The response from my previous posts led me to believe that most people reading this back at home in America think that I chill out all day, eat delicious food and, idk like instagram photos?
Most of this is true...HOWEVER most of my week is filled with school, private classes, sitting on trains, being confused and trying to stay awake.
This seems like a half-baked post to try to convince you that "life is hard." Life is Spain for me at this moment is not difficult, HOWEVER it is not a walk in the park. This is also not an excuse to complain. I just wanted to prove (mostly to my mother) that I am not drinking beers all day and hanging out.
Here is a typical day in the life...
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| First I leave my house pretty early....well early enough that the sun hasn't risen. The sun rises with the rest of Spain (late). It's always fricken freezing. |
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The stars are just like us...in this case I am freezing, listening to music waiting for the metro.
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After the metro, I head to the Cercanias, which is the NJ Transit/LIRR equivalent here in Spain. Unlike its American counterparts, it's lovely! Generally fast, on time and lots of space. Unfortunately, my town where I teach is on the last stop of my train and constantly changes with the Christmas schedule but GENERALLY better than NJ Transit 100%.
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| I assist in English, Social Studies and Natural Sciences classes. The kids I teach learn these subjects in English, while they learn math, Spanish, religion among others in Spanish. Above is a quick shot of the notes my teacher wrote explaining the most important geographical sites. |
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This is a bit more blurry, but there are notes I wrote about answering questions. They have so much trouble with "Yes, I do" "No, I'm not" "Yes she can" "No he doesn't". I attribute their troubles with these filler words is because in Spanish, there is no "Does" equivalent. It's a weird balance where you are teaching them correct grammar as well as teaching them content in English. I see kids struggling, but I do understand that their English will be so good in a few years. This will be the first generation of Spanish ninos that will be bilingual.
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| After school, I usually stay in my little town because I teach private lessons. Some days, the english assistants and I treat ourselves to some cheap but delicious lunch. Most days I eat my lame lunch in the English office out of tupperware. |
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| After school most days, I teach private English lessons and tutoring for the kids in the town. My town is generally large for a pueblo, but the school I teach is a small community of kids.. and their mothers all talk to each other! I teach around 6-8 private classes a week which I have acquired through word of mouth. |
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| These ninos love Pokemon. |
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| The kids love me so much they wrote my name on a wall.....just kidding I just found this the other day walking from school. |
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| Some real life candids of the happenings in my pueblo |
After private lessons, which usually takes a few hours, I head back on the train to Madrid. My evenings usually consists of me eating everything in my kitchen and falling asleep immediately. Two days a week I take spanish courses which I love but remind me of how much work I actually have to do. This is generally my workday. I hope I inspired people to quit their jobs and move to Spain to teach English! All kidding aside, it's really the best and I love my students, and the community I am building here in Madrid.
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