June 2012
2 posts
Summer lovin', had me a blast
I don’t know if those are the correct lyrics to the song, nor do I know why that title came to me but one thing is for sure and that is that Grease is not my favorite movie.
The last day of school came. And it went. The ‘inspector’ came to school today and whenever he comes everyone is in a jumble. He works for the Junta de Andalucia as the guy who ensures the teachers are doing...
May 2012
9 posts
Las ultimas 3 semanas, es decir - Mayo
Que tal va todo, 3 weeks have past at a rate slower than 24 hours per day. May has lasted a long time and it is exactly what I needed. I am more than happy to come home in June, but don’t let that fool you. Wrapping up my time here has not been fun because I know I will miss walking 10 feet out my apartment door to go watch a La Liga soccer game with 10 other 40-year-old men dressed in...
Tyler's Birthday Present
Tyler sent me a message today for the birfday and I wanted to share it. He gave me permission to share it.
Ryan, happy birthday! This is little bro Tyler, and I hope that you will celebrate your birthday like a king, and will enjoy your presents coming in the mail… My birthday present to you is my (the) top 23 most favored players in the NBA. From least-to-greatest, they are: 1. Ray...
“Turn your brain off”
– What relevantmagazine said about going to see ‘The Avengers’
¿Plural?
Is yogurt pluralized - yogurts?
Yesterday played soccer at our basketball practice and it was the best practice yet
Frisbee tournament this weekend in Granada
Weather is getting hot fast, looking into importing sunscreen soon
terco-stubborn
manchar-to stain/get dirty
Feria de Sevilla
On Friday, I was sitting at home wondering how I would take advantage of this 4 day weekend. The initial plan was to head to Málaga, but things turned unfortunate when the Saturday, Sunday and Monday weather report predicted rain and cold. My friend Tyson and I thought it better not to embark to the beach-town during bad weather. So on Friday I was talking to a friend that I had met with my...
April 2012
6 posts
Vaccination Day
Was hanging with some 2nd graders during PE and all of a sudden they were told they had to go get some shots. Tristeza began. Some of the girls started crying while the boys were already pulling the collars of their shirts down past their shoulders albeit not being anywhere near the nurse’s office.
We arrived to the nurse’s office and they started lining up by number. You can tell...
Don't even tell me..
Today I really thought about going on a walk to get some exercise…..what is going on
Spinach and milk for breakfast? Time to go to the grocery store.
Watch
“Segunda bebida, este chico”
– I don’t have time right now to update so this is just a quick memory from my time in San Sebastian . While my parents were out eating dinner, I went to a small restaurant near our place of stay. There was an older man around 70 sitting at one side of the small L-shaped bar and I was on the...
March 2012
12 posts
words with friends
Watching a spanish game show on words. Compañero is a word that means companion or partner. Me gusta tirar ruedas en la basura con mis compañeros de clase - I like to throw tires into the garbage with my classmates. — example
If we break down the word - compañero - we see that:
‘com’ comes from the spanish word ‘compartir’ which means SHARE
and
...
The Madness of Spain in March
So begins March Madness in Spain as well as in the United States. I will just have to wait 6-9 hours later than normal to watch the games. In honor of the best sporting event in the world (opinion), I have brought the locura to Cambil - small town where I teach - and the classes are filling out their brackets faster than the footsteps of the flamenco. Each class from 1st grade to 8th grade filled...
MIMS
During recess, two teachers asked in suspense, ‘You´re already wearing short-sleeves??!’
Its at least 80 degrees outside. Cmon now!
http://qkme.me/3obnqp
2 Types of Working
I am working as a teacher and as of last week I am working as a musclebuilder. Gym etiquette at the IMA in the United States was something I did not have or understand..wasn’t really sure what I was ever doing in there unless I went with my pals. Over the last two weeks though, those problems have dimished.
Fortunately, if the people who work out at my gym in Spain were to go to the IMA,...
Husky Basketball →
Man man man..Huskies lost to Oregon State in the 2nd round of the Pac-12 tournament. Apparently this loss basically ousted us from being a shoe-in into the tournament. We were in the bubble which basically means we either going to be one of the last teams in or one of the first few out. Turns out, we were not one of the last teams in (Iona, South Florida, Cal and BYU).
We’re a 1 seed in...
Pero no he dicho nada
2 weekends ago on a Friday, I was hoping to go out at night with my Italian roommate and a Turkish friend. Unfortunately they both decided that tonight was not going to be the best night to go out. It had been a while since I have hung out in Jaén because the last weekend I was travelling and when my roommates go out on the weekdays, I can’t because I have to wake up early to get to work. So...
MJ
Sitting in the office at work with my director (Pepe - mid 50’s) during break. There is a 7th grade here also doing some work because he got in trouble.
I was telling the kid about how in Jaén, there are no stores that sell Jordans. The rest of the conversation went like this. Me: You know who Michael Jordan is right? (pernounced Meekell Jow’Don so he could understand)
Kid: No..
Me:...
Gettin creative
Just asked a teacher if he could change the color of any fruit, what fruit would it be and what color would he change it to.
He chose to change the color of the strawberry to blue.
¿Si pudieras cambiar el color de una fruta, cual fruta elegirías y a que color la cambiarías?
Cádiz Carnaval
Inconsistent posting has got me into some trouble with a few of my followers so in an attempt to heal those relationships, I will post.
Not last weekend, but the weekend before that (18th of Feb?) I went to Cadiz, Spain with Pieter Hoolboom and Ryan Anderson (almost ring a bell?). Pieter and I went to high school together and Ryan and I were in the fraternity together for a year. It was the...
February 2012
2 posts
Nana and Mom
No posts for a while, have been busy, sorry! I know you guys want something but b/c its a little past midnight and I gotta wake up for school tomorrow its gonna be short and irrelevant haha. My youtube searches for the night:
ninjas in public
bill cosby standup
andre miller fake timeout
kevin durant 52 points
the river trailer abc
the hobbit
kyle r andrews high dive
random acts of...
3 weeks
The last 3 weeks have been filled with thought of whats going to happen to me after my time in Spain. I am in the process of looking for a job for the year ahead and what I have been lead to is the work of university ministries. I am applying to be an intern at either The Inn in Seattle, The House in Chattanooga, TN or at Malibu Pres in Malibu, CA.
My hopes of becoming fluent in spanish were...
January 2012
11 posts
In Class Games
Remember in Billy Madison when Billy and Eric were competing in a jeopardy-like contest during the final stages of their competition to become the owner of the Hotel company? Remember how dangerously that competition ended? It ended with a gunshot. Well, today in class, we had a similar competition that may not have ended dangerously nor with a gunshot but to say the least, it was overly...
“Brazilians can’t speak spanish - they just speak portuguese in a spanish...”
– Brazilian in Jaen. I told her that because Brazil was surrounded by spanish countries, I would think the people would be able to speak it pretty well. She disagreed and was honest about it.
Cool Vidz →
Video of a cool public event during Christmas when Kyle was visiting.
“Hey Ryan, a question. Is it common when u ask for a beer that they later give u...”
– Pieter Hoolboom — Pieter, a friend of mine from Highline High School, is now in Spain (zeeeeaaam!) I died laughing when I read this. In Granada and Jae’n (as you all should know), the restaurants give sides of food with your ordered drinks and they’re called ‘tapas.’...
Still strugglin...
..From last weeks physical activities.
On Thursday I had basketball practice. We play in a middle school gym on Thursday. The floors are dustier than Fenway Park’s 2nd base — horrible place to play
Friday I had another basketball practice 9:30 - 11
Saturday we had a game - traveled by car 1.5 hours to Cazorla, a tiny city surrounded by olive trees - similar to just about every city...
Bloggin
Everyday at 8:20 in the morning, I open the door to my directors office and the first thing he says to me everyday is ‘Ryancito!’ pernounced ‘Ryanthito’ meaning ’ little Ryan.’
His neighbor found a puppy on the street one day and so my director suggested that he named the dog Ryancito in honor of yours truly. Apparently, it is normal for Spanish people to give...
Coolest spanish song so far →
Heard it on a bus back to Jae’n. Wait for the chorus before judging. The ‘th’ noise spoken by the girl tells us she’s from Andalucia. Me give many problem.
Teaching as a Profession
Teaching is not easy - especially when your class age is between 13 and 15. This experience has taught me a lot about what I can see myself doing in the future — though I still find myself far from pin-pointing that one awesome career. Up ‘til now, teaching is something I just dont think I should do.
There are a few kids in the class that like to learn - they pay attention, they ask...
“Maestro, como se traduce Super Bowl?”
– Today a 7th grader asked this question which means - teacher, how do you translate ‘Super Bowl’ to spanish? For a moment I cringed because ‘El Super Cuenco’ would have been so sad to hear. Spaniards translate a lot of things, some of which should just be left in the english...
December 2011
4 posts
Not Ryan this time, it's Kyle : Jaén edition
Don’t be alarmed, but Ryan told me that I should write a blog instead of him. Let’s get on with it!
Today’s my 7th day in Spain, 2nd in Barcelona, after 4.5 days in Jaèn and 0.5 in Granada. I must say that Spain is way better than I expected (of course I expected great, this is just me saying it’s amazing!).
While in Jaén, Ryan served as a great tour guide. He knew the...
Learning
Yesterday, for the first time in a while, I found myself sitting in my room with 2 hours of free time. No basketball practice, no intercambio, already made and ate dinner and dessert — (these are polvorónes, a popular Christmas-time sweet. Sandra, the teacher who picks me up for school 2 days a week gave me a box of about 30 different polvorones of which 8 found the path to their destined...
Intercambios galore..
An intercambio is a language exchange. As of recent, they are taking up muuuuuch of my free time. Someone told me about this website that is the craigslist of intercambios. Ever since I signed up and posted my advertisement — ‘Hablo inglés de los estados unidos, busco *castellano’ — I have been rollin’ in opportunities. 10 total people have contacted me since last...
November 2011
8 posts
“nice moves diop!”
– Lisa A. aka basketball enthusiast
“Spanish are lazy…Scissors more stronger”
– On Friday after basketball practice, I was invited to Antonio’s house with a couple of other guys to hang out and play some videoooo gaaaaaames . Before the marathon started, we got some food. Antonio removed his pizza from the oven and started cutting it with scissors instead of with a knife....
WatchDiop, the veteran from Senegal going to work! He has played in 5 different countries professionally.
