The Snow Day

As some of you already know, I dedicated February to fun. 28 days of making room in my schedule of work and rest (this third trimester is tiring - lots of growing going on!) to do something fun, something enjoyable, every day of that short little month that can be so dark and cold.

Well, while this February in Madrid was not especially cold, it was certainly filled with fun. Surprise phone calls, snail mail, tea with a friend, visiting a new baby, trying a new restaurant, decorating the nursery, a day in Cordoba, a dozen types of Spanish omelette, pancakes, a library discovery... 

For the last day, I decided to go out with a bang, and what's more fun for a snow-loving Canadian abroad in Madrid than snow? 

a punky snowman we saw on the trail

See: SNOW

The plan was to drive from Madrid to Cercedilla, then take the "snow train" up to Navacerrada, a ski station, and hike back down to the car. The drive to Cercedilla takes about an hour - if it's Saturday, I suggest taking national roads and going through Los Molinos rather than the main highway - you'll save yourself a huge annoying traffic jam.

Once we were in Cercedilla, we discovered that the train costs the same from Madrid to Navacerrada as it does from Cercedilla! If you're going to take the train, you can buy tickets up to a week in advance. Anyway, we discovered a National Parks bus that would take us to the ski station for the very reasonable price of 50 cents each. The train from Cercedilla takes about 40 minutes, and the bus depends on traffic (we were on there for just over an hour), but on the bus you get a National Parks guide with stories and information about the park and wildlife, not to mention interesting specimens to pass around. The largest beetle in Europe can be found in this park (that thing is BIG!!), as well as the largest bird. Neat!

Hear: Snow crunching under my boots, and that special quiet of a winter forest.

I enjoyed eavesdropping on the bus - a lot of passengers were seeing snow for the first time, and they were thrilled! On the one hand, it's not Canada, but on the other, it's the most snow many of those people will ever see, and there they were, making a day of looking at it, touching it, and taking dozens of pictures.

from blue to grey and foggy in a matter of minutes

The fog rolled in just as we got off the bus (boo!), but the temperature was very comfortable for a late winter hike. There are a couple of cafeterias for lunch or picking up picnic supplies, but they have the typical mountain-top prices. Pack your own picnic, or take snacks and have lunch down in Cercedilla. We started off at a quick pace to get away from the crowds of skiiers and snow-seekers, following the "Camino Schmidt". Once you find the beginning (down a path, across a parking lot, and right across a ski run - yikes!) it's fairly well-marked by yellow circles on trees. We passed some snow shoe-ers and a couple of groups of hikers, but the trail was pretty quiet, and so beautiful and eerie in the fog, an enchanted pine forest.

enchanting despite the weather

Taste: A typical Spanish hiking snack - bocadillo de torilla (a Spanish omelette on a baguette)

The sun burned off the fog as we arrived at the end of the first part of the Schmidt trail (around 7 km), Valle de Fuenfria. There's a fountain you can refill water bottles from, and a lovely "mirador" (lookout) to rest at and enjoy the stunning views of the Siete Picos (Seven Peaks) mountain range before starting the next leg, which takes you all the way down to Cercedilla.

the tell-tale yellow pines, so typical of this area

You follow the "Pista Forrestal" (Forest trail), a nice, wide path, down until you think you're going to have to walk forever, when suddenly you'll see a tree with a yellow circle and you can pick up the Schmidt trail again. After a steep but straightforward descent, the snow started to disappear, and we walked for some time on fairly flat terrain. A neat thing about this trail is that sometimes follows two historic roads - a Roman road and a Napoleonic road.

Feel: The surface of a rock, placed by a Roman years ago, worn smooth by centuries of use as a road.

an in-tact part of the Roman road

We left the Schmidt trail at Las Dehesas, following the Camino de Agua (water trail, marked by, you guessed it, blue circles) to Cercedilla.

In total, we walked about 18 km in just over 4 hours. A lovely hike for all levels (I was nearly 32 weeks pregnant when we did it) in all seasons. It was beautiful to see the snow covered mountains and walk along the silent white trails, but spring or autumn would be equally beautiful. I was too tired to check out Cercedilla, so we'll have to tour the town, which looks great, another time. There are lots of trails in this area, though, so it may be we never really see the town for the trees... 

Smell: Clean, crisp pine trees.

It was a great day to be outside, and the perfect day trip to end Fun February. 

a view from the "mirador"

Fun Friday: Five Senses

My students are at a great age for exploring their five senses, and incorporating sensory experiences into lessons makes them not only more memorable and meaningful, but also more fun!

Sometimes I focus mainly on one sense, other times it's a crossover. Here are some of my successes:

(source)

Touch - 

There are lots of activities for touch, but my classroom favourite is my magic bag. When I'm introducing a new vocabulary word, sometimes I'll bring a representation of the word and "hide" it in a green velvet bag I bought at Ikea. I pass the bag around, and they try to guess what's inside by how it feels. 

I like to bring out play dough, sometimes with a theme, to play with at least weekly.

Smell - 

I hide objects (sliced fruit, cotton with a few drops of essential oil, pine needles, etc.) in a container covered in parchment paper with a few holes poked into it. They guess what the smell is.

(source)

Sight -

To look more closely at plants (but you could do it with other objects), I pop them into a jar or bottle of water.  It's more awe-inspiring than simply passing around a leaf, not to mention I go through fewer samples. 

We play games like I Spy, and use Where's Waldo-type posters to spot different things. We have colour theme days, where we try to spot as many objects of the day's colour as possible, or we look for examples of opposites (right now big and small).

Hearing - 

They love nature sound effects! This is easy to provide with a CD or even from my phone. If we're talking about a certain animal, I'll ask what noise they think it makes. Then we listen to the real thing, or I'll play a different animal (for example, a dog when it should be a cat), and they "correct" me.

We play whispering games during circle time (a very simple Broken Telephone game), and repeating games (where we drill vocabulary using different tones - the favourite is "mouse voice"), or I speak really quietly so they really have to concentrate. Speaking quietly has the bonus effect of the students modulating their voices to match my level. A nice, easy way to have some quiet time!

Taste -

This one is trickier to tackle in the classroom - dietary restrictions and severe allergies keep me from passing around food samples - but we do eat together twice a day, during recess and at lunch. We talk about different tastes and preferences then, as well as discussing foods we've tried at home. Right now we're focusing on the basics (sweet, savoury, bitter...). 

Special sensory activities are fun to prepare and fun to deliver. The students are motivated when they know we've got something planned for later in the day or week, and so am I!

Los Imprescindibles

Coming to a Madrid? My must-see list (los imprescindibles), according to sense, is:

SEE

The Mercado de San Miguel - it's a feast for the eyes even if you don't eat anything, and the restoration job is amazing!

The Royal Palace. The gardens, the armouries, the palace rooms, the cathedral next door - this complex is really worth a walk-through. I especially love the crazy rococo rooms and the garden between the palace and the opera house.

The Templo de Debod in Parque del Oueste. This is a real Egyptian temple, gifted to Spain after some engineers helped construct a dam to prevent flooding. It's stunning.

TASTE

 

Churros and chocolate at the Chocolateria de San Gines, between the plazas Sol and Mayor.

Pinchos, baguette rounds with toppings, at Sagartetxe.

 

Tapas at any bar you come to.

 

SMELL

 

Get your nose into a really fresh white wine, or an old, smoky red, summer and fall in a glass. Breath in hay and sunshine from a plate of goat's cheese, or citrus from a plate of marinated olives.

 

HEAR

Guitar or maybe drums in the Retiro Park. Get far enough in and you won't hear any traffic. The same goes for the Parque del Oueste.
 
The commentary on the tourist bus - it's good and you'll cover lot of ground in a short time. The "modern" route will take you slightly off the beaten track into the financial district, where a stop at the gigantium El Corte Ingles department store is always a good idea.

FEEL

The raw emotion of flamenco. Find a bar with a tablao around the Plaza Mayor or book a show at Casa Patas. If the passion doesn't move you, you must be a robot. I cry. I grip my seat. I lean forward. I am left breathless. It's stunning.

The buzz around Plaza de Espana and Gran Via, a major hub of the city. The lights! The shops! The theatres! The traffic! The crowds! It's electric.

Tempted to spend every last euro along Calle Fuencarral, my favourite shopping area, recently pedestrianized. Pick up a scarf or a bag or a shirt, always brightly coloured.

Christmas in Madrid

See: A tree decorated with more love than ornaments. Charlie Brown would approve. (Ahem, but watch out, tree - next year my decos from Canada will be here and you will be covered!)

Hear: a cacophony of loud voices all talking at once,  cutlery on plates, the dog from downstairs, water ticking through the radiator,  clinking glasses, Micheal Buble's Christmas CD, and the same from the neighbours, although they are playing different music. Oh, and a truck idling outside. Madrid is not the second-loudest city in the world for nothing!

Smell: my fabulous, fabulous, brag-worthy turkey. Roasted upside down to keep it juicy, stuffed with chestnut and apple stuffing, served with gravy and damson port sauce, thank you very much!
 



check out my new apron! 

Taste: Almonds. In the almond-apricot-pine nut cake. Mmmmm.... 

Feel: Christmasy. Which is to say, happy, a little too warm, tired, full, and ready to watch Charlie Brown one more time.

I know I'm home when...

After a rainy start to summer in London and a scorching two weeks in Madrid, I'm back in my hometown, enjoying all the delights my native land has to offer:

I smell manure. Ah, good old fresh manure, evoking memories of car rides during which Bro and I would pinch our noses shut and, in annoying nasal tones, accuse the other of farting.

I feel a breeze. And people think it's hot. HAHAHAHA. IT IS NOT HOT HERE, PEOPLE!! 38 degrees at 10pm is hot. No breeze in the city is hot. Sleeping with ice packs in your bed is hot. MADRID is where the hot's at. (London friends, just to clarify, it is not hot there either!)

I hear the familiar voices of CBC radio presenters. How I've missed you all - you are why I drive places I could walk to, even though I am slightly concerned that I will turn into the wrong lane (thank you, England).

I take a bite of succulent wild blueberry pie. My mouth waters just thinking about it! And when I chant, "blueberry pie, blueberry pie, if I don't get some, I think I'm gonna die!" people get it.
I see one number on a price tag and a different one on the till. GAH! Included tax, it's only been four days and already I miss you. I look forward to meeting you again when I'm back in Madrid. Where it's really hot.

Royal-tea (yep, I went there)

Cupcake and Tall Girl, where have you been?
We've been to London to visit the Queen!
For real.

Taste
Cupcake:  The most indulgent chocolate mousse brownie, stamped with a gold crown on top.

TG: fruitcake! You can’t go to a garden party at Buckingham Palace without eating a slice of fruitcake.

Hear

Cupcake: Queeny's commanding voice when asking a family what kind of business they run and will their daughters take over when they retire.

TG: A military band playing unexpected songs (Puttin’ on the Ritz, Indiana Jones theme song, and Mamma Mia – Her Maj’s top three?).


Touch

Cupcake: The carpet inside the red/pink drawing room on our way to the back garden. So soft and cushy under our feet :)

TG: The Queen’s hem with my shoe. Not really, but I could have.

                                                       

See

Cupcake:  Hats in every colour, shape and size and Kate Middleton's tiny waist.  

TG: The Queen’s impeccable makeup. Yes, we were that close. It’s ok to feel jealous.




Overall feeling

Cupcake:  Like I was on a movie set. It's almost as if the Royal Fam were actors and I was an extra on the set. I just couldn't believe they were a meter away from us. SO exciting!

TG: Highly strung with excitement and anticipation; it was all very surreal.

When Tall Guy´s away...

Tall Girl will play!

(Or, The five senses of my girl-weekend)

Taste: Whatever I fancied, whenever I fancied it!
-fresh, homemade spring rolls (OK, some were spring clumps, because I got a bit tired of wrapping them up at the end. They sort of looked like sad Asian burrito wannabes. But the first two looked perfect!). And a huge pot of porridge. For dinner. Popcorn with peanut butter, French-vanilla cappuccinos, zucchini "pasta", and raw vegan brownies.

See: Paintings. Lots and lots of paintings. I spent a happy afternoon in the National Gallery's Impressionism wing, where the people-watching was also pretty good.

Feel: Cozy and full after a pub lunch and a good long chinwag with an expat gal pal.

Hear: Enja. And a fake waterfall. While having a facial. That included a back massage.  

Smell: Chamomile tea, a toasted scone, and "new book" (a Christmas gift, appropriately named "Winter").

Thanksgiving with the Talls

YEAH I did!

It's turkey time again, and for the first time, I made a Thanksgiving feast - from scratch, by the way - on my own! No parental supervision. No store-bought cheats. No spaghetti (once upon a time in Barcelona) or roast chicken (Wiesbaden) stand-ins. Tall Guy was on hand, but as his turkey day experience is limited to one Thanksgiving meal in Canada, it was all up to me. And I did it! I'll admit that I was a little nervous about the turkey drying out, the chocolate pie not setting and the buns not rising. I worried in vain - everything turned out really well! You can check out the recipes I used here.

Here's a recap of our day: 

Hear

Tall Girl: A string quartet playing some Beethoven (Tall Guy's elegant choice for the afternoon).
Tall Guy: A mix of crashes and periods of silence coming from the kitchen. Sounds dangerous in there.

Smell

Tall Girl: Raisin buns baking and turkey roasting. Mmmmmm...
Tall Guy: Roasted vegetables (my favourite side) and chocolate pie. (I can't actually smell it, but I know it's there, waiting for me...).

See

Tall Girl: gorgeous colours - ruby red cranberries, bright orange sweet potatoes, sunny yellow flowers... A rainbow on the table.

Tall Guy: A really huge turkey. 4.4kgs of turkey, to be exact.

Yep, that's my coffee pot by the butter... It's moonlighting as a gravey boat...

Taste

Tall Girl: a bit of everything, and it's SO good! I was so busy cooking, other than an apple for breakfast, I forgot to eat today!
Tall Guy: a bit of everything, and it's SO good! I was kind of full from the amazing omelet I had for lunch, but I found room.
Tall Girl: And he wasn't even wearing Thanksgiving pants...

Feel

Tall Girl: So blessed - I have a great Tall Guy, a full-time job, and my first turkey dinner turned out well.

Tall Guy: Full.

Tall Girl: Hey!

Tall Guy: Really, really full. (FULL is a feeling, by the way, and you did say ONE FEELING...)

Tall Girl gives Tall Guy the look.

Tall Guy: I am thankful for a lot of things - Tall Girl, our life in London, my job... but I am really too full to think about it. And everything was so good....

Tall Girl: Well, in that case...

Tall Guy: In that case, it's time for a little nap on the couch.

A plateful of plenty

Five Senses: Whitstable

Last weekend Londonista and I spent a lovely afternoon in Whitstable. Here's what we saw, felt, heard, tasted and smelled:

Saw: lovely little beach houses!

Felt: a little too chilly for a dip!

Heard: a carnival!

Tasted: salt, and some cod... (Canadian, possibly).

Smelled: kinda fishy (but a neat idea)

Congratulations, you've won a free cruise!

Why not take a few minutes out of your hectic week to go on a cruise? Vicariously, that is, courtesy of my aunt.
Actually, now it is Friday. I posted this on Wednesday - I know I'm not crazy because my mom commented on it! - but then it just DISAPPEARED, along with some text... perhaps it cruised around the Bermuda Triangle!
Anyway, just imagine yourself...

...touching the soft, warm, Caribbean sand and saltwater.

...seeing the men's belly flop contest, Rosehall Mansion, the sexiest man alive (woohoo!), a shipboard ice skating show, outdoor markets at Labadee, and... the sight of snow after landing in Detroit - blah to that last one! 

...smelling the salt air, a freshly made omelette with bacon and sausage, tropical hand sanitizer, and a barbecued lunch at Labadee.

...listening to music by KoolVibes that makes you want to dance, hearing the relaxing sound of crashing waves, relaxed island music, and the music and dance at the evening shows on board.

May the rest of your week be filled with sunny thoughts.

Easter Senses

See: A glorious cathedral, filled with Presbyterians from Scotland and abroad (I sat between Dutch and American Presbyterians). 

Feel: Great! I love Easter, and to top it off, the good weather followed us to Scotland - Easter Sunday dawned bright and warm.

Hear: My most frequent earworm and also the hymn I most often want to sing, no matter what season it is. Those of you who know me well already know what it is... Lift High the Cross, of course!

Taste: An Easter treat from the hotel concierge - a Cadbury cream egg.

Smell: Really fresh air. Really.

Birthday Senses

Hear

Something I hear only once a year - Tall Guy singing! He promised to sing Happy Birthday to me each year even though he doesn't like to sing in front of me. So far, we're six for six. Maybe next year he'll also do a Christmas carol?

See
Love and support in the form of cards and birthday messages. Thanks, everyone!

Taste

My birthday dinner (an excellent tortilla - that's a Spanish omelette - cooked for me by Tall Guy).

Smell

Mini Hot Cross Bun Pudding (my birthday breakfast. It was going to be Palm Sunday breakfast, but I forgot to soak the buns!). Yummmmmm! Picture and recipe to come...

Feel

Really good and excited about starting my 27th year.

My Five Senses - Advent

Sarah of Pink of Perfection sometimes writes posts entitled "Five Senses Friday". I think this is a cool idea, and it's one I sometimes use as an alternative to recording daily events in my journal. To mark the first week of Advent, I've adapted the technique for your here, and added a contest:

What are your senses sensing this Advent season? Leave a comment by December 10, 2010, to be entered in a draw to win a Christmas treat from Germany!

Taste: Advents Kalender Tee. For the duration of Advent, my morning cuppa will be a surprise! I love Advent Calenders, but not the sickly sweet chocolate candy that comes in them. Here in Wiesbaden I had quite a selecion: standard milk chocolate, beautiful paper ones, marzipan, dark chocolate, Christmas ornaments, even Lego! 



See: Nativity scenes all around town, but especially my awesome magnetic nativity scene from Prague (normally the Three Kings are farther away, and Jesus isn't there yet... It's the Spanish in me).





Hear: Pfffrrrehff as I peel open a fresh, juicy clementine. Good things come in small, orange packages.

Buying a loaf of homemade Fruchtbrot in Nürnburg

Smell: Ginger, cloves, and cinnamon from Glühwine and Gingerbread in the Christmas market. In Nurnburg, I couldn´t resist a cup of hot chocolate to warm my hands. We also picked up a loaf of fruit bread that weighs 
3/4 kg!








Feel: Anticipation as the countup to the celebration of Jesus' birth begins!

Remember: Post your five senses for Advent by 10 December to be entered in the draw!