Nuestros Amigos en Plaza Mayor

Yesterday Carlos and I went for a walk to plaza Mayor. There are always lots of clowns, sparkly deer-faced creatures, invisible men, a Mickey Mouse, Sponge Bob, and even a fat Spiderman! I saw this group of girls gathered around the invisible man. They were staring at him, waiting for something to happen and I think he was waiting for them to slip some change into his pocket.

And here is our sparkly deer friend.

He made a clacking noise with his wooden mouth. Carlos had a stare off with him.

All the people in green shirts had taken part in a huge rally opposing new cuts and rules for the public education systems in Spain. The governments of several provinces have eliminated thousands of jobs and require the remaining teachers to work 2 hours more per day with more students per class. Teachers have been on strike for a while. Public school classes are often canceled. Carlos and I talked to one woman who had come up from Castilla La Mancha to take part in the National rally here in Madrid. She said while it might not seem like much to some, the two extra hours is a heavy burden on the students and the teachers. Since teachers often take work home they have more than two hours extra and with 30 or more students in a class it's often impossible to teach. Needless to say there were lots of parents and students at the rally too.

Here is our balcony. The lavender has passed away. Not enough water. Actually, a few of the plants were on the brink when I arrived, but with some more water and amor! they are vibrant again. There is even one little flower on the jasmine! I want to buy more plants. Maybe some succulents for inside the house. I want to create a jungle nook in the living room. 

Notice the GRE study book. Closed, sitting in the sun. I have less than a month before the exam and now I'm finally reopening the book!

Well, that's all for this entry. It's Sunday. I have a pumpkin to carve, class planning, GRE studying, and Carlos and I are returning to IKEA to get a couch. Oh boy!

Is anyone reading this?? Sometimes I wonder...  

La Cocinita!!

Here is our little kitchen. The ironing board isn't usually out. I actually have to iron some clothes for work. That's a first!

I was baking a meatloaf in the oven when I took this picture. It was ricisimo!! A lot of the furniture and cabinets in the house are plastic/ laminant. It seems most Spaniards buy IKEA furniture for their houses. It's super cheap and looks clean and new and then breaks. 

Tonight for dinner I made my favorite garbanzos and chorizo. It's so delicious and easy. Here's the recipe:
In a pot add:
-tomatoes (I use two cans of whole, peeled which is about 7 plum tomatoes)
-about a cup or so of water or chicken or veggie broth. Use more if you want it more soupy.
-1 jar of garbanzos already cooked
-half a head of a small cabbage, chopped up not too much
-a link of chorizo cut little 1/4 in thick round pieces. It's important to use good chorizo if you can find it!
-spices- I change it up, but usually use black pepper, a little cayenne, pinch salt

Serve with a soft baguette and lalala que delicioso!!!  Me encanta!!!

That's all for now folks!

La Bola del Mundo

Yesterday I woke early (well, early for living here and it being a Saturday) at 10:00. Carlos usually sleeps in til about midday. I walked a few blocks away to my favorite little cafe. It's also a used bookstore. The croissants there are delicious. The cafe has bohemian look on the inside with abstract-shaped mirrors on the wall and lamps with beaded fringe. It's a tiny place like most bars and cafes in this neighborhood.

Getting up before the sun is high and lots of people hit the streets is nice. The streets are less crowded and something about the energy, the air feels cleaner and less hectic. Lots of elderly people are out doing their shopping or going for a walk. Indian men are restocking their fruit stands and the Chinese are restocking their stores of super cheap stuff. Birds are chattering in the trees lining the wider streets. It's a nice time to take notice of these details.

In the afternoon Carlos and I went to visit his friend, Arturo, who lives just north of Madrid in the mountains. The mountain range is called the Cordillera Central. Central mountain range. It divides two parts of Spain. North of the mountains is a mesa, an area called Castilla Leon. South is Castilla La Mancha and Extremadura. We took a ski lift to the highest point in the mountains and hiked around for a couple hours. The north side of the mountain we were on was very cold. Air from the north whipped around us and snuck through our clothes. From the north side we could see Salamanca down below. From the south side, which was warmer as we were protected from the winds, we could see Madrid. I have to say Madrid looked a bit creepy. A big, sprawling city obscured by smog with it's 4 ¨fork¨ towers looming above everything else.

Up on the mountain there were a couple herds of sheep and cows. There weren't many trees. At the very top there were none. I'm not sure if that's because of the altitude or because they were all cut down long ago for pasture. I notice a forest in the distance below where the trees were growing in uniform lines. Arturo said that much of the area had deforested for pasture and now there are efforts to reforest the area. The trees seem to be mostly pine. I want to buy a plant/tree identification book and learn more about what grows around here.

A view of some forests. Here is Arturo and Julia, Arturo's German girlfriend.

Good morning, good morning and how are you today?

I'm fine, thank you. I'm fine, thank you. Lalalalala

This is one of the morning songs we sing in the little kid class. Primaria 1. Class of 5 and 6 year olds.

Here is Eoin (pronounced Owen), my fellow language assistant.

Well, I  just finished my first week of work. I'm tired and have another (surprise!) awful sore throat. I really think I need to get my tonsils removed. No one else I know (except Dorothy) has a sore throat this often. Once I get my insurance here (next week!!) I will look for a doctor who I could talk to about a tonsilectomy.

Anyway, enough about that!
The school- I am working with a wide range of age groups. I go to classes with kindergarteners and all ages up to 17. With young kids I am in the classroom with the teacher and usually I plan an activity for 10-15 minutes. Some teachers prefer for me to come prepared for activities for the whole class.
I like having the age variety, but it definitely requires more planning. If I had 3 age groups that repeated all week I wouldn't have much planning work, but since I have every age group, buff! (as they say here) it's more work. I'm sure with time I will get into a rhythm and I will know what works well. I'll eventually have a bank of good ideas. So far I am thinking- debate topics, working in pairs and doing interviews and then presenting to the class. Any other ideas? You can email me- sassa@riseup.net

I'm watching the news right now-
A bull fighter was caught in the head by a bull's horn. The bull got him just after he had shoved two long spears into his back. They showed it over and over again. He's in the hospital. Bull fighting has been outlawed in Catalonia. I wonder how long before the rest of the country follows suite.

Other news- In Castilla Leon there has been an increase in wolf attacks on domestic animal herds. The news channel showed an old farmer man with his cane and walking with his sheep. He circled a wolf track in the dirt.

A woman and mother of 3 children was able to keep her house from being taken over by the bank after a large group of protesters gathered outside her house for a few days. Not sure of the details. Then the news showed scenes of people chaining themselves to their houses and refusing to leave. The police were dragging them off or breaking into windows.

The economy is pretty bad here and seems to be getting worse. Lots of people are losing their houses. My friend Sergio just lost his job. His boss said they have to take measures to save money now in case the economy plummets again.

The PP, the ¨popular party¨ is gaining lots of support and are expected to win in the national election. It's the big conservative party here.

well, that's all for now.

If I feel better tomorrow Carlos and I will go to the mountains to visit a friend of his. I hope I do feel better. I already long to spend a weekend in a rural area and escape the city for just a bit!

Love to you all!
xoxo

Hahaha I just looked up the web site of my school and on the front page it mentions the two new language assistants. They seem to think my name is Shara. Oui vey!

  Here she is- the Sovereign!! This is in Villafranche, our first stop. We took a smaller boat to the port and then a train to Nice.

Here is Carlos (yellow shirt) and his brothers, from the left: Gonzalo, Miki, and Javi. This picture was taken in the port of Villafranche.

Here is a nice view of the port at Villafranche. Notice the giant Sovereign in the background! From here we took a train to Nice.

Here is our tiny room. No windows so it was easy to sleep forever.

The Vatican! Lots of beautiful architecture all over Rome. We did a whirlwind tour and were on our feet most the day walking from one site to the next. It was a hot day. There were thousands of tourist. Perhaps the most visited city in the world? Lots of nuns walking around. In the center of the city we meandered through narrow streets and came across a film crew shooting a scene with people in 20s style clothing. It was pretty wild to see Roman ruins in the middle of this city. Lots of different kinds of architecture all in one place. You really get the feeling that Rome was built upon other cities. All the ruins sites are below ground level.

Here is Natalia, Miki's girlfriend, Miki, and Javi. We're in some spacious, open plaza watching a lady feeding pigeons.

And here she is! The pigeon lady with her trusty bike packed full of bird food! We saw her later on in another part of the city. I love this picture. I changed it from color to black and white. It seems to have more feeling that way. I like how the wind is whipping her dress up.

Musicians in the plaza.

The entrance to the Pantheon. The Pantheon was originally built as a temple to all the gods of ancient Rome in 27 BCE. It's a circular, domed building with huge granite Corinthian columns.

A ruins site. Notice how it's below ground level.

The front of a specialty foods market in Naples. Here they sold tons of different kinds of herbs and dried peppers and cheeses and olive oils.
There were lots of pretty sites in Naples, but it was a dirty city. Lots of trash and grime. Apparently the sanitation workers have been on strike for a few weeks and we heard something about mafia disputes. There were large mounds of trash every where. Kinda yucky.

The medina in La Goulette in Tunisia. The medina is the older part of the city. All the walls are painted white and the doors and windows are blue.

A typical alleyway in the medina. I love the big earthen pots. I think only very wealthy people live in these neighborhoods. Our bus passed other areas where apartment buildings were crammed together and it wasn't so romantic-looking.

Last night on the big boat. We all watched the sunset and then got into the jacuzzi. My favorite spot on the boat was on the back, stern?, where I could lay back in a comfy chair and watch the water. A nice place to go in the morning before the ship was teeming with people.

Here is a map of the cruise route. 

El Ultimo Crucero!

My first blog entry!! Here we go....
I'm new to this whole blog thing. So, be patient while I learn how to make it more attractive and interesting!

I'm going to try and attach some photos from the cruise.

To catch you up if you don't already know, Carlos's Dad and his wife Elena invited me on their family vacation. This year they decided to take a cruise in the Mediterranean! The family included Carlos's three brothers: Gonzalo, Javier, Miki, and Miki's girlfriend, Natalia. We left from Barcelona and stopped in Villafranche (near Nice), a port near Florence, Rome, Naples, and Tunisia. It was pretty wild to stop in all three of these countries within one week. I think I was most taken with Rome. We were there for just 4 hours, but we walked the entire time, trying to fit in as much as possible. I'll tell you more about the places we visited later on.

The cruise ship was enormous! One of it's mottos was ¨todo incluido¨ (everything included). Every night we all sat down to a delicious, fancy meal. There was a theater where we went most nights to see the different performances including a magic show, Brazilian dancing, and a Michael Jackson tribute show. There were several restaurants and bars, a casino, a night club, a pool on the top deck, and fancy little stores. It was a sight!