from once a week to once a month

Sorry, all you blog fans...

Ok, here’s the dish.

I went to San Sebastian for "Spring Break", or as it’s known here "Semana Santa". I was in San Sebastian (Basque country) for 3 days, and it is gorgeous. San Sebastian is on a beautiful bay, La Concha, and it’s a resort-y town with lots of chic-chic shops and restaurants but also tons of cheap stuff to do. Like what? Parks. Walking along the water. Pinchos, or small plates of food, and beer. We had a great time, and it was nice to get away!

Last week was my first week back at school, and the one thing I was really struck by was how hungry I got! Normally I eat one big meal midday (or early afternoon) and then don’t eat again until 11 or so, and even then not much. Not really a big problem normally, but last week I was STARVING. I have to get used to the eating schedule again...

The weather here is generally mediocre... cloudy, cold, rainy. It’s a shame really, because we had some warm weather in February. Tease.

Am trying to get all my ducks in a row to come back to New Mexico for the summer. Namely, work. So, if anyone hears of anything for July and August let me know. I’ll do almost anything, waitressing, working in a shop, bussing, just please, no kids :) I need a break.

I guess that’s it. Hope all is well in your respective cities!!

PS I was obsessed with these crazy trees that were all over San Sebastian... they are so weird!

It's been AGES (and this is even later...)

Sorry... I wrote this last week but forgot to post it to this site... Here it is :)

Well, I'm sorry I've been so slack!!! I don't write when there's nothing to say, and sometimes I don't write when there's tons to say because I'm too busy doing them all! Thanks to Lou for the reminder :)

OK, well, what's happened...


Meeting the Parents:

Starting the first week of February we had parent-teacher meetings with all the parents of all the kids. We gave exams the first week of February, and started meeting with the parents that Friday.

Several things were difficult; one, I had to work Fridays (boohoo), two, I had to tell parents that their darlings were less darling than they imagine, and three, (possibly the scariest for me) I had to do it all in Spanish.

All in all it was a wild success. I was very very nervous at first, then I got into the swing of things, and then by the fourth hour or so I was so exhausted I didn't know what I was saying. And I understood the parents more or less, quite an accomplishment.


Botanical Gardens:

There are some fabulous Botanical Gardens that my friend Charlotte and I went to. I'll try to upload some photos later.


Calçotada:

?There's a tradition here in Catalonia in the springtime to get together with a bunch of friends, throw some lovely spring onions on the barbecue until they're black and then peel the outer layers off and dip them in sauce and eat until you're full. Silvia's boyfriend invited me to a calçotada a few weekends ago and it was great.

The calçots are unbelievably messy (you wear a newspaper bib) and the sauce is to die for... It was a great day. We were in Marc's family's house, like a summer house, and it's amazing, old stone connected to a church... The weather was a mix of cloud and sun, cooler than we expected, with occasional drizzles... it was a very nice day.


Girona:

Last weekend I went to Girona with some friends, and we had a BLAST! It's an old city with preserved (refurbished) roman walls around the old part that you can walk on and see the city.

The weather was PERFECT and there was so much to see.

After a few hours of wandering around we decided on lunch (it was about 3.30) and we walked and walked but all the restaurants were overpriced and obviously aimed at tourists, so after wandering around for awhile we came to a place with a set menu for 9.50 (as opposed to 15-16 euros at the other places) and the menu included drinks, bread and dessert. Bargain. And the food was unbelievable! Winning day all around. (Picture of the restored Roman walls in Girona, Charlotte, Shanti, and me)


Well, I guess that's about it. I'm finishing up with my parent teacher meetings today (I have a sub for two of my classes), and I'm jumping into my work-week.

Oh, the best news of all, I'm coming back to New Mexico for the summer for 2 months and then I'll come back to Barcelona next year.

January

Well, so far things are on track...

Speaking more Spanish, improving improving, making more friends, woohoo, laughing a lot.

Can't complain.

It's sunny here, warmish, my kids are bad but getting better, or not, I've got meetings with the parents in 2 weeks, eeps, that'll really test my Spanish, and that's about it.

Lately I've been wishng for a bathtub.

First Week Back

Well, last week was my first week back to teaching after a much needed two week break and it was BRUTAL.

Monday was a public school holiday so most of my little kids and my 10 year olds didn't come, but all my teens came and they were totally out of control. And on Tuesday ALL my kids came, ALL my teens came it was wild wild wild.

There were several moments where I thought, 'Wow, I hate my job. I really really hate it.' I sure hope this passes, and quickly.

But now it's the weekend and it's perfect. Sunny, lovely, perfect. And the good news is I still love Barcelona. So, it more than makes up for a few hours of wild beasts running around.

Photos!

OK, so sorry these are all disorganized....

From the top:

Gaudi's Casa Batlló, gorgeous, isn't it?

My tiny plaza... this is the view from my living room window. At different times of the day different things happen there, kids playing soccer (football), drunks shouting, people walking through with their shopping, tourists looking lost, etc. I love it.

Dinner at Mario's house. From left, Marc (Silvia's boyfriend), Silvia (my flatmate), Mario (our gracious host), me, Monica (a friend of Silvia's).

The old part of the city, either Barri Gotic or El Raval ( my neighborhood). This was taken when the weather was a lot warmer!

On Montjuic overlooking the docks. Also taken when the weather was warmer!


I promise I'll be better about taking photos (and posting them!!)

It’s been soooo long

Well, I'm sorry I haven't written in so long. I've been totally slammed at work, and haven't had any energy for anything else.

But now I'm on a two week break! Woohoo.

A few weeks ago we decided to put on Christmas plays for the kids' parents at school. We had two different plays for the two different levels. And we practiced it and made a bunch of props and so on. It was a real energy suck for me because it was the last few weeks of work and I was (and still am) exhausted and the last thing I wanted to do was put a lot of effort into putting on plays. But we did it.

And they went beautifully. I was so proud of my kids! They did a really nice job. Even though a lot of the littlest ones didn't remember their lines they still had fun. And my two other groups did their plays PERFECTLY. I was so proud! It was lovely.

And one of my adult classes invited me to come to a dinner that they organized at a really nice restaurant in Santa Perpetua (where the school is). So after teaching a LOOOOOONG day on Thursday after a LLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNG week I went out with them. They had said "only Spanish" because they think my Spanish is a higher level than their English. Well, it's not. And I wasn't really looking forward to it because I was totally exhasuted. But we had a really really nice time. I've posted a photo.

So that's the news here!

And now I'm on vacation.

Zombies

So, against my better judgment I saw a VERY scary movie last night. It's called 'Rec' and it's in Spanish (!!!!!) and I understood enough of it (quite a lot actually) to be totally totally terrified.

It's set in Barcelona, and basically it's a modern day vampire/zombie movie with the standard plot-line, someone gets infected, and the rest of the people can't get away so slowly everyone gets infected and the last person gets more and more terrified. As do the people watching the film.

I screamed, SCREAMED out loud several times, and was clutching my friend's arm for dear life. I couldn't watch big chunks of it because I was too scared.

Well, all of this is well and good except we saw a VERY late show, 11.45 pm and then I had to sleep alone. I had the worst nightmares.

Well, I guess I learned my lesson--it doesn't matter what language the film is in, when people are getting bitten and running around screaming it's pretty damn scary.


On a lighter note, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas here! All the neighborhoods have strung lights up across the streets and they're starting to light them. It's so pretty.

Yesterday I had lunch with a co-worker in a small town and I found the coolest shop there. It had art and kitchen stuff and jewelry and beautiful handmade scarves and picture frames and paper and clocks and mobiles. I wandered around there for ages. I think the women who worked there thought I was going to shoplift something because I kept circling and circling the shop, but really I was trying to decide what to buy! I ended up spending 70 Euros, so in the end I think they were relieved!!


On the work front things are improving... or I'm just getting used to it. Probably a little of both. The kids are still wild but they've gotten used to my rules and I've gotten used to their tricks, eg every time I turn my back Antonio (who insists I call him Anthoni--spelled like that, no 'y'--because it's his English name) will be under the table or will be kicking the person sitting next to him. Gemma and Anna want to be teacher's pets and Aldara wants to BE the teacher! lol. Marc wants to be called on but never knows the answer, Pol is bright but easily distracted by Anthoni, blah blah blah.

So, that's the update!