Teaching has been going really smoothly, besides the one class period where I accidentally taught the students the difference between some select words for insulting women. Anyways, I have had a Halloween lesson that I have been presenting in class, with four slides. The first one is titled "Halloween Costumes" and has a bunch of pictures of children dressed up. The kids here are surprised that children in the US don't just dress as scary things, but as princesses and superheros and fictional characters as well. The next slide is "Halloween Food," and I have pictures of candy corn, caramel apples, a pile of candy and cookies that look like eyeballs. I explain that in the United States, during Halloween we like to make food that looks like gross things that you wouldn't normally eat, like fingers and eyeballs and spiders, etc. The next slide is titled "Halloween Traditions," and has pictures of Halloween decorations outside someones home, a haunted house, and a corn maze. It always takes a while to explain what a corn maze is, because it is so different than what they've heard before. And the last slide is "Carving Pumpkins." I have a picture from last year of Brittany, Cassy, and Brayden carving pumpkins (Brayden is VERY excited), and the photos of different types of jack-o-lanterns. After explaining this last slide, I hand out a word search worksheet and explain all of the vocabulary on it, like bat, cobweb, coffin, witch, etc. The hardest one is "pillowcase." First, I have to make sure they know what a pillow is in Spanish. Then I have to explain how it has fabric around it. Once they understand that, I have to explain that in Spain, both ends of a pillowcase are open (The first time I tried to put a pillow into a pillowcase here, it fell right through and I was really confused), but in the US, one side is closed, like a bag. And THEN I have to tell them that some children in the US use pillowcases as bags for their candy. It's a long and tedious process.
Something else quite noteworthy is the fact that I made a grilled cheese sandwich last week for the first time since coming to Spain. I had forgotten just how AMAZING a grilled cheese sandwich was, and so when I ate it, I was SO EXTREMELY HAPPY... it's a comfort food for me, and thank God my friend Olivia mentioned it to me so that I could realize that it is possible to make here!
I have also started going to a Spanish/English conversation group that is on Tuesday evenings... basically people who want to practice their Spanish or English come to the group and we just talk to each other for a couple hours in each language. It's really fun! I get to meet new people, which is something I really enjoy. Also, the other language assistant at my school ended up going back to England this week because he was homesick, but I guess we already have a new one! A guy from Iceland, who I heard looks like he could be 35 and has a 1 year old daughter. I dont know what a 35-year-old would be doing as a language and culture assistant, but perhaps the economy is really bad in Iceland? No idea. Haven't met him yet, but hopefully he's nice.
Also, I got paid today!!!! Yesssss. And Fran talked to me today about coming to a meeting of the kids at my school who are going to be taking the Trinity University exam (and thus need to know English) so I can meet their families and offer my services of private English lessons... I really hope this works out!!
Things I am looking forward to:
1. A skype-wine date I'm having with my besties from home, Claire and Julie, on Sunday morning. (I know, you are asking me why I am having a wine date in the morning... this is because Claire is in Korea and so it will be 3pm for her, and Julie is in the US so it will be 11pm on Saturday night for her. I get the morning this time because last time I had the afternoon. It's okay, we forced Julie to drink wine with us last time when it was the morning for her, haha)
2. A barbeque with my Spanish friends on Saturday
3. The potential for some private classes soon
4. Heading to Scotland and Ireland in early December
5. Christmas dinner with my American friends, and then heading to London and Belgium for the break.
Yay!
But that's about all that's been happening here lately... I hope you all are doing well! :)
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