hojas

The same word for pages and leaves, I have been surrounded by hojas and hojas of colorful liveliness. Books. Parks. Books in the park.

It’s beautiful and refreshing to be part of a community so entrenched in  the importance of literacy, and story telling, an languages, and sharing.

Recently I went to the Biblioteca Nacional.

Then, I spent some moments traipsing through the new shelves and endless rooms in the newly opened public library in Retiro, and got a little inspiration from the speaking walls.

I always enjoy riding the metro seeing the little posters with a dose of daily literature or poetry?

(images via librosdelacalle. check out the link “textos” to see more bit of literature.)

And of course the always open feria de libro on la Cuesta del Moyano, where you can find lovely smelling used editions. Especially on a sunny, fresh, stroll worthy afternoon.

But what I’ve really been waiting for is la feria del libro de Madrid.

(photo via feria del libro de madrid)

For teachers, learners, and vivacious readers, book fairs are like finding a gold mine. And if you happen to be living in Europe and get the chance to go to a huge book fair in the middle of the city, in a once royal park, with authors and illustrated characters signing books, technology pavilions, and children’s pavilions – well, now we’re talking.

I’ve been looking forward to the book fair, and going with a group of friends proved to be a joyful experience, of entering childhood again.

I found my soulmates – a small fox who reads books and when he is finished salts them, and munches them up. And a little red fish who explores the library (El pez rojo).

We followed the turtle, and the elephant, and the giraffe, and even the rat, up to the moon.

We met a little pirate girl who drinks rum and kisses her teddy bear goodnight, and falls in love with the little boy who is all the while criticizing her story (El libro mas genial que he leído).

We made one sentence stories.We quizzed ourselves, are-you-smarter-than-a-fifth-grader style.

It is by entering those magical places and letting them expand and shape the contours of your brain, that you can piece together the inconsistencies that we call existence, and find sense in the senseless.

aprender es jugar

Note to readers, before beginning this blog entry: slowly but surely my Spanish is growing, and I think it’s about time I explore writing a bit more in my second language. Imagine a foreign language as a key which unlocks a door, and furthermore, a door to a room you never knew existed. I encourage my students in their efforts: speaking and learning another language is about communicating, so they need not be crazy about making their spoken grammar and language perfect. But in fact, language is much more. It’s a path of thinking and understanding, and diving into new things, and expressing something in a way that perhaps makes much more sense than it makes in your own language. English only speakers: bear with some Spanish adventures. Spanish learners: learn with me! Spanish natives: bear with my grammatical mistakes, embarrassing errors, and attempt at expression.

Llevo en Madrid dos años y actúo como fuera cualquier poblador de una ciudad grande: no hago cosas culturalmente típicas ni históricamente importantes.

Vamos, no os miento: me dicen que soy más madrileña que el otro tipo de la calle. Conozco la Zarzuela (más que una vez), por ejemplo. He cortado (y bien, me han dicho) un jamón. Me he puesto chulapa, cantando del corazón “Madrid, Madrid, Madrid”. Fui a una despedida de soltera, andando por las calles de Madrid, repasando las etapas de la vida de la novia, pura madrileña. Y celebramos la boda este sábado!

Aunque sea exageración, la verdad es que he disfrutado mucho de me tiempo acá.

Como llevamos algunas semanas bastante lluviosas (hechas con la intención de quedarnos en casa, libro ocupando las manos y una bebida calientita a lado), decidí que la aventura que me lanzaría fuera del piso, confrontando las nubes para que no me ahogan con sus tormentas, sería quince minutos andando a la Biblioteca Nacional de España, entrando por fin sus puertas épicas. Con entrada gratis, lleva dos años llamándome para que entre.

Para los que odian museos, u os que se encontráis aburridos nada más con entrar, teorizo sobre los museos: es un estado de actitud y mente para disfrutar de las aventuras que te esperan. Si uno se entiende como se aprende, investigar este modo de aprendizaje en cualquier espacio y formato en lo cual te encuentres. No te preocupes por cómo se anda la otra gente. Museos son espacios de explorar – tomad control de tu experiencia de aprender. Sacaras mucho más.

Exhibición temporal: Mudéjar. Cualquiera persona que haya vivido en España tiene pillado lo que es el diseño Mudéjar. Mezcla entre las tres influencias dominantes de España: cristianismo, judaísmo e islam.

Libros como arte. Cientos de minibooks, hechos por artistas en varias partes del mundo, explorando el libro como formato de expresión de ideas, sin tener que llenarlo con millones de palabras. Las cosas pequeñas más valen.

Unos prismáticos antiguas, que se trata de poner una dispositiva de dos fotos parecidos, y mirando se ve una versión en tres dimensiones del imagen.

Biblioteca de Don Quijote, divertida!  Estanterías llenas de ediciones variados del nuestro héroe gracioso español, algunos de la obra completa, y muchas versiones ilustradas. Ordenadores con la historia a través de películas, y líneas del tiempo sobre la vida de Cervantes.

Y cómo este año la Biblioteca cumpla 300 años, se han construido una tabla gigante de BibliOca, la Oca (Parcheesi), basado en los eventos importantes de la biblioteca durante tres siglos. Cada espacio viene con un dato y una ilustración súper divertida. Tira el dado enorme, y usa el cuerpo como marcador.

Aprender es jugar, y jugar es aprender. Espabílate, y recorre un poco tu ciudad. A ver las sorpresas que te tiene.

somethings

(1) Something I’ve learned:

How to hold my own, stick up for myself, and take care of business.

You might see me as a soft-hearted soul. (I’m not sure – it’s always hard to reflect on yourself, and especially difficult to understand how others see you or would describe you). Here in Spain I’ve been dubbed a cupcake, “my sweet”, etc. Sometimes it frustrates me, because I don’t think people take me seriously. But I know I’ve changed. Culture and life changes you. Sometimes for worse, but I think generally for the better. What doesn´t kill you makes you stronger?

(2) Something I love about Madrid:

People-watching.

I love trying to understand the ins and outs and ups and downs of the nuances of peoples’ lives. Because it’s often el conjunto (*all of these factors combined*, or however you say it in English – see something number 3) of these nuances that can tell their life story.

When people are conked out on the Metro. Aren’t the worried about where they are going? That they’ll miss their stop? Aren’t they going somewhere important? Or aren’t they worried about how they look? I mean this gorgeous little Latina is sitting in front of me on the metro and she’s wearing a perfectly combined outfit, long dark tresses, and perfectly smudged black liner. But because of her sleeping position she’s wearing 3 chins.

But maybe people-watching at cafés is the best.

People drinking two solos (*espresso*), with vengeful faces, not inviting even an hola. What did life throw them?

A dreadlocked backpacker with a journal, a café con leche and multiple pastries, and perfect change. Where did you come from, where did you go?

A young good-looking fella, café con leche, a croissant, and flippers on the chair beside him. Friendly banter with the barista. Hey good looking! Whatcha got cooking?

(3) Something about language:

Leaning new languages is an incredible human feat.

I once saw my life as two lives – the hispanohablante and the anglophone.  Home and abroad. Family and family-away-from-home. But after experiencing these two worlds separately in Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Sevilla, and Madrid – I’ve come to know that they are inseparable. There aren’t multiple souls living in me. Rather multiple parts of my soul infuse other parts of the world. I left them behind. Once I love and learn, gentle flakes of my spirit roam freely among those beloved people. And they often send me memories and reminders.

They make me stronger, because my being is fortified in more than one place.

So sometimes when my sentence comes out in half Spanish and half English, you will understand why. And I hope you’ll have a little mercy, and find this a lovely curiosity. And more so, I pray you can share in this experience with me. Because it´s life changing, and fulfilling.

(Note: [to be disregarded if you aren’t a Harry Potter fan] I just reread what I wrote and it sounds like I’ve created Horcruxes. Haha. Is there a positive and lovely opposite to Horcruxes? I mean, what would you call a piece of your soul that gently flakes off the soul inside you, so as to help you live life with the most adventure and love possible. Opinions?… Go!)

(4) Something about current events:

Yesterday, Hugo Chavez died. I have a degree in Latin American studies, so I love keeping tabs on politics, and economy, and culture. Lately, I haven’t been very good at reading the news. But this pretty big news made me realize how important it is to keep up with current events. In 40 years when our children or grandchildren are studying and relating to history they are going to ask us questions – and we’re going to have stories.

And those stories will be carried down for generations because of or voice.

(5) Something about hard days:

Fight.

Dive into unknowns.

Don’t go looking for trouble; life brings enough trouble of its own.

But when trouble comes, wait until it’s about to put its giant hairy arms around you, and leap out of its reach. Trouble might be huge, but you are fast. And when you fight and demand your humble, immortal body to win, your green skin will peel back, and you’ll be new and prepared for every battle to come.

(Haven’t you ever read The Frog Prince? But by golly, I’m definitely not talking about the Disney version – big let down, D.)

Somethings make us observant thinkers who have the power to change the world.

What do you learn from somethings? 

(image via Bailey Nickerson)

weekly joy {4}

Why Kids Need Schools to Change:

“people must be willing to try new things, to be more open, curious and experimental”

Be a virtual wanderer.

360cities. A garden in Venice.

Going everywhere is financially and physically impossible. So I love being a virtual wanderer. London is on that list for sure. Explore some Bookstores. Get the feel for big museums as well as the local vibe.

Madrid para Niños

by Javier Zabala. Gorgeous illustrations of the city that I’ve come to know and love.

For travelers and language lovers

this is an everyday must-read. Matador Network

Some fun things this week:

• learning Spanish through music
• this epic starry timelapse video

The perfect song for the wandering soul:

atm of happiness:

This article, by travel blogger Nikki, so poignant, yet reachable – about the essence of travel and sharing that love with others.

You can learn a country’s outline with a guidebook, but to know its soul, look to its literature, its language, its dance.

she will come to know her own heart 

the need to slip across borders and lose yourself in new places

the indelible mark traveling has left on my hungry heart

to feel her heart expand and contract as she takes in the chaos and calm of a new horizon

I want her to feel uncomfortable, confused, disoriented, and then proud when she rearranges herself and comes out the other side, knowing her own strength, exuding her own brand of joy

to find the difference between living and existing

to get wonderfully and hopelessly lost

Let your heart be overwhelmed with the kindness of strangers and the beauty of something new cracking open the protective casing of your soul. Be vulnerable and unsure and unafraid to grow.

when you return to us and your heart feels too big for the place you’ve returned to, remember you have someone who understands that…

Weekly joy {3}

The last 3 weeks have been absolutely crazy.

But in between the moments of insanity, have been reminders to slow down.

Just some things that have been helping me keep sanity and remember the glimpses of joy, even in the insanity:  

Josh Garrells

This is so worth a watch.

Realizing that what my elementary and middle school science teachers taught me, might have actually stayed with me.

This weeks mission: Teaching fourth grade English learners how to write a science report. Formulate the question and the hypothesis. Then test the hypothesis, to find the conclusion. Then write about it! I’m sure my science major friends will be criticising me here, but what a cool process to watch: getting little kiddos to think critically, and in their second (or in some cases, third) language!

(click on the photo or here to read a blog post about our experiment!)

When you’re reading a book, and you come across a passage that describes an exact moment in your life: 

“I woke up as the sun was reddening; and that was the one distinct time in my life, the strangest moment of all, when I didn’t know who I was- I was far away from home, haunted and tired with travel, in a cheep hotel room I’d ever seen, hearing the hiss of steam outside, and the creak of the old wood of the hotel, and footsteps upstairs, and all the sad sounds, and I looked at the cracked high ceiling and really didn’t know who I was for about 15 strange seconds. I wasn’t scared; I was just some else.”

– On the Road, Jack Kerouac & Me after taking a nap the day I arrived in Madrid two years ago.

A painted chalk wall in urban Madrid, where street walkers write what they want to do before they die.

“Antes de morir, quiero…”

life is for sharing

Morning run in huge deserted park, wandering around the endless streets of an artisan market, local brunch spot, used book store, friends.

Weekend mornings in Madrid, sigh.

There is so much to see here. And even more to share. My mom always says I’m a free soul, a wandering soul, blaming my grandfather for my catching of the travel bug at an early age.

But I’ve slowly been learning that, as beautiful or eloquent or striking or incredible as the places are, it is the people from which you learn. This sharing of life, be it one hour, one day, a weekend, or a few years.

Moments together create for conversation that educate and open minds and cultivate ideas and creativity.

So, I thought I’d share with you a few weekend finds.

Bloglovers, try out Brain Pickings, a hot spot to explore literature, culture, education, technology, and more.

iUsers and eReaders, what about a virtual Flipboard to keep up with news and culture? Might be my latest obsession, literally flipping through the globe.

Polyglots, wanderlusters, and story-tellers alike, live the language.

Madrid folks (natives, expats, and tourists, alike), need a place for these cultivating conversations? Try one of these local hot, or soon to be hot, spots.

Mür Café

 La Carmencita

J&Js Books

do a little exploring,

ash