Light

Life has been stressful lately, but there's always time to enjoy the little things; like the amazing light through storm clouds this afternoon.  

I had to cancel my classes today because I cannot talk above a whisper.  The bad thing about being  my own boss is I haven't got any sick leave; but on the bright side of things, I got to spend a free afternoon with my sweetie.

We took the dog for a bike ride and caught this fantastic evening light.  Unfortunately, I forgot my real camera...but my phone does pretty well I think.  When we got home, we whipped up a delicious variation of banana bread that we'd seen this morning on our favorite TV cooking show.  Cooking together is something we don't do often enough--I love it!  Usually I'm alone in the kitchen and A is busy with other things, so it's a treat when we can test a new recipe together.  Dinner was a big salad with our banana treat for dessert.  Now I've spent the evening sitting by the fire making posters for the bar.  We've got all December's activities planned.  And just to round things off, I decided I'd treat myself to a quick blog. ;)

...So many little things add up to a great day regardless of this persistant cold of mine. 

Success!

All 36 credits of my student teaching have been waived!!! :)  Yippeeee!  Now I just have to fight with the registrar to try and worm my way out of paying all over again.  From my perspective, I've already paid for 18 of the credits with this term's tuition...but I'm afraid they won't see it that way.  In any case, it's only 10 euros per credit so much less than I was expecting.  If I have to pay the full 360 instead of just 180, I'll survive.

What a relief!

I promise a real update soon...possibly this afternoon because I've lost my voice and had to cancel classes! :(

Saying No

I really want to write a post about the fantastic BBQ we had two weekends ago... but I haven't done that yet because I want to share the pictures with you and, well, I'm short on time! (surprise, surprise)  I will do it this weekend though.  The short version: it was a more than wonderful get together and I hope we'll have many more in these dark, winter months ahead. :)

Other news:  I began and quit my student teaching this past week.

Tuesday was my first day and this is how it went: I got up at 6:30 in order to shower, had breakfast, and got dressed without having to rush around like a chicken with its head cut off.  I was out the door by 7:30 and arrived at school at 8:30.  I had a coffee to wake me up after the drive in a bar nearby and started my day at Centro el Duende de La Carlota at 8:50.  Classes are from 9-1:45.  The classes were fine, cute kids, dedicated teachers...but I had the sinking feeling that I had done this all before.  Of course, being my first day they weren't just going to let me loose with the kids, but I sat through most of the classes without saying more than "hello"!

My drive home was long and relatively uneventful.  I only got stuck behind one tracktor (but that set me back at least 15 min).  The whole way home I was thinking over and over about how to get out of doing this for the next two months...  The catch has been the tuition money from the beginning.  I've already paid some 1000+ euros for the class and that's non-refundable unless there's some problem with the school.

Still, by the time I got home, at 3:05 I was about to explode.  I scared Angelines as I vented over lunch.  We both agreed this just couldn't go on.  Money aside, I can't afford to spend so much time on this, especially when I've already DONE it for four years!  I gulped down lunch, got my things for class together and then jumped in the car again to go teach four hours with my youngest students from 4-8.

Exhausted doesn't begin to describe how I felt bythe end of the day.  Angelines and I talked about it some more and decided that Wednesday I would go just to tell them I was quitting.  I sat through classes on Wenesday, said my goodbyes, appologized to the directors of the center and got home around 3:45.  My classes on Wednesdays are 5-9, so once again I was completely beat by the time my last students left.

Thursday I spent getting together the paperwork necessary for the university to study the possiblity of applying my experience as a language assistant toward my student teaching credits (cross your fingers).  I spoke with the director at the school where I worked here in La Roda and his first words were, "they'll never waive that."  But after explaining my situation, even he admitted that really I had done everything AND MORE that a student teacher would do at the school.  He has written up a letter accordingly. ;)

This is the only possible way around the stress and gas money involved in student teaching.  I've lost this semester's tuition, but my health and sanity come first.  It seems I've finally learned to say NO!

When You Least Expect It

This is just an example of the random stuff I find when I'm looking for something else: children's song meets euro discotheque music.  Bizzare to say the least, but also kind of catchy. ;)  I came across this accidentally, but I'm planning to use this with my fifth graders who are studying animals and present simple verb structures.

Hope you get a laugh out of it!

...Just Do It!

Ugh!  I hate starting every blog with an appology for not having blogged sooner!  When I get as busy as I've been recently, it's hard to keep you all posted.  But trust me, I miss blogging as much as I know all of you miss reading my updates (ha ha).

...See!  I started this last night.  Okay, so you might imagine that the title of this post isn't a reference to Nike but rather my personal mantra as of late, especially where blogging is concerned: JUST DO IT!

No birthday's complete without cake!

All of my classes are going well.  Last week I came home euforic from my Tuesday classes (the ones with my youngest students--4yrs-3rd grade).  All of them went really well.  I told the mother of the little crier that I thought he was just too young and not ready for classes.  Forcing him to go to English class will only make him hate the language and leave bad memories.  It's far better to wait a year or maybe try again in the Spring.  She was disappointed, but it's really best for everyone involved.  

That class is actually surprisingly well-behaved.  Most of the students are boys who in general tend to be more active and less attentive; but I dare say the class is the best behaved I have ever had at that age.  All things considered, they listen, they follow directions, they participate...  There's one little boy who is a little rebel and likes to push the limits.  Last week he got angry because I scolded him for something and refused to participate for the rest of the class (ha!).  But I'm fine with him scowling at me as the rest of us sing and play. ;)  This weekend the mother of one of the three girls in class told me that her daughter LOVES it and asks her everyday, "Do I have English today?" :)

Angelines and "La Joshua" ;)

In general, I think I'm doing a pretty good job of staying on top of my classes and prep takes less time now that I have a pretty good stock of activities and more experience.  Plus, I can tell that my university classes help me focus and structure my lessons.  It's nice to feel like my studies are paying off.

And speaking of the university, I'm a little stressed out lately just because it's been a nightmare to find a school where I can do my student teaching.  Since my university is "out of State" the State gov. only allows me to do my student teaching in 100% private schools (not even a charter school will do).  The bad news about that is there are NO private schools near La Roda.  The closest is in Malaga.  I'll save you all the details, but the short version is that unless the school in Malaga doesn't want me or causes a lot of problems, on Nov. 11 I will begin my student teaching: 200 hours to be completed by Feb. 7.  That basically means 5 days a week all day for two months.  With gas prices as they are I am estimating around 800 euros to commute back and forth!  The only good news is that being in Malaga, there will be times when A can come along and do shopping, etc. while I'm at school.

Los Sabineros!

The bar is doing well.  Fall has been full of events.  You remember the 80s party when Sara was here.  Two weekends ago we celebrated our one-year anniversary.  We had cake and party favors and a drag queen show!  It was quite the experience.  This guy got up on the bar and pranced around... I thought for sure the bar would break.  Good thing he probably weighs less than I do!  But cleaning the next day we did find a chip out of the edge--nine-inch heels are hard on a bar.  

And Friday we had two musicians from Granada come play.  They do a tribute concert to a famous folk/rock singer in Spain, Joaquin Sabina.  The singer sounds exactly like Sabina!  And the guitarist is great, too.  They put on a wonderful show.  The people loved it!  We were nervous because we sold tickets to see them play--not the norm in La Roda.  The musicians said they would come with a minimum of 60 tickets sold.  The weekend before the concert we had only sold about 40... but by Friday we were up to 80 (!).  In the end we were turning people away at the door.  

It was a great experience, but also quite stressful.  Angelines had been worring about it for the two months that we'd been advertising and I was starting to get nervous, too when by the weekend before we hadn't hit the 60-ticket-mark for sales.  Things the night of were a little rough too just because we had to close the doors and have a friend taking tickets and controlling who came in, etc.  Angelines was VERY worried about selling too many tickets and made an executive desicion not to sell any at the door (I vetoed that a few times...).  Between the two of us we sold 10 at the door and turned away at least another 10.  At any given time we had about 85 people in the bar and now we know we can definitely fit at least 100-110 and still be comfortable.

We had a full house--it was a great show. :)

The musicians couldn't stop complementing us on the bar, the business, the sound set-up (we had to arrange for the sound and paid a guy from Sierra Yeguas to be there all night working the equipment).  They enjoyed themselves, the audience loved it and despite a few hiccups during the night, we were also quite happy with the turn-out and the show.  We are going to be in touch with these guys for future concerts now that we know how it all goes.  The next one we'll really sell-out. ;)

The most beautiful part: the armrest!

Other news: (what? more?!) we have a new couch.  Well, semi-new.  At the old house the previous owners had build a sort of storage box along one wall of the living room and then made cushions to go on top, a built-in couch.  When they left, they took the cushions, but left the box.  We decided we liked the idea and had cushions made to fit.  Well, when we left that house we took the cushions (they weren't cheap!), but we didn't have any base for them...until now. :)  Our carpenter friend made us a wooden base and the most impressive and beautiful part of the whole thing is the amazing armrest he designed.  He lovingly calls it contemporary art, and I do agree that it's quite artistic.  It's a beautiful combination of rustic and modern and it looks GREAT.  Our living room has had a total make-over and looks so sophisticated now!  We are waiting to have it completely finished because the space in this house is shorter than the other house so we have to cut one of the cushions to fit; but we are still able to enjoy the half-finished couch--what a difference from the other!

...As I was writing that, the man came to deliver the last cushion!  BEAUTIFUL! :)

The weather has finally begun to change; summer is slowly giving over to autumn.  Although some days it's still getting up into the 80s, the night time temperatures are dropping below 50!  And the other day it was cold enough in the morning that we decided to try out the fireplace--cosy, cosy. :)  I can't wait for winter to really set in!

Fall weather also means we've had a few storms and some amazing sunsets and sunrises.  I've got at least 20 pictures of gorgeous clouds on my cell phone from  my walks with the dog.  One morning a few weeks ago I had to stop my bike and just marvel: the sun was rising on my left--burning its way through pink and orange clouds; and to my right, a full moon was setting like a giant pearl on the horizon.  Spectacular.  Unfortunatly the pictures that I got were only with my phone camera and don't do justice to the moment at all.

Today we're having friends over for paella and a BBQ.  I'm frantically typing before they arrive.  ...Off to entertain! ;)

Year's first fire!!!!  

Dawn from our upstairs terrace--Beautiful!

About Time!

Sara's visit was a whirlwind of vino, tapas, long walks with the dog, talking into the wee hours... you know, the usual. ;)  And of course, I had purposely put off beginning my private classes until the week after her visit so the weekend immediately following her departure was spent madly prepping classes--all my dreams of planning and prepping throughout the summer were for naught!

Monday, is a day I've intentionally left open and we made an emergency run to Ikea to buy a table and chairs for my classes here at home.  It turns out the little round table that was such a pain to get into that upstairs room in the first place, is just too small so we bought an extendible table for 100 bucks at Ikea and four folding chairs for 10 each.  A good investment in my mind.

Tuesday is my most stressful day: classes from 4-8 all with children eight years and under.  From 5-7 I have (almost) exclusively pre-schoolers ages 3-6.  I have eleven new students this year, nine of whom are four-year-olds.  The first day was a bit like herding cats.  Spanish children have the world's shortest attention span!  And one little boy spend at least half the class screaming and crying for his mommy.  The only reason he stopped was because he'd completely worn himself out and fell alseep at the table!  I let him sleep through class.  He slept so soundly I had to shake him awake at the end of the hour and for a split second thought maybe I'd been terribly negligent and the little guy had died on me--scary!  The other classes were relatively speaking uneventful.

I am very happy with the rest of the week's schedule: all classes in my home (with my newly aquired Ikea furniture).  The classes have no more than three students in each one and all of them are kids who are excited about English and learning in general--a teacher's dream.  I'm looking forward to spending the year with them.

My own classes have also started this past week and at this very moment I should be doing some reading.  This semester I've got "didactics of plastic and visual arts", "didactics of mathematics" and "legislations and organization of educational centers" (yuck!).  I also will be doing my first 200hrs of student teaching if all goes according to plan.  I have to solicit a placement in a private school so I am looking in Antequera (about 25 min away).  Working out all the paperwork, etc, will take some time, so the soonest I can be in the classroom will be Nov. 11.  I'll keep you all posted.

I know this has been a boring post...  I'll leave you with some pictures to make up for it! :)

The Saturday after Sara's arrival we had an 80's party at the bar...

Sara and I were the only ones dressed for the occasion! :(  ...It was a blast, all the same, although Sara was a complete creeper magnent--the guys wouldn't leave her alone!

Deccorations and our brandnew spotlights over the stage. :)

The laser light is also a new addition--very modern.

Sara brought Wet-n-Wild hot pink lipstick... Guess who put some on? 

Estepa with Sarita.  Unfortunately, she didn't get very good weather on her short visit.

I introduced her to mantecados, a traditional Spanish Christmas treat famous in Estepa.  She bought a 1 kilo bag. ;)

On one of our many walks with Belita.

We did get good weather the day before Sara had to leave!  We siezed the moment and headed to the beach--grilled sardienes.  Yum!

It was hot enough to swim even.  This was October 2nd. 

We ordered this HUGE 3 litter thing of tinto de verano...and promptly emptied it. ;)

...Finally, my Ikea table and chairs.  Look good?

Visitors

I know I've been bad about blogging lately.  Sorry.  Things have been busy around here and yet I can't exactly even explain all we've been up to.  Some how the day-to-day ends up taking over and Monday suddenly becomes Friday and...another week without a blog post!

This evening I had a lovely surprise.  A "cousin" of mine (a cousin of my host family in Granada) dropped by to say hi!  It was wonderful. :)  She strolled into the bar, introduced herself to Angelines and proceeded to get directions to my house.  I was walking the dog at the time and so wasn't answering my phone.  She and her boyfriend (from a neighboring town and the "real" reason for being in my area) got a bit lost and had to call me for directions.  Luckily I had arrived home from my walk just minutes before they called.  I showed them the house and we chatted briefly.

It's been at least three years since I've seen her; but somehow I still had a picture of her in my mind as the ten-year-old she was way back when I studied abroad!  ...That's changed.  Unfortunately, she has classes tomorrow and had to be getting back to Malaga but now that she knows where I live and has seen my guest room(s) she promises another, longer visit soon. :)

And on a similar note, tomorrow my good friend, Sara from Portland is coming to visit!!  I can't wait.  Today I was cleaning the upstairs, making her bed and setting out fresh towels for her.  It will be a too-short visit (six days only), I can tell already, but I am thrilled all the same.  It's been 6.5 years since she's been here to La Roda.  She was the first friend to visit me here...  Last time she came, I was living alone in the piso (nearly alone) and the two of us shared my tiny twin bed!!!  Now she'll have the entire upstairs of my house to herself--my how things have changed. :)