Today was a fantastic day! Why, you ask? Because my long weekend has started…no school for five days! I really didn’t do that much at school today. I had second grade first and they had an exam today (over colors, numbers 1-20 and animals. It was cute because for the colors it gave them the word and they had to color in the circle with the specific crayon). I take what I said back because there is this girl, named Maryam, who doesn’t know how to read quite yet, so Francisco had me sit with her and give her the exam orally. I read the list of colors and she would find each one and color the circle. For the numbers part, they had a mixed up list and had to put them in order. I ended up giving her a lot of the answers on this one (shh, don’t tell anyone!) because I would say a number and she would point to one and look at me, like “Is that right?” and I would shake my head if it wasn’t. She had a little bit of an idea on most of them, but there were some in which she pointed at every word and looked at me until she found the right one. Reading the exam to her a really long time and she still wasn’t done when the hour was up.

After second grade, I went to sixth and they had an exam too. I met that class on my very first day, when Aurora taught them art, but we did introductions again for about fifteen minutes and then they took the exam (countries, more numbers and questions like “how old are you”) so after that, there was very little for me to do. At 11, I went to the three-year-old class, which is completely pointless, I found out, because that hour they have me scheduled for every Thursday is when they eat breakfast in class. So…I watched them eat for about twenty minutes and then went back to the office.

Recreo/Lunch was interesting today. One of the teachers went to Pamplona last week (on a fieldtrip, I think) and brought back a bunch of cheese to share with everyone. I thought it was Manchego, but it turned out to be sheep cheese from the Navarra region. There were hard cheeses and soft cheeses. It was all very tasty. I saw these little tiny Dixie sized cups setting on the table and I thought they were for water, but I looked over and saw they were cracking open some good old Pamplona alcohol…at school, which was still in session, no less! I was like “Wow, are you serious!” I wasn’t going to have any, but then this old (like 65-70ish) teacher (whose name is Carmela, I found out later. She’s really nice and talks to me all the time. Half of the time, I have no idea what she’s saying, so I just kind of smile. She always tells other teachers “Habla español muy bien!/She speaks Spanish really well!” And I always think “Please stop telling people that…it’s not true”) was like “here, try this, I don’t drink alcohol, but you should.” Me: “ooookkkkk” It was REALLY strong, but I didn’t want to offend her or anyone, so I drank it.

After that, we all went off to class a little tipsy! (Haha, just kidding…it was such a little amount!) I went with Esperanza to the five-year-olds. That was fun; she played this song “Dance, dance, show me how to dance!” We all danced in place. “Hide your nose/mouth/ears…show me your nose/mouth/ears!” You get the idea…All the kids were really into it, except for these two girls, Samara and Estefania. Later, Esperanza told me they’re cousins and the worst! They didn’t participate with the group at all and were off on their own the whole time: at the computer, under the table, anywhere but on the rug with the rest of the class. If Esperanza tried to get them to join everyone, they screamed bloody murder. Later, after we left the class, she called them “malísimas”.

I didn’t have a class after 1:00, so I was able to leave early! I talked with Aurora and she is coming with me to the bank at 6:30 (apparently they’re open from 5-7 on Thursdays) to figure out this debit card fiasco. I want to ask them if they just give me another one, rather than having Mom and Dad sent it from the U.S….I still don’t understand how or why it was sent there (I mean, how much sense does that make?), but whatever. We still don’t have any concrete plans for the weekend yet, but I’m sure we’ll think of something. We need to go back to Ciudad Real sometime to apply for our NIEs, so we may do that this weekend…other than that, it’s still up in the air!

Xoxo,

Court

Oh, and I just got back from the bank and they are sending me another card here…actually I’m picking it up from the bank next Thursday. He said that and I was like “Are you sure?” and he said “Yes, yes, I’m sure.” I don’t know if it was because Aurora was with me or because that guy just seems so much nice than the (not so nice) lady, but I feel much better now!