Highlights of Madrid

Sobrino!!

My nephew has been born!!!! Yaaaay! I'm an Auntie!! :)

aaaaand we're back

hi friends. thanks to my lovely beau AND myself :} my computer is back in service and i am back in touch with non-reality.

Because I am lazy, here is a summary of Xmas in Lugo and the first part of Marcus' visit in photos ;)

with paula & her mom, who took care of us, after being sick..still a bit sick in this pic..

on the bus after picking up marcus at the airport..we were really happy :)

for christmas marcus wrote me a 100-page book about why he loves me..

it was sooo sweet & often hilarious

out with paula & her bf..i look like i'm about to put marcus in a chokehold 

me & paulita <3

about to have the best paella ever

adorable lil xmas tree

lovely sky from the roman wall

lugo cathedral

"angry youtube baby" face

drunk face-new year's

new year's... marcus had to carry me home cause my shoes hurt, it was so much fun ;)

Next I'll post pics of our trip to Madrid which was just lovely..

Chao folks!

e

the constantly feared NO symbol has come

hola amigos. well, my computer is currently out of service. sucks hardcore!!! hopefully it will be on the mend soon but for now I'm using ny iPhone for internet (thanks m.m.) and can't be bothered to type with this annoying tiny keyboard. ok for texts but not for blogs. I will be back shortly. maybe. I hope because I found out I can't really survive without the Internet. sure I'm more productive but who really cares about that when I can't watch full episodes of the daily show or do more in depth hours-long research on the mass animal deaths plaguing the world?

on a side note: my roommates came back yesterday from their 2.5 week break and.. really eerie.. I'm kind of happy to have them back. sure the apartment was cleaner and smoke free without them, but, well..I missed the cat. Ok I sort of missed the constant company, too. I'm sure that will pass in about a week.

but to touch on an aforementioned topic-smoking-there is (as of January 2nd 2011) a smoking ban in bars and restaurants like the one we had in new York not so long ago. no, spaniards aren't happy about it but contrary to prior belief it's actually being enforced. and all I have to say is, "woohooooo!!!!"

Wow wrote way more than I intended. Well, hopefully I'll be back soon to post pics of marcus' visit here & etc.
besos :)
e

To Death and Back

Heyyyyy ya'll. I'm back woo! I almost died this past week! Yeah!! Awesome!!

No, for real, it was awful. It was not awesome in any way. It was freaking terrible.

I was so sick. For 8 days and 7 nights STRAIGHT. And I was in bed almost the ENTIRE time. Uughh. Que asco! (My new phrase. It's something akin to "it sucks!" Quite useful.)

Well I had a fever the whole time which is not good, I ended up going to the doctor with Paula who was also starting to feel sick & I almost fainted in his office.. I mean literally.. and he called an ambulance and Paula went with me to the hospital where they tried to stick me with an IV but it was, as the kids would say, an epic FAIL! Goodness. Gracious. They just ended up breaking my veins. Eeeew. Oh well. They said it was due to my fever and the fact that I was so tense. Whatever. So the doctor examined me and said I was dehydrated (even though all I did that day was drink, and it was all I had been doing the days prior! I couldn't even sleep the whole night through because I would have to get up in the middle of the night to pee!). It was true though that I constantly felt enormous thirst. I guess that's what fever does. She also said that I had a bad infection or virus or some such thing and prescribed antibiotics and other stuff. And guess what! It was all FREE! Woohoo thank you socialist healthcare!!

So I stayed with Paula that night and her bf made us dinner. Then the next day I stayed there as well and her mom came and took care of us. It was sooo nice.. I didn't have to worry about feeding myself. It's honestly so difficult to prepare food or cook for yourself when you feel like you're dying and it's painful just to get up to go to the bathroom. Needless to say I've lost weight :( Terrible. I am working on getting it back because I can't afford to lose it!!

So now I am better for the most part. Yaaaay! But I still have a terrible cough and it feels like an elephant is camping out on my chest. Very weird. I'm going back to the doctor on Monday for a checkup so I will tell her about the elephant. I really did not think I would ever have to use the healthcare here in Spain, but alas it happened. Hopefully will not have to happen again.

Today was my first outing. I went to Paula's for lunch and then we met up with Tania and her friend for coffee. I felt like a normal human being for the first time in a week. It was lovely.

On a different note, Paula and I were walking to the cafe when we saw an old lady in the bushes pulling her pants up as she got done peeing!!! hahahaha! I did not expect to see that here, ever. That's more of a New York thing, no??

Anyway, I am now cleaning up around here and preparing for my love to arrive! Hooray!!! Made it two months here! I am dying for Marcus to come already!! I can't wait! Two more days is two days too many!!!

Merry Christmas all :)
e

Santiago, Books, & Snow

Santiago Cathedral

quesooo

giant organs 

Pulpo, signature dish of Galicia, mmmmmm..

Last week's snow in Lugo

Snowy Snow

Santiago was fun, but it was raining like mad. Cats and dogs. In buckets. Sheets!

Our school received a grant for the Bilingual program and we were in Santiago to purchase English books. It was awesome, we bought so many wonderful books!! Now we have so many great resources at hand. It's so exciting!!!

ahh I gotta go prepare a tutoring lesson!

A (different) word about Santiago (and a book).. next time!

e

Bueno Bars and Pseudo Vacations

yes. i am late. story of my life.

Oops, was going to start using capitols and stuff.. I'll do my best!

So. Some recent happenings:

I am addicted to Kinder chocolate's Bueno Bars. Son muy ricas!!! They are ridiculously delicious. 

Why, Kinder Bueno bars? WHY? Why must you exist and be so delicious and irresistible but surely full of tons of sugar and fat and chemical-ly things and "aroma" aka who knows what..? Plus they are not cheap. They range from 77euros (cheapest) to 1.50 euros ($1.10 to 2.10)! For a small little pack that can be inhaled in seconds!

And I can't seem to give them up, I've tried, I really have. But my justification in going back each time I see them at the store is..they're not as easily found in the states! So clearly it is my duty to consume as much of them as I can in the short time that I am here and have them so readily available...

Clearly.

(Just writing of their deliciousness has caused me to go get my one pack that I have saved and start on it.. Siiigh. I am weak.)

Moving on...

I've been on a mini vacation from work. Last week it snowed so much that we only had one day that I was required to be in school (and Oscar was absent so I wasn't even required to teach technically-I stayed with "Mac" part of the time and the 5 year olds. Wow. What an experience. It was like recess the whole time, and it wasn't very fun!), and this week is a holiday week because of Constitution Observance Day & Virgin Mary day or something..! (note: my Bueno Bar is gone already! and I want another fix!!) So this week I only have school one day as well, Thursday.

What have I been doing all this time you might ponder? Well, of course I was.. umm.. being so productive.. and.. yeahh.. doing lots! Getting things done! My to do list is complete!

Ha, no. Ok, actually I have been mostly sleeping in late (I am, for the first time, allowing this for myself without guilt. I am lowering my sleep debt!) and wandering the city streets and exploring..good times for me. 

I started Yoga last week with Paula. Cool shite. And might I add: good lord I'm out of shape!!! A disgrace!! But I shall prevail. 

I also hung out in cafe's sipping coffee or tea with a pastry and scribbling random thoughts or reading or just chillaxin..This small indulgence is one of my very favorite things. And I bought a radiator!! Cause it's so cold! Tania (Paula's friend who I have Spanish/English exchanges with) & her niece drove with me to the shopping center and helped me out. She makes me feel so good about my Spanish!!! :)

Besides that I tutored, hung out with Tania, and planned lessons a lot..and once or thrice got really, really lost in the stupid labyrinth that is the internet. My justification for this "falta" is that it gave me a lot of good laughs :)

I'm off now to Santiago with Oscar to buy books for the little ones. And medium ones. 

A word about Santiago.. next time.

XO! 

e

ahhhhhwwww... PaNTS!

i got the chocolate brown pants of my dreams today!!! they are the kind of chocolate brown that i absolutely loveeee on people, never dreaming i'd ever have a pair of my own! they initially didn't have my size but the helpful sales lady actually went downstairs and found a pair in my size! this is unheard of! usually the answer is: "whatever's out. sorry." well, often a sorry does not accompany this response. anyway! she got my size! ok, so they aren't like the most perfect fit but i don't give a crap they fit well enough yayy! chocolate brown pants!! i love chocolate brown pants!

yeah. i know. this post is pointless & lame. i'm just excited looking at my pants and it's been time to update. real update coming tomorrow. i swear.

side note: sales people in spain (or at least here in Lugo) are wayyyy nicer & more helpful than any retail people i've encountered in NYC!

k, chau :)
e

look at the past week & why i'm a good and bad teacher.

hollerrrrr from Lugo!

This weekend was supposed to be all about goal keeping but i keep waking up late! i'm really trying but it is quite a difficult task to change your internal clock.

anyway. here are some sort of noteworthy happenings:

-i had to go to the police station to get my temporary residence card. i decided not to trouble oscar & went by myself. oh boy. it was definitely a bit anxiety provoking since i did not understand anything the disgruntled office employee was telling me. as it happens, i bumped into the "un hombre loco" from maria's party & it was my good fortune cause he helped me out. so yyay that is done.

-i randomly met another auxillary @ the supermarket last wknd. we met up the day after to hang and guess who i bumped into once again.. un hombre loco! haha. anyway, about the other auxillary, i found out that my school's better than his. and i live way closer to the city center. and i'm just more awesome in general. score! 

-oscar made a boy cry in the 6th grade class this week. this boy seems like a pretty masculine kid too, haha. he was just teasing the kid, saying he did his hw in class rather than at home, but the kid got very upset & protested that he did it at home.. and started crying. we were shocked! oscar was all "it's ok! i'm not gonna eat you! do i look like a monster?" and one kid said yes and that kid got a zero for the day. life ain't no joke, yo.

-on the other hand paula's class is less strictly governed so i got really serious with them and demanded respectful listening... after which i was worried that paula might think i was too strict (i wasn't. i was a fair amount strict, but she is so sweet i was afraid she'd find it too strict.) instead paula said to me at the end of class, "Erica, I think you are a very good teacher." this totally made my week :)

-in a different in-class incident i prove i am not all that great of a teacher afterall! in 1st grade we were having a lesson and oscar was explaining something or other when all of a sudden, the boy in the front row right next to me-BOOM!- falls over backwards in his chair right onto the floor!! Oh my god. It was so funny. The room fell dead silent and all eyes were on him as he scrambled up as quick as possible, put his chair back in place, turned to his notebook quickly and pretended to be deeply inthralled with his work, as if nothing happened. At which point Oscar starts giving him a serious speech in spanish, something like "what were you doing? that's what happens when you fool around, you should be quietly paying attention, not fooling around, what do you think this is a playground?" etc etc. MEANWHILE.. I am holding my breath, squeezing my lips shut, looking down, trying as hard as humanly possible to remain serious despite the fact that I found the entire incident absolutely hysterical. i knew i could not mess up oscar's serious speech by laughing. that would be the worst. because even a student that giggled got scolded by oscar. i can see the kids sort of smiling/holding back smiles-which makes it that much harder for me- but no one laughs. finally oscar looks up at me to continue with the lesson and the second he does, i feel my face betraying me and he can see it too, i can not even speak. and he cracks a slight smirk, and says "Are you ok?" and that was it. i LOST it. i begin to shake with laughter and i am trying so so so hard to hold it in but it is futile, i had tears in my eyes, he goes, "Are you crying? What happened?" and i am just dying, i can't even look at the poor kid that fell, I felt so awful but I could not stop. Ohhh.. it was absurd. I was so red just from trying to hold in the laughter.. it was the funniest thing ever. Oscar realized it was hopeless and started asking, "What's wrong with Erica? What happened to her? Does anybody know?" and the kids were giggling. god. i can't believe i did that. i am still laughing about it! we were laughing about it on the way home.. speaking of which..

-me, oscar, paula, and another fellow carpool to work. said other fellow..lets call him Mac...stinks. i wondered why no one ever mentioned this whenever he got out of the car. well, we finally discussed this matter last week. i opened the window after he got out and paula said "good idea erica!" and i said, "yes, Mac is a bit.. smelly, no?" Paula and Oscar start laughing and paula said oh erica, you are brave! but oscar says, "what are you talking about? erica, how could you say that?" and i felt so guilty! I didn't know what to say! and then oscar continued, "I think what you mean to say is...he is stinky!" and we all just died haha.. but he kept going, "He is so stinky! He stinks! He smells awful! oh my god! it's terrible!" it was so freaking funny. good heavens. just this past week was an especially potent one and oscar started talking about it in the car while Mac was still there (but he speaks no english). haha, terrible.. we are just laughing and Mac has no idea why. so mean, i know.

-i went out with my roommate Patricia the other night for her friend's bday.. i like Patricia's friends, they're very down to earth. i had lots of spanish practice. one of the girls that came spoke english-she spoke english to me and I spanish to her! it was fun. i had two beers and a bunch of tapas.. Lugo is known for this free tapas with a drink thing. it's great. well, maybe not so great because at 3am I woke up hurling my guts out to the point of scorching my throat. ewww. not fun. not going to OD on tapas ever again.

Duff beer!!!

Patri, me, Fanny

fanny's cat Neo-good god he is so mushy!!! i love him.

those are my weekly highlights. i will try to be a better blogger, but i'm quite lame when it comes to this sort of thing.

chau chicos ;)

e

ps: my next goal is to use capitals more consistently.