Burning the Midnight Oil

Burning the midnight oil is truly an idiom designed for the Spanish spring. Here’s why:

In Spain, May marks the beginning of the 9:30 PM sunset.  The country is in the wrong time zone, a result of the alliance between Franco and Hitler during World War II.  You can read more about that here, but know that when you hear about those “late Spanish dinners”:

Late Spanish Dinner Facts

1. It’s true.  In the summer it’s not unusual for 11:00 PM dinner reservations to book up before anything else.
2. It’s not our fault! It’s nice if it’s actually dark out when you’re having dinner.  7:00 PM is the middle of the burning hot Spanish afternoon.
3. Spanish dinners are made especially late by a tradition known as sobremesa, which literally translates to “over-the-table” and is basically the Spanish version of “scotch-in-the-study” where everyone sits around talking.  For hours.  And hours.

Anyway, I like to celebrate the long days like any good neurotic New Yorker: by working myself into a frenzy of super-productive behavior.

First of all, I’m just coming off winter hibernation and I have lots of pent-up energy.  Second, May also marks the month when we teachers launch our beloved seniors into their IB exams, so I finally have solid 20-minute blocks of time during my day where large piles of students are not harassing me about their grades and lab hours lovingly asking me for advice about the direction of their lives. Third, even if I leave work at 6:30 PM (which I generally don’t have to do as much in spring, see the point above about the seniors), I still have FOUR HOURS of daylight to preside over.

Burning the Midnight Oil: Accomplishments

One year, I trained to run a (half) marathon.   Another, I signed up for a book doctoring class. A third, I got obsessively involved in several podcasts (related post about my sporadic podcast listening here). This year, I may have gone a little overboard.  I have: signed up for a DELE Official Spanish Language exam, started a relatively unsuccessful ambitious campaign to promote my nascent little novel, applied as an IB examiner and pledged to renew my New York State teaching license.

It sounded like a good idea when I was cocooned in fabulous fleece blankets on my couch in February.  Now, it means that in the past three days I have:

1. Taken half of the Diploma de Español como Lengua Extranjera B1 Language Exam (the other half is tomorrow.  Hence this procrastinating blog post)
2. Reworked my manuscript to send to an ACTUAL editor at an ACTUAL publishing house.  For feedback, not actual publishing. But still.  It hasn’t stopped me from bouncing around like a 12-year-old girl of her way to meet Taylor Swift.
3. Been accepted as an IB examiner, skimmed read thoroughly the 6,000 page introduction manual and started grading large batches of international lab reports.
4. Ventured an overseas call to the NYC Department of Education.  The good news?  They only kept me on hold for 30 minutes.

May–bring it on! Some pictures from the Keukenhof flower garden in Amsterdam to celebrate.

 

 

    

Banner Photo Credit: Florian Wehde