Orientation

Buenos dias!

So I have worked Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week. We had orientation today in the capital of Galicia in Santiago de Compostela. The coordinator at Amanda's school took us there, and it took about three hours to drive there. We left at 6:30 this morning, and returned around 6:30 tonight. It was Amanda, her coordinator, and Stephen, a boy from Florida who also is doing the program in O Barco. The beginning of orientation was pretty boring, but the second part was interesting because a handful of auxiliares de conversacion from the past few years presented about their experiences helping teach English. We also received information about opening bank accounts here and other paperwork.

Afterwards, we went to the Catedral de Santiago. It is giant and built in the 12th century. Amanda's coordinator went to college in Santiago, so he knew a lot about the area, and we got to go inside the cathedral. It is famous because people from all over the world travel to Santiago in the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage that has all different routes. People walk across Spain (the most popular route starts at the border of France and Spain on the east), and take this religious/ spiritual journey.

We stopped for almuerzo (lunch), the biggest meal of the day in Spain around 3. There is the menu del dia, where you select a first, second, and third plate and pay one flat rate (10 euro). For the first plate, I ordered a soup with seafood in it, for my second I ordered beef with really good french fries (they don't use ketchup and they eat their fries with a fork and it has olive oil on it). For dessert, we had a choice of  cake or ice cream, and we all chose ice cream. It was delicious, and also comes with bread and a drink.

We headed back to O Barco, and I took a nap and I've been cleaning my room. I'll post some pictures of my room and our trip to Santiago.

The kids are really cute and excited for me to come into the classroom. Most of them really need help with their pronunciation, so I feel like I can help these kids to hear a native speaker. My Spanish is getting better, especially since no one at my school really speaks English, so I'm forced to speak Spanish all day. The kids also talk a lot in Spanish and I have to remind them to respond in English! I work with kids from ages 3 to 11. The school is really small so they have some levels together. I am still getting my schedule sorted out, so am not sure whether I will be working three or four days per week.

Buenas noches!