I'm still here, I promise

Every Sunday I tell myself that I´ll write a new entry, and every Sunday I find myself occupied with city walks, empanada runs or skype chats.

Regardless, life updates are due so I’ll try to catch up. In this post I’ll write about Global Classrooms and Ashoka.

Global Classrooms

In the beginning of February months of work and preparation finally came to fruition, Global Classrooms time!

Michael (the other Fulbrighter in my school) started preparing the kids in the fall and by November I too was involved. We had two different global classroom weeks, where we worked with kids on how to write position papers, the rules and formalities of debate and parliamentary procedure and writing resolutions.

Here's the great presentation Michael made with more photos and even some video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZmH0ppkKxk



Starting in January we went into powermode and working very closely with the kids on their position papers, public speaking etc. Over those few weeks I got to know some of them much better, which was nice since I normally don´t have that much contact with the terceros.

Overall the whole conference was a huge success, and I think everyone was happy and proud of the kids. 10 different bilingual schools attended, each sending 22 delegates (11 countries per school). The event was two days long, starting with an opening ceremony in La Assemblea, where the politicians from the Comunidad de Madrid meet. The US Ambassador to Spain spoke, along with many others (the Ambassador is clearly a political appointee, his Spanish was horrible!) The next day was a full day of debating, and then the closing ceremonies back in La Assemblea.



(our kids!)



(la assemblea)

I was a director in the Latin American committee, which means that I helped lead the drafting and voting on resolutions part.


In my committee we only had two countries representing my school so I didn’t get the opportunity to see all of the kids in the other committees. However, I was super impressed with all of the students in our committee, they spoke well, had good points and were enthusiastic. Also, they spoke in English amongst themselves during the informal debates, which was very exciting!

The topic was access to primary education, which in theory is ideal because it´s very relevant to the kids but in practice wasn´t the most controversial topic. There isn´t too much debate on the importance of primary education, and many countries already have established good programs and have high rates of primary school attendance. Regardless, some of the draft resolutions in our committee had great ideas, like focusing on gender discrimination and indigenous languages. Chile (from our school) and Haiti were in our committee and wrote a very timely resolution (that was passed) on emergency education during natural disasters.

On the bus back to the Assemblea the Fulbrighters were all sitting on the bus, swapping stories and comparing notes of who was getting what prizes. I found out that we would be definitely receiving three prizes, but we actually received four! One was a surprise that I found out during the ceremony itself.

There was one student in particular that Michael and I had hoped would win most dedicated delegation (which we jokingly called the best hustle award). This particular student doesn´t have the best academic track record, and is currently repeating the year. She and her partner won an award and I videotaped their excited reaction on my camera. It was such a great moment! You can see the video I took on my camera in the youtube video.




Ashoka

The weekend after Global Classrooms I participated in my first Ashoka Spain event. Since mid January, I´ve been volunteering with Ashoka Spain whose headquarters is here in Madrid, just two metro stops from my piso. I´ve been really enjoying working the Kenny, one of the Ashoka people, and another volunteer Carmen. I´ve been helping with preparing some communication materials, translating videos and other social media network things. It´s been a great opportunity to practice Spanish, and learn new vocabulary that´s more professional – such as ¨lanzar un proyecto¨ launch a project, ¨crear conciencia¨ (increase awareness) etc.

It´s been a wonderful opportunity to learn about Ashoka from a more local-country level. Also, Jóvenes Changemakers (Spain´s version of Ashoka´s Youth Venture) is brand new this year, and launching it in Spain is a particular challenge because youth volunteerism is not very common or popular in Spain. We´ve had some interesting conversations about why that is, and comparing it to the United States. I´ve always been very involved in volunteerism, from Girl Scouts, Habitat for Humanity etc. and I´ve been reflecting on why I was, what that meant for my development as a person etc.

Anyway, Jóvenes Changemakers (Youth Venture as it is called in the States and most countries except for Latin America where it is Avancemos, ¨let´s advance¨) is Ashoka´s initiative to foster social entrepreneurship from a young age. Ashoka found that most social entrepreneurs have had those skills and approach since they were young. Rather than just focusing on finding these entrepreneurs once they are older, the idea is to actually foster this approach rather than just source it.

In Jóvenes Changemakers, we held the first pilot taller (mini-conference) in Madrid with a group of youth from a poor area in southern Madrid. Since Spain is so regionally diverse, other ones will be following in Catalunya and Pais Vasco hopefully later this year that takes into account other regional cultures and structures.

Here are the photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48381687@N02/show/


In the taller (see this link for photos) we met with the students, did some brainstorming about how youth can change the world, what special skills youth have (ie. new ways of thinking about problems, aren’t old and boring like old people – there words, not mine). Then we worked with them on a problem identifying activity, and thinking about root causes to social issues and how to approach them.




The groups will then work closely with mentors to create a project plan and proposal, which they will present in front of a panel of professionals. Once the plan is approved, they will be given some seed money to launch their social venture.




I had a great time at the taller, had fun speaking with the kids and even went out for lunch with some Ashoka people and an Ashoka fellow afterwards. I’ve been helping them redesign their new website and meeting other volunteers they are getting involved. Recently I haven’t been doing too much because of travelling a lot over spring break etc.

Sorry this post has been a bit dry, but I wanted to give an update on what I’m actually doing (not just my colourful travel lifestyle) But, on that note, next blog will have trip highlights! Including Turkey, Germany, Northern Spain, Morocco and Ashley visiting!

Día de Acción de Gracias – Happy Thanksgiving! (a post 3 months late)

(I talk about my trip to London here, feel free to skip the Thanksgiving part)

There’s something very patriotic about Thanksgiving. While historically it has nothing to do with the conflict between the colonies and Great Britain, in my second grade Thanksgiving is all interconnected with the Boston Tea Party, The American War for Independence, and Johnny Appleseed. (Sidenote – what was that Johnny Appleseed thing about? I have such vivid memories of wearing a paper pot on my head...)

Anyway, my point is that I felt like there was something almost ironically traitorous to celebrate Thanksgiving in Great Britain. However, it turned out to be one of my best yet!

As a bit of background, I’ve never been a huge fan of Thanksgiving. I just felt like it was a fake holiday, really only just marking the upcoming real holiday of Christmas. There was no real festivity, except that all of these people get together to eat and sit uncomfortably close in my Grandma’s apartment. Since then, I have come to better appreciate the holiday and its food. While before only mashed potatoes, bread and white Turkey meat (note the monochrome color scheme)touched my plate is now a celebration of colors – with spicy red chutney, golden stuffing, you get the idea.

So, ironically now that I am actually beginning to appreciate the holiday I have now spent the holiday abroad twice. My first experience can be glimpsed here: http://granadadina.blogspot.com/


My second one was a bit more festive, mainly because I work with kids. Teachers just thrive off of holidays, and in Spain it’s no different. I made 2 presentations on Thanksgiving to my Segundo classes – complete with Powerpoint and homemade pumpkin bread that I made with one of my teachers.

The kids actually seemed to like the history of the celebration – or at least my explanation. While I of course was historically accurate, I do try to help the kids picture the holiday in a more vivid form.

So my format was:
- When was the first Thanksgiving?
- Who were the Pilgrims?
- Who were the Wampanoag?
- The legend of Squanto
- Relationship between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans
- Food! – What we eat
- Food! – What they ate

The big highlight was the legend of Squanto. For those of you who don’t know, Squanto was a Native American from the Wampanoag tribe who helped the pilgrims. He was originally captured by an English man, Thomas Hunt and brought to Malaga, Spain (yes, all roads lead to Spain). He later escaped, moved to England where he learned English. Then, he was hired to be an interpreter and guide by another Englishman and moved back to what would later be known as The United States (want to be politically correct here). Then, he befriended the Pilgrims and helped them grow crops and yield the first successful harvest which happened in Autumn 1621. The party lasted 3 days and over 90 Native Americans joined the Pilgrims the end.

My favorite scene was explaining how the Pilgrims found out about Squanto. Apparently, Squanto taught some English to his friend Samoset. Samoset one day walked on to the Pilgrim boat (the boat was docked and they were living there before they built cabins) and said “hello Englishman!.” The Pilgrims, as you can understand were quite shocked that he spoke some English and he explained that there was a man named Squanto who knew even more. And thus, the friendship blossomed.

This scene is just begging for a Simpsons episode, and for all I know there may already be one.

Anyway, the kids liked that and also the fact that Squanto lived in Malaga! Malaga is now a pretty famous beachtown, so we all joked that he was there to get a tan. Also, I made sure to include info on the relationship between the Pilgrims and Native Americans, namely that it wasn’t all fun and games. Small pox, conflict etc were also involved.


Anyway, I was actually really looking forward to this year’s Thanksgiving partly from talking about it so much. It’s a pretty great story and I was going to London to visit my friend Natalie and Clayton with my friend Rebecca. I have lots of things to be grateful for, and for whatever reason this year I was really in the Thanksgiving Spirit.


LONDON

So, one Thursday morning Rebecca and boarded an Easy Jet plane and were off to London! This was also my first Easy Jet experience and I didn’t realize that there aren’t assigned seats. This lead to some confusion when two lines were intermingled and some pretty testy British girls thought Rebecca was cutting (she wasn’t) and proceeded to complain about her. Rebecca, the sweet girl that she is, kindly told them that she understood English, that she is not a bitch thank you very much and that she is not cutting.

We also have the tendency to talk about others in English thinking that nobody else will understand. I have now stopped doing this, or at least obviously, because numerous experiences like the above have taught me that no matter what, there is an American or British person somewhere nearby to hear you.

After an uneventful plane ride, we landed in Luton airport and met Clayton at the baggage claim. I was so excited to see him! He ended up leaving on a train to get into the city and Rebecca and I took a bus downtown and passed some very beautiful scenery. We were in London! Oh, we also had a snack at Marks and Spencer’s (love love love) which included humus, pita and caprese salad. How I had missed humus! I ended up buying another container on the way back and brought it with me to Madrid.

Once arriving downtown we found a Christmas market near the metro. With our rolling suitcases and all, we went through looking at the wares – finding some cool candles and mulled wine (my favorite) which would later become a theme for this Thanksgiving.

We got onto the metro (it was damn expensive and so small compared to the Madrid one) and found our way to Natalie’s apartment, in Covent Garden. After getting a much needed coffee, we met up with Clayton and stocked up on some bottled mulled wine from Marks and Spencers as our contribution to the Thanksgiving feast. We found her place and were greeted by Natalie, some of her friends (including one friend from GW hi Crystal!) and lovely smells coming out of her kitchen.

Here’s some of the crowd:




Of course, the crowning glory – the turkey. I must say, for only have one apparatus that functions as both a microwave and an oven (which required some strategic food handling) the meal turned out quite nicely and we all had a great time.



The next morning, after chatting over some tea and toast (with peanut butter, another spreadable condiment that I miss a lot) Natalie showed us around her area. We to tthe British Museum and some really interesting archives. You sort of forget the reach that once was the British Empire until you see a room full of the stuff they collected. It’s from all over the world and pretty impressive.

Here’s also a photo of the cool ceiling.






The girls in front of LSE.


We then headed over to a Thai restaurant for food- which was a nice welcomed change. While Spain has great Indian food, many of the other ethnic varieties, particular ones that are spicy, aren’t that great and super expensive.

Later in the afternoon we also met up with Clayton and walked to Trafalgar square, Green Park, St. James park, and of course Buckingham palace to see the beefeaters.





We then headed down the fancy areas of the city to see the lovely Christmas lights – seeing some of the famous department stores and stopping at very famous macaroon place called Laduree. High class in Burlington Arcade.




That night we wanted to experience London at night so we took a walk along the Thames and visited some of Natalie’s’ favorite bridges. It was beautiful – everything was lit up and we had a great time. That night we also went to some cute pubs.

Here’s us at one – it was all decked out for the holidays.



One strange experience we witnessed was with two incredibly drunk girls – to the point where they couldn’t even stand up straight. A group of German guys came over to her and started yelling at her because apparently one of them stole his coat. Minutes before that, a woman announced that there was a purse left on the bar and asking who the owner was and the drunk girl said it was hers. Not sure if this was all an act and this is how she makes money, but it was rather strange.

Then, we went to another bar and found two people asleep in the corner, and when Rebecca went to the restroom yet another was asleep in the woman’s bathroom! Needless to say, the Brits sure like to drink.


The next day Rebecca and I decided to get into tourist mode so we took the required red phone booth photos.



I think we found the ideal British phone booth spot. You can even see Big Ben!

We then went into the Westminster Abbey, one of my favorite spots. While crowded as always, a priest came to the podium to lead a group prayer. He then invited those who wished to join to a private prayer in a separate section. Rebecca and I decided to join and we followed the priest. He brought us into this section that is normally closed off and reserved. While we were sitting only 4 other people joined and sat behind us – and they were speaking in Hungarian! I wanted to say something to them once we exited but the priest stopped Rebecca and I and asked us if we were American. He welcomed us to the cathedral and was very sweet, but I didn’t have a chance to say anything to the Hungarians. What a small world!

We then toured the rest of the cathedral and visited the poets corner, etc. Westminster Abbey is my most vivid memory from when I first visited London (age 14).

Then for lunch we went to Natalie’s favorite fish and chips place and brought them home – they were delicious, esp with salt and vinegar. Later that afternoon we met up with Clayton again, took a walk along some of the bridges, got some Guinness and said our good-byes. While Clayton was staying longer, Rebecca and I were leaving really early the next morning.

On our walk back home we stopped at the Tate Modern to see the black box. http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/unilevermiroslawbalka/default.shtm
Basically, it’s a huge black box that once you enter you can’t see anything in front of you. It’s very scary – you’re walking into an abyss of darkness with no idea what’s coming ahead. On the way out you can see the light and its fine, but the first time you do it it’s quite the experience.

Later, we returned for a night of sushi take out and Love Actually. What a perfect way to end a lovely weekend! The next morning Rebecca and I woke up at an ungodly hour to take a cab to the bus stop, and then the bus to the airport. I arrived in Madrid Sunday afternoon and that was that.

Overall, a great weekend with lovely friends and a pretty good Thanksgiving if I do say so myself.

What are you counting to me?

After a long hiatus (and having traveled to three countries in the interim) I have quite a few long-overdue posts.

However, in the meantime I wanted to share some linguistic gems I come across in my everyday life. As I’m getting better acquainted with my students, teachers and meeting more Spanish people I have been able to add quite a few colorful and helpful phrases/words to my vocabulary.

Some of my favourites: (again, note the British spelling)

¡Que timo!...What a rip off!

!Que murro!.. What cheek (as in your taking advantage of me). Muro is the muzzle of an animal. Not sure of the relationship there.

Echar una bronca… To yell at someone. (Echar means “to throw/pour” and I think bronca sounds like a name for a dinosaur. This is my visual when the teachers say it – and they say it a lot because they yell at students a lot).

Acogedor… cosy (cozy)

Sorbo…sip

¡Que follón!…what a mess! (warning: this word is not classy, not to be used in mixed company). **Tim saw this and said I need to clarify. This is a strong word, equivalent to the F word, the nicer way to say it would be "que lio." However, they use the F word much more here so you'll hear it a lot)**

Cutre…tacky

Cursi…prissy

Colmar… to fill to the brim

Arrebatarse… to get carried away with (like with anger or an emotion)


Clearly, words that come in very handy.

However, I’ve also been recently noticing the multitude of Spanglish or “Spanishisms” that lead to some rather funny situations. The other teachers and I were talking about this today, and here are some good ones:

Flirtear… to flirt. The actual Spanish word is coquetear

“What are you counting to me”… In Spanish “contar”, which also means to count means to tell (like a story). Apparently one of the students said this to another teacher.

“I did it for the face”…In Spanish if you are doing something for no reason, to be haughty, you say “Lo hizo por la cara.” Cara means face.

“For the flies”…Just in case/chance is “por si las moscas.” Moscas = flies

“That’s funny”…My kids often mix-up “funny” and “fun.” While you wouldn’t think that the meaning is that different, just imagine someone writing to you, “I had a really funny time yesterday” – could really send the wrong message!

“constipated”… In Spanish “estoy constipada” means “I have a cold.” Not what you would think it means. This one is almost as good as the classic “false friend” – “estoy embarazada” which means I’m pregnant in Spanish, not I’m embarrassed. Embarrassed is “me da verguenza.” And, for the sake of being educational, constipated is “estreñido.”

One of the teachers was telling us that on a menú (that was translated into English and Spanish) they had a dish called. “Female jews and robbers.” A common Spanish bean dish is called “judías” which means Jews. Apparently “chorizo” (the famous Spanish sausage) also can be used to refer to someone as a robber. This is not politically correct, and generally neither are the Spanish.

So, “beans with chorizo” = “Judías con chorizo” = “female Jews with robbers.”


And my personal favorite…*drum roll*

“preocupated” …. In Spanish, worried is “preocupado.” Students often translate this as “preocupated” in English which just makes me laugh out loud each time. It just sounds like some sort of bowel order issue. See above issue.


I have of course also done the same thing in Spanish, it’s hard not to fall into the Spanglish trap because so often the words are very similar. Just a few weeks ago I lost my glove, and in a hurry texted the teacher whose house I had just left (I was there earlier tutoring her son) and wrote:
“Perdí mi aguacate, está en tu casa?” – Which means, “I’ve lost my avocado, is it in your house?”

Aguacate = avocado
Aguante= glove

I realized seconds after sending the text my error. She and I had a good laugh about my “lost avocado” the next day.

Ah, the joys of miscommunication. Makes life funnier that’s for sure 

Anyway, next upcoming posts will be about traveling (London, Asturias Northern Spain, Christmas/Barcelona with Tim) and some new developments (ie. I might be working for an NGO in Madrid!).

And of course more photos. Don’t be preocupated, I won’t forget.

PPS - While writing this post I've been listening to the great music that Pandora.com has lovingly picked out for me. Wait, Pandora in a country outside of the US?? (Pandora doesn't work unless you have a US IP address). Apparently GWU has this IP address thing to access servers if you're out of the country. A friend directed me to it and it works! yay Pandora!!

Dobar dan

Dobar dan (good day in Croatian).

There are two countries that are ranked very high to visit while I’m here: Croatia and Turkey.

While they may seem like to wildly different choices, I actually think there are a lot of similarities between the two. Namely, they are both countries with strong, multiple cultural identities. Croatia is both Mediterranean and Eastern European. Turkey is both European and Asian (well at least that’s a point of discussion). Both countries are incredibly proud of their language, culture and history.

However, I admittedly know very little about Croatia. At least with Turkey I’ve studied it a bit, mostly the politics, their issues with the Kurds etc. However, Croatia does not come up that often in the grand scheme of international politics.

Nonetheless, I’ve meet countless people who have all mentioned Croatia in some form. My Aunt has been raving about it for years (since she started going there more often for work), my friend Dylan, Vanessa, Professors and other random people I’ve met along the way.

When Agi found out I was moving to Spain for the year she suggested she and I take a trip to Croatia. Didn’t have to ask me twice! I had assumed that it would be a trip we would plan for later in the spring, but it turned out Agi was going to Croatia for work anyway and last minute we booked my flight and hotel apartment accommodations.

I was ecstatic.

I was able to talk to my school and get Thursday off, and I left my house to leave for the Barajas airport at 11am a week later. Almost 12 hours later, I around 12pm I arrived in Dubrovnik, after a layover in Barcelona and Zagreb.

So picture this: I’m sitting happily on my 1 1/2 hour flight from Zagreb to Dubrovnik. I’m looking forward to seeing Agi, landing in Croatia and getting away from the guy next to me who keeps sneezing (my hand sanitizer came in very handy). I’m reading an interesting article in the onboard magazine about the first Croatian female journalist and her political activism against Hungarian power (did I mention that Croatia used to be run by Hungary?).

The very friendly pilot gets on the speaker and speaks for a few minutes in Serbo-Croatian. All the sudden half of the plane groans. Uh oh. Then, he comes on again and in a very cute English accent announces that there is a strong crosswind and we may have to return to Split and land there. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Then, the other half of the plane (who are all Americans, some sort of Smithsonian trip excursion) groans. I turn to sneezing guy next to me and ask how long Split is from Dubrovnik. He says 4 hours. Damn.

Luckily, the pilot is able to land the plane in Dubrovnik and we land a bit rocky but fine. The plane bursts into applause and I’m in Croatia!

And now begins my whirlwind trip through Croatia - Dubrovnik, Trogir, Zadar, Plitvice Lakes National Park, Split, Zagreb. All in 3 days!

Dubrovnik

Agi was able to rent a very cute apartment a half hour walk from oldtown Dubrovnik. It was fun seeing the Eastern European decour – reminded me a lot of my uncle’s apartment in Budapest. We even had fresh pomegranates from the tree outside the apartment, but overall I’m not a pomegranate fan (even though Granada means pomegranate in Spanish).

A few highlights from Dubrovnik:

We walked around on the old city wall. Some of the city was destroyed in the bombings in 1991 but they did a great job restoring it.



You can also see the harbor and some of the huge cruise ships in the distance. Dubrovnik is one of the number one tourist destinations. Luckily, since it was October it wasn’t peak tourist season but it was still pretty crowded. Apparently Dubrovnik has a very deep harbor, making it very easy for large cruise ships to dock relatively close.



Tourism has boomed in Croatia and it’s one of its number one industries. However, while this is great for their economy it’s not the best for crowd control. Apparently the city is in discussions of capping how many people can come in per day. The logic is that if they limit the amount of people entering, people will spend more time eating and shopping because it is more comfortable to get around.



After spending the morning exploring Dubrovnik and buying sour cherry pastries we packed up the car and headed along the main costal highway – highway 8 or E 65. This was an incredibly beautiful drive and Agi and I kept trying to find places to pull over to take pictures.

At one point you actually drive through Bosnia – it was a part of the coast that was given to Bosnia as a concession after the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Bosnian Flag



Me in Bosnia!




While driving we passed a town that Agi recognized because it is the site of some really well preserved Roman ruins. The intrepid travelers that we are, we decided to investigate and it ended up taking much longer than we had expected. However, I got to see some more backroads and smaller towns which was cool to see.

We eventually found the Roman ruins only to be interrupted by a wedding party. This became a theme in our trip – everyone was getting married that weekend! The bride and groom came into the museums and posed in front of the Roman ruins! It was a cool backdrop, but not so sure how the archeologists would have felt about that.

Roman Ruins



After the Roman ruins we were running a bit late so we decide to forgo the costal highway and try out the new super highway they just built. We tried it a few times and each time we were one of the only few countries on the road.

At one point there was a sign that just had a light up exclamation mark like this (!) That was it. Pretty vague huh? Agi and I found it hilarious and luckily their warnings to watch out were unnecessary.

Next up was Trogir:

We arrived at night and called the apartment owner for directions to get to the place. Once again, things are not always as they seem and the apartment turned out to be miles from downtown tucked away on a hill.

Nonetheless we finally arrived and the owner brought us to a supermarket where we bough some soup and sandwich fixings for dinner. Agi, who as most of you know travels all the time also came well prepared:

She brought Mad About You!




Cool old castle in Trogir. There was a football game next to the castle. What a backdrop!



It's right by the water.




Split:

Split was a beautiful and picturesque city. While its urban sprawl is getting pretty large, the old town has beautiful old roman architecture

It also has a really creepy wizard statue. It’s good luck to rub its toe.





Diocletian's Palace:




Video of Dalmatian singers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JqR1iEvK8g

Note: This means people from Dalmatian coast, not the dog breed and inspiration for wildly successful Disney movie.

On our way out we noticed this bank: Note the modern office furniture but the old roman walls. I would love to work here!




Zadar

Next we visited Zadar, a beautiful town right on the water. I knew I would love this place because look at what we found within minutes of parking!

An Ugri- Bugri ( Dad, is that correct way to write that?) This was one of my favorite things when I was little and we would visit family friends in Lake Balaton in Hungary



Gorgeous Sunset



Cool light show



Zadar is most famous for its sea organ. A famous Croatian artist designed these metal pipes that are underneath the boardwalk. When the waves crash they hit the pipes and make music – it’s beautiful and very ethereal and eerie. I’ve been looking for a cd of the sea organ music because I think it would be great yoga music.


Video of the organ that I took:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R_aA-zsIrg



Plitvice Lakes National Park
That night we drove to Plitivice Lakes, a very famous national park in Croatia. Agi wanted me to see the nature, not just the cities, in Croatia and I’m really glad we visited even though we could only hike for about an hour the next morning. I also really appreciated the freedom of traveling when you have a car – I’m so used to public transportation and it’s a lot harder to get to these national parks without a car. However, Agi says that there is a bus to Split for those interested in going!

We stayed in this ski-like lodge that was super comfortable and had wi-fi! I was happy to get on the computer after a few days without internet. At night it was pretty cold, so having a warm and cozy bed made for a great night’s sleep.


After a quick walk near the waterfall and lakes (the park ranger guy was surprised to see us back after he had just given us the map) we headed over to Zagreb ( my plane was leaving in a few hours).





Zagreb
After getting lost once arriving in Zagreb (warning to future visitors – Croatia is not so great with road signage) we dropped off Agi’s stuff at her hotel and walked around the city for a bit.

Since it was a Sunday a lot of things were closed but it was still a very beautiful city.

Old sort of fairytale like church





There were a lot of signs with this motif:



If you were leaving a city they would have the name of the city with an X crossing it out. In this place, apparently they no longer had plascinta (Hungarian style crepes).

Agi then drove me to the airport and dropped off the rental car while I was doing some last minute sour cheery chocolate shopping. We had one last cup of coffee and said our sad goodbyes.


A few closing thoughts:

So that in a recap was my whirlwind trip to Croatia. I had a great time seeing Agi, and finally seeing the country that she had been raving about. Most people we met were very friendly, spoke excellent English and it was a great trip.

It’s always a bit strange for me to travel to new countries when I am currently living in another one. Last time, when I was in Granada we traveled to Gibraltar (a British territory in southern Spain) and it was totally bizarre to hear English and eat British food.

This time I of course expected the culture to be different but there was a lot of it that seemed very familiar – either from my connections to Eastern Europe (namely the old soviet architecture) and food (we also found pogotcha, one of my favorite Hungarian breads). However, there was also a lot that reminded me of Spain – such as the café culture.

I’ve also become much more attuned to language since coming back to Spain, and the fact that I’m trying to teach one probably also has something to do with it. I kept thinking people were speaking Hungarian, even though the languages are very different. However, there were a few words in common and I think more than anything our brains try to make the unfamiliar seem familiar.

Since it’s been almost a month since I’ve gone this has been fun remembering my trip to write this post. It really is a wonderful country and I do hope to go visit it again soon. It’s just another reminder of how much there is to see in this world – and how even the seemingly “random” countries (as some people have commented to me, “why are you going to Croatia??”) have so much to offer.

Hannah Montana and Farm Animal Vocabulary

So this Thursday marks my 8th week in Spain! In some ways it has gone by so fast, in other ways not fast enough.

I’m pleased to say that as I had hoped, I’ve started to develop a rhythm and schedule. I’m getting a better handle on the classes, and starting to get to know the kids better. I’ve also started teaching private lessons, which is actually a lot of fun in addition to being a nice (and pretty well paid) supplemental income!

I’ve been teaching more lessons in school and have started to teach small group sessions. I was looking forward to this because I think the biggest thing us Fulbrighters can offer is language and oral practice. In more structured classes, this can be difficult to do and it’s frustrating for us to just stand there and correct pronunciation every once and a while.

So, for the primero D class, nine kids come with me and I basically have free reign – we can do whatever to get them talking. I’ll ask soon what they are actually doing in class, in the hopes to reinforce that later, but right now it’s sort of a getting to know you, “hey English is fun!” sort of exercise. We did introductions, and the kids asked me questions about America.

As expected, questions about Hannah Montana and Jonas Brothers again. I really need to look into these shows more. I’ve actually been using Hannah Montana songs at the end of one of my private lessons with Paula (age 10) because she gets pretty tired after an hour lesson. We did a literary analysis of “Could be you” a Hannah Montana song, ie. we translated the text.

I sort of feel like a salesperson for the States when I talk to the kids about the US. Most of their questions are about traveling. Ex: In addition to the Statue of Liberty what are some other monuments? I told them about the Space needle and the rotating restaurant. They got a big kick out of my story about leaving the bathroom and having trouble finding my table because it had moved.

Most of my discussions involved either a) cool buildings b) cool cities c) cool parks. I think the government should pay us an additional commission for every person we convince to visit the States.

Anyway, it’s really not appropriate yet to have discussions about deeper American cultural and political issues. While I did mention some of the political issues in my lesson on Hurricane Katrina, it was pretty shallow and I basically said “there were lots of poor people in New Orleans and lot’s of people blame the government for not helping more.”

I’m hoping to incorporate more issues like immigration, healthcare etc. without being too boring or irrelevant. But, for now, we talk about things like bed times (Spain = late, USA = early), eating times (Spain= late, USA = early) and other cultural observations like that. Some students have visited the states and the most popular observations they voice: McDonalds is everywhere and food portions are huge.

I also met for the first time last week with the bachillerato students, which are older (Age 17). My head teacher found me a small classroom and I met with 9 of them yesterday. They were also very sweet and well-behaved (the teachers told me that these are the “best behaved” and my lessons are a treat for those who don’t misbehave). We did a mock lesson on a job interview and talked about skills that employers would want you to have if you were to work with kids.

The only issue with the bachillerato students is that there is a really big variation in level. Some of the kids are former bilingual students, so speak very well because they have gone through the whole program and testing. Others have only had English classes, and thus don’t pick up on as much. I have to be more conscious of making sure they also have the opportunity to answer (the bilingual kids tend to dominate) and making sure they follow what’s going on.

I’ve also started private lessons which to be honest I actually like better than teaching in the classroom. You really get to know the kids better, and it’s just more engaging and fun. Every Tuesday I have my marathon day – 3 one hour lessons in a row. I go home with one of the teachers, have lunch with her and then wait till her 10 year old daughter comes home. After an hour with her, I walk to the next house and teach another 10 year old girl (who is adorable, and I really like her mom as well). I then go to another teacher’s house and teach two 7 year old girls.

The 7 year olds are best friends and the epitome of cute little girls. They giggle a lot, move around a lot and finish each others sentences (right now in Spanish, but in English by the time I’m done with them!). I also get to color (ahem, British spelling: colour), drink juicy juice and practice farm animals names and talk about Halloween. It’s actually a lot of fun and their mom’s tell me they are really enjoying themselves.

By the time all of that is done, it’s 8ish pm and I have a bit over an hour until I get home. It’s a long day but its fun.

I also share tutoring on Wednesdays with the other Fulbrighter in my school. We go home with one of the teachers and hang out with her youngest son, Javi, who is 17. He’s great, very funny and good in English. He and I had a great conversation on traveling and life in general. I then catch a series of busses to get to another house, where I teach Javi’s cousin. She’s also very sweet, good in English and very open to talking. Luckily both of them are not shy about talking, which can be quite a challenge when the kids are older. If they are younger you at least can do activities (Farm Animal bingo!) but not so much when they are 17.

As for life after school, that has been a bit slower in developing. I’ve been traveling the past few weekends so haven’t had a chance to figure out where else I want to spend my time. While a part of me wants to volunteer, or intern, do research, or be productive another part has been a bit hesitant to start that and start committing myself. However, now that I have a better idea of my sched. I can start reaching out to other people.

I’ve gotten a lot more requests for private tutoring, but I’ve decided not to take on anymore than I already have. I don’t want to spend all of my time in Spain teaching/speaking in English. I may start either a language school or audit University classes in January if I find that my Spanish is really not improving.

So far, I’ve been relatively satisfied. People often compliment me on my Spanish, though I don’t know how genuine that is or if it’s more that they have low expectations when it comes to Americans learning other foreign languages. Regardless, improving Spanish is def. one of my goals and I’m going to really make a concerted effort to work on that. I’m meeting more Spanish speakers (more on that later) and also reading more in Spanish.

I’m also starting to feel more satisfied with what I’m doing here. I sort of had a mini freakout when I arrived. What am I doing here? Why am I teaching? I don’t even want to be a teacher! However, I’m here and happy about it. I know when I’m 85 and thinking back on my life I’m going to think, wow I lived in Spain for a whole year! And, actually, who knows this may be the start to a more permanent expat life. Quizas.

I also know I’m going to learn a lot from being auxilar, even if it’s not what I actually want to do as a profession. Patience, communication skills, flexibility…I’m also developing an even more profound appreciation for teachers. My friend Clayton (Fulbrighter in Germany, Hi Clayton!) did a great piece in the Dallas Morning News on the importance of elementary education (not just higher) in maintaining the United State’s competitive edge. Education is such an important social and economic issue – something that I think is true for any country but especially ones that have high percentages of immigration and interaction with the world at a global level.

Seeing Spain’s newfound focus on English in schools emphasizes that point. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this newfound commitment to English in schools corresponds with an increase in immigration. Spain is, and continues to be opening up to the world, and I think education will need to be a key in its success. However, more on that later!

Also coming up: My whirlwind trip to Croatia with Agi

And in closing, a recap of my weekend:
- visiting the Thyssen Museum
- boot shopping (17 euros!)
- Booking my flight to London for late November
- Jazz club w/ Peruvian friend (where the highlight was talking about the most interesting food we’ve ever eaten, his being cuye = guinea pig)
- Hiking in Manzanares (see photos below)
- Celebrating Rebecca’s birthday and made a new Bolivian friend (Alex)
- Run in Retiro park with Becca
- Taking advantage of the Prado’s free hours and visiting the Velazquez rooms with Elena and Alex



Cool castle






Picnic location!

San Sebastián

A few weekends ago I visited San Sebastian with my friend Rebecca. Last time I was in Spain I spent a lot of time in southern Spain, Andalucía, but didn’t have the chance to visit northern Spain, namely Galicia and Pais Vasco. Spain is made up of a few different autonomies, and Pais Vasco is probably one of the better known ones because of the issues with ETA and separatist terrorism.

With that said, most people from Pais Vasco are not ETA supporters, the ETA is a pretty radical and often violent organization. However, Pais Vasco is very interesting politically and there is a lot of cultural and linguistic pride that is quite different from the Madrid area.

Anyway, to start things off Rebecca and I left Thursday late afternoon for the 5 hour bus ride to San Sebastian. It was pretty uneventful, other than the fact that they were showing the strangest Asian cowboy/ski adventure movie that was horrible to listen to but pretty amusing to watch out of the corner of your eye. We also met a friendly Australian guy who had just spent the last few months traveling Europe, namely Eastern Europe. He said Budapest was one of his favorite places! (Paprika pride!)

We then took a quick cab from the bus station to the alleged location of our hostel. We arrived around 11:30, to an empty street and a lone apartment building. We found on the door buzzer a sign for a hostel and pressed it, even though the name didn’t look like the name of our hostel. The woman who answered was incredibly rude, and promptly told us that this was not the hostel we were looking for and goodbye.

I tried calling the hostal number but kept getting the busy signal. A slight feeling of panic started to set in and I started seeing visions of Rebecca and I huddling and sleeping outside of a church hoping some friendly nuns would take pity. However, I eventually got through to our hostel and it turned out the cab driver dropped us off too early and we had to walk a few more minutes down the street (jodido taxi).

We soon found our hostel and was greeted by a very friendly, but talkative, Spanish man who looked exactly like Santa Claus. He was very excited that we spoke Spanish and promptly told us all about San Sebastian, the map etc etc. Since our first encounter with him, we always tried to enter or leave the room quickly because any conversation was bound to last at least 10 minutes.

After dropping off our stuff we took a walk around the city, walking by the Paseo that follows the beach on the bay and enjoyed the night scenes.

The next day we woke up and had a lovely breakfast at a pasteleria and discovered my new obsession: Pastel Vasco – a delicious almond custard torte. I’ve since found a simplified recipe for it and hope to make it soon :)

We then happily spent the day sightseeing, visiting a palacio that overlooked the water but turned out to be some sort of institute, and climbing up one of the mountains to see a fortress/ Jesus statue.



We also experimented with a San Sebastian specialty – Pinxos. Let me start off by saying that I love Spain’s approach to food. Lots of little tastes of different things (tapas) but the pinxos are even better. You enter a bar to be greeted by an array of small appetizer size plates of food. You can pick whichever ones you want and you pay at the end depending on how many and which dishes you pick.

A lot of the bars get very creative – and with creativity comes a risk. Some are great and you go back for second helpings, and others are better left untouched. Rebecca and I normally used a “divide and conquer” approach – each of us picking some, letting the other person taste it and thus getting a wide assortment of options.




Anyway, we were both very happy to have a more diverse palate since my diet when I eat out in Madrid normally consists of tortilla española, olives or croquetas.

After a big lunch, we walked around the newer part of the city and visited a few of the cathedrals. San Sebastian, as any Catholic Spanish city should, has at least 3 cathedrals each with horrifying and bloody statues of Jesus after he was taken off the cross. While I really appreciate the awe and beauty of many Catholic churches, some of the art can be pretty graphic. However, I took some really cool photos of one of the cathedrals and the multi-colored light mosaics from the stained glass.



We then met up with Carmen, a friend of my parent’s they met when Carmen and her husband Pedro were living in New Jersey. Carmen is very maja (sweet) and incredibly energetic. She was very excited to see me, since last time I was about 5 and I don’t remember it.

Carmen is from Barcelona and had some very interesting perspectives on living in San Sebastian. We asked her how she liked it, and gushed how lucky she is to live in such a beautiful place, right by the coast. She agreed that it was pretty but proceeded to tell us about the politics and the issue she had with Euskera. Euskera is the language in Pais Vasco, a very old language that has no connections to Castellano (Spanish). Under Franco all the other languages in Spain (including Catalan and Gallego) were suppressed and forbidden.

Once Franco’s reign was over the different autonomies of Spain were super excited and aggressive about reviving their local languages, and Pais Vasco is one of the most strict. Apparently students are only taught in Euskera in school (obviously except for Spanish and other language classes) and all teachers in Pais Vasco must spend a year without paying learning Euskera if they don’t already know it. Carmen really lamented this law and said that it’s why her children are attending private schools – where they are taught in Spanish and/or English.

Anyway, since I’m working in a bilingual school I thought this was very interesting. Carmen thinks it’s a real disadvantage for children in Pais Vasco, because Euskera is not a global language, while Spanish is. I have to agree with her. The more time I spend out of the States, the more appreciative I am that my native language is such an important, and global language. It’s a true competitive edge.

Anyway, after meeting up with Carmen and her friend (who btw is a teacher in a public school and clearly doesn’t agree with Carmen’s views) we made plans to meet up with Carmen and her family the next day. We then bought a bottle of wine and sat on one of the docks (which is a popular hangout/botellon place) and enjoyed watching the ocean waves at night. I’ve also decided I need to spend some significant time in a city near water – and as much as I love DC, the Potomac river really doesn’t count!

The next day we met up with Carmen and she drove us to a small town about an hour from San Sebastian. It was beautiful, very quaint and we spent some time wandering around the old part of the town before going to the newer section to meet up with Pedro and their two children.

The family was very sweet and treated us to lunch and we caught up. It was interesting because while Pedro and Carmen know my parents, I really have never met them before and certainly not in my adult life. (btw can I call myself an adult? Still not sure about that one). They were reminiscing about living in the States, which is where they met, at a wedding in NYC although both are from Barcelona.






While their kids were younger and a bit shy, the eventually opened up to us. They were both fascinated by the fact that Rebecca lived on an island in the States and were very funny in asking if Rebecca owned the island, how large it was etc.

After lunch we walked along the pier and took a small boat over to France! In all honesty the French side wasn’t too exciting and we only stayed for half an hour but at least we could say that we just “wandered over to France over the weekend.”

Rebecca and I were both pretty exhausted after our adventure, speaking in Spanish for 5 hours and being sweet and conversational can be very tiring, and we took a much needed siesta. We then watched the sunset over the pier, visited the famous San Sebastian hotel that is where all the stars stay in when they come for the San Sebastian film festival and walked on the beach. We then had a wonderful dinner at a restaurant and agreed that San Sebastian had been the culinary highlight of our time so far in Spain.




The next morning we were supposed to go on a walk with Carmen, but after sleeping in a bit decided that it was a bit rushed. I guiltily called Carmen to apologize, and she invited Tim and I to visit their vacation house near Barcelona during Christmas! I’m hoping that this invitation still stands true because they call it the “pink castle” – apparently it’s been in Pedro’s family for years.

We then went to have nice leisurely breakfast which escalated into the breakfast from hell. Well, that’s a bit extreme but the waiter ended up forgetting our order, and it took forever. So, instead of a leisurely breakfast, we ended up rushing back to the hostel to grab our stuff and before we knew it we had only 15 minutes to get to the bus station!

As we ran into the hostel, the Santa Clause hostel owner, came out and I asked him where would be the best place to catch a cab on a Sunday. He then proceeded to ignore that request, and ignoring our rushing around, and started rambling about how the bus is much better. We eventually decided to literally run to the famous hotel, in the hopes that cabs would hang out there. Cabs in front of a hotel, a good assumption right?

Well apparently not on Sundays. We rushed around there for a bit (10 minutes before the bus was to leave!) and still couldn’t find anything. I ended up asking someone else and they said to go down to the boulevard. (6 minutes left!) We ran down to the boulevard (picture it, suitcases flying all over the place) until we found a cab and ran inside.

The cab driver was joking around and asked, what’s the rush ladies, did you sleep in? Which annoyed both of us and we started complaining about the stupid waiter….I think the cab driver by the end of the complain session was sorry he even asked.

Well, we ended up getting onto the bus literally seconds before the bus left the station. Seconds. The next bus wasn’t coming until hours later, so it would have been quite annoying to miss this one.

After our morning jaunt, we settled in to nap until we arrived in Madrid 5 hours later. While I love traveling, and the thrill of seeing new places, it’s always nice to get back home after a busy travel weekend. It’s even better when you’ve thought ahead, and brought back some extra Pastel Vascos to enjoy while sipping a cup of tea on your own comfy bed.

More photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/kkiss7/Spain2009SomeMadridSanSebastian#