Ok, so we’ve entered the next phase of breaking down my defenses. I’ve conquered so many uncomfortable situations (like going to bars by myself) but tomorrow will be a test…singing and dancing. I don’t know why I have such a hard time singing and dancing in front of 20 four year olds, but it just isn’t my thing. I know it’s a good way for them to learn, which is why I’m going to cave and do it, but it makes me very uncomfortable. The teachers in the infantil have requested that I bring some songs…so here we go…
I earned 22 extra euros today in private lessons (and that’s skipping one of my normal lessons). Heck yes!
I still feel lost when it comes to discipline in the classroom. I don’t know how to gain respect and control in the classroom and it’s starting to wear on me. Most of the time I try to prepare lessons I think the kids will like and want to participate in, but it always seems to go array. I always feel better after going to the gym (although I’ll be even happier when I can go to the gym when it is light out and isn’t so cold).
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Monday, January 24, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Doctors, kids and clowns
Today’s highlight: all of the 5 year old students in one class spontaneously decided to run up and give Sebas a big hug, resulting in a big group class hug and moment of cuteness. I wanted my camera SO bad.
I missed my first two classes today. I had a doctor’s appointment to get my cough checked out. I was a couple minutes late to my appointment and was still filling out paperwork when I heard my name called in the other room. I wasn’t too worried though. I knew they would still see me. What I *didn’t* know was that those couple minutes were going to end up costing me 30-45 minutes. I finished up my paperwork, then went to the waiting room. The doctor finished up with the patient he had seen instead of me, then did a consultation for a patient with another doctor. When he came back out of his office he was dressed in his street clothes and had his bag. He saw me, said “You can wait, right? I’m going to go have a coffee.” Hmmmm…well…yes…I can wait…I don’t really have a choice. But really??? The doctor’s office opens at 8am I think and closes at 2pm. My appointment was at 10am. 6 hours…that’s not even a full workday! And you need a coffee break in the middle? That’s why so many Americans have their giganto cups of coffee with them at their desks! So we don’t have to leave in the middle of the work day to get a coffee in a restaurant. He eventually came back, saw me first, got me a prescription and sent me on my way.
From there I headed to the post office and the pharmacy. I realized that you never want to try to go to either of these places around 11am. Apparently that’s peak time for running errands. Both places were packed (ok…well… “packed” in a Siles, small-town way). I decided to deal with the post office first. I tried to get the lady there to clarify some of the charges, or see if she could call the main Correos or the customs people to talk down the charges a bit. She thought the charges were absolutely ridiculous but could do nothing about it. She gave me their phone number and recommended I call them to try and explain person to person the situation and see if they would waive the importation fees. Grrrr. The pharmacy was a little more uplifting. I was worried a little bit when I realized that I only had 20 euro with me. I wasn’t sure how much these two prescriptions were going to cost and no one in this town takes debit or credit cards. Cash only! Silly me…both prescriptions together, TOTAL, cost a little over 3 euros. I thought I had misunderstood the cashier. Sweet deal! It makes it seem even better because the 1 euro is a coin, not a bill, so I paid for my entire prescription in coins. Seems like nothing!
After this I headed up to the infantil. On my way I saw Luis’ dad who was pacing outside a café with his umbrella and cigarette. The new smoking laws in action! Luis’ mom was inside with Carlos (Luis’ nephew who is back in town visiting). He invited me in to have coffee with them but I had to get up to the school. I made two more quick stops to pick up a napolitana and something to drink. When I got to the school it was recess time. I could have had that coffee after all. I sat and chatted with the teachers, then it was time to work.
I was working with Sebas. I had seen him at the gym for the first time yesterday and today we chatted a bit about the gym and how sore and tired he was. Theeeeen we got to sing and dance with the little kids. I went over the days of the week and weather with them like normal. We taught them a song from their book about winter and invented some last minute dance moves to go with it. I don’t mind singing and dancing with the little kids when other teachers are dancing with me. It’s just when I’m planning and executing a lesson alone that I avoid it (even though I know it’s a good way for the little kids to learn). After that we did an activity in their book to try and teach them the number seven in English. The kids can count from one to at least ten without any difficulty. However, today we tried to get them to count backwards and they couldn’t do it at all. I thought it was very interesting. We tried to write the numbers on the board and even point to them in the correct order but they would always count up. 7…8…no, no we need six next…6….7….no, no, you have to go to five after that….5….6…ohhh geez. When the first class of 5 year olds was done Sebas and I took a quick breath in the hallway then headed in for round two (there are two classes of 5 year olds). We did the exact same lesson. The only difference was the random group hugs that happened 3 times
(twice to Sebas, once to me). Ahhh, yes kids, we love you too.
I also had my first intercambio with Pacolmo the clown today. It wasn’t what I thought it would be but it was still good. I met Paco at the ayuntamiento (city hall building) at 6:30 and was greeted by his big, friendly dog whose entire demeanor says “I’m happy and I want to be friends with you!” Several people had told me that Paco is “buena gente” (a good person) so I wasn’t *too* nervous as we walked down the long winding road to his house in the dark. He lives in the town, but on the outskirts. He showed me his stable, and the garden, and then his rehearsal room (which was of course filled with hats to juggle, unicycles and clown costumes). We went throughout the room and made little flashcards for him to put up so he could remember all the important vocabulary related to his job. We stayed there for quite awhile and then eventually headed into the house. Paco and his wife built the house a couple years ago using a lot of recycled things. For example their marble countertop was taken from a fabric shop that was doing some renovating. He has a room with a fireplace that is done in a Moroccan theme. It has a giant L-shaped sofa with tons of pillows and Moroccan hand sewn fabrics. Paco has done a lot of traveling so he has cultural decorations from all over the world inside his house. I got to meet his 10 year old son, and 14 year old daughter, but his wife wasn’t home. He let me look at his book collection and handed me two books he thought I should read. (I wanted to do some reading while here to improve my language abilities…looks like Paco is giving me the shove I need to actually get it done). I thought I was going to be there for about an hour, like my normal private lessons, but I was there for over two hours (maybe I should have rethought doing these intercambios twice a week). I really wanted to go to the gym so I brought my workout clothes with me to Paco’s house. I was planning on going straight to the gym from his house but when I finally headed out I realized I forgot my tennis shoes. It was going to take too much time to go home, get my shoes, change and still have time to walk to the gym before they closed. Oh well…I’ll have to make up for it tomorrow.
I missed my first two classes today. I had a doctor’s appointment to get my cough checked out. I was a couple minutes late to my appointment and was still filling out paperwork when I heard my name called in the other room. I wasn’t too worried though. I knew they would still see me. What I *didn’t* know was that those couple minutes were going to end up costing me 30-45 minutes. I finished up my paperwork, then went to the waiting room. The doctor finished up with the patient he had seen instead of me, then did a consultation for a patient with another doctor. When he came back out of his office he was dressed in his street clothes and had his bag. He saw me, said “You can wait, right? I’m going to go have a coffee.” Hmmmm…well…yes…I can wait…I don’t really have a choice. But really??? The doctor’s office opens at 8am I think and closes at 2pm. My appointment was at 10am. 6 hours…that’s not even a full workday! And you need a coffee break in the middle? That’s why so many Americans have their giganto cups of coffee with them at their desks! So we don’t have to leave in the middle of the work day to get a coffee in a restaurant. He eventually came back, saw me first, got me a prescription and sent me on my way.
From there I headed to the post office and the pharmacy. I realized that you never want to try to go to either of these places around 11am. Apparently that’s peak time for running errands. Both places were packed (ok…well… “packed” in a Siles, small-town way). I decided to deal with the post office first. I tried to get the lady there to clarify some of the charges, or see if she could call the main Correos or the customs people to talk down the charges a bit. She thought the charges were absolutely ridiculous but could do nothing about it. She gave me their phone number and recommended I call them to try and explain person to person the situation and see if they would waive the importation fees. Grrrr. The pharmacy was a little more uplifting. I was worried a little bit when I realized that I only had 20 euro with me. I wasn’t sure how much these two prescriptions were going to cost and no one in this town takes debit or credit cards. Cash only! Silly me…both prescriptions together, TOTAL, cost a little over 3 euros. I thought I had misunderstood the cashier. Sweet deal! It makes it seem even better because the 1 euro is a coin, not a bill, so I paid for my entire prescription in coins. Seems like nothing!
After this I headed up to the infantil. On my way I saw Luis’ dad who was pacing outside a café with his umbrella and cigarette. The new smoking laws in action! Luis’ mom was inside with Carlos (Luis’ nephew who is back in town visiting). He invited me in to have coffee with them but I had to get up to the school. I made two more quick stops to pick up a napolitana and something to drink. When I got to the school it was recess time. I could have had that coffee after all. I sat and chatted with the teachers, then it was time to work.
I was working with Sebas. I had seen him at the gym for the first time yesterday and today we chatted a bit about the gym and how sore and tired he was. Theeeeen we got to sing and dance with the little kids. I went over the days of the week and weather with them like normal. We taught them a song from their book about winter and invented some last minute dance moves to go with it. I don’t mind singing and dancing with the little kids when other teachers are dancing with me. It’s just when I’m planning and executing a lesson alone that I avoid it (even though I know it’s a good way for the little kids to learn). After that we did an activity in their book to try and teach them the number seven in English. The kids can count from one to at least ten without any difficulty. However, today we tried to get them to count backwards and they couldn’t do it at all. I thought it was very interesting. We tried to write the numbers on the board and even point to them in the correct order but they would always count up. 7…8…no, no we need six next…6….7….no, no, you have to go to five after that….5….6…ohhh geez. When the first class of 5 year olds was done Sebas and I took a quick breath in the hallway then headed in for round two (there are two classes of 5 year olds). We did the exact same lesson. The only difference was the random group hugs that happened 3 times
(twice to Sebas, once to me). Ahhh, yes kids, we love you too.
I also had my first intercambio with Pacolmo the clown today. It wasn’t what I thought it would be but it was still good. I met Paco at the ayuntamiento (city hall building) at 6:30 and was greeted by his big, friendly dog whose entire demeanor says “I’m happy and I want to be friends with you!” Several people had told me that Paco is “buena gente” (a good person) so I wasn’t *too* nervous as we walked down the long winding road to his house in the dark. He lives in the town, but on the outskirts. He showed me his stable, and the garden, and then his rehearsal room (which was of course filled with hats to juggle, unicycles and clown costumes). We went throughout the room and made little flashcards for him to put up so he could remember all the important vocabulary related to his job. We stayed there for quite awhile and then eventually headed into the house. Paco and his wife built the house a couple years ago using a lot of recycled things. For example their marble countertop was taken from a fabric shop that was doing some renovating. He has a room with a fireplace that is done in a Moroccan theme. It has a giant L-shaped sofa with tons of pillows and Moroccan hand sewn fabrics. Paco has done a lot of traveling so he has cultural decorations from all over the world inside his house. I got to meet his 10 year old son, and 14 year old daughter, but his wife wasn’t home. He let me look at his book collection and handed me two books he thought I should read. (I wanted to do some reading while here to improve my language abilities…looks like Paco is giving me the shove I need to actually get it done). I thought I was going to be there for about an hour, like my normal private lessons, but I was there for over two hours (maybe I should have rethought doing these intercambios twice a week). I really wanted to go to the gym so I brought my workout clothes with me to Paco’s house. I was planning on going straight to the gym from his house but when I finally headed out I realized I forgot my tennis shoes. It was going to take too much time to go home, get my shoes, change and still have time to walk to the gym before they closed. Oh well…I’ll have to make up for it tomorrow.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams
Today was a rollercoaster.
This morning I woke up and was feeling pretty good. I got a little dressed up because we were going to have the Christmas presentation and party at school. I went to school, but there were no lessons. I was just there to make my presence known. We goofed around for a little bit and then headed off to the retirement center with the 1st-4th graders. Each grade performed 2 songs (one in Spanish, one in English) while some of the teachers and older kids played instruments. I got a picture with one of the little kids (Carlos) because he was dressed as Santa. Maybe this is a better option for Santa Photo 2010? I think so!
After the kids finished with their songs we had juice and snacks and then headed back to the school. We were planning on combining the two schools (the 3-5 year olds with the 1st-6th graders) for a performance on the patio but the weather wasn’t very good. Because of this the younger kids stayed at the infantil. We had a party in the 4th grade classroom (food, music, etc). Then was the challenging part. We had to break up the party and wrangle all the kids back together so they could re-sing their songs here at the school. The 5th and 6th graders hadn’t gotten a chance to perform their songs and we still had to go through with the performance even though the younger kids and parents weren’t there. It was crazy, but the kids did a good job. The 5th and 6th graders finished with “Happy Christmas” and did an excellent job. They even did it twice because the teachers and other students requested an encore.
The English Christmas carols were the first dent in my armor. Up until this day I had been ok with the fact that I wasn’t going to be home with my family for Christmas (for the first time in my life). The second dent was hearing all the teachers talk about how they were going home to their cities to see their friends and family.
After the performance everyone went back to their respective classrooms for a little bit and I hung out in the teacher’s room. I didn’t want to leave for break without saying Merry Christmas to everyone. Finally school was over and all the teachers exchanged their Merry Christmas greetings and we headed out. I got closer and closer to tears but held myself together until after I went to the grocery store. Then, with my bags of groceries in one hand and an umbrella in the other I walked in the rain back to my apartment with tears streaming down my face.
I got into my apartment, pulled myself together and set to work. I stayed busy throughout the afternoon cleaning, doing laundry…just generally keeping myself busy.
Later that evening I met up with Luis and Pepe (different Pepe from my first posts here in Siles) at 1900. Everything was fine. I thought I had pulled myself together throughout the afternoon. Luis and I were talking about Christmas decorations, traditions, etc and then out of the blue I burst into tears all over again. I grabbed my coat and headed outside to get some air. I tried to pull myself together quickly. Pepe came outside to see what was going on. He just stood there and made sure I was ok. I walked back inside. Luis understood exactly what had set me off. I didn’t need to explain at all. However, apparently Pepe had been confused as hell. Haha. Before he stepped outside with me he was grilling Luis about what the heck he had done to make me cry. Poor Luis. Shortly after Pepe headed home. Luis and I played darts and I was fine the rest of the night. However, maybe I was still a little distracted because at one point I threw the dart, nailed the bottom of the dart board (the part without the circle of colors you are supposed to be aiming at) and shattered the dart tip. Ooops!
Hello Christmas Break! No more classes or private lessons for two weeks.
This morning I woke up and was feeling pretty good. I got a little dressed up because we were going to have the Christmas presentation and party at school. I went to school, but there were no lessons. I was just there to make my presence known. We goofed around for a little bit and then headed off to the retirement center with the 1st-4th graders. Each grade performed 2 songs (one in Spanish, one in English) while some of the teachers and older kids played instruments. I got a picture with one of the little kids (Carlos) because he was dressed as Santa. Maybe this is a better option for Santa Photo 2010? I think so!
After the kids finished with their songs we had juice and snacks and then headed back to the school. We were planning on combining the two schools (the 3-5 year olds with the 1st-6th graders) for a performance on the patio but the weather wasn’t very good. Because of this the younger kids stayed at the infantil. We had a party in the 4th grade classroom (food, music, etc). Then was the challenging part. We had to break up the party and wrangle all the kids back together so they could re-sing their songs here at the school. The 5th and 6th graders hadn’t gotten a chance to perform their songs and we still had to go through with the performance even though the younger kids and parents weren’t there. It was crazy, but the kids did a good job. The 5th and 6th graders finished with “Happy Christmas” and did an excellent job. They even did it twice because the teachers and other students requested an encore.
The English Christmas carols were the first dent in my armor. Up until this day I had been ok with the fact that I wasn’t going to be home with my family for Christmas (for the first time in my life). The second dent was hearing all the teachers talk about how they were going home to their cities to see their friends and family.
After the performance everyone went back to their respective classrooms for a little bit and I hung out in the teacher’s room. I didn’t want to leave for break without saying Merry Christmas to everyone. Finally school was over and all the teachers exchanged their Merry Christmas greetings and we headed out. I got closer and closer to tears but held myself together until after I went to the grocery store. Then, with my bags of groceries in one hand and an umbrella in the other I walked in the rain back to my apartment with tears streaming down my face.
I got into my apartment, pulled myself together and set to work. I stayed busy throughout the afternoon cleaning, doing laundry…just generally keeping myself busy.
Later that evening I met up with Luis and Pepe (different Pepe from my first posts here in Siles) at 1900. Everything was fine. I thought I had pulled myself together throughout the afternoon. Luis and I were talking about Christmas decorations, traditions, etc and then out of the blue I burst into tears all over again. I grabbed my coat and headed outside to get some air. I tried to pull myself together quickly. Pepe came outside to see what was going on. He just stood there and made sure I was ok. I walked back inside. Luis understood exactly what had set me off. I didn’t need to explain at all. However, apparently Pepe had been confused as hell. Haha. Before he stepped outside with me he was grilling Luis about what the heck he had done to make me cry. Poor Luis. Shortly after Pepe headed home. Luis and I played darts and I was fine the rest of the night. However, maybe I was still a little distracted because at one point I threw the dart, nailed the bottom of the dart board (the part without the circle of colors you are supposed to be aiming at) and shattered the dart tip. Ooops!
Hello Christmas Break! No more classes or private lessons for two weeks.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Halloween at school, the payaso show and a beautiful sunset
Yesterday I got to sleep in a little. I don’t have to work on Fridays. However, even though I don’t have to work on Fridays I went to the school. They were having a Halloween celebration and I told Inés I would go to help take pictures. I got there a little bit before recess and a group of the kids were being gathered in the teachers’ room. The teachers had put dark curtains up over the windows and the kids sat on the floor. Eva played scary music and every so often someone in the hallway would knock loudly or slam the door (causing all of us, even those of us that knew it was going to happen to jump). Towards the end of the scary music 3 of the teachers, who were dressed up as scary creatures, bust through the doors and scared the kids. The kids loved it. I took pictures of it all, although my flash batteries were pretty toast, so the flash only fired every couple shots. After the scary story the kids took the skeleton masks they had made and went out to recess. I took my camera out and the kids LOVED it. They all wanted their picture taken. I took SO many pictures. After recess everyone went back to their class but only for a little while. In addition to the Halloween celebration there was also a field trip. At one point the classes were getting lined up in the hallway, and I don’t know why, or how, but all of a sudden the kids started chanting my name. I was so amazed. Apparently they’ve taken a liking to me! As the kids headed out to the patio it continued. It was so funny. I felt like I needed to go out to the patio for my encore and remembered that I had my other camera with video with me. I pulled it out and got a clip of the tail end of their chanting (although it did start up again later as we were walking). In addition to feeling flattered I was also a little concerned about what the other teachers thought of all this. I’ve only been here a week and have a school full of children chanting my name. I really think that’s why they do these things though…I’m something new and different and I look funny, and that makes me fun in comparison to their normal teachers. 
Anyways, big difference for field trips here and in the US…we were walking down to the high school, not taking a bus. All the kids from the infantile (ages 3 and 4) and the elementary school (grades 1-6) lined up and we wound through the streets of town. It was like the Siles version of Serpentine (only my fellow Snohomish folk will know what that is). People in the town came out of their houses to see all the kids go by, and a group of the kids took turns chanting my name and Inés’ name. I was totally dumbfounded that the teachers could keep that many kids organized while walking through town. Seriously, if the kids decided to mutiny and all start walking off there’s nothing we could have done! Anywho, we got down to the high school without any disasters. At the high school we were going to watch a ‘payaso’ show. ‘Payaso’ is ‘clown’ in Spanish. This particular organization puts on these shows to make money so they can go to places around the world and visit sick children in hospitals to cheer them up. Several of the children and one of the teachers got to be involved on stage and it was a big hit with the kids…most of them at least…we had one little boy hiding behind the curtain next to me and Inés because he was afraid of the clowns. By the end of the show he had mostly warmed up to them. The show was about an hour and then the parents were waiting outside to pick their kids up. Yet another thing that would never happen in the U.S. We always have to get back to the normal school to be picked up, not at the field trip location.
A couple other teachers and I got a ride from one of the moms (who actually turned out to be one of my neighbors). It’s puente (a long weekend/vacation) and it was sunny so everyone was really happy to be done for the day. I also got to meet Inés’ husband and 1 ½ year old after the show. Inés is pretty petite and her baby seems so big in comparison. Inés said her brother in law is coming in to town but if they decide to do something she will call me so I can join them. I seriously love her. I’ve heard stories about some of the coordinators in other regions who are completely inattentive to the auxiliares. I could not have asked for a better person to help me get adapted to life here. When I got home I started debating with myself…do I go out alone again to the bars? I really didn’t feel like going out and awkwardly hanging out at the bars by myself but it was Friday night. The only nights to go out here are Friday and Saturday and if I started making a habit out of staying in, I would never meet anyone and it would always be awkward. I listened to this song “A Little Bit Stronger” by Sara Evans that was the little extra push I needed to convince me to go out…that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I threw on my little black dress and headed towards Menphys praying that someone I knew would be there. No such luck. I got there and didn’t know anyone. My wonderful, favorite Siles bartender was there and she checked in with me, asking how teaching was, how my week had been, etc. etc. She also pointed out the new bartender to me. It ended up being a very successful night. Initially I had to deal with the extreme discomfort of not knowing anyone and trying to figure out what to say and how to “friend date.” After not *too* long Antonio and his friend from the weekend before showed up. Thank God. Antonio waved me over and introduced me to two girls sitting at the bar…Maribel and Almudena. I chatted them for quite some time and eventually even more of their friends showed up. Almudena even invited me to spend New Years Eve with her and her family. I also got to meet her husband (Rulo). Really, honestly, everyone knows everyone in this town. As people come in, they greet everyone. Eventually Maria (also from last weekend) also showed up as well as a whole bunch more of their friends. I talked for a long time to Gloria. Antonio had told me about Gloria last weekend. She is studying English in Granada. I am really sad that she isn’t in Siles all the time because I think we could be great friends. I talked with her most of the night and she is fantastic. She said if I end up staying here for Christmas she is going to call me all day long to make sure I’m not lonely. I exchanged phone numbers with several people and they said they would call me to go out the next night. There is a big party at the discoteca on Saturday and most everyone is going. Around 2:30 I decided to head out. While grabbing my coat the group of guys near me (that I also met last weekend) started talking to me. Now for whatever reason I cannot seem to understand a darn thing that these guys say. I can carry on complete conversations with people like Gloria, and then not understand a word with other people. I believe they were trying to set me up with their friend (orrrrrrrrr propositioning me for sex…) so I went over to the one girl in the group and asked girl-to-girl what the heck they were talking about but she didn’t know. Ultimately I just got uncomfortable and headed out. On my way out my favorite bartender said she was surprised I was heading out so soon. Haha, yes…heading out at 2:30am is “so soon.” I also ended up chatting with the other bartender briefly. He is actually from La Puerta and knows Ben and Ava (the people I went to Jaén with). He expressed interest in learning English. I told him we could get together for intercambios and speak half Spanish, half English and he seemed excited and grateful. He took my hand, kissed it and I was off. Maribel was quite infatuated with the new bartender all night, so maybe I’ll be able to hook her up. :) It had been raining while I was in at Menphys. That was the first time it had rained since I’ve been here. Winter’s a’comin! Bedtime: 3:30am. 
These sunset photos are unedited...straight out of my camera. Pretty cool, huh?
Anyways, big difference for field trips here and in the US…we were walking down to the high school, not taking a bus. All the kids from the infantile (ages 3 and 4) and the elementary school (grades 1-6) lined up and we wound through the streets of town. It was like the Siles version of Serpentine (only my fellow Snohomish folk will know what that is). People in the town came out of their houses to see all the kids go by, and a group of the kids took turns chanting my name and Inés’ name. I was totally dumbfounded that the teachers could keep that many kids organized while walking through town. Seriously, if the kids decided to mutiny and all start walking off there’s nothing we could have done! Anywho, we got down to the high school without any disasters. At the high school we were going to watch a ‘payaso’ show. ‘Payaso’ is ‘clown’ in Spanish. This particular organization puts on these shows to make money so they can go to places around the world and visit sick children in hospitals to cheer them up. Several of the children and one of the teachers got to be involved on stage and it was a big hit with the kids…most of them at least…we had one little boy hiding behind the curtain next to me and Inés because he was afraid of the clowns. By the end of the show he had mostly warmed up to them. The show was about an hour and then the parents were waiting outside to pick their kids up. Yet another thing that would never happen in the U.S. We always have to get back to the normal school to be picked up, not at the field trip location.
A couple other teachers and I got a ride from one of the moms (who actually turned out to be one of my neighbors). It’s puente (a long weekend/vacation) and it was sunny so everyone was really happy to be done for the day. I also got to meet Inés’ husband and 1 ½ year old after the show. Inés is pretty petite and her baby seems so big in comparison. Inés said her brother in law is coming in to town but if they decide to do something she will call me so I can join them. I seriously love her. I’ve heard stories about some of the coordinators in other regions who are completely inattentive to the auxiliares. I could not have asked for a better person to help me get adapted to life here. When I got home I started debating with myself…do I go out alone again to the bars? I really didn’t feel like going out and awkwardly hanging out at the bars by myself but it was Friday night. The only nights to go out here are Friday and Saturday and if I started making a habit out of staying in, I would never meet anyone and it would always be awkward. I listened to this song “A Little Bit Stronger” by Sara Evans that was the little extra push I needed to convince me to go out…that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I threw on my little black dress and headed towards Menphys praying that someone I knew would be there. No such luck. I got there and didn’t know anyone. My wonderful, favorite Siles bartender was there and she checked in with me, asking how teaching was, how my week had been, etc. etc. She also pointed out the new bartender to me. It ended up being a very successful night. Initially I had to deal with the extreme discomfort of not knowing anyone and trying to figure out what to say and how to “friend date.” After not *too* long Antonio and his friend from the weekend before showed up. Thank God. Antonio waved me over and introduced me to two girls sitting at the bar…Maribel and Almudena. I chatted them for quite some time and eventually even more of their friends showed up. Almudena even invited me to spend New Years Eve with her and her family. I also got to meet her husband (Rulo). Really, honestly, everyone knows everyone in this town. As people come in, they greet everyone. Eventually Maria (also from last weekend) also showed up as well as a whole bunch more of their friends. I talked for a long time to Gloria. Antonio had told me about Gloria last weekend. She is studying English in Granada. I am really sad that she isn’t in Siles all the time because I think we could be great friends. I talked with her most of the night and she is fantastic. She said if I end up staying here for Christmas she is going to call me all day long to make sure I’m not lonely. I exchanged phone numbers with several people and they said they would call me to go out the next night. There is a big party at the discoteca on Saturday and most everyone is going. Around 2:30 I decided to head out. While grabbing my coat the group of guys near me (that I also met last weekend) started talking to me. Now for whatever reason I cannot seem to understand a darn thing that these guys say. I can carry on complete conversations with people like Gloria, and then not understand a word with other people. I believe they were trying to set me up with their friend (orrrrrrrrr propositioning me for sex…) so I went over to the one girl in the group and asked girl-to-girl what the heck they were talking about but she didn’t know. Ultimately I just got uncomfortable and headed out. On my way out my favorite bartender said she was surprised I was heading out so soon. Haha, yes…heading out at 2:30am is “so soon.” I also ended up chatting with the other bartender briefly. He is actually from La Puerta and knows Ben and Ava (the people I went to Jaén with). He expressed interest in learning English. I told him we could get together for intercambios and speak half Spanish, half English and he seemed excited and grateful. He took my hand, kissed it and I was off. Maribel was quite infatuated with the new bartender all night, so maybe I’ll be able to hook her up. :) It had been raining while I was in at Menphys. That was the first time it had rained since I’ve been here. Winter’s a’comin! Bedtime: 3:30am. 
These sunset photos are unedited...straight out of my camera. Pretty cool, huh?
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