“The American is coming! The American is coming!”
That, ladies and gentlemen, is what the headmaster shouts out the window everyday as I approach the school. Totally normal, right? Welcome to Spain, where American-normal is hard to find. Over, the last few days, I was reminded again why I came to Spain in the first place, (teaching, travelling, memories, etc) and just how much I love it here.
Let’s go back to where I left off…
WEDNESDAY: This day was my second official day of school. I was greeted with the lovely welcome slogan stated above. I have to admit, it does make me laugh every time. I started my day off in 5th grade which I had been in the previous day. The students and I practiced some conversational sentences. One of the questions I asked each of them was “What is your favorite sport?” When asking this question in Spain, be prepared to make your brain work extra hard. Not only are you trying to translate the Spanglish being spoken, but you also need to differentiate between whether or not the person picked futbol (soccer) or football (American football). Keep in mind, the words are being written out; they are being spoken and both sound exactly the same. This classroom confusion led me to explain to the students that every time they say “futbol,” I think of American football. If they mean soccer, they needed to say the word “soccer.” Well, this led into a deeper discussion of what the difference was between the two. And then rugby got thrown into the mix, and I was expected to be an expert on it (ha) and explain the difference between that and football. Oy vey. So what does every good teacher do when they don’t know the answer to the question…. The internet! Thank goodness this classroom has a computer and projector in it. I was even able to use Youtube! (Unheard of in an American classroom.) So I Youtubed some video clips of American football so the students would be able to use their heads and compare that with Rugby. After watching and discussing, I then came up with the idea of playing a mini classroom game of football with a roll of toilet paper. Running was not involved by tossing and catching and teamwork definitely were. It was pretty cool. The classroom teacher thought I was crazy. I can only imagine what these kids told their parents at the lunch table…
Post football game, my 5th graders had a surprise for me.
1. They presented me with a lot of chocolate. They remembered from my slide show that I love chocolate, and they wanted me to try the chocolate made in Priego.
2. The sang this song for me….
I almost cried. It was so sweet.
Sidenote: the chocolate made in Priego tastes terrible. (I apologize if this offends any of my Priego readers!) It is a long tube shape and it kind of has the consistency of cookie dough except it is more gritty/pasty. And the taste is totally yuck. I have so much, some of you may be getting this as souvenirs. Get excited!
After 5th grade, I hopped over to 3rd grade. I had not met any of these students yet, so I did the slideshow run down copying the lesson plan from the previous day. After 3rd, I went to 4th grade. Same deal.
Also, I should add that a lot happened during our mid day coffee break. For starters, I met with a representative from the Parent Association (comparable to the PTA). The lady proposed to me that I teach the students private classes a few times a week after school. The Association would put out sign up sheets and organize the class groups and space. I’m required to show up and play games and hold conversations with the students. The gig pays 15 euros per class (each class is an hour). It’s not the best rate, so I stated my stipulations of that I wanted to have a classroom with a computer (essential), 1st-3rd grade would be a separate class from 4th-6th due to the English levels, and no more than 15 students in a class. She agreed to all of the above, and if this gets approved, I should have my first class by the end of October. After this meeting, I returned to the faculty room where the headmaster presented me with my very own bag to use for school. It is similar to a briefcase but made of cloth instead. It even has the school logo on it which will make for a good memory down the road.
After school, I needed to return home and pack in preparation for my trip to Cordoba. I was going to Cordoba to start the application process for my NIE/TIE which is basically a Spanish Identification Card. Post packing and napping, Carolyn (my roommate) and I boarded the 6:15 bus heading for Cordoba. The ride itself was very uneventful. I found myself once again staring at an infinite number of Olive Trees struggling to keep my eyes open (You are getting sleeeeeepy. Very, very sleeeeeepy.) The olive tree thing kind of makes me laugh; for my Sussex county readers, just imagine seeing corn fields going on for forever. No houses to break up the monotony or any end in sight. Just corn fields, or in my case, olive trees. The thing is, they don’t even look like a forest. You just see green dots all along the mountains and country side. Hard to describe; it’s just one of the things you would need to see in person.
I arrived in Cordoba around 8:00 and was happy to finally be reunited with my Sevilla roommate Maggie. I got the tour of her apartment in Cordoba, unpacked a smidge, and then we headed to a local bar for some tapas and some catching up. To begin with, the place she took me to was called “La Tortuga”. That translates to “the turtle.” Unbeknownst to her, my favorite animal is a turtle. And to make it even better, the food was AMAZING. I’ve become so accustomed to fried food and bocadillas in Priego that having fresh, un-fried food was super delicious. Maggie and I shared an amazing salad with apples, cheese, kiwis, salmon, and balsamic and a spinach empanada. Food coma induced, we headed back to her apartment to get some sleep.
THURSDAY: I woke up bright and early on this day to head to my NIE appointment. Fun Fact: You can only apply for the NIE at the one location in the province, which in this case is Cordoba. You also have to attend the appointment date and time you are given. So I actually missed my third day of teaching due to this appointment. Don't worry Mom, this is totally okay with my school. I arrived at my appointment at 9:30. It was recommended to show up 30 minutes early because you get a ticket number when you arrive which is actually the order of which your appointment will be called. I dare to say that this experience was worse than the DMV…
1. The man working the front desk was extremely grouchy.
2. I waited three hours before being called.
3. After waiting, I had to wait some more and didn’t end up leaving the place for an additional hour.
The awful screen I stared at for four hours.
So, four hours later, tired and hungry, I walked out of that horrible place. Carolyn was there going through the same thing as me, so after we were done, we headed to the closest bar for some much needed café, cervesas, and tapas. Yes, we got both coffee and beer. It was necessary.
After lunch, I headed back to Maggie’s for a siesta. And after siesta, we headed out for some shopping. Now before you go freaking out MOM, it was necessary shopping. This past weekend was actually cold in Priego, and I realized I don’t have enough pants or a Fall jacket to battle this semi cold weather. So I needed to fill this void and the only logical solution to all of this is to shop in Cordoba where prices are cheap.
New leather jacket!
New pantalones!
After shopping, we freshened up back at Maggie’s and went out to eat at a place called “Divinos” (I think?). Here we had some amazing Spanish tapas. Two of my favorites: a piece of baguette with octopus and some sort of cream sauce on top and another piece of baguette with goat cheese, balsamic, and raspberry drizzled on top. So delicious! After tapas, we sipped some wine and then eventually headed back to Maggie's apartment for some sleep.
FRIDAY: Due to the fact that I lost an entire day on Thursday because of my NIE appointment, I had to make up for it by being a tourist on this day. After going through the routines of the morning, we headed to The Mezquita which is a famous landmark (mosque/cathedral) in Cordoba. Essentially, it started out as a Muslim mosque and was later taken over by Catholics and turned into a cathedral. The place has both Muslim and Catholic elements to it making the architecture stunning.
After The Mezquita, we met up with our other friends who were visiting Cordoba for the same reason as me… the dreaded NIE appointment. They had finished theirs while Maggie and I were exploring The Mezquita. Feeling just as hungry and tired as I was yesterday, we all ventured to a famous place in Cordoba called “Salon de Te.” The inside was so pretty and relaxing. I ordered myself a cup of tea, hummus (which I have been craving since arriving to Priego), and falafel. All of the above was delicious.
Siesta came next. We squished the four of us into Maggie’s Queen size bed. It was quite the sight. Post siesta, we watched the sunset on the apartment roof. It was beautiful! After the sunset, we had some cheese, bread, and tomatoes and got ready for a night out in Cordoba. We started at a Spanish girl’s apartment. She was a friend of Maggie’s and invited us over for a get together with her friends. It was very relaxed. I met some girls from Poland, two girls from England, one girl from Italy, a boy from Texas, and other Spaniards. The dynamic was interesting to say the least. After hanging out at the apartment for a little, Maggie, Katherine, Maura, and myself headed to a rooftop bar called “Soho.” This bar was nice because it was an older crowd as opposed to the younger crowd we’ve been “hanging out” with in Spain. Because the drinking age is 18 here, the going out crowd is typically really young, making me feel really old. This was a nice change of pace. And the views of the city didn’t hurt either. After this bar/club, we headed to another place called “Gongora” and danced the rest of the night away. Around 6:00am we called it quits and headed back to Maggie’s apartment where we cooked ourselves Mexican tortillas in the microwave and headed to bed.
SATURDAY: This day was my last day in Cordoba. We all woke up around 12:00 and headed to a place for lunch called “Frida” after the famous Frida Kahlo. I had some delicious guacamole and a black bean burrito. As we wandered along the streets of Cordoba, we stumbled upon a store selling beautiful pottery. They made it right in the store, so we were able to watch the owner make it right there. Just the colors and details of all of the pottery was mesmerizing.
After this, we headed a well known wine bar. This places sells the famous Cordoba wine called “Montilla.” We just wanted to try a glass. Unbeknownst to us, the stuff tasted like a gross mix of nail polish remover and medicine. We left without finishing our glasses. After the wine place, we headed back to Maggie’s apartment to pack up my things and get ready for the journey back to Priego.
TODAY: Because it is Sunday, and everything here is closed (worse than the Blue Laws in Bergen County), I've spent my day watching "Bob Esponja" and hanging out at "Hotel Rafi" stealing the wifi. Tomorrow I attempt my first actual lesson plan with the little ones. Wish me luck!
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