Vigo so far

I haven't posted in awhile because I've been pretty busy having a wonderful time in Vigo. The weather has been beautiful, so I've been out and about as much as possible, knowing that when the rains begin there will be no sun until April.

Walking around in Vigo's biggest park

I've worked for two weeks at a great primary school in Porriño, about 20 minutes driving from Vigo. All of the teachers there are very friendly and welcoming. I help out in art class for grades 1-5 and English class for grade 6, though starting next week it will be art 1-3 and English 4-6. The school is a certified "plurilingual" school, which means that they don't just teach other languages, but teach certain subjects in languages other than Castilian Spanish. So art is in English, and social studies is in Gallego (the language of this region). Because of this, the government wants the Auxiliar (me) to be in as many English art classes as possible, though I and all the teachers feel that it would be so much more helpful to have me in English classes. In art, I can ask them what color things are, but that's pretty much the limit for most kids. So, the principal at my school decided to let me be in English for the higher grades and I'll do art with the lower ones to keep the government happy. (They are paying me, after all.)

I love being in the English classes. It's fun for me whenever the teacher asks me something, like "Do you say 'it's a quarter to 8' or 'it's quarter to 8'?" It's interesting to think about the nuances of English and work on pronunciation and conversation with the kids. There are no native English speakers in the school except me, and most of the teachers who are teaching English avoid using the past tense and struggle greatly with pronunciation. It's so clear why Spain is behind the rest of Europe in terms of foreign languages.

Eating Vigo's signature dish: pulpo a feira (octopus with lots of oil and paprika). Delicious!!!

School goes from 8:45-1:45 each day. At 2, I'm in the car to go home with the teachers who live in Vigo. It seems like a short school day, but lunch comes after school, so there's no long break for that. Being a teacher here is a great gig. You only work 25 hours a week, you're home before lunch, and as far as I can tell the majority of the planning and preparation happen at school. When I get home, I eat lunch and then I go to tutor/babysit a 9 year old girl for two hours and a 3 year old for another hour. The 3 year old speaks and understands English better than 90% of the kids in my school, only because her parents have shown her a couple hours of American cartoon TV shows every day since she was born. It's remarkable.

I've been making friends with the other mostly American auxiliars here in Vigo, and I've had a great time seeing them on the weekends and going out to bars in the beautiful old town. This weekend Jessie came to visit from Madrid, and even though all week my phone said it was going to rain, we had beautiful weather! On Saturday, we went out to the Islas Cies, which are a few islands that make up a national park a 45 minute ferry ride from Vigo into the Atlantic. They are unbelievably beautiful. If you want to stay overnight there, you have to camp, but since camping here is not as it is in the US, there's a supermarket, restaurant, and bathrooms as well. Other than those buildings and some lighthouses, the islands are rather untouched!

Once named the most beautiful beach in the world! (Not this part, and I'm sure the rating happened on a sunny day but you get the idea.)

Tomorrow I have to go up to Pontevedra for an orientation (orientation two weeks after starting the job... classic Spain). Next weekend, my new friend Anne and I are thinking about taking a day trip to Santiago de Compostela! I intended on traveling more frequently, but I really like Vigo and the people I've met here so it's fun to stay here for weekends, too. More later!