Life worries me

All the kids are traveling for the weekend. The only ones that are left here in La Garriga is Logan, Chen and me. Kristi is here too, but definitely not by her choices (a little ridiculous story). This weekend Kristi and I are planning on kidnapping Alana and use her as our tour guide around Barcelona. Everyone explored Barcelona for the first weekend, and here we are leaving it for our third. Logan is leaving Sunday to travel, and we all do not have school til Tuesday! Yay! I love my kids, but I need a break. Today was a hard day in class. The internet was not working very well so the kids could barely Skype my friend Elvis to interview him. But I was prepared for Plan B and answered some of the kids' questions by myself. They were amazed as to how much I knew about the Islam religion. Research and Muslim friends help a lot. :) Plus I love religions (all religions) and want to know as much as I can about each one. In English class, the kids also made their own books online and it was a super fun excitement. Tensions were there at first and their teacher was pretty frustrated so I pulled my best Harry Wong and turn the lights on and off to get their attention. They immediately settled down because reading with me in the other room did not sound half as much fun as them making their own books. :-) Successful classroom management skill! (I pat myself on the back as I say this).
I am worried about home. My step-dad is still in the hospital and they cannot do chemotherapy until he has gotten better. I cried a bit last night just thinking about home and everything my family is going through, but I am trying to stay strong because they are counting on me to tell them all of these stories that I am sharing with you guys right now. :) I thank God for my friends who have Skyped me because they have kept me sane. (Nader, Sam, Mohammed Nasser, Moe, Elvis and Kim- Thank you!)
Well that is all for now. Oh and our food for this weekend is AMAZING! :)

We never make it to our destination

Susana and I went into Barcelona today on the school bus. By the time we reached Barcelona, we were both kind of hungry. We ate at this great pasta and pizza place. The spaghetti sauce is absolutely AMAZING. Best I've ever had. Our intentions were to go to a museum, but on our way there we stopped at a shop and did some shopping. Before we realized, it was already too late to go to the museum because we had to get on our train to La Garriga pretty soon. We got ice cream (again, for the umpteenth time this week). I love this ice cream place because they have the BEST ice cream called galleta maria, which is a type of cookie in Spain. The cookie tastes like the Bosnian cookie that my mom uses to make my favorite cake with, so I am absolutely in love with its flavor. Nothing really exciting today happened, other than planning a lesson for tomorrow. My kiddos are going to be coming up with questions to ask my friend Elvis about his religion and we have a visit from the Dean and Dr. Carter tomorrow. They are coming to observe us. I thought I was going to be nervous, but I got this! :) Anyway, this weekend I am planning on exploring Barcelona from all sides and seeing every attraction I want to see. Alana is going to help me and perhaps Logan joins us. I'm excited. Until tomorrow, dear bloggers. Hasta luego!

16 days left

I have 16 days left in Spain. At times I feel like not a lot of time has passed and then other times I believe we've been here forever. Paris was amazing. I cannot wait to someday go back when I have more time. Susana and I went into town yesterday for Sant Jordi's day. Sant Jordi tradition is that girls get roses and boys get books. No one could explain to me why the boys get books but here is why the girls get roses. In a village in Catalunya, there was a dragon who pestered the people of that village. It would come into the village and eat the people so the villagers made a pact with the dragon that they would sacrifice a person for the dragon to eat. The way they went about this was they would put everyone's name in a hat and they would draw out one name a day. One day, the name they took out of the hat was the Princess' of the village. The princess was on her way to the dragon's lair to be sacrificed when a knight on a white horse appeared in front of her. He told the princess not to go to the dragon, and he went instead. He killed the dragon with a spear and when he did, the dragon's blood turned into roses. The knight saved the princess' life. She went back to the village and the knight disappeared. Sant Jordi's day is kind of like Spain's Valentine's day. Susana and I really enjoyed ourselves in Barcelona! At the end of the night is when things got scary. We missed our last night train and had to take the night bus. We finally asked and figure out the directions to get to the bus stop. Once we arrived in La Garriga, we didn't know where the driver dropped us off so with Susana's Spanish and my Spanish and navigation skills, we finally got back to the school at 3am. It was an adventure, but not one we want to repeat again.

Today, in the classroom my teacher was so frustrated with the kids she was on the verge of tears. She broke down and finally said to me "I don't know what to do anymore. I feel like I'm a bad teacher." We talked for a while and I gave her a lot of advice. I also turned her to Harry Wong and his videos on classroom management. I am already watching over one trouble maker in the classroom and I often stand or sit by his desk to keep him on task. This is no problem for me because I feel like my classroom management skills are strong. I help with English by making sure the kids are on task and learning what they need to do while she teaches. I am excited for the religion class this week because the kids will be skyping my friend Elvis and asking him questions about his religion. Anyway, bloggers! I feel like I'm rambling. Have a good day and continue to say a few prayers for my family. Gracias por todo, mi amigos.

Belle France

Ok, so Monica, Chen and my plan was to leave La Garriga on Thursday (day 9) at 1:30pm to stay in a Barcelona hostel. I came to their room at 1:30pm, Monica had locked herself out and Chen went to print the boarding passes. The reason we were leaving early is because Chen was meeting some friends in Barcelona. The boarding passes finally printed, but we left late and arrived at the train station late so we waited for the 3pm train. We got to Barcelona and looked all over for her friend and at first, could not find her. Once we found her friend, we stopped at a nice little cafe and sat down to get something to eat. Chen's friend tells us that she was in a motorcycle accident not even an hour ago (motorcycle hit her, she reported it to the police). Not only did the poor thing get his by a moving object, she also lost her passport so they had to contact the police to find it. Hopefully they did. Good luck on their voyage. Monica, Chen and I shopped in Barcelona for a while and then decided to take the metro and bus to the hostel. First, my ticket would not scan.

Then the bus did not stop at our stop and continued on for two more stops. We got off and walked on the highway backtracked trying to find our stop. Once we got to somewhere recognizable, we noticed the police officers and decided to ask them for directions. They let us know that "this is not a safe neighborhood and we need to get off the streets." By this time, it is very late and we are very tired and the worst news we could get was that the hostel we booked was in a "dangerous" part of town. We finally get to the hostel and the desk clerk says the same thing. "Ladies, you need taxi not bus to airport." Uh, yes sir. So we get to our rooms, Chen's key isn't working, there is no light in our bathroom, we have no towels but of course we figure things out! We hardly got any sleep! We called a taxi, got to the airport and were ON OUR WAY TO PARIS!!! Once we got to France, we had to find our bus to Paris (which took an hour and a half and was 30 euros round-trip!!!!) Arrived to Paris, got to Monica's hotel room, decided to take a walk around, started walking towards the Notre Dame, got lost and ran into the Louvre. So all's well that ends well. :) This is our couple of days in a nutshell!!! I'm glad I'm a calm person. LOL!

 L’église Saint-Eustache is a church in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, built between 1532 and 1632. The church is an example of the Gothic style in the Renaissance Era.

 The glass showcase in front of Arc de Triomphe. It says Peace on it in many languages. :)

 Château de Versailles- royal palace and absolute amazing. We toured the inside. It only takes about 45 minutes to tour if the palace is fairly empty. There are many rooms that are closed off to tourists, but there are a LOT of them that are open and are ably to be looked through. The King and Queen's bedrooms were open and amazing.

 The entrance to the Palace Versailles. Very beautiful and I believe it's true gold as well. If only I could have chipped off a couple of pieces before we left. :)

 Arc de Triomphe

 The famous Hall of Mirrors inside Versailles. It was simply used as a hallway between the Queen's bedroom and the King's bedroom.



The lovely Notre Dame. Absolutely amazing at night and amazing during the day. It is free to tour inside, but if you go all the way to the top it does cost you some euros, but not much. I didn't go to the top because the bottom was exhilarating enough for me.

I received some bad news from home. My step-dad had to go in for some routine check ups and they found out that he has colon and liver cancer. This is a very bad time for my family and I am heartbroken that I am not with them, but my mom has asked that I stay here and enjoy myself for them. So, that is what I am going to do. So dear bloggers, happy reading and please say a prayer or two for my family.

Day 7

Barca WON the other day! Madrid LOST today! I am so excited for the other game tomorrow. Alejandro is going to a local bar to watch it because we don't have cable here at the school and our wi-fi is horrible to try to watch it live on a laptop so we are heading to town to watch it tomorrow. SO excited. I'm sporting my jersey which I bought!!! :) Today was a really rough day. The kids here are incredibly rowdy which makes it hard to teach any class. The teacher that I am assisting is a really nice person and I feel like they don't respect her as much because she isn't a native, which is really sad. I was assisting in science, English and drama today. Science and English went really well; drama class was well...dramatic. It was at the end of the day and kids were not ready to listen at all. I am heading to Paris this weekend- THRILLED! I will take lots of pictures to show you bloggers! Next weekend, I am devoting to the beautiful Barcelona because we have a 3 day weekend, maybe even a 4 day one. I will possibly go to all of the Gaudi buildings that I am interested in, as well as take a tour of La Sagrada Familia and the Picasso museum. :) While I am in Paris, I hope to go to the top of the Eiffel tower, Pantheon, Notre Dame and the largest mosque in Europe.

Day 6

We went to Barcelona today and went to buy some souvenirs. Got some people back in the states covered. Monica, Chen and I are traveling to Paris, France this weekend. I am so excited about that.

We went to see a couple of buildings inspired by Gaudi today. They are absolutely amazing. The architecture of this city amazes me.









Also on the bus ride over we saw La Sagrada Familia. The expiatory church of La Sagrada Família is a work on a grand scale which was begun on 19 March 1882 from a project by the diocesan architect Francisco de Paula del Villar (1828-1901). At the end of 1883 Gaudí was commissioned to carry on the works, a task which he did not abandon until his death in 1926. Since then different architects have continued the work after his original idea.

The building is in the centre of Barcelona, and over the years it has become one of the most universal signs of identity of the city and the country. It is visited by millions of people every year and many more study its architectural and religious content.

It has always been an expiatory church, which means that since the outset, 130 years ago now, it has been built from donations. Gaudí himself said: "The expiatory church of La Sagrada Família is made by the people and is mirrored in them. It is a work that is in the hands of God and the will of the people." The building is still going on and could be finished some time in the first third of the 21st century.

Spain day 3-4-5

We went to town again and again we climbed that darn hill. Every day it gets easier, but my legs surely don’t think so right now. I think I’m honestly losing weight, but we will see when we come back to the states. Alejandro and Alana have been the greatest help to us, God bless them. I love making new friends and I have a feeling that the experiences here are going to be life-changing. I was asked today if I would do this all again, even with the frustrations of money expenses and things at home. I said “yes” without hesitation. Spain is beautiful and if they offered me a job today, I would take it. I’m thinking about applying to schools here for a job, but this is just a thought right now. Maybe I’m just mesmerized by Spain’s beauty and not thinking clearly. After town, Alejandro and Alana came to our apartment and we threw a little get together with some cards and Sangria. It was a very fun and relaxing atmosphere. The next day (day 4) Allie, Susana and I went to
Barcelona.

After figuring out what train tickets we needed and spending an hour on the train, we arrived to the beautiful Barca. We looked around, ate, took pictures, went into places we don’t have home, experienced a riot and got soaked wet while it was pouring rain. It was an experience that I wouldn’t change for the world. I am feeling a bit sick today, so making tea and curling up on the couch with a good movie is in the works. Have to recharge those batteries and sharpen the saw up a bit. I am thoroughly enjoying my time here. I was homesick probably the first day, but now I feel like I can stay here forever. Today is day 5 and we are staying at home because it is rainy today and going into town or to Barcelona would be very inconvenient right now. Until later, bloggers.

La Garriga day 2

Today was a little more hectic. The 6th graders I have, had a "Sports Day" today so they were not in the classroom all day besides at the end. My teacher, Stephanie and I were hanging out for about 3 hours while she was planning things for the upcoming weeks and finishing her paperwork. It is amazing to see how different the culture and the education is here. These kids take their English classes seriously, whereas the students we have who take a foreign language just seem to take it because it's a requirement. Also, their discipline system is very different. Spain is a very loud country; it reminds me of home. Today my kids were a little crazier than usual according to Stephanie, so I am very excited to see what they will be like tomorrow. I met them today and introduced myself. They are wild, but so precious. I think I am going to feel right at home here in the next few days. After class, Susana and I decided to go into town. LOVE the little shops. This weekend we may be going to Barcelona to spend the weekend there and have Alana take us to different sights. :) I'm excited. Until next time, hasta luego.

Just a little foreign girl in a little foreign town!

Hola mi amigos y amigas! Yo estoy en La Garriga, Espana! It is such a charming little town! First we landed in Barcelona. It took us forever to be able to depart from JFK but we were finally up in the air an hour later and still arrived on time. Strange huh? We arrived in Barcelona then took a charter bus to La Garriga. We arrived, had our orientation, met our teachers and had lunch. After everything we had to do today, Alejandro took us into town and showed us La Garriga and its little cozy shops. Of course, Susana and I were in the supermarket a little too long and our group walked away without us. Thank God I have an awesome sense of direction and we arrived back to our apartment safely. All in all, a very good day. I have a feeling my legs are going to be killing me tomorrow, because to get to town is a 25 minute walk downhill and then walking around the town, we spent at least a couple of hours. The 25 minute walk uphill back to the school made us realize how out of shape we were. A couple of more times walking to town and I believe we'll be back in shape. Anyway, it is 12am here and I am about to hit the sheets. Blog tomorrow again!!! :)

I am leaaaaaving..on a jet plane..don't know when I'll be back again!

Ok, so in about 4 hours I will be loading up on the plane to La Garriga, Espana! I am so excited and nervous! I hate to leave my family and friends, but they will be just peachy without me for a month. I cannot wait to tell you all about Spain every day, but I will wait and do that once I am actually there. I researched the school and it's amazing!!! I cannot wait to meet the kiddos, the teachers and to see the beautiful culture in Spain. I've always been mesmerized by the Spanish culture and now I get to experience it myself. I can only thank God for allowing me to follow my dreams and create this wonderful opportunity for myself. Love you all! See you in Espana! :)