At least I had Anni {this is a random one}

Anni and Joseph Albers

on Tuesday in art class with the 6th graders i had to tell them that I was weary of doing the picasso face project with them {even though i had them bring boxes in around the 2nd week of school} because last term they proved to be severely incapable of having attention spans longer than 1.5 seconds {which also means inability to follow directions} or being able to do anything on their own {monkey see monkey do is NOT a given with these children}. It's really unfortunate, because I love my students so much more than I ever thought was possible, and I love art. And I really want to do fun projects with them. But that really is impossible considering their lack of really basic skills like listening and copying.

so anyway, i proceeded to over estimate their abilities AGAIN when I thought doing an anni albers project would be easy. Anni Albers is my favorite artist ever and i am fascinated by her jewelry and textiles. but i also swoon for her "triangle exercises" {i actually dont know the real name of that series but "triangle exercise" seems appropriate} its SO SIMPLE yet infinitely interesting to stare at. its just a canvas with a grid. and then she draws a diagonal line in each little square and then she picks which half of the square to color and then it makes a really beautiful pattern. she has a bunch of them, and i love them all. PRETTY SIMPLE...RIGHT?? WRONG!! i'll cut this story short. but it took them 0.5 HOUR to even understand how to make a grid...i think ill just make a grid myself on adobe illustrator and print it out. then all they have to do is make diagonals and color triangles. i dont know how to dumb it down more than that. i guess i could add the diagonal myself and then they'd have to just pick a half to color...i probably wont do that though because the diagonal part is fun. haha..."fun"...i'm a freak. ANYWAY, the art lesson was very frustrating{as usual}, but at least i got to do my own mini Anni Albers triangle project. It was my favorite thing that day...

My 2nd favorite thing was probably the sunset. It was neon orange, and when it dropped below the cloud line in the horizon it highlighted the super grey clouds bright pink!! It was SO beautiful, it was difficult to concentrate on my private lesson with Pelayo {who really does have a learning disorder}. Speaking of suns, has anyone noticed how much later its getting dark!? Maybe it seems more drastic to me because I just returned from Norway. And, another thing that might be especially notable because of this Norwegian contrast is the weather here in Madrid! its so warm!! Today its going to be 58°f (14 °c)!! It already smells like spring-time :)

and the 3rd favorite thing was the lentil soup (reminds me of persian adassi!!) at lunch.

Speaking of soup...On tuesday I went to Juany's house because she was making mexican soup!!!! not only was the soup delicious, and I got to hang out with some of my closest friends from Madrid after 2 weeks, but guess what i FOUND?!?!?!?!?  THIS BABY::

my lovely knitted warm grey dress/sweater that i thought i lost in barcelona!!

THATS RIGHT! I DIDNT lose it! I KNEW I was more organized than I thought!! I didn't leave it at Alba's house in Barcelona...I forgot that that night, after we went to park Güell I was visiting the girls in their hostel and I was getting ready to go out that night and wanted to wear something that I had layered under the grey knit sweater/dress so I took it off and had Juany put it in her suitcase to bring back to Madrid for me! And then I COMPLETELY forgot, and when I went to her house to eat soup she returned it to me and I was so surprised and sooooo happyyyyyy!!! :) I wore it the next day to work to celebrate. Yay for happy endings!!!

speaking of superficial things like clothes and appearances...

i may or may not have gotten extremely sick of my hair today and am seriously considering cutting it short again...i just feel like i've been working so hard to grow it out and i still haven't reached my lady godiva goal (hair so long it covers your boobs)...also i am admittedly, a little fearful of getting it cut in Spain, i could just wait until August when i go home for a bit?

also two people told me i looked like i had lost weight.  i wasnt trying to, but could it be because of  this decrease in my consumption of animal products...? It's only been 2.5 weeks...

speaking of animals...Tiger mountain peasant song by Fleet Foxes has been stuck in my head for a few days now. And not in a good way. its a good thing I didn't have my ipod because i would just listen to it all day long. Actually I think i still managed to overdose on the song, even without my ipod. 

speaking of ipods, I don't like it when everyone is plugged into them during their morning commute. I think creates a very large barrier between people and the outside world. Basically removing your sense of sound. I don't like how disconnected people become because of it. Has anyone ever been lost and wanted to ask for directions, but the only person near by had an ipod in?? it makes you feel like youre intruding on them. Plus when you are plugged into your i-pod it makes you seem less approachable. and you never know when you might meet your next best friend, it could be on the metro on the way to work or when you least expect it (or if you think you dont want to talk to someone, but it turns out to be great!) ! so every now and then, i get the urge to just disconnect from the world. but generally i think its good to stay tuned into the world around us.

and now for something COMPLETELY random and irrelevant:

Today, I sassed out the chino that works next to my building. "chinos" as they are called in Spain, are SUPPOSED to be CHEAP places (always owned and run by Chinese immigrants) that you can get really random things. kind of like 7-11 in the us, but more random and cheaper. EXCEPT the chino by MY house is a complete bastard! rude, and UNBELIEVABLY expensive!! he charges like 10 times as much as OPEN CORE (which is infamously the most expensive grocery store in madrid/spain)  which also happens to be right by my house. So i wanted to buy a 1.5 liter of Aquarius (a drink) and in Open core it was 1.64 euros. and I (rightfully) thought, "maybe it'll be cheaper in the chino"(because it SHOULD be). so i go there, he has a small one (not sure if it was even 1 liter) and it was 2 EUROS.....are you KIDDING ME? so i was like "em...son mas baratos en OPEN CORE!" (uh...its way cheaper in OPEN CORE)... and he just stared at me...(normally they will bargain!) so i was like "no, no lo quiero es demasiado carro" (no i don't want it its too expensive.) and then i went back to open core and bought the giant Aquarius and went back to the chino and showed it to him and was like "esto cuesta 1.65 en opencore" (this is 1.65 in open core) and he got mad (haha...hes a bad businessman! i was only trying to help him have more competitive prices and more customers! no one will buy a tiny Aquarius for 2 euros he is insane.) and he was like "son iguales!" (they're the same!) and i was like "no son iguales esto es mucho mas grande y mas barato!" (they are NOT the same this one is WAY bigger and cheaper!) needless to say I'm boycotting him. and its not because i'm cheap and dont want to spend 44 extra cents. because, as we all know, i can be pretty liberal with money (especially when it comes to food) it's just the principal of the mater. AND when I talked to my room mate she was like "si es gilipolla" (ya, he's a dickhead).

and now here are some random images that I like and wanted to share::

I still have a soft spot for Audis probably because i grew up in them

haha simply adorable!

keon, this ones for you...bahahahahahaha!

i just like this. but sometimes i really think the captions could be switched.

amen

I dont get it. but i like it.

summer time!

good design is infinite

another one for keon, haha..awww poopy!!

california dreamin'!

my friend carly is getting married and these fingers actually look IDENTICAL to her and her fiancé...bizarre.

gross

I love Hyacinths, I love this picture. Reminds me of Eid e Noruz :)

glorious

I saw a lot of these in Norway

*FIN*