Winter Weather

Current weather here in Algeciras. Heeeeeeello December :)

            

                                     Current weather back home in La Crosse. Wow, I'm sorry guys! (Btw, when I tell my students what some of our december/january temperatures are, they're jaws literally drop.)

UPDATE/NOTE: If you know me well you know that I am very oblivious. Case in point. Thank you Kaley for pointing out that this is in Celcius and the others are in farhenheit! Oops. So here is the updated weather for La Crosse....

Still cold, but nowhere near what I thought it was...Which makes the rest of this post moot. But in the interest of conserving my previous excitement/stupidity/whatever you want to call it, I'll leave the rest of it up.
              

    

                       Current weather in Munich, Germany.

The point of this is not to brag, I promise. The point is that I've spent the last week looking up everything I could about winter weather in Germany, and agonizing over whether I should bring my warm winter jacket that I brought from Wisconsin, or whether I will be okay with just layering up and bringing a lighter jacket. And when I say agonizing, i mean agonizing. I hate packing. It's so stressful.

So then I decided to do this little comparison! And while I realize that the current temperatures for La Crosse are not exactly average, I also realized how much I do not need any sort of jacket that I would currently be using back home. Yay!

Field Trip!

I love my students! They are fantastic. And I'm getting very attached to them and cannot imagine how difficult it is going to be when I leave in May. (Idontwannathinkaboutit.)

Today we (me, Eli, 4 teachers, and 50 bilingual students + 50 monolingual students between the ages of 11 and 13) climbed onboard 2 coach buses and drove an hour and a half out to the middle of nowhere. (Cue chaos.) We ended up, literally in the middle of nowhere, at El Museo de Miel, the Honey Museum. 

Here's a summary of the day, in pictures.

We waited outside the school for an hour, because apparently there had been some confusion over who our bus drivers were going to be. Leaving an hour late meant that we got back an hour late, aka an hour after school had ended. Oops.

More waiting. Gonzalo, the math teacher, showed up. Immediately shouts of "Gonzalo! Guapo! Gonzaaaaaaaalo está aquí!" filled the air. All the girls are in love with him. And all the boys want to be him.

The patio of the museum. All of us 'teachers' got coffee and toast and time to relax while the students sat through presentations about honey. I had thought we would be serious chaperones, but we were pretty much given the day to enjoy how we wanted! So I took lots of pretty pictures.

See? Pretty picture.

Dressing up to go check out where the bees lived! Us teachers wore these too, and we got the chance to go up  right by the bee hives and hold one of the slates filled with honey. (There's a picture but it's on a kid's camera from class. No idea how if I'll ever actually get to see it.) It was terrifying!! I hate bees!

Making candles! How's it taste, Álvaro?

More students from the school, from Eli's class though, not mine.

Working hard to make some festive christmas candles!

My creation.

My school :)

Peacock! Or, as their called in Spanish, a Royal Turkey!

And here's a funny story to end this post. Here's the background info you need to know: We were at the museum for about 3 hours, watching presentations and seeing how honey is made. The presentations were in English for the bilingual group, which basically meant they understood absolutely nothing. They're only the 1st and 2nd year kids, and so while they're English is actually really good, it is no where near good enough to listen to presentations about bees and honey for 3 hours and understand much.
But that is still no excuse for this kid. He's one of my favorite 2nd year students, his English is pretty atrocious but he tries hard and is really funny. I was talking with him while we were waiting for the bus and I said that I bought a lot of honey. He thought for a second and then said "...what is honey again?"

......................................

And I replied, "perdona, pero cómo es posible que hemos estado en el Museo de Miel todo el día y todavía no sabes que HONEY ES MIEL???"
I wasn't mad, just so shocked that I went off on a little rant in Spanish. (Hold on, how is it possible that we've been at the Honey Museum all day and you still don't know that miel is the word for honey??)
His excuse was something to the effect that he has a bad memory. Nope, sorry, no excuses!!

And then I realized I was an adult.

An 'adult'. Ick. Scary word. Me no like. 

Being an adult means being mature, and on top of things, and independent, and...and all the things that were the motivation behind me jetting off to leave the real world and hide for a year in Spain.

But I guess it didn't work, and that being adult isn't something you can put off, it just kind of creeps up on you when you least expect it. 

Like, right now for example. (Picture me singing this in a bragging tone) *na-na na na-na-na I don't have to be an adult I can live in Europe for a year and travel every weekend and get paid a lot of money to do hardly any work and keep on being care-free and immature na-na na na-na-na*

But despite this, I've matured more in these last 2 months than I ever expected I would. I successfully apartment-hunted in a 2nd language, set up a bank account, learned how to change a propane tank, and reached an understanding with my long-standing hatred for doing the dishes.

Anyway, that was all just a side-ramble. Here is what I originally intended to post:

So I realize that I graduated last May, I realize that I've been living in a foreign country for the last 2 months (successfully, might I add), and I thought I had realized that I am working at a school and not attending school. 

However. 

Tomorrow Eli and I are going on our first field trip with the school. Except, we are not the ones going on a field trip. The students are. So I guess that means we're....chaperoning? 

I was thinking about this about 5 minutes ago and my thought process literally went from "no school tomorrow we're going on a field trip!!!" to "oh my god I'm actually an adult now, I'm chaperoning a school field trip!" to "Oh my god I'm an adult. And an assistant teacher at that."

It was scary. 

But also gave me a giddy feeling. 

Remember when you were little and the teachers lounge was 'the teachers lounge', and even just catching a glimpse inside when you walked passed the open door was a special feeling? You had no idea what went on in there, it was such an unknown "grown-up" place. At least that's how I always felt.

And so now, every time I walk through the doors of the school, wave to my students and go through the doorway to the teacher's lounge, i gave the little kid in me a pat on the back. Good job, you finally got to see what was going on behind those doors. I guess being an adult isn't so bad after all.

Check it out, my 1st care package! Mac&cheese, peanut butter cups, my favorite healthy cookies, and circus balloon toys for some of my private classes! (And in the upper left corner is my brand-spankin-new residency card, which means that I officially live in Spain!!!)

Before you say it, yes, I know, that is not at all what a pressure cooker looks like. Oops. Just add this to the list of wrong definitions I've given my students so far this yea

I drew this for 3ESO when they asked me what 'scuba diving' meant, and of course it wasn't possible to explain using only hand gestures. Don't ask me why they needed to know what either of these were, but I'm pretty proud of my scuba man.

Jerez de la Frontera

Yesterday I got the chance to take a cheap day trip out of Algeciras and to go visit a co-worker in Jerez de la Frontera. I'd been to Jerez before, but I'd been by myself, tired, and totally uninterested in walking around getting lost for hours only to have to retrace my steps that night to find my hotel. So I didn't see much.

This time though, Pilar met Eli and I bright and early at 11am to start our walking tour of her city. We saw a church, the cathedral, the food market and main square, some really cute Flamenco shops, and also did a Bodega tour.

Side note: Pilar asked us what the difference was between a Bodega and a Wine Cellar. I couldn't answer because I started laughing as soon as I heard 'wine cellar'. Inside jokes are never as fun when you're the only one who gets it.

But just so you know, a wine cellar is always underground, and a bodega is always at ground level. Interesting!

So normally, for tours, I book them in advance and have time to get really super excited. But this time it was totally unplanned, we walked up to the ticket booth at 2, and bought tickets for the show at 2. No time to get really excited that we were going on a tour of Gonzalez Byass, the bodega that makes the famous Tío Pepe Sherry that is known throughout the world.

Nope, no time to get excited until about 10 minutes into the tour. When I got really excited. (Even though I hate wine.) I love visiting places that have special significance, like the largest/oldest/smallest/etc. places. So to be taking a wine tour in Jerez de la Frontera, the originator of Sherry wine and the only place in the world that it is produced, was pretty special. (Sherry is the English translation. It is called Jerez wine in Spain, just like the city it was created in, Jerez de la Frontera.)

They have a 150 barrels of wine, each with the flag of one 

of the countries that sells their wine. The USA flag is 

wayyy up at the top.

        

        

                           This was the room used by the founder to create and test wines. After he died 

nobody else worked in this room or touched it, and so it's stayed exactly the same

for over 100 years. 

Back to the hating wine part. I dislike red wine, but can choke it down. I hate Sherry wine. I hate it's smell, I hate the taste, and I hate that everybody else likes it except me. I think it tastes just like how nail polish remover smells: horrendous. 

But I had a great time on the tour, except for the part where the guide passed around glasses of wine at different aging processes, and the part where we got to taste-test.

There was a room called the Rat's room, where hundreds of rats lived. The story says that when the Bodega first opened a worker found a mouse in the building. He was an animal lover and so instead of killing it he gave it a block of cheese and a small glass of wine. And so today, they continue to do that, each day leaving a block of cheese and a small glass of wine for the mice. (Not enough wine to get them drunk of course, just to make them happy.) 

After the wine tour we got tapas and met Pili's boyfriend, and another friend. And then we bought desserts and spent a 'Spanish amount of time' getting coffee and talking. It was such a great feeling to be speaking all in Spanish and hanging out with some locals. I finally feel like I'm starting to have a little life carved out for me here, and not like I'm on some semi-permanent vacation.

So all in all, great day trip, and we have invitations to come back whenever we want! (And next time, we already have plans to go to the zoo!)  

Pili and I in front of a really cool mural. (Doesn't it look like we're in Morocco?)

Sitting on the steps of the Cathedral.

The main square. There was a carousel set up and an outdoor cycling class! This picture makes it seem like it was quiet and relaxed, but this place was hoppin'!

I love orange trees :)

An Expat Thanksgiving

I hope every one had a great Thanksgiving!! I did, although it was definitely an Expat Thanksgiving. Not to be mistaken with an American Thanksgiving. (Or Canadian Thanksgiving, depending we're you're from.) There were lots of bilingual Spanglish conversations, jokes made in one language that where then translated into another so everybody could share in the laughter, and dishes and dishes of delicious traditional foods (with small Spanish twists.)

Yum!!

For example, until I was 3/4 done shopping for my apple crisp recipe I wanted to make, I didn't know that oatmeal doesn't exist in Spain. Luckily the worker at Día pointed me toward Muesli, which after I picked all of the banana chips out of, worked perfectly.
As for a second example, Eli and I bought a bag of rolls (because what is Thanksgiving without the rolls...) and then promptly forgot about them until we were cleaning up after dinner. Oops. Who does that? Seriously.

Delicious cranberry-apple crisp, made with Muesli instead of oatmeal & craisins instead of cranberries.

And now for the most prominent example of why this was definitely not an American Thanksgiving: Eli's roommate Fatima is Moroccan. And since she was going to be eating dinner with her, Eli wanted to first make sure that she would be able to eat everything we were making. Fatima said yes, she could eat chicken, but only ones that had been sacrificed to God before they were killed. So Thursday morning off they went to the Muslim Meat Market. (We had chicken instead of turkey cause it's cheaper and much easier to find.)

There were a few rough spots, such as when Eli's Chinese roommate told us, at 10pm, "Sorry but I have a test next Tuesday and you all need to leave now, sorry, but you need to leave". (Nevermind that it was Thursday and the test wasn't until Tuesday and tonight was ONE OF OUR MOST IMPORTANT HOLIDAYS and we were definitely not going to leave the house before we'd eaten the food we had just spent 7 hours cooking...).

I'm cooking!! Okay, well actually baking, but still. This is a landmark moment for me.

Aside from that and a few people not showing up, it was really successful. I had an auxiliar from Arcos de la Frontera, Chelsea, couchsurfing for the night. Arcos is one of the 'pueblos blancos' that Andalucía is famous for. For those of you who haven't heard of couchsurfing you can check it out here. This was my first experience hosting someone, but it was definitely positive and I can't wait to do it again!

Arcos de la Frontera

Here are some highlights of the night.

Eli - *humming to music and casually cleaning one of the chickens in the sink* *then she gagged a little* "Ohhh, I am not mature enough for this!"
Me - "what happened?"
Eli - "I was pouring water in through the neck to clean it out and it came out through the butt. Not mature enough for that."

Me - * Trying to take a picture of the chickens to show how perfectly they had been cooked* "Ew, that looks gross. These chickens are not photogenic."
Chelsea - "Dead chickens usually aren't."
Me - "............Touché."

The 'unphotogenic' chickens

Cassidy was making deviled eggs and asked Eli if she thought there was enough salt in them. Eli said "You can always add more salt" without stopping to taste-test it first. Cassidy - "uhh...okay if you're sure." Result = like licking a salt block.


Chelsea and I went to the store to get more wine. I grabbed 3 boxes of Don Simón vino tinto (red wine) and set them on the counter. The lady at the cash register pointed to the tinto part and said, in Spanish, "You know this is wine right?" Hahaha thank you for the clarification, 'cause I thought I was buying juice!

Eli - *a moment of dead silence at dinner and then Eli's voice* "We can make soup from the CARCASSES!"
Everybody else - "What?? That was creepy!"

Cassidy, Eli, Fatima

Showing off my delicious Thanksgiving-looking plate. 

And in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I'll end this post with things I am thankful for:

I am thankful that I've met such wonderful people in Spain. The people you meet can make or break your experience, and luckily I've made some great friends since I've been here!

Chelsea, Cassidy, me, Eli

I am thankful for Matt, the best boyfriend a girl could ask for (:

At a Brewers game last summer.

I'm thankful for my family. (Duh.) I love them, even though they drive me crazy sometimes.

Family Reunion Summer '11

And I am thankful that I am able to have this amazing experience of living in a foreign country for a year. I've only been here 2 months and already had more adventures than I thought I would, and I still have 6 months left!

Thanksgiving at school

Everything that my students know about Thanksgiving can be summed up in two statements:
"They eat lots of turkey" and "isn't the Super Bowl played on Thanksgiving?"

Ummmm...make that just one statement.

Thankfully when I asked them if they knew anything about the Mayflower and the history of Thanksgiving, they were a little more knowledgeable. One student explained how people came over on the Mayflower, met Indians who taught them how to eat, and then 1 year later the pilgrims gave a celebration to the Indians for helping them find food. (That's more or less verbatim, bad grammar included.)

Needless to say, I had a lot to teach them about our history and modern customs.
I think they understood my mini-lecture, or at least if they didn't, they were very convincing. I explained the history of the pilgrims, meeting the Indians, their first successful harvest, the 1st Thanksgiving, a 3 day celebration, and why turkey is the most important part of the meal. Then I went on to talk about Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and NFL football (I made sure to include the part where the undefeated Green Bay Packers are playing tomorrow, and by undefeated I mean they have a great shot at making the Super Bowl. Go Packers!!)
Then when I started to explain Black Friday, the teacher stopped me and said "is Black Friday about....a war?" Apparently she had thought that it was a day of remembrance for a terrible massacre or something........................................ No.

So that was 3 ESO. For 2 ESO I showed them how to make hand turkeys. They turned out awesome.

The 2 students who made this insisted that 
it was a 'new breed' since it was blue, green 
and white instead of red, orange and yellow.

In other news, here are some random updates from the past couple of weeks.

This is what I discovered as I explored the city a few weeks ago.

I love the mix of new and old found throughout Europe.

Here's me in my natural habitat, aka work.

Here's something I bet you didn't expect to see. Me petting a SHEEP.

There's a guy that lives across the street from the school who owns a sheep. Not a dog, a sheep. And he ties it up outside his house so it can people-watch. I purposely cut through his parking lot every morning hoping to catch a glimpse of this guy.

And here is proof that I actually am working, not just bumming around Europe for 8 months. 

I'm riiiiiiiiiiiiiich! Mwuah ha ha.

Twilight: Breaking Dawn

So I realize I am a little spoiled by living at this end of the country. If I ever happen to get sick of hearing Spanish/speaking Spanish/or eating Spanish, I can just hop on a bus and 40 minutes later I'm strolling down the streets of a UK colony.

Which brings me to the point of this blog. My roommate discovered last week that there is a movie theater in Gibraltar which meant...dum dum dum....that we could watch Twilight in English!!!!!!!

And despite the fact that she is one of the most Twilight-obsessed people I know, (love you Kristina!), I think she underestimated the rest of the Gibraltar's 12-15 year old girl population. We showed up to the theater at 5:15 to buy 4 tickets for a 6 o'clock showing. They were "sold out".
Surprise.
Kristina insisted that we would stand if we had to, and the lady at the counter magically came up with 4 seats, all in different corners of the theater. "We'll take it!" we said.

It was quite a different experience than watching it in the states.
For one, I had gotten stuck with the seat in the first row. Which made me a little nauseous just thinking about all the action scenes. But it turned out that their first row is approximately where our 10th row is, so I was juuuuust fine.
Secondly, there was quite the odd assortment of people that came. I saw a couple older gentlemen in suits, a group of guys my age without any girls (props to them), and lots of parents and kids. (From what I remember about the first 3 movies, it wasn't as much a family movie, there were more groups of friends and than kids with their parents. But I could be wrong.)

But don't worry, there were still plenty of 12 year olds clapping and oohing and aahing when Jacob took his shirt off.

Now I want to go see it here in Spain to see how much I can pick up!