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 p
ortion 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??
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 p
ortion 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??
posted by Julie Ann at 5:38 PM
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