Finally, an update.

Since I’m long overdue for a blog entry, I thought I’d start with our Christmas trip.  But first I’ll give you all a quick update on my life so far:  I’m still in Palma, Mallorca teaching English.  I’m at the same school, same apartment, same everything as last year and it’s great.  The people I work with are a really good group and they’ve taught me a lot about Mallorcan culture and the Spanish and Catalan languages.  

This year I also decided to broaden my horizons and take a Catalan course.  It’s just two nights a week for a couple of hours and so far it’s not too bad.  It’s a little more relaxed than I would like, but we don’t have to memorize a bunch of verb conjugations either.  I’m not sure if that is a high point or a low point. 

Also new this year, I’m teaching an adult English class through a separate company here in Palma.  It’s Monday evenings to a group of teachers at a local school.  They’re intermediate level so they know quite a bit; I’m able to joke with them a little too, which is fun.  The first day, when we talked about our weekends, one of the women asked me how to say “resaca” in English.  Hangover.  At least they’re not scared to ask questions.

I was also approached by the superintendant of our school to teach Infantil (ages 3-5) in a town called Campos.  It’s about 45 minutes outside of Palma and it’s on Fridays.  Goodbye three day weekends.  I agreed and my first day was this past Friday.  I work with a teacher who speaks English and basically we do crafts with them and I just talk like I would talk to any other preschooler.  The only problem that I’ve had so far is they speak Catalan to me because the teachers only speak to them in that dialect so they assume that I speak it too.  I don’t.  It’s close enough to Spanish that sometimes I can figure out what they’re saying.  I think it will be a good experience and I don’t work with Infantil in Palma so it’s something new.

Now on to our holiday trip.  I didn’t make it back to the US this year for Christmas; instead Amanda; her sister, Paige; our friend, Neus; and I traveled around Eastern Europe for ten days.  We started off in Budapest, Hungary for 4 days then bussed to Vienna, Austria for two and finished up in Prague, Czech Republic.  It was a chilly trip, but, thankfully, there was no snow.  We got really lucky, apparently, because this has been a very mild winter for that part of the world. 

After almost a full day of traveling, we reached Budapest in the early evening.  We found our hotel, set stuff down, and headed to dinner.  One of my favorite things to do in new countries is check out the food situation for local grub.  Typical dishes in Budapest (pronounced Bu-da-pesht) is goulash, but not the typical pasta dish that I was thinking.  It’s more of a hearty soup/stew meal that has potatoes, pork cubes, vegetables, and lots of paprika.  Budapest is known for paprika, which is used abundantly in many dishes and comes in two kinds: spicy and sweet.  I like the spicy one better myself, probably because I’m deprived of a good fire in my mouth here in Palma.

The 27^th was our first full day in Budapest, which we took full advantage of by heading out on a guided, walking tour of the city.  The day was pretty terrible to be honest, weather-wise, as it was extremely foggy and cold.  Wet cold.  So about eight minutes into the walk we were complaining to each other about being cold. 

The way the walking tour worked was it was free and then at the end, if you were impressed with the guides/information, you would tip accordingly.  We’d done this before in Berlin and were very impressed.  It’s nice because the guides are working for tips only and that usually makes the tour a lot more fun. 

Budapest is divided into two sides: Buda and Pest.  They used to be two different cities entirely but they merged some years ago.  Pest is completely flat and known for its rich culture whereas Buda is very hilly and more industrial.  Separated by the Danube River, the two are actually different tectonic plates; hence the difference in landscape. 

Probably my favorite part of the tour was our guide pointing out a bronze statute of a little boy in what looked like an elf costume (tunic; large, pointed hat; and slippers) sitting on a railing by the river.  He told us that the people of Budapest rub this child’s thighs for good luck; sure enough, the bronze was shining bright on the upper leg area of the statue.  Extra bonus: the statue is a girl—the sculptor who created it wanted to include his son; hence the boyish charm.  Yes, I rubbed his/her legs.

During World War II many Hungarian Jews were arrested and deported, however, a large number of them were taken to the river and drowned.  The Nazis would make them remove their shoes before either shooting them or shoving them off the pier. 

In commemoration of this incident, there is a memorial of different sorts of bronze shoes left in disarray on the riverbank. 

The food here is delicious, it really gives Germany a run for its money.  That, and it rivals portion-size in the US.  Double bonus.  One meal I ate goulash soup followed by beef/veal stuffed in cabbage served with cream sauce.  Coupled with a few of local Hungarian beers, it was a dinner fit for kings.  The next day we went to a restaurant for lunch where I ordered cream cheese (not Philadelphia cream cheese) soup with bacon accompanied by mushroom risotto.  Both of these options were on the appetizer menu but were humongous!  We found the food and lifestyle in general in Budapest to be very inexpensive; we always got a ton of food for a very reasonable price. 

During the evening we ventured around the Christmas markets.  Our guide had told us earlier in the afternoon that Budapest’s markets had won “Best of Year” in 2008 so, of course, we had to check them out.  We saw a lot of handmade crafts and many food and beverage tents.  One of my favorites was the kiosk that sold rum-spiked hot chocolate.  It was rich and delicious; you couldn’t even taste the rum!

We left Budapest of the 30^th to take a bus to Vienna, Austria.  The bus was only about 2 hours, so it wasn’t that bad.  We arrived in Vienna in the afternoon, checked into our hostel, and went to find coffee.  We landed at this quaint café in the center of the city where I ordered coffee (which turned out to be a shot of espresso and sugar) and a pastry with a shit-ton of meringue.  I guess I can’t get too used to my ‘cafes con leche’ (coffees w milk) that I have all the time in Palma.  Though my dessert was meringue-laden, it didn’t destroy the taste of cookie and raspberry, thankfully.

After we put our stuff down in our hostel, we went to the Freud museum.  We figured we had to use our time wisely in Vienna as we only had two days to fully appreciate the Austrian-ness of the city.  Let the touring begin.  The museum was Freud’s old apartment in the center of Vienna and it was a self-guided tour, which was nice because you could look through things at your own pace. 

Later that night we decided to go to an opera.  We were definitely underdressed, but it didn’t really matter as we got tickets last minute and were in the top most seats.  In some aspects, the top was better; you didn’t have to worry about seeing over anyone’s head; but at the same time, we couldn’t really see in general.  I got pretty lucky and was able to watch in between two peoples’ heads.  The opera was only about an hour and a half long; it was in German so I couldn’t understand anything, but let’s be honest, I wouldn’t have been able to understand if they were singing in English. 

The opera house was enormous and very beautifully decorated with frescoes and all sorts of statues and chandeliers. 

The next day we went to the Royal Summer Palace.  Most of it was close because it was winter, but the grounds were still nice to walk around.  From the palace we walked around the city some more and saw the main squares of Vienna.  We had a pretty short time in Austria but were able to spend New Year’s Eve there, which was fun, though there were way too many people in the plaza for my liking. 

On January 1^st we took a bus to Prague!  I slept most of the way, it was about five hours, and was ready to be done traveling when we arrived in the Czech Republic.  Amanda had organized a taxi pick-up for us when we got to the bus station (around 10:00 pm) but we waited for about ten minutes and the taxi wasn’t there.  Luckily, there were other taxis waiting and we just grabbed one of them.  We asked the driver before we got in if it would be about 10 euros for him to take us to our destination (we showed him the address) and he said, “Yes, 10 euros”.  Perfect!  Looks like this taxi worked out after all.

Well, we finally get to the street that our hotel is on, after the driver getting turned around a little bit in the city; and we get out and he says 20 euros.  We tell him, no, you told us that it would be 10.  No, no, 10 for going through the first plaza, 10 for the second.  Hm…  We all go to argue and then he starts yelling at us in Czech so we decide, whatever, to cut our losses and give him the 20 euros, the jackass. 

Our hotel is a bit more of a nightmare.  By the time we get there, it’s about 11:00 pm and we just want to go to bed.  Well, there’s a sign on the door saying reception is closed that we have to go to some other hotel around the corner and get our keys for this hotel.  Um…this is a little sketch.  After we get our keys, we’re able to get to our room, which is a dingy disaster, to put it lightly.  Amanda and Paige’s sheets/pillows looked dirty, there were still used dishes from another tenant, and just overall, it looked very grimy.  All we wanted to do was shower.  And not get a disease… 

We spent one night at the “hotel” and the next morning found new lodging.  It was successful as we found another hotel across the street for a similar price.

Prague is home to the oldest working Astrological clock, said to be made in 1410.  It’s very impressive.  On the hour it rings and the 12 disciples march around while a tiny skeleton ticks the hours.  The four figures flanking the sides of the clock represent undesired characteristics during the time period when the clock was made: vanity (symbolized by a woman holding a mirror), greed (a man holding a bag of money), death (obvious reasons), and pleasure (a man playing an instrument).  I’m not sure why the last one was a ‘despised quality’, but he’s next to ‘death’ so we’ll go with it.

The next stop on our tour was the Dorotheum; a large music hall that had four musicians’ statues on top of it: Mozart, Handel, Bach, and Beethoven.  It used to have other people but the Nazis knocked most of them down.  They were originally supposed to find the Jewish composers and only push their busts off the roof but they didn’t know which ones to choose.  In the end, they craftily thought that the one with the biggest nose would be the Jew.  It turned out to be Hitler’s favorite composer; he was Austrian and not Jewish…

We continued walking around the city on our tour.  I really like the guided walking tours because you usually see things that you wouldn’t see on your own.  And there’s not getting lost in the city and having to whip out a map.  We visited another sculpture made by Czech artist, David Cerny, who is known for creating the unusual.  One of his sculptures is a bunch of black babies crawling up the TV tower in Prague, another is Freud hanging by his hand from a pole in the center of town, and the last is what we visited:  two urinating men.

According to our guide, these two men are Hitler and Stalin urinating on the Czech Republic (the area they’re standing in is the outline of the country).  You used to be able to send a text message to a phone number by the statues and they would pee your message.  Now they just write quotes from famous Czech residents.

Our next stop was the John Lennon Wall.  It’s just a large wall in central Prague that is filled with graffiti of messages of love, peace, and songs from the Beatles.  It’s the only wall in Prague that can be graffitied and the designs change almost daily.  It’s funny to see the wall next to it, as it’s completely blank.  If the security cameras catch you painting the wall next to the Lennon Wall, have to do hours of community service and clean the wall that you painted.  Just paint the Lennon Wall…

After the Lennon Wall, we ventured through Old Town Prague.  Our guide told us that many people long ago used to be illiterate, to the point that they couldn’t recognize street addresses and house numbers.  To solve this problem, people put a symbol above their doors; so instead of living at number 23, you would live at the house with violins.  Some of them are very intricate, like this Medusa:

Marionette puppets are very popular here; there are a ton of shops with all different kinds of them.  Some are people, witches, dragons, Harry Potter, you can pretty much find anything you want.  They reminded me of The Sound of Music when Maria and the kids put on a puppet show for the Captain. 

We also found a lot of places that sold Matryoshka dolls.  I asked a woman if they were typically from Prague, as I’d always thought of Russia.  She said, no, they’re Russian, but there are a lot of Eastern European immigrants to Prague and they bring these dolls with them.  Some stores we walked past just sold these dolls and the entire store would be filled with them in all different sizes.  I really wanted one, but I think that’s the type of thing you need to purchase from the country of origin.  I guess I’ll just have to go to Russia!

As many of you have heard me complain, there’s not a Starbucks on the island of Mallorca.  At all.  Now, at home, this doesn’t really bother me because I don’t go to Starbucks that often or if I’m in the mood for coffee I go to local coffee shops around us.  However, the whole fact that I can’t have it makes me want it so when we travel one of the first things I Google is if there is a Starbucks even remotely close to where we’ll be.  Lucky for me, there were Starbucks in ALL THREE CITIES!  I managed to hold myself back until Prague, because, let’s be honest, it isn’t even that great of coffee, BUT I needed my seasonal peppermint latte.  Which I got, though it wasn’t in its normal red holiday cup.  I guess you can’t have everything in life. 

By the time our ten days were over, I was ready to go home.  Or at least not have to wear four layers.  I forgot how much of a hassle it is to go inside and take off your hat, coat, scarf, gloves, etc.  Not to mention, I looked like that little kid in A Christmas Story when he can’t put his arms down properly because he’s in a snowsuit.  Palma has really softened me to the elements of winter. 

We arrived back in Palma on the 5^th of January and had a few days to relax before heading back to school.  We had a great trip and it was really fun to see three places that I’d never been before.

On A Boat

Last weekend Xisca invited Amanda and me on her family’s fishing boat to spend Saturday out on the water/beaches of northern Mallorca.  We took the bus to Port de Pollença, which is at the very top of the island, and met Xisca, Biel, and their daughter for a day of sun-filled fun. 

We hopped in the boat and headed out to Formentor; a luxurious area where the wealthy of Europe buy real estate.  The mansions we saw from the boat were enormous with rock cliffs and beautiful vistas of the sea. 

We arrived at our destination about an hour boat journey later.  It was an informative ride as Biel pointed out different historical areas and told us about old-time Mallorca.  Amanda and I were both relieved that Xisca and Biel like to talk because sometimes it’s hard to start lengthy conversations in Spanish; especially over the roar of the waves, motor, etc. 

After I made sure my sunscreen was on, I jumped into the water-cool but refreshing.  We swam around a bit and then got back on the boat for lunch that Xisca had packed.  It was so delicious, and we were starving.  We ate roast chicken, trampó (cold salad of raw onion, tomato, and green pepper with salt and olive oil), melon and brownies-not to mention the pre-lunch Spanish standard of olives and chips. 

Something that I really admire about Xisca is she never makes me feel stupid, which, trust me, there are plenty of times that I either say something odd or misuse Spanish, or eat raw red pepper for that matter, that she could look at me like I’m a complete idiot and she doesn’t.  Anyway, as Amanda and I were eating melon, we took bites and it basically exploded juice all over us—Xisca’s family was in control of their pieces.  I made a comment about how we were a couple of disasters on this side of the boat, but Xisca reassured me that we just needed a couple of napkins because they already knew how to eat melon-we just needed practice.  I thought that was nice of her; it’s the little things.  Ha.

We also talked about cultural differences during lunch, which is always a fun topic.  The major one we hit on, besides how Amanda and I both DESPISE dos besos (kissing a person’s cheeks when you meet, see them, say goodbye, ALL THE TIME), was the use of alcohol.  Somehow we got on the subject of how wine, champagne, and usually anis are always present at my school and how that’s not only unpracticed but straight-up illegal in the US.  They couldn’t believe it.

As we were heading back to Pollença, the wind picked up and started majorly rocking the boat to the point where Amanda’s hand (on the side of the boat) dipped into the water on a wave.  And I yelled at one point.  I was sure we would die and we still had about an hour to go in the boat. 

We finally arrived back at the port, unpacked the boat, and went to Pollença to drop off Xisca’s daughter as she had to get ready for a concert (she plays the trombone).  We met Biel’s mom who’s about 90, but cooks Sunday dinner for her whole family still!  I couldn’t believe it.  Biel’s family (4 people) and his sister’s family (4 people) come for weekly dinner to their mom’s house.  It’s a great tradition, but I think it would be so much work for her to cook for that many people.  Apparently it isn’t though, and maybe she really enjoys it.  I’m not sure I would, especially if it wasn’t potluck style and happened every single week. 

After Pollença we went back to Xica’s summerhouse in Llubí (a pueblo in the center of Mallorca) in order to catch the train back to Palma.  Biel offered us an afternoon coffee, but as it was about 1000 degrees, I said I’d pass.  Instead, Amanda and I watched him down an espresso and then take (and offer us) a shot of hard liquor.  Um…okay.  He told us the coffee was to wake up, and the liquor was to take the espresso taste out of your mouth.  Good to know. 

When we got back to Palma, we were dead tired, and it was only about 8:30.  Between sun, swimming, and Spanish all day, I was in bed by 10:00.  Such a fun day and I’m so thankful that we were invited.

Never too late to try something new

This past week for a couple of days, Sarah came to visit.  We’ve known each other since high school and have kept in touch throughout the years even though we attended different universities.  As I’m still unemployed, it was the perfect time for her to visit: we could hit the beach, sleep in, and pretty much do whatever we wanted on our own schedules.  Sarah is always up to try new things so we decided to take the plunge and buy a whole fish to cook for lunch one afternoon.  We did research (thank you, Google) before we went to the market to find a recipe that seemed easy enough for two ‘fish idiots’ to cook properly.  Luckily we found one that involved lemon, butter, and spices.  Oh, and the whole fish… 

We got back from the market with a little over a kilo of ‘rodaballo’ or turbot, freshly gutted (in front of us) and ready to cook.  We read the recipe again, seemed pretty straight forward, and then youtubed how to fillet a flat fish.  We failed on the filleting part and just decided, screw it, and threw it in the over as it was.  Amazingly, it worked wonderfully-the scales, after baking, came right off and Sarah became fillet master as she sliced and diced our meal.  Complete with hollandaise sauce, we had a lunch fit for kings.  I think I’m going to have to buy more fish next year; I kick myself that it took me until late June to try it for the first time, but ya gotta start somewhere.   Below is each stage of our fish fiasco.

The rest of our week flew by with ensaimadas, ice cream, heat complaints, and beer.  We had a really good time together (even trying snails!), and I hope it’s not another year before we see each other again.  I joked with Sarah at the bus stop when I dropped her off for the airport that I’d see her in a couple years.  We laughed, but sadly, that’s been a reality before.  Thank god for internet, skype, email, and everything that allows me to keep in touch with friends and family, even when we’re worlds apart.

Safety First? Not On Holidays...

As I mentioned, San Juan was celebrated on Thursday night to mark the summer solstice.  A couple friends and I went down to Parc de la Mar that sits between the cathedral and the sea-there was a concert stage set up and some other type of structure that we didn’t recognize. 

Around 11:00 pm the demons came out.  There was a holiday in January, San Sebastian, that also had demons, however I wasn’t in town for that so this was completely new.  Beckie, one of my other roommates, however, was present for San Sebastian and when Amanda and I told her we wanted to venture closer she told us absolutely not-they chase you with fire.  Hm…well, surely they don’t actually chase you with fire.  We’re going down anyway. 

They actually chase you with fire.  Not a controlled fire either.  These men that are dressed as devils, complete with ugly masks and goat horns, have something similar to a huge torch that is aflame and they come up behind you and almost literally scare the shit out of you by yelling things at you in Catalan.  And then they manhandle you and drag you to the ground or start thrusting you, but that’s a story for later.  You would thing that the open fire-on-a-stick among thousands of people would be dangerous enough…and you would be wrong.  They also carry around bottles of alcohol that they take a pull of and then blow onto the torch, and if that gets boring they light other fireworks that spin around above your head and emit sparks.  Into the crowd of people.  Overall, it was a really cool experience though I felt it was extremely dangerous.  At least they had Red Cross busses there.  

After part one of the festivities we headed down to the beach.  We didn’t really know what we were doing but apparently this holiday celebrates ‘a new beginning’ so you write something on paper to better yourself (a wish or something you want to improve), burn it, and then go for a cleansing swim in the ocean.  We decided to stay out of the ocean but sat by the water anyway and observed others; there were quite a few people there. 

The beach is really peaceful at night, I love that you can’t see where the water meets the sky; it’s just a black abyss. 

By the time we walked back home it was about 2:00 am and we were all pretty tired.  Needless to say, we slept in a little bit on Friday.

More Airline Fun

Today is a holiday.  But not the whole day (people still had to work), only tonight.  Tomorrow is the ‘recovery holiday’ so everything will be closed.  Tonight is Sant Joan, there will be street fires on the beach, people imbibing and making wishes over bonfires and swimming in the ocean at midnight.  I’m sure there will be some injuries, how can there not be with large, open fires and drunken swimming.

In honor of tonight’s festivities, my friends and I are going to walk down, swimsuits in tow, to the beach and have a look at what Palma does to honor the summer solstice.  This evening is the ray of sunshine on the hurricane that is today:

I’ve recently purchased my ticket back to the homeland, after many weeks (no exaggeration) of hoping, in vain, that the gods of all things aerial would take pity on me and pursuade AirBerlin (or any airline, or blimp, or Aladdin) to lower their travel prices.  However, when this dream was shattered, repeatedly, whenever I pulled up kayak.com, I bit the bullet and purchased a roundtrip ticket. 

The fun started today, when I received an email in Spanish (yay) from AirBerlin telling me that they were unable to charge my Visa and that I needed to pay my ticket fee by July 2^nd or I would be declined the pleasure to fly with them and would also have to pay a cancellation fee.  They included their banking information for me to go ahead and transfer money from my account to theirs.  How nice of them. 

On a tangent, this came after I had a nice chat with a woman hiring workers to teach English at a summer camp here in Palma during the month of July.  As I don’t have a summer job, I jumped at the opportunity.  I set up an interview for Monday morning and then received the question that I love most: do I have papers and/or a social security number to work here?  I took the standard approach and beat around the bush in broken, flustered Spanish, that, usually I work for cash payments (because THAT doesn’t make me sound like a hooker…), until we reach the inevitable: no, I’m here on a grant from the Government of Spain.  Well, she tells me, an interview would be pointless if I don’t have a Spanish SSN.  So, yay, America, you’re STILL not part of the EU.

Back to the AirBerlin issue.  After I read about the money wiring, I decided I needed to have a quick chat with US Bank; I recite my situation to them after which, they remind me that there’s probably a limit on how much I can spend per day.  Of course there is.  And of course I went over that limit on the day that I booked my flights home.  Either way, I need to pay AirBerlin money for my flight so I don’t miss my connecting flight in Florida, even if it involves wiring money (with the lovely transaction fee).  But, as nothing can be painless, I’m told that wiring can only be done in person and that I would need to come to an office and fill out paper work.  Not over the internet and ABSOLUTELY not over the phone.  Well, thank God there’s a branch of US Bank in Palma! (sense the sarcasm). 

Sometimes when I used to complain as a youngster about being given time outs (a rarity), my mom used to tell me she WISHED someone would tell her she was in timeout-it was usually when she was juggling about 5,000 things and I had just punched my brother.  And then blamed him for his own injury, and she needed a break.  At any rate, I now understand that sentiment and gave myself a timeout, after which I frantically called my mom.  I don’t care how independent you think you are (or actually are), sometimes you need help, which is not something I make a habit of asking for.  I should work on that.  Today I reached out.  And my mom saved the day.  She called the bank again and through the magic of Genie my ticket should be charged to my Visa.  I’m still waiting for a confirmation email, but we’re a step closer. 

So now, as I sit writing this long overdue post and drinking glass number three of cheap, delicious, Spanish wine, I think—life in Europe really isn’t that bad.  Granted the EU citizenship is a doozie, but it’s a cloudless afternoon and there’s a street fiesta tonight.  What more could I want?  Thanks, mom, for helping when I was ready to jump over the balcony of apartment 2A.  A less cynical post is promised for the future-maybe complete with photos of the past few weeks/Sant Joan!

Isn't Being an Adult Fun?

Well, as the school year is winding down over here, Amanda and I have started looking for flights back to the homeland.  Let me tell you how fun THAT’S been… sense the sarcasm.  We’ve kind of had a hectic/stressful week that started with our refrigerator breaking two weeks ago on Sunday night.  Called our landlady on Monday, she said someone would be over to look at it on Wednesday.  Alright, whatever, our freezer still worked so we just froze all of our food, not a big deal.  Wednesday came and went, no one showed up so we waited a couple more days.  Turned out, it was definitely broken and that we would get a new one delivered to us the following Wednesday (now sans fridge for a week).  Perfect.  Well, yesterday (Friday) a fridge finally showed up and is usable.  Finally. 

            Aside from that hiccup, flight prices are not going down, so I bit the bullet and purchased a ticket to America, Des Moines, specifically, seeing that any way I slice the pie (Madrid, Chicago, etc-big airports) it’s not really cheaper once you factor in driving and such.  I fill out all my paperwork online, enter my Visa info only to click submit and have the Orbiz website tell me that the bank is denying my transaction.  Of course it is.  The message also says wait a few minutes, try again, or call your bank.  Waited, tried again, same message.  Yesterday, I called my bank, as there’s a pending transaction for a flight ticket on my statement but I haven’t gotten a confirmation email or anything stating that I’m actually on the flight.  Fun surprise when I called US Bank, turns out there are TWO charges on my card for TWO seats on the flight (bought a minute apart, according to the bank, must have been when I refreshed the page, damn Orbitz), but I’m not actually ON THE FLIGHT.  In either seat.  Oh, that’s fine then.  According to both parties (Orbitz and US Bank) neither can negate the charges, I have to call the national branch of US Bank.  Excellent.  Maybe I’ll just get a blow up raft and float myself back to the States.  Also got an email from the Embassy saying beware of ‘peaceful protests happening in big cities due to the upcoming elections’.  And, according to America, the world is supposed to end tonight.  If it does, do the charges on my Visa automatically disappear?  

Holiday Fun

            Well, this is the first week (May 2nd-6th) back from Easter holidays.  It was kind of hard to get back in the swing of things, but I did it.  Hard to believe I have such a short time left working for the school year, and that it was almost a year ago that I graduated from college.  Yikes. 

            My break was full of visitors and fun, like it should be, right?  The week before our vacation time (which was actually Holy Week), our school had cultural week.  From Monday through Wednesday we did different Mallorcan cultural activities.  I talked to the director of our school and was told to just choose a class to participate with.  I chose a first grade class (they’re so much fun!) and was with Kiko helping his class make crespells (a typical Easter cookie), painted shirts, and learning about Easter. 

            On Monday we made crespells with the class.  We actually discussed ingredients with them (in Catalan, so I didn’t really participate in the discussion, ha), followed the recipe, and measured out exactly what we needed for our baking extravaganza.  I thought it was really neat that we made these in class instead of just talking about it; it made a really good hands-on activity for the kids, even though it was a little messy.  One thing that I still can’t get over is alcohol on school grounds.  A second grade teacher, Ana, walked into our class in an apron (her kids were making cookies too) carrying an open fresh bottle of anis.  I just stared at her.  She was talking to Kiko about adding some to the cookie dough.  Um…what?!  I understand that the actual liquor bakes out, but still!  I asked Kiko for clarification about what she was going to do and he said that, yes, as soon as we mixed up the dough she was going to come back and add some anis.  For flavor.  Oh, I see, well that’s fine then.  I just kept thinking to myself how this would NEVER fly in a classroom in the US.  The teacher would probably get arrested.  Or something, I’m not even really sure.  You can’t even drink during lunch in the US.  At any rate, the cookies turned out really well, and the kids were super excited about baking.

            Tuesday, everyone brought white t-shirts and we stencil-painted bees on them since Kiko’s class theme this year is beekeepers.  Again, the kids had a blast-how could you not, when you’re getting down and dirty with paint?  I got a little painted myself, thankfully, not on my clothes, but it was still sliiiightly embarrassing to have another teacher tell me I had yellow pain on my nose.  Wah waaahhh.  That afternoon, all the first grade classes watched Bee Movie.  I’d never seen this movie, and didn’t really follow along as it was in Spanish and the kids were being loud.  It looked pretty cute though, and the kids that were listening seemed to enjoy it.  Even though I wasn’t really ‘working’ per se this week, I always went home extremely tired from the days’ activities. 

            On Wednesday we went on a field trip to La Fiore glass factory with the first graders.  There were four chaperones, including myself, and I would say maybe 80 kids.  To a glass factory.  I assumed this would failed miserably, and the school would have to write a check for thousands of euros to the glass shop, but nothing was broken!  Granted, we watched the process of glass blowing and the students weren’t allowed in the actual store, but still.  On the ride to the field trip, the kids started singing songs on the bus.  As I was listening, the lyrics of ‘quien ha hecho pis en un saco de dormir’ became apparent.  This literally means, ‘who took a piss in a sleeping bag’.  Oh, ok, so this is what we’re playing.  They’re six years old remember.  Though I was taken aback by the lyrics, I couldn’t help but chant the tune as well, it was rather catchy.  After getting back from La Fiore, the students had recess for about 2 hours while all the teachers talked outside.  It was a beautiful day and I got to talk to some of the teachers that I don’t normally see, which was nice.  After school got out at two, a few of the male teachers and I went to get tapas at a restaurant near by.  Most restaurants serve you a tapa (small plate of something) if you purchase a beverage, so the five of us got drinks that were accompanied by a plate of food that we all shared.  We were pretty hungry and ended up getting about 5 plates/aka 5 beers and needless to say, by the end of the meal, I was glad that I wasn’t driving.  I really appreciated that Jordi, one of the first grade teachers, invited me along with them.  It was nice to chat and get to know the guys outside of our school setting. 

            On Thursday (Maundy Thursday) we started our Easter vacations, and I was ready for a break.  Thursday night Amanda, Beckie, and I went to La Rambla in Palma to watch the big night of processions.  They were quite interesting, not as intense as Sevilla (can’t say I’m sad about that), but still kind of gave me the creeps.  I understand that this is a huge religious affair, but it still kind of reminds me of the Klan, especially when people here tell me that it’s like that with a big smile on their faces.  I’m not sure they understand that yes, the robes are certainly similar, but the actions are opposite.  Usually I just nod and smile; I don’t want to get into the discussion of what the KKK actually did. 

            On Friday Mike, Telene, and the girls flew in to Palma.  I picked them up at the airport that afternoon for a week of Spring fun.  They were absolutely exhausted, but were awesome sports about going to watch a procession and get tapas that night for dinner.  I think the girls made it to about 8:15 before they started nodding off at the table; I was surprised they made it that long to be honest.  I don’t think they were big fans of tapas but Mike and Telene seemed to enjoy them. 

            The next day, we started bright and early (around 10:30 ha) and walked around the city.  Throughout the week, we hiked up to the castle, went to the Cathedral, enjoyed a lot of Spanish food (including ensaïmada and sobrasada), and, of course, sangria.  Before we knew it, it was time to head to Barcelona.  I took a separate flight and arrived a couple hours early into the sunny, warm Barcelona weather.  This is the third time I’ve been to Barcelona and every time I love going.  It’s such a huge city that’s full of awesome architecture and great food.  I sat outside a café for a while and had fresh squeezed orange juice and a croissant while I people watched.  My favorite.

 

            When Mike and Telene arrived we checked into the hotel and walked around the city to find some lunch.  There’s a good tapas restaurant on La Rambla, one of the main streets in Barcelona, and we stopped there to have a typical Spanish lunch.  We only had three days in Barcelona but I think we spent our time wisely and walked a TON.  Something that I hadn’t experienced before was the city after a big football (soccer) win-Barcelona played its biggest rival, Real Madrid, for the semi-final of the Champions League and won 2-0.  Barcelona absolutely erupted.  We didn’t venture too far into the crowded plaza, but were able to walk up La Rambla and see how many people were in Plaça Catalunya—I would say probably between 700 and 1000, screaming how Barcelona was the best. 

            The morning we left, we all got up around 4:30.  I had to catch a flight back to Palma and they had to get to Madrid.  My trip to the airport was a little rocky, as the car that Mike and Telene had hired (and paid for already) didn’t show up on time.  Instead I took a cab to BCN and boarded a flight that left at 6:20 at 6:05.  Cutting it a little close.  Thankfully, I made it on, and home safely.  A huge thanks again to Mike, Telene, Brecca, and Brinley for taking the time and money to come all the way over to Spain.  It really meant a lot to me that you guys spent your Spring Break with me and it was definitely nice to see family!