Happy Thanksgiving

To celebrate Thanksgiving yesterday, a group of about 25 of us got together- Americans, Irish, Spaniards, Venezuelans, Australians, etc. It was interesting trying to get traditional food, but with some effort we were able to make most of it! We ordered the turkeys from the butcher a few weeks in advance, and they came with the feathers still on them. Many trips were made to the American food store in Madrid to obtain ingredients for pumpkin pie, apple pie, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, cornbread, etc. The bread filling/stuffing was particularly challenging as the bread had to be cut into cubes from the slices it comes in, then they had to be baked, and then the stuffing was assembled and cooked. Luckily my oven works (although I have to light it by hand and I have no idea what temperature it's at, at least it functions properly!) so I cooked a turkey. We had the gathering at a friends apartment, but they have an electricity cap and so if the oven is on the rest of the electricity in the apartment goes out, so that was entertaining! There were also some Spanish dishes, such as torta espanola. It was definitely Thanksgiving in the fact that there were a lot of friends, and more than enough food :) Hope everyone stateside had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well!

A day trip to "Egypt"

The Temple of Debod is an Egyptian Temple built near the Nile, but it is now logically located in Madrid. It's original location in Egypt was set to be flooded by a dam they were building. Spain took interest in the temple, and decided that rather than having it flooded and underwater forever that it should be taken apart stone by stone, shipped to Madrid (well by ship then train) and reassembled. So today I took a short visit to Egypt! There were hieroglyphics inside, and an architectural model of where the original temple was located which was pretty cool.

After visiting the temple I walked around for a bit and ending up walking into Madrid's award-winning rose garden! It was gorgeous, I can only imagine how pretty it is in the spring when most of the flowers are blooming. On the way back to the bus I went to "Taste of America", which is a really small store in Madrid but it has random American food. I got some pancake mix and syrup (we had an English pancake night, which were crepes to all of us from the US, so now we have to have an American pancake night), some Reese's cups and Dr. Pepper. I don't usually drink sodas or eat all that much candy, but today the Reese's and Dr. Pepper were AMAZING and just what I needed!

Diversity at its best

1: I arrived to the last class of the day, a 5th grade English class, and one of the girls was crying. The teacher asked her what had happened and she explained that another girl in the class had picked on her. I'm not exactly sure what was said between the two, but she had picked on the girl who was crying because of her looks. The girl who was crying was from Ecuador and more indigenous looking than the blond, curly haired white girl who had done the taunting. Spain (and Europe in general) is WAY more racist than I had anticipated, and definitely more racists than the US as a whole. Knowing this I wasn't sure what the teacher was going to do. Fortunately the teacher immediately stopped class and went to the front, and explained how we are all different and every single one of us has faults, and how no one is better than anyone else. He continued, and when he finished the girl who did the taunting had to apologize and has to sit at her desk while the rest of the kids have recess for the rest of the week. A few minutes later the girl who was taunted stopped crying and eventually got back involved in the class, and luckily the storm had passed. I hope she and everyone else in the class take to heart what the professor said and learn from it, after all, school isn't just about learning the subjects, it's about learning how to be a better person.

2: For dinner it was me, my roommate from the Canary Islands, and two of his classmates- another guy from Spain, and a guy from China. It was a very international dinner! My roommate told me we were going to have papas arrugadas (from the Canaries/Cuba) and "Chinese food". Of course I was excited to have authentic Chinese food, who wouldn't be?! So my roommate went about making papas arrugadas and after he was done with some of the pans the Chinese guy (who's name is apparently Luis in Spanish) got out his bag to make Chinese food. He pulled out 3 packs of ramen noodles. I about died laughing! Of course they were authentic, he had brought them from China and they were a Chinese brand, not ramen, but they were in fact ramen noodles. Anyways it was hilarious, made my night, and now everyone can say that yes, in fact, ramen noodles are authentic Chinese food!

Barcelona

This past weekend I went to Barcelona and met up with some people from GTL who I went to college with. They are studying in France this semester and took a weekend to come visit Spain. It was a great weekend filled with lots of sightseeing, walking, eating, etc. We took a walking tour of the Gothic area and learned a lot about Barcelona- it's history, it's language (which is Catalan, not Spanish, although most people know Spanish as well but as a second language), its patron saints, etc. It was packed full of information. [As a random side note I heard a lot more French walking around than Spanish.] We went to the famous La Boqueria market and got some delicious food & amazing fruit drinks. After walking along the main strip Las Rambas we went to a park on top of a hill and saw the sunset from the top of the old military fort. We also saw the '92 Olympic Stadium, a ton of statues and fountains, several of Gaudi's works, his house, La Sagrada Familia, and the park he designed, Park Guell. There is a picture above taken from the top of Park Guell overlooking the city. Park Guell is one of the coolest parks I've ever been to! There were people running on the dirt, extremely hilly paths (I was jealous I couldn't join them), there was amazing architecture, random bridges and overlooks, a few lemon trees, great views, etc. We also took a cooking class and had homemade tapas, amazing paella (pictured above), and sangria. There was also a Barcelona soccer game while we were there. Some people went to the game, but since I had already been to a Real Madrid game and didn't want to spend the money, I went with the rest of the group to a bar to watch the game. It was still a good, strong Spanish passion filled soccer game. Plus Barcelona won. Another bonus was that although it's farther north than Madrid it was in the 70s and sunny still (compared to the 40s and rainy this past weekend in Madrid). We walked along the boardwalk next to the "beach" (the sand is from Egypt and the palm trees are from Hawai'i, both brought in for the '92 Olympics), saw some incredible sand castles, and seemingly random architectural structures. There were some people playing beach volleyball, roller skating, and of course running (which again I was sad not to have been able to join them). While it was a quick weekend trip it was a nice getaway from Madrid.

El Escorial

Today I met up with a friend from Tech who is working in Madrid for a few weeks and we went to El Escorial. It's a monastery and a castle where the Bourbon monarchs lived. It's about a 45min ride northwest of Madrid into the mountains. It was incredibly windy there which was a bit unexpected! After touring El Escorial we had expected to visit La Valle de los Caidos (Valley of the Fallen, where Franco is buried) but unfortunately it was closed because it's under construction so we weren't able to visit. Instead we hiked around a bit, up to an overlook known as Silla de Felipe II. It's named this because there are seats cut out of the rocks in the overlook, and I assume Felipe II had them cut out or sat there or something. It was a good view of the city and it was nice to do some hiking, especially with all the gorgeous fall colors everywhere!

Fall Colors!

Gimnasio Olimpia

I joined a gym yesterday! I had been trying to work out in my apartment but the lack of weights for lifting and the lack of carpet for doing abs has gotten the better of me. The gym is only about a 5 minute walk from my apartment which is nice, and it has a pool! I had to pay 8euros/month extra to be able to use the pool during free swim hours (which are very inconveniently 2-3pm weekdays only) but at least that gives me a set time to go & should be a welcome cross-training activity to my runs on concrete and cobblestones. I also signed up for a pilates class that meets every Monday and Wednesday. I went to the class yesterday and luckily there were 3 new students and the teacher was really nice and patient with all of us. Today I ran outside because the weather here was absolutely gorgeous! After my run I ventured to the gym to try out the machines and free weights- of course everything's in kilos so I feel super pathetic. It was also really packed and there were only like 4 girls there which was a bit odd. I did see my friend's roommate though so that was kinda cool. Almost like running into people at the CRC at Tech, except in a much smaller, more crowded room with really old machines that are measured in kilos. Anywho it should be good and since I pay monthly I can alter it (or not pay one month or whatever) if I'm going to be gone/traveling a lot. I also get my own official membership card with my picture on it and everything- so legit.

Peonzas, rolling bookbags, and nose picking

People sometimes remember months or years with a phrase. I've decided that for me, this is The Year of the Peonzas, Rolling Bookbags, and Nose Picking. You might think this logical considering I teach at an elementary school- peonzas are spinning tops you launch with a string and are all the rage with the kids. Rolling bookbags are just that- rolling bookbags. Although they are actually normal bookbags that have been attached to wheels and a flimsy handle and they clunk horribly, often turn over, and strain parents backs because the children only pull them at school when their parents aren't there to roll the bookbags for their children. And then there's nose picking. Logically this would belong to the kids as well, but the majority of the nose picking (and where I first noticed it's apparent public acceptability) is done by my 23 year old roommate. He'll be in the middle of a sentence talking to me, or we'll be eating dinner, or anything really and all of a sudden- boom, got one! After noticing my roommate's constant habit I began to notice others doing it as well. I'm still not used to seeing it and I highly doubt it'll be one of those cultural differences I pick up and bring back to the States.

School has been interesting this week. Wednesday morning after the Tuesday elections in the states the first thing the other teachers brought up was the polls. 9am and the subject of choice in a public school is politics- Dorothy we're definitely not in Kansas anymore! In the paper not only were the political cartoons also about the US elections, but there was also a multi-page article about what had occurred and what it meant for the US. At least the nose pickers are interested in other peoples' noses as well! Apart from the political talk, inside the classroom I had to give one class a pop-quiz because they wouldn't stop talking. I was kinda sad because they're actually one of my favorite classes (sixth graders) but they seriously would not shut up, even after I gave them several warnings and told them if they weren't quiet they were going to have a pop-quiz. Maybe next time they'll listen. I also got to experience one of the weirdest teachers in the school, and one of the strangest I've ever seen. She changes the pitch of her voice when she speaks which is really annoying, and she has no patience. But the strangest thing is that she wanted me to speak the spelling part of the English test to the kids. Okay, no biggie, just read the words- wrong! For the spelling section of her spelling test she had me spell each word 3 times, saying only the letters and not the word. That's the easiest spelling test I've ever heard of!?! The other teachers have normal spelling tests where they say the word and the kids have to write it and try to spell it correctly. For some reason she thinks a spelling test is me spelling the words 3 times to the kids & them writing the letters I say. I know the letters are in English not Spanish, but these kids are in 4th grade and learned the English alphabet in preschool! There also continued to be an influx of salesmen coming to the school to sell things as well as people outside the school gates handing out pamphlets, flyers, etc advertising or selling different things- something I'm pretty sure is illegal in the States. But alas it's Thursday, the end of my work week. Now I get a 3day weekend with no peonzas, no rolling bookbags, but that still leaves the nose pickers...

Halloween Fun

The other auxiliares and I worked this past Thursday and Friday to put on Halloween games and a haunted house for the kids at school. On Thursday morning we had Halloween games for the 3-5 year olds, and Thursday afternoon we had the Haunted House for the 5th & 6th graders. Friday morning we had Halloween games for 1st-6th graders and in the afternoon we had the haunted house for the 3rd & 4th graders. The Halloween games included: pass the pumpkin (aka hot potato w/ a pumpkin), pumpkin bowling (knocking down plastic pumpkin pins), bobbing for apples (with a fork for sanitary reasons), put together the skeleton puzzle, bean toss onto a scary cat's face, and the story Winnie the Witch. The games were fun and all the kids seemed to enjoy them! A lot of kids also dressed up on Friday which was neat to see. Although it's funny b/c Spaniards think Halloween costumes have to be scary, and they all pretty much dress as the same things: witches, grim reapers, Frankenstein, or something religious themed like a monk.

The Haunted House was a lot of fun! Because they have what we call "siesta blinds" you can put those down and no light comes into the windows. So we easily made the music room pitch black. We hung a glow in the dark skeleton and had boxes set up with brains, guts, fingers, eyeballs that you could touch if you dared. Although I'd recommend doing the boxes as something separate from the haunted house next year because a few kids thought it'd be funny to throw what was in the boxes and the majority of the kids were too scared to put their hands in the boxes anyways. All of us were stationed around the room to jump out and scare them at different times, and there was creepy music playing in the background. We had a mummy one day, but all the toilet paper kinda fell off, someone with big Frankenstein hands, someone with a camera to blind the kids with the flash (which worked awesome b/c it blinded them so they screamed and we got pictures of them in the haunted house), people grabbing at them randomly, someone with a white hockey mask chasing them with a plastic machete, glow in the dark witch fingers, etc. It was very entertaining! My favorite was one of the boys in 5th or 6th grade who kept saying to himself "Yo soy muy macho, yo soy muy macho" (basically: I'm very brave) the entire time. There was also a 3rd grader who we've decided defeated the haunted house because he went in by himself (everyone else in the group was too afraid to leave the waiting room, that happened a lot actually so only probably half or 3/4 of the students went into the haunted house) and then he never screamed or anything. He was a bit afraid to move on, so he just stayed in one spot, but then we couldn't get him to move to leave so another group could come in. But we decided that because of this act he defeated the haunted house. Overall it was very entertaining and at least allowed me to get somewhat in the Halloween spirit, even though Spaniards couldn't care less about Halloween.

Random Updates

It's been a little while since I've written, so here are some random things that have occurred this week which you might find amusing:

-Some of the kids in my school had a field trip to Xanadu, the only indoor ski slope in Spain. It's in a sports mall (like the one I went to in Santiago, Chile- so I guess taking outdoor sports and moving them inside to a shopping mall is a Hispanic thing...) in Madrid. The kids took a bus, and they all (along with the teachers who went) got to ski/snowboard all day. They left at 9, right after they got to school, and returned around 6pm. Too bad we couldn't go on that field trip!?!!

-I had to teach the reproductive system to one of my 4th grade Spanish classes, and then ask them comprehension questions... let's just say the Spanish aren't shy about using any words or pictures. Their homework is always to draw and label the organs in the system they've just learned about, the boys got a kick out that for this lesson.

-Found out Alcala de Henares has one of the best indoor leagues in Spain (the green team pictured above). One of the schools here gets free tickets, so a group of us went to a game on Sunday. It was 5v5, but pretty intense- with radio announcers, a camera guy, etc. They also had a band (although I'm pretty sure it was just random fans who wanted to hit drums & be loud). The halftime "show" was like 8yr olds who played 5v5. It was really funny to watch them "warm up" and play. You could tell they were just trying to imitate what they saw the professionals do on t.v.

-I've realized the lack of houses also comes with a lack of yards; I miss this. There's no place to spread out a blanket to sit in the grass, no place to put a grill, no place for dogs to run around (which would explain all the dog poop on the sidewalks), no lawn mowing, no sprinklers, no backyard gardens, no swing-set, etc, etc... quite depressing actually. and I also realized Trick-or-Treating wouldn't be nearly as fun. You would just stay in your apartment building going to doors which are like 3ft apart... maybe that's why Halloween hasn't caught on here, it just wouldn't be as fun for a little kid???