Nuestro amigo, cisne (Our Friend, Cisne)

Immediately after I wrote that I doubted anything interesting would be happening in my life, interesting things happened! Imagine that!

1) I started 'teaching English' on Wednesday evening. I will be doing four hours a week of teaching. Two hours a week I play (you know, games... playmobil, soccer, etc) with Nacho, 4, and Jave, 6, but the catch is that I have to speak English the whole time. The dad--really nice guy--just wants them to be around English, considering they're too young to learn in more of a classroom type of setting. It was fun, although I have to admit, tiring, too. The kids are really cute and I always love listening to little Spanish kids (and realizing that they often have better Spanish than I do). Playing with them and answering back in English was especially fun because they would keep asking me things in Spanish, like "hey, do you speak any Spanish? Come on, let's hear it, I don't believe you! Nacho, do you think she speaks Spanish? I don't think she does" and I would have to answer completely in English, which just made them stare at me, confused, sometimes giggle, and often throw their hands up and scream "ay yay yay dios mio"! It's quite fun to watch. Ok, so that's half of the job, 2 hours a week. The other half is spending time with the dad, Ignacio, and his wife, Olga, and just sitting and conversing with them in English. I haven't done that yet -- we're going to wait to start until my second semester schedule is solidified -- but it should be easy and relaxed. I imagine it will be later in the evening, once the kids are asleep. I get paid 10 euro (EURO, PEOPLE) an hour, so it's definitely not a bad gig. Plus it's like a very small taste of what being a au pair would be like... and I think just a little taste will suit me just fine.

2) I have been playing a decent bit of Roller Coaster Tycoon. Not an obscene amount, but probably more than I should. My parents brought it for me upon request when they came for winter break. Anyway, 2 nights ago I had a dream that I was at school with all my friends and people and some maniac started building a theme park right in the middle of the school and it was killing people left and right and was unstoppable and we were all running in every direction, etc. At first, people thought it was cool and they ditched school to go on the rides, but as the rides started breaking and going up in flames, that ended pretty quickly. I felt responsible in the dream and I had to run away from the cops (not sure why). So, uh, yeah. I had a dream about Roller Coaster Tycoon from the perspective of a figure in the game... that's about as low and lame as it gets.

3) Austin is in Madrid for the weekend with the new kids doing orientation, which leaves me to work on my desarrollo local paper... sigh... we have to create something to sell and write a paper about it and I think I decided I'm going to sell microwavable tapas (to be sold in the USA only). TV dinners for the American TV generation who want to experience Andalucia without leaving their house. I think it's a pretty hilarious/good idea. Now I just need to make sure that the sarcasm I use about both American and Spanish cultures and the jokes I put into the paper are understood by the professor... that's the problem with trying to do creative writing in Spanish: I don't know if my humor will be understood or dismissed!

4) To end on a fun note, Fernando made us dessert last night. He carved a swan out of an apple!! It was incredible!! I took some pictures, so enjoy!

It was hard to find an angle to capture all sides of the Swan (no duh), but this picture shows it pretty well. Fernando carved above AND below the wing!!

Fernando and my new roommate, Austin, happily holding up the Swan. Mayte is there, in the background, avoiding being in the picture.

Austin and I pooled our own creative resources together and left this on the kitchen table when we were done eating... the note says "Here is our dear friend Cisne. Loved for his savory wings and his ability to convert two vegetarians into lovers of the world of meat, we hope that his body rests in peace." Yeah. Doing a RIP is way hard in a second language. Just putting that out there.

And that is the story of our dear Swan, Cisne.
Have a great weekend, everyone!