Beauty, the Beast and the Teapot

For those of you who are Facebook friends, you will know already that this week has been very important.

Two years ago, Romy's school did a performance of 'The Lion King' for the end of term and they did it in the local theatre. It is still talked about now with respect, admiration and awe. This year, the school decided they would do 'Beauty and the Beast' and as far as I remember, they held auditions for the various main parts either at the end of last year or early this year. And Romy auditioned for the part of Mrs. Potts and she got it. She was rather nervous about auditioning and she had to learn quite a few lines of dialogue and sing the well-known song from the show. But she did it.

Then all went quiet for a while before the parents were summoned to a meeting - in February, I think - to discuss costume-making. I was a bit worried as sewing is definitely not my forte! I was even more shocked to discover the hall was full to bursting with parents, mainly mums, and to find out that there would be 155 children in the play! The chaos of that meeting gave me a few negative feelings about the undertaking but was relatively relieved to discover that as Romy was a main character, I wouldn't have to make her costume.

Then towards the beginning of April, I was summoned to another meeting. This time with Puri, one of the Infant school teachers, who said I was to make the dress that Romy would wear under her teapot costume and she showed me a still from a performance of the play that had been put on in Madrid. It was a high necked, frilly white satin blouse and a long white satin skirt. Not a dress. Puri said I could buy the material and a lady who lived in the Calle Columbia would make it for me.

Now, my granny was a tailor - not a Taylor though - and my mum always made lovely dresses for my sister and me when we were little. My sister is an incredibly good seamstress and had a flair for design as well. My needlework teacher, who despaired at my dreadful attempts at school, couldn't believe Judy was my sister when she came to the school a few years after me. I never finished anything and nothing ever looked right either. I do own a sewing machine but it never worked properly and without instructions, I could never remember how to thread the thing. And I admit, it frightened me somewhat.

But I decided I would make Romy's costume myself. It was a learning opportunity and there was plenty of time to get it right.

Good job there was plenty of time!

Thinking a dress would be too difficult, I decided to make a skirt and a blouse and I began straight away by making a blouse in 'draft' (I don't even know what this would be called) using some old material and a pattern from a friend. It was too small. So I decided to make the skirt and at the market, I found some lovely, off-white satiny material that wasn't too heavy and I successfully made a skirt. It was very full and a bit bulky. I admit, but I'd made it. I went back to the market the following week to get some more material for the blouse....and they didn't have any more.

Undaunted, I bought some white satin, which is what I had been told to buy anyway, thinking to see which looked best. And I went home and made a blouse which wasn't too bad. It took me some time to make it and by the time I had finished, I could almost remember how to thread the machine without looking at the pictures in my instruction book! Almost.



But as you can see from the photo, it didn't look too good with the skirt. I wasn't happy. And there was too much material everywhere.




So I went to every shop in Alcala to try and find some more cream satin to match the skirt. Why I didn't think it would be easier just to buy some more white satin, I'm not sure....but I didn't. I couldn't find any anywhere that was just the same, so I returned to the market and bought some cream satin, that was thicker and not as nice as the original stuff but which at least was a similar colour, And quite expensive as I remember.

I decided to make a simpler style blouse and laid Romy on top of my material and drew round her.
Then I cut this out with a bit to spare and then, with great speed and confidence, I sewed it up and tried it on her. It wasn't an absolutely perfect fit, but it wasn't bad at all. Spurred on at this success, I decided to take the skirt in and have it more fitted. A doddle. I could now thread the machine and run a seam up in mili-seconds. And soon, I'd sewn the trimmings on and finished both the skirt and the top successfully - and look how beautiful my daughter looks in them!

I was quite happy when I took these in to school at the next meeting. And I was ready to offer my help if anyone needed it...but I was told that first, I should buy 4 metres of a slightly spongy material that had a satiny top layer - I'm sure it has a name but I don't know what in either Spanish or English- in the same creamy colour as Romy's costume. I was so glad I hadn't made it white! And then I had to bring it into school and they would show me the pattern and how to turn it into the teapot.
It slowly began to dawn on me that I was going to have to make the teapot part as well....

The next few weeks saw me backwards and forwards at school as we all groped our way blindly round the plan for making a teapot costume. Puri had her ideas but as I began to put them into practice, I could see they were flawed....there was a moment when I'd followed all her instructions but was left with something that was definitely never going to be a teapot! A bit of back-tracking and I discovered how to make the shape we were looking for. Oh gosh, and sewing the thing together, adding whalebone round the middle, trying to sew the wavy ribbon around the centre was SO difficult and of course, impossible to do with the machine and I couldn't get so much thick material to go through. I sewed until my fingers bled, then I had to tape them up and sew some more....

But in the end, I finished it and the beastly teapot began to look pretty good!

The school secretary had made Romy a teapot lid hat, which was fantastic and Puri made the spout 'arm' - and although this picture is rather out of focus, I think you have to agree, we did a sterling job between us. (I tried to persuade Romy to take her pink socks off for the photo but she was having none of it - she had some lovely cream and gold shoes for the performances, which matched beautifully.)






All that was left was to go and see the show.



And oh what a show!!!

For three nights, the children of Jose Garnica Salazar put on a spectacle that deserved to be seen by everyone. Hearts and souls were poured into the acting, the dancing, the acrobatics, the singing and just being part of a wonderful, wonderful show. It was very cleverly staged and the children acted brilliantly with the songs being performed to a playback tape from the film version. They had such confidence and energy and there was something for all ages to take part in. The town has a very successful acrosports group and there are several champions of Spain at different age groups. Many of the girls are at the school and they performed some very impressive routines during the show. The townsfolk scenes were lively and colourful and the Gaston character was impressively swaggery and confident for a young boy of possibly 12 years old.
There were plates, forks, spoons, can-can dancers, a wardrobe, a chest of drawers as well as a candlestick, a clock, a feather duster, a chipped cup, some amazing wolves in the forest, and touchingly, children in wheelchairs taking their part too. There were tiny children in spectacular costumes doing dance routines - and of course a teapot, an animated and charming Belle and the Beast  - and his alter ego, the Prince.

I managed to sneak in on the first night after I'd finished work and arrived before Romy had done her main part. All the songs were mimed by the children - all except Romy who was singing live. She has a nice voice, without doubt, but I wasn't prepared for how lovely and unafraid she was when she sang. And when we went to see it all together on the last night, she had gained in confidence and sang her little heart out to the most amazing applause at the end. She very nearly brought the house down.

Here are some photos from the play - I do apologise for the quality, it was so difficult to get some good shots but you can get a feel for the amazing work everyone has done.

With the wolves in the forest - aren't they fantastic!

Some of the characters in the castle - including Mrs Potts!

Lumiere, out of focus, but a lovely wardrobe and a brilliant Beast, bottom centre. Don't miss Chip, the cup on the trolley!

Another out of focus one, but with Belle on the chair.

Action shot as the acrosport girls arrive

...and the spoons, forks, plates and can-can girls join them

Lumiere, Belle, Mrs. Potts and Chip - now in human form. Just look at the costumes!

This is when the townsfolk come to storm the castle...

I took some video as well but you must forgive the awful quality. My recording is really poor as I was up in the balcony but I have to share these clips. The first one is a great little scene when the townsfolk come, with Gaston, in the red boots, to try and storm the castle and get Belle back. But they weren't prepared for the resistance!



And here is the jolly good fun scene, with lots of action on stage.



And here is Romy singing at the end of the show on the first night. It's not the very best she sang but it's the best recording I was able to make. You can't see my tears!


 And I am so happy because my mother in law was able to come down to see the show. It's a long journey from Valladolid, but she was utterly swept away by it all. Everyone in Alcala was, I think. And at the end, it was really rather special to hug the teachers and staff from the school and feel so very much a part of it all. Sadly, my mum wasn't able to come - she would have loved it too.

But the very best part of all was the pure pleasure that Romy and her school friends got from doing the shows - all the hard work paid off and they really did enjoy every minute.
Such a great experience for them.

SO - we've had a roller-coaster of a week. How has yours been?

Looming....

'Looming' implies something rather threatening, doesn't it? It also means imminent. In our house it's a bit of both. On Tuesday, Romy - being our only Primary student now - starts back at school on her own. And she's going to a new school - again. Since we moved house, we've been trying to persuade the local council to allow our children to use the free school transport but they haven't budged. If we want to use the bus, we have to send our children to the specific schools - and last year, Ruy and Romy went to the Primary school that DIDN'T provide for children from the villages.

Just before the end of term, Romy agreed to go for a few days to the other school, just across the road from her own, where the bus collects and returns the children to the villages every day. And gives them lunch too. (Not the bus, the school, of course!) Under no pressure, she gave the new school the clear thumbs up and said she'd be happy to go there in the new school year. Alcala is a small and close enough community for her to already know several of the children there and, as a bi-lingual child who has achieved excellent standards in her Spanish studies, she's being welcomed with open arms...

And she's really rather excited about going in on the first day and getting to know her new classmates - whilst still having lots of friends in her old school. Being a sociable and adaptable girl, and rather more mature than many of her contemporaries, I have no doubts she will be absolutely fine. More than fine.

Ruy has finished Primary School and now, like Mateo, is entitled to take the bus to any of the two main Secondary schools in town. He starts at Alfonso XI next week, just a day before his 12th birthday and admits to being a tad nervous. Unlike when I moved to Secondary school, not knowing how many of my friends would be there or who would be in class with me - all but two of Ruy's current classmates are going to the same school. I think he will be fine too. It's a big jump from Primary to Secondary, but Ruy is always wanting to be slightly older than he really is - so much so we often get confused at his birthday time. From the day after he was 11, he has talked about being nearly 12 - and even before he actually reaches this number, he's ready to be a 'proper teenager' at 13. I suspect it's all because he is desperate for a mobile phone. Apparently, he's the only one in his class who doesn't have one. Tough!

And whilst I do hope it doesn't mark the end of the close relationship he and Romy have - they've played and laughed and fought and generally been great company for each other for many years now - it feels like this summer might be the one of the last where they really haven't needed anyone else as long as they've had each other.

And Mateo has grown up and changed so much in the past few months. He's still a boy in many ways, but I caught him with my zoom lens the other day - you can tell he's a tad suspicious in the second photo - but he looks very grown up all of a sudden to me. He got contact lenses about a month ago and is just doing that 'emerging' from behind his specs that I remember doing when I was 16. He starts his final year in ESO - which is the last of obligatory education. He's chosen social science subjects as he harbours a strong interest in studying Anthropology at University. He'll have to apply himself to the subjects he's not so keen on too in order to get there.

But I do believe he knows that and I should just let him get on with it. (This is a 'note to self' that nagging has a negative effect and I must try and remember!)

Yes, that look is definitely a suspicious one!


The new school year is also a 'loomer' for the family that is part owl and no part lark. We are all dreading the early morning rise. There have been days when Mateo hasn't seen the morning hours at all other than those between midnight and 2am...

Our first summer in La Casa Rosales has been a lovely, long and lazy one. I have adjusted remarkably well to not working in the afternoons - by working just about every morning! I've been teaching two little girls twice a week and it's been an absolute joy. The good thing is they want to continue after school begins so I shall go and teach them at home a couple of evenings a week. They've made a book of Nursery Rhymes over the course of their classes and have illustrated each of the songs. The eldest, Rocio, has a real artistic (and linguistic) talent and her book is a real credit to her - it's been a pleasure to teach them. And another real pleasure came this week when I heard that all our students taking the Trinity College exam have passed! Every single one and some with Merit. It was a day of great rejoicing when we found this out and I have bumped into several of them in town and they are over the moon themselves. Couldn't be more delighted for a super group of students. And a good start back for their new teacher - it would have been such a shame if anyone of them hadn't passed.

So, September starts and the summer passes. My cupboards are creaking with homemade tomato sauces, sun-dried tomatoes and fig jam. We have frozen peppers and tomatoes and a store room full of melons, peppers, potatoes and courgettes to eat in the coming weeks. FR has been busy building us beautiful and original shelving units to store all the things he's just about to fetch down from the barn in Leon and he's also worked wonders in the garden, filled the outhouse up with enough wood to last us for the next few cold snaps and cooked us some pretty amazing barbecues. And now he's ready to start back with his drama group in Granada.

I have a nice feeling that we will all manage the changes rather well. And the end of September brings us a little stream of visitors, including Janice and Mark! SO looking forward to them coming. Then my mum comes - and then later in October, I'm hoping to meet up with another old friend who is coming out to southern Spain for a couple of months and has promised to come and see us.


And guess what - the verb 'to loom' apparently comes from the Old Norse verb 'ljóma' - meaning 'to shine'! That must be what I meant in the first place.

Suggestive September

I've noticed some changes in the past week. Some subtle, some suggestive, some significant little changes.

It's September and from the very first day, the temperature here in Alcala la Real changed - the day remaining as hot as ever but the night time feeling cool. By the third night, we were reaching for an extra layer on our beds - the single sheet that had felt so stifling over the months of July and August now suddenly inadequate. We woke up shivering and disbelieving. The children suggested I dig out their quilts from their summer storage. Please.




On Monday, Ruy and Romy return to school - Ruy to his last year of primary and a feeling of growing up. Mateo has another week to go before he starts in yet another new school. There is one school here that has made leaps and bounds of improvement recently and has a young and enthusiastic teaching staff and we feel it will be better for Mateo than the more plodding style of his current school. Unlike the U.K. there's a steady shuffling around of students between the secondary schools here and Mateo will move with at least one of his friends. It's also slightly nearer to where we live and Ruy will go there next year. We hope and have been assured that he will do at least some of his science subjects in a science lab. in the new school. He hasn't been in one since he arrived in Spain...I suggest this is not a good thing.

We have noticed this last week that the park in front of our house is quiet from about 9 o'clock instead of ringing with the sound of children playing often til midnight. Romy has spent many a late night with her friends, on the swings, playing football, hide and seek or carrying smaller children around in her arms. The silence in the streets now contains the suggestion of earlier bedtimes. Quite rightly too!

I received an email from the head of the Academy where I will be working again from October with my new timetable. A few more hours but spread out over four days and a new examining board's syllabus to get to grips with. Maria has shown great confidence in my abilities and I'm so grateful to her - I will now be sharing the teaching with Toni, the other teacher there  - not just providing a spoken English class. I will be doing about 40% of all the teaching but 100% with the final year group. I'm so looking forward to starting again though there's just the suggestion of nerves in my excitement as I take on something a bit different. Up to now, my classes have been full of games, singing and just talking. Soon, I'll be teaching more grammar and supporting the students in reading, writing and listening too. Like a proper teacher.


FR has just returned from 5 days in Budapest as part of an international conference relating to the work of Edward Bond. He's had an absolutely wonderful, inspiring and engaging time. International is stretching it a bit - it's been a European group with representatives from the UK, France, Budapest and Spain. This was the first meeting of a project group looking at taking the work of Bond into schools within the individual countries but also bringing a larger group of students from all four countries together at some point in the future. We were looking forward to one of the 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' breaks. Since we arrived in Spain we have lived in much closer proximity to each other than we'd been used to and sometimes we have felt that a little more space would be appreciated - I have chosen my words very carefully! It was so lovely to have him call me several times a day to share his enthusiasm about his experiences in Budapest and to know that it didn't feel right that I wasn't there with him. And five days seemed such a long time - he seemed to be away for ages. I suggest there is so very much truth in the adage, 'Absence make the heart grow fonder'. And now he's back, there is so much to do that we are going to work together on the Spanish part of the project - so maybe next time there's a conference, we will go together!

If there is a suggestion that the holidays are over, there is the equal suggestion that here, in our house, we are ready to get our teeth into some work, to buckle down and start the new term with renewed enthusiasm. However....

To combat the sense that the holidays are over and it's time to get back to work, tomorrow we will head off to the seaside for one last day on the beach. Well, wouldn't you?

Proud Padres

Friday 22 June was the last day of term for the children of Alcala la Real, Jaen, Andalucia and probably the whole of Spain. Despite it being at least a month earlier than schools in the UK, we were all feeling ready for the summer break - especially as temperatures are reaching 36 degrees most days.

The children (and school staff) have been working hard to prepare a spectacular for parents to enjoy and we had a real treat last night. I am proud to say I did my parental duties quite well, spending a couple of mornings earlier in the month to make some rather sweet little straw huts to act as 'scenery' to the dances of Year 2 - Romy's year.  

Each year group wore matching costumes. I was rather partisan and only photographed the year groups that my own children were in and also Year 1 because my friends daughters are both in that group. However Years 1 and 2 were the best costumes by far!

Year 1 was dressed as the main characters in Lazy Town. Sorry Sam and Caroline - I could not identify Izzy and Natalia specifically - they all looked the same from where I was sitting! All gorgeous.

The children in year 2 were dressed as an African tribe. There were some really stunning shields and they looked fantastic all together. I am going to resist describing the hours of work that went into making Romy's costume because I discovered on the night that I could have made it much easier for myself - but hey, next time I have to make one, I shall know the best way!

Romy has spotted me in the crowd!

I took lots of photos of the African tribe - I though they all looked wonderful. Judge for yourselves!

Don't tell him I told you, but see the man in the audience with his arms in the air? FR!

Turquoise, Pink and Green Angels

Ruy's year group all wore a pair of white wings for a very touching and heartbreaking reason. 

Earlier in the year, a lovely boy called Andres, lost his battle with cancer at the age of just 11. We saw him at school most days, despite his illness and he was always so very cheerful and enthusiastic, though some days, he couldn't even walk to the car and his father had to bring a wheelchair for him. 

The children were all devastated when they heard he had died and there were some very genuine and lovely tributes to him in the end of term bulletin that his classmates had written. 

The whole evening was dedicated to him.

You also need to know that I made Ruy's wings. You need to know this for two reasons. 

1. He could easily be taken for the real thing and so why would I need to make him wings out of cardboard?

2. Most of the other children's parents went to the local bazaar and bought the wings from there. By the time I found out this was an option (having been too busy making straw skirts and shields) I had already made him a pair from cardboard and lots of crepe paper.

I was quite pleased with the final result and Ruy was pleased to have the biggest pair of wings in his class!

Angels in conversation

Despite the heat and the fact that they had all performed during the day for each other, by way of a whole school practice, the children put their hearts into their dances and it was a real pleasure to watch them.

Well done Alonso de Alcala. Thank you teachers. We'll see you next week for the real truth about our little savages and angels when we go and collect their end of term reports!

Romy and Ruy - ready to go and dance

Dia de los Padres

Parent's evening at our children's school was a bit different from that in England. It wasn't a quiet chat about the progress and attitude of our children. It was a celebration for everyone with dancing and fun.

It started at about 8pm and went on for more than 2 hours - and meant that we didn't get to the Cherry Festival in Castillo de Locubin yesterday; we'll just have to go this evening instead - and was a wonderful, colourful, happy event and I got some lovely pictures.

Romy's class were 'El Fantasma Comeletras' - the ghost that eats letters, which I think is based on a song but I can't find any reference to it anywhere - and they did lots of ghoulish dancing.

I think Romy enjoyed it very much!

She's on the left with her hair swinging along.

Here she's followed by her friend at school and the one who invited her to join karate - Ismael.

And Ruy's year - there are three classes - were dancing the Cha Cha Cha and had a great time!


I like these photos because there are several of my English students here as well. Like Clara, the happy girl at the end of the line on the left of the photo.

And watching on, there's Pablo, looking like a little Roman cherub (ha!), and to the right, Paula and Maria - excellent students.

A colourful display. Lots of proud parents and grandparents watching on.

Cha cha cha!

And then there was the bouncy castle slide and five-a-side 'table' football games to play.

 It was a lovely parent's day.

Milestones

Well, I have done about five weeks of teaching at the English Academy and next week it is holidays for Semana Santa. And I will be glad of the break. It's a little milestone.

I am loving the teaching - but goodness, it's hard work. I really do appreciate the job of teachers a great deal more now - and I only do 9 hours a week! I can't imagine doing many more than that  and the thought of it being full time is mind-blowing. Well done teachers, I say!

And let's hear it for the pupils too. I have twelve different classes of students from age 7 to 18 and almost without exception, they are an engaging, lively, responsive bunch. Some a tad noisy than others, I might say; some shy, some very outgoing, all different. They have hit some milestones too in their conversation classes - and most can now differentiate the sounds 's' and 'sh' which was not the case five weeks ago.

Andalucia has a strong dialect and each province has a slightly different accent. Here in Jaen, the most obvious difference in the spoken Spanish from that spoken in Valladolid (where you hear a very good Spanish) is the absence of the letter 's' at the end of words. So 'buenas dias' (or good day) becomes 'buena dia'; 'gracias' becomes 'gracia'; 'dos' (for 2) becomes 'do' - and it's taken me a bit of getting used to, but it's also very infectious! I find myself dropping 's's all over the place - and Romy tells me off!

It even extends to names - I have one student called 'Francisco' but he says his name 'Franci'co'. So to encourage my students to practice the 's', 'sh' and 'ch' sounds, which are so important in English, we say tongue twisters such as 'She sells seashells on the seashore' and 'Which witch wished which wish'  an other difficult (for the Spanish speaker) words such as 'wasps' and 'crisps' - always with hilarious results! But it's coming! Well done students!

My children have all come home with their reports for the end of the Spring term - their first here at school in Alcala. All of them were glowing; all their teachers are really pleased with them; all three have settled in, settled down, been welcomed and supported by the other children and I could not be happier.

It is an important milestone in establishing ourselves as a family here. Well done, my lovely children.

And whilst not actually a milestone - I will just report here that yesterday I saw a house that I liked. Really liked. It's a sort of milestone in that it's the first one for a long time that I have responded to with my heart. We have seen a few in our time here that we thought could be OK but not one that we'd fallen in love with. This one feels different. However, Cesar hasn't seen it yet - he's going later on today. And he won't buy a house on the basis of falling in love with it. It's not that he has no heart, but that in choosing the right house he will only engage his head. His heart will become involved after we've made it our own and put our own stamp on it. So if he likes it today, it will because it meets his standards of building, of potential, of warmth, of space and practicality.. that sort of thing. And if he likes it, I know it will be the right house for us. Thank goodness for team work; thank goodness for that essential balance between head and heart.

(I can remember very little about the house now other than it 'felt' right. Oh, and it had a pool....which was rather nice.)

 

So, for teachers, students, super kids, super husbands and families and folk everywhere - whether reaching milestones or heading towards them - good on you!! 

Read what Susan B. Anthony has to say about milestones - I agree wholeheartedly.

“Sooner or later we all discover that the important moments in life are not the advertised ones, not the birthdays, the graduations, the weddings, not the great goals achieved. The real milestones are less prepossessing. They come to the door of memory unannounced, stray dogs that amble in, sniff around a bit and simply never leave. Our lives are measured by these”.

La Mota - the beautiful!

The longer we live here in Alcalá la Real, the more I grow to love the views of the fortress on the hill known as 'La Mota'. More or less from every place in the town, if you look up or along, you will see it.

It's a stunning sight from any angle but glimpsed from various points of the town, it becomes a most comforting thing to look at. This is the view just leaving our apartment:

(This is just another view of our fifth floor apartment - all the balconies you can see on the top level are ours - where I precariously peep over to look for Mateo coming home from school or to hang out the washing - I haven't sussed out the complicated lines that go across the inner courtyard area... must try that soon!)
















Back to La Mota and another view from the little plaza behind the apartment, taken as I was walking to the supermarket:

And looking 'up' from the supermarket itself, which is on the 'bottom' road to the south of the town.















It's everywhere you look - see how it is from Ruy and Romy's school - how wonderful to see that as you arrive and leave each day!









And turning around is the view of the school. On certain days, year 6 are out and driving around in go-karts on a track that runs in front of the school - learning traffic sense and road skills. (I suspect this might be a relatively recent addition to the curriculum judging from the state of the cars and the amount of 'parking by ear' by the bigger ex-alumnos!) Still, both Ruy and Romy are very keen for their turn at go-karting in school time! And on Tuesdays, this space is where the weekly market is held where there is some wonderful stuff to be found - my favourite stall is the herbal tea man - if only I could blog the amazing scents that come from his stall!


That blue sky is today - it's a very beautiful day, still with a nip in the air, but a sense of what heat there is to come. When the awful bug that has got most of our family gripped at the moment has gone, I am going to venture up to La Mota again (walking this time) to have a closer look and see what Alcala la Real looks like from up there.