Finding my way + Teaching the niños

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Hello my name is Lindsey, and I have no sense of direction.

If you know anything about me, you know that I am seriously challenged in the area of navigation. Be it some sort of disorder or just terrible observational skills, I generally have no idea where I am in relation to where I'm going. I can picture both places perfectly in my head, but how they are connected is oh-so-blurry. I've been known to get lost driving around the block, and it's very common for me to successfully arrive in a location, and then not be able to find my way back. Very common. In fact, unless I'm navigating completely on my own (and still sometimes in this case), I can arrive in a place and be unable to tell you how I got there. What can I say, it's a gift.

For this reason, I am sure to carry my 'mapa' with me wherever I go, even if it's somewhere I've been to dozens of times, because if at any point in the evening I actually move from one place to another, chances are I will have no idea where I am. I'm exaggerating slightly... at this point I know where certain landmarks are, and if I can find my way there, the rest is a piece of cake. Also, quite luckily, Sevilla has a river running through it, so if I'm lost, mapless, and friendless, I can simply ask "Dónde está el río?" and I'm all set. If I'm not in a hurry, I've gotten into the habit of following the most prevalent traffic flow. They're usually going somewhere recognizable.

And, of course, if all else fails, there are maps at every bus stop, which I put to use yesterday when I got lost walking home from the ISA office. I'm not really sure what happened, the roads are curvy and I must have zigged when I should have zagged, but suddenly and calmly I realized I had no idea where I was. Rather than turning back and risking even more certain lostless, I just kept going straight, until I found a bus stop map, asked a confused old man which direction I wanted to be heading (I think I said something like... so we're HERE, and I want to go HERE, so I need to go HERE? *points*) and then I was on my way. Forty-five minutes later, I skipped up to the door of my apartment. I suppose that's one benefit to all this: I probably walk more than anyone else on the trip. Ironically, someone asked me for directions while I was walking back. "I have no idea," I confidently replied.

What made me think of all this is that today someone asked me where a certain street was, and I actually knew the answer. What a breakthrough! I was excited. He was amused.

In other news, I started volunteering at an elementary school on Monday. They told me I was going to "help teach" eight-year-olds, and what they meant by that was that I was going to "teach while the real teacher sits by and observes." José Eugenio, the middle-aged jovial-yet-intimidating teacher, had sent me an email telling me not to worry at all, but when I got there he handed me a book and said, "Alright, go ahead." Um, haha ok, sure. What do I do? "Just do some exercises. My English is not so good, so they don't hear real pronunciation." Ok, fine. But what do I do?

I teach. I use chalk, I draw pictures, I sing songs, I use flashcards, I ask poor frightened little Spanish children "What's your name?" and "How old are you?" and try to explain activities and concepts in English, though they hardly understand a thing. José Eugenio was very encouraging and full of suggestions. "Work with the structure! Work with the vocabulary!" So we played a little game called "What's that?" Where I would hold various things up, pencils, notebooks, etc., and, after 23 little hands would wave frantically in the air, I would point and someone would shout, "IT'S A PENCIL! IT'S A NOTEBOOK!" It was going along splendidly, until I got to the eraser. "What's that?" I asked, and all the children shouted "IT'S A RUBBER!"

Hahahahahahaha. Yes. OR...

E-R-A-S-E-R. "Ah yes," José Eugenio wisely noted, "In England, it is rubber. In America, it is eraser." Yes. Listen children, this is important. If you're ever studying in America, and you need to erase something but don't have the proper supplies, do not turn to your neighbor and ask, "Excuse me, can I borrow your rubber?" Goodness, the things they teach kids these days...

I shall be returning to the magical children land called "Colegio Claret" every Monday, and I hope to have many more stories such as this to share. I would like to remind viewers like you following along at home that you can comment on these blogs, since so far the only feedback I've gotten is from strangers. Hope to hear from you!

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Comments

[Bob]

Too funny!
Reminds me of teaching ESL. I would have loved to see your attempt at not smiling when they said that.

[Janelle]

from Mom
I'm sorry you inherited my navigational skills...however it is always such a pleasant surprise when I find my way too and from challenging new destinations. Most people take that for granted!

[Abbey]

hahaha. I like this one...and you. I'm glad you're having a good time!

[Tracy]

directions
It's okay if you don't have a good sense of direction. It is just your parietal lobe malfunctioning...who needs that anyway :)