The weekend I met Don Quijote

I spent this weekend in Madrid and Toledo and had an absolutely amazing time. :) I flew down to Madrid on the Friday and met Jess, my friend from secondary school and college. We met in Retiro park and spent ages chatting and walking around, we then met Kate and Dan for a spot of lunch and some day drinking before heading back to Retiro park to go on the rowing boats. We enjoyed it so much that after our first go we went back on again, with Sangria, it was perfect, sitting on a boat, with my friends on a lovely sunny day, it may as well have been August, it didn't feel like February.
After a Chinese take away and an early night Dan, Kate and I headed to Toldeo, in Castille La Mancha for the day. It is a really beautiful town and very tranquil, it was nice for us to all get away from the hustle and bustle of the city for a while, we then headed back into Madrid where the evening took a turn for the weirder...
exhibit 1:

We witnessed a group of men lift up and transport (very very slowly) a giant wooden frame, for some unknown reason. Only in Spain! So after seeing this when we sat down for wine and tortilla the craziness continued when we were approached by these guys:

Yep, that's right it's Don Quijote and Sancho! They were leading a bar crawl and stopped off at our bar, they then returned by themselves later, it was all a little crazy to be honest, speaking in true Spanglish with these too was utterly mindblowing.

Sunday was a laid back day, we had a lay in, then headed to Retiro for another go on the boats, before I flew home and went to watch Barca win at a bar with some friends.

Today school was pretty normal, then I went to the gym, with my trips to the hot sunny south coming up I feel I need to get my beach body in shape. :p Off to Catalan class soon, should probably finish the homework before I leave.......





Time is slipping away like sand through my fingers....

I'm writing todays blog as a break from my packing (I'm off to Madrid and Toledo for the weekend). I just can't decide what to take, so rather than getting myself into a fluster I decided to update the worldwideweb on todays school time adventures. Today I only worked one hour, again with year 4, my timetable has compeltely gone to pot the past few days with the other English teacher being off sick. Most of the group have now mastered the basics of "O'clock, quarter past, half past, quarter to..." except for a few who can't tell the time in Spanish, so I can't really expect them to be whizzes at it in another language. I then palnend my lessons for next week and eventually (after an hour of trying) managed to get the unusually slow internet to send my project of "at the restaurant" videos to the Catalan government. Once they are up on the school blog I will link you guys in to the work that I have been doing.
Last night after my catalan class I enrolled for the next level of the course, which providing I pass the exam in a couple of weeks starts immediately after my current course, without a break. It also runs until the 14th of June, so I may miss the end of unit test depending on when I need to leave Spain to go to France. I can't believe how quickly this year hoas flown by, I don't want it to end. IIf I have to leave Spain as soon as my palcement finishes, I've only got 5 weekends left here where I don't already have plans; and three of those weekends will be taken up with trips and actvities that are planned but don't have definite dates yet.
Thirdyearabroad.com have published an article I wrote about being an English Language assistant; if you're interested then take a look:
http://www.thirdyearabroad.com/work-abroad/teach-abroad/item/1084-being-an-english-language-assistant.html
I was really pelased when they asked me to write something, hopefully I can help soemone out on their year abroad choice.
I think that's updated you all on everything.
I'll blog again on Sunday when I get home from Castille la Mancha/Madrid and the Barca match.
Hasta Domingo!
x-x-x

Year 4 overload!

Today I spent the entire day working with year fours, which was a bit of an overload, for the first to hours I was helping to teach them how to tell the time in English, the only problem is that some of them don't even understand how to tell the time in Spanish or Catalan....
Over lunch today I spoke quite a lot, which is unusual because I usually can't get a word in edgeways! Everybody was saying how well I speak Spanish which gave me a boost, and on Monday I was approached in Spanish by someone wanting to know how to get to the airport; maybe I'm starting to look like a Catalan? Also at lunch today one of the teachers was whistling, when I said I couldn't whistle people were shocked, I quickly said that no English people can whistle, this got me a few laughs; and even more when one teacher actually believed me! Bless her, she said "Oh really is it to do with how you pronounce things or something?" Most gullible award ever goes to her. :)
Then in the afternoon I was invigilating their end of unit exams, it seems so weird watching 10 year olds sat in an exam, although to be fair it was pretty short and easy, even the class teacher has said she would be shocked if anyone failed.
This evening I had my Catalan class, I have a speaking exam on the 14th of March at 8.30pm.... that's when you know you live in Spain. I also discovered that I am a master of Catalan tongue twisters much to my surprise.
That's about it, I'm getting excited to head to Toledo and Madrid this weekend.
Fins Dema!
x-x-x

The flu continues to strike....

All the teachers at my school have been going off sick with the Flu due to the cold snap we had a few weeks ago and it has final hit my tutor which means that my timetable for this week has completely changed and as I will be spending the whole week with Isabel, the other tutor, so I will be spending a lot of time with the year 4's again. Today at school I recorded the final still life voices for the year 4 project and then with year six we started to record some pieces they have written using comparatives and superlatives.
After school I went to the gym, which made me feel amazing and both the classes were really fun. Then I went round to Rosa's house to make pancakes as it is also traditional in France to make pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. We had a couple each and then we started making some for her to take into school tomorrow for the kids to try. She needs to make 40 and I reckon we got about half of them done before we both had to leave to go and teach our respective private classes.

I also managed to flip a pancake dozens of times in order to try and take a photo, I felt like a whizz! 

My private class was ok today, the girl I teach was a little under the weather, I felt sorry for her and we played a game in English for a little bit longer than usual today.
Now I'm going to do my Catalan homework for tomorrow and write an article for third year abroad, if I'm not too tired.
For anyone that is interested here is a picture of me and some people from my Catalan class when we went to the Caixa Forum yesterday.

An extra long weekend

So as you can probably gather by the title I got an extra day off this weekend! I wish I had Mondays off every week, but I do usually only work 4 days a week, so I can't really complain, yet only working 3 is a bonus. Today I had a lie in to recover from carnival weekend then I met up with Gavin and we went on the Camp Nou (Barcelona's football ground) experience, there is a museum documenting the history of the club, then you can head into the stands/next to the pitch/press room/changing rooms. It was a really good trip, it was only 16.50euros and we were in there for over 2 and a half hours (even if online it says it only takes an hour!) I bought a Barca shirt which I will be wearing with pride at matches and when I visit Madrid. :p
This evening I went on a trip with my catalan class to Caixa Forum, a converted cotton factory which now houses temporary exhibitions and artwork. It was interesting and a pretty cool modernist building, very different to the factories we have in England. I also understood the entire tour without many problems which I feel means my Catalan is improving.
Tomorrow I'm back in school, I feel that getting up early will hit me, but oh well that's the life of an ELA for you!
Hasta manana!

Carnival!!

Well the Spaniards know how to party. Starting on Friday at my school, all the kids were dressed up in an array of outfits, from snow white to smurfs. Here is the promised picture of the giant snake, which seems to have no reason or meaning behind it, except that it is carnival..

The teachers were all dressed up as mourners for the death of the public sector and carrying "no a los recortes" (no to the cuts) symbols. It was a really fun afternoon. Then in the evening I went shopping and bought a summer hat :) and then to a concert which was really good, followed by Catwalk with Rosa and Soizic. This is a club where the people really are crazy, I have never seen so many crazy dance moves in one place.
So Saturday morning, after sleeping very little, I met Catania, we booked our flights and hostel for Samana Santa in Malaga and afterwards, with Ollie we headed to Sitges for the Carnival. Ollie and I were dressed as musketeers, the best part about this outfit choice was when we encountered a group of 3 musketeers who called us over to say "todos para uno, uno para todos!!" Not quite the same as in English, but hilalrious nonetheless. We danced to a samba band around the streets of Sitges and had yummy frozen yogurt.
Today I returned to Sitges this time with Sam, Adam and Rosa to watch the official parade, it was really good, slightly less spontaneous when compared with yesterday, but really fun. I even got an action shot of a giant monkey!

We got covered in confetti, then after the parade we wandered down to the beach, took a few photos and ate a huge bag of churros! It was delicious and much needed seeing as it didn't feel that warm out. Sam and I bought masks to wear, and to keep as souvenirs, then we all headed home. I'm just glad that I don't have to work tomorrow as I am absolutely shattered!
I'll leave you guys with one final carnival themed photo:

Crazy Hair Day

Today was crazy hair day at school, this was the only possible way to avoid the dreaded face painters of year 6. I rocked some odd pigtails for the hour they were patrolling the school then took them out again. Today I worked with year 5 on the differences between a/an/some/any as well as there is/there are/there isn't/there aren't/is there?/are there? they really struggled with this. I never realised just how hard English is in comparison to Spanish until I started teaching it. They have no grasped the differences between a and an, as well as knowing when to use singular and when to use plural, although the difference between some and any is still hard for them to grasp, they also have great difficulty pronouncing these words, it's hard work, but it'll be rewarding once they grasp it.
Before I finished for lunch I watched the other year 5 class do a little five minute play based on the book, The Little Red Hen. It was adorable to watch and they did so well.
This afternoon I have been planning some travels around Spain and I am now more or less booked up until the end of April, my year abroad is flying by, I am trying my best to make the most of every opportunity given to me and to travel as much as possible, but sometimes it feels as though it is slipping through my fingers.
So now I start my weekend of carnival celebrations, got to love working 12 hours a week. :)
Fins ara tothom!
x-x-x

Carnival day 2

Today marked day two of carnival at my school, the requirement today was to wear many bright colours, I wore the following awfully beautiful ensemble....

I thought this would warrent me safety from the face painting year sixes.... Oh how wrong I was, they were instructed BY ANOTHER TEACHER to attack and paint my face! Now that is just mean... if the Catalans weren't such a damn lovable people I could go off them.
So today at school I recorded some year 4 talking about still life drawings they have done. Things such as... There are some yellow bananas, there is a blue apple... etc. I've already started the finished presentation where the voices are linked to the photos in a movie - the IT half day course offered by the Generalitat was actually useful! I'll post it on here when it's finished.
Today I also had to do a presentation in my Catalan class, I talked about waterpolo, I didn't learn it off by heart and improvised quite a lot, which is new for me. Despite this I feel it went quite well, so if this technique works in my weakest language I may apply it to my others the next time I need to do a presentation.
Tomorrow I will get a photo of the giant snake, I promise!
Hasta luego chicos!

From cowboys to leather....

Im talking about the types of hat that the children were all wearing at school. As today was day two of Carnival at my school, gosh the kids are loving it. From today until Friday the children (and teachers) have to wear a different thing to celebrate; today it was a hat and a tie. Then just before lunch a group of year sixes go round to check that the children are wearing them, if they aren't wearing the correct things they draw all over their face with facepaint. Very strange... they half pin down the poor child/victim... only in Spain.
Tomorrow everyvody has to wear bright clothes, I'm going to look like an idiot on the metro on the way to and from school. :(
Today was also a pretty easy day as my first two classes both were doing english exams so I was only really there to invigilate. Then with year six I was teaching telling the time... gosh it was hard work. It took so long for some of the children to grasp the concept of 5 past/25 to etc. Some of them even claimed that they can only read digital, they can't even read a clockface in Spanish/Catalan. Eventually though they got the concept and when they went to back to class the teacher tested them and they all knew it, it made me feel really good. :)
This afternoon I had a private tutoring lesson, which was fun as always, we spent the last 15 minutes playing guess who in English and the rest of the lesson revising for her English exam tomorrow, things such as there is/there isn't/there are/there aren't, which the Spanish struggle with as they simply use hay or no hay, they don't differenciate between singular and plural.
I finished writing my presentation for Catalan class tomorrow, and need to learn it later tonight/tomorrow afternoon. Wish me luck!
Here's a photo from Girona again (I've not taken any of carnival yet)

Adios chicos
x-x-x

Heartwarming children

Today I had such a good morning working in my primary school, and it reminded me why working as an ELA is so much fun. I was feeling tired and a little under the weather this morning but going into an environment where I was given hugs, asked how I was and shown different pieces of work by the children really cheered me up. My first two classes I was working with year 2, colouring love hearts in different colours to revise the colours, they regularly get mixed up between blanc (white for none Spanish speakers) with black in English, as the letters are so close they always get it wrong so today we were re-emphasising the colours, with a Valentine's day theme. We also sang songs and they were generally very sweet today. Then at break time we welcomed in Carnival week, the whole school sat in the playground and some year sixes brought in a giant snake, (photo to follow if it's still there tomorrow), whilst playing the drums. All the children are getting really excited about dressing up on Friday and celebrating the carnival and I'm starting to get excited about going to Sitges this weekend to celebrate carnival. After break I had year six, we played a board game based around jobs and they were really good today. Sometimes they can be a bit moody and difficult but today they were really interested, were practising their English and complained when it was time to go back to class. The only bad point about school at the moment is we have 6 of the 30 teachers off sick, which means that everyone is on cover and all over the show, the tutor I work with will be off on Wednesday, so I'm going to have to adapt as I don't know where I'll end up, or who with.
That's about it for now, oh, I'm probably getting another private class soon, so hopefully that should be fun and bring in a bit of extra money, especially seeing as the Ministerio still haven't paid me for January yet. 
I'll leave you guys with a photo from when I went to Girona on Friday, such a beautiful city.

Where is Brian?

Sorry it has been a while since my last post, I've been under the weather so have spent a lot of time sleeping to try and get over my bad cold/weak flu. I'm finally starting to feel better though :) Well after the Dali museum last week this week as school was definitely much more realistic than usual, I finished doing my restaurant project with my year 4's, so hopefully this week I can link you guys to the school blog, and you can see there hard work. My Catalan class is getting yet more intense, I need to finish writing a presentation for Wednesday and a book report for next week, but I finally feel pretty comprehensive in the language, which is hopefully a good sign for final year.

On Friday I went up to Girona and saw Sam and Adam. Girona is an absolutely beautiful city, lovely buildings and an ancient city wall, also a statue where you have to kiss it's bum. It means that you'll return to Girona and is lucky. So obviously, we all did that. I still find it weird meeting up with Lancaster people in Spain, it's like my two world's are colliding. In the evening I went to a concert, it's my friend's friend's band (god that looks stupid when typed). They are really good, they are all from Rubi, which is a town just outside of Barcelona, they sing in Spanish (and one random song in French) and they talk in between in Catalan. After the show whilst my friend was talking to her friend Adrian and I decided to go and speak to the guitarist, in Catalan, maybe it was the cocktails that gave us the confidence, who knows, but it was fun nonetheless, I can't wait to go to their next gig. We then went out to a club and rolled in reasonably early at 3.30ish.

Saturday evening we all went to Rosa's for food and I ended up discussing English learning in France with some Frenchies, apparently every character was called Brian, Kevin or Katie. They spent the evening saying "where's Brian?" "Brian is in the bathroom." It made me realise just how stereotypical the books we all use in schools are. I also will never be able to meet anyone called Brian without laughing hysterically!

Today I did some work for Catalan class and I am considering doing a bit of French later.

Bye for now

xxx

Not long left....

I am over half way through my time here in Spain. This is very saddening for me, I don't want to have to leave, Barcelona has become my third home, I'm now trying to plan as many weekends as possible so that I can see as much of Catalonia and Spain as possible, I don't want to miss anything, but I know I probably will. This Friday I'm heading up to Girona to see Sam and Adam and explore the beautiful town, I've so far only seen it out of the train window.
Quite a lot has happened since the last time I blogged (is to blog a verb?) This weekend 6 friends from Lancaster came over and I showed the delights of Barcelona, it was so lovely to see some familiar faces, even if at times I felt a bit like a performing monkey speaking Spanish for them. :) Ruby even took on a pickpocket after he took her phone and got it back, she's braver than me but pickpocket 0 - Ruby 1. It was absolutely freezing though this weekend, I felt bad that I was showing everyone so many things outside, on Sunday we went to Parc Guell and it even snowed a little!
My friends also got me an absolutely gorgeous pair of Cavella shoes for my 21st! I can't wait to wear them out once I'm back in England, for now I'll just trot round the house in them.
On Friday I went to Figueres with Sam and Camilla to visit the Dali museum, it was amazing, unbelievably weird and inexplicably strange but I loved every second of it. We also found out that you can get the train from Figueres to Perpignan in a mere 20 minutes so we are planning on heading there at some point.
I also finally have Internet back in my house! This happened on Thursday and I swear I did a little dance when I came home and discovered it was working.
School is ok at the moment, the kids are restless and naughty though, I think it's due to them being cooped up inside more due to the cold weather, and I worked 2 extra hours last week, which means I have 2 available at my disposal that I can take off another week, I just have to find an ideal time to do it.
On the essay front, I have done no more work... oopsie, I plan to finish writing my Catalan speaking presentation and book report tomorrow and then work on the essay other evenings this week, now that I have the Internet back. I want to have it finished by March.
I think you guys are up to date on pretty much everything now. :)
I'll leave you with a picture from my visit to the Dali museum.
Adios
xxx