I'm officially a teacher (or Professor as they like to call me here in Spain)

I have just completed my second full week of classes (both as a teacher during the day and a student at night) and I absolutely love it! I never thought I would like teaching so much but it is great.

Okay to explain fully...I am doing a Masters program here in Madrid and a big part of it is called "la practica" which is basically like an internship teaching at a local school. I use the term local loosely because my particular school assignment involves an almost 2 hour commute for me, each way. Everyday. I take the subway to the train station then take a train to Alcalá where I walk to a bus stop and ride on the school bus with the kids for another 25 minutes. It is fine though because I am very productive on my commute - I always use the time to study and read for my Masters classes and also to plan my lessons for my classes. In my Masters Program there are 64 students and we are all assigned to work at different schools in Madrid and the surrounding communities. My school is small compared to a lot of the ones they are working at so therefore I am the only foreign "language auxiliary" at my school (while many of them are with other Americans from our program). It is fun to be the token foreigner because I am unique. On the first day everyone knew who I was and all the kids knew my name before I even met them. They all seem to think I'm pretty cool and fascinating which I don't mind too much ;) So I teach a different class every hour so I teach 18 different groups ranging in ages from 3 to 18. I teach all three levels of pre-school and 3rd-12th grades. The only grades I don't teach are 1st and 2nd because their teacher is from England so my particular and highly valued skills (speaking English) are not needed. Every class I has is different but they are all some sort of English class: English Grammar, Phonetics, Reading, English Conversation, and whatever you would call trying to teach English to 3 year olds. I will be so happy if they can count to 10 and tell me the colors by the end of the year.

Since I am not actually trained as a teacher I am supposed to always be with a teacher and just assisting them with English. My school is very good about always making sure a teacher is in the room to help with discipline and lesson structure and such but I have pretty much been given freedom to teach and input whatever ideas I have. They are really open and interested in my opinion and really want me help with the lesson plans and grading so it is fun. It is so funny how I found myself thinking back to all of the teachers I have had throughout my life and I find myself remembering and using various techniques and teaching methods of theirs.

I really love all the ages but so far my favorites are 3rd and 4th and high school. The high schoolers are just because they aren't that much younger than me so I can really relate to them and talk to them and just hang out. They class I teach the seniors is English conversation so they really don't care what I do as long as I get them to talk. So my plan is to teach them new and practical English that they will actually remember and learn to correctly pronounce through popular music. They are pretty excited about that. I tried it out last Friday and they loved it. I even had a group of girls volunteer to sing a Beyonce song for the class and it was so fun! I have learned a great deal of Spanish from music and it has always been my favorite and most effective way to learn.

The 3rd and 4th graders are so great because they are old enough to know how to be at school (unlike the 3 year olds who just cry and cry and cry for their moms) and have a pretty decent level of English so I can actually teach them (unlike the pre-schoolers who look at me like I am an alien speaking this crazy language to them). Plus they are still at the age that they are very innocent and love to learn and all want to answer every question and are always volunteering to read, etc. Plus they still love their teachers at that age.

The number one rule of my program is that the kids can absolutely under no circumstance know that I speak Spanish because then they would just speak Spanish to me. At first I found it really difficult to have to pretend to not understand what they are saying (especially when they tell jokes...I laugh without even thinking because it is a subconscious reaction) and I hated having to lie to them when they directly asked me if I really didn't understand Spanish but I have since then seen the huge benefit of them believing that I only speak English. The thing is they really want to talk to me or answer me when I ask them a question so they go out of their way and try so so hard to speak English and figure out the word in English, even when it is very difficult for them. If they knew I understood Spanish they would just tell me the word in Spanish and would learn nothing. Its just funny though because I always understand exactly what they are saying but have to sit there with a blank look on my face and say "what? in english please?". They are even getting better about speaking English with each other if I am around because they know it is rude to speak a language I don't understand in front of me.

All the teachers at my school are really nice and fun. Luckily at my school I don't ever have to do lunch duty (unlike poor Jordan) so I get to relax with all of them during lunch in a private teacher's lunchroom. It's also a great time for me to get to speak Spanish and not have to pretend to be the idiot who is living in Spain for a year but doesn't understand a word of Spanish. I met a couple of other teachers who are close to my age so I hang out with them a lot now so thats fun.

As for my masters classes (it is so strange to be a teacher and a student at the same time...not to mention exhausting), they are going well. I am currently taking two classes and they are on Tuesday and Thursday nights from 4:00-9:00pm. So Tuesdays and Thursdays are really long days because I leave at 7am to go teach, go directly from the school I teach at to the campus where I take my classes and return home around 10pm. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I leave at 7am, teach all day, and return home around 6:30 pm. So all in all I love it but having any ounce of free time is a simple memory of the past, haha. It's fine though because at the end of the day I feel so happy and fulfilled after interacting with so many kids and seeing the smiles on their faces and the little light bulbs in their heads light up when I teach them something. Plus I'm learning a lot about technical Spanish and Spanish and Latin American history at the same time. So my brain is on overdrive, but I like it. Now I must go work on a paper so I will leave you all. But coming soon will be many funny stories about my kids since they are pretty much all I talk about now. Jordan and I get home everyday and spend about an hour talking about what our kids did that day. Thank goodness we are both teachers because I don't think any of my other friends would understand or want to listen (just like I'm sure that no one has made it to the bottom of this long blog except my grandma and mom, haha).

The Past Three Weeks...

Okay so I have gotten a bit behind with my blog but I will try to update you all. I will try to be as brief as I can but a lot has happened so I expect it to be very long and full of pictures!

Okay so after the Tomatina, Annie and I then went back to Sagunto and had a wonderful dinner of calamari, patatas bravas, horchata, and a killer ice cream sundae on the beach.

We woke up early Thursday morning and took Annie to the airport. I was sad to say goodbye but so happy she came to Spain. We had a great time and finally fulfilled our dream of traveling in Spain together.

On Friday I went with Sus and her family to another river. It was really beautiful (as everything in this region has been) and it was fun to hang out with her aunt and uncle and precious 2 year old cousin. Later that night we went to the Castle of Sagunto and had an amazing tapas dinner in an open plaza. We were looking up at the centuries old castle, listening to live music, and eating incredible food. It was a great ending to my vacation in Sagunto and Valencia.

On Saturday, Jordan and I took a bus back to Madrid. It was really nice to be back in our apartment and no longer living out of a suitcase. It is amazing how quickly a place can become home. I feel so comfortable in my room now and I still really love our building and area just as much as before. I have finally finished decorating and arranging my room (at least with everything I have for now) and I love it!! It feels very much like me. Jordan describes it as being "very Kayla": girly, sparkly, bright, and full of Shakira!! The best part is that I have lots of photos of all of you guys all around the room so I see you always! Another exciting thing is that I received my first letter and I was so excited!!! I have always really loved getting mail but I’m telling you when you are thousands of miles from home it is even more fun and exciting than I could have ever imagined. So that being sad, please send me mail!!! I’m hanging on my cards on the wall by my desk so they add another nice personal touch to my room.

My room!!! I love the balcony and the whole area around my couch thanks to the beautiful, colorful artwork I found!

My bed and my doors that open into the living room.

My desk which I covered with sparkles!!! And my beautiful computer! And of course Shakira :)

One side of our living which is better now that we rearranged things and decorated the walls with some old records Jordan and I found.

On Sunday we went the the Rostro, a huge open air market that has anything and everything you might ever want to buy. Later we went to check out an Egyptian temple that is in a park near us. It is from the 2 BC and was given to Spain because Spanish engineers helped save it when the Aswan dam was flooding. Pretty cool and interesting…it was weird to be looking at something Egyptian in the middle of Madrid.

The next week was spent just hanging out with our roommates (who are amazing!).

Here we all are. From the left it is Jordan, Gaby, Maite, Saila, Guillermo, and me!!

Jordan is my fellow Oklahoman who I have already mentioned. He is also doing the same masters program as me and I'm so happy to be living with him. We are good friends, have a lot of fun, and it is a very nice comfort to have someone who comes from the same place and culture as me.

Gaby (Gabriel) is 18 and is from Nice, France although his mom is Spanish so he has lived in southern Spain for the last 5 years. He is beginning his 5 year program at a University in Madrid this year.

Maite is 25 and is originally from Bilbao, Spain (which is in the very north). She is the only one who doesn't speak English which is actually quite nice because then all of us are forced to speak Spanish which means we get to practice a lot more and improve.

Saila (pronounced Sigh-la) is 24 and is from Helsinki, Finland. She is in Madrid for a year to finish up her masters. She and I have a lot in common so I have a blast hanging out with her.

Guillermo is 22 and is originally from Mallorca, Spain. Mallorca is an island of the east coast of Spain which I'm hoping to visit sometime this year. He works for a PR and marketing firm and is really fun! He loves to go out and dance and we hit it off really well!

We have a really good balance of personalities and all get along well, which is so nice and makes sharing an apartment with so many people much easier and actually extremely fun!!! I have so much fun just sitting around the kitchen table or living room with all of them. We have had some pretty great moments so far, especially during the week before we started school. Since we had nothing to study and nowhere to go we just hung out and partied a lot. Good times. We joke about ourselves being our apartment 'family' and we have come up with some funny nicknames for each other that are all very fitting. We have "Mama Maite" because she is the older, very responsible one who from time to time seems to take care of us all...and some how she knows everything concerning cooking, cleaning, etc. And she likes to pretend to give us curfews when we go out (she is the only one that doesn't really like to go out and dance and party). Then there is "Baby Gaby" because of his age (17) and because it is his first time to live on his own so he is learning a lot about cooking, etc. Jordan is Jordan Dormilón, which is someone who sleeps a lot and Saila is Barbie Loca (Crazy Barbie) because of her platinum hair. And I am Kayla Cookie because they all learned how much I love cookies and love when I make them the cookies from the cookie mix my mom sends me from home.

Today a new guy named Simon moved in to a 7th room (that previous to this week none of us knew existed, haha). He is 21 and is from France and seems pretty nice so far. He is finishing a Masters in Biology. So now our apartment is completely full. 7 people, 2 refrigerators, 3 toilets, and 1 shower...that's right, ONE SHOWER!! haha, it has been okay so far but that seems to be the only problem that might arise. There is another shower that needs to be fixed so hopefully our crazy landlady will get around to that soon.

Here is a group that we went out with one night all hanging out at our apartment. They are all European exchange students that go to Saila's university. They are from Finland, Portugal, France, Brazil, Germany, Italy...many places. They all enjoyed the American drinking games Jordan and I taught them...of the beauty of sharing one's culture :)

Boomer Sooner baby (even though we lost). Jordan subscribed to ESPN so we can watch any games they cover (which so far was only the first one since they dropped us after the loss). Luckily we made the wise decision of leaving mid-game to go out dancing with our friends. But no matter where we are in the world, our hearts will always scream BOOMER SOONER!!!

Here is a group of students who are in our Masters Program (so they are all American). We come from all over the US: New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, California, Florida, Arkansas, New Jersey and many more. And there is even another Sooner!! Jordan and I didn't know her before but we have many mutual acquaintances. They are a very fun group! We have had several party nights at our apartment (making the most of our free time before the program began) since we are located right in the middle of the city. It is the ideal place to meet up and pre-party before going out to the thousands of bars and clubs that are all in walking distance of our place. I just love it (if I haven't already made that clear, haha).

Only September 10 & 11th we had orientation for the program which went really well. We all then enjoyed one last weekend of freedom before becoming both teachers and graduate students at the same time (which I can assure you leaves very little free time). Last Monday I began teaching and I absolutely love every aspect of it! My school is amazing, my kids are incredible and I'm thoroughly enjoying teaching. I have much more to say but I will update you on my entire first week of teaching tomorrow because right now I have to eat and get ready to go out. Tonight is a really cool night in Madrid called La Noche en Blanco, which means the Night in White. They shut down all the roads and no cars can come into the city and thousands of people are walking everywhere and all the museums are open all night long (until 6 am) and there are tons of free concerts and art shows and poetry readings and special clubs opened. It should be cool. And once again we are in the center of the action and on of the concerts is happening in the building next to ours :) Yay!

La Tomatina = insanity covered in tomato sauce

Wednesday, August 26th

Annie, Jordan, Koke, Dini, and I went to one of the craziest and most famous festivals in Spain - La Tomatina. Basically it is a huge tomato fight that occurs annually in the city of Bunol, which is about 30 minutes outside of Valencia. This year around 45,000 people attended and more than 200,000 pounds of over ripe tomatoes were thrown. The event occurs at 11 am and a lot of people go the night before to party through the night and up until the event. All of us were extremely exhausted after spending several festive days in Valencia so we made the VERY wise decision to get a good night's sleep and go in the morning. We arrived around 9:15 and it was the perfect time to be there.

Unsure of what to expect we prepare ourselves with an early morning drink (I think the only other time I have consumed alcohol before noon is in Norman on a game).

Team Blue (because of the color of our goggles)...nice and clean and ready to go.

Koke, Dini, Xamu (who came the night before and was definitely not walking as straight as the rest of us at this point), Me, Jordan and Annie. We parked the car, had a few drinks and then headed towards the street where all the action would take place.

I have never been in such an intense crowd. If you can imagine the most packed place you have ever been (such as in the middle of a mosh pit in a concert) and multiply that by about 100, that's what it was like. There was one point where I couldn't really breathe because my ribcage was so compacted and I was fearful that if I fell I would be trampled. Thank goodness Annie and I were there with the guys and the four of us just held on to each other like our lives depended on it (I believe they did). Once 11 am came, huge trucks came through the streets to dump and throw the tomatoes over the side. I had thought it was crazy before but at this point we had to make room in the streets (in which we previously couldn't move because it was so tightly packed) for the huge trucks to come through. Crazy. But we survived, had a lot of fun, threw a lot of tomatoes (at least Jordan did...I never did quite have the courage to bend over and pick one up. I just held on to him. I did throw a couple that he handed me though), and after we were completely covered in tomato juice and pulp followed the migration of people towards the river to bathe and play. It was a very unique and fun and crazy experience!

Tomato Fight!!

Intense crowd and the trucks that came and dumped the tomatoes. I believe at least 5 trucks came through.

The perfect expression to describe the madness.

Making sure we didn't lose each other.

The aftermath as the crowd begins to dissipate.

Cleaning off in the river.

We changed clothes, drove back to Valencia and went directly to the pool at Dini’s house. We all found a nice place in the shaded grass and took a nap for an hour or so and then played in the pool and ate. What a great Spanish day.

We were exhausted!

Adventures with Annie in Valencia

On Saturday (August 22...I know it was awhile ago but I've been waiting to get pictures from Annie) one of my best friends and past roommates Annie arrived to Valencia. She currently lives and works in LA and was traveling in Europe and was able to stop in Spain for a few days. It was so great to see her because we haven’t gotten to spend any significant time together in a year and a half. It is interesting how quickly you can fall into the same old pattern of friendship. From the instant we saw each other it was like we were the 19 year-old, date-party duo, bathroom musical performing roommates living in the tri-delta house all over again. But this time we were a temporary roommate duo ready to take on the adventures of Spain! Since it was pretty late when she arrived we just went back to Susana’s house, ate one of her masterpiece salads, and attempted to go to bed early (although in reality Annie and I stayed up talking for hours).

We woke up early Sunday morning to join Susana her family and about 12 other people in a river hiking, rock and waterfall climbing excursion. The place we went to was about a 2 hour drive from Sagunto (the town Susana lives in) but the drive was a great time for Annie and I to catch up. We then spent about 3.5 hours hiking up a river (through the water, over rocks, up waterfalls, diving in natural pools) to reach the mouth. It was amazing, exhilarating, exhausting, and just so much fun!! I really love any type of outdoor activity and adventure so this was my ideal way to spend a day.

Sus, me, and Annie in one of the natural pools we came across.

We then spent a couple more hours coming back down the river and drove back to Sagunto. We arrived around 9 and Annie and I showered and packed at lightening speed in order to catch the last train into Valencia to meet up with my other friends.

We arrived around midnight in Valencia and Jordan and Koke picked us up and then we went to a plaza where the rest of our friends were waiting. Dini and Koke both live in Valencia but two guys from our group of friends at OU had come in for the weekend: William from France and Jacek from Germany. We drank and danced and Annie and I later went to my good friend Gloria’s house where we were staying (Gloria sadly couldn’t join in the festivities because she is studying for some big exams).

On Monday we went over to Dini’s house for an amazing home-made Paella (the typical dish from Valencia) and lots of tapas. Words can’t even begin to describe how incredibly nice and hospitable Dini’s family is and how DELICIOUS all of the food was.

Here I am pretending to be the one making the delicious Paella.

Later that night Koke, Dini, Jacek, William, Jordan, Annie and I toured some of the sights of Valencia and then we were joined by Susana and Gloria (who both took a break from studying) and Miguel, Alejandro and Xamu for an amazing OU reunion dinner to say goodbye to Miguel who got a job in Brussels. That night we went to several bars and clubs and danced a lot. I love Spain.

Here we are in front of La Cuidad de Las Artes y Sciencias - a really cool area in Valencia where there are several museums and an aquarium.

Annie and I in front of the cool modern buildings of this area.

On Tuesday Annie and I went to Valencia acquarium to fulfill her life-long dream of meeting her favorite animal – the Beluga whale. It was quite a magical moment. I thought she might cry. We met up with a friend of hers from LA and then went to the beach in attempt to find a restaurant that I had eaten at last year. That never happened but we did walk approximately 10 miles on the beach looking for it. Not the ideal situation but also not a bad way to get some exercise and see sights while walking along the Mediterranean shores.

Annie and I at the Beluga Whale exhibit :) She is extremely happy/giddy.

Annie and I then went back to Sagunto and had a wonderful dinner of calamari, patatas bravas, horchata, and a killer ice cream sundae on the beach.

We woke up early Thursday morning and took Annie to the airport. I was sad to say goodbye but so happy she came to Spain. We had a great time and finally fulfilled our dream of traveling in Spain together.

On Friday I went with Sus and her family to another river. It was really beautiful (as everything in this region has been) and it was fun to hang out with her aunt and uncle and precious 2 year old cousin. Later that night we went to the Castle of Sagunto and had an amazing tapas dinner in an open plaza. We were looking up at the centuries old castle, listening to live music, and eating incredible food. It was a great ending to my vacation in Sagunto and Valencia.

On Saturday, Jordan and I took a bus back to Madrid. It was really nice to be back in our apartment and no longer living out of a suitcase. It is amazing how quickly a place can become home. I feel so comfortable in my room now and I still really love our building and area just as much as before. I have finally finished decorating and arranging my room (at least with everything I have for now) and I love it!! It feels very much like me. Jordan describes it as being very Kayla: girly, sparkly, bright, and full of Shakira. The best part is that I have lots of photos of all of you guys all around the room so I see you always! Another exciting thing is that I received my first letter and I was so excited!!! I have always really loved getting mail but I’m telling you when you are thousands of miles from home it is even more fun and exciting than I could have ever imagined.

On Sunday we went the the Rostro, a huge open air market that has anything and everything you might ever want to buy. Later we went to check out an Egyptian temple that is in a park near us. It is from the 2 BC and was given to Spain because Spanish engineers helped save it when the Aswan dam was flooding. Pretty cool and interesting…it was weird to be looking at something Egyptian in the middle of Madrid.