I miss home on Sundays

I think everyone has that little nostalgic feeling on Sundays no matter where he or she is in the world or whom he or she is with. I typically spend Sundays alone, unless traveling, catching up, reading, preparing, thinking about what I haven't gotten done, feeling bad about that, enjoying a movie on my tiny TV, and chatting with Jesùs, a clase particulare student, in the evenings. Today I have been trying to put together the puzzle that is my Christmas break in order to get in as much travel as possible for the least amount of money. The latter is surely impossible. It is a beast. With my slow internet connection and the enormous amount of so-they-say cheap airline options I have spent hours going back and forth. But I have accomplished booking a flight to Prague and will be skiing with Kylah and Felipe in the Sierra Nevada at the beginning of 2011. Last night I was the first quest to arrive to my 2nd Thanksgiving feast at Mady, Bryn and Noemi's house so I sat on the couch staring at a map of Europe and feeling overwhelmed by the dozens of cities I have to visit before heading back to the United States. I will surely have to spend another year on this incredible continent.

My fellow American auxiliares, myself and others were able to put together two Thanksgiving dinners this past week. It was great to share the tradition with our Spanish friends. Both Bryn & Kylah were able to pull off the stuffing which is the most important part of the meal. It was delicious. When it was my turn to say aloud what I was thankful for I kept thinking about the movie Hook during the meal scene with all the imaginary food, except that in my case, the food was real, the perfection of my current situation is real. I don't think I've thought about that enough until this weekend.

A couple of weeks ago my umbrella was destroyed by sideways, pelting rain in Moral de Calatrava on my walk to the miniscule shelter of a bus stop where I must sit and wait. With that rain brought very chilly weather to this city, and I'm told it only gets worse from here. I have tackled the phrase, "tengo frio," because I use it every single day.

This Tuesday I went horseback riding in a small pueblo called Migelturra with the music teacher from my school, Marta. Once again, it was another situation in which I could only laugh. It must be 4 years since I've last ridden, and I think I was overconfident when I mounted the horse. Even at the youthful age of 25, my stamina has decreased and I actually got scared for a moment when my Spanish horse started cantering. Of course they gave me Old & Slow. Marta kept yelling, "You must kick him harder!" And I was thinking, yes, I'm kicking the freaking horse as hard I possibly can. "Vamos horsey. Vamos!" The instructor spoke to me in Spanish as if I understood every word, like all the people do here, and I just smiled and made arm motions. The experience was just perfect though. I had lunch at Marta's house in her small village. She showed me that she was practically next door neighbors with her parents and everyone she knows. We looked at photo albums of her travels and Carnivale (I can't for this!) for which she makes all of her costumes.

Seriously almost every experience I have had here has been so pleasant. Despite waiting for trains, occasionally getting rained on, having to walk and walk and walk, I still am constantly learning. I'm so impressed with the Spanish peoples' commitment to their families. Everyone I've met has been more than hospitable, welcoming, eager to share this pleasurable country with me.

Tomorrow starts my week 1 week, as I call it, and then we have a puente and a ton of vacation time!

I do miss, but I'd miss this more right now. Hasta pronto.

I sit with my english thoughts

Everyone in Spain loves futbol (soccer) especially the children, and since Spain is coming off a World Cup win, they are even more ecstatic. There are some talented 8-year-old athletes in my classes who know everything about soccer. As I mentioned, I teach English in a LOT of P.E. classes. I know very little about the standards for physical education but have spent some time looking up old games we use to play in middle school like Capture the Flag which the teachers find very fascinating. Today I finally met the "real" P.E. coaches after being confused for a month about why I was working with teachers who spoke zero English. The female coach was in Canada teaching and the male coach was on paternity leave. Yes, paternity leave.. for a month. Ana greeted me with a ginormous hug and her enthusiasm poured out during the very first class of 2nd graders. I also met Javi today. If you have the typical American idea of what a "Javi" would be, you're exactly right. This 6"3 beast of a man has deep eyes and dark longish hair, curls at the end, and gel to hold it back. His nose is large. His skin is tanned all year 'round. He of course played professional (or some sort of semi-professional) futbol in his "younger" years although he doesn't look a day over 30. He speaks Spanish fast and loudly, using his hands to get the point across to the children. I have finally seen a real Spanish man. Later this afternoon I mentioned to Manoli my take on Javi, and she, without discretion, offered up the information that he "has been successful with many of the ladies in the past." I, at first, thought she kept saying "sexual", which is really the same, and we had a huge laugh. Today I also sat through a meeting where two representatives from some healthcare company were trying to persuade the teachers to use their services. The two kept looking at me for some reason, and I nodded as if in agreement although I had no idea what they were talking about. Manoli sat across laughing and poking fun. I got a free multi-colored pen out of it.

There is more play than work at my school. I spend my stressful hours traveling to and from school and the non-stressful hours following teachers around, trying desperately to understand what they'd like me to do and getting hugs from little Spanish niños who robotically say to me, "Hello. How are ju? I'm fine, thanks. bye bye." Hopefully I'll get something accomplished here.