You can just kill me now, cause I do not think life gets any better...

Tenerife (May 31-June 3)

This is the image burned into my mind as my personal definition of experiencing a piece of paradise:

Heres the delayed post on my amazing trip to Tenerife. Tenerife is one of the islands off the coast of Africa that's owned by Spain. Through a Biolase connection, when Pilar and I met last year in Rome, we instantly hit it off. I was amazed that her and I had so much in common and we even share the same birthday. She had been telling me that I must come to visit her in Tenerife and it was a true blessing to finally take her up on her offer. I had heard great things about this island, but it blew my expectations away beyond words. I knew that Pilar would take great care of me, but instead I was treated like pure royalty. She went way, way out of her way to ensure that I had a wonderful trip and it really meant a lot to me. Very rarely does such generosity go unnoticed and I really felt loved and special and beyond blessed. It was an incredible weekend from beginning to end and I was confident that life couldn't possibly be any better. The landscape of Tenerife is incredible. It changes completely every few miles. The trees, the dirt, the mountains, everything looks different within 10-15 minutes of driving. It's crazy. I've never been anywhere quite like that. Pilar said even the sun changes colors depending on where you are on the island.
Since even the pictures can't describe it, I would be a fool to attempt to do so with words.

 the view from my window as we started our descent..

On Friday, Pilar drove me up to see the huge volcano, Teide

We were literally ABOVE the clouds. It was AMAZING.

Do you see what I am talking about with the drastically changing landscape? Thats the SAME 2 km drive! The SAME island, the same volcano! 

So that was Friday's daytime activity. We came home for a siesta, coffee and then went for dinner with a few of Pilar's friends... 

 Tell me this is not one of the most ridiculous things you've ever seen. Only in Spain. Only in Spain. 

Saturday, we got up early and drove to the south of the island. Where Pilar blew my socks off by checking us into this AMAZING resort. I was laying staring at the pool with the ocean to my back with a piña colada in my hand and a cabana boy making sure it wasn't melted. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I was just thinking the whole time, I would be an idiot to leave this place. I AM IN PARADISE. 

View from our room ^

We spent the day at the pool mostly, I read my book and then we moved to the private resort beach for a change of equally stunning scenery. 

That night, there was a dance show so we had a big Italian dinner all dressed up and then watched the show. To finish off the night, Pilar requested we go dancing. This lead us to a piano bar where the two of us were the only people on the dance floor a majority of the night. It was a lot of fun as you can imagine. My tan is rather spectacular if I do say so myself. 

Sunday, we enjoyed a gigantic breakfast buffet and then made the drive to the airport. After a delicious avocado/salmon salad and fish lunch, Pilar dropped me off at the airport.

 I sank into deep deep depression before boarding that flight. I did not want to leave Tenerife. I'm sure you don't blame me after seeing just a glimpse of what I enjoyed for four way too short days. YOU MUST GO!!

This was taken out of the plane window of Teide on my way back to Madrid. 

I will only marry a dolphin trainer

Filling in some holes and some more pictures... 

Valencia (May 19-20)

Since the very first email I received from Melania back in September, I knew this girl and I were going to be friends. She's got such a contagious bubbly personality and she has insight deep into your heart that is truly invaluable when she speaks to you. Over the past year, I have spent a decent chunk of time being wowed and inspired by this girl. Not only is she brilliant and beautiful, but she's funny and has such a huge heart. Melania studied American literature and philosophy, studied at Dartmouth one summer, got her masters in philosophy in Budapest and has been working this year on her masters to teach English in Spain. With Italian as her first language, she speaks English, Hungarian and Spanish all nearly flawlessly. This year in addition to her job working at the high school, she teaches afternoon classes, takes Spanish classes in the evening AND has been working tirelessly on her masters. Her ambition, bottomless work ethic and ability to pull multiple night all-nighters marathons amazes me. She without trying has been a teacher to me as well as her students showing me that if you put your mind to something, you can accomplish it and of equal importance, you have to dive in headfirst making plenty of sacrifices for something if you want it bad enough. Surely next year when I am buried in the stacks, overwhelmed at all I have to study and feeling like I'm drowning, I will think of Melania and pull my chin up. If she could do it with such grace, I can too.
Most of the time I've spent with melania since our trip to Portugal has been between tasks at school because she has absolutely no free time. Therefore, a serious celebration was in order when she had finally turned in her thesis. We decided a weekend trip to a beach town where neither of us had ever been was the perfect place to go!
Saturday morning, we hopped on a train and slept until we arrived. The priority was: find the hotel and get our toes to the sand. After a lovely walking tour of the city, we found ourselves checked in, map in hand, rough idea of an itinerary in our minds and our butts on a bus to the beach. we laid there discussing our lives detail by detail and chatting away. The wind was not in our favor but we didn't let that ruin our moods at all. 

Around 5, we realized we hadn't eaten yet so we had a great feast of paella, which originated in Valencia. That night, we met up with a group of UGA students due to a connection of a best friend of mine from elementary school. In fact, Matt Dodd is to thank for the fact I was in Valencia at all. He spent a semester there last spring and has been insistent that I visit ever since. Feeling that I could trust such a good friend to make a travel recommendation, but also knowing he was slightly biased since he lived there, the trip had been delayed or impossible until this weekend. Matt had given us the number of a local, so we met up with him and a huge group of UGA students. It was these kids first night in Valenica on a summer program and they were "fresh off the boat," let me tell you. Rocking fraternity Tshirts, with a glowing "lets get wasted" drive in their eye and just learning everyone's name. I couldn't help but laughing at how far I have come since I was in a similar group of UA students in Italy, or in a group of Americans in Sevilla versus now living in Madrid full time. Melania and I sat at the table with the TAs and graduate assistants, speaking Spanish and received all kinds of looks and confused questions about what we were doing there. It was like we were sitting at the VIP table without the appropriate passes. It was a great time though! Such nice people and such fun conversation between teachers and fellow lovers of Spain. 
Sunday, we were determined to maximize our time in Valencia and get the last train or bus back. Unfortunately, we didn't plan too well and ended up going to the bus station, to the train station and then back to the bus station and being forced to buy a 1 am ticket to Madrid that would arrive at a biting 5:30 am. Sunday we walked all over Europe's largest aquarium and with a great stoke of luck, scored front row seats in the middle of the stadium for the daily dolphin show. Melania and were more excited than most of the children there. Seriously. We were so excited. Imagine that excitement growing when we were just feet away from extremely attractive men in wet suites. Melania definitively declared that she will only marry a dolphin trainer because their job is so much fun, they are in great shape, they would be happy all the time and could take you to work which would automatically make any bad day, awesome. Clearly, I couldn't argue. A dolphin trainer could be great husband material, we agreed. I was surprised she didn't ask one in particular for his phone number before we left... 
This was Melania's first aquarium so it was fun to see her really soak it all in. The aquarium made me crave scuba diving more than anything and got me wondering when the next opportunity to go diving will be. 

Valencia is one of the most underrated cities I've ever visited. Its a beautiful and charming resort town with all the personality of Spain and the laid back attitudes dominating the atmosphere. I did not want to leave. Melania was so excited about the city, she almost started applying for jobs without even bothering to collect her things in Madrid. Seriously. 
After spending four hours at the aquarium, it was time to continue our tans! This time, we spent 4 euros for a chair to avoid the wind. GREAT decision. Right as we were getting ready to leave, I got pooped on by a seagull. That was it for me, I packed up and about 2 minutes later, a storm started to move in, convincing Melania we should leave too. We grabbed our stuff at the hotel, had a nice, long dinner and waited out the rain. Unfortunately, it was our plan to walk around the city a lot before getting on the bus but the rain hindered that dramatically, leading us to get to the bus station around midnight with nothing to do. I fell asleep on the floor using my suitcase as a pillow. Melania was so ashamed, she wouldn't even look at me because she said I looked just like a homeless person! Hahaha, we got to Madrid after a brutal packed four hour bus ride and I was thankful for 3 hours in my bed before heading to work. 


Monday, work was fine and that afternoon I went to get Hannah from the airport! 
Life is crazy and not allowing much time for me to breathe! Naturally, when this happens, I usually get sick. So when Hannah was here, I got a nasty bout of tonsillitis AGAIN. This is the fourth time since December I have been sick with this, so I really do think I'll have to have my tonsils out in the four week period between landing in the US and before starting law school in the fall. I am actually pretty concerned about this because I really don't have enough time to do the surgery, nor can I afford to get sick so frequently in school. This is something you guys can be praying about! Luckily, I am fine now, but I was really sick for about a week. Hannah went on excursions by herself and I skipped two days of work. Not fun. I felt so bad I was sick for her visit, but I was super happy she was here! Hannah and I met at UA and she is still there in law school, so her insight on what I have gotten myself into with law school was incredibly helpful and awesome. I was being pulled into reality that my time in Madrid is ending and reminded of how excited I am for the next phase. Hannah loves traveling as much as I did and we really had a great time together, getting to do many things in Madrid I hadn't done yet and also just sleeping in late and enjoying some time relaxing. Here are a few pictures from her trip!

churros and chocolate at a super famous place in Madrid that she saw on the Travel Channel

I could totally stand there and paint replicas at the Prado if I had enough free time... 

what many people claim is the best painting in the world, Las Medinas at the Prado

Hannah and I here last night here!

is that too much to ask?

This week I am determined to really post quite a bit. So I am just preparing you ahead of time. 

One of the current trending topics in many conversations with my friends here is concerning everyone's tentative plans for next year. I know at least five people who are trying to decide whether or not they will continue in our contract (which is technically two years and you either terminate it or renew at the end of your first year with evaluation from your institution.) And it's a shame that so many want to stay but can hardly stand their jobs. "I love Madrid, but this job really sucks. Do I want to do this (4 letter curse word) another year?" In this post, I'll attempt to better explain why we have these frustrations as Americans working with Spanish students.

I get so worked up over my students and it finally dawned on me that it's because I actually do care quite a bit. As my best and oldest students have finished their classes, I am teaching less hours in the day. My volunteering to help the stressed teachers in anyway is futile and several days in the last week, I've made the hour long commute to teach one or two classes and turn around to make the hour long commute back. Unfortunately for the limited classes I am still teaching, they're generally in the morning. I always say I am not responsible for any behavior without caffeine and/or in single digits of the morning. Well, in the case of teaching these 13-14 year old brats, I need an entire pot of coffee and an extra helping of patience with breakfast.

It just kills me how little they try. 

It blows my mind the behavior they believe is acceptable and what they get away with around the school.

Among the things I've mentioned in previous blogs, there are some big themes I have picked up throughout the last few months that I find heartbreaking. Last week, I was teaching on genres of books and talking about whether or not they read and what they read. The list of vocabulary words had antagonist, protagonist, climax, theme, beginning, ending, recommendation... among other words. After struggling through practically every genre and every word on the list, the teacher finally said to me, they don't know what a protagonist and antagonist is in Spanish so of course they don't know what it is in English. I'm sorry... what? They're 15 and 16... they don't know what an antagonist is?! "No, they don't read books." She told me. I didnt want to read books either when I was in school but I had to! I remember what feels like hundreds of book reports from second grade on. 

Many, many, many times I have encountered situations where the students don't know what an adjective does in the sentence. Or they don't know the difference between a noun and a verb. How can someone be expected to learn a second language if they do not understand their own? I have felt incredibly overwhelmed in these moments thinking, "My Spanish is so insufficient. My training in education nonexistent. How can i reach these students?! How can I teach them things they NEED to know- like what an adjective is, what the climax of a movie is, the importance of respecting someone in power (i.e., a teacher who gives you a grade or the boss who can fire your stupid butt), that no matter where you work you'll have rules to follow the rest of your life, etc.."

Days thinking of all the things I'd love tp instill in my students overwhelm me beyond words. 

I want them to learn to respect their teachers. 

To see the value in school, even if they still don't want to come, they should at least recognize its importance. 

I would like them to be conditioned to automatically WRITE in class. 

To take notes, fill in the blanks on a worksheet, write translations for words as we go over them without being begged by the professor.

I would love to see that by June 26th, they have learned even if they plan to throw the worksheet away 30 seconds after leaving the room, that they at least have the decency not to leave it, untouched on the desk. 

I'd like them to get to class within 5 minutes of when the bell rings. 

I'd like them to appreciate English and Spanish are two distinct, different languages. 

I wish they could retain at least one or two words per lesson. 

It would be awesome if they could learn to discern between words like: win, wine and wind and understand that's like assuming jaMón and jaBón are the same when they mean ham and soap, respectively.

It would really be incredible to see my students have thoughts that they can share. An answer to "what do you think?" instead of "no entiendo nada profe" (I don't understand anyyyything teacher) or "I don't know" as a response, but a real opinion of some kind no matter how broken the English is. It's the attempt and trying that they don't even manage to consider. 

This is a stacked list and surely none of these things will be accomplished.

Even one of these things is too much to ask as I have learned in the last six months. 

But I plan to add to my daily prayers these special souls that have dedicated their lives to make the above goals their profession. 

And not just those in Spain, eh? I am confident my experiences teaching here wouldn't have been that much different anywhere else. So a toast to teachers everywhere, because I do not know how they do what they do. 

Today one of my students asked me why I am not staying here next year. He said, "but don't you want to stay?" I simply said, "no" in a very flat tone. He said, "why aren't you staying?" and I said, "I have to get back to my LIFE." And I do. Now its just my primary responsibility to enjoy the time that I have left and to make the most of each day because in less than 30 days, I will be packing boxes and crossing off check list items to move to California!

I'll let the photos speak for themselves

Oh wow, I have quite a bit to write in order to catch up. Instead, I'll just post some photos. Hope you enjoy!
Let me tell you, my life is amazing.

The view I saw as I got on my train to Santiago de Compostela- the buildings that create Madrids skyline

the church in Santiago de Compostela

the beach in A Coruña

A Coruña

the beach at Vigo

Retiro Park in Madrid for a big summer celebration/festival thing

awesome fireworks show that night!

our French roommate's last night and big send off in Madrid

the first time I went out with some Spanish classmates

Gabriel and Cande, two of my best friends in Madrid who I will miss very, very much!

Valencia at last! 

the dolphin show at Europe's largest aquarium in Valencia

Melania and I on the beach in Valenica

PAELLA in Valencia!

through a friend who studied in Valenica last year, we were able to meet up with a bunch of people and have instant friends in Valencia. It was lovely company for a night and we had a great time!

crossed something important off the "Madrid bucket list" when my friend Hannah came to visit! We did the rowboats in Retiro and just rowed out there then relaxed on the lake. It was so great to have her here!

another huge strike for public education in Madrid