Roller Coaster

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NEW PICS! ***http://community.webshots.com/album/548899844FaiZaJ*** (new ones from Avila-look on page 4 and 5?)
***http://community.webshots.com/album/549170167rWZhZS*** (Salamanca!)


So, the past 2 days have been amusing as well as very very annoying and frustrating. Yesterday was a good day...it went by very fast. I'm in high school this week in the mornings going around with the English teachers. That has been very interesting. I was with Noemi, one of the English teachers, and she is able to discipline her students well. They respect her better than they respect other teachers and she had them prepare about 30 questions to ask me in English. I enjoyed talking with them. I am able to speak more English and Spanish with them. I've noticed that my Spanish has improved a lot more in the past 2 days from speaking English and then converting it into Spanish. I am able to joke around with them more, which makes things a little more fun.

I worked at the Language Academy yesterday. There are 2 in Avila. One is right by my school and the other is all the way across town. I had to go to the one all the way across town, so I decided that I would just take the bus. That was an adventure. Reyes told me some landmarks to help me find the bus route that I needed to take. However, the bus that I needed to take wasn't going to come for another 50 minutes and I needed to be at the Language Academy by 6 pm (at this point, it was about 5:40). So I'm at the bus stop asking some people if they knew what bus I could take to get me to Segovia Street. They told me the bus that I wanted to take, but I told them I couldn't wait for another hour. I was trying to ask them if there was another bus that I could take to get me somewhat close, but either they didn't understand it or something, because they kept on telling me that this one bus was the one I wanted to take. So, this one lady told me to walk across the street to see if there was another stop where the bus came earlier. So I did that, and once again, it didn't come for quite some time. Two guys about my age were about to walk past me so I thought I'd ask them for help. So I said my whole spiel (sp?) and then one of them looked at me and said "Wha, wha" and was shrugging his shoulders. At first I thought he was mocking me, and then I got a little scared that he was going to attack me (yes, my mind gets carried away sometimes), but then I realized that they were mentally impaired. So they are pointing all over the place and talking in this fast Spanish that I cannot understand at all. Meanwhile I am just nodding my head and saying "si" (yes) and "vale" (okay) the whole time. So they leave and I'm still lost. Haha, however, I am laughing to myself because I'm finding this whole situation amusing. So then, the next 2 people to walk past is this hoochie mama and her girl friend. This lady is wearing a tight, SHORT, black dress with black fishnet hose, high heels and a leather jacket. I stopped them, gave them my whole talk again, and then when she smiled at me, her teeth were yellow and black from smoking and pink from her lipstick. It was hard to not laugh. So after much discussion and explaining, they finally told me which bus I could take as opposed to the other. I get on that bus, and it starts driving in the opposite direction of the way I want to go. All I can do is just laugh because I have no idea what is going on anymore (not that I ever did). Finally, things start to look familiar to me; however, I don't know how to request a stop. Supposedly you push a red button, which I saw, but I thought that was for emergencies maybe and I didn't want to risk it. My Spanish isn't so hot when I am in a stressful situation, and if I pushed the red button and an alarm started going off, and emergency windows started popping out, I didn't really care to be the American girl who pushed the red button. So I hopped off a few stops before mine (I think) because someone had rung for the stop. FINALLY I got there, 15 minutes late, but it was ok. It was quite an adventure...

Today was a VERY "roller coaster" day. I'm in high school in the mornings, like I said above. My first class this morning I was with Mauricio. He seems like a fairly nice guy, however, I have the hardest time understanding his Spanish. He has a gruffy voice, and I think that he might be kind of soft spoken, so it is difficult to understand and hear. It doesn't help either that the kids (15/16 year olds) are running around the room like monkeys. No exagerration. Classroom discipline in Spain is very different, at least from the experiences that I have had, from the United States. First, I feel like the kids have absolutely no respect. I would think that with me being a guest, they would show at least some respect (there were a few, but the majority no). Also, they are just at that immature age like any other kid in the world. And third, there is an older, American girl in the classroom so they are a little more rambuncious and trying to show off. Well, all of this combined along with the teacher not disciplining leads to a very stressful situation. Plus, I haven't been in a room yet that has carpet in Spain (I am not joking at all). Everything echoes. I can't handle it. So these kids are bouncing off the walls, a few are asking me questions some in English, most in Spanish. I felt like my teacher was expecting me to answer in Spanish, even though it is English class. When I do answer in Spanish, they laugh at me. When I answer in English, they laugh at me. GREAT confidence booster. I was very frustrated because my teacher did not even tell them to be quiet. To be honest, my feelings were getting hurt and I was very close to another breakdown. My second class with with Noemi, MUCH better. I calmed down there, but my 3rd class was like my 1st one. Very stressful and discouraging and annoying. For the last 15 minutes of the period I went to a class that is on a lower level than the other students. The teacher is a very very nice man, but I don't understand why he is even in the classroom. The kids were acting like monkeys again and it was so freaking loud! They were laughing (at me) and screaming and yelling, blah blah blah. They were a little more eager to talk to me than the first class, but it was so hard to hear and think in even English because it was so loud. I finally got to a point where I said (in Spanish) I CANNOT HEAR OR UNDERSTAND A THING THAT YOU ALL ARE SAYING WHEN IT IS THIS LOUD IN HERE! I definitely had my teacher voice in Spanish-kind of impressive to me, but I guess that is what happens when you reach your limit. The bell rung after that and I don't know if I have thanked the Lord so many times for that! I was fuming when I left the school. I had so many emotions running through me-frustration, annoyance, discouragement, etc. I really did not want to go back to school, but I ended up going on a "field trip" with the third graders to this old, beatiful church from the 12th century. It didn't look like much on the outside, but the inside was beautiful. I became a lot more peaceful and calm sitting in the church and listening to one of the teachers talk about opening our hearts to God, telling him our secrets-even though He already knows, and behaving better/treating others better. Needless to say, it was all because of the Lord that I made it through this day. Thank you, Lord! 😊

Rafaela, the German girl, is gone now. We said bye to her this past Saturday-I think she was very ready to get back home. Last week I gave her a mini reeces peanut butter cup to try. Emily was in the room with me. Rafaela unwrapped the foil and popped it into her mouth. About a second later her face expression changed and I realized what had happened. She had forgotten to take off the black wrapper on the bottom of the candy. I was trying so hard not to laugh but I couldn't help it. Her facial expression was hilarious and its just a common thing to me to take off the wrapper. She did enjoy it, after she spit out the wrapper. Its hard to explain, though, what peanut butter is to someone who has never had it, seen it, or heard of it. I tried to explain it to Reyes yesterday. Haha.

All right, that's all for now! Hasta luego!

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Photos

My school
Parents coming to pick up their kids at the end of the day

My school
2nd graders dancing to the "Robot Song" (similar to the Hokey Pokey). It's hilarious and so precious to see them dance and hear them sing in English.

Comments

[Jaclyn Reinking]

Brave teacher!
Oh my beautiful roomie!! You are so brave...high school kids are scary not to mention the language barrier!! Miss you!! xoxo

[Katie]

Crazy high school kids
Oh Amy, you poor thing. Those kids sound just like the regular, immature, crazy middle/high schoolers I'm used to, but completely undisciplined. I know it's hard, but don't get too discouraged when they laugh at you. In my experiences so far, I always think the kids are laughing at me and making fun of me, but really they're just dumb high schoolers who don't know any better. So don't worry you will be fine! Just keep thinking about how much all those kids adore you becaue you're American, and even if they don't show it, they really do!