October Updates

I realized that I haven't posted in a long time, so here goes.  Last weekend I took a trip to Sevilla for Elliot's birthday.  We had a really really great time.  I didn't realize how much I missed living there.  It's so much bigger and prettier than Badajoz.  The architecture and views are amazing almost everywhere you look.  We went to all of the old spots that we used to love, like the park, the rio, the city center, plaza de espana, the stadium, etc etc.  We even went to visit our host Mamas.  We got some desert and coffee with my host Mom which was so much fun.  It was great to see her, and made me miss living there.  I wanted to go back home with her instead of going to my hostel.  The weather was perfect as always.  We stayed in an awesome hostel in the center, right near where we used to go out.  The hostel is an old mansion, so the architecture inside was incredible.  It was also the cleanest and nicest hostel I've ever seen, so that was a definite plus.  It was a nice little getaway.  This week I'm working at the elementary school.  It's going well, except every time I'm here I have to fight off some kind of sickness that I feel coming on.  Sleep and OJ has seemed to do the trick so far though.

This weekend (well, actually starting today) we are going to the North of Spain.  Besides Barcelona, northern Spain is one of the few places that neither Elliot nor I have traveled to.  It'll be a bit of a hassle getting there, but I suspect it'll be worth it.  Tonight (Thursday) we're taking a 10:30 bus up north, so we'll arrive in the city of Oviedo at 8AM tomorrow.  We'll stay in Oviedo for a few days, then move on to Gijon.  After that, we'll travel to Santander.  From there we'll fly back to Sevilla, then bus back to Badajoz (gotta love living out in the sticks).  So this trip will introduce me to three new cities: Oviedo, Gijon, and Santander.  Pictures and updates to come.

That's about it on the updates.  I've pretty much settled into my work schedule.  Classes in schools are going pretty well.  I picked up about 8 private classes, which go very well for the most part, (excluding occasionally wanting to slam my head into the wall).  I'm happy here.  Although I do miss home and wish someone would come visit!!!!

The End of My First Week

Well, I have officially completed my first week as an English Teaching Assistant!  Overall, I had a very positive experience.  I spent this week working at a high school in Badajoz.  Unlike the US, the kids range from 12-18 years old.  My classes are as small as 6 kids to as large as about 30.  I also teach every single level, from 1st years to 4th, to special education, to 1st and 2nd bachillerato.  Also different from the US, high school can potentially last 6 years.  Not all high schools have "bachillerato" levels, as these 2 levels are for students preparing for university.  One challenge for me is adjusting my speaking to the different levels.  Sometimes the teacher doesn't speak at all, so I can't hear how he/she addresses the class in English, so I kind of have to guess how fast to speak.  Overall the kids are interested and like asking me questions.  Some of my classes are really talkative while in others I have to extract info from them, like pulling teeth.  However almost every single student has been attentive and respectful, they are a nice group of kids.  Two girls even drew me a picture!!

I know the level of responsibility of the teaching assistants varies depending on the schools/teachers.  Most of the teachers I work with allow me to just take over the class, while they just jump in for complicated questions or discipline.  This can be good or bad, depending on how interested the kids are in talking.  If there's nothing to talk about sometimes the class feels like it's dragging.  But for the most part I enjoy taking over the class!  Unfortunately it seems like this also maybe students' first time hearing a foreign accent, especially an American accent.  Their teachers are all Spanish, so I think a lot of students have a hard time with my accent.  They also learn British English, so some of my words/pronunciations are nothing like what they are used to hearing.  But there will be a learning curve on both ends!

Unfortunately I have no idea what next week is looking like for me.  I just found out 2 days ago that I was reassigned to a different elementary school because there was a problem with the first one I was assigned to (the one I never heard from).  I'm slightly annoyed because the first elementary school is literally one block away from my house, and the new one is almost an hour walk away (so I have to take a bus).  I was also assured that someone from the school would contact me, but I haven't heard anything yet.  I suppose if I don't hear from them, I have Monday off??? Like everything else, I'm sure in time everything will work out.

Well, that's the abridged version of  my first week!  I already love having Fridays off, especially because Thursday is a big party night!  Elliot and I have some weekend plans with Spaniards, so it's my turn to be the student.

Happy October!

I hope everyone back home is enjoying one of my favorite months!  It certainly doesn't feel like fall here... still 90 degrees and sunny all week - not complaining!  Yesterday I walked past a party store and noticed tons of Halloween decorations/costumes... so there is still hope for celebrating my favorite holiday of the year :)

I suppose my biggest update is that, after all the debate, I was able to go on a vacation.  We went to Malta for an entire week.  For those of you that don't know, Malta is a tiny country made up of small islands and located in the Mediterranean off the coast of Sicily and directly north of Libya.  We booked our flights 4 days in advanced, and our hostel 2 days in advance.  I have to love living in Europe/the availability of Ryanair flights to allow me to plan a trip with such spontaneity.  I highly recommend traveling to Malta, especially if you're already in Europe, as it's very close and inexpensive.  For the amount of tourists in the area, I would have expected this to be a much more pricey vacation.  This destination fits multiple preferences, from quiet lazy days on the Mediterranean beaches to wild partying at night.  Although extremely touristy, with a little travel savvy you can travel throughout the entire island to very "authentic" areas. Elliot and I were able to see most of the main island of Malta.  An added bonus is that we flew over Africa on our way to/from Malta.  I have aerial pictures of Algeria for sure, and I'm assuming Tunisia, and possibly some of Morocco.. depending on when the plane cut back north to go to Spain.

One day after returning from Malta we had to go to orientation in Cáceres, a city in Extremadura about an hour away from Badajoz.  There I met most of the other people in my program.  It wasn't the most helpful orientation because I had already taken care of most of the topics on the agenda.  Oh well, it was a chance to see a new city.  Unfortunately I didn't have time to explore the city until it was dark.  It's a beautiful city, awesome architecture, a pretty good nightlife.  I didn't post my pictures to Facebook because they were all a little dark and don't do the city justice.

Today was also my first day of work.  I didn't actually teach today, but I will be teaching tomorrow. Today Elliot began teaching, and it seems like everything went really well for him.. but kids always naturally love him.  I'm feeling hopeful that tomorrow will go well for me too.  I met 3 (out of hundreds) of my students today and they seemed like really nice kids.  More to come as my work week progresses...