Ahh I can’t believe it’s already Feb. 2011. I haven’t updated in a while but much has happened since I last checked in. In December, I went home for Christmas break (well eventually; first I had an extended detour in London for four days!). I had an amazing time with friends and family though- I went to DC for New Years with my ghosts, Wintergreen with Greg, and even got to pick up some Mellow shifts for extra cash. I had such an amazing time, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to come back to Spain since I was feeling homesick and really wasn’t making the amount of cash I needed to live here and take advantage of seeing Europe. So when I took my return flight back, I basically had the mindset that I was gonna pick up some of my hard-earned cash from tutoring and bring all my stuff home, content that I had a good four-month run and was on to the next chapter of my life. However, life handed me some extra lemons and I got offered a job at a bilingual school which means good money and consistent hours, two things my other jobs lacked. I decided to stick it out and I’m so happy I am. Before, I was counting down to get to go home and now I’m absolutely loving living here and better able to take advantage of living in such a cool city. 
Here’s some cool things that have happened since I last left you. 1. Moved into a new apartment with two new roomies, Juan and Humberto. Both are Spanish University Students and they’re so nice and fun. I finally have a living room and a social environment and I love my new room way more. Juan and I are already planning a trip to Cadiz for the carnival there in March. He made me talk to his dad on the phone the other day and he invited me. Juan is now drunk and seeing Hakuna Matata as we speak fyi if that tells you anything about his personality.
2. Went to Granada last weekend with Sarah, Des, and Manuel (Sarah and Des’ friend). It was so fun- we saw the Alhambra, drank and ate delicious tapas, bought Moroccan teas, and saw beautiful views of the town. Granada has really cool caves too that double as restaurants so I just thought that was a hoot. I couldn’t really understand the people there though because they have a funny accent (Granada becomes Granaa and esta is eta). They basically just sound like they’re too lazy to annunciate. It was my first time to the south of Spain though so it’s way more relaxed than the bustling city of Madrid. Everyone moves slower and takes it all in which is just a nice change of pace. AND it’s way cheap- with a €1.50 beer, you get free tapas like bagel sandwiches and chips for free! Definitely something I could get used to.
3. New job! For the first couple of weeks, I was substituting middle school social studies (in English) and English classes for a teacher out on paternity leave. I really enjoyed it and when the kids behaved, I loved teaching classes and imparting my wisdom. However many are the kids are just plain -well- bad. I’ve never taught in the US but when I think back to my own behavior and that of my classmates, I really think we had to have had more respect for our teachers than they show sometimes. I read an interesting article when I was taking my TEFL course about the differences between Spanish and American kids and I was surprised to hear that their behavior can be worse sometimes. However after talking to some other Spaniards they gave me some good reasons why. The kids here are more spoiled, as evidenced by many of them living at home until well into their twenties. People here, often because of the economy, are having less children so the parent’s attention is more focused. The women’s migration into the work force happened here more recently than in the US so they’re still trying to figure out how to balance work and parenting. Many parents don’t get to see their kids very much so when they do, they try to be fun and appease them and leave parenting to the school. When I walk down the street, it’s not uncommon to see parents carrying their children’s rolling backpacks. This is a social issue that many people are trying to improve, mainly by giving women more time off so they can be at home more. It’s also just a common Spanish trait to be very loud and yell and speak your mind, so if they don’t agree with something, they let it be known. Another 
colleague said it very well that Spanish people are very friendly but they just don’t know how to discipline. Despite some of the behavioral problems, many of the kids were really sweet and said I was a better teacher than their normal one! Hey, I don’t mind a little brown-nosing here and there. This past week, I’ve been with five year-olds and I’ll start subbing for 2 weeks when the regular teacher gets knee surgery. These kids are a whole other ball game. They’re so cute and always hugging me and giving me stickers (I sure do love Hello Kitty!) and drawing me pictures. It’s a little more boring cause they basically just draw, write the alphabet, and watch videos in English, but it’s definitely less stressful. I get to work on my Spanish too because they always just talk to me in Spanish even though I always tell them I don’t understand (even though I do). They have to ask to go to the bathroom in English though and sometimes they get messed up. They’ll say “blah blah mumble mumble toilet?” And then I’ll see them get a drink of water. I’m determined to get them to speak more English though because I don’t think they’re hearing enough of it in the classroom. All in all, I like the job a lot. I feel like I’m doing something useful, I’m practicing my Spanish with the other teachers, and I don’t have to have such a sporadic schedule. I enjoy teaching a lot but Mom says she refuses to let me a teacher. I don’t think I’d want it as a career at this point, but who knows...Because I’m so interested in cultural differences, here are some glaring contrasts between American and Spanish schools:-they go to school here until 5:00! They do have longer lunch breaks and every grade gets recess throughout the day, but that’s like a full-time job!
-the food is GOOD. I get free lunch everyday and there’s always salad, soup, fish, vegetables, a main entree, coffee, etc. Granted it’s more diverse for the teachers but the kids get good stuff too. When I have lunch duty, I get to serve the five year-olds and sometimes we have to force feed them to eat their food so it’s kinda weird. They don’t get an option to bring their own food so if they don’t like it, it’s too bad. It’s weird that the US has such a high obesity rate when Spain eats so much. They get two snacks a day and the lunch is pretty heavy. I guess the five meals a day thing really works for your metabolism!-whenever a teacher walks into a classroom, all the students have to stand up. RESPECT.
-the teachers are more affectionate with the kids. You’ll see them kissing the little kids and it’s not a big deal like they’re molesting them. The bathrooms are also unisex for the little kids and there's not much privacy. I remember the first day I came to Valencia and saw a naked lady on a commercial and that’s when I realized the naked form isn’t as taboo.
It’s so weird the Superbowl is on tonight and I’m not in America! I could watch it but it won’t start til about midnight. I did throw a football around today (rather poorly) in Retiro Park so I got to show my American pride. People were kinda staring at us since we’re about the only country that enjoys this pastime, so it was pretty funny. Speaking of the US of A, I almost forgot to mention Des went back there. I'll miss her a lot because she's definitely been one of my best friends here! I'll leave you with one of our final moments.
Until next time, Señor Blog!
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