Thanksgiving....

Last Saturday I went out for drinks with a different student and met some of her friends.  They are very nice and it helps my Spanish practice!  They said they would plan different activities for me on the weekends so I experience the culture here in Tarazona and the surrounding towns.  It was a lot of fun.

On Sunday I went on a guided musical tour of Tarazona.  There is a renowned music academy here that we visited and some of the students played for us.  We were also allowed to go into some of the antique churches and in the last church, the Tarazona band played for us.  It was a 2 hour tour and at the start they asked us where we were from, I was the only one not from Spain.  Later as we were walking the tour guide asked me if I could understand her Spanish I said yes and she seemed pleased, she said she was trying to speak more clearly for me.  I thanked her and told her that I was here working at the language school, so now more people from the town know who I am.

This week I taught some Thanksgiving lessons, they were uneventful.  I had a crossword, bingo, a reading and a recipe game for all the levels.  Some classes were more enthusiastic than others, I don't blame the students for not wanting to hear about Thanksgiving, because unless they are in the U.S. or Canada they won't ever experience one.  I just wish I didn't feel so out of my element when the class takes a turn toward boring.  I feel like I can't recover and so it just gets worse and worse until the professor steps in to get us back on track with vocabulary or a question about what is typical in the U.S.  The most successful activity was the recipe game for sure because Spaniards had never heard or even imagined some of the typical dishes like sweet potatoes with marshmellows and green bean casserole.  It was fun explaining cranberry sauce as well, because they felt it should be a dessert, not go with turkey.  I of course said how I hate cranberry sauce as those of you who know me well already know anything that is like jelly, jam or preserves I detest, and they seemed to agree they would not eat it with turkey.

This week with how much I was talking, my throat had started getting sore.  Thursday into Friday was the worst but I am feeling better.  I'm glad to have gotten rid of the bug with a lot of sleeping and resting my voice.

I hope everyone at home had a nice Thanksgiving, I am a bad American and didn't even have a turkey sandwich!  The students asked me if I was going to cook a whole Thanksgiving dinner, I said are you kidding?  It's too much work! Add to that my sore throat and I was content with what I had, eggs and chorizo.

The events from the past week

Last Saturday I went to a classical music concert with one of the students from the language school.  The orchestra was a youth orchestra from Andalucia and they were very good.  It was mostly violins but there were a few other instruments and they even had a flamenco guitarist join the group for two songs.  It was very nice and I was glad to have the experience.

Sunday I just slept and slept, what else is new.  I also prepared some work for the upcoming classes but not too much, I think I am a slacker language assistant.

Monday morning I had a meeting with a woman from the CPR (pronounced ce-pe-ere), which is a resource center for teachers, to talk about me possibly giving a seminar for teachers.  We talked for awhile and I decided to do it because I think it is a good opportunity for me and it improves my resume in case I want to stay here and teach next year.  But, I don't have to think about the seminar for awhile since it starts in January.

On Tuesday I started another private lesson but this time instead of getting paid I am exchanging one hour of English conversation for one hour of Spanish conversation.  I am painfully shy when it comes to speaking in Spanish, so it is good to force myself to speak with a native speaker for one hour.  I know I could and should be speaking in Spanish with the professors at the school but I am embarassed.  Honestly, their English is so good that sometimes I forget I am in Spain and could/should be speaking in Spanish when I am at the school inbetween classes.  Hopefully these sessions will give me more confidence, at least that is the goal.

The classes this week were fine, next week I am preparing something special for Thanksgiving.  I have no idea what to do since I want it to be better than Halloween, which kind of bombed, in my opinion.  I will write what I end up doing sometime next week with the results.

On Thursday morning I got up with the sole purpose of calling the government office to get an appointment to be finger-printed so that I can get my student identification card.  Ana, Armen and I have been trying since I was told to call a number to set up an appointment, but the line is ALWAYS busy.  There is no such thing as an automated system that puts you on hold and tells you how long you have to wait to speak with someone like we have in the States.  I guess it is a good thing because phone calls are expensive but then you have to keep hitting re-dial, needless to say it is a pain in the neck.  But, luck was on my side because I got through on Thursday and got my appointment...... which is the 4th of March!  Oh well, I have the proper documentation to stay but I will have to make sure to stay out of trouble, not that I look for trouble but sometimes it just finds me.  Crazy things happen to me that do not happen to other people. (Example: The time I got a moving violation ticket before I had a driver's license, I got a pedestrian ticket for crossing against the traffic light in DC!)

Today, I went to the school in the morning for a couple hours to talk about what I might possibly do for the special holiday lessons next week.  Later, I went into Zaragoza with both Ana my tutor, and the other Ana to meet another language assistant.  It was miserable weather today, I never thought it rained this much in Spain, I am so glad I brought my rain coat and that my cousin insisted on buying me an umbrella for this trip.  I think that's all the news fit to print.

Maybe I will stay here a little longer...

This week was great, everything has been running smoothly and I have absolutely no complaints at all.  The lessons on Monday were great and I felt like I just laughed the entire day.  I think the students are getting used to my accent and to me in general so they are a little less shy.  I also see less blank stares with glazed-over eyes after I explain something so I am feeling more positive.
Tuesday, the regular classes were good and my conversation group was great.  I had phonetics class which I always find interesting because I am learning British pronunciation which helps me to understand the students a little better.  I think I am better than most people at understanding accents but sometimes it is rough and I do not want the students to be discouraged and me asking "what?" all the time is not helpful or productive.  The intermediate conversation class is still going well, there were even more students this week and we played another game this time with different topics written on a piece of paper.  I said they had to talk for 3 minutes about anything related to their topic.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the game and it inspired a lot of conversation from the students with them asking each other questions.  I am worried though that the class is supposed to be more structured than what I do, which is just chit-chat with them.  I asked if what I am doing is ok, but I still worry that some students might not be entirely happy that I am not teaching the boring aspect of English.....grammar!  But, can you blame me?  I just want to have fun with them and get them to talk in English.
The classes on Wednesday went well and before my conversation with the advanced group a woman from a local religious school came to talk to me about teaching there for a couple days a month.  I am worried about teaching at another place, because number one I do not want to be in violation of my visa.  And second of all, I am NOT a teacher, I like to spend as much time as I can in class with the professors here just so I can see how they teach.  If I decide to accept an actual teaching position I am worried that things will not end well because they will say they did not learn anything from me.  Also, in the language school I am never at the front of the class completely on my own, the professors are always there to step in when I am struggling (which is quite often!).  They are my life-line, and without them the experience would be a lot less fun.  At another place I might be on my own, oh and I forgot to mention, it is a high school which adds a whole other set of problems that I do not want to deal with.  So at this point I am undecided but I see now that if I decide to stay here another year without doing this program, I could support myself. 
I got another offer last night to give a seminar starting in January at the center for teachers here in Tarazona.  Again, it is very daunting to think about giving a course in English conversation bymyself.  Though I know I have the professors here to ask them for help with anything and everything but I am worried about the language school because that is my priority, everything else is extra.
Today, Friday, we had our meeting which was fine.  It was Armens birthday yesterday so I made a carrot cake, since it is a typical American cake and put sprinkles on to make it a birthday cake.  I took a picture of the English professors so that now you can match faces with the names I use in my blog!

From the left: Cristina, Ana (my tutor), Armen and Ana.

Paperwork

This week the lessons went well.  I really do enjoy teaching a lot more than I thought I would.  Even though I know what I am doing is not really teaching, it is more just speaking in English and sometimes I can't even do that correctly!  Good news, I had about 15 students in my intermediate conversation class so more people are interested in coming.  In the course I took last week they said we need to break down the embarrassment level so that they feel comfortable speaking.  So, we played a game!  In school we used to play a game where we have a famous or historical figure written on a post-it note that we then stick to our forehead, without knowing who we are supposed to be.  You then have to go around the classroom and ask basic questions to other people to figure out who you are.  I even stuck a post-it note to my head so I would fit-in and they would be encouraged to follow through on the game.  It was a fun time and they said they want me to find more games like that for them to play, I said great, I love games and it is a really easy teaching tool. On Wednesday, there were about 10 in the advanced class.  I didn't plan a game to play because I want to have more of a group discussion with them since they have a higher level.  They mostly asked me questions about how I am liking it here, I think they have figured out if they ask me questions I do more of the talking, which is NOT the function of the class.  I have to make sure to not fall into that trap in future weeks!

This past Thursday night I went back into Zaragoza because Friday morning Ana and I went to apply for my N.I.E.  When we got there I was a little scared because the line of people outside was extremely long and the office has a limited number of appointments for each day.  Luckily, the line moved very fast and all of the people we talked to were very nice.  I was able to get the necessary paperwork so that I can actually apply for the card in the next couple of weeks after I call and get another appointment time.  Another language assistant met us there so she could do her paperwork and afterwards we ended up getting some lunch and doing some shopping.

Halloween

So, I had planned to just relax but then Armen, a very nice professor at the school invited me to go out with him and his friends.  I of course accepted the invitation and had a great time!  All of the friends had matching costumes, wigs and painted faces, it was great.  I just had my face painted so that I looked frightening.  I will try to post a picture soon, but I have to find my camera cord! (I "cleaned" my room and now can't find it)  It was a great time and surprisingly there was a bar that was all decorated for Halloween.  There were orange and black balloons and streamers, the bar tender even shot silly string onto the dance floor!  We didn't get to go to sleep till about 4:30 a.m. but I slept till 1 p.m. and then Armen drove me to the bus a little later.  All in all, it was great to experience a "Spanish" Halloween, thanks to Armen.

This week is just lessons as usual.  Thanks for including all those idioms in your comment Tia E.  I am sure I can use them eventually, 7 more months so I need all the material I can get!  Today, I have been in Spain a month.  It feels like it hasn't been that long, they warned us at orientation that time will fly and it has.  I guess my time is going faster than others because I am enjoying everything about my experience. (Idiom ..... time flies when you are having fun!)