So as I said in my last post, a lot has happened since I first arrived in Cordoba: one being that I found an apartment and the other being that I had started work.
Last Thursday was my first official day working at my school.
There is actually one other American from my program that also works at my school, Luis de Góngora. The day before our first day, we dropped by the school to meet our coordinator, César (actually Andrew, the other American, had already met him). It was a relief going before our actual first day as it relieved much of the anxiety I had over just showing up (not only would I have probably come much earlier than needed, but I wouldn’t have known how to get in, where to go, or who I was to meet, all things I didn’t particularly want to leave to the first day).
We arrived at 10:30 and met with Cesar to go over our schedules for the rest of the year. Cesar had split two schedules mostly evenly: one with most afternoons off and Fridays free, the other with mornings off and Mondays free. Andrew and I both wanted the same schedule (the one with Fridays off) and ended up flipping a coin for it. I won the toss and therefore have Fridays off. Although it does come with a bit of a price: the schedule isn’t as compact (more free periods in between classes) including one class in the evening (745-830) which means walking the distance twice in one day. Kind of sucks, but I knew that most everyone else would probably have Fridays off two and it would absolutely suck (maybe not absolutely, but would be unfortunate) if I had to work.
After working only an hour, it was break time and the teachers took us to a place next to school and treated us to Chocolate y churros (my first since returning to Spain – absolutely delicious!). There we met the headmaster and a couple other teachers, also escaping school for their break (all making the point that there used to be a cafeteria within the school but no one went because it gave them the creeps and they just preferred leaving). We also learned that the school itself is hundreds of years old, at first being a private school run by the church and then made public in the 19th century.
Back to finishing the schedules and going through duties. To finish off the day, Andrew and I were introduced to Cesar’s class where we got asked the normal routine of “what is your favorite…” questions.
Today I had a conversation class with the Arts and Crafts teacher who happens to be an extraordinary comic writer. I also taught two of my cultural lessons (one of which I didn’t get to complete as it took the first 20 minutes to actually find the classroom, the other I had too much time and resulted to more “what is your favorite…” questions, which I figure aren’t too bad for the first day of class).
My last class finished at 3:00. I went back to the bilingual office where I wrote I quick email, gathered up my things and shut down the computer. I couldn’t have been more than 5 minutes. When I left the office and was locking up, I was gently scolded for still being inside the building and was told I needed to leave immediately. This wasn’t shocking but I couldn’t help but feel how strange it was that it was so uncommon (and not even allowed) for teachers to stay after classes, either working or helping students. It was definitely very different from what I was used to going to school.
Tomorrow I have 2 more culture lessons and another conversation class (this time with the Math teacher). I will finish class at 11:30, so I wont have the same time conflict when leaving as I did today. ☺
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