Travels to Spain

My Final Post

2007-06-11T20:30:00.000-07:00

With Day 3 nearly finished, I am typing my last and final blog from the country of Spain. We spent the day driving along the coast, stopping to take pictures in tiny villages where some of our family was born and/or raised. Tomorrow morning will be spent packing our clothes into our suitcases and leaving San Sebastian in a bus, headed for Madrid. Our last full day will be spend in Madrid with mom and Dale, where we plan to sight see a little more and where Jen and I will mentally prepare ourselves for the 23 hour trip home. Bright and early Thursday morning (Wednesday night at home) we board the plane to Italy with mom and Dale. From Italy we part ways: Mom and Dale are continuing on through Italy for a few days and Jen and I fly to Georgia after spending the last 9 and 1/2 weeks in Spain. We will be arriving in good ol' Reno, Nevada at 8:30pm Thursday night. It's sad to know we are leaving, although in the same sense I am ready. It's been an experience I will never forget. Adios Espana. Hello Home!

4 Days

2007-06-10T22:36:00.000-07:00

We had a busy day today and another busy one tomorrow! Must go to bed!

5 Days

2007-06-09T23:25:00.000-07:00

5 Days to go. Mom and Dale made it to San Sebastian today. It was great to see them. Jen and I went dancing last night. It was a long night! I'll post pictures tomorrow!

6 Days

2007-06-08T20:15:00.000-07:00

Today was our last day of school! It was really sad! The kids all drew me pictures to take home with me. And, the sun was sort of out today. It was pretty foggy but we did see the sun a little so it was a nice to see something other than rain. Mom and Uncle Dale get to San Sebastian tomorrow!

She made it!

2007-06-07T18:27:00.000-07:00

I just got a phone call from my mom! Her and Uncle Dale made it to Spain!

7 Days

2007-06-07T17:15:00.000-07:00

Today, we took a class field trip to a big park outside of San Sebastian. It was very fun but very exhausting! Luckily, the sun was out. I haven't heard from my mom and Uncle Dale yet, so hopefully they made it to Spain!! 7 Days to go!

8 Days

2007-06-06T21:45:00.000-07:00

Only 8 days left. It rained this morning, but then the sun came out later this afternoon! It was fabulous! I had forgotten how great the sun is! We actually got to go to the beach after school today and I wore my brand new beach hat! The weather is supposed to be nice the next few days (showers in the morning, sun in the afternoon). So, at the closing of our trip, we’ll actually see the sun. My mom and Uncle Dale are on an airplane on their way here to visit us as I am typing this! I’m so excited to see them!

School Lunches

2007-06-05T21:00:00.000-07:00

9 days left. Jen and I have, against our will, turned into vegetarians. In 8 weeks, we have eaten red meat 3 times in the form of hamburgers and that is it! And we've eaten chicken fewer times than you can count on two hands. Curious what they serve for school lunches to the children? It's odd... really odd. My niece would starve to death!

A typical week of lunches
*Fried Veal Chops, Lentil Soup, Salad with oil and vinegar, Fruit
*Fried Fish Fillets, White rice with Tomato Sauce, Lemon, Fruit
*Fried Calamari rings, White beans with green sauce, Lemon, Fruit
*Chicken Fried Veal Chops, Cream of Vegetable Soup, Salad with oil and vinegar, Yogurt
*Fried Ham Chops, White Rice with Scallops and Unpeeled Shrimp, Salad with oil and vinegar, Yogurt

And the strangest lunch meal we have seen...
*Chicken Sausages in Tomato Sauce served with White Rice topped with a Fried Egg...

Let the Countdown Begin

2007-06-04T13:45:00.000-07:00

10 Days left...

Traditional Basque Dancing

2007-06-02T13:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at school, the children put on a show of traditional Basque Dances. It's an annual event and the children are allowed to start participating once they reach first grade.

Dog Attacks and Electrical Shocks

2007-06-01T19:00:00.001-07:00

Jen and I may not have the best luck...

Today Jen and I were walking home from school. We had just arrived at our building and were getting ready to go in. There was a lady walking her dog near us and I felt something hit me in the leg. I looked down to realize that the dog was BITING my leg! I screamed and the dog let go and we stood there in absolute shock as the lady beat her dog! I have nice little teeth holes in my pants and my sock but he only skimmed my leg. It scared me half to death.

Just the other morning, Jen got shocked by an electrical outlet in the apartment and blew all the lights in the house! We had to find the breaker panel to flip the switch back!

We are quite the pair!

The Mutt Dog

2007-05-30T17:04:00.000-07:00

This is a little dog that lives in our Plaza that I have fondly named "The Mutt Dog." I'm not sure who he belongs to, but every morning he is let outside, where he sits in the Plaza and watches the people leave in the mornings. I think he might just be the strangest looking animal I have ever seen! He recently got a hair cut!

The Monsoon

2007-05-29T14:10:00.000-07:00

I´m not entirely sure what constitutes as a monsoon but I´m pretty sure that we had one here yesterday! The rain was not falling in drops but more in a sheet of rain! The pictures don´t even do the storm justice. We have a balcony off of our classroom and the children were contemplating going swimming in the pool that had developed. UGH! No more rain! I think we might develop Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and need light therapy if this continues on!

Rain Rain Go Away

2007-05-24T11:10:00.000-07:00

Out of the 43 days we have been in Spain, Jen and I have seen the sun 5 of those days! And the weather forecast for the next week... 100% chance of rain...everyday.

Bonjour!

2007-05-22T19:30:00.000-07:00

We are home from Paris! It was absolutely wonderful and we had a fabulous time. On Friday, we took an overnight train to Paris. That had to be the worst experience ever. Sleeping sitting straight up with your knees bent at a perfect 90 degree angle with blaring neon lights is not comfortable at all! We arrived in Paris at 6:00am on Saturday. We had some time to kill before we could check into our hotel, so we wandered around the streets for a while. Later that afternoon, we climbed the Eiffel Tower (we were climbing at the same time we would have been at graduation at home!) and visited the Arc de Triomphe and ate crepes. On Sunday, we ate more crepes, visited the Louve Museum (where we saw the Mona Lisa), stopped by the Norte Dame, and spent the evening at a show at the Moulin Rouge! We returned home Monday. It was a fabulous way to spend our graduation from college.

Me in front of the Eiffel Tower. On the second level. We walked the stairs to this level (701 stairs all together), and then you have to take a scary little elevator to the very top!
Jen and I at the top! I read that the very top is equal to 81 stories. WOW!

A picture from the top overlooking a part of Paris. Paris is HUGE!

Looking straight down from the top.

Me in front of the Arc.

Norte Dame

The inside of Norte Dame (the ceiling). A mass was going on when we were there.

The Pyramids at the Louve

The Louve was absoltely huge. Here are a few of my favorites. You weren't aloud to take pictures of the Mona Lisa. It is quite small in real life though!

The night at the Moulin Rouge! The show was awesome!

Congrats to the Graduates

2007-05-18T18:00:00.000-07:00

To celebrate our graduation from college (it´s tomorrow!) Jen and I are headed to Paris for the weekend!! We´re taking an overnight train there and will be there until Monday evening. Check back Tuesday to see how the trip went!

Home Sweet Home

2007-05-17T17:35:00.000-07:00

Here's where we live!!

Our bedroom- mine is the blue bed.

Here is the living room/dining room. The kitchen and laundry room.

Photos from the Weekend

2007-05-13T22:10:00.000-07:00

Pictures from around San Sebastian
Yes, that's me... sleeping on the beach.... with my mouth open
Jen and I at a club (I know it's dark in there)

Heaven on Earth: the Pastry Shop

Riots and Stealing Accusations

2007-05-13T02:12:00.001-07:00

Friday, the 5-year-olds in my class started a riot. Background info: the children here are just naturally wilder and louder. It’s just a cultural thing. To add to that, the teacher I work with Marissa has the tightest control on these kids. She is very authoritarian and controls them with yelling and public embarrassment, two things I am not capable of doing with a 5-year-old. She expects them to be able to sit for two hours and listen. When she leaves the classroom, they turn into monsters. Back to the story: Marissa had to leave the room to go set up the video. She asked me if I could sing a song with the children. I had recently taught them a song that they really liked. I told them we would sing it, a few children protested but I ignored it. We sang the song, then when Marissa had still not returned, I had two groups of children come up and sing the song in front of the class. After the second time the children began to get a little loud. One child requested we sing another song I had taught them. Then, the children began to argue loudly in Spanish, seeing as only half of the class wanted to sing the other song. I yelled that we would not be singing any more songs. When half the class erupted into cheers, the children in opposition began shouting “NO” at the cheerers. Then the cheerers began shouting “YES”. In a deafening roar of rioting, I could NOT quite the children. I tried yelling, I tried whispering, I tried singing, I tried stomping my foot. After a panicked minute of not being able to control the children, I ran out of the classroom to get Marissa in the other room. And what happens…. She walks into the classroom and immediately the rioting children all quite, like nothing ever happened!! It was horrible!!

Then on Saturday, Jen and I were accused of stealing Sunscreen from the grocery store!! Weeks ago we had bought a bottle of sunscreen from the Super Amara. Yesterday, before heading to the beach, we decided to stop at the store to get some snacks. We walked in with our beach bag, through the stealing alarm detectors, and got our groceries and then headed to the line. While we were getting ready to pay, the alarm detector next to me kept going off. OF COURSE, the checker said something to me in Spanish that I couldn’t understand. I gave her our bag and she began to dig through it. With a triumphant “I caught the stealers” look, she pulls out the bottle of sunscreen. Stammering in Spanish, Jen and I attempted to explain we had paid for it days before. She asked us if we had a receipt! I don’t know about you but I do not save receipts from the grocery store that I visit every few days and pay cash at. When we told her no, she said we had to pay for the 8 Euros bottle of sunscreen… again!!! We paid and she pulled off this paper thin foil alarm patch off the bottle and we left completely embarrassed! Who steals sunscreen… come on!

La Celebración del Sol (The Celebration of the Sun)

2007-05-09T21:15:00.000-07:00

The sun came out today and there were no clouds! It was fabulous! After our Spanish class today (our last one) we went and sat on the beach for an hour and then went and ate ice cream. The ice cream here is absolutely amazing and nothing even close to what we have at home!! Jen and I plan to make more trips to the ice cream shop! The beach is on our agenda for tomorrow after school as well!

Our Trip to See Jesus

2007-05-08T17:20:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, Jen and I went to see Jesus. San Sebastian is situated around a bay. At one end of the bay is a small mountain called Monte Urgull; at the very top are an old military fort and a large statue of Jesus that over looks the town of San Sebastian. On Sunday, Jen and I took went on a hike up the mountain to the top. It was a nice day (the rain had finally stopped) and we thoroughly enjoyed the view from the mountain. The fort at the top was also very neat.

Here is a picture of Monte Urgull. That thing at the top is the Statue and where the fort is.

Here are pictures from the fort and the statue of Jesus. I made the fort pictures black and white because it adds to the feel of the pictures.

Here are some photos from the top of the mountain looking out into the Bay of Biscay.

Mmmmm good....

2007-05-04T23:00:00.000-07:00

This is the best thing I have ever eaten in my life. It is a croissant filled with two kinds of chocolate and topped with chocolate sprinkles! MUY BIEN!

Do you see this map??

2007-05-03T21:00:00.000-07:00

Do you see this map? This is a map of San Sebastian. Yesterday, Jen and I had our first private Spanish lesson in a part of town we aren´t too familiar with. We thought we had the buses all figured out. We made it there fine, went to our class, and decided to get something to eat before we headed home. Seeing as we haven´t had red meat since we arrived, we have been craving a good burger. The good news is we found a burger joint called "La Vaca" and indulged on hamburgers, french fries and beer. After paying our bill, we realized it had gotten late. We went back to the bus stop and figured we could catch the last bus on the 24 line to get home. No problem. We had to all figured out. After riding on the bus for almost an hour, we soon realized we were the ONLY ones on the bus. Suddenly, the bus driver stopped and asked us where we were going. We told him and he explained to us his bus was not going there because it was the last bus and he was done with his route. We got off the bus farther away from where we started only to have to get on 2 more buses before getting home after 2 hours of riding on buses! It had taken us only 10 minutes to get there from our house! It was ABSOLUTELY ridiculous! Click on the map to get a full closeup view. The good thing about this: although I´m sure everyone we encounter in Spain thinks we are complete idiots, we cannot understand the things they are saying about us in Spanish!

Oh dear...

2007-05-01T10:30:00.000-07:00

This is an advertisement Jen and I saw yesterday while waiting for the bus. The picture isn't too great because of the glare but you get the gist of it. In case you can't figure it out, it is a picture of an older man and woman, both naked, sitting on the coach watching tv while knitting. It's an advertisement for a company called Euskaltel that sells Cable and Internet service. Loosely Translated: The man says, "The people in Apartment 3A don't have Euskaltel in their house..." She says, "Those people are very rare/odd!" At the bottom it says: "Euskaltel. It's a rare/odd thing not to have it." The people of Spain have a strange sense of humor!

Bilbao

2007-05-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

Jen and I traveled to Bilbao yesterday. We had a four day weekend because it's some Spanish holiday. Sadly enough, we haven't been enjoying it to it's fullest potential because it has been RAINING! We took a bus to Bilbao, which was a hour and twenty minute ride through the greenest mountains I have ever seen!! Bilbao is much larger than San Sebastian and has some what of the big city feel about it. We went to the Guggenheim Museum which was bizarre but very neat. In the front of the museum is a giant Puppy made out of flowers! The museum features 3 dimensional art work. In one part of the building is these giant spirals made from metal that you can walk in and out of! After the museum, we walked around the city in the rain. We did a little shopping along the way and stopped at The Corte Ingles, a store with 10 floors of shopping! Bilbao is funny: there is all of these giant metal numbers and words all over the city. I'm not sure what we'll do today. It's raining again and cold!

"I do not speak French!"

2007-04-29T01:45:00.000-07:00

It was raining yesterday. It didn't stop us from venturing out though. We went for a walk. The tide was coming in and the beach was slowly disappearing. We finally went clothes shopping! We found a store called Bershka (check out www.bershka.com), which was cheap! I have figured out why Jen and I get so many strange looks: we do not dress ANYTHING like the people of Spain do! After shopping, we went out to a few bars and ate some unidentified pintxos, then stumbled across a bar where there were two Bachelor Parties going on. Obviously in Europe, the Bachelor Party is taken very seriously! A large group of men get together and wear matching shirts that have been specially made for the event and the groom-to-be wears a distinctly different colored shirt to make him stand out. We actually saw three different groups of guys wandering around the streets celebrating upcoming weddings. Ann told us that usually on the weekends people come over from France. Sure enough, we met a lot of French people last night. One of the groups of guys for a Bachelor Party were from France. It was interesting the brand new language barrier. Neither Jen nor I speak French. They spoke okay English and only a couple of them spoke Spanish. When Jen and I couldn’t get our message across in English, we’d speak in Spanish to the guys who knew Spanish and French and then they would relay it in French to the other guys. It was the most bizarre thing ever! Jen and I found out that we speak a lot better Spanish than we thought we did! We found ourselves being translators when speaking to local people in Spanish and then translating it into English for the French guys. I am proud to say though that my Spanish is improving! And by the way... not only does my name not translate well in Spanish, it doesn't in French either. I have gotten used to being called "Ereen." Here's two pictures from the night: The guy in the red with the pained look on his face was the Bachelor. I told him not to worry: marriage is great. I think he always looks like that.

Happy Birthday Ann

2007-04-28T01:39:00.000-07:00

We took Ann (the lady we live with) out last night to celebrate her birthday. We went to Ann’s sister’s bar down in the central part of San Sebastian. It’s an Irish Bar, called The Auld Dubliner. Ann’s two sons met us there and we had a great time! Ann introduced us to our new favorite drink: a Kalimotxo (pronounced Callie Mocho). It’s a delightful concoction of half coca cola and half red wine over ice. They are also very cheap! We had quite a few and finished out the night eating chicken, salad, and French fries! We somehow got caught in a terrible down pour of rain that started sometime while we were eating. Although we had our umbrellas (a necessity here), I mistakenly had worn flip flops that have absolutely no traction. The walk to the bus stop was a slippery one and I almost fell numerous times (from the wet ground… not from the Kalimotxos)! On the way to the bus stop, we encountered the strangest fountain I have ever seen. On the top was a statue of a little baby boy strangling a duck! We have some pictures we took with Ann but they are on her camera. I'll add them when I can!

A Strange Wednesday

2007-04-26T04:37:00.000-07:00

The day started off strange. On the hair rising bus ride to school (it´s always hair rising), we had to listen to the Smurfs... singing in Spanish. It was like a hyped up Ricky Martin with a bad sinus cold! Upon arriving at school, we had a birthday in my class. The little boy brought in a birthday cake... it was a sponge/angel food cake with no frosting but was instead topped with powder sugar! It was actually very good! I guess that is the tradition birthday cake here. And last night, we had a crazy thunder storm! I have never seen rain like that! And the thunder was SO LOUD!

Lost in Translation

2007-04-24T04:12:00.000-07:00

After spending three afternoons at the beach, Jen and I decided that we needed to buy some lotion to help hydrate our skin. We headed to the Super Amara on our way home from the beach yesterday. We quickly found the lotion section and immediately began looking for the cheapest brand. Down at the bottom was a brand called Natural Honey. They had many different kinds and we quickly noticed one said something about "Hydrating" (which is all we could translate) and it smelled good so we bought it. A week ago, we had mistakenly bought a package of stir-fry vegetables that had fish in it; we vowed to not just pick from the pictures after that and to attempt to read all of the packages we bought. Last night after Jen got out of the shower, she commented about our new lotion being difficult to rub in and that it was like a creamy gel. We completely attributed it to being "cheap" and thought nothing more if it. So this morning, we´re getting ready to head off to school and I was putting the lotion on my feet. Sure enough, it was sort of like a gel, which is what our sunscreen we bought here was like too so I thought nothing of it. And Jen was right, it was a bit difficult to rub in. I glanced at the bottle and had a startlingly realization. I went into the kitchen where Jen was looking in the refrigerator.

"Hey Jen. I don´t think this is lotion..." I stammered.
She peaked over the refrigerator door. "What do you mean?"
"I think it might be shower gel. See this here." I pointed to the bottle. "I think it says something about bath gel for the shower."
Jen quickly grabbed the bottle. "You´re kidding me!" She studied the bottle for a moment before responding, "I think you´re right."
I stifled a smile, mentally recalling the mix-up with the fish a week ago and now this.
Jen´s faced stiffened. "I put that all over my body!!"
I took a gulp of my coffee and turned around, trying not to laugh. "Well, you are all ready for your shower tonight." A giggle escaped from my mouth as I turned back around to face Jen.
Jen began to laugh too. Neither of us said anything more.

Later on Jen mentioned something about having a rash on her arm. I asked her if she had put anything on it; she laughed and boldly stated, "Shower gel."

Needless to say, Jen and I will be starting private Spanish lessons next week.

Too funny!

2007-04-22T01:00:00.000-07:00

Oh how I love the beach!

2007-04-21T14:28:00.002-07:00

What a lovely day! The sun came out today and so did the people of San Sebastian! We decided to act like locals and went out around mid-day to eat a late lunch (we had pizza!) and drink a pitcher of Sangria! How the Spaniards drink so much, I have no idea. We finished out the day laying on the beach eating a pastry! It was truly fabulous!

First Week of School

2007-04-20T00:36:00.000-07:00

WARNING: This can be boring if you don't really care how the school works!

The first week of school was exciting and overwhelming! Things are very different here than I had imagined; they are very complicated! Because I am working with children 5 to 6 years old, two-thirds of their day is in English and one-third is in Spanish. I am working with the English teacher, Marissa. We see two different sets of kids, Group A and Group B. There are 26 kids in each group/class. There is another English teacher as well, named Rosemary, who works in another classroom. We see each group of kids for a part of the day. During the English part of the day, most of the curriculum is focused on learning and practicing the English language. However, it’s not quite the same as the English we use at home; it’s English from England. They use words like “trainers” to mean “tennis shoes” and “jumper” to mean “shirt.” The curriculum for the English part of the day is set by the school. Each week has a set theme and everything is already planned in advance, including what books to read, what songs to sing, and what English words and phrases to focus on learning that week.

A typical day goes something like this: At 9:30, all 52 children are waiting in the assembly hall. The day starts out there where both Rosemary and Marissa have the children sing songs in English. After a few songs, the children split into Group A and Group B. Group B goes with Marissa and I to our classroom, Group A goes with Rosemary to a classroom. From about 9:45 to 10:45, both Marissa and Rosemary do the same thing with each group of kids, all in English. The children sit on the floor in three rows facing the teacher at the front of the room. They are expected to sit very still and listen. Marissa and Rosemary speak to the children in English although the children are not required to respond in English unless directly asked to. We start out with calendar and the weather, which consists mostly of memorized songs. Marissa reads a few math stories, then does math flashcards with the children in which she shows each child a different number that they have to identify in English. This activity allows her to assess the children individually on how the children are learning to recognize the numbers and say them in English. They do a math song, which is using interactive. Throughout the year, Marissa rereads stories to the children over and over again so that they memorize them. After the math song, Marissa calls on two children to come up to the front of the class and recite one of the stories that they have learned while following along with the book. This allows Marissa to evaluate the children individually on there emerging abilities to speak English as well. The children don’t actually learn to read in English until a few years later. After that, the children are given a short math worksheet to do with adding and subtracting. The children are very good at doing single digit subtraction and addition (they say “take-away” and “plus”). From 10:45 to 11:15, the children go to recess. At 11:15, Group B goes to the Spanish part of the day with Jose, where they learn to read and write in Spanish. Group A comes to Marissa’s class. From 11:15 to 12:30, the children again sit on the floor in three rows and are expected to listen. Marissa reads the children 4 to 5 books that are related to that week’s themed curriculum. She then rereads the story that the children have been working to learn, The 3 Billy Goats Gruff. The children are exceptional at reciting it! They then sing songs that are related to the themed curriculum. They also go over more flashcards that focus on that week’s theme; the children are expected to identify the picture on the flashcard in English. After that they work on their “papers,” which this week were coloring worksheets of the characters and scenes from The 3 Billy Goats Gruff that they will use to retell the story. From 12:30 to 2:30, the children go to lunch and then to extracurricular activities, which include Basque, French, Ballet and Music. At 2:30, Group B comes back to Marissa’s class and Group A then goes to Spanish. From 2:30 to 4:30, our group of children do different things each day, all in English. One day they had Gym, one day they watched a video, one day we went on a walk, one day they did phonological awareness, and one day they did painting. Each day, the activity lasted for about an hour and the other hour was spent reading the stories, singing the songs, and working on The 3 Billy Goats Gruff papers that the other group of children did earlier that day. At 4:30, the children go home. Many of the days vary but for the most part, this was what happens during the day! I guess that from September to February, the schedule is flopped for the two groups of children (Group A starts out with Marissa, etc) and then from March until June the two groups of children switch to this schedule.

The week has been confusing. For the most part, the children are not required to respond in English unless asked. And the children do not understand English that well. I’m not exactly sure what my roll will be in the class. During the math papers, Marissa had me work with a small group of children on their papers. Because we are in the English part of the day, we are only aloud to speak English to the children, although the children don’t understand us all that well! It was so difficult to explain to the children how to add and subtract when they only understood a very limited portion of what I was saying and I only understood a very limited portion of what they were saying! I had to use a lot of nonverbal gestures and repeating of simple phrases! And I’m still not sure if they got it! Also, Marissa asked me if I’d like to teach the children a song. Not thinking about it, I picked a song about an alligator and 3 monkeys swinging in a tree that had a lot of fun hand motions. In the song, the alligator “snaps” up two monkeys, eating them and one monkey gets away. The children thought the song was fun and enjoyed singing it but when Marissa asked them if they new what an alligator was, or what “snap” meant, or what happened to the two monkeys, and what happened to the one monkey who got away, they had NO CLUE what ANY of it was! To add to it, I speak totally different than Marissa does! Her first language is Spanish and she learned English in England as an adult. Marissa and I communicate to each other okay; there are a lot of things that I have to rephrase in order for her to understand. And the way they teach the children is VERY different. The children are expected to sit for very long periods of time and listen. A small portion of the activities are focused whole group, but the actual practice speaking English is all individual, leaving one child doing something while the other 25 have to sit quietly and wait! During the other part of my student teaching, we learned all of these different engagement strategies to engage ALL of the students; that is not the case here. And the phonological awareness is bizarre! The children don’t learn the ABC alphabet; they learn sounds. For example, they do not know what a “Y” is or a “N” by name, they identify the letter “y” as the “ee” sound and the letter “N” as the “nu” sound! They had to find pictures that ended in “ee”, like floppy or puppy, and match them with the “Y” and pictures that end in “nu”, like train and garden, and match them with the “N”. I was super confused!

I want to see what the children do in the Spanish part of the day. Rosemary told me the children learn to read in Spanish using a global method, not phonologically. For the most part, the children can all read in Spanish. They learn to write Spanish in cursive. It’s all so different!! I’m hoping that now that the first week is done that I will find my roll in the class. The kids do seem to like me though!

"Are you from Africa?"

2007-04-18T00:50:00.000-07:00

The kids in my class have decided that I'm staying and are now very curious about me! One little girl misunderstood that I'm from America and asked if I had come from Africa. One boy told me I was a princess; another told me I should learn Spanish so that I can talk to him instead of him having to learn English to talk to me! My parents gave me a name that does not translate to Spanish very well; I'm "Miss Ereen."

San Sebastian

2007-04-17T00:40:00.000-07:00

"Let them eat cake"... our whatever we can find

2007-04-16T06:18:00.000-07:00

Eating here hasn´t been THAT bad. We went grocery shopping. Finding the grocery store was only half the battle; actually shopping and then cooking the food is a whole other area of frustration!! First of all, the people of San Sebastian would be absolutely disgusted with our wall of salad dressing at our grocery stores. There is no salad dressing here. Jen and I found 2 lone bottles at the store and that is it. Instead, we’ve been using olive oil and balsamic vinegar! They would also be disgusted with our aisles and aisles of frozen foods! They did have a frozen section, except it wasn’t a wall at all. You know those round bins at Raley’s that you can use scoops to get things like nuts and flour, ect? That is what their frozen section is!! It has all of these open bins FILLED with different types of seafood and frozen vegetables! You use a scoop to fill plastic bags with whatever you want! There are some prepackaged type things, but it’s not nearly as exciting as the “do-it-yourself” section! Jen and I bought a prepacked stir fry mix… yeah… we couldn’t understand the package so we chose by pictures. It had fish in it. Yes, I ate it. It was not the best thing I’ve ever had but I chocked it down! I have made a special effort since then to learn the names of fish here as to not make the same mistake! And guess where they keep the milk… on a shelf way far away from the refrigerated areas! Jen and I were super concerned for our health but we seem okay enough after drinking it; we haven’t died yet. Also, Spaniards do not eat peanut butter; they have a lot of jelly but no peanut butter! And imagine going to the store and not being able to understand ANYTHING written on the packages! It was interesting! We ended up with a bunch of groceries and were quite content until we got home. We bought this soup packet, thinking we’d make soup. We could not understand the directions on the back! When we had finally figured it out as best as we could manage, it said to add 1 liter of water…we realized we had NO idea how much a liter of water was! There was a measuring cup in the kitchen… but not in liters. We finally figured it out but cooking food by package directions is absolutely ridiculous. The package gives you about a million different options: Peel back the plastic 1 cm OR poke the plastic with a fork or knife OR remove plastic and place loosely back on container. We’ve decided we will be professionals at reading directions by the time this is all over with. And the bakeries and pastries shops are out of control; Whole cases filled with bread and pastries. Jen and I have determined bread is as necessary to Spaniards as is water. Jen and I have perfected the art of ordering food from places; you point and say “Quiero eso y eso y eso… (I want that and that and that…)”. That’s all it takes and we get what we want! And by the way, they have plenty of pasta and tomato sauce in the store so I won´t starve!

We have arrived

2007-04-12T14:17:00.000-07:00

After a very long plane ride and some serious jet lag, we made it here! We spent a few days in Madrid before traveling on to San Sebastian. While in Madrid, we visited the Museo del Prado, an extremely large art museum, and the Parque del Buen Retiro, a huge and very beautiful park. I also rode on the subway for the first time ever, which was quite the experience. You have to get off and on very quickly! The buildings are amazing and beautiful but I´m very glad we are not living there! It´s a big city that I´m pretty sure never sleeps! We took a train to San Sebastian. The country was like nothing I have ever seen before in my life.