Rapid Update

If anyone actually reads this blog, I am very sorry that I have gone weeks without an update. I was in a bit of a funk for a few weeks because I had a very bad cold that would not leave me, and I just did not have the energy to do anything. I was completely bummed that I was here in Madrid but virtually doing nothing because I was so fatigued all of the time. I was also feeling a bit lonely, but that is a natural feeling that comes time to time with travel. Well, I am back on my feet and feeling great! The weather has been amazing (generally around 80 degrees and sunny each day – of course we go by Celsius here though, which I can´t quite wrap my head around. To reach F, I think you double the C and then add 30)… It stays light outside until around 11pm. 6, 7, and 8pm feel like the early afternoon here because it is so bright... and the children stay up later than I do (during the week, at least) ! There have been several instances during the week when I have been returning home around 1030pm to head to bed, and families with toddlers are just leaving to head to the playground. There are literally people outside sitting on benches, eating, hanging out, playing on the playground at every single hour of the day and night. Last night, the outdoor tables at the family restaurants were swarming with families at children at 11pm. After two months, I am still only getting used to the late nights here…. But it is so completely natural for the Spaniards.

I am absolutely loving school right now. I switched from being full-time with the Year 2 (6 and 7 year olds) to the Upper School. I definetely miss the Year 2 class, but I have enjoyed bouncing around and getting to know a variety of students. The Upper School changes classes depending on the subject, so I am working with Year 5, Year 6, Year 7, and Year 8. This equates to about ages 9-12. Also, I have been filling in as a substitute whenever a teacher is gone. Two days ago, I was a substitute for a Year 4 class and I had a really great time with that. I absolutely love teaching when it is my own class and my own responsibility. I went by their regular schedule as the substitute and I taught them Math, Punctuation, and even PE. Here, every teacher teaches PE to their class. They played Rounders, which is kind of like American baseball.

Upon switching to the Upper School, I didn´t want to completely give up my 6 and 7 year old class because they are the cutest kids in the world and I adore them. So, I go in for one hour each day to teach them Math. The teacher gives me the standards for the week, and I set up lessons for each day depending on the standards. Sometimes, I totally blow the lessons and nobody understands and I can´t find a proper way to explain the topic. Other days, everything goes amazing and they walk out excited about the topic and with full understanding. That is something I absolutely love about teaching – it requires a lot of thinking on my toes, and there is literally never a dull moment. I developed a system to entice the class to behave extremely well while I teach them Math. I arranged them in tables and I told them to think of their tables as teams. They were instructed to come up with a team name that relates to Math. Some of their names are “Mathy Maths!¨”, “Kung Fu Maths!” and “Red Maths”. I don´t quite understand the last one… by the way, in Britain, they call it Maths rather than Math. So, each table has a small bowl and I give them little cubes when they are on task and quiet and I can take them out if they are not. We talked about what it means to be on a team and that they must think about their team-mates when they are making their decisions. At the end of the week, whichever table has the most cubes gets a sticker. And let me tell you, this system has worked wonders! Those kids will do ANYTHING for a sticker. Recently, they had writing assessment tests. One of the questions asked them to write about their favourite things in school. Their teacher showed me one of their papers because it said “I love Maths time because we get cubes and whoever has the most is the champion!” Believe it or not, admist all of the cube hoopla, they have also managed to learn Math as well.

Today, the Year 1´´s (equivalent to Kindergarten) performed a big show for the parents and students. It was absolutely amazing, elaborate, and almost like a Broadway show! The theme was “Song and Dance Around the World.” There were about 40 students, and they wore incredible costumes to represent countries around the world. Groups of students performed a song and dance to represent a given country. For example, they performed a ti-chi dance for China, a beautiful meditation dance while wearing Saris for India, Adel-veizz for Austria with Sound of Music costumes, and for the USA…. The girls wore poodle skirts and the boys wore sideburns and tight jeans, and they performed a rendition of “Rock Around the Clock Tonight” that could have come straight out of Happy Days! Never had I been more proud to be an American….

Yesterday, I went for a haircut. Even though I have been needing one for quite some time I had been avoiding it because I was afraid of communicating within a "peliquera." Finally, I took a deep breath, held my shoulders high, and walked in to a shop... because my split ends were starting to get the best of me. The woman that cut my hair spoke absolutely not a word of English, yet everything turned out just fine... as I walked out, I was feeling quite proud of myself and my Spanish, until I realized that at one point, I asked her to please cut just a little off of my chest. She was bright enough not to actually do that, and maybe she knew I meant "the ends" (puntas) rather than "my chest" (pecho), and hopefully she just figured I was not a Native Spanish speaker rather than a strange creep.

Last weekend I rode on a motorbike! (yes Mom, I wore a helmet)... Many people here in the city center drive motor bikes to work, and I know someone who gave me a quick ride on the back - so normal for them, such a thrill for me.

I have a mountain of pictures to post from Portugal and also from Segovia and Toledo (two spots near Madrid).... I am hoping to get around to it soon.

I bought a book called "Hidden Madrid" that is about very historically interesting places in Madrid that many people don´t know about. I just read about a tea and pastry shop/restaurant that is in a very Posh area near my home. It is called embassy (originally called that because it was kitty-corner from the British and German embassies). During WWII, it was a spot where many Nazi´s conducted business, whilst the owner was hiding refugees under the floor below. Embassy still stands and I plan to go in for a drink this week.

Last night, I went out for drinks with my friend/roomate Katie. For 8 euros total, we shared a nice bottle of wine, and were given tapas of sausage and cheese.... amazing! To top things off, a table of two men sent the waiter over to let us know that they were paying for our wine. They must have spotted that we had ordered the cheapest wine on the menu and figured that was an easy in! So, they came to chat for a few minutes (very goofy, older men... we certainly rather would have paid our 8 euro and not had to talk to them... but they had the good sense not to stay too long, so all things considered, it was worthwhile). Katie is fluent in Spanish and I am not, so I got away with casually sipping my wine while all of the conversation was left to her...I followed for a while until they started talking about politics, and then the older word I recognized was "Obama." I am very eager to learn Spanish and to immerse myself with the Spanish speakers... but in that particular instance, I was quite content to be left out...

The pools open this weekend, so that is where I´ll be found!
Look for more postings soon --- hopefully I´ll have some pictures up within the week.

Lisbon Part I

3 weekends ago, I visited Lisbon. It was an incredibly whirl-wind trip. I have become so spoiled with leisurely getting to know Madrid that when I left Lisbon, I felt a great sense of unfullfilment because I felt that I only saw it and did not "know" it. It is very difficult for me to visit a place for only a few days because I am not a huge rapid-fire site-seeer. Rather, I like to sit outside, watch the people, and get a feel for the life of a place. Of course, I cannot have the luxury of staying for months and months in every place, so I must get used to and make the most of short visits. (I wrote this first paragraph 3 weeks after visiting - now ten months later, I will complete the remainder of the blog post!)

This first photo was taken at a spot right outside of the hostel that I stayed at in Lisbon. It was an incredible ocean-view spot where many people could be seen hanging out at all times. There were people from all walks of life at this look-out point: homeless, tourists, and kids playing frisbee. Regardless of their background or current status in life, all were equals in enjoying this remarkable spot. By the way, I swear I was not in San Fransisco and pretending to be in Lisbon. Remarkable bridge resemblance, yes? Who copied who?

The building below is the hostel I stayed in for my 3 nights in this enigmatic city. The hostel is called Oasis Backpackers Hostel. It prides itself on cleanliness, coolness, and party-ness. Upon walking in, I was greeted by a friendly Brazilian desk person (he came down the stairs to help me as he had been drinking beers and hanging out with the other hostelers upstairs). He welcomed me kindly and asked if I wanted to join dinner that evening. "Mama," their exquisite Portuguese chef would be preparing a seafood pasta (Portugal is renowned for its seafood). The hostel actually is a converted mansion, so each room (shared among four people) has its own luxury bathroom (pretty rare in the land of one bathroom for each floor that is hostels). I settled myself, met my roomates (all three travelling together from California, actually - I could never seem to stay away from the Americans - not necessarily a bad thing though). We went together to feast upon the slice of heaven that was prepared by "Mama" and then carried our full, yet delighted bellies to the outdoor patio area. There, I joined a group of people as we drank beers and got to know one another before venturing out for the evening. Again, I met more Americans plus a couple of Brits. In fact, I met a few American guys that were also studying in Madrid! We went out as a group to the essential nighttime area of Lisbon "Barrio Alto." Lisbon is essentially made up of small alley-type of streets that somehow all connect. Barrio Alto in the evening is comprised of an incredible abundance of bars and street crowds throughout the alleys. The bars are quite small, so people typically grab a drink and then go outside to socialize with the endless groups of people in the streets. One of the Portuguese guys that worked at our hostel said that when he goes out at night, he usually visits about 19 or 20 different bars. That is a quintessential portrait of Barrio Alto - just floating through the crowded streets from one bar to the next.

I spent my first morning wandering, getting my bearings of the city before heading off on a train to the beach. Many photos of my wanderings through the city of Lisbon are

below. It is a city filled with walkways and alley ways, people around every corner, yellow and orange buildings, hills, viewpoints, rooftops and more rooftops, pride, incredible architecture, Moorish influence, and run-down streets right next to pristine streets.

English is spoken readily in Portugal. In fact, much more English is spoken in Portugal than in Spain. The Portuguese have been watching films and TV shows from American (in English) forever, and have easily learned English that way. English is less common in Spain because in recent history under Dictator Franco's Fascist rule, nobody was allowed to watch films or TV in the original language (everything was dubbed over in Spanish according to how Franco wanted it dubbed). And still today, even decades after Franco's death, films are still dubbed in Spain. But they have never been dubbed in Portugal - so English is very common for the Portuguese.

The Santa Engracia Church is known to be Portugal's National Pantheon.







The area surrounding the Santa Engracia Church holds the.....

Thieve's Market! "Feira Da Ladra" -. It is held twice per week, and it is a mystery where all of the items come from. A market of this type is thought to have been in Lisbon since the 12th century, and its name comes from then. Now, it is perfectly legal. Passers-by can find pots, pans, artwork, clothes, and even larger-than-life sized dildos. Most of the items are known to be second hand - so who is buying the latter mentioned item?

Below are a couple more photos from the Thieve's Market....

I am not sure what this building is, but it is beautiful and sits along the waterway in the heart of Lisbon.

Various photos.....

Run-down, yet charming and beautiful.

This old lady with blue hair and her dog passed the day gazing out the window. I spent considerable time there, curious as to whether she would move or acknowledge any passers-by. Neither happened...

The yellow trolleys are genuine mode of public transport! I don't know how those rickety old things manage to huff and puff up the steep streets.

I have no idea... these gargantuan statues just appeared out of nowhere....















.... So I set up the self-timer on my camera and got acquainted with them.... as people walked by and pointed.... Ah, the joys of traveling solo....

After the morning spent strolling the streets of Lisbon, I hopped on a train, admired the coast the entire way, and within thirty minutes, landed on the beach of Cascais. Cascais began in the 12th century and was formerly a small fishing village. Now it has gained fame (beginning in the late 1800's once the Royal Family began vacationing there) as one of the richest municipalities in Portugal. Interesting fact: Because Portugal was neutral during WWII and because of its elegance and royal past, many of Europe's exiled royals took refuge there, such as those from Spain, Italy, Hungary, and Bulgaria.

As you can see, Cascais is loved by tourists.

Lisbon was under the Roman Empire before being taken over by the Moors (Muslims from North Africa and the Middle East) in the 8th century. Lisbon suffered an earthquake in 1755 that essentially destroyed the city. The old part of the city remains, however, and there, the Moorish influence is still quite prevalent. Because Lisbon is towards the bottom of Portugal and the bottom is close to Africa, the Moors traveled up, yet never made it to the northern parts of Portugal. Therefore, the northern parts look entirely different than the southern parts, as the Moors never touched them.

In 1147, the Crusade wars returned Lisbon to Christianity. Arabic was done away with as the main language, mosques were converted to churches, and Moors were forcefully converted to Roman Catholicism or expelled. Today, Christianity reigns as the main religion.

This photo below is an example of evident Moorish influence in Lisbon....

The Portuguese are a very proud people. They suffer with economic problems, but I found it to be evident that they enjoy life immensely. And even with economic woes and evident poverty, it would be difficult not to enjoy the day-to-day of ever-present sea air, fresh seafood, sparkling waters, and a proud history that is still thriving.

Cute Story from School

Today, I had my big formal observation by my contact in the Student Teaching program in order to ensure ensure that everything is going smoothly. He flew to Spain from Ireland because he is the contact for students placed in Europe (quite a journey just to watch me for one day).

Anyway, I wanted to let the students know yesterday that an observer would be coming to watch me and that it is a very big deal because he helps to determine whether I can become a teacher. My host teacher thought it would not be a good idea to let them know that I am a Student Teacher and to just let them go on thinking that they have two teachers because they would potentially lose respect for me if they didn't think I was fully a teacher. So, she suggested that I leave the room for a bit and then return to say "Oh my goodness, I was just on the phone with a man from Ireland. He asked me all about the school I teach at in Spain and wondered whether there are any amazing and brilliant (In England, the word brilliant is thrown around quite liberally because it means fantastic rather than extremely smart - and of course, all of the staff at my school is of English nationality) students that always sit beautifully (this is a big deal at the school) and listen to to the teacher, and line up perfectly (also a very big deal). I told him 'of course, my class is the most amazing and brilliant class I have ever seen!' And he said that he could not believe it and that he is going to fly to Spain tomorrow just to see such amazing students."

Now, this group of students gets bawled over excited about the smallest of stickers, so when I told them that someone was coming to watch them, they cheered with great contentment! I don't think that they even knew what they were cheering about; like I said, it is not a difficult task to excite them. Plus, they will believe absolutely anything.

So, this morning when I came to school, before my observer came in, they kept asking, "Is today the day? Is he coming?" I said "yes, I am going downstairs to get him right now." So they all sat upright with their backs exaggeratedly straight and they fingers tightly pressed over the lips to signal the quiet sign. This is the expectation which the school has of them, which believe me, is very hard to attain from such boisterous children.

When I brought Mr. O Sullivan to the room, I introduced him and asked whether anyone remembered where he is from. Many of them eagerly raised their hands. I called on Manuel who replied, "uh, yes, Fairyland." A very advanced student corrected him and stated "Ireland." Personally, I prefer Fairyland.

Mr. O Sullivan observed me teach for about two hours, and I feel very relieved now that that is over and done with. He offered great tips and he wants me to think of him as a mentor and a grandfather and to email him everyweek to let him know how things are going and to ask questions and advice.

I will have to make copies of some of the student's work because they write the absolute darnest things, especially because English is their second language. One of the lessons I taught them today was how to write a "book blurb." In England, they call the synopsis on the back a book a book blurb. Writing always presents an extra challenge because, as mentioned, English is their second language, but they often come up with the funniest of translations.

I spent last weekend in Lisbon, Portugal and met great people and had a whirlind trip. I will post pictures soon, but there are many so it is a daunting task.

Happy Mother's Week to all of the Mothers (especially mine) =)