La Navidad:

Merry Christmas to all :)

By this time you're probably beginning to see a pattern with Spanish holidays: lots of singing, lots of eating, lots of drinking and very little sleep. ;) Christmas is no exception. Since they celebrate the Three Kings (Wise Men) and most kids don't get presents until the 6 of January, even the little tikes are out and about until at least 1am when midnight mass ends. My Christmas this year did not deviate from the traditional pattern.

I started off the week making pestiños with my mother and sister-in-law and nephew. Pestiños are to a Spanish Christmas what gingerbread is to ours. They're the typical treat that all the families make together and eat throughout the holidays. It's a dough made with olive oil, anis, sesame seed, and flour. Then you fry it and sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar. Pretty good. ;)

On the night of the 23rd, my friend Adam came down from Madrid. Do you remember him? He lived with us two years ago and worked with me at the school--my co-auxiliar. It was really nice to have him down for the holidays. We greeted him at the train station with a bottle of anis (typical drink at Christmas), a bowl of mantecados (a kind of Chirstmas cookie-like treat) and singing Christmas carols. :) It was quite a show. The other passengers were pretty surprised. we got a few strange looks, but I think everyone was pleased with the Christmasy welcome. I offered a mantecado to the security officer at the station before we left. He was shocked and barely able to stammer out "igualmente" when I wished him a Feliz Navidad. Adam, however, wasn't as surprised as I expected...I guess he knows us too well by now. ;) Unfortunately he had to leave early this morning because he works Monday...so it was another of those short but intense visits.

I started this blog saying that my Christmas was a typical Spanish fiesta, but within the pattern we mixed things up a bit this year. For one, Christmas eve dinner was at our house! I was too busy serving and preparing to even take a picture of the table. :( My brother-in-law and family came along with my mother-in-law and of course Adam. We were eight. It was lots of fun (though the dishes the next day were not!), and great to have family over. I do love playing hostess...especially now that I have a house!!

Dinner was delicious. We had jamón (of course!), cheese, deviled eggs, shrimp and asparagus rolled in turkey for starters. My mother-in-law made and a nice soup for our first course and the second course, pork loin rolled in flaky crust with a sherry wine sauce, I made. :) Yum! Of course there was too much food, and we still have leftovers even though last night I took it all over to Jesus's piso for a dinner of leftovers with our friends.

Midnight mass is something that's become a tradition for me living here in Spain. So after dinner, I showered and headed to church. The Christmas mass is always nice, lots of singing (I love Spanish carols) and everyone's so happy. This year they put big butane gas heaters in the church so it wasn't nearly as cold as usual. In the past my feet have fallen asleep from the cold!

Once Jesus was officially born and we'd kissed everyone in the nearby pews a Merry Christmas, it was off to "el sitio" (a plot of land where Angelines plans to build her own bar). We built a campfire and spent the night singing, lauging, joking and drinking. My friends even set up a kind of manger with a bay off hay and the baby Jesus. We went to bed at six-thirty in the morning, after a cup of warm soup and toasted rolls by the campfire. So within the usual merriment and partying that happens every Christmas Eve here in Andalucia, this year was different.

I hope your Christmases were equally love, fun, friend and family-filled. Merry, Merry Christmas.

Motivation:

A quote from today's reading:

"Si Sísifo fuera universitario, su campo sería la educación."

-If Sisyphus were at university, his field would be education.

...Talk about motivation, eh?

(I love it! ...masochistic? maybe. It's a great visual though: Sisyphus with professorial glasses and tweed jacket with leather elbow patches... Ha!)

The inauguration of our guest room!

Yes, we've had our first visitor in the new house... none other than my dear friend Katie Filippini! :) She was visiting her sister in Tajikistan and stopped through Spain on her way back to the States. What fun! This was her first visit to La Roda and the longest time she's ever spent in Andalucia. Unfortunately, she couldn't stay more than four days and I had to work one of them so my role as tour guide was limited.

We visited Antequera and the flamingos in the Laguna de Fuente de Piedra. We saw the nativity scene made exclusively from chocolate in Estepa and went to Puente de Genil for the Spanish version of touring Christmas lights. It was a brief visit, but all in all we took advantage of our time to see quite a bit of rural Andalucia and more importantly just "hang out." :)

As the saying goes, "time flies when you're having fun," and this week has flown by! I haven't done anything in the way of studying for my classes and with Christmas around the corner I need to play catch-up for last week and get this coming week out of the way so I can enjoy the holidays and not get any further behind, thus my late-night blogging. ;) I should be working, but I'm taking a little break. I've done two weeks' reading for two classes today, so I think I deserve it. Still, I've got a bit more to do before bed...I try to take advantage of Angelines's absence to get my work done. I hate having to work when she's home!

So without further ado, here are some pics from Katie's visit. Unfortunately, she took most of the pictures, so I just have pics from our visit to see the street lights in Puente Genil and this one shot at the Laguna.

Enjoy!

Miss Filippini at the Laguna in Fuente de Piedra...the flamingos are too far away to see in the pic. :(

The city Christmas lights in Puente Genil are famous around Spain. In town is one of the number one manufacturers of Christmas lights in Spain, and they use their home town base as a show for their products.

Angelines and Jesuli with the "alumbrado."

Merry Christmas!!!

The move... and consequent lack of blogging

That's right, we're all moved in. :) I guess there are technically a few more boxes to unpack, our a/c is still at the piso as are the light fixtures, and Angelines says I did a crummy job of organizing the kitchen so we'll have to re-do that, but otherwise, it's all here and all in place.

I LOVE my house!

I've got pictures hung and stockings, too. It feels so homey! I wish I had more money so I didn't have to think about prioritizing of all the little immediate improvements/additions that we want to make. But really, just thinking about them is pretty fun. ;)

So, as you might have guessed from the title, I haven't had internet access from my new house until today. We asked for an "emergency" installation. WiFi isn't currently available because they're out of routers...so I am currently hooked up and immobile. Kind of annoying, but I'm so relived to have the internet, I almost don't even notice. We should be getting WiFi as soon as there's another shipment of routers and the guy remembers we want one, but knowing the way things in Spain are...that could be a good while!

The urgency of an internet connection wasn't just due to the fact that I've been going through email and blog withdrawals, but because of my online studying. Up until today I was hauling my computer and notebooks over to the piso (good thing it's close!) and standing (no chairs left) to download the readings and activities for classes! Then I'd come home, do my work and have to haul it all back over to send my activities via email. Needless to say the environment didn't lend itself to blogging! ;) Now I can finally call our internet service to the piso and cancel, along with the electricity! Hooray for cutting spending!

There have been so many moments in these two weeks when I've wanted to blog, but I'm currently feeling regretfully uninspired. I suppose I'll just have to gradually fill you all in as I get back into the swing of things.

TTFN

The Post You've All Been Waiting For!

Are you ready for the grand tour? I forgot to take a picture of this first entry room and the hall way leading from the street door to the house door (foyer, if you will ;)), but you can get a pretty good idea from these picture. I LOVE the ceilings that are the old exposed beams. In some rooms they're painted and in other's it's just the bare wood--very rustic and very beautiful in my opinion.

Enjoy!

This is the staircase. It's in the main entry room. The space underneath is perfect for my future Christmas tree :) and of course Belen. (YAY! I've already told Antonio and Jesus that for next year I want them to make me a Belen.)

--Upstairs--

This is the top of the stairs. It's a big open space between the bedrooms; if we wanted we could some day put up a wall and make another bedroom here... In the meantime, you can see it will serve as my office. I'm SO excited that this nice big desk and bookcase are being left. I currently have no such furniture. :)

This is the room above the one with the wood-stove (to the right as you come up the stairs). I'm not sure if this will be our bedroom or not... It is the warmest in the winter because the stove pipe passes through! And according to the previous owner, it's also the coolest in summer; still, I like the other room better. You'll see.

This was the little boy's room. It's a funky little room adjacent to the room that I think will be ours. This is now the left side of the office space at the top of the stairs. Some day we would like to make this a bathroom since there isn't one upstairs...but all of that will have to wait some time!

Here's my favorite room. The one I think we'll sleep in. I love the floors and if you can see there's a little window seat. The bottom opens up to be able to store shoes and things. In the left corner of the pic. you can see the armoire that's been left. It's very big. Once again, happy that's being left because our current armoire is just on loan. :)

--Downstairs--

This is the view from inside the room that's on your right when you enter the house. In this picture, you're looking out toward the main entry room. You can see the staircase through the door. The ceilings are REALLY high...I don't think you can really tell in the picture, but I'd say the door is about eight feet tall.

Ta-cha! The wood-stove!!! It's little, but it heats the house like a champ. :) When I picked up the keys on Thursday night I could have easily been in a T-shirt, it was so warm with that little guy going full blast. No more stressing over how to dry my clothes! ;) Do you love the colors? I do!

This is the "couch." The previous owners had this storage box built and made cushions to cover it so it became like a built in sofa. It was really cool...unfortunately they took the cushions so we're on the look out for cheap cloth to make some more. :) The roman blinds on the window were made special by the previous owner and are lined on the inside like a blanket to keep out the draft. Can you see how cool and antique the window is?

These are the doors that lead from the first room of the house down to the dining room, kitchen, and bathroom. The curtain is beautiful and was made by the previous owner.

This is the room adjacent to the kitchen where the table will go. If it fits, we'll also put our couch here... Looking through the white doors you can see a sliver of the front door and the doorway on the right leads to the kitchen.

Here's the kitchen. It's all new. Along with the patio, one of my favorite parts of the house. Can you see the porcelain, double basin sink? Just what I've always wanted (seriously!). You can see the fridge has been left. It's enormous--lot's of room to freeze my turkey soup!

This is perhaps the most awkward part of the house: the bathroom is off the kitchen. Weird. Someday, we want to put a bathroom upstairs...but for now this is it. You can see it's also new. And now we have an electric boiler. I'm not sure I'll like that; I'm used to gas by now, but we'll see.

And here's the intro to the patio:

This is the covered part of the patio/garden, when you first step outside. The blue on the columns are for tea candles. :) Fun! On the left there's a table and a wrap around bench...I couldn't get pics of everything! Anyway, being covered, it's perfect in any weather. Today is proof--it hasn't stopped raining since yesterday afternoon!

"The Walled Garden," close enough to a "secret" garden that I get excited just thinking about it! ;) So here's the patio/garden. This might be my favorite part of the house. The patio is perhaps six meters wide by 25 meters long...more or less; it's huge!

This is the view from the house looking through the garden too the garage. That door at the back is the garage.

One of the lemon trees (there are two). As I'm sure I've mentioned there is also a cherry tree and a fig tree. Angelines wants to tear out the fig tree, however, because they grow like weeds and attract a lot of wasps in summer. Another down side is their roots...VERY strong. They strangle water lines and would eventually burst through the concrete floor of the patio. So I'm okay with taking it out, especially since her idea for a replacement is a blue spruce. :) She fell in love with one she saw in Portland (near Alicia's house). It could be my Christmas tree year after year...

Here is the reverse view: the garage to the house. The little shed on the left is perfect for keeping garden tools and lawn furniture. :)

This is the AWESOME door that goes into the garage. I just love it! It's just so cool! I didn't take a picture of the garage, but it's big... maybe about 35 meters square.

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So, there it is. What do you think? Enough room?? The total space occupied (that is to say not counting the upstairs) is 200 square meters. Angelines has always promised me a dog once we had a patio... hehehe. I don't think she ever thought that would be so soon. ;) Probably not the very near future, but at some point I will have a puppy to keep me company in this big old place.

I'm currently making up boxes because although it's been raining for two days, it's supposed to clear up tomorrow. In fact, at the moment it's stopped. Cross your fingers...tomorrow's moving day. :)

If you build it... they will come.

That's a little how I felt this morning when Nuria called me at 9:45am to say that when she went to pick up our chicken the butcher had been able to get a turkey for us! So it turns out that if you "cook it" (ie. stuffing etc.) it will come! ;) We raced to stuff the turkey and get it to the bakery before the oven was too cool to cook it properly. It was 11:30am when we dropped of the turkey and at 3:00pm it was done. Slow cooked in a wood-stove oven--delicious! It don't think it's ever turned out this great before! Jesus and Antonio added their own "Spanish" touch before dropping off at the bakery: a bit of olive oil, chicken broth and a can of beer over and in the bird. Boy was it good! Everything else turned out fabulous as well, although, my poor friend, Sarah got sick at the last min. and couldn't make it.

We decorated the piso in full Thanksgiving style as you can see in the picture. All the decorations are thanks to my mom. She sent them four years ago for my first Thanksgiving in La Roda and Jesus and Antonio have stored them under lock and key to use every year. :) They made clear that the decorations were on LOAN to me this year so I've got to be sure to put them away properly for next year... maybe you could send me my own, eh mom?

One funny story I have to share. We know a guy who thinks he knows quite a bit about English and America and everything in general. Well the other day someone was mentioning Thanksgiving, referred to by my friends as "el dia del pavo" (turkey day) and he very snobbishly said, "Ah, that's right, Thursday is San Heeving in the U.S."! San Heeving is more or less what Thanksgiving sounds like if someone from Andalucia tries to pronounce it... But of course the very thought of a "Saint Heaving" makes me laugh out loud--a.) because it's so completely Spanish: all holidays must be related to a Saint (even if it's an invented one); b.) because we stuff ourselves just as much as the turkey on Thanksgiving and "heaving" isn't totally out of the range of possibility! ;) Pretty funny.

Happy San Heaving everyone!!!!

The Grinch Who Stole... Thanksgiving?

It came without family,cranberries or T-bird.

It came despite last minute cooking I've heard.

It came two days late, but Saturday aside,

Thanksgiving came...

It came all the same

(Alright, not quite Dr. Seuss...)

That's right, in the end we decided to go for it. My friends cheered me up and we decided to go ahead with our lunch plans: we'll have a stand-in stuffed chicken with our pumpkin pie, etc. tomorrow. I've spent the last three hours with the four of us (Jesus, Antonio and Nuria) crammed in my tiny kitchen prepping stuffing, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie. The potatoes will wait for tomorrow and my friend Sarah's brining a green bean casserole. Pretty good...minus the chicken. Oh well. As Maggie pointed out, perfection is boring!

Thank goodness for my friends. :)

Turkey Delay!

So getting a Thanksgiving Turkey in Spain isn't easy. You have to notify the butcher ahead of time so he can order one to be killed especially for you. I did this. I went to the butcher two weeks ago and asked for a turkey on November 25. He said I was asking so early he'd forget and that I should come back the Monday prior and remind him. I did this too. Still, yesterday when I went to pick up my poultry...he had forgotten! Twenty-four hour notice wasn't enough to get one for me by today so it looks like our turkey day will have to be delayed! :(

I am sad since I've been looking forward to tomorrow all month...but I suppose really it's a good thing because now we can focus on moving and not have to worry about cooking and guests, etc. Our Thanksgiving will end up being a house-warming party!

Hope you're all enjoying your leftovers!

Big News Briefly:

Some of you know the big news already...I'm no good at keeping secrets apparently! ...Though there is also no reason why this should be secret, so here goes:

WE ARE BUYING A HOUSE!!!!

Can you believe it? We are buying a real, live house with a huge patio/garden, a woodstove (!) and a garage! You're wondering how we can afford this since I'm always talking about how tight money is, right? Well, we've signed a rental agreement with the option to purchase at the end of our contract. The money paid in rent up to the date of purchase will be discounted from the previously agreed upon price of the house. So basically we have three years to save, for me to find a real job, and for the lousy economy to turn around. (cross your fingers)

The papers are all signed and I have the keys! This afternoon I'm going on a picture spree so you all can see the house, too. It'll be empty until Sunday, when we move, but still...this way you can see before and after pics. ;)

The patio/garden might be my very favorite thing about the house. I've been lusting after the patios that belong to our downstairs neighbors here in the piso for three years now! Neither of our neighbors keeps a neat, clean patio. It's tragic and a waste of space, if you ask me. For three years I've been saying, "If I had a patio..." now I do! So the garden is huge and it's got lots of plants and trees already: two lemon trees, a fig tree, a cherry tree, a grape vine... :) I can't wait to plant tomatoes, peppers, and all my favorite herbs!

Can you believe the timing, too? Talk about something to be thankful for!

I'll write more once I have the pictures for you all to see. :)

(p.s. With this post, I've broken the 100 mark! Thanks for reading.)

First Reading

This is the beginning of the final paragraph from my reading tonight: first night back at school. I think it explains why someone like myself, who loves to learn also enjoys teaching so much:

"La enseñanza, pues, está en función del aprendizaje: no tiene sentido en sí misma. El proceso de enseñar está imbricado en el proceso de aprender: son como las dos caras de una misma moneda."

(my translation follows)

Teaching, then, is a function of learning: it makes no sense on its own. The process of teaching is embedded in the learning process: they are like two sides of of the same coin.

... I am pleased with my first night's reading. I read for my Nutrition and Education class and General Didactic Principals (maybe that's right?...you've got to cut me some slack; I'm translating class titles.). Anyway you get the point. The second one I mentioned is obviously where this quote came from.

The reading set up the basic principals for "Educación Personal" (Personalized Educaion). The theory behind Personalized Education is that education is a product of human nature and the human condition. Individual, collective and cultural understanding of our humanity creates an image of the ideal person (defined as a concrete, singular, unrepeatable being)to be fulfilled through education. The idea is that our humanness at once requires education and formation, and at the same time is the basis and the drive for said education. A kind of chicken/egg relationship.

(Wow, do I love thinking about these kinds of things!)

In a nutshell: it's good to be back to the books!

Good night!

Thanksgiving

Here's the presentation that Sarah and I put together for Thanksgiving. We got together this weekend to work on school stuff and bake sample foods for classes and co-workers. We made sweet potatoes and pumpkin cookies thanks to a recipe my mom sent from the Portola Reporter!

Today Sarah and I gave the presentation jointly in second grade (lots of paraphrasing and acting out...). They loved it! And I was pleased that the little worms held still for nearly all of it. When we asked what they were thankful for, my favorite answer was "milk!" :) ...Got milk? I gave the "full" presentation in sixth grade, complete with pumpkin cookies to sample--they ate it up! (ha ha ha)

After visiting the Norman Rockwell Museum in MA last Feb., I couldn't resist using his painting for the title slide. Remember that, mom? Still, the kids' favorite picture was of course the Simpsons' family Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving1

View more presentations from violap22.

C is for Christmas...

I've got one private class that is really a tough one to get a hold on. It's mixed ages from 6-8. That doesn't seem too bad, but when you start to think about all the developmental changes between first and third grade, you can see my quandary!

The little six-year-old imps are still perfecting the art of using a pencil...so most writing activities are out of the question. One of the second graders is super hyper-active and can become quite disruptive...usually leading the way for the first graders (especially the little boy) to join in and start pushing, pulling or throwing himself on the ground. Then the third grader is a very sweet girl who earnestly works to understand what I say in English and carry out all the tasks, but understandably gets annoyed with her immature classmates. ...I can feel her there!

So far we've had some hiccups in the scheduling at the city building where I'm giving the classes. This week and next, we've had to forfeit the classroom to some other event that's been on the calendar for longer, which means we haven't even been able to fall into a routine of WHERE classes are held! The temporary place I'm using until next week doesn't have a chalkboard. That's okay, but sometimes drawing pictures when flashcards aren't available is a good tool! I've been challenged to come up with games that appeal to all the kids: games that are neither too difficult nor too easy; games that don't need a pencil or paper; and games that don't require too much new vocabulary because in one hour a week how many new words can a kid learn? Shouldn't be too incredibly difficult, but somehow I wind myself up about it all.

Anyway, after last class I told the kids we were going to start working on a Christmas presentation for the parents. I thought rehearsals would be a good way to use up at least 15 min of class time until Christmas break. Kids love Christmas and they love showing off to parents (plus, I think it's important for parents to see the kids in action. So many times they clam up in front of mom or dad) so they were really excited when I told them my plan: "Is it gonna be a surprise?," they all clamored. Bottom line: I promised my kids a Christmas play to rehearse for this Wednesday without the slightest idea of where I was going to find such a thing.

As always, the internet is a teacher's best friend when you're in a pinch for material or ideas. I got on Google and found lots of kids' plays, but not many that would be easy for ESL learners. And most of them were very religious focused, too. Although they're all (supposedly) Catholic, I prefer something a little less about Jesus. Just as the world wide web can be a great resource, it can also be an enormous waste of time because you have to sift through site after site of worthless ideas before you strike gold. About 25 min into searching, I was beginning to hate the internet and myself for promising this to the kids, when I stumbled upon the best idea ever: an acrostic poem play!

So using the word "Christmas," here's what my kids will perform for their parents on December 22nd:

C is for Christmas full of family and love

H is for Holly berries, red and bright

R is for Reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh

I is for Icy cold winter weather

S is for Santa, fat and jolly

T is for Trees we decorate together

M is for Mittens to keep our hands warm

A is for Angels spreading good news

S is the Star that guides the Three Kings

Each kid will memorize a line (or read it) and hold up his/her letter until they spell the word. Then I'm thinking we can sing the chorus to "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" because it's nice and repetitive for kids to learn quickly. :)

I'm excited...I hope they will be!

Back to School...

That's right, I've been meaning to get on and tell you all the good news: I'm a student again! Starting this week I am a student in the education program at the Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR). It's an online, distance program so I'm able to fit it in with my schedule at school in the morning and private classes in the afternoons. Well... "able to fit it in" might be jumping the gun a bit. Supposedly I'll be able to juggle all of this, but I've been out of juggling practice for so long now, and away from studies completely, that really I'm very apprehensive.

This week was sort of the orientation week. Next week begin actual (or should I say virtual?) classes. So we're supposed to be familiarizing ourselves with how the whole "virtual campus" works. Not as easy as it sounds, honestly. I can't really lay a finger on it, but it just seems as though it's all quite complicated with different forums and chats and video classes. I guess I'll get used to it, but quite frankly, this orientation week has been confusing more than anything else.

Today I got a call from my "profesor tutor," sort of a personal aid person, to see if I had any questions about everything. I couldn't come up with much because I understand so little! Isn't it ironic that to be able to ask clarifying questions you've got to understand the basics of a problem? Anyway, I just feel so lost in this electronic world that I can't even formulate coherent questions to ask! She assured me that she'd be happy to respond to my questions via email as they come up. They do seem to have a good student support system worked out, but I'm wary about so much contact online. It seems fake. I'm just not sure I'm going to like not having real face-to-face contact or communication.

We'll see...

Anyway, between watching orientation videos, organizing myself for school and prepping private classes, I've been nuts this week. (Hence my apprehension about REALLY starting back to school.) It's the same old story with my classes. I feel like I never learn from the past; like it just never gets easier! Every week I'm daunted by the task of filling an hour with useful, fun, engaging activities. I think most of the time my classes end up mediocre at best. Bah! :(

My current pessimism about classes has me thinking and rethinking my decision to study education. What else is new? A decision made by Viola just wouldn't be the same without second guessing, right? Maybe I'm just masochistic? I love to torture myself with what could have been IF...

But, as always, I am hopeful that things will get better, that I will once and for all get my sh*t together and my life will run like a well oiled machine...

...Where would we be without hope??? ;)

Creativity!

I'm a nerd.

...let's start there.

You can ask my sisters, you can ask anyone who went to high school with me and pretty much most of the people who met me post H.S. years. They will all confirm this fact. I'm a hopeless dork. I like to think I'm a "cool nerd," if such a thing exists. You know, not the kind that smells funny or has big round glasses (though in high school I did have a pair!), isn't any good at sports and gets sick a lot; I'm the kind of nerd who looks up random factoids on Google, or gets a kick out of listening to educational rap songs about nutrition. Still none of these qualities detract from my social skills (right?) thus, the "cool" part.

Some people say I'm curious...I just hope their refering to my curiosity as opposed to being a strange person. ;) In any case, as I've grown up, I've learned to love my nerdy self and delight in finding other, equaly "curious" people to befriend. Really, I believe that this is the root of my interest in education: curiosity about the world and a love for sharing what I discover.

So my nerdy inclinations have lead me to discover a vocation I never dreamed I would pursue, and, as I've found is true of most things, the more I learn about education, the more interesting it becomes. I don't "know" a lot at the moment, all of my opinions are based purely on experience and observation; but many times that is the best way to form opinons, right?

I spent the last two hours airing my opinions talking to my mom (a teacher). We talked about how much both of us enjoy sharing those learning moments with students and the importance of creativity in schools, which there seems to be so little of it here in Spain. I can't speak for the U.S. but certainly if I compare with my own childhood, these kids lack anything resembling creativitiy!

Maybe because my mom was a teacher or maybe because she insited that "only boring people are bored," I was always encouraged to explore, do, create and discover. I remember at about age six I was conviced that I was going to build a robot and for the next few hours, I rummaged through the garage for old scraps. An old pink tub with some leftover pipe and wheels (maybe?), was the best I could do.

My sister and I would never tire of building forts from couch cushions, lawn chairs and cardboard boxes. And when we were older we used to play with my mom's old Underwood typewriter and make up outrageous news articles or write formal letters to the president. I was never told these activities were worthless, or unimportant and I certainly wasn't given the option of watching TV. My mom refused to buy us a Nintendo either. (thank you, mom) I should also say that I always felt encouraged to be creative at school. I can't think of a time I was castigated for creativity.

In Spanish schools, however, I see the kids formed into perfect copy machienes. It's so bad that a fifth grader is very likely to ask you if he should use his pen or pencil to take notes of anything you've pointed out and writen on the board! They're so used to copying EVERYTHING that coming up with some original idea is the most impossible task. And many times, even the smallest inkling of originality is squelched. A second grader, last year, had his work torn up in his face because he had colored the bunny on the coloring page blue--"Rabbits aren't BLUE!"

In the midst of this conversation with my mom, Kristen sent me the link to this video: Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity Video on TED.com (I'm telling you, we have some kind of nerdy connection because this couldn't be more relavant.) This is Sir Ken Robinson, author and international advisor on education, speaking at the TED conference about the need to emphasize creativity in schools. He calls for a revolution in the world education system to move away from the traditional, cerebral, approach to learning and take more into account what we know about intelligence; we experience learning in all the ways we experience the world: emotionally, physically, visually, etc.

My favorite quote: "Creativity is as important now in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status." Think about that.

Procrastination

So the irony is, I found this article one afternoon when I should have been planning for classes. Typical.

As the author points out (and as I've often said), many times we're most productive when we procrastinate! We fill our time with all manner of other tasks just to avoid doing what we should be doing: clean the bathroom, organize the kitchen cabinets, catch up on email or current events, read the book we forgot we were reading...

For all of you procrastinators, check it out: Procrastination

My Name Is Khan - Official Trailer with English Subtitles (Aspect ratio ...

I'm suddenly becoming quite the film buff. ;)

Here's a wonderful movie I stumbled upon by chance: My Name is Khan. It's the most expensive film made in Bollywood history; and though I haven't seen many Bollywood films, I would venture to say it is very unlike most. It's not a musical, in the way other Inidan films I've seen are, where suddenly the scene cuts to fifteen women in gauzy saris singing and dancing on a beach with a strong breeze. This one's quite serious in its content and message.

It's the story of an Indian Muslim with Asberger's syndrome. He grows up in Mumbai and as an adult moves to San Francisco to live with his brother. The plot centers around life for Rizwan Khan and his family post 9/11 terrorist attacks. In some ways it is like an Indian "Forest Gump." Rizwan is innocently endearing in the way that Forest Gump was: despite his disabiliy, or many times because of it, he sees the world more clearly than the rest of us. That clarity opens the door for some truly enlightening insights into relationships, fear, love and human nature.

I highly recommend this one.

Too funny not to share:

While perusing the New Yorker website, I came across one of my favorite parts of the magazine "Shouts and Murmurs": the humor selection. This one was just too funny, especially since in my time online, I've gotten more than a few responses saying the recipient didn't have enough time to read and/or respond and would get back to me at a later date. I wonder why? I don't have a tendency toward long, rambling emails! ;)

In any case, be thankful that I save most of my rambling for this blog and thus am not clogging your inbox!

Enjoy: Email Auto Response

Untimely trick-or-treaters

I'm currently hiding out in my piso. It's Friday before Halloween...and Spanish children don't seem to understand that trick-or-treating is something that happens exclusively on the 31st of October! Perhaps I shouldn't be too hard on them. If I had candy, I would open the door; since I am treatless, however, I've turned off the lights, drawn the curtains and am not answering the door. I think my house is a target since I am American, after all. But being American, I am also a little picky about the way our holidays are usurped and celebrated.

First off, trick-or-treating here is really lame. Nobody buys candy for trick-or-treaters, namely because it's not a Spanish holiday! So kids left with whatever can be dug up in the kitchen: a packet of sunflower seeds, potato chips, if you're lucky some old toffees or menthol lozenges. Not appealing. And finally, if you want to celebrate Halloween, do it on Halloween, for crying out loud!

What happens is the city organizes a Halloween party on the Friday closest to Halloween. The kids all dress up and that's when they attempt trick-or-treating--after all, it looks fun in the movies! I can understand that, but trick-or-treating on October 29, just doesn't sit right with me. In the case of Halloween, I might be a little too demanding. I've much bigger bone to pick with Santa Claus and Christmas.

Spaniards complain to no end about their native Reyes (the three Wise Men) being squelched by "Coca Cola's" Santa Claus. First of all, Santa Claus was NOT invented by Coca Cola...the modern popular image was part of an add campaign, but the Santa Claus tradition goes back to St. Nickolaus, and don't try to tell me otherwise! Santa Claus is not, as many people here are happy to believe, the menacing image of atheist capitalism killing off the religious roots of the Christmas season. I'm not religious, and I'm happy that Santa really doesn't have visible religious roots in a modern American Christmas; but that said, I can't stand to listen to outright lies about my country's traditions.

So Spaniards don't like Santa. The church even gives mass against him (whatever!). Nonetheless, there is the enticing convenience of our American celebration. Spanish kids traditionally get their gifts on the 6th of January, Epiphany, when the Wise Men gave their gifts to the baby Jesus. The school holiday for Spanish kids ends on the 7th. The problem with the Spanish tradition is that kids don't have any time to play with their new toys before school starts! So many parents opt to go along with Santa Claus simply because it gives their kids nearly two weeks to play (and or break) their new toys before they have to go back to school.

That, to me, is blasphemy!

Ode to Beatrix Potter

I've just watched the biographical film of Beatrix Potter starring Renee Zellweger: "Miss Potter." Lovely. For those of you who don't know, or don't remember, Beatrix Potter is the mother of Peter Rabbit and a whole host of other wonderful characters; some of my favorites are Mrs. Tiggy Winkle and Jemima Puddle Duck. I stumbled upon this film on Spanish television this weekend, but decided it wasn't one to be watched dubbed so I downloaded it and have therefore fully appreciated it in the original. :)

Beatrix Potter was a childhood favorite of mine. It might be more appropriate to say "childhood obsession." These were some of the first books I read on my own--and I fell completely in love. I read each story over and over again. I distinctly recall recommending one of the books (The Tailor of Gloucester, perhaps?) to a classmate in first grade after a trip to the library. It was the first time I began to serial read an author's books. Every trip to the library, I'd go straight to the P's and check out the next in line. My grandma gave me a mini collection of the Beatrix Potter books for my birthday one year. I think it was my favorite gift.

Reading is an intimate act. The author invites you to share his or her vision of a story--fiction or non-ficition, biography or history--and by accepting that invitation you become, in a way, a confidant, an accomplice. A relationship is formed. Following a specific author's work deepens that relationship so that reading becomes like meeting an old friend: there's comfort in the syntax, sentence structure, descriptions.

After spending so much time with an author's work, however, one inevitably begins to wonder what he or she must really be like. When we love a certain book, we want to love the author, too. It's easy to fantasize, to make an author into what we think they should be; but some times the biographical details are disappointing. Suddenly we discover our favorite writer was an adulterer or a Nazi sympathizer, or a generally disagreeable person. Regardless of whether or not it's fair to judge literature based on our opinions of an author's personal life, we do. And as faithful readers we feel betrayed or tricked for having liked and trusted someone "like that."

At age six, Beatrix Potter was the first author I ever longed to meet. I can say now, after watching this film, I'm not the least bit disappointed for having loved and trusted her during my childhood years. I'm happy I had the opportunity to let my imagination run wild with the endearing creations of such a strong woman.

p.s. I recommend both the books and the movie to anyone interested.

...The General Yucks

Funny, I feel like this title has so many possibilities, but unfortunately I've simply got a case of the "general yucks." That's a term coined by my best friend's brother (if I'm not mistaken) when he was a kid to describe the achy, crappy feeling you get when a cold's coming on. I'm hoping that I'm not headed toward the season's first cold, but I certainly am achy and feeling bad.

Aside from not being thrilled about the prospect of incubating viruses, tonight I was going to go on a full-moon hike that we've been trying to coordinate for many moons now (well, at least several)! We were supposed to meet at seven...and most likely between one thing and another and stopping to eat a picnic dinner on the way, I wouldn't be home before eleven or maybe midnight. I'm usually the kind of person who would go anyway and not let my aches and pains get in the way of a chance to get outside, but I think in this case that wouldn't be very smart. If I go out, I'll probably give this thing a chance to really take hold whereas if I stay home, I might be able to ward it off with sleep and warm orange juice with honey (Spanish home remedy). I think episodes of the West Wing watched from a comfy couch are anti-viral, too. ;)

Oh and just to rub it in my face, a woman who played sax in the band with me invited me to go hiking with her and some other people tomorrow in a nearby town! I can't go for reasons other than the stupid cold...but still, I'm bummed that all of this had to be the same weekend. She's assured me that next time they plan a hike she'll call; and my friend says that next month with the full moon they'll plan another hike, too... even if we have to wear our winter jackets.

...So here I sit at the table with the heater on beneath (that's right, we've pulled out the table covers and dragged the heater out of storage), sipping hot O.J. and hating this virus's impeccable timing!

Milking Olives

Two weeks ago, the "verdeo" has officially begun. The verdeo is the harvest of green olives (hence the name...verde is green). Green olives are unripe, but are the ones used for table olives; they're the ones we usually eat. Once the olives are black (and ripe), they're used for oil only. Black olives, like the once on your pizza, are actually green ones that are chemically treated to change color. They aren't ripe olives. ...just a bit of trivia for you.

So as I was saying, about two weeks ago the official green olive campaign began. Kind of like berry picking on Sauvie's Island in Portland, around here people head to the fields to pick olives for their own consumption. They're called "split olives" (aceitunas partidas). The preparation conists of cutting a slit in them, or sometimes smashing them, then storing them in salt water with thyme, garlic and pepper. I think you have to change the water every few days to leech out the bitterness of the olives. After about two weeks, you've got home-made table olives that are better than anything you can find in the supermarket.

This afternoon we headed out to the fields to pick some olives ourselves. Usually people just head to the nearest tree and take a bucket although technically this is stealing and you can get in trouble...even if they aren't many olives. Don't worry, we aren't thieves. We called our brother-in-law who has olive trees and headed out to his place to pick.

If you remember, black olives are cake to pick--they fall right of the tree; but green ones are another story. I guess you can use the shaking machines for them too, but it's harder on the tree--since the olives aren't ripe you have to shake longer and harder for them to fall. In many places harvesters don't use the machines because they can hurt the tree with such extensive shaking. In those cases they "milk" the olive tree. That's the verb they use in Spanish to describe the way you have to handle the branches and carefully gather the olives that grow in bunches kind of like grapes: like milking a cow. In our case, picking for ourselves (one bucket and a bag) we weren't about to be using any fancy equipment; so this afternoon was my first experience "milking" olives.

In a few weeks I'll publish the pictures of our delicious "split olives" that Angelines's mom is going to prepare for us. :)

GASLAND

Here me out on this one.

A few months ago, I heard an interview on "Fresh Air" (NPR program) with Josh Fox about his newly released film documentary, "GASLAND." It caught my attention, not only for the subject matter, methods by which natural gas is obtained, but because the interviewee talked about the fact that in the beginning, he really had no intention of creating a documentary; he was simply investigating a little to be able to make an educated decision before signing his land over to natural gas drilling. What he found is hair raising.

Through legal loopholes, the natural gas companies are not subject to regulation under either the Clean Water Act or the Clean Air Act; yet thousands of Americans across the nation where natural gas drilling is occurring are experiencing very serious health and safety hazards. This isn't just the environment we're talking about. This isn't just a "tree-hugger's" concern. This is about people not being able to use their well water for showers, laundry or much less to drink. This is about known carcinogens being shot into the earth and leaking into the water supply.

So now that I can download movies, I downloaded this one. Please watch it. As with any media you've got to be aware of slanting, but you can see in the film, the natural gas companies wouldn't talk. The EPA wouldn't talk. The people interviewed were desperate for someone to talk to.

Decide for yourself. But at the very least, the natural gas companies need to be held to the safety standards of any other polluting company.

Lazy Days

There's nothing like getting back to work to help you enjoy some nice, guilt-free, lazy days.

Today is a holiday: Columbus Day in the States and El dia de la Hispanidad here and in many Latin American countries as well (I think). Anyway, we got Monday off too, so this has been a four-day weekend for me. Have I "done" anything? No. :)

My dear friend and Ex Co-auxiliar from last year, Kristen, came down from Madrid, but was only able to stay through Sunday--poo! It was great to see her. As Angelines says, short, intense visits are better than long ones anyway. She's right (as usual). Kristen's visit was intense just because I felt there was so much to say--catch up on summer, talk about plans for the school year, life in general--and so little time. Of course, being in Madrid she isn't really that far away, but it's not the same as being able to meet up for coffee on a whim.

Other than Kristen's visit, I really haven't been doing anything. I've become addicted to downloading TV shows and movies on-line. I've decided that the best way for Angelines to learn English is hearing it in a "real" context. I mean, as much as speaking to her in English is a good idea, she's not going to take away conversational skills, or even very useful language by me asking her if she wants toast for breakfast, or to wash the dishes in English. When we go back to the States, she's not going to be able to say more than, "shut the door" or "Do you have the keys?" to my mom...not acceptable in my book.

In the past, she's been reluctant to watch movies in English because she doesn't understand them, and even if they're subtitled in Spanish, she's not a fan of reading the whole movie (plus she's kind of a slow reader). I can understand her position, but we can watch movies that are old favorites of hers, ones that she knows by heart already and that way she won't loose the plot of the story and still be getting lots of language input in context. I also think that she won't mind watching cartoons in Engish, so I've downloaded Pixar's "Up" and also "Toy Story 3". We'll see where this goes. My hope is that little by little English starts to sound like something more than garble to her and she'll pick up some language chunks as a base for more learning. "Classes" begin tomorrow. ;)

With all my downloading I've been doing a lot of vegging in front of my lap top. Still, I think that's less bad than vegging in front of the TV. At least I don't have to swallow double the amount of commercials to get through a TV show. I downloaded the first season of FlashForward--I really like that show--and finished it. I have also downloaded the seventh and final season of The West Wing. I got hooked on that show in Portland the year after I graduated and the seventh season came out my first year here in La Roda...since then, I've been wondering what happened to all my favorite fictional politicians. Time to find out.

Now that it's Tuesday and I'll be heading back to work tomorrow, I'm sitting down to do some planning, but as you can see, I've gotten distracted. C'est la vie. As soon as I post this I've got to look into downloading Seasame Street video podcasts. They're perfect for preschool and first grade...maybe even second because they're short and packed with good language chunks. They also tend to have a focus on healthy habits for bilingual science.

Besitos. Off to watch Seasame Street!

On my game

That is certainly how I feel at the moment--100% on my game. :)

It's amazing what getting back to work can do for a person after four months of "vacation." All the language assistants officially went to work last Friday. However, in typical Andalusian fashion, today was the orientation for those of us in the province of Sevilla. I don't know why they don't plan to give the orientation before you get thrown into the midst of a Spanish school, but...

The orientations I've been to in the past have been pretty uninteresting and not extremely helpful; however, I gave a presentation based on my years of experience in the program at today's orientation so I'm sure it was much more interesting than previous ones. ;) Jokes, aside, I am very pleased with how well it went. I modified the one I gave to teachers at the conference in September and...voila! Although, last night (talk about last min.!) I realized that I should give the talk in Spanish since there would be assistants for French, German and Italian there! So at about 10 pm I set about translating all of my slides...

Ignoring the last minute language changes, it was well prepared and all-in-all a success. The man from diputacion who originally agree to have me speak (I volunteered myself), came up to me afterwards saying, "That was beautiful, you had me wanting to sign up for the language assistant program!" Ha! Unfortunately, I was the last speaker of the day (best for last??) and I'm afraid most of my audience was famished by the time I started at 1:30-ish so I'm not sure how much they were able to ignore growling stomachs to focus on what I had to say.

I am also pleased because I made some good contacts--pure schmoozing--and who knows what it could lead to in terms of future employment. Even if I never get paid for doing this kind of thing though, it's really great to be a part of. Once again, I met teachers and people who care about their job and the program and are willing to work to improve it even if there's no monetary motivation for their efforts. Good people.

It was a great morning...the only downside being that I didn't get home until about 4:15 pm so I could have eaten an elephant when I finally sat down to eat. ;) Luckily a large helping of porra was ready waiting for me.

"Spelunking"...sort of

I just quickly wanted to post some pictures from our most recent explorations. There are some caves on a bluff just above the freeway between here and the neighboring town of Estepa. I've been eying them for sometime as prospective adventures. Angelines and I finally got on our bikes and headed out to do some amateur "spelunking."

Apparently if you follow the tunnels you can climb all the way through the mountain and come out on top! We were to chicken for such endeavors. Aside from the fact that you'd have to do some serious climbing to reach the tunnels; they were about seven feet up from the floor at the back of the first cavern. Something about the combination of dark and closed spaces send my imagination reeling. It was enough for me to walk to the back wall and peer into some of the hollows in the wall for me to imagine finding cadavers or being trapped by unexpected cave-ins. Apparently my adventurous spirit is limited to superficial exploration. ;)

It was a beautiful day, and great to get out and move. The temperatures have dropped significantly. In the mornings it's getting down to 55 with highs of 75-80. Soon enough we'll be trapped inside our cold house snuggled up with the table heater and blankets, listening to the rain and wishing for one of these September afternoons.

La Copa de Campillos!

That's right, today was my first race of the season. :) You might remember I had wanted to do a triathlon sprint...well somehow I missed the sign-up date--poo! Anyway, I found today's race online and went for it.

It was 9.5km...if my math is right that's 5.9 miles. The race consisted of four laps through the nearby town of Campillos. I didn't realize it was a circuit race until this morning when I arrived to get my number--a little disappointing, honestly. Still, it had some benefits; after the first lap I knew exactly how to run to keep my time, etc.

(What was your time, Viola!!??)

I am pleased with my race. I came in second for women and second in my age group (16-34...pretty big, if you ask me!). I ran very consistently: nearly 11 min per lap. My time was 44:53 that's an average of 4:43 per km...which I think is about 7.5 min miles. Pretty good. The course was really flat; there was just one slight hill. I happily beat a smug cop from La Roda and kicked past a guy in the last 800 meters or so. The first place girl beat me pretty soundly: 41:30.

You can see in the photo some of the goodies I brought home. The shirts we were given were all size XL... can you tell?? And I got the cool cup trophy and 30 euros for placing second! Tonight I'll take Angelines out to dinner. ;) She joked that today I made more money than her. Ha! Maybe I should start taking my training more seriously.

It's amazing how few women compete here. Really that's part of my success. I don't mean to play down my own abilities, but in the US I doubt I would have placed. There were several men from La Roda's running club at the race and all of them said I needed to keep racing. They assured me I'd have a room full of trophies because so few women race and I am in good shape. I do plan to keep racing. Having a goal is motivation for training... and knowing you've got a good chance at taking home prizes is just an added bonus!

Happy running!

September Storms and Soup

Welcome Fall.

Autumn weather has come to Sevilla one week before the official beginning of the season. I put on a pair of jeans for the first time since May today. And for the first time since the end of spring, we ate soup for lunch.

Today was a perfect soup day. All last night it rained and today was cool and cloudy with intermittent showers. I don't think I've ever been so acutely aware of seasonal foods as I am living here in Spain. From June through August we live on gazpacho, porra, potato salads, pasta salads... cool, fresh food. Nothing is less appealing in the middle of summer than a steaming bowl of anything.

Not so today. Today steaming tomato and roasted red pepper soup was just the ticket. Cold soups are delicious in 100 degree weather, but I don't think there's anything so satisfying as the warm feeling--inside and out--that comes from a spoonful of hot soup on a cold, rainy day.

Here's to the changing seasons!

Granada English Teachers' Association:

I've just got home from the GRETA conference this weekend--REALLY worth it! I'm so glad I went. I am still processing a lot of it. That just means I'll probably write something more coherent in the near future; but in a nutshell, I can say it was inspirational and wonderfully reaffirming to be surrounded by curious, inspired, teachers. These are people who realize that to be a great teacher, you must be a life-long learner. I was surrounded by people working in public and private schools, from Spain, from the U.K. and from the U.S., all of them with the same purpose of personal and professional growth and development.

The speakers were wonderful. I've taken away some really great ideas and inspiration. Honestly, I'm much more excited about this year thanks to the conference. I'm even excited by the opportunities my private classes with afford me to put into practice some of the tools I've been given this weekend.

The conference proved to me that I really do love teaching. I love listening to the creative, inspirational ideas these people had and found myself salivating at the thought of using them in the classroom. You all know that I had my ups and downs last year, but I think the key lies in tapping into my own passion for learning, sharing that with my students and continuing to learn from and with them. I finally told my friend, Gracia, who's been after me for three years to become a teacher, that I have realized I am ready to not be an assistant any longer. It's time to move on. And so I've begun looking for programs at universities to get a degree in Primary Education.

All that said, I was frustrated anew by just how closed the Spanish education system is in terms of getting a job in the public sector. I MUST go back to school, which is fine in itself (I think I fall in the category of 'life-long learner'), but it means about four years and then a CRAZY difficult test before I can actually get into the classroom. Getting a teaching credential in the U.S. is nowhere near this difficult; and in any case it's a moot point because in the U.S. it's your resume and individual merits and experiences that get you a job, not a government mandated test that then guarantees you a position, but without the freedom to choose WHERE!

It's frustrating because in the area of Language Assistants, for example, I would consider myself relatively knowledgeable. After all, I do have three years of experience, not to mention the work I did as a Spanish assistant at Pacific. Still, it is impossible for me to get a job at the government seat in Sevilla simply because I haven't taken the gruesome "oposiciones" (the CRAZY difficult test I mentioned) to become an educator. So although my experiences as an Auxiliar give me a perspective that NO ONE who's passed the oposiciones has, I am excluded from working toward improving a program I am passionate about, that I feel is desperately needed in Andalucia, and also is in desperate need of improvement.

Like so many things in Spain when it comes to government, this is pure bureaucratic bullshit. It almost squelches the desire to keep pushing and fighting for what I want.

In an effort to ward of the familiar feelings of powerlessness in the face of such an inane system, I've decided to become a member of the Association GRETA. :) I've decided it can serve as a great support group.

(I just almost deleted this sentence because I realized it was something every one of my college professors would cringe at, but for the sake of levity and English language learning, here it is: "...but being left with no remedy other than to bite the bullet and jump through the hoops... " Yikes!) ;)

...Oh, by the way, my talk went very well. I'm afraid I spoke too quickly, but everyone had good things to say about it, so I feel I was able to make some contribution among such accomplished company.