I have survived my first full week on the job, and my life in Madrid is slowly moving away from the dreamlike stage into a beautiful reality. In fact, so much has happened in the past week that I don’t even know where to begin!
Working with kids has always been a joy and a pleasure for me, and I am very happy to be with my 2nd and 3rd graders. This week I have committed to memory the names of several bones, joints, and muscles after repeating them a dozen times a day to my second graders. Also, I have been Exhibit A when demonstrating where you find them on your body. I have tried my hardest not to catch Valentina picking her boogers and eating them. I have to tell Alex, Mario, Cristina, and basically every other kid in my class to sit down, to turn to page 12, and to pay attention to the lesson. I’m not sure if they’re actually learning anything, especially when Fernanda can’t even give me the name for knee. However, I still have hope for them all, inspired by the little things like when Sergio comes up to me with a completed and correct workbook activity. Shh… don’t tell, but I think Sergio might be my favorite.
In my third grade science class, I found out that British text books refer to the continent of Australia as Oceania. When Pilar asked me how to pronounce it, I got my first homework assignment. (By the way, it’s either oh-she-ANN-ee-ah or oh-she-ANN-ah) I’ve also encountered problems with the fact that these kids are used to listening to British pronunciation. Por ejemplo, I knelt down at Ivan’s desk to correct a mistake he made in his journal. He wrote that his birthday was “in November 14…” and I told him to erase “in” and replace it with “on.” He nodded his head, erased the word, and wrote “an.” I said, “No, not an… on, with an O.” I guess my American “on” sounded too similar to the British “an.”
I’m gradually getting to know the other teachers at my school through our Spanglish conversations at break and lunch. On Wednesday, I taught my two classes for some of the teachers. Maria, Marissa, and Concha are in my English I class, and I’ll be teaching them conversational lessons, like what to say when you go to the cinema, the store, the airport, etc. My English II class is after school and all of the teachers who speak English really well came this week… yeah, that’s not intimidating or anything. I floundered around for a little bit, but we ended up in a vehement discussion on the entire bilingual program in Spain. Spaniards are not afraid to voice their opinions, and Raquel, a pregnant second grade teacher, very adamantly expressed her thoughts on whether or not the children should have their science lessons in English or Spanish. I didn’t realize it until then, but I am involved in a controversial and relatively new experiment in Spain’s educational system. Schools are still exploring the different avenues of a bilingual program, and no one is really sure which method is the best.
I’m not supposed to speak Spanish with the kids, but I’ve let on that I know it. Whenever Robert pesters me and says, “¡Sabes español! ¡Sabes español!” I have to pretend that I don’t know what he’s saying. But he’s right. I do know Spanish. Or so I thought…
Spanish in Madrid is unlike any Spanish I have ever heard. I was aware of the Spanish theta, the infamous and impossible lisp that Madrileños and Barcelonans pride themselves on, but I’m still getting used to it. The theta is another example of regional differences in Spain, and Madrileños will sometimes pretend that they can’t understand your Spanish if you fail to employ their dialectic preferences, such as change ‘s’ sounds to ‘th.’ Also, I’ve had to adjust to the vosotros verb form, which is the you-plural form (equivalent to Alabama’s y’all). Of all the Spanish-speaking countries in the world, vosotros is only used in Spain, and in all of my Spanish studies, I only learned it in the 9th grade. Luckily, it’s pretty easy to conjugate (just add –ais or –eis) and easy to pick out in a conversation.
I have been pretty discouraged and disappointed with my Spanish since I arrived to Madrid. I hadn’t really used it since my last Spanish class ended in February, but I came with the expectation that after studying abroad, I’d be able to slide back into it fairly easily. I did not expect the theta to be so problematic and I did not expect to have a severe drop in my vocabulary set. Since I speak English at my job, speak English with my fellow American friends, and listen to music in English, I was worried that my Spanish would never improve at the rate that I desire. Last Sunday, a bright and beautiful beacon of hope in restoring my Spanish walked into my life in the form of my new roommate.
Alejandra is from Colombia, and she’s here in Madrid earning her Master’s degree. She’s 24 years old, and in addition to being drop dead gorgeous, she has an endearingly kind heart and a reassuring smile that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. She is a blessed addition to my apartment, and we’ve already bonded over the excitement of living in a new country and the pains of being away from friends, family, and novios. What is amazing is that I can understand everything Alejandra says, which just proves my suspicion that I’m geared towards Latin American Spanish. Alejandra speaks English pretty well, and we have our own informal intercambio sessions in our piso. When I forget a word or a phrase, I can ask her how to say it in Spanish, and I’ve helped her one night with an English grammar test. And now that Alejandra is here, it’s made living with Angela a little more interesting. Or rather, I should say Angela probably thinks things are a little more interesting to live with someone who can understand her rapid slur of Spanish. Over the past week, I’ve been reaching out to my roommates, Alejandra and Angela, and I’m excited about spending more time with them. Despite the fact that I’m afraid of our toilet (the lever likes to break on me all the time), I feel very blessed to be living where I am.
I should mention that Sarah Henning is living in a town called Alcalá de Henares, the reported birthplace of Cervantes. Alcalá is a quaint town that’s about a 35 minute train ride outside of the city, and Shenning is living with 4 other Spanish girls. She’s teaching in a school outside of Alcalá and her commute is much shorter than it would be if she were living in Madrid. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen her since I helped her move before we started teaching on the 1st of October. However, I know I’ll see her when we travel to Sevilla next weekend!
I have been having a good time making new friends here in Madrid. Most of them are other Americans in my program, and my newest ‘best friend’ happens to also be named Sarah. I met Sarah Kolb in our hostel, and we’ve been hanging out a lot over the past couple of weeks. We’ve wandered around town and window shopped, we’ve gone out for tapas, and we’ve gone salsa dancing. Sarah has introduced me to other auxiliares that she had met, and thus the cycle of meeting people through other friends has begun. I met up with my friend Melissa to check out this cool café that has lots of second-hand books. I’ve finally met Nikki Hornig, Carolina’s best friend from last year, who is teaching for the second year, and I think she’s the bomb.com. We’re making plans to travel together. Although I miss my wonderful friends and the supportive community that I had at Furman, I am slowly creating my own community here. We may not live in the same apartment building or even in the same part of the city, but I am confident that I have found some solid friends to fall back on for comfort, fellowship, and fun.
In fact, I’m on my way out the door to hit the dance floor tonight!
1 comment:
break a leg!
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