A Diamond in the Rough

So WHEN any of you statesiders come to visit me we might just have to hit up the zoo. This weekend I was pleasantly surprised by all the Madrid Zoo has to offer, including 2 panda bears, dancing dolphin trainers, circus trained brown bears, and a lot of prohibited up close and personal interaction with the animals.

Where to start? The most impressive fact I learned at the zoo is that peanuts are eaten by nearly every terrestrial animal on this planet. Now lets let the pictures do the talking........

Well, of course everyone knows that elephants eat peanuts.....And numerous species of monkeys. These guys were awesome- they climbed to the top of the cage, stuck their hands out and were moving around catching everything. Seriously, monkeys have an amazing catch.This guy looked a little lonely, so of course he got the pity peanuts.... Well the turtle had troubles picking the peanuts up, lacked the opposable thumbs.

These guys seriously knew how to work the crowds. Look at them!Dolphin show:These were probably one of the ugliest animals. Them or the camels........


These guys were the most fun......

Would you Pass?!

Exam week is here. The teaching thing and I are gettin' long pretty well. Here's my test question to test thier business email skills. I am having a lot of fun correcting thier responses.....

Question 5: Business Emails

You work in customer relations for IBM. You receive the email below from a man complaining about one of your products. You think the man may be crazy but IBM policy insists that you reply to all correspondence in a friendly, polite and helpful manner.

7 May, 2009

To whom it may concern:

I recently purchased a ThinkPad Backpack for my new portable computer. I am writing to inform you of a fault I noticed in the pack after opening it: it doesn't include a lucky penny.
Many people around the world practice the tradition of placing a coin of very small value in new items of luggage, wallets, or purses, in order to bring the buyer good luck. Unfortunately, IBM failed to do this for my new ThinkPad backpack and now I am suffering the consequences. Here are some examples:

· I played the lottery and did not win.
· My friend's son’s hockey team had won fifteen games in a row before my friend invited me to a game. I went to the game with my ThinkPad, and the team lost 15-0.
· On my way to work a truck transporting liquid oxygen hit my car.. The resulting explosion destroyed my car, although I was (thank God) thrown away from the crash. The patented Shock Absorber System™ in my bag protected my computer.

I noticed that there were two cards in the bag. One said that the bag was inspected by Inspector Number 23, and the other was inspected by Inspector Number 10. Maybe Inspector Number 10 has some bad debts at the casino and steals the pennies placed by Inspector Number 23. But would Inspector Number 10 be stupid enough to literally leave their card after such a theft?

This must be costing you millions of dollars every year, not to mention the bad luck it’s causing your customers. I hope that you do checks on your existing quality assurance employees, and make sure that new employees are subject to the same criminal history checks before being hired.

Yours faithfully,

Woody Allen

I sure hope that I can get my visa and everything worked out and come back. The truth is that when I put time into it, I really have a lot of fun teaching and am constantly improving. :)

Last weekend.....

Running around town, but definately ready to get back into climbing again. I spent Sunday climbing in an area called, well i dont remember, something to do with a canyon. It is in Patones, which is a very well known climbing area approximately 1 hour outside of Madrid.

Anyways, Javi and I met up with some friends and did some climbing on caliza...... (I have to look that up in a dictionary: limestone.) Not our typical style, much stronger and, boy did i feel it for the next 3 days! It tore my hands up a little bit as well.

Javi:

Pablo (freaking crazy! so strong and shouts a lot. Great guy!):

ME! (kind of a wierd picture?):
Other than that, I am looking forward to exam week, this upcoming week. I will be giving exams during two days of classes, finishing up for good on the 10th.

As for the home front: The pool is open, but freezing cold. Paula and I are currently reading The Secret Garden. I am so amazed at her English level. When I stop and think I start to get a little bit sad. I am going to miss them a lot.

Starting to organize things for the trip back to the other side of the ocean. Only 3 more weekends. It would be cliche to say that time flies...

alright i went to a (insert adj.) bullfight

Still forming an opinion.

Still gotta get pictures (my camera and mp3 player have both been missplaced.....)

For now I will leave you with one word: Blood, lots of it.

Here's the basic story......... (I am lazy and sick of reading and writing and studying...... so I am reducing to telling it in strictly nouns and adjectives. I hope you get a good picture)

Madrid. Festival. Bullfight. Lots of people. Little cement bleacher seats. Sun. Beers. Sandwiches. Michael Baker, brother of Maria Baker.

Bull. Bullfighter. Cape thing. Little knife-type things. Blood Streaming.

Horse (blindfolded and amored) vs. Bull. More Blood.

Still going. Round 3 of 3. Smaller cape thing. Finished off with a sword.

Bull loses. Dead. Next. Another 5 bulls to die.......

Okay so maybe i threw in more than strictly nouns and verbs....

Anyways I just finished a language exchange. Suddenly i have 4 people with which i do them. I dont know how to say no........ but at the same time I always enjoy them. They are fun and interesting and I am becoming better everyday at teaching English. I especially love doing them with people who have higher levels. I am learning TONS of english and TONS about british english.

I am facing a very discouraging visa situation. We'll see how things turn out. My greatest weapon is patience. Patience, patience, patience..................

Less than 20 days left here!

DONE and DONE

Since I took the exam, I have barely stopped to sit at the computer............

ALright in this picture, Caroline and i are on a corner in la latina.....Can you find us?

This is a super 'artsy' picture of Javi and I in the Rastro (its a big market sunday mornings)

Caroline and I strolling the Rastro. Spending both time and money. Dang I feel like i have lost all english writing/speaking abilities.

This weekend was the feast of San Isidro. These people are dressed up in some sort of traditional costume. A lot of people were, but the best costumes where the kids that dressed up like that, hat and all. Javi used to dress up in the man's costume every year when he was little. When i find a picture, I will post it.....
We stopped by a rose garden to see roses. But soon left......geez it is getting really hot here these days, mostly 80/90's.

This is the train track i travel whenever i go from my house into the city of madrid:

This is a new sort of public transportation/metro system that Madrid built 5 years ago.... To think this is how people really get to work!

Okay, that was a lie. I suppose I dont really need to tell you what you are seeing in every picture. After all, a picture says 1000 words. Let's not go overboard.

Pouring cider. If you have questions ask and i will respond.....

The Day I learned to drive a motorcycle.

So I tried to spend the day studying spanish. With only a few more days until my test, it's officially crunch time! In the end, I learned to ride a motorcycle instead.

My 'cousin' Pablo took me for a ride around Madrid and what not on his motorcycle. I absolutely loved it. I am surprised that that was the FIRST time I have ever been a passenger on a motorcycle. Positive it will not be the last! Then taught me how to ride a little bit in the grocery store parking lot. Well, I like it. I love it. I want one...............

Anyways. i needed something good this weekend and that was it. enough dreaming, back to studying....

Sorry if it gives you a headache, out of focus, as usual:

Studying

I feel like a really boring person. I have nothing to say about anything. Everything is the same and all I do is study. I practice reading and speaking about boring topics. Study. Study. Study. Play with the kids a bit. Study.


Paula has finally solved the rubik's cube:

Oh I had a bad flu last week. Don't worry. I didnt die. It was one of those 24-hour things where you can't get out of bed. Then I got better and went to Cuenca to climb. Oh so its bloody hot here now. Like summer weather. If I wasn't studying all the time, I could be laying out in the sun.

After I finish the exam.... ~MAY 15th~........ I will start my next mission, figuring out all this overly-complicated visa stuff. Unfortunately, I will never let myself rest.

Ummmmm well at least I have really exciting dreams. Last night I dreamed that I was in a spanish class watching a video that teaches spanish. Up on the screen appeared home videos of my childhood. They were of my brothers, sister, and the neighbor kids playing outside in our yard. We were playing all sorts of different crazy things. Anyways, Obviously, I was completely wierded out. After deep investigation I found out that my Aunt had helped to make the vidoes about 20 years ago and used videos of my family.

I could go on about my dreams, but its really not worth your time. I hope that you can find something interesting, or entertaining in the above entry. If not, sorry- I just wanted you to know that I am not writing because I am up to NOTHING.

Oh but the good news is that I think I will easily pass the test.