Lots of things to catch up on

October 4 2010 – 8:45 pm

Well, these last few days have been nothing short of interesting, exciting, nerve-wracking, frustrating and I’m sure the list could go on and on. The last time I wrote was Friday but I didn’t tell you about my first day of school. The kids are very noisy – you can always tell when they are in the hallways. I didn’t really have contact with kids on Friday, however. I met with the bilingual coordinator and also the headmaster of the school and we talked about our job expectations and our schedules and what not. There is also another girl at my school from New Jersey named Catherine (she went through a different program and so I had no idea she was also going to be in my school). She is really nice and her boyfriend is also in Motril teaching in the same school as Michael Lynn. The bilingual coordinator (Antonio) also showed us how to use the smart boards that they have in each classroom. They are totally digital and there are an endless amount of possibilities of things to do with them! He let us play around and draw and of course I drew a flower (it’s my go-to drawing!) Tad, Michael Lynn and I all met up after school back at the piso and talk about our days. Tad had also been in touch with his uncle who lives in Algeciras and told us that we could come and pick up the car he was going to let us borrow for our time here.
On Saturday, our great adventure to pick up the car began. We caught a bus at 10:30 and headed west and south toward Algeciras. It’s a really long bus ride (much longer than by car) because it makes stops in all the coastal towns (Nerja, Marbella, etc…) It’s a beautiful ride, though. You can’t beat the views of the water and the mountains. We finally go to Algeciras around 2:30 and Tad’s uncle picked us up in our new ride  It’s a maroon 1992 BMW! Yes, we are ridin’ in style (kind of, but I’ll tell you about that later). Tad’s aunt had prepared us a feast of tortilla, tortilla de sacromonte, salad, chips and guacamole (no, that’s not traditional Spanish food) and we also had flan for dessert. It was DELICIOUS!! We walked the beach and relaxed after eating and hung out with their 5 yr old son, Daniel. Tad’s uncle is an English teacher and so they speak to Daniel in both Spanish and English! He can speak English well – better than some Americans I know. We had pizza for dinner while we watched the MICHIGAN football game which we streamed from the computer and then hooked up the computer to the tv! It was so awesome to be able to watch the game (and nearly have a heart attack right at the last minute watching Michigan trying so hard to lose that game).
On Sunday, we slept in and then had breakfast and Tad’s uncle showed us the ins and outs of the car. We made sure all the light bulbs were functioning (we’re short a back-up light but I think we can manage to buy one of those). We had lunch (I think Ali, Tad’s aunt, was trying her best not to freak us out with any weird food). For lunch we had grilled BBQ chicken, backed potatoes (regular and sweet), sour cream with chives, salad and bread (of course). It was sooo good and we are so grateful that we had some awesome meals. After that, it was time to hit the road.
Now, one must remember that while there are some universal road signs (Stop, for example), many of them are very different in Spain and have no words on them as to indicate what they mean. In addition, there are many hills, roundabouts, one-way streets and crazy drivers in Spain. Meanwhile, Tad knows how to drive a manual car but let’s just say he’s not an expert by any means. We got out of town safely and were on the highway when we quickly realized that we needed gas (and remember, gas is by the liter here and it’s about 1.15 euros/liter – this can equate to about $7-8/gallon). We found a gas station not too far from Algeciras and decided to stop. We did not know how to use the pump and so I swallowed my pride and went inside to tell the worker that it was our first time pumping gas in Spain and we weren’t quite sure what to do. He asked us how much we wanted to put in (we chose 30 Euros which only ended up getting us ½ tank!!) and then we were all set to go. (There is a part here that I had to omit by request of one of the roommates.....maybe a story for another time). We made it home safely and without too many problems (we had a hard time keeping a radio station in the mountains and so part of the time we listened to The Beatles greatest hits on cassette tape – yes, 24 yr olds are old enough to remember those!) It was a beautiful drive and much quicker than by bus. We made it home in less than 3 hours.
Monday was our first day of school with the children. I have three hours of work every day and one free period which the bilingual coordinator said would either be free time or a time when I would hang out with the teachers that also had break then and help them with their English. So, my first class was with Antionio (the coordinator) and I had 6th graders. They all had prepared questions to ask me to get to know me and so I spent some time answering them and asking them questions back. It was really cute and they were well-behaved. My next class was 5th graders and it was a science class but they also try to incorporate the arts as well. I had to teach them the primary and secondary colors and then they made colors mixing them and of varying intensities. Their English skills were a little lower but as I would walk around the room, some of them were curious and would ask me questions. They are always so curious about where we come from and how long it took us to get here. That class was fine.
Now, let’s move on to my last class of the day. It was 4th grade and they knew even less English. I can only use one word to describe this class and it is CHAOS. Not organized chaos, just pure madness. This is an art class but they try to incorporate science into that so they were drawing pictures of flowers and they would bring them up to the teacher and he looks at it and gives them a grade. The teacher had no control over the class and for this reason, I’m either going to need to invest in a set of heavy-duty earplugs or else a lifetime supply of some strong ibuprofen. All they did was run around the room and shout. They don’t have any concept of inside voices or respect for that matter. One student told me that I was very pretty and that I was much better looking than their teacher and that their teacher is soooo ugly (all while he was standing right there). That class will be a struggle!
I came home and had lunch and a little nap (just to de-stress from those kids) and then went for my first run in Spain! It was a struggle as I am really out of shape but I think I found a good place to run and part of it is uphill which will really challenge me. Michael Lynn, Tad and I just got back from Al Campo (Spain’s WalMart) and got a lot of food. We will see what tomorrow brings! Oh, and I’ve done two loads of laundry already – yes, be proud of me, please!!
Hopefully we will have internet soon – we are all dying without it!