A learning experience

When people study abroad in college, one comment given pre-departure is that you will learn a lot about yourself that year.  That was definitely true for me.  But this year includes many different experiences that I have never had to deal with before. Clearly, a person right out of college does a lot of "growing up" that first year on the job, but I think because I am in a foreign country, out of my comfort zone, I am learning way more than I would have in the US.

One thing I have learned to do is stand up for myself.  The biggest thing that happened since I wrote last was that I moved apartments. The first one wasn't working out (aka I couldn't breathe because my roommates chain-smoked with the windows closed) so I had to ask my roommates if they could try to compromise with me to see if my allergies got better. When they didn't, I had to call my landlord, explain the situation, show my apartment and rent my room, and find a new place to live.  Yes, I definitely felt bad about needing to move out when I said I would stay, but I needed to do what was best for me. That hasn't exactly been my strongest suit, so I think I am building up an ability that I will need to use forever.  I am a whole lot happier now. I live in a great apartment, have a shorter commute, and live with three really nice Spanish girls, so I am constantly practicing.  There have been a few other cases in which I have had to stand up for myself, and even though doing so in another language is challenging, but I hope it only makes me more assertive in the future.

Besides that, things have been rather calm.  I went on another day trip to Cuenca, Spain. It is in the comunidad de Castilla la Mancha, and I had never been there before! It was really interesting and really relaxing. The majority of what we did was just walk around and look at the beautiful views. 

These are the Casas Colgadas, or Hanging Houses, in Cuenca. They are really well-known, really old houses that hang off of the cliff. And below is a view of the canyon, above which the old town is built.

November went by really fast, and December is (luckily) a short month!  With the holidays coming up, I am starting to get a little sad being so far away from home, but I will be having Thanksgiving dinner with my friends this week and have decided to go to Amsterdam and Paris for Christmas! So my life isn't so bad. :)

Until next time!

October's Adventures

By now, we have been working for about a month! I'm definitely working on getting settled in. I have a daily routine, friends in Spain (mostly Americans- working on the Spanish aspect), and things that I do during my spare time.  I have had a couple of bumps in the road- difficulties with my school and apartment- so I have been working to sort those out. I am currently in the process of trying to move apartments but after that I hope to be settled for good!

One of the weirdest things for me to get adjusted to is that I'm not in school anymore. I like working, but it is weird to not have any homework or anything to worry about at night or on the weekends. That being said, I am getting quite used to it.  I go into school Tuesday through Friday and teach for about 4 hours a day.  Though it seems really quick, there are multiple breaks so I end up being there for around 7 hours a day. The hardest thing to get used to is the school schedule- it starts at 9:00, breaks for recess from 11:15-11:45, and then again from 12:30-2:30. School runs again until 4:00. The two hour break is definitely something to get used to. I actually think it is pretty counterproductive, because the students are impossible to teach and control afterwards- not that they are easy to teach in the first place. Some of the staff at my school are trying to change it, but that schedule is really common in primary schools here.

This past week was Halloween! Halloween is not a traditional Spanish holiday (the day after- All Saints Day- is celebrated here), but because of all the influence of foreigners, many Spanish people have adopted the celebration. We had been decorating for Halloween for the past couple weeks, and this entire past week was focused on the holiday. Early in the week, we read Halloween stories to the students from the preschool. On Thursday, the entire day was dedicated to Halloween. Nearly every student (and teacher) were dressed up, and we did Halloween activities ranging from reading stories to singing songs to coloring.  There was also a haunted house put on by the parents in the auditorium, which most of my second graders were terrified of (me da miedo!). I did manage to go myself, with one of my students clinging to my arm the entire time.  Then the kids went Trick-or-Treating (Truco o Trato) for two pieces of candy.

One huge difference here is that it is considered weird if you are not in a scary costume! I have never been anything scary, I'm pretty sure, and this year I just ended up buying a witch hat for a euro to wear with my black dress. But the kids went all out with their makeup- fake blood, scars, fake bullet holes glued onto their heads, zipper faces, etc. I do not remember getting nearly as dressed up for Halloween as they did!

Another important thing is that I am in full swing with the private tutoring jobs! Depending on the week, I tutor 7 or 8 hours. This ends up being pretty good money! Most of my classes are focused on conversation.  I teach one girl that is in my class at school, which is relatively easy since I know exactly what they are doing and what they need to work on.  The most fun one is on Thursdays with two boys- 4 and 6 years old. We end up just playing the entire time- speaking in English. I bought a Bingo game with both English and Spanish from the dollar section at Target before I left- best purchase ever. It distracts them for the entire hour and a half!

Up to this weekend, I had stayed in the city for the past month and a half.  But yesterday I went with three of my friends to Salamanca, which is about 2.5 hours northwest of Madrid. I had actually been there before, but it is nice and I wanted to get out of Madrid! We just went for the day. One of my friends brought her Spain travel guide, so we did a self-guided walking tour and went inside some of the buildings. It is pretty easy to see in a few hours, and then we ate lunch and walked around for the rest of the day.

One of the cool things that we did was go up into the top of one of the cathedrals, where we got to look out over the city!

Salamanca is very famous for its university as well as Plaza Mayor.  The plaza is said to be one of the most beautiful in Spain!

So that is pretty much it! Hopefully I will have more stuff to update with soon!

Back to School..

This past week was the first week of school for us auxiliares! As nice as it was to have time off for the past few weeks, it will be nice to start having a routine again (once I come to terms with the fact I cannot go to bed at 2 am).

A bit about teaching
My school is a primary school, which is abbreviated here as CEIP, or Colegio de Educación Infantil y Primaria.  There are about 700 students total, so it is pretty big! The infantil part of the school is more or less a preschool, and the children are aged 3-5. The primary school is first through sixth grades, ages 6-12.  In total, there will be five auxiliares at my school.  But as of now, only four of us have shown up.  It is really nice to be able to go through this with other people as we have already had a few issues

Only the primary school is bilingual.  This means that from first grade onward, the students take English and Science classes in English, and are able to do Arts and Crafts, Music, and PE in English as well.  In these courses, the teachers generally only speak English, though it is more difficult with younger classes.  The second, fourth, and sixth grade students are evaluated on their English level at the end of the year through official exams, either the Trinity or Cambridge exam.  These are purely oral exams.

I am the auxiliar for second grade, preparing them for their first English exam.  The subject material is still pretty basic and they can form short sentences.  For instance, the unit this past week in English was descriptions and comparisons of people.  For example- straight-haired vs. curly-haired, thin vs. fat.  In Science, we learned about sports, and they would form their short sentences (though I am pretty sure at this point is is only memorization)- "you are cycling."

One important difference is that here, they learn British English! Obviously, I understand what they are saying, but we do have certain structural and vocabulary differences.  For instance, the kids were doing a listening activity with clues in order to figure out the person described.  They say, "Has he got fair hair?" "Yes, he has."  On Thursday, one teacher asked me to play a game and spell out the name of school supplies and the students would have to guess it. Not sure if they were really listening (also, this is probably the worst idea for a game ever), as they kept yelling out pencils! rubbers!  Really, what is more funny than having 25 six-year-olds repeatedly yell out "rubbers!" in the middle of class?  I had never heard the name before (it means eraser), so I was a little confused, but after I figured it out, I of course taught them the word "eraser."

So, my first week of teaching was interesting, to say the least! I like working with kids one-on-one, but I definitely need to learn tactics to teach an entire class. Because I have had minimal instructions (the teacher just hands me the book), it will take a bit to get used to it.  Also, I noticed a few differences between the schools in America vs. Spain.  The classrooms are very rowdy, generally there are side conversations between multiple groups of kids, kids fighting, etc, and discipline does not really exist here (not just in schools, but at home as well).  I was blown away by how crazy nearly all of the kids in classroom are-very different from home.  Also, the kids are very affectionate, will give hugs and kisses all the time, whereas at home this type of affection is not allowed.

Living in Spain
Besides working, I have been able to meet quite a few other people here!  I have met other auxiliars through some organized events, and through other friends. I have also set up a few intercambios, or language exchanges.  During intercambios, the time is usually split between speaking in English and speaking in Spanish.  It's a great way to practice! I am hoping to do some more of these. I speak Spanish when I am out, and I also speak to other teachers at my school in Spanish as much as I can- many of them do not know English!

I have found a few private classes to teach after school, and will do one or two a day- kind of a lot, but it is easy and a good way to make extra money! And I guess I am here to actually work...

Besides that, everything is pretty normal here! I am excited to start my second week of school and hopefully everything goes smoothly!  :)

The Second Time Around!

Hello All!

So as you all know, this is my second time in Madrid! I am so lucky I get to live in this beautiful and lovely city again.

I arrived on Wednesday morning (now a week ago!) at 9:30 local time after a long day of traveling! My flight was at 9am from Chicago to London, and I had a seven hour, overnight layover in Heathrow. I was exhausted! There were tons of other people doing the same thing as me, though I didn't actually end up sleeping! I was worried about all of my stuff. Luckily, I had Bridesmaids and When Harry Met Sally to keep me entertained.

Traveling note- if anyone ever brings a jar of peanut butter as a safety net while they travel- this might be scanned as a liquid! At security in London, my entire backpack (perfectly-packed up to that point, I might add) was taken apart. Thankfully, I was allowed to keep my peanut butter (a rare find in Spain, and when it is found, it costs around 8 euros for a small jar).

Anyway, once I was finally allowed in my hostel (I had to wait about 2 hours to check in), I met up with another auxiliar with who I am sharing a room! We met with another girl in Casa de Campo, a huge park in Madrid, and walked around a bit, then had a drink at the lake!



We finished the night off by going for tapas in Lavapiés, a really cultural neighborhood in Madrid. We had tinto de verano- which is more or less wine with soda or juice added in- and croquetas, salchichas, and berenjenas. 

So the rest of my week was pretty crazy! The most stressful part during the first few days by far is the piso hunt. This is, of course, looking for a room in an apartment to call my own for the next 10 months. It is really competitive and rooms go really quickly! I had to search multiple sites, call and text landlords, and run around Madrid looking for these random places. Not to mention the always-fun WiFi search, where I would take my computer around so that I would hopefully connect to WiFi in between viewings, usually at the price of at least one Starbucks coffee every 45 minutes (really, only 45 minutes of free WiFi).

The first few days of being here were pretty much all apartment hunting, tapas, and sangria. I finally found a place on Monday and moved in on Tuesday! It is simple and cute and in a nice area.

The other highlight of my week was my friend, Livia, getting to Madrid! She arrived Sunday morning and we reminisced for the past 3 days.  As she is teaching English in Lugo, which is in Galicia in Northern Spain, we did a few of our favorite things here (revolving around eating aka Cien Montaditos, which I will explain at a later date). On Monday we visited our old program coordinator (from when we studied here in 2012) and Livia helped me move into my new apartment!

Now for the reason I'm here---
So it seems like I have nothing to do in Spain (partially true), but I have been working on getting prepared for my position! On Friday morning, I went to the school I will be teaching at with another auxiliar. It is a really big school, and the bilingual program is in first through sixth grade.  At then end of second, fourth, and sixth grades, the students are required to take Cambridge exams that test their level of English. This will be a huge part of our job, I think.  We met the bilingual program coordinators and some teachers, and even had the opportunity to meet two of the classes! Everyone seems really nice and helpful. I'm looking forward to a great year.  Our first day is on Tuesday!

While I am here, I am hoping to teach private English classes. There is actually a pretty big demand for them in Madrid. Because we are only committed to working in the school for 16 hours per week, we have plenty of time during the day to do other things! I have a couple of resources to search for classes on, so hopefully it works out.

I had orientation for my program on Tuesday. Much of it was read directly from the handbook, but we need to apply for a TIE card, which is a residency card for the year we are studying here (this program is a grant and we are technically considered students), so that information was helpful.

Anyway, it is about 9:30 here now, so I am starting to think about dinner! Things were kind of crazy this past week with the apartment search, but now that I am more settled, I should be able to become a master blogger.

Please comment or email me! I would love to hear from everyone! :)