Educational Oddities

It's time to share some more quirks about school in spain/my school/my particular classes so far!

-Teachers are obsessed with not letting students see them eat. I have to admit we were actually warned about this at Orientation before arriving at our schools (it's an authority thing?! or politeness thing??), but never really focused on it until the other day. After school I was heading into the teacher's lounge (more on that another day..hah, LOUNGE, yeahhhh...) to grab my coat and leave and the door was (somewhat unusually) almost closed. I pushed it open and sort of half-assed partially closed it, because I saw the religion professor (teacher, but the kids call them profesores so it's hard not to just translate to "professor," plus I think that habit is left over from college!) eating a clementine at the table and thought nothing of it, and figured I could close the door for real as I left. WELL! She practically screeched "close the door! close it! close it! the kids are out in the hall! i'm eating!" and I was so taken aback that I think I just stuttered out an apology and closed the door more fully. Teachers make sure to eat at 1:45 (lunch goes from 12:30-2:30) ie after the kids have finished eating and COMPLETELY cleared out of the cafeteria. Whaaaaa??? Needless to say, the other auxiliares and I have mostly stuck to this bizarre (to me) norm, but sometimes *gasp* we let go and let the kids see us eating. Culturally insensitive or cultural ambassador? Anyway.

-There is no toilet paper or soap or paper towels in any of the student bathrooms (probably a low-budget-school-trick...supplies don't come cheap, I guess?). When students need to go to the bathroom, they either squirt soap into one hand (from the bottle on the teacher's desk) (how they actually USE the bathroom after that, I do not know...) or they go, come back, and THEN get soap, return to the bathroom, and wash their hands. And return to class and dry their hands with toilet paper. I don't know. But I wash my hands whenever possible.

-In a similar vein, there are no soccer nets on any soccer goals at any school or public soccer place. I am 75% sure this is because they would be stolen or vandalized within about 2 hours of being put up. I try try try to refrain from making generalizations about spaniards or even madrileños, but based on relatively extensive travels around the country as well as about a year and a quarter living here, the everpresent and unavoidable graffiti EEEEEEVERYWHEEEEREEE seems to indicate a lack of respect for public spaces/property (something spaniards have acknowledged or explained to me, too). Or maybe the culture of teens hanging out in the streets instead of at people's houses leads to a higher propensity to mess with the space you are in? At any rate, when there are many soccer games going on in a school courtyard (like at Gerar's school, near Atocha, which is HUUUUGE and fits like 5 soccer "fields" in the central courtyard) it can be pretty unsettling to see goals being scored and the balls sailing right on through the back of the goal, to land in the middle of another game, basketball court, or simply to bounce and roll away, perhaps endangering a small child or hapless passerby along the way. The coaches couldn't bring nets with them to put up for practice?!

-This may be a european thing and not just a spanish one, but you have your teachers and then you have your "monitoras" aka women who come in at lunch time to take kids to and from the cafeteria (different from lunch ladies) and later lead them in physical education exercises (or something) so they are occupied for the whole 2 hours of lunch. Perhaps not as strange as I make it sound, but somewhat amusing/interesting to me that there are people who only show up to corral kids during recess. Julio's brother's girlfriend does this. It has to be a truly thankless and frustrating job, because as a monitora you don't really get those awesome Teaching Moments of Glory when your students finally GET something. Plus every class I have after recess ALWAYS involves some sort of conversation between the teacher and students about how the teacher has AGAIN gotten a negative report about the class from the monitora. Oops.

-Many teachers wear white coats when they teach. They look like pharmacists. Luckily none of my teachers do, because it would totally throw me off throughout our class. Where did this come from?!

-All kids have these special pencil cases called "estuches" in Spanish. They are like the size of big filofaxes or daily planners and have 2 sides-one for pencil-like crayons, with elastic for EACH SINGULAR CRAYON to have its OWN place, and then the other side is for markers. There is an elastic spot for scissors, glue stick, and sharpener, too. Oh, and eraser (called a rubber....acckkkkkk).



http://www.tiendaoficialbetis.com/images/estuche%20de%20colores.jpg

They kind of crack me up because the kids are so meticulous about putting everything back where it belongs, with colors in rainbow order and all of that.

-Now that the christmas card competition is upon us (the cards are due tomorrow, eeee! then the principal will judge them, with one winner per grade! oh mannnn!) and as it is December, all educational activities apart from christmas related things are ignored, tossed aside, thrown out, done. Basically, we have a lot of song singing (ohhh, so much more on THAT to come!) and card making and costume coloring. The kids are using their estuches in their fullest capacity...and occasionally daring to ask if they can use the markers to color with. Say what? Of course you can, you're 6! Or 8, whatever. Why not?! And their reaction is always "se puede colorear con ROTU!!!" which means "you can color with MARKERS!" (well, rotuladores is markers and they shorten it to rotu, which is cute, so whatever) and is said with such reverence and surprise that you want to just whisper it to each kid, as if you're telling them they're getting a birthday party that day. Marisa (co-auxiliar) once had the same exchange with a student only to have the teacher turn around and see the marker usage and chastise the kid for using it...Marisa had to step in and be like "I told him he could use markers..." and the teacher just gave her a condescending look and sort of sighed. Who wants to explain THAT one to me!?

Anyway, this post was much longer than I had anticipated!

Thanks for reading, and please comment!!!!

Lovelove,
-c-

Thank you, Metro News!

So I was just on the Metro, line 3 to Callao, watching the TV (yes, some trains have TVs in them, close captioned so you can understand what is going on without having volume to bother the hell out of people, super awesome!) and getting my news fix (no TV here means I only watch Spanish TV at Gerardo and Pilar's house (ie Cartoon Network, Playhouse Disney) or at Julio's, which is rare, too).

Anyway, as I was exiting the train, I saw the first line of a news blurb: "50% of Spanish children are considered passive smokers."

And I thought to myself "DAMN STRAIGHT! Now, won't somebody DO something about it?!"

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Now I have to go write new lyrics to "Let it Snow" to reflect the grammar/vocabulary we've been using in one of my 3rd grade classes. Excited? Um...who wants to write it for me?! Bidding starts now!

In other other news, parents and brother arrive in 9 days!

Love,
-c-

Unexplained Mysteries

Why, oh why, oh why...does the lobby of our building frequently smell like a horse stable that has been recently vacated??!?!?!

Not my favorite thing to smell as I wait for the elevator.

Love,
-c-

My 22nd Birthday!!!!!

It's now December (huzzah!) and thus officially time to write about my EXTENDED 22nd birthday weekend.

I'm going to try to keep this short and sweet, because really I just want to thank everyone who sent me something (letter, package, facebook message, good thoughts) or was part of making my birthday so super special. As Jake Daly mentioned in his SERIOUSLY glorious and sweet letter, there is nothing quite so great as mail from home when you are abroad.

On Thursday (the 19th) I had planned to go out to dinner at a delicious italian restaurant near our apartment with my roommates. So we went, had FANTASTIC pizza (I had gnocchi last time. ALSO amazing. Have I mentioned I'm going to Rome in January?! Good thing I will be doing a lot of walking there...), and sauntered home, stopping by some book stores. We got home, I made myself some tea and sat down to mess around on my computer when Alanna called me into her room saying that she needed translation help...so I went next door, not really suspecting anything, and she and MaryAlison were there with a cake with a "22" candle, champagne, presents, and even homemade confetti!!!!!!! They started singing happy birthday and eventually I stopped thanking them enough to sit down to eat some cake with them.

MaryAlison had sneakily made it and frosted it with HOMEMADE FROSTING (that she had made right in front of me that afternoon without me noticing AT ALL!) and it was epically delicious. Then I opened my presents, which were 2 shoeboxes full of amazing american food or baking needs. Plus beautiful cards and party snappers and AH it was so great. Oh, they had also kidnapped a package that I'd received in the mail so it was a surprise! Julio called me at midnight to be the first to officially wish me a happy 22nd and then we girls snuggled up and watched Gossip Girl.

Friday morning (the 20th, the "big" day) I woke up and opened a letter/present from Lindsay, a girl I work with at school, a card from Poppi and a package from Kat. Glorious! Thank you, all of you!!!!! Too, too great. I read congratulatory messages on Facebook and headed out to mail some letters of my own, only to find a package from my brother, aunt, and letter from Jake Daly in my mailbox. AWESOME! On the way home I bought myself some bright yellow flowers and couldn't help but tell the lady that it was for myself, for my birthday. She laughed and said that another girl had just come in and told her the same thing!! I finally opened the package from my parents and looked around my room in awe at all of the amazing things I had been given--I have THE nicest friends and family, truly, seriously, honestly, you made this birthday one of my most memorable and love-filled birthdays ever, which is extra hard to do considering I am an ocean away from all of you!!!

Friday afternoon Julio arrived from Salamanca and we ate dinner here then went to see "Away We Go" at the versión original theater next to my house--in english with spanish subtitles, not dubbed like the rest of the non-spanish movies that come to Spain. I remember it not getting the greatest reception in the US when it came out this summer but I can safely say it is now one of my favorite movies. Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski are well-cast and it is just so...sweet! The other characters are awful and hilarious and I haven't laughed as hard as I did at a scene with Maggie Gyllenhaal...go see it, tell me what you think! Or rent it, I guess.

All in all, everything had been perfect so far and I couldn't have asked for more, but I knew Julio had something extra planned for Saturday. We had discussed going to a fancy-ish hotel in Madrid so it would feel like a vacation without the stress and cost of really traveling, but I left the planning up to him and he kept EVERYTHING a secret. So.

Saturday morning, he said "dress nicely, pack a suitcase for a night, and bring a bathing suit." Hmmm....We got on the Metro and went to Chamartín (the train station to the north of the city center), so I thought we were taking a trip out of the city...but Julio led us out of the station and we got in a taxi. 5 minutes later we were pulling up to one of the 4 Towers (skyscrapers on the Paseo de la Castellana that are one of the many landmarks of Madrid, especially its skyline)...the one that is a 5-star hotel. YEAH. As the valet-guy (see how uncultured I am?! I don't even know what he's called!) opened my taxi door and led me out, all I could think was "dress nicely?! I don't even own clothes in the US that are nice enough to be worn here!!!!" As we checked in, Julio was like "oh yeah, we have a spa session later. And an insane breakfast buffet tomorrow morning. Happy birthday!" You can see some photos here, though I was too busy reveling in the views (the views, the views! yes the spa was relaxing and AWESOME but seriously the views down towards the center of Madrid from 29 floors up were worth every penny!!!!!) to really take "good" photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cefreedman/22ndBirthdayWeekend#

Even though I would never consider myself a 5-star hotel kind of person and I felt so much like a little kid dressing up in her mother's high heels and fancy clothes, pretending to be a grownup for most of the time in the hotel, it was so so so so generous and sweet of Julio to plan all of that with the goal of giving us time "away" that was just about relaxing. We had dinner out at an italian place (I know, I knoooow) and came back and watched Iron Man. When I got back to our apartment on Sunday I actually felt as though I had been on a week-long getaway. No joke!!! In the US, they call weekends like that "stay-cations" and I tried to teach Julio the word. Wow. So, so, so lovely and such a luxurious surprise!!!!!! Thank you again, Julio!!!

Monday (the 23rd!!) I was given 3 cards from 3 of my classes. Well, more like nearly 60 cards because each student drew me a picture or made me a card or wrote me something. TOO SWEET! One of the classes sent me on a trick mission and when I came back to class, I opened the door and they all had balloons in their hands plus there were balloons all over the floor. And they sang happy birthday to me. TOO AWESOME!!!!! The best part? Well, one of the funniest-I teach science only to one of the 3rd grade classes and we've been doing a lot of work on the human body lately...so many of them drew a human figure (like an anatomy model showing all the organs!) in their cards!!! Pretty bizarre if you don't know the story behind it! Definitely the most unique (I know, "most unique" is not correct grammar) cards I've ever gotten!

PLEASE look at those cards here, it will absolutely be worth your while:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cefreedman/22ndBirthdayWeekend#

Thursday I got a package from Sammie, which was ALSO super thoughtful and seriously seriously cool. I miss you so much, Sammie, and can't wait to see you over March break!!! Your sense of humor and thoughtfulness come through in all aspects of who you are and I'm so glad we're friends!!!!

Thank you thank you all again for all of your love and support, and for being so loyal and FABULOUS. I'm glad I have you in my lives and I hope someday I can send YOU something that makes you feel as lucky as I did to have my birthday in Spain!

Loooooove,
-c-

Another Way Teaching is Different from Childcare

This morning in my first class (1st grade with Miss Helen, I have them 5 times a week, we know each other pretty well...) we were sitting around the "carpet"



(http://www.pgfoam.co.uk/images/img-foamjigsaw.jpg)

working on food vocabulary (the kids are learning that corn is sweet corn...a british thing??) when I noticed that one girl was playing with a rubber band and basically aiming it around the circle. I don't think she was planning on actually shooting it, although knowing her, it IS possible, but the point is it was clearly dangerous and she shouldn't have been playing with it PLUS she should have been listening/paying attention (something this class has been REALLY struggling with lately...talk about feeling like a broken record! on the plus side, i'm perfecting my scathing death glare...YOU know the one!).

So I said "Diana, please give me the rubber band, what you're doing is dangerous." To make a long story short, she refused, even as I asked her at least 5 times more, calmly and sternly. I told her if she wouldn't give it to me, she could leave the carpet (a common threat and occurrence in this class--a practice used by the teacher, not invented by me). She wouldn't give it to me, not even after about a full 2 minutes of a stare-down and repetition of what I wanted her to do. So I took it from her, and asked her to leave the carpet. She wouldn't. Just stared at me. Not moving.

Needless to say there were 22 other 6-year-olds staring at us, actually QUIET once and for all...some of them even started saying "Diana, go to your chair!" in an exasperated Spanish, others translated what I was saying into Spanish even though she definitely understood everything. I felt like she was going to win this battle even though I knew my credibility as an Order Maintainer was on the line and that I couldn't let her win. Miss Helen got into the fray, telling Diana that not only was she being rude by not answering me, but she was being actively disobedient (not in such words, of course) and that she had to do what I told her right away or things would get worse.

Eventually Miss Helen assigned her 2 weeks without recess instead of the 1 she already had from an incident last week (9 kids from that class took a 5th graders book of trading cards and ripped them all up and threw the whole thing in the trash...I wasn't around to witness it, but I'm still shocked, especially since 2 of my favorite GOOD students from that class were part of the band of rebels...) and though she stayed on the carpet, when I came back after break for Science class with them, she wasn't allowed to come to the carpet with the rest of the class until she apologized to Miss Helen and me.

Oh, and the best part? I apologized quietly to Miss Helen during Science--I felt badly that I had taken up so much class time trying (and mostly failing) to discipline a kid, which technically isn't my job. Her reply? "That's okay, she was being dangerous. And not listening. Plus we're right where we need to be in the English book so we have a little bit of time to waste."

If something similar had happened at my place of work this summer?

The rubber band would have been taken away immediately and they would have been put in time out. I would have bodily placed them in time out if they wouldn't go themselves (the benefits of working with 4- and 5-year-olds, and if there was any problem, I would have called for whomever (whoever?!) was on duty in the head office and they would have come in within 15 seconds and taken the kid away for a serious time out and talking to on The Couch. Problem solved.

Sigh.

Friday Musings--Train to Salamanca

Good things:

-On the Metro, bald, bearded man with messenger bag genuinely laughing out loud at "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" by Muriel Barbery
-On the Metro, young guy with bright red mohawk at least 4" tall
-Helping a nice mexican girl get from the Metro at Chamartín to her train to Albacete. She told me Boston was the most European US city, which makes it the second time I've heard that.
-Someone on the train has a phone ring that is "Son of a Preacher Man" and makes me think of Sammie.
-Iker Casillas (goalie for Real Madrid) is really, really hot. But I'm still a Barça fan.

Not good things:

-Musicians on the Metro. Especially accordionists with accompanying friend playing tambourine. And singing guitarists who have the same route as your commute and play the same songs. Also old women who sing karaoke in the Metro stations late at night in wavery, awful voices. And the crooners in the Metro stations who sing cheesy ballads. Badly. Earnestly. All of it is just too tragic and obnoxious for me.
-Renfe train to Salamanca: Cars 1-3. Renfe tickets for train to Salamanca: Cars 1-6. Good one, Renfe.



Love to all!
(and oh my god, it's almost December! YAAAAY!)
-c-

Happy Thanksgiving!!

At my school here in Spain, for some reason or another, Thanksgiving has not really caught on. That is to say, it is almost actively avoided as a teaching point/cultural exercise. Halloween and St. Patrick's day, however, are embraced wholeheartedly (no joke. St. Patrick's Day?!?!). Perhaps it's too close to Christmas? Too similar to Christmas in its family-oriented spirit?? Halloween is such a candy-heavy and seemingly pointless holiday that they are averse to any more American holidays!?

Frankly, it actually makes me really sad that Thanksgiving isn't really taught at this bilingual school because it is easily my favorite holiday. And not just because of the pie. This is probably preaching to the choir, but I love Thanksgiving because it is so uncomplicated. I know, I know, I can't say that until I've been in charge of preparing an entire Thanksgiving dinner for extended family, but the MESSAGE and general atmosphere of the holiday is just so homey and lovely and I have always loved that it falls so close to my birthday because my feelings toward both "holidays" are pretty much the same (ie nostalgia, satisfaction with my lot in life, love and good feeling towards all of those I care about).

The point of Thanksgiving, of course, is to eat good food with good friends and family and take the time to reflect on the past year and give thanks for all that you are grateful for in your life. I know that much of that turns up again at christmastime but frankly I feel like christmas can get so twisted and changed by presents and stresses that come from extended time with family and all of the confusing religious/secular issues, not to mention the whole jewish heritage thing. Don't get me wrong, I love christmas, too, but Thanksgiving just feels so...straightforward. And warm. And awesome. Sigh.

Anyway.

I was exaggerating a little bit when I said it was ignored at my school because today one of my 3rd grade teachers surprised me by turning Thanksgiving into the topic of our entire English class. He was like "Oh, Miss Casey, I saw something on television yesterday morning as I ate my breakfast [clarify what breakfast and television are] and I think you might be able to explain it to me. I think it has to do with a holiday that is very special to you and Miss Marisa." So the kids starting getting excited and calling things out in Spanish (reasons why the day might be special), which included "you're going to be our judo teacher!!!!!" and "you got into university!!!!" and "your family is coming tomorrowwwww!!!!!" Obviously none of those things was the case.

So he explained that he had seen President Obama and a turkey on TV yesterday and wondered what that was about. He sat down and pretended to be a student so he could learn about this wonderful holiday (he KNEW, he was just playing around to get the students interested. Just to clarify). So I was like "Aw, Mr. Martin, I am afraid I have some bad news for you. Was that turkey you saw yesterday living?" and he said "Yes..." and I was like "Unfortunately I think that turkey is not living any more today," and the kids all gasped, not ACTUALLY freaked out, just going along with us, "because I think today President Obama is eating that turkey [time to clarify what turkey is]." Which might seem cruel and a weird way to segue into Thanksgiving talk but anyway it was funny.

I'm pretty sure he made the decision to focus on Thanksgiving on the spot but it was alright because it meant I got to draw a turkey, football, pumpkin pie, and ear of corn on the board. I told them about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (they never quite got what a parade was, but the word is desfile in spanish, just in case you were wondering), and the Pilgrims and Indians (talk about a simplified and probably politically incorrect and DEFINITELY historically inaccurate story...ah well, the kids are so excited that Mom and Dad and Aaron will be visiting their class in a month that they won't remember half the stuff I taught them today, anyway!) and then Mr. Martin and I had to clarify what the hell Thanksgiving even MEANT...and once they got it, we did the classic (to me) activity of having them each come up with something they were thankful for. Some kids could have cared less but most of them were so cute, saying "I am thankful for...I have a family!" and others "I am thankful for...how you say [teachers who are funny] or [that Miss Casey teaches us English]" and others "I am thankful for...I have computer!" Cuteness.

I have been thinking about this post since at least last week, around the time people started sending me things for my birthday. I am quite rushed as I write this because I need to get on the Metro with a salad and toppings, a pumpkin pie, a bottle of wine, a wine glass and my own plate to make it to dinner with Grace (a friend from Midd Language School) and her friends. I'm excited but truly quite nervous about the journey that awaits me...ack.

I have a list about a mile long of things I am thankful for, but I'm sure you can imagine it. It includes family, friends, international mail, being in spain with a paying job, getting to teach silly little kids, having a degree from my favorite college ever, having the support and encouragement of so many people around the world no matter what I do, and all sorts of other 1st world comforts. And much more.

If you are reading this, I am thankful for you, and if you aren't reading this but are thinking of me or even just enjoying pumpkin pie tonight, I am thankful for you, too!

Much love and peace and happiness to you all,
-Casey
p.s. I know, I promised details about my birthday weekend and haven't yet delivered. Working on it!!!!