Today was fairly relaxing. I went about my usual, uneventful day. I went to the gym, relaxed…really nothing exciting. The one thing I had planned was that I was possibly going to get together with Gloria at night.
Today was one of those days that unexpected, epic nights out occur. I started off at Menphys. Almudena, Maria, and a bunch of the other girls I had met on previous weekends out where there. They seemed surprised to see me. I was a little annoyed to see them…not because I didn’t want to hang out with them, but because I haven’t figured out why they don’t invite me to hang out with them. They always welcome me in if I happen to show up at a place where they are at, but they never call/text/tell me when they are going to do something. I’m not really sure what I have to do to change that. Anyways, I hung out with them for a little bit because Gloria wasn’t quite there yet.
It was my first night out with the new smoking laws. I’m glad the new smoking laws are in effect, but it doesn’t solve all the problems. The main problem I have is that I’m one of maybe half a dozen people in this town that don’t smoke. All the smokers seem to save up then all go outside at the same time to smoke together. This leaves me with two choices…stay inside by myself, or go outside with all the smoke. So much for getting away from the smoke!
I hung out with Gloria and her friend Elizabeth for the rest of the night. I also chatted with several other people they introduced me to, all of which are only here for the week. I seem to be really good at making friends with people that aren’t actually living in Siles right now. I really enjoyed hanging out with Gloria and Elizabeth. Elizabeth and Gloria are both learning English so we switched back and forth from Spanish to English.
I didn’t realize the discoteca was going to be open…it was a Wednesday after all. All of a sudden Gloria and Elizabeth grabbed their coats and said they were going to the discoteca. I was surprised. Apparently because the following day was a holiday (3 Kings Day) the discoteca was open. We danced the night away and around 5:30 or 6 I got home. I crashed IMMEDIATELY. I was SO tired, but it was nice to have a good night out and not be home.
The next day I didn’t do anything. I slept literally all day (and no, I didn’t have the hangover of the century. I was just totally wiped. I think it’s because I was getting sick). I had been told that Three Kings Day was mostly for the kids, and that the only thing they do is play with their toys in the streets and at the park with the other kids, so I didn’t feel too bad about not getting out of the house (although in hindsight I know I probably should have at least taken a stroll to see if anything was going on). I had been planning on grabbing a coffee with Gloria before she went back to Granada but that didn’t happen. I didn’t hear from her and I was pretty content sleeping the day away.
I slept for almost 30 hours straight, with short breaks to go to the bathroom and get something to drink. I woke up at 2:30am. I didn’t think I was going to be unable to get back to sleep and that I had totally screwed up my internal clock. Luckily for me I watched on episode of Glee and fell right back asleep. I didn’t wake up again until 12:30. CRAZY! I was planning on going to the gym but was feeling a bit weak after being in bed so long. Luis sent me a text asking if I wanted him to come over and have dinner. We ended up going to Mezquita instead to eat calamares and gambas (shrimp). After that we grabbed a drink at Nicols and called it a night.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Pushing Past the Plateau
OK, I have to be honest. The last week and a half or two weeks has been pretty hard. I feel really distanced from everyone. There has even been stiff, awkwardness in between Maria and Almudena and me. I don’t know if it’s because I was sick a week, and then out of town so we couldn’t hang out for awhile or what.
I also think another factor is that I’ve gotten complacent. I found a few people initially to get together with and then I stopped going to the bars and restaurants by myself to meet people. The weather started sucking and I didn’t go on as many walks. Now I just feel like I don’t know how to meet more people.
It’s depressing.
However, I believe everyone living abroad hits the same breaking point. Like the saying goes, that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Early this afternoon I went to the post office and the bank. When I run these little errands I always hope I’ll run into someone I know, and that we can grab a coffee or something, but lately that hasn’t been happening. Almost all of the teachers are out of town for Christmas break, so that the number of people I know and can possibly run into is significantly lower than normal.
So, today, after my errands I took a short walk down El Paseo then headed solemnly back to my quiet apartment. I knew I was approaching my breaking point. If I don’t do something about this soon, I’ll be unhappy and alone for the next few months and I know I’m not ok with that. So my mind started turning…how could I possibly meet more friends?
My first plan of attack is to take at least one walk everyday, unless it’s raining.
Part two is actual duel-purpose. I plan on heading to Mezquita or another bar/restaurant every day to have a coffee and do finish some pages in my Spanish workbooks. Most of the time when I’m in my apartment I have things to do, and I get some of them done, but I’m easily distracted. I have several goals for my stay here, and several books I want to get through. Therefore, I’m leaving my apartment at least once a day to sit in another public location, with the possibility of running into people I know and still making progress on my other goals. I know that my acquaintances here frequently go to Mezquita during the day to have a coffee or other drink. What I don’t know is when. If I happen to be there when they are they always invite me to join them, I just never get a call or text to invite me to these gatherings ahead of time. I’m hoping that by camping out at Mezquita I’ll increase the number of times I run into them.
So that’s my plan for now. I generally think it will get better after Monday anyways, just because the teachers will be back in town, classes will be in session again, I’ll have to spend time lesson planning and my private lessons will start again. All of these increase my human contact time so I think I’ll be happier. I love vacation time, and the ability to just spend time relaxing, but 2 empty weeks here in Siles gives me way too much time alone.
I also think another factor is that I’ve gotten complacent. I found a few people initially to get together with and then I stopped going to the bars and restaurants by myself to meet people. The weather started sucking and I didn’t go on as many walks. Now I just feel like I don’t know how to meet more people.
It’s depressing.
However, I believe everyone living abroad hits the same breaking point. Like the saying goes, that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Early this afternoon I went to the post office and the bank. When I run these little errands I always hope I’ll run into someone I know, and that we can grab a coffee or something, but lately that hasn’t been happening. Almost all of the teachers are out of town for Christmas break, so that the number of people I know and can possibly run into is significantly lower than normal.
So, today, after my errands I took a short walk down El Paseo then headed solemnly back to my quiet apartment. I knew I was approaching my breaking point. If I don’t do something about this soon, I’ll be unhappy and alone for the next few months and I know I’m not ok with that. So my mind started turning…how could I possibly meet more friends?
My first plan of attack is to take at least one walk everyday, unless it’s raining.
Part two is actual duel-purpose. I plan on heading to Mezquita or another bar/restaurant every day to have a coffee and do finish some pages in my Spanish workbooks. Most of the time when I’m in my apartment I have things to do, and I get some of them done, but I’m easily distracted. I have several goals for my stay here, and several books I want to get through. Therefore, I’m leaving my apartment at least once a day to sit in another public location, with the possibility of running into people I know and still making progress on my other goals. I know that my acquaintances here frequently go to Mezquita during the day to have a coffee or other drink. What I don’t know is when. If I happen to be there when they are they always invite me to join them, I just never get a call or text to invite me to these gatherings ahead of time. I’m hoping that by camping out at Mezquita I’ll increase the number of times I run into them.
So that’s my plan for now. I generally think it will get better after Monday anyways, just because the teachers will be back in town, classes will be in session again, I’ll have to spend time lesson planning and my private lessons will start again. All of these increase my human contact time so I think I’ll be happier. I love vacation time, and the ability to just spend time relaxing, but 2 empty weeks here in Siles gives me way too much time alone.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Holidays in Spain
Happy 2011!
Here’s a bit of a summary of how I spent my holidays…
Christmas Eve I was at home most of the day. Originally I was suppose to be with Almudena and her family that day, but they decided to spend Christmas Eve with her boyfriend’s family and it wasn’t really her place to invite me to that. So then I talked to Stefi and Edu about maybe spending Christmas Eve with them. They said that if Edu’s mom ending up coming over to their house for Christmas Eve that I could join them, but if she refused and they had to go to her house that I wouldn’t be able to come. It ended up that I wasn’t going to be able to go with them. Luckily for me Luis’ family doesn’t do anything for Christmas Eve, so he came and spent the day with me at my apartment. He made ham and mushroom risotto for lunch and brought a bottle of cava. Cava is like champagne, except since it’s from Catalonia it has a different name. We hung out most of the day and for dinner he cooked two other kinds of risotto…salmon risotto, and a chicken and cheese risotto. All of it was fantastic. After dinner I got dolled up in the dress I bought in Ubeda and a pair of heels (my first time attempting to wear heels for a night out in Siles). We met Luis’ brother at Pub JJ for a drink because Nicols wasn’t open yet (not open yet…at midnight!). After Pub JJ we went to Nicols and hung out for awhile. We had a drink, chatted and were given souvenir Nicols’ Santa hats. We left Nicols around 1:30 and walked to Luis’ house to get the car. (I can’t remember why we needed it). However, someone had parked behind the car and we couldn’t get it out so Luis’ brother and I walked up to my apartment while Luis got some things out of the house. At 2am I got to web chat with my family, and about 30 extended family members who were at my cousin’s house having Christmas Eve dinner. They took turns passing the computer around and then they put the computer at the end of the table so I could be apart of the dinner table prayer. Everyone started singing and I could tell Luis and Javi were amused and wondering what was going on. I ended the chat and then headed back out. We went to 1900 for awhile but it was really frustrating. The music was turned up RELALY loud making conversation virtually impossible for me. Plus, I got introduced to a guy whose accent I couldn’t understand very well, and who kept talking about things he didn’t really like about the US. I kept looking for a way out of the conversation, but it took awhile. Luis, Javi and I didn’t stay for too much longer. Javi went home and Luis and I went to the discoteca. Luis introduced me to a bunch of people at the discoteca, including a guy named Tom who is auditioning for a TV host role in Madrid. We drank and danced the night away, and I finally went to bed about 8am.
I like the fact that Spaniards have big crazy nights out for Christmas Eve, but I think there is one flaw in the tradition. Usually people here have a nice dinner for Christmas Eve, and a nice lunch for Christmas day. It was the first time in my life I’ve set an alarm for noon knowing I would only be getting four hours of sleep. It’s too bad people don’t have a nice dinner for Christmas instead of lunch so we have more time to recuperate after the previous night’s celebrations.
Christmas day starting off a little frantic and frustrating. I didn’t wake up right when I should have and so I rushed to get ready (I had been led to believe that people dressed up for Christmas). A couple weeks ago Almudena had told me that the lunch would be at her parents’ house. Last night when I saw her at the discoteca I confirmed with her and she said, no, the lunch was going to be at her house. This led to a whole slew of confusion on Christmas day, and me eventually showing up late to her parents where everyone was there waiting for me so they could eat. After eating our meat and seafood lunch (that’s the typical Christmas meal here) Almudena wanted me to take some pictures of the kids so we had a mini photo shoot with everyone that was there. Overall I was only at Almudena’s parents’ house about 2-3 hours, which is comparison to some lunches I’ve gone to is pretty short. I went home, relaxed and slept the rest of the day. A lot of people decided not to go out Christmas night because Christmas Eve had been so crazy.
New Years Eve I went to Hostal Cruz (a restaurant) with Luis and his parents. We had a big expensive meal (which Luis’ parents were generous enough to treat me to) and chatted with the people all around us. It felt like a big family gathering the way it was set up, except it was just a bunch of random people from the town all together. I met a lot of people, most of whom initially used Luis as my interpreter because they didn’t think I spoke Spanish. One of the older gentlemen there said that I could be Miss America or Miss North America. Haha. I got seated next to a girl from Germany (who is dating a guy living in Barcelona, originally from Siles). More than one person commented on the fact that they put the two guiris (foreigners) together. We had lots of tapas, wine, beer, our main courses, dessert and polvorones (cookies, chocolates, sweets). I had fish for my main course and Luis ordered the meat so we could try both. I really liked the meat dish and wish I had ordered it! We watched the countdown on TV and I was excited to eat my 12 grapes. Spaniards eat 12 grapes at midnight (one with each strike of the clock) and it’s supposed to bring you good luck in the coming year. The only thing that made this a little challenging was that the seeds aren’t pitted so you have to stuff a bunch of grapes in your mouth, eat around the seeds and then pick the seeds out after the clock has struck 12 times. Supposedly in some cities they were selling pitted grapes for New Years but sadly, Siles was not one of these towns. I guess that just makes my experience all the more authentic. The restaurant owner also gave everyone a bag of goodies (party hats, noisemakers, etc) to don while ringing in the New Year. After eating the grapes everyone went around the room wishing everyone a Happy New Year (¡Feliz año!) with the normal cheek kisses. Shortly after, the younger generations headed off to the bars. Luis and I headed off to Nicols. Luis’ parents stayed at Hostel Cruz but not for very long. We had a few drinks, chatted it up with people, hung out with the German girl and her Spanish boyfriend and eventually decided to go back to Hostal Cruz so I could see the older generation living it up. Haha. They were listening to music and dancing, and Ana, Luis “second mother” (who is super tiny) tried teaching me to dance. We stayed there for a little while, then headed off to Menphys. We ran into Maria and Almudena on the way. They were heading over to the discoteca so we decided to go straight there instead. Luis called up a friend in Barcelona to say ‘happy new year’ and then we went inside. It actually wasn’t too crowded when we showed up (around 3am). It didn’t take too long though before the place was PACKED. You really couldn’t dance. You just had to move around in the same place. I like going out in Spain but nights like this still stress me out. Maybe it’s because I treasure my American concept of personal space. Even if there is space it seems like people will just run into you without making much of an effort to go around. We stayed there for awhile, had a few drinks (I eventually changed out of my high heels and into the flats I stowed away in my purse) and later on we headed back to Nicols. It was a little less stressful there. I’m glad we went to the discoteca but *uffff* SO many people. I preferred Christmas Eve in the discoteca when there were still a lot of people, but not as many. I believe I finally went to bed around 7-8am.
And thaaaaaaaat was my holiday season in a nutshell. A *small* change from the typical low-key family gatherings I usually go to! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!
¡Feliz navidad! ¡Feliz año Nuevo!
Here’s a bit of a summary of how I spent my holidays…
Christmas Eve I was at home most of the day. Originally I was suppose to be with Almudena and her family that day, but they decided to spend Christmas Eve with her boyfriend’s family and it wasn’t really her place to invite me to that. So then I talked to Stefi and Edu about maybe spending Christmas Eve with them. They said that if Edu’s mom ending up coming over to their house for Christmas Eve that I could join them, but if she refused and they had to go to her house that I wouldn’t be able to come. It ended up that I wasn’t going to be able to go with them. Luckily for me Luis’ family doesn’t do anything for Christmas Eve, so he came and spent the day with me at my apartment. He made ham and mushroom risotto for lunch and brought a bottle of cava. Cava is like champagne, except since it’s from Catalonia it has a different name. We hung out most of the day and for dinner he cooked two other kinds of risotto…salmon risotto, and a chicken and cheese risotto. All of it was fantastic. After dinner I got dolled up in the dress I bought in Ubeda and a pair of heels (my first time attempting to wear heels for a night out in Siles). We met Luis’ brother at Pub JJ for a drink because Nicols wasn’t open yet (not open yet…at midnight!). After Pub JJ we went to Nicols and hung out for awhile. We had a drink, chatted and were given souvenir Nicols’ Santa hats. We left Nicols around 1:30 and walked to Luis’ house to get the car. (I can’t remember why we needed it). However, someone had parked behind the car and we couldn’t get it out so Luis’ brother and I walked up to my apartment while Luis got some things out of the house. At 2am I got to web chat with my family, and about 30 extended family members who were at my cousin’s house having Christmas Eve dinner. They took turns passing the computer around and then they put the computer at the end of the table so I could be apart of the dinner table prayer. Everyone started singing and I could tell Luis and Javi were amused and wondering what was going on. I ended the chat and then headed back out. We went to 1900 for awhile but it was really frustrating. The music was turned up RELALY loud making conversation virtually impossible for me. Plus, I got introduced to a guy whose accent I couldn’t understand very well, and who kept talking about things he didn’t really like about the US. I kept looking for a way out of the conversation, but it took awhile. Luis, Javi and I didn’t stay for too much longer. Javi went home and Luis and I went to the discoteca. Luis introduced me to a bunch of people at the discoteca, including a guy named Tom who is auditioning for a TV host role in Madrid. We drank and danced the night away, and I finally went to bed about 8am.
I like the fact that Spaniards have big crazy nights out for Christmas Eve, but I think there is one flaw in the tradition. Usually people here have a nice dinner for Christmas Eve, and a nice lunch for Christmas day. It was the first time in my life I’ve set an alarm for noon knowing I would only be getting four hours of sleep. It’s too bad people don’t have a nice dinner for Christmas instead of lunch so we have more time to recuperate after the previous night’s celebrations.
Christmas day starting off a little frantic and frustrating. I didn’t wake up right when I should have and so I rushed to get ready (I had been led to believe that people dressed up for Christmas). A couple weeks ago Almudena had told me that the lunch would be at her parents’ house. Last night when I saw her at the discoteca I confirmed with her and she said, no, the lunch was going to be at her house. This led to a whole slew of confusion on Christmas day, and me eventually showing up late to her parents where everyone was there waiting for me so they could eat. After eating our meat and seafood lunch (that’s the typical Christmas meal here) Almudena wanted me to take some pictures of the kids so we had a mini photo shoot with everyone that was there. Overall I was only at Almudena’s parents’ house about 2-3 hours, which is comparison to some lunches I’ve gone to is pretty short. I went home, relaxed and slept the rest of the day. A lot of people decided not to go out Christmas night because Christmas Eve had been so crazy.
New Years Eve I went to Hostal Cruz (a restaurant) with Luis and his parents. We had a big expensive meal (which Luis’ parents were generous enough to treat me to) and chatted with the people all around us. It felt like a big family gathering the way it was set up, except it was just a bunch of random people from the town all together. I met a lot of people, most of whom initially used Luis as my interpreter because they didn’t think I spoke Spanish. One of the older gentlemen there said that I could be Miss America or Miss North America. Haha. I got seated next to a girl from Germany (who is dating a guy living in Barcelona, originally from Siles). More than one person commented on the fact that they put the two guiris (foreigners) together. We had lots of tapas, wine, beer, our main courses, dessert and polvorones (cookies, chocolates, sweets). I had fish for my main course and Luis ordered the meat so we could try both. I really liked the meat dish and wish I had ordered it! We watched the countdown on TV and I was excited to eat my 12 grapes. Spaniards eat 12 grapes at midnight (one with each strike of the clock) and it’s supposed to bring you good luck in the coming year. The only thing that made this a little challenging was that the seeds aren’t pitted so you have to stuff a bunch of grapes in your mouth, eat around the seeds and then pick the seeds out after the clock has struck 12 times. Supposedly in some cities they were selling pitted grapes for New Years but sadly, Siles was not one of these towns. I guess that just makes my experience all the more authentic. The restaurant owner also gave everyone a bag of goodies (party hats, noisemakers, etc) to don while ringing in the New Year. After eating the grapes everyone went around the room wishing everyone a Happy New Year (¡Feliz año!) with the normal cheek kisses. Shortly after, the younger generations headed off to the bars. Luis and I headed off to Nicols. Luis’ parents stayed at Hostel Cruz but not for very long. We had a few drinks, chatted it up with people, hung out with the German girl and her Spanish boyfriend and eventually decided to go back to Hostal Cruz so I could see the older generation living it up. Haha. They were listening to music and dancing, and Ana, Luis “second mother” (who is super tiny) tried teaching me to dance. We stayed there for a little while, then headed off to Menphys. We ran into Maria and Almudena on the way. They were heading over to the discoteca so we decided to go straight there instead. Luis called up a friend in Barcelona to say ‘happy new year’ and then we went inside. It actually wasn’t too crowded when we showed up (around 3am). It didn’t take too long though before the place was PACKED. You really couldn’t dance. You just had to move around in the same place. I like going out in Spain but nights like this still stress me out. Maybe it’s because I treasure my American concept of personal space. Even if there is space it seems like people will just run into you without making much of an effort to go around. We stayed there for awhile, had a few drinks (I eventually changed out of my high heels and into the flats I stowed away in my purse) and later on we headed back to Nicols. It was a little less stressful there. I’m glad we went to the discoteca but *uffff* SO many people. I preferred Christmas Eve in the discoteca when there were still a lot of people, but not as many. I believe I finally went to bed around 7-8am.
And thaaaaaaaat was my holiday season in a nutshell. A *small* change from the typical low-key family gatherings I usually go to! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!
¡Feliz navidad! ¡Feliz año Nuevo!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Happy New Smoking Law Day!
As of January 2, 2011 smoking is no longer allowed inside bars and restaurants here in Spain. Oh happy day!
I also read an article that said smokers will also be prohibited on television broadcasts, near hospitals or in school playgrounds.
It was really interesting to see the bars and restaurants today with people huddled up on the sidewalk.
I only hope that these new smoking laws don’t leave me hanging out solo in the bars and restaurants…well…me and the 3 or 4 other people I’ve found in this town that don’t smoke.
Make I’ll finally kick this cough!
I also read an article that said smokers will also be prohibited on television broadcasts, near hospitals or in school playgrounds.
It was really interesting to see the bars and restaurants today with people huddled up on the sidewalk.
I only hope that these new smoking laws don’t leave me hanging out solo in the bars and restaurants…well…me and the 3 or 4 other people I’ve found in this town that don’t smoke.
Make I’ll finally kick this cough!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Happy Holidays!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
In just under 10 hours I will be attempting to stuff 12 grapes into my mouth so that I will have good luck in 2011. haha.
I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season and that you enjoy ringing in the new year with your friends and family.
I'll get a blog post up sometime soon detailing all of my holiday adventures over the last week.
Feliz Año Nuevo!
In just under 10 hours I will be attempting to stuff 12 grapes into my mouth so that I will have good luck in 2011. haha.
I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season and that you enjoy ringing in the new year with your friends and family.
I'll get a blog post up sometime soon detailing all of my holiday adventures over the last week.
Feliz Año Nuevo!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams
Today was a rollercoaster.
This morning I woke up and was feeling pretty good. I got a little dressed up because we were going to have the Christmas presentation and party at school. I went to school, but there were no lessons. I was just there to make my presence known. We goofed around for a little bit and then headed off to the retirement center with the 1st-4th graders. Each grade performed 2 songs (one in Spanish, one in English) while some of the teachers and older kids played instruments. I got a picture with one of the little kids (Carlos) because he was dressed as Santa. Maybe this is a better option for Santa Photo 2010? I think so!
After the kids finished with their songs we had juice and snacks and then headed back to the school. We were planning on combining the two schools (the 3-5 year olds with the 1st-6th graders) for a performance on the patio but the weather wasn’t very good. Because of this the younger kids stayed at the infantil. We had a party in the 4th grade classroom (food, music, etc). Then was the challenging part. We had to break up the party and wrangle all the kids back together so they could re-sing their songs here at the school. The 5th and 6th graders hadn’t gotten a chance to perform their songs and we still had to go through with the performance even though the younger kids and parents weren’t there. It was crazy, but the kids did a good job. The 5th and 6th graders finished with “Happy Christmas” and did an excellent job. They even did it twice because the teachers and other students requested an encore.
The English Christmas carols were the first dent in my armor. Up until this day I had been ok with the fact that I wasn’t going to be home with my family for Christmas (for the first time in my life). The second dent was hearing all the teachers talk about how they were going home to their cities to see their friends and family.
After the performance everyone went back to their respective classrooms for a little bit and I hung out in the teacher’s room. I didn’t want to leave for break without saying Merry Christmas to everyone. Finally school was over and all the teachers exchanged their Merry Christmas greetings and we headed out. I got closer and closer to tears but held myself together until after I went to the grocery store. Then, with my bags of groceries in one hand and an umbrella in the other I walked in the rain back to my apartment with tears streaming down my face.
I got into my apartment, pulled myself together and set to work. I stayed busy throughout the afternoon cleaning, doing laundry…just generally keeping myself busy.
Later that evening I met up with Luis and Pepe (different Pepe from my first posts here in Siles) at 1900. Everything was fine. I thought I had pulled myself together throughout the afternoon. Luis and I were talking about Christmas decorations, traditions, etc and then out of the blue I burst into tears all over again. I grabbed my coat and headed outside to get some air. I tried to pull myself together quickly. Pepe came outside to see what was going on. He just stood there and made sure I was ok. I walked back inside. Luis understood exactly what had set me off. I didn’t need to explain at all. However, apparently Pepe had been confused as hell. Haha. Before he stepped outside with me he was grilling Luis about what the heck he had done to make me cry. Poor Luis. Shortly after Pepe headed home. Luis and I played darts and I was fine the rest of the night. However, maybe I was still a little distracted because at one point I threw the dart, nailed the bottom of the dart board (the part without the circle of colors you are supposed to be aiming at) and shattered the dart tip. Ooops!
Hello Christmas Break! No more classes or private lessons for two weeks.
This morning I woke up and was feeling pretty good. I got a little dressed up because we were going to have the Christmas presentation and party at school. I went to school, but there were no lessons. I was just there to make my presence known. We goofed around for a little bit and then headed off to the retirement center with the 1st-4th graders. Each grade performed 2 songs (one in Spanish, one in English) while some of the teachers and older kids played instruments. I got a picture with one of the little kids (Carlos) because he was dressed as Santa. Maybe this is a better option for Santa Photo 2010? I think so!
After the kids finished with their songs we had juice and snacks and then headed back to the school. We were planning on combining the two schools (the 3-5 year olds with the 1st-6th graders) for a performance on the patio but the weather wasn’t very good. Because of this the younger kids stayed at the infantil. We had a party in the 4th grade classroom (food, music, etc). Then was the challenging part. We had to break up the party and wrangle all the kids back together so they could re-sing their songs here at the school. The 5th and 6th graders hadn’t gotten a chance to perform their songs and we still had to go through with the performance even though the younger kids and parents weren’t there. It was crazy, but the kids did a good job. The 5th and 6th graders finished with “Happy Christmas” and did an excellent job. They even did it twice because the teachers and other students requested an encore.
The English Christmas carols were the first dent in my armor. Up until this day I had been ok with the fact that I wasn’t going to be home with my family for Christmas (for the first time in my life). The second dent was hearing all the teachers talk about how they were going home to their cities to see their friends and family.
After the performance everyone went back to their respective classrooms for a little bit and I hung out in the teacher’s room. I didn’t want to leave for break without saying Merry Christmas to everyone. Finally school was over and all the teachers exchanged their Merry Christmas greetings and we headed out. I got closer and closer to tears but held myself together until after I went to the grocery store. Then, with my bags of groceries in one hand and an umbrella in the other I walked in the rain back to my apartment with tears streaming down my face.
I got into my apartment, pulled myself together and set to work. I stayed busy throughout the afternoon cleaning, doing laundry…just generally keeping myself busy.
Later that evening I met up with Luis and Pepe (different Pepe from my first posts here in Siles) at 1900. Everything was fine. I thought I had pulled myself together throughout the afternoon. Luis and I were talking about Christmas decorations, traditions, etc and then out of the blue I burst into tears all over again. I grabbed my coat and headed outside to get some air. I tried to pull myself together quickly. Pepe came outside to see what was going on. He just stood there and made sure I was ok. I walked back inside. Luis understood exactly what had set me off. I didn’t need to explain at all. However, apparently Pepe had been confused as hell. Haha. Before he stepped outside with me he was grilling Luis about what the heck he had done to make me cry. Poor Luis. Shortly after Pepe headed home. Luis and I played darts and I was fine the rest of the night. However, maybe I was still a little distracted because at one point I threw the dart, nailed the bottom of the dart board (the part without the circle of colors you are supposed to be aiming at) and shattered the dart tip. Ooops!
Hello Christmas Break! No more classes or private lessons for two weeks.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Christmas Lunch with my Co-Workers
Yesterday Paco, one of the clowns from the payaso show in October came to the infantile to find me and talk about private lessons. We decided to do an intercambio instead. PAco is going to teach me Spanish and I’m going to teach him English. We’re going to start after New Years. Hopefully this will help me improve my Spanish. I really feel like I’ve been hitting a plateau lately.
Today I woke up and headed to the Bazar to buy frames for my “amigo invincible” (secret santa) gift. After that I headed to Casa Gregorio to print pictures and buy chocolate. I printed out two of the pictures I’ve taken from my window…one in the snow and one bright one at sunset.
After getting the pictures printed I had to head to another store to buy a new curling iron. This was frustrating because it’s not an expense I wanted to deal with. It was more expensive than the one I brought from the US and it’s only a curling iron, not a curling/straightening iron-in-one.
Finally I headed off to school. We didn’t do much. I had lessons planned but the kids were just watching movies and preparing for their Christmas performance for the next day. I spent time prepping my amigo invincible gift and then helped Inés with an exercise her kids were working on about clothing and what they were wearing (in English).
I received my paycheck at the very end of the day so I ran to the bank. I got there just as they were about to close. Lucky me! I only had a few euros left for this month and was afraid I was going to have to wait until after Christmas break to get paid.
After the bank I ran home to drop my stuff off. On my way I saw the rest of the teachers’ cars heading towards the restaurant for our Christmas lunch so I rushed quickly off to my apartment. I had wanted to get myself dolled up a little but didn’t have time in the morning. I thought I was going to have time after school (we were supposed to be meeting at the restaurant until 2:30 or 3). I threw a couple curls in and ran off to the restaurant. I walked into the restaurant (Hostal Cruz…where I spent my first night in Siles) and there were only three people there. The rest had decided to go to Mezquita and have a drink first. When they finally showed up the girls were all made-up. Even the PE teacher who I’ve only ever seen in workout clothes was really spiffed up.
All us teachers hung out together from 3-11:45pm. I wish we could do it more often. We had tons of tapas, wine and beer. I didn’t even need the main course by the time it came around, but ate it anyways. We exchange our amigo invincible gifts and I got some great stuff. I got a new purse with a new smaller handbag inside with a bracelet. I have no idea how she got it for 10 euro (the gift price limit). Everyone was singing villancicos (Christmas carols), playing the guitar and telling jokes. They got me to sing a little bit of “Last Christmas” although I couldn’t remember a lot of the lyrics. When we were done at the restaurant I dropped my stuff off in Maria del Mar’s apartment (right on El Paseo) and we all headed over to Nicols (a bar) for karaoke and more drinks. We were there for quite awhile and I joined in songs when I thought I had a chance at keeping up. We headed over to Mezquita so some people could eat and got one more drink. I saw Maria and Gloria when I was there. Gloria is back in town for Christmas break. After that it was time to go home and sleep. I never would have guessed that a “lunch” with my co-workers would last 9 hours! I had fun though. I really wish I could spend more time outside of school with the teachers but it’s challenging. During the week most of them are studying for their upcoming exams and on the weekends they all go back to their hometowns.
Today I woke up and headed to the Bazar to buy frames for my “amigo invincible” (secret santa) gift. After that I headed to Casa Gregorio to print pictures and buy chocolate. I printed out two of the pictures I’ve taken from my window…one in the snow and one bright one at sunset.
After getting the pictures printed I had to head to another store to buy a new curling iron. This was frustrating because it’s not an expense I wanted to deal with. It was more expensive than the one I brought from the US and it’s only a curling iron, not a curling/straightening iron-in-one.
Finally I headed off to school. We didn’t do much. I had lessons planned but the kids were just watching movies and preparing for their Christmas performance for the next day. I spent time prepping my amigo invincible gift and then helped Inés with an exercise her kids were working on about clothing and what they were wearing (in English).
I received my paycheck at the very end of the day so I ran to the bank. I got there just as they were about to close. Lucky me! I only had a few euros left for this month and was afraid I was going to have to wait until after Christmas break to get paid.
After the bank I ran home to drop my stuff off. On my way I saw the rest of the teachers’ cars heading towards the restaurant for our Christmas lunch so I rushed quickly off to my apartment. I had wanted to get myself dolled up a little but didn’t have time in the morning. I thought I was going to have time after school (we were supposed to be meeting at the restaurant until 2:30 or 3). I threw a couple curls in and ran off to the restaurant. I walked into the restaurant (Hostal Cruz…where I spent my first night in Siles) and there were only three people there. The rest had decided to go to Mezquita and have a drink first. When they finally showed up the girls were all made-up. Even the PE teacher who I’ve only ever seen in workout clothes was really spiffed up.
All us teachers hung out together from 3-11:45pm. I wish we could do it more often. We had tons of tapas, wine and beer. I didn’t even need the main course by the time it came around, but ate it anyways. We exchange our amigo invincible gifts and I got some great stuff. I got a new purse with a new smaller handbag inside with a bracelet. I have no idea how she got it for 10 euro (the gift price limit). Everyone was singing villancicos (Christmas carols), playing the guitar and telling jokes. They got me to sing a little bit of “Last Christmas” although I couldn’t remember a lot of the lyrics. When we were done at the restaurant I dropped my stuff off in Maria del Mar’s apartment (right on El Paseo) and we all headed over to Nicols (a bar) for karaoke and more drinks. We were there for quite awhile and I joined in songs when I thought I had a chance at keeping up. We headed over to Mezquita so some people could eat and got one more drink. I saw Maria and Gloria when I was there. Gloria is back in town for Christmas break. After that it was time to go home and sleep. I never would have guessed that a “lunch” with my co-workers would last 9 hours! I had fun though. I really wish I could spend more time outside of school with the teachers but it’s challenging. During the week most of them are studying for their upcoming exams and on the weekends they all go back to their hometowns.
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