happy as a clam

Today was such a great day! I went and visited my school this morning; it turned out to be more of an adventure than I would have liked, but after two phone calls and stopping 5 people on the street, I finally found it! The best part is it's only a 20-minute commute from my apartment to my school! So I went on a tour of the school, met some of the teachers, and talked to Patricia and Monica, the two main ones I will be working with. I will be teaching students in the second cycle (grades 3 and 4; 8-9 years old) Monday-Thursday from 9:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Monday and Tuesday I will be helping with English classes and Wednesday and Thursday will be a mix of English and Science. Today I sat down with Monica and we went through the textbook and the year-plan for science, and she even gave me my own teacher's edition of the science book. After our meeting she had class, so I asked if I could sit in and just observe. Because of the Huelga General (strike) today, there were only four students in class! But they were learning about living things in science class and Monica didn't want to get too far ahead today because so many students were missing, so I suggested the kids make Venn Diagrams about plants and animals. I can't believe I taught a lesson my very first day! It was such a great feeling. After class, I went and talked to Patricia, the English teacher, and she explained what grammar the two classes are studying in English and gave me the year-plan for English as well. I am so glad I went to visit today! I have a very good feeling about this year! I can't wait to get started on Monday! : )


More the the HUELGA General! So today across Spain there was a huge strike by workers of all kinds. The strike was well-supported by the Spaniards; over 70% of the working population (some 10 million Spaniards) participated. The strike affected mostly Spanish industry, but commercial operations and public transportation (the metro!) continued to operate. The biggest surprise for me was that all of the "chinos" (the Spanish equivalent of dollar stores, almost all of which are operated by Chinese) were closed! Chinos NEVER close! They are open on Sundays and during the hours of the siesta, so it was very strange to see them all closed today. There was some violence involved in the strike too; strikers vandalized buses, set fires, tipped over garbage bins, and set off small firework-like explosives. In Madrid, one striker was actually run over while she was trying to prevent a distribution truck from leaving a printing press. I didn't go to Puerta del Sol or Gran Via where most of the manifestations were taking place, but I can tell you that my neighborhood was very quiet this morning! : )

Tonight Pazitos and I went to Ikea, where he bought a mirror and a new comforter for my room, and I bought picture frames. My room is coming together, slowly but surely! Now that I'm surrounded by photos it feels more like home : ) and I couldn't be happier.