Feliz Navidad! Merry Christmas

Heeeeeeeey People!

So as of late this blog post is following the trend of being rather tardy! hahaha as much as it is over due i have plenty to write about! in fact i'm sure there is a lot more that i have forgotten about already! XD anyways stay tuned! got some great pics and vids to share with you all! :D

Let's start with something not so interesting and try work towards the more exciting things! a couple weeks ago i read a book series called the hunger games! was very good! am interested to know if anyone else has read these books? great concept and beginning but i'm afraid the last book was a bit of a flop! they are going to be making a movie out of the first book so i hope it will be good!

School has been very good! lot's of exciting things going on! a week or so ago a Scottish person came to school to tell a story in english to all the first year students about a red pearl! was very good and they all got to hear bag pipes etc! Maria is now back at school and it is nice to have her about! i was very sick at one point with a flu and spent half the week in bed but she brought around a heater and a douvet! what a lifesaver that was! now i have a toasted room in the freezing weather! i suppose we get worse weather in NZ but maybe i've just climatized! we had 2degrees last night and apparently (or so my flatmate tells me) we will have negative tonight! gona be chilly! have to say i miss the warm weather! then, last week was exams so i got to help out by assessing lots of kids in oral/talking exams! i think i am a far too harsh a marker lol so next time if they let me i will easen up a bit!

I have been to a mall called Thader a couple times now! to buy bits and pieces! mainly clothes! need to buy a few more i think, of all the things i loathe clothes shopping the most! it's beyond me how anyone can find it enjoyable!

to continue a little bit more with school n such a while ago we had 2 more national holidays which was fantastic! and they coincided nicely with me being sick so i got to stay home and rest up a bit more! firstly we had some saint day and then in the same week a day of the constitution! not too sure exactly what they were all about! hahaha this is my last week of school now and we finished thursday! thursday is going to be a kinda fun day at school cake competitions and Christmas Carol singing! soooooooo in all my classes we have gone to the music room and practiced Christmas Carols! we're learning rudolf the red-nosed reindeer, silent night and we wish you a merry christmas! lots of fun for everyone i'm sure! then the bilingual dept are supposedly learning a few more but it's more like a few dedicated ones! will be lots of fun this thursday! i will have to take some pics/vids!

Then in classes i'm also talking about the differences in how we celebrate Christmas between NZ and Spain! the main difference obviously being that it's winter here and summer there! so i think the kids find it a little odd we all go to the beach or have a bbq lunch/dinner haha here it seems like the main Christmas meal is a dinner on the 24th and traditionally presents are brought on the 6th Jan when the 3 wise men come! and that makes a lot more sense to me that wise men come with gifts than some random santa claus character! also i think chocolate is a big thing here at Christmas! which is fantastic cause i love chocolate but sooooooooo bad cause the supermarkets are crammed pack with all these new products i've never tried before so i'm like aaaaaah i'll take a little bit of this and a little bit of that! hahaha and end up buying far too much than i could ever hope to eat alone! luckily my flatties like it too! :D

Also more to do with Christmas! they really do go to town, quite literally, with all the Christmas decorating! i remember we have houses that like to decorate themselves with lights n such but here every street have these amazing decorations that all light up at night! so pretty and our local mall has a crazy opulent display going on! pictures a little further down!

 This is the Christmas Decoration at the entrance to our building!

 The big display outside of our local shopping centre

 Cortylandia because the shopping center is called corte ingle!

 Street lights! wait till they light up! :D

 Christmas Tree at Thader Mall

 Thader

 Water wheel at Thader

 Thader

 Shopping Centre! wish i could be in this shot but i went alone this time >.<

 Local Shopping Mall at Night!

 Same building with all the big characters from above

 Hhahahaha i love that they put a bicycle at the of a tree! XD

Feliz Navidad!

Ooooook now for something extra special! a video for you all from me and my 2bachillerato class who all agreed to me being able to share this with you! In case you don't quite catch it, we say "Desde España Feliz Navidad...From Spain Merry Christmas"

P.S

I know  this post is a little before Christmas but i do not know when i will next be able to write anything! i am planning on traveling to a city called Bilbao for Christmas on the 24th! unfortunately my bus leaves super early in the morning =( but i will miss you all incredibly over these holidays! wish i could spend it with you all!

P.P.S

All my students couldn't believe i was related to my brother when i showed them a picture of him today in class! hahaha

Where has the sun gone?

Hey people!

How are you all doing? lol i have to say that sometimes these blog entries seem more like personal emails than actual blog entries, but that ok because i love sharing my life with you! i think it's a more of a personal style! i haven't been up to anything super uber exciting lately but i'll talk about some of the events that are worth noting in the last couple weeks! As you may have been able to tell by the title i'm wondering where the sun has gone! it's officially getting colder here! seems like it's already winter but i suppose it's just gona get colder! I think of everyone back in NZ and wish you would send me some warmth in a bottle! lol XD this last week been it was raining constantly and i have decided not to buy an umbrella because according to everyone it's so out of the norm and everyone is amazed by it's presence! so for the time being i've just gotten wet walking about places! but when i say rain it really is nothing like NZ rain! i have to laugh sometimes at how many people are walking around with umbrellas up in nothing but the slightest drizzle XD

With winter approaching i guess i should be thinking about buying some new clothes! one suitcase is not alot of space to bring your whole life with you! so since being here i've been cut down to 2 pairs of longs! one pair of trousers got a massive tear in them and one pair of jeans i've discouvered are too big and my belt is useless because it also is too big =( i'm hoping like heck the spanish clothe sizes are better suited to me! however there's the fact that i absolutely despise clothes shopping! =(

Speaking of shopping guess what i bought this week with the groceries! half a RABBIT!!! gah i saw it and was like omgosh they eat rabbits! so i asked the women about them and how to cook them etc and i was like ok let's do it! so i shell let you know how that goes hahaa i'm sure it will be interesting! Also another little story about grocery shopping! they have like a pick and mix thing going on but not with lollies but freshly baked sweets and pasteries of a bazillion different kinds so i filled up 2 big bags full of amazing looking chocolates and cakes etc! but i pretty soon realized i wasn't going to eat it all so i told my flatmates to help themselve and they were like Flippin heck Chris! you're crazy! XD in the end i had to take them to school just to get rid of it all! hahaha

And i suppose that leads into school! Well whats going on at school? Poor Maria is still off with her injured back! i have discouvered that she slipped over in the parking lot when it was raining! she says she's feeling better and can walk around house but at school with stairs and everything it will be too difficult! i have to admit the 2 classes i have the hardest time controlling are both the ones i have with her! lately i've been talking about Maori culture! and inevitably the idea has come up that we all learn the haka! i don't know why i thought i'd ever be able to avoid it >.< Also something i was super excited about was showing a video of a short animated film! the teacher said the kids were studying past tense and so i found a film told in past tense and then got a transcription of the entire thing and edited it so the kids would have to fill in the correct form of the verb in the past tense! but then that morning i watched the film all the way through and was like holy heck! i do not remember it being this violent! and thought better not show this film to such a young class lol so instead we tried doing some debating! which was all well and good but students who are just studying past tense it was waaaaaay to difficult an activity! haha one of the topics was parents should know where their children are at all times and it was almost impossible to explain the idea that one team had to argue for it and one team against it >.< so one girl starting saying how she loves the children and when she grows up she wanted to have 6! i'm going to give the debating another go only with an older class! should be really good! :D i am excited!

Something else that is going on lately at school is that the kids are going on 'huelgas' which is basically a strike! and when i came to class and there was no 1 there, firstly i couldn't believe why they were on strike or what on earth students would hope to accomplish by doing so and secondly how the heck did these kids become so organized! o.O It's beyond me that they would go on strike! they're not even being paid and don't they realize how lucky they are to be in school? apparently not! i think they just want days off school! XD

 Let's talk about one of the more exciting things that has happened! recently i gave my first conversation class! to be honest i didn't really care for it at all and felt a little pressured into giving it! Let's be clear! it wasn't the fact that i have to speak in english with some1, in fact i love the idea! but it was because the person with whom i was going to be giving lessons was 12 years old and needless to say english isn't very good! so i was absolutely freaking out thinking wtheck am i suppose to talk about for an entire hour! anyways for the conversation class i have to go to the girls house! the mother is a teacher at our school who i'd never meet before lol and finding my way to their house was a mish! i had an idea where is was but finding apartments here is sooooo impossible! thankfully i left myself lots of time and after about 30mins walking i stumbled my way into it! lol they mother and student came down to meet me which was nice! thankfully i've got the hand of understanding most things people say to me! but talking back is another thing lol XD anyways the lesson went really well! one of the activities i had prepared lasted the whole hour which was fantastic! so now when i go again 2moro i'll know what to expect! Oooh and i was lucky enough to be given a 2euro pay rise! haha we hadn't even talked about how much i was gona charge but she gave me 2 more euros then then what i had found out was the common rate!

This weekend has been good! the sun has come out which actually just makes life sooooooo much more enjoyable! so yesterday i went for a short car ride to La Ñora with my flatmate Juan to pick his friends up! then we went out for a hot chocolate which was nice! then this morning i managed to finally NOT miss my bus and went to church again! was cool! church goes for a long time tho! i leave about 10 45 and get back around 2 30-3 00 lol i love hearing some of the english songs i reconize in spanish but sometimes i have no idea what they pastor is talking about so i tend to switch off pretty quickly XD

I think i'll leave it there! i was going to talk a little bit about spanish vs english but i've written plenty already! sorry no photos this time but plenty of writting! This wednesday i'm going to a big shopping complex so it may be the ideal time to hunt me some clothes! if only they magically appeared for me everyday XD

A Career in Teaching

Heeeeeeeeeeey all! I know how much you desperately await my blog updates so here is another one for ya’ll! And the great news is that it is coming to you from my own internet! Wooooooooooo! Everything has been setup! It’s a great comfort just knowing that I can contact friends and family from back home! I do miss you all!

First of all! I’m going to have to apologize that there will be no photos in this blog entry! I’m gona run out of things to take pics of really quickly! Hahaha I’m sure I can find stuff! I’ll try make this entry quick! It’s 11pm and I’m tired!

Ok a couple things to write to you about! Firstly let’s talk about the time here and my general life from now on! It seems here that everything is done later! I.e. you get up late, you eat late and you go to bed late! Hahaha which suits me pretty good really! Hard to adjust to at first but I understand the reasoning behind it all! Here it’s still light out late into the night so anything before 9pm they call the afternoon here! I get up and eat breakfast at around 9 then lunch is around 2-4pm and then dinner around 9-10 and bed should be around 12-1 but lately I go early cause I’m tired!

Here is the time rule for people in NZ! Take your time and add 1 hour! That’s where I am but the other end of the day! For example in NZ it is 8pm, so add 1 hour = 9pm and that’s where I am but the other end of the day so 9am! Easy right? But it can be super annoying being at opposite times of the day cause it’s hard to talk!

Anyways I want to back track a little to my journey from Madrid to Murcia which I forgot to tell you about which were the windmills I saw! They were incredible! Literally hundreds of windmills spread out across the country side and we drove right down the middle of them all! They were so awesome! I wish I were sitting on a window seat so I could have taken some pics for you all! Suppose it’s not that exciting but there were soooooooo many! :D

So far Murcia is a great city! I like it a lot and am slowly getting to know it! I think I’ve done more walking in the last week around Murcia than ever before! You’d be proud of me! Although every day I am sooooooo worn out!

Murcia is a rather hot place! And now I understand why they all tell me it’s a desert! Lol so yesterday I went out at 5pm (afternoon) and it was still 31C and then last night just before I went to sleep it was 27C in my room! So the heat can be fairly intense here! Our classes at school swelter without air conditioning! One lady told me today that just last week they had 38C so I’m relieved I’ve come just in time for autumn! ^^ another thing that has been rather strange for me is the smell around town! At times it smells like you’re walking past an open sewer line! I think it must be the heat and it’s like woah! That was yuk! XD

Ok so the main part of this entry is to tell you a little bit about my school! So a 20 min walk will put me right at Miguel Espinosa! My new school! I have about 9 different classes which is about 225+ students so hang if I can remember all the names and that’s with about 8 different teachers! I had my first day yesterday and I am teaching kids between 12-15 and their knowledge of English in some cases is veeeery little! I’ve only has 4 of my 8 classes so I haven’t meet everyone yet! So far I’ve been giving the slide show presentation that I prepared and answering questions! The students are very excited and extremely noisy! Hahhaha but they are all very happy to have me! Today when I came to a class they all applauded me which was very cool! And had written me welcome cards! :’D

Most of their questions are along the lines of do you like Spain? Do you like Murcia? Do you have a girlfriend? Do you like soccer? Do I support Real Madrid? Do you speak Spanish? Lol etc.!

I do prefer the older classes because they are more controlled and they speak English better! I have to tell all the students that I don’t know a word of Spanish! And sometimes it’s really hard because they’ll yell out things in Spanish and I’ll understand perfectly fine but have to pretend like I don’t! and I have to be careful not to say anything is Spanish which is pretty easy to do when everything else is in Spanish! XD

The other exciting news is I meet up with my friend from Spain Marta! It was really cool catching up! Hahaha maybe it’s just me but all the girls I know here honestly speak at the speed of light! But I get the gist of the overall conversation, still doing my best to pick up that Murcian accent! >.< we found a store that had a piano in it and I was so excited but then there was a sign that said do not touch and I was like stuuuuuuuuuuuuupid! But I shell go commandeer the one at my school sometime! :D some1 said something bout me playing Christmas carols and I was like hmmmmm yea I dunno, you know who I feel bout Christmas carols! Hahahha jokes! You couldn’t keep me away if you tried! :D

The other great thing you’ll be excited to know if I have found the Manga shop here in Murcia! Aaaaaaaaaaah it was awesome! Lots of Spanish manga! I think it’s a lot more known here and popular then NZ! Quite a few of my students like it which is cool!

Finally to cap it all off I found a store that sells salt and vinegar chips! My happiness level went up bout about 10! Was really sad with the range of chips they have in Spain! Not a strong point but at least now I’ll have salt and vinegar chips to remind me of home! Ooooooooh and another thing is the Fanta orange here looks waaaaaaaaay more like actual orange juice then fluorescent orange liquid! Also they have Fanta lemon which is my favourite!

Still have a terrible cough which isn’t going away! Appreciate your prayers! :D