Please check this out:

     My amazing friend Kara sent me something earlier today that I haven't been able to get out of my head - Nicholas Kristof's Advice for Saving the World. Please give it a read.

     Kristof, a prominent human rights columnist for the NYT, is probably best known these days for his coverage of Darfur. He points out that he often struggles with finding the right angle to strike home the point he's trying to make in his stories - something I remember always having an issue with in my own work (which pales in comparison - both in context and ability - to his).

     In this article, he makes the depressing, yet obvious point that we've been conditioned as a society to not respond humanistically to horrific tales of genocide when told on a massive scale. And he's right. 
     Two years ago, Kara and I went to Cornell with a few friends to listen to him speak about activist journalism, which drew an embarrassingly small crowd. About halfway through his speech, he presented a slideshow of his travels in Darfur, and stopped to point out a stone-faced, 9-year old boy who had his leg hacked off in guerilla warfare; or a weak, smiling 12-year old girl who was recovering from a gang rape by Janjaweed militia. I remember him noticing the number of people - probably including myself - who had straightened up in our chairs. "Ah," he said. "I've finally gotten your attention."

Photo by Nicholas Kristof, taken from a Dec. 5, 2008 National Geographic Adventure article

     Now, in the hope to garner public awareness for the greater good, he suggests that aid groups should invest time and energy toward a marketing strategy similar to what major corporations spend each year to promote a damn can of soda. This will take significant amounts of revenue, which many aid orgs. are already severely lacking, but donor juggernauts like George Clooney and Oprah already seem to have gotten behind this kind of humanitarian cash promotion. It may seem dangerous, or even unethical to mix such business with non-profit, aid organizations, but then again we've become a culture that only responds to flash-pan marketing, so who's to say it can't hurt to try. Any thoughts?

Colder weather, and the holidays that come with it

     November practically flew by, which is terrifying to me. It's already a week into December, and our jam-packed holiday vacation is fast approaching. I should probably get my hands on a guidebook to start looking into what to do in Berlin (i.e.), besides walk through beautiful Christmas markets crying into my pint glass (yes, I'll be allowed to walk through the streets drinking, I hope) because I miss my family. 
     But seriously! The season has finally changed from summer to a weird fusion of fall-like temperatures with wintery-themed visuals: trees are losing their leaves, Christmas lights are abound, the local shopping center is impossible to walk through without getting mowed down by a frantic Spanish family either missing one last crucial shopping item on their list, or a child. 
     PUES! In the States when it starts to chilly in October/November we at least have Thanksgiving to look forward to. Jules and I had started preparing ourselves for the fact that we wouldn't be partaking in this year's festivities way back in September, but still.. as the day approached and I talked to more of my friends from home who had started fasting that Monday to prepare to ingest some 5,000+cals between Wednesday-Thursday evening, I couldn't help but feel a little self-pity. My two aunts actually CRIED when they found out that I was alone at my piso on Thanksgiving for cripessake! (Jules was on her way home from a private lesson! I was Skyping with them before they went to celebrate with the rest of my family) On Thanksgiving night, we celebrated with wine and popcorn, which was sufficient enough for us seeing that we had to teach the next day and preferred a resaca (hangover) in place of a food coma.
     Still, we began inquiring among our British/Spanish friends if they would, in fact, enjoy celebrating such a feast with us in a setting that included both an oven and living room? (Our piso lacks both). Jill, a local business owner of Torres, a private English learning center in Ecija, volunteered to host all of us out at her home in the country where there would be a large oven and enough space to seat at least 20 of us. Our friend Natalie, who works at Torres with Jill, volunteered to let us use her oven the night before to cook up our signature dishes: for me it was my aunt's sweet-potato casserole and grandmother's sweet rolls.
     Sunday came, and it was such a success! I think the official count was at 17 people: two of my students were there, haha - I tried several times unsuccessfully to push my sweet-potato casserole on them. Pues, nada. Such is life!

The feast: a 7-lb. chicken (stores in Spain don't put out giant turkeys until Christmas); my sweet-potato casserole, Jules' homemade cranberry sauce; steamed green beans with almonds; migas, a lovely Spanish take on stuffing here; rolls and pureed "mashed" potatoes that we butchered with Nat the night before. 

Jules pushing more food on Nat

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After the Thanksgiving weekend, December was here and Christmas began to take hold of Ecija. Last weekend, we were treated to our first medieval festival. I think I mentioned earlier that Ecija is an old Baroque town with a dozen ancient churches.. anyway, this fair comes once a year - there were all kinds of yummy, homemade treats including crepes, cookies from the nunnery and sushi. Yes, you read that correctly. See for yourself!

The medieval fair

My favorite light display in Ecija - and it's right down our street!

CREPES!

PYROTECHNIC Nativity display! Sans caganer, unfortunately.

Palm trees in the salon getting jazzy for the holidays.

Of course, it wouldn't be Christmas for me without decorating every square inch of my apartment.

Move over, Mr. Hanky

Caganer: a defecating Christmas character usually placed in the traditional Spanish Nativity in Barcelona.

     I can't wait to see these! Apparently they make different figurines based on popular celebrities and public figures - yes, there's even an Obama one! I'll probably be buying a caganer for both of my grandparents' sets. They're sure to love them. Read more about why a 99% Catholic country would place such a figurine in a beloved Christmas scene - along with other fun traditions that I can't wait to bare witness to - here.

Christmas Vacation!

     
We have finally settled on destinations for our Christmas Euro-trip!

Barcelona>Berlin>Vienna>Prague>Frankfurt!

More deets to come in the next few days.

We got tagged, son!

  

     This happened about a week ago. A little background to set this up: Jules had run into an awkward situation with one of her private lessons when she found out he was blowing off her class with weak excuses and pocketing her teaching money (unbeknownst to his mother). He eventually got so lazy that he didn't bother to call on Thursday - Jules waited around for him for an hour, calling his phone and his mother's. He finally answered and when she tried to ask him where he was, he just laughed at her and hung up the phone. Suffice to say, she was pretty miffed. She was able to get his home phone number from a mutual student (who confirmed that this kid basically sucks - I pointed this out as a likely possibility way back when he told her that Franco was "good for the country"). Anyway, the mom was clueless/mortified to find out he was pulling a fast one on all of us, and must have gone postal on him - forcing him to show up the next day for a makeup class.

     Cue my walk home from lessons last Friday. I come home to find this work of chalk-art on our front door. Adorable. I immediately thought of Jules' less-than-precious (and probably vengeful) student, but she said the class had actually gone pretty well. We also spotted several other phallic, chalk designs around town, so there's no way to tell.

     But still, I mean c'mon. This kid is a spoiled, rich brat who was caught red-handed and probably disciplined for the first time in his life. He was out for blood, which in his 15-year old mind takes the form of washable genitalia graffiti. I rest my case. He's lucky that I'm not his teacher. Just sayin'..

Julia & Julia..and well, I bought the booze.

     We have officially hosted not just one, but TWO successful dinner parties! We're so domesticated. Hurrah!
     The first was a while back - we invited a few friends over for our first homecooked meal in Ecija. We did some hefty grocery shopping and Jules whipped into chef-mode to create quite the lovely feast. Gotan Project (if you haven't given them a listen, I highly suggest it!) was playing to set the ambience as tea lights burned softly and dangerously in the background. I whirled around the dining room like a good hostess should, pouring drinks for guests with one hand and drinking out of my own wine bottle with the other. Jules slaved away in the kitchen because she's the true cooking master out of the two of us, and her efforts paid off. We had an amazing first meal.
     A quick recap:
In attendance were Jules and I myself (claro), Sara, one of my teachers at Astigi and her boyfriend, Augustine, and Becca, a Canadian au pair in Ecija. Vera made a cameo appearance toward the end, which added to the night's events.

     On the menu:

Aceitunas rellenas (stuffed olives), fresh fruits and vegetables, and a LOT of wine

Mmm, ensalada mixta (fresh lettuce, tomato, olive, onion, tuna, oil & vinegar)

Left to right: Pincho de pollo (chicken in a curry-like seasoning), berejenas con miel (eggplant marinated in onions with balsamic dressing and HONEY!) and pincho de cerdo (pork in a spicier curry seasoning).

Left to right: Sara, Becca, Jules and I at our first dinner

Second dinner: Jules managed to outdo herself with the help of her brother, Cory, and his girlfriend, Nicole. This time it was stuffed peppers with spinach, cheese, rice and meat; beet salad with toasted walnuts, goat cheese and a vinegar dressing; heaps and heaps of carbs and of course, plenty of wine.

Shout out!

Told ya I'd do it, buddy! Don't misunderestimate me, haha. Miss you!

Sarah Palin, mentor and pro-choice enthusiast

"Seño! Can I go to the toilets, please?"

     Time to lay it on the line - teaching has so far been an incredible experience for me. I am ashamed that I have neglected to keep this blog up-to-date, but I'm molded to work on deadlines, and this lifestyle technically has none, which reflects poorly on my own ability to commit and follow through with even the littlest of things...
     PUES that said, I love my job. Period. I was a little worried from the start that I would step into my first classroom (which is ironically held outside - P.E.) and panic after realizing that I had no interest in or calling to be working with children...but it's been entirely the opposite. I've never felt more needed. I've spent almost six years working toward a career that I've always tried to aim in a direction that would bring me closer to fulfillment - only to gain little to no ground.
     This is different, maybe because I've approached it with the opposite attitude? Regardless, I can't even explain how great it feels to be directly involved in (I hate to say it as it's a cliche and everything, but..) molding the minds of tomorrow. In Spain. This job is perfect for me - I tend to get extremely restless if I settle into any sort of repetitious form - whether it be work-related or relationships - but the best thing about my work is there is something new every day.
     Wednesday, when my week "officially starts" at C.E.I.P. Astigi, is my "little" day. I start off in P.E. for two periods with both first-grade classes and then head to music class with 2B. Normally I would have a break between 12-12:30 pm while the kids attend "recreo" but I skip that to work with Marta, one of the English teachers, with 4B for a half hour. After that, we run around to our three last English classes: 3A, 4A and 3B in a time span of 45 minutes. It sounds like a lot, but working with 3- and 4-year olds doesn't require a lot of time since they're about to drop from nap deprivation so it goes quickly but efficiently.

    Thursdays are a little more diverse. I start in my 3A English class - Sara is 25-years old and from nearby Cordoba. This is her first year teaching at Astigi, and I have to say that she's an incredible teacher. Her strategy in class is professional, yet relatable to the kids. Plus it doesn't hurt that she and I have similar likes and dislikes, so we gel well in and out of the classroom. After that I cross the hall to the 3B class for music class with Tere (who is also the vice principal). She's a veteran teacher and absolutely incredible at her job. I work with her in private lessons on Friday afternoons to improve her English, and I've gotten to know her pretty well - she's an extremely talented musician and singer who is married with two children (both who I have at Astigi); it's impressive to work with her and see how she's streamlined her love for music into teaching to correlate to her family life. I'm inspired by her.. PUES, after music I run down to be with my 1B class for English. 
     Aside: I know you're not supposed to have favorites, but I have to say that both of my first-grade classes are my favorite to teach. I could be having the most shit-morning ever and they could - and do - bring me out of it every time. There is something so beautiful about their raw vulnerability and innocent curiosity toward life. They haven't yet been corrupted by war or politics, crushed by love, or just plain disappointed by life. The cloud always has a silver lining for them - and their enthusiasm is infectious. They're a little slow on the uptake at times when it comes to retaining English, but their genuine intrigue and approach to having me in the classroom is what makes me feel like I'm in the right place finally at the right time in my life. I can see them growing into their own personalities every day; this has to be one of my favorite aspects of teaching, hoping that I somehow can aid or play a part in this even in the smallest iota. 30+ plus kids who were strangers to me two months ago I would now do anything for! 
     After English class, we have the half-hour break in the teacher's lounge where I can suck down a cafe con leche (on Fridays it's usually an espresso, lol) and make photocopies for class or private lessons. Then I meet up with Sara again for our  final classes of the day, 4A and 5B English. These are trickier classes for me because many of the kids are at that awkward, self-conscious stage in their development where they feel the need to be snide with teachers and downright cruel to each other. A lot of this can be attributed to hyperactivity - learning disabilities like ADD/ADHD tend to go undiagnosed here in Spain -  and I'm hoping that as time passes and the kids become more accustomed to Sara and I, they'll settle into a more comfortable routine with us.
     Friday is my "old" day with a brief hiatus, or breath of fresh air, with 2A. First I begin with 6A and 6B back-to-back with the director of the school, Santiago. These are definitely two of my favorite classes to teach because these are the oldest students, so they kind of have their heads on straight. Classes are structured tightly by Santiago, but are also fun and engaging. After that I have 2A English with Sara, the "recreo" break, and 1A English with Lola. Again, with the first graders, it's such a fun class..my final class is 5A with Raul, a younger teacher from Cordoba. His English is really good, so it makes it easier for me to work off of him in class. His kids are much more well-behaved than Sara's (probably because they've had him for an extra year), so it's an engaging class to work with - and it's always nice when we can goof around. I especially had a fun Halloween with them because Raul was out of town so I was basically left in charge of the kids - dressed head-to-toe in a witch costume (who takes a witch seriously?) We had a blast making Halloween masks. I brought in my carved pumpkin and blasted "Thriller" ..about 1,000 times on repeat..and afterward when the bell rang and everyone had stampeded out the door, one of the girls caught me before I left and told me how much she appreciated the class. That in itself was worth walking through town with witch hat-hair and sore feet from scaling the stairs all day in my black boots.
     So overall, this has begun as an amazing experience. I'm obviously learning the small-town politics that plague every school, but I am learning to adapt to the school system here and above all things, love my job. Period. I will leave you with some Halloween pictures of my students:

Jules and I carving our pumpkins for "school"/our own personal nostalgic needs.

Sara came over to help/witness our pagan traditions.

My finished pumpkin, Jack!

Sara and I with our 3B class on Halloween.

1B class

1A, face paint included.

4A with their masks!

6A on the Friday before Halloween!

5A 

Update: Life in Ecija so far

Almost a month has passed since Jules and I first arrived in Ecija, and already so much has happened. It’s been a whirlwind of events: finding a piso; contacting our schools and arranging our teaching schedules with the bilingual coordinators; getting a feel for the city itself…

I will say, at times it was slightly overwhelming, but overall the transition into life here in Ecija has been amazing. I cannot, cannot, CANNOT say this without accrediting our amazing landlady, Maria, who with the help of her family have indirectly held our hands through every tiny issue we’ve had to face as new residents in Ecija. 

First there is the piso. It’s incredible. We literally have three floors to ourselves. 

The first-floor walkup enters into a living room and small, adjacent kitchen (with a washing machine wedged in normally where you would find the dish washer!).

There is a small front terrace off of the living room that looks out over Puerta Osuna. Our bedrooms are up on the second floor - Jules won the larger room fair and square, which has a large armario for clothes and a full-size bed. My room is attached, with another full closet (which of course, I have taken complete advantage of) and a twin-sized bed.

My room.

 There is a full bath upstairs, and we have another small terrace outside of Jules’ bedroom. The best part is our rooftop terrace! Since it’s extremely uncommon to own a dryer at home, most people have terraces, or places to hang their laundry. I have to say that we landed a terrace on the larger scale of ones that I’ve seen in Spain. We haven’t really utilized it to our advantage yet, but we want to get some lights and other fun things to spruce it up and make it more homey. It also provides a great view of several torres in Ecija.

Snapshots of the new life

Nothing too new to report just yet, Jules and I are just enjoying our free time wandering around and getting to know the city before school starts on Oct. 1. I've been making a conscious effort to take more photographs of Ecija to share with everyone. Here are a few more snapshots:

I believe this was taken somewhere on Calle Carmen, an old street near the town center that is encompassed by old palace walls from the Baroque-period (Santiago shared this with me).

Various photos of the ayuntamiento, or town center.

Museo Histórico Municipal de Écija, a former Palacio de Benamejí.

A small square opposite the Museo Histórico Municipal.

Private parque entrance near Calle Miguel de Cervantes.

Écija

A town approximately 80 kms northeast of Sevilla en route to Cordoba, Ecija holds a population of 44,000. Well - 44,002 as of Monday morning. Jules and I arrived in what is endearingly referred to as the "frying pan of Andalucia" after finishing up orientation training for our positions as language and cultural assistants under the Junta de Andalusia in Sevilla. From far away, Écija appears simple enough - a cluster of houses and church steeples set up on a hill surrounded completely by countryside; the Spanish consider it one of their many "pueblos blancos" towns found in the south.

I won't lie. I was slightly apprehensive when our bus pulled into the station and dropped us off with our lifetime supply of luggage in this tiny town. We rolled our things to the local hotel that we had arranged to stay at, and took a nice three-hour nap. By the time we got up, it was well past noon. We decided to take a stroll around town after picking up a map from the concierge, and found the town COMPLETELY DESERTED. Granted, it was the middle of siesta - a period of time during mid-afternoon when Spanish schools, businesses and most shops close up from 2-5 pm - but I mean it when I say that NOTHING was open. We started to get a little concerned, but pressed on. As we went deeper into the city center (a matter of several hundred meters; the entire length of the town can be walked in approximately 20 minutes), the streets became tinier and harder to navigate. To make matters worse, we were hardly running into anyone else walking around. I began to panic a bit. 

FINALMENTE we were able to find the town center, or ayuntamiento, thanks to Jules' map navigation skills, and discovered that a.) restaurants and modern stores do exist! and b.) they had reopened. After about three hours, we had covered almost the entire city on foot. I had arranged a meeting with my school's director the next day, so we headed back to the hotel to get some rest.

Tuesday was definitely the turning point for us. We got up early to visit my school, CEIP Astigi, where we met my director, Santiago. He went over my schedule for the school year, which is AMAZING. Before I get into it, I want to defend myself here (hah). Our contract with the Junta de Andalusia states that we can only work a set number of hours (12) based on what they are able to pay us (700 euro/month) - still, I am extremely thankful, because we've heard that other English assistant-based government programs have been scaled back severely in different countries. Most people try to find private tutoring jobs on the side as an extra form of income. (Santiago has already asked me to work with his two daughters in high school!)

As for my school schedule, I will be working three days a week (Wed-Fri) from 9 am-1 pm. Believe me, seeing it on paper myself made me want to laugh in disbelief. I had no idea what to expect - I knew I could only work 12 hours at the school, but I wasn't sure if I would be in an English classroom or had to travel to different classes to work with the different age levels: the latter is what it seems most likely to be. I will be working with 3-year olds!!!! (I-3 English) all the way up to the 11-year olds in the equivalent of what the United States recognizes as fifth grade. Plus! I'm going to be working with multiple teachers in different subjects! I am only teaching English to the 3- and 4-year olds, but from first to fifth grade, I get to work with the students in English, music, science (...) and P.E. class! I met my bilingual studies teacher, Jose, who I'll be preparing coursework with. It turns out that his English skills are very minimal, which might prove to be "interesting" at first, but at the same time it will give me a much more hands-on approach to this experience, and allow for my Spanish to improve intensively (I hope).

My first day isn't until Oct. 1, so once I was given my schedule, Santiago sent us off in the direction toward Julia's high school where she'll be working, Nicolas Copernico. We met her coordinator, Angela, who was also wonderfully helpful and is basically fluent in English. She's already invited us to stay with her at her home in Sevilla whenever we feel like it, which we will probably take her up on. Right before we left the high school, we wrote down a few numbers for apartment listings in the area. Ideally, we both felt it would be good for us to live with Spaniards - but after looking at a few different options yesterday and today, we settled on a 2-bedroom piso together close to the center of the city! It's literally a five-minute walk from both my school and the ayuntamiento. The best part is that it has a huge terrace on the roof, which Jules and I plan to use AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE = reading, eating, yoga, tomando copas after a "long" day at work, hah - I might even try my hand at painting if I can get back into drawing. We're moving in tomorrow, so pictures will follow once we settle in and get set up! 

I have to say that the entire process in which we went about finding an apartment is such a signature of the Andalusian lifestyle here. We cold-called all of the listings and were able to look at the places that same day. My director at the school insisted on coming with us to show us a place he had found on his own free time, and to make sure that everything was legit. The owners of the apartments also expected us to make a decision in the ten minutes it took to look at the apartment - not because they were impatient or wanted to screw us over (like many of the situations I encountered when finding a place in New York City), but because they knew we were basically homeless and need a place fast. The woman, Maria, who we will be renting from illustrates this in the truest sense. When I called her today to tell her we decided to rent from her, she literally let out a "whoop" into the phone and said she was thrilled to have us (more or less, in Spanish), and that she would get right to cleaning our piso for us to move in tomorrow. So we are over at least the first small hill that comes with settling into a new town. We still have to tackle some legal paperwork that will allow us to stay and work in Spain legally (we already have a temporary, student visa to be here, but in order to extend it so that we can stay for the full school year, we have to fill out a permiso de resistencia).

That's all for now. I'll leave you with a few photos that I've taken of the town. They aren't much, but I plan to take more this weekend. I'm also planning to do a blog on food and cooking (Julia Child-style, meaning drinking while cooking), so look forward to that!

Walking through the Parque de Andalucia in Ecija. Not too fertile, but we'll take what we can get.

Views from the Iglesia de Santa Maria