Sunday, December 18, 2011
Christmas Madness
I am very very very tired.
We just finished our Christmas program. It's done. Finally.
We've only been truly working on it since last Monday but it's been very hectic and very exhausting. Every night after school we stayed late to design and make props. This wouldn't have been too bad except I was sick all week and less hours of sleep were really hurting me. Last night was the real killer though. We had to wait for a youth Christmas program to end and all of the people to clear out of the church then we went to work. First we cleaned up what was left from the youth thing, then we set up lots and lots of props and wall hangings and moved benches and pulpits and pianos. I built a sheep pen to contain the little kids, (not as bad as it sounds...), we made a river flow across the stage. In essence we built Bethlehem. We even threw sawdust and straw all over the floor just to make it look realistic. It was almost two a.m. when we finished, I went home and crashed.
We had to be in today at 10 to get the kids ready. Although they weren't supposed to be here until 11. Almost all of the parents were already waiting to drop their crying kids off with us and make a break for it. We accepted... grudgingly, got them ready in their little sheep costumes. They were adorable. I'll get some general pictures up soon. At 11:30 we had them ready and marched them down the aisle to see them sing, and to sing ourselves. The professors had a song to sing too. It went pretty good I think.
After it was all over we took the kids back to the classroom so their parents could pick them up. We served some drinks and snacks and I got to talk to a lot of parents. There were also lots of photo shoots holding kids so the parents could get a picture. It was entertaining.
Instead of clean up today we all opted to do that part of the job tomorrow. It will be a big job but if all the teachers help it should go pretty fast. For now I'm just glad that I get to sit down for a few hours. It has been very insightful to see this from the teachers point of view. It's a lot more work then the students will ever know about, but it was worth it to see how well the kids enjoyed it, and how well their performance went. I really enjoyed the whole experience. Now please excuse me. I'm going to bed.
We just finished our Christmas program. It's done. Finally.
We've only been truly working on it since last Monday but it's been very hectic and very exhausting. Every night after school we stayed late to design and make props. This wouldn't have been too bad except I was sick all week and less hours of sleep were really hurting me. Last night was the real killer though. We had to wait for a youth Christmas program to end and all of the people to clear out of the church then we went to work. First we cleaned up what was left from the youth thing, then we set up lots and lots of props and wall hangings and moved benches and pulpits and pianos. I built a sheep pen to contain the little kids, (not as bad as it sounds...), we made a river flow across the stage. In essence we built Bethlehem. We even threw sawdust and straw all over the floor just to make it look realistic. It was almost two a.m. when we finished, I went home and crashed.
We had to be in today at 10 to get the kids ready. Although they weren't supposed to be here until 11. Almost all of the parents were already waiting to drop their crying kids off with us and make a break for it. We accepted... grudgingly, got them ready in their little sheep costumes. They were adorable. I'll get some general pictures up soon. At 11:30 we had them ready and marched them down the aisle to see them sing, and to sing ourselves. The professors had a song to sing too. It went pretty good I think.
After it was all over we took the kids back to the classroom so their parents could pick them up. We served some drinks and snacks and I got to talk to a lot of parents. There were also lots of photo shoots holding kids so the parents could get a picture. It was entertaining.
Instead of clean up today we all opted to do that part of the job tomorrow. It will be a big job but if all the teachers help it should go pretty fast. For now I'm just glad that I get to sit down for a few hours. It has been very insightful to see this from the teachers point of view. It's a lot more work then the students will ever know about, but it was worth it to see how well the kids enjoyed it, and how well their performance went. I really enjoyed the whole experience. Now please excuse me. I'm going to bed.
Miss you guys.
Logan sent me some pictures in his christmas package. This was one of them.
I was showing the kids them when one asked, "Are those your brothers?"
I said, "Yes."
Valencia and Sagunto
Two weeks ago I had a week off from school so I met Carrie in Sagunto. We were excited to go and explore and ... to speak English! I stayed in the boys dorm at Sagunto where I had my own room. We got to see Sagunto and meet lots of people, and spent a lot of time wandering around Valencia looking at old buildings and exploring cathedrals. We even took the tourist bus so we wouldn't miss anything.
One day we went to see the beach, the ocean was beautiful if a little cold. Another we saw old Roman Ruins and a Bethlehem model. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The school is surrounded my mandarin orange trees and everyday I had one for breakfast. YUM! There was a starbucks in Valencia. It was decorated just like the ones back home and the baristas spoke English. It was awesome and reminded me of home. I wish there was a starbucks in Zaragoza. Oh well! I make my own coffee! We also picked up some awesome frozen yogurt from one of the shops there. It was all around a good trip food-wise.
At night I was visited by the birds who lived on my balcony, and I enjoyed chilling with a random bird sitting on my desk. It was also very warm down in Valencia so I slept with my balcony door open. The warm breeze was perfect. I did not want to come back up to the cold. Although it's warmer here then at home it's still too cold for me! No me gusta winter!
One day we went to see the beach, the ocean was beautiful if a little cold. Another we saw old Roman Ruins and a Bethlehem model. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The school is surrounded my mandarin orange trees and everyday I had one for breakfast. YUM! There was a starbucks in Valencia. It was decorated just like the ones back home and the baristas spoke English. It was awesome and reminded me of home. I wish there was a starbucks in Zaragoza. Oh well! I make my own coffee! We also picked up some awesome frozen yogurt from one of the shops there. It was all around a good trip food-wise.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Thanksgiving
This is quite a bit late, but I've been busy and rather lazy.
Thanksgiving was awesome. It wasn't like at home but it was still fun. On Wednesday night Anabel and I went to the grocery store and picked up some food. A pumpkin, some turkey, some chicken, the works. When we got home we pureed the pumpkin to get it ready. We also got a lot of other food ready. Then went to bed. The next day I had school. It went as normal except for all the kids making hand prints for the giant turkey bulletin board that Lola made. It was awesome. After school I went home and made mashed potatoes and the pie. Anabel got home at 9 and finished the turken (turkey and chicken) Ruth and her husband showed up at 9:30 and we had a wonderful meal followed by lots of fun games. Escobas, Jenga, and Rummy with tiles.
I was glad to be able to celebrate thanksgiving, and had a lot of fun. I am so thankful to everyone here that helped make Thanksgiving awesome for me!
Thanksgiving was awesome. It wasn't like at home but it was still fun. On Wednesday night Anabel and I went to the grocery store and picked up some food. A pumpkin, some turkey, some chicken, the works. When we got home we pureed the pumpkin to get it ready. We also got a lot of other food ready. Then went to bed. The next day I had school. It went as normal except for all the kids making hand prints for the giant turkey bulletin board that Lola made. It was awesome. After school I went home and made mashed potatoes and the pie. Anabel got home at 9 and finished the turken (turkey and chicken) Ruth and her husband showed up at 9:30 and we had a wonderful meal followed by lots of fun games. Escobas, Jenga, and Rummy with tiles.
I was glad to be able to celebrate thanksgiving, and had a lot of fun. I am so thankful to everyone here that helped make Thanksgiving awesome for me!
Monday, November 14, 2011
New House, Wedding ... Noises, and the Scent of Adventure.
Well hello there avid reader! I'm so glad you could make it for this installment of me writing about my life. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I am. ;)
Remember the power problems I told you about? Well as it turns out there was something majorly wrong with the house I was staying in and the family I was with had to move out. This would have left me homeless, luckily Anabel, a very nice fellow teacher, invited me to live with her and her son. So here I am in my room with power and dun dun duh INTERNET! I really liked Moises and Flor, but I think I will feel much more at home here. So that is a blessing.
This Sunday I attended a wedding at the church. Moises and Flor have been married for a while, but they never got a big church wedding so this was it. I arrived on time to find very few people at the church. After a half hour or so things started to liven up, and about an hour late the wedding got under way. It was very similar to an American wedding. The differences I noticed were... the Bride and Groom walk down the isle together, they get to sit down while the pastor talks, they didn't seem to have vows, and they put the rings on after the kiss. All and all it was interesting to see and I'm glad I went.
Today I got confirmation from Carrie the sm in Madrid that she would like to tour Rome over Christmas break. So I hopped on Ryan Air today and purchased my ticket from Paris to Rome and from Rome back to Zaragoza. I haven't decided if I'm going to do anything before Paris yet... It's quite expensive even with the cheap plane flights. I'm so excited to be going for sure though! Paris and Rome are cities I have always wanted to see. I am itching to go and explore and see all the things I've always wanted to see. I've decided no matter how much I get to see this year, I'm going to have to come back, because there is way more to see, then I have money and free time to see.
New Years in Paris should be a great time, then 4 days in Rome! :)
Remember the power problems I told you about? Well as it turns out there was something majorly wrong with the house I was staying in and the family I was with had to move out. This would have left me homeless, luckily Anabel, a very nice fellow teacher, invited me to live with her and her son. So here I am in my room with power and dun dun duh INTERNET! I really liked Moises and Flor, but I think I will feel much more at home here. So that is a blessing.
This Sunday I attended a wedding at the church. Moises and Flor have been married for a while, but they never got a big church wedding so this was it. I arrived on time to find very few people at the church. After a half hour or so things started to liven up, and about an hour late the wedding got under way. It was very similar to an American wedding. The differences I noticed were... the Bride and Groom walk down the isle together, they get to sit down while the pastor talks, they didn't seem to have vows, and they put the rings on after the kiss. All and all it was interesting to see and I'm glad I went.
Today I got confirmation from Carrie the sm in Madrid that she would like to tour Rome over Christmas break. So I hopped on Ryan Air today and purchased my ticket from Paris to Rome and from Rome back to Zaragoza. I haven't decided if I'm going to do anything before Paris yet... It's quite expensive even with the cheap plane flights. I'm so excited to be going for sure though! Paris and Rome are cities I have always wanted to see. I am itching to go and explore and see all the things I've always wanted to see. I've decided no matter how much I get to see this year, I'm going to have to come back, because there is way more to see, then I have money and free time to see.
New Years in Paris should be a great time, then 4 days in Rome! :)
Monday, November 7, 2011
Power Problems and Sagunto
Last Wednesday when I got home from school the power was out. Moises had candles for me and I got around okay and even got some reading by candle light in before heading to bed. Thursday morning the power was still out so I had a cold shower and headed off to school. That night Moises told me that the power issue has something to do with the wiring and it is a serious issue, the power will probably be out for a while. I told Ana Lugo at school and she is going to try and find out more about it. I can't talk to Moises very well about it as he only speaks Spanish. Anabel found out I didn't have power and offered to let me stay at her house so I stayed there Friday night and got some laundry done. The next morning I met Hector, one of the older church youth members and rode with him and some friends down to Sagunto. There was a big volleyball rally going on and we were all going to play. We got there early and waited through church before I got hooked up with the sister of the Pastor in Zaragoza's wife. I went with her family to eat lunch and hang out for the afternoon. As it turns out her husband moved to Walla Walla from Spain when he was 14 and went through highschool at the academy there. It was fun to talk to him and he was very helpful with telling me about travel options here as well.
Next I played volleyball. I was put with a random team called Freaky Team 2. We played two games and lost them both but it was fun anyway. The second team we played was against a lot of the Americans at Sagunto. One of them tried to ask me for a translation and was surprised when I told him that I didn't speak Spanish. I met a lot them and found out that they will all be in Paris for New Years. It was good to talk to people fluent in English and I may have found some travel companions.
I stayed in the dorm that night, watched the championship games the next morning, ate lunch at burger king, and then headed home. All in all it was a great weekend, I really need to go back to Sagunto though, I didn't get to swim in the mediterranean and I really want to. I did get to see all the mandarin orange trees though and it was beautiful.
Disclaimer:
I know my posts don't flow very well and they probably have some grammatical issues, but I am writing them very quickly. If I stopped to make them sound good I think I'd lose interest. So I'm sorry but this is what you get. :)
Next I played volleyball. I was put with a random team called Freaky Team 2. We played two games and lost them both but it was fun anyway. The second team we played was against a lot of the Americans at Sagunto. One of them tried to ask me for a translation and was surprised when I told him that I didn't speak Spanish. I met a lot them and found out that they will all be in Paris for New Years. It was good to talk to people fluent in English and I may have found some travel companions.
I stayed in the dorm that night, watched the championship games the next morning, ate lunch at burger king, and then headed home. All in all it was a great weekend, I really need to go back to Sagunto though, I didn't get to swim in the mediterranean and I really want to. I did get to see all the mandarin orange trees though and it was beautiful.
Disclaimer:
I know my posts don't flow very well and they probably have some grammatical issues, but I am writing them very quickly. If I stopped to make them sound good I think I'd lose interest. So I'm sorry but this is what you get. :)
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