After a long, almost full day and night of travel, I arrived in Madrid with Miken (my friend from Michigan State). It was great to be back in Madrid, three years after my study abroad here. That was until none of my bags arrived with me! It turned out better this way so that I could help Miken with her bags up and down the stairs, in and out of the metro to our hostel. Mine arrived the next day, delivered to the hostel and it turned out to be better than carrying them.
At the hostel we met Kathryn, another Auxiliar (teacher in the program) from Athens, Georgia. We spent then next 3 days and nights in Madrid, adjusting to the time, visiting spots I used to frequent during study abroad, eating churros and experiencing some night life. We also got to see a fútbol game....the three of us ended up going to see Club Athlético Madrid play Deportivo Huelva with other people at the hostel, a girl from Austria and a guy from Germany. It was something I did not get to do during my semester abroad because the teams were off for the World Cup. It was definitely a different atmosphere than sports events at home...you can bring your own food and drink into the stadiums, people smoke in the seats (as is everywhere in Spain) and the fans did not stop cheering nor sit the entire game.
On Sept 21st, we set off to take the 2pm train to Jaén. That was until Miken was pic-pocketed at the train station in Madrid and lost a ton of money. By the time that got settled...looking for it, talking to police, the 2pm train was full and we had to take the 630. The train took about four hours and we arrived at night in Jaén to a city of lights cascading through the mountains with the cathedral being the brightest and the castle on top of the highest peak the most spectacular. Continuing to fly by the seat of our pants we did not make any hostel or hotel reservations upon arrival to Jaén, so the first hotel we went to was not available and we walked to a Pensión where we rented a room for the night with the kind proprietor, Rafael.
The next day, Monday the 22nd of Sept, we got down to business. Woke up early, had our daily cafe con leche (so much better than the coffee in the states), bought the newspapers and classifieds and complied those with our online listings for apartments we had previously checked on the internet for. We set up near a church in the city center and began calling listing after listing. Most of them were already rented or in neighborhoods that were not convenient for our daily commute to our schools. Most likely 50 calls later, we had about 6 appointments set up for viewings. The first one we saw was the one we are now living in...and by luck did we actually make it to our appointment! We could not find the street on the map and the guy showing it to us did not answer his phone so an hour later we said forget it and decided not to go. He later called us and came to pick us up to show us the apartment and we found out it was not on our map because the building is only a year or two old. We went to the other appointments but this was by far the best apartment for a great price. We signed a lease the next day through a family owned rental company and moved in that afternoon!
We were glad to finally put our bags down and be done with hauling them around from town to town and up and down the hilly streets! We next began exploring Jaén which is a very chaming city. The people here are called Jianeses and are some of the most kind and helpful people I have ever met. A question is never answered with a yes or no, it is explained and made sure that you understand. Everyone walks you to where you ask to go instead of telling you take a right, then a left then another left. The people from here call it a Pueblo Grande or Ciudad Pequeña (A Big Puebo or a Small City) because it is only about 150,000 people but has everything a city could need.
I went to visit the school where I will be teaching to introduce myself and I was greeted with open arms. They were all very excited to have me there and for me to begin teaching. I met all three of the bilingual program coordinators who were very nice and very eager to begin the program. This is the first year they will be doing it so they said they would need my help very much considering even the coordinators do not speak perfect English. The school is the city high school in Jaén and is called Jabalcuz. Within it is a high school and an official language school where people 16 and over can take night courses in English and other languages. I was told I would be assisting in all subjects in English. Apparently, the students take so many of their core and elective courses per semester in English so I will be teaching lessons on my own as well as assisting the other teachers in the normal classes. I begin on Oct. 1st and will have much more to tell then!
We then took the bus out to Villa Gordo (literally Fat Village) where Kathryn teaches...she has to take a 20-30 minute bus ride there and back to the small pueblo of 3000 people. Her school is preschool and elementary and is very charming. When we went out there for her to introduce herself, they brought us into a 4th grade classroom and let her assist in teaching a lesson where they were learning vocabulary about the rooms of a house in English. They were amazed by us and how we spoke since they are used to learning British English and some had never heard American English. The one bilingual teacher, Curro, told us that he can only understand the American English of George W. Bush because he speaks very slowly but he does not undestand Britney Spears at all. Haha.
Finally we went to Miken´s school....she also is in a preschool and elemntary school but in Jaén. The kids that attend my school for high school, went to hers when they were younger. They had auxiliares from the US last year so they have already had a year or two of the bilingual program and had very specific things for her to teach and a schedule already set out. She teaches Mon, Tues and Thurs from 9am to 2pm which is the entire school day and she teaches all levels and ages everyday.
We have made a few friends here who are from Jaén....because we did not get to live with natives we are really trying to become friends with them. We met two brothers named Pablo and Nacho and then a guy named Juanma who has introduced us to many of his friends. It has been great for them to show us the city, places to eat, and cheap places to buy things for the house and groceries. We went to a fútbol game with them already, Jaén vs. Racing....Jaén is in a lower division than the Madrid teams but they are still very good and fun to go to! As for now...we are just waiting for our internet to be hooked up at home (as is everything in Spain...there is no rush for anyone or anything....so we must be Spanish and wait, patiently).
