Week Two

Silly me, I thought that once I finished my first week I would have figured out my routine and would actually know what was going on. Ha.

For starters, the kids are never the same two classes in a row. For example, one of my kindergarten classes are always little monsters. The first time I was in there, five of them ended up in timeout. But Friday, they somehow transformed into angels- they were all sitting still, paying attention, and when we played charades they could all tell me their daily routines in English! (I wake up, I wash my face, I brush my teeth). 

This week was full of additional surprises though. Tuesday, everyone kept talking about convivencia. I had no idea what was going on, and the only explanation I could get was that we were all going to a park the next day. Turns out convivencia is basically a field day. All the students in the school go to a park, infantil to one, primary to another, and secondary to a third. The best part is that the students plan all the activities (the 6^th graders run the 3^rd grade events, 5^th with 2^nd, 4^th with 1^st) so the teachers really just hung out, enjoyed the sun, and ate the delicious sandwiches the school provided for us. The students get really into it, making trophies and medals for the younger students. The activities seemed pretty similar to American ones- tug of war, a treasure hunt, a three-legged race, and flag football, but minus the football. Instead, all of the students just ran around trying to grab each others flags (flag tag I guess?).

The primary students and teachers
(I'm on the left side a couple rows back)

First grade teachers

The next mystery event of the week was the teacher´s dinner on Friday. We left Tudela at 8 to take a bus to Corella, a small town about 20 minutes away who were having their fiestas this week. (For perspective, Corella is a town of about 8000 people. Tiny. Like the size of Atkinson tiny!) We arrived a little before 9, and the streets were already packed with people. You could barely walk down some of the tiny streets in the old center of the town. Our dinner reservation was for 10, so we spent the next hour and a half or so barhopping (turns out reservations aren't quite as punctual as they are in the US, since no one seemed particularly concerned whether we arrived at 10 or 10:30). Everyone was  in traditional Navarran white and red, bands and music in the street, and toros de fuego (a puppet-like “bull” that runs through the streets shooting off sparklers).

Streets of Corella

There were about 30 teachers at the dinner, ranging in age from me, the baby of the school, to a few teachers who are retired now but still come back for the dinner. Dinner was a three hour affair, beginning with a never ending series of appetizers, first jamón with tomatoes and oil, second a salad served with bread and delicious cheese, and lastly a croissant stuffed with mushrooms. The main course came around midnight (I ordered cod, delicious!), desert around 1 am, and coffee around 1:30. Just a teensy bit different from New Hampshire, where even the bars are closed at 1 am! 

We left the restaurant finally around 2 and headed back to the bars in the center of Corella. It was without a doubt, my best night here in Spain so far! My coworkers are the best. We didn´t leave Corella until after 6, and I was walking into my apartment at 7 am. Crazy. (I now understand Spaniards' obsession with persianas, these super thick blinds that came down over the outside of your window and block out all light, kind of like a garage door for your window).

This week I also opened a bank account finally (and get paid today hopefully, thank God!), got a library card, joined a gym, and applied for my residency card (I am now officially a legal resident of Spain!). Best part about small town life so far? The fact that there was no line for any of those things! 

I also started French classes at the Escuela Oficial de Idiomas here in Tudela. I said literally one sentence in French (“Bonjour, je m'appelle Hilary”) and the professor asked if I'd studied English a lot since I spoke French with an English accent. I explained that I was from the US, and got the typical “What the hell are you doing in Tudela??” response from everyone in the class. Ironically, my favorite thing about French class is that its the only time I get to practice Spanish! Since its a beginning class it's taught mostly in Spanish, and a nice change from school, where I spend most of the day speaking English. Between learning French and teaching English, I'm learning a ton of Spanish vocabulary since everything in either class ends up translated back to Spanish. 

Now that it's October, I start working afternoons this week. Yikes, we'll see how that goes!

Hasta luego!