COSICAS

A speedy update as February comes to a close, and in the order that these things come to my brain:

My living room has, over the past few months, slowly been transformed into a craft room or decoration station. It all began when Sara got me hooked on making bracelets with thread. I considered it a decoy so I would stop gnawing on my fingers, but I've only completed three and a half so, new methods are in order. Well, Sara came back from Christmas break with an entire bead store. She makes a piece of jewelry a day by now and splurged big time on some cheap Japanese beads via London. We needed a use for our dining room table anyways. Apart from that, our Carnaval wigs found a home atop the vases on display in the living room and because it's also consistently been freezing here, by the time one load of laundry is finished drying on the rack, on the chairs, on the doors, on the couch and on the tables, it's time to wash more clothes. So it's this magical dressing room space where, we have the means to bedazzle every piece of clothing we own. Maybe we should invite MIKA over.

Reasons why I love direct translations, SPANISH-ENGLISH-SPANISH part 83: It's verdad that I do get frustrated when students continue to make the same silly/easy mistakes time after time after time after time. But there are a few that make me smile rather than grind my teeth. For example: In Spanish, the word for parents is PADRES. "I live with my fathers and two brothers." Duh, I know you mean parents. Although, Spain is with it, gay marriage is legal and guess what, the world doesn't explode with legalizing gay marriage! And people are happy! Multiple jaws dropped to the floor when I sadly informed a class that not EVERYONE in the United States can legally wed. Right?!

This may come more as a shock to people that haven't seen much of me since high school, but... I wear my hair down almost every day. Sporty spice Karli has morphed from tom boy athlete to a sensible human that is extremely appreciative for having hair, in general. It's effing cold here. EFFING cold.

Remember how my family sent me one of those big bottles of Tapatío the beginning of January? the quart size? Well, we've (I've) been more than half way finished with it after the first month and I was really starting to get nervous about my remaining 3 months in Calata.. I'm a splurger, I hate rationing.. SURPRISE, my family knows me well, and God said, make it burn! Now I can make that soup-kitchen sized pot of spicy ass chili to get me through the rest of winter.

YA ES PRIMAVERA....(not).....travel plans: Having grown up in a small town, I can really feel at home living in Calatayud (population 20k but condensed into a mini sized city, so technically it's about 1/5 the size of Grass Valley). But sometimes I'm reminded of the downside of this sheltered childhood. Today, my students had to answer the question: "If you could live anywhere in the world, where you you live?" Survey says.... ZARAGOZA. Really???? It's 45 minutes away by car. They go every month for shopping and partying. It's like answering Roseville or Sacramento. Anywhere in the world huh? Hence, I'm looking forward to do some traveling of my own.
PLANS
Semana Santa (Spring Break): Sevilla, Cádiz (the dirty south), BARCELONA for Emily's birthday (24, puag)
May: San Sebastian, Bilbao and Santander (All in the pretty pretty Norte de España ahh!)

Random week in April vacation package: Canary Islands, yeeeeeeeeeee... Here's what the islands look like now:

And here's what they need to look like by the time I get there:

¡¡¡¡FLOOD GODS, PORFA!!!!

The Carnaval Run-Down:
Lady Gaga, Hannah Montana and Michael Jackson dominated the scene. But there were definitely other impressive costumes. And, Calatayud throws a mean Carnaval parade. Floats and American marching bands toured the streets: Grease Lightning, 101 Dalmations ( I think they were a handful short), Egyptian mummies and my favorites of course were a group of my babies as little "Caperucitas Rojas" or Little Red Riding Hoods prancing around. I had a photo but that of course brings me to my next highlight of the evening. Adiós camera. Dishonesty brings gnarly Karma, no? Hay dos foticos:

We started another group English conversation circle (drums optional!) at the Official Language School in Calatayud for professors/maestros in the area. It's great. Last week we talked about Kobe Bryant, Valentine's conversation heart phrases, Spanish news programs (weather, soccer and more weather) Nick Nolte, John Travolta, colloquial Spanish phrases we need to know, stereotypes about people from California (my flatmates had lots to say) and our favorite colors. This week, I'll be bringing organic pumpkin muffins (thanks Kel) and who knows where the conversation will go. Spaniards are opinionated and proud people.


Los Amantes de Teruel

Emily and I ventured to Teruel (1 of the 3 provinces that divides Aragón) on Saturday night for a city wide festival known as "Los Amantes de Teruel," which celebrates the supposed history of these two lovers set in Medieval times. Serious flashbacks to 8th grade Renaissance fair and this time around, everyone is draped in coats and shields with swords strapped to their bodies, including babies, teenagers and grandparents. The best part is that for highschoolers, it's totally not UN cool to dress up in the garb with one's respective families, in fact, it's pretty cool. Faux-fur hats, broaches and tunic dresses, ummm yes! Who needs a bonfire with all those layers keeping you warm? Well, Emily and I did. So we two vegetarians found the perfect flame to help thaw our puppies:

EW

And of course, since we weren't dressed appropriately and wanted to blend in or at least get part of the Medieval experience, we just hiked up a mountain, retrieved a long stick and tied our picnic bag to it.

Sword fights:

The English department at Leonardo de Chabacier shares an office with the French department. "Languages¿" Anyways, Pilar, a French (she's Spanish) profesora is an amazing woman. Her husband owns a very successful fruit business, farming, distribution, etc... They have a little country house where Pilar likes to host lunch parties with her ladies and fill everyone's tummies with the most delicious yum-yums and on top of it all, this woman is always laughing. I just want to be around her all the time. So I've decided I'm going to ask her to adopt me. She laughs and cooks, what's more? Oh she likes to travel and has house a beach house on the coast. Well, she invited me to lunch with her group of friends. It was... incredible. The house, the food, the ladies. We took group photos after a million rounds of soup, cheese, bread, vegetables, sausages, stuffed peppers, coffee, champagne, wine, tea, fruit and cinnamon rice pudding and instead of "say cheeeeese" they say: "CLIIIIIIIITORIS" which after some laughs turned into embarrassment because I had to inform them that it is literally..... the same word in English.

Almost the whole group.



Lovely Pilar is the woman in front of me



Here, I'm with Fina (in front) who is also a profesora of French at the high school.

Lastly, a CONGRATULATORY shout out to my frienders: Luke&Rachel and Ross&Renee who will be getting married this summer! Os quiero!

PRESENT CONTINUOUS BLUES

Fridays are my day off. I have a lot of time to unwind and reflect on my (hardly) work week. These are the highlights for February 1-5, 2010.

1. WATCH THIS

2. I accidentally joined the Twitter network and I follow 7 people through their twisted ideas and lives: Barack Obama, MIKA, Alex Spieller, Lady Gaga, Emily Thompson, Björk & Neil Patrick Harris. I think I got the # and @ tricks down. Not quite sure if I totally understand Tweets on the whole, but I'm intrigued for sure. How else would I have stumbled up THIS? If you'd like to follow the happenings of yours truly, find me: cabecita_loca

3. My girl Kendy just proposed this LIFE OPTION on Facebook.. It's just, I want to live everywhere in the world. Canada, Mexico, Every country in Central and South America, not really Russia at the moment, somewhat dreaming about spending my summer in Gulu, Uganda with a good friend, Brooke Hodges who is doing real good for the world and betters my life in many ways...to continue: the South Pacific, Southeast Asia, Thailand, regular Asia & Emily T even suggested stopping in Iceland on a flight to or from Europe.. (it's only 3 hours from NYC!) etc etc etc.. Today is a beautiful day though, and that's the only thing I can think about. There is one wall of our apartment building that gets the best late-afternoon sun while blocking all the wind at the same time. I think this is the weekend to invest in beach chairs and get some quality reading time done on the curb of our street.. (Requiem for a Dream?) Speaking of ladies, that brings me to my next point.

4. Today is a fiesta, and it's all about the fem-bots with TETAS! Signs started popping up around town for different Saint Agueda celebrations tonight. Our female colleagues have made dinner reservation for a nice well rounded group of ladies basically ranging in age from 22-50's and we're hitting the town. Before dinner, we're starting the night out classy with a concert; pianist brother-sister duo notable for their classical piano renditions, Mozart, Beethoven, etc. A dinner break at El Pacha and from there... the night is ours. We can either cruise back across the bridge and catch a midnight drag show at the hotel by our house or head to the newly opened discoteca, Oxid, for a special ladies night. All we know is the elementary teachers want to go dancing. Done and done. Happy day, chicas!

5. I have a confession, and it's one I will have to shamefully admit to a class on Monday. You CAN use the present continuous to talk about future plans. Oops, sorry Adrian, you were right. Reasons I should be teaching Spanish grammar and not English.

6. I've been test driving one of my favorite Christmas presents ever. It's my soup bible. 1 stock, 100 soups. We've had to twist and personalize them a bit, especially because 2/3 of us in the house are vegetarians (for the time being, and hey, I feel great!) but so far, we've had no failures. Two weekends ago I was a bit under the weather and Sara bear mommy'd up on me and made a most delicious Tomato and White Bean soup. Last night, we took a different route... Squash & Lentil. I had to share the recipe, it was... Easy! and Jummy! Wintry and Hearty!

Onion, chopped. (calls for 2, I used 1.5)
Garlic. (calls for 2, I used probably 7)

Heat 3 tbsp of olive oil in a large pot and simmer Onions and Garlic until softened.

2 lbs or 1 kg of squash or pumpkin, cubed. (it's really however much you want/fits in the pot)
1/2 cup lentils. (I used dried lentils because they'll cook in the broth. but there's no need to go light on the lentils, so much iron!)

Add squash and lentils to pot, simmer for a few minutes. (5 maybe)
Add these spices to the pot, too: Cumin, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Ginger, Coriander.

Add vegetable broth, 7.5 cups (7 cups couldn't fit in the pot so it really doesn't matter, plus, less watery more squashy? Anyways, you can pre-make the broth or just put the water in and drop the vegetable bouillon)

Bring to boil, then reduce to medium heat. Let cook for 45 min - 1 hr.

Then the fun part: FOOD PROCESSOR!! We have a hand held one, so that's way easier than transferring to the processor and back again.

Lastly, salt, pepper and the one ingredient that will MAKE OR BREAK your soup, I swear: LEMON JUICE, fresh squeezed trumps, 1.5 - 2 lemons will serve.

Wouldn't hurt to add a dollop of plain Greek yogurt (healthier alternative to sour cream) for garnish!

Now, this is a way to enjoy winter. Warm hugs to everyone, XOXO

P.S. I tried to get a trim as I am finally accustomed to and happy with long hair... She chopped it off. Guess 4 fingers is more than I thought

THIS BIG GIRL CRIES

The age old struggle for teachers and professors of all ages... How do I get my students motivated to learn? After 4 complete months, we've come full circle... about 248 times. What do I mean?

How to get 12-18 year old Spanish students speaking English:

• Be seen on Saturday night at the bar or discoteca
• Be seen on Saturday night at the bar or discoteca drinking a beer
• Be seen on Saturday night at the bar or discoteca drinking a beer and dancing
• Be seen on Saturday night at the bar or discoteca socializing with anyone besides your students
• Be seen on Saturday night at the bar or discoteca socializing with an older male friend (old to them is 25) "You with old mans!"
  
• Say 'fuck' or 'puta mierda'
• Tell them how to say 'porro' in English and later have to reassure them by saying, "No Jorge, it wasn't a joint, it was a cigarette"
  
• Ask them about what they are going to do next Saturday

So, I did some brainstorming. Everything is definitely in the works, as the ideas aren't pouring out of my head for ways to make linguistics and pronunciation lessons enticing. But slowly, they are becoming more obedient, I can see a little more effort from a select few and they continue to crack me up.. My name being yelled with far too many rolled R's: KARRRRRRRRRRRRRLI!

Today I wrote the word evil on the board.
I said the word slowly: "e v i l"
They repeated: "ay-veel"
I said the word slowly again: "eeeeee-vuuuuul"
They repeated: ""ayyyyyyyy-veeeeeel"

MADRE MÍA

I wrote on the board: "ivol"
They repeated: "evil"

See, I figured it out. It's a new language, written but not oral, that twists the spelling of English vocabulary which corresponds to the Spanish pronunciation. For Spaniards to correctly pronounce "evil" they need the respective Spanish vowels that will effectively produce the correct English pronunciation. Well it's a bit flawed because Spanish only has 5 vowels so I'll have to think of a way to trick them into forming the the impossible English phonemes. But for now, I'm focusing on other ways to get their brains kick started with an English boost!

This week, in all the 3rd year classes (equivalent to freshmen) we did a specialized listening activity involving music. A fill in the blanks type, lyric style. I searched through my 6,320 iTunes jams for the perfect mix of Pop-American-International-Appropriate-Slow song, because with all the right ingredients, they are very capable of performing the task at hand. Nothing. Couldn't find a song. To answer your concern Caleb, youtube does function in countries across the globe.. So I browsed. Spain loves Lady Gaga. Lyrics not appropriate for school. Spain loves Green Day. Too much band sounds. Spain loves Justin Timberlake. "Cry Me a River" is too repetitive. It needed to be challenging, with a variety of vocabulary. Spain loves Black Eyed Peas. "I got a feeling" would only provoke memories of every Saturday night at the disco. Too distracting. But that's when I found it. Fergie. Lame love-break up song. Not too much band. For two weeks now, I've had THIS song stuck in my head.. I thought I'd share my misery with you.

Well, true to every Thursday, my weekend begins. And I got paid today. AND the sun is out. Time to play!

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER,

I have two things to share with the world:

1.) I need a physical/check-up at the doctor's office here in Calatayud so I can be cleared to work again next year. I enter the medical offices. I tell her what I need: "I need proof I am in good health." She tells me: "You need to go to the Tobacco store and get an Official Medical Certificate, then I can help you."

Really, Spain?


2.) As children, Germans learn English from Penny Popcorn the Puppet.

Happy Friday!

LIKE MY DAD ALWAYS SAYS... "THE ONLY THING I LIKE BETTER THAN GOLF, IS FREE GOLF"

Let me break my Granada/Málaga roadtrip down for you in the simplest way:

Gratis: housing, food and laughs
Road trip
A flamenco show
No, Europeans do not know how to shuffle cards
A certain early morning snack
Deanna's public vomiting
Arabic

Y language barriers rule

Morrocan tapas
Ártist affair
La Alhambra
Años cumplidos por Sara. Happy 23rd, chica
Good morning from our ocean front hotel!
And a lot of sunshine

(and Torremolinos)

Outside of the Cathedral in Málaga where we had a potential (very likely) siting of Robert Downey Jr.



The aforementioned Cathedral.




...in it's almost entirety




Conveniently located in the plaza of the Cathedral, thank you for the amazing patatas bravas




Emily and her mom Deanna on their ocean front balcony in Málaga. Can you guess if the balcony that I am standing on is also ocean front? Yes, free ocean front housing. Thank you Deanna, I hope we repaid you in innumerable laughs.



Liquor store security.



Post-Indian food feast. Ethnic food, found almost nowhere in Spain.




Flamenco show. Unfortunately it is not possible to see from these photos but the stage is set in front of a large window with a view of the Alhambra illuminated at night. Absolutely brilliant.














Frederico Garcia Lorca's summer home in Granada. This is where he wrote and painted most of his works. I touched his desk. Before the city development, back then, he had a view of the Alhambra from his bedroom window. Probably also did a lot of daydreaming about Salvador Dalí in that room...



Meet Luis, Sara's salsa instructor from years back. He housed us for 3 nights in Granada and guided us to some of the best tapa bars in the city. FREE GOLF!



This is how TAPAS work: Order a beverage, free plate of food. Refill your beverage, next plate of food. Then you pay for your 5, 6, 7, 8 beers and you're content in more than one way.




Fried eggplant chips.


La Alhambra. 14th Century Moorish fortress. The greatest and most preserved in all the land. It's brilliantly perfect: location, lighting, construction, and artistic flare. You'll see.



That is Emily's mom Deanna (who drove us to Granada and accompanied us around).. Perhaps it was jet-lag blues or she was completely awestruck with the Alhambra's beauty. Either way, Deanna got a little sick and in the enormity of the fortress, and it was basically impossible to find a bathroom close by. This was not the first bush that received her love, but it held her up and did it's job. I wonder how many other people have left their bodily fluids on the Alhambra...?




Emily being artsy or something. I guess it's not too hard to be inspired.




The chicas and I in front of the city at sunset.




La ciudad de Granada





One of many reflecting pools at La Alhambra. These are the most beautiful as it's Islamic architecture meets Christian influence of gardens and ground work.




Creatures




Now you have made it to the inside of the fortress. Hundreds of walls, pilars, floors and ceilings articulately carved by the Moors.



Arabic, what does it say Cammy?



Not one corner un-carved.



Oh and my favorite: Carvings meet tile.



Reflecting pool





Mmm, wrap that in a tortilla.





Probably the most famous photo of the Alhambra.




I was there!




More arabic for Cammy to transcribe, although after posting this I realize that it's backwards.




I'm not sure which way is the floor and which way is the ceiling.












AND HERE IS A CLIP FROM OUR FLAMENCO SHOW.
THE GYPSY TRADITION OF CAVE FLAMENCO CONTINUES ON, NO MATTER HOW TOURISTY, IT REMAINS INCREDIBLY TRADITIONAL.






The whole trip was planned for Sara's birthday weekend.
She studied abroad in Granada for a semester in college and she wanted to re-visit her favorite city. It was an amazing trip of eating, drinking, dancing, and standing with our mouths to the floor engulfed in hundreds of years of history, art and literature. Besides the Alhambra, my favorite location was our Moroccan tapas bar. Two nights we stuffed our faces with cous-cous, empanadas, spinach dishes, potatoey goodness, etc. We celebrated Sara's 23rd and went salsa dancing for her special night. I salsa'd. YES, that happened. Form dancing with rules and movements. We met great people, and one of the first nights while enjoying a (VERY) late night/morning snack of churros con chocolate with an Italian, a German and a Bulgarian, I referred to Granada as the dirty south (This is while my body was so exhausted from dancing I almost fell asleep in my churros). Couple nights later, while playing cards and having tapas with the same German and Italian and having that ever so familiar conversation with foreigners (We are from California but teach English in Spain, where are you from?) the Italian says he's from some little town in Italy.... "In the dirty south." He speaks better Spanish then English. You can assume that I'm spreading my -isms everywhere I go. In other news, Europeans do not know how to shuffle cards. They do the little kid method of mixing them on the table face down, or just pulling random ones out of the pile and putting them on the bottom.

When they watch us shuffle and bridge, they wear a similar face to the one that was frozen on mine as I stared at the Alhambra for three hours.

Cheers from Granada...