A Few Photos

I wanted to take a moment to share a few photos from the past few days in Santiago de Compostela. The clocks have been set back an hour and autumn is officially here. The air is crisp and so are the leaves. Angel and I have been going on walks to take advantage of the good weather and to see the Galician autumn. It is truly beautiful here, I haven't ever seen a place like it before. Moss grows on all the trees and the old buildings as well, with ivy creeping up the sides of homes, like something from a bedtime story really.

 

Park Alameda 

 

Something from a fairytale, I'm sure there are gnomes living inside...

A little blurry, but the trees are covered in moss

 

A little dark (I need to take my real camera around Santiago) but the sunsets here are to die for

Another sunset

 

Spanish gyms...empty at any time of day ;)

 

Stream just outside of town, on the camino de Santiago, for those valiant enough to continue on to Finisterre this is part of the path that awaits them

 

A dilapidated house overrun with ivy on the same part of the camino

Tonight we went to the Museo de Arte Sacro, sacred art, and after wandering around with no idea where to find the museum for a half hour, shockingly enough we found it inside a church. We were greeted by a nun (I love nuns and never get tired of seeing them) who ushered us into the museum. The museum had dictations dating from the XIII century, artifacts from the church and painting and sculptures. The church was in this plaza.

 

Praza da Quintana

 

Spanish equivalent of the phrase 'beer goggles', 'there are no ugly people, just a lack of drinks'

Long Overdue

Let me start by apologizing for not updating in so long, I lost track of time. You know how it goes when you're having fun, and I'm having a lot of fun. I absolutely love teaching. I spend my free time making new lessons and one thing leads to another and before I know it I'm geeking out on sites dedicated to ESL teachers. There are so many resources out there for people teaching English as a second language. I'm also realizing that it so much more than just teaching English as a second language, I am teaching my culture even when that is not the focus of lesson. Let me explain, the Spanish education system is very distinct from the American education system, in some ways it's better but in many ways it's not. I am trying really hard to learn all of the students names, something that would make one of the few, if not the only, teacher at this school to know all of their students names. It's just not one of the priorities in the Spanish schools. I find this concept one of the hardest to grasp, most of the differences I am able to manage without batting an eye, but I refuse to be complacent with this one. I also love to prepare activities for the students to do in class as opposed to the typical or traditional passing of information from teacher to student, lecture style. I am putting so much effort into providing a mix of teaching methods so that each student can feel catered to at some point during lesson. Teaching in this way is another cultural difference, it is not expected that the teachers provide a span of creative lessons, it is more solely lecture based here. Many of the teachers at CPI are working on changing this as they have noticed that the students aren't learning as much as they would them like to, and this in turn has led to an increased effort on the part of the teachers. I think it is wonderful to see that so many of the teachers at this school have noticed on their own that things need to change in the education system and are taking the initiative to do so. I have so much fun with the students when I get to teach on my own, something that happens with more and more frequency each week (but shhhhh, it's technically not allowed with my program, but I'm not complaining because it's the greatest). Last week I had half of the rowdiest class to myself (Isabel kept the other half and this week we swap halves) and I had a few activities planned to have fun with the grammar that they were learning. The students were so goofy and so talkative during the whole class time, but they did it almost 100% in English, I was blown away.

Another part of my job description is to directly share my culture through presentations. Doing this has given me a greater appreciation for where I come from. I've never had any reason to think about all the details or the "why's" of the American lifestyle, but I am so glad that now I do. Right now I am focusing on Halloween, this week and next week as well I have to prepare Halloween activities and presentations. I even get to make a presentation on "How to Carve a Pumpkin" for the Art class. The students are loving learning about American culture along with learning English.

Outside of school I am slowly learning how to live a more "Spanish" life. Trips to the grocery store often need to accompanied by a break for a caña or coffee, depending on the time of day, because Lord knows that the walk to the corner needs to be broken with a stop at one of five cafe options I am blessed with. Going out means we don't leave the flat until sometime after 1am, and a return home before 5am is lucky. Sunday's are for family, but for those of us who live too far from our families, they are for nursing the injury any Saturday night in Spain would cause. 

I am also enjoying being Obama's advocate in Spain. I'm his fan numero uno, and I make sure everyone knows it. I mailed my ballot yesterday and fully expect that all of you will vote as well, even if you vote for the wrong candidate, democracy is the best! Speaking of which, Galicia had their state elections this week, and the people here are not happy with the outcome. The PP, partido popular, won the elections (here every vote is a straight-ticket vote, you vote by party not by individual candidates) and the party is said to favor the rich. This has led to many complaints about the what the future of Galicia looks like, and these complaints are starting to take the form of protests. Since the PP has their office in front of my apartment building I spent awhile enjoying this protest last night. Don't worry, the protests are just chants (warning that the re-election of the PP is a direct line back to the Franco era), and they are peaceful. Just an outlet of frustration.

Protest against the re-election of the PP at my front door (filmed from my window, Angel and I and all our neighbors had our heads out the windows, a bunch of looky lous)

 Another delicious cañas break, this one with lots of tapas

 

 Statue in the Old Town

 Park Vista Alegre, across the street from my new private lessons

Sunrise this morning while I waited for my ride

A Little Adventure

This past week has been packed full of bureaucracy, lesson plans and some adventures. I officially live in Spain now, in case the past month hasn't been any indication of current residence, I have all the paperwork to back it up. I have my official copy of the lease, opened a bank account, got my national ID card and my health insurance card came. This means I can be paid, get sick and for a whole year can legally reside in Spain. It's such a relief to have all of this taken care of and in hindsight one month to get all these documents is not an absurd amount of time to wait. The amount of time spent waiting in a single line in Spain, however, is absurd. I think the biggest relief is knowing I don't have to wait in any more lines for quite some time now.
Work is going so great. I am so lucky to have this opportunity, and I am even starting to feel a little teacherish. I love walking between classes and having the students say hi to me (Hay-low Tee-fony) and on Tuesday a student in 5th grade brought me a candy. My heart completely melted. My first gift from a student, this has to give solidify my semi-teacher status. I have led a couple of classes on my own and it is the best feeling I've ever experienced. The first class I did this in was 7th grade. At the beginning of the class none of the students were volunteering answers, but by the end of the period every hand was up, vying to be picked to offer an answer. I am so proud of how hard they try, and at the same time make sure that I am empathetic to the students that are struggling. It is hard for me to keep up with all the classes I have as each teacher wants me to have something different for the students, slowly but surely I am getting it all straightened out. This past week I also started with the Speaking Club, a club that Isabel had helped set up last year for her friends that want to practice English. It was really fun to have the chance to speak English with adults who are taking the initiative to learn English. Some are doing it for personal improvement and some are doing it to prove to their children that is it an important skill to have. I also began giving private lessons this week. Javier is a biology teacher at the school and has three sons. I will spend four hours a week at their house giving lessons. Each of the boys is so different from the others. The oldest, Xavier, wants all theory and no play. Raul, the middle, wants all play and no theory (I do their lessons together, so it's great they want the same kind of lessons...). The youngest, Xiro (I am almost certain this is spelled wrong), is really timid with his speaking so I introduced him to the wonderful language of Spanglish. He loves this. Though when I paused before translating a phrase for him into English (one with many possible meanings) he got sassy. He asked how long I lived in the USA for, I told him 22 years, he then informed me that it is unbelievable and unacceptable that I could have lived that long in the USA and not know every English word. Such sass for a 9 year old boy, I died laughing. He seemed wary of believing me when I told him that there are many ways to translate the phrase, but ultimately accepted the translation I offered. Next week I will begin conversation lessons with another family. I really enjoy private lessons because I can give the students the attention they deserve.
Friday was a holiday in Spain, Columbus Day, and Angel and I went took a trip to the beach to take a break from Santiago. We went to Finisterre, the end of the world. It is the point that was originally believed to be the end of the world, the western most tip of Spain. It is ironic and was unplanned that we would go to the "end of the world" on the day that celebrates the discovery of a "new world". The town was quaint and the views from the lighthouse, on the tip of Finisterre, were breathtaking. It is no wonder this point was once believed to be the end of the world. It was quite the hike to reach the end, so it was no wonder they stopped there and deemed it the end of the world. Those explorers had to have been tired from so much walking, I know we were. But good news, there IS a bar at the end of the world. It's worth the walk.

 Finisterre

The Atlantic looking beautiful. This is at the base of the hike to the tip, which is in the background

The end of the world.

Owning it.

It's no wonder they thought there was nothing beyond this point. However, I'm thrilled that in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue...

Week One, a Hard Lesson Learned

This past week I began my new job, and I simply love it. There is no elegant way to put it, I am made to educate. The students are so quirky and so excited to have me there, I honestly couldn't tell if I was more excited my first week or them. I have the opportunity to work with five different teachers in all different levels and subjects. The school, CPI Plurilingüe dos Dices, teaches preschool through sophomore year, it's quite an age range, but it is in a really small town and many of the students don't even live in Rois. The school is classified as a multilingual school, which means the students are taught multiple languages through regular courses and language courses. For example, I help in computer, technology and arts courses because these are taught to the students in English. I also help in English language courses, where the students learn the grammar and syntax of the English language. The other two main languages at the school are Gallego and Spanish, with courses being offered equally as in English. There are also French classes, though I am not certain that there are regular courses offered in French or if it is just the language courses. Regardless, this means some of these students are studying four languages in a rural, public school in Spain. While Spain not have everything perfect in its education system (what country does), this is an astonishing opportunity for these students. For those of you who are interested here is a link to CPI Plurilingue dos Dices, it is written in Gallego, but manageable to navigate.
My first week of classes consisted of getting to know the students, I work with seven different grades, in twelve different classes, in five different courses. This means I also spent the first week trying to understand my schedule. I don't believe that all auxiliares have schedules like this, but I am working in a rural school. I talked one-on-one with each of the students, asking them questions about their hobbies and families and favorite futbol teams. In the English classes I gave a presentation and asked the students questions afterwards to test their comprehension. My presentation was about life in Idaho, our customs, holidays and activities. I spent a lot of time editing and preparing the presentation because I am really proud of where I have come from. So of course something would go wrong. I was flipping through the slides in one of the classes, feeling pretty damn good about my presentation as I had done it twice without a hitch, and arrived to the slide about Halloween. As I finish explaining dressing-up, trick-or-treating and pumpkin carving I motion to the slide. In what felt like slow motion, as I gracefully turn and emphasize the pumpkins with the palm of my hand, I see that this slide show has uploaded the original photos, somehow. Projected on the white board was this gem of a pumpkin, so maturely carved by old roommate Arius.

Nothing says English is fun and American holidays are the best like a giant pumpkin penis. For those of you wondering how I fixed this problem, I basically ran away from it. "And we also carve pumpkins (motioning) like these...(click) And on Thanksgiving we get together with our families." Giant fail. Because I showed a group of 12 year olds a giant penis on my first day. I checked all the slides before giving the presentation in other classes, I learned my lesson the hard way. (cue laughter)

Apart from this glitch, my first week was fantastic. The students are so smart. I tried to trick them with my questions because every class was getting the answers right, even the 5th grade class, but the students remembered every detail. There was one boy, in 5th grade, cute as a freaking button, wearing a sweater vest and button up shirt, that came with a whole list of questions for me. (The teachers all told the students to come with a few questions for me) He went down the list and asked me every question: "Do you like ice cream?", "Do you like Galicia?", etc. He wrote down my answer for every question. My heart absolutely melted when I saw what he was doing.

Upstairs in the secondary building (seventh-tenth grade)

Outside the secondary building, to the left is the main building and up the stairs across from it is the elementary and preschool building

To the right of the building is a free area, for P.E. and recess 

Today was the orientation session for all the auxiliares in Galicia. There are about 400 people working in positions like mine all over the state of Galicia, though they are not all with my program. There were people for English, French, Portuguese, German, Italian and Chinese. And the session was so long and boring. They told us how to find a flat, I've found two, how to apply for a NIE, I'm just waiting for my hard copy, and finally how to open a bank account, this was what I wanted to learn. It was the last part. I believe that most of the people there were in the same boat as me. It sounded like most people had flats and many are from Europe so they don't need a NIE. The govenor of Galicia came, which was quite the to-do, he spoke for a few minutes and then left. Isabel informed me that elections are in two weeks in Galicia, so it was only appropriate that he would show face at the orientation that is directed at improving the future of Spain.

On that note, I will let you know how the Spanish feel about Romney's comment. He made headlines here with this quote appearing in most papers and on the broadcasts: 

“España gasta el 42% de sus impuestos en el Gobierno. Nosotros gastamos también el 42%”, ha dicho el exgobernador de Massachusetts. “No quiero seguir el camino de España”.

 The teachers at CPI informed me that Spain also does not want to be like Spain. They would also like their nation to have money and leave the crisis, just as we would. I choked when I heard Romney say this (from laughing), I was not sure how it would be received by my new Spanish friends, but alas they are too smart to pay attention to Romney and just say "No shit Sherlock, who would want to be this broke?" 

Finally, this week Angel and I found the new best park in Santiago.

I did this maze, without getting lost

Another beautiful sunset in Santiago

Santiago, a mini-Granada look alike. And now I want to be in Andalucía again...

Ode to la siesta, kittens and cañas

This past week has been full of rainy days that have invoked the need to not play outside a lot. That's right, I have done nothing too thrilling since the last update (hence the lack of updates). The rainy days have, however, inspired me to master the art of siestas. And trust me, I've mastered it.  I have caught up on all the sleep I lost during the first couple of weeks in Spain, and have stocked up on a little extra, just to be safe. This Monday I begin my job and will be siesta-less most days of the week, not all good things can last forever...at the same time some good things come in small packages.

Meet Toxo (toe-show), the newest and cutest addition to out flat. Andrea has always wanted a kitten and Angel, Pedro and I are used to having pets, so she adopted this little ball of adorable. Toxo arrived earlier this week and has been getting a little more feisty each day. I am convinced he is the smartest kitten on this side of the Atlantic, he understands four languages after-all. We are all loving the heck out of this fella.
Friday evening I went out to explore SC with Angel. We began at Parque Alameda to enjoy views it has to offer of the cathedral and to dar un paseo, the park has so many beautiful views and offers access to all areas of the city. So far I haven't found a place I enjoy more, though the Praza do Obradoiro is giving the park a run for its money. Here is link to the history of the park, it's fascinating, and the link is a quick read. Go ahead, give it a click, then you may scroll.

 

View from park (I know I've shared a similar photo, but this one is on a cloudy day, very different)

Getting fresh with a famous dead Galician (validated, remember this is Friday night)

Angel took a different approach to bonding

Oak tree walkway 

Looking out from the park, opposite direction of the cathedral

After the park walk, Angel and I went to the cathedral to see what it was like inside. To be perfectly honest, it was a disappointment. The true beauty of the building is truly the outside. We do plan to attend a service at the cathedral one day to see the botafumeiro, the famous thurible of Santiago de Compostela (though it is only done on special days of the year, so we have to wait awhile). Housed inside the cathedral are the Codex Calixtinus. We were able to see the Codex, and I must admit that there is nothing as powerful as a really old book. It was fascinating to see the documentation of the history of the pilgrims, from an era that is so far past it is a history forgotten in and of itself.

Wikipedia has better photos, I bet they were allowed to use flash

A traditional peregrino 

Following our visit to the cathedral, Angel and I felt inspired to partake in an act that is just as Spanish as old catholic churches and coffee breaks. It was time for a caña. I may also take a moment to mention this is one of the best things Spain has to offer. A light beer, served in a wine style glass, with a small dish of melt-in-your-mouth olives. This particular caña break took place in the Praza do Obradoiro, in the shadow of the cathedral. 

Best view in town.

 

After our caña break we went to one more park and arrived just in time to see a breath taking view of the sunset. From on top of an old above ground, stacked cemetery (we assume this is what it was, but there were no clear signs) we watched the sun set over our new city. I am loving SC, and so excited to start my new job in a couple of days.

Some Spanish Suerte

The past few days have brought me a little bit of Spanish suerte, por fin. I went to see the apartment that Isabel had recommended to me and I loved it and signed. I live with three people, two guys, one from Portugal (Pedro) and one from the state of Alicante (Angel), the girl is from Galicia. I live close to the Plaza Roja, in downtown. The location is great, I have stores right by the flat and bars and coffee shops all around. Last night I went with the guys to a jazz bar, decorated with photos of the Bronx, Obama and MLK, to listen to Andrea (she sings in a jazz band and is absolutely wonderful). I have a good feeling about this place, if I can make it at four nights here then it will be the longest I've lived in a place since I arrived (I don't anticipate problems). Hopefully this link works and you can see where my apartment is in Santiago de Compostela (use the street view to see my street) Location of flat
Yesterday I went to my school to meet some of the teachers, but en route Isabel and I had some bad luck.
Isabel was driving me to school on a country road and some old man was on his scooter looking at his watch and swerving. She stopped, about 50 feet from where we saw him (stick shift so it stops on a dime), she honked honked honked, nothing. He ran right into the car, flipped on the hood. Like a movie. The old man was obviously in shock, I had no idea what to do. Some local guy came out and called the cops and an ambulance, the ambulance took forever. Meanwhile the guy's daughter showed up, I guess she was going to visit her dad and see how he was doing. She saw his scooter in the road and starting yelling at him for being riding the scooter when he knows he can´t be driving anymore. He was planning on going to Santiago, about 20 minutes on a highway, on his scooter. Long story short we had to go to the police department and give a testimony and arrived 2 hours late to school. What a pain, and what are the chances. I have now had a variety of unlucky experiences in Spain, but my goodness they make for good stories.

 

Igrexa (the old church in Rois)

Once we arrived at the school all was well, I met the teachers and some of the students. I am so excited to start work and feel so lucky that I have been assigned to this school. It is in the middle of nowhere. I will have to take a bus to a different town and from there get a ride to the school from a teacher. But the area is beautiful.

Rois (a block from Main Street, across from the church)

 

Main Street (there are few cafes and a pharmacy as well)

 

View from the school (no picture of the school yet, there were kids playing out front and I wasn't sure if it was ok to take a picture, most likely it's fine because hey, this is Spain)

 

Tonight is the inauguration party of our flat and we doing it in typical Mexican style, fajitas and tequila. I am looking forward to my year in Spain and getting to know Santiago better.

 

My new address is:

Tiffany Hippe

Rúa de Alfredo Brañas No 27, 2B

Santiago de Compostela

A Coruña 15701

España

 

And there is still more than enough room for visitors here, our new couch folds out into a bed. 

Besos.

La crisis: Robbed Spanish Style

I wanted to take a moment to update everyone on my current situation, though do not worry as you read this because I am fine now. My first flat was a fail. As it turns out the guy who I rented from had no right to rent out the room. I found this out on the third day in the flat. Alex, the other guy who moved in the day after me, and I got a visit from the landlady. A very angry visit. She showed up at the door spouting off angry Spanish looking for Adrian, the guy who we rented from. She said she had been calling trying to reach him as he had been avoiding her, I assume he never paid his rent, and that she wanted to see him right away. Alex said that Adrian had left and that we were living there now. This did not help matters. She informed us that Adrian had no right to allow us to live there and that everything had to go through her, and that she had never received our money that we were told she had received. She said we could stay if we signed the lease with her and etc. After she left Alex and I talked, mainly about how stupid we felt for not having doubted that Adrian was anything less than honest. I saw no difference in the way he rented his room than how I rented rooms in Boise, my roommates almost never met their landlords, I was the middle man and took their money, gave them leases to sign and that was that. Alex said the same thing, there was nothing that made him feel like Adrian was going to be robbing us.
This brings us to Diego. Diego already lived in the flat and was roommates with Adrian. He was there when I went to look at the flat and knew that I was going to move in. On my second day he asked me for my deposit and half the month´s rent. I told him Adrian had it (Diego was gone over the weekend and I just assumed him and Adrian hadn´t met up yet) Diego said no problem, he went to call Adrian.
This problem would not be a real issue if I had decided that I wanted to stay in the flat. The landlady had said that I could and she knew Alex and I had been robbed equally as her. Not our fault. The problem is this, the flat turns out to be infested with fleas. Yeah. I don´t think I itched this much when I had the chicken pox. I thought that I got them from the hostel as that can easily happen, but when I woke up to new bites on my face yesterday I knew it was from my lovely new flat. Damn. I was lucky though, I also woke up to an email from Isabel.
Isabel is my new boss. She was welcoming me to Santiago and said she wanted to do whatever she could to help make my time in Spain perfect. I am sure she did not expect the email she got back. Last night she came and got me from my flat. She spoke to Diego and it went more or less like this:
-Hey, you rented this room illegally to Tiffany didn´t you?
-Excuse me? No...I mean we are going to do a lease switch with the landlady...
-The landlady came last night and was furious with you and Adrian, she didn´t know that you were doing this. How is that legal?
-Bueno...pues...nada....she needs to be smarter and realize that she was getting robbed by Adrian, I´m an honest guy and had nothing to do with it, Adrian robbed me too. He won´t answer his phone and I can´t the money from him.
It went like this for awhile, Diego was hurt that I was leaving and said that the reason I didn´t feel comfortable there was because I didn´t even try to be his friend and spent too much time in my room (I lived there 3 days and he was gone 2 of these days, the 3rd day I moved out...) I can´t know for sure whether or not Diego had anything to with this, but I am obviously not the only who needs to ´be smarter' as Diego said he was robbed too. And Alex was robbed. And the landlady. Adrian fooled us all and that´s that. Isabel said that situations like this have become more common since the crisis. People can´t pay thier rent and they do illegal transactions and disappear. She brought me to her home and I am staying here until I find a different place, tonight I am going to a flat of a girl that she knows.
Overall I am lucky that I have spent this much time abroad in my life, studying, traveling, living, and I have never been robbed. It was bound to happen eventually. And it definately could´ve been worse. I consider this a lesson learned. And I fully appreciate the miracle of hydrocortisone cream and a well timed email.
I will get this Spanish lifestyle down sooner or later.