school in spain is FUN!

Spain is wonderful for a myriad of reasons... one of which is the sheer number of holidays they celebrate (which as they continue to accumulate... seem ever more pointless)... but who am I to complain as I am able to benefit from each of them.

So tomorrow is "El Día de Andalucía"... so a few things happened.

1) The third hour of the day was completely canceled and the culinary trade school portion of our IES provided us with a free hot chocolate and fresh (fried) pastry breakfast.

2) There was a raffle, and I won the uggliest turtle-shaped piggy bank.

3) In my second hour class, I had the privilege of being serenaded by the "Hymn of Andalucía." This experience merits more detail.

Now, as I've mentioned before there has been carpool drama. Mercedes is an English teacher who has dropped out of our carpool and started her own. Haha. I work with Mercedes. She is definitely unique.

Now, Elena (another member of the original carpool) had the first hour with my second hour class. She wrote the lyrics of the "Hymn of Andalucía" on the board, told the kids not to erase it... and then had the kids sing it to me... pretty much to rile them up and irritate Mercedes.

This class is Cuarto de ESO (which is like our equivalent to 10th grade)... and is one of the worst behaved classes. I do not exaggerate when I say they do NO cease from talking for a moment to listen to any sort of lecture and get up and walk around freely in the class, throwing things, doing whatever they want. Halfway through the class when Mercedes went to erase the lyrics off of the board, they SCREAMED (I mean, SCREAMED) that she couldn't and launched into round two of the ballad.

Oh... I forgot to mention the best part... in this class there are only about 5 boys, and of course they all sit together in the back of the class. One of them in particular spent the hour calling out different versions of my name (Julie, Julia, Juliana) and blowing kisses in my direction. When I left the class... he handed me this. A love note... I think... "SAT... heart... I love." What?? What does that mean exactly? What 10th grade boy takes the time to write in bubble letters and color in with high lighters. Please.

And a little bit more info on my students.
I've been trying to think of the best way to describe them... and I finally found it. Unfortunately, it is a Spanish term (go figure) which I learned from the professors with whom I work... there's not really an English equivalent. They're called "canis" just as we would say "jocks" or "preps" or "nerds" or "goths."

Canis are their own breed, one which I at least have never encountered in the United States. (That is not to say they do not exist in the US... I do not have the audacity to assume that I am the authority on teenage cliques, but I digress.) I did a little google research of my own to provide a few pictures and get my facts straight. Canis (pronounced can-knees) consist of the following attributes:
- both boys and girls don an abundandt array of gold chains, rings, and earrings... girls particulary wear this net-like piece of jewelery that attatches from their rings to their bracelets
- both boys and girls are fond of facial piercings... particularly those that stray from the normal ears and nose... to the eyebrow and skin above or below the lip
- both wear brand name sports sneakers (however not tennis shoes), specifically puma or nike
- boys wear "track suits"
- girls wear "J.Lo-esque" suits... both which tend to be completely solid colors such as bold reds, yellows, pinks, blues, or white
- girls are fond of the play boy bunny logo and wear heavy cat-like eyeliner and streaked hair that has that amazing ability to appear wet all hours of the day
- both girls and boys are compelled by their love of "reggeton" music (example the group "RBD") and strong Latin influence

They are a self-appointed opposites to their counter groups "pijos" who are the Spanish "preppies" who wear designer name brands such as Ralph Lauren. Like I said... I've never experienced anything much like them. One day, two of my sweet girls (typical canis) in Segundo de ESO (our 8th grade)... asked me if I was more cani or more pija. I asked them what they thought, and they said "definitely more pija." Haha. I think I'm OK with that.

P.S. ... I was watching an episode of SVU on my computer (of course)... and a Spanish friend came up behind me and told me I looked like Olivia Benson (actually his exact joke was something like "was I watching myself acting on TV?" or something lame like that... but whatever... he thought I looked like Olivia)... between that and my "love note"... could this day GET any better??

oh... you know... life

1) There was an earthquake here last Monday... only a few seconds, but still a 6.1 on the Richter scale. Weird.

2) I just made chicken alfredo from scratch for the first time today! And it was not a failure at all, but rather quite the contrary... a rather savory success. And you should see me manage my little cart that a trip to the grocery store necessitates... and on the bus, no less.


3) A few photos now from a recent trip to San Sebastian and Bilbao with my middle school friend Leila all the way back from Tuscaloosa with whom I was reunited thanks to the wonders of facebook and her roommate. San Sebastian is a truly charming city, remarkable for the combination of mountains and beach. It has an enchanting cove and precious old centro area full of original boutiques and such. Completely underrated on the grand scale of European cities... easily one of my all-time favorites in Spain... perhaps in all of Europe.

Bilbao is totally worth visiting simply for the Guggenheim... absolutely absurd. Frank Gehry is a veritable genius. Never has glass, marble, and titanium assembled to create such a fascinating structure. Definitely all it's cracked up to be... as is the Subway found only meters outside the entrance where we had lunch. Definitely endulged in the guilty pleasure of not only eating the sandwich, but gloating slightly on the inside when we knew the "appropriate Subway conduct" of ordering a sandwich and three Spanish businessmen were clearly confused at ordering a "personalized" sandwich and paying all at the same time (clearly un-Spanish).

Is it bad that my personal favorite part of San Sebastian was the purchase of an original bikini from this amazing little boutique we stumbled upon accidentally... directly from the designer himself? It should be coming in the mail shortly. You can check out his things on his website here... his collection is the one called "Goiuri"... the other ones are from other designers. (Sorry, it's all in Castellano or the other Spanish languages which I don't know.) My actual suit is not shown, but you can get the flavor. :) My personal hope is that he will blow up, become famous, and then I can boast "oh... I had one of thooooooose bikinis before Jennifer (Lopez, Garner, or Aniston... you pick... me da igual) did."

Plus, a group of my students from segundo de ESO (ie 8th grade) told me that they liked me better than their real teacher and wanted to know why I couldn't teach all of their English classes. Haha... aw.

being put to good use...

So today I received the best question I've been asked yet... the students are supposed to be filling out these exercises that incorporate the ideas of "as (fill in adjective) as" and "not as (fill in adjective) as" as well as "too (adjective)" and "not (adjective) enough." So clearly, no one is really doing it, and these girls call me over for some "help." And clearly, we're speaking in Spanish because although this is an English class... no one is interested the silly, practical, conversational English... but rather the following:

Student: Julie, can you come here?
Me: Sure. What's up?
Student: What does "smack that" mean?
Me: Wait... what??
(keep in mind this is pronounced with a thick Spanish accent, therefore hard to decipher)
Student: "Smack that"
Me: (Looks down at notebook and sees attempt to write said phrase, but it's spelled "smake that") Ooooooh... smack that... well, it's kinda like "hit that"... but in a distinct way.
Student: What about "P-I-M-P?"
(she actually spelled it out)
Me: Hahahaha... uh... have you been listening to 50 Cent?
Student: Yes! I love hip-hop/rap music. So, what does "P-I-M-P" mean?
Me: Well... it's how you spell "pimp." A pimp is the guy that's in charge of prostitutes. Isn't this wonderful knowledge I'm imparting. Maybe we should finish the worksheet?

Thank you, 50, for inspiring my students in Almonte, Spain.

A little more food for thought:

1) It's super awkward to me that in international flights you are expected to be able to sit down next to a complete stranger... just the two of you... nice and cozy... ask him permission any time you want to get up and go to the bathroom or fill a water bottle... eat all your meals by him... and then lean back your seat and fall asleep right next to him. That's just a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittle to intimate for my liking.

2) It's really hard for the Spanish people to decipher/pronouce "t-shirt" and "teacher." Trying pronouncing the difference yourself. It's kinda hard.