Logrono y las fiestas de San Mateo

Hola to all!

Having successfully spent a week here without returning home on the next available flight, I feel a lot more settled and confident that I can do this! Haha. I know it sounds dramatic, but this first week has been really rough. I forgot how hard it is to move someplace new and not know anyone, and then to have to settle yourself in and make a place for yourself on your own. It’s just darn tough! But things have gotten better with every day that passes. Here’s a brief update on what’s happened this past week:

1. I’ve spent all week at school, including actually going into one class on Thursday morning. I THINK I have a finalized schedule now, which would put me in the bilingual classes of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd years in various subjects. I went into a History/Geography class of 1st years on Thursday and they’re all just so TINY! I guess they’re only 12, but I just can’t believe how small 12 year olds look! I’m sure I was never that small! But they all seemed eager to talk and excited that I’d be there for the year, so I’m hoping to get to know them better soon. This coming week should be our first normal week, so settling into a routine will be nice.

2. I joined a gym, and that has just made me feel so much better! Never underestimate the power of endorphins! I went a couple of times last week and it’s gorgeous – tons of new-looking machines, both cardio and weights, and I think it’ll be good for me, giving me something else to do with my time.

3. I had coffee with Chris, one of the Americans at my school, on Thursday, and he told me about this girl Megan who he also knew that was in Burgos kind of on her own. So I called her up and we met up and went out with Becky and Rachel on Thursday night, and she’s just super nice! And she seems glad to know more Americans in the area, so we’re slowly growing our group of auxiliares with every passing day! So that makes me happy.

4. I caught the bus Friday afternoon back to Logrono for the annual festival of San Mateo/the vendimia (grape harvest). We went out last night and there were just a TON of people in every bar. But TODAY was the official start of the festivities. Oh my goodness, the insanity! We went with about a zillion other people to the main plaza del Ayuntamiento (city hall) today to start off the celebration, and there were tons of groups of people with bottles of wine and gaseosa (a slightly sweet seltzer water), bags of flour and cartons of eggs. They basically then took those things and flung them around the crowd, dousing everyone within reach. Once the welcome ceremonies were over, everyone moved en masse to the old town part of the city and the bars were hopping!! Everywhere was FULL of people, with loud dance music pumping inside and people overflowing out onto the streets, enjoying their beverages. It’s basically just a huge excuse to get totally drunk all day long, as far as I can tell. It was fun to be in for a few hours, but we ended up leaving around 3pm to take a break and make some lunch. But we’re off again tonight to brave the crowds and see what kind of festivities are happening around town.

5. I have officially met some of the new people who are going to be in Logrono this year, and that’s been really fun! Some people had emailed me over the summer, knowing that I’d been there last year, and asked me questions about what to expect, etc. This one girl in particular, Jennis, had been emailing with lots of questions and then actually called a few times this past week with various things she was confused about. So we ended up meeting up yesterday afternoon, and she is just the nicest, most fun person ever! It’s such a shame that we’re not physically going to be in the same place! But since we met yesterday evening, we have just gotten along so well, talking about everything and wandering around, exploring the city together. Her combined with my friends from last year that I met up with yesterday and today, have made me feel so much more comfortable about being back in Spain. Even though we aren’t in the same city, we’re close enough that we’ll be able to visit a fair amount, I hope!

6. I met up with one of my teachers from last year, Inma, for a coffee yesterday evening, too, so it was good to catch up with her, find out how things are at my old instituto, and again, just feel connected to Spain. She and her husband also showed me around the kiosks and stands set up for the festival so I could get more of an insiders’ view of the whole thing.

So, those are the highlights of this past few days, I suppose. I’ll try to figure out how to make pictures happen on this page shortly so you can have an idea of just how many people were out today for this festival – which goes until Sept 27th, by the way, so it’s a long, all-week affair! – and the kind of crazy things they wore and had thrown on them. It’s just really nothing like I’ve ever seen at home before!

Hopefully this coming week will bring many more interesting and new stories to share with everyone!

xxx

 

Un piso, el instituto, y otras cosas buenas!

Aqui estamos! Can you tell that I have NOTHING to do by how frequently I am updating my life here? I went from not understanding blogs less than a week ago to pouring my life’s energy into them, but there ya go. It just gives you one more way to procrastinate at work? Not that I think I’m the center of everyone’s attention or anything…

So, where’d I leave off? I think I mentioned looking at various apartments and meeting Becky, and I suppose that a lot has happened since then, despite the fact that I sometimes feel like the day is dragging on. Asi es la vida!

I went to school for the first time yesterday, and nothing could have made me feel more welcome here, to be honest. Some of you may have known this, but there was minor confusion between when our contract said we were supposed to start work (Sept 15th) and when the director of us Americans at my school said we should start (Oct 1st), so I arrived on Friday knowing that perhaps there’d be nothing for me to do right away. So we met up with Ramon, the teacher in charge of the bilingual program at my instituto, yesterday at 10, and we were immediately launched into the whole introductions, sorting out the schedules type of “first day of school” behavior. Oh, and it WAS the first day of school for the students, too! No wonder they don’t normally have auxiliares like me come into work until the beginning of October, so that they can breathe a bit! But nevermind.

Everyone was SO helpful and friendly yesterday, it made me remember why I liked being here in the first place. It sounds like, in contrast to last year, we’re going to almost be exclusively working with the bilingual program at the instituto, which means that we’ll be working in classrooms, teaching random other subjects, but just doing it in English. Needless to say, that means that all my preparation from last year is likely not going to be used much this year, since I may not be doing very much actual English language teaching. But it’s for challenges and differences like this that I decided to head to another part of Spain in the first place, and I think it’s going to be a very different, but good, experience. And after learning I was a history major, they’ve thoughtfully put me into history and geography classrooms. I was originally signed up to spend an hour in the Physics/Chemistry class, which just made me laugh. I think it’s in everyone’s best interest that THAT didn’t work out due to scheduling!

Another part of our day as teachers is going to be in this afterschool “taller de teatro,” or theatre workshop. It sounds like every grade in the bilingual program (and it’s a new program, so it’s only the first three grades out of six at the school) has a once-a-week 2-hour theatre workshop where they practice language through the expression of it. Or something? It could be really fun, I think, provided I don’t have to do any “show them how it’s done” acting. Haha.

And then I found an apartment! I ended up choosing the expensive one I mentioned earlier, only because I know it’ll make me happy. I moved my stuff in yesterday, which was fun and relaxing – nice to have things in their place. And then I adventured off to find the local supermarket, Mercadona, which is about a 10-15 minute walk. So on a nice day on the walk THERE it’s perfectly wonderful, but the walk back was a bitch. Mental note: learn the bus system quickly!

Nextly, Becky and I met up with Rachel, the girl who taught at this same instituto last year, for a coffee. It was REALLY nice to talk to her, if only because she reassured us that we’d be fine, that the school was really great, that the program was cool, and that the teachers are just stupendous. Actually, I think, being British, the word she used all the time was “lovely,” but I paraphrase.

I also found the libraries here yesterday, which really WAS lovely! I have to go get myself a passport-type photo shortly so that I can get a library card and start borrowing. I can hear you all thinking, “Oh, Kara!” and laughing at me even from across the world, but it makes me happy, so I tune it all out. And seriously, I’m excited.

Oooh, and I went out to the Couchsurfing meeting last night at a bar here in town and met some nice people, although the whole thing was a bit overwhelming because a) they’re all friends already and b) it’s hard listening to 7 people chatter away in Spanish with loud music in the background. But they seem really nice and hopefully will be a group I can go out with occasionally, just to have a group to do that with. And at the very least, it was nice to get out and do something in the evening, as opposed to just sitting around and missing home.

And finally, we met Chris today, the third American that’s going to be working at the instituto this year. He seems quite nice, although on the awkward side (here’s hoping he never reads this!). Maybe he’s just shy and coming out of his shell, so we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Hell, I’ll take all the friends I can get at this juncture! Haha.

Anyway, favorite people in the world, that’s all I have to say for today. Undoubtedly another ramble will follow!

xxx