I WOULD JUST LIKE TO COMMENT...

That it was supposed to snow yesterday and today. The school was expecting such horrible weather that they were discussing imminent school closure. Meanwhile, all of Europe is experiencing such a deadly "cold snap" that the weather is responsible for record lows and deaths from hypothermia in various countries, mostly in Eastern Europe.

AND THE FAMILY STILL HASN'T TURNED THE HEAT ON.

I awoke from my nap, fully clothed and freezing, under four blankets. It is viciously cold in the tundra today.

The weather in Fahrenheit. I assure you, it feels much colder when you look at the weather and it says "Feels like "-1."

At least (drum roll please!)....we are moving out on Sunday. Dana and I are taking the plunge and getting out while we still can retain our dignity, sanity, and 900 Euro a month rent. We are moving back to the hostel in Casco Viejo, where we will be each be saving 200 Euro. It will be a warmer environment in general, in terms of people and temperature.

We will be taking the Metro with another teacher who lives in that area, who leaves her car at a station and then drives to school.

The only downside is that we will no longer drive to school with the lovely family next door. We made cookies on Wednesday with the two girls. Naturally, converting an American recipe to Spanish measurements and using different ingredients turned out terribly wrong. The dough was soaked with butter for some reason, so we kept adding more flour, sugar, and vanilla. Eventually the cookies tasted ok, but they ended up turning rock solid the next day.

WE LOVE THEM!

They have just been so wonderful to us. They take us on trips with the family, have us over for dinner, talk about the education system. We're going to watch a movie at their house tomorrow night.

As for tonight, we have our last weekend in Bilbao, so we're probably going to go out. Tomorrow at 10:30 we head off to the gypsy market in Algorta with Dana's co-op, and on Sunday we visit the town of Plentzia.

WEEKEND YAY

"How was school today?" / "¿Qué tal al día?"

IT WAS GREAT! Thanks for asking.

Due to the aforementioned virus going around school, I got to substitute teach kindergarten today! I think I had the 3-5 year olds. They are probably the most adorable little children I've ever seen in my life. It is just a different world than teaching upper school. These kids hug you, hold your hand, and give you stickers after being acquainted for 20 minutes. They immediately accept your authority as a teacher, and love you for it. My own students still call me, "Miss uh..."

"Kelsey."

"Chelsea?"

"KEH-lsey."

"Miss Kelsey. I'm finished."

Then they hand me an empty page with a scribble on it.

"False."

There are two things that really struck me. 

1. The kids are allowed to use glitter, and they use TONS of it. It's the same in the art room. In my college classes, I was told to never let the kids use glitter. Number one rule, don't buy glitter! Don't even think about! It will be all over the floor and all over you. These are valid points. I track glitter through the hallways, along with smushed pink oil pastels and occasionally toilet paper (unrelated, though true). But here they are, five years old and pouring paste and glitter over every piece of paper they can get their hands on, loving every minute of it. It's great. I have to say, I'm a fan.

2. They have real playtime. Not fake playtime, in the States, where there are hovering mothers and teachers yelling, "Don't push, don't fight, don't color on the walls, etc." I took these kids to gym, which is this big room with all kinds of cushy shapes everywhere and a ladder on the wall and a coloring area, and a padded floor with a mirror. There's big balls and tubes to crawl through and steps and a big cushion thing to fall on. It's pretty cool. And they're just allowed to wreak havoc. Kids are climbing on ladders, on each other, wrestling, yelling, running. Totally hands off. Kids fall, they get back up, no big deal. They fight, they resolve it, whatever. That's the best part I think - how are kids supposed to learn conflict resolution if teachers and parents are constantly stepping in? The first time I pulled two boys apart and said, "Don't push," as I was trained to do, they looked at me with bewilderment, backed away slowly as they would from a lunatic, and then continued galavanting around the room. That's when I realized playtime is unrestricted, and I think it's good. They are that much calmer in class because of it.

I also had my 8th grade today, which went really well. I started off our lesson badly, I was being observed and I was nervous, and the kids were bored out of their minds sculpting the human figure with no direction. After we talked about superheroes, superpowers, and the sweet costumes they're going to design, they got really into it and were working really well. 

I had a lot of people, students and teachers, asking when we are leaving and I hate to say it, but in three and a half weeks! It's so soon. It doesn't help that we might have a snow day tomorrow and/or Friday. I won't get to start my lessons with 9th and 10th until next week, so I may not see them complete their projects.

This following statement is one I never thought I'd utter, but here I am:
I don't want a snow day!!!! I want to go to school.