Año Two

 

For those of you who don’t know I am back in Sevilla for round two. The lovely government of Spain decided they didn’t want me in Seville anymore and sent me to a public school in Cordoba (no not in the beautiful little city you’ve all visited or read about in books, but rather a small town in the middle of nowhere Cordoba). I kindly rejected the position and went on to look for my own job. Since I didn’t want the position offered to me, I wasn’t sure this summer if I was going to be able to return to Spain, or if I would have to start real life in New York. Luckily my friend Samantha knew of an academy looking for new teachers(she also happens to work there which is nice) and she got me the gig! Phew, one more year until the real world.

 

However, this year is going to be a different in a number of ways. To start, instead of working 12 hours a week as an assistant, I will be working 20+ hours a week (practically full time in Spain) in my own classroom. Yes, that means for 5 hours each day (cant work on Fridays when living in Europe), I will be in charge of my own group of students, 4 groups per day. Apparently, being a native English speaker makes me qualified for this job, we’ll see how accurate that turns out to be.

My first day of work was this past Monday so it hasn’t been all that much time yet. But so far, it’s been a bit of a challenge. I’m sure I will get used to it, and once I learn to discipline in Spanish all will be well. My schedule consists of two groups of first graders, two groups of sixth graders, one third grade class and one group of five year olds. At first I was assigned the three year olds, but I couldn’t handle it: crying and throwing chairs at each other, and cutting apart their class books and who knows what else. Just not my scene. There is a nice teacher who agreed to switch with me so from now on I will have her five-year-old class, but I haven’t started with them yet. The adult classes begin on October 1^st, so starting then I will also have two adult groups in my schedule.

After spending the entire summer doing essentially nothing, yet somehow keeping super busy, it feels like a lot to work 5 hours straight in one day. But im not complaining, a five hour work day in reality is nothing. Except that it goes straight through dinner time, the day ends at around 9:30pm, and at the end of the day I am dying of hunger.

Good news is I can go straight home after work. Bad news is there is about a 50-minute commute between work and Seville. The academy is in Utrera, a big town/small city outside of Seville. The train ride is only 25 minutes but depending on where I am living, I have to add time to the commute for getting to/from the train.

Now you may be thinking, depending on where she is living? That’s a strange thing to say. And yes it has been a strange 12 ((?)I’ve lost track) days since I arrived. I have lived essentially in three different places, with different friends, because I am still looking for that perfect piso (apartment).

My friend Pilar has taken me in for a while until I find a place to live. She is Spanish, hence the name Pilar, and lives with her parents. So it’s sort of like doing an immersion program for a couple of weeks. I am able to practice Spanish (I have no choice if I want to communicate), and live the way Spaniards do (aka eat dinner at 11pm because its still too hot to eat earlier, or something like that?) That also includes sitting around at lunch gossiping about family members I don’t know (still very interesting to listen to). And a daily siesta of course!

I think I will be here for about another week, as I have found a place to live (I think/hope!) but the room isn't available until the 29th or 30th. It is with three Italians, one girl and two guys, who from what I can tell are very nice. In fact, tonight they invited me over for a beer so we can get to know each other, even though I won't move in for another week! Good sign I think!

Well, here's to the beginning of a new year of blogging and a new year of adventures in Spain, or wherever else the wind takes me!