We chatted the whole way and she made me feel very at ease (and lucky to have been chosen to work in this school all by myself!) and I was excited to get started. But when we walked down the hall and students started swarming in from every which way, I knew this was not just an hour long meeting - it was a full-blown first day of interning. Cristina introduced me to just about everybody that works there and just about each and every teacher said that if I ever had any questions or doubts to talk to them or call them right away and that I'd have a fantastic year! The best part was that she would introduce me as the new "English Conversation Professor." HA! Wow.
When it was time, we made our way to our first room. In Spain, students have a home base classroom and teachers move from room to room - not the students, as they do in America. The first class had ten students roughly 16 years old. They were all dressed perfectly in their school uniforms (white shirt, blue/green/yellow striped plaid skirt, navy blue knee-high socks, navy blue loafers/saddle shoes or girls - navy pants, white shirt and navy blazer for boys. Having never seen a school uniform in real life I was in awe and in shock. They looked just like the ones you see at slutty Halloween parties, just plus a little fabric. They looked like the one worn by Serena Van der Woodsen in Gossip Gir. They looked ADORABLE.
Anyway, I peeked into the classroom and they were all chatting about their summers, etc. But as soon as I walked through that doorway, all of them immediately fell silent, jumped out of their seats and stared at me.
O_O
Talk about a deer in the headlights.
Teachers in America are lucky if students even acknowledge them half way through class - and then, only to ask to go to the bathroom. HERE, however, students are trained like police dogs. The second the door opens and someone of authority walks through the threshold SILENCE! JUMP TO ATTENTION! READY! GO! If they have trash to throw away or even wish to hang their coats up at the back of the room, they first raise their hand and ask permission to leave their seats. If the teacher asks them a question in general they all immediately answer. If they are told to work silently, their eyes fall to their textbooks and they never glance up once nor utter a peep.
Maybe they're miserable. I'm sure they wish they could roll into class with their PJ's on, a half hour (or, let's be real, a half day) late with a Starbucks and their iPod still on while txting their friend and squealing hellos to another across the room. But man what an amazing sight to behold! I feel like I could have actually LEARNED something in high school/college with discipline like these kids have. Jeesh.
Class began and soon after the principal came in to give the students a Happy First Day of School greeting. This particular class had just entered their first year of Bac-something. I'm pretty sure the way things go is at 16 you can choose to enter vocational school or to take two more years of studies to gear up for your entrance exams for university. These kids were in their first year of this. The principal's speech was unlike anything anyone would EVER hear in America. The gist was this:
"Hello students. Today is a very big day for you and for your future. Each and every day of school and your work during those days will determine how happy you are down the road. Your parents have worked very hard to get you here and are paying a lot of money for you to be here - even in these difficult economic times - and for that you should be very grateful. You must love and respect your parents and to do this you must get the highest marks possible in all of your classes. You will choose and adviser for this year yourself but you must talk it over with your parents because they are the ones who know best. Your future is in your hands and this is the final moment to determine everything. Study hard and be a wonderful person in and out - especially out - of the classroom, because the little ones are looking up to you and your parents deserve to have wonderful students and people for children."
O_o
I mean my goodness. Imagine a high school principal saying that to American students. BAHAHA. THAT would go over well. Although, I have to admit that families in Spain are very very close compared to families in America. In America a family may pay for their kid to go to a good school just to brag to their friends or to get them away from them or because they have extra money and feel that's what their supposed to do. In Spain, to send your child to a private school seems more of a serious matter of love and devotion and desire for them to succeed to bring honor to the family in a way. Maybe my views are extreme, but I couldn't help but giggle thinking what the kids at DUHS would have said if Dr. Patterson had given such a didactic speech!
After two hours of class it was time for "Recreo" - which, for the teachers at least, means free breakfast in the teacher's cafeteria! Coffee, hot cocoa, pastries, sandwiches, juice, etc. and a thirty minute break are just what a person needs around 11 am! Two more hours of class later and it's lunch time - back to the teacher's cafeteria for a freshly made lunch of fish and chicken and a salad and soup and fresh fruit and yogurt and fifty minutes of rest. Two more hours and school is over and it's time to board the school bus (don't be fooled - it's no rusting yellow thing - this is a deluxe coach bus - nicer than any Greyhound I've ever seen - complete with seat-belts and individual air-conditioning in each seat!!).
From the moment I saw my Spanish family at the airport and Cruz started going on about what a nice school I was to be interning at and how it was the only private school in all of Alcala and surrounding areas, I knew I would be happy. When Iulia informed me I was the only student from my program to be interning there, I knew I'd be beyond happy. But after meeting everyone - teachers and students alike - I know I'll thrive there!
After returning home I went to pick up my little pink international cellphone and took a slow stroll home, making sure to window shop like it was a class in my Master's program! ;)
While I wasn't expecting to have a full day of school, I'm happy that it went so well and that introductions and the scary unknown is out of the way. Now I can focus on (part of) what I came here to do: Figure out how to be a teacher! :o) I feel like this will be the most perfect, nurturing environment I could have ever asked for in which to begin honing my skills. ^_^ Yay!
Yesterday I was freaking out about why I was here and why I was trying to work towards becoming a teacher, etc. But after today I realize:
a) I'm not planning on being a teacher for life. It's my 5 year plan. After that, another adventure will present itself and I'll be off living another crazy life once again. :) I'm not the type to study long and hard and get a big degree and then work my way up in one company/profession and do the same thing my whole life. That would never work so why am I comparing myself to people who desire to do that when I would be miserable (albeit successful by some traditional standards)?
b) Many people who are successful by traditional standards regret not having traveled or explored or gone on adventures when they were younger. I'm living the "dream" many regret not having lived - and one I'm sure I'd have regretted had I not done so. Today I came across a quote that said: "The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page." I couldn't agree more with St. Augustine. But the quote that really shifted my perspective towards everything was this: "Life begins at the edge of your comfort zone."
When I'm living in America, everyone always seems so content to just BE, while I never have been. I've often wondered if they're just divinely Taoist and there's something terribly wrong with me. That I am just running away from myself and my troubles and that I can't find true bliss in staying still like so many others seem to be able to.
But that quote sparked an epiphany in me: There isn't anything wrong with me; there's something right with me. All of my experiences abroad and meeting new people and experiencing new and different things... it's all a little scary... but it all makes me feel so ALIVE like nothing else can. Sitting in a job I hated playing games on my cell phone was not thriving; it was existing - sometimes barely and dismally. But being jet-set and wanderlust and always having the desire to create and the curiosity to learn more each day - that's what lights me up. And that's okay that what lights me up is different from what lights others up.
Sometimes I forget how much courage it takes to do what I'm doing. And I forget how lucky I am to be able to do what I'm doing and have people who love me supporting me in my dreams. But also that it's okay if I have failures along the way - as that's how I'm going to grow and learn and flourish into what it is I next wish to become (whoever THAT may be?!). Failures don't usually mean you're failing - but that you're trying and growing. As an Aries, that's terribly counter-intuitive. It sounds like an excuse. But how can it be?
When I learned how to debate, if I lost a debate I wouldn't just walk away and say "If I was going to be a great debater I would have won that round. Clearly it shows I never will be." No - each loss had something in it that I learned from for the next round. And that's how I became better. In West Coast Swing if I would follow a lead wrong, I would watch others and practice it in my head, waiting for it to be thrown at me again so I could try again. That general attitude is what made me love West Coast Swing so much - and become fairly good at it, too. When you approach something as a game, it becomes a lot less intimidating and a lot more fun and easier to learn.
Anyway, I may have had a good, intense "What the hell am I doing here and with my life!?" moment the past few days, but with the help of the universe, music and Pintrest's inspirational quote boards (LOL - I'll admit it), I'm starting to slowly gain a higher perspective. ;)
XOXO
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