Back in the Swing of Things

Once I got back from Egypt, things quieted down a little. I got back on a Sunday evening, and I had work at the high school on Monday. I have a new schedule for the rest of the year, so I’m visiting different classes and age groups. Now I’m going to classes like music, citizenship, and geography/history, in addition to philosophy and English. But I’m still going to my favorite class, with English the third year of ESO (which makes them about the same age as high school freshmen in the States).

Thankfully, my return to school wasn’t too strenuous. At the high school, I went to two English classes on Monday, and then of my four classes on Tuesday, two were canceled. Then I went to the elementary school on Wednesday and Thursday and literally did nothing except follow the teachers around because the students were working on special projects.

In my after school lessons, I played a comparison game with my older elementary students where each correct comparison earned them a point (A giraffe is taller than a horse, for example). I’ve decided to discontinue my after-school lessons with first, second, and third grade because I genuinely don’t think that the students learn from the class. Furthermore, they’re very difficult for me to lesson plan, so if the students aren’t learning, I don’t think we should waste anyone’s time any longer, including mine. I’m only teaching them for another week and a half before a different teacher replaces me. But before I go, I’m trying my damnedest to make sure they learned at least one thing really well—which means colors for first grade and the English alphabet for second/third.

When the weekend rolled around, Vicki and I went grocery shopping on Friday night (a desperately necessary task for me, not having shopped since November) and hung out at my apartment. Then on Saturday, after spending the morning at the library using the WiFi to watch Netflix, Vicki and Luis Felipe invited me to lunch with their friends. Their friends were absolutely lovely, and I enjoyed being there because they cooked some of the food over a grill in their cellar. Admittedly, however, I had a hard time actually eating anything at the lunch. Generally, I don’t consider myself a picky eater, but the hosts managed to serve all foods that I don’t enjoy eating. The dishes included seafood paella, salmon quiche, grilled lamb, pickled eggplant, and veal steaks. I ate the quiche, lamb, eggplant, and veal, but my portions were so small that I don’t think I fooled anyone.

Posing with the cooking lamb

I don’t look too thrilled about eating the pickled eggplant

Cooking the veal

Enough paella for a small army

At some point, Luis Felipe cut up a plate of cheese, and I think Vicki and I managed to eat the entire plate of cheese by ourselves. I also managed to eat probably a quarter of the dessert that was served after lunch, so it wasn’t as if I went hungry. The host of the lunch asked me if I wanted an after-lunch anis, which is anise-flavored liqueur. When I politely declined, he exclaimed, “You don’t like anything!” Clearly he didn’t appreciate the fact that I suffered through sampling everything except the paella (I mean, I even ate lamb, for heaven’s sake. That was grilled.), but I took it to also mean that he didn’t notice how much of the cheese and dessert I consumed single-handedly. I considered that a victory for me. And after lunch, Vicki and I played the Spanish version of the board game Wheel of Fortune with the kids, so it was a lovely time overall. I went home late in the afternoon and stayed in my bed for most of the evening as well as Sunday. I had an incredible winter break but it wasn’t like I felt well-rested when I came back to school, so I really needed time to catch up on sleep.

Since then, when I’m not working, that is truly all that I’ve done: rest and catch up on sleep. Forgive me for a boring blog post, but this past weekend, I didn’t leave my house on Saturday or Sunday except when I met Morgan at the library for an hour to plan our next trip. In fact, on Sunday, I didn’t even leave my bed (I managed to watch an entire season of Game of Thrones in one day). The only exciting thing that I did all weekend was when Vicki and Morgan came over on Friday to watch The Princess Bride. Morgan had never seen it, and since it is my favorite movie of all time, I felt obligated to share it.

This week, I played Scattegories in my after school lessons in elementary as well as in high school, and tomorrow, I’m teaching third and fourth grades about Mardi Gras. They celebratecarnavalin Spain, so we are going to discuss the differences. We actually have time off from school in the beginning of February to celebrate carnaval, which is when I will be taking my next trip. Until then, I think things will continue to be quiet. At least I know that when my next trip rolls around, I will definitely be well-rested!