I can finally put that term to its intended use. I can say, "When I was in Rome I did this and this and this."

Details to follow. The countdown to The Trip begins

A future weatherman? I think not but here's some fun weather stuff anyway

We're off to the Circus!

Friday (the 23rd) was an excursion to the circus. I had no idea I was going until the day before which is usual for most of the field trips I've gone on. No complaints from me thought because I love going on these trips and getting out of the classroom. The circus wasn't too far away so the drive only took about a half hour and the weather was quite nice when we arrived. We were greeted by a clown and for some reason I could only think about how creepy clowns can be. I never had any traumatic experiences with clowns, well except for when  I watched "It" and saw a sewer dwelling child eating clown in action, but I don't really have any negative feelings toward them. Clowns are people too! Still kinda creepy.

After we arrived it was time for breakfast so we walked down to the meeting area in a clearing down a ways from the parking lot. The circus is in the mountains so there was a forested area where we stopped to eat. The announcer clown was pretty funny. He tried and failed to pronounce my name but he kept telling people I was an English teacher from L.A. As the others schools arrived he would use the loudspeaker and say hey there's a teacher from L.A over there. Good times. After the snacking was done, it was time for dancing. Yes there is always time for dancing here in Spain. The kids got to shake out some energy and I got to hop up on the truck where the Clown/MC was leading things to take some pictures.

View from the DJ car

After the dancing was over we packed up and continued up the hill to the actual circus tent area. The sky was beautiful this day and I took a considerable amount of pictures just of the sky. I think I'll have to replace my lens one of these days, or clean it somehow, because I think there's something causing a dark spot to appear on my shots. It's really small luckily but I don't know how I can clean inside the lens. Oh well, a minor problem for another day.

Sky was super blue that day

Playing with the GoPro

So today was a pretty crazy day from a weather standpoint. I left for work this morning and thought to myself, "hey it's pretty nice out and not cold at all." Although, about halfway to work I noticed that I was starting to sweat and I didn't think I was walking all that fast. Then it hit me. It was probably the most humid day of the year so far and the sky was a weird jungle floor like mist. I had never seen weather like that anywhere really but luckily by the time night rolled around the air finally decided to fully saturate and it rained itself out. I'd rather get rained on and be wet than feel like I'm walking through suspended animation invisible raindrops. 

That wasn't the most important part of the week however as there was no school on Thursday due to a celebration. Well there were no classes to be exact. The kids still reported to school for a day of cultural activities.

The "Festa de Sta. Joaquima" is a celebration of the life and times of the St. who founded the Vedruna family of schools. The schools I work at are relatively new but there are Vedruna schools all over Catalonia, and the roots reach far back into history. As is the tradition, all the kids bring a flower to school and each class assembles the flowers in a bouquet. I thought this was kinda cool and one thing I do like about these schools is even though the kids miss some instructional days due to days like this, they do learn an appreciation for their culture.

A modeling of the class bouquets

After all the flowers were assembled we headed out to the playground for the ceremony. It started to rain and all the kids freaked out so we had to take the ceremony inside the gym. The rain stopped about a minute later too. 

Once inside, all the children got situated and the ceremony could begin. To my understanding it demonstrated some of the kind acts and radical boldness shown by St. Joaquima over her lifetime. After each reading of a text or a song a different class would add their bouquet to the collection.

Before

After

It took about an hour to complete the ceremony part of the morning and afterward we all went to the cafeteria for some hot chocolate and a special bread that all the kids seem to go crazy over. I forget the name and also how to spell the name of this bread but it was pretty good actually. You were supposed to dip it in the chocolate and have yourself a nice little morning snack.

I'll never say no to some chocolate

It was a good day overall and I' glad I got to learn a little more about the history and culture of this area. The amount of time that the schools here put into remembering their roots is definitely respectable. I do think that at times there could be more time for instructional days but I know that this is important as well.

Figuratively deadly people, but pretty close to it in terms of soccer.

It was perfect timing in light of recent USMNT events to spur a post about soccer and my related footwear. My soccer cleats from HS/College, the old Lime Green CTR 360s, were definitely starting to show signs of fatigue. They were my go to shoes for games, practice, and everything in between so it was getting near time to replace them. I hadn't put too much thought into it but I had definitely been considering it because I know I want to play soccer when I get back to the states. After Nike announced to discontinuation of the CTR line with the Lights Out version I knew I had to get another pair before they were gone for good. They have been by far the most comfortable shoes for me and my favorite of all the soccer cleats I've worn.

The thought process was already in motion by the time Landon Donovan was cut from the men's world cup quad but that really got my mind set on getting a new pair of shoes. I know those events are not really related...ok they're not at all but I'm a fan of his playing style and any talk of soccer really reminds me how much I love the game. If you love the game you want to play the game, and if you want to play the game you need shoes. Thus is why I had to make the jump.

They served me well.

Time for a new start