Week 15

By Joni

Lost in Translation: I spent a couple hours this week attempting to corral children from the age of two to four.  Basically I sing at them in English and try desperately to convey meaning, and I'm not sure if anything is getting through.  It is kind of crazy and a drastic change of pace from the highly literate adult actors I teach, but it's nice to teach a wide range of ages.

Exploring the City: With our constantly changing schedules, it sometimes makes sense to go directly between two jobs instead of coming home - even if there is a decent break between classes.  This past week I walked a lot and discovered new parts of Retiro that I'd never explored before.  Aaron trod on some new ground on his walk from his in-company classes at Torre Picasso to Beacon (the academy where he works).  We both had the experience of looking up and around at our surroundings and thinking "Wow, we really do live here!"

Yarn bomb close to My Helping Shadow

Beautiful gardens in Retiro

Funky trees in Retiro

Arganzuela-Planetario metro

Adorable old man dog, waiting patiently on a bench while his human shopped

Memorable Meal: We made some excellent lentil spinach potato soup this week, and enjoyed ample leftovers.  It had a bit of a spicy kick to it, perfectly fitting as the last remnant of summer blew past fall and ushered in winter overnight.  We've always been soup people, and I foresee a lot of it in our immediate future.
Who’s Coming to Dinner: Completely unrelated to anything going on in the U.S., November 9th is a holiday in Madrid (celebrating the Virgin of Almudena, patroness of Madrid).  This came in handy as we woke to some not altogether exciting news from our country and hardly felt inspired to go out and teach English. Our friends Ben, Cat, and Caitlin came over to share dinner, and there was something nice about being surrounded by Americans who were in equal states of disbelief and dismay.  Conversation was had, views were expressed, and bowls of white bean chicken apple chili were eaten.  Oh, and most patriotically of all, we finished the evening with peanut butter no-bake cookes.  Why isn't the rest of the world as in love with peanut butter as we are?!  There's still a lot to process and read and pray about, and if anyone's interested in Aaron's take can be found here.

En la clase: After completing my Spanish course, I decided it would be good to test my knowledge and see where I stand in my quest to learn the language.  This week I studied and prepared for the exam on Thursday.  I felt OK about it, but still need to continue studying (which I knew far before taking the test!).

Final Notes: This week we took three equally important steps toward feeling at home in Spain:

#1) We turned on our heat for the first time!  Aaron and I both like the colder weather, partially due to the contrast of a frigid day with the coziness of curling up on a warm couch.

#2) We bought a rug!  In our experiences, most apartments in Spain do not have carpet.  Up until Tuesday we didn't have anything in our place beyond the rug by our bed, so we stopped in to "100 Etc" (the bazaar/corner store/Chino nearest to us) and bought a small rug for the living room.  It's pretty small but brings the room together and makes it feel cozier.  

#3) We picked up our NIE cards!  NIE is short for "Número de Identidad de Extranjero," basically an ID card to prove we are in the country legitimately.  This was the last step in a process we started back in September, and it feels nice not to have anything else looming that we need to take care of.
Tonight we board a 1AM bus to Seville.  More on that next week!