Una semana atareadisíma...

It's been such a crazy busy week that I haven't had a chance to update my blog until now... oh well, as they say, más vale tarde que nunca (better late than never)!

Last Monday and Tuesday I had orientation for CIEE in Sevilla. At first, I really didn't have any desire to go but I ended up enjoying the two days. First and foremost, I met a lot of great people at orientation and now know a handful of really nice people also teaching in Granada! I took the train from to Sevilla (a trip that only took three hours, not too bad at all) with two girls named Jillian and Lauren; both are from the States and are teaching in Granada. Upon arriving at the station, we only had about a 15 minute walk to reach the hotel where CIEE had purchased us all rooms. (I had written down directions from googlemaps which turned out to be a total waste of time seeing as we could hardly find "street signs" anywhere... lucky for us, however, there were "Hotel Hesperia this way!" signs every few streets that led us to our hotel and we found it no problem!) We got to the hotel a few hours before our orientation was set to start, so we headed up to our rooms to drop off our stuff before meeting back downstairs 15 minutes later. (We were starving and wanted to find a nearby cafe.) One of my roommates, a girl named Lindsay (from Longmeadow, MA... what a small world, right?!) was in the room and she came along with us to grab some food and walk around the city. We found a restaurant with outdoor seating a short walk away from the hotel and as we were eating our croquetas and arroz con verduras two guys stopped by our table and asked us if we were with CIEE, too. They joined us at our table and we learned that they were both assigned teaching placements in Córdoba. The six of us finished our food and then walked to a nearby park where we sat and chatted until returning to the hotel for 7:00pm. When we got back, I was so surprised at the actual number of Americans in the Teach in Spain: the Basics program... I think that there were around 110 of us in total! For some reason, I was expecting a smaller number, maybe around 60-70 or so... needless to say, we took up the whole lobby. We had a quick "welcome to orientation" session that lasted about an hour and then... free all-you-can-eat tapas and free all-you-can-drink wine and beer... awesome. While we were all eating and drinking, everyone was walking around and mingling among the others, trying to find people teaching in the same location. I met a few more people teaching in Granada and some others teaching in Sevilla, Córdoba, Málaga, Cádiz, etc. Everyone was on the same page; excited to be in Spain, a little unsure about how the teaching experience would go when we finally began work. Around 10:30pm, I went upstairs to get ready for bed. I was a little sick with a sore throat and cough and figured I should take my meds and try to get a good night's sleep.

The next morning, we had breakfast in the hotel before having a day-long orientation. They went over a lot of topics that I really didn't need to hear (about how to get a Spanish cell phone, about how to go about finding an apartment to rent, about setting up Internet, etc.). However, after lunch we went over applying for one's non-resident ID card, opening a Spanish bank account, teaching strategies for ESL, etc. That portion of the orientation was definitely important and I'm glad I was there to hear how to go about handling those things. At 4:00pm that afternoon, I headed back to the hotel to grab my things and await the shuttle that would take us to the train station for my 6:00pm train to Granada. I got into the city around 9:15pm and was back home at 10:00pm. I went home knowing a lot more people in Granada and having a lot more information about how to take care of all my paperwork that I need to do to work abroad... overall a good orientation experience in Sevilla.

On Wednesday, September 29th, there was a General Strike (Huelga General) throughout Spain "protesting" some of the country's current working/economic/social conditions and governmental policies. (Don't ask me details; here's a link with more information if you're curious about la Huelga General.)  Public transportation was practically nonexistent for the day, many hotels and offices were only offering "minimal services" and a lot of businesses and stores were closed. I didn't really notice anything other than the lack of transportation and the cut business hours where I was in Granada and I didn't see any protests or marches or anything of the like. However, in bigger cities like Sevilla, Madrid and Barcelona there was a lot more upheaval with loud demonstrations, protestors, picketers, police forces, etc.

Thursday I really didn't do much but walk around the city as it was my last "free" day before starting work officially the next day on Friday, October 1st. I arrived in Armilla at 11:00am on Friday to meet with Lourdes again before meeting the students for the first time. I am teaching two groups of students, 1º de E.S.O. and 2º de E.S.O., which are the equivalents of 7th and 8th grade in the U.S. That first day, I met with the students for their English classes. We spoke a little bit about where I was from, my life back home, my family, etc. I love the kids! They're great! They're really energetic (and loud!), always telling me some little story or asking me some question. We speak an even mixture of Spanish and English... here's how it usually goes: the students will ask me something in Spanish and I'll pretend that I can't understand what they're saying. Then they'll attempt to ask me in English. I'll answer them in slow, simplified English and if they're still having trouble understanding, I'll explain it once more in Spanish. Already the student are asking me, "Teacher! Do you have Facebook?! Do you have Tuenti?!" (Tuenti is the Spanish Facebook)... Too funny. So, I've been teaching at the school the past few days and I love it :) I'll talk more about what I actually do in the classroom in a later post; as this is the first week, the teachers and I are still developing my actual role and duties in the classroom.

Last weekend was really fun! On Friday, Anais and I went out for tapas with Lindsay, Danielle and Lauren (a few of the American girls that I met at orientation). Jillian wasn't feeling well so she stayed home for the night. Lauren's boyfriend, Pablo, is from Granada so she brought him along, too. The next day Ana, Anais and I went to Padul to have coffee with Ana's mother, sister and brother-in-law. Later that same night, Lauren and Pablo had a "piso-warming party" (think Spanish apartment-warming party) and they invited us all to their apartment. After meeting some of their Spanish friends as well as a few more Americans, we went from the piso to botellón, which is basically a huge group of young people drinking outside for a few hours before heading over to the clubs around 3:00am-4:00am. Needless to say, Sunday I was completely dead and didn't do much more than rest and prepare for my first "full" day teaching at Alba Longa!

 Piso-warming party! (I stole this picture from Lauren; I forgot my camera that night!)

So... I'm about to go tutor two Spanish girls in English and after that, I've got a few things to prepare for tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be another long one; a full day at Alba Longa and a few hours tutoring in the afternoon. After that, though... three-day weekend! I'll post again soon, promise!