The run-down:
-I am worthless at keeping up this blog. 

-I survived my first day (and now 3 weeks) of school.

-My school is tiny.

-The school is old and run down but in the mountains.

- I have the easist job ever!


Well, I’ve been utterly worthless at keeping this blog updated. But in my defense the last three weeks I have been very busy. The last post was written the day before I started school and I am starting this one on the Friday of my third week.  It has been a whirlwind to say the least. 

            The first day of class I was told to wait by a church for “Beatriz”, the director. I was unaware what she looked like, how old she was, or what she would be driving. I waited, eagerly searching for the car that would take me away to start my new life of teaching in Spain.  Bea (Beatriz), a lady in her late thirties, pulled up. She hopped out of the car and greeted me with the two-cheek kiss, and we took off for the school. Bea didn’t speak any English, so I gave my best attempt at small talk in Spanish; so needless to say, it was a very quite thirty minute ride. On the curvy, winding road up the mountain we passed many little villages (“pueblos” in Spanish), an odd amount of furniture stores, local vendors selling grapes, and countless cafes. We arrived at a little pueblo called “Amoeiro”, which to this day I still can not pronounce correctly. The village had a doctor’s office, two cafes, a primary school, and not much else. Bea parked next to 6 other cars in the parking lot and we walked in.

            The school was small (only 70 students ages 3-12). It looked run down, with rusted metal bars on the window and chipped paint. However, the backdrop was endless rolling mountains, filled with lush green trees. From the second I saw it I loved it. When I first arrived, Bea introduced me to a few of the teachers, all of which greeted me with the traditional two-cheek kiss. I was then introduced to the English teacher who I would be assisting for the year. Pepe appeared to be in his late thirties and had just started his first year at Amoeiro. While I was starting on the first day of full classes, Pepe had been teaching the students during the month of September, as the students go half days for the months of September and June. Beings there is only 10 teachers, who many of the kids had known for years, I stuck out like a sore thumb that first day.

            However, I was greeted with a lot of smiles, funny accented hellos and quite stares.  That first day I was also given my schedule, which to be honest, was a little disappointing. Now don’t get me wrong, the job is shit-easy, and when I say “easy” I mean almost pathetically easy. I ASSIST an English teacher 12 hours a WEEK. I don’t plan the lesson, I don’t grade homework, I don’t have recess duty. No, I literally stand in front of the class, read what the professor wants me to read and sing songs. So to complain at all about my schedule is a bit ridiculous, and I am aware of that. Buuuut, that being said, here is my complaint. Almost all the other Auxiliaries (which is the title of my job), work three days a week, for 4 hours a day, then go home. But at my school, because it was so small and there was no flexibility in the schedule, I am working 4 days a week. Now besides not being able to travel an extra day on the weekends, this is no problem. However, because it’s a 30 minute ride up into the mountains each day, I am required to go with a teacher. The town is tiny, so there are also no busses for me to catch when I finish teaching. Therefore, four days a week, I am at the school for almost 30 hours, when I only need to be there for 12. On the bright side, it gets me out of bed, I get a free three course meal everyday, with limited internet I am more likely to study Spanish or read, and who knows, maybe I’ll actually knit a scarf this winter like I’ve been telling myself the last three years.  So the waiting at school isn’t nearly as bad as not having a 4day weekend to travel. But again, even to begin to complain about not have a 4day weekend every week is ridiculous so I will bite my tongue.

            The first week at school gave me a bit of a taste as to what my weekly schedule would look like.  So I will give you a basic run down… I work Tuesday – Friday and assist the English teacher three hours a day. My schedule varies each day, sometimes I teach before lunch, sometimes after, sometimes both. Also, during the lunch break I get paid good money (20 euro for 45 minutes) to teach group lessons to the kids. In addition to the group lessons at school I also teach 7 hours of private classes after work. Therefore my seemingly empty schedule filled up quite quickly.

            In general teaching has gone really well. The first week was great because I just talked about myself the whole time. I talked about my interests and hobbies and where I lived. I showed them a clip of Nebraska football, which they found hilarious and laughed every single time someone got tackled. I showed them Wayne on Google Earth(then showed clips and pictures the next week after the tornado had hit).  Obviously, kids are kids, and they talk during class, don’t want to do their homework, and would rather talk in their native language than in English. But, they are good kids and from what I can tell they don’t hate me yet :)