TEACHERS WILL ALWAYS BE WITH YOU

Watch this video and don't forget that we are close to you 😊

I miss you all 💚

PRAYING FOR TIME

George Michael wrote this song in 1990. It belongs to the album Listen without Prejudice. Incredible lyrics but the most incredible thing is that it looks as if it was written in 2016. This is a description of our world, unfortunatelly:

From Youtube

RUMBO ESTE

A good friend of mine, a traveller and a teacher, is daydreaming on a trip all over Eastern Europe and is writing a fantastic blog I recommend everybody:

http://rumbo-este.blogspot.com.es

Good luck on your trip!

Also 2 good friends are writing another travelling blog:

http://viajesybuenosratos.blogspot.com.es/

Good job!

ST PATRICK'S DAY

St. Patrick's is the Saint Patron of Ireland. St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17th. There are parades everywhere and people wear green clothes. The shamrock is the symbol of Ireland.
Watch this and enjoy the day:

This is a webpage with lots of activities:

http://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day/history-of-st-patricks-day/videos/green

RUGBY SIX NATIONS

The six nations rugby championship started yesterday.
Good luck, Ireland:
This is Ireland's call, the National anthem for rugby:

BREAST CANCER INTERNATIONAL DAY

Today is the 6th birthday of somebody I love very much but it is also the International Day against breast cancer. Two of my best friends have suffered from this illness before being 40 and are recovered now. They both are ADMIRABLE SURVIVORS. They have been so brave and so positive about it that all the people who love them feel VERY PROUD OF THEM. They are my HEROINES. They have given a lesson to everybody around them that  we will never ever forget. Girls, this song is for you. This is the only song in Spanish in this blog but Luz also deserves to be in this post. This song also brings me good memories. I used it to teach my students the subjunctive in Spanish when I was a T.A. in Williams College, Massachusetts.

A NEW STAGE

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players"
 William Shakespeare

I love this quote. It's so true. I know it has been long since the last time I wrote here. The end of the academic year is always hard but last year it was even harder. It was my last year at the CEPA Joaquín Sorolla, where I had been the Head Teacher for four years and where I left almost all my energy. Then I was obliged to be a member of the board in the competitive exams for English teachers and then I tried to enjoy my unforgettable  Summer in Ireland with my family and my Irish friends for more than twenty years.

My professional life has changed lately. The destiny has brought me back to the high school where I studied a long time. I am a teacher this time an I take part in the bilingual programme for Secondary education, which sound so exciting. I need aims to give some sense to my life, I need to follow a lighthouse. Teaching Literature and working in this project is an interesting goal that makes me feel alive.

This is a new stage in my life. I am ready for that but the memories of those four years there and in other schools since I started teaching in 1996 will be with me forever giving me strength and wisdom.

Hook lighthouse, Ireland

ELVIRA'S CHOCOLATE CAKE

This is neither the first nor  the second time I write about my friend Elvira in this blog. Her cakes and cupcakes are absolutely perfect. She is the responsible of my lately bakery addition although I'm still far from her mastery.
This is the  CHOCOLATE CAKE she makes. I have also made it several times and it is delicious.
Enjoy the video. This lady is a great cook and she explains the whole recipe in a very clear and enthusiastic way:

http://www.joyofbaking.com/cakes/SimpleChocolateCake.html

ANOTHER 15 YEARS "A TU LADO"

Enrique is still in many people's lives. There are a lot of fans of that voice and those poetic lyrics who cannot forget him. I do not understand why his only biography is not published anymore. He is part of the musical history of Madrid and he does not have his street yet. He died fifteen years ago. I woke up with that news on the radio and I could not believe it. I had seen him in lots of concerts since the 80s, with Los Secretos, with Los Problemas and with Begoña Larrañaga. I met him once in a pub in Moncloa and we were talking for a while. He was polite and sweet. I lost his autograph but I will never forget his words. I met him again in the underground in Ciudad Universitaria. He was a genious but so accessible at the same time. Both qualities do not often go together. I went to  this concert two weeks ago. I had gone to last year, tribute too. One of the musicians of Emisión Zero is a guy from my neighbourhood. They play fantastically. Both concerts were very emotional, unforgettable. Many people miss Enrique fifteen years later but in a way we feel HE IS STILL A NUESTRO LADO.

AUTUMN (Br. English) / FALL (Am. English)

Summer is my favourite season  although many people like Autumn. Well, it is a romantic time, the country looks beautiful, there are mushrooms, pines, acorns and leaves on the ground that crack when you walk on them. The  leaves of the trees get a bunch of warm colours yellow, orange, red and brown.

Many years ago I got a SCHOLARSHIP as a TEACHING ASSISTANT at a University in the US. I had finished my DEGREE in English Philology and I had the unforgettable expirience to work and live in the most beautiful area of the States in FALL: New England. There the colours of the trees range from light yellow to bright red even orange, pink and golden brown. The forests shine as if they were on fire. It is a phenomenon called the INDIAN SUMMER which is probably unique in the world. I worked at Williams College, Massachusetts, a quiet town surrounded by colorful mountains with a smell of wet wood that comes to my senses every Fall season wherever I am.

Here are some photos of that Fall in 1993.

 But there are also beautiful Autumn scenes in Spain, too. Enjoy the season!

San Pedro de Rocas, Galicia, 2003

Soria, 2001

BACK TO SCHOOL

Dear friends, students and other followers. I'm alive! I'm sorry for my long break but I needed holidays more than ever. Summer is over, another Summer in my village, in the almost forgotten village where my mother lived her childhood, in the Pirinees, a little bit of France and Portugal, sailing on the most beautiful river in Spain: Duero and visiting the most beautiful city in Spain: Salamanca.

I can't complain at all but the best thing of holidays is not the places but having time to spend with the people you love.

We are back to school at difficult times, more than ever. It's being hard, more than ever but I will survive. I feel like that Chinese mother in Amy Tan's novel. The Joy Luck Club who wants to say to her daughter: "This feather may look worthless but it comes from afar and carries with it all my good intentions. And she waited, year after year, for the day she could tell her daughter this in perfect American English".
I have a feather from the most beautiful swan for you all. I'll give it to you during this course but be patient. I'm busy at the moment but I promise to keep on working on this blog with ALL MY GOOD INTENTIONS.
Welcome back everyone.

HAPPY EASTER HOLIDAYS

Well, teachers always learn from other teachers. Miriam Guerrero, our new workmate has told me about a fantiastic Spanish course on Youtubr called "Tío Spanish". You learn English but many people learn Spanish as a second language and this is a fantastic tool to learn about our culture in a different way. This is his class about Easter in Spain:

Miriam, we'll miss you. You have been a great mate and a great teacher. Good luck!
And ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS, EVERYONE!

10,000 PAGEVIEWS!!!

I can't believe it. This was a real challenge. I started this blog on a course to get my credits for sexenios two years ago and I must confess that I was very suspicious about it. Then little by little I became hooked. I decided to have a unique blog for my students, my friends, my kids, my likes instead of sepatate ones. I am a single person and I am a mixture of all the bits of me. That's why my blog tries to represent myself with all those bits.
I just want to THANK all of you from the ones who have clicked only once to the ones who have followed this blog from the very beginning, those of you who have helped me to create it, those of you who have given advise to me or have made proposals, those of you who have inspired me with your work, your ideas and your love, those of you who have shared experiences with me that are reflected in some posts and those of you who are obligued to enter for homework.
You can see a view of Howth in Ireland in the background of the page.
I feel very happy. THANKS A MILLION!
I feel like dancing this songs which reminds me so many parties in Madrid, Cogolludo, Dublin and Massachusetts: Donna Summer, Last Dance (from Youtube) for U all because "I need you by me, beside me, to guide me, to hold me and even to scold me":

CONCIERTO HOMENAJE A ENRIQUE URQUIJO

Life is full of surprises. Those who know my love & me know that the soundtrack of my life wouldn't exist without Enrique Urquijo and his songs. He was in my life in lots of concerts at big or small places and even in a pub in Moncloa one night when we were talking for hours. Music has not been the same without him.
One day my friend Maribel told me about a concert as a tribute to Enrique which would take place at El Rincón del Arte Nuevo on the 22nd and 23rd November where her neighbour Juan would play the bass and César & I decided to go with them, obviously. We had seen Enrique and Begoña playing there a long time ago and the place brought us good  memories. The concert was superb!!! The band Emisión Zero played a very emotional acoustic concert and singers from other bands took part in it. Meeting Juan has been very interesting since he is another enriquista and has given me information about a forum of Enrique's followers that make me feel he is still with us. Well, he'll always be. This is a piece of the concert. I'm sitting next to Gabi, who plays the guitar. I hope you like it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLvAtFcd_Ds

Here is the forum I have mentioned:

http://enriqueurquijo.foro-libre.com/portal

Fourteen years without you ans still many people miss you, Enrique.

FAREWELL RAMONA

Ramona came to Spain with her husband and her two children about a decade ago. She wanted to start a new life far from her homeland, Rumania, with lots of hopes. She found a home in Cogolludo, where most neighbours loved her almost immediately. She was friendly and helpful. Ramona took care of my mother for one Summer. Andra used to come with her every day. I taught her to play Parchís and La Oca and she gave me lots of tales for Sergio. This Summer as soon as my mother arrived, she came to visit us. Luciano played football with Sergio in my parents'  garden under the lime tree. She was a hard-working smily woman. I met her at Guri's shop at the end of the Summer and she asked me about my Mum and the kids. Had I known it was the last time I talked to her, I would have embraced her and told her how adorable she was.

She had a heart attack on September the 26th and I only knew about it yesterday. She will be buried today in her homeland and we all wonder why fate can be so unfair at times. She was only 35 and had two teenagers who are too young to lose a mother. Farewell, Ramona, wherever you are. We'll miss you so much.

HOLIDAYS

Well well well. We are almost on holidays!!!

I haven't published posts lately, sorry but this is what being a busy woman is like. It's been a hard accademic year but I only want to remember positive things. I've been lucky to meet new students and new workmates, whom I'll miss. We all deserve holidays. Have fun all of you!!!!

Bajamar, Joaquín Sorolla

BOSTON

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Boston, Massachusetts

I lived in the US for one year. I got a scholarship at William College as a Teaching Assistant for Spanish. Williamstown is a beautiful university town in the middle of the purple mountains in Massachusetts. The capital of this state is Boston, which is said tio be the most European America city. I agree with that: The only skyscraper is the Hancock Tower, there are lovely residential areas like Beacon Hill There are many places of interest such as the Prudential Centre, which is a meeting point for Bostonians and tourists, the Boston Common, a peaceful park in the middle of the city full of squirrels, the romantic port where Europians arrived in the country to fulfill their American dream, the bay, impressive brigdes to cross the river Charles or the river Mystic, the famous bar Cheers. Boston is a very warm and cosy city. It's not the cold American city one can think of. The River Charles separates Boston from Cambridge, where Harvard University is set. Cambridge means to me peace and wisdom. There are beautiful buildings on green fields with trees full of colourful leaves and students going to and fro on their bikes or walking. The most intelligent brains of the States study at IT in Cambridge.

I can't believe what is going on there these days. People running a marathon were killed in front of their own children, a child died waiting for his father's end of the race, a policeman was shot in Cambridge... What the hell is happening in our world? Do the squirrels know how wild humans are?

Boston

Cambridge

MY WEDDING DAY

I got married on the 10^th  April 1999 in Cogolludo (Guadalajara). I used to be an anti-wedding person but if I had known it was SO FUNNY, I would have done it before.  And if I could, I would marry every 10^th April. Nerves? What nerves? Why should I be nervous having ALL THE PEOPLE I LOVE  around me? Nonsense!!!

It was a kind of “gypsy wedding” since we spent the whole weekend eating, drinking and dancing. That’s what weddings in villages are like. The ceremony started at midday. My brother took Dad and me to the church Santa María in his green Audi (which is now mine, curiously). We married facing La Virgen de los Remedios. María Rosa had decorated the church with beautiful flowers. Then a rain of rice and kisses and more kisses to and fro.

It was the first sunny day after a cold and rainy winter like this one. Olga took me to trhe village in her car. Gema came with us, too. Everybody was glamorous and elegant: high heels, UVA rays tan, suits and ties... Wow! They were all there: the Hernández-Domínguez, the Pérez-Fernández, my friends from school, my friends from University (even Elvira who came from Ireland to two weddings on the same day... and never went back!), our friends from El Escaqueo and four Hendersons: Clare, Ferghil, Ian and Cathy. Wherever I looked at, I saw people I love. That was the best thing!

We ate cabrito asado at Restaurante Hermanos Martínez. El Chuchi (the owner of that excellent restaurant) let us take our own bottles of  DYC as a post dessert. We smoked cigars!!! Can you remember when people smoked in restaurants? What a unique atmosphere!

There was an embarrassing moment: cousin Santi recited me the poem “La higuera”.  And a panic moment: the money from the presents disappeared for some time. Chamari had taken it home in a plastic bag with the sword by accident!!

Then we danced at Discoteca Madison. Adolfo was the top disk jockey so we had all the music we wanted: from the 60s to the 80s, English, American, Irish, Italian and Spanish: From “La chica yeyé” to “La chica de ayer”: “The Irish Rover”, “McNamara’s Band”,  George Michael, Spandau, Tom Jones, Bruce Springsteen, Tozzi,  Rafaella Carra, Los Secretos, La Frontera, Radio Futura, Alaska y Dinarama, La Guardia, Danza Invisible, Los Elegantes, Los Ilegales... and our special song: “Ojalá que te vaya bonito” with Enrique Urquijo’s voice. There was a break to eat something and then disco again till almost the next morning.

We slept a little at Hotel Palacio as well as most guests from Madrid, Ireland and US.

We had breakfast at El Bolas, our friend Arturo’s cosy restaurant (Hospedería Ballestero) and we shared the hangover there with Gema, Olga, Dani, Santi, Mari Carmen, Rudolph, Susi and my cousin Elena. Finally the Hernández and the Hendersons had lunch there too before going back to Madrid (cabrito again?).  It was a LONG WEDDING but it was worthwhile and fun. Unforgettable, indeed.

POST-INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

WELL, WE CAN DENY WE ALL WORK HARD, AT HOME, AT OUR WORK PLACES, SOCIALIZING...After a long day working to and fro. I had a lovely dinner with friends and we danced and drank Segovian whisky at "HEROE". Cindy Lauper sang this song, which is ideal for women's day: "When the working day is done, girls just wanna have fun"and I promised to dedicate it to LOLA la ORIENTADORA, my beloved friend with the most beutiful curly hair I have ever seen.

LOLAAAA, for you. Thanks for being on the whatsapp every day... and more... : )

PLAYMOBIL FLASHMOB IN RETIRO PARK

Crazy people like me have crazy friends like Maribel, who has crazy friends like these people who planned, rehearsed, and performed with the help of many friends and their children this AMAZING FLASHMOB in El Retiro to celebrate their 40 birthday. I wish I was there. Isn't it fun?
Congratulations!!!!!