Don't know much about history, don't know much biology...

I've been working at the elementary school almost two full weeks now and it really is just what I needed in adjusting to Spanish life (besides Charo). Last Thursday, I taught my first class on my own. I made them a worksheet with past tense verbs, and we did it together in class. I was surprised at how happy I felt when they did so well with it! After the worksheet, their teacher, Javier, had another activity, with a song. It reminded me of how many little songs I've sung in Spanish or listened to in Spanish to teach my brain to learn this language. We listened to the old American song "Wonderful World" by Sam Cooke, which I'll put a video to at the end of this post. The song happens to have a lot of school subject titles in it, which they are learning the English names of, so we listened to it to see if they could recognize the names. I didn't really know the words, but Javier and I stood in front of the class and sang along to get to kids to sing, saying the English words out loud, and recognizing the school subject names. Normally, I would feel kind of silly singing in front of a group of 25 twelve year olds, but for whatever reason, I felt really enthusiastic, and since last Thursday I keep reliving that moment where I looked at Javier and he was like "sing, sing" and we did, and the kids did. I downloaded the song onto my ipod and every time I hear it or think about it, I think about how good it felt to feel like I was a part of something important: Javier and I were putting all of our energy at that moment into teaching these kids English, as if them learning English was the most important thing to us. Afterwards, I wrote all of the subjects that are in the song on the board and we sang again as I pointed them out. I am really happy to be where I am in the school, and that's just one class! I am also helping in preschool (4 year olds) and 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. It's definitely a learning experience, but I'm really glad I'm there. As many of you know, one of the things I crave the most is to be a part of something, and in coming to Spain I felt like I was sort of thrown into the world without anything to hold onto, without anything that feels like I belong to it, and I think that being at the school is definitely filling that gap, because I feel like I'm a part of something, I belong to something that is worthwhile: teaching kids.

Besides that, I've been doing some traveling, but it would be hard to share every detail on all of that right now. Two weekends ago, I went to Salamanca! Highlights: seeing friends from SMC!!!, the new and old Cathedrals, the old University (including jumping the rope and standing in Miguel de Unamuno's classroom!!), Casa de las Conchas, walking at the river and finding/seeing/touching all of the good luck charms. Lowlights: I started to get sick.
Last weekend, I went to Sevilla! Highlights: orange trees, the Cathedral, the tower/old minarete/giralda, the Alcazar, the river, Parque de Maria Luisa, Plaza de España, shopping, lots of treats/sweets, 70 degree weather in February, delicious sandwiches, testing orange wine. Lowlights: I got sicker, probably because of the weather changes, we walked A LOT, the orange wine was really bitter and in a very strange looking glass.

This coming weekend, I am going to Paris to meet three friends from SMC! I can't wait to see more familiar faces and explore somewhere different in Europe! I plan on being pretty touristy - which is fine with me. I don't love being touristy while in Spain, but while in France, why not??

Until next time!