Another Day in Jávea

Today was a very interesting and quite busy day. Fortunately today, I had the 5^th and 6^th graders and the second graders at the beginning of the day. I am convinced that the whole second grade class belongs in an asylum or something. These kids are crazy. Most of the time, I am yelling at them either to turn their books to the right page, to sit down, to be quiet or to stop hitting their classmates. Whenever I look at the English teacher she just shakes her head and looks at me like there’s nothing that can be done. If it was my classroom it would be a totally different atmosphere, but since I’m technically just an assistant, sometimes I just have to hold my tongue.

 I don’t know if I will ever become accustomed to how casual it is to drink alcohol here. Today at school during almuerzo (this is the 30min break that we have in school when the kids eat their snack and play outside) we celebrated 3 of the teachers’ birthdays with tons of food and a huge supply of beer and wine. Let me remind you that this was at 11:00am… in the middle of the school day. That is definitely something that would never happen in America. Oh how I love Spain!

Since it is Monday, I followed my weekly routine of giving private English Lessons to my usual student after school. During the lesson, she seemed to be a little bit bored so we played a game which definitely cheered her up. Right after that lesson I had to run to the Adult School for my first day of Valenciano Class. The first lesson went very well, we introduced ourselves and then we went over vocabulary of classroom objects. The teacher spoke Valenciano during the entire time that we were in class and I was amazed at how easily I could understand what she was saying. I am hoping that by the end of the term I will have a great grasp on the language.

Apart from my first day studying Valenciano, I also took an aerobics class for the first time with my roommate. Before going into the class, I was a little worried about whether the class was going to be given in Castellano, regular Spanish, or Valenciano, and also about whether or not I would be able to walk afterwards because of my history of foot problems. Surprisingly, the class was a success. Both my roommate and I loved it and want to go back. I also learned a new word after class after hearing my roommate say that she had “agujetas” which in English means “to be stiff.” Now I have been walking around the piso saying that I have agujetas and she has been saying that she is stiff.