The current standings

Quick Update 1: Mary's flat is Grand Central Station.
I lost both my roommates to Barcelona this fall, and almost immediately lost one of the new ones to Australia. But after several whirlwind searches, I now have two new roommates who seem to be permanent, so all is well with the world in my corner of Madrid.

Quick Update 2: Mary’s new school is excellent.
I miss everybody at my last school, of course (I visited early this winter, and the little kids went nuts! Quite heartwarming, actually, and really great to see all the people I taught with last year). But my new school is a lot closer to my apartment and I am getting along very well there. The other auxiliar who teaches with me is also named Mary. She is also American, and also blonde. The kids still mix us up on occasion, and a few even call us Mary One and Mary Two (though which is which depends entirely on the class). This year I have mainly 1st and 2nd graders, with a smattering of 4th, 5th, and 6th, and I take small groups to read books in English and to teach Science. Except on holidays, like Halloween, where I dress up as a witch and cackle the full hour to the entire class as we make endless strings of pumpkins… but that’s another story.

Quick Update 3: Mary’s days are busy.
Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays I’m at school pretty much from 9-5, and then have one class apiece each afternoon/evening. Thursdays I come home earlier, with another private class in the evening, and Fridays I’m off! Except for private classes in the afternoon and evening, of course. (There seems to be a trend, here.) I’ve been doing some freelance translation work, and whatever time is leftover I try to spend walking around town, playing with my new camera (fruits of my labor on the right), and generally enjoying life in Madrid. Does that work as an excuse for not updating? No? Too bad, that’s the best I’ve got.

By the way, it’s distressingly hard to try to remember and condense the past year into a decently sized update (and by "decently sized” I mean “not novel-length”). I suppose chronologically is the best way to order things, but to really get this right I have to go back to November. Of last year.

Oops.


So... here's a pretty picture of Madrid to make it all better :-)