SPRING BREAK!!

First day of spring break, and what have I done? Gone in to Madrid to teach for a few hours...by teaching I mean talking for 2 hours with a 13-year old in English about diseases, cars, and vacation plans. After I came back I ate some half-burnt pizza, some good fish from Angelita, shoved some things in my backpack, and headed with Tamy to Isma's house in Guadalajara. Not Guadalajara, Mexico. Tomorrow starts the good part: 4:45 AM departure to the airport, arriving in London for a layover and then to...



Yep, Scotland. The home of the Dad's family the Campbells (mmm...good soup) and Mom's family the Lindsays (who helped the Bruce and William Wallace). I'm so excited! Isma, his cousin Marcos, a friend Ricardo and I are going to be there from this Saturday until the following Saturday, staying in the town of Newtonmore. We're going to Inverness, Edinburgh, Isle of Skye, Inveraray (home of Campbells), the Cairngorms, Loch Ness, and to visit some castles enroute most places. We'll try the food (which I've heard is bad), I'll soak in the wonderful accent, and try not to get too wet. I'll let you know more later!

The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash

The same time period as before when I was substituting, I read this story to the class:



and we then did a project by recreating the clothes line from the book and writing about our favorite parts.



I think the part most kids liked was "when the chickens flew" or "when the kids threw eggs," though one kid liked the car race.



I think it turned out pretty good, both the artwork and the writing.

Our Class

Today I had my English class cancelled with the teachers for the second week in a row. They're losing steam. They don't have to pay for the class, as it is part of my hours at the school, so I think the motivation goes down. The extra hour today made it nice to be able to fix my pizza and strawberries for lunch and eat earlier.

Here's some pictures of the classroom:





This is our Science book. Not such a good book, but okay. It's a direct translation from the Science/Social Studies book in Spanish. And the workbook has almost nothing to do with the textbook, which is frustrating when they parents expect them both to be completed. The parents buy the textbooks here, so they want their money's worth.



And this is a project the kids did, drawing the Respiratory System, when Rosa was off sick for a week.





Just thought I'd put some of these in so that you remember that I'm working, not at the beach in Spain!

Church Work Day

I'm a little rusty...let's see if I remember how to write on the blog. The last weeks have been full with running around with looking for work here, being sick, and other activities. Sorry for ignoring the blog!

I've got some pictures from the church work day January 23rd. We started painting a mural in the children's classroom thanks to the wonderful artists of the church, spackled a wall, cleaned out the fridge, and painted the rusting doors. Lots of work!


The kids helped out with the painting.


Noelia and I.


Noemí (pastor's wife) and the kids.


One of our resident artists and designer of mural, Juan Ramon.


Iván and Ester.






Félix


Jorge


Maychu