Historia y Arte

Out of all the places that we visited in Amsterdam, the Anne Frank House was the most moving for many reasons. First, to walk the hallways and passages of a place that I had read about and studied in school was heart-wrenching and eye-opening at a different level. Excerpts from her diary were placed throughout the house and her words really impressed me, not just because of the emotion they induced, but also because of how mature she sounded for being such a young girl. Perhaps, one of the most fascinating things about the museum was the end where we were faced with an interactive dialogue on freedom that forced us to think about 21st Century social, political, and religious problems. What was interesting is that some surprisingly and disturbingly seemed to share similarities to problems that were prevalent in Pre-WWII Europe. In general, we asked ourselves whether censoring/outlawing hate speech in all of its manifestations, i.e., in politics, music, facebook groups, public marches, etc. was worth compromising freedom of speech. Or whether or not implementing certain policies intended to promote equality was worth compromising freedom of religion. Or whether implementing policies to combat crime was worth compromising human dignity. I can´t do justice to the exhibit, but I just want you to know that it made a huge impression on me.

Afterwards, I went to the bookshop and bought a graphic novel of Anne Frank´s life by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón. See, I could have bought a special edition of The Diary of Anne Frank, or one of the story books that she had written, but I was also interested in learning more about the history of her time and I was also interested in how telling history might be enhanced through graphic novelization, or whatever the correct term is. Okay, to put it into plain English, I was fascinated by the marriage of Art & History in this book, ok?

Anyways, I had begun to contemplate this idea again after visiting the Vincent Van Gogh museum. The thing is that, for all of you who don´t know, besides being interested in history, I was also really into art in high school and I had even had aspirations to pursue it in college, but, as usual, nothing ever goes according to plan. I don´t regret not pursuing it because I probably wouldn´t be here right now, but at the same time I realized in Amsterdam that it is never too late to start something new, or pick up where you left off. Mr. Van Gogh helped bring me to this realization. I was shocked to find out that he was 27 years old when he decided to become an artist and that he was active as an artist for only ten years until his death. And today he is one of the most famous Dutch artists of all time. Personally, I love how he was never afraid to paint with think and bold strokes, nor with brilliant colors, something that wasn´t seen that often in his time.

Later on, I ended up reading the graphic novel about Anne Frank´s life in the Charleroi Airport in Brussels which caused earlier thoughts to resurface again. Apart from being infuriated by the story, I kept asking myself wouldn´t it be amazing to do this for a living: marrying history and art?

Hasta luego

Happy Groundhog Day!

Groundhog Day. Those two words conjure up a series of images that makes me laugh inside. Who celebrates a day dedicated to a furry animal who, let´s face it, is no better at predicting the weather than a rock? Americans do. But it is a tradition that, although kinda silly, is still fun. Besides, its a way of justifying the weather to come. So, in this spirit, I decided to share the tradition with my students and colleagues this week.

Some students were interested in what I had to say, others not so much, but overall I think each class enjoyed the presentation. I got each class energized with the famous woodchuck tongue-twister and then continued on with the history of the tradition which I did not know anything about until I researched it. We watched some video footage of past predictions in Punxsutwaney, Pennsylvania where America´s most famous groundhog, Phil, lives and we also watched that Geico commercial. In the end, some students associated Phil with Paul the octopus who had predicted Spain´s 2010 World Cup win in South Africa. So, I was glad that they didn´t think I was completely crazy.

There homework assignment was to watch tonight´s news which, believe it or not, did mention Phil and his prediction for six more weeks of winter weather. I laughed and sweared at the same time when I heard it. So, maybe I do believe in him more than I thought.

Hasta Luego.

The Benelux Countries

Hola a todos, hi everyone. It´s been a long time since my last entry but I think its safe to say that the holiday season keep me a little busy. I spent Christmas in Madrid and for the rest of the break I went up north with my friend Erika to the Benelux, an area of Europe that is made up of The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Believe it or not, these countries have historic ties to Spain as this area was once part of the Spanish Empire during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries.

Antwerp, Belgium was our first real stop in the Benelux and it was beautiful despite the rain and cold weather. Everything about the riverfront -the park, the riverwalk, the old adjacent buildings- reminded me of Wilmington´s. The city center had a similar air as well, but its was obviously more ornate with beautiful Flemish architecture. The Cathedral of Our Lady was impressive and we were lucky to come across several beautiful altarpieces by the artist Peter Paul Rubens. My favorite dish was called Vol-au-vent; a hollowed out pastry filled with, in this case, veal and mushroomed cream...yummmm. A train ride away, in Ghent, (where Spain´s Carlos I was born in 1500) I tasted the most savory beer to date, Bourgogne de Flandres (Burgundy of Flanders). It was a dark beer with the perfect combination of sweet and bitter. I also visited one of the most beautiful cathedrals I have ever been to, the Saint Bavo Cathedral. A mixture of architectural styles in white marble and black onyx (I think) was what did it for me. Dank u fur dat, Ghent.

Before we knew it, we were in Bruges which seemed as if it had come out of a fairytale. Canals ran through the city and Belgian chocolate called our names as we walked her streets. My favorite part was probably the Belfry, the famous tower that I first discovered in the movie, In Bruges. While we were waiting in line we meet this interesting frenchwoman who amused us with her mélange of French, Spanish and English until it was time to go up the Belfry. It was like a never-ending staircase that got narrower the further up we went. I think I lost 10 pounds going up and down that thing. Anyways, at the top, the view was breathtaking.

-Many thanks to Kelly, our host in Flanders (North Belgium) who intrigued me with her obsession for everything related to Flamenco dance and music. Qué bonito, una flamenca aficionada al flamenco (In Spanish, Flamenco can either refer to the genre of music and dance or to someone from Flanders).

We spent New Year´s Eve in Luxembourg in the company of an incredibly nice Spanish girl who we had met her on on our flight from Madrid to Brussels. I happened to be sitting next her on the plane when I asked if she had been to Brussels before and she said that she had studied their but was now living in Luxembourg. No way, I said. We are going there for New Year´s Eve! Next thing I knew, she invited us to hangout with her on Noche Vieja. When the night finally arrived we were consumed in animated conversation with our new friend and her italian buddies who ended up cooking lentils for us (apparently its tradition to eat lentils for New Year´s in Italy). We all went outside at midnight to watch the fireworks which lasted about twenty mintues. Well, damn I told myself. Then again, it was Luxembourg and that city, to be honest, is loaded (it happens to be a huge financial and administrative hub). Anyways, Luxembourg is a beautiful city, but there wasn´t much life there (many people who live there are from outside Luxembourg), so we were lucky to have met our Spanish friend.

Our next stop was Amsterdam which bills itself as the city of freedom because of its tolerance for cannabis consumption in cannabis coffeeshops and its tolerance of prostitution in the famous red-light district which, interestingly, is a tourist attraction for its architecture alone. Anyway, during our stay we were mostly preoccupied with the Anne Frank House, The Vincent Van Gogh Museum, the food, the architecture, and the world famous canals that criss-cross the city.

To be continued...

Christmas in Madrid

Madrid is beautiful during Christmas -its illuminated everywhere you go with lights! Some neighboorhoods have simple lights among tree tops, others have cables stretched across busy streets upon which hang really cool yet simple christmas shapes and retro designs. They are illuminated by hundreds of LED lights. The giant Christmas tree in Puerta del Sol is also incredible. Since I can´t upload photos right now, here is a link to a fellow auxiliar´s blog with great photos of Madrid!

Another thing that I love about Madrid is the Plaza Mayor during Christmas. I decided to stop by again one night and to my surprise it was filled with stands selling small stables and managers to make nativity scenes. Seriously, there were hundreds of tiny figurines of Mary, Joseph, Jesus, the Three Wise Men, etc. There were also small figurines of regular people of Madrid life; I guess to give a contemporary touch to your belén. That´s what people call nativity scenes in Spanish; it literally means Bethlehem. The entire time I was thinking I wish my mom could see this. She puts up a nativity scene every year and she is very elaborate about it. She would have loved being in the Plaza Mayor.

Anyways, I´m kind of getting a little home sick right now which I guess is normal, but it will be all good when my friend gets here from Granada and we both go to see my aunt tomorrow. Who am I kidding? I have family here at least. I think I´ll make another pumpkin pie since I have several cans left over from Thanksgiving. And one of these days I´m probably going to have a Home Alone Movie Marathon. I bought Home Alone 1 & 2 at FNAC, an electronics store, and it only cost me 8.99 euros. Talk about a deal! Those movies always put me in the Christmas spirit. Later on the 27th my friend Erika and I will be off to Benelux to pass the rest of Christmas vacation and New Year´s there. Thank you to Kat for connecting us with her friends in Amsterdam. Its going to be pure awesomeness. Hasta Luego. Love you Mom, Tracee, Alex, Dad, friends y primos ¡¡Que tengáis una Feliz Navidad y un Prospero Año Nuevo!!

-Charlie

Tapas For Thanksgiving

Hi, again. Forgive me for not being very thorough lately, but many things have been going on recently. First of all, I just want to say that I have some amazing colleagues. Last thursday for Thanksgiving they put together a small pot-luck Thanksgiving celebration just for me! I was kind of surprised when they told me that they were planning it because I didn´t think they´d go out of their way to bring a dish to school with all the craziness that´s been going on in regards to extended hours and pay cuts (more about this later). Seriously, it was incredibly thoughtful of them to do that. I guess they became inspired after I talked about how amazing Thanksgiving is and that it was a shame that I would miss it. Anyhow, one of the teachers put up a list and then everyone started writing their names and what they would bring. I wanted to bring a turkey so badly, but after I spoke with my mom I said forget about it. Its toooooo much work and besides bringing it on the bus would have been too much of a hassle. I ended up bringing a pumpkin pie that I made the previous night. I went the easy way out and used Libby´s canned pumpkin from an American store that I happened to stumble upon by chance......the thing is I was walking in a very uppity looking neighborhood on my way to a workshop for Madrid Science Week when all of a sudden I see a small convenience store overshadowed by a huge apartment building -its neon green sign having been what caught my eye. The name: A Taste of America. It felt a little bit like home; there was pancake mix, Aunt Jemima´s pancake syrup, Reeses pieces, JIF peanut butter -all the unhealthy stuff- cranberry sauce, stuffing mix (they were prepared for Turkey day except they didn´t have any turkeys), and French´s mustard (this really made me excited because the mustard tastes horrible here!!) So on thursday the teachers and I enjoyed some delicious pumpkin pie. Really. It tasted pretty damn good although the dough could have been cooked a little more. They don´t sell aluminum baking pans with pie crusts already on them here so what I did was buy already-made dough for empanadas and placed it over an aluminum pan. So, next time I know what to do. At the get-together there was so many varieties of tapas (Spanish finger food/appetizers) I could barely contain myself. And it seemed that each teacher was eager for me to try his or her speciality. After saying some words of deep gratitude, we dug in. It was a crash-course in Spanish tapa tasting and I passed with flying colors. Tuna empanadas, jamón serrano (parma ham), patés and crackers, cream cheese covered with sweetened bell-peppers, olives, potatoe salad, Spanish omlette, Rioja wine, coffe-flavored flan, etc.

Now tapas are one aspect of Madrid culture that I absolutely love. In fact, when you order some drinks at a bar or a restaurant they usually come with free tapas! The popular drink of choice is called a caña de cerveza. Originally, caña means sugarcane, so I took this phrase to mean sugarcane beer. I was very wrong. Caña in this context means a small glass of beer, usually of the brand, Mahou. Anyways, with an order of a caña de cerveza comes tapas of main kinds depending on the establishment. And who can deny free food?

In the end, I was able to have an authentic Thanksgiving dinner at my friend Cooper´s apartment that following Saturday. He, too, is an auxiliar at a local high school. There were about eight of us, Americans and Spaniards, who savored in the turkey and sides dishes that he cooked. It was pretty impressive and nostalgic at the same time. I wished I could have teleported back for just a few hours to be with my family. But at the same time, I was thankful for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live in Spain.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving too. Hasta luego.

Baptisms and Soccer. I mean Fútbol.

So this past Saturday I went to my cousin´s baptism in Mejorada del Campo, a small town outside of Madrid.(I happen to have an aunt in Spain that I didn´t mention. In fact, I stayed at her apartment when I had been looking for one of my own. And her husband has been very helpful by giving me advice about Madrid. But I am the exception as most other auxiliares don´t have relatives here; I´m very fortunate). Anyways, my several months old cousin was the cutest and the most figety of all the three babies at the service. In almost every picture taken at the end of the service he is reaching for the baptismal candle or playing with his suit. Afterwards, we all went back to the apartment were the paparazzi show continued. We ate Colombian food with cumbia playing in the background. Then I went with some of the husband´s family to a neighborhood restaurant to watch a soccer game between F.C. Barcelona and Zaragoza to the tune of tapas and beer. The entire time my aunt´s brother-in-law lectured me on why i should be a fan of Barcelona and not Real Madrid, even though I live in Madrid. This, by the way, is the greatest rivalry in Spanish soccer which is followed by people the world over). In fact, my students ask me ALL THE TIME whether I am a fan of Barcelona or Madrid, and I answer: give me a few months and then I´ll tell ya. By the end of the night I was baptised a fan of F.C. Barcelona whether I liked it or not and Barça (the cool way of saying it) ended up beating Zaragoza 4-0.

Un Nuevo Presidente and Other things.

The news of the hour, of course, is the landslide win that the Popular Party candidate, Mariano Rajoy, achieved last night in Spain's national elections. According to many people that I spoke with, it was something expected that the conservatives would win. It´s just that the masses are tired of the current socialist party which they blame as having contributed largely to Spain's growing debt crisis, although I have spoken with others who say the current administration is not entirely at fault. I have spoken with certain individuals who´ve told me that the previous administration indebted the government by joining the Iraq war and by giving too much power to the banks which then created the housing bubble which burst and in turn crippled the economy (Hmmmm......this sounds eerily familiar). So, yesterday Spaniards went out and expressed their frustration by bringing an end to the People's Socialist Workers Party's winning streak which has ruled the government since 2004 with current president, Mr. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Interestingly, he was the but of many jokes last September when Johnny English Returns landed in cinemas all across Spain. The media said Mr. Zapatero looked like Mr. Bean. And if you look closely, they kind of do resemble each other in the eyes.........

Anyways, certain colleagues of mine have reservations about Mr. Rajoy, specifically regarding education. You see, he is part of the PP conservative party, the same party which the current governor of Madrid is a part of and she has cut the public education budget like last night´s ham. My school in particular lost eight teaching positions from last year and as a result certain classes are no longer offered. There have been several protests and strikes so far and yes, some of my colleagues have gone on strike since I have been here. Seriously, I´m just going to have to dedicate an entire blog to the subject of education in Spain alone.

Anyhow, I hope this change in political direction is a good thing for Spain. As I can see, she needs to re-boot the economy and create more jobs, but as Mr. Zapatero and Mr. Rajoy say, that will be hard to come by without sacrifice. Wow, I think I just had déjà vu.

Hasta luego.

P.S. I stumbled upon a great BBC article about the Spanish government and what makes its debt situation different from other european countries........quite interesting if you are a politics junkie.