School, friends, and chili

Monday:
Fairly routine. Still haven't gotten a white board, so to give written examples I write on a piece of white paper and sticky tack it to the wall or a chair. Works okay.

Tuesday:
Today I got the class terror in my small group. I would say that half of the words out of my mouth were, "No, Carlos" or "Go to the thinking corner, Carlos," or "Dejalo!!" (Leave that/him alone!!). Sometimes Spanish works better to get after the little ones. I was quite proud that I got him to do most of his work (albeit not well). He is constantly playing with his things, not paying attention, messing with the other kids things, talking, and being defiant. In the corner, he laid down on the ground and sang. Hmph. I still, when he is not being naughty, try to give him some positive attention, since he acts out, getting so much negative attention all the time. The teacher I work with says he's manipulative...I'm not sure. He is certainly not well behaved.

On my way to the after-school volunteering, I ran into a young man I had met at church the Sunday before. It was nice to recognize someone on the street (and nice he helped me get off at the right bus stop). It was also my first week with the 4-5 year olds at the school my church does an after-school program. I had no idea that their attention spans were so short! I am bringing many many more activities this time, as well as a coloring sheet, crayons, extra paper, and bilingual stories.

After the hour with the kids, I went back into Madrid to have coffee with a Scottish girl I met at orientation, Aillish. She had a huge list of private English lessons that she had no time to do, which we looked at over tea, spicy chicken empanadas (not Spain Spanish), and a brownie. I took down a few names to call later that were in the same area as my elementary school.

Wednesday:
Normal. Called one of the families who wanted English lessons...teaching two hours (11 year old and then 13 year old) next Tuesday after the after-school program. That will make Tuesday a later night getting home. One family is enough, since I realize that the rest of the free time I have is best kept to study, read, clean, sleep, cook, and make friends.

Thursday:
I cooked chili, applesauce, and cornbread all from scratch! Actually, not completely from scratch. I found chili powder amongst Angelita's spices. Not just any chili powder...chili powder from Kroger's. Yep, Kroger's brand in a Spanish kitchen. She didn't know she had it, which means her daughter must have brought it back from one of their stays in the states. Angelita really liked all the food, which made me happy. Cooking was really relaxing too. Except, of course, when I realized that I didn't have eggs halfway through making the cornbread. Turn off the oven, turn off the burners, grab keys, run to the grocery store, and run back to hope that the preheating oven hasn't completely cooled off. Oof.