Doesn’t time fly!

 It’s been a busy old time this last week and weekend. The last night of the Carnaval in Leon was so different to Saturday, the procession seemed to be about ancient traditions with some scary masks and men with large wooden mediaeval tongs pretending to castrate people! 

We only had three days in school. I have been more of a teacher’s assistant in class than a full teacher and have been doing many one to one sessions for the Trinity and Cambridge exams. To help with this, and for the school to keep, I have been putting together electronic resources rather than the workbooks that different elements are extracted from. The school are very IT savvy. All the kids have iPads, everything is run through Google classroom, and the parents even get immediate notification of excellent or poor behaviour and whether homework was done or not.

Friday Iain and I hosted a Leonite pancake party. Ollie, Jordan and Moira were the cooks and did an amazing job, Ollie showed great prowess in flipping those pancakes. It was so nice to have everyone together, and rather than annoy our downstairs landlady we kicked everyone out at 11 and went to the local bar who were really welcoming.

Saturday we hired a car and a gang of us went to Riano in the mountains. It’s a village that was rebuilt in the late 80’s after the valley the original village was in was flooded to make a reservoir. It’s an absolutely stunning location framed by snow-topped mountains. A happy day was had seeing the sights in the village, having a lovely lunch, then ending the day with a boat ride on the reservoir.

Sunday we’ve been welcomed to Oviedo, the home town of Fran (Language Kingdom). David from Language Kingdom accompanied us on the bus through the mountains and were met by Fran and his very cute daughter, along with a tour guide Lily. It was a really interesting visit. Oviedo is full of character, old quarters and bronze statues. Lunch was in a local restaurant where many of us had Pote Asturianos for starters, a local stew made with beans, potatoes, cabbage, chorizo and morcilla which is like black pudding.

Hannah was the star of the show as the bar owner took great delight in showing her how to pour the local Sidre from great height into the glass. It didn’t take her long to get the hang of it!

The bus journey home passed quickly and we’re now back reflecting on another great week and not quite believing that we are halfway through this fabulous experience.











Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ocho: Made it to the castle

Image
 Had a great weekend. The girls threw a surprise birthday party for Isaac with plenty of food, balloons and of course a birthday cake. But I guess it was so much of a surprise that Isaac didn't realise and never showed up. (To be fair I think he had a valid reason why he couldn't come). But it's the thought that counts I guess. Still had a good night even without a speaker and managed to get a decent nights rest ready for the castle on Saturday. The castle was even more satisfying considering the failure we had last week. Like the one pilgrimage we said we would do finally ticked off the list. I've attempted to upload one of my favourite pics so hopefully that's worked. Was lovely to get out of the city and get some fresh air although I don't think we managed to top the pics the Leon group got of their mountains (looked absolutely unreal, although I'm definitely not jealous...). Saturday night was a bit wild; beers for 1 euro, a "firework display" ...
Read more

Juntos por la Paz

Image
  We are now into the second half of our placement and I am conscious of how quickly the remaining time will pass. With Caro’s words, echoing in my head, I wanted to ensure to enjoy every minute. Whether it was singing Karaoke in a local bar with “the Leonites” until 4am on Saturday morning, joining the school choir under the direction of Carlos the Colombian countertenor or sampling local delicacies such as morcilla (unappetisingly translated as cow’s viscera), I have tried to immerse myself in the school community and Leonese culture. The rehearsals with the school choir were an uplifting end to the school day. They are held in a former side chapel within the school with excellent acoustics, enhancing the exquisite voices of Carlos and his small band of enthusiastic choristers. Together with other schools in the region they are planning a concert of world music in June, so rehearsals typically involved practising a range of pieces spanning the globe, from Japan to South Afri...
Read more

La última semana

Image
  The final full weekend in Leon included a guided tour of the city’s main attractions, the jewel of which must be the gothic Cathedral. We learned that it contains over 1800 metres of stained glass, some of which dates from the 13 th century, creating a light—filled, ethereal space, full of beautiful and unusual reflections. At the other end of the spectrum we watched the England v Ireland encounter in the Six Nations Rugby Championship in the Harley Sports Bar in the Plaza Mayor. Despite having a dozen or so TV screens, the staff always seemed reluctant to show the rugby matches and it usually took several attempts to persuade or cajole someone to change the channel from basketball or football, by which time the first quarter had gone. With representation, in some shape or form, from all the home nations amongst the Leonites, there has been plenty of tension and friendly rivalry during these encounters. My final observed lesson with Class 5A fell auspiciously on St. Patrick’...
Read more