Pa' Trabajo! (To Work!)

This past week was my first week of classes. I am working in an elementary school with kids from 3-12 years old from 9 am to 2 pm every day in a pueblo (town) right outside of Granada called Churriana de La Vega. All the kids are adorable and they already love me! I usually play fútbol (soccer) or baloncesto (basketball) with them during recess every day for half and hour. I enjoy working with most of the teachers at the school. It's funny that everyone here, including the kids, learn British English from an earlier age. I'm beginning to realize that I may actually have more of a southern American accent than I thought! (or at least that is what everyone here tells me)

Between 2pm and 5pm I usually go to a local bar and talk to the bartenders or whoever happens to be there. This is a good opportunity for me to practice my Spanish or, ironically, practice my English. I bought a basic English grammar book that I have been studying for one hour every day. I am beginning to understand why people say that English can be difficult to learn. I think that studying English grammar will not only help me become a better English teacher, but will improve my Spanish as I begin understand the grammatical differences between the two languages.

At 5pm I go to an academy in another town a little further away called Cullar Vega. The actual academy is called "Underground" (named after the Metro in London...the biggest metro system in the world). Every room in our academy is named after a different Underground Metro line. There are 3 of us teaching. There are two American girls and me. Our boss is in his low 30's and is from England. The academy has been running for over 5 years. I have around 5 different classes, each class being from 3 to 10 students in size. One of the classes being 7 girls who are all friends, so please pray for me! I teach a wide variety of ages at the academy ranging from 13 to 50 years old.

I have to say that I did not feel prepared by any means on my first day. I have to prepare many of the students to pass a specific English exam. Once they pass the exam they receive a certificate proving their level of fluency in the English language. One of my main problems is that my "short" clases are 1 hour and my other advanced classes are 2 hours long. However, I usually have very little time to prepare lessons for my classes. I leave my piso (apartment) around 7:30 in the morning and get back at 10:30 at night. As soon as I get back from work, I run to the gym and work out for 30 minutes because the gym closes at 11pm. After that, I shower and cook all my food to put in tupperware for the next day. I usually get to bed around 1am and get up at 7:00am to do it all over again. Needless to say, I am SUPER busy from Monday through Thursday!

I really believe that by the end of this year I will be a great English teacher and will be prepared with the experience to teach all ages. I was kind of thrown into all this work without any prior experience or planning, but thanks to the Lord that things have been going smoothly and my students are actually learning. The only thing that I am very tired of is the BUSES! I ride the bus from Monday through Thursday an average of 2 hours per day. The time would be cut in half if I had my own vehicle. It takes forever because of so many stops and many times it is very uncomfortable because by the time it gets to my stop there are no remaining seats left and it is really crammed for the long ride.

Finally, besides not liking riding the buses so much, I can't complain much because this city is absolutely beautiful. There is so much to do here and the people are generally very friendly wherever you go! Above is a song that I really like....