words

Back to the books teaching again is making me nostalgic to read Shakespeare, Hemingway, even Joyce again. I'm even really enjoying taking apart the structures of the language to teach them to my students. Translating has also been making me yearn to expand my vocabulary...so the linguist nerd that I am recently signed up for Miriam-Webster's e-mail word of the day. The e-mail is complete with a definition, examples of use, and a history of the word (my favorite part). I love it!

P.S. Another great word website is FreeRice.com. Challenge your vocabulary and earn rice to help the World Food Programme! Read more about it here.

Back to school

(Vineyards-La Rioja, Spain)

I've been lacking post ideas...I guess that's what happens in the first weeks back to school. Lots of planning and projects to get the year started right, and so far so good, even with the little ones (I have almost all kiddie classes this year-and I'm actually enjoying it!-time to buy a halloween apliqué sweater?? jeje...). Until I think of something really lovely to post...here are a few ESL pages that I'm loving that may come in handy for any other language teacher out there! Enjoy...

Great, quick printable activities for basic kids vocab...seriously the easiest page ever in your in a rush: ESL-Kids.

And the cutest games, stories, and printables from the ever popular: British Council for kids.

And for adults or teens, this page is great for listening activities at all levels with pre-made quizzes: ESL Video.

Very exciting, I know! Do you know of any other fantastic online resources??

Ps: Aren't you excited for fall...capes, felt hats, boots, and scarves with apple pie, donuts, and falling leaves!

Go Giants!

Awesome! So happy for Kalamazoo Central High school! They are close to my heart-Kalamazoo was home for 7 years of college and my first years of teaching (My first years of teaching were at Comstock High School just next to Kalamazoo-miss you all at CHS!) How amazing that the president will be speaking at graduation! Can you imagine??!!

Everybody changes

We saw this as a part of a meeting at work on Friday about using music in the classroom. These kids from New York P.S. 22 are amazing-the swaying, the head bops, the chest hitting-they are really feeling the music! Tthe perfect song for life as a middle schooler, right? (Go to Youtube to see more like Bjork, The Cure, Coldplay...)

Working 9-5

Good news! I will be teaching straight through to Christmas eve! A few of my students want to make up classes they missed while I was in the states! So it may not be 9-5, but it´s something!

Also, since coming back from the states I´ve rediscovered the joy of hot Cola-Cao, Spain´s version of Nestle Quik hot cocoa without marshmallows. It´s the perfect balance of sweet, creamy, warmth that hits the spot on the cool mornings and afternoons in my apartment. Speaking of cold apartments, I brought back a clock that has a thermometer on it, and was quite impressed to see that the average temperture day or night in my apartment is between 53-58F(on a good day with all the heaters running)!! So, as you can guess hot Cola-Cao is very comforting. And about marshmellows, living in Mexico it was not easy to find them and when I did find them they were colored like the mexican flag at Waldos 11 pesos shop. But, they are easy to find here in Spain, candy stores love gummy candy and the marshmallows and provide marshmallows in various shapes, colors, and flavors...rice krispies are a little bit more difficult to find, but I dont think strawberry marshmallow rice krispie treats would really be that great.

VOTE!!

It's finally the day...and here in Spain everyone is eager for an Obama win. I have my fingers crossed too. The newspapers have Obama on the cover, the news channels are covering the voting process, and D and I watched a live feed of Obama and Michelle at the polls while we ate lunch. I'm not sure if there will be any election parties in the city tonight, more likely tomorrow with the time change we won't really know the outcome until late morning tomorrow...but while we are waiting, we'll toast some vino in hopes for change...

I'm also very busy this week with extra classes from an academia that called me to sub for an hour three days this week. I've had to rearrange my schedule a little, but all my classes are working out. Another good thing is that the families want to make up the lost classes for the time that I am in the states, so nothing will be lost there! After going to the academia, I can only say that I really really enjoy teaching my clases particulares. Having 6 5-6 yr olds in a room together is quite different that having one or two in their house. Tonight I'm teaching 11-12 year olds, so hopefully they aren't as squirmy. But, one good thing about teaching at an academia is meeting people to hang out with. It's never easy meeting people in a new city, and D has been great in introducing me to all his friends, and they have all been great at making me feel like part of the group, but it's always nice to meet new people. I've tried to sign up for gallego classes (they were full) and thought about taking art classes (still might when i get back from the little trip to the states) to open up the possibilities of meeting people, but neither of those options has worked out. But yesterday, the regular teacher at the school, a guy from England, was very nice and was saying how D and I will have to go out with he and his novia sometime...so maybe we'll be meeting more people soon. Everything works out with time, I've always known that, but these months in Spain are teaching me more and more. This is the first time I've really had to start from scratch in a city (compared to everyother time i've lived abroad being with study abroad programs), and although I've had my moments of thinking I'd never find a job, get papers, make friends, everything works out, it just takes time.

So ending on an optimistic note...lets hope things work out in the election today!

Places in the city...

It's a rainy Monday. More like a misty Monday. Here in Santiago it mists more than it rains, which makes it easy to be able to still be out and about despite the precipitation. I had a pretty busy morning, and luckily today all went well. For the past 3 weeks or so every errand I had to run turned out to be some headache with bureacracy, being sent to another office, being told my situation was beyond their control, etc, etc. But, it looks like the tide is turning a little (maybe being here now just over 2 months helps). I started the morning going to the bank, last time I went to deposit money I was charged without being told, 20.88 euros for something about being a non-resident. Since they didn't tell me I didn't realize I had been charged until the next day when I looked in my bank book. I went to the bank to ask about the charge and they couldnt tell me exactly what it was so supposedly they were going to get back to me. So today I decided to figure things out on my own by depositing some money in my account to see if they were going to charge me again, and then perhaps someone could explain the past charge to me. And today, I was told the charge was due to a request they have to make to verify my info in the US (it seems like the passport would verify my residency there, right?) and in fact 12 euros had been returned to my account from the 20 they had taken out (I would still prefer to have all 20 back, but this is a little bit of progress) and I was able to deposit money today with no hidden charges! So at least i got an answer and found out I won't be ridiculously charged every time I go to the bank because I am a non-resident.

After the bank it was on to the post office. You have to take a number to be helped in the post office, and it was quite a small non-elaborate place filled with people, so I admit walking in i was a little overwhelmed. But the guard helped me get a number, and I started waiting to see my number A202 on the screen. Person A201 never showed up, so the clerk thought, and put up my number, when suddenly person 201, who was at the wrong window, stepped in front of me. It's pretty common to be cut in front of in the Latin world, the idea of waiting in lines isn't looked highly upon, so with my prior experiences and due to the fact that she had the number 201 and was just a little lost, I decided not to lose my patience. But, when she left guy 200, who hadn't addressed his envelope and thus couldnt get his order done as number 200, stepped up to the window, and I started to get a little annoyed. But, in the end it all he had to do was send a letter and it took about a minute. Finally it was my turn, and the lady was really nice to me, seeing as I had waited extra time with 2 people going before me in my turn, and she helped me figure out the best way to send my letter, and in the end what I thought was going to cost at least 5 euros to send only cost 1.66!

After the post office I stopped at the supermarket to pick up some bread, and they had the barra rustica that I like and there was no line to wait in. I was pretty excited because usually getting bread aroung lunch time can be difficult as everyone has bought up the bread for lunch (ps...dont forget lunch time here is somewhere between 1:30-3:30, I usually eat at 2:30).

Then it was on to clases particulares with my two girls ages 7 and 9, and although my plans had to redone this morning when I realized my othe plans had not been printed (I don't have a printer so D prints things off for me at work), a little game I made at breakfast of go fish with clothing and colors was a hit.

So, even if it is raining, and even though it is a Monday, and even though I've been struggling with the craziness of Spanish government and bureacracy, today has been a really good day. Hope the week is starting off well for you too.

Ole, Ole, Ole

Wow...this week flew by and I haven't written a single blog. Well, las clases particulares are going very well, although hanging out with 5-10 year olds has got me sick with a stuffy nose again. But yesterday I met the new family I'll be teaching who lives in Milladoiro, about 10 minutes driving from Santiago. There is a bus I can take out for 1.25 euros, and it drops me off right by their house, so I'm going to use that and the lack of parking available in the area to keep putting off learning to drive the manual car on the real streets. The girls in the family were adorable, and were hugging and screaming and inviting me to the country house for the weekend to sleep on the sofa bed within 5 minutes of arriving. I'm spending an hour teaching them, and a second hour with their dad who is an English teacher who just wants to keep up his speaking skills, so we spent an hour talking about house swapping. Now that I have a place in Santiago I'm thinking I should sign up on a house swapping website. A week in Paris, Rome, or London, without having to pay hotel sounds pretty good to me!

But, it's the weekend again, and to get you all in the Spanish swing of things here is a little video I took in Santiago last weekend. It was about 4 am, and this is the place all the college kids hang out. The theme of the bar is Independentista, meaning that it is the place all the kids wanting Galician indenpendance, Catalan independance, Basque country independance from Spain hang out. The walls are covered with the national flags and pictures of heroes of the independance movements. But, the drinks cost a little more and are half the size of drinks at other bars, and when the Gipsy Kings came on, yes the Gispy kings, all the kids started dancing like they love all things Spanish...

(and the pic above is a house I found while I was wandering around, obviously no one lives there now. and in the video, pardon my camera work)

you say mercado, I say mercadillo

Today I went with my suegra to a little market in Santiago. It is not the typical European market you're imagining with cute fruit stands, and chickens hanging from every corner, but the mercadillo is a market of clothing and house goods in a huge parking lot, selling scarves, sheets, towels, sweaters, purses, shoes, stockings, etc. for good prices. I made out with 2 pairs of shoes for 5 euros each. Not bad. I've also been keeping busy learning that when you lose a receipt in Spain there is no Target policy that within 3 months they can look up the purchase with your credit card number and give you your money back, and also, when your phone is messed up and makes calls to information on its own, at the end of the month, you are responsible for the delinquent phone calls, booooooo.

In job news, teaching clases particulares is going well, although teaching kids is completely new to me. I have experience teaching adolecents and adults, so half the time I have no idea what I am doing with kids, but at least they haven't noticed or at least they haven't said anything yet. But, today I received another call from another academia in the city looking for an English teacher...I had to turn down the job, making the total 4 academias I have turned down. Seriously, if you are interested in moving to Spain to teach English, consider coming to Santiago de Compostela as it appears there is quite a shortage of English teachers, the cost of living is pretty low compared to Barcelona and Madrid, and it's beautiful. I'll show you the mercadillo when you get here too.

When it rains, it pours!

Unlike popular belief that in Galicia it is always raining, the weather has been extremely nice since I arrived, and continues to be except that everyday is a little cooler than the next. But, today I had my first double clase particular. It went really well, I had fun, and I think my students did too! Before leaving the mother gave me the name and number of another family who is looking for a tutor for their two children, which is great because really the only way to make it in the world is through networking. Along with that, I also received another job offer from an academia that wants to begin offering English conversation classes. The lady at the academia got my name from a friend and is hoping that I might turn down the job offer I have with another academia to work full time with her! So let's see, that makes job offer #4 in two weeks...if only working legally was less of a paperwork jungle. If only I were a citizen of the European Union...

El líder de una nueva generación

It's a beautiful grey day in Santiago. A perfect first day of October. The only thing missing in my apartment is a pumpkin, so to make up for it I bought a squash at the grocery store the other day. My little botanical garden is looking lovely. In the herbs, the boraja is blooming like crazy and the basil is starting to pop up too. I also finally started working. Until the papers go through all the way, I put up signs (well, so far I've only put up one, but I will put up more once I can walk around) for clases particulares and have recieved a few calls to teach kids and adults by the hour. I taught my first class yesterday and it went pretty well. It's a great way to really be immersed in Galician life. The mother picked me up and spoke only Gallego with me, and in the house I met Grandma and the other kids, and everyone spoke gallego. It's a fair trade, I'll teach them English, they can teach me Gallego.
In other news, the presidential campaigns of Obama and McCain is always on the front or the second page of the all the Spanish papers. The debate last week was being discussed for days after, and the vice-presidential debate tomorrow is also much anticipated. It's pretty obvious who Spain supports...