Mondays Schmundays

I'm in Viladecavalls today at CEIP Rosella (the school I was assigned to for the year). I went with the third graders to a presentation about their civil duties, recycling, learning to cross the street properly and traffic signals this morning. They all howled and I can't remember ever having a similar presentation having been made so fun in elementary school. It was just Chief Bacon very seriously explaining to us why not wearing a bike helmet was dangerous and that drugs are bad. All I recall is the moving mustache. Here they got to crack eggs, act like pirates with hooks and imaginary peg legs and walk imaginary dogs with a leash made from a balloon. Way cooler than Chief Bacon. I didn't have to practice singing "There She Goes" with the last group of third graders because of the presentation (some change in the routine is always welcome), but this afternoon I have to go with the sixth graders which is never really enjoyable. Trying to control half a dozen twelve year-olds who are almost as tall as I am and ignore me with the excuse that they don't understand English is draining to say the least, but I suppose for two hours a week I can hardly complain. I'll be going to the house of one of the teachers after school to hang out with her three and five year-old daughters and speak to them in English. The older girl just giggles and never speaks to me and the younger one is like an earthquake but they're both fun and their Mom always makes good company. (If anyone is interested in seeing the kids I spend 12 hours a week with, you can check out the school's English blog. There are videos and photos of some of the activities we've done.)

Now that spring is just around the corner, it's no longer pitch black outside when I take the train back to Barcelona which is really nice. The days are getting noticeably longer and before we know it, we'll be back to the dog days of summer with 9:30 sunsets and gloriously long days spent floating in the glistening Mediterranean. Can't wait.