Spanish Tortilla (omelette)

 10 October, 2020

Today I made my first ever Spanish tortilla! 

For my USA friends, in Spain "tortilla" is a large, thick omelette, traditionally made with potatoes and onions, but there are many variations. It is then cut in slices and served with bread or on a baguette.

Inspired by this Spanish cooking video, I used zucchini and cherry tomatoes instead of potatoes. I had the heat a bit too high, but other than being a bit too brown, I am proud of my first effort as it came out all in one piece and was tasty! This should last me the next 3 days.

 

Yesterday I went to officially register my new address. The appointment was pretty efficient and painless, and unlike most government offices, it was in a residential area with a lovely little park on the grounds.

We started school this past week and it was quite intense, due to COVID schools have had to limit classes to 20 students which means dividing up the classes. Madrid is having difficulty finding enough certified bilingual teachers to cover all the classes that are taught in English, so this past week I was teaching English, Natural Science, and Social Science to three different grade levels. Next week (fingers crossed) they told me I would be able to go back to my usual duties as a Language Assistant, which means I won't have to spend every evening preparing lessons. We all have to take one for the team sometimes.

And for my teacher friends, check out this awesome teaching tool for kids, being modeled by one of my colleagues who teaches first grade! All the parts attach with velcro so they can take them off and put them back on. Isn't it the cutest thing?

DECEMBER UPDATE: Having now seen this anatomy apron in action in the 2nd grade classrooms, I can tell you that the children absolutely love it. It's very visual and fun for them and can be used in different ways such as just showing the digestive system or the respiratory system. 

My New Lanikai Ukulele

07 July, 2020

As my graduation present to myself, I bought a new ukulele! I'm so excited! It's a Lanikai tenor size ukulele, solid mahogany with maple inlay, walnut bridge and fingerboard, and mother of pearl dots.

The grain of the wood is so beautiful, it just glows, I don't know how to capture this in a photo but if you zoom in you may see more of the depth. The decorative details are lovely; I particularly like the chevron shape at the base of the finger board.

And for those of you who are unfamiliar with ukuleles, a concert size ukulele is significantly larger than the most common soprano sized ukulele and has a deeper, richer sound.

Here is a picture of it with my hand holding it so you can see the size, approximately 66 cm / 26 inches long. (I have no idea why my forearm looks like a deep sea animal, clearly my photography skills need a bit of work.)

I have missed playing the ukulele since I left my little red Makala Dolphin in California with a friend. The ukulele is an instrument which is hard not to be happy when you are playing because the sound is just so bright and cheerful.

Since it looks like I won't be doing much traveling this summer due to COVID-19, I can enjoy the long summer days sitting at home reading Spanish novels and playing music (although the neighbors might not call it that...).

(If anyone has been out of touch, yes, I am still in Spain.)

El Escorial and wildflowers

09 June, 2020

A very nice Spanish gentleman took me by car to visit El Escorial, a former monastery and sometimes summer palace in the foothills of the mountains north of Madrid. Unfortunately, it was still closed due to COVID-19 and we were one day early for the reopening, so we weren't able to tour the inside or the grounds.

Although we couldn't go inside the monastery, we were lucky in that the wildflowers were in full bloom and we took a short hike in the hills behind it.

This is a really interesting suspension bridge over the highway on the outskirts of Madrid.

It was so nice to have a day out of the city.