Small Town Living, Sort of

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I now have lots of time to think and blog in the middle of the day...so this post is a little longer than usual..stick with me!
 

A couple of weeks ago I began giving morning classes twice a week to the babies in the academy. And when I say babies, I mean infants that can hardly speak Spanish yet. I think the youngest one is younger than one year, nine months or something absurdly young like that. So, I have the thrilling task of teaching these non-Spanish speaking tots how to speak English aka make sounds that sound something like English words. As a result of this new undertaking, I now spend the entire day in the budding metropolis that is (NOT) Utrera.

As pueblos go, Utrera is not too small, 51,630 inhabitants, according to the ever so reliable Wikipedia, so really it’s more like a small city. Despite this enormous population, Utrera has a very small town feel. I am so fortunate to be able to spend three days a week here, so I can really learn what small town life is all about, and more importantly, so I can be grateful that I live in Sevilla. 

It is a beautiful pueblo..that I cannot deny.

Coming from a suburb of NYC, which in fact has fewer inhabitants than Utrera, but living a lot of my life in the city with over 8 million people, I notice a lot of differences in the lifestyle. In general, Spain is much more relaxed than what I am used to, but life in the pueblo is even more tranquilo.

For example, I finish my morning classes at 1pm (yes, although Post meridiem 1 o’clock is still considered the morning in Spain) and I don’t begin again in the afternoon until 4:15 or 4:30, depending on the day. In NYC, 3 hours to kill is no problem at all. Sometimes just to get from one point to another can take 45 minutes or more. But it isn’t really fair to compare Utrera to the largest (and best) city in the world. So I won’t. But even in my little pueblo of Scarsdale, I could go shopping, see a movie, go to the library, sit in a café…and easily pass the three hours.

Well, here in Utrera, it’s quite a different story. I was ecstatic last week when I found out there was a library and I figured out how to get there (for some reason, street sign seem to be optional (sparse) in the south of Spain). I sat down at one of the study tables around 1:15, preparing myself to settle in there for the next couple of hours. I brought my computer so I could use the wifi, I brought my nook to read, some papers to correct, and my class books to make lesson plans. The time was flying by; I thought maybe the whole spending the afternoon in Utrera thing wouldn’t be so bad after all.

However, around 30 minutes after I arrived, I noticed the people around me began to pack up their things and leave. I thought, ok they are going home because no one wants to be in the library at lunchtime (lunch is the most important meal of the day here). About five minutes after that, all the lights were turned off. Weird, I thought. Maybe they were trying to conserve energy? Another five minutes and I hear, “Ya estamos cerrado (We are now closed)” Closed! I knew stores would close for siesta but the library????

So, I had to venture on to bigger and better things. I trekked around the city with my computer and my backpack and all my books until I arrived at a restaurant that looked comfortable and inviting (the only establishments open in the middle of the day are restaurants). The restaurant was an important decision for me because I would be stationed there for the following two hours until it was time to go to work again. And this has now become my routine….

Fast forward two weeks to yesterday…November 14….huelga general en Sevilla (maybe all of Spain?) For those of you who don’t know, huelga means strike. If you ever plan on visiting Spain this is a very important word to know because here it seems like there is a huelga every other week. I know, I should be more sympathetic, there is a creesis here and things are really bad. There are no jobs (unless we keep stores open at mediodía, thus creating more shifts aka JOBS). The price of education has now gone up to a whopping 1,000€ a year (talk to me when its $50,000 a year). Oh and what is that…you still don’t have to pay for healthcare…oh yeah.

Sarcasm aside, things are worse here than they used to be. And in all seriousness, I realize when you spend your whole life used to one thing (free education, free health care, a certain salary) it is hard when there is even a slight change. Someone recently drew my attention to a New York Times article (yes, I do read the articles you email me) about people in Spain that are so desperate as a result of homes/jobs lost, that they have resorted to dumpster diving in order to have food to eat, and other essentials items to live. At first glance I thought, this is an exaggeration and an awful portrayal of the situation here. Imagine my surprise when one day, I actually saw a woman jump into a dumpster to collect things from inside. It broke my heart…

Anyway, I almost forgot there was a point to what I was saying. So today, huelga general, except for Joanna and all my coworkers at New England Academy, the small city-town Utrera, has even less to offer me. The library is closed; many restaurants and stores are closed. Luckily, the Cuban (?) restaurant (they say its Cuban/Mexican but the food is 100% Spanish) where I have eaten lunch for the past three days I’ve worked, is open. And there I am, eating my Spanish food cooked by Cubans perhaps. For the first time, I am in the company of other diners, remember no one is working because they are on strike, but I don’t think many people in Utrera are actually striking (protesting in front of government buildings etc). Upon my return to Sevilla last night, there were signs that protests had occurred, flyers everywhere and garbage bags filled with empty beer and alcohol bottles piled high.

Pues, c’est la vie en España…

For anyone who actually read my entire rant, thank you. For those of you who skipped right to the bottom, I completely understand.

Lost in Lisbon

Note*

I am inaccurately calling this post Lost in Lisbon, we were not actually lost most of the time. Of course, there were moments when we were wandering around in circles, but mostly that was on purpose; we were exploring Lisbon, rather than getting lost. However, I like the alliteration so I’m sticking with my title.

Halloween weekend was a Puente (long weekend) in Spain. Instead of celebrating Halloween (officially it’s not a holiday but kids are starting now to dress up and go trick or treating), Spain celebrates the day after, the Day of the Dead. In all honesty, I’m not exactly sure what that is a celebration of; I suppose it is to honor the dead. But here in Spain, it seems more like it is an excuse to have a day off. I could be totally wrong, so Spaniards reading this, don’t be offended.

So, to aprovechar (take advantage of…sounds way better in Spanish) the long weekend, Samantha and I took the overnight bus from Sevilla to Lisbon on Wednesday (Halloween) night. The bus left at midnight, and arrived at 6:30 the next morning. We decided on that bus so that we would have the most time possible to see Lisbon. Well, not surprisingly, as soon as we got to our hostel, we slept for almost the entire day. For those of you who have been on a 6+ hour bus ride before, you understand our need to sleep in an actual bed...Imagine sleeping on an airplane (you are pretty uncomfortable, right?). Well now take that image and add less comfortable seats and the sensation of feeling every turn the bus/plane makes, plus not having heat or blankets…now you are really uncomfortable. And so were we on the bus..ergo, our decision to sleep more!

It was just the two of us on the bus from Sevilla, but we met two of Samantha’s friends from school at the hostel. In fact, the whole trip was their idea. Her two friends, Laura and Julia, are twins who are currently teaching English in a pueblo in Granada. I had met them earlier in the year because they were in Sevilla for two weeks for an orientation, so it was great to see them again.

After the twins arrived, and Samantha and I woke up from our “nap”, the four of us went out for dinner. Since I was feeling a little sick I didn’t join in on the partying that night, but there was more of that to come in the following days.

The four of us atop Castelo de Sao Jorge

We spent all day Friday and Saturday exploring Lisbon…visiting a beautiful cathedral, an old fortress, a castle, a monastery and more! We watched and listened to Fado (typical Portuguese music), we ate and drank typical Portuguese food and drink.

Above: Said beautiful Cathedral  

Below: Beautiful stained-glass window inside said beautful cathedral

Fado music

On Sunday, although we still hadn’t seen all of Lisbon, we decided to go to Sintra, a town approximately 45 minutes outside of Lisbon. And boy am I happy we did that. Sintra is a little town in the mountains, and it looks like it was pulled straight from a fairytale. The roads are windy, there are trees (enchanted forests) everywhere. There is a big fortress/castle at the top of the hill. Around every corner there is a view more beautiful than the next, a view that looks like a page from Snow White or Cinderella.

One of the breathtaking views

Cinderella's Castle

Unfortunately, it was cold and gloomy, making it feel even more like a fairytale in my mind, but made it uncomfortable to be outside for too long/made it difficult for my pictures to capture the true beauty of the town.

En fin, I highly recommend to anyone who has not been to Lisbon to put it high up on the list of places to visit, up there with Prague. Seriously, go! I’m so glad I did. 

photos don't lie

look how pretty!

Salesianos

While the experience is still fresh in my mind (somewhat), I would like to write a short post about my first day of work at job number two.

My previously mentioned friend, Samantha, who got me job number one, also led me to job number two. There is a man who studies at the academy, who is also a teacher at a somewhat private school in Utrera. The school is a chain I guess you could call it, I don’t know if that word applies for schools, but there are a bunch of these schools around the country. It’s a catholic school, founded by a famous priest, don’t rememer his name, forgive me I’m Jewish. Its public in that it is funded by the government, but in every other sense it seems like a private school. There are boarders, and uniforms, and it looks a little like Hogwarts.

Well, back on topic, this man, Carlos, asked Sam if she would be willing to help out at the school a couple of hours a week. Since she is already working at yet another school in the morning, Sam decided not to take the job and offered it to me. Good deal. Thanks SammySpain!

So this past Thursday morning, I had to wake up at 6:45 AM, yuck, in order to be at Salesianos at 9 (normally I will be arriving at 9:30 but this was the first day so I had to take a tour and meet all of the millions of teachers there). Well I am now becoming somewhat of an expert at taking the train to Utrera, so that part of the commute presented no trouble for me. But as soon as I got off of the train, I realized all I really knew in terms of how to walk to the school was, go to the right. I did however plan a little bit ahead and picked up a map of Utrera at a hotel earlier in the week.

For some reason, maybe the fact that it’s impossible to find street signs in Spain, I was having trouble following the map. I couldn’t exactly figure out where I was, so it was hard to figure out exactly how to get to where I wanted to go, obviously. Luckily, I turned a corner, and saw three boys in school uniform! I followed them the whole rest of the way to school, without them noticing! Maybe I have a future career as a spy?

The school is an entire city block, like NYC style city block. So once the boys got me close to the school it was really hard to miss. Also there were tons of little school kids in uniform, gossiping and cramming last minute for a test. I met Carlos at the main gate to the school, and he gave me a tour of the school, completely useless because it’s so big that I will never remember how to get everywhere. He introduced me to almost every single person that works at the school, even the teachers I will not be working with (which is almost all them because I’m only working with one teacher). But it was nice to be introduced anyway.

The job itself is very much like what I did last year as a language assistant. I will be in each of the first grade classes for one hour a week, because they want to start something of a bilingual program at the school. Since it is not technically a public school, they do not have the official bilingual program and therefore are not assigned a native speaker as an auxiliar de conversación (fancy name for language assistant). Right, so I’ll be in the classroom so the kids can get used to hearing a native English speaker, learn correct pronunciation and all that fun stuff.

The morning was fun. Taught the parts of the body and face, three times. Made little 6-year-old friends. Looking forward to more.

Since I don’t start at the academy until 4:30 on Thursdays, I was invited to stay at the school for lunch (they serve lunch there because there are afternoon classes too and not everyone can go home to eat). Also there are boarding students and they obviously need to eat there. Seeing as this is Spain, and lunch is the most important meal, I was served not just a sandwich or basket of chicken fingers (like what you might find in a school cafeteria in America) but rather an entire 3-course meal. There was salad and a potato stew to start, chicken and more potatoes for the second course, yogurt and fruit for dessert. Not too bad. I think I can get used to having a good meal made for me once a week.

In the cafeteria there is a student eating section and another one for teachers. I sat in the teacher’s section because I was eating with the primary school kids, and also I’m a teacher of sorts. It was a little lonely because no other teacher was eating at that time (1pm is really early for lunch here). But eventually some started trickling in, a couple even sat with me! Exciting, new friends! Some teachers were young and seemed cool but the only problem is that they mostly all live in Utrera. And I don’t. So, that’s a bummer. But still, good to know there are young, friendly people working there.

After lunch, I spent a couple of hours sitting in the teachers’ lounge (one of the lounges I should say) preparing my classes for the academy. I believe in that time I met the rest of the staff I hadn’t met earlier in the day. It’s a great environment at that school. Everyone was super nice to me, many complimented me on my Spanish (always nice to have a little confidence booster) and a lot of them spoke English pretty well. I’m excited to have some extra work in the mornings, and the extra money of course, but by the end of the day Thursday I was dead tired. I don’t finish at the academy until 9:30 so I was out of the house almost 14 hours. For me, that’s a lot!

Sorry I lied, not a short post.

My Morning in Macarena

On the topic of new beginnings…I thought I’d take this opportunity to enroll myself in an official language class for the mornings, partly because I love learning languages, and partly because there are some aspects of my life that would be easier if I were officially a student here. So this morning I ventured into the Macarena neighborhood of Sevilla, might as well be another city for all I know, think I went there once the whole time I lived here last year. Luckily, the bus pretty much dropped me off right in front of the Escuela Oficial de Idiomas (Official Language School). I had to walk a little but my handy dandy iPhone 3 maps app helped me out. I only walked in one cirle. I thought the fact that I arrived without (with relatively little) trouble was a good omen. And, I was wrong…

When I arrived there was a line that wrapped around the entire building. I thought it was odd that there would be so many people wanting to sign up for a language class TODAY. I mean I know a lot of people are unemployed and want to take advantage of their free time to learn English, but it literally seemed like the entire city of Seville was there to sign up for classes. And I didn't want to wait.

Well I walked myself to the front of the line where I could see people entering the building, to wait on more lines, but couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. I didn’t know what specifically these people were waiting for. I couldn’t see a person they were waiting to talk to at the front of the line, although I assume there was someone there.

As I was walking back to the end of the line, feeling a little defeated, I heard something that sounded like my name. I was listening to my iPod so I thought maybe I was just going a little crazy, imagining things as a result of lack of sleep (this work schedule really throws off my sleep schedule…dinner at 11pm??? That’s bedtime for me!) Turns out I’m not crazy, or at least in this particular instance, and there was actually someone I knew in the line! What are the chances, I know about five people in Sevilla!

A fellow volunteer from the Davis Cup was waiting to sign up for English classes.  She was very confused to see me there, seeing as I am a native English speaker. Luckily she explained to me that all the people in line were in fact signing up for English classes; the signup for other languages was in another part of the building. Phew! One point of confusion settled.

When I ventured into the other side of the building, I did in fact see signs indicating that there were classes besides English at the school. There were class lists on the walls, and things written in Italian and German and French. But that was about as much luck as I had! I know there are classes in languages besides English. I asked one very unfriendly lady about signing up, and she said, from what I understood, “you can’t, look online.” Well that was super helpful, and she was about the only actual person I could find who seemed to work there. So, I left. I’m taking her helpful advice, and looking online. And all the information is for the 2011-2012 school year. Awesome!

I do however have a Plan B. And that includes bringing a Spanish person with me next time I go, if there is a next time…. or making one of my Spanish friends call. Keep y’all posted! I know you are dying to find out what happens next!

In other news, it looks like my bank account from last year was never actually closed down even though I did cancel it. Lucky for me! Now (I’m pretty sure) I don’t have to open a new one!

New Beginnings

Today marks the beginning of a new month, but it’s more than that for me. It is also (one of) my first days living in my new apartment, and the beginning of my full work schedule.

For the past few weeks I have been living with Pilar and her family, and now I am finally settled (mostly) in my own place. I am living in the apartment I mentioned earlier, with the three Italians. Still have only met two of them, the third one is on a really long vacation/business trip (not sure) in the USA. So far the living situation is good. Of course, being as this is Spain, the apartment has some…quirks let’s call them. For example, there are one and a half bathrooms. Or should I say one bathroom and a closet with a toilet in it. When one of my roommates was in the shower yesterday, I decided it would be a good time for me to explore the second bathroom. Well, for those of you who don’t remember, I am relatively tall…and I didn’t exactly fit sitting down on the toilet seat correctly (sorry if this is TMI), so I had to sit sideways on the toilet. For those of you who haven’t tried it, it is not as comfortable!

Also, on the theme of bathrooms, I feel obligated to mention my first experience in the shower here. As in most places I’ve been in Europe, the showerhead is hand held, but has a place where you can let it rest so it becomes a normal over the body showerhead. I thought this would be no different; hold it in my hand when I need to, but have the option to put it in the rest (I’m not sure what the appropriate word for that is) when I want to shampoo or soap up. Well, when my hair was adequately rinsed and I was ready for shampoo, I put the showerhead in its holder, and just like a scene in a movie it started spinning around in circles, water spraying everywhere. I mean the shower head was running laps swinging back and forth from one side of the shower to the other, somehow also managing to spray water on the ceiling. At the time I didn’t think it was that funny, but looking back, it’s just one of those things you gotta expect and accept when living in a foreign country.

Also, as I mentioned, this week I start my full work schedule. For the past two weeks, I have been only teaching primary level classes, children basically. Then in the evenings we were doing exam practice for those students in the academy who are studying to get their FIRST or PET certificates. Honestly, I’m still not quite sure what those things mean, so I can’t explain it to those of you who have no clue what I am talking about. But I know there is some European Union standards for learning English and these tests represent different levels of proficiency.

Now the test prep is over (I think because the test is in the next two weeks) and we are starting with the adult classes in the evenings. I am actually a little nervous to teach adults, especially because my past experience is mostly with children. Of course adults will be easier in terms of discipline, or at least I hope! But the problem is that the English is more difficult, more grammar than games. I guess there are pros and cons to each level. Who knows, maybe I’ll love teaching the adults. Only time will tell.

So, here’s to new beginnings! Happy October everyone!

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!

Triana to Tribeca

TRIANA BRIDGE



Well my avid blog readers, this is probably the last one of the series. I might start up again sometime when my life provides something interesting to write about.

The Triangle Below Canal (clever NYC) 

After almost a full day of travel, from the land of toros and tapas, to the city of bagels and big buildings, here I am, back in New York after nine amazing months in Spain. There were ups and down, of course. There were times when all I wanted to do was go home and eat a bagel or go to the grocery store on a Sunday. There were times when I thought, why isn’t the waitress bringing me a complimentary glass of water, and refilling it every 3 minutes? There were times when I missed my family and friends more than anything in the world. But there were also times when I actively realized that I was having the time of my life. I was fully immersed in a Spanish life, not only speaking the Spanish language everyday, but also living the way Spaniards do, siesta and all.

Now, after a week back home, I already feel myself starting to long for the things I never thought I would miss. The air conditioning in my house is making my throat hurt; maybe those crazy Spaniards have a point about turning the AC off at night, even if it makes you sweat a little. When my friends ask me at 12:30 what I want to eat for lunch, I’m thinking are you crazy? Lunch isn’t for another 2 hours!

And then there are those things I knew I would miss. The crazy football fans, the one euro beers, general happiness and no pasa nada way of life, and of course my Spanish friends!

Since I don’t really have a game plan for the future, I’ve had a lot of time to reflect, and watch Spanish soccer! It sure is great to be home, to experience once again my American way of life but at the same time there is something very strange about it. I feel like nothing should be different than when I left in September, but of course life has gone on. My family and friends in New York have not been on hold. And I suppose I have not either. But it is hard to come to terms with the fact that my friends no longer live down the block from me, that I cant hang out with them whenever I want because they now have jobs that require working late during the week. I suppose this is normal, and with time will change.

The time has come where I actually have to figure out what my next move will be. Will I stay in NY and join the daily 9-5 grind? Will I return to Spain for another yearlong adventure, teaching, living and learning? Or will I go in a completely different direction? Only time will tell, so stay tuned!

For now, I want to leave you with a little blurb I found on the internet. Written by a fellow American living abroad in Europe, it explains exactly what I feel right now.

Couldn’t have said it better myself (that’s why I didn’t!):

So you look at your life, and the two countries that hold it, and realize that you are now two distinct people. As much as your countries represent and fulfill different parts of you and what you enjoy about life, as much as you have formed unbreakable bonds with people you love in both places, as much as you feel truly at home in either one, so you are divided in two. For the rest of your life, or at least it feels this way, you will spend your time in one naggingly longing for the other, and waiting until you can get back for at least a few weeks and dive back into the person you were back there. It takes so much to carve out a new life for yourself somewhere new, and it can’t die simply because you’ve moved over a few time zones. The people that took you into their country and became your new family, they aren’t going to mean any less to you when you’re far away.

When you live abroad, you realize that, no matter where you are, you will always be an ex-pat. There will always be a part of you that is far away from its home and is lying dormant until it can breathe and live in full color back in the country where it belongs. To live in a new place is a beautiful, thrilling thing, and it can show you that you can be whoever you want — on your own terms. It can give you the gift of freedom, of new beginnings, of curiosity and excitement. But to start over, to get on that plane, doesn’t come without a price. You cannot be in two places at once, and from now on, you will always lay awake on certain nights and think of all the things you’re missing out on back home.