The Wheels on the Bus

First day of school today. So the whole reason I am here in Spain is to student teach. Yesterday, my FSU supervisor drove me out to the school to meet the principal. It is called the American School of Valencia. Mostly Spanish kids. Classes taught English, but the kids speak to each other in Spanish. If you wanna know more, google it or ask me. It is pretty far outside of Valencia, but it is a very beautiful drive. Luckily, the school provides buses for students and teachers around the city. One of the bus routes has a stop about 50 steps away from my front door. So es perfecto! (and es free!)

After a somewhat sleepless night, I woke up at 7:30 a.m. so I could meet my bus at 8:30 (school doesn't start til 9:30). Every time one of my supervisors said, "You will have early mornings," I thought to myself, "Waking up at 7:30?...that's soooo NOT early compared to teachers in the states." However, I learned this morning that it IS early because it is still dark at 7:40. Also, the Spanish day is longer at the tail end not the front end. Some stores here don't even open til 10 a.m.

On the way to my bus stop, I was approaching a group of pigeons eating on the sidewalk. An old man behind me commented on the pigeons. I smiled, we dodged the nasty birds, and then continued on. He started talking to me as I waited for the bus. And by talking, I mean he made sounds I couldn't decipher and I nodded, smiled, and laughed. I did try to understand him, honest. But first of all, my ear is not yet accustomed to the speed or accent with which Spaniards speak. On top of that, this man had some sort of situation going on with his teeth. They were like sawed down really short or something...so he was even more difficult to understand. PLUS, I was trying really hard to concentrate on the traffic so I could spot my bus that I'd never seen before. After a few minutes, the man said bye then walked across the street. Two minutes later he crossed back and continued to "talk" to me. From what I could tell, he tried a few times to get me to go with him to get coffee and chat some more. He was also violating a few inches of my personal space boundary (not in a creepy way) and touching me a lot (again, not creepy at all). Luckily, I was warned that Spanish people can be a bit touchy when talking to you. Just stuff like gently grabbing or touching your arm...and that's what this man was doing. But between me trying to focus on my bus, barely being awake for about 45 minutes, and not particularly liking the scent of his breath wafting in my face-- I was not exactly in the mood to decode old man, toothless Spanish and reject coffee invitations. If I see him tomorrow, I will take his picture (I made the mistake of telling him that I take that bus every day).
However, once my bus came...it was nice (and really cute) to have this old man share in my excitement of its arrival and wave bye bye to me.

Ok this isn't him.. I googled "toothless old man" and this came up.
But just in case you couldn't get a visual...


The bus is super nice. It is a charter bus. The bus picks up teachers and children of all ages. Children as young as 2 and 3 ride the bus, although most 2-year olds are dropped off by their parents directly at the school. The same bus monitor is on the bus every day, to and from school, and takes roll as the students board. Although the ride is about 45 minutes, I don't mind. There are mountains out my left window and the ocean to my right. The school is nestled in one of the smaller mountain hills. Also, the bus driver and monitor speak only Spanish and then all the kids are talking in Spanish. But it is just as hard to understand a bunch of little kids talking in Spanish at the same time as it is to understand my old man friend.



La Vista!


The school, the principal, the teacher I'm working with (second grade), and the other staff I've met are wonderful. But my favorite parts of the day were the coffee and lunch. They have little coffee machines you put 55 cents in and it makes whatever kind of coffee you like: cafe con leche, cappuccino, etc. The cup is so tiny b/c their coffee is pretty strong. I am most excited about these tiny coffees...especially after all the sleep I'm not gonna get living in this underaged dorm.

Lunch was delicious. Baked chicken, chicken noodle soup, lasagna, some sort of artichoke and ham dish, a dish of baked red peppers, tomatoes, egg plant, and zucchini. I ate my ass off. I ate everything listed. Not only was this the best meal I've ever had at a school, it is the best meal I've had in Spain. I have no idea if any of it was particularly Spanish...I don't think it was...it was just delicious.

Best shot I could get of the school


So those were the main points. I like my teacher and the students seem sweet (but we shall see). Rumor has it (according to my teacher) that Spanish kids are slightly spoiled...especially upper class Spanish kids. These first few days I just observe and such.
I got to sleep on the bus ride home and practice Spanish with the driver and monitor. Even though I was pretty exhausted, a few hours after I got home I went out to Montaditos with some other students. It is a restaurant that has 1 euro drinks and 1 euro little sandwiches every Wed. night. But now, it is time to prep for Day 2. Unfortunately, it looks like everyone else is going out tonight...so it's gonna be another rough night trying to sleep through the college carefreedom.

Enjoying my 1 Euro sandwich and sangria

Maddie, Freddie, Kelly, Chris, and Lillie