this is definitely beach weather!

planes, trains and automobiles all over the Basque country

My long weekend in the Basque country was full of spectacular sites, beautiful cities, basically all forms of public transportation and a whole lot of adventure. Going in, I had read about where I wanted to go and spoken with some reliable sources on how to distribute our time, but unlike any other trip it wasn't that planned. I had a hotel in Bilbao the first night and a hotel for us the last night in San Sebastian but that was about it. A friend of mine who I met freshman year at UA flew in Thursday morning, March 18th. I joined him in the city center after my hard day at work. This is a joke because on Thursday, I went on the school field trip to the factory of the largest producer of beer in Spain. That's right, a SCHOOL trip to drink BEER. Only in Spain. It was actually a rather educational experience. The students had to be 18 to go and they are in the economics/business track of the school. This place was such a GIGANTIC operation, I can see the educational value in going. However, the open bar at the end of the two hour tour, was lacking in educational value and resulted in an hour bus ride back with drunk ANIMALS. Again, things like this remind me of how insane this entire experience is. I can't imagine going on a trip to drink beer with teachers and 60 of my classmates at 18. Crazy.

Anyways, Jonathan and I headed to Bilbao that night. Friday morning, I introduced him to cafe con leche and tortilla. He was asking for ketchup. In fact, all weekend I was enjoying his remarks calling attention to something's strangeness that has become my normal. The two beds pushed together in a hotel. A "large buffet breakfast" that is some slices of lunch meat and toast with coffee or tea. The lights on the outside of doors. Paying to use the restroom. Grocery cart in a department store. For someone who has never been to Europe, these are jolting strange things, but they have become so normal to me, I forgot to explain or prepare him on many of the fronts. We traveled together with ease all weekend and I was super happy to have him along and that we wee so successful in what we were able to see in such a short period of time, and on a reasonable budget. I am already excited about our NEXT adventure!

So Friday morning, we set out to spend the day in Santander. We walked for about an hour through the city to really feel the pulse of Bilbao then boarded the bus. After a lovely scenic bus ride for about two hours, we were just a quick walk to the tourism office. With a map in hand, we walked to the beach and in not ideal weather, sat on a bench overlooking the beach and dug into the picnic we had packed. The entire trip the weather wasn't exactly ideal but this actually worked in our favor in the sense that instead of laying around on the beach, we saw a lot more of the city. Santander has its own characters and charm. There was a nice palace so we walked up to that and explored this mountain-like area. Though it wasn't "beach weather" (a phrase we kept joking about all weekend), and no one wants to be in five layers,a  scarf and boots on the beach... let me tell you, you DO if you want to be ON the beach. So we made the most of it all weekend.

We left Santander after walking for hours and crashed at the same hotel in Bilbao.

Saturday morning, we walked a different part of the city and saw the infamous Guggenheim's bizarre art collection. Certainly, the architecture of the building itself was more impressive to us than anything it held inside, but it was worth the visit. After walking and exploring some more, it was off to St. Jean-de-luz. This jewel of a beach resort town is just inside of France and was a spectacular delight. Within just a few minutes of being there, we decided to spend the night. With no reservations and just my trusty Rick Steve's book, we had a room reserved in a quaint little place with this lovely woman. her english was great, our French was terrible and she gave us suggestions on how to spend our day and even made us dinner reservations where we later feasted n some of the best sea food I've ever had. "Langostines" are my new favorite thing. St. Jean-de-Luz was a great stop. It's port and winding pedestrian streets charming and alive with character.

Since we knew it was most likely going to rain and was cold enough for several layers, we decided to venture deeper into France. Sunday, I took a long morning stroll through the city and really enjoyed myself. This is the most relaxed I have felt in a long time and it was really a fabulous trip from beginning to end. Jonathan got out of bed and joined me at the train station for our two hour ride to Bourdeaux. We had the misfortune of sharing a cart with a large family with several screaming small children but the views out of the window were exceptional.

When we got to Bourdeaux, it was Sunday and we had no map, no Rick Steve's, no idea what was in the city or anything. After having an extremely disappointing meal for lunch, we walked in the rain until we found a cafe where we could pay for wifi. 30 minutes later, we were in full tourist mode and we walked all over that city again.

I brought Jonathan to his first crepe with sugar and nutella. He was in love, of course. Bourdeaux surprised me and I can't really explain why. Originally a man at the information desk in the train station told us that we couldn't even get back to Spain that night but when we consulted a different desk, miraculously there were four trains. We chose to leave at 8, so we got a nice taste for the city at night, which was really great.

When we got into the border town, it was 11:20 and deserted. Realizing we may not be able to get into Spain after all, panic began to sink in. We had already had quite an ordeal trying to find a hotel where we could stay in San Sebastian so there was no way I was going to stay in France in this tiny town. As luck would have it, there were two American girls who are currently studying abroad in San Sebastian so we split a taxi and drove off into the night. The four of us chatted away and even with a gps, the Frenchman got lost around seven times. After our night tour of the city, Jonathan and I walked into our place for the night. The owner is THE nicest person that I have ever. She loves her job, her city, her hotel and she had a huge smile on her face telling us about the city the next morning and helping us plan our time. She had us eating at wonderful places and deserved every cent of the money we paid her for the room.
San Sebastian is breathtaking. For the only day of the trip, it was sunny and though still not beach weather, it was definitely the best weather. It was hard to leave the city and i was really wishing I could call in sick to work tomorrow so we could stay just one more day. San Sebastian is a place I must go back and lay in the sun and enjoy the sand in my bikini. It is truly a small slice of paradise.

5 cities in 4 days was definitely an adventure but I wouldn't have done it any other way because we saw so much. The only way it would be better is if I also had a tan!

i may sound like a mother... but EW....

to enlighten you on some facets of my culture shock that still SHOCK me daily.

i absolutely cannot stop myself from cringing when i see one of the following things:
-dredlocks
-facial piercings

-a single dredlock or long braid protruding from semi-normal hair

-jeans sagging so low they may fall off at any given second
-conversely, jeans so tight that i am wondering how the person vacuumed into them is breathing
THESE ARE NORMAL THINGS IN THIS COUNTRY AND ITS DISGUSTING.

i cannot grasp the lack of respect, sense of time and schedule, disorder and complete ignorance of any normal behavior in these schools. i cannot believe there is no dress code. its remarkable i dont have nightmares about what these kids will be wearing in the summer! if i see cleavage and its 10 degrees outside, seriously, i am terrified about summer!

one of my kids came to school wearing this tshirt and i remember getting DETENTION for having a white undershirt on under my navy blue polo. on "college tshirt day" someone got saturday school for wearing the alabama tshirt with "rammer jammer yellow hammer give em hell alabama" on the back because it said "hell." i know i went to private school and all... but seriously. i asked him what his mother says when he wears that shirt and he said, "she doesn't care, profe!" oh, really??!! unbelievable.

because there is no time between classes on the schedule, everyone is always late somewhere. it blows my mind. every day its like i have to relearn how abnormal it is not just to be on time, but to think anyone else would be on time. and by "not on time" i'm talking what stephanie would call "late." which is OVER ten minutes LATER than i'm suppose to be there.
the concept of a syllabus could really go a long way over here. and by that i mean, every student would be failing and/or expelled by week two.

"public displays of affection" does not quite accurately describe the PDA that occurs in every corner of public spaces, on the metro, on the streets, and worse of all, on the escalators. while you are just trying to stand there on the temporary step, the couple in front of you is exchanging saliva and attempting to eat eachother's tongues as if this is the LAST chance they will ever have to do so in their ENTIRE LIFE! as if, when the escalator ends, they will no longer be allowed to touch. instead, there is usually another escalator, where they continue their touching, again, centimeters from your face. its torture. really. the PDA is just as bad at the schools. there is hand holding in class, lap-sitting, petting during recess and all i can think is, "EWW" the entire time! ES UN HORROR!

you can gamble at any and every restaurant here. there are slot machines in every restaurant/bar. yes. yes. and its quite disruptive when youre trying to read the newspaper and enjoy a nice meal.

of course for as many things that i think are totally crazy and ridiculous, there are just as many things i absolutely love. but, just to give you an idea of what i get to stare at on a regular basis, i hope you enjoyed the images provided. i really do obviously CRINGE every time. ew, who knew facial piercings had so many names.

i am beautiful! and other nonsense from school

Sorry its been a while since I posted. I have Monday and Tuesday off from work, so hopefully I will be able to get caught up on blogging, work on law school applications and relax. I have officially completed Season 6 of Criminal Minds and can't wait to get up-to-date onto season 7. I do not remember the last time I stayed in bed all day so I have really relished this.
The last two weeks have been surprisingly stressful. I had spent a significant amount of time working on lesson plans for my week of classes just to be derailed completely in class. My first Monday alone with the students, the white board FELL on me and caused the brand-new AV outlet to fall completely off the wall and sent all the students into an endless laughing spree. one of the punks that is my favorite in that class said, "hey, profe, i won't tell anyone you did it. don't worry." then he paused and thought for a second and came up with this idea, "actually, i'll tell everyone I did if you let me take you out to dinner..." The rest of that week was rough. If the lesson plan was too easy, the kids were bored and hyper and chatty. If the lesson was too hard, they were discouraged and quiet as a mouse, embarrassed to ask questions or to express their confusion. This results in me speaking for 50 minutes straight and is miserable for all of us.
    All of the teachers and my boss at both schools are wonderful. They have asked numerous times, "how are you doing?" or "is there anything about your schedule that you want to change?" and i want to say, "what schedule!?" Either due to the strike, the students having a test, or a holiday I haven't even had a full week of all my classes. Some hours, I rotate between several teacher's classes. Other hours I only have half of the class and then the other half the following week. It's amazing that between the two schools the same level is actually either better or worse English. It's just going to take a lot of time to get use to which class is which, the students in the class, their age, their level of English and what they are currently studying. I don't expect to have that down until Christmas. If my schedule changes in January, I am going to cry for days. On Thursday, a teacher at JF I have barely even spoken to came up to me and said, "you ready for class?" Trying to play it cool, I said, "yeah, definitely." I don't even know her name! I definitely had no clue we have class together. She told me that I will be in her class every 3rd week. OHH, that explains it, okay... How complicated and crazy.
    The high schools I am working out seem deprived of everything I consider to be HIGH SCHOOL. There is no football team, no chorus, no assembly area for school-wide meetings or pep-rallys (or anything to rally for other than the strike). Actually, I sort of take that back. The schools are like labyrinths and every door is locked so for all I know there is an assembly room or gymnasium behind one of those doors. I doubt it though. Even the cafeteria is about the size of a café and serves mainly different types of sandwiches, snacks, fruit and coffee. There isn't any concept of detention or Saturday school. Absolutely no dress code exists. The teachers or staff do not wear name-tags or IDs. The halls aren't lined with lockers because its the teachers that switch classrooms, not the students. There are small lockers in the rooms themselves. The rooms are bare with nothing on the walls, a chalkboard and echo horribly. At LC, Melania and I have our own room for English that has a whiteboard and projection screen (that I almost destroyed but was salvaged thank goodness) and we are working on decorating it. Anyways, I am getting use to how incredibly different it is. When I was walking to school the other morning, there was a group of kids sitting around a hookah in a circle on the sidewalk smoking it. I was like, "did that just happen?!" Apparently, one of the English teachers told Ryan (the other tutor at JF), "well, we are a public school and we don't really have any power over our students. We can't make them come to class." this was the explanation he provided when Ryan asked why so many kids just linger around outside or outside the gates of the school on the street. Can you imagine if you could have gotten away with that in high school?! The teachers even have this lackadaisical attitude. On Thursday, a teacher came by Ryan and I to tell us that she was feeling sick and planned to go home. She told Ryan, "if I'm not here tomorrow, you can just take the afternoon off early." Ryan and I were speculating, if she's not there and he's not there, what are the students going to do during that time?! It's a little crazy, that's for sure.
The students that I have that are great are REALLY great. Some of these 12-13 year olds are the cutest things you've ever seen and are so willing and eager to learn. I love it. I can see myself in some of these girls that sit on the front row wide-eyed, furiously writing down everything I say and raising their hand inquisitively the entire 50 minutes. One boy walked in class and instinctively sat down in his chair in the back. Then, he thought about it for a second, took his bookbag and sat down proudly on the front row with a huge grin on his face. as other students started trickling in, he exclaimed, "I AM BEAUTIFUL!" as I was saying, "wow, yes you are!" this girl next to him hit him on the arm and said, "you meant to say YOU'RE beautiful, STUPID!" the little boy's face turned as red as a tomato and he shrank down in his seat with embarrassment. All I could think was, "you are the most adorable thing I've ever seen and I love you." One of the other boys in this same class was chatting back and forth with some of the girls in the back. They had their English-Spanish dictionary out and after almost 10 minutes finally crafted a question for the boy to ask. This boy has long blonde hair and he read the paper the girls had given him and asked, "do you like boys with bangs?" as the girls started snickering he realized what he had asked and was mortified. It was hilarious. He had already asked if I had a boyfriend and anytime I answered something that pleased him or that he agreed with, he would shout "YES!" as if he was checking off points on our compatibility report. Oh, 13 year olds...
     The 16-17 year olds are a whole different story. The first week, they were relentless on the things they were saying. They've calmed down for the most part. It's really funny how old, decrepit and stupid they think I am. I had passed around a roll for each student to write their name down.I was passing back their homework from the week before and I called out, "Paula." The girls told me she would be there in a minute, so I left Paula's paper on the desk she usually sits in. At the end of class, she came up to me and told me she needed to sign the roll. I watched her write, "Eva..." and thought to myself, "yeah, I remember when I thought I invented the write-your-friends-name-on-the-roll-trick. yeah right." So amusing.
    Last week, as I was passing out worksheets, I had a moment when I thought, "is this seriously what I am doing?! teaching english. in spain." When I was a little girl I always thought I would be a teacher. Actually, I was registered at Bama Bound as secondary education. I wanted to be a Spanish teacher. It's crazy to think that for the last five years i have rarely thought about that dream because I've been so thrilled about chasing new dreams that I thought were better or more important. Yet, somehow, here i am passing out papers, a stack of copies, a stack of things to grade, note cards with names on each, a lesson book and lessons to plan. I sit in the teacher's lounge during break and have coffee with milk brought to me by the lady who has all the teacher's orders memorized. Between classes, I hang out in the English department and order copies to be made in the front office. It's so strange. I am not old enough to be doing this! But that doesn't mean I am not loving it!