The Past Week

Where to start. I’ve seen so much this past week it’s amazing. On Sunday I woke up very early and went for a walk. I explored around the school and found a beautiful park. There was some sort of roller skating race happening around a long string of fountains. There are lots of cool statues and bits of old roman wall all over the park. I went to a little café and got some espresso, the shop had wifi so I got to email my parents that day. In the afternoon Ana Lugo and her family took me out to eat. The food was all amazing although I think it was Italian not Spanish. After we ate I went with Ana to see the school.  She showed me around and told me what I was going to be doing.

On Monday I woke up at 3 a.m. My internal clock was still very messed up and I couldn’t get back to sleep. I read my devotions and messed around until about 5 then I decided to go for a run. Unfortunately I’m out of shape so my run didn’t take as long as I wanted. I ended up out of breathe at top of a hill in the park overlooking the city. I just had to stop and look. Even early in the morning the city is busy. I’m not used to all the people but it’s exciting. Since there are so many apartments there are always people coming and going on almost every street. I walked for miles down side streets and never had a street to myself.

I got to school about thirty minutes early and was instantly recruited to help prepare orientation binders for the parents. It was just papers together to help the parents of the children know what will be going on during the year. After that was done I went with Lola (the 4^th and 5^th/ English teacher) to her class. She had a family lunch she had to go to, so she gave her kids homework, in Spanish, and then left me in charge. I didn’t even really know what they were supposed to be doing but after they were done filling out their worksheets I let them talk quietly. A few of them speak a little English so I talked to them. Excitement started when one of the 5^th graders suddenly jumped up and charged another kid. I had to pull him off to stop a fight, then I sent him the principals office. Apparently they had been fighting all week and some comment had finally set him off. I wish I spoke Spanish better so I could stop these things before they happen. After an hour of sitting with the kids, I was starting to wonder if I had missed some instruction from Lola. All of the kids were done with their homework and were starting to get out of hand. I was about to go find Ana to ask, when Hector showed up. He is the P.E. teacher for the school. Since Lola was gone I went with Hector. We took the kids about a mile away from the school to a big gym. It was interesting trying to cross town with a bunch of kids in tow. The drivers here are ridiculous. The kids played a game called 5 passes and capture the flag.

After P.E. was lunch back in the school. It was amazing and the cooks gave me lots of food to take home with me. The kids were all well behaved and cleared their plates nicely. Everyday after lunch I go to help Pili another teacher monitor the playground. The kids all want me to play with them, but it’s hard to play with them and watch to make sure everyone is doing what they are supposed to. I talk with them the best I can while I watch though and I think I’ll play football (soccer) with them one day a week. The playground is on the top floor of the apartment building the school is apart of. It’s small but the kids all seem to avoid running into each other… somehow. Sometimes I don’t know if the kids are playing or fighting. I have to jog over and make sure everyone is smiling. They all listen to me though, which is good.

For the last part of the day I go to help Anabel, the 2 and 3 year old teacher. Basically I make sure that the 2 year olds enjoy their nap and don’t get up and make noise. It’s easy, fun, and the kids are adorable. On Monday seeing all the kids nap made me tired. After school was out, I helped clean up and then went home and went to sleep. I was so tired that I slept until 7 a.m. Tuesday morning, which was perfect.

 School on Tuesday was more involved for me. Lola was back so we spent the better part of the morning teaching kids English. The material we are teaching to the 4 and 5 year old kids is the same stuff I learned in high school… it’s pathetic, but it shows me how much I need to learn. Tuesday was the last day of school for the week because this is Zaragoza’s big holiday. After school two of the teachers, Anabel and Ruht (pronounced like Ruth) communicated to me that they were going to show me the Fiesta. I was going to go with Anabel that night and Ruht the next morning. I thanked them and they took off. Lola then told me that she was going to show me where her house was so that I can go there to use the internet, so I skyped my mom real quick and then we were off. On the way we were intercepted by Flor, one of the ladies who works at the school. She told me that Pili had a daughter who spoke English that I had to meet. Lola had shopping to do, so I went with Flor. She said that Pili’s daughter Melani didn’t get back from the University until 8 so we had some time to kill. We went to Flor’s parents house and using google translator we talked for a while. Then Flor and her father took me to an electronics store and helped me purchase a cheap phone for local use. Then Flor and I walked around for about an hour. I really enjoyed talking with her, she speaks a little English and I speak a little Spanish and between us we were able to communicate almost everything we wanted to say. At the around 8 Flor dropped me off at Pili’s house and I met Melani. She is a Chemical Engineering Major at the college here and she speaks almost perfect English. We talked for a while and she told me that she and her friends were going out for the Fiesta the next night and I was welcome to come along.

The next thing I had planned was to meet Anabel at the school. We walked back to her house and ate while we watched the Soccer game, then it was off to the Fiesta. Anabel showed me how to get downtown and was very insistent that I always know which direction home was. It was a good learning experience and I got to see a lot of cool stuff. This holiday is known as Pilar. It is a Catholic holiday celebrating the virgin. There is a statue of her set up with a pyramid of scaffolding set up around her then people dress up in traditional dress and bring flowers to her. They fill up the scaffolding with the flowers. With Anabel I got to see the scaffolding empty and the party happening around it. That night I got home around 1 a.m. and my jet lag was cured.

I met Ruht and her husband the next morning and we went downtown again. This time I got to see all the people dressed up and all the flowers around the Pilar. It was beautiful. I couldn’t believe how many flowers there were. I also got to look inside the cathedral and an old roman market building that is now an art museum. I was looking at the stonework in the ceiling more than the paintings on the wall though. Afterwards we went out to eat and I had a speaking mishap. I asked Ruht what she was going to order and I thought she told me she was deciding between two different dishes, so I said in similar words that I was deciding between a sandwich or a salad. Apparently she was ordering both however so I ended up with a gigantic ceasar salad and a huge sandwich. I was embarrassed but it was okay. After we ate we went back to their apartment and watched Friends in Spanish. The voices were so odd, but it worked. With the help of English subtitles I actually was able to pick up a lot of things. I’m learning a lot of Spanish very quickly. I’m able to understand a lot more than I can speak though. At 7:30 I met Melani and we took a bus downtown to meet her friends. There were three girls who all spoke a little English and three guys who didn’t speak any. I made a deal with one of the guys that in four months or less I would speak fluently with him in Spanish. All of the guys apparently had things they had to do so after half an hour they took off. The girls were adamant that they were more fun anyway. We walked around the shops and they got baked potatoes. They liked teaching me Spanish so I got to ask a lot of questions I’ve had about the language. Then we got candy and they showed me a few more things before we all headed home. I had an awesome time and now I have friends roughly my age that speak English. They have my next four weekends already lined up for me, to Madrid, to the Pyrenees, to play volleyball somewhere. I’m excited.

Thursday was my catch up day. I slept in and then hung out with Moises and Flor. Maria Ester was gone this week staying with Flor’s sister. Tonight (Friday night) I’m going to vespers and there is some youth thing going on so that should be fun.

Everyone here is so nice, they have all made me feel so accepted. They made sure I had something to do during this holiday and that I got to see the important parts of the party. I have dinner invites from tons of people and invites to Valencia and the Pyrenees and to a waterpark by Barcelona. I think this year is going to be amazing. The kids are great too. They are all so cute and energetic and they all want to show me their toys and what they can do on the playground. I showed a kids how to spin one top on top of another and all the kids went nuts, that was all he did for the rest of recess. I feel so included and like I’m a part of things. I love it here.