Madridilicious

Here I am. Madrid, Spain. Home of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, Picasso's Guernica, soccer idol Cristiano Ronaldo, and now, me. I'll do my best to post my adventures here, although don't expect announcements of me sending out Portuguese explorers, revolutionizing art or winning soccer matches. I will however, be hanging out with elementary school kids and helping to teach them English in collaboration with their Spanish teachers in a bilingual elementary school in Fuenlabrada, Madrid, called CEIP Clara Campoamor. Sidenote- If you are wondering who Clara Campoamor was, she happened to be a Spanish politician, suffragette and women's rights activist- Spanish women were granted the right to vote in 1933 only to have it revoked 6 years later and not granted again until 1977!

Anyhow, enough history (especially when it's as patriarchal as Spain's has been) ... I have been in Madrid for about 2 weeks and in that time I have managed to secure an apartment, make a few friends, teach a couple classes and have a few laughs. I still have the entire city before me to discover, as the only real wandering I have done has been from apartment to apartment trying to find the perfect one. The apartment I finally found is lovely, everything I could have hoped for living in this old European city. My street is cobblestone, the apartment has high ceilings and little balconies on all of the exterior rooms. The railings are old style art deco and I can see a park from my window. (See photo below, the Pirate flags mark our apartment...) My roommates are also great, we all stem from different parts of the world but communicate largely in Spanish (with some French and English mixed in as well). Often times we have communal meals and everyone has a good sense of humor. I think it's going to be a great year.

My school is located outside of the city but it's still considered part of Madrid. I am teaching 4th, 5th and 6th graders as well as the 5 year old preschoolers. The kids have been incredible so far and I am really looking forward to this year with them. On my first day when I met my sixth graders they were really excited and the first question they had for me (aside from my name) was if I were American or English. When I told them I was American they all cheered loudly in unison (complete with arm-pumping and clapping) and the teacher had to quiet them down. Considering that the last time I came to Europe was 2003 during the Bush administration and I was often met with contempt and disapproval of my country, I thought for sure the kids were excited about President Obama. So the teacher asked them, "Why are you all cheering so much?" and the response (once the crowd ceased) came from an outgoing girl in the back named Maria. She said, "We don't like the English accent. It's, how do you say, muy raro (very strange)."

And that's just one more reason why teaching kids is so much fun. There aren't any politics or hidden agendas- it's all about telling it exactly how they see it, and usually they're smiling when they do. Refreshing.