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Published: April 24th 2006
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Walls
The walls again... Well, this past week has been a rough one. Last week was hard to get back into the swing of things at school after being gone for over a week. I was also still really tired from my trip, so I felt like a zombie every day at school. School is getting kind of frustrating for me because it's the same thing over and over again. They read a text from their book, find vocabulary that they don't know, I tell them the vocabulary words, they translate the text, answer questions, check the questions, and then start over again the next day. My teacher is good at making things fun and joking around with the students, but its hard when I'm not teaching as much like I was in Indiana. I'm just ready to have my own class and classroom! I do LOVE the little kids still. I never get tired of them. They are the most adorable things! They are always wanting to tell me things such as that their grandma's birthday is on thursday, or they are always asking "como se dice (insert spanish word) in ingles?" (How do you say --- in English?) It's hilarious. Some of them
Avila
The friendliest horse I've met! just start rambling on and on about things and when I ask them to speak a little slower for me, they say okay, take a huge breath, then talk just as fast! Haha. I just pretend I know what they are saying. It's hard to understand young Americans sometimes when they speak...how am I supposed to understand when they speak in Spanish?
Reyes told one of my 5th grade classes on Friday that I only had 3 weeks left and they all started to whine. Haha. They said that I should stay until the end of the school year or just move permanently to Avila. Haha. I told them that I need to get a job and make money, so I cannot. And then they all started to scream "PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!" in their Spanish accents and were holding their hands together in a begging form. Haha. It was funny! It's good to know the kids like me!
I've had a 3 day weekend this weekend, which has been so nice to catch up on sleep...although my sleep schedule has been super thrown off because I went out till 5 am on Friday night (not really by choice)! Avila has the only police academy in Spain and its one of the top ones in Europe, so there are a lot of policemen, or policemen in training that live in the Residencia. They range from all ages such as maybe 25 to 70? At lunch the other day, they were talking about a dinner that they had with some other policemen/women friends. They invited Emily and told her to ask us to come along too. So we went out with them to dinner for tapas and drinks. The food and drinks were amazing! We ate octopus with some kind of amazing sauce on top, calamari, tortilla espanola, bread (of course), ham (of course), and another kind of meat that I don't know what it was, but it's the best meat I've had since I've been here! I also tried a little bit of intestine...gross, I know. The flavor wasn't so bad, but the texture-ugh, it was slimy and jiggly and smushy. Not a fan. We also drank Sangria-oh so good! After dinner ended at 1 am, I thought we'd be heading home. But I should have known that 1 am is still early to the Spaniards, and its a Friday night, so what else would we go do but dance at the discotecas. So off we went to the discotecas for about 2.5 hours. It was fun, I suppose. More fun than the last time, but I'm just not a salsa dancer...or any kind of dancer really, but I really cannot move my hips all around like the girls and guys can here! It was fun and funny to watch them, but after about 2.5 hours, I was tired. It was 3:30 am. We decided to leave the discoteca and I was so excited to finally go home! We started walking to this one girls car (or so I thought), but then we ended up walking right into another discoteca. I should have known...Spaniards stay out super late! 3:30 am is comparable to 12 am in the US. So we stayed out till 5 am and finally one of the policemen took us home. It was fun for the most part, but I was just so exhausted and my feet killed from wearing heels and standing on them for 4 hours straight. I was soooo thankful to get home to my bed!
Saturday was a rough day for me. I just hit a wall and had a few breakdowns. I really miss being around people who love me and care for me and who I can be 100% myself around. I miss acting stupid and laughing so hard till I cry. And I miss being able to communicate easily with others. It just seemed like one thing after another was going wrong. It probably was all a lot less worse than it seemed, but I was stuck in a rut so I was super sensitive. The straw that broke the camels back was when I was on the pay phone in the residencia and some old visitor ladies came and told me they needed the phone. I told them that I had 5 minutes left on my card, and then they could have it. Then they started going off about how its a public phone, blah, blah, blah. I didn't have the energy to argue with them, so I just told them to hang on and then I got off the phone. This is when another breakdown happened. Haha. After much prayer from myself and other people, and getting to talk with Matt for a bit who calmed me down, I was somewhat better. I also got to talk with Amy (one of my best friends) for a few minutes on the phone and online, so that lifted my spirits too. Yesterday I decided to walk around some, Ryann ended up going with me, and it was nice to just get out of the Residencia and enjoy other parts of Avila that I haven't seen too much of. Today, was a beautiful day. Emily, Ryann, and I laid out for about 2.5 hours. There was a horse that was RIGHT next to us, but was separated from us by a barbed wire fence. When we went over to pet him, he kept on trying to nuzzle his nose into our sides and stomachs. And when other people walked by the fence, he'd run along with them and neigh. Haha! I loved it! Also, there was some weirdo walking around near us and trying to take our pictures with his cell phone. It was really creepy. We'd look over at him and he'd hold the phone up to his ear really quickly pretending he was talking on the phone or he'd bend down and pretend he was tying his shoe. So we just stared at him until he left---took him a while, but he finally did. Weirdo. Don't worry though, Mom and Dad, Avila is a very safe place and I've never felt unsafe! I'm okay! Anyways, I forgot how much the body and soul need sunshine and warmth sometimes. I feel so much better after sitting outside and getting some sun on my cheeks. I also have all of the plans finalized now for when Matt and his sister come over. I'm planning a few trips for this coming weekend and the week after I'm done with teaching, so planning all of this stuff is making me excited and is bringing back the real Amy, not the depressed one! 😊
Laura, my professor from IU for the Overseas Program, is in Avila this week! We're all excited to show her around some and go out to dinner with her for some good food! She'll be at my school tomorrow to watch me teach some!
Well thats about all for now. Everyone at IU - I miss yall so much. I love the feeling of Bloomington right now, especially since it was just Little 5, and the weather is amazing! Ah, I'm jealous! And for any KD's that are reading this, tell the riders that I said great job! 2nd place is amazing!
Hasta luego...
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Granma
non-member comment
Hi
Amy, I so enjoy reading your Blogs. I heard from your Mom that your Instructor from Indiana had had a good visit with you. I know you are getting anxious to get home. I will send you your graduation gift when you get home. Love you.