My First Day of School!...uh, I mean, Work!

 

I’m walking to my first day of work. I’m cool as a cucumber for about 15 minutes out of the 25-minute commute. Then, the sweating ensues. I still haven’t had my meltdown up until this point…but I feel some emotions surging up from the pit of my stomach. Is it my time?? Am I going to freak out?? Wait, this is weird. This is my first day of work. In Spain. Oh crap there’s also a hill I still have to climb.

Well, I didn’t have a meltdown, but in a way I’m glad that I had SOME sort of reaction rather than the numbness I’ve felt about this experience up until then. Upon arrival at my school, I see a group of students, all males, loitering in front of the building. They are all tall, and not just from my humble 5’4” viewpoint, but tall by any male standards. They are all leaning against the fence, smoking, looking super cool and European, in an 80s Christian Slater kind of way. I laughed out loud to myself. Uhh these are the people I’m supposed to teach? I’m absolutely going to get eaten alive. 

Once I got inside and made my way to the secretary, my nerves ceased. I talked to the secretary very briefly before he introduced me to my coordinator, the professor I’d be working alongside the most, my mentor of sorts. This guy, Miguel, is just a constant bundle of sunshine, blanket of kindness, pile of fresh-from-the-dryer towels, etc. SO warm, SO considerate, just a delightful individual. He is all smiles, all laughs, all European swagger. Physically, he resembles a Spanish Danny Tanner, so really, you cannot possibly feel like you are in better hands. He gave me a brief tour of the building and also introduced me to every professor we passed by. It was definitely overwhelming and I missed most of their names, however what I can say is that everyone is so NICE. NICE NICE NICE. They all made it apparent that they wanted me to feel at home, and so many of them told me to contact them if I had any trouble or questions about Ourense. Some of the professors even had a little care package filled with Ourense tourism info that they presented me with, so that was great! 

What’s probably most interesting about this place is that they are excited that I speak English. Back in Granada, it wasn’t frowned upon to speak English, per se, but it was definitely encouraged to only speak Spanish as much as possible. Even in Grinnell, whenever you were in a Spanish environment it was expected that you'd only speak Spanish. At my school here in Ourense, however, the main purpose for existence is my English. People are impressed when they hear me speak English. When they present me with someone else who speaks English, they get excited when we exchange English words. It's a bit strange, because it's not like I have any sort of special training in the art of speaking English. But here I am in Spain, getting rewarded for speaking it fluently! Okayyy okayyyy I'll take it.

The school where I've been placed, CIFP A Farixa, is a formación professional, which is roughly the equivalent of a vocational school in the U.S. Most of the students I've met are from ages 20-25, however there's also students as old as 40. It seems that the main professional tracks I'll be assisting are those for business, tourism, and futsal...(!) As far as my daily tasks, I’m going to be doing a variety of things in addition to teaching English. Not only am I going to go through work sheets, powerpoints, and hand outs with teachers to assure that they’re using proper English and appropriate vocabulary, but I’m going to be helping classes in the pronunciation and translation of their given field into English.  While I have no background in tourism or business, I’ll still be helping out with the speaking portion of their classes. As for futbol sala…I GUESS you can say I have some background experience in the subject matter...:) :) :) :) :)...MAN am I excited! It’s not going to be a bunch of indoor soccer playing though, unfortunately. The small class consists of people who are training to become Futsal coaches, and so they have to go through theoretical aspects of soccer, as well as biological mechanisms of the body that are necessary to know as a personal trainer. But there will be soccer playing later :)

My schedule is kind of out of this world. They gave me 12 hours of work per week, with 5 of those hours being one-on-one preparations with professors, and 7 of those being hours in class, teaching and assisting. My earliest class is at 10:00 am, and I'm done by 2:30 pm most days. Additionally, I  have only 1 class scheduled for Friday, which Miguel was very apologetic about and even went so far as to tell me that if any day I don't want to come in, to just let him know. Even my first week of class, Miguel and the other professors told me to not worry about coming in at all; they wanted me to get settled and get to know Ourense and all that. Well, Miguel clearly saw my look of shock after he said that. I told him that I didn't know what to do with so much freedom. He asked if I'd prefer it if he just told me to come in. I nodded emphatically. So he did just that. SPOILING ME. That's what they're doing to me here! As if I wasn't spoiled enough already, huh??? Haha I am absolutely appreciative of how accommodating and friendly everyone at the school has been; I won't take advantage of their kindness for a second. I am ready to give me them boatloads of English!!

House Hunters International: Ourense, Spain

The red dots correspond to the apartments below. I also added a few more points of interest, indicated by the bright pink boxes: 

[A; CouchSurfing Apartment | B; PonteVella Mall | C; Tapas/Bars Area]

(Disclaimer: Anna and I were debating between living together, or expanding our horizons and living separately with Spanish roommates. So, in the following “houses”, the ones that feature only 1 available room would result in us living separately, and those including 2 rooms would be for us living together. Also, in true House Hunters fashion, even though I am just now presenting all of these apartments, we have already picked one...and moved in.)

Apartment criteria: 

• Location: near the city center
• Want Spanish roommates 
• Budget: 200 euros/month
• Completely furnished

House 1: Residential Comfort

ROOM MATES	AMENITIES	AVAILABILITY	PRICE	LOCATION
2, Spanish; 1 Male, 1 Female	3 bdrm, 2 baths, full modern kitchen	1 bdrm	165 €/month + utilities(about 55 €)	20 min walk SE of city center

Evaluation: The place was NICE. The one roommate we met was a huge sweetheart, as well. She picked us up from the city center to show us her apartment, and gave us a short guided tour of Ourense along the way. At the apartment, the view from the living room was AWESOME, just a nice "skyline" of the city. The living room itself was cozy, well decorated, just overall appealing. The bedroom was completely furnished, including bedding which was a huge plus. The kitchen was small but modern and also complete with kitchen utensils. The location was super residential and quiet, a developing area. It was also one of the closer apartments to the school where I was going to work, so that was definitely a plus. But still, it was farther from the city center than I wanted.

House 2: Hilltop Central

ROOM MATES	AMENITIES	AVAILABILITY	PRICE	LOCATION
1.5, Spanish; 1 Female, .5 Male	3 bdrm, 2 baths, 2 balconies	1.5 bdrms	220 €/month, utilities included	San Francisco, 5-10 min walk E of city center

Evaluation: THERE'S NO ELEVATOR. IS THAT LEGAL? I guess it was just on the 2nd floor, though. The landlords are a sweet old couple and the place is squeaky clean. Although it’s completely furnished it doesn’t feel quite HOME-y. There's just some sort of lack of life in the place. The rooms are a nice size, but the beds don’t have bedding. The kitchen doesn’t have any utensils for us to use other than a slotted spoon and an old steak knife.  Also, one of the rooms won’t be available until October 15^th, so Anna and I would have to share a room until then. The location is fairly close to the city center, and even closer to the bars area. The name of the neighborhood, "San Francisco" is more than appropriate: the hills and stairs may be the end of me.

House 3: Where are we??

ROOM MATES	AMENITIES	AVAILABILITY	PRICE	LOCATION
1, Spanish, Female	2 bdrm, 2 baths, master suite	1 bdrm-master suite	200 €/month + utilities (unspecified)	Your guess is as good as mine.

Evaluation: The woman showing us the apartment was kind enough to pick us up from the city center and take us to her place. She talked to us a mile a minute, and that very much mirrored the way she drove. We made a lot of turns and went through lots of roundabouts and almost got in a bunch of accidents. But we arrived safely to her apartment! It was a nice quiet area, definitely residential. The main thing that stuck with me from this lady was the fact that French is her mother tongue. Upon hearing this, I inquired further, and minutes later, she'd agreed to give me some French lessons in the future. :) The apartment itself is a bit of a cluttered fixer-upper. The available bedroom is huge though, and has its own bathroom. This bedroom also includes a wardrobe bigger than any I have ever seen in my life. If only I could fill this wardrobe with European clothes and ship it home, I would be a happy camper.

House 4: Fantastic View

ROOM MATES	AMENITIES	AVAILABILITY	PRICE	LOCATION
1, Spanish, Male	2 bdrm, 1 bath	1 bdrm	250 €/month, utilities included	5 min NW of center

Evaluation: The place was STACKED with books and all furnishings that made it feel like home. There is only one bathroom which is not really ideal, especially since the Spanish roommate is male. The view from the little terrace area is AWESOME, the best view from all the apartments we’d seen. This same terrace-like room basically has an upper wall of windows, so sunlight just spills right in! That'd definitely be beneficial during the winter when it gets colder. The guy did mention that the wireless internet is a bit weak, and an antenna would be needed in order to get a stronger connection. That was kind of a bummer, but money saved from not having the buy apartment furnishings could easily be put toward getting a strong antenna.

House 5: College Memories

ROOM MATES	AMENITIES	AVAILABILITY	PRICE	LOCATION
2, Spanish, Female	3 bdrm, 2 baths	1 bdrm	180 €/month, utilities included	10 min N city center.

Evaluation: This apartment is right by the Ponte Vella mall. DANGEROUS. This is also the only apartment we'd seen in which students are living--all the other places had been people in their mid 20s to 30s. Strangely enough, it was unappealing to live in college housing. The apartment in general was well-equipped, but the quality of everything was lower than the other places we'd seen. I guess you could say the luxury of this apartment was akin to that of any house on Grinnell’s High Street, if you will... The price is very nice, but as Anna and I walked out of the apartment, we were both in agreement: we’d done the whole living-in-shabby-conditions-for-college thing already. However, the price and location of this place definitely had its appeal.

Instead of staging one of those walk-through-a-beautiful-park-to-discuss-our-decision scenes, Anna and I came to our decision while lounging on couches in our CouchSurfing apartment. The easiest apartment to take off our list was the one with the college students. We are graduates. It's time for nicer living conditions, we are ready for it. 

House 5: College Memories

Next, we pretty quickly decided that the apartment whose location we couldn't even figure out should have no place on our list... (Note that I didn't even put it on the map above because all I know about its location is that is is probably 10 min south of the southernmost point of the map).
House 3: Where are we??


This is where the tougher decision time came along. As far as locations offering 1 room, I had really liked House 1: Residential Comfort. It seemed that this apartment would be closest to my school, and it'd be a pretty big money saver since I wouldn't have to buy anything for my bedroom or kitchen. Also, the woman we'd met was just the sweetest ever and I could see myself living with her. Anna, on the other hand, had similar feelings about House 4: Fantastic View. It was one of the most central locations, and she felt the guy would be easy and pleasant to live with. And clearly we still had House 2: Hilltop Central to think about. It was nice to know we had 2 different routes to go! I'd originally been worried we wouldn't have many choices and would end up desperately choosing whatever place would have us. After talking it over a bit, Anna and I decided it would be the nicest option for us to live together. 
House 1: Residential Comfort
House 4: Fantastic View
 
There's just nothing like turning to an English speaker at any time of the day to express your stress or triumphs! And thinking about it, the apartment had most of everything we had really wanted: it was within 10 minutes walking of the city center; it gives us the opportunity to bond with a Spanish roommate; it is a BIT over our budget but it's nice to know that utilities are included and we won't have to worry about the fluctuation of bills from month to month; and though it lacks bedding and kitchen equipment, that's all stuff we can still buy fairly cheaply. So, we have a winnerrrr

***House 2: Hilltop Central***

WOO! We have an apartment, within 30 hours of arriving to Ourense, too! We. Are. AWESOME. I’ll put pictures up once I move into my own room Oct 15 and decorate a bit. 

So we had to haul our 80lbs of luggage across town and up 2 flights of stairs. I would recount this story to you, but it is not a memory with which I would associate fond memories, so I'll skip that and just say YAY. WE HAVE A PLACE :D