Tell Me WHyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

So when Pocho said the International Day of Peace was going to be next Friday, what she really meant was this Friday (January 29^th, 2010). That being the case, I was able to see the final products of three plus weeks of planning for this day. It was actually really cool idea. I’m not sure if every school in Spain did something to celebrate the day or if it was just our school.

To start, Christen, Sara (Pocho’s student aid from the university until March), and I finished completing the two giant posters for the main hallway. The first consisted of large letters saying, “INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE” and then an outline of a globe filled in with blue and green doves that several classes had written greetings on. Most of them were focused on Peace in general, but a few were specific to Haiti. The second poster was giant peace signs that the other classes had decorated with the heading, “PEACE TO ALL”—my idea. When you look at the posters they don’t look that intricate, but let me tell you, it took a lot of man-hours to finish both posters. For starters, Spain doesn’t have tape dispensers. They only have rolls of Scotch tape that you have to manually cut pieces off with scissors. Manually cutting each piece of tape just takes about twice as much time. Second, the positioning of the peace signs and letters for the titles of the posters required the assistance of a latter which took about ½ an hour to acquire. Lastly, I had to re-do the tape job on the majority of pieces because they weren’t in the proper place to maximize sticking, if that makes any sense. I’ve had 16 years of poster making under my belt so I think I have the right to call myself a tape master, so I know how tape should be stuck and I could tell Sara hadn’t had much experience in that department. Alas, we finally finished and got to rejoin the rest of the school in the special events.

In Pocho’s class we had to set up individual laptops for ALL of the desks. Then we had to turn them all on and bring up the proper page for the students. While the teachers argued and fused about how to set up the projectors and sound system we finished setting up all of the laptops. Throughout the entire day every class in the school, even the first graders, were brought to Pocho’s class for a presentation on peace. Ana, the special education teacher, presented the music video Tell Me Why by Declan Galbraith (this kid from American Idol who made this song popular) and a Spanish music video by Rosario something. Both songs were about peace and about helping people in need. After the videos the kids were suppose to post on the school’s blog a message of peace. It was suppose to be directed towards children and specifically the children of Haiti. It was really cool idea. The older kids had no problem posting the messages but the younger kids struggled. From the third graders and down we had to help each individual kid type out their message so that they completed the task in time before the class was over. It was hectic but somehow we managed.

During the day, in all of the classes, the kids made doorknob hangers with messages of peace in Spanish. They got to decorate them and then bring them home to their parents. This was crucial in speeding up the typing process because I would just copy what the kid wrote on the holders instead of trying to listen to them and type what they said to me. It was a clever idea and one that all of the kids really enjoyed. If you want to check out the messages of peace from my school here is the link:

http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/averroes/centros-tic/21002914/helvia/bitacora/index.cgi?wIdPub=245

A half and hour before school ended, every one in school gathered outside on the black top for a small assembly. All the kids were in a circle with their classmates and teacher. Someone brought out speakers and the two songs that had been playing in the classroom all day were broadcaster out loud. All the kids, from primero to sexto, had the lyrics and were singing along. Once the Spanish song started playing EVERYONE finally started singing. It was really cool and I’m glad I got to see it. I only wished my camera had batteries that functioned so I could have taken a mini video. Since school was almost over a lot of parents were waiting around outside and got to watch the assembly as well. In total, the International Day of Peace was a success. The only fault I can think of was Christen’s attitude the whole day. She was in a bad mood because she was freezing from having to put up the posters in the hallway for a few hours, she was upset that the school neglected to mention Martin Luther King Jr once throughout preparation for this day or during this day, and lastly she was irritated from hearing the same two songs a million times in one day. She was just being a sourpuss and almost ruined Peace Day for me.

On Saturday I woke up early and walked to Christen’s house. We tried to purchase our train tickets to Cadiz online but the website required this MasterCard Verification thing that was impossible. Neither Christen nor I could figure out how to surpass it so we gave up. Christen is going to try and ask the people at Santander how to register but I have a feeling it’s not going to work. After that we walked a good 3 minutes down the street to the costume shop to look for materials for our Carnival costume. Carnival is kind of like Halloween in the sense that every dresses up, has parties all day and night and drinks a lot, but is different in the mood of the celebrations. Carnival is suppose to be this happy-go-lucky, relaxed, and feel good time. You’re not supposed to dress up sexy or slutty but goofy and silly. Also it is more acceptable to dress up in a group than as an individual, hence the 3 Musketeers idea. We found a woman version of a Musketeer outfit but the entire costume was 49 Euros, each, so we were like, “no thank you.” Instead, we opted to purchase felt, glitter, and plastic hats with feathers to make our own costume. I now know what my mother must have felt like when she made my Halloween costumes when I was little. Making my own costume is a lot cheaper than buying one and let’s face it, I have more fun this way.

After costume shopping we headed back to her place for lunch. We attempted to watch some TV, but TV got horrible reception. After a while we ran some errands and finished up at the Mercadona for some much needed food. I then decided to head back home and get some other things done. It wasn’t until Monday that I found out I missed the festival for Haiti on Saturday. Apparently from 2pm to 9pm there was a festival of free food, music, and drawing (for the kids) in honor of Haiti. There were 6 different musical groups, all local from Valverde and lots of cold or hot food to buy for only 1 Euro. All of the proceeds went to Haiti. How did I miss this you ask? I asked myself the same question. The truth is the festival only got the go ahead the day before and there wasn’t any kind of publicity about the festival. The only way people knew about it was through word of mouth. There weren’t any posters, flyers, or people coming to stores advertising it. It was one of those events that you either knew someone who was a part of it and that’s why you came to it or you passed it on the way home and decided to stop and check it out. I found out about it on Monday because Margarita and Ana’s other sister was a member of the organization that sponsored the event and she told them. Yeah that sounds about right. Typical Spain for you.

In other random news, I saw a hang glider yesterday afternoon. He was just chilling in the sky, floating above our town. I don’t know where he came from or where he landed but it isn’t every day you see a hang glider when you’re not on vacation. Also I officially purchased my plane tickets for the week of Semana Santa and I’m headed to Valencia for a few days to hopefully see my friend from home who just moved out to Spain to play professional football. I didn’t spell it wrong, he’s actually playing AMERICAN FOOTBALL in Spain. Weird, I know. After that I head to ROME (!!!!!!!) for a few days where Christen and Kate will join me. It should be really cool being in Rome for Ash Wednesday. Christen thinks that the Pope might hold this special mass. Even though it’s not my religion I think it would be really cool to be apart of it and try to catch it on video if possible. It’s not everyday you get to hear Latin. So now I have plans for Semana Santa and another awesome trip to look forward to. Now the only thing I have to finish planning for is Morocco in May and Turkey and Greece in June.

So it appears that this will be my second week in row of living alone. Without any explanation Elisa hasn’t shone up. I’m beginning to wonder if I will ever see her again and also whether or not I should rent out her room during the weekends. Another wonderfully exasperating thing I learned about Spain is that after you (as a teacher) have presented in front of this panel of people and passed their evaluation and an examination with a really good score you can’t be fired from your teaching job. Therefore when you feel like taking, oh I don’t know two weeks off from work, you still get paid. Also the Junta has to pay for a substitute teacher to replace you but you don’t have to worry because you will have your job when or if you decide to return. What a sweet deal right? Well the other side of that is the teachers who haven’t presented in front of the panel yet OR who haven’t passed the evaluation or the examination. For these teachers life sucks. They spend all of their free time studying for the exam and take the risk of being placed anywhere in Spain where a teacher is needed and multiple times a year.

Christen’s roommate Lola is in the process of presenting for the panel within the next month so now is crunch time for her. Every weekend she travels to her hometown of Murcia (the farthest South East you can go in Andalucía and the complete opposite of Valverde) to prepare for the evaluation and then present for the panel in Murcia. Corrie and Kate’s roommate, Miguel, has presented but didn’t get a high enough score so he’s moved around 4 times this school year alone and is still studying to get a better score on his exam. It is crazy hard to be a teacher here. I guess its worth it once you get certified or whatever it is they get for passing, but in the meantime it blows. I can think of four teachers I know that go home to various cities in Spain every weekend just to see their SPOUSES. Yeah, they are married but live separately because normally it’s the man that has a good, stable job in the hometown and it’s the woman that has to travel around Spain taking teaching positions. It is horrible. Can you imagine living apart from your spouse during your first year of marriage? Well if Lola doesn’t pass the evaluation that will be her situation because she also preparing for her wedding this summer. I just feel so bad for people like Lola and Miguel and resent Elisa for taking full advantage of her “tenure” as a teacher. It is in no right fair. Well I have a water bill to pay and rent due today so if she doesn’t return soon I might not have a place to stay myself because I don’t know how to pay the bills or whom I give my rent money too. I normally leave the money I owe on the kitchen table and magically it disappears.

Good news, it’s supposed to rain every day I’m in London. Oh and its in the low 30s. Let the fun begin. Cheers!