So I knew the school wasn't far from the bus stop, so I stopped at the first place I saw, (a photocopy shop) for directions. The lady was so nice, she walked me all the way out to the end of the street and told me exactly where to go! Since the buses to Meco only run at certain times, I was an hour early so decided to walk around and see what was around. After 15 minutes of walking and seeing nothing but a few school and houses galore, I stopped in the bar down the street from my school for a cafe con leche. While reading the newspaper, I recognized another girl from the program who happened to be teaching at my school too! So we chatted for a while and then headed to the school. After going to the opposite end of the school, we get buzzed in and introduced to the principal, secretary and some other teachers. Then we had a brief informational meeting with the language assistant coordinator. Speaking of language assistants, I am one of five at my school. There is an Irish girl, and three Americans (though one girl was born in Venezuela) and myself (with only one boy). We got to pick our grades and I picked 4th grade which is 9 and 10 year olds. I will be teaching with two teachers in three different classes in the subjects of English, Science and Art. 
So after we met our prospective teachers, the five language assistants decided to go out to lunch in Alcala de Henares, a neighboring city between Madrid Center and Meco. As it was my first time there, I had no idea what it would be like. It was absoluetly gorgeous! It's like a mini-Madrid with the local charm. Here are pictures of Plaza Cervantes, named after the author of Don Quixote. We went to this amazing restaurant with a great atmosphere, packed with people and the food was great too!
On Saturday, I met up with one of the language assistants from my school for yet another day of exploring. We walked all around another neighborhood which I absolutely loved. It's right in the center of the city, yet has all the local necessites, like a grocery store, clothing stores, banks and bars! Store after store, I wanted to buy everything. I've never really been into fashion, but I think living in Spain might just make me more into it after seeing all the great clothes they have!
Yesterday, Sunday, I met up with a new friend, from Peru but now living in Spain. We went to El Rastro, which is Madrid's weekly flea market which has everything from clothes, shoes, produce, linens, jewelry, Spain souvenirs and anything else imagineable for dirt cheap. I wanted to buy almost everything I saw, but I only ended up buying a purse and a pair of shoes for 15 euros(about $20)!!!! It was huuuugggeeeeee and everything was sooo cheap! So I definitely have to go back when I'm actually in the mood to shop. After that, we went to her apartment, in yet another part of Madrid (I've seen so much already!) for a great Peruvian lunch. Since everything here is closed on Sunday, the big stores are only allowed to open on the first Sunday of every month. So we went to this outlet mall that had everything! All the fashionable stores of Spain, plus international ones as well. I went in almost every store just to check it out and it was great! I didn't get home till 9pm after being out allll dayyyy longgggg.
So today: my first day of working!! I was half excited/half nervous because 1. I've never been a teacher before and 2. kids can be very judgemental and say whatever so I was skeptical as to what they would say. Unfortunately for me, I have to arrive an hour early to work everyday because there's only a bus that leaves at 7:15 or 9:05 and I have to be at work at 9am. So I arrived at 8:00 but don't start classes until 9. As I previously mentioned, I teach three 4th grade classes. Classes are only 45 minutes long, so I bounce from class to class to class until 2pm (1:15pm on Tue/Thu) with a break at noon while the kids have recess.
So, of my three classes, one all stared at me as I walked in and started bombarding me with questions: What's your name? Where are you from? How old are you, etc. The teacher had to tell them to be quiet so she can introduce me. They were all so inquisitive they were great. The second class has already had an assistant from NY so I guess I wasn't that interestig to them, but they were still inquisitive and asked a bunch of questions. The third class was great too, a little unruly, but good. I work with two teachers and both had me involved already! There was a spelling test today so I recited the words and helped correct the tests. I also helped to check homework and also with an activity on the digestive system. The teachers love having an extra pair of hands and also someone to help them pronunciate their English. So, all summer long I have been preparing for my first day and I have been collecting stuff from and about NY. I had NY maps, a ton of postcards (Empire State Building, Ellis Island, Times Square, Statue of Liberty, Adirondack Mountains, etc) my metro card, some money and a little more. Only with one class was I able to do my NY presentation as the other two had tests and needed to cover material today. So I talked about NY for a while, showed them where I was from, asked them what they knew and they were soooo quiet because they wanted to hear everything I had to say! But once, I pulled out my bag, they could not sit still. I passed out all my stuff for them to look and they were in awe! One boy even started crying because he didn't get to see the $1 bill, which eventually got passed around to see. I didn't think my metro card would be that great, but one boy wanted to keep it! I told him he could have it once I did my presentation to the other classes. Even the brochures of the MET and other NY stuff they were super interested in and asked me tons of questions about everything they were looking at. At the end, I had Silly Bands for them: Hannah Montana for the girls and Superman for the boys. The girls practically fell out of their seats when I said Hannah Montana and one girl already had a HM backpack. All in all: they loved it. They all said thank you a thousand times each and some even gave me hugs! At the end of class, one girl gave me a hand drawn picture of the Statue of Liberty which she copied from the postcard. I forgot how cute kids can be sometimes.
Analysis after day one: I LOVE MY JOB!
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