So, this was the actual first week of class everyday, Monday through Friday. I feel like I’ve accomplished a lot, even if the kids still don’t know what to say when I ask, “How are you?” Monday, I had “coordinación,” two periods of coordination/planning with other teachers. My first one was with Guillermo, the gym teacher, and Lourdes, the secretary/music teacher. Basically, the hour was designed to be a time for them to practice English. Next year, the bilingual program will expand so that gym classes are taught in English. I’m not sure how music plays into the program, but I’m sure in the future it could be taught in English too. My other coordinación was with David, the bilingual coordinator. He also teaches 5th and 6th grade English.
Tuesday I had the three-year-olds and second-grade science. For the three-year-olds, I had to sing “Mary had a little lamb” over and over again. We had a recording of it on a CD, but this was in British English, which was impossible for me to sing. She had me explain the song to them in English and Spanish. They’re so cute, they just sit there and stare up at me while I talk. In second grade, the kids were learning about the 5 senses (in English and Spanish). They had already covered the parts of the body, so I made a worksheet where they had to unscramble the body part (ie: “ear”) then draw a line from it to a picture of it (an ear) and then another line to it’s function (hear). I explained the activity in English and Spanish to make sure they understood their task. The activity took almost the full class time, and for the remaining five minutes, the kids wanted to review “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.”
On Wednesday, I met with the science teacher for our “coordinación” period. She’s really nice and had lived in Priego for her entire life, except for her time at university. After that meeting I had second-grade and fifth-grade English. The second-graders are pretty well behaved. They listen to Ana and do the activities. The fifth-graders are not well behaved. The ones that I had on Wednesday are 5A, the better of the two. They’re just really immature. It’s hard to think they go to high school after sixth grade. They never bring their books to class and rarely do the homework and the teachers let them get away with it. The fifth-graders level of English is pretty low considering their ages. They have had English classes for a few years now and they still don’t understand the concept of third-person. We tried to play a board race game where I would say, “play” and “he” and the first student who writes “he plays” is the winner. The problem was that the students did not know how to spell “he.” This meant that the game didn’t really work and they didn’t really do anything. We also read a story. David (the English coordinator and their teacher) was going to play the recording of the story, but I suggested that each student take a box and read it. The boys told me they were not going to read and the girls were jumping out of their chairs to read. One boy, in particular, was not very good at reading (in English or Spanish according to the other students). David even said maybe I should skip him in the order. That, to me, seemed counter-intuitive. If a student is not great at reading, you should offer him more support rather than skip him in the order and figure that somehow at some point he’ll figure out reading. We read the story slowly and went through each part to make sure the students could understand what was going on. It seemed pretty successful: they understood the gist of it.
Thursday I had the first graders. Twice. There are only ten students in the class, but they are awful. Andrea, the adorable girl who is always very fashionable, is so badly behaved that she equates to 5 students. During one class, she took her safety scissors and tried to cut another student. She’s constantly hitting kids and finishes all of her work in two seconds because she just scribbles instead of coloring. Another student, Said, is pretty chubby and throws himself against teachers and students because he is so full of energy that runs around the classroom. We’ve seen him around town a few times. His mother and grandmother are pretty scary – they yell a lot and have really high-pitched voices. Said is constantly eating sweets. We saw him at the bakery, throwing a temper tantrum and refusing to eat a pastry he didn’t like. He made his grandmother buy him a new one (she did).
During Thursday’s science class, I made a sheet of foods and another with four “plates” each representing breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner. The students’ task was to color and cut out the food and then glue it to the correct plate. This took more time than the allotted (45 minutes) class time, but the teacher thought it was a great activity. I walked around the classroom asking all the students what they had eaten for breakfast. Most hadn’t eaten much: they told me they had a class of milk or chocolate milk. Some had eaten hot or cold cereal, but not many.
During English class, the first graders were awful (again). Ana had to take Said to the principal’s office because he was yelling that Ana was hitting him (she would absolutely never do that). I think he had also done something during recess also. So, I watched the students in the stairwell for a little while and then we went to class. I couldn’t think of any good activity that went along with their lesson (red, blue, 1, 2, chair, book, desk, square, circle, triangle). I made a sheet with a farmer and a dog on it (for them to color) and taught them Bingo. I did most of the singing, but had them spell BINGO (while I pointed to the letters on the board). They absolutely loved it. I’m sure I’ll be repeating this song at least a few more times. During English, Ana had to leave the room for a few minutes to make some copies. The students immediately started taunting me by asking where Ana went and if I was alone with them. They figured I wouldn’t be able to control them. Andrea finished her coloring in two seconds and started wandering around the classroom. I made her sit up front next to me. She told me that she wasn’t allowed to because she had to sit in her own desk. Said wanted to go to the bathroom; I told him no way (he “goes to the bathroom” aka wanders the hallway). He started running around and grabbing this other kid (and dragging him around the class). I asked him about his time at the principal’s office and then asked him if he wanted to go back. Everyone stopped and looked at me. He shut up and sat down. When Ana returned, they were all coloring quietly. It was blissful…until they had to line up to go back to their class. They all started screaming and running toward the door, which meant they were crashing into each other and smacking each other. Ana couldn’t figure out who was supposed to be the front of the line so I said I was. They kids got quiet and looked up at me with big eyes. They then followed me, in silence, to their class.
Friday was my “easy” day. I had 5A for 45 minutes. I made bingo cards for the kids. They loved the idea of playing bingo, but were not great at it because they don’t study their words and don’t like to listen. I made them put everything away and sit at their desks. They were not happy about this: they like having their pencil cases out so they can play with stuff and not pay attention. When I told them the game didn’t even require a pencil, they were not pleased. It took a while to get through the game, but we did get a winner.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Yoga in Priego
Monday I went to yoga at this aromatherapy store. The class was taught in the basement where I was one of four participants. The teacher was actually a British woman who had come to Spain three years ago. She barely speaks Spanish, but gets by in class, and was happy to have me translate for her. I was the youngest person in the class and found it to be way to easy for me. I also wasn’t crazy about trying to pay attention to her broken Spanish. She said that moving to Spain for her retirement (she lives with her husband 10 minutes outside of Priego) was the best decision she’s ever made. Her two sons still live in the UK and she makes them come to visit her. In the three years since she left, she’s only been back two times. The other women at yoga were middle-aged. One arrived on time; one came ten minutes late and one 30 minutes late. We are in Spain, after all. The class was ok, I was somewhat bored and somewhat interested in seeing her style, which I didn’t really like. The other thing that bugged me was she had the overhead fluorescent lights on. I’m used to doing yoga in natural sunlight or semi-darkness. Bright lights are not conducive to relaxation. Luckily, the women at the store said they think there is a yoga place opening up in Priego, but they don’t know where it is going to be….I’ll keep my eyes open.
Granada
This weekend, Cecilia, Erin and I went to Granada, which is only 1.5 hours away by bus. Granada is a relatively small city, but still much larger than Priego. We got there Friday afternoon and found our hostel before heading out to explore. Erin and Cecilia were especially excited to go to Zara and El Corte Inglés. Zara is basically the H&M of Spain (it can be found all over the world). I like the store, but it was crazy busy and I couldn’t really find anything I wanted to buy. El Corte Inglés is a huge department store. We went to look at food that we couldn’t get in Priego (aka a lot of things). My tea supply is doing well, so there was nothing really that I needed to buy. (They didn’t have Cheerios or Life cereal…forget about Kashi.)
That night, we went out for tapas. Tapas are small portions which in Granada arrive free with drinks. The first place served us atún con tomate (tuna with tomato-a personal fave) on bread. The second one served potatoes stuffed with shredded beats, carrots, corn and sour cream. The potatoes were really also really seasoned. The third tapas place was where Jess’s boyfriend works. (She’s also teaching in Priego.) His tapas included pasta salad (which had some weird flavorless sauce on it), potato chips with spicy sauce on them and mini ham and cheese paninis. The bread and cheese was pretty good, the rest of the stuff was pretty bad.
Saturday morning we woke up early and ate toast and tea in the hostel. Then we climbed the hill to the Alahambra, which was a former palace for Muslim rulers. We started in the gardens and the summer house, both of which were lavishly panted and well-maintained. From there we walked around and went into the bath house, climbed a look-out tower, and then went into the palaces. Muslim architecture incorporates a lot of finely carved arches which are ornately decorated. Every surface has a pattern and many have color as well (although the color has worn over time). Ceilings were carved to look like cave rock formations. Water runs throughout the palaces and gardens. There were a lot of people there, but not too many which made it easy to move through the buildings.
After touring the Alahambra (for hours) we had shwarma for lunch (pita bread with chicken and veggies). Then we went back to the hostel to relax a bit before heading to the somewhat unimpressive Capilla Real (Royal Chapel) where Ferdinand and Isabella are buried in an underground crypt (which you can see). Next we continued our shopping excursion by visiting every kind of tourist shop imaginable. We finished our tourism overload by going to Plaza San Nicolas where the views of the Alahambra are superb. We got cold while waiting for the sun to set so we went to a café where the girls got chocolate caliente (hot chocolate), which is super thick and hard to drink. While watching the sunset, there was a party/public art project going on: people put paper flowers in their hair and danced around before trying to form a garden. It was lively and interesting.
After that we hung out at the hostel before heading out for more tapas. This time we went to a place where we could chose our free tapa. I had bacalao, which is a salty cod-like fish. It came in a little dish with potato and onion and spices. At the next place we got empanadas, which brought me right back to Argentina, except they were fried which was pretty gross. Next, the girls wanted croquetas-fried balls of mashed potatoes and ham (just as bad as it sounds). For our final tapa, we went to a third bar and had fried calamari. We went to bed (me feeling gross from fried foods).
Sunday we slept late and walked around the city a little more before having tea at one of the tea houses. I was dying to try the tea, but was let down by the experience because the food was not that great and the tea was rather weak and flavorless. My tabouli had barely any parsley in it and was made with couscous instead of bulgar wheat.
We liked Granada a lot and plan on going back, especially because it is only 1.5 hours away. I’ll probably go back when I need good tea.
That night, we went out for tapas. Tapas are small portions which in Granada arrive free with drinks. The first place served us atún con tomate (tuna with tomato-a personal fave) on bread. The second one served potatoes stuffed with shredded beats, carrots, corn and sour cream. The potatoes were really also really seasoned. The third tapas place was where Jess’s boyfriend works. (She’s also teaching in Priego.) His tapas included pasta salad (which had some weird flavorless sauce on it), potato chips with spicy sauce on them and mini ham and cheese paninis. The bread and cheese was pretty good, the rest of the stuff was pretty bad.
Saturday morning we woke up early and ate toast and tea in the hostel. Then we climbed the hill to the Alahambra, which was a former palace for Muslim rulers. We started in the gardens and the summer house, both of which were lavishly panted and well-maintained. From there we walked around and went into the bath house, climbed a look-out tower, and then went into the palaces. Muslim architecture incorporates a lot of finely carved arches which are ornately decorated. Every surface has a pattern and many have color as well (although the color has worn over time). Ceilings were carved to look like cave rock formations. Water runs throughout the palaces and gardens. There were a lot of people there, but not too many which made it easy to move through the buildings.
After touring the Alahambra (for hours) we had shwarma for lunch (pita bread with chicken and veggies). Then we went back to the hostel to relax a bit before heading to the somewhat unimpressive Capilla Real (Royal Chapel) where Ferdinand and Isabella are buried in an underground crypt (which you can see). Next we continued our shopping excursion by visiting every kind of tourist shop imaginable. We finished our tourism overload by going to Plaza San Nicolas where the views of the Alahambra are superb. We got cold while waiting for the sun to set so we went to a café where the girls got chocolate caliente (hot chocolate), which is super thick and hard to drink. While watching the sunset, there was a party/public art project going on: people put paper flowers in their hair and danced around before trying to form a garden. It was lively and interesting.
After that we hung out at the hostel before heading out for more tapas. This time we went to a place where we could chose our free tapa. I had bacalao, which is a salty cod-like fish. It came in a little dish with potato and onion and spices. At the next place we got empanadas, which brought me right back to Argentina, except they were fried which was pretty gross. Next, the girls wanted croquetas-fried balls of mashed potatoes and ham (just as bad as it sounds). For our final tapa, we went to a third bar and had fried calamari. We went to bed (me feeling gross from fried foods).
Sunday we slept late and walked around the city a little more before having tea at one of the tea houses. I was dying to try the tea, but was let down by the experience because the food was not that great and the tea was rather weak and flavorless. My tabouli had barely any parsley in it and was made with couscous instead of bulgar wheat.
We liked Granada a lot and plan on going back, especially because it is only 1.5 hours away. I’ll probably go back when I need good tea.
Monday, October 20, 2008
A week (well 4 days) of classes/Some notes about school
So, I’ve been teaching for a week now. I’ve finally seen all of my students at least once and I’m getting a feel for how the classes are run (or not run). The Spanish school system seems a little more chaotic and unorganized than the American one. Students are not controlled as well here as they were when I was in school. They don’t behave well at all. I’m supposed to teach two 5th grade classes, 5A and 5B. David, the English-language coordinator and teacher of these classes, has decided that as “punishment” for 5B, I won’t be going to their class. He wants to taunt them by showing them that I go to 5A and not their class because they don’t behave well enough to have me there. The other day he was late to class and the other teacher left me with them (it was only 2 minutes). I managed to get them all into their seats and have them tell me the date and weather. When David arrived, they jumped out of their chairs and started acting crazy again.
While the students are poorly behaved, I’m convinced that part of the problem is David. He’s not a great teacher. Yes, the students do things like run across the classroom and talk at the same time as David or each other. However, he doesn’t establish enough rules or enforce them. It’s common for Spanish teachers to threaten the students and never follow through. Often the teachers tell them that they’re going to make-up wasted time by staying in during recess, yet this almost never happens. There’s no threat of being sent to the principal’s office because she teaches math and isn’t in her office much. Teachers are also fond of putting one student on the spot or yelling at only one student and telling them they are holding up the class. This generally gets no result from the student and others often laugh. When a class is loud, a teacher will take the eraser or some other object and smack it against the wall, board or desk until students quiet down. This usually works for a few minutes.
These are just general statements about teachers. The girl who teaches English (pre-school to 4th grade) is awesome. She’s only 24, but she gains control of the students with her 1-2-3-silence rule (she counts and they shut up). The woman who teaches science to 1st and 2nd grades is pretty good also. She maintains control and command of the classroom.
I like my students. The three year olds are hilarious and repeat words and talk to me in Spanish (I don’t understand half of it). One girl cried because she didn’t know me and was afraid of strangers. The first graders are awful. There’s only ten of them but they fight like crazy. They’re constantly screaming and using their safety scissors to “cut” each other. They steal markers and glue from each other and write on each other’s papers. One girl, Andrea, has such an attitude. On the playground, she’s pretty bossy, but in class she doesn’t do anything she’s supposed to do. She just does whatever she wants and ignores the teacher. She gets pulled out during the day for special classes. Erin and I love to check out what she’s wearing. She’s always pretty fashionable. Most days she’s wearing patterned tights with either a short skirt or shorts (tights and shorts are very fashionable here). We also love checking out what the twins in 5A are wearing. They’re always dressed alike and look adorable. However, the biggest fashion statement here is the rolling backpack. All the kids have them and it’s hilarious. Even the pre-schoolers have itsy-bitsy ones. They help each other carry them up the stairs.
While the students are poorly behaved, I’m convinced that part of the problem is David. He’s not a great teacher. Yes, the students do things like run across the classroom and talk at the same time as David or each other. However, he doesn’t establish enough rules or enforce them. It’s common for Spanish teachers to threaten the students and never follow through. Often the teachers tell them that they’re going to make-up wasted time by staying in during recess, yet this almost never happens. There’s no threat of being sent to the principal’s office because she teaches math and isn’t in her office much. Teachers are also fond of putting one student on the spot or yelling at only one student and telling them they are holding up the class. This generally gets no result from the student and others often laugh. When a class is loud, a teacher will take the eraser or some other object and smack it against the wall, board or desk until students quiet down. This usually works for a few minutes.
These are just general statements about teachers. The girl who teaches English (pre-school to 4th grade) is awesome. She’s only 24, but she gains control of the students with her 1-2-3-silence rule (she counts and they shut up). The woman who teaches science to 1st and 2nd grades is pretty good also. She maintains control and command of the classroom.
I like my students. The three year olds are hilarious and repeat words and talk to me in Spanish (I don’t understand half of it). One girl cried because she didn’t know me and was afraid of strangers. The first graders are awful. There’s only ten of them but they fight like crazy. They’re constantly screaming and using their safety scissors to “cut” each other. They steal markers and glue from each other and write on each other’s papers. One girl, Andrea, has such an attitude. On the playground, she’s pretty bossy, but in class she doesn’t do anything she’s supposed to do. She just does whatever she wants and ignores the teacher. She gets pulled out during the day for special classes. Erin and I love to check out what she’s wearing. She’s always pretty fashionable. Most days she’s wearing patterned tights with either a short skirt or shorts (tights and shorts are very fashionable here). We also love checking out what the twins in 5A are wearing. They’re always dressed alike and look adorable. However, the biggest fashion statement here is the rolling backpack. All the kids have them and it’s hilarious. Even the pre-schoolers have itsy-bitsy ones. They help each other carry them up the stairs.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
La Mezquita and what to do in Priego on the weekend.
So we went to Córdoba which was not as exciting a city as we had hoped. The Mezquita was amazing. It was a mosque built on the site of a cathedral, which has since been converted back to a church (sort of). Its real beauty is the sea of striped arches which hold the building up. google it- they’re awesome. it’s a place I had wanted to go to since studying it in art history back at nvot. I’m glad I got to see it.
The Mezquita was actually stop number two for us in Cordoba. First, my roommates, along with three other English teachers, went to the gov’t building to drop off paperwork so we can get our residency permits. it’s a multi-step process so we get to go back to Cordoba in a few weeks. we didn’t get much time to plan this mini trip and we figured we might want to spend a few nights there. so, we brought clothing and stuff, but realized we didn’t need to spend more time there and paying for a hostel would have been dumb (and we couldn’t find a hostel with space in it).
after the Mezquita, we went to some Arabic baths (aka a spa). we put on bathing suits and relaxed in the hot and temperate pools (the cold one was just way too cold). there was also a sauna and we had massages. I’d never done anything like this, so it was interesting but not really worth the money. after our relaxation, we wandered around looking for food. it was 6pm so nothing was open. Spanish don’t eat dinner until 8 or 9. we found some places that were serving drinks but no food. we finally found a tapas restaurant overlooking the back of the mezquita (aka tourist central). cecilia ordered: fried calamari, croquetas (fried balls filled with chicken, ham and mashed potatoes); erin ordered: potatas bravas (potatoes in a spicy sauce) and tortilla (an omelet with onion and potato); I ordered pasta with zucchini and salmon and eggplant in honey sauce. I like the calamari and the potatas bravas, but didn’t like the eggplant- it was deep fried, but the honey sauce was great. The pasta was okay, it was supposed to be in black sauce, but it turned out to be more green than black. after dinner my roommates wanted ice cream and we had a hell of a time finding an open ice cream place (there were a million open when we wanted food). basically, eating in Cordoba was generally a frustrating experience. we were also in La Judería, Cordoba’s oldest neighborhood which resembled the old city of Jerusalem in that both are full of ridiculously narrow streets that don’t appear to have any sort of design to them.
so we wound up back in Priego for the rest of the long weekend. it’s Hispanic national day (aka Columbus day). Saturday we ran errands in the morning because we knew everything would close at 2 and not re-open until Tuesday. I went for a run during siesta hours. here’s the thing about Priego: many people have not left Preigo and, if they have, they haven’t ever met an American or don’t understand American customs. Running on the street, especially during siesta hours, is kind of an odd activity here. that can explain the people almost driving off the road at the sight of me. I got a lot of weird looks and confused expressions from people of all ages and genders. it’s also extremely difficult to run here because most of the city is hills. you almost can’t avoid running up or down a huge hill. we walk it every day to get to school and it sucks to come down it. after my run, my roommates and I went to a beer tasting/”festival” in a plaza up the hill. they both like beer and enjoyed the tasting. I had ½ a beer, which actually tasted pretty good. I think it was from Belgium maybe. Saturday night we went out. we went to two bars and had a pretty good time. the town was really active at two when we made our way down the hill to our apartment. Spaniards go out late at night. when we were going up the hill at 11:30, there were teenagers and even young children out in the plaza hanging out and having a good time. some people don’t even go out until after 1 am. it’s a similar lifestyle to Argentina, so I’m somewhat familiar with it. even so, I don’t love the idea of going to be at 2 or 3 am. also, going out is super cheap here. my roommates got beers for €1.50. I had sangria at home and didn’t order any drinks, which was fine because the bar tender at the 2nd place sent us free shots. one was called a lolly-pop and tasted just as disgustingly sweet as its name suggests. another smelled like cheese (Erin swears it was vodka). we met some locals and generally had a good time.
There is nothing to do in Priego on Sunday. literally. everything is closed. Cecilia and I went for a walk and we found the town pool, which, like most of the town, is under construction. She swam at college and wants to continue, but the pool won’t be ready until winter (at the earliest). it’s weird how there’s a lot of construction going on all over town but there are also a ton of for sale signs. they’re literally everywhere. new houses sit unoccupied in many parts of town.
after our walk, we watched the Sex and the City movie and vegged-out on our couches. We’re planning lessons for the upcoming week. I don’t actually teach the classes, but work with the teachers to help with pronunciation and talk to the kids. The bilingual schools here have us working in English classes and Science classes. So, I have 3 year olds (I haven’t been yet….we’ll see how it goes), 1st grade English and Science, 2nd grade English and Science and 5th grade English. I also have four scheduled meetings with teachers to help them plan and improve their English speaking skills. It’s been fun so far. I haven’t really had to do much because the teachers at my school are pretty dedicated and interested in what they do. They actually don’t give me a lot to do, which is different from other people in my program who are basically thrown at the front of the classroom from day one. My school is also brand new (just finished in January) and only has 180 kids from age 3-12. Each grade has one class except 5th grade which has two. My roommate Erin also teaches at my school (she has 4 and 5 year olds, and the 3rd, 4th and 6th graders). I’m looking forward to this week because I’ll actually see all of my classes. I’ve been finding some stuff online like songs and nursery rhymes to teach the kids. if anyone has any suggestions please send them my way.
On Monday (Day of Hispanic Heritage aka Columbus Day) we went on a two hour walk around town and practically saw every corner of Priego. No joke. This town is super small. The bull ring appears to be in the midst of construction, like the rest of the place. It was nice to get out for a little while. The rest of the day was spent reading and sitting around the living room waiting for something decent to come on TV (no such luck).
The Mezquita was actually stop number two for us in Cordoba. First, my roommates, along with three other English teachers, went to the gov’t building to drop off paperwork so we can get our residency permits. it’s a multi-step process so we get to go back to Cordoba in a few weeks. we didn’t get much time to plan this mini trip and we figured we might want to spend a few nights there. so, we brought clothing and stuff, but realized we didn’t need to spend more time there and paying for a hostel would have been dumb (and we couldn’t find a hostel with space in it).
after the Mezquita, we went to some Arabic baths (aka a spa). we put on bathing suits and relaxed in the hot and temperate pools (the cold one was just way too cold). there was also a sauna and we had massages. I’d never done anything like this, so it was interesting but not really worth the money. after our relaxation, we wandered around looking for food. it was 6pm so nothing was open. Spanish don’t eat dinner until 8 or 9. we found some places that were serving drinks but no food. we finally found a tapas restaurant overlooking the back of the mezquita (aka tourist central). cecilia ordered: fried calamari, croquetas (fried balls filled with chicken, ham and mashed potatoes); erin ordered: potatas bravas (potatoes in a spicy sauce) and tortilla (an omelet with onion and potato); I ordered pasta with zucchini and salmon and eggplant in honey sauce. I like the calamari and the potatas bravas, but didn’t like the eggplant- it was deep fried, but the honey sauce was great. The pasta was okay, it was supposed to be in black sauce, but it turned out to be more green than black. after dinner my roommates wanted ice cream and we had a hell of a time finding an open ice cream place (there were a million open when we wanted food). basically, eating in Cordoba was generally a frustrating experience. we were also in La Judería, Cordoba’s oldest neighborhood which resembled the old city of Jerusalem in that both are full of ridiculously narrow streets that don’t appear to have any sort of design to them.
so we wound up back in Priego for the rest of the long weekend. it’s Hispanic national day (aka Columbus day). Saturday we ran errands in the morning because we knew everything would close at 2 and not re-open until Tuesday. I went for a run during siesta hours. here’s the thing about Priego: many people have not left Preigo and, if they have, they haven’t ever met an American or don’t understand American customs. Running on the street, especially during siesta hours, is kind of an odd activity here. that can explain the people almost driving off the road at the sight of me. I got a lot of weird looks and confused expressions from people of all ages and genders. it’s also extremely difficult to run here because most of the city is hills. you almost can’t avoid running up or down a huge hill. we walk it every day to get to school and it sucks to come down it. after my run, my roommates and I went to a beer tasting/”festival” in a plaza up the hill. they both like beer and enjoyed the tasting. I had ½ a beer, which actually tasted pretty good. I think it was from Belgium maybe. Saturday night we went out. we went to two bars and had a pretty good time. the town was really active at two when we made our way down the hill to our apartment. Spaniards go out late at night. when we were going up the hill at 11:30, there were teenagers and even young children out in the plaza hanging out and having a good time. some people don’t even go out until after 1 am. it’s a similar lifestyle to Argentina, so I’m somewhat familiar with it. even so, I don’t love the idea of going to be at 2 or 3 am. also, going out is super cheap here. my roommates got beers for €1.50. I had sangria at home and didn’t order any drinks, which was fine because the bar tender at the 2nd place sent us free shots. one was called a lolly-pop and tasted just as disgustingly sweet as its name suggests. another smelled like cheese (Erin swears it was vodka). we met some locals and generally had a good time.
There is nothing to do in Priego on Sunday. literally. everything is closed. Cecilia and I went for a walk and we found the town pool, which, like most of the town, is under construction. She swam at college and wants to continue, but the pool won’t be ready until winter (at the earliest). it’s weird how there’s a lot of construction going on all over town but there are also a ton of for sale signs. they’re literally everywhere. new houses sit unoccupied in many parts of town.
after our walk, we watched the Sex and the City movie and vegged-out on our couches. We’re planning lessons for the upcoming week. I don’t actually teach the classes, but work with the teachers to help with pronunciation and talk to the kids. The bilingual schools here have us working in English classes and Science classes. So, I have 3 year olds (I haven’t been yet….we’ll see how it goes), 1st grade English and Science, 2nd grade English and Science and 5th grade English. I also have four scheduled meetings with teachers to help them plan and improve their English speaking skills. It’s been fun so far. I haven’t really had to do much because the teachers at my school are pretty dedicated and interested in what they do. They actually don’t give me a lot to do, which is different from other people in my program who are basically thrown at the front of the classroom from day one. My school is also brand new (just finished in January) and only has 180 kids from age 3-12. Each grade has one class except 5th grade which has two. My roommate Erin also teaches at my school (she has 4 and 5 year olds, and the 3rd, 4th and 6th graders). I’m looking forward to this week because I’ll actually see all of my classes. I’ve been finding some stuff online like songs and nursery rhymes to teach the kids. if anyone has any suggestions please send them my way.
On Monday (Day of Hispanic Heritage aka Columbus Day) we went on a two hour walk around town and practically saw every corner of Priego. No joke. This town is super small. The bull ring appears to be in the midst of construction, like the rest of the place. It was nice to get out for a little while. The rest of the day was spent reading and sitting around the living room waiting for something decent to come on TV (no such luck).
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Living in Priego
I now officially live in Spain. Ok, so it’s not exactly official because I don’t yet have a residency permit. I do, however, have an apartment, which basically means I live in Spain.
Monday was the first day of school. I got really lucky. My town/city is manageable and reasonably priced and my school is small and brand new. They moved into the building in January, which means everything is still shiny and bright. They don’t have many decorations up on the wall, but everything works and they have supplies. The other awesome thing is that our classes are small! My first grade class has only ten students in it. Some grades have 13 or 15. The fifth grade has two classes of 15 or 19.
Monday was spent meeting people and walking around the school with David, our language coordinator. He’s young, probably in his late 20s, and speaks English well (for the most part). He teaches 2nd grade homeroom along with 5th and 6th grade English. We met some students who were confused to see strangers wandering around their school. Most of the students could barely speak English, which was not surprising. We’re not supposed to speak to them in Spanish, but they all know that we speak Spanish and understand when they ask us things.
Monday afternoon, we moved into the apartment. We immediately went out to the dollar store (or the China store as we have come to call it). We bought things for our kitchen, which was pretty well stocked but lacked Tupperware and knives. We also did a huge grocery-shopping run and bought tons of fruits and veggies. It was nice to finally have a kitchen again so we could stop eating out all the time. Monday night we unpacked. This was probably the best part about having an apartment; we could unpack our clothing and discover what we had. Living out of a suitcase was starting to bother me.
Tuesday, Erin (roommate and other girl teaching at my school) and I went to school and met with David again. We introduced ourselves to a few more classes and assisted him in the 6th grade English class. We made circles and talked to students about clothing and colors. It was fun even though most of the students were bouncing off the walls and misbehaving.
Wednesday was the first day Erin and I split up and followed our own schedules. I had a “coordinación” period with the younger-grades science teacher where we planned our class for later on in the week and practiced English. Then I had 2nd grade English with Ana, who is possibly the best teacher at the school. It’s only her 2nd year teaching, but she knows how to handle the kids perfectly and she is excellent at maintaining control of the classroom. After that, I went with David to 5th grade, which is probably the worst part of my schedule because they are horribly behaved and it’s frustrating to try to teach them.
Wednesday evening, Erin and I went to Ana’s apartment to celebrate her birthday with the rest of the teachers. She’s only 24, which is cool because we can hang out and stuff. Her apartment was amazing. The views of the mountains were spectacular. We had actually looked at a place on the other side of the block from it, but decided against it. She has 4 balconies, an electric stove and a nearly-American-sized refrigerator (ours is miniature). Her décor is also a little more modern than ours. The other teachers bought her a purse, which she already began using. At the party we snacked on gummy candies and she served disgusting cake. The sponge cake part was soaked in some kind of sour liquid. The chocolate top was really good and the whipped cream around the cake was gross. Everyone else loved it. The teachers also played karaoke (some Play Station version) which was hilarious. The game actually keeps score and I kicked David’s ass. The song was Baila Morena; it’s in Spanglish so it was completely fair.
Thursday we found out that we have to get all of our paperwork together and go to Córdoba Friday so we can get our residency permits. Actually, we just have to bring some papers to an office there and the woman in charge of English assistants will bring our papers for us. Then we have to go back to Cordoba when the police department calls us to pick up the residency cards. It’s a pain in the ass because we were planning on going to Málaga (a city on the beach) this weekend. It’s a long weekend and we don’t want to stay in Priego because everything will be closed on Sunday and Monday. So, we’re changing our plans and going to Córdoba. I’ve been dying to go there for a few years, so I’m happy we’re finally going. It also means we get a day off from school (aka I miss my 5th grade classes!).
Monday was the first day of school. I got really lucky. My town/city is manageable and reasonably priced and my school is small and brand new. They moved into the building in January, which means everything is still shiny and bright. They don’t have many decorations up on the wall, but everything works and they have supplies. The other awesome thing is that our classes are small! My first grade class has only ten students in it. Some grades have 13 or 15. The fifth grade has two classes of 15 or 19.
Monday was spent meeting people and walking around the school with David, our language coordinator. He’s young, probably in his late 20s, and speaks English well (for the most part). He teaches 2nd grade homeroom along with 5th and 6th grade English. We met some students who were confused to see strangers wandering around their school. Most of the students could barely speak English, which was not surprising. We’re not supposed to speak to them in Spanish, but they all know that we speak Spanish and understand when they ask us things.
Monday afternoon, we moved into the apartment. We immediately went out to the dollar store (or the China store as we have come to call it). We bought things for our kitchen, which was pretty well stocked but lacked Tupperware and knives. We also did a huge grocery-shopping run and bought tons of fruits and veggies. It was nice to finally have a kitchen again so we could stop eating out all the time. Monday night we unpacked. This was probably the best part about having an apartment; we could unpack our clothing and discover what we had. Living out of a suitcase was starting to bother me.
Tuesday, Erin (roommate and other girl teaching at my school) and I went to school and met with David again. We introduced ourselves to a few more classes and assisted him in the 6th grade English class. We made circles and talked to students about clothing and colors. It was fun even though most of the students were bouncing off the walls and misbehaving.
Wednesday was the first day Erin and I split up and followed our own schedules. I had a “coordinación” period with the younger-grades science teacher where we planned our class for later on in the week and practiced English. Then I had 2nd grade English with Ana, who is possibly the best teacher at the school. It’s only her 2nd year teaching, but she knows how to handle the kids perfectly and she is excellent at maintaining control of the classroom. After that, I went with David to 5th grade, which is probably the worst part of my schedule because they are horribly behaved and it’s frustrating to try to teach them.
Wednesday evening, Erin and I went to Ana’s apartment to celebrate her birthday with the rest of the teachers. She’s only 24, which is cool because we can hang out and stuff. Her apartment was amazing. The views of the mountains were spectacular. We had actually looked at a place on the other side of the block from it, but decided against it. She has 4 balconies, an electric stove and a nearly-American-sized refrigerator (ours is miniature). Her décor is also a little more modern than ours. The other teachers bought her a purse, which she already began using. At the party we snacked on gummy candies and she served disgusting cake. The sponge cake part was soaked in some kind of sour liquid. The chocolate top was really good and the whipped cream around the cake was gross. Everyone else loved it. The teachers also played karaoke (some Play Station version) which was hilarious. The game actually keeps score and I kicked David’s ass. The song was Baila Morena; it’s in Spanglish so it was completely fair.
Thursday we found out that we have to get all of our paperwork together and go to Córdoba Friday so we can get our residency permits. Actually, we just have to bring some papers to an office there and the woman in charge of English assistants will bring our papers for us. Then we have to go back to Cordoba when the police department calls us to pick up the residency cards. It’s a pain in the ass because we were planning on going to Málaga (a city on the beach) this weekend. It’s a long weekend and we don’t want to stay in Priego because everything will be closed on Sunday and Monday. So, we’re changing our plans and going to Córdoba. I’ve been dying to go there for a few years, so I’m happy we’re finally going. It also means we get a day off from school (aka I miss my 5th grade classes!).
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Sevilla 3-Getting to Priego
I spent my final day walking around as much as possible. I went back to the cathedral with Cecilia and Erin (the girls I’m living with). Going back to the cathedral meant I could explore it in depth and see parts I hadn’t seen the day before. After that we walked along the river a bit and went to the Plaza de España, a semi-circular shaped building with separate sections for each province. Each of the little sections had a tile map of the province on the ground and a vignette dedicated to the province. After hanging out down town we walked back to the hotel and got ready for our goodbye dinner.
The dinner was pretty terrible. It wound up being a cocktail hour rather than a sit-down dinner, which would have been okay if the food hadn’t been terrible. Most of the stuff was either meat or ham based and I really can’t stand eating either of those. Finally they brought around shot glasses of gazpacho and I think I downed six or seven of them. On my way to the bathroom I noticed people eating salads. The vegetarians had managed to get the restaurant to give them salads with caramelized onion and roasted asparagus on them. I got a hold of one of the coveted salads (people were seriously staring at me asking how they too could acquire a salad). It was actually pretty good – a million times better than the other food being served. The rest of the night was pretty blah…people I’m never going to see again and don’t really care to see again.
Friday morning we woke up and went to breakfast. Shuttle buses took us to the bus and train stations. Cecilia, Erin and I went to the bus station with a bunch of other girls. Finding our buses was a bit of a challenge, but once on board the trip to Córdoba wasn’t bad at all. When we got there, we only had to wait a half hour before our bus to Priego left. During that time, I ate a sandwich of atún con tomate (tuna with a light thin tomato sauce which beats tuna fish salad with mayo by a mile). I ate it on our bus which wound through the streets of Córdoba. It took two hours to reach Priego because we passed through a bunch of little towns and had to stop to let people off.
We got to Priego in the middle of siesta hours. In Andalucia everything shuts down between two and five. During that time, people have a large lunch and take a nap or relax before going back to their daily activities like work. Siesta time means nothing is open and there is nothing to do. We were basically stranded in an empty bus station (which was super tiny anyway) with no idea where our hotel was or how to get to it. After asking the men at the adjacent bar (some of whom were policemen from the adjacent police station), we called a taxi to take us to our hotel, which was way outside Priego. The first taxi we called was out of town. The pay phone ran out of money before we finished our call so he called another taxi. We didn’t know this and had called a third taxi. This meant that two taxi drivers showed up along with a man from Cecilia’s school (Vincente; he came to offer her an apartment) and two girls (one American, one Polish), also from Cecilia’s school, to welcome us. There was a lot of confusion for the first few minutes and by the time we got to our really far hotel, we were stressed and tired and angry to be so far away.
After a long complaint email to our program, we got back into a taxi and went back to Priego to start looking at apartments. Friday evening we saw two places. The first was Vincente’s apartment. It had three bedrooms, a bathroom in the process of being redone, a large kitchen with an oven (rare here) and a living room with a balcony. Each of the rooms faced the street and had a large window. The apartment was light and airy. The second apartment was closer to the bus station and our schools, but it was somewhat older and did not have an oven. The beds were much older as were the couches. This apartment had really nice views, but the living room was open to the hallway and the entrance meaning it would be difficult to heat in the winter. They don’t have heating here, you have to use a space heater. We didn’t really love the people who owned it. Vincente lives up the street from his apartment, meaning he can be there in 5 minutes, and it has an elevator, which is nice.
Friday night we wandered around with Christine (also from our program) trying to find a place to eat. We found a pizza place full of locals. It was down one of the narrow “streets” in Priego’s center. Many of the roads are way too narrow for some cars and only accessible by foot or moto. Cars try going down them…It’s pretty interesting to watch. Our pizza was amazing. It was nice to eat comfort food after such a stressful day. Christine and I split a fish pizza which was topped with shrimp, mussels, tuna and anchovies. This place had a lot of “different” pizzas which we appreciated. It was also super cheap. After dinner we returned to our hotel and went to sleep.
Saturday we woke, ate breakfast, and went back into Priego. We found the library and ran into Erin (another girl from NY here teaching) and Evan (from Indiana). Then we checked out some internet and phone prices and walked around town more. We called other apartments, but could only get in touch with one other person. We saw that apartment after wandering the really old parts of Priego. This apartment had the same number of rooms as the others, except it was in the middle of a block and did not have a lot of light entering it. The kitchen was REALLY old. Cabinets were falling off and it was just gross to be in. The owner, who lived in the campo/country side, had owned the place for 20 years, but had only rented it for one year of those years. This place was pretty dark and it would have cost a lot to heat it in the winter. It had the best location, but it just wasn’t worth trying to live with awful saggy couches and cabinets that were falling apart in a kitchen too gross to use.
We wandered town figuring out where we should live and finally decided on Vincente’s place. We called him and he said we could move in Monday. We walked to an old fountain to rest and then went and saw where Erin, Aleks (the Polish girl) and Jessica live. They live in a two-story condo/house the same distance from the center as we live. Their place was cute, but will probably be harder to heat than ours. We then went grocery shopping to get stuff for Sunday, when everything is completely closed. For dinner, we met up with Erin, Aleks, Evan and Christine and had shawarma! I knew there would be middle eastern food in Andalucia, but to have kebabs and shawarma in Priego was quite the discovery. There is also Chinese food here…I’m somewhat skeptical of it though…
We ate our meals in a plaza before heading back to our hotel.
Sunday afternoon Cecilia and I laid by the pool for a little while before getting Erin and walking to a neighboring village about 3-4 km down the road. The locals gave us weird looks for walking around in gym shorts and sneakers, but it was cute to see this little town. I’m pretty sure the kids there get bused to Priego to go to school because there were no schools and few shops/restaurants. The houses were white and the roads narrow, steep and curvy. We got back to the hotel and ate the food we had purchased at the grocery store on Saturday. The rest of Sunday was spent showering, packing and preparing to start work Monday morning.
The dinner was pretty terrible. It wound up being a cocktail hour rather than a sit-down dinner, which would have been okay if the food hadn’t been terrible. Most of the stuff was either meat or ham based and I really can’t stand eating either of those. Finally they brought around shot glasses of gazpacho and I think I downed six or seven of them. On my way to the bathroom I noticed people eating salads. The vegetarians had managed to get the restaurant to give them salads with caramelized onion and roasted asparagus on them. I got a hold of one of the coveted salads (people were seriously staring at me asking how they too could acquire a salad). It was actually pretty good – a million times better than the other food being served. The rest of the night was pretty blah…people I’m never going to see again and don’t really care to see again.
Friday morning we woke up and went to breakfast. Shuttle buses took us to the bus and train stations. Cecilia, Erin and I went to the bus station with a bunch of other girls. Finding our buses was a bit of a challenge, but once on board the trip to Córdoba wasn’t bad at all. When we got there, we only had to wait a half hour before our bus to Priego left. During that time, I ate a sandwich of atún con tomate (tuna with a light thin tomato sauce which beats tuna fish salad with mayo by a mile). I ate it on our bus which wound through the streets of Córdoba. It took two hours to reach Priego because we passed through a bunch of little towns and had to stop to let people off.
We got to Priego in the middle of siesta hours. In Andalucia everything shuts down between two and five. During that time, people have a large lunch and take a nap or relax before going back to their daily activities like work. Siesta time means nothing is open and there is nothing to do. We were basically stranded in an empty bus station (which was super tiny anyway) with no idea where our hotel was or how to get to it. After asking the men at the adjacent bar (some of whom were policemen from the adjacent police station), we called a taxi to take us to our hotel, which was way outside Priego. The first taxi we called was out of town. The pay phone ran out of money before we finished our call so he called another taxi. We didn’t know this and had called a third taxi. This meant that two taxi drivers showed up along with a man from Cecilia’s school (Vincente; he came to offer her an apartment) and two girls (one American, one Polish), also from Cecilia’s school, to welcome us. There was a lot of confusion for the first few minutes and by the time we got to our really far hotel, we were stressed and tired and angry to be so far away.
After a long complaint email to our program, we got back into a taxi and went back to Priego to start looking at apartments. Friday evening we saw two places. The first was Vincente’s apartment. It had three bedrooms, a bathroom in the process of being redone, a large kitchen with an oven (rare here) and a living room with a balcony. Each of the rooms faced the street and had a large window. The apartment was light and airy. The second apartment was closer to the bus station and our schools, but it was somewhat older and did not have an oven. The beds were much older as were the couches. This apartment had really nice views, but the living room was open to the hallway and the entrance meaning it would be difficult to heat in the winter. They don’t have heating here, you have to use a space heater. We didn’t really love the people who owned it. Vincente lives up the street from his apartment, meaning he can be there in 5 minutes, and it has an elevator, which is nice.
Friday night we wandered around with Christine (also from our program) trying to find a place to eat. We found a pizza place full of locals. It was down one of the narrow “streets” in Priego’s center. Many of the roads are way too narrow for some cars and only accessible by foot or moto. Cars try going down them…It’s pretty interesting to watch. Our pizza was amazing. It was nice to eat comfort food after such a stressful day. Christine and I split a fish pizza which was topped with shrimp, mussels, tuna and anchovies. This place had a lot of “different” pizzas which we appreciated. It was also super cheap. After dinner we returned to our hotel and went to sleep.
Saturday we woke, ate breakfast, and went back into Priego. We found the library and ran into Erin (another girl from NY here teaching) and Evan (from Indiana). Then we checked out some internet and phone prices and walked around town more. We called other apartments, but could only get in touch with one other person. We saw that apartment after wandering the really old parts of Priego. This apartment had the same number of rooms as the others, except it was in the middle of a block and did not have a lot of light entering it. The kitchen was REALLY old. Cabinets were falling off and it was just gross to be in. The owner, who lived in the campo/country side, had owned the place for 20 years, but had only rented it for one year of those years. This place was pretty dark and it would have cost a lot to heat it in the winter. It had the best location, but it just wasn’t worth trying to live with awful saggy couches and cabinets that were falling apart in a kitchen too gross to use.
We wandered town figuring out where we should live and finally decided on Vincente’s place. We called him and he said we could move in Monday. We walked to an old fountain to rest and then went and saw where Erin, Aleks (the Polish girl) and Jessica live. They live in a two-story condo/house the same distance from the center as we live. Their place was cute, but will probably be harder to heat than ours. We then went grocery shopping to get stuff for Sunday, when everything is completely closed. For dinner, we met up with Erin, Aleks, Evan and Christine and had shawarma! I knew there would be middle eastern food in Andalucia, but to have kebabs and shawarma in Priego was quite the discovery. There is also Chinese food here…I’m somewhat skeptical of it though…
We ate our meals in a plaza before heading back to our hotel.
Sunday afternoon Cecilia and I laid by the pool for a little while before getting Erin and walking to a neighboring village about 3-4 km down the road. The locals gave us weird looks for walking around in gym shorts and sneakers, but it was cute to see this little town. I’m pretty sure the kids there get bused to Priego to go to school because there were no schools and few shops/restaurants. The houses were white and the roads narrow, steep and curvy. We got back to the hotel and ate the food we had purchased at the grocery store on Saturday. The rest of Sunday was spent showering, packing and preparing to start work Monday morning.
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