Teaching Updates!

It's amazing how the days pass by when they're filled to the brim. It's ironic really that I have so much to write about now that I haven't had the second to record any of it.

I know I said this last time, but bit by bit I'm going to try and recap life's happenings. The holiday break and many graduate school and scholarship applications have slowed me down... but first things first I'll recap on teaching, as that's what I came here to do! Life at school has become more "normal". I have a weekly routine, I'm slowly but surely learning the names of all 162 students I teach. I feel like I'm learning each of their personalities, their life stories every once in awhile. Thursday I spoke with one of my 14-year old students during a small group conversation focused on pronunciation, vocabulary, etc. We talked about what we do during holidays and summer-time. I learned that he was from Poland and that he goes back to visit family every year, or at least whenever possible. I'm amazed by some of the students in that class. He learned Polish as a first language, grew up in Spain so obviously speaks Spanish fluently, and is basically fluent in English as well. On top of that he's learning French and wants to learn Russian. The other student I was working with knows Spanish and English pretty much fluently, and is also good at French and is now picking up German. It reminded me how there are so many people in other countries in the world that can speak and understand so many languages! Of course it's especially important for people living in the EU, but I think it should be more of a priority everywhere. I can't even imagine having a bilingual school such as this one being the norm back home. For many students in this school, at least 50% of their classes are entirely in English. It makes me ponder what it would be like to have that the other way around in the States!

So now that I feel more comfortable at school, I've been able to really enjoy the experiences I have during classes. Not that I didn't before, but my first weeks of running around frantic are finally over. It didn't help to be thrown into the middle of the first trimester of course. But we are now in the second trimester, and I'm fully involved in the course planning and curriculum from start to finish. I have a grasp of what will be covered from now until the end of the school year in each of my classes.

In my first-year art classes, we are finishing up a unit on famous artists. Each student was assigned an artist. First they had to write a paper about the artist's life, painting style, and famous paintings. Depending on the fluency level, some classes wrote it entirely in English and others in Spanish with an English summary. Grading those 80 papers was quite the task... but it was fun too. I loved seeing the kids try so hard and so many really made such an effort at trying to capture what they wanted to say in English. Sometimes I'd come across a few words that looked like jibberish. It'd take some deciphering.. but usually I'd be able to figure it out and correct them! It actually helped me see what words and phrases they have the toughest time with, so that now I can do my best to correct them in the future. After the paper they did three drawings, replicas of famous paintings by their artist. The first drawing was to be solely in dots (pointillism), the second with only lines, and third with small cut-up pieces of paper. So many of them turned out great! It took several weeks and much patience, but they're all turned in and complete. This week they've been doing roleplays of their particular artist. Some of the less fluent students had trouble (as the presentations are fully in English), but I just had on Friday my 1A class, and they did fantastic! A couple of them even re-enacted their artist coming back to life and incorporated us as the audience into their play. It was amazing to see it all come together, and their full effort memorizing it all.

In my 3rd year art classes we just finished a several week project as well. They started with making a portfolio book that included all their brainstorming and research. For some students, it was tough for them to step out of the box and let their creatively run wild in the books. I think they're used to having strict guidelines to follow. But some really did have fun! They finished the assignment by using their research to create large posters on a particular topic high school students can relate to: bullying, anorexia, smoking, eating healthy, bilingual education, doing sports, etc. The creative process for this project reminded me of the graphic design projects I did in University. Felt good to put those ideas to good use! Was a funny moment introducing them all to Pinterest.. it was something none of them had ever heard of. But after explaining it, some of the girls were really excited about it! Hopefully they won't get as addicted to it as I do...

In my science classes I´ve been doing a variety of things. I spend several of them translating labs and articles for the teacher I work with. She has so many experiments and assignments she's used over the years that she wants to continue using, but with the switch to teaching in solely in English, she hasn't had the time to translate them all. So I do that for her, and it actually helps my Spanish vocabulary too!

I also do some lessons and labs with the students. Today I taught about the heart and circulatory system, and last week I had a bit of an incident... we were doing a lab on tobacco smoke. We replicated our lungs using a water bottle and lit a cigarette. Long story short, the cigarette wasn´t completely out when we went to throw it out and it caught a tissue on fire. I stepped on it and put it out by dumping water on it, but it could have been disastrous since one of the students almost threw it out the window into a bunch of brush and bushes.. would not have ended well. After that experience I am much more aware of the dangers that can occur with even the simplest lab experiments!

Okay I realize I´m writing pages of information on every specific thing in my classes, so I'll wrap it up. We just finished reading a book called Bodega Bay in my 1B English class, they're exam is next week. If this class wasn´t so loud it would have been easier, but hopefully they got something out of it.

In technology with the first-year students we just finished tables on tools and for third-years we have been learning Microsoft Access and how to create databases. It was my first time using the program, but it´s especially helpful to know for data entry!

Oh and here's a picture of my sunrise from a few weeks ago while I waited for my 2nd bus in the morning. The sun is slowly starting to come up earlier!!

Sorry for no other pictures in this post, I don't take my camera to school much. But I promise there will be many more to come!

The Travel Bug...

Okay so I know it’s been ages since I’ve written sadly… been a crazy month preparing for Christmas break and planning my trip with Jeremy, along with many other things. I also started using my kindle, which deters me from writing myself. I get so into the books I’m reading! But now only a few days until our Christmas travels!

Speaking of traveling, I thought it was time to update on a few of my trips before heading out on any others. I’ll start with those I’ve taken out of the country, most recent one first and heading back in time after that. So much to catch up on! Sorry for a long post! I’ll keep them shorter from now on.

PARIS

A few weeks ago Ivana was in Paris celebrating her 21^st birthday on a Europe trip with her mom. Being that it’s so cheap to get from one country to another in Europe, I thought I’d go and visit while I had the chance! Since she’s moving away from Orange after graduation in May, this may be the last chance to meet up for awhile. Ended up being that we could only see each other for one day. But we made the most of it! My roommates, Jamie & Kim, wanted to come along too, which was perfect so that we could do things together Sunday and Monday.

November 23 –

Friday after work, the three of us hurried home to pack our bags and leave for the airport. We took the Cercanias (trains within central Madrid) up to the airport, and then took the metro to our terminal. We arrive at our gate to find out that our flight has been delayed two hours, which would put us in Paris at 11-something and we still had to catch a train or bus into the city after that. Problem is… Paris doesn’t have trains/buses that regularly run that late from the airport. Makes no sense! Anyways, we weren’t worrying too much – we could relax, read, check emails (since our phones still worked being that we were still in Spain). All was going well until EasyJet decided everyone needed to board. We thought okay, awesome! Our plane won’t be leaving too late after all! Wrong.

They boarded us all onto a small airport shuttle bus, crammed the bus to the brim and then shut the door on us. Little de we know that we’d be standing there – everyone and their luggage all on top of each other for OVER AN HOUR!! My legs had gone numb by the end of it. An old lady next to me started making a scene after awhile because there was hardly any air circulation inside, they wouldn’t open the doors, and the bus driver was just sitting outside have a smoke while everyone stood inside, squished. After an hour or so they finally drove us somewhere – to the middle of the runway where are plane was. We thought great, time to get out! Nope. They made us stay standing in there another half hour before letting us out and onto the plane. And even then it took another 45 minutes before our plane even thought about taking off.

We ended up in Paris at 11:30, much too late for normal trains or buses into the city. We wandered around the airport before being pointed in the direction of a night bus. Luckily this bus took only about 45 minutes to get us into the city center. From there we had no idea where we were, and it was after midnight. So taxi to our apartment was the best solution! As soon as we arrived we all jumped into bed, much needed after all the commotion.

November 24-

Saturday was my only day with Ivana, so I got up by 8 to go meet her for breakfast. We saw the flea market near her place and stopped at a cute restaurant called “Le Sancerre” for breakfast. I had my first Croque-Madame (bread, ham, cheese, and an egg on top) with the classic café au lait. It was delicious! The service was great and the waitress really nice surprisingly! My experience in Paris a few years ago was not the best… so I had high hopes for making this trip better!

Afterwards, we headed up to Montmartre, the area of town where Sacre Coeur (the big cathedral) is. We took beautiful pictures of the city after climbing tons of stairs. The little town was neat, lots of artists painting in the main square and yummy things to eat. Took a gelato pit stop even though it was cold!

We walked a lot after that and made it to the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs-Élysées. We wandered down the avenue looking into all the shops. Once we got to the end of the shops the Christmas markets started!! We got all excited and stopped for our first crepe of the weekend. They were serving them out of this old car!

Once it started getting darker and the markets got all lit up, we went over to look at the different stalls. For dinner we got German sausages in a French baguette – best of both worlds! We stopped and watched ice skaters, a high school band, and ended at the Ferris wheel all lit up. I tried vin chaud (mulled wine), and Ivana stopped for tea. We started to get super cold and it took us awhile to get out of the crowded area, but we finally made it to the metro. Back at Ivana’s apartment, we had a girls’ night since it was our last few hours together. We ate ice cream and watched a chick flick! Was so hard to say goodbye though…

View of the city from Sacre Couer with Ivana

November 25-

The next day my roommates and I woke up early again to take a train out to Versailles. We wandered about looking for breakfast, forgetting that not much would be open on a Sunday morning. We finally found a place next to the train station, and I got a croissant and coffee. It was alright (found much better later!) We ended up having to go to a different station because the train line there was temporarily closed. But after a couple hours we finally made it to Versailles! It was certainly beautiful. We were greeted with big golden gates as we walked up. We got to see so many of the rooms and the interior… it took awhile. After stopping for a snack we made the effort to go walk to the Trianon – the summer palace and Marie Antoinette’s apartments. I would have enjoyed the walk more had it not been so cold and windy with painful blisters on my feet. Poor Jamie’s feet started bleeding from all the walking and standing we’d been doing. The gardens were absolutely amazing though. We could have spent an entire day just doing that! One day I’ll go back in better weather.

The Versailles Gardens

We headed back to the apartment after awhile. I had a snack and took a quick nap. Kim went and got some pizza and we had another relaxing night watching a movie. Needed more sleep for our final day!

November 26-

Slept in and packed up. Went to the nearby bakery and got a delicious mini broccoli quiche and chocolate-filled croissant! We went to the Arc de Triomphe and paid to go to the top. The views of the city were fabulous! Then we walked down the Champs-Élysées again and took a last look at the Christmas markets. So glad we got there late enough in November for them to be up!

View atop the Arc de Triomphe

Then it was travel time – back to the airport! Unfortunately it took much longer to get there than we expected… we ended up having to get off at the first stop the airport bus dropped us at and ran through the big parking lot to get to the right terminal. I had a strange moment in the parking lot – it reminded me of being at LAX back home in California for some reason, I guess because of the way it looked. I got homesick all the sudden… I think the holiday season is making me feel that way more.

Luckily we made it to our gate just as they were boarding. The flight home wasn’t too bad. At the end of a travel-filled weekend it’s nice to arrive back in Madrid!

BRUSSELS & AMSTERDAM

At the beginning of November we had a long weekend for All Saints Day. Luckily since the holiday was on a Thursday (November 1^st), we got Friday off too! I went with my roommates (Jamie and Kim), my friend Christie, and Angela (another TA at my school). It was a great girls’ weekend eating lots of chocolate, yummy foods, and exploring!

November 1-

We spent the morning packing and took the train to the airport. Sadly Kim didn’t make the train and got on the wrong one, it was quite a mess. We were afraid we were going to miss the flight, but she was able to get a taxi and made it!! This was my first RyanAir flight, and it wasn’t too bad actually for being so cheap. I was sitting next to Angela, and neither of us like flying, but we had some gummy bears to snack on and magazines to look through!

We arrived at Brussels around 6:30 and had to take an hour-long bus to get to Brussels. Who would have thought that in such a tiny country the Brussels airport would be so far away from the city! While we were waiting for the bus we all got some French fries to share, and boy were they good! Along with waffles, fries are a Belgian specialty!

Waiting for our bus to the city

Once we arrived in Brussels, we attempted to find the tram to our hostel. The trams were a bit confusing… they ended up having them in Amsterdam too. You always feel like you’re going to get run over at some point! They always seem to be crossing over pedestrian walking areas. Anyways, we made it to our hostel only to find out we had to lug all our luggage to another part of the town to find the hostel we were assigned to. We were sharing the room with two other girls and a guy that was way over the “under 30” limit most hostels have. He was always up at strange times and made packing our last morning difficult since we couldn’t turn on the light. Also he snored super loud and made sleeping difficult! Let’s just say we didn’t get much sleep…

Our first night there was fun. We got pizzas to share, and Kim and I decided to try out kriek, the cherry-flavored beer made in breweries in and around Brussels. It was delicious, and I don’t even like beer! After that we of course had to try out our first, true Belgian waffle. It was to die for!! Decided to go all-out and get chocolate and ice cream on top – perfect way to end the night!

November 2-

We started out our day getting a quick breakfast and then heading to the chocolate museum! It was neat seeing so many things made out of chocolate. And with our tour we got samples too! There was a demonstration, but mainly in French. The five of us together knew 6 languages: Spanish, Italian, Korean, bit of German, bit of Danish, and of course English. But not a single one of us knew any French! Made talking to people a bit difficult at times, but most everyone in Brussels knew English luckily.

After the museum we walked through town to the Coudenberg Palace. It was basically the ruins of a palace from long ago…. It was neat but not the best I’ve ever seen. We stopped to get soup for lunch since it was cold and rainy out. This was the first trip I had to bring out my big, fluffy coat! We headed to the Parliamentarium at the EU headquarters. It was a wonderful exhibit, full of history and so much to learn. We could have spent hours and hours there had we not all needed a nap!

Angela and I huddled in our furry coats to keep us warm!

After napping for a bit, we headed out in search of a Belgian restaurant for dinner. We decided on a place in the Gran Place (main square). The square was right next to our hostel and absolutely beautiful. Dinner was good, and of course more waffles for dessert!

November 3-

My favorite thing about Brussels was how quaint and beautiful it is. It’s a small town and there isn’t a ton of touristy things to do and see, but that’s what I liked about it. We spent a lot of our time wandering the cute cobblestone streets and stopping for hot chocolate or waffles to warm us up. We spent the first part of our day getting our final Belgian waffle of the trip and then wandered around in souvenir shops for a couple hours. We bought lots of chocolate and gifts to send back to family and friends. It was a relaxing morning!

At about noon we headed to the bus station for our bus to Amsterdam. Angela had to go to the airport because of work Monday and decided not to come to Amsterdam with us. It was sad to say goodbye! Luckily we see each other everyday at work J

The bus from Brussels to Amsterdam was super cheap – only 6 or 7 euros. Go MegaBus! It was a beautiful drive too. We saw the classic windmills of Holland and oh so many cows!

Our bus dropped us off in the middle of nowhere though… we hopped on the nearest tram and hoped it sent us in the right direction. Luckily we ended up at the main station. We picked up our Holland Pass (gets us into the big tourist attractions for cheaper), and went to find the tram to take us to the houseboat we’d rented for two nights. This was quite an adventure… not only was figuring out the trams difficult (there are a set of A trams and a set of B trams), but once we got off at the right stop it was a bunch of walking in circles before we found some houseboats tucked away on a canal between buildings. The inside of it was great though, especially for being on a boat! We had a nice bathroom, kitchen, living room, and two bedrooms!

We decided to go out for the night and see what the Red Light District’s really like. First we went through the Green Light District, which eventually led us into the Red Light area. It was interesting to say the least… prostitutes were standing in windows of buildings, and interspersed between all the bars and prostitute rooms were “coffee shops”, also known as places to get the infamous pot brownies or smoke of course. After a bit of wandering we stopped at a crowded bar for a while. Then we took another walk outside but it started to rain. We wandered out of the district and back towards the city center, stopping at a German beer place. Unfortunately we were tired from all our travels and called it a fairly early night. Lots to see the next day!

November 4-

Day two in Amsterdam started out at Sara’s Pancake House!! They make their pancakes super thin in Holland, more like crepes. Which for me is perfect! I got a cinnamon apple pancake that was delicious. Sadly they don’t have syrup anywhere to be found… but it was good enough just with powdered sugar!

Next on our itinerary was the canal boat tour. But first… a coffee was much needed by this point, sadly it didn’t help much! The canal tour was neat in the sense that I got to take a lot of pictures and see pretty boats and homes. However an hour was a bit long for seeing the same thing over and over again. It was beautiful though!

Then for the Van Gogh Museum! Something I’ve wanted to see since I was a kid. The exhibit was temporarily moved to the Hermitage museum, but it was done wonderfully! There was also an entire area of the museum devoted to other impressionist painters. All were so beautiful... I was amazed to see it all in person.

Christie had to go to the airport to fly back to Madrid for work the next morning, so after that we took it easy for the night. We got some dinner and a pastry for dessert and wandered around a bit. Then bed early for once!

November 5-

After breakfast, I split from Jamie and Kim to be able to see the Flower Market. They wanted to go to another museum, but I figured this would be my one chance to see the market! It was beautiful. I loved seeing all the flowers and bulbs. I picked out some seeds for my mom and aunt for Christmas (if either of you are reading this they’re coming your way when Jeremy comes back!) And I got myself a cheese slicer. Thought Holland would be a good place to get one! The rest of the day I spent wandering and taking photos. I had the BEST chai tea later ever (other than one in Hamburg last summer). The guy even had his own homemade topping to put on top! 

I met up with Jamie and Kim for dinner and then we left for the airport. We were weary of what was ahead. We received a message from Christie earlier in the day saying that her flight the night before was delayed several hours due to a strike at the Madrid airport. She was there until after 2 am trying to get her luggage, which never came (the people who take luggage off the planes were the ones striking). So she was a bit worried about ever getting it back. We decided to put all our valuables in our carry-on and leave only clothes in our checked bags to be safe. Our flight turned out to be delayed too, but instead of letting us wait at outside the gate like normal people they made us all jam in a room for over an hour before letting us board the plane. When we exited the plane in Madrid we saw piles of suitcases lying in the middle of the corridor. I decided to take a look through them by chance, and guess what I found?? Christie’s suitcase!! I picked it up and took it with us and no one noticed or cared. Luckily our luggage didn’t take ages and did finally arrive (they must have figured out a solution to having the workers on strike). We made it just in time for the last metro back to our apartment!

MUNICH – OKTOBERFEST!!

So how did I decide to spend my 21^st birthday in Europe?? Well since I couldn’t be home going to Vegas with my friends… decided to make it epic and go to Oktoberfest!! Figured if I have the opportunity… why not?! Flights we a bit expensive ordering only a week before, but on studentuniverse it wasn’t too bad! And… I got to fly Lufthansa, which was super nice. The meals on the flights were amazing for only a 3-hour trip! And since I had friends living there I could stay with, even better! By the way, before I get started… Oktoberfest is a 16-day festival starting in late September and ending the first weekend in October. It’s the largest fair in the world, and over 6 million people go to it every year!

September 22-

My flight to Munich was at 7 am… much too early to take the metro. I had to figure out how to get the night bus to the airport at 4:30 in the morning, not a pleasant experience. Of course I was up till after 2 am packing and being anxious and excited about the next day. So when my alarm went off at 4 I slept through it… poor Jeremy knew I should have been up already and was calling my cell and landline… no luck. However, I did wake up in time to not miss my flight! Had to catch a taxi instead of a bus to Plaza Cibeles (where the night shuttle leaves from), but I made it!!

The flight was good, drank lots of coffee. My friend Chen was nice enough to meet me at the airport and show me which train to take into the city. It was nice to catch up after having not seen each other in over a year. Well other than Skype dates every so often so that I could practice German!

Hofgarten near Odeonsplatz

We went to lunch at Paulaner Im Tal – a bit pricey but delicious, authentic food. I got my favorite – spätzle! It’s a type of egg noodle covered in cheese and popular in Bavaria. Afterwards, Chen changed into his lederhosen (what all the guys wear to Oktoberfest). We wandered around Hofgarten near Odeonsplatz. The flowers and greenery are so beautiful in Germany! Within hours I’d realized how much I’d missed it. Then Oktoberfeset time!! We took the metro to Thereisenwiese – I can’t believe that entire section of Munich is completely empty except for that time of year! It was packed full of people when we arrived… the biggest carnival or fair I’d ever seen! All the rides and food and people amazed me. It smelled soooo good too because of all the treats and fair food!

We met up with our friends Ashlee and Teilo briefly, they were getting ready to go back for the night since they’d been out all day. Then we met with the group Chen had reservations with, the Rotary club. There were people from Rotary clubs all over Germany there, really neat! Luckily Chen had bought an extra ticket so that he could take a friend. I had no idea you had to reserve tables almost a year in advance!! He was nice enough to let me use his second ticket J The ticket came with two steins of beer and an entrée!

At first I felt a bit awkward because everyone was speaking German, and I don’t know it well enough to actually converse much. So I stood there looking like an idiot for a while. But soon people started talking to me in English and we got to know each other, and it was great from there! The girls and guy sitting next to me at our table were named Daniel, Sabine, and Flow. They were wonderful! It’s amazing that the people you meet by chance end up leading to so many more adventures. I met Teilo, Ashlee, and Chen back in 2011 during my travels after studying in Florence. Wouldn’t have gotten the chance to go to Oktoberfest without them! And then Daniel was the reason I had plans my second night at Oktoberfest, and Sabine turns out will be who Jeremy and I spend New Years with in Munich this year!! So it all works out somehow! That’s my favorite thing about traveling and living in Europe – you meet people from all over the place and get to experience and see more than you ever imagine!

Me and Sabine with our beer steins!

Anyways… that night after having some beer, everyone started standing up on the tables and dancing and singing. They all loved to teach me the songs and explain to me what they meant. After a couple of hours I had some of them memorized already! It was quite the experience. So many videos and photos to record what a crazy, lively place Oktoberfest is! There are just soooo many people. I tried going to the bathroom at one point and it took me almost an hour to get through the line. There was pushing and shoving and people all over each other. But I finally made it through alive!

I decided for my entrée to get a dish called Kaiserschmarrn. It’s a caramelized pancake with raisins in it all cut up into pieces, covered in powdered sugar, and served with applesauce. It’s amazingly delicious! Not the healthiest dinner ever… but it’s my birthday weekend right??

After over 5 hours of craziness, our tent was closing up for the night. I forgot to mention this earlier – each brewery has its own huge tent. You either have to have reservations for a specific table to get in, or you have to get there by 7 am and stand in line for when it opens at 8, otherwise you can hardly ever get a table. There are 14 large tents (holding anywhere from 3,000 – 9,000 people each!!), as well as 20 smaller tents. The first night we were at Armbrustschützenzelt, the tent for Paulaner brewery.

After leaving Oktoberfest we went to Hacher-Pscharr Brähaus, a restaurant/bar they’d turned into a place for dancing for people wanting to stay out later after Oktoberfest closes up. I got to hear more traditional Bavarian music and dance, dance, dance! Everyone was commenting on where my “dirndl” was (the outfits girls wear to Oktoberfest). Of course I hadn’t the chance to buy one... and they’re very expensive. But all night I was wishing I had one! Next time, next time.

While we were dancing, Chen got a call from Teilo saying that the trains to his place stop running earlier than the rest of the metro (he lives just under an hour outside of the city center, and that’s where I’d planned to stay the night). Well, turns out I wouldn’t be able to make it to Haupbahnhof (the central station) to get my luggage out of a locker there and make it to Teilo’s… so Chen offered that I could stay at his place that first night. Plus that meant I could stay out later… although at that point I felt like collapsing after hardly any sleep in 48 hours! But everyone kept persuading me to stay out since it was for my birthday J

Someone in the group had a girlfriend that worked at what is supposedly the best club in Munich called P1. He’d gotten her to put us on the list somehow, so we all headed that way. At this point I was really lagging from sleep deprivation… Daniel and I were walking a little slower talking, and at one point we lost sight of the rest of the group and the road had forked. We picked the wrong street unfortunately. We couldn’t have gotten to the club more than 5 minutes later that the rest of the group, but we’d already missed our entrance in. Chen had waited for us and we tried calling but it was no use. I really didn’t mind because it was already 2-something, and I was very ready for bed. So Chen and I took the night bus back to his place.

September 23-

Bedtime ended up being about 4 am… and I’d planned to meet up with Teilo and Ashlee to get in line at Oktoberfest at 7:30 am. That definitely didn’t happen. I slept in and had lots of bread and Nutella for breakfast! Chen let me borrow his phone for the day (mine doesn’t work outside of Spain unless I have Wi-Fi). I went to finally get my luggage out of Haupbahnhof and change clothes, but when I went back for a locker there was none left. I waited for an hour with no hope, when luckily Daniel befriended me on Facebook. I remembered he lived near Oktoberfest, so I asked if I could keep my bag at his place for the day (hooray for the benefits of social media!). He didn’t mind at all, so we walked over to Oktoberfest together and found Teilo and Ashlee. At that point they’d been up for hours and were heading home. Since I’d just gotten there, Daniel offered to try sneaking me into his reservation at Schottenhamel. Amazingly we snuck in a side door when the guards weren’t looking, and I waited around a bit before reservations started. Their reservation was under BMW, so we had a great table up on the balcony, with a wonderful view of the whole place! Daniel wasn’t feeling that great still from the night before, so we ended up splitting the entrée and steins that came with his ticket. More Kaiserschmarrn... so good!

View from the balcony of everyone dancing on tables!

The people were again super friendly. It was a fun night! Luckily I knew the words to a lot of the songs by then too. From the balcony there was a great view of the whole festival. Before heading to Teilo’s I got one of the classic heart cookies they sell everywhere called Lebkuchenherz. Couldn’t leave without one to remember the experience!

I got to Teilo’s by 11. He lives out in Wolfratshausen, a more residential area but still close enough to take public transport to the center. His neighborhood is gorgeous, full of greenery and a river runs just past his backyard. At midnight, we started off my birthday with a cake Ashlee had brought back from Vienna!

September 24-

In the morning we walked to the bakery for bread and made a huge, traditional German breakfast. Then we took the car and went on yes, the Autobahn!! It was a bit rainy, but still a beautiful day. I decided I wanted to drive out to Starnberg See, a pretty lake near when Teilo lives. In a restaurant with a great view of the water, we got champagne and dessert (Apfelstrudel and Schokoladenkuchen) to celebrate my birthday. It was a fun last few hours in Germany. Wish I could have stayed longer, but needed to get back to Madrid to start teaching!

I arrived home with a surprise little cake and a gift from my roommates – my first Spanish cookbook! It really made my night. Perfect way to end a 21^st birthday weekend I’ll never forget.

Home Sweet Home – Hogar Dulce Hogar

For those of you that don’t have it yet… here’s my address!

Calle de Alfonso XII, 19, 3-C

28014, Madrid, Spain

Before leaving for Spain, one of my top priorities was finding a place to live as soon as I got here. With only a list of phone numbers and names of apartments in my notebook, I was a bit weary of not finding anything for a while. I created an account on Idealista, a site for searching and saving apartments up for rent in Spain. I could search by the area of Madrid and size of the apartment (called piso here). It was so helpful!

After getting my Spanish phone number/sim card my second day in Madrid, I started calling the numbers on my list. It was interesting… not used to the accent here in Madrid (very different than Spanish spoken in Mexico), so I had a hard time understanding. I met up with a few other girls in the Fulbright program that wanted to look for apartments together. Kim (now my current roommate) had arrived in Madrid a few days before me. She already had a long list of appointments for the day luckily! We were looking in the same area, Atocha, because it’s near the main train station called Atocha-Renfe. Jamie (my other roommate) was also looking in this area because all three of us had to take trains to our schools south of the city. Atocha is in the city center but in the southern part of it. There was a big group of us all looking at apartments together, but when we found our place we decided the three of us would get it because the others worked more north or west in the city, so living in other areas would be best for them.

We lucked out finding a place on me & Jamie’s first day apartment-searching (Jamie had arrived on her plane only hours before)! Kim had spent the day before looking at places and said they were all very strange… so we didn’t have the highest hopes on our first day, but it went better than expected! The first place we saw was awful… it was a Spanish guy’s apartment with all sorts of weird decorations and things around. One bedroom had a chandelier that looked like giant, creepy paperclips all bent around each other. We were a bit discouraged but kept on. The second place we considered. It had a nice entry and courtyard. The apartment was okay, just very old. The bathroom was teeny-tiny. There was just a toilet that barely worked and a shower you could stand in but not really move about. The rooms were decent in size but with a tiny bathroom, no oven, and an electric stove we had to think about it.

Then… we had the appointment for the apartment we have now! The second we walked in we knew it was what we were looking for. It has an entry hallway, kitchen on the left side, and then a decent-sized living room area.

On the left of the living room are two rooms (now me & Jamie’s) and on the right side another room (now Kim’s) and the bathroom. There’s only one bathroom, but it’s long and has hooks on the walls and shelves along the other side for all our things. We each have our own shelf and another couple shelves for things like the blow dryer and soap. The hot water didn’t work for our first month… it was as cold as ice and showers were awful. We got it fixed now though!!

Each bedroom has pros and cons and we each decided on what we wanted most. Kim’s room has the most floor space, a chandelier, and the nicest closet. Jamie’s room has a giant wall-length closet. My room has the biggest bed but less floor space, a smaller desk, and a smaller closet. I decided the bigger bed was worth it though for when people come to visit. I also liked the flower photos on the walls and mirror above my desk! I took a whole Sunday afternoon decorating the wall next to my bed with photos from home. I made the word “LOVE” out of photos with a heart underneath. I was going to write “AMOR” (love in Spanish), but the “M” and “R” were too wide to fit on my wall. Oh well this works and reminds me of home all the time <3

Okay so the kitchen is tiny, but it has all the essentials I couldn’t live without! Because my independent study project while I’m here is studying Spanish and European cuisine, there were certain things I needed to be able to cook everything. Most importantly our apartment has an oven! Many apartments here don’t sadly. And we also have a gas stove, which is awesome since most are electric and I prefer gas. We have a neat drying rack over our sink too. It looks like a cabinet, but when you open it up it has racks to dry the dishes! And the water just drips into the sink while they dry. Dishwashers aren’t common here, and dryers for clothes are almost non-existent. We hang all our clothes on the line – the old-fashioned way!

We almost immediately decided on the apartment and signed a contract that night! We met a couple of days later to write up an official lease and pay the deposit and utilities for the year up front. Then we were handed the keys – such an exciting moment!

With our landlady, Marie José, the night we signed the lease!

Since moving in we’ve been making our piso more and more like home. After orientation we took trips to Al Campo (similar to Walmart) and Ikea. Each trip took a whole afternoon since they’re a bit far, but it was worth it! We bought organization supplies for our rooms, sheets, pillows, comforters, décor, kitchen & cleaning supplies, and much more! We made trips to the grocery store, and as of the last couple weeks we finally have a fully stocked kitchen! It’s great to feel like I have a “temporary home” for the next months. Always good to be home at the end of a long day J

Our mailbox (buzón) now has our names on it - we were so excited for our first mail!

So... I'm a teacher now!!

In just a few months I´ve gone from being pretty much a lifelong student to a teacher! It seemed surreal my first couple weeks. When did I get the permission to teach classes of 30+ kids? And multiple classes a day! Well here I get the chance…

I was nervous my first couple weeks here to say the least. I spent my first week at Fulbright orientation and moving into my apartment. Then it was time for my meeting with the other two English Teaching Assistants and our coordinator. I had no idea what to expect. My school was so much farther away than most other Fulbrighters, would it be much different than central Madrid? I gave myself plenty of time to get to the town. I took a train from Atocha (right next to my apartment luckily) and arrived about 40 minutes later in Ciempozuelos. With the navigation on my phone I followed the roads up to the address I´d been given for the school. Google maps had told me originally that it was about a 20-minute walk... well after about 25 and still another 5 or 10 minutes to go I was getting worried! Then I ended up there - navigation saying: "you´ve now arrived at your destination". And what do I see? A run-down building with no one there except two construction workers. Hopeless I ask them where Instituto Francisco Umbral is... they look at me confused and say it´s another 15-minute walk up a couple roads headed northeast. At this point I´m panicking. My appointment starts in just minutes. I call my coordinator who gives me directions down a road completely different than the workers had told me. Seems I had been given the wrong address on my original Fulbright paperwork… I can´t find the new street name on my phone. And after wandering around in circles for another 5 minutes the construction workers pull up in their truck and ask if I need some more help. They offer me a ride to the school... and at this point I wasn´t sure what else to do! Mom, you would likely kill me for this. But yes, I agreed and got in the truck. And luckily it proved to be a good decision! After driving for about 5 minutes we arrived at the school. It would have taken me ages to walk to on my own. I arrived about 10 minutes late to the meeting and was not greeted too happily. I guess my coordinator had somewhere to be in about a half hour... whoops! At least I made it and got the information I needed! I walked back to the train station with the other two TAs, Feargal (from Ireland) and Angela (from New York), and they showed me the right way to the station. Never will I do that again!

Where I teach - Instituto Francisco Umbral in Ciempozuelos

About another week passed before we started teaching, which was great so that I had time to decorate the apartment, get situated, prepare for classes, etc. I received my final schedule at last and am very happy about it! Here’s a photo from my planner… I’ve written in my schedule with my classes, breaks, and teacher coordination times. Everything written in pencil on the sides is the train and bus times… it’s a bit confusing! Just now getting used to it and we’re already a few weeks in. I'm gone for about 8-9 hours per day total for work (other than private tutoring or other events of course).

My schedule/"horario de clases"

Being an assistant teacher, I’m assigned to a variety of classes. I teach 4 natural sciences classes, 5 technology classes, 5 art classes, and 2 English classes. So 16 hours of teaching plus 4 hours of coordination (1 with each teacher). I’m contracted for 20 hours per week in session, but I also spend several hours a week lesson planning and commuting. The commute is about 1.5 hours there, 1.5 hours back each day. Sometimes it can be just over an hour, depending on how long I have to wait for the train and/or buses. It’s a bit of a trek, so mornings are rough. But I’m getting used it! Little did I know that sleeping until 7 would be “sleeping in” now. The days I get up at 6 are the hardest!

My classes are good though; I’ve learned so much about teaching already! I teach 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd years at a secondary school (middle school/high school here in Spain). 1^st years are 12-13 years old, 2^nd years are 13-14 years old, and 3^rd years are 14-15 years old. Mandatory secondary schooling finishes after 4 years (at about 16 years old), and the last two years is called bachillerato. This is only necessary if the student plans to go on to university.

I have only A, B, or C classes, which is great. The Spanish school system is set up differently than in the U.S. Kids are organized by how well they do in school/how much English they know. At my Instituto, A-level students are sección students, meaning they passed the exam to let them into the completely bilingual program. These classes are smaller; one of them only has 13 students. All other students (B, C, D, E, & F) are programa students. B and C classes know some English and many of them try to be good students, however, the class sizes are much larger (30+), so those classes are harder to handle. D, E, & F classes are tough. Some of the kids don’t want to be at school and they don’t know much English at all, making it difficult for English teaching assistants. Luckily I wasn’t assigned to any of these classes… but I hear many stories from Feargal and Angela (the other TAs). I think it helps to have the best students in classes with other students that do well at school because it encourages them to strive for even better. However, for the students that don’t do as well in class I think it is tough for them to aim for better when they’re surrounded by others who distract and struggle through. I don’t think it’s quite fair to them. But like anything, it has its advantages and disadvantages compared to our system in the U.S. Viewing it from the teacher point of view for the first time, instead of the student view, has given me a whole new perspective.

My classes are all very different. In the science classes I either help or lead the class, depending on the lesson. For example, in the lab I assistant the teacher (Mercedes) or take half the class and lead the experiment. In lecture classes I may lead half the class session with an activity or lesson, or take over a full class session, depending on the day. Sometimes I get to do a PowerPoint if we have access to the audiovisual room for the class; otherwise the classrooms only have chalkboards. A picture of me with my smallest class, 1A, after a presentation on phases of the moon and eclipses is shown below.

My 1A Natural Sciences class after a PowerPoint presentation

In the art classes the curriculum is already set, so I don’t come up with my own lessons unless it’s for a special holiday, such as Halloween (picture shown below of the pumpkins I taught the kids how to make today). The art classes are more of technical drawing classes. The students use compasses, rulers, triangles, etc. and learn about geometry and drawing lines, shapes, tangents, and much more. It’s a lot different from the classes I was accustomed to in high school, so it took me a couple weeks to learn what to do. But now I’m able to assist and help out the students as much as I can! It’s neat to see the artwork and designs the students come up with. I have either 1^st year or 3^rd year art classes.

We decorated the classroom with the mini cardstock pumpkins!

I only have two English classes – 1B and 3A. For these classes I come up with a full lesson plan for each class period. The curriculum is completely different for 1B versus 3A, so each lesson plan varies significantly. The teacher, Paz, (also the director of the bilingual program and therefore my advisor) is in the classroom while I teach but is only there to assist and translate when necessary. So these classes give me the full opportunity to write my own lessons, manage complete classes, and get the comprehensive teaching experience. It can be tough coming up with lessons that will engage the class and take up the whole time period, but it’s great to come up with unique ideas and see how the kids learn from them and react. Each class I learn something that I can use in the future.

My technology classes are fun. They are in the computer rooms, so the classroom setup and atmosphere is different. We only have 15 computers, so it’s difficult with the classes of 33 or 34 because the kids have to share. Somehow it works out! The 1^st year students are learning the basics, like making tables in Microsoft Word, creating and saving files, and learning PowerPoint. The 3^rd years are learning the basics of computer-animated drafting programs and engineering programs like QCAD, CAD, etc. This was tough getting used to at first since I’ve never been taught the programs, but being that I studied graphic design the basics came pretty easily to me. Virginia, the teacher I work with, is great. It is her first year at the school as well, so we help each other out as much as we can!

So far it’s been great teaching. Because it’s my first time as a teacher, it takes a lot out of me. I’m not used to being on my feet all day, working with kids, the long commute, etc. Over the coming weeks I feel I am going to get used to it though, it’s already gotten more manageable. Preparing lessons over the weekends really helps so I don’t feel too stressed on the weekdays. I really enjoy helping kids learn and making it as fun for them as possible. I’m finally getting used to being called “teacher” or “profe” (short for profesora) all day! Sometimes they use my name... but usually it’s “teacher, teacher!” all day long… It’s a neat feeling though that the kids look up to me. I’m seen almost as a “celebrity” at school because I’m from California. I find it funny the kids idolize my state so much. They get excited to hear and learn about where I come from, my family, my schooling, etc. Some of the girls in the younger classes love to ask me all sorts of funny questions after class. A girl in the 2A class asked me last week if grocery store shopping was the same in California as it is in Spain. She had all sorts of questions about it! I explained it to her and she seemed thrilled, not that there’s much of a difference. But hey, if I can make her day – awesome! Another neat moment was when I was walking to school one morning and a 12-year old girl from my 1A class, Elena, came up to me with her group of friends and walked the rest of the way with me. She talked for a while, and as we were arriving at school told me that she practices English at home by herself even though no one in her family knows much of any. She said that her dream is to become an English teacher like me; it was such a sweet feeling knowing that she aspires to do good and wants to teach too!