Kitty in Spain, September 2012

I started my three weeks in Madrid, staying in a hotel on Gran Via, in the classic, elegant center of the city.

It's a great place for wedding photos too.

This is what a more ordinary neighborhood in Madrid looks like, by the way.

I loved the way Spaniards spent time outdoors, eating in cafes, taking walks, and hanging out with family and friends.

Madrid has lots of wonderful museums, including this one, the Prado.

...and the Reina Sofia, with modern art, including this Roy Lichtenstein sculpture...

And the Caixa Forum, with this garden wall.

The view from my hotel room: On Sunday 9/9 La Vuelta a Espana (like Tour de France) finished up in Madrid...

...and on Saturday 9/15 there were protest marches against the austerity measures.

And now for some photos of my teaching workshops.

The new Fulbright English Teaching Assistants and some of their Spanish host teachers, getting ready for the wonderful year-long Global Classrooms project.

Secondary teachers of history, art, PE, science, geography...who do it all in English! They're upgrading their bilingual teaching qualifications.

The secondary bilingual teachers in Madrid.

A group of bilingual teachers in Santander--about 60 of them, ranging from pre-school to secondary, teaching all different subjects in English.

A group who teach oral English to adult students.

Santander bilingual ed teachers

One of six groups I spoke to about maximizing the potential of English Language Assistants in bilingual classrooms. These people coordinate the programs in ~300 Madrid schools with 3000+ young American ELAs.

 

Santander bilingual ed teachers

Even though I was working very hard, I tried to take some time off to see more of Spain. On Sunday 9/16 I took the high speed train to Toledo. (I wish we had such a train--it would mean the from LA to Santa Barbara would only take 55 minutes.)

Toledo is a UNESCO heritage site where Christians, Jews and Muslims lived together relatively harmoniously around the 10th c. Wish there were more places like that today!

A Catholic procession, with mourners, acolytes, a statue of the body of Christ carried by a dozen men under a covering, and a band.

 

A Jewish synagogue before 1492 and now the Museo Sefard

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Another day trip was to Bilbao, home to a wonderful Guggenheim museum, designed by Frank Gehry. This sculpture is by Anish Kapoor.

The city has been transformed by the presence of the museum--a fascinating study in urban renewal.

I also got to meet one of my online MA TESOL students and his family. The giant flowery dog outside the museum? A sculpture by Jeff Koons.

Another Jeff Koons' sculpture, Tulips.

I especially enjoyed the exhibit of David Hockney--a collection of over 200 large and small landscapes.

My final two weeks in Spain were spent in Santander, on the northern coast. Some days the surfers were out, some days the kiteboarders.

Sunrise over the Sardinero Beach in Santander. ("Red sky at morning sailors take warning"--there was a hot wind that day and later a rain shower.

On Sunday 9/23 some of my students invited me for a ride in the Cantabrian countryside. Our destination: El Pendo Cave.

http://www.spain.info/en/conoce/monumentos/cantabria/cueva_del_pendo.html

Click on this link to see the cave and one of the pre-historic paintings estimated to be 23,000 years old.

We finished the day with churros and chocolate in Puente Viesgo.