Feeling Blessed

Even though I sometimes get depressed/fed up with my school and job (see the previous post), I want to express how blessed I feel to live in Spain. No matter how frustrating my job can be, I try to remind myself how lucky I am to have a job in this economic climate. Furthermore, who else gets to work four days a week, have health insurance, and have enough money to travel?

Recently, a friend of mine was in car accident. Her car was totaled, but luckily she is okay. When I heard this news, I was so surprised and felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. This reality check made me take a step back in my life and think about how lucky I am and realize how quickly things can change. It reminded me not to waste my time in Madrid but to really take advantage of it, and do and see as much as possible. Who knows when I will ever come back to Spain?

These past few weeks I have been feeling antsy, wanting to get out of Madrid and travel. Unfortunately, my plans have fallen through a couple of times. However, today I was able to find a cheap ticket to Lisbon so next weekend I will exploring Lisbon by myself. While I am slightly nervous to travel on my own, the prospect of traveling solo kind of excites me. I won’t have to compromise with anyone and I can do whatever I want. Over my winter break, I went to Porto, Portugal for five days and loved it. It was very relaxing, had an historic charm, tons of wine cellars, and was pretty cheap. As a result, I decided I wanted to see another city in Portugal.

Over the past couple of months, I have slowly been refining my list of places I want to go. Up to this point, most of my travel has been influenced by where I have friends and people I know. So far outside of Spain, I have been to Paris and Toulouse, France, Porto, Portugal, and India. In the next couple of months I have travel plans to Lisbon, Munich, and Andorra (a tiny country between Spain and France) and would like to go to Morocco, Greece, Turkey, and Italy if possible. Within Spain, I have gone to Toledo, Segovia, Avila, Cordoba, and Seville. Before I leave, I hope to see Granada, Barcelona, Valencia, Santander, and Galicia. Clearly, I am going to be quite busy these next couple of months! However, because my list of places to go is constantly revolving based on recommendations I would love to hear your suggestions on places to visit in Europe.

It must be my dad’s interest in airplanes and airlines that sparked me to list all the airlines I have flown on since I started my journey in September: United, Air Canada, Easy Jet, Ryan air, KLM Royal Dutch Airline, King Fisher, Jet Airways, and Northwestern. I cannot believe I have been on eight different airlines and how connected/small the world really is. I feel so lucky to have this opportunity to live abroad, see new places, and meet amazing people.

Back at it

For the past three weeks, my life has been relatively quiet after all the travel I did in December. Things at my school are going pretty well. I have come to accept my job as just that a job and nothing more. Some days are really great and others I feel completely worthless. The problem that makes this challenging is that I don’t have much control over the tasks I am given so it is difficult for me to improve the situation. For example, on Wednesdays, I pretty much spend the entire day translating a textbook from English to Spanish. Now, this seems like a waste of my time for multiple reasons including the fact that history textbooks quickly go out of date and are no longer used, I could compile the equivalent information from doing a couple of google searches, and most importantly I am not spending any time with the students. A large part of the reason I am here is to help students with their accent and oral comprehension and to teach them about American culture. These areas cannot be addressed if I don’t see the students. Thus, on Wednesday I often feel like a mouse on wheel spitting out translations that I don’t think the students will ever see or really use.


However, not all my days are like this. Some days are great. Last Tuesday, inauguration day, I walked into a class and my students started cheering Obama. Because the actual teacher had not arrived yet, I started a discussion about Obama and what they knew. When the teacher arrived a couple of minutes later, she let the discussion continue for the entire period. It was so nice to see my students enthusiastic about a topic and also quite knowledgeable. Many of my students mentioned that they hoped Obama would close Guantanamo and I found myself thinking how many 7th graders in the US even know Guantanamo exists.

Right now my school is gearing up for a model UN conference. Bilingual students from all over Madrid will participate in the conference. It is a lot of work for the students and the teachers. The students are assigned a country and must research their country’s opinion on the given issue which is TB, malaria, and infectious diseases. They will need to be able to discuss and defend their country’s position which is not easy considering English is their second language. For the teachers, it can be quite difficult because if the students do not do the research it is impossible to help them.

Currently, the students are writing position papers regarding how their country views TB, Malaria, and infectious disease. During this process, it is becoming quite clear that the students have never really been asked to write a research paper or for that matter a regular composition before. Most papers completely lack organization but what bothers me the most is that the students don’t understand what plagiarism is. Not only are they copying other people’s work, it is clear they do not understand all of the concepts in their paper and do not actually understand the material. Therefore, the next couple of weeks will be devoted to helping the students improve their position paper and teaching them how to research more effectively.

Outside of school, things have been pretty low key. I have started to tutor a four year old girl in English. Basically, we play games, and I read to her. The other day I was doing an alphabet puzzle with her and she told me it was missing pieces, that the ñ was missing. Then I had to explain that in English there is no ñ but I thought the girl was pretty perceptive to notice its absence.

India Part 3

December 27 – Udaipur
Udaipur is known as the city of lakes. There are five small man made lakes that surround the city. The city like most of the cities in India is composed of an old city and the new city. The old city is composed of old streets that are not meant for cars or modern life and a newer section with wider roads and more modern homes. Generally we have stayed in the new city and then go into the old city to see the famous locations.

In the morning we stopped at an active Hindu temple. People were immersed in prayer and everyone must take off their shoes to enter. This temple had a guard for the shoes which I had been wondering about because due to the extreme poverty in the country I wouldn’t be surprised if someone tried to steal the shoes outside the temple. Its not that I don’t trust the locals, but I could understand them taking shoes out of necessity.
lady selling marigold flower chains, to use as offerings outside a hindu temple

As we were talking with our guide, he reiterated a fact that we have heard many times. Most of the marriages in India are still arranged. I have heard between 60-80% of marriages are arranged for Hindus and Muslims. In contemporary times, the children have the right to refuse a spouse but generally the children accept who their parents have chosen with them. A large percentage of children continue living with their once they are married. It is traditional for the girl to go and live with her husband’s family and for all the males of the husband’s family to live with their parents. Thus, many homes have three generations living together. While the caste system is technically outlawed, in the smaller villages I get the impression that it is still followed and that marriages are within one’s class and that it can be difficult to obtain a prestigious job if one is from a lower caste. With regards to marriages, the bride’s family still pays a large dowry to the husband’s family and as a result, India has more males than females. The government has outlawed embryonic testing in order to find out the sex of the baby because many couples were aborting female embryos. We were told the male to female ration was between 1000 males to 800-920 females depending on t he state in India.

After visiting the Hindu temple, we went to see the City Palace. It is the largest palace in Rajastan which is a state in Northwest India. We only saw a portion of the palace. Part has been turned into two different hotels and one section is still occupied by the royal family. India’s economy is largely based on tourism and many former royal palaces, hunting lodges, and other buildings have been converted into high end hotels. One day I was one the street looking at pashimas and was bartering with a man. Once the price had been reduced significantly he said please buy it, since November 26th my business has been down greatly, please help me. I felt so terrible I bought the scarf even though I probably could have bargained some more but it is quite evident that there have been major chances in India since the attacks in Mumbai. Most of the hotels are in compounds with private fences surrounding them. Before entering hotel grounds, the cars are stopped and the use a mirror attached to a rolling cart to check if there are any bombs on the underside of the car. In addition sometimes they inspect the trunk, and engine of the car in addition to confirming our names before letting us enter the premises. All of these regulations are new since the attacks.

The city palace had beautiful views of the Lake Pichola. There were separate quarters for men and women with interior patios. Unfortunately at this point in my trip I have seen so many forts, palaces, and mausoleums that they all blur together. In everyone, the intricate detail is amazing. There is a lot of hand carving of marble and sandstone to produce beautiful screens and columns.
view of Lake Pichola
After lunch we went to the Garden of the Maidens where members of the royal used to spend their time and relax. During the 18th century, men were not allowed to enter the garden which featured a swimming people for the women. My favorite part about the garden was people watching. Currently, most Indians have off from work this week (Christmas week) so most of the sites are overrun with Indian tourists rather than foreigners. In the garden we saw one dad place his son (about 2 years old) on the top of a five foot fountain in order to get a good picture. This made me crack up because the kid was close to tumbling yet the father seemed unaware.

While taking a moment to enjoy our surroundings, my mom and I saw a group of school children. They were all well dressed and behaving very well. As they walked by our tour guide asked them where they were from and if they attended a private or government school. The girls were from a neighboring state and attended a free government school. After pausing for a moment, the girls about 40 of them asked to take a picture with my mom and me. I don’t think they had met or seen many foreigners before. It was cool to be able to make someone happy by just taking a picture. The girls instantly clamored around trying to be in the center of the photo and then some of the girls with their own cameras (film, not digitial) took individual pictures as well.



December 28th Saturday
On Saturday, we flew from Udaipur to Mumbai and then Mumbai to Trivandrum. From Trivandrum we drove one hour to Kovalum. The entire journey took about five hours. Trivandrum and Kovalum are located on the southwestern coast of India in the state of Kerala.
The feel in Kovalum is completely different than the feel of the other cities. Kovalum and Trivandrum are beach communities and the feel Caribbean or Hawaiian in feel, as opposed to the cities in the north that feel more religious and more “Indian”. In Kovalum there are a lot of palm trees and it does not a typical urban center. There are no large multistory buildings but rather a lot of single family homes. I did not see any apartment buildings and the main industry seems to be tourism. In the northern cities, tourism was definitely important but so was agriculture, handcrafts, and merchant shops. In Kovalum, I have not seen any cattle standing in the middle of the road and the temperature is about ten degrees warmer and more humid.

Our hotel is a series of bungalows located on hill that overlooks the ocean. It is gorgeous and really secluded. To go down to the beach, there is an elevator that goes down about three stories to the beach level. It is really interesting the mix of tourists that come to India. There are people from all over the world. There are a lot of European, Australian, American, Chinese, and Japanese tourists in addition to the large number of Indian national tourists. I love hearing the mix of languages spoken and trying to guess where someone is from.

I am definitely getting used to Indian food and finding more and more dishes that I like. Some of my favorite drinks include fresh lime soda and lassi, a yogurt based drink. The fresh lime soda is a mix of pure lime juice, with club soda, and then you add in as much sugar as you want. The drink is very light and refreshing. I also enjoy lassi which helps me cope with the spicy Indian food. As for food, I really enjoy garlic naan, most chicken dishes, and tandori.

December 31st – good breaks, good horn, and good luck
On December 29th dad arrived. He started his journey from Beijing on the 28th and flew to Delhi, however due to fog dad’s flight was delayed 8 hours and he didn’t arrive in trvandrum until 1 am. He tried calling us on three different cell phones but because we were on vacation my mom and I did not have them on so luckily I saw an email from him.

The hotel we are staying at, the Travancore Heritage is quite quirky. The land is beautiful but some parts of the hotel remind you are in a developing country. The power outlets in our room only work if the switch next to them is turned on. Its like having a light switch by each outlet to ensure power isn’t wasted. The weird thing is that after you unplug something you can’t replug anything in unless the outlet is reset. I was having trouble with the outlets so I took the plug out of the tv because I new that worked. However, when I tried the plug the tv back in, it wouldn’t work. When we called the reception to let them know about the problem they sent someone from maintenance. He has a metal device that looks like a screw driver which he sticks into the outlet in order to reset so that something new can be plugged in. I freaked out the first time I saw this because he was sticking metal into the outlet but after the fact I realized he had used the switch by the outlet and turned off the power before doing so. The outlets at the hotel are not very stable so off times to get a connection you have to wiggle the outlet for a while to find the correct angle to plug things into. Then my dad jimmy rigged a contraption to maintain the angle.
sunset view from our hotel

Yesterday we went to Kayakummari. It is at the southern tip of Indian where the Arabian Sea meets the Indian Ocean. The drive there and back was the most frightening ride we have had. The lane road is a two lanes one in each direction but cars are constantly passing and making a third lane in the middle of the road. On the way there, I had fallen asleep and I heard a distinct thud, now this not something you want to hear while riding in a car. I am not sure what we hit but I think it was a telephone poll. We only hit the side view mirror and are driver did not hestitate and kept driving. On the way back we were forced into the shoulder about 4 times when oncoming traffic that was passing other cars came into our lane. Let me tell you, it is frightening to see a big bus coming directly at you.My dad and I at a temple in Kayakumari which is the southernmost tip of India.

Yes you have to pay to use some bathrooms. When traveling in India it is essential to carry small change and toilet paper with you at all times.


January 1-3rd
The rest of the time in Kovalum we spent relaxing by the poolside and down by the ocean. New Years was very low key. There was dinner by the beach but I ended up going to bed around 10 pm because I didn’t know anyone and my parents had already left the party.

On January 2nd, I started my way back to Madrid. I flew from Trivandrum to Mumbai but because I had a 10 hour lay over my parents arranged for a driver to take me into the city. The only problem was that I arrived around 3 pm and didn’t get into the city until close to five so not everything was open. First we stopped at Dhobi Ghats which is where over a thousand workers wash laundry in stone troughs. At first my tour guide said we were going to Laundry which I think is the most literal translation of Dhobi Ghats and I was quite confused wondering if he was taking me to do my laundry or if I just wasn’t understanding him. Despite the fact that all of our guides spoke English, some had quite thick accents and at times, I could barely tell they were speaking English. I would just nod politely although a couple of times I said yes and it was clear that they had not asked us a yes or no question.


At Dhobi Ghats, there were a lot of beggars. It was heart wrenching to see, and I am sure for as long as I live, the words “Madam, baby” will make my stomach turn. I hate ignoring the beggars because I don’t want to treat them like they are no human beings, but there are many organized begging rings which I don’t want to support.

After Dhobi Ghats, I toured the Gandhi Museum which is located in what used to be his house in Mumbai. The museum was really interesting and informative. Then we drove to the Gateway of India which located right by the Taj Hotel. The entire plaza around the Taj was blockaded off and only official guest staying at the Taj can enter it.

Afterward, I got an amazing garlic tiger prawn meal before returning back to the airport. At first my tour guide tried to take me to McDonald's in an attempt to cater to my “American” palate, but I kindly asked to go to a normal Indian restaurant. Although, I currently wish I had gone into a McDonald's to see the menu because I am wondering if they serve hamburgers considering almost no restaurants in India serve pork or beef. The ride back to the airport took two and a half hours. Luckily, I had plenty of time because my flight was scheduled to leave at 1:50 in the morning but we didn’t end up leaving until close to 4 AM. As a result, I missed my connecting flight in Amsterdam and got back to Madrid after 36 hours of travel.

All in all, I had a great trip in India. When people ask me to describe it, there is no one word. It was exhausting, but at the same time relaxing. It was beautiful and gut wrenching. There are incredible palaces and forts which are juxtaposed next to endless slums. To get an idea about what idea is like I recommend reading White Tiger which won the Mann Booker prize or watching Slumdog Millionaire. While they don’t’ compare to seeing it in the flesh, they provide a pretty accurate depiction.

India Part 2

December 23

The next day we drove from Agra to Jaipur stopping in Fatehpur Sikri along the way. Before entering the site, we saw a snake charmer sitting outside. Tourists can take pictures and give him a small tip. After the fact, I learned that the snakes are usually venomless but it was still cool anyways.

Fatehpur Sikri was the capital of India for fourteen years under the rule of Akbar during the 16^th century. The emperor Akbar who ruled had three different wives: one who was Muslim, one Hindu, and one Christian. As a result he was able to able to bring the entire region under his rule.

December 24 jaipur

In Jaipur, we visited the Amer fort and palace. The city used to be along the silk trading route so large wall was built to encompass the entire city in order to keep the traders and merchants protected. The fort sits on the top of the hill and while we drove up to the entrance, in olden days people used to ride elephants up the hill. While this is still option, we decided against it, because some of the guidebooks mentioned that the elephants are treated poorly.

As I mentioned, it is normal to see four people crammed onto a motorcycle. Here is a photo I took after our tourguide made a funny face at one of the girls.

In addition to seeing the Amer fort, we also saw the largest sun dial in the world. The park had about 15 different sun dials which were used to figure out a person’s horoscope. Because most of the marriages in India are arranged based on people’s horoscopes matching, it is critical to know the exact time of birth when matching horoscopes.

December 25^th jodhpur

On Christmas day, we flew from Jaipur to Jodphur. In Jodphur, we visited the Mehrangargh fort and the Jaswant Thada marble crematorium.

The crematorium had excellent views of the city and is where many members of the royal family have been cremated. Traditionally, their ashes are then scattered, often times in the Ganges River but the crematorium acts as a burial site in that people can build monuments and return to the site to honor their loved ones.

photo from the Mehrangargh fort

kids enjoying a camel ride

December 26^th

Today we drove hours on hectic Indian roads from Jodphur to Udaiper. I have come to the conclusion that the most dangerous part about driving is the animals. On every road there are tons of cows, water buffalo, sheep, dogs, and boars. Cows are the most common animals and sometimes they will just stand in the middle of the road and some even lie down. This makes driving really crazy because there is no way to predict whether an animal will be crossing the street or which direction it will go. As a result we came to a couple quick stops when cows decided to stop midstream and stand in the middle of crowded busy roads.

On the other, the other drivers seem to have a controlled chaos system going on. Most of the roads we have been driving on have been two lane roads with one lane and in each direction. As a result, cars are constantly going into oncoming traffic to pass the rickshaws, autorickshaws, and bicycles. This systems works pretty effectively except on curving roads in which case in order to pass a car one must honk their horn before going around a corner to ensure no one is coming in the opposite direction. Occasionally it looked like were going to hit oncoming cars but at the last minute are car would finish passing another car and go back on the correct side of the road (which is the left side, a remnant from British imperialism).

Along the way we stopped at a Jain temple. The temple was made of white marble. Inside is an interesting mix of being inside and outside there are no walls just pillars and over hangs so there is an interesting play of light. No leather is allowed to be worn inside the temple and shows must be taken off. In addition there is a sign that says women who are menstruating should not enter the temple. Again, the temple was intricately carved with fine detail along the columns, interior walls and ceiling. I was entertained by two boys who were racing their match box cars along the walls of the temple.

One interesting thing is that you often have to pay to use a camera. The fee is not large only a dollar or two but this different from the other traveling that I have done. The money goes to restore the and maintain the buildings so I don’t mind. When I saw these signs, I was surprised that the Chinese have not started to charge to use a camera.

When we left there were tons of monkeys on the road. Someone had recently fed them and they were eating carrots. Monkeys seem to be pretty common in India but I am still fascinated by them.like most of the animals they are not disturbed by cars or people and are scared by the noise they make.

India Part 1

Saturday December 20th – My day started early. My flight left Madrid at 5:50 AM so I left my apartment at 2:15 in the morning. The night before I got about and hour and an half of sleep, so needless to say, I was destined to be jetlagged. In order to get to India, I flew KLM, a Dutch airline, to Amsterdam and then flew to Delhi. I was presently surprised by the food on KLM. Everything tasted pretty good and there were enough snacks to keep me happy. The airport in Amsterdam almost felt like a mall. There were large travel stores, chocolate and tobacco stores, in addition to book shops, clothing stores, restaurants. After a 7.5 hour flight from Amsterdam, I arrived in Delhi. After going through customs, I claimed my baggage and then was met by my tour guide and went to the hotel.

Currently, the Delhi airport is undergoing renovations. After leaving the airport, you have to walk about a quarter mile on uneven and sometimes unpaved road to where cars are parked. The second after leaving the airport facility it was quite clear that I was India. By this I mean, on the road (the main highway leaving the airport) there were people walking, people on bicycles, people riding in auto rickshaws (aka as Tutus in Thailand which are small three wheel motorized vehicles), motorcycles with 2 to 4 people riding on one, and regular cars. My driver was constantly weaving in and out of traffic to pass the slow moving bicycles and auto rickshaws that take up one of two lanes on the road.

When I arrived at my hotel, the gate to the hotel was closed and there was security outside. They checked under our car using a mirror to check for bombs, in the trunk of our car, and confirmed my name before letting us onto the premises on the hotel. When checking in, I had to provide my passport information as well. It is clear that many check in procedures have changed since the attacks in Mumbai and one can no longer walk into a hotel at whim. Guests would have to be announced and I think non-western looking guest would have a hard time getting through security.

December 21st
On Sunday morning, we met our tour guide and headed out for the day. First we went tot he Jama Masjid Mosque which is India’s largest mosque. The structure is made of red sand stone. Before going in any mosque, it is necessary to take off your shoes. The mosque was built to hold 900 worshippers with each person taking up one tile square. Muslim mosque are generally adorned with flower patterns because they don’t believe in creating idols which is in contrast to Hindu temples that are decorated with carvings of their gods which often are portrayed as having animal qualities. In order to call the Muslims to prayer, a blind man was employed to climb up the minaret. The reason for using a blind man was to protect everyone’s privacy because the mosque is located on a slight hill and the minaret goes up a couple of stories so they didn’t want anyone looking into people’s homes.



After visiting the mosque, my mom and I took a rickshaw ride through Old Delhi. The roads are very narrow. They were not built to accommodate cars and tour buses. While on the rickshaws, cars narrowly squeezed by us as we weaved our way throughout the traffic of bicycles, motor cycles, and pedestrians. The buildings are close together and there are a lot of stands selling goods on the sidewalk. The power lines hang low down between buildings and twice we saw water buffalo in the middle of the road. This experience really let me see the “real” India which cannot be experienced when riding in a private car. The sights, the sounds, and the smells were overwhelming. Throughout the entire ride, I don’t think my mom loosen her death grip on my leg and I just thought the experience was comical and something my friends and I would have done on term abroad.



candid shots taken during the rickshaw ride, trying to capture the pandemonium



at one point i looked up, and there was a cow blocking our way. i soon learned this quite typical to have cows in the middle of the road.

After the rickshaw ride, we went to see the sight where Gandhi’s ashes were scattered. Hindus believe in cremation so there is no cemetery or burial site. The spot where Gandhi’s ashes were scattered is in a public park. Our tour guide reminded us how incredible Gandhi’s accomplishments were. Much of what Gandhi preached can still be applied today, and the world would probably be a much saner and safer place if we all lived by the principle of non violence.

For lunch, I had my first Indian food in India. The food was really good and similar in taste and flavor to dishes I had in the States. In a way this surprised me because the Chinese food in China is a lot different from Chinese food in the US. One new drink that I enjoy is fresh lime soda in which they bring a glass with fresh lime juice, a smaller pot filled with sugar water, and a bottle of club soda and you add as much soda and sugar as you want. In India, nothing comes with ice because it is recommended for tourists to only drink bottled water. In the major cities, I think the water is safe but our bodies are not used to the bacteria however in rural areas I don’t think the water is even safe for locals.

In the afternoon, we went to see Hamayum’s Tomb. This building was built in honor of the Moghul Emperor Humayun by his widow. Many of the architectural principles seen in the Taj Mahal were first used in this building. Great emphasis is placed on symmetry, gardens, the use of arches, and fountains.




To end the day, we went to the Qutub Minar which is known as the 7th wonder of Hinduism. The tower is 234 feet tall. The site is a mix of Hindu and Muslim architecture because the tower commissioned by a Muslim emperor on the site of Hindu temple.




Random facts:
In India, people drive on the left hand side of the road. There are very few traffic lights rather there are some round abouts or triangle interchanges in the road which force you to bear left or right and merge with oncoming traffic.

The poverty is overwhelming and like nothing I have ever seen before. There are a lot of people begging on the streets and children will bang on the window of your car and motion to their mouths that they need something to eat. It is very hard to watch but we have decided to make a donation to a reputable charity when we return instead of giving money to the beggars. Many of the children on the street are part of organized begging units.

Delhi is actually divided into 7 towns. The first Delhi dates back to the 12th century. No one currently lives there. All that is left is the ruins from this period of time. New Delhi got its name around 1850 when the British decided to move the capital of India from Agra to Delhi and thus rechristened the city as New Delhi.

December 22, 2008

On Sunday, we took an early morning train from Delhi to Agra. The train was a high speed train that took two hours. The train station in Delhi is like nothing I have ever seen before. In order to make our way to the train, our car had to fight through a large crowd of beggars, bicyclers, vendors, motorcycles, and other vehicles. There are tons of people everywhere. I don’t think I have ever seen this extreme of poverty before. Children carrying babies would come up and knock on our car window making motions to their mouths indicating that they were hungry and needed food. Many slept outside the station or in the waiting area. They clearly did not have any food and it felt like we were invading their personal space. Porters carried large amounts of goods on their shoulders while others manipulated large hand rickshaws.

The train ride was pretty pleasant but at parts the amount of poverty was quite evident. From the train, I could see people doing a bucket shower, cooking their food in fire outside, and others going to the bathroom. Very few people had any privacy and their houses were merely brick shacks that were falling apart. In many villages, it was obvious that there was no plumbing, electricity, or sewage system. I was quite struck by the number of people I saw walking presumably to school or work and others going to the train station with many carrying large loads with them as they walked.

In Agra, we saw the Taj Mahal. We had a lovely guide who showed us around. She is one of eight female tour guides in Agra out of 1000. The Taj Mahal took 20 years to complete and 22,000 workers. The amount of intricate work is astounding. Not only is the architecture and engineering of the building impressive but so is the fine detail. The Taj was built as a mausoleum to honor the wife of one of the Persian maharajas. On her death bed, while giving birth to her 14th child, she requested that the king build a mausoleum to honor their true and everlasting and unique love. The Taj Mahal is supposed to represent heaven on earth which is why white marble was chosen. The white is supposed to remind people of cloud, peacefulness, and purity. The taj was well designed and engineered, even 350 years after it was built it has not been retrofitted or repaired. The four towers that surround the taj are built at a slight angle so that if anything ever goes wrong, such as an earthquake, they will fall away from the taj.



Luckily, on the day we went, the crowds were not that big. We were able to walk around freely and the weather was nice. I could not imagine doing this tour in the sweltering summer heat where it often reaches 120 degrees.

After visiting the taj we went to Agra fort. Once again, I was impressed by all the intricate detail. The building is made of red sandstone with many columns and screens carved into the stone. Many of the palaces in India do not have walls. Rather there is a series of pillars and from them they used to hang rugs. One interesting thing about the Agra fort is that at one point the builder of the Taj Mahal was under house arrest in there. His son had arrested him after taking the throne from his father because the father wanted to build a replica of the taj across the river in black as mausoleum for himself. However, his son who was now already king refused to spend another 20 years building and wasting tax payer money on a mausoleum for his father. As a result, the son had the former king arrested and placed under house arrest until he died. For this reason the taj mahal is not perfectly symmetrical. Everything on the grounds is symmetrical. There is a temple facing mecca and identical fake temple was built on the opposite side of the grounds in order to maintain the symmetry but the King’s tomb throws the symmetry of the taj off. His wife’s coffin is in the center of the taj mahal and he is buried slightly to the left instead of having the wife and husband’s tomb balanced with one on the left and one on the right.



monkeys outside the red fort, turning over a trash can looking for food

Paris!

This past weekend I went to Paris. I had an amazing time despite the rain and wind. The main reason for my trip was to visit two of my good friends from college. Megan was in Paris for three weeks on a mini-term through Union studying art in the Louvre and Hilary is doing a masters in French in Paris.

I arrived Friday night and took the metro into the city. My flight was late so I was worried about meeting up with Megan. I had called some of my friends in Madrid to send an email to her letting her know that I would be late because she did not have a cell phone with her in Paris. As I boarded my flight, I hoped that Megan would check her email before going to meet me. While on the metro into Paris, I realized that I had forgotten to write down the name of the café I was supposed to meet Megan at instead I had just printed out a local map showing the neighborhood I was supposed to meet her in. Luckily, when I got out of the metro (which has about 10 different exits) I went to the correct exit and found the café I was supposed to meet Megan at. This was definitely peer luck that she checked her email before going to meet me and that I figured out where to go after leaving the metro station. This experience left me feeling quite lucky and gave me a better appreciation of how difficult it was to coordinate meetings before everyone had cell phones.

On Saturday, Megan and I went to the Arc de Triumph and then walked along the Champs Elysees where there was a Christmas market.

By this time, it was pouring outside but Megan and I decided to take our time and look at the booths. Some of the stalls were really commercial with stuff that could have been sold in a department store and other booths had homemade goods that reminded me of art and wine festivals. I was able to find a couple of presents there.

Along the way, Megan and I had crepes from a street vendor. I didn’t realize that crepes were equivalent to a New York hot dog or pretzel stand. They are sold on many major streets and they are wrapped so you can walk and eat. My first Persian crepe (nutella and bananna) was delicious but a little too rich.

After walking for two hours, we ended up at the Louvre and Megan showed me around. It was so nice to not have to look at a map and to have someone to show me the important pieces in the museum. We spent about three hours there until the museum closed.

Picture of me by the Mona Lisa

During the night, we went to the Eiffel Tower and saw it all lit up. Currently, it is lit in a blue light with yellow stars at the base to honor Sarkozy as the EU president. I enjoyed seeing the monument up close and from various angles.





On Sunday, Megan and I went to Notre Dame and walked around Paris. We got more crepes and spent time in a cute café catching up. It was so nice to see a familiar face. I have decided that most of my travel will probably be dictated by where I have friends instead by the locations because no matter what happens on your trip it is always better if you are with good friends.

Sunday night I met up with Hilary. We went out to a delicious dinner. Once again, it was nice to have a local to show me around and take me to an authentic restaurant instead of a tourist trap. As a rule, I try not to go to places with English menus. I figure I will get cheaper and better quality food at these restaurants and it will always be an adventure deciding what to eat.

On Monday, I went to the Holocaust memorial museum. One interesting thing about the museum is that it is technically the Shoah Museum. In France they don’t use the word holocaust and it was unclear whether there was no direct translation or whether this was an attempt to mask the truth such as the Clinton administration calling the Rwandan genocide ´´ethnic cleansing¨ instead of genocide. Either way, the museum was really well done. One part of the museum chronicled the Holocaust in France and the collaboration of the Vichy government while another part of the museum covered the Holocaust in Europe and the Nazi participation. The memorial to the children who died in the Holocaust was very moving and well done.

Children's Memorial at Holocaust Museum

After the museum, I had lunch with Hilary. Luckily she was with me because the metro line I needed to take to the airport was on strike but she was able to take me to a shuttle bus pick up location. Otherwise, I would have been completely confused on how to get to the airport.

Overall, I had a great weekend in Paris. I definitely would like to go back at some time and spend more time getting to know the different neighborhoods. On Saturday, I am off to India for two weeks. I hope everyone has a great holiday season!

Spanish Education System

I have spent over three months working in the Spanish schools. Some of the things that I have encountered have really impressed me while other things drive me crazy. Most of the teachers at my school and the Spanish educational system seem to value rote memorization over creativity and critical thinking. The students in my history and geography class had to memorize all the major oceans, seas, rivers, and mountains in the world, yet they lack the skills to write a persuasive essay nor do they know how to look up information in a library or on the internet.

One thing that I really like about the Spanish educational system is tutorial system which is similar to having homeroom. Each class of about 25-30 students is assigned to one teacher who is their tutor and the whole class meets once a week for one period to take care of official business, make announcements, and answer questions. In addition to this time, the tutor is responsible for monitoring all the kids in his/her class and if the parent has any questions they call the tutor. This means the parents have one point person to contact if there are any problems. Parents come in about once a month to meet with the tutor and discuss how the student is doing in all of their classes. The tutor is responsible for talking with all the teachers that the student has before meeting with the parents so that they can discuss the overall performance of the student. I think this a great idea because many students in the United States slip through the crack and there is often little communication between teachers regarding an individual student. This way, if there is a major change of behavior the tutor will probably know about it because they have to be in constant communication with all of the teachers that a particular student has.

One thing that is different from the United States is that the teachers move from class to class instead of having the students switch classes. This has both positive and negatives associated with it. First the students don’t have the opportunity to leave the classroom in between periods so sometimes I think they get restless from sitting all day. Second this means each class (25-30 students) stays together all day instead of switching classes and being with different students every period. As a result, the students feel comfortable around each other but they often adopt class personalities such as the class clown and the nerd which can be hard to change.

One thing that drives me crazy is that most of the teachers do not write the homework on the board or pass out a handout explaining the homework. I have been in many classes where it is unclear to me what the students are supposed to do so I can only imagine how the students feel especially considering they are listening to directions in a foreign language. Furthermore, great emphasis is placed on taking neat notes and having everything in the correct format with little attention paid to the content. Sometimes it takes my students five minutes to get out a piece of paper and title it because they all use rulers to underline the heading and they are obsessed with making everything pretty. However, this is due to the fact that the teachers value work that is neat rather than the ideas expressed by the students. For example, I have had multiple teachers show me students’ exams and comment that there is no way the student could have done well on the exam because the hand writing is too messy. This frustrates me because I know that many of the students have good ideas but have messy handwriting.

The students at my school just finished their first trimester (it made me think of Union except they don’t get a six week long break). The students are enrolled in 10 classes but they don’t have every class everyday. Some classes like English are five times a week while history and biology are three times a week and some such as citizenship are only once a week. Most of my students failed at least one class and some failed up to as many as 8. Grades are out of ten with five considered passing. I understand there is a different grading policy but what bothers me is that the teachers don’t care that their students failed. No attempt at extra help or attention is given. Rather the teachers write the students off as lazy or unintelligent and do not bother to try to help the students learn the material. Multiple teachers have commented to me that certain students are disasters and that there is no point trying to help them. This goes against everything I believe in. I think everyone can learn and you just need to figure out how to capture their attention and motivate them.

Overall, while I may not incorporate a lot of the methods the teachers in Spain use, I am learning a lot about education and how to be an effective teacher. Hopefully, I will be able to take what I have learned and apply it when I return next year and have a class of my own.