Still raining....

I'm so fed up with this weather.... It's been raining for ages now. What is wrong with the weather these days???? O.K., if I was living in Scotland I guess this weather would be rather normal, but hey, I live in Spain because I love to see the sun every day, and for the past months we've only seen the sun in photos.... *sobbing*

As it's Sunday we were supposed to go to church. I know going to church on Sundays is rather out of fashion these days, but I really really like going to mass. I really get a kick out of going to mass, at least when the sermon is good. After all, I wanted to become a nun when I was about 15... *lol*

Because of the heavy raining we have to stay at home. No way we can go out the way it's pouring down right now, it's not only raining cats and dogs, it's raining elefants... And the rain is cold... I love the warm summer rains, I love running around in a field or on the beach getting all soaked up. I feel like I'm 5 years old again. *lol* But cold winter rains like the one today just make me sleepy and I'd love to spend the whole day snuggled up in bed.... Just relaxing, drinking hot chocolate and eating cookies and watching a movie...

Luckily enough the rain stopped for a few hours yesterday so A, my oldest son, and I went walking to one of our favorite shops. It takes us about half an hour to walk there but it's worth the walk, because on one hand many products are a lot cheaper there than where I live and on the other hand I really need to get rid of those calories that live around my belly. I bought a lot, too much actually, because I was really exhausted when I got home. I bought 18 liters of milk, fruit and vegetables, and lots lots more. My poor shopping cart did a great job! 

Well, let's see what we can make out of the day today. Going for a walk is totally out of the question. I'll have to think about things we can do at home. My kids are watching a movie on the internet, they don't mind the raining too much. I guess I'd better study some French or maths, or maybe I should clean the laundry room...???

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French, my nightmare

I've had a really rough time these past days due to me studying French. I have realized that I've forgotten so much. Well, I didn't touch it for over 20 years so I guess it's normal that I've forgotten about most of it. Or maybe I just got too blocked...

I studied French for 6 years. First 3 years at school and I LOVED it!!! I studied day and night and really wanted to learn to speak it well. I even had some French speaking pen pals. Then I started Secondary School and we got a new teacher, an old man who must have been a military in his youth or something. The first thing he told us the first day of class what that we were all stupid and not able to pronounce the French sounds as we should, so he was feeling sick. He also told us that due to our horrible pronunciation we were not to speak French in class. If we wanted to learn how to speak French we should go to France, because in class we were to study grammar and nothing else. And that's what we did.... We spent 3 years studying French verbs... I ended up so fed up with French grammar that I decided that I would never ever speak a word of French in my whole life!!! And I haven't, until recently...

I really need to get rid of that mental block I have with French. I guess French isn't such a horrible language after all. But right now I'm feeling quite ill because I'm actually teaching a language without knowing it... I do not enjoy my classes right now... But I need the money... And somehow I know this is the only way I'll get back to French, because I hate going to class and not knowing what I'm doing. I'm sure I wont have any problems with French next year. I just feel sorry for my students this year, because I'm not sure I'm helping them or making things worse...

I did learn a good thing from that teacher though... I definitely know what kind of teacher I do NOT want to become!!!! When I feel sad because I feel I'm not a good enough teacher I think about him and think "Well, at least I'm doing better than him, because he made me hate the subject he was supposed to teach us".

Well, it's time to get back to my studies for a while. A bientôt, tout le mond! See you soon!

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Traditions are still alive

In an earlier post Ron commented that traditions are still stong here in Spain, and they deffinitely are. Especially here in Andalusia, in the south of Spain, people love the Easter traditions. Even if people generally aren't very religious the rest of the year most people enjoy the processions. And they love to dress their kids up and let them participate. Aren't they cute these little penitents?

Until recently, women weren't allowed to be nazarenos but since they are hooded penitents there have always been women who dared to break that rule. Women weren't allowed to carry the thrones either, but these past years more and more thrones are carried by women only. Like the Virgin here in Rincón de la Victoria.

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Nazarenos

These are the "nazarenos" or penitents, who walk along with the Christ or the Virgin durning the procession. Some of them walk barefoot or carry heavy crosses, in order to pay for their sins or to ask for a special favour. The hoods are, according to Ancient traditions, a way to get closer to Paradise. 


More Wordless pictures at Wordless Wednesday All Week.

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One hour later...

Well, I've been cleaning my home for the past hour so I think I do deserve to take a break. ;-) I didn't finish to clean it all, because I got a bit sidetracked - I had to pick up lots of things from the floors in my kids' rooms, I found 4 grey socks under their beds and since I didn't recognize them I decided to wash them up and surprise!, I found out they were actually 2 black socks, a green and a blue one. Great! My kids are always out of socks, because they can't find the matching sock. Well, tomorrow they'll have four more pairs to use...

I did do the floors in the kitchen, hall, "dining room" (actually a part of the living room), both my kids' rooms and the bathroom. Only my bedroom and the living room left. My home definitely does smell a lot better! I looooove the smell of the soap I use for my floors.

I'll have some tea and fibre cookies before I do what's left. Then it'll be time to work for a while on my Mount Papermore. I really, really do need to get more organized!!!

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