December???

Whoa, it’s the 1st of December? When did that happen?

I don’t want blogging to become a weekly thing instead of a daily thing, but maybe it will. Things have really started to pick up…well…that or I’m adapting to doing nothing so I’m better at wasting time. It’s amazing how 12 hours of work turns into so much more. Lesson planning and executing and private lessons, as well as all the little projects I’ve been taking on leave me without much time or motivation to update the blog on a nightly basis, although I know I’ll regret it later if I don’t keep it up.

Today was absolute madness. I’m pretty sure it could be classified as a hellion rebellion. Really, it was hard to believe actually. Not only was today my long day but the kids were off the wall crazy. I think it’s because we’ve mixed up the routine a little and have started doing activities related to Christmas. I’ve been told that whenever they get to this point in the school year the kids just start to go nuts. At various points in the day there were desks overturned, kids screaming like banshees up and down the hallways, green paint up to their eyebrows and of course, tears. Heaven help me. It almost didn’t seem real. I was working on a mural in the hallway and all of this seemed to be spinning around me in a dream-like fog.

The third grade class was pretty typical. Read something out of the book, ask comprehension questions, do activities in workbook.

The sixth grade class we started the Christmas cards for Steph’s students. They spent the entire time coloring and we’re going to have to finish on Friday. I only have one class a week with the sixth graders but Sebas has 2 classes with them. I told him I could come in on Friday even though I don’t usually work so we could finish the activity and get them in the mail. The kids really liked this activity. Woo hoo!

After recreo I had my time with Antonio’s 4th graders. They were multitasking. Antonio had said that instead of doing a science lesson with me this week he wanted to do something related to Constitution Day (which is December 6th). I had started a mural in the hallway and brought in images of the different Spanish rights mentioned in the Constitution (not all of them, just the basics). The kids were supposed to color them so we could put them on the mural. Well, half the kids were in class being crazy, the other half were painting green egg cartons for the Charity Christmas Tree in the hallway downstairs and so really it wasn’t much of a lesson. The kids colored the pictures when they were in the room and I pasted them to the mural.

My last class of the day was with the 2nd graders. Oh goodness. What a way to end the day. My feet were aching and I just wanted to sit down. Inés and I went around helping the kids with one of their workbook activities about animals and body parts (sharks with big teeth, fish with big eyes, swordfish with long ‘noses’ etc, etc).

Thank goodness tomorrow is Thursday and my half day.

I went home, ate lunch and fell into bed. My feet and whole body hurt. I chatted with Maria briefly, then decided to take a 20 minute nap. Thank goodness. I certainly didn’t want to get up after only 20 minutes but it did make me feel better. Then it was back to school for the adult class. With my first group we ended up chatting for an hour. The plan is normally to chat for half an hour and then work on grammar for half an hour, but when we checked the time and saw that an hour had already passed we were shocked. Marta, the main teacher, pointed out that next week is “puente” (vacation) and the week after they have an exam, and the week after that Christmas break starts, so I don’t need to come back until after the 7th of January. Whoa! How’s that for an unexpected little break! After that I went to the other group and they were doing a listening activity. I felt bad for them because I even thought it was hard to understand at times because the accent was so thick! We chatted about our weekends, our plans for puente, and Christmas. At one point, all of a sudden, Fernando (the main teacher of this group) got this worried look on his face… “Erica! What are doing for Christmas??” Haha, staying here in good ol’ Siles. I assured him that a friend had invited me to spend the day with her family and that I would be ok.

Fernando’s last day of teaching in Siles is this week (tomorrow). He has been here basically as a substitute because the ‘normal’ English teacher was in a car wreck and on leave. I have never met her. Saturday Fernando and his friends are going out for one last hurrah, so I’ll probably join them. He said if I feel like going to the beach that I could visit him in Huelva. I assured him that after a winter in Siles I would probably need it!

Juan (one of my ‘pupils’) also invited me to go to Madrid for puente with him and his family. I thought about it, but I’ve been to Madrid already, so I think I’ll just stay in Siles for a few days to go out with my friends (including those who aren’t usually here) and then go to Ubeda and Baeza on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for a small trip. Originally I’d been thinking of going to Malaga and Cadiz but decided I didn’t feel like traveling alone in the rain.

Also, I found out last week at our Thanksgiving dinner that Ben and Eve have ginger in their apartment! Eve gave it to one of the teachers in my adult class, who passed it onto me…so this weekend…it’s pie baking time!

A few random side notes I’ve forgotten to mention the last few days…

1.) I scheduled a trip to Murcia next month to visit Brittany and Roberto. I will be going there the 17th and coming back on the 19th.

2.) I bought my very first lottery ticket ever! It’s a Christmas lottery ticket…wouldn’t a few million euros be nice for the holidays! Haha