Monday, October 18, 2010

Freeze Like a Popsicle 54/66.

The title of today's blog pretty much sums up how I have been feeling. Funny how I used to play this game with my students when it was raining and we couldn't have recess and now here I am using it to desribe myself. I am not going to survive this winter. It has been in the 50's and today I was freezing. A co-worker was making fun of me today because I was walking around the building with my jacket on. I am really turning into my mother! Scary! Just kidding, Mom. Really, I am! Love you! But anyways, he was teasing me, saying it was only October and it wasn't even winter yet. What makes it worse is the windows here do NOT have double panes. So the cold air goes straight in and stays. I've even bought an electric blanket. Which is even more scary considering the fact I almost DIED from a freak accident with an electric blanket. I slept through my own flesh burning. If you don't believe me, ask my mother or ask to see my scar the next time you see me! Anyways, I have decided that the reason why I am so cold is because my lazy behind is accustomed to walking out the door, sliding into a warm, heated car, and driving on my merry way to wherever it was I was going. (Okay, the heated car part is a lie....I never woke up early enough to run out and let me car run. In fact, I was notorious for pulling, I mean, ripping out of the driveway, frosty windows and all. I would then spray the windshield, only to be reminded that liquid sprayed on top of frozen ice does not melt it. It simply makes more ice....But you know what I mean....) I am not used to WALKING in the cool weather. This is going to take some adjusting to....Today, I wore leggings, a skirt, boots, a scarf, and jacket and I was STILL cold. At this rate I'm going to need thermal underwear, a heated bra, and boots with the fur. (Alas, I can guarantee you I will be without the Apple Bottom jeans. Sadly, since I have no sweatpants with me, there will also be no reeboks with the straps....Yes, I'm such a Debbie Downer.) As much complaining as I do, I'd rather be freezing instead of sizzling like a well done steak in the pits of the underworld, also known as the metro.

This morning as I was shivering like a penguin up in the North Pole, (oh wait, do penguins really shiver? I mean, they live in the North Pole for a reason....,) I passed the group of people who think they have all the power, more commonly known as the parking police. These people stay on top of their job! They walk the streets of Madrid, peeking in windshields, checking for parking stubs. I promise they sit in front of cars just to give them a ticket. Every morning, I pass one group of the overachievers club. They congregate every morning at the same spot. I'm sure they pump each other up. Their supervisor gathers them in a circle every morning and I'm sure they all discuss ways to hand out parking tickets. Quite funny if you ask me. And since I don't have a car for them to potentially write me a ticket for, they don't bother me. I wonder though if they will cease their competitiveness once it turns to winter....

Today at school, I read a Halloween-themed book to my students and they really liked it. Afterwards, I let them color a pumpkin. One of the students told me that her mother had told her that Halloween is quite tonta (foolish/stupid) because it's supposed to be a holiday to honor the dead and that basically, we as Americans, make a mockery out of it. I told my student that in the United States, it's a different type of holiday for us. We then ended up having a discussion about cultural differences and why it's a good idea to learn about other cultures. Pretty deep discussion for fourth graders if you ask me.

Quote of the Day: "You must begin to think of yourself as becoming the person you want to be." -David Viscott
Spanish Word of the Day: Truco o Trato - trick or treat

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