Hi everyone! It has been a busy week of work in Madrid! After splitting into our campus groups, we’ve spent most of the week in small meetings and individually working on our curriculum, syllabi, and our “course storyboards.” I also have my group of advisees (one 6th, three 7th, and one 8th grader) whom I have begun to email. My courses are largely prepared as we’re using an open-source science curriculum. So I’ve spent the week reviewing it and preparing some fun labs and first-day-of-school projects. This week, we get down to real business. Monday to Wednesday, I’ll be finalizing my first unit and importing everything into Google Classroom. Then on Thursday, we’re scheduled to head out to campus and begin setting up our classrooms. Friday, we meet the students and parents for Back to School night! It’s all coming together and I’m excited to get going soon!
Outside of work, I’ve spent the week getting into my routine of going to the gym, cooking, and reading! Overall, it was a more relaxing week. I’ve been keeping up with the weekly release of the new (and final) season of The Summer I Turned Pretty – coming this Wednesday! I watched The Imitation Game for the first time and really enjoyed it (although I stayed up way too late to finish it). And now I’m working on a Spanish fantasy book that I found while at a bookstore this weekend.
Yesterday, I had a late wake-up and went to a hot yoga class with my mom’s friend Sandra who lives here in Madrid. It was HOT, but very nice! I walked back and stopped at the bookstore and grocery store on the way. I cooked some teriyaki chicken, rice, and broccoli for the week and got myself a bit more organized because today my roommates arrived!
I started the day on a run through Parque del Oeste (West Park), which was beautiful (see photos). It’s about a 10-minute run to get there, and it has nice trails, a canal, and lots of trees. Once I got back, my first roommate, Nahía, arrived. She and my other roommate Lucía have lived in this apartment for 2 years together. Nahía studies industrial engineering and Lucía studies criminology and psychology. We spent the afternoon and early evening talking together and went to a bar down the street. I’m very excited to spend the year with them!
I realized I’ve only taken a few photos this week – whoops! I’ll be better next week, I promise! Enjoy the funny selection of donuts I found at Dunkin’ – they almost got it right! And there was a beautiful sunset tonight. Also my hair has gotten much much lighter in the Madrid sun (I promise I haven’t dyed it at all). Sending my best to everyone, and I’ll be back next week, hopefully with photos of my classroom!
Abe Tolkoff 