el día de la investidura

Today marks a wonderful moment in US history. It is a day that I know I will look back on in the years to come and be glad that I was somwhat a part of it, as one of the "fellow Americans," albeit not present and if only as a spectator, watching the procession from miles and miles across the Atlantic Ocean (al otro lado del charco, as the Spanish say, their version of "other side of the pond").

After a long day of work, both in class and out of class, during the school day and after, I raced down at 6:00 PM local time (midday in Washington) to the sala de profesores where the rest of the profesorado was currently on break from the first of their once weekly marathon sessions of English learning that they are obliged to take as a part of the EU's bilingual school plan, and asked where the nearest available television was located). I dashed to the multipurpose room and turned on TVE 2, and right at that moment Mr. Obama was about to begin his speech.

As he spoke, a newscaster translated his address, and yet I did not find it anymore distracting nor too difficult to listen instead to the English behind. I will say that I was humbled and moved by his speech, and I will also say that I commend him for his own humility and the very effortless way he does seem to be able to unite traditional views and feelings with a sense of reknewed sincerity, security, and solidarity. It was a momentous occasion to be sure.

And to wrap up the day, I participated in a three person interview with the local Cadena SER that was doing a piece on reactions from different perspectives, in this case one recent cubano import and  local balonmano sports hero, one ciudadrealeño living in Miami, and myself, one estadounidense currently living in the Ciudad. 

He is a man with whom people feel comfortable. In whom they can put their trust. In whom they want to put their trust. It is not wholly new, but rather is a calculated and magistral union of real and current views with more traditional and deeply rooted US of American ideals. And just about wherever one goes, the salient message and feeling seems to be everywhere and in every corner of the world: something different and good is in the air.

felíz año nuevo, y que les pase bien!

Ciudad Real: The Manchego Living

Hello! Here I am again, back at the portátil (laptop computer) for another fun-filled entry on the goings-on in Castilla-La Mancha. I like to think I've mostly settled in to the way of life here in the Castillan meseta region, but, of course, some things still seem very foreign to me.

A perfect example would be in everyday food and diet practices. Particiularly

interesting is this business of enjoying a later-in-the-day, two and three course luncheon and thus only holding a very brief milk and toast breakfast at the start of the day, and a short, apertif of an evening meal around 10. Not that I disparage this Spanish routine, rather I enjoy it quite heartily-- the Spanish are really quite adroit in their culinary leanings and craftsmanship-- it's just that from a purely ideological standpoint it clashes with my in-borne desires to have a big bowl of cereal in the morning, a nice-sized sandwich at lunch, and a proper dinner with salad and hearty main dish at night. Left to my own devices then, I usually come home from school by 3 and prepare myself a nice sandwich with cream cheese, lettuce, tomato, what have you or a tuna melt and at dinner, another light and simple meal. My Spanish roommates are beginning to think that everything I eat is the same.

That said, I reiterate that I reeeeeeally like the food here. Especially the tapas-ing (o decirlo en español, tapear). These little morsels of food are not always so little. They can range from sizes as acceptable for accompanying any beer, wine, or any other drink you may like to enjoy, to sizes and complexities that rival starter salads or even the most innocent looking of entrees. And many people here, either at

lunchtime or dinnertime, can be seen at the numerous tapas bars in town, dipping in for a bit of food and conversation, and then floating over to another neighboring bar, sometimes only just next door to the one they were just in. If done right, you may spend your entire, very gracious three-hour siesta time frame (from roughly 2:00 PM on through 5 or 5:30) tapeando y chatting with amigos.

And in Ciudad Real, that way of dining is very affordable. As two of my English friends and I were looking around city center the other day for somewhere to take in a nice lunch, we noticed that proper entrees on most lunch menus cost about the same as three decent-sized tapas dishes (called raciones). What's more, in Ciudad Real, as in many other towns like in throughout Spain, you can get one ración free with the purchase of a drink (usually the house beer, or caña, but sometimes any soda or juice drink as well).

Suffice to say, I won't die for want of food here. Nor, it happily appears, from want of ice cream, which is in good supply here in town. Most anyone who knows me knows of my obsession, nay, endless love of ice cream, and so it is no wonder that I should take just a few moments here to speak of its wonder and Spanish permutations.

There are two homemade ice cream joints in the city, both within a 10 minute's walk from my apartment, and both with distinct enough personalities to make me begin to see just how much of an ice cream connoisseur I have actually become. The first, Farggi, serves ice cream that has a very American look and texture to it. However, with offerings like nata con almendra chocolateada or avellana de piamonte and the flavor to match, there is no doubt about its very euro-italian roots and taste. The other, Helados Moran, is clearly ice cream in the Italian gelato mindset, where both the texture, choices, and flavors are carefully chosen, beautifully concieved, and wonderfully executed. Both are exceptional places to grab a cup or cone, though sadly-- unlike in Argentina-- neither offer the option of selecting two flavors for the price of one nor the luxury of bringing home a custom-chosen combination of flavors. These being the only fallbacks, both Farggi and Moran bring delight to anyone looking for a good afternoon or evening treat for relatively little cost.

....ah... I seem to have stumbled on to quite the tangent, haven't I? (and now I really want some ice cream).

Well, now that I've thoroughly saciated your need for any and all information regarding at least the Manchego dining customs and then some, I'll stop here and offer a few photos to show you what's been taking up my time here besides just food-related issues. hehe.

Chau for now, y ¡salud!

-Nick

The view of Calle de Mata from my apartment on the 8th floor

... and another by sunset

Regional hero of Castilla-La Mancha, Don Quijote

La Plaza de Constitución, near the central post office in town

Statue in the Plaza Mayor of the founder of the city and once great King of Spain, Rey Alfonso X el Sabio

At noon each day, figures of Quijote, his friend Sancho, and their creator Cervantes appear from a clock tower in the Plaza Mayor.

C.R.A. Valle de Bullaque, or, First Real Day on the Job

Greetings once again, this time from the wonderful-- and finally sunny-- provincia de Ciudad Real! I write presently from what will be my place of work for the next eight months, el Colegio Rural Agrupado  (C.R.A.) Valle de Bullaque, a small primary school of only 130ish kids and 25 professors just a forty minute's drive from Ciudad Real. For the time being, this will be the only place where I can post updates because alas, we have not yet purchased the means to proper internet access in the apartment! And as my photos all reside on an external hard drive that I did not choose to lug around with me today, this will also be a post sin fotos (photo-less), but nonetheless a sufficient one.

So then, yes. It has been a little under a week since I arrived in Ciudad Real last Wednesday afternoon, but it's been long enough to have gotten lost and then gradually more accustomed in its numerous streets whose names change constantly, to have found and signed the lease on a charming apartment close to the town square, to have met fellow teachers, future students, and easy-going roommates, and to have sampled of some of its finest local culinary offerings (including of course, being who I am, the ice cream from one of the local heladerías).

I cut my stay in Madrid short by a day in order to finalize rent on a place here, and was rewarded for that sacrifice in the form of an aforementioned well-placed apartment, a chance to come by the school and meet with teachers and become acquainted with the lay of the land, and the ability to really get a sense of the town. What's more, I can go back to Madrid rather easily on most weekends via the relatively new and state-of-the-art sistema de Trenes de Alta Velocidad España (AVE, which, as a clever aside, is also the word for "bird" in Spanish). These high-speed trains run from Madrid to Seville in a matter of only a few hours, and thus can get me to la capital in under sixty minutes.

Ciudad Real, although much smaller than Madrid and with less "cultural 'wow' factor" than other sites in the country according to Lonely Planet's 2007 guide to Spain, is still a very self-sufficient and burgeoning town where one can always find life, liberty, and the pursuit of tapas. I mean-- happiness.

The school, C.R.A. Valle de Bullaque, is very nice as well and all the professors are welcoming, friendly and blessed with a wonderfully sharp sense of humor. I'll be working most closely with the youngest students, ages 3-7, as a teacher's assistant in their Bilingual English Acquisition program. Understandably, my work with the 3-5 year olds won't be as intense as it will be with those in first and second grade, if it can even be called "intense" learning when working with this age group. Instead, Most of it is learning basic vocabularly with simple contextual cues and situations. For example, today with the second graders, we reviewed terms for weather and distinguished between them using current conditions outside, flashcards, and gestures.

This afternoon I've been invited to attend a luncheon that is being held for the teachers of many of the primary schools in the area. There will be around seventy other teachers in attendance so it will be a neat way to meet a lot of other teachers. Tommorw is the official orientation for the Language Assistants that live in the region of Castilla y La Mancha like myself, and so that will be similarly nice because although I have already met two girls from the UK who are living in Ciudad Real, I'm very excited to meet others on the program.

Well, I'm needed for the last hour's class. Nos hablamos más pronto (we'll talk soon), and I'll be sure to add photos and such dentro poco (sometime soon).

Chau, chicos!

Abrazos,

-nick