Getting Oriented
Trip Start
Sep 24, 2007
1
6
18
Trip End
Nov 04, 2008
Granada, Spain
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Today was orientation. Now that I think back on it, it wasn't as long and boring as I thought it might be. We had breakfast, everything we could have possibly thought of, and checked out of the hotel, and then walked to the Palacio de Congresos where the seminar was to take place. That sounds all nice and easy when I say it like that. Let me tell you what really happened.
Breakfast was from 7:30 until probably 8:30, but no matter what you do you can't get close to three or four hundred people through a dining hall in an hour. I was glad I got down there early (7:30) because when I was on my way out, the line to get into the dining room reached clear across the lobby (about 50m). Since I had borrowed an Ethernet cord from the front desk, I had to give it back in order to retrieve the €5 they were holding ransom. Much to my dismay, by the time I got downstairs there was a huge line to check out. It reached literally all the way back to the elevators (25m). What was worse, is that there was only one man at the front desk checking people out. What were they thinking?? How was one guy supposed to check out the 300-something people who all needed to get to the Palacio which was fifteen minutes away? It's not possible, just in case you were wondering.
After waiting through the line, retrieving my €5, and finding out that my friends had left without me, I made my way to the Palacio. On the way I saw two girls I had studied with in Granada. I was surprised to find that they had come back, and a bit worried for the schools they had been placed in. They are not the kind of people I usually think of as teacher material, but perhaps I just don't know them well enough.
The first bit of the seminar was pretty boring. They covered how the school system works in Spain, and some of what we would be in charge of doing as auxiliares de conversación. After a couple hours we had a break for coffee and cookies which was nice. Then it was back into the auditorium for a talk given by two boys, both of whom where named Mike, about their experiences for the past two years in the program. I think it was really beneficial to hear from people who had done the program before and understood what they were doing. Then came the really boring part; we were informed on the correct way to teach foreign language at the different levels that we would find in the schools. It seemed like one of those conferences that teachers have to go to in order to learn how to teach.
Next was lunch, another 3 course meal. We started with a pasta salad with cheese, ham, and various fruits and stuff. I was a big fan, although some people were weirded out by the mixture of pasta with fruit and cheese. The main course was chicken and potatoes, which didn't look appetizing for me, so I asked for the vegetarian option and I'm so glad I did. It was fried zucchini and tiny French fries; so YUMMY! I'm definitely a closet vegetarian. Erik is so proud. Dessert was three small scoops of ice cream: vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. Although the portion of ice cream was tiny by American standards, it was the perfect amount of sweet at the end of a generally salty meal.
The last bit of the seminar, after the two hour lunch break, was about important things like getting an id card so they don't deport you when your visa runs out, and opening a bank account so you can deposit your paycheck.
With all the important things taken care of, we went back to the Granada bus station and headed back to Jaén. I was really really happy to have secured a piso as we headed back home because we were traveling with a lot more people who were going to their towns with all their luggage, and I remembered what a pain it was to get my things from place to place when I first here. I am really hoping to be able to drop a lot of things at hope during my trips to the US before I come back for good so I don't have to lug super heavy bags around again. Plus, then I can afford (weight-wise) to buy clothes here. I was also glad I had a home because I heard so many people say they were just going to live out of a hostel while they worked and looked for permanent housing. Remembering the nightmare that was when I was doing it, I am really glad I didn't have to worry about starting work at the same time. Yay for having a home!
