The First Week

Emily and I arrived last Thursday in Madrid where my friend Chema picked us up at the airport and brought us to Alcalá. When we arrived we were greeted by his wonderful mother who fed us fresh pastries and then allowed us to sleep the rest of the afternoon…5 hours. We spent Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in Alcalá doing the usual activities which consisted of going to sleep at 2am and waking around noon or 1:30 everyday. We ate some wonderful Spanish food, drank wine and calimocho, and filled our brains with the Spanish language of our distant study abroad experiences.

Sunday we were given a ride to the bus station in Madrid where we loaded our 8 combined bags on the bus and prepared for the 6 hour ride to Sevilla. We arrived at our hotel around 5:00pm and went directly to the home where Emily lived when she studied here. Later in the evening we went out to dinner where the waitress told us the night’s special, and then informed us that we would be ordering it. It turned out to be a delicious marinated skewer of meat and fresh vegetables with potatoes and a small salad, which was supplemented by two glasses of fine red Rioja wine.

Orientation has been short of interesting, but I am learning of lot about the Spanish education system and I now have a more concrete idea of what I will be expected to do. This afternoon a secondary school teacher described the ages/grades we might be working with and the characteristics that each might display. He explained that 12-13 year olds, the youngest students in the school, are usually wonderful to work with, innocent and interested. After that, “they become disasters”. He described 13-14 year olds as “naughty and badly behaved”, and 14-15 year olds as “cheeky and rebellious”. We were informed that unlike classrooms in the US, students do not raise their hands and wait to be called on or take turns speaking. Instead, Spanish students shout (literally) answers and responses whenever they please, and that we should not be surprised when they start shouting at us or each other if they disagree. One tip we were given was not to shout over the shouting…speaking from experience, he didn’t think this was the best tactic to use. In his words, “Don’t shout, our vocal chords must live forever!”

Despite these interesting cultural differences, I am getting more and more excited to start teaching and working with the students and other English teachers. Previous language assistants that have returned to Spain to teach a second year have told us that our Spanish colleagues will take us on vacations, out to bars, to breakfast, and to the city fiestas. Our students will treat us like mini celebrities, greet us in the halls with excitement and pleasure, and there undoubtedly be students very interested in what we have to share.

Thursday is the last day of orientation here in Sevilla, after which we will head to Jerez de la Frontera, our final destination. We still have not lined up an apartment, but the prospects seem pretty decent and living in the historic city center will not be as expensive as we originally thought. I am incredibly excited to finally have a place to unpack our suitcases and start immersing ourselves in the wonderful culture of Spain.