"Teaching Creates All Other Professions" (Author Unknown)

Hola,

Today was my first day of teaching. I think it went pretty well. The people I was teaching were Level 1, which means they were beginner. Now, some of them were actually REALLY beginner (more like a Level 0), but they tried, and we went slow and reviewed alot. The material really spoke for itself during my portion. I got some good feedback from the teacher watching me, and the other student who was my peer evaluator. All in all, I think I'm going to be a a good English teacher (so long as I can get the grammar and verb tenses straight!)

After class, one of the girls and I decided to stick around to finish an assignment, and then go out and get some dinner. We ended up at the same place that the entire class had Tapas at on Monday. This is what we ordered:

Tortillas de Patatas (basically a pie of potato, onion, egg, tortilla and whatever the cook had on hand, all made into a pie/omelette sort of thing that came with bread on the side)

Bochetta de Carne (A hanging skewer of meat, essentially. It had some veggies skewered in there too, and it came with a couple of potatoes and a bowl of garlic mayonaise-y dipping sauce which was delicious!)

We stopped in some stores on our way to the Metro and I saw a cardigan that I would SO buy for my friend as a joke (because cardigans are the staple of her wardrobe- you know who you are) but 15 euros is a little much to spend on a joke I'd have to then mail home. The cardigan was a red with grey flowers on it. Very lovely, and the epitomy of all cardicans. Can't buy it for you though... Sorry!! 

Since we didn't get much time for exploring and "getting out" today, here are some pics that I couldn't post the other day...

This was my best attempt at taking a picture of myself beside a tree on the first day of school, without attracting attention from other passers-by. (Sorry it's a little blurry, mom)

Placa de Espana (I think, lol) We didn't get up close, because...

The building across from it used to be a bull-fighting stadium, and is now a beautiful mall!

It looks brand new, but it's actually really, really old, and perfectly circular (you could get lost for days in there ... well, maybe I could... and when I say lost, I mean shop.)

This is exactly what it looks like... Wine in a juice box... for 0,99 euro. (In the grocery store)

This is the walk from one beach to the next.. lovely boardwalk, with palm trees (Palm trees are not native here, they die every year and the tops are replaced!)

La Playa

Me... en la playa. (with a topless woman behind me.. I SO did not mean for that to happen!)

Me and some girls from my class whom I've decided to travel with!

TOES!

Classmates strolling the beach... gotta love it!

Apparently they are so into working out, that they have exercise machines on the beach for anyone to use!

Including me!

Walking the pier (we weren't supposed to be on it... but there were people fishing out there!)

... and this is a jelly fish that some guy caught. I'm pretty sure he was going to fry it up for dinner.

Estoy cansada. Hasta la manana!

I Got Schooled...

Okay, really, that is terrible English that I will never teach to another person, but it fits for today because: we learned Catalan today! For anyone who doesn't know what Catalan is, it is the language spoken in Catalonia (which is the province in which Barcelona is in, in Spain). Catalan is sortof a mix between French and Spanish, spoken very quickly and of course, they have their own slang! We started with basics today: numbers and items you find in a grocery store. These are both very useful things to learn in Catalonia, as we shop almost everyday for something to eat!

Unfortunately, I need to charge my camera battery before I can send pictures of the beach today (it was really, really lovely, though the water was freezing!!)

Here are some more pics from the other day at Parc Guell:

At Parc Guell, everything is coloured broken pottery all put together to make beautiful designs.

This is my lovely host, David, who kindly took me on this uphill trek (he had never been before either!)

Posing with a tree.. because why wouldn't I??

This was another building designed by Gaudi- it is now a museum in the Parc.

This is a photo of what we climbed to....

Going up (from the top of these stairs, looking down)

Me with some randoms in the background...

Partway up, Photo-op! This is David's friend who came along to show us the way!

Still going up... (in the background you can see Sagrada Familia sticking up on the left)

Finally!!!

The area to the right of the top of the building is where I took the first picture of the cross in the above picture. The area below is higher than we started... it was a LONG way up!

The elevator in my building- 2'x4' and maximum 4 people. It's tiny!

Rustic.. I like it :)



Well, I'm off to bed now... it was another long, hot day, slaving away trying not to get burnt at the beach. Manana I'm in for some serious school hours though. Bon noches, mi amigos! 

First Day of School!

Today was my first day of school! It was alot of fun actually; get-to-know-you games and things like that, an observation class and time to meet and hang out with the other 20 people who are part of our class (there are 40 of us, so we've been split into two groups). We had tapas after school with everyone, which was really fun. Tapas is like sampling sized portions that are placed on a table and everyone picks from it and samples. Really good!! They love their potatoes here, so I love the food!!

After that, a whole bunch of us decided to venture to a bar that is actually in my neighbourhood near Sagrada Familia, which I've seen, but I have no idea where it is. It took us about 40 minutes to find the metro because no one was paying any attention. When we finally got to the area we wanted to be in, no one knew where the place was, so we found another little place with some tables outside. It was 2 euros for a beer on tap (which is about a half pint- which still equals only about $6 for a full pint).

It's been a long, hot busy day and I have to get up in 7 hours, so instead of posting pictures, I am going to bed. Hopefully my neighbour won't hack and spit all night long tonight (seriously, todos las nochas!! ugh!)

Oh yes, and I was approached twice today on the street, by men wanting who knows what because they are speaking quickly in Catalan (a mix of french and spanish). My classmates have vowed to protect me :)

Voy a la playa manana. (I am going to the beach tomorrow)

Bon Noche.

Muy Cansado!

Hola my familia y mi amigos.

Day two and I'm exhasted again! I start class tomorrow, so I want to go to bed early, but I wanted to post some pictures first. :) My day started at about 9:30 with a shower. The shower here is a little odd, and water is very expensive, so I turned it off in between doing everything. It was also the fastest shower I've ever had! LOL. After that, I had coffee with Jonathan and David (my flatmates) and then I ventured out to see if I could navigate the metro.

I would stay here, just to learn the metro, and then I'll email the city of Toronto and tell them how to fix theirs. I can't tell you how simple it is getting around in Spain. Every line is numbered and coloured and every station has huge maps of the city and stations. Every station also has line and connection infomation on the platforms, so it's very hard to get lost (unless you're blind I guess). There are washrooms and vending machines at most platforms too! Dear Toronto: shape up!!

I found my way to my school

I then took some time to walk around:

This is a building I saw with beautiful architecture and the sidewalk. Yes, even the sidewalks here are nice!

I got stopped on the street by a gentleman named Jamal. He wanted to buy me coffee. ... Okay. He spoke some English and taught me some Spanish. He gave me his number. I then found out how old he is. He looked about 32. He's actually 42. He thought I was 22. Something isn't adding up. WEIRDO!!! My flatmate told me later that Spanish men like younger women. No me gusta. (throughtout this conversation I thought of all of the ways to describe this event to different people. It may end up on my other blog as my first encouter with a chico en Espana... at least he was polite!)

After coffee with the stranger, I went back to my neighbourhood on the metro. I got off a stop early because I realized that I still hadn't eaten and it was 2 o'clock. I walked past Sagrada Familia again and found a park bench on Anivguda de Gaudi to eat a chocolate croissant I had bought earlier. (uno y trenta cinco euros). It was delicious. (I thought of my friend Shenela from work- you would looooove this bakery!)

The street of Anivguda de Gaudi- up the centre is where you can sit and eat at tables or on park benches.



When I got home, David was just starting a movie: Jamon, Jamon. (It means Ham, Ham.) It was Penelope Cruz's first film. ... ummm.. I'm not quite sure how to describe it. David says it's a typical Spanish film. There was alot of sex, alot of cheating, a pregnancy and a ham fight. Yes, that's right, they beat each other with ham. And yes, one guy dies as a result of this battle of ham. (I laughed hysterically, even though it wasn't meant to be funny!) Watch it when you need a good laugh. (English subtitles are provided, and it would be rated R for maturity, sex, and ham).

After the movie: siesta! I didn't sleep, but skyped instead. I'll sleep when I'm dead (tired).

At 5, David and I started walking to Parc Guell. We bought ice cream on the way and talked in broken English/Spanish. He asked me if I like boys: "You like boys?" "Yes." "Me too." LAUGH! I looove how adorable he is!

When we finally got to the park, this is what we saw:

Another famous site designed by Antonio Gaudi. I wish he could design my house! Esta muy bonita! David took my picture for me :)

We met up with a friend of David's at the park as well and took a long walk around. Uphill.

I'll add more pictures of the park tomorrow. (And my apartment). They are taking too long to load and I am very tired. School starts tomorrow!

Buenos noches.

Touched Down and Downright Touched!

Well, I'm finally here! It's been months of thinking, planning, preparing, packing, and attempting to learn a little bit of Spanish. I finally got on the plane and flew my way to a new adventure!

Sept 9:
It started off normal, in that I woke up at 7am (this was somewhat normal for work, and somehow still normal, because I've just been too excited and nervous to sleep!) Went for coffee with my mom and uncle. Went and did a little shopping (non-drowsy gravol is a must for all flights!) Went home and stress-ate a half a bag of chips with my mom, finished packing - wait! That's not normal! This is where things started really changing. I finished my packing and my parents and I took my stuff to the van, piled in and started for Toronto. We went really early and it's probably a good thing we did because traffic was attrocious. So we get to the airport, get checked in (window seat- score!) and then we wandered the gift shops a bit. We sat down to eat a light supper and my sister text me and almost made me cry, but I didn't. Then my mom started crying. And then I started crying! In the airport Swiss Chalet!! So much for looking cute and put together on my flight.

After a long, tearful goodbye with my parents, I went thought Security. Suprisingly, they weren't as strict as I thought they were going to be, considering the anniversary being mourned tomorrow.

So I go and take a seat in my boarding area and, you know how people look around and see who might be taking their flight and the men and women check each other out, and then men size each other up and the women stare each other down? Well, oddly, I had 4 different men at different times sizing me up. And it wasn't like I'm mistaking their looks as casual gazing in my direction hoping that I might be the one sitting next to them so that they can strike up a witty conversation and I'll swoon over their intellectual abilities and agree to join the mile high club with them. No, it was more like they were noticing that I was travelling alone to Spain and wondering what kind of super-human powers I must have in order to embark on such a mission all by my self. Trust me guys, you don't want to know. Board. Depart.

Option Plus on Air Transat is worth the extra $70.

Enough said. :) But really, you do get an extra 10kg in your luggage, Priority Boarding, a blanket, earphones, an eye mask, a blow-up pillow, earplugs and SOCKS! You get to pre-choose your meal (chicken parm- it was alright), and they bring you champagne, wine and you can choose something later from the snack cart (which I didn't because apparently siestas happened). I felt like a total rock-star! And the couple sitting beside me was on their honeymoon and they didn't even get champagne! (Thanks Dyan for talking me into Option Plus! SO made my flight!!)

On thing I found funny because I'm a dork, is that we were flying out of Canada, into Spain, drinking Italian champagne and Australian wine. That is alot of countries involved in me having a good flight.

The in-flight movie was Water for the Elephants staring Reese Witherspoon and *cringe* Robert Pattinson. I was really not sure what this movie was going to be like, but it turns out, it was pretty good. RP actually has a face and facial expressions! The story was good, though the ending slightly predictable, even if you haven't read the book. I suggest it for a rainy day when you don't feel like a complete sap, because it does have it's humour!

Sept 10:
Sunrise happened at about 3:30 am. This is sooo not normal. But it was breathtaking.



I cat-napped for about an hour, and by cat-napped, I mean my butt isn't as small as it used to be; turbulance is just annoying; and my hips felt like they should be on an 80 year-old woman. When I finally roused myself at about 4am, it was bright and sunny out! Breakfast was as breakfast is on airplanes. Meh. 

Barcelona

The woman picking me up from the airport was a little late due to some other student pick-ups, and I have vowed never to have to use a payphone again in Barcelona. I don't know how they work!!

My apartment is... cozy. And yes, any Canadian who uses the word "cozy" to describe something, knows that it means SMALL! I'm okay with it. I'm small. I'm sharing an apartment with two locals named David and Jonathan. They're both great. And they have a cat. Jonathan gave me a little bit of the lay-of-the-land before he had to go to work. It was really sweet of him to take time to walk me to le supermercado, y el banco, y la metro. His broken English and my somewhat Spanish made for interesting conversation. This is my pad:

View from the balcony out the living room (my view out my window is three brick walls. It's spectacular.)

Looking west on Travessara de Gracia

The best photo I could take of the triangular stairways and the elevator in the middle. I'll try to get more of the elevator- its really cozy :)

Entrance into the building. Lovely.

I'll take one of my room and post it when its not so... hectic. I've only mostly unpacked while my roommates are away. Adventuring and Skyping with my family is more important.

Speaking of adventuring: I took a little stroll and this is what I found:

Antonio Gaudi's Templo de la Sagrada Familia

A.MAZ.ING.

I'll be going back during the week some day- too many tourists!

Off to bed. Roomie David is going to show me around a bit tomorrow. I can't wait!!

Only A Few More Hours...

WOW!! The day is finally here! It's been an exhausting journey so far, so I can't wait to siesta on the plane - let's face it, I won't be sleeping on the plane, just casually napping from time to time in between the bottles of booze I get to have on my flight- Option Plus is going to be worth it.

It's been a busy couple of weeks for me, the last being the craziest of them all. I have had 12 days of goodbyes, driving, taking pictures, packing, re-packing, checking over documents, filing papers, changing addresses, shopping, and waking up in the middle of the night half panicked because I dreampt I was already there and hadn't packed anything at all!

I'm all packed -besides my carry-on: the contents of which are laying spralled around me because my laptop needs to go in before my shoes, pills, vitamines, toothbrush and deoderant. Every-so-often this afternoon I've jumped up, and run to get something. I also keep looking up words I don't know in Spanish thinking: I'll retain that before I get there and be able to ask someone where something is, or how to get somewhere, or figure out how to read the back of some product in the spanish equivalent of Shoppers Drugmart, because you know I can't pack enough conditioner and shaving cream for this trip! ... Right. People keep telling me I'll pick up Spanish when I get there. I figure I have enough of a base to get by, but that small part of me is still freaking out thinking: I'M NOT GOING TO UNDERSTAND ANYONE!!!

Dear Beth: Get it together. You'll be fine. :) (Yes, I talk to myself on occasion. Yes, I know I'm probaby crazy. Yes, I can't wait for the day when I realize that I'm talking to myself in Spanish.)

Anyway, here is a bit of a photographic view of my last few days in Canada:

My lovely family (photo by Heather Barber)

My grampa and I- I had to help him pick pears (even though he can still do it himself!!)

D and I :)

Besties- gotta love 6 am in Windsor!

Sistercats

Time to go to the airport! Hasta luego, mi amigos! Take care, Canada- I'm almost positive I'll be back!

(I can't believe my next post will actually be from Barcelona!)

One Week Today

In one week today, I will be waking up and making breakfast.

In one week today, I will be making sure my laundry is done.

In one week today, I will be packing (and re-packing) my suitcase.

In one week today, I will be done saying my goodbyes.

In one week today, I will be driving to the airport with my parents.

In one week today, I will be paying $4.00 for a bottle of water at the airport because I'm thirsty.

In one week today, I will be boarding a plane.

In one week today, I will be watching the airline attendant demonstrate how to buckle a seatbelt.

In one week today, I will be un-buckling my seatbelt, unhinging my tray table and free to order a beverage or a snack, read my book or watch the in-flight movie.

In one week today, I will be drinking champagne.

In one week today, I will be leaving everyone and everything I know behind.

In one week today, I will be changing my entire life.

In one week today.