Un día en mi vida española
What does the life of an Auxiliar de Conversación look like? Please, allow me to explain.
6:50 a.m.-- wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey!7:40 a.m.-- walk to the metro, climb 12,435 stairs to get to my train, sweat profusely in my winter wearThat's only an exaggeration by about 1,203 stairs. 7:50 a.m.-- take the metro to the bus station, try to get the sweat situation under controlSeriously, what is wrong with me and why am I the only one sweating like I just ate 10 ghost peppers?8:10 a.m.-- catch the bus to my villageThankfully, the buses are very nice and comfortable... more like charter buses than inner city buses.This is when I pray no one tries to sit next to me and comfortably fall back asleep. Don't worry, I keep my bag gripped tightly in my lap... Not looking to experience the Spanish version of my Malaysian incident. 8:50 a.m.-- arrive at school, wade through a noisy and overwhelming sea of "Hello, Air-ee-ka!!!!!!!!" as the kids tackle me9:00 a.m.-- class begins (either English or Science, depending on the day) and changes every 45 minutes10:30 a.m.--breakfast/playground timeThis is provided to the teachers... fruit, yogurt, sandwiches, bread, tea, coffee, cake. It's really quite nice!11:00 a.m.--more classes12:30 p.m.--recess for the kids, computer time for meHere I have essentially two hours to do nothing.1:45 p.m.-- lunch time--usually a variety of fish or soup or other things I've never seen before, and therefore do not try.I told the kids that I can remember eating lunch at 10:50 a.m. when I was in school and one student fainted from pure shock. I told him not to be embarrassed because the same thing happened to me when I found out lunch begins at TWO O'CLOCK P.M. here.2:30 p.m.-- more classesMy duties in class vary. Sometimes I take kids one on one and talk with them and work on grammar, sometimes I give presentations to the class, sometimes we play games that I make up and other times I don't really do anything other than correct the teacher's pronunciation as she gives a lesson.4:00 p.m.-- bus back to Madrid... sleep the entire way again.Still haven't figured out this timing...5:00 p.m.-- arrive back home and run or fart around on the computer, usually scanning the web for deals on flights and more information on travel hacking9:00 p.m.-- watch Spencer prepare a marvelous dinner (okay, sometimes I hand him spices and pour the wine) and eat while watching Modern FamilyI would have eaten my fist by this time in the States, but it's actually starting to feel normal! Oh, and on the weekends, an early dinner is 10 p.m. That's what time our reservation is for tomorrow. Ayy yi yi.9:45 p.m.-- shower BEFORE dishes... because we are on a very limited supply of hot water here and it took several cold showers to figure out this was a better way of doing things. Some people learn faster than others, okay?10:00 p.m.--dishes10:30 p.m.-- buenas noches, mis amigos.