14 Weeks Down, 27 to Go!

We meet again, and again I feel compelled to apologize for my tardy posting. I really have no excuse; spent the past 4 days relishing in some alone time. Both my roommates went away for Christmas and I stayed in the apartment by myself. Let me stop you right there. Stop feeling sorry for me or giving the computer a crumpled face of pity. I liked it that way. If I had wanted to I could have found somewhere to go and be with people on Christmas, but I didn't want to just tag along to someone else's celebrations. I preferred to be alone and not thrust into an awkward situation. I preferred to be near the my computer so I could contact my family and not sitting around wishing I could leave some other family's party.

For Christmas eve I rode the bus around Madrid and looked at the lights. Then on Christmas I opened my box of gifts from home and made a "fancy" dinner. Fancy is in quotes because I really didn't do much, but since typical dinners around here are salads or eggs or cereal the steak I made is considered fancy. I also called home a half dozen times and tried to transport myself to Oregon Christmas by listening to the live stream of KINK 101.9 on the internet. They always play tons of Christmas music, but not just standards; they play all kinds of Christmas-y music by the same artists the radio plays. I liked it very much.

Then I just spent the next couple of days lounging about and reading and taking occasional
walks around my neighborhood. What I was preparing for was the invasion of Americans.

Let me total it up for you...
Meagan has 3 friends from home coming to visit (clearly, they are staying in her apartment, not mine).
Melanie has 1 friend from home.
Audrey has 3 friends from home.
Last, Alicia came into Madrid the morning of the 27th. She is staying at Meagan and Theresa's.

Between the two places there are EIGHT friends here. My apartment is hardly big enough to hold the three who live here on a regular basis, so doubling that number could be considered a sign of mental instability on my roommate's parts. Obviously, this is the time for many people to travel given the holidays and time off from various commitments but still...

I'm really excited to see Alicia, since she is awesome. Today we met up and walked around Madrid for a few hours, just looking at things and talking. Our wandering lead us into a bar for some Sangria and then a restaurant near my apartment for some dinner. It was a truly enjoyable evening. She also mentioned an overnight trip to Sevilla, so that will probably be a blast. Good thing I took advantage of my chance to rest up and am now prepared for entertaining and putting up with the population growth of my apartment.

Berlin!

Tuesday I returned from a weekend adventure in Berlin. Meagan and I took off Friday night and spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday soaking up all things Christmas and German.

Saturday morning we woke up early and went to the Reichstag building. This is the building where Parliament meets and has a giant glass dome on top. They allow people up to take a look at the panoramic view of the city and to look down into the Parliament's meetings. Because it was a Saturday there weren't any official meetings and because we got there at 10 am there wasn't much of a line. Last time I went to Berlin, Heather and I stood outside for what felt like forever then gave up because it was too cold and rainy. I'm glad Meagan and I made it through the 20 minute wait and up to the top. The view was gorgeous!

After we looked over the city we walked to the train station to meet up with Leo and his friend. Leo is the German student my mom hosted for about six months last year. He spent the 2007-2008 school year as a student at Forest Grove High, and in November had a housing crisis; that is when my mom stepped in and offered Jen's old room. He seemed to really like our family and we got a kick out of him being there, so it seemed natural that if one of us ended up in his homeland we should meet up.

The train station was huge and thus made finding him rather difficult. One would think that a nearly 7-foot tall German would be easy to spot. No true. By German standards Leo was tall, but not freakishly tall the way he would have been in Spain. We spent about a half hour looking and waiting. Finally Meagan spotted a second entrance (we thought we were perched at the only one) on the other side of the station. We walked over and found them. Apparently they had us paged, but let's be honest I don't speak German and really couldn't tell what any of the announcements over the loudspeaker were about.

With Leo and Heiko we wandered around town. Neither of them were experts on Berlin by any standards, so we all got to be tourists for the afternoon. We walked through a memorial dedicated to the Holocaust that was utterly creepy. The design was a series of cement pillars of various heights and the ground was uneven so as one walked through you became lost in the maze. The four of us stuck pretty close together, but I can see how if you got lost in there it would be a terrifying experience.

We also visited the Sony Center, which is basically a giant shopping mall. It was nice to see the Christmas market set-up in the central plaza. The Sony Center is right next to a few chunks of the Berlin Wall that have been turned into an educational installation. There were alternating panels of wall and information about the wall and its impact/history. We also visited the largest store in Berlin, the KaDeWe. "KaDeWe" is an acronym for something but I couldn't tell you what; what I can tell you is that it is a mad-house on the Saturday before Christmas! It was packed with Germans and tourists alike trying to find a last minute gift or looking at the lavish decorations. To be honest, it was a little overwhelming.

After the KaDeWe we had some thing to eat. I can't remember the name of it, but Leo had suggested a particular type of sandwich to us. Basically it was ham on bread with the tastiest mustard I've ever had. Simple but delightful. The Germans know how to make hearty and delicious food, which is something I've missed here in Spain. We then went to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. It had been bombed in 1943, but still managed to stand. Most of the building is gone, save for the bell-tower and some of the original hall. It has been transformed into a location that calls for people to reflect on the futility of war and the consequences thereof.


Finally, after a few more stops, it was time for the Germans to go home. Before we parted ways, Leo and I took a picture in front of the giant Christmas tree at the Reichstag.





On Sunday Meagan and I went on a tour to visit Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp that has been turned in to be both a memorial and museum. There were no pictures taken here, sorry. But I really couldn't bring myself to think of that as a touristy event. To me, it was more something that had to be done so that I could connect all the information I had been feed with something tangible. The tour started at the train station in Oranienberg, which is a little town that literally backs up to the camp. While we walked from the station to the entrance I couldn't get one thought out of my head "What was it like to live in this town?" I'd heard about what, generally, went on inside the camp, but what about right outside? Unfortunately I never got a decent answer to this question; we were told that propaganda had basically brainwashed the townspeople. While I believe that, I can't help but think there were some who just didn't buy the films of healthy people playing sports as truth.

We walked through the main gate, into one of the barracks where Jewish prisoners were "housed", then we saw the "prison within the prison" where high-profile people were tortured. After that we went to the camp kitchen, then on to the site of the extermination building and finally the "hospital barracks" which were the site of medical experiments rather than medial treatments. The whole experience was horrifying. The weather was cold and dank and fitting for the kinds of things that went on there. Though it was an emotionally draining afternoon, it was worth it. I don't know if I can put into words exactly why, but I think it has something to do with remembrance for those that died there, along with my belief that once you have seen a place like that (even for an afternoon) you can't let something equally horrible happen again.

After the tour Meagan and I took a few minutes to rest in the hostel then went out to the huge Christmas market we passed earlier in the day. The market was filled with ornaments and various gifts, but what we were mainly interested in was the food. This weekend taught me that the Germans know two things: Christmas and Food. Our first food stop was a potato stand. They were basically deep fried potato pancakes with some delicious herb mashed in to the potatoes. Wonderful. Next was Bratwurst with more of that amazing mustard. Then some Gluwien, hot wine with spices. We also bought a "cupcake" but this was more of a ball of almond flavored pastry that had some kind of fruit preserve between the layers and was iced. For dessert we had fruit, covered in chocolate. That was one fabulous Christmas feast!

On Monday we went to museums. Initially we were under the impression that the museums would be closed Monday, but not so. Before our tour on Sunday we swung by the museums to ask if they would be open and both of the ones we wanted to go in would be. Thank God! The way Meagan put it was that she "really wanted to go to the Concentration Camp tour but really, really, wanted to go to the museums". It would have been awful to have to choose between the two things, and luckily we didn't have to.

We visited the Pergamon Museum and the Ancient History/Egyptian History Museum. The Pergamon had pieces of ancient buildings and sculpture from Ancient Greece. The building I was most interested in was the Ishtar Gate. Don't ask why, but in high school Humanities class I really took a liking to ancient, pre-Egyptian cultures and this gate was one of their most famous items.

Our last major stop was the Berliner Dome, which was at the top of a rather large church. The Church was beautiful and was decorated for the holiday season. We had to climb several large staircases to get to the very top and while I enjoyed the view the height was making me a little nervous. I quickly circled the deck and began my descent. On the way down I popped into a small seating area on the upper level of the church to listen to a choir practice some Christmas songs. It was probably one of the most peaceful moments of the trip.

Once it was clear I had survived the height we went on to our dinner stop. Doner Kebab. This is something we have in Madrid, but it was "invented" in Berlin. On Saturday Leo told us that we could get Doner from pretty much any restaurant and it would be great, so we stopped in the metro station that was on our way home and had the best Doner of my life. I can't put into words what made it better, perhaps it was the flavor of the beef or maybe the quality of bread or the variety of vegetables, but it was delicious!

We ended our night with a return to the Christmas market. Meagan bought gifts for a few people and I bought pretzels to take back to Madrid and a Chocolate covered apple. In total, this trip was amazing! We did all the things we had set out to do, but didn't wear ourselves out. I told Meagan that if I learned the language Germany was I country I could see myself getting really in to. Perhaps after Spain I have a new destination to conquer...

13 Weeks Down, 28 to Go!

Hello again.

This end of the week update is going to be short and sweet. Two reasons, first there is a school wide Christmas party in a few hours and I have to get ready; second I am leaving for Germany tonight and have to pack before the party.

Like I said, this week is a big week. We are having a big lunch with all the teachers and staff at school to celebrate the beginning of our vacation. I'm excited to see it. When the British teachers visit ended there was also a big lunch, which was hilarious and so much fun, I can only imagine what a Christmas celebration will bring. Everyone at school is still wonderful and still very warm. I couldn't have picked a better group of people to work with!

Second thing, Berlin tonight! Meagan and I are flying out around 7:45 and going to Berlin. I can't wait! I looked up the weather report and it is supposed to be highs in the 40's and around freezing at night. Not terrible, for mid-December. Both Meagan and I spent years living with DC winters, so we know a thing or two about cold. I have bought my mittens and will pack my warmest sweaters! Rest assured, there will be pictures posted of Berlin upon my return.

Overall this week has been decent. I think my only problem with it was that I've been ready for a vacation since last week started, so to have to go through the motions for this week was pretty rough. I love the kids and love their enthusiasim for coloring Christmas papers and their need to tell me "Merry Christmas!" basically every chance they get. Too cute! As much as I love them, I will appreciate a long break from school to do my own thing and rest up before going in for round two.

So NOT Spanish

Two mid-week posts?! It is almost a Christmas Miracle!

A few weeks back (it is quite possible that it was only last week, my sense of time is a little off...) I had finished my lesson and was walking towards the bus stop when I saw the bus rounding the corner. I was still two blocks away and there was really no way I was going to make it, but I tried anyways. I decided that I would come up with an interesting mix of running and walking, running for speed and walking for the appearance that I wasn't desperate to catch the bus. I busted out my run/walk and got across the first street by the time the bus pulled up to the stop. That was when I gave up, it clearly wasn't going to happen.

Junior year, after I came back from Madrid, I lived in the residence hall that faced the shuttle bus stop on campus. The bus stopped in such a place that kids would see it coming from a good distance away and try to run and catch it. Depending on the bus driver's mood, they might catch it otherwise they would do the same thing I did; run until it became obvious they were out of luck then go back to a normal pace. Sometimes my roommate and I would take bets on if kids would make it in time... but I'm on a tangent here, back to the point.

When I arrived at the bus stop there were no other people waiting. There is only one bus that comes by that stop, so when I had just missed it by about 30 seconds I found the stop empty. Out of nowhere I hear the creaks of metal wheels and some guy in a wheel chair pulls up. I swear I had not seen him on any part of the sidewalk before that moment and was thoroughly caught off-guard. Instead of letting me catch my breath from my awkward trip across the street this guy strikes up a conversation about how he watched me running the other block but knew I wasn't going to make it in time. Creepy? Yes.

To be polite, and keep up with cultural norms, I told him that I had to run the last time I was catching that same bus but this time it just wasn't my luck. Then he outright asks me if I was British or American, because he knew from my accent that I wasn't Spanish. Thanks, Buddy. I'm aware of the fact that I don't have a lisp and tend to pronounce all the sylables in my words. I am also aware of the fact that I don't look particularly Spanish, so I think between my accent and appearance he just pieced together that I was an English speaker. In the moment I was, clearly, offended. I don't point out the obvious differences in people. Instead of saying "you're not Spanish" he could have come up with a less abrasive phrase.

Several weeks ago, when I started giving lessons, I was waiting for the bus to go home when a woman came up and asked me how long I had been waiting. The only problem was the way she phrased the question used the verb llevar, which has typically been taught as "to carry". I had to take a few seconds to figure out what she was trying to find out, then I responded in a slightly awkward way. She then asked me where I was from and when I told her I was American and here teaching English she complemented me saying I could "hold my own" very well. I think that is a better way to approach talking to someone from a different country. Please, don't point out that they are non-native! The person is probably well aware of how one of these things is not like the others, there is nothing good that can come from saying it again.

Last night I was told I clearly wasn't Spanish for another reason. When I left my other private lesson one of my lesson's neighbors was in the hall way about to call the elevator when the she and the mom of the girl I give lessons to started chatting. They chatted about a painter coming to do work and a few other things, I stood there and waited for the elevator. When it arrived the conversation was winding down, but not over. I got into the elevator and waited for a few seconds for the neighbor to come in. When the doors closed she remarked that I wasn't Spanish because most Spaniards wouldn't wait for someone to stop talking and that the live in such a rush. I had to laugh out loud at this idea. I spent four years living in Washington DC, a place where people are perpetually in a rush to get from one place to the other. I find Spain to be a nice change of pace!

Now on to things, other than me, that aren't Spanish. Today when Anna and I were coming back to school after having a soda across the street we ran into a large group of teachers as they left. They told us they were going out for lunch and asked if we wanted to join. After a little discussion we decided to go. As we go into the car Eduardo told me that we were going to Foster's of Hollywood an "American" restaurant. Great. They took the token American to an "American" restaurant.

When we got there, there was an uproar from our crowd because the restaurant does not offer a menú del día (remember that the menú del día is the typical restaurant lunch offering of two courses, dessert and a drink). People, this is an American style restaurant. WE DON'T DO THAT... well unless it is TGIFridays and it that amazing special they occasionally do where you get the three courses for $9.99... back to the point! American resturant, you can't expect a Spanish dining experience.

After they had chilled out about the menú crisis they began to look at the menu. Clearly, most of them were out of their element and turned to the one person they thought could help. No. Not Eduardo, the one who had been to this place before but me, the American. I have actively avoided going into any of the ubiquitous Foster's locations, seeing as I am in Spain I want to eat at Spanish places. Many of them asked if I had recommendations, but to be honest I had to try and remind myself I wasn't at home and I had no idea how the Spanish interpretation of a Philly Cheesesteak would turn out (my guess was pretty bad, but that I just because I've spent time around some delicious Cheesesteaks...).

Personally, I settled on a chili-burger. Bad move. First of all, it came out looking like a normal burger with a little side of chili. I don't know about most of you, but in my experience a chili-burger is supposed to be rather messy and come with a heaping scoop of chili. I poured the whole cup onto my burger and prayed for the best. The flavor was basically that of a canned chili onto a rather bland burger. Quite depressing. The major upside was that there were free refills involved. I drank my fill of Pepsi-Light and then some, just because I could.

Worst. Day. Ever.

Ok. This is going to be a complaining blog entry. I'm sure the title tipped you off.
Here is what happened today:

• I missed the kids' Christmas show
• I "lost" my passport and went to the embassy to replace it
• I found my old passport, which means I wasted a bunch of time and complicated my life for no reason
  
• I missed my appointment about my residency card
• My private lesson canceled on me, so I'm out 30 euro before my trip to Berlin

First, the Christmas show. I've posted a few times about the kids putting on a typical Christmas pageant at school. A few weeks back the branch of the city government in charge of my program called and told me I had an appointment to get fingerprinted for my residency card on the 16th of December. I didn't know it at the time, but that was going to be the same day as the 3rd & 4th grade Christmas performances. Eduardo told me this at the end of last week. Needless to say I was bummed.

The "lost" passport. For this residency card appointment I was supposed to bring my passport, 2 photos and 10 euro. I had 10 euro in my wallet and the photos left over from the first meeting about the card. I just assumed that my passport was in the drawer where I always put it. This morning when I went to pick it up before heading out the door it was missing. I tore my room apart looking for it. Every item was picked up and searched; I looked under the bed, in drawers and closets. I sifted through every paper and bag I own. No where to be found. So I went to the Embassy, hoping I could get in and out in time to make it to the 11 o'clock fingerprinting and explain it to the representative from the city education division.

The Embassy was rather painless. They did take my cellphone, so that made calling the person I was supposed to meet impossible. The people were friendly and I didn't have to wait that long to begin the process. I filled out the forms, had to take a new set of pictures (since the ones I had left over were acceptable for European ID cards but not US passports!) and pay $100. Now I have a passport that is good for one year. The only problem is it is a new passport number and the one I had before is invalid.

When I got home I was determined to find the old passport. I don't know why, that was probably a stupid idea. I, again, tore apart my room. I emptied the hamper, I re-sifted through all my papers. Finally, I decided it had to be in the dresser. But in the morning I thought I had looked though the whole thing, so where could it be? I'll tell you where. It was behind the bottom drawer between the drawer and the composite board that acts like the back of the dresser. I had to take the furniture apart to find my freaking original passport.

I missed my NIE (residency card) appointment because I spent 2 hours in the embassy, mostly waiting for them to print my new passport. When I got to the police station there was no one there. I was too flustered to try and explain it to someone inside, so I continued to call the person from the city who I was supposed to meet. She never answered. I sent an email to the program director, but she has developed a reputation for being less than helpful. I'm praying that I can either get a hold of someone in the education division or take a step back long enough to figure out how to explain this to the NIE people directly. (The problem is that an application for the NIE was started under my name and old passport number and now that passport is not valid, I don't know what to do about this...)

For my own sanity, I would like this to be the one time we talk about the passport issue, condolences will be accepted, but lets not try and have a conversation. Not only am I a little embarrassed but I am also quite pissed at myself and it probably isn't a great idea to keep bringing it up. Don't worry, I can still go on my trip to Berlin and travel about for the next 6 months, that isn't going to be affected.

Now the private lesson. While I was trying to recover from my horrible morning I received a text message from my private lesson that her kids are sick and not to come. The only problem is that she pays me on Tuesdays. I went yesterday, and we had arranged at the beginning that I would just collect 30 euros on Tuesdays rather than 15 each day. While that seemed simple, now it is bitting me in the ass. Not only does her cancellation take 15 euro out of my pocket, since it was today and not yesterday I won't even get the other 15 until January.

UPDATE (6:30 PM): I have talked to my mom about this and I'm feeling slightly better. The stupidity of my situation still bugs me (ALOT), but she made a good point that there was really no way of knowing about the passport/dresser debacle until I needed it. With that in mind she pointed out that it is better that I had to go through all of this business today rather than discover Friday afternoon (when the embassy is closed) that my passport was missing and not be able to go on my trip to Germany. That would have cost more in lost bookings and been a much worse bummer.

I have also decided to try again tomorrow to call the person I was supposed to meet, but if that doesn't work I will have to call the NIE office and explain the situation to them...

What has also helped me feel better is a box I picked up at the post office today. It was full of the items on my care package list and lovely cards. It even included a cookie starter mix, so when I opened it is smelled like Christmas. Seriously. Best friends ever!

UPDATE 2 (7:05 PM): I just received an email from the program people (which, by Spanish standards is a small miracle) basically telling me that everything on the NIE end is going to be alright. The worry is over. Now I can travel and eventually become legal in Spain. Hooray!

Also, now that the issue has been pretty much resolved we can talk about it. I'm still slightly embarrassed at the stupidity of it all, but since there are no serious repercussions it stings a little less.

12 Weeks Down, 29 to Go!

We meet again faithful readers. I have thoroughly enjoyed this past week. At school it was a ridiculously short week; I only worked Tuesday through Thursday. While at school I had to teach one class on my own, which was really fun. The rest of the time I helped the kids get ready for the Christmas production taking place next Tuesday. Sadly, I will probably miss the Christmas production since I have an appointment about my immigration status that morning, the same time as the show for the parents. With a little luck I can be back at school in time for the afternoon show, which is the one the kids to for each other.

Aside from school this week has been particularly fun. I finished my Christmas shopping to mail to my parents and sister and was surprisingly successful. My goal was to find small, light-weight, things to send back and I ended up with some choice items. Since they are still in the mail I don't want to tell you what they are just yet, but I think I picked good stuff.

This weekend I also made up for my lazy weekends past. On Friday we celebrated Anna's birthday with a British themed party in her apartment. She invited a bunch of people over and served some British treats. A few hours into the party a group of Spaniards arrived with one of the guests. This was a good test of my Spanish skills. I spent about an hour talking to a guy about a range of topics, from US politics to Spain to God knows what else. In hindsight, this would have been a good chance to make a Spanish friend, but I kind of fumbled that one (along with a ridiculous set of events...)

Last night Eimear, Anna and I went to dinner with three of the younger teachers at school. From what we could figure out there wasn't a plan for a Christmas party, outside of a lunch at school this Friday, and Elena wanted to go out and celebrate. It was lots of fun! I'm always happy to see the teachers in a more natural state. Not that they are vastly different at school, but it is a little awkward to talk about boys or going out when there is a room full of children around. After dinner we went and danced a little and that was also fun. All in all a great night.

I did have to laugh when at the end of the evening the Elena and Lucia turned back into teachers and had to make sure everyone was getting home safely and knew how to. Eimear and Anna walked back to Anna's place, Elena, Lucia and their roommate Ivana took the bus and I walked to the night bus pick-up plaza. It was about a 10 minute walk, but Elena seemed very concerned about me. I told her it was fine and that I knew exactly where I was going, but I'm sure I will have to check in with her tomorrow at school and tell her just how uneventful my walk was.

Now I am procrastinating on cleaning my room. I should start the week on a clean note, so that when I want to clean it before my Berlin trip it won't be insurmountable. To procrastinate I did most of the usual things, emailed friends, checked facebook and went shopping. I originally was just going to go for a walk, but then I realized that in December shops are open on Sundays.

During the rest of the year Spain pretty much closes on Sundays; shops are closed and the only things open are some restaurants and the movie theaters. This is what I expected to find when I went out; what I actually found was a bustling neighborhood full of shoppers. I became one of them, buying mittens and a book for my trip and a few other things just because they were cute. I also mentally picked out my birthday presents to myself...

My Cover is Blown!

If I remember elementary school correctly, the weeks leading up to winter vacation were pretty much a waste of time. We never really learned anything, and anything the teacher covered had to be retaught in January. As a kid, I loved this time of year. It was always super fun to go into class almost guaranteed not to work very hard. Thankfully, as a language assistant I can feel the same way!

In 4th grade the kids are preparing poems to preform for the Christmas pageant, so this means that I listen to them and tell them how to pronounce the words. Today I spent an hour working with a 16 line poem about packages. Many of the kids practiced at home, so they knew their lines very well. The only problem is they memorized several words incorrectly. For example, one pair of students has a line about the "postman's knock upon the door at 8 o'clock", they are pronouncing "upon" as "open" which makes little sense. It does make sense for them to say "open" because they hear the phrase "open the door" frequently, but rarely do they hear the word "upon". Therefore, I spent several minutes making them say "upon" correctly... of course I said it several times in between so they could hear the correct pronunciation. Since the difference is very slight I don't know if it will stick, but I hope so!

Aside from the Christmas pageant, I taught a whole 3rd grade class today. Elena was at a medical appointment this morning and I had to be in charge. At our school, when a teacher is absent instead of bringing in an outside sub, a staff member with a free period comes to fill in. For the first hour Lucia, who teaches 5th and 6th grade English, was there but she didn't teach. Technically, the language assistants aren't supposed to be left with the kids without a licensed teacher, but I could teach the class since I knew what they were working on. For the first hour we did English. We corrected their homework, and read a few paragraphs in their textbook, then did some exercises in their workbooks.

At 10 o'clock Lucia had to leave, but another teacher was coming. This other teacher was Matias, the PE teacher. Matias does not speak a word of English. When he came in the room the children got super excited because they thought they were going to PE. Not the case. Matias and I had to discuss what was going on. I explained that I wasn't allowed to be left with the kids alone, but that I would teach the class. This whole conversation took place in Spanish, and in plain sight of the kids. I could then see groups of kids pointing and saying "She speaks Spanish!!"

Until this point, I had maintained that I don't speak Spanish so that the kids thought they had no other option but to speak to me in English. If they were the really little kids I would have spoken Spanish with them, but my 3rd and 4th graders are really bright and can speak to me in English very well; that is, if they want to. I was surprised they hadn't figured out by now that I can speak Spanish, since they constantly run up to me and chatter away in Spanish and I answer them in English. Somehow they did not piece together that if I can understand them speaking in Spanish it means I can speak the language too. Oh how precious!

Once they were settled down and the shock of my amazing language skills had worn off we reviewed science. On average, these kids are pretty awful at science. I think it is because the concepts are difficult and usually require lots of new vocabulary. The combination of the two challenges is too much for many of them and thus they get low grades on the exams. I told them that if they were quiet for one half-hour of science review we would play a game. Sadly, they couldn't be quiet. For some unknown reason the 3rd grade seems incapable of listening or being quiet. Because they weren't quiet we did another activity in their English workbooks, with the promise that if they finished it quickly and quietly we would play. This was probably the only time I have seen them all quietly working and keeping each other in check.

The game we played was a modified version of "Heads Up 7-Up". For those of you who have forgotten, or maybe even escaped elementary school without playing this classic, goes something like this:

• 7 (or in our case 5) students are selected as the "choosers", they wait at the front of the room
  
• The rest of the class puts their head down on the desks with fist giving a thumbs up out on their desk. They are not supposed to be able to see, but peaking runs rampant in this game.
• The "choosers" walk around a tap one of the seated kids on the thumb, once they've selected they return to the front of the room.
  
• After all the "choosers" have selected someone "Heads up!" is called out. This is the cue that the seated kids can put their heads up and look around.
  
• The kids who were tapped on the thumb then have to guess who picked them. If they are right they get to be a "chooser" in the next round.

I would like to say that this simple game went smoothly, but that would be a lie. Not a round went by where someone wasn't accusing the other kids of peaking or cheating. Also, the choosers seemed to have difficulty with the idea of only picking one student. Alex, a kid previously identified as a favorite (a position he is in danger of loosing!) decided he was going to pick 5 people. I had to call a mulligan on that one and do it over. I mostly picked this game because it required them to be quiet, which is something I will now make them practice at any available opportunity.

In other news, I can't wait for winter vacation. The four-day weekend that just passed put me in the mood to never go to work again. I love the kids, and the school is fun, but there is something very delightful about sleeping until I naturally get up and cuddling up in my blankets until I feel like moving. I've never been a morning person, but this week has been especially difficult. This morning it took 3 resets of the alarm before I got out of bed, and entirely out of obligation to the school. I'm sure I'll change my tune when I'm bored or hanging around, just like when I first got here I couldn't wait for school to start.

11 Weeks Down, 30 to Go!

Man, I'm really blowing it here. I used to post about three times a week, now I'm down to the end of the week updates. I would be lying if I promised to post more, part of the problem is that my weeks generally look about the same. This really shouldn't be an excuse because the kids I work with make everyday different from the last. There is always something going on at school, playground drama, classroom chaos and more.

The past week was nice. We went on a field trip to see Robots, which was in Spanish. Since most of the kids still believe that I don't speak Spanish they were concerned that I didn't understand. This was the perfect opportunity to make them practice English. Every time one of them would ask if I understood I would say "No, how about you explain it to me?" On average, the kids would give me a three line plot summary which covered the bare minimum of what happened. The movie tried to press two points, that you shouldn't give up on your dreams and that old things can be repaired and are still valuable. I think those are good values for kids to learn.

I've been meaning to post about this for a while, but never seem to get around to it. My 3rd graders like to make pictures for me. Usually they are just left over drawings from arts & crafts or rainy days when they have to play inside, but sometimes they do them at home. Not to be cynical, but I value the ones they do at home a little more since the ones done at school tend to be a pass-off to the closest adult.

A few weeks ago, one of the girls in 3rd grade told me that she had a picture for me that she had drawn at home. I thought this was precious, especially since I don't feel like I have a connection to many of the students. Yes, I am there and I talk to them, but I wouldn't say that we know each other very well. Until this little girl told me about her picture I could hardly remember her name. When we got back to the classroom Andrea pulled out a piece of paper from her backpack and marched it up to me. She had drawn an American flag, complete with stars and silver glitter pens.

I have two other girls who are pretty much constant drawers. They will hardly pay attention to what Elena says because they are coloring under their desks. These two have drawn portraits of me. No joke, the kids are drawing portraits of me. One is actually quite good, she included my glasses and the earrings I wear pretty regularly. There are some aspects that I'm not so sure about, like a random green hat and a rather small red purse. I've never worn a hat to school and I carry a large green tote bag to school... just kidding! It is still adorable, if inaccurate.

Today is a holiday, the day of the Immaculate Conception so we have an extra day in the weekend. For those of you counting, that means I have had a four day weekend. Unlike many of my fellow Madrid residents, I stayed in the city and relaxed. I went to the movies to see Body of Lies and bought postcards to mail home. Luckily the weather was rather wet and miserable so I could feel alright about staying home most of the weekend.