Two Days of Training

For the last two days I was at training for my position as an Auxiliar de Conversacion. The first day was pointless. Typically trainings and orientations are by definition rather boring, but when the ladies in charge of the program began to explain the application process to a room of people who had been accepted I got the feeling this would be no different. We went over the duties, rights and responsibilities of an Auxiliar; they include working no more than 16 hours per week, not (officially) grading children, always speaking in English and justifying absences. The highlight of day one was the free steak lunch, even if it was a little more rare than I like. The low light was waiting around for an hour and a half for them to pass out the health insurance information, only to find the cards missing.

Day two was surprisingly more interesting. This time we listened to presentations by a director of one of the bilingual schools outside of the city and another man who teaches in a different bilingual school. The first presentation included many examples of projects previous Auxiliares had done to teach rhymes and stories to little kids. She did a great job explaining how to make things interesting to kids, but at the same time I felt slightly ill-prepared. No where along the preparation process did it come up that I should bring things from home, yet in these orientation sessions the idea of showing the kids things from your home country was repeated. Great, now where am I going to find pictures of Oregon or Washington DC. Sure the embassy did say they had a few resources, but I doubt that Oregon is an in-demand topic... though this might change since Rudy Fernandez now plays for the Trail Blazers. I smell a lesson plan brewing...

The second session went over more of the methodologies of teaching English. While rather technical it did provide some great insights about how Spanish kids really respond to physical praise like a pat on the head or shoulder as opposed to just telling them "good job". This notion really stirred up our class, as those of us with previous experience working with kids in the states were shocked at being encouraged to touch the kids. I remember when i started working at Boys & Girls Club we were encouraged to avoid most physical contact with kids, por ejemplo (for example in Spanish) when the kids try to hug you front-on you were supposed to slide them over into a side-hug, just to avoid any possible allegations of sexual touching. Here some of the kids kiss their teacher good-bye at the end of the day. This is going to take some getting used to.

Tomorrow is my first day of work, and in typical Spanish style I had to pry information about start times out of my coordinator. I emailed him yesterday, pointing out that Wednesday would be the first day of work and I didn't know where to meet him or even what time to be there. In even more typical Spanish style he responded with

For the first day, you shouldn´t worrry very much about the time you should be at school. Take your time to get used to the public transport you have to take everyday to get to the school. We start our classes at 9 am, and we have our break from 11 to 11.30 am, thats a good time to arrive to school. You can ask for Eduardo at the entrance of the school, there are 2 people at conserjería and they will tell you where to go. We will have a meeting at 12, midday. Hasta mañana.

Really? between 11 and 11:30? meeting at 12? I wonder what the full time schedule is going to be; Show up when you feel like it?! Oh well, it could be worse, they could ask me to be there at 9 am sharp, wearing a business suit. I get the feeling this is going to be a relaxed position. Now if only I could find some side teaching gigs to support my extravagant Coca Cola Light and Principe cookies habits...

My First Piece of Mail!

Today was probably the best Saturday ever. I slept in late, lounged around until a little before 2, when my roommates and I tried to go to an open air market (even though we know everything closes at 2 for lunch, we still dawdled and missed the whole thing), I voted, then went to pet some puppies in Retiro park.

Yep, you read correctly, I voted today. Back in August I sent away for an absentee ballot but never received confirmation that my request was processed. As time passed I grew fearful that I wouldn't get to vote in this election; just to check, I emailed the county yesterday and they said my ballot was mailed the 19th. On the way to our failed market adventure, I peeked in the mailbox and saw a white envelope. I made a mental note to check the mail on the way home, sure enough it was my ballot. I can say that in this election I really didn't need to see the debates, my mind was pretty well made up when John McCain picked Sarah Palin. Clearly he is an idiot.

After I finished voting, I met up with my friends Theresa and Meagan to go to the fourth annual pet adoption fair in Retiro park. This is an event brings together organizations that help abandoned and homeless cats and dogs find homes and people looking for a pet. Little tents were set up along one of the main paths through the park with a few puppies in each pen. I tried to pet them, but was only successful a handful of times. Yes, the idea of homeless animals makes me sad, but this event was uplifting because many of the name tags on the pens said adoptado (adopted in Spanish). I was glad to see these little guys had homes. If only one of them could live with me...

One of my favorite pens was filled with 7 or 8 puppies, all of them about two months old. The first time I went to their pen (yes, i went back!) they wiggled and jumped around trying to get attention from the throngs of onlookers. When I put my hand in the pen the older, I assume mother of some of the puppies, dog came over and I got to give her a few pats on the head. Upon my return to take a photo, the pups had tuckered themselves out and were all sleeping. Hopefully even the iciest of hearts can be melted by their cuteness!

1 Week down, 40 to go!

A few minutes ago it officially became my 7th day here in Madrid. Last Friday around 11:20 my flight touched down at Barajas airport and I began a very interesting adventure. I'm not talking about negotiating large amounts of luggage into tiny taxis, but rather a year of living and working in my favorite foreign country. Time and again I have admitted that I did this program because I didn't know what else to do after graduation, plus the time to do "crazy" things like this when you're young.

While ridiculously exciting, there have been some trying times (posts about the bank and at&t). This time around things are generally easier. Sure, it frustrates me when the bank stops working at 2, but thanks to my prior time in Spain, I was in some way prepared for this. Even with my history in Spain one thing that will constantly challenge me is the Spanish insistence on mumbling and/or speaking quickly. As much as it kills me to admit it, it is tan obvio (Spanish for "so obvious") that my native language is not Spanish. Yet I have experienced several instances where people continue to mumble or rush through what they have to say. Under no circumstances do I want them all to speak English and accommodate me (in fact it bothers me when people automatically revert to English instead of giving me a fair crack at Spanish), but rather I would like some recognition that I am trying with their language and that it would be helpful for them to speak clearly. In a few weeks, maybe even days, my listening skills will improve and this will be less of a problem.

In much better news, Monday is my first day of orientation for my job! I'm excited to get going and to have something to do most days, other than wander my neighborhood. Last night I met up with one of the other girls who will be working at the same school as me. Eimear and her friend Blair met me in Sol and we shared some tapas. We sat and chatted about prior times in Spain, about Washington DC (they attended Georgetown) and various other topics. Both girls are very nice, though I could tell that Eimear was stressed about apartment hunting. I can understand how that process would suck horribly, which makes me even more grateful for the place MariCarmen hooked us up with.

So, in summary, things are happening. Stay tunned for updates! Also, the picture is of my street, you can't really see my door, but I live about a half a block in.