Christmas Vacation

12.22.10 - Robledo de Chavela, Spain - We had a small get together after the last before vacation at the hotel in town. The tapas were good. After two weeks of mystery and anticipation the Secret Santas were revealed and the gifts were aplenty.

-Will

Javi and Ana hug.
Ana (x2).
Paco, paco, paco.

Christmas is for the kidz

12.22.10 - Robledo de Chavela, Spain - The final days before Christmas break were a blitz to finish Christmas projects. The first graders made gold ornaments to take home. We also got a visit by the three wisemen (los Reyes Magos, in Spanish tradition, they deliver the presents, not jolly ol' what's his name), who gave every kid a small present. The kids had a good time and we (the teachers) were happy because we could leverage the visit in the weeks leading up to Christmas, which made for slightly easier lessons.

Ho, ho, ho,

Will

Patricia gets a gift from on of the wisemen. (Yes, that's blackface. It's not frowned upon here. In general, the Spanish aren't politically correct about anything and certainly don't think twice about painting their faces black because, well, Balthazar is black in the paintings, so you know, you've got to get these things right. Take the good with the bad sometimes.)

A letter to our Reyes.
Pensive looks.
Christmas balls (hehe).
Everything's a process in first grade.

Saturday

12.11.10 - San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain - We went to Vilalba for the afternoon and I brought my camera for no apparent reason. Here's a late fall shot of the park here and the vermouth I had while shopping. Try it some time. It's the ultimate drink around 1pm on Saturday.

-Will

The park.
Martini glass.

Snow - Part 1

11.30.10 - San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain - Anyone who tells you that it is always sunny and warm in Spain is a liar. In fact, it even snows sometimes, especially when you live in a mountainside village. Between the periodic snow this year and the daily Galician rain showers of last year, my vision of sunny Spain has successfully been skewed. The only good things I can say about it is: it's pretty; it makes even Spanish children creepily quiet; and it usually melts in a day.

Hoorah!

Will

You can just make out the monastery in the distance.
Train station in Robledo.

The view out of my window.

Thanksgiving

11.25.11 - Robledo de Chavela, Spain - Thanksgiving always makes me homesick given that combines my two favorite things in the world: good food and football. The last two years I've made an effort to impart the importance of Thanksgiving to Spaniards. In turn, they've nodded and smiled.

This year I set about brainwashing my students by teaching them the story of the first Thanksgiving and making them make hand turkeys. Most of them thought they were peacocks, so you probably have an idea of how successful I was. Be that as it may, we learned something dammit.

On Saturday (I know, I know, but they don't give you a day off in the middle of the week here), we celebrated with Americans and the ever present Eramus students. I think we horrified the French students with the amount of food, but the Spanish and Belgians seemed happy. At any rate the food was good (and the wine too!) and we left set for the Christmas season.

-Will

The making of a hand turkey.
We put them on the wall outside my class.
Libby carving the bird.
Mmmm, pie.

Yes, I have a photo of President Obama in my classroom. Yes, I dress him up for holidays. Got a problem with that?

TECS Review Weekend

11.21.10 - El Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain - TECS invited me to come down for Camp Review Weekend at the end of November and be a part of their annual conference on how to improve camp. It was barely 36 hours in El Puerto and the weather was terrible (rain and 45 degrees F), but we had a good time anyway.

-Will

Inge.
David Navarro.
Douglas.
Hiking the Garganta Verde.
Ali, bejeweled.
RuthAnna
Doug and Patrick
Ella's cupcakes.

Halloween

10.31.10 - Robledo de Chavela, Spain - We celebrated Halloween at CEIP Nuestra Señora de La Navahonda today and had a great time playing pin the legs on Frankenstein's monster, making candy spiders and mummies. I don't think the children descended to far into witchcraft. And yes, I did scare a few of them.

-Will

Mateo the Mummy.
Eloisa instructing the first graders on the pumpkin dance.
Jose eating.
Pin the head on Frankenstein's monster.

Fifth graders doing a mash-up of Thriller and the Monster Mash with zombie make-up. A classic.

Segovia

10.28.10 - Segovia, Spain - The fourth week of school I got to go with the fifth and sixth graders to Segovia. I know, my job is awesome. Stop.

I hadn't been, so it was a cool visit, though we didn't spend much time wandering the streets. I especially liked the aqueduct and the old Jewish quarter. We also made a stop at the Esteban Vicente Contemporary Art Museum (free entrance), which is worth a visit.

-Will

The kids posing in front of the aqueduct.
You can make out the cathedral and a photographer in the sunglasses. It was a great day.
Javi giving his best tour guide impression in front of the cathedral to open-mouthed fifth graders.
As I mentioned I found the Jewish quarter particularily interesting and plan to go back to try the sefardic food. This was a monument in the area.
We took a drawing lesson at the art museum. It was cool, but knowing the limits of my artistic abilities, I stuck to making photographs of kids drawing. So sue me.

Food Fair

10.20.10 - Madrid, Spain - My first week of school I got to go on a field trip. We went to the "5 al Dia" (five fruits and veggies a day) fruit festival at the Madrid Food Fair. The kids had good time and met the stars of Lazytown and got to make fruit and vegetable kebabs.

Exciting,

Will

Sara
Joel and Antonio make kebabs.
Unai skeptically tries a kebab.
I think Luna (middle) was tired of all the fruit. Or perhaps overwhelmed.
Kevin.