Nos Vemos

Today is my last day in Manza (until I come back in September). The only possibility of me not coming back is if the Prince of Spain calls me up and wants to get married, but after shaking the 8-ball on that, it said "Outlook not so good", so I will be coming back in Manzanares.
I had to get a lot done today. I am alone in the Piso, Mike already left, and Karlyne is in France for a few days. So it has been lonely and I HAVE heard things in the piso and got up several times last night saying "hello? HELLO?" and did a run through of all the rooms. So silly. Anyways, I don't know where or when I acquired so much stuff. A friend let me keep some stuff (some meaning a LOT of stuff) in their house while I'm gone - things like winter cloths, sheets, blankets, etc. I don't think they knew what they were getting in to when they said I could leave stuff with them...
My suitcase seems to have a lot of room in it. I would say most of it is alcohol and souvenirs for people. Glad I have my priorities in order. I have to finagle things around still, red wine and clothes probably don't mix. This isn't the first time I have taken wine back so I am pretty sure everything will be okay. The weight is what I have to worry about...Taking all my stuff through the metros of Madrid can be tedious, and I usually have to rely on a stranger to take pity on me.

Today I shared a few drinks with a professor, we had a great conversation. My Spanish has really improved from when we first met. Still wondering WHY I didn't have drinks with the other professors sooner - this was a great experience and a good opportunity to meet outside of work and stress! We even met up later to watch the Barcelona vs Manchester game (VISCA BARCA!)

Tomorrow I leave Manza for Madrid and then Monday head off to Germany for quite the extravaganza. I begin in Berlin. I am very excited and anxious and nervous, but everything is falling in to place and I am realizing I don't have too much to stress out. I was planning on packing more things in to the trip, but my mom said to S L O W down. which I should. I remember when I tried to cram everything in on my Italy trip the first time, and I regretted it because by the time I got to Venice I was very tired and didn't see much. So I am will be slowing down and remember I have next year to do more traveling!

I didn't get overly emotional, I will see my students next year. I am hoping my 1st ESO classes will be just as enthusiastic about me coming to their class now that they are 2nd ESO! I really did love the applause, and waving, and cheering I got from them when I came to class. It let me know I was doing my job right. I can't wait, I have so many more ideas for next year that I hope I can put in to action. Next year is going to be great. I am so truly very happy here. I will already go ahead and extend the invitation for you to come visit me :) It is a pueblo, a small town, but it does have some spunk and there are many things I will miss while I am gone.


Off to finish things around the house and hopefully get some sleep.

Nos Vemos Manza

Tori.
Stateside in the middle of June!

Manza Street Etiquette

There are a few things I have noticed my last 8 months here while walking around in Manza.

1. When it is nice out - EVERYONE is out, walking. Walking with friends, walking with an ipod, walking with a dog, walking to walk. It is common to walk to the town over - Membrilla. And it is very common to walk along the 'river' (really it is more of a creek if you ask me). I walk to school almost everyday. Sometimes I don't like to for my early classes because I am carrying my computer the whole way - and at 8am in the morning that just isn't fun. But I have gotten used to it, and the walk seems shorter everyday. All in all, I love just walking and people watching here.
Also note that around Siesta time - EVERYTHING (minus the Grocery store and a few pubs) are CLOSED, and NO ONE is in the street. When I first noticed this, it was like a ghost town. You could look our your window to one of the popular squares and it would be EMPTY. Then around 5:30 to 8pm, crowded and filled with people!

2. With walking on some of the popular streets - we call the main street here Gran Via -  cars can't drive on it. So it is made for walking and shopping. It is relatively thin, and usually crowded on a good day. This can cause problems of people just standing around and little children running all around the street - meaning you have to pay attention to everything to your left, right, in front of you, and behind you. I have almost tripped over small children before, or walked in to someone when they stopped abruptly.

3. I see more people WALKING their bikes here than RIDING them. Still trying to figure that out. I don't think as a child I ever "took my bike for a walk". Sometimes you see 2 people crammed on a 1 person bike. This is most entertaining to see the positions of the two people - usually without a helmet, some without shirts on. It amazes me how they keep balance and go fast at the same time without getting hurt. Cirque du Soleil should really start looking for some new talent here.

4. People walking their pets here let their animals do their business freely (I HATE the P word...) and don't pick it up. It is rampant here in Manza and I can't stand it. It is so rude. That is why it is important to look down while walking - even on the sidewalk here. The ONE time I wasn't paying attention to the sidewalk and BAM - stepped in it. I was livid, I almost cried. I am just fed up with that here. Come on people - clean up after your dogs. This frustration also comes from the fact that sometimes the street just reeks of animal waste. Even more awful when it is hot and you need to leave your window open ( I recently Febreezed my room several times to try and make it less offensive. ). Another note is that we must dry our clothes outside and I want my clothes to smell like air and nothing more...

5. The street behind my flat has been underconstruction since before we even moved in back in March. It is still not complete. I think part of the reason is that they don't block it off for people not to drive on. It is less than gravel, some wet cement, metal boards, glass, etc. People STILL drive on this. I think they could get it knocked out in a few days if they just blocked it off! People drive super slow down this road - if they just let it be closed a few days it would be DONE in a few days. Taking bets on whether it will be done in September when I return or not...


Some last thoughts. I should be asleep right now...

Tori

To be blunt

After my awful day of class (Remembering it was an awful day, but an awful day  in Spain, which makes it somewhat better)

1. I ask that you not raise an jerk kid. If they don't respect you, how will they respect others?
That is all I am going to say about that right now. 


But more importantly:
After reading my Aunt Deb's blog in which she eloquently writes about her ALS adventures (can you put eloquent and ALS in the same sentence?) I just want to say - ALS sucks. I can't think of any eloquent words to say about ALS. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.
With that being said, May is ALS awareness month.

The ALS homepage is HERE if you want to learn more about this debilitating disease. 

Thanks!

Tori

Eurospeak

It always makes me laugh when I am in other countries and they ask me where I am from. After I say "Texas, the United States" - more than likely the response is "Obama!", and that really concludes the conversation because they don't know any more English after that.
But sometimes, when I respond with "Texas", I just hear "Bush!" and that is all they know.

I usually do answer Texas over just saying The United States out of habit I guess if they hear me speaking English.

A few times in Morocco, where I was just speaking Spanish (they mainly know Arabic, then French and THEN Spanish depending on where you are. So it is easier to speak Spanish while wondering around or trying to bargain with people. Then of course if they asked I tried to just say Castilla- La Mancha. (No one knows where Manzanares is anyway).

Now I am wondering what I will hear after the events of yesterday. (In case you avoid the news and talking to people, Osama Bin Laden has been killed)

Anyways,

I know I need to add my Sahara blog but I have a million things on my plate, it will happen, just might be later in the week/end for me to get it done. It is awesome so I hope you all can't wait to read it and see the pictures.


Tori

What the what?

Today in Manzanares was Divina Pastoras. It is like a mini county fair. And when I say mini- I really do mean mini. They have about 4 carnival rides and several food places and maybe 2 places selling random junk. The main part of the carnival is the beer booths which outnumber the amount of carnival rides and food and random junk places. I did buy popcorn and churros. Got to get my fried food in for the week.

The attraction I found most interesting was a ride where you get on these fake bulls and they move and try and knock you off. They played classic ditties like "Cotten Eyed Joe" - which made me think of Texas. This is a pretty tame ride for children. I did capture some video. Also note the paintings of naked women with big boobs in the background. I don't know where this is supposed to fit in a rodeo game...and I don't understand the relevancy. I just thought it was hilarious and wanted to share the sense that is Spain.

Enjoy!


Tori

More-Occo Please

I know I haven't been so diligent with keeping up. Time is really flying here, I can't believe April is almost over!
I just returned from Morocco - maybe one of the best trips of my life (which is really saying something!) The 6 day trek was perfect, it included a lot of Moroccan cuisine, guided tours, and even a night in the Sahara desert. We had a woman from Fez on the tour that was able to answer questions and tell us some history of each place we visited. I still can't believe I was in Africa.

We took a ferry from Tarifa to Tanger, and immediately headed to Rabat. It is a pretty city on the west coast of Africa.
We first exchanged money - I look totally rich!

The restaurant we stopped at was probably my favorite of the whole trip. We had this pastry dish filled with chicken and topped with cinnamon and sugar. I need to learn how to make it. It was delicious.

After touring the small Medina, we headed to Fez for the night. Then early in the morning headed to the desert!

This is the monument for King Mohammad.

The trip into the desert was interesting. It will be all dead looking and then out of nowhere an Oasis of palm trees will pop up!

The last city with roads that you see on a map is Merzouga. After that it doesn't look like there are any roads...because there aren't. We hopped in to 4x4's and each driver took a separate route across the sand to the hotel we were staying at. A little scary at first because the road just ends. And each driver takes off differently because it is hard to follow someone when the sand is all being kicked up. It is a bumpy ride, and one of the cars even got a flat tire on the way! Such a contrast from the rocky desert to the sand dunes!

The rocky desert. Cattle in the background!

Our 4x4 group.

Picture of the sun...there was a dust storm that day!

I still couldn't believe I was in Africa. Such contrasting landscapes throughout the drive.

Until next time - I will be updating on the Dunes of the Sahara. Probably my favorite part of the trip!

Tori

Ice Cream in a Bag

So last Friday I was able to go to the Chemistry class of 4th eso (students are equivalent to being Sophomore's in High school).
I had been asked to come to the Chemistry class, so after racking my brain from my high school/middle school Chemistry classes, I finally decided that making ice cream in a bag was one of my favorites. It shows chemical changes with salt and it lowers the temperature of the ice when the Na is splitting from the Cl. I remember having to take the temperature of the ice in this process, and the detailed lab write up we had to do for this. Including the Scientific Method - which I hated then but now it makes sense that we had to do that...
The students in this class though - didn't have to do any of that. I basically told them step-by step what they needed to do AND I gave a description of what was happening with the chemical changes and WHY we were doing this experiment. 
We had most of the supplies we needed (finding Vanilla extract here is impossible - so we just had them make chocolate flavor instead) The professor bought the wrong kind of pint-sized bags - I was a little disappointed about that because the zip-lock works SO MUCH BETTER. He bought the ones you tie - which makes the experiment a LITTLE more challenging. Even without, the experiment worked just like I wanted, and the students really liked it.
They were too funny because the ice gets SUPER cold. I warned them of that, and told them to try and put their sleeves over their hands to do it. Some of them whined that the bag was too cold, I had to explain that they needed it be that cold for the liquid in the other bag to turn more solid - just like ice cream. haha. After about 7 minutes of rocking the bag of ice back and forth, I checked all of the students, and most of them did a great job and their liquid was cold and solid like ice cream.
It was really neat to be able to go to a class other than English and do an experiment. Another chemistry professor came in to watch the experiment and decided to do the lab with her class as well - it was a good feeling.
Glad it all worked out, maybe we can do it next year too!

Until Next time

Tori