El Escorial, Switzerland, and a Teaching Update

Over the past few weeks, I’ve almost frozen outside of a monastery, viewed Francisco Franco’s tomb, walked along the Rhine river, witnessed the somewhat sickening opulence on display on Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich, taught 4th graders about the importance of eating fruits and vegetables, and tried to explain the male and female reproductive systems to 6th graders.

El Escorial and Franco’s Tomb – El Escorial is a small village about 45 minutes outside of Madrid that is home to a beautiful monastery (built in the 1500s) that used to house the King of Spain. What my friends and I didn’t realize when we went to visit El Escorial, was that it was going to be twenty degrees colder outside of the city. So, we were ill-prepared for the 10 degree Celsius weather, biting wind, and light hail that met us when we got off the train in the little town. We sought quick refuge in Bar Hippo, which looked like a sixties lounge and somehow served delicious burgers.

After a short snack, we braved our way to the monastery, admired its gardens and architecture, and then figured out which bus to take to get to Franco’s tomb. Only one bus goes to the “Valley of the Fallen” each day, so we hopped on it and headed about 20 minutes further out into the country. When the bus let us off, we were met by huge, stone archways that looked out over a vast valley. Needless to say, I understood immediately why the monument was called the “valley” of the fallen. We took some breath-taking photos and then quickly ventured inside. The monument is built about half a mile into a mountain, and pretty much as soon as you enter it, you get chills. There are hooded statues holding menacing swords, copious amounts of crucifixes, and doors leading to rooms where thousands of soldiers from the Spanish Civil War are apparently buried. Creepy. Then, in the center of the structure, in front of one giant crucifix, is Franco’s tomb, which is marked by a gravestone imbedded in the ground. Apparently many Spaniards come to this tomb to spit on it, and there is still much ill-will towards Franco for how he ruled Spain under his dictatorship. Nonetheless, the monument was really interesting to see, and there are a lot more pictures from my trip on my picture website.

Teaching Recap – On another note, the fourth grade teacher that I’ve been working with for the past two months left two weeks ago to have her baby. She’ll be back in May, which means that I’m now working with a substitute teacher (Nacho) sent by the Comunidad de Madrid. The interesting thing about substitute teachers in Spain, is that they’re substitutes because they either failed to get their teaching certificate, or they did too poorly in school to get hired for a full-time position. Awesome. So, for the first week, I taught every fourth grade class that I worked with, while Nacho reprimanded the kids and tried to get his bearings. Granted, having him there as a disciplinarian was great, but he’s supposed to be the main teacher. In order not to set a precedent, I slowly phased-out the amount of teaching that I did last week, and began taking the kids out in small groups to start preparing them for the Trinity Exam and to reinforce the work they’ve been doing in Science (about exercising and eating a healthy diet). Teaching 3 kids at a time is insanely better than having to control 26 kids, so hopefully this trend will continue…

As for the 6th graders, I’ve been trying to help them understand their newest Science unit, which deals with the male and female reproductive systems. This topic automatically generates giggles every time a student opens their textbook, so trying to teach the subject is kind of difficult. Also, I know I’m 23, but it’s almost impossible not to laugh a little when you hear 6th graders mispronounce words like vas deferens and vulva (which sound like “bas difference” and “bulba”). V’s are difficult for Spaniards to say because they pronounce them like B’s, so, for instance, I said to think of vulva like the car company Volvo, but with an A. We’ll see how that works…

Basel and Zurich – Last weekend I visited a friend from high school in Basel, and we took a day trip to Zurich to meet up with a friend of mine from college. My main impressions of Switzerland were that it was beautiful, but ridiculously expensive. Basel had much more of a small-town European feel, while Zurich definitely felt like a buzzing metropolis. Both cities had amazing museums and while we were in Zurich, Brad, Kayla, and I were able to see a Seurat exhibit at the Kunsthaus Museum. Ever since I was little, I’d always loved how Seurat used pointillism to generate so much detail in his artwork. His paintings of an unfinished Eiffel Tower and a Sunday afternoon outside of Paris really are inspiring, and getting to see some of his black crayon sketches added a new dimension to Seurat’s work that I hadn’t been exposed to before.

After wandering along the Rhine River and eating a 12 dollar (!) kebab and water, the three of us walked down Bahnhofstrasse, which I’m pretty sure is the most famous street in Zurich. It’s lined with jewelry stores, expensive department stores, and a never-ending parade of sports cars. Everyone walking down the massive street is carrying two or three bags, and I got the feeling that Zurich really wasn’t affected by the whole economic downturn…We finished our day by enjoying amazing views of the Swiss Alps, drinking a nice cup of coffee, and eating some traditional Swiss-German bratwurst. It was a pretty good day. Actually, it’s been a pretty good 3 months so far.

Pictures from Basel and Zurich will be up on my picture website…