Vacation!!

I know that I’ve been neglecting you all lately, so my profuse apologies. These last few weeks have been consumed with Christmas shopping, baking, and outings with friends and the church group. I’ve been busy with work as well, lesson planning and creating materials for classes. Let me catch up on what has transpired since I last wrote, ashamedly almost a month earlier.

December 8th was Immaculate Conception Day, a just reason in Spain to cancel school. Saturday was Constitution Day, so I’m not quite sure if the holiday was moved to Monday, or if we didn’t have school for Immaculate Conception Day. At any rate, it makes little difference from a practical point of view. There was no school, and in many cases, no work, a fact that many of us took advantage of. Thursday afternoon after school, I substitute taught in a private class of 4-5 year olds for a friend. Crazy! After that, my weekend began. Friday afternoon, I left with Tamy, Eva, and Sara, all from my church, headed for Rascafrías, where the youth groups from Canillejas, where I attend Sunday mornings, and San Fernando, where I go to youth group, were to have a retreat. It was good to meet people I hadn’t talked to before and to grow closer to some of those I already knew.

Monday Isma, Tamy, and I went to Aranjuez, a royal palace established on the banks of a river and surrounded by an arboreal park. It was beautiful, despite the constant drizzle of rain. After taking a nauseating amount of photos of ourselves, we went to Chinchon to eat lunch. It finally stopped sprinkling, so our wandering search for the restaurant where Ismael had been last time didn’t leave us drenched. On the way home, we stopped by to see some friends and take (guess what) more pictures. The Tuesday after such a wonderful extended weekend is always a rude awakening, returning to real life with my longest day of work, but it doesn’t make the weekend any less sweet.

The next Friday evening I went with some friends to see Cortylandia at the Corte Inglesn near the Puerta del Sol. Amy will remember the Puerta del Sol…the plaza where the bear is. Here’s a link if you want to see what it was like: Cortylandia. Saturday we went to hand out coats to homeless in downtown Madrid. Drizzly, wet, and cold...we were laden down with bags full of coats and our sandwiches and so couldn’t use the umbrellas we had brought. The trek was a success in that we found where the homeless are and aren’t. Or better put, my group mainly found where they are not, the other group found where they are. I hope that armed with this information, next time we can serve even more people and have some meaningful conversations. That Sunday I attended at meeting at church about the volunteer work I do at La Alameda elementary school, so didn’t go to youth group until the very end, in time to eat and say goodbye to friends.

This last week before Christmas vacation was quite a doozy energy wise. Monday, was English class with Tamy and Sara at my house. Afterwards, friends came over to help make gingerbread cookies. They were a great help, especially spirits wise, as the flat appearance of the cookies was beginning to stress my cookie ideal. Wednesday I went with the kids to see the Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens in an English theater. It was great, though not appropriate for half of the kids who came from our school. It was acted for kids, but the English was more than above their level. I think the first graders understood “sit down,” “stop,” “yes,” “ghost,” and “Merry Christmas.” Not much more. It was fun during the play, but a mess coming and going since they miscounted the kids and didn’t have enough room in the buses. Imagine running through the streets with first graders looking for a taxi. Nightmare.

Thursday I was excited to get to spend an hour with the entire class, teaching about Christmas in English. First, the pictures from home with our Christmas traditions, second the book "Twas the Night Before Christmas," (and for my eled friends, I did a walk-through first and comprehension questions throughout), and third a memory game with Christmas picture cards I had made. When the kids left, I gave them the gingerbread cookies made earlier in the week. In the after school program, we had fun playing games and giving out cards to celebrate the coming Christmas. Coming home, I had a scare when a girl about my age fell from the bus while getting off, hitting her ribs against the curb. The bus driver called the EMS, and stopped the bus until they came (20 minutes later). I’m sure she’s fine, because although she was having a little difficulty breathing, she was sitting and responsive. When the next bus came around, we all got off, and everyone was relieved (some angry, others concerned about the girl, others clueless) to get home.

Friday morning I had an appointment for my NIE (residency card). I will receive it in less than 40 days! I also went to an English bookstore that was in the same neighborhood and looked at the books and teaching supplies. Stuff is expensive!! That evening, I went to a dinner with my small group at church at a pizza place. Saturday I ran errands and did last minute Christmas wrapping. Angelita came home to grab some things and spend the weekend at her son’s house. She is still in the hospital for rehabilitation, but they are letting her out for some of the holidays. We still don’t know when she’ll be home for good. Saturday evening I went with my friend Isma to see the living nativity in Buitrago de Lozoya. Here’s something about it: Nativity (Click on "escenas" on the left, then click on each link below to see the parts of both the story before-hand and the nativity walk-through in the castle...these are under "trabajos, "política y religión," "mercadores," and "la anunc. de las profetas"). I felt sorry for the kids that had to stay in the cold like statues for the display. Despite that, I was able to enjoy myself immensely. Sunday morning I went to the church in San Fernando to see some friends sing and ate lunch at Tamy’s family, who live in the same building as me.

And now I’m in Pamplona, enjoying cooking, talking, and playing games with the family and family friends. It doesn’t seem like Christmas is tomorrow, but I’m sure the excitement of the two youngest Veldts will make tomorrow morning special. And we all have much reason to celebrate the day, even if we are all missing some things or people.

December