My Spanish Life Begins to Take Shape

WHAT I LEARNED TODAY:
Sing when you^re winning :)

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Success! I am officially a drain on the Spanish economy....even more so because I have procured a job with the Generalitat, the government of the state of Catalonia.

I don^t know how it happened....they emailed me based on my private lessons ad online, I responded and made a wage offer, they accepted it and interviewed me in both languages, gave me a classroom, showed me how to write up an invoice to charge them, gave me the keys to lock up at night, and had me take home some textbooks to plan the year^s lessons....it^s all happening so fast. My official job is to teach a bunch of advanced students a class that is paid for by the government, the topic of which is transportation management. The bizzaro part is that the general course rubric is in Catalan, which you may recall, I do not speak. This has made for some extra Angela study time. Bottom line: whatev. The price is right, the hours are right, and it^s long-term reputable government work that gives me vacation exactly when I want it......done and done.

Additionaly, I have another class at an academy teaching a group of five 6-year-olds. Don^t have many details yet, but am going in to get the books and see the classroom on Monday....more details to come concerning the Spanish babies.

I also have 2 private students:

Vanesa^s in her late 20s and is quite advanced. Her boyfriends^s mother actually called me last week, waking me from my post-election stupor with a gusto-ful burst of merry Castilian. Happiest lady ever. She evidently liked me a lot, as Vanesa told me today, and therefore, told Vanesa to ring me and set up some lessonage. The 2 of us went for the “free consultation coffee” today and had a nice chat and planned some future lessons. Should be some hardcore learning happening on Saturdays from 12-1:30.

The other lady I don^t yet know. The school where I am teaching the babies at hooked it up. She is a complete beginner, so should be interesting....

On a different note, I realized later the other day that in addition to my computer, my digi cam was also stolen from my purse in my bedroom. Poopcicles. On a vengeful note, the losers forgot to steal the battery charger, so that should put the kibosh (sp?) on their joy-riding picture taking after a mere hour. Wa-ha-ha!

I am pretty much over the whole robbery thing, but I must say, the most annoying part of it all was that I had to listen to a 25-minute speech from my landlord^s father about how people in our building shouldn^t visit each other^s apartments. Thanks Senor Blanco...you^re totally right; if I never let people into my flat and I never leave it, nothing will ever get stolen! Or maybe, an easier solution that wouldn^t require becoming a recluse would be, oh I don^t know, if people just stopped leaving the door propped?

Ultimate frisbee has also played an important role in my recovery from "the robbery," as we^ve taken to calling it. My ridiculously wonderful friends planned a night game on the dirty Barceloneta beach after they heard what had happened. The adrenaline rush, freezing night sea air and our complete lack of physical stamina helped to put things into perspective. The final result was a decision that more night frisbee games should be played, no matter how cold it gets here.

So this is how my life is taking shape: Teaching 2 and 3 classes on Monday-Wednesday, a private lesson on Saturday, and days off in between to lesson plan, sight see, travel, make dinners with great friends, have movie night, do intercambio, study espanol, and of course, play FRISBEE!