¡Vivimos en Avenue Q!

Translation of title: "We live on Avenue Q!"

For those of you who don't know what Avenue Q is (because I didn't until very, very recently), it's a Broadway musical which takes the puppet and musical stylings of Sesame Street and morphs it into a hilarious, slightly raunchy, entertaining-for-adults show.

Recently, Avenue Q expanded over to Spain and, in fact, above you can see the poster for the show here in Madrid. It says things such as "Warning! Contains full-frontal puppet nudity!" and "NOT for children!" Those things alone should give you some kind of an idea of what takes place here.

Anyway, Tom and Marcus are two other Americans that work at my school. We've all become pretty good friends over the past year after spending about a year and a half working together here in Spain. So a few weeks ago, Tom and Marcus started talking about how this show was opening up here in Madrid and how they both really, really wanted to go because it was hilarious. And, of course, I had never heard anything about it, so I agreed to go just to see what they were talking about.

So we each bought tickets and invited some other friends and went to see it. And oh man it was one of the best shows I've ever seen! I was laughing nearly the entire two hours of the show.

It was definitely a great time and a much-needed laugh in the middle of a busy week. And, as always, it made me glad to have such great friends to do things like this with here in Madrid. I have truly been blessed with some amazing people in my life.

Please Make This Happen

I already published this on my facebook, but I love it too much to not share once again.

Friends and family, please please please make this happen for me when I walk through the welcome gates back in America!

Seasons Greetings and Felices Fiestas!

Something I had been wanting to write about lately was the rapidly approaching holiday season. As you might guess, the holiday celebrations in Spain are juuuuust a bit different than they are back home. I had planned on writing out a comparison of the two before Halloween, but apparently I can only write on here in little spurts.

So it's after Halloween but.....oh well, I'm writing about it anyway!

Historically the image of Halloween that we Americans have (dressing in costumes, trick or treating, carving pumpkins, etc.) is more of an American thing. But Halloween is actually becoming more and more of a big holiday in Spain.

However, there is one main difference.

Here is an example of costumes that kids can wear in the US.

Adorable. Fun. Cute. The kids can be a pirate, or Minnie Mouse, or a reindeer or a caveman. Whatever the kid fancies, they can wear it as a costume.

But here are some prime examples of typical costumes in Spain.

Fun and whimsical, right?

Yeah, no. Not even slightly. In Spain the only acceptable costumes are full of blood and guts and gore. And I know that these are photos of adults, but trust me, the kids are pretty much the same. I have some pictures of my little kiddos in their Halloween costumes, but I would hate to post pictures of the kids on the Internet. But trust me, they are very similar to these.

And if you wear a costume that a Spaniard deems as "not scary," you receive a lot of ridicule because "if it's not bloody and terrifying, it's not a Halloween costume." Which is funny because Halloween is a holiday that Spain totally jacked from us.

To each their own, I suppose.

Now, typically after Halloween, we Americans immediately switch to Thanksgiving mode. Time to prepare for turkey, tons and tons of other food, and football. This is what I have in mind (and am totally craving at the moment):

But living in a foreign country is kind of a harsh reality when it comes to American holidays. Unfortunately, the Spanish just don't seem to care about our day of giving thanks. So this is the spread I have to look forward to this year:

And believe me, the thought of it is slightly depressing.

However, some friends and I are going to try and throw together a good old-fashioned American Thanksgiving dinner to show the Spaniards just what they're missing. We'll see how it turns out. Pictures to come, I'm sure.

And now on to my favorite of all the seasons....Christmas! Now I don't want to talk too much about the holiday because I'm sure a lot of time and writing will be devoted to writing about it later. But the great thing about living in a country where they don't celebrate Thanksgiving is that they skip right on to Christmas! So that means I get a whole extra month of this:

And the great thing about Madrid is that it really spares no expense when it comes to Christmas lights. Huge 30 foot trees everywhere. Lights hanging on every street. Elaborate Christmas displays in every store window. It's a beautiful thing.

So even though I don't get my family and a huge Thanksgiving meal on November 25th, at least I get a little extra Christmas to make up for it.

I Want My MTV!

Well, now that the lovely trip down memory lane is taken care of, I can move on to much more interesting things....like what I did this weekend!

Actually, the sad fact of the matter is that much of my weekend was spent sleeping. I find myself being tired a lot lately, but I know it's just because of the time change and the fact that I leave my apartment to go to work before the sun comes up and I get home after the sun is down. It'll take my body a while to get used to this winter rhythm, but I'm slowly but surely getting there.

So anyway, Friday night was spent with my fellow teachers. Last year we started a Friday tradition of going out for drinks immediately after school lets out for the weekend. This tradition started out fairly tame. We met at a bar close to the school, had a drink and talked about the week, and all went home. However, our Fridays have turned into quite the spectacle as Spaniards really don't know how to go without a party. So these Friday evenings with the other teachers have turned into an all evening, rack up a nice bar tab, get loud and rowdy kinda evenings. But it's a blast and I often tell myself that this is just one of the many things that only happens in Spain.

Saturday was fairly normal, met up with my friend Lupe and her roommates and we went out on the town.

Sunday, however, was the big MTV day here in Madrid. Every year a different European city hosts the MTV European Video Music Awards and it just so happened that Madrid was the host this year. This translated into good news for me because that meant a huge free concert right in the middle of the city.

Now normally when I hear the word "free" before anything, I automatically jump to the conclusion that it will be a cheap, watered-down, dollar store version of whatever the thing is. So upon first hearing of the concert, I thought it would be groups like "Johnny and the Peanut Butter Cups" or "The Bubonic Plagues" or some other random group that no one has ever heard of.

But no.

This concert was bringing in 30 Seconds to Mars, Katy Perry, and Linkin Park. Oh, and just a little surprise appearance by Kanye West. (who, although I think he is a HUGE douche, I was excited to see in person) So the set list was cool, the environment was cool (right next to a big famous Madrid monument, and the price was cool (€0).

Here are a few pictures taken from the concert:

This was taken during the 30 Seconds to Mars show. You can see the Puerta de Toledo, one of Madrid's famous landmarks, lit up as the backdrop to the stage. Very, very cool.

And here is a shot of the stage as Katy Perry was singing her new song "Firework."

And a little close-up shot of Katy on the screen while she was singing. Not a bad live performer, despite her trying to say a few simple phrases in Spanish and completely butchering them. I mean, I'm definitely not a fluent Spanish speaker, but hearing her pronounce the few things in Spanish made me cringe.

So definitely a good weekend.

Things Jordan Misses, Part 2

(Also titled: An Ode To Those Who Are Far Away)

Originally this post was going to be about the free concert MTV put on in Madrid yesterday because of the European Video Music Awards. And how I saw Kanye West, Katy Perry, Linkin Park and 30 Seconds to Mars. And how it was really awesome and how I love living in a city where things like that just happen on a regular basis.

However, after work today I found myself in a very nostalgic mood. Like, "sit around and listen to Enya and light some candles" kinda nostalgia. (Wait...am I the only one who does that?)

Aaaaaanyway.....I decided to change the route of this particular blog post and have another installment of "Things Jordan Misses." This one has a bit more of a serious tone to it than the 1st one, but I promise I'll try to keep it light. And Kanye and Katy will have to wait for another day.

So what am I missing at this point in time? Well, to be very blunt, I'm missing all of the people I have left behind back home. (Now Mom, before you freak out and call/text/skype/facebook/email me to make sure I'm okay, I promise you I'm fine. These moments happen to all of us occasionally.)

So this post will be my nod to all of the people I love and miss. A tip of the hat, if you will. We'll see how it goes.

1. The Familia

Well, let me just go ahead and throw out the obligatory "family" part. I mean, this kind of goes without saying, right? They're my family, of course I miss them. I hate being so far away, especially with the two newest members of the clan growing so fast. But I know that they're always waiting for me as I walk through that "Welcome to America" gate at the airport.

2. Erin

The next person I find myself missing on a daily basis is my best friend Erin. She and I met freshman year (or soon thereafter) and stayed extremely close throughout our entire 4 (and a half) years at OU. It broke my heart a little bit when she started medical school and I moved out of the country, but we've still stayed in touch constantly and I've seen her both times that I've been home over the last year. But I'm always looking forward to the times when I see her again.

3. Kayla

And here we have my good friend Kayla, who was my partner in crime here in Spain last year. This girl has also been a huge part of my life for several years now and I can't imagine my first year in Madrid without her....and daily wish she was still here with me. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, I couldn't get her to stay here with me for another year, but this is another one I look forward to seeing when I go home.

4. Every one of these guys

It's actually kind of funny that I'm missing all the guys in this photo because all of them (with the exception of the girl in the photo) are European. From left to right there is Jorge from Spain, Marc from France, Dini (standing) from Spain, Guillaume from France, me, Rudolph from Germany, Nellie (a fellow American) and Jacek from Germany. However, despite them all being on my same continent, they're still all very far away, so it counts. It's hard to imagine a cooler group of guys or a better group of friends than this. They made my last year at OU amazing. (and they know it) Luckily, I've had a few reunions with them since living over here, so it's made me miss them just a bit less than I would have otherwise.

5. DrewSo Erin snuck in to another picture, but it's just because I was too lazy to search for a picture with just me and Drew. But Drew was in my fraternity at OU and one of my best friends from the beginning to the end. I got to hang out with him a bit this summer, but not enough, and I can't wait to get back and have a reunion with this guy.

6. ElizabethI was actually lucky enough to have Elizabeth come visit me last year, which was a blast, but once is never enough. Another one of my best friends from OU and my neighbor for two years when I lived in Phi Delt and she lived in Tri Delt. One of the most fun people I know. She'll be getting married soon, which blows my mind, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the date will be at a time when I'm in the US to see it happen.

7. BishopAnother one of my fraternity brothers and my roommate for my (1st) senior year at OU. Bishop is one of the most hilarious guys I've ever met in my entire life and I haven't seen him in way too long. This picture is from Homecoming '07 when the two of us were both selected to be on Homecoming Royalty Court.

8. Megan

Another good friend who came to visit me in Madrid, this picture is of me and Megan at a bar in Madrid. Megan is one of the most caring, accepting, kind individuals that I have ever met and always a good time to hang out with. She and I always seem to have a good time, whether is going and sitting by Lake Hefner and talking or bar-hopping around Madrid, Spain.

And of course, there are countless others I could include on here, but I'm getting lazy and this is all I really have the patience for. But I miss everyone that I've left back home and I constantly look forward to being reunited with them again. I don't lie when I say that I have NO idea what my future holds and where I'll be in a year's time, but the one thing I do know is that all of these people will be a part of my life, whether in Spain, America, China, the moon, or anywhere else.

And that is what Jordan is missing right now.

Más Feliz Que Una Perdiz

Translation: "Happier than a partridge." Similar to "Happy as a clam" in English. Who knows why partridges and clams are so happy?

Last weekend we had yet another 3 day weekend because Spain basically has an infinite number of holidays. It's easy to get used to the lifestyle here and at least once a month having a nice, long weekend. This 0ne was for El Día de Todos los Santos (All Saints Day), so the Monday after Halloween I didn't have to work.

So to take advantage of the mini-holiday, I hopped on a bus on Friday after work and went down to Sevilla in the south of Spain to visit my friend Martín. The beauty of traveling within Spain is that it is super easy to find a bus that goes anywhere in the country and it's really really cheap. For example, this trip only cost me 30 euros round trip. The bad part is that the bus ride was 6 and a half hours long. So that part was no fun. But it was definitely worth it once I got there.

First of all, it was really interesting to be in Sevilla after being in Kansas City only a couple of months ago. Sevilla and KC are sister cities, so you can find stuff scattered throughout either city about it's "sister." Here you can see a sign by the train station leading onto Kansas City street:

So anyway, Friday night I didn't arrive until almost midnight because of the long bus ride, so my friend Martín picked me up at the bus station and we went straight to the apartment of Fernando, one of Martín's friends, to have some drinks and to hang out. At that point, I didn't know any of his friends, so I was a bit nervous. In the south of Spain, the people speak a lot faster and have a pretty different accent than those in Madrid. So meeting them all and trying to understand everything that was going on was a bit difficult until I became more accustomed to the accent, and that only served to make me more nervous.

But of course, that is nothing that a couple of drinks and a few hours of hanging out can't fix.

So around 4 in the morning (typical Spanish time) we decided to call it a night and I went and slept. Overall it was a good first night because I met several of Martín's friends and had a good, relaxing time.

On Saturday we woke up and Martín and I went to grab some lunch and to walk around the city a bit. The food in the south of Spain is delicious, so that's always a guaranteed good time. However, on Saturday it was really rainy and cold so we postponed our tour of the city because we didn't want to be out in the nasty weather. Plus, I have already been to Sevilla before, so I had already seen all the main sites. So we went back and just kind of watched some movies and hung out indoors until the evening, when we went to grab some dinner and meet up with some friends again. Another pretty chill day/night, which was definitely fine by me.

On Sunday, Martín had a wedding in the morning, so I was on my own for a bit. So I slept in and then took some time to walk around the city and see some sights. And of course, eat as much food as I possibly could.

Here are a couple of pictures from walking around the city:

This is the Giralda, the famous tower in Sevilla. It was built hundreds of years ago and has switched hands from Catholics and Muslims various times throughout the centuries, but it's still standing strong. You can go up inside of it, which I did when I was in Sevilla years ago. But this time the line was too long and I didn't have the patience for it.

And as you can see, the weather was really nice that day.

Here is the huge Plaza de España that was just finished being renovated. It is gigantic and absolutely beautiful. The picture really doesn't do it justice.

So Sunday is when the real fun began. It was Halloween, so there were all kinds of parties and theme nights going on all over the city. However, Halloween is celebrated a bit different in Spain. It's not a night made for dressing up as cowboys or princesses or Sarah Palin. It's supposed to be a night of pure terror and the only costumes that are acceptable are vampires, witches, zombies, etc. Lots of blood and gore and dead things. In fact, here is a picture from inside one of the bars we went to that night:

Looks like something from the exorcist, right? So dead people everywhere and nothing whimsical and happy about it. But just like all other things, it's so cool to see how things are different from place to place.

So we spent the night hopping around to different bars and discotecas and grabbing drinks here and there. Altogether it was me, my friend Martín, and his friends Blanca, Fernando, and Javi. Here is a partial picture of the group:

From left to right: Martín, Blanca, me (incapable of making a normal face in pictures), and Fernando. This was such an incredibly fun group and I couldn't be happier that I spent Halloween with them. As you can see, we didn't get dressed up. That makes me kind of sad, because in the US I never miss an opportunity to dress up as something crazy. But costumes just aren't as popular here in Spain, so I suppose it's alright.

So here are a couple more pictures from the night:

Blanca and Fernando showing just how much the love me. And I am obviously very excited about that.

And I seemed to find a kindred spirit in Fernando because he's also completely incapable of making normal faces in pictures.

So Halloween night was really fun and I'm so glad I got to spend it in Sevilla with my new Spanish friends. :)

The next day I got to sleep in a bit and then had some lunch and hopped on the bus to come back home to Madrid. Spending another 6 and a half hours in the bus wasn't really the ideal way to end my trip, but I slept most of the way anyway, so I guess it wasn't so bad.

But it was a really fun trip and SO nice to get out of Madrid for awhile. I love this city but sometimes it's nice to have a break from the hustle and bustle.

So overall, Sevilla gets pretty high marks from me.

Things Jordan Misses, Part 1

So it's time for a new installment of posts that I would like to call "Things Jordan Misses."

Now living in Spain has provided me with a million little things that I can't get anywhere else in the world: a night out getting tapas, eating jamón by the pound and drinking sangria by the gallon, walking around Madrid and always discovering something new, etc.

However, it would be nearly impossible to live in a foreign country and not miss the small comforts of home.

So here's what I'm currently missing:

No, I'm not missing sitting in my Dad's lap and no, I'm not missing playing with my toy train set. Focus more on the background.

I'm missing having indoor heating.

Many of you may not realize, but a lot of older apartments in Spain (and I think I live in one that was built in the stone age) were never fitted with indoor heat and air. This means no air conditioning in the summer and no heating in the winter. And now that it's starting to get colder, this guy is REALLY starting to miss having some heating.

And maybe some of you think that I'm whining. Or perhaps that I need to suck it up. But getting out of bed in the morning and setting my feet on the cold tile floor of my bedroom makes me feel like I'm living in this:

Oh, and I don't exaggerate. This is serious. I think a penguin could live and function happily in my bedroom.

And maybe it's that I'm spoiled. But I miss the days where I could wake up, be ever-so-slightly uncomfortable with the temperature and walk to the thermostat and crank it up or down until my heart was content and my feet weren't popsicles.

So let this post be my own personal tribute to indoor heating. Oh, how I miss you and the way you kept me nice and toasty and warm in my bed.

So for now, here's a big, warm hug from the North Pole Madrid, Spain.

I'm Famous!

But seriously, though. I'm famous.

It all started last week when the headmaster of my school came to me and told me that a radio show would be coming into one of my classes the very next day. No other information. Just that some sort of radio program would be there at some point during the day.

Well, come to find out it was Radio Nacional de España, which is equivalent to NPR in the US or maybe BBV Radio in the UK. Basically, it was a big deal. A lot bigger deal than what I was expecting.

So finally I get some details on the situation. The radio host is going to come into one of my 1st grade science classes and kind of listen in on the class and see what actually goes on in a bilingual school. They were doing a show on bilingual education in Spain, which is becoming more and more popular and of all the classes in all the schools in the country, they picked mine. Which was pretty dang cool.

So they tell me to just do a normal class and don't do anything differently from what I would normally do in class. No problem there. However, right as class is about to start and the radio host lady is setting up, in walks my class' home room teacher, the director of English programs in the school, the headmaster from primary school, the headmaster for the entire school, the director of UCETAM (the association that our school is a part of...a big deal that he is there), the director of all Gredos San Diego schools (the school system that my school is a part of), and various other big wigs from Madrid.

So at that point, the nervous level went from around 4 or 5 to 150.

So I start class, and I'm hoping and praying that the kids remember all of the vocab that we've gone over and that they'll do me proud. I had a lot of eyes on me and I think all of them were thinking the same thing. I mean, this show is going to be broadcast over the entire country of Spain. They were hoping that this guy from Oklahoma had been doing his job and would make the schools look good.

So as I'm teaching, the radio host continually requests for me to do special things. Like, as I'm going over vocabulary with the kids, she comes and whispers in my ear "Can you ask a question and have the entire class answer all together?" Which is no small feat. Coordinating 30 6 and 7 year olds to do something all together? Near impossible. But it magically worked out.

Then, "Can you have them sing a song in English?" Okay. I've only been teaching them for nearly two weeks. I haven't taught any songs yet. So I had to think of some songs that I've heard them sing in their pre-school classes and came up with "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and I had to pray that they remembered it from the year before. And once again, my little angels didn't disappoint.

So it went on that way for the entire class and my little kids, bless them, performed like pros.

And then it was over.

Or so I thought.

So then, as I'm exiting the class, the radio host comes to me and tells me that she now wants to interview me to add to the program (all in Spanish, of course). Now let me just tell you, I'm pretty confident in my Spanish skills. I still don't think I'm fluent, but in my day to day life, I get by without many problems. However, a full-on interview in Spanish that is going to be broadcast to the entire country? Holy crap.

I wish I could tell you I did good. Or that I did bad. But to be honest, I don't remember at all what I said. It was a lot of questions from her and a lot of word vomit from me. The headmaster of my school listened in on the interview and told me that I did "excellent." And by the amount she was beaming, I assumed she was telling the truth. But man oh man, I was so nervous.

I still haven't heard the show yet. Supposedly they're going to send me an mp3 of it, so if you're interested in hearing it, let me know and I'll get you a copy as soon as I get one. And keep your fingers crossed that I don't make an idiot of myself in front of the entire country of Spain.

A Day In The Life

It's amazing how I can have so much free time this time around and yet still get so impossibly behind on updating the blog. I'm trying to get back in the habit of writing on here, but honestly, I have no idea how I did it so much the first time I came here. Maybe it's a good thing, though....like a sign that I actually have friends. haha

So anyway, it's been a busy couple of weeks.

I had told myself that I was going to shoot for updating once a week. Which I still think I can do. However, right around the time that I was going to blog last weekend, I came down with a pretty nasty case of strep throat. And I mean it when I say "nasty". I mean, I'm no stranger to throat/lung illnesses. I generally come down with something along the lines of strep every year. Therefore, I can basically be considered an expert on what makes it "bad" or "not so bad." This one qualified as "God awful."

Imagine your tonsils swollen so big that they make your neck bulge out quite noticeably. Imagine the little hangy thing at the back of your neck (whatever the hell it's called) swollen so big that it hangs down into your throat and you have to sleep on your side so that you can breathe at night. Imagine having a 102º fever. Imagine not eating/leaving your bed for nearly 4 days until you can get to the doctor. Gross, right? Yeah, it was awful. And I once again had to maneuver through the Spanish medical system to get all fixed up. But the doctor remembered me from last year (like I said, this sickness is an annual thing) and he told me that my Spanish had really improved. So I guess some good came of it all.

But other than getting massively, horribly sick, I really haven't done much. It has taken me awhile to get adjusted to this new schedule and I've just been trying to get back into a routine. Like I said before, it's not a difficult schedule and it is MUCH better than last year. I really have zero complaints and am really enjoying things. But after a summer of sleeping all day and generally doing nothing, it's been quite the struggle to get back into work mode.

Since I don't really have any good ideas on how to update on my new schedule, I thought I might just run through what typical day is like for me here in Spain. So let's try it:

A Day in the Life of Jordan

7:00 am - Wake up to the gentle sounds of "Ave Maria," which is conveniently one of the ringtones on my phone.

7:01 to 7:50 am - Hit snooze three or four times, jump out of bed when I realize I'm going to be late, have a quick shower and run out the door.

7:50 am - Catch the metro and start my hour-long commute to work.

8:30 am - Switch from the metro to the bus.

9:00 to 9:45 am - Arrive at school and start my first class of the day. Today it was 1st grade science. Generally spend most of the class getting my little 6 and 7 year olds to wake up and pay attention. Spend about 5 to 10 minutes of actual teaching.

9:45 to 10:30 am - Run to my next class (unfortunately in Spain the teacher's don't have home rooms. The kids stay in one class all day and the teachers have to run from class to class. It's a weird system. Don't get me started.) which today was another class of 1st grade science. Spend time calming the kids down. Get some actual teaching done this time around.

10:30 to 11:00 am - Beautiful, blissful break time that the entire school gets to take. The kids go to the playground and the teachers go have a much-needed coffee and cigarette break.

11:00 to 11:45 am - Class #3 = 1st grade English. Spend 20 to 30 minutes calming the kids down after break time. Tell them for the bazillionth time that they should have gone to the restroom during break time and that they'll have to wait until the end of class.

11:45 am to 12:30 pm - Class #4 = 3rd grade science. Have my lesson plans prepared and ready to go, only to be told by one of the Spanish teachers that I have to "review last weeks lesson because they're going to have a test." Fantastic.

12:30 to 2:30 pm - Time for my 2 hour lunch break. Why the kids need 2 hours for lunch, I'll never know. But it gives all of us teachers another chance to down some more coffee. I try to spend my two hour break planning for classes, but usually get pulled down into the teacher's circle outside, drinking coffee and chatting about the weekend/upcoming breaks.

2:30 to 3:15 pm - Another 1st grade English class. Spend a solid half hour calming the kids down after the 2 hour lunch break. Once again telling them that they should have used the restroom during the break. This 1st grade English class is generally better than the first one because I've already tested things and worked out the kinks in my lesson.

3:15 to 4:00 pm - Another 1st grade science class. Just like above, as my third 1st grade science class of the day, teaching the class is down to an art. I teach all of the necessary things and generally feel good about the class.

4:00 to 4:45 pm - Last class of the day. Another 3rd grade science. And I can't lie, I love my 3rd graders. They're a really good class to end on. It's different from 1st and 2nd grade because I can actually joke around with the 3rd graders a bit and have a bit more fun. And I'm not constantly telling them that they can't go to the bathroom.

5:00 pm - Catch the bus to start the commute back home.

5:30ish - Depending on if the weather is nice or not, I either take the metro (takes about 20-30ish minutes to get home) or I walk from the bus station (takes about an hour). Despite the walk being around an hour, I don't mind. I can put the headphones in and take various routes through Madrid. I'm lucky because my walk home takes me past the Royal Palace, Plaza Mayor, and several other cool Madrid locations.

6:00 to 11:00ish - Depending on the day, my afternoon activities can vary quite a bit. Some days I go meet friends for dinner and drinks. Some days I try to get some exercise. Today I spent the afternoon just doing grown-up things: laundry, grocery shopping, etc. Regardless of what I end up doing, it just always feels good to know that I can do whatever I want. No masters to worry about. No papers to write. No exams to study for. It feels good. :)

And now it's just after 11 pm, and that means it's time for me to get ready for bed. As you can see, the days at school are pretty long, so I've got to get plenty of beauty sleep for the kids. (you think I'm joking, but last year a kid told me I had a "fatty face." These kids can be brutal.)

So I hope this wasn't too awfully boring. Next time around I'll tell the story of how I became famous here in Spain. See? I'm always leaving a cliff-hanger and keeping you coming back for more. :)

Late Nights and Pig Fights

So I've been here for just a little over a week....and I'm already falling behind on posting on here. That doesn't really bode well for the rest of the year....but I'll do my best.

So where to begin?

It's really amazing and it's a phenomenon that seems to be pretty standard with my time in Spain, but time itself has such a weird effect here. On one hand it feels like I've hardly been here a day. And on the other it feels like I've been here forever. So pardon me if everything I talk about today seems a bit scattered....a lot has happened in a very short period of time.

Let's go back to last weekend, shall we? (meaning: my first weekend here over a week ago) I had posted a couple of random stories over the weekend but then failed to mention absolutely anything at all about the weekend itself. So let's try that.

Well, to start off with, I got into Madrid pretty early in the morning. Around 8ish, I believe, which is WAY too early for me. So the Saturday that I got here, I didn't have much on the agenda but to sleep, wake up, eat, take a nap, wake up and eat again, and go to bed for the night. Yet my friends had other plans for me.

As I was blissfully napping away, my friends Marcus and Lupe felt the need to come and wake me up. Which wasn't too horrible I suppose. As it happened, that first Saturday was a huge annual festival in Madrid called "La Noche En Blanco" or "White Night" in English. Basically it's a huge arts and cultural festival with tons and tons of free concerts, free food, free everything. And literally the entire city is out in the streets for the big fiesta. So naturally, we got a big group of people and went out all night long. It's basically impossible to live in Madrid and not stay out until the sunrise, whether you want to or not.

Here is a picture from Noche En Blanco that was taken on Gran Vía, which is one of the biggest and most important streets in Madrid. Imagine Fifth Avenue in New York. And as you can see, it's full of people and lit up everywhere. Quite the spectacle.

And now onto the week itself.

I actually became a bit spoiled at work last week. Our bosses told us that we wouldn't actually enter the classrooms until the second week so that we would have time to "plan" and "reacquaint ourselves with everything." Which basically translated into us sitting in the teacher's lounge all week checking facebook and looking at random websites. But I can't complain, I guess, because it was better than just getting thrown into the classroom without any sort of mental preparation.

And, in my school's typical style, they changed my schedule soon after I posted about it. Not a lot of changes, but they took out all my art classes and gave me third grade science instead. Still, though, no complaints here. It's so much easier to plan this year and actually get to know my kids. I only saw many of my classes last year once a week, so I never could remember all of their names.

And before you think I'm a terrible person for that, you have to remember that I had over 1,000 kids to memorize last year. Try walking into a Wal-Mart and memorizing the names of every person in the store. Then go to about 10 more stores and memorize all of those peoples' names as well. And then we'll talk.

Anywho, this year I have fewer classes, fewer kids to remember, and more time to spend with all of them. So it's pretty great.

I wish I could say more went on during the week, but it was pretty tame. I did a lot of laundry and went grocery shopping. And those are pretty much the highlights of the week.

So now let's move on to this past weekend. (meaning: two days ago)

Once again I ended up spending a lot of time with Marcus and Lupe. Those two are pretty important people in my cast of characters this year and I don't know what I would do without them. Marcus also teaches at my school and has become one of my really great friends. Lupe was in my program last year and is temporarily living in the third bedroom of my apartment. Also one of my really great friends.

So anyway, in addition to those two and my roommate Javi....

(who can be seen here, for those who are interested in who I am living with)

....we also had some of Javi's friends visiting from Salamanca, which is a city a couple of hours away from Madrid. So it was sure to be a busy weekend.

So on Friday night, Marcus and I went and hung out with his roommates and some of their friends for awhile and then moved on to my roommate and his friends for awhile. And before we knew it, it was about 5 in the morning. Which, in Madrid terms, is relatively early for a Friday night. However, my body is still on Oklahoma terms, which meant that I should have been in bed about 5 hours before then. At the latest. So we called it a night and made our way home.

And then came Saturday. After such a long night the day before, I was determined to take it easy. You know, have a nice dinner, maybe stay home and watch a movie. But the fact that I am kind of a pushover is my downfall. I am way too easily convinced to do things, as evidenced by Saturday night.

So at first, Lupe decided to cook dinner for me and another of her friends. Which is fantastic because Lupe is Mexican and cooks the most AMAZING authentic Mexican food that you could possibly imagine. Seriously. And afterwards we decided to go have a mojito at a nice, calm bar and then call it an early night. Which I almost did.

We got home around 1 in the morning and I was already feeling exhausted and knew it was time to get to bed. So, off to bed I went. I chose to stay awake for a bit and check through my email and such before I went to sleep. So in comes Javi around 2 in the morning and he is on his way to meet up with the friends from Salamanca. And even though I was exhausted, I agreed to go with him. Like I said, I'm a pushover.

So we go meet up with the friends and head to a discoteca, which at 3 or 4 or the morning is just starting to really get going. And we stay. And we dance. And we hang out. And before I know it, we're leaving to go home and it's daylight. And it's 8. In. The. Morning.

Holy crap.

So all I can think about is getting to bed and sleeping until Monday. And we're walking along Gran Vía (the big main street) and along comes this....

I wish I could say that I was joking. But no. A man (with more facial piercings and dreadlocks than any human being should probably have) was walking a pig. Through the streets of Madrid. As if it were a little dog.

What kind of city have I moved to?

So anyway, Rubén, one of the friends from Salamanca, decides that he wants to pet/hold the pig. And the piercing/dreadlocks guy is cool with it. So Rubén proceeds to pick this disgusting little mini-pig up despite it squealing like it's heading for the bacon fryer. And all I could think was, "Oh, these poor, poor city people."

But that's not the worst part. Oh no. The worst part is when this random lady (potentially an even BIGGER hippie than the pig owner, if at all possible) proceeds up to our group and the dreadlocks guy and screams at us about how pigs don't belong in the city and that we're evil for supporting it.

Now, normal people would set the pig down, back away slowly until hippie lady becomes distracted by some other person committing a crime against the animal kingdom, and then make a break for it. But no. Apparently Spaniards don't work that way.

So all of the Spaniards I was with (5 of them in total) proceed to have a very heated debate with this woman about the treatment of the pig. Such a heated debate that people walking along the street stopped to stare and take in the spectacle of it all. And the debate drags on. And on. And on.

FOR AN HOUR AND A HALF.

Once again, I wish that I was joking. I really do. It was past 9 in the morning at this point. I had been awake for nearly 3o hours straight. At that point I could have cared less if someone was walking a baby human down the street on a leash, much less a pig. And yet somehow I just couldn't pull myself away. It was like a black hole. I was in and there was no escaping it.

So finally, after the crazy Spaniards finished what was quite possibly the most pointless debate in the history of debates, we went to the metro and I made my way home. And finally, after several late nights in a row and one massively annoying fight over a pig in the city, I went to sleep and hardly saw Sunday.

Now, today I entered the classroom and had my first full day of teaching, but I think that update will be best saved for later since this story ended up being so long. I think re-hashing the pig story has fried my brain just a bit and I can't even imagine typing more.

So that'll do for now.

Back To Work

And it's official...summer vacation is officially over. Let's have a moment of silence as we honor our dear, departed free time.

.

.

.

.

.

Just give me a sec to wipe away the tears........aaaand I'm good. I don't think I need to go too in depth on what makes summer so great. Zero responsibility. Sleeping in. Easy living. It's a beautiful thing. And what makes it worse is that my summer this year was extra-good. It involved the padres coming to Europe and all of us making a grand tour of Europe. It involved this guy going home and enjoying 6 weeks of sweet, sweet Oklahoma summertime. It was almost too good. Damn it.

But as of today, I worked my first full day teaching the little niños once again. And I must say, it wasn't all that bad.

Here is a quick shot of my school. Notice how it looks like a prison? Believe me, the similarities go far beyond the bars around the building.

So anyway, I received my teaching schedule almost immediately upon arriving at school. Which might not seem all that remarkable, but (trust me on this one) it is a HUGE feat for my particular school, seeing as how last year I was two weeks into the school year before I even knew what I would be teaching. And I suppose that I didn't even need a schedule last year to tell me that I was in WAY over my head....I taught everyone from 2 and 3 year olds to high school juniors and seniors.

However, all that is leading me up to the beauty of my schedule this year. I will be teaching (drumroll, please) 1st and 2nd grade science, art, and English! Woo Hoo! And only 1st and 2nd grade science, art, and English. I can't even begin to describe how amazing it will be to only have to plan classes for one age group. Let me give you a little scenario so that you can compare and share in my joy for this new schedule.

Last year, on any given day, I might have a 2nd grade science class, a high school senior English conversation class, a pre-school English class, a 6th grade art class, a 4th grade science class, a 2nd grade art class and a 3rd grade English class. Imagine planning out separate lessons for every single one of those grades/subjects. And now imagine only getting to use those lessons for that particular day and then the next day having to plan new stuff for 7 or 8 completely different classes.

Now let's fast-forward to this year. On any given day I might have 4 2nd grade science classes, 2 1st grade art classes and a 1st grade English class. My schedule the next day will be pretty much the same. And the next day. And the next. Planning is going to be a breeze AND I might actually learn my students' names this year. (Which shouldn't be as hard as it is, since about 75% of the girls are named Maria and 80% of the boys are Alvaro or Pablo)

Now, I will say that I'm a little bummed that I won't have any older kids this year. They were usually really fun to work with and overall pretty intelligent. But just take a look at these pictures of some of my 1st graders from last year (in their Halloween costumes) and tell me that you wouldn't love working with them:

So I've decided that since they are adorable, I can handle working with only them this year. And here are a few more reasons why working with them will be great:

1. I can still scare them. If they start getting out of hand, it's not too difficult to give them "the look" and get them calmed down. This doesn't work so well with older kids.

2. They love me. Pure and simple. In their eyes, I'm the coolest guy there is. And who am I to argue with that?

3. They're not that smart. Which is fantastic, because I'm not either. No more planning science lessons about electricity and magnetism. No more sex education. No more being unable to answer complicated science questions. I'll feel so much more intelligent this year.

4. They don't start class until 9. Again, this is another reason you might not appreciate. But trying getting out of bed at 6 a.m., making the hour commute to work, and giving an entire 8 a.m. class, all before the sun comes up. It's no fun. But it's not my problem anymore, because these kids don't start until 9. Which means I get a whole extra hour of sleep. Which means that I will be considerable nicer to these children.

5. They're adorable. Now, I know I already said this one. But it's worth repeating, right?

So anyway, it looks like it'll be a pretty good year. As of now, I'm excited about my schedule. Give me time and I might change my tune, but I don't think that'll be the case.

Loving, Leaving, and Starting Again

Well, folks, I think it is safe to say that last year was a massive failure. In terms of blogging, that is. The whole two posts that I took the time to write from Spain last year really served well to document my time abroad. As long as you weren't curious what happened after September.

I suppose I was somewhat justified in not blogging all the time. I was constantly working either on homework for my masters or stuff for the classes I taught at my job. It was a busy year and finding time to blog about it all just wasn't happening.

But all that is about to change.

Here I sit in my apartment in Madrid once again, about to start year #2 in Spain. I never really would have expected a second year here had you asked me last August, but things just kind of fell into place that way, as they always seem to do.

So now I'm here again with MUCH more free time on my hands. I'll only be teaching this year, so that pesky masters won't get in my way anymore. Which should be awfully nice.

In any case, I think it would be appropriate if, before starting this new year of experiencing life abroad (and actually blogging about it this time), I did a little recap of last year. Which should be about as close to impossible as anything else I've attempted on here.

But here's my method. I've looked through all of my pictures from the last year (okay, so maybe I kind of glanced through them) and chose one picture from each month that I think pretty much sums up that particular month. I'll give the background story for each picture and with each story, you should more or less get a feel for the year in general. I guess we'll see if it works.

August - This picture is of some of my lovely friends (from L to R - Jorge, Kayla, Annie, Jacek, William and me) in Valencia, Spain. I was lucky enough in the beginning of the year to take a little "Intro to Spain" trip to Jávea and Valencia on the Mediterranean coast. While there, I got to see several of my friends who had studied at OU and just enjoy being in Spain. It was a fantastic way to start the year. I didn't yet have any responsibilities and just had two full weeks of relaxing. Not exactly how the rest of the year would be...

September - This is a picture that I had posted previously when talking about the roommates in my first apartment in Madrid. Yes, I said "first apartment." I'll get to that.

But in early September, things didn't seem like they could be any better. I had seven roommates (Gaby and Simón from France, Saila from Finland, Gigi from Italy, Maite and Guillermo from Spain, and Kayla from Oklahoma) and things were busy, but it was all so dang exciting. Meeting all these new people and having all these new experiences were just incredible. Everything was so new and I was loving life.

October - A lot of things happened in October and it was difficult to narrow my choice of photo down to just one, but I chose this picture for two reasons. But first, the back story. At Halloween, Kayla and I took a trip to Paris, France to visit several of our friends: Jacek from Germany, Jorge and Gloria from Spain, and William and Marc from France. It was an awesome reunion and we had the best possible time. One of my favorite trips from the year, without a doubt.

So anyway, my two reasons for choosing this picture: 1) Because Paris has become one of my favorite cities in the world, if not my absolute favorite, and being there in the fall was beautiful. 2) Because at that point in time (at the end of October) Kayla and I were reaching our breaking points. We had begun to realize that our living situation was less than ideal. (Okay, it was horrible. 8 people and 1 bathroom? Pure insanity.) We saw that we had almost no free time due to the demands of our program. And, if we were both honest with ourselves, we were probably both a little homesick. So we really needed something good in our lives to bring us back from the brink right at that time, and this trip was just exactly what we needed. Kayla and I talked later about that trip and agreed that it was a turning point for the year. Who knows it the year would have ended up so great without it.

November - I think this picture is somewhat self-explanatory, but I'll give a brief explanation anyway. Four of us from our program (Kayla, Alicia, Amanda and myself) all decided to have an American-style Thanksgiving celebration. We just couldn't imagine a year without it. And if all of us couldn't be at home to enjoy our mothers' home-cooking, then we would make the best of it. One of our friends from Valencia (Susana) offered her house to create this massive feast, and I think we did a pretty good job. And all of the Spaniards agreed with us.

December - I was lucky enough to be able to fly home at Christmas and no picture is better than this one of me with my nephew to represent how great that trip was. At that point I had been in Spain for five months, and I needed some family time.

January - Soon after returning to Madrid, I made another trip to Valencia to visit all of our great friends there. We had a really big gathering of OU people and just had a great weekend. This trip was also needed, because right after getting back to Madrid, I think I was missing home just a bit. And being around all of our awesome friends that we had met in Oklahoma, I felt much better about things.

February - Over the year, things just got better and better in all aspects. I found a new, much better apartment. I was getting much better at managing out time for homework. And things at my job were becoming really fun. This picture is of me and some of the other teachers I work with during Carnival. It's strange getting used to all of the crazy Spanish traditions and it was always a good time. The reason we're all dressed up is because Spaniards use Carnival as their time to dress up in crazy costumes instead of Halloween, when the only acceptable costume is something very scary. That was a fun day.

March - In March, around Spring Break time in the US, Spain has Semana Santa, or Holy Week in English. During that week, the country basically shuts down. In Semana Santa, you have two options: One is to stay in Spain and enjoy the festivities, because there is a lot going on at that time. But we chose Option Two, which was to travel outside of the country. So a group of us did a tour of Italy for about 10 days. We started in Milan, then went on to Venice, then Florence, and finally Rome. This is us in front of the Coliseum. And what an amazing trip it was.

April - Otherwise known as Birthday Month. Kayla and I have birthdays that are only a few days apart, so everyone in our program was nice enough to throw us a big joint birthday party. And it was incredibly fun. And it really made me realize what amazing friends we had made over the year.

May - Another Spanish holiday and another Spanish costume. In May in Madrid, there is a holiday for the city's patron saint, which is Saint Isidro. Madrid has a traditional costume, which my Spanish friend Adriana and I are modeling in this photo. Adriana also worked at my school last year, and we were required to wear these costumes. It was really cute to see all of the little kids in their little costumes.

June - This is the month where everything paid off. This is a picture from our Graduation Day. It's a picture of every single person in my program. It was a really great group of people and I made a lot of great friends. A lot of them are back this year with me, and I'm excited about that. And I'll definitely miss those who aren't here again.

What's also cool about this picture is that it was taken in the chapel where we had our graduation ceremony. The chapel is part of our university and it is around 600 years old! People like Miguel Cervantes (the guy who wrote Don Quixote) have received their degrees here, and now I've joined their ranks!

July - Perhaps my favorite picture of all! In July my parents came to visit me in Madrid and I couldn't wait to get them here. After a few days in Madrid, we then went on to Barcelona, Paris, and Rome and it really was the trip of a lifetime. It was my parents' first time out of the US and I was so excited to show them all of the places that I've come to know. This picture is of us right after Spain won the World Cup. We watched the game at a big outdoor area in the middle of the city with thousands of Spaniards and enjoyed the celebrations that went along with it. And, of course, we wore our Spain colors, as you can see here.

So, as you can see, it was an incredible year. It's almost hard for me to describe just how amazing it all was in such a short space (if you can call this short!). But it really was wonderful year with all of it's ups and downs. I learned a lot and made a lot of great friends who I know I will have for the rest of my life. And I had the experience of a lifetime.

But now it's time for Spain Round 2. And it's time to make way for some new experiences and some new friends. It's time to start again. And if this year is half as good as the previous one, then I know that I'm in for some fantastic times.

Tomorrow starts my first day at school and the start of my year. I guess we'll see how it goes.