Scotland Photo Reel

Edinburgh at night.

What to eat?

Haggis Tours Loch Ness booked, time for exploring Edinburgh.

A little help from our local.

Monument hill with a great view of the city.

Queens residence on the left and scottish parliament nearby.

View from the Castle.

1st stop on our way to the highlands.

The Highlands.

Having some fun with Nessie.

Where all the Nessie hunters live.

Up, up, and away!

So we're off today for a quick ten day jaunt about the UK and Ireland.  Quickly hitting Edinburgh, saying hello to Nessie in the highlands, then off to Dublin, and finally reaching London.  Crossing my fingers that all goes well and that this trip doesn't put too much of a dent in our checkbooks.  Afterwords, hopefully I should have some good pictures for everyone and a few good stories as well.

My bag of tricks

The life of a traveling teacher is, well, tough.  Have you ever entertained a child without toys?  How about in a foreign language?  Have you ever tried to teach a 5 year old anything?  Take it from me, it's no walk in the park (which ironically is actually quite tough for me these days).  If you find yourself in my shoes, here are a few tricks that might assist you in your seemingly impossible task.

One thing to know about teaching kids is to keep them constantly occupied with as many varying activities as possible.  If you're doing an activity with a younger student and they start to fidget or stare off into space, change the activity.  Don't just plan one, two, or even three activities for an entire hour with a private lesson, have at least 6 to 7 activities to do for that hour.  Make sure you have a back-up.  Here are some of the tricks I carry with me everywhere.

1.  A Ball.  Just a small, soft ball will do the trick.  I use it as a reward game with me students.  Usually works best with two or more people.  I keep a tallied score chart throughout the lesson that tells me who "won" each activity and at the end of the day they play a game of football or have a shootout.  If one kid has 6 and the other has 1, it doesn't matter, the kid with 6 gets 6 shots on the kid with one.

2.  Post-its or stickies.  These are great for body parts or room labeling.  You write the word and they have to find out where to put it.  Its great for review games too.

3.  Guess Who.  My beautiful, smart, and all-around amazing editor of a girlfriend brought a travel size "Guess Who" when we were in the states and it has been great for private lessons.  The students love it and they learn physical characteristics pretty well.

4.  Phase 10 / Uno.  Any type of game that makes their brains think doubly is good.   This one combines the most basic of vocabulary, numbers and colors.  I usually use it as a transition game into another activity.

5.  A book in English with lots of pictures.  One thing you'd never believe is that a lot of my lessons love to read.  So they're only 8 and they butcher words, at least they're trying and loving every second of it.

Best of luck to you all!

Basic Spanish
café solo - black coffee

Advanced Spanish
Eres una bocazás - your a bigmouth/ you have a big mouth

Basque
Café esnea (is-neh-ah) - coffee with milk

British English
to be in a strop - he/she is in a mood

5 preparatory hostel techniques

When I studied abroad, hostels were a way of life.  Now, it's only after I exhaust all me my hotel/apartment/bed&breakfast options that I use hostels.  Consequently, as a result of an increase in pay since I studied abroad (anything is better than nothing) and a change in the order of my traveling priorities (used to be seeing the sights, partying, meeting new people, eating out, etc., has now become seeing the sights, eating out, meeting new people, etc., partying).  However, if you're young, on a tight budget, and looking for lots of memories (good or bad), a hostel might be a perfect fit for what your looking for.  If it is your fit for one of multiple reasons, here are a few tips that might make your journey a bit better.

1.  Invest in a noise machine.  

I have a simple application on my Ipod that provides my with noise options including white noise, fan, waves.

A single room in Paris.

2.  Bring your own sheet sleeping bag and pillow case.  

If you get the image of stained sheets or bed bugs every time you hear the word hostel, bring your own.  Take a double sheet, fold it in half, and sew up the edges to make your own sleeping bag sheet.  Also, as always, look for bed bugs before you jump into bed, but this is a recommendation for every hotel, even the fanciest of them.

3.  Bring a lock.  

Trust everyone and no one.  Instead of worrying all day about whether your roommate (if you decide on the cheapest method of travel) in your 8 person mixed dorm is going to steal your valuables, just bring a lock and use the lockers that most hotels have in every dorm room.  Lockers are usually a one size fits all type of deal so just get anything padlock size or smaller.

Four bed mixed dorm in Salamanca
 (but I don't know who the guy in black is).

4.  Bring something that illuminates.  

Whether you use your Ipod, a small key chain flash light, or a small hand held flashlight, bring something to avoid turning on every light on your way to the bathroom and waking your roommates.  

5.  Bring a sleeping mask.

In preparation for all of those people that will forget to bring a a flashlight, it would be wise to bring something to keep your sleeping world dark and effective through the night.  In addition to the inconsiderate people, the rooms tend to receive glows from various outside sources, thus impairing your sleep.

6 bed mixed dorm in Dublin, good thing everyone knew everyone else.

All of these techniques come after the fact, if you don't choose wisely to begin with, these techniques will be the least of your worries.  When your searching for a hostel, make sure you compare and research  them carefully.  Look at the photos.  Look for bunk beds made of wood rather than metal.  Is the bathroom inside or outside the room?  Does the room come with lockers? Is your room connected to the common area?  Does the hostel come with a kitchen?  Can your entire party take up the whole room or at least most of the room?  All of these will help you in deciding on the best possible hostel before you even go.  Be prepared.  Stay tuned.

6 bed mixed dorm in Rome, very spacious compared to Dublin.

Basic Spanish

cama (Like karma without the r) - bed

Advanced Spanish

manporro - a smack

Basque

geldi (gel-dee) - verb - be still (stay or stop possibly)

British English

take away - take out 

I'm back

It's been over a month sense my last blog and up until late I had zero desire to write anything, but now I'm back.  I have had a rejuvenated desire to see Europe, however, with time slowly draining from my extended stay European clock, I feel the pressure mounting to see everything I want to see.  My mentality has switched back to my study abroad, go-go every-weekend, rain or shine mentality.   Let's go!

Study abroad me.

One thing that is adding to this pressure is the necessary recovery time to make me "travel ready".  I am half-way through my boot recovery (which coincidently ends in the middle of my 10-day vacation) and then who knows.  Maybe I'll be able to walk like nothing ever happened.  Doubtful, but we'll see.  Stay tuned.

Basic Spanish
ganar (ga-nar) - to win

Advanced Spanish
Te voy a capar - I'm going to castrate you / chop of your balls / make it so you can't reproduce

Basque
Doministiku (dah-me-ne-stee-coup) - the act of sneezing

Ruptured!

As I was lying on the ultrasound table, the ultrasound technician was getting ready to take pretty pictures of my calf muscle, he asked me "so where does it hurt in your calf".  After pondering the question for a few split questions, I couldn't help but bring to his attention that it wasn't my calf, but my ankle area (that coupled with the purple, black, and green discoloration near my ankle).  After he gave my ankle a quick one over, without warning or sugar-coating of the facts, he blurts out that my achilles tendon is torn almost completely.  He continued to mention that I would need surgery and that they would have to break the tendon completely in order to reattach it.  Thank you ultrasound technician.  Needless to say, my heart sank into the pit of my stomach.  Oh well, you win some, you lose most.

After talking to my parents, my health insurance, and my flight insurance, I decided to come home and get the surgery, so that I could set foot on North American soil for the first time in 14 months.  Also, I have more people to take care of me during my 6 weeks of non-weight bearing boredom.  Now its time for rehab, which will be done in a large boot, while I'm in Europe again.  So that's fun, right?

Socialized Healthcare

           It works for somethings, but not for everything.  Spanish doctors have a routine they must follow in order to treat every patient.  1.  Nurse brings you in and asks you what's wrong, then sends you back to the waiting room.  2.  You get an x-ray, when in doubt, get an x-ray, then back to the waiting room.  3. You talk to the doctor, he prescribes 600 mg of ibuprofen and tells you to ice and elevate.  
          When I got injured I expected the same exact visit at the emergency room, but to my dismay, they skipped the second step.  I couldn't believe it when they called me directly to the doctors office after I had spoken with the nurse.  What did I do right?  Then I realized, the only difference from my first visit and my second visit was that I was actually seriously injured.
           Now here's where socialistic healthcare breaks down a bit.  I went into emergency room on Sunday and got the usual.  Then the doctor said that I would need to get an ecografía (which I thought was an MRI, but ends up it is a ultrasound) and then I would have to see a traumatologo (orthopedic surgeon).  Alright, let's do it.  Well, first you have to call your insurance company again, then you have to get them to fax over a document saying that they will cover the ultrasound, but only if its in the scheduling. Yay.
            Well, thanks to the fine medical work in Spain, I was diagnosed, after 2 minutes of twisting and turning my ankle in every which direction, with a torn inner calf muscle, but make sure that you schedule an ultrasound to make sure.  Well doc, can I work?  Sure, go ahead, just try not to walk too much, but that should be no problem.  Awesome.  No notion of crutches, just ice, elevate, and medicate.  Thanks doc, that sounds great, or does it.  Stay tuned for the finale in the next couple of days.

Basic Spanish
ordenador-computer

Advanced Spanish
ecografía-ultrasound

Basic Basque
n/a

British English
n/a