For Kali or Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

Since I apparently have not posted in awhile, here's the skinny:

Well, we got through another major holiday with the kiddos. I guess two major holidays if you count Veterans Day, but anyway. We had our little Thanksgiving program and the kids were incredibly cute with some dressed as pilgrims, some as Native Americans (Indians come from India) and some dressed as turkeys. Definitely a photo opportunity.

So that was a great success and now we've begun to prepare for the holiday extravaganza that is Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Eid al Something or other/Saint Lucia Day/ Anything else we can think of. Yes, indeed, we will be discussing and making some sort of art and craft with each and every one of these holidays. And there will be singing and snowmen and snowflakes and Santas galore. We've already had the Santa conversation because one of the kids has been telling all the other kids that Santa isn't real. A few of the kids quickly became panicked when they heard this and came running up to me. "Miss Beck, Miss Beck, is it true? Is Santa Claus real?" I just told them, "Well, Santa Claus comes to my house. Everyone has a different opinion and not everyone has Santa Claus, but he comes to visit me!" What else could I say? I couldn't squash their five-year-old hopes and dreams! So after being reassured, they all responded with a proud "me too! He comes to visit me too!" So take that, you unbelieving five-year-old.

I do have a life outside of work, I promise. Well, at least I think I do. Oh, I just thought of a story I could tell you about a fifth grader that I'm having to cut from our Odyssey of the Mind team, but that would be work/school-related and I'll restrain myself. So in other news, I got a new phone that I'm not entirely sure how to use. I went to the mall yesterday and remembered why every year I tell myself I'm going to buy everyone's Christmas gift in July. Too bad I never remember that when it actually is July.

Woo, ok, maybe I don't have a life outside of work. Two and a half weeks more of school then I can do something else for a few weeks. Like sleep past 5:45 in the morning on a weekday.

If it was socially acceptable, I would go to bed at 8:00.

Kids are walking germ factories. I think I have been sick in some way or another since the school year began and today is no exception. I finally went to the doctor this afternoon and got some medicine so I should be on the mend soon and I can't wait. It will be awesome not to carry kleenex around in pocket at all times.

So, in case you didn't know, holidays with kindergartners are fun. We celebrated our first one, Halloween, with a class party complete with costumes, cupcakes, and head injuries. Yes, one of our kids got a minor concussion on Halloween because, darn it, those princess shoes are slippery on that gym floor. But no worries, she is good as new and back at school learning important things, like Indians come from India and Native Americans did in fact wear clothes. My, the things we talk about. So now that Halloween is over, we're moving on to the next big event: Thanksgiving. And we've already started with the arts and crafts. We sure do make a lot of stuff in Kindergarten. For example, for Halloween, we made bats, bat hats, ghosts, witches, pumpkins, two kinds of jack-0-lanterns, two kinds of skeletons and who knows what else. So I can't wait to see what we'll do this month. Today we made scarecrows and we're starting our turkey invitations for the little Thanksgiving program we're going to have. I feel sorry for the parents who have to decide what to do with all the arts and crafts we send the kids home with. What goes on the fridge and what do you put away for a bit so that they'll forget about it and then you can sneak it into the trash? A parent's dilemma.

In other news, I had a good weekend. My friend Lindsey took me out Sunday and we went to the modern art museum and took the tour in Spanish. Oh, it made my heart happy to hear Spanish. Te echo de menos Espana! And then we found the closest replicas of cafe con leche and a napolitano this side of the Atlantic which made our day. I've really been missing Spain lately. I think it's with all the cold weather and I've been wearing some of the stuff I wore when in Madrid, that it's really made me miss it. I miss walking down the streets and seeing other people out and about too. I miss getting warm in a cafe. I miss speaking Spanish everyday and hearing it spoken. I miss having only 7 shirts and not really caring about it. I miss wearing scarves.

Well, in honor of election day, I'll leave you with this comment overheard today in class:
Teacher: Does anyone know who Uncle Sam is?
Kid: Yes. He's that old man that wants your money.

I'm gonna shake, shake, shake my sillies out.

I made a kid cry today. Well he deserved it. He was being crazy all day AND had an attitude about it so I had to write a little note in his folder. He didn't get his smiley face for the day so he cried. But the great thing about 5-year-olds is that you can get on to them in one minute and then tell them to give you a hug the next minute. And they actually do it! They will give you a hug no matter what. Unconditional love. It's the greatest. Those are the things that make my job bearable.

It's fun because now I'm starting to learn all of their personalities and believe me, no two 5-year-olds are alike. I had always just grouped them in the "small-ish children" category but they're pretty cool. They're growing on me at least. Well, everyone except the bad ones.

One little girl came up to me today and said this:
"Excuse me. I have a booger."
I said, "All righty."



I went to Lubbock this weekend and had a great time. It made me miss college life. Although I felt deeply relieved when my friends still in school had to actually crack a book and study while I found something else to do. Being out of school for over a year, it is getting harder to imagine actually having to go to class or write a paper. If I ever go back for grad school, it will definitely be an adjustment. Oh, but let's not think about that today.

Attack of the Spider Monkeys

So, things are going ok. The kids are great and we're all starting to get the hang of things. I even had the kids all by myself one day and we all survived unharmed, so I count that as success. We even had our first fire drill and only no one screamed and only 2 kids cried. So also a success. We're going on our first field trip next week so that should be pretty interesting. I think we'll have about 15 parents chaperoning as well which makes me more nervous instead of less nervous. This one mom told me that it was just too far to send her baby by herself so she has to go too. Lady, we are going to Dallas. But whatever.

Here's something that happened the other day...

Kingergarten Boy: Ms. Beck, do you know that the world is going to end tomorrow?
Me: I think tomorrow it will just be Wednesday.
KB: No, there will be an attack of spider monkeys tomorrow.
Me: Well, are you prepared?
KB: Oh yes. I always have God's sword. (Begins to make slashing sword motions with his hands.)
Me: Oh, that's nice.


Maybe I shouldn't encourage them, but it's just so funny.

Please Sit On Your Bottom

Today was picture day. Even though our kids wear uniforms, it was still fun to see them with their hair fixed and clothes clean anticipating picture day. I loved watching them sit on the little stool and smile their little smiles. If only they were this cute all the time. And I had my picture made too. It's weird to think that I will be immortalized in some kid's yearbook for all of time now. I know I have looked back at my old yearbooks and it's crazy to think that I'll be in someone's yearbook. And I'll be one of the big pictures too. Maybe even under the heading "Faculty". Weird.

This week there have been good days and bad days. It seems like when one kid is acting crazy, all of them decide to act crazy. Like stand on the toilet seat and sing or all start repeating the same words over and over and over. These two kids today were just sitting at their table practicing writing their names and saying "he's weird, he's weird, he's weird" again and again. Why? Because they have to drive you crazy. It's their job.

But today was a good day. Not only were the kids pretty alright, but I had lunch with the
Spanish teachers today and got to practice a little bit of the español. Yay! And one of the Turkish teachers invited me to have dinner at her house this weekend. I'm looking forward to that. She's so sweet and you know I love the multicultural foods. So I'll let you know how that goes.

That's about all. Our dog is leaving us this weekend to go back to Kuwait. Tigger, it was nice knowing you. I will miss you but I will not miss cleaning up your vomit.

Life with 5-year-olds.

So school has started and I'm getting used to being around these crazy kids all day. As you may know, I'm working with the kindergarten class and we have 26 wee ones. I have some favorites and some that make me want to pull my hair out. Woo hoo. But I do like it for the most part and I get to relive my own 5-year-old days. My favorite part of the day is story time. And nap time. Because that's when I get to eat my lunch and they're somewhat all quiet. I have never appreciated the "quiet" more.

So I don't think my calling in life is to teach kindergarten or anything, but I think I might try teaching. What? I have no idea. What grade? Not a clue. Just a thought.

We all know that kids say the darndest things, so I'll try and include some funny kid stories.

Too bad I can't think of one now.

Nice Work If You Can Get It

So I'm officially on vacation.

Last week at work, The Principal offered me a new job. The position is for a teacher's aide in the kindergarten class. It's not really what I had in mind for my life, but I think I'm going to take the job. I was hoping to get something working with ESL but they don't really need anyone at this particular school, just for kindergarten. So I guess we'll see how that goes. I feel like I should be doing something more exciting, like that it's kind of embarrassing to say that I'm working as a teacher's aide when I have a college degree. I'm a catch. But it's just for a year and I will at least be in the school environment. Maybe I can figure out if teaching is something I want to pursue at the end of this year or I can just walk away and try something else. That's one thing about this stage of life I'm in: I can pretty much do anything. I'm not tied down to any one area of work or even city to live in. I could move to Mexico or Vermont next year.

I guess that's both good and bad. Because I'm a planner and I like to know what's ahead of me and there are just too many options. But I'm trying to enjoy the positives of this and really broaden my ideas for the future. Because, really, who knows? No one.

So...in taking the aide position, they no longer need me to work in the office for the summer and I don't have to report back to work until August 15th. Vacation!! Woo!! Although it's only 3 days into this vacation, and I'm worried about being bored. But I do have a rather exciting trip planned in the very near future. San Diego here I come! I'm going to visit my friend Anne that lives out there and I'm very excited! I've never been to California before and I'm looking forward to seeing the Pacific Ocean for the first time. I am ready for the beach.

So if anyone has any ideas on how to spend these weeks of vacation I've got left, let me know. And preferably not anything that costs too much money (as I will not be making any in this period).

Oh, we are all moved into the new apartment and it's looking good. I think we picked a winner. And our new roommate/dog, Tigger, is doing splendidly and is enjoying all of the attention he's been getting from his three lovely roommates. I'll include a foto.

I'm the only one here at work....it's creepy.

Here are some random things that I feel like sharing. Of course, in your favorite and mine, a bulleted list...

• I'm reading Anna Karenina right now and it's a beast. I'm on page 587 of 817, so I realize it's all downhill from here, but still. Maybe I'm not connecting with the characters of something because I can't stay focused.


• The other day I went to the library and as I walking in there was an old man sitting on a bench outside. I guess I looked sad or something because he told me to smile. When I did, he said "now you feel better, don't ya?" And I did.


• I've been listening to many, many episodes of This American Life at work because I have nothing to do. If you don't know it, it's a show on NPR where they do stories on real people and it will make you laugh and cry. http://www.thislife.org/. I listened to one yesterday where these two brothers were fighting over what to name their new dog. They couldn't agree, so mom came up with a compromise. The dog's name? Pasta Batman. I laughed a lot at that one.


• I rented this movie: Mistress of Spices. Don't rent it; it's not good.


• I want to see the new Harry Potter movie but I don't have anyone to go with. Help!!


• I talked to some of my Spanish friends online yesterday and it made me really really miss Spain. And speaking Spanish. Ay! Como os echo de menos!


• http://www.pandora.com = my lifesaver at work.

That's all for today! I have way too much time on my hands at work; I apologize. : )

Sticky Note

I really don't have anything to say today but I'm bored and felt like writing something down. We'll just see what comes out I guess.

I like this job less and less everyday. I don't know what to do with my time here and instead of trying to find something to do, I just sort of sink into a lethargic state where all I can do is listen to episodes of This American Life and play solitaire. Which, I haven't played solitaire for an extended period of time since probably 1996 when we got our first computer and playing solitaire on the computer was pretty much "da bomb" and/or all there was to do on a computer with Windows 3.1. So I'm rediscovering solitaire and slowly losing my mind.

I feel like I'm waiting for something. I'm waiting for something new to happen and I don't know what it is. I'm one of those people that always likes to have something they're looking forward to. But right now, my life is stretching before me with nothing in sight, no landmarks to get to or anything I really need to get done. I feel like I need to be working toward something, but I haven't figured out what that is yet. People keep asking me, "well, what do you want to do? What do you like to do?" And is it bad that I don't know the answers to that? Because I really don't know. I have, at the same time, too many options and absolutely nothing. About a month ago, there were other things happening that were a welcome distraction from the work worries, but now all I have is this job that makes me crazy. So the moral of this story is that I think I need a new job. Ok, the end.

I'm in a good mood today. The other day I was feeling down, so I made a pie. A dark chocolate pie with merengue and chocolate chips on top. It was delicious if I must say. Mmm, I wish I had a piece of that pie right now.

I wish I had a funny story to tell right here. But I can't really think of anything. But there is 6 hours left in this workday so you never know.

Sigh.

Scene: I am seated behind a desk in a school office on a dreary Thursday. The day has been slow (Cue: tumbleweed rolling past the office door). A fourth grade girl comes into the office to call her parents and wait for them to come pick her up. She sits opposite me in one of the chairs in the office and kicks her legs back and forth. I tear myself away from the online article I'm reading on how to set up a Roth IRA.

Me: Are you having a good summer?
Fourth Grade Girl: Yeah.
Me: Do you have big plans? What are you doing?
FGG: Well, I'm going to NRH2O tomorrow with my friend. Then I'm going with my dad to Sea World and I'm going to stay with my grandparents for two weeks too.
Me: That's cool.
FGG: Yeah.
Me: Have you been to Sea World before? Are you going to ride the roller coasters?
FGG: Yeah.
Me: Awesome.
FGG: What are you doing for the summer?
Me: This. (Points to desk.) Work.
FGG: Oh.
Me: Yeah.

Counting toilets.

Yep. That's what I did at work today. The Principal called....wait. Let me back up so you can get the full effect.

The Principal's wife is pregnant with their first child and could have the baby at any moment, she's ready to pop. He cancelled his interviews this afternoon to be with her and who knows if he'll come back tomorrow. So, I get a call this afternoon and it's The Principal's wife. And she sounds...panicky. Well, maybe not panicky, but like something is going on. So I think 'oh, man. She is having a baby and I am useless.' But to my surprise, she passes the phone and I'm talking with The Principal. And he asks me this: How many restrooms are in the school? I pause. Uhh...I have no idea. He senses my hesitation and asks me to go count the restrooms and he will call me back in five minutes.

So I get up from my desk and start searching the school. I note the four restroom doors pretty quickly, but then I panic. What if he wanted me count the actual number of stalls? Or toilets? And why does he need this information? So I hurriedly go back and go into every restroom counting stalls. And going into the boys' restrooms, I knock and announce my presence loudly even though I know the only other person in the school is the IT guy and I've already seen him sitting at his desk. But just to be safe. So I'm walking around the school, looking for hidden toilets, trying to remember how many urinals the boys' restrooms had and if those counted in the grand total and coming up with mnemonic devices to remember that the girls had one more stall and what exactly was the ratio of boys' stalls to urinals. I must have sounded like Woody Allen in Scoop (17 jet planes, 23 swinging midgets...). I neglected to bring a pen and paper with me. I didn't know that it would get this complex.

As soon as I get back to my desk, the phone rings. It's The Principal. "How many restrooms?" "Well, sir, are you wanting actual number of toilets or just uh..rooms?" I actually said that.

This is my job.

Work.

I have decided to share with all of you the ever-increasing joys of my new job.

If you don't know or remember, I'm working at a school office for the summer. Most of the time it's just me and the principal in the school. He's interviewing for teachers for the fall right now, so sometimes the applicants will sit a minute in my office. I'm getting better at making small talk. You know things like "That rain's really coming down out there" or "Yes, this place really did used to be a Winn-Dixie" or my favorite, "Oh, the lights just do that" (More on that one later). Some people are really chatty and some people sit in a fidgety silence. Who enjoys a job interview? It' s pretty interesting being on this side of the interview, getting to see everyone who comes in, because for them, this is a nerve wracking, out-of-body experience and they will question everything they did or said as soon as they get in their car to leave in 20 minutes. (How I wish I was getting in my car to leave in 20 minutes.) But, me, I get to calmly observe their different behaviors and sometimes offer encouragement and distraction if they look like they need it. I think the principal is interviewing until the end of the month. Yay.

Amusing work anecdotes:

Anecdote 1: The lights in my office shut off every 10 minutes. They are motion activated and the sensor is by the door, so if no one comes in or out in 10 minutes then they just turn off. And I don't know how to keep them from doing this, so it happens often. So I'll just be sitting there, doing whatever, and boom, I'm in the dark. Most of the time, I don't even care that much to get back up and wave my arm around by the door so I just sit in the dark. It's funny if there's someone waiting to interview in here when it happens. People react differently to it. Looking around bewildered or just a raised eyebrow or just pretending like they weren't just plunged into darkness. So that's when I offer my line of "Oh, the lights just do that" and then go into the finer points of light-sensing mechanics. Quite stimulating. I feel it's a part of my job to reassure them that this is normal and no, they are not going crazy or experiencing a seizure of any kind.

Anecdote 2: Turkey. Turkish people. Everywhere. I have discovered that a lot of people from Turkey work at this school. The principal, vice principal, all the computer teachers and the IT guy. The IT guy is funny because he's so painfully shy and kind of won't talk to me. I don't know what that's about but oh well. So if you know anything about Turkey or Turkish customs, let me know.

Anecdote 3: My boss is strange. He's the principal. We have a serious breakdown in communication. Often. Take Wednesday for example. He had previously told me that he would not be in the office all of Wednesday so I was surprised to see him go into his office at 8:30 Wednesday morning. He came right back out, stopped by the front office (where I am) and told me that he would be at the school until 12. I repeated what he said back to him in the form of a question. "You will be here until 12?" I asked. "Yes," he replied. Then he went out the front door, got in his car and drove away. I did not see him for the rest of the day. What?!?!

I don't know about this job. Am I working for the Turkish mafia? Will I ever get paid? Why is the IT guy scared of me? These burning questions and more will soon be answered. Well, that pay check one better get answered.

Beautiful Texas Sunshine

Howdy.

I'm sorry I didn't write anything for my last weeks in Madrid. I've been home for awhile now and I miss Spain tremendously. The people, the food, the accent, and of course the dog poo on the sidewalks. Ok, so I don't miss that last part as much it sounds. But things that got on my nerves in Madrid have now become endearing back in the comfort of my own home. As it is with most things, I suppose. That's how the 'good ol' days' become the 'good ol' days'. Everything seems sweeter when you're looking back on it.

My last days and hours in Madrid were filled to the brim. Trying to squeeze in one last coffee with a friend, buying last minute souvenirs, having one last...fill in the blank with everything, and trying to soak up all the Madrid-ness possible. I remember in the last few days I would try to physically stop and listen and smell and take note of what was happening around me. Try to remember the taste of a fresh cafe con leche or the way my friend would say "hombreeee...". I don't know how successful this memory-making attempt was but I hope some things stick.

It was incredibly sad leaving. Saying goodbye is something that I'm not too familiar with and it was harder than I expected to leave these friends behind. Because, when I thought about it, I've never really had to do that before. Friends from high school or college, I didn't really say a final goodbye because the possibility still exists that I would see them again. We still live relatively close, most of us, in the same country at least, and there's more of a chance you can run into them at Wal-Mart or a wedding or something. But saying goodbye to friends that in all likelihood, I might not ever see again, is a weird experience. I don't recommend it. I hope that I see some of my Spanish friends again and although I will try to stay in touch through emails and things, it probably won't ever be the same. And I guess that will have to be ok.

Being back home is good. And strange. And sometimes boring. But it is fantastic to see my friends and hang out "en plan tranquilo". Sometimes Spanish just fits better than English. Now, it's getting even better because we're past that initial hang out where you have to try and catch up on the last three months. Now we can just be normal. Or whatever that is. I'm moving into my new apartment next month and I am really excited. I just started this new job working at a school for the summer and it's depressingly boring. Most of the time it's just me alone in the school getting calls from parents with questions that I don't know the answer to and I hate not knowing what I'm doing. But I'm praying that it will get better.

Which, if anyone knows any good churches in the Haltom City/ Watauga area I would love to know. I'm in the market.

I don't know if anyone is still reading this, but if you are, thanks. Thanks for sticking around. Or maybe this is the first post you've ever read. And to you, I apologize for it being pretty uninteresting.

I'll keep you updated.

Springtime in the City

Mom and I got back from Venice last night and then I dropped her off at the airport this morning. She's heading back to Texas and I'm heading back to bed. I'm exhausted! It was kind of a crazy week and a crazy weekend, but we had a great time. More on Venice coming soon.

Shannon just told me about this cool site - Splash Cast - and I've been creating some slideshows to post on the ol' blog here. Here's one with some pictures of stuff that's been happening here in Madrid: baseball game, bowling with friends, eating lunch on campus, and who knows what else. I hope you enjoy!

Shine or Rain

Earlier this week we had some of the best weather we've had all spring. High 70s and warm, it was great. Then Wednesday, the rain came. It cooled off quite a bit and I think it's supposed to rain into the better part of next week too. Bummer that my last bit of time left will be rainy, but hopefully it will clear up soon. Enough of the weather report...

So Mom got into Madrid on Sunday and I've been running her all over town ever since. She's been seeing everything Madrid has to offer and she even took some side trips to Segovia and El Escorial. I think she's having fun; I hope she is! This afternoon we are leaving for Venice for the weekend and I am really excited about that. I keep kind of forgetting that we're actually going because I've been so busy the past few weeks but I'm looking forward to a good weekend.Last Saturday's baseball game was a ton of fun. We had a lot of Spanish friends come out for the picnic and game and I think they really enjoyed it. The food was great and we had a lot leftover. It was fun trying to explain the rules of baseball to them because there are so many rules that you don't think about people not already knowing them. Like when you have to stand on the base and when you can run through the base. And who to throw the ball to. It was fun. We also taught them "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during our 7th inning stretch and popcorn break. We didn't really play 7 innings, but you know. After the game, we went to Jan's and had coke floats and some people watched The Sandlot. A classic for our generation, but slightly hard to translate to Spaniards. Americans are just weird sometimes.

So this week has been pretty crazy and I'm starting to say goodbye to some of my friends and having some of our last meetings. Our director, Jan, had a little goodbye party for us interns and she made us hamburgers and milkshakes and it was delicious. I had a pickle for the first time in months and I was ecstatic. So I have about a week and a half left now and I'm trying to fit everything in. A few things left in Madrid that I want to see and of course hanging out with friends 'one last time'. I've been having a lot of 'one last times' recently and that's been pretty sad. Or sentimental really.

Well, I have to go pack my suitcase because we're leaving in a few hours and I've packed nothing. Have a great weekend everyone! Love you.

The time is flying...

So only three weeks left here in sunny, beautiful Spain. Hard to believe.

This week we have a volunteer team in Madrid hanging out with us and helping us with some of our events this week. They are a crazy bunch of ladies from Tennessee that have serious southern accents. I love it. Everything they say just cracks me up. It's been too long since I've heard that deep south talkin'.

Monday we had another baking day where we invited our Spanish friends over and this time we taught them how to make chocolate chip cookies. It was a lot of fun and we had a bunch of people show up. Even my roommate and some of her friends came which was exciting and they are just hilarious so I was glad they came. Since they are hard to come by here, we sent all the Spaniards home with some chocolate chips and brown sugar so they could attempt to make the cookies on their own at home. Tomorrow, Friday, we're having another baking day but in this one, the Spaniards are teaching us how to make tortilla espanola! I'm excited about this. I think they'll get a kick out of it too.

This Saturday is our big event for the semester...a picnic and baseball game! We're going to have the all-American picnic foods: hot dogs, baked beans, potato salad, apple pie, popcorn. And then we're going to teach our Spanish friends how to play baseball and maybe some ultimate frisbee. I can't wait! I think it's going to be hilarious to see all of us play, or attempt to play, I should say. Everyone's pretty excited about this week, so pray that people actually show up! We're thinking around 30 or 40 but you can't really tell.

And then...Mom comes on Sunday! That should be pretty exciting. We are going to Venice not this weekend, but the next and I'm really excited about that. Yay!

Berlin Part III

More on our Berlin adventures…

We took a day trip out to Potsdam, a little town about 30 minutes from Berlin, and we saw the beautiful gardens of the Sansoucci Park. This park is huge and it has at least 3 palaces and lots of other beautiful buildings and fountains and statues and thing.

Lindsey really wanted to go to the opera and I thought it sounded fun, so we found some tickets to see Tristan and Isolde, a German opera by Wagner. Very famous. Our seats were on the very last row, but that was not going to deter us. We brought snacks (just in case) and we were chatting with the very nice German couple next to us, when we glanced at the program. It was a five-hour-long opera! We thought it had to be a typo, but the couple next to us said, “It’s only 5 hours? Oh that’s short for Wagner.” Yikes. So it begins. Singing in German, subtitled in German, and practically no action, so I had no idea what was happening. I didn’t even know the basic plot so I was totally lost and the singers were giving me no clue. I fell asleep for about 40 minutes and I woke up at the first (yes, first) intermission. The couple next to us says they are bored and they’re leaving to go see a movie. We decide this is torture so we leave too. So we got some pretzels and chocolate and went back to the hostel.

We went to church on Easter at the International Baptist Church that some friends of Lindsey had told us about and that was great. The kids had a little Easter presentation and we got some chocolate for being first time visitors. German church is great! At the end of the service, one of the members of the congregation, a German man, got up to share a special song on Easter. He was an opera singer and he sang the most beautiful song, O Divine Redeemer. It was amazing. I told Lindsey that this 5 minutes of opera was better than the hour and a half of the other that I slept through. It was beautiful.

Some other random things we saw/did in Berlin:

• We saw a guy in an Easter Bunny suit at the train station in Potsdam so I took my picture with him and he gave us chocolate bunnies. I’m glad I was in Germany for Easter because they celebrate it a lot like we do in the States, with bunnies and eggs and chocolate.
• We had lots of good food while we were there because one of the best parts of traveling is the eating! Besides our delicious hamburgers at Andy’s Diner, we also had some excellent German food, currywurst, burritos and some kebabs. Lindsey had her first kebab experience and she’s a fan! We also enjoyed our fair share of pretzels, German baked goods and of course, chocolate.
• We went to a couple of really interesting museums. We went to the Jewish Museum which is the most visited museum in Berlin and had a ton of information. You could spend a year in there. We also went to the Pergamon Museum and there they had these huge displays of whole Roman altars rebuilt 2 stories high and part of the ancient gate of Babylon. It was pretty impressive and very cool to walk around these exhibits that were life size.

I really enjoyed my time in Berlin and I would recommend visiting it to anyone. I never really thought that Berlin was high on my list of places to see, but it is such an interesting city with so much history and character that it is not to be missed. You can definitely see the difference still between east and west Berlin and it is a constantly changing city. I think if I go back there in five or ten years, it will be a different city.

Berlin Part II

Sachsenhausen

On Friday, we took a guided tour out to Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp just outside Berlin. The whole experience is really hard to describe. It’s one thing to read about these things or even see pictures or movies, but to actually stand on the spot where these things happened, is something else. It was intense. Sachsenhausen was not the first concentration camp but it was the first to be built with that intention. It became the model camp, and camps after it were based on it and structured similarly. It was first used as political prisoner work camp but it gradually began to include more people as Hitler’s plan for the Jews progressed. After the war ended in 1945 and the Soviets took control of East Germany, the camp was used by the Soviets as a prison until 1950. They tried to cover up a lot of what went on there and some information has only recently come out about what happened.

In the 60s or 70s, the East German government built a memorial to those killed in the camp, but they only acknowledged the communist victims. They made no mention of the Jews or other people groups there, and they built these very historically inaccurate reconstructions and one kind of disturbing statue depicting the liberation of the camp with a very healthy Soviet prisoner being greeted by a Soviet businessperson and soldier. Our guide told us that most of the East German memorial will be torn down and replaced with accurate replications, but the statue will stay up to show another aspect of the history of that place, the East German spin on things I guess. Does that make sense? I don’t know if I explained that well.

The whole experience is really hard to describe. It’s one thing to read about these things or even see pictures or movies, but to actually stand on the spot where these things happened, is something else. It was intense. I had to keep reminding myself where I was because the whole thing was just unreal.

The camp is located on the edge of the town of Oranienburg and people live very close to the edges of the camp. Our guide answered the question we were all thinking: how could the people of Oranienburg be so close to this and not know what was going on? Or if they knew what was going on, why didn’t they do anything? She said that you have to ask yourself what you would have done. If you had a family, or children. If the government put up a prison (which was what it began as), you would think that people who were in there deserved to be in there for some reason, wouldn’t you? But then, when does it cross the line? And what do you do? It’s hard to think about and I don’t know any answers. I just hope that this never happens again.

Berlin Part I

(Lindsey and I - our reflection in the inner dome of the Reichstag)

So we got back to Madrid around 1 am on Tuesday night and then Lindsey and I turned around and left for Berlin at 8 am on Wednesday! We were pretty much exhausted but very excited. After a stop in Milan, we got to Berlin in the evening and checked into our hostel, which was better than we thought. We walked around our neighborhood a bit and then ate dinner at this place called Andy’s Diner. It’s run by this American guy and I had the most amazing cheeseburger there! With pickles! Oh, it’s been too long. Don’t worry, we eventually got to the German food, we were just so excited to have burgers.

So I won’t detail every little thing that we did because we were there 7 days, and we did a lot! I had the greatest time and I really enjoyed the city. I loved being in an entirely new culture, seeing new architecture, hearing a new language, new foods, everything. Germany is very different from Spain. I love Spain, don’t get me wrong, but it was just a fun change of pace.

We took a bike tour our first day and that was a lot of fun. I had to convince Lindsey to do it but we had a great time seeing the city that way. We saw a ton and it was so much better to have the guide tell us about the places we were seeing then for us just to walk by somewhere, take a picture, and then keep walking. So if you’re in Berlin, take their free tours – NewBerlin Tours. We saw some really exciting things: the Reichstag (where the fire took place that Hitler blamed on the Communists), Museum Island, the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie (the old border crossing between east and west Berlin), the synagogue that was the only synagogue to survive Kristallnicht/ The night of broken glass, a part of the Berlin Wall still standing, the spot where Hitler’s bunker once was, the Holocaust Memorial, and we even took some lovely rides along the River Spree and through the Tiergarten which were once the royal hunting grounds and now just a pretty park.

(Part of the Berlin Wall)

So much history has happened in Berlin and it was really exciting to see the actual places where these events took place. For example, the Brandenburg Gate. This gate has seen so many important historical moments. Napoleon marched through it and took the statue that was on top of it. Hitler had parades through it at the height of his success. And when the Berlin Wall was put up, it stood in between east and west Berlin in no man’s land. And when the wall fell in 1989, the largest party in the world took place in it’s plaza to celebrate. Amazing!

(The Brandenburg Gate)

Traveling....Sevilla!

Well, let’s go back to the beginning…

First. Sevilla.

Lindsey, Shannon, Tep and I all went to Sevilla for three days at the start of Semana Santa, or the Holy Week leading up to Easter Sunday. We stayed in my friend Kate’s apartment and she wasn’t there so we had the place to ourselves! We took a train at 7:30 from Madrid and got to Sevilla at 10 am. We all planned to meet at the station at 7 and when Shannon wasn’t there by 7, I called her and said “Where in the world are you?” She had slept through her alarm and had just woken up. We were all so afraid she wasn’t going to make the train, but she did! She went from bed to train in a record 25 minutes! She said she told her taxi driver to drive as fast as he could and he laughed at her. Just like in the movies.

So we had a non-stop three days in Sevilla, seeing the sights and watching the processions. In case you didn’t know, Sevilla is known for these religious processions during Semana Santa. Various churches in the city have these brotherhoods that carry these ornate, richly decorated floats of Jesus or Mary through the city. All of the floats leave from their respective churches and make their way to the cathedral and back. Some of the floats are hundreds of years old and some brotherhoods have up to 2500 hundred participants in their church’s procession.

Since we were there on Palm Sunday, we saw a float (in Spanish, a paso) with Jesus depicted riding in on a donkey with palm branches. And we saw a paso with the Last Supper displayed. These pasos weigh tons and they are all carried by men underneath them. They carry the paso at the base of their necks and they take small steps in time to the music and make frequent stops. It’s amazing that these guys will do this for hours because it takes a long time to go from the church to the cathedral and back. My friend Manolo’s church’s paso leaves at noon from the church and doesn’t get back until almost 2 am! That means the procession goes on for 14 hours!

So, we saw pasos Sunday and Monday but on Tuesday, it was raining so the pasos didn’t leave the churches. Shannon and Lindsey had never been to Sevilla so they saw the major sights, like the Cathedral and the Alcazar, while Tep and I hung out and did some shopping. It was so good to be in Sevilla again because I love it so much but it was crazy because there were so many people there. There were people everywhere. But we had a good time anyways. Minus the rain, the weather was nice and the orange trees smelled fabulous. I hope I can go back to Sevilla again one day!

Travels, Travels, Travels...

Well, folks, I got back last night from my 10 days of traveling. We spent all day yesterday traveling from Berlin to Milan, and Milan to Madrid. Lindsey and I spent 6 nights in Berlin and we had a great time. Before that, we spent 3 days in Sevilla enjoying Semana Santa in Spain.

There is so much I want to write about and tell you guys. I think I'll work on updating this thing in installments or something so I can give you all the juicy details. So be looking forward with anticipation to that.

I'll give you some highlights: 5 hour German opera, bike tours of Berlin, currywurst, pretzels, Easter bunny, guided tours, Napoleon, gardens, German food...and so much more!

Talk to you soon!
Love you!

Public Transportation

I noticed something. On Thursdays I use 6 modes of transportation. I utilize: train, bus, metro, walking, moving sidewalk, and escalators. That's a lot of transporting.

We are gearing up for Semana Santa here and for a week of vacation! My traveling begins Sunday so I'm spending today and tomorrow packing and getting things in order because I'll be gone for about 10 days. I will come back to Madrid for one night, but we turn around and leave the next morning so there won't be any time to do anything. I am so ready to go! If you want a postcard, send me your address by tomorrow!

I hope you guys are all having a great week. Enjoy the weekend.

Love you. Talk to you soon.

I've recently become addicted to The Office...

Hi!

So last Saturday night we had our first intercambio cafe! We invited all the people from our English groups and our other Spanish friends to come hang out, practice English, and eat American cookies. The team made a ton of cookies (I lucked out on that job because I don't have an oven!) and I think everyone had a pretty good time. I was worried that not very many people would show up but we had a pretty good turnout.

We set it up kind of like 'speed dating' where we had 8 different tables each with a different topic. Every 20 minutes or so we would signal for everyone to move tables and topics. It was pretty fun. I was leading a table and my discussion topic was superheroes. If you were a superhero, what power would you have? Would you be a good guy or a bad guy? Stuff like that. It made for some fun conversation. And P.S. most people opted to fly.

So I've passed the halfway point on my time in Spain. I can't remember if I mentioned that in my last post or not, but there you go. This week is a normal week and then next week is Semana Santa, and I'll be traveling the whole week. The first few days in Sevilla and then Lindsey and I are going to Berlin. I am so excited! But I know that when we get back from all that, the time remaining will go by so quickly. And yay! My mom is coming to visit at the end of April! Then I'll be home before you (and I) know it.

Well, I guess that's about all. Everything has been going really well; I have two new intercambios and they are both really cool. And this week is the last week of dance class. We are only doing it for the month of March because April will be just too crazy. So that's that.

Talk to you later!


RECIPE
FOR SOME SUPER GOOD COOKIES:
Cake Cookies

1 box Devil's Food Cake mix
1/3 cup oil
2 eggs
White chocolate chunks/chips

Mix. Roll into balls. Bake at 350.

=Delicious.

Señores pasaxeiros....

Yay for Galicia!

Shannon and I went to Galicia this past weekend and we had a great time! We stayed in Santiago de Compostela and then on Saturday we took a day trip out to the coast.

So we got in to Santiago Friday morning and found our way to our little hotel. The nicest old man ran the place and after we checked in, he made us sit down and have some breakfast before we went exploring. We walked the city all morning with our trusty map that we got from the tourism office and we saw some beautiful buildings and plazas (or prazas as they are called in Gallego) in the city. I think Santiago is about 100,000 people and it's a neat little city. We just marveled at how old everything was; there are some things still standing from the Romans!

I was actually talking to some Spanish friends the other day about how Americans are always impressed by how old things are. We will be in awe of something just for the pure fact that it was built in the 5th century while Spaniards and other Europeans will walk by and think nothing of it. Well of course, they are surrounded by many old, old buildings while in America, if something is more than one hundred years old we will stuck a historical marker next to it. Not saying that it's wrong either way, it's just funny how differently we view history coming from different countries. In the States we don't have any buildings from the Romans so I think we'll continue to be amazed by old stuff and take more pictures all the way.

So back to Santiago...we toured the Cathedral in the afternoon (above picture). The cathedral in Santiago is third on the list of must-see religious places, right after Rome and Jerusalem. You may have heard about the Camino de Santiago, which is a pilgrimage that starts in France and ends up in Santiago at the Cathedral. The bones of St. James are supposedly buried in the crypt of the Cathedral and pilgrims from all over the world make the journey on foot or on bike sometimes taking as long as a few months depending on where you start. We saw some pilgrims who had just completed the walk and there is a spot on the base of a statue of St. James where they all placed their hand. So we saw the Cathedral and I must say, for me, all cathedrals are starting to look the same. Although this one was definitely a fancy one.

In the cathedral, Shannon and I saw these stairs with a priest standing at the top and we didn't know where the stairs led. The priest motioned for us to come on up so we get to the top and we are standing behind this huge statue of St. James. Well, at least we think it's St. James; we can't really tell. The priest tells us something about hugging the statue and how you're supposed to do this after completing the pilgrimage. But we were kind of confused and didn't really know what was going on so we just just politely shook our heads and walked out of there. So we missed our chance to hug this fancy statue of someone.

The next day we got up super early to catch a bus out to the coast. We took a two and a half hour bus ride out to Finisterre. It's the end of the world! It's the western most tip of Spain and was thought by the Romans to be the end of the world. We took a very winding road through the countryside of Galicia and it was very green and pretty. It definitely reminded me of Ireland and Galicia is known for being very Celtic-influenced. So we got to Finisterre and hiked out to the cape and lighthouse at the very tip. We thought it would be about a mile hike but it turned out to be at least two or three along a two lane winding highway with barely any shoulder to walk on. But we made it! And it was beautiful! We sat and watched the waves for awhile before hiking back to the little town. We spent a few more hours in Finisterre and then took the bus back to Santiago.

















We had a good time in Galicia this weekend and it was so good to get out of the big city of Madrid for awhile. We were both kind of sad to be leaving just because it was so nice and so much less stressful than the city! But now I'm back in Madrid and it's back to work.

This weekend is our Intercambio Cafe. We are inviting all of our English groups and our intercambios to come hang out with us and practice English together. We rented a room at a cafe nearby and we're even making dozens of American cookies to share with our Spanish friends. We are having different discussion topics and it will be set up kind of like speed dating (but without the dating) where you rotate from topic to topic. We haven't done anything like this so I hope it goes well. I hope people come!

Three Years

Today marks the three year anniversary of the bombings in Madrid. The wounds are still fresh and the city is once again demonstrating its losses with candles and memorials. It's interesting, because I was in Spain three years ago today and I remember hearing about the bombing. We were in our History of Spain class with Dr. Inglis and I don't remember what we were supposed to talk about because all we talked about was the bombings. Dr. Inglis came in and told us what had happened and at that time, they thought the Basque nationalist group, ETA, was responsible for the attacks and most of us had never heard of ETA. We probably learned more about Spanish history that day than any other.

The next week our school trip was scheduled to go to Madrid. I remember Mom telling me not to go but Dr. Inglis assured us that we would be fine. We went anyway and everywhere we went in the city there were groups of candles, banners and letters remembering loved ones or asking the government to do something. I never once felt unsafe in all my time in Spain and maybe that's just ignorance or stupidity but oh well.

So now three years later, I'm back in Spain and I feel like I'm sort of reliving it all over again. Yesterday Shannon and I had plans to go eat a brownie sundae at the Hard Rock Cafe (we decided we would reward ourselves and they have the best ones!) but we picked a bad day to go. The plaza where Hard Rock is located was the site of a mass demonstration yesterday with thousands of people. Many carried Spanish flags even though they say Spain isn't very nationalistic in that regard, people brought out the flags and buttons with the reds and yellows blazing. I wish I had my camera with me just to take in the sheer amount of people, but alas, never when I need it. We fought our way to the crowds and we did get our brownie, but I think that was the hardest I ever worked for a brownie.

Un penguino en mi ascensor...

Hi!! How are you?

Well, we had our first dance class last Friday and it was a lot of fun. There are about 15 people in the class and the majority are middle-aged women and two guys. The instructor is also a guy. We did a couple of different dances including the tango, swing, cha-cha and the paso doble. Lindsey and I were partners with each other and we took turns being the guy. The people in the class were all really nice too. Our next class is tonight and it's with a different instructor so we'll see how that goes.

Well, what else has been happening? The other night we had a movie night and we watched The Sandlot which made us wish we were all in America and it was the fourth of July. But it was good. And I made some cookies! This is a miracle because I hardly ever cook here. But when I do cook, it's mostly sweet stuff. Must work on that. But yeah, other than that, I've just been hanging out and doing the same old, same old. After our English group today, Lindsey and I tried out this Chinese place that we'd never been to before. And it was really good! They gave us a ton of food for less than 7 euros: egg rolls, two plates and dessert. We're definitely going back to that place again.

Today's picture is of my building where I live. The red doors on the right are to a little hamburger place where lots of college kids hang out. And the green door on the left is to a games shop where they sell chessboards and other fancy games. And that's me in the middle!

Fotos and Such

Well, folks, how goes it?

Things are going pretty great over here. I started an English group with my roommate and some of her classmates and we had our first meeting yesterday afternoon. There were 7 of them, which wins the award of my biggest English group yet, and we had a really good time. They are all very friendly and nice, and they know each other really well so they crack a lot of jokes and make fun of each other, which is hilarious. I'm so excited that this group actually started and I hope it continues to meet and that we can even hang out outside of the group. Really cool stuff.

In other news...Lindsey and I have signed up to take a dance class. We are going to take a class of 'bailes de salon' which means dances like tango, rumba, salsa, waltz, etc. I am so excited about this and our first class is tonight, so I'll let you know how that goes. I hope it's a lot of fun and that we'll meet some cool people too.

I've also created a new web album to display my pictures. You can check them out at Picasa by clicking on the picture below:

Madrid, Europe, Wherever

I hope this works out for the best. I'm just trying all sorts of new things, aren't I? So check those out and let me know if it works and you can see them and all that.

Well, this has been a really good week and I can only thank God for all the blessings this week. So many things are falling into place and I know that it must be a God thing! If you guys wouldn't mind, be praying for this new English conversation group that I started with my roommate and that I would find time to hang out with my Spanish friends. Thanks guys!

Wait...Where did February go?

It will be March tomorrow and I can't believe it. Well, you all know the saying, 'time flies when you're in a foreign country and all of your English groups have suddenly started'. I think that's how that goes.

So, here's an update on some of the fun/exciting things that have been happening here: (in a bulleted list of course, yay Amber!)

• Last night, some of the girls and I went to an M.C. Escher art exhibit. Escher is the guy that does a lot of like optical illusion type drawings, you know, like where there are all the staircases but you can't tell if they're going up or down or where they end or begin. And he did some other really cool stuff too that we got to check out. My friend had free tickets so that was nice that we got to go. And they had used computers to animate some of his works and that was really something to see. Check out M.C. Escher, I recommend.
• Yay for traveling! My friends and I have realized how short our time here actually is so we've gotten on the ball about planning the trips we want to take. And for me, what it looks like so far is...Santiago de Compostela (that's in the north of Spain, right above Portugal) one weekend in March, Sevilla and Berlin during Semana Santa (the week leading up to Easter). I'm really excited about all my trips so far, especially Berlin. Lindsey and I are going together and we'll be there 6 days which is quite a long time. I didn't think I would be this excited but the more I research, and think about it, and talk to people about it, the more I'm looking forward to going.
  
• Last night, Lindsey and I went to the movies and we saw Letters from Iwo Jima, mainly because we thought it would be in English. But we did not read the sign properly and it was in Japanese but with Spanish subtitles. So I was able to understand everything, but it was still not what we were expecting. And we sneaked in some tortilla bocadillos and the lady in front of us kept turning around and looking at us. Sorry.
• I bought fun new shoes today! They are flats, white with black polka dots. Very cute.
• Four of my English groups started this week. This is great because I like having more to do and being busy. I have a new group meeting for the first time tomorrow with my roommate Ana and 7 (7!!) of her friends. I am so excited that this group is actually happening because I didn't think it would. God has totally surprised me with this one.
• I accidentally told my Spanish friend that hamburgers were from Germany.
• Today was a good day.

Well, that's about it for today. It will be March here in about 10 minutes, so those of you still in America, enjoy the rest of February. Write me! Love you!

No Rain in Spain Today

Today we are having the most beautiful weather in Madrid. It' s warm and sunny and not a cloud in the sky. Perfect day for doing laundry (since we hang our clothes out to dry) and that's exactly what I did this morning. I wish I had a frisbee or something so I could go to the park and play.

I met up with Lindsey (one of the other interns) and Xan (my Spanish friend) on campus today and we hung out for awhile. Lindsey had to leave early but I stayed with Xan and he introduced me to some his friends and classmates. It was fun hanging out with them and I laughed when they referred to me as the "amiga misteriosa". They are your typical college students and they welcomed me into their group. They even offered me a drink from the communal beer they were all sharing (I refused), and I took that as a good sign. I hope we can hang out again soon.

Yesterday I tried out a new church and I really liked it. I think I'm going to go back. Everyone we met was really friendly and we even met some career missionaries that were originally from Tyler, TX so that was good to talk about that. They've been in Spain for 29 years though so I don't know how much Texas is really home to them. Can you imagine living in another country for 29 years? That seems really incredible to me. I wonder if I could make it. I'm realizing more and more how much the creature comforts of home mean to me. Could I go for 29 years without marshmallows? Without watching American TV? Without being able to call my friends and family for free? Without driving in my car to Wal-Mart? Well, maybe that last one I could live without.

Just some thoughts for the day. Oh, the above picture is from last semester. Shannon, Kara and I walking on La Complutense campus.

New Blog! New You!

So here's a photo from the pillow fight that I told you all about. Pretty crazy eh?












I've decided to change the old blog a bit. The other service I was using wouldn't let me post pictures and I decided that that was bad. I chose that service because it allowed anyone to leave a comment, but since no one leaves comments anyways (is anyone reading this? I don't know), it wasn't worth it in the long run. But if you have an opinion and think this blog stinks or the other one stinks or whatever, let me know and I might take that into account. Or I will probably hear nothing back and so I'll just do whatever I want. Ok.