1st grade A Alcala Venceslada

These are some of my 1st graders at the other school. They are much better behaved. I made a Halloweeen powerpoint for them and also did the skull masks with them.

This is the powerpoint we went over...

I forget what I was doing after school this day, but by the time I went to go find food almost nothing was open. I did find one place close the the cathedral, but after eating there realized it's a total tourist trap. The food was ok, but not the best I've had here, and it was way more expensive than usual. Anyways, the tapas on the left here and the ones I got free with my soda. The one on the right is ensaladilla rusa. I also got solomillo con roquefort as my main course. It may have been pricy, but it was nice to sit outside in the sun with a view of the cathedral. 

My little rascals-1st grade Ruiz Jimenez

Today I had class with the 6th graders and two hours with my 1st graders. Let me tell ya...these 1st graders are CRAZY. Totally nuts. At one point there was one boy screaming just to scream, while a couple others kept trying to kick each other (boys kicking girls) and another one hopped from the floor to his chair to his desk and over the top of it...all at the same time. Sundays I need a little extra sleep to be ready for Mondays with these kids. Uffff. Anyways, the first hour I did activities with some of the kids from their English book. For the second hour I brought skull masks for them to make after we talked about Halloween.

Some of my crazy kids

Another kid chilling on top of the desks

Notice in the background another kid climbing under the tables

Do I need to take karate lessons to keep these kids under control?

At least distracting them with the camera keeps them all focused on the same thing.

There's always at least one ham.

All of us with our skull masks...ready for Halloween!

The skull mask in case anyone wants the pattern.

We almost did pumpkin masks too, but decided against it. Here's the pattern in case some of you other auxiliares want it.

The weather is starting to cool down a lot around here. I've been told we skip straight from summer to winter. I made my first bowl of soup today. It's actually chicken brother with tiny, skinny noodles in it. Very easy to make and pretty tasty. Can't it stay summer for awhile longer?

First soup of the season! The weather's a changin'!

Feria goes out with a bang

The feria is (finally!) over. The 10 days of crazy partying ended with a fireworks show down in Bulevar (a neighborhood of Jaén). Let me tell ya, the Spaniards definitely know how to put on a good fireworks show! I left the house with Luisa to head towards the show and by the time we got to the park we had a small army of international students and auxiliares. Here are some pictures and videos from the show. I thought I recorded the finale, but it looks like it didn't record after all. Sad, beacuse it was really impressive!

Ann Kathrin and Luisa

Luisa (roommate) and me

"Tu lado sur es fan de esta feria" which means "Your south side is a fan of this fair." I feel like this could be interpreted in more than one way... 

"Last" night of Feria

We have a new roommate now. Nuria is getting her masters degree here in Jaén. Today Nuria, Ana and I all went out together for Tapas at Quintana and then to Old Town bar for drinks with Ana's boss and some of his friends. Nuria headed home around 1:30, and I wanted to leave as well, but felt bad leaving Ana by herself. It's the last "real" night of the fair, so she wanted to go...almost everyone wanted to go for one last hurrah before it ended. I'd had enough, and was thinking of staying with Ana at Old Town until she finished her drink, waiting until the taxi came and then sending her on her way and going home myself...but when the taxi came I didn't have the heart to leave her alone. I went. It was INSANE. There wer SO many people. Once we got into the caseta you could hardly move and people were constantly running into you. The only way you could "dance" would be to bounce up and down I suppose. Not my defintion of fun. I was planning on waiting until Ana's boss and friends found us, leaving her with them and going home. Ana told me I didn't have to stay if I didn't want, but eventually she had enough too. It was just too many people. Way too overwhelming. We sat at a different caseta (one of the non-discoteca ones) and ate some churros before heading home. Ana got churros de patatas (potato churros, which I didn't know existed) and I got normal churros with chocolate.  

Me at Old Town pub

Nuria, Ana and me

The ridiculous amount of people at 4am

Inside the "bomberos" caseta