This week at school has been as the Spaniards say "un rollo" a struggle. It happens at every school, there is always so much to cram into the last 2 weeks of classes before a term ends. Not only are final tests being given, grades were also due this week. And we have our Christmas show on Friday. And the parents brought churros and chocolate yesterday which cost 1.50 euro per child. And the school is taking a trip to the movies next week which cost 7.00 euro per child. And they have a show next week in Spanish on Friday.
Needless to say, we have been trying to get everything done in time and it has been quite an adventure. The students feel the same crazy pressure that the teachers feel, so they act out more and are making the teachers even more stressed out. I feel their pressure even though I don´t have to do anything with grades or tests (besides explain the questions). With having such a horrible cold from Bilbao, this week has been rough. I have been trying to teach Christmas carols to all of my 1st and 2nd grade classes with a super sore throat. They are finally starting to actually know the words (hopefully they know by the show tomorrow!!).
My favorite story from the week happened in my 2B class. This class is singing I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus. I was explaining what the words meant. One of the students asked what mistletoe is. I drew a picture on the blackboard and said that it was a plant with small red fruits on it. Then I went over to the door, pointed out that we put it on the door frame and said when two people walk by, they have to kiss. About half of the students really understood what it was. There was one student who had NO idea and kept shouting out "IT´S SNOW!" and I was like, no it´s not, but I guess I am glad you are speaking English. Once they finally understood what the song was about they began booing and making sad faces. I had to explain that it is a tradition to kiss, it wasn´t a bad thing that Santa is kissing Mommy. It was quite an adventure.
I am really excited for the show tomorrow. The children will be singing Jingle Bells, He wears a red coat, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I am nervous about how the singing part will go, but they will look cute in their santa hats/reindeer horns and their dancing is great! The parents will be coming to watch, which also makes me nervous, but it´ll be fine. Tomorrow is my last day of school before heading home for break for 3 weeks. I can´t wait to celebrate Christmas with my family and see all of my friends. :)
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Al Norte- A Trip to Bilbao and San Sebastian
Last week with Constitution Day and the Immaculate Conception, we only had school on Monday and Wednesday. So, I took the oppotunity to travel into the northern part of Spain that I have not had the oppotunity to visit yet. I highly recommend visiting the area, it is an amazing place that is very different from the rest of Spain. I traveled with my rooommate Kathleen and a friend Kelsey. We didn´t plan our trip together, but by happenstance, we all ended up in Bilbao the same weekend. I was planning on travelling by myself, which I did a couple of times during study abroad, but as always it was nice to have company :)
We started our trip on Thursday around 2 pm and arrived at our hostel around 9 pm. The first night we were there, we asked the man at the front desk for some suggestions of where to eat. We went out for pinxtos (tapas, but on top of bread). The way it works is that you just go into any bar or cafe, approach the bar and point out what pinxtos you want. One of my favorite ones that we got while we were there was the first night. It was jamon serrano, 1/2 a hard boiled egg, mayo, and a shrimp. Eating it was kind of difficult, but it was a lot of fun and it was delicious! We went to a bar where our hostel man said a lot of young people hang out and got delicious mushrooms that were cooked in garlic.
The next morning, we got up and headed out to see Bilbao. We went to the San Nicolas church where they were having a nativity exhibit. The exhibit was very intricate. Since Spain is such a Catholic country, the nativity scenes are a HUGE deal here. They were really cool, they even had parts that moved, like a stableman nailing a horseshoe onto a horse. I really enjoyed it. After that, we had some churros and chocolate, a very typical Spanish snack during the winter. Then, we walked over to the funicular that took us up to the top of a mountain. The town was called Atraxanda and had an amazing view of the entirety of Bilbao from above. We tried the cider, which is made up at the top of the mountain and it wasn´t my favorite drink, but I´m glad I tried it. We walked around all of the pedestrian shopping streets to look at the beautiful Christmas lights. Then, we met up with Andrea who is my friend from when I was very little. It was great to see her and meet her friends. I really enjoyed being able to catch up, even in a country so far away and hope we can met up in Chicago soon!
Saturday, we took a day trip to San Sebastian, a beach town about an hour away from Bilbao. I would love to go back to San Sebastian during beach season because it was an absolutely gorgeous town. We spent the day exploring the beach, the old part of town, the Cathedral and of course eating. The pintxos in San Sebastian were so delicious because they were topped with fresh fish from right next to where we were sitting. After having a filling dinner, we went back to Bilbao to catch the end of the Classico. This is one of the biggest games in soccer, it´s between Real Madrid and F.C. Barcelona. Barça won, obviously, so I was very excited!
Sunday we went to the biggest tourist attraction in Bilbao. We went to the Guggenheim museum. Let me tell you, the building from the outside is beautiful and so cool to look at, it is a work of art in itself. I loved walking through the museum. My favorite part was a piece called Humans. It was in a room lit with dim lights that were hanging from the ceiling almost down to the floor. On the walls, there were hundreds of pictures of random people´s faces that I guess were taken from newspapers and magazines. I thought it was so interesting. Then we headed home.
The only thing I can complain about is that I caught a terrible cold on my trip. Other than that it was an amazing experience to leave Andalucia and experience a different culture. Euskari (the language spoken in the Basque region) is one of the oldest languages. I am glad I went there and learned more about a new culture.
We started our trip on Thursday around 2 pm and arrived at our hostel around 9 pm. The first night we were there, we asked the man at the front desk for some suggestions of where to eat. We went out for pinxtos (tapas, but on top of bread). The way it works is that you just go into any bar or cafe, approach the bar and point out what pinxtos you want. One of my favorite ones that we got while we were there was the first night. It was jamon serrano, 1/2 a hard boiled egg, mayo, and a shrimp. Eating it was kind of difficult, but it was a lot of fun and it was delicious! We went to a bar where our hostel man said a lot of young people hang out and got delicious mushrooms that were cooked in garlic.
The next morning, we got up and headed out to see Bilbao. We went to the San Nicolas church where they were having a nativity exhibit. The exhibit was very intricate. Since Spain is such a Catholic country, the nativity scenes are a HUGE deal here. They were really cool, they even had parts that moved, like a stableman nailing a horseshoe onto a horse. I really enjoyed it. After that, we had some churros and chocolate, a very typical Spanish snack during the winter. Then, we walked over to the funicular that took us up to the top of a mountain. The town was called Atraxanda and had an amazing view of the entirety of Bilbao from above. We tried the cider, which is made up at the top of the mountain and it wasn´t my favorite drink, but I´m glad I tried it. We walked around all of the pedestrian shopping streets to look at the beautiful Christmas lights. Then, we met up with Andrea who is my friend from when I was very little. It was great to see her and meet her friends. I really enjoyed being able to catch up, even in a country so far away and hope we can met up in Chicago soon!
Saturday, we took a day trip to San Sebastian, a beach town about an hour away from Bilbao. I would love to go back to San Sebastian during beach season because it was an absolutely gorgeous town. We spent the day exploring the beach, the old part of town, the Cathedral and of course eating. The pintxos in San Sebastian were so delicious because they were topped with fresh fish from right next to where we were sitting. After having a filling dinner, we went back to Bilbao to catch the end of the Classico. This is one of the biggest games in soccer, it´s between Real Madrid and F.C. Barcelona. Barça won, obviously, so I was very excited!
Sunday we went to the biggest tourist attraction in Bilbao. We went to the Guggenheim museum. Let me tell you, the building from the outside is beautiful and so cool to look at, it is a work of art in itself. I loved walking through the museum. My favorite part was a piece called Humans. It was in a room lit with dim lights that were hanging from the ceiling almost down to the floor. On the walls, there were hundreds of pictures of random people´s faces that I guess were taken from newspapers and magazines. I thought it was so interesting. Then we headed home.
The only thing I can complain about is that I caught a terrible cold on my trip. Other than that it was an amazing experience to leave Andalucia and experience a different culture. Euskari (the language spoken in the Basque region) is one of the oldest languages. I am glad I went there and learned more about a new culture.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Happy :)
I am so happy that I was placed in the school that I was. They are absolutely great and I leave everyday feeling accomplished. After the initial months of feeling out of place and unsure, I now feel very confident in all of my classrooms and feel more and more comfortable outside of the classroom. I am not worried about approaching any of the teachers in my school with any problems or questions. I also now feel more comfortable with going up and chatting during the break with the teachers.
This week at school the students took their second round of exams in English class. I think that the students may have done better on these exams than the first ones. Although there was less time spent on this unit, the students are more used to having me in the classroom and listening to the way I speak. I think this will help them pass their exams with better grades than the previous unit.
In my 6th grade class, we did a Twas the Night Before Christmas Mad Lib. I first had to explain what a Mad Lib was and they got the point that the story was supposed to be somewhat funny. We filled in the story, then I had them watch a YouTube video of someone reading the actual story. Then as I read them the story we wrote together, they laughed at the funny parts. I was worried they wouldn't understand the story, but they did really well with it. Then they got to do their own Mad Libs with the song Jingle Bells. I sang some of the songs that they made up and it was a great time.
In 2nd grade science, I am teaching about animals. As many of you know, I am not a fan of animals, but I think I am doing pretty well with it. I actually got tripped up the other day by some of the vocabulary because I had no idea what a word meant/how to say it. The words were viviparous and oviparous. This basically means whether the babies are born from the womb or eggs. First of all, I had to learn this and second of all, I feel that it is a little unnecessary to be teaching such large terms to 2nd graders. Oh well...
This weekend was a blast. We had a visitor in, Jackie, who is Bridget's friend from Penn State. She is teaching English in Cadiz and wanted to come see Sevilla for the weekend. We wanted to show her around to all of the cool places, so we took her to our favorite bar Antiguidades on Friday night. The bartenders there are our friends so they were excited to see us there again. Then on Saturday, we did some shopping and I got some gifts for people. Afterward, we went to Los Coloniales for dinner with my friend Anna who is from Latvia. Even though we had to wait an hour to get seated, the food was just as delicious as always. Afterward we went to our friends Sam and Clarissa's apartment. Anna was leaving to go meet her boyfriend at a bar, so we all joined her and ended up having an amazing time dancing and hanging out.
This week at school the students took their second round of exams in English class. I think that the students may have done better on these exams than the first ones. Although there was less time spent on this unit, the students are more used to having me in the classroom and listening to the way I speak. I think this will help them pass their exams with better grades than the previous unit.
In my 6th grade class, we did a Twas the Night Before Christmas Mad Lib. I first had to explain what a Mad Lib was and they got the point that the story was supposed to be somewhat funny. We filled in the story, then I had them watch a YouTube video of someone reading the actual story. Then as I read them the story we wrote together, they laughed at the funny parts. I was worried they wouldn't understand the story, but they did really well with it. Then they got to do their own Mad Libs with the song Jingle Bells. I sang some of the songs that they made up and it was a great time.
In 2nd grade science, I am teaching about animals. As many of you know, I am not a fan of animals, but I think I am doing pretty well with it. I actually got tripped up the other day by some of the vocabulary because I had no idea what a word meant/how to say it. The words were viviparous and oviparous. This basically means whether the babies are born from the womb or eggs. First of all, I had to learn this and second of all, I feel that it is a little unnecessary to be teaching such large terms to 2nd graders. Oh well...
This weekend was a blast. We had a visitor in, Jackie, who is Bridget's friend from Penn State. She is teaching English in Cadiz and wanted to come see Sevilla for the weekend. We wanted to show her around to all of the cool places, so we took her to our favorite bar Antiguidades on Friday night. The bartenders there are our friends so they were excited to see us there again. Then on Saturday, we did some shopping and I got some gifts for people. Afterward, we went to Los Coloniales for dinner with my friend Anna who is from Latvia. Even though we had to wait an hour to get seated, the food was just as delicious as always. Afterward we went to our friends Sam and Clarissa's apartment. Anna was leaving to go meet her boyfriend at a bar, so we all joined her and ended up having an amazing time dancing and hanging out.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
This year, I am thankful for...
Wednesday and Thursday at school this week were AMAZING days. I have been really loving school for the past couple of weeks. I think that I am finally comfortable with being there and what my role is. I also think that the teachers are more comfortable with me in the classroom. After my lessons in 6th year on Wednesday, Milagros pulled me aside and told me that I am the best Auxiliar de Conversacion that the school has ever had. That made me so excited and so thankful for the opportunity to be in their school! On Thursday after my lessons, I helped Bea (my coordinator) make a blog for the school. On this blog, we are going to post English activities, vocabulary, videos and pictures of what is going on in the school. I am really excited about the new project and I can't wait to start posting. If you want to check it out the website is http://ceipelmanantial.blogspot.com.
Being away from family on Thanksgiving day was a bit difficult. I tried to get my dad to show me the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade over skype, but the computer didn't like being close to the tv and it kept freezing. Then, later that night, my brothers set up a screen so that I could be a part of my family's dinner. It was really nice to be included, but it was hard to not be there. We went around and said what we were thankful for and then I sat there and watched my family eat delicious food. Oh well, there are only 22 days until I go home and can be eating with them too!
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| Our beautiful feast! |
Saturday, the weather was absolutely gorgeous, so I went over to Parque de los Principes which is right down the street and sat in the sunshine and read my book. I am finally ALMOST done with the 400 page book in tiny font, in Spanish that I have renewed twice! I really like the book, it is just hard for me to read more than a chapter at a time because the print is soooo small and in a different language. After getting back from reading my book, Bridget and I prepared the leftovers and a few additions to our feast from the night before to serve to Fidel (for being such a great help with everything related to technology), Pilar (our neighbor who we have become very close with over the last week), Joanna (another Auxiliar friend), and ourselves. As we shared the meal with our friends, we explained the tradition of Thanksgiving and what we do to celebrate it. I shared that I am thankful for my family, my friends- especially the ones sitting around the dinner table, the opportunity to live and teach in Spain and my good health. Sharing this tradition with a new culture was very exciting and is exactly the reason why I came here. I want to share as many things about my culture with everybody here so that in return, they will share their culture with me!
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Spanish students do Thanksgiving!
The 6th graders "I'm Thankful For..." Turkey!
2nd graders handprint turkeys!
1st grader's handprint turkeys!
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Thanksgiving Spirit
Even though I am far way from all of my family and friends for this Thanksgiving, I am still trying to make the best of it. Today I started making some decorations for our piso, just like I did for Halloween. I am also in the middle of making pumpkin muffins, just like I do every Thanksgiving at home. I think it will be a bit hard to be away, since it is the first Thanksgiving that I will spend away from my family and I am SO far away. They said they are going to Skype me in during Thanksgiving dinner so that I can be a part of it, but it won't be the same.
My roommates and I are going to cook a Thanksgiving dinner here in our apartment. The only thing that will be a little different is that we will probably not have turkey. They don't really sell whole turkeys or even turkey breast anywhere here. So, we are either going to get a cooked full chicken from a place around the corner, or we are just going to cook some chicken breasts. I am going to make homemade stuffing, gravy, and sweet potato casserole (with marshmellows of course!) Bridget is going to make a green bean casserole and we are also going to have a salad and some wine. It should be a great meal. We aren't going to have it until Friday though since we all have to work on Thursday.
This week at school I am going to be teaching about Thanksgiving in 5 of my 7 classes. In 1st and 2nd grade, I am teaching them song that goes to the tune of "Do You Know the Muffin Man?" The first verse is "The Pilgrims came to America, America, America, The Pilgrims came to America a long, long time ago." Then there are verses about the Mayflower, Indians, corn and a feast. I think it will sum up Thanksgiving for them pretty well. Then I am going to have them make a handprint turkey as a fun craft. In 6th grade I am going to read them a story about the first thanksgiving. After that, I am going to make a turkey to put up on the wall, then each student is going to get a feather. On that feather they are going to write "I am thankful for...." and they are going to paste the feathers up on the turkey. I think this activity will go really well and they will really like it.
My roommates and I are going to cook a Thanksgiving dinner here in our apartment. The only thing that will be a little different is that we will probably not have turkey. They don't really sell whole turkeys or even turkey breast anywhere here. So, we are either going to get a cooked full chicken from a place around the corner, or we are just going to cook some chicken breasts. I am going to make homemade stuffing, gravy, and sweet potato casserole (with marshmellows of course!) Bridget is going to make a green bean casserole and we are also going to have a salad and some wine. It should be a great meal. We aren't going to have it until Friday though since we all have to work on Thursday.
This week at school I am going to be teaching about Thanksgiving in 5 of my 7 classes. In 1st and 2nd grade, I am teaching them song that goes to the tune of "Do You Know the Muffin Man?" The first verse is "The Pilgrims came to America, America, America, The Pilgrims came to America a long, long time ago." Then there are verses about the Mayflower, Indians, corn and a feast. I think it will sum up Thanksgiving for them pretty well. Then I am going to have them make a handprint turkey as a fun craft. In 6th grade I am going to read them a story about the first thanksgiving. After that, I am going to make a turkey to put up on the wall, then each student is going to get a feather. On that feather they are going to write "I am thankful for...." and they are going to paste the feathers up on the turkey. I think this activity will go really well and they will really like it.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Madrid!
Sorry it has been awhile since my last blog, I have just been really busy since the last time I posted! Over the weekend, I went to Madrid to visit Chelsea Isley. I really enjoyed myself and I really liked getting away for the weekend. On Friday, we started an apartment hunt for Chelsea because shes is looking to move. So, we went to this apartment which really reminded me of the gross apartment that my roommates and I saw. The common area was the kitchen which was only a sink and a bunson burner type of stove. All of the rooms were off of this "kitchen" and were all locked like a hostel or something. After we did that, I went to see the Royal Palace, which is absolutely worth the money you pay to get inside. The rooms are beautiful and there are a ton of different architectural styles in different rooms, which I really loved. We at Doner Kebab for lunch which was absolutely delicious. After that, Chelsea had a private lesson, so I went shopping on Gran Via and I am really proud of myself because I held back from buying anything! I did see a few things that I will go back and buy with my next paycheck though. Once Chelsea was done with her lesson, we met back up and went to visit another friend who is teaching English in Madrid, Rebecca Grosebeck. We met up with Rebecca and her boyfriend, Sandy, for some wine and chorizo.
The next morning, Chelsea and I cooked a delicious pancake breakfast. We made pumpkin pancakes and blueberry pancakes. The pumpkin pancakes were a bit of a fail, but they tasted delicious. After, Chelsea took me to a store called Taste of America where I bought canned pumpkin and cake mix so that I can make pumpkin muffins for Thanksgiving like I always do. We then got a wonderful gourmet picnic (McDonald's) which we took into Parque Retiro. The park was absolutely gorgeous because fall actually happens in Madrid. I was so excited to see the leaves changing color! After that, we saw two more apartments which were both extremely great. She is going to live in one of them with two other roommates and a really great location. We then went out on the town on Saturday and ended up running into her friends at both of the places we went to. It was nice to meet her friends and I really had a great weekend.
This week at school, I feel a lot more "in the know" because teachers are actually telling me what I need to do to prepare for classes. I also feel that the students are doing a much better job of at least trying to understand what is going on. Most of the time so far, they have just spaced out when I am talking, but I reinforced that if they want to do well on their tests, they are going to have to start paying more attention.
The next morning, Chelsea and I cooked a delicious pancake breakfast. We made pumpkin pancakes and blueberry pancakes. The pumpkin pancakes were a bit of a fail, but they tasted delicious. After, Chelsea took me to a store called Taste of America where I bought canned pumpkin and cake mix so that I can make pumpkin muffins for Thanksgiving like I always do. We then got a wonderful gourmet picnic (McDonald's) which we took into Parque Retiro. The park was absolutely gorgeous because fall actually happens in Madrid. I was so excited to see the leaves changing color! After that, we saw two more apartments which were both extremely great. She is going to live in one of them with two other roommates and a really great location. We then went out on the town on Saturday and ended up running into her friends at both of the places we went to. It was nice to meet her friends and I really had a great weekend.
This week at school, I feel a lot more "in the know" because teachers are actually telling me what I need to do to prepare for classes. I also feel that the students are doing a much better job of at least trying to understand what is going on. Most of the time so far, they have just spaced out when I am talking, but I reinforced that if they want to do well on their tests, they are going to have to start paying more attention.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Exam Week
This week is the first time that my students have an exam in all the ages. I am really hoping that they do well on their exams because it will be a partial reflection on my teaching. Seeing as I am only with each group of students for 1 or 2 hours a week, it is really hard to judge if they are learning. I feel that the teachers I work with don't do the best job of speaking English when I am not in the classroom. So, I will feel bad if my students do poorly on the exam, but I won't feel that it is all my fault. I have talked to the teachers and told them that they need to be speaking in English during bilingual time because the students need more practice, but seeing as English is difficult for them, many of them don't do it.
Today I read the first of many exams that I will read. In order for the students to perform well on the exam, the school believes that it is necessary to read the entire test to the students. I noticed that many of the students really seemed to understand the questions and got to work straight away on the answers. I also noticed that there were a few students who literally had no idea what was going on. The first question on the test was "Where does fresh food come from? Answer." and they had to trace "Fresh food comes from" and then write "plants and animals". I saw one girl trace/trace Fresh food come from Answer. I tried to explain to her about 10 times what the question was, but she had no clue. It made me a little sad that she was so clueless and that I could not help her since it was an exam.
I think that this week will be kind of boring at school because normally during an exam, I am sent out to prepare materials. I can only prepare so many materials, so it is hard to fill up all that time without seeming like I am sitting around and doing nothing.
After school today, I picked up Claudia and we had a lot of fun. I taught her how to do a cartwheel because she loves gymnastics. I also taught her how to play Go Fish and made her play it in English to practice the phrase "Do you have any" and numbers. She loved it. The only bad part about babysitting today was that Claudia decided to practice her recorder for an hour since she has an exam tomorrow. Now, I am sitting back at home with a giant headache :(
Today I read the first of many exams that I will read. In order for the students to perform well on the exam, the school believes that it is necessary to read the entire test to the students. I noticed that many of the students really seemed to understand the questions and got to work straight away on the answers. I also noticed that there were a few students who literally had no idea what was going on. The first question on the test was "Where does fresh food come from? Answer." and they had to trace "Fresh food comes from" and then write "plants and animals". I saw one girl trace/trace Fresh food come from Answer. I tried to explain to her about 10 times what the question was, but she had no clue. It made me a little sad that she was so clueless and that I could not help her since it was an exam.
I think that this week will be kind of boring at school because normally during an exam, I am sent out to prepare materials. I can only prepare so many materials, so it is hard to fill up all that time without seeming like I am sitting around and doing nothing.
After school today, I picked up Claudia and we had a lot of fun. I taught her how to do a cartwheel because she loves gymnastics. I also taught her how to play Go Fish and made her play it in English to practice the phrase "Do you have any" and numbers. She loved it. The only bad part about babysitting today was that Claudia decided to practice her recorder for an hour since she has an exam tomorrow. Now, I am sitting back at home with a giant headache :(
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Halloween does not need to be scary!
Bridget and I finally got to go to Ronda on Sunday. Although it was a bit of a rough morning since neither of us got very much sleep, Ronda was totally worth it. When we arrived, we got tostada and coffee at a cafe. Turns out we picked a very historical cafe, it is the oldest cafe in Ronda. We just sat down there because it was one of the first places we saw that was open, then we met a couple that has been coming to Ronda since their honeymoon from Connecticut. They told us a restaurant that we should try for lunch which was a tapas bar. They also told us where to walk around and see things. We saw the parador (cliff) of Ronda which is the most amazing view of the mountainous terrain that surrounds it. We got a lot of walking in and saw a lot, including a small petting zoo where they had peacocks. It was pretty cool.
Yesterday, we celebrated Halloween at school. We played pin the face on the jack-o-lantern, a version of steal the bacon, and bobbing for apples. The students had a ton of fun. I actually got to work with 5th grade yesterday for the first time and they are really awesome. I did an activity with them where they had to read the directions and draw different things on the haunted house (example: There is a ghost in the left downstairs window). They really seemed to like the activity and I think I actually convinced them that I don't know Spanish (a first in my school)! They did a great job of asking questions when they did not understand and were trying so hard in English.
Last night, we had a bunch of the other Auxiliares de Conversacion (people who are doing what we are) over to our piso. It was a lot of fun to have other people to talk to and hang out with. All of them are great people that we had a lot of fun with. We also had a couple of Spaniards over. They were all so confused about our costumes seeing as my roommates and I were a cowgirl, a pumpkin, a goth, and an Energizer bunny. The Spaniards are under the impression that Halloween is only a scary holiday and no matter how many times we try to convince them, they don't want to believe that Halloween does not mean only scary.
Today is All Saints Day, so no school! We have been cleaning our apartment, trying to get laundry done (since it's supposed to rain for the next 4 days straight!), and relaxing.
Yesterday, we celebrated Halloween at school. We played pin the face on the jack-o-lantern, a version of steal the bacon, and bobbing for apples. The students had a ton of fun. I actually got to work with 5th grade yesterday for the first time and they are really awesome. I did an activity with them where they had to read the directions and draw different things on the haunted house (example: There is a ghost in the left downstairs window). They really seemed to like the activity and I think I actually convinced them that I don't know Spanish (a first in my school)! They did a great job of asking questions when they did not understand and were trying so hard in English.
Last night, we had a bunch of the other Auxiliares de Conversacion (people who are doing what we are) over to our piso. It was a lot of fun to have other people to talk to and hang out with. All of them are great people that we had a lot of fun with. We also had a couple of Spaniards over. They were all so confused about our costumes seeing as my roommates and I were a cowgirl, a pumpkin, a goth, and an Energizer bunny. The Spaniards are under the impression that Halloween is only a scary holiday and no matter how many times we try to convince them, they don't want to believe that Halloween does not mean only scary.
Today is All Saints Day, so no school! We have been cleaning our apartment, trying to get laundry done (since it's supposed to rain for the next 4 days straight!), and relaxing.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Everything happens for a reason
The rest of this week was pretty average at school. I am still confused why I am a class with second graders that is arts and crafts where they are given a project to work on and I sit there while they do it, but oh well. Anyway, I found out that I do have to go to school on Monday even though most auxiliares have off. The government in Bormujos did not approve for us to have Oct 31st off, so we will be celebrating Halloween that day. The students are really excited for the Halloween games and carnival!
Today, Bridget and I were going to go to Ronda which is a beautiful city that is south of Sevilla. It is one of "los pueblos blancos" which means "white villages" where all of the buildings are white and beautiful. There is a lot of walking around and huge mountains/valleys to see. We got to the bus station about a half hour before the bus was due to leave and the ticket stand was closed. So, we walked to the bus and asked people if we had to buy tickets on board and they said they already had tickets and the bus was completely full. We waited while the bus loaded to see if there were going to be any open spots, but there were not. So when we walked back into the station, we decided to see if the ticket stand was open to buy tickets for tomorrow.
Instead of heading home, we decided to take the TUSSAM (tram) into the city. It is basically a glorified people mover that is really unnecessary, but it was a good experience. Then we got a coffee at Starbucks (even though it was SUPER expensive). We decided to go into the Archivo de Indias which is the building in Seville that houses all of the documents about explorers journeys around the world. We were reading about the Nao Victoria which was the first ship to travel around the world and bring back cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves to Spain when an older Spanish man came over and started sharing all of his knowledge about the history of the building. He walked us through the entire building and was explaining everything to us. We learned that all of the mahogany paneling was brought over from the Caribbean, that the documents are actually housed in an adjacent building to preserve them and that there are over 60,000 documents housed there about the finding of America and journeys around the world. So, although our original plans did not work out, we ended up having an amazing time learning more about our city!
Today, Bridget and I were going to go to Ronda which is a beautiful city that is south of Sevilla. It is one of "los pueblos blancos" which means "white villages" where all of the buildings are white and beautiful. There is a lot of walking around and huge mountains/valleys to see. We got to the bus station about a half hour before the bus was due to leave and the ticket stand was closed. So, we walked to the bus and asked people if we had to buy tickets on board and they said they already had tickets and the bus was completely full. We waited while the bus loaded to see if there were going to be any open spots, but there were not. So when we walked back into the station, we decided to see if the ticket stand was open to buy tickets for tomorrow.
Instead of heading home, we decided to take the TUSSAM (tram) into the city. It is basically a glorified people mover that is really unnecessary, but it was a good experience. Then we got a coffee at Starbucks (even though it was SUPER expensive). We decided to go into the Archivo de Indias which is the building in Seville that houses all of the documents about explorers journeys around the world. We were reading about the Nao Victoria which was the first ship to travel around the world and bring back cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves to Spain when an older Spanish man came over and started sharing all of his knowledge about the history of the building. He walked us through the entire building and was explaining everything to us. We learned that all of the mahogany paneling was brought over from the Caribbean, that the documents are actually housed in an adjacent building to preserve them and that there are over 60,000 documents housed there about the finding of America and journeys around the world. So, although our original plans did not work out, we ended up having an amazing time learning more about our city!
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Bobbing for Apples
Other than that, nothing much has been going on here. My roomies and I are all starting to feel a little bored with our lives. We want to find more things to do such as dance or cooking class. The problem we are having is that everything is extremely expensive, so we need to keep looking. We just want to make some more Spanish friends so that on Sunday we are not so bored anymore.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Music in Education
On Wednesday, I got to see the 6th graders again for the second time. I really, really enjoy working with them because they are at a much higher level of English than the other children I work with and there is so much more we can do together. I was told by the teacher that when I come in, she wants me to do fun stuff and has given me pretty much complete liberty to do what I want to reinforce what they are doing in English class. Right now, they are learning about comparative adjectives (faster, bigger, smaller, etc.). So, I thought that something fun we could do would be to listen to a song and fill in the lyrics that I removed. I was trying to think of a good song that had a lot of -er words in it and I came up with the song "Stronger" by Kanye West feat. Daft Punk. The students loved the song and really enjoyed the lesson. We also started pen pal letters because they are going to have pen pal's in the US in my good friend Jennifer's classroom. They didn't finish their letters, but they are extremely excited about having a new friend who lives (as one student put it) "millions of kilometers away!"
Thursday I got to prepare a ton of materials for the Halloween party we are having at school. The principal of the school told me that I was working too hard, like a dog. I did a lot of cutting and laminating which wasn't a whole lot of fun, but now they will have the games and flashcards for years to come. The most frustrating part was trying to print the stuff out. We found a lot of great materials on www.sparklebox.co.uk, but then our color printer wasn't working and for some reason, it would not save to my flash drive. So, I had to re-find all of the materials that I had found before and print them out in black and white.
Yesterday, we went to the beach in Cadiz. The last time I was in Cadiz, it was only for one night for Carnaval. It is a beautiful city with really nice beaches during the day. The weather was perfect for the beach and we are really glad we went since it is probably going to be our last beach day until March.
Thursday I got to prepare a ton of materials for the Halloween party we are having at school. The principal of the school told me that I was working too hard, like a dog. I did a lot of cutting and laminating which wasn't a whole lot of fun, but now they will have the games and flashcards for years to come. The most frustrating part was trying to print the stuff out. We found a lot of great materials on www.sparklebox.co.uk, but then our color printer wasn't working and for some reason, it would not save to my flash drive. So, I had to re-find all of the materials that I had found before and print them out in black and white.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Guapa!
Yesterday was my first time babysitting here in Spain. I was worried that it was going to be too long of a time, since it was just one ten year girl for 3 hours, but it ended up being a lot of fun. I pick her up right when I get home from Bormujos. I have to catch the metro from near my bus stop to her school. I pick her up then we study her English vocabulary for the week. After, I was showing her my iPhone which she loved. She played AngryBirds and Fruit Ninja on my phone. Then we had time to play a couple quick games of Connect 4, all of which she beat me in. So, it turns out kids here aren't any different from kids in the USA.
Today in first grade, I was surprised by my students at the beginning of the class. They were coming in from recess and each one gave me a kiss on the cheek (I was sitting down) before going to their seats. It was a little bit weird because in the US, you can't even safely hug a child without worrying about the repercussions. Then, I said good morning to the students as I always do and they replied "Good morning, hello guapa!" (pretty girl). So I tried to teach them the word for pretty because they are constantly calling me guapa (which I'm not complaining about, what girl doesn't want to be told she looks pretty), but since it was English class, I figured I would teach them. The best they could get was "peely" so we are going to keep working on that word each class. I think they will catch on in a couple of weeks...
Today in first grade, I was surprised by my students at the beginning of the class. They were coming in from recess and each one gave me a kiss on the cheek (I was sitting down) before going to their seats. It was a little bit weird because in the US, you can't even safely hug a child without worrying about the repercussions. Then, I said good morning to the students as I always do and they replied "Good morning, hello guapa!" (pretty girl). So I tried to teach them the word for pretty because they are constantly calling me guapa (which I'm not complaining about, what girl doesn't want to be told she looks pretty), but since it was English class, I figured I would teach them. The best they could get was "peely" so we are going to keep working on that word each class. I think they will catch on in a couple of weeks...
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Friends
Well, we did it, we finally made some Spanish friends. Seeing as we didn't have school on Wednesday, we went out to a bar on Tuesday night. We met a group of Spaniards while we were there and exchanged numbers with them. They came over to our apartment last night and we had a lot of fun. They are all very funny and very helpful with Spanish. We baked chocolate chip cookies before they came over yesterday. They thought they were delicious, since Spaniards aren't huge on desserts. We told them that the next time they come over we will make them brownies.
School has still been a whirlwind of uncertainty. One of the teachers has been very helpful and finally gave me a yearly plan. She said that each unit will be two weeks and I should plan activities to help the students learn the vocabulary in each unit. This week and next week's unit is bones and muscles. The students really enjoyed cutting out and gluing a skeleton together the other day and labeling the bones. I don't think they get to do much arts/crafty stuff on a regular basis, so they were really excited about it. I still have no idea what I am doing in 1st grade. Everyday when I go in is a surprise. I am hoping by the end of next week I feel more comfortable in my school.
Tonight, Bridget and I are going over to her friend Fidel's house for dinner. He is the friend who cooked us dinner a few weeks ago. He is going to make us fajitas! We are so excited to have them and he is also going to install Rosetta Stone on our computers so that we can become trilingual if we want. :)
School has still been a whirlwind of uncertainty. One of the teachers has been very helpful and finally gave me a yearly plan. She said that each unit will be two weeks and I should plan activities to help the students learn the vocabulary in each unit. This week and next week's unit is bones and muscles. The students really enjoyed cutting out and gluing a skeleton together the other day and labeling the bones. I don't think they get to do much arts/crafty stuff on a regular basis, so they were really excited about it. I still have no idea what I am doing in 1st grade. Everyday when I go in is a surprise. I am hoping by the end of next week I feel more comfortable in my school.
Tonight, Bridget and I are going over to her friend Fidel's house for dinner. He is the friend who cooked us dinner a few weeks ago. He is going to make us fajitas! We are so excited to have them and he is also going to install Rosetta Stone on our computers so that we can become trilingual if we want. :)
Monday, October 10, 2011
Feeling Sevillana
Today I feel very accomplished. School was a lot of fun. I read the book There Is A Bird on Your Head by Mo Willems to all of my classes today. I related it to emotions in 2nd grade and to body parts/simple emotions in 1st grade. Even the 1st graders who have been looking at me as if I am an alien were laughing and smiling throughout the entire story. All of my cooperating teachers decided that it was the most amazing book ever and think that they are going to use some of their grant money from the government to buy Elephant and Piggie books. :)
During the break time, I finally made a teacher friend! His name is Joaquin and he teaches in 4th grade. He approached me and asked how things have been going so far for me. He told me that he would teach me some Spanish recipes when I told him I was getting bored with my food. He also told me about some different opportunities to get involved in the community such as Latin dance classes, mountain climbing and rowing in the Guadlquiver. It was nice to have someone approach me and start up a conversation!
After school, I did two things that I have been wanting to do, but I was too nervous to try until today. After my success in school, I was ready to go out into the city and become more of a citizen. The first thing that I did was go to the public library. I love to read and I think that I would go crazy if I didn't check out books, since I don't have much else to do yet. It was quite a process, but I found that they had children's literature in English (which I am very excited to incorporate into my classroom). They have a wide selection of fiction and non fiction adult books. They also have adult books in English. I checked out one novel in English and one in Spanish. I want to read Spanish books to better my Spanish vocabulary, but sometimes I will also want to read English books to understand everything easily. Getting my library card wasn't difficult like I thought it might be, I only needed my passport. But, just like everything in Spain, it took a long time because nobody was in any sort of hurry to help me.
After getting the card, I wanted to accomplish another one of my goals, buying meat at the supermarket. This doesn't seem like a big feat to anybody, but they don't sell meat prepackaged and ready to go like they do in the United States. I had to approach the butcher and ask for the cut of meat that I wanted and the amount in kilos that I wanted. Every time I have gone to the market so far, I've wandered by the meat counter and chickened out on buying anything. So finally today, I walked up and said "Quiero medio kilo de filetas de pechuga de pollo" (I want a half kilo of chicken breast fillets.) The butcher said "OK, muy bien!" (Great!) I think that he had noticed that I was nervous and he may have even noticed that I have chickened out before. He cut my meat for me and cut off all of the fat without my asking.
I know both of these things seem small, but I feel great right now! :)
During the break time, I finally made a teacher friend! His name is Joaquin and he teaches in 4th grade. He approached me and asked how things have been going so far for me. He told me that he would teach me some Spanish recipes when I told him I was getting bored with my food. He also told me about some different opportunities to get involved in the community such as Latin dance classes, mountain climbing and rowing in the Guadlquiver. It was nice to have someone approach me and start up a conversation!
After school, I did two things that I have been wanting to do, but I was too nervous to try until today. After my success in school, I was ready to go out into the city and become more of a citizen. The first thing that I did was go to the public library. I love to read and I think that I would go crazy if I didn't check out books, since I don't have much else to do yet. It was quite a process, but I found that they had children's literature in English (which I am very excited to incorporate into my classroom). They have a wide selection of fiction and non fiction adult books. They also have adult books in English. I checked out one novel in English and one in Spanish. I want to read Spanish books to better my Spanish vocabulary, but sometimes I will also want to read English books to understand everything easily. Getting my library card wasn't difficult like I thought it might be, I only needed my passport. But, just like everything in Spain, it took a long time because nobody was in any sort of hurry to help me.
After getting the card, I wanted to accomplish another one of my goals, buying meat at the supermarket. This doesn't seem like a big feat to anybody, but they don't sell meat prepackaged and ready to go like they do in the United States. I had to approach the butcher and ask for the cut of meat that I wanted and the amount in kilos that I wanted. Every time I have gone to the market so far, I've wandered by the meat counter and chickened out on buying anything. So finally today, I walked up and said "Quiero medio kilo de filetas de pechuga de pollo" (I want a half kilo of chicken breast fillets.) The butcher said "OK, muy bien!" (Great!) I think that he had noticed that I was nervous and he may have even noticed that I have chickened out before. He cut my meat for me and cut off all of the fat without my asking.
I know both of these things seem small, but I feel great right now! :)
Sunday, October 9, 2011
3 day weekends=amazing
I am so excited that I have a three day weekend every weekend while I am here. I only work Monday-Thursday because I only work 12 hours a week.
Thursday night was a lot of fun. We went to a tapas bar called La Suerna which is on the corner. Every time we pass by, the place is packed with a bunch of people who are in their 20's. We went there not only because of the crowd, but also because on Thursday's they have 2 for 1 raciones. Raciones are big plates of food. Each one costs 6 euro, so we paid 12 euro for 4 plates of food to share between 6 people. It was a good amount of food and it was absolutely delicious. It is mainly a seafood tapas bar with items such as muscles, shrimp, and squid. The bar is owned by the same man who runs the Cien Montaditos restaurant, so we were pretty sure that it was going to be good before we went. After Suerna, we went down the street to Bar Emilio that we think is going to become our neighborhood bar. Antonio was our waiter there both times we went this week and he was really excited to see us again with more friends.
Friday we ended up going to the beach in Matalascanas. The weather was perfect for the beach and we got to relax. It was the first time since we have been here that I felt relaxed since there has been so much to do with getting settled in.
Friday night we decided to go out on the town to find Spanish friends. Our goal was to make a couple of friends, so we decided to approach a group of 3 Spanish girls. We asked them what was fun to do in the area and they said we should just join them for the night. We were walking down the sidewalk with them and met up with a group of about 15 of their friends. We talked and hung out for a long time with the group and they were all very welcoming and eager to be our friends. We are having plans with them again on Tuesday night since we don't have school on Wednesday for Spanish Independence Day. :)
The past two days have been a lot of catching up on sleep, laundry and Skyping with friends. Last night, Bridget and I just stayed in and watched a movie so that we could go to sleep early. Today, I have been planning even though I am not really sure what I am supposed to be teaching this week. I still need the teachers to give me an idea of their plans for the week so we can work together to teach. I don't really like going into the classroom and having the teachers say "You are here, OK GO!" Hopefully more things will be explained this week and I will get more used to my schedule...
Thursday night was a lot of fun. We went to a tapas bar called La Suerna which is on the corner. Every time we pass by, the place is packed with a bunch of people who are in their 20's. We went there not only because of the crowd, but also because on Thursday's they have 2 for 1 raciones. Raciones are big plates of food. Each one costs 6 euro, so we paid 12 euro for 4 plates of food to share between 6 people. It was a good amount of food and it was absolutely delicious. It is mainly a seafood tapas bar with items such as muscles, shrimp, and squid. The bar is owned by the same man who runs the Cien Montaditos restaurant, so we were pretty sure that it was going to be good before we went. After Suerna, we went down the street to Bar Emilio that we think is going to become our neighborhood bar. Antonio was our waiter there both times we went this week and he was really excited to see us again with more friends.
Friday we ended up going to the beach in Matalascanas. The weather was perfect for the beach and we got to relax. It was the first time since we have been here that I felt relaxed since there has been so much to do with getting settled in. Friday night we decided to go out on the town to find Spanish friends. Our goal was to make a couple of friends, so we decided to approach a group of 3 Spanish girls. We asked them what was fun to do in the area and they said we should just join them for the night. We were walking down the sidewalk with them and met up with a group of about 15 of their friends. We talked and hung out for a long time with the group and they were all very welcoming and eager to be our friends. We are having plans with them again on Tuesday night since we don't have school on Wednesday for Spanish Independence Day. :)
The past two days have been a lot of catching up on sleep, laundry and Skyping with friends. Last night, Bridget and I just stayed in and watched a movie so that we could go to sleep early. Today, I have been planning even though I am not really sure what I am supposed to be teaching this week. I still need the teachers to give me an idea of their plans for the week so we can work together to teach. I don't really like going into the classroom and having the teachers say "You are here, OK GO!" Hopefully more things will be explained this week and I will get more used to my schedule...
Thursday, October 6, 2011
No Pasa Nada
My roommates and I went to Cien Montaditos for dinner last night because Wednesday is Euro day. Everything costs a euro including jars of beer/tinto de verano. We had a great night out in our part of the city and plan on repeating it often.
Today was a stressful day. I had to be at school at 9 today, so I got up and ready to go. I got to my bus stop at 7:50 thinking that the bus was at 8. So, I sat waiting for the bus and after awhile I checked my phone. It was 8:05, so I figured I should check the schedule and it turns out that the bus was at 7:45. I started to freak out and I decided it would be best to hop in a taxi to go to Plaza de Armas because there are more buses that leave from there. I ran to the closest taxi stand, which was about a 10 minute run from my bus stop. The taxi driver drove me there, but then I realized I only had a 50 euro bill. He did not have change, so he drove up the street a bit so that I could get change at a gas station. After finally getting to the station and paying my driver, I ran into the bus station to see my bus pulling away. I was so overwhelmed and upset because I knew that there was no way for me to get to school on time. At 9:40 I finally arrived at school and ran into my classroom and immediately began apologizing profusely. The first thing out of my coordinators mouth was "No pasa nada" (don't worry about it!) She made me feel ok about skipping out on class, so it was a huge relief. Other than being late, school today was really great. My students really seem to be understanding feelings and the 5 senses. My coworkers have been talking to me more and including me in conversations.
Tonight, we are going out for tapas with some other girls from our program, which should be a lot of fun. Tomorrow, we are planning on going to the beach since we have Friday's off :)
Today was a stressful day. I had to be at school at 9 today, so I got up and ready to go. I got to my bus stop at 7:50 thinking that the bus was at 8. So, I sat waiting for the bus and after awhile I checked my phone. It was 8:05, so I figured I should check the schedule and it turns out that the bus was at 7:45. I started to freak out and I decided it would be best to hop in a taxi to go to Plaza de Armas because there are more buses that leave from there. I ran to the closest taxi stand, which was about a 10 minute run from my bus stop. The taxi driver drove me there, but then I realized I only had a 50 euro bill. He did not have change, so he drove up the street a bit so that I could get change at a gas station. After finally getting to the station and paying my driver, I ran into the bus station to see my bus pulling away. I was so overwhelmed and upset because I knew that there was no way for me to get to school on time. At 9:40 I finally arrived at school and ran into my classroom and immediately began apologizing profusely. The first thing out of my coordinators mouth was "No pasa nada" (don't worry about it!) She made me feel ok about skipping out on class, so it was a huge relief. Other than being late, school today was really great. My students really seem to be understanding feelings and the 5 senses. My coworkers have been talking to me more and including me in conversations.
Tonight, we are going out for tapas with some other girls from our program, which should be a lot of fun. Tomorrow, we are planning on going to the beach since we have Friday's off :)
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Do you (e)speak (e)Spanish?
The second and third days of school have been better than the first. Today was my first day in a sixth grade classroom and I absolutely loved it. They are at a much higher level of English than all of the other students that I teach, so I will be able to do a lot more with them. I am already looking forward to working with them next week. I think that I am going to play a song and have them fill in the lyrics of the song to learn about comparative adjectives. Now I just have to find the song.
My favorite part of teaching today is that the students had so many questions for me. They were asking me if I lived near any celebrities, so I told them that Michael Jordan's (old) house is right down the street from mine. Then they started asking me about other celebrities such as Justin Beiber, Selena Gomez, iCarly, and Michael Jackson. About half of their questions I couldn't answer because I simply didn't know the answers. I did make one mistake in both my 6th grade classes today though, the students figured out that I speak Spanish (which they aren't supposed to know...). In the first, I was listening to their questions and one girl asked "When is your birthday?" and I wrote it on the board as 21 de enero. I realized what I had done right away, so I erased it with my hand. I was not quick enough and they saw that I wrote in Spanish. In the other class one of the girls asked "Do you have a novio?" and I responded that I didn't have a boyfriend. So, I had to explain to both classes that I do speak Spanish, but when I am in class with them, I don't speak/understand Spanish at all. They agreed to try their hardest in English because I will feign stupidity when they try to talk to me in Spanish.
During the break time today, I was working on filling out a form in the break room. A bunch of the teachers were cutting out tiny slips of paper that said "Dear Parents, We regret to inform you that a case of piojos has been discovered in the school." I could translate all of the other words except piojos, so I asked one of the teachers what it was. She said "I don't know how you say in English, but bugs in your hair." So, today I learned the word for lice. I am really hoping that I don't get it because I am pretty sure that it is in the first grade classrooms that I work in 4 times a week. :(
One more day this week!
My favorite part of teaching today is that the students had so many questions for me. They were asking me if I lived near any celebrities, so I told them that Michael Jordan's (old) house is right down the street from mine. Then they started asking me about other celebrities such as Justin Beiber, Selena Gomez, iCarly, and Michael Jackson. About half of their questions I couldn't answer because I simply didn't know the answers. I did make one mistake in both my 6th grade classes today though, the students figured out that I speak Spanish (which they aren't supposed to know...). In the first, I was listening to their questions and one girl asked "When is your birthday?" and I wrote it on the board as 21 de enero. I realized what I had done right away, so I erased it with my hand. I was not quick enough and they saw that I wrote in Spanish. In the other class one of the girls asked "Do you have a novio?" and I responded that I didn't have a boyfriend. So, I had to explain to both classes that I do speak Spanish, but when I am in class with them, I don't speak/understand Spanish at all. They agreed to try their hardest in English because I will feign stupidity when they try to talk to me in Spanish.
During the break time today, I was working on filling out a form in the break room. A bunch of the teachers were cutting out tiny slips of paper that said "Dear Parents, We regret to inform you that a case of piojos has been discovered in the school." I could translate all of the other words except piojos, so I asked one of the teachers what it was. She said "I don't know how you say in English, but bugs in your hair." So, today I learned the word for lice. I am really hoping that I don't get it because I am pretty sure that it is in the first grade classrooms that I work in 4 times a week. :(
One more day this week!
Monday, October 3, 2011
First Day of School
Today was my first day of school at CEIP El Manantial in Bormujos. It is a school of Infantil and Primaria which means 3 year olds-12 year olds. I am in 3 second grade classrooms a week, 2 first grade classrooms a week and 2 sixth grade classrooms a week. I am assisting a lead teacher in each level to teach English and Social Science. The things that are going to be most difficult are working with the teachers, whose English isn't exactly great and working with the first graders.
First grade was the first class that I went to today. The children in first grade have only been learning English for about a month (since the beginning of the school year), so they have barely any vocabulary since their teacher says most of the English class in Spanish. They literally looked at me like I was an alien from a different planet while I was introducing myself and when I asked if anyone had questions, nobody had any questions. The teacher wasn't really helping them along either, but afterward we played Simon Says with the body parts, which they really enjoyed. Overall, even though it will be the most difficult, I think I will see the most improvement in the first grade, which will be most rewarding.
After first grade, I went to two of my second grade classes. I really enjoyed both of them. The students had a lot more to say and were very excited to practice their English with me! They asked what my favorite color, food, drink, sport, animal and plant were. They all wanted to share their answers too. They also took a huge interest in the photos I brought in of Chicago, my family and my friends. They were very curious about everything and I think they will be a pleasure to teach.
I hope that I get to know the staff at my school better because I was kind of lonely at the break time today. My school runs from 9 am-2 pm with a break from 11:45-12:15 (recess for the kids). During the break, the teachers who do not have recess duty have a snack in the break room and chat with each other. Nobody was really making an effort to include me in conversations, even though I was right there and trying to get involved. I guess I will have to be a bit more proactive tomorrow and start talking to people.
After school, my roommates and I went to the CIEE office to have them make copies for our Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero. This is a card that will allow me to enter and leave the country after my visa expires in December. The staff at CIEE was very nice and willing to make copies for us and let us use the computers to print things. I also got a secondary job on top of my teaching while I was there. I am going to be babysitting/tutoring a 10 year old girl 2 days a week after I get back from teaching. It will be nice to have the extra income, hopefully I can use it to go on a trip or something sometime soon.
First grade was the first class that I went to today. The children in first grade have only been learning English for about a month (since the beginning of the school year), so they have barely any vocabulary since their teacher says most of the English class in Spanish. They literally looked at me like I was an alien from a different planet while I was introducing myself and when I asked if anyone had questions, nobody had any questions. The teacher wasn't really helping them along either, but afterward we played Simon Says with the body parts, which they really enjoyed. Overall, even though it will be the most difficult, I think I will see the most improvement in the first grade, which will be most rewarding.
After first grade, I went to two of my second grade classes. I really enjoyed both of them. The students had a lot more to say and were very excited to practice their English with me! They asked what my favorite color, food, drink, sport, animal and plant were. They all wanted to share their answers too. They also took a huge interest in the photos I brought in of Chicago, my family and my friends. They were very curious about everything and I think they will be a pleasure to teach.
I hope that I get to know the staff at my school better because I was kind of lonely at the break time today. My school runs from 9 am-2 pm with a break from 11:45-12:15 (recess for the kids). During the break, the teachers who do not have recess duty have a snack in the break room and chat with each other. Nobody was really making an effort to include me in conversations, even though I was right there and trying to get involved. I guess I will have to be a bit more proactive tomorrow and start talking to people.
After school, my roommates and I went to the CIEE office to have them make copies for our Tarjeta de Identidad de Extranjero. This is a card that will allow me to enter and leave the country after my visa expires in December. The staff at CIEE was very nice and willing to make copies for us and let us use the computers to print things. I also got a secondary job on top of my teaching while I was there. I am going to be babysitting/tutoring a 10 year old girl 2 days a week after I get back from teaching. It will be nice to have the extra income, hopefully I can use it to go on a trip or something sometime soon.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Settled In
We have finally gotten to a point where we are all settled into our new place. It has been a pretty interesting weekend with a lot of random events. On Thursday, I did my laundry for the first time (after actually learning how to use the washing machine!) Our washer is pretty old, but it does a great job of cleaning things. We do not have a dryer, so we have to hang our clothes out to dry on a line. I was really nervous putting out my first load, I was sure that everything was going to fall off and I would never see it again, but I was successful and got all my clothes off.
On Friday during the day, I went out to Bormujos to visit my school. The first thing that I realized when I got off the bus is that I am really glad that I am living in Sevilla. Bormujos is a very cute, but very small city, I literally walked from one end to the other in 10 minutes. Besides the city being small though, I really enjoyed my first visit out. All of the teachers that I am working with seem very excited to be working together. I will be teaching 1st, 2nd and 6th grade English and Science. It is a bilingual school, so I will be working with other bilingual teachers. The students are precious and I cannot wait to get to know them better.
We went out in Sevilla on Friday night which was a lot of fun. I got to experience the nightlife here and we met a bunch of new people. We went to a bar on Calle Betis where there weren't too many other people (probably because we were there kind of early). Then we decided to walk to a different place called Alfalfa. We ran into some people from our orientation there and we also made some new Spanish friends. We also finally got our first roomie picture together!
(Emily, Kathleen, Me, Bridget)
Saturday we all slept away most of the day, since we weren't used to going out like the Spaniards do. After spending most of the day bumming around, we went to a cafe to meet up with Bridget's friend Fidel. Fidel came over to our place and cooked us dinner because he said we weren't eating well and he wanted to teach us how to. Most of what we have been eating either comes from a can, is tuna, or is a sandwich. So, he taught us a recipe for chicken with onions and thyme. It was so delicious and filling and now we know how to order meat. One kilo feeds about 5 people, so we can always order that much then freeze some. We also learned that when ordering meat, the butcher tends to leave the fat on the meat so that he can charge you more for it. Then, when you get home, you have to cut off a ton what you are given because it isn't edible.
Today, I prepared what I am going to do in my classroom tomorrow. I am going to take in pictures of my family, friends, and hometown. I am also going to talk about some of my favorites (color, food, sport, etc.) and then I am going to have the students work with a partner to come up with a list of their favorites. This way they can practice conversation and I can learn more about each individual.
On Friday during the day, I went out to Bormujos to visit my school. The first thing that I realized when I got off the bus is that I am really glad that I am living in Sevilla. Bormujos is a very cute, but very small city, I literally walked from one end to the other in 10 minutes. Besides the city being small though, I really enjoyed my first visit out. All of the teachers that I am working with seem very excited to be working together. I will be teaching 1st, 2nd and 6th grade English and Science. It is a bilingual school, so I will be working with other bilingual teachers. The students are precious and I cannot wait to get to know them better.
We went out in Sevilla on Friday night which was a lot of fun. I got to experience the nightlife here and we met a bunch of new people. We went to a bar on Calle Betis where there weren't too many other people (probably because we were there kind of early). Then we decided to walk to a different place called Alfalfa. We ran into some people from our orientation there and we also made some new Spanish friends. We also finally got our first roomie picture together!
(Emily, Kathleen, Me, Bridget)Saturday we all slept away most of the day, since we weren't used to going out like the Spaniards do. After spending most of the day bumming around, we went to a cafe to meet up with Bridget's friend Fidel. Fidel came over to our place and cooked us dinner because he said we weren't eating well and he wanted to teach us how to. Most of what we have been eating either comes from a can, is tuna, or is a sandwich. So, he taught us a recipe for chicken with onions and thyme. It was so delicious and filling and now we know how to order meat. One kilo feeds about 5 people, so we can always order that much then freeze some. We also learned that when ordering meat, the butcher tends to leave the fat on the meat so that he can charge you more for it. Then, when you get home, you have to cut off a ton what you are given because it isn't edible.
Today, I prepared what I am going to do in my classroom tomorrow. I am going to take in pictures of my family, friends, and hometown. I am also going to talk about some of my favorites (color, food, sport, etc.) and then I am going to have the students work with a partner to come up with a list of their favorites. This way they can practice conversation and I can learn more about each individual.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
All Moved In!
We moved in! And we got internet within the first 48 hours!
Moving in has been quite an experience. Obtaining our keys was very overwhelming. We met Manolo to get our keys and he brought along two friends. And our landlords (2 brothers) were in our apartment. So, in all there were 9 people present at our contract signing. This was very different than anything that would ever happen in the US. We still aren't really sure why Manolo's two friends came along, but no pasa nada.
The best part of moving into our place is that we don't have to live out of suitcases anymore, which was a HUGE relief. We each have our own room and so much space to invite friends over. I think we are going to invite some people over soon to show off our new place. Here are some photos!
Our landlords are super helpful and one of our landlords is married to an American woman. She is very nice and told us that if we ever need anything we can ask her. It is nice to have someone who speaks the same language to help us solve problems. The biggest problem so far is that our washing machine does not seem to work correctly. I wanted to wash the sheet set that I bought before using it so that they would be clean, but it didn't work out so well. The landlords said that we should turn the machine to a certain point and that when it stopped, it was done. So, I opened the machine and a ton of water spilled out all over the floor. I closed it up, but the water is still inside. I am waiting for my landlord to get here to help fix it.
I can't wait to start school on Monday! :)
Moving in has been quite an experience. Obtaining our keys was very overwhelming. We met Manolo to get our keys and he brought along two friends. And our landlords (2 brothers) were in our apartment. So, in all there were 9 people present at our contract signing. This was very different than anything that would ever happen in the US. We still aren't really sure why Manolo's two friends came along, but no pasa nada.
The best part of moving into our place is that we don't have to live out of suitcases anymore, which was a HUGE relief. We each have our own room and so much space to invite friends over. I think we are going to invite some people over soon to show off our new place. Here are some photos!
Our landlords are super helpful and one of our landlords is married to an American woman. She is very nice and told us that if we ever need anything we can ask her. It is nice to have someone who speaks the same language to help us solve problems. The biggest problem so far is that our washing machine does not seem to work correctly. I wanted to wash the sheet set that I bought before using it so that they would be clean, but it didn't work out so well. The landlords said that we should turn the machine to a certain point and that when it stopped, it was done. So, I opened the machine and a ton of water spilled out all over the floor. I closed it up, but the water is still inside. I am waiting for my landlord to get here to help fix it.
I can't wait to start school on Monday! :)
Monday, September 26, 2011
Eggs were a bad choice
Last night we had the opportunity to meet some of Bridget's friends for dinner. Their names are Rafa and Angel and they were both very funny and nice. Making friends with Spanish people is an adventure because you have to cross the language barrier. Rafa and Angel were both very helpful at answering our questions and I cannot wait to get to know them better. Rafa said that he will DJ at our apartment because his life goal is to become half as good as David Guetta at DJ-ing.
Today was a long day where not much was accomplished. We had a meeting with Manolo el carinoso (the man who showed us our apartment) this morning during which we expected to sign contracts. In the Spanish way, we did not sign anything yet and all we did was talk about the finances. Apparently Manolo forgot to mention that he charges an 800 euro fee for his services. Divided between the four of us, it only adds 22 euro onto our rent per month and we are still paying less than we expected, but it was still a pretty big shock.
For lunch, Emily and I went to a cafe around the corner from our hotel. We ordered fried eggs and potatoes, which sounded good to both of us, but ended up being a poor choice. We both had bad stomach issues from the eggs. After lunch, we hailed a taxi to move us from our frist hotel in Plaza del Duque to our hotel for orientation in Nervion. It was stressful moving from one hotel to another with all of our bags and it was funny trying to fit everything into one cab. We made it fit and got everything into our new room after being told that we have the most luggage the check in desk has seen so far. After getting checked it, I took a siesta since I was not feeling well. Then we had our first orientation session.
After orientation, we headed to our piso to meet Manolo to get our keys and sign our lease, but we had a misunderstanding about the meeting being today when he said tomorrow. Even though it was not the right time, tonight ended up being a great night bonding further with my roommates. We went to a place called Sloppy Joe's Pizzeria which is right up the block from our piso. They have pizza, pasta, burgers and sandwiches. We had a lot of food and laughs at dinner joking how Manolo is not so carinoso (kind/caring) with his 800 euro stipend. Tomorrow I have meetings all day then Wednesday we move in! I can't wait!
Today was a long day where not much was accomplished. We had a meeting with Manolo el carinoso (the man who showed us our apartment) this morning during which we expected to sign contracts. In the Spanish way, we did not sign anything yet and all we did was talk about the finances. Apparently Manolo forgot to mention that he charges an 800 euro fee for his services. Divided between the four of us, it only adds 22 euro onto our rent per month and we are still paying less than we expected, but it was still a pretty big shock.
For lunch, Emily and I went to a cafe around the corner from our hotel. We ordered fried eggs and potatoes, which sounded good to both of us, but ended up being a poor choice. We both had bad stomach issues from the eggs. After lunch, we hailed a taxi to move us from our frist hotel in Plaza del Duque to our hotel for orientation in Nervion. It was stressful moving from one hotel to another with all of our bags and it was funny trying to fit everything into one cab. We made it fit and got everything into our new room after being told that we have the most luggage the check in desk has seen so far. After getting checked it, I took a siesta since I was not feeling well. Then we had our first orientation session.
After orientation, we headed to our piso to meet Manolo to get our keys and sign our lease, but we had a misunderstanding about the meeting being today when he said tomorrow. Even though it was not the right time, tonight ended up being a great night bonding further with my roommates. We went to a place called Sloppy Joe's Pizzeria which is right up the block from our piso. They have pizza, pasta, burgers and sandwiches. We had a lot of food and laughs at dinner joking how Manolo is not so carinoso (kind/caring) with his 800 euro stipend. Tomorrow I have meetings all day then Wednesday we move in! I can't wait!
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Excitement!
I am proud that I have kept up with my hope to blog as often as possible seeing as it's day 2 and my second post from Sevilla!
Yesterday was a really great day and I am beginning to feel more comfortable about the city. We walked around a lot again and I feel that I know how to get to where I need to and how to get back. Emily and I met up with Kathleen and Bridget in front of the University so that we could get a few things done for our piso. We went for montaditos (sandwiches) at a place called 100 montaditos that has literally 100 different sandwiches on their menu. They are very small, so one ususally orders a few different kinds. I had on with salmon and cream cheese and one with tortilla de patatas. They were both delicious.
After lunch, we tried to figure out how to get WiFi in our apartment. We walked to Orange and talked with a woman who worked there and the only problem we found is that it will take 20-ish days for them to come out and set it up. We had hoped to visit a couple other internet providers, but it was seista, so we headed back to Hotel Derby to hang out and relax until 5:30. We found that Orange is the best deal, since the other providers said that we would have to have an 18 month contract and it would cost 150 euro to cancel the contract early.
We also walked into Corte Ingles (which is a huge department store that sells EVERYTHING) to look at sheets and towels. Even though our apartment has some, we thought it would be more hygenic and safer to buy our own. In Corte Ingles we could only find really expensive sheets, blankets and towels and were pretty disappointed leaving the store. We happened to pass a Zara Home store. If you know anything about me, I love shopping at Zara and I was really excited we passed their home store. Their sheets are much less expensive and are 100% cotton, unlike Corte Ingles where they were 50% cotton, 50% polyester. We also found cheaper towels at a store called Butlers, which we weren't going to go into, but I stopped to take a picture (obviously...) and my roommates walked in. Yay Butler!
After we got done with our browsing, we decided to take a break on our hotel terrace before getting dinner. We went to Flaherty's which is an Irish bar for dinner. It is literally right across the street from the Cathdral and it was so pretty at night. We became good friends with a two year old Spanish boy who was eating two tables down from us. He was absolutely adorable and kept offering us his gusanos (means worms, but were like white puffy cheetos). We also were bombarded by a gypsy who was looking for money. Emily told her to leave us alone and the woman spit on her and later (when she was leaving) yelled in her ear. So, we learned the lesson to just ignore the gypsies, no matter how annoying they may be.
Today we are just sitting around, hanging out on the patio because NOTHING is open in Sevilla on Sundays. Tomorrow I start orientation :)
Yesterday was a really great day and I am beginning to feel more comfortable about the city. We walked around a lot again and I feel that I know how to get to where I need to and how to get back. Emily and I met up with Kathleen and Bridget in front of the University so that we could get a few things done for our piso. We went for montaditos (sandwiches) at a place called 100 montaditos that has literally 100 different sandwiches on their menu. They are very small, so one ususally orders a few different kinds. I had on with salmon and cream cheese and one with tortilla de patatas. They were both delicious.
After lunch, we tried to figure out how to get WiFi in our apartment. We walked to Orange and talked with a woman who worked there and the only problem we found is that it will take 20-ish days for them to come out and set it up. We had hoped to visit a couple other internet providers, but it was seista, so we headed back to Hotel Derby to hang out and relax until 5:30. We found that Orange is the best deal, since the other providers said that we would have to have an 18 month contract and it would cost 150 euro to cancel the contract early.
We also walked into Corte Ingles (which is a huge department store that sells EVERYTHING) to look at sheets and towels. Even though our apartment has some, we thought it would be more hygenic and safer to buy our own. In Corte Ingles we could only find really expensive sheets, blankets and towels and were pretty disappointed leaving the store. We happened to pass a Zara Home store. If you know anything about me, I love shopping at Zara and I was really excited we passed their home store. Their sheets are much less expensive and are 100% cotton, unlike Corte Ingles where they were 50% cotton, 50% polyester. We also found cheaper towels at a store called Butlers, which we weren't going to go into, but I stopped to take a picture (obviously...) and my roommates walked in. Yay Butler!
After we got done with our browsing, we decided to take a break on our hotel terrace before getting dinner. We went to Flaherty's which is an Irish bar for dinner. It is literally right across the street from the Cathdral and it was so pretty at night. We became good friends with a two year old Spanish boy who was eating two tables down from us. He was absolutely adorable and kept offering us his gusanos (means worms, but were like white puffy cheetos). We also were bombarded by a gypsy who was looking for money. Emily told her to leave us alone and the woman spit on her and later (when she was leaving) yelled in her ear. So, we learned the lesson to just ignore the gypsies, no matter how annoying they may be.
Today we are just sitting around, hanging out on the patio because NOTHING is open in Sevilla on Sundays. Tomorrow I start orientation :)
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Planes y Pisos
I am finally in Sevilla! It took a long time to get here, but I am here and a lot has happened.
I got to the airport in Chicago at 1:30, even though my flight wasn't until 4:40. The man at the check-in counter laughed at me because I had my two fifty pound bags to check and a huge carry on and a purse. He laughed at me while I zig-zaged through the line markers, but then said he was impressed that I fit everything in two bags. Then, on my first flight, I sat next to a woman named JulieAnn who is from Phoenix, but lived in Sevilla for 25 years teaching English. I learned a lot from her about where we should try to live and the struggles of being an American in Spain. She was very comforting, which I needed because I was freaking out. I told her that I was really excited, but nervous and she helped calm my nerves. I landed in Madrid at 7:15 am while it was still dark out then I watched the sunrise from the airport. After that, I took a short plane ride to Sevilla and then after a struggle of getting my luggage off the conveyor belt, I took a taxi to Hotel Derby in the Casco Antiguo zone.
I finally got to meet all of my roommates after a quick shower. Their names are Emily, Bridget and Kathleen and they all seem really awesome! We have a beautiful terrace on the roof of our hotel, so we sat up there and got to know each other a little bit and talked about finding apartments. They had already toured 3 and were not very impressed by any of them. The biggest problem they were finding was that the landlords did not want to set up a lease for less than 1 year and we only need a place for 9 months.
Anyway, we set out to walk through the zones we were interested in living in after a quick bite to eat and some tinto de verano (yum!). We walked around and wherever we saw a Se Aquila sign, we would call the number. We found that most of the signs were either for office buildings or were already rented, they just forgot to remove the sign. We toured an apartment in El Centro that was really awesome. They were brand new, like they hadn't even finished furnishing them yet. The problem was that they were pretty small and we would have had to share rooms, which would have been fine, but there was no closet space. Four girls need closet space for sure, so we set out to look at a couple other places.
We met up with Manolo, a very kind older gentleman who showed us two places, one in Los Remedios and the other in Triana. The first was a bit older, but had 4 bedrooms with a second bed in one of the rooms, two living room areas, a kitchen with everything we need to cook and two bathrooms. The decor is what I would describe as grandma decor, but it was HUGE! The second apartment Manolo showed us was really gross. We all walked in and felt like we needed to shower after leaving it. It reminded me of a fraternity house and was not at all what we were looking for.
Anyway, after all the looking and viewing, we were all exhausted, especially me since I had basically been up for 24 hours straight. We discussed our options and decided to take the first apartment that Manolo showed us in Los Remedios! It is really cheap (much less than we were expecting) and in a great location on Monte Carmello right around a lot of shops, restaurants and cafes. We move in next Wednesday and cannot wait!
I got to the airport in Chicago at 1:30, even though my flight wasn't until 4:40. The man at the check-in counter laughed at me because I had my two fifty pound bags to check and a huge carry on and a purse. He laughed at me while I zig-zaged through the line markers, but then said he was impressed that I fit everything in two bags. Then, on my first flight, I sat next to a woman named JulieAnn who is from Phoenix, but lived in Sevilla for 25 years teaching English. I learned a lot from her about where we should try to live and the struggles of being an American in Spain. She was very comforting, which I needed because I was freaking out. I told her that I was really excited, but nervous and she helped calm my nerves. I landed in Madrid at 7:15 am while it was still dark out then I watched the sunrise from the airport. After that, I took a short plane ride to Sevilla and then after a struggle of getting my luggage off the conveyor belt, I took a taxi to Hotel Derby in the Casco Antiguo zone.
I finally got to meet all of my roommates after a quick shower. Their names are Emily, Bridget and Kathleen and they all seem really awesome! We have a beautiful terrace on the roof of our hotel, so we sat up there and got to know each other a little bit and talked about finding apartments. They had already toured 3 and were not very impressed by any of them. The biggest problem they were finding was that the landlords did not want to set up a lease for less than 1 year and we only need a place for 9 months.
Anyway, we set out to walk through the zones we were interested in living in after a quick bite to eat and some tinto de verano (yum!). We walked around and wherever we saw a Se Aquila sign, we would call the number. We found that most of the signs were either for office buildings or were already rented, they just forgot to remove the sign. We toured an apartment in El Centro that was really awesome. They were brand new, like they hadn't even finished furnishing them yet. The problem was that they were pretty small and we would have had to share rooms, which would have been fine, but there was no closet space. Four girls need closet space for sure, so we set out to look at a couple other places.
We met up with Manolo, a very kind older gentleman who showed us two places, one in Los Remedios and the other in Triana. The first was a bit older, but had 4 bedrooms with a second bed in one of the rooms, two living room areas, a kitchen with everything we need to cook and two bathrooms. The decor is what I would describe as grandma decor, but it was HUGE! The second apartment Manolo showed us was really gross. We all walked in and felt like we needed to shower after leaving it. It reminded me of a fraternity house and was not at all what we were looking for.
Anyway, after all the looking and viewing, we were all exhausted, especially me since I had basically been up for 24 hours straight. We discussed our options and decided to take the first apartment that Manolo showed us in Los Remedios! It is really cheap (much less than we were expecting) and in a great location on Monte Carmello right around a lot of shops, restaurants and cafes. We move in next Wednesday and cannot wait!
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
9 days!
Wow, I can't believe that I will be leaving in 9 days for Spain. It is so crazy to think that what I have been waiting for since February is finally going to happen.
I started packing today, which is going to be a huge adventure. I am having a lot of trouble deciding what to bring and what to leave. I went through my drawers and pulled out things that I wear a lot from each of them and it is all sitting on my dresser in a huge pile.
I started packing today, which is going to be a huge adventure. I am having a lot of trouble deciding what to bring and what to leave. I went through my drawers and pulled out things that I wear a lot from each of them and it is all sitting on my dresser in a huge pile.
Unfortunately this is only half the battle because I hang all of my professional clothing and pants. Also, I feel like my shoes are going to take up a lot of room. I think that I am going to do a trial to see if my stuff is going to fit tomorrow because I don't have anything going on.
I now have 3 roommates that I will be trying to find an apartment with when I move over. Their names are Bridget, Emily and Kathleen. I am looking forward to moving over there and getting to know all of the girls better. I know that it will be a great living situation, hopefully my best so far :)
A couple people were asking about my teaching placement. I will be living in Sevilla (probably either in El Casco Antiguo or Triana), but my school is in Bormujos. Bormujos is a small town 15 minutes outside of Sevilla on a bus. It is a CIEP, which is a school that works with children ages 3-12. The previous person who worked in my school worked mainly with the 1st, 2nd and 6th graders. I will be in charge of teaching English and American culture. If you have any unique ideas about how to teach American culture, I am open to any feedback!!
I know that the bilingual coordinater at my school is looking forward to my arrival. I sent an email introducing myself to her and she responded the same day and said "Ok, let's meet tomorrow!" I had to email her back and let her know that I am not in Spain yet, but needless to say I was excited to meet her as well.
I probably won't update again until I am in Sevilla, so check back in awhile!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
23 days!
So, I have never written a blog before, but I figured it will be the best way to keep everyone updated on my life when I move to Sevilla.
I move over on September 22, 2011 and will be there until June 10, 2012. I leave in 23 days (not like I am counting or anything...). I cannot wait to move over. Even though I won't start teaching until October 3rd, it will be great to just get over there.
I am only nervous about one thing, finding where I am going to live. My program doesn't do a whole lot with living arangements. So far all I know is that I am going to be living with a girl named Emily and we are thinking about finding some other roommates. Emily moves over a couple days before me, so she will start looking and then hopefully we find a place before September 28th because that is when orientation is over.
Packing is looking really difficult right now. I am not worried about packing clothes, shoes and toiletries. I am worried about picking teaching materials. I have SO MANY books in my personal library and the program told us to bring one. How am I supposed to pick ONE book out of my hundreds?? I am also still trying to figure out what else to take. Hopefully I figure it out!
I move over on September 22, 2011 and will be there until June 10, 2012. I leave in 23 days (not like I am counting or anything...). I cannot wait to move over. Even though I won't start teaching until October 3rd, it will be great to just get over there.
I am only nervous about one thing, finding where I am going to live. My program doesn't do a whole lot with living arangements. So far all I know is that I am going to be living with a girl named Emily and we are thinking about finding some other roommates. Emily moves over a couple days before me, so she will start looking and then hopefully we find a place before September 28th because that is when orientation is over.
Packing is looking really difficult right now. I am not worried about packing clothes, shoes and toiletries. I am worried about picking teaching materials. I have SO MANY books in my personal library and the program told us to bring one. How am I supposed to pick ONE book out of my hundreds?? I am also still trying to figure out what else to take. Hopefully I figure it out!
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