A Week in Review...

...kind of. I will make note of the important things that happened in my week, because there were several!

1. I started my service learning job on Tuesday! I work at Colegio Divina Pastora, which is about a 10 minute walk away from the Fund. It is a school for 2 year olds up to 16 year olds, and there are about 600 kids in it altogether I believe. On Tuesdays I go twice a day, in the morning for an hour and the afternoon (after siesta) for 2 hours. My job is to help 9 year olds (I believe they are 4th graders) with their English! These little spanish kids are probably the best kids ever. When I walked into the classroom and the teacher introduced me, they looked so excited to have me there. I explained a little bit about myself in Spanish, and then they asked me questions in English and I responded in simple English. They were so enthusiastic about my presence, it made me feel so welcome. One boy didn't believe that I was 20 years old...I guess I just look that young? And another boy kept staring at me during class and I would smile at him and he would blush and look away...sooo adorable haha. And they all waved and said adios to me when I left! I wish I could spend more time there during the week, but what can you do. Next week I get a list of all the students' names and they will come up to my desk one at a time and I will talk to them a little bit in English to get to know them better. One thing I noticed about the teaching style here is that they are much more strict with young kids than in the US. One of the teachers I worked with like never smiled and yelled at her kids, and the next professor slapped a girl's wrist because she either didn't have something or did something wrong, I couldn't tell. During my morning shift, I had to keep from laughing so hard because the kids listened to the Michael Jackson song "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" through their headphones 5 times in a row, and they had a sheet with a lyrics in front of them and they were singing along...funniest thing ever. And they loved the song too, they kept asking to play it over and over...

2. I met with my intercambio for the first time! Her name is Marcela Blanco, she's 26 years old and basically the coolest person ever. She's actually from Costa Rica, but she has been in Toledo for a year and a half. We met in the Plaza de Zocodover and walked to a cafe, where we both learned we are really big on tea (I had jasmine, like how Daddy makes at home sometimes...mmm). I am meeting her again on Monday, and she is taking me to a Moroccan tea house! So for the first 30 minutes we talked in Spanish, just getting to know each other, and then for the next 30 minutes we switched over to English. She said my Spanish was very good, but I really think her English was way better than my Spanish was haha. She said that if I ever wanted to hang out or go shopping or go to Madrid, she would take me, and that I should never hesitate to ask her if I have questions about anything. Needless to say, I think we will have a good relationship throughout my semester here!

3. Some friends and I booked flights to Alicante, Spain for the first weekend in March! The tickets were super cheap, and Alicante is on the SE coast of Spain...maybe it will be warm enough to check out the beaches by then? I am excited to go out and see the different parts of Spain, regardless. I am sure I will have a long post about Alicante when I return from that trip.

4. Yesterday, me and 4 friends finally checked out the big mall in Toledo called "El Centro Comercial Luz del Tajo." We took the bus (my first time having to take it here) which wasn't too difficult to figure out, except for that it felt like it dropped us in the middle of nowhere haha. We walked for a few minutes and then saw it so no big deal. It looked pretty much like your typical mall, and all the trendy clothing stores were on the second floor. I'm beginning to pick out a few favorite Spanish retail stores, like Zara, Mango, and Sfera. I bought a pair of skinny jeans at the insistence of my roommate...I think I will get used to them eventually. All the Spanish women here have a thing for skinny jeans and tall boots. I feel like I am on my way to coming away from Spain with a heightened sense of fashion, which I am rather happy about. After shopping for a few hours, we decided to get dinner at the mall since we haven't eaten out while have been here yet. We go upstairs to the restaurants and what do we find? An American restaurant! It was called Hollywood Grill or something like that, and the menu outside the restaurant is what drew us in. Pictures of burgers and pancakes and just good ol' fashion USA cuisine. All the restaurants didn't open until 8 for dinner though, so we shopped around some more and were right there when they opened. It is so interesting to see the differences in service and portion size between Spain and America though. If you ask for a few more minutes to choose what you want, the waitress doesn't come back for like 30 minutes. Good thing people don't tip here. And the portion sizes were very noticeably smaller than what we would see at home too. It was ok because I felt satisfied after the meal, but not overly stuffed like I normally would. And the concept of splitting the bill 5 ways based on what people ordered was very difficult to translate to our waitress. I feel like when friends in Spain go out, one person might pay for everything and the next time another person will get the bill, and so on. It seemed like our waitress had not had anyone ask to split the bill before...que interesante.

Well that's pretty much my thoughts on this past week! Next weekend there is the Carnaval here, which has been explained to us as basically a Halloween. At the mall, we bought cheap masquerade masks to use as our costumes lol. That should be an experience. I've been feeling a little under the weather for the past couple days, but hopefully I will feel a little better in the morning. Tomorrow will consist of homework...wheeee.

Hasta luego!

Angie