I can't believe I am already finishing up my fourth week of school. Every day I feel more and more comfortable at the school and in front of my classes even though at some points I was pretty sure I would never feel like I belonged there. But I'm into the swing of things and yes very exhausted but on Friday afternoon I feel good, I feel like I'm doing something I enjoy. That's my favorite part when I introduce an activity they really like or someone says "oh yes" after I try my hardest to describe a vocabulary word in English without giving in and just using the Spanish word, or when students come up to me after class and tell me something so proud to be using their English and especially every time that I have a conversation with the teachers Myriam and Begona.
I feel like I should start with the beginning of my day. I wake up at around 5:40 and every morning I literally set about 4 different alarms because I am scared to death that I am going to oversleep. My roommates don't start crawling out of bed till past 7 so I have to rely on my clocks! As much as I absolutely dread waking up that early I have been feeling pretty awake in the morning which is good. I usually grab a magdalena or muffin and leave the house by 6:30. I know some cities never sleep but trust me this one does, and you know when? Until about 8 am. It's weird to see the city so quiet and still when I leave in the morning, it's kind of cool. There aren't ever people on the metro, maybe 3 people in every car (when there is usually never an empty seat) not even business people approach the day early here. So I take 2 metros and go through about 15 stops and then walk about 5 minutes and I usually arrive at my school around 7:30 while the stars are still shining and I'm just in time to get myself situated before class starts at quarter to 8. The rest of my day is class after class I have from 4 to 6 classes a day. I work with the other English teachers and try to do some work out of their books that involve pronunciation, speaking and listening. School is different here because the morning lasts until around 2 and then the students either eat a school or go home for about 2 hours and then they come back to school for 2 more sessions. Usually primary school starts around 9 goes till 1 and then from 3 to 5. I'm lucky that I'm done at 3 at the latest. I'm not sure if I'd survive any more than that! They also have a half hour break at 11:30 called recreo or recess and all the students go out to the play yard for a half hour even the seniors. Recess duty is slight torture when I have it every other Friday I like overhearing them talking about me when they don't think I understand! Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I get to come home and when I am feeling productive I run to the park "El Retiro" which is a pretty amazing place and only about 15 minutes away from my house.
Lately we have been trying to explore our city and I think I have finally gotten my grasp on my surroundings. I never thought I would get on the metro and actually be 100% sure about where I was going but I finally am! This past weekend we tried the Spanish dish "Cocido" it's a meal that begins with a soup dish and is followed by a sort of potato vegetable plate and finally ending with a plate of various meat. And when I say various I mean I don't really know what the meat was. There was definitely some sausage and chicken which we ate. We even tried what we believed to be was a hoof (just to say we did it). There was also a questionable tongue looking object among other things we were too afraid to try. My favorite part of food in Spain is the tapas. Tapas are like a snack or appetizer that you order at restaurants. Usually when you order a drink the camarero or waiter will give you a free tapa. My favorite tapas are Spanish Tortilla (a mixture of egg, potato, onion), patatas bravas (potatoes with a spicy mustard and ketchup like sauce), and a plate of sliced meat with cured cheese. At our favorite tapas bar that we have been going to pretty regularly on Fridays or any free night they give us every possible tapa for free. I keep telling the waiters that we are going to be gorditas (little fatties) when we leave! But they laugh and pile the food on. They finally know that I am gluten free and even have bread for me! My Spanish has been improving as well. Most of my practice is in the restaurants and when I meet people because I am mostly speaking only English at school. We have met people from all over from Venezuela, Portugal, Peru, to Bulgaria. It's amazing how many languages everyone can speak. My roommates and I do our best to make people we meet only speak Spanish with even if they know English. It's only been a month and although I'm not speaking all the time I am definitely feeling more confident so I am hoping that after ten more months of this I will have a much better level of proficiency.
Here are a couple of notes I wrote after school but forgot to post!
Thursday September 23rd
I feel like every day and in turn every week is a roller coaster when you are teaching. Yesterday for example was fine but not great. Nothing went wrong but I didn't have any moments where I was like wow I love doing this. But today even though I had by far the worst class I still had a great day overall. I know sometimes they are laughing at the way I say things or making jokes but I think that rather than being angry it's best to just bring the class back together and continue. If I let every single little thing bother me then I wouldn't succeed. I love when they ask me questions and when I tell them things and I see a light go on. I feel like such a real teacher to say this but I love when they are excited to learn! Also today I worked with Begona during my break period and we talked a little in Spanish and then I helped her with English pronunciation and phonetics. I have never thought about all the sounds we say but it really is difficult to learn all the variations of sounds. I also had desayuno with her, Paloma, Myrian, and Peter (other teachers from the school). I actually spoke Spanish with them and I think they were surprised especially Paloma she said " hablas muy bien el espanol" and I was like no no! Haha it's hard to jump into conversations with the teachers because they speak so fast and one on top of the other. But it's definitely good practice.
Monday September 27th
I hate not knowing exactly how I should act and what my role is. Today a student I haven't had yet, he was probably like at least 3rd ESO, came up to me an introduced himself, with the double cheek Spanish kiss, clearly just to be the funny guy. It's hard because I am so much closer in age to the students than to the professors. The majority of the kids are respectful and I know they do want to learn from me, but there's usually a few that because their English isn't that good and they either just don't care or pretend not to; they ruin it for the others. Although I feel like there is a balance because for every class that I am on my last nerve with there is another that cooperates, wants to learn, and ultimately has fun in class as well. It's so easy to love the teacher's pets! I mean especially for me because they interpret for me when the bad kid is mouthing off too quickly for me to understand and they are just so eager to use their English. I'm not sure which kid I was in school probably closer to teachers pet, especially when I was younger, but then I'm sure I turned into one of those kids with the "I wish I was somewhere else" attitude most of the time. That's the other thing I was in high school 5 years ago so I really do know how my students feel. I guess that's what I have been trying to get across to them, especially the bacilleratos (the Juniors and Seniors). I want to relate to them so they feel like it's not un-cool to learn in my class. That's probably a lot to ask right? Haha well they only see me every other week so maybe they'll be okay with being a dork and actually learning something every once in a while.
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