Bored

Sometimes inspirational or good titles don´t come to me, and frankly I´m writing a blog post because I´m bored and have nothing to do during my 2 hour break here at the elementary school. It sucks that I am here from 9am-2pm but only work 3 hours. Since it is a town away from Cartagena, I can´t go back during my 2 hour break. So I surf the web, make lesson plans, plan trips, and day dream basically. All the kids here have exams this week, so that´s what we´ve been doing in class. It´s interesting to see the wide variety of levels in the English language here, a lot of the Moroccan students are still learning Spanish. I think there is some obvious discrimination against those kids, because of their origin. Both from the students, and I have seen some subtle actions from the teachers. I´ve talked with the other auxiliar about it and a couple of the teachers. Why do us brown people always get the short end of the stick? Really, where did darker skin become the "bad" and white or lighter skin become the "good" or "superior"?  In the majority of countries and cultures world wide, society always seems to follow this. Does it have to do with the general idea of lightness associated with heaven and darkness associated with hell? Daylight is nice but nighttime is scary?? I don´t have answers, i´m just writing thoughts. Even if two people are "pure" whatever, Spanish, Thai, Moroccan, etc. the child who comes out lighter skinned with lighter hair, is preferred or praised more often than the child who is not. It seems to be in only some parts of the United States and other countries where tanning or tanned bodies is desired. But even still, a tanned body is different than a naturally brown body. In the Spanish language, i´m a morena, which I know is just whatever, and is common, but it literally means brown girl. Or when they say el negro/la negra, it´s weird! It´s one of those cultural differences, or more linguistic differences that has taken me more time to get use to. Maybe it´s the fact that I am directly referred to as la morena? Because it doesn´t bother me when people say eres morena, but more when they use it as my name. I have a name, bruh. Should I take it as a compliment? I don´t know! Or if people would say la chica negra instead of just la negra. I should re-take linguistics.

That was a long paragraph. All in all, I understand the differences. But these are things that have crossed my mind more than a couple times.

Finding a flight from Madrid to Morocco has been more difficult than we thought, they´re pricey, probably because it´s only one way. Not sure what we´ll end up doing. Berlin is coming up, 2 weeks-ish, and it´s going to be COLD. As in, below freezing cold...pertty sure I´m going to die. I can´t find it in me to buy a new jacket just for that, plus how would I fit it in my suitcase on my way back to the states. Might go snowboarding en La Sierra near Granada, if it´s affordable.

The english language...why do we have two ¨f¨s in affordable if we only pronounce one? Or two ¨r¨´s in preferred if we only pronounce one?!

I´m looking on Pinterest for recipes, I looked up ¨Thai peanut sauce¨ then realized my mom is Thai....so I just emailed her. I need to learn more recipes. I don´t know how she does it, goes to work all day then comes to cook the best meals ever at home, incredible.

I guess bringing towels to the gym here in Spain, or in Europe in general is a norm, and a requirment. So when the guy came up to my sweaty self asking where my towel was, pretty embarassing. I didn´t know! Definitely went home shortly after that. It´s a nice gym though, with good classes.

I found a good website for printable coloring pages for a variety of subjects from the alphabet to holidays to music, better for younger kids. The website is twistynoodle.com 

Smiles

I'm sitting here at the elementary school where I work, and in the office I sit directly facing the open door where students constantly walk by. Whenever a student of mine sees me, they put on this huge smile and wave either saying "hello teacher" or "hola maestra". One of my first graders just passed by and did this while entering his classroom. Those smiles you can tell are so natural, and it's impossible for them to not smile, because they're so innocent and happy and un-corrupted by the world. And in response I can't stop smiling when their cute little chubby faces are grinning back at me. You can see the happiness in their eyes!!!! As cheesy as it is, that smile finally inspired me to write a post.

I still prefer teaching older students.

After traveling for 2 1/2 weeks I was exhausted. So now I'm very excited to just hang out in Cartagena, work, eat, and relax, and workout since I joined that new Vivagym that everyone is raving about. Talk about first world problems huh? Too much traveling, oh no! Poor me...but it IS exhausting.

Traveling with my family was amazing, a privileged experience, and of course, frustrating. I think we can all relate to family time as great and sometimes unbearable at times. I was so happy to be with them. Christmas day, just staying inside and watching movies with my brothers was exactly what I needed. Makes me think about when're we're ALL grown up and have our REAL own lives, how many times will we be able to hang out for an entire day together watching movies and eating chocolate...we spent Christmas in Paris and New Years in Madrid. Partying with Watson was at first extremely weird and uncomfortable, for the both of us, but after the first time we got used to it. Wyatt enjoyed the parks and outdoorsy stuff, my parents enjoyed the museums, historical sites, food and drink.

When I finally came back to Cartagena, it was sunny and warm, made me really appreciate where I live. I am not built for the cold.

One of my roommates will be leaving us soon, she's only here for a semester. That'll be sad, and to think about who will replace her?! We went out to tapas last night, always fun, and filling. Cartagena is one of those small cities, or towns, where you almost always run into someone you know. My official favorite tapas place is Maricastaña.  DELICIOUS! About food and eating...usually I bring a lunch to school, and eat it around noon. Because normally, I am hungry at this hour and don't have any other time to eat because I'm either running to the bus, on my way to a tutor class, or working. You can't imagine the looks I get. Eating at any other time besides 2-5pm is ridiculous. Always always always I get weird looks from other teachers and they ask me "You're eating?" What do I say to that question? "Yes, i'm eating"...and they always continue with "You're eating at this hour?" And on and on.  Some people don't ask and just look at me. I like to think they're just jealous and hungry. Sorry, but I'm going to eat when I'm hungry.

My next planned trip is to Berlin. SO EXCITED! I looked up a bunch of things to do there, and there is a ton of stuff, luckily we'll be going for 4 nights, and have 3 full days to be there and do stuff. Semana Santa I'll be going to Morocco, also super excited. Ready to see something different! I wonder if I 'll ever be able to "settle down" in a place for a long time, eventually I will have to. Being a teacher, at least I get 2 months to travel in between.

I have started looking for jobs back in California, for the summer and academic year. A lot harder than I expected. But it puts my mind out there in California. Now I'm starting to plan my summer, my life there. Which is weird, being that I'm still living here. I thought I was going to do a second year, but when the time actually came to it, I didn't. There is still the option, but I'm not going to. I don't think I would make as much money as I am right now, since I have two jobs plus extra tutoring hours. I want to get my credential in the process too, so i'm not screwed with health insurance in two years. Definitely drift into jobs that are abroad though, when I'm searching online for jobs. Somehow I always end up on those sites. I've found some great programs! But it'll have to wait a bit. All the jobs I've been looking at require more education than I have, as in a credential or 5 years or more teaching experience. Still young though.

I always have all these thoughts to write about but when the time actually comes I can't remember them all. Just made a super long presentation/class about Thailand, can't wait to show it to my classes!!!

Guns are Illegal in Spain

One of the people I give conversation lessons to, is an older man, a friend of one of my teachers. While speaking and getting to know each other a bit, he was telling me his travels which he did when he was about my age. He told me of an incident that happened while he was in California. He had just taken out a chunk of money out of ATM for his stay in the United States, middle of the day. Then all of a sudden two guys came up to him and held him at gun point, demanding him to empty his pockets. Thankfully, a cop drove by and the two guys scattered. Listening to him tell the story and how surprised he was that it was even a possibility to be held up at gun point on the streets, made me realize some cultural differences. Here, I feel more safe than I do in my hometown, usually I should say. I wondered why walking down the streets people feel safe and without worry. (Apart from if you are an obvious tourist in Madrid or Barcelona, then keep an eye out for pickpockets) When he told me he was so surprised because guns here are illegal, it made sense. Policemen can't even carry guns when off duty, they have to leave all firearms in the police station before going home. Makes me think about back home. People here are generally a lot less hostile and aggressive. Which brings me to another thing.

Today I did my class on Thanksgiving to my older students in high school. All the teachers have told me from day 1 that I have the "good" groups. Today I was able to experience the other groups, the "bad" groups. I don't really like labeling students like that, because I feel it's my responsibility as the teacher to make them all "good" students. Plus, a student may be good in one subject and bad in another. Also, school is so specifically structured already it's obvious it doesn't meet the needs of everyone. It was obvious the class was louder, and less "well behaved". In the end though, they just wanted to talk. Literally, they yelled over each other to try and be the one heard. The first thing they asked me is if I was China. Another opportunity to explain the difference!  There are lots of students with Moroccan origins. We went over all the material that I wanted, and had everyone participate saying "I am thankful for..." So it wasn't bad, and I really wanted to work with them. I like working with the students who really need help and extra work and attention. 

This summer I spoke with the dad of a friend who works at Oakland High School teaching chemistry. He's a big italian man, and says that the kids there are not afraid to fight you. Imagine with a big guy like him? And with me? I better learn more self defense! Not to mention, in high school I remember kids bringing weapons to school, mostly knifes, but guns on a couple occasions. So to think about how here the "bad" kids are just the groups that don't listen and like to talk, it's not so bad. I want to teach in Oakland. 

Travel updates. Went to Granada, for two nights, which was not enough, will probably go back in May if money allows it. But it was amazing, extremely cold, but I loved the mountains, the people, the (free) food/tapas, and overall environment of the city. This weekend is a "puente" weekend, literally meaning a "bridge" weekend, it is what they call extended weekends. I'll go to Sevilla with a couple of people for 3 nights, should be nice traveling in a smaller group. We were a small group in Granada too. Still have to look up exactly all the amazing things to do in Sevilla, besides have a cup of cafe con leche at one of the local cafes. It is apparently filled with free flamenco shows on the streets.

We celebrated Thanksgiving last Saturday! With a real turkey! Can't remember the last time I actually ate turkey on Thanksgiving, we usually just do chicken. After doing a million presentations about the history and present Thanksgiving (with lots of photos of food), I was ready to eat some cranberry sauce and cornbread. Unfortunately, we couldn't find corn meal. So no corn bread.  My good friend Rio came down from Madrid for the weekend! So that was a nice piece of home. Although it rained most of the weekend, we still had fun.

2 more weeks until REAL break!!! And I get to see my parents and little brobros!!!!!!!!

News about Thailand politics just came on the T.V. of the cafe I'm in. Talk about coincidence. 

Second Year

I've been writing in my blog a lot more often than I thought I would be. Especially since the last time I was in Spain it was a lot less frequent. Don't know what's changed! A big difference is I don't put photos on here anymore, that's what Facebook is for I suppose. Plus it takes forever to load on here.

As much of a pain it was to figure out the application process, the visa requirements, and having to wait for payment, I've decided I'm going to apply for a second year here in Spain. So 2013-2014. It's far away, but I figured I might as well apply to have it as a back-up plan, in case I can't find a perfect job in California or if I just end up wanting to go back to Europe. The application is free, and super easy, so why not!? I have lots of time to decide if I actually will do it or not. Also, depends on where they'll place me.

But then I think about all the real-world things I should do. All the "grown-up" things. Get my masters and teaching credential, a sustainable job, place to live, etc. But that's hard to picture right now. But who knows, we change so randomly so in June it could be completely different.

Just planned a trip to Granada, one of my main travel points this year. SO I'M EXCITED!!! We also have a 4 day weekend coming up the beginning of December, I was thinking Berlin, but the tickets are pretty expensive. I must go to Berlin though at some point, for the art, mostly. If not Berlin that weekend then probably the north of Spain, Galicia or Basque country (Bilbao). It's hard to decide between traveling all of Spain or smaller, shorter, trips around cities in Europe. First world problems.

Got kicked in the face by one of my kids today, but he's so cute I was only mad for a second, then he kissed it to make it better. For a second though I was super mad, he did it on purpose because he's taking tae-cuan-do. So I guess I'm his practice punching bag.  Picked up another private lesson, this will be the last one.

Another reason why I've been writing so many posts is because generally, they're pretty short.

Ultimate Frisbee

I usually get the urge to write while I'm walking, which sucks, because writing and walking is really difficult, I would imagine. Today is the day I actually get a break where I can rest at home for a couple hours. I go to work from 8am-11am in La Union which is about 30 minutes away. Today I worked in the physical education class, which is my favorite and of course the students favorite class as well. I was in charge of explaining ultimate frisbee, which is really popular in California, can't speak for other states. It was interesting to see the students having to play with their hands and upper body as oppose to their feet and lower body. Some caught on quick. They usually play frisbee on the beach in between two people, but never competitively on teams. It's a sport more welcoming to boys and girls together.

Anyway, I knew a lot more about the rules/how to play than I thought I did. Thanks to my little brothers that are fanatics about not only soccer, but ultimate frisbee too. It was super fun watching the kids play, very exciting, and a nice change of rhythm from soccer. Which they always want to play.

I also gave oral exams to the level two classes. In addition to getting a sense of what level each student is at, I was able to learn more about each student. Their family, their background, their interests. I think this one on one interaction is crucial in learning a second language. I thought back to when I was sitting in Russel Gaskell's office my first years of college answering similar questions for an oral exam in Spanish, and how nervous I was. Interesting that now I am in the opposite position, the one asking the questions and observing the students.

The weeks go by fast, especially since I have Mondays off so I don't start until Tuesday. Before I know it it's Friday already! Unfortunately I have work all day on Fridays. Next vacation is the beginning of December, debating between Granada or Berlin. Not sure. We shall see.

Getting into the Rhythm

The internet is down at one of my schools, and I have a two hour break in which I usually surf the web and do all the things I need to get done. But since  it’s down, I’m just writing a blog entry on Word which I’ll transfer later online. 

I’m beginning to get into the rhythm of my new schedule/life here in Cartagena. The mornings are not as difficult, the days are not as long, and work goes more smoothly. Plus I have much more energy than the past weeks!  Last night it thunder stormed, like nothing I’ve ever seen before. The lightening didn’t stop all night, and I saw actual rays of lightening! It was actually beautiful, and a bit scary. I began thinking about the possibility of me getting struck my lightening…

The mom of the two boys I love working with gave me some homemade chocolate chip muffins last night, another reason to love her family! Last Friday I went to a photography exhibition with another family I work with, it was all about Thailand. Not what I was expecting in the end (landscapes, scenery) because it was focused on Muy Thai, Buddhism, and Tattoos, and how they are connected. There was also a photo of a tiger, I wasn’t impressed. But still fun to go and be in that environment! Today is the birthday of one of the girls I work with, so I’ll buy her a couple of small little presents.

Just got back from Almeria which is in the southern region of Spain in Andalucía. We stayed with a friend of my roommate who’s flat was right on the beach, amazing, he was a great host. After a day/night of shenanigans we drove our rental car back to Cartagena the next night.  This weekend we’re off to Valencia, since we have Friday off for Dia de Los Santos. This holiday is in my opinion similar to Dia de los Muertos because it’s a day of celebrating the dead. Here, families go to cemeteries with gorgeous bouquets of flowers, I have seen many for sale on the streets.  I wonder why in the United States we don’t have a day like this? Seems that in our culture we don’t like to think or remember the dead because it is a sad topic rather than cherished/nostalgic topic. In Thailand we have alters with photos of the dead, which we place candles, food, water, or incense on.

Right now I am planning trips for me and my family in December/January. Plus this trip for Valencia, which all at the same time is stressful. But I feel ridiculous complaining about how stressful it is to be planning amazing trips that I’m luck to be going on!  So, that’s all the complaining I will do.

HALLOWEEN! Is tomorrow. I’ve been doing mascaras (masks) with the first and second graders I teach, they love it. Sometimes (as loud and wild as they can be) it’s nice to have such an enthusiastic and excited audience for a class! In comparison to high school students, who don’t care or pretend they don’t care because it’s the thing to do at that age. But all my students are great. Although it’s not really celebrated here. If you dress up, it must be something scary. Halloween here is all about scariness. Carnival which is in February/March is more about dressing up however you want.  Maybe I’ll go to Venice for that, we’ll see.

New Home

One of the best and reassuring feelings of your new/temporary home is when you come back from a trip, and upon reaching your new home after a weekend away or even a day away, hitting your bed in your new room gives you a feeling of "i'm home". It doesn't matter if Cartagena has only been my home for a week or a month or a year, that feeling reassures that this is where I'm suppose to be. My new bed, room, piso, it feels right. 

Homesickness from my experience comes in waves. Some days you wake up excited and ready to take the day on, other days you want to hide in your room reminiscing over memories that seem forever ago.  I wonder if my brother is experiencing homesickness being away at college, but he'll be home in a month for Thanksgiving. Anyway,

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change." -Charles Darwin

I tried remembering that quote last night, got most of it. CHANGE, who can't get used to such an inevitable thing? I think it's better said that some cope with it better than others, yet we are all constantly changing as are our surroundings and the world as a whole. Keeps life interesting. 

I've been trying to make time to write in my personal journal, but it's difficult if you don't have the urge to. Just have to wait for that push. Life has been busy, still trying to get into a routine here. In order for a new home to feel like a new home, you must get involved. Jobs and school are great, but something more. Sports, clubs, hobbies. Easier said than done huh. It's so easy to just lay around. Tonight and every Monday night there will be free salsa classes, which I definitely will go to. Planning to join a gym, or at least a boxing class. Because here unfortunately, you can't join a gym with classes included. So I think I will just do the classes. But the people working the front desk of the gym don't really pay attention, so I think I could just walk in. Either that or use the gym before/after the boxing class. I though of taking up Zumba again, but I figured all the walking i'm doing is enough plus the dancing on the weekends. Because unlike Arcata/Humboldt County, dance clubs are not a difficult thing to find here in Spain.

I need to start cooking again as well. As stereotypical as it is for a woman to cook, for me it's kind of rewarding and meditative. It's exciting! Especially since you get to eat it afterwards! I have Pinterest pulled up right now. It's difficult though, coming back from 12 hour days and thinking about cooking. Especially when there's so many delicious tapas floating around every corner. One day after work I stopped at a place that looked good and sat drank a caña and ate some tapas. Walking home was beautiful because the entire sky was pink from the sunset and the people were going about their lives, kids playing in the streets, old couples enjoying an evening walk. People live for the night in this country. 9pm bedtime? Forget it.

I must admit I've gotten subtle feelings of homesickness. Mostly thinking about the length of time I'll be here for, which is crazy. Although, I know it'll go by fast and before I know it I'll be on that plane back to the U.S. probably crying because I won't want to leave! It's also nice knowing I have 8 months to travel and live, so there is no rush to do everything all at once. Already went to visit a small pueblo near here called Mazarron, next weekend possibly Almeria in Andalucia, and the next weekend Valencia! So actually I am traveling a bit...but afterwards I will not so I can save money and enjoy the city I'm living in!