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#

Escuela y events

Hello all!

It’s been a while since my last update and a lot has happened! I’m still working on getting a schedule set-up and settling into that routine. I finally went to school last Thursday, and this Monday and Tuesday. I also had a great weekend and saw some pretty cool events, including a super authentic flamenco show, a Mexican band concert, and the Madrid 2016 Olympic rally.

School:

My first day started off a bit awkwardly. I came into school about 20 minutes early because I over-estimated my commute. I didn’t have the key to the bilingual department so I waited awkwardly in the hallway for the bell to ring before going to my first class. I found the room with no problem and waited again in the hallway for the teacher (José Antonio, the Science teacher) to come. Like I said earlier, the teachers in Spain move around but the students stay in the same class. So, once one teacher has left, and the other is still coming, the kids are left to their own devices in the classroom. Sounds like a recipe for disaster? Well it sort of is.

José Antonio still hadn’t come and the kids were pretty rowdy. However, as the Comunidad de Madrid made very clear – I am not a disciplinarian and I wasn’t sure if I should go in or not to calm then down. Another teacher eventually came by, and told me to go in and introduce myself so that the kids would be quiet. So, I was in the middle of my little spiel (Hi, my name is Katica Kiss, I was born in New Jersey, but living in Washington DC – Yes Obama is my neighbor….) when in walks José Antonio with a very confused look on his face. Apparently he didn’t know I was coming, and quietly told me that he didn’t need me and that I could leave. So I awkwardly said goodbye to the students and went back to the bilingual department to wait again in the hallway before a teacher with a key came by.

Anyway, the beginning of my first day was basically a lot of awkward waiting. I was also sent out of classes twice after I had introduced myself and was feeling a bit frustrated. However, things picked up in the afternoon and today. I had prepared over the weekend an activity on Ancient Egypt for two classes. I found a pretty complex article on the objects Ancient Egyptians would bury with mummies (amulets, food, weapons etc.) and told the students it was an exercise on skimming complex texts to find the information they are looking for. After finding the objects and their purpose, the students were to discuss what these objects reflected about Ancient Egyptian’s beliefs about the after-life – namely that afterlife was an extension of human life, and people would need food, weapons etc. just like they did during their lives on earth.

Anyway, I thought the exercise was a pretty good one and there were some successes and mishaps in execution.

The students were surprisingly enthusiastic, especially considering it was the last two periods of the day and they are understandably antsy. They also have a better vocabulary then I had expected, and understand more than I thought they would. Though their pronunciation might not be the best, but I was impressed with their questions and word choice.

However, just as they are enthusiastic they are also chatty! They talk amongst themselves a lot during class, when the teacher is talking, and particularly when working on something. The teacher had also printed out a limited amount of copies, so the students had to share amongst groups the articles which really didn’t help.

Overall, I was happy with how it went and appreciative of the opportunity to be more engaged then just sitting in the corner, correcting pronunciation every once and a while. The teacher also asked while we were walking around and helping the students if I had ever taught in a classroom. I told her I hadn’t, and only have tutored on an individual basis. She told me that she was surprised because I had a natural ability and seemed to connect well with the students. That was really nice to hear especially since she’s a teacher I really like a lot and value her opinion. It also helps that she invited me to her vacation home in Northern Spain ;)

I also taught a short lesson today on the moon and lunar phases. Waning gibbous moon? Ever heard of it? Me neither. Being back in school in a middle/high school is an interesting exercise in testing my memory of the things I learned a long time ago! So, in some ways I’m just as much of a student as the kids – and learned that it takes the moon 29.5 days to go through its phases, and that the moons has a weak atmosphere which accounts for the extreme temperatures during the day and at night. It’s a good exercise in humility!

I’m also starting to get to know the kids better, and a lot of them are really sweet. When I said I was from New Jersey two girls in the front row got super-excited because apparently one of the Jonas Brothers is from NJ. They later came up to me at the end of class to show me their agendas that were filled with Jonas brother pictures and hearts to show me which one was from NJ. Another girl came up to tell me that she will be living next year in Westfield, NJ with some family friends and has visited there before. It’s interesting how quickly you can pick up student dynamics – and tell which students are really engaged and interested in learning and which ones are going to be problems. Overall I find that the girls are better students (or at least more attentive) which is pretty common at this age I think. However, there’s also another boy, Miguel, who is really sweet and really bright. He’s adorable and is always ready to ask questions.

There are also some pretty funny kids. When I walked in with one of the teachers into the class, the teacher asked the students if I had already introduced myself to them. They said yes, and one kid chimed in with my life biography and said, “Yes, and she was born in 1987 in New Jersey, and has one brother…” – repeating word for word the “about me” poster I had prepared.

Another time I walked over to two boys who were messing around and play/arguing with one another and jokingly asked them if I should give them another assignment since they were “clearly” done with one they were supposed to be working on. One of them smiled at me, apologized and said, “sorry, this one is problematic” and pointed to his friend. I had to give him credit for using a pretty advanced word!

Next week I’ll also start tutoring after classes which means I’ll be making a little extra pocket money. I’ll go home with one of the teachers after class, have lunch with her, and then tutor her daughter or son for about an hour – all while getting paid 20 euros/hour! English tutoring is in high demand and pays really well! I’ll be tutoring at least 3 hours/ week, and an extra 2 hours every other week.

Since I also have a better idea of my schedule now I’m really going to try to get involved in the research project and/or organizations that I’m interested in learning more about. I’ve been a bit frustrated just because I’m realizing I don’t have as much time as I had hoped to do these other projects, but I’ll just have to be flexible and hope for the best.

Events:

Last Friday was an exciting day in terms of life logistics. Friday morning I went to the police office to get my NIE, which is an ID number given to temporary residents. After a last-minute visit to get passport photos because the ones I had were too light, I officially applied for temporary residency and should be getting my card within a few weeks. I also finally took out money from my Spanish bank account and confirmed that my Santander debit card will be coming soon in the mail.

On Thursday, I went with some friends to Casa de America, a cultural institute that I have often passed when running to Retiro park. We saw the Mexican Institute of Sound (see you tube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3z81DxFt0I). The concert was a lot of fun and really high energy! Casa de America is also a really beautiful building and they have an incredible outdoor garden bar- very pijo (swanky) but it was a great night. They are having a Chilean film festival soon that I will hopefully be seeing.

On Friday night I met up with some friends to go to a Flamenco tablao in La Latina. I hadn’t explored much of La Latina before and was excited to find that there are a ton of great bars and restaurants all conveniently located on the same street. I went with some friends who had been there before and raved about the chorizo and flamenco – both which were great. We wentto the downstairs of the bar and soon found ourselves in a smokey room filled with Spainards and two old men from Cordoba, one singing and the other playing guitar. It was super authentic – just a bunch of friends sitting around and playing flamenco. The singer was the picture of an older Spanish guy – told funny and inappropriate stories (I didn’t understand most of it, but got from the face and hand gestures the nature of the jokes). Eventually some of our friends left and we invited a group of older guys to sit with us at the table because we had plenty of room. It turned out one of the guys was also a Flamenco singer and he got up to sing a few songs. It just felt super authentic and intimate, and you could tell that this group of friends probably did this at least a few times a week. Some of my favorite flamenco tablaos in Granada normally draw a younger crowd, so it was fun to see the flamenco atmosphere in an older context as well.

I was supposed to go on Saturday to Toledo, but last minute we decided that impending sicknesses (a lot of people are getting colds from the extreme weather changes – hot one day, cold the next, and then hot again) and exhaustion called for a more relaxing day. That night I went to see “El Secreto de los Ojos” with Rebecca – an Argentine movie that was recently released and won a lot of awards in the San Sebastian film festival. It was a bit difficult to understand at parts because of the Argentine accent, but it was really well done. It was the story of two lawyers, and their experience with a brutal rape and murder. I won’t get into the details, but Rebecca and I walked out with completely different interpretations of the movie! We’re not sure who exactly was the murderer, because of some translation issues and ambiguous scenes. We’re hoping some other friends will see it soon to give us another opinion!

Finally, on Sunday I walked with a friend down to Plaza Cibeles to participate in the Olympic Rally. Madrid is bidding for the 2016 Olympics and is super excited about it. There are posters all over the place, it’s in the newspaper all the time, and finally this weekend they planned a huge rally to show solidarity and city support. There was a DJ and David Bisbal, a very famous Spanish pop artist, gave a free concert. It was a lot of fun and despite some rain showers almost half a million people showed up! Below is a picture of the crowd, I was in the red side and waved my red sign like the rest of them.






Below are also some other pictures – from Retiro park and other places. I’ve been working out the kinks w/ this new camera and finally found Lithium batteries so it doesn’t die every two minutes. Hopefully I’ll be taking more pictures when I start traveling – starting w/ San Sebastian this weekend!

Besos,
Katica

Turtle Haven

Hello all, since I’m not emailing out this blog link until today (had some photo gliches earlier) I figured I’d provide another update. Yesterday we went to Retiro park and had a lovely picnic and enjoyed the warm(ish) weather while it’s lasting. It’s definitely noticeably colder since we first arrived so the fall is definitely on its way.

After spending a few hours at the park a few of us ventured over to the Reina Sophia, the modern art museum. It’s the modern art equivalent of the Prado and has some great work, it’s most famous is probably Picasso’s Guernica. I’ve been there a few times when I was in Spain before but it’s always fun to go back, and this time it’s free! The museums in Spain have “free hours” where everything is open to the public. Normally the Reina Sophia is free 6-8pm weekdays but apparently on Tuesday it’s not open at all, which we discovered after walking there.

However, since the Reina Sophia is near the Atocha metro/renfe station I wanted to show some people the turtle haven I’ve discovered. In one section of the train station there is this huge glass room with palm trees among other plants and it’s really beautiful. And, best of all, there is a turtle pound which is actually very entertaining. We stayed there for a bit to turtle-watch and agonized over whether one of the turtles was stuck/sleeping or dead. Apparently neither of the three.

We found a nearby café and sat down for a long talk about living and working (or not working) in Spain. I’ve been finding this filler time before classes to be very awkward although I know I should be enjoying the time to relax. The head of the bilingual program hasn’t told us exactly when school starts, or what day this week we can come in to visit the school and meet the other teachers. Some TA’s (mostly primary) have already started so it seems that while they are all public schools it’s up to the schools judgment when exactly they want to start.

There are also some interesting expectations that the Comunidad de Madrid (who sponsors the Auxiliar program) has told us. In schools we are: 1) unable to communicate in Spanish 2) Supposed to be British.

The first one I think is mostly in relation to the students. The comunidad wants us to only speak English to the students so that it forces them to communicate to speak English with us. While I understand this reasoning, I actually disagree with hiding the fact that we speak Spanish. I think telling the kids that we were able to learn another language makes us more relatable and approachable, and gives them inspiration that they too can become strong English speakers. However, they’re paying my salary so there’s not too much I can do about it.

As for being British, it appears that I’m going to have to brush up on my “British” so to speak. Spain, along with most European countries I believe, follows British – English spelling and pronunciation. While they don’t expect me to start speaking in a British accent (while that would be fun) I need to remember how to use British spelling – colour, favour etc. Apparently the Brits used to spell “jail” as “gaol.” Apparently that is old-fashioned, but I have never seen that spelling before.

In other news it looks like I will be traveling to San Sebastian next weekend! I’m very excited about this development, and have been looking forward to going there because I’ve heard it’s beautiful. I went there once when I was younger with my parents (we were visiting family in Southern France and crossed over to Spain) but all I remember was that it was very brightly colored and so were the car license plates. I hope to be much more observant this time!

This weekend we’re also hoping to visit a small town outside of Madrid and on Saturday is Noche en blanco, a huge cultural event/party in Madrid which I’m sure will be a great time. I’ll keep you all updated! Here’s the official website: http://lanocheenblanco.esmadrid.com/lanocheenblanco/

Until next time! Besos!

Katica

A long and necessary update:

Saludos de Madrid! I’ve been meaning to write and update this blog – so here it goes! Please feel free to skim I have the tendency to do blog posts in a stream-of consciousness style

**note on blog title: For those of you who may have forgotten, my last name is “Kiss” which is pronounced like quiche in Hungarian. Conveniently, quiche is one of my favorite dishes to cook and eat. Since my last name is pronounced like kiss in English, I thought it would be suitable to name my blog “Besos de España” (kisses from Spain). Also, besos is a very common goodbye in Spain – you say besos to almost everyone, and kiss everyone twice when you meet and say goodbye.

Pre-Arrival

First of all, let me begin by explaining what exactly I am doing in Madrid. The truth is, I’m not too positive about that myself. About a year ago I was in the midst of Fulbright applications – trying to finalize my project proposal and scrambling for affiliation in Spain. Affiliations are people, organizations, academics etc. that will vouch for your project and pledge to provide support/guidance. Through a professor in Granada, I was able to connect with another professor who agreed to provide academic affiliation. However, I felt that the nature of my interests would require organizational affiliation as well and I was not able to get that in time for handing in my application. So, last minute I switched to teaching because I felt like that would be a better option and was still flexible enough for me to pursue my research interests on the side.

Fast forward to April and I found out that I was awarded the fellowship! I later found out that I would be teaching “secundaria” (ages 12-18, though we don’t teach the 16-18 yr olds). My instituto is IES Maximo Trueba, located in Boadilla del Monte, about an hour outside of the city. I found out that my good friend Angie was also awarded a TA (Teaching Assistant) fellowship and we were both super excited.

This past summer was pretty busy with working at Changemakers (Hi everyone at Changemakers, I miss you all!), my graduation, my brother’s graduation, catching up with friends in DC and LV, and studying for the GREs. I was really lucky to stay with my Aunt in DC and enjoyed the numerous dog walks (Hi Agi and Spencer!) and spending time outside. I also went to the consulate to apply and pay for my visa, as well as booking flights/hostels etc. I stayed in DC until late August and had a great week with Tim (who was in Morocco this summer) before heading back to NJ for packing. My Mom was super patient and helpful with helping me figure out what I needed and how to fit it all in two suitcases. I was able to see my brother (who just started his freshman year at MIT) and Aunt before leaving.

It was an interesting summer – I met some great new people at Ashoka, caught up with old friends, while missing lots of people who weren’t in DC or Long Valley. The whole time I don’t think it really sank in that I would be abroad for a whole year, and to be honest I’m not sure it still has.

Traveling

My parents dropped me off at Newark airport on Thursday, Sept. 3^rd for a 5:30 pm flight. I met up with Angie at the gate (we were on the same flight) and it was great to see her and catch-up. We had a few hour layover in Copenhagen and then caught the second flight to Madrid. On the plane we met a really nice Canadian guy (who has lived quite the international life, including in Mexico, London, and now Copenhagen). We really enjoyed speaking with him and made plans to meet up the next day in Madrid.

Once arriving at the hostel, Angie and I went into super-speed mode. We had a lot to do – including getting SIM cards, abono metro passes, and of course the dreaded apartment. Thanks to Clayton’s Spanish friend, I had been religiously visiting idealista.org, an amazing apartment hunting website that makes craigslist look positively rudimentary (which it really is). Through the site I was able to connect with a lot of people and had about 6 apartment visits lined up. Angie also had a bunch lined up so we had quite the day planned after a day of traveling.

I won’t bore you with the details – but from Friday to Sunday we visited A LOT of places. Other than the stress and nervousness of trying to find something, it was actually a lot of fun and a good opportunity to explore the city. In the end I found a cute place in Alonso Martinez, which I’m sharing with 3 Spaniards (ages 21 – 26) who all seem very nice. Hugo is 26 and works for a style PR firm, and represents Levis. Sandra is 26 as well and works for the corporate side of Corte Ingles, a huge department store in Madrid. Andrea is Hugo’s younger sister (21) and an audio-visual university student. Angie also found one in Embajadores that is perfect for her commute.

As to be expected, there were some bumps in the road and some funny translation situations. However, over all I think we both did pretty well considering neither of us has really spoken Spanish in 2 years. One example is when my compañeros were showing me the piso I misunderstood and thought they were talking about the badae – but turns out they were talking about the Jacuzzi tub! During on of Angie’s apartment visits (Kyle and I tagged along) the girls were explaining a very complex situation where the apartment was supposed to house 3 people but they illegally were housing 4. She referred to the 4^th “illegal” roommate as “negra” (black – as in black market) and at first we thought that the problem was that the roommates were racist which was not the case. Anyway, as long as you have a sense of humor about it, it all works out!

Orientation

After spending the first few days in a hostel and apartment hunting, we packed up our stuff to go a Residencia which is where we would be attending the Fulbright orientation. I had already moved in most of my stuff to my new place and Angie moved in hers to her apartment the next day. Orientation was pretty busy, but a great opportunity to meet all the Fulbrighters. I mostly met TAs because they were in our sessions, but I also met some really interesting research Fulbrighters. I was a little disappointed that I wouldn’t be joining the researchers, but I am also looking forward to the challenge of being a teaching assistant and I like the support that the TA provides. After I have a better idea of my schedule I’ll try to see what kind of other side projects/research I can do.

It was really great to hear from former TA’s, some of them are staying for a year longer which is an option available to everybody provided we do a good job. I had also heard a lot of the information from Adena, the fulbrighter who was at our school and she was incredibly helpful in preparing us.

Other than the sessions, we all would go out at night to explore different parts of Madrid and get to know each other. There were also a lot of TAs who won’t be in Madrid (there are programs in Valencia among other areas) so it was a good opportunity to get to know them as well. After a few busy days, it was nice to finally move in and unpack all of my stuff in my new piso.

Post Orientation

Since Orientation ended last Friday, I’ve just been relaxing, catching up with friends/family, and exploring the city with my new friends. I’ve been to lavapies, which is a really colorful section of Madrid known for its immigrant population and incredible Indian food. We’ve gone to a few places in Tribunal/Bilbao area, as well as Malasaña and my area. Last Saturday we ventured out to a town outside of Madrid, where a friend is living and teaching. It’s apparently the town’s biggest Fería of the year and it was a lot of fun. They had all kinds of music, free food, and we enjoyed hanging out and getting out of the city. We also enjoyed non-city prices, and getting tinto verano at reasonable prices

Us eating at the Feria

Strange Obama “yes we can” poster in Spanish phonetics (?) That’s our theory at least..

After the Feria, we came back into the city and walked around Retiro park for a bit. I’m a big fan of Retiro, and trying to take advantage of it as much as possible before the weather gets too cold. I walked to the park from my piso the other day and went running in the park while stopping at different areas to do some people watching. Today we’re going to have a little picnic at Retiro which should be fun.

While I’m liking Madrid, I have to be honest I’ve been more homesick than I had expected. I’ve been comparing Madrid a lot to Granada, which is really not fair since it’s a very different city and different circumstances. I’m hoping once things get busier, and I start school that the homesickness will subside. As Dylan, my best friend who lived in Madrid before told me, Madrid is not like Granada where its charm and beauty is immediately there upon arrival. He says that Madrid’s charms need more familiarity and it’s advice I’ve taken to heart. I’ll post later about the differences I’ve noticed.

Closing thoughts

Alright, I think that’s more than enough information for now! I apologize for the dry post, but I felt like a catch-up was necessary. I promise to provide more interesting anecdotal stories soon. I'm also hoping that I'll soon have a better idea of my teaching sched. so that I can start working on side research projects, volunteering for Ashoka Madrid, intercambios, taking classes or whatever works out. I'm trying to be flexible and really absorb the "no pasa nada" Spanish mentality.

I’m now off to get ready for today’s picnic at Retiro. I’ll try to be diligent with this blog and keep you all updated. I’ve looked back a few times at my blog I kept in Granada and I’m glad I kept up with it. I’ll try to do the same this time! All my love and best to everyone!

Besos,

Katica