The adventures of the 3 Musketeers

It’s FRIDAY!!!!! I have been waiting for this day since Tuesday. I just finished the bank ordeal, ate a large lunch, took a power nap, and now I’m ready to spend the next 5 hours in the Youth House. Lets do this! Hehe

Okay this week in school and tutoring: where to begin. Alright well Tuesday I had Ana and Rocio 1 (there’s another set of Ana and Rocio on Thursday’s so they will be A&R2) first. The session went well. I made them do some grammar worksheets and I think they benefitted from it. I tried to hit all the things they needed to work on since they had a test in English on Thursday. It went faster than I had anticipated so I procrastinated by asking them what kind of music they like so I could plan for the next session and then we ended with 20 questions. They’re not my favorite session, but the go along with my silly activities. After that I had Marta (neighbor’s child). She is a lot easier to deal with when she is the only one because then I can push her and do more challenging things with her. I got creative and made her figure out which three pictures went together, then I made her put them in order, describe what was happening in each picture, and then she got to color it. Her favorite subject is art so anything artsy is a winner. I made her say her favorite things in English and then draw them out on a poster to show her mom. The mom Toni likes to see Marta’s progress so having something physical to she her is a good thing. I had just the right amount of activities for her and at the right level of difficulty so I consider it a success. After the session I talked with her mom for a while and she told me a little more about the past bilingual assistant Kayla. She told me how Kayla couldn’t speak Spanish at all in the beginning and how she missed her home a lot so she only hung out with other bilingual assistants and only lived with Americans. Very different from me. It made me wonder how she conducted these tutor sessions without a good base in Spanish. Toni reassured me that even I spoke better than her and that I have a better grasp of the language than she did. There’s hope for me!

Even though I had my cita on Wednesday I still had to conduct my tutor sessions. First I ad Sergio. It took me forever to figure out what to do with him and try to find fun things to do to help improve his English. I spent a good hour and half planning something out and when I got to his house his mom had a list of things she wanted me to go over with him since he had an English test the next day. AHHHH all that time I could have been sleeping :( Well he wrote out a paragraph about himself and then worked on some activities from his personal English activity book. I tried to help but he didn’t need my help so I just sat there. I got paid ten Euros to watch him work. It was easy but at the same time I felt bad because if someone is paying me to do something I want to earn my money. Well Sergio could tell that I didn’t have anything to help him with so he made smart talk with me about soccer. He knows me so well and we’ve only hung out three times. He asked if I watch the games on the TV and if I want to see anyone play. I explained how I would like to see Recre and Real Madrid but he told me about how expensive tickets were and now I’m rethinking that goal. I tried to ask him when his game was this weekend but he didn’t quite understand and he told me he was playing in Huelva. I swear next class I will get the time of his game and I will see him play.

After Sergio I had only Paco since Ana was busy. Again I had planned to talk about controversial topics in the news to spark up conversations but first I was going to do my standard introduction to myself with my pictures. Well we got through half of my pictures and we didn’t even come close to my conversation starters because we just talked about all kinds of other things. He told me about the little towns close to Valverde that he likes to visit and told me where I should visit. I asked if a bus goes there and he said no. Great, how am I to get there Paco?!?!?!?!? He really liked the pictures of my house the best and because he loves the country and outdoorsy things he loved our chimney that we never use. He also couldn’t get over how big my house is. The session just flew by but once again I wasted that time planning a session. Now I’m thinking do I really need to plan so much or should I just wing it and see where it goes? Still on the fence about it…

Thursday at school I spent the first morning sessions with the first graders. They’re my favorite. I just about have all the names and faces down. When the kids see me enter the classroom they brighten up and get excited. Little do they know I do the same thing! Well this lesson was to make a mini book of body parts. They had to first color the correct pictures. Some had boy and girl heads so if you were a boy you only colored the boy and so forth. Once they colored the picture they had to cut it out. Once they finished one I would hand out the next sheet with pictures. All the kids really got into it and only one or two messed up and cut the paper the wrong way. The teacher Rocio had a good handle on the class and kept it very organized and efficient. We were able to staple every book together before class ended and had a few minutes to go around to some of the kids and look at their books.

Next I went to the other first grade class with Gregorio doing the same activity. THIS time things did not run smoothly. The teacher approached the mini book in a less organized and punctual manner so it ended up taking way more time and it was so hectic and frantic the entire class period. He handed out all of the sheets at once and said color. Well the girls started coloring the boy heads so then he tried to get the attention of the class to tell them only color the pictures that correspond to you. Well that did work and I would have to go around and stop kids mid color and say wrong picture! Then every time a kid finished one picture they needed approval to start the next picture. Oh man it was so repetitive and I was bouncing from kid to kid to kid to kid. Then kids started cutting the pictures wrong and I had to keep distributing extra pictures out. Then we only had one stapler. Geez I didn’t have a second to breathe. There were always four hands up saying Teacher! They were cute but I was worn out after it. There was no way Gregorio would have managed the class without my help. After that I was looking forward to art class with the fourth graders but I had to go to the bank so that class got the boot.

Thursday afternoon I had A&R2 for the first time and forgot that they added another kid to the session. Now its Ana, Rocio, and Leandro (a boy in Ana’s class). Goodness gracious. Since it was my first session I didn’t have to plan it, I just did the same thing I did with every other first session. After the picture session I made the kids write out a paragraph about themselves and then went over it with each kid individually. Next I did the comparison activity between Spain and USA. I really liked that activity and if I was a kid I would have thought it was pretty interesting to see how different our cultures really are. I ran out of time with that so that session was pretty easy. The only issue is the mom is Pocho and she really wants her kids to speak English better so I really have to step up my game with them because if I don’t get results with the kids she might get mad. After the session I showed Pocho all of my pictures because she hadn’t seen them yet and I finally got to show her a little more about who I am. I was more animated and extended to more stories with each picture because I could with her. When I got to my soccer pictures she seemed really impressed with the fact that I played on the team but I don’t think she quote grasped the concept that I’m a good soccer player and that I’ve played at a very high level my entire life. Here girls don’t know what a sports team is. If they play a sport its for fun on the weekends to pass the time. So having a girl say she plays a guys sport and she’s been playing her whole life is a very foreign concept here. I also told Pocho that I wanted to try and practice with Sergio’s team. She was horrified and said but they are so rough. You will get hurt. I reassured her that I could handle myself and that I was use to it. How lady like.

After that I had Marta (again) and Diego. The two of them are hard to handle. They kept speaking Spanish to each other. Errrr I had them read a book with me, write out some difficult words, and then do color some Pictures. Since I wasn’t sure if I was going to be teaching two or three kids I had an extra picture so I finally got to draw!!!! YEAHHHHHHHHH. The kids really liked the way I colored the bat. The session was a little harder than I expected because my reading activity didn’t take up as much time as I had hoped so I let them color more things even thought I know I should be focusing more on talking. It’s so hard to keep these sessions interesting and not repetitive. Especially since I have Marta three times a week (Wayyyy to much for a 7 year old girl but I’m not going to say anything. At least they pay me). The only blessing that the extra cita brought me was an excuse to cancel the third Marta, Diego, and Maria session because I didn’t have time to prepare a lesson in time, which is completely true. Toni didn’t seem upset, which was good. I thought she would be mad because she worked hard to set up all of these sessions. AND THAT WAS MY WEEK.

Now for Friday….

Youth Hostel time = catch up on long emails, blog posts, picture uploads, skyping with the family, chatting with my friends, and catching up on my diminished list of TV sows that I am attempting to follow while over here. The list has gone from like ten shows to three. I’m proud of myself for cutting out the unnecessary TV. Well Corrie and Kate tell me before they leave the YH that they want to go to Huelva and shop a little and then go to Punta Umbria tomorrow. They ask if I want to come. As tempting as getting one last day at the beach was I physically could not get on a another bus. I needed a break from traveling and I also had a lot of things I wanted to do on Saturday so I declined. I wanted to take full advantage of my relaxing weekend of no travel or money worries. Well before the two pack up there things Corrie gets a fb chat from our two Italian friends that we met in Lagos and they ask if they can come visit us this weekend. Well Corrie makes the arrangement with them to meet at Huelva, go to Punta Umbria together, and then take the buses back to Valverde and they can stay the night and leave sometime on Sunday. Sounds good to me. This made me a little sad that I passed up the beach, but looking back (its Sunday as I write this) I’m happy with my decision because I got a lot of thing done on Saturday that made up for the funny stories they told me they had at the beach. Also I knew the guys were staying in Valverde so I knew I would get a chance to see them.

So Saturday I slept in. HALLELUHA! First I made scrambled eggs for the first time in Spain. They came out pretty good for the first time. After a leisurely breakfast I put a load of clothes in the washer and headed down to Mercadona for a major grocery shop. I wrote out a list and was prepared to stock up for possible guests and so forth. I had a very successful shop and I finally purchased heavy items like potatoes, carrots, and wine since I had my rolling suitcase with me. So smart. After unloading my bags I cleaned the house. I started with the kitchen and moved into the living room and then my bedroom and bathroom. I swept each room and then mopped it like Elisa told me too. It was quite tiring being on my feet the whole time. I then took out my clothes and put in another load of clothes. Organized my room finally. It was getting out of hand because I still hadn’t unpacked completely from Lagos. Satisfied with my cleaning job I then went for a run around the town. After that I showered, got ready for the night by doing my hair really nice. I haven’t straightened it yet since arrival and I had time to blow dry it as well. What a treat. I did some other things like get organized for school and then that’s when I received a phone call…

Boy was I glad I didn’t go to the beach. I get a phone call from Kate about the time when they should be about to board the bus to Valverde saying that the PU bus is stopping at a million pueblos so they are going to miss the last bus back to VDC. Déjà vu anyone?!?!??! So yeah, she called me to see if Elisa could pick them up from Huelva. Elisa was in Sevilla so that was a no but then I told them I could ask Pocho. Well I tried calling Pocho but she couldn’t hear me on the phone so she was like just come to my house. Great, I’m not the one stranded yet I have to run down the hill to ask a favor. Ugh. I sprint down the hill because Kate was waiting for my response so that they could try and call someone else if they had to. Picture a girl in a dress flying down a hill in flip-flops. I had just showered and now I was getting sweaty. Not happy about that. Well I get to Pocho’s and explain the situation. She said if she could drive she would leave right now and pick them up except that she doesn’t know how to drive, her husband currently has the car and he’s out, and lastly he would have to go alone in order to fit all four into the car and he doesn’t speak English. In short, no she can’t pick them up. All that for nothing. Corrie and Kate decide to take the only bus to Beas (again) and have one of their teachers pick them up from there. I was VERY happy I wasn’t there. I wouldn’t have been livid.

Once they finally got home and showered they called me to come down and we pregamed with wine and combo game of spin the bottle and truth or dare. Man it’s been a long time since I’ve played either of those games. After finishing off the wine we headed to a grown up bar in town to find “the people of Valverde”. It was fun but the girls wanted to dance so we headed to the only nightclub in Valverde, Blue. It was packed. People everywhere inside the club and outside on the curbs and streets. I lost my friends and was afraid I was never going to find them again but eventually I did. The club was okay. The music wasn’t the best for dancing and nobody was dancing. I was disappointed.

After spending a good two hours at Blue we called it a night. I was too tired to walk all the way up the bloody hills again for the fourth time in one day so I decided to stay at Corrie and Kate’s (I was just thinking it’s a good thing Corrie and Kate are relatively short and easy names to spell because I write them a lot). I ended up sleeping in the same bed with Michele but we did not sleep together. Mind you he and Tony sleep in tiny Speedo underpants. Quite revealing I may add and they prance around in their underwear as if that’s normal, its not. Haha Well in the morning the boys decided to sleep in instead of catching the 9:30a bus so once they woke up I said goodbye to them and headed back up to mi casa. Now its Sunday and I’ve just stayed a home and wrote blog entries, more emails to friends, prepped for lessons, put away my clothes, and uploaded photos. To be posted soon I promise. Well that was my weekend. Peace mis amigas.