"A computer in every classroom" and a statue of Cervantes in every city

Last Wednesday, CRA Valle de Bullaque, the school where I work, was given a very special honor: our humble cole (their nickname of endearment for colegio, the word for school) was to be made the place where the president of the region of Castilla-La Mancha, José María Barreda, would officially inagurate his campaign to place a new computer into every classroom throughout the region (note: both links are in Spanish). Needless to say, it was quite the event with much pomp, circumstance, and politiking. But before any of that could get underway, organized preparations were called for so that the school, already situated in a new and attractive building, could be made all the more so with, among other things, decorative hands and feet colored in by students and professors alike that adorned and scaled the perimeter of the halls next to signs that read "avanzamos juntos" and "growing together" (my personal, much thought about figurative translation for it).

The president was also to come into three classes in the school during his visit, each in a different wing of the building: one in the infantil wing (the pre-schoolers), one in the primer ciclo (first or second grade), and one in tercer ciclo (fifth or sixth grade), and I was to be in the second grade class, playing a game of Simon Says with the kids. Qué suerte tengo yo, ¿eh? (what luck, eh?)

The day before Barreda came, I went up to the class to explain and practice the game with them. I never imagined how difficult it would be to explain in English, much less explain it in Spanish, but I came prepared with notes on how I would do so and thankfully Zorida, the teacher, assisted my explanations very well.

Equally providential, the kids enjoyed the game -- as kids will any game I suppose -- and the following day, the "lesson" went off without a hitch... for me at least . It seemed that with all the excitement of having the president there... and the press... and their cameras and bright lights and all -- it was all too much for some of the kids who instead of following me just stared out dumbfounded at the whole production around us. It was still very cute and fun to be a part of. Check out this link to get a taste for how it went down.

After the day's very exciting and a bit over-stimulating proceedings -- including a fantastic tapas spread for the professors past and present of the cole -- I headed to Madrid to celebrate the Yom Kippur holiday with one of the congregations there, and also to enjoy some possible weekend excursioning. Thus, not only did I pass a day or two in Madrid, but I also broke the Yom Kippur fast on medieval-style treats in Alcalá de Henares during a festival honoring the birthday of Miguel de Cervantes of Don Quijote fame, and spent Saturday in Toledo with another friend from UMD before coming back yesterday to do laundry, clean my room, and return to the quotidian flow of life once more.

Speaking more or less of Cervantes, this man seems to be a bigger deal here in Spain than George Washington is in the United States, because he is adored and celebrated in every town in this country. At least, that is, in Madrid and in Castilla-La Mancha where there is a statue of the laureate, a plaza in his name, or both. And no two statues are the same. In Alcalá de Henares, his birthplace, he stands magestically on a pillar, plumed feather pen in hand; in Toledo he stands tall and lean, book under his bronzed arm, looking out at the masses that come up the steep city street; and in Ciudad Real, peculiarly enough, he is seated in a lavish chair... just chillin' it would appear. It's very funny.

Finally, a word on Toledo before I sign off. Once the capital of the Spanish empire, Toledo still commands a sort of royal splendor and continues to tempt and inspire many a traveler, both local and foreign alike to its gates. Our bus ride into town was preceded and escorted in by a substantial downpour, but thankfully by the time we left the bus at the Plaza de Zocodover the rains had subsided, and by lunchtime the sun had even begun to make its way through the clouds. I highly recommend it to anyone staying for a few days in Madrid or the surrounding area, but then again, I would also recommend that you come see me while you're around.

I leave you with some photos taken of my last week's adventures. Nos vemos!

-Nick

(the above photos from l to r: statues of Cervantes in Alcalá and in Toledo)

the tapas spread from Wednesday's luncheon

Justin engages a bakery merchant in Alcalá

the best Don Quijote impersonator I ever did see

the best Sancho Panza impersonator i ever did see (comes with free sheepskin flask!)

views from Toledo: inside an old convent turned museum and from one of the many wonderful hilltop vistas

THIS. IS. TOLEDO!!!

a little color in a town of weathered stone

from the Museo Sefardí (Museum of Judeo-Spanish History)

Exploring Madrid

Not to overcrowd this blog, but I've seen and done so much I wanted to share.

To start with, on Tuesday I did a self-guided tour of Madrid with some other girls on the program. We started at one end of Madrid, Calle O'Donnell, where our hotel was, and ended up on the other side at the Palacio Real, or the Royal Palace. Our first stop was the Parque del Retiro, sort of like Madrid's Central Park. They have a large man-made lake called an estanque as well as the only statue to the devil and a crystal palace. Next we stopped by the Prado museum, which houses Spanish greats like Goya and Velasquez. After that we got hungry so we headed up to the trendy Sol district in the center of Madrid and stopped for churros and chocolate, basically a cup of thick hot chocolate and some sweet fried bread that you dip in it. We continued on to the Plaza Mayor, the largest plaza in Madrid, and the Palacio Real before getting tired out and heading back.

The Hotel Convencion where the Spanish government housed us was excellent. They served us breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day we were there, including highlights like steak and potatoes and chocolate mousse. Yum! On Wednesday we had orientation, which was long, boring, and uneventful, except for my learning that I am now in a different school than I had originally thought.

Afterwards I went out with some new friends I had made this week. Our original plan was to go on a pub crawl but we ended up going to an awesome Cuban bar in the Sol district, though not before walking down the puta calle (need I translate?). Prostitution is legal in Spain, and there were tons of women and girls of all ages pushing their wares. One even offerred a free preview to a potential customer right in front of us! After the shock wore off it just made me really sad to see so many beautiful young girls who had to resort to that.

On a more pleasant note, today I finally made it to my town. I arrived around 8:30 at night, so I can't see much, but my apartment is great. It smells a little odd but it is spacious and has marble or granite floors, a living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry room, two full bathrooms, and three bedrooms. I get the big bedroom because it's pink (lucky me!) and my own bathroom, so no cleaning up after messy boys. I walked down to the water with Brandon, one of my roommates, and put my feet in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time. The water is cool but warm enough to swim in tomorrow. I can't wait! We walked around town checking things out and getting our bearings and then had a nice (late) dinner of tapas at a great local restaurant, sitting on a mosaic-covered table outside on the steps of a street-turned-dining room. And better yet, I get free wi-fi from my balcony so I can update you all about my adventures! To see pictures check out my facebook photo album.

Until next time,

Laurita

Seeing the light

My flight left Dulles airport at 7:00 pm EST and I arrived in Madrid about 13 hours later. Sick with a cold and hopped up on Sudafed, I felt like death by the time I arrived at my hostel here. They're doing construction on the building and when I walked in there was no one around and the place was covered in dusty marble and sheets of plywood. Exasperated, I called out "hello" about twenty times until an annoyed manageress told me to come up to the third floor, which in Spain is actually the fourth floor, and I think by that time I had lost all my ability to speak Spanish.
Long story short, I slept for about 6 hours and then went downstairs to get some dinner (I hadn't eaten since the flight to London Heathrow, my layover stop). There was a really cute tapas bar downstairs from the hotel and it was crowded with fans watching a soccer game. Standing there felt just like being in Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and even Maryland. Things were looking up.
Not an hour later, other things started coming up too. Let's just say my digestive system still dislikes Spain even if my heart is willing to give it a chance. I spent the entire night sick and finally at some hour before sunrise I fell asleep again. I woke up around 3:00 pm (remember Dad I'm still jet lagged too!) and decided it was time to see some Spain, so I got dressed, and feeling much better, headed out to buy some food that I recognized. My first awake and alert impressions of Madrid are fantastic. The buildings are the type I've seen in movies- tall apartments with wrought-iron balconies, there are little pastelerias with the most mouth-watering cakes and pastries in the windows, and people sit at sidewalk cafes smoking and drinking espressos. It's sunny and warm outside and now that I have left my dark hostel bed and my sickness behind, I'm truly enjoying the light.

Meet Nick (and First Impressions of Madrid)

 Hello one and everyone! As I've been explaining in countless e-mail and other written correspondences to people and organizations in Spain in recent months, I'm Nick Burka, a recent graduate of the University of Maryland who comes to España to participate in an English teaching fellowship through the Spanish government's Ministry of Education. It's a mouthful, but that's really the long and short of the job. Specifically, I'll be living in Ciudad Real, a moderate-sized town two hours south of Madrid (I'll come back later and spruce up this entry with links and photos a-plenty), and teaching at a small primary school located about a thirty minutes drive outside of said town.

Currently, I'm sitting in the spacious living room of a hostel in Madrid, planning the itinerary of my second afternoon here. It's incredibly surreal being actually here, when for days, weeks, and months prior it had all been talk and discussion. During the fall semester of my junior year at UMD, I went on an university-sponsored progam in Buenos Aires, so I'm not new to the idea or the general feel of living abroad, but this is very different. For one I'm in Spain, not Argentina. Obviously.

Second of all, I am not studying, per se, but rather acting as a teacher in training. Therefore, my role in the classroom is inherently different and I'm being granted a modest monthly stipend for my services.

Which leads me to my third point, and perhaps the most pressing issue at present: the finacial situation, or more specifically, room & board during the eight+ month adventure. The program guidelines and provisos state that we, the language assistants, are required to find our own manner of housing. We can, however, ask the help of people from the school where we will be placed in order to make the search and acquisition easier. Regardless, I was not lucky enough to finalize living arrangements before arriving in Madrid, and so much of today, tomorrow, and possibly the two days following will be reserved for searching. Being in the country, however, makes it much easier to go about this than before when I was only able to communicate through e-mail correspondence and the occasional skype conference.

And that's what's been up. I took a good long stroll around some of central Madrid yesterday afternoon and evening, again I'll come back through and post some photos (or just save them for a later entry),  and it's been very neat. My Spanish is faring well enough, I suppose, though I do become jittery and uncomfortable if I feel that I'm making too many mistakes about word-choice. All in a day's work of course, but I'm optimistic, as I should be, that within a few weeks, I'll have entered a new, more well-established confidence in my ability.

Hasta luego, che (nunca voy a perder la influencia de las experiencias porteñas - i'm never going to be able to forget the influence of my experiences in Buenos Aires)

abrazos,

-Nick