Getting Accustomed...

Pictures and notes from the students :)

This week, I've really begun to enjoy my time at the school with the kids. I'm now receiving hugs in the hallways, they're writing letters and drawing pictures for me, and when I walk into a room, they all scream and wave, as if I'm some sort of celebrity. This week was the first time that I had recess duty and you should have seen all of the students that came up and surrounded me. At one point, I think there were about 25 kids around me at once, asking questions nonstop (I think the most popular question is "What's your favorite color?") and sharing their snacks with me.

On Tuesday night, we made another one of those Nutella/Peanut Butter wafer desserts. Don't ask me why. I think I've eaten an equivalent of 2 whole Nutella jars since I've been here. We refrigerated it for a couple hours and ate it after dinner. It was so so delicious. 

Wednesday at school, I went with the art teacher again and helped the students create some Easter eggs. The art teacher asked me to do an art lesson after Semana Santa so I am now accepting all ideas...

At the end of the day on Wednesday, I went with the art teacher again to hear her middle school students present their art projects in English. This was one of my favorite things about this week and I enjoyed this age group way more than I thought I would! The students were full of questions after I introduced myself and their English-speaking skills are obviously more advanced than the elementary students, so they asked me questions in English and I responded in Spanish. They were so much fun to talk to and they weren't as crazy as those younger ones can be sometimes :) Their presentations were entitled "My Sweet Corner" and they read a paragraph that they wrote in English about their favorite place in Caceres. 

There are a few other practicum students in the school that I'm at and I'm not sure if they're in high school or college, but three of them asked me if I would help them with their English a couple times a week starting the week after Semana Santa. Of course I said yes, and the money I'll earn from that will pay for my own Spanish tutoring that I mentioned in my last post, so it works out well! Also starting the week after Semana Santa, I will be helping two 7 year old sisters with their English as well. They are the twin daughters of one of Lola's friends. I guess all of this afternoon tutoring  means that I won't be taking as many siestas or eating as much Nutella. 

Paige and me before the Flamenco show

The weather yesterday was beautiful: 70 degrees and sunny. I took a walk to the park nearby our piso and started reading one of the Spanish books that I got from the school library. After lunch, Paige and I booked a one-day trip to Rome (we found a pretty good deal and we'll be spending April 13th in Rome). We went to the old town of Caceres where we walked around and took some pictures. I came back to the piso and went to a concert with Lola and Susana. We went to see my supervisor's son play guitar and the son's girlfriend play cello. However, we couldn't stay for the whole thing. We left at intermission to go to a Flamenco show, where we listened to three incredible Flamenco singers sing songs about Semana Santa. Here's a video that I recorded of one of the singers: 

Today was another good day at school. I'm finally starting to feel more and more comfortable with my Spanish and speaking to both the students and staff. In the last period of the day, we were on the internet in class and using a projector. Once the lesson was over, one of the 3rd graders wanted to show the rest of the class his own "Harlem Shake" video on YouTube. Here it is: 

 Tomorrow will end my first full week student teaching in Spain and it will also be the beginning of Semana Santa and my 10-day vacation. On Saturday, I will be going to Madrid to meet up with my friend Rachel. She is visiting Madrid with a group from Iowa State and Saturday is their last day there so we are going to spend the afternoon together! On Sunday, my friend McKinzie, who is studying abroad in Wales this semester, is coming to Madrid with a few of her friends and we are going to hang out until Wednesday. Then I will come back to Caceres. I'm not sure if I will blog tomorrow or while I'm in Madrid, so it might be a while before you hear from me again!

Hasta luego :)