La Vida Sin Parar

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October 23rd 2011

Published: October 23rd 2011

Life Without Stopping

I started work at Santo Domingo on the 3rd of October and life has been non-stop since I walked in the doors on the first morning. Most days there’s always something that sustains the smile on my face. Whether it’s shoes on the wrong feet, shirts on backwards, or Brian, who persistently writes “Brain” on the name line in his workbook, I love the kids and the school more and more every day. Though, some days I do want to scream, and all I can think of is the minute I can go drink some more coffee or escape to the sunshine on the streets or the quiet of my room.

It takes me 15 minutes to walk to the metro line I need to catch to get to Santo Domingo, and then about 15 minutes on the train. It’s really starting to feel like winter, the mornings are brisk and fresh and I like the walk.

Before the bell rings at 9 am, my auxiliar coworker Eddie and I get coffee in a bar across the street from the school. Most mornings another teacher or two are also trying their best to get ready for the day and we have a small ‘reunión’ before the day begins. I try and read a few articles from one of the morning headline newspapers from the metro, and the two men behind the bar know us well enough by now that they don’t need to ask anymore whether we prefer warm or hot milk in our coffee. 😊

Every day I work with 1st and 2nd graders in the English classroom with a really good, fairly young teacher named Sandra. In the last week or so, we have made a lot of progress on working well together and figuring out a nice flow to the passing of the hours in class. To the students we are “profe,” and I hear it about 100 times per day. Mosttt of them try so hard and it’s so exciting when we make progress in class. Of course, there’s the occasional “Mario, have you got a scarf?” “Yes, I haven’t” kind of setbacks, but, we try. 😊 “Ariagna, what’s the weather like today?” “I am from Madrid.” Well, yes, but, no. Gahhhhh.

We get a break for coffee and breakfast from 11 to 11:30 everyday and then on the days I stay until 4 pm, we have a lunch break from 12:30 to 2:30. I use this as my study hour. Since I have three classes to finish for my International Studies degree, and two Spanish workbooks I ambitiously bought during my first week in Spain, I think a study hour, or two, is warranted. At 1:30, lunch is ready and if I choose to eat in the break room, the cafeteria prepares a meal for the staff that costs about 4.50 Euros. It’s a pretty good deal. Lunch is also the time used to shoot the breeze with the rest of the teachers, swap stories about especially crazy kids from the morning or practice English or Spanish. The other teachers make us feel like we are equals as much as they can in our roles with the classes, and I feel like I got as lucky as possible with the school I’ve been placed in.

I like to see what my student’s parents are like when they drop them off or pick them up from school. Sometimes I’m surprised, and sometimes not at all. I feel like it gives me a little window into the lives of some of the kids.

There have been strikes all over Madrid in the last few weeks due to cuts in teacher’s salaries and major lay-offs, among other things. Last Thursday was the first strike that took place in a primary school since I’ve been working and only about half the kids came to school, along with only about half the teachers. I didn’t know what to expect, but it turned out ok. Lots of games and videos. Haha.

So, overall, work is exhausting, but I feel like it’s also pretty exciting. Education is so important.

There are a lot of holidays to look forward to in the Spanish calendar as well, starting with a 5-day weekend on Thursday. I also have a new cari.dighton@educa.madrid.org email address (along with everyone else, haha) and it makes me feel pretty official. 😊

I started my first private lessons on Thursday with the 11 and 14-year-old cousins of my roommate Javi. I’ll be tutoring them with their homework and having English conversations for an hour with each of them on Thursdays. I think it’s going to go well. Tutoring is the only job I can have aside from my auxiliar job while I’m here, but that’s fine with me. There are tons of adults and parents around the city who want to learn English or want their children to learn English. No prior experience is necessary and the going rate in most areas is up to 20 Euros an hour. It’s a great opportunity if you want to make the time for it.

After my first day of work, my friend Bree, who is an auxiliar at a different school in Madrid, and I made a fantastic dinner and drank some wine from the carton. It was a perfect way to end the first day. You can get wine for 55 cents per carton or box in all supermarkets around the city, and the going rate for a loaf of fresh bread is 30-40 cents. It’s fabulous.

Meal times are a lot different here and my roommate Javi always thinks it’s so strange when I start cooking dinner at 8 pm. Also, on a typical salad, it’s standard to put tuna from the can and pickled, white asparagus on top. It’s actually quite good.

I’ve been slowly but surely discovering new things around my neighborhood and around the city. I find a new, partially hidden supermarket at least once a week. There’s a restaurant called Cien Montaditos in Madrid that is Spain’s version of fast food and there’s at least one in every barrio. It’s become the go-to for Bree and I, and like the name says, they have 100 different types of cheap sandwiches and things to choose from, soooo, I don’t foresee myself getting tired of it anytime soon. 😊

I finally opened a bank account last week, which trust me, was hard work. But, after trying 3 different branches of the same bank, I finally convinced someone to let me open a student account. Now, I just have to hope it’s the right one. Keep your fingers crossed. 😊

A couple of weeks ago was my friend Elvida’s birthday and we had a picnic just after sunset in the park next to the Templo de Debod, which is an old Egyptian temple in the middle of Madrid. This weekend was also my friend Hannah’s birthday, so we had a picnic for her during the day in El Parque de Retiro, and spent a couple hours on the grass soaking up the sun with hummus, brie, fresh bread, tabbouleh, wine and good company.

I also got the chance to go to a Real Madrid European Champions League soccer game last week and it was amazinggggg. I was so excited, you can’t imagine. I went with my co-worker Eddie, Bree, and our other friend Fran, and spent the game in the nose-bleed section eating sunflower seeds and feeling like I was on top of the world. And, Real Madrid won against Olympique de Lyon 4 to 0. It was great 😊

Bree has been helping me with my Spanish by making me study sheets to look at whenever I have a minute, and even though I have to speak English at work, I think I am slowly improving. It’s hard to measure progress, but I did go to a city called Segovia this weekend by myself, and I like to think of that as a testament to my growing abilities in Spanish.

Although I did almost miss the train because I couldn’t find the correct place to print my boarding pass, I made it with 2 minutes before the doors closed. I took the high-speed train and made it to Segovia in the Comunidad of Castilla and Lyon in 27 minutes, going 250 kilometers per hour. When I got there, I got a map, sat down for coffee and made a game plan.

Turns out I didn’t need the game plan because just wandering around the city for 5 hours led me on a lot better route. I saw the Roman-era aqueduct and numerous churches and cathedrals, went inside a centuries-old palace called the Alcázar, and ended the afternoon before I caught the train back, sitting outside drinking a glass of wine and reading. Saturday well spent.

Life has been go, go, go in the last few weeks, but, I’m finally feeling like myself in Madrid. Starting over has been really good for me.

So, today is Sunday and I’m beginning to think I actually miss the kids on the weekends. Tomorrow is the start of a new week, full of sweaty kid smells, 400 rolling backpacks and more “Yes, I haven’t”s. Oh the life.

Meanwhile, I’m missing you all.

Much love,

Cari

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