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.