Last day in February so I thought I should write something!

The Magic Fountain in Barcelona, it's a show with lights and music...very cool!

Well hello everyone! It's been awhile since I last wrote anything so here is an update of what has happened since my last entry, in point form :

-  January was a horrible memory! I spent most of my time recovering and going to doctor's appointments. The doctor said I had Asthmatic Bronchitis??? All I can say is thank God I am back to my normal healthier self because for awhile I was thinking I had no immune system here.
- Wow! February has come and gone so fast.....things have been so much better!
-This month I finally did some more exploring in Spain. I went on a trip to Barcelona and it was an awesome time...so much too see! I also did a little shopping and had my first encounter with Catalán. Argh! I wish I would've bought that Spanish/Catalán/French/English dictionary I saw at the flea market. Well I really hope to go back to Barcelona before I leave for the summer, that's for sure:D
-Other news! This month I started teaching private lessons to two adorable kids, Kike(Enrique) 6 and Blanca 4. I didn't have any ads up or anything but I guess new travels fast in a small town and the parents got my number from someone at the school. Anyways it's going really great so far. We mostly just play games...they love "What time is it Mr.Wolf?"and my routine is that after I get paid from my lesson I go buy groceries lol. It's good money so this week I plan to make an actual ad to do a few more private lessons.
-Probably the most important news of all is that I renewed to teach next year in Zuera! I just have to send in my hardcopies and that will be that:) I am really happy that I will be coming back to work with the same people:D
-What's new at school? Well Carnaval is coming up this weekend in Spain and it's a pretty big deal so all month we have been working on our costumes. The theme is superheroes. I will be with the 5th/6th grades so we are all dressing up as Capitán Trueno (Captain Thunder). Who? A Spanish superhero from the 50's of course! And this is no joke, my shield is made out of cardboard but I still had to put it through a molding processes so that it curved like a real shield....Paco, one of the teachers, is making a hot air balloon...this is intense lol. The kids are also working on a Lady Gaga dance number they will be presenting...I will post a video of their dance practice later, right now it is taking forever to load and I gotta go to bed!
Ok well take care all my loved ones xoxo

La Sagrada Familia, a giant gothic cathedral designed by Antoni Gaudí.

Olympic Stadium in Barcelona situated on Montjuïc.

Capitán Trueno

Happy New Year!

Anita at The Nativity Scene in La Plaza del Pilar in Zaragoza

Well I went back to work on January 10th but all the professors gave me the day off and they gave me Wednesday off as well. Incredible! In all of December and up until today I’ve worked a total of 9 days, that’s 36 days of vacation...crazy. No wonder my routine is off! Anyways it’s great to be back at work! This week has been nothing but coffee and welcome back kisses....an A+ transition back to work if you ask me. Everyone seems to be in good spirits and to top it off we are all enjoying the clean air at the coffee bar across the street. Congratulations Spain on prohibiting smoking in public places! It makes life so much better...especially if you are recovering from a cold. I hate being sick but I have to be grateful that it hasn’t interfered with work. I also have to be really really grateful that I got sick after vacationing with my sister Anita and not during. I am so happy she came to visit me for the holidays. We had fun traveling with unforgettable memories like touching down in Paris to mounds of snow and slush, almost missing our flight to Milan, and witnessing a purse snatching attempt in Rome. Fun times lol! An enjoyable experience sightseeing with those “This is so beautiful!” full of awe moments and of course not everything lived up to our expectations so we had those “This is so ghetto!” awful moments too. It’s exhilarating to see something you’ve only ever seen in movies or in books, in real life. Well after touring the sights of Paris and Milan Anita and I made it to Rome to celebrate Christmas which of course had a different feel. We found the only restaurant open and ate some not so spectacular pasta for our Christmas dinner. At first we were two of a handful of people in the restaurant but then a Christmas party came in and filled the place. Someone started playing or I should say “attempted” to play some Christmas carols which included a bad rendition of “Silent Night” but it still made it more Christmasy than nothing at all. As time went on the music just got better and better (sarcasm alert) and soon we were listening to “When the moon hits your eye. Like a big-a pizza pie. That’s amore”. Too funny and cliché...If only we had left a little earlier we wouldn’t of got that cheesy song stuck in our heads. Well the whole time we were in Italy it seemed we had two goals. Find a place to wash our clothes and learn some Italian so we did learn “Where is the laundromat?” and not much more lol. Oh wait...we learned Exit to the left and Exit to the right as well, after our many trips on the metro. Anyways cheap lodging was getting too expensive so we decided to head back to Spain a little earlier. A good decision because we got to celebrate New Years (my Birthday) in La Puerta del Sol in Madrid. It was fun to experience a Spanish New Years. I even had my 12 grapes in hand to bring in the New Year but honestly I didn’t hear the bells chime so I just ate them all at once...it’s a tradition to eat grapes as the bells chime and it’s suppose to bring you good luck in the coming year....so I hope it worked. Anyways our trip inevitably came to an end and I had to say goodbye to my favorite sister. I was sad to see her go and it made me homesick which lasted a little longer than I thought it would....but now I am feeling better. Things are back to normal, I am 90% recovered from my cold and the weather has been incredibly warm lately...so I am feeling very comfortable here in Spain. What can I say? God is good!

Sightseeing in Paris!

Le Louvre in Paris

New Years in Madrid!

Il Duomo in Milan

Il Colosseo in Rome 

December in Zuera

Calle Alfonso in Zaragoza. I was buying some postcards and I just had to take a pic because the sky was so blue that evening.

December means hardly any work. Right now I am enjoying 6 days off. I shouldn't say hardly any work I still have a ton of Christmas presentations to prepare but I'm not going to think of that right now. Well anyways I had originally planned on going on a little road trip to the north this weekend but the weather conditions were not favorable. I was a little disappointed not to go because I am getting a slow start at exploring more of Spain but I guess it's better to be safe than sorry. Unlike Canada people in Spain are not prepared for driving in snowy conditions so it's much more dangerous then you think. So on friday I had supper with a student and her family. They're from the Ukraine and so we had talked about Ukrainian food the week before. I told them that it's very popular in Canada especially in Saskatchewan. So I was so surprised to find out they made perogies for me. It really made my day because you can't buy perogies here. Plus they were homemade so they were so much more better. We had a really good visit and the food of course was amazing. With all this time off I've been thinking of what to do but in the end I think it's best I save my money for when my sister comes. On Saturday I went to go watch a movie...good enough for me, cheap entertainment. Well this time I went to see a Spanish movie from Spain. It was great...it was sort of serious at times and then too cheesy at times, we just had to laugh. Oh yeah and the movie was definitely funded some way by Coca-cola because there were like mini commercials within the movie...hahaha. Anyways I had fun! I am really glad Zaragoza is not to far away because sometimes it's great to get of the town and be in the city. I'll probably go to the city tomorrow to do a little more Christmas shopping. I am making Christmas cookies for people but I am still lacking some ingredients and need to start this project soon because Christmas is almost here! Also I have invited my friend to come visit my town tomorrow so I am going to meet her in the city and bring her to Zuera. There is not much to show her here but I am sure she won't care. Now that I am writing I am starting to realize I have a lot of preparations to do this month. I have all this Christmas stuff to do and I need to get a little organized for when my sister Anita comes and that is just 8 days away! Yay! I am very excited for her to come because we are going to do a little traveling and I am starting to miss my family a little bit. The plan is to go to France and Italy but right now France is a little up in the air for me because I am not having any success with getting any extra days off from work. I am really hoping for a Christmas miracle.

These people are some of
the reasons why I love my job!

This is me putting out a fire for a fire drill at school!

Well if you didn't know, I am planning on staying another year in Spain. The thought of leaving work in May is too sad. I work with really great people and that makes going to work fun. 

The picture on the left is a typical Thursday we all eat together and then everyone pulls out their paper and pencils to play the fútbol lottery. Spanish people are crazy for the lottery, especially at Christmas time. So I eased everyone's mind when I told them I would buy a ticket. We have a blast together and lately they have been interested in learning the English pronunciation of names of famous actors...so hilarious. The picture on the right is of a fire drill at school. I had a bunch of fans in the background chanting my name lol. It was sort of an unusual drill. The fire alarm rang and the kids all panicked and ran to the door. The teacher was telling them they would've all been burned had it been a real fire. She told them to all line up in single file so they did but they still all ran, just in single file. Then they all had to line up outside and count kids, no name roll. All I can say is I just hope there is never a real fire because no one counted me:( Oh well at least now I know how to use an extinguisher. 

Okay well times up it's late again and I have a busy day tomorrow! Goodnight everyone:)

Finally some time to write!

My house

Hello again! Well finally I have time to write another entry and watch a little T.V too, which I never do but wish I did more of because it's great for improving Spanish. Anyways since I've moved into my new place I've been very busy and my sleeping pattern is really out of whack. I feel like a cat napping here and there no longer than 4-5 hours in a row. Thursday is my long day, full of classes. So to push on through these days on limited sleep I have resorted to drinking a few café cortados to boost my alertness but today I don't think it worked. I had an off day today. I made it to work just on time instead of the usual early arrival. Then I got to class, started hooking up my computer to show the kids a powerpoint presentation and realized I left my screen cord at home. Argh! So I quickly went home to go get it. Thank goodness I live in Zuera and thank goodness I work with an awesome tutor who is very easygoing. Anyways I got back and started the presentation which ended up being too hard to see because the room was so bright. To top it all off my computer was also trying to finish installing something and this kept interrupting my presentation. All I can say is I am grateful there are two of us! I was just about to destroy my computer while Silvia my tutor was trying to deal with a very disruptive boy. Oh well it happens, you have a class where everything is prepared for perfection and then in the end your left wondering, "What just happened?"At least half of my classes went well today but again my last class in the primary school seemed to be another repeat of my first class minus the technical difficulties. It was like it was bad behavior day. For example you are teaching them a simple Go fish! game using food and everything is going good. Then all of a sudden you are in the midst of a battle and everyone's accusing each other of cheating. Ah! Stop cheating!!! Oh wait they don't understand the word cheat lol. Well what can you expect kids are kids, some days they are angels and other days I am not sure if they are human lol.

The kids at Odón de Buen getting seconds. This is also the room where I eat lunch. 

On a good note my day ended well at school I was invited to celebrate Odón de Buen's (founder and name of school) birthday with my grade 6 class and their grade 1 care partners. We made crafts and everyone got chocolates, muffins and juice. Then we sang the traditional Odón de Buen song. After hearing everyone sing I know there is something special at this school like simplicity, uniqueness and togetherness. Wish I could stay and work here next year! Let's see what happens! 

Sports Complex in Zuera

So anyways after all was done at the school I quickly went home to get ready to go meet my new gym buddies at the indoor pool. They both live out of town so we just do a gym day together on Tuesdays and a swim day on Thursdays. This was my first swim day! and I thought I was a pretty good swimmer but they definitely out swam me. There were a lot of lessons going on at the pool and I couldn't help but watch some 5 and 6 year olds beside me jumping into the deep end. They looked too small for the deep end. After a while they're teacher got them doing some lanes, they were putting their heads in the water and breathing to the side. Too me they looked way more advanced for their age. I guess it's normal, most people here start swimming when they are babies. Isabel told me she started when she was 2 years old...so I guess I will have to keep practicing to catch up! Anyways I had fun and it was nice to be back in the water doing lanes. 

Zucchini Loaves

Later when I got home from swimming I was hungry except I didn't have any food so I made a trip to the store. I am thinking I should try to be a little more adventurous in the grocery store next time because I am noticing that I am buying more or less the same things every week. Yes the food here is different from what I am used to and I have had a few bad experiences so sometimes I rely on familiar foods or brands. Well I had to do a little hunting but I finally found some essential baking supplies and my next project is either carrot cake or bread. I actually got motivated to bake a few things after I tasted my friend Paige's Zucchini loaf. She made it for her tutor and while we were over at her tutors house one day having coffee I tasted some and all I can say is Yum! So of course I had to copy and make it. I ended up bringing most of it to school for my professors and they loved it! Very tasty stuff, it went right away. Spanish people normally don't do very much baking(the oven is used more as a storage space) so they were impressed and also interested in the fact that there was Zucchini in it because they aren't familiar with vegetables in desserts. Anyways I could see a few people weren't sure about it so they tried a sliver and then right away realized it was good. Ok I better head to bed now it's late here! Oh I forgot to say.... I am so happy my sister Anita is coming to visit me for the christmas holidays. I am very excited! We are going to do a little travelling but I will say more in my next entry. Goodnight!

I am finally writing a blog!

Hello! It's Sunday October 31st Halloween and I am finally taking some time to write a blog. I can't believe I've been living in Spain for a month already! Time flies when you havin fun...but today I am sick with a cold...again:( All together I've been healthy for about 2 of the 4 weeks I've been here. I usually don't get colds this often so I am guessing it's probably from all the packs of cigarettes I've been smoking. Hahaha...just kidding but seriously I am inhaling a lot of second hand smoke here!!! Anyways I think they are going to prohibit smoking in public places in the near future GOOD! but for now every section is the smoking section...eww. Other than that I love Spain! At first I was a little unsettled because I was still living in a hostel until about a week ago but now I found a home:) I am renting a room from a lovely Romanian family. They've only been in Spain for 3 years so the Mom (Ana) and Dad (Fane) are still working on their Spanish but luckily their daughter Susana speaks perfect Spanish and so she is always correcting our mistakes:)...and I am helping her with her English, which is surprisingly very good. I am also picking up a few Romanian words here and there so it looks like I will come home speaking a little Romanian too lol...it's fun, we all laugh when I say something in Romanian or when they say something in English:) Anyways I like where I live and the location is great. It takes me 10 mins to walk to work. I work in 3 different schools but they are all very close together. My schedule right now is 4 hours in the primary school and 8 hours in the secondary schools. I really don't work very much so now that I have a home I plan to do a little advertising for private English lessons on the side to up my work hours...but not too much because I want to do some traveling while I'm here. Anyways I never thought I would like teaching so much! I am already hoping (fingers crossed) to stay on another year.  What can I say? I work with really great people and the students for the most part are great too! (except their English lol)...and I like coming up with new things to do in class:) Well I will try my best to keep this blog updated...but for now Buenas noches! or in Romanian Noapte Buna!

Happy Halloween too!