American English vs. Irish English

Living with one girl from Ireland and another from Northern Ireland, I experience my fair share of misunderstandings.  Possibly even more so than when I speak Spanish.  So I started making a list of things that I say versus things that my flatmates say.  (Take into account that some things may only apply to Ireland and not Northern Ireland and vice versa.)

American/ Irish

ladybug/ladybird

children/waines

romper/play suit

sweater/jumper

cilantro/coriander

eggplant/aubergine

girl/girleen

guys/lads

What's up?/ What's the craic?

drunk/ pissed, full, mangled

gross/mingin, mank

little/wee

y'all/yous, yees

no/naw

yes/aye

tennis shoes/ trainers

sweatpants/trackies

flats/pumps 
(you can see this one would cause a lot of confusion)

cafeteria/ canteen

fries/chips

chips/crisps

grocery cart/ trolley

schedule/ timetable

braid/ plait

shrimp/ prawns

gas/ petrol

gnats/ midgies

arugula/ rocket

making out/ snugging

How old are you?/ What age are you?

In respond to "How are you?"
Good/ Grand

That's all I can think of for now, but there are still four and a half months left so I might just have to make a part 2.

The first full week back

As I reflect on this week I would say it was definitely full of ups and downs.

The week started off pretty normal and actually with a high because one of the cutest four year olds actually had a conversation with me for the first time.  Since I don't really work with the four year olds she doesn't really know me, but she knows what my basic job is and this is a summary of what she said:
(She came up to me crying because she had gotten pushed and hit her head.)
As I was comforting her she looked at me and said,
"How come you speak English and Spanish?"
I said it was because I know both languages.
"Yeah, because you teach English. And I speak Spanish."
Yep.
"And you help us to play safely. And you help us button our smocks. And you help when our hair gets caught in the buttons. "
(Yes, small child that is exactly why I am here.)

So that was that.
Then I went to help with the Cambridge students and was told that from then on I wouldn't be helping with Cambridge (high school), only KET (middle school).
So, okay, that's cool.  I didn't really mind because I don't feel like I help all that much and I don't speak British English...

So the next day the secretary tells me that the English teacher who does Cambridge and KET, was in a car accident so I would be by myself for the lessons. So, okay that's fine.
When I go to her class the man taking my place for Cambridge, basically was there and said he had the Cambridge class covered.  That was great!

So I go back down and tell the secretary that.  After some calls she says, just go back up there. Umm... okay whatever (a little annoyed).
So I go and sit in the Cambridge class and then do the KET class. The rest of the day goes on as usual.

The next day....
I go to the secretary to ask what I will be doing instead of Cambridge.  "You're going to keep doing Cambridge." "No, I was told I wasn't doing Cambridge."  "Well, I don't know, the head teacher said you would be doing Cambridge." (Well that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard because a class of 9-12 high schoolers definitely need three teachers.)  ...so I go up to the secondary school where one of the other English teachers tells me I'll be continuing with Cambridge because the students like me there. (Okay cool, sounds good.) So we got a plan together for what we would be doing in Cambridge and that is that.  The days goes on as usual.

The next day...
As I pass by the secretary's desk she says "Kendall, today you're going to start doing reinforcement with primary."
Okay...?
"It will be at 1:30."
"But that is when I'm in Cambridge."
"You aren't doing Cambridge, I don't think."
(ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!?!?!)

So I went to talk about what I would be doing with that, completely pissed off.

Then it was Friday, HALLELUJAH!
Friday's are short days so my schedule has been pretty much the same since the beginning.

The most important thing that happened was that one of my five year old students was talking to me during patio, and usually he explains things to me about the differences between English and Spanish. (The kid is a genius.)  So he started off telling me about the differences between "g" and "j" and "h" in English and Spanish... Then he started telling me about the "g" and "h" sounds in Arabic.
Yep... this is a five year old.  Nope his parents do not speak Arabic (and I don't think they speak English either but I'm not positive).
So he taught me how to write the letters that make the "g" and "h" sound in Arabic.  So I asked him how he is learning Arabic.  He says, "tablet." So I think it must be some program like duolingo or something. So I ask if it is from an app.  He replies "youtube."

Oh. Casual. A five year old is learning Arabic from youtube.  ...like I said, genius.



SO all in all I guess I'm over being frustrated about my schedule changing four times this week, thanks to the children, whom I love.

Thanks for reading.
Hasta luego.

Madrid and Valencia

Once I left my parents at the Madrid Airport I headed towards the metro that was conveniently located inside the airport.  Also conveniently, my hostel had perfect directions from the airport by metro.  So three easy transfers later I walked to my hostel.

I was not able to check into my room yet, so they let me store my bag in a very crowded luggage room and I went out exploring.  My luck continued when I stumbled upon a MASSIVE outdoor market.  And when I say massive, I mean streets and streets of vendors and people packed in between shoulder to shoulder.  Turns out Sunday mornings in Madrid are actually known for this market.

So I walked along looking at all of the cool stuff for sale, but not buying anything.  I was also making sure to be conscious of my purse because of the proximity of everyone around me.  I stop for a few minutes to buy an empanada from a shop and then squeezed through the crowd again.

I got tired of the crowd soon after so I looked for a way out.  It took awhile, but finally I got to a main street that only had a few venders.  A girl I met through Meddeas suggested that I go to Retiro park, so I headed that way because it was some what close.  I got there and walked around a bit, but it was such a big park that I didn't get far.

I then stopped into a museum that I had passed on the way to the park, and happened to be free at that time.  It was huge so I didn't see everything, but I did see Guernica! Now for this of you who don't know what that means, basically I saw Picasso's most famous work of art in real life.  I was in AWE.  I didn't expect to see anything so amazing when I went in, but I could not get over it. After that I figured my day couldn't get much better, so I left.

I started heading back in the direction of my hostel because I wanted to stop by the grocery store and my phone was dangerously close to running out of battery.  So I stopped in the store to get water, granola, and some wraps for my dinner and headed in the direction of my hostel.

Then my phone died.  So I trusted my memory and looked at the vendors for reminders of where I had passed earlier on.  Unfortunately the vendors were packing up so I was racing to be sure I got back to a familiar area before everything closed.  By some miracle I made it back to the metro stopped and easily made it back to the hostel.  I then checked in and charged my phone.

After a little down time, I set out again to just wander.  I stumbled upon the farmers market, a plaza with a lot of Christmasy stuff, and the royal palace.  Now I had set out in the direction of the palace, but wasn't specifically aiming to go there right away.  So along the way I saw buildings that I thought might be the palace... but once I go to the actual palace, I knew.

It was HUGE! And beautiful! I took pictures, walked around, and then went back to the hostel before it got too dark.  Then I heated up one of my wraps and relaxed for the rest of the night.



The next morning, December 28th, I got up and headed to Starbucks.  Now I'm sorry if my stereotypical American behavior offends you, but I have not had Starbucks in four months... I deserved this haha, plus this is only the start...

After that I waited until a group left to a walking tour that I was going on.  On the walking tour I saw some really cool things and beautiful buildings.  Then I went back to the hostel to make my other wrap for lunch.

My plan for the rest of the day was to go to this massive Primark (a really cool and cheap store that is kind of similar to forever 21 but better) and then go to the Prado Museum when it was open for free.

That was my plan... what actually happened was lines.

I walked to Primark and saw all these people out front. And around the corner. And around the back. The line was roughly a block long.  I was not about to wait in that.  So a wandered around the main street with all the shops and went into this cool "mercadillo" where there were vendors selling stuff for Christmas.  (Yes, Christmas has passed, but not in Spain... Christmas lasts till January 6th here. That's Three Kings Day.)

Once my feet were getting tired, I started in the direction of the museum. Then I found that line.  This line was also about a block long. So I decided to nix that idea and just find something to eat.

So I went to Subway.  Yes, I'm sorry.  But it was simple and cheap and on the way.  Plus they had fountain drinks! I haven't seen fountain drinks at all in Spain.

Then I went back to my hostel and prepared to leave in the morning.



I woke up bright and early and headed to Valencia on a bus.

Once I got there I walked about a mile to my hostel.  Once again I could not check in so I stored my bag and went to find some lunch.  I found a run of the mill little cafe and had a hamburger and fries.  Then a wandered around for a little bit and went back to my hostel to check in.

After I charged my phone a little bit, I went back out with no plans.  I just wandered around for hours.  Looking in stores and seeing the beautiful buildings that Valencia has to offer.  You know how some places you have to keep your eyes on the ground so as to avoid stepping in dog poop (cough, cough Huercal de Almeria), well Valencia is a place where you have to keep your eyes looking up so you don't miss any of the incredible architecture it has to offer.

In my wandering I discovered something amazing... Taco Bell.

For those of you who weren't aware, I regard Taco Bell as the best fast food there ever was, and at one point in my life I ate it every Sunday night.  So I remembered where it was and planned to return there for dinner.

After a little more wandering I returned to Taco Bell, had dinner, and went back to my hostel for the night.  Once in my hostel, I met the adorable Czech lady staying in the same room and soon went to sleep.

On Wednesday morning, I set out to get some coffee from Starbucks (I highly recommend the Toffee Nut latte) and waited a the hostel for the walking tour at 11am.  However, when I asked where the tour was meeting, I was told that there was no such tour (although I had been emailed by the hostel to tell me there was a walking tour that day).

So instead I went to the museum near my hostel.  It was an amazing museum with Picasso and another art exhibit, which I forgot the name of, and some weird water exhibit.  When I tried to leave, however, I got on the elevator, and legitimately went to each floor, without finding the exit.  So eventually I found some stairs and just went down and down and down.  Then I found it.

After that I went to the Ceramics museum, which had little to do with ceramics, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

Then I had lunch at a sushi place and went back to the hostel for a little break.

After a little while I went to find a bike to rent to go to the City of Arts and Sciences which Valencia is well known for.  However, it was about 2:15 at this time and the places that my phone showed me were all closed.  So I returned to the hostel to do a little more research.

Eventually I found a place that was open and I went there and rented a bike for two hours.

In these 2 hours I road alone the big park in the middle of Valencia all the way to the City of Arts and Sciences.  It was pretty amazing and the buildings were crazy big.  Then I rode in the other direction along the park, then I rode around the historic part of Valencia and returned the bike.

For dinner I had Taco Bell again.  Sorrynotsorry.  Then I returned to the hostel and packed up to leave the next morning.


Thursday morning, New Years Eve, I woke up, got my Starbucks and headed to the meeting point I have determined with the girl who would be taking me to Almeria.  I was taking a BlaBlaCar, my first one in fact, because it was about half the price of the bus and faster.

So I rode back to Almeria with three Spanish girls and awkwardly just listened to my podcast when I realized my Spanish was not fast enough to keep up with their hot topic discussions.




To sum up my journeys I'd say this:
Skip Madrid, go to Valencia.

If you like New York City and D.C, you'd like Madrid. But if you appreciate beautiful buildings and less crowded streets, Valencia is your place. 



School starts back on Thursday. Until later...

Spain with the familia

First off sorry for my lack of blog the past few weeks, first I was doing nothing then I was really busy...
So here is whats been going on.

December 18th:
The biggest thing of note was that the kids had their Christmas show for their parents and it was adorable.  First was the 2-4 year old show, then the 5 year old show.  I got to see both and I was so glad.  The interesting thing about Spain is that Christmas really is about Jesus' birth.  And even in a nonreligious school, they sing about it and decorate with nativity scenes. They also have some interesting story about people in ships and natives giving them different sea food because they can't find any fish (kinda made me think of Thanksgiving a little).

All in all the shows were so adorable and the kids had the cutest costumes.  And I'll just tel you, when I'm a mom and my kids have something like that, I'm gunna be a mess (as in I'll be bawling my eyes out haha).

December 19th:
We had our staff Christmas party for the school.  So Alice, Aisha, and I got all dressed up and went to the party.  It was wonderful.  Lots of interesting food, some I liked, some I did not.  Unlimited drinks. And dancing with a bunch of teachers and workers from the school.  I got to meet some new people which was pretty cool, and I used this party as a celebration for my own birthday.

The party went until 4am and then Alice and I went into town with some of the teachers.

December 20th:
When we got to town, everything was either closed or had a super long line, but we eventually went into this one bar where we found our friends.
Soon after my brother texted me saying he was at the bus station, so Alice and I went to pick him up and then we went home.

I slept until about 12ish and talked with Aisha and Alice until we decided to get pizza at round 3pm and finally Matthew woke up.

Later on I took Matthew into Almeria and we walked around and came back to my flat to have dinner.

December 21st:
On Monday I had work, so I left Matthew on his own to figure out something to do... turns out he did nothing. So I had him meet me after school and we rode into Almeria with my friend Maria.  We went to find the hotel he would be staying in (because my parents had not arrived yet).  We found it, checked in and then found a place to get some beer and tapas.  Then I had to catch the last bus home so we parted ways for he night.

December 22nd:
THE LAST DAY OF  SCHOOL!
It was a short day so the schedule was pretty screwed up, but basically I just got to hang out with the five year olds all day.  We watched the student teacher soccer and basketball games and soon enough it was time to go.

So I met Matthew in town and we figured out his bus situation because he had to leave that night :(

Then we waited for my parents arrival from Madrid.  They were driving so it was supposed to take about 5 hours... supposed to... Turns out the were heading to the wrong "La Perla" (their hotel) and it set them an hour off track.  But eventually Matthew and I found them as we were looking for them on the street because they were still a little lost.

After they got their luggage to the hotel we went to a restaurant and got some more beer and tapas and all too soon had to say goodbye to Matthew.

Then my parents drove me home and went back to their hotel.

(Come to find out when they left my flat they got a little lost and ended up in a tiny spot and had to turn around very carefully... this was the first misadventure in the car.)

December 23rd:
Eventually my parents made it to my flat around 11am and I made them breakfast, we packed lunch, and headed to the coast.  I took them to Carboneras and Mojacar.  Along the way we took a lot of pictures and they took a lot of selfies.  We saw some amazing views and listened to my dad talk about patatas fritas forever haha.  We headed back to my flat when it was starting to get dark and made dinner.

Then we went to a flamenco show.  The way there was... interesting.  First siri took us too the wrong place and we had to make a 10 point turn to get out of a tight road.  Then I tried to get us to the right place and ended up getting us to a sketchy part of town where we drove past a bunch of people who were listening to really loud music and had a massive fire blazing. Scary.  Finally we made it and we walked to the Flamenco place.  Luckily we got seats and were able to enjoy the show.

Then we drove back to the flat and went to bed soon after.

December 24th:
I took my parents to Granada this day so they could see somewhere more exciting than Almeria.  First we had lunch and then we walked around and saw the sites and did some shopping.  When it came time to find the car, we had a bit of a struggle.  But luckily I had looked at some of the streets on the way in so we found it after not took much looking.  Then we drove home.

When we got to the flat we had dinner and played some card games then watch some TV.

December 25th:
Christmas!
This was our chill day.  We opened the few presents we had, ate breakfast, took a walk, and drove to the beach.  Nothing to exciting, but I was so glad to have my parents here with me for Christmas.  Once we got back from the beach we made Christmas dinner, ate and played some more games.

  

December 26th:

This was our Almeria day.  First we went to lunch at a Moroccan restaurant that I had been to before then I took them to the Alcazaba (a moorish fortress in Almeria).  After that we came back to the flat to relax, because we had an early start the next day.

December 27th:
We woke up at 3am.
To drive to Madrid.
So we packed up and hit the rode at 3:30am. My parents were on standby for a flight at 10:30ish so we had to get to the Airport before then and drop the car off.

Once we were there they got their boarding passes, and I said a temporary goodbye (because the odds we not likely that they'd get on the plane). Then I waited for them to return.  After about 45 minutes I got the text that they made it on the flight :(  It was bittersweet because I knew they needed to make the flight, but I also really wanted them to stay with me in Madrid.

So I gathered my things and headed out in search of my hostel.

And that is where my next post will pick up, with my solo adventures in Madrid and Valencia.

Overall I was so happy to have my family here.  And although it made staying here without them even harder, I know being alone on Christmas would have been infinitely more difficult.  Love you guys!

Until next time...