So I've got some cool roommates, NBD

Seriously, I have the best roommates. It took me a little longer to find housing than all of the other auxiliares de conversacion but it was well worth it. I live with three Spanish students who are from towns less than 2 hours away from Badajoz. Monica studies biology, Maria and Barbara study agricultural engineering. They are all a year older than me, in their last year of college and have a good sense of humor. All of the students in Badajoz study nursing, medicine, biology, engineering, or audio-visual communication because the universities are specialized here.

My apartment is in a very good location. I'm about 10 minutes from downtown and the high school I work at, a short block away from the bus station, and am very close to Carrefour (a giant store that's similar to Wal-Mart and Target) and a good running trail towards the edge of the city. It has two bathrooms, four bedrooms, a small terrace, as well as an open kitchen (most of the kitchens I've seen here are very narrow), a washing machine, a dishwasher and a panini maker. As well as a comfortable living room, fridge/freezer, an extra freezer and a pretty big tv with a DVD player.

Tonight we were watching a dubbed version (everything is dubbed here) of "What Women Want" when Barbara and Maria started dying laughing at something. Monica and I didn't know what was going on, but their laughter was contagious. I think we were all tired and so we just kept laughing. You know how the smallest things are super funny when you're kind of delirious? It was like that. Barbara explained what was so funny and it was definitely one of those "you had to be there" stories.

Later, Monica and Barbara asked me if I could name all the states, like they did in the TV show "Friends." They said I was going to get all but one, because that's what happened in the show. They knew it was a tough task because there are a lot of states. I couldn't remember if Connecticut was a state (terrible, I know) but I wrote it down anyway. They were impressed by my mad skills because they had me start naming states in the Northeast and make my way around the US.

They both get a kick out of the way I say "Wisconsin" with a heavy "o." Four years in midwestern will do that to you. They then asked me questions about where certain cities were, like New Orleans and Houston, and what Texas was like. We also talked about Mount Rushmore and which states were fun to visit. It was funny how Monica knew Mount Rushmore was in South Dakota. She loves movies, remembers them all well and remembered watching "Richie Rich." Barbara hasn't seen it, so Monica explained how Mount Rushmore was involved in the movie. They then asked me where Harvard was, but because of their accent, I heard a really strong version of the word "Harbor" and told them I didn't know what they were trying to tell me. They then said, "What? It's so famous, how do you not know where it is? Or what it is?" I then understood they were saying Harvard. I wrote it down for them and they said "Oh, Harvard" with heavy "r's." We had a good laugh because I also wrote down the word "Harbor" so they could understand what I heard. They told me they learned the pronunciation from watching TV and that the dubbing actors mispronounced the word. Then Barbara asked where Yale was, but with her accent it sounded more like "jail" and we all started laughing because she then realized it sounded more like the English word for "carcel." I was sure Connecticut was a state this time around, so I told them it was in Connecticut.

Also, my roommates don't speak English well. Maria can understand it better than Monica and Barbara and can speak a tiny bit, but they are all good at reading in English. They all have trouble understanding my accent, almost every Spaniard I've talked to who speaks English does. Even if I say Texas instead of Tejas or TeXas. It's fun talking with them and they teach me new words and make me repeat the words so I actually learn them. I do the same for them in English. It's working out pretty well.

Valverde de Leganes

Saturday

Saturday night I went out with Meredith (pictured below) and her friend Marta, who is from Badajoz. We met up with one of Marta's friends and went out to dinner. She wanted us to try food that was really Extremena. She ordered four dishes. First we had Bacalao Dorado with fried potatoes, eggs and spices, then we had toasted bread with melted goat cheese slices (this cheese was the bomb, possibly the best cheese I've ever had?), then we had baked eggplant that was layered with a seafood spread that had tomato with cheese on top, and then we had cooked beef in a gravy with french fries on the side. The waiter knew Marta's boyfriend so he brought mamajuana, a liquor that is from the Dominican Republic.

Wednesday

I didn't have to work until Wednesday of this week because of the holiday on Tuesday. The 15 minute drive to Valverde is very scenic with lots of olive trees and vineyards. There are even a couple of factories that produce olive oil along the highway. I arrived at the bus station, a small roundabout with a few benches, at 9am and was worried I was late for work because classes start at 8:30 in Badajoz. I asked for directions and found the school fine. I entered the building and all of the lights were off and there was one person working. I think he is the custodian of the school but am not too sure. He wears a neon green work vest over his shirt and walks around in the mornings. He told me no one shows up until 9:30, which is the time school starts. I waited in the lobby and was kind of asleep with my eyes open. Sure enough, at 9:30, the bell rang and the parents with their children showed up and went to their children's classrooms. Almost all of the children had backpacks with wheels, a lot of them had Hannah Montana.

Children start school at age 3 and are at the institution until they are 12. The town has around 4,000 people, so there is one Colegio de Infantil y Primaria and one Colegio Secundario in the town. The principal, Fernando, was extra busy this morning because there had been a funeral that day and he was busy talking to parents about absences. Around 10 Fernando showed me around the school and took me to meet one of the two English teachers. The other English teacher comes into work at 10:30 because she has a 6 month old child. We also ran into the secretary and asked him if he had my schedule. He didn't, so Fernando told me to take the 10:55 bus back to Badajoz and come back on Thursday to work. The bus leaves from Valverde de Leganes to Badajoz 4 times a day, 3 of which are before noon. The last bus leaves at 4:40pm. While the bus from Badajoz to Valverde de Leganes leaves 5 times a day, with only one bus before noon, at 8:15am.

Thursday

I sat in on Monica's class with second graders, while I waited for Amalia to arrive. They sang lots of songs and did fun activities in English. Towards the end of class, they stood up, paired up and did the "Crisscross applesauce" rhyme. I remembered doing that when I was in elementary school, but it was never a class activity. Lucky kids.

After Amalia arrived, she also gave me a tour of the school, gave me my schedule and two activity books the students are using for this school year. I will have bilingual science and social studies classes the whole year with 10 year olds. I'm also really glad she gave me the activity books, so that I can plan lessons that use key words from their weekly classes. Also, one hour a week I will have a planning period with Amalia and Monica to plan for the upcoming week.

The kids had exams in three of the four classes, so I was introduced and then just sat in the classroom until the class was over. The tests were over photosynthesis and the discovery of America. The kids who were taking the test over photosynthesis did not understand what the test said or how to say the answers in English, so they would ask Amalia and get up from their desks to ask her. At one time there were five kids crowded around her, she asked them to sit down, and then blew a whistle. It was such a harsh sound I haven't heard since P.E. in middle school. It didn't phase the kids though, however another sound of the whistle did the trick.

In one class, the students finished early and had time to interview me with questions they had prepared the day before. They were in groups of 4 or 5, and asked me questions like:

"Do you have a pet?"

"What is your favorite color?"

"Do you like Spain?" and one group of boys asked me "What is your shoe size?" That was the most random question. The big question though, was "Real Madrid or Barcelona?" I didn't know which team to choose, so I asked them and four out of five told me Real Madrid, so I said okay. They got excited and started talking about some of the players.

In the last class of the day, the class without a test, I was able to talk about the same thing I had in Badajoz, the previous week. It was fun working with the 10 year olds because they were so excited to answer questions I would ask them. One girl asked me how old I was, I told her "I'm 22" and she told me "Oh, you're so young!" I then asked her how old she was and she said "I'm 9, but I'll be 10 in November." Amalia told me she was the youngest in the class, so I told her "You're young too," but she wasn't having it.

There are two breaks in the school day, one for 20 minutes at 11:30 and one for 10 at 13:20. During the first break, the cafeteria provides fruit, coffee, milk, bread, and sweets for the teachers. While walking to the cafeteria, Amalia was telling me about how delicious all of the snacks are and how it was as if the school wanted to make the teachers fat! Too funny.

Luckily, Monica was able to give me a ride home after school and Amalia found two different teachers who drive past the bus station on their way to school, so I'll be able to catch a ride with them the weeks I'm in Valverde.

First day of Work

Even though I had been driven by IES Domingo Caceres once and studied my map intently the night before work, I still got lost. I walked one block too far south and two blocks too few going west. Even though people are generally late for appointments, it is important to be on time, even if the person you are meeting is late, so I did not want to be late on my first day. Mar was also 5 minutes late getting to school, so everything was fine. She took me to the teacher’s lounge and introduced me to all of the English teachers. I was supposed to have four classes (three for 50 minutes and one for 55), but only had three because Mar had misinterpreted one of the teacher’s schedules. All of the kids were 13, though a lot of them were small and looked about 10. They were well behaved and were not too shy to speak in English. We talked about Texas, capital cities, regions of the US, weather in the different regions, school schedules and food. I asked them what kinds of foods they think of when they think of the US. Everyone said hamburgers, hot dogs, and fries and then asked if we ate them everyday.

The teachers at the school were all very welcoming and offered to help me find an apartment or help me with anything else I needed. During el recreo (the coffee break at 11:10) the teachers divided themselves by age. I went out with the young people to a café where people either had café con leche (which is the best thing ever), zumo de naranja (the cafés have a machine that makes the juice fresh for each person) and cola cao (hot chocolate made by Nestle that is mixed into warm milk. The Spanish say it’s the best in the world). The break lasts for 30 minutes and is halfway during the school day. Classes begin at 8:30 and school is done by 2:20, so that the students and teachers can eat lunch at home or elsewhere.

Arriving in Spain

I can’t believe I’m in Spain! The flight to Madrid was fine, there was lots of turbulence and lots of tv shows, movies, and educational programs to watch while flying. I sat by a nice older woman who showed me a nifty way to put my purse so it wouldn’t move around too much. The taxi ride from the airport to the bus station was more expensive than my bus ticket from Madrid to Cáceres. I was glad I made the 9:00 bus so I didn’t have to wait another 2 hours for the next one. While looking for the bus I heard some people who looked about my age talking in English, one of them was on my bus. I said something in English to the guy on my bus and he said “Oh man, is it that obvious I speak English?” We sat by each other and found out we have a mutual friend who went to Beloit. Small world, huh? We also had a similar experience getting ready for this job. We both found out we were accepted to the program in early September and got our visas right before we left.

It felt like we were on the bus for so long, because we had only one 15 min break during the almost 5 hour trip, at least the scenery was nice. We got to Cáceres close to 2 and made our way to the hostel we were staying at for orientation. There were so many people there who were all excited and a bit nervous about being an English Language and Culture Assistant. There were about 5 people who had done the program the year before and loved it so much, they were back for another year.

I met two British girls who wanted to wander around the city and invited me to go with them. They were in Cáceres the day before and saw all the madness that took place during the huelga general. I saw the aftermath: broken eggshells, trash, and other evidence of what took place. Cáceres is so gorgeous and the weather was so nice for walking. At orientation, I found out I only work 12 hours a week and never work on Fridays. How nice is that? And there is a holiday on the 12^th, so I have a 5 day weekend.

The next day we had to be ready to go by 8:45, so the bus could leave at 9:30 to take us to a school where we would meet our tutors. Mar is my tutor. She’s from Madrid but has been teaching in Badajoz for a while. It was nice to be in a car instead of a bus for the trip to Badajoz. There were so many olive trees and vineyards along the highway. We stopped halfway between Caceres and Badajoz for lunch; it was so good. Lunch is the big meal here and you can find restaurants that have a Menú del día, which includes two courses, dessert, and a drink. I had a soup with garbanzos, onion and pork, grilled fish with lettuce and tomato and flan for dessert.

That night I went out with friends and we had a typical Spanish night were we stayed out until 5am. The way to get rid of jet-lag is to jump right into their schedule, right? It kind of worked.

Zafra

Saturday night I went to a festival in Zafra with some friends. The buses ran all night and left every hour from the bus station in Badajoz and in Zafra.

There were so many people at the festival and it was funny to see children out so late. Well, for the Spaniards it wasn’t late, 10 o’clock is a fine hour to be awake for a child. There were so many bounce castles and go-carts for the children to enjoy. There were also many tents with different vendors selling purses, clothing, umbrellas, Scarface posters, etc. We met up with Ariela’s flatmate Félix, who is from a pueblo near Badajoz, who was there was some of his friends.