Today I had to teach the 3rd grade science class. It’s one of the classes I have to do the most preparation for, but I was feeling pretty good today because I’d spent a good chunk of time last night planning for today’s lesson. Well, majority of my lesson involved materials that I had e-mailed to myself that I needed to print out. I can only print things off at school. I got to school and…no internet. It wasn’t working. Grrrr. So instead we had an impromptu science lesson that wasn’t a total disaster, but it was frustrating. The 3rd graders are learning about animal, plant and fungi classifications. A lot of the words I could at least recognize in English. The problem is that I don’t know what the words are in Spanish, to translate into English. Therefore the kids have concluded that I must be the worse native English speaker in the world because I can’t answer their every question about vocabulary (with their only hint to me being the random word in Spanish that I’ve never heard before in my life). That is why planning for my science classes is especially important. That gives me the ability to control the material and vocabulary we learn, and allows me to look up any words ahead of time that I think they might use or ask about…it makes me look so smart! One of the boys in my 3rd grade science class knows so much about animals. His grasp on vocabulary and what animals I was referring to was really amazing.
I hung around the school from 11:45-1:30. I wrote a bunch numbers, dates, basic classroom words, etc on white cards that I’m going to put up around the 3 year olds’ classroom. I also traced Silvia’s (the school secretary) body onto a piece of butcher paper to prepare for next week’s 4th grade science lesson on the body systems. I ran a quick errand to buy a thumb drive and a snack, and then headed back to school. I hung out again until 2 when school was out, and then went back to my apartment to drop my things off. After that I went to Mezquita to meet with the other teachers before our fancy lunch at el instituto. I had a mosto and just before 3 we headed to the school.
Every Thursday the culinary students at el instituto cook a multi-course meal and you can reserve a spot to go eat there. It’s 10 euros and includes bread, appetizers, 2 main courses, 2 desserts, drinks and coffee…and it’s fabulous. They did a really nice job, and of course it was way better than anything I’ve managed to make myself here. There were 3 tables full of teachers from my school, and most of the other two tables were filled with teachers and students from my adult English class on Wednesday afternoons. It was nice to walk into a place like that and know more people than I didn’t know! We sat and chatted and ate and were merry. Inés husband and son were there, as well as another teacher’s husband and son. This little boy, Fernando, was shy, but looking at me constantly, and eventually took a liking to me. He was so cute. He started calling me Eri and gave me a kiss on the cheek to say goodbye. He tried talking to me but I didn’t have a clue what he was trying to tell me (neither did his dad). Fernando is 2 years old, so little-kid-speak in a foreign language is pretty difficult for me to interpret.
(puree de patatas with a cool design on it)
(the main course)
(one of the desserts)
(Fernando, 2 years old, in his chef hat made by the culinary teacher)
(Ines and her son)
After lunch I walked with Ana (one of the teachers, whose son is one of the culinary students) back to her house. I proceeded to have a long coughing fit so she gave me several blankets, gave me a glass of water and some hot chocolate, told me I should wear a scarf and go to the doctor the next day. Needless to say, I am well cared for here. That is definitely one of the benefits of being in a small town like this. I sat with Ana for a couple hours chatting about families, food, traditions, holidays, etc, etc. She is from a town outside of Cordoba and has two kids. Her husband is still in their town outside of Cordoba. Her eldest son is in Madrid. Her youngest son is studying cooking here. I’ve been really shocked at home many teachers here have husbands, wives and children in other cities and are only able to see them on weekends at best. The economic crisis here has made finding jobs difficult (just like in the US). Ana mentioned that she (based on the movies) likes how American houses look, and loves the Christmas lights in winter time. She also told me more about Día de los Reyes. Día de los Reyes is the 6th of January. This is when Spanish children get most of their Christmas presents. The children put their shoes outside on the balcony with snacks and glasses of water. The three wise men come, on their camels, let the camels drink the water, and they leave gifts in their place. In reality, the parents drink the water and put the snacks away. Ana said one year her sons tried to put out a pair of her husband’s shoes instead of their shoes thinking, if the shoes are bigger, the gifts must be too! Ana also invited me to spend Christmas with her in Cordoba if I end up with no other plans. She doesn’t want me to be alone that day. We also talked about Franquismo and how difficult those times were for Spain (especially for her grandfather who had 28 children). We covered an amazing range of topics. We went in search of lana (wool) that Ana’s mother requested. I was shocked at how much yarn this little shop in Siles had. Sadly though, they were out of the kind that her mother wanted. We left the shop but almost immediately went back so Ana could ask when the ‘consultorio’ (doctor’s office) closes during the week. Here there is one doctor’s office. It closes at 3 pm during the week and is closed on the weekends. So, don’t get sick or injured on the weekends because you’ll have to go to another town to get help. She said if I don’t start feeling better I should go get checked out…it is free after all! Why people don’t want this kind of health system in the US, I’ll never know. It’s freakin’ awesome.
Every now and then I get a pleasant satisfaction from the realization about how much my Spanish is improving. I just had a three hour conversation with a native Spanish speaker completely in Spanish with fairly minimal comprehension problems. Yeeeeees.
I went home, had a sandwich, put my clothes away, unclogged my shower, caught up on e-mails and photo orders and relaxed. Oh, I also finally had victory over my fly “friend” that had made himself too comfortable in my apartment. He was doused with hairspray, smashed with my power converter and flushed down the toilet. I was quite content…until his angry brother landed on my computer screen. I thought there was only one in my apartment, but it appears that there are two annoying flies that like to spend their time circling around me. Sigh.
I’m going to bed. I’m not setting an alarm. Tomorrow I will be cleaning my apartment so it’s ready for Roberto and Brittany to come visit me. Dust collects so fast here! The weather is supposed to get better. I hope that’s true so we have more options of things to do this weekend. At least it didn’t rain today. It was just SO cold. The temperature has dropped really quickly over the last week. Every time I go outside the cold irritates my cough. I turned my heat on for awhile yesterday and today. I’ve also had my towel rack going in order to dry my clothes. Winter’s coming!
Buenas noches todos!
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