In just a weeks time I went from being single to having two husbands! My second graders have a new found love for me and are constantly screaming "Te quiero, Jaime!!!" It all started this past week when I had to take them out of the class in groups to practice English. I was asking them various questions and then came up to "What is your favorite animal?" They were all going around with the different animals when José screamed "My favorite animal is Jaime!!!" The kids thought this was so great and couldn't stop laughing, which in turn made laugh too. The next day him and Noé showed me pictures that they had each drawn of me marrying the two of them. It was titled at the top with "José (or Noé) ♥ Yeimi".
This past Friday the school also celebrated Chestnut Day. It's not an actual holiday, just a tradition the school has. For the last part of the day the mothers came to school dressed in what they call 18th century period clothing, but in my opinion they looked like a bunch of gypsies who escaped from Granada. They roasted chestnuts out on the playground and the kids came out and sang songs in return for the chestnuts. It was cute to see the kids get so excited over the chestnuts. Then once school was let out, the teachers went to the local cafetería and had a few drinks to welcome the weekend.
Maggie went to Paris this weekend to meet up with her uncles, and she was missed dearly! The weather has been a bit dreary and cold these past few days but we were still able to get a little stroll in today while admiring the beauty of the city.
I hope everyone has safe travels this week and enjoys Thanksgiving! Be sure to have extra turkey and mashed potatoes for me! :)
This past week has been full of success and fun! First, I got more tutoring jobs. During my breaks at school I will be teaching English to one of the pre-school teacher´s husband. And on Mondays and Wednesdays I will be tutoring a 9 year old boy and a 7 year old girl in the evenings.
And it looks like my Spanish will be making progress at a quicker pace very soon!! One of the teachers at my school has volunteered to stay after school once a week to help me with Spanish.
On Friday night I finally got to meet up with my friend, Eric from college! He is also from Sacramento but we met in the dorms freshman year of college. Then senior year of college, he ended up living across the street from us in Pacific Beach. And now we are in the same city in Spain! So crazy! (the title of this entry literally translates to "The world is a tissue." But here in Spain it has the same meaning as "It´s a small world") He has been here for a few months interning at a company and we hadn´t been able to meet up. It was nice to see a little piece of home in Madrid. Maggie, Justin and I met up at his apartment with his roommates. It was quite an international group. There were people from America, Australia, Sweden, Iceland and France! We all went to a club to see a DJ from Belgium perform. There was a huge line outside the club and a 12€ cover to get in. But the next thing I know, we are all inside the club without paying and we even received free drink coupons. Apparently the Australian guy went to the bouncer and told him that we were all from an Australian magazine and we wanted to write an article on the place. And the story worked! haha
On Saturday we met up with our friend Justin (he is also from San Diego! We were at a café one morning and he heard us speaking English so he came up to as and asked where we were from. Turns out the world is smaller than we think and we have probably crossed paths before in San Diego. We have all been good friends since then!) and one of our Spanish friends. He took us to one of his friend´s rugby matches. Although he tried to explain to me what was going on, I am still clueless to it all. But, that pretty much explains my life in Spain-constantly confused. Luckily, the Spanish people I have met have been very patient.
Last week I mentioned that one of the waiters at our local bar approached us about practicing eachothers languages with one another. It started off a bit intimidating. He had called me earlier this week and for those of you who have tried learning another language, I am sure you know that speaking on the phone is one of the hardest things to do. There is no context or nonverbals to go off of. Then combine that with someone who speaks lightning fast and you are set up for disaster. Needless to say, everytime I saw him calling I about had a panic attack and had to always text him after to debrief the conversation. But tonight Maggie and I met with him and it went really well. We ended up talking with him for over 3 hours! Luckily he is very nice and jovial which made speaking to him easier. But he speaks close to no English, therefore Maggie and I are really forced to use our Spanish. So hopefully he will help Maggie and I get closer to fluency!
I will leave you all with a song that I hear everytime I am out in Madrid. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Today marks exactly 7 weeks since I left California and embarked on my new adventure in Madrid! I can´t believe how much time has passed but I am still enjoying Madrid more than I could have ever imagined.
School is still going really well. The kids at the school keep me smiling and laughing everyday. Everytime I enter a classroom I am flooded with love. The other day I had about eight first grade girls lined up to give me hugs before class. One little girl would not let go so I asked her¨"How are you?" and she replied "My name is Rocio." I repeated the question slower and she answered slower "My...name...is...Rocio." Looks like I have some work cut out for me! ha
One of my favorite classes is the third grade. They are all so sweet and obedient. Going to this class is so enjoyable! The kids were all sharing their experiences from Halloween and telling the teacher about the haunted house we put on at the school. The teacher asked little Andrea who was in the haunted house and she excitedly answered "Bitch was in the haunted house!!!" What she meant was Mitch, the other language assistant. But me being the mature person I am burst out laughing. Poor Andrea has no idea why and I obviously couldn´t explain.
This past weekend we went on a walking tour of the city. We figured that it would be good to know some history of the city before any visitors come! It was a great tour telling us about all the different monuments that we walk by everyday but never knew the history behind them. It is so crazy being in Europe and thinking about how much has happened here. There is a story to be told about almost everywhere in this city!
We also took part in more of the Madrid nightlife this past weekend. It is always lots of fun but is something that will take some adapting to. In America I would consider getting home at 3:00am a late night, but here that is when the night is just beginning! The Spaniards that we have been hanging out with think that we are crazy for going home at 6:00am! All of the Spaniards we have been meeting have all been so wonderful and nice. They continue to invite us into their homes and make an effort to ensure we feel welcomed. While we were at one of their homes this weekend a song came on and they all began singing along and stood up to do some type of dance. Well, Maggie and I instantly fell in love with the song so I thought I should share it with all of you overseas! Maybe it will become popular in America! Also, as a heads up it´s in Portugese. At first Maggie, Justin and I panicked because we had no idea what the singer was saying but soon were relieved when we found out it was not in Spanish.
On that note, we are speaking more and more Spanish. On Saturday morning Maggie and I went to a local bar across from our apartment to get a café. One of the waiters came up to us and asked us if we knew of anyone who could help him with English in return for Spanish. I answered that we could! He then proceeded to ramble something in very fast Spanish which resulted in Maggie and I looking like a deer in the headlights. Maggie swears that he had to be speaking Portugese haha. Luckily, we got things all figured out and we now have a new person to practice Spanish with!
Maggie, Justin and I also booked tickets to Belgium for the first week of December. We will be visiting Brussels and Bruge. We are very excited and look forward to visiting their big Christmas Market!
Hope that everyone at home is doing wonderfully! Miss you all tons!!!
