Teaching

There was a time (even my mom remembers it) when I had declared: Teaching is the last profession in the world I'd do. Sixteen or so years later and I think I have discovered my passion -- teaching! It makes such a big difference to have guidance, methods and people who show you how to make teaching fun and entertaining. Very different story from my school years when I didn't want to turn into my old and unhappy teacher who thought that we were the reason for her unhappiness. Or my boss during university teaching times in Bulgaria who thought he was the best teacher (and knew English better than a native) but didn't have teaching methods and a professional attitude.

The day today started with exiting the metro right in front of the bakery by the school -- chocolate croissant it is! We had our first "teaching." It was basically talking to groups of elementary adult students who, in some cases, talked back in Spanish -- I teach them English, they teach me Spanish :). Most rewarding moment -- "You speak better than the British teachers -- we can understand you better." Thank you USA for teaching me my "more understandable" accent!

After our class we had some work to do and then off for lunch. Another bocadillo today (sandwich that is) -- more days at the local cafes and I got the food going! It's funny how the British and Americans sometimes talk a different language -- try and figure out what an aubergine is?! It turns out it's plain eggplant in US English...Poor students -- how much can we confuse them if even we don't know what we speak?

After lunch we had an hour of our unknown language (we do 4 hours this week to get an idea of how our students feel). I've been there because English was a totally foreign language for me. Anyway, it's good to practice. It turns out our completely unknown language is....Macedonian! You mean Bulgarian?! Thank you, I really was looking forward to something like Chinese, Hindu, Farsi....I have to try very hard not to piss our Macedonian teacher so most of the time I try not to shout out all the answers while my peers learn how to spell their names in Cyrillic. I try to be helpful but not tell them all the answers -- it's hard. Who thought I'd have this advantage here? The unknown language exercises are not that important but still -- they are part of the final grade.

On the way back, another stop at Sagrada Familia -- I don't know if and how people who live here get used to its grandeur and uniqueness.... A long walk home up some hills takes time but I'm in no hurry. I can't seem to find green onion and parsley -- they don't exist here?! Will keep searching. My salad is not the same without them. I also found out later today that the other day I bought not a shampoo but..conditioner. It says "crema" on the bottle so it makes sense, right? Well, under the shower yes; in the store a few days ago -- not really. So I'm using a conditioner again after a few years of forgetting what that is. And I have to get a shampoo tomorrow.