Birthday Celebrations!

Oh, wow. Where to start? First of all, I’d like to thank everyone who sent me positive thoughts and vibes during this, the first official day of my 24th year of existence. I had an AMAZING birthday. When I got to school this morning, Erica had made me a brilliantly creative birthday card that literally kept me (and the English Department) laughing for hours…think modified book report (filled with inside jokes) on the past three months living here in Madrid. My friend Pablo gave me a wonderfully macabre “Bunny Suicide” calendar that I had been eyeing for quite some time—which for every month unabashedly portrays creative ways in which the rabbit might end his miserable little existence— and a copy of Gabriel García Marquez’s “El coronel no tiene quien le escriba.” I think he gave me the book because, you know, we’re adults! One cannot live on morose humor alone.

After tutoring English for an hour, I headed off to choral rehearsal, where I spent two hours singing Rutter’s Requim (I love this piece) and pronouncing the English lyrics for my fellow singers. During our five-minute break, a friend of mine pulled me into the bathroom, and when we came back, everyone started singing happy birthday to me in English. It was so, SO sweet! My friend Lucia ended up coming back to our apartment with me, where Bea and Laura surprised me with a delicious chocolate ice cream cake and beautiful presents. They gave me a stylish bracelet, cool wooden earrings, and a wide-neck sweater from H & M that I am now in love with. I just couldn’t feel any luckier, which is a great way to feel the day before Thanksgiving. I love it here : D

This is (sort of like) Halloween

Halloween is by far one of my favorite Anglo holidays. For me, it’s much more than candy-induced sugar highs and trashy corner-store costumes. It’s all about the fall…the sound of dead leaves rustling in the wind, seeing your breath hang on the air, the smell of cider and freshly carved pumpkins, bright harvest moons and the patter of excited children scurrying up and down the pavement with bags full of candy. But—as with so many American holidays—this is not what the rest of the world thinks when they think Halloween. So, when I was informed that the Spanish are generally unaware of the richer aspects of my favorite holiday, you can imagine just how determined I became to share Halloween with them in all of its glory.

Since Erica and I don’t work on Fridays (and we clearly won’t see the kids on Saturday), we decided to make Thursday the school’s official Halloween day! First, we told everyone that if they wore orange, black, or brown during the day and then found us at recess, we would give them candy. Mistake number one. I don’t know if you’ve recently witnessed kids around free candy, but it looked like we were making our own little horror movie in the hallways. I just about lost a limb. The little buggers swarmed me yelling “trick or treat,” violently flashing orange and black and trying to dupe me into believing that I had not in fact just given them candy two minutes ago. Sinister.

The second phase of the day went a little more smoothly. I ended up showing my classes the song “The is Halloween” from Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” and it was a huge success. My mother had generously sent me pumpkin peeps in a package the week before, so I used them as prizes to see who could fill in blanks and explain the vocabulary in the song. I’ve never seen people more excited to eat peeps! I tried to explain that for us, peeps were more of a morbid fascination than culinary delight, but I think they are actually much better suited to the Spanish pallet than I had anticipated. All-in-all, it was a great almost-Halloween, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow to see what craziness might be done in Madrid the name of a foreign holiday. Happy Halloween, everyone!

One week down...many to go.

Whew! I just got through my first official week of classes, and I’m still trying to process all of the new names, faces and places that will comprise my working environment for the next year. My first impression is this: the English Department at I.E.S. Sampedro is freaking AWESOME. Everyone has thus far been unbelievably friendly, open, and even better, funny! And I mean funny in a way that borders on ridiculous. In the past week I have heard more dirty jokes, naughty puns, and juicy gossip than one Fulbrighter should hear in, well…a long while! Some of the teachers are particularly jocular, but even those who aren’t just seem downright amicable and show genuine interest in learning about where we are from and what we think of Spain.

And I’m not just working in the fabulous English Department. Believe it or not, I’ve been assigned to assist in Sampedro’s Technology/Shop classes! That’s right: I get to explain electrical circuitry and mechanics in English! Which, clearly I know a lot about. Clearly. Suffice it to say that this should be a good learning experience for all of us. And, after talking to the head of the bilingual program, they are now trying to get me into some of their Theater and Philosophy classes! Sweet!

Aside from working as TA’s, Erica and I are also helping the school out with Global Classrooms, which is another version of Model UN. Evidently, over time we will help students prepare their presentations, and then serve on panels during the actual debates (first prize is a trip to NYC for the final round of the competition. It’s fun to find out about the UN, but I have to admit that the more I learn about their various charters, regulations, and procedures, the more I comprehend why they are so often ineffective.

On the personal front, I joined a chorus! Alto pride! It's associated with the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, and it's a pretty big, spirited group. I jumped into the rehearsal process a little late, so I’m currently trying to catch up by learning John Rutter’s Requiem and Beethoven’s 9th before our upcoming concert. In other news, we have this Monday off as a national holiday, so my roommates and I are trying to last-minute brainstorm about where we want to go for some exciting day-trips. We’re thinking San Sebastian?! Maybe? We’ll see.

An Introduction

As most of you know, the last time I ventured to keep a blog I was 19 and living in Morelia, México as a Rotary youth exchange student. I spent the entire year chronicling all of my (sometimes inane, sometimes life-changing) experiences, and I have to admit that over the course of my stay there, I began to feel a sense of ownership and pride towards Mexican culture, cuisine and traditions.

Now, over four years later, I am in Madrid, Spain: land of flamenco, tapas, world-famous museums, incredible nightlife, and the symbol of this vibrant city, El Oso y El Madroño (“The Bear and the Strawberry Tree”). In the month that I have been here, I have simultaneously felt both unbelievably at home and like a foreigner twice-over. There is something incredibly familiar to me about living life in Spanish. The fact that I can communicate with ease gives me a level of comfort that I didn’t reach in Mexico until a month or two before I had to pack up and head back to the States. On the other hand, I am an outsider to this city not only as an American, but as someone who learned to speak Spanish in Mexico. My Mexican accent, slang and vocabulary have already caused quite a few humorous misunderstanding (most of them double-entendre related, of course), and so far most people here assume that I am Mexican or South American until I explain the circumstances of my stay in Spain!

Cultural and linguistic differences aside, I can tell that my year here in Madrid will be nothing like anything I have ever experienced before. For one thing, I am no longer 19. I am a 23 (soon to be 24!) college graduate who is living abroad not as an exchange student, but as a Fulbright Teaching Assistant. There are no host families, no sponsoring clubs, no high school classes to attend. This time around, I am sharing an apartment (with two awesome girls from The Canary Islands and France), getting paid to work in a high school in Tres Cantos, and will be traveling with friends every chance that I get in order to explore this beautiful country. Not to mention the time it will take to explore Madrid, which so far has not ceased to amaze me with its parks, galleries, food, wine and people.

That is why I have created this Blog. It is a way for friends, family, and anyone who is interested to keep up with my various triumphs, trials and tribulations here in Spain. Tomorrow I start my first official week as a TA in I.E.S. José Luis Sampedro, so I will definitely be updating soon on how things are going for me on this side of the Atlantic. Besos to everyone back home!