Well really not that long but people have been requesting i update my blog and what better time to do it then now! i have had a full on week this week and have been doing lots of different things! there is much to tell and i fear i've probly forgetton some of it! but bear with me!
Let's start at the beginning of the week! this week i only had 2 days of classes!!! hahah was super stoked! classes are good but at times i freak out if i don't know what i'm suppose to be doing! anyways i have now obtained the email addresses of all the teachers i will be working with so i can email them and see what the go is! the key to teaching is being prepared! preperation preperation preperation! i'm sure some of you may all ready know that! i may have mentioned it before but i prefer older classes! simply because the younger classes have lower level english and it's a mish trying to communicate in english without speaking spanish! But i have to say i love the younger classes enthusiasm! they're so excited all the time (maybe not about learning) but at least they have no fear in asking questions and giving things a go! that i love! the older classes understand everything alot better but don't want to talk so it's like Come on guys!!!!!! get excited would ya! XD
This week in one class we did a listening excercise and the kids had to fill in the missing words to a song! cry me a river by justin timberlake. Of course i knew it and half the girls did but otherwise it was fairly unfamiliar XD so this week i am going to do a similar exercise but with a nz song! so should be really fun! :D
Moving on! on Wednesday was Columbus day! the day that Christopher Columbus arrived in America! But here in Spain it is celebrated as Dia de Hispanidad! and thus everyone gets a day off! so i was stoked with that! So wednes day night i went out with my flatmate Juan and a couple of his friends and we drove around in a car to park some random place on the other side of Murcia and we looked for a certain bar place that was suppose to be near the Plaza de Toros and we finally found it so we got hot drinks and i have to say hot chocolate is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay different here! Unlike the NZ version of hot chocolate the spanish version actually adheres to it's name! Literally just Hot Chocolate! XD lovely thick melted chocolate! but thankfully it comes in a smaller cup cause i don't think i could handle a big mug full XD then after that we all went in searc of 'Billar' or Pool! we found 1 place but it was busy and by this time is was getting late so we decided to head back to the car! In all honesty i think it might have been quicker to walk back to our flat! because we got hopelessly lost, which seems to be a normal thing for me lately >.<
When we got back to the flat, a friend of our flatmate Mariavi had broken down outside, seemed like a flat battery! i was just like hang! i'm so glad i don't have to worry about that! XD
Ok so Thursday! Well on thursday i had another orientation! this time it was just for language assistants in Murcia! you know there are far more of us then i ever expected! in Murcia alone there has to be at least 50+ Anyways this time i went with Maria! So that was good! they talked alot about things i already know so it was long winded! But on our break we joined up with a bunch of other teachers and another language assistant and went for drinks and toast! was sooooooooo nice! hahaha even toast is different here! We had it with like blended tomato paste then you cover it with oil and salt! amazing!
I think this might be a good point to talk about english here in Murcia! Ok so by no means do alot of people speak it but it's far more spoken then spanish is in New Zealand! English is a cumpolsory subject for like 4 years! so most peoeple will be able to say a few things and help you out! they run at my school and alot of others bilingual programs! which is what i'm involved in! so all their classes are given by teachers who speak english to them! and i'm like flip! no wonder the english level is so much better then spanish in NZ! Even after my studies at uni my spanish was soooooo lacking!
Ok moving on! ready for some pictures? :D thought i'd put in some pictures of typical food here! but by no means is this anywhere near all they have here! just a snipet
A Bocadillo! Spanish style sandwich
Chorizo - Here pronounced Choritho XD bet you've never seen it like this before? Oooooh it's so tasty!
Here in Murcia they are know for their Jamon - Ham
I think i might have talked about this already but this is Ensalada Murciana! Murcian Salad! Other then the boiled eggs omgosh i love it! :D
Another one of my favourites! These are pasteles de carne! Meat pies! but not like any meat pie from NZ! hahaha
Pickled herring! And here they have everything with lemons which is fine by me! love it!
Pickled Olives! yum! So it would seem the spanish are almost fearful of spicy food! some1 told me to be careful because something i was about to eat was spicy but it wasn't hardly spicy at all XD but they love their salty food! and i'm just like Yus! :D
Tortilla de Patatas - Litterally just a potato omlet kinda thing!
omgosh after all that i'm hungry!!!!! XD
Where were we? Ok moving on to Friday! Fridays i get off because all my classes have been scheduled for mon-thurs! Stoked! :D anyways i went out and joined a bunch of the teachers after school for a drink (don't worry i don't drink alcohol) and a bite to eat! Was really cool! enjoyed just sitting there chatting! not that i understood alot >.< ok so i'm warming up to the accent but there's still alot that i plain don't know which can make things hard! if some1 is talking to me it's not too bad i can understand them! in groups it's alot harder following the conversation! i can pick up the general gist of what's happening like they'll be talking about a movie or something but i'm really bad at picking out the subject! like what is the movie they're talking about! but i'm learning! little by little!
I'm afriad the pics are rather limited this entry! i wish i had taken my camera with me everywhere but alas i didn't XD Last nights, being saturday i meet up with a friend to go to church! hahaha i think we finally arrived over an hour later, after getting well lost some1 came to pick us up in the end! Thank goodness i didn't try getting there by myself! Church was really cool! i'm gutted we missed out on the singing tho >.<
Anyways that's about it for this week! Hope you are all doing well! Love to hear from you all!
P.S
Good job All Blacks! :D
O such a good one chris. dare i say u are enjoying it! and finding a church!! Food sounds really good there, could it be that i'm hungry! Catch u later.
ReplyDeleteOmg Sifu I am finally all caught up! You have to be one of the bravest busiest people I know XD You are so independent! I don't think I'd be able to move to a different country, let alone all by my lonesome!
ReplyDeleteAnd oh my! Did you get a haircut? Or am I late to that party? I dig it ^.^ if you did just get it, is it because it's so hot over there? XD
The pictures you take are fabulous! What kind of camera are you using? Mine is total crap, of course I probably don't know how to use it properly XD
Anyways! Glad you are having fun =]