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.