Barcelona bound, Semana Santa, new beginnings

1. I´m going to Barcelona in two days!! Can´t wait to see more of Spain.

2. Religious processions are taking over the streets of Valladolid in honor of Semana Santa or Easter as we call it...pictures will come shortly.

3. I´m moving into a new apartment at the beginning of April. This is bittersweet, but with new beginnings come new hope.

Midnight crowds, continuing on, and cloudy river

1. Only in Spain are the streets absolutely ghost town empty at 3 in the afternoon for siesta and bustling with people of all ages at 3 in the morning on a weekend.

2. Somehow I get out of bed, into the shower, and to work today. A day that´s extremely difficult to face.

3. On a walk from school to school, I admire the windy ripple effect on the river, and how I can still see undistorted puffy white clouds in the reflection.

Kat is back for now...

1. As I´m running to catch the early bus before the siesta rush at my newly discovered bus stop, I pass under a couple trees blossoming pink and catch a scent of spring.

2. I get a text from Sarah telling me that a parent of one of my students is very happy with my classes and wants to meet me.

3. An ache in my side has been slowly residing.

4. Blogger still remembers me!

Psychological day

I had one of those days yesterday where I knew how tired I´d be before I even woke up. Going from 7:30 am until 10:00 pm on two bocadillos, energy fumes, and constant reminders of how corrupt this renowned language school is made me collapse as soon as I put my fork down after dinner.

Today, I woke up at 11:00 and felt the exact opposite. Not bouncing off of walls opposite, but ready to face the day. After a real doozy of day, doozy in the bad sense, is it more likely that the next day will be better?

Just a thought. Really, I´m trying to stay away from the blog seeing as my head is a bit fatigued and blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

Long time no post...

The past few weeks have been a bit dreary. Not in the sense of weather, but my colleagues and the drama of working at this school have started to weigh me down a bit.

On the upside, I´m still appreciating my time here. For me, Spain, like coffee, was an acquired taste. I don´t really need it, but I´m starting to like it more and more.

The other night, I walked past a non descript church, the same one I walk past every night on my way home, but this time, the doors were open and I could see inside. I saw colorful murals and statues tipped in gold. Now, everytime I walk past, I think about not judging books by their covers.

¨Carnaval¨ kids, Segovian getaway, hunchbacks

1. Everywhere, children are dressed up as if it were Halloween. It´s carnival season and there are miniature pirates, knights, princesses, ninjas, tigers, cows, and more walking the streets. 2. Exploring a Spanish castle and seeing an amazing view of Segovia from the top. 3. After trying to explain what a camel hump is, an eight year old student tells me that old people have them too.

Ñ, sit down, and new student

1. After putting my beautifully colored and laminated alphabet cards on the board, I ask students to tell me how to say each letter. Then I tell them that two letters are missing, because it´s just too difficult to do the activity with ¨V¨ and ¨X¨. At least three children in different classes couldn´t believe that ¨ñ¨ wasn´t in the English alphabet.

2. I´m feeling pretty sick on the last day before Carnival weekend, so I play a game with the kids called ¨Whispering Dictation¨ where I can sit in my chair while the kids run around the class whispering sentences to each other.

3. I have a new adult student in my late class. He´s a bit nervous when he first arrives, but I can already see the two outgoing women making small talk so that he feels more comfortable. By the end of the lesson, he´s laughing along with us.