Barca Barca Barce (Espanyol!)

Barcelona with the parents pictures. They are horribly out of order but none-the-less they are all there. ENjoy, we sure did.

post to follow in the coming week.

Barcelona

scenic roma

since i was alone for two of the days and deathly ill the entire time there was no need for me to get in any pictures. i didn't want to remember what i looked like during that horrible period of time. ENJOY!

1 Evening in ROMA

1 Evening in ROMA

change in the routine

I now have a new teacher to work with in replace of the teacher that broke his leg in a motorcycle accident. Her name is Toni. Upon our first meeting she basically just observed me as I taught the class on my own. It was a disaster. The kids would not listen to me and I had to keep attempting to raise my voice to keep control of the classroom. I wanted to help the kids one on one and make sure they were comprehending the new material but i couldn't be in two places at once. I tried to get Toni to help me out by making her teach a small part of the worksheet but she was no better at getting them to listen and reinforcing discipline. I miss Gregorio. At the end of the class i told her that normally i don't talk this much, that she's the one that should introduce the material and reinforce comprehension using Spanish when necessary. I did this in hope that she would understand her position in the class as the head teacher and mine as the assistant.

Well the next class was no better. Once again she stepped aside and I had to basically run the class. Half way through i made her teach the topic so that i could assist Angela, the girl that needs a lot of one on one attention, and the other kids that I know also need some personal attention. Instead of taking the initiative to help other kids Toni would kind of follow me and help the kid that i was already working with. It was extremely counter-productive and a bit annoying. If this is how the class is going to go for now on it will soon become my least favorite class of the week. Without the authoritative assertiveness that Gregorio brought to the class i now have "trouble maker" kids. This one kid, Guille, who use to be one of the smartest kids in the class has now turned into the most disruptive. He refuses to stay in his seat and he's always talking to his neighbors. I've tried to control him by threatening to move his desk away from everyone and then i did it and yet he still won't listen. I'll give it another week but if things don't change I'm going to have to ask Pocho for help in that class.

It's kind of funny but i have the complete opposite experience with Rocio's class. She is a VERY authoritative teacher and controls her class like a dictator. I almost think she's too unforgiving when a kid says something out of turn. I don't really do much in her class besides help them learn the vocabulary in the beginning and then maybe help a kid one on one who's fallen a bit behind. I barely talk and my presence isn't really needed when it comes to it. But i can't complain when i think about the other class in comparison.

So last week out of all the places in the world, Valverde was the host to the Motorcross World Cup. How crazy is that? Last weekend our tiny town was full of foreigners. At dinner we met people from France, Italy, and Germany. I could not get over the fact that our town was the host. Where there is normally the Saturday flee market instead was tent after tent full of motorcross sponsors and advertisers. The rows of tents went on for three blocks. There were four different tracks all within the area from Valverde but you had to drive to them. However there was this test track that i could see the people riding around in a circle from the outdoor terrace in Corrie and Kate's house so I did end up seeing some of the event. It was televised and advertised all week long in our town. It definitely spiced up our weekend.

The arrival of spring has also brought the arrival of "Paella Season", as i like to call it. It's the time of year where people prepare homemade paella in their backyards (or patios) using these ENORMOUS paella skillets. Elisa told me yesterday that she wants to make paella relatively soon so I'm patiently awaiting that glorious day. I've also been invited to try Pocho's paella. Paella is rather a touristic thing to eat in the major cities of Spain and most of the time it isn't very good, but homemade paella is a whole other story. That is the good stuff and the reason why Spanish restaurants in America serve it. I can't wait to write a blog about my paella experience hehe.

Tomorrow I head to Seville after school and then on Friday take an early flight to Barcelona to meet up with my parents. After a weekend in Barcelona they return with me to Valverde for two days and then venture on their own throughout Andalucia. I can't wait to show them Valverde so they can finally put an image to the place that I've ragged on and complained about for over seven months hehe.

Pictures of Roma are on the way i promise. you can blame the slow internet for the delay.

On an Evening in ROMA

So like I mentioned in the previous post I arrived to Rome sick as a dog. Not only had my sickness not gotten any better a week later but now I had to add strenuous walking and being outdoors 24/7 to my every day routine. Also I now had to share a room with 5 other people. Privacy is probably the number one thing you need when you’re sick and it was the absolute last thing I had in Rome. You can’t always win when you travel. This was definitely the hardest traveling experience to date due to the sickness and then being on my own for the end of my trip. The flight wasn’t too bad to Rome and from the airport I took the train to the main train station that was apparently only 5 minutes from my hostel. Once again I was only equipped with an un-detailed Google map. If there is one thing I’ve learned by now it's that Google maps are not very helpful unless you have the smallest scale in which EVERY street is identified but then you sacrifice having a broader map to use. Well I walked up and down the main street for a good 10 minutes trying to find a familiar street that was on my map so I could affirm that I was going in the correct direction. I saw a touristic couple with a map so I asked them if they could locate the street I was looking for for me. They couldn’t even find where we were on the map so I knew they were a lost cost, however an old man walked by and I he said in Italian what I presumed was, “what are you looking for?” I said “Mazoni” and he pointed me in the correct direction.

Sure enough within a few minutes I had found my street and I was getting closer to 55 Manzoni. I arrived at the number 55 Manzoni and what I found was a locked gate with no door on the other side, just a basement window. WTF now? I then proceeded to call Kate and Christen for help because they arrived earlier that morning. Just my luck both of their phones were turned off. Now I was panicking. I was so exhausted, I just wanted to crawl into bed and I had no one to help me. I decided to cross one more street and see if there was more than one 55 Manzoni. To my greatest relief I found my hostel as the third 55 Manzoni on the next street. Thank god. I only made it up the first flight of steps before I hurled over wheezing for breath. After my heart rate finally went down I climbed the last set of stairs and checked into my room. To my luck the first night I only had to deal with one other person in the room with me. That gave me at least one night to try and get rid of the sickness before I would have to share a room with a group of 5 people all traveling together.

The only thing I did that first day in Rome was meet up with Christen and Kate for dinner near the Trevi Fountain. That didn’t seem too complicated except for the fact that the hostel ran out of maps so I had to find the fountain using memorized directions for the receptionist. I did pretty well but I was also banking on the fact that I would find a sign for the fountain as soon as I got off the metro but I was mistaken. I saw a large group of American students so I asked the group where the fountain was because I assumed that’s where they had just come from, sure enough I was right and they lead me right to it. My next challenge was finding my friends in the troves of people that crowded around the ENORMOUS fountain. I got a text saying they were eating in this restaurant off the main street from the fountain. That’s really specific, especially for someone without a map. I asked a random hostess if they knew where this restaurant was and she told me it was impossible to know where it was because there were hundreds of restaurants right in this area. Oh great, that’s just what I wanted to hear. I was so annoyed and hungry that I gave up and just ate a small slice of pizza. Finally Kate called me and told me that she was looking for me. We finally found each other (a good 45 minutes later) and we had dinner. I still had no appetite so I ate a simple salad and water instead of trying on of the delicious looking pasta’s or wine that the girls had gotten. It sucked, I was in a country where I loved all of the food but I couldn’t stomach anything more than a little bread, salad, and water. Ughh.

By the time I got into bed I had felt a lot better and really thought that I was finally on the way to recovery. Boy was I wrong. That next morning we had agreed to get up very early in order to get in line for the Vatican Museum before the rest of the world. It was the worst morning. I got a whopping 2 hours of sleep and felt horrible. I was this close to calling of the whole day and staying in bed. I struggled with the decision in my head for a good twenty minutes and then I finally decided that you only get the opportunity to be in Rome once (so one would think….) so I shouldn’t waste my time here. Struggling through it and telling people that I’ve been to the Vatican and saw the Sistine Chapel is better than saying I was in Rome but didn’t leave the hostel. Not much of a story there. It was a good thing I ended up going because slowly I felt better (which is relative to the state of sickness that I had been in days earlier) and I ended up really enjoying the museum. It was incredible for so many reasons. Pictures don’t really do justice to how impressive and detailed everything is. The craziest part of the visit was running into my friend from GWU who is studying abroad this semester in Seville. It’s one thing to run into her randomly in Seville or even SPAIN for that matter, but in Italy, in Rome, in the VATICAN (which is huge btw). I’ll say it again; it’s a very small world. I will also say that for all the hype, I was a little disappointed with the Sistine Chapel. I mean, don’t get me wrong it is incredible that MA painted that entire Chapel and the shear size of the ceiling, but the place was scarcely lit (probably to preserve the paintings), it seemed almost underground, we weren’t allowed to take pictures of any of it, and it wasn’t vibrant in color. I was way more impressed with St. Peter’s Cathedral than the Sistine, but that’s just me. The not so fun part about touring the Vatican was losing Kate, not once, not twice, but THREE times. One of the three times was back-to-back. How I ask you is that possible, I don’t know and I can’t explain it to you how someone in her mid twenties can constantly lose track of the people she’s with. I was beyond annoyed because it took a big chunk out of our time just to look for her. Christen’s phone was out of saldo (time) so it was up to me to call her and I didn’t want to waste my saldo calling her to figure out where she went. She was the one that kept losing US so I thought the least she could do was initiate the calls. I should have bought her a tracking bracelet for her birthday instead of sweets. Now that would have been a practical gift.

We didn’t really efficiently go through the museum and ended up back tracking a lot so it took us about fourish hours to go through it all. It was definitely worth the 8 Euros (normally 13 but we got a student discount holla). After the Vatican we got lunch and then walked around the plaza in front of St. Peter’s for a little. We were going to hit up the Basilica but the line was to long and this was Kate and Christen’s last day in Rome so we decided to not waste the time standing in another long line and instead headed over to the Coliseum. I read the description of the Coliseum from the new book I bought about the architecture of Rome as we waited in line to buy tickets. The Coliseum was another very cool place to visit. It’s really a hoot to think about how big it actually was compared to what’s left of it now. Can you believe that they held naval battles there at one time? That’s right, they filled the place up with water and had actual ships in it. Crazy! To no surprise we lost Kate once again but the Colosseum is a giant circle so we didn’t worry about it this time.

After that I had to get back to the hostel and take a small break in order to muster up more strength. Crossing the street we lost Kate yet again. I wish I was making this up but sadly I’m not. That was my last straw. I just wanted to get home and now I had to wait to find her once again. When we finally found her I just started walking in the direction of the hostel. Of course along the way we had to stop for gelato (!!!!!!!) and then for pasta and cheese (!!**%&&%%*). I had it and told them I was just going to head back because I needed to rest. I ended up napping for 3 hours before I was waken up by the group of 5 that were now staying in the room with me. It was 8pm and I wasn’t up for walking anymore so I told my buddies to have a nice last night out but that I wouldn’t be joining them. I had another restless night of no sleeping but I decided to sleep in a bit and wait for the group in my room to file out before I got up for good. I now had two FULL days to explore the rest of Rome at my own pace and leisure and not have to worry about losing anyone.

For my first full day I started off at the Castle of Saint Angelo. It wasn’t as cool as I had hoped but it had a nice view of the city from the top. I had the joy of touring the castle with at least two different schools of Italian children. After the castle I walked to Plaza Nevona. The Plaza was beautiful and full of artists selling paintings, outdoor café’s/restaurants, and fountains. I really enjoyed that plaza a lot. Along the way to my next destination I lost my self in tiny winding streets. They were so cute and precious. On every corner I found someone sketching. This was made me fall in love with Rome. It was the quiet streets with the vespa’s, artists, and quaint buildings that made the city come alive to me and gave it real personality. That was my favorite part of the trip for me. I eventually passed the Palace of Vittor Emmanuel, which is this giant white marble museum looking building. The tour books say that the locals don’t like this building because it looks new and modern compared to all the other ruins around the city. I finally arrived at my intended destination: The Pantheon. Again, here was another very impressive building that I couldn’t capture with my camera. You just have to see it for yourself to understand the magnitude of greatness that surrounds you inside. Unfortunately half of the outside of the building was under scaffolding so it was the most esthetically pleasing sight, but none-the-less awesome.

I spent the rest of the afternoon people watching in the square in front of the Pantheon and had a nice leisurely lunch. You can’t help but just sit, relax, and forget about time when you’re in Italy. It has that effect on me more so then Spain does, and the Spanish are way lazier. I needed to walk off my giant salad so I walked to Trevi Fountain again in order to see what it looked like in the daylight and to throw my coin into the fountain. I got a spot front and center of the fountain and made my wish. I was really exhausted at this point but I told myself that I had to get to the Spanish steps because it was kind of out of the way and I probably wouldn’t get to it tomorrow. I walked up a menacing hill until I reached the top of the steps. There was no way in hell I was going to walk down the steps in my condition so I took my pictures and then took the elevator down to the metro stop. I made my way back to the hostel at around 4ish and then took a long much-needed nap.

I woke up with more energy and a new plan for the night. I was going to metro back to the major plaza area around the Vatican because that is where all the good restaurants and outdoor café’s were without having to walk very far from the metro stop. My plan was foiled when my metro stop was closed for some reason. They directed all of the metro traffic to a bus stop. Every bus that came was packed full of people and impossible to get on. I gave it some thought and almost scratched the night right there (that would have been the smart thing to do) but I also had time to waste and nothing else to do so I decided to just wait patiently for my chance to get on a bus and just get off when everyone else does. I had no idea where the buses where suppose to let us off at but I figured it would be going in the direction towards my destination, so why not? I finally got onto one of the buses and found a semi comfortable spot, however comfortable you can get on an over-packed bus full of sweaty people. I kept checking for street signs that I recognized but nothing seemed familiar and I got this slow creeping feeling that I was going in the opposite direction that I wanted. Well I stuck to my new plan to wait until a lot of people got off. I would say a good hour later everyone finally got off at this random part of Rome. I followed the flow of people to the metro station that I didn’t recognize. I figured out which way I needed to go and after two rounds of train's (twenty minutes later) I got on one and finally felt a little relieved. I was keeping track of the stops but then all of a sudden there were stops I didn’t recognize at all and I panicked. I figured I should have switched at a past stop of something because this didn’t make any sense to me. I got off at a stop with a decent amount of people and followed them out into the street. I came out to this desolate location with nothing but this two-way main street and nothing commercial within sight (restaurants, stores, houses). Now I was freaking out. Every person who got off the metro had someplace to go and so I was alone waiting for some sort of hope to show up, like a bus with a name I recognized or a taxi for that matter, but nothing came. After 15 minutes of feeling bad for myself I finally walked to this building and asked the receptionist for Manzoni. With her limited English and my limited Italian I got the impression that the metro was my only way out of here. I sucked it up and went back down the metro and tried to find a map. I gave it another whirl on the metro and somehow found my way back to Manzoni. Now my stop was up and running, only two hours later. I have no idea why the stop was “under construction” but it cost me my whole night. I was to upset and hungry to try and go all the way back into the city so I just got off and ate pizza at the first pizza place I saw close to my hostel. It wasn’t anything special but I didn’t care at this point. I was just so mad that I wasted that whole night and that I got lost in Rome all alone. I keep finding myself in the same situation: stranded alone in an unfamiliar place. That’s what happens when I take risks I guess and just “hope for the best”.

The next day was my last day in Rome so I had to be super efficient and hit up everything left on my list. This included Saint Peter’s Cathedral and Basilica, the Catacombs, the Roman Forum, the bottom of the Spanish steps, and few random places in between. This time I had equipped myself with a book and had decided early on that I wasn’t going to return to my hostel until after dinner. That meant I had to stay out from 8am to 9pm. It was going to be a challenge but I had the luxury of going at my own pace, not rushing through things, and soaking up all of Roma. I managed to avoid the lines for St. Peter’s and got to go right in. St. Peter’s was beautiful and magnificent. The gold details everywhere and the intricate royal blue ceilings enchanted me. I really like ceilings and most of my pictures of impressive places are of their ceilings. It was cool that they were getting ready for mass so in line with me was all these priests, nuns, and old people. They even had the Swiss Guard out and about making sure nothing shady went down. I think that might have been my favorite place in Rome. When I was finished touring the inside of the cathedral I got some pictures of the view of the plaza from the cathedral. I saw what the Pope sees. It was cool. On the way out I felt the urge to be really touristic and decided to mail a postcard from Vatican City.

Next stop the catacombs. I was only armed with the information of which metro stops to get off at and which bus to get on, and that was it. I had no idea where the bus stop was, where it was that I was supposed to get off at and how far a walk it would be to my destination. I also knew that there were four different places to see the catacombs but I didn’t know which one I should see. I took a chance (and this time it worked out) and once again decided to use my eavesdropping skills and figure out where I needed to go based on the people around me. I found the bus stop without problem and discovered that all three groups of families at the stop were also trying to get to the catacombs. Two were Italian and the other was German. Once the bus finally came (20 minutes later) I watched as the Italian coupled asked the bus driver what I assumed to be “where do we get off to see the catacombs?” So my plan was to get off when the couple got off, that’s easy enough. However, the bus slowly filled up with more and more people and I lost track of my “couple” within minutes. On the plus side I finally heard some Americans and discovered that everyone on the bus was ultimately going to the same destination so I was no longer worried. Everyone on the bus got off at the first catacomb and quickly learned that the only way to visit the catacombs was in a group but luckily for me the English group was leaving within 10 minutes so I didn’t have to wait that long. Nobody was allowed to take pictures so all I got was the signs of the catacombs as proof I went. I found it very curious that within my group of 30 people waiting for the English tour only I would say 7 of us were actually from the USA. Everyone else was from Germany, Finland, Italy, Australia, Austria, Switzerland, Philippines and so forth. The place had tours in literally every language imaginable so I was confused as to why all of these international people were taking the English tour when they could have easily taken the tour in German, Finnish, Italian, etc. I wasn’t really complaining because I’ve become accustomed to surrounding myself with international people and now I really like it. It makes me feel exotic.

After the tour I spent the rest of the day basically on my feet. I walked ALL OVER ROME. I tried desperately to find the entrance to the Roman Forum but gave up after an hour and just took pictures of it from where I stood at various points on my walk. I worked up an appetite and was craving a Panini so I stream lined to the first “Panini stand” I saw. I ate the best Panini everrrrrrrrrrr. Maybe it was finally the first time in over a week I felt like eating something other than bread or salad and could actually taste the food I was eating or it really was that delicious. So yeah basically the rest of the day I spent snapping photos of ruins, walking around in the sun, eating gelato—which quite frankly for some reason wasn’t that satisfying for me, and finding a semi comfortable place to sit and just people watch or rest my eyes. I think I dozed off at one point at one of my many rest stops in Rome. I decided that the best people watching would be at Trevi Fountain so I made the trip there again. I spent over an hour just watching the deluge of people coming to the fountain to throw their coin and make their wish. The best was this group of five French students who all sat on the edge of the fountain and on the count of three threw their coins into the fountain at the same time. One of the boys follow through caught him off balance and in desperation he grabbed onto his neighbors who like a domino effect grabbed the shirts of their partners and consequently almost made all five kids fall into the fountain. It would have been legendary but alas nobody fell in. The next best was this little Spanish boy and his mom. The mom wanted the boy to take a picture of her throwing her coin in but he was hopelessly awful at taking pictures. First he had the cap on, then his finger was obstructing the lens, and then the strap of the camera was in the way. Finally when everything was right all these people walked in front on the camera. The mom was really sweet and patient but it was very entertaining watching the little boy attempt to take the photo. Finally someone offered to take it. I was on my way to offering my assistance but the spectator beat me to it. I was enjoying my resting spot up until two smokers sandwiched me and it was so unbearable I had to move.

I made my way to the Spanish steps and walked up and down them. I found myself a nice spot to read my book on the steps to waste some more time before dinner. Once again two older ladies who just had to sit by me and smoke ruined my tranquil spot. I was stubborn and refused to move since I got there first and I shouldn’t have to move because of someone else’s awful habit. I fanned the smoke away as best I could with my book and after five minutes of coughing incessantly they finally left. I think I’ve become ever more sensitive to smoke since arriving in Europe and can’t stand to be around it. After spending another hour reading my book I finally decided it was time for dinner. I wanted to treat myself to a last supper in style. I was finally at the stage where I could try and eat normal food and maybe even a glass of wine, if I was feeling really lucky. I had set my sight on this one restaurant I passed earlier in the day but en route to it I saw another place that looked cute so I decided to try it out instead. In retrospect I should have stuck to my plan because my “last supper” in Rome turned out to be a bust. My meal was okay, my wine was okay, and my waiter bothered me. The only ray of light was the desert. It was delicious and looked so good that the people next to me asked what it was and ordered it as well. I really wanted to send off Rome in a grand fashion with an exquisite meal and memorable last dinner but that didn’t happen at all.

All in all I managed to salvage my vacation and I got to see everything I wanted to see in Rome and I had a great time people watching and enjoying my leisure tour of the city. Yes it could have been a lot better but it wasn’t a waste and I took plenty of pictures and I have good memories of the city. I would visit Rome again if I had the opportunity. I could see why it’s a popular destination for architecture students and why people fall in love with it. Combining my experience in Rome with my spring break trip to Northern Italy last spring I have to say I really enjoy Italy as a whole. I could spend a month roaming the Italian countryside and getting lost in the scenery, food, and wine. There is something about the Italian lifestyle that differs slightly from the Spanish and for some reason or another I find it more enticing.

My flight back to Seville was delayed by an hour so when we finally landed in Spain everyone clapped. I on the other hand was not happy to be back in Spain. I was perfectly happy with prolonging my return to my life here. I took the airport shuttle and then walked the thirty-minute schlep to the bus station only to discover that the direct bus to Valverde wasn’t running today. Well of course it isn’t running! All my planning to make sure I got a flight that would make it possible for me to get this direct bus was for nothing because I ended having to go to Huelva and than Valverde. I would have screamed if the bus to my town from Huelva wasn’t running but it was. When I FINALLY got to my stop (left my hostel at 7:30am and arrived in Valverde at 8pm) I waited for the bus driver to open the door underneath the bus so I could retrieve my suitcase, but instead he yelled at me to open it myself manually. Good god, all you have to do is press a button and its part of your frickin job but no, I have do it. Take me back to ITALY nowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

Valencian Oranges

Here are the pictures from the first part of my Easter break, or Semana Santa vacation as it is called over here. I was the sickest I have ever been in my life, but I didn't let it stop me from traveling. I was very close to canceling the second leg of my trip but money and time lost was an incentive enough to keep me going. I was in Valencia for 4 days and had the luxury of staying with a high school friend, who is playing professional AMERICAN football for the Valencian Firebats until mid June of this year, rather than spending the extra dough on a Hostel. I think I spent a grand total of 5 Euros in Valencia if you can believe that haha. I would have had more pictures if I hadn't of spent one of the days inside my friends apartment the whole day. Enjoy!

Valencia

The jig is up.

That's it, the jig is up. The kids officially know where I live. I left my flat yesterday and ten kids on bikes and rollerblades were right in front of my door. They all asked if this is where I lived and I couldn't lie to them, so I said yes. I don't think this will really be an issue but I kind of liked the fact that the kids didn't know exactly where I lived, only that I was some where in their neighborhood.

So yesterday I got some disturbing news. It turns out the mom of the one first grader, Angela, made a complaint to the school that her daughter isn't receiving help in class. Humm that's interesting because I'm pretty sure my sole responsibility in my first grade class with Gregorio is to sit next to Angela and give her one on one attention so that she doesn't just sharpen her pencil during the entire class. All of the time i spend with her takes away from the time i could be interacting with all the other students and for that reason alone i was very upset when i heard this. I was insulted to be honest. How could this mother say that when I am the ONLY reason Angela has something to show her mom from English everyday. You can ask Kerry who visited and saw first hand that the little girl won't work unless I work with her. I just felt bad for Gregorio because it reflects badly on him. Parents, I tell ya. Angela's mom should spend the day in our class and see just HOW MUCH we help her daughter when nobody else will. I can say with satisfaction that I taught Angela how to color like a proper first grader but apparently things like that are overlooked. Oh well.

ON Sunday i spend most of my day OUTSIDE. SHocking i know! First i went for an hour walk with Pocho and then I suntanned and read my book outside for three hours---I finished it yesterday so now I'm down to my last book and I have to save it for my Semana Santa trip. I went to the Cultural House because it was a sunny spot with less wind and nobody around. However when i arrived at the gate to leave i discovered that I was locked in. Apparently nobody thought anyone else was there. That just goes to show how sneaky I am hehe. I climbed the metal gate with little trouble and freed myself. A man jogging saw my escape but he didn't seem perturbed by it so I figured i was in the clear. I don't mind doing that if i means i get this beautiful garden to myself, but perhaps I should find an alternative spot that doesn't have a time restriction.

Nothing new to report for today. TOday is St. Patrick's DAy and I did wear green. I also taught three of my classes about the holiday and got the satisfaction that a good 25% of my students listened to me and wore green today haha. I gave it a shot....

Here are the pictures from when Kerry and Casey visited of mostly Sevilla and then the family dinner with Ana's wonderful family!

PHILBINS!

Just In Case I had any doubts…

Just in case I any doubts of what my true passions are, yesterday made it very clear for me: CHILDREN and SOCCER. I finally played a real game of pickup soccer with the children from my classes in the plaza around the corner from my house. At the high of the game we had 6 v 6 going on. This was the best afternoon I have had hands down in Valverde. Let me back track a bit to Thursday.

So last Thursday I had school like normal but decided to stay longer in order to make up the hour I missed the day before in order to send off Kerry and Casey. I noticed that Christen seemed more overwhelmed then usual so I asked if there was anyway I could help her out since nobody had anything for me to do. I ended up staying three hours extra in school in order to finish all the worksheets for 2^nd grade and help finish the poster of Spain’s Autonomous Communities. I was happy to help her out but I only wished that Pocho would give me more responsibilities so that it was more even. I understand that since my free day is the day when they plan out almost all of the worksheets and posters for the weeks to come, but it doesn’t take more than 5 minutes to explain everything to me on the next Monday. Instead they leave most of it up to Christen. Also Christen lets them talk in Spanish instead of English with her so I think they find it easier to tell her things to prepare than to tell me. I’m not going to apologize for only speaking English, it’s actually why I was brought to this school and the reason I get paid at all.

Anyways, I had my usual private class with Pocho’s children and then spent an extra hour and a half in her house like usual taking advantage of her speedy Internet connection. Pocho’s house has the best Internet so I normally wait until Thursday to upload my pictures from trips during this time. Pocho also is gracious enough to let me stay as long as I like in her house after the session. During this session I had to ask her a question while she was preparing dinner. She was making homemade croquettas. I mentioned that I loved croquettas so she made me a little to-go Tupperware of 12 rolls to fry in oil in my own house for dinner. She’s so nice to me. After class I walked home and noticed a few of my students hanging out in the little plaza. When I walked by they all said hello. Now normally I would have just gone home and waited until my last class at 8pm but today I decided to take a risk and go back to the plaza. I approached the kids who were digging in the dirt and asked them if they wanted to kick the soccer ball around. They asked if I liked soccer and when I replied that I LOVED soccer, they jumped up, got super excited, and shouted “YEAH EDICA WANTS TO PLAY SOCCER WITH US (in Spanish)!” We only passed the ball around a few times before all of their mothers yelled at them to come inside but it was enough to put a smile on my face and enough to make an impression on the four kids I played with.

Next it was time for my last session of the week. I walked across the street to Toni’s house and before I start my session Toni approaches me about teaching another private class for her 3 year old. Oh god, how do I get out of this. She told me that she wanted to have a class on Thursday’s at 6 with four 3 year olds. At first I thought that I was going to get 2 of them and Christen was going to get 2 of them but then she clarified that we would be teaching together the four 3 year olds. That made me feel better but I still really didn’t want to do it. I had several reasons for not wanting to do the class:

1. I think 3 is too young an age to hold PRIVATE ENGLISH classes

2. Christen has told me how awful her classes are with Toni’s youngest so that was not making me more inclined to say yes

3. Now that it’s becoming spring I want to be outside more often and I want my afternoons free to play soccer with kids in the street

4. That’s normally my only good time to use the internet with my own computer and I get a lot done on Thursdays

5. I don’t want any more classes. I don’t care how much she pays I like the classes I have.

6. It would be a whole other age group that I have to plan for so I have to plan these classes solely from the internet which is hard enough for me to begin with

7. I would have to coordinate the lessons with Christen and we both have busy and conflicting schedules.

So yeah I really didn’t want to do the class but out of politeness I asked if I could think about it. Toni said no. I laughed nervously. She said No again. They she began telling how she knows that I’m free during this time, that its only one more class a week, and that when it gets nice outside we can change the time of the class or cancel it once in a while. First off lady, don’t act like it’s my JOB to teach your children because actually this is totally optional and NOT part of my job at all. This is my free time and energy that I choose to use to conduct classes at all. I then mentioned how Kate doesn’t have any private classes so she should ask her and I told her how I don’t know Spanish enough to discipline them when they just won’t listen to me in English. Toni’s reply was that she doesn’t know Kate and that Laura (her 3 year old) would perform better with someone she’s already familiar with. And by familiar with you mean every time I say hello to her she ignores me and disrupts my private classes with Marta. Umm great. She also said that the kids don’t really know the difference between discipline and English and Spanish so it shouldn’t be a problem. That’s my point EXACTLY; they barely know Spanish how the heck are they going to remember English when they only get it for an hour at a time when all they want to do is play? Again I told her that I wasn’t sure and I needed to think about it and again she told me “No.” Well there was no way out so I said “okay”. I figured as long as Christen was in it with me it couldn’t be that awful.

Today I talked to Christen about how I was forced into taking the class with her. Christen informed me that after Semana Santa she is sending a letter to every parent of the children she tutors informing them that she has time slots that they can sign up for and they have to pay this certain amount depending upon how many kids she tutors at a time and if they don’t want to pay that amount she’ll find someone else who will. She’s not going to change her schedule around for anyone anymore. If they can’t find an available time for lessons than that’s too bad. Her intention with the letter is to get her “life” back. She’s tired of being walked over by these crazy moms. She’s tired of being underpaid and forced into doing more classes then she wants to do. Again, she’s volunteering to teach private classes. She doesn’t have to do this and right now the parents are acting like it’s her obligation to accommodate each of their children on whatever time frame works for them. NOT ANY MORE!

I’m impressed with Christen’s ballsiness but I just don’t know how it’s going to play out. She offered to include Corrie and I on the letter but I don’t want to be a part of it because I’m more than happy with all of my classes except the ones with Marta and even though I’m not getting paid as much as maybe I should be I’m not doing it to get rich. I’m doing it to occupy my time, interact with children and adults, and hopefully get something out of it myself. Besides my classes with Marta I generally enjoy all of my sessions. The reason I don’t enjoy my classes with Marta has nothing to do with her, it’s her mother, and so I can’t really hold that against her. We’ll see how next week goes…

Yeah so Friday I finally got the chance to catch up on my sleep. I woke up pretty late and just did some things around the house like sweeping the house, putting the dishes away, doing my laundry, etc. Once I had given myself enough time after eating to exercise I headed down the hill for the green path. I haven’t run in a long time because of the cold and rain so I wasn’t expecting to run for that long. I was also recovering from my small sickness so my immune system wasn’t performing too well. On my way back home I noticed a lot of kids in the plaza just chilling. Again I decide to take a chance and initiate playing with them again. I asked if they were playing soccer and when I told them that I loved soccer and wanted to play I got the same reaction as yesterday; instant excitement and lots of shouting. This time however we had “real” futbol players who took the game serious. We split up into teams and played four v four. Unfortunately for me my team consisted of the half hearted soccer players so it was really left to me to carry the team. I was over the moon to be playing soccer again that I didn’t really care. Throughout the next hour and half the teams changed players and more kids came to play with us. It was a mix of second, third, and fourth graders as well as a mix of skill levels. I was most impressed when this one fourth grader girl Anna jumped in and played with us. She was the only girl that participated in the game. What made the pickup so fun was the atmosphere. We were playing in this plaza so we had little kids on bikes, old men with walkers, adults hanging around, and girls walking dogs crossing through our “field”. These diversions just made the game more fun. I really wanted to document my first successful pickup so I told the kids that I would be back in five minutes. When I returned to the plaza all the kids were sitting on the bench. They literally waited for me to return before they started playing again. Awwwwwwwwwwwwww.

By now we had attracted a bigger crowd so the field expanded to the entire plaza. The teams were made up of 6 to 7 people and now included someone’s older brother who was in high school. At first I was hesitant about the new addition because I thought he would just hog the ball and not pass to the little kids but he turned out to be a team player so I happy. I took a few pictures of the kids while they were playing but for the most part I was the only one on my team really playing so I had to carry the team. At one point I hit the ball over the hedge and it hit one of the cars parked behind the plaza. Andres, this second grader just dove to the ground to hide for fear of being yelled at. I got nervous that a parent was going to scream but then this one kid, Antonio, came up to me and said, “don’t worry about it. I hit the cars harder than that all the time.” Haha thanks for consoling me. Well it was getting late so I told them I had to leave. I figured they would continue to play but no every one stopped when I stopped. I was just going to leave but then the kids asked if I was going to take a group picture. I was like, hell yeah, so they all got together and posed for me. It was the CUTEST picture I have EVER taken. Later in the evening when I uploaded it to my computer I made it my background and it brought tears to my eyes because I was so happy. Those kids made me feel incredible, if only for a few hours, but a few memorable hours. Antonio, the ringleader of pickup soccer and the only kid I really wasn’t familiar with from Menendez, asked if I would play with them every Friday. Of course I said yes :D

I now have a weekly play date on Friday’s. I’m hoping that since I played with a kid from every grade and from every class that the word will spread and we’ll get a bigger turn out. My next step is to come to school on Friday’s on my own free time and ask to participate in gym class. I’m not sure if I should do it because it might not be fair because you know they’re all about having an even team and if there is only one of me one team will always complain, but we’ll see.

Well today I got a text early this morning that Pocho wanted to walk so I couldn’t pass that up. We walked and talked for an hour like usual. I enjoy our one on one time because I learn a lot about her family and more about Valverde. It’s the equivalent of having a private adult session with her except I don’t get paid. After our walk I dropped off my box of sweets that I bought for Kate for her birthday and hung out with the girls for a little. They wanted to spend the night in Seville to celebrate Kate’s birthday but I told them I just couldn’t do it. I am so sick of traveling by bus and I had just unpacked my suitcase for the first time since February 4^th. I was not about to stay over in a hostel just for a night out on the town. To be very honest I’m not that close with Kate and I didn’t feel like I needed to participate in the festivities like I would a closer friend. Plus I have another early morning walk date with Pocho tomorrow and I didn’t want to miss it. After hanging out with the girls for a bit I decided to hit up the stadium and see if I could recognize any of the kids playing. Sure enough it was Sergio’s team on the field. Sergio’s mom, Ana found me and talked to me for the remainder of the game. I only saw the last 10 minutes of the game but I was just happy to see any soccer since that ended up being the last game of the day (at 2pm). Ana informed me that Antonio was going to close the shop early today so they could go to Los Pinos and sun bathe. Hehe even parents need some time in the sun. I said hello to Sergio and then I headed home to grab some lunch. It was a great morning/mid-afternoon.

This has been a really great start to the month and I’m hoping that the next three months are going to be just as great. I calculated it and I only have 10 more weeks of school. EEEEEKKKKKK!!!!!!! I just bought my plane tickets to Istanbul and Athens so I’m on my way to finishing up my plans for my final trip before returning to Bethesda. One less thing I have to worry about is what I’m going to do when I return home. I finally had time to discuss my future post Spain plans with my parents. I talked through my thoughts for the rest of summer, fall and spring and we’re all on the same page so I’m no longer worried about what I’m going to do when I return. While my plans aren’t set in stone or concrete there good enough to keep me from worrying about things until I return home. This way I can just sit back, relax, and enjoy my last few months in Spain. Viva Espana carnino!