Merry Christmas!

School is out for the holidays.  I have twenty days of freedom!  Five of those days will be spent in Athens and another five in Paris.  I will not be bored this year!  I may, however, be broke, but it is totally worth it!

The only reason I went to school today was because there was a Christmas carol concert this morning.  I got to listen to my kids sing unintelligibly and off-key.  But it was definitely cute.  Only the sixth graders bothered to learn a song in English.  I tried to take some video, but the lighting was awful, so it isn't worth taking the time to upload.

When I got back home from school, I found a note from the postman that I could go pick up my package at the local post office because no one was home when he came to deliver.  So after lunch and a nap, I set out in the icy rain to claim my present.  My awesome friend Brett baked me gingerbread cookies, decorated them, wrapped them up in bubble wrap and mailed them to me!

And now I'm back at home waiting for my laundry to finish (and hoping it will dry in time - I leave the 24th) so that I can pack.  I hope everyone else is enjoying their holidays!  ¡Feliz Navidad!

Snow day number two

Well, sort of.  Monday, December 21, 2009.  It snowed in the wee hours this morning before the sun came up.  After sunrise, once it started to warm up slightly, it stopped snowing, and started drizzling.


With the onset of rain, the snow on the ground started to melt.  By the time I left for work, it was like walking (or driving for some) through a Slurpee.  I had to be careful not to slip and fall in it.  I am so glad that my boots got here before the snow.

At school they had the play areas roped off so that the children wouldn't run around and hurt themselves.  And although I think that was a good idea in itself, it also allowed me to get some pictures of the school grounds covered in an undisturbed blanket of white.

Happy Winter everyone!

First day of snow

Monday, December 14, 2009.  Unlike other parts of Spain, the first snowfall here in Madrid was unimpressive.  We got less than an inch and all of it melted before mid-day.  I didn't have time before work to go find something pretty to photograph covered in snow, so you get my neighbor's dirty car.  It also snowed on Wednesday.  But as it was melting as it fell, it was not worth photographing.

Segovia

This weekend was a "puente".  Spanish for bridge, it is called this because Sunday was Constitution Day and today is Immaculate Conception Day, both of which are federal holidays.  We get the day in between off as well, the bridge day.  Many Spaniards travel during this long weekend.  Due to my extreme procrastination skills, I didn't make any plans.  Marissa came up to visit though, and we took a day trip to Segovia.

Segovia is BEAUTIFUL.  It's maybe an hour and a half north of Madrid, in Castilla-Leon.  It is in the mountains and is full of breathtaking monuments: a roman aqueduct, a 12th century castle, a gothic cathedral, and many other notable churches.  My favorite was the Alcazar, a castle that was previously an Arab fort.  It has spacious stone rooms, vaulted, elaborately decorated ceilings, breathtaking stained glass portraits.  Let's not mention the views of the countryside.  All I want to know is when can I move in?  There also happened to be a ceramic art show in town this weekend.  YAY shopping!

More photos can be seen at Facebook.

Holiday time

Holidays are always more fun with children.  Granted, any explanation I give to these kids about what any given American or British holiday is, will ultimately be forgotten because they aren't celebrated here.  But that doesn't make it any less fun.
For Halloween the first graders got to color different "scary" pictures to decorate the classroom.  The third graders learned a song about a witch and her cat and performed it for the younger ones.  They wore spider masks and played home-made instruments.  It was adorable.

Thanksgiving was better.  All the students made feathers for a collaborative art project.  We made a turkey, it's feathers brightly colored, full of all the things children are thankful for.  The third graders got a special treat.  I brought in a pumpkin pie for them to try.  In order to tie it in with their science lessons, we called it an experiment with the senses.  It was great fun.
Christmas should be interesting.  We've been asked not to bring up religion when talking about holidays.  We'll see how well that goes.

As far as what I did for the holidays...not much.  I donned a statue of liberty costume for school (no, there are no pictures).  I didn't feel like going out to a club to get drunk with strange people wearing bad costumes.  I went shopping on "Black Friday", but there are no equivalent sales here that weekend, I just need to shop for winter clothes.  The weekend after Thanksgiving I went down to Toledo to visit Marissa.  We spent all day cooking and eating.  Then we went out with her friend Maria for a beer.  Nothing like Thanksgiving at home, but still enjoyable.

You can see more of my school pictures on Facebook.

Oh yeah, I work too.

I've been working for more than a month now.  Make that more than two months.  I get distracted.  I told you my updates would be sparse!  Where was I?  Oh yeah, work.

I love my job.  Yes, it is great to only work sixteen hours a week and get the benefits of full-time work.  But it is far more than that.  I actually look forward to going to work.  It's fun.  It's challenging.  I get to sing, dance, color, and tell stories.  No, it's not perfect.  I have some children that enjoy making the teacher squirm.  But it is preferable to every previous job I've had.

My school this year is more than twice the size as El Lince was.  It has got a cafeteria, a gym/auditorium, a music room, and a massive courtyard.

So, yeah, sixteen hours split up across all five weekdays.  I'm only slightly annoyed by that.  It means I can't take long weekends as frequently, but it's okay.  I had four day weekends last year and didn't do many weekend getaways.  My time is split between the first and third grade classes.  That's about a hundred kids, give or take a few.  I've learned most of their names.  I get to lead the first grade class while I'm in there.  Their regular teacher, Nieves, enjoys letting me teach.  It lets her breathe for a bit.  In the third grade class, I mostly do one-on-one with some of the students that need a little extra help.