Thursday night we had some friends over to the piso. We celebrated a birthday with some food and drink, as is customary. Eleven PM turned into four AM, as is also customary. And I realized it was time for me to get to the airport. So I finished off my glass of wine and I […]
Author: anne
I ride words and I write bikes. I mean...
Spanish pop music: come on, I know you’re dying to listen…
My students have kindly introduced me to the very best of Spanish pop music. I’ve sifted through about fifty or so of their recommendations and here are a few of my favs. (All are strictly from Spain.) Amaral One of the best-selling pop rock Spanish groups. In “Son Mis Amigos” (These are My Friends) she […]
Translating music: a note about learning new things
I unintentionally joined a jazz group with a few other teachers at my school. I play the guitar. We practice on Wednesdays. Here is an example of how practice goes: We’re playing some Duke Ellington piece to which I lost my last page of music and I don’t know the last chord. I play the […]
I hate it when that happens: stepping in wet paint
This crosswalk is about three blocks from my apartment. It’s on Calle de Toledo, just south of Plaza Mayor (oh yeah, I’m back in Spain!). Not only did someone walk in wet paint. They walked in wet paint with no shoes on. Can we stop and contemplate this for a second? … Seriously though. Little […]
Survival tactics: how to spend the night at the airport (specifically the DFW airport)
I’ve gotten pretty close to spending the night in airports, and bus stations for that matter. But a few weeks ago it actually happened. I was trying to catch a standby flight from the Dallas Fort Worth airport to Kansas City. Everything was booked, booked, and overbooked. Earliest morning flight: 7AM. By the time I […]
This isn’t culture shock… America is just weird
Guess where I am? Not in Madrid. Not even in Europe. I’m home, in Kansas. (Just for a few weeks. I’ll be heading back to Spain next week.) And everyday since I’ve been back I’ve asked myself: am I the weird one? Or is it the U.S. (more specifically Kansas)? Well, today was a point […]
I hate it when that happens: I pooped in the milk
Last week was an off week. It included losing my classroom to another teacher because I didn’t reserve the room and a stare-down to the death with a lady at the post office. Plus, one day I walked into the secretary’s office and one of my students Matias was there (who is actually a pretty […]
True life: I live in a closet
When I was eight or nine—I’m sure my mom can attest to this—I was determined to have a walk-in closet. What I actually had was one of those closets with folding doors. Ew, I know. All of my friends had walk-in closets. Some of them even had their own bathrooms! What injustice! Life is so […]
Here’s one for the brothers and the sisters…
On Tuesdays I give a private lesson to two sisters, eleven and thirteen. They’re both really sweet girls and hard workers. And Miriam, the eleven-year-old, she’s got spunk. She’s going places. When she’s president of Spain, just remember, I called it. In our last lesson we practiced the future tense. Each sister had to say […]
Life is like a road trip
A few weeks ago a few friends and I took a road trip. Without a road map. This was partly because of lack of planning and partly because of stinginess. You probably think this is some story about how our trip was a disaster and maps are important, and you should take them with you. […]
Anne Foster 