Life Goes On in Bilbao

I've started getting into the swing of things at school. I'm finishing up with my "introduction" week, and I'm getting really bored of talking about cows, cheese, and the seasons of Wisconsin. In some of my classes the kids won't say a word, and it's hard to get them involved.

Another issue I'm having is that the level of English falls within a huge range, even in my highest level classes. For many of my kids, they moved to Spain from another country, such as China, Bolivia, the Sahara, Belarus...so for many of them, they are trying to learn English without having a firm grasp on Spanish. For many that come from a Spanish-speaking country, they have only had a few years of English. This is a challenge because some of the kids have absolutely no idea what I'm saying, no matter how many times I repeat or how slowly I talk, and others I feel like are understanding me perfectly.

I'm also starting to get to know a lot of the faculty. The other day, my tutor pretty much dropped me off in the staff lounge with a cup of coffee, and told her colleagues to just speak Spanish with me so I could practice. She then left the room. I was then bombarded with question from 5 teachers, at the same time. Good practice, eh?

I also managed to successfully open a bank account, which was the last thing that I had to cross off my list, after finding an apartment and getting a residency card. Now I can get paid (and hopefully on time!). It was quite the mission, as the first bank I went to told me I couldn't get an account until I had my NIE, which I will receive in November...which would be bad news, because I would like to get paid, and soon! But, as most things in Spain, I just went to a different branch of the (same) bank, and had no problems. I would also like to mention that I did this on my own. I know that most of my fellow assistants are used to this, but since I came here with Matt, we have done a lot together. So it felt like an accomplishment that I could do this on my own, in Spanish.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, we did find something to do on our day off. Matt, Amy, and our friend Andrew took a bus an hour to Haro, in La Rioja, the wine-producin

g region of Spain. We figured we could walk around the town, take a vineyard tour, and drink some delicious vino. Well, 2 out of 3 isn't too shabby. By the time we got there at 11, all of the bodega tours were full. Who would have guessed? But we still wandered around the vineyards and ate at a sweet restaurant. We split a bottle of Crianza and a platter of jamón serrano, fries, and a delicious meat treat that we had no idea what it was. So I would say that it was a very

successful trip.

Not very much planned for this weekend, as we're trying to save $ until we get paid in November. Once that happens, more excursions will commence.

Originally published 10.14.2010