Kodak moments

I've had quite a few feel-good moments on this here Iberian peninsula lately.  Last Saturday, I went to El Escorial, a 16th century monastery at the foot of the Sierra de Guadarrama.  It's one of the big three touristy day trips from Madrid (the other two being Segovia and Toledo) and is just a one hour bus ride from Moncloa.  On the ride there, I looked out the window and saw a white and brown painted bull running through a huge field like a puppy chasing a butterfly.  It seemed kind of ludicrous....a giant "ferocious" animal like that just playing by himself in a big empty field.

Being amused by a frolicking bull is just a normal side effect of letting my mind wander / being alone on public transportation.  On the way back from El Escorial there was a guy at the Plaza de Espana metro stop playing the drums on pots, pans, and empty buckets.  I never give money to people on the subway, but this guy was so good and so into his drumming that I threw all the spare change I had in his tips box.  I also noticed the other day, on the bus that goes from my town into Madrid, that the bus driver was playing classical music and drumming his fingers to it.  He was in his own little world.  It made me wonder if he played the piano at home and was actually playing the song on his steering wheel.

Now that the weather is getting back into the 50s and low 60s, I've been seeing lots of kids out riding their bikes and playing in the neighborhood.  It's always so unexpected when I'm walking somewhere, and I hear a little voice from somewhere behind me say "Hello Niki" in English.  I really am glad that I live in Arroyomolinos.....except when I have to get up painfully early to take a bus into Madrid for something. My town mom has made one part of life easier for me though!  Whenever I get a package, I have to wait until Friday to walk to the post office and pick it up.  The worst part is that the 30 minute walk home (carrying the package) is uphill. HOWEVER, Isa works from home and is always there to sign for her packages, so now I have my packages sent to her house and she signs for them! So according to the postal service, I live with her now :)  She also lent me a skirt to wear to an interview the other day and sent me to her hair dresser to get my highlights done.  She even called the hairstylist the morning of my appointment to make sure she did a good job! She is awesome!

A random cross-cultural moment I had the other day: I was tutoring my 3rd grader Maria at her house and making her act out all the action verbs from her vocabulary sheet.  She started getting super hyper and acting like a spaz.  I read out the verb "skateboarding" or "skiing" or something and she did it so spazzily that she fell flat on her butt.  She laughed so hard she snorted, and I bust out laughing.  I don't know how to translate "you snorted" but I didn't even have to, she was laughing so hard she understood.  That's definitely the kind of stuff I will miss next year.  I have an interview on Monday to be an English auxiliar/teacher for the Escuelas Catolicas de Madrid, and I didn't renew at my colegio (not even as a fallback) because I really need to be at a job where I have more responsibilities and authority in the classroom.  Even though I will miss my kids so much, I could not take another year of being an incorrectly utilized...tool.  The experience I'm having now is teaching me what works and what doesn't work in the classroom, but I need to move on to bigger and better things if I want to feel like I'm making any post-grad life progress at all!

VICTORY!!!

The experience of working at Camp Walden this past summer can be summed up as 9 and a half weeks of people making me think I was horrible at working with kids.

Well, let me tell you....I have a 1st grader who suffers from such painful shyness that he's too embarassed to talk in class (to anyone) or do his work.  He is one of the cutest, tiniest, most adorable kids in the class.  Most of the kids scream "Niki, Niki, Niki, Niki, Niki" over and over again before even considering reading the directions or figuring out an activity by themselves.  If this boy EVER calls my name, I immediately go help him because I know it took so much energy for him to summon up the courage.  Today, his parents had to go in for a parent-teacher meeting, and his 2nd grade sister told me they might change schools since her brother is having such a hard time.  Well, guess what.....he stayed with me in the tutoria the whole time.  We played computer games and I showed him pictures of my family in America.  His mom came to pick him up and said, "You were talking to Niki?!?!?!" because she was so surprised he was actually talking to someone.

See Camp Walden! I am good with kids! so HA!