Estamos en crisis

As everyone is well aware, Spain is currently in an economic crisis, as is the majority of the rest of the world.  What did surprise me was the extent to which the students were aware of the crisis.  On my first day, when students were asking me about the US, they asked me about unemployment in the US and then informed me Spain is currently in a crisis.  It is frequently a comment that is thrown about in the classroom, even in the first few grades of the secondary school.  I guess I haven’t been in a middle school in the US lately, but I would be surprised to hear that “we’re in a recession” is thrown around as much as they use “estamos en crisis” here.

When I made my presentation on Connecticut for the students in their fourth year of the secondary school, I had some pictures of the capitol and one of the capitol building.  I decided to try to impress my students with a fun fact about the capitol building.  When I was in fifth grade my girl scout troop toured the state capitol building and for some reason, I remembered that all of the gold leaf that is on the capitol dome could fit in the palm of your hand.  I whipped out my fun fact, hoping they would enjoy it, but apparently their take away was not that it’s a surprisingly small amount of gold, but that Spain is in crisis and our buildings are covered in real gold.  One of them even said “We’re in crisis, and your buildings are made of gold.”  I reminded them that this building was hundreds of year old and reinforced that it is a surprisingly small amount of gold, but I thought it was funny.  Especially when you consider how much gold is in the decoration of old cathedrals in Spain.

My weekend in Ourense

Part of the Cathedral

This past weekend some of my friends and I traveled to Ourense, which is one of the larger cities here in Galicia.  We were able to take the train and it was only a two hour trip.  It's more inland than Coruna and has a very different feel.  Currently Coruna is one of the largest cities in Galicia, but it developed more recently than the other cities in Galicia so it has a much newer feel.  It is Europe so it still feels older than most parts of the US, but for Spain it is a relatively newer city.  The way I see it, the modernity of Coruna makes it a great place to live, but it makes travelling to the other parts of Spain even more interesting.  Ourense has some really interesting older buildings, there's a Plaza Mayor and a really neat Cathedral. One of the cool things about Spain is that many of the cities have tourism offices where you can go to get information about the best places to visit, a map of the cities and information about the historic sites.  After we checked into our Hostel on Saturday, we stopped by the tourism office to pick up a map and find out the hours of the museums and places we wanted to visit.  Since we arrived to the city too early for lunch but we were all hungry, we stopped at a chocolateria  to have coffee and some churros.  Then we explored the city, most of the museums had closed for lunch by that point but we were able to walk around and enjoy the architecture of the city.  After walking around the city and burning off our churros we stopped for lunch at a really nice restaurant.  The great thing about Spain is that if you take advantage of a menu del dia you can eat very well for a very economic price.  We were able to choose a first plate, an entree, dessert or coffee and water or wine for 10 euro.  The food was delicious, and the region of Galicia we were in is known for its wine so all in all a delicious meal.

Part of the Plaza Mayor

In the afternoon we went inside the Cathedral which was pretty cool.  It's always hard to believe how old some of the buildings are here.  We also went to an exhibit about the Iberos, the pre-romanic people who lived in southern Spain while the Celts inhabited Northern Spain.  It was a very nice exhibit sponsored by one of the banks in Spain.  We wandered around the exhibit and then when it was time for the guided tour to start the tour guide asked the group whether they wanted the tour in gallego or castellano, the tour ended up being in gallego since there were more natives in the tour and we were so tired we weren't sure if we were going to stay for the entire tour.  I actually understand more of the gallego tour than I thought I would, so I guess I've absorbed more at the school than I thought.

The thermal pool in the city

A cool fact about Ourense is that there are natural hot springs there.  The Romans had baths in Ourense by the hot springs and right next to some of the ruins of the Roman baths are newer "termales" thermal pools which are open to the public.  Friday evening after a short siesta at the hostel, we went to the pool in the city which is right next to the ruins of the Roman baths.  On Sunday we took a bus to some pools outside the city which overlook the river and are surrounded by trees and shrubbery.  That was really interesting because you could walk down near the river and see exactly where the source of the hot spring was and smell the sulfur.  It was a really cool experience.  One of the pamphlets we had on Ourense listed Ourense as the second most important thermal city in Europe.  However, when we got home I tried to look up what the most important thermal city was in Europe and Ourense wasn't even on any of the lists I found, so I'm a little perplexed as to what Ourense is the second most in Europe.  Overall it was an amazing trip and I have so many more pictures to upload to facebook but the past few times I've tried to upload them facebook has malfunctioned, so those will be coming soon!

Pools near the river

"La Verguenza del Gallego"

When I first arrived in Spain, the abundance of food at every meal was a little overwhelming.  I had to mentally prepare before any meal I had with Spaniards because I knew there would be many different dishes to try.  Well, I think my stomach has finally adjusted to the Spanish way of eating.  Don’t be too surprised when I come back to the US several pounds heavier, although since I’m in Europe I guess the correct phrasing is several kilos heavier.  The Spaniards like to eat, and they like to eat a lot.  One of the first phrases I learned when I arrived in Galicia is “La verguenza del Gallego” which translates to “the shame of the Galician.”  And of course, it relates to food.  During tapas, the last portion that remains is referred to as “la verguenza del gallego” which of course means someone has to eat it, because waste not want not.  Something tells me the Boehmers would have no problem embracing this part of the Spanish culture.

I usually commute back to A Coruña at 2pm with the other teachers who live there and then I make lunch for myself in my apartment.  Wednesday, however, the teachers had a meeting in the evening which meant I needed to stay in Laxe until 7 as well and would be having lunch here.  Because the majority of the teachers do not live in Laxe, we all went out for lunch.  We went to a restaurant tucked away in an even more remote little village about 12 km away from Laxe.  It was one of the best meals I have ever had.  First they brought us multiple plates to start with that we all shared.  There were 12 of us and they brought us three of each of these plates, so yet again an abundance of food.  The first plate they brought out was a salad which was amazingly simple, but delicious.  It was lettuce, tomato and onion but dressed perfectly with oil.  The next plate was a pasta salad that had a creamy dressing and I believe tuna.  The next plate was an omelet with prawns and mushrooms.  I actually really enjoyed it, which surprised me because I typically don’t care for prawns or mushrooms, but in this omelet it was an amazing combination.  The fourth plate, which was my favorite of the starters, is called fideua and it’s paella, but made with fideo(essentially spaghetti) instead of rice.  Keep in mind these were only the starters.  The choices for the main course were fish or beef, and I had a little bit of difficulty understanding the descriptions of the two beef options which were carne asada or carne empanada.  The teachers tried to help explain them to me, but unfortunately I couldn’t remember my Spanish cooking terminology and they couldn’t remember how to describe the food in English, so I ordered carne asada and just hoped for the best.  It turned out that carne empanada was essentially what we would call chicken fried steak, beef that had been dipped in egg, then breadcrumbs and then baked in the oven.  When the carne asada came out, one of the teachers remembered that it is the equivalent of roast beef.  However this particular dish was cooked in a pot instead of in the oven, so essentially it was a pot roast.  It was served with potatoes that tasted like butter and sautéed red peppers.  In the US I typically don’t eat much beef but this was one of the best things I have ever had.  The beef was so tender it practically fell apart when the fork touched it, and the flavor was amazing.  To think that taco bell calls whatever it is that they put inside their burritos carne asada is a sad joke.  Then for dessert, I ordered the cheesecake and it was a peach cheesecake filling in a graham cracker crust.  Somehow I managed to finish the entire cheesecake and have a café con leche as well.  I think it’s safe to say my stomach has adjusted to the Galician way.  And did I mention it only cost 9€?  Amazing.

The End of ETA

 The Basque region of Spain is a small region along the French-Spanish border.  They have their own specific language and a culture very different from the rest of Spain.  Since 1959 ETA has existed with the goal of creating a separate Basque nation.  The group is responsible for 829 deaths as well as many more kidnappings and injuries.  Initially ETA was blamed for the 2004 train bombing in Madrid, which was later tied to Al Qaeda.  In October, the Basque terrorist group ETA officially announced an end to all of their armed activity.  The group has declared cease-fires before, however all have been broken.  There appears to be hope that this is the end of ETA, since this is the first time they have announced a definitive end to their armed activities and not just a ceasefire.

A few days prior to announcing the end, there was an International Peace Conference in the Basque region attended by Kofi Annan, Bertie Ahern, and other diplomatic figures.  I happened to be with some of the teachers when they were talking about the Peace Conference and they all seemed hopeful that it would mean an end to ETA for good.  ETA signed a declaration ending all of their armed activity therefore ending the violence.  The declaration was supported by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Former US President Jimmy Carter and former US Senator George Mitchell.  ETA will begin talks with the Spanish and French governments as how to move forward in the peace process.  There still is some concern because although this is the first definitive statement calling for an end to violence, ETA has broken cease-fire agreements in the past.  The Spanish Interior Minister warns that the most difficult task lies ahead, which is ensuring that this truly is the end of terrorist activities in Spain.

As I have previously mentioned, Northern Spain is very different from Southern Spain.  Don’t expect to see any Flamenco dancers or to see the Moorish influenced on architecture.  The Moors came to Spain in 711 and conquered the majority of the peninsula.  However, in 722 the Moors were driven from the Christian kingdom of Asturias(the region directly to the East of Galicia) and in 739 the Moors were driven from Galicia.   Frankish forces drove the Muslims out of the region south of the Pyrenees, creating a Christian kingdom in the region north of the Ebro and Duero rivers.  

Muslim Spain didn’t fall to the Christian kingdom until the 13^th century, and in 1492 Isabel and Ferdinand recaptured Granada ending the last presence of Muslim rule in Spain.  For hundreds of years, Northern and Southern Spain had completely different influences.  Northern Spain had the influence of the Celts Southern Spain the Moors. There are four official languages in Spain, three of which are spoken in Northern Spain.  The regions of Northern Spain are very proud of their heritage and are committed to keeping their history alive, which can lead to conflict when they feel the Spanish government does not give them enough autonomy.  In Galicia, there is a lot of pride toward their national language, Gallego, particularly in smaller towns like Laxe.  Some of my students in the primary school are so used to speaking Gallego at home that they forget to speak to me in Castilian, or what we would call Spanish.  One of the teachers told me there are separatist groups for most of the regions of Northern Spain, but none of them have turned to violence the way ETA has.  Hopefully this will be the end of ETA for good, and represent the end of violence in the Northern Spain separatist groups.

The Halloween storm of the century

News of the nor'easter reached Spain, http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2011/10/30/album/1319991225_352169.html.   I was supposed to skype with my parents this past weekend but because of the storm in Connecticut, they had no power, and still have no power.  When I was at school this week, many of the teachers asked how my family was because they remembered I was from Connecticut and they had seen on the news that Connecticut was in a state of emergency from the storm.  I was sure to remind them that a snow storm this early was very unusual, but I am very happy to be in Spain and have power right now.

I'm back!

After a very long hiatus, I am back!  Since I have been teaching for about a month now, I think I can finally fill you all in on my adventures in teaching.  The Spanish education system is set up slightly differently from the American system.  Obligatory schooling only goes up through what we consider 10th grade.  After that students can attend prep school(which is free) to prepare for University, or they can attend a vocational school, or begin working.  The way the obligatory schooling is set up is with the primary school which starts at age 3 and goes through 6th grade.  Then they have secondary school which they refer to as years 1-4, instead of grades 7-10.  I  work with years 3-6 in the primary school and years 1-4 in the secondary school, and I'm with each class about one hour a week.  Depending on which school I'm in, or what teacher I'm with I have a different role.  In the primary school, the English teacher sits in the back of the room and I run the class for an hour.  In the secondary schools, I'm more of an assistant in the class and we're still trying to really figure out my role.

In Spain, there is a push to increase the mastery of multiple languages, and many schools have subjects which are taught in Spanish and English.  In some schools it's music, in others it's physical education and in my school it's art.  I work mostly in the English classes, but I also help in the art class in the secondary school. Fun fact: in Spain, art class also includes geometry.  I haven't taken geometry since freshman year of high school, so I'm a little rusty.  The students work on problems during the class and the teacher typically walks around the class and answers any of their questions, typically in English.  So that's what I am doing as well.  And while I can help them understand that regla is a ruler, I'm pretty useless when they ask me how to find the perpendicular line bisector using a protractor.  So if nothing else, I am definitely brushing up on my protractor skills and the properties of a triangle.

The English classes in the secondary school can be bit challenging.  Being a middle school teacher requires a certain type of personality, and if nothing else my first month has reinforced that it is not a viable career option for me when I return.  They can be very talkative and very difficult, so everyday you have no idea what to expect with them.  And in Spain, deadlines aren't as strictly enforced as in the US.  The first week I was teaching I made a simple powerpoint for the English classes for years one and two in the secondary school about myself.  It was very basic with pictures of my family, my house, my school, all in all maybe 8 slides.  We told the students they needed to bring in something similar about themselves the next week.  Fast forward 4 weeks, we still are not done, in year 2 half of them don't even have it finished yet, and while they presented the majority of them spent more time talking in Spanish.  But now I know, this is not something to continue with.  Live and learn, right?  In year 4 since they have a better grasp of the language, I did a presentation on Connecticut and then in pairs they all picked a state to present on.  Because of the way a few holidays fell, we've only had time for two presentations.  Both were well done, and I was very impressed with the presentation on Massachusetts since it went into a lot of detail about the state.  As I was reading the report they handed in, at first I was very impressed with their almost flawless grammar, but about two sentences in, I realized the grammar was a little too good.  Also, I can spot a wikipedia entry a mile away.  When I found the English wikipedia entry on Massachusetts, I realized it was word for word what they had handed in.  That was a little frustrating.

As frustrated as I get with secondary school, I love working at the primary school!  The students all listen to me for the most part and are very well behaved.  It's amazing the difference between the students in year six of the primary school and year one in the secondary school.  The students in year six are remarkably well behaved, and unlike the students in their first year, they will take the time to struggle through forming an English sentence whereas the others will revert back to Spanish once they get frustrated.  I think part of the problem is that the students in year one in the secondary school are more self-conscious now that they are older, and they would rather speak in Spanish than risk making a mistake in English.  But, the English teacher at the primary school has told me that her students love me, and they always ask when I will be coming to teach.  An even bigger compliment was when she told me that some students who won't participate in her class, participate in mine.  It was definitely encouraging to hear that, because I have no teaching experience so sometimes I feel really lost in front of the classroom.

Speaking Spanish

I have realized that although I am understanding more and more Spanish as the days pass, there is one little problem.  I understand about 90% of what people are saying, but the other 10% is the important specifics.  So I may respond that yes I would love to see a certain movie without knowing I had committed to a specific time and date.  I guess this is what happens when you keep smiling and nodding to almost everything someone says.  I finally have started asking people to repeat something if I don't understand all of it.

There are also many grammar rules which after learning in high school I managed to avoid having to use in college.  In my Spanish literature classes, I didn't have to remember the proper way to describe the weather, which was fine with me since I never really could remember the proper way to say it's hot or it's cold.  Or when to use por as opposed to para.  Or the appropriate way to say "4 years ago I did...."  Or the difference between ser and estar.  But since they are actually phrases I use frequently as opposed to the literary vocabulary I was using, it's forcing me to actually learn them once and for all.

When I've talked to the English teachers at the school, we've agreed that the grammar rules for verbs are harder in Spanish than in English because there are so many tenses, and each pronoun has a different conjugation.  But in English, the pronunciation is harder.  In Spanish the rules of pronunciation are pretty cut and dry, but in English "e" could be pronounced a variety of different ways depending on the context.  For example, take the word "bear."  The -ear is pronounced as the word "air" whereas if you remove the b from "bear," "ear" is pronounced "eer" similar to "beer".  Very confusing.

The last thing which is tripping me up, is the pronoun vosotros.  Vosotros is the informal plural "you" which is a pronoun that is only used in Spain.  Because it is specific to Spain and not used in any other part of the Spanish speaking world, when we learned verb conjugation in middle school the teachers always said not to worry about the conjugation because we would likely never need it.  To address a large group, the formal plural "you" was always used.  Unfortunately, I am now in Spain, and the most appropriate way to address the students is vosotros and I am very shaky as to the proper conjugation.  Another thing that I will have to learn as I go.  After only a little over  2 weeks, I can tell that I have already improved and I am more comfortable speaking Spanish.  When I come back, I will be completely fluent!

Strike 2!

I've been working in the school this week, but only in the secondary school, not in the primary school.  I've mostly been observing classes, helping with dialogue practice in class and discussing with the teachers what we can do during the rest of the year.  On Wednesday, I helped in a 7th grade English class and a 10th grade English class.  In the seventh grade class I introduced myself and answered any questions they had about me or America.  They wanted to know if I lived near Barack Obama, or if I had ever met anyone famous, unfortunately since the answer to both was no, I think they were a little disappointed.  The younger class was much more excited and willing to speak English, but hopefully as time goes by the older students will be more excited about speaking English.

Today when I got to school, I was informed there was another strike, but this time it was the students who were on strike!  It seemed so strange that there is a union for the students and they can decide to go on strike!  A lot of the students still came in today, but there were a few classes where the entire class was missing.  Although it was unfortunate that there wasn't too much to do, it did mean more time to enjoy my cafe con leche.  I asked the teachers what the students wanted from the strike, since it seemed so foreign to me that the students could go on strike.  The teachers joked that their demands were to sleep in and not go to school.  I tried to look online but I'm not quite sure what it is that the students want.  Hopefully the strikes will stop soon and we will be able to continue without being interrupted by a new strike every week!

Climate of Laxe

The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous!  Unfortunately I never really know what the temperature is because everything is in Celsius and I don’t know the conversion to Fahrenheit, but it’s been pretty hot here.  Last Thursday I was able to walk along the beach in the sun with my feet in the water.  This weekend when I was in Pontevedra, I only packed cooler weather clothes and I was dying walking around in jeans and a t-shirt.  Both Monday and Tuesday this week I was able to walk along the beach for a few hours after work, and there have been people in the water and lying out in the sun.  I feel like I’m in the tropics!  The teachers have all been telling me that this is not at all typical of Laxe.  By this point in the year, Laxe is typically gray, cold and rainy.  I’m hoping the weather will stay like this for a while, but Galicia is actually struggling with a drought so they really need the rain.  Maybe it will just rain in the interior of Galicia where they have the drought, and I can have the sun and the warm for a little longer!

First day of school

Monday was my first day of school and it went pretty well.  For starters, since I only work about 12 hours a week I don’t have to go in until 10:30.  And it’s about a 20 minute walk from my apartment, but it’s all right along the beach!   I’ll have every Friday off, and a lot of the national holidays in Spain are Mondays, which will be great for travelling.  I sat in on a few English classes to get a feel for the structure and the level of ability.  It was interesting, since it’s pretty much structured the same way French or Spanish classes are structured in America.  There’s a textbook with exercises, a workbook and an accompanying cd with pre-recorded dialogue for listening exercises.  However, their resources are all from the UK so the language is a little different.  For example, we would say “Do you have a brother?” “Yes, I have a brother.”  An exercise in the book was “Have you got a brother?” “Yes, I have got a brother.”  I have to stop myself from thinking that that is incorrect English, otherwise I’ll correct them and they will all be confused.  Another exchange was “Are you keen on sport?”  Keen is a word I don’t think many Americans have used, unless they went abroad to Australia and things were heaps keen.  Also on the cd, the actors are all from the UK or Ireland so I have to work a little to understand their accents.  I’m worried that if these are the accents the students are used to hearing they won’t understand me.  I’m sure I’ll have much more to say about my time at school after I’ve been working for a little bit.

A weekend in Pontevedra

After a few day hiatus I’m back, and with so much to say.  This weekend one of the teachers invited me to go with her to visit her family in Pontevedra.  The city of Pontevedra is a city of the Pontevedra region of Galicia.  It’s a little under 2 hours from Laxe, and a pretty drive.  I was really lucky that Patricia invited me to go with her because there’s not much happening in Laxe on the weekend, especially since the majority of the teachers who live in Laxe go away for the weekend. 

Old mill

We arrived in Pontevedra Friday afternoon, and Patricia showed me around the city of Pontevedra.  Like most cities in Spain, there is an older part which is always my favorite part to see!  I think I took a picture of almost every old building we walked past, and I’ll be putting those up on Facebook soon.  We walked through the city with two of Patricia’s friends from home who had plenty of questions about America.  One of their questions was about how healthcare worked in the US, and other than that it’s changing (which they already knew), I really didn’t know any specifics.  I should probably brush up on my current events so that I don’t sound incompetent if anyone else has questions.  On Saturday Patricia took me sightseeing a few places near Pontevedra.  We went to a state park with a little river and waterfalls.  

There were even a few really old mills along the river which was neat.  She showed me more old mills along another river, some of which were in ruins, and others which people had turned into summer homes.  In the afternoon we went to see some beaches 20 minutes from Pontevedra.  They were pretty crowded for October 1^st.  While Spain is a more moderate climate than the US in general, the north of Spain is not tropical like the south.

Converted mill

Patricia’s family was very kind to take me in this weekend.  They were very generous, particularly in making sure I had plenty to eat.  There was always so much food, and they were always insisting I eat more.  In Spain, the main meal of the day is the midday meal.  They explained to me that it’s better for the digestion to have the largest meal in the middle of the day, so you have more time to digest before going to bed.  That’s why they have the siesta, so they can rest after their large meal and then go back to work.  I am just solving the mysteries of Spanish customs right and left!  But I have not yet adjusted to this new schedule of eating.  I am used to a smaller meal midway through the day and a larger meal in the evening.  When I have a large lunch, I have trouble eating very much in the evening.  But that is not a valid excuse in Spain.  I try everything and I eat a fair amount of everything, but the Spanish women are similar to Italian women “Eat, eat. You’ve barely eaten anything! Are you sure you don’t want a seventh helping? I can make more food.”  I’ve started preparing for meals the same way I believe an Olympic athlete probably prepares for a competition.  I try to go in with a game plan so that the food doesn’t defeat me.  By the time I return from Spain, you’ll all see me taking on Man v. Food.  Anyway, the food this weekend was delicious!  If I could eat nothing but churros con chocolate, tortilla Espanola and jamon serrano for the rest of my life, I would probably be content.  Although I probably wouldn’t end up living that long on account of the cholesterol.  There was more pulpo (octopus) and it still weirds me out a little that the suckers are on it.  Sometimes I picture that the tentacles are going to suction to my esophagus or something, but I eat a little bit every time anyways.  I also tried Spanish barbeque.  There was grilled chorizo, veal and ribs.  The barbecued ribs didn’t have the same barbeque flavor sauce like the US, but it was still very good. And I didn’t come home empty handed, Patricia’s parents sent me with homemade coffee cake as well as lemons and apples they had grown themselves!

Getting to know Laxe

On Wednesday I felt more comfortable.  I moved into my apartment and unpacked.  I went to the supermarket to buy a few groceries.  I had to buy bottled water because Patricia told me that I should not drink the tap water, and that I shouldn’t even use it to make tea.  So I bought water and a few other groceries.  They even had fuji apples, so I bought a few of those too.  On Wednesday, school ends at 2, so I met up with the other teachers at a café for a glass of wine and then Patricia made me lunch at her apartment.  We had fried eggs, bread, fried potatoes, asparagus and chorizo (Spanish sausage).  It was absolutely delicious! 

Yesterday was a gorgeous day, it was warm and fairly sunny so they showed me some of the beaches nearby.  It was interesting at one of the beaches when you walked along the wooden path on the one side was the beach and the sea, and on the other side was a farm.  The beaches were beautiful and fairly empty since the summer season is over.  I said that I love to collect sea glass in the US and they told me there is a beach “La Playa de Cristales” in Laxe which is full of sea glass and they said they would take me there sometime.  We went to a park that overlooks the ocean and watched the sun go down which was absolutely beautiful. 

Sunset in Laxe

I went back to my apartment after watching the sunset and watched a movie on itunes on my computer and went to bed.  I wasn’t even hungry for dinner since every time I’m with the teachers they’re insisting I eat, eat, eat, so it was nice to be able to go to my own apartment and take a break from so much food. 

Today I’m taking care of some practical things.  I went to the bank to take out money this morning and this afternoon the teachers are taking me to a town a little ways off to buy a cell phone.  I sat in my apartment to write all of these posts so that when I went to the café I would have a fair amount battery life left in my computer.  Each day I feel a little less homesick than they day before and a little happier to be here.  I’m looking forward to when I start working in the school as well as connecting with other Americans.  

My first day in Laxe

My first day in Laxe

Tuesday I went with the teacher to the school.  I don’t start teaching until next Monday, but I went so that I could learn about the school and figure out where I was going to live.  On Monday Mariluz, who picked me up at the airport said I should try to live in A Coruña because the majority of the teachers from the school lived there and commuted every day.  Also, she said Laxe is pretty depressing in the winter.  It would have been nice if they had mentioned this when I asked where I should think about living over the summer so that I could have worked on finding a roommate or apartment.  Anyways, the teachers thought it would be better if I stayed in an apartment in Laxe for the first month and I could work on finding an apartment and roommates in A Coruña.  There’s an orientation next week in Santiago for all of the language assistants in Galicia, so my plan is to talk to people there and find information about renting an apartment and finding roommates.

One of the teachers took me around Laxe to look at apartments, which was very helpful.  I ended up narrowing it down to 2, both with beautiful views of the ocean.  One was very modern and the other not so much.  But the modern one, I would have been the only one living in the building and the older one, the woman who owned it lives here with her family, so I chose the older one.  It’s perfect for me for just a month.  And the woman who owns the building worked in England for 20 years so she speaks English.  Even though I’m trying to speak mostly Spanish, it is nice that I could speak English to her if I needed to.  Her name is even Emilia, which is the Spanish Emily.  There are a few things about the apartment which confuses me.  The stove is gas, which would be fine, I’ve used a gas stove before, but you have to manually light the stove every time you use a burner.  I have not yet used a burner and I’m a little nervous to do it.  Also, I couldn’t get the water warm when I showered today.  So I took a very, very short shower.  Anyways, back to my first day.  As I said, I went to the school but they didn’t really have anything for me to do until the teacher came to look at apartments with me.  As I said it’s a longer day on Tuesday, but it’s broken up by a siesta, and there are different teachers in the morning and the afternoon.  Mariluz teaches in the morning, and Patricia, who showed me the apartment, works in the afternoon so she wasn’t there in the beginning of the day, but she came in later in the morning to take me apartment hunting.  I got a tour of the school in the morning which was practically empty because the teachers in Spain are on “huelga” which is a strike.  A lot of the teachers came in anyways, but the students technically have the day off so there were less than 20 students in school on Tuesday.

We went to a restaurant for lunch where I tried more Galician food, more pulpo, of course, as well as some new dishes.  There was a seafood salad, which wasn’t really my favorite, it was cold seafood in some seasoned oil.  We also had raxo which was some type of cooked meat.  I’m pretty sure it was beef, but not positive.  I really liked the pimientos which were cooked peppers that had been roasted in olive oil and salt.  It wasn’t that spicy at all, which I liked!  We also had tortilla Española, which varies depending on where you order it.  This had more egg, less onion and potato, which I prefer less egg and more onion and potato, and I like a drier tortilla, so not my favorite tortilla, but still good.  We went back to Patricia’s apartment for a little bit before the afternoon classes started since one of the bilingual teachers I will work with is there in the afternoon.  She turned on the tv and they watch a lot of American shows dubbed in Spanish.  Although I have to say Will & Grace is not nearly as funny without Karen’s voice.

After I met with the bilingual teacher, Patricia took me back to her apartment so I could take a nap while she finished the day at school.  After the school day ended we went to a café which has a beautiful view of the ocean.  They had Earl Grey tea and they also have wifi so I came back here to update my blog.  I'm actually the only person in here right now, although since it's 1pm in Spain, I guess that's pretty early for Spaniards.

Later we went to dinner and I tried more food.  We had jamon serrano, which I already knew I liked so I was happy to have that again.  Jamon serrano is very similar to prosciutto.  We also had more calamari, and two types of mariscos (seafood/ shellfish).  We had mejillones(mussels) in a spicy tomato sauce and almarines(clams) in a butter lemon sauce.  I ended up staying at Patricia’s apartment the first night since I hadn’t unpacked anything in my new apartment yet.

The view from my apartment

My arrival in Spain!

I finally have a chance to update everyone about my adventures in Spain.  I arrived Monday in Santiago de Compostela after a very long day of travelling.  The flight from JFK to Madrid was pretty nice, I had an aisle seat and there was nobody in the seat next to me, so I had plenty of room.  The on-flight meal was pretty good too, they even gave you metal silverware!  I tried to sleep on the plane but I was only able to sleep for about 2 hours or so, which was unfortunate since I left JFK at 7pm and arrived in Madrid at 8:30, but the flight was a little under 7 hours which meant I lost the night.

After my much smaller and less comfortable hour long flight from Madrid, I had arrived in Santiago de Compostela.  A teacher from the school was there to meet me, and I spent the day with her in Santiago de Compostela.  It’s a really interesting city because there are parts of it which are very old.  We saw the cathedral where St James the apostle (James the elder) is supposedly buried.  This cathedral is the second most pilgrimaged site in Christianity, and at the Cathedral there were many tourists and pilgrims alike.  There also is the University of Santiago de Compostela so there were a lot of youner people walking around.  The teacher explained to me that in Spain there aren’t campuses like in the US.  The academic buildings are all spread out through the city.  We also went to a gallery that had drawings by Picasso, but they were very different from the typical Picasso and I didn’t particularly enjoy it, also I was very tired at that point.  Unfortunately I was so tired I thought I was going to fall asleep standing up and I wasn’t able to really enjoy properly all that Santiago had to offer. 

We went to dinner around 6:30 in the evening and the teacher was worried that no restaurants would be open since it was so early to eat dinner.  Luckily we found one and had a traditional Galician meal.  I think it’s safe to say everyone would be shocked that I tried everything.  The first thing they brought us was our free tapas, which was calamari, which I already knew I liked, so that was good. Then we had croquettas, which are fried balls that are filled with some sort of chicken and creamy mixture which was pretty good.  Next was pulpo al gallego, which I knew I would have to try sooner or later since it’s one of the signature dishes in Galicia.  Pulpo is octopus.  What I wasn’t expecting was that the suckers would still be on the tentacles when they served it to you.  So that was a surprise, and an even bigger surprise was that I actually enjoyed eating it.  Not my favorite thing I’ve tried but not bad.  The final dish was a revuelta con langostina.  It’s pretty much scrambled eggs with shrimp and a vegetable common in Galicia.  I wasn’t a huge fan of this dish, mainly because I don’t like scrambled eggs.  I like eggs over easy and I like omelets that are filled with vegetables, but I really don’t like scrambled eggs, so I tried the revuelta but I didn’t eat much of it.  I was so tired I ended up going to bed around 9:30.  The teacher I stayed with lives in Santiago de Compostela, so the next morning we drove to the school in Laxe, which is about an hour away.  Most days the school is in session from 8:30-2.  On Tuesdays, it’s a longer day so class starts at 9:30.  We left Santiago de Compostela around 8:15 and it was still dark!  I think I have discovered the secret to the Spanish schedule.  The sun rises here around 8:30 and it doesn’t set until around 9, so it makes sense to wake up later and go to bed later.

Part of Old Santiago de Compostela

 Library for University of Santiago

The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela

Adios America!

This is my first post, and the last post from the US!  I leave Sunday evening from JFK and Monday afternoon I will arrive in Santiago de Compostela.  So far, the biggest struggle in getting ready has been staying below the 50 lb checked bag limit.   50 lbs initially seemed like a lot of space, but I found it's really not.  I thought I had been doing a great job of only taking the necessities (I only packed two pairs of jeans!), and then my suitcase weighed  60 pounds.  Many attempts later and my suitcase is finally down to exactly 50 pounds, which means I will definitely be upgrading to 70 pounds when I return in June.

I'm very excited to go, but still a little nervous.  Monday I will be spending the day in Santiago de Compostela and then Tuesday, I will finally be in Laxe.  I really have no idea what to expect but I will be sure to keep you posted as soon as I have internet!

Laxe