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!

"I'm thorry, it was the thudio's dethithion"



Cesar & Marcos being "tough"

I recently watched the movie America's Sweethearts where Hank Azaria plays a Spaniard and has the worst accent.  When he wants to know why he can't go to a press junket, Billy Crystal says (without missing a beat, and most likely improvised) "I'm thorry, it was the thudio's dethithion." So espanish.  Since I've spent the last few post complaining about how American I am and how much I don't fit in here, I figured it was time to write about all the endearing things about Spain.

1.  My kids never hesitate to comment on my physical appearance.  Today, I was leaning over to help David with something.  I haven't cut my hair since June, and its incredibly long and hangs everywhere.  Maria started to run her hand along it and asked, "Did you straighten your hair?" and in fact, I had straightened it the night before.  In 1st grade, Aitana told me my skirt was "broken" because it had distressed rips in it, and Marcos told me I look better without my glasses. Thanks, Marcos, Thanks.  The kids always fiddle with any bracelets or rings I wear, and often don't listen to a word I'm saying because they're too busy just flat-out staring at me. "Do you know how to do braids Niki?" "I love your hair Niki" "Your earrings are so pretty Niki"



2. Monday through Thursday I have to stay anywhere from 1-2 hours after school in the tutoria de ingles (kind of like an English teacher's lounge) planning for my clases particulares.  It also conveniently involves less walking for me if I hang out at school and then head to the kids' houses.  Most of the time, a few of the faculty kids are in the tutoria and I can't get any work done, so I've resorted to playing games with them or quizzing them on vocabulary.  The other day, Linda's daughter (who just turned 11) told me, "Niki, parece que a los ninos les encantas" (Niki, it seems like kids love you). It made me and Yolanda, the English teacher who was in the tutoria at the time, really laugh.



3. Last week the jefa de estudios (kind of like the vice principal) asked me to help her with her English conversation skills.  She's taking an exam in 3 weeks, and she's failed it 2 times before.  She does fine on the written part of the exam, but never passes the oral part in front of the panel of examiners.  The questions can be about her experience in a bilingual public school, current events, or even personal stories.  Both the directora and the jefa de estudios at my school are super friendly and loveable.  While we were talking about the board of examiners, Elena, the jefa, leaned over and asked me how I was doing at Castaneras. That was the first time in my 4 months at the school that someone had asked me how I liked it.  She also told me that she had worked in another elementary school in Arroyomolinos 4 years ago and fell in love with the town.  She told her then-boyfriend, "When we get married, we are going to move to this town."  They got married 6 months ago and moved back here.  She doesn't know many people here because all of her family and friends are back in Torrejon, and she told me I should come over her house for a coffee sometime.  Every day I feel more and more a part of this weird little town.



Arroyomolinos

4. Every day, one of my students comes up to me and tells me they saw me walking to school, in the supermarket, or waiting for the bus.  The other day, a 1st grader told me, "Niki! Yesterday, I saw you! I was in the car. I saw you through the window but I couldn't get it downnnnnnnn!!!" as if it was the most agonizing thing in the world.

5. I've become kind of attached to my school moms (especially Andrea & Alba's mom).  This week alone she gave me 3 tupperware containers of different types of soup, a mini-cheesecake, chocolate, and doughnuts.  She has also decided that I have to come back next year and won't take no for an answer.  Carlos & Alvaro's mom always gives me a ride home if she sees me walking since she lives the closest to me.  When I told her I fell down the stairs in my house she told me, "You have to be careful chica, Do you want to kill yourself?!"



6. One of the first things I noticed when I got to Arroyomolinos was that it had a desert-ish climate.  Its really cold and windy at night, but during the day is hot and dry. I never saw bugs, but I saw lots of little lizards.  After not seeing a single bug for months, a HUGE fly-bug-monster-thing flew in the bathroom window while I was in the shower today. I had an irrational FREAK OUT....but it eventually found the window and I shut it out with a spastic slam.

7. I discovered that if you're ever feeling down all you have to do is watch some Chayanne music videos.  They are hysterical.

Pa pa l' americano

After living in Spain for almost 4 months, you start to recognize quintessential American characteristics in your own behavior.  The woman I teach 1st and 2nd grade with thought I was British up until last week, so that was kind of insulting.  Not that being British is insulting....but a Spanish person assuming you're British just because you speak English is like an American person assuming you're Mexican just because you speak Spanish. 

So here are some things that I've come to realize are "American"....
1. Children who respect their elders / teachers
2. Patience when waiting in long lines or going through airport security
3. Accepting others regardless of race or religion
4. Going out into the world on your own immediately after graduating from college

OF COURSE, these are GENERALIZATIONS.  There are Spaniards who do all four of these things and there are Americans who don't know how to do any of these things.  I've just come to realize how American I am in the last 4 months, and how I will never be and should never try to be Spanish.  Someone equated what I'm doing in Spain to studying abroad, when actually that couldn't be farther from the truth.  When you study abroad you don't have to pass your courses, you just have to "complete" them.  You have a support group of peers who are all American, and you have professors and teachers guiding you through the transition process. As for me....I'm the only American person in my town....there is no one here guiding me through the ins-and-outs of Spanish culture, and I have to actually pay bills and rent and provide for myself.  Although it might not be a Monday through Friday 9-5 job, its still a job. 

If New Year's Eve is any indication of how a person will spend the rest of the year, I really hope mine indicated a year of discovering new people.  Of the five of us in this picture, not one was born in the same country.  There's Korea, Cameroon, America, India, Spain....and a random guy in the back who looks incredibly confused......There's always a random guy in the back. 

Christmas in Le Crotoy

No words can explain how awesome it was to spend Christmas at Muriel's house in France, so I'll try with this video :)

Les Miserables / Los Miserables

I've been trying to write about my experience at Les Mis for the past week, and I think I've come to the conclusion that it was indescribable. 



Teatro Lope de Vega
 Gran Via, Madrid

I knew since my second day in Madrid that I was going to buy tickets to see the show.  I passed the (clearly under constuction) Teatro Lope de Vega on Gran Via and saw the Los Miserables sign.  I remember thinking, "That's strange, I thought Les Mis was retired.  It definitely doesn't play on Broadway anymore. Maybe its an old sign the construction workers haven't removed yet."  When I found out it was actually opening in Madrid in November 2010, I went loca.  But, I'm getting ahead of myself.  Lets rewind about 15 years.....


Back in 1994-1995 (at some point during my kindergarten or 1st grade career) my parents introduced me to the Les Miserables soundtrack from the original 1987 Broadway cast.  I started listening to it then, and never stopped.  Now that I actually teach 1st graders, it seems more than strange to me that a 6 year old would want to listen to people sing about death, poverty, and French rebellions...but hey, when have I ever been normal? Why start asking that question now?  One of my very clear memories from living in the old house on Glenwood Avenue in Yonkers is of a play-date I had with a friend.  The two of us were up on the third floor, and I put on the song "Come to Me" from Les Mis.  My mom's room was right across the hall, and I begged and begged her to show my friend her imitation of Fantine dying by falling on the bed....because I thought it was amazing.  



Marius & Enroljas at the barricade

When I got a little older, and started to really listen to the lyrics and the talent in the singers' voices, I became even more obsessed.  Don't even get me started on how jealous I was when my sister got to go see it on Broadway with her French class in high school...or how mad I was when I found out it had retired, and I had missed my chance.



Valjean at the barricade





 Even though the Madrid show was a Spanish adaptation, the show was just as amazing as I had always imagined it to be.  I bought myself a ticket to the Dec. 10 show as an early birthday present.  I was seated in the upper balcony, but in the first row. 

The Teatro Lope de Vega alone was worth the visit.  It was built in the 1940s and seats about 1,500 people.  I walked into the lobby and felt like I was walking into the lobby of the Titanic.  I half expected Leonardo DiCaprio to be there when I got to the top of the stairs. 

As for the show itself, it really was indescribable.  The actors voices were so powerful, and confident, and projected to every corner of the theater.  (Yes, I cried at about 3 different times during the show and once at the end when the 3 little kids took their bow.) M. and Mme. Thénardier were amazingly funny, Valjean and Enroljas' voices were impossibly perfect, the special effects seemed like magic, and I completely forgot about the real world for 3 hours.  Let's just say...it was the best thing I've ever seen in my life.    

"This is my december / these are my snow covered dreams"

This weekend in Spain is a puente!  We have a 5-day weekend because two national holidays fall on Monday and Wednesday (and in true Spanish form, they give us Tuesday off as well).  December 6th is the Día de la Constitución and celebrates the complete democratic restoration of Spain in 1978.  Franco died in 1975, but the country had to go through 3 years of democratic transition until their constitution was finalized.  December 8th is the Feast of the Inmaculada Concepción (apparently Mary was concieved on Dec 8th). 

I'm spending the puente relaxing at home in Madrid because my winter break is going to be non-stop.  I'm visiting Muriel in France (Dec 23 - Dec 27), I have Jenn visiting me in Spain (Dec 27 - Jan 4), and I'm venturing off by myself to Rome (Jan 5 - Jan 8), before returning to work on Jan 11.  Dangers of sitting at home and relaxing : melancolía...especially when this song decides to come up on my iPod while on shuffle Winter Song - Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson.

the lake at Retiro Park on Sunday