Teachin' em right

Today was, *weep*, my last day of tutoring with Paloma and Natalia. :( Those girls are so great, I ALWAYS looked forward to going there each week!
So I decided we should do something fun and ... different for the last class.
I think it's pretty necessary for English learners to know some basic songs, but they can get boring.. so we spiced them up a bit.

last supper

So things are winding down! Today was the last day of classes, so we had a great big good-bye dinner for everyone at this really fancy restaurant. I'm still going to be here for a month, so it felt a little weird, like I'll never see most of those people again, which may be true as we won't be passing in the school anymore.

It was a great dinner, the main course being the typical Spanish dish - paella. It's basically vegetables, rice, and seafood. I learned how to eat prawns and I had clams and mussels. This is a big moment for me. :) I'm just not used to seafood, but it was really good!

Fun and delicious, but most people went back home after the dinner (which means we left at about midnight) because of the upcoming exams.. :/ I'm ready to be done with those.

Yes, I chewed on a prawn claw.

Arei

Last night was very fun! There ended up being 24 of us total. 2 Americans. : ) They were all very friendly and just a lot of fun.. but sadly, i didn't take any pictures. Guess I'll just have to go out with them again soon!

Today, though, I went to a movie with Henrietta, Eddie, and Eddie's friend from Miami-Paulo. After the movie we went for Mexican food and then to this place call Arei. It was REALLY very cool. Instead of sitting at a table, Eddie had reserved us a BED. haha.. yes, here, there's the option of hanging out with your friends on this big mattress thing COVERED in pillows. So we had cocktails and it was so relaxing! It was dark, some cool smooth music in the background and we just lounged and listened to Eddie's and Paulo's jokes. Of that i do have a picture! I wish you could see more of it, though.. we were in our own little corner, the whole place was really dark, and there was a thin beaded curtain on one side of us. Could be a pretty romantic spot, but for us, just relaxing and fun :D


Now it's really late, 3am, and i need to go to bed because i have school tomorrow!!

Billiards and the Cave Bar

Last night was fun. I played pool Carolyn, Danny, Jordan at this really fancy place called "Las Bellas Artes" where we have a membership through the program. The pool room was really old style with about 10 tables, and there were about 6 people there when we arrived. All the people there were older (except for a kid our age learning from an old man) and you could tell that they take the game very seriously. Had billiard gloves and everything. It took me a while to realize, but i finally noticed what was weird.. half of the tables, and the only ones being used, didn't have pockets! i was like.. errr.. what? they were playing with only 3 pool balls- a red and two white. I'm not sure what the rules of spanish pool are.. maybe i'll wikipedia it. --- ok, found it. here's the link if you're interested > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carom_billiards and i found this simple explination of the game from there:

The object of straight rail is simple: one point, called a "count", is scored each time a player's cue ball makes contact with both object balls (the second cue ball and the third ball) on a single stroke. A win is achieved by reaching an agreed upon number of counts.

neat!

Then we went to the "Cave Bar" which isn't actually it's name but what everyone knows it by. See if you can tell why from the pictures..

There most of the drinks are 10euros (15dollars) and VERY large. They put multiple straws in them so you can share with people. yumyum. Reider and Jim showed up later, and .. that was pretty much our night :)

The other day, I met a girl in my apartment that seems really nice, so Carolyn, Danny, Reider and I are going to a party they're having tonight to celebrate a couple birthdays. . i don't know where we're going, but i'll let you know how it went!

game day

For Tuesday's class with the two girls, I made a game board called "In your head". It was just a windy path with open questions in each square like "tell me something that scares you" and "what are your favorite movies and why?" The game was a hit, so i decided to make a game for my class of 6 as well.. only with simple vocab words to practice. I put the words in spanish, and when you land on a space, you have to say the word in english to be able to stay, otherwise you keep moving back until you hit one you remember.

It was a hit, as well!!

Miriam and Laura said "Ear" because that was their word, I tell the boys to "tiralo" or "throw it" (the coin), and they had to define "grande"... David said "fast" because we learned "big, small, fast and slow" on the same day, so he got a little mixed up ;)

Fantastic News!

A couple not so amazing things, but mostly great things.

1) Erin isn't coming to visit me while she's here in Europe for a month.. her travel buddy didn't want to come, then they were going to come for a weekend, then they got stuck in london for a while and the buddy said they didn't have time to come to madrid, then they were going to come for one day, then they couldn't get the train ticket.. so they're not coming after all... pretty sad.

2) My really great English class with the two girls will be finished at the end of this month as they're not planning on continuing the classes after regular school gets out. :( bummer

Now to the good things:

3) I'm going to...... AFRICA!! with Carolyn, Jennifer, and Carolyn's boyfriend Danny. It'll be my last trip while here in Europe.. what a way to go, eh?! We'll fly into Marrakesh (spelling?) and fly out of Casablanca, hoping to get a camel ride somewhere along the way and not fry in the process. Dates are June 19th to the 23rd

4) I'm going to..... AUSTRIA!! staying with Julie Sours at her host family's seemingly AMAZING house from June 7th to the 10th.

5) These trips (initial flight cost) are about 60 euros each= $90 ! not bad for some one-of-a-kind experiences

6) My roommate, Henrietta, works at a hotel. Yesterday she called me saying that there is an American couple coming to Madrid in June to stay in her hotel and they are looking for a babysitter. Dates: June 24th (the day after i get back from africa-what luck!) - the 30th= 6 nights, about 6 hours a night. I said yes, i want to do it, talked with the manager, and HAVE THE JOB!! Moreover, the payment is decided between me and the family.. I was at first told the 10euros/hour is normal.. the parents of some of the kids i teach said about 10 euros, as well.. and then Henrietta says that she was told that 30euros/hour is a possibility! THAT i'm not sure if i believe, but either way, it sounds PERFECT. 14 month old, from about 5pm-11/12.. I still have time to go out with friends afterwards! :D

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! .... perfect. *sigh*

.. and i had a good night tonight because tomorrow is the day of San Isidrio- founder of madrid.. so I saw fireworks and a big water show in Retiro park with friends- great fun. :)

Ahhh.. teaching

So, I've had a few jobs in my life.. paperroute, babysitting, dairy queen, arts place, food court.. all which, of course, gave me a paycheck. but yesterday I received my FIRST paycheck as a teacher!

Here's my class of 6.
Jaime, Javier, Miriam, David, Laura, and Mercedes.

Party, Park, Fiesta, Party and Food

We only had 2 days of school this week!! Monday we got off because of a saint's day, Tuesday-Wednesday we had classes, Thursday was Labor Day, and Friday was Independence Day.

Friend's birthday party Wednesday night, after dancing at a little place called "el buscon" I ended up walking 50 min home because we couldn't find the nightbuses.. they were meeting in a different plaza because of the festivals. This is Jeremey, from Wisconsin, and a nice guy that was with our crew, but I forget his name.

Thursday, wake up late, watch a movie, food, lazy day.

Friday was park day with Jennifer, where we had a picnic and watched some students apparently practing for a play.
Then we went to a huge spectacle downtown, then discoclub with Jen and Matt- I'll show you a video and you can see what the discos are like! It's Jennifer, Matt, and I dancing to the song"Rehab" by Amy Winehouse (..thanks Sarge). Haha, the night started off with me calling Jennifer saying "Hey, you want to go hang out for a while?" she, "what do you have in mind?" me, "oh, just a couple drinks and we'll talk the night away... well plans change! : ) We ended up in a club called Samsara, of course missed the metro (2am, psh) so around 4:30, Matt left, but we decided to just wait until the metro opened back up... 7:30 am I crash in bed with some sore feet.



Saturday, I found out Henrietta was a little worried about me, didn't know why I was still sleeping at 11am, 1pm, 2pm.. haha, but then I got some work done! Started on my 8 page lit paper. bleh. Then she calls me around 10pm asking if I wanted to go for a drink with her and a couple friends that i'd met before.. well.. I'm already in my pajamas and ready to watch a movie.. so I say "nooo.. i'd love to, but i should write this paper.." she says "i'll come home and talk to you in a minute". She's really convincing, and she said she didn't want to be out too late either. We went to O'neils Irish pub, then .. to Samsara again! Haha, ended up finding a couple people that I'd met the night before! fun fun fun.. and then, well we might as well just wait for the metro to open up. . 7:30 am.. I'm hugging my pillow with a blister on my big toe.

And today's Sunday. Henrietta had to work at 3, so we woke up at 11 (argh! 3.5 hours of sleep!) to go grocery shopping. I made a great dinner- microwave casserole. I didn't even know you could do that.. and i don't know if you call it a casserole.. but I am. Layered pasta, milk/garlic/pasta sauce, veggies and cheese= delicious :P


Time for more essay work, maybe prepare for this week's English classes. Then early bedtime!!

some stresses

Things have been going so well for so long it was getting boring..
hmm.. ok, that was a lie, I loved it.

Now, though, things are getting a bit tougher. I think I've got a cavity in one of my teeth and am trying to decide what to do- go to a dentist here and try to deal with the insurance stuff.. or wait for 2 months until I get home. I think I'm going to wait, and if it gets painful, I'll get to a dentist here.. that's the plan.

I've got some final papers to get working on, so that's never fun,
but the biggest problem right now is with Peru preparation. I need to get a visa, but it won't be as easy as I thought. There's a Peruvian consulate here in Madrid, so I thought it wouldn't be a problem, easier even, than going to chicago in the states. But alas, visas should be applied for in one's home country. But, one should apply for a visa 3 months ahead of time, anything under 4 weeks and they won't even take the application. and i need to turn in my flight information with the application, so I need to buy my Lima flight soon, but how can you buy a flight if you're not sure you're going to get the visa? So.. my options now are: 1) try to get the embassy here to make an exception for me 2) Try to get my visa as soon as possible back home. I'll have just 5 weeks in the states.. I hope that's long enough 3) apply to the embassy in the states through the mail - the problem with that is, I would then be in Spain without my passport, because you have to turn your actual passport into the embassy so they can stamp the visa in it. 4) Maybe look into getting an earlier flight home? argh.

Those options are also in the order of how I'm going to try to make things work. HOPEFULLY i'll be able to get it through madrid's consulate, but i don't know if they ever make exceptions to that rule... so i don't know what to expect.

Please wish me luck!