22/2/2012

Today wasn't very eventful.  Met with Luis, my Teaching Development teacher, at 10.  So we meet with him for 40 minutes once a week.  He has us write a "diario" about our experiences teaching and goes over them with us.  He not only discusses our teaching experience with us, but he goes over our grammatical errors as well. He is so thorough with his explanations I already learned a lot just from going over one essay.  He pointed out some "Spanglish" errors I made.  Such as, "La primera cosa", which means the first thing.  Cosa means thing, and Americans use it a lot - the last thing, the most important thing, the best thing.  But that's a poor translation that is common, and instead I should say, "Lo primero".  This is actually the topic we're learning about in his class right now.  How to teach students that some things aren't directly translatable.  In my methodology class we're learning about that too, and the different methods used to teach a foreign language.  It's actually really interesting.  There is controversy about how much the learner's native language should be used.  In some methods they don't use the native language at all - others they focus a lot on translation skills.  We also learned about "The Silent Way".  It's this crazy method where the teacher does not speak.  They have a poster with a bunch of little colored rectangles, each representing a color.  The teacher will point to a sound, and say it, and the class will repeat it.  Little by little the teacher adds more sounds, until eventually the students know them all.  From there only the teacher is completely silent.  He'll point from color to color and the class will sound it out and make words, and then he'll show them an object or a picture to go with the word.  It's obviously not a common method.. but it was interesting to read about.  Very odd.  Seems very time consuming.  My methodology class, which was my least favorite at first is actually my favorite right now.  I've learned a lot more already than I did in my education class at Framingham during the fall.  Plus it's geared towards language teachers.  So after my meeting with Luis, I went to cooking class.  We're learning about how the three main religions of Spain - Catholicism, Islam, and Judaism.  My teacher told us we're all the convents that sell pastries and marmalade are in Sevilla, so Kirsten and I are going to go check them out.  After class I came home and had lunch.  Senora made a rice dish with artichoke, carrots, peas, and a yellowish sauce similar to that of paella.  As with all of her cooking - it was delicious.  After lunch I went to the park to read a little bit.  So where I go in the park there's a little circle area with a fountain in the middle, and four benches in the corners.  So I was sitting on a tile bench directly in the sun reading, and got a little tired so I decided to lay down.  Next thing I know I'm waking up about 40 minutes later.  It's just so nice there!  The tile bench isn't the most comfortable but it's really nice being in the warm sun.  I fell back asleep for probably another half hour, then went to class.  Flamenco class wasn't as boring today.  We were reading an expert from a book, and we'd read it paragraph by paragraph picking it apart.  Was more entertaining than taking notes.  After lunch today I got up from my chair and my lower back near my hip hurt really bad.  When I walk there's a sharp pain.  No idea what I did.  Maybe my body decided to give up on me because I've been eating too much.  I stretched and it felt better until I left class tonight.  I got up and it hurt.  Again I stretched and it was a little better, but then after dinner it hurt me, and it still does.  I just hope it's feeling better tomorrow when I have to deal with the little kids!!

21/2/2012

So I've gotten asked why Reyes got dragged out of the classroom, and by who.  She got dragged out by her feet by the teacher near the end of the day.  Not even dragged out in an angry way, she was just misbehaving all class..not doing anything wrong just not being obedient.  The schooling system, from what Ive seen, is very different here.  I was telling my Mom about it and she said in MA there's a law that in preschool there must be 1 teacher for every 7 students.  The teacher I work with has 27! Crazy! Its a mad house.  I'll see my teacher grab kids and yank them up of the ground, or kinda push them into a seat.  It's not even in a mean way, the teacher is very nice.  I think it's just how it is.  She's also very loving she gives them kisses and stuff.  I don't know, it's just odd.

So today I woke up and went to teaching.  Got there a few minutes early.  When you get there there are huge fences that surround the playground in front of the building.  So I was walking by and I heard someone yelling "Senora senora por favor!"  So I turned around and looked and some kid had his head popped over the top and he was yelling to me "Senora por favor.. la pelota está en el jardín".  So his ball had gone over the fence and into a little garden.  He wanted me to throw it to him.  Being the little girl that I am, it took me two tries.  Im gonna chalk that up as a win because its actually better than I had expected.  Anyways so I was walking in and I heard Elena, my teacher, yelling my name.  She was outside of the fence smoking a cigarette and motioned for me to come over.  We talked a bit, she offered me a cigarette (something else different here, I cant imagine smoking at school with my mentoring teacher), and asked me what days I could hang out with her this week.  So we have plans to meet at a bar Friday to practice English and Spanish.  I don't know if it will be just her and I or if the other teacher will be there too.  When I was leaving the teacher of the 5 year olds asked me when we were going to meet up so maybe they'll both be there.  Either way I'm glad I have people to practice with!  So when I first got there the kids were still out at recess.  It's all the 3 and 5 year olds - four classes total.  I got there and some of the little kids will giggle and say "Holaaaa" or the older ones will say "Helllllo".  Some of the little girls came up and hugged me.  Some little boys kept saying hola and giggling, and running away then they'd come back and do it again..about 100 times.  Then, my "novio", Sergio, from the volunteering I do ran over with a friend.  He jumped on me and then laid down and wrapped his legs around mine and said I was not leaving him this time.  Then his friend was trying to go through my purse yelling "MOVIL MOVIL!!"  Sergio had seen my phone in my back pocket yesterday and was trying to get it, and apparently he was still after it.  Kid is crazy.  It took like 5 teachers yelling at him to stop for him to finally let go of me.  So we went inside..the class was pretty similar to every other day.  They put there heads down after recess-today listening to Whitneys "I Will Always Love You" which kind of surprised me. They did the whole flashcard review with the frog and fish, played with English monkey, then had activity time.  Today one group got to play dress up which was really cute.  During this time each table has a different activity.  The teacher is at her desk doing stuff, and I go around from table to table talking to the kids and playing with them.  I mostly play with them, but today I was really trying to speak more English to them because, well, thats my job.  Its just so hard because Blanca, who is my favorite because she is so adorable, always grabs my hand and asks me to come play at her table.  How can I say no!? She has cute little pigtails!! But anyways I walked around would ask them what color something was.  They always understood my English, but sometimes they'd answer me in Spanish.  They did well for the most part.  This poor little boy Maxine who is normally really sweet was miserable today.  He has blonde hair, a round chubby face, and big blue eyes .. so cute! But today he was pouty and didnt want to do anything.  He was following me around from station to station just looking sad.  I kept asking him to help me or asking if he wanted to do something and he kept saying no and wining.  I felt so bad.  I got him to help me with a puzzle but that was about it.  At one point he was sitting on one of my legs, and then Alicia came over and sat on my other leg.  I feel more like another kid than their teacher but whatever they're so cute I just can't tell them they can't climb all over me.  I feel like someones always holding my hand or giving me hugs.  I'm glad I'm with the younger class they're a lot sweeter.. not like the crazy 5 year olds.  After this they got ready to leave.  The teacher went over to Maxine and felt his forehead.  Guess he felt really warm - my bad for not noticing.  She took his temperature and turns out the poor little kid was sick!!! Aww!! All of them are sick.  Constant coughing and runny noses.  

After school came home and had lunch.  I had some potato salad-type dish.  Its potatoes, tomatoes, onions, tuna, hard boiled egg, a little fish, a little lettuce, and oil and vinegar. Soooooo gooood!!! I need to have señora write down her recipes before I leave!  She also made me spaghetti with a creamy sauce.  I went on the roof and worked on my presentation - its so nice up there.  Then had class.  I did my presentation with Kirsten on how to teach Spanish using the communication-focused method.  I actually enjoy presenting now especially in Spanish.  After that I had my teaching development class.  The whole time the teacher went over how to teach english grammar.  I'm really mad at myself for not choosing to teach high school.  It was really stupid.  Teaching little kids is fun but its not beneficial.  And when my teacher comes to observe, how is that going to work? We´re supposed to make lesson plans and stuff.. but their day is always the same.  Like what happens when they do activities like coloring? They do that stuff everyday I can't change that.  And I want to actually be teaching.  The kids are sooo cute I love them but I shouldn't have picked 3 year olds just for that reason.  The only benefit I see to this, besides that I love working with the little kids, is that they only speak Spanish. The teacher speaks English, but the kids don't.  I feel like with the older kids they only speak English.  Whatever I guess we´ll see.

Yesterday wasn't every eventful.  Had cooking class in the morning.  Then hung out at home for a bit, napped on the roof.  Went to arts and crafts.  The little kids were making Indian head thingys with feathers.  I got attacked by Sergio.  He literally wouldnt let go of me.  If I walked away he´d run over and say "No te vayas! No te vayasss", which means dont go.  Hes an odd kid.

19/2/2012

Friday morning left for Granada at 8:30 with our whole TDP group.  Slept almost the whole 3 hour ride there.  Got to Granada, checked into our hotel, and got ready.  Then we had lunch in the hotel.  Hotel lunches are always so good.  There was a buffet.  Enough said - I ate a ton.  Hadda try a little bit of everything ya know?    We then went to see la Alhambra and Generalife.  Generalife is an old royal city that the Muslims built in Granada, and la Alhambra is the palace (I think). I had been there before when I came to Spain, but it was different than I had remembered.  It was really pretty, but would be a thousand times better in the spring because a lot of it is gardens.  Still really cool though.  The view of Granada from la Alhambra was really cool because it's on a mountain so you look down and see the city.  The security at la Alhambra was intense.  They were everywhere, and you had a ticket with a time on it, and you had to enter at that time, and you could only stay in certain parts for a certain amount of time.  And they would scan your ticket at different doors.  My cooking teacher came to Granada with us and she was our tour guide.  She's awesome - really funny and she really knows her stuff.  It was actually interesting to learn.  Very different from when I came to Spain my junior year in high school and didn't  pay attention to any of the tour guides.  After la Alhambra we walked down the mountain.  Granada is just so pretty.  It's a cool city that's easy to navigate - we were only there one night and we found our way around no problem, where as we still get lost in Sevilla sometimes - and there are mountains in the background everywhere you go.  Then we had some free time.  Got some helado and walked around.  Went back to the hotel, took a siesta, and got ready.  We played some cards in one of our hotel rooms and drank some wine.  Then we went to get tapas.  CIEE gave us each 10 euro for tapas.  In Granada it's common to get a free tapa when you order a drink, so it was really cheap.  The place we went had mostly sandwiches - it was pretty good.  We then were going to a bar but we saw a place that had falafels.  Two of the girls - who had just ate - decided they wanted falafel.  It's crazy, I think I eat a ton, but some of the girls here eat even more than me.  It's great though.  Anyways so we hung out at some hippie bar while they ate.  Then we hung out outside because we saw a fire lamp.  We huddled around that and met some people who offered us food.  They had ordered drinks and gotten free tapas that they didn't want.  So we ended up eating more.  It's crazy we have been looking for bagels since we got to Spain, and these tapas had bagels! They were little ham and cheese bagel sandwiches!  Soo good.  I was so full but I had a few bites.  There were fries with aioli sauce too.. I couldn't resist!  That's really popular here - potatoes with aioli.. I love it.  I didn't drink much but we hung out there for a bit.  Then we went to a bar for a little while because it was pretty chilly out.  The next day we got up early and took a walking tour of the city.  It got a little boring and tiring but I love the city.  We stopped at the top of a hill at a spot where you can look out at the city.  There were a bunch of hippies (apparently there are a lot in Granada) that had blankets set up selling jewelry.  They made it right in front of us it was really cool.  I wish I had bought something but I didn't notice til we were about to leave.  We were walking down a little street and we stopped at a little door.  It had a sign that said "Hay dulces artesinos" (There are artisan pastries).  My teacher rang the bell, and we waited.  Then we heard a lady say something and we had to say some weird phrase back.  We opened the door and there was a lazy susan type pantry.  Then my teacher said she wanted to see what pastries they had today.  So the lady on the other side, who we couldn't see, put pastries on the shelves and spun it around.  They told us the prices and people bought whatever they wanted.  It was so weird!  Apparently it was a monestary and that was a nun.  It was really cool.  After we had a quick tour of a cathedral and then got more free time.  We went to a artistan market.  It was awesome!  There were a bunch of tiny little shops packed with cool stuff - kind of like a flee market but everything was hippie type stuff.  Just like awesome jewelry, cool decorations.  I bought a pink yellow and orange wall hanging with elephants.  We hung out in the sun for a bit, and then went back to the hotel.  Another buffffet! Ate wayyy too much again.  Slept on the bus ride home.  Relaxed that night.  Today I woke up and met up with Kirsten to work on a project for our teaching class.  Then went to the river with Kimby and Sarah.  It was so nice out.  We walked along it and then laid down by the water and tanned.  We've been speaking only in Spanish since Friday, when we began our pact.  Whoever loses (lose by giving up - if you forget and speak in English by accident it's fine) had to dress up weird and do karaoke sober.  It's been going really well though.  So today we were playing a game where someone thinks of a word and the other two have to guess it.  There are some weird rules to it and it's more complicated then just guessing a word but it was a really fun game.  It's confusing to explain so I'm not even gonna try.  It's helpful to practice Spanish though.  Gotta keep getting better!

16/2/2012

Today I had my second day of teaching.  Took the bus - this time I managed to get there without getting lost.  There were some new kids there today.  A lot of them are sick - runny noses, coughing - so a lot were missing everyday (today 10 were out- there are 27 total).  So they did the whole come in from recess and sit with their heads down.  Then after a few minutes they dance around and say "Good morning!".  Right when I got there a little girl named Blanca came up and hugged me.  It's so cute.. they'll just run right at you and hug you around the legs, since they're so little.  So they went through a similar routine as yesterday.. the English monkey comes out and sings with them, then they sit on the ground and the teacher has a helped and they describe the weather (sunny, cloudy) and hang it on the wall, the date, day, etc, all in English.  It's impressive how much they understand.  The teacher, Elena, talks in English the whole time.  They practiced the fish and frog vocab, and she had each kid come up and she'd ask them to pick the card, the four were laid out on the ground, that was "jump" or "fish", etc.  Then she would have them close their eyes and she'd take a card away and ask which one was missing.  It was surprising how well the knew the vocab.  Then the kids went to their tables to color a fish with crayons.  The teacher asked what color the fish was.  They all replied "naranja", but after she told them to say it in English, they'd say orange.  She had a few of them go around the room and point to something orange.  So Blanca had been holding my hand the whole time, and she wanted me to sit next to her.  But then Alicia, Coral, and another girl decided they wanted me to sit next to them.  "Ponte a mi lado!" (Literal translation: "put yourself at my side!") And they were quite demanding.  I kept moving around and then another one would ask me to sit next to them.  They started a chant and were banging their fists on the table.  Blanca was just sitting there, watching and smiling.  So I asked her what I should do.  And she calmly said to them "Ella no puede sentarse a todos vos lados.... Ya esta. Acabo"  I couldn't understand all of it, but she told them that I can't sit next to all of them...(something else).. That's it. Over.  All in a sweet little voice.  She's very intelligent for a three year old.  She had pigtails in today and one kept falling out so she'd run up to me and I'd have to fix it.  She's adorable.  I learned all of the kids names, for the most part.  It's pretty easy because they're all very different.  One girl, Reyes, is always miserable.  Sometimes she'll smile but she won't participate in the activities and she lays on the floor a lot.  Today she got dragged out by her feet and Elena was saying "Everyone say bye to Reyes!".  I don't know where she went, but she didn't return.  So after they colored their fish, they went out to the playground again.  The other class of three year olds were out there too.  The kids were running around.  Then the teacher told them to show me "the Monkey Song".  So they sang and danced to "5 little monkeys jumping on the bed". So cute!  The teacher of the other three year old class, who is a temp, was talking to me.  Her English is pretty poor.  She and Elena were saying how badly they want to go to the US - to Boston, New York.  Then they were talking and the other teacher, whose name I forget, asked if we could hang out so she could practice English and I can practice Spanish.  She said she lives close by and I can go with some friends to hang out with her and my teacher.  Hopefully I can find time for this, because I packed my schedule pretty tight.  But this would be perfect.  It's hard to meet Spanish people - especially girls.  Plus they're teachers so they can give me advice and stuff (they're young - maybe mid to late 20s).  During recess I witnessed a lot of crying.  After we went inside and they got ready to leave.  They sat on the floor and Elena had me put police stickers on all of the kids (the police visited the school today).

Gonna finish this later..

15/2/2012

Yesterday was my first day teaching.  I had to be there at 12, so I left my apartment around 11:15, which is a little on the early side.  Our director had taken us there before, but the bus stops aren't marked clearly, and I ended up getting a little lost.  I made it there just in time.  I was talking to the other girl from my TDP group and she offered to take the 3 year olds, so I agreed.  Then when we walked in, one of the teacher's of the 3 year olds said I was with them, so I ended up going into the classroom where I had volunteered the day before.  However, the class was a bit different.  I guess the volunteering I did was a mix of 3 and 5 year olds since it is an extracurricular activity.  The classroom is pretty big, with six tables of about 6 seats, in the middle, each a different color.  I was immediately glad that I got the three year-olds.  They were so little and cute!  They had just gotten back from recess, and the teacher shut the blinds and played some calming music.  They were in their seats and were supposed to sit there with their heads down.  The teacher gave me some stickers and asked me to put them on their shoulders if they had there head on the desk.  After they calmed down for a few minutes, the teacher brought out her "English Monkey".  She played some song about the monkey, and the kids danced around the room and each got a kiss from the monkey.  They had to say "Hello Monkey" and they sang along with the song.  Then she introduced me to the class and asked them to say "Hello teacher Danielle". Their accents are so cute!  Today's lesson was about frogs and how they jump, and fish and how they swim.  She showed the kids pictures and had them repeat the words, then jump, and then run around the class pretending to swim.  One of the little girls, Alicia, kept running up to me and hugging me.  She had cute little curly pigtails- she's adorable! Then the teacher had them seat in their seats, and Alicia grabbed my hand to sit next to her.  The teacher played a little video about fish and frogs, and Alicia wouldn't let go of my hand the whole time.  Then each table (there were only four there that day) got something to work on.  One had puzzles, another blocks, one coloring, and another cutting paper.   I tried to make it around to all of the groups to check on them, but the little girls at Alicia's table kept coming over and telling me to come to their table.  So I would go over there, and most of the kids were playing nice, but this one little girl, Coral, kept seeing other kids play with puzzles, and then she'd take it from them.  Coral is really cute - white blonde hair, which is surprising for a Spaniard.  My friend Nicole lives with her and her Mom.  She actually just switched out because she did not like the mother, apparently she's crazy.  Coral can be really sweet, but she also seems bratty.  At arts and crafts the other day she kept jumping on me and hugging me.  And she was rubbing her finger on my eyelid, trying to take my eyeshadow off and put it on her own eyes- it was adorable.  Anyways, so I had to mediate the little kids sharing issues.  Luckily I heard one of them say something about "compartir", which means to share - a vocab word that I had forgotten.  So I was playing with the little kids and their puzzles, and if I went over to check on one kid two seats away, Alicia would say "Ven aqui a mi lado" (come sit next to me!).  So I would go over and talk to her, and another girl would ask me to come sit next to her.  It was tiring!  I feel bad when the little kids talk to me and I have no idea what they're saying.  I smiled a lot, and just said yes to everything.  Some of them were really cute about it - the understood they should talk slower, but I still wasn't getting some of it.   They're soooo cute though I had so much fun.  Over at the block station there was a little boy who I love.  He is so smiley- he just kept coming up to me, not saying anything, and just smiling.  He has the biggest, cutest smile and he's missing some of his teeth and it's the cutest thing ever.  I hung out with him for a bit.  He had made a structure out of leggos that was almost as tall as him, and for the whole 45 minutes that they were playing with the leggos, he was walking around or sitting there holding it.  I asked him, in Spanish, what color is this(pointing to the yellow leggo) and he said "yellow" with a little Spanish accent.  It's impressive that at three years old they already know some English.  The kids cleaned up, and then got ready to leave.  Before they left they sat on the floor and listened to a story.  It was a little book about Peter Pan in Spanish.  One of the little kids gave me a flower that they had made before they left.
So overall, the little kids are SO cute (in case you didn't get that from reading what I just wrote), and so much fun! However, today I woke up and met with my teaching teacher, Luis.  We do this once a week for forty five minutes to discuss how teaching is going, any questions, concerns, etc (he's an awesome teacher).  He was explaining to me how we're going to learn about English grammar, so that when we teach, we'll know what we're doing.  I kind of feel like I should be teaching secondary, or at least primary.  The little kids are awesome but I want to actually be teaching not just playing games.  I am going to learn a lot from working with little kids (especially about patience and dealing with isseus) and I do love it. So we'll see.
Back to yesterday..
After teaching I went home, had lunch, and then met up with Holly (a TDP girl) and Nicole.  We were working on a project for our teaching development class.  The three of us (we all teach infantil) had to teach the peers in our teaching development class, about how to express wants and needs.  So during class we were the first group.  I brought my stuffed dog with me, and explained to the class, in English, that we were going to discuss what the dog wants, and what he needs.  Nicole and Holly each explained what one of the words meant.  We then held up pictures of different things a dog may want or need (example toys, food, water, to go to the park), and asked the students to repeat the word, and then went around the room, asking each student about a different word - if the dog wants it or needs it.  They then had to come up and put it on the board under "want" or "need".  Afterwards we went through and had them repeat the words one more time.  After that we handed out a piece of paper with a  picture of a dog at the top - half was labeled "want", the other half "need".  We had them draw a picture of something the dog wants/needs, and then we went around asking them what it was, and writing the word underneath it.  This exercise was very helpful.  It gave us the chance to utilize what we saw in the classroom (a lot of repitition and visuals) and practice making a lesson plan.  Plus it was funny teaching our peers as if they were 3 years old and don't know any English.
After class all of the TDP group, minus two, went out for Nicole's birthday.  We went to a little pizza place.  Got margarita pizza, bacon pizza, and veggie pizza.  All very good.  Went out for a little after, met some kids from France and Belgium ( where the speak French - I did not know ).  It's really cool how many people you meet from different places here.
Today I met with Luis at 10, and then had class at 11.  We got to taste test olive oils.  It took up the whole hour and a half - awesome! The teacher came around and gave us bread, and three cups.  She filled the first one with olive oil arbequina.  We had to describe what it looked like (transparency, density, clean or dirty, color) and then how it smelt.  Then we had to take a sip of it and describe it, then taste it with bread.  We did it together as a class.  The second was picnal, and the third hojiblanca.  The first was my favorite.  Went home afterwards, had left over paella and pork with a cream sauce for lunch.  Took a nap, went to flamenco class.  The class is kind of weird.  We take notes, but it's really different taking notes about the history of a dance.  And she plays songs and videos of different kinds of dances - but they're all so similar.  Came home, had dinner.  It was some soup that was okay, and a turkey sandwich that senora totally burnt (I'm talking like black bread).  She was like if it's not good I'll make you another one! But I just ate the inside because I was hungry.

13/2/2012

Today, woke up at 8:00 for hiking! Crazy.  I'm not a hiker.  But my friends were going, and the group that went a few weeks ago said it was pretty, and well,  I knew it wouldn't kill me.  So we met up, had a two hour bus ride to el Cerro del Hierro (hill of iron).  We got there, and it was freezing.  I had bundled up though so once we started walking it wasn't too bad.  It was nice to see landscape again with trees and grass, as opposed to the city.  The tour guide we had was really funny, and we'd stop every once and a while and he'd tell us about different plants or animals.  We saw some goats and some sheep.  We walked for a few hours, stopped and had lunch on a hill, and then walked for another maybe hour.  The first past was mostly woods, and the second half was wide open fields.  Really pretty.  Talked to Kimby, Nicole, and Sarah most of the time.  There were about 50 students all together.  Then we go to the end (we had made a big circle), and I was excited that I had made it.  But then he told us we were going to walk a little further to a mine.  Okay, I could go a little further.  Ended up being another hour!! I was exhausted.  It was worth it though.  The mine was really cool.  I won't try to explain it because I really can't - but I'll put the pictures on Facebook.  After a long day I was excited to get to the bus and rest.  I was starving - I had a little sandwich and an orange for lunch - so when we got back we went and got churros with chocolate.  Came home and just relaxed the rest of the afternoon.  For dinner I had pizza that senora had bought at a place nearby..it had ham and artichoke - it was so good.  So nice having real pizza again.  And I had some left over soup made with white asparagus.

Today I had cooking class.  We learned about olive oils - and next class we get to have a taste test of different kinds.  Then I came home, had lunch - homemade tortilla again! My favorite.  Then I went to my first day of volunteering.  I chose to do arts and crafts with little kids - and it turns out it's at the same school where my teaching is, in one of the classes I may be teaching (I'll find out tomorrow).  So I went to CIEE to meet the person who would bring us to the school.  I met a girl who was also going, from Minnesota.  She was really nice- and she spoke in Spanish! Which is really nice because a lot of the Americans here speak English..and in case you didn't know, I need to practice!!! So we took the bus to the school ( really easy ) and went into the classroom.  The teacher is really nice.  We basically each got a table,  I had two, and talked to the kids and made sure they knew what they were doing and helped them out.  They were making hearts and flowers for el dia de San Valentin.  The girls were mostly shy, but the little boys were full of energy and really goofy.  One of the boys kept giving me the heart and flower he made and asking me to be his "novia" (girlfriend).  I was sitting on the floor letting one of the little girls play with my hair, and next thing I know I have eight kids jumping on me and giving me their hearts and flowers.  They were so cute.  It's hard speaking to them though. Firstly because it's so loud in there, and the little girls speak so quietly.  Secondly, I  don't know how to say "Stop hitting him" "Stop kicking her" and "Don't put that in your mouth".  It's a good chance to practice the command form of verbs though.  Anyways, it was so much fun.  I can't decide if I want to work with this class for my teaching, so I get to know them all even better, or pick another class to change it up.  If I can get the class of five year olds (which all three of us want- and there's only one) I may do that.

10/2/2012

Today was the trip to Italica, some Roman ruins about 15 minutes from Sevilla.  We were meeting at 10, so I set two alarms- one for 8:58, and the other for 9.  When the first went off I shut it off, knowing I had a second one.  Well, apparently the second was for 9pm.  I woke up at 9:56, and had to meet everyone a 15 minute walk away.  I almost didn't even bother, but I got dressed really quick and bolted.  Grabbed a cab in front of my house, and made it there by 10:05.  I'm so glad I made it because it was awesome! So Italica was a city that the Romans built in 205 BC.  When the Muslims took over the city was eventually abandoned, in the 12th century.  The first thing we saw was an amphitheater.  It was so cool - like a mini version of Rome! (which I will most likely be seeing in April!).  Only part of the walls are intact, and some of the hallways were too.  Then we walked around and saw some houses.  There were only floors and some columns - but it was interesting to see the floors.  They were all mosaics with different designs. I put pictures on Facebook.  After Italic I went to the park because it was nice out.  It's five minutes from my house, and really pretty with fountains, palm trees, and orange trees everywhere.  I read Spanish Cosmo and just kind of people watched.  A lot of dogs and a lot of little kids.  I love hearing little kids speak Spanish it's so cute!  Then I came back, got my laundry from the roof, and hung there for a bit because it was still sunny.  Then I came down and got a package from my Mom (thanks Mom!!!!).  She sent me some cookies, Valentine's day candy, a box of chocolates- one for me and one for senora, some socks, and a necklace with a palm tree on it.  So nice to have Spitzbubens :)  I then went to meet Kirsten and we got frozen yogurt.  And we ended up shopping.  The clothes here are just so cute and the stores are little and are having crazy sales right now.. I just can't help it.  I stopped and bought a book on the way home too - something about a girl living in a city figuring her life out.

11/2/2012

So last night I went out with Kirsten, Kimby, Nicole, and Sarah after dinner.  I wasn't feeling well, but we were going to karaoke so I couldn't turn that down.  We went to a few bars, then a pizza shop where the owners were very nice.  We hung out there and played with their dog and talked to some Spain women that were hanging out there.  Then we went to karaoke.  Unlike a lot of places here, it was all Spanish people.  Since we already stood out, we decided to sing "Party in the USA".  We were typical, stupid Americans, but it gave everyone a good laugh.  After we went up two men from.. I don't remember, somewhere in the Middle East came up to us and were like "You speaky English? I need practice! Want to learn!!"  Haha reminded me of me.  Pathetic.  After karaoke Kirsten and I left.  Went home, went to bed.  Woke up around 10:30 and went to breakfast with Kirsten.  Got a tortilla espanola bocadillo (sandwich), and then did some more shopping.  Went to el Corte Ingles, a popular department store in Spain.  Then came home, showered, and went to the park and read.  I got tired, so I laid down on the bench, in the sun, and fell asleep.  I opened my eyes to see palm trees over my head and the sun poking through.  So pretty.  Went to a cafe and read a bit more and got some fresh squeezed orange juice.  Then met up with Kirsten and planned our next trip.  It took us 3 hours but we did it!  Venice, Rome, Istanbul, and Brussels for under 300 euro!! So exciting.  Andd we'll make it back for the last two days of the Feria de Abril in Sevilla.  Exciting! Anyways, I should go to bed.. I'm going hiking in the morning. Gonna be pretty, just hope the whole hiking up a mountain in the cold thing will be worth it!!

9/2/2012

Today, woke up around 9:45.  Luckily my phone hadn't completely died yet, so my alarm still worked.  Met at CIEE and took a bus to our school placement.  There are about 8 of us at this particular school, called Colegio de las Irlandesas.  We have to take a bus there - but it's not difficult.  There's a bus station right near my house, and the bus comes every ten minutes or so.  We got there for a tour, and the first thing the lady showed us was the infantil section.  The school is a small building, and when you walk in infantil has its own area to the right, and the other grades are to the left.  So we walked down the hallway, where there were two rooms of three year-olds.  They have long windows, and there were a bunch of little kids looking out at us.  They we soooo cute! They were giggling and waving.  Then we walked into one of the classes, got introduced to the teachers, who were young and very nice.  The teacher asked, "They're from the United States, what do you say?" "Hellllllo!".  They were adorable.  Then we went upstairs to see a class of five year-olds.  They were a little more outgoing, and some would say "hello" to us.  One little girl asked me "De donde sois?" (Where are you guys from).  I said "los estados unidos", and her face lit up and she looked at her friend, shocked.  Then we were leaving and a little boy ran up to me and blew me a kiss.  The kids were adorable.  I was no longer worrying about teaching the younger kids.  I'm sure it will be a lot of fun.  But, then we visited the other section - primary and secondary.  The younger primary kids were cute, but I'll definitely have more fun with the little kids. The only thing is I feel like I'm going to be playing with the little kids as opposed to teaching them.  We'll see.  So after Kirsten and I walked around because I needed to find a post office.  Then came home and had lunch.  It was a chick pea stew that was really good, with fresh bread and a salad with kiwi and apples.  Then I had my two teaching classes.  I was exhausted and they dragged.  And the first class, methodology, was horrible.  First off, I hate teaching classes (for the most part), because they make you do group work, and pointless activities.  The teacher laid out a bunch of paper throughout the class and we had to read them, then answer a true and false questionnaire.  It's just annoying.  And then we got into groups and were assigned a topic to discuss.  We then switched groups and taught our new group members about our topic.  Stuff like that is just annoying.  I'd rather sit there and listen to the teacher talk so I don't have to move.  But anyways, the topic was really hard too.  Big words, and in Spanish.  We were learning about linguistics.  Just boring, hopefully it gets better.  The next class was okay, we just learned more phrases the whole time.  The teacher is entertaining but I was too tired.  Came home and ate dinner.  Senora asked me to help her.  I toasted some corn tortillas while she made a tuna salad.  As I was watching her make it I was kinda grossed out.  She put tuna from a jar in oil with mayo and lettuce - fine, not a huge fan of the tuna, but whatever.  But then she put pineapple in.  I didn't think I would like it, but I was so hungry I didn't care.  It was delicious!  I think she uses different kinds of tuna- some from a can, and maybe some fresh? Well I like this kind.  And the pineapple tasted really good with it.  I also ate a little chorizo and cream cheese sandwich.  Then we watched a show that had people on it performing typical songs of Carnivale.  There were a bunch of older men dressed up like women and babies, singing corny songs.  I did not like it- and made me rethink my trip to Cadiz for Carnivale.  Creeepy.  Then we ate Natilla, which is vanilla custard, with cinnamon.

8/2/2012

Yesterday, Tuesday, woke up around 930 and went and met up with Kirsten.  We went shopping - she needed notebooks and I needed a binder.  We shopped for a bit, came home, and had lunch.  I had this wicked good.. I don't really know what to call it.  It was a mix of veggies - zucchini, green peppers, onions, some crouton-like things, with an egg over easy in the middle.  I took a picture of it, but right now I can't put it up because my phone charger is broken!! (Figures, my boyfriend and mother both sent me packages this week and my charger breaks today!)  But anyways.. it was delicious.  After I ate I hung out for a bit, then had my first two teaching classes.  The first one is Methodology of Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language.  The teacher is so nice.  Teaching teachers are always the same.  They are very nice, easy going, and run classes in a similar manner (group work, lots of open-ended questions with "no right answers", lenient).  So basically for this class we will be learning how to teach.  My class is all girls and they all seem very nice.   The next class was my Teaching Development class.  This class is the whole TDP group.  The group  kind of split off into two smaller groups, so it was weird being all together again, as we hadn't seen them for a while.  We had met the teacher briefly in orientation- he's awesome!!! I already learned a lot in the first day.  He gave us a packet he made called "Survival Spanish" with a lot of common sayings, misconceptions, and useful words and phrases for Spanish teachers. He is so enthusiastic and makes us feel very comfortable - which is important seeing as we will be teaching our own classes and none of us have experience.  I'm beginning to regret choosing 3-5 year olds because I feel like I would more enjoy teaching an actual class.  How do you teach 3-5 year olds English?! I feel like they're just going to be running around screaming the whole time.  Oh well.  After class, came home and ate dinner (left over pizza, salad with kiwi and tomatoes, and half a chorizo and cream cheese sandwich).  Then I skyped with Sarah and Nicole and we planned our trip for our first week off in April!  So the first weekend of the vacation my Mom and stepdad will be here, and we're going to Austria.  From there I'm flying to London, and going to meet up with Sarah and Nicole.  I'll spend Sunday night-Wednesday morning in London, then go to Dublin from Wednesday-Saturday morning.  We'll have all day Saturday and Sunday in Sevilla to experience Semana Santa!  So after we planned everything it was already midnight, and I realized I had 90 pages of reading!!! Ridiculous!!! And even worse, the way it was scanned online, the whole thing was sideways.  I was up til 4:30 doing it (I may have spent some time on Skype).  Today I had my cooking class again.  Just listened to her talk the whole time- it was pretty interesting.  After class I met with my intercambio.  We went to a cafe and ate.  I had a little "ensalada" sandwich (basically potato salad) and fresh squeezed orange juice that was wicked good.  My intercambio told me he failed his english test on future simple tense.  He then asked me about it, and I really have no idea to explain it because I don't know any of the gramatical rules.  I should probably learn that stuff.  We talked about cultural differences- meal times, movies (they watch American movies dubbed), weather.  He told me the weirdest thing about America that he's seen in movies - that the houses don't have walls or gates in front of them.  He said that every house here has a gate and multiple locks.  It just seems so crazy to him that we don't.  He said if the houses were like that here they would absolutely get robbed.  Then I came home, napped, ate lunch.  It was pork with blue cheese and another salad with kiwi, cheese, and tomato.  Then I did some errands and went to flamenco class.  The teacher lectured the whole time but it was pretty interesting.  After class met up with Kirsten, Michelle, Kimby, Nicole and Sarah, and went ut for Kirsten's birthday.  We went to a place and got tapas.  Well we got the plate sizes and shared.  The place was soo good.  We got spinach salad with goat cheese, walnuts and honey, fried potatoes with three different sauces- brava, blue cheese, and another I forget, tomatoes with cheese and oregano, some kind of meet in a fried ball thing ( I forget what it's called but it was really good), and fried rice.  I have pictures that I'll put up, but everything was awesome.  We then went to Huelva Ocho to watch free flamenco.  It worked out really well.  At 9:30 they have a show that you have to pay for.  Then at 11 they do it again, but it's shorter (so I don't get bored) because a student performs (only for a minute).  But the flamenco and the singing was awesome here.  Way better than the last time I saw it.  I took a few videos of it.  Really good.

Food 2

Delicious dessert.  Kinda like a huge Boston Creme Donut

 Pizza (a little burnt) and salad for dinner

My favorite thing in the wholeee world. Frozen yogurt @ Llao Llao with chocolate granola, fruit & dulce de leche sauce!

Tortilla espanola! Made by my senora.. soooooo goood! 

Tapas @ Huelva Ocho : Goat cheese & marmalade

Tapas @ Huelva Ocho : Pork w. wine sauce

This is what happens when senora is sick and he boyfriend makes me lunch! It was actually pretty good

Pollo con arroz (chicken & rice) This was amazing

Chicken & potatoes.  Delicious

Frozen yogurt at a place near my house - Yogurtlandia ( not as good as Llao Llao)

Nutella & wine  (delicious wine for 1,20 euro!)

all night churro stand near the river!

..you wanna die after you eat them. but they're reallly good

verdura & wine for lunch

tinto de verano

6/2/2012

So last night I met up with Nicole, Kimby, and Sarah and went to O'Neill's for the SuperBowl.  The place was packed.  They sold 300 tickets, and while the bar has both an upstairs and a downstairs, it was wayyy too crowded.  We got their about a half hour before the game, and there was no where to sit.  Downstairs was where the party we bought tickets for was.  It was packed.  Their was bench-type seating all around the wall, maybe four tables in the middle, and then a bunch of people standing around the sides and in front of the bar.  We grabbed the last piece of the bench, because it was under the TV-the only TV- so no one else wanted to sit there.  My friends ended up sitting on the floor, but I was able to see the TV so I stayed on the bench.  We got free beer, but it was a pain to get, and the cups were tiny.  They gave out free hot dogs at half time- the skinniest little hot dogs I've ever seen.  But, I had two, because.. the kitchen was closed so I didn't get my buffalo chicken!!! So lame.  Most of the people who were there we Giants fans.  One girl we were with was so obnoxious I really wanted to hit her in the face.  She was like "OMG I'm gonna cryyyy".  She kept standing up and getting in my way.  She was seriously annoying.  Needless to say I didn't care to see her and the rest of the Giants fans celebrate, so we ran out as soon as it was over.  Got home around 5. Skyped my boyfriend because he really needed me during this tough time.  So I ended up going to sleep around 6:30, and had to be up at 10.  It was rough.  Got up about 15 minutes before class.  Thank God I only live five minutes away or I have a feeling I'd never make it.  My first class was the cooking one.  Kirsten and Michelle are both in this class as well.  The teacher was very nice and she was pretty funny.  We introduced ourselves and went over the syllabus.  This took a long time as the class is big, about 27 students I think, and because we went over every detail of the syllabus.  For this class we're going to be learning about Spanish food and the Mediterranean diet.  While we will not actually be cooking, we will have several classes where we taste test different foods, including, olive oils, chocolates, pastries, and more.  After class, came home, and tried to sleep.   I couldn't fall asleep.  I think it was because I had sugar-flavored yogurt, and toast with strawberry jelly for breakfast.  I don't know how much sugar that is, but I felt shaky throughout my first class.  Finally I fell asleep though. Slept for two hours, then sat around and did nothing.  I was too tired today.  I needed rest.  Went to my next class at 7.  Another really nice teacher.  She couldn't get her computer to work, so we didn't see the syllabus.  But we did have our first lecture about Flamenco.  It was somewhat interesting.  I'm not a huge fan of history, and dates and all that, but it's about dance so it makes it better.  Also, Kirsten, Michelle and Nicole are in my class, so that's nice.  After class, came home and had dinner.  Senora made me pizza with tuna, some salami type meet, cheese- really good.  And a salad.  I love the salad here its amazing.  It's so simple but it tastes so good.  We've been eating in her living room - I'm not sure why.  It's much better though because it's right next to the kitchen, and there's a heater under the table.  The other room has a heating lamp that she puts in front of me, but it doesn't do as much.  With the one under the table there's a blanket and a table cloth over the table, and you lift that up and put it over your legs, and the heater keeps you really warm.  Watched the news with senora for a bit, then wanted to sleep.  But again, tried for about an hour, but I can't sleep!  Frustrating.

Also, I don't know what made me think of it, but yesterday I looked up teaching abroad.  When I started at Framingham I remember at orientation they gave us information about teaching abroad after you graduated.  At the time I thought it sounded cool and would like to do it.  Well CIEE has a program here in Spain.  So I was researching it and found a program in Sevilla for 8 months.  I was thinking I'd love to do that.  Then I decided to look at Chile.  One of the girls in my teaching program studied abroad in Chile last semester and loved it.  The teaching abroad in Chile has a 4 month or an 8 month option.  I really think I would like to teach in Chile.  It's just a totally different place than Spain- more adventurous, with pretty landscapes and a simpler life style, as opposed to a city.  I absolutely love Sevilla, but it would be nice to try something different. Also, the Spanish they speak there is the Spanish I would teach in the US.  That's a huge deal because the Spanish I'm learning here is a bit different grammatically, which may get confusing.  I just feel like this would be such a great opportunity - if I don't get a job right when I graduate.  If I did, I probably should just take the job.  But once I have a job as a teacher that's it.  That's the rest of my life.  I want to travel and take advantage of these experiences while I can.

http://www.ciee.org/teach/  <<That's the site in case you want to check it out.  I know it's not for another year but I'm already excited about it.

5/2/2012

Yesterday, I woke up late again.  I swear it's just because I'm still adjusting to the time difference.. Well I'll have to start waking up at a reasonable time this week, as our real classes start tomorrow.  I'm excited to finally start classes, and hopefully volunteering too.  I want to be busy and have things to do during the day.  So I woke up, had lunch.  It was the verdura soup again.  Then I met up with Kirsten and Michelle.  We walked around, stopped in Plaza Alfalfa at an Heladeria.  I got a crepe with nutella (it had a hugeee scoop of warm Nutella) and a scoop of Ferre Roche ice cream on top.  Literally to die for.  The place we went to was little- they gave us our crepes on half size "plates" with tiny spoons, and we took them and sat in the sun.  It was a little chilly but in the sun it felt nice.  Right now it's pretty cold for Spain.  Mid 50s.  Gross!!! I'm spoiled now.  This weather is horrible :( I never want to go out at night because it's freezing.  Next winter is gonna suck.  After this we went to the movies.  Saw "Jack y su gemela" (Jack and his twin- Jack and Jill in the US).  It was dubbed in Spanish without subtitles.  I understood almost everything, and it got a lot easier by the end.  The movie was dumb, and I fell asleep for like the last 10 minutes.  It was good practice though.  The movie theater was really cool- there were stores inside of it.  It had bleacher-like seating as well, which is always nice.  The movie was full-mostly kids.  It's weird to think that a dubbed movie is normal for them.  But most of the popular movies here are American movies.  I was also thinking today how it's weird that almost all of the music here is American as well.  I can't imagine everywhere in America playing music in another language- but that's what the people here are used to.  And everyone I've asked about it loves it.  After the movie I came back and ate dinner.  Had half a sandwich with cream cheese and salami, and a piece of chicken and a piece of beef on the side.  Then I just hung out here.  Today, slept late again- and THEN took a nap.  This cold weather is making me so lazy.  After I met up with Kirsten and walked around.  It's ridiculous how cold the apartments are here.  As soon as I stepped outside bundled up - I realized it was not nearly as cold out there.  Still chilly, but the apartment is freezing.  Especially when I'm sleeping.  I wear a long sleeve shirt, sweat shirt, fleece pants, long socks, and curl up in a ball.  I wake up in the night because my legs hurt from being curled up.  I put my hood on last night, and I almost put on gloves.  Not fun.  So Kirsten and I ended up getting frozen yogurt.  There's a big gap between lunch and dinner, so a merienda (snack) is common.  The frozen yogurt is sooo good, and I figure it's healthier than pastry, so why not?  This time I tried something different.  It's like a layered fruit/cereal/frozen yogurt thing.  So they put frozen yogurt on the bottom, a chocolate granola cereal, kiwi, mango, and strawberries, chocolate covered peanuts, dulce de leche sauce, more frozen yogurt, and then more dulce sauce.  It was amazing.  Then I came home, hung out, and had dinner.  Had half a turkey and cheese sandwich, and some soup.  Around 11:15 I'm meeting with some of the girls to go watch the Super Bowl at a bar called O'neils.  It's about a 20 minute walk.  I didn't eat too much dinner because.. THEY HAVE BUFFALO CHICKEN! I hope its good because I'm so excited to have some.  They have a lot of stuff that sounds good too.  And the kitchen will be  open all night! Go Pats!

3/2/2012

            Yesterday wasn't very eventful.  I woke up around 12:30, stayed in bed til 1 being lazy.  I ate lunch, drank some wine, and watched My Name is Earl in Spanish.  I found a pretty good channel that has shows like Two and a Half Men, the Big Bang Theory, and similar Spanish shows (all in Spanish though).  They also have the Simpsons, the Cleveland Show, and American Dad... but NO Family Guy!!!!!!! What kind of place is this?!?!?! Ridiculous.  But anyways, watching these shows in Spanish is great because first, they're dubbed so it's clearer than if they were actually speaking Spanish, and I know the characters, for the most part, and the context so it's easier to understand as well. After this I met up with Kirsten and Michelle before class.  We got frozen yogurt.  I discovered a place like five minutes from my apartment.. so pumped! Then had class.  After I came back for dinner.  So senoras still sick.  She has a nasty, nasty cough, and a fever and what not.  So I came home and she told me there was soup on the stove and I could make a sandwich.  Then she told me to come into her living room (there are two living rooms - one where we always eat and watch TV, and another next to her bedroom where she and her boyfriend hang out and watch TV, and I never go in).  So I put my food down and she moves it next to her.  Mind you, she's been in this room all week while shes been sick.  So while we're eating she was telling me how her neighbor made the soup since senoras sick.  She said that when the neighbor brought it over she had no voice- because she's sick too! Great.  So it's basically inevitable that I'm going to get sick as well.  I've been taking Zicam and airborne so hopefully it won't happen!  Anyways, for dinner I had verdura, which is a soup with a bunch of veggies, and there was some beef in it.  I had half a sandwich with cream cheese and salami.  Then I met up with Sarah and Nicole.  We walked across the river (pretty far- about 20 mins) to a bar called Long Island, because they have free sangria til 1.  So we got some free sangria.  The bar was mostly Americans, which is a waste of time, because they're obnoxious.  Typical, stupid, drunken Americans- not gonna help my Spanish.  When we were about to leave we met a group of Spaniards that were really nice.  Talked to them for a bit.  One was from Argentina and we talked about how different the Spanish here is, and how annoying it is!  After we left this bar we went to get churros.  They were so good, but I always feel like death after I eat them.  I should probably stop.  Then we took a cab to la Plaza de Alfalfa, which is a little over 5 minutes from my house.  We went into one bar there - ran into the Spaniards we had met earlier.  We only stayed about 5 minutes - didn't even get anything to drink.  The bar we went into was full of weird drunk people, and we were tired.

          Also yesterday I got my final schedule.  When I got it, all of the classes were correct, except for my cooking class, which I sort of expected would fill up quickly.  Instead I got put into the culture of gastronomy.  I was pissed! WTF is gastronomy?! So I googled it, and it means the art of good cooking.  So I was like, okay, fine, they at least put me in a class about food.  Then, I realized that I signed up for "Culture and Cuisine in Spain"-- the one they put me in is the Spanish name for it.  So I got all the classes I wanted!  I also found out about the volunteering.  It's Monday -  Thursday at 4, and it's helping 3-5 year olds with extracurricular activities.  I haven't found out about the teaching assistant thing yet, but if it will fit in my schedule, I would like to do that as well.

Today I met up with my intercambio at 3:30.  We went to a cafe.  I got a hot chocolate frappe thing that was really good.  My intercambio has helped me a lot.  It's such good practice talking with someone who will correct me and explain things to me.  We hung out there til I had class at 6.  That's 2 1/2 hours of constant Spanish speaking! Then went right to class, took my test- think I aced it!  I came home and realized that I forgot to turn in my essay!! Uh oh. I e-mailed it to my teacher so I'm hoping that's fine :/

        Senoras still sick and some of my friends were going out for tapas, so I opted out of dinner here.  Instead we went to a bar in Alfalfa that we went to the other night.  The people who work their are so nice and there are usually all Spaniards.  I got tapas - had goat cheese on bread with marmalade, pork w. a sweet wine sauce, and potatoes fritas with alioli.  All really good.  I didn't drink because I AM in fact getting sick.  UGH SENORA!!!!!  She did say that if I were sick she'd take care of me.  But STILL.  This sucks.  Anyways.. we hung out there for a bit, then went to another bar.  We met some Spaniards on the way.  They were probably the best we've met so far.  There were a few times I made errors and they actually corrected me -which is rare.  They said I speak very well.  Everyone keeps saying that but I don't know I swear they're just being nice!!  

1/2/2012

Today I woke up and went to the flamenco museum with my class. We got there, listened to some guy talk about flamenco and the traditions and stuff. Then we walked around. It was actually kind of cool. The first floor had a bunch of paintings, which usually bores me, but the styles of the paintings were really interesting. Most of them were part collages part painting. I actually liked it. The second floor was all interactive. There were life size projections of flamenco dancing, showcases of clothing, and interactive computers with info and stuff. Museums still bore me but this was definitely one of the more interesting that I've been too. After this I went back to Ciee with Sarah and Nicole and we planned a trip for our first week of vacation. We're not going to book it just yet, but the plan is Dublin, London, and Brussels.  It's like 200 euros to fly to all those places in total.  It cost me almost $1000 to fly to Spain from the US. Crazy!  I also booked a flight to Barcelona.. Even though it's in Spain it's 9 hours away in a bus so I had to book a flight. I'm going with Sarah and were going to meet up with my friend Sam- he's studying in Barcelona.  After this I came home, ate some left over chicken and rice, and took a nap.  Slept later than I had planned, probably about 2 hours.  I needed it though.  Did some homework, went to class.  Came back, ate a sandwich for dinner (senoras still sick), and yup that was my day.  Not very exciting.

31/1/2012

Well today I woke up, ate breakfast. I had a fresh sub roll that was really good, toasted it, and put cream cheese on it.  Missed cream cheese soooo much it was sooo gooodd!! I also had kiwi, yogurt, and chocolate milk.  I went to a volunteer meeting.  Wasn't too informative but I did find out I can be a teacher's assistant! I'm so excited I hope I get it.  Should have an advantage as I'm in the teaching development program.  Also found out there are opportunities to volunteer that are once a week that you commit to, or one time events, such as an upcoming one where they are painting a gym.  I'm going to try and volunteer as much as possible to A. practice my spanish, and B. because I've always wanted to but I never really have.  Except one failed attempt this summer to serve food to kids at summer camp, but there were too many volunteers and not enough kids.  Anyways..then, to practice my spanish, I went shopping.  I made sure and only bought stuff on sale (except this realllly cute spring jacket I found, but it was worth it!).  Then I came back for lunch.  Senora had told me she wasn't going to be here, because her brother is sick and she was going to visit him.  However, she was sick today, so she was still here.  She had left me some chicken drums and potatoes- it was soooo gooood! Like usual.  Then I went out with Michelle.  We got frozen yogurt and planned our trips- first one we booked was Paris.  Not to sound snobby, but I'm not all that excited because I've been there before and it wasn't that impressive.  I am excited to have planned a trip though.  We're going to book two more tomorrow, during the weeks we have off, and I'm planning a trip to Barcelona with my friend Sarah.  Other than that I'll just go on the excursions that CIEE offers as part of our program.  After this we had class.  Boring as usual.  I had to speak about an experience I had in Spain. So I talked about my trip to the Plaza de Espana. My teacher said I did very well! I also got an essay back.. got an 80 on it, which is supposed to be pretty good here.  Doing well so far!