Lately...

  So I haven't posted in a while. I started teaching two weeks ago and I really like my school! I work 9:30-4:30 at an elementary school right outside Madrid. I can take the bus or the suburban rail 20 minutes out to my school in Las Rozas. I teach at a bilingual school, so the kids take half their classes in Spanish and half in English. They take their science, physical education, art classes in English! (And English language, of course). Can you imagine taking science in a foreign language?? I assist professors in the classes taught in English, so I have a mixture of English, science, and art classes. My age group ranges from 1st-3rd graders, with a few hours a week with the little ones in kindergarden. The teachers are all great! The ones that speak English are excited to have someone to practice with, and I'm excited to be able to speak some Spanish to the ones who don't. However, the students are not allowed to know we speak Spanish. That way they're forced to practice their English. It's actually pretty hard not to immediately respond in Spanish when we can understand what they're asking! And it's pretty entertaining when they say things about/to us when they think we won't know what they're saying. Some even try to teach me how to say things like "hola", or the colors in Spanish. They are super cute, but highly energetic. Classes are much more noisy than we're used to in the States! But I'm adjusting and learning how best to work with the other professors to make their foreign language classes easier to understand and fun.
   Outside of school, I'm still exploring Madrid. I ran the Madrid 10k with some other Americans. The race went through all the main parts of the city and was a beautiful run! We started in the big park, Retiro, and ran down Gran Via (the most famous street in Madrid), past Sol (city center, like NYC's Times Square), Plaza Mayor, the Royal Palace, the city hall/post office that looks like a castle, the Prado Museum, and back to Retiro. It was basically the perfect sightseeing tour. I tried to take pictures on my phone as I ran because I was just so amazed. Here are a few pics!