Three weeks in the books, and I already feel like I've been in Jerez for months. Today the head of the English dept. said I could pick up my first paycheck at the office tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to having money for... well anything. I've already got a trip to Barcelona planned out for mid-November, all I have to do is buy the plane ticket. I haven't left Jerez since mid-September so getting out of town for a bit will be nice change of pace.
I'm really loving my school this year. I'm with less classes, but more often, so I can actually get to know some of the kids fairly well. I'm with the bilingual primero de eso (it's like 6th grade) class every day of the week. By the end of the year, I should know those kids pretty well.
I'm also really loving my living situation. Once I get a bicycle, it'll be sweet. It's a little far from the city center to want to walk there every day, but a bicycle will really shrink this whole town for me. Visiting friends across town will be something I can do on a whim instead of something I do on the weekends. The apartment itself is a bargain compared to what I'm hearing other language assistants are paying. I'm paying €115 plus the lights and internet, which only comes out to maybe €140 a month. Lots of other people are paying over €200 per month. My roommates are working out alright. Could be better, but could definitely be worse. I haven't really socialized with them outside of the apartment at all, but then again I can't say I've really felt like I missed anything.
The other auxiliars this year are way different from last year. Last year we were almost all new in Extremadura, and most of us could barely get by with Spanish when we arrived. We had each other and we were a pretty tight-knit group up there in Don Benito. This year lots of people are here for a second year, and almost nobody is a beginner at Spanish. Even the people who are spending their first year here in Spain seem to speak really good Spanish. Most of them did semesters abroad in Spain or South America. Another thing that is unique about Andalucia is that its a more desired (not necessarily desirable!) destination for language assistants. So much so that there is a private company that handles Andalucia placements in addition to the government of Spain. They charge something like $2000 for that privilege, and surprisingly people actually pay it. It doesn't really make good fiscal sense to me, but I guess if some people have the money, there are worse ways to spend $2000 than to get a job in Spain for 8 months. Well gotta go to sleep now. No pictures this time. Rocio pocketed my camera two weeks ago and hasn't been back since!
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
Moving into Jerez
I guess I'm getting a bit of a late start on this, since I've been in Jerez for nearly a month now. Better late than never, I guess.
After I spent the summer staying with Rocio and helping out occasionally with her family's fruteria, I moved into my piso here in Jerez de la Frontera. It was mid-September when I moved in, and my roommates (two Spanish girls) had already moved in at the beginning of the month. I think they were a bit worried I was never going to move in, but I did eventually.
It was really weird living here at first since I don't have a car or bicycle to get around, and this city is much bigger than I am used to for Spain. Having to walk twenty minutes to the center of town is kind of a pain, but at least there are lots of things to see along the way. I live right around the corner from the Real Escuela Andaluza del Arte Ecuestre, which is where they train the horses to do the "paso andaluz" or andaluz step. I think they also train the horses you might see at a bullfight there too. Continuing on towards the center, I'll pass the Sandeman bodega, one of several sherry bodegas in town. The bodegas all look really cool, and as soon as I get that first paycheck I'll have to go visit a couple. Also along the way to the center are a church built in the 17th century, a Palace, and really cool fountain in the middle of a rotunda. There really is a lot to see here in Jerez compared to Don Benito, which basically had one plaza that was somewhat nice looking.
For the first few weeks here I had absolutely nothing to do, and I couldn't get any bites on fliers for private lessons that I put up. So naturally I wandered around the town gaining my bearings a bit while taking photos. Day by day more auxiliars like myself showed up until last week when we started classes.
I went into the school the first day expecting it to be like my school from last year in Extremadura, but so far it seems to be a completely different experience. First of all I don't have nearly as many different classes. I have maybe seven or eight different classes, when I had twenty-four last year. I might actually be able to learn names this year! Also the school has much fewer students overall and really they seem to be better behaved also.
Today was a holiday of some sort, and there is another one on Wednesday, so I should have had two days off this week, but I already get Mondays off, so I missed out I guess. I don't mind having Mondays off instead of the typical Fridays off that most other auxiliars get because I feel that there is more to do on Sunday night than on Thursday night. I can stay up late and watch football if I want, which is nice.
Well, that's all for now. staluego.....
After I spent the summer staying with Rocio and helping out occasionally with her family's fruteria, I moved into my piso here in Jerez de la Frontera. It was mid-September when I moved in, and my roommates (two Spanish girls) had already moved in at the beginning of the month. I think they were a bit worried I was never going to move in, but I did eventually.
It was really weird living here at first since I don't have a car or bicycle to get around, and this city is much bigger than I am used to for Spain. Having to walk twenty minutes to the center of town is kind of a pain, but at least there are lots of things to see along the way. I live right around the corner from the Real Escuela Andaluza del Arte Ecuestre, which is where they train the horses to do the "paso andaluz" or andaluz step. I think they also train the horses you might see at a bullfight there too. Continuing on towards the center, I'll pass the Sandeman bodega, one of several sherry bodegas in town. The bodegas all look really cool, and as soon as I get that first paycheck I'll have to go visit a couple. Also along the way to the center are a church built in the 17th century, a Palace, and really cool fountain in the middle of a rotunda. There really is a lot to see here in Jerez compared to Don Benito, which basically had one plaza that was somewhat nice looking.
For the first few weeks here I had absolutely nothing to do, and I couldn't get any bites on fliers for private lessons that I put up. So naturally I wandered around the town gaining my bearings a bit while taking photos. Day by day more auxiliars like myself showed up until last week when we started classes.
I went into the school the first day expecting it to be like my school from last year in Extremadura, but so far it seems to be a completely different experience. First of all I don't have nearly as many different classes. I have maybe seven or eight different classes, when I had twenty-four last year. I might actually be able to learn names this year! Also the school has much fewer students overall and really they seem to be better behaved also.
Today was a holiday of some sort, and there is another one on Wednesday, so I should have had two days off this week, but I already get Mondays off, so I missed out I guess. I don't mind having Mondays off instead of the typical Fridays off that most other auxiliars get because I feel that there is more to do on Sunday night than on Thursday night. I can stay up late and watch football if I want, which is nice.
Well, that's all for now. staluego.....
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