I realized this morning that I don't have any SPAIN: 2012 music yet. Hell, I still have the same music on my iPod that was put there last May, 2011!! So what's my first song for my SPAIN: 2012 playlist?
One Direction: What Makes You Beautiful.
HELL YES.
A girl in my 11th grade class presented it for her English Song project and I kinda secretly fell in love with it. It's completely and totally perfect driving in Moxie, windows down, sun shining, me scream/singing music!!!
You're insecure.
Don't know what for.
Don't need makeup to cover up.
Being the way that you are is enough.
Everyone else in the room can see it.
Everyone else but you.
I walked into my first class of the day with the 3rd graders in my Citizen floral print jeans, fake leather jacket and boots from Target and a scarf. The second I passed through the door all of the girls started jumping up and down telling me I looked BEAUTIFUL today. All the boys started clapping. It was totally the most adorable thing in the world. Eff it if I don't feel appreciated by people my own age - 9 year olds adore me, and as far as I'm concerned, they're way more intelligent and clever than people my own age - not to mention incredibly less jaded and into people-pleasing.
My day over all was pretty lovely. The highlight of the school day was the 11th grade class. First one of the guys tried to present the song, "Walk this Way" by Aerosmith / RUN-DMC. I admit, I'm not entirely familiar with the song, but as soon as I started to read the lyrics he'd printed out for the class, I realized this was not going to end well for him. I only had to read the first four lines of the song to know I had to say something to the teacher before he pressed "PLAY" on Youtube.
"Backstroke lover always hidin' 'neath the covers
Till I talked to your daddy, he say
He said 'you ain't seen nothin' till you're down on a muffin
Then you're sure to be a-changin' your ways'
I met a cheerleader, was a real young bleeder"
REALLY?
How this song seriously got to the Top 10 spot in the 1980's with these lyrics, I'm really not sure... but, then, I guess they're actually relatively tame when compared to Rihanna's "Sticks and Stones" song, and I'm ashamed to admit I sing along to that song every time I hear it! Haha.
Anyway, I circled some of the lyrics and moved the paper across the stack of tests the teacher was grading. She read the circled part, looked at me, and kind of laughed. She then proceeded to ask the student if he knew what the song meant.
"Yeah, of course," he said.
"Okay, then explain the lyrics to me right now. Line by line."
He looked at the first word. Backstroke. He had no clue.
By this time the other kids had reached at least the second verse and were laughing as quietly as they knew how, given the circumstance. All I could hear them whisper was, "Kitty!! Hahahaha!" Good to know they have a clear grasp on the term, I guess. Ha.
After a few more moments of flailing, the teacher informed the student that his presentation was over and he would be receiving a zero. He insisted it was a LOVE SONG (OMG - I seriously gave him the WTF!? stare, and some kids in the class saw it and couldn't stop laughing) and that he had no way of knowing that it was anything other than a song between a boy and a girl (GIMME A BREAK). The teacher genuinely could not desipher whether he was trying to pull a fast one or actually was that in the dark, so she kept chuckling to herself and told me to lead the class in another direction - and quick.
It all worked out. I asked them about their trip to Toledo they had yesterday. They were surprisingly excited to tell me about it. They highlights for them were a dog that ate sandwiches but not the bread and the McDonnald's they found, along with the original sword shop that sold the props to the Lord of the Rings movies. A real cultural adventure, it seems. ;) At the end of the class (which alas marked the end of the musical unit - thank goodness), I politely informed them to please never ever pronounce the word "bass" like "b-ahss" again, because it made them sound like they had just gone fishing, caught a nice fish, sewed a few strings onto its carcuss and started strumming along with a rock band. I then did the action of grabbing a fish (I made a fish face) and holding its tiny body in my hands and attepting to strum a tune on it.
Even the most serious of students in that class started cracking up. I was actually being serious with them, but wanted them to truly grasp how ridiculous they had been sounding for the past four weeks talking about the lead guitar player and the fishest and how great he is at playing his fish. STOP IT. RAWR.
I'm beginning to realize that nobody uses humor with language learners. I guess my teacher's didn't, really. But I mean if somebody came up to me and told me it sounded like I was inserting the word "fish" where "guitar" was supposed to be, and then physically demonstrated what it looked like I was talking about while head banging and making fish faces, I would be 95% less likely to ever repeat the mistake again. Just say'n.
I did something similar with the younger kids. In Spanish it's, "I have 23 years" whereas in English it's "I am 23 years old." I asked them if "Soy 23 anos" sounded right. They all looked at me like I was nuts. I told them that's exactly how they sound in English when they tell somebody they HAVE X years. Then I told them that HAVING X years would actually mean something more like, "Here, I give you X years" *physically hands years over* "and I hope that you use them wisely!" *proceed to become so weighed down by the 23 years that i stumble under the weight and fall over on the floor from the crushing weight*
The thing about English seems to be that they're not necessarily being grammatically incorrect, just that with their pronunciation and word choice, they're saying something completely different than they think they are!
ANYWAY, after my private tutor play session after work and going on a little exploration adventure of the cute part of Torrejon I'd never seen before, it was back on the train to Alcala. As soon as I got home I made dinner, poured some wine and got right down to watching the presidential debate.
AH. MAZE. ING.
Dude kicked some serious debate ass. For real. I know Terence was a Democrat, but I think even he would have been impressed deep down. As a State Debate Champion and a National Debate Competitor, I can seriously say those were some seriously awesome opening arguments and rebuttals. Clear. Concise. Pithy. No need to go on the defensive. Pointed out the lie or flaw every time, despite the time allotted. Totally didn't expect such a PRO performance out of the man. Before watching that debate I was going to vote for him because all those mornings of listening to Rush had successfully scared me into firmly believing Obama would turn America into a totalitarian regime within the next four years. But after watching that debate, I'm confident to put my vote behind the man, despite his social stances. Freedom, Economy, Social Issues. Whether the social issues advance or go backwards in the next four years is nowhere near as grave a concern as what happens to healthcare reform and the economy (jobs / wellfare / etc.). I say, give it a decade and no matter which party is in power, gays will be able to be in the military without fear and will have the right marry and receive all the legal/human rights benefits they really deserve, abortion will continue to be legal and pot will become somewhat legal. But give it ten years under the wrong leadership and who knows where the economy and big government might end up.
The thing that is respectable about the
majority of Spain's citizens is that when their leader leads them
astray, they get upset and desire a new path. Americans, on the other
hand, seem to blatantly ignore anything is wrong - or, if they do
acknowledge it, insist it was anybody but their beloved leader's fault. I feel like the debate was the perfect thing to happen to begin to undo this logic.
And with that, it's bed time! Weekend starts in 13 hours - YAY!!!
XOXO
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