First week of Class, Do I like my teachers? & View of My Room

Music of the 1st day.
He is from Granada.

I was originally not challenged by this class. In the first hour (9:00 to 10:00) with our sweet profesora Maria I was honestly dying because it was going so slow and the content was much too basic. I just finished a 6-hour intensive Spanish course at Georgia State in the spring and I had covered absolutely everything she was teaching. (I guess it goes to show me not trying my hardest on the grammar part of the placement test.)

Watchin a clip in our lil circular class.
There's profesora in the overalls!

Our second profesora Isabel, standing a mean five and one inch tall was something else. She is a member of the mountain climbing community (the Sierras) and has suffered from a broken femur after tumbling down a few years ago. She iterated the importance of her membership and being life-flighted to the nearest emergency room. Isabel teaches us every weekday from 10:00 to 13:00. She does not like to measure the class-time in minutes but rather use canciones (songs) and play music while we participate in-group activities. This opened us up to her much more since we were originally intimidated when she walked in the first time.

A pretty easy class activity.

Her teaching style is much more rapid than our first profesora and I am pretty challenged by the work. Though, some girls tried to get out of the class to move up last week. Most people believe that you were put where you were placed for a reason. Our teacher was especially curious to hear the answers from these girls ever since. It's quite funny actually to count how many times these girls say "I don't know" in English to her. 

Our Book - €18

**An awesome moment: My teacher was speaking in the present participle (-ing verbs) and wanted to say "drinking water" with someone. I just happened to have my bottle on me so we raised them and she said "¡salud!" - Before she was able to take a sip I said "¡Arriba!" which, in any Spanish speaking country, is the start of the best cheers ever! Everyone began saying "¡Arriba, abajo, al centro, pa'dento!" (You raise your glass up, down, to the middle and then take a drink.) 


Burst Thinking
• I wasn’t able to decide if I wanted to stay in the class and master the basics of Spanish and the cultural norms,
• Or if I wanted to go to a higher level, be more challenged but possibly retain less.
• It is completely different learning Spanish in another country. You could take a full course solely on its customs.
• Everything is muuuuccchhh more dramatic in Spain. All actions, words, phrases and customs are drawn out.
• It is very hard for Spaniards to say goodbye to one another. “Adios, Hasta Lluego, Chao-Chao, Chaaoo.”


Cool things of Granada

Metal screen in my room.



High-Tech recycling bins

• Urban Granada is extremely clean and green even with over 480,000 citizens.
• There are trash cans and recycling bins EVERYWHERE.
• There are street and sidewalk sweepers out every morning at 8am.
• The drivers are crazy reckless...but hardly ever crash.
• 90% of the time you'll find every florescent bulb turned OFF. Sitting, conserving in the dark is the norm.
• If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down. Totally applies. There are 2 buttons on every toilet, the first is just for...well, #1.
• It costs €.06 for a plastic bag at the Supermercado.
• Every room (on this part of town at least) has a metal screen (pictured above) that rolls down over the window to shield from natural disasters, heat and to give ultimate darkness.
• All the lights have motion sensors or manual switches to use after it automatically turns off.
  
  Normal Schedule

Two button toilet.

• Wake up @ 8.
• 2 minute shower (turning water off when not rinsing)
• Apply clothes, lots of deodorant.
• Breakfast (jellied bread & hot chocolate)
• 8:30: walk 3 KM to school to arrive by 9.
• 9:00-10:00 Class with 1st profesora Maria.
• 10:10-13:00 Class with Isabel.
• 13:00-14:30 Walk a new route downhill home, run errands before lunch.
• 14:30-17:00 - Alumerzo - Lunch. Go home, eat with the family, sleep until you go back to work. Every single store and shop closes for Siesta.
• 17:00-20:00 usually a school/group activity. Including the local Tapas Bars. (so cheap)
• 21:00-22:00 Cena, Dinner. Much smaller than lunch.
• 22:00-23:00 Digest.
• 23:00-3/4:00 Hit up the bars with the group.
• 4/5:00 Walk home at the same time as everyone else in the city.

My room from the door.

Shout-out to my awesome new and active followers:
Dara Fellerman, Abi Mangel, Pat Jones, Tayler Patton, David DeMarco, Ronnie White, Matt Alexy, Cody Heermans, Casey Vaughan, Veronica Lewinger, Matt Kahn and Michael Kahn. + Mom, Dad & Kalan Brown, of course! 

My room from the window.