Los 80!

On Saturday we had an 80s-themed party.


Americans...

Roommate photo.

We asked people to dress up: some did, but others didn't. The party was fun and the Spanish people really enjoyed it. Cecilia and Erin made jello shots (aka jello with vodka) which I refused to try because they smelled too much like vodka and I HATE vodka. The Spanish had never heard of or seen jello shots before. They were quite intrigued by the "American college" style affair.


Vanessa (Spanish) clearly was the best dressed.


Spanish co-workers attempt to get the jello shots out of their cups.

Bring on the Gluten: Day three

So, this morning I decided it was time to ditch my "wheat protein" conditioner because it's been making my scalp itch and I think I got some of it in my eye (my eyelid was swollen today because I kept scratching it). I read the ingredients to see if there was actual wheat in the stuff. Most of the ingredients were listed in Spanish except for the "hydrolyzed wheat protein" which was listed in English.....I still can't understand Spain...Spanglish ingredient listings????

Today i ate more. I had some of that British honey ginger cake (see previous pot for recipe) and some chocolate frosting I made using cocoa which has flour in it. I have a headache and my legs are really sore. My stomach doesn't like me. We'll see if I sleep tonight.

Gluten Day 2

I couldn't do it. I didn't eat any gluten.

I went to the doctor to try to schedule an endoscopy and she's making me wait until Friday, which makes me mad because I don't care what my blood results are, I want the endoscopy anyway. She also keeps telling me to stop eating gluten, which goes against everything I've been reading and told by people who have Celiac.

Basically, today I ate oatmeal and apple sauce for breakfast, had lunch at 5pm (a cup of chicken broth), then 1/2 an orange and some beets. Finally I ate some cornmeal cookies to try to get some calories into me.

Honey Ginger Pudding

Day one of Gluten Poisoning has begun! Basically, I think i have developed an intolerance to gluten, but in order to be properly tested, I have to have an endoscopy. However, for the endoscopy to have conclusive results, I have to be consuming gluten. I didn't eat anything with gluten Friday or Saturday, and I felt great.

Today I woke up and had oatmeal which didn't bother me. Then I made this Honey Ginger Pudding that I found on the BBC website. I'm going to guess it's some weird British thing. Basically I mixed sugar, eggs, flour and margarine then added honey, ginger and cinnamon to the batter. The entire thing went into a cereal bowl which I had greased with margarine and I microwaved it for 4.5 minutes. And.....voila! The result is below:


I was left with a cake-like substance that slid right out of my bowl. It tasted pretty good, but left me feeling pretty sick. There's some left for the rest of the week, so I'll be eating it again.

Blood work

So, I had to get more blood work done this morning. I went yesterday to get the results from last week (all normal) and the doctor ordered a gluten anti-bodies test. When I tried to get an appointment for this morning, I was told I would have to wait until Monday, but could show up on Friday and beg. Blood work is only done between eight and nine in the morning, so I fasted and woke up at 7:30 to walk to the Health Center in the DARK.

When I got there a few minutes before 8am, there were approximately 20 people clustered outside the door. It was pretty chilly and most of the people were in their 70s or older. At 8:05, when the bozos behind the counter finally came and opened the door for us, everyone rushed in and immediately started grabbing deli-numbers to make appointments to see doctors. Another sector of the crowd rushed the nurses station (I was in this group). Every got as close as possible to the door. Inside a woman handed out pre-marked cups with tube in them, which people then took to the blood room where four stations were set up. Most people had appointments, which I found out are given by the minute. The Spanish like to think they're organized, so people were trying to line up by time. For a while all I heard was, "I have 8:08." "Well I have 8:09, so I'll go behind you." "I'm going to stand here because I have 8:31." "Who has 8:16 because I have 8:17." "I have 8:03," (looks at watch, it's already 8:11). "They passed my time," (shoves people out of the way), "I'm first."

I, of course, was told I would have to wait until all the people with assigned times had gotten their cups. At about 8:40 I was able to get to the door and explain to the woman why I was there and that the people at the deli-counter appointment desk told me to come. She was NOT happy. She told me that they were only supposed to do 60 blood tests per day and I was an additional person....blah blah blah. I explained that for my test, I had to be eating gluten and if I had to go the entire weekend eating gluten, I was going to be miserable. As a Spanish state employee, she didn't give a shit. She gave me a cup with a tube and a set of barcodes identifying the blood as mine and told me to go get in the other line for the blood to be drawn. Another man didn't have an appointment and he got the same speech.

I was out of there by 8:52 and at school on time. Lourdes, whom I love and who worries about everything, told me to go home and rest. Having blood drawn is taxing on your body and rest is necessary. I just laughed and told her I would eat instead. I'm a blood-work pro: I went prepared with rice cakes, a banana and orange juice, which I don't usually drink, but I find that getting sugar into my body after blood work keeps me from getting dizzy.

Valentine's Day

Because the kids are between chapters (we just had the 5th grade test), David and I figured we'd do some Valentine's Day stuff a week early. I printed out a little reading about what kids in the US do on Valentine's Day (I ALWAYS try to make fun things educational). I also printed little animal cards, where the animals were made entirely from hearts, and sheets of hearts with sayings, like conversation hearts. I even bought strawberry gummy candies called besitos (little kisses) to give to them. I was really trying to give them a true Valentine's Day experience.

In 5A, we did the story and the cards. I gave them candy, which they loved. I even let them have seconds (I bought six bags). They really liked the cards and were interested in what the messages meant. We told them we'd do the hearts on Wednesday because we ran out of time.

In 5B, we got through the story, but it took some time. I gave them cards, but didn't explain them because the kids weren't interested at all. David actually told them that I gave 5A candy and would not be giving 5B anything. I was surprised he said this because it made me look like a big bitch and it put me in an awkward position. Yes, the kids are poorly behaved, but I still don't think he should taunt them like this.

For next week, I'm planning more activities for my three-year-olds (they'll be tracing and coloring hearts), first and second graders, who will do something with cards.

Cheater, cheater

On Wednesday, the 5th grade had a test. Normally I don't go when they have a test, but David asked me to come to class. No biggie....I mean, I do get PAID for this, so I went.

I was there to help, as another pair of eyes. The kids were absolutely awful. Awful. Awful (yes that is a reference to Eloise's use of words in threes). In 5B (the worse of the two classes), I took a seat in the back of the room while David handed out tests and explained the different sections to the kids.

The "it girls" were chatting instead of listening (so typical). As David finished attempting to explain the instructions, a boy seated eight feet away from where I stood proceeded to take out his workbook from his desk and put it on his lap. As he did this, he looked straight at me with the biggest shit-eating grin on his face. And, when I say straight at me, I mean he looked me in the eye as he did this. I was shocked. I walked straight over to him and asked for the book. At this point David realized what was going on and told the kid to get up and go into the hallway. He wouldn't be taking the test, instead he would be receiving a zero.

During the exam, one of the "it girls" was allowed to use her workbook. I'm not sure why. I think David is going to automatically mark her down for it. He said she could do this. Her friend tried to give her a notebook to use also, which I confiscated while David was answering questions.

The children never stopped talking during the test. They would announce which part they were working on and also which parts they liked and which were hard. It was this constant brag-fest, and I was really surprised that David allowed this. I don't think he's a very effective teacher; I've been in the classroom with other teachers who are much more commanding. The students don't respect David at all.