Snow in March

03.05.11 - San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain - It snowed again. In March. And it snowed so much this time it actually stuck around for more than 5 hours. Per usual it did make for some pretty pictures.

-Will

Ominous clouds behind the monastery.
Passing along the monastery square in the snow.
Smile!
This was the next morning (Saturday) where a poor groomsman had to make a dash through the snow to get to his car to pick up his waiting partner (girlfriend? bride?) outside the Miranda-Suizo Hotel.
Snowmen!

Peace Day

02.04.11 - Robledo de Chavela, Spain - We celebrated Peace Day at school today. Every class spent the week making posters and collecting money to donate to Save the Children in Haiti. On Friday we marched around the town square and officially gave the money to the officials at the town hall. It was a fun march and most all of the kids had a relative or two who came out to watch. Such is life in the pueblo.

-Will

Marching back to school.

The five year-olds doing their part.
Maria (girl with the hood) and Eva (teacher, pink) give the first grade donation to the town hall.
Rusland gets a participation sticker.

Pablo trying to dry the poster before we left.

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.