One week to go....

Eight months after I arrived I didn't know what it would feel like to be at the other end of my experience as a Language Assistant in Spain. It feels good. I've had a great year and now I can't wait to go back home. Today all of the 65 (or so) Language Assistants from the whole Autonomous Region of Extremadura met up in Mérida for a farewell meeting. We watched a DVD put out by the Extremeño tourism board (don't worry, I'll bring it home for you all to see). We also received our certificates of achievement from the Board of Education. I got to catch up with some people that I hadn't seen since our orientation in Madrid. It was good. In Badajoz we're planning a dinner for all 10 of the people that live and work around here. I've met some really great people here, some of whom are sticking around for another year. One girl is even getting married to a football (soccer) player and sticking around forever! I'm hoping that maybe I'll get an invite to the wedding. ;) The cool thing is that I'll always have people here to visit.

I'm planning to stay in Badajoz this weekend and start packing/cleaning. I also have to prepare a final presentation for the kids. I think I'll show them the places I've visited here in Extremadura, in Spain, and in Portugal. I think they'll like that better than playing hangman. Last week I had a ton of success teaching them a free-verse poem about summer and showing them photos of summer activities in the US. Unfortunately they're getting pretty restless as their school year comes to a close and they behave even more like hyenas in the zoo. I'm grateful that my time is coming to a close because it's been tough learning how to give discipline and control a classroom. On the other hand, I think they'll be sad to see me go because I have a pretty good relationship with them. It's a shame I don't have an oven, I'd bake brownies for them or something as a farewell.

Well, I'm looking forward to my mom's visit. She's coming on June 11 with her sister and a friend from work. We're planning to rent a car in Madrid, briefly visit Extremadura, then go to Sevilla in Andalusia, and on to Zaragoza for the World Expo and we'll probably fly out of Barcelona. Luckily my friend's Aunt and Uncle lent me their GPS so we should be able to travel with ease (dad, it got us through Sintra flawlessly!). Before she comes I think I'm going to hitch a ride down to Málaga with a friend's parents to get in some beach time ;)

No. 12

Here's a photo of one of the schools that I work in, No. 12 "Ciudad Jardin" - Garden City (the name of the neighborhood).

Man, I want to be home NOW! LOL, I've got one more month here, but only two more weeks teaching the kids. I actually had a pretty good day today. I taught one class about parts of the body and illnesses, another about prepositions (on, above, behind...) and we played Pin the Tail on the Donkey, and in my last class we just read a short chapter book. They really like to make the Spanish kids read abridged Sherlock Holmes novels. Also, I gave a presentation about being Lutheran as a favor to my friend Ines who is the religion teacher. (Even though it's a public school, Spain still offers religion as an optional subject in it's secondary schools). I gave it to the little first years and I think they totally liked it! Crazy!

(a nativity scene that was put up in my school at the holidays)

Then, the principal decided to pull me into her office and explain to me her current project on the role of the woman in the Spanish household during the dictatorship.....all I can say is the repression in this country was more than suffocating. The dictator held so much sway even over the most intimate parts of your life. It was a really really long day. Teaching wears me out. My week finishes on Thursdays at 3, then I fall asleep and always miss my 6pm pilates class :(

Now, I've got a translation to send to my old boss, and then I'm off to Portugal for the weekend. If I stayed in Badajoz during the weekends I'd go nuts. The perk of the job is definitely being able to take weekend trips. Hasta ahora.

Virgin of Rocio Day and only three weeks to go!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39_NVvZRRU4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGtWpir7bX0&NR=1

Hey all, I've put up two links to a pair of you tube videos. Yesterday was the day of the Virgin in Rocio, an Andalusian town on the coast. It is the day that they take the image out of the church to parade her around the street. The first video is of some crazy guy who decided to jump up onto the Virgin's platform, the other is when the people rush to the altar to take her outside of her church.

I decided I didn't want to go and fight the crowds which looked terrible today on the news. I saw people lifting their babies up dangerously to perch them on her platform for a few seconds. Can you imagine dropping your baby in a stampeding crowd? It looks so stupid and irresponsible. Anyway, I thought some of you might be really surprised to see what this tradition actually looks like, so watch the videos if you want.

Other than that there's not much going on. This week I have extra translation work here and at home, so I'm pretty busy. I might hitch a ride to Portugal again next weekend so that I don't have to sit around Badajoz all weekend. I've only got three weeks left of teaching, then I'm free! The kids' behaviour is worsening (if that's possible) now that summer vacation is approaching. I hope that they behave on my last day...I'm planning to play hangman with American cultural words and phrases, i.e.: Mount Rushmore, New York City, Denver Broncos... Got any better ideas? I was told that a pizza party would be too messy.

Lagos, Portugal

Dear family and friends,

We've just had our final "puente" or long weekend of the school year. I went to Lagos to stay with a friend who is living there right now. Her name is Michelle and I met her through Erin who is teaching in Algeciras, Spain. Michelle invited a group of us down to spend the long weekend there.

Lagos is on the southern coastline of Portugal called the Algarve. I took a bus from Elvas (right across the border from Badajoz) to Lisbon, then to Lagos. It took about 6 hours with a two-hour stop in the middle. I got there on Thursday evening and stayed until Sunday. On Sunday I got a ride back to Sevilla from Monica, a Spanish girl that came up with Erin and the Algeciras teaching assistants.

We spent the weekend walking around the town of Lagos which was having a festival. It was a Festival of the Discoveries to honor Vasco de Gama. There was medieval music and belly dancing and the like. Then we went to the beach and swam in the Atlantic. It was cold at first but then we got used to it. We made dinner at Michelle's house on Friday and Saturday nights, but ate in a Portuguese restaurant for lunch on Saturday. I had Chicken with a spicy puri puri sauce(?). In my opinion, Portuguese food is much better than Spanish food. We also visited some art galleries, one of which is in the old slave market building. None of the art was very impressive, but some of the nearby jewelery galleries were good. I didn't buy anything while I was there except a T-shirt for my brother and some gym socks at the gypsy market. Oh well.

I'm now back in Badajoz, and I am happy that I only have three more weeks of teaching after this one. It's kind of boring now because the kids have to finish studying all of the material for the final exams and I have to correct exercises with them instead of teaching them fun stuff. I hope they've learned something from me.

It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

Dear all,

I've had a wonderful weekend away in Guadalupe, a small town of 2,000 in the Cáceres province of Extremadura. There is another language assistant there named Christine who invited me to stay with her. Her town is famous for the monastery that dominates the skyline of the town (Can you say skyline for a small town?) It's a very pretty town with rustic buildings and it is surrounded by tree-dotted hills and fields. The only problem is that there is nothing to do there, and she sees her students everywhere she goes. Everyone knows who she is and where she lives. Luckily in Badajoz, I rarely see my students because I live in a different part of the city from the school's neighborhood.

In Guadalupe, I visited the monastery's museums (embroidery museum, choir hymnal museum, sculpture and painting museum, etc.) and went to mass on Sunday. There are paintings by Goya, El Greco and Zurbarán there! There is also a famous icon, the Virgin of Guadalupe, who was said to have been buried with St. Luke, disinterred and brought to Spain and later discovered in a well by a peasant (Hmmm, sound familiar to the Mexican story?). Anyhow, the religious image is a small statue who is made out of a dark wood. She has a very primitive looking carved face. Anyway, on the tour we were allowed to enter a small chapel behind the altar where they rotated the icon so that people could see it up close. The tour group I was with was a group of retired Spanish people who all wanted to kiss a picture of the icon. They did that then they left some coins in a offering box to the side of the statue. The little framed photograph that they kissed was placed back at the feet of the Virgin by the Franciscan monk who lives there.

The day before the visit to the Monastery, we went to Christine's friend's country house. It was only a five minute walk outside of the town, but it was in a very rural spot. It was a modest but handsome house filled with local artisan ceramics. It also had a pool and an orchard. The neighbor didn't have a house on his land, but he had animals, so while we ate we heard the bleating of sheep and the ringing bells around the goat's collars. There was a kid (goat baby) that had been born the previous night which was learning to walk and there was a watch dog named León and he was truly as big as a lion. It was a beautiful sunny day, and we had a barbecue and played Trivial Pursuit (in Spanish!) and sang Karaoke.

Now, I'm back in my school, Nº 12 Ciudad Jardin, in Badajoz and I'm preparing a lesson for next week. My second year students are about the age of eighth-graders in the US. They are learning about food and are going to being learning vocabulary for reading recipes. I'm going to teach them how to make a PB & J sandwich next week. The teacher is worried that it'll make a mess, but I say phooey to him....I think the kids need a hands-on lesson from time to time.

Córdoba, the mosque

Hello all! It's been sunny and rainy all this morning here. There was a thunderstorm about noon and I had to pull in my laundry a second time out of the rain. It hasn't been able to dry for two days. :(

By default, I'm stuck in Badajoz this Sunday. Sundays can be pretty uneventful around here. so I had planned to go up to Guadalupe with the people that I dance with. They are going to see the black Virgin and the Monastery there. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get up and down to the bus by 8 this morning because I went to Córdoba yesterday with some friends.

We went to see the Cathedral of Córdoba which was originally the most important Mosque this side of Baghdad. We also saw one of the few remaining Synagogues in Spain.

So, I'm just sitting in my room today, reading a book about a Jewish family during the Spanish Inquisition and listening to a Lutheran podcast. Someone speaking Arabic keeps calling me from Morocco accidentally which was kind of exciting the first time it happened. It's raining again, so I think I'll go make myself some loose-leaf almond tea that I got yesterday. Ciao for now!

Sevilla

I just got back from the Feria de Abril of Seville. I had a good time, but with some weird experiences. I went with a girl from NY who has a Puerto Rican and African heritage and she got a lot of weird looks and awkward treatment from the Sevillians. I felt powerless in the face of so much racism. But, later we met up with one of her friends from Seville who treated us like royalty and bought us drinks all night, and by that I mean until 6am! He and his family were really good to us and let us hang out in the caseta (tent) all night. Then, I went to a bull fight and was taking a video of it when the crowd stood up to cheer. I stood up too and this French man behind me had a hissy fit and pulled me down to my seat by my arms. I shouted "No me toques, no me toques otra vez" in Spanish (I should have said 'Ne me touchez pas' in French to rattle him a bit). He grumbled something about me taking a video, but the Spanish man in front of me was taking one too. He was just being really machista and psycho. I stood up immediately and kept on blocking his view because I could. The Spanish man sitting next to me didn't like how he treated me either, and I felt like if he tried anything else that the people around me would have intervened. I think many people got frustrated there this weekend by all of the crowds--It was tiring fighting them all the way across town to get to the Feria grounds. I'm just glad the French guy didn't attack my friend. Anyway, I'm safe in my house and about to make some food. I'm posting this not to make you worry about me, but to share the experience. I think being here has made me a stronger, if not better, person and I hope that you can appreciate it too.