Madison

Living in a pretty liberal Capital city sure has its advantages. The other day, as I was walking home from class, I ran into a lady who I thought looked strikingly familiar. After returning home, I heard some comotion down my street. I walked down to what appeared to be a political rally and it all made sense: Michelle Obama was in town! The lady I had seen was Obama's wife, here in Madison to give a speech! I stayed the 20 minutes she spoke and thought how awesome it is to live right in the heart of things.

On a similar note, another interesting election event happened today in one my classes. Upon discussing race and culture in the classroom, my professor turned and responded to a statement I made about Obama asking me "Bailey, why do you perceive Barack Obama to be part black?" I think I responded "are you kidding me?" between my uncontrolable laughter at such a dumb question! I know the whole PC thing is kinda a big deal in the US, but come on...obviosuly the dude IS part black...duuuh!

The bday celebration went well, too. A few friends came into town and we had a blast on Saturday night since it was my roomie, Sarita's birthday too! My family came up on Sunday for the actual day and took me out to Perkins and Wal-Mart....nothing says "Happy Bday Back in the States" better than Chicken Fingers and rollback pricing :)


My roomie, Clare, making me her mom's famous dirt cake that Mrs. B makes me whenever I leave the states :)

The roomies on gameday...one is missing

That really is Michelle Obama but I only have a camera phone these days :(

Sarita and I goofing around as the birthday girls :)

Teaching

Wow- it's been a busy few weeks so I'll bring ya'll up to speed. Started my practicum teaching (second grade at Leopold Elementary), got two jobs, playing softball for UW club (already had one tourny at U of I this past weekend), and having friends come in for my b-day on Sunday! Things are going great, but my days are buuuusy! I'll fill you in on a couple cute stories from the week:

1. I started babysitting this week for a 4 year old girl on the north side of Madison. When I went over to meet her, I noticed their newly redone kitchen and told her "this is very nice!" She replied "Thanks but it's not finished yet. We still have to put in the damn kitchen fan." Her mom was mortified! I'm sure little Olivia had just heard so much about the "damn fan" she thought it was a brand name by this point.

2. The same day, Olivia noticed the bandaids on my leg. I explained that I played softball and had slid into home and scrapped my knee. Her mom mentioned how great it was that I played and said how the neighbor lady was the head coach at Madison East. Olivia chimmed right in saying "That's Lane's mom. Lane has two mommies!" Stereotype....enough said. haha

Classes

School started on Sept. 2nd and so far I am in love with it: I have one class a day and none on Friday.....so far. My student teaching begins Sept. 22nd and I'm already nervous. I'm at Leopold Elementary school and no offense but those little guys scare the h-e-double out of me. I gave a presentation to a second grade class in June about Africa and I was SO not ready for some of their questions (ex. "how big was the elephant?" "Really big!!!" "No, like 25 feet big or 28 feet big?") So, needless to say, doing this K-2 in Spanish is a little intense.

Good news is, I LOVE my one class a day. Ok, they are 3 hour night classes so after a day of teaching I'm sure my butt will be handed to me later in the year. But for now without teaching in the morning, I'm loving it. FINALLY, stuff that really matters for what I'm going to do! THANK GOD....I mean, how many nutritional science classes can one take before you just want to go up to the professor, show him your thunder thighs and scream "THIS ISN'T WORKING!"

The roomie situation is working out great. We're all enjoying the "easy" first couple of weeks by playing "airsoft gun war" in the house and using laser pointers to taunt the neighbor boys! Saturday, Sunday, and Monday football is a must and I'm loving my first fall in the USA since I was a teenager!

Can't wait for camping this week with the extended family, another great fall tradition I've missed for years (along with my b-day, Halloween, and Thanksgiving). Hope you're all doing well!

Here's a picture of my World Language Education Cohort (E):

Okaaaay.

So due to popular demand, the blog is back. However, I promise to try to keep this one fun and I won't be updating as often. A quick catch up: I had an awesome summer at camp, Up North, and in Canada. Now I'm back living in Madison one block west of the football stadium. My 4 roomies are 3 friends from high school and one random (but her boyfriend is the Badger's starting linebacker star so we let her sublet so he can help us move heavy things). I'll use today's entry to give you a little insight into my last adventure: a Canadian roadtrip with my cousin.

We started by hoping in the car and heading to Toronto without a place to stay or a plan. By the time we got to the border (after a day in Detroit and a stop at the Henry Ford Museum) we had it figured out....kind of. I had gotten ahold of my friends who I lived with in Africa and arranged for us to stay with them for 2 days in Toronto. Problem was, the border patrol didn't really like that idea. After an hour and a half of customs, questions, car searches, and immigration they finally agreed to let us go through. Turns out, a passport that is as stamped as mine sets off flags at borders...who'da thunk it? Toronto was amazing, as was our stop down to Niagara Falls, Detroit to have lunch with my cousins Jenny and Jeff, and dinner with my cousin Chad at Notre Dame. We sure got a lot in in only 3 days! Then Thursday was my first Packers game at Lambeau Field and Friday was move in to Madison. Needless to say, I'm a little tired and looking forward to a break...but that won't be happening with the Badger game tomorrow, parking cars on our front lawn, and a party here afterwards.

My house is what I like to call a "college house"...old. But I have a new hardwood floor and that makes me feel a little grown up. Not really, though. Student teaching starts Wednesday morning and time just seems to be flying by. That's the update for now....I'll write more when I've got something good to tell you all. Until then, if you're one of my aunts reading this to try to catch up on the gossip, just give me a call or shoot me an email and I'll give ya the scoop! haha

Here are some pictures from our road trip stops:

Niagara Falls, Canada

Sitting in the same seat as Rosa Parks at the Ford Museum

At Notre Dame with Chad

The Toronto Skyline

In Detroit with Jenny and Jeff

My new room!

The End

and here are some random pictures from the summer for ya!





I know that no one is checking this besides my wonderful Aunt Margie so this one is just for her:


THE END! (is that closure enough?)

Long day....

I've had a long day...flew home from Spain today so I'll make it short.



I had it planned for a few weeks to surprise my family. My amazing uncle Corky and awesome cousin Kailyn picked me up today from Chicago. I popped out of their car to surprise my mom and the twins in our driveway. Then, they treated me to my favorite restaurant in the whole world (literally) and then took me to surprise my dad at his office. Kailyn has some pictures so I'm sure I'll post it later. It was so nice to see my family...ALL of them and eat about 10,000 calories today :) I am super tired and am going to hit the hay. Hope to hear from you all soon now that the cat's out of the bag :) Thanks so much to Corky and Kailyn, too, for making it a wonderful surprise and for the great food!

The despedida.....

My Spanish friend, Santi, and my American friend, Julie.

I get sick of boring pictures!

Half Spanish Half American amigos at my house for my "despedida"

The group out at a club for my goodbye party

Since I am leaving in just a couple of weeks, my friends decided to throw me a goodbye party this weekend to celebrate my leaving Spain before final trips start for everybody. What was supposed to be a few friends going for dinner ended up being a huge bash...didn't know I had so many friends here! It was wonderful having all my Spanish AND America friends in one spot and obviously it was a bit bittersweet. I couldn't help but reflect on my year here when thinking of going home.....

It will be hard to say goodbye to some amazing people who I have met here. Lucky for me, some of the American friends I have made here are from UW so it will be WONDERFUL having them so close to home. If I had to sum up this year, I would call it "purposeful”. It wasn’t quite life changing like last year, but I learned a lot: about the country, the continent, the people, the city, the language, and myself. I have tried to be pretty neutral up to this point about Spain (on the blog anyways, a few of you know my TRUE feelings) but here it goes…. I suppose as I look back on it, I would give Spain a total thumbs up, Madrid a definite thumbs down. Now, those of you who know me know that I am usually a very positive person so I don’t say this lightly. The attitude of the city, NOT the country, is very….I would call it rude. Over time, I have found myself coming a little bitter towards the general attitude of the “madrilenos pijos” (posh Madrid-ians) who think that they are better than the rest of the world. A lack of customer service and general compassion for your fellow man is very obvious in the city. The hustle and bustle is not something I enjoy being trapped in everyday…..but now I know! I miss the smiles on the street corner from strangers, people giving up their seat to the elderly, the safety you feel in small town America (without gypsies!), and generally people in love with life, not themselves. At the same time, Madrid is the hub of the country; it has been easy to travel and welcome visitors, too so I am glad I was here and not elsewhere. I have learned so much and I am so glad to have realized that I am NOT a city girl! Therefore, because I have learned and grown so much, this year was a very POSITIVE year. Overall, I have had an amazing time here and wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Ok. Well that’s enough of the sentimental junk, just wanted to give ya’ll my overall impressions. Now I better get some of these post-exam to-do things crossed off my list.





Si escuchas a la canción de abajo, cuidadosamente, vas a ver que hay un secreto escondido en las palabras….manana te lo dire, vale?