Baby steps

Yesterday went pretty well. I had two classes in the morning yesterday; one English class and one science class. The English class was pretty standard. We did a couple quick exercises, talked about Halloween and then I let my small group of kids just ask me what words they wanted to know. The science class was a little more difficult. I didn’t have the mural prepared ahead of time because I was so confused about what they wanted. The teacher Maria del Mar, handed me the teaching manual and left the class. I had no, no, no freaking clue about what I was supposed to be teaching them or what I should do. I didn’t know what they had already learned or what the day’s objectives were. I felt so panicked. I scraped by until Maria got back with pictures of plants, animals and hongos (fungus like mushrooms). We were supposed to be classifying things by their kingdom (animal, plant or fungus). I went to work on the mural and the kids colored their pictures. My hour was up by the time the pictures and mural were ready, but I left the mural in their class to use next time. I really just felt so insecure about all this science stuff. Supposedly the goal is to have me flat out teach these classes, not just assist. I think people here are missing the big picture that I’m not actually a trained teacher. Arts Administration, Spanish, Medical Interpretation, Photography...I've studied any of these programs, but not teaching, and CERTAINLY not science! I headed home when I was done with classes and relaxed there until I had to go back to the school for the adult class at 4:30. I worked with Marta’s class first this time. We just did a question and answer time. I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this before, but this adult class is all teachers from the area. Most are either teachers at the high school here in Siles or teachers in la Puerta (about 15 minutes from here). It went decently, although I did end up with one student in tears. She said it was just a combination of her being sick and frustrated at how often she couldn’t understand me. I tried to reassure her that when I studied in Murcia they told me I probably wouldn’t understand anything in any of my classes for at least 3 weeks…and it was true…and I had been studying Spanish for 5+ years! It was pretty low key. I worked with them for an hour, and then switched over to the other group. They were working on grammar exercises. It’s really interesting to listen to English be taught. I just have never really had to think about the rules and patterns of the English language because I’ve grown up with it.

After class I had decided that I wasn’t going to go back to my apartment. I was going to walk around, then get a coffee at La Mezquita…but I was going to be out and about so they was at least the potential to run into someone I already knew, or meet someone knew. Luckily, it paid off…big time. I ran into a group of my students and their moms (including Steffi, Jade, Noah and Luna) with a group of the teachers going out for an early trick-or-treating session. We all hung out together for awhile, and Antonio (one of the teachers) went into the store, bought some candy and the kids trick-or-treated him standing there in the street. Then all the teachers went and grabbed a coffee together. This totally made my entire day. It felt so good to be part of the group. I chatted with the teachers, and talked with Antonio and Maria del Mar about my troubles with the science classes. We worked on some ideas and they reassured me that this week was just a trial run to get everyone adjusted…they knew it was hard because I didn’t know the material. It made me feel a lot better about the whole situation. I also showed them the flashcards that I had been preparing for the adult class. I’m making these conversation cards that have a theme/topic at the top of the card, then some questions to get conversation started, then possible words to use on the back of the card. They really liked that idea, and it snowballed into a bunch of other ideas for the science classes. One of the moms that we had been with earlier also brought homemade chocolate bizchoco into the café for us. I treasure these times so much, that I get to spend time with people and really feel like I’m starting to connect with them. I only hope that these times become more and more frequent. After we were done getting coffee the teachers decided that we should dress up tomorrow at school for at least a little while since they were going to be celebrating Halloween. We went to the store and browsed costume ideas. We also all swapped phone numbers now that I have a functioning Spanish phone. Antonio and Maria del Mar expressed interesting in getting together to do intercambios, and I really hope we do. I told them it doesn't even have to be a paid private lesson. We can just get together and have coffee and speak half in English, half in Spanish but we'll see what happens with that.







At the end of the night I headed back to my apartment, relaxed, finished getting caught up on Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice and went to bed feeling very good about the evening.

Now I feel like a real teacher

Ok, I felt like today was really my first day of teaching. I got to the school a little before 10. At 10 I worked with Sebas teaching the 3rd graders. I just took a small group of them (5 students…Rafa, Rafa, Carlos, Marta and Marta) and we did some reading and listening activities. One of the Rafas is deaf. That was a challenge I hadn’t prepared myself for at all. Luckily Sebas had some different material planned for Rafa…he just wanted to be apart of my group to feel included.

After the 3rd grade class Sebas and I went to the 6th grade class. I spent the beginning of class fielding questions about me, the US, and Selena Gomez. Sebas then picked 5 people to go with me but all of them wanted to go with me. Sebas joked around that he was going to go home and take a nap because they all wanted to go with me. So, I took the selected 5 students to the English classroom and we talked about parts of the face. One of the girls told me she liked my eyes. Good use of the vocabulary we were studying. :) Rocio (Pepe’s daughter) was also excited to be apart of this group with me.

After the 6th grade class there was recess. I chatted with Antonio (one of the teachers) while we hung out with the 3rd and 4th graders. After recess I went to Antonio’s 4th grade classroom to help teach science in English. We mostly talked about me and where I was from and a lot of geography. Their concept of world geography was awful. Antonio said they used to spend a lot more time on it but don’t anymore. When asked what states the kids knew of I got answers ranging from London to South Africa, France and Italy. It’s a good thing I brought a map of the U.S. I had a couple other kids point to a map of England in the hallway the other day and ask where the U.S. was.

I had a 15 minute break before I needed to go with Inés and her 2nd graders. Inés seemed very stressed out today. Her kids were pretty rowdy and she must have been tired. After she took us to Jaén yesterday she had to come back to school and work until 8pm (Tuesdays are meeting and training days). We taught seasons, colors and clothing to the 2nd graders. One of her second graders (Rocio…different from Pepe’s Rocio) drew me a picture. Stefi’s kids had drawn me pictures when I was at their house but they got tucked away when we were cleaning. This is the first drawing I can put up in my apartment.

School was done at 2. I stuck around a little bit longer to talk with Antonio. His science class is the first one I actually have to prepare lessons for. I have no idea what I’m doing in that regard. His English speaking science class is two days a week. It makes so much more sense for me to be apart of both days if I have to lesson plan. If I only do one of the days it’s hard to know what they covered, what they still need to do, etc, etc. The only problem is that part two of his science class is supposed to meet on Fridays and I don’t work on Fridays. He is going to talk to Inés and see if he can switch his Spanish speaking science class and English speaking science class so I can be at both the English speaking classes. It will put me over 12 hours a week, but I think in the long run it will simplify my life. Inés has been really hesitant to put me over 12 hours but I hope she approves this.

I went home, threw some potatoes in the oven and had patatas alioli for lunch. At 4:15 I walked back to school for the adult English classes. I was under the impression that it was one class but it is actually two. I met with the teachers Marta and Fernando (neither of whom knew I was going to be around to help with the classes). I stayed in Fernando’s class for two hours. In the coming weeks I will only be spending one hour a week with each class, but since it’s still unsure what my schedule will be like with them I wanted to be present. I am going back to their classes tomorrow to finalize a schedule and work with Marta’s class. It’s quite interesting to listen to how they teach English. There are a lot of grammar rules I wouldn’t have really thought about otherwise.

Fernando is very nice and he has a Scottish accent. I figured he must have studied there but he said he’s only been abroad 4 days in his life. I was shocked. He seemed flattered to know that he has a non-Spanish accent when speaking English. He is not from Siles but is living here now and adjusting to small town life and lack of nightlife like I am. We swapped numbers so I have another café con leche buddy. I thank God for every new person I meet here. I realize you can’t befriend everyone in a week but today has been the first evening that I felt lonely (with the exception of my very first night here in the hostel). Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad I’m here. I just wish I had some good go-to friends here my age. I know it will come…it’s just the hardest adjustment.

After class I ran into another one of Juan’s friends that lives “in the stone house next to the school.” I chatted with him briefly then headed back to my apartment. When I was almost there I realized I had forgotten my wallet and keys in the classroom. I hurried back but wasn’t too concerned because even though Fernando’s class was finished, Marta had still been teaching. Wrong. They also left early and by the time I got back to school the gate was padlocked. Insert swear words here. Thank goodness I had just purchased a Spanish phone yesterday and that Fernando had given me his number. I called him up and he called Marta. Marta drove back to the school (I was afraid she lived far away but she was pretty close) and let me in. I grabbed my stuff, thanked her profusely, chatted about our plans for English class tomorrow and headed back to my apartment AGAIN.

While I had been sitting outside the school waiting for Marta a group of my students came down the street and they all waved at me. They are so cute. I like that they feel comfortable approaching me and talking to me.

My plan was to be productive and that didn’t happen at all. I spent the evening catching up on Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice and How I Met Your Mother episodes. This was a challenge because ABC doesn't stream their shows internationally. I found a site that would let me watch for an hour, then require I take an hour break. Lame. After I’m done with this blog entry I plan on going back to my lesson planning and then going to bed but I may end up going straight to bed and just waking up early. In addition to the stuff for Antonio's class I also need to make a poster for the other science teacher, a recycling poster for Sebas and come up with a list of English conversation topics for the adults. Ay, ay, ay. I don't feel like doing any of that. Hopefully I can get in a rhythm now that I know what types of activities I will be doing and plan ahead during the weekends. Trying to do these types of activities (lesson planning and poster making) the night before kind of sucks.

Tomorrow is my other long day, but at least then the bulk of my work week will be done and I can relax a little more.

I also need to ask the landlady how to use the washing machine. I’m almost out of clothes and afraid of flooding or over-suding my apartment. You would think descriptive pictures on a washing machine would work across any language but that isn't really true. I also need to go to the post office and the bank. Hopefully I’m not too tired tomorrow, because it’s probably going to be a busy day.

Wish me luck for my second full day of teaching tomorrow!

To Jaén and back

Today was an early morning…aka…a typical U.S. morning. Haha. I got up about 6:30am so I could make sure my paperwork was in order, do the dishes and get ready to go to Jaén with Inés. I met Inés on El Paseo at 8am. I was surprised at how many people were awake, and the café on the corner was open. I guess I shouldn’t really be surprised by this, but it was still dark so it seemed earlier than it was. In 2008 when I studied in Murcia it was spring and summer, so it was light most of the time. I haven’t really been in Spain when it stays dark this much.

It took 2 ½ hours to get to Jaén from Siles. Inés and I passed the time talking about medicine, politics, the environment, culture, music, traveling, etc, etc. We had been warned that it would be hard to find parking in Jaén but it was a lot worse than we expected. We drove around in circles trying to find the extranjería (where I needed to do my paperwork) and a parking space. We finally found what we thought was the extranjería so Inés dropped me off and continued her parking search. When I went in they told me that I was actually in the wrong spot. For being a boring, bureaucratic office they were actually quite nice and helpful. They gave me directions to where I really needed to go. I walked in that general direction until I asked the next person for further directions, and then another person to help me finish the trip. I got there and the line wasn’t too bad. I looked around the lobby and saw a group of American-looking people all holding the same green folder that I had been given. There were about half a dozen other Cultural Ambassadors there waiting to do the same paperwork. Only 2 of those appeared to be a couple, so when I got my number I went over to see if they were Ava and Ben. Sure enough, it was them. They were surprised that I was able to pick them out so quickly having not ever met them. Poor Ava and Ben had been there all morning and still hadn’t been seen. None of us were told that we had actual appointment times. Their appointment time wasn’t until 1pm. Luckily mine was 10:30 and since it was already 11:05 I was seen almost immediately. Not quite fair for them, but I was thankful for it! I went in and there was some initial confusion over my paperwork and appointment time. One guy said my appointment wasn’t until the next day, but the other guy had me on the list for today (This problem was because initially my appointment was supposed to be tomorrow but Victor changed it so I could be here the same time as Ava and Ben). Then I had been given the wrong application. He sent me back out to the lobby to fill out the new application (which was almost identical to the one I had already filled out). Luckily again for me I didn’t have to wait once I filled out the new application. They saw me right away and we were able to proceed with the rest of my NIE paperwork without problems.

I have to go back to Jaén again on November 9th to get my fingerprints taken. Then, 40 days after THAT I have to go back AGAIN just to pick up my residency card. Blaaaaaaah. So many unnecessary trips! Inés was really hoping that we could do the fingerprints as well today, and that they would mail me the card, but we had no such luck. Considering it takes so long to go there and back, it’s a general consensus amongst Inés, me, Victor and the other auxiliares that this process is a pain in the rear end. 5 hours of traveling for a 10 minute appointment? No thank you. The one nice thing is that they gave me the actual NIE number today. Supposedly that means I can open my bank account and such now and not have to wait until the actual card gets here. I’ll believe it when I see it, but I really hope that’s true. If not I could be waiting until the middle of December to get paid.

Ava and Ben were seen about the same time as me, so when we were all done we went to the café across the street for coffee and a snack. Thank goodness because we were all hungry and thirsty. One of our topics of conversation was my Washington accent. Yes, apparently I have an accent. When I talked to Ava on the phone yesterday she thought I had a bit of a southern accent. Then today when I mentioned that my mom’s side of the family was from Minnesota they said that’s what it was. I’m not sure if it’s really a Washington accent then or just Minnesota family influence. When I studied in Murcia my friends Brittany and Grace said I had a Washington accent too. The only times I’ve ever been told that I have an accent are by Americans while I’ve been in Spain.

After our snack we headed over to Movistar so I could get my Spanish phone working again. I had been told I had to change the sim card in my phone because I hadn’t added any money to my phone in more than 6 months. I went in and asked to do just that, but as part of the process they just gave me a new phone…no extra charge. Ok, whatever, do what you want. So, at the end of it all I had ANOTHER new functioning Spanish phone. This is the 3rd Spanish phone I’ve owned in 2 ½ years.

After that we headed back to the car for another 2 ½ hour car ride. I felt so bad for Inés. She doesn’t drive that far very often. This ride was especially hard because she’s pregnant and was so uncomfortable sitting that long. She said someone else (maybe from Ava and Ben’s school) will have to drive us next time because she just can’t.

We stopped for gas during our ride back. It was 1.11 euro/liter. There are 3.79 liters in a gallon. That makes gas 4.20 euro/gallon…about $5.84 a gallon. Yikes. I think I’ll stick with my $2.85 in the U.S.

I slept a little bit on the way back to Siles to make time go by faster. I woke up to Ava and Inés taking pictures of Ben and I sleeping in the backseat. We dropped Ben and Ava off in La Puerta and then Inés took me to my apartment in Siles. When I got there I had some lunch and debated taking a nap. I really wanted a nap, but at the same time wanted to be able to sleep tonight.

Taking a nap won.

The rest of the evening I chilled in the apartment and just made a pizza for dinner.

Tomorrow is my long day of work. I have 4 classes; 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th grade. All the normal Spanish teachers from surrounding towns also meet here in Siles on Wednesdays and Thursdays to learn English from 4:30-7:45. I will be working with this group at least 1 hour and 45 minutes each week. We haven’t figured out how we’re going to divide that time yet. Part of me would like to do it all on Wednesday. I don’t have any classes with the school on Thursday afternoon or Friday. This would give me a little extra free time on my long weekend to travel if I want. However, Javi and Inés were thinking maybe I should just do 50 minutes each day. Plus, it would make Wednesday really long if I did it all that day. We’ll see how that goes. I’m not too worried about it. I don’t think there are many buses that leave Siles on Thursday afternoon anyways.

I’ve seen comments about snow on Facebook lately, at least in the pass. I am SO glad that the snow hasn’t quite arrived here yet. I am looking forward to seeing how pretty it is here in the snow but I’m also in NO rush.

Buenas noches todos! I’m going back to bed.

Conversation, culture and café con leche

The rest of today was pretty relaxed. Number one priority was going to the grocery store. I forgot that the grocery store isn’t open on Sundays, so food options yesterday were really limited. While shopping Rocio (Pepe’s daughter) came into the grocery store and asked if I wanted to get coffee with her and Pepe. I paid for my things and then headed over to La Mezquita. We sat and chatted a bit about this, that and the other thing. Juan also showed up. Rocio asked me to go trick or treating with her this Sunday. I was really surprised she was going. Halloween is gaining popularity here in Spain, but I was surprised in a small town that kids dress up and go out. I asked her if everyone participated or if sometimes they got the door slammed in their face by people that don’t celebrate that crazy American holiday. She said, no, everyone gives out candy. My costume options are quite limited so I’ll probably be throwing a white sheet over myself, cutting out eye holes and calling myself a ghost. I believe we are also going to be doing some sort of small celebration at the school. Monday we don’t have school because of Halloween on Sunday. The vacation day is called ‘puente.’ Don’t we all wish we didn’t have to go to school the day after staying out late for Halloween!

Pepe and Rocio are going to look at a car in Murcia on Sunday. They asked if I wanted to come along so I could see my friends there, but because of puente it doesn’t seem like many people are going to be available. I think I’ll probably just hold off and try to find another time to go. Getting to Murcia is a bigger challenge than I anticipated. Bus options out of Siles are very limited and there are only a couple buses that leave Siles each day. So far the best option seems to be going from Siles to Hellín, then Hellín to Murcia. It’s the cheapest and fastest way I’ve found so far. The only problem is that the return trip involves a 5 hours layover in Hellín waiting for the Siles bus. Blah. Hopefully I’ll find people making trips to Murcia often enough that it won’t be a problem. Pepe is going to Murcia at least once. Inés is going to Ikea in Murcia at least once and hopefully I can find others.

After coffee, Pepe, Rocio and the guy from the general store helped show me how to make international calls on the payphone. After that lesson Pepe and Rocio insisted they drive me back up to my apartment. I really, REALLY only live a few minutes away (walking!) but am frequently being offered rides so I don’t have to walk up the hill. I’m thankful for the generosity, but I also like the walk…both for the fresh air and exercise. Oh well…I’m sure when it’s starts snowing I’ll really be thankful.

The rest of the day I lounged around the apartment and went to bed early. I have to be up early the next day to go to Jaén and deal with all the residency paperwork.

My first day as a teacher!

I went to bed super early last night…6:30pm…then slept for 13 hours. Needless to say I feel more rested today. However, I really wish my bed was more comfortable. I wonder if I could find some sort of mattress topper or something. I’ll have to do some creative thinking so my back doesn’t break in half by the time June comes around. I got up, got ready and headed to my first day of teaching. My first lesson was with the 5th graders. Sebas is the English teacher, and he explained to me what we were going to be doing. He does the main lessons, and then gives me smaller groups of kids to really work on listening and speaking. He was joking around about the fact that from now on he is going to be the last pick English teacher because all of them want to go with me instead. Sebas took most of the class to the English classroom, and left me with 4 kids in their normal classroom…Vincente, Miguel Jose, Estrella and Mari Angel. We listened to a CD clip of an English person talking about school uniforms, and then I read the same clip. Next I had each of the kids read a section. After that there was a workbook we went through. Finally we listened one more time. It was hard to get the kids to sit and focus, but they had warned me that the group of 5th graders this year has been a challenge. They don’t tend to behave very well. For me it was mostly hard to get them to focus on what we needed to do, because they just wanted to learn about me and ask me questions. We didn’t end up going through the powerpoint I created because we needed to do other things, but based on how my time with the kids went I think it would have been worth our while to do a Q and A session with me instead. An hour actually went by very quickly. In the future I think we’re hoping to get 2 groups in with me every class, but we’ll see. It’s a learning experience for us all.

After that first class I had a break. I went home to tweak my powerpoint since I now had a better idea of where the kids’ vocabulary was at.

At noon I went back to school to work with Inés and the 1st graders. 25 of them. Crazy. I realize that’s a pretty normal number of students in a classroom in the U.S., but after working with 4 kids, 25 was insane. Luckily I didn’t have them all to myself. Inés and I co-taught. They are up and down and screaming and just generally insane. Haha. Inés says it’s like that a lot. I have a feeling that student/teacher interactions and ideas about discipline in the classroom are very different between Spain and the U.S. I know there were times my classes growing up would get rowdy, but never on a consistent basis like it was today. With Inés we sang songs, danced and colored pictures of bats for Halloween. I went around and chatted a little bit with each of the kids about colors. They knew all the basic colors from last year, but today we taught them the word for “black” since most of them were coloring their bats black or brown.

At 2pm Victor (the person in charge of the auxiliares in this region) stopped by the school to talk to me about the NIE appointment in Jaén. Instead of Wednesday I’m going to go tomorrow because the other 2 assistants (Ben and Eva) from Puerta are going tomorrow. This way we can all get it done together and I can meet them.

This turned into a bit of a confusing situation. Ben and Eva are going to Jaén tonight and staying with another auxiliar that they met during orientation (Orientation was October 6th and I missed it). Victor and Inés were hoping that I could go with them, stay in the same house, then ride the bus back to Siles tomorrow but they didn’t know if there would be enough room in the house for me. I’m not sure if Ben and Ava were as confused about the situation as me, or if they had already left, but when they called they said they just were going to meet me at the extranjería in Jaén the next day and ride back with me. So now Inés is going to personally drive me to Jaén in the morning, then bring all of us back, then do her teaching in the afternoon. It is a 2 hour drive to Jaén. Whoa. Long day for her. Have I mentioned how amazing she is? Anyways, I’m hoping that all will go well with the paperwork in the morning and I’ll have my NIE so I can open a bank account and get paid.

Javi (the school director) and Inés said that the Auxiliares program has already given the school money for me for the year and that Javi will pay me each month. They still want me to be paid for all of this month even though I arrived late so I will help make class materials and such to make up for the hours that I didn’t work. I’m so glad that they are still going to give me the whole amount. I am very thankful for that.

Later I need to go grocery shopping. I forgot that the grocery stores are not open on Sundays so yesterday my food options were lacking. Good thing I ended up sleeping the day away anyways.

Erica Nesbitt: official guíscano gatherer

Well I sense there was a breakdown in communication. I went to La Mezquita at 4 to meet Maria but didn’t see her. However, I saw Pepe (the older gentleman who I’ve mentioned before is excited that I will be teaching English…yes, I finally got his name). Instead of Maria, Pepe treated me to a café con leche. I also saw Diego and Jose Manuel there. After coffee Pepe took me to the store a block away and showed me how to use the cafetera (coffee maker that I have in my house).



I think one of Pepe’s favorite phrases is “I’ll teach you.” So far Pepe has told me that he is going to teach me to use the coffee maker, cook, pick guíscanos, play the guitar and speak Spanish like an espanola…and it’s only my 4th day here. Haha.

After he showed me how to use the cafetera he showed me the birds he had in his car. He was taking them out of the house so they could get some sun. Haha. He has a ton of these tiny little birds and loves them.

After all that Pepe decided we needed to go gather guíscanos. Guíscanos are another word for níscalos. I’m not quite sure what the difference is between guíscano and níscalo but basically it all boils down to one thing…mushrooms. Now let me tell you. I have never put so much effort into, or been so tired from pursuing a food I don’t even like. We spent a good two hours in the national park picking mushrooms…hiking up and down hills trying to find them. For two hours I heard “Ven…pa’ alla…mala, no, mala.” I know these phrases very well now. “Come…go there…bad, no, bad,” bad referring to the mushrooms, not me of course. :) Eventually our basket was full and I figured we would go back home. Noooo, how foolish am I to think that! Pepe would then just add sticks to the side of the basket creating a fence so it could hold more. Then finally we were loosing light. We started to head back but every time we started to head back we would see another mushroom and then we would have to scour that area. Haha. Oh Pepe and his mushrooms. I don’t think I’ll ever have the heart to tell him I don’t really like mushrooms. I think I’m doomed to be eating them for the next 8 months.








(No, I wasn't dressed for mushroom picking or hiking, but I didn't expect to be walking around the woods when I got dressed that morning. I was expecting to get coffee and then go out later that evening. Pepe tied my hair back with some long grass so it wouldn't be in my face when looking for mushrooms. He definitely is my Spanish grandfather-figure.)











We stopped and got a drink and tapas (him a version of chocolate milk, me a type of grape juice), then we went back to his house and we had dinner with his daughter (whom I will be teaching). On the dinner menu? Bread, ham, grapes and of course, mushrooms. He also gave me a phone to use until I can buy my own in two weeks (the store is waiting to get more of the cheap ones in stock). He then took me home, with a large container of already cooked mushrooms in hand and told me when I run out, I need to go back to his house and he’ll give me more. Like I said…8 months of a diet consisting mostly of mushrooms…that’s how I foresee my future.

Now my plan was to check out the discoteca. I was a bit tired from trekking in the mountains, but I decided I still needed to go for at least a little while. I chatted with my parents online, then took a quick shower, then took my time getting ready. I knew that people don’t really go to discotecas until late, and I didn’t want to be there too early. I finally left my house about midnight. I only had a general idea about where the discoteca was located but I figured I would just follow the masses and end up where I wanted to be. Two problems with that plan…number one…really, how large do you think “the masses” are in a town of 2800? Answer: not big enough. Problem number two: I didn’t know that people don’t go to the discoteca until at least 1:30am. So, I wandered around a bit looking like an idiot, debating whether I should just go home or if I should go to Menphy’s (the Egyptian bar from last night). I decided on Menphys hoping that someone from my group last night would be there. I didn’t have any luck with that, but thank God for the bartender, Maria Jose. Maria Jose is there every night and she is my night-life angel. She looks after me and says, “Here, talk to these people here…oh, this person knows some English” or “this person wants to learn English.” Usually it’s only half true, and most anyone I talk to denies knowing or speaking any English at all. However it’s a conversation starter and I love her for it. I started off chatting with one group of guys, but it was really awkward. Later, Maria (from last night, that I thought I was supposed to have coffee with) and her boyfriend and 2 other friends showed up. Maria came over and said hello, but then went back to her friends. Then a few others showed up that I didn’t know and Maria Jose (the bartender) excitedly told me to go talk to them. This was the best advice I could have possibly received. The group she sent me over to consisted of Stefi, Eduardo and Luis.

Stefi is from Holland. She is married to Eduardo from Siles and she has lived in Siles for 11 years. She has three children, all of whom I will be teaching. She speaks English, and until this year has helped give English lessons in the town. She has done it hesitantly, because English is not her first language and she doesn’t want to teach it incorrectly, but she speaks it very well. Eduardo works in a grocery store here with his brother (that is much better and cheaper than Dia, according to all 3 of them). Luis is from Barcelona. They were there at Menphys celebrating Luis’ birthday, which was last week. The guys speak some English, but not a lot. I absolutely loved spending time with these three and I could go on and on about the topics we covered but I’ll just touch on a couple.

-Background: In Barcelona they speak Catalan. It is a version of Castellano (Spanish as the Americans know it) and French. When talking about Catalan and Barcelona, I referred to Catalan as a mixture of Spanish and French. He was kind enough to point out, that if I used that description in Catalonia (where Barcelona is), people there would likely take offense. Catalan and Castellano are both “Spanish” just different varieties. I was so thankful for the respectful way he went about correcting me without taking offense.

-Stefi has done quite a bit of traveling for work. In the past she had a very negative view of the U.S. so when she was being placed in New York for work she was less than thrilled. However, she said she was very surprised at how nice everyone was and her views on the US were quickly changed. When she first arrived she was afraid to go out in the city in the morning, fearing muggings and shootings at all hours of the day, but then realized she could go read a book in Central Park and people would greet her and it was “just like in any other village.”

We headed to the discoteca a little after 3:30am. On the way out Maria Jose told me Stefi, Eduardo and Luis were good people, that if I needed anything she was going to go to the discoteca when she closed up, and she is at Menphys every night…if I needed anything, just tell her. Such a saint! She makes my solo nights out so much more comfortable.

We didn’t get to go into the discoteca after all. They were discouraging more people from coming in, since they were trying to close at 4. We started walking back to our apartments. They showed me Mercado Gerardo (where Eduardo works) and then our paths were supposed to split. Hoooooowever, being the Spanish gentlemen they are, I was not going to be allowed to walk home alone, even in a village like Siles. We were all very close to their apartments, and mine was up the big hill. Luis offered to escort me home, but Stefi and Eduardo offered up an extra bed in their apartment and churros in the morning for breakfast. I was torn. It seemed so ridiculous to stay at someone else’s apartment when mine was maybe five minutes away walking, but I could also tell the guys weren’t totally thrilled about making the trek up the hill. So, I decided to stay with Stefi and Eduardo. Their kids were at grandma’s house until the morning, and Stefi warned me that I might be woken up by them around 9am.

Their cat Bo slept by my side/under my arm/on top of my back all night. It made me happy to have him there…most of the time. In the morning I woke up and then Stefi and I went to her mother-in-law’s house to get the kids. Her kids are Jade (7 years old), Noah (5 years old) and Luna (almost 3 years old) and are some of the cutest kids I’ve ever seen. It’s Sunday so we had a special breakfast of homemade biszcocho, chocolate, churros and coffee. I hadn’t planned on staying. I didn’t sleep very well and was cold most of the night so I was going to go home and nap. However, the kids brought me stories, drawings, games, told me jokes, put makeup on me, etc, etc. I was surprised at much I was able to understand them, because I think children are hard to understand in English, none the less in Spanish. Jade speaks really quickly when she is excited, but most of the time I can understand her. Noah likes to sing and dance everywhere. Luna is the most reserved but has taken a liking to my name. She was playing by herself but kept saying my name over and over. Laura, I told the kids that we were going to learn English, so when you come into town all of us can play games together….so you have that to look forward to. I eventually took off around 1pm because they had some friends from Madrid coming into town for lunch and the kids needed to get ready. They opened their house up to me and said whenever I needed someone, or was bored/frustrated/happy/whatever I could stop by. Stefi sent me off with a big hug and I was so happy.

















The rest of today I plan on resting, cleaning house a little (dust seems to gather really quickly here), and looking over my powerpoint to see if I think it’s ready enough to present to the kids tomorrow.

Tomorrow is my first day of teaching. Wish me luck!!

Where's my wing-woman?

Yesterday I didn’t take a nap so I could try and go to bed at a normal Spanish time but it didn’t seem to work. I went to bed a little after 1am and didn't wake up until just now (12:30). Yikes.

Last night I went out to the bar…by myself. Now, in the U.S. I consider myself fairly independent and don’t have a problem going and getting something to eat by myself or going to a movie solo…but going to a bar has usually been where I drew the line. It was so nerve wracking. I grabbed a beer and tried to work up the courage to approach the group of people my age. I knew if I gave up it would set the tone for the rest of my trip. I would feel uncomfortable, and they would know that I was here and didn’t approach them, so they probably wouldn’t approach me. It totally reminded me of going up to someone you don't know at a bar and trying to get them to dance with you, or asking them out on a date, except I was just trying to find friends. Finally, I went for it. Antonio and Jose Manuel were right next to me, so I just told them I was new in town and needed suggestions about what to do here. They laughed, and I assured them I knew it was a small town. Apparently La Mezquita (the bar/restaurant where I was at) is the best place for a Friday night. I slowly got introduced to a few more of their friends (Ramona and Diego), and we shared good laughs over certain occasions when I didn’t have the slightest idea what they were saying. At one point I just said, “Ask me again in 8 months. I’ll understand by then.” Luckily they were very nice. It was awkward, but they took me in. They invited me to come with them to the next bar, Menphys. It was an Egyptian style bar. We chilled on bar stools, played darts and attempted conversation (which was more difficult here because of the loud music). Maria and Jose Miguel joined us there. Maria is 18 and still at ‘el instituto” (the high school) but she seemed the most concerned about making me feel comfortable. She seemed to understand most that I was there alone and needed friends. She also offered me a ride at the end of the night so I wouldn’t have to walk alone. It’s really not far of a walk from my point of view, but I accepted anyways. She said we could get coffee the next day at 4. I excitedly agreed. I feel like that made the night a success. There’s hope that tonight’s slightly awkward interaction will lead to more hang-out times and friends. Oh, and they also told me that not so many people go out on Friday nights. Saturday night is the best night and the only night that the discoteca is open. They are going tonight and I plan on going as well.