Inglés, inglés, inglés!

It's been a while since I've posted, probably because my life is starting to get busy again. Here's my explosion of the last few weeks.

but first, a picture of my daily struggles

Colegio

I have now returned to the colegio and am starting up my internship again. I have two weeks of special classes. Basically I go around to the other grades that I don't regularly have so that they can have a session with me (basically because people were getting jealous). So I give my whole spiel on the U.S. and Sacramento and all that good stuff and they ask me questions. And during question time I feel like I'm defending the U.S. for dear life. Examples:

"Why are people so fat in the U.S.?"
"Does everyone eat a lot of food?"
"Do you prefer McDonald's or Burger King?"
"Is everything like the movies?" (what exactly does that mean?)
"Are the police as aggressive as they are in movies?"

Or the questions that end up breaking the hearts of 13 year old Spanish girls. Example:

Spanish girls: "Were you a cheerleader?"
Me: "Why, do I look like cheerleader?"
Spanish girls: "Yes."
Me: (throws up in mouth a little bit) "No, I was not a cheerleader."
Spanish girls: *gasps*
...if only they knew I was actually a band geek in high school and didn't particularly love cheerleaders.
(not to mention, have you seen the above picture?!)

I also did 3 special classes with 2nd graders about animals and animal noises in English. Pretty adorable I must say, so much enthusiasm to learn at that age! Then of course on my last day over in the primary school building last week, word must have spread who I was because I legitimately got attacked by a swarm of 7 year olds. One kid bear-hugged me three times. And the rest of them just kept essentially chanting "My name is______! My name is______! My name is______! " over and over again until Anabel,  a professor who I usually work with, came over and literally rescued me. I have to say, that was a bit terrifying. :)

This week I teach the older kids (16, 17, 18 year olds). Couldn't tell ya how that's gonna go. But I imagine some more country-defending will commence.

I've also agreed to help the professors at the colegio get ready for their B2 English language exams. Passing a B2 language exam means you're fairly proficient in that particular language. There's a new rule, at least at the colegio I work at, that the teachers now have to have a B2 level in English and will begin to start teaching their respective subjects in English. Holy cow.
So that's where I come in since I'm the living, breathing, and walking native at the school. I'm going to help them practice for the oral part of their exam and give them feedback on how to improve. I'm actually pretty excited to help out and give back, since all the professors have been so sweet to me.

Tutorías

First of all, I have issues saying no. I now have like 8 or 9 students that I tutor weekly. And here I am trying to find jobs for when I get back the US and can't find anything, but in Spain everyone wants to hire an English tutor! Go figure.

I still tutor Clara and Candela (and sometimes little Eduardo who is 7 and Pepa's youngest kiddo). They are all doing so well in English, I'm impressed! A professor at the colegio also asked me to tutor his kids on Mondays and I've worked with them twice so far. The oldest is Julia (6) and Hernán (2). They are so much fun to work with. Julia works really hard and is happy to learn English. Hernán gets cranky with me but enjoys our sessions for the first 15 minutes or so. It's so interesting to teach a 2 year old. He actually seems to understand what I'm saying more than Julia because his brain is at an age where he can absorb more than one language with ease. It's so neat. I'm excited to see how this progresses. One or two of their friends will be joining us on Mondays too since I didn't have any extra afternoons free. So I will be doing a group session with all of them for 1.5 - 2 hours. And if that wasn't enough, another family asked me to tutor on Friday afternoons. I start this Friday with that family. But hey, the money helps pay for trips and I love working with kids, so it's really an awesome opportunity and I've had so much fun with it so far.

So lots and lots of English in my life right now. It's fun but not super helpful in terms of learning Spanish. Although, especially when tutoring the little ones, I do have to speak in Spanish or else nothing happens.


Dia de San Valentin

So Valentine's Day is just as sappy here as it is in the States. I kind of ignored it though. It's not really one of my favorite holidays. But I have to say, one person did make it special this year. That was person was my temporary Japanese host brother (he's literally here for all of 20 days). He gave my host mom and I each a chocolate rose. My host mom flipped out and to me was like, "Isn't he the sweetest?! My own husband forgot it was Valentine's Day!" She was so stoked about her rose. But it's true, it was super sweet. He's really nice. He speaks a teeny bit of English and a little bit of Spanish, but I can see his Spanish already improving after 2 weeks. It's going to be so weird once he leaves, I've gotten so used to having him around!

La vida diaria 

Mexican food!

When I'm not in class or at the colegio I've been trying to get out a lot. I've done a lot of walking along the beach with friends. I've also been taking advantage of all the sales going on through March. All the stores have sales from January through March in Spain and so much good stuff is on sale for super cheap! I'm in love. Good thing I have all these tutoring jobs... I've also been doing some cooking and baking. Rosa and I made an apple pie which was amazing and disastrous at the same time. It was ginormous and we had some issues with the crust but it all worked out in the end and was delicious. I also made some Mexican food with my friend Tonada. It is so hard to be away from Mexican food, or just spicy food in general. We made chicken quesadillas and a ton of guacamole! Next up: nachos.

Kiersten and I in Benidorm!

I also went to Benidorm last weekend (essentially England's equivalent vacation spot as Mexico is to the US). Benidorm is about a half hour up the coast from Alicante. They have a lot of shops and it's very touristy. I went with Kiersten and her host family who were in search of costumes. It was interesting, but too touristy. I don't think I need to go back. And of course, I do try to get out to the bars on the weekends with the ladies.

My adorable friends Anya and Tonada

As you can see, we're in love ;) 

Nuevo viaje!

Kiersten and I planned another trip. We're going to Budapest, Hungary in May. I'm so excited! It looks like such a neat city! So the travel line-up this semester stands as this:

London, England (March 15-20)
Lagos, Portugal; Dublin, Ireland; and Munich Germany (April 1-14)
Amsterdam, Netherlands (April 19-22)
Budapest, Hungary (May 3-6)

Ahhh! So excited!

 Mi brazo

Back when I still had my sling and was assisted down stairs to avoid re-falling...

And lastly, my stupid arm. It's getting a lot better. But it pops a lot (the latest issue with it). And that hurts. A lot. But when it's not popping, it's getting better, I'm gaining strength, and I have a better range of motion.

On a [semi] funny side note. My host mom came home the other day and had smashed her elbow in a heavy door at work. She then says to me, "I can't lift my arm up to my head, now I know what it feels like to be you!"

Yay for being injured.

And that is all, thanks for reading! :)

Carnaval, España 2013

Mi vida social

French boys making crepes

Despite having been stuck in a sling, I've actually done a pretty good job of staying active.  Last weekend I went to a Medeival Fair with Kiersten and her host family on Saturday,  that night we were invited over to my friend Vincent's house for dinner and dessert crepes (he's French), and on Sunday she and I went to the colegio for a party to celebrate Don Bosco. We went through "el túnel de miedo" (tunnel of fear) and ate paella from the biggest paella pan I've ever seen. I got to see some of my students which was fun. It made me excited for starting up my internship again in the next week or so! I've also just been hanging out with friends a lot, shopping, and getting out and about. And the weather has been great so it makes getting out way more enjoyable! (I'm talking like 60s and 70s!!)

Kiersten being Kiersten

A view from my walk down the castle 

Paella feast at the colegio!

Ginormous paella!

Mi brazo

So I just came out of my sling yesterday after keeping it immobile for 3 weeks. I now begin rehab. It hurts and still looks a little green but it's definitely doing a lot better. But life in a sling for 3 weeks really has made realize how much we take 2 functional arms for granted.

Clases

My grammar class and university classes have started. I finally picked two that I'm interested in. One is another Psychology class from the same professor I had last semester (who I really liked) called "Fundamentels of Personality" and another class that's called "Social Anthropology of Spanish Cities." The professor of the Anthro class seems really sweet and adaptive to the fact that a bunch of us are American. The class seems really interesting. I will keep you posted. AND I only have class on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Win.

Tutorías

I'm still tutoring my program director's daughter and niece, but now I tutor her 7 year old son, Edu, who is too stinking adorable! He's very eager to learn and I can tell he's very smart, but he's also a 7 year old boy with a short attention span. So I'm trying to mix in games as well as learning into the sessions. He also has an amazing lego collection, I might add. I need to figure out how to incorporate an English lesson into lego playing because I really want to play legos!

My two lovely other students, Clara and Candela, are fabulous. Clara is getting A's now which thrills me and Candela is doing incredibly well and her memory for vocabulary is so much better! I'm so proud of both of them.

Carnaval

The Spice Girls

Baby, Scary, and Ginger

Carnaval was yesterday.  So my group of friends and I decided to dress up as the Spice Girls (always has been a dream of mine). Tonada was Baby Spice, Anya was Scary Spice, Maraya was Ginger Spice, Kiersten was Sporty Spice, and I was Posh Spice. Apparently that was a no-brainer...even when I told my host mom we were going to be the Spice Girls she said, "you're definitely going to be Posh, aren't you?" I don't know how I feel about that, ha. It was a good day, though. We spent most of it getting our costumes together, then we got ready at Tonada's house and met up with some other friends at around 1:30 a.m. (crazy, I know). There was a DJ out on the street in the main part of town so we danced in a big mob of people as well as in a bar. It was quite the scene last night, I've never quite seen anything like it.

Taking a sitting break on Baby (get it?)

Baby and Posh Spice

Viajes
I'm pleased to announce that I have finally booked some trips! In the middle of March I'm going to London with Kiersten and my friend Vincent (from high school, who is studying abroad in Barcelona this semester). We are all super stoked! My parents come at the end of March and I believe we are driving along the south of Spain to Portugal. After that, my mom and I fly to Dublin, Ireland and Munich, Germany for my Spring Break! And then the weekend after my mom leaves, Tonada, Kiersten, and I head to Amsterdam! I'm super excited!!

And lastly,  a shout out to my baby brother Sean! He turns 17 today! Feliz cumpleaños hermanito! I love youuuu!