Vincent Van Gogh said: If you hear a voice within you saying, “You are not a painter,” then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced. This quote inspired my brief venture into photography which I am featuring in this post! But, disclaimer: just because the voices are silenced doesn’t mean the photos […]
Author: anne
I ride words and I write bikes. I mean...
What you can get with 2.63 euros in Madrid
I woke up last Sunday morning with about 2.63 euros in coinage. Normally I would withdraw some cash from an ATM or just use my card. But as it was the last Sunday of the month and bills were looming, I was determined to hold out until I got paid at my private lesson on […]
Sending students to the principal sucks almost as much as getting sent to the principal
Going to an all-girls private Catholic didn’t do much to prepare me to work at a public high school in the so-called Bronx of Madrid (see most recent post). A few weeks ago I was talking to another teaching assistant who also works at a high school in Madrid. She was telling me about one […]
The Bronx of Madrid
There is this little cafe/bar that I go to on Tuesdays and Thursdays in between school and private lessons to get lunch. The owner, a women in her late thirties perhaps, is usually there, as well as a younger guy, Fran(cisco), who works behind the bar and likes Western movies hence the fact that that […]
I have a life outside of my computer. I swear.
This week I got a virus on my computer. Which may or may not have resulted from my online search for the most recent glee episode. Let me just say that the arrest of that German guy in charge of megaupload was pretty much the apocalypse for American TV in any place outside of the […]
The very Spanish experience of getting hit on
Typical Thursday: I wake up at 8am, commute one hour to work, teach four hours of class, which includes telling the students to stop prying the letters off of the keyboards, spend two hours lesson planning, give a private class, commute one hour home and from the metro stop I walk uphill to my apartment […]
Haircuts/I am still young and naive
Getting my hair cut still makes me nervous. Let’s be real: a stranger is wielding scissors against my hair. Now imagine haircut + non-native language. That makes for a fun time. I’ve had a few of these experiences outside the U.S., including once when I cut off about twelve inches. That was in Mexico in […]
Offensive responsibility: I am a teacher
Teaching. It’s hard! Not even hard as it is a huge responsibility. I swear after just three months of teaching I have more appreciation and understanding of teaching than I ever thought I would have. I may once in my life have wanted to be a teacher but I was probably about 9 and was […]
The Reina Sofia: a good place to spend the night?
I have mixed feelings about museums. I love the concept of public knowledge and art. Brilliant. But sometimes the environment is a bit stifling (read: museums are boring. also. awkward). Everyone moves slowly. Talks quietly. Thinks intellectual thoughts. Oh yes, I enjoy the intellectual stimulation of a world famous Velazquez painting… I also enjoying wondering […]
Hello everyone, meet Madrid public transportation
So after giving a private english lesson out in the suburbs of Madrid I decide on a whim to find an alternate route back home. One of the hundreds of cool things about Madrid public transportation is that there are usually about 5 different ways of getting to where you want to go. Unlike lots […]
Anne Foster 