FOOD!

Guess what?! I like to cook! haha... who knew?

:)

Today I stopped at an outdoor market and picked up some fruits and vegetables.. so tonight I made a stir-fry mix of eggplant, zucchini, carrots, ham, pineapple, tomatoes, and onions and put it over thin pasta. Then I fried some zucchini and eggplant, and save some tomato and pineapple to eat on the side.

I'm pretty proud!

Tour of my apartment :)

The Weekend

Hey guys :)

This weekend was pretty fun. On Friday, a group of friends and I met up with David (a Spanish student that helps us choose classes, etc) and some of his friends. So it was a big mix of Americans and Spaniards-perfect! We went to this bar in a mainly-student populated area. I forget the name of it, but it's known as the "cave-bar". Why? Because it looks like a cave inside!! Complete with Stalactites on the ceiling. At the bar, one type of drink actually is poured from a stream coming from a stalactite. I only got one picture, but you can't really see anything other than people.. i'm sure i'll be back though!

On Saturday night, Carolyn, Luke and I went out and as we were looking for "El Tigre", where they have cheap and really good canas and tapas, we passed by "LL"-the same Gay-show bar we went to last time. Well.. :) we returned. haha. This time without the initial shock. Shancha (The dragqueen) was there again, but this time more fully clothed (thanks!). So we go in to show Luke the place, and as we're standing there thinking about what we'd be doing if we were back in the states as compared to here, Sancha was talking to the crowd.. when she spotted some red-head trying to look like she knew what she was doing. (i.e. ME) So she pointed me out in the crowd.. just normal HOLA PELIROJA! QUE TAL!? -hey red, how's it going?!... then she sees Carolyn, comments on her height (she's a little taller than I am) and ultimately invites her onstage. hahaha... soooo Carolyn goes, and after a few embarrassing minutes returns to us. :D Sancha later took a break, in which time we were able to get a picture with her. We ended up staying there most of the night, it was the most fun I've had at a bar .. ever.

New roommate

Yesterday, my Belgian roommate left, and a new girl moved in. Now I live with two German girls, one name Kristine, and the other Henrietta.. and they're both very very nice! I think it's going to be a great semester, if for no other reason than because I've been blessed with the luck of always receiving really great roommates! (miss you Courtney ;)

School, school, school

I start my other two classes today! So I'm actually attending 3 or 4 today. I have to go to a bunch of new classes to see which ones i want, and which I can get into. :/ I'm kinda nervous! I'm also kind of excited, because I know I could potentially meet some new people in these classes. I'm checking out a class called "El Cuento Espanol"="The Spanish Story" and "El Cuento Hispanoamericano"=the Spanish-American story and "Mitos Literarios" = Literary Myths.

Now I'm just worried about having so many lit classes!! Soooo.. I'm off, wish me luck!

Happy Birthday Jared

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JARED!! :) I miss you! Espero que tengas buen dia y que hablemos pronto!

Segovia day trip

I went to Segovia on Saturday with The Canterbuy Academy that I teach English through. Segovia's about an hour north of Marid, right in/next to some mountains. We first went up into the mountains to go sledding, but man was that snow icy. It wasn't COVERED in snow where we were, just some patches big enough to have fun on. I really didn't sled that much because when you were sledding you had to be careful: 1) because of the hard, icy bumps and rocks in your path. 2) we're on a mountian so there are many trees just waiting for you to run into, and 3) you have to be careful and bail off the sled if you don't stop in time.. so that you don't fly off a 20 or so foot ledge. Yikes! haha, it wasn't that dangerous actually, just a little scary when you're doing it.

Then we went to Segovia, a BEAUTIFUL place. The place is famous for this Roman aqueduct that they have. It's one of the most signicant and best preserved monument left by the Romans built sometime in the 1st or 2nd century!

Also in Segovia they have a beautiful cathedral with a lot of Gothic-style architecture. AND they have a CASTLE! This was one of the castles that inspired the Disney fairytale castle :) We got to go inside, too, which was pretty surreal.

All in all, it was a beautiful day with MANY beautiful sights.. but my butt is a little sore.

ESL with the 6 kids

So I taught my first ESL class last night! I´ll eventually have 2 more classes, but I haven´t been confirmed with those classes, yet.

It went really well, I think. I started off having them draw pictures of themselves so that I could see what body parts they know, where their level is there.. then they colored them, so I found out that most of them are pretty familiar with the names of main colors. We sang a couple songs (they´re really good at head-shoulders-knees-and toes). They ARE 5, 6, and 7.. so they´re VERY energetic and have a short attention span. I was told to only teach, and only let them speak, in English. HAH! I don´t know if that´s possible or even logical. Maybe it is the best way to learn a new language, but it seems that if I want to focus on them learning certain things such as body parts, animals, etc., if I speak ALL in English and try to get them to understand everything I´m saying, that´s throwing SO many new words and phrases at them that they won´t be able to remember ¨horse¨or whatever the focus word is.

I tried to say everything in English, then repeat it in Spanish, then say it in English again.. I just don´t know, I´ll have to try different things and see what happens. The kids are really nice, though, a couple get bored REALLY quickly with what we´re doing, so it´s hard to try to keep them all engaged at once. Maybe impossible.. but hey, it was just the first day :)

Kissed by an Opera Star

Last night I met some friends at a bar called "Dubliners" to watch the superbowl. It was packed with Americans (but not as packed as the gay bar!), so we couldn't go much farther than just inside the door. It was really cool, though, to be in a place where everyone was speaking English and watching football :) I was with my friend Carolyn, but her boyfriend was also there, so a lot of the time I just talked to random people or just watched the game.

At one point, these two men (40 or more years old) came in. They were talking to a guy that's in our group.. bought him a couple drinks.. they seemed like nice guys. Later, as i'm just watching the game, one of those guys started talking to me, about the game, studying, etc. His name was Dan, from New York, and in Spain with his friend, Renee, the other guy. So he introduced me to him.. Renee was from Berlin and an opera singer! He was in Madrid to perform the next night. A 5 HOUR opera. Holy cow. After talking for a while, Dan told me he was going by himself to watch Renee, but if I wanted to go, I was welcome to. A free opera in the Teatro Real! How cool. Of course I wanted to. So I gave him my cell number.. and he gave me his so we could meet up to go!

Then Dan started talking to Carolyn, so Renee started talking to me. He said something (in his German accent) like "I saw you and I wanted to talk to you, but I'm not American, so I don't know how to just go up to a girl and start talking.." (uh.. ok? I'm thinking.. weird) "Dan, though is my 'teacher' " he laughed, "he said he'd introduce us." Then he said, "because you're beautiful, you weren't talking to anyone, and I wasn't talking to anyone.. so.. 'shrug' ". I'm thinking.. uh.. is this old man ... flirting with me? He's been drinking.. but not THAT much. Yikes. Ok, how do I get out of this tactfully? I started talking to this guy *my age* from South Carolina, and then later Renee asked me if I wanted something to drink. "No, thanks, but I have to leave soon" I said (which was true.. it was getting really late and I still had an hour trip home ahead). So I said bye to people.. and on the way out I got Dan's attention, told him I had to head out, and he said he hoped I'd make it to the opera. Then I said by to Renee, who ended up taking my hand and giving it a few kisses, with the guise of just saying bye, etc.. but totally weird.

Crap. I wanted to do the opera thing. I was reasoning that I wouldn't be with the weirdo.. but still.. maybe if Carolyn came with me? Sooo, the opera was today, and as it happens, I was just too busy chatting with Jared to call the guy. I'm totally ok with that :)

man, two weird nights in a row.

Sangrias and a Gay Show-Bar

Are you dreading what I'm about to type with a title like that?? Mom, Dad?? haha. well...

This weekend is carnaval. Here in Madrid, it's not as crazy as other places, basically people just dress up (like halloween, but not usually scary) and party. So we went out, but didn't dress up.. we just wanted to see everything :) man, did we see a lot! We went to Soberbia first for sangrias, then went to look for this club where the life of carnaval was supposed to be. We found it, but it turns out you had to have bought $40 tickets beforehand. The "entrance" was this HUGE pink-carpeted stairway. EVERYONE that went in was dressed up , so it was fun to just watch them parade up the stairs, stopping for pictures.

We moved on, to find a place where we hoped we could actually get in, and we headed to Chueca, a part of the city known for cool parties. Walking down the street we see some place all lit up and a few people waiting to get in, and the music thumping out of it.. so of course we're interested!! The guy lets us in, and as we SQUEEZE through people, not knowing where we're headed because the entire place was sooo packed, we see this.. person.. dancing on a stage just to the right of us and MEN. LOTS OF MEN. uhh.. look again at that dancer.. long hair, breasts, a corset, fish nets, high heels, and .. whiskers? i look at this guy.. lady out of sheer interest. I mean, how.. the deeper voice.. uh, where are the scars?

and there I am in my peacoat and .. femininity.. wondering why the bouncer even let us in?! Maybe he thought it'd be funny to see us go straight back out again. : ) I, and the 3 other girls and 4 guys that I was with, agreed that being in there just made our night, lol, but we left pretty quickly having barely noticed that movie in the back of the bar that we didn't want to look at.

We moved on, stopped at a place called "el tigre", and headed home.

At least we weren't charged a cover fee.. ;)

OH MY oh my OH MY!!

HOLY COW. so i finished the "teach english" classes yesterday.. so today I went in to try to set up a tutoring schedule. Right away the lady said that she had 2 classes to offer me. . Perfect, i think.. i wanted two classes..

so I ask her about the students; ages, etc. so she tells me. I'll tutor a brother and sister 12 and 13 years old for an hour together. Ok, cool. then right after them, i'll tutor their younger brother for a half an hour. Hmm.. ok. THEN she tells me.. that I can teach a class of .. not one, not two, not three ... SIX students ages 5-7. SIX STUDENTS!! I'm going to be teaching them ENGLISH!! oooooooooooh man.

haha, i have no idea how i'm going to start this.. but they give me resources, and i guess i'll figure it out!!

If anyone has ANY ideas.. games, songs, activities, let me know because i have FULL control of this class, i can do ANYTHING i want!! There is no curriculum with this at all. If I feel like teaching them about the weather one day... the weather it is... if i want to teach a card game another day.. a card game it is. We can sing, dance, draw, read, joke, or jump up and down the entire time. This is going to be... fun?? hard?? tiring?? I have no idea.

Holy cow... 9 children.