Fabulous and Fun!!!

Hey kiddos:
Yes I realize that I haven't been on here in a while. After winter vacation and Germany I was spent and had to recoop from lots of traveling but this week I had a fun filled week. All the Americans and Spanish are getting ready for Semana Santa next week and you can feel the excitement in the air. Tuesday I had my regular classes with the students and my tutoring kids, plus I received an impromptu Geography lesson at tutoring. One of the highschool girls, Ana gave me some suggestions as to what I should do for Semana Santa and then I asked her what she would do if she had a lot of money. She decided that if she had the money she would buy a boat and sail around the country. When I asked her where she would leave from and didn't know where that was, she gave me a great little lesson. I even learned that there are three Spanish principalities in Africa! I guess its Ceuta and someplace else, of course now I can't remember...
Then Wed. I had a resume workshop which was very informative and we came up with some great suggestions and verbs, for anyone interested I will forward them onto you. At the beginning of the week Gina told me that her mother, Juana would be spending some time with us after her surgery, don't ask me what, and Juana joined our happy family on Wed. Because it would be her first night here I planned on making a nice meal with us. I had planned my famous green beans and the orange tarragon chicken, from Linda and Janet. I had to rush a little bit in between school and the workshop so that everything was ready for when I got home. Well.....
When I did get home, I found seven or eight random people in my living room!! Apparently Juana had gone for her post surgery checkup and the nurse told her she had to go straight to the emergency room because there was a problem with the stitches. So everyone in her family came running to our house to take her to the hospital. I did find out that Gina has a brother, in fact she has two brothers and a sister here in Spain and three more siblings in DR. That being said we had to postpone the supper and Juana enjoyed the meal the following day. And I had to watch Grey's all by myself, and the episode was AWESOME!!! But I had no one to comment with and I ended up shouting at the TV. I felt pretty silly but I didn't care.
Then Thursday night I went to the New Flamenco Ballet with Montse and Gina, which was amazing!! The music was beautiful and the dancers were fantastic. It was cool because it was a combination of Flamenco and new wave or Jazz so many of the songs were slow and moving. There was a live band, including violins and another string instrument, drums, and guitarras. I can't say how much fun it was. Then afterwards we had a fabulous Cuban meal outside of Sol where I had a delicious plate of Ropa Vieja with Yucca, a new favorite side dish, and black beans. MMMMMMmmmmmm It was delectable.
Friday morning I headed out for El Escorial to observe a fellow colleague which was nice. The school itself was really clean and looked brand new. The students were very cute in their orange and blue uniforms. The class was good from what I saw, but the students were not talking as much as I would like. IT was therefore difficult to see their level of English. Many of them gave me weird looks when I asked them questions but they had a good time. But I was sooo relieved to return to Fuentelarreyna that afternoon with my kids. They really are good kids and I am sure that they have improved since I arrived. Yes its sometime hard to see it, but when I remind them that we are in English they jump in and we have a great time.
Friday evening we went with Carlos and Hugo to the Fantasy Film Festival and saw a GREAT movie, Penelope, starring Cristina Ricci. It was sooooo good I recommend that you all see it. You will laugh and cry. It really wa great, and I am not just saying that because it was in English either. In fact Gina got pretty upset when she found out that it was in Original Version but I sat next to her for support. She only asked me one question but I asked her to wait til it was over to answer it. We also saw a friend of Gina's that works at the restaurant, who also speaks English so it was really nice. In fact Mariem, has invited me to her house in Cordoba during Semana Santa, so I am going to Cordoba for the week. She has already told me that we will definitely check out the processions and fun stuff. I am super excited.
Saturday I spent the day inside with Juana and just relaxed. Then in the evening we went to see 10,000BC with the boys. It was pretty good but I thought it was kinda predictable. But we had a great time as usual. Plus we will have a sleepover at Carlos house on Friday so that should be fun, for sure.
All in all it was a great week and I have plans this week to work on Easter with the students. Some of them will make a bunny rabbit with cotton balls. Hopefully it will work out well.
Happy Easter to everyone and give me a buzz sometime or send me an email. I am a bit of an email snob lately, so even if you only have a second to email me, DO IT!!!! I don't care what it says its just nice seeing something in your mailbox.
Talk soon!
Ciao