Today has been a very relaxed day. We went out last night about ten and returned just after three this morning, so we all slept in. When I got back from the bank last night, Will was gone, I assumed to watch the basketball game (The Lakers played Barcelona here in Spain and lost 92-88...sorry Spain, but darn! L) so Gunita and I went out to Teodora’s house and met up with her and another friend, Laura. We went to our usually bar, La Comba and stayed there most of the night. Will appeared about two hours later with three guys from his school. He said that he had been drinking since six o’clock! Apparently, on his way to a hostel to use the (faster) internet, he encountered these gentlemen, who invited him out drinking. So he went. And drank. And drank some more. By the time they got to La Comba, those three teachers were SO drunk, they kept telling Will that they LOVED him and the drunkest of the three kept kissing his head. It was weird, yet funny at the same time. Will kept saying “I feel so gay right now!” He never made it to the hostel last night.

We got up and about around 12:30 and went to the open air market, which they have here every Friday. Considering how small Socu is, I thought the market was huge: there were so many clothes and shoes and fruits and vegetables and churros and jewelry and so much more that I can’t remember! We just kind of quickly browsed through, and all I came away with today was a few nectarines, but next Friday, I’m going to go back and take a closer look at everything…I’m sure they have some cool stuff there!

Gunita and I went to the grocery store after the market and picked up a few things. We went back to Movistar to ask about her breaking her contract, so we could get wifi. Her contract isn’t up until November 27 and they said it would cost her a lot to break it. So, she’s going to finish out her contract and in the meantime, I think the plan is for Will and me to get wifi through Orange. It’s 30€ for the first two months (which we’ll split) and then it’ll go up to 47€ after that. By that time, Gunita will be out of her contract with Movistar and we’ll split it three ways. The only bad thing is that we have to sign a year contract, which’ll cost about 100€ to break come May/June. Again, that’ll be split three ways, so I think it’ll be worth it! Now we have to set up an appointment for them to come install a phone line…hopefully soon!

We decided not to go anywhere this weekend after all. We are, however, planning on going to Ciudad Real on Monday, to apply for our NIEs. I’m sure Gunita and Will are planning on going out this evening, but I noticed this morning that my throat is started to get agitated, so I don’t think I’ll go. It’s gotten a little worse since this afternoon, so I hope it’s nothing major. Will said it could be all the smoke from the bars I’ve been breathing in lately and Gunita said it could be because the weather is changing. I think I believe more in the bar theory than the weather one, but who knows!  Being in smoky bars tonight wouldn’t exactly help and the last thing I want to do is make it worse!

Xoxo,

Court

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!

I’ve decided today that I would be the happiest if I could only work in 3^rd grade and above classes. Today I had 5^th grade from 9-10, four-year-olds from 10-11:50, 6^th grade from 12:20-1:10 and 4^th grade from 1:10-2. Keeping in mind what I just said, which class do you think I enjoyed the least? You get a gold star if you guessed the four-year-olds! So naturally, I had that age group the longest (two classes). I’ve said this before, but they’re so young and just don’t listen well (some at all!). The first hour actually wasn’t bad at all; I was surprised because they were better behaved than the six-year-olds from yesterday. They were really quiet, listened to Sandra, the teacher, and got along really well with each other (for the most part, nothing like the second hour).

The second class of four-year-olds was a completely different story. Think about the most opposite you can imagine…now times that by 87! Yeah, it was that night and day. On our way to the class—right next door—Sandra told me this class wasn’t as good as the first and this boy named Héctor, or something like that, was the worst, and yes, I was able to spot this Héctor as soon as we walked in. How? He was the one screaming the loudest. It was pretty much mass chaos the entire hour. We walked in and the kids were running around like nomads. It was kinda cute (at first) because this little girl (I still don’t know her name) came right up to me and gave me a hug! And then she was all over me the rest of the hour. I stood by the door and observed the class for a few minutes and she stood with me and put my arm around her. She was also talking to me and I had no idea what she was saying (kids at that age are hard to understand in any language, you know?) so I smiled, nodded and said “sí” a lot. I set my bag down on the table (huge mistake) and I looked over a minute later and she was going through it: she had my map of Socu out, she was looking at my sunglasses and opened my folder. I tried to say “GIVE IT BACK!” in the nicest way possible and I think I succeeded although, I may have been a little too nice, because half an hour later, she was flipping through my stuff again…really?

As for Héctor, I don’t know if he has, like, cognitive issues or what but every time Sandra asked the class or him to do something, he would start screaming (not your average “NO!” I don’t want to do it scream, it was a prolonged, blood curdling scream…once every two minutes…yeah, it got old fast). He wouldn’t do what Sandra wanted him to do, so she would try to pick him up and put him on the carpet or wherever and he would lay down an fight her tooth and nail every step of the way. He was also up and around all the time; he would scuttle under a table and sit there or sit somewhere as far away from Sandra as possible. He would be laying down, then he would stand up and throw himself back on the ground. He kept doing that and it was very strange. They’re working on colors right now, so I tried to lead an activity in which I would say “Go touch something yellow/blue/red etc. That lasted all of 90 seconds because they would go run around the room to find the color and scream…all the way there and keep screaming. Imagine, if you will, 20 four-year-olds screaming all at once. Yeah, it was pretty stellar…

Those two hours aside, the day was fun: we played Simon Says in 5^th grade, I met the other 6^th grade class and I love them! They’re so talkative (in a good way!), they were asking me questions and vice versa; it was lighthearted and they really love English! I wish I could be in there every day. My last class was with 4^th grade and they’re awesome too! Yesterday, Rocío asked me to bring any materials I had on Nebraska, so I brought my map, post cards and stickers and talked with them about the good life! It was fun.

Oh, and I also went to the bank before school to pick up my debit card and it wasn’t there. The (not-so-nice) lady was like “It got sent to your apartment” and I was like “I don’t understand, when I came last week and talked with the (nicer) guy he said I had to come back here to pick it up” and she was like “no, it was sent to your house and it should be arriving today.” I told Aurora this once at school and she said that didn’t make any since either. She said she would come with me to the bank this afternoon, but she was nowhere to be found afterschool. So I got home today and asked Will about any mail (he has our one and only key) and he said there wasn’t any. Now, I am annoyed with the (not-so-nice) lady.
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Update: I just talked with mom and dad and they said I received something from Spain in the mail. What could it be? My bank card. Someone PLEASE tell me why, why they would send my debit card—for my Spanish bank account, here!—home to the U.S.?

Xoxo,

Court

So…I really could have done without the orientation in Ciudad Real yesterday (Monday). It was every bit as boring, perhaps even more so, as I was anticipating. We arrived in CR about 9:30 and had an hour to kill so what did we do? We   went for a coffee in the cafeteria, of course! We headed for the auditorium about 10:00 and people were starting to trickle in. We met several people from nearby towns (when I say nearby, I mean about 20-45 minutes away): Tomelloso, Alcazar de San Juan, Campo de Criptana. Hopefully, we can all get together sometime, since we’re all kind of out in the middle of nowhere.

At 10:30, the presenters were still messing with the computer, so we didn’t start exactly on time, but shortly after that we did. I have no words to describe how boring it was; it was all in Spanish, they talked super fast and about education laws and edicts and the Spanish education system in general. I would expect to learn about those things if I were getting a degree in education here, but as a non native speaking assistant, it was WAY too much. Even Rocío and José, our school directors, said it was excruciatingly boring. I was also annoyed that we didn’t have any time to go apply for our NIEs (Número de Identidad de Extranjero aka Alien Resident Card). CR is our nearest office, so I figured they would allow us time to go apply, but no, we were booked the entire day. So now, we get to take the bus/train on our own sometime soon to go back and do that. Come on now, is the killing-two-birds-with-one-stone philosophy altogether dead?

There were, however, two bright spots in the otherwise dull day: 1) I found out there is another American guy coming to Socu! No one is sure when he’s coming because he has encountered problems with the visa process (and before you ask, Dad, exactly what the problem is, I don’t know!) 2) In honor of Columbus/Spain Day, we don’t have school this Friday-Tuesday. We’re hoping to take a trip somewhere, we just aren’t sure yet. At the end of the day, they gave us all a goodie bag (yay!) of info on CR—a map, tapas bars, etc… We got back home a little before seven and I went to bed rather early (about 11, which is considered early here).

I did not start off the day well today—I awoke eight minutes late. A lot of people, I know, are like “Wow!, it’s eight minutes, get over it!” But, to me, eight minutes is a long time and I found myself rushing around this morning, in an effort to make up those precious lost moments; I wasn’t a happy camper.

I arrived at school (with all the children and their parents) at nine o’clock on the dot. I dropped my bag off in the office, near Aurora’s desk and headed for María José’s 5^th grade class. They were just starting science hour (which was supposed to be half in Spanish and half in English, but turned into a whole hour of reviewing in Spanish), so I sat there and listened to the class review the parts of a cell in Spanish. It wasn’t too bad…I guess, it would have been more interesting, though, if I knew anything about science.

At 10:00, I went to Esperanza’s first grade room and observed two very long hours of chaos. It was actually two classes, one each hour. I introduced myself (in Spanish, because she thought it would be easier for them) and the second class laughed at me because I don’t speak with a lisp. I stood there and thought to myself “Wait a minute—shouldn’t it be the other way around? But, then again, I’m not at home, I guess”. When kids are that young, it’s hard to teach them about anything, much less another language. They’re not good listeners: they were up and jumping around the class, hitting each other with their water bottles and having pencil sword fights. In the very short time some of the students were paying attention, Esperanza reviewed some school vocab with them: book, pencil, pencil case, sharpener, crayon and rubber (which I learned is UK English for eraser). She tried to play a song that incorporated the vocab, but it didn’t take too well.

We had recess/lunch from 11:50-12:20 and today many of the teachers were in the lounge drinking coffee, so I joined them. I was going to buy a bocadillo/sandwich for 50 cents (I guess on Tuesdays some of the moms host it as a fundraiser), but by the time I got there, they were out of meat and were making like these peanut butter-like chocolate sandwiches, which I did not want, so I didn’t eat anything at school today.

From 12:20-2:00, I was in Rocío’s two 4^th grade classes. She’s very hardcore—which I appreciate to a certain extent. She doesn’t take any crap and if a student steps out of line, she’s on them like no other! I had met some of the kids last week but not all of them, so we did more introductions. She had each of them stand up and say “Hello, my name is _____. Nice to meet you.” Hers is the only class I’ve helped with teaching in. They’re reviewing letters and numbers, so I was able to lead the exercises. I would say a number and they would repeat it and write in out in English and then spell it back out loud. I felt a little bad for the kids because if they forgot how to say a letter or number or hesitated when she called on them, Rocío would get rather impatient and short with them like “This is really easy stuff, maybe you should have studied more!” If they got it wrong, I tried to be empathetic (learning a language is really hard, especially as a child!) and be like “That’s close, but not quite!” and she would flat out be like “No, that’s wrong (grrr!)” and dismiss them. Even when they introduced themselves, she was all over them. My thinking is at least they’re trying—they know more than our nine-year-olds, at least.

At 2:00, the day was over and I stopped at the store (MERCADONA, not DÍA!) before going home. I got back a little before three and was going to go to the bank to pick up my debit/young person card, but Gunita said they’re only open in the mornings, until two. Which, if that’s true, I’ll like never be able to go…SWEET! (That’s not true actually, I could go on a Friday since I don’t work…I just felt like being dramatic!)

Xoxo,

Court

It’s another lazy Sunday here in small town Socu…I’m getting the feeling that all Sundays here follow this same lethargic pattern (not that I mind in the least, though; I have come to treasure these days [all two of them!] of waking up late, sipping my café ever so slowly, listening to Socus {the people of Socuéllamos, that is, I have no idea what they’re called, so I have deemed them as such} pass by on the street below and reading a book…some people would call me a nerd, I know!).

Last night was interesting. We (Gunita, Will and I, that is) started out the evening by going out for Chinese with Jesús. Gunita had told us of the plan earlier in the day, so I was sure not to completely spoil my appetite when I ate “pre dinner” (a hunk of bread and cheese, last night), if you will, at eight o’clock (not that I’m like a porker or anything, I’ve just never been able to completely adjust to the eating schedule here). We made our way out about 10:30 (in Jesús’ car; I don’t remember what kind it is, but it’s very shiny and pretty! I was all excited that he was driving; I love riding in cars here…for some reason it just seems so much cooler here than back home!), which proved to be quite a popular dinner hour because the first place we tried was totally packed! So, we settled for choice número dos: LA CASA DE LAM. They were very busy too, but one table was being cleared right as we walked in, so we got lucky.

I thought we would all order our own separate dishes and possibly share a few bites, but instead we ordered I think three dishes and collectively shared. Will and I really didn’t know what was good, so Gunita and Jesús took the reins on this one. They ordered a bottle of wine (and a pitcher of sangria after that!), what I thought was fried rice, but it turned out to be regular rice with ham and peas in it (it was alright, but not my fav, gotta tell ya), a shrimp dish and a chicken with mushrooms dish (which I ate, but didn’t think about!). The others ordered soup for an appetizer, but I didn’t want soup, so I decided to spring for a spring roll, haha! I thought that would be a nice, small amount for an appetizer because all the spring/egg rolls I’ve ever eaten are relatively tiny. Yeah, not this spring roll…holy paella, this thing was HUGE! I mean this was one mother of a spring roll; it was like five times the size of an average spring roll! That could have been my whole dinner right there! But no, more kept coming. I tried not to eat very much of anything else and Jesús was like “What’s wrong? Do you not like Chinese food? Why don’t you eat more?” And I was like “Dude! Did you not see the size of that spring roll I just demolished?” To end the meal the waitress poured us all a shot of this yummy sweet tasting alcohol (I guess it’s complimentary??)

We left the restaurant at midnight, and honestly, I could have gone home, went to bed and been happy (I’m just not really that much of a drinker/party animal) but, we went to the bars instead. It was kind of funny, actually, on our way to the first bar (either BIANCO or BLANCO, I’m not exactly sure…the way they write the I/L is a little bit of a mystery to me) Jesús goes “I smell like Chinese!” I don’t know if he didn’t like the lingering smell or what, but he kept saying it. I was like “First of all, is it really that different from smelling like smoke in those stuffy ol’ bars? Second of all, all it takes is 0.2 seconds in a bar and a new smell will engulf your clothes.” The constant smell of smoke is one thing I will never get used to here. There are very few things I don’t like about Spain and the smoke definitely tops the list.

At BI/LANCO, Jesús hooked me up with this “Señorita Card”, in which each visit you can present the card and get a free drink. It’s awesome considering I don’t drink that much and I’m usually set after a couple of drinks…I’ll never have to spend that much! It wasn’t too crowded here, so we were able to move around a bit and dance…it was fun. Usually we meet up with a bunch of people while we’re out; unfortunately, the only name I can recall right now is Teresa, she’s very nice, as all Gunita’s friends seem to be.

I could have sworn earlier at dinner that Jesús said Tomás was coming out, so I asked him where he was and he was like “You like Tomás?” (Only has a friend, by the way, he’s very nice, but he’s a bit of a unique fellow, that one). He asked me that like other times too and I really just wanted to say “Dude, lay off!” But I didn’t. He also told me last night that one of my eyebrows is higher than the other. I sort of looked at him and smiled, but again, I really wanted to be like “Wow, every girl wants to be told her imperfections. Sweet…Thank you!”

We went to one other bar, about five minutes away from our house, after that. This bar was extremely crowded and I was rather tired, so I didn’t stay long, I came back about three and promptly got into bed and fell fast asleep shortly thereafter.

I’m going to try to go to bed early tonight because we have regional orientation in Ciudad Real tomorrow. It starts at 10:00 and takes about an hour and a half to get there, so the directors of our programs are meeting Will and I here at the apartment at 8:00, which means I have to get up by about six-ish…boo. I’m really not too excited about the orientation. My school director, Rocío, said it’s quite boring, as they talk about the Spanish Educational System a lot. I thought it could a little interesting, but not if they talk about that for eight hours. Will and were talking and we’re a bit confused about what they’re going to actually tell us, because our schools have already told us all the really important things. I would think that many procedures would differ from school to school, so I don’t know, we’ll see…all I really know is that tomorrow is going to be a LONG day!

Xoxo,

Court

We didn’t go to Albacete today, we were all pretty tired from last night, so it was decided that a nice sleep-in was in order. There’s always tomorrow, though!

I did, however, encounter something earlier this afternoon that irks me quite a bit. I got up before the roomies, so I decided to go to the grocery store to grab a few essentials while they slept, that way I wouldn’t have to worry about tip-toeing around. I had never been to this particular store before. Usually we go together to one of the bigger ones, farther away (if you have more hands, you can carry more, you know?) But, I was by myself today, so I went to the store right up the street. I did my shopping and went to go checkout stand and promptly saw a sign that read “Bags 0.03€, to better serve you”. I looked at the sign again, because I thought surely one doesn’t have to pay for plastic bags here; I thought they had to be perhaps nicer bags you could purchase in their stead. NOPE! This grocery store, DÍA, actually charges money for your run-of-the-mill, Wal-Mart like, plastic bag. Is it not enough that I just dropped 20€ shopping in your store? Is it too much to ask for that store to be like “Here, have a free bag, thanks for your business.” Really, DÍA, REALLY?

Like everyone else, I paid that stupid three cents and actually, I could have used another bag. But instead, I held my head high and I carried my toilet paper in one hand and I stuffed that one bag so full, it ripped and my loaf of bread kept falling out all the way home. I would have rather eaten peas and mushrooms (which I detest ever so much!) than paid another three cents! I know that three cents is basically nothing in the grand scheme of things, but, hey, it’s the principle of the matter.

Just so you are aware—that is the only grocery store I’ve ever been in, anywhere in the world, which charges their customers for bags. I really would like to boycott the store, but seeing as how it’s the closest one to our house, I’m sure I’ll go back eventually. Just know this: the next time I pay the store a visit, I’m bring my backpack! Take that, DÍA.

Xoxo,

Court

Happy Friday! It’s about 3:15PM here (8:15AM Nebraska time) and I’m done for the day! I went to school today at nine and got home about an hour ago at 2:15 (which is the whole Spanish school day right now)…it was only about a five hour day, but for some reason, I’m super tired! Maybe because I wasn’t planning on being there the entire time. Today was supposed to be the official “orientation” day, but I went to school Tuesday and Wednesday, so we pretty much had covered everything orientation-ish previously. So, I went to several of the classrooms and met a lot the kids today.

Aurora wasn’t there today (she’s out of town) so another teacher, Pilar (she’s a sweetheart!), was my go-to person today. When I got there, she had a free period, so she figured out my schedule for the day (which was different from my regular schedule, since I won’t normally work on Fridays). I felt bad interrupting her because she was trying to grade notebooks…I know how precious plan time is!

At 10:00, I went to Rocío’s room; she’s the head English teacher, the director of the department, if you will. She’ll be coming with me to Ciudad Real on Monday for regional orientation. I can’t remember the exact age of the class, but they were younger, I’d say maybe first grade. She introduced me and again, they were all like “Corni, Corni!”…it’s so cute when little kids say it! They’re working on learning the alphabet, so I spelled out my name and read the alphabet for them and they repeated it. At 11:00, I went to María José’s fifth grade classroom. They spent the entire hour asking me questions after she introduced me. Questions like “How old are you? Who is your favorite soccer team? Who is your favorite soccer player? Do you like to watch soccer?” Catching the trend here? They’re totally into soccer…don’t even get them started on the world cup, they could go all day! At 11:50, it was recess/lunch time. I guess they don’t actually have a lunch time right now, so students and teachers alike walk around with sandwiches and drink boxes. At 12:20, I went to Francisco’s second grade classroom. Again, they asked me questions the whole time. Different questions this time, like “Does chocolate exist in the United States? Do cars/dogs/phones etc… exist in the United States? Every question was about things existing! But I guess that’s what you get when you’re talking to 20 seven-year-olds. At 1:10, I went to Pilar’s sixth grade classroom. That was nice because they know more English and so we were able to expand our introductions a bit. Instead of just telling me their names, they were able to tell me about their siblings, pets, favorite foods, etc…At 2:00, it was time to go! All the kids (and teachers too, I imagine!) were happy it’s Friday!

I’m not sure what the weekend has in store for me. I’m sure we’ll go out for drinks later on, in which case, I better take a siesta! Gunita and Teodora talked about going shopping in Albacete tomorrow, since there are no really shops here. I think it’s about an hour away, so we’d be busin’ it. I’ll letcha know!

Xoxo,

Court