Illness, thankfulness, field trips.

Hello everyone! First let me start by wishing you a belated Happy Thanksgiving. I am currently listening to Christmas music which makes me incredibly happy :)

Obviously I have slacked off with updating my blog, but my justification is a good one. Unfortunately I have been pretty sick recently. I’ve had some form of a cold on and off for a month and half (the majority of the time I’ve been here) but it escalated into something worse. Finally, I had a complete breakdown one recent Monday at school which resulted in me crying like a little child in the principles office, explaining how I was tired of being sick and wanted my mom, and the principle taking my temperature. “OOOh 38 centígrados…”, she said. This resulted in more tears and me replying in Spanish, “I don’t even know what that means!” Well, it meant I had a fever. The result was a week off of work resting, several 30 second visits with my worthless Spanish doctor, and un montón (a whole bunch) of tests for my lungs. I haven’t gotten the final test results, but I have an American friend here who already finished med school and is taking a year sabbatical before doing residency. I told him everything that had happened and he thinks I had pneumonia. I agree. Luckily thanks to a week of doing nothing and some antibiotics I am feeling much better.

Harder than being sick was being sick in a foreign country. I found the medical system supremely frustrating. The doctor quite literally gives you ten seconds to explain what’s wrong with you before cutting you off and making a decision as to your fate. And from talking to other Spaniards, this is not exclusive to my crappy doctor; it’s just the way things are here. I also had several interactions with the “clinica” which is basically the hospital where you have x-rays, blood tests, and MRIs (all of which I had). In order to get the procedure, you have to bring a slip from your doctor requesting it. On one occasion I brought the slip for the MRI rather than the slip for the blood test which I needed in order to get the MRI. So back home I went. At least all of it was free.

All I wanted was to be in my own bed, with chicken noodle soup and saltines (neither of which exist here). It was hard to do all that medical business completely on my own. But in the end I feel better and pretty proud I was able to get through it all, and in Spanish!! Feeling better physically has also helped me feel better mentally. My first two months here have been less than a fairy tale and I would be lying if I said there weren’t times I wanted to pack my bags and head for the airport. But I sort of feel like I’m past my low point, and now that I’m better I can really start enjoying my time here.

My new found health and positive attitude left me very excited for Thanksgiving (Día de accion de gracias), even though I was spending it away from home. My friends Blair and Eimear decided to host Thanksgiving since they have the biggest apartment. The guests included: Blair, Eimear, Me, my two roommates Liz and Melanie, two English girls, one Scottish girl, and five Spanish girls who are our friends. So it was the first Thanksgiving ever for 8 of the 13 attendees! I don’t have a lot of experience in the kitchen but I made a spinach-artichoke dip and a sweet potato casserole and I was pleasantly surprised that everyone loved them! Our table was a big mix of Spanish, English, laughter, and ooohs and aaaws over every tasty dish. I explained the tradition where you go around the table and everyone says something they’re thankful for. But with our mixed guest list, we decided everyone had to do this in both Spanish and English. This was definitely a struggle for some, but everyone managed and we all applauded each other. It was really touching because the Spanish and British girls were so thankful to be invited since they understood what a special day it was for us. I think we (the Americans) were all really thankful to be in such warm company on a day that could have otherwise been a sad one. I did not expect this, but it was an unforgettable experience and one of my most memorable Thanksgivings to date.

In other news, Marta, who I teach with, was sick two days last week which left me teaching by myself. I was nervous but it went really well. Of course with the second graders I spent the first five minutes of class answering, “Where’s Marta?? What happened to Marta???” But once we got that matter settled everything was fine. I did notice, however, that I am starting to be a little more lax with my use of Spanish. We were explicitly forbidden to use a single word of Spanish when we started the job. I understand the reasoning, and I have really made every effort. But when it is time to discipline a second grader who really doesn’t understand, “Stop hitting Pablo with your pencil or I swear I will take you to the principles office!” then I will resort to Spanish. There are other instances where I’ve found it necessary. For example, when a fifth grader didn’t understand the word “against”. How do you explain the word against without just giving the direct translation (contra)? “Well, against is when… like when two teams play each other… or when…. you don’t agree with someone….” Enemies? No. Opposite? No. Different? CONTRA!!! Ok I give up, it’s contra!!!! And just like that you clear up all the confusion.

The other highlight of the school week happened when I got to take my first and second grade classes on a field trip Thursday. Each of the American teaching assistants gets to go on one field trip. I missed the last one to Escorial (which is a Spanish palace of sorts) and I was pretty jealous of the girl who got to go. The vice principal told us on Wednesday that one of us needed to go on the field trip the next day to la granja (the farm). This didn’t really appeal to me right away. But one of the other teachers, Visi, told me in confidence that it is by far the best excursión and that I should try to go. Based on this advice, I said I’d take it. So we all got to school early Thursday to get the kids ready. In the hall, Salma (the future supermodel second grader) ran up to me and exploding with excitement told me, “Audrey, vamos en una excursion hoy!!” (We’re going on a field trip today!) I told her that I was going, too which made her give me a big hug. How exciting. We packed up the buses as the over protective Spanish mothers lined the sidewalk to give a final wave (don’t they have jobs?!?!) and hit the road. I thought it was great to see that Spanish kids are just like American kids when riding the bus: songs are a must. The best song went like this, “Rosa robó pan en la casa de San Juan.” (Rosa stole bread from Saint Juan’s house.) Then Rosa responds, “Quién yo?” (Who me?) And everyone yells, “Sí tú!” and Rosa responds, “Yo no fui” (It wasn’t me.) and everyone yells, “Entonces quién?” (Then who?) Then Rosa yells out the name of another student, “Jose!” and the song repeats using Jose. The funniest part about this game was that the kids thought it was hilarious to pick me just about every other time. So it went like this, “Audrey robó pan en la casa de San Juan.” But I had to reply in English, “Who me?”, “Sí tú!” “It wasn’t me.” “Entonces quién?” and then I’d pick Paula. Of course at the end of her song Paula would pick me again. This continued the entire bus ride. But I didn’t mind.

When we got to la granja the farm group leaders pretty much took the kids off our hands and did all the work the rest of the day. The teachers then went and had a really nice breakfast and coffee. Nooooow I see why this was the best field trip ;) After that we went around the farm and took pictures of the kids doing the various activities. They rode a horse and made apple marmalade and got to pet lots of different animals. But the best activity, I thought, was when they got to watch how a slaughtered pig was hung out to dry and then separated in to all the different types of ham. These kids are between 5 and 7 mind you. They thought it was great. I thought it was hysterical. The group leaders pointed to the giant dead pig and explained, “This part of the pig is where we get jamón Serrano..” and the kids all went, “mmmmm jamón Serrano!!!” They weren’t really fazed by the giant carcass which I thought was kind of cool. Says a lot about the Spanish.

The teachers were also treated to a big lunch which I’d say is the best meal I’ve had here. That’s because all the food came straight from the farm. It was all delicious.

I’ve started going to church again with Eimear who is also Catholic. There is a beautiful Cathedral right by my house and since I live in kind of a swanky neighborhood it’s fun to see all the ladies go in their giant fur coats. There’s something comforting about mass here being pretty much the same as it is at home, minus the English. Well, there are some differences. There’s no music. No big entrance or exit. It’s pretty much a condensed, straight-to-the-point version of mass, except the priest’s sermon is much longer. But I look at it as good language practice. Today he talked about Saint Joseph and the Holy Family. The funny part is that I didn’t pick up that he was talking about Joseph til about a minute in. He kept saying, “Jose” and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out who Saint Jose was. But then he said, “Jose, Maria’s husband and Jesus’ father.” And then came my light bulb moment when I realized I was an idiot and obviously Jose was Joseph. There’s always more to learn!

Sorry for the excessive length of this post. Now that I’m feeling better I will do this more often and with fewer words! I hope everyone is getting in the Christmas spirit!

Besos,

Audrey