Barcelona

         Hola students! Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I have been very busy traveling and settling back into my home in Eastbourne. Let's jump back to the week before I left for Barcelona. 

On Monday and Tuesday, I met with my coordinators from England. They helped the other student teachers and I get settled into Brighton University and showed us the ropes. We also met with a woman named Kate who taught us all about the British school system. The two systems are very similar, with a few distinct differences,which I will discuss in later posts when I am actually in my school. On Wednesday, I met my cooperating teacher and new class. I will be teaching at Hawkes Farm Primary School in Hailsham, East Sussex.  (http://www.school-portal.co.uk/GroupHomepage.asp?GroupId=268730) I am teaching in year five, which is the same as fifth grade in the states. My class is a little bigger than ours at Whittier. There are 30 students in my class with one teacher's aide. One other difference is that I will be sharing the classroom with another student teacher from my program. I will be sure to post pictures of my class as soon as I start on Tuesday, November 2nd. 

I also traveled to Brighton, East Sussex right before I left for Barcelona. Brighton is an amazing town that is right on the South Coast. It is a very popular tourist destination in England. There are many restaurants along the beach and many places to shop, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  

So finally, last Wednesday I left Eastbourne for the brilliant city of Barcelona. My friend Bonnie and I had to stay in the airport over night in order to get the best deal on a flight. We arrived at our hostel in Barcelona at about noon on Thursday. We made some friends about two hours after we arrived and decided to explore the city. We walked down Las Ramblas (as seen in my lovely, high quality video) and found ourselves staring at the AMAZING food in La Boqueria, the Spanish market. La Boqueria is full of fresh meats, fruits, vegetables, delectable candies, and hundreds of other items.  

After drooling over the delicacies in La Boqueria, we decided to go grab a bite to eat. (Now before I describe my meal, you have to understand that Spain  has a COMPLETELY different schedule. The people of Barcelona wake up around 10 am, eat lunch from 1-4, take a siesta(nap), eat again from 8-11 pm, and then go out on the town until very late at night). With this being said, the meals at restaurants are set up a bit differently. My friends and I sat down for menu del dia, which involves the restaurant choosing three courses that they serve you for a set price. After I sat down and had my meal, I was ready to do my American thing and rush to pay the bill and leave the place.Wrong again! 

In Spain, and in most European countries, it is rude to leave abruptly after a meal. You are expected to sit and enjoy the food and your company. So you are suppose to sit for hours to enjoy a multiple course meal and then take a nap? Sign me up! I enjoyed several delicious meals in Barcelona, many of which included their signature dish: Paella. 

The rest of my trip to Barcelona included a lot of sight seeing( and more taste testing, of course). The Spanish artist, Antonio Gaudi, had a huge influence on the city of Barcelona. His amazing buildings can be found throughout the city. We visited La Sagrada Familia, a church that Gaudi designed but was unable to finish before his death, first. Then we ventured to Park Guell, an amazing park adorned with beautiful mosaics designed by Gaudi. While hiking through the city, we stumbled upon several other buildings Gaudi designed as well. The man was a genius artist! (Other Spanish artists include Pablo Picasso and my personal favorite Salvador Dali). 

I was only in Barcelona for five days, but I felt as if I was able to grasp a sufficient amount about the place. Barcelona is an amazing city with a culture to match. I will post more pictures when my computer stops acting up. 

I hope you all are enjoying your Halloween festivities. What are you all dressing up as? Let me know how it goes! I am going to London tomorrow to celebrate! Hopefully I can find people as enthusiastic about Halloween as we are!

Hola estudiantes!

Hola estudiantes.Estoy en Espana.

  I wish that you could all be here to experience this journey with me.  I am staying in a hostel right now and am using their computer. I am staying in Barcelona, one of the most exciting cities that I have ever been to. It has been very interesting living in a city that speaks another language. I have been trying my best to speak Spanish wherever I go, but it has proven to be more difficult that I originally anticipated. I have been taking several pictures and will post them as soon as I make it home. I only have dos minutos left on the hostel computer so I have to run, but I just wanted to check in.

        Adios mis amigos!
     
            Miss D

Home Sweet Home

    Why hello there sixth graders! I just made it into Eastbourne on Friday. There is a six hour time difference between Downer's Grove and Eastbourne. It is about 7:30 a.m. for you and 1:30 p.m. here...I guess you could say that I am living in the future! It may be fun for you to think about the time difference for every time that I post and discuss that as a class.
    When I checked my bags on Thursday I was disgruntled to find that your bag cannot weigh over 50 pounds. I had to stuff thirty pounds of my luggage into a box that I had to open in London's Heathrow airport. The flight was eight hours long and I wasn't able to sleep through any of it---especially the five hours when I was flying over the Atlantic ocean. When we got into Heathrow, my three classmates and I had to take all of our luggage to the bus station, hop on a bus and wait for three hours in London until another bus picked us up to take us to Eastbourne. I plan on traveling to London again soon when I do not have 85 pounds of luggage to carry around with me.
     When we finally made it to Eastbourne, about seven hours after landing, my friend Bonnie and I were greeted by our host parents, Dave and Joan. Dave and Joan are a couple who just celebrated their 44th wedding anniversary. They have two daughters and four grandchildren. They are very hospitable and have provided us with several delicious meals so far(That's right! The food isn't as bad as some of you have warned me. )We live in a cosy little house with an amazing garden.

    


   Yesterday, Bonnie and I traveled into town for the first time. We got a tad bit lost and had to rely on a map and some students from town to help us find the downtown area. It was also difficult to remember which side of the street to look down when crossing the road. In England, as many of you know, they drive on the opposite side of the road. It is very important to remember to look to the RIGHT when crossing the street.  We arrived in downtown Eastbourne at 5:30, only to discover that all of the shops were already closed. (In the majority of towns in England the shops tend to close around 4 or 5 o'clock...even on Saturdays!) The only places that stay open late are the restaurants so we went in and had a bite to eat. We made some new friends from Eastbourne and Manchester. When our conversation turned to the World Cup, I mentioned 'soccer.' Upon saying this,one of my new friends literally dragged my chair out of the conversation. From now on I will be remembering to say 'futbol' instead.
   Some of my observations so far are as follows:

•        America sure has had an influence on the U.K. For example, there are K.F.Cs, Taco Bells, and McDonald's everywhere. I even had a few fries last night. 
•        Many people in England use a 24 hour time system. Currently it is 13:58 (or 1:58). Try to use this time system for a day and see if you can get used to it. 
•        Here in England, the temperature is measured in Celsius, not Fahrenheit. It is 11 degrees Celsius right now. Can anyone convert this to Fahrenheit? 

  How was the rest of Camp Edwards? I want to hear everything. What was your favorite rec activity? Your favorite class? Did you make some new friends? 

Does this lake look familiar? :) 

   I will post again soon. Have a great week! Cheerio!

Testing, testing, one, two.

Welcome to my blog sixth graders! I will be updating you weekly on my travels, experiences teaching in Eastbourne, and all of the other interesting things I encounter in the U.K. I will even use this blog to post videos of places that I visit!

After watching my presentation, do you have any questions? I know you all have been asking me questions during class so here is your chance to get them answered!

Here are some funny British slang words that I am going to have to get used to:

Barmy: crazy

Blimey!: Oh geez! 

Bobby: policeman

Cabbage: a slow person

Chips: french fries

Doris: a plain woman

Jammy: lucky

Kip: sleep

Out of the tree: nuts

I will have my next post up when you get back from Camp Edwards!