Mom and Bob's Trip to Spain

I had a wonderful visit with Mom and Bob last weekend!  The arrived on Thursday afternoon and stayed until Tuesday morning.  It was quick, but sweet!  Thursday we didn't do too much because they were tired from the flight, but we went out and walked around the city, we bought our Carnaval costumes and we had cañas and tapas.  Friday we spent visiting the village I work in--Torrejoncillo.  That was a lot of fun!  We went to the school and they met everyone I work with, including quite a few of my students as well.  One of my friends at work (Yolanda, who is also my landlord) was able to take some time off work and show us around the village.  We went to the pottery factory and then to a jewelry store.  Bob was even able to make his own pottery!

Saturday, we spent in Cáceres.  We did some shopping, had lunch at Zeppelin (one of the really good tapas restaurants) and then we walked around the Old City (the Roman part).  Our favorite thing to do is to find the windows where the cloistered nuns sell their pastries.  It's like a lazy susan type of window, where you ask for what you want, they spin it around to you, and then you send the money back to them.  It's a really cool experience!  We went to two different windows because they're so much fun.

Sunday was our travel day.  First we went to Mérida to see the Roman theater, amphitheater and the bridge.  We took tons of pictures!!!  Then we drove over to Badajoz because that is where the biggest celebration of Carnaval is in Extremadura.  When we got there, we put on our hippie costumes and were ready for the parade!

Monday was another day in Cáceres.  We drove up the mountain to get a wonderful view of the city.  We had lunch out again, and then we walked around the Old City again for a while, stopping by some of the shops and taking pictures.

I hope everyone back home is doing great.  Miss you all and can't wait to see you guys in June!

Love,

Kate

Valentine's Day Story

Hi Everyone! 


So I know in my last e-mail I said that I would fill everyone in on my "not-so-secret admirer" in my class named Carlos.  It all started about a month or so ago when I was passing out a worksheet for them to do.  I passed by his desk and he says under his breath, "madre mía, qué bien hueles..." which means, "my goodness, you smell so good."  Since this was only the first time he said something, I tried to play the "dumb American" who doesn't understand when he speaks quickly in Spanish.  


The following week, the Celes (the teacher I work with) came over to me and put her arm around me while asking the class, "Have you seen how well Kate and I get along?" And Carlos said in pretty choppy english, "IS MINE NOT YOU!"  Celes said, "First of all, that is not correct English" and she wrote on the board "She is mine, not yours."  And then she said, "and that's not even true!  Have YOU eaten a meal with Kate?"  We were all dying of laughter!

The week after that, Celes was telling them that they needed to bring colored paper and markers for the next class because they were going to make Valentine's Day cards.  She told them that it could be for anyone they wanted... their mother, father, brother, sister, lover... or even a teacher.  At that moment, Carlos looked straight at me and said, "That is the best option!"  Anyways, I am going to post images of the final card because I am pretty sure you will all get a good laugh at the final product.

(In case you can't read it very well, it says: When I look I think you're the only woman in the world.  I always thought that you are the flower of the desert.  Love, this is the word of my life.  Every morning I wake up seeing your face in a cloud.)

I hope things are going well back in the States.  I miss you all!  

Love always,

Kate

Navidades (Christmas Time)

So sorry I have been so bad at keeping up with my blog.  I literally JUST got internet set up in my new apartment (yesterday) so it has been quite difficult to stay in touch with the outside world!  I don't even remember where the last entry left off--however I know that it was a long, long time ago!


School has been going pretty well.  Yesterday was our first day back after the holiday vacation, and it was brutal but also nice getting back into the swing of things.  I went home to surprise my family for Christmas, which was very fun.  I was only there for six days, though, so it was a really quick trip.  And for New Year's Eve I was back in Cáceres with one of my good friends, Sarita!  We had New Year's Eve dinner with my dear friends (a Spanish/American family who lives here in Cáceres and have been absolutely wonderful to me!)  Here in Spain, there is something called Cotillón that most of the young people go to.  Sarita and I went with two of my other friends from Cáceres to a cotillón.  This means that we paid an entry fee to a club/bar for the evening.  We all got really dressed up (similar to prom in the U.S.) and after eating the 12 grapes to every ding of the bell at midnight, we went to the party.  There were between 40 and 50 people there, which made it really nice because normally the bars are insanely crowded.  We partied and danced until about 6:30AM, when they opened the rest of the other bars to the rest of the public.  We stayed out until 9AM!!!  (I give some of the credit to the jetlag and change of time, because otherwise I'm not so sure I would have been able to stay out that late!)

January 6th is Día de los Reyes (Three Kings Day) here, and it's the big holiday for the Spaniards.  Most of the people go out to celebrate at night on the 5th, so I went out with my host sisters from when I was here on study abroad.  We had a blast!  We went to one of their friends houses for dinner and then we went to a couple of bars.  It was a really fun night!

Overall, it has been quite a nice holiday vacation.  Things at school are going pretty well. I enjoy the younger kids more than I do the older kids, however they both have their good and bad days.  For next week, I am planning on making American Christmas cookies with them.  I have shown a presentation on my Christmas in Michigan, and all of the kids are very excited about Christmas cookies.  So this weekend, my plan is to bake a whole bunch of the sugar cookies and freeze them until school on Tuesday.  And in class, each student will frost and decorate their own American Christmas cookie. It sounds like a lot of work on my end, however it will be incredibly rewarding.  I just might have to make some extras for safe-keeping! :)


I hope everyone is healthy and happy back home.  I miss you all a lot and can't believe that I am starting my fourth month in Spain for the second time.  Hugs and kisses to all.


XOXO,
Kate

My Trip to Almería!

¡Buenos días!

This past weekend I travelled to Almería to visit my host sister, Maca, and her boyfriend.  My bus left on Friday right after work, at 1:30 PM.  I took a bus for about 4 hours and then I got on a train for another 4 hours, where Maca met me in Granada.  It was wonderful to see her!!!  We met up with one of her friends that I knew from two years ago, and the three of us went out for tapas and drinks.  We were having so much fun that we stayed out until 6:30 AM, and then decided to drive to Almería afterwards!  We got back to her house around 8:15 AM, and were finally sleeping by 8:30 AM.  Needless to say, the next morning we slept the majority of the day.  When we finally got around, we took a walk along the beach (which is right next to her house), we had coffee, and we walked around the city so that I could see everything.

  On Sunday, Maca's boyfriend (Antonio) and I drove around to the nearby cities.  We drove along the coast of the Mediterranean and it was absolutely gorgeous.  We also went to visit Maca in El Ejido, where she works as a police officer.  We were able to have coffee with her and walk around the city a little bit.

My travels coming home were a little bit of a hassle.  I missed my first train, and the next train didn't leave for another 5 hours.  I left Almería around 2:45 by train, and then I only had 15 minutes to hail a taxi and get to the bus station in order to catch the last bus to Cáceres.  Luckily, I made it there just in time and the bus left about 30 seconds afterwards.  I arrived back in Cáceres around midnight, worked on my lesson for the next day until 2AM and then was waking up to go to school at 6:30 AM.

Despite the hassle of all of the travels, my trip was amazing.  We had so much fun together and I am so happy because this time my spanish is much better and we can actually have in-depth conversations that we weren't able to have 2 years ago.  It was really hard to say goodbye again, especially with her living so far away from Cáceres, but I know that there will be many more opportunities to see her again--especially when she comes to visit for Christmas!

I hope everything is going well in the States.  I miss you all!

XOXO,

Kate

Teaching in Torrejoncillo/Weekend Plans

Hi all!

So so sorrry it has been so long since I have posted on my blog.  I promise that I will try and get better!  Many people have been anxious to hear about how things have been going for me at the school in Torrejoncillo.  The school I am teaching at has students between the ages of 12 and 18.  It's kind of like a middle school and high school all together in one.  I teach all of the levels of English, so it has been a little difficult trying to juggle lesson planning and socializing.  This is my first "full" week, although I have been teaching for 3 weeks now.

The first and second week, I gave a 50 minute introduction about myself with pictures of where I live, my family, my pets, etc.  I was rudely awakened to the fact that the teachers here in Spain get very little respect.  I am in a bilingual English school, so many of the teachers are very, very good at speaking English.  I work with 3 different teachers: I have 6 classes with Carmen (the three lowest levels); 4 classes with Enci (the upper level classes); and 2 with Celes (also upper level classes, but one with kids who failed the previous course).  In my very first class with Enci, she was introducing me by saying "He is Kate.  He is here to help you learn English.  He is from Michigan."  I wanted so badly to correct her, however I did not want to correct her in front of all of her students because she is already the least respected teacher and one of my friends who was here last year working as an English Assistant said he tried correcting one of his teachers once, and she get very angry with him.  SO, I guess I'll just have to wait and see if she calls me a "He" outside of class.  Hmmm.

My classes with Carmen are going very well.  The other day she left me with the class for the full 50 minutes (which they are not supposed to leave us alone with the students at all!) and she went and got her blood taken.  Luckily, I had a fun lesson planned.  I chose 3 American songs (How Will I Know by Whitney Houston, Landslide by the Dixie Chicks, and What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong) and I gave them each the lyrics with some of the verbs blanked out.  They did a pretty good job, although sometimes it is really difficult for them to understand!  After doing all three songs, we still had 10 minutes left so I told them about my brother, Griff, and his group.  I played them the song Pictures, and they were very excited.  I think I will try and use some more examples of things that are more important to me, because that seems to excite and engage them a lot more so than a random activity.

This week I am giving a presentation on the American VS Spanish Education System (boring, I know!) and working out of the book about Social Networking.  I am trying to adjust quickly to my schedule, but it is VERY difficult.  Here in Spain, the teachers move from classroom to classroom instead of the students, so I have to memorize a different schedule for every day!  I have been absolutely exhausted, too, so by the time I get home from school for siesta I am ready to sleep for hours.  I get up around 6:30 or 7, some days I have to walk 30 minutes to where I meet the teachers; other days the teachers volunteer to meet me right outside my apartment.  And then we have about a 40 minute drive to Torrejoncillo, which when it's still dark out it is incredibly difficult for me to stay awake in the car!  I have fallen asleep multiple times while driving there.  However, the teachers told me that the assistant last year also fell asleep in the car.

 This weekend I am travelling by myself to Almería, which is in Southern Spain on the ocean!  My host sister, Maca, who I still haven't seen lives there and I am going to stay with her for the weekend.  I am very, very excited and I am so looking forward to Friday's arrival!  She said she wants to take me to hear someone sing, so that will be fun!  I am just looking forward to finally being able to spend some time with her after 2 1/2 years!

I'm off to do some more lesson planning.  I hope all is well for you all.  I miss you all!

Love and hugs,

Kate

Medieval Festival and General Strike in Spain

Hello family and friends!



Sorry I have been so bad about keeping up with my blog.  I really am going to try and be better about it, I promise!  This past weekend, there was a Medieval Festival in the Canovas Park.  The park runs all the way through the middle of the city, and there were stands set up everywhere--there were Kabobs, Crepes, Hotdogs, Hamburgers, jewelery, puzzles, soaps, candy, teas from around the world, etc.  It was pretty cool!  There were people parading through the park playing Medieval music, as well as hoops of fire!

Today (Wednesday) there is a general strike in Spain.  When I was walking through La Ciudad Antigua (the Roman part of the city) I saw all of the people getting ready to march through the city.  There were hundreds and hundreds of them--so many that I needed to take a different route down to the Plaza Mayor!

Also going on right now is the hazing for the freshman at the University of Caceres.  The upperclassmen have been parading around with the freshmen, painting all over their faces and arms and chanting.  It's definitely been a cultural experience this week!
My orientation begins tomorrow after siesta.  I met two of the other girls who are in my program, so we are going to catch a taxi together and go together.  I am really looking forward to the orientation because I am anxious to know more information about what I will be doing and when I will start.
I hope you all are doing great.  Keep me posted on how things are going back in the U.S.  I miss you all.
Love,
Kate

Getting Settled

Hello there!
Today is my 5th day in Spain, and I am just now starting to get used to the time change.  For the first few days I couldn't fall asleep until at least 4AM, and I was sleeping in until 12:30PM! My friends, Mari and Kelly, met me at the airport in Madrid, and then Mari and I got on the bus to Caceres.  My host mom from study abroad was waiting at the bus station, which was a lot of fun.  It was wonderful to see her again and it was nice to see how excited she was to have me here again.  She helped me get all of my suitcases to my flat, and the first night there was a welcome party with a mixture of some students I know from last time and some new students.
It's a lot different this time because I don't have all of the other students from Kalamazoo here with me.  I am trying to keep myself busy, but that is hard when you don't know many people.  I had lunch and siesta the other day with Katy (my host mom) and we went to visit her daughter, Rebeca.  I really miss having that "family" here to go home to.  I seem to be spending a lot of time alone so far.  I have 3 roommates, but they all left for the weekend.  I've just got to get used to this new lifestyle, which I am sure will get better once I start teaching.  My orientation isn't until the 30th, though, so until then I am going to need to keep myself pretty busy.
I hope everyone back home is doing great.  I miss you all a lot.  I've been trying not to think about the huge Atlantic ocean that separates us.  Keep in touch and take care of yourselves.
Love always,
Kate