Goedemorgen!!! (Good Morning)

My new adventure was to the beautiful land of Holland. So my dear friend Amanda (who lives in Oregon) works for a Dutch company that has their base in Nuhmens, Holland. Well, her work sent her to Holland for 2 weeks and so I decided to meet up with her in Amsterdam since I had never been there and it had been some time since I had seen her. So last weekend Oct.30 -Nov. 2 I went to see her because it was a long break.

So I arrived in Amsterdam on Friday. We ended up staying in a hostel boat, which was really cool. The room was extremely small but served its purpose well. It's hard to get the full sense of how small it is from this picture, but it was small! Hehe. Then we had a small window that looked out onto the canal with a small plastic raft nearby. I felt it was perfect to be on a boat on a canal because it is the true essence of Amsterdam AND Holland; there are canals everywhere!

The hostel boat
Our Room!

The first afternoon/night we were there, we walked around the city center which was a short 10-15 minute walk from our hostel and we just ventured off. We ended up eating at a small Italian restaurant which was so cute and the waitress was extremely nice. The Dutch are incredibly nice. Anyway, I had one of the best breads and butter spread I have ever tasted. The bread was a dutch bread and the butter was white, very creamy with a wonderful garlic and chive taste. It was absolutely delicious. Our meal was really good as well. We then turned in early for the night because we planned to go to some small villages outside Amsterdam the following day to see the countryside of Holland.

On Saturday the weather was cloudy, but there wasn't any rain. We hopped onto a bus and headed toward Monnikendam, which we were told was a good town to visit. We got off at what we thought was that city and it turned out we got off at Marken, but we decided to see the town anyway. I was so happy we stopped there because it ended up being my favorite. The village was extremely small and very quiet. Since it was autumn, it made the village look that much more picturesque, as if it came out of a Thomas Kinkade painting. We walked around taking pictures of the small homes and old fashioned cars (Amanda has some pictures that I would like so maybe later I can put them up). All the leaves on the trees were different shades of orange, brown and red and some even covered the ground, which made the village look so beautiful. There were also small creeks that flowed through the city and we saw various ducks and swans going down the stream. Simply incredible. We walked into a couple of small touristy shops and saw a lot of clogs. There was even an older man, who walked by us pushing a wheel barrow, and he was wearing wooden clogs. We ended up finding the port (Marken is basically an island) and noticed there was a boat that went between Marken and Volendam, our next stop. We decided it would be fun to take the boat over. It was very enjoyable; we were the only ones on the top deck for most of the ride (which was short) and then some Spaniards came up to take pictures.
Beautiful Marken
Marken
This city is absolutely gorgeous.

When we arrived into Volendam, the town looked like a old western town. We walked around for a little bit and saw that there were some shops where you could dress up in a traditional Dutch outfit and get your picture taken.....yes, we did indeed do this since it was really cheap; how could we let this opportunity pass us by? Then, we had lunch at a fun Dutch bar and we both ordered Dutch plates, which were fantastic! I actually really enjoyed the Dutch food we ate. We then walked deeper into town and passed a small food and clothing market, where we bought some of the best tasting macadamia nuts I have ever tasted. After seeing the town, we decided to go to our last stop, Edam.
Amanda and I on the boat to Volendam.
Here's the nut station at the market. :)
The port side of the city of Volendam

Edam was our last city and the one that we spent the least amount of time in because there was basically nothing to see and everything was closed. The town was absolutely closed down, but it was still beautiful. There were canals and bridges everywhere. It was so beautiful.
Beautiful willow tree along a canal in Edam.
Edam, such beauty.
We passed by a clog maker...very cool.
I am on one of the several bridges we walked across.

That night we headed to Chinatown, which was somewhat near us. It is a big deal in Amsterdam, so we went to check it out and it was pretty good.

On Sunday, we toured Amsterdam and saw the sites that interested us the most. We first went to Anne Frank's House; the place where she and her family (along with 4 other people) went into hiding. It was wonderful learning about the history of her family in that house and their experience during the hiding. The museum was very interactive and just so moving. It was really insightful.
Anne Frank's hiding place.

Then we went to the Van Gogh museum, which was incredible. I love his artwork; it is incredible. Even better, as you walk around the museum, looking at his art, they tell you about his life which was really interesting. Then we headed over to the Heineken Brewery, which ended up being so much fun!!! It was cool because they showed you how the beer was created and then it was interactive. We could make videos, take pictures and then there was an interactive video. We had a free taster and then 2 free beers after that. Surprisingly I enjoyed Heineken. It was fun.
The only watermill we ever saw, leaving Edam. We were on the bus, that's why it is blurry.
I was shocked to see the millions of bikes we walked by everyday. This type was typical for adults with kids, the carriage/carrier is in the front of the bike.
Beautiful clock towers, I loved their chime.
Just gorgeous.
Posing with a Heineken beer ad. There were 4 different ones. Yes, we took pictures with all of them...
Yay!
This was cool, so when we got our first taste tester, we were told how to take a sip and taste the different flavors (for lack of a better word) of the beer. First it is bubbly, then sweet and then bitter as you swallow it. Well after we drank it all, we were told that the foam leaves lines on the glass and you can count them to see how many sips you took.
My dear friend Dumbo.
Giant clog....yes, we definitely looked like tourists....oh well!
The main square in Amsterdam, Dam square. (We think dam means city)

Our last day was dear Amanda's 25th bday! Sadly we only had the morning, but we took a canal tour cruise around and through Amsterdam which was a lot of fun. Hope you all enjoy the pictures!!!
On our canal boat tour-Happy Bday Amanda!!!

Love, Celeste

P.S. I'm hoping I have something exciting to share with you next week; we'll see if it actually works out. Peace!

Pumpkins, mexican food and new friends

This past weekend I started celebrating Halloween with the other two American girls that are living here (Kayla and Kendra who are both from Wisconsin). This past Sunday we carved pumpkins. We found some smaller sized pumpkins at a supermercado and we thought it would be fun to carve one, which is exactly what we did. Since we are in Spain, we had to be creative with our utensils and how to make the designs. We decided just to use regular steak knives and soup spoons to carve our pumpkins...can you imagine? It was difficult, but the result was wonderful! We now have the pumpkins sitting outside on the balcony looking in on us, so we can enjoy them.
Before picture: Me, Kayla and Kendra
After picture...what do you think of our creations?
The 3 pumpkins.

On Sunday I also made chicken enchiladas for everyone. Since the weekend before I had Mexican food and told Edita (the host abuela) about the food, she asked if I could make enchiladas for everyone. I agreed. Now it was harder to do it in Spain because they don't have all the right ingredients here, but it still turned out really tasty and I thankfully found some chili peppers so it was a little spicy. It was a hit! Everyone enjoyed it, which was great.

Then on Saturday (yes, I realize I'm going backwards), I went out to lunch with my friend Mayuka who invited two friends of hers for me to meet and we had a wonderful time. The two friends are actually engaged, the guy is Enrico and he is from Italy and the girl is Yuka who is from Japan. Neither of them speak each others native tongue, so they communicate through Spanish...how cool is that?! They are both great people and so much fun to hang out with.

Other than that I didn't do anything out of the ordinary: planning classes, getting coffee, running errands (I'm finally not illegal here!!!!). It was a nice weekend!

Wish you all well.
Love, Celeste

"No se gano Zamora en una hora." (Rome wasn't built in a day)

Hello everyone!

Hope you are all well. I'm so happy that fall has started and I am truly enjoying watching the leaves change their colors. Today (Oct 12th) is Spain's National Day. Basically meaning NOTHING is open today. They celebrate it a lot differently than we celebrate our 4th of July. There aren't really any celebrations except for a small parade in Madrid where the armed forces march down the main street and the military's marching band accompany them. The Royal family as well as the president and vice-president watch from a booth. Today, I also believe that they are welcoming home some of the troops that were over in Iraq. Until now, I didn't even realize Spain was involved. They don't have many people fighting over there, but a few troops.
Mercado Campillo-The main market in Valladolid to buy fresh fish and meats.
The only Roman church in Valladolid.
IES Emilio Ferrari. The school I work at.
This is the public library, which I now have a library card to.
The main river that flows through Valladolid. El rio Pisuerga. Also, if you notice on the left side there is some sand; I have been told many times by my students that that is Valladolid's "beach". If they only knew what our beaches looked like...hehe.

So this past Saturday I traveled to a small city called Zamora. It is a city in the region of Castilla-Leon and only an hour and a half away from Valladolid. I decided that this time around, I'm going to visit all the main cities in Castilla-Leon because I just love this region of Spain. I feel like it is the oldest region. Mayuka and I decided to take a day trip somewhere and we decided on Zamora because neither of us have been there. We spent the first half of the day there looking around at the old Romanico (Romanic) churches and buildings. The Romanico architecture is absolutely beautiful. We also visited the cathedral of Zamora and the ruins of the castle that once stood there. The castle was really neat to visit because even though there were only ruins, you can distinctly see where the rooms were divided, where the kitchen was and even the moat. Also, from the top of the castle there was a beautiful view of the entire city and the surrounding pueblos. The city was very interesting.
El rio Duero and a view of the villages around the city of Zamora.
Mayuka and I in front of one of the Romanic churches in Zamora. They look huge from the outside, but they are actually very small.
Plaza Mayor with a church placed right in the center. That's the first time I've seen that.


The Castle of Zamora.
Inside of the castle.
The cathedral of Zamora.
This is Zamora's cathedral's "imagen" that they carry during the processionals of Semana Santa.
Mayuka and I loved these little statues...they're so silly!

After visiting the city, Mayuka and I returned to Valladolid and found this Mexican restaurant close to where I live. The restaurant was decorated with bright colors and little figurines of mariachis. The menu had so many great traditional Mexican dishes and I was surprised that the food was so good. I had been to a Mexican restaurant before in Spain and hated it, but this one was fantastic. They even made the food a little spicy which is somewhat of a feat for Spain. After lunch we headed out to a bar to watch Spain's National football (soccer) team play against Armenia. They one 2-1. :)

Well, nothing more to say. Wish you all well and I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Love, Celeste

4ESO Acting

Bringing fun to the classroom

Again, things are going well in the classroom. I am struggling with one of my 2ESO classes though because the students do not listen to the other teacher or me when we ask them to be quiet or when we are talking, but it's something I am working on.

This past week I had a lot of fun with my lessons and tried to add activities to make them more fun. My favorite lesson by far was with my older students, 4ESO. The head teacher told me that every other week I must do a specific unit activity from a workbook that will prepare the students for their final exam (usually writing,reading, speaking and listening), but that the other weeks I can do anything I want as long as it focuses on the students' speaking and listening skills.

So, as I was thinking of things we could do I remembered that the teachers said sometimes they watch episodes of FRIENDS in their classes. I decided that the students should act out scenes from friends. I found two scenes from two different episodes (for the FRIENDS fans: The one where Mr. Heckles dies and The one where Chandler doesn't like dogs). I was expecting to have the 13 students that I normally get, but so many were absent this week that I only had 9 and only one was a guy, but as you know there are 3 guys in the show. No problem though, the girls were excited to play one of the guys.

We first talked about the script and what was happening in the scene then they acted it out twice and then I filmed them doing it. It was so much fun and they did a great job. I'm going to try to upload the video here (but I haven't had luck so far). It was great though.

Also this past Wed-Fri I was in Madrid for a conference for my job. All the Culture/Language assistants (from US, UK, France, Italy, Germany and China) were there from only certain regions of Spain. We were separated into groups and had a total of five different meetings pertaining to what we are doing in Spain, what the school systems are like in Spain and ideas for activities in the classroom. The last one was the only useful one, because I have already started teaching I knew all the other information. Apparently not all the schools in Spain start at the same time, some start in Oct and end in the last week of June. It was nice though because I met some other people in the region of Castilla-Leon, where I am.

I hope you all enjoy your weekend! I'm going to see a play tonight called "La vida es sueno" by Calderon de la Barca which was written during the Renaissance period and one of the more famous plays in Spain. It should be good.

Wish you all well!
Celeste

Keep on, keeping on

I'm now well into my second week of classes (remember Thursday is my last day) and I'm having so much fun with the students. I think I'm really enjoying teaching English to them because first they can speak well enough and are able to ask questions and respond to questions. It is interesting also to hear what mistakes they make based on how they translate words or even sentences from Spanish to English.

I had a new class this week at the 2 level (I now have 2 classes at the 1 level, 2 at the 2 level, 1 at the 4 level and then the workshop for the primary students) and this class proved to be difficult. They would talk non-stop and I used so many different techniques to get them to stop talking and none would really work for that long. Today, it was the complete opposite. I moved one student to sit up front and the whole atmosphere changed. Every day in my classes it seems to get better.

Out of all the classes, I'm most looking forward to teaching the 4 level because the teacher has given me more freedom with what I can teach and I will have half of the class to myself while she takes the other half to the computer room.

I am slowly getting to know the other staff at the school, it is hard though because the Bilingual teachers seem to always be separated from the other teachers. I have met the director/headmaster of the school as well as the secretaries who have all been a great help. The school is a lot different from my own. I will take pictures of it and share them with all of you. The school is indoors (as are all Spanish schools) and it has three levels. The Bilingual project teachers (the teachers who teach in English) have their room on the second floor and there are two multimedia rooms, one of which has a smart board in it. Those of you who don't know what a smart board is, it's an interactive board. They are very cool and fun to use. You can show a PowerPoint on it and then use the electronic pens to write or draw on your PowerPoint or you can use the smart board as a regular white board. It's really fun to use.

The school is on the outskirts of the city of Valladolid, about a good 45-50 minute walk from where I live. It is in an area where a lot of homes are. I'll share more as I go along. I'm having so much fun and I really enjoy the teachers I'm working with.

I wish you all well and I give you lots of hugs (as my 2 level students say).

Besos, Celeste

Teaching a Second Language

It is strange to be back in Spain, it feels like a while ago since I was last here. I'm living with my past host family Julio and Edita who are treating me so well and making my transition here a little easier. My first day at the high school(which is called instituto) IES Emilio Ferrari was Wed Sept. 15th. I didn't actually go into any classrooms, but I talked to the coordinator of the bilingual program, Teresa, about what my schedule as well as the other two conversation teachers' schedules will be for this week. We only work 12 hrs a week, which will end up being 3 hrs a day with Fridays off. She hasn't given me my permanent schedule yet, but I'm hoping it will be similar to my schedule this week.

Today (Thursday) I went into three different classrooms to talk and present a powerpoint presentation to the students about myself and CA. The high schools here are for 4 years, but the ages are different 1ESO=12/13 yr olds, 2ESO=13/14 yr olds, 3ESO=14/15 yr olds and 4 ESO= 15/16yr olds. There are three subjects taught in English at this school: science, history/geography and English. Today I was placed in three different English classrooms. My first class was with 1ESO students and I was surprised to see how young they are. They were quiet and didn't ask many questions about me. Then I was with a 2ESO class whose teacher is Teresa and these students I enjoyed a lot because they were a little more communicative with me and they were not as afraid to use their English. The last group I was with were 4ESO students. The teacher is Alicia and she also teaches the 1ESO class I presented to. The 4ESO group was a little tough because the students were very talkative. They were polite during my presentation, but afterward they were very chatty. It will be a little difficult with this group. In Spain, teachers don't give students consequences or reprimand them for misbehaving so it will be interesting to see what happens.

It is nice being in Valladolid again, some place I know well and feel comfortable in. I hope you are all well. I will write more when I know more.

Hugs all around! Celeste :D