Recent intriguing searches

Here is my latest gathering of interesting searches that lead people to my blog:

• two best friends that are girls that are (for some reason WordPress cuts off long searches; I just really want to know what the rest of it says…  Lovers?  Popular?  Sluts?  Ugly?  What is it???)

• “mischa barton” stigma “pretty people” (this just makes me laugh because if the person searching is thinking that Mischa Barton falls under the category of People Who Are Stigmatized For Being Pretty, I’m going to have to disagree)

• hi rest girl (Um…  Hello.  What is a “rest girl”?  Or are they looking for “hi-res girl”, and in that case, is this ANOTHER sketchy, pornographic search that leads people to my site?)

• “richard karn” shirtless (again, my mother?)

• raped girls video free (this had three recent views, and as you’ll recall I’ve noted this one in previous posts about searches.  SERIOUSLY WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE.)

• campbell brown, thigh-high boots (Campbell Brown kind of annoys me so I don’t really want to see her much at all; although this might make her more interesting; also, I searched this to see what came up, and there was nothing, so I’m curious to know whether the person searching had heard that there were pics of her in thigh-high boots, or if he or she was just hoping that much)

• should women ever wear overalls (this brought them to my site because of this post; while I’m sure some girls actually can pull them off, I think if you’re asking, the answer for YOU is no)

• update girls (fascinating… an update on ALL girls?  What girls?  I need to know)

• jews in Spain in 2009 (someone bound to be disappointed when they find out that there are but two)

• girls for meddle (please explain, I don’t understand)

• black salesman spain (another person bound to be disappointed, unless they consider the illegal street vendors salesman, in which case, go downtown to Sol and you shall be satisfied)

• i like mean girl (she naughty, she love you long time; or possibly they meant Mean Girls, which led them to this post so possibly they’re looking for fellow Mean Girls lovers?)

• going fishing boat (what?  I searched this and these words appear in “ocean-going fishing boat”, which means that the person searching either doesn’t understand that “ocean” is part of the title, or maybe that they’re looking for a boat with one of those signs that says “Gone Fishin’”)

• harassment by neighbors in spain (I can’t say if this is common as I’ve never had to deal with it, but good luck trying to get anything done about it)

• “leave a comment” “url” entertainment sa (I don’t understand; my favorite part is the quotation marks around two things that practically every site on the Internet contains)

• gay “overalls” (best search ever)

Teachers like Botox, too

And so year one teaching in Madrid has ended.  I covered some topics that were important to me on here, although I didn’t write about my experiences in the school nearly as much as I’d planned.  Luckily I’ll be there next year, too!

Below are some rambling thoughts about this year, and some things I’m looking forward to or thinking about regarding the year to come.  You’ll find that most are complaints, and I’m afraid that simply reflects the reality that I’ve found to be the Spanish public education system and especially my own school, but I will try to include good things, too:

I can say that I ended up blown away by the differences between the Spanish public school system, especially my school in particular, and the American school system in which I was raised.  But whenever I talk to people about this I always preface what I’m saying by acknowledging that there are plenty of terrible schools in the U.S., and there are plenty of districts, particularly in inner cities and areas with large numbers of immigrants, that do not handle public education very well.  Of course I can only speak from my own experiences, but lots of people I know come from education systems similar, at least in their structure, to my own.

I recall many of my teachers in the States spending long hours at home planning activities, making things, grading things.  I recall many of my teachers in the States getting to school well before the kids, and it was normal to drive by my school in the evening and still see some cars in the parking lot or some lights on while a teacher was still working on something.  There are always exceptions, but I can’t say the same for Madrid.  Generally, teachers seem to arrive with the kids and leave with them whenever possible, unless they have a meeting with parents (and if the parents decide to show up).  Most lesson planning seems to be done during the rare free hour during the day, which doesn’t allow for much in the way of long-term activity planning or larger-scale, more complex projects.

I haven’t come across an elementary school that does a yearbook!