Caìdo, one of the few homages in the world to Lucifer. Being the sinner that I am: GLORIOUS. We continued walking through the park, this time off the paths. We came across the park's two "palaces," the Palacio de Cristal, whose purpose I haven't quite figured out, and the Palacio de Velàzquez, used as an art gallery. Both were closed because it was New Year's Eve. We continued walking until we reached one of the prettiest parts of the park and one of my favorite monuments in Madrid. In the middle of the park is a large pond (when it's not rainy, you can ride onto the pond on little rowboats). Overlooking the pond is the Monumento a Su Majestad el Rey Alfonso XII. I have plenty of pictures on my Facebook album, but if you like immediate gratification (who doesn't), here you go. I don't know why I like this monument so much. It just speaks to me as a historian. Alfonso XII (1857-1885), the great-grandfather of the current king, was one of the most popular and beloved king's in Spanish history. So beloved, in fact, that he was able to attain and consolidate power even though his family had been exiled by the First Spanish Republic, created by the Revolution of 1868. Anyway, enough of the history lesson. I get carried away =P
After finishing the park, we yet again walked to Puerta del Sol's shopping district and did some more shopping. Don't judge. What is vacation for? I didn't buy anything more. We did some more walking on the main avenues and went back to Plaza Mayor for some more shopping. As lunchtime approached, we decided to just head back to the train station and have a long, relaxed lunch in one of it's restaurants. As our train left at 4:53, we thought this best so that we wouldn't have to rush to the station after eating. Besides, we'd seen enough.
Thanks for reading and have a wonderfully Happy New Year!
New Year's Resolutions: 1. Write more; 2. Spend less money on alcohol; 3. Make better and more mature choices
Last Week, from Wednesday 29th to Friday 31st, Courtney, one of my fellow Auxiliaries in Socuèllamos, and I spent a busy few days as crazy American tourists in Madrid. Though I've been here almost two months, I hadn't had a chance to go to Madrid and really spend time there taking in the sights. I'd gone there for official business and spent a night or two there waiting for a flight in the morning, but I hadn't really experienced Madrid. Shameful, I know! Well, I finally made it.
Day 1
This trip was all the more exciting because it was my first couchsurfing experience. For those of you who don't know what that is, check out couchsurfing.org. Basically, you search for people who offer couches in various cities. You request to "surf" on somebody's couch for a certain amount of nights, and if they accept, you have a free place to sleep! So legit and a really great way to meet people. Our host was Carlos, a 28-year-old Peruvian immigrant who worked at the Madrid airport as a waiter. He gave us a bed and an extra mattress to sleep on, so our two nights were actually quite comfortable. We arrived in Madrid on Wednesday, and after dropping our stuff off at Carlos' place, we started on our way to the Madrid center. Fortunately Madrid's metro system is very extensive and it was easy to get there from our neighborhood, which was well outside of the main areas.
Our first stop was Plaza de Puerta del Sol, Kilometer 0 of Madrid. This bustling and crowded ant farm of a plaza is called Kilometer 0 because of its centralized location and because all of the important sites can be easily reached with Puerta del Sol as a starting point. After spending a few minutes admiring the street performers we headed towards Calle Alcalà, one of the four major avenues branching out of Puerta del Sol. Alcalà, as busy as the plaza, is a giant avenue of shops, businesses, and government buildings. Not the least of which was... STARBUCK'S! Yes, it was obligatory to walk into the shop and get a little taste of America. Because it was freezing, I had to resist the temptation of getting a Mocha Frappuccino and instead went for a good old-fashioned Cafe Latte. Tall, of course. After this short pit stop, we continued on our trek. After a short walk, we reached the intersection of Alcalà and Paseo del Prado, another major Madrid avenue. On the corner was what is possibly my favorite building in Madrid (from outside, as we didn't go inside). It was the Palacio de Comunicaciones, which houses the Madrid mayoral offices. I was impressed by it's majestic presence in the middle of such a busy intersection (as opposed to the other important buildings, which are mostly set apart), by its aesthetic beauty, and by the fact that such a beautiful building still serves an official purpose rather than being redesigned as a museum. We continued down the same street and finally hit the Plaza de Independencia, which houses the Puerta de Alcalà. The Puerta is much like the medieval city doors in many European cities, and it quite reminded me of the Arc de Triomphe (thought Alcalà is bigger and of course, nicer), but that doesn't take away from its majesty and imposing presence.
After a million pictures, we continued down Calle Alfonso XII. It was getting close to 6pm and we had made plans to go to the Musèo Nacional del Prado at that hour. We arrived at the Prado, a public art museum which houses mostly Renaissance-era productions, such as Goya, Velazquez, etc. (Mostly Spanish artists, of course.), right around 6. We made plans to meet with Kayla Gordon (whom many of you know from Berkeley and is an Auxiliar in Sevilla), Johnny Chiou (whom many of of you also know and was visiting for the holidays), and two other friends of theirs also from Berkeley, at the museum at 6pm because that's when the free admission starts. Of course, being poor recent college graduates, we take advantage of every free opportunity. As we arrived, the line was already kind of long but it actually moved quite fast. We were inside the museum by 6:30pm. We headed into the galleries and giddily didn't follow any particular order or look for any particular rooms. We just followed the layout of the galleries and enjoyed the various paintings. My favorite piece was definitely Francisco Goya's La Familia de Carlos IV. Now, you all know I'm not a monarchist, but the beauty of this work of art in its representation of the royal family is quite breathtaking and thought-provoking. Like, for example, why did Goya decide to shroud some of his subjects in shadows, including himself? Haha, look at me sounding like an art scholar! The thing is I've been reading much about Goya and romantic art since the exhibition.
After the museum, Courtney and I walked around a bit more before deciding to stop for dinner at a restaurant not far from the center. After dinner, we went to a bar called Populart, a place we had read about that offered live jazz shows. The place lives up to its name- it was very full considering it was a Wednesday. We couldn't find anywhere to sit, but the show was enjoyable. What wasn't enjoyable was the bill: we paid 7euros for a Tinto de Verano, a drink for which in Socuèllamos we pay 1,50 for comparable size and quality! Yeah, I limited myself to one. We decided to call it a night and headed to our host's flat.
Day 2
After breakfast on day 2, our first stop was the Plaza del Oriente, the park just east of the Palacio Real. After walking a bit through the streets and through the Plaza (beautiful, I can just imagine the royal family centuries ago taking strolls in the same places I walked), we decided to get in line for the Palacio. The Palacio Real used to be the official residence of the Spanish royal family and the royal court, but now it is used only for official ceremonies. The line didn't look as long as the Prado's, but it moved soooo much slower (and it was cold and rainy!!!). Maybe that's because people actually had to pay this time. We finally got in proceeded to follow the museum-like route of the Palacio. First stop was the Real Armerìa, the Royal Armory. This exhibit houses an interesting collection of old weapons (from ancient swords to modern-ish pistols and rifles) and sets of armor from all eras of Spanish history. There's even a section of child-sized sets of armor for the little prince's. Those were purely ceremonial, obviously, but kind of interesting. The next stop was a temporary art exhibit called "La Pintura de los Reinos," or "The Painting of the Kingdoms." I really enjoyed this exhibit (gosh, I realize I am becoming an art junkie), which was a demonstration of the way Spanish and Italian art in the 16th and 17th centuries influenced art in New Spain and vice-versa. So you can picture what the exhibit was like, one prominent section showed three different paintings of Jesus' Crucifixion. One was done in Spain, one was done in Mexico, and one one was done in Peru, all within one hundred years of each other. I don't understand much about painting, but the displays explained the similarities in the pieces despite the different styles and miles that separated them. The next stop were the Official Palace Rooms, which is a pre-set tour of several (though not all, as that would probably take too many hours) of the Palacio's chambers. The chambers are very pretty and elaborately decorated, but honestly, once you've seen one you've seen all of them. Anyway, the tour was mercifully short. The last stop in the Palacio was the Real Farmacia, the Royal Apothecary. This... basically... consisted... of... several... hallways... with...jars.... and... vases... labeled... with... different...herbs...and...potions. Yeah, seriously! I had to write it like that so you could get a full sense of the experience. Finally we left the Palacio, which overall was a good site. And in any case I consider it such a privilege to be able to witness all of these testaments to history that I enjoy even the most miniscule and insignificant things.
Next we walked up Calle Mayor towards the center. By this time it was about 5:30pm so we stopped by one of its restaurants for a late lunch. The essence of this meal is that I ate WAYYY too much bread. And some food and triple chocolate cake with it, I believe. We continued walking up the street and stopped by Plaza Mayor, one of Madrid's important plaza's for some window shopping. The Plaza is surrounded by quaint shops and restaurants, and because of the holidays there were cute shopping stands in the middle. Being the pragmatist that I am, I didn't buy any of the cute stuff. We then went back to Puerta del Sol's shopping district and did some actual shopping. The whole time I'd been looking for a messenger bag as a Christmas gift for myself, and I finally found a really great one at H&M. I bought it! And I use it all the time now! We ended the night by going to Cafè y Tè, a Spanish coffee-shop chain, and having some heartwarming coffee and napolitanos (Spanish pastries filled with chocolate or custard). We chilled there for a good couple of hours, marking a good end to the night.
Day 3
Our last day! Our first stop was the Parque del Retiro, known as the "Central Park of Madrid." Honestly, that's an exaggeration. The park is beautiful, but it's actually pretty small. We entered the park through the Puerta del Angel Caìdo, a reference to Lucifer, the Fallen Angel. After a short walk, the path from this door led us to the Monumento del Angel Caìdo, one of the few homages in the world to Lucifer. Being the sinner that I am: GLORIOUS. We continued walking through the park, this time off the paths. We came across the park's two "palaces," the Palacio de Cristal, whose purpose I haven't quite figured out, and the Palacio de Velàzquez, used as an art gallery. Both were closed because it was New Year's Eve. We continued walking until we reached one of the prettiest parts of the park and one of my favorite monuments in Madrid. In the middle of the park is a large pond (when it's not rainy, you can ride onto the pond on little rowboats). Overlooking the pond is the Monumento a Su Majestad el Rey Alfonso XII. I have plenty of pictures on my Facebook album, but if you like immediate gratification (who doesn't), here you go. I don't know why I like this monument so much. It just speaks to me as a historian. Alfonso XII (1857-1885), the great-grandfather of the current king, was one of the most popular and beloved king's in Spanish history. So beloved, in fact, that he was able to attain and consolidate power even though his family had been exiled by the First Spanish Republic, created by the Revolution of 1868. Anyway, enough of the history lesson. I get carried away =P
After finishing the park, we yet again walked to Puerta del Sol's shopping district and did some more shopping. Don't judge. What is vacation for? I didn't buy anything more. We did some more walking on the main avenues and went back to Plaza Mayor for some more shopping. As lunchtime approached, we decided to just head back to the train station and have a long, relaxed lunch in one of it's restaurants. As our train left at 4:53, we thought this best so that we wouldn't have to rush to the station after eating. Besides, we'd seen enough.
Thanks for reading and have a wonderfully Happy New Year!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Buon Natale, Milano!
Merry Christmas and a Happy 2011 to all my lovely readers!
Let me start by saying that I was never very interested in visiting Milan. It's just something I had never thought about or desired. But I had a great time for two reasons: because it was Christmas and because I got to spend it with my friend Damiano and his whole family: his dad Carlo, his mom Patricia, his brother Oscar, and his friend Qing, who is his classmate in London and was also visiting.
I was supposed to leave for Milan on Thursday 12/23 in a 4pm flight from Madrid. But I overslept so I missed all the buses and trains that could have gotten me to Madrid in time. I pride myself on how good I am with alarms and waking up on time for stuff, even on minimal sleep. So you have to understand how exhausted I must have been for this to have happened (I hadn't slept very well the past couple of nights). Anyway, I switched my flight to Friday at 7am and left for Madrid that very day on a 6:30pm train. I arrived in Madrid close to 9pm, and went straight to the airport. I didn't feel like paying an extra 50 or so euros for a hostel, so I decided I would sleep in the airport. The terrible night of semi-sleep that I had on the concrete floor only added to my tired state. But finally morning came and after a sleep-filled trip (which, by the way, left an hour late) I finally made it to Milan. I took a train from the Milan airport to Milan center, where Damiano picked me up and took me to his home.
There, I met: Carlo, his father. He is a retired electrician who volunteers doing electrician work for a non-profit. He is the cook of the family and did most of the cooking while I was there and for Christmas Eve dinner. Patricia, his mother. Sweet woman, retired pre-school teacher with a talent for pencil sketches, which are hanging throughout their flat. Qing, Damiano's classmate in London, originally from Shanghai. I was glad I was not the only non-Italian in the group because this meant we both asked tons of questions but didn't look as dumb and both were "the tourists" always stopping for pictures. My first meal in Milan was cooked by Qing. She made something that tasted to me like Mongolian pork and grilled bok choy. Delicious. Finally, Oscar, Damiano's older brother, who studies some sort of finance/account managing in Milan.
After lunch, Damiano, Qing, Oscar, and I went out to explore the center. First we went to Santa Maria delle Grazie church, which was mostly destroyed during World War II, but was now restored to much of its originally glory. I, being the Papist that I am, was dying to see Il Cenacolo (The Last Supper, which is housed in the dining room of the church monastery). According to the story, during the WWII bombings, while everything around it was destroyed, Il Cenacolo was the only part of the church left intact. Glory! But what Damiano failed to mention before is that seeing it requires reservations months in advance, so we continued our trek After seeing some more churches, we also stopped by Castello Sforzesco, a 14th-century castle which was one of the biggest military forts in Europe, used during Milan's many battles with other Italian cities and with foreign invaders. The castle was also badly damaged during WWII, but has now been fully restored. It is now used for museums and art galleries. Finally, we arrived at Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the center of Milan's high-class shopping and one of the oldest shopping centers in the world. Entering the Gallery, which is cross-shaped with shops extending in all four directions, is comparable to walking down Main Street in Disneyland. You are bombarded by people walking in all directions, bright lights everywhere above you, and the sensation that this place is larger than life. Of course I didn't buy anything in this very expensive center, but just window-shopping in this area is an experience in itself.
Finally, we made it back home around 7:30pm, in time to get ready for Christmas Eve dinner. We were expecting several family friends, for a total of 14 people at dinner (big, but nothing compared to the Mexican holidays I'm used to). A long table was set out quite lovely, and after everyone had arrived we settled into our spots. Dinner started with an endless array of antipasto- everything from tuna pate to grilled peppers to salmon cakes to pigs in a blanket. Naturally, wine and bread were ever-present and obligatory. Qing and I weren't aware that this wasn't "dinner" and ate to our heart's content. But this was Christmas and we were in Italy, so there was plenty of extra space in our bellies. After appetizers and short break, we had the first main dish. We had two types of beef ravioli: a plain dish and a sort of sweet tomato sauce ravioli. Both very delicious, and very Italian! This time, the break was much longer, about 30 minutes or so. Then the second dish was brought out: roasted duck! I'm not much of duck fan, but this was deliciously prepared and perfectly seasoned. And for some reason, duck seems very Christmasy anyway. Finally, dessert time! We had two desserts. The first was marrons glàce, or chestnut cream. It's a white cake cut into different layers and shaped so that it looks like a Christmas tree, and the center is filled with the delicious (and addicting!) chestnut cream. We had this for dessert on Christmas Eve, and as there was plenty left over, we had it for dessert for several meals after. Fine by me! The second desert was chocolate "salami," a chocolate-fudge like concoction filled with rice crispies. It's called so because it's shaped like salami. Yes, it's very obviously phallic. Yes, jokes of this nature were made. Yes, I am a 14 year old boy.
Dinner, which started about 8:30, ended a little after midnight (Christmas!). Now, it was time for presents! Gift-giving was very un-personalized, which means that I also got some of the goods, even though nobody knew me. First, one of the guests, who works at some kind of publishing house and gets of tons of books for free, brought gift-wrapped books and distributed them to everyone. I got two medieval mysteries. Of course, they're in Italian, so.... Second, we had the Christmas lottery. Here, several gifts were set out, each with a number. Each person picks a number out of a bag, and you get the corresponding gift. First, I got a woman's wallet, so they let me pick again, since there were several gifts left over. My new gift was a small kitchen scale. Useful, I guess =P After gift-giving, everybody started leaving and the sweet siren song of bed called my name. After cleaning, we went to bed. It was about 3am (much earlier than I'm used to for Christmas). After several nights of not sleeping well and the night I'd had before, the bed seemed like the most comfortable in the world and I had the best sleep I've ever had.
Next morning, I woke up pretty late (12ish) and it was time for more gifts! This time, it was the gifts that the family had bought for us! I hadn't bought any gifts, but I had brought them some turròn, traditional Spanish Christmas candy, which they loved! I got a fancy pen set from Parker, which apparently is a very famous Italian brand. Sweet! After lunch (homemade lasagna!!!), we went to take Qing to the train station, as she was leaving to spend the rest of her break in another part of Italy, which another London classmate. After dropping her off, Damiano, Oscar, and I went to explore some more. This time, we went to Il Duomo, the Cathedral, which is the second-largest church in the world, after Rome's cathedral. Standing outside the Cathedral is an awe-inspiring and humbling experience. Its tall spires, which always shine like they're covered in jewels, look the building look like something out of Lord of the Rings. And I was particularly impressed by the semi-permanent scaffolding, which gives the building a dangerous and deadly air. Unfortunately, the inside is quite ordinary and not as impressive. Apparently you can climb to the Cathedral terrace a the very top, which offers a breathtaking view of the city, but it was raining, so no go. After this, we went to the Museum of Nine-Hundred, a 20th century modern art museum. The most interesting thing I learned here was that the Futurists were an Italian art movement characterized by their twisting and distorting of reality with shape, color, and movement. They were also associated with the Fascists. Figures. This day drained us and we drove back to their flat, where after dinner Damiano, his friend Nathan (who joined us at the museum and for dinner), Patricia, and I settled down to watch an Italian documentary about gay parents. I never escape the gayness in my life =)
Sunday, my last full day in Milan, was another long and exciting day. After lunch, Damiano and I went back to the Castello Sforzesco. The time before, we had admired its contours from the outside. This time, we went in. First, we saw a short exhibition of Milanese history through photography. I took so many pictures on this trip that Damiano said that someday my pictures will be displayed in this exhibition. Second, we went into the Museum of Ancient Art, a collection of antique Roman art and sculpture, into the Furniture Museum (which is exactly what it sounds like), and finally into the Picture Gallery, a collection of Italian Renaissance art. I definitely prefer older art to modern art, so I enjoyed this more than the Nine-Hundred. The castle has several more museums, such as the Egyptian Museum, Museum of Prehistory, Museum of Musical Instruments, but we didn't feel like looking at more stuff, so we left and got some gelato! Even though it was raining and freezing, one of the things I had to do was eat Italian gelato. We went into a small and crowded shop (always a good sign), and I ordered a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of coffee on a cone, topped with whipped cream. The combination of all three flavors is heavenly. After this we met a few of Damiano's friends and headed to the Palazzo Reale, the Royal Palace, which, like everything else in every old city, is now used for art and cultural exhibitions. We were lucky enough to be there for the temporary Salvador Dali exhibit, "Il Sogno si Avvicina," or "The Dream is Approaching." There were several other exhibitions, but we opted for this one. Like I said, I'm not much of a modern art guy, but I consider being able to see a Dali show such a privilege that I was thrilled and really enjoyed it. My favorite was Landscape with Girl Jumping Rope. There's something just so haunting and beautiful about it. After this, we went to dinner at a traditional pizza parlor. One of Damiano's friends, Giorgi, told me that pizza is not as good in Milan as it is in other parts of Italy. But it tasted perfectly to me, and it was real Italian pizza!
The next day, Monday, was my departure date. After a delicious lunch of pasta Bolognese, more bread, and more wine, we headed to the center, where I took the train to the airport. My flight was at 5:45pm (again, it took of an hour late) and I got to Madrid around 9pm. I would again have to sleep in the airport and take a bus or train to Socuèllamos Tuesday morning, as none are available at night. And thus, exactly the way it began, ended my Milanese Christmas.
Days here: 57
Currently reading: El Ùltimo Catòn by Matilde Asensi
Let me start by saying that I was never very interested in visiting Milan. It's just something I had never thought about or desired. But I had a great time for two reasons: because it was Christmas and because I got to spend it with my friend Damiano and his whole family: his dad Carlo, his mom Patricia, his brother Oscar, and his friend Qing, who is his classmate in London and was also visiting.
I was supposed to leave for Milan on Thursday 12/23 in a 4pm flight from Madrid. But I overslept so I missed all the buses and trains that could have gotten me to Madrid in time. I pride myself on how good I am with alarms and waking up on time for stuff, even on minimal sleep. So you have to understand how exhausted I must have been for this to have happened (I hadn't slept very well the past couple of nights). Anyway, I switched my flight to Friday at 7am and left for Madrid that very day on a 6:30pm train. I arrived in Madrid close to 9pm, and went straight to the airport. I didn't feel like paying an extra 50 or so euros for a hostel, so I decided I would sleep in the airport. The terrible night of semi-sleep that I had on the concrete floor only added to my tired state. But finally morning came and after a sleep-filled trip (which, by the way, left an hour late) I finally made it to Milan. I took a train from the Milan airport to Milan center, where Damiano picked me up and took me to his home.
There, I met: Carlo, his father. He is a retired electrician who volunteers doing electrician work for a non-profit. He is the cook of the family and did most of the cooking while I was there and for Christmas Eve dinner. Patricia, his mother. Sweet woman, retired pre-school teacher with a talent for pencil sketches, which are hanging throughout their flat. Qing, Damiano's classmate in London, originally from Shanghai. I was glad I was not the only non-Italian in the group because this meant we both asked tons of questions but didn't look as dumb and both were "the tourists" always stopping for pictures. My first meal in Milan was cooked by Qing. She made something that tasted to me like Mongolian pork and grilled bok choy. Delicious. Finally, Oscar, Damiano's older brother, who studies some sort of finance/account managing in Milan.
After lunch, Damiano, Qing, Oscar, and I went out to explore the center. First we went to Santa Maria delle Grazie church, which was mostly destroyed during World War II, but was now restored to much of its originally glory. I, being the Papist that I am, was dying to see Il Cenacolo (The Last Supper, which is housed in the dining room of the church monastery). According to the story, during the WWII bombings, while everything around it was destroyed, Il Cenacolo was the only part of the church left intact. Glory! But what Damiano failed to mention before is that seeing it requires reservations months in advance, so we continued our trek After seeing some more churches, we also stopped by Castello Sforzesco, a 14th-century castle which was one of the biggest military forts in Europe, used during Milan's many battles with other Italian cities and with foreign invaders. The castle was also badly damaged during WWII, but has now been fully restored. It is now used for museums and art galleries. Finally, we arrived at Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the center of Milan's high-class shopping and one of the oldest shopping centers in the world. Entering the Gallery, which is cross-shaped with shops extending in all four directions, is comparable to walking down Main Street in Disneyland. You are bombarded by people walking in all directions, bright lights everywhere above you, and the sensation that this place is larger than life. Of course I didn't buy anything in this very expensive center, but just window-shopping in this area is an experience in itself.
Finally, we made it back home around 7:30pm, in time to get ready for Christmas Eve dinner. We were expecting several family friends, for a total of 14 people at dinner (big, but nothing compared to the Mexican holidays I'm used to). A long table was set out quite lovely, and after everyone had arrived we settled into our spots. Dinner started with an endless array of antipasto- everything from tuna pate to grilled peppers to salmon cakes to pigs in a blanket. Naturally, wine and bread were ever-present and obligatory. Qing and I weren't aware that this wasn't "dinner" and ate to our heart's content. But this was Christmas and we were in Italy, so there was plenty of extra space in our bellies. After appetizers and short break, we had the first main dish. We had two types of beef ravioli: a plain dish and a sort of sweet tomato sauce ravioli. Both very delicious, and very Italian! This time, the break was much longer, about 30 minutes or so. Then the second dish was brought out: roasted duck! I'm not much of duck fan, but this was deliciously prepared and perfectly seasoned. And for some reason, duck seems very Christmasy anyway. Finally, dessert time! We had two desserts. The first was marrons glàce, or chestnut cream. It's a white cake cut into different layers and shaped so that it looks like a Christmas tree, and the center is filled with the delicious (and addicting!) chestnut cream. We had this for dessert on Christmas Eve, and as there was plenty left over, we had it for dessert for several meals after. Fine by me! The second desert was chocolate "salami," a chocolate-fudge like concoction filled with rice crispies. It's called so because it's shaped like salami. Yes, it's very obviously phallic. Yes, jokes of this nature were made. Yes, I am a 14 year old boy.
Dinner, which started about 8:30, ended a little after midnight (Christmas!). Now, it was time for presents! Gift-giving was very un-personalized, which means that I also got some of the goods, even though nobody knew me. First, one of the guests, who works at some kind of publishing house and gets of tons of books for free, brought gift-wrapped books and distributed them to everyone. I got two medieval mysteries. Of course, they're in Italian, so.... Second, we had the Christmas lottery. Here, several gifts were set out, each with a number. Each person picks a number out of a bag, and you get the corresponding gift. First, I got a woman's wallet, so they let me pick again, since there were several gifts left over. My new gift was a small kitchen scale. Useful, I guess =P After gift-giving, everybody started leaving and the sweet siren song of bed called my name. After cleaning, we went to bed. It was about 3am (much earlier than I'm used to for Christmas). After several nights of not sleeping well and the night I'd had before, the bed seemed like the most comfortable in the world and I had the best sleep I've ever had.
Next morning, I woke up pretty late (12ish) and it was time for more gifts! This time, it was the gifts that the family had bought for us! I hadn't bought any gifts, but I had brought them some turròn, traditional Spanish Christmas candy, which they loved! I got a fancy pen set from Parker, which apparently is a very famous Italian brand. Sweet! After lunch (homemade lasagna!!!), we went to take Qing to the train station, as she was leaving to spend the rest of her break in another part of Italy, which another London classmate. After dropping her off, Damiano, Oscar, and I went to explore some more. This time, we went to Il Duomo, the Cathedral, which is the second-largest church in the world, after Rome's cathedral. Standing outside the Cathedral is an awe-inspiring and humbling experience. Its tall spires, which always shine like they're covered in jewels, look the building look like something out of Lord of the Rings. And I was particularly impressed by the semi-permanent scaffolding, which gives the building a dangerous and deadly air. Unfortunately, the inside is quite ordinary and not as impressive. Apparently you can climb to the Cathedral terrace a the very top, which offers a breathtaking view of the city, but it was raining, so no go. After this, we went to the Museum of Nine-Hundred, a 20th century modern art museum. The most interesting thing I learned here was that the Futurists were an Italian art movement characterized by their twisting and distorting of reality with shape, color, and movement. They were also associated with the Fascists. Figures. This day drained us and we drove back to their flat, where after dinner Damiano, his friend Nathan (who joined us at the museum and for dinner), Patricia, and I settled down to watch an Italian documentary about gay parents. I never escape the gayness in my life =)
Sunday, my last full day in Milan, was another long and exciting day. After lunch, Damiano and I went back to the Castello Sforzesco. The time before, we had admired its contours from the outside. This time, we went in. First, we saw a short exhibition of Milanese history through photography. I took so many pictures on this trip that Damiano said that someday my pictures will be displayed in this exhibition. Second, we went into the Museum of Ancient Art, a collection of antique Roman art and sculpture, into the Furniture Museum (which is exactly what it sounds like), and finally into the Picture Gallery, a collection of Italian Renaissance art. I definitely prefer older art to modern art, so I enjoyed this more than the Nine-Hundred. The castle has several more museums, such as the Egyptian Museum, Museum of Prehistory, Museum of Musical Instruments, but we didn't feel like looking at more stuff, so we left and got some gelato! Even though it was raining and freezing, one of the things I had to do was eat Italian gelato. We went into a small and crowded shop (always a good sign), and I ordered a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of coffee on a cone, topped with whipped cream. The combination of all three flavors is heavenly. After this we met a few of Damiano's friends and headed to the Palazzo Reale, the Royal Palace, which, like everything else in every old city, is now used for art and cultural exhibitions. We were lucky enough to be there for the temporary Salvador Dali exhibit, "Il Sogno si Avvicina," or "The Dream is Approaching." There were several other exhibitions, but we opted for this one. Like I said, I'm not much of a modern art guy, but I consider being able to see a Dali show such a privilege that I was thrilled and really enjoyed it. My favorite was Landscape with Girl Jumping Rope. There's something just so haunting and beautiful about it. After this, we went to dinner at a traditional pizza parlor. One of Damiano's friends, Giorgi, told me that pizza is not as good in Milan as it is in other parts of Italy. But it tasted perfectly to me, and it was real Italian pizza!
The next day, Monday, was my departure date. After a delicious lunch of pasta Bolognese, more bread, and more wine, we headed to the center, where I took the train to the airport. My flight was at 5:45pm (again, it took of an hour late) and I got to Madrid around 9pm. I would again have to sleep in the airport and take a bus or train to Socuèllamos Tuesday morning, as none are available at night. And thus, exactly the way it began, ended my Milanese Christmas.
Days here: 57
Currently reading: El Ùltimo Catòn by Matilde Asensi
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Puente Weekend Fun
This weekend was a puente (holiday weekend) here in Spain. Actually, it's still going on, as schools got Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday off. See, Monday was Constitution Day and Wednesday is Day of the Immaculate Conception, so they throw in Tuesday for schools as well. Since I have Fridays off, that means SIX DAY WEEKEND for me!
Originally, the two other American Auxiliares in town (Courtney and Will) and myself were planning on going to Madrid and Toledo for the weekend. But our plans were really last minute so we LITERALLY couldn't find any vacancies in any hostels or hotels in Madrid. So we had to change our plans and stay in Socuéllamos. This turned out all right. On Friday night I went out to fiesta in the local bars with a bunch of the people I've met here: Teodora (my flatmate), Gunita, Jesús, Javi. It was Friday night, which would usually mean that all the bars would be filled with people, but because of the puente it seems that many people had left town and the bars weren't that action-filled. In any case, we still proceeded with the usual fiesta routine. We started off at La Komba at around midnight. This is my favorite bar in town because it always has the most people and the best music. And it's a pretty little place, too. Anyway, what we typically is stay here a couple hours and have a couple drinks. As it gets later, we'll move on to either Rivera or Pórtico. The order of these two is usually interchangeable for. After one or two drinks at each, we'll move on to the last place of the night: Moma Lounge. We always go to Moma last because everybody seems to have the same idea, therefore Moma always has more people the later it is. Moma had a surprisingly good number of people and Gunita and I (as usual, we were the last two left standing. Party animals!) had our last drink there: tequila shots! Because the number were dwindling, we finished early (4am instead of the usual 7am hahaha. But seriously). Besides, I had to be up at 7am the next morning to go get a refund for the train tickets of our cancelled trip.
Saturday was mostly lazy in the daytime (when isn't, right?). But I had a ticket to go see a play put on by the high school students, so I went to that in the evening. It was a play called "Las Dichosas Faldas," about a woman who discovers her husband is a chronic cheater. Don't worry, it's actually a comedy, and a very funny one at that. Because I was so tired, I didn't go out that night, so that was the extent of my Saturday. I also decided that I wanted to go to mass on Sunday. Now, you all know that I'm NOT religious. But I went because I felt like seeing what it would be like and it would also remind me of home. Turns out the mass I went to was a special kids mass, so it wasn't very interesting. But I did see a lot of my students!
On Sunday night, I went to Albacete (a large city about an hour away) with Gunita, Jesus, Will, and Courtney. After settling ourselves in our hotel rooms, we went out to dinner followed by a night out on the bars. We really only went to two bars, and stayed at both the entire night. We expected it to be really busy because of the puente, but it wasn't that busy, much like Friday night in Socuéllamos. Still, we had a relatively good night. My drink of choice in Spain is Barceló rum with Coke (sometimes Red Bull or Sprite). In restaurants, my new drink of choice is Tinto de Verano (red wine with lemon flavored sparkling water). Anyway, after a long night, we went to the hotel and slept until check-out the next day. We had breakfast and walked around for a couple hours. But stores weren't really open (apparently, here holiday weekend doesn't equal keep businesses open to attract tourists) so we headed to a shopping center near the edge of town. After a couple more hours of walking around and playing some arcade games (air hockey!), we decided it was lunch time and went into a "Chinese" buffet in the center. For some inexplicable reason I've been really craving sushi lately (I didn't even eat it that much in Ca), so imagine my ecstatic mood when I realized they had some. After stuffing ourselves, we made a final stop at McDonald's (oh yeah, McFlurrys!) and finally headed home. The day ended pleasantly with a movie night at Gunita's, Will's, and Courtney's place. We watched Perfume: the Story of a Murderer, which I had seen before but it's too good so it's not a problem.
Today has been really rainy so it's been a really lazy day for me. Though I did manage to get out of the house long enough to reactivate my phone (which had been stolen) =)
Days here: 31 (yesterday was my month-iversary)
Cravings: sushi (resolved), Indian food, Tapatio, churritos
Currently reading: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
Originally, the two other American Auxiliares in town (Courtney and Will) and myself were planning on going to Madrid and Toledo for the weekend. But our plans were really last minute so we LITERALLY couldn't find any vacancies in any hostels or hotels in Madrid. So we had to change our plans and stay in Socuéllamos. This turned out all right. On Friday night I went out to fiesta in the local bars with a bunch of the people I've met here: Teodora (my flatmate), Gunita, Jesús, Javi. It was Friday night, which would usually mean that all the bars would be filled with people, but because of the puente it seems that many people had left town and the bars weren't that action-filled. In any case, we still proceeded with the usual fiesta routine. We started off at La Komba at around midnight. This is my favorite bar in town because it always has the most people and the best music. And it's a pretty little place, too. Anyway, what we typically is stay here a couple hours and have a couple drinks. As it gets later, we'll move on to either Rivera or Pórtico. The order of these two is usually interchangeable for. After one or two drinks at each, we'll move on to the last place of the night: Moma Lounge. We always go to Moma last because everybody seems to have the same idea, therefore Moma always has more people the later it is. Moma had a surprisingly good number of people and Gunita and I (as usual, we were the last two left standing. Party animals!) had our last drink there: tequila shots! Because the number were dwindling, we finished early (4am instead of the usual 7am hahaha. But seriously). Besides, I had to be up at 7am the next morning to go get a refund for the train tickets of our cancelled trip.
Saturday was mostly lazy in the daytime (when isn't, right?). But I had a ticket to go see a play put on by the high school students, so I went to that in the evening. It was a play called "Las Dichosas Faldas," about a woman who discovers her husband is a chronic cheater. Don't worry, it's actually a comedy, and a very funny one at that. Because I was so tired, I didn't go out that night, so that was the extent of my Saturday. I also decided that I wanted to go to mass on Sunday. Now, you all know that I'm NOT religious. But I went because I felt like seeing what it would be like and it would also remind me of home. Turns out the mass I went to was a special kids mass, so it wasn't very interesting. But I did see a lot of my students!
On Sunday night, I went to Albacete (a large city about an hour away) with Gunita, Jesus, Will, and Courtney. After settling ourselves in our hotel rooms, we went out to dinner followed by a night out on the bars. We really only went to two bars, and stayed at both the entire night. We expected it to be really busy because of the puente, but it wasn't that busy, much like Friday night in Socuéllamos. Still, we had a relatively good night. My drink of choice in Spain is Barceló rum with Coke (sometimes Red Bull or Sprite). In restaurants, my new drink of choice is Tinto de Verano (red wine with lemon flavored sparkling water). Anyway, after a long night, we went to the hotel and slept until check-out the next day. We had breakfast and walked around for a couple hours. But stores weren't really open (apparently, here holiday weekend doesn't equal keep businesses open to attract tourists) so we headed to a shopping center near the edge of town. After a couple more hours of walking around and playing some arcade games (air hockey!), we decided it was lunch time and went into a "Chinese" buffet in the center. For some inexplicable reason I've been really craving sushi lately (I didn't even eat it that much in Ca), so imagine my ecstatic mood when I realized they had some. After stuffing ourselves, we made a final stop at McDonald's (oh yeah, McFlurrys!) and finally headed home. The day ended pleasantly with a movie night at Gunita's, Will's, and Courtney's place. We watched Perfume: the Story of a Murderer, which I had seen before but it's too good so it's not a problem.
Today has been really rainy so it's been a really lazy day for me. Though I did manage to get out of the house long enough to reactivate my phone (which had been stolen) =)
Days here: 31 (yesterday was my month-iversary)
Cravings: sushi (resolved), Indian food, Tapatio, churritos
Currently reading: The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Life at Colegio Publico Bilingüe "EL COSO"
Good Morning, Afternoon, Evening, Late Night, whenever you're reading this post!!
I've now been in the beautiful (read: colddddd) town of Socuéllamos for about three and a half weeks now. Things are settled: I have processed my DNI- my National ID card (now I have to wait a month to pick it up)-, which allowed me to FINALLY open my bank account, which allowed me to FINALLY install internet in my flat. Well, the internet-installey-guy finally came over on Monday and installed the line. So, almost a month after I arrived in Spain, I finally have my own internet. Then, when things are completely in place, something happened to screw up my perfect existence. HA, you know what they say about the best laid plans... On Tuesday somebody "took" my phone from my jacket from the staff lounge in my school. Everyone found this impossible to believe, but it's obvious to me that somebody took it and turned it off (calls were sent straight to voicemail). Sadness, right? Pero, vale, no pasa nada. I'm not going to get my phone back so I'd rather not think about it. In any case I blocked my SIM card so nobody's going to waste my recently purchased minutes.
Wow, what a tangent. Apologies. The point of the first paragraph is that I'm starting to fall into the daily routine of living in Socuéllamos and working at my school. Besides two trips to the provincial capital- the small and unexciting city of Ciudad Real. Not much to see there. I tried to go into the Cervantes museum, but it was closed. Gahh- for official business matters, I haven't traveled much out of town. Things will have to wait for later this month and the new year, after I'm ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY settled. So my school! El Coso is a bilingual "sección Europea" preschool and primary school. "Sección Europea" means that students don't have just English language class, but science is also taught in English. The purpose of this program is that English doesn't become just another class to pass, but that it's an indispensable tool for study and academic success in general. Anyway, enough about that. Here's my school website, if you're interested:
http://edu.jccm.es/cp/elcoso/joomla/
On to important stuff. My school is pretty small and there is only one class each of Preschool Age 3, Age, 4, Age 5, and 1st-6th curso (grade). I circulate around the classes and go into each classroom at least twice per week for English and Science (except preschool, just once). As somebody who is planning on working in either middle or high school, needless to say that I enjoy the older classes more, but they're all sweet. I only work Tues-Thurs (OMG four-day-weekend every weekend! Ugh, I'm so lazy). I work 9am-2pm each of those days. So basically what my work consists of is helping the teachers with pronunciation, leading textbook and workbook activities, and helping the children with their work in general. I'm also not supposed to let the kids know that I speak any Spanish because if I do they'll never speak English to me again (ugh, they already don't. STUBBORN!) But I pretend not to understand unless it's something incredibly simple and I respond only in English.
In all three of my preschool classes, all I do is read stories with flashcards and lead songs and dances. You know, with preschool it's all about theatrics. Then we do games with the flashcards (vocabulary, etc.). Each week it's the same stories and songs for each class. Blah. Pretty boring but the kids are adorable. And loud. Gawd, they're loud.
1st grade is less theatrical than preschool, but the gap in level of English comprehension between these kids and the 2nd graders is vast and obvious. Anyway, as mentioned much of my work consists in leading activities from the workbook. I always read from the book and let somebody translate to let them practice their comprehension and to make sure everybody understands. The 1st graders are currently learning the five senses, and much of the work consists of matching pictures with other pictures (example: match an ear with a radio, etc.). As I walk around, I make sure to talk with the kids about the lesson and make sure they practice their vocabulary. But other than that, the actual activities don't integrate much English-language development.
The 2nd and 3rd graders are currently learning animal classifications in science (mammals, birds, fish; vertebrates or invertebrates, etc.) and ability phrases in English (I can, they can...). In the past couple of weeks my work has consisted in reading the lessons, then having the students read the lessons and translate the lessons into Spanish. This way, they hear the pronunciation from me and work on comprehension by translating. Then I ask various questions about the lesson which they are required to answer in English. Then they do activities related to the lessons. Simple. PS- the activities are much more verbal and English-intensive than the 1st grade activities.
I only go to 4th grade once a week, and the first two weeks I had to miss those classes because I was taking care of some business (wow, this sounds sketch!). I've been to 4th grade once, so I still don't know the class very well.
In 5th and 6th grade my work is much simpler, made so by the nature of the way the class is taught. For each lesson, the students read from the textbook then they translate each paragraph. Then they answer questions and do activities at the end of the lesson. I'm just there to help with pronunciation and vocabulary during the lesson and help out the kids during the activities and questions. It's much the same structure as in the younger classes, but with much more independence for the students. Since I've been here, the 5th grade lessons have been the circulatory system, outer space, human societies and interaction, and now the nervous system. The 6th grade lessons have been ecosystems, ecology and environmentalism, and currently the human impact on the earth's natural resources.
The nature of these 6th grade lessons makes these classes very interesting and entertaining for me. The teacher is an activist of sorts and, instead of just asking his students to absorb the facts and information from the book, always tries to create consciousness among them. For example, during the lesson on ecology, in which one of the themes was the impact of consumerism on nature, he got very heated about the way in which some people might buy things without thinking of the fact that those products come from nature. The way he does this is very representative of the way teachers and students relate: very familiar, like old friends and less formal than in the USA. What I mean to say is that he would single out individual students and grill them about their buying habits and ask them to take this lesson into consideration in their lives. I feel that if this happened in an American elementary school, it would everybody very uncomfortable. But the kids didn't really seem to mind. They just took it in stride. Plus these kids are the perfect combination of precocious and being a little more conscious of what they're doing in their work that it's just enjoyable to be there.
Exciting! Christmas is in the air. My school is going to hold a Christmas festival at the local municipal auditorium. Each class is going to perform an Xmas song. I've already heard some of them and I'm excited. Also, the staff (very small because of the small school) is having an annual Christmas lunch on the last week of school before break. We are going to have a secret Santa gift exchange (Amigo invisible, or invisible friend) and we picked names today! Yay! Now I need to start getting to know my person better. Geez, Christmas is so difficult. Oh yeah! I got paid today =D
Books read: The Prophecy (blah), Bridget Jones' Diary en espanol (how delightful, I realize I've never seen the movie and now should)
Spanish tv series I have developed an addiction to: Hispania (awesomeness about the Hispanics' war against Roman domination), Fisica o Quimica (soap-operatic drama where everyone hooks up; think Grey's Anatomy but in high school)
Ahhhhh! Once again, sorry for the incredibly long entry. But now that the foundations are laid, things will be much simpler. Hahahaha. I promiseeeeee. Toodles!
I've now been in the beautiful (read: colddddd) town of Socuéllamos for about three and a half weeks now. Things are settled: I have processed my DNI- my National ID card (now I have to wait a month to pick it up)-, which allowed me to FINALLY open my bank account, which allowed me to FINALLY install internet in my flat. Well, the internet-installey-guy finally came over on Monday and installed the line. So, almost a month after I arrived in Spain, I finally have my own internet. Then, when things are completely in place, something happened to screw up my perfect existence. HA, you know what they say about the best laid plans... On Tuesday somebody "took" my phone from my jacket from the staff lounge in my school. Everyone found this impossible to believe, but it's obvious to me that somebody took it and turned it off (calls were sent straight to voicemail). Sadness, right? Pero, vale, no pasa nada. I'm not going to get my phone back so I'd rather not think about it. In any case I blocked my SIM card so nobody's going to waste my recently purchased minutes.
Wow, what a tangent. Apologies. The point of the first paragraph is that I'm starting to fall into the daily routine of living in Socuéllamos and working at my school. Besides two trips to the provincial capital- the small and unexciting city of Ciudad Real. Not much to see there. I tried to go into the Cervantes museum, but it was closed. Gahh- for official business matters, I haven't traveled much out of town. Things will have to wait for later this month and the new year, after I'm ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY settled. So my school! El Coso is a bilingual "sección Europea" preschool and primary school. "Sección Europea" means that students don't have just English language class, but science is also taught in English. The purpose of this program is that English doesn't become just another class to pass, but that it's an indispensable tool for study and academic success in general. Anyway, enough about that. Here's my school website, if you're interested:
http://edu.jccm.es/cp/elcoso/joomla/
On to important stuff. My school is pretty small and there is only one class each of Preschool Age 3, Age, 4, Age 5, and 1st-6th curso (grade). I circulate around the classes and go into each classroom at least twice per week for English and Science (except preschool, just once). As somebody who is planning on working in either middle or high school, needless to say that I enjoy the older classes more, but they're all sweet. I only work Tues-Thurs (OMG four-day-weekend every weekend! Ugh, I'm so lazy). I work 9am-2pm each of those days. So basically what my work consists of is helping the teachers with pronunciation, leading textbook and workbook activities, and helping the children with their work in general. I'm also not supposed to let the kids know that I speak any Spanish because if I do they'll never speak English to me again (ugh, they already don't. STUBBORN!) But I pretend not to understand unless it's something incredibly simple and I respond only in English.
In all three of my preschool classes, all I do is read stories with flashcards and lead songs and dances. You know, with preschool it's all about theatrics. Then we do games with the flashcards (vocabulary, etc.). Each week it's the same stories and songs for each class. Blah. Pretty boring but the kids are adorable. And loud. Gawd, they're loud.
1st grade is less theatrical than preschool, but the gap in level of English comprehension between these kids and the 2nd graders is vast and obvious. Anyway, as mentioned much of my work consists in leading activities from the workbook. I always read from the book and let somebody translate to let them practice their comprehension and to make sure everybody understands. The 1st graders are currently learning the five senses, and much of the work consists of matching pictures with other pictures (example: match an ear with a radio, etc.). As I walk around, I make sure to talk with the kids about the lesson and make sure they practice their vocabulary. But other than that, the actual activities don't integrate much English-language development.
The 2nd and 3rd graders are currently learning animal classifications in science (mammals, birds, fish; vertebrates or invertebrates, etc.) and ability phrases in English (I can, they can...). In the past couple of weeks my work has consisted in reading the lessons, then having the students read the lessons and translate the lessons into Spanish. This way, they hear the pronunciation from me and work on comprehension by translating. Then I ask various questions about the lesson which they are required to answer in English. Then they do activities related to the lessons. Simple. PS- the activities are much more verbal and English-intensive than the 1st grade activities.
I only go to 4th grade once a week, and the first two weeks I had to miss those classes because I was taking care of some business (wow, this sounds sketch!). I've been to 4th grade once, so I still don't know the class very well.
In 5th and 6th grade my work is much simpler, made so by the nature of the way the class is taught. For each lesson, the students read from the textbook then they translate each paragraph. Then they answer questions and do activities at the end of the lesson. I'm just there to help with pronunciation and vocabulary during the lesson and help out the kids during the activities and questions. It's much the same structure as in the younger classes, but with much more independence for the students. Since I've been here, the 5th grade lessons have been the circulatory system, outer space, human societies and interaction, and now the nervous system. The 6th grade lessons have been ecosystems, ecology and environmentalism, and currently the human impact on the earth's natural resources.
The nature of these 6th grade lessons makes these classes very interesting and entertaining for me. The teacher is an activist of sorts and, instead of just asking his students to absorb the facts and information from the book, always tries to create consciousness among them. For example, during the lesson on ecology, in which one of the themes was the impact of consumerism on nature, he got very heated about the way in which some people might buy things without thinking of the fact that those products come from nature. The way he does this is very representative of the way teachers and students relate: very familiar, like old friends and less formal than in the USA. What I mean to say is that he would single out individual students and grill them about their buying habits and ask them to take this lesson into consideration in their lives. I feel that if this happened in an American elementary school, it would everybody very uncomfortable. But the kids didn't really seem to mind. They just took it in stride. Plus these kids are the perfect combination of precocious and being a little more conscious of what they're doing in their work that it's just enjoyable to be there.
Exciting! Christmas is in the air. My school is going to hold a Christmas festival at the local municipal auditorium. Each class is going to perform an Xmas song. I've already heard some of them and I'm excited. Also, the staff (very small because of the small school) is having an annual Christmas lunch on the last week of school before break. We are going to have a secret Santa gift exchange (Amigo invisible, or invisible friend) and we picked names today! Yay! Now I need to start getting to know my person better. Geez, Christmas is so difficult. Oh yeah! I got paid today =D
Books read: The Prophecy (blah), Bridget Jones' Diary en espanol (how delightful, I realize I've never seen the movie and now should)
Spanish tv series I have developed an addiction to: Hispania (awesomeness about the Hispanics' war against Roman domination), Fisica o Quimica (soap-operatic drama where everyone hooks up; think Grey's Anatomy but in high school)
Ahhhhh! Once again, sorry for the incredibly long entry. But now that the foundations are laid, things will be much simpler. Hahahaha. I promiseeeeee. Toodles!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Welcome to Socuellamos!
Greetings to everyone from Espaňa! Hopefully “everyone” consists of more than just my creepy and weirdly appealing stalkers. Hopefully all of you can make some time to read my humble blog every so often. Soooooo, I’ve been in Socuellamos, the name of my town in the province of Ciudad Real, Spain, for about a week and a half now, and I am finally settled enough (mostly) to sit down and write my first entry. And now that it’s been so long, I have no idea what to write (so muchhhhh)! I guess I’ll start from the beginning.
Getting here:
After a VERY long and uncomfortable flight, I finally arrived in Madrid at 7am on Saturday morning (11/6th). As a side-note, I had a two-hour layover in Philadelphia in which I ate airport cheesesteak. Does that count??? I mean it was my first time in Philly and I didn’t even leave the airport =0 Let’s just say it counts. My first thought as I got off the plane: Well, I’m here. Why am I not more impressed? I should be astounded, ecstatic, jumping for joy and disbelief! But I wasn’t. It felt so commonplace. Like I could still be in a dream and wake up at any moment, in my bed safe at home. I actually wondered if I would be disappointed or relieved if that happened =/ I wish I had taken more time to say good-bye to my parents. BUT, now that I’ve been here longer and that strange wave of home-sickness has washed away (it actually lasted the whole first weekend, up until the moment I started work at my school), I can say that I am incredibly happy to be here and know I did the right thing!
After a long day of taxis, trains, and LOTS of waiting (six hours at the train station!), I arrived in Socuéllamos at 4pm, EXHAUSTED. The first thing I did was ask for the nearest hostel, and upon arrival I knocked out on the bed. I didn’t wake up till next morning at about 8am. After a shower, a short walk around town, and a breakfast of a donut and hot chocolate (the hot chocolate is very different to the hot chocolate we’re used to. It has the consistency and delicious taste of a melted Hershey’s bar), I went back to my room and slept from 11am to about 6pm. For dinner that night (my first in Spain), I had a famous bocadillo de jamon. I didn’t sleep the rest of the night even though I had my first day of school the next morning. But this worked out perfectly because I was already sleepy by 10pm Monday night, and my jetlag quietly resolved itself.
Random coolness:
1. Smoking vestibules at the Madrid airport! Indoors! These are separate compartments where people can go in and have a cigarette or two. How trippy! So far I haven’t run across them anywhere else, but that’s only because smoking indoors is generally legal in Spain (that is, until the new law forbidding it takes effect in January), and this is particularly evident in bars.
2. Many of you asked me about Spain’s famous ham. And let me tell you: if you’ve ever had what we in the US call prosciutto, then you’ve tried Spanish ham. I was shocked. Yes, I know: prosciutto is the Italian word for ham, but I didn’t expect Spain’s famous ham to be Italy’s ham as well. But it’s good, so hey…
My colegio:
My center is called CEIP Secciones Bilingües El Coso. It is a preschool and elementary (primary) bilingual school. With only about 180 students and about 20 faculty and staff, this is a very tiny school and the smallest in Socuéllamos. This is a good thing because it’s going to be easier to get to know the kids, I’m going to work with all of the classes, and the faculty is very tight-knit. The staff are also all very nice and inviting. My first day there, everyone was super nice about my being A WHOLE MONTH LATE, everyone was falling over themselves to see what they could do to help my housing situation (more about that later), and in general very attentive to me. Because Monday are a long day at my school (a 2-4pm break for lunch after classes end followed by meetings and conferences from 4 to 7), everyone as a group generally goes out to lunch together. I went out with them and had my first real Spanish meal.
Eating in Spain:
When you’re going out for a full-fledged meal and not just tapas, lunch and dinner in La Mancha (the region where Socuellamos is located) consists of four courses: salad, first dish, second dish, and dessert or coffee or both. Salads are generally shared by three or four persons. Nothing special: lettuce, tomato, onions, corn, olives, tuna, oil and vinegar. The first and second dishes both consist of typical Spanish entrees and what one person has for the first dish another may have for the second dish. No big difference. On that first Monday with my colleagues I had chicken paella for my first dish. For my second dish, I had sausages with French fries. Sooooo filling! Throughout all of this, the normal drink is a glass of white or red wine. Here in Socuéllamos, they have an inclination for the locally produced brands. Can I just say… STRONG. But it’s offset by the sparkling water that one typically adds to it. Rather than dessert, I went for a café con leche. After dessert, even at lunch it’s normal for everyone to take a chupito, a shot of some kind of liqueur. That day the group opted for crema de oruja, a kind of caramel-vodka tasting creamy drink. I’ve had dessert after all my other meals. I’ve found that it’s almost obligatory.
My apartment:
Like I said, almost everybody at my school was falling over themselves to help me find a place to live. The reason they were so worried was that because I arrived in town so late, it would be difficult for me to find a cheap, shared piso to live in. Randomly, on my first Tuesday here, via the other Auxiliaries in town I met this guy- Jesus- who happened to have a friend- Teodora- who had an empty bedroom in her piso. The next day I went to see the place. Picture a SPACIOUS, furnished bedroom; very large kitchen, dining and living rooms; MY OWN BATHROOM; centrally located near everything and a five-minute walk from my school; all for only 150 Euros a month. A steal! I loved it instantly and moved in that very night. My new roommate Teodora, from Bulgaria,, was an Auxiliary last year and does similar work this year. I am so excited to living with her this year. As a matter of fact, on my first weekend living with Teodora I met a bunch of her friends and spent and entire weekend of long and crazy partyyyy. But that deserves its own entry…
Well, sorry for the longgggggggg piece. I hope most of you read sparingly, and if you read the whole thing: Thanks!!! You’re a doll =D But my very first blog entry in Spain required a lot of information (trust me, there was a lot of filtering!). Anyway, I plan on writing soon about the night life in Socuellamos and, more importantly, about some of my experiences in the classroom. Stay tuned (Pretty Pleaseeee!).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)