TEFL Classes Done!

Wow, it's been quite a while since I've posted! My TEFL classes ended yesterday so now I'll have more time to post on the blog. The classes were really intense; the format changed a bit for the last two weeks. The class was divided into two groups these past two weeks, one group had teaching children EFL Monday & Wednesday, teaching business EFL classes Tuesday & Thursday. Then last Friday and yesterday, we had “observed” classes (the one on one class I mentioned in the previous post.)

In the first class last Friday, I taught Rafael (the student our group was teaching) about technology slang in the USA because he works in IT. The first class last week was a bit rocky, yesterday I did speaking and listening, focusing on phrasal verbs in an article about the recent release of the iPhone 5. It did strike me during the first lesson a week ago that Rafa (as he prefers to be called) knew about the first presidentialdebate and even Joe Biden by name.

In any case, now TEFL is over and I can focus solely on teaching English and exploring Spain (outside of Madrid as well.) I had my first tutoring session this past Monday with Beatriz and Irene, two 5 and 6 year old girls. I taught for an hour and focused on colors, the alphabet, and numbers through 12. For children this age, one really just teaches or helps with vocabulary and repetition. So, for example, next class I'll start with a brief review of trouble points (the letters were the hardest for them) and then go into farm animals (or any other broad category such as that.)

I also have two siblings named Elisa and Agustín. Elisa is fourteen, Agustín is ten. I'm seeing them for an hour block, half an hour for each. It will be interesting to see what it's like to teach kindergartners (who mostly do what they're asked) as opposed to teenagers who are more analytical and rebellious. As of now, I'm thinking I'll play “Losing My Religion” by REM for Elisa and talk about that for a bit, ask about her favorite music, and just generally learn about her likes and dislikes. I will do something similar with Agustín except without a music video, probably will throw in basic emotions as well. I'm a bit nervous- what do you teach in 30 minutes? When I had the lesson with Beatriz and Irene, the time seemed to fly by... and that was an hour!

In other news: I found a flat! It's a great location- right between two metro stations and located in La Latina. Further, I have a little balcony that faces Calle Toledo, one of the bigger streets in La Latina. I look over a market called “La Paloma” (The Dove). It's not so much a market as a collection of vendors with their own little stands, all selling different foods; there's the vegetable and fruit stand, a couple meat stands, etc...

The bed in my room's a little small... in fact, my feet touch the end and hang off the edge if I'm on my back but it's not too bad. There's a public library right down the street and beautiful sculptures, especially the arch for Puerto de Toledo; there's a roundabout right near the metro station and in the middle a huge stone arch. I have three roommates: Andrea, Andres, and Luis. They're all guys and are from Italy, Colombia, and Spain, respectively. They're all really nice and it's great because the only language we have in common is Spanish!

There are a couple noteworthy points about the apartment. Firs of all, the shower is located in the corner of the bathroom and has a curtain that goes around... one side. So there's still one side of the shower that's exposed and open. Luckily the spigot is handheld so I can take it down and just make sure that I don't point it in the direction of the exposed part. Nevertheless, it struck me as odd when I first moved in.

The oven is ancient! Alright, maybe it's just a difference between technology in the USA vs. that in Spain. First, you turn a metallic switch on the wall so that it's perpendicular to the floor. Then, you light a match and turn on the gas. At that point, you put the match near the circular portion on the oven where the fire comes out and it lights. Fernando, the person I'm renting from, explained this to me all in Spanish towards the beginning... but I still had a bit of trouble the first time I tried it. At this point, I'm completely used to it but it took a couple explanations.

Finally, the washer in the apartment is insanely small. I had one week's worth of dirty clothes and had to do two loads because it didn't all fit in one. Words can't describe the tiny size of this washer but, take my word, it's really small. There's no drier so we have a clothesline outside and the clothes are dry after a few days. The first time I took the clean clothes off the clothesline, my towel was stiff as can be. It had been hanging over the line for a couple days and was clean but, as there was no drying cycle, it didn't get soft again.

Last weekend, I went to a bar with Andres and met Andrea there. It was around midnight and the streets were still packed! There were even vendors selling various things with quilts laid out on the pavement. The three of us went into a packed bar and stood at the counter. Andres explained to me that I should throw my dirty napkin where the bar meets the floor when I was done with it. I looked at him with a surprised look. Then, I looked at the floor and, sure enough, napkins were all around the bar! Andres then explained to me that, in the cheaper bars in Spain, this is a sign of the bar's quality. Rather, the more dirty napkins that are crumpled on the floor, the better.

Before I found the flat, I was considering doing an exchange type program wherein you live with a local family for a minimal fee and, in turn, help the children or even the whole family with their English. I went to the office of the company that organizes it all multiple times but nothing came of it. What was my point here...? Oh yeah, I met the family that I was going to live with and walked around El Retiro park for a bit as I got to the meeting point early. El parque retiro is a famous park in Madrid. It is enormous and has beautiful statues and scenery. I have yet to spend a prolonged period of time there but, nevertheless, it was great to get a little taste of it.

About a month ago when I was still at the hostel, I paid a little visit to the hospital (don't worry, everything is completely fine.) I had fallen over uneven pavement while crossing the street and saw that my jeans were ripped and there was a pretty sizable cut on my left knee. Despite applying constant pressure, cleaning it, etc..., the cut would still not close. Just to be safe, I went to the ER... in another country, where another language is spoken. The woman at the reception desk was speaking a mile a minute and I had to ask her multiple times to speak slower. Luckily, the nurse who saw me spoke English. They didn't have to stitch it up, just put some cleansing lotion on it and gave me discharge instructions.

A bit of levity for a change of pace: Back when I was at the hostel, I ordered a banana smoothie at an ice cream place.

“Me gustaría un licuado de banana, por favor”, I said, as I'd said many times in Argentina. The man behind the counter here in spain looked at me with a blank look on his face. “Algo que bebe que está hecho de helado”, I attempted to clarify.

“Oh, un batido de plátano, vale”, he said. Yet another difference between Argentine Spanish and the Spanish spoken in Spain.

While walking around La Latina on my apartment search, I stopped for lunch and ordered Gazpacho, a cold, tomato soup famous in Spain. Some people love it but, I wasn't a big fan. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't awful- I'd probably order it again if I wanted a little bite- but it definitely didn't live up to what everyone had said.

On the topic of food: while still on the search for a room, I came across an Argentine restaurant! They had all kinds of empanadas, dulce de leche, everything. Clearly I stopped and the empanadas were good... but nothing compared to the ORIGINAL empanadas in Argentina.

Two Friday's ago, many students from my TEFL program met up at a friend's house for her birthday party. It was great- the majority of the class was there. After drinking at her house for a while, we went to a karaoke bar. I found it funny that the majority of the songs were not in Spanish: someone sang to Michael Jackson's “Thriller”, another person sang “Losing My Religion” by REM.

The subway system in Madrid is amazing! At first, I would always get lost when riding it. As there's no subway system in LA (well, not really) and I was still getting used to where everything was, I found it really confusing. There are 13 different lines in the subway system here and transfers at the bigger stations. As I found out later, there's actually an application on iPhones that will plan the straightest route for you if you enter the starting and ending metro stop. Clearly that made things a lot easier.

At random points, people get on the cars and start playing the accordion and a number of other instruments. At the end of their piece, they come around and ask for money. I find the etiquette in the subway systems interesting; to get from one level to another, there's always escalators going up and down as well as a staircase in the middle. There's rarely anyone on the staircases but, on the escalators, people stand on the right side and those in a hurry can walk up the left side.

I've finally gotten used to the euro system. Although, one aspect of the monetary system here that's sort of annoying is the number of coins there are! There's coins that would be the equivalent of pennies, nickels and dimes (in terms of the number written on them.) However, there are also a 2 cent, 20 cent , 50 cent, 1 euro, and 2 euro coin. At times, my pockets are bulging with coins and I have to ruffle through all of them at the cash register to find what I'm looking for.

Addresses in Madrid are so hard to find! Various times I've been walking around looking for a specific address, having to double back as I'd missed the address when first walking by it. The addresses are not painted on curbs here as they are in the USA, more often they are printed in a tiny size and sort of hidden in a really odd space. Or, even better, they are not there at all. For example, stores tend not to have the address printed anywhere.

October 12^th is a national holiday in Spain, the Day of the Armed Forces. Talking to my roommates, I learned that there would be many planes flying over Madrid as well as a parade with soldiers marching. This year it fell on a Friday and all the stores were closed. We had TEFL classes, nevertheless. Further, we gave our first “observed teaching” class. This being the case, I didn't see either the parade or the planes.

I discovered a really good drink here in Madrid. It's called “Tinto de Verano” and is a mix of red wine and lemon juice. Translated, it would be “red summer.” I'm not the biggest fan of red wine as I find it really strong. However, the lemon juice dilutes the acquired taste of red wine and makes it more palatable for me.

I went to a Pilates class on Thursday located two floors below my apartment. I was sure to tell the teacher that I have some limitations due to my back but that I wanted to give it a shot. The teacher asked that I set my mat up towards the front so that he could keep an eye on the positions and make sure they were alright for my back. Halfway through the hour class, I realized his observations of what I was doing were different than what I knew I could and could not do. Rather, I know that I can't do certain positions so I have to modify them. From his point of view, he probably thought I misunderstood what he said to the rest of the class given the certain language barriers between us. Thus, at points he came over and altered what I was doing. I was sure to tell him “no puedo hacer esto” to ensure that he knew that I did understand, it was just a question of physical limitations.

When the class ended, I asked the teacher if every class had more or less the same format.

“Oh no”, he said to me. “This was an advanced class.”

Great, I thought to myself. I had come to the Pilates class a week earlier and spoken to the owner, who suggested I come to next Thursday's class. Needless to say, there was clearly some sort of misunderstanding wherein she thought I should go directly into the advanced class.

I continue to have a great time in Spain and look forward to the two remaining months. Tutoring children is great, perhaps I will take on an adult or two as well. I also can't wait to travel around the country and see other cities.