Subtlety....Not Much of a Strength Here

Hola mis amigos! 

It has indeed been a little while since I have posted a blog for you to read. Bryndan and I are back in Barcelona - still dreaming about our time in Paris...or maybe it's just me doing that. 

Anyways, we are adjusted once again to our schedule and back at school teaching three days a week. The past two weeks have been full of bizarre moments - of course there isn't a day when something weird seems to happen to us. I'll go through a few things that have happened. 

1. The Pink Rice Krispie Phenomenon 

The staff at the school decided to throw a lunch (which really was more of a breakfast) at 11 AM a week or so ago. Our partner teacher requested that we bring something to share with everyone. While normally I would be all for this back home - what with a well-equipped kitchen and numerous pots and pans to whip up something tasty...I was a little more hesitant here. First of all, if I haven't already mentioned it - we have one hot plate, one pan, and one pot along with a small assortment of other kitchen tools. So what did we make you must be wondering? Well - we made a one pot wonder ....rice krispies! In the title of this wee paragraph it notes that they were pink. Yes - bubblegum pink in fact because they apparently don't have white marshmallows here..which leads me to believe that they have never experienced the campfire wonder that are smores. Too bad, too bad. 

So in we go to this lunch (given the fact that the break is only half an hour long it was more like a stuff your face while you try to look decent and say a few words to someone else kind of shindig) and everyone is quite puzzled by the pan of pink something sitting on the table. It was somewhat embarrassing given that no one knew what they were - and I'm really not convinced that they liked them.

So Bryndan and I ate half a tray of pink rice krispie squares during our prep that day. 

Which brings me to the next realization....

2. People Stare

Yes, it's a known fact in life - generally speaking - that people stare. Well in Spain, people stare for a good long time and here's the kicker...they don't seem to understand that you can see them staring at you! 

For instance...we went for pizza last night (man was it good!). Bryndan and I were sitting in a corner that was mostly hidden by walls on two sides therefore, if the person who decided to deliberately swing around in his chair to look at us actually wasn't looking at us - well then he was just staring at some pasta art on the wall. Yeah right. I'm not sure if he was amazed that I ate an entire pizza or that I liked extra ice in my sangria - I don't know! Nonetheless, it was awkward. I've learned to just stare right back. It doesn't seem to help. 

Other occasions at which people tend to stare at us: 

-walking down the street

-talking to people nearly our own age (shocking, I know) 

-walking down the street with a to go mug of tea at 5 in the morning

-eating a croissant on the train in the morning

I suppose they just aren't used to people eating....and walking.... hah. 

3. Chocolate and Churros - suck. 

Yes, I'm sorry but you did read that one right. We read the travel books, we mapped out the best churro eating spots, we found said churro spots, we waited in line for 20 minutes to sit in said restaurant and.....well usually someone says something about conquering the churros but in this case - we found, we tried and..................

we enjoyed our bottle of water more than the churros and chocolate. 

Disappointing EH??

Here's the thing - typically I don't go out just for chocolate so I suppose my outlook on the whole thing wasn't great to begin with. Secondly, Spanish hot chocolate is thick...kind of like fondue...but not sweet. Normally, this would suit me just fine because I like really dark chocolate - but this was just not good! Since churros are rather cheap - I am willing to try it again in the hopes that chocolate and churros can redeem themselves. 

Speaking of more food...

4. Cravings

I'm always amazed to hear from other people who travel talk about food cravings they have while they are gone. I mean really - there is probably a lot better food where you are as opposed to being at home. 

Well, apparently I was wrong because Bryndan and I seem to have mad cravings for things that we can't buy here. 

For example - maple syrup. How cliche. We made pancakes the other morning for breakfast to shake things up a little bit and I was eating said pancakes and realized, quite abruptly, that it really just wasn't the same without maple syrup! You can buy maple syrup here, but my goodness it's expensive. 

Next example is Kraft Dinner. Let me just preface this by saying that I rarely eat Kraft Dinner at home because it's so bad for you and what not, it goes on and on but at this moment in time - whatever! I don't care, I just want one bowl. Amazingly, there is an "American" food store a few blocks away and we are going to visit there tonight to see what 'home comforts' we can find. 

Yes, Spain has amazing food (too bad we don't know how to order! haha) but sometimes you just crave a taste of home - or a taste of every food available in Canada.....

5. Mice

I suppose the order of my blog topics isn't the best today as I'm sure you are thinking of Kraft Dinner right now and I'm going to start talking about unwelcome visitors. Alas, there are two animals - or categories of animals in the world that I absolutely cannot stand. And I mean I can't stand them as in I can't even look at pictures of them. These two categories are reptiles and rodents. Well guess what? We have mice in the apartment. I'm not handling it well. It also is amazing to me because we are on the third floor. Seriously. 

I don't even want to re-hash how I found this all out because it was such a traumatizing experience. In a nutshell, I was washing dishes and one ran on top of my foot. AH! That's all I can bear to talk about it. 

6. You're Probably Wondering.....about Teaching

Yes, it's not all just chocolate and awful churros here. We are teaching as well. I must say the kids - in small groups - are wonderful! The problem that we seem to encounter everyday, is that classroom management is almost non-existent in the classes Bryndan and I are involved with. Of course this generalization does not apply to every teacher we are in contact with - but there are numerous classes that prove to be so incredibly frustrating because we can see the potential oozing out of these students and yet it is masked by perhaps an unwillingness to contribute to the overall well-oiled machine like quality that a classroom can exude. For more details, you may look at any of my assignments which talk about educational ideas in more detail. 

Apart from this, Bryndan and I continue to learn innumerable amounts of things about education, the world and teaching - along with learning more about ourselves that will no doubt be of incredible use in our future jobs (fingers crossed - CBE announcements on Thursday!) 

Off to find me some Canadian food delights! 

B