Sick

I have a cold. It's the second one I've caught since arriving in Spain on September 3rd. Such is the inescapable fate of the elementary school teacher. Perhaps one day I'll have caught so many colds that I'll become immune to everything and be invincible. (Though the know-it-all in the video below seems to disagree.)



Today one of the other teachers admitted to me that she's "constipada". But all that actually means is that she has a cold and is feeling congested.

Toledo

Last weekend was the first weekend, since I've moved here, that I've ventured outside of Madrid. That's because most day trips require waking up somewhat early. The night life here goes so late, I usually stay up until at least 4am on the weekends. Even when I get home early, or don't go out at all, I stay up late out of habit.

Well, I finally went to bed at a reasonable hour last Saturday, so on Sunday I took a bus ride down to Toledo with my friend Jennifer. Toledo is a charming little town that's only about an hour away. Everything is built on a hill, which makes a scenic backdrop for the scattered medieval architecture.





We took a path known as the "Ruta de Don Quijote".









Then we ate some croissants for lunch and wandered the winding, narrow streets of the town.







We walked around, checking out the shops and the view. Some of the stores were selling weapons or suits of armor.





We saw the sun setting on the cathedral, walked around some more, and went home. For me, it was a needed escape from the noise and crowds of the city. It was a Sunday so the cathedral was closed, but if you want to read more about it, go here or look at my friend Nina's blog.

Halloween and Día de los Santos

The Celtic tradition of Halloween, as celebrated in the US and England, didn't use to be a Spanish tradition. It's something that they've recently adopted into their culture within the past few years.

I teach at a bilingual school that celebrates Halloween, so I collaborated with my friend Steve that week and we taught some lessons about it. We taught the niños (grades 1 – 3) about Halloween customs and sang a song called "Five Little Pumpkins". Some of the classes had already sang the song with us, so we told them "The Great Pumpkin Story". We hung up drawings of the animals in the story on the blackboard with sticky-tack, pointed to them and moved 'em around. Then with one class, we had volunteers stand up and hold the animals and act out the story. Somehow, we held their attention long enough so that our lesson didn't disintegrate into little-kid anarchy.

A lot of people dress up here for Halloween. Last year when I lived in the states I put a lot of effort into being creative, but this year I just threw together some stuff I had. My friend Jess was visiting, so she put on some Halloween clothes, too, and we went to a party.



Then for All Saint's Day (Día de los Santos) we walked around Madrid (the Atocha and Sol area).











There weren't that many Halloween decorations, but we saw a couple.







Then there was a Mariachi band and some other street performers.






That last one is really two guys, covered in plaster. There was a crowd of spectators watching them. Every ten seconds or so, the two guys moved, just enough to keep everyone amused.