Hello Everyone!
So it has been a little more than 2 years since I wrote in this blog. The time before, I documented my semester abroad in Spring 2009. Now I am writing from Santiago de Compostela, Spain where I am an "auxilar de conversación" (I'll explain exactly what that is a little later). Since Sevilla, I have graduated, spent 6 months in Costa Rica and lived with my parents in Denver for a while. I am now back in my element and feeling grateful to be. I want to write this first blog with the intention of setting the scene of what this next year (or two or three) will look like. I want you to know what I'm doing! I arrived in Santiago about a month. Since then, I have moved into an apartment, received my NIE (a temporary social security number for registered foreigners), opened a bank account, started my job and a number of other things. Not to mention, I have taken part in a lot a Spanish "rights of passage" which include: eating tapas, staying out until 8 am in the morning on a Saturday night, participating in a spanish sing along in the street, drinking café con leche (a lot), trying to decide whether to order wine or soda with dinner (because wine and beer are cheaper than soda) and a ton of other things.
My Job: I am what the Spanish government calls an "auxilar de conversación". I am here on a grant from the Department of Education. I got assigned to a high school to help the English departments with their conversation skills. Programs like this exist in many countries (including the United States). The goal is to have a native speaker of a foreign language present to give guidance that a Spanish teacher teaching English wouldn't have solely because it is their second language. I basically visit every single English class once a week to do an interactive, conversational activity that allows the kids to talk to me and vice versa. Because I go to all the English classes and don't have my own, I end up seeing a LOT of kids every week. So far, I feel like I overwhelm the kids because they're not used hearing a native speaker. I wish I could show you guys the faces I see on a daily basis when trying to do an activity.
My City: I live in a city called Santiago de Compostela. It is the northwest area of Spain right above portugal. It is also the ending point of a famous Catholic pilgrimage called El Camino de Santiago. It's a 800 km long piligrimage from Southern France. The reason people do this pilgrimate is about St. James remains are supposedly buried here. I see "peregrinos" all the time here. You are spot them by their huge backpack and walking stick that has a shell with a red cross tied to it. Thousands of people perform this pilgrimage all year so you can imagine that Santiago has a lot of visitors from all over the world. There is also a huge univeristy here that is one of the best in the country. I live right across the street from the south campus and I see students constantly. I live with 3 Spanish girls who are studying there. Besides the camino and the university, this city and this province is absolutely stunning. It is green and moist with rolling hills. It looks a lot like what you would imagine Ireland to look like. Being from Colorado, I'm not sured to so much green. I'm about an hour away from the ocean to the North and West and I've been able to visit it on the weekends.Take a look at my pictures on facebook to get an idea of how beautiful it is here.
My average day: I wake up in the morning, get ready and head to school around 8:30 in the morning. I stay there until about 3pm and then go home. I eat lunch when I get home and then I have private lessons every night. The people that I give private lessons to varies. I have a few 20 somethings and some older groups of women. I love being able to help them with their English while getting to know them. English teaching is interlaced with reading, skyping and drinking a LOT of coffee (It's so good here!)
New Friends: I have made some awesome friends here so far. Right when I arrived, I met up with some other Americans (thank God for facebook) who I've been traveling with and hanging out with. They are amazing. I also have 2 "intercambios" (language exchange partners) who I've developed close friendships with. One is a 25 year old girl named Rosa who lives in the next town over and the other is this 23 year old guy named Enrique. We meet up to speak a little bit of English and Spanish and correct each other. I've loved the conversations that I have with them. We just pick each others' brains over each other's history and culture and customs. I feel like I've learned a lot from them.
Things to get used to: Spanish culture is very different from what I'm used to. For example, they eat lunch at 3 pm and dinner at 9 pm. They also go out a LOT longer than Americans. Bars and clubs don't close until 6-8 in the morning so you'll see people stumbling home around 8. It's hard to stay out that late, but I've been able to do it a few times. I mostly just find myself angerly staring at my Spanish friends as 4 am thinking, "How the heck are you able do to this?"
Final note: I am so incredibly blessed to be here. I am completely in my element. I love other cultures, I love Spanish, I love teaching, I love new adventures. I'm completely immersed in things that I'm passionate about. I don't know why God has blessed me so much with this opportunity but I'm beyond grateful. I know He has me here for a very specific reason because the doors opened so clearly . I have found a lot of time to read, pray, walk and relax. The very least I can say is that God is good. He spoils me. I find myself on a daily basis, walking down the streets of Santiago, listening to Shakira's "Loca" (don't judge me), smiling from ear to ear.
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