Como un musical!

Nothing to important today, however, a little big goes a long way, right? In grammar today we were working on the verbs ser and estar (both used for "to be") however there are many rules and exceptions to these rules to learn and review and learn and review. Our final activity, however, included each person writing a noun and an adjective on a sticky paper. We then passed them to the left, not allowing the person to see, and we all stuck the post-its on ourselves. We then had to ask the class questions using the verbs correctly to figure out what we were. Then, in culture, class flew by, as we were talking about EDUCATION! WOO! It is a bit different here in Spain. Education is required from ages 6-16 and free public schooling is provided. Education Primaria is for ages 6-12 (6 different levels). Teachers for these ages are called "maestros" and need 3 years of training at a University. Next there is Education Secundario Obligatorio (Ages 13-16). These teachers are called Profesores and are required to ahve five years of schooling. The next level, however, is optional and students must pay for this level. It is called Bahillerato (16-17 years). These teachers are called Profesores as well. At the end of this year, if want to continue to a University, they take an exam called "Selectividad." They receive a grade that will determine what car students careers they can choose to pursue. Certain careers require higher grades than others. I asked if teaching was seen as a "cop out" job here, or if they had respect and was seen as an honorable job. She said that here, yes. Teaching does require a high grade on the Selectividad, and teachers are held in high regard and are paid well. I also asked about differences in public and private schools. She said that here, the public school systems are very good and receive a large amount of money from the government. She also said that policemen dressed normally often patrol the streets during school hours to make sure children are in school and if they are not, this is taken care of quickly. My class probably hated me for all my questions, but obviously I loved today! After school, Erin and I decided to ditch the Metro on such a beautiful day and we walked home. It was very very hot today, but still we made it home safely and it was a fabulous day for a stroll. I then came back and wasted a lot of time on this thing, snoozed a little, ate some lunch, snoozed a little more, and then we tried to meet up with some girls for shopping (window shopping for me), but by the time we met up with them, they were done, hot, and tired so we ended up with an excursion for smoothies. Oh well. We then headed back for a little rest before dinner. We were maybe going to go out again but both Erin and I were trying to work out plans for our free weekend so we just ended up heading down to a place near by to meet up with one of our friends for a quick minute and came back. I just got off Skype with Daddy who was helping me make sure I knew what to do to get a flight to Barcelona for the weekend! Hooray! What would the world be without Daddy's huh? An exciting point, and definitely the highlight of the day, however, was, when we got on the metro to go shopping, I hear this music! There is not normally music on the Metro so I just think, "Oh, how nice." However, suddendly I see this smiling lady walking down the aisle, microphone in hand, followed by a speaker attached to something like a suitcase handle and wheels! She's just smiling and singing her heart out. I just wanted the whole metro to burst into song like a musical! Still, nothing happened, but the ride was a bit nicer. I was going to give her something, but another man did, and she got off at the next stop. There are a lot of musical performers in the Metro tunnels, but this was my first on the train. I couldn't help but ask myself if that had really just happened. Still, I'm so glad it did! Get 'em girl! Still, I think about what life must be, getting up every day knowing that something like that is how you have to provide for yourself...I can't even imagine. Anyways... that's all for now, estoy muy cansada!