This morning, Kevin, the Language Assistant from Kentucky, gave a PowerPoint presentation about his town and his family in the United States.  (I was hoping it would be a Prezi, but it was just a PowerPoint.)  It was quite interesting, but the lights were off and the class was quiet because everybody was listening to Kevin.  I started getting sleepy and I was yawning a lot.  

So, Javier and Pablo told me to lie down on the desk and they covered me with a sweatshirt!  And I had the best mid-morning nap ever!!!!  Thank goodness I was at the back of the class and Kevin didn't see me!!!

Scaffy

Fun Sports with Gabriel!

This afternoon I went with Gabriel to his house.

               

We were doing skateboard and he was helping me to do the basic movement, the ollie.  Really I do this very well and I like it a lot.

After this, we went to the gym because he goes to taekwondo and he invited me to practice this sport.  I learned to defend myself against the people who want to attack me.

               

And Gabriel presented to me his friends, Quique, Alejandro, Pedro and Anando... They were very nice with me and I was very happy.

This day was great, but I am very tired, and it is the hour to go to bed.

Good night!

Weekend with Laura

Hi! I am here again! This Saturday I went with Laura to eat cocido madrileño.

       

We went to a restaurant called La Taberna de la Daniela, a very famous restaurant in Madrid.

This typical food has three parts, the soup, the vegetables and the meat.

                             

                                   It was yummy and the thing I liked most was the soup.

         

As dessert we ate milhojas, which is made of hojaldre (or puff pastry in English), cream and custard.

Is one of the most delicious desserts I've ever eaten!

   

In the afternoon Laura and me went to a mall with Patricia....

     

.... and we bought a lot of things, like make-up and clothes.

We have an amazing afternoon!

 On Sunday we didn't do anything special but we sleep until late and we play some table games and cards. 

It has been a really funny weekend!

But on Monday morning I had headache and had to remain in bed.

At the end of the day I really wanted to return to school to see everyone.

Scaffy.

A Day with Raquel

Hello! I´d like to tell you that on November 22 I could spend a day with Raquel. We did a lot of things, and I had a great time.

We got home when we finished classes, at lunchtime. She didn’t want to tell me what we were going to do, because it was a surprise. 

                     

When I came into the kitchen, it smelled really good. Soon I realized that her grandmother had made the famous “paella” she promised! It looked awesome, and it had every ingredient you can imagine: prawns, pepper, mussels, squid, green peas… and a lot of yellow rice! The “paella” was really nice, and I even had seconds. I also noticed that Spanish people love bread with their meals, and I liked it too. For dessert, she gave me a coke “chupa chups”, like a lollipop, and I loved it too.

After having lunch and resting for a while, she had another surprise for me.

           

                                         

Suddenly she appeared with a very colorful suit, with two castanets and a white rose. She explained to me that it was a typical Spanish flamenco dress. I loved wearing it and learning how to dance the “sevillanas”. It was so funny and we had a great time!

Furry Friends

Last night Mar took me home and we had a great time together doing lots of things. 

                              

She made a picnic in her room and the other animals were invited.  We ate typical Spanish food like "serrano ham" and "manchego cheese".  I loved them and I told her that I will be glad to take some with me when I leave Spain. 

                        

 I made new friends like Theodor, her squirrel.  

                          

And a very special friend called Sheepy.   We really liked each other.  I met Mar's family and they liked me a lot.  They kept saying I was so cute!

Bye for now!

My Weekend with Olivia

On Friday afternoon after English class at school, Olivia headed towards me with a huge smile across her face and told me that I was going to spend that weekend with her. I was really excited! After saying goodbye to Zuzanna and the other students, my new friend and I returned walking to her house.

There I met Olivia’s younger brother, Jacob. He was even more excited than me! He hugged me and started talking really quickly. The three of us spent the whole afternoon and part of the evening talking and, before dinner, Olivia and I read a few chapters of her favourite book, Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince (in English of course!)

On Saturday I helped Olivia with her homework and afterwards we both rested because we were really tired. Then, in the late afternoon, we went sightseeing! 

We saw famous monuments like the “Puerta de Alcalá”, Colón’s Square.... 

.....and, next to the City Hall, the Cibeles’ Fountain (Where Real Madrid, the Spanish football team, celebrates its victories!)  We took a lot of pictures but I could only upload some of them because there were too many! That night we didn’t read because we were exhausted!

On Sunday we had pancakes with syrup and cream for breakfast (yummy!) and I read a little more of the book while Olivia finished her homework. 

                                           

That afternoon was fantastic! We had “churros” with hot chocolate, a typical Spanish dish that’s eaten when it’s very cold. It was delicious! As you can see in the photo I uploaded, behind me and the “churros” there’s a Cibeles Fountain replica just of my size!

I had great fun this weekend!

The SCAFenger Hunt

I had so much fun at school today!  The kids in my class are just great!  They're so friendly and always so happy.  After just one week I feel as if I've known them forever.  

                         

Guess what we did in English class!  We did an Internet SCAFenger Hunt!  (I had always thought it was a scavenger hunt, but I guess I was wrong.).  It was all about Ireland, so for me it was really easy.  When Zuzanna wasn't looking I helped my friends with the answers! 

                     

While everybody was working I opened up the chocolates, biscuits and cake that I had brought from Linz and passed them around to all my friends.  They said they were delicious and they said thank you about a hundred times.  What a great idea it was to bring something for them!  I'm so glad my friends at the Petrinum helped me choose what to bring.  

                    

Then Beatriz, another English teacher, came into the computer room and was so surprised to see the party we were having.  She tried some Linzer Torte and loved it.  The reason why I've got such a big smile in the photo with Beatriz is because she told me that she was going to take me to her Kindergarten class and introduce me to Cheeky Monkey!  A furry friend!  I can't wait!

This weekend I'm going to Olivia's house.  I'll tell you all about it on Monday!

Bye,

Scaffy 

Siestas are great!

Last night I was at Kiko's house.  

I was so tired when we got home after school that Kiko suggested that I try one of my first Spanish traditions; the SIESTA J

When I woke up I felt better and I found Kiko doing some homework. 

                                           I wanted to help him but I'm not very good at mathematics.

After that I wanted to learn how to cook Spanish food and when we were arriving to the kitchen I saw Kiko's  ps3… I asked him if I could play call of duty because everyone in class was talking about it. 

                                                                          And to his surprise I won!  

                                  

                             Then we played a little bit with his skateboard and we had the dinner.  

I had a nice day and I hope he had it too. 

Scaffy

At Home with Sylvia

                       

Last night  I was with Sylvia.  The first thing we did was to go to her house to eat Spanish omelette with ham.  Later I watched her playing volleyball with Patricia.  After doing some homework and studying we had dinner and watched the football match of Spain against Panama.  I had a great day!!!!! 

The Strike

You wouldn't believe what happened today!  There was a General Strike in all of Spain!  When I arrived at school this morning the kids told me that probably no teachers would come to work today! Yippee!

So, there I was, just relaxing and looking forward to a great day when all of a sudden the door opened and Rafa, the Spanish teacher, came in.  He stopped, looked at me angrily and started talking. I don't understand Spanish yet but from the tone of his voice I knew exactly what he was saying.  He was saying, "Sit properly and open your book!"  Oh, oh.  I didn't get off to a good start with Rafa, did I?  I'll have to work hard in his class and learn Spanish quickly so that I can make a better impression on him.

Guess what!  In Spain the kids call their teachers by their first name!   Isn't that funny?  They don't even know their teachers' surnames.  So my teachers are Rafa, Marisa, Toñi (isn't that "ñ" a cool letter?!), Marta and Zuzanna.  I haven't met the others yet.

Can you believe that this afternoon my new friends were fighting over who was going to take me home tonight?!  I felt a little bad that they were arguing, but I also felt good because they made me feel important.  Tonight I'm staying at Sylvia's and tomorrow at Kiko's.

Great!  I can hear Sylvia calling me for dinner.  I'm really hungry.  Over here in Spain they eat dinner at 9:00 at night and sometimes even later.  This is going to be hard for me to get used to!

I'll write more tomorrow.
Scaffy

At Carmen's house

Yesterday, Tuesday the 13th I went to Carmen’s house. She had to go volleyball training with Mar so I went with her. I made lot of new friend of her team, they were really nice. We were there for two hours, I saw Mar and Carmen working very hard. When they finished Mar’s mom came to collect us. When we arrived, Carmen had to study so I helped her.

Later, Carmen let me try to ride her unicycle.  Unfortunately, my legs are too short and all I could do was just hang there.  Carmen has long legs, so she took me for a ride on it!

We had dinner (we had salad and some pumpkin puree) It tasted really nice. I was very hungry so I had a little bit more. After having dinner I played with Bea (Carmen’s sister) Luis (Carmen’s brother) and Carmen. I had lot of fun. We watched T.V. but I was very tired and I fell asleep. Carmen took me to my bed and she went to sleep. This was my day with CarmenJ

¡Hola amigos!

I'm here!  I can't believe I'm finally here!  

Let me tell you about my horrible, wonderful experience:

I had a very bumpy trip.  Travelling in a box is definitely not as comfortable as travelling on a plane with Ms. Payreder!  Finally, late in the afternoon on Thursday the postman brought me to Colegio Nuestra Señora del Buen Consejo and I was really looking forward to seeing Zuzanna again and meeting all of her students.  

But, guess what!  Friday was a holiday in Madrid and everybody had gone home for the long weekend. I wanted to cry!  And do you know what?  On Saturday I did cry.  And on Sunday.  I felt so lonely.  I hadn't felt so lonely since those long months that I had spent hanging in the Tourist Information Centre in Limerick, waiting for someone to buy me.  I kept thinking about the wonderful time that I had had at the Petrinum in Linz and the great friends that I had made there: Marlena, Ines, Katharina, Christoph, Franzi, Markus....and the whole gang!!!!  I wanted to go back to the Petrinum so much...

Monday finally came and I could hear people talking, children shouting, bells ringing and doors opening and closing.  Suddenly, someone picked up the box and held it very, very tightly.  And I heard a happy voice say, "Hello Scaffy!  Welcome to Colegio Nuestra Señora del Buen Consejo!"  It was Zuzanna!  

I could feel her walking quickly.  She was walking so quickly that I kept hitting my head on the sides of the box!  Then I heard a lot of children's voices.  Zuzanna put the box down and I heard her call out, "Scaffy's here!!!!!"  Suddenly everything was quiet.  I could feel somebody opening the box. Or was it 2 people?  Or was it 3?  The moment had arrived.  I was so nervous.  I was going to meet the Spanish students!  What if they didn't like me?

                                             

Suddenly the box opened! I looked up and saw 31 happy, excited, smiling faces!  And I heard so much laughing and screaming that I started to laugh, too!

                       

Somebody lifted me out of my box and then everybody wanted to touch me and hold me!  And everyone wanted to get in the photo!

                       

The students even wanted me to sit at the teacher's desk!  I felt so special!  

And they all LOVED the chocolates, the biscuits and the cake.  Zuzanna is going to bring a knife to school tomorrow and cut everything up into small pieces so that everyone can taste them! 

                                 

But you know, I think they liked the card from the students at the Petrinum even more than the sweets!  Zuzanna read out the text and then EVERYBODY wanted to look at the card and all the colourful signatures!

                         

When school finished, some students went home because it was late and they had other activities to go to but other students still stayed to play with me!  Here's a picture of me with four of my new friends.  From left to right: Sylvia, Raquel, Carmen and Olivia.    

Raquel has invited me to go to her grandmother's house one day to have "paella".  Mmmm!  And Olivia said that she would take me to the big Three Kings parade on January 6th! Maybe Sylvia and Carmen will come, too.  It all sounds so exciting!  

The students are so friendly here!   I'm really looking forward to going back to school tomorrow.  But right now I'm exhausted and I can't wait to sleep in a bed after so many nights of sleeping in a box. So, good night everybody and hasta mañana!