Por fín! (Que día más largo!)

two big pieces of news:

1. First day of work as an auxiliar de conversación! Initial observations of IES Santa Eugenia...Spanish teachers are incredibly laid back compared to US teachers. The two teachers I shadowed today arrived casually late to their classes, especially taking their time after lunch. The two of us auxiliares that work at Santa Eugenia met with the teachers of the English department during their break to throw together trial schedules for the rest of this week. About half way through this, José María, the department head, excused himself to go find a missing English teacher (who could be found outside smoking). He said, "I would prefer that eshe were here..eshe is aoutaside esmoking." When he succeeded to find her and bring her to us, she didn't have her class schedule so she couldn't really place us tentatively in any of her classes..so she excused herself to her office to retrieve her schedule. Not a soul seemed the least bit anxious to get back to class even as we sat, still discussing matters ten minutes after the next round of classes should have begun (and classes are just 50 minutes long).

Also, the teachers are very friendly and warm. I feel extremely welcomed here. Although they do speak to me in English some of the time, most of them are more than willing to speak to me in Spanish most of the time (the exception is José María)..and they've complimented my Spanish and expressed excitement for me to have this opportunity to "perfect" it. Many of the auxiliares have very little Spanish speaking skills (some have almost no Spanish speaking skills...in at least one instance, an auxiliar lied in her application stating that she had moderate skills when in reality she comprehends nada). I can't imagine having the audacity to lie on an application to work abroad, earning precious grant money in a country that is in economic ruins. Too rascally. Anyway, I feel really comfortable here in terms of getting by with my language skills. When people recognize that you aren't Spanish, they slow down naturally, which makes understanding easy. Also, Madrileño Spanish is a bit clearer than the Spanish in the south of Spain would be..they don't cut all their words in half here so that it is impossible to tell who the subject of a sentence is, whether something is singular or plural, etc.

The classes: more than 30 alumnos en cada grupo de estudiantes! ¡Qué grandes grupos! Students chit chat throughout the entire class meeting, with little to no correction from the teacher (this was more noticeable with Vicente's class than with José María's). The murmoring is a bit distracting..

My part today: Vicente made minimal use of my presence today. After I introduced myself, he just asked me to do one more thing, which was to recite questions from the text book for his class..and have a random student answer. José María had me TWICE stand before a group of students and answer whatever random questions they had for me. Among them: "Is it true that many Americans think that Espain is apart of México?" "Is it true that Americans think that Europeans can do whatever they want to do?" "Do you prefer Madrid or your country?" "How many countries do you know?" "What are your hobbies?" "What do you study?" When I answered a question, he would prompt his students to restate my answers, saying, "This is avery important. Vuat dit Laisa just exsplain to us?"

Then, José María excused me an hour early because there was no teacher for me to shadow today (qué suerte) and so I left...only to have to wait several hours, carrying a heavy pack, for the next order of business to invite me in. Tomorrow, I get to check out IES Perez Galdos, my other instituto. The classes should be much smaller.

2. Remember, there were two big pieces of NEWS... I moved into my flat today!!! Finally. After originally being told I could move in on the 31st of the month (which didn't exist in a month with just 30 days), I felt pretty disappointed not to have settled in before the first day of classes. Utterly tired of staying at hostels, a new friend and English teacher I met at No Name City Hostel, Rashid, helped me out, letting me stay in a spare room at the piso he just moved into yesterday! He and I also helped each other metro-move all of our belongings into our respective pisos and accompanied one another to IKEA to pick out sheets, pillows and other household necessities. (Going to IKEA, now there's a culture shock for me..what a zoo!) I don't know how I would have fared without him. It's pretty challenging hauling suitcases and bags up and down stairs getting down to and up from the metro lines. When you travel to foreign places alone, you end up asking for help all the time, and sometimes you receive the best support from people you just barely know. It's been fun making a lot of one-day friendships with travelers passing through Madrid..but, I'm definitely ready to be "at home."

When I arrived here today at 5, Gustavo (nice Ecuadorian lad who moved out) had not yet moved his things out of the room or tidied it up..he did so pretty quickly upon my coming (thankfully). I was incredibly tired as I had run about a mile to meet Eugenio before he had a class to get the keys (even though he originally told me I could come sometime between 5 and 6, at the last minute he advised me to come at 5 en punto!). I had been loaded down with my backpack full of stuff I'd had with me while staying at Rashid's house, plus my laptop and all my valuables, including all the euros for my first month's rent and deposit. I was so grateful to get the backpack and wool jacket off! As soon as Gustavo made room for me to, I organized my belongings in the room and made my bed..and sat down to just take a load off. At 8, I went out to meet other auxiliares that live in this neighborhood, so now I know 4 other women living within 10 minutes of me! We might form a Calle de Ibiza club..keep track of each other a bit.

I grocery shopped for the first real time too, just before the supermercado closed. They actually started turning the lights off and as soon as I left they pulled shut the meltal sheet door. I'll be cooking breakfast for the first time in a long while tomorrow! The oats are already soaking.

I am looking forward to another day of work tomorrow. I feel good about where I'm living, even though the room is pretty devoid of natural light. I know it could be much worse. For example, room where I stayed yesterday was litterally a box with no way out by the door and it was impossible to move in the room if the door was open. Here, I have my own bathroom that I don't have to share iwth the Ukranian brothers I live with and I have a line to hang my clothes out to dry on right out of my window... What would make this all so much sweeter would be, Wally..that smooth-furred, grey and white kitty cat whom I so loved spending relaxed evening hours stroking and admiring this summer. The wild cats that tend to the parks and plazas of this city are a poor substitution for a beloved animal companion. It'd also be great to see any of you folks that read this. COME VISIT ME IN SPAIN!

XO
Liza