I do it on the daily

Well, I'm sorry to be a blog failure.  Consistency has never been my forte (nor has writing).  Nonetheless, I think it's well passed time to have written about what I actually do here for a living.  Now that some of my traveling has slowed down, it's a little easier to get down to that.

So most of you know I live with a family consisting of a mother, father, and two boys (ages 12 and 10).  The parents are BOTH air traffic controllers; a job that here in Spain earns about 300,000 per year.  It's one of the highest income jobs in the country.  The house we live in reflects the high income, but it's not a mansion, and it's not even a stand alone home (very uncommon in the city unless you are outside of "zone a".   However, there are 4 stories (I live on the top with my bedroom, bathroom a terrace, but the office is also upstairs so it's not the most private).  The family also has a cleaning lady who comes three times a week.  She is a really sweet lady and because of her, I haven't cleaned a bathroom in 4 months.  spoiled!

So during the day I have free.  It's been tricky to stay motivated and busy from the hours of 9:00-4:30 when almost everyone else in the world is working or in school.  I have found a number of things to fill this space including.

*Making my friends meet me in the center for their lunch breaks... or at 2 or 2:30 when they're done with school (Thanks to JuanCa I've been squeezing in some good Spanish practice with beers and bocadillos

*  Taking Spanish classes- Oct-Dec I took Spanish classes Tues and Thurs from 10:30-12:00... but it was costing me 75 euro a month and I didn't feel I was learning enough.  I did however learn the pret. perfecto tense and have a better sense of those tricky pronouns... maybe I'll start again in Feb.

* Running- there's an incredibly beautiful park 5 min walking from my house.  It's full of olive trees, art statues, and waterways.   I have never been a runner, and I still wouldn't consider myself a runner, but it's fitness and it's free.

* Acting as a tour guide for travelers...  Ok I've only done this like 3 or 4 times but it's fun, especially when it' someone from a Spanish speaking country.

* aimless wandering around the city and meeting random fun people.

*  Daytime Spanish television.   Dubbed FRIENDS anyone?  I personally prefer dubbed "Los Simpson"

* My most recent day time occupier has been private lessons. 2 hours on Mondays and 2 hours on Wednesday with flexible re-scheduling options.  50 euros a week, a good deal for the both of us!

* And when my friend Julio is town from Valencia, we go on random adventures to places like "parque Europe (with replicas of famous European monuments haah), lunches, and even warp speed trips to Toledo.

*  Facebook- I'm on Facebook too much and I'm going to have to delete it if I can't clean up my act.

* Scrappy booky- A certain Alyson Dells made me a gorgeous going away gift- a hand made sketch book/journal.  I know I'm not artsy, but I wanted to channel some creativeity and have dedicated a page to each place I have travelled.  I'm a little behind (gotta make a Paris one!)  but I've kept up well enough.  Berlin, however,  is just beer labels so far... gotta add some paint.  Here is Calpe, Costa Blanca, Spain.. and yes, there IS a fanny pack in the background from Erin Youngman circa 2008

* I'm considering doing some scheduling shifts in my private lessons and taking an aerobics class in my district's public gym.... my fear is that the 9:30-10:30 class will be filled with seniors limping their way into the studio.

Ok and now to the afternoons-

I make snacks for the boys and we typically watch about an hour of either cartoons (dubbbbbbed) or our most recent obsession:  "The Most Extreme" which is a top 10 countdown of various animal superlatives.  I appreciate that it's educational and lacks bright flashing colors.

Homework time is generally easy... the hardest thing I do is tell Gonzalo to stop playing with his toys and focus back on work.  When he's in a good mood, he works diligently and efficiently.  On the bad days he yells, plays with his toys, yells some more and eventually finishes homework  and apologizes for being an ass.

Gonzalo is the youngest boy, and the one I spend the most time with.  We draw funny pictures on the computer, play chess and risk , Star Wars Mad Libs and anything else fun we randomly think of.   During homework we listen to the same Michael Jackson songs everyday... but tonight I have some other song stuck in my head.  Thanks to after-dinner playtime on the computer this evening I got to hear "The Final Countdown" 5 times in a row.  I suppose it explains my sudden surge of energy and motivation.

Ignacio, the older boy is really sweet too but he's a bit of a trickster.  If Gonzalo is the brains, Ignacio is the looks... but he certainly doesn't lack street smarts.  His intelligence is best represented in his art of manipulation.  I can't tell you how much of my chocolate he's stolen, but every time I call him out he just smiles, hugs me tight and says "Oh I'm so sorry Brenna..it won't happen again".  I appreciate his sneaky nature because... I think I was a bit like that as a kid.  At least when it came to chocolate snatching.

SO yeh and the weekends we get to play the WII and various action packed video games.  Other activities include bike rides to the park , the cinema and going out to lunch.

The hard part is always hearing about fun things going on during the weekday evenings that I can't attend.  I certainly do miss the sense of full independence but it's also been a friendly reminder to not have kids before I'm 30.

 I have more to say about daily life... what it's like to live with bosses and work where you live. but I'll let this digest and save the nitty gritty for next time.