Semana Blanca...aka Semana AMANDA!

The Department of Education (of Cataluña) decided at some point to start school a week earlier in September and insert a random week off in March. Then, later on, they were debating if they were still going to have it or not. Finally, they decided to keep it, but it’s going to be the first and last of its kind. Heh. And I got to experience it! :-D Really, it’s more frustrating than anything else for working parents and teachers who have spouses who aren’t teachers as well. Only schools have it off! But for me, even though I love being in the schools, it meant something special: a chance for my sister to visit! Seriously, we did NOT plan on having her come up before I left for Spain. We always knew that we’d take a trip to Great Britain AFTER my time in Spain (June), but she was in retail management (fancy term for “had no life”), didn’t especially care about Spanish culture and history, and we just assumed it would be too expensive or something. But after several months of playing around with the idea, we figured out that it would work! On a side note, she eventually stepped down from management, so she has a life again. :-)

Our plan was for her to come on Monday, and we’d go to Tarragona on Tuesday. Wednesday-Friday would be in Paris, (as in France!), and Saturday would be in Barcelona. She would leave Sunday morning. We TRIED to plan our Paris stuff, but it was hard to do for several reasons. I was really bogged down with school stuff at that point, and I also had to plan for the Sevilla/Granada trip. That one was further away, but you had to buy things like the ticket to the Alhambra months in advance, which let to basically planning everything. Annyway, all that to say that we decided to get a two-day Paris Pass, have those and the guide books shipped to me, and between emails and a phone call, we had a fairly good idea of what we wanted to do in Paris.

But before I go there, let me start from the beginning!

Sunday:  Preparation day

I went to church in the morning, and because of train times, going to church is an entire morning and afternoon adventure (but totally worth it!!). However, those two hours I have of waiting for the train have turned into great times for Spanish studying, reading, and in this case, Paris planning. When I got back from Lleida, I spent the evening cleaning and getting ready for my first-ever company! :-) Rosa and her husband also knew about Amanda coming, and they were both excited that I’d have some company. Rosa was also concerned about there being enough blankets, which there were. She’s so nice!

The only not-fun parts of that Sunday (well, I mean, cleaning is never very fun...:-D) were: I was still coughing a lot, and it was getting worse—and I slept very little. I had to take the 8:00am train to Barcelona even though Amanda wouldn’t arrive until the afternoon. Oh, well! I could sleep during the 2-hour train ride and figure out where our Barcelona hostel would be for Saturday!

Monday: Arrival day!

Despite waking up early and feeling kind of blah, I was SUPER excited about seeing my sister after 5 months of not seeing her! I spent the morning in BCN figuring out where stuff was, buying metro cards, etc. Ah, yes. Another major thing I had to figure out was the best way to get to the airport in the middle of the night for when Amanda was going to go back to the US. I knew she booked an early flight, but it was awhile before it dawned on me that she booked it so early, all of the trains and “normal” ways to get to the airport wouldn’t be available! I spent a looong time researching night bus options and stuff, and from what I could figure out, we had two options: take a taxi (ouch on money!) or take a night bus. Anyway, I couldn’t find the stop for Plaza Cataluña (the one closer to our future hostel), but I found the one in Plaza España. That one happened to have day buses going to the airport, so I impulsively took one to go pick up Amanda. That turned out to be a good idea, because it gave me an idea of where it would drop us off...and where Amanda’s specific flight area would be. Anyway, so I got to the airport around 1pm or so, and her flight was due at 2 or 3 something. I ate some food and piddled around, and later I read that there was a flight delay with her flight. Not cool! So that was MORE waiting. Finally, after what seemed to be forever, it said that the plane had landed. Yes! I eagerly waited with the swarm of people in the arrivals area...and waited...and waited...and waited. I saw a LOT of happy reunions that day. :-) But where was Amanda? It was long enough where I knew we wouldn’t make the train to Montblanc that would arrive at 7pm, so we’d have to take the very last train that would arrive at 8:30. We couldn’t do much, but we’d live! Assuming, that is, that she was even alive. That was a frustrating feeling...having no idea what her status was. Dad sent a text asking about her, and I replied with the whole “flight delay, should be soon! Will text when she comes” thing...and waited and waited some more. :-P Looong day! Finally, at 4 something, I saw the sliding door open and Amanda hesitantly looking around. Remember, I’ve been around these arrival people all day, and I was quiet the entire time. But when I saw her, I shouted in the loudest voice I’ve used in a LONG time, “´MANDA!!!” EVERYONE in my vicinity turned and gave me the weirded, most surprised look. Haha! I didn’t care at all though; I just wanted her to see me! And she didn’t. She went BACK into the area I wasn’t allowed in! Gah! I halfway collapsed on the railing in front of me in frustration and disappointment, and I could tell those people were still staring at me. Heh. I straightened up and impatiently tapped my fingers on the railing, willing her to come out. Finally, she did! I waved her over, and we FINALLY met up and hugged each other. Yay! Sisters united! However, there was a sliiight problem: her luggage was lost.

I’ve never had that problem before, so I didn’t even know how to help her. She did a few more things, and basically all we knew was that someone was supposed to call my cell phone and set up a delivery time. Okaaay. Oh well, we were together at least!

We would have quite some time to kill since we missed the train I wanted to take, so we hung out in the train station at McDonald’s. I rarely, if ever, have eaten there since I’ve lived in Spain, so it was weird being there! It was kind of cool though because for the first time ever, I ordered food IN CATALAN on my own. :-D Woot! Anyway, we had a good time catching up. It felt so good to talk to her in person again. It truly isn’t the same as emails and phone calls! We then left in what I THOUGHT was plenty of time to catch the train....until...

Okay, several factors were involved, but the main issue was that I was not smart and just misread the train schedule I had. I’ve used this thing 505,503,532,589 times, and part of the problem was that I had circled various things in the past. Soo...I told Amanda earlier the time the train would leave...but that turned out to be a TOTALLY DIFFERENT THING. As we were close to getting ready to head near the train area (the other problem is that we were in huge, stressful Barcelona Sants station. Yuck.), I heard a train announcement saying that one to Lleida was leaving. Wait. There are very, very few trains that go to Lleida, and that was the one we needed. The very, very last one to Montblanc!! Do you know in movies when the protagonist realizes something important, and the camera kind of shows people chatting in the background in a distant, echoing way...and then zooms right on the person as he/she “figures it out”? That’s what it felt like. As I heard the name Lleida, suddenly all of the busyness and even Amanda’s voice droned off into the distance as I realized...

We just missed the last train to Montblanc!

I more or less panicked, half explaining and half apologizing to Amanda. I then paced around having NO idea what we should do until Amanda told me to calm down. Heh. I knew one thing though: if we couldn’t get to Montblanc, it was far better to be stuck in Tarragona. And there are always tons of trains that go to Tarragona! Fortunately, our tickets worked there as well, and we were eventually on a train headed to Tarragona. I then sent a flurry of text messages to teachers or friends I felt close to and knew that they weren’t traveling, but neither Olga nor Carmen Torres (two people who specifically offered to help with transport before) answered. Hmm...I didn’t want to, but I went ahead and contacted Laura. She and Quim were leaving early the next morning to visit friends in Ireland, and I really didn’t want to bother them. But...it was either her or Javi, and I wasn’t sure if Javi was in town...and I knew he’d freak out. :-D And it wasn’t long before she called me! Laura’s great. Anyway, they weren’t able to come to Tarragona, but we could take a bus to Valls, eat with Laura and Jordi, and then Jordi would take us to Montblanc. Phew. Thank You, Lord! My only concern was if there were buses to Valls at that time (this was 8 or 9 something by then), but she assured me that there would be. We did have to walk allll the way down the rambla from the train station to the bus station, but when we finally arrived, everything worked out. A bus was headed to Valls, and we were on time. :-) Amanda was already exhausted but handled the craziness really well, and as she dozed in the bus, I just sat there stewing about my silly mistake. I STILL can’t believe I mixed up the train times, but it’s just one of those things you have to stop stressing over. :-) We made it to Valls, found Jordi and Laura’s flat, and were soon safely in their apartment. On the bright side, Amanda was able to meet my tutora and her husband...and they could meet my sister! I was really happy about that, and it was yet again one of those times when you see God working in yucky circumstances. The interesting thing was communication: Amanda doesn’t speak Spanish, and Jordi doesn’t speak English. :-) So Jordi said we should speak in English so Amanda could follow, but seriously, Jordi’s a talker: he HAS to be involved in conversations. :-D There were times when we went back to Spanish or Catalan, but the time together went well overall. I think the main problem was that Amanda (and I) was/were really tired, and by then, it was 10 or 11 something. So neither of us felt like eating much, which completely weirded out Jordi. :-D However, I was glad that we had pan con tomate, a favorite Catalan food of mine, which is both simple but really good. You get bread, rub tomato on it, put olive oil on it, and eat it with ham and/or cheese. There was also omelette (tortilla española), which is also popular to have. Anyway, we both picked at the food, and throughout our time there, we got advice on what to do about the luggage situation, were given a toothbrush for Amanda, peaked at Quim sleeping in his bed, and generally experienced Catalan hospitality. I was glad Amanda was able to meet Jordi and Laura!

Jordi drove us home, and he and I talked the whole way home (typical with Jordi :-)). I was so, so thankful for them! Several weeks later, when I went to a calçotada with them, I gave Laura a replacement toothbrush and Jordi a mug from Montblanc (he collects mugs). :-) I just wanted to do something for them!

Anyway, we were FINALLY in Montblanc around 11 or 12ish. A looong day for me, but a SUPER long day for Amanda...tack on a long overnight flight with little sleep! Oh, Olga and Carmen both wrote or called later, frantically wondering if we were still stuck in Tarragona and apologizing for the delay. I assured them that everything was fine, and Amanda and I eventually went to bed. :-) Yes, I sent a message to Dad as well. Such a crazy, crazy day...but again, God’s care and faithfulness just SHINES.

Tuesday: Tarragona!

I got up pretty early the next morning because our plan was to take the 8:30ish bus to Tarragona. However, a back-up plan was to take the one that left more around 10:30 or so. As I peeked over at Amanda still sleeping, I decided NOT to wake her until 9-something. :-) So we had a more relaxed morning, took a later bus, and then started to see the main sites of Tarragona. That day was SUCH a better day than the one before! :-) It was definitely the most relaxing day of our week, and it was so wonderful just to be with her, catch up on life, and show her some of my special Tarragona. I still was coughing and dealing with a cold, and the main downside, from my point of view, about NOT having Amanda’s luggage was that the precious cough drops she brought for me (and medicine in general) was in there. At that point, I had very, very few precious cough drops left and never could find any ANYWHERE in Spain. More on that later!

We saw the balcony area with that epic view of the sea, walked in the amphitheater (still my favorite part of Tarragona!), went through the Roman circus, saw a model of what Tarragona looked like in Roman times, walked through an area that lets you see the Roman wall that still remains, and went to a Roman museum (that I hadn’t been to yet). We bought some pastries and sat in the park that overlooks the amphitheater, walked around Tarragona...and just had a good day overall! We also contacted and got a call back from the luggage people, and I had an entire conversation with the guy in Spanish. I’ve done it before, obviously, but there’s something scary AND special about discussing important issues in a non-native language. Anyway, the earliest they could deliver the luggage (which was found!) was Wednesday at 9am. Slight problem: even though we had an afternoon flight from the nearby Reus airport, we had to take the bus to Tarragona at 8:30 that morning in order to later take a bus to Reus to the airport. Sigh. We agreed to the time, and our choices were to either do another round of frantic calling and bothering people to see if we could get a ride to the airport...OR ask about a taxi in Montblanc. I’ve seen them around, but I never used one. But we were happy that the luggage was found and that we’d have it for Paris! We took the 6:00 train home (really, you can see the main Tarragona sites in a few hours), and throughout the evening and night, I talked to a taxi driver (REALLY nice, gave an accurate price, and scheduled a time for the next day) and had our transport figured out (we’d leave in the 11:00 hour instead), went to the library to get some internet stuff done (the librarians were SO excited to see that my sister was with me! I’ll never forget their curious, eager expressions and the way their faces lit up for me because they were glad my sissy came to see me. They’re so nice!), ate some pizza bagels in my apartment, planned, and talked and talked and talked...about anything, everything, and everyone! Haha...chances are, we talked about YOU! :-P It was so incredibly wonderful to talk to my best friend again. We had five months of information to catch up on, and we didn’t go to bed until like 3:30am! Totally worth it. :-) And I was finally able to convince someone about my language problem I’ve discovered since being here: I don’t know why, but there are so many times when I can not think of what something is called. I can’t even claim that I know it in Spanish and just forgot how to say it in English. Nope. Nothing. I stare at an object or try to think of a phrase, and I draw a complete blank! Examples: I was with Olga and her family one day, and we saw Pau’s trampoline. She asked what the name of that was in English. I had no clue. Not a single word came to my mind. After 10 minutes or so, I finally remembered the word. Another example: one day, I was in my flat thinking, and for whatever reason, I was trying to remember the word “proofread”. ALL I could think of was “edit,” and I knew it wasn’t the right word. Later, I finally remembered. And I tried to explain these weird quirks to both Olga and Laura, but I can tell they have no idea what I’m talking about. But finally, with Amanda, I first explained the issue...and she saw firsthand how ridiculous I’ve become! Haha, she might remember more examples, but I told her that the pizzas were “drying” instead of “cooling” and I tried to tell her what I bought in Valencia in November, and I drew a complete blank on the word. All I could think of was cup holder, but that wasn’t it. I lamely described what they were, and she declared that my description was so lame that SHE didn’t even remember the name! :-D It was several minutes later when I heard her call out “COASTERS!” from the bathroom. Ah, yes, those things! So anyway, I have no idea what my problem is or if this is common for people in my situation, but it’s a very weird feeling. Especially if you’re in an English class and a teacher asks you in front of students what something is called. I’ve called elbow pads “elbow guards” before. :-D Annyway, so this was one of 780,354,652 conversations we had that week, but I was glad that someone finally knew what I was talking about! Haha. Ah, and we also walked around a little bit of Montblanc that evening, but it was pretty dark, and I felt blah. However, Montblanc is still pretty at night, and I was glad to show her that little area I liked that lets you see Montblanc from high up. Sigh. I love Montblanc! And Sissy saw some of it! :-)

Wednesday: Paris Day 1!

We woke up early (again) to do some packing and get ready for when the luggage guys would come, and...well...they didn’t. Sigh. Super frustrating! It was mostly frustrating because we planned on taking an expensive taxi JUST so we could get the suitcase, wasted a morning waiting around when we could have done other things, we wouldn’t be back in Montblanc at all, so her luggage would be stuck in my place and she’d have to go home without it, and finally, they didn’t call us. They were several hours late (several critical hours in our case), and the number I tried to call didn’t work...and they didn’t say anything to us! GRR. Ah, well. It could be worse, right? Anyway, there was a point when we realized that yeah, these guys aren’t going to show up in time, so we packed more of my luggage and brought a bunch of my souvenirs for Amanda to take home. Fortunately, I had enough clothes for us all week (and other stuff that we’d need), and Amanda brought some stuff with her in her carry-on. So really, we did quite well for a last-minute thing. :-) We were eventually on our way, and Rosa said that she’d give us a call when the luggage arrived. I’m so glad she was there and was willing to handle it!!

The taxi driver was so nice, and even though I was congested and coughing here and there, I kept up a fairly long conversation with him. In some ways, I was happy to help him out with the money. We were soon dropped of at the Reus airport (which I had never been in), and like the one in Lleida, it’s so small and not stressful. Yay! Actually, it was bigger than Lleida’s, which is saying a lot about Lleida’s airport. :-D I liked that one (which I used for Italy), but I honestly don’t know how they get enough money to be in business! Hee!

Anyway, everything was fine with checking-in and going through security, and after getting a bite to eat and wandering around for a bit, we eventually were on our way to PARIS!

We flew in to one of the smaller airports outside of the city, so we had to take a bus to the actual city center area. It was in the bus when I checked my phone and realized that Rosa had left a message saying that the luggage had arrived. Yay and grr! :-) At least it was safe in the flat!

After the bus dropped us off, we had to take either the metro or a RER train (still not exactly sure what that is, but it’s kind of like...like...a metro train. Or a train metro) to get to our hotel. I had directions from both routes, but the issue was finding the metro or train stop! We wandered around, toting too much luggage, and we finally found the metro. And so began poor Amanda’s first exposure to a metro system. :-) My first time in Barcelona was quite traumatic, and it really helped being with Katie in Valencia as she helped me understand how it generally works. Anyway, we eventually walked out of the metro station, and then I had directions to the hotel. But...I just couldn’t figure out which way to turn! We did a lot of turning around and wandering around, which is always frustrating in the moment, but honestly, it worked out really well because it gave me a good picture of where we were and what was around the area. But we were tired and lugging around bags, and our time to do anything that evening was slipping away. Eventually two girls interviewed us about our first impression of the Eiffel Tower (which is totally epic to see the REAL one in REAL life!!), and I used that opportunity to get an idea of where we were. Eventually, we found our hotel! Yay!

The rest of the evening was spent mostly wandering around trying to find food and debating if we should go up the Eiffel Tower or not. I was (or thought I was!) up for taking the STAIRS up the Eiffel Tower, but Amanda was more like...uh...let’s do it another time. :-) We finally decided that yeah, it would be better to do it another day, so we eventually found a grocery store and bought food there. A great way to save money on food! We headed back to the hotel, and Amanda rested while I pecked out emails on a computer in the reception area. I’m used to Spanish keyboards by now (and used them in Mexico as well...it was hard getting used to US/English keyboards after five weeks there, so I can’t imagine what it will be like after 8 months here!), but French ones are totally different. Not cool! But it was nice to have that option!

Haha...one final note about that first evening. We found a pastry shop before we found the grocery store, and we decided to buy something to split just to tide us over. We didn’t even know exactly what it was, and as I split it in half on the sidewalk, I was trying to figure out if it was chocolate or something else inside. Amanda said something like, “jelly!” and then grabbed one of the halves before I could even blink and then stuffed it in her mouth. Haa! It still makes me laugh when I think about it. :-D

Thursday: Paris Day II!

Thursday was our main Paris sight-seeing day, which was also the first day of our Paris passes. We did so much that day! :-) We walked to the river first, hoping to do the hour-long cruise, but we ended up taking a hop-on/hop-off bus to the Lourve after a pleasant walk around the river and checking boat times. It tooks us awhile to find the actual entrance to the Lourve (and heh, we weren’t even sure what the building looked like!), but we finally did and were able to go through a shorter line since we had passes. WHAT A HUGE ART MUSEUM!! It was amazing, even for a non-art fanatic. However, as non-art fanatics AND people who wanted to see a lot in a short amount of time, we just saw the main things and then some nearby rooms. Obviously the most famous work is the Mona Lisa, which was a mixture of three emotions for me: awe...because I was in Paris, in the Lourve, and seeing the REAL Mona Lisa IN PERSON...frustration, because there were tons of people shoving cameras everywhere (I’ve decided that as much as I like taking pictures, I like it better when museums, especially art museums, don’t let you take pictures. The mood changes completely. The non-picture ones are very quiet, studious, and reflective...while the picture ones are like, “Ack! Everyone snap your camera like a maniac and make stupid poses!” :-D), and...wait, am I still on the same sentence? Haha, not anymore. Anyway, I also felt a litttle bit like, “Wow. It’s so...tiny!” :-) Comparing a picture of a lady giving a slight smile to some of the huge masterpieces that were on display, it makes me wonder how art becomes famous. But regardless, it was neat to see it in real life!

We also saw several other famous things that I now don’t remember their names...a headless winged statue (Winged Victory Something-or-other)...the Egyptian statue (Seated Scribe)...the painting of the girl sewing...some really neat paintings showing biblical scenes (Wedding at Cana, etc.) historical scenes, and just pretty scenes, and then, after we plodded through the swarms of people and were ready to go, I saw a postcard with a painting that I studied in European History at Raymond Walters: Liberty Leading the People. It’s one of the few French works of art that I, for whatever reason, really like, and it just stuck with me since I first studied it. I had to see it! :-) It ended up being ONE room over from where we were earlier, but it was worth going back. :-) Amanda and I also liked a picture with two women (sisters?) together. We got a picture together with that one!

Anyway, so the Louvre was really neat (albeit crowded). We then took the hop on/hop off bus to the Notre Dame. I don’t know why, but of all of the things to do and see in Paris, I was the most excited and obsessed with seeing the Notre Dame and, specifically, climbing the tower to get up close and personal with the famous gargoyles. And I wasn’t disappointed. The outside is beautiful. The inside is (free) and beautiful, with stained glass windows and a statue in memory of Joan of Arc (that church was the one who changed the image of her being a witch/heretic to a saint, etc.), and even though we had to wait in a long line in the cold to climb the top, it was totally worth it (haha...well, Amanda might have other opinions! :-D)! We bought some crepes beforehand and ate them while waiting in line. Another one of my obsessions since Mexico: crepes. :-D I had a Nutella one (the best ones ever), and Amanda had a strawberry jam one (that dripped everywhere, hee hee). Anyway, we climbed a bunch of stairs and eventually made it to the top of the cathedral. Great view of the city (and the Eiffel Tower), and again, I just loved being surrounded by the gargoyles. However, what we think of and call gargoyles are NOT actually gargoyles. They’re called something else, and the “real” gargoyles are longer, flatter, not as detailed, and simply used to drain the water (like...epic gutters?). Regardless, I loved it up there, and to be honest, I think it was the highlight of Paris for me in terms of seeing things. Weird, huh? The only thing that made it not as special was an obnoxious American 20-something guy. Have you heard the term “ugly American” used for travelers? I think he was one of them! I don’t know, everything about him grated on my nerves, and I was cracking Amanda up because she KNEW that I could barely tolerate him being nearby and making obnoxious comments in his obnoxious voice. :-D But aside from that, I really enjoyed my time up there, and it was fun seeing the bell that Quasimodo “rang”. :-) Not that I’ve ever read the book or even saw the cartoon, but...yeah. It’s a cool place!

Then came a rather frustrating sequence of events for us. Okay, we also had free access to the crypt of the Notre Dame, and I thought it sounded really neat. It wasn’t a major thing to see on our list, but since we were right there and assumed it was nearby, we decided to try it. Talk about hard to find! We wandered in a park area, asked various store owners, and finally found some sort of info place that helped us out. Thinking back, I really wouldn’t say we “wasted” our time trying to find it, because the park area was really pretty, and we stumbled across some of those sights that just create the feeling of Paris: a bunch of pigeons, a man playing an accordion while a street performer did some crazy-but-amazing rollerblading thing, etc. However, we had a lot we wanted to see, so it was kind of like...where is this thing?? :-D We FINALLY found it, and it was okay...but not something you really want to do in Paris when there are 200 other things you should do or see, you know? I think I liked it more than Amanda, but it is pretty much like looking at rocks and an old foundation. Meh.

We then wanted to see the Pantheon, which is where Braille, Voltaire, Rousseau, the Curies, Dumas, Hugo, Zola, etc. are buried...and they also have famous paintings in memory of Joan of Arc and some other important French people. The problem was getting there. The hop on/hop off bus didn’t go there, so we had to find the metro stop. The map from the hotel was dreadful in that situation; I think I’ll always remember staring at the map and realizing that they placed the metro stop in the middle of the river. Yeah, that helps! :-P So we did MORE confused wanderings, and I don’t even remember how we got there, but we eventually found the metro stop and the Pantheon! However, after all of that time and stress, we got there too late. The book I had said it closed at a certain time, and it didn’t match the real time. Ugh. Huge disappointment there! As Amanda described it later on, we basically sat on the steps of the Pantheon, eating pastries (our sustenance for most of the trip :-P), and trying not to be depressed. We then decided to see the other famous art museum, Orsay, which holds JUST impressionist works and things similar to that style: my favorite kind of art, and the whole era of that is much more “Amanda and Sarahish”. So anyway, it was something we really wanted to see. We took the metro back to the Notre Dame area in hopes to get the last hop on/hop off bus there, but we were too late or else times were incorrect again. Pressed for time (and hoping to see the Arc de Triomphe afterwards), we took a taxi there. But we did get to see it! :-)

And it was one of those places that was absolutely beautiful, but we were both so inwardly stressed and bummed that we missed the Pantheon AND spent money on a taxi that we really didn’t enjoy it as much as we had hoped. However, it was definitely worth seeing, and another thing I’ll always remember was when we walked in and I asked one of the ladies in charge where Monet paintings were. I have to assume she didn’t understand me and didn’t want to deal with me, because she declared that they didn’t have any of Monet. Umm...hello? The museum is kind of about Monet? :-D That was another thing that neither of us were expecting on this trip: how much French is used and how difficult it is to communicate in English. Seriously, I think I used more Spanish than English, which I’m glad I had, but the whole trip made me wish I knew French...and confirmed that I didn’t want to travel to a lot of countries without knowing the basics of the language! A blow to my pride, that was. :-)

We wandered and tried to find the main paintings we wanted to see, and we found a LOT of Monet works, haha. It’s just a great museum with great art, and you couldn’t take pictures, which is slightly annoying...but like I said earlier, the entire mood of the museum changes for the better.

We then headed out to try to make it to the Arc de T, and before leaving, we asked a (different) person where the metro stop was. He recommended taking the bus, which is fine, buuuut...we spent more time trying to find the bus stop. Sigh. It was dark by then as well, making everything more difficult. That’s definitely a downer to traveling: getting lost and trying to find stuff! But trust me, it’s all worth it. :-) Anyway, we eventually found it and were on our way to yet another famous Parisian monument!

And it is sooo cool from the outside. Traffic swirls around, and it’s just so...well, cool! Our main goal was to go inside it, which also ended up being confusing. :-D We obviously couldn’t walk in front of traffic, and there weren’t any crosswalks (or zebra crossings, in British English!) to the actual place. Okaaaay. We eventually figured out that you had to go down stairs and through a loooong underground tunnel to get there! :-D We made it in time and climbed yet more stairs to the top, and for me, this time was the worst of the whole week in terms of being sick. We were both out of breath, and that really activated my cough. And if you’ve heard me cough, it’s not pleasant. :-D And the worst part? I basically had no cough drops and was trying to rely on mints to help. Which they didn’t. I used my (last?) precious cough drop and eventually was okay to continue, but I think I’ll always associate the Arc de Triomphe with having a coughing and breathing fit. :-D However, we made it to the top, and....wow. By far the best view of the city that we saw (in terms of seeing the city with the actual Eiffel Tower included! :-D). It was night, so everything was lit up (including the Eiffel Tower), and it really was worth the climb. It was one of the highlights for Amanda, and I think it would have been for me had I not loved the Notre Dame so much and had such dreadful coughing issues. One thing I really like about the Eiffel Tower is when they make the lights flash quickly and crazily....okay, it’s really hard to explain in writing, but they have a specific light display that’s absolutely stunning. We saw it from the Arc! Afterwards, we wandered around underneath the arc and saw a memorial to the Unknown Soldier, etc. It’s pretty neat.

Another thing that people say you “have” to do in Paris is wander along that famous street of shops...Champs something? Anyway, we were right there, but we just walked a few feet and were like, umm...okay, we’re done. :-D The best part of that was the fact that I saw a store called Montblanc. EEE...I love where I live! :-) It holds a special place in my heart and always will...kind of like Morelia, Mexico.

We were really tired, but we decided to try to squeak in a relaxing river cruise (our passes covered the expense). We made it just in time to get the last one, and it was a fantastic way to end the evening. Ahhh...I think it would have been Mom’s favorite part. :-) Beautiful, scenic, relaxing, not-stressful, informative (audioguide), and very...Parisy. :-)

And I’m mixing up times now, but at some point (that night, I think), I bought some medicine at a pharmacy. The instructions were JUST in French, but fortunately, I can read French fairly well (romance language and all that). It was still kind of scary taking it though. :-D Also, I remember that when we were finally in the hotel and eating our grocery-supper, I was feeling blah and sick and couldn’t open a bag of chips. I then threw it on the floor and basically pouted, and Amanda gave me one of those looks that only older sisters can give (and one that I hadn’t seen in several months! :-D), calmly picked it up, opened it, and handed the bag to me. Heh. For all of the crazy times we had during this trip, I think God gave extra grace and endurance to my organized sister. I also was impressed how gracefully she endured my hacking and nose-blowing. It was definitely frustrating dealing with that cold/sinus infection the ONE time my sister came to visit (by far the sickest I’ve been since my time here), but she did great. :-) My voice pretty much went out later that week, and it also meant we couldn’t talk as much. However, thinking back, we both decided that it was for the best so we could actually rest sometimes and not talk the whole time. :-D I don’t remember the exact number, but we pretty much averaged 4 hours a sleep a night all week!

Friday: Paris Day III!

Our main priority for Friday was to see Versailles. We got advice from the hotel guy (we always seemed to have the same one, and he was really nice and helpful for so many things!), and took a metro-train thing to Versailles...a gloriously non-stressful transport time! And finding the actual palace (I mean, the only reason people visit Versailles is to see the palace :-D) didn’t take long and wasn’t a complete headache like I feared. The only confusing part was figuring out where to enter, start, etc. It’s just a really big place! And wow...definitely, definitely take a trip to Versailles if you ever go to Paris!!! The outside of the palace area was amazing, and the inside is probably even more so. It’s just so big. I’ve seen a few palaces since I’ve been in Europe, but this one was still amazing and well worth the trip.

And so we spent several hours wandering in room after room, with an audioguide (secret confession: I almost always hate audioguides. Amanda really liked it, but I really, really don’t care about ever single detail about ever single room. I mean, seriously? :-)), and probably the highlight of the palace was the Hall of Mirrors. Amanda LOVED it, and I did as well. It’s amazing! Another room I liked was blue and white with a lot of flowers and nature paintings. It was very Sarahish. I’d like a house like that, thank you very much!

We wandered in the gardens for a spell, which like the ones close to Segovia, SHOULD have been epic, but we were visiting in an off-season time. Soo...yeah. Lots of grounds, but not much else. I bet it’s fantastic in the spring or summer! It was still neat though, and we ended up going to some smaller palace things over that way. More of the same and not quite as epic, minus one lovely music room. You can’t go wrong with a room that has a piano and a harp! :-)

Let’s see...am I missing anything from Versailles, Amanda? That’s the problem about writing this almost two months after it happened. :-D Actually, one a side note, Amanda MIGHT blog about this trip as well, so you may read more Paris, etc. from her perspective.

Ah, we also ate some (more) pastries at the cafe there, and Amanda had a pear tart that she declared to be the best thing she ate from the whole trip. The little weirdo just doesn’t get the crepe thing. Tsk. :-) But I’m happy for you, Sis! We also did some souvenir/postcard shopping (random note: I can never, never remember how to spell the word souvenir. It reminds me of college when I spent four years wondering how to spell bureaucracy. French. Bleh. :-D), and we were back in Paris the city in time to....TO SEE THE PANTHEON!

It was fantastic, assuming you like seeing where famous people are buried. I’m one of those people who do. :-D Amanda was really cold inside (okay, that sounded really random, but hey, it’s what I remember! :-)), and I think I probably enjoyed it more than she did...mostly because I knew more of the famous French people from studying European History in college. After three quarters of that class with one of, if not THE best history professor I’ve ever had (and trust me, I had a lot of history in those four years!), the part that really stuck with me was the French Revolution (and the Enlightenment). I don’t know a LOT of French history, and to be honest, the culture (and even Paris) has never been one of my obsessions (unlike Spanish/Latin American culture and history), but I loved learning about, discussing, and writing about the French Revolution and its surrounding era (especially events and ideas leading to the revolution). Anyway, all that to say that a flood of memories came to me after seeing where Rousseau, Voltaire, etc. are buried. It actually was a bittersweet time, because that fantastic professor passed away a few years ago in his early 40s, leaving a wife and two little twin girls (they were born when I took his class, and I still have some pictures he would show off to us :-)). I’m really getting off track (sorry!), but that’s what was swirling in my mind as I wandered around with Amanda. And aside from seeing where everyone was buried, those paintings of Joan of Arc, etc. were amazing. And even the structure and design of the building itself is fantastic! I’m sooo glad we were able to see it, and even the disappointing time of missing it the day before turned out NOT to be a waste, because we found the place more easily. :-)

And another fun memory is when we stopped by a nearby pastry stop (haha...yes, that’s what we lived on! :-D) to get some food, and we ordered a hotdog to split. Hmm...okay, I need to ramble again for a minute. My aunt, who lived in Paris for two years with her husband, sent me a great list of things to do and try in Paris, and one was to try a certain kind of hotdogs. The kind we saw and tried ended up being different, but it was still amazing. And they were everywhere...hotdogs smothered in cheese. Gross, huh? Nope! We split the hotdog and other goodies in the metro station, and it was so amazing that we went BACK to the place again to get another hotdog. :-D I think the ladies were amused and flattered that we came back, hee hee!

And last but not least...the Eiffel Tower! What might have been first ended up being basically the last thing we did. :-) The area around the E. Tower is pretty cool and crazy at the same time. First, it’s surrounded by guys trying to convince you to buy cheapy tower trinkets. Second, it’s ALWAYS crowded, Third, it’s a very, very exhilarating feeling to stand right under the tower and look straight up. It’s like...the real thing! :-) We stood in a looooong line, and it wasn’t long before security was pushing everyone back and basically trying to get people to leave. Ah, something was up! It looked like they were evacuating the top (people quickly coming down the stairs, etc), and for a spell the Eiffel Tower was closed. A LOT of people eventually gave up and left, and Amanda and I stuck around, trying to figure out what was going on. The security guy said that it could be an hour’s wait, but he wasn’t sure. Preparing ourselves for the fact that we quite possibly wouldn’t be able to go up the Eiffel Tower, Amanda and I debated what we should do. However, not too long after that, the line opened again...everything was fine! Honestly, I thought we were going to be in the middle of a scary-yet-historical moment (terrorist threat or something). I’m still not sure what the problem was, but God’s providence is seen through it all...because we ended up being towards the front of the line! We ended up waiting not long at all to go up the Eiffel Tower with the elevator and everything! Yessss! We decided to go to the very top because, I mean, it’s not like we’re planning on doing this again in our lifetime. :-) We first went to the second level to look around and later went to the very very top. Several things: first, we had PERFECT timing in terms of day/night. We went up when it was still light out, saw it turn dusky, and then were still up when it was dark and the lights came on! It really is an amazing view of the city, and it’s just one of those things you should do. However, we both thought that in terms of being THE EIFFEL TOWER, it’s basically overrated. Now, I’m really glad we did it, and I’d recommend it...but it IS just a tower that has a view of the city. I’d actually like to go back to Paris someday, but I probably wouldn’t do THE tower again. It’s just good for one of those once-in-a-lifetime things. But it is cooler than the one at King’s Island! :-)

Afterwards, when we came down, we wandered around lit-up Paris for the last time. We did a little more shopping and bought some pastries (crepe for me, fried donut for Amanda). We actually debated between a lot of those little crepe stands, and we ended up coming back to a specific one. The guy recognized us from when we were “window shopping” before, and he gave us discounts! :-) He was really nice. I like nice people. :-)

We then took our edible treasures and ate on a bench near the E. Tower, and then got last-minute pictures, including one together. We then headed back to the hotel, got advice on the best way to get to the airport the next day, and ended our sight-seeing sister time in Paris, France!  

Saturday: Barcelona

We took a bus to a stop, and then took a shuttle to the airport. It was okaaay, but seriously, relying on and figuring out public transport gets old. :-) We made it to the airport, and wow...apparently we were in prime time, because everything was insanely crowded. We were worried that we wouldn’t get through everything in time, but we did, fortunately! I did make the scanner beep for the first time in my airplane adventures though. :-P I wore a shirt with a small metal clip without thinking about it. Not cool! Really, the most stressful part was when the lady was telling me what to do...in French. She finally motioned for me what to do, because I basically stared at her with a frozen look of confusion, and she eventually let me go after a pat-down. Yeah. I wasn’t melting on the ground from embarrassment or anything, but it was one of those times were you mentally decide never to travel with a certain shirt again. :-D Anyway, we didn’t even have time to go to the bathroom before we had to get on board, but I was just glad we made it in time!

Now, our plan was to forget the whole sight-seeing thing in Barcelona and instead take a train back to Montblanc, pick up Amanda’s luggage, and take another train back to BCN. However...everything seemed against us. Seriously, thinking back, I was way too optomistic that we’d get through everything in time to make one of the few trains that goes to Montblanc, but it was crazy. We were in the back of the plane, it was late, we had to wait forever to get out, the luggage took awhile to come, we were in terminal one, so we had to take a shuttle to terminal two and then a train to the Sants train station...and yeah. Didn’t happen how I was hoping. I sent a message to Olga and Javi to get an idea if maybe we could somehow meet them in Tarragona with the luggage, but it didn’t work out (plus, I mean, how awkward is that? Making them do that?). So we had official confirmation: her luggage was staying with me. She’d have to live without her stuff for a few months until we met up in England in June, and I’d have to tote hers around PLUS my stuff. On the bright side, she was able to take a duffel bag of my stuff home instead!

So...we then went to the hostel, which was much more hotel-like than hostel-ish (but Amanda compared it to a prison, haha). We were basically exhausted, and it was pouring down rain and disgusting. So much for figuring out stuff to do with Olga and Ines in Barcelona that one day! :-) We ate some pizza at a restaurant, which was really good, and we decided to do ONE thing in BCN. I mean, Amanda was in the 2^nd largest city in Spain, so she should do something, right? And the main thing you should see in Barcelona is the Sagrada Familia church. Ha. Okay, this is a HUGE deal for me, but apparently if you aren’t a Spanish culture nerd, it’s like...okaaaay? We did some metro stuff (ask Amanda sometime how much she looooves metros, hee hee) and finally got to the outside of the Sagrada Familia. It’s such an amazing piece of architecture, even from just the outside. However, Amanda stared at it in the rain and was like...THIS is what you made me see instead of resting in the hotel? :-D Ah, well. A little sister can try, can’t she? :-) So with a few rainy pics of one side of the church, we headed to the hostel to get ready for her flight the next morning. Early morning.

Sunday: airport and church day!

We ended up getting up at like 1:00 in the morning! We took the metro to one of the plazas in order to find the nightbus, which turned out to be more confusing than I was hoping. However, we eventually found it, got to the airport, got Amanda through check-in, and the moment of parting had come. By then, Amanda was more like “Okay! I got my Sarah fix and saw cool stuff, I wanna go home!” and I was a mixture between “Aww...sis is leaving” and “Bleh. I’m so tired and sick. I’m just relived she made it to the airport” :-). We exchanged a hug and parted ways. As I walked away, I just gave a prayer of thanks to the Lord for the opportunity to see my sister again and share a week with her in Europe. In spite of the crazies, it was a good time together!

And then I had to get back to the city center. My plan was to go back to the hostel for a bit and sleep more (hee hee) and then later visit Stephanie (the girl who’s in the same program as I am...and lives in Barcelona) and her church.

I ended up JUST missing the very last nightbus to the city center, and it turns out that NOTHING short of taxis would go there until about 5:30am. So yeah. There is basically non-stop transport from Barcelona’s city center to the airport, minus 40 minutes between 4:50-5:30am. Guess when I was there? Yep. :-D So I waited on a bench where the bus would stop, listening to my iPod and coughing. An older man, nice and not creepy, offered me what looked like a cough drop. Say what?? I’ve been trying to find these things for MONTHS over here, asked my sister to bring some from the States, and this guy gives me one? I wanted to shriek, WHERE DID YOU GET THESE?? but instead thanked him and popped it in my mouth. The brand is Halls, but really, I don’t think they’re cough drops. I think they’re more just a candy you suck on. Regardless, it helped, and I was sooo grateful for the relief. The bus finally came, and I stumbled on, used my metro ticket (works for these buses!), sat down, and proceeded to fall asleep.

It was definitely the deepest I slept that whole week, and I woke up to find myself in a practically empty bus that was stopped. I jumped up, randomly apologized to the few people left who were staring at me like, “Um...why are you apologizing to us?”, asked the bus driver if it was the stop I needed (it was), and stumbled out. It was then that I realized that I somehow had dropped my metro ticket (10 journeys) on the bus. Sigh. So I bought ANOTHER one in the metro station, plodded my way through the drunken 20-somethings, took the metro to the hostel, took a nap, woke up, packed, and got ready for church. :-)

It was the first church I had attended in Spain besides my regular church in Lleida. This one is very international, very big, and English-speaking. It was weird speaking English there! :-) I spoke to a few women at first and then kind of hung around, hoping to find Stephanie. A man, whose name I now forget, saw me standing around and was quick to introduce me to several people. I started “connecting” with everyone after that, and really, it was a nice, welcoming church. If I didn’t love the one in Lleida so much, I’d probably go back. Anyway, the service eventually started, and there was STILL no sign of Stephanie. I sat with some other girls, and the message itself was pretty good, but the music was...well, very...Cedarville-ish, for those of you who know what that means. :-) Rocky, repetitive songs. There was also a time when newcomers were encouraged to stand and say who they were, which I did (gasp!). A LOT of people welcomed and talked to me after that, and I met several people who were from Ohio! One girl lives in West Chester, another guy attended Cedarville University (confirming my idea that the church would fit there!), and the whole service was just another reminder of how good it is to be with fellow believers. There may be some difference in style and opinions, but there’s still that special connection that I just don’t get to have outside of church over here. Such a blessing!

Stephanie and I finially met up after the service (she was gone all week and needed some rest), and it was good to see her again! It had been so long since we saw each other that BOTH of us couldn’t remember what the other one looked like. :-D We ate lunch with a group from church, and it was there that I was able to meet several more people...from all around the world! Parts of England, Africa, Australia, Europe, you name it. I had a fantastic time with everyone, and specifically, it was good to catch up with Stephanie again!

I left earlier than the others (because they spend all afternoon talking :-D), went back to the hostel, grabbed the luggage, and was later on my way back to Montblanc. I picked up Amanda’s suitcase from Rosa, who was so kind to take care of it all, and discovered all kinds of goodies as well as a LOT of stuff for Amanda. :-) I think she had more stuff than when I packed for 8 months! :-D And the best part? Finally having glorious cough drops! I will say that I bought something close to cough drops in a pharmacy, but seriously, it’s just hard to find them here! And when I popped one in my mouth during classes one day, all of the kids were like, “what’s that?? Can we have one??” I was hoping Andreu would distract them, but even HE asked what it was as well! Haha! It’s like...don’t people believe in cough suppressants? Heh. Anyway, I DID eventually recover from the cold, and the cough is more or less gone. Yay! It took several weeks and medicine from three different countries though...haha.

And I believe that sums up Semana Blanca and my time with Amanda! Again, I’m so glad she was able to come. In spite of the crazy times, it was really fun and special. We now have official plans to meet in a London airport on June 1^st (after my time here) and will spend two weeks in Great Britain!

Finally, I just wanted to end with some quotes about Paris:

America is my country and Paris is my hometown. Gertrude Stein 

Americans are immensely popular in Paris; and this is not due solely to the fact that they spend lots of money there, for they spend just as much or more in London, and in the latter city they are merely tolerated because they do spend. 
James Weldon Johnson 

If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.
Ernest Hemingway

In Paris, one is always reminded of being a foreigner. If you park your car wrong, it is not the fact that it's on the sidewalk that matters, but the fact that you speak with an accent.
Roman Polanski

We’ll always have Paris. (Casablanca)

No flying machine will ever fly from New York to Paris.
Orville Wright

Oh, it was so hard to leave Paris, just about my favorite city in the world.
Tony Visconti

Paris ain't much of a town.
Babe Ruth

Paris is a hard place to leave, even when it rains incessantly and one coughs continually from the dampness.
Willa Cather

Paris is always a good idea.
Audrey Hepburn

School! Everything version! :-)

Well, enough time has gone by where I can ramble about ALL of the schools. :-)

Olga Round 1: Barberà and 3^rd/4^th graders in Solivella:

Olga and I were teaching together for the first time in January, and it also made it official that I had been in all four schools and had interacted with almost 200 students. It was fun to be “officially” with the 3^rd and 4^th graders in Solivella since they were the ONLY class I hadn’t had in Solivella yet. They were so excited! I still have a soft spot for Manel, the boy who hugs and enthusiastically greets me every time he sees me, but there are all sorts of fun characters in this class (including a student named Sara :-))! They’re a clever group, but definitely one of the harder-to-control groups. Now, by harder-to-control, it’s still nothing compared to what poor Katie has to deal with in Andalucía, but you know, kids are kids. Sometimes they just don’t listen, sometimes they argue, sometimes they daydream, and sometimes they lean back in their chairs and sprawl their legs all over. It just comes with the job. :-) Really, as a whole, all four schools are fantastic, but there are just certain ages and classes that have more “issues” than the others. This is just a class where it’s really nice to have TWO teachers around. :-) Olga would explain grammar concepts and I’d walk around and make sure everyone is behaving, and many times I’d take two students at a time and play vocab games with them. It just worked out really well. And when I told them that I would be teaching in the other schools and wouldn’t be with them again until April, I received a BIG group hug! :-)

Barberà is, by far, the most mature and peaceful school out of the four. Now, for most people, this would automatically make it the best school. But personally? I like enthusiasm, crazy questions, and just a touch of mischief. :-) I love the students here as well, but I was taken by surprise when I was with the two oldest groups.

The oldest group, the 5^th and 6^th graders, are the closest thing to highschoolers I’ve seen in the schools...especially the 6^th graders. Their English level is considerably higher than the rest of the ZER, and I realized that I could have a natural conversation in English with these kids. Whoa! The 5^th graders show a little more...I don’t know...kid-ness, and I just enjoy that innocence more than the pre-teen age.

I was a little nervous working with the 3^rd and 4^th graders in Barberà because Javi and Cati’s son, Sergio is there. Now, I have nothing against Sergio, but since I’ve spent so much time hanging out with the family, I wasn’t sure how Sergio would view me as a teacher. No problem there! This group is delightful. They’re extremely well-behaved AND fun. Seriously, they’re the best-behaved group in the entire ZER. There are around 7 boys and one girl, and they’re just so attentive and calm! We can do all sorts of different activities with them, and I especially love seeing quiet, barely-will-say-hola-to-me Sergio interact with his classmates and respond to me in English. The ironic thing is that Olga still tries to maintain the whole “Sarah ONLY speaks English” thing, and Sergio knows for a fact that I speak Spanish with his family and was learning Catalan. :-) Heh.

The younger kids, still in the same school but in a different building nearby, are a completely different story. :-) While the older ones are as a whole very calm and mature, these little guys...age 4 up to 2^nd grade, are crazies! :-) Pretty much every teacher in the ZER dreads the 1^st and 2^nd graders here, but for whatever reason, I like the challenge and LOVE the personalities and comments from that class. For example, Sebi, when I gave stickers to everyone, declared in a loud voice, “VERY VERY THANK YOU!” :-) Ellie, a sweet little girl whose mother is from England (and as a result knows more English and speaks with a darling little British accent. I’ve had my share of frustrations with British English, but a little girl speaking with that accent is cute!) asked me once, “Sarah, how is it that you’re never cross?” :-) And another girl, when I showed everyone a Powerpoint presentation of the US, thought that Obama was my dad. :-D How can you NOT have fun in a class like this? Plus, Olga said that they’ve gotten a lot better over the past semester.

But like the little ones in Solivella, I just feel exhausted after working with the 4 and 5 year olds in Barberà. Wow. When I first found out that I’d spend more time with the older kids, I was kind of disappointed. I loved working with the little ones in Pira so much! But that was before I realized that the other little guys are NOT like the sweeties in Pira. :-D I mean, they’re still a blast, but I definitely spend more time trying to convince them to do stuff than actually doing anything. Another hard thing with this class is that we have very limited space, so dancing, singing, and games are not as accessible. But Olga told me that after I left, everyone said that they missed me. :-)

And finally, I love the teachers in Barbera, which mostly include Cati, Carmen Vieba, and Cristina (she goes to the English course as well). Javi eats with us on Wednesdays sometimes as well, and seriously...it’s impossible to have a bad day with Javi around, and if you have Javi AND Cati together...it’s a guarantee for a great day! Olga eats with her family, so it’s the one time when I’m not constantly with an English teacher. I don’t really care either way, but I do get more Spanish practice in! :-)

Classes with Laura Round II: Pira and 3^rd-4^th grade in Rocafort

It was so fun to be back here! Everyone was sooo excited. :-) In Rocafort, there was an additional student: a quieter boy named Oliver. He and his family actually were in England for several months, decided they didn’t like it, and moved back. His mother speaks English very fluently, but it seems difficult for Oliver; but he improved a lot even in the four weeks I’ve had him with Laura. He seemed shy at first (especially since everyone else was jumping around, asking where I’ve been, if I went back to America (no, NO ONE really understands that I switch schools every four weeks. :-D), if my mom misses me, if I’m going to buy a house in Cataluña and stay here, if I’m going to go to the swimming pool in Rocafort in the summer, etc.), but once I gave Oliver a US flag sticker and explained who I was, his face lit up, and we’ve gotten along well ever since. I really do enjoy this class, and I think I enjoyed it even more the second time. Rafa, the other boy in the class, has improved a LOT, and the girls—Vero, Ikraim, Naima, and Anna—are just delightful. We went through various food names and food groups, which is always a fun topic to discuss, and after not being in Rocafort AT ALL since December (this was February), you can imagine how estastic everyone was! And of course, the younger ones (I have them with Andreu) peppered me with questions about when I’d be back with THEM. Sigh. :-)

And Pira! Pira is by far the nicest school in terms of location and the building, and it was fun to see the other teachers again (Anna Maria, Montse, Juanjo, etc.). Once again, the kids were REALLY excited to see me again (you can tell how boring and unrewarding this job is, right? Sigh...it’s such torture to walk in to work every day to hear little voices joyfully exclaiming, “Saaaarrraaah!”. If you only knew. :-P). With the oldest group, I had to do a project with Laura and turn it in to the Department of Education. Anyway, we decided to focus on the structures there is/there are...and describe your region/country and the main things you can do there. It started with their textbook, which talked about the UK, and then I made a looong and time-consuming (but fun!) Powerpoint presentation on places in the US (including Ohio and Cincinnati). I also made a quiz of the presentation, and the winning group got a special kind of candy from Laura (made in Valls) that’s only eaten on “Fat Thursday” (before Carnival). Anyway, there were four groups of students, and each group focused on a province in Cataluyna: Girona, Barcelona, Tarragona, and Lleida. They made sentences, and then we recorded them on the computer, and then put everything together in a Powerpoint. It was fantastic, and I believe it’s on the school’s blog (seriously, I’d love to figure out how to add pictures and fun stuff on here, but since I barely have time to even WRITE on here, it probably won’t happen until this summer or something! Hee!). Anyway, one thing that came out of my presentation was typical foods in the US (“you mean Americans eat more than hamburgers??” Seriously, that’s a MAJOR stereotype here! Let’s try to change this, okay? Not cool. :-)). Ones that really stood out to everyone were chicken and dumplings (mostly because I said they were my favorite) and s’mores. They thought chicken and dumplings looked disgusting (really, they do, if you just see a picture!), but they still wanted to try them. Laura asked if I knew how to make them, and I was like...um...sort of...but it’s really, really complicated. :-D However, the s’mores thing fascinated everyone. NO ONE goes around roasting marshmallows over fires, and the marshmallows over here are these weird-looking pink tube-like things. Yuck. So after talking to Laura (and Olga) one day, I decided to ask Amanda to bring up some marshmallows and graham crackers (another thing that doesn’t exist here!) when she came up. She did! So towards the end of my time here, we’re going to have a party. :-)

I also was excited to see the quieter students warming up to be and really, really trying to use English. Seriously, one thing I’ve noticed since being here is that there are students who flourish in English IN the classroom, and there are others who flourish in the language when NOT in a structured class. Such is the case for Sindi and Ian. I was with Sindi’s group helping them record their sentences, and since Laura wasn’t with us and I have to maintain the corny “Sarah only speaks English” thing, they were forced to explain Catalan traditions to me, by themselves, in English. Ian drew pictures and frantically looked up words in the dictionary, Sindi motioned everything and used broken English, and Cristiana tried to use Google translator (baaad idea :-D). It was great! It was the most I’ve EVER seen Sindi talk, and little by little, we worked through what she wanted to say. I was so proud of her! But if she was with the whole class in the actual classroom (we were in the computer room), she wouldn’t have said anything. She would have just given up and let one of the talkative students explain it. So anyway, I loved that project just for the fact that it gave me time with individual students. And Ian! He made an amazing origami thing that folds into a star, cross, box, and all sorts of things, and he pulled me aside after class one day to show me how it worked, repeated ALL of the vocabulary in ENGLISH (which he hates doing in class), and had such a happy, needy look on his face when I oohed and ahhed over his creation (which he gave to me!). Sometimes my favorite moments teaching English are when I’m NOT teaching English, if that makes sense. Language is sooo much more than what you learn in a classroom setting (trust me, I know!), and that’s one of the reasons I’m here: to show these students that English is a real language that’s used in the “real” world.

The 3^rd and 4^th graders in Pira are the largest class, and I have to admit that I never really quite knew all of their names from my first round with them. :-) Knowing your students by name is a HUGE deal in ANY classroom (seriously, I kept track in college classes when a professor called me by name for the first time. It changes the dynamics of the class completely! And nothing’s worse than staring at a student and calling him or her by the wrong name. It’s like...well...I can tell you care, since you don’t even know my name! :-P). I was determined to learn their names this time, which I did! This class cracks me up. This is the one that wanted my autograph when I first came, and every single girl in that class constantly stares at me the way they’d stare at Hannah Montana: Ohh...I love you..I want to be you when I grow up...will you be my best friend? :-) It’s cute, awkward, and amusing. Paula is the one who does this the most. She gave me a picture pretty much every day I was in class, and she’d purposely wait until I walked down the hall so she could walk with me. Then, she’d point at random things and say their name in English...and just do whatever she could to impress me. :-) Just be yourself, Paula friend! That’s enough. :-) The boys are hilarious and very...well, boyish. The older ones are extremely clever and vocal, and they constantly overpower the girls and younger boys in the class. My favorite thing to do with this class is when we’re learning new vocabulary. I have the boys belt out the words in a deep, fake manly voice (they love it!), and the girls repeat the words in an exaggerated, high, and feminine voice. It makes it fun AND gives them a chance to either use up energy or else repeat a word without feeling stressed out. Laura’s great in this regard, because she gives me plenty of opportunities to work with them in “my” style. I feel the most creative when I’m with Laura. I don’t know why. :-) And finally, another thing that really impressed me about this class is that they remembered every single Halloween candy vocab that Laura and I taught them waaay back in October. We made food groups on the chalkboard, and I was asking for various names of food to put in the groups, and they started calling out “Candy corn! Caramel apples! Gummy bears! Cupcakes!” :-)

The 1^st and 2^nd graders are delightful. There are a few “characters” who cause problems, but I really love this class. We had a fun month going through farm animals, singing and dancing the Hokey Pokey (my idea for the song! :-D Olga found an AMAZING version for ESL, and I absolutely love it. It’s on Youtube, but I’m too lazy to find the link. Hee! Maybe, someday when I’m bored out of my skull and have good internet access, I’ll try to post in on here. It’s so cute!), and starting the session on the Three Little Pigs. I doubt many of you memorized every detail about the classes from previous posts, but this was the class that I taught the whole “fold your hands” thing. They still remembered, and it works every time! And another Sarah Fan Club member is definitely Vinyet. I’ve discovered that she’s the one who leads everyone in the whole “Saaaaaraaah” thing everyday. :-D Even the children who misbehave in this class secretly crack me up. Alex and Arnau are probably the two biggest trouble-makers in the class, but Alex has this hilarious way of randomly saying “Saturday” at the most inopportune moments. And he says it is such a serious, thoughtful way. Sah-tur-dai. Sometimes he’ll be quietly (quietly!) coloring and will mumble “Saturday” to himself. It’s so funny. I guess he just likes the sound of the word, but whatever his reason, I find myself doing it sometimes as well! Try it. Just go about your life and work and mumble “Saturday” to yourself. It really does make you feel happier inside. :-) Hee! I also have to hide my smile when he pronounces “sheep” as “cheep”. And he spells it like “Xip”. He’ll intently stare at his farm animal worksheet, carefully write down “xip”, and repeated it to himself until I come over and TRY to get him to say “sheep” instead. Tee hee.

And finally, the nicest 4-5 year olds are definitely in Pira! They’re so sweet (well, Sergi has his moments, but don’t we all?), and the classroom is so nice and open, and we can do so much together! Laura’s great with them. We did the Patch (a dog) workbook with the 5-year-olds and a Teddy Bear unit with the little ones. Fun times! But...I’ll tell you more about Teddy Bear later on. For now, however, it was cute and enjoyable.

Before moving on to Solivella and Barbera Round II, I need to talk about Carnival week in Pira! The whole week, students and teachers had to wear silly things. Monday was...hmm...ah, a wig and silly glasses, but I was off that day and didn’t have to do it. Tuesday, we wore silly hats. Laura actually called off sick that day, so I went with Olga to Barbera. I wore a Zorro hat. :-D Wednesday, we had to paint our nails—both guys and girls! I wanted to do red and blue to represent Barça’s soccer team, but it turned out to be more teal and bright pink. Laura was still not feeling well this day, so I was with Andreu in Solivella. The little ones still thought it was for Barça, so I was happy. :-) Anyway, Eva, one of the Solivella teachers, found out that Andreu didn’t paint his nails, so she fixed that. :-D Hee hee. I also wore my nails like that (sorry to any guys who are reading this! Just skip over this part if you’re bored :-D) all day, which included the English course (Ruth, the American teacher, saw them and declared, “I dig those nails, girl!” or something like that. Haha!) and tutoring with Paula and Josep Maria. It didn’t phase Paula and her family, since Javi, Cati, and Sergio all had to do it as well, but Carmen Torres and Josep M were like...um...why is everyone wearing strangely painted nails? :-D We eventually explained everything, and it led to Carmen and Cati getting into a long, detailed discussion about painting nails. I LOVED the expression on Javi and Josep M’s faces. Priceless. Josep finally gave a not-so-subtle tortured sigh, and Javi jokingly pushed us out of the apartment. They got the hint, I think. :-) Fun times!

Thursday (March 3^rd, a few days before Amanda would come and visit), Laura was finally feeling well enough to teach. She still was kind of congested and by Friday, she barely had a voice, but I was more or less glad to spend those two days with her because I’d be with Andreu the following week after the break. Anyway, do you ever have those moments when you just KNOW something will happen? As soon as I got in the car with Laura and she told me all about her sick family, I just KNEW I’d get sick. I’d be with Amanda in a few short days, and we had plans to see Tarragona, Paris, and a bit of Barcelona. Noooo...anyway, it was a fun Thursday, and that day, we all had to wear aprons. Laura brought one for me, and we wore matching aprons that they use when they sell fruit in Valls (Jordi’s job). :-) It was fun! And by that evening, I could tell that my “cough” was starting. The weather was changing as well, so I think that was part of it. But as Javi noted later on, I got a cold from Olga when I went to the freezing fair in L’Espluga...and a cold from Laura. :-D The only one left is Andreu!

Friday was the main Carnival day in the schools. Laura actually went to Rocafort, but I stayed in Pira. Okay, here’s where it gets a little complicated to explain. The theme is outer space, and all of the classes make various “costumes”—mostly out of paper, etc. The older kids were rocketships, the 3-4^th graders were...um...rocketeers? They wore white outfits and had a jet pack. Whatever that is. :-D The 1-2^nd graders were stars, the 4-5 year olds were suns, and the 3-year-olds were clouds. I was with Montse and the 1^st and 2^nd graders; I was a star! We wore goofy paper stars on our front and back, had our face painted blue with stars, and also wore a headband with paper stars attached to springs. And these costumes were probably the most normal. :-D Anna Maria described the event as “el día más cutre del año,” (the tackiest day of the year), but it was also a LOT of fun. We then paraded around the village until we got to a place where everyone stands around while parents take pictures. The daycare also was involved, so there were babies-2 year olds dressed as painters. Hee hee. I really did enjoy walking around, but I also ended up holding hands with little Sheila most of the time, who just happened to be dealing with a bad cough. Cold weather, being with Laura, and being with Sheila. My chances of being healthy when Amanda came were very slim! :-)

After walking around the village, we stayed outside of the school (in the playground area) and had cake, chocolate, juice, etc. They put music on, and that’s when the fun began! A lot of the students (and some of the teachers) started dancing around (especially when the ever-present Waka Waka/Shakira song came on). I can’t remember how it started, but I ended up dancing with a student (Elisabeth, another quieter girl who warms up outside of the classroom), and everyone was like, hey! La Sarah’s dancing! Me too me too me too! :-P So before I knew it, I was suddenly the only adult in a circle of about 6-8 students of various ages, quickly trying to think of dance moves. Haha! And of course, I stuck in English phrases wherever I could. :-D So we danced around, walking, running, tip-toeing, putting our hands together, waving them in the air, dragging them on the ground, hopping, skipping, anything that popped in my head. :-) It must’ve been a hit, because the kids kept begging for more, and a few more joined in. I was in complete have-silly-fun-with-kids mode, and I totally forgot that there were other adults, teachers, and parents watching us! I was exhausted at the end, but the teachers, especially Montse, commented that they could tell I LOVED it. And I did! It was a fantastic day and a great way to end another round in Pira!

Chronologically, the Semana Blanca comes next. This is a whole week we had off (the first and last of its kind. Ah, government. How logical you are. :-)), and it’s when Big Sis Amanda came up! It needs its own post!

So...next...

Classes with Andreu: Solivella and Rocafort Round II (last round with them!)

There was a part of me that was hoping Elisabeth, the woman who injured her finger/hand, would be able to teach for this round. I really like her, and I think we were both hoping to work together. However, she still has major issues with it, so Andreu’s finishing up the entire academic year. He went from thinking it was a two-week job...to an entire year! :-) So anyway, I was back with Andreu, which is both fun and...well, sometime frustrating. Nothing major, but...you know, he’s a guy. He’s 22. He hasn’t taught long. He just functions differently than Olga, Laura, and even I do. He’s improved a LOT and is really trying to work on his...organization skills, but I still prefer to be with Olga and Laura. And this round, he seemed even MORE like a brother. Like the traits your brothers have that annoy you. :-D There were just some moments when I wanted to do a double-take and make sure he wasn’t my brother Josh. Ha! I won’t go into details in Blogland, and really, we had some fantastic lessons together. I just found myself really relieved to be back with Olga by the time the 4 weeks were up. :-) But more importantly, let me talk about the students!

I LOVE the oldest group in Solivella, and we did a similar project to the one we did in Pira. I showed MOST of the US powerpoint presentation, but we were short on time, so I didn’t get to finish. I think Andreu forgot about finishing it later on (no big deal), but it added to the fact that doing s’mores with this class would be kind of like....what are these? Why do we care? I just spend a nice, long time explaining everything to the Pira students, and I just didn’t have time in Solivella. Plus, I knew doing “party things” would be better with Laura and Olga involved. So all of this to say that I’m saving the s’mores for just Barbera and Pira. Don’t tell the other students, okay? :-) Anyway, the Solivella students made posters of Girona, Lleida, Barcelona, and Tarragona, and then they presented them in class. The first presentations were...well, there were some issues, and we gave them all a change to repeat them for better grades. And wow, they improved so much! I recorded both times, and we watched them all as a class to compare the good and bad points. Everyone was shocked at the difference in the quality of the 2^nd presentations. It was a good group project, and we did several neat activities in that class.

The 1^st and 2^nd graders, like most, were sooo excited to see me again! Lizzy and Xon, especially, just are very affectionate and talkative. Talkative, that is, in Spanish or Catalan. :-) I don’t think Andreu or the other teachers in Solievella know that we’re supposed to pretend that I don’t speak Spanish or understand Catalan, so I hear a lot more of it over there. :-) Hee hee. We had some fun sessions with the Three Little Pigs, Jobs (your dad’s a fireman? Ooooo...:-D They think it’s so cool!), etc. They reenacted the Little Pigs story with masks, and we also played a lot of games to help them learn job names. It was great!

And the little ones...so fun, yet so exhausting. :-) I think they really were better this round, and there are always a few sweeties in a sea of crazies. It’s just one of those classes I can’t handle on my own. No matter what we’re “technically” supposed to do (as in not have me be alone with the kids), it still ends up with all three teachers that there are times when I’m alone and in charge of the class for a spell. For most, I have no problem and actually like it occasionally. But for this class? Hee. Honestly, I think they get firmly reprimanded (as in yelled at) enough from other teachers where that’s the only discipline they listen to. And it’s just not me. I can’t yell at them. I rarely yell at anyone, including my brothers (well, maybe they’ll tell you a different story! :-)). I just hate it. And it’s something I’ve observed from my time here, and something I’ve always felt strongly about: we, as a society, as people, and specifically, as believers in Christ, yell and raise our voices too much for stupid things. Sure, there are times you need to do it. Jesus did it! But I’m convinced that there are better ways to get children to behave than to scream and shout. So anyway, I’ve played around with a few Sarah methods that work IF I either have the 4-year-olds OR the 5-year-olds. If they’re separate, I really enjoy these kids. Together, however, there are just too many and they’re too out of control. That’s when I volunteer to make the copies or whatever and let Andreu deal with them. :-D But about Teddy Bear...:-)

Okay, I was involved with the Teddy Bear unit with Olga, Laura, AND Andreu. These English teachers only do it once, and I had it THREE times. Three. That’s three teddy bear coloring pages, three teddy bear ear headbands (that Andreu would have forgotten about were it not for me...:-P), three teddy bear mini-books, and the most annoying part: three times (as in 3 four-week sessions or so) of singing, “Where is teddy bear today? In the bedroom, in the bedroom. Where is teddy bear today? In the kitchen, in the kitchen”. Now, at first, it was cute. I loved it. It was catchy, and the children quickly learned the names of rooms. That was with Olga. With Laura, it was still cute, but getting a little old. With Andreu? First off, he didn’t even know the song and wouldn’t have done it were it not for me. :-P Now, I almost wish I didn’t teach it! Haha! He sang it with the kids excessively, even the 5-year-olds, and even in Rocafort, where we weren’t even doing the teddy bear unit. On the bright side, we made it more interesting by speeding it up, slowing it down, etc...but that dreadful song will forever remain in my head, maybe even in heaven, and now, if someone says the words “teddy bear” to me, I feel myself tense up. :-D I will say that I could easily teach that entire unit on my own though! Ha! So if you want to get a negative reaction from me, just ask me where teddy bear is today, mention anything about mice, or...on a totally random note, mention toucans. I had a dream years ago about a talking toucan who wanted to kill me and my family, and I’ve hated them every since. So yeah...not a big fan of teddy bears, mice, or toucans. :-D But I digress!

Being with the 1^st and 2^nd graders in Rocafort was a blast. The twins, Hossam and Houssane (I’m probably not spelling their names correctly, sorry!), just crack me up. I wish you could meet them. I can’t even really explain WHY they’re so funny, but it’s somehow a mixture between their enthusiasm, their broken English, their competitive yet caring attitudes, their love for adventure and dance moves, their love for English, their impulsive hugs and they way one says “baby sister” instead of “babysitter” and the other one corrects him with such passion, and...everything! They’re just a delight to have in class, and I have trouble picturing one without the other. And now that they’ve both lost teeth and are growing others in, I can never tell them apart. I just always hope they’re wearing their bata (like a smock or apron) that has their name on it. :-D And then there are the three girls, who are all great, and they all just have such a love for English. And sweet little Helena drew a picture of ME when they had to draw what they wanted to be when they grew up: she wanted to be a teacher, and she drew me. Wow. Special feeling!

And the small class of little ones in Rocafort is even smaller, because Sanae and her family went back to Morocco. This means we usually just have trying-but-clever Marc and perfectly-obedient Xènia...and sometimes 3-year-old Ali, who will do whatever you ask him to do, but he has NO clue what we’re doing. :-) He’s adorable. He just sits there staring at you as you say something in English, and he grins a little, “haha...this dude/dudette pair makes NO sense whatsoever. I’ll just nod and smile and hope they go away”. :-D Marc’s behavior has improved a LOT since Sanae isn’t there to egg him on, so overall, the class is nice. And the best part was when we went through Jungle Animals, because Marc LOVES animals! Yay!

My last days were bittersweet. It was the first time I actually had to say a true goodbye, because other times, I’d say that I’d be back in a few weeks. But this time? Last day with the classes! I still see some of the students around the school, but I’ll no longer be with them in class. However, another thing I asked about and Amanda brought up with her (yay!) were certificates with English phrases (great job, fantastic, etc.). I gave everyone a certficate and got pictures with most of them! It was a special time, and many students made drawings, gave hugs, shed little tears...and the older ones had parting words such as “We love you”, “We learned a lot”, “Thank you for teaching us”, “Do you have Facebook”, and “Thank you, everybody!”...which Ricard meant to say, “Thank you FROM everybody”. :-D Andreu also had the older ones say various words they learned from me, and I was once again astonished at how much they remember. There truly are very few things more rewarding than investing your time in children. Totally fantastic. And I think I’ll always remember little Lizzy’s last hug (1^st grade), when she just grabbed me by the waist and held on with her little eyes closed for an awkwardly long time. Everyone else had left, and she just stood there hugging me and cherishing the moment. She’s such a sweetie, and I always try to greet her when I’m in Solivella with Olga. That whole class of 1^st and 2^nd graders are great! Really, I think if I had to pick, my favorite age to work with might be 1^st and 2^nd grade. They’re old enough where I don’t have to wipe their nose and zip up their pants, but they’re young enough not to care about teenager-type things (except for when 7-year-old Xon told me once that she has 3 ex-boyfriends. Say whaaaat? Haha!).

Anyway, so final “official” farewells to some students in Solivella and Rocafort...and Andreu...were bittersweet, but at least I still see them. Just wait until I leave for REAL. Not cool!

And since I have Fridays off with Andreu and Mondays off with Olga, I had an epic 4-day weekend in early April. I took advantage of it and did my last major travel excursion in Spain: Andalucía, in the south. Specifically, I went to Sevilla for a day (and met up with Katie!) and Granada for two days. But that deserves another post as well!

Current round:  Classes with Olga:  Barberà and Solivella Round 2 (final round)

I’ve only been with them for a week now, but I have to say several things. One, being with Olga has been GREAT...even better than last time! And the students? WAY WAY better all around!

In Solivella, the 3^rd and 4^th graders were, as usual, REALLY excited to have me back. :-) They were counting down the days (especially Manel!), and when the big day came, I was welcomed with more adorable drawings. Also, the class as a whole has improved both in language and behavior. They’re a true joy to be with.

In Barbera, the oldest group has been a lot more responsive and enjoyable! Some of the girls ran up and hugged me (remember, these are the mature ones), and even the boys who seemed “too cool” to interact with me are...interacting with me! This week, I took a student out individually and work with him/her. It’s been great. We describe pictures, talk about interests and family, and even the “cool dudes” are asking Olga if we can do it again. Yesssss.

The 3^rd and 4^th graders have always been well-behaved (Sergio’s class), but you just have to be slow and gentle with them. :-) They’ve improved a lot in English as well though. And Sergio drew a picture for me as well!

And yes, the 1^st and 2^nd graders HAVE improved in behavior, but they still have...issues. :-D Sebi just likes to talk and wil interupt anyone (teacher, student, etc.), but overall, this class is just too cute. The girls are very huggy and a little TOO clingy, but I honestly think I enjoy the class more than Olga does. :-)

And the little ones...still not like the cuties in Pira, but again, improving. Two days with them a week is plenty though, bwahaha. :-) I’m not sure how Cati can spend the whole time with them! A preschool teacher I am not, I’ve decided. I love working with them for a spell, but I could NOT do it every day all day. I think elementary/primary is my forté.

Okay, last thing about school for this post! La Mona!

La Mona? Like the Mona Lisa? Nooo, that’s in the upcoming Paris post. Stop daydreaming. Okay, la mona is a typical cake in Cataluña. Once again, it’s a very Catalan tradition! On Easter Monday (you know, that day we call Easter Monday but never do anything? They actually do something on it over here!), families get together, usually in a rural area, and godparents give a special cake and chocolate figurine (could be like our typical eggs and bunnies, but there’s everything from the Simpsons to animals to cartoons to Barça) to the godchildren. Okay, that hasn’t happened yet, but the plan is for me to spend the day with Olga and her family. Annnyway, we celebrated La Mona in the schools the last day before Easter break (Semana Santa...Holy Week...yep, we get the whole week off!). I technically didn’t have classes, but I went with another teacher anyway. :-) Each age group helped decorated a cake (jam in the middle, Nutella on top, and nuts, Lacasitos/M&Ms, etc. on top). Ester, who is 1) Carmen Vielba’s sister or sister-in-law, 2) the normal teacher of Sergio’s class, 3) a former English teacher, 4) best friends with Olga, 5) attends the English course, 6) the woman who had a baby close to when I first arrived in Spain, and 7) the mother of that baby I held around Christmastime who actually slept on me and spit up on someone ELSE later on, came to visit with her baby son, and everyone was excited to see them! I ended up holding Roc (the baby) quite a bit that afternoon, but nothing disgusting happened. Whew. Anyway, we had pictures together and all went outside to eat and watch the students perform a dance they learned in music class. And it was here when mature Ona started talking to me in nearly perfect English. I just felt a better connection with her than I had before. Once again, I emphasize the glorious feeling of talking to students outside of the classroom!

Annnnd...that’s about it, for now! This is several months’ worth of school memories. :-) The whole experience has really made me seriously consider teaching as a career. I still don’t know for SURE, because obviously the experience is NOT going to be as amazing as this all of the time. But I feel in my element when I do it, and Laura, Olga, Andreu, and Javi are all encouraging me to pursue it. So we’ll see!

Three more weeks with Barberà/Olga, and two short weeks with Pira/Laura. Then I’m done in the ZER Conca. CRAZY. Time is flying by, and I think changing every four weeks makes it go faster. :-)

Ah, one last random comment: I know for a fact that there are several typos in my blogposts, and I apologize! It’s my intention to tweak them someday, but...yeah. Who knows when that someday is. :-D Just know that I know about them, okay? So it doesn’t count! HA HA HA!

Thanks for reading!