Hooray for American football!!

It's my second week in Spain and I'm officially starting school tomorrow. I went to my school this past Thursday to familiarize myself with the layout of everything, I got my official work schedule and I got to meet several of the teachers I will be working with (I'm not the primary teacher in the classroom, I am an assistant to several different teachers at my school). As far as my schedule goes, I don't work Mondays and go from about 10 am to 2 pm Tuesday through Friday. I'm teaching first and fifth grades in English and Science, but it will all be taught in English. I will also be helping the teachers with their English every Wednesday afternoon for a couple of hours after school. I'm working on the prospect of teaching English for a few hours every week outside of school as well to make some extra money - I don't get my first paycheck until the end of the month! If you're interested in seeing the school I'm working at the link is:

http://www.educa.madrid.org/web/cp.dulcinea.alcala/ingles/index_e.htm

I will try and get pictures up soon so you can see the inside and everything too!

Just in the first day of being at my school it is very clear that the Spanish education system is quite different than that of the States. Teachers dress very casually, jeans and flip flops are completely acceptable, and children address them all by first name. The kids, in general, are very loud and I have been told I will be spending a lot of my time trying to get them to be quiet in the classroom. For those of you who don't know, I have no intention of being a teacher when I get back home, but I really wanted the experience of it. And, who knows? I may end up loving it and decide that is what I really want to do.

I'm currently in the process of finding a time and location in or around Madrid where I can take the GRE. I took it a few months ago at home, but would like to take it again to improve my scores in enough time for me to apply to graduate school for next fall. Right now, I'm looking into a Spanish translation program at UNC - Charlotte, but I will keep you guys posted on that as well.

As far as where my apartment is, I've finally had a chance to actually get out some and learn my way around the area that I'm living in. Things are usually pretty busy except for Sundays. We actually heard guys walking through the streets the other night around 12:30 or 1 am singing victory songs after RealMadrid won their game. People are craaazy for soccer (futbol) here!! I can walk to pretty much anything I need around my apartment as well. There's a metro station about two blocks away and a massive department store called El Corte Ingles that has everything from groceries to housewares to clothing, etc. Last night we actually found an Irish pub that's not even a block away that plays NFL on Sundays!!!! Spaniards couldn't care less about American football so we were pretty much the only people in there, but it was so exciting because I've been missing football like crazy already. Especially my wolfpack!!

Church yesterday was pretty interesting too. We had a meal where everyone brought a covered dish and we all sat around a big table to eat and hang out together for a few hours. Again, I'm not a big fan of the Spanish cuisine, but I tried several things and the dessert was very good - not that you can go too wrong with chocolate. :) Anyways, I think church is going to provide a really good opportunity for me to work on my Spanish comprehension and speaking skills. I speak English all week with my roommate, other Americans in my group and at school. But at church, people who speak English do not speak very much and they are more than willing to help me with my Spanish. Right now, listening to them speak and understanding everything they say is pretty difficult for me, but I think the more I listen and the more I practice, the easier it will become.

I guess that's all for now. Again, if I'm leaving anything out that people are curious about just let me know! I miss all you guys and I hope to hear from you soon!!!