Busy week!

Hey all, finally time for another post!

Where to start...
Last Wed I had no classes, because of a feast day of Santa Theresa. The ESO students put together a bunch of activities for the younger students and they had a fair instead. They did face painting, pie throwing, and other such games. Since I had no class, Nuria and I went to the police station to get my ID numbers so I can open a bank account. We managed to go get ID photos taken, stop by a bank to pay the fee for an ID, and go back to the bank and turn in the paperwork all within an hour and 15 min. I got a document saying my ID number, and was told I can come pick up the card in one month. We were hoping that I could open a bank account with just the document, but the bank said they can't open it without the actual ID card. So, I'll have to have my first payment go into either Nuria's or Noelia's account and have them give me the money. Once I have my card I can switch my payments to my own account.

Wed night, Noelia and I went for a long walk with her friend, Enni. I'm not sure how far we went, since Noelia's walking app didn't want to work right. It timed us, but didn't show that we moved at all. My guess would be that we went about 6 miles. It was strange for me, since we went at 9:15pm, and got back around an hour and a half later. It was odd because I'm not used to feeling safe enough to walk around that much so late at night with just girls. In St. Cloud, there is no way I'd go for a walk like that, unless I had a knife or pepper spray or something to protect myself with. It was peculiar that I felt safer here, even though it's a much more populated city than St. Cloud. It was nice weather, and it felt good to get some exercise.

 

 

Thursday went normally at school. Friday, my 2 ESO classes all had exams, so I only had to go to school for an hour and a half the whole day. Then I got to chill at home for the rest of the day.

 

Saturday I went with Noelia to bring Avril and Alex to their piano lessons and swimming classes again. We stopped by the market again and got some tasty fruits and veggies to bring home and eat.

That evening we girls went shopping and Alex and Jose stayed home. Avril got a couple new sweatshirts (super cute!) and some jeans with a pretty floral print on them. I also got a pair of jeans, since the only pants I have here are crop sweatpants and one pair of black gauchos. Considering I have to wear a cardigan with all of my teaching outfits (to cover my tattoos) and the only cardigans I have are black and gray, I needed something with color. The pants look nice, and were 35 euros (not too bad), although they come up quite high on my waist so I have to roll down the top to have them fit properly. Oh well, at least with a cardigan on you can't see that it is rolled down.

 

Later, while we were still roaming Calle Mayor, we saw a bunch of wooden games for kids to play outside, and Jose and Alex came to play with them. We met up with some of Alex's friends and their parents and we all went bowling together. I was surprised that I actually won! I haven't bowled in about 4 years. I was glad to find that the bowling shoes here are wider than the ones in the US, so I could actually wear them for once. In the US I'm always stuck just wearing socks since the shoes never fit.

 

 

Sunday we went to the mountains (Pyrenees mountains) and hiked up a trail to a lake where we had a picnic. It was about a 2 1/2 hour hike up the mountain, then we stayed at the lake for around an hour. The trip back down the mountain was much quicker, around an hour and 15 minutes. It was quite a booty workout. There were more trees like we have in MN, such as birch and pine trees. More that were changing color as well.

 

 

It was perfect weather. I also taught the kids some ASL (American Sign Language) on the hike back down the mountain, which they found rather entertaining. On the way back home we stopped at a chocolate store that is well known in the area as having the best chocolate around. I got some dark chocolate covered almonds, and Jose got chocolate covered dried pineapple pieces and orange zest pieces. Avril likes white chocolate more, so she got white chocolate pieces. It was all very good!

We stopped at Noelia's parents' house in the country again as well, to pick up more fruits and veggies for the week. Laura had made a bunch of jelly with quince again this week, as well as jarred more olives. Here are the quince jellies:

So, that's about it for now! More to come next week, and definitely a post about Halloween/Castañas (Chestnut festival)!

 





 

Weekend

Friday night I was finally feeling like a real human again, and was excited to leave the house for a little bit. We all went to a grocery store for some batteries for the wii controllers. When we got back we played a dance game on the wii. I had never done it before, but did quite well on the first song. Then I picked a reggaeton song and got a super high score. They said it looked like I had done it a loads of times before. Apparently that's my dance style ;) While we danced, the chocolate bread we made earlier was baking. Avril loves my measuring cups, and was excited to use them. The bread turned out yummy, but didn't seem to have enough sugar, so Avril and I made a sugar glaze to put on it. Then I spooned it on and she spread it out with a brush and the bread absorbed most of it, making it just sweet enough. The recipe didn't call for any salt, though, and I like a smidge with my baked goods. So whenever I had a piece I'd sprinkle on a little salt. I seemed to be the only one who liked this though.

 

 

Saturday I went with Noelia to bring the kids to their weekly activities: Alex takes swimming classes and Avril takes piano lessons. The locations of the two are near each other, so we brought Alex to swimming first, then walked to Avrils piano teacher's apartment. Then, while we waited for the activities to finish, we walked over to a market that is open Saturdays. Half of it was all booths with cloths, which were priced very cheap. The other half had fruits and veggies, so we bought some melon, clementines, mushrooms, chestnuts, cilantro, and a cherimoya. Noelia said she has never had cilantro, so I'm going to make something or other with it this week for her to try. Neither of us has ever had a cherimoya, so we will share it once it is ripe (the vender said in two or three days).

In the evening we all went to Calle Mayor, the oldest street in Lleida, which is full of shops. A few brands I recognized, but most were unfamiliar to me. On the way we walked around a park near the river and saw ducks and minnows, as well as stations for runners to stop and do strength exercises like at Curves. There was one every 100 yards or so. We crossed a bridge over the river and made our way to the shops. We stopped in a shop of ham Iberico, which is a special type of cured ham made from pigs that are fed just acorns. From everyone I've spoken to, it's amazing. I don't really have any interest in trying it, but may get some to bring back to my family at some point. It's very expensive though, so I definitely couldn't get the best of the best. One of the ones in the shop was around $100 per pound. Ridiculous. There was one that was cheaper, around $25 a pound which I could buy half a pound of and bring back with me though.

We also stopped in a museum under the town hall, briefly. It reminded me of MC Escher's "Stairs." It also had a creepy little door in the corner that reminded me of the canning room in my sister's basement. It used to be used as a prison.

Sunday we went to mass at the church in Noelia's hometown again, for a feast day of the Virgen del Pilar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_the_Pillar). All of the kids who are getting First Communion next summer had to dress up for the mass, and this included Alex. He really wasn't fond of his outfit, but I thought it looked nice. Each of the kids had to go up and say a verse about the Virgen del Pilar and put flowers on a shrine for her. Avril and another boy went up as well, even though they already had their First Communion and weren't dressed up. (That's Alex's friend Carla with him in the pic).

After church we went to a place to get drinks (non-alcoholic) with other parishioners and chat for awhile. Once we were done there we went out for lunch at a place called Portal del Pirineo. Vegetarian foods were slim pickings, but I was able to get some roasted asparagus and escalivada (toast with eggplant and red peppers, with olive oil and salt), and a banana for dessert.

Once we were done with dinner we went back to Noelia's parents' house and hung out for awhile. I mostly spent this time knitting and watching Black Knight in Spanish. During this time, there was a downpour of rain, which ended with a beautiful rainbow.
Also, here is a pic of all the tomatoes that Laura has hanging from the ceiling of their garage to eat during the winter.

Then it was time to go home. We came back and had dinner and chatted for awhile. Now I'm blogging, and will be heading to bed soon. I need to get up early for school tomorrow! Yay, I can actually go to school again! (I don't think I've said that since high school, and I was sick and falling behind in calculus.)

Monday went well... and now I'm sick.

So, Monday went great. Most of my classes were with older students, 13-16 year olds. The oldest class, 4 ESO is going to be doing a play that they wrote a script for after reading The Fall of the House of Usher last year. We started reading through the script, and I was asked to give advice on any changes that should be made. I enjoy editing, so this was fun for me.
The 1 ESO class was a little difficult to manage, since they hadn't memorized the vocab yet for their current lesson. Thankfully, my class doesn't require me to follow a syllabus or set schedule, I just need to get them to practice speaking English. So, I got them talking by asking questions about Spain. The main subject we spoke about was all of the non-Spanish flags I've seen draped everywhere. They explained that those are the flag of Cataluña, and there are two variations. One is just vertical red and yellow stripes, the other is the same with a star on top and a blue triangle. They both show support of Cataluña, however some people think that Cataluña should separate and be it's own independant country from Spain (Estelada - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estelada) and others still show Spanish pride and think it should remain part of Spain (Senyera - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senyera). They told me the main reason why some think it should be separate is that Cataluña is poorer than most of the rest of Spain and they are tired of getting taxed to help support the rest of the country. If they were only getting taxed enough to support Cataluña it wouldn't be nearly as much and they could keep more of their money. It was a good discussion, which allowed each student to say where they stand on the issue.
I also had my first "class" with the infants. Which was essentially just everyone coloring with crayons and me naming the colors in English, as well as naming some animals on cards.

Tuesday and Wednesday... not so great. I caught a cold/cough. So I spend these days home alone, catching up on TV shows I didn't really expect to watch while I am here. Very boring. I have decided that whether I feel better tomorrow or not, I'm going to school. I'm going stir crazy and really don't want to spend another day just laying around.

Weekend!

Well, Friday night too...

On Friday night we all went to el Café Teatro, a little bar with a stage for performers and an art display. Spring Riot was the band playing, and they did a bunch of covers of music in English. I mostly liked when they covered Muse as well as when they played radioactive. Jose Luis, Noelia and I all had mojitos, which were good but stronger than I'm used to.

Yesterday Jose's sister-in-law and niece and nephew came over for a few hours, and his brother came later to pick them up. After that Avril went to a friend's birthday party and the rest of us went to a Slow Food convention (http://www.slowfood.com/). It was in Balaguer, about 45 min away. They had conferences going on you could attend, as well as booths selling products. Lots of fresh fruits and veggies, nuts and jams, beers and wines.... It was awesome. It was all about unaltered, all natural foods made in traditional ways. Pretty much the opposite of fast food. Hence: Slow Food. Super tasty stuff!

Today we went to church, though it was a very short mass. It was in Castellano, rather than Catalan, and only took 20 minutes. Then the kids in the church had another 15 minute class with the priest afterwards and all the adults waited outside.

Random pic: I saw this one tree growing in the town and had an urge to take a picture. There is no dirt in the town, it is all paved over for roads and houses. Yet, this little tree had such a desire to grow, that it managed it through this tiny hole in the asphalt. Impressive, little tree.

Later we went to the house in the country again for another Sunday lunch with Noelia's family. Janet and her bf weren't there this time, but everyone else was. It was nicer out this time: lots of sun and wonderful 75ish degree weather. I got to pick a bunch of almonds from the trees and bring them home to eat. Maybe I'll make some almond milk... idk, I haven't decided yet. It depends on whether or not they have cheese cloth or something I can strain it in.
Noelia's mom said I should think of her as a mom and like Noelia as a sister while I am here, since I'm so far from my own family. She said I should never feel alone because they are here for me, my Spanish family. I'll admit, this made me tear up. Last night I had a dream that I went home for Christmas and didn't want to come back because I missed my family so much I didn't want to leave them again. Probably because I skyped with my family and Ryan last night. I actually felt ill this morning, and thought I was getting sick and told Noelia. She mentioned it to her mom and her mom said it was probably because I was holding in all my emotions. I think she was right, because after our chat and a good cry I felt a lot better. It's nice to have so much support here, as well as back home.

More classes...

Yesterday was my first day with the 4 ESO students (high school level students). I am part of the technology class, to help them learn the English words of the things they use. So, for this class I don't take them away to practice English, I get to stay in class and learn things too. It's more than just technology, though. Now they are learning about how their houses are built, so yesterday they were starting from the bottom up and learning how the foundation is made. They got to mix up some concrete and set it into wood boxes they made to set. It is made of cement, sand, pebbles/rocks and water. Then they learned about different tiles and bricks used to make the floors and walls of houses. I thought it was interesting, since they use brick partisan tiles for the interior walls and bricks for exterior walls and we usually use wood and drywall. Even their floors are made of these huge hollow bricks that fit together and are on support beams.
While the students were mixing up the concrete I got to chat with a student, who is new to this school this year and doesn't know any English. Well, besides a few song lyrics ;) She was super enthusiastic though, and really wanted to learn English from me so we could chat. Nuria said she doesn't try that hard to learn English in class and that it's just because she wants to be friends with me that she puts in so much effort with me. I believe she is 15, maybe 16, and is very petite. I keep having the urge to pick her up since she is so little, but don't worry... I restrain myself.

 

Later in the day I had class with the P3s, the 3 year olds. I can't really hold lessons at that age, it's more like daycare. So I just read stories and play with a puppet monkey "Cheekey Monkey" with the kids. This group is harder for me, since they all end up trying to grab whatever I am holding and showing them, and try to climb on me to get at it. Not really my cup of tea. Oh well, I'll get used to it eventually. I just can't imagine being their regular teacher and having to potty train a whole bunch of kids at the same time.

For all of the 3-6 EP classes I've had, we are doing an English assessment the first couple of weeks. I take two kids at a time and show them pictures that they need to describe, a pair of pictures they need to look at and describe differences, and talk a little. Then I mark down what they could and couldn't do. Once all of the kids are done I'll be turning in all the info to their English teachers. I feel bad for the kids that aren't very good at English, because they'll talk to each other and clearly know what they are supposed to do, but can't think of the words in English. They get so flustered.

Today I had class with the 4 ESO students again, and since some of them weren't in class yesterday (because they were in Latin class) I just took those kids out to a different room since they hadn't met me yet. So they got to ask questions, as well as answer questions I had. This class is nice, because I don't really need to prepare anything, I just need to get them talking. So whatever subject interests them is a good subject. It is very laid back. They seemed to like it, since when time was up and I told them we were done they groaned like they didn't want to leave. I'm not sure if that was because they liked chatting with me, or just because they didn't want to go to their other classes. Either way, I like that they like my class more than the others.

Apparently there was a mistake on my schedule, so I am supposed to come at 10 on Thursdays, not 10:30. At least I still get to sleep in.

Classes

Monday:
Most of the day we just hung out at home. Jose had to work, but Noelia, Avril, Alex and I just sat around most of the day. Noelia does cross stitching, and was teaching Avril how to do it. Then I taught both of them how to knit. Noelia picked it up super quick and says she likes it. I've converted another one ;)

 

Later we walked to a little shop a few blocks away and bought some fresh baked bread for later. We ate nearly a whole baguette while we walked, it was so warm and tasty. We walked over the Segre river and through a park before heading back home. Noelia was explaining how the economy isn't very good right now in Spain, and how it affects her work. She is an architect, but with such a poor economy nobody can afford to build anything right now. So she has been working with the company Jose works for until the economy gets better and she can work as an architect again. She said it was great from around 2000-2010, but then it was horrible. It has improved a little since then, but they expect it to take another 3 years or so before it will be good again.

Later in the evening we went to a fair. The end of the harvest led to the establishment in Lleida of a festival celebrating the city's de facto second patron saint, St Michael. So, there were rides and games and food (though not nearly as much fried food as at US fairs). We played a camel racing game, where you play against other people by rolling balls into holes worth different numbers of steps for your racing camel. It was like skeeball. I was close to winning but didn't quite make it in time. Noelia won though, and let me pick a prize. So I got Uno cards with the Frozen characters on them. Alex went on a cool bull ride where they had long padded bulls so many people can fit on them. The bulls move back and forth and turn from side to side to knock off the kids. At first he looked like it was super easy, but by the end he was falling off and clinging to the bull nearly upsidedown. Avril preferred a frog ride, that had seats in sets of three on the ends of long poles. The seats moved up and down while the ride spun in circles. It reminded me of the tarantula ride at the Benton county fair, only the seats didn't spin.

 
The rest was a normal night. We watched some tv, had dinner and went to bed.

Tuesday:
Today was my first day in the school. I went to the school at 8:15 to meet Nuria, my tutor/facilitator. She is one of the English teachers at the school, and had hosted a conversation assistant last year.
She gave me my schedule, which is rather crazy. I teach each class 1 hour per week, except the infants, which is only half an hour per week. I also teach one hour each of science and technology, since they teach these classes in English.

My first couple classes I missed, because I was getting a tour of the school and being told about how scheduling works. The first class I made it to was 6 EP 2, some students Avril's age. They were very enthusiastic and liked to ask questions. I was only in that class for around 20 minutes until the class was over. Then I had a meeting with  some of the primary teachers I'll be working with, then I had a break until lunch. It was quite a break, since the meeting ended at 11:30 and lunch didn't start until 1. The English teachers gave me workbooks for each level they teach so I can see what the kids are learning about and plan my games/activities around the subjects they're learning about, so I read through those until lunch. After lunch I had another chunk of time, as my next class wasn't until 3:30. I chatted with some other teachers in the teachers' lounge for a portion of that time. Then I went to the class, which was one of the science classes. Avril was in this class, and it was nice to see a familiar face. This class and the one that followed it were both about the bones in the body. They have some of the classes broken up into three levels, 1= the smartest, 2= average, 3= slower/need extra help. Avril is in the smart class, and the group after was the 2 class. Lastly, I went to the 3 ESO class, which is the second oldest class. They were a little more unruly, but Nuria kept them in line. Each class asked me my age, and they all were surprised that I'm 27. They all thought I was around 22.
After class was done I went outside and found Avril, Alex and Noelia and we walked home together. On the way we stopped at a shop with baby supplies to pick up a gift for a friend who just had a baby.
Now, we are chilling at home. It's kinda nice to get this blog done early today... I won't have to stay up until 2 in the morning again to finish it ;).

 

Classes are (by average age at the start of the year) in this order:
LLAR - infant
P3 - 3
P4 - 4
P5 - 5
EP 1 - 6
EP 2 - 7
EP 3 - 8
EP 4 - 9
EP 5 - 10
EP 6 - 11
ESO 1 - 12
ESO 2 - 13
ESO 3 - 14
ESO 4 - 15

So the oldest students are 15 or 16 (maybe 17) when they finish. If you look at the pic of my schedule, just ignore the letter after the numbers, it's just like the nd in 2nd or rd in 3rd... but in Catalan. Like I said before, there are some classes broken up into three, so it has some like "2 ESO 1" which means level 2 ESO, group 1. Kind of complicated; very different from the system I know in the US.